Chapter 20: The Morning Will Come
~ April 19th, 1020 ME ~
‘Pre-Dawn‘
* Sweet Apple Acres *
Celestia was feeling extremely tired and sweaty by the time she finished off the last Hydra. She had begun to experience a new appreciation for sleep considering how much she was missing out on, but the work wasn't finished yet, and it had taken way too much time and energy to defeat the attacking creatures. Her immediate thought following her fight went straight to her sister as she remembered Luna had taken the harder opponent to begin with. What she didn't know is where to start looking for them. Celestia took to the skies and began surveying the fields that stretched between Ponyville and the Everfree, at the same time as making her way back toward the town. Her focus had been so set on the hydras that she... wait hold that thought. She had barely taken flight when she saw the giants towering over everything else, with their steps that literally made the ground shake. Yeah hard to miss the behemoths in the Apple family orchards that glow like constellations. Ursa's are anything but subtle.
Putting some energy into her flight she made her way in her sister's direction, praying that she was holding up. I'm coming, Luna. Hold on just a bit longer. Within her mind was an internal clock forged from a thousand years raising the sun and the time to rise that celestial body was less than a few hours from now. Putting great strength into every wing beat, Celestia was nearing the battlefield that was the Apple Family Farm. Hundreds of trees had been uprooted and her sister was doing her best to dodge giant fists swinging at her. She looked rather winded and the only thing to show for it was some scratches around the head and neck area of the Ursa's. Realistically there were only a few options: Attempt to split the focus of the enemy, fight side by side, or alternatively use spells meant to subdue rather than fight. This method would be closer to what Twilight did. When she encountered one, she had different resources at her disposal. Regardless Luna needed help and Celestia was going to do her part.
Her body began heating up as she began to harness her strongest abilities tied to her affinity with the sun. Coming in for a landing the heat emanating from her body was sapping all the moisture from the soil under the feet of the Ursas. The dry and cracking ground was immediately cause for the giant bears to stumble from the loose footing shifting under their feet. Before Celestia began going on the offensive she thought about what she was up against. A nocturnal creature meant to see in the dark would be at a severe disadvantage among bright or flashing lights. While it is not normally known for leaving its home, it would probably return to the caves at dawn. Above her, Luna could be seen flying around the head level of the creatures continuing to buy time and search for openings. Now Celestia would make her move. Springing up from the ground she was flying next to Luna in seconds.
"Sister! Let me handle their attention. I can impair their vision. Do you have the energy to put them into a sleep or stasis?"
"We are not certain! Beasts of this scale will require much, though we can find strength!" Luna replied while dodging another bone crushing swipe.
They began working in sync with Celestia lighting up the night sky above Ponyville. She radiated heat and her body flashed brightly, while Luna went to work. She touched her horn to the back of the Ursa major while casting a sleep spell and used the physical touch to also push thoughts into its head about feelings of tiredness. Though it took over an entire minute, the major soon tripped on the dry soil and collapsed in a heap, smashing over a few hundred apple trees in the process. When the Ursa minors saw their parent sleeping and felt the earthquake its body made upon hitting the ground, they began shaking their heads as if clearing away a mental fog. They surrounded the major, each grabbing onto a limb and began hauling their mother back towards the Everfree forest.
For anypony watching it would have made a strange sight but for the sisters it was a great relief. As Luna watched the retreating forms, she began to feel a little woozy, so she came in for a landing. Within the next few moments despite her best efforts, she found her eyes closing on their own accord and it was a struggle to keep them open. The last image in her mind was the sight of her sister landing in front of her before the world faded to black.
* Canterlot Castle *
Blazing was just finishing up talking to a guard about summoning Princess Twilight's brother and sister-in-law as well as the other element bearers when he heard the purple mare gasp. "Make sure they know it's urgent as well!" Blazing called after the guard and watched him gallop away to spread the word. He turned back to face Twilight and spotted her looking at a floating image of another room reflecting off of seemingly thin air. Blazing moved towards her looking on in amazement. "Is that scrying? What do you see?"
