> Awakening > by TheEmpressEclipse > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Where am I? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prince Constellation woke up somewhere dark and damp, he assumed it was a cave, that's where he would always wake up. He slowly started to stand up and found he was covered in moss, dirt, something that might have been bat droppings, and some roots had grown over him. Grunting he climbed to his hooves and cast an illumination spell, filling the cavern with light. The sudden brightness temporarily blinded him and caused him to stumble backwards, he felt something cutting into his skin and turned to find a broken bottle. Now he remembered! He scowled, he remembered why he was drinking. He had lost in a grand battle against his sisters, Celestia and Luna, or should he just say Luna, Celestia didn't do anything, Celestia never did anything, except eat buttered bananas and sip tea. His scowl deepened, he shook his head to free himself from the memory of that humiliating defeat, and began walking through the cave in an attempt to find the exit. After a while he emerged from the cave and found the sun beating down on him, a constant reminder of his defeat, he looked around and observed the forest around him. It wasn't a very inviting place, to say the least. "Where am I" The Prince asked himself. "Why, your in the Everfree, and who exactly are thee?" A voice replied. The prince whipped around, expecting a fight, and saw a zebra emerging from the forest. She didn't have any sort of weapon on her, but zebras where tricky, he had taught himself, and General Tiberius Blade, never to trust a zebra. After a moment of awkward silence, the zebra cleared her throat."I am Zecora, a zebra, you see, now who might I ask are ye?" She asked pointing a hoof in the Princes direction. The Prince visibly puffed up."I, am Prince Constellation, second-born son of the Royal Family, third in line for the throne, and the Prince of the South East Islands Empire!" The Prince finished his speech with a little bow. Zecora was just confused. "I am sorry, I have never heard of you, you have me lost, this place is dangerous, come to my home, you can stay without cost." She said simply. The Prince was taken aback, this mare, zebra, whatever she was, had never heard of him. Than he slapped a hoof to his face, startling Zecora, he didn't really expect his sisters to go around telling everypony about their brother who went on war paths, invaded every country he could find, and whose special talent was war! Plus he HAD been asleep for about two thousand years, it was recurring thing, it happens to Alicorns who have so much power and magic that they just don't know what to do with it all. "Very well, zebra, take me to your abode." The Prince said with a sigh, he hated not being heard of, for he was the greatest warrior in all of Equestria, no, all of Equuis. The zebra nodded and started walking into the forest with the Prince following her. The forest made the Prince wary, it didn't scare him, he wasn't scared of anything, but it did put him on edge. The zebra was acting like she was going on a stroll through the park, she was even humming! After a very long walk they made it to the zebras house, the Prince had quickly realized he was out of shape, he should have been able to run that distance without breaking a sweat. But instead, he was panting like a dog. The zebra either didn't notice or didn't care, because she simply entered the house and stood by the door, waiting for the Prince to enter. The Prince entered the small building and looked around, taking in his surroundings, everything was very creepy, it was obvious she was some kind of alchemist, shelves covered in potions and ingredients lined the walls, some potions were even hanging from the ceiling! That put him even more on edge, alchemists couldn't be trusted either, no, they were worse than zebras, you could never know if an alchemist put a little poison in your potion. "Would you like to have have some tea, I can mix some up for you and me?" Zecora asked, snapping the Prince from his thoughts. "I....uhm-no, uh no thank you, I don't care for tea." The Prince answered her, he realized he was breaking a lot of his rules just be being here, in fact there was like only one other rule he could break, that would apply to this situation. But he doubted he would even have the opportunity to break it. The zebra began mixing some tea for herself, the Prince was tired so he took a seat at a near-by table. After a while the zebra joined him, with her tea clenched carefully in her teeth. "Now that we can talk at last, please, tell me about your past." The zebra said politely. "Well......" The Prince started. "I come from a short line of Alicorns, the Royal Family, to be specific. I am the third born, youngest only to my sister Princess Celestia," The zebras jaw dropped open. "and my brother Prince Blackheart, in that order." Zecora was confused for a second when he said his brothers name, but realization came to her face after a moment. "Princess Luna is my twin sister, but I came first. "The Prince continuded." Anyway when I was just a young colt, I took an interest in swords and fighting and war and conquering......and.......war, and I became good at it, and I enjoyed it, especially when doing so with my best friend, and general, Tiberius Blade! In fact I was so good at it, it became my special talent!" He said turning to show the zebra his cutie mark, which