Chapter 1: Homecoming
Within the mountaintop stronghold of Oasis, there were—according to Pisces—exactly one thousand, two hundred and eighty-five different animals, exactly one hundred and six of which were butterflies, exactly four of whom were currently flapping their way through the southeastern sector of Capricorn’s flower gardens. Although Pisces had only managed to name eight hundred and eighty of her beloved pets so far, the four delicate creatures cresting over one of Cap’s immaculately trimmed hillocks needed no extra introduction. Their colors spoke for themselves: brilliant splotches of red, blue, green, orange, and every other hue imaginable covered their wings, each design intricately formed and unique to the single butterfly who owned it.
Dipping and twitching through the air in a roughly rectangular formation, the quartet followed the slope of the hill down to a neatly organized collection of yellow tulips, where each peeled off to perch on the rim of a flower of their choosing. One of the butterflies, the biggest and brightest of the lot, nearly left the patch entirely before finding a suitable spot to land. He swooped down gently on a bud near the very edge of the last row, the stalk of the flimsy plant bending ever so slightly under his weight, and let his wings slowly fall open. The fading evening light shone through them, painting the ground with long streaks of hot pink and robin’s egg blue.
For several seconds, his only movement was to gently flex his wings up and down a few times, reveling in the warmth provided by the setting sun. His demeanor showed him to be completely at ease, which was great, because that meant the furry brown creature peeking out from behind the next row over had laid her trap well. Her prey was in range, separated from his pack and shamefully exposed. All that was left now was to close the gap. She crouched low to the ground, narrowed her eyes until they were barely slitted open, and sucked in one last breath.
“RrrrrrrRAAA-owww!”
For a moment, shock and disappointment weighed her down like lead. How could this have happened? Everything had been perfect: the approach, the timing, the painstaking observation of flight patterns and escape tactics. And yet here she was, spread-eagled in the middle of a flower bed, spitting out tulip parts while her target floated away on the breeze, casually gliding along as if he hadn’t just been inches from his horrific and highly professional demise.
“Hey!” she shouted after the butterfly, frantically readjusting the grungy beige costume that covered up most of her pale blue coat and messy gray mane. It was this blasted thing’s fault, she soon decided. What the hay was the point of a lion costume if it didn’t make you any better at hunting? Whoever made this thing was going to have a lot of excuses to make when she got back to the Great Hall.
The fact that she had made the costume herself briefly slipping her mind, the mare inside it sprang to her hooves and gave chase, her winged prey flying leisurely enough for her to catch up but still too high to reach. Not that a fearless warrior like her was about to give up on that account, though.
“Get back here!” she grunted after her third near miss. If only she could fly like Sagittarius, or shape-shift like Cancer. That butterfly’d sure be humming a different tune if it were being chased by a real lion, or by a mare with springs for hooves. Gritting her teeth, she channeled all of her strength into her hind legs and imagined herself soaring twenty feet high in a single bound, concentrating on the thought as hard as she could.
Springs for hooves, springs for hooves, springs springs springs springs...”
“Gotcha!” she shouted, but her triumphant cry came too soon. The butterfly skirted out of her grasp once more by the tips of his wings, and too late for her to get her hooves back under her before she landed hard on top of the hillock it had now returned to. It took her a good half-minute to roll to a stop at the bottom, and her head was spinning too much for her to do anything but dizzily watch her prey deftly flit down towards her and settle on the tip of her nose.
“Showoff,” she mumbled, sticking her bottom lip out and blowing the butterfly off her face in the same breath. As she lay defeated in the grass watching it flutter away again, the warbling sound of a gemshorn wafted into her ears, the familiar two-note call sending a spark of excitement flitting down her spine. That sound could only mean one thing: the Hunters were back. And the Hunters would have news about the peace treaty from the pony tribes down in Terra. Not to mention, he would be with them.
Any embarrassment she felt over the failures of the last few minutes vanished in a flash, and she threw herself into a full sprint for Oasis’s front gate, which the Hunters would surely be walking through any minute now. Sure enough, a monstrous stallion the size of three mortal ones put together came into view the second she rounded the back of Aquarius’s workshop and clattered out into the cobblestone plaza in front of the Great Hall, his cherry red fur seeming to glow from the intense orange sunlight bearing down on it from the west.
“Taurus!” she yelled out, the tricky footing of the street underhoof not enough to keep her from diving at the Hunter’s neck and swinging around to land on his back. It was a daily ritual of theirs: she’d try to tackle him, and end up being satisfied if one of his bulging muscles gave a little bit. Life kinda had to be full of little victories like that when your best friend and pseudo-big brother was a hulking mass of an indestructible deity strong enough to smash through half a city without breaking a sweat.