"It's not what I see... it's what I don't see! Somepony has stolen some dangerous projects out of a room that I was certain nopony knew of! I'm not sure if I've even shown my friends this room... I can't wait any longer. What if somepony broke in? What if they hurt Spike? But I could never leave here and disobey Celestia. She would banish me and... Ohh-"
"Twilight believe me when I say that Celestia would never do that, and I would never let that happen. Go! I don't like it but... I'll talk to your friends. You go and save your brother!" Under his breath Blazing had whispered one final thing; "cause I wasn't able to save mine." Twilight's ear had twitched, and she tried not to show too much reaction to what she had overheard instead putting on a look of determination.
"Thank you Blazing! I owe you the world already. I will do my best to make it up to you somehow."
"Godspeed Twilight. I look forward to hearing good news when you get back." Twilight lit her horn and began to concentrate on landing her teleport just inside of her lab. After a short prep, she finished her weave and with a pop Blazing was left alone in the corridor with a lot of explaining to do. I do hope they go easy on me when I tell them that Twilight left... Man that mare has serious panic attacks!
"Alright Blazing we’re here, where is Twilight?" Shining Armor asked.
"Well, you may not like to hear this, but she had to go to Ponyville bec-
"You let my sister go to Ponyville alone?! Twilight would never disobey something Celestia asked, and she of all ponies knows the importance of trusting in those around her. I knew you were trouble! How could you knowingly let a part of my family go straight into danger." Shining was fuming at this point and clearly some frustration could be seen on some of the others faces, especially Rainbow Dash'.
"If you just let me finish, I can explain."
"No"
"Shining we should hear him out. Twilight isn't unreasonable with her decision making." Cadance tried.
"I said what I said, Cadance. No, I think you should get out of this house for being a bad influence on my sister."
"Excuse me? Your sister is the only reason I'm in this mess dude and if it weren't for her, I wouldn't even be on this crazy planet of chaos! NO you listen to me! Twilight thinks someone has broken into her home and she left to protect Spike. Hard to brag about her number one assistant if she were to lose him. I would be with her too had she not been in such a hurry. I can see that had we both left, our absence would have made things even worse here. So don't accuse me or her of anything! I think she is being both brave and noble.”
Blazing's outburst had stunned everypony. Shining Armor didn't know whether to be angry, afraid, or in respect of Blazing for what he said, but one thing was for certain.
"Applejack, is what he just said all true?"
"Well, I ain't pickin' up on no lies yet."
"Then I owe you an apology Blazing. Seems like you have good intentions at heart, and I appreciate your backbone when it comes to standing up for things you believe in."
"So what do we do now? We can't just keep standing here?" Rainbow Dash began.
"That's just it... I know you all want to go after her, but if I were being attacked, I wouldn't want all my eggs in one basket. We need-“ Blazing hardly got any farther before being cut off by Pinkie Pie laughing at his idiom.
"I love all my eggs in one basket! See! Makes them easier to find when I'm baking!"
Blazings eyes bulged a bit at seeing Pinky pull a large container of eggs out of her mane, but he quickly composed himself, choosing to ignore the comment and magic entirely. "Yes, well as I was saying I really think Celestia is right about us staying in Canterlot. However, I understand you all are closer to her then I am so it's not up to me. Prince Armor, you were once captain of the royal guard. What's the play here?"
Cadance smiled at seeing Blazing defaulting to her husband's judgment so shortly after unleashing his frustration on him. Shining wasted no time in speaking up in response. "You can call me Shining. My sister is a planner and it's hard to imagine her acting so rashly, but Blazing is right. I know that Twilight can take care of herself in difficult situations and the guard there will also protect her. We should continue to stay alert here working in shifts until it's clear the crisis is over."
And that's exactly what they did. Rainbow and Rarity stayed awake for the first watch in case they needed to call the others and the rest headed off towards their respective guest rooms. On the way Blazing and Shining Armor exchanged a few words. "Love, do you mind continuing without me for a bit? I think it's time Blazing and I have a Stallion-to-Stallion conversation."
"Ok Shiney just don't do anything I wouldn't do." Cadance reluctantly went on ahead.
"You know, Shining, you're surprisingly easy to read. I've been able to feel your concern about my character just by seeing the way you look at me and I hope to change that. Everything has been so hectic since you got here, we never got to have a proper introduction. My name is Chase Waters and I am a human in the skin of a pony. I've decided that until I can return to 'normal' I want to go by Blazing Waters. It seems more like the names you have, and I've been told my backstory may make some ponies uncomfortable, so this was my split-second compromise."
