10 - For Equestria
Succession
Chapter 10 – For Equestria
She was in her study, looking out across the reading room of the Ponyville library, her hooves draped across the railing of the first floor as she focused her magic. Flames erupted out of nowhere as she fought to construct another sun for Ponyville. For Equestria. More and more flames appeared, never extinguishing, but growing bigger and hotter until the entire library was full of dancing fire. She tried to control them, to push them into the spherical form of her solites, but to no avail.
“So what’s it like being the new Celestia, huh?”
All around her, the fire spread to books, scrolls and the wooden walls. Already the ceiling was completely obscured by billowing smoke.
“…Twilight can be the new Celestia since she made the sun!”
The floor beneath her gave away, consumed by the hungry flames of her failed solite. Although she fell, she remained standing, untouched by the flames surrounding her or the clouds of smoke swirling about her.
“…You sure as heck can follow in her hoofsteps.”
She walked forward, the wood beneath her hooves burning away as she did, the walls around her falling apart as the fire consumed them.
Beyond the wooden confines of her library there was no Ponyville. Instead, bright white marble and sapphire blue glass materialized out of nowhere as the smoke and flames subsided. She stood within a throne room, its walls and floor an odd amalgam of both rock and glass, changing even as she looked. Pillars and columns were there and gone, rising out of the almost liquid floor or drooping down from the smoke and fire that still constituted the ceiling.
She kept walking, keeping an eye on the floor immediately in front of her in case her surroundings were as liquid as they looked. Before long, she ascended a few steps and stood before a set of gold-shod hooves.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, staring only at the hooves whose hoofprints she would never be able to follow in. “I failed you, Celestia, I can’t be...”
“Well, lookie what we got here, brother of mine!”
She flinched and for the first time noticed that the pony she stood before did not have the white coat of Celestia, but instead one that was a pale olive. She gazed up at the being before her and instinctively backed away at the strange sight. Above Celestia’s golden chest piece sprouted not one, but two necks, the heads of Flim and Flam glaring mockingly at her.
“What a sad, truly sad sight to behold, really!” Flam laughed.
Their red and white manes flowed upon a wind that wasn’t there, much akin to the Solar Princess’, and their two huge wings flared as they laughed. Only now did she notice that their gilded hooves were connected to chains that stretched up far into the smoke-filled sky, anchoring a truly enormous sun to the ground.
“You? The new Celestia?”
“Don’t make us laugh!”
The now conjoined twins cackled as the nine council ponies rose out of the glass and marble floor all around, surrounding her. She stood petrified as they shackled her hooves and fastened a bit around her muzzle, giving the reins to the two brothers. Finally, the nine ponies took away her horn and replaced it with a sword.
They all laughed as she began stumbling around, fighting futilely to balance herself with the heavy weapon protruding from her skull. Every time she regained her bearing and was about to raise her head, the Flim Flam brothers would jerk violently on her reins, pulling her to the floor while the peals of laughter all around brought tears to her eyes.
The new prince of Equestria finally handed the reins to the scarred pink pegasus, who began walking back the way she had come, dragging her roughly along the shifting floor. Eventually, racking sobs turned to quivering rage. Her tears evaporated into nothingness. Her cries of anguish turned into roars of anger. The sword flashed before her eyes, and her reins were severed. Before the pegasus could react, streams as scarlet as her mane flowed from her chest and unto the white and blue floor beneath her. Again and again she swung the sword given to her by her enemies, bathing the throne room in red and scarlet until finally the nine were gone, sinking into the marble and glass from whence they came.
Although her vision was blurred with the blood she had drenched herself in, there was one thing she saw clearly. Her eyes were fixed on the golden chest piece as she marched toward the prince, who was still laughing mockingly, blind to the terrible carnage around him. The laughter was soon choked off, however, when she plunged her sword through the purple gem in the center of the collar, the scarlet streams soaking into gold and white. She looked up at Flim and Flam, but instead of two heads there was only one. Princess Celestia looked upon her with tears in her eyes.
“My most faithful student… Why?”
Twilight woke with a scream, her magic instinctively ripping apart the blanket wrapped around her. She lay there, gasping for air for several seconds before a palace guard opened the door to her chambers.
“Is anything wrong, Miss Sparkle?” he asked after scanning the room for any potential threats.
“I’m fine,” she assured the guard, taking a deep breath to steady herself before continuing. “Just... a bad dream.”
“Very well. You should try to get some sleep. Introductions will begin in about five hours.”
Twilight gave an exasperated sigh after the guard had closed the door. The introduction of my new team! Bah! Give me Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier in Equestria, give me Applejack, the strongest mare I’ve ever met, give me my friends! I don’t need any top-trained battle mages or soldiers!
Yesterday had been a horrible day altogether. The council that kept insisting upon Fluttershy’s death, her solite destroying the conclave, her being forced into service as nothing more but a military asset, and her having to explain the situation to her friends, how she would not be able to return to Ponyville, how she would no longer be able to provide them with solites. Applejack and Twilight had had to keep Rainbow Dash grounded for a full hour before she had calmed down.
First Rarity, then Fluttershy, and now me. It’s as if some greater force is trying to keep us all apart... And I know which one.
The unicorn rose from her bed and walked across the black marble floor to her window, looking out upon the city of Manehattan. How different it was from both Ponyville, where she had been living for several years, and Canterlot, the beautiful city in which she had grown up, now nothing more than a dead ruin. And how strange it was to gaze out a short lancet window and see towering skyscrapers of steel and concrete. Manehattan wasn’t quiet as Ponyville, nor did it possess the composed grandeur of Canterlot. It was noisy. As if to emphasize her current thoughts, something somewhere among the imposing superstructures of the capital fell to the ground and shattered, the ensuing cacophany echoing throughout the dimly lit streets. Twilight fixed a hard gaze upon the full moon, locked in place far above as it had been for more than half a year now.
“You’ll pay for this,” she warned the pale orb, tears forming in her eyes. “Someday, you’ll have to show yourself, and then I’ll make you pay.”
Twilight never got around to sleeping, pacing around in her chamber and muttering curses at Nightmare Moon instead. By the time the unicorns of Manehattan made their rounds to light up Flim and Flam’s crystal solites, the lavender unicorn was standing at her window again, watching the pony-made day dawn. She scowled at the crystal orbs suspended in the air amongst and above the city’s skyscrapers. She had to admit that Flim and Flam had bested her this time; while her solite was easily more powerful than four or five of the artificial ones, the unicorn brothers produced theirs by the hundreds. As if that wasn’t enough, theirs even lasted longer than hers.
She knew she could do better, though. If she just had the time to study, she would one day be able to make a solite that could light up all of Manehattan. Give her a team of master mages to help her, and she could light up the central part of Equestria.
But no, she thought bitterly. Instead I’m off fighting stupid, cranky animals! Because creating an actual sun isn’t important at all, apparently! That Flim Flam Solite 1000 isn’t going to cut it in the long run, Artemis has to know that. In a few months, we’ll start feeling the heat from Celestia’s sun fading.
But I suppose Flim and Flam can improve their solites just like I can. And while they’re racing ahead, I’m stuck in some forest or on a mountain, fighting who knows what kind of monster! Perhaps I should have mentioned to Lucre that I would work for free. Got the feeling he didn’t like me much, though… Not that any of them like me after that solite failure.
Her train of thought snagged on the strange flashback she had had while staring at her solite.
Why can’t I remember anything from that night!? Nightmare Moon must have said something of importance! Why was she disappointed in Celestia? Why did she kill her? How? How did she get the power to destroy the entire Canterlot palace when she couldn’t even harm me the first time I met her? Why did she give me this stupid wound!?
As if sensing her thoughts, the odd black burn below her mane started throbbing slightly.
Not a burn, though…
“It doesn’t look like an infection,” the doctor said after going through her health check. “Not a burn either. Sorry, Miss Sparkle, but right off hoof I can’t say what it is. But considering you’ve had that wound for half a year, and that it did not prevent you defeating an ursa major, I’d say you’re good to go for now. I’ll let you know if I find out what it is.”
Not very helpful at all. ‘I can’t say what it is’, sheesh! I could have told him the same thing!
The unicorn fumed silently for another hour or so before a golden-armored palace guard opened the door to her new bedroom, summoning her to the chambers of the Sword of Equestria.
Like the conclave, the chambers Twilight now found herself in sported a single round table in the center of the room, though this room was quite a bit smaller than the council’s now ruined chamber. Carved into this table, however, was a detailed map of Equestria, showing its mountain ranges, forests, rivers, lakes, and towns, as well as the neighboring land of Buteos, where the griffons lived. As she drew close to the map, Twilight sensed the lingering aura of some sort of enchantment on the table.
