Chapter 2
"Cadance!" Twilight awoke with a start, limbs flailing in panic as something gripped them tightly.
"Twilight, calm down, you're safe," a voice said to her. Turning, Twilight saw Aneira standing above her.
Sheepishly, she realised that she had been placed in a cot, and that her panicked awakening had caused her to become tangled in the bed sheets.
The Unicorn sat up and looked around. She was still in the destroyed dining hall. The remnants of last night's battle littered the ground, with frozen Reindeer dotted around the room like statues, slowly being unfrozen by a hooful of mages.
The whole thing had an eerie sense of calm to it, a stark contrast to the frantic battle last night.
"—light? Twilight, can you hear me?" The voice was saying. Twilight looked over and saw Aneira still stood beside her. Ugly, purple bruises covered her body, partially obscured by her fur, but otherwise she looked none the worse for wear.
"Are... Are you okay?" Twilight stammered out, her words slow and stilted.
"Am I okay?" Aneira laughed, a gentle melody of chortles that soothed Twilight's headache. "We're more worried about you! You took a nasty blow to the head last night. The shamans think you might have a concussion."
Twilight stared blankly at Aneira, the doe's words trickling into her brain slowly, as if there was a barrier of treacle impeding them.
"What... What happened?" Twilight said after a long moment, groaning as her head pulsated with pain. "How long was I out? And what happened? You know, after the battle."
"Here, drink this, it should help with your head," Aneira said, passing over a green bottle. "You’ve been out almost a full day, it’s almost night. As for what happened, I'm not sure." Aneira frowned, placing a hoof upon her chin. “I woke up a short while ago, alone. I think the doe that led the attack left, taking the Windigoes with her. Drink up," she added, seeing that Twilight had made no effort to drink the potion, merely cradling it between her hooves.
Twilight slowly and haltingly drank from the bottle. Almost immediately, her mind cleared as if a thick fog was lifted from it, although it remained slightly fuzzy around the edges and her headache wasn't completely alleviated. Memories of last night flashed into place—the attack, the battle in the main hall, Luna and Arctis battling a strange Reindeer, before losing.
"Where’s Luna?” Twilight said with a start, her voice filled with panic. “And your father? And Cadance? What happened to them?" She threw aside her blankets and staggered out of bed, nearly falling over if Aneria hadn't moved to catch her. Twilight was too caught up in her worries to thank her properly.
"I'm not sure." Aneria's expression was unreadable. "They're gone. Except for Cadance, and... Well it's easier to show you."
"Show me?" Twilight asked, but Aneira had already turned, leading the Unicorn to the center of the room, where a familiar pink ice statue stood. "Why hasn't she been unfrozen yet?" Twilight asked, glancing at Aneria with worry.
"Because, Twilight," Aneria said, looking her in the eye, "she's frozen in Everice. We can't unfreeze her. She's trapped in there."
Twilight slipped of Aneria, falling to her haunches in shock. "No. No, she can't be trapped. She can’t be. There's got to be some way to get her out." Twilight looked at Aneira pleadingly. “There has to be.”
Aneira shook her head. "Everice is unmeltable. Not even somedeer of Discord's power can melt it. I’m... I’m sorry."
A resolute expression appeared on Twilight's face. "I have to try. I have to get her out of there.”
Aneira said nothing, merely stepping out of the way. Twilight lowered her head, touching her horn to Cadance’s. Slowly, she willed power into her horn, arcane energies traveling through her body. The stress of the spell worsened her headache, causing her to gasp with pain, but she kept on channeling, until the agony was near unbearable. Then she released it.
Twilight gasped once again, though with surprise rather than pain. The Everice consisted of thousands upon thousands of tiny runes, chained to each other like the links in a chainmail shirt. They flowed throughout the ice, binding and maintaining it, a river—nay, a delta—of spellwork, shifting, moving, growing.
Twilight fell to her haunches, tears forming in her eyes. It would take all of her concentration to remove just one of the enchantments, and its self-regenerating nature would mean that two more would spring into place almost instantly.
Twilight stared at it, despair welling up in her heart, but as she looked, a pattern emerged in the spellwork. Certain groups of runes would repeat themselves, moving in a precise arrangement. Like clockwork, Twilight thought to herself. A giant piece of three-dimensional—no, wait, four-dimensional—clockwork.
