The Heart's Promise

by MyHobby

Ba'al Shamayim

Andean strained against the unnaturally large talon closing around his torso. He heard the screams of Corona and Stella as they were dragged into darkness by the foul being’s other talon. The Lord of the Unseelie Court literally tore Andean’s family apart. Andean was able to get a single arm free and swing his sword at the scaly skin on the monster fairy’s claw. The strike was worthless, the damage negligible.

The King of Felaccia had the same dream night after night after night.

He knew it was a dream, too, and perhaps that was the worst part. He had once thought it was prophetic, until Queen Cicada of the Changelings had revealed that it was she seeding his dreams every night. Until she had revealed that his nightly torture was part of her plan to ready the mortal realm for the Unseelie Court’s return. Now, rather than prophecy, he knew it to be inevitability.

So he had prepared his kingdom for war, but when war came, it was all too clear that the battle with the Unseelie could not be won by martial might. So it was, each night, he came into contact with the vilest being he had ever known. Each night, he fought valiantly and failed utterly. Each night, he watched his children and his kingdom dragged away to the Abyss.

Tonight was no different. He looked up and saw the face of the Lord of the Unseelie Court. He called himself the Lord of the Sky. Celestia had called him the Lord of the Flies. A bull’s head, armed with fierce horns and wreathed with fire, smiled grimly at Andean.

“All your armies, all your weapons,” the Lord of the Sky chuckled, “and you cannot so much as scratch my hide.”

Euroclydon dropped from Andean’s limp talon. Sweat dripped from his wrinkled, featherless head. His beard was scorched and frazzled. He wasn’t sure he had it in him to fight anymore. Not in the face of such strength. Not with his kingdom and family already destroyed. He could fight for vengeance, he supposed, but the thought tasted like white ash. He bowed his head; all the better for the dream to end now than for him to exhaust himself fighting shadows.

A soft touch rested on his free talon. He looked down and saw a smaller talon, its skin a rich golden. The foreleg grew feathered as it drew nearer its torso, brown with the hint of fiery red hidden among each feather. She was a beautiful young griffon, just as she had been when Andean first met her nearly thirty years ago. The silver circlet on her brow glistened as if with inner light, and the fire radiating from the Lord of the Sky seemed dim and cold by comparison.

“Andean, wake up!” Fayr Ursagryph shouted. “The enemy is upon you!”

Andean shrugged off the Lord of the Sky as easily as he shrugged the blankets off of his bed. He found himself not on a battlefield, but in the midst of his private bedchambers. The moon still shone overhead, and his room glowed with its silver light. He looked at the wall beside his bed and saw Euroclydon hung from an iron hook, encased safely in its scabbard. He sighed; though the Unseelie Master was not breathing down his neck, he knew that the danger had not passed. Fayr was never part of his dreams before. No, something had changed in Castle Roc.

He opened his door and grasped the shoulder of one of the two Blitzwings standing guard. Shooting the other one a glare that demanded silence, he dragged the first one into the darkness. He shut the door and spoke in a harsh whisper. “It’s time. I cannot say how I know, but it’s time.”

“Yes, your grace,” the Blitzwing said. “We have Blitzwings standing by to gather the faithful. We can have everybody evacuated within the hour.”

“It’s going to take a bit longer than that. I’ll not leave Luna and her troops to suffer at the hands of Aquilla Gildwing. He may already be on the move.” He tapped his beak for a moment, then nodded to the Blitzwing. “Have Martial report to my chamber as soon as physically possible.”

“Very well.” The Blitzwing bowed and left through the door, moving quickly and silently through the night.

If he knew his nephew, Andean wouldn’t have much time before the young griffon reached him. He grasped a small mirror by the side of his bed and tapped the crystals along its side. A spell activated. Tense moments passed as Andean awaited a response.

The mirror’s surface warped and flickered. A diminutive face appeared, and a garbled voice echoed from behind the smooth glass. “Eeyes, vhat ees eet? Vhat could not vhait until mooorning?”

Andean smiled despite his predicament. “High Pariah Seabreeze, I would like to call in a favor.”

---

Aquilla Gildwing perched on the edge of Castle Roc’s air harbor: A large platform built on the side of the mountain that made up the castle’s base. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the soldier who had been bought and paid for. “And the castle staff has no idea we’ve gathered tonight?”

The gray griffon, named Fledge, grinned and flashed him a sloppy salute that Aquilla would normally have met with a blood-spilling backhand. “Aye, my Lord. Fish in a barrel to a griffon. The soldiers outnumber Andean’s Blitzwings three to one.”

Aquilla slid his sword out of its scabbard and held it up to the moonlight. The curved blade, shaped akin to a dragon’s wing, ignited with deadly fire. He turned to his soldiers standing at the base of the airship they’d arrived in. “Move quickly, then. If someone raises the alarm, it’ll be your head. I’ll slay Luna first before she can lend her power to the one-time King of Felaccia—”

“My lord!” A griffon near the back of the column pointed a sword towards the west. “The Equestrian ships!”

Aquilla’s beak snapped shut as he flew to the edge of the platform. Indeed, there in the distance, the Equestrian flotilla sailed at full speed towards the open ocean. Aquilla could think of only one reason they would leave in the dead of night so soon after arriving. “We’ve been found out!” He swung his blade and seared flesh and feather, leaving the traitorous Fledge half the creature he used to be. “Get down to the sea harbor and commandeer the ironclad warships! We’ll chase those vessels down and send them to the ocean floor!” He pointed his sword at the leftmost griffons. “Two squads stay and clear out the castle! Some of Andean’s kin might still be within!”

The perceptive soldier followed the largest group towards the sea harbor, breaking off just as they left Aquilla’s sight. He slid his sword into its sheath and clicked his beak, whispering to an unseen ear in the shadows. “Th-they bought it, and we’ve b-bought a few minutes.”

“Well done, Blankety,” Martial Paw whispered. “Let’s get to the rendezvous and hold the line.” With a brutal grin, he added “If we’re lucky, we’ll give Aquilla a farewell he won’t soon forget.”

---

The moon was already high in the sky when Applejack and company made it to the castle gates. None of the four of them talked much aside from little asides here and there. The air felt heavy. Not even Pinkie Pie tried to land a joke. They were there for serious business. It was always serious business when they met, these days.

She tipped her hat to the guardsponies on duty as she was ushered in and led to the throne room. She felt a smile touch her lips as she saw Twilight Sparkle pacing back and forth in her familiar little way. If nothing else, even if the whole world around her changed, her friends were still themselves.

She glanced up at the beautiful stained-glass windows that decorated the south wall of the throne room. The Hearthswarming Tale, the Ascension of the Sisters, the Return of Nightmare Moon, the Royal Wedding, so many tales from Equestria’s history were represented on the wall, and Applejack was always surprised when she thought about how many she herself had taken part in. A small part, maybe, but a part. As she closed in on Twilight’s position, she studied the most recent addition to the wall: “DayBreak,” the window depicting Commander Hurricane’s attack on Celestia.

“Already been five years,” she muttered in faint disbelief. “Can’t hardly tell what all’s happened.”

“Hello, girls,” Twilight said offhandedly, her face buried in a scroll she was still in the process of writing. “How’ve you been?”

“Never better, dear,” Rarity piped up. “I can’t tell you how wonderful it shall be to finally attend a party celebrating a triumph rather than mourning a loss. Have you seen Cloudsdale since it’s recreation?”

“I haven’t had time.” Twilight rolled up the scroll and tucked it into the saddlebags she had strapped to her torso. “Looks like we’re just waiting on Celestia, now.”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash’s head spun around from where she’d been absently staring at Nightmare Moon’s window. “Where’s Fluttershy?”

All eyes turned to Twilight Sparkle, whose own eyes widened. She took half a step back and turned her gaze downward. “Everyone, this may seem a bit late to say, but…”

The door behind the thrones—the one leading to the princess’ treasure vault—opened. Celestia walked slowly in, with Twilight Velvet following at her heels. The High Princess of Equestria smiled at the assembled friends. “Hello, my little ponies. It’s so good to see you all.”

Twilight Velvet rounded the thrones, her face emotionless. Applejack smirked mirthlessly; even Twilight’s mom, usually so lively and self-assured, was under the same doldrum-infested spell as the rest of them. The commander of the Knights of Harmony took a seat on the stairs leading up to the dais and looked at Celestia, waiting patiently.

Twilight Sparkle bowed at the neck—briefly—then straightened up and pressed her lips together. “Hello, Princess Celestia. I believe you have some news for us?”

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth “What about Fl—?” but was silenced with a wave of Twilight’s wing.

Celestia blinked at Twilight, glancing at each pony in turn. “I suppose? Do I? I thought you called this meeting, Twilight?” When Twilight Sparkle shook her head, Celestia turned to Velvet. She received no response to her unspoken question.