“This is where you will be discussing and planning your moves against Equestria’s foes,” the palace guard explained, gesturing at the marble table. “The map is enchanted to allow unicorn magic to color it without much difficulty.” The guard demonstrated, his white horn glowing a dull green, and a second later, a circle of the same color appeared around Manehattan. Next, he pointed his horn at a set of doors to their left and right. “Dressing rooms for the mares and stallions who require armor or other equipment.” He gestured at the door in front of them, opposite of where they had entered from. “A few of the training facilities lie behind that door, and finally we have a passage for the convenience of the pegasus soldiers.” The white palace guard gestured at a large portal set into the ceiling above them, covered by a glass arch to shelter against any downpour.
“Ah, thank you, Mr...?”
“Centurion,” the guard replied, taking off his helmet and shaking his chestnut mane. “I am to serve under you in the Sword of Equestria.”
“Oh!” Twilight exclaimed, sounding a little more surprised than what was probably polite. “Well, uh, welcome aboard, I guess.”
Centurion nodded his thanks stiffly. “The remaining members of the task force will join us shortly.”
No sooner had the unicorn soldier spoken than the door to the chambers opened, allowing in three additional unicorn soldiers. The white one introduced himself as Iron Sword, the deep blue one was called Starburst, and the pale yellow mare identified herself as Lightning Rod.
The next pony to enter was another white unicorn in the armor of a palace guard, although Twilight broke into a huge grin as soon as she recognized him.
“Amber Vane!” She would have broken into a run and embraced him were it not for the other ponies around her. Somehow, the chamber no longer seemed as empty as it had before. “I haven’t seen you in a while!”
The golden-maned unicorn smiled back at her. “I was hoping I’d see you here. A friendly face always makes it more enjoyable to battle monsters ten times your size, right?”
Before any more pleasantries could be exchanged, however, a pegasus in heavy bronze and gold armor dropped down a few feet in front of Twilight, who couldn’t help herself from jumping back in surprise. The chocolate brown pegasus extended a hoof and once again surprised the unicorn as she revealed herself to be a mare, her voice coarse but still definitely feminine. “Coup de Grâce. Call me Coup. I’m gonna be your second-in-command here, and I guess I’m supposed to throw in my two bits about military tactics too.”
“Alright, uh, good to know!” Twilight replied with a smile as the tank-like pegasus shook her hoof firmly. “I’ve kinda just been tossed into this position, actually, so any advice would be appreciated.”
“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Coup answered gruffly, her grin partially obscured by the helmet she wore as she left the lavender unicorn and joined Iron Sword and Lightning Rod.
Another three unicorns in palace guard armor followed the brawny pegasus, and finally six unarmored unicorns entered, all of whom Twilight recognized as former master mages from Canterlot, bringing the total number of unicorns in the task force to fifteen. Next, the pegasi entered, some marching through the doors the unicorns had entered from while the majority entered through the passage above.
I was a librarian last month. Now I’m the captain of the Sword of Equestria! How can I be responsible for fifty ponies’ lives? Twilight asked herself despairingly, quickly growing overwhelmed as more and more pegasi fluttered down from the opening in the ceiling.
The final pegasus dove through the opening above, bringing the total to thirty-five pegasus elite soldiers, including Coup de Grâce.
The captain now found herself sitting on one of the twenty chairs surrounding the marble table, the unicorns and five pegasi seated around her while the remaining winged ponies sat upon small platforms set into the walls overlooking the table.
“So,” the lavender unicorn began, catching the attention of forty nine soldiers and mages. “We are the Sword of Equestria. Our objective is to deal with exceptional threats to Equestria’s security, the most pressing of which right now…”
…is Nightmare Moon.
“…is the many angered beasts of the wild attacking pony settlements all over Central Equestria,” she said instead, speaking for the council instead of herself. “I’m not going to sugar-coat it; many of you have already seen how it’s like out there by the great forests. Fluttershy, my very good friend and the Element of Kindness, was... killed inside her own home just last month by a pack of timberwolves.” Again, she spoke for the council, telling her subordinates what the nine regents believed to be the truth and what she knew to be a lie. The ponies around her gasped in shock and muttered amongst themselves, shaken by the revelation of the death of the Heroine of Vyatkiev.
“I believe this is something you need to know, but it is not something I want spreading to the general population of Equestria,” Twilight continued, eyeing the ponies seated around her. “Nor does the council. Anyway, the same night Fluttershy... was killed, I was forced to defend the inhabitants of Ponyville from an angered ursa major who had killed another close friend of mine.”
Once again, she allowed her words to sink in before continuing. “Things are bad out there, and more often than not we will be going to the heart of it all. For the good of Equestria.” This time, she was met by murmurs of approval. “I am told you are the best of the best. We will spend the rest of today and the day tomorrow inside the training facilities,” she decided, nodding toward the appropriate door. “I want to know exactly what you can do; what your strengths are and what your weaknesses are. We leave for Trottingham in three days.”
That day and the next, Twilight walked through the surprisingly numerous areas of the training facilities located both inside and outside Cristallum, observing her new subordinates and attempting to categorize each of them and how to deploy them strategically in battle.
Iron Sword, Amber Vane, and Centurion, they were no doubt chosen for their skill at wielding swords, not magic. Should they fight in the front, then?
In her mind, she replaced the dummy her golden-maned friend was slicing to pieces with a timberwolf and gave herself an approving nod. As she replaced it with an infuriated ursa minor, however, she couldn’t help but shudder.
There is no one strategy I can use, she concluded. Different lineups for different enemies. I’ve got my work cut out for me, then.
She continued her rounds, analyzing the soldiers’ and mages’ combat styles and weighing them against what she had read in her bestiary of the Everfree. She spent hours upon hours of writing up different lineups and formations, placing her soldiers where she believed they would do most good, earning either an approving nod from Coup de Grâce or a shake of the head. By the end of each day, the captain found herself just as exhausted as her team, although nightmares seldom let her sleep.
As the third day dawned, Twilight had prepared a small number of general strategies that she presented to her team, using that day to rehearse each of them until every member of her team knew their positions by heart every time Twilight called out an order.
By the fourth day, the Sword of Equestria had been honed and readied for battle, travelling to Trottingham by flying chariot.
Trottingham, a city that lay considerably farther to the north than both Ponyville and Manehattan, was also considerably colder than anywhere else Twilight had been since The Great Tragedy. As she and a select number of her task force made their way towards the city hall, she even noticed the remains of snow drifts melting away in the sides of the streets.
Snow in autumn, Twilight thought to herself, her face grim. Once winter is upon us, wrapping it up will be no easy task. Not without an alicorn’s magic. Unless of course Flim and Flam are able to improve their solites and set thousands upon thousands up all over Equestria. But if those giant globes are made from diamond... Lucre must be out of his mind. What kind of head of finances decides to build lamps of diamond when you can build them of air!?
When Twilight and her entourage of unicorns and pegasi reached the city hall, they found the mayor waiting for them outside the main entrance.The mayor, a portly earth pony who went by the name of Big Ben, looked visibly relieved to see the arrival of the Heroine of Equestria. “Ah, thank goodness you could come, Twilight Sparkle!” he greeted the captain as he trotted ahead to meet the group. “Those timberwolves have been a dreadful nuisance for weeks now! I do trust you are here to help us with them?” He frowned for a fraction of a second when he glanced at the ponies standing behind the Element of Magic. “Pray tell, where are the other Elements?”
“They aren’t with me,” the unicorn replied briskly. “I’m not here as the Element of Magic, but as Captain of the newly formed Sword of Equestria. We’re fifty unicorns and pegasi dispatched by the Council of Nine to deal with your pack of timberwolves.”
“Very well,” Big Ben answered after processing her words. “Is there... anything I can do for you?”
“The trip from Manehattan to here has been quite long,” the lavender unicorn responded after a moment’s consideration. “Any food and shelter you could provide for my soldiers and I would be appreciated.”
My soldiers… That still sounds so odd.
“We will also want the last known whereabouts of the timberwolf pack,” Twilight added.
“Of course, of course!” the large mayor replied with a grin. “Give me a few moments, and I’ll have accommodations ready for you all!”
The purple had faded from the pillars of ebony and ivory and the organic masses of red, washed away by the sands of time as the magic had once again gathered itself in its airborne form. Once more, the cascades held billions of magenta sparkles as they rushed about the dark void between black, white, and red.
Two cascades met, for a moment coalescing into a white-hot sphere of pure power before breaking apart again with a thunderous roar, a shockwave rippling through the black void to strike at the skeletal structures everywhere. The small pinpoints of light within the monochromatic branches as well as the lanterns hanging from the rainbow trees all flashed purple as the shockwave passed by them, returning to their former colors a few seconds later.
Another thunderous roar and another shockwave rushed by, turning all lights purple once again, except for one, which lit up with a sickly yellow color instead. She focused on the odd speck of light even as it once again hid behind its false veil of neon green. Another shockwave passed, and again the yellow light shone forth.