was a black teardrop shape with a constellation of a sword. "Anyway,"He proseeded." I began to lead armies in my fathers name, his name is King Oak by the way, but then my parents decided to quit ruling, and let Celestia rule. Blackheart went off.......somewhere, and Luna stayed with Celestia because there is no way she could have ruled on her own. I gathered my armies and attacked them, but unfortunately Luna was better than I gave her credit for, and I was defeated. Then I went out and apparently got really drunk, I don't remember half of what happened, but then I woke up in that cave. There you have it, the summarized version my life!" The Prince finished. The zebra had been sipping her tea throughout the whole story, but never got any refills. The Prince leaned over the table and found her cup was still full. "How is your cup still full?" The Prince asked, truly confused. "Zebra magic." She answered simply. "Prince Constellation your tale is tragic. I can't help but ponder, do you, play poker?" > Twilight Sparkle! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prince Constellation played poker, with the zebra known as Zecora, for a long time. He was losing really bad and Zecora had a perfect poker face that held her secrets well. he was getting tempted to cheat when he realized that he had broken the last 'don't trust' rule that could possibly apply to this situation: never trust a gambler. He sighed as he wrote another IOU, he was about to offer her a rematch when there was a knock at the door. Zecora stood from her seat and headed for the door. "Who is knocking at my door, I hope its not the obnoxious boar." She said quietly so whoever it was wouldn't hear. She opened the door revealing a purple Alicorn, she looked too smart, the Prince hated ponies who were smarter than him. "Hello," The purple pony began. "I was just wondering if that potion I asked for was done yet." She even sounded smart. "Twilight Sparkle, its good to see you, and I have made the potion, it is true." Zecora answered the smart mare, named Twilight. I watched as Zecora searched her shelves, but than the purple pony noticed me. "Hello?" She asked to gain my attention, I looked at her. "My name is Twilight Sparkle," She introduced herself. "and you are?" She asked with a raised brow. "I, am Prince Constellation, third-born of the Royal family, third in line for the throne, the master of the art of war and the prince thereof, I am the prince of the night-sky and the battlefield, and one day, I will rule all of Alicornis!" The Prince finished. "Uhmmm, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but, I've never heard of you." Twilight said, much to the Prince' dismay. "I can't believe it, I go to sleep for two thousand years and my sisters, and possibly my brother, go and erase my from history. What a GREAT family I have!" The Prince complained. "Tw-two th-thousand YEARS!" The purple mare shouted. "Yeah?" The Prince said confused at her outburst. "But only Princess Celestia and Princess Luna can live that long, not even me and Cadence are immortal!" Twilight shouted again. "Tia and Lu-Lu are still around, where, I need to have a rematch with them!" The Prince said, also taken to shouting. "You know Princess Celestia and Luna?" Twilight asked, still shouting. "Of course I know them, their my sisters!" The Prince replied, tuning his voice down ever-so-slightly. Twilight's jaw dropped open, as her eyes went wide. But then she regained her composure. "No, thats impossible, Princess Celestia would have told me if she had a bro-." She stopped, as her jaw once again fell open and her eyes engulfed her face. "I HATE BEING LIED TO, ESPECIALLY BY THE PRINCESS!!!!!" She shouted, loud enough to knock the Prince out of his seat. "Oops, sorry." She said as she helped him up. "You have a very powerful 'Alicornis voice'." The Prince said as he climbed back into his seat. "A what voice?" Twilight asked. "An 'Alicornis voice'. Don't tell me that was 'forgotten' about as well?" The Prince asked. "What exactly is Alicornis?" Twilight asked. ".......You have GOT to be joking! What is the name of this kingdom?" The Prince asked. "Equestria." The Prince's hoof quickly slapped his forehead. "She changed the name of the greatest kingdom on the face of Equuis, to EQUESTRIA!!!!!!" He shouted, he was so angry, that if he so much as caught a glimpse of her pink mane, she would find an early grave! Twilight backed away from the Prince and finally noticed Zecora standing by waiting for their conversation to end, she had a potion clenched firmly in her teeth. Twilight had heard enough, she grabbed some bits from her saddle bags, took the potion from Zecora, put the bits on the table and pulled the Prince from his seat with her magic. "Your coming with me!" Twilight told the Prince. "Where?" He asked. "Canterlot." > The Princess. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Prince was on the the train for about five hours, he had a horrible sense of time, until it finally screeched into the train station. He had never been on a train before, because they hadn't been invented at the time before his nap. He was knocked from his thoughts by magic pulling him from his seat, indicating Twilight was ready to leave, so he followed her out of train station and into Canterlot. It was a lot bigger than the cities of his day. He looked around and saw bakeries and stores, mares wearing some of the ugliest and prettiest dresses he had ever seen, and one poor stallion trying to teach his son how to catch. Everywhere they went was extravagant. But the castle made everything else look insignificant, its lower towers grabbed at the sky, and its higher towers reached for Luna's space. Guards lined the walls, their stance so perfected that they looked like statues. Some guards at the gate noticed Twilight and the Prince, and let them in. The inside of the grand castle was beautiful, not exactly the Prince' style but it was still breath-taking. High marble walls stood on either side of them, stained glass windows portrayed many different things, none of which the Prince understood. The carpets were red and very comfortable, he would have preferred them blue. And there were many potted plants. He was observing his surroundings when a deep voiced something plowed into his side, pinning him to the ground, the Prince turned his head to find it was Luna hugging his neck. "Constellation, its been so long, how have you been? Where have you been? What have you been doing? I missed you so much!" Luna said all at once. "Uhh.....Luna.....your strangling........me!" The Prince said as he tried to breath. Luna let him go and smiled sheepishly. "Oops, sorry, come on Tia will want to see you." She said as she helped her fallen brother back to his hooves. As they walked through the grand halls of Canterlot castle, Twilight broke the silence. "Princess Luna, why aren't you sleeping?" She questioned the Lunar Princess. "Oh, Tia came down with the flu, and so I'm in charge for now. You wouldn't believe how many ponies have begged me to not 'make it eternally night'." She said with a sigh. "And here we are, Tia's room!" She stated as she opened the door with her magic. "Tia, you have guests." She called into the room. "I can't have guests in this condition, Luna, tell them to come back latter!" A voice said from beyond the door. "Oh I'm pretty sure you want to see these guests, Tia." Luna said as she gestured Twilight and the Prince inside. "I would love to stay and chat, but I have a kingdom to run." Luna said as she trotted off. "Oh Twilight is yo-" Celestia stopped as soon as she saw her brother, her eyes widened in horror as her jaw found its way to the floor. "C-c-constellation?" She stuttered. "I-I thought you were gone for good." She finished. "Nope! I'm still alive-." "Like Glados!" A voice called from down the hall. "........What was that?" The Prince questioned his ill sister. "Luna." Celestia said. "All she does now is play video games." The Prince' face betrayed his confusion. " Its a new invention." "Oh." The Prince said, he was still confused, but he would leave it at that. "I still can't believe you changed the name of dads kingdom." The Prince stated. "Oh come on, it was a stupid name, even YOU have to admit that!" Celestia bellowed. "So, it was still the name dad chose." The Prince countered. "But dad left the kingdom to me, so I had ever right to change it!" Celestia stated, as she tried to regain whatever composure her ill body would allow. "Whatever. Say, where's the General?" The Prince asked. "Uhm, you mean General Tiberius." Celestia said as she thought. "I think he took to wandering all of Equuis, when you left." "I'm guessing that means you have no idea on how I could find him?" The Prince asked, he was slightly depressed. "Actually, he come's to Canterlot often!" "Really. I thought he hated cities?" "He does, but, Pony Joe's only operates in Canterlot, and he play's video games with Luna." "Interesting, I'm gonna have to find out what video WAIT A MINUTE, did you say Pony Joe's!" "Yes?" Celestia said confusedly. "I, but, Pony Joe's was around before I took my two thousand year nap!" The Prince stated. "Oh, right. Its a very long line Pony Joe's and Josephine's. Its currently a Pony Joe." Celestia said,answering his unasked question. "Well, I guess I'm gonna have to go there. I need to find the General." The Prince said. "Might I ask why?" Celestia said. "So I can invade places of course!" The Prince stated as though it should be obvious. Twilight finally found her voice and approached Celestia's bedside. "Princess, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU HAD A BROTHER!!!"Twilight shouted, her breathing was erratic. "I actually have two brother-." Celestia began. "TWO! YOU HAVE TWO BROTHERS AND YOU NEVER TOLD ME!!!" "Well in my defense, YOU never told your friends you had a brother." Celestia stated calmly. Twilight calmed down. "Oh, thats true." The Prince decided to speak before things got awkward. "Right so where's Pony Joe's?" > The General. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight and Prince Constellation walked through the streets of Canterlot, earning stares from everypony they passed. They didn't spend much time at the castle, the Prince hated family reunions, so they headed off to Pony Joes. The sun finally started to lower its self to meet the horizon, when they finally arrived at Pony Joes. They walked in and Pony Joe greeted them, well mostly Twilight. "Hey Twilight, its been a long time since I've seen you 'round these parts!" He said happily in his rough voice. "And who's this?" He motioned to the Prince. Constellation was about to speak when Twilight cut him off. "He's a friend of mine from Baltimare, he's an ambassador to the Griffon Empire actually." Pony Joe looked as though she hadn't answered his question."Oh right, his name is Constellation." "Alright. What can I get for ya?" He asked. "Well actually we're waiting for