Chapter One, Dark Beginnings
We weren’t ready. Not for a second changeling invasion. With Chrysalis gone, the force field down, and a royal wedding in the mists, what could have been a more joy filled time in Canterlot? Queen Chrysalis knew she would be defeated. Actually, she planned for it, knowing the celebration afterwards would fuel her own powers.
This time she struck with the full force of the changeling army. Chrysalis was so full of rage by feeding on the love of the ponies at the celebration, there was no way Celestia stood a chance. We weren’t ready, not for this. Luna fled, under order of Princess Celestia as soon as the changelings arrived putting as many ponies onto her chariot and flying off as far as she could.Within the hour, Canterlot had been taken, Chrysalis forced everypony into pods, and had them shipped off like cargo. Chrysalis saved me, my friends, and my brother, for last. bloodied and beaten, it didn’t take much to restrain us, though Rainbow Dash and Applejack still managed to buck a few head’s. The changelings gagged spike, and slipped these small golden rings, that somehow prevented us unicorns from using our magic. Chrysalis forced us to watch as she tortured Celestia before our very eyes. Chrysalis herself tore off Celestia’s horn and impaled her with it over and over. Blood would gush as if it wanted to run free, as if Celestia was the cruel, corrupt, and evil one. Chrysalis did this in front of the changeling horde, with us having the front seats. The pure amount of joy the changelings were having watching this was revolting.
But Celestia wouldn’t die, she just let Chrysalis do her worst, taking it all, never making a sound. Never letting Chrysalis get any sick perverted pleasure out of any of the torture. We also remained silent, but not in a stubborn refusal to allow the enemy to win, like my glorious teacher, but due to the sickening shock that was forcing its way through our veins. Time itself seemed to slow, laughing at me as it forced me to take in every single detail.
Celestia held on for two hours of torture, of whippings, of having the skin carved from her bones, of acid that would be poured onto her face. Never did she make a peep, always looking over at us, the blubbering, fillies who at the time didn’t understand anything of what was going on. With just a glance she would reassure us, harden our wills and strengthen our souls, only for Chrysalis to promise a much more vile torture.
When Celestia did finally pass away, it was almost a breath of fresh air. Finally she could rest in peace, finally she was free of this monstrous world. Though, that couldn’t be said for the likes of us, as Chrysalis as eagerly pointed out. She had special plans for the likes of us. She quickly podded us, and shipped us off to who knows where.
It was here, that I realized, that friendship, while powerful, isn’t some magical duct tape that can fix any problem. Sometimes, you have ponies who will feed off your love, like in the case of the changelings. Sometimes, you’ve got to fight fire with fire, hatred with hatred, and evil with evil.
It was here that I promised to find my friends, no matter who, or what, stood in my way. It was here, that I promised I would tear the world from beneath Chrysalis’ hooves, and make it a living hell, just like she did me. I promised to sear the flesh from her bones, just like she did to my fair teacher. I promised vengeance. I promised retribution.
~Twilight Sparkle~
A large changeling carried the pod into the small dark room, and dropped the seaweed green transparent container on the floor, not really caring what could happen to its contents. The room was filled with ponies of all sorts, Earth, Unicorn, and Pegasus alike. The walls had rusty chains on them, and the floor was covered in feces. There was no light other than a single torch on the far wall, in which all the ponies in the room swarmed under. The unicorns all had a strange gold ring at the base of their horn to stop any magical flow. There would be no magic here, no hope.
Similarly the pegasi had their wings clipped. Some pegasu had injuries that were visibly caused by a hasty job and lack of care. Others, it was painfully obvious, that the injury was intentional, and they would likely never fly again.
“Get this one geared and battle ready. It will be fighting in the next match,” growled the large changeling, who made Big Mac look petite in comparison. A strange looking Pegasus stepped up to face the imposing changeling. His fur would be a bright shiny grey if it wasn’t so entrenched with dirt and sweat, and his grey coat was matted and ruffled, painfully unkempt. His mane was cut short, but what remained held a reddish copper tint. Unlike the other pegasi in the room, his wings weren’t clipped or damaged but completely gone. All that remained were small stumps where the wings used to be.
“What do you mean, Revjak? The next match isn’t even in an hour! That pony isn’t even out of their pod, and you expect them to fight? What happened to the two weeks’ worth of training?” growled back the matted grey pony with deep ocean blue eyes, and a cutie mark of a sword with two wings in full span coming out of the hilt. Those shimmering round orbs showed no fear, even though the changeling was more than three times his size and heavily armored.
