150. Lights of the Future, Shadows of the Past
Arthas groaned as he felt Twilight stirring.
“Oh, sorry, didn’t meant to wake you,” he heard her say as she sat beside him on the bed.
“It’s alright,” Arthas replied, stifling a yawn, as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Turning to look up at her, he smirked. “And if you didn’t want to wake me, you could have stayed in bed.”
Twilight smiled as she shook her head. “I need to teleport back to my library in case Spike wakes up and notices I’m gone.”
“Or you we could just tell all of our friends that we’re a couple,” he said. “That way we wouldn’t have to sneak around like that.”
“Yeah, but then we would have to endure our friends’ snarky comments and teasing. Not to mention Rainbow asking us if sleeping together means that we’re doing it,” Twilight added, slightly blushing.
“Well, you’re the one who likes to cuddle so much,” Arthas pointed out, causing her cheeks to become even more red.
“Oh, as if you mind,” she retorted, jabbing his shoulder.
Quicker than an eye could follow, Arthas grabbed her by the forehoof she had jabbed him and pulled her down to him. Twilight only managed to utter a short meep! of surprise as he embraced her tightly and turned her around, pinning her to the bed. Before she could protest or start struggling, Arthas kissed her, immobilizing her for a while.
“Mmm…” she moaned when he released her lips, moving down to her neck, but she finally snapped and began struggling. “Arthas! I told you I need to leave,” Twilight said, trying to push him off her, but her protests were half-hearted.
“Stay one more hour,” Arthas asked, nuzzling her muzzle affectionately.
“I would love to, but I already have a prepared schedule for today,” she replied as she somehow managed to wriggle her way out from under him partially. Grabbing the side of the bed, Twilight glanced at him and added: “And I don’t want to risk Spike finding out about us.”
“I’m sure you can figure out some excuse for being out so early,” he countered, holding her waist and planting kisses along her spine.
Twilight let out a noise that was a mixture of moan and grunt as she tried to pull herself free. “You’re impossib-ua!” she exclaimed as she managed to slip away from his hold, which resulted in her falling off the bed and rolling on the floor, stopping only when she hit the chest on the other side of the room.
“Twilight!” Artha shouted in panic, earlier playfulness completely gone. He quickly jumped out of the bed and rushed to her side as she carefully rose to sitting position. “Are you alright?”
“Ugh…” she grunted, massaging the back of her head. “Yeah, just a little bruised.”
“Let me take a look,” he asked. As Twilight turned around, he opened himself to the Light. Placing his hooves on her head and back, Arthas let the healing energies travel from him to her body.
“Thanks,” Twilight said, uttering a short gasp of relief as the pain disappeared. As Arthas healed her, she eyed the chest she had bumped into. “Are those the weapons Brann had brought you?”
Glancing at the chest, Arthas noticed that when Twilight hit it she accidentally caused it to open, revealing all the weapons inside. “Yes, all the weapons I got from some of my greatest… opponents,” he finished, hesitating briefly on how to best describe all the great people he had fought and, in most cases, murdered.
“A bit of a grim gift,” Twilight commented, taking a closer look inside the chest. “Wouldn’t it have been better to return them to their original owners? Or their next of kin?”
“Well, you can blame the heroes who helped defeat me for keeping them for themselves and then selling them,” Arthas replied, shrugging.
“‘Helped defeat’?” Twilight repeated, glancing over her shoulder at him.
“I consider Tirion to be the one deserving the credit of defeating me,” he explained. And although he would be grateful for the rest of his days to the old paladin, he couldn’t help but add: “Even if that was a cheap shot.”
Despite him lowering his voice, Twilight heard him, and she snorted with laughter. “Wow, you are a sore loser, even when you are grateful for losing,” she commented, looking at him with a mixture of amusement and reproach.
“Pride goes before one’s fall. And after apparently,” he added jokingly, earning him another look from Twilight. After a few seconds though her attention turned back to the chest. “Why are you so interested in them?” Arthas asked, noticing the sparkle in her eyes.
“I can sense some powerful magic in… well, in all of them actually,” she explained, rolling her eyes as her horn lit up. Lifting some of the weapons with her magic and levitating them outside of the chest, she continued: “But there is one weapon in particular that seem to hold a great power- WOAH!”
Arthas eyes snapped wide open and he instinctively leaned back as Twilight was suddenly set aflame. Taken utterly by surprise, it took him a moment to realize that she wasn’t actually burning. Rather, it seemed like her mane and tail were turned to flames, while her coat changed color to bright orange and had a small fire-like aura surrounding her. Twilight also didn’t seem alarmed, although she was clearly as surprised as he was, seeing how she dropped her hold on all the weapons, letting them fall on the floor.
All but one.
“Wow, this is amazing!” Twilight exclaimed, inspecting the coat on her foreleg briefly before turning her attention back to Felo’melorn. She kept it levitating in the air beside her as she gave it a thoughtful look. “Just holding this… artifact had increased my magic! What is this sword?” Twilight asked, turning to Arthas.
“Um… that’s Felo’melorn, an ancient Highborne runeblade,” he replied, somewhat relaxed since he realized that Twilight wasn’t on fire. However, her change in appearance still unsettled him. “It belonged to Sunstrider dynasty, Prince Kael’thas lost it during our fight at Icecrown Glacier. I don’t remember it setting him on fire though,” he added as Twilight continued to not address this issue.
“Oh, right,” Twilight said, once again looking over herself. “I think this must have been caused by the sudden surge of magic rushing over my body… hm, if it affected my body like this, I wonder how it affected my magic,” she added, and, before Arthas could stop her, she conjured a fireball right next to her head. “Amazing! I was trying to conjure a ball of light! I wondered if it changed the nature of my magic from arcane to fire-”
“Twilight!” Arthas interrupted her. “That’s all very interesting, honestly, but could you please refrain from experimenting with fire magic boosted by a powerful artifact within my bedroom?”
“Oh, right,” Twilight repeated, now embarrassed. “Sorry, having so much more magic all of a sudden made it difficult to… stay focused,” she finished, putting the sword back to the chest. As soon as her magical hold on it disappeared, her coat and mane returned to normal. Sighing with relief, she said: “That’s much better.”
“I’ll say,” Arthas replied, smiling. “Fire hazard aside, you look much better like this,” he added, making her blush.
“Oh, hush,” she told him, pretending to be annoyed. After clearing her throat, she changed the subject: “It’s a pity this artifact has such an overwhelming power, I would love to experiment with some fire spells with it. Not many unicorns learn them, preferring arcane magic, unless some other school of magic is related to their special talents,” Twilight explained. “Of course, Princess Celestia taught me some, but I never really got a chance to try them out.”
“Really?” Arthas asked, slightly surprised. “What about when changelings ambushed you during the Canterlot Invasion?”
“I blasted them with arcane beams and missiles,” Twilight replied, her expression suggesting that she thought it was obvious. “It’s faster, more powerful, and most importantly, safer. Like how Clover the Clever used to say: ‘You blast somepony with arcane blast, they’re down for the count; you blast somepony with a fireball, and suddenly you have to pay for repairs of a castle’.”
“That... makes a lot of sense,” Arthas admitted, frowning. “I wonder how come the Alliance and the Horde never seemed concerned about so many magi adventurers relying on fire magic… Anyway,” he said after shaking his head, dismissing that train of thoughts, “you can take Felo’melorn if you want to. I’m sure Celestia will help you master its power,” he continued as Twilight looked at him with wide eyes. “Although to be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if all you needed was some practice.”
“Wow, Arthas, I don’t know what to say!” Twilight exclaimed, excited at the idea. “I mean, this is such a powerful object, and I wouldn’t even be sure where to practice magic safely with it… but wait,” she paused, looking at him. “I thought you said it’s the sword of the Sunstrider dynasty. Shouldn’t you return at least this one then? If not to whatever relatives Sunstriders have left then to Quel’Thalas because of the national history value?” Twilight added, no doubt remembering him mentioning the fates of the last two members of the elven royal family.
“Actually, it’s better that Felo’melorn stays on Equestria,” Arthas replied, shaking his head. “You see, there’s one more Sunstrider still alive, but she’s too distantly related to hold a claim to the throne. However, if she were to take possession of the royal sword, it could possibly lead to some of the sin’dorei seeing her as a rightful heir. And even assuming that the Lor’themar Theron would step down as the Regent Lord - and based on what I know of him, I think he would - avoiding any sort of unrest or civil war, such change in leadership could do a lot of harm to Quel’Thalas.”
“Hm, I think I understand what you mean,” Twilight hummed, furrowing her brow thoughtfully as she pondered that scenario. “It would be bad in any circumstances for an experienced and good leader to be replaced with an inexperienced one, let alone when the world is breaking apart, their Horde and the Alliance are at war, and their oldest enemies have resurfaced.”
“Exactly,” he praised her.
“I suppose, in this case, it is better to keep the sword away from Azeroth,” Twilight agreed. “Although I’m still surprised Felo’melorn ended up with you. I mean, I get how come the heroes who helped defeat you-”
Detecting the mocking tone of her voice, Arthas couldn’t help but interrupt: “You do remember me mentioning that I killed them all in one strike about five minutes before my death, right?”
“- didn’t return it to Silvermoon as they were all from Alliance,” Twilight continued, ignoring him, “but I just don’t understand how would they part with such a powerful weapon.”
“I didn’t question Brann about it, but if I were to guess, it was most likely taken by somebody with no magical abilities, who couldn’t sense how powerful this sword is. Probably that hunter,” he muttered thoughtfully, recalling all those champions that came to face him.
