Piece of Parchment

by Metemponychosis

Singularity

Exquisite works of art lined both crystal walls at the bottom of the crystal stairway. Cadance stopped at the first and it was a painting of herself snuggling up with Shining Armor and holding a very sleepy Flurry Heart, who in turn held her new Princess Luna plushie with a ful scenery, depth, and lighting. But what she first thought were paintings made by some absurdly talented master actually moved and when she focused on them, they became as clear as though she was there and invoked a strange feeling of presence.

Shining Armor moved softly next to her pressing his body against hers and the small weight of the baby on her chest gave way when she breathed in. The more she focused on the image the more real it became. She could feel the warmth of their bodies, the smell of baby powder and of Shining Armor’s mane. An overbearing happiness. Rainbow Dash snoring in the corner, Rarity quietly chatting with Applejack and Twilight’s horn chiming along with the sounds of her feather pen scratching the paper. The ship’s magical engines humming in her ears and the ever-present magical murmur they caused in her magical senses.

The near all-powerful magic that emanated from the night sky like the twinkling of the stars. Comforting the sleeping ponies like a blanket over their bodies, protecting them from the cold of the sunless sky. It became so common that she barely noticed it under normal circumstances.

Overwhelmed, she backed away and everything was gone. She was back in the crystal corridor staring at the barely moving painting.

That was a memory. Whatever Luna was hiding and was causing her that pain must be in there!

Then she looked at the paintings down the corridor and took a few steps deeper. She saw herself talking to Chocolate Velvet, both wearing their barding next to the small wood cottage by the corn field. On the other side was the surprising moment when the glass broke in the cottage by the corn field. She actually saw the stun magic grenade fly in.

She smiled to herself. Great reflexes! You go girl!

Then her smile vanished with her ears perked up and she walked further down the corridor. If those where her most recent memories, or perhaps the ones that were important to her.

She passed paintings of she and Twilight jumping from her airship.

Their attempt at feeding Flurry Heart.

She picked up the pace and she soon found her conversation with Luna and Chrysalis. A small ember of hope grew by the moment in her chest.

She galloped down the crystal corridor to a frantic beating of her hooves clinking in the magical floor. Saw herself greeting Twilight in the entrance of her palace.

Faster. Faster. Paintings whizzed past her and the wind whistled in her ears.

Twilight’s crowning ceremony and then her marriage to Shining Armor.

Her younger self, talking to a filly Twilight, having lots and lots of fun making paintings of their favorite foods in pieces of paper. Her mother and father served them homemade cookies and it was one of the best moments of her history with Twilight’s family.

Yes! Family! She ran even faster until her legs burned, her lungs ached. Her eyes hurt, and tears wet her cheeks under a storm of emotions stirring in her chest. Fear and anticipation in each heartbeat. Her heart thundered in her ears as she flew past the small pink alicorn before the pristine white of the great Celestia.

The Witch Prismia was no more, defeated by a young and clueless pegasus that just wanted her to stop hurting others.

A cold bed in the dark. So cold and alone.

An empty plate on a rustic table. Her matron would yell at them it was their fault they didn’t work hard enough.

The wooden doors of the orphanage framed by stone walls. So scary and filled with unknowns.

And then impenetrable blackness.

“No!” She practically threw herself at the ‘painting’, stomping her hooves on the wall. Her sore throat croaked out the word as painful as the vision itself. Not simply a ‘nothing’. But a place where something should be, replaced with the lack of it. An empty frame showing black, sealed with Luna’s Moon in blue wax and a silver ribbon. She pulled back her ears and pulled at the thing with her magic.

“Come on!” Her ears fell and her wings sagged, eventually she gave up pulling at the seal with her magic and her head hung low. “Please! Luna! Please! Why?”

It was necessary.

She slowly lifted her head and then rubbed her eyes. “I am older now. Shouldn’t I be allowed to know?”

I cannot. I should not. It is dangerous. I will hurt myself.

She frowned. “Maybe there was a good reason, but I want to see! I want to remember. I should have the option.”

I am unique among ponies. I am special, destined for a different plane of existence and my reality is broken for I am not where I was supposed to be. That is why I must understand the past that the Mistress of Dreams hid from me. It is the key to my stolen Gift and also my past.

“Wait a minute.” She mused and stared down the corridor. Several of her early memories were locked away. It only caused her to frown more. Confusion and curiosity replaced her sorrow. How young was she? How many early impactful memories should she have had? She was taken into the orphanage so young. It was literally the first thing she remembered.

She walked over to the next painting. An entire city burned around Discord, laughing with his arms up. A strange sky where deranged and disjointed colors replaced the blue. Distant sounds became cries of pain and sorrow. Insane laughter. A voice called her for help and emotions suddenly rushed into her head. Rage. It was so perfect and so beautiful, but someone had destroyed it all. Her wrath called for murder, and her whole body tensed up. But then there was sorrow. So deep and intense she let out a small cry and was left in a confusing whirlwind of conflicting emotions.

She controlled herself and stepped away from the painting. It returned to the image of Discord above the burning city. That was the Capital of Equestria. The one Chrysalis had told them of when Discord almost destroyed the world.

Towards the end of the corridor there were many more paintings, but she saw something she hadn’t noticed earlier. A large pink statue of an alicorn in the dead end. She frowned and walked towards it. It looked alive, and not only that, it looked like a fiery creature of pure magic, disembodied. Free magic given life. It was a female with her belly exposed because of the way she sat, with her wings flared open in full display, and a sharp, long horn. She had her forelegs stretched out, offering a bright red flaming heart and she looked forward at it, or something that would be next to her, right above the heart.

The heart itself pulsated with pink energy and indeed sounded like a beating heart.

Dum-thump.

Dum-thump.

“What is this?” She stared into its eyes and the statue stared back at her. They were somehow made of fiery passion.

Dum-thump.

I am Love.

***

It was raining. But it didn’t seem like a normal rain, it was a raging magical storm that rumbled above like a furious monster and it rained magic-infused water. Storm magic so powerful that it froze before it touched the ground and exploded into little magical sparks. The wind howled incessantly and caused the already magically freezing rain to pelt the rock and light the whole ground with uncontrolled, wild magic.

As far as the eye could see it was nothing more than dead rocks, storm, unforgiving wind, and sand beyond it. It was as incompatible with life as a square fitting on a circle. But hooves struck the stone despite all the odds.

Forty-two ponies challenged the storm and braved the dead land. Five males surrounded the group and thirty-five females walked in between carrying or dragging large burdens supported on triangle shaped dollies made of sticks and woven plants. They led scared animals with them, pulling them with their leashes and carried others in small stick cages. Some of them were heavy with foals and one of them helped a wounded male earth pony walk. Fourteen unicorns, fourteen pegasi and fourteen earth ponies walked together wearing tightly woven plant fiber cloaks and under their hoods their eyes shone with fierce resolve. They fought the wind that flapped their protection against their bodies like it was nothing. It wouldn’t deter them, neither would the hard, sharp rock or the magical rain.

They were strong, they were smart and there would always be enough of them, but they were also bonded in an ancient pact, that compelled them to protect each other, to help their wounded and assist whenever one of them needed help. That included their world. They would bring it to heel and they would tame chaos.

They didn’t know where they were going, but they knew that they must go! They didn’t understand why, but they had left the giant trees of their beautiful home behind. It was important that they did, and one hoof after the other, one breath after the other, their old hearth was left behind several suns ago.

Other groups left their home behind too. There was something sad about it, but they didn’t remember what it was. Something urged them to leave with an unbearable desire to go forth and see what was out there beyond the giant trees. It was terribly important, so they obeyed.

And forward they marched, against rock, storm and wind, blindly following the one in the front. She was a dark-pink unicorn under her cloak and a bit of her mane showed a beautiful dark sapphire color. They didn’t know her name and she didn’t know theirs. They all knew each other by their cutie marks, and hers showed an arrow made of stars. So, they followed her: she knew where to go.

They walked for days past the storm and into the desert with no end in sight. They shared what they had amongst themselves and their animals, but when it was over, they had to stop and their pegasi gathered more clouds and urged them to rain a refreshing and soft shower. They replenished their stocks and ate from the newly born grass the earth ponies just dug out of the ground. It was normal for them… Earth ponies just did that. Unicorns knew things, pegasi made it rain and the earth ponies made the plants grow. That was just how it was supposed to be. Period.

But they eventually moved on. They were still too close and the one who knew the way kept them walking for even more suns. When she stopped, they stopped. Then she would look one way and another, change direction and keep going. Stop again and look at the stars, and then keep going and they followed her.

When scary things attacked whey protected the youngest, the newborn foals and their mothers. They would form lines and face the monsters with magic blasts, hooves and bites if they must. But not the stallions. They would END the scary things trying to hurt their friends and it usually resulted in one or more of them getting hurt. They would stop for days, resist whatever the world threw at them, but they would not leave one of theirs behind.

They were smart. They made shelter and they urged the land to feed them. They were also curious, and they explored and found things they liked, like colorful stones and shinny crystals. They realized that they could crack and shape the stone and with it they could cut things more easily. It was easier to repair their dollies then. They taught each other and made their new tools better. They found they could paint things new colors with some rocks and made everything prettier.

Then, they moved on again. They weren’t there yet.

Until one moon, after countless suns, ‘arrowbutt’ stopped and smiled. They had arrived. Another female unicorn next to her, soft blue and white stared at her. And then at the land before them. It was a barren wasteland with a puddle the most enthusiastic could’ve called a lake if they tried hard enough. There was a small mount with a cave too, but it wasn’t very nice.

She looked back at their guide as though she had misunderstood. Then she stared at the place again, and back at their guide, a bit angrily, as though to ask if she was sure.

She was. The sun rose and it was still a not very nice place, but they knew that everything the Sun and Moon touched belonged to them. So, they grinned confidently and set to work.

They undone their heavy burdens and took their supplies inside the cave, along with all the important things they had brought from the place they had left. But the first thing they did was prepare a place in the center and surround it with their wool beds. In the middle they put wood, twigs, kindling in the form of wool from their sheep. Somepony put some rocks around it and they thought it was clever.

It was ready. An old unicorn with a dark yellow coat and red and orange mane, a small flame for cutie mark, brought a small container. A hollow horn from a ram with an open cover made of leaves that prevented water from getting in, and from it she dropped bright little embers into their new fireplace. It caught fire, small and then it grew until it became large enough to burn the wood and warm them.

They all celebrated. That was home now.

These ponies needed to communicate better and started making neighing sounds and hoof gestures which allowed the unicorns to better coordinate their efforts. The pegasi started gathering clouds and the earth ponies started digging the ground. They built shelters for their animals and when the day was done, they all hid inside the cave again.

The suns passed and the land became alive. Little animals came. Little birds sang. They were happy. They were doing what they were supposed to, and the land responded. Life expanded in all directions and in every way possible. Eventually they even changed that place’s name from ‘Disgraced Hole Forgotten by Harmony’ and ‘Our Guide Sucks’ to ‘Moon Mirror’ because the moon reflected off their lake.

They explored their land and found more and more exciting things. A gorgeous waterfall, more shinny things they liked. New fruits were born, and they were delicious. Flowers they could make dye from and make things prettier. Beautiful places to lay in the grass, little bunnies that needed help digging their homes. Bees that produced honey and stung the incautious but could feed them with delicious honey. Beautiful colorful birds and wondrous magical creatures.