somepo-" "I'll take your 'Pony Joe Supreme' with triple sprinkles!" Prince Constellation said, cutting Twilight off. "Woah, I don't think anypony's ordered that in centuries!" Pony Joe marveled. "Oh, coming right up. Anything for you Twilight?" He asked, turning his head to look at Twilight. "Well, since we're ordering, I'll take a chocolate glazed, strawberry filled, vanilla doughnut." She said quickly, gaining a disgustedly confused glance from Prince Constellation. "What, its good." She said as she found a table to sit at. After a while they had received their doughnuts and eaten them, and were still waiting for the General to show up. The sun was kissing the horizon by the time they heard the door open. The Prince looked and there he was, still that light brown-baby faced-idiot. Constellation used a cloaking spell and was about to sneak up him, when somepony poked him in the ribs. He turned to find a really creepy purple mare, with black hair, fangs, slitted pupils that were layered, encompassing almost all of her narrow eye with sickly shades of green, red and blue, and her cutie mark matched her eyes. She was creepy. "Why are you cloaked?" She said, her voice was deep, dark, hollow and seemed to almost echo. It reminded him of The Dark One. SHE reminded him of The Dark One. Her voice drew the attention of the General. "What was that?" He asked still oblivious to Constellation's presence. Before the creepy mare could respond, the Prince whipped around and dropped the cloak spell. "BOO!" Constellation yelled into the Generals face. He jumped backwards and screamed like a little filly. The Prince collapsed on the floor, laughing all the way, the General was just too fun to scare. Everypony still in the shop had gathered around to see what all the commotion was about, they soon left figuring it was just some old friends scaring one another, and well, they were right! After a moment the General recovered, and finally saw the creature that caused his momentary panic. "P-Prince?" He asked, slightly uncertain that it really was. "After all these years, General, your still this easy to scare!" The Prince said, finally overcoming his laughter. "It really is you!" The General exclaimed as he tackled the Prince in hug that even a bear couldn't replicate. "Ge-General...... your crushing.......ME!!!!!" The Prince said as he tried to breath. The General slowly released his Prince. "Prince Constellation." The creepy mare said as she inclined her head to Constellation. The General must have told her about him. "Oh you two haven't met yet!" The General said. "Mystca, this is Prince Constellation, Prince this is Mystca!" He finished. "General, why does she make me think of The Dark One?" The Prince asked. "I dunno." The General answered. "General, why are her eyes so.........creepy?" "Thats kinda rude but, I dunno." "General, how could she see me through my cloak?" "I dunno." "General, why are you traveling around with a creepy purple earthpony?" "Because she can use magic." "General, earthponies can't use magic." "She can." "But thats impos-" The Prince was cut off by Twilight coughing loudly. "Oh, General this is Twilight, Twilight this the General." The Prince said. Mystca rolled her creepy eyes and walked to the counter to buy some doughnuts. "Right, I have to get back to Ponyville." Twilight said as she headed for the door. "Bye!" "Bye!" The General called out to her, waving his hoof stupidly in the air, stopping when Prince Constellation jabbed him in the ribs. "Now General, we have some planning to do." The Prince said, chuckling cruelly. "Plans for what?" The General asked. "World domination!" > The South East Islands Empire! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It took six years before Prince Constellation and General Tiberius, finally, conquered all the squabbling tribes of the Southeast Islands. The Prince had once conquered them in the name of his father, a long time ago, but apparently it all fell to pieces when he took his nap. He stood on the balcony of his old castle, it was still standing but it did need a lot of repair. Such a grand castle. He breathed in the warm sea air, and let it out when he almost swallowed a fly. It was good to be home. He turned and walked to his throne room, it was in near perfect condition. He walked over, and sat on his throne, it was very comfortable, it was made of clouds after-all. He sat there, doing nothing, for hours. "GENERAL!!!" Prince Constellation bellowed. Soon enough the throne room doors flew open, and the General walked in, panting and sweating. "What took you so long, General!" The Prince asked. "I........was.........on..........the.........other........side.........of.........the..........castle!" The General said in between pants. "Ok,I suppose I can let your tardiness slide. Anyway I called you here because I'm bored and need to invade somepony!" The Prince said, overlooking the fact that his General was dieing of exhaustion. "Do you have any ideas who?" "Prance?" The General suggested. "No, their too weak." The Prince said. General Tiberius rolled his eyes as he controlled his breathing. "The Griffon Empire?" "Hmmmm, Yup, that sounds like a good place to start our world domination!" The Prince said, much to the dismay of his General. "Prince, I'm going to tell you now, that this is a horrible idea, we DO NOT have enough troops or supplies, and our soldiers barely know how to hold their weapons. We are NOT ready for a war with the Griffons!" The General