Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Oon

Twilight did arrive late, if only by less than a minute. It was still more than enough to upset Stella, but not quite enough to get her to act on it. She was looking around, just about to burst into motion, when Twilight finally got there. She appeared by teleportation, right at the edge of the open space in front of the castle. Not a fancy entrance. She was wearing her crown. She looked around, then locked eyes with Stella, smiled, and stepped forward.

Stella looked almost like Twilight, though distinct enough that it was no issue telling them apart. Her colours slightly different, her mane hanging like it was heavier and straighter, and mostly what she was wearing. A crown and matching regalia of dark grey metal with crimson veins barely noticeable through it. But even more than that, her posture and demeanor set her starkly apart from her counterpart. She squared down Twilight as she approached.

The citizens had been asked to evacuate, and the town should have been mostly empty. Naturally, that meant there were more ponies there than on the busiest of holidays, and at that moment most of them were pressing against the barriers put up on the various roads leading to the open space in front of the castle. Not pressing too hard, but still pressed against them. Some had climbed onto the rooftops and were watching the scene from higher up, and many pegasi were floating around, all still staying outside the imaginary edge of the area.

Twilight took off her crown and tossed it aside, where Rarity caught it in her magic, then she finally stepped into the open. "No one here is getting hurt expect us, are we clear?"

"As long as they don't intervene," Stella remarked with a look around, and a few of the ponies closest to the barriers stepped back. She smiled. "I have no interest in hurting my future subjects, after all. Although you will forgive me for choosing to be extra careful with a few of your friends, we wouldn't want this to be an unfair fight, would we?" Her horn alight at those words, from within the castle she levitated out a sphere of magic containing Sunburst and Starlight, both bound by magical energy.

Twilight looked utterly unimpressed, and almost enjoying herself. "You have a point, yes. Not that their help would be necessary."

If a nerve twitched on Stella's face, she hid it from sight with her coil. She turned to the ponies she'd brought to hover next to her. Her eyes settled on Starlight and there was a slight fluctuation in her magic.

Immediately Starlight bent over, eyes wide open, visibly shook by something and quivering. She was gagged, and the sphere would have muffled her words regardless, but Twilight didn't need to hear her to know what was happening. "I see," she said, her tone and composure dropping into seriousness. "We'll get to that too when we get to it, I suppose."

Comments

[Speckle]

Stella.
You are going down.