“I see. Anyway, I think I should first consult with Princess Celestia about it, if that’s okay; after all, she already has some spells planned for me to learn,” she said, giving Felo’melorn last wistful glance. “I’ll send her a letter through Spike- oh no, Spike!” Twilight suddenly exclaimed, grabbing her muzzle in horror. “What if he already woke up and noticed that I’m gone?! I need to go see you later bye!” she told him in one breath before she teleported to her library.
Chuckling and shaking his head, Arthas went about putting all those weapons back to the chest, leaving Felo’melorn on top.
“What time is it?” he wondered as he closed the chest, looking at a watch. “Serenity’s train should arrive in two hours, Storm’s going to welcome her and escort her back here,” Arthas thought, going over his plan for the day, “I’m going to debrief her, go over more paperwork, see that doctor and test his device, hurry to Pinkie’s party, enjoy myself, then after coming back brief my paladins on where we’re going and why. I don’t think I missed anything…”
*** *** ***
“You were supposed to look once again into the Book of Medivh,” Ner’zhul reminded him with a snarl from within the Lich King’s consciousness.
“And you were supposed to have a useful vision of the future,” Arthas retorted, leaning back on the chair and placing his hind hooves on the table. “I will do it,” he continued before the orc’s soul could object, “although I believe we have the ritual’s basic structure planned.”
“It wouldn’t hurt to look over it again,” Bolvar spoke up; Arthas turned his head to regard him on his seat.
Bolvar had been staying quiet as of late whenever Arthas and Ner’zhul would argue, his attention focused on regaining control over the Scourge controlled by the Cult of the Damned, with little result. The transition hadn’t been easy for him - after all, it took Arthas several years of “dreaming” before the Lich King stopped being dormant - resulting in losing those undead to the cultists, who still had their free will. Because of this, the Cult still remained a threat serious enough that even though some adventurers from both the Alliance and the Horde had been helping them, the Argent Crusade had to recall most of their forces from Northrend to help purging the Plaguelands.
Leaving Icecrown Citadel once again inhabited solely by the dead.
“Especially if we’d need to change our plans,” Bolvar continued, causing Arthas to twitch his ears.
“Why would we need to change them?” he asked.
“In case you hadn’t noticed, you have become increasingly more attuned to the Holy Light,” Bolvar replied. “As such, we think that the ritual might not work.”
“And when did you come to that conclusion?” Arthas asked, annoyed that he hadn’t been a part of that discussion.
“When you were busy with making alliances, having affairs and planning a wedding,” Ner’zhul snarled.
Arthas ignored him. “So we’ll go with the second plan then?”
“If we have to,” Bolvar nodded.
“I suppose it would be better anyway,” Arthas said, sighing. “Wasn’t really a fan of the first idea… even if it would have allowed me to avoid explaining anything… Fortunately, we have just the book to prepare for the other plan.”
“You do realize just how likely you are to die if we go with the other plan, right?”
“I had a vision of dying and failing to help save Azeroth when we went with the first plan,” Arthas pointed out. “I will feel much more confident taking matters into my own hooves.”
*** *** ***
“Besides,” he added in his own thoughts as his attention shifted back into his body, “even if I were to die, knowing Twilight I wouldn’t be surprised if she would somehow bring me back to life. And then pull my ear off for doing that to her,” he thought, amused.
Storm twitched his ears in discomfort as the train noisily rolled down the station. “Gonna hear this sound again tomorrow,” he thought. Storm Clash hadn’t been especially happy to learn from Sir Lightbringer that they will all be leaving the next day for an entire week. But orders were orders, and at least now he was following a much more pleasant one. Storm, like Tucker and Guard, was happy that Serenity was finally coming back and excited to hear how she’s been spreading the Light’s teachings in the Crystal Empire. “And there she is,” he thought a few moments later, as the bright yellow crystal pony, clad in the plate armor identical to his, approached. However, after a second he realised that she wasn’t trotting towards him alone. “Wait, is that filly following her?” Storm wondered, looking at the white filly.
It appeared so, as the filly, no older than his brother, walked beside her, and stopped when she stopped before him. “Knight-lieutenant,” Serenity greeted him, saluting.
Shifting his attention back to her, Storm noticed that she was smiling as she addressed him by his rank. Saluting back, he told her: “At ease. It’s good to have you back with us, Serenity.”
“Thank you, Sir, it’s good to be back.”
“You can disregard my rank, we’re all brothers and sisters in the Order,” Storm told her, rolling his eyes.
“Right, thank you, Storm,” Serenity nodded. Clearing her throat, she finally turned her head to look at the filly standing next to her. “Allow me to introduce you to Liturgy, my squire.”
“Squire?” Storm thought, surprised. He would have sooner expected to learn that this was her relative or something. “Are we even accepting squires into the Order?” he wondered. Storm was fairly certain that Serenity hadn’t discussed this matter with Sir Lightbringer; otherwise, he would have surely mentioned it when telling him to pick her up from the train station.
Liturgy stood straighter when Serenity had said her name. “Greetings, knight-lieutenant Storm Clash,” she said, saluting. “I look forward to learning more about the Holy Light and fulfilling Its will here in Ponyville.”
“Um…” Storm stammered, not sure how to respond. The little filly spoke in a manner that he wasn’t used to hearing from almost anypony but Sir Lightbringer, and even he seldom talked like that. It was… unnerving, to say the least, especially how calm and serene she sounded. A quick glance at Serenity told Storm that she felt pretty much the same way; she smiled awkwardly and slightly shrugged. “Likewise, Liturgy,” he said, finally regaining his composure. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m sure you two are tired after the journey,” he added, turning to Serenity, “so let’s get back to the Abbey.”
Both of them nodded in agreement, so Storm turned around and began slowly trotting towards the Abbey, waiting for Serenity and Liturgy to catch up with him. Serenity quickly fell into step beside him, but Liturgy trailed slightly behind them. Glancing back at her, Storm saw her looking around Ponyville curiously. “She probably hadn’t been outside of the Crystal Empire before,” he thought.
After making sure Liturgy was too absorbed by her surroundings and all the ponies too overhear them, he turned to Serenity. “You know Sir Lightbringer will be annoyed about this,” he told her in a hushed voice.
“I know,” she sighed. “But what else could I have done?” Storm frowned, confused what she meant, but before he could ask she explained: “Look at her cutie mark.”
Storm glanced once again at the filly, his gaze searching the symbol adoring her flank. His eyes widened when he saw what appeared to be a depiction of a golden light’s flash.
“Is that-” he began, but Serenity cut him off.
“Yep, her special talent is calling upon the Holy Light, apparently.”
His jaw dropped. “H-how did that happen?” Storm asked her, louder than he intended.
Both he and Serenity quickly glanced at the filly in question. Seeing that Liturgy was still ignoring them, Storm relaxed. Serenity, however, muttered quietly; “I honestly can’t tell if she’s just too absorbed by Ponyville or if she’s being polite and not listening in.”
“How did she learn how to call upon the Holy Light?” Storm asked again, this time in whisper. They all had to go through the ceremony before they were able to reach for the Light… and nearly die to a windigo in his case.
“I will explain it in more detail before Sir Lightbringer, but basically she’s an orphan, her parents were amongst many who lost their lives during King Sombra’s takeover. Her orphanage brought the kids a few times to the to the temporary ‘chapel’ Princess Cadance had organized for me. She would listen to me talk about the Holy Light and how everypony can find comfort in It. She was… a bit dejected. I encouraged her to try praying, and taught her how to, explaining how we paladins reach with our hearts to the Light. Then one day suddenly the Light shone down on her when she was praying,” she exclaimed, reaching out with her foreleg and shrugging. “I didn’t expect that would happen, but since it did, I figured it would be better if she came with me to the Abbey so she could learn how to control and use those powers.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Storm agreed; if he was in her place, he probably wouldn’t have left a filly that learned how to use holy magic with nopony to further teach her. Glancing briefly at Liturgy once more, he asked: “So did she start speaking like that before or after the Light embraced her?”
“Oh, don’t get me started on that,” Serenity sighed. “Ever since she learned how to reach for the Light, she gradually became more and more… pious. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy that she has a sense of higher purpose and fulfillment, but this isn’t how a filly her age should act!”
“Tell me about it; if my brother would have started talking like that I would probably think he was sick,” Storm said, hoping to ease some tension he felt in Serenity’s voice with a joke.
“That’s not really helping,” she replied, looking at him harshly, but then sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know what I should do about her. I hope Sir Lightbringer will. Or at the very least, he will allow her to stay within the Abbey, and spending time with Scootaloo would rub off on her.”
“So this would be the bad time to tell you that Scootaloo is leaving the Abbey today?” Storm asked.
“Really?” Serenity asked, surprised. “How come?”
“She’s going to live with Rainbow Dash from now on. Sir Lightbringer mentioned this last night,” he replied.
He had found himself pleasantly surprised when he learned about it. Truth be told, most of the time he and the others would forget that Scootaloo was living at the Abbey with them. She mostly kept to herself, spending most of her time out together with her friends or in her quarters. The few times Storm would see her on the Abbey’s grounds, she would be with the other two fillies or with Sir Lightbringer. However, it didn’t seem like a good place for a kid to grow up at, and he thought that it was better for her that she would be staying with Rainbow Dash now, in a proper home. “And yet it looks like there will be another filly staying at the Abbey instead.”