“Orders from High Lord Kragg,” scoffed Revjak, obviously enjoying how worked up the other pony was getting. “He wants her in the arena by the hour… along with you, Steel. How will you do if you have to protect someone as inexperienced as her?” said Revjak as he laughed, a sound more attune to that of a gurgle. Oh he could already picture the carnage! How he wished for this ugly ruffled pony to bite the sands out on the arena! He kicked the pod for good measure, something he immediately regretted.
“Pray we never meet out on the sands of the arena, Revjak, for whatever fictitious dream you have in that flea brained head of yours of me dying in combat, know that what I’ll do to you will be, much, much worse,” Steel said softly, his eye’s relaying the message in an all too truthful light.. Revjak swallowed hard. He was scared, having seen Steel in combat, and knew that if the worst came to the worst, Steel would win if a fight. But soon enough the sounds of hoofs on concrete comforted Revjak, as more guard changelings game to the small room meant to hold the ponies captive. Revjak told himself that he was High Lord Kragg’s highest ranked guard, and that a simple wingless Pegasus, weaponless for that matter, couldn’t handle him and the imperial guard behind him. He kept telling himself that until he believed it. “You have an hour!” Revjak yelled before stomping out of the small dark room, closing the heavy iron door behind him with a loud and obnoxious thud. Steel waited for the locks to click to know that they were truly done with the whole encounter.
When the loud clicks of the lock fell into the place, Steel asked some of the colts in the room to help them open the pod. A brown and white spotted unicorn named Prin Prix managed to use his horn to rip a hole through the thick green membrane of the pod. Green liquid gushed out onto the floor, quickly draining through a hole in place in the middle of the room for bathroom needs. After the green liquid that smelled oddly of goat cheese was completely drained from the sac, the pony inside started to stir. Using the small hole Prim made as leverage, Steel and the ponies he called over managed to stretch the hole wide enough for Twilight Sparkle to crawl her way out.
Twilight groaned as she helplessly tried to stand, but being encased in the small pod for so long had disorientated her. Steel and the others waited patiently for Twilight to slowly remember to walk. When she finally managed to get on her all fours Twilight asked, “Where am I? Are my friends here? Why can't I see? ” using a hoof to rub the sleep and goo from one of her eyes.
“A gladiator arena somewhere in Ranslehoof, I think,” said a smaller skinny earth pony. He had white fur, and a blue mane. He probably could have been Shining Armor's twin if he wasn’t so scrawny, giggled Twilight in her head. The familiar sight, even if it wasn’t the real thing, comforted her.
“You were the only one to be dropped off,” began Prim Prix, “We have no idea where your friends might be, but I’m sure they're fine,” he said after a brief pause, brimming with a reassuring smile. Twilight almost wanted to believe him, but she knew deep down in her heart there was no way that it could be true.
“As for the sight thing, give it a sec, let your eyes get used to the light” finished Steel.
“Where's Chrysalis?” Twilight blurted, remembering exactly why she was here. Murmurs started to flow across the ponies in the room. Apparently it was a sensitive subject, thought Twilight. Steel looked back to the group of ponies behind them, and they quickly quieted.
He didn’t look like a leader, Twilight analyzed. He didn’t have that spark, like her brother or Celestia had. No, he earned their respect and trust. Twilight wondered if she too, could trust this strange grey patchy pony. “Don’t know,” Steel replied, “closest thing I can help with is Kragg, her (nephew or something. Not too sure how they're related, I just know they’re family.” Steel went continued. He took a small pause to quickly do his own look of the gooey purple pony who had suddenly been thrust into his little group here at the arena. He couldn’t help but wonder just how long she would last, or if a friendship was even worth forming. “Why?” he finished inquiringly.
“She owes me a debt.” Twilight growled. She could feel her anger boiling up, her anger at how quickly one’s life could fall around your hooves, and she was ready to take it out on this nice pony that stood in front of her, for no other reason than he was simply trying to be nice when nopony would. She didn’t want to, but it was like she was trapped inside herself, forced to watch how things progressed. Then Steel did something Twilight didn’t expect - he laughed.
It was a genuine laugh, deep from inside the belly, and it was kind. Twilight could tell he wasn’t laughing at her, but with her. It reminded her of something her dear friend Pinkie once said, “When life just sucks, and you’re getting bored of all those unhappy and depressing thoughts, what else is there to do but laugh?”
“We all hate Chrysalis. You think if any one of us had her in alone in a room, we wouldn’t come out wearing her skull as a helmet?” He paused to let what he said settle in on Twilight. Steel had been here a long time, and he was well versed in how things happened when someone was introduced into the dark, dark world of the arena.