"That does answer a few of my questions... My name is Shining Armor and I will admit I have been a little unfair to you. It's not every day a stallion finds out the Princesses trust a stranger with a royal seal, let alone a brother finds out another guy is living with his sister. You can see why there may have been some room for concern with how you have so many ponies putting their trust in you."
"Well, you have a mighty fine mare for a sister. She has already shown me so much about this world and its mysteries through books and lessons and... anyways as far as the Princess giving me this." Blazing put a hoof on the pendant. "You, being a Prince probably have the right to know why I'm even here. I'm entertaining the idea that somehow, according to Discord anyways, I am important for saving this nation, Equestria. Why I believe a statement that sounds like a poorly designed movie plot, on top of the fact it was told by the spirit of chaos... I have no idea. I guess some part of me wants to see where this goes and also feels a desire to help."
"It's because you've built connections here isn't it? You don't feel right abandoning them?"
"That good at seeing through people, huh? Figures since you have a military background... Look I don't know why this world is making me so open, but I'm about to tell you something I haven't shared with anyone so please don't spread this around. I was pretty isolated back home. There was this disease keeping people apart, or even walled off behind masks, and I was so busy with my studies I never knew how fun it could be to party or make friends; I always thought that was for people that weren't serious about their life and education. I went to one Pinkie party, and I knew nobody... but suddenly I felt welcomed by every pony in attendance. I don't even like surprises but the people in that room still brought a smile to my face and made me feel welcome. I still don't know many ponies, but those I do know have welcomed me with open arms and I can only begin to aspire for that kind of kindness and generosity."
"Thanks for your honesty, Blazing, it's encouraging to see that this season of your life has been good to you in some ways besides it all being bad. However, I have heard the things you say about my sister and it's obvious that you think highly of her. Quit flattering the idea that you two can be something more."
"What the heck are you talking about? She's a pony!"
"Yeah, and right now so are you. All I'm saying is if you have any care for my sister, you won't go beyond regular friendship because I don't want you to butter her up just to somehow break her when you leave."
"Ok I get it! I was hoping being more open would help earn your trust, but I can see that you have other things on your mind. First Spike and then you making remarks about Twilight is a lot to take in. I don't know why everypony thinks I have feelings for Twilight Sparkle... She's just my first Equestrian friend, that's all."
* Twilight's Castle *
It was clear upon arrival that things weren't as they originally seemed to Twilight. The basement smelled of rotten, burnt wood and had residual magic still present in the air. Twilight was able to detect Chaos magic from the Everfree and her own magical energy signature indicating that some of her enchanted items had been activated. Spike was nowhere to be seen, but what she did notice upon reaching her main laboratory at the top of the hidden stairwell was Timberwolves trying and failing to reconstruct themselves. Her combustible aluminum gel-powder deemed too dangerous for further testing appeared to be still fizzling with light flames. The fire was keeping the wolves down. Well at least it's good for something Twilight thought, although she felt a little bad that any creature would have to experience the hot flames her chemical compound produced.
The line of sticks and ashes extended beyond the room, so Twilight began to follow the destruction up the stairwell, surprised to see so many Timberwolves had been in her home. She surveyed more of the hall and still found nothing except remains. "Spike? Are you here? Spike?" Nothing came in response. The castle was silent. Where are you? Twilight was about to head back to her lab to reset her spells and look for clues when something shook her to her core. A horrible scream pierced through the castle lasting for all of a second, before there was again, no sound.
‘10 Minutes Prior‘
Spike couldn't see Wiz Frame moving on ahead, but what he could see was hungry Timberwolves. They always looked wild when he had seen them before, but now they had an even more hostile and vicious tone to them. An invisible Wiz, holding the flammable material in his telekinesis, began dumping it on the wolves. The Timberwolves attention was fixed on Spike. He began running towards them at the same time as they charged back. At the last moment just before they collided, Spike yelled "Shield up" and unleashed a wall of flames from his mouth which wasted no time in engulfing the wooden constructs. Wiz could feel the heat through his shield even though he had continued running past the first group of Timberwolves by the door.