“Wow, that’s great!” Serenity exclaimed, clearly happy. “I’m so happy for her. It’s a pity Liturgy will be the only filly at the Abbey though,” she added, slightly frowning. “Although I suppose it will be alright as long as she attends the school here… I’ll have to discuss this with Sir Lightbringer and Cheerilee. So what else did I miss?” Serenity asked.
“Well, hmm, let's see...” Storm replied thoughtfully, recalling everything that had happened since Serenity had left Ponyville. “Um, first would be learning after we came back from the Crystal Empire that the entire town had been taken over by this performer named Trixie, who was under the influence of some evil artifact, Rarity had a birthday party - on that note, she mentioned she had wanted to invite you - and I went to the Everfree Forest to search for this extremely rare magical flower I wanted to give her as a gift, during which I met Daring Do, got scolded by Sir Lightbringer, ran into some corrupted Wild Gods which included the living embodiment of nature, helped a timberwolf demigod defeat a power-hungry centaur from Tartarus, got the flower and gave it to Rarity and now we’re dating, a zebra hunter - who later turned out to be Zecora’s older sister - attacked Nymph thinking she was feeding on ponies’ love in the middle of the town, there was a Ponytones performance, Nymph and Big Mac started dating, Al’ar had seven eggs with an unknown giant bird lady, Nymph and Wind Reaver had been interviewed about changelings society and biology and it should be published in a newspaper sometime soon, and lastly I think there was something going on at Sweet Apple Acres yesterday but I don’t know what,” he finished, still puzzled as to what could have happened there that would cause Rarity to giggle excitedly when he asked her.
Serenity was staring at him silently throughout his speech, and after he finished, she stayed so for a few seconds. “How long was I away?” she finally asked.
“Yeah, it does feel it’s been longer than in reality,” Storm agreed, equally surprised as to how many things had happened in the last month.
“Well, it’s going to be exciting catching up with everything. So, you and Rarity, huh?” she asked, smirking.
Storm blushed, although he realized he didn’t really mind a little teasing. “Yeah, I might have went to search for a special gift because I wanted to ask her out on a date,” he admitted. “Even going so far as to go into the depths of Everfree Forest for it… although admittedly, I should have taken some weapons with me.”
“I’m happy it worked out for you,” Serenity congratulated them. “I can’t say I blame Sir Lightbringer for scolding you though,” she added. “That was a really reckless thing to do.”
“I know, and believe me, I was punished for that,” he replied, not getting into details.
“I suppose I should be grateful that I was told to clean all the toilets in the barracks before the new initiates arrived.”
“Well, seeing how Sir Lightbringer is going to be annoyed with me this time, I’m pretty sure he’ll forget about his frustration with you,” she said, sighing.
“I’m sure he’ll understand,” Storm told her, turning to look at her. “Frankly, I think he would be more annoyed about the number of recruits we’ll have from the Crystal Empire thanks to you. I heard Sir Lightbringer muttering to himself how the barracks will have to be enlarged while we’re gone because of that.”
“You really know how to cheer somepony up,” Serenity replied, chuckling.
“You’re welcome,” Storm said. Noticing that strapped to her saddlebags was a different hammer than the one she wielded before, he changed the subject: “I see your squire is not the only new thing you’ve brought from the Crystal Empire.”
“Oh, yeah, it’s a gift from Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor,” Serenity said, reaching to the weapon and letting him take a closer look.
Its handle was now made purely of wood, instead of wood with steel rings like her old one. Except instead of oak wood it was plainly obvious that it was crafted from crystalwood, the wood that came from trees that grew around the Crystal Empire. If Storm recalled his mother’s book correctly, if properly worked with it could be tougher than steel. The head of the hammer, on the other hoof, was vastly different from her old weapon. Instead of steel, it was now a golden crystal.
“Its name is Heart’s Mercy,” Serenity continued, her eyes looking at the hammer with affection Storm hadn’t expected her to have for a weapon. “It was crafted in the Crystal Forge for some unicorn field medic during Equestrian-Griffonian War. Princess Cadance had the symbol of the Celestial Light engraved on it before bestowing it upon me,” she added, noticing his confused gaze on the symbol visible on the head’s bracing. “It’s said to boost the power of healing spells, and, well, I do feel… stronger with it.”
“I see…” Storm said thoughtfully, amazed by Heart’s Mercy. “That’s one heck of a gift.”
“I know,” Serenity admitted, strapping the hammer back to her saddlebags. “Looks like you’re not the only one with an amazing weapon now.”
“You forgot about Sir Lightbringer’s Holy Avenger, and the blade Tucker can create,” he reminded her.
“Oh right,” Serenity realized. “I suppose those do count as weapons… so wow, only Guard doesn’t have an unusual weapon out of all of us?”
“We don’t require weapons to drive off darkness, as long as we have faith and devotion to the Light.”
Both Storm and Serenity almost jumped as Liturgy suddenly spoke up. The young filly have been so quiet for so long, they’d almost completely forgot about her.
Serenity, who recovered quicker than Storm, turned to her. “You’re right Liturgy,” she told the filly. “The Light is what gives paladins their strength, but you shouldn’t diminish the importance of weapons.”
“Of course, Dame Serenity,” Liturgy replied, bowing her head. “I will learn how to wield them along with the Light to aid all creatures.”
“Guess so far Serenity hasn’t trained her with them,” Storm noted, his gaze going over her slender build. “I suppose she would have to build up some muscles first… then again, Serenity wasn’t in much better shape when we became initiates, and now she can handle herself. I’m sure Liturgy also just needs some training.”
The thought of her training with them at the Abbey made him think about his brother. Would it be possible for Oak Heart to become a squire as well? “His health did improve in the last few years… although Mom would have a fit if I were to suggest for him to join any military,” he thought with a roll of his eyes. “I would be able to keep an eye on him though, as little good that can do.” Some of his brother’s more memorable… exploits flashed before his eyes. “Learning about the Light and serving in the Order could help him grew out of all that… Oh who am I kidding, it wouldn’t even take him a week to try to… I dunno, tar and feather Al’ar probably!”
Not even wanting to imagine how that would end, Storm turned his attention back to Serenity and her squire… right when out of the blue something very loud and very pink appeared before them.
“Serenity!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily, making all three of them stop. The pink earth pony threw her head right at Serenity’s face, making her lean back. “I’m so glad you’re finally back!”
“Um-” Serenity began, but Pinkie cut her off.
“I’m throwing you and Nymph and Windy a welcoming party today! Well, welcoming them, now that everypony knows about the changelings and everypony is cool with it, and welcoming you back! I know it technically should be two parties,” she explained, looking around and rolling her hoof, “but, you know, everypony has busy schedules these days. Also there’s time restrictions and somebody’s laziness,” Pinkie added, glaring at nopony in particular.
“Wha-” Storm tried to ask, confused as to what she meant and where she was looking.
“Oh, and who might you be?” Pinkie cut him off, turning to Liturgy.
“Um…” the filly mumbled, for once the expression on her face matching her face. She had lost the calm visage she had since Storm first saw her, and instead was now staring at Pinkie unsure and confused. “I… I’m Liturgy-”
Pinkie gasped loudly, cutting her off. Before any of them could react, she rushed off somewhere, and barely a second later, as they all shared a look, she reappeared with a pink wagon that had her cutie mark on it. Without any explanation, she pressed a button on the side, causing the wagon to open and reveal a bunch of trumpets, flags, portable oven and some sweets. At the same time, music started playing, and Pinkie Pie began to dance in front of them, singing:
Welcome welcome welcome,
A fine welcome to you!
“I assume the wagon was being repaired when we came to Ponyville?” Storm wondered, having no memory of being welcomed in this fashion, as Pinkie continued her song. Not that he was particularly jealous of Liturgy. “It is reassuring to see that she can react like a normal filly,” he thought, seeing the utter bewilderment on her face.
“How could you just accept a filly as a squire without consulting with me first?” Sir Lightbringer asked, frowning at both her and Storm from beside his desk.
Serenity cringed slightly, but she had expected such a reaction from her Grand Master. “I’m sorry, Sir, it just seemed that it wasn’t a matter that should be discussed through letters.”
“If you’d ask Princess Cadance, I’m sure she could have helped you contact me through some other means,” Sir Lightbringer replied, then paused, his frown deepening. “Speaking of, was Her Highness and her royal husband aware of this when we met at Canterlot recently?”
“Um, well, yes, I did need Ca- I mean, Princess Cadance’s help with Liturgy’s orphanage,” Serenity replied, correcting herself. “That was almost two weeks ago. But I wasn’t explicit about the... the Order’s policy on squires, which might be why neither she nor Prince Shining Armor had brought it up to you.”
“I see. Although seeing the topic I’ve discussed with Prince Shining Armor and the fact how busy they’ve both been, it might be likely that Her Highness hadn’t mentioned it to him. Otherwise I’d have surely heard about it,” he added, rolling his eyes.
Serenity exchanged a confused look with Storm. She could tell that, like her, he was wondering what exactly Sir Lightbringer and Prince Shining Armor could have talked about for him to comment on it like that.
“Nevermind that now,” Sir Lightbringer said before either of them could ask; not that Serenity was going to. “Where’s the young Liturgy now?”
“She went to pray in the chapel when we arrived at the Abbey,” Storm replied. “I can go fetch her if you want me to, Sir.”
“Mm, not right now,” Sir Lightbringer told him, giving Serenity a confused look. “She went to pray in the chapel? What in the Light’s name did you tell her about me?”