“‘Sup, Mister T,” she sang into his ear, shimmying up to his neck and hooking her forehooves around the bull horns in his glinting steel helmet. “How’d the guard duty go?”
Taurus shrugged, his exuberant accomplice riding the flexing of his deltoids as the Zodiac’s resident pony of few words spoke two of the eight he’d probably use while he was home this time. “Good enough,” he said slowly, in his typically deep, gravelly tone.
“You beat anypony up?”
“Didn’t need to.”
“Fight your way through an army of evildoers, saving the day and succeeding through impossible odds?”
“Sorry to disappoint.”
Dang. That was eight words already. “Puh-leeeease?” she begged, sliding off his shoulder to cling onto Taurus’s foreleg, which he then lifted horizontally up into the air so she wouldn’t get stepped on as he continued into the courtyard. “What happened? Spill the beans!”
Taurus shrugged again, leveling a seemingly disinterested stare at the costumed mare hanging off his raised ankle.
“C’mon,” she intoned, her nose crinkled in frustration. “Beans. Spill ‘em.”
“Sorry, squirt,” a new voice interrupted before Taurus could work up the ennui to shrug again. “Ain’t many beans to spill this time.”
To somepony unaccustomed to the extraordinary abilities the twelve members of the Zodiac possessed, the sight that greeted the two of them when they turned around might’ve been horrifying. The mare trotting up the last few steps leading up to Oasis was hardly equine enough to even be called one. Jet-black, chitinous scales coated her body all the way back to the tip of her abnormally long tail, and strapped to her forehooves were two wickedly sharp curved blades, each one extending out perpendicular to her torso and punctuated with jagged little teeth along the last six inches near the tip.
As she neared the front gate, though, her features began to soften. The scales shimmered and cracked apart, dissolving into her skin until her natural colors surfaced once more: cerise in her coat and a greyish shade of purple in her tomboyish mane and deftly knotted tail.
“Borders were clear the whole way through,” she said, yanking at the straps of her left-hoof blade with her teeth as she walked. “Only thing even close to action was a little pack’a Windigos we ran into a couple miles back. Hardly even worth powering up for.”
“Speak for yourself, Scorpio,” came another feminine voice from somewhere overhead. Scorpio tugged off her other blade and smirked, not even so much as flinching as the largest eagle anyone present had ever seen—almost twice Taurus’s height, with easily an eighteen-foot wingspan—swooped in for a hard landing mere feet from her side. The massive bird fluffed its wings and coughed, and for a moment its deadly beak and beady black eyes seemed to bubble and undulate, as if the updraft of a fire were bending the light around and distorting it. Then, with a distantly audible pop, the predator’s once imposing visage was gone, replaced by the rounded, somewhat less awe-inspiring head of a lavender earth mare with a frizzy indigo mane.
“You weren’t the one who had to mop up the mess you made scattering them halfway to the Eastern Shore,” she griped, daintily lifting one of her feet and inspecting the foot-long talons attached to it. “Do you have any idea how cold windigos are? I won’t be able to feel my toes for a month!”
“Which I’m sure would be awfully tragic if you actually had toes,” Scorpio jabbed back, her grin widening as the pony-headed eagle gave her a dirty look before quickly completing her transition into her normal equine body, steadfastly resisting the urge to glance down at her distinctly toe-less hooves. “Quit bein’ such a pansy, Cancer. Sagittarius didn’t have any trouble. Did you, Sage?”
Her last remark was directed at yet another new arrival, this one a muted orange pegasus stallion with a spiky black mane and a gold-encrusted composite bow hanging off his shoulder. The similarly decorated quiver on his back was empty but for two silver arrows, and the look in his eyes bridged the gap between dismissive and flattered. “Cancer did most of the work,” he argued, the pitch of his voice a bit more youthful than his lithe, muscular frame might have suggested. “Running interference isn’t exactly life-threatening.”
“‘Specially when you’re flitting around at half the speed of sound,” Cancer grumbled, though the slight blush in her cheeks betrayed her appreciation of Sage’s compliment. He always did that: deflected any praise thrown his way towards whoever he felt needed it. Of course, he also always did that traveling-at-half-the-speed-of-sound thing too, but that was a whole other story.
“See, that’s the problem with you shape-shifters,” Scorpio went on. “You’re never happy with what you’ve got. You gotta loosen up a bit. Y’know, have some fun amidst the blood-soaked chaos. Like me, the way I’m all... I mean, how I’m so, um... what’s the word I’m looking for?”
“Hubristic?” Sagittarius piped up.
“Obdurate?” Cancer added a moment later.
