-Memories of a Girl With Everything-

The fortress city of Madineigh was a ruined shell of its former self, far across the sea where the Princesses had hoped to make a final stand. Few of its buildings still remained standing, some of the oldest created by pony kind. The soil and gravel of the streets had been soaked through with blood, and what walls remained were streaked with gore. Burning ruins and hideous effigies lit the cursed, desert night. Overnight it had gone from a desert paradise to a dark nightmare.

A heavily armoured hoof walked only tentatively through the tainted dust, her royal stature weighed down with cold, gold embossed steel. Her armour was heavy, heavier than most mortals could bear to lift let alone wear; but as a result she could survive a direct attack by even the most powerful of the Humans’ deadly wizards or any of the ferocious dragons that stalked the burnt and broken lands in the South. A corona of fiery light slowly coiled above her head and swirled behind her, her emotions betrayed by its frayed and erratic movement. Her alabaster coat reflected the light of her ethereal mane across the desolate scene, it revealed everything to her. Everything that she had missed by only hours.

Caelestia, the Radiant Noon and the Inferno Incarnate, felt far more defeated then ever before. Saddle Arabia had been her last hope, the one place she had prayed their enemy would not be able to follow. But it seemed that they had cut her off once more, their strange and ancient magics had often turned a victory into a miserable defeat. And though the ponies had won many a battle, they had not won the ones that truly mattered the most. Each great City State that might have posed the greatest threat had fallen under the greatest, unstoppable forces that the Enemy could muster. It seemed that only the flying city states of the Pegasi would remain if this pattern continued … and even they were in danger.

Princess Caelestia stepped tentatively past the mutilated remains of a unicorn that decorated a crumbling wall, his intestines spread like a sick replacement to the curtains that had once hung from it. The main thoroughfare was worse, bodies of pony and Blaidd alike were piled in fly ridden heaps. She stopped before the most horrid display: a pile of the dead that had been mutilated and set aflame; mare, stallion, and foal alike. The acrid smell of burning flesh had already stained her nostrils, but now it was nearly overwhelming. The goddess of the sun shivered and the fires all around the city dimmed and began to die.

A Guardsmare approached her, dressed in similarly gold tinged armor. Stripes along her shoulder revealed the mare’s rank to the Princess, but she did not turn away from the smoldering effigy. “M’Lady!” she saluted, her voice muffled by the heavy cloth tied around her muzzle. The soldiers had had a harder time coping with the smell, and now incense soaked cloths were almost mandatory equipment.

“Report, Captain,” the goddess said shortly. She turned her head slightly, the embers reflected off of her polished faceplate. Her heavy claymore swung at her side, made especially for felling the Enemy’s war machines.

“Survivors hath been discovered. My company doth gather them as we speak. None hath the countenance to speak. I cannot fathom the horrors they have seen,” the Guardsmare reported. She cleared her throat before she continued. “There be no Human bodies about, m’Lady. Twould seem the wolf-mens’ blood lust twas faster than their masters’ whip.” The goddess could see that the mare had been shaken, she was relatively new to her position and the leftovers of a Blaidd attack were never pretty. Her brows were furrowed, and her tail flicked in irritation often: she was angry and upset, not always a good mindset for a Captain.

“Indeed, We have seen as much,” the goddess agreed. Her armour shifted heavily, and the scabbard of her claymore, Sun’s Breath, nearly scraped along the ground behind her, she could feel it vibrate with anticipation. His brother sword, simply dubbed Fang, hummed in its scabbard as it thirsted for dragons’ blood. “Be there any sign of Princess Terrae?” she asked.

"N-neigh, m’Lady," the mare regretfully replied. "We found something else, the hooded mage thinks it may be how they arrived so quickly before us," she said quickly, eager to change the subject away from her failures.

Caelestia did not have to speak, the whip of the cold fire of her mane showed her shock. Her helm hid her face behind the grill of its faceplate, but her nod gave the command and the Captain led her away from the display of hatred. Their armor reflected back the destruction around them as they walked, the ash and ember darkened their shining armour to reflect the dark thoughts stirring inside of revenge.

The captain led the Princess past a decimated bridge, nothing but rubble that muddied a once beautiful river. Much of the main roads that would lead to the palace had been destroyed, though it seemed that had been a desperate ploy by powerful Saddle Arabian mages as opposed to the machinations of men. It was along one of these roads, capsized against the ruin of a great stone building that had perhaps once been a church, that the Captain's discovery became clear:

A huge construct, all forged from the same alloy, had been felled and come to rest here. Huge claws hung from its underbelly, the improbably long arms that supported them tucked away and crushed beneath its own weight. Its sloped back and arrow shape gave its upper body a sickly, disproportionate shape. However the barren, fin-like sails along its sides revealed that it moved through the air, like many of the human's airships did. A giant, finned, metal scorpion made for battling dragons, now it fought ponies and destroyed cities. Its tail, which once would have smashed walls or flung fiery missiles, had broken off and hung over the top of the destroyed building.