Twilight clicked her tongue. “So we’re all just wasting valuable time?” She rolled her shoulders and addressed her four friends standing perplexed behind her. “I’m sorry, guys. Listen, there’s a lot I need to tell you but now might not be the best—”

Twilight was interrupted once again by a door opening. This time it was the front door of the throne room. “Apologies,” Applejack heard another voice boom, this one both familiar and unwelcome in equal measure. “We were the ones who called the meeting.”

Applejack shared a glance with Rarity, then Rainbow Dash, and finally Pinkie, getting the same confusion she felt mirrored in each. She turned around with the others and saw three hooded figures enter the throne room just before the door closed behind them. The guards stayed on the far side of the door, leaving the three figures to walk alone towards Applejack and company.

Though she knew the answer, Applejack still felt compelled to ask “That you, Mayor Merry?”

The first hood fell, and Applejack was greeted with the mare’s face… Though changed. She must have found a new coat-care routine, because she looked at least twenty years younger. She met Applejack’s gaze with a glint of iron in her bearing. A necklace dangled in front of her chest, centered with a shining yellow gemstone.

To her right, Silver Spoon walked steadily. Confidently. A blue gemstone necklace replaced the pearls she had worn since her childhood. She smirked at the others, her gaze jumping from one pony to the next.

To Merry’s left, a curly orange mane burst from beneath the third pony’s hood. A sullen glower crossed her face as she kept in step with the other two. The red gemstone she wore shone the same as the other two, humming with inner magic that chilled Applejack with sheer proximity. Like Merry, she seemed to have regained a hefty helping of youth. Though she was more than three-thousand years old, she didn’t seem to be a day over eighteen. She seemed to be the youngest in the room.

Twilight’s voice was small. “Adagio… I hoped you’d changed.”

Adagio Dazzle didn’t meet the princess’ eye.

Twilight’s sigh hissed with a lacing of venom. “But I suspected you hadn’t.”

Applejack turned to Twilight and saw a mare who looked ready to kill. It nearly stopped Applejack’s heart to see her friend like that, even moreso knowing that she was a full-fledged Alicorn with the power to do just that. The fear spurned her to act before she saw blood spilled. “Now… now hold up! Just what in the name of fried rutabagas is goin’ on here? Merry?” She looked to the Lord Mayor of Ponyville with a slight, desperate hope that peace could be achieved. “Merry what’s gotten into everypony?”

Silver Spoon snorted. She called across the throne room. “Twilight Velvet, if anybody takes a step, slit your own throat.”

Applejack gasped almost as loudly as Twilight Sparkle. She looked at Twilight Velvet to see the older mare holding a long, jagged knife against her neck, already drawing blood with how sharp it was. She decided to remain rooted where she was, come what may, but she still wracked her brain for some way to get the knife from Twi’s mom. Looking closer, Applejack realized that the fog in Velvet’s eyes was not mere malaise, but something far more sinister.

With the ponies in the room stilled, Merry Mare produced a scroll from among the folds of her cloak. She unrolled it and began to read in a cool, calm, commanding voice. “This is the warrant for the arrest of Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria.”

Pinkie tilted her head. “Did I eat spoiled oats this morning? Am I having a moment?”

Merry ignored her. “For centuries, Celestia has held claim to the throne of Equestria due to divine appointment. It has been said that she and her sister fulfill the prophesies made a thousand years ago by Starswirl the Bearded and Clover the Clever. However, it has come to light that such a claim is not only false, but predicated in heresy. Documentation has been found within King Sombra’s archives detailing not only the birth of the two sisters, but the impetus as to their creation. They were created using inequine methods including but not limited to: Alteration of a fetus, murder, harvesting of fairy strings from said victims’ corpses, and forceful manipulation of genetics. These crimes should not be held against the Royal Sisters… save that they knew about their origins and yet still claimed divine right to rule! They could not be the alicorns from Starswirl and Clovers prophecies; merely science experiments created by a mad unicorn king and Commander Hurricane.”

There was a silence throughout the throne room as the thought sank in. Applejack knew a little of that from her talks with Twilight, brief and rare though they were. “Y—y’ can’t ignore all the good—”

“Do you deny it, Celestia?” Merry snapped at the old, tired alicorn. “Can you deny even a word of what I’ve just said?”

Applejack looked up and back at the princess. There was no fire in her eyes. No strength in her stance. No life in her voice. “I… of course I cannot, Lord Mayor Merry Mare. Though I wonder how—”

“And you used your divine right to rule as an excuse to tyrannize the entire world!” Merry Mare slapped the scroll with the back of her hoof. “Have you or have you not slain foreign sovereigns?”

Celestia flinched away. “Berkut was a monster. My foolish methods for dealing with him ended in tragedy for Felaccia, it is true. Yet I do not mourn the person himself. No one does.”

“And you, Princess Twilight,” Merry continued unabated, “did you or did you not use mind-altering magic that nearly got all of Ponyville to destroy itself over a doll? Have you not also participated with Celestia and Luna to continue to set them up as divinely appointed while knowing full well they are not? What do you have to say in your defense?”

Twilight Sparkle sent a nervous glance to her mother before replying. “I—I yes, I did use mind-altering magic, but I was pardoned because I was a minor at the time and was stopped before I could hurt—” Twilight’s eyes darkened as her face reclaimed some of the anger she’d felt earlier. “You’re using mind-altering magic on my mom as we speak! You’re the subject of a nationwide marehunt! I wouldn’t be surprised if you were behind Fluttershy’s disappearance!”

“Fluttershy is safe, and you have me to thank for it!” Merry took a step forward and shoved the scroll into Adagio’s hooves. “This is about you, Twilight Sparkle. And you, Celestia. And the lies you’ve built your kingdom on!” She raised a hoof and shook it, her necklace glimmering with every word. “You are both under arrest, as well as your associates and any who would harbor you! We shall be assuming control of your kingdom until a good, and just, and proper ruler can be found!”

Rarity found it within herself to scoff. “Good, just, and proper? Someone like you, I suppose?”

Twilight raised her voice, her legs stiffening each time her mother twitched. “How would you even enforce something like this? How many people would actually believe you?”

“Many will not believe,” Merry said with a raspy voice, “but everybody will debate it. So long as there exists doubt, there shall be two sides to the discussion. There shall be those who believe anything that speaks ill of the crown, and those who believe anything that speaks well of it. Two different schools of thought that cannot, by their very nature, exist alongside each other. They will destroy each other unless we step in and give them relief. Isn’t that right, sisters?”

Silver Spoon laughed once in the back of her throat. “It’s your own fault, Celestia. If you had just come out immediately with the truth, we wouldn’t be sitting on a powder keg today. But now, you have so many allies and so many enemies, all living under the same flag. Luckily, the sirens are here to set things to right.”

Adagio Dazzle tucked the scroll away. She shared a lidded look with Celestia. “You always knew it was going to end this way, Celestia. We both did. Without us, the whole thing’s gonna crumble into chaos and death.”

Celestia turned her eyes downward. “But why now? Twilight had always planned to bring this information to the general public, just at the proper time. Why now, when so much is at stake?”

Merry’s eyebrows shot up. “Why now? When your power is at its weakest? When our allies abandon us and our enemies gather at our borders? When the sun itself lies on the edge of becoming a superweapon for anybody who can build a sunspear? How can we not act now? How can we not arrest you for your crimes? How can we wait, as you did, to do the right thing?”

Rainbow Dash, her face turning purple with anger, pointed a wing at Twilight Velvet. “Yeah, the right thing, like getting Twilight’s mom to kill herself. You’re so heroic, Merry.”

Merry Mare grimaced. “Nobody will get hurt if you come quietly, Captain Dash.”

Applejack saw Twilight Sparkle’s wings twitch, as if she was getting ready to fly right through Merry. “Y’know, Merry, runnin’ a country is kinda tough. You’ll have to get the support of a whole lot of people for this here coup to run smoothly…”

“The majority of the Mayors, except for Gaston and Fancy Pants, have agreed with our way of thinking and have signed the warrant.” Merry waved a hoof at Silver Spoon. “As such, Silver Spoon will take my place as Lord Mayor of Ponyville, while I take over Mayor Pants’ duties here in Canterlot.”

Applejack squared her shoulders and lowered her head. “So now you’re arrestin’ ponies just for disagreein’ with you?”

“In order for Equestria to survive the next few tumultuous months, we must maintain harmony.” Merry Mare touched a hoof to her gemstone and addressed Celestia directly. “As we speak, in every city-state in Equestria, the Mayors are reading the same exact arrest warrant in their respective town squares. You and your associates will be known far and wide as dangerous traitors and dissidents. Unless your want your families and friends to fall victim to your own wicked lies, I suggest you do them a favor and relinquish authority peacefully.”