“Ooh, oblivious, that could work,” Sagittarius tossed out after a moment’s pause, earning a snicker from Cancer and a glare from Scorpio.
“Remind me to smack you both when I figure out what those words mean,” she growled, though like Cancer before her threat had a playful tinge to it. Sagittarius, though, waited a second too long for the opportunity to tease her back.
“All right, Hunters, that’s enough,” a canary yellow pegasus with a close-cropped purple and yellow-striped mane ordered, her uncommonly husky voice friendly but firm. “Do me a favor and save the bickering for someplace I can’t hear it, would you?”
Scorpio turned away from her long enough to stick her tongue out at Sagittarius—she always got the last word in, and Sagittarius always let her—but quickly straightened up once Libra, the eagle-eyed leader of the Gatherers who’d probably quite literally seen their little tussle coming, passed by. She was the kind of mare who made every crowd she walked through look lesser by comparison: intelligent, confident, and probably the only Gatherer not only willing but able to go tête-a-tête with a Hunter any day of the week. With all that being said, though, she was still an easygoing flying addict, and diplomatic and wise for every one of the Zodiac to trust her as both a capable commander and a good friend.
And yet, her presence did little to free the mare in the lion costume from wondering if she’d accidentally swallowed one of the butterflies she’d been chasing before. Only four Hunters were here now. There were supposed to be six. Even a few others from her group, the Gatherers, were coming out to greet their friends: there was Aquarius nudging the door to her workshop closed, and Gemini bouncing down the front steps of the Great Hall in perfect sync with her twin. Where was he?
“I swear, you’d live in that helmet if we didn’t force you into the Bathhouse every now and then,” Libra told Taurus, her knowing gaze drifting from his spotless armor towards the disheveled mare still hanging off his foreleg. Disarming Libra’s stare with a cheeky grin, she slid back down to the ground and allowed Taurus the use of his leg again, mimicking his motions as he pulled the headwear off and ran a hoof through his badly matted white mohawk.
“What’s the news?” the now de-maned mare asked again. Libra’s gift was, as she liked to call it, “farsightedness”: if she could picture a place in the world or a living thing within it, her eyes would go completely white, and she’d be able to see it or them no matter where they were or what they were doing. Libra had to have checked in on the Hunters during the day, but even she dodged the question.
“Pretty sure you’ve already heard it,” she told her, tucking her hunting horn away into the small pack strapped to her side as she spoke. “One small skirmish near Galloping Gorge, and clear skies and smooth sailing the whole rest of the way.”
“Yeah, okay, I know that. But what about the negotiations? Did they work? Are the tribes all together now?” Her eyes were focused on Libra, but her mind was miles away, searching for any sign of the Hunters’ fifth and sixth member. She hadn’t even listened to her own questions, let alone whatever Libra said in reply. He couldn’t have gotten hurt or captured. The rest of the group wouldn’t be acting all happy and carefree like this. But he wasn’t the type to ever be late either. He was fine, though. He had to be fine. In just a second, he’d come trotting up those steps, and then-
“Your guess is as good as ours, Leo.”
The words hit her like a stiff breeze, cutting through her body in one freezing-cold burst and muffling out the rest of the world around her. Somehow, she hadn’t noticed him coming up around the side of the gate, his toned haunches just barely tensed with the strain of pulling himself up the last few steps. He didn’t look pained at all by the effort; in fact, he looked like the very ideal of masculine strength and tenacity, a perfect godlike being among other slightly less perfect godlike beings. Every part of him seemed charged with an otherworldly light, none more so than the soft violet orbs peering out from behind spotless gold armor garnished with a pair of ram’s horns on either side of his temples.
He pulled his helmet off in one fluid motion, releasing the windswept navy blue locks underneath that so superbly complemented his periwinkle coat. To the other mares living down in Terra and up above it in Oasis, Aries was quite an attractive stallion. To Leo, though, he was heaven on hooves, and now those hooves were walking right towards her.
“We weren’t there for any of the meetings,” he went on. “The tribe leaders and their advisors were the only ones allowed inside in, so we’re stuck waiting with the rest of the world to hear what they decided.” His electric gaze now turned to Libra, and with it came a chuckle that dripped with false camaraderie. “Course, Virgo and Libra here don’t have a clue either, and they’d certainly tell us if she did, because how else would I trust them enough not to hound them with the exact same question for the entire day?”
“Patience, Aries, is a virtue,” Libra told him. As was the norm for the lead Gatherer, her poker face was terrible. “And surprises are the spice of life.”
Aries cocked an eyebrow. Somewhere nearby, a volcano erupted, the heat from its blast scorching Leo’s skin. “Think I’ve said before that Hunters don’t like surprises.”