Twilight finally managed to look around, she noticed how malnourished these ponies were and) how the Pegasi were visibly scared. She realized just how selfish she was being - she wasn’t the only one who Chrysalis had hurt, and most probably wouldn’t have been the last. How could she have been so stupid, to think that she was the only one who ever wanted that monstrosity dead?
Steel broke her out of her trance. “Cheer up. Everything’s going to be alright,” he said with a beaming smile that almost touched both ears. “Now let’s get you ready, you have a match coming up,” and with a nod, (remove) three of the smaller ponies brought out the armor from the only clean corner in the room. Large shiny pieces of silvery armor, with intricate designs of dragons breathing fire, and devilish faces,some of which Twilight actually recognized from some of the many books she had read on changeling lore, like Stryke, god of vengeance, or Tykrisa, goddess of flames. The helmet even had a drawing of discord etched into the horn.“Now, normally we get a few weeks to teach you something worthwhile, how to roll with an attack, and swing a sword and all that,” Steel explained. “But they want you dead. They’re even sending me with you for an excuse to outnumber you. What did you do to piss them off so much?”
Twilight smiled, as she slid her hoof into the hoof guard and pulled the straps tight with her mouth to tighten it to a fight.
“My name is Twilight Sparkle,” she said, as if it would explain everything. Everyone paused for a second, and their expressions changed from the boredom of waiting to die to true and ugly despair. No one needed to speak, their eyes told Twilight everything. If even she had been captured, what hope was left? Twilight made it a point not to mention Celestia’s death, for it may have been the last thing these ponies had to hold on to.
Steel was the first to break the silence. “Well,” he said solemnly, “I’m Steel Spirit. An honor to meet someone of your caliber, Twilight,” he said with a small bow as he donned his own armor. It was almost a carbon copy. Though his helmet didn’t have a metal spike coming out of its forehead to make room for a unicorn's horn. His had holes where wings would have protruded if Steel had any, but only the stumps poked their hairless heads out of the holes in the armor.
For the rest of the hour that had been given to prepare, the ponies in that small, dank, dark room sat in silence. Twilight was quick to discover the addition of the gold ring around the base of her horn. It wasn’t hard for her to figure out what it was used for: the ring prevented magic from passing the base of the horn, and forming at the tip, perfectly stopping any and all magic from being cast from the horn. Despair soon came to fall upon her too. This was the first time since Discord that her magic had been taken away. She felt naked and bare, she felt weak.
Twilight tried to raise the other ponies' hopes, by talking of escape, of freedom, for as much of their sake than of her own, but that only seemed to push the ponies further into despair, some stealing glances at Steel’s wing stumps. Steel just sat there, with his back against a corner, helmet resting on his knees, eyes closed, and his front legs crossed. Twilight couldn’t quite tell if he was asleep of meditating, but either way, she didn’t want to disturb him.
Soon enough, a thundering knock came from the heavy iron door, startling Twilight into a jump. Steel was already up, which almost shocked Twilight more than the sudden loud knocking, because even with his heavy riveted steel armor, he made no sound standing up from his isolated corner. Steel looked straight at Twilight, and the other ponies in the room seemed to evaporate into a mist as the two stared at each other.
“Seems like its time.” Twilight said with a resounding sigh.
“Oh it will be fine. I mean, if you die, it will be quick,” Steel admitted. “But, if we manage to win by some miracle, I'm sure we'll have a nice hot warm meal waiting for us back at the slave quarters,” he said with a smile, like the simple fact of being alive afterwards wouldn’t be a prize within itself. With a nod from Twilight, Steel gave three heavy knocks on the door, and the heavy iron door was ripped open.
There stood Revjak with four other changeling ponies, “Look’s like today’s finally your day, pegasi filth.” Revjak said, snarling his lips to make his fangs extra apparent.
“We’ll see about that,” Steel replied, with complete confidence. Twilight on the other hand, was cursing to Luna for the platemail, which was making it painfully obvious she was shaking in her boots, and the steel clicked and clacked against the concrete floor. Truth be told, for all the rage pent up inside of Twilight, for all the dark thoughts of ripping Chrysalis limb from limb, she) was scared.
“With this one to protect, you’re sure to fail!” Revjak cried with laughter, again picturing the ensuing carnage.
“Not with this one to protect.” returned Steel with a snide smile, throwing Twilight a reassuring glance. Twilight calmed down a bit; she had to be strong, she reminded herself. Twilight promised herself she wouldn't die out on the arena, she wouldn’t let Steel down. She seemed to be making a lot of promise’s lately, and Twilight only hoped she could keep them.
