Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Xov

"You're not..." Rarity's tongue got caught against the back of her teeth, her words stuck in her throat as her head struggled to push out her thoughts through them. "We're not..." She turned to the others and at the volume of a hiss and the tone of a scream she said, "We can't let this happen! Are you insane?"

"It's what Twilight wants," Rainbow said. She was tense, ready to spring into action, her muscles rigid and her cadence a bit stilted as a result. "I don't like it, and you don't have to like it either, but right now we have to stay put. Later. Later, if Twilight is dead, I'm going to punch through Stella's skull or die trying, and I'll gladly have you at my side. Right now, we can't interfere. It'll throw the whole thing off."

"B-but... But..." Rarity looked between the alicorns, still talking, and the other ponies. "She'll get herself killed!" Her voice was shrill, her mane ruffled, and the make-up beneath her eyes was starting to smudge. "We can't let Twilight die like this! We can't..." She was breathing through her teeth, one of her legs twitching from her nervousness.

"If we attack now," Rainbow said, "Stella will kill both Twilight and us. If we let things play out, there's at least a chance Twilight will be able to talk her out of this whole thing, or into helping Equestria without her." Her wings twitched and she visibly winced from the pain. "I hate it. But it's what Twilight has decided, and she knows better than us. If she thinks the fight is not worth continuing, it's not our right to force it to." She looked straight at Rarity. She had no make-up of her own, but her cheeks would have been streaked with it otherwise. "Twilight is my friend too. That's why I trust her, even if it means we might lose her."

Rarity looked at her, then at the ground, then back to the two alicorns and the glowing light between them. She looked at it grow, barely seeing it through the tears building up in her eyes, and she wiped her face of those as she saw it starting to wane. Hope blossomed in her chest, however feeble, however foolish.

Fluttershy was shaking, teeth clattering, and Pinkie was holding on to her, in part to keep her from darting forward in the middle of the confrontation. Pinkie herself was physically the calmest of them, but the straightening edges of her mane spoke of her bubbling inner turmoil. Seeing Twilight die there would break her, but she trusted her, and kept holding on as long as there was hope.

They saw Stella stepping back, clearly in some degree of shock, they heard her scream. They saw her charging up her horn, fearing the worst, everything happening too fast for them to react. Then they saw her fire, and a different kind of fear spread through them as the blast approached them.

Comments

[Speckle]

Crystal crystal crystal PLEASE let it be the Tree ;-;