Princess Faith and Princess Twilight Sparkle stood in the main hall of the Bauric Yale keep, going over their situation in their heads without so much as a word to each other. They didn't need to. The looks on each other's faces were enough. The sound of warfare was enough. The panicked screams of the citizens were enough.

The feline was the first to break the silence, feeling that if she didn't, their descent into despair would spell their doom. "... What... What brings you to Bauric Yale, Twilight?" she asked, disposing of the titles for the sake of her own tongue.

Twilight looked up from the floor at her apparent hostess, staring at her for just a moment before sighing. "... I came here through a portal," the alicorn replied, garnering no reaction from the pink one. Perhaps such a thing was not uncommon here? That question could wait till another time. More important ones belonged in her mind right now. "... I remember waking up in the streets, then I was attacked... And then you found me..." Twilight rubbed her newly healed forearms, awkwardly tapping Faith's shoulder to prompt her to face her.

"... When I was attacked, I'm fairly certain that they broke my arms... What did you do to me?"

This one got Faith's attention, though she certainly welcomed the distraction.. even if the question made her sound like a total idiot. "... B-Basic healing spell. How do you not know this?" she asked, crossing her arms.

Twilight rubbed the back of her head and then rubbed her horn's tip gently. "... I-I know lots of spells... But I tried to create a shield and nothing happened!" she said in her defense. To try to illustrate, Twilight gritted her teeth and shut her eyes, focusing on casting that shield spell. Her horn began to glow (much to Faith's surprise), but all it did was make a handful of purple sparks erupt from the tip of her horn. She grunted with exertion and tried again, but produced nothing but magical sparks. Twilight frowned at herself; this kind of failure was fine for a little filly, and she would expect as much from her filly self pre-apprenticeship.

Slightly discouraged, she tried a much simpler spell; a simple orb of light. She focused her power into her horn and tried to create that much... and then a small, violet orb of radiant light burst from her horn, floating a few inches over her head. Twilight stared up at it, breathing a little harder. "... But... I can do that..."

"... How did you... how did you do that?!" Faith let out, her eyes wide. It was Twilight's turn to give Faith a weird look.

"I've been able to do magic like this since I was a filly.. Haven't you? You clearly have magic of your own." Faith gave a frown of her own.

"... All creatures, no matter their age, can learn magic..."

This... was something Twilight was not expecting to hear, and the small, more selfish part of her felt bad; everyone has magic? Then what does that make her? The element of common ability? She was about to question it when Faith continued.

"Now what KINDS of magic they can learn is decided at birth, but the Archmage could tell you more," she said, forcing herself to leave out the obligatory "assuming he's still alive." "... In fact... Open your mouth and hold still," Faith said, figuring that this winged unicorn needed to know her own magic.

Twilight, of course, did not understand. "... C-Come again." Instead of waiting for her approval, Faith stuck a finger into Twilight's mouth and frowned. "Hold still, don't bite me," she commanded. The alicorn complied, crossing her arms and freezing in place.

Faith closed her eyes and began to chant. "Solmvoloor Xenafol... Solmvoloor Xenafol... Solmvoloor Xenafol..." came the incantation, the alicorn's cheeks a faint pink from the embarrassing nature of the spell. For a few seconds, nothing happened, making her wonder about what Faith was doing.

She then had to intensely focus on holding still as she felt something floating out from her chest. Four small orbs - each the size of an apple - floated out from her chest, floating in a diamond pattern just in front of her face. The top orb was purely white, the left glowed a mesmerizing blue, the right radiated a great green glow, and the bottom burned a bright red. Twilight stared at them all as they began to glow with different levels of brightness, with the top white sphere glowing the brightest while the red one held a bare second. The blue and green ones evened out with each other.

These orbs - and the incantation - ceased a few seconds later, followed by Faith's finger withdrawing from her mouth and a brief spit from the alicorn. Fur did not taste good. Faith opened her eyes and took a step back from the velvet clad equine. She appeared to be intrigued for a moment, examining Twilight's face and body for just a few brief seconds before speaking. "You have a deep pool of Jaor... and a fair pool of Narar... Your Mäjor and Aiugoor pools are small, but then so are mine," Faith revealed, wiping off her finger on the back of her own robe.

