The Last Crusade

by Scribblestick

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Sweetie Belle was gathering supplies for the trip when Zecora walked into the hut. “Sweetie Belle, what is all this?” she asked as she looked at the food the unicorn had gathered. “Has something gone amiss?”

“No, everything’s fine,” Sweetie Belle replied. “Well, as fine as it could be right now.”

“Tell me, child, what is the matter?” Zecora said. “You look as though something has shattered.”

Sweetie Belle let out a sigh. “The army’s moving out tomorrow,” she said.

Zecora put a gentle hoof on her shoulder. “This sad feeling I well know. It is hard to see friends go.”

“But that’s just it,” Sweetie Belle continued as she looked through Zecora’s potions. “I’m going with them.” She pulled a magic dampening potion of the shelf and held it up for Zecora to see. “Do you mind if I take this?”

Zecora took the potion and put it back on the shelf. “First, my friend, you must explain what it is you hope to gain.”

Sweetie Belle blinked. “We’re trying to stop Nightmare Moon.”

Zecora shook her head. “That may be the army’s goal, but I speak not of the whole. The one thing I want to know is why you, Sweetie Belle, should go.”

Sweetie Belle sighed. “I know it’s going to be dangerous, but I have to help them,” she said. “I’m the only unicorn here. I can use my magic to help them.”

“Then what on earth gave you the notion that I should give you that potion?” Zecora asked.

“In case I lose control,” Sweetie Belle replied.

Zecora shook her head again. “My child, you are too full of fear to truly help those you hold dear. If you are to help them now, to Nightmare Moon you must not bow.”

“What do you mean?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I’m not loyal to her.”

“You may not support her rule, but part of you is still her tool,” Zecora said. “If you want to fill that role, you must master self-control.”

“I’ve been trying, Zecora, all right?” Sweetie Belle shouted, slamming her hooves on the ground. “I’ve tried everything I can think of, and I still lose control from time to time. My friends need me, but I need that potion to help them!”

“Calm yourself, my little friend. This anger will not help you mend.”

“I’m not little!” Sweetie Belle said. “I’m a grown mare! And what else do you want me to do?”

“Perseverance, my dear friend. You must simply try again.”

Again.

Again.

“Again,” said Nightmare Moon.

“I’ve tried this a million times,” Sweetie Belle muttered.

“And you’ll try ten million more if that’s what it takes,” Nightmare Moon snapped.

“Stop trying to force me!” Sweetie Belle shouted. A magical slap to the face was her reward.

“You will not raise your voice against me,” said Nightmare Moon. “I am you master, and you are my pupil, and you will do what I say.”

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said NO!” The aura around Sweetie Belle’s horn burst to life.

“Do not trifle with me,” the dark mare said as the aura flared around her own horn. “Do not forget that without my guidance, you would be little more than an earth pony with a horn stuck on her head.”

“I’d rather be that than your student,” Sweetie Belle spat. “In fact, I’d rather have my horn cut off than be here with you!”

“That can be arranged.”

Five years of barely-suppressed rage finally boiled to the top. “You want my horn?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Come and get it.”

Nightmare Moon hesitated for a moment. The ground at Sweetie Belle’s feet cracked open, and specters began pouring out and rounding on Nightmare Moon. “Enough!” the dark mare shouted. “I command you to stop at once!”

“You don’t control me,” Sweetie Belle replied as more specters crawled from the pit. “You never have.”

Nightmare Moon blasted the specters with her magic. Sweetie Belle knew she couldn’t overpower her, so she turned and ran while she still had the chance. “Get back here!” Nightmare Moon commanded, but Sweetie Belle ignored her as she ran through the palace and out the front gates.

A gentle hoof brought Sweetie Belle out of her memories. She looked up to see Zecora’s soft blue eyes looking down at her. “Little one, you’ve tried so hard to mend your heart and hide the scars,” the zebra said as she wrapped the unicorn in her embrace. “I think the answer that you seek lies much deeper than you think.”

“What do you mean?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“These things you must learn on your own if you are to retake the throne,” Zecora replied. “Let go of those who are long gone, and only then can you move on.”

Sweetie Belle closed her eyes. “I don’t know if I can.”

“I’ve no doubt that you’ll pull through when your friends have need of you,” Zecora said. “True that it may take some time, but change will come, sure as this rhyme.”

Sweetie Belle gave her a mischievous smile. “You kind of cheated on that one, Zecora.”

Zecora returned her smile. “If you did always speak in verse, you too would see it as a curse.”

Sweetie Belle’s gaze drifted to a pile of scrolls stacked neatly in a corner. “Are you going to talk with the other zebras?” Zecora had been trying to convince them to join the battle for weeks, with no success.

“I’ll try once more, but don’t delay,” Zecora replied. “My kind are difficult to sway.” The zebra grabbed her saddle bags and walked out the door. “You may take the supplies you need, so long as you don’t succumb to greed.”

“I won’t,” Sweetie Belle promised. Zecora nodded and walked outside, closing the door behind her. Sweetie Belle walked to the pile of scrolls and began looking through them. It didn’t take her long to find the one she wanted, and she spread it out on a table and began to read.

Dear Sweetie Belle,

You asked me a while back if I had any suggestions for controlling unicorn magic. I gave you a pretty good list, but I was thinking about Twilight today, and something occurred to me that might help you with your particular situation.

One of Twilight’s favorite stories was how she got her cutie mark. I’m sure you recall it—how she was taking her entrance exam for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns and how she almost failed until Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom startled her. It was that detail that caught my attention today—how her powerful inner magic was triggered by being startled. You told me your particular talent was tied to your anger and hatred towards Nightmare Moon. It seems both you and Twilight lost control of your magic when it was triggered by emotion.

I’m no expert, I’m just shooting in the dark here, but maybe what you need to do is learn to do magic without having to fuel it with hate. I’m not sure how you’d go about that, but it’s an idea.

Your friend,
Spike

Sweetie Belle sighed as she rerolled the scroll and put it with the others. At the time, she hadn’t given this piece of advice much thought. After all, it was that anger and hate that had enabled her to do magic in the first place. But now, she wondered if perhaps he was right.

The unicorn stepped outside and looked around. The sun had already set, and as far as she could tell, she was alone. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She’d done simple spells like levitation without relying on her anger, but this spell was in another league entirely.

She could feel her pent-up resentment bubbling to the surface, but she held it down and focused on her magic. The ground in front of her cracked open, and a mangled hoof poked its way to the surface. The strain of casting the spell and quelling her emotions became too great, and she released the spell with a gasp. The fissure closed, and the hoof disappeared.

“Well, it’s a start,” Sweetie Belle muttered before returning to Zecora’s hut. “Guess I just need to practice.” It would take a week to get to Canterlot. She hoped she’d be able to control her magic by then.