The hue reminded her of a lion, or perhaps an eagle’s claw. A griffon? Whatever it was, it was not part of her, and so she decided to remove it. A bright wave of magenta swept across the area, and within only a few minutes, the speck of yellow had eroded away.
In its place, a veritable maelstrom of power flowed forth from the self-inflicted wound, trillions upon trillions of sparkles sweeping up and down the pillar from which they had erupted, scouring away its blackness and grayness until only white remained.
Another thunderclap, another shockwave, and a lantern shone with that same yellow, wrong light.
It was late in the evening when Twilight woke. She was beginning to wonder whether Rarity was right about the cities running after different time schedules. They should have arrived at the small city some time after Manehattan’s midnight, and yet practically everypony had been out walking the streets alongside the lavender unicorn, going about their daily business. Twilight could have sworn it was morning now, and yet every clock in Trottingham said nine in the evening. As she stared out the window of the quarters assigned to her, the golden glow of Flim and Flam’s crystal solites faded rapidly away as it had done when she and her friends had first been in Manehattan, plunging the city into a momentary darkness before the electrical lights switched on.
The Sword of Equestria had been lodged in one of the Trottingham barracks, and within less than fifteen minutes of Twilight passing on the order, the soldiers of the task force had assembled outside the city. A little less than half an hour after the commanding unicorn had awoken, the task force set out from Trottingham toward Greengloom, a forest which the timberwolves had supposedly run off to less than a day ago after attacking a nearby farm.
An uneventful four hours later, the Sword of Equestria and its small fleet of flying chariots landed near the outskirts of the forest, the main body of the task force taking a few minutes to stretch their legs while a small team of pegasus scouts were sent ahead to discern their quarry’s position.
“We received the report of the pack running in there more than a day ago,” Amber Vane said as he fell in beside Twilight, nodding toward the dark forest. “For all we know, they could be off on some raid again in some villages miles and miles away. What do you think we’ll find in there?”
“No idea. If we’re lucky, a huge pack of timberwolves,” the unicorn answered as she trotted toward the edge of the Greengloom. Somehow, the forest looked almost inviting to her; it seemed to carry none of the Everfree’s savagery or strangeness. “If we aren’t, either nothing at all or a huge pack of timberwolves with a lot of friends. But I guess we’ll find out soon enough,” she said, spotting the two scouts she had sent out to scour the relatively small forest from above.
Two pegasi, one dark lavender and the other deep blue, detached themselves from the night sky and landed in front of the pair of unicorns. “Cap’n, the timberwolves’ location has been confirmed; they’re within the Greengloom, a mile east northeast of here,” the lavender pegasus reported. “I got the rest of the team circling the location for you.”
“Please, Night Flight, I’ve told you already. Just call me Twilight,” the unicorn insisted wearily, but nodded approvingly at both Night Flight and Featherbeat. “Great work, though. Alright, we’re going in. Pass along the order; I’ll take the lead.” Twilight set off toward the woods that held her quarry, the three ponies around her galloping off to summon the rest of the team.
By the time the lavender unicorn was passing through the first trees of Greengloom, she was being tailed by twenty pegasi and fourteen unicorns, the rest of the soldiers hovering above her. Hopefully the airborne pegasi would be able to break through the increasingly dense foliage above, should the ground forces need it. At the very least, they would be able to navigate Twilight and the others toward the remaining scouts and the timberwolves’ location.
As they proceeded into the deeper recesses of the forest, Twilight was soon able to easily discern which of her subordinates had been to the Everfree and which hadn’t. A number of the pegasi and unicorns kept casting furtive glances at everything around them, showing considerably more caution than soldiers like Amber Vane or Coup de Grâce. It was an excellent way of determining the experience of her various soldiers, she found, as their overall objective was comparable with waging a war against the Everfree Forest.
A few hours after entering the woods, the deep blue pegasus, Featherbeat, dove into a nearby clearing and landed beside Twilight almost soundlessly. “The wolves are a hundred feet ahead of our position,” he whispered. “They’re coming this way, but we don’t know if that’s because they heard you guys or not.”
The lavender unicorn nodded. “Tell the ground forces to stay here and await my signal. I’ll go on ahead and draw out as many as I can, try to turn their backs on you.”
“Alone?” the pegasus whispered back. “Is that wise?”
“They’re timberwolves,” she replied, showing no concern. “I can hold my own against them for five minutes, thank you very much.” The last words came out a little harsher than she had wanted, but the pegasus fell back all the same, passing on her order to those on the ground. The fourteen pegasi positioned in the sky would await the captain’s signal beam before joining the battle.
Twilight sighed heavily as she began climbing a small incline, steadily approaching the clearing. Featherbeat must be one of them, she decided. How many of my soldiers are nothing more than my bodyguards? How many have been instructed by the council to give their life for me? Why have they even made me the captain of the Sword of Equestria if they’re so concerned with my safety!? Why am I a captain in the first place? I’m the Bearer of an Element of Harmony, not a soldier! I can resolve conflicts, yes, but not like this...
“They’re just timberwolves,” she whispered to herself as the clearing came within sight. “Nothing but beasts made of wood. They don’t think, they just hunt and eat. They kill ponies. They killed Fluttershy.”
The lie did little to comfort her, though. Even if they had, Fluttershy would not like this. Even if the timberwolves I slay tonight were the very ones to have feasted upon her pets and killed her, she would cry if she saw them die.
If I don’t do it, though, if I don’t serve in the Sword of Equestria, I’ll be thrown in the dungeon, or banished from Equestria.
Let them try, a small part of her mind insisted, but Twilight pushed that thought away, sensing movement in the brush ahead of her.
The brush snarled and pounced, leaving Twilight with only a fraction of a second to throw up a wall of magenta that repelled her attacker. Before the wolf could recover, she grabbed it with her magic and threw it ahead of her, hoping to catch the attention of the rest of the pack. She teleported ahead to where the timberwolf hit the ground, finding herself in a clearing teeming with the wooden beasts.
A quick burst of fire sent the nearest wolves scurrying, and six telekinetic blasts in each direction shoved away even more while carving deep trenches in the soil around her. The unicorn spun around to face the direction from which she had come, raising a small force field behind her to discourage any wolves trying to attack through her blind spots. The glow in her horn intensified, and soon powerful gusts of wind blew through the clearing, producing long, drawn-out howls very much similar to that of the timberwolves, confusing and distracting her enemies as they tried circling their prey, though even that task was made difficult by the trenches Twilight had dug in the ground.
While the unicorn easily fended off the wolves attacking her head-on, it didn't take long for the rest of the large pack to position itself in front of her, where neither trenches nor shields blocked their path. As more and more wolves slowly learned to flank her defenses, it became increasingly difficult for Twilight to protect herself as wave after wave of timberwolves lunged at her.
Finally, after all of her enemies had positioned themselves so that they faced the lone unicorn but turned their back on the almost fifty soldiers behind them, the unicorn sent a bolt of magenta lightning flying out in between the trees from where she had come, giving the signal for the ground forces to attack.
The rest was a complete slaughter. The thirty-five ponies took the disorganized wolves from behind, most of the soldiers slashing and hacking apart the wooden creatures with swords and spears, while unicorns like Starburst and Lightning Rod spread death and destruction with fire and lightning. After a few moments, Twilight found herself joining the carnage as well, suppressing her primary instinct to just toss away the timberwolves and instead flattening them against the ground with huge bursts of telekinesis or blasting them apart with lightning. When she felt the first waves of fatigue roll over her, she lit the signal beam without even thinking about it, and soon the carnage intensified as the pegasi above joined the fray, the timberwolves’ savage snarling soon replaced by their pitiful whimpering.
After what to Twilight seemed only a few minutes, the Sword of Equestria stood victorious in the small clearing, the lifeless remains of their enemy scattered all around them. The unicorn took a deep shaky breath as her adrenaline-induced frenzy abated, giving way to nothing but guilt and immediate regret as she stared with revulsion at the blood-like sap pooling around the wooden corpses and her own hooves.
Do timberwolves have families? Do they have a mother, or do they sprout from the ground like plants and trees? Will anyone miss one hundred timberwolves? One hundred dead timberwolves… Ugh, what have I done!?
“Twilight?” Amber Vane called out to her as if he had tried to get her attention for some time. The captain blinked and faced her friend, fighting back her tears. “The threat has been neutralized,” he announced obliviously, even smiling a bit. “We suffered no casualties; nopony was even hurt. I’d say your first mission was quite a success, Captain!”
Twilight was at a loss for words, staring at Amber Vane blankly until she felt something wet trickle down her cheek. The lavender unicorn turned her head away with a whimper and vanished from the clearing in a bright flash.
She lay down next to a tree more than a hundred feet from the scene of carnage, burying her head in her hooves as the tears began running freely and her body was wracked with sobs. “A success…” she muttered scornfully. “We just killed one hundred woodland creatures. One hundred dead wolves… That isn’t a success!”
