Twilight Daylight: Dawn of Equus

by thedarktome

Chapter 22 - The Return of Arcadia

No one spoke. They grew wary. Arcadia had arrived. Celestia and Luna stepped back two steps. She did try to kill them just a few days ago.

Dawn walked over to mom and gave her a hug she strongly returned. Ah, there it was. That warmth. She was no longer cold and desolate.

"You were right," Dawn said into her coat.

Arcadia chuckled and rubbed Dawn's back. "Aren't I always?"

"Twilight." They broke the hug to face Luna and the Princesses of Equestria, alongside the Royal Guard landing nearby surrounding them. "I was certain you wouldn't return."

"Would you rather I stay away?"

"Of course not." Cadance walked over to Twilight and pulled her into a crushing hug. "I missed my sister-in-law and her weekly facts."

Twilight laughed and returned the embrace. If there was anyone here that she missed second to her daughter, It was Cadance.

"A little filly told me you were in quite the sinking ship."

Celestia walked forward. "A sinking ship that you know how to repair."

"I do." Arcadia looked over her shoulder. Storm clouds had appeared in the sky. Somepony wasn't happy. "It's not safe to speak out here. I suggest we take this within enclosed walls. I'll explain everything as soon as we are."

She faced Dawn and hoofed back over the Diary of Narmeelah. "Let's put this back under lock and key, First Light."

First Light burst through and saluted. "Yes, madam Mommy!"

Arcadia looked back to the ponies watching their interaction. The guards of IHT and Psera, a few dozen eyeing them, not including the thousands aboard the Aquatas at sea behind her. "I can already see that the House and Psera will be less than enthusiastic to my arrival."

"Can you blame them?" Luna spat.

"No. But ponies are at risk of starving. There is no time for emotions. I can feed you. I can feed all of you." She lit her horn. A portal appeared behind Arcadia. One that showed peace and tranquility. Beaches, palm trees, green fields and a massive pyramid.

Large crates floated through that Arcadia placed down. With the help of Dawn and Cadance, they spent the next few minutes pulling out food, by the smell of it. Mostly fruit with some fish and gems for the dragons with each crate labeled for the specific species. Just enough for what they all needed.

Once the last crate was pulled, Arcadia closed the portal and picked up the body of Shaoloh. "Have your guards be useful and deliver these to every section. We have a lot to speak about."

---

That mare packed a seriously large hit. One hit to the muzzle and Sky Duster was nursing a swollen jaw. Was she growing soft? Stars above, she missed a good fight. A shame she lost this one.

Removing an ice pack, Sun Waves turned to the Legends of Psera. "Who was that? This Shaoloh?"

Odega faced her from Gardeen. "Shaoloh is one of the many daughters of Narmeelah. First Ferilia, then Shaoloh. There are many more, each with their own skills. Those two seem to be here strictly for the diary."

"How are you feeling, Gardeen?" Novo asked her. "You shouldn't be here if you are pregnant, you should be with your family."

"Pink is fine," Gardeen argued. "She knows we'll return even if the world goes boom."

Just then, Celestia, Luna, and Dawn walked back into the room. Before they could ask, Dawn raised the tome and Luna dumped Shaoloh in the middle of the floor for all eyes to see. Relief flooded them all.

"So you s-stopped her," Farue stammered. "Quite the feat."

Celestia smiled. "We had help." The three of them made space in the doorway and looked back into the darkened hall Cadance soon emerged from, followed by...

Gasps flew from throats. Ponies stopped what they were doing. They knew the form. They knew the wings. The face of the pony who stopped in the doorway under the scrutiny of the guards' gaze.

"Twilight 'Arcadia Nova' Sparkle," Novo said. "I cannot say I'm not happy to see you, but I also can't say I am."

Arcadia sat down, and took a deep breath. "I do not blame you. However, I am needed nonetheless."

"I guess we're about to kick some flank now, huh?" Starlight asked.

"Not on empty stomachs." Two crates floated in and set themselves in the middle of the floor.

"Arcadia has delivered food to our subjects," Dawn explained. "That is one problem that has been resolved. Now we can focus on the issue at hoof."