Now Libra’s brow was twitching too. “Think you said before that you trusted me.” Her eyes dipped towards his shimmering, sparkling hooves. “Or do you always show off like that for a girl with something you want?”
Aries looked down as well, and his handsome bravado softened under a sheepish grin. He closed his eyes for a moment, and the tiny arcs of electricity flitting all across his body fizzled and winked out, their presence symbolic of his mastery over the element. Not to mention, probably a pretty good explanation for that whole “otherworldly light” deal.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” he said once his power was no longer on display. “I’m always ready for action.”
“I take it that means ‘yes’.”
Aries shook his head, his face split by a grin and his eyes still twinkling with barely constrained energy. “Beats me why you’d ever want to join the Hunters, Leo,” he said to the costumed mare still sitting nearby. Her posture was slumped and somewhat awkwardly positioned, as if her hind legs had simply given out and she hadn’t quite gotten around to noticing yet. “Long hours, no hazard pay, and you still gotta deal with smartflanks like her the second you get home. Anypony who tosses their helmet into that ring’s as crazy as I am.”
“Ha. Yeah,” Leo mumbled, her jaw loose against her chest and her eyes leveled directly at Aries’s. “I’m crazy.”
“Virgo and I agreed we’d wait until the whole group was together before we announced the result of the meeting,” Libra said. “And barring the off-chance she foresaw her own demise this morning, I’d assume she isn’t far behind you. You’ll get your answers soon enough. And I promise I’ll take good care of you if the extra few seconds of waiting makes you feel faint.”
“Not with you for a nursemaid, it won’t,” Aries jabbed back, but once Libra retreated to join her fellow Gatherer Capricorn near the gatehouse where the former of the pair always kept watch, he didn’t hold a grudge. Instead, he just gave a conciliatory shrug and sat down to relax against the frame of the gate, pulling at the straps of his breastplate until the whole thing slipped off his shoulders and joined his helmet on the ground next to him. Reluctantly, Leo tore her eyes away from the spectacle—and oh Terra below, was it a spectacle—and forced herself to focus on the ancient road outside the front gate that wound all the way down to the foot of the mountain and, somewhere on it, was still carrying Virgo back home.
Sure enough, the snow-white head Huntress and co-leader of the Zodiac walked into view only a hundred and sixty-seven seconds later. Leo had counted each one, falling back on the one thing she knew would get her mind off Aries and onto the objectively more important matter that would soon be at hoof—the peace treaty between the three tribes of mortal ponies that had now permanently settled mere miles away from Oasis, in the fertile valley beneath the snow-capped peaks of what the tribes and the Zodiac both called the Unicorn Range.
Just a few months prior, the tribes had all lived comfortably, if not exactly peacefully, in the woodlands just north of Galloping Gorge. The earth ponies tilled the soil and grew crops plentiful enough to feed the entire territory, and the remaining two tribes repaid them as best they could: the pegasi with their control over the weather, and the unicorns with their skilled laborers and the scientific and technological advances of Princess Platinum’s esteemed magicians and scholars.
And then, sequestered away in Oasis atop the highest mountain peak in Terra, there were the Zodiac, the immutable glue that bound the whole messy conglomeration together. There were twelve of them—eight of the earth race and two each from pegasus and unicorn—and each one was endowed with preternatural powers reaching far beyond those of a normal stallion or mare, the least of which was immortality. Some ponies saw them as gods, others as representatives of various moral ideals, but most just respected them as exactly the thing their more common title implied: Guardians. The keepers of the peace. The first, last, and best defense for ponykind against all the monsters, demons, beasts and burdens that roamed the land around them, not to mention the anything-but-civil disputes that always cropped up between the tribes any time the Zodiac had more than ten seconds to rest between battles.
It had almost seemed like a cruel cosmic joke when the blizzard came, like the last and biggest rug the universe could yank out from underneath the single dozen souls trying to keep it all from falling apart. The pain had only been made so fresher by the fact that somehow, for once in their entire span of existence, the tribes’ antipathy towards their rivals had seemingly begun to thaw out just before it happened. At times, their behavior towards each other had almost bordered on civility. But the more that new golden standard glittered, the more the Zodiac knew it couldn’t stay. The spring equinox sun rose and set on fields buried under snow two ponies tall in places, and with the famine that soon followed came a bitter tribal feud that came a few testy words short of escalating into civil war.
