Long ago, in the broken remains of Equestria

by thegenieworld

Chapter 3

Starlight found herself pacing nervously around her tower. None of the books she’d found had been any help. The book with the unfinished spell taunted her from the nearby desk. After a while she’d memorised it, so there was no reason she couldn’t just bookmark it and put the book away, but she didn’t want to go near it. The pressure of the expectations given to her were exhausting. Part of her even missed when she hadn’t been trusted. Nopony had expected anything from her then.

“With these powers, with these hooves,” Starlight recited to herself. It was the only thing she could think of doing. “I will stop your every move.” The sun was setting through her window, and she decided it was time to go downstairs. She hadn’t left her tower all day, a break was probably needed. “With these feathers, with these horns.”

The castle seemed to be full of life today. Soldiers and guards alike were standing in the hallway, crowding it a lot more than usual. It made the whole castle seem smaller. What was going on?

“I’ll trap you in a cage of thorns,” Starlight completed her recitation of the spell, trying to make her way towards the other end of the hallway. She wasn’t going anywhere in particular, but her hooves led the way between the soldiers until she stopped in front of a large door. The entrance to the castle. Well, not just any entrance. This door led to the outside of the city. Starlight wasn’t allowed to go through it, she wasn’t allowed in the field after all. Now, it was crowded. Usually only coming and going soldiers were here. Starlight noticed even Applejack was here, standing nearby giving orders to some younger soldiers.

“Applejack!” Starlight hurried over, but Applejack only gave her a stern, if slightly confused, look. “Sorry, Corporal Applejack. I just wanted to check in, see what’s happening. Why are so many soldiers here?”

“The Commander hasn’t been seen since yesterday’s meeting.” Applejack turned her attention to Starlight, and the unicorn could see how exhausted she was. “And since she brought with her the General and the Sergeant too, I’m left to give all the commands here.” Rainbow Dash wasn’t back? She’d left to search for Fluttershy obviously, but there was no way she would stay out that long on a mission. Usually, the Commander was a very responsible pony. She was clear about when missions were over, or so Starlight had heard from the soldiers who had been in the field with her.

“Corporal Applejack!” Everypony turned their heads as the princess walked towards the Corporal, Discord following behind her. Twilight was clearly scanning through the crowd, searching for the Guardian of Loyalty. It was easy for her, standing about a head taller than most ponies, but she kept looking even though it was clear Dash wasn’t there. “Still no sign of her?” Twilight finally met Applejack’s eyes.

“Nopony’s seen her,” Applejack responded. Both Guardians kept looking at each other, as if they were having a silent conversation with just their eyes. “Maybe I should try to find her myself.”

“No, Applejack. You can’t go out there too.” Twilight spared the other soldiers gathered around the door a glance, as if to say they were all dismissed. It didn’t take long before they took the hint, and started making their way back through the hallway. Twilight opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, the door was kicked open. Soldiers still gathered at the end of the hall turned around, some of them trotting back to see what was happening.

Outside the door stood a group of soldiers, some that Starlight recognized from the table she sat at during meals, while some she didn’t recognize. The group started making their way inside, silently removing their helmets. At the back of the group, Starlight could see the multicolored mane of the Commander. She was supporting the General, who looked like he was in very bad shape. The Sergeant was also trying to keep the General on his hooves, but being a shorter than average pegasus, he seemed to be struggling.

One of the younger soldiers started up the stairs nearby leading towards the army medic. Applejack quickly headed towards the General, taking over for the Sergeant. The General seemed to be struggling to simply stay conscious, which didn’t surprise Starlight when she saw his wounds. He was losing a lot of blood.

Once the General was sent to the medics, Twilight called for a meeting. She’d decided Starlight was going too. When the Guardians had gathered around the table, Starlight and Discord sitting off to the side, the room was quiet. Nopony said a word until Twilight sighed heavily. She looked so tired.

“Rainbow Dash.” The Commander refused to meet Twilight’s gaze. “Do you realize what you’ve done?”

“Of course I do. I’m not stupid.”

“Oh really? You’re not? What you did sure does contradict you, Dash.” The room fell silent again for an uncomfortably long time. “Rainbow, you know I’m sad we’ve lost Fluttershy too.”

“I know.” This time, Rainbow Dash turned to the princess, making eye contact. They shared a silent moment, both wearing an expression of fatigue.

“I would do anything to get her back, but I have to face the reality of the situation so things like this don't happen.” Twilight gently put her crown down on the table. “We almost lost Golden Flare today. If we want to survive, we can’t let our most powerful soldiers die.”

“I know, Twilight, I know.” Rainbow Dash rested her chin on the table, letting her gaze drop to the crown in front of her. “I’m sorry. I messed up.” Twilight nodded.

“I trust you to not act this recklessly again. If you can promise me that, to make a compromise, I’ll let you go on a day-long mission to see if you can find any sign of life in the Everfree.” Rainbow Dash lifted her head, clearly surprised.

“What’s going on?” Starlight whispered.

“The princesses are the only ones who can send soldiers on day-long missions. Those missions usually need a lot more supplies and soldiers, so they’re few and far between.” Discord responded. Starlight nodded, processing the information. In a way, it seemed like Twilight was rewarding bad behaviour with this, when Rainbow Dash had already been outside for over 24 hours.

“Starlight?” Starlight snapped out of her thinking and headed towards the table. “How is the spell coming along? You think you can complete it?” Twilight looked at her with expectation.

“Well, I haven’t gotten far,” Starlight mumbled. Could she really tell the council that she hadn’t gotten anywhere with the spell? “I’ll… probably be able to finish it. Don’t worry, princess.”

“Geez, Starlight, don’t call me princess.” Twilight gave her a little nudge. “And don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll do great.” Starlight nodded. She couldn’t bring herself to complain when she was responsible for the hope of these ponies.

The meeting was dismissed, and Twilight stayed behind with the Corporal and the Commander to plan out the day-long mission. Starlight headed out the door as she wasn’t supposed to stay and listen to official army business.

“You know, I believe you’re more than capable of finishing this spell.” Starlight turned around to Rarity, who was smiling at her. The two trotted down the hallways together until they were outside Rarity’s workshop. “When the Nightmare sees who they’re up against, they’ll pray their final prayer!” Rarity nudged Starlight’s shoulder before heading into her workshop.

“Praying their final prayer, huh.” Starlight started walking towards the dining hall while going over the spell in her head again. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks, reciting the spell out loud to herself.

“With these powers, with these hooves
I will stop your every move
With these feathers, with these horns
I’ll trap you in a cage of thorns
Give up, pray your final prayer
There’s no room for the Nightmare!”

Turning back around, she ran back to the meeting room and opened the door, interrupting the meeting.

“I think I just completed the spell!”

Author's Note:

The Equestrian Army is structured like this:
1. Commander Rainbow Dash (only royalty have the power to give her orders)
2. Captain Golden Flare, a yellow unicorn stallion (original character)
3. Sergeant Firesky Frost, a black pegasus stallion (original character)
4. Corporal Applejack
5. Privates (I usually only refer to them as soldiers in this story)

I thought that the explanation of how I set this up would be useful for some to enjoy the story fully, or if anyone was simply curious.