finished. "Right, so we leave at-" "Sunrise, yeah I know. I'll go tell the troops." The General complained. "Good! Soon enough General, we will rule all the world!" The Prince said, laughing like a manic. Soon enough, the Prince and the General were marching across the border of the Griffon Empire, an army close behind them. They were headed straight for the capitol, Heraklion. They only had a couple fights, but they had already taken some fatal casualties. They had decided to camp-out. "Alright General, so here's the plan. You are going to take the Pegasi up through the clouds, and when we on the ground attack the city, you flank them, and we fight them to the last pony or Griffon. Brilliant strategy right General?" "Its a horrible strategy sir, but somehow it'll probably succeed." The General said, his voice filled with annoyance. And succeed it did, within four years the Griffon Empire crumbled, there were still remnants of the empire, but basically Prince Constellation ruled the land. Nopony really understands how. "I did it General, I conquered the Griffon Empire." The Prince said proudly. "Yeah, great job Prince, I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been there." General Tiberius said sarcastically. They sat around a table eating the doughnuts they had ordered, the Prince had a couple boxes of the 'Pony Joes Supreme', and the General had a couple boxes of chocolate glazed, chocolate filled, chocolate doughnuts with chocolate sprinkles. "No offense intended, my Prince, but you hardly did anything." A voice said from the other side of the room. A shiver ran down both the Prince' and the General's spines. It was Mystca, lurking in the shadows, she was always lurking in the shadows. "Mystca could you PLEASE stop lurking in the shadows!" The General screeched. Mystca walked out of the dark corner, and sat down next to the table. "And what do you mean, I didn't do anything, I did a lot!" The Prince said. "Thats not what I meant my Prince." She said with a sigh. "I meant that your soldiers did the work." Before he could speak she added. "And, yes I know that you did fight, I'm just saying that your soldiers basically did all the work." "Oh. Well why didn't you say so in the first place." The Prince snapped childishly. After scarfing down another doughnut he let out a satisfied sigh. "Pony Joes makes the best doughnuts." He said mostly to himself. "Hey, we should have Pony Joes to open a shop here in the South East Islands Empire!" "Thats a great idea! It'd be so much easier to get doughnuts, and cheaper too!" The General exclaimed happily. Mystca just laid her forehead against the table, these two were too much for her to handle. "Well Mystca? Its a great idea isn't it?" The General asked her. "Sure, its a grand idea, absolutely marvelous, the best idea since the INVENTION of doughnuts!" She exclaimed sarcastically. She stood from her seat and walked away, mumbling something about 'where her life went wrong', and 'what did she do to deserve this' and some sort of curse's in a language neither the Prince nor the General could understand. "Huh, I wonder what her problem is?" The Prince said. "Anyway, General, we need another place to invade." The General sighed. "Equestria?" He asked. "Thats a good idea, I'm glad I thought of it." > Invasion! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Princess Luna sat on a cliff, observing Equestria at night. What a beautiful sight, it was such a shame it would end in a matter of hours, it was also a shame that almost nopony was awake to see it. Maybe she could do something about that. As she looked out across the land, something caught her eye. A ship. She used her magic to 'zoom in', and found what she saw not very surprising. The ship was one of many, and on its bow was none other than Prince Constellation. She sighed and took off, she had to Celestia that their brother was invading them again. What a way to ruin such a beautiful night. She walked through the castle at a quick pace, stopping only when she reached her sisters room. She raised her hoof knocked on the door, she waited a while, and knocked again. Still nopony answered, she sighed and blew the door down. Celestia still didn't wake up. Luna's hoof quickly found its way to her forehead, there was only one thing that could wake her up, Luna leaned down toward the ear of her sleeping sister, and whispered. "I'm gonna burn down your banana plantation." Celestia suddenly woke up, screaming as though her mane was on fire. "Luna, please, I beg you, kill me instead, just don't burn down the banana plantation." Celestia begged once she realized it was Luna. Once again Luna's hoof lunged for her forehead, it couldn't be healthy for a rational pony like her to live with an irrational pony like Celestia. "Celestia, I am not going to burn down your stupid banana plantation, I just said that to wake you up." Celestia let out a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from her brow. "Now, I woke you up because Constellation is invading." Celestia's jaw fell from its natural position. "Your joking, right? This is all just some big joke, right?" Celestia asked, much to her dismay, Luna shook her head. ****************************** Prince Constellation stood on the bow of his ship, the Equestrian coastline getting ever closer. He sighed, he could smell it, the smell of victory. He turned, "General!" he called. Suddenly the hatch to the lower decks flew open and the General practically materialized in