“A hundred dead enemies, all of one’s allies unscathed. Many would name that a success.”
Twilight flinched and lifted her head, peering into the darkness before her in an effort to see who had spoken. The voice belonged to a male, deep and somehow ominous. It was slightly familiar, though the unicorn could not remember where she had heard the voice.
“Through the ages, few have achieved greatness without suffering. If you believe you are any different, you are much too ambitious for your own good, Twilight Sparkle.”
The unicorn got to her hooves, alarmed at the stranger’s knowledge of her name. Her horn was wreathed in magenta, and a bright light shone forth, banishing the darkness of the forest. But still she could find no signs of life.
“Discord’s rule was preceded by the greatest slaughter this world has ever seen, Nightmare Moon was feared for a reason. Even Celestia’s conscience is burdened by a murder.”
The image of Celestia appeared in Twilight’s mind. Sweet and kind-hearted Celestia, who did all she could to make her subjects happy. “Celestia never killed anyone,” she answered the stranger. The princess would have told her, wouldn’t she?
“Never is a long time,” the voice said from somewhere to her left this time. Twilight caught sight of a pair of amber eyes and focused her light on them. The darkness shrouding the speaker, however, persisted, refusing to yield before Twilight’s light. “How old do you think Celestia is, little unicorn? Time brings change. Nothing is forever. Celestia was not always the kind ruler you knew. She regretted it until she died, but she did it all the same. I was there. I saw it. I felt it!”
“Don’t talk about her that way!” Twilight yelled, advancing upon the speaker in the shadows. “You didn’t know Celestia! Who do you think you are?”
Although she drew closer, the darkness still did not recede. The creature hiding within it was quiet for a while, and the unicorn could almost sense him smiling at her words. “I shall not burden you with that just yet. The important question is, who do you think I am? A friend or a foe? Consider that question carefully.”
“Twilight?” the worried voice of Amber Vane called out, and the unicorn turned her head to see the white stallion making his way toward the magenta light she wielded. She looked back toward the unknown speaker, but the amber eyes were gone, and the shadows now gave way to her light, revealing nothing.
A friend or a foe? Who was that? Why do I recognize his voice? Why does he claim to know Celestia? Is he an old friend, an enemy? Was he even real, or was I just imagining things? Perhaps Nightmare Moon is somehow tampering with my mind. How else would she weaken my resolve than by weakening my faith in Celestia?
Twilight was so preoccupied with her thoughts of Nightmare Moon and the newly revealed danger she could pose that she only noticed Amber Vane when he shook her gently by the shoulders. “Hey, are you alright?”
The lavender unicorn shook her head as she once again thought of the timberwolves she had killed, the memories of the slaughter temporarily pushing aside her questions about the speaker in the shadows and her worries regarding Nightmare Moon. “No,” she whimpered, her tears resuming their path down her cheeks.
The white unicorn hushed her comfortingly. “There, there. Sit down.” Twilight did as she was told, and Amber Vane joined her, sitting face to face with her under the leafy canopy of a small oak tree. “This was your first time,” he stated.
Twilight took a deep, shaky breath. “Yeah.”
“Before the Great Tragedy, I had only ever killed once,” Amber Vane revealed, looking at his hooves thoughtfully. “I had been sent off with a bunch of scientists who wanted to study the timberwolf in its natural habitat or something. I have to admit I was more interested in going into the Everfree than in what the others were doing at the time.” He smiled a little at himself, still looking at his hooves. As he continued, however, the smile vanished. “Never made it that far, though. One of the mornings when we broke camp, two ponies were missing. It didn’t take long for us to find the culprit; a creeper had carried them off while we slept.” He looked back at Twilight. “Ever met one of those?”
“Not really, no,” she sniffed.
“Well, don’t be alarmed, but I think I can see one right over there, to your left.”
Twilight looked, but saw only a clump of trees.
“The lighter one,” Amber Vane said, pointing. “Its bark is mostly smooth and it has those willow-like branches.”
“So that scar running down its trunk is its mouth?”
“Yeah. You can’t see them from here, but it has tiny eyes all over its body. The leaves conceals its… stomach-thing. Don’t worry, I think it’s here for the timberwolves, not two very much awake unicorns. Anyway, those branches pack one heck of a punch, I can tell you that much. One of the more experienced guards took a hit that would have struck me if he hadn’t been there. He was hospitalized for several weeks with broken ribs. After a few minutes, it was just me, a very tired creeper, and five frightened scientists.”
“And then you killed it?”
“A lucky shot,” Amber Vane admitted. “Distracted it with my sword and then plunged one of my colleagues’ spears into its back and twisted. I still remember its screams…” He looked towards the clearing they had come from. “I killed a single beast that day, but you… You were thrown pretty abruptly into this. The whimpers of those timberwolves’ll follow you for the rest of your life, I bet.”
“That’s not very comforting,” the lavender unicorn muttered almost accusingly.
“Well, good,” the white unicorn replied, shrugging. “I hadn’t taken you for a killer.” He smiled at the lavender unicorn’s confused expression. “Killing feels horrible for a reason, right? It’s to remind us of how immense an act it is. To end a life… the enormity of it would slip by most of us if not for the guilt, I think. To take another creature’s life should be one of your last resorts if you ask me. That feeling you have now? That’s you knowing murder is a bad thing, that you should only do it when all other options fail.”
“I guess you’re right,” Twilight said after a while. Even so, her sobbing continued. She froze when she felt his horn touch hers, shocked at the intimate act. When she felt the warmth flooding into her, however, she was quick to welcome it.
“Promise me you won’t push away your guilt,” Amber Vane insisted. “Now, I can’t do much with it; I’m just a royal guard…”
“…And heir to one of the richest companies in Equestria,” Twilight added, closing her eyes and allowing herself to smile at the warmth coursing through her.
“…And heir to one of the richest companies in Equestria,” Amber Vane allowed. “Point is, when it comes to an alternative, I don’t have a clue. I don’t know how to keep ponies safe without killing these monsters, but I bet if anypony can figure it out, it’ll be you. But until we figure something out, this is the harsh reality of it; we have to kill to not be killed ourselves. For Equestria, right?”
“Captain Sparkle!” a voice called out loudly, causing the two unicorns to flinch and pull their horns away from each other. Coup de Grâce strode out from among a cluster of trees, regarding the two frostily. “The Sword of Equestria is ready to return to Manehattan, I believe.”
Well, that was embarrassing, Twilight thought as she nodded at the armored pegasus and returned to the clearing. That could only have looked like the captain and one of her subordinates flirting with each other. At least Coup doesn’t seem like the blabbering type…
“For Equestria,” she announced grimly, and she let the fire rain down upon all of her enemies, her cold gaze sweeping across the screaming and burning creatures of all shapes and sizes…
For the fourth night in a row, Twilight woke with a start, though this time she did not scream. With an annoyed grunt, she kicked the covers off of her and stood, trotting to her window as she had done the previous three nights.
“You won’t let me sleep in your palace, will you?” she muttered darkly at the ever-present moon above. She winced and gritted her teeth. “And you won’t let my neck heal either, will you? It won’t work, though. If you want me out of Cristallum, you’ll have to throw me out yourself. The council won’t do it; I’m Captain of the Sword of Equestria. I kill for them. I take care of all their little problems.” She sighed deeply. “I’m their little pony puppet.” She looked up at the moon remorsefully for almost a full minute. “I don’t want to be like you, Nightmare. I don’t want to kill. I hate you, I hate the council, and I’ve torn apart ten or twenty timberwolves. Where do I put all these feelings? The hatred, the anger, the guilt, the grief, the confusion? Do I welcome them like Amber said? Do I stow them away, hoping they’ll fade with time? What did Luna do?”
Luna succumbed to Nightmare two or three times, she thought dismally. She doesn’t know what to do.
She pushed herself away from the window and left her bedroom, ignoring the guard standing next to her door.
I miss the white marble, I miss the red carpets, I miss the gold and the colors of the rainbow, she thought as she walked the corridors of Cristallum, staring at her hooves and the black marble beneath them. I miss the stained glass, always telling me stories of the distant past, she said to herself as she looked out the blue windows. I miss the sun and I miss Celestia...
“Twilight Sparkle.” The lavender unicorn was brought out of her reverie and saw Scarlet Bolt standing right in front of her, having just passed around a corner. “What are you doing up? It’s the middle of the night.”
“Nightmare,” Twilight replied dully, not having the greatest interest in talking with the scarlet-maned pegasus.
“I heard of your problem in Greengloom,” Scarlet Bolt said, a hint of sympathy in her voice. “Walk with me.”
Seeing no other option but to follow, the unicorn fell in beside the scarred pegasus as she turned to walk back the way she had come.