"Tis a Warmind," Caelestia said dismissively. "The humans often use them when they fell our greatest cities. We have destroyed many Ourselves." Sun’s Breath shivered in its scabbard, an agreement. “We would have expected to find one, Terrae was proficient in their destruction. Of what curiosity is this over any other?” she asked incredulously, the heavy feeling of dashed hope began to filter into her heart.

"Princess Selene is of a different inclination, your Grace," the Captain said. "Gaze to its prow, your Majesty." The Guards spear whistled as it whipped around to point at the crushed front end of the Warmind.

Caelestia glared down at the decorative cap, the ironically serene face of a doe had been crumpled and destroyed. She often found it so ironic to be staring into her mother's face when she destroyed these world enders. But the Captain was correct, this doe had been given a strange crown of bone, one that surrounded her head without touching it and truly completed the image of the God it honored. While all of the Warminds did have Man's Goddess carved on their noses, she had never seen one with such a decoration as this. The gold decorations spread across its entire back, more like veins and wrinkles near its rear.

"Strange. No?" a melodious voice inquired.

Caelestia turned with a start, her corona mane wrapped protectively about her. Princess Selene Eternae Luna grinned out from the half-helm of her dark armor, her nebulous mane blended with the dark sky behind her and her eyes glowed menacingly with power through the eye slots of her helm. Her shields hung heavily at her sides, weightless as far as the Princess was concerned. She didn't wear as heavy armor as Caelestia, instead she had opted for a more agile set that had fewer plates and more ringmail. While Caelestia was renowned for walking through longbow arrows like rain, Selene was infamous for weaving through attacks and only using her shields in the most intense of combat.

"We would do well not to shock each other," Caelestia admonished to the childish giggle of her sister.

"Thou would do well to find joy where none otherwise is. However, We agree. Tis inappropriate for such a time as this," Selene said with a sobered frown. She stepped forward to stand beside Caelestia. They stepped together and locked horns with each other, an embrace that once would have been compared to standing before a mirror that reflected opposites – however as they had aged in the world they had begun to grow somewhat different and no longer resembled the twins that they were heralded as. "But look upon this: We give thee this Flagship that dost step through folds of the ether," Luna said as she stepped away and motioned with her wing to the destroyed Warmind.

"Of what do We speak, Sister?" Caelestia asked. Not so long ago, perhaps a few hundred years, Caelestia and Selene had practically shared a consciousness. Now occasionally they would gain premonitions of each others thoughts, but the war had pulled them apart so often that now Caelestia found it difficult to understand her sister. She had become much more free spirited, and was so often able to perform tasks whose means only became obvious once the results had been met. Even in combat now Selene somehow managed to deceive her opponent and subtly steer them to their own demise.

"We speak of the Warmind, of course," Selene grinned. Whispers filled the air, a hundred voices just beyond what most mortal ears could understand, and both Goddesses turned back to the warmind. "Our Archmage's newest apprentice seems to think he can decipher its function."

Like a specter a hooded figure faded out of the shadows beneath the stone beast. Above his head a raven winged out and circled, expressing its displeasure. The hooded figure followed its path with his head as he approached the celestial Goddesses. The pony halted before them, frozen as if he had just noticed them, and bowed until his hood nearly touched the blood-muddied ground. A large scroll-tube rocked forward on his back, and while he appeared unarmoured, subtly infused runes flickered in the light of the Goddesses' manes. His mark, a papyrus apple and a thin blade, glittered where it was embossed onto his robes. The Raven landed on his back and gave a loud "Wark!" as it too bowed.

Caelestia and Selene both gave low nods and the hooded figure stood. "I am honored to be in thy presence once more, your Majesties," he said, his voice surprisingly young and cheerful with the twist of a smile in his words.

"Ah yes, the young colt who endeavors to cast light in the darkness,” Caelestia said with a nod that permitted the hooded pony to stand again. “Tell Us of this great, stone beast," Caelestia commanded in the gentle tone she so often used with non-military ponies, even if they were fewer by the day.

"An incredible opportunity to examine human technology such as this. It's so rare that any of the Warminds are left whole. This one was felled with expert precision; Princess Terrae's work, no doubt," he said with a gesture toward the dead machine and wonder in his voice. "Won't my master be jealous, stuck in Equestria with his sand dials? He would find this technology incredibly fascinating."