And strangers. Ponies they didn’t know arrived one sun, but they recognized something inside that made it click into place. They were friends too, and they had brought from their home feathers from different birds than the ones they knew. So, they offered the shiny stones they had found.

Others brought them things called seashells and they spoke of an endless lake. Others spoke of big yak that lived way, way, waaaaay over the mountains and others told them of the dragons and their lakes of fire. Striped ponies that lived in the desert that didn’t change, but became alive anyway, and their potions; big and brave griffons and their sharpened sticks they used to protect their homes from the monsters. Somepony thought those were good ideas and they made some too. They made it a lot easier to chase away the scary things trying to hurt them and to heal their friends, and they were so grateful they told the other ponies to take their dyes, made from the flowers to the griffons and zebras so that they could dye their beds too.

Every sun was full of things to do and to see.

Then, one moon they settled to sleep, but one young unicorn mare, all yellow with a shinny mane, and a cute flower for cutie mark couldn’t sleep. The fire showed her the brownish red wall of their cave and she didn’t like it. It wasn’t very pretty, and she wanted it to change, so she rummaged around her things, fussing with her straw-woven baskets until she found some of the pretty stones she had found. It didn’t smell very nice, but it was pretty. She held it in her magic and started painting the wall. It surprised her when she realized that it looked like ‘a thing’. She wondered if she could draw shapes and she could. She tried drawing the mountain, but the color was all wrong. So, she decided she should cover it with something else and drew the Sun over it. She put small wavy lines and it looked like it shone.

She liked it. It was important. It dictated the rhythm of life with her Sister, which was also important, so she looked for a white chalky stone and drew the Moon too. She nodded and them she drew herself with the yellow stone. It didn’t really look her, but it was close enough and she giggled.

Then she looked for other things to draw and rummaged inside another straw basket, the one her bed neighbor usually used. In there she found a straw doll of a pony. The color of the straw matched, but there was something curious. Somepony had stuck a pair of leaves to the doll’s back and a small stick to its forehead.

Confused, she stared at it for a while. There was something about the doll that made her feel sad, but she didn’t know why. She had forgotten something that was important. She didn’t like that feeling and it started hurting her, so she drew it on the wall. It didn’t really look much like a pony, but it was close enough. She liked it, but it wasn’t perfect yet. She drew pegasi and unicorns too. Something was missing and if frustrated her. She started drawing more ponies like herself, becoming more and more aggravated.

The other ponies noticed that something bothered their friend. She was frantically drawing on the wall, panting and whining. She seemed distressed and that seemed very important to her, so they joined. They grabbed stones and the more artistically oriented unicorns even grabbed the dyes they used to make their wool beds pretty. They started drawing too. Little bushes, things that resembled little bunnies, squirrels and birds, big trees, a little lake, and some clouds. More ponies and flowers.

Their drawings weren’t anywhere near realistic, but they were close enough. There were giant brown and green trees that surrounded everything, embracing a lake and grassy fields full of little animals and ponies surrounding four figures that looked like ponies. Close enough. And they had pairs of wings and horns. One shone like the sun and the other like the moon. The third was pink and had a big heart, and the fourth was white, with six pretty stones around her neck.

The ponies stared at their drawing and it seemed to have satisfied their friend. What is more, they remembered it too. But it also made them sad because they were left alone. But at least now they wouldn’t forget anymore.

Then Cadance realized that her thoughts had been quiet that whole time.

***

She was transported. Luna’s words rang at the back of her head. ‘The train of thoughts’ was a good term. One memory that pulled another. It was similar to teleporting, actually.

She saw a pony knelt in front of her. It was a very young earth pony mare with radishes for cutie mark on her off-pink coat and with a light green mane she cut short. She was not particularly cute, her colors didn’t help a lot and she certainly didn’t possess a ravishing beauty either, but she had livid and bright rosé eyes that caught her fancy.

At the same time Cadance noticed she couldn’t move, and for some bizarre reason she couldn’t grasp that didn’t scare her as much as it should. She also noticed a strange lack of sensations. No touch, no smells. Nothing. But all that seemed unimportant and normal.

Some of her thoughts seemed like they weren’t spontaneous to herself, but she attributed that to this vision, dream, memory… Whatever it was being so introspective. She decided that much of what she felt was what she felt at the time it occurred in reality. Or whoever she was supposed to be felt. It was confusing and she decided not to think too much and accept it.

The really important thing was that she could hear whispers. Too many to count. And yet she could hear any one of them at any given time. It should be disturbing to Cadance’s usually quiet and organized mind, but it was comforting. Like everything was the way it was supposed to be. She felt a bond, a connection. A sense of belonging.

Behind the pony in front of her was an area of beaten ground surrounded by little homes, little more than domes of weaved grass and bamboo structures placed over holes in the ground with a stair entrance. It was the middle of the day, and a large bonfire was being prepared nearby to the sound of ponies merrily working and already celebrating. It was a small settlement.

Her mind was fuzzy, and she had trouble focusing on certain things as though she couldn’t recall them, and she was forced to focus on something else. Cadance wasn’t sure why, but the strange little village had a very calming and reassuring effect on her. It seemed something so familiar, despite never having lived or seem anything remotely similar.

Regardless, she wouldn’t know how the pony called herself. She recognized something in that pony that was unique to her. Truly unique, unlike a name that was something that one could share with another.

The little pony laid over her bent legs on the grass, as was customary and stared up with beautiful eyes, full of hope and dreams. All of them were expected to do that, and as was also customary, she brought a gift. It was a… Who in the entirety of Creation offered a bunch of radishes as sacrifice?

Well, she supposed it was a valid sacrifice since it was part of her family’s produce and those things were the best ones her family had produced. That was her offer, anyways, and she seemed proud of it. It was also food and would keep her faithful fed.

They were wrapped like a bouquet in a nice and clean cattail weave wrap. And they were all clean, they were sizeable… And she was sure they would be tasty… If radishes were tasty. Most important of all, the pony’s heart gleamed with the earnest desire to please her. She wouldn’t dare doubt this little pony’s heart. It had somepony’s heart that was special to it and it begged for her permission.

Well, it was decided. Her offering was enough and as such, Cadance waited gleefully for her request.

The pony clapped her hooves together and smiled radiantly before speaking with her timid voice. “Hello. I am… Um. Crunchy Salad. I hope Your Lady of the Heart is pleased with my gift! I know it isn’t much, but these were the best of our harvest. Hum… As you know… I’m of mating age and mama made me the most beautiful of dresses. But I’m not really pretty enough that my special somepony will even notice me. If it is alright with you, I would really like it if he noticed me and went with me to Your Lady’s Festival.”

Cadance couldn’t speak, but she wanted to help the hopeful little pony.

“His name is Astral Wind, Miss Storm Wind’s second son. I thank you in advance, Lady.” She said, quickly got up and moved away.

While Cadance wouldn’t know him by his name, her little heart whispered to her in the middle of all the others, as clear as the day who was Astral Wind. Well, that was all fine and good if she wanted to be in love with that pony, but she couldn’t connect the name to the pony!

Why did they always do this?! Why do they expect her to know all their names?! She needed help or else she couldn’t find that Astral Wind!

In mere seconds another pony came to her. This time it was a lavishly gorgeous pony. A unicorn with a soft yellow coat and voluminous and wild golden mane to go with her honey eyes. She wore a very rustic white dress and smiled at Cadance, then retrieved the offering with her telekinetic magic.

Excellent. One of the ponies that always came when she called. Not only that, but this one was special. She was her favorite pony!

For some reason Cadance couldn’t remember that pony was incredibly important to her but trying to remember was giving her a headache that was ruining the nice moment. So, she let go and instead focused on that mare while she examined the radishes, shrugged and stashed them away from Cadance’s eyes.

“Daffodil!” Another mare, an overly excited older unicorn pony with light orange coat and graying-out yellow mane approached. She showed a strange cutie mark that she had never seen before, but somehow, she knew what it was. A bone needle. Used for sewing simple clothes and making some tools. How did Cadance suddenly know what a bone needle was, she had no idea, but at the moment the thought seemed more like a distraction than an important point of contention with her present situation.

The mare approached and stared at Cadance for a second, smiling cheerfully before returning her eyes to the taller and younger mare. “Thank you so much for coming to our village! You can`t can’t imagine the happiness that you brought us! We’d like to pay you, somehow for your trouble since we know you’re so busy in Heart-Hearth.”

“Oh, no, Madam Elder! It is no trouble at all! I merely must go where the Lady of the Heart commands me!” Her beautiful voice sang more than spoke and she made a flamboyant and exaggerated sweep with her hoof.

Daffodil! Cadance needed Daffodil to look for the colt, Astral Wind, son of Storm Wind or else little Salad’s love will go unrequited!

“I must say, your village is very adorable and pleasant! But the Lady of the Heart has work for me. A young filly and a young colt live here, and the Lady would see them together. He answers by the name of Astral Wind, son of Storm Wind.”

“Oh, my goodness!” The old mare tip tapped in place. “Would you perform the tying of the knot ceremony for our new couple?”

“Oh, absolutely yes! If that is what the Lady wishes of me.” Daffodil smiled warmly. “Where may I find the colt? I know the filly would still be around the meeting area, I believe I talked to her, and I must say Astral Wind will be delighted at the mate the Lady has chosen for him!”

“I will gladly introduce your ladyship to him! His family lives by the field, right this way!”

It was confusing at first, but Cadance somehow jumped into the beautiful pony and… Rode along? It was the best analogy she could come up with to explain to herself what had just happened and she simply started feeling like a normal pony again but she could still hear the whispers in her head and another voice that she could only imagine were Daffodil’s thoughts and her certainty of doing Her bidding. She simply accepted it while the beautiful mare walked next to the ‘elder’. She liked ridding along.

She felt the grass on her hooves, the rough cotton fabric on her coat and Daffodil’s other senses, as well as her magical senses that told her of all the beautiful and plentiful life all around. It was a bit chilly and would certainly be cooler once the Moon replaced her Sister in the sky, but the bonfire would make it perfect for ponies to cuddle and celebrate her Gift.

The walk was short through the central square, though calling it that might’ve been an exaggeration. It was more of a meeting area with an empty space for such. Grass weaved blankets held all the food the ponies brought to celebrate the Lady of the Heart. Whispers in her head spoke of all the excitement, the break from routine and the promise of a fun afternoon, after all the work was done.

Some ponies of all three tribes prepared very rustic musical instruments next to the working ponies. Flutes, drums, oboes, and rattles, all made off wood, pony hair, seeds, or seashells, and one or two things made of bone or animal leather.

A small oven made of a hole on the ground covered in stones, leaves and sand released a delicious smell of some sort of cooked fruits. Maybe figs, some berries and apples. The smell watered Daffodil’s and Cadance’s mouth.

Some ponies already danced to the sound of the musicians. Pairs had formed and orbited each other, shamelessly moving in rhythm with the music, not remotely caring if it was beautiful or harmonious. It was a simply an expression of pure joy. They had painted traditional drawings over their bodies with plant and mineral dyes. Cadance appreciated their ‘tattoos’ even if most of them had no concept of what colors went together. They all seemed so happy and spontaneous.

Either way ponies congregated and danced, ate copious amounts of food and just frolicked together, waving and celebrating Daffodil’s passage while they also prepared the bonfire to be lit when it would be time.

Her chest warmed imagining the festivity once the work was done and all could join the celebration.