“Ask any soldier in the palace guard, and they will say they remember the face of their first kill,” Scarlet Bolt said as she turned and trotted briskly down a set of stairs. “Every single one of them will tell you that killing is a disturbing business indeed. Every single palace guard has at least one life resting on their conscience. It has been a long standing tradition that a pony need not only prove their mettle in combat, but also understand the nature of killing to ascend to the rank of royal guard, palace guard, solar guard, lunar guard, foreign guard… any position of honor and esteem, really.”
They reached the door leading to the chambers of the Sword of Equestria, and the pegasus led the way in. “Your friend Amber Vane showed great understanding on this matter,” she continued, shaking her head with a small smile. “He is a remarkable stallion, that one. A good head on his shoulders and not half bad with a sword either.”
“I know,” Twilight agreed. “He helped comfort me after the slaughter.”
Scarlet Bolt nodded her understanding. “I had a feeling you were still unfamiliar with the concept of death. I always found Celestia a bit too... soft, if you don’t mind me saying, so I put Amber Vane on the Sword. You’ll have noticed he’s not as talented as your other subordinates when it comes to combat, but that’s not all that matters, is it?”
“Thank you,” Twilight said, finding herself smiling at the mare that had been plaguing her dreams.
“I take good care of my soldiers,” Scarlet Bolt replied modestly, sitting down in one of the chairs surrounding the marble table and motioning for Twilight to do the same. “I walked you all the way down here, so I might as well finish this talk, even if Mr. Vane most likely already did it better than I could.” She gestured at the map in front of her as Twilight seated herself. “You’ve heard the story of how we ponies travelled from here,” she gestured loosely at the western parts of Equestria. “To Equestria, or what we now call Central Equestria. Now, the Hearth’s Warming Eve stories always present Equestria as some sort of sugared paradise, when the fact is,” she pointed at the massive green expanse next to Canterlot and Ponyville, “for the first few decades or perhaps centuries, they ended up being neighbors to the Everfree; the most savage forest throughout all of pony history. They didn’t move into Equestria and build Canterlot just like that, no, they fought with hoof and tooth for every square mile of our land. They died and they killed so that ponydom could go on, and here we stand, centuries upon centuries later, living in a country that stretches from ocean to ocean, east to west, and south to north.”
Scarlet Bolt turned from the map and faced Twilight. “Now, would it be such a stretch of the imagination to see what you’re doing as pretty much the same thing? Doing bad things for what is right? For Equestria?”
Twilight concealed her flinching at those exact words by pretending to casually lean against the table. “I suppose you’re right.”
And I suppose you decide what is right, she muttered within herself, but all in all had to agree with the pink pegasus’ words.
“Speaking of the Hearth’s Warming Eve stories,” Scarlet Bolt said, trotting to the other side of the table to where the land of griffons was marked. “There have been rumors of windigoes up in the north. So far, I’ve only had reportings from Buteos; nothing in Vyatkiev as of yet. Until I have confirmed those rumors and can give you a specific location, though...” She pointed at a forest northeast of Manehattan. “An ursa major has just been spotted out in the open. It destroyed a small hamlet and seems to be moving south toward Manehattan. See to it that it doesn’t get here.”
“Do I have to kill it?” Twilight asked morosely.
“As long as it stops rampaging, I don’t really care what you do with it,” Scarlet Bolt replied. “Before you start treating it to tea and cookies, though, keep in mind that thing is already behind six confirmed fatalities. If you can stop it without killing it, I’d say go for it. As long as you don’t risk the lives of your comrades, that is.”
“Thanks… and… I’m sorry for calling the Sword a glorified pest control.”
“Apology accepted,” Scarlet Bolt replied, nodding solemnly. “Not everypony can understand the gravity of what a soldier must do. You enjoy learning, don’t you?”
As the crystal solites in Manehattan were lit one by one, the small fleet of flying chariots carrying the Sword of Equestria set off once more, flying northeast this time instead of northwest. Where the trip to Trottingham had taken a full day, only half the time had passed before Twilight and the others caught sight of the ursa, a large splotch of blue radiating against the darkness below. Within a few minutes, the chariots had landed within a mile of the beast, allowing the chariot pullers a safe distance as the Sword of Equestria set off after the bear.
An ursa major... Although she had faced such an opponent before, Twilight was still very much aware of the difference in situation. It took every last scrap of magic I had to knock one of those things over for just a few seconds, but everypony seems convinced that I can actually kill one! And I might have to. I mean, how do you stop a rampaging ursa major? A quick hit-and-run like last time won’t do much good here. I have to actually stop that thing.
But how do you stop something that can blot out the sky just by standing up? We can’t restrain it; we’d need at least a hundred unicorns working together. Perhaps we can put it to sleep, but that’ll most likely be a whole lot more difficult than making a cranky minor take a nap. And dragging it back to the forest? Forget it. Killing it? I can’t do that. There is the obvious physical issue of piercing a hide that’s probably thicker than the length of my body, and the moral issue... I can’t kill an ursa major. Despite everything, it’s a magnificent and majestic creature, right? Who knows what kind ecological balance it maintains? It’s a piece of the night sky, for pony’s sake!
It’s angry. Something has made it go crazy. The eternal night messing with its sleeping patterns, Nightmare Moon... something has driven it over the edge, otherwise it wouldn’t be attacking ponies. It’s almost like it’s been put under Discord’s spell. Of course, he’s still trapped in stone, but..!
My Memory spell. Remove whatever trauma has affected the ursa and return it to its peaceful self...
“Lightning Rod has fallen quite far behind, Cap’n,” Night Flight revealed as he dropped out of the sky and trotted to the lavender unicorn’s side, interrupting her train of thought. “Permission to go give her an encouraging shove?”
“Denied,” Twilight replied, having given up on the whole ‘Captain’ issue. She looked back to see if she could spot the yellow unicorn behind the main body of her force and sighed as she put two and two together. “I think I know what’s bugging her. Keep going, I’ll be back in a moment.”
“Sure thing,” the lavender pegasus replied as the unicorn vanished in a bright flash, reappearing more than a hundred feet behind the rear of the Sword of Equestria and startling Lightning Rod, who was now right beside her.
“Sorry. I’m being too slow, aren’t I?” the yellow unicorn with her spiky blue mane asked after having recovered from the initial shock of Twilight materializing right next to her.
“Kinda,” the captain admitted. “But I figured there was something bothering you, right? You always tended to show a little... restraint when it came to our ursa practice sessions.”
“That obvious, huh? I, uh, tried talking it over with Coup, since we’re old pals and all, but... didn’t help that much.”
“Nervous about your first showdown with an ursa. Can’t blame anypony for that,” Twilight commented.
“Not just an ursa,” Lightning Rod pointed out. “A major. Is it true they’re bigger than dragons?”
“Uh... yeah. A lot bigger. You won’t believe it until you see one. But if it’s of any help, I can tell you that we’re headed toward an ursa minor right now.”
“I thought we were chasing one of the big ones!” the yellow unicorn exclaimed, both relief and a small hint of outrage tinging her voice.
“I think we are,” the captain explained. “This must be its child or something, wandering around in search of its parent. The major must be farther ahead.”
“Oh...”
“I don’t get why you’re this afraid of it, though,” Twilight told the unicorn. “You’ve got fourteen other unicorns and thirty-five pegasi watching your back. You’re one of my most talented mages, too.”
Lightning Rod snorted. “Says the Element of Magic and the princesses’ protégé...”
“You don’t have to fight any of the ursas if you don’t want to,” the lavender unicorn said after a while. “At least not today.”
Lightning Rod only pouted. “I can’t just sit on the sidelines while everypony else goes off to fight a hundred-foot bear.”
“Well, that’s not exactly what I had in mind... You’ll know in just a moment,” she assured the yellow mare as the company drew to a halt after having drawn very close to the ursa minor, allowing the two unicorns to catch up. Twilight went to the front of the crowd, addressing them in a voice loud enough for them to hear, but quiet enough to go unnoticed by the nearby ursa. “Those of you more familiar with the ursa species will have noticed by now that what lies behind this hill is not an ursa major, but a minor, a baby.”
She let the more undisciplined mages exchange mutterings of awe and apprehension before continuing. “Most likely, the reports of an ursa major were true; not even a minor could have completely destroyed a hamlet. This minor has probably gotten lost looking for its rampaging parent. Because of this, I don’t want to see that creature hurt, okay?” This was met by a bit of murmuring from her soldiers, but the captain raised a hoof to silence them. “Here’s the plan: Night Flight and Featherbeat will fly ahead and attempt to locate the major. Meanwhile, any of the unicorns able to, including myself, will use a sleeping spell to subdue the minor. Is anyone familiar with this spell?” she asked, summoning a spell model of the enchantment Civil Tenet had used upon her all those months ago. She was surprised she already knew it so intimately, let alone had identified it in her at the time panicked and almost crazed state.
A dark blue stallion raised his hoof confidently. His mane and tail were of a light blue and had a number of small silver and gold bells attached to them.