That would’ve been plenty enough to deal with on its own even without the second problem, the fight Scorpio and a thoroughly frustrated Virgo bitingly called “The Everywhere Front”. The harsh winter had cut the pony tribes deep, and in the months that followed, it seemed like every nasty creature within two hundred miles had come running the second they smelled blood in the snow. Ice wraiths, frost-giants, and vicious sabertooth packs from the north, nightshades and centaurs from the east, a baffling southern alliance between the fire eagles and the Timberwolves—at least that had been simple to deal with—all of which paled in comparison to the three-hundred foot chimera who kicked a hole through the Unicorn Range that still hadn’t stopped smoking. And that wasn’t even counting the Windigos, arcane horse-like creatures that migrated south with the storm and literally fed on the bounty of anger and hatred that the tribal disputes so generously provided them.
The campaign to keep ponykind safe, sound, and acceptably sane had left the whole group battered, bruised, and just about ready to pack up Oasis and find a new civilization to be patron gods and goddesses for—and that was before the entire equine race had just up and skipped off to go exploring out into the wild foggy white yonder. Everypony had grown sick of waiting for the blizzard to clear up on its own, so each tribe had bravely set out to resettle and reform their once-proud nation in a new land. As in, a single, solitary plot of land about twenty miles due southeast, sitting smack dab in the middle of monster-infested territory and simultaneously warred over by all three tribes, all of whom laid claim to the region under the age-old convention of “I totally saw it first”.
And yet in the end, through some inexplicable means, it had all somehow worked out. The relentless onslaught of the demonic beasts of Hades and other such local wildlife tapered out with the coming of the summer solstice, and by the time the soil thawed, the tribes had agreed to live together instead of dying off alone. That wasn’t to say life had been a breeze since then; disorganized remnants of the winter hordes still prowled the countryside, and while the tribes weren’t trying to kill each other anymore, they also weren’t exactly friends yet. It had taken several weeks to get to this point, where a loop around the tribes’ territory ended with only one brief enemy encounter and the news coming from Princess Platinum’s new castle in the valley was increasingly good. Maybe today would bring the moment they’d been waiting for. Maybe today would be the beginning of the end.
Virgo took her time getting from the path up to where Libra stood inside the front courtyard, never quickening her stately pace even as the rumor mill spun on either side.
“Week’s worth of armor cleaning duty says it’s another speech on being steadfast and noble,” Scorpio hissed at Aries.
“Two weeks says the treaty’s finally done,” he murmured back. “They wouldn’t be dragging it out like this otherwise.”
“It’s Virgo, for Pete’s sake. She’s a precognitive, democratically elected leader. She drags everything out.”
“Y’know, there’s this thing Aries and I like to do called ‘being optimistic’,” Sagittarius whispered with a slight nod of his head, his eyes still locked on Virgo. “You should try it sometime.”
“Y’know, there’s this thing I prefer called ‘being realistic’. You should try that sometime,” Scorpio hissed back. “Two weeks.”
Aries spit into his sole, and Scorpio did the same. “Done,” he said as their hooves quietly tapped together.
“Hay with it, I want in too,” Sagittarius complained.
“Then ante up, slick,” answered Scorpio.
“I’ll see his armor cleaning and raise you a crate of Cheerywine. If I win, I want your ward anklet.”
“You drive a hard bargain.”
“Said the realist to the optimist.”
Scorpio grimaced, then sealed the deal with Sagittarius too. Meanwhile, Virgo and Libra seemed to finally be ready to end the suspense.
“Are we all met?” Virgo asked.
Most of the assembled ponies nodded, but one only put on a puzzled look. “Hang on a second,” Cancer spoke up. “I think we’re still miss-”
“Waaaiiit!”
Eleven heads swiveled around towards the courtyard, whose most prominent feature now was a lime-green unicorn mare running hell-bent for leather from the general direction of the Nursery. “Sorry, sorry,” Pisces gasped as she stumbled to a halt next to Cancer, her frazzled cerulean mane infested with several songbirds and at least one squirrel. “Sunset. Daydreaming. Lost track of time. Sprinted all the way here. Tunnel vision. Can’t breathe.”
She pressed her lips shut and swallowed hard. “We’re good,” she finished weakly. Scorpio and Cancer both rolled their eyes, but the latter’s sour expression was quick to sweeten up. As the shape-shifter held out a hoof for a couple of Pisces’s canaries to hop onto, Virgo straightened her posture and turned to address the gathered crowd.
“I suppose there’s no need to remind you all of the significance the past several weeks’ events bear on the future of this continent,” she began. One might’ve thought she were putting on airs with her regal demeanor and stately tone of voice, but that was really just typical Virgo. “For centuries, our order has protected and upheld the spirit of friendship and harmony in ponykind, and in doing so we have served as the first and foremost line of defense against any and all enemies that might try to disrupt it, whether they be monsters of land, sea, air, or even the mind. We have accepted this duty because we are those most capable of fulfilling it, because we knew there were none of mortal flesh and blood who could do the same without sacrificing much more than any living creature could afford to lose.”
