An Alternate Arc

by Hye

A Different Escape

Author's Note:

I hope no one takes seriously how I semi-copied the 'ancient law' speech. I liked how it was written.

The next day, the whole tribe got up and finished packing while “inconspicuously” hanging around Ember’s hut. The couple was sneakily peeking outside, Arc whispering in Ember’s ear.

“Marquis was trolling everyone, I know it.”

“What gave you that idea, sir?”

“Gut instinct. The only question is, how do we get out of it?”

She scoffs while gesturing outside.

“Look at them, sir! We can’t! It’s like dragonesses can’t be complete without a mate!”

“Isn’t that necessary since the Dragon Lord must have a mate?”

Gritting her teeth, she nods.

“What really sucks is that you’re not a dragon, sir, so children are out of the picture,’ this last part she mumbles sadly, ‘which also means my father wouldn’t even allow marriage, official or otherwise, in the first place.”

“… What if I internalized your magic, or actually became a dragon, or partly, anyway?”

She froze, then laid on the floor and yanked his waist down with her tail, looking at him with bedroom eyes.

“I just remembered a few stories, sir, where it was given to another species through-.”

She stopped at his blushing and nervous face and as the slowly opening door made them visible to everyone who stood there with in shock.

“They went at it almost all night, and they’re about to keep going?!”

They quickly got up and packed while alternating between avoiding eye contact and glaring at everyone. The rest of them couldn’t help but make some rather subtle innuendos on their journey to the gates. As they got closer and closer, the king was in front of the gates to his city.

“HOW HAVE THEY TREATED YOU, MY DAUGHTER?!”

“K-kindly, father! The n-na-tive Equestrians have treated me as a friend. T-The purple one, in particular. Her name is Twilight.”

Making eye contact with her, he kneels to make it easier for her to look him in the eye.

“YOU WON’T MISTREAT HER?!”

“N-NO, YOUR MAJESTY!!”

“SHE’LL BE FREE AND SAFE TO EXPERINCE EVERYTHING YOUR LAND HAS TO OFFER?!”

“Y-Y-YES, YOUR MAJESTY!! I PROMISE YOU THAT!!”

Holding eye contact for a bit longer, he nodded and went back into the city, tears falling the whole way. Going through the gate, everyone was free and shivering from the increased cold and roaring snowstorm. Everyone but Twilight, that is. Her crying friends began throwing themselves at the barrier to no avail, AJ being the loudest.

“N-n- TWILIGHT!! WE AIN’T LEAVING YOU BEHIND!”

She shook her head with a sad smile as she wore her invisible cloak, hood down.

“It’s… It’s alright, Applejack. I’ve gotten him out, and all of you are safe. I can stay with a clean conscious. P-please take care of Auriel. Give her my stuff, Golden Oaks, and say goodbye to Spike and my brother, Shining Armor… Goodbye, my v-very b-best friends.”

With the hood lifted, she’s gone. Her friends stand there in shock and surprise before redoubling their efforts. Arc, on the other hand, stood there rather impassively, Ember’s chain still in his hand.

Abruptly, it was tugged forward as the dragoness stalked toward the gates, a confused and pissed Arc gritting his teeth.

“And may I ask why we’re saving a mare that you wanted to kill just yesterday?”

Stopping just in front, she slightly turned toward him.

“Because it’s the right thing to do, sir.”

Standing there with a gaping mouth, he shook his head, sighed, and shook his head again as they went through the gates, again.

“I think I’m a bad influence on you, Ember… Where should we start searching fi-?”

The mare herself pops into existence in front of them, eyes with tears, legs trembling.

“W-… Why…?”

Arc shakes his head and scoops her up, wrapping her the best he could in the armor’s blood-red cape. Walking through the gate, he gently puts her down as her friends rush her, scooping her into a group hug. Derpy stared at him and Ember in blatant surprise before shaking her head and going to the Vile Tribe. Sighing, the human-dragon duo followed her, who was currently helping with preparing trees fallen by Marquis for a few large cabins to sleep in. Everyone else who escaped eventually helped, and they all finished close to sunset with the help of the snow melting potions clearing up land.

As everyone crowded around a massive bonfire for company, Twilight in the middle of the literal pile of her friends, Ember and Arc asked Mystic how much longer they have to wait.

“At least around midnight, a little later to be sure.”

Abruptly holding up a claw, Ember looked around a bit before focusing on the direction of Ponyville.

“There’s an army coming, and it’s rather large.”

At the exact same time, portals opened on the other side, crystal armored ponies marching out. Leading the ones in the middle was-.

“Cadence!”

The two mares rushed to each other, the Princess throwing off her armor and hugging her. Breaking the hug, she leaned back and stared at Twilight.

