“...so I stayed in the darkness with you.”
Stories in Stone
Memories of Twilight
By TDR
“...so I stayed in the darkness with you.”
A shadowy figure stood atop a half-burned house, watching the scene below with a mixture of amusement and pity.
A purple unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, was using her magic to rip apart a burning shop, sending wreckage and ash everywhere, trying to find her friend who had been inside the collapsed building. A red stallion, a zebra, and the orange earth pony Applejack stood nearby, none of them sure of what to do in this instance. A pair of earth ponies and their foals had already been sent off towards the hospital along with a small green alligator.
The shadowy figure sidestepped as a burning chunk of wood zipped past, tossed by the anguished unicorn.
The bearer of the Element of Magic stopped suddenly, rushing forward as she tossed another section of collapsed structure aside.
The figure could see clearly what she had found: the pink body was nearly burnt to a crisp; the only thing that could even identify the charred body was the three-balloon cutie mark that remained on an unburned section of the mares pink flank.
The figure watched as Applejack pulled her now-screaming friend out of the still-burning pile of rubble. The red stallion and the zebra moved forward, working on pulling the body the rest of the way out of the rubble. With a last glance at the corpse, a salvaged tarp was draped over the body of Pinkie Pie and the group was forced to move on before more changelings showed up.
The shadowy figure tilted his head, pondering. On one hand, he considered this tragic;, on the other hand, he thought it justice of a sort for what was done in the past.
“You seriously don't believe that, do you?” stated a voice from his left.
“He better; that's how it is. They would have destroyed you if given the chance.” stated a voice from his right.
“Please, tell another lie. You provoked them into doing what they did. You wanted it, planned on it, not once, but twice,” the left
voice said.
“You didn't need to. Your first plan would have worked eventually, anyway,” the right voice snarled.
“After how many failures? It was what created this problem to begin with. It made the creature who did all this.”
“They were not forced to go there; they went of their own free will looking for an easy win. It was not our fault; we owe them nothing.”
“Do you really believe that? Do you think this should have happened? This is not what was supposed to happen. This is exactly what happened the first time, and we didn't want that either. Why should we accept it now?” the voice on the left pleaded.
“Because it didn't matter then after what happened, and it still doesn't matter now. This is not our problem. They would not wish our aid, anyway.” the right voice snapped.
“It is our concern and you know why it is our concern. Do not think that our no longer being trapped excludes us from what is to come,” the left voice retorted. “To be honest, if we had remained as we were, we likely would be destroyed as well.”
“She is not our concern; she has not been for centuries. Let the upstart burnanator deal with her this time. It's her fault we were in this mess. She never listened; none of them did except him. And in the end, he suffered because he tried to help us,” the right voice responded.
“We can stop this. We can make it right,” the left muttered.
“Nothing we do can stop this. Better to let the chaos happen and simply revel in it,” the right said.
“You really don't believe that, do you? After what happened here? Is this how it should have gone? Can you tell yourself that with no remorse?” the left replied.
The silent shadowy figure in the middle held up his left hand, showing a pure white sock puppet dressed like an angel with googly eyes. He then held up his right hand with a dark red sock puppet dressed like a devil, also with googly eyes.
The shadowy figure frowned, looking around the burning town. This much chaos, and he had little desire to join in.
“What would be the proper thing to do in this instance? Hmmmmm. Ah yes, that will do nicely,” the figure mused.
He snapped his fingers, catching a cello as it appeared out of thin air. Another finger snap, and a flopping yellow fin tuna appears.
He drew the still-wet fish across the cello strings like a bow and adjusted the tuning on the fish and the cello, both while still wearing the sock puppets. Satisfied, the figure set the end of the cello on his chin like a fiddle, drawing the fish across the strings to produce a number of soft, clear notes as he began to play.
And thus, Discord fiddled while Ponyville burned.
========================================================
“Do you hear a cello?” Luna questioned, looking around at the burning buildings.
The fire had spread quickly, turning most of the town into a raging inferno. A few buildings somehow had escaped the fire’s wraith, but those structures were few and far between and as the pair drew closer to the market, they had become all but nonexistent.
“No, but this is the area where we saw Silver Claw land. Stay alert, Princess,” Jer'rahd replied, wishing that the situation was different.
Despite that regret, he could barely hide a soft smile that he was again at the Princess’s side in battle. Not as a soldier serving his princess, nor as a General given orders, but as a friend. He was unsure if she felt the same way, and he had no plans to comment on it until she forgave him for turning on her in the past, but the feeling was still one he had missed.
That feeling did not cause him to be any less leery of the princess. The way she had shifted nearly effortlessly between Nightmare Moon and her normal self worried him. Even though the change had resulted in a giant black crystal spider being under her control enough for it to be left alone as a guard for the hospital, it still worried him that she had changed to do it.
He did not wish to doubt her again, but he could not help be concerned.
Despite his concern about Luna, when the buildings on either side of the road they were trotting down exploded, collapsing the remains of both structures down over the road on top of them, he was not surprised.
As the ash and smoke cleared from the explosion, the debris covered the roadway save a small tunnel formed of three shields that kept the rubble off the gray unicorn and dark alicorn.
Jer'rahd glanced up at Luna, a little surprised that she had not even flinched from the explosion. The Princess glanced down at him with a small smirk.
“I see my trust is not misplaced that you have my back once again Kaisur,” Luna observed. “Now will you do the same in regards to the control I have over my darkness?”
Jer'rahd flinched at that. “We really need to find a way to establish trust that doesn't involve some life-threatening situation.”
Various stalls and wagons were set up around the open air market place, some overturned, and a few burning, many with the wares already set up, signs that the day had started normally, anyway, and a number of bodies.
The pair walked out of the magically-formed tunnel into the market district. Jer'rahd released his hold on his spell, letting the rubble collapse behind them as the pair stared across the market square to the three figures in the middle of the stone cul-de-sac.
A large red dragon loomed over the other two, his ashen white claws clenching and digging into the cobblestone ground as he watched the pair.
A dreadlocked zebra stallion in a black cloak with the hood pulled back stood next to him, seemingly bored with the two that had shown up.
And a black alicorn mare with one white wing and a flowing mane and tail of sandy blond hair. The alicorn sneerd at the pair, taunting them as they approached.
“Nice of you to finally join us. It has been a long time since I have seen you, mother and father. Do be sweet parents and die already so the next generation can take over,” Nocturne sneered.
“Did we have a plan?” muttered Jer'rahd to Luna.
“Yes: we do violent things to them that my sister would complain about,” Luna stated flatly.
“Ahh. Our usual, then.”
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Bleu shrank down to her pony size as she smashed into the front of the building, landing on and ripping apart a unicorn who was on the second floor dressed in a cloak. She did not even pause after eviscerating the stallion before she was on the next figure, the dragon's fangs closing on the mare's neck and tearing out her throat before tossing the still squirming body back out the smashed window.