Twilight Sparkle gritted her teeth and all but growled at Merry. “Your arguments would be a lot more persuasive if you hadn’t allied yourself with the Unseelie Court.”

Applejack felt an itch scramble its way down her back, like ants crawling across her skin. She resisted the urge to scratch for the sake of Velvet, but the intensity and suddenness of it was downright painful. It was as if it was a direct attack on her person.

She soon realized that it was no mere coincidence.

The applause of a single set of hooves echoed throughout the throne room, though neither Applejack, nor her friends, nor the Sirens were the source. She looked over her shoulder to see a lone stallion had arrived unannounced. He was dressed in a sharp, white dress uniform, like a high-ranking Royal Guardspony, perfectly tailored to his thin, muscularly-lean frame. A boater hat, white as his uniform, sat between gray, aggressively-lowered ears. Sunglasses with ruby-red lenses perched on his muzzle, just above a catlike grin.

“Oh, congratulations, Princess Twilight!” he said with a hiccupping laugh. “All you need to do is but invoke my name and all her arguments crumble to dust! They will speak of your legendary debate skills for centuries! Yes, all of the foolishness of Equestria justified with a simple phrase. Unseelie Court indeed.”

Applejack’s itch intensified until she was nearly ready to writhe on the ground. Only Velvet’s knife held her still. “Y—you’re a fairy?”

“So to speak, in a sense, mostly correct.” He took a seat in Celestia’s throne and leaned against a long spear. The weapon seemed to be made from a single piece of bronze-colored metal. “I am Jeuk, Master of the Unseelie Court.” He tipped his hat to the high princess. “Long time no see, Daughter of Light.”

Celestia ground her teeth at him. “I have been called that once before, Ba’al Zebub.”

“Lord of the Flies.” Jeuk nodded, touching the haft of his spear to his temple. “Yes, I recall your tender little nickname. You would do well to remember that I am Ba’al Shamayim, Lord of the Sky!”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Wait. So you’re the whole reason this is happening?”

“Not at all, my dear Daughter of the Sky.” Jeuk chuckled to himself. “I’m merely here so that when the princesses are removed from their ill-gotten positions, there will still be someone left to raise the sun and moon. We wouldn’t want the world to end over a little squabble between mortals.”

Rainbow Dash’s snout scrunched. “I ain’t no daughter of yours.”

“Indeed. Far from it, Captain.”

Applejack felt a small sense of relief warm her heart as she saw a touch of fire reenter Celestia’s eyes. The alicorn princess squared her shoulders and pointed her horn ever-so-slightly at Jeuk. “You have made such claims before and failed to act upon them. Tradition says that the power to move the Celestial Objects was taken from the fairies and given to the mortals. If you could move them, you would have seized them by now.”

“Exactly.” He glanced at Twilight Velvet, his greedy green eyes watching the red stream dripping down her neck. “For this very reason, I took on a body of flesh and bone. Blood runs through my veins. I have become alive as you understand life.” He tilted the spear back and forth. “So the sun and moon belong to me once again.”

Twilight Sparkle snorted. “Like Hell.”

The outburst made the fairy giggle. “I’m surprised at you all. How very near-sighted you were. Twilight, you didn’t even notice your mother wasn’t herself. Celestia, you didn’t realize that your kingdom was collapsing beneath you due to your sheer incompetence.” He glanced from Rarity, to Pinkie Pie, and finally settled on staring directly into Applejack’s eyes. “Daughter of the Sun and Moon, Daughters of the Earth, you never realized how far you’d strayed from your own Elements.”

The maddening itch on Applejack’s back came out in the form of a shout. “The heck you talkin’ about, Ballsy Bub? From what all I understand of it, you’ve been schemin’ behind the scenes for years! Y’all think Hurricane, and Tirek, and the Rainbow of Darkness weren’t your fault?”

“Mortals being mortals, I’m afraid.” Jeuk peered at Applejack over his glasses. “I’ve been imprisoned for millennia by the Tree of Harmony. I was only able to be freed once it died. Why, oh why, oh why do you suppose it was sick?”

Applejack squinted. “Don’t know what the heck you mean by—”

“You, Applejack, who have been so surrounded by deceit and backbiting that you balk at the thought of Ponyville, when it was once second only to your family in importance.” Jeuk sneered at them, each in turn. “You, Pinkie Pie… How long has it been since you laughed without restraint? Since you were happy for more than a moment at a time? Since you loved without anxiety? Rainbow Dash, your loyalty is legendary! To Cloudsdale, to the Wonderbolts, to you movie fans, yet you can’t be bothered to find time to visit your own adoptive sister. Standing beneath so many banners, yet champion of none.”

“I’ve had enough of your slanderous accusations!” Rarity flicked her tail. “Each of these mares would die for each other, and I would do the same. Claim what you will, but each of them is noble, and strong, and so far above you they have to stoop to speak with your wretched hide!”

Jeuk pressed his lips together. “Rarity. Generous to a fault. Gives of herself to her own detriment. Shares until it hurts. A provider no matter how they despise you. And yet, you refuse to give up one thing… One thing that was never yours to begin with.”

Rarity lifted her snout. “I beg your par—”

“Unless you can tell me truthfully,” Jeuk hissed, “that you are not venomously jealous of Apple Bloom?”

Rarity froze. She blinked and shook her head. “F-fond though I may be of Spike—”

“You loath the very sight of Apple Bloom. You hate her for being there for Spike when you had long given up hope.” Jeuk tapped the side of his glasses and glanced at Applejack, smiling. “Eroding your soul from within. Most very amusing.”

“You lie!” Rarity’s voice trembled. “You could never hope to see within my own thoughts.”

“No. I can only watch your actions. How you glare at her when you think no one is looking.” He lowered his spear point until it was aimed at Twilight Sparkle’s throat. “And you, Princess; how long has it been since you spent time with your friends? Since you even considered inviting them together under one roof? Months, I’ll bet.”

“We’ll fight you, Jeuk!” Twilight said, her wings vibrating. Was she as itchy as Applejack? “And we’ll fight the Sirens! And any other minions and copycats you dredge out of the gutter! You won’t hurt anybody ever again!”

Jeuk laughed, throwing his head back. He pushed his glasses up his nose and locked eyes with Merry. “You have your duty, Mother of the Sirens. Let’s get on with it.” He smiled at Celestia and gestured for her to turn towards Applejack and her friends. “Come now, Celestia. You wouldn’t want to be accused of resisting arrest, would you? Say farewell to your little ponies.”

With a pained glance at Velvet, Celestia turned around slowly. She held her head high and took in a deep breath. “My little ponies… No. No, my friends…”

Jeuk plunged the spear into her back.

Applejack stood frozen in place, unable to comprehend what was right in front of her. The bloody spear tip was mere inches from her face, just below the gasping, choking mouth of the High Princess. Jeuk lifted Celestia up and threw her through “DayBreak” with enough force to yank the iron skeleton of the window from the frame. Colored glass shattered outward as Celestia’s body rolled across the courtyard and out of sight.

A scream at her side shocked her into movement. Twilight Sparkle had teleported to her mother and was straining to hold the knife away from her throat. Rainbow Dash sprinted towards the Sirens with a roar, while Rarity and Pinkie glanced both ways, unsure where to go.

Applejack looked away from Jeuk just long enough to see the three Sirens encase themselves with a glow brighter than a sunrise. What emerged were three monstrous forms, covered in scales and brimming with draconically-sharp teeth. Each one was as large as a house. Silver Spoon’s silver-scaled, fishlike tail swung around and batted Rainbow Dash aside. Dash careened into the wall, but got up immediately and resumed her ill-fated charge.

Twilight Sparkle touched her horn against her mother’s forehead; Velvet fell fast asleep. Twilight pressed her saddlebags to Applejack’s chest and snapped “Help Celestia!” then launched herself at Jeuk. Travelling faster than an arrow, she tackled him full in the chest. The force of the crash took them two of them flying backward, first through the thrones, then through the back wall.

Silver glanced to either side at her sisters. “Mother, Crone, you have your tasks.” She lowered her head at the onrushing, enraged Rainbow, Pinkie, and Rarity. “I’ll continue with the arrest!”

A threefold voice, in perfect harmony, echoed throughout the throne room. Stained glass shattered and eardrums popped. Merry Mare and Adagio flew on trails of magic into the night.

Rarity grabbed Applejack’s shoulder and whispered forcefully into her ear. “We’ll only be able to buy you a moment. Find Celestia!”

Applejack held back a curse and watched them run for a moment. She tossed Twilight’s bags through the hole in the window Celestia’s body had made, then scrambled through herself. As she stumbled across the grass, she could hear the roars of Silver Spoon and the battle cries from her three wildly-outmatched friends.

She only hoped she could reach Celestia in time.

