Chapter 49: The Price of Victory
Twilight finally emerged from the woods...
“Wait... when did I go in the woods?” she asked no one in particular as she turned back towards the way she came, “Wasn't I just fighting Xander?”
“Yes, and you won,” a voice said, startling the mare.
She whipped around to come face to face with a blue unicorn stallion with a long white beard.
“Star Swirl?” Twilight gaped, “How? Did you cast a spell or...” a grim realization came over her, “Am... am I dead?”
“Technically,” replied her ancestor.
“What do you mean technically?”
“I mean, you're lying in a field staring at nothing with no pulse or breath.”
Before Twilight could speak again, the ancient conjurer continued, “I'm sorry, Twilight Sparkle.”
What Twilight was about to say died and a new question took hold, “For what?”
“I'm afraid I didn't understand Shades enough when I made your amulet,” he began, “You see, they're much more complex than I thought. While there have only been a couple dozen ponies in history to have become Shades, there have been thousands to have develop a partial Shade. Not all develop fully. What I didn't account for was a pony with one of these partial Shades using the amulet.”
Star Swirl sat down and gave his descendant an apologetic look, “Your friend Trixie had a partial Shade when she used the amulet. Her Shadeling, as I tend to call them, was pulled into the amulet using up some of the containment spell. As a result, when you put it on there wasn't enough room for your Shade to be taken, but the amulet tried to anyway causing a partial resurgence. When the amulet was destroyed, the resulting backlash embedded a small fragment of the Shade into your essence. I'm afraid the eye and wings are permanent. For that I am truly sorry.”
“Well, it's not like it really matters,” Twilight said dejectedly, “I'm dead, so my body could have sprouted a second head for all I care.”
“There are two flaws with that,” Star Swirl smiled, “First, when I say 'embedded in your essence' I mean it's part of you now... you are a Shade, a Nightmare.”
He conjured a mirror to show that her eye was still the same draconic eye it was before, and her wings still rested at her sides.
“Normally, when one develops a Shade, they regain their true form here, but this is your true form now. That means it cannot be suppressed. The second flaw in your logic is...”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
A beeping sound filled her ears as light flooded her eyes.
“Twilight? Twilight, can you hear me?”
“Wha... Seth?” the purple pony groaned as she looked up at her friend and squad leader.
“Welcome back to the land of the living,” said a pony she didn't expect to see.
“R-Rainbow?” She gasped, “How? There's no way you could have survived that.”
“Yeah,” the athletic pegasus chuckled, “It was weird. When the doc removed the sword, there wasn't a mark on me. The princess said it was because her sword can't hurt good guys, or some magical mumbo jumbo. I won't pretend to get it. I'm just glad you're alright.”
The way she said the last part sounded like she was emotionally drained. Twilight was afraid to ask what could have caused her boisterous friend to deflate like that.
“What... about the others?” the beeping sped slightly with her fear.
“Not great,” Rainbow answered, “Applejack got stabbed in the stomach. Fluttershy had to kill someone, and after the spell thing the Crystal Heart was doing ended, she went catatonic. She's in the psych ward. Pinkie is doing better than Shy, but she's still pretty upset. The three of them are in Canterlot, though. Spike... he got shot. He's alive, but pretty roughed up. Rarity got stabbed in the eye, but... Sweetie was...”
Twilight could tell from her expression. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to keep the tears back unsuccessfully.
“Oh, goddess. How's Rarity taking it?” Twilight asked.
“She hasn't woken up yet,” replied the pegasus
“How long was I out for?”
“Through the night,” Seth answered, “It's about nine in the morning.”
“I take it we won?” Twilight ventured.
“Yeah,” Rainbow responded, “Discord came back and took out the bad guys in space so the good guys could come down and help. After that, we won pretty quick. A whole lot of the Dratali guys even surrendered.”
“How did I get here anyway? And how am I alive? I know I died out there.”
“Curt did... something. When he found you, you had no pulse, so he cut his hand open and used his blood to do some spell from the book,” Seth answered, “Then Raak and I caught up and carried you here, to Ponyville.”
“Blood magic,” Twilight nodded sagely, “It has a bad reputation because it uses the life magic found in blood as a power source, but a lot of it is really good. Is he okay? Blood magic is powerful, but it can have some pretty harsh consequences.”
“He's fine. A little sore, and his hand is numb, but the doc said he'll recover.”
“How's the princess?” Twilight continued her questioning.
“She's here,” Dash said with a chuckle, “Sharing a room with Lyra.”
“Lyra? Oh goddess. Do you know if I'm good to go? I need to get over there and make sure she doesn't say anything stupid to the Princess.”
“The doctor said that you just have a bit of magic exhaustion and a few bumps and bruises,” Seth said, “All things considered, you're extremely lucky.”