Bleu scanned the floor she was on, noting a number of armed ponies with red horseshoe marks on their armor milling about, yet keeping away from her. She was on the second floor of the school on one of the walkways around the main hall that led to the rooms. The entrance to the building was one floor down.
She moved to the edge, spitting the glob of bloodied throat meat from her mouth as she looked over the railing into the big open area in the middle of the three-story building.
Against the back wall of the ground floor, she could see a group of ponies that were huddled against the wall near the staircase. A blue glowing shield globe surrounded them with numerous metal wires running through it. The wires were spread out like a spider web around the stairs, stretching up to tie to the banisters of the second and third floor. The other end of the wires was connected to the trapped ponies around their necks, middles or legs.
There were a number of foals in the bubble, many of them crying, though some of the adults were trying to quiet them. Several cloaked ponies stood around the bubble and one sat huddled in a corner near the bubble as if trying not to be noticed.
The current Dean, Octavia, was also behind the shield, though unlike the others she looked like she had been beaten; she hung limp, a pair of wires wrapped around her forehooves holding her up, though the one eye that was not swollen shut was giving a death glare that Jer'rahd could have taken lessons from at the stallion standing in the middle of the room.
The large brown stallion with a massive sword stood in the center of the main hall, looking up at Bleu with a wide grin. He gleefully lifted something to his mouth and bit the head off the small black doll with a few silver strands of hair left on it before spitting the head away and dropping the toy, stomping on it, his eyes not turning from Bleu's.
“Nice of you to finally join me, you filthy lizard bitch. I've been waiting for a long time to get you back for scarring my face,” Claymore growled, gripping his blade in his mouth as Bleu roared, leaping off the second floor at him.
===============================================
Fluttershy struggled to remain aloft, finally managing to land on the roof of the building, panting heavily as she set Rarity down and collapsed in a heap.
“Fluttershy, dear, I thought you said you were working out,” Rarity questioned, a little worried.
The yellow pegasus nodded. “I have been, but you're really heavy... eeep!” Fluttershy slapped her hooves over her mouth as she looked up to Rarity, who had developed a twitch under her eye.
“I think it would be better if I didn't hear that.”
“I didn't mean it like that...”
“I heard nothing,” Rarity snorted.
“Hey, what the buck are you two doing up here?”
The pair blinked, looking over as a group of stallions dressed in light armor and masks trotted towards them, moving to trap the pair on the corner of the roof. There were two pegasi and a unicorn, with the remaining five being earth ponies. All of them bore a single crimson horseshoe print on their armor somewhere and all of them were armed with swords and daggers.
“Ummm, we were, looking for the bathroom?” Rarity replied with a chuckle.
“Yeah right,” commented one of the pegasi as the pair glided around in the air behind them to make sure Fluttershy didn't try to go anywhere.
“They don't look like Royal Guard; prolly a couple that slipped by the ones downstairs,” one of the unicorns muttered.
“Well, Claymore hasn't been screaming for them to be found yet, so I guess he hasn't noticed. Guess that means none'll miss um
for a while,” noted a teal earth pony.
The others chuckled at the implication of that.
“Heh, I call first on the white on then. Been a while since I've had unicorn,” one of the earth ponies bragged.
Rarity's eyes widened, then quickly narrowed. “Now see here: if you think for a moment that we are going to do anything with you filthy beasts, you... AHHH!”
Rarity hopped back as the earth pony drew his sword and lashed out at her.
“We have the weapons, mare. We say what we are going to do, so settle down and enjoy it, or next time, it'll be your face that gets cut.”
Rarity blinked, glancing down at a sizable lock of her mane laying on the roof. Her eyes shifted to her hair, seeing the great gash where it had been unevenly cut.
Her eye twitch returned as her ears flattened to her head, eyes narrowing as she glared at the earth pony, her teeth grinding.
“Oh. It. Is. ON!”
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Twilight stumbled over some books in the library, only dimly aware of how she got there. Applejack and Rhede seemed to be arguing, with Velkorn trying to placate the pair.
Twilight barely even heard them as she moved into the library, staring at the mess and slowly starting to try and clean it up as her mind reeled.
She was dimly aware of the door shutting behind her and the sound of things being piled in front of it as it was barricaded. She could no longer hear the others’ voices, though she didn't care.
She had practically watched one of her friends die in front of her. She had let Pinkie go alone upstairs. She could have teleported; she could have put up a shield or fired some spell at the griffon, but she didn't. She couldn't do anything— all her magic, all her training, and she had just sat there and watched it happen.
Now Rainbow Dash had run off, chasing the griffon, and she had not even tried to stop her, either. Had she just let another friend go off to die?
Was this what Jer'rahd and the others felt? Was this what war was like for them, watching everyone they cared about be killed around them? How did they keep going?
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“Ah don't like this. We can't just leave her here!” AJ shouted at Rhede as the trio moved away from the library.
“Do you have a better idea? It's not like we can take her with us in that condition.” Rhede snapped. “She’s a liability like this. There's nothing near the library that could catch it on fire and even if there was, Spike mentioned before there were fireproof wards in place on the building. She'll be fine.”
“Do you even know what's wrong with her, or are yah making this up ‘cause yah dun wanna deal with it,” AJ retorted.
“She is in a medical state called shock. Half the time, in this state, it is a wonder one can walk,” Velkorn pointed out. “The cure for such condition follows neither reason nor rime; the only effective cure that I know of is simply time.”
“This don't feel right leaving her like this,” AJ griped. “One of us should stay with her.”
“And do what? Get depressed and be unable to do anything? There's still a lot of ponies left to save. Moping about over just one of them isn't going to help any of them. I thought you managed to see that and it's why you're not freaking out like she is,” Rhede grumbled.
“Ah been through enough tah be able tah put off mah grief until later when somethin’ needs tah be done.”
“Well, at least one of you is liable to be useful, then,”Rhede snarled.
“Yah practice being a dick, or is it a natural state fer yah?”
“At least I'm not whining about having to leave some pony behind for their own good.”
“Must be easy tah do that when ya dun’ got a friend affected by it,” AJ growled.
“No, I've just had to keep going while one of them was dying!”
“BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE BUCK UP NOW! THIS INFIGHTING IS NOT SOMETHING I WILL ALLOW!” Velkorn bellowed suddenly, rearing up to wallop both of the earth ponies in the back of the head, knocking the pair of them to the ground.
“Pelt, you are not helping your case. Applejack, we cannot stall, as this battle has now become a race. First blood has been struck, and it is ours that fell. Will you two simply allow others to die as well?” Velkorn snarled at the pair. “Right at this moment, there is only one thing we can do: continue our mission and hope Twilight pulls through.”
The two earth ponies glared at the zebra and then each other as they got back on their hooves and turned to continue down the road.
“She didn't have to hit us,” Rhede grumbled.
“Ah know, right?” AJ replied.
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Starfall dived out of the way as a green beam of energy vaporized the ground she had been standing on. Shouts and fighting could be heard from further up the road as a new herd of golems rushed towards the guards.