Past a couple of little hut-houses they stopped by the last one before the field. It wasn’t really a large one by Cadance’s standards, but it should provide enough radishes for however few ponies lived in the small village. They also seemed to plant oats, corn and had several animals with them. A few ponies worked the field with rustic tools made of stone and ropes.

The houses themselves seemed to have a cap at the tip, like a second ceiling that confused Cadance for a while but the thought eluded her for a while when they stopped by the entrance, closed with a meager cattail weave curtain and the Elder literally neighed. Okay… That was awkward, but it worked. A yellow and lime pegasus peeked his head out from behind the curtain. Upon seeing the visitors, he gasped and rushed back inside. Knocked something over and squealed about it, then something else seemed to tumble over. Then he finally walked outside with what seemed to Cadance as his best ‘mare’s stallion’ smile and brushed mane.

“How can I help the faithful of the Lady of the Heart?” He said while he whispered all sorts of cute and lewd thoughts to Cadance’s mind.

“By calling your son, Astral Wind instead of bothering the Lady’s servant.” The elder grinned all prankish.

“Oh… He’s inside. Just came back from cloud duty.” Cadance giggled at how much his levels of excitement plummeted, though she didn’t appreciate the older mare making fun of him for having expectations. She saw nothing wrong with a healthy male pony being attracted to such a beautiful pony as Daffodil. Regardless, he went on. “Do you want me to bring him?”

“That is not necessary.” Daffodil rose a hoof before the elder could say anything and came very close to sharing her thoughts with the Elder but didn’t. “If it is not any trouble, would you have me at your hearth?”

Oh… Okay then. Cadance giggled to herself again. It seemed that politician ponies never changed. Whenever in the past these events had occurred or in present time, when ponies still fought for her time and attention. Her money and influence, more likely since ponies of the present had no interest in her ultimate gift for them.

She didn’t let the thought sadden her while the pegasus stallion pulled open the curtain for her to enter and smiled radiantly at her while Daffodil bowed her head respectfully.

Inside the air was more at a pleasant temperature and it was little more than a hole in the ground. A neat and well-cared for hole in the ground though, hardly more than what a pony needed to protect themselves from the rain or the cold. Speaking of the cold, it had a small hearth with a fire surrounded by river stones. The smoke drained outside through a gap in the ceiling, protected from above. Oh! That was how it worked! The wind outside pulled the air from inside and took the smoke with it while the hot air circled around!

Their ingenuity still amazed her in all the ways their perspicacious minds worked around every problem daily life presented them. It almost made Cadance jealous of that Gift, but as smart as they were, they still needed her help to figure out the matters of the Heart.

Other than the cleverly built hearth, the floor was covered in roughly sewn and weaved blankets. A hole in the ground, covered with a heavy piece of wood was their pantry and the walls were decorated with pretty and colorful beading. They didn’t make those heartfelt paintings of her in the cave walls anymore, but they were better that way.

There a few beds made of heavy and dyed wool spread around the small house and some ponies were drawn to Daffodil’s expressive presence. An adult unicorn with cyan coat and blue mane was teaching a younger mare of similar colors how to make the pretty beading they hanged on the wall. Two young foals bothered another adult mare trying to cut a piece of leather with a knife made of a sharp and shiny polished rock with a bone handle. Another pegasus, soft green with pale blue, green and yellow mane that went well with his blue eyes. Wavy soft colorful lines in his flank, fidgeting around with a hoe made of stone and bone tied with leather straps, but he stopped when he noticed the mare at the entrance.

Cadance recognized him immediately and Daffodil smiled broadly at the sight.

The stallion that received them rose his hoof. “Daffodil, servant of the Lady of the Heart has something important to tell us!”

Daffodil left the entrance steps and approached the young pony smiling. “Be happy, Astral Wind! The Lady of the Heart has granted her Greatest Gift to you!”

“Wow… Uh…” He blushed a little and scratched his mane. “That’s awesome, I guess. I mean… Who are they? Do I have to do anything?”

Cadance squee’d inside. Yay! A happy couple forever!

“Oh, you will know when you see her!” Her hoof touched his chest and she showed him a giant smile. “Just follow your heart! It hears the Lady, even if your head doesn’t. And when you find her, I will teach you all that the Lady has to teach to young couples burning with passion!”

“Jeez, Astral. You’re so clueless the Lady had to send one of her servants all the way out here for you to figure this out!” One of the pegasus fillies chided him. “I hope she spares me from a dumb flank like you.”

Well, if there was one thing that never changed it would be siblings. Cadance giggled to herself once more. When the oldest unicorn suddenly opened wide her eyes. “Goodness! Where are our manners?”

Her telekinetic magic brought to them a small basket of woven straw filled to the top and a little more with the little honey colored fruits. They smelled amazing to Cadance and Daffodil liked her lips, but when she took one into her mouth and bit into it, core and all, the little fruit exploded with delicious sweetness and a bit of caramel. If Cadance was in control of that body, it would probably have toppled over and demanded to be fed a train load of the thing.

“Hmmm! Hmm hmm hmm!” Daffodil happily munched on the fruit. “It’s delicious!”

The unicorn matriarch of the family smiled radiantly that their dates were appreciated. “We traded them in from a tall-pony explorer travelling our lands. They loved the radishes our ponies produce!”

Daffodil was ready to pick another, but what she said held her. “Oh. They are from a distant land.”

The other unicorn shook her head and smiled. “It is no problem. If you like it so much It is our gift to the Lady of The Heart! For your visit! Will you stay with us? You will need a place to sleep on your stay!”

***

Suddenly Cadance felt like she didn’t have a body again. And seemed to be sitting inside a large marble structure, at the top of a few steps. It was pretty pink marble and heavy wood and metal doors were closed and one of the marble pillars had fallen. The wind howled furiously outside and ponies wearing pretty white dresses also wore heavy winter capes and ran everywhere frantically gathering things with help from other ponies. From papers to trinkets and some food.

A gorgeous pony, all yellow with a golden mane showed her face before her, looking all concerned and worried.

Our dearest Daffodil.

She looked a bit different, though. Younger and a bit different. It was difficult to understand. She was Daffodil, but seemed like another pony that looked a lot like her.

“We cannot leave the goddess!” She squealed half-panicked at the other ponies. “What will those monsters do to Her?”

She remembered. The Windigos were upon them and their temple in that island in the Northern Neighean Sea had to be abandoned. It was a shame. She adored the love poems directed at mares one of her priestesses wrote there.

Oh well… Sucks… But why were they so concerned? They shouldn’t even be there! They should have left already!

One pegasus approached and he was a beautiful looking soldier with a black armor over his stormy grey coat and lightning blue mane turned crest while a gray unicorn wearing a blue winter cape picked things up with her magic. “I don’t know if we can do anything about it, priestess…”

He sounded so sorrowfull. What was wrong with those ponies? It was an important building, but the temple could be rebuilt when it would be acceptable. The had to leave!

Then he turned to the unicorn in the back. “This is all because you stupid unicorns!”

“Excuse-me?” She barked back while Daffodil simply stared at Cadance like she was about to cry.

Unbelievable!

Fly thy foals! The Windigos cometh and ye cannot hold them! The shrine is insignificant, it is in thy Hearts We reside! Ye must survive! Heed the Gift of Friendship then, save yourselves!

That shook Daffodill and she became even more scared. “What was I thinking?! Forget everything! We have to go! Now!”

And that was what they did. They left anything that wasn’t important and left out the door. The whispers in her head, all scared and frantic, were also determined. The others had commanded them to leave too. The temples would be left empty, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that they survived. It would be their most important test yet.

Soon it became dark, but she could their whispers. They had escaped. Everything would be fine, and they would take her with them wherever they went. They would wake her when it was time, so she closed her eyes and allowed herself into slumber. Windigos be damned, their race would survive. She knew it.

***

Cadance woke with the sensation that she was placed somewhere. She saw that she was at the flat top of a mount. She could see another where ponies were building something grandiose. Beyond was a lovely oat field. Then a pony with a large smile came in front of her and sat. It was her Daffodil. Some years older than she was the last time she had seen her, but the years only added to her beauty. Behind her a few pegasi and earth ponies smiling proudly.

“We found a nice place for you!” She showed the scenery with a sweep of her hoof. “We called it Equestria!”

Ye have survived! Your proud race remembered the Ancient Pact and the Fire of Friendship burneth anew! We are overjoyed!

Everything was perfect again. All she had to do was wait for her new home to be ready!

***

Things changed suddenly and Cadance saw that Discord staring critically at her. She was now inside a building with large columns covered in gold and the soft pink marble of the floor had marvelous golden inlays. Several rose petals scattered around the floor and running water could be heard. After a long hall a large open door showed a field covered in oats. Some ponies milled about, dressed in all sorts of dresses and togas. Some of them seemed to bring gifts in the form of bouquets of yellow flowers they left wherever it seemed appropriated.

She felt strange again, as though she didn’t have a body, but the worse was the silence. The multitude of whispers seemed a lot calmer now. What changed? She missed them!

Discord’s presence commanded her attention though, and his was on Cadance, too. He scratched his chin and frowned. Then he clicked a claw on her muzzle.

How inconvenient.

“Could you please not?” Somepony said from her side and he grimaced with a guilty smile and took a few steps back while a big and strong earth pony stallion with black coat and curly jet mane deposited some daffodils by Cadance's hooves. He wore a wonderful white toga with a heart shaped brooch.

My… What a nice-looking stud!

“Sorry. She just looks so pretty.”

“Of course, she does. She's Amore.” The pony seemed almost offended and the whispers she heard from him made that clear.

“Well, please don’t touch the goddess. She finds it bothersome.”

“It’s a statue.”

“Yessssss…” His condescending smile filled with teeth made Cadance giggle. “It is an idol. Touching it is like touching Amore Herself.”

“That doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

“And since when must things make sense for you?” The pony stared blankly, and Discord crossed his arms, finally rolling his eyes.

“Huh… Fine. Sorry, sorry.” He grinned apologetically and the pony left, after smiling happily at him having understood. Then Discord turned his attention back to Cadance.

“This is so freaky…”

“What is?” Star Swirl, with his hat and cape walked into her view and next to Discord, still staring at Cadance. Star Swirl looked at her too, and he seemed rather a strapping young stallion. “What?”

“She speaks and these ponies… Like… They obey. But she doesn’t really think. She just… I don’t even know how to explain.”

“Who?” Star Swirl’s brow raised. “The statue?”

“I mean… You’re not even supposed to know about them. You were supposed to have forgotten them once you migrated from the Green Harbor! This is all kinds of messed up.”

“What are you talking about, Discord?” Star Swirl looked as confused as Cadance was disturbed at the fact that she knew who that pony was, but she couldn’t hear his whispers.

“Just look at her.” Discord insisted.

“What about it?” Star Swirl did stare at Cadance. “I do not see anything wrong with it. It is how all statues of Amore are made.”

She thought it a bit curious the way these ponies talked. But couldn’t put her hoof on it.

Another pony came into view, this time a beautiful youngling, barely an adult, covered in grayish cyan coat and with a beautiful gold and bronze mane. He wore a leather barding and carried a shield with him. He simply stared distrusting at Cadance and spoke with a reserved tone, covering his mouth. “They say they even carve her lady bits under her tail…”

Leave! You disturb the proceedings and use my temple for blasphemous idling! Why won’t you heed my voice? Begone!