“Oh no, Sir, she’s just very religious,” Serenity quickly explained.
Sir Lightbringer opened his mouth, but after a few heartbeats he closed it, apparently deciding against saying what was on his mind. Instead, he brought his forehoof to his face and rubbed his eyes. “How about you start from the beginning?” he asked, sighing.
“Of course, Sir. After you left with the changelings, I first started meeting with ponies coming to the Monument of the Fallen,” Serenity began, standing a little straighter as she began her report. “I’d also checked the records to contact the relatives of all who died during King Sombra’s takeover, and I talked to crystal ponies I’d meet on the streets whose spirits were so down they’d lost their crystal coats. And of course, I also visited the orphanage. I spoke to them about the Light and how they could find peace with the loss of their loved ones through it. After a few days though, the abandoned warehouse Princess Cadance had requested to be converted into a ‘temporary chapel’ had been prepared, and the ponies began to gather there.”
She paused to catch her breath. Memories of the past weeks flashed before her eyes; all the prayers and sermons she had conducted, all the ponies who came to her for comfort and reassurance that their loved ones were in a better place… and all who got inspired by her to learn about the Light themselves.
“The orphanage would often come with their charges every few days,” she continued. “One of the foals was... “ Serenity hesitated, not sure if she should reveal the state Liturgy was in when she first met her.
“Serenity,” Sir Lightbringer spoke up, not unkindly, “if this foal is to stay here you need to tell me what I need to know, for her sake.”
“Yes, of course Sir,” Serenity replied, shaking off her doubts. “Liturgy was a different filly back when I first met her. You can probably imagine how losing your parents affects a pony her age; and as I was able to gather, it is possible that she actually saw it happen,” she added, cringing.
“Oh, that a poor filly,” Storm said, his eyes clouded with sadness. “You told me she was… dejected?”
“Well, ‘dejected’ was a bit of an understatement,” Serenity confessed. “Liturgy was just disinterested in everything when I first met her. Even when I got to talk with her alone and brought up her parents, she wouldn’t… show sadness, or any emotion, she was just looking at me with empty eyes. The orphanage’s matron told me that she was like that all the time. When I was teaching the kids how to pray, she only repeated the words, and while I didn’t expect ponies to genuinely pray straight away, they would at least try. So I sat down with her, told her how much comfort the Light could bring her if she would put her heart into the prayer. I managed to convince her to really try, left her by herself for some time, and then suddenly a beam of Holy Light descended upon her in the middle of the room.”
“Wow, really?” Sir Lightbringer asked, sounding both impressed and concerned. “She reached out to the Light?”
“Yes, she was like a beacon of Light,” Serenity said, still awed by how she radiated with it then. “Her eyes were glowing, and her coat crystallized for the first time since I met her and stayed this way. Then when the Light disappeared, I realized that her cutie mark, a flash of golden light, had appeared.”
“Wait, she got her cutie mark by communicating with the Light?” Sir Lightbringer asked, his eyes wide in shock.
“Yes,” Serenity repeated, understanding his surprise.
“A pony born thousand years ago, was destined to have her special talent be communicating with the Holy Light? Which only recently had been introduced to Equestria?” he asked, as if wanting a confirmation.
“That is correct Sir,” she replied. “I can only assume that if King Sombra’s takeover and its aftermath hadn’t happened, she would have learned from somepony else from your homeland.”
“That’s…” Sir Lightbringer began, but trailed off and sighed. “Nevermind. Continue, please.”
Serenity was confused by his reaction, but resumed her report. “Afterwards, Liturgy had changed. She became happy, but at the same time, she also became rather pious. You will understand when you meet her, Sir,” she explained as Sir Lightbringer raised an eyebrow. “But she became far more social than before, and the orphanage’s matron considered her behaviour much improved. In any case, I’ve begun teaching her about using the powers of the Light, how we can heal others and more with Its help. I figured that it would be best if she learned how to use her gift, which is why I decided to take her as my squire and bring her back here with me,” she finished, hoping Sir Lightbringer would approve of her decision.
“I see,” the white earth pony said, sighing and closing his eyes. “Storm, could you bring Liturgy here?” he asked the other paladin. What he said next caused Serenity to smile, “I’d like to welcome her to the Everfree Abbey and the Order of the Celestial Light.”
“Of course Sir,” Storm nodded, and turned towards the the door.
As he passed her, the pegasus paladin looked at her and shot her a quick smile before leaving, clearly as happy about Sir Lightbringer’s decision as she was.
“That means she can stay my squire?” Serenity asked as Storm closed the door behind him.
Sir Lightbringer looked at her, his expression slightly stern. “You are lucky I’ve already been forced to plan how the Order should treat squires,” he told her.
“Um, apologies, Sir,” she said, knowing a squire couldn’t be treated like an initiate, who was an adult pony, and that by taking Liturgy as one she was forcing Sir Lightbringer to think of- “Wait, what do you mean by that Sir?” Serenity asked, confused.
“I will explain this in detail during your briefing tonight,” Sir Lightbringer replied. “For now I can tell you that there will be two more squires soon in the Abbey as well.”
“Really?” Serenity exclaimed, utterly surprised. “That’s… great! I-I mean,” she stammered to explain as Sir Lightbringer once again looked at her with one eyebrow raised and unamused expression, “I was worried about Liturgy being the only foal in the Abbey. I mean, I know she would have to attend the school in Ponyville, so she could befriend ponies her age there, but I thought it would be good for her if there were other foals that were here, sharing her training and duties.”
“Well, you might have to wait for that, as those two squires aren’t foals but cubs,” Sir Lightbringer replied, smirking.
“Um, cubs?” Serenity repeated, surprised and confused. “You mean griffons?”
“Yes, and before you ask, they won’t be the only griffons joining the Order. But as I said, I will give you and the others all details during your briefing for our journey. More importantly,” Sir Lightbringer said, changing the subject, “I wanted to ask for your opinion regarding their… accommodations.”
“Accommodations?” Serenity asked, still processing the news about the griffons.
“Due to the unexpected amount of initiates joining us soon, the barracks will be slightly rebuilt while we’re gone in order to enlarge them,” he said, causing Serenity to feel a slight pang of guilt; she knew she was at least partly responsible for that because of her spreading the Light’s teachings in the Crystal Empire. “However, the initiates will still be accommodated in their bedrooms, divided by gender. Because of that, I believe the squires should have similar conditions, except I am not sure how many rooms we would have available and how many squires we would have in the future. Do you think it would be alright to have all the squires stay in the same room, without dividing them by gender? Aside from the Cutie Mark Crusaders I’m afraid I hadn’t really got to know any kids,” he explained with an awkward smile, “so I’m not sure whether it’s a good idea or not.”
“Hm, I think it would be alright,” Serenity replied, pondering the thought. She didn’t need Sir Lightbringer to explain what was it that he was exactly worried about. “Liturgy is only eleven, and besides that I sincerely doubt she’s interested in, um, anything of that sort,” she finished awkwardly.” How old are those griffons?”
“Both are twelve and both are boys, so I am a bit more concerned about them,” Sir Lightbringer admitted. “I do plan to make it clear that I won’t accept any sort of dishonorable behaviour from anypony or anybody within the Abbey’s grounds.”
“Then as I said, I think it would be alright,” Serenity repeated, relieved. She could hardly imagine any kid disobeying Sir Lightbringer; he could be quite intimidating at times. “Do you expect there would be more squires joining them in the future?” she asked, curious just how many younglings there could be sharing one of the rooms in the barracks in the future.
“Seeing how yesterday morning I hadn’t planned on having any squires in the Order and now we have three? I am certain there will be at least another one before the end of this month,” Sir Lightbringer said, rolling his eyes. “Probably a diamond dog puppy or something.”
“Hm...” Chrona hummed, ignoring the growing headache.
The golden alicorn had been looking into the future, trying to scour through the infinite number of various events in time that were scrolling before her eyes, in all their possible outcomes and variations. It wasn’t the first time her visions showed her those ponies, nor was it going to be the last. And as always, she now found herself very intrigued by the future event.
“... I wonder…” she whispered to herself, allowing herself a brief respite from her search and focusing on this particular vision, following its trail with her mind through timeway…
*** *** ***
“Well, Sir,” Serenity said to Sir Lightbringer as the office’s doors closed behind them, barely able to hide her smirk, “you did say-”
“I was kidding, dammit!”
*** *** ***
“Yeah, seems about right,” Chrona exclaimed out loud in the breaks between laughter, as she laid back in her bed in the Eastin Asylum.
“Enter,” Arthas said, hearing the knock on the door.
The door opened, revealing Storm leading a young filly inside. Arthas looked at Liturgy curiously. She appeared to be a normal pony her age, maybe a little more slender than most. And of course, being a crystal pony, her white coat shimmered, along with her white-with-golden streaks mane.
“She might stand out a bit at Ponyville School,” Arthas noted as he put his hooves on the desk, sitting more comfortably. He already had planned on talking with Cheerilee about Prince John and Francis, so despite Serenity dropping another foal at the Abbey out of nowhere, Arthas had a good idea how to provide her with an adequate-to-Equestria’s standards environment. “Even assuming she won’t be showing off her powers.”
Reaching out with his deeper senses, Arthas could sense her strong connection to the Light. Despite his misgivings about having another child joining the Order, a pony at that (Arthas could already hear a few school ponies’ parents having objections to that on the next parent-teacher meeting…which he would have to attend again, despite Rainbow Dash becoming Scootaloo’s legal guardian), he had to admit that Serenity did the right thing bringing her here. Liturgy had a gift, and if she would learn how to harness those powers, she could help a lot of ponies in the future.