"Defeating Narmeelah," Shining Armor said. He turned to Twilight and smirked. "I heard there's a plan in place."

"Had you any doubt? Your performances were part of it. The fight, my damnation, all of it. I'm sorry to say my return was not included." Arcadia looked down to Dawn. "Just like any veteran, I had to be pretty convinced to escape my seaside view of retirement."

"So, what do we do first?" Gardeen asked.

"First, we escort you down the mountain to Light Pink. Here, eat." She ripped off a crate's top and floated her a large mango. "Actually, take two. Your cravings won't be as intense."

"But my place—"

"Is by your wife," Merry interrupted. She guided Gardeen towards the door. "You and her need each other. Come, let's get you out of here." When they passed Arcadia, Gardeen stopped and gave her a hug.

"It's good to have you back, Twilight," Gardeen whispered.

"It's good to be back, my little filly."

---

Once Gardeen was gone, Shaoloh caged in the corner, and the room had full stomachs, Novo took to the stage again. "Now, we are complete. The leaders for a free world. Warriors, Kings, Queens, and Princesses finally brought together to fight; and now that we are joined by Arcadia Nova, I assume we can begin making progress."

"Starting with this." A document floated over to Arcadia from Secretary Manny. The one of the massive rune in Cop. Twilight picked it up and stared at the image. "Do you know—"

"It's a central rune," Arcadia interrupted. "I use these sometimes, but not on such a scale." She lifted the map. "By the stars, it covers the entirety of Cop. There's no telling what it controls."

"What does it do?" Secretary Manny asked.

Arcadia set down the photo. "At the time of this picture? Nothing. Narmeelah was missing a key component. A central rune won't work without a battery or some form of power supply. That unit was supposed to go here."

Using her magic, Arcadia displayed a live image of the rune in front of the whole room with a flashing red dot in the center.

Sun Waves leaned over into Celestia's space. "That's why she's the best," she whispered.

"What does a central rune do?" Snap Seed asked. "I've never heard of it."

"A central rune powers multiple spells at the exact same time to create either singular or various events without the caster killing themselves trying to pull it all off. Think of it like creating multiple horns and multiple brains. It's a playground that only advanced spellcasters can pull off. All of IHT has come in contact with a version of this in the past. Madun gave you the batteries and Dawn activated the rune."

"The Mecrah Portal," Chancellor deduced.

"The one and the same. Although, the size of this one is a little different..."

"A little?"

"...and I can't predict the outcome without knowing why it was built. So, unless Narmeelah has that battery, the rune is useless. Which means we have to focus directly on Narmeelah herself. Without Narmeelah, it does nothing."

"Which brings us to our next order of business." Queen Novo peered at her. "How is Narmeelah going to destroy Equus? What's the plan?"

Arcadia turned to Dawn. "Do you still have that map?"

Dawn reached into her wing and pulled a document Arcadia teleported over to herself. An image of the map was displayed in the room. The planet with all of its paths.

"After reading the diary, I have theorized that Narmeelah is trying to destroy Equus by using the planet itself as the weapon. All throughout Equus, underneath our hooves are a series of wells. That's what these lines are."

"Wells?"

"Tunnels. They circulate the entire globe. My theory is that Narmeelah is using these tunnels to ring magic through the planet faster than the speed of light in one direction..."

"...which will create a gravitational pull." Arcadia looked over to Snap Seed and her wide eyed stare. "She's going to implode the planet."

"I didn't have to say much for you to figure it out, I see," Arcadia said.

Snap Seed bashfully surrendered. "Oh, it's nothing, just physics, a little studying here and there."

"She's being modest," Lead Harvest. She wrapped a hoof around Snap's shoulders. "This pony is your biggest fan. She's read every last single one of your reports, practiced all of your spells, and won't shut up about reading all of your tomes later. She tracked your attack on Canterlot and discovered your runes dotting the continent before anyone else."

"Really? What is your name?"

"I'm Lead Harvest and this is Snap Seed. We ran a small lab out of Manehattan before it was flipped."

Snap Seed broke from her stupor. "I'm your biggest fan!"

