Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Sestri

Twilight looked onto the empty streets of the Crystal Empire from the lower balcony of the central palace, as the mid-morning Sun shone down on them and made the buildings glisten in its light. She had slept a restful and sufficiently long sleep, as they all had. None of them had been in the conditions to, but that had not stopped Luna from magically imposing that rest upon them. With their consent, of course. The alicorn had taken it upon herself to raise the Sun as well, to ensure Twilight wouldn't need to be up before dawn.

She stood at Twilight's side at that moment, watching the streets together with her. Celestia, however, was nowhere to be seen. Not in her room either, though Twilight wasn't worried about that. She knew where she'd be, and everything was still according to plan. Next to the balcony, Rainbow Dash, clad in silver armour with a sword floating beside her, hovered with lazy flaps of her wings. She would have some explaining to do to Twilight, but the time for that would come later.

Pinkie and Applejack were below the balcony, on the ground, together with Shining and Cadence and a couple of guards. Fluttershy and Rarity were with Starlight, on top of a nearby building together with half a dozen more guards. Trixie and Sunburst were both inside the palace, somewhere near the top, with more guards to protect them. Similarly, inside another large building were Lyra and Bon Bon and the grey pegasus messenger Twilight used to use to communicate with the Empire, and other guards with them too, probably a dozen or so.

Twilight had left the exact numbers up to Shining, though she had a list she was starting to look over right then. The bulk of their forces wasn't made up by regular guards anyway. Peppered throughout the city in strategic spots, and grouped together next to actual living ponies, Sunburst's hippoid creations stood at attention, ready to fight and protect them. Finally, Firecracker circled above the top of the palace, restlessly looking at the Empire, while Starshine seemed to occasionally and almost randomly move from rooftop to rooftop.

Tempest, unfortunately, had been unable to come. She'd waited at the second laboratory a while longer after Starlight's departure, and a storm had struck, keeping her from both being able to open a portal and being able to physically leave the place. Twilight wasn't sure if she was supposed to feel bothered by the lack of ulterior help or relived to know the unicorn would be safe. She somewhat cynically leaned towards the former, knowing well that failure there would mean Tempest's safety would merely be temporary.

"Afraid?" asked Luna, leaning a little closer to Twilight.

"Yeah," Twilight replied. "Nervous, too. I assume everyone is. But we've got a plan at least."

Luna nodded. "This might be the greatest challenge Equestria has faced in quite a while. Certainly a demanding first task for a new ruler."

"Not worse than Discord, and what else you and Celestia had to face together."

"Discord was but one creature, though powerful, and one foolish enough to not recognise how we'd found the perfect solution to his powers. This is an army, and their leader has proven to be all but foolish."

Twilight nodded too. "True. We have our own army, and I would hope myself not to be a foolish leader either. Neither would I think anyone else here a fool. All that's left is to see how it goes."

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[Speckle]

And so, it begins...