“Alright, Bluebell and I will approach the minor and try to subdue it,” she said, signaling for the two pegasus scouts to leave. “The rest of you will stay here; being surrounded by fifty soldiers won’t help calm it. I’ll signal you if we need backup. If all goes well and the ursa minor is incapacitated, Bluebell, Amber Vane, Iron Sword, and Lightning Rod will carry it back to the forest while the rest of the force goes after the major. At that time, it hopefully won’t be long before our scouts return. Is everypony aware of their duties?”
The soldiers nodded and shouted their affirmation, and Twilight turned towards the hill where she had seen the ursa minor, Bluebell following after as she began walking. It didn't take long before the giant bear came into view, tearing furiously at a pear tree in an effort to uproot it, an effort that was soon successful. Not far from the ursa was a noticeable trail of destruction running through a large orchard of pear trees, the clear sign of something much larger than an ursa minor having come through.
“It looks hungry,” Bluebell commented, grimacing slightly as the ursine chomped down on branches, leaves, and fruits alike.
“Well, if it’s full, it will fall asleep easier,” Twilight observed. “If not, things might be a little harder than anticipated, though we should be able to tranquilize it no matter what.”
The lavender unicorn approached the minor, catching its attention and receiving a threatening growl. When the blue unicorn joined her, the bear gave a small snarl, clutching the mangled pear tree protectively. As her horn flared to life, Twilight called out to her companion. “Alright, let's go!”
The spell she had formed in her mind was for a brief moment brought out of balance as the blue mage’s own spells were added to hers. After a few moments, however, Bluebell’s magic began reinforcing her own spells, forming a synergy that she was sure would bring down the beast. A wispy tendril of magenta flowed out of her horn and connected with the star-like insignia on the ursa’s forehead, and its eyes glazed over almost immediately as the magic took hold. Even so, it took almost ten minutes before the minor toppled over, snoring loudly while suckling on the tree it had plucked out of the ground.
“That went much better than expected!” Twilight observed, breathing a bit heavier than before. Bluebell seemed to be a little worse for wear, though, the bells jingling lightly as his torso heaved and fell repeatedly with his heavy breathing. “Are you up for dragging the minor back home?” the lavender unicorn asked worriedly, to which the stallion nodded.
“Rather that than face a major,” he reasoned.
“Good, I’ll leave you to it then,” Twilight replied, nodding curtly as she turned back toward the hill they had come from. “Lightning Rod, Amber Vane, and Iron Sword will join you shortly.”
It was another four hours before Twilight, along with ten unicorns and thirty-four pegasi, passed over the edge of Wild Weald, one of the larger forests north of Manehattan. As requested by Featherbeat, the team had returned to its flying chariots in order to get to the major in better time. As the blue pegasus returned to the main body, Coup de Grâce had decided to accompany the team handling the ursa minor in case the four unicorns needed any help.
“I think we’re here!” Twilight called out from the chariot she was riding as she caught sight of Night Flight, almost invisible against the dark night sky as he circled above a small clearing. Starburst, who was riding in the chariot with her, winced as she magically amplified her voice to address the Sword. “We will perform an aerial disembarkation; pegasi will ferry the unicorns down and surround the target! Now, since I think killing that thing is going to be pretty darn hard, I say we take a different approach! Try your best to bring it down without injuring it, then I’ll see if I can’t use my Memory spell to restore it to its calmer self.” Her subordinates’ reply was drowned out by the howling winds around them, but they seemed to have understood the message.
As they drew closer to Night Flight, the truly massive body of the ursa major came into view. To the lavender unicorn’s disappointment, the bear wasn’t asleep, but was clawing furiously at the ground for some reason, yowling at nothing in particular.
It can’t be just the eternal night bothering it, Twilight observed. It’s gone completely insane!
As with the one in the Everfree, the major below her had knocked over all the trees in its immediate area. She noticed that the trees all around the improvised clearing were still intact; there were no signs of the ursa’s passage to be seen anywhere. Although it seemed strange, she dismissed it as some sort of ursa magic; she had never seen any destruction caused by ursas in the Everfree either.
“Get down as fast as you can. I’ll try to keep its attention on the ground,” Twilight told Starburst, vanishing in a flash of white and reappearing beside the enormous ursine before he could object.
Alright. The bestiary says ursas’ main source of sustenance is the moon, she told herself. Let’s see how it likes a healthy dose of sunlight!
As the unicorn began feeding the air beside the bear with solar magic, her enemy noticed her, snarling ferociously and growling so loudly that the ground vibrated. Abandoning her usual spells of stability and longevity, Twilight unleashed a powerful thunderbolt into the pocket of magically augmented air right beneath the ursine, causing a powerful explosion that made the bear roar out in pain, bringing Twilight out of balance as the earth shook. The beast’s coat momentarily changed color from dark purple to the bright blue of a pre-dawn sky, and for a few seconds, it looked frailer than usual, the sunlight working against the moon and draining the bear’s powers.
She teleported away with only a few seconds to spare as a huge paw hammered down on the spot she had occupied while casting her spell.
“Really wish you wouldn’t do things like that, Cap’n,” Night Flight complained as he swooped down beside her, keeping a watchful eye on the slightly confused giant. “Distracting a pack of timberwolves? Not much of a problem. But an ursa major? That’s just asking for a unicorn pancake.”
“Well, it’s working, isn’t it?” she grunted as her horn glowed again, summoning a bright light among the trees on the opposite side of the clearing, distracting the ursa further. The unicorn gestured at the sky, where the ten unicorns were already halfway down.
“Why are we even landing?” the dark lavender pegasus asked. “Couldn’t you all just shoot at it from the chariots where it can’t reach you?”
“We could… if we wanted to shoot pointlessly at a naturally and magically reinforced hide several feet thick,” Twilight replied, shifting the position of her light just before the ursa lost interest. “Its underside is its only weakness as far as I know, though even that isn’t vulnerable per se. There are several other reasons, but now isn’t really the time,” she said as the ursa finally turned around to face the two ponies.
The pegasus took off quickly as the ursa approached, and the unicorn sent a crackling bolt of electricity straight into the bear’s chest, though the arcane blow went unnoticed by the massive creature. She once again dodged a swipe from the ursa by teleporting and took a step back to recuperate as the pegasi began swarming around the bear, swords and lances opening ridiculously small cuts in the side of the giant. By now, the unicorns had all been ferried to the ground, and they too began their assault, peppering the ursa with fire and lightning.
“Its belly!” Twilight instructed both the unicorns and the pegasi. “It won’t feel a thing on the area around its back! Remember our routines!”
She took a step back as the ursa turned toward her and snarled again. Out of the forty-five ponies present in the clearing, it somehow singled out the lavender unicorn and charged her, disregarding the attacks of the other ponies. Before Twilight could react, though, the bear’s progress was brought short as a score of pegasi flying in a tight formation pounded into the side of its head in rapid succession, managing to steer it away from the captain.
As the last pegasi was about to deliver a kick, the bear twisted its head around and would have swallowed the pony whole if Twilight had not teleported her out of harm’s way. The beige pegasus landed roughly beside Twilight, thanking the captain before taking off again, visibly shaken by her near-death experience.
A blindingly white ray of light shot forth from Twilight’s horn and struck the ursa square in the eyes, blinding it momentarily. “‘Stop, Drop, and Roll!’” the captain shouted out, giving the signal for one of the organized attacks she had established during the training sessions.
The eleven unicorns all pointed their horns at the ground beneath the major, and within only a few seconds, an intense fire had sprung to life, licking at the ursa’s underside while the pegasi flew upwards, gaining as much altitude as they could. Roaring in pain at the flames beneath it, the ursa sought to avoid the agony by rolling away from the fire and onto its back. While its belly was exposed, however, the thirty-four pegasi dive-bombed its weakest spots, attacking with either sharp blades or precise kicks.
“Everypony together now!” Twilight shouted, summoning her magic. “Hammer the air out of its lungs!”
The pegasi dive-bombed the creature again, this time using only their hooves and focusing on its chest. Just as the flying ponies impacted with the beast, the unicorns sent a joint blast of telekinesis into its lungs as well. The attack didn’t have the effect Twilight had hoped for, though, as the bear only exhaled a little more sharply than usual.
Waste of energy! she mentally chastised herself, desperately thinking of anything to stop the major before it could get back on its feet.
“Trip it!” she yelled as the bear tried to rise. She pointed at the left foreleg of the beast, and the joint power of the present unicorns once again struck out as one, causing the paw to shift and the ursa to stumble.
The unicorns are getting weaker, Twilight noted with a grimace. We can’t keep this up for very long.
“Unicorns, pull back and recharge! Pegasi, distract it!” she ordered, and the enormous ursine soon found itself orbited by the many pegasi as the ten unicorns discreetly drew away from the ursa’s immediate range.