"It's nice to meet the both of you. Queen Dawn and I could use your help later. I have notes that need to be compiled and a device to make." She turned back to the room. "And yes, I have a plan to defeat Narmeelah."

Celestia asked, "What is the plan?"

"Narmeelah is a celestial. She's not flesh and blood, weapons like guns and arrows won't work. She is moved by the forces of the cosmos."

"So these are useless?" Secretary Manny threw a random knife onto the table.

"No, they go right through her. A frontal attack on Narmeelah would've proven fruitless; more or less a massacre on your side."

Well, good thing they didn't commence a frontal attack then.

Cadance asked, "So how do we fight her?"

"Simple." Arcadia stood from her seat. "I have weapons that can harm Narmeelah. Most of them are complete."

Using her magic, Arcadia grabbed her tomes and floated them around the room. A spiral of literature that ringed the table. The pages flipped open to specific sections and chapters. With one new weapon per book.

Arcadia sheepishly scratched at her neck. "Now, I may have gone overboard."

"I don't think so," Sun Waves commented.

"Yeah," Tritanium agreed. He crossed his arms. "If we're going up against a god, having an infinite flow of weapons would be ideal."

"What are these weapons?" Queen Amira asked. "And where can we get ahold of them?"

A line of the tomes floated down from the spire and circled before the group slowly so they could read them.

"I've been working on a number of weapons we can utilize."

Celestia grabbed a tome and read the line. Most of the stuff she couldn't understand. These Twilight Linguistics were an entirely different level of magic. But she did understand some of it. Words that made her face scrunch up as if digesting a lemon.

"Twilight...these are disintegrators."

They all looked up to Twilight. "That's the idea, yes. That is her weakness. So please don't toy with them. If you lose a hoof, you'll likely lose your life shortly after."

"Are these safe?"

"They're weapons. I would think they're not safe for anyone to be near them. Now. There is just one tiny problem."

Oh boy. "What problem is that?"

Arcadia rubbed the back of her neck."The weapons aren't here. They're on Psera. Including the one we desperately need."

The room groaned in irritation. It seemed that everything they needed was either lost or stuck on Psera. It was obvious that an interaction with Narmeelah directly was proving to be inevitable. Oh, one could only hope and dream.

Odega looked to Secretary Manny. "I'm certain we sent all of Arcadia's things back here. All of her labs have been emptied, crated, and shipped."

"We did," she promised.

Arcadia admitted, "I have other stashes around Psera that aren't even accessible to Pserateps. Only to me and me alone. You more than likely missed a majority of these regions."

"Likely?" Luna repeated. "We need to know for sure."

"Then I'm sure you all missed it. The only way to get in is through a sequence of codes and locks. I placed a lot of security on my more dangerous belongings."

Queen Novo nodded and said, "Then getting to Psera has become our next course of action." Novo glanced around the room and landed her sight on Ember. She's been quiet ever since Arcadia stepped into the room. She was smoldering. Hate practically poured off of her. The other dragons in the room were no better.

"Ember." Ember moved her glare to Novo. "You've been quiet. Do you have anything to say?"

"I could've sworn that the plan was to arrest Arcadia if she so much as flew over Equestria, let alone sat right in front of us."

Silence followed before Flurry spoke. "I believe there has been a unanimous agreement following the uprooting of society and Narmeelah's arrival that we're in need of Arcadia's firm knowledge and understanding of the situation. Out of all of us here, she's the only one who knows magic from its very core and conducted thorough research on our enemy. You don't have to like her, but if we want to survive, we have to work with her."

Twilight turned to Ember. "I know the things I did—"

Ember slammed one claw on the table and pointed the other at her. "You don't get to talk to me. After everything you did, the nerve you have to sit there as if immune to any emotion is infuriating enough. I'd rather see you dead than see you helping us."

Twilight illuminated her horn. A portal appeared in the corner of the room leading back to that world with that Pyramid.

"I could always leave, and take my daughter with me."

"Please do."

The room quickly blared their disagreements.

"No, no, wait a minute!"

"We need her, Ember!"

Novo raised her claw and quieted the room. "No; Arcadia? Please stay. Ember? Please stop talking."