Starfall cursed, her words nearly mimicked by the older crystal pony from the other side of the bubbling crater in the road.
The insectile alicorn landed heavily between the two ponies and the rest of their forces, her horn flaring with a sickly green light.
“Who's dhis nutter?” Rose cursed, yelping and diving aside as the alicorn fired another blast that blew a crater in the road, raining rock and dirt down over the pair.
“Guess you missed the party last time, old timer. This is the Changeling queen,” Starfall chuckled, bouncing about as whips of green energy flew from the alicorn, destroying the road and the remains of golems that had already been killed.
“Queen? Ah didna vote for her,” Rose snarled, charging around to one side of the alicorn.
“You don't vote for Queens,” Starfall sighed, launching into the air and angling herself to the other side.
“Well, 'ow dha heck did she become Queen then?” Rose snapped, changing direction suddenly and slamming into the side of Chrysalis, impaling her with his spear just as Starfall landed on her back, driving both her blades deep into the Changling Queen.
Green blood spurted out of the wounds as Chrysalis stiffened.
“I dunno; maybe some sea pony lobbed a scimitar at her or something,” Starfall mused.
“Was that the best you two can do. or must I suffer more of your witless banter?” Chrysalis growls.
“You've got a spear through you and a pair of swords in yer back,” snapped Rose. “I'd say that's pretty good.”
“‘Tis but a scratch.”
“What?” Starfall questioned.
“I've had worse,” Chrysalis growled her horn glowing.
“You lie!” Rose shouted, yanking his spear free and leaping aside as Starfall took to the air again. The area around the changeling queen exploded in a blast of green fire.
Rose bounced around a moment, trying to put out a fire that started on his crystalline tail before glaring back at the now-unharmed Changling Queen floating in the center of a small crater.
“Oh yeah, she's supposed to be a god or something,” Starfall sighed.
“Great, crystal weapons are designed ta deal with Sombra, not crazy bug mares,” Rose cursed.
================================================================
“Colonel, report. What is the situation with the school, over?” the crystal radio crackled in the unicorn’s ear as he held a pair of binoculars up to his eyes with his magic.
“Unsure at the moment, Command. Some rather odd things have happened. Over,” the Colonel reported.
“Tell us what you can. We need some good news. Over,” the voice on the com chirped.
“Moments ago, a large blue dragon appeared and dove into the front window of the school. A body and what appeared to be parts of a second body were ejected from the place the dragon went in. The attackers on the first and third floor, however, are still active, though less accurate or often. We believe the dragon is causing a distraction enough inside to hold their attention, though not fully,” the unicorn reported. “At this moment, we are still unable to advance the small unit we have forward further. Over.”
The radio gave static for a moment. “Acknowledged, Colonel. Princess Celestia believes the dragon to be part of Major Kaisur's group, Captain Bleu Scale. It is now believed that the attack on the school was specifically implemented to target her. You have orders from the Princess herself to aid the dragon however she needs in this instance. Over.”
One of the earth pony guards near the Colonel slapped him on the back and pointed to the roof of the building.
“Command, we have another situation. A yellow pegasus with a pink mane and a white unicorn with a purple mane have just landed on the roof of the structure. Neither are in armor, nor do they appear to be carrying anything other than small saddle bags. Are they from another team? Advise, over.”
Again, there was a pause with static as the unicorn in control relayed this to Nicker, and evidently now, the Princess directly.
“Colonel, the Princess has identified the pair as two of the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony. your orders have now changed: you to are to retrieve and protect that pair at all costs. Do you understand? This is now a priority zero mission; reinforcements are en route now. Have your team move to secure them immediately. Over.”
The Colonel blinked, watching as a number of ponies suddenly flew off the roof of the building, flailing wildly, before impacting the ground with dull thuds. A white unicorn mare trotted to the corner of the building, tossing her mane and glaring down at the ground and the bodies far below. Another figure rose up behind the mare with an ax, swinging the weapon at the mare. She ducked below the attack, slipping inside the swing and slamming her hoof into the stallion’s jaw, the force of the blow lifting him up on his back legs. The white unicorn spun around him and slammed her rear hoof into his back, sending the stallion off the edge of the roof as well. She seemed to snort in annoyance, then moved back away from the edge of the roof out of sight.
The unicorn guard raised an eyebrow in confusion, watching another pair of ponies wearing the garb of the red hoof go flying off the top of the building. A second later, a pegasus tried to flee, taking off into the air, but a moment later, the body of an earth pony gripped in magic soared up from the rooftop, slamming into the retreating pegasus stallion and knocking him from the air.
“Command, it appears the white unicorn just took out a number of the enemy combatants while we awaited your orders. Are you sure they need to be protected? Over.”
“Orders stand, Colonel. The Princess has, however, passed on that if there is something wrong with the white unicorn's mane or tail, you are under no circumstances to mention it. Over.”
“Noted, we are moving in now. Over.”
The Colonel lifted a hoof, signaling the dozen guards he had to be ready to charge. A loud hum filled the air and a massive wave of blue energy appearsed over the building, slowly forming to envelop the three story structure in a shimmering blue shield globe.
“Well, shit.” the Colonel spat out before tapping the com open again with a hoof. “Command, we have a problem.”
==========================================================
Jer'rahd and Luna dived to the sides as a blast of magic ripped up the stone street where they had been a moment ago. A second blast bounced off a green glowing shield and struck the front of a building, melting it into slag and splinters.
“Well, looks like someone is not happy to see us,” chuckled Luna as she launched a series of dark blue missiles that Nocturne barely managed to scramble out of the way of.
“True, though this is a bad spot for us to be fighting. Neither of us tends to think about collateral damage.” Jer'rahd grinned, flinging the Waning Moon through the air at Silver Claw. The dragon jerked to the side to avoid the magically-propelled whirling blade, but was still nicked in the arm, losing a few scales. The pair dived behind an overturned cart as he fired a blast of white flame at them.
“Still, though: three against one? This is not any sort of fair fight,” Luna commented.
“Should we wait for them to get a couple more, then?” Jer'rahd quipped.
“Such useless bravado, father. Did you forget so soon that I nearly crushed both you and mother last time we fought, and I am a god now? You are no match for my power!” Nocturne taunted. Another blast of her magic destroyed Jer'rahd's cover, though the attack didn’t penetrate his shield.
“Last time we fought, you ran away like a chicken because I nearly lopped your head off while I was a rock,” Jer'rahd taunted back, drawing their attention to him by poking his head up over another cart. “And the time before that, Luna had used most of her magic and I was in unfamiliar armor wielding an unfamiliar weapon. Since that point, we've trained and gotten stronger while you pretended to be a lawn decoration. I don't think you have the advantage you think you have. I mean, heck, even Silver Claw there only did as well as he did ‘cause no one was expecting it.”
“There is much to say about the element of surprise” growled the dragon.