After five minutes, a sharp cry caught Twilight’s attention. Apparently, the ursa’s flailing forelegs had finally found one of its targets and she saw the same beige pegasus she had saved before crash into a tree, her wings bending at an awkward angle before she collapsed. Reacting far faster than the giant bear, the lavender unicorn enveloped the nearly unconscious pegasus and unceremoniously dragged her across the ground before another paw could flatten her. “Night Flight!” she screamed, catching the lavender pegasus’ attention. “Catch!”
She flung the downed pegasus at Night Flight, who was soon joined by two other pegasi, catching the mare and carrying her to safety.
That was way too close. I’ll have to try to end this now.
Walking backwards, the captain once again called out to her soldiers. “Unicorns, get back in! Pegasi, turn its back on me! When I give the signal, the fliers will do their best to get it on its hind legs and the unicorns will push it back toward me!” When Twilight had gone far enough back to no longer be in danger of being crushed under the ursa, she gave the signal, and within only a minute, the pegasi had lured the ursine into a standing position. Just as it reared up, however, a glowing band materialized around its throat, pulling back sharply and disrupting the bear’s balance.
Although Twilight saw it coming and braced herself, she still lost her balance as the ursa major fell onto its back, making the ground shudder violently with the impact. She was soon on her hooves again, however, galloping towards the ursa as multicolored bands of light were drawn across its limbs, the pegasi resuming their attack on the bear’s weak spots.
Twilight reached the now flailing ursa and got as close to its head as she dared, her horn lighting up as she summoned the very spell that had once cured her friends of Discord’s madness. She could practically feel the enormous beast tensing up in front of her as her magic delved into its mind, sifting through blurry memories and the various components of its psyche.
As she had expected, the giant’s mind was a complete mess; some strong emotion had sent everything roiling and it was up to her to sort through it all and try to restore the ursa. Images of what must be a forest, other ursas, and a pony settlement being crushed underfoot all rushed past her in an erratic pattern Twilight could make no sense of. All the while, the unicorn felt her magic being slowly drained away as her spell kept the minds of the two vastly different creatures connected.
Through the haze of her own magic, she could see the ursa lying still, paralyzed by the effects of her Memory spell as she spent a whole minute looking at the alien mind. Finally, she gained the necessary overview she required and realized that there was in fact a pattern in the disorderly images and memories scattered about. They all seemed to, in one way or another, revolve around a specific cluster of memories, the dark aura of what Twilight recognized as fear seeping out of it and drenching the entire mind in madness.
As she tried to get a closer look at the root of the troubles, a sudden burst of what looked like lightning fended her probe off. Pouring large amounts of magic into her spell, she managed to bend the unruly mind to her will, slowly forcing away the obstacles over the course of several minutes until finally she gained access to the darker cluster of memories.
The ursa major began once again thrashing against its bonds as Twilight opened up the cluster, and both minds were overtaken by the strange shadows and distorted shrieks that had plagued the ursa for days. The unicorn gritted her teeth at the bear’s mental trauma that she had now forced herself to endure in bits and pieces, trying to remove the memories or destroy them in any way possible.
Back in the physical realm, one of the ursa’s hind legs broke free, but the unicorn took a step closer, determined to get the ordeal over with as the connection intensified.
The images clarified in short bursts, revealing little more than the darkness of the forest. Suddenly, the shape of what looked very much like a pony, most likely a changeling given the surroundings, appeared within the ursa’s memories, leaping about in a blur as it bore down upon all manner of smaller animals. The creatures’ screams reverberated through the giant’s and Twilight’s mind, and the bear began thrashing even more violently. Through the ursine’s eyes, the lavender unicorn watched as the pony-like creature turned towards the bear, plunging all other memories into obscurity as the pair of large, red, glowing eyes fixed upon the major. With a mad cackle, the creature lunged at the ursa, and all became dark.
The lavender unicorn shivered at the image, but stiffened when the blood red eyes reappeared. “I know you’re there, Twilight!” the distorted voice of the creature called out before trailing off into insane laughter.
What? What!?
The last of the ursa’s bonds gave away and the giant roared furiously while Twilight’s mind reeled. She heard shouting and a loud thump as the ursa major got to its feet again, but before she could react to either, she felt her connection to the bear being taken from her as another unicorn took her place.
Her attention turned back to the real world just in time to see a lightning bolt of monstrous size flow from the sky, straight through the star on the ursa’s forehead and into its very mind. A shriek of unimaginable pain escaped the giant’s mouth, causing the entire clearing to shudder violently again. It reared up on its hind legs, but to no avail, the huge arc of electricity still streaming down from above without mercy. As she lifted her gaze to find the source of the bolt, Twilight saw one of the flying chariots belonging to the Sword of Equestria circling above the clearing, though she couldn’t see who was riding it through the glare of the powerful spell being cast.
She felt two pairs of hooves wrap around her forelegs and found herself being lifted into the air and away from the ursa as its miserable howl was suddenly cut short, its glowing fur dimming to complete blackness as the vast creature slumped forward, collapsing upon the spot Twilight had been standing only a few seconds before.
She barely felt it as she was lowered to the ground again, the shock of what she had seen numbing all other feelings.
It saw me? H-h-how could it see me looking through the memories of the ursa? That doesn’t make any sense! What is that thing!? Did it know I would use my Memory spell? Did it intentionally traumatize the ursa, knowing that I would be looking at its memories and seeing it? Why would it even do that?
Worried by the look of horror on Twilight’s face, the unicorn was soon surrounded by a small crowd of pegasi.
“Cap’n, what happened?” Night Flight asked, raising an eyebrow at the trembling unicorn. “You look like you saw a ghost.”
Twilight shook her head, forcing herself to push away her questions for later. She took several deep breaths before speaking, causing the pegasi to give each other puzzled glances. “I’m… I’m not sure. But I’m going to find out.” She sighed. “Where did the lightning come from?”
“The team handling the minor came back,” the lavender pegasus replied with a smile. “I guess there’s a reason they call her Lightning Rod!”
Twilight looked back at the dead ursa which now disintegrated, the black fragments floating away into the night sky. She blinked. “She did that?”
“I think the other unicorns helped out, but yeah,” Featherbeat explained.
“How’s that for a dramatic entrance?” the yellow unicorn asked, grinning as she approached the captain, the pegasi parting before her in awe.
Twilight gazed again at the spot where the ursa had been lying. A deep impression had formed in the ground, but other than that, there was no sign of the titanic creature. “You... you weren’t supposed to kill it...” she muttered, both sadness and anger welling up within her. “I was trying to cure it!”
“Well, no offense, but it didn’t look like it was working,” Lightning Rod defended herself, her confidence deflating almost visibly.
“There were complications,” Twilight admitted.
“…That Lightning Rod solved,” Coup de Grâce said, coming to the yellow unicorn’s defense as she shouldered past a group of pegasi.
“…That I would have dealt with!” the lavender unicorn insisted. Sensing the enmity between the three ponies, the soldiers began backing away. Twilight turned back to Lightning Rod “Instead you took away my connection and used it to incinerate the mind of that ursa! Do you have any idea what you just did? The gravity of this situation? You killed an ursa major! That’s as impressive as it’s horrible!”
“Horrible!?” the large pegasus mare’s eyes narrowed. “You might have been too busy with your worthless spell to notice, but that beast almost had its jaws around you! Lightning Rod saved your ungrateful life!”
“That is no way to speak to your captain, soldier,” Twilight warned, but Coup de Grâce snorted.
“Then perhaps you should start acting like a captain. Tell me, what is the purpose of the Sword of Equestria?”
The lavender unicorn gave the pegasus a cold stare which was equally returned. “I am not having this conversation with you. All you need to know is that I am your captain, and you need to do as I say. When I say you aren’t allowed to injure our targets, then you do not. Injure. Our. Targets!” She once again fixed Lightning Rod with a furious stare. “You fried that poor ursa’s mind!”
“‘Poor’?” Coup de Grâce interjected with equal outrage burning in her eyes. “‘Poor’!? That thing destroyed an entire village and killed at least six ponies! It could knock down a skyscraper if it wanted to! It was about to eat you! There is nothing poor about that ursa!”
“Good riddance, huh?” Twilight shot back, surprising herself as she took a menacing step toward the mare almost twice her size. “It wasn’t acting as we wanted it to, it wasn’t dealing with The Great Tragedy as well as we were, so we should just go ahead and kill it? Is that it? Kill whatever doesn’t agree with you?”
“Cap’n…” Night Flight began, but Twilight silenced him with a raised hoof, pointing into the forest.
“Due east,” she ordered with a sigh. “Get back to the chariots, all of you.” She fixed the yellow unicorn with a stare. “Except you.”
“As you say, Captain,” the armored pegasus spat, and followed the other ponies as they left the clearing and headed east, leaving Lightning Rod and Twilight alone on the now almost crushingly empty battleground.