“She’s stalling...” Scorpio murmured. Aries shot her a glare and mouthed, “Be quiet,” and she made a face before obeying. Sagittarius, meanwhile, hardly even glanced her way.
“But in the face of overwhelming peril that even we could not fully overcome, the pegasus, unicorn, and earth ponies of the three tribes proved us wrong,” Virgo went on. “When the very earth they inhabited cracked and shattered beneath their hooves, they banded together and persevered with strength and fervor that we ourselves might be wise to aspire towards. And now, with their search for a new home concluded and our campaign to ease their journey victorious, they have set out in pursuit of the most elusive and most essential element of peace there is: unmitigated, permanent unification, for the continued success of their species and the greater good of all who call it their own.”
Even though Scorpio’s cocky grin was growing, the look in her eyes was far from content. Even if she won her bet with Aries and Sagittarius, another day without a resolution of the unification talks meant another day of traipsing all over the continent making sure nothing got through to the central city where the negotiations were being held, another day of dragging out a guerrilla campaign that was somehow even more exhausting than the all-out war that had preceded it, another day of wondering whether the question of if the tentative peace would crumble apart was really a question of when.
“This transition, as Libra and I anticipated, has been far from simple. Compromise is a somewhat novel concept for these ponies, and though we have done our best to encourage them to see reason, this leg of their journey is one they must ultimately complete on their own. As long as the talks have persisted, we have been vigilant in our duty to watch over them and keep them safe from watch, and in light of the events that have occurred in the negotiations today, all I can really say is...”
Virgo sighed, ran her tongue briskly over her lips, and paused for what seemed like an eternity. Then, to the surprise of almost everyone in attendance, the erudite, straitlaced leader of the Huntress broke character and smiled.
“We’re out of a job,” she said.
The world held its breath as the meaning of her words sank in, and then before everypony could start talking at once, Scorpio beat them all to the punch.
“You gotta be kiddin’ me,” she groaned in utter disbelief. Aries burst out laughing, seemingly half from joy and half from seeing the look on Scorpio’s face, and Sagittarius did his best to avoid smirking but still ended up looking more than a little smug.
“You know, if you think about it, you really didn’t even need a protection ward in the first place,” he told her, genuine sympathy mostly overpowering his winner’s bravado.
“You gotta be kidding me,” Scorpio said again, this time almost shouting the words as if the extra volume would somehow make them true. The black look in her eyes when she saw Sagittarius’s cocked brow would’ve melted a lesser stallion down to liquified carbon and a small puddle of fear sweat, but Sagittarius simply stretched out his leg and accepted the rune-inscribed metal band Scorpio pulled off her forehoof and slapped resentfully into his.
“Pleasure doing business with you,” he said cheerfully.
“Zip it, featherhead,” his defeated partner spat back just before Libra called out for everypony’s attention again. Even though the rest of the group quieted down quickly, Leo’s heart was still racing fit to burst inside her chest. She’d been so busy watching Aries and the other Hunters and silently mouthing her own responses to their playful banter, she had hardly even thought about what this really meant. The monsters were vanquished. The tribes had signed the peace treaty. The war was truly, finally over.
“All right, guys, I know you’re excited and you absolutely should be, but there’s still a few other things we need to go over before we go off losing our heads and wasting all of Capricorn’s champagne,” Libra said, her voice still raised a little bit and the corners of her mouth twitching. “And just in case Scorpio sees fit to serenade us again with her incredibly pertinent question: yes, I promise we’re not kidding.”
Once everypony was done chuckling and Scorpio had elaborately mimed where Libra could stick her next clever remark, she continued. “Just to go ahead and clear things up, the tribes have indeed signed a peace treaty and come together as a bona fide nation. As of about ninety minutes ago, we’re living in the penthouse suite of the unified Republic of Equestria, which officially covers all of the territory from the Crystal Mountains to the edge of the Everfree Forest.”
The racket from before returned in force, and Libra had to shout the next sentence of her spiel. “However,” she said, “that doesn’t mean we’re completely out of the woods just yet. The tribes are united now and, thank all creation, not arguing over which race among them deserves the most apples versus oranges anymore, but the republic is young and, quite frankly, not something anypony down in Te... ‘scuse me, down in Equestria has any real idea how to govern or maintain. So while all you Hunters probably won’t be knocking as many heads together in the next year or so, you will be helping the soon-to-be-elected officials down in the capital of New Platinum establish a basic system of law and order within the city limits, and later on in the outlying districts the earth ponies will probably migrate out into.”