“Good, help me up. Does anyone know where my old leg is?”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
“I'll tell ya, being married to a changeling is amazing,” Lyra bragged to her elderly roommate.
“Oh, how is it better than a pony?” asked the old mare.
Lyra couldn't see the pony through the curtain, and her broken hind leg kept her from walking, but she could tell by her voice she was quite old. After Bon Bon left to get them something to eat, The old pony asked about the two of them. Lyra was afraid that the elderly pony was one of those purists and would cause trouble if she found out she was married to a changeling. Instead, she was pleasantly surprised to find the mare was perfectly accepting.
“A lot of ways. For one, it's easy on the grocery bill. Changelings only need about a third the food we do as long as they get sufficient love.”
“And I'm sure being able to take other forms is a plus, especially in the bedroom.”
Lyra laughed. She really liked this pony. “You bet! And she's open to role play. My favorite is the one where I'm the new rookie guard, and she's Princess Celestia.”
“Oh? So she turns into Princess Celestia?” asked the old mare, amusement heavy in her voice.
“Yeah, she can't get as tall, but that's probably a good thing. It would be difficult to handle all that mare. Not that I wouldn't mind trying if I got the chance. I mean, have you ever seen the Princess? She's smokin'.”
The door opened and Lyra turned, expecting her wife. Instead, a human walked in helping a three legged Twilight keep her balance. She heard about the injury the scholar had sustained in her time away, but to actually see it was another matter.
“Twilight? What are you doing here?” Lyra asked.
“I'm here to see Princess Celestia,” Twilight replied.
“I'm in here, my faithful student,” said the old mare.
“Wait... Princess Celestia?” the musician started panicking, “Oh my gosh! I am so sorry, your highness!”
“Calm yourself, Ms. Heartstrings,” she assured her subject, “I'm flattered, truly. Every mare likes being told she's beautiful, even immortal ones.”
“Do I even want to know?” Twilight asked.
“Whoa! Look at you,” Lyra finally got a good look at the lavender mare, “You look... different. Cool wings.”
“Then it's true,” Celestia said with a touch of sorrow in her voice, “I heard you retained certain... traits.”
Twilight opened the curtain and sat at her teachers side, “Apparently, due to unforeseen circumstances the amulet not only left a small fragment of my Nightmare, but the power of the spell fused it with me permanently. As far as I can tell, it isn't affecting my mind, and I'm not sure if my eye functions any different. The wings are functional, but I don't think it's quite the same as pegasus magic. I'll have to run some tests to see what it changed about me.”
“How do you know it fused to you?” asked Lyra.
“Star Swirl told me while I was dead,” Twilight said as if it was normal. Granted, it might as well have been for the pony in question, so the others just took it in stride. Her expression fell as she tried to ask the question she feared most, “So... um... how are you, Princess? Do you... um... know how long...”
“How long I have to live?” Celestia finished for her, “A long, long time, Twilight.”
Twilight looked back at her teacher in surprise, “But... Xander drained you of all your magic. You shouldn't be alive more than a few months! Wow, that sounded wrong. Of course I'm happy you're going to survive, but... how?”
Celestia smiled and answered, “One thing I've learned in all my years is that victory is never guaranteed. I recognized the possibility of Xander beating me and partitioned a small part of my magic away from the rest. It's enough to keep me alive and jump start my recovery, but I won't be raising the sun myself for a couple years. Discord agreed to do it for me on the condition that on the next summer solstice he gets to make it blue. Of course, he's exhausted too, so a group of unicorns did it for me this morning and for Luna last night.”
“So you're going to be okay?” Twilight said with unbridled joy, “I'm so happy!” She latched to her teacher in an extremely enthusiastic hug, instinctively using her wings.
“Ack! Twi-Twilight, I can't-”
“Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry,” Twilight released her, “I'm use to you being more... resilient.”
“As am I, believe me. I'm so use to having the strengths of all three tribes that it's humbling to be in this state,” Celestia smiled, “Though I could do without the wrinkles and gray mane..”
“Hey,” Lyra interjected, “You still look good for an eighteen hundred year old.”
“Thank you Ms. Heartstrings,” Celestia said before turning back to her apprentice, “Those wings of yours are much stronger than a pegasus', Twilight. I look forward to reading your test results.”
“I just hope there aren't too many negative effects,” replied Twilight, “I'm going to go see if Spike is awake yet, and I'm sure Rainbow would like some company if he hasn't.”
“Give Spike my thanks for his service,” Celestia said, “Take care, Twilight.”
“I will, “Twilight smiled before looking at the minty unicorn's leg, “By the way, what happened to you?”
Lyra gave a sheepish smile, “Well... After the aliens started surrendering, I got excited and started jumping around, cheering... I didn't see the cliff...”
“Wow...”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Twilight hobbled into her assistant's room to find him and RD in the middle of a make out session.