Sure enough, Twilight’s mind began to pick out the smaller patterns, seeing how they fitted into a whole. No wonder Discord could never destroy it—he can’t even comprehend something of this complexity, this edifice of pure order. But even with this new insight, I still lack the power and the concentration to fix this. But it’s a start...
Twilight sighed. “I can see how to break it... but I don’t have the ability. I don’t think anypony does.”
Aneira blinked and looked at Twilight in surprise. “You saw the pattern?”
Twilight snorted. “Barely. It’s so complex, so subtle, that I almost missed it.”
“I’ve never met another deer—or pony—who could see it,” Aneira said. “Not even my father can see it.”
Twilight looked back at the statue, but any further musings were interrupted by a panicky looking Reindeer approaching them, his shamans cowl lopsided and ragged.
“Aneira, quick, you must come outside,” he said, panting heavily.
“What’s wrong, Seiðr?” she asked, but he only shook his head, leaving for the courtyard.
Aneira and Twilight looked at each other in confusion, before galloping after the Reindeer, Twilight occasionally stumbling as her sore legs struggled to keep up.
They emerged into the courtyard, where a gentle shower of snow was falling, but that wasn't what caught their attention.
Seiðr pointed into the sky. "Look at the moon!" He cried, panic colouring his voice.
Twilight fell to her haunches as she stared at the silvery orb—or rather, the shadowy face that adorned it once again.
"The Mare in the Moon," she half whispered to herself.
But this wasn't the Mare in the Moon from her childhood. Whereas the former inspired fear and terror for a thousand years, looking at this one, Twilight felt only sadness.
"Luna..." Twilight croaked out, and she realised she was sobbing. Aneria looked over and wordlessly pulled her into a hug. "Princess Celestia's going to kill me." Twilight attempted to chuckle, but all that burst out was another sob.
"Seiðr," Aneria barked sharply, "help me get Twilight back inside."
"At once, Your Highness," the shaman replied, coming round to Twilight's otherside. Together, they managed to herd the distraught Unicorn back inside and onto her cot.
"Here, Twilight, drink this," Aneria said once Twilight was settled, passing her a blue bottle. "It'll help you sleep."
Twilight numbly took the bottle and gulped its contents down. Immediately she began to feel drowsy, and within moments she was asleep.
---
Twilight awoke slowly, the sound of muted discussion filling her ears. Blearily rubbing her eyes, she looked over to where Aneria, Seiðr and a third Reindeer were standing, along with Luna’s two pegasus nightguards, all five locked in a whispered discussion.
Twilight pulled back the sheets, and hopped out of bed, her hooves clacking against the hard floor. Her vision blurred and she swayed, only to be caught by Aneria before she could fall over.
“Twilight, are you feeling okay?” one of the guards asked, concern in his voice as he helped Twilight find her footing.
Twilight stood upright, taking her weight of the night pegasus. “Yes, Sergeant Nightwing, I’m fine, I’m just tired, that’s all.”
“That’s good,” Corporal Shadow Flight replied. “After losing the Princesses, we don’t want to lose you as well.”
Twilight closed her eyes and sighed. “Thank you, sirs, for your concern.”
“Just doing our duty, Ma’am,” Shadow Flight replied.
Twilight turned to Aneria. “So what’s the plan?”
“We believe that my Father was also banished, in a similar manner to Princess Luna,” Aneria replied. “Thankfully, my father was a paranoid old goat, so he created an emergency measure in case he was incapacitated.”
“An emergency measure?” Twilight said.
“If I may?” Seiðr asked, stepping forwards. At Twilight’s nod, he continued. “Prince Arctis created a series of virtuous enchantments, which when activated, emit a large amount of Harmony energy, as well as restoring Prince Arctis to his full self. We hypothesized that Arctis would be reformed from wherever he was banished to, should the enchantments be activated. It would also have the effect of banishing the Windigoes, although after their invasion last night, we don’t know how effective that would be.”
“Virtuous enchantments?” Twilight asked. “Like the Elements of Harmony?”
“Exactly.” Seiðr nodded enthusiastically. “The eight shrines—the objects which contain the enchantments—were actually based off Queen Harmony’s work, but instead of drawing on your Queens ideals of Friendship, they are based on the eight virtues of the Paragons.”