---

Aquilla peered through the narrow slits in the plating of the ironclad warship. The boat rattled as the cannons fired, blasting through the deck of a smaller Equestrian ship. It was insufferably hot within the bowels of the ironclad, but the armored plating made each vessel borderline invincible. The ironclads swarmed around the Equestrian flotilla in the night, blasting the wooden ships apart without even giving the ponies the chance to fight back. The flagship loomed just ahead, dead center in Aquilla Gildwing’s sights. “Fetack!”

A volley of cannonballs ripped the hull apart. Water poured into the lower decks of the Buttercup’s Folly as the sea consumed the vessel whole.

Aquilla narrowed his eyes, scanning the blackened waters, faintly illuminated by the burning ships. It had been far too easy. Even a fool like Luna should have been able to mount an offensive. Even the weakest of armies should have some stragglers drowning in the waves. He snapped his talons and pointed to the overhead hatch; a soldier unsealed it and let him fly out. He soared directly for the Buttercup’s Folly and sought out the ship’s wheel. He didn’t see a single pony.

When he reached the wheel, he stood silently as it spun on its own. A faint glow of magic drove the device, and the ship itself, towards the canyon and open ocean. A come-to-life spell. He sliced clean through the wheel and flew back to the ironclad.

His soldiers flinched when he landed hard against the metal hull. His artificial beak ground together until sparks appeared. “Order the ironclads to return to the castle! Run the boilers at a double burn!”

---

At Castle Roc, Andean’s defenders were just barely holding Aquilla’s griffons back. Blocked off corridors, loaded rows of volleyguns, and the expert swordsmen of the Blitzwings stymied the attackers at every turn. Even so, Andean knew that it was only a matter of time before they were overrun by sheer numbers. He peered out a window and saw the Equestrian fleet burning. More to the point, he spotted the ironclad warships speeding their way back to deliver reinforcements.

Princess Luna looked over his shoulder with a frown. “That bought us minutes at most.”

“But minutes are what we have the least of.” He looked down and saw a parade of changelings carrying disassembled pieces of the Sunspear away from the tallest tower, where it had been installed. In Castle Roc, they would have enough power to control the sun indefinitely, but where they were going, they’d barely have enough magic to sustain it for a week. Still, that was better than giving the Sunspear to a murderous lord like Aquilla Gildwing.

A clatter came from down the corridor. The last changelings in line were at a dead run, despite their burdens. Aquilla’s soldiers had broken through Andean’s Blitzwings. They chased the changelings with swords and talons bared.

Captain Care Carrot let loose with a blaze of fire from her horn, taking the first two invaders by surprise. Martial Paw joined by her side, jabbing and cutting anywhere he could find flesh among the smoke. Blankety Blank stuck to the shadows, clawing and biting the attackers that tried to retreat away from the onslaught.

All three of them were growing exhausted.

Luna watched with a glowing horn, ready to assist at the first sign of things going against the Knights of Harmony. She stayed close to the changelings, shielding them with her wings. “Seabreeze had better come through for us, or everything will be for naught.”

“He and Mangle will come through.” Andean gave the oncoming ironclads one last glance before joining Luna and the changelings in their scurry down the hallway. “I trust them with not only my life, but the life of everything I hold dear.”

---

Starswirl the Bearded leaned a knee against the table, rubbing his forehead. He needed to start the evening’s dream guarding, but the lure of his one-time-student’s travel journal was too strong. She had grown even more brilliant after leaving his tutelage, and plenty more cryptic. This part of her life had been a complete mystery to him; he had long since vanished with the Pony of Shadows.

He was yanked unceremoniously from his reverie when two hooves slammed the other side of the table, jolting him nearly out of his seat. He looked up to see Adagio Dazzle, looking younger than ever, glaring at him with the fury of a thousand suns. He swallowed hard and spoke quietly. “Miss Dazzle, perhaps now is a perfect time for me to apologize for how I handled things some thousand-odd years ago—”

“Shut up and listen for a second.” Adagio started scooping up his books and papers and stuffing them into his saddlebags. “The Sirens and Unseelie Court are attacking the castle. Unless you want a lotta people to die, you’re going downstairs and organizing the evacuation. We clear?”

“Clear?” Starswirl scrambled to his hooves as she shoved the bags into his forelegs. He balanced precariously, teetering back and forth. “The attack already began?”

“Yep, you got it!” Adagio shoved him towards the staircase and galloped toward the balcony. “Get a move on and get as many people out as you can!”

Starswirl blinked at the mare as she straddled the railing. “What are you doing?”

“I’m headed for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.” She furrowed her brow. “Jeuk hates children. He’ll attack there next.” A blinding light surrounded her. Magic flashed and revealed the overwhelming form of a Siren. She snapped her teeth at him. “Move! Get to the base of the mountain! Get as far away as you can!”

She flew into the night and left Starswirl alone in the Dream’s Keep. He took her words to heart and descended the stairs two at a time. The feast in the dining hall would end early regardless, but perhaps he could prevent a disaster.

---

Merry Mare landed just outside Canterlot’s Town Square and transformed back into an earth pony. A crowd had gathered to listen to the proclamation. Merry had specifically selected the Captain of the Guard, the head of Celestia’s personal security, as the pony to deliver the news that their princess had been arrested.

Not arrested; executed, Merry thought with an aching chest. She had been killed right in front of her, without ceremony. Without speaking her final words. And Twilight would be the next to fall. Jeuk wouldn’t stop with them, she knew. He might not stop until all of Equestria was destroyed. He was completely—

She shook off the thought. She knew Jeuk would have to be opposed, eventually, but only after his usefulness was at an end. In the meantime, the entire kingdom could collapse unless she was able to unite the people. She shot a glance at Commander Stonewall as the mare read off the list of charges. The soldier’s eyes were glazed and unfocused, but her voice was loud and clear.

Merry began to sing softly, only letting her voice reach the edge of the crowd. There was no telling if the entire city had turned out or not, but if she could just sway the majority…

“Ah, ah-ah, aaah aaaah…”

One by one, the ponies fell in line, nodding their heads and speaking agreement with Stonewall’s words. Dissenters popped up here and there, but they were first stared down and then shouted down, bullied into silence. Soon enough, as Merry’s voice increased in volume, the dissenters’ voices vanished altogether.

All across Equestria, the scene was repeated. Unlike here, the other city-states had no Siren present to sooth the crowds. Soon, riots would erupt. Friends would face friends. It was harsh, but necessary to prevent the pro-Celestia opposition from getting a foothold and merely replacing the princess with another one.

The country would teeter, until Merry Mare stepped up to take the reigns and restore order. It would be a hard-won victory, but once the pain had subsided, all of Celestia’s tyranny would finally be repaired. Equestria would be as it was meant to be. No one would misuse the sun. No one would hold all the power in the world. No princess would force others to live as the princess wished them to.

Then, once Equestria was united, they would do the same to the Crystal Empire. Then Felaccia. And beyond.

It would be worth it, Merry thought to herself. It would be worth everything. It would be worth everything once she was reunited with her son.

If she was wrong, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself.

---

Twilight Sparkle slammed her hooves into Jeuk’s face. Again and again she struck, pulverizing his glasses and turning his hat to tatters. Wooden chairs and stone walls were nothing to her as she launched the two of them at the vault door. The hefty metal door shivered as they crashed into it. Jeuk’s body sunk into the surface of the door, panic and pain writ large across his face. Blood trickled from his nose. One of his eyes couldn’t focus on Twilight’s face, but the other was wide with dread.

She jumped back from him and grabbed the vault door in her magic. She pulled with all her might, ripping the two-ton hulk from the wall. She let the door drop, then picked it up to slam it against the ground. Once, twice, thrice she felt the weight of the door rock the floor beneath her. Cracks appeared as she ground the door against Jeuk’s body, twisting it back and forth.

Silence loomed. Dust settled. Twilight stood breathing heavily, her hoof to her chest. She spoke to the door and the blood-smeared body beneath it, “That’s the problem with being mortal, Jeuk. You bleed.”

She backed away slowly, awaiting some trick, or for Jeuk’s fairy form to resurface now that his mortal body was broken. More than anything, she wanted to see if Celestia could be saved. As it was, she needed to trust Applejack.

The metal hummed. Shades of bright red appeared in the middle, directly above Jeuk. They grew in intensity by the second, turning orange, then yellow, then white. Twilight sparkle steeled herself and encased her body with a shield.

The door popped like a bubble, flinging molten slag and spattering the room with fire. Jeuk rose from the hole in the door, none the worse for wear, glaring at Twilight with shimmering green eyes. He opened his mouth and belched fire. The pressure forced her back a step. His spear flew from the throne room directly towards her, but she noticed it soon enough to move her leg away. Jeuk grabbed it while it was still within her shield’s limits and swung, striking her across the cheek. The bladed tip cut deep into her cheek.