“And it’s better that she would have ponies who can guide her instead of experimenting with those powers on her own,” he thought as they stopped before his desk, Storm saluting and Liturgy standing straight in attention next to Serenity.
“Sir Lightbringer,” the filly said, bowing her head with respect, “it is an honor to meet you. May the Light shine brightly upon you this day.”
Arthas raised his eyebrow slightly hearing her greeting. “Huh, so this is what Serenity meant by pious,” he thought, glancing at Serenity, who smiled awkwardly.
“May the Light shine upon you as well, young Liturgy. Serenity has said a lot of good things about you, and I’m happy to hear you accepted her offer to become her squire,” he said, smiling at the filly.
“Thank you, Sir. I’m honored Dame Serenity chose me to be her squire,” Liturgy replied, turning to look at her gratefully. “She offered me a chance to fulfill the Light’s will and bring Its glory to others, how could I not accept it?”
Arthas couldn’t help but think how bizarre it was to hear such a young filly speak in a reverent manner that he had usually heard only bishops during sermons and praying sessions speak in. He hoped that the school ponies wouldn’t consider her to be too weird, even though he was sure the Cutie Mark Crusaders would surely befriend her.
“I’m pleased with your… enthusiasm, Liturgy,” Arthas said. “As Serenity has probably told you, tomorrow we’re going to leave for a week. Due to the dangers during our ‘assignment’, I’m afraid we can’t take you with us. You’ll be staying with a nearby family, they have a filly your age that I’m sure will help you get used to living in Ponyville. Would that be alright with you?”
“Of course, Sir. The Light elevated you to be the Grand Master of the Order serving It, I have trust in you wisdom,” the filly responded, bowing her head almost reverently.
“A pony who listens to what I say, without any arguments, snark comments and jests?... This feels wrong.”
“After we return, you can begin training with Serenity, as well as fulfilling your duties,” he continued. “You will be sleeping in a shared bedroom with all the other squires; we will soon be joined by two more. You will all be required to attend the local school of course, probably starting tomorrow even, assuming I will be able to talk with the teacher today.”
“Sir,” Serenity spoke up, “if you are too busy, I can go talk to Cheerilee and explain the situation to her.”
“Actually, she’s going to be at the party Pinkie Pie is throwing today-” Arthas began to explain, but Storm interrupted him.
“They already know about it, Sir. We, um, ran into Pinkie Pie on our way here.”
Knowing Pinkie only too well, he could easily imagine how that encounter looked like.
“The party starts in a few hours,” he continued after checking the time. “You should all go there and enjoy yourself, I’ll join you there an hour or two later. Serenity,” Arthas said, turning to her, “for tonight Liturgy can stay in the room previous occupied by Scootaloo. Please show her to it. That will be all, you are free to go.”
“Thank you, Sir,” all three of them said, with Liturgy adding; “Light bless you,” as they made their way out.
Arthas sighed as the door closed behind them, returning to his paperwork. He hoped that his meeting with this Doctor Thaumaturgical and testing this device of his wouldn’t take too long; he could use some relaxation at a party.
Serenity couldn’t help but smile as the party - after everypony shouted “Welcome” and “Welcome back” - started and ponies began to mingle with each other. Several had came over to her to say hello and ask about the Crystal Empire. Serenity replied politely to each of them as she scanned the Sugarcube Corner, searching for Cheerilee. She hoped to talk with her about Liturgy, just in case she would leave before Sir Lightbringer would arrive. However, when somepony whom she knew more on the personal level approached her, she stopped and focused on her.
“Nymph!” Serenity exclaimed as the changeling trotted towards her. “It’s so good to see you again!”
“Likewise, Serenity,” Nymph replied, smiling somewhat bashfully. “I trust your time in the Crystal Empire was well spent?”
“You could say that. Not as good as yours in Ponyville, from what I heard,” she said, smirking. “Storm told me you and Big Mac had began dating.”
Nymph smiled and nodded. “Yes, that’s true.”
“I assume he’s the source of the confidence that you have now? You’re you,” Serenity explained what she meant, pointing at the changeling.
“Oh, right. Big Mac loves me for who I am, and ever since our first night together I’ve been staying as me,” she explained, sounding a bit embarrassed; Serenity was certain that she would have blushed if she were able to.
“Love?” Serenity asked, a bit surprised.
“Yes, I can tell, remember?” Nymph replied. “And yes, I know it’s rather fast, but I love him too, he’s just so great, and caring, and makes me feel so…” the changeling trailed off, apparently unable to find the right word to describe how he makes her feel. Instead, she held her forehooves to her chest and her wings buzzed in excitement. “Sorry,” she said bashfully after a few seconds.
“It’s alright,” Serenity giggled, finding that adorable. “So, when’s the wedding?” she teased.
“Oh, we hadn’t picked the date yet, but Applejack has been trying to convince us about the last day of the Apple Family Reunion,” Nymph replied, oblivious that throughout that sentence Serenity had been staring at her with wide eyes. Finally, she blinked and frowned. “Wait, how did you know-”
“You’re getting-” Serenity exclaimed, cutting her off, but Nymph pressed hoof to her mouth, silencing her.
“Shhh, it’s supposed to be secret for now,” she told her in a hushed voice, waving nervously to the few nearby ponies who were giving them curious glances.
“Sorry. But… seriously? You’re getting married?” Serenity asked quietly, utterly shocked.
“Yes, seriously. It’s, um, complicated to explain,” Nymph said, rubbing the side of her head.
“But… aren’t you some changeling princess or something?” she pressed, recalling the broadcast from the announcement a few days ago. “Can you just marry whoever you like?”
“It’s Queen’s Heir, actually,” Nymph explained, sighing. “And as for marrying, um... you do realize that in modern Equestria arranged marriages are non-existent practically even among the nobility?”
“Yes I know,” Serenity replied, rolling her eyes. “And they weren’t exactly common a thousand years ago already for your information. But there’s a difference between not being told who to marry and just deciding after a brief time to marry somepony from another race and of different social class.”
“Well, changelings don’t care about social classes when it comes to choosing a mate. Big Mac being a pony is a bit of an issue, and as for the ‘brief time’… everyling seems to agree on that one,” she confessed, her ears dropping.
Feeling bad about making her sad, Serenity put a hoof on her shoulder. “I’m just concerned about if you’re rushing it. Are you sure you’re not making a mistake?”
“I can feel Big Mac’s love for me, and I know I love him too, so I am sure,” Nymph replied. “And yes, we are rushing a bit, but when I told Big Mac what it meant that he nibbled on my wings, he insisted-”
“Wait, what does ‘nibbling on your wings’ mean?” Serenity asked, confused. “And why did he do it?”
“Well…”
Guard Shield sighed, unable to find his place among the partying ponies.
He had been a royal guard for over two decades. For two decades he had been standing guard during various events, parties among them. He wasn’t used to taking part in them. Guard felt much more comfortable keeping watch, training, or being on assignment than right now. Heck, those twenty years aside, Guard was fairly sure he wasn’t much of a social pony before joining the Royal Guard. About the only reason why he had come here was because he was sure that otherwise Sir Lightbringer would just order him to come.
“A paladin should feel equally at home among the battlefield and among his fellow ponies,” he thought, recalling what their Grand Master told them. “Why do I feel that I would prefer the battlefield? May the Light spare Equestria ever having a battle, of course, but…” he trailed off as he passed short pleasantries whenever somepony spoke to him.
He was about to search for his paladin brothers, all who found mingling with the crowd much easier, when he heard a familiar accent behind him: “You be looking out of place.”
“Hello Zahara,” Guard greeted her, switching to her language as he turned around. “How’ve you been?”
The zebra smiled, while Guard found himself momentarily stunned. Zahara was naked. Of course, that was considered normal in Ponyville and most of Equestria, but when he had seen her before she was covered in her cloak. Well toned muscles rippled under her coat throughout her slender body, indicating the speed and strength she had displayed during their first encounter, and her stripes gave her an… exotic vibe, causing her to be quite pleasant for the eyes. She still wore her golden piercings and kept her mane freely falling down, but she had ditched her bone necklace, which, considering all the ponies around, was for the best.
“Fine, thank you,” Zahara spoke, snapping him back to full attention.“I’ve mostly been resting after journey here, although I did explore the Everfree Forest a bit. It has its charm. I thought about going hunting soon, too.”
“If you plan on making any offerings to the spirits, I hope you know Equestria doesn’t look kindly at hunting animals, and that you stay within the forest’s border,” Guard told her, concerned. “I would hate if I had to arrest you, again,” he added, allowing himself to smirk.
“Of course you would,” Zahara retorted, smirking as well. “Last time it took another paladin, a huge and ridiculously strong pony in his prime, two changelings and a pegasus with Marahute the Eagle Mother’s blood strong within her before you arrested me.”
Guard chuckled, despite being slightly annoyed as she reminded him just how much it took to just capture her. “You don’t strike me as somezebra who often comes to parties either,” he changed the subject, referring to to what Zahara had started their conversation with.
“That’s true,” she replied, nodding. Her head turned away towards the crowd and when Guard followed her gaze, he realized she was looking at her sister Zecora, who was talking with Twilight Sparkle. “My sister had almost dragged me here. I was never good with crowds; I prefer spending time in the wilderness, with beasts instead of zebras. Strangely, my constantly rhyming sister - that now lives like a hermit - was always the most social of us,” she added, rolling her eyes. Raising an eyebrow, she turned to ask: “What’s your excuse?”