“Indeed,” stated Luna, suddenly appearing in the middle of Silver Claw, Bloodtail, and Nocturne, a wide grin on her face. “Surprise!”
Jer'rahd ducked down behind the cart as a globe of darkness formed around Luna, rushing outwards and blasting the trio into the air.
The trio rocketed away from the force of the explosion ,only to slam hard into a group of green glowing panels that formed in the air, stopping their flight path abruptly. The shields quickly vanished, dumping the three of them onto the stone streets below.
“Power is no substitute for training,” Luna muttered.
“And training is no substitute for cheating,” hissed Nocturne, her horn glowing and launching a sickly yellow ray at Luna.
=========================================================
Wind Razor laughed, dodging the cyan pegasus's clumsy attacks like they were nothing.
The ineffective strikes coupled with the griffon’s laughing only served to infuriate Rainbow Dash further. She kept pushing herself harder, her attacks nearly blurring as she lashed out at the griffon with hoof and wing, only to have her blows fail to land every time.
Trying to hit this griffon was like punching smoke.
Every time she thought that she had connected with the griffon, Wind Razor slipped away, moving further from town towards Ghastly Gorge. Dash barely registered the location, solely focused on taking down the griffon that killed her friends.
Peach Blossom cursed, barely able to keep up with the pair. He flew closer to the ground, pausing occasionally to make a mark on a tree or a rock with his spear, hoping someone was planning to follow them.
Watching Dash and Wind Razor, he was fairly certain if the pegasus couldn't hit the griffon, there was no way he could. The cyan mare was practically blurring as she struck at the griffon. Half the time, he didn't even see that she attacked at all until she drew back a hoof or a wing from a miss. Then again, it wasn't as if the bird was fighting back; she seemed solely focused on taunting and dodging the attacks.
When he did spot her score a hit, he noticed the impact point turned into black smoke, then quickly reformed without any damage done. The griffon was likely not counterattacking because she had to focus on whatever was allowing her to turn to smoke. Either that, or she was leading them somewhere.
He slashed his spear over the ground making a rather large crescent shaped mark. During scout training he had been taught that the crescent moon was used while tracking as it was an old symbol of the hunt. It was used as such due to the moon always chasing the sun.
A circle with several lines radiating from it was used to mark a clear trail. The symbol of the sun was used because its light allowed one to see a clear path.
In this case Peach Blossom was glad the marks meant what they did. It was much simpler to draw a crescent than it would be to draw the sun.
He sighed as the pair fighting in the air moved further away. He launched himself after trying to stay out of sight of the griffon, though stealth had never been his thing.
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Bloodtail cursed, picking himself up off the ground and coughing heavily. A splatter of blood escaped his lips, sending crimson drops across the ground before him as he pushed himself back up to his hooves. He had been thrown around far more than he liked today.
While he could feel the cracked ribs from his impact with the shield wall starting to heal, the burns and pain from the blast the Princess had used showed no signs of repair. He knew only three things could kill gods: star metal, high powered magic, and other gods. The group of them was facing a duo with access to all three.
Nocturne screeched something and fired a sickly yellow ray at Luna, only for the Princess to vanish from that spot and reappear again next to Nocturne. The Goddess of War's hoof impacted into the dark alicorn’s side with enough force to make him wince as the mare was sent tumbling across the marketplace to slam into another of Kaisur's green shields.
The zebra cursed, clearly recognizing how outmatched they really were. He looked up at Silver Claw, hoping the dragon recognized this as well. However, the beast was focused on an overturned cart on the far side of the market.
Bloodtail thought him addled until the hum of a weapon gripped in green magic tore through the air from behind the cart.
The dragon threw himself to the side, nearly crushing the zebra a blast of flame left his maw and destroyed the cart, forcing the pony behind it to find new cover.
Silver Claw pushed himself back up to his claws, glancing down at the zebra with a low growl.
[“Best you depart, zebra. Your spells have little use in direct combat, and the curse you have over the town is far too important for you to fall here and lose it,”] the dragon growled.
[“Why are you bothering to speak to me in my own tongue? And why would you have me flee? This does not seem to be of benefit to you.”]
[“Kaisur doesn't speak zebra. As for not being a benefit, I meant what we spoke of before, Bloodtail, and I see no better time to take
advantage of that than right now. I suggest you get a good distance away as well. The fight with Kaisur may get a bit… messy.”]
[“It is your funeral, then. But I shall not pass up a chance for my hide to remain intact. This was never my fight to begin with.”]
Bloodtail darted off as Silver Claw turned, letting out another blast of fire to flush Kaisur from his cover.
He heard a scream of anger from Nocturne, though he did not stick around to find out if it was from his leaving or not. Darting between the burning buildings, he moved through the town, only slowing his gallop to a stop on the outskirts by the river’s edge. It was high time he returned to the zebra lands to begin his own plans. Let these fools deal with their own problems.
“Well, hello there, little zebra. Just the stallion I've been looking for,” cooed a voice.
Bloodtail whipped his head around, searching for the voice, finally looking up at a tree by the river bank and the lounging red mare who rested there.
The zebra stifled a flinch at the mare's far-too-wide grin, and Scarlet slipped off the branch, landing lightly on the ground under the tree.
[“Dare I ask what you want?”]
“Ahh, you may, but I was going to tell you anyway. I have found someone I reaaaaaally want to kill. He happens to be running along with a couple of mares, one of which I think you would be quite interested in.”
Bloodtail smirked, easily putting together who Scarlet was speaking of. [“So finally, someone has found Velkorn for me. And what is it you want for this information?”]
“A few of your minions to keep the mares busy while I finish off Pelt. After that, you can do what you want.” Scarlet cackled, clearly enjoying the feeling of making the zebra nervous.
Bloodtail considered the options. The mare was clearly becoming quickly unhinged, likely as a result of her decision to use Laughter to attain godhood. If she was not careful, she likely could wind up as mad as Discord was supposed to be. Still, if he could get to Velkorn… Well, he had what he needed to bind her to him once again, and if Scarlet killed Pelt, there would be no one around to stop him from making the mare his.
[“Where are they?”] Bloodtail questioned. It seemed the trip home could wait a bit.
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Celestia glared down at the glowing map of Canterlot as if her stare alone could remove the red colorations that dotted the map. Her ears flattened to her head as the massive baying of horns was heard again. The old alarm system had to be pulled out of storage to be used, and the horns had just started to sound, the deep reverberation felt even in the heart of the castle. The warning might come a little late for far too many, but it would alert those who had not already been informed of the danger.
Celestia grumbled, watching as the ponies in the war room darted about, shouting orders and running messages.
Twilight and her sister had returned, but they had not sent a message. She assumed they had come back to Canterlot after reports of Bleu, Rarity and Fluttershy had come in, but somehow, she doubted that now. If Luna and Kaisur were here, then they would have been seen already. Those two had as much ability to remain unnoticed in a battle as a dragon with allergies in a field of flowers.
Likely, they were in Ponyville with the others. Bleu had probably been sent to deliver a message and been lured off by Claymore's trap.