He grappled her shoulder-first and pressed her against the wall. The shield winked out and allowed the metallic shrapnel to jingle against the floor. As she strained to stay upright, Twilight came to an unfortunate conclusion: Jeuk was physically stronger than her. He stepped into her guard, looped his foreleg around hers, and threw her through the wall.

On the other side, she found herself within the castle’s central garden, just outside the ballroom. Stone walkways separated flower beds, and the entire thing was dominated by a single massive tree.

She hit a flower bed and slipped as she tried to stand. She looked up with wide eyes; it was raining, but there were no storms scheduled for the day. She looked behind her to see Jeuk, his uniform hanging by a tattered thread, stride confidently out of the vault room. He swung his spear jauntily, but the grin on his face was anything but sporting. “I’ve been waiting years for this, Daughter of Light.”

She gathered magic to her horn, recreating her shield and putting extra physical strength into the ethereal surface of the spell. Calling upon her pegasus magic, she spread her hooves and felt the water soaking into the soil. She felt deeper and deeper, until she could sense the very electrons that made up the water molecules. If she removed the energy from them…

The water around Jeuk’s body froze as the molecules aligned and locked together. The rain intensified and the ice coating grew thicker around him. Still, he continued forward. He laughed even as his mouth was frozen shut. He raised a hoof to the sky, one cracking jolt at a time, and pointed at the clouds overhead.

Twilight’s shield whined as it strained against an onslaught of hail. Lightning struck the old tree in the courtyard, burning leaves and sending its branches tumbling. The wind roared right in her face, blinding her, pushing her back towards the natural, wooden lighting-rod in the center of the courtyard.

“I told you a thousand times!” Jeuk roared to the heavens. “I am the Lord of the Sky!”

The hail was no longer round. It came down as spikes that drove into Twilight’s shield a few inches before cracking from their own momentum. The hair on her back stood up straight each time lightning struck the tree. She opened her eyes just in time to dodge aside from Jeuk’s spear thrust. Just as before, at the end of the thrust, he swung it aside, catching her off-guard. A line of red appeared on her shoulder.

Twilight worked her mind until it became a blur to her own perception. Water. Lighting. Conductor. Distraction. She commanded the water soaking the courtyard to flow thick around both Jeuk and the roots of the tree. She grabbed the tip of his spear and forced it into the ground. He jerked it back from her with a growl. Before he could realign his weapon, she bucked him with the force of a carriage crash and launched him into the side of the lone tree.

Lightning struck, and Jeuk’s screams became something unequine, something otherworldly. The tree collapsed at last and buried the Master of the Unseelie Court in a cocoon of wood and fire.

The hail subsided. Twilight let her shield dim, just for a moment, just to catch her breath and stop coughing. If the vault door hadn’t killed Jeuk, she knew that the lightning wouldn’t have either. She had to figure it out. She had to stop him here and now.

Wood crackled above the roar of flames. A talon as large as a pony burst from the corpse of the tree. Another followed suit and together they ripped the trunk apart. A face appeared, and vast black wings unfurled. Two horns thrust out atop a massive bull’s head. The greedy green eyes glared at her. The taloned, winged abomination leaped from the wreckage and charged for her.

Twilight Sparkle spun on her hind legs and flew towards the ballroom. She was overtaken by the bull-creature and propelled through the glass doors. The monster fairy took out the wall in his wrath. She ran as fast as her wings could carry her, sped along by flapping wings, ignoring the cuts and scrapes in her skin. She leaped and stayed just ahead of Jeuk’s goring horns. A flap of his enormous black wings kicked up a whirlwind and caused her to tailspin into the hallway. She continued onward, bounding from wall to wall as his horns and talons scoured deep gashes into the stone.

The chase funneled Twilight to the dining room, where a feast fit for a ball had been laid out and subsequently abandoned. She glanced around, perplexed. There should have been a mad stampede for the exit as the castle staff fled for their lives. She had expected to keep the Lord of the Sky at bay while they escaped. Finding her burden that much lighter, she faced the Master with a renewed vigor. She gathered magic to her horn, slowly crafting a spell of world-rending proportion.

Jeuk, too, seemed confused at the lack of partygoers. “I don’t know what sort of tricks you’re playing at—” He snarled at her, pointing to her horn. “I saw what you did to my nephew, Merimna! The crystallization spell won’t work on a mortal. You know this, yet you waste your strength!”

“I don’t know what it’ll do to you, sure,” Twilight said, “but I’m willing to bet it won’t be pleasant!”

The spell broke over him in waves, pressing him back, clawing at his skin with faint glimmers of solidified magic shards. He howled deep in his chest, stalking towards her, hit sharp talons digging into the marbled floor. His eyes watered at he drew closer, closer, closer.

Twilight reduced the power in her spell. It wouldn’t do to wipe herself out when it was clearly not having an effect. She grimaced to herself as she contemplated calling upon the power of the sun to blot him from the face of the earth. That was the last thing she wanted to do. To use the power of the sun to kill somebody, even someone as evil as Jeuk, she knew it could scar her very heart.

Before she knew it, Jeuk was upon her. He swung his head, catching her in the chest with a horn. The blow knocked the breath from her and sent her flying. Her horn ached from the spell being interrupted. While she was still in midair, he caught her in a talon. The nails dug into her legs as he balled his talon into a fist. He slashed at her face, her chest, her wings. In a burst of panic she teleported away from him. She stood near the entrance to the dining hall, heaving. Jeuk charged at her, overturning tables with every frenzied step.

She sent a blast of magic into the ground, then used a weaker version of the crystalizing spell to turn it into a large, jagged spike. Jeuk impaled himself chest-first.

Twilight sucked in a breath when she saw blood leak from his wound. It came back out in a gasp when he grasped it and yanked it from his body. He stumbled, his eyes unfocused, and leaned against the wall with a shudder of pain. He let out a weak, coughing laugh. “Well played. Most very amusing. I underestimated you, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” His eyes blazed bright green, giving her a headache with their sheer brightness. “I’ll not be guilty of that a third time.”

He sucked in a deep breath, clenched his talons, and let loose with a feral scream as his entire body burst into flames. The blast of heat drove Twilight back; she felt the ends of her mane singe. The room caught fire around Jeuk, burning the tables, the food, the tapestries. When the volcanic whirlwind had fully enveloped him, he lunged for her. A slash of his claws, bathed in fire, cut deep into her chest and launched her back into the hallway. He did not chase her; rather, he walked steadily towards her, each thundering step melting the floor beneath him. A clenched fist tossed a ball of flames at her, which burst into a shower of sparks on impact.

The fire gave Twilight a moment of doubt. Would even the power of the sun stop somebody who drew power from fire itself? Her thoughts derailed as a maddening itch crawled up her legs. She looked down to see thousands upon thousands of fire ants climbing all over her. She shrieked and took flight. She tried with all her might to kick the ants off, but they held fast, biting down with a grip that even death couldn’t break.

The ants ignited.

The screaming ball of fire known as Princess Twilight Sparkle burst through the first window she could find and dove for the soggy ground. She hit the muddy ground with a squelch and a hiss as the fire winked out. Rain poured and thunder rolled as she washed herself free of the ants with the damp soil. Her heart thundered in her chest, growing faster with each lightning strike the illuminated the decimated garden. She turned back towards the castle and flared her wings to take flight, to find some other way to fight against the unstoppable Master of the Unseelie Court.

His bronze-colored spear flew from directly overhead and caught her right wing at the joint. It continued until it had buried half of its length in the wet ground. She lay on her stomach, blood mingling with the mud, screeching as pain wracked her every nerve. She tried to move, but the spear had her pinned, and attempting to yank away from it would rip her cartilage apart. She turned her head and lit her horn, intent to pull it upwards with a telekinetic spell, but a hoof against her forehead caused the magic to fizzle to a stop.

Jeuk, in the guise of a pony, stood over her, his softly-grinning visage illuminated by sporadic lightning strikes. He rubbed the top of her head as if she were a bratty child he was lightly scolding. “I’m afraid this little game of ours, while amusing, has come to its end. You are spent, Daughter of Light. You have nothing to bring against me. Just like Celestia. Just like River Cicada. I’ve outlasted everyone who has stood against me, and I shall plenty outlast you.”

She tried to jerk away from his touch, but every movement put strain on her wing. “If I can’t stop you, someone else will. Someone will find the Elements of Harmony. And you’ve never been able to stand against them.”

“Those little trinkets?” Jeuk guffawed. “I have learned. I have studied. The power of Knowledge kept me imprisoned for centuries, until you mortals corrupted Knowledge and twisted it to your wicked devices. Weakening it until Knowledge became ignorance!” He slapped her with his hoof, bloodying her cheek. “You mortals take such beautiful things and turn them to evil and ruin. You mortals, who think yourself the center of the universe, when you’re nothing more than parasitic accidents on an everlasting mistake floating in an uncaring emptiness!”