She turned towards the group of Hunters Leo still had one eye on. “Sage, one of the stipulations the pegasi fought for was that they were allocated some territory for their own cloud city, so you and I are gonna have to pop in there about a week from now as well. We’ll mostly just be on overwatch to make sure they’re not straying too near the boundaries laid out in the treaty, but since Commander Hurricane’s first priority will no doubt be to centralize his military power, you’ll probably wanna poke your head in sometime and give him a fellow combat vet to bounce ideas off of.”
Sagittarius nodded, and Libra’s gaze swept over the rest of the Zodiac, pausing on Leo at least once. “As for my fellow Gatherers, we’ve got, dare I say, the more important job. While the Hunters are handling security, we’re going to be handling the daily trials and tribulations of everyday life. The earth ponies should be fairly self-sufficient, but the unicorns and any stray pegasi who decide to take a stab at provincial life are gonna have a pretty rough time of it out there. Food, water, basic goods and services, leisure activities... anything that’ll make life in Equestria livable, we’re gonna take the reins on. Sound good?”
A chorus of enthusiastic answers met her open-ended question, and a prideful glow lit up behind Libra’s eyes. “This is our victory just as much as theirs, you guys. I’m not much of a poet, so I can’t even begin to describe how proud Virgo and I are of how you all kept your heads high even when it seemed like this whole mess was never going to get cleaned up. I’m going to ask for more of the same from you come tomorrow morning, but as far as tonight goes, enjoy yourselves. You’ve earned it.”
Libra trailed off, and the expectant silence lent a tinge of electric anticipation to the courtyard. “All right,” she sighed a few moments later. “Now you can freak out.”
And now came the second shock of the evening: of all ponies, Taurus was the first one to let loose a bellowing war whoop, tossing Leo up in the air and catching her on his back with her ears still ringing. The rest of the Hunters copied him in a heartbeat, and soon everypony in sight had erupted into riotous celebration. Bouncing up and down on Taurus’s back as he galloped towards the Great Hall, Leo closed her eyes and let her imagination bloom inside the colorless darkness. Someday, she would be the one tearing along a dozen steps ahead of the sedate, submissive Gatherers. Someday, she would stay up till the crack of dawn swapping war stories and jeering at each other like only old soldiers could. Someday, she would be the conquering hero returning home to raucous cheers like the ones echoing around her.
Someday. Someday she would earn her place among the Hunters, but not today. Today, they were going to celebrate.
Today, everything was perfect.
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(Hello everyone who is not Aqua! People seem determined to think I'm some jerk, so I thought I'd clarify this first comment.
The following is meant in sarcasm. I am giving Aqua a hard time because he is my friend and we just so happened to write stories about the same thing at the same time. Please refer to context if you are confused. Thank you.)
HEY
HEY YOU COPY CHEATER CAT PONY >:|
YOU EVEN COPIED MY COVER IMAGE OH MY GERD
YOU COPY
ER
PERSON!
DOWNVOTEDOWNVOTEDOWNVOTE
1953670
Wat.
(Joke) Alt. Title: That's Your Horoscope For Today
What about Ophiuchus?
1953670
MY FIC HAS DEMON-SLAYING.
DOES YOUR FIC HAVE DEMON-SLAYING?
I DIDN'T THINK SO.
1953683
Just wait until Chapter 20.5.
...is... is this a knights of the zodiac inspired pony fic?
I knew it was just a matter of time!
Huh. Ponyscope fic. Neat. I look forward to constellations versus sin incarnate.
God, drawing Zodiac ponies is haaaard :P
1953699
I DON'T KNOW YET
MAYBE IT WILL
I'LL TELL YOU WHEN I HAVE AN OUTLINE
...What's that? "Stop writing your crappy unplanned fic because this one is entirely better?" That sounds like a good idea!
My only quibble would be that this gets awfully telly in the middle, as far as what Libra can do and what's going on at the moment. I think most of that discussion can be left to the ending, which sets this in the Equestrian timeline quite well. But I already like this, and your Pisces in particular.
This... is incredible.
I shall be waiting for the next chapter.
I hope Leo remains a main focus of the story. She's so adorable! (Another entry for my "needed emoticons list". There isn't a "Daww" emoticon, and I need one right now!
)
1953699 Well, Cetus is kind a demon. And the nightmare things in Tartarus are demons... but were once ponies... and they don't seem to be kill-able (mainly cuz I;m not there with my bodaciously radical mondo-mega 1980's powers!) Nothing can stop the 80's!
1953773
Cool. 
So there'll be two sin-themed stories in my watch list?
I absolutely loved this story so far, and it has made my faves list.
By the way, I'm a Libra, and I approve of this depiction of the Zodiacal character.