Twilight looked at the feline with a palpably confused expression, feeling a little odd as she couldn't understand what had just been said. "What do you mean?" she quipped. "Are you talking about those orbs that you... erm... made come out of me?"

Faith didn't need any further evidence to prove Twilight's foreign-ness. Even to the lowest peasant, the four magical energies were common knowledge. She let out a sigh and began to walk to a nearby flight of stone steps, gesturing for the winged pony to follow along. "Yes, I am," came her simple reply as they both ascended to the second level of the keep, not noticing the now intensely interested look on Twilight's face until she glanced back at her. "I suppose you'd like an explanation."

Twilight Sparkle nodded.

Faith let out a soft sigh in response, reaching the top of the staircase and then making a quick right to head up another flight. She had to admit, it was strange not seeing servants rushing up and down these steps, never mind seeing the guards that normally watched them being battle ready. It was certainly surreal.

"... Well, every single one of us is born with latent magical power, the amount of which is determined at birth," the feline female explained, noting the alicorn's attentive expression. "We all have four pools of magical energy. The first is 'Jaor,' which fuels healing and restorative magic. It's what I have the most of," she first said, feeling like she was repeating the Archmage's exact words from... however long ago these lessons came.

Twilight spared a few brain cells to desperately wish she had something to write this down on.

"'Mäjor' energy is used for enchanting, alchemy, and... something else, I think. 'Aiugoor'... lots of creatures will say otherwise, but it's mostly just used for telekinesis." Faith finished this thought as they reached the next level of the keep, finding themselves in a similar hall to the one below, but decorated much more... regally. Elaborate tapestries adorned each wall, with different artful pieces resting beneath them. The catgirl began leading the interested equine down this hall towards one of the doors at the end.

"And then there's 'Narar,' which powers magic that can be used to attack. Fire, lightning, ice, even mind control, all come from this pool of magic."

Twilight pieced all this together in her head, a toothless smile adorning her lips now. At the very least, she had this to distract her from her seemingly imminent doom; and distract it did. "... So... then those white and red orbs are Jaor and Naror?" she quipped, still wishing for a quill and paper.

"Yes. Jaor is white, Narar is red, Mäjor is blue, and Aiugoor is green," came Faith's response as they reached a wooden door, the pink one pushing it open to enter her quarters. They were about as luxurious as one could expect a princess's chambers to be. Everything was made in very high quality, with elaborate wooden carvings on furniture and soft, expensively dyed fabric on their upholstery and Faith's bed.

She ushered Twilight inside and then closed the door, taking a deep breath and then removing her bow and quiver from her form. She placed them both against the wall and then leaned against it while letting the purple winged unicorn take it in. Faith had half a mind to stop her guest from peering out the window, but before she could even try, Twilight had already seen... next to nothing. As her room was on the south side of the keep, she could not see the massive army marching to the inner gates, but she also could not see any of the enemy's troops from that window. Twilight had to wonder why... were they really that intent on taking the city that they wouldn't even bother to surround the castle? Or perhaps they didn't have enough troops to do so.

Either way, Faith soon pushed off of the wall and came to peer out with the alicorn, raising a brow at what she saw. "... Well, we have an escape route, perhaps..." she muttered softly, trying to scan the southern tree line for movement, metallic reflections, anything that might prove her wrong.

"... Shouldn't we go now?" Twilight asked, turning her gaze to the other princess in the room. "I,me-"

"Not yet..." Faith said, cutting her off and walking away from the window. "... For now, we have the inner walls to protect us, and from what I can gather, most of our soldiers are here now, trying to drive them back," she continued, walking to her wardrobe and looking through it. "... If our defenses fall, then we must flee, but as much as I'd like to, we cannot until it is certain that there are no other options." As she finished saying this, she looked down at herself consciously; she hadn't spoken in such a serious manner in years.

"... Then shouldn't we help?"

"... Well... I don't know that you'd want to, considering how dirty those robes are."