He throttled her, hoisting her by the neck and glaring at her eye-to-eye. Twilight couldn’t formulate a response. She didn’t even understand what he was raving about. She was too tired and hurt to figure it out. She furrowed her brow and gasped out what little she could manage. “Power… Knowledge…”

“You pathetic mortals have such short, violent lives!” He shook her and cut off any reply. “You couldn’t hope to learn what every fairy knows by default! You couldn’t hope to see beyond your own pathetic, meaningless existence! I’ve seen eternity! I’ve seen how you die! Growing old and senile, losing whatever strength you spent your entire life accumulating. Only to see it rendered into dust!”

She brought her hooves to her neck and pressed her forelegs between Jeuk’s. She pried him away from her, little by little, seeking even the slightest breath of air.

“You think you’re so wise and mighty!” Jeuk opened his mouth and allowed a black, thick miasma to seep out. “You’re wretched, mud-chewing animals!”

Twilight had exactly one second to realize what the substance was. The Rainbow of Darkness! That’s why he kidnapped Fluttershy first! He meant to steal—She howled with pain as she felt the Rainbow of Darkness burrow its way into her heart. She felt her already-battered body weaken like a deflating balloon. Her limbs sagged beneath the dead weight of her body. Her wings became little more than a warm blanket on her back. Her horn was dead and cold. Her eyes lost their luster and her cutie mark vanished.

Jeuk wiped his mouth, having absorbed all but the faintest hint of her magic. He chuckled, then laughed aloud. Still giggling, he seized his spear and tore it from her wing. She didn’t dare to examine the damage. She didn’t have the willpower to look at it.

“You, who has such Knowledge, should know what this spear is made from.” He swung it back and forth. Twilight was faintly aware of a hole in the clouds overhead, through which she could see the smooth surface of the moon. “It is made from Golemium, the same substance that the Changeling Empire used to create their Strutters. As well as their sun devices. Their… Sunspears.”

The spear began to glow with power akin to that of Twilight’s horn. Jeuk held the spear point-first towards the horizon, and slowly raised the tip upward. At first, the storm obscured the result of his spell, but soon, all too soon, Twilight saw the effects of a stormy sunrise.

The horizon became a deep purple. The precious twinkle of the stars around the moon vanished one by one, and the moon itself seemed diminished in the present of the Greater Light. Fiery red bled into the clouds, and the cold chill of the rainfall warmed with each second the sun climbed higher.

“You put me in charge of the sun,” Jeuk hissed to no one that Twilight could see. “You said the sky was my realm. My domain. My very purpose! And you gave it away to these animals!” His voice shook as he carefully lifted his spear higher and higher. “I’ll show you what the sun can do in the hands of one who understands it!”

Though the storm continued to rage, the clouds parted just above the castle. The sun stood as high as if it were noontide. It bore down on Twilight as if it was the hottest day of summer. She attempted to reach out and touch it, but was left utterly powerless by the Rainbow of Darkness.

Jeuk threw his head back and crowed at the sun. “Come down and destroy all of creation! Destroy all that once was, all that is, and all that will be! Leave nothing alive on this molten, barren wasteland!”

A pillar of fire came down and struck the castle’s tallest tower. The force of the blast pulverized it, and the heat of the sun transformed the rubble into molten stone and ash. The other towers tumbled. The buildings that made up the castle crumbled either from the draft of superheated air or under their own weight. Just when Twilight thought the attack might be over, the heat intensified. It bored into the earth, churning up dirt before blasting it into glass and then melting it into volcanic sludge. The earth trembled beneath Twilight as fire danced over her skin. It surged around her and Jeuk, but did not consume either of them. The sunspear seemed to keep the light at bay as much as it commanded it.

The mountainside cracked. Vast chasms opened up, leading into the depths of the old crystal mines. The mountain’s heart glowed as sunfire intermingled with gemstones made from old, solidified magic. The pillar of fire widened, threatening to consume the entire city of Canterlot.

Twilight could only lay still and watch.

---

In the deepest depths of Castle Roc, Andean stood before a stone wall. It was carved with the image of griffons mingling with creatures of all types, particularly a diminutive, pony-like creature: The Breezies. It was a tale from ages long lost. It was a tale that would be told again. The entire scene was encircled by a round indentation, almost as though it was a doorway that could be slid aside. No such door existed.

It was a portal of another kind.

The indentation glowed, and the stone scene dissolved into a swirling, shimmering pool of magic. Andean waited with breath held for several moments.

A tiny form materialized from the magic, blue of coat and frizzy of mane. The breezie waved at the waiting griffons, ponies, and changelings. “Vheelll? Vhat are yew waiting fooor?”

Andean drew his sword and put a talon to Luna’s back. “Lead them in. I’ll act as rearguard.”

Luna frowned at him. “You are not thinking of staying behind—”

“Not unless I need to.” Andean moved to the rear of the bustling room, which had long been sealed off from the public eye. It was useless to most, since the griffons were unable to open the portal to the Highways and Byways. That was the Breezies’ task alone.

There was a room like it in every capital city across the world, used in ancient times to transport breezies and their lifegiving Ambrosia to and fro. In years since, the Highways and Byways had been sealed off to protect the diminutive creatures. Thankfully for Andean, Seabreeze had been working to reverse the isolation. It was just a few years ago that the breezies had used the portals to secret the hippogriffs and Thorax’s changelings away to parts unknown. Andean sought a slightly closer destination.

Mangle, a massively muscular minotaur, came through the portal next, waving the crowd of refugees inside. “Step right up for your one-way ticket to Beefland! Let’s go people, time’s wasting!”

The ponies soldiers and remaining Blitzwings created a perimeter as the changelings carried the pieces of the Sunspear through the portal. Luna went through first, hurrying Corona, Stella, and Chrysalis II through. The rest took it two at a time, moving when Mangle of Beefland told them it was safe to enter. Andean looked to the long hallway behind them, ending in a staircase that led upwards to the lowest level of the castle. He held Euroclydon at the ready in a low guard, feeling the power of the storm held within the blade. The red pommel stone gleamed against his feathery beard.

Crested Barbary, Captain of the Blitzwings, drew his Wyrmslayer, the sister sword of Aquilla’s own. “I stand by your side, my king.”

Andean’s ears twitched at the sound of hundreds of griffon soldiers thundering through the castle. “Thank you, Captain.”

There they were! The first of the attackers had gotten past the rubble-thick barricades. Andean released a barrage of lightning at them, cutting down five before they could even see him. More came in, and were peppered with volleygun rounds.

The changelings had all made it through the portal. The soldiers were the next to file out a few at a time.

Aquilla Gildwing appeared at the foot of the staircase, his Wyrmslayer blazing with fire. He roared at Andean, his metallic beak shrieking as he snapped it at the castle’s defenders.

Andean smiled. “You’ve already failed, Aquilla! Take the castle, take my life, but you shall never have the spirit of Felaccia!”

Mangle reached his hand out to Andean. “Get back here, Ursagyph! The portal’s closing whether you’re in it or not!”

Crested Barbary crossed blades with a griffon who got too close. His Wyrmslayer melted right through his opponent’s sword and then through their neck. He flinched back as Andean’s lightning flashed and another dozen griffons fell. “Your Grace? The portal?”

Andean noted with great satisfaction that he, Crested, Seabreeze, and Mangle were the last defenders remaining. He pointed the tip of his sword at Aquilla and released his strongest attack yet. The griffon lord blocked with his Wyrmslayer and stumbled back.

Andean leaped through the portal just as it closed. He felt a tug at his small, bearlike tail, but pulled away before it could be severed. He laughed aloud, falling to the ground and letting his sword tumble from his talon. Mangle helped him to his feet, then gave him a firm handshake. “King Andean Ursagryph, welcome back to Beefland.”

He was in a small, rock-walled room in the basement of the Egg, Beefland’s capitol building. Mangle, with Seabreeze perched on his shoulder, led Andean to the upper levels, where windows were open to the warm summer air and the peaceful, starlit night. The escapees all milled around, exhausted from the fight and flight. Some were being cared for by the minotaurs and cows Mangle had gathered to help.

Andean frowned, noting Princess Luna standing at an open window, looking upward. He joined her and returned his sword to its scabbard. “What’s wrong, Princess?”

“Andean,” she said, pointing at the sky, “is it not some hours till sunrise?”

He followed her gaze, and his eyes widened. The sea was just visible past the short buildings that made up Beefland’s capital. Where he should have seen the reflection of moonlight against the waves, he instead saw the glimmering light of the dawn. “Do you know… can you tell who is raising the sun?”

Luna shook her head. “I thought it was Twilight at first, but the magic is wrong. Twisted. Intermingled with something I am not familiar with.”