“Over twenty years of standing in attention during events like those,” he replied, shrugging. He bit the inside of his cheek, pondering for a second, before turning to Zahara again. “Wanna grab some punch and take a toast to the socially awkward?”
“Provided you make the toast; I don’t like speaking in public,” Zahara explained, smiling.
“... and when I grabbed it with my magic, its power resonated through me, and the sudden surge of magic caused my body to adapt to it,” Twilight finished describing to Zecora what happened when she picked up Felo’melorn.
Without mentioning that it was early in the morning, of course.
“To have such an effect on your body, it must be indeed quite a powerful artifact,” Zecora replied thoughtfully. “Though one shouldn’t play with power such juicy, that it almost always backfire is a fact.”
“Well, of course I’m going to be careful if I’ll try practicing wielding it,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes. “I wouldn’t want to set Ponyville on fire… um, you know, on top of all the other things I accidentally done to it over the years,” she added in embarrassment as she blushed.
As Zecora chuckled, another striped figure caught Twilight’s eye. “Oh, is that your sister?” she asked, despite knowing that there was only one other zebra living near Ponyville. “I wanted to met her, should we join her?”
But Zecora, having turned to see where she was looking, shook her head after a few seconds. “My sister isn’t a very social fellah, and it looks like she’s already talking with somepony. Let’s stay away for now and spare her drama, so her discomfort for talking with others feel tiny.”
“I see,” Twilight said, slightly surprised.
“Wow, you would think Zecora was a ‘not very social zebra in this family’, with her living all on her own for so long in the Everfree Forest,” she thought, but before she could point it out and question Zecora about her sister, she felt somepony bump her friendly on her shoulder.
“Hi Twilight,” Rainbow greeted her. “Hi Zecora. Sorry for being a little late, I was helping Scootaloo settle in.”
“It’s alright, Rainbow,” Twilight replied. “How does Scootaloo find her new home?”
“Oh, she’s super excited!” Rainbow exclaimed enthusiastically. “Must have been a while since she’s been in a cloud house, I swear she’s been jumping on her bed for like ten minutes after I left her room,” she added, chuckling.
“I’m happy to hear that,” Twilight said, smiling. “Oh, and remind me after the party to give you the book with wing exercises for her.”
“Sweet! Thanks Twi!”
“Since the little filly requires wing exercises, does this mean she’s not flying because of their structure?” Zecora chimed in, raising an eyebrow. When both Twilight and Rainbow nodded, she continued: “Then I have a potion that might save her some bruises, strengthening her muscles and making flying her nature.”
“Wow, really? That would be awesome! Thanks Zecora!” she exclaimed, hugging the zebra suddenly
Twilight giggled seeing Zecora’s surprise and the sudden hug, while at the same time wondering why they hadn’t thought about seeing her earlier about Scootaloo.
“So changing the subject, do you know what’s keeping Arthas?” Rainbow asked several moments later, turning back to Twilight. “I wanted to go over some of those boring documents about Scootaloo with him. Tucker told me - after he stopped hitting on me for a second, ugh - that he told them all he’ll be an hour or two late.”
“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sent a doctor from Celestia’s school with this device for training that they want him to test,” Twilight replied. “I’m sure it won’t take long.”
“Huh, I see. What kind of training device?” she asked, sounding intrigued.
“It’s supposed to create magically projected holograms as opponents, but I would have to take a look at it to know how exactly it works.”
Twilight actually had been wondering about it. Was the device using stored magic to create bodies out of magic itself, or was it something more subtle, like binding light and giving it a solid form?
“Sounds neat!” Rainbow exclaimed, interrupting her musing. “Do you think Arthas would let me have a go with it later?”
“I’m sure he will, whenever his initiates won’t be using it of course. Hey, since we’re talking about ponies who aren’t here, do you know what’s keeping Fluttershy?” she asked, having noticed that the shy pegasus was absent from the party as well.
“Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked, looking around Sweet Apple Acres. “Um, I think I saw her when I was moving some clouds at the western end of Ponyville during morning shift, flying towards White Tail Woods.” Rainbow Dash frowned and asked: “Did you notice her acting weird lately?”
Twilight frowned, trying to recall how Fluttershy acted as of late. Between everything that had happened, she overlooked some things, but now that she thought back… “Hm, I think there were one or two times she acted a bit strangely…”
“I mean, come on, it’s Fluttershy,” Rainbow began, rolling her eyes, “I don’t think it’s something serious like… I dunno, she’s dating somepony and not telling her friends, but do you think she’s hiding something from us?”
“Um, yeah, hehe…” Twilight giggled nervously, unnerved by Rainbow mentioning dating in secret.
Smiling widely as she finally spotted her friends in the crowd of ponies, Scootaloo hurried towards them. “Hey girls! Sorry about being late, I was settling in at Rainbow Dash’s place,” she told Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle as she joined them… and somepony else. “Oh, hi,” Scootaloo said, only now noticing the crystal pony filly. “I’m Scootaloo.”
“Light’s blessing to you, Scootaloo,” the strange filly replied, bowing her head. “I’m Squire Liturgy.”
Confused, Scootaloo glanced at her friends, both of which were smiling at her awkwardly. “Liturgy was just telling us that she’s came with Serenity and now is living at the Abbey,” Sweetie Belle explained.
“Oh, really? Cool,” Scootaloo said, turning to Liturgy. “I’ve been living there actually, I moved out just this morning.”
“Yes, I have been told about that. May I congratulate you on the Light’s providence that caused you to find a new home?”
“Um, sure, thanks Liturgy,” Scootaloo replied, beginning to feel slightly awkward around her.
Coming here, she had expected that she could spend the entire party telling the other Crusaders how awesome it was that she was living with her idol. This new filly however made it impossible to focus on that for now.
“However, I must admit that I am slightly puzzled,” Liturgy continued. “Dame Serenity told me you hadn’t partook in the work the Order does in the name of the Light, despite having lived there for so long.”
“Well, um, Matt, I mean, Sir Lightbringer never insisted I do anything. Besides studying for school of course,” Scootaloo explained, unsure if the filly was chastening her or not. “Wait, you said you’re a squire?” she asked, recalling how she had introduced herself.
“That is correct. Dame Serenity chose me to be her squire, and-”
“Does that mean you’re going to learn how to fight and do all the cool stuff?” Scootaloo interrupted her, growing interested… and annoyed.
“Yes, I will be learning all that I have to in order to serve the Holy Light,” Liturgy replied, appearing only slightly baffled by getting interrupted.
“I lived there for over two months and Matt never let me learn anything about paladins, or even get anywhere close the armory,” Scootaloo frowned, growing jealous. “What did you do to make him and Serenity allow you to join their order?”
“I did not do anything,” Liturgy answered calmly. “The Light called upon me to serve It, and Dame Serenity saw this as a sign that I should become a paladin.”
“What'd ya mean by ‘Light called upon me’?” Apple Bloom asked, confused.
“I prayed to it wholeheartedly, and the Holy Light answered, enveloping me in Its radiance and granting me Its power.”
“Grantin’ ya Its power?” Apple Bloom repeated, exchanging look with Scootaloo. “Ya mean to tell us ya already can do all the stuff paladins can?”
“Um, girls?” Sweetie Belle called out before Liturgy could reply. When they turned to her, the unicorn filly pointed out saying: “Look.”
Scootaloo’s eyes followed her hoof, which was pointing at Liturgy cutie mark. So absorbed she was by her being the crystal pony, and her strange demeanor and weird way of speaking, that she had completely forgot to see if she was a blank flank like them. Guessing by Sweetie Belle pointing at her cutie mark just now, she figured her two friends had also forgotten about it. But all those thoughts disappeared from Scootaloo’s mind when she noticed just what was Liturgy’s cutie mark was.
“Is that the Holy Light?” Scootaloo exclaimed, shocked. “As in, your special talent is calling upon the Holy Light?”
“That’s correct,” Liturgy replied.
Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom exchanged looks.
Arthas jerked suddenly, and found himself staring in the direction of Ponyville.
“Do you ever have a feeling something terrible has happened, Doctor Thaumaturgical?” he asked, frowning and wondering what caused him to feel like that.
The older pony, a maroon unicorn, seemed to ponder his question. “Does holy magic grants its user premonitions? Or are you asking me about something more specific, like divination?”
“Nevermind,” Arthas said, shaking his head. “Continue, Doctor.”
Thaumaturgical had arrived not too long ago, teleporting from Canterlot along with his device, which he called ‘Proving Grounds’. As Arthas had learned when the unicorn had introduced himself, he had a doctor’s degree in Arcane Engineering, meaning he was researching new spells and technologies that used magic. He seemed like a nice pony, aside from maybe being a little too focused on his work.
The Proving Grounds was his latest invention. It was a device the size of a desk, composed mostly of metal and crystals, currently standing now by the Abbey’s training field. A large metal box with various buttons, inside of which were runes and gears as the doctor explained, was connected with wires and tubes to a screen, and to a large crystal charged with arcane energy.
“As I was saying,” the unicorn resumed, “I’ve recorded in the device’s data banks data on various types of opponents, ranging from armor ponies to giant elementals; of course, those are mostly based on their descriptions in ancient tomes. The elementals keep largely to themselves, sea ponies, zebras and minotaurs after all, ponies hardly ever get to see one.”
