Destiny's Calling

by Crimson_Moon

The Time of the Sword and Axe...(Part 1)

Fire and brimstone rained down around Twilight and Fluttershy, sounds of fighting and magic just outside the keep doors of Kaer Blathan. "What do we do?!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Nothing we can do!" Fluttershy dodged a stray piece of rubble, readying her claws for a fight. Another burst of fire leaked through the enchantment Geralt placed on the door, nearly flaying the Pegasus alive. "Just finish it up! She's almost through!"

Another blast shook outside, shaking the whole building this time. All was silent for a moment, before Geralt came crashing through the 3 foot thick stone wall just to the side of the doorway. What followed was a column of fire, paving a trail of destruction in it's path. "Keep going!" Geralt dodged out of the way last second, and dove back into the fray.

Suddenly, the roof collapsed and all went dark...

---

A few days earlier...

Kaer Blathan.

It was home to the two Witchers for close to a decade now, but all Twilight Sparkle saw upon arrival was the remnants of a nation's once strongest prison fortress. For Sombra's brief rule of the Crystal Empire, he had made an effective slave army. This particular stronghold made all the weapons and armor for said army, before falling to the two princesses of Equestria and eventually becoming nothing more than a shadow. It had shown rapid signs of decay since then, lying forgotten and slowly becoming reclaimed by nature long before Fluttershy's training began. Looking around, it was obvious part of that training was spent rebuilding decaying structures and fortifying weak points. There was even an additional battlement installed.

"All this reinforcement seems a bit..." Twilight eyed a set of trebuchets trained on the main gate, ready to go. "Excessive, don't you think?"

"Hmm.." Geralt glanced at the same weapons she was looking at before walking further into the fortress. "Never pays to be too prepared. My old man Vesemir would kill me if I didn't." He spoke.

"And what do you think, Fluttershy?" She asked her friend.

"It's a place like any other, I suppose." She cautiously spoke.

"You're not... Uneasy here?"

Fluttershy sighed. "It's been ten years that I've spent here. Everything that was creepy or scary eventually became a routine sight for me. Take that crack in the wall there for instance-" she pointed her hoof to a rather large crack in the foundation near the entry door to the inner part of the castle. "I used to be afraid of it collapsing the entire building on me as I slept. That is, until I realized it wasn't even that large and was just on the outer part." She giggled. "Just a scar this old castle got from age, that's all."

Twilight didn't laugh with her. Instead, she gulped her heart back down her throat. "R-right. No danger at all!"

Completely oblivious to her friend's concern, the Pegasus started pointing out other small things, as if this was a museum and herself the curator. Pushing through the double doors, the trio entered the main hallway which seemed to once be an intersection for other places within the keep, but two of those four pathways were buried underneath rubble. "Here's another favorite-" she pointed to the small patch of mushrooms growing on one of the piles of debris. "It's a mushroom garden! I thought they were poisonous at first, but then after my first set of training with concoctions, I found out they were just some harmless ones that naturally grew in this particular region." She smiled. "Since then, I've been maintaining it, like the garden I used to have at my cottage."

"You must be really... Proud of it, heh heh!" The Alicorn nervously chuckled.

"Oh yes, quite!" Fluttershy smiled once more, departing from her "mushroom garden" and onto the kitchen hall, which also happened to be where the alchemist lab as well as the meat locker were held. "I know it seems like much, but the mess hall starts to become more appealing after a while. Even the sight of red meat kind of blends with the background." She trotted to the wooden table where her and Geralt ate the bare minimum of what food was. Such a meal was currently being plated by the Witcher, settling down and relaxing after the journey he just had.

Geralt gestured to a nearby set of chairs for the other two, both taking their seats. Fluttershy greedily devoured almost half of the fibrous brown gruel immediately, drinking a small pint of mead he had poured the two.

"It's edible." He gave Twilight a knowing look. "Had to make it without meat in it for you."

She prodded the thick liquid with her fork, the utensil bouncing off slightly on contact. "Is it gonna taste, you know... Not like it was made out of wood?" She asked sarcastically. The other two lightly chuckled at that.

"Though it looks like bile, it gets the job done." Geralt spoke. "After I feed you, Fluttershy can show you to your room."

"Room?" She questioned. "I thought we were going to start the ritual." It didn't make sense not to, at least in her eyes.