You know it should be THIRTEEN ponies for the zodiac because Gemini has 2 ponies. Just wondering if you know that.
1956827
There's a reason I said twelve, and it's something I'll go over before the first act's through.
hmmm, this appears interesting. The calm before the storm. Also, any chance of a ponyfied Ophiuchus showing up? The new 13th Zodiac gets so little love.
This is amazing. Aries is amazing, wished there was more Capricorn though :c
Traaaaaaaacking~
Oh and lets not forget the real question here, will we ever get to see the 14th Zodiac, Cetra?
1953670
THIS FIC HAS NO DOWNVOTES, YOU ACCIDENTALLY THE UPVOTE BUTTON.
I'm a Leo, and I like this Leo.
I'm a Libra through and through and I approve of the picture.
1957820
MY PLAN HAS SUCCEEDED
HAHA, YOU FOOLS!
Not to go raising idols or anything like that, but don't pass over this story just because "someone was bound to make a fic about zodiac ponies." From what I know about the author, he has this story well-planned out in advance, and his friends are keeping him to a daily writing schedule come hell or high water. So I'm not too worried about this fic vaporizing into thin air halfway, which mine tend to do :/
That's a good thing (his updates, not my lack thereof). Even in this opening chapter, the relationships Aqua lays down feel like they have a very real history behind them, and most any good story starts with good characters who interact with each other in meaningful ways. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Leo develops as the story goes on, and I hope you will, too.
That said... Virgo is best pony.
yes aires is a badass my zodiac is the best
....go on...
I'd have said 'what about serpentarius?' but someone already raised the issue. Interesting premise there
T'was great. Can't wait to see what powers they posses.
Capricorn. Half Pony, Half Goat, Half Fish...All Hippocamp. Totally unstoppable.
Oh, hello again Aquaman.
Lemme just read this, eh?
I was born on the first day of Libra, I approve of the character
i cant help it but every time i think of virgo i think of her saying "time for punishment princess?" thanks to fairy tail.
This is amazing. I love mythology a lot, so this is my type of story.
A cute, smart Pegasus with a fair nickname for my Zodiac sign? I approve. Go Sage!
I'm a Libra (Master Zodiac) and I love the way you portray her. The leader, voice of reason. That's us Libra's alright.
It looks interesting but the "gore" rating... I'm not sure I want to read it. How much gore is there?
1962655
There'll be a few battle scenes. Just a bunch of monsters getting slashed at or pegged with arrows, more or less. No brutal dismemberments or anything like that.
1962886 I wouldn't really call that gory... But I'll read now. I just don't like reading gory stories.
1962896
I figured I'd play it safe and add the "gore" tag in case anyone wasn't interested in seeing the Ponyscopes partake in the occasional instance of good old-fashioned blood-soaked mayhem. Kinda makes me wish the tag read "violence" instead of "gore".
1962914 yeah that would make more sense. or maybe a violence and a gore. Gore for things like you know....cupcakes... and a bit less gory. when a story has blood spewing all over the walls. that's gory.
I hope there's a lot of Libra.
(Best horoscope pony.)
Edit: FUCK YES. LIBRA = BEST HOROSCOPE PONY.
I have a different set of Zodiac based beings here, except they're evil. They are still awesome though. And Sagittarius is the leader here.
24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbi5zd6A4k1r2mcbco1_500.jpg
You know, those could be the pony zodiac's true final forms.
I love cancer because i'am cancer!
1963090 My god you watch kamen rider froze?! :)
As SOON as I saw that EqD post saying that Hasbro released that Zodiac Horoscope Ponies thing on their site, I figured someone would make a fic about them, and I was right!
OH MY GOD. I was waiting for this to happen! FINALLY!!
1958501
You're right about everything.
Except Leo is best zodiac pony.
Nepeta is best hoofbeast. :33 (Leo)
I'm going to get so much hate for the Homestuck reference.
As a Scorpian I can say, fuck yeah Scorpio.
Alright, you got me interested. I'll suscribe for more.
Everything was going soooooo well until you had to make Scorpio lose her protection bracelet whatever to that cocky stupid arrogant
Staggitaurus!! Not only is she awesome in this fic, but she's also my Zodiac! AND THEN YOU WENT AND SPOILED MY HAPPINESS!!!!!!! WHYYYYYYYYY???????????
Also this is amazing. Can't wait for more chapters.
Very interesting & entertaining start, I will definitely be watching eagerly for more.
Ehramegerd its the zerdiak.
medias.zodiacmarine.com/images/00/00/00/21/image-1400-933-2164-r.jpg
Huh... interesting. Those ponyscopes have really caught some traction, huh? I'll have to read this.