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! YOU’RE LUCKY YOU WERE ABLE TO CROSS THE GATE!”

“Um, pardon me, Yer Majesty? She didn’t. Arc an’ Ember, that’s the dragoness next to ‘im, went back and got her out.”

Backing up a bit more, she took in fully the gathered creatures, including a trio of demons and a massive hydra. As her army began to get a bit fidgety, she stood upright and wore her armor again.

“Applejack, Element of Honesty, right?”

“Yes, Yer Majesty.”

“Did they do the same for anyone else?”

“Nope, Yer Majesty. ‘Ust her.”

Taking a few more looks while quickly trotting around, she ends up in front of her troops.

“Troops! We have an unknown army heading toward us! Defend the innocent!”

With commanding shouts the troops got in position around the clearing, and not a moment too soon. The golden armor of the Royal Guards led by Captain Decimus was coming into view through the blizzard.

“Princess Cadence! I’m glad that you’ve joined me to arrest these generational cri-!”

“They exited Tartarus by themselves, and thus are innocent, Captain! We will accept an escort to-!”

“My dear Princess. The fact that they were born there automatically pro-.”

“It. Proves. Nothing! Will you let us leave…’

She gets in battle-ready position, her army following suit.

‘Or will we force our way out?”

“I DARE SAY THAT SUCH A DEMOSTRATION OF A PRINCESS OF EQUESTRIA HAS SHOWN THAT PONYKIND HAS TRULY CHANGED SINCE MY TIME! UNFORTUNTELY, IT SEEMS AS IF THERE WILL ALWAYS BE ‘THOSE’ PONIES.”

That forced the Equestrian army to pay attention to the elephant in the room, leading to much shaking and wetting.

“You’re going to let a hydra walk free?! That proves-!”

He was silenced by the abrupt and brutal slap of laughter. Arc’s laughter, that is.

“You must be completely and utterly out of your mind, Captain! Questioning Your Princesses, who set it up this way!? Tell me, what are you going to do next? Oh right-!’

His voice becomes monotone.

‘You don’t think, just do.”

The Captain was shaking in fury while gritting his teeth.

“Charge.”

One particularly brave Lieutenant gulped while stepping forward.

“Si-?”

Whipping out his sword, he snarled while rearing up, preparing to gallop.

“CHARGE! FOR THE GOOD OF-!”

A brutal pain roared through his spine, into his mind, and erupted out of his throat, sending him to the ground. Clutching his broken right rear leg, he glared through tears at the nervously confident Shining Armor, who was holding his sword at him as the rest of the army looked nervously between three ponies – Princess Cadence, the Captain, and the Lieutenant.

“Nothing good will happen from slaughtering innocent ponies who did pass the test our-.”

“HOW BUCKING DARE YOU! KILL THIS TRAITOR!’

Nopony moved.

‘I SAID, ‘KILL HIM!’ NOW!’

After a few short moments, the army lined up behind Shining Armor, with a few quickly coming around with magic-suppressing items. They restrained him before he could do more than sputter furiously, carrying him to the medic as he lost it. Cadence approached the Lieutenant, promoting him on the spot to Captain, pending approval from Luna.

Turning back to the impressed gathering who were gazing at Arc admirably, she walked to him and gave him a scroll and quill with ink on its end.

“There is an ancient law that states that a Princess cannot be indebted to anypony for any reason. When the two of you risked your lives to save my good friend Twilight here, I became indebted to you. As such, I’m bound to repay you however you see fit.
Write what you would like, and I’ll do my best to accommodate you. Princess Celestia will also be indebted to you for saving her favorite student; until she returns, you’ll have to take a rain check on that.”

Taking a few moments to think, he writes a few items before passing it to Ember. She didn’t have to think before writing what she wanted. Passing it back to the Princess, she looked over it with an interested and semi-smirking face before glancing at Ember with a knowing expression.

“As the official Princess of Love, I’ll do my best, Miss Ember.’

She looked at Arc with the same interested expression and a touch of admiration.

‘For you, Mr. Arc, moving will be up to the owners of the house, and of course, you’re hereby granted amnesty and citizenship in this nation, with all the rights, responsibilities and privileges granted to every citizen therein.’

Looking around, she nods and orders her soldiers to leave through the same portals they came through.

‘As much as I would want to stay and catch up with everypony, I’m afraid duty calls in the Crystal Empire. See you!”

Stepping through the portal, they all snap shut with a bang. A few silent moments later, the whole ground shook from the celebration that erupted.

Comments

[6mike161]

11761203
I stopped reading Equestrian Odyssey as the characterization of these types of HIEs are my biggest problem with a story like the Lost Element as the MC in that story is a misanthropic Gary Stu type character.