“Sir, we have checked their quarters, and the entire unit is gone,” a pegasus stallion shouted as he darted in the door, panting.
Nicker glanced over at him, a surprised look on his face. “What do you mean it's gone?”
“The Six sixty sixth monster hunters are gone, sir. No one has seen hide nor hair of Guard Captain Moskau, either. The only information we have is a note posted in their barracks that today was supposed to be some sort of joint training day with another unit. We don't know which one, though, sir.”
“Of all the times for that lunatic to go drill her forces in the woods,” snarled Nicker.
Celestia smiled, remembering the request from Moskau. “Well, at least Ponyville will have some extra protection, then.”
“Princess?” Nicker questioned.
“Guard Captain Moskau was given permission to bring her unit for joint training with the 42nd today. I assumed she might still be in Canterlot, though knowing her, she likely left late yesterday just to march her troops a little more. Still, this does present a problem for us here with the brunt of the Changeling force at our gates.”
“There is also the report from Captain Lion Heart about there being enthralled ponies and undead of some sort in Ponyville,” Nicker sighed
“I am aware of that, and I also have an agent there who will likely be working on the cure as we speak. I have reason to believe that my sister and Kaisur are there as well with most of their friends. If anyone can aid that town, it will be them. For now, we need to worry about us. Corporal,” Celestia stated, turning to the pegasus who brought the latest news, “I want you to go down to the west armory and find a chest that is marked with my sister's seal. It should be near the front and likely one of the few things there not coated in dust. It should be filled with what appears to be a pile of bones. Bring me that chest.”
“Yes, Princess.” The guard rushed off as Celestia looked down at the map, taking note that there was more red on the map that anything else.
“Princess, what are you planning to do?” Nicker questioned.
“Something I should have done a long time ago, Guard Captain. I am getting involved.”
============================================================
“Well, this has not been my best day,” Briar Rose snorted, looking at the broken haft of his massive spear.
“Whine, whine, whine,” Starfall grumbled. “By Celestia's fanciful tail, you are worse than Rarity.”
“I have no idea what that means, but I am gathering it was an insult,” Rose stated before diving for cover again as the Changeling Queen slammed into the ground where the pair had been moments before.
“Will you two just shut up and die already!” Chrysalis screamed out, the area around her being showered with green balls of fire that danced and chased after the dodging pair.
Starfall took to the air, glancing down as the balls of green fire followed her. She grinned, spinning in the air and dive bombing the other group on the road.
The 42nd was holding its own surprisingly well. A large number of the golems lay broken and shattered or buried by the Diamond dogs. The dogs did not have time to dig any more traps, as their time was now spent pulling out the wounded. A number of them were in bad shape and there were at least three dead now, with a fourth of the sixty three trainees down. Of the rest, nearly all of them were wounded somehow, though every able body was still fighting as well as a few that should not have even been conscious.
Changeling bodies and golem parts littered the ground around them, though Chrysalis’s forces did not seem to stop coming.
The battle had turned into a war of attrition; the constant swarm of attackers was clearly wearing on the troops. Starfall knew they would hold out to the last, but in the end, that would not help anyone.
The pegasus dodged between the legs of a black crystal golem that resembled an ant, letting the balls of energy strike the creature and destroy it as the queen screamed in annoyance.
That cry quickly turned to one of pain as a black and white form darted across the road in a blur of motion, creating a long gash along Chrysalis’s side that ran foul with the green ichor of her blood.
Guard Captain Moskau slid to a stop on the other side of the changeling queen, flicking blood off her hoof daggers as she regarded the changeling and the wound that was not closing on her side.
“Excellent; I suspected dhis vould vork, but one ken never be sure.” Moskau chuckled, wiping the green blood off her dagger onto her cloak.
Starfall's eyes widened, recognizing the metal of zebra's daggers.
“Where the buck did you get star metal? Celestia said all of it was destroyed!”
“I do not hunt monsters vith out dhe proper gear,” Moskau chuckled.
“You think that will stop me?” Chrysalis shrieked. “One old mare with a new toy?”
“Old? Talk about dhe pot calling dhe kettle black. And as if I vould come alone.” Moskau smirks as a large number of figures started appearing around the road as hoods were yanked back and zebra stealth cloaks removed. At least a hundred forms of all mixes of ponies, with a number of griffons as well, stood silently around the battlefield, unmoving, their eyes locked on the zebra mare.
“VE CAME HERE FOR A JOINT TRAINING CONTEST, COMRADES. LET US NOT LET THE 42ND OUTDO US IN KILLS! Moskau shouted. The newly-arrived soldiers all screamed out, and as one, rushed the battle from all sides.
“Well, color me smitten,” Rose whistled. “Not like I plan tah let yah outdo me, though.”
“Hah, as if you could vin. Dhis is only haff my unit.” Moskau chuckled.
“We're still a training unit, and we're kicking flank. Imagine if these idiots were fully trained,” Rose taunted.
Starfall landed, looking back at the newly-joined battle with a smirk before leveling her blades, ready to deal with Chrysalis again.
“Well, that was good timing, I will admit, Sir.” Starfall grinned, her ear perking as Moskau moved between the changeling queen and Starfall. “What?”
“Leave her to us. You have some dhing more pressing to deal vith,” Moskau stated as Chrysalis dodged an attack from Rose. “Take your troops into town and vork to rescue dhe civilians still dhere. Most seem to be gathering by dhe hospital, but dhere are likely still some in houses. Ve are still fresh for battle; your ponies need a break. Go now. Dhat is an order.”
Starfall blinked, looking back at the flaming town, and snarled. “You know I'm supposed to be a General, right?”
“Neither Princess has informed me of dhis, so until dhat time, I still outrank you. Now go! Ve have no time to argue.”
“Fine. 42ND, FALL BACK FROM COMBAT! MOVE TOWARDS THE TOWN TO AID IN EVACUATION! LEAVE THE ROCKS AND BUGS TO THESE GUYS!” Starfall bellowed, leaving Rose and Moskau to deal with the raging queen.
=========================================================
“Are ya sure this is tha right way?” Applejack questioned as the trio moved deeper into the woods.
Rhede nodded, pointing to a crescent-shaped slash on a tree trunk before them. “That's a tracking mark. The Captain has been leaving them since he took off after Dash.”
AJ grumbleed to herself. “How tha heck do yah know it's not an old mark or some critter didn't leave it?”
“The point where the drawing starts is the direction the tracker is going. The symbol itself matches the moon's phases so you can tell at a glance how old the mark is. In a month’s time, a light scarring like this will be healed over on most trees and will be gone if it's in the ground. If nothing else, I'm the best tracker in the group, and I was the one who drilled this into the trainees like Peach Blossom. This is the right way. I just hope it remains clear along the ground. None of us are fliers, and something... SHIT!”
Rhede slid to a stop, looking down over the edge of a sheer cliff.