It had been a great surprise how quickly they made work of the first 7 wolves, yet the fear and adrenaline made them push into the hall without stopping. Wiz removed the invisibility band and they continued to press on running side by side in the direction of the exit, blasting Timberwolves as they went; Wiz with his own magic, and Spike with the artificial mana blast. They were at a severe advantage with their ranged weapons. As they neared the front entry it was almost devoid of any more threats, so they continued running towards their exit. Something was off, however. Spike hadn't heard much sound following the last wolf they took down besides their own steps. They were about 30 feet from the door, when he heard it; a branch rubbing against the crystal floor. At that moment Spike called for Wiz to stop running. Simultaneously, 12 more wooden wolves pounced from the nearest rooms both in front and behind their current position.
"We're surrounded." Spike still had all his magical devices but running through the castle had taken a lot of energy out of him. Wiz Frame wasn't much better. The Timberwolves were slowly closing the circle in and snapping their jaws as they did so.
"I'm out of powder and we can't shoot them all at once, we're going to have to teleport." Wiz said with urgency. The wolves were less than five feet away now. "Grab onto me!" Wiz felt Spike's hand reach out and touch his rear leg just as the Timberwolf directly in front of him pounced. He fired up his horn and focused on the town hall building where he had rung the bell earlier and simultaneously felt the force of a jaw clamp down on the top of his foreleg near the shoulder. The majority of the spell had been completed, and they were out of the castle in a flash with Wiz screaming in pain from the singular wolf that had come along for the ride. Spike was petrified when Wiz started screaming and watched as the Timberwolf continued gnawing at his leg. Then he looked at Wiz, gritting his teeth and finally found the will to move. He shot the wolf with a mana blast making it crumble into wooden fragments. Collapsing onto the floor Spike was pretty sure he had seen enough. I wanted so badly to help ponies and now we've just got ourselves into a worse situation.
But there was no time to shut down and give up. "Wiz can you move? What should I do? Do you need me to find help?"
"I don't have much magical reserve. I'll survive, but thiss stabbing pain is more than my training prepared me for." Wiz practically hissed. "Buck, I need to be out there helping ponies." In the distance crashing sounds and battle cries could be heard although it was hard to tell how close the sounds were coming from. Looking over Wiz Frame, Spike felt as though he had aged a couple years seeing the rips in Wiz' fur.
There's sooo much blood! Spike moved over to the front desk of the office and quickly rummaged through the drawers trying to find anything of use. He settled for a roll of tape and returned to Wiz’s body. "I'm sorry I don't know first aid, but I do know we gotta stop that bleeding. This is going to hurt." Spike taped over the wound as best he could, but Wiz was clearly in searing pain, nearly smacking Spike in the face from his reaction. "Wiz you need help. I'm going to go find somepony and I will be right back. Stay strong!"
With that, Spike looked out of the front of the building preparing to step out. The streetlights of Ponyville were casting shadows over an army of Everfree monsters, but a line of ponies could be seen out front of Sugarcube Corner at the other end of the Main Street. They were doing their best to defend themselves and more ponies inside. Where was there to go for help? Going into the ranks of the enemy would be suicide. For Wiz he would have to make a decision. He moved back over to where Wiz lay and grabbed the invisibility device from his saddle bags. Slipping it over his arm he felt more ready to take on what lay outside. So, with a mana blaster on half capacity, a personal shield device, and the invisibility, Spike snuck out of a first story window on the side of the building, careful not to bring too much attention to where Wiz lay injured.
First order of business... nothing is looking in my direction, good. Spike began moving into discreet places he could pick off the enemy and put an end to this madness. Being able to fly would have helped tremendously, however, Spike was finding quite a bit of success just hitting things from a distance. He shot a manticore in the back doing enough to stun it yet none of its brethren seemed to care. They had to have more awareness than they were showing but they seemed so one track minded that the only thing they focused on was the ponies in front of them that they were trying to kill. Soon the numbers began to show a noticeable decline in the opposing forces. The army that had been led into Ponyville at the start of the fight had finally worked their way through the city, smaller than when they arrived, but still determined.