With a growl, Revjak said, “Chain ‘em and bag ‘em,” and the four guard changelings threw a hay seed sack over Twilight and Steel’s heads and chained their hooves. They led Steel and Twilight through winding corridors, taking left turn after right turn. The changelings never took the ponies through the same route, so that if one managed to escape, they would die in the maze of hallways before seeing daylight again.
At the end of it all, Twilight and Steel were unchained and thrown into another room, the changelings closing the heavy iron door behind them. “Hey, you forgot to take off Twilight's ring!” Steel called back at the door angrily, bucking the door with his hind legs.
Revjak's laugher emanated from the other side of the door.“No... I didn't,” was all he gave in reply before he trotted off back into the ever winding hallways, back to high lord, his thoughts full of Steel’s untimely demise.
With a quick scan of the room, Twilight noticed that this room was similar in build to the room with the other ponies in it, except this room had an assortment of weapons and shields of all kinds hanging from the walls, and had an extra iron door at the other side of the room.
“When those doors open,” Steel said, calming down, and nodding at the iron doors on the far side of the room, “it’s show time,” he explained. Twilight nodded her understanding. She couldn't exactly find the words to speak. This whole experience was just a bit too much for her. “Normally Unicorns are allowed their magic on the arena, but it seems they really want you dead, Twilight Sparkle.” Steel said, pausing for a moment to curse their misfortune. Steel prayed to Celestia, if only he had five minutes alone in the arena with that accursed changeling...
“Right then, what's your weapon of choice?” Steel continued, snapping himself out of his daydream. Twilight merely shrugged, she had no idea what any of this was. Sure, she had read of changeling held pony fights in novels, but up until now, she had always believed it was just something parents used to tell fillies to scare them in the night. Even locked away in the feces covered room with the other ponies, Twilight couldn’t believe it. Now, it was just all too real.
“Right. Unicorn without her magic. What does a useless pony use to not die?” Steel said jokingly, though Twilight more then saw the truth in the statement. She couldn't fight without her magic, not like Applejack, or Rainbow Dash might. “Ah! This will work finely!” Steel said, holding up a small obsidian dagger, its edges jagged, and its handle well worn. Its black blade reflecting Twilight's face as well as any mirror.
She picked the dagger up in her mouth and gave it a few sings. It was lightweight, and perfectly balanced, but to a unicorn pony, so used to having magic do things for her, it felt odd and clunky in her mouth. Steel let Twilight experiment with the blade, to get comfortable with it, as he attached wooden bucklers onto his shoulder plates, and picked up a short sword in his mouth, giving it a few test swings, and liking the result.
When he brought his attention back to Twilight, and she was holding the blade, “Celestia, this is going to suck,” was the only thing that crossed his mind. But, for some reason, he knew the two of them would make it through the upcoming fight. He wasn’t sure if it was the burning determination under those fearful eyes, or the silly way she tried to hold the dagger with her hooves. Though he wasn’t sure if that determination was more invested in finding her friends, or in vengeance, and he wasn’t liking the former. He had seen many a pony fall under the heavy weight of vengeance, but he would have to address that later, as he could already hear the gears starting to turn to open the iron door that led to the arena.
With a sigh, he said “Come here,” to Twilight, noticing her long hair hanging from under her helmet. In her short time with the obsidian dagger, Twilight had realized that a pony could not wield a weapon with her hoofs, and that her mouth was indeed the best option, her helmet even had a special slot to let the dagger hilt slip in! She walked over to Steel, and sat down beside him, looking at him questioningly. Twilight was much more calm now, her pre-fight jitters completely gone, but she still refused to speak, as if not to ruin the last peaceful moment she would likely have. The calm before the storm, Twilight thought to herself silently.
Steel politely asked for the dagger, which Twilight kindly passed over. “Now. Rule one of combat,” Steel began to explain, “Pointy end goes in the bad dudes, and not in you. Understand?” Twilight nodded, expecting an actual statement to the somewhat moot point. There wasn’t.
“Good. Now, as for your mane and tail, they've got to go. No reason to give them an unfair advantage,” Steel continued to press. Twilight opened her mouth in protest, but quickly saw the logic in the statement, and simply nodded her accord. Steel then went forth cutting indiscriminately at Twilight's mane, and completely cutting the mane down to a scruff. When the deed was done, he held up the obsidian dagger so that Twilight could get a look at herself. Though Rarity would not approve, it only made Twilight like it that much more.
The heavy iron door slowly began to open upward, sunlight penetrating the dark room, and stinging at both their eyes, though their eyes slowly adjusted to the new amounts of light.
“Showtime.” Steel said solemnly, with a bleak smile.