Discord smirked and blushed at the comment while Star Swirl sighed. “Focus more on your studies, and less on statues of mares, Rockhoof…”

A wrath Cadance rarely usually felt stirred in her chest and she wished she could blast the three of them out of existence with her magic. Why didn’t they listen to her?!

A pony in the background, a pretty lilac coated and raven-maned unicorn wearing a pristine white dress and golden addresses talked to a pair of pegasi and received a bundle of daffodils from them.

Wait! Where was Daffodil? Intellectually, Cadance understood too much time must have passed and Daffodil simply passed away. But she still felt like Daffodil was somehow missing.

Regardless, the mare looked at the three near Cadance and frowned while coming to them. But her eyes softened. She whispered to Cadance’s mind that she remembered to be nice to the guests. And she spoke calmly to them.

“Master Swirl. Master Discord. And… Whoever you are. Would you kindly take your conversation outside the Basilica? They disturb the goddess.”

“You see?!” Discord pointed at the pony. “They did it again! It’s like she thinks inside their heads or something! I’m pretty sure your minds weren’t supposed to work like that!”

“Well… You know how the mares are, Master Discord.” Rockhoof made a spinning gesture with his hoof next to his head while the mare waited with mild anger.

Star Swirl hummed and narrowed his eyes at the mare next to them and she blinked, a little disturbed. “Do you hear voices that should not be present, milady?”

“Yes!” Her straight-faced reply made Cadance chuckle. “I am indeed hearing three of them right now!”

“This is not a matter for jokes, priestess.” The gray pony admonished. “We are concerned for your humors.”

“My humors shall summon the temple Battlehorns if you three are not more respectful towards the goddess.” She kept her straight face.

“Alright, alright. There is no need for threats milady.” Star Swirl offered a hoof in apology. “It is the case that Master Discord is concerned. You see, we have limitations to our minds and perceptions that he does not have.”

Discord put on himself a kind of hat that wouldn’t be invented for another couple of thousand years. “Indeed, my fair lady.”

“Why are you still here?”

“Well, I actually have a question.” Discord raised a finger.

The mare stared at him inhaling profoundly before exhaling and smiling pleasantly despite all the thoughts of murder and maiming she shared with Cadance. “Yes? How can a servant of Amore help you, Master Discord?”

“You say that you don’t hear voices, but you speak to her… To Amore. And that she answers… Explain? I mean, I’m all about Chaos and I’m lost.”

“The goddess speaks to us through our hearts, if a pony will merely listen to her. She is, the Lady of the Heart.”

“I don’t hear anything…” Rockhoof moved his ears around and made a confused expression.

Maddening. This is maddening! Explain to them, Lilac. For the love of Harmony!

Her priestess summoned all her patience at that moment and put forward her friendliest smile. “Young master, you cannot listen to the Lady with your ears. You must learn to quiet your mind and choose to listen to her within your heart. If you manage, which I sadly doubt, the Lady of the Heart will be so happy with you she would give you all the mares and stallions you would ever want. She will teach you what they like and how to treat them, and they will flock to such a strapping lad as yourself.”

“That sounds very…” Star Swirl struggled for a second with his choice of words holding his chin in a hoof. “Disturbing. So, you actually believe you have a small pony inside your heart that speaks to you? I mean, I’ve heard of a pony speaking inside one’s head, but…”

The priestess rubbed her forehead with a hoof. “This is why you males don’t get laid as much as you want. You are so unbelievably clueless! Why don’t you go bother the Children of the Sun?! Sol-Estia finds it cute to see her ponies being so stupid!”

“Wait! I have another question!” Discord waved at her.

“Will you leave if I answer?”

“Hum. I’m gonna say yes.” He crossed his arms. “You know, you are not very friendly. I mean… In the Forum they are all friendly and like to listen to each other and discuss their problems, right? In the Sol Invictus they go and on about law and rulership and the military campaigns. In the Speculum Lunares they have those wild and crazy… Dare I say ‘chaotic’ debates about all sorts of philosophical mumbo-jumbo. What do you actually do here?”

“We worship the Lady of the Heart. Just as the others celebrate the Gifts given to us by our gods. Sol-Estia, The Mother gave us Life. Luccenoturna, The Sister gave us Intelligence. Amicizia, the Friend gave us Friendship. We worship Amore at the Cor Basilica, and thus, we celebrate Amore’s Gift of Love.”

“Yeah…” Discord groaned and blushed. “The image in my head is way above this story’s age rating.”

“Well, Master Discord, that is because you are an idiot.” Lilac spat back while Rockhoof chuckled with red cheeks and Star Swirl was more interested in his inner thoughts holding his chin and frowning. His thoughts, however, were infuriatingly beyond Cadance’s reach.

ENOUGH!

“I have to ask you to leave.” Lilac spoke again.

Oh well, Cadance wanted them to talk more, but she was getting irritated at them. She felt like something important had happened or was about to happen, but she couldn’t remember. And she wanted to see Daffodil again!

Another pony joined them. Though calling her a pony might have been improper. She was huge. Cadance had never seen such a huge unicorn in her life. She was as big as Princess Celestia, wearing an impressive heavy armor with plates shaped like leaves of a tree, all green and golden with a helmet that protected most of her head leaving space for a long and elegant horn and turned her red mane into an exuberant decorative crest.

She had that same expression that Cadance had seen in some Royal Guards that actually went to fight with the Princess in the Second Griffon War, and her armor let her beautiful chestnut coat show. Her tail bundled neatly thanks to the armor’s magic. She wondered if the magic was the same as the one in the Royal Guard barding. It was possible.

The way the three grimaced and took a step back when she arrived even managed to make Cadance laugh in the middle of her confusing thoughts and emotions. She brought with her a powerful magical aura that rivaled Cadance’s own.

“You three are hogging the statue of the Lady. Do you not know how to behave in sacred ground?” She barely kept from yelling at them. Cadance then noticed she brought with her an exuberant bouquet of daffodils. “Do you need assistance, Pontifex Lilac?”

“No, Matriarch Flameheart. The three were just leaving.”

“Wait!” Star Swirl gasped at her and pointed a hoof. “Is that an offering to Amore?”

“Yes.” She said mater-of-factly. “If only the Lady would help my special somepony stop being so dense…”

He thought for several seconds. “But you are the matriarch of one of the most powerful houses in the Republic and Legate to one of the most successful Battlehorn Legions! Who would be stupid enough to not accept your affections?”

If she couldn’t hear the big mare’s whispering thoughts Cadance might have worried she might’ve murdered him right there. Instead she simply stared at him for a few moments before speaking again. “I do not know, Star Swirl. Maybe he is scared of big mares or maybe he has his muzzle so deep inside his hindquarters all he can think of are his studies and that stupid Mage’s Guild and cannot notice that I love him or even that a strategic marriage would behoof him and his accursed guild!”

“Sounds like an idiot!” Star Swirl frowned and mused.

The big pony growled and shoved the flowers into Cadance’s chest.

Neigh! I forbid. His heart is thorny and icy to My touch and would turn yours to ashen badlands. Best you remain My faithful. Better days shall yet come for you, dear Cinnamon.

“You’re the dumbest smart pony I know, Star Swirl.” Discord growled at him.

Wait a second! Cadance was so enthralled in that conversation and in her mixed thoughts that she didn’t even notice it for a while. That was Cinnamon Flameheart from the griffon’s letter! Whatever happened when the letter said the Sisters had arrived was probably very close! What happened?

As though it answered to her question her mind transported her again, but this time much harsher and dramatically.

Immediately something was terribly wrong. She had stopped hearing most of the whispers inside her head, but now what remained of them cried and begged for help.

Cadance herself cried at the shock. The floor before her was stained with blood and one of her faithful laid dead before her. Her beautiful white dress ripped and stained crimson.

No! What happened? Outside the oat field was aflame and she could hear distant cries and sounds of fighting. Combat spells being cast left and right shook the ground. The blue sky was an inscrutable mess of disjointed mad colors. Magic itself drained from all around her, alarmingly fast, as though somepony had opened the drain on a pool.

The world was dying.

She jumped out and flew, and though pillars and walls meant nothing to her, she felt like flying through water. Magic was sick and the wind itself seemed to cackle, mocking her.

Outside of her Cor Basilica, the pink marble edification that it was mostly intact, but its grounds were littered with unmoving bodies and charred patches of stone told of powerful combat spells that had been cast. She gasped and shook her head. Soldiers, ponies of different colors and tribes, but most of them were sickly looking, with all their color drained from their coats. Dirty and malnourished.

She didn’t want to stare too long at it, but turning the other side, the forest which covered the mounts burned and nowhere seemed safe for whatever little animals or ponies that lived there.

Sol-Estia’s magnificent palace was in ruins and her gigantic golden statue of the alicorn goddess holding an orb and a scepter lied broken and crumbled in the riverbed bellow. Luccenotturna’s beautiful blue palace was charred and the flames from within licked out the windows.

The city itself was in flames and even though her memory of it was flimsy at best, it could barely be imagined as the bustling metropolis it was. The fields that surrounded it all glowed like a macabre aura crowning it.

Ponies laughed though. It was an insane laughter that echoed in the… Day? Night? It simply froze her spine.

She could see them. An endless wave of mad ponies throwing themselves over each other around and into the flaming oat fields, through and around the little houses where the farmers once lived. It was horrifying! Those nice and beautiful ponies had turned into insane monstrosities.

On the other side of the field ponies rushed inside the city’s tall walls and then the gates closed. The gate closest to the fields seemed to hold when the wave of insanity outside threw itself at it, and dozens upon dozens of ponies rushed up staircases behind the walls and fought to protect it. She was too far to see but she could see arrows flying along some elemental spells and other projectiles shooting downwards or eventually shooting at flying pegasi and other creatures that tried to pass the walls. They didn’t fly very well and Candance wondered if whatever it was that Discord had done to them damaged their ability to fly.

The sight concerned her, but if the gate held, they might stand a chance. The walls and the gate itself seemed to be filled to the brim with protective spells that would reinforce it.

That was not the griffons’ arrival nor Princess Celestia fixing the sun. This was earlier… When Discord tried to end the world.

Looking down to the streets she saw that some of those insane ponies had managed to invade the city. But she also saw that the streets had been blocked and that giant ponies that looked like Cinnamon held their advance. Small organized units cast powerful spells and cleared the streets wave after wave of chortling mad ponies threw improvised weapons or charged at them.

They held magical shields and cast spells, thundering through the streets and countering the insane babbling. Spell after spell they didn’t seem to tire and behind their lines others of their own, all sharing the very same armor and variations of the same chestnut coat and red mane beat down doors.

They dragged panicking ponies outside and ushered them away towards the mountains behind the city. Other ponies wearing a lighter armor, mostly earth ponies and pegasi, but still of the same colors organized the panicking and fleeing ponies into groups and escorted them to safety. It was an organized and measured retreat of the panic-prone pony population from the city of the likes Cadance couldn’t imagine happening without an organized force of disciplined soldiers making it happen. Ponies just panicked too easily.

Past the city itself its walls protected a valley and connected to a mountain beyond. It had been turned into a fortress. They carved it out of the solid rock and enchanted it with so much magic that it gleamed like a magical beacon shooting up into in the dark of mad colors in the sky, defiantly challenging it. Giant banners hung from its walls in multilayered defensive sectors, showing flaming hearts and purple stars. Cadance imagined those were the banners of those battlehorns that defended the city. The flaming heart was easy to deduce.

The waves of fleeing ponies, and other creatures met in the wider streets the chestnut soldiers had secured for them and they panicked amid magical explosions and crumbling buildings, but they ran in the right direction, towards the giant fortress.