front of the Prince. "Ah, there you are General. So the plan is.........uhm.......charge in like like idiots and hope we win!" The Prince said. "Thats a HORRIBLE idea, sir. Maybe instead, since its nighttime and noponys awake to see us, we should do something similar to what we did with the Griffons." The General said, the Prince always stated bad strategy's when he wanted somepony else's ideas. "Thats a good idea, I'm glad I thought of it." The Prince said, completely oblivious to his General rolling his eyes. Prince Constellation went back to the bow. "Can't you taste it General?" "Taste wha- YOU DIDN'T EAT DOUGHNUTS WITHOUT ME, DID YOU?" The General blurted out suddenly. "What? No. I meant, can't you taste the victory in the air." The Prince said, much to his General's relief. "Ok, thats good to know. And no, for some reason your the only pony I know who can literally taste victory." The General stated. "Actually, my father could taste victory!" The Prince exclaimed. "And you know him, so, you know two ponies that can taste victory!" "It was also said that The Dark One could taste victory." Said a creepy voice that came from everywhere. "And that when the final battle came, he could no longer taste it." "M-M-Mystca, STOP DOING THAT!" The General screeched, scaring one stallion enough that he jumped overboard. The Prince was having a great time! "Oh General, it so fun seeing you scared. Hey Mystca, keep it up would you."The Prince said between laughs. "Oh ha ha." The General said sarcastically. Mystca slowly stepped out of one of the dark corners on the ship, her eyes seemed to glow in the moonlight. Not a pretty sight. She slowly walked over to the Prince and General, just her presence was enough to send shivers down their spines, and the General had traveled with her for YEARS! "Well, um, I have something, very, important, to, do, um, somewhere, else. Bye." He stammered as he ran off. Now the Prince was stuck between the sea, and Mystca. Not a nice place to be in. She continued walking until she was right next to him, staring out at the sea with her creepy eyes. She stood there for a while, scanning the horizon. "Equestria, what a horrible place." She said, and then walked away. Prince Constellation could have sworn that he saw Death out of the corner of his eye, but that was silly, she couldn't be so evil that Death would hang around her, she was just very creepy. He looked out at the sea once more, than turned and headed for his cabin, he had to prepare for many great battles. ***************************** Celestia and Luna walked the streets of Baltimare, it was in the direction of which Luna had spotted the ships. They were to prepare the city for an attack and return to Canterlot, knowing their 'dear' brother Constellation, he'd probable have his General lead some Pegasi into the clouds to attack Canterlot, or the other way around. But either way, they had to be prepared, Constellation wasn't one to loose often. They took another look at soldiers who might never see their families again, and took off. The thought of all those soldiers dieing for basically nothing, making both of them angry. They took one last look at the brave mares and stallions ready to die to protect their home, Luna bit her lip to control the rage, and began lowering the moon, she'd be able to unleash the rage pretty soon. ********************************* The ships landed and the General and Mystca stepped out, Mystca spat on the ground as soon as her hooves touched it. They started marching for Baltimare, this would be a glorious battle. > Attack! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The General, Mystca and their large army, marched over the hill. They could now see Baltimare, and could almost taste the fear that filled the ponies therein. As they marched, the sun rose behind them, washing them in its warmth, and filling them with courage. There was no possible way that they could loose. Soon enough a large militia exited the town, and began heading in their direction, it wasn't even an army, what did they expect to do. They looked at these ponies, there were some ponies that looked military, but most just looked like commoners, but they all had one thing in common, they all looked scared. All but one. She was a small, frail looking earthpony, with a white coat and long sea green hair tied back in a ponytail, she had big innocent cerulean eyes, but they were full of courage, she couldn't have been more than sixteen years old. But there she stood, right on the front lines, as calm as a cloud in the sky. The General was getting bored of this waiting game so he made the first move. He reared up on his hind legs and thrust his right front hoof in the direction of Baltimare and bellowed "CHARGE!" at the top of his lungs. The two armies charged forth, coming together with a mighty clash, ponies on each side fell, wounded, or worse. The General fought, but it was too easy, these ponies weren't nearly trained enough for a skirmish, much less a battle. Then he came face-to-face with the calm mare, they charged each other and clashed weapons, she was good, especially since she had to use her mouth to grip her sword. The battle raged on, pony after pony fell, sword after sword clashed, and the war cries were deafening. *************************** Prince Constellation lead a group of ponies through the clouds, Pegasi carried earthponies and unicorns. They were headed for Canterlot, and it was most definitely guarded. The sweet