“The eight virtues? Thats, uh, Courage, Justice, Compassion, Love...” Twilight paused for a moment, her hoof tapping anxiously against the floor. “... Truth, Order, Faith and Wisdom, right?”
“You’re quite right, lassie” said the third Reindeer, a large, burly warrior with ritualistic tattoos covering his scarred hide, contrasting sharply with his low and soft spoken voice. Despite herself, Twilight quailed in fright as the large and intimidating Deer stepped forwards. “My apologies, M’Lady, for we have not been introduced. I am Andfenga, Prince Arctis’ Chosen.”
“Chosen? What does that mean?” Twilight asked, her eyes burning with curiosity, although she still kept a wary distance from the warrior. Such people were uncommon in Equestria—even her brother, Shining Armor, who was the captain of Celestia’s own royal guard, had limited battle experience, and certainly did not give off the same aura of restrained violence.
“The Chosen of the Paragons are the greatest warriors in each clan—a cross between a champion and a captain of the guard,” Aneria explained.
“Aye,” Andfenga added. “Tis a great honour—and a great responsibility, for we have to uphold the ideals of the Paragons at all times.”
“Hm,” Twilight said, thinking. “It also sets you up as likely candidates for the virtuous enchantments.”
“Quite right,” Aneria said. “We happen to know for a fact that Andfenga represents the virtue of Courage, since he activated the shrine some years ago. The other shrines, however, are dormant. We have never had more than three active at any one time, actually.”
Twilight frowned. "That's a problem... But if Arctis linked the shrines to the Weave of Destiny, then the required Reindeer should appear anyway..."
"We can't say for sure that is the case," Seiðr replied. "Besides, the Weave is fickle. Even if the shrines are linked, like your Elements were, we would still have to prove ourselves worthy. We can never rely solely on destiny to do our work for us."
"True, even I had to prove myself worthy of the Element of Magic, despite having it as my Cutie Mark," Twilight said, pacing up and down as she considered the problem. “But either way, there is nothing that can be done about it.”
“Quite right,” Aneria said. “So the plan is to leave for the shrines as soon as sufficient supplies can be gathered, and hope for the best.”
Twilight chuckled at the simplicity of the plan. When Aneria shot her a look, she explained, “it’s no worse than my plan to take on Nightmare Moon. Heck, the original plan called for me to approach her alone and with no supplies. So what’s our first destination?”
Aneria looked up in surprise. “You’re coming?”
Twilight snorted. “Of course I am. I’m not going to let any friend of mine face this journey alone. Besides, I need to get payback on that doe for what she did to Luna and Cadance. Speaking of which, I don’t suppose you know who she is?”
Aneria shook her head. “Not a clue. Which is why the Shrine of Wisdom is our first stop, as that is where the Great Archive, the largest repository of Reindeer knowledge, resides. If they don’t know who she is, nodeer will.”
“We set off in the morning,” Andfenga said. “I suggest you all try to get some sleep. The Shrine of Wisdom is a good two day hike from here.”
Twilight nodded, before turning to return to her room, when she felt a hoof stop her. Turning, she saw Aneria.
“Twilight... Thank you. For coming with me.”
Twilight smiled in return. “You’re welcome.”
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2524188
Yeah, I just ended up mega busy with my dissertation and hit writers block at the same time, as well as focusing on several other projects at once.
Replace that comma with a semicolon.
*off
I see three sentences and three commas with no coordinating conjunctions. I understand that it is dialogue, but periods should work just fine.
In any event, this update pleases me greatly. Do go on. I cannot wait for more!
2538688
Thanks! And I'm glad you like this chapter.
"Corporal Shadow Flight and Sergeant Nightwing are 'Night Pegasi', the batwinged ones Luna uses"
I always find it a little odd when folks assume that they actually have bat-wings. It seemed to obvious to me that they were costumes, but no-one else seems to agree.
2594923
They might be costumes, they might not. In this story, night pegasi are a seperate breed of Pegasus.
I do have some headcanon that all guards have armour with two enchantments on it—a day enchantment that turns them white, like Celestia's guards, and a night enchantment that turns them black and batty, like Luna's guards. Day enchantments are optimised for defence, whilst night enchantments are optimised for offence.
It just doesn't apply to this particular story.