“Crap, we come right up ta Ghastly Gorge,” Applejack cursed. “I dunno what part, though. This thing runs nearly tah tha sea, and it branches out all over tha place.”
Rhede looked at the distance between the two cliff edges, his ears flattening. He knew he couldn't make that jump. Velkorn might be able to, but it was not certain enough for him to let her risk it. The worst part was he could see another mark on a tree on the other side of the cliff.
“We need to cross it somehow, but I am out of ideas, so what do we do now?” Velkorn grumbled.
===============================================================
Nocturne laughed, but the cackling was cut off suddenly as she realized Luna was gone.
“MOVE!” Silver Claw shouted, knocking Nocturne aside with his tail as Luna slammed down in the spot the alicorn had been standing with both hooves, splintering the cobblestone street and sending a rain of pebbles into the air.
Silver Claw lashed out at the Princess, only to be flung aside as a large wagon full of gemstones, wrapped in a green glow, smashed into him, sending him tumbling away from the Princess.
Jer'rahd trotted up next to Luna, glancing down at the crater in the road.
“Well, I am certainly glad you never tried to kill me.” Jer'rahd smirked.
“In case you forgot Kaisur, I did, as Nightmare Moon,” Luna sighed.
“If you had been trying, I would not have recovered from that blast you hit me with in the garden. So no, I still don't think you tried to
kill me.” The gray unicorn chuckled.
“Is this the time to be discussing this?”
“You brought it up.”
“Fine... tell me, Kaisur, during all the time that we have had, did you ever figure out how to properly dance?”
Jer'rahd glanced up at her a moment before his grin widened and he looked back at the two struggling to get up before them.
“Nothing close to as interesting as your dance, but I have my own style that may be compatible.”
“I certainly hope you cannot mimic my style; it was created to be used by Valkyrie, pegasi mares, to be precise.” Luna chuckled lightly at the brief image of Jer'rahd trying to perform that particular set of training. “So what is the style you use called, then?”
“Still working on the name, but I think I'll call it ‘why use a mallet when you have a sledgehammer’?”
“Not very poetic. It also sounds more like something Pelt would consider some sort of pick up line or sex move.”
“It's a work in progress. Besides, not like you complained about my technique.”
“You recall wrong, then. I stated you have worthwhile stamina, but your imagination was a bit lacking.”
“Remind me to ask Rhede for pointers then,” Jer'rahd quipped.
“That might be too much imagination.” Luna frowned, sticking out her tongue.
“Is there anything worse than listening to your parents flirt and talk about fucking in front of you?” snarled Nocturne, cursing as she stood back up to her hooves.
“I would say getting your flank kicked by them is a good start to it being worse.” Silver Claw snapped back, lashing out at the pair with his tail, only to have both of them dodge out of the way.
The dragon launched into the air, lifting his tail up suddenly to avoid a slash from the unicorn’s weapon. Nocturne lunged at Luna, lashing out with her hooves and wings in a series of feints and attacks that mimicked the bare hoof style Luna had shown.
Luna was taken back a moment, and a few strikes managed to get past her guard, though not with enough force to do any damage.
Before the Princess could launch a counterattack, a gray form plowed into the side of the dark alicorn, sending Nocturne tumbling across the cobblestones to crash into another cart with Jer'rahd continuing the charge after her.
“Switch partners! It's not like I can fly,” Jer'rahd shouted.
Luna grinned, looking up at the flying Silver Claw before taking to the air herself, launching towards the dragon.
This was far more fun than it should be.
==========================================================
Starfall flew over the town, directing the 42nd in the rescue efforts. Moskau had informed her that the hospital was where the townsponies were gathering. Sweet Apple Acres was the other gathering point, but with the changeling force between the farm and the town, that shelter was all but impossible to get to.
From the air, she could see the fight going on in the market district, though judging by how it seemed to be going, Jer'rahd and the Princess had that under control. She was going to offer her aid to them anyway when Dusty flew up to her.
“Captain, there's a situation,” the griffon reported, glancing to the Ponyville Library as Breezy stepped out onto the tree building's balcony, pointing to the south.
“What is it?”
“Twilight Sparkle is in the library below and seems to be suffering from shock. All we could get out of her was that Pinkie Pie has been killed by Wind Razor.” Dusty swallowed a bit, watching Starfall's expression darken. “She told us that Rainbow Dash and Captain Peach Blossom have gone off in pursuit.”
“SHE DID WHAT!?” Starfall panicked. “Which way?”
“South. If one of ours is with her, he might have set up tracking markers as well.” Breezy stated flapping up to the pair. “Miss Sparkle also mentioned she thinks Miss Applejack, Captain Pelt, and Captain Velkorn were following after them as well.”
“What are we waiting for? Let's get after them,” Dusty shouted, but Starfall growls shaking her head.
“No, you two stay here, keep the evacuation going. We can't risk taking any more ponies away from this. I'll go myself. That's an order.”
“Yes sir,” the pair stated, watching Starfall rush off to the south.
Breezy glanced to the griffon, his sky blue ears perking up a little.
“I'm rather surprised at you, Dusty. I figured you would ignore the order to go after Wind Razor,” Breezy remarked.
“I don't want the griffon. I want the alicorn or the earth pony mare.” Dusty looked over at the battle in the market. “But I'm not stupid enough to get involved in that fight.”
“Nocturne or Scarlet. Still, you're showing a great deal of control.” Breezy smirked at the glare he received. “Keep in mind, though: no matter what, I got your back whatever you decide to do.”
“You only have my back because you want to watch my flank.” Dusty smirked.
“Well, if you didn't want me to do that, you would stop wiggling it in my direction.” Breezy chuckled.
Any retort Dusty might have presented was cut off by a scream for help from below and both guards dropped from the sky to find the source.
=======================================================
Rainbow Dash screamed out as her hoof finally connected solidly with the beak of the griffon, visibly cracking it and sending the griffon spiraling to the ground to impact bodily with the dirt and rock.
Dash pants a moment growling. “That’s for Pinkie Pie... AND SO IS THIS!”
The cyan pegasus blasted full speed towards the ground and the prone griffon there. Her wings strained as she put on more speed. The air around her started to buckle before her hooves as she angled towards her target, the pressure of the air building before her to make the impact more explosive when she hit.
The griffon’s eyes snapped open and a grin crossed her rapidly healing beak as she whipped her claws up suddenly, a black shadow forming rapidly into a crystal spike bursting from the ground to slam into the charging pegasus just as the air before her breaks.
A sound like a thunderclap echoed across the gorge as the crystal shattered along with the air around Rainbow Dash. A wave of black energy radiated out from the impact point rather than the normal rainbow hued one.
Wind Razor grimaced as the shattered crystal was blown back at her. She quickly turnws to smoke avoiding most of the damage of the explosion.
The cyan pegasus was not so lucky.
Rainbow Dash crashed to the ground a few yards away, a bloodied mess, her wings and body sliced to ribbons by the explosion of crystals. The pegasus panted heavily, struggling to get up, her body pierced by thousands of shards of black rock.