“The Unseelie Court. It must be.” He sucked in a breath. “Of course. Aquilla’s coup was meant to coincide with the Master’s attack.” He snapped his head to the side to look her in the eye. “Can you stop it?”

“The source of the spell is far more powerful than I.” Luna’s horn glimmered as she reached upward. She huffed a sigh as the sun continued unabated. “There is but one chance, lest the Master of the Unseelie Court cause untold damage: The Sunspear. When I faced against Cicada, she baited me into grasping the sun while the Sunspear activated. The magic feedback was enough to send me into unconsciousness. Without Corona’s help, I would have died.” She gave a sidelong glance at the changelings laying around the room. “Our only chance is that the Sunspear hurts the Master of the Court enough that he cannot control the sun. That it is strong enough to keep it out of his grasp.”

“The spear is currently in pieces,” Andean hissed, “with barely enough magic to last a week under normal circumstances.”

Luna turned her eyes upward. “And yet, the sun rises.”

“Good point.” Andean turned to Queen Chrysalis II and lowered his head to her level. “Your Majesty, do you know how quickly the Sunspear can be reassembled?”

Chrysalis glanced at her second, Commander Bugly, who shrugged. “An hour or two. Why?”

“We do not have that long. We’re normally six hours ahead of Equestria, but at the rate the sun is moving, they shall see high noon in twenty minutes!” Andean snapped his talons to get Mangle’s attention. “Mangle, we need to set up the Sunspear as fast as possible. Have you finished the support structure?”

Mangle shrugged his massive shoulders. “It’s built, but we don’t know if it’s beefy enough to hold up to the force of actually raising the sun. This is something we were gonna workshop, you know?”

“Then we’re all relying on a miracle tonight.” Andean raised a talon and balled it into a fist. “Everyone! The Sunspear must be restored or our entire world will be destroyed this very night! Every able-bodied creature must help! Listen to the changeling builders! We have to do this right the first time!” He grasped the largest piece of the Sunspear and turned to Mangle. “Lead us to the support structure!”

---

Merry Mare stared, mouth agape, as Canterlot Castle was consumed by flame. The crowd had fled. The soldiers stood ready, but had no idea what to do. Merry wasn’t sure what to do, herself. She had never suspected Jeuk would be so callous, so brazen… She had lied to herself so perfectly.

Her first instinct was to rush to the Master of the Unseelie Court and slay him. Her second instinct was to flee. To get as far away from the damage as possible. To get everyone she loved to leave Equestria behind.

He had already demolished the castle. He was doing irreparable damage not only to Castle Town, but to the mountain itself. She could see fissures appear that lead into the ancient crystal mines which had gone inert hundreds of years ago. Now, with the heat of the sun, they were coming back to life, bleeding magic and igniting the mountainside with uncontrollable chaos that made the Everfree Forest seem tame. Nothing would be able to live on Canter Mountain. Nothing natural. Nothing equine.

She would have to spin a story from this. It was not Jeuk, but Celestia who attacked her castle with the sun. It was her resisting arrest that led to this tragedy, and her subsequent death was just desserts. The people of Equestria would be unable to argue the evidence of their eyes as Canter Mountain became a wasteland. Fiery wreckage rained down on Castle Town, destroying homes and businesses. Before long, if Jeuk continued his attack, there would be nothing left.

Merry caught a voice down the road, screeching above the roar of the flames. She saw Adagio Dazzle leading a crowd towards the air harbor. The trains were inoperable by now, so it stood to reason the safest escape route would be through the barges and passenger ships.

Merry shook herself. She activated her necklace again, singing louder than ever, calling the crowds back to her. She sang as she had never sung before, until even those on the outskirts of the city heeded her call. She directed them as one to join Adagio at the air harbor, to board whatever ships were left, to flee the city-state before all was lost. Even the stoic soldiers by her side joined the citizens, directing traffic and keeping people safe from stampedes.

Her strength spent, she slumped to the ground. The earth shook beneath her. Fire blazed around her. She shut her eyes and prayed; what, she did not know.

---

Twilight peered through the roiling flames and saw the faintest hint of the moon overhead. It shone on her, though she could barely feel it beside the power of the sun. With her own magic drained, she was acutely aware of the ambient magic all around her. She could touch it, direct it a little, but without her heart at its fullest, she could not grasp it.

The ground cracked open, swallowing the last of the castle. Crystals lay below her like rows upon rows of teeth leading to a hungry maw. Jeuk stood at the precipice, his spear raised, his greedy green eyes blazing. Twilight grasped a stone in her hoof and threw it at Jeuk’s head. It was swallowed by the fire the instant it left her touch.

There was but one hope she had left. She gritted her teeth and, with all of her strength, hoisted herself to her feet. She tottered, her balance failing her. Still, she braced herself and, with a desperate yell, threw herself at Jeuk. She hoped that the suddenness of the attack might send them both falling into the mountain’s gaping jaws, to be impaled by the crystal teeth.

Jeuk easily reached out and caught her by the neck. He smiled almost playfully.

A beam of light shot up from beyond the horizon and struck the sun with the force of a volleygun ball.

Twilight was thrown back by the force of the thunderous strike. She lay on the ground, her wounded wing hanging in the chasm. She looked up with held breath as Jeuk began to scream, his voice warbling and changing, his body shuddering with agony.

High in the sky, she saw the sun encased in a solid shield of magic, dimming the light and pushing back Jeuk’s magic. It was dragged, slowly, inch by inch, back towards the horizon. Jeuk renewed his grasp and poured magic into his spear, tugging the sun upward while the beam of light pulled it towards sunset.

“Curse you, Aquilla!” Jeuk roared. “Curse you to your son’s son! You were supposed to destroy them all!”

Cracks appeared along the length of the Golemium spear. Blisters broke across Jeuk’s skin. His eyes blazed bright enough to blind a pony. His voice was like a hurricane.

The spear shattered into thousands of fragments.

Jeuk wept aloud, clutching his ragged, filleted foreleg. He crouched at the edge of the precipice, watching as the sun was gently tucked beneath the horizon. The rain resumed all around the mountain. The fire died as Jeuk’s own storm reduced the flames to charcoal and ashes.

Twilight lay still, her entire body too weak to move. She stared upwards at a part in the clouds, through which the pale, smooth face of the moon gleamed down. She smiled and laughed, just a little. Equestria was saved. If only for the moment, her kingdom was saved.

“You think,” Jeuk growled, “that this is funny?”

With his unbloodied foreleg, he grabbed her damaged wing and held her over the gaping hole. She gasped; his skin had boiled away in some places, leaving bare muscle and white bone. His mouth in particular was missing half of his lips. Yet he still held her with the ease of a body-builder, as though she were light as a feather.

“I’ll have that sun, Princess.” He licked his teeth and heaved a breath through scarred lungs. “If not now, then soon. I would tell you to wait and see… but Equestria loses two of its princesses today.” He released her.

She fell into the chasm with both wings fluttering uselessly around her. She fell back-first, her legs reaching up as if she would be grasped by some helping hand at just the last moment. Feathers fluttered away, some swirling in the wake of her fall, framing the gleaming moon overhead.

The moon, the largest mirror in the cosmos.

Mirror.

She could feel the ambient magic of the moon surround her. Without the interference of the sun, the moon was able to fully envelop Canter Mountain in silver light. Without the sun’s unbearable flame, Twilight could allow the moon’s cooling magic to fully flow in and around her.

Just like the magic mirror that led to Sunset’s world, Twilight could feel the moon tugging on her. Drawing her in, yet awaiting her permission. It touched her horn and she reached out.

The world faded to white.

---

Applejack lay curled up behind a large stone fragment that had nearly crushed her when the castle burned. She clutched Twilight’s saddlebags to her chest, shivering with adrenaline and fear. Rain soaked her to the bone. Every flash of lightning felt like a stab to the heart.

The firestorm was over. She had work to do.

She shook rainwater from the brim of her hat and rose to her hooves. She glanced around as she strapped the saddlebags to her sides. Nobody was in sight. The castle had completely vanished except for a few scattered pieces of rubble. In its place was a gaping hole in the side of the mountain. Most of the castle’s wall still stood, except in a few places where it had collapsed. The ground was damp and muddy, the grass lawn of the courtyard having been devoured by the sunlight.

Her eyes fell on a rumpled form a few meters away. It had rolled almost to the outer wall after it had been thrown through the window. It was covered in mud and blood and fragments of glass. Applejack ran to it as fast as she could. She knelt beside the body and shook it gently. “Celestia? Celestia! Can you hear me?”

One eye blinked open. Applejack tried to catch her gaze, but Celestia wasn’t looking at anything. “C’mon, Princess… I gotta—I gotta getcha to the hospital. You’re gonna be okay.”

