Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Damnation

Twilight stepped forward alone, checking the map she held to her side and comparing it to the scenery around her. She was positive that she was at the right place, but no less nervous because of it. She had no clear idea what would happen there, and no solid guesses either. All she knew was that she didn't really have a choice what to do.

Not her, at least. Technically, a choice was there, and an argument for it too. If their requests went unanswered, the terrorists could and would make sure the next scale was set off somewhere and somewhen it wouldn't spare lives. There was a point to be made that whatever sacrifice that would come with, preservation of her well being as Equestria's ruler was worth the price. It was not a point she was going to consider, and not just because the request she was asked to comply with was publicly known and denying it would have made for terrible publicity.

That was possibly another part of the plan. Making the conditions known to everyone wouldn't just force her into playing along, it would ensure no one would interrupt. If they had been shared in secret, and kept secret, someone could have made a wrong move without knowing. But no one wanted the responsibility for the next attack to fall indirectly on them, so no one else was there with her.

Not close by at least. There were guards all around the perimeter of a very wide area centred on the place she was heading to, not that she believed those would in any way help catch the ones they were looking for, as well as a few more ponies farther in from where she was coming. Sweetie Belle was keeping watch on her, too. They'd tried to no avail to have her find the terrorists, but her coil simply didn't work like that.

From that point forward, however, Twilight was well and truly physically alone. No one was to come any closer while she was there, or else. It wasn't a chance worth taking. The thief had already evaded her laboratory's security, if admittedly back when it wasn't as strong as she'd made it following their incursion, trying to catch them in an open area that big, one they had chosen themselves, would be foolish. Nevermind the fact that there could be more than one creature behind the whole thing, meaning catching just one of them would accomplish little to nothing as far as stopping further attacks went.

The Sun was still climbing. It wasn't early morning, but it was still before noon. With how long the preparations had taken, everypony involved had needed to wake up fairly early. Most of them were guards, used to it, and Twilight herself could take one night of little sleep without much trouble, but the stress and tension of the situation made it worse than simply having to get up sooner than usual. Nowhere near enough to break anyone, but some were close to being on edge, most others were at minimum more nervous than average. It was all justified, but it still made things better for their adversary.

Twilight's steps kicked up some brown red dust as she walked forward, together with her map and nothing else. She had a full set of protective spells on her, and her horn was the only weapon she could possibly need. She was not expecting to capture anyone there anyway. No one would be smart enough to pull off everything that had led up to that point, then dumb enough to simply let themselves be defeated by asking to meet her on their own terms.

The space was a large clearing in a desert area, surrounded by a circular wall of smooth layered rock, led into and out from by a shallow canyon. It had been a lake once, before the whole area dried out. Something to do with dragons and a battle, but Twilight was too focused on her now to recall the exact details. She could faintly see the other end of it in the distance, the image slightly dancing in the heat the Sun forced onto the sandy dust that covered the whole area, but looking around the whole thing she could not spot anyone or anything else.

She just kept walking, heading towards the centre as she'd been asked to do. She had little doubt the other or others would soon show up. No point in making her walk there for no reason when getting her attention and her whole away from wherever and anywhere else would have been trivial for them. She was still technically a little early after all. She did wonder what kind of entrance they would go for once they arrived.

Comments

[Speckle]

It's finally happening: Twilight meets Stella, face to face.
Although, there has been an implication that she's seen Stella before and made to forget. Will this be any different? Stella wouldn't be so public if she wasn't going to do something different this time, but is this the so-called 'final fight' with Twilight she'd been hoping for? I'm gonna root for Twilight, for sure, no question, I just hope that, if/when things get bad, she has an ace in the hole somewhere because Stella likely won't be playing fair.