Wind Razor grinned, flying up out of the crater with a laugh and cracking her neck. “Not bad, kid. Yer granny Silvertail never even managed to lay a hoof on me. I almost feel bad in finishing you off now.”
The griffon smirked and grabbed Dash by her multicolored mane and lifted her head up, pulling a blade from her belt.
“Don't worry; I’ll hang yer scalp right next to your little friend. That way, you can always be togethERKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!” Wind
Razor yelped as a blow hammered into her side, knocking her away from the fallen pegasus.
The griffon snarled and rolled with the blow, a massive gash across the side of her head rapidly healing as she looked up from Dash, glaring at the stallion standing between her and her prey.
The white pegasus shifted to stand on his rear hooves, wings wide as he leveled his spear at the griffon, glaring at the bird from under the edge of his guard helm as he stood over Dash.
“You will have her over my dead body, criminal scum,” Peach Blossom growled.
“That's my favorite way to have things,” chuckled Wind Razor.
=======================================================
Starfall tore across the sky, her eyes scanning the ground for the marks. She wanted to go faster, she wanted to fly at top speed, but she knew if she went too much faster, she would probably lose the trail.
As it was, she nearly missed Rhede, Velkorn, and AJ standing at the edge of a cliff. There was a rope across the chasm, and Rhede looked like he was about to attempt to cross it. She cursed lightly, changing course to land hand near them.
“Which way did she go, Pelt?” Starfall shouted a bit louder than she meant though the panic was easily heard in her voice.
Rhede dropped off the rope, glancing into the woods, and pointed to the marker across the chasm. “This is as far as we've gotten.
The next marker is...”
A resounding boom cut him off as a black wave of energy arced across the sky before fading into nothing.
“Never mind. I think I found them,” Starfall cursed, launching back into the air.
“SILVERTAIL!” Rhede shouted, causing the pegasus to involuntarily pause to glare down at him.
Rhede opened his saddle back, yanking a sheathed dagger from it and flinging the blade into the air at Starfall. The pegasus caught the blade, curiously pulling it open a bit. Her eyes widened at the glimmer of star metal.
“Pelt, where do you ponies all keep finding this stuff?” Starfall growled.
“Never mind that. Just remember: rescue first, kill second, you understand me?” Pelt shouted. “Get her and get back to us as quick as you can.”
“Right, thanks Pelt,” Starfall replied, taking off again towards the explosion.
=======================================================
Rhede sighed, looking to Applejack as she yanked her rope free and re-coiled it. “Head back to town as quickly as you can, make sure Sparkle is alright,” Rhede mutters to her, speaking low.
“What? What tha hay are you gonna do?” Applejack questioned.
Rhede didn’t respond, but he moved suddenly, shoving the orange earth pony to the ground as a dagger sliced through the air pinning AJ's hat to the tree she had tied the rope around.
Applejack cursed as Rhede scrambled back to his hooves, moving next to Velkorn as both of them shifted to ready stances.
“You must have lost your touch, Scarlet. You're making enough noise for them to hear you in Canterlot,” Rhede hissed.
“Not my fault, Pelt. This blasted zebra doesn't understand the concept of stealth at all.” Scarlet grinned, stepping out of the treeline flanked by a dozen enthralled towns ponies and a dreadlocked zebra.
Velkorn stepped back, her eyes widening at the sight of Bloodtail. She flattened her ears to her head, barely repressing a shudder of fear.
[“Greetings, my queen. Have you missed me?”] the zebra stallion smirked.
==========================================================
The Goddess of the Sun looked down at the open chest, a small shiver running along her form as she stared at what it contained.
It was not the object itself that worried her, but what it would mean when she put it on. Centuries had passed without her being more than a diplomatic leader. Only on rare occasions had her hoof been forced enough that she needed to get physically involved.
She had not seen real combat since Discord had been defeated so long ago.
Certainly, there had been other fights. Forgescale's capture, the battle to retake the Crystal Empire, the fight with Nightmare Moon, and more recently, the short duel against Chrysalis.
She counted all but one of those a loss, and given what came after Forgescale's defeat, she could probably count that as such too. Each of those battles simply reinforced what her mentor had asked of her after Discord was defeated.
“Seek all options for peace. Do not allow your rage to bring you back to war,” Celestia muttered.
It had been sound advice from Aviana, something she had tried very hard to live up to. She thought she had succeeded with it a number of times, but conflict always returned.
The enchantment on the objects in the case was a potent one, something forged by her sister in a time of need. The binding to the enchantment was easily changed, however.
Celestia sighed. A thousand years ago, she and a group of Luna's closest friends tried to purge the corruption of the books from her sister. They had failed and Celestia was forced to use a sizable portion of her power to banish her sister. Luna's friends had given up their own freedom, given up the chance to make amends with their deed, to be seen as something other than Nightmare Moon's Generals. They could have been heroes rather than the feared Five Beasts of the Moon.
They had chosen instead to follow Luna into imprisonment, hoping that in the future their friend would forgive them for betraying her.
All the heroic praise, all the respect for stopping the threat of Luna was instead lavished on her. Small conflicts were quickly resolved just from her presence; wars were avoided simply because of her say. She had wielded the fame of that victory like a sword, forcing the diplomatic swing of the world to move as she wished. In less than a decade, old rivalries and conflicts that had plagued the peace of the lands was all but gone. No one had known war for nearly a thousand years.
It only happened because none of the other gods wished to test her. They recalled what Luna and her Generals had done, and had no wish to go against the one who stopped them all at once.
She was feared and respected for something she did not earn nor deserve. Despite the peace that it brought the world, she hated using her fame, hated wielding it like a sword, no, like a scythe, cutting away the weeds so the plants, her peace, could grow.
Celestia smiled at the analogy; farming— something she had not done in some time. It made things easier to think of the problems like weeds that needed to be removed. Her horn glowed briefly, lifting the objects from the chest and staring face to face with the fanged skull helm.
“One has to be careful not to cut the crop when one weeds, but you cannot fear the act of cutting or the weeds will kill the crop.”
“Princess?” Nicker questioned, watching as Celestia pulled the bone helm over her head, the skeletal armor rapidly forming around her like a suit of plate-mail.
Celestia inhaled, stretching a bit as the armor settled around her. It was clearly meant for a smaller pony, and there were parts of of her body that were exposed that she was not entirely comfortable with, but this was likely the only thing there was that might even come close to fitting her. Besides, the visage this skeletal armor gave her alone would be worth its weak points. She exhaled as the enchantment finished, the guards around her certain that a bit of fire left the Goddess’s lips.
“Nicker, ready the Guard. I am taking my city back,” Celestia stated, her voice seeming to echo from under the fanged helm.
“Yes, Princess.” Nicker saluted and rushed off to rally the forces.
Celestia turned, heading out of the war room towards the front gate, a group of guards flanking her on either side, but staying out of her path.