Celestia’s chest barely moved when she breathed out a soft voice. “Applejack…”

“You don’t gotta try an’ talk, Princess.” Applejack looked over her shoulder, hoping to see Royal Guards who might help her, but fearing Jeuk and his minions. “It’ll just exhaust you. I’ll get you to safety.”

“No… Applejack…” Celestia’s eye closed. Her pink mane lay matted against her face. “You… already… helped…”

“Celestia, you gotta hang on!” Applejack rested her hoof on Celestia’s shoulder. “Think of all the ponies relyin’ on you. Think of Twilight and Luna. They’ll be lost without yah.”

“But not… you…” Celestia smiled. “I’m so glad it was you, Applejack. I’m so glad… it was you…”

“Just save your energy.” Applejack turned away, but Celestia moved her hoof to stop her. “Princess, please.”

“I broke the world,” Celestia sighed. “But you’ll… you’ll…”

Her hoof dropped as her body fell limp.

Applejack knew it the moment it happened. She knew what it looked like for a pony to leave the world behind. She wanted to shake Celestia again, to try to rouse her, to tell her it would be alright. But she was too honest with herself. She turned her head aside and shut her eyes, pulling the brim of her hat over her face.

She heard voices talking. Hoofsteps approaching. She scurried to the wall and hid herself in an alcove, out of sight. It was a small gate that led to the outside, normally locked, but the door had been destroyed by the sunfire.

“What a miserable way to die.”

Applejack peered around the stone wall and saw Silver Spoon and Jeuk standing beside Celestia’s body. The Master of the Unseelie Court looked like he had been chewed up and spit out, but even as she watched, his wounds came back together. His skin mended itself like a cloth tearing in reverse. He turned to Silver and gave her a glowering look. “Report, Maiden.”

“Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie are all in custody. Twilight Velvet’s wounds are being taken care of…” Silver Spoon glanced around. She fidgeted with her silver-rimmed glasses. “I haven’t seen Applejack. It’s like she vanished into thin air after you killed Celestia. I have the guardsponies combing the mountain for her, but the magic from the mines is making travel dangerous.”

“She needs to be found, Silver.” Jeuk kicked Celestia’s leg and watched it shake stiffly. “She and all the castle staff. You have troops following the exiles from Castle Town?”

“They’ve split up, each barge going to a different city.” Silver Spoon looked up at the rain clouds overhead. “They’ll spread the word about the city. About the sun. Everything.”

“Excellent.” Jeuk rubbed his chin. “The more people know about ‘Celestia’s’ attack on Canterlot, the easier it will be for you three to consolidate power.”

Applejack eased herself back into the shadows. The mountainside behind her was filled with dangerous, uncontrolled magic, but it still seemed safer than confronting Jeuk and the sirens. She was about to run off, when she heard a third voice.

“How dare you! How dare you, Jeuk!”

Merry Mare descended upon the scene, transforming from a siren back to an earth pony. She thundered her way across the scorched courtyard to the mortal fairy prince. She reached out to grab him, but he danced away. “We had them! They were going to come peacefully! But no, you’re so bloodthirsty that you’ll destroy an entire city-state to get your way!”

“You would have done the same, Siren Mother.” The last of his wounds mended themselves. He drew himself up proudly, allowing Silver Spoon to lean on his foreleg. “Or you should have. We spent too long allowing Celestia the chance to come back time and time again. I finished things. Only by burning away the old ways can the new ways flourish to their full potential.”

“That’s completely separate,” Merry screamed, “to burning down a city full of people!”

“And you’re smart enough to spin things correctly.” Jeuk prodded her in the chest. “You’ve already thought up the story, haven’t you? It was Celestia herself who destroyed the city, while the heroic Sirens led the people to safety and defeated the Mad Alicorn Princess.” He raised his head to meet her eye-to-eye. “Be smart enough to take the golden opportunity I’ve given you. Be smart enough to rejoice that two—yes two—of your immortal enemies are dead. Be smart enough to continue to lead Equestria to its new golden age.” He stepped on Celestia’s wing and shouted at the top of his lungs. “And somebody clean up this garbage!”

His words were like an arrow to the heart. Two of the immortals were dead? But that would mean… He hadn’t mentioned Twilight at all. Neither had Silver Spoon. She couldn’t be dead, too. She couldn’t! Applejack wouldn’t believe it until she saw her with her own two eyes! She clutched Twilight’s saddlebags close to her chest, her forelegs shaking. She felt her friend’s writing utensils, her notebooks, and a larger book besides. Peering in, she saw the Grimoire Alicorn in all its hideous glory. She resisted the urge to find the nearest chasm and throw the book into oblivion.

Beside the book, in a small pocket, she felt something round and hard. She reached in and touched it. It glowed with a warmth that she’d only ever seen in Granny Smith’s eyes. Kindness. Ah, Fluttershy’s eyes had that feel to them as well. Now, more than ever, she knew she needed to run as far away from Jeuk and the Sirens as possible. She couldn’t risk losing their only hope to fight back.

As she looked at Kindness within the bag, Celestia’s body began to glow as well. Applejack pressed her hat against her head and her eyebrows jumped up. Before her eyes, before the eyes of the Sirens and Jeuk, Celestia’s body became a solid piece of crystal from head to tail. After a moment, it slowly, piece by piece, crumbled to dust and blew away on the wind.

The ponies stared dumbfounded at the spectacle. But more than anybody else, it was Jeuk who seemed absolutely perplexed. Silver nudged the mortal fairy. “King Jeuk… what just happened?”

“Never mind that,” he said after a moment. He touched the empty patch of mud where Celestia had lain. Anger fell over his features and he flicked the mud at nopony in particular. “Where is Adagio?”

Merry Mare shrugged, her eyes never leaving the empty, pony-shaped imprint. “She should have been back by now. She was supposed to take her revenge on Starswirl to prevent him from interfering.”

Jeuk cursed, the ferocity of which caused even Silver Spoon to flinch. “Find her. Gather everybody. The Grove of Golden Apples will arrive within the week. That shall be your new seat of government now that Canter Mountain is corrupted.” He flashed them a venomous glare and jerked his head towards the west. “Go on, then. We need to gather the troops and prepare for our march on Ponyville. Move!”

While the three of them went one way, Applejack descended along the south face of Canter Mountain, on the side closest to Ponyville. She wasn’t ready to cry yet, though she desperately wanted to. The adrenaline that kept her alive prevented her from reacting just yet. And maybe she never would be able to react. Maybe her mind wouldn’t be able to fathom what she’d just seen. Everything had gone to Hell. Everything.

It was hours before she reached the ground. By then, Cadence had started sunrise. Applejack shivered, wet and tired after an entire night fighting and fleeing. The miasma of magic around the mountain was enough to make her vomit. The rain had finally departed an hour into the descent, but left the ground muddy and slick. She sat exhausted at the border of the Everfree Forest, and found it a much more hospitable environment. And then, just through the trees, Ponyville. Home.

Jeuk’s next target.

Applejack leaned her head back and sought the last few sparkles of stars. She sought some semblance of comfort. Some thought that maybe Ma, Pa, and Granny were all up there, watching over her. What she saw made her blood run cold.

The moon was no longer a clear, clean circle of light. A shadow fell across its surface. A silhouette of a pony’s head. Her heart caught in her throat as she recognized the precise mane-cut, the impeccably-even bangs, the taper of the horn, the curve of the nose…

The Mare in the Moon was Twilight Sparkle.

End of Book One – The Siege of Canterlot

Comments

[RadicalDishonesty]

It feels a little like the Siren's take a path of wisdom in a way.

The maiden is invincible and nothing can stop her, thinking of nothing but ambition. She has no idea what her master might do, and is focused on her own inner world and goals.

The matron understands the world better than before. She will guide it, she will heal it, but she doesn't entirely understand it. She thinks she understands her master, can get the better of him still, but does not know.

The crone understands very well, the one who has seen behind the curtain most accurately, and can speak to what the inner motives might lead her master to do.

Anyway it's a helluva chapter.

Jeuk's biblical allusions increase.

[MyHobby]

11644972

It feels a little like the Siren's take a path of wisdom in a way.

That's a good insight. I kinda stumbled on the concept of the Maiden, Mother, and Crone archetypes while researching mythical beings, and found the concept lined up pretty well with the Three Witches trope that appears so much in media. In the same way as they represent three stages of life, they can also represent three stages of earning (or ignoring) wisdom. My next chapter is going to play with this more, following the path of wisdom someone takes as they also take their path through life.

I thought the concept of the archetypes was called "The Three Faces of Eve," but it looks like that just a TV Tropes entry and not necessarily a literary term EDIT: and "The Hecate Sisters" is more appropriate. But it's the concept I've built the Sirens out of... even if I've had to do a little squeezing here and there.

Jeuk's biblical allusions increase.

Like all edgelords (Ba'al Kitzoni?), he read half the Bible, picked out a few edgy phrases, and tossed the rest out when he was done.