"Must you keep Us in suspense, young Clean Cut?" Selene said with a toothy grin. "Clover would not tease Us so. What would Star Swirl think, Sister?" she asked Caelestia, though the teasing did not go unnoticed by her Sister.

"Ah, yes," Caelestia said with a subtle roll of her eyes. "Now We see the reason for Our mirth."

The young mage lowered his hood with a flick of his horn. Clean Cut's brilliant red mane and pale coat were clumped with sweat and grime; the price of travelling alongside the Princesses during the war. Unfortunately this did make him the lesser known apprentice of Star Swirl, and his uncommon closeness with the Princess of the Night often meant that they were more cordial with each other than their statuses would normally allow.

"Clover is not as clever as she claims, and Master Star Swirl would have never looked where I have," Clean Cut claimed. It was true that the young unicorn colt had made quite an impression on both his master and the Princesses in his ability to discover and unveil hidden things. His horn glowed with his ghostly green magic as he began to speak rapidly of phaux-biological matrices and four dimensional wrinkles. Symbols and images, presumably from inside the belly of the Warmind, flickered above his horn in the air.

Caelestia allowed herself a sigh. It was very refreshing to find a pony so passionate about something other than warfare in these times. And while she did accept that it entertained her other half to no end when Clean Cut was worked into such a fit, there was no end to his ranting.

"And what is it, precisely, that thou hast devised from this abomination?" Caelestia asked, which brought Clean Cut to a swift halt. Selene giggled quietly and Caelestia couldn’t help but smile.

The stout Unicorn opened his mouth as if to protest, but halted himself. "Allow me to demonstrate, your Majesties," he finally said. His horn glowed and a three dimensional sigil floated and wriggled in front of him. "This is the sigil that the Warmind produces with its voice. As you know, the Warminds do have a voice; we hear it alongside the Humans’ war cries when they attack a city. However this Warmind has two voices: one it speaks softly with, and another that projects itself hundreds of miles away. It creates this shape in the air with its voice in two places and the very fabric of space, time, and fate are pulled apart! And then the Warmind steps through!”

“Clean Cut, as capable in magic as We are,” Selene said with a grin, “We are not as educated as you in these matters. Please explain to us what significance all of this has.” At this point Caelestia wasn’t sure if Selene was still teasing him or if now Their curiosity had truly been piqued.

“My Princesses of the Heavens, I give you the Humans’ secret to instant travel,” Clean Cut said with a bow. “Observe,” he said as he stood again. His horn flared and another wavering rune shimmered into being in the air at the end of the street. There was a crackle of magic and Clean Cut stepped up to the sigil still floating in front of him. There was a loud crack, like a whip, and a flash and Clean Cut was gone. In the same instant Clean Cut fell to the ground at the end of the street, his gasps for air could be heard from where they stood by the Warmind.

Luna flexed her rear legs and in a moment she had leapt with nary a flap of her wings to Clean Cut’s side. “Remarkable,” she laughed as she picked up the fallen stallion and brushed his robes free of dirt. “But We hath made the distance in just as much time, and We are better for it as well,” she laughed even as she rose an eyebrow at the ice that clung to the pony’s fur.

“Yes, m’Lady,” Clean Cut said, his blush at her sudden closeness hardly hidden. “But think of an army brought hundreds or thousands of miles the same way. I believe the Warmind is capable of moving many Humans at once, and that is how they travel so quickly,” he said between gasps of breath. The task had been costly on his magic reserves, and the trip itself had been unpleasant. “For just a moment I was in a place with no air or light, and it was freezing. But in that tiny instant I traveled almost twenty meters! Imagine the possibilities!”

“But can you stop them?” Caelestia asked, her presence very suddenly brought the somber mood of the decimated city back in full swing.

“Perhaps, m’Lady,” Clean Cut said tentatively. “But I still do not fully understand how it works or even how the Warminds can bring more than themselves. For all I know it may take more power than I have to even attempt such a thing- I will need time to know if it is reasonable to think it possible,” he admitted in a nervous rambling.

Caelestia nodded. “Very well then, this is thy new task. We will have the wreckage delivered to Canterhorn Keep, it may yet be safe and thou might complete thy research there. Ye will have every resource We can spare,” she said with a nod to the Captain, who saluted and spun around to start giving orders to the mares in arms. “This discovery may very well turn the tide of the war, Clean Cut. Congratulations.”

Author's Notes:

Sorry it's a little late, I got caught up in school stuff. However this is another look into the history of Equestria in this Universe. Might be a little while till next chapter, but it is well into the works! So hopefully I can wrap up that [longer] chapter soon and get it out to you guys.

Tell me your thoughts below, I love to read them!