Other parts of the city had already been overwhelmed and those mad creatures poured out of the houses but those soldiers had organized well their defensive lines and they allowed those monsters to funnel into areas where more of them could fight effectively and while they did others joined in casting a powerful spell that exploded the entire block. It was powerful magic, cast by feel of them.

A powerful wave of magical aftereffect and noise wafted over her and directed her attention to the walls that protected the valley, on the west side. A rolling prairie extended beyond the walls and the chain of smaller mountains until it met soft hills. The walls had a triple line of those giant unicorn battlehorns, all in shades of pink and purple with dark manes their armor turned to crests. Several lines of them held the area in front of the walls where what seemed like refugees ran inside in panic and flooded into the valley before the fortress.

The battlehorns held the incoming wave in a solid formation. Their big leaf-shaped shields alit with magic held like a solid wall and curved swords that could split a pony in half stabbed at those creatures. Laughing and screaming the mad ponies crashed against the combined wall of shields and magical barriers again and again, but it didn’t waver. They were barely organized, the sort of thing those trained soldiers were proficient at fighting against.

The situation seemed desperate but seeing them fight almost made Cadance imagine they could win after all.

Above the wall horns charged with magic and the entire thing seemed like it was ablaze until it released in a wave of magical energy. The entire prairie exploded with magical energy. It was a high-energy but simple non-elemental spell of energy transfer washing over in a sequence of resonant magical blasts destroyed everything in its path.

Cadance once saw all the broadside cannons of one of their old warships from the Second Griffon War firing. It was a scary sound, to say the least. One that reverberated inside her lungs and she imagined that was the most terrifying sound she’d ever hear. It paled in comparison to the combined magic of those unicorns.

In a moment of peace, magical flares shot up from the wall and illuminated the prairie and hills and they moved in the soft light. The sight horrified Cadance and she took her hooves to her mouth with a small cry. The hills didn’t move, they crawled with insane creatures ravenously running towards the city. They were too many to count and there was a dragon surrounded by other flying creatures coming at the city.

Just as soon the battlehorns were done repelling the initial attack another wave approached amid psychotic cries and laughter. The unicorns atop the wall bombarded the prairie with magic again, but were forced to start shooting magical missiles, small packets of energy at pegasi that flew over the wave to attack the line of soldiers below.

It was too much. Every instinct in her, inculcated from all the lessons in military strategy told her that the city was lost and that they needed to evacuate it and flee outside, not into the fortress, as mighty as it seemed. But she realized that they didn’t have anywhere to go, that was the last stand. A creeping fear threated to overwhelm her. There was no way they could ever survive. She wanted to do something. Anything to help, but all she could really do was cause ponies to fall in love and they didn’t even listen to her anymore. She begged something, anything to help them, but nothing answered.

Then she heard a magical beacon someone had cast. It rose above the city and showed a flaming heart. A pegasus flew from a rich mansion in the western area of the city and towards a tall bridge where a group of ponies in light barding fought against a continuous stream of Discord’s mad ponies. Too much happened at the same time for her to keep up, but pegasi flew everywhere and it seemed like an order to retreat but the movement drew her attention and she saw several of the chestnut soldiers leaving the mansion. They jumped over the low hedge and galloped full sprint down the street. Was that Matriarch Cinnamon Flameheart?

Cadance rushed to follow her, flapping wings against the weird magic and galloping in the air as tough that might help but managed to catch up to the matriarch and her soldiers. It struck her as curious that they were all similar colors and it also occurred to her that Flameheart was a surname. It was probably thousands of years since they stopped using those in Equestrian history. Probably something related to bloodlines. That was the pony the griffon mentioned in his letter, but this was Discord’s defeat and not the arrival of the griffon army. That would still take some years. Something didn’t seem right. If Celestia and Luna were supposed to have defeated Discord… But they can’t have been born yet. As was becoming usual, something didn’t add up. There was yet another piece of the puzzle to find.

The ponies she followed kept on racing through the streets and one of the younger spoke to their leader. “Mother, what is our plan?”

“The Farmland Gate cannot fall. If it does, The Lost will overwhelm the City Guard and the First Legion by the West Wall. But if there is one pony inside this city that cannot be allowed to die it is the Archmage. We have to keep the gate at all costs until they have withdrawn their forces and the Archmage and his students have reached safety in the Citadel! We have to hope that Lieutenant Pansy can reach him in time. The tall Bridge is not that far.”

Other of Cinnamon's Battlehorns joined, peeking out from the secondary streets and uniting with the group in their mad gallop down the street. Several groups of them joined and one of the big mares approached Cinnamon. “Matriarch, the Second and Fourth Auxilia Alae and Equitata volunteered to hold the line in the city and evacuate the civilians from the south districts. It is a mess families and merchants from the market managed to reach the Forum and the priests barricaded the temple. They are all being moved to the Citadel right now.”

She shook her head with her ears down. “I don’t understand what happened. There is not a single Brightmane in sight.”

Cinnamon frowned, but it wasn’t a frown of worry, as Cadance might’ve expected. It was pure contained wrath. “The Brightmanes left their estate and took all their possessions. They never gave the order to evacuate, much less deployed their house’s soldiers. They went straight to safety in the Citadel and sabotaged the Farmland Gate.”

Her soldier seemed incredulous. “What would they gain from leaving harmless civilians and temple priests to the mercy of The Lost?”

“They knew we would come to assist.” Cinnamon said. “I, however, do not think they expected the First Legion to still hold the West Wall. Still, had they managed to destroy the gate unknown, the Lost would swarm this entire side of the city and likely would overrun the First Legion trying to get the refugees inside.”

Her daughter grimaced fiercely. “They seek to murder us!”

“That is why the Archmage must be kept safe. The Founding Council cannot be trusted, and I would not be surprised if they arranged to murder the Senate. The Archmage will be the only thing standing in their way after this night.”

They galloped in silence through the main street where neat stone and wood houses flanked it on both sides, but they were empty now. Potted plants that once decorated then were turned on their sides and broken. Abandoned carts in the middle of the street still full of produce and the air was hot and full of smoke, but at least there seemed to be no forgotten or abandoned ponies in that section of the city.

Then a loud blast rocked the ground and toppled one of the statues of pretty mares holding vases in the plaza ahead. Ponies screamed and poured into the plaza coming from the left while pegasi scattered everywhere. Some skipped and fell being trampled by others in their panicked dash. All ponies wearing leather barding. At least one or two stopped to help or took the way towards the fortress, but the majority spread in every which way.

“No! Go south, to the Citadel!” Cinnamon cried. “Cardamom, stay here and send these idiots towards the Citadel!”

“Ma’am!” Her daughter halted, skipping a little in the stone road while the others rushed past her following Cinnamon to the plaza where they turned left in the middle of the panicking and confused ponies, entering the street that led directly to the gate Cadance had seen before.

Ponies were still fighting from the top of the wall, shooting magic or arrows downward to the other side or at the pegasi that tried approaching from the air. The gate had a large diagonal crack on its left door and threatened to buckle under the assault from outside. The insane laughter had become a bizarre cacophony of terror and every time the gate creaked more and more ponies that were behind it panicked and ran towards the plaza.

Cadance flew above and screamed when half the gate finally collapsed and a mass of insane creatures that once were ponies poured in like a wave on top of whatever was in the way. Whatever semblance of formation broke, and ponies stampeded away while she could see a few of them that cowered and turned before her eyes. She didn’t understand the process of how it happened, but it was like a second wave claiming those too paralyzed with fear to run.

They poured in so fast the access to the top of the walls and towers were overran and the ponies at the top couldn’t escape and started panicking too, still under attack from the flying Lost. Pegasi that managed to fly were dragged down when one or another of the Lost latched onto them.

Cadace instincts kicked her mind into action and she wanted to help, but there wasn’t much that she could other than make ponies fall in love or scream and go unheard.

Then she saw Cinnamon and her battlehorns coming from the plaza, in the middle of the fleeing ponies, dodging, and jumping their way towards the gate while every other pony in there was trying to flee from it.

“Destroy them!” Cinnamon roared and their horns started glowing and shooting magical missiles at the Lost while they telekinetically grabbed their swords and shields from their backs.

Cinnamon however reared on her hindlegs, with all the weight of her armor and her horn released a fiery wave of magic that disintegrated the insane creatures and then her soldiers rushed past her, stabbing and kicking the Lost that had managed to grab a hold of the fleeing ponies. Following that they quickly formed a wall of alit magical leaf shaped shields and blocked the entrance while others hunted down and killed the scattered Lost or carved a path to the ponies in the top of the wall and shot magic at the flyers.

Others still replaced the gate on its hinges and used their magic to repair and reinforce it.

One of the fleeing ponies, a panting cyan and pink earth pony wearing leather barding, no weapon, stopped by Cinnamon and grabbed her one of her legs. “Thank you, Matriarch! Thank you so much!”

“Go to the Citadel! And find your courage, guard.” She told the pony softly. “Find your sisters and brothers. Equestria still stands until the last of us exhales for the last time and it is our duty to defend her.”

“Ma’am.” She stood and then rushed away to the plaza while Cadance saw Cinnamon looking at her like a concerned mother.

Some of her battlehorns worked to reinforce the gate and others had climbed the stairs to the top of the wall and shot magic at the flyers. That worried Cadance. If the walls were not defended properly there was nothing stopping one third of the Lost from simply flying into the city. This place, even if the gate held now, would be overwhelmed soon. The city was lost, she supposed that two thirds of them still would need to walk in.

Then her actual daughter came from the plaza. “Everypony is on their way. A pegasus from the First came to deliver the message that Grimoire has ordered all her battlehorns to the Citadel’s walls. No news of Master Swirl yet.”

Cadance gasped. Yes, that was right. Star Swirl was the Archmage!

The lost were back to banging against the gate and cackle outside. Cinnamon looked at the gates shinning with magical amber light, chains and more magic where it had broken. Her soldiers atop the wall seemed to have the situation under control.

“We will keep this place secure for as long as we can until we are sure that Star Swirl has made it to the Citadel.”

“Mother, nopony knows we are here. They will not send a messenger to warn us.” Cadance didn’t think she seemed afraid, merely worried.

“Then we will stay here until we die! Discord’s madness will claim me before I or one of my daughters fall to cowardice in the line of duty!”

Before the other could reply a group of battlehorns from another family teleported in. All in shades of green under their green and golden leaf plated barding. One of them took the front. “Matriarch Flameheart!”

“Who are you? Mintleaf?”

“Yes ma’am!” She straightened. “Aqua Mintleaf. The Twelveth Legion, First Cohort, First Centurion.”

“I thought your legion was destroyed in Neighpolis.” Cinnamon’s daughter spoke.

“We are what remained of the Mintleafs.” She shook her head. “But that is not important! You must retreat to the Citadel immediately!”

“No.” Cinnamon shook her head. “We must hold this gate until Master Swirl has reached the Citadel. His survival is all that matters.”

“I was with him at the Tall Bridge. He is already on his way with a whole detachment of city guards. You must survive too, Matriarch. Whatever happens this night he will need faithful allies and you will need all the Flamehearts that can survive.” Her stare darkened for a moment. “The real enemy lies within, Matriarch. And I fear the Bluebloods might attempt against his life if he is by his own.”

Cinnamon frowned and nodded softly before Aqua went on. “We will guard this gate. There is not much that we can do by ourselves. You are more important and must go. Now.”