thoughts of destroying his sisters flooded the Prince' mind, this would be the ultimate victory, if he could take Equestria, then he could take all of Equuis, like dominoes. Soon enough, the clouds broke away to reveal Canterlot, the Prince paused mid-air, causing his small army to stop as well. He turned to the brave mares and stallions under his command. "Alright troops, this is it, today we take Canterlot, or we fail and my all plans for world domination fail with them. So lets give them Tartarus!" He shouted, earning the cheers of his soldiers. He turned raised his right front hoof and bellowed "CHARGE!", His small army bolted forward, prepared to fight and die in the name of their Prince. Prince Constellation lead the way, pushing towards the city, he was actually heading towards the castle to fight his sisters. A massive wave of arrows flew to meet the Prince' army, but the Prince cast a shield spell, blocking the path the arrows had taken, he couldn't afford to loose anypony. They were close enough now, Prince Constellation released the spell and the Pegasi began dropping their passengers onto the walls. And so the fighting began. The Prince ignored the battle below him, and flew to the castle, he broke through the lines of guards that were attempting to protect their princesses, he broke into the throne room, and was only slightly surprised by what he found waiting for him there. His sisters weren't there, their guards weren't there, the only living thing that was there was a black Alicorn mare as tall as Celestia, her cutie mark was just like Luna's, just purple, her eyes were closed and she wore armor. She stood in the very center of the room, facing the door, and when the Prince finally landed she opened her eyes, they were a pale turquoise and slitted, as she opened them a cruel sadistic smile formed on her face, as though she had been waiting for this very second to happen, all her of life. Her starry ethereal mane lashed about as she began to cackle, her horn flared with magic and a blue-silver sword glowed into existence, she didn't say anything, just charged the Prince, prepared to end his life, but was stopped by one of the blades the Prince carried on his belt. They engaged in a small battle of their own, not knowing or caring that Celestia and her guards had gathered just outside the door, they were too consumed with their fight to notice. The Prince was impressed, he had never heard of this mare but she was an excellent warrior, once he ruled this land he would ask the natives about her. The dark mare caught his blade with her own and knocked him out a window with her hoof, she quickly flew out after him, once again engaging in conflict. Prince Constellation made a mental note to not let his guard down around this mare, not that he let his guard down around anypony. He quickly charged a fireball spell and launched it at the mare, only for her to block it with a shield spell. This continued for what felt like hours for Princess Celestia and her guards, nothing happened except the occasional times one of them got hit. ******************************* The General and the white mare were still locked in combat, the mare was mostly defending herself but she was doing well for an earthpony. The General thought he saw an opening and took it, knocking her sword out of her mouth, he lunged, but she was faster, she skillfully hoped out of the way and used her back legs to buck him, throwing him off balance. Before the General knew it she had her sword back and was swinging her sword with even better skill, she had been toying with him, granted she was still on the defensive, but the fact that she had the nerve to toy with him was way more than enough to set him off. His strikes became more aggressive, but the mare retained her perfect skill, making him even more angry. He saw another opening when he pushed her blade back, he swung as quickly as his magic would allow, and succeeded in cutting her across the cheek, she was just too fast, she feinted to the right then swung low, leaving a deep gash across his front left hoof. Their battle ensued, each inflicting small wounds on the other. The General noticed Mystca taking on a dozen or so ponies with her creepy magic, but he didn't have time to focus on her as he narrowly avoided a strike from the white mare. The fighting was savage, ponies cried out in pain all around them, but the two continued their dance, almost unaware of the carnage that surrounded them. ***************************** The fighting continued even after the night began to fall, this dark mare didn't give up, in fact, as soon as the moon began to rise she seemed to get stronger. Of course the Prince got stronger as well, seeing as he was the Prince of Night and War. As the moon rose higher and higher into the darkened sky, the dark mare got more aggressive, her attacks were faster and more accurate, she made every movement as though were part of a plan. They were at a stalemate. Finally Prince Constellation got a good hit on her, he had slashed her across her barrel sending her sprawling to the ground. The fight was over, the Prince won. > Back home. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Prince laughed maliciously, he had won, he was victorious, he was- he wasn't finished, he still had to end Celestia and Luna. He looked back to the throne room window of which he was thrown out of, Celestia and her Solar Guards were there, watching, waiting. Celestia flew out to join her brother in the air, prepared to pick up where the dark mare left off, her horn flashed with her golden magic, causing a golden blade to appear. Prince Constellation readied his own blade, his victory was coming ever closer, he was going to win. They took their battle stances, and lunged forward, clashing blades. Celestia was barely holding out, she was never one-tenth the warrior that the Prince was. Prince Constellation swung and hit Celestia's blade, forcing it out of his sisters grip, he moved to impale his now very terrified sister, but she wasn't ready to let her pristine white coat get any blood stains, she flapped higher into the air, narrowly avoiding the blade that was trying to reach her stomach. Celestia wasn't even focusing on attacking, she was too consumed in her dodges and blocks, this was not going to end well for her. **************************** The General and the white mare were only succeeding in tiring each other out, they each inflicted small wounds and bruises upon themselves, but other than that, the battle wasn't going terribly well for either of them. The General finally realized he could use magic, and ripped the sword out of her mouth, he had wasted a lot of time fighting this mare. He now wielded two swords against the mare, but she was still too fast, she dodged and dodged and dodged, narrowly escaping deaths cold grip. But she couldn't dodge forever, her speed failed her, and the General gave her a deep cut across her side. She stumbled backwards, barely able to remain standing. But even as her life was slowly fading, her eyes still held no fear. She was an honorable warrior, even if she was on the wrong side. Her breathing became shallow as she backed off some more, than she stopped and stooped down, picking up the sword of a fallen Equestrian, she turned back to the General, eyes full of determination. ***************************** Celestia had managed to retrieve her sword, not that it did her much good, all she could was block and deflect, she had only been fighting for about an hour but she was already slowing down, she couldn't take much more of this. She dodged a blow that definitely would have killed her, she did get cut but not to badly, yet. Celestia swung her sword, but her brother blocked it with his own blade, he was a master when it came to weapons and warfare, Celestia just tried her best to avoid both, now she was going to regret that. She cast a magic spell, she didn't even think of what she wanted as now she was grasping at straws, it was an explosion spell, a big one. It sent both of them shooting back, fire blazed around them causing young foals to make wishes on them, thinking they were shooting stars. Celestia was nearing her limitation when she saw Constellation climb out of the building he had crashed into, she couldn't take any more of this, she needed help. Prince Constellation had found his sword and was heading her way, Celestia reached out with her magic in an attempt to find her own sword. She found it and pulled it from the rubble that was once a house, it was broken, her sword 'Dawn Bringer' was broken. This was it, end of the line. Her brother hovered in front of her, his blade held in his unsteady grasp, she could do no more, she closed her eyes and prepared for the end. She cracked one eye open and saw him raise his sword, he began swinging down, when, something, hit him, square in the jaw. A hoof, a blue hoof. The hoof continued upwards until Princess Luna fully appeared. A bright beam erupted from her horn and slammed into her brother, he howled in agony, and was blasted off to somewhere in the distance, where he would eventually recuperate and try to invade again. ****************************** The fight continued outside of Baltimare, these ponies were desperately trying to defend their homeland, and they were holding out well. As was the strange white mare. She was bleeding out and she could not only stand, but fight as well. But it didn't matter, the Prince had most likely finished things up in Canterlot, they had already won. Suddenly the sun shot into the sky, blinding everypony. A deep feminine voice boomed through the sky. "LISTEN UP, CREATURES OF THE SOUTH EAST ISLANDS. YOU HAVE LOST. YOUR PRINCE IS DEFEATED. FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO EQUESTRIA AND HER CITIZENS, YOU SHOULD DIE! BUT, PRINCESS CELESTIA IS MERCIFUL, AND HAS ALLOWED YOU TO LEAVE. IF YOU DO NOT THAN YOUR SENTENCE IS CLEAR, YOU WILL DIE. NOW GO!" She finished. The Generals entire army began to flee, he looked around, him and Mystca were the only ones left. He blinked twice, and took off back towards the ships, Mystca followed suit. The inevitable war had come sooner than Luna had expected, but now it was over. At least for now. ************************************ Prince Constellation paced around his throne room, he still couldn't believe that he was defeated. He turned towards the door and bellowed a very familiar call. "GENERAL!" Soon enough the doors flew open and the General walked in, covered in bandages. "Ah, General what took you so long, I've been waiting for at least three seconds?" He questioned his miserable General. "I......." He said through his panting. "I....was in.......the medical........ward." He finished. "Very well, I shall forgive your tardiness. Anyway General, we need a new plan, because sooner or later I will have Equestria!" He cackled, thunder and lightning shook the castle as the General joined in. "EQUESTRIA WILL BE MINE!"