“Is it easy to operate?” Arthas interrupted him, finding all those buttons and images on the screen a bit confusing.
“Oh yes, very easy,” Doctor Thaumaturgical assured him. “I will leave you a manual later, Sir. Where was I… ah yes, the opponents. I’ve also included a function that will allow you to program additional models; I’ve been informed by Her Majesty that you have a very vast experience with fighting various creatures.”
Arthas nodded absentmindedly. The idea of having his initiates face off against some of the opponents he had faced was… interesting. It was definitely something he would have to give some more thought about.
“Of course, there’s a limit to how powerful the conjured opponents could be. The Nadire Crystals are a powerful source of energy, but they have a limit of arcane magic that they can contain. So glad the Crystal Empire is back, we would burn through tons of lesser gems to use this,” he muttered to himself before resuming. “Anyway, if you do not have any further questions, we can do the first trial run.”
“Let’s get this over with,” Arthas said, feeling that he got everything the unicorn was saying.
“Splendid! Now, put this on,” Thaumaturgical said, handing him a metal band with several entombed gems. “It’s an Examining Band, it will be monitoring your vitals and your senses. In an event you were about to receive a fatal injury, it will send a signal to the Proving Grounds, causing the hologram to disappear.”
“Very thoughtful,” Arthas commented, impressed. He removed his armored horse shoe and put the band of his hoof. “How many of those Examining Bands you have?” he asked as he put the horse shoe back on.
“Only one, but before the device is declared fully operational - hopefully after today - I will prepare some more. Now, stand in the middle of the training field,” Doctor Thaumaturgical said as he began to operate the Proving Grounds. “I set it so the hologram would only move within the training field area,” he continued as Arthas made his way towards the middle. “Now, what kind of opponent would you like to first test this against, Sir?”
“I think we should try something simple first,” Arthas replied, preparing himself mentally for a fight. “An armed pony should be fine.”
“Alright,” the doctor replied as he began pushing buttons, “one armed pony it is- AUGH!” he suddenly shouted as the device emitted a strange noise and several sparks erupted from it.
Arthas wasn’t able to ask him what was wrong, as at the same time a current ran through his body, beginning at the hoof where he put the band on. It felt like a mixture between arcane pulse and electrical charge. Arthas grinded his teeth as he felt it was over his body, not exactly feeling pain by this sensation but definitely uncomfort, especially the mild headache it gave him. However as suddenly as it appeared, it also ended. Confused and disoriented, Arthas opened his eyes - that he didn’t remember closing - and turned to the doctor, wanting to ask what had happened.
Before he could say a word, his eyes snapped wide and he summoned the Holy Avenger.
He grabbed his blade in both forehooves, blocking the holographic warglaive before it could remove his head. Standing on his hind legs and calling upon the Holy Light for strength, Arthas steeled himself for what he knew was going to be a very tough fight.
“This can’t be good,” he thought, staring into blueish, ethereal-like image of his huge, towering opponent.
Turning his horned head and staring at him with glowing eyes hidden behind a ragged blindfold, the image of Illidan Stormrage grinned.
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Yay an update
Does this mean you're back?
Oh i just read your blog... I'm going to sit in a corner now.
Need to catch up and re read some of if not all of the fic
well Fire mages are screwed when legion hits in about 12 years
I'm calling it now, Liturgy is gonna be the first Equestrian priest. We've already got Zahara the hunter, Fluttershy the druid, Twilight the mage, and a ton of paladins running around. Kinda makes me wonder who's gonna pick up the warlock mantle.
Oi. I guess it's time for their rematch!
Because the surprise guest fighter could only ever have been Illidan "YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!" Stormrage.
7872663
If I had to guess? One of those nutjobs that are holding Wind Reaver's beau hostage.
"You are not Prepared!"
sorry couldn't resist
It's been so long that I forgot. What was artha's plan with bolvar again?
I don't even remember the 2 souls being able to contact him, let alone some sort of plan.
*....slowly looks at Borsuq..* Yeaaaaa...... that sounds about right.
The CMC have reached Defcon 2, I repeat, they have seen The Holy Light Cutie Mark, declaring Defcon 2, all defenses to operational stations, flush the birds, spin up the eggs, this is Not a drill.
If this is what a Prooving Ground can do with current tech, Id hate to see what the Doc could do with notes into woven Maiden Hair processors, if he could understand or believe it could exist.
What was it I saw somewhere about how someone told a true LG Paladin of light, by being so pious they were no different to LE due to their behaviour towards others, Blueblood style or something?
Twilight and Prooving Ground though, given the Evaluating Band seems to be causing a power mana feedback loop, not just a sensory loop? Be a quick way to vapourise a couple square miles of Everfree?
Hmm, interesting developments. Though I'm still worried because somehow Nefarian and Onyxia are running around...
Well, everything is Hunter loot after all,
I guess Arthas was not prepared.
Well, Arthas is gonna be laughing, after the pain goes away, I am assuming there is no emergency shut down.
7872663 my money's on either Starlight or Sunset.
Incidentally, ILLIDAN STORMRAGE!? Get the next chapter out ASAP!
Thanks for updating! Also why am I getting "Mal'ganis"-type vibes ala his impersonation of the holy light to Abbendis in regards to Liturgy?
You must retrieve the Sargerite keystone!
Just because I can, here's a thing that happened to me today. Happy Raggy!
i.gyazo.com/dd2aca56754071c12976ee27db24c0fb.gif
I wonder if that illusion of Illidan will have any of his personality traits... or any form of self-awareness?
I agree with what others have been saying. I'm betting Liturgy will be the first priest. I wonder if Rainbow Dash will become any class... Monk, maybe? She does have at least one black belt.
Makes me wonder who would become the Death Knight. Arthas would certainly be avoiding that sort of relapse like the plague.
I am honestly kind of surprised that Twilight took the sword and is even considering practicing with it. Maybe all the latest adventures have given her an appreciation for fighting?
Thus all of Equestria wept when the shout rang across the heavens, "Cutie Mark Crusader Paladins YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"
AHEM
WE WERE NOT PREPARED
That said well done and it is rather unnerving to see that kind of devotion to the light. Keep her away from the zealot paladins and we should be cool.
Also cmc paladins that is terrifying and fully expect some kinda death knight to result fdom that
Really good fic I gotta say.
is alive
YAY i see all of ponyville coming to find out what made the boom like was and seeing arthus battling Illidin then once it is over twilight will want to know more
Shit.....
Not good..... this will be a hard one
I still hope that if a priest does show up, it's a shadow priest. It would be a nice balance to all the light wielders. (and I main one in WoW
)
Now there's something I was hoping to see.
After the introduction of the Proving Grounds, and the ability to add just about any opponent into it, I was hoping that they'd fight some of the bosses from Azeroth. It's just too bad that we're now stuck having to wait with this cliffhanger.
What was changed in this chapter? It's showing up as having been updated.
7875805 Really? It doesn't show to me. And I hadn't updated anything, not even to correct any typos or anything like that
7872663 pinkie pie. Summoning things from nowhere, able to make cookies from nothing, a chaotic nature, yet able to control fire to an extent(cooking), and of course, summoning many new "friends".
What th- That's MY sword you're giving away there, Arthas! You'd better have it back in Azeroth by the time the Legion shows up or I'm going to be stuck with that stupid arcane staff that they just made up on the spot rather than give me Atiesh like they should have.
7874615 while Arthas have a slight problem in staying dead, Illidan have a problem with dying, so bullshit don't really make this fight a justice.
7878430 couldn't think of anything else to say at the time
7878471 don't worry I can't either.
Loving little Liturgy.
Great chapter, awesome work.
7913493 I didn't say that he was or wasn't a "normal, everyday pony", and I didn't confirm whether or not he was responsible for the Sundering. What I meant was that the origin of the Sundering wasn't from other worlds, only from Equestria, whether they were natural or not.
Also, for a guy bringing up Lich King, you seem to forget what a certain mortal did to the world of Draenor - Ner'zhul. He had literally caused it to be ripped apart.
Also, Sargeras weaker than the naaru? Really? I could maybe buy it about the Void Lords, although the reason why they worried him so much was because they planned to corrupt titans as world-souls, and such creature would be insanily powerful, but naaru? We have plenty of them helping us out, we wouldn't be so afraid of Legion if they were helping us. And one was recently killed by an eradar to boot, so yeah, not that powerful. Maybe some of those older naaru could be, but I doubt that they would be on the same level as Sargeras.
7913597 To be fair with Ner'zul he had four magic objects of great and had the star alignment on Draenor that only happens once every hundred years so he had a pretty big boost. And also that was an act of magic, not sheer brute force.
7872833
7873426
I hope it's Sunset. Starlight was never really... 'evil', in the show. She made a town to live on her own, and as far as we knew she never forcefully took anyone's cutie mark except Twilight and Friends. Then her whole time loop, she never realized that Princess Twilight was an Element of Harmony and that without her cutie marks, or her friends, they could no longer stop all the villains and Twilight wouldn't have even become an Alicorn. They weren't 'Good' ideas, but they weren't evil.
Sunset tho, was straight up evil. What's more, being a Warlock suits her. She most likely already uses Fire Spells for Immolation. She has a Demonic Form and turned Snips and Snails into Demonic Minions before so Demonology covered. And she was very manipulative and controlling of an entire school for years. So even if she wasn't evil, I can still see her as going down the dark path, making deals with demons and other worldly entities, and so on.