Cinnamon nodded again, more certain this time. “Thank you, Aqua Mintleaf.”

“Praise your Loyalty, Battlehorn. And think of home.” They kicked their armors together right above their hooves with a clank. “Your Matriarch will be proud of you when you find her on the other side.”

Then she turned towards the plaza. “Flamehearts!”

The chestnut soldiers folowed their matriarch after mimicking her gesture with the others and Mintleafs replaced them in defending the wall. Cadance watched as a procession of green colored ponies took positions known full well that they wouldn’t survive more than a few hours, all so that Cinnamon could find her way back to safety. Trying to buy just a little more time so that their battlehorn sisters from other families could drag a couple more scared ponies to safety. So that Star Swirl and Cinnamon could make it to whatever safety the Citadel could provide in the middle of this madness.

And perhaps the worst of it all was that Discord was so far gone that he couldn’t see this gallant sacrifice. Cadance wanted to cry but her form didn’t seem capable of it even if her throat squeezed.

The stories of these ponies deserved to be told so that modern ponies understood what they stood on. All of them. From those ponies that challenged the magical storm and settled the land to these ponies that sacrificed themselves so that Equestria might survive.

She couldn’t stay with Aqua and her sisters, though. She must go to the Citadel and find Star Swirl, so she took flight in the sticky and awkward magic that surrounded and tried picking up speed above the city.

Undefended, city walls wouldn’t hold these nightmarish creatures and now that one of the ways in would open as soon as Aqua and the other fell they would swarm the city much faster so she flew as fast as she could to the fortress.

Down in the streets Cinnamon called to her soldiers and those who could galloped to join her in the main street. Others weren’t so lucky, dragged down by the Lost or staying behind, trying to help somepony left behind. It was a madness as though Cadance had never seen. It was unfair and cruel. It was an abuse. Discord knew too well what he was doing. Even if the Farmland Gate held, it would only delay the inevitable.

To make it worse, she still heard cries for help in her head, powerless to assist and tried to ignore them the best she could until she reached the fortress.

It was beautiful and majestic, especially with all the magic it exuded in the form of countless defensive spells woven into its walls, but she didn’t feel like examining them. She was exhausted of the whole emotional journey.

She simply passed over her walls looking for Star Swirl. If he really used that hat of his, it shouldn’t be too hard. She wanted to, at least make sure he had made it. And he did, and the first thing she saw was indeed his hat.

He sat in the middle of the innermost courtyard, looking tired, among an agglomerated mass of ponies, citizens that had made it. Each one of those could’ve been a battlehorn that didn’t make it because they were trying to stop the Lost and save those helpless ponies. How many of them died or turned to corrupted monsters?

An earth pony offered him something to drink and he smiled back at the pony and accepted his drink. A group of city guards gravitated towards him like he was their source of safety.

Cadance studied Star Swirl closer upon landing. He looked a bit older, but he still seemed strong and handsome. He was tired though. It was a shame he couldn’t hear her. In a brief moment of calm and collectedness, Cadance wanted to tell him that somehow everything would end up fine. She wanted to tell him of how beautiful and happy Equestria was in her time. That they made it, somehow.

Then somepony called him and he looked up in time for a very young and frantic blue earth pony with a tall red mane-do and a green dress to assault him with a hug.

“Meadowbrook!” He smiled as though the life had returned to him and then hugged her again. “I swear to everything that is good… You made it! Where are the others?”

Cadance smiled. She knew who Meadowbrook was. One of the great heroes of the past, of course. She was glad she wasn’t made up or something.

“They made it too! They are doing what they can to help around the fortress. Are you hurt?”

“No, friend. But thank you.”

Then another pony approached them. “Oh, thank goodness you are unharmed, Master Star Swirl!”

Cadance first giggled at that very young Meadowbrook hiding behind Star Swirl, but them stared to see a white and silver unicorn wearing a blue silver hemmed cape and a silver and amethyst crown. She was gorgeous and elegant. A bit haughty, very Rarity-like in Cadance’s eyes. She certainly talked and walked with the same expressive mannerisms and sophistication. But certainly not the same calm ‘superiority’. This one was a bit of a bitch.

“Not unharmed, Lady Platinum… But I wager I will survive.”

That was Princess Platinum? Cadance blinked a few times.

He stood to meet her with a respectful bow of his head. Next to her came two other unicorns. First a big unicorn, not like the battlehorns, but normal-size large. He had an exuberant golden mane and medium beard that made Cadance think of gold, and those green eyes of his were enchanting. Very handsome, but he didn’t strike her as a very nice pony. He wore a beautiful white armor and a cape that didn’t seem to have seen a smidgeon of combat recently.

“I am glad you have survived, friend.” He spoke without an ounce of sincerity. It made Cadance cringe a little.

“Indeed, Magnus.” Star Swirl hardened his stare. “Say… How fares your family? I have not seen a single Blueblood or Brightmane soldier helping defend the streets today.”

That was Magnus Brightmane, the regent of Everfree in the griffon’s letter. She imagined his foals mentioned in the letter weren’t born yet.

“They were, of course, assisting with the evacuation of our esteemed senators, Master Swirl.” The third pony spoke as he approached them, closer to Platinum and next to Magnus. Cadance had never seen such an old and decrepit white unicorn wearing so much jewelry. It’s like they had become part of him or something! His mane looked well cared for, in a graying shade of blue.

“Unfortunately, they were ambushed by the Lost and none survived.” He concluded sitting with an insincere sorrowful sigh and a shrug.

Cadance couldn’t believe what she saw. Chrysalis had told them that they had betrayed Equestria, but… What did they expect to gain? The world was literally ending! And they were so callous about it. So… Unrepentant, like they didn’t even see they were causing more trouble than there already was. Was that a calculated risk to them?

Star Swirl though seemed like he had some things to tell them but chose not to. He seemed tired and Cadance pitied him. Again, she wanted to tell him that everything would be fine. That they made it. She didn’t know how. Maybe they’ll hold on long enough. Maybe Discord will give up. She knew that Celestia and Luna were supposed to have defeated him with the Elements of Harmony but she didn’t see how that would be possible at the time.

Thinking of the Sisters caused her to think back to ponies worshiping them and how that whole affair felt. What were the others doing? She assumed that they were around too. Somehow? She had to remind herself that she was dreaming. Or experiencing a vision of an old memory. Was the… Lady. Amore. Was she going around doing what she was? Will something happen that will cause the Sisters to… She didn’t know… Appear?

No more time for introspection. Cinnamon arrived.

“You!” She roared from behind Cadance who turned with the scare, but the huge unicorn walked through her and grabbed Magnus Brightmane by his armor. “What have you done?”

Her armor was stained with blood and she seemed tired, if furious.

“The Matriarch will forgive me.” He said calmly. “I do not know of what you speak.”

“You treacherous dog! I have been to the Brightmane estate and there is not a single scratch on the walls and not one of your treasures left behind. You were supposed to lead the evacuation of the Senate and the whole south-west areas and bring them here! Because of you my battlehorns were forced into the city to draw out the civilians that never knew to run! And I also have witnesses that you had the Farmland Gate sabotaged! I hope the Goddesses too witness your vile backstabbing, and I swear I will see you suffer for this!”

“The Goddesses are dead!” He freed himself of her grasp and Cadance felt slighted. “Look around you! If we survive, we will need whatever riches we can muster to rebuild!”

“I would be more careful, matriarch.” By the way she spoke Cadance wondered if Platinum almost spilled all her venom by mistake while she hoofed at Magnus’ armor, as if dusting it. “You see… Somepony needs to rule the land, and it typically is the one with more money and more brawn. Or at least more brains.”

She sat and made a gesture with a hoof. “It seems to me that your ladyship is at a disadvantage.”

“Not if I execute all of you spiteful devils for treason right now!” Her horn lit up and Cadance, considering what she’d seen those ponies doing closed her eyes, but instead of a splatter of blown up pony, she heard Star Swirl’s voice.

“Cinnamon.” She held her magic. Ponies around them seemed scared. Terrified. Even Meadowbrook, hiding behind Star Swirl. “This is not the time. They need us to be together. They need leadership right now, not justice. And when this comes to a conclusion, I may need ponies I can trust.”

And then somepony called from the top of the walls. “The Lost have reached the valley! They come!”

There was a wave of panicked cries, but Star Swirl adjusted his hat and summoned his gleaming sword to his magical grasp. “At least we can believe that their soldiers will join the defense of the Citadel. If that is not too much to ask.”

“Why, of course, Master Star Swirl.” Magnus answered, all magnanimous. “Our armed ponies are at your beck and call.”

Then the old gray unicorn turned to Meadowbrook. “Find the others. We will need industrious and good ponies when this is all over. Be safe. Survive.”

“But… Star Swirl… You need to survive too. Who will care for the sun and moon if you fall?” She asked innocently.

He frowned, lost in thought for a second. “Damnit girl. One world-ending problem at a time. Mad God today. Sun tomorrow.”

Cadance gasped. Did Star Swirl know that things would go wrong with the sun? How? Meadowbrook didn’t know whatever it was that he knew. He looked so strong though. How maddening it must have been for him to know that even if they somehow managed to survive all of this, they would still have to deal with another problem. Maybe just as ghastly and seemingly unsolvable.

The walls seemed gigantic from the ground and they had a few ponies on top of them, though Cadance figured the majority of the combatants would be in the first wall. The large doors remained open after they passed and Cinnamon and those few city guards followed Star Swirl past the gates of each section of the fortress and Cadance followed along. Each section more filled than the last with scared ponies, yaks, griffons, kirin, hippogriff and even a few dragons.

Families grouped together, naked ponies or well-dressed ones with dirt all over their fancy togas and dresses along with creatures of all races. This city really was the center of the world, like Chrysalis had said.

Some groups of them held weapons and stood together. Some manner of old sword, rusty spear, some family heirloom armor or anything that could be used to fight. Star Swirl never called them though, they simply followed. Fathers, mothers, sons or daughters, old and young they left their families in the middle of tears and inconsolable crying behind each gateway.

That was not how ponies were supposed to be! Couldn’t Discord see all the suffering he was causing? Why didn’t he see that they still found the strength to resist, to protect the others? How much of that was simply survival, though? Maybe they weren’t as selfless as Cadance imagined if ponies like Magnus existed and maybe that was the problem?

She had resigned to simply watch and hope it would all be over soon. That they didn’t suffer too much because she knew that better days would come, and they didn’t deserve that pain.

Before the staircase to the first line of defense Star Swirl found two young unicorns waiting for him. One scrawny grey male with blue mane cut short wearing a simple cape and the other a slightly older white and blue unicorn wearing a light metal blue armor that had a cluster of grapes in its chest. Definitively a Blueblood, Cadance decided.

The old mage smiled again. “Clover. Stygian.”

Both were worried, the one Cadance recognized as Clover the Clever and also a Blueblood spoke first. “We are here for you, Master.”

“Tell us what you need.”

Star Swirl took one long look at Stygian before he spoke gesturing over the creatures that had followed him. “Take these creatures. Rally all the non-combatants and take them to the vault. It is the safest and deepest place in the Citadel. And defend it. They must survive. You must survive. Whatever way this ends Equestria will need good ponies that understand Harmony.”

Clover grabbed a medallion from inside his barding and hoofed it over to Stygian. It was a silver medallion with amethysts forming a cluster of grapes. “Lord Brightmane stashed all his gold in there and Blueblood guards are watching it. Show this to them and they will obey you.”