“I take it this means he's awake?” Twilight chuckled.
“Twilight! Ow!” Spike jumped at the sudden interruption.
“Calm down, Spike. Don't hurt yourself,” Twilight said, “So what happened? Rainbow said you got shot.”
“Yeah, by two missiles,” he responded.
“Missiles? How... Okay, tell me everything.”
The young dragon told his older sister everything, from the spell he used, to Trixie saving him and rushing him to the hospital.
“I guess I'll have to thank Trixie when I see her again,” Twilight smiled, “You really have grown up, you know.”
“Oh yeah, and we're getting married,” Spike said with a huge grin.
“Really?” Twilight looked at them with a bit of concern, “Are you two sure about this? This is a huge step, and shouldn't be taken lightly.”
“Yeah, we talked about it,” Rainbow said, “We're sure.”
“Well... congratulations. You two planning on having a baby?” Twilight asked.
“We'll have to talk about it, but you'll know if we do. After all, we'll need somepony to cast that spell for us,” the pegasus said.
“You mean the compatibility spell?” Twilight raised an eyebrow, “You know dragons can breed with ponies, don't you.”
“They can?”
“Yes, Rainbow, they can,” the scholar explained, “A dragon can impregnate any intelligent being. The mother carries the egg for about four to five months before laying it. After that, it's another five months before it hatches.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Rainbow waved her hooves to stop the unicorn's lecture, “You mean, If me and Spike have a kid, I'll lay an egg?”
“That's right,” Twilight confirmed, “The baby will be a dragon, but it'll take on traits of any that help hatch it. The bigger the role an individual plays, the more they take after. That's why Spike is purple, because of me.”
Rainbow glared at Spike, “I'm not even a month from heat. If I get pregnant because it came early, I'm gonna kick your plot from here to the moon.”
“I'm... I'll check my book for a contraceptive spell, okay,” Spike said sheepishly.
Rainbow continued her glare, “And while you're at it, look for a spell that'll keep me from getting pregnant.”
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2653200 still the exposure two the blade should have dispersed celestia's mana back into the universe, the mana was foreign to xanders body, excaliburs magic would simply have removed it from his person, not saying he couldn't revive, he just would revive monumentaly weaker.
2653069
It kinda feels like its no longer her own anymore, at least she still has one of the original ones left.
2653278 Except it wasn't a part of his "body" it was a part of him, his essence. That's why he became an alicorn when he absorbed it.
I still keep to my opinion that “Then everypony died”. The end
2653284 Just wait until she learns to shoot black flame from it, or create a singularity. Sharingan anypony
And none of them died. I'm not surprised really, even though Twilight technically died. She didn't stay dead though so it doesn't count. Also that sword is totally borrowed from somewhere, I know I've head of it before.
heh rainbow
Clueless Rainbow is clueless.
Not bad resolution, if I do say so myself. I assume there will be... issues with the Shade, mental state of certain ponies and more Dratali? Xander died, so unless you plan on ending it completely and without sequels, there needs to be some troubles. Even if it is a clousure. Or is it?
2653314
I think Samurai Jack's sword had a similar property but I might be mistaken. It's been a long time...
When I saw the title, I immediately thought of this song
And with Discord making the sun blue, he should accompany it with this song
2653314 Nope, Excalibur, the sword of King Arthur Pandragon, is completely of my own creation.
gameinformer.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Components-UserFiles/00-00-55-19-52-Attached+Files/4572.tumblr_5F00_lrocgkLILx1qfgjtno1_5F00_500.gif
2653286 then maybe twilight should forge a mana draining sword incase the dratinit bring him back agian. you never quite know with full blown necromancy.
2653302
Fixed.
2653331 I meant the effect, not the name but whatever.
And from what I can remember 2653324 Jack's sword was like that now that you mention it. I'm sure there are others though.
How did I guess the whole Celestia's sword thing?!? for
Twilight can always have her other eye surgically fixed, the other one was already
Awesome wrap up for the battle, it kicked flank!
Think about my whole Sweetie-Bot idea; that'd be interesting for sure.
2653339 There's nothing left to bring back. That spell destroys his entire being, his soul. That unicorn is no more, he has ceased to be.
2653348 I know, I'm just trollin ya
2653351 ah....dark
2653362 It was the only way
.
2653302
By Celestias flaming mammaries.... bat-like wings, evil eye, ....forbidden soul slaying techniques... it all makes sense now.
We just need to teach Pinkie how to summon battle frogs and trade her cakes for ramen.
2653360 There aren't any trolls here. What are you talking about?
2653349
It reminds me of that priceless scene from Samurai Jack when Aku tried to use the sword on him.
2653376 Don't forget Fluttershy's chidori
2653365 Just because he was utterly destroyed doesn't mean they can't bring him back. All they have to do is open a portal to the past and save enough of his soul to regenerate him from in such a way that Twilight wouldn't notice.