Fluttershy sighed. "Twilight, me and Geralt both are exhausted after the last few days, and would like to rest for a bit."

"B-but the ritual!" The mare weakly protested.

"The ritual can wait until tomorrow. We had to battle a monster before even going up to talk to you, and after the whole 'Surprise' ordeal, I'd just like to relax for a bit. Isn't that what I used to do, back when I was still me? Relax, enjoy life a little?" She smiled plastically, the look a hidden answer in itself.

All thoughts of protest died in Twilight's throat after that. "O-of course, Fluttershy. You certainly did." She smiled back. The rest of the meal was continued in silence.

---

Fluttershy opened the door to Twilight's room, if it could even be called that. The splintered wooden floor creaked with every step, and the stone walls were cracked in several places. It had a window, barred with iron and showing the several hundred feet to the courtyard down below, for if anyone decided jumping would be a good idea. Worst of all was the bed- straw lined the frame and over the top was what she assumed to be some sort of thick hide. She dared not ask what animal it was from, but she had a few guesses. A crude and archaic room, but it was a room nonetheless.

"...Is this where you slept all these years?" Twilight gasped.

"No." She simply stated, bringing a brief smile to her friend's face. That smile was dashed away from the next sentence. "This is where i slept the first 8, however. I needed to prove myself to Geralt before I got a... More appealing set of accomodations."

"But I'm not a Witcher!" She protested. "Why do i have to-" Suddenly, she was thrown to the wall with great force from the Pegasus.

"Because after we're done with the binding ritual, you're going to be every bit of one, save for the mutations. That is if it actually does what you claim it was." She sadistically beamed. "You're gonna be trained by me." She let go of the mare. "You're my Surprise, after all..."

"...Okay." Twilight meekly replied. It was pointless to argue. After all, she still kept it secret about the actual consequences of such a ritual.

"Now rest up." Fluttershy spoke as she was leaving. "We start early tomorrow."

---

In the forest below the mountain, another Alicorn was busy plotting her revenge...

"That petulant fool!" Daybreaker exclaimed. "He should have just simply submitted to my power, but no, he had to play 'Hero'!" As she trotted along the forest, anything in her path was annihilated without prejudice. Her flames knew no bounds to power; even the tallest of trees were burned to a crisp. Simmering down, she continued through the foliage with a less destructive path being left behind. "No matter. I know he sent a note to his feathered Freak! Only a matter of time before Geralt gets wind and comes looking for Us." Stopping, Daybreaker glared into her reflection in a nearby watering hole, her old self staring back.

Is this really what you wanted? This destruction?

"Stay your attempts at changing Our mind!" The Alicorn snarled. "We made the choice to become this, all to stop him!"

And what will you do after? Give this power up? It glared back. You know what happened when your Sister didn't... Don't you?

The mare guffawed at her reflection. "Our sister? HAH!" Her fiery mane grew brighter than before, showing off her power. "Where she was weak, we show raw, unbridled POWER-" For emphasis, Daybreaker lit her horn and boiled away the entire pond. "We don't need you to interfere anymore with Our thoughts. The Witcher dies!" Glancing around the now charred scenery, the Alicorn spotted the remains of several Timber Wolves that tasted her flame. Suddenly, she got an idea.

Smiling sadistically, Daybreaker lit her horn's magic and fired upon the charred remains of the Timberwolves, breathing life anew only to serve her. "And what better way to kill a Wolf than with one of your own?" She chuckled evilly.

The Time of the Sword and Axe is nigh...

The Heralding of Myths has begun...

Author's Note:

I know, a lot of foreshadowing going on, how dare I? :)

So I'm gonna leave it here for now, I'm working on the finishing touches of the next chapter.

Let me know what you think of the chapter, I'd love to get some opinions on it! :)

EDIT 08-09-2020 Fixed the first paragraph to help with continuity AKA I made a paragraph not make sense, but then I fixed it so it did :P

Comments

[Rikki]

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TOSS A COIN TO UR WITCHER

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[diablo4000]

Hope to see Day Breaker broken and see how Celestia laments on being the greatest failure of a princess and ruler of Equestria.

[Redwolf777sg]

10101909

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O VALLEY OF PLENTY!
O VALLEY OF PLENTY!

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