Twilight looked down at herself; she had almost forgotten that her robes were still covered with her own blood. She emitted an embarrassed chuckle and turned to approach the feline princess, seeing that she had produced a chainmail vest. The alicorn looked at it quizzically, then looked back at her folded wings. "... I can't wear this. My wings will get in the way," she then said, handing the metal, slightly heavy piece of armor back to its owner. Faith nodded and put it back in the wardrobe, not wanting to wear it herself.

Faith dug around in her messy wardrobe as Twilight looked on, and she eventually presented a robe not unlike her own to her guest. "Here. I hope this fits," she said, watching as the alicorn took the garment, uttered a soft "Thank you", and disappeared behind Faith's changing screen.

Once she was there, Twilight let out a deep sigh, taking a moment to figure out how she was meant to remove the robe before she found the cords which held it closed. Soon, the bloodied garment fell to the floor, the now bare alicorn quickly putting on the new one. She had to smile a little as the soft fabric came to rest upon her form.

After donning the other princess's robes, Twilight emerged from behind the screen and took a second to find Faith. The pink one was still at the wardrobe, but with a considerably lessened amount of fabric cladding her body. Her clothing now resembled something like a bathing suit, and the entirety of her back was on display. Twilight couldn't help but feel slightly appalled and dirty as a faint blush appeared on her cheeks just from the sight of such a skimpy outfit (it quickly faded.)

"... What... is that?" she had to ask, wondering if this was what Rarity felt like whenever she saw most things clothing related. This prompted Faith to look around her inquisitively before following the winged unicorn's gaze to her own body.

"What, my clothes?"

"I've... never seen something like that," she answered truthfully.

"Oh. I just like how it feels. Plus, considering that I'd do better dodging a hit than taking it, I'd take the freedom of movement," Faith replied, stretching her arms back behind her head with a soft groan. "It helps more than you know, Twilight. Believe me."

The equine nodded and patted herself down. "Thank you for the clothes, Faith," she said again, to which Faith gave a soft nod. It was then that she noticed a rather thoughtful look on the cat's face. "... Is something the matter?"

It took a few seconds for her brain to register that she was being talked to, shaking her head out and glancing back up at Twilight Sparkle with a few re-orienting blinks. "... I'm fine, just... wondering what exactly I can do... If I could, I'd go up to the roof and start shooting arrows down at them, but... I'm not the best shot..." she muttered in reply, quickly sizing up the other princess as she asked a follow-up. "... What about you?"

"What ab- What will I do?" Twilight replied, looking down and scratching the back of her head. She hadn't really thought about that one. "I don't know... I'm... not exactly good at fighting..."

That one got Faith's attention. "Not good at fighting? You mean to say you haven't had any sort of training?"

"Yes."

An agonizingly long-short pause "... I... I don't know what to say to that," Faith muttered quietly, walking towards the robed alicorn with her hands behind her back. "I'm not a great fighter myself, but at least I know how to use that." she then emitted, gesturing to the propped up bow against the wall. She began to quietly curse Khoffy for her bad luck, wondering why the Fate god had seen fit to screw the princesses over.

"Well... I just... I've never needed to actually fight somepony before..." Princess Sparkle said in an attempt to excuse her lack of experience, unable to see the odd look Faith had from hearing that strange pronoun. She elected to leave out the part where she was actually a quadruped creature for most of her life. "... I would rather talk them out of it."

Faith cursed Khoffy once more, bringing her right hand up to irately flick her own whiskers. "... Diplomacy may be fine where ever you're from, Twilight..." she began, turning around with a look of frustration, seriousness, and a tinge of amusement. "But in case you haven't noticed, there haven't been any negotiations ye-"

The catgirl was cut off by the somewhat faint, but unmistakable sound of dozens of males screaming in agony.

---

So far, their defenses were holding. Some of Bauric Yale's "engineers" (slightly smarter soldiers who lacked combat prowess) had just doused a good chunk of the invading force in flammable pitch, then poured pots of boiling oil on them to set them all ablaze. A terrifying, brutal method to be sure, but no less effective. At the same time, several large creatures - mostly bulls, large equines, and a few canines - were led to the top of the walls in chains. Their chains were cut and they were handed spiked maces.