“What’s your problem!?” the yellow unicorn hissed with frustration. “You were the one who told me not to be afraid of these ursas! I killed an ursa major! Nopony’s ever done that before! And you chew me off in front of everyone!? Are you jealous!?”
The lavender unicorn took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. “No, I’m not jealous.” She pointed a hoof at where the ursa had died, wishing that there was some sort of grotesque corpse lying there. Instead, there was only that terrible emptiness that reminded her all too much of Celestia and Luna’s coffins. “How could I be jealous of that? The ursa isn’t a mindless carnivore like the timberwolf; it’s a sentient being. It has memories, it has emotions, it has dreams… it has families.” She stomped a hoof on the ground. “What’s going to happen to that minor you just dragged back to the woods?” Again, she pointed a hoof at the empty space. “You killed its parent!”
“It’s an ursa,” Lightning Rod insisted, her voice losing some of the confidence she had gained through anger. “I-it’s a huge bear, for pony’s sake! It’ll be fine.”
“Then why did it chase after its parent?” the captain pointed out. “Are you sure a baby like that can find enough food on its own? Believe it or not, that little ursa meant the world to the one you just killed, and I’m pretty sure it’s reciprocal. That’s what I gained from the Memory spell. I was about to cure it; if I’d had just a few minutes more, that thing would have returned to normal!”
“But you didn’t have a few minutes!” Lightning Rod shouted back. “I know the Memory spell; you can hardly see anything but the mind you’re working with. Coup was right; that ursa practically had its jaws around you when I intervened!”
“You didn’t have to kill it!” Twilight groaned. “This may be called the Sword of Equestria, but as the captain, I say we do not kill. We do not put ourselves above the ones weaker than us.”
“But when they threaten us…”
“Celestia never killed anyone;” Twilight told Lightning Rod. “Not a thief, not a murderer, not Discord, not Nightmare Moon.”
Unless you want to believe some weird creature in the Evergloom...
“Celestia was the best of us,” she continued. “She moved the sun and moon for a thousand years, wielding powers that could make us all look like ants. Never once did she hurt us, never once has she sentenced anypony to death. It would be so easy for her, but she knew better. Celestia was the best thing to happen for Equestria. Because she knew her place. She wasn’t an executioner and neither will we be.”
Lightning Rod bit her lip and was quiet for a long while. “Fine, if you insist,” she sighed at last. “No more killings. Unless I see no other alternative,” the yellow unicorn stressed, but the captain decided not to pursue the matter any further.
“That’s all I wanted to hear.” Twilight gave a half-hearted smile which disappeared when she looked back at the ursa’s death bed. “What’s done is done. We should get out of here.”
Twilight threw herself out of bed, her magic ripping apart her covers for the fourth time since she’d been named Captain by the Council of Nine. As the waking world chased away the last remnants of her nightmare, the lavender unicorn gave a shuddering sigh, using her magic to throw the useless pieces of fabric into her trash can. Looking back at her bed, she noticed that it was covered in feathers that had erupted from a ruptured pillow and frowned. She broadened her focus and strained her concentration as she enveloped every single feather along with her ruined pillow in her magical grasp, depositing them in the trash as well.
The clock on her desk told her the time was half past one, meaning she’d had five hours of sleep since returning from the ursa assignment. She winced as the wound in her neck throbbed painfully for a few seconds before going numb again.
“Another nightmare, Captain Sparkle?” The palace guard at her door peeked in, making sure that the noises came from the lavender unicorn and not an intruder.
Twilight got to her hooves shakily, grimacing at the layer of cold sweat that had formed all over her coat. “Yeah. Apparently I have a very vivid imagination.”
“Council member Scarlet Bolt said she wanted to speak with you when you woke up,” the unicorn guard revealed. “There are urgent matters that the two of you must discuss.”
“Now? In the middle of the night?” the captain raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think she meant sometime in the morning?”
“She’s waiting in the main chamber of the Sword of Equestria,” the guard said. “I guess she assumed you would have another nightmare.”
“Well, she was right. I’ll just take a quick shower and be right with her.”
The guard nodded politely as Twilight exited her chamber ten minutes later, making her way down the dark, blue-tinted halls of Cristallum before she arrived at the task force’s headquarters. As the palace guard had said, the pink and scarlet pegasus was seated at the large table in the center of the room, waiting patiently.
“Twilight Sparkle. I trust you slept unwell?”
The unicorn couldn’t help but smile at the unusual greeting. “Very. You know, I never had these problems in Ponyville.”
“I’m sure you didn’t,” the head of military replied. “But you’re still staying.” She pointed at the map carved into the table. “The ursa was taken care of?”
“There were two of them,” Twilight answered. “The major was being followed by its baby. We put the minor to sleep and four unicorns dragged it back into the forest while the rest of us went after the major.”
“Did you manage to subdue the ursa major without injuring it?”
“I tried,” she muttered. “I was performing a Memory spell, a spell that would return the ursa to its former self before it went crazy, but there were complications. Lightning Rod ended up taking over the connection I had with the ursa and used her own and the other unicorns’ magic to send a bolt of lightning straight into its mind. It was killed.”
“That certainly takes care of that problem,” Scarlet Bolt remarked. “Though not in the way you wanted, I take it.”
“Its very mind was electrocuted... I’m not sure there’s anything more painful than that.” Twilight sighed at the disturbing memory. “Have you ever seen an ursa major die? The life of something so majestic being cut short?”
“I’ve seen much worse,” the pegasus said. “We called it The Great Tragedy.”
None of you saw it; I did, Twilight thought, but nodded her head. “True,” she admitted.
“You’ve already had this discussion with both me and Amber Vane,” Scarlet Bolt reminded her. “You know why it is we must kill.”
“Celestia never killed,” the unicorn pointed out. “She did everything that was needed of her and maintained peace in Equestria without ever having to take a life.”
“Yes, but sadly, none of us are Celestia,” the pegasus countered. “She is gone and so are our times of peace. With the death of our princess, it hasn’t taken the world long to return to how it once was. You wouldn’t imagine the troubles we are dealing with, Twilight. Coltdoba is taking steps towards independence, potentially cutting off one of our largest supplies of food, the smaller settlements are being abandoned because we can’t protect them from the dangers of the forests, we are seeing huge increases in crime in all of the larger cities, and windigoes have returned.”
“Windigoes?” Twilight asked in an alarmed tone. “You were able to confirm the rumors?”
“Almost,” the pegasi admitted. “Everything we’ve seen so far indicates the presence of windigoes. I believe the griffons of Buteos are dealing with the current times a little less… harmoniously than the Equestrians, prompting this strange outbreak.”
“So is that our next task? Track down and get rid of the windigoes?”
“I’m afraid not,” Scarlet Bolt said, shaking her head almost sadly as she went to the southern part of the map. “The sightings have only been made in Buteos, and so technically it falls upon their authorities to deal with the problem, not us. Under any other circumstance, I would have sent you, but we’ve suddenly got a much bigger problem on our hooves. Are you familiar with the town Orange Valley?” She pointed at a spot near the southwestern part of Equestria beneath the mountain range that separated Central Equestria from the west, and the unicorn shook her head. “It was completely destroyed this morning. Just received the report a few hours ago. I’m giving you an additional force of fifty unicorns and seventy pegasi for this mission.” At the lavender unicorn’s look of surprise, the pink pegasus gave a grim smile. “Tell me, Twilight, what is the only creature in Equestria that by itself poses an even larger threat to ponies than a fully grown ursa major?”
Twilight was silent for a while before venturing a guess. “Dragons?”
Stats
Page generated in 0.037 seconds
Total duration
838 users online
1,002,805 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
That's it for the pre-written chapters. I've written chapters 11-14, though; I just need some feedback from my proofreader.
In case you're worried, I'll say it now: Twilight and Amber Vane will not be shipped.
See, her first vision confirms my theory... Damn you evil forces for twisting Twilight Sparkle!
Just making a post because it has been 2 weeks since anyone said anything — when will we see 11-14?
1911470
I have no idea. Whenever my proofreader gets around to it, I guess. He started on 11, but he only did one page. I mean, he should do it at whatever pace he feels like since I don't pay him and all, but I might ask him when I finish up chapter 15 (which should be soon).
1911491
How soon?
Meh, has your proofreader even done one of them?
1911470 2012180 2016907
He just got back to me with chapter 11 yesterday, actually. I'm done with my exams for now and have a week off, so I'll be doing a lot of writing most likely. Expect chapter 11 some time in the weekend (or later today).
Not really, the council can't make you do anything you don't wan't to do, they need you.
Looking for despairingly?
3989669 There we go. Fixed.
Twilight might have been right about going along with the sword of Equestria thing but she should have made a point about how it's a stopgap measure and there are real problem that need to be solved and her skill lend themselves to solving those problems than fight monsters.
This chapter is beyond boring to me. Almost put me off the story all together. The reasons are too difficult for me to explain, however.