Really, out of all of the classes in WoW, Warlocks are the most interesting of them all. The others are all very straight forward and simple in practice, read books, practice spells/abilities, pray to divine entity. Warlocks aren't that simple or motivated. You can't just go one day "I'm going to be a Warlock", and then go to Warlock school or find a Warlock teacher to teach you like every other class. You aren't even grown up and raised to be a Warlock, it's a life style more than a 'class'.
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Just wanted all of you to know that
Hi everybody. I wanted to thank you all for your interest in my story, expressed in your comments. You probably hadn't read it in my blog, but the last two months prior to release of this chapter had been really tough for me. Somebody who I cared about a lot, even though we only knew each other online, had suddenly stopped all contact with me, without telling me why or anything. Add to that the fact that I am a bit anti-social person and don't have that many friends, and you can imagine how somehing like that had affected me. And there are also worries regarding finding a work and future in general and the pure stipidity of my country's goverment (sorry for bringing politics into this, but everyday they do or say something stupid for almost 1,5 year now, it's really annoying the hell out of me) adding to the mix. I'm still not back to feeling all well (the dream I had of her a few days ago didn't help :/ stupid brain...), but when I read those comments I feel better. Knowing that people enjoy my work... feels like a warm hug
Been working on a chapter for Infinite Potential, which is why it took me this long to sit down and write it. For those of you who read that story as well, it should be up sometime within next week, it's beeing looked over by my proofreading/editing team. For those of you who don't, I will start working on Rebirth of the Damned chapter soon (need a bit of rest, will start writing on Monday at worst). It should be shorter chapter than this one, so maybe I will finish it sometime within the next two weeks. Please be patient for a little longer^^
7872594 Lorewise, there is only one Conjurer of Tirisgarde, just as there is only one of all the other class leaders, and there were only two commanders on Draenor. So when I get to that point I can always make that character arcane or frost (as lorewise it also makes little sense for all of the class artifacts be possessed by the same person, give one to your followers for crying out loud!) or go around this some other way. Like thinking up a different fire artifact ;p
7872663 No comment ;p
7873063 I never revealed it ;p A part of Arthas' soul is still within the Helm of Domination, he switches conciousness between that part and his main soul
7873069 Tought it was about time to add some meta humor. Also originally it was less subtle, plainly wrote "she said, looking at the author"
my proofreader/editing team talked me out of it.
7873107 ... um, what?
7873217 Well, it used to be like that at least during Wrath of the Lich King, right? I think they changed it in Mists of Pandaria and made hunters use only ranged weapons. Now hey brought melee weapons back for Survival hunters though. Which I understand why people might complain about, but have no idea why they don't understand why Blizzard did it. Hunters hunt with spears too for crying out loud, play Far Cry Primal
7873376 Oh hi, been a while since I've heard anything from you^^
7873395 They tend to not work anyway when something goes wrong :/
7873705 No idea ;p It crossed my mind some people might make a connection like that.
7873935 Always thought that Wonderbolt is enought of a class ;p
7874181 Had to stop myself from having Liturgy say "Serve the Light with fear and rejoice with trembling!", to be honest
7874604 Conveniantly, almost all of Ponyville is busy partying ;p
7878128 Don't make me kill of Twilight! ;p Also had to do something with Felo'melorn, brought it into the story way before Legion was announced, thought Blizzard forgot about it. After Legion came out I decided to make some story with it since when I get to Legion this part of the story will be different (as even before his chapter, having that Sunstrider lady have it as she hangs around Icecrown undead would have made little sense). Also, they couldn't give Atiesh to arcane mages as it was already introduced as legendary item back in Vanilla. Also I always thought it was more of a "all specialization" artifact.
7916276 Again, I only alluded to what might have happened to cause the Sundering. Could have been natural. Could have been Commander Hurricane. Could have been a ritual ;p
7921203 You do realize that warlocks aren't necessery evil, right? Heck, my warlock alt saved Azeroth a few times ;p Starlight would actually fit with warlock stereotype, with dabbling in powers she doesn't understand and having it blow in your face (bringing doom to Equestria out of petty revenge). However, as I don't consider everything happening post season 3 as canon to Rebirth, not sure if I ever bring her into the story. As for Sunset, I already mentioned in this story that she had died a few hundred years ago. Sorry
Wrote that sometime around the trailers for the first Equesria Girls movie came out, didn't think I would get attatched to her story (which I did). And anyways, that hole concept with that other world wouldn't work with Rebirth, only make it more complicated. And before you say it could work as another world, like Azeroth, Draenor, and Equestria, I would like to point out that is apparently has no magic of their own, which just couldn't exist in the Warcraft universe. And yeah, warlocks are very interesting^^ Especially since storywise their summoned demons can talk too
7939851
There's a part of me that wants it to be Pinkie. All the life-draining stuff might not be her thing, but I could totally see her being fond of the summoning aspect. Just imagine all the new friends she could have...
But anyway, I know what it's like to be in a bad place in life, so I hope things will turn around for you pretty soon. If you need to talk about stuff or just blow off some steam or whatever, you can hit me up anytime. I've been told that I'm a good person to rant at, lol. I know I've left some harsh critiques on some aspects of this story in the past, but even so I thoroughly enjoy reading it. I always look forward to every new chapter and you never fail to entertain. After all, I wouldn't take the time to keep reading and commenting if I didn't enjoy your work, so once life is treating you a bit better, I'm really looking forward to seeing what you've got in store for this story.
7939851 Real life can be a b#@* at times. I'm glad you're doing alright though and yeah Government can be so stupid, no matter what party is in control or what country you live in.
7939851
Eh, maybe Wonderbolt. But I'm drawing WoW parallels, unsurprisingly. I don't see how Wonderbolt fits into any WoW class. So if RD was going to be a WoW class, I figure Monk... or maybe Demon Hunter. RD is fond of fighting after all. Death Knight is always an option since anyone can become one whether they want to or not.
Glad to hear you're doing better than you were. I hope things keep improving for you.
7940001 I try to not limit myself into thinking with just the playable classes. Until recently demon hunter was not playable, after all. And there are still necromancers, shadow hunters, wardens, and that's just out of the top of my head. Anyways, Wonderbolt would be best desrcibed as a class combining monk with shaman. And on top of that, flying.
Thanks^^
7939851 This story deserves every bit of praise it receives. Complex characters, overcoming trials, Warcraft elements convincingly mixing with MLP (seriously, I give the crossover element of this fic an 9/10), and character conflict are all beautifully used here.
Whenever I see that this fic is updated, I stop all my other readings to read it. This fic is awesome! I'm actually considering rereading it from the beginning (and I RARELY reread anything for fun).
Continue at your own pace, man. We love ya.
7940042
Hmm.... alrighty then. Sounds interesting. I've not seen them with skills like that before. Is this something the Wonderbolts begin to develop in response to recent things such as Arthas and the like, or are you going to establish this as long standing practices of theirs?
Or I suppose I'll just have to wait and see what actually happens. Either way I look forward to it!
7954286 Well, I think in the show you can see them performing such skills. The trail they live behind when they fly, for instance, could be interprated as using pegasi magic to affect the air around them. And remember Rainbow's fantasy in episode 3 of season 1, where she performs "Buccaneer Blaze"? Even if it's not a real thing, it was really... thunder-y.
I might take some liberty with scenes like those to have them possess weaponized versions of those skills
7988328
I'm going to assume that your comment was supposed to read "If you don't like it, just say why politely and leave". The thing about that is, just like I said in the comment, I really didn't want to drop the story. For all it's technical flaws, I really still do enjoy a lot of things about it. I powered through that arc and I'm glad that I did.
I'll freely admit that my tone in that post isn't the most polite, but I'll also say that that post isn't the first time I had pointed out all of those flaws in the story. Most of those are recurring things that plague the early parts of the story (with the obvious exception of the bits that are specifically relevant to that one arc, such as Arthas suddenly becoming a Gary Stu). And, despite the tone in that comment--or many of the others I've left on this story over the years--Borsuq took them seriously and in many cases agreed with me that the things I pointed out were, indeed, mistakes.
Which brings me to my final point. I don't often comment on stories, because I've noticed over the years that it really doesn't make a difference. Most people on this site don't actually want their stories to be critiqued; they don't want to hear that there's anything wrong with their writing. They just want mindless praise and upvotes, especially if they consider themselves to be popular by virtue of already having a lot of upvotes on their stories. And even if the author themself doesn't mind the criticism, their fans tend to jump on anyone who doesn't like the things they like (this is actually one of the few story comment sections where I haven't seen that happen). I actually respect Borsuq greatly for being the kind of person who can see a comment like that, take it seriously, and genuinely admit when he made a mistake in his writing.
But if you meant your comment as it's actually written, then... I'm not sure what you want from me. I mean, I suppose I could write another, even more scathing comment, but I don't think it would really help anything. That arc has been over for a while, and all of the recent ones have been of much higher quality in terms of character portrayal, power scaling, and overall grammar. Some of the cultural bits he mentions in more recent chapters could have been used better to add depth to a few characters--that I won't mention specifically because spoilers--but that's really about it. Overall the quality of the story does improve greatly after the Crystal Empire arc finishes.
https://camo.derpicdn.net/57f47a8c5d5ec2f3866a55ff64cbaec41fd1c134?url=http%3A%2F%2F68.media.tumblr.com%2Ff9a2bea794bd5ef6cf2e4d03b4cd08d8%2Ftumblr_nw4lcek8JH1thsrlto4_500.gif
Should be Liturgy, not Serenity, I believe.