These creatures promptly flung themselves into the fray, attacking wildly in an unskilled but fiercely determined manner. If they survived, they'd be cleared of all charges against them. So why not. Unfortunately, they were few in number, and though they made a dent in the invading army, all of them were dispatched before they could do any more.

All the while, arrows and bolts from both crossbows and tower mounted ballistae rained down on their enemies, killing some, but not many. It was clear that some of them had enchanted, enhanced armor and shields, helping to deflect a good chunk of the incoming projectiles. Even the occasional volley of thrown rocks did little to thin out the utter horde of soldiers advancing on the inner gatehouse.

Their numbers were staggering. No matter how many the defenders killed, there just seemed to be an endless flow of fresh blood to advance.

And then there were the siege engines. Two large boxes on wheels, with wooden and damp thatch covered roofs, rolled into the city. They had large, filed down logs hanging from strong cords, being manned by four armored soldiers each. Wooden catapults on wheels were being pushed into the castle through the now opened north gate, several slaves in tattered and torn garb being made to move large rocks along with them. But there was more. In a box carried by four of said slaves was the corpse of one of their troops, whom had died not long before the invasion began. He had died from a disease, you see. A contagious one.

Once the catapult was close enough to the inner walls, it was brought to a stop and the box was loaded into the catapult, then launched.

Unfortunately, the dead projectile reached its target. It impacted right in front of the keep's main door, the box shattering open and the body contained within being exposed to the air. A few guards nearby backed up immediately, covering their mouths and shouting for someone to come and set the corpse ablaze before the disease could spread.

It wasn't long before it was on fire and degrading into a heap of ashes. Only time could tell if their efforts were worth it.

Besides, with the body launched, the enemy's catapults began flinging rocks instead, trying to batter down the walls, towers, or gates.

---

Princess Faith Áilleacht let out a deep, exasperated sigh. She remembered those sounds and it scared her. She walked to the nearest wall and leaned against it, taking deep breaths to try to keep herself calm and composed. Twilight Sparkle, on the other hand (hoof? paw? Whatever) was curious, confused, and a little more than scared now. Not knowing what she was hearing, along with seeing the pink furred princess having a panic attack, was doing little for her state of mind.

The two stood in silence for what seemed like absolutely forever, but it was the alicorn who broke it. She walked towards the cat and put a hand on her shoulder, taking a deep breath through her nose before speaking to keep her tone neutral, at the very least. "... Are you going to be alright, Faith?" she asked, concerned.

Faith looked back over her shoulder, her ears splayed down against her head. She stared into Twilight's eyes for several seconds, opening her mouth to speak long before she found words. "... I don't know... I don't think so..." came an honest reply after such a long pause, the feline slowly pushing off of the wall and moving to pick up her bow and quiver. "... I need to do something, though... I can't just stay here..."

Twilight disagreed. To her, trying to assist in the defense in her state was a bad idea. She might do something exceptionally rash and/or stupid. So she quickly ran to the door to get in Faith's way.

The pink furred feline looked up at Twilight in a questioning, irate manner, baring her teeth a little. "Move."

"You're not in any condition to do that, Faith. You know that."

"And I'll be damned if I don't!" Faith yelled.

"You'll be damned if you do," came Twilight's reply, inwardly cringing a little at the language she had just used.

"I order you to move, Twilight Sparkle."

"You don't have power over me."

If she didn't know Twilight was trying to protect her, Faith probably would have notched an arrow and threatened the equine with it. Faith attempted to push Twilight away, and though the latter wasn't terribly strong, she managed to hold her ground against the angry cat. Their struggle continued for about a minute before Faith finally gave up, falling to the ground and breathing heavily with her bow clattering to the floor next to her.

Twilight panted a little as well, crossing her arms in front of her. "... Faith... You need to listen to your father... for once, I think..." she uttered, annoyance creeping into her voice as she made that (correct) assumption.

Faith looked up at the other princess, down at the ground, and then just began cursing.

Author's Notes:

Yep.

I'm bad at chapter endings. This should be longer, but I figured part 2 would do better as its own chapter. So here ya go.