Accounts of the Dark Cosmic War

by Pony Professor

Chapter 2

MANEHATTAN

In a three-hoof restaurant on the top deck floor of a skyscraper at the city’s center, Major Stalwart Sage makes a mockery of the opulence of the venue. His rear hooves rest on the table, the sheer weight of his war hammer’s head threatens to drop through the floor propped right next to him, and if I didn’t know that Chef Ramhay’s Sky Diamond Restaurant didn’t serve a drop out of a bottle that costs any less than a month of most Equestrians’ monthly income, I’d mistake the lacquered and gold-bound mahogany tankards strewn about for ones that may have contained the bottom shelf ale of a much less modern town on the frontiers. No creature would dare chastise the Major, though, as he is Celestia’s most decorated Berserker, and the other patrons of the Sky Diamond know they owe the luxurious meals they are having to him.

“I thought they were lyin’ about it. Both me and my wife laughed when the rookie busted in, armor too big for him slipping off his back, tellin’ us that Celestia had turned into some sort of demon. Everyone says the Celestial Berserkers are the no-nonsense branch of the Guard, but we like pranks and jokes just as much as the rest of ‘em. I was ready to see what silly costume Celestia had cooked up to get the newbie so frazzled, but when Lieutenant Richter Rumble came to me lookin’ just as scared as the greenhorn, I knew somethin’ was up.”

“The lieutenant wasn’t the joking type?”

“Richter Rumble follows the Code stricter than any creature I know. There have been some hard-asses in the Berserkers over the centuries but none like hers. Between that and the way she fights, she reminds us all why we have the name ‘Berserkers’ in the first place. Richter don’t joke, and Richter don’t get scared. If she’s doing one of them, the world’s broken.”

Stalwart takes his hooves off the table, downs a swig of beer, and slams his tankard down.

“And by Her sunny side up it sure as hell was broken. Word spread quickly—too quickly—what had happened and no one knew what to do. Princess Twilight dispatched us, Luna’s Shadows, and her own new covert branch to find out where the Sisters had gone, but while we were trying to find two monsters, tens of thousands more were rising up all across Equestria. Our mission changed from search and rescue to straight up rescue in no time. If we didn’t start defending Equestrians from those… things that were rising up everywhere, even if we found the Sisters, there’d be no Equestrians left for them to return to.”

“Things, you say,” I scribble on my notepad, “The Nightmare Army? They showed up that quickly?”

Stalwart nods, “Everywhere, all at once. To this day I don’t think there’s a single creature that knows how there were no signs. I remember running through Canterlot to every scream I could make it to. Half the time I’d make it and splat one of those monsters against a floor or wall and send whoever I saved off to the castle or a gate to hunker down. The other half, well, let’s just say there are a lot of ponies who could’ve been enjoying a fine drink here today just like I am. Even foals who never got to be old enough…”

The major pauses to look around, the recounting of his experience temporarily breaking him out of his stupor enough to notice that the entire section of the restaurant has ceased whatever conversations they were having to listen to him—and, undoubtedly, remember their own ordeals during that time if they had any.

Stalwart Sage clears his throat and grabs his next tankard, “You ain’t need the gory details, do ya, kid?”

“I need whatever you want to tell me however you want to tell it.”

“Well, I guess if it’s for history I’ll give you all I got.” Stalwart whistles for a waitpony to come over. “This beer I’ve been drinking. Forget the platters of tankards, just bring the damn barrels out here. I’m gonna need to forget that I remember what I’m about to tell this pony here. Again.”

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PONYVILLE

Sunflower Daze observes her son, Rainy Daze, hook a hanging flowerpot on the porch overhang of their home. Her expression is one of simultaneous admiration and concern, the latter of which I don’t think she should have considering her son is a pegasus, therefore capable of flight. Then again, she is a mother. Any caring one never stops worrying about her child.

“Miss Daze?” I say. This breaks her eyes off her son for a moment for her to turn to me, recognize my presence, then turn right back to him.

“Storied Halls, right? You’re here for the interview. We were waiting for you. You don’t mind if we tend to this while we talk, do you?”

“Not at all,” I respond. “In fact, I’ll get right to it. I assume you’re having your son hang those plants because you… can’t.” I gesture to Sunflower Daze where there used to be wings and the fourth of four hooves.

She gives an exasperated sigh, as if I’m the hundredth pony to point it out today. “Yes. In some ways it has changed my life in more than the war did.” At the mention of the war, Rainy Daze flicks his ear and his eye darts the way of his mother and I for a fraction of a second. This is an observant family.

“We were in Canterlot when the Nightmare creatures appeared. We lived there, in the suburbs right outside the biggest commercial quarter. We had an unbelievable view of the entire castle grounds with our house being on an outcrop of Canterlot Mountain just higher than the outer castle walls’ height.” Sunflower sits down as I begin writing her account.

“Rainy could barely walk on his own back then. I was washing dishes with him in a harness when I saw the first explosions out the window. I thought it might have been some sort of fireworks accident or maybe a spell gone wrong in the thaumaturgical research wing, but then I saw the guards flooding the courtyard and the Nightmare creatures coming from… just everywhere. Out of the ground, the sky—even some like dust piling together to form out of nothing. First it was just the castle, but then they came closer. I was out the house with Rainy and flying out of the city the second I knew I was in danger. To this day I don’t even know if my old house is still there.

“Flying away is when I took the hit that lost me my wing. As I fell, I knew what was happening wasn’t some random monster attack. Monsters attack out of fear, agitation, with no planning. This was methodical—military. I turned my back to the ground and held Rainy to my chest, hoping at least he would survive the crash. When I came to, I was in an alley somewhere in the city. Rainy was crying, and now that I was on the ground his cries weren’t the only noises I heard. There were also demonic roars unlike anything I’d ever heard before mixed with the screams of ponies and other creatures, the swinging of swords and spears, and the sound of those new magic rifles going off. It was all pure chaos.”

“How did you get out of all that after being shot down?” I ask. Sunflower Daze smiles for the first time since she started her story.

“Stalwart Sage. I expect you’ll be hearing his name a lot if you’re talking to anyone who was in Canterlot in the beginning. When I was trying to get back to my feet in that alley, Rainy’s crying must have attracted one of the Nightmare creatures. They had all sorts of shapes and sizes but this one looked like a giant spider with razors for legs, dripping this black goo all over the place. It shrieked and ran at me. All I could do was put up my hoof to block one of its legs, but… You can see how well that worked out. Right before it could do the same thing to my head, a huge hammer came out of nowhere and slammed the Nightmare creature to the ground, killing it instantly. Stalwart Sage wasted no time making sure Rainy and I were okay, or, as okay as we could be in that situation. He wrapped up my hoof and wing and before I could even ask his name I was on his back as he ran through the streets of Canterlot, dodging more of the creatures and putting us down for no more than a few seconds when he had to smash what he couldn’t avoid.

“Eventually we reached one of the lesser gates of Canterlot, where the Royal Guard had set up a defensive area for civilians to gather. Only when another guard called out Stalwart’s name did I finally learn who he was, but before I could call for him to thank him, he had run back into the city to save more ponies.”

Sunflower pauses and glances between her missing hoof, missing wing, and present son.

She sighs, “I owe him everything. It’s why I agreed to this interview. I’m sure you’ll talk to him, so I hope you tell him my story, so he knows just how much he helped, if he doesn’t already.”