Events had shown her that why she sought peace may have been wrong. Kaisur had shown her that fear could stop just as many conflicts as talk. Twilight had shown her that the reasons didn't matter as much as the results. Luna had shown her that following one path to the exclusion of all others was folly, be it a path of war or a path of peace.
The front gates opened to the courtyard and all available troops in the castle stood there, snapping to attention and saluting, their armor and weapons glistening in the sun. The castle would be left undefended for a bit, but there was nothing in its walls worthy of the lives that would be lost if she did not act.
She glanced down at the Element of Honesty where she had let it rest around her neck, wondering if it was the cause of the sudden clarity she was experiencing.
Today, Celestia was willing to try things her sister’s way.
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Oooooooh dis gon be goooood. *munching popcorn*
Yall dun bucked up! Now Tia's gettin in the action
I like short chapters they are easier to read. Continue.
Wow, that was just... wow
You really had to cut the chapter in half... Still, this chapter was enough to make me want more.
Pinkie is really dead then?
Celestia is going to battle. And I just can't help but to pity her enemies
Oh sweet jesus the Solar Flare is about to wreck face.
*SOLAR FLARE ENGAGEMENT PROTOCOLS ACTIVATED*
*REQUESTING PERMISSION TO TERMINATE... GRANTED*
Oooh, this is going to be good
First of all, good to see you're still mixing seriousness, action and hilarity. The casual and friendly banter between Rose and Starfall while fighting Chrysalysis was hilarious. The teamwork between Luna and Jer'rahd was excellent, I really liked it. Nocturne really underestimated them. Although, I do hope she doesn't suddenly pull some kind of ace from her sleeve.
.
And yeah, the sex talk
So, Pinkie is dead, huh? Well... who cares? I ain't even mad.
Also, finally, badass Celestia.
(AND Here, I shamelessly promote some of my artwork): th02.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2013/253/2/2/thou_shalt_not_hurt_our_little_ponies__by_xonxt-d6l1u55.png
And then everything died, the end
Your writing is by and far some of my favorite to read. Not only have you created a rich and interest world in the story. It does not seem so far removed from the book as to be ridiculous. Can't wait to see the "Sun Rise" come to Canterlot.
3287874.. Hmm interesting theory, although [Redacted]
3295505 Honestly The spot with Celestia stepping out was a better cut off point than i thought. The rest of the chapter is almost done any way as well so it may be up by this weekend.
Yes pinkie is dead and that is going to cause all sorts of problems.
3295433>>3295752>>3296108 To tell the truth this happened a little bit sooner than it was going to in my original plan. sometimes the story takes over for itself however.
3296237 I try in regards to that. I am not a fan of super serious works, but at the same time i have difficultly just letting madness reign as well.
That was something i wanted to point out in regards to Luna and Jer'rahd... heck all six of them. I may have only shown that Starfall and Jer'rahd spared in the first book , but in time all of them did. Velkorn and Luna in particular had some rather interesting sessions with both of them using bare hoof styles. As long as they were together they picked up working together quite well. And like Jer'rahd said both of the villians really had the element of surprise on their side when they attacked.
Nice though if you really want to promote your art work how about drawing a couple of my story chars [insert bright neon green flashing hint hint sign here]
3296849 everything dies..... it's just the when that makes it interesting
3296913 Thank you, i know i still need grammatical work, but supposedly that has improved since the start.
Awesome! Now it looks like it's Celestia's turn to see some action. Go out there and kick some flank for me Tia!
3297785 Well, as a matter of fact I do have an art piece based off your story in my 'To do' list. I was thinking of a group shot with all of the Beasts either being encased in stone or waking up from it. Although, if you wanted to see a different scene?
And I think I saw your designs in the OC-creator...
Thanks for the official 'go ahead' permission
3298945
...............
That is actually the scene i wanted. With either Twilight and Celestia looking at them in stone for book one or Just Twilight with the Waning Moon and Brilliant dawn for book two.
So I dont know if you know this exists but there's a song titled "not a clever pony" on youtube and it's dedicated to the New Lunar Republic... I found it rather coincidental.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDXvj0naRA8
3299337 Yup, i am well aware. This was one of the songs that inspired the story and i have three of the mixes of it on my writing playlist.. The original song is 'For the New Lunar Republic.' The artist is 'Not A Clever Pony'.
There are some errors, like scared instead of scarred, and angels instead of angles.
I already noticed the chapter was divided without looking at the word count nor finishing reading, because I was close to the end of the chapter and no named character died yet, and I expected by this point at least one important death per chapter.
I wanted to draw a group shot since long time ago, but I am not good at drawing equines. I'll stick to draw monsters and other creatures that don't appear in the show, like the orcs or trolls or the dark Loyalties. I was the guy who drew the beast inside Jer back then (shameless plug below!)
http://infinityvoid.deviantart.com/art/Belly-Breathe-368421926
I would like to draw Jer dressed as Bowser, and Rhede as one of the Assassin's Creed protagonists, but I don't know what to draw the others as, and I don't want to leave some out. Maybe Bleu with the colors of Spyro or something.
Not really sure how I feel about Pinkie getting killed off like that... it's a little too... ignomious? She deserves more than a building falling on her and then Discord fiddling away as Ponyville burns. Granted, really didn't see you actually killing off any of the Mane 6. Granted, who knows if it's a 'permanent' thing, but it probably is. Though, if anypony could get by the Pale Mare, it's Pinkie.
First ... Why pinkie why
Second Tia being badass I can get behind
And third I love when authors use Norse mythology even in fleating (Though the blooming moon chronicles kind of ups your story for that sort of stuff
3302218 Spell check only gets so much i'm afraid.
Singing doom for some chars huh. hehehe. It is true, i've not offed any one in a while....well a whole chapter any way.
Hmm I'd say Velkorn as a Final Fantasy White mage, and starfall as Samus
3302627 Actually it was a trophy collection, a building and a fire.
3302902 because no one expected it.
Bout time really.
3307588 umm sorry?
3307672 - Velkorn is clearly a Monk/Alchemist ala Final Fantasy Tactics.
Wow I really took my time reading that chapter
Still amazing nonetheless
Can't wait to see what you have in store for us with the chapters that are still to come and it look forward to reading them
3323650 Seriously is there an char in a modern day style anime scarier than Bianca?
I'm just waiting for Discord to realize how much he miss Pinkie, reform himself and bring her back in a chocolate storm.
really? Another Monty Grail reference. That brings the total to what? 5? uses of the holy grail movie
3584525
scratch that. make it six
Well you killed off my favorite pony, not to excited about that. On the other hand you brought in discord, my favorite character, interesting. The elements of harmony won't work now because pinkie pie is dead. Who knows maybe discord is going to be laughter again, I hope so, that would make up for pinkie's death.
sorry, but celestia is a thousand years late on getting involved. if scarlet, claymore and bloodtail had been executed instead, they would not have this big of a problem.
Chapter ended on a hell of a strong note.