Or build a robotic duplicate.
>>>“Yes, Rainbow, they can,” the scholar explained, “A dragon can impregnate any intelligent being. The mother carries the egg for about four to five months before laying it. After that, it's another five months before it hatches.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Rainbow waved her hooves to stop the unicorn's lecture, “You mean, If me and Spike have a kid, I'll lay an egg?”>>>
You do know that most mammals save for monotremes ARE NOT CAPABLE OF LAYING EGGS, don't you? The mother of an egg-laying species secretes the shell around the zygote and its various layers of yolk, amnion and so forth. How do you get around the fact that ponies are placental? I could accept that the dragon genome could rearrange itself to form compatible sets of chromosomes via magic and then the 'foal' could be born normally, I could also accept that a dragoness would still lay eggs if she mated with a stallion. Indeed, that makes the most sense.
But Dash laying an egg would require, as I mentioned, a complete reformatting of her reproductive system.
How would she even lay it? The birth canal is the wrong physiology to handle it. The egg would have to be very small to pass through without being burst by the pressure.
I have seen this scenario before, and I do wish people would consult a biologist before writing these things. There are many considerations that must be made to even begin to make it seem plausible.
2653453 I may consider the possibility, but it won't be until the finale if it happens.
*phew*
Many survived, many didnt. Time to pick up the pieces.
And then its time to strick back, into the heart of the enemy. If those F-Heads want the universe destroyed then why not start with them.
*cue invasion music*
"Remember the dead, fight for the living*
2653465 You assume dragon eggs are the same as bird or reptile eggs. My own head canon for dragons is that a dragon egg is a self-contained placenta/womb. The dragon fetus feed on latent magic in the environment, and its caretaker(s). This is why it's in an egg form.
Rainbow, never change.
This story has been awesome from start to finish (great chapter btw and I can only imagine how red Lyra's face is right now) anyways are there plans for a sequel of some sort or are you just going to end it?
Also to anyone who complains about dragons impregnating things just look at the list of half dragon things on the D&D list, it's rather long and slightly scary if you think about some of them
2653619 This should answer your question.
2653365 i suppose i have one last thing to ask, what exactly are the negative effects of ripping apart a soul on the spell user? i mean all dark magic has a price and that seems like the kind of spell that would have a very heavy price on twilight. i mean just openeing a door seemed to take alot out of her with dark magic.
2653642 That was also why it took so much magic to use. There is another cost, but that's for later, hehehe
This feels like dragon ball z, where everyone seems to get killed one chapter, then somehow most of them manage to make a recovery in the next chapter.
Why not just start wishing back all the dead ponies with a set of dragon balls next?
2653626
Wow, I'm stupid sometimes (i've heard about it but forgot until I now
) Wish I could help but I've got to much on my plate already 
(also hopefully there aren't like five of this comment popping up, i'm getting bad lag)
2653453 CRUSH KILL DESTROY DRATALI
2653348 he already promised a sequel, and the fanbase will have a huge input.
I cheered for the reinforcements. I have no regrets.
2653485
I ...... have no words.
I like your music choice ;).
Say... The Dratali Home planet is not a seismic active one by any chance?
If so, time to bring back the good old Temblor Bombs.
2653673 Hmm, that's a great idea. Thanks, I'll use that
2653465 One word: Magic
Lyra jumped off a cliff. On accident...
...
Oh yeah, and thx for the double chapter!
The chapter title, of course, refers to Lyra's broken leg.
2653975 Then monkeys conquer the world. Long live King Bongo
2653653
Ok. So the mad evil pony is dead for good.... But at a price. Tapping into such dark powers is never without consequences.As for Twilights new apearance, well it is a small price considering what Xander would have done if she did not do it. And I'm sure she is capable of doing an Ilusion spell if the need arises. But my guess is that her nightmare form is not gone for good. So maybe she will have some kind of split personality now. Her other side could show up if she got really mad or even when she is assleep. Well, time will tell. We should be glad she does not know how to perform the Giga Slave or the whole universe may be gone now.
Say, this whole soul fire (as I will call this spell for now) is not by any chance based an another Street Fighter Move?
You know I speak of the Shun Goku Satsu Attack used by either Akuma or Evil Ryu. (The Raging Demon Attack was its English name if I recall correctly). The strongest and most deadly attack of the Ansatsuken Style (Assassins Fist). Used it sends the victims soul directly into hell.
Hahaha. Even with the results, this was a lighthearted chapter.
2653673 Copyright
2654095
It was needed.
2653896 Magic used well in fiction makes sense.
Twilight in Nightmare form?
...
...
This is sooo much better than i was expecting
2654808 No, whats funny is that a friend of mine actually did that