The other simply took the medallion and nodded, then left before he said anything.

Star Swirl resumed his walk and didn’t ask, but Clover followed him, as did Cinnamon. Along the way, up the wide stairs meant for troops to quickly go up and down he found two more ponies waiting for him. Both earth ponies wearing rich togas. One a light purple male and the other a happy looking sand colored female with green mane.

“I guess this is it, huh?” Said the light purple one.

“Aw, this is not so bad.” The other added with an awkward smile. “I mean… We are still alive, right?”

“I am glad you have come.” The Mage told then while they followed him up. “I would like to imagine that the old friendships still count.”

“They always did, Star.” Purple lowered his head. “Things got out of hoof. But we always tried our best.”

When they finally reached the top of the walls the first thing Cadance, next to them, saw was as a stout line of pegasi in black and gold armor, armed with long spears in front of the giant purple shaded unicorns that looked kind of weird in their green and gold armor. They looked so powerful and invincible, but their formation wasn’t so sharp as before.

Two pegasi came from the middle of their formation. A dark grey with white mane, big and imposing, and the other a yellow, less impressive male with flame-y mane, the same one Cadance had seen earlier, flying toward the bridge to talk to Star Swirl. The first saluted boastfully with a wing and chest thrust forward. “House Stormcloud, at your service, Master Swirl!”

“For whatever good we can do… We are not in our best shape.” He admitted, but still confident.

“Well, I am happy you are here Hurricane.” Star Swirl smiled again, then the other who Cadance supposed was Pansy peeked out from behind his superior.

“Matriarch Sparkle is waiting for you, Master Swirl. Down the line.”

Sparkle… Of course, Cadance groaned to herself.

Independent of her feelings, the two pegasi joined Star Swirl and they walked forward between the pegasi and unicorns until they found the first Flameheart battlehorn, the one that had called Cinnamon ‘mother’ earlier. And next to her was a very old battlehorn all purple standing proudly in her armor. Really, she looked more like a big and old Twilight without wings to Cadance and it was kind of freaking her out in the middle of all that insane dream.

But also, next to her was the blue caped white unicorn that was Platinum. Star Swirl sat next to her and the magical flares in the sky allowed them to see the whole valley swarming with mad ponies and other creatures, laughing and guffawing like they mocked them, but sitting still, like they waited for something.

“Well, at least somepony is having fun…” Clover frowned at the sound.

“I do not believe they are having much fun, cousin.” Platinum said.

“Star Swirl?” ‘Big Twilight’ said suddenly.

“Yes, Grimoire?”

“Why is she here?” She nodded at the white unicorn while staring forward.

“I do not know. Why do you not ask her yourself?”

Platinum groaned and huffed uncomfortably. “I am still a competent spellcaster. Independent of anything.”

“I did not ask…” ‘Big Twilight’ Grimoire said drily and rose an eyebrow.

Still… Cadance recognized several ponies with Blueblood armor marked with their grapes right next to them, armed with spears and swords. It seemed like she had brought what she could.

“Thank you for being here, Platinum.” Star Swirl said, again with a smile.

“Well, do not presume I am here because I like any of you. I simply... Well, I must be here. I can help. It is my duty. You know…”

Star Swirl smiled a little more warmly. “I understand, Platinum. You do not have to say a thing.”

“So…” Sandy earth pony female began while she stared down at the sea of madness with her ears dropped. “What? Do we summon the Fire of Friendship, or something?”

“I do not think that we can, Smart Cookie. Not anymore.” The other replied miserably with his ears folded down.

“Right… Our superweapon ‘I win’ lever is fractus. This is actually a military operation… Who is in command?” Grimoire stared at them. “The whole Senate is gone, and you ponies are the Founder’s Council.”

“What do you mean who is in command?” Hurricane looked at her with a frown. “You are Legate of the First Legion!”

“Haha… That is rich. I told you dumb flanks that Discord was bad news! But did any one listen to the crazy old mare? Noooooo. Let us have fun! Just a few more pranks… It is not that bad… Suddenly it is ‘Oh no! The world is going to end’! Well, I told you so! Dragons? Sure. Griffons? We can deal with them. Yak berserkers? Fine. But insane ponies that keep laughing and coming at you if you put them on fire, neigh! That is too much! The Sparkles are done saving your flanks.”

Cinnamon giggled. “Put Star Swirl in charge. He is the one that befriended the Mad God.”

It was so weird seeing her giggle. Cadance supposed that Star Swirl brought the best out of ponies. Like certain ponies she knew.

“So, how do we win this, Star Swirl?” Puddinghead asked him.

“We cannot.” He said it as simply and flatly as was possible and it hit Cadance like a kick to the stomach. “We must hold on. Endure for as long as we can and hope that if this comes to an end with ponies still alive, they have a decent chance at surviving.”

Cinnamon pulled back her ears and frowned. “Well, I take that back! Let us come up with a better strategy.”

“We failed… Did we not?” The big and confident pegasus let his wings sag down and his ears too. “We should have the power to stop this, but we lost it.”

Platinum, next to Star Swirl, sniffed and then sobbed. “It was not supposed to be like this!”

He held her close with a leg over her shoulders and she closed her eyes, hiding her eyes with a hoof and sobbing quietly. It broke Cadance’s heart. When would one find another being so despicable and reproachable and then have such sympathy for them in such a short amount of time? It seemed as though the weight of whatever happened finally hit her and it was too much.

“What can we do against our own kind turned against us in the most vile and corrupted way possible?” She heard Star Swirl whisper more to himself than anyone else. “Because of something we did not understand, and we cannot fix?”

He frowned and Cadance wished she could hear his thoughts other than the incessant cries in her head. Finally, he rubbed Platinum’s mane softly. “There is no failure until it ends, general. And we are not done yet.”

The others stared at him. Their heads were low, and the color had finally drained from their coats, but their ears perked up at his words. He took a step forward to the edge of the wall, supporting his weight with a hoof on the battlements and his horn shone.

“Discord!” His magically enhanced voice echoed in the valley below and Cadance stared with her mouth hanging, it was one of those moments time seemed to stop.

He appeared. A floating stage with spotlights and one smug draconequus wearing a smoking, bowing, and tipping his hat. “Bonsoir, mes amis! Tonight, we have… The End of the World! And you have the privileged seats! Enjoy.”

Then he became angry. “You’ve earned it.”

“What are you doing, Discord? We used to be friends!”

“We were… Weren’t we?” He became sad for an instant. “You guys had a good thing going. You formed an empire in some fifty years. It’s a shame.”

“Give us another chance, then.”

“Oh no!” Discord laughed. “This is your second chance! You should not have survived the Windigos! You failed. Like F-. Bombed!”

Cadance imagined they didn’t understand those words from him, but Star Swirl shook his head and spoke plainly. “You have won then. We cannot defeat you and wish to discuss the terms of our surrender.”

What? Cadance’s thoughts were mimicked in all of their faces, including the soldiers and the mad ponies below in the valley. But most of all in Discord’s that soon turned to his mocking laughter.

“What are you doing?” Platinum barked at him.

“Star, I’m the crazy one. Not you.” Grimoire gawked at him.

Cinnamon didn’t say anything, she simply looked at his friend and waited, as did Cadance, but Star Swirl remained stoic.

“Oh, this is rich!” Discord laughed again, wiping a tear from his eye. “You want to discuss surrender. How amusing!”

“Give us another chance!” Star Swirl pleaded. “We do not understand what we did wrong!”

“Oooh! You do! Oh, yes, you do!” He turned angry again. “You are broken! You don’t deserve this world! It was made for better creatures than you are!”

“Says who?”

“I do!” He started pointing his finger at ponies next to Star Swirl. “Vain, petty and Selfish! Coward! Murderer! Corrupt! Traitor! The list goes on and gets creepier and creepier. But most important of all…”

Finally, he narrowed his eyes. “Liar.”

He opened his arms. “You’ve caused so much Chaos because of your greed that you’ve summoned me! You’ve poisoned Harmony with your corrupted magic! I told you! You are on overtime! The Windigos ought to have ended it all. That is why we are doing this. Once you all are gone, we can try again!”

“What about you?” His hoof shot at Discord who gasped. “Does any of this madness look like Harmony to you?”

Yes! Star Swirl is right! Cadance nodded enthusiastically and held her hooves next to her and his words put a fire under the ponies next to him. Angry hooves clopped on the stone and shouts accused Discord of hypocrisy.

“I am fixing the problem that you ponies created!” He shouted, angry and gesturing like a foal about to have a temper tantrum.

“No! you are not!” Star Swirl cried again. “Your method lacks kindness! It lacks generosity! It destroys rather than correct! These ponies have repented of their mistakes and you fail to see this! You are wrong! You are not an agent of Harmony to punish us or repair the world! You are an insane monster with too high an opinion of yourself!”

“You can’t judge me!” Discord’s slighted face would’ve made Cadance laugh in any other situation. “That is not how this works!”

“I will not deny that we have made mistakes. I will not deny that perhaps we deserve to be destroyed. But our accusation is too harsh, and we cannot defend against it! You demand virtue of us yet offers none back simply because you have the power to force your decision! And I will tell you more: we are better than you are, and we may not be perfect or strong enough to defeat you, but you are a tyrant worth rebelling against and I will fight you until I cannot fight anymore!”

The entire fortress reacted with pure furor. Shields clanked on the stone and hooves too. The whole valley reverberated with a hurrah worthy of the best epics Cadance has ever read. It managed to make her spirit soar and grin excitedly. Cadance didn’t fully understand the problem. She didn’t know what those ponies had done, but she knew that, clear as Celestia’s day that they regretted it, that Discord was wrong, and that Star Swirl was right!

“Fine! It’s not like you can change any of what is about to happen anyway!” Discord snapped his fingers and pointed at the fortress. “Destroy them! Everything back to the beginning!”

He vanished with triumphant laughter, but Discord’s Lost resumed their inane cackling and literally started throwing themselves against the wall. Cadance didn’t need much reassuring that it wouldn’t work, but they climbed over each other and it wouldn’t be too long before they flooded the fortress’ walls. They were tall but not that much.

“Congratulations, master.” Clover stared sarcastically at him. “You have successfully enraged the Mad God.”

Cinnamon facehoofed and groaned. “Please tell me you have a plan, Star Swirl.”

“Discord wants to return everything to the beginning. I have no idea how that works or how it even is possible, and he may be insane, but he is intelligent. There is a reason he has turned our folk into these things: he is forcing us to kill them or be killed, or worse, corrupted. By that logic, whatever event he wants to trigger will do so if enough ponies die.”

“I am following!” Grimoire said expectantly. “What else?”

“How do we stop him?” Cinnamon’s eyebrow rose.

“As I said, we cannot stop this. I hope that somepony was listening.” He said seriously. “I hope that Lady of the Heart of yours is real.”

Wait! She was! She was right there! She landed close to him and waved frantically. How could she help?! She urged and begged, but he wouldn’t hear her.

At the same time Cinnamon was furious. “What? You are a believer now?”

“No!” He said. “I do not believe in faith, gods and charms or popular willy-nilly beliefs. I am not even entirely sure I believe in Harmony as an intelligent force, but I believe in Magic! I have studied it my whole life and I know there are very powerful beings such as the Windigos and Discord that we managed to bring into our world because we did something that interfered with the normal workings of Magic.”