The citizens of Ponyville were pushing the invaders back from the confectionery, the royal guard was moving in from the side and Spike was putting in some serious work on the other front by himself. It didn't make any sense that the enemy was ignoring him, but they must have operated on an out of sight out of mind instinct. The largest threat remaining was the giant basilisk which had ripped through several houses up to this point and was smashing its body into everything. It would have ripped through the locals as well had a few of them not been using earth pony strength along with unicorn levitation to keep it back every time it got too close. Nopony had a good plan for what to do to stop it, only for how to keep it in check. Spike tried to fire some blasts at it, but it was no good. Even arrows that came from the royal guard weren't penetrating the scales. They only served to annoy the reptilian creature which now had its gaze locked on Spike. Spike felt immobilized by the eyes of the snake and was caught completely off guard. How can it see me? He couldn't move his body but when he looked at his arm, he realized that he was no longer invisible. Spike had forgotten that the item he wore had its limits. The stored mana in the arm band had finally run out at the worst time. The Basilisk was moving toward the little dragon now at a fast rate due to its size.
It was almost on top of him. This is it Spike thought. I tried but it wasn't enough... I'm sorry Wiz... He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable pain from the Basilisk's maw.
...
...
...
Suddenly the ground shook with a great quake and a loud bang sounded that carried for miles; hundreds if not thousands of miles actually. The volume was equivalent to a volcanic eruption. The Basilisk, having been distracted by the sound, looked in the direction the noise had come from and suddenly looked very confused. Why was it not in its home?
"Get away from my brother!" A purple alicorn descended with flared wings and glowing eyes. She overlooked the Basilisk towering over Spike. The same Basilisk that had just been rampaging now looked afraid. It no longer wanted Spike as a lunch and instead made a quick and tactical retreat back toward the Everfree forest. The remaining Timberwolves and other various creatures also began falling back although the Timberwolves still had the same bloodlust in their eyes.
"I don't think they're all leaving because of me." Twilight thought out loud.
"Twilight! I need your help! The Stallion who gave the warning of the attack and saved my life is hurt! He's inside the Town Hall!" Twilight, having seen the carnage in the town knew he wasn't the only one who was hurt, but she came to help her brother and now that she felt better about his safety, she would help however and whoever else she could.
"Ok Spike hop on! Let's go get him to the hospital." Hopefully there's a hospital to get him to. Spike got on Twilight's back and they flew back to the Town Hall picking up Wiz Frame, who was thankfully still alive but in a bad state. His foreleg was almost completely torn all the way through. Big Mac, along with some of the ponies that had been at Sugar Cubes Corner and the guards assisted with finding injured ponies. The hospital was quickly over capacity. Shortly thereafter Celestia had entered Ponyville carrying Luna and addressed the ponies present. Every lost pony would be honored and not forgotten. A little ways outside of town a crumbled statue lay in the grass. Among the lost, a brave earth pony by the name of Granite had been crushed. There would be much mourning in the days to come.
After a long night the sunrise was a pleasant sight to Ponyville. Celestia's sun unveiled just how bad things were, but it also was the hope for things to get better. Ponyville is a resilient town full of strong ponies. When they come together, magic begins.
Location: Unknown
"Chrysalis, I do believe it's time for your love drain operation to commence."
"With Pleasure." The Queen of the Changelings said with a fang filled grin.
"Do your worst." The voice echoed back.
.
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11026922
You are aware you have to read, watch, listen or experience whatever piece of media in whatever way in order to know if you like it, right? His comment made it clear he gave it a fair shot and decided not to read more, so your point is invalid in this case. Also your comment on forgiveness is strange. You have nothing to forgive him for. There is nothing wrong with having negative thoughts on a piece of media. Try not to take personal offense and act like he harmed you or something.
11090813
I can see where you’re coming from. What you probably can’t get from reading my comment is that I was emotionally upset by what was written and therefore probably let some of that seep into my reply. He said my story pissed him off and it’s a door mat while another reader was acting like a reviewer and telling me everything I shouldn’t have done with my own story. Both fair opinions. At the time I didn’t know what a door mat character is and since he said it in context to my story I thought It meant my story should be walked on like a door mat. All that to say, contempt towards my story felt like a personal attack on me because of the judgmental remarks. That is why I included the comment about forgiving even though it was just a blunt internet comment. Hope that brings some clarity upon my petty comment.