"Why? You asked for my opinion! It's been less than two months since she just eradicated an entire continent, razed her own country, and stormed IHT! I lost forty-seven dragons in that fight!"

"You'll lose the rest if you don't work with her," Cadance replied. "Despite Arcadia's character and past, Flurry is right. We need her. You need her. I understand the pain Arcadia has caused you. But imagine the pain she's caused us. We watched the mare we raised from a filly try and murder us. But we're still here willing to work with her."

"Just for now, Ember," King Chancellor added. "We just need to work with her for now."

Ember leaned back in her seat, but her glare never left Arcadia. Her claws crossed, she seethed with hate. "Fine."

Dawn pulled her eyes towards her mother. She didn't seem at all disturbed or worried by that sentence. Quite the contrast by how she herself felt.

"Very well. Our next course of action is getting to Psera." She turned to Psera. "Could we take the Aquatas?"

"You could," Arcadia spoke. "But then Narmeelah would know you were coming. I have another course of action that'll take us directly to where we need to go. It'll be timely and quite lengthy, perhaps a little dangerous, but we also won't be detected, which will give us the element of surprise."

"And wh-what is this w-way?" Queen Farue asked. "Where does it lead?"

Arcadia teleported over to Psera and generated a map of their continent, zoomed in on Cop, in front of Secretary Manny, their generals, and Dawn. A copy was created in the middle of the room.

What was she doing? Arcadia placed her hoof on the map in front of Psera, and, whilst watching their reactions, moved her hoof in a circular motion.

Their view of Psera moved towards the Northeast, leaving Cop, scanning over the mountain range into sandy...

Manny slammed her hoof upon Arcadia's before it could go any further. Her eyes narrowed.

"No," she said.

"It is our only option. In the diary, Narmeelah has some words regarding all the cities, except that one. Leading me to believe even she doesn't know it exists. Besides, the weapons that we need are also in that direction, and the path we will be taking will lead us straight there."

"Isn't there another way?" Queen Dawn asked.

"We could do it the original way and take the Aquatas but the moment we're in Psera seas, Narmeelah will know. We could fly there, but there would be no cover from attacks. I'm sure Narmeelah has that central rune firmly guarded. Without weapons, we'll be asking for a death wish. We'll be using Narmeelah's wells to travel. But the end result will still be there."

"We should let the current Queen of Psera decide," Merry spoke up. She looked to Dawn. "It's your call."

Oh boy, her first serious judgement. Her first ruling. Dawn swallowed and gave the answer she was certain they were all expecting.

"If Arcadia Nova believes that the direct way towards the weapons to be the best choice, then I, too, believe it is. She's the only one here who knows her plans, no doubt her strategies. If taking Narmeelah by surprise through this route is the best way to encounter less casualties, then we'll do it this way."

The motion has been passed. Arcadia teleported back to her seat.

"But what about its current nature, Queen Dawn?" Manny asked.

"I agree," Princess Merry said. "It's been under wraps for hundreds of years."

"So has Narmeelah's plans," Dawn argued. "We have to be wise. If all of IHT is coming along, then they are going to need weapons from Psera. Traditionally, delivery would be supplied under a pseudonym. But we don't have that opportunity anymore. We can always reproduce another site. Our family has enough money to contribute to a good amount of the construction and planning. But for now, let it be known that we are disclosing the site."

Looks like Psera was unleashing a secret on everybody. Even Ember was interested. Psera, always full of mystery.

Dawn stared at all of the ponies in the room. "What we say does not leave this room."

Queen Novo nodded her head. "Under the laws of IHT, we will not speak outside of it."

Dawn nodded and crossed her hooves. Her eyes narrowed. "Good. Then, it is time you all learned about Psera's eleventh city. Home to all of Psera's innovations, both scientific and magical in nature."

She looked into Celestia's eyes. "It is time you learned... Of Serl."

Comments

[Fluffy_Wing]

An update from journey with a batpony and this story just when I woke up!? My what a time to be alive! Thanks for thr update, its time for some flank kicking

[Dieadmirer]

Woah... ANOTHER MYSTERY CITY?????