“I do not understand how it works… I have not a clue if this will work. But if there is something out there, or in here that wants to help us, it better figure out how to with the utmost urgency or they are going to run out of ponies alarmingly fast!”

Cadance sighed. Easier said than done had never been so true. Come on! She was right there!

Platinum grabbed and shook him. “But what are we supposed to do?!”

He pointed down the wall. “Protect this fortress! It must hold for as long as it can!”

“But if we kill them, we will help Discord!” She insisted.

“The gates will not resist forever!” He pointed down again. “If they get in, they will corrupt the others inside and he will win all the same. There is not a lot that we can do other than defend ourselves. The important thing is that we manage to keep those ponies inside safe! For as long as we can… Until something happens! I know! It is a desperate shot in the dark, but it is all we have!”

“Very well, Sparkles!” Grimoire barked. “You heard the crazy wizard. Yadda, yadda… Epic Discourse number thirty-four, variation B for siege defenses. You know the drill. Kindly kill those things.”

Another of the Sparkle Battlehorns, a lighter shade of purple looked down the wall. “Conserve your stamina. I do not think they will be downing the gate anytime soon and they are countless.”

Cadance watched with no small measure of awe while the disciplined unicorns charged their horns with magic in unison and unleashed whatever the name of that spell was over the valley where the Lost congregated before the fortress and bombarded it with magical explosions like they had done before from the outer walls of the city. And then again. And again. Each time shaking the ground with their magic just for the Lost to fill the valley with even more of them.

And then something started to seem odd. Hurricane seemed to have thought that too, as he spoke with Star Swirl almost the same as Cadance was thinking. “Something is not right, Star Swirl.”

“Yes…” The old unicorn agreed thoughtfully.

“He has attacked other cities and forts with dragons and there were sightings of Ursa Majors.”

Cadance nodded. She was sure she saw a dragon.

“I do not like this.” The pegasus concluded.

Cadance sat by the battlements and rested her hooves on then, looking around apprehensively, moving her ears from side to side. Something really didn’t seem right. It was a strange feeling that she never experienced before.

Then it happened, just as though Discord had snapped his fingers the walls lost their gleam and what followed were cries from both sides on top of the walls of ponies surprised that they can’t focus magic in their horns. Next to her Star Swirl experimented and his own horn did little more than a few sparks.

“Well, this is concerning.” He said. He could still hold his sword with his telekinesis. “Is he somehow disrupting our magic?’

Grimoire growled at her second in command. Cadance didn’t know the title, but it was a pony that got things done. “I do not know what he is doing, but he is pissing me off! Get our velites to redeploy to the top of the wall and draw swords! We shall protect them.”

“You heard the mare! Move it!” Cinnamon told her own and ponies started moving around the top of the wall, going down and up the stairs while she turned to Platinum. “Get your ponies to the accesses to the inner walls. If we need to retreat, they must keep a clear path for us!”

“What she said! Get to it!” The white unicorn yelled at her house’s soldiers behind the battlehorns and grabbed a sword out of one of them, following behind.

Hurricane’s pegasi took flight with him and Pansy, spears at the ready at the right moment when Lost pegasi started making their way towards the top of the wall. It was a swarm of insanity coming over the wall like a tsunami. A few archers fired from behind, from the next defensive wall, but they weren’t very effective in the dark, despite the torches on the battlements. For the moment, defending the top of the wall fell over the pegasi and their spears.

Ponies ran everywhere reorganizing their defenses and Cadance took a moment to pay attention to the magic around her. She could barely feel it. She gasped that Star Swirl was right that it was what Discord wanted, but he was not disrupting their magic, magic itself was fading. Discord might have been crazy, but he was right that killing them is going to cause the whole system to… Fail. It made sense, by what she’d seen… Ponies brought their magic to the world and controlled it. She supposed that something was supposed to happen then and maybe restart the whole process of creation? The whole idea of killing all the ponies… All the creatures to start over was gruesome, but it made some sense. She had to remember that Discord wasn’t acting normal. He was… Sick was the best word she could come up.

But how did she fit into it all? Amore, The Lady of the Heart. The Throne of Love? Those other doors?

Suddenly something pulled at her and she gasped. The cries in her head suddenly returned to the forefront of her mind and simply focusing on her thoughts was near impossible and with a splitting headache worse than those of her days bearing Flurry Heart. She took her hooves to her head and it didn’t help much because she couldn’t even feel her touch on herself.

“Ow…” She whined to herself and returned her eyes to the battlements at the top of the wall. The Lost literally climbed on top of each other to reach the top of the wall. Star Swirl spun his sword at one of them and it fell by the wayside, soon to be replaced with another. His staff laid on the floor, uselessly by his side. Ponies with the Sparkle and Flameheart armors threw javelins at the still coming pegasi and even some griffons among the Lost. The battlehorns from both lineages cut at them with their swords but they started to tire. Their armor had lost nearly all its magic and to make things worse the mad creatures threw themselves at the swords and pulled them away. Their weakened magic couldn’t keep up and they started seeing themselves overwhelmed.

“Discord stop!” Cadance cried, still holding her head.

To her surprise, he appeared again, in the sky, overlooking the whole scene. “Don’t worry your pretty little head.”

Did he… Talk to her? She looked up to him with her ears down. “Soon this will all be over, and they won’t even remember a thing. Creation will begin anew, and you will have another chance.”

Something pulled down at her again and it was like magic itself was trying to rip her apart. She screamed this time and had to rebalance her weight on her hooves. Around her battlehorns and the Lost battled an unfair fight where the unicorns were outnumbered and overwhelmed. Sounds seemed distant and cries echoed around her, but inside her head they screamed in panic and despair.

“What are you doing?” Discord was shocked and scared at something. “Stop! You are not supposed to do this!”

Cadance growled, filled with anger at him, next to her. He looked directly at her, terrified.

Star Swirl fought an insane unicorn that tried to stab him with his bare horn. Tired, the old master swung to the side and cut at the Lost unicorn and it dropped to the side. Another flung itself at him and impaled itself on his sword. Star Swirl screamed and backed away, but his sword was gone from his weakened magical grasp.

An insane pegasus fell on top of him, laughing and screaming, eyes wide and sickly yellow, grabbing at Star Swirl and the Archmage couldn’t free himself, screaming and trying to hold on to his hooves. His hat fell from his head.

Cadance never saw where she came from, but Cinnamon collided with the pegasus with the force of a speeding train and send it flying past the battlements. She spun her sword and cut two of them trying to reach for her.

“Stand up Star Swirl!” Cinnamon cried, spinning to cut at a mad griffon that flew claws first at Star Swirl.

Something pulled Cadance down, as though she had suddenly become too heavy for herself to hold. It just hurt and made her whine again. She couldn’t even hear herself thinking.

“Curses.” Star Swirl grunted and grabbed his sword again. Each swiped at another Lost that seemed to be coming from everywhere. Cadance cried and tried to warn them, but her voice never reached them. One of the earth ponies in armor and with the javelins, consumed with Discord’s madness threw his weapon at the pair. The point went straight above the gorget of Cinnamon’s armor and pierced her flesh. She reared and fell on her side and Star Swirl screamed her name. She touched him and smiled softly, but life stole from her eyes and he cried at her again.

Help us.

Something pulled at Cadance a fourth time. Like someone had tied weights to her wings, neck and legs, and they pulled her down with an infinite weight. She was sure something had ripped her apart and around her the air sounded as a ferocious river, like falling down a waterfall. But its roaring sound was drowned by thousands upon thousands of desperate cries for help. She didn’t know where she fell from, she was standing on the tone, but she somehow fell and collided with the floor.

Suddenly Cadance had her body again. She could feel the stone of the top of the wall. The air was cold, and air smelled of sickness and blood. Her legs fought gravity when she tried to stand but was to weak. She opened her eyes and saw blurrily, but Star Swirl gawked at her. The other ponies around stared at her and backed away slowly. Even Discord’s mad ponies stared with shock and backed away from her.

She saw Discord floating in the air with the same shocked disbelief. “This was not… It was not supposed to happen!”

Then he frowned. “Fine. I’ll just have to send you back to the Pool of Souls too.”

“Stop! You are hurting them!” Someone cried and Discord turned. Something attacked him and he defended himself. Cadance didn’t see what exactly happened with her eyes still focusing, but she saw blood and a white body fell from his grasp. Six colored gems fell from his hands and plinked to the ground bellow, all the way down from the top of the wall, next to a lifeless white body.

Rage burned in every vein of her body and her eyes stung. Her teeth pressed and her body tensed violently. Everything was so beautiful and so perfect, but he destroyed it. She screamed all her anger and launched herself at him. Her magic would’ve torn him to pieces, but her horn failed her. She attacked him with hooves and teeth instead.

But he held her. “Soon it will all be over. You don’t have to remember any this. I’m sorry too. It was not how I planned.”

A sharp pain stung her chest and she cried. Her strength failed and she fell again, but this time the wind rushed past her ears as darkness embraced her.

***

Cadance woke suddenly with a scream and sitting on her improvised bed in the dark of Twilight’s airship’s private cabin. Everypony around her screamed at the scare and she desperately touched her chest while the lights came on.

Shining Armor hugged her and tried to calm her down while Twilight tumbled over Rainbow Dash and Applejack trying to reach her. “Cadance! It’s alright! You’re safe! Cadance!”

Miss Calcite held the crying Flurry Heart and tried to calm her down while still staring full of worry at Cadance. Worried pegasi crewponies appeared at the door with sabers and pistols.

“Princess Cadance! For goodness sake! Are you hurt?” Rarity stood next to Twilight, who also hugged her. She finally started to reorient herself.

“Cadance, love.” Shining looked at her. “Are you alright? Tell us. Do you need anything?”

She closed her eyes and tried to get her breathing under control. She still heard the rushing sound of the wind around her and held her head with her hooves, but the sound vanished slowly.

“Cadie. What happened?” Shining Armor looked like he was ready to freak out when he let go and stared at her. “Are you hurt?”

She dropped to the bed again and covered her eyes with a whine. “I just found out there is a magical palace inside my head with doors with our cutie marks, Luna has magical images that show her how my mind is working, I witnessed thousands of years of pony history, found out ponies worshiped me and it ended with Star Swirl defending a fortress against Discord’s zomponies with the biggest ponies I have ever seen, and it ended with Discord killing me!”

“I need a fucking drink and I am going to murder somepony if I don’t get it!”

Comments

[Frazikar]

Hmmm, somethings off here - 42 ponies, 5+35 with 14+14+14 with an alicorn leader ...

[Metemponychosis]

10322431
35 females carrying the stuff in the center
5 males surrounding the group.
But: there is one male that is hurt and one of the females is helping him walk and the leader is a female unicorn.
The only alicorns are the ones that stayed behind. Or at least they are what the ponies think of as alicorns.

When I mention 14+14+14 I'm repeating information. I'm saying that the number of ponies in the tribes are balanced, despite the six to one ratio of females to males and the different roles they play in their early society.

[Frazikar]

10322620
Ahhhh....

[raven618]

“Damnit girl. One world-ending problem at a time. Mad God today. Sun tomorrow.”

That's a great line.

[Metemponychosis]

10411188
Thanks.

[Kevin Lee]

10412169
Yeah, it has a nice B5 taste to it.

So, it seems that Princess Cadance is more than just Cadance--she's really the Heart Made Flesh!!

But then, just as the Traveler told Wesley: Space, Matter, Energy, Time, and Mind are ALL ONE.