Chapter 3

“A fragile alliance”

Celestia and Luna were flying over a valley with snow and scant pine trees

       When Celestia looked back at the giant mountains and said, “Do you think our father is still alive?”

       Luna then said “I hope so and what about that baby dragon Rust?”

      Celestia then said, “Luna if we have the chance we need to go back and see what happened.”

      Luna then said, “What are we doing anyways?”

      Celestia then said, “I think it will be best if we go to Equestria and present ourselves to the Equestrians then create a plan to defeat King Sombra and gain some troops to fight with. He’s there number one threat right now and he needs to be stopped.”

       Luna nods then said, “After that we go back to Father’s castle and find out what happened.” As they saw a barn up ahead

      Luna then said, “It looks abandoned but we should take a look first.”

       Celestia nodded then as they trailed down a small hill of snow they were blocked by a group of ponies cloaked in white.

        The leader then took out his sword on his rotation cuff and said, “I’m sorry you two but this is the end of the line.”

        Celestia was going to blast him then she heard the clack of a crossbow being loaded

        Then the leader said, “We have three archers aimed at you so I wouldn’t suggest doing anything rash.”

         Luna then said “We have no bits on us please we just need shelter.”

          The leader scoffed then said, “We are here for only one reason you’re coming with us.”

          Then a bolt entered his eye and he fell instantly then as Luna and Celestia turned to see a Pegasus with a forest green coat, unkempt light yellow mane and tail light green eyes and a cutie mark of a pine tree on fire firing his arrows at two of the other archers above the sisters. Then an earth pony with a shaved white mane and tail, with blue intense eyes and wearing a cloak of white slammed his dagger into the last archer.  Celestia and Luna blast the two other mercenaries in front of them then Pine landed next to them as Shade slid down the snow

        The Green Pegasus then said “You two alright.”

Celestia went over to Luna who has a bolt in her shoulder

      She then said, “It’s bad.”

      The white earth pony replied, “Take her into the barn we’ll care for it there.”

After the two ponies worked on the wound Celestia then said, “Thank you, for your assistance what are your names?”

       The green pegasus then said “Pine.”

      The white earth pony then said “Shade.”

       Celestia then said, “Then I thank both of you Pine and Shade.”

       Shade then said, “It’s I who should be thanking you. Your very presence gives me hope princess Celestia.”

Celestia then said, “How do you know my name?”

       Shade then said, “I was the one who warned your father about King Sombra.”  

       Celestia then said, “Do you know what happened to him?”

        Shade then said “I arrived to these lands only a few weeks ago and went to your father’s castle by the time I got there it was nothing but a ruin and I found two bodies one a baby dragon and the other your father.”

    Celestia then fell on the floor and was stunned for a few moments

     Then Shade said “I’m sorry for your loss.”

       Celestia picked herself up then said, “Shade how did you know my father?”

       Shade then said, “It’s a long story but in any case I was a spy for him and kept you two under my watch during your trials. The only reason I didn’t make my presence to you two earlier is because I was also spying on other activity including those of the chaos ponies and the holy empire.”

        Then Pine finished binding Luna’s shoulder then said, “So what was your plan anyways?”

       Celestia then said, “We were going to go to Equestria to gain some help to defeat King Sombra.”  

       Pine then said “Well you’re in luck Shade contacted me directly and told me if I helped you two out he’ll make sure I was well compensated and  North Star the general of the army of Equestria with his second in command Lance are coming to aid us as well.  With those two and our mole in the crystal empire we can defeat King Sombra.”

        Celestia then said, “When Luna is better we’ll discuss our options.”

         Shade then said, “Fine by me it’ll be best if you two were on the same page.”

        Then Celestia said, “So it’s true then North Star is coming tonight?”

       Pine shrugged then said “it’s been a week since his raven came to me I’ll go see if he rendezvoused with Core luckily his cottage isn’t far away. Shade you can keep an eye here won’t you?”

      Shade nods then Pine flew away.

      Then Celestia replied out of curiosity “how did you two find us and how did you know we were in trouble?”

      Shade then said, “My gut told me you’ll be here so I hopped on Pine’s back and made him fly as fast as possible, trust me I know it sounds weird but it’s the honest truth.”

      Celestia then said, “There are some things in the world that can’t be solved through magic or science. It’s nice to know that we at least have some friends.”

      Shade just nods then goes to Luna and kept an eye on her.

       North Star and Lance soon came upon a village in the mountains here the two walked through the streets.

      Lance then said, “I didn’t know ponies lived outside of Equestria or the crystal empire?”

      North Star then said, “Some ponies don’t belong to the Crystal Empire or Equestria they decided to try their luck and stick it out in this cold hard land.”

      Lance then said, “How did you know that?”

     North Star then said, “I grew up in a village just like this one.”

      Then they came upon a cottage here North Star knocked then a Red pony stuck his head out then.

He said, “So you’re North Star?”

      North Star held up the chain with his star insignia then said, “I told Pine about this in the letter I gave him.”

    The pony nods then lets them in his coat was red and his mane a straw yellow and his eyes a dull brown he wore a giant axe.

     They sat around a table eating apple pie and hot cider as they settled in North Star turned to Core then said, “You know why I’m here.”

     Core then smiled and said “I’ve set up a meeting already; Pine’s already made preparations since he received your letter.”

     North Star then held up a pouch with his teeth from his side and gave it Core then he looked inside North Star then said “Two hundred bits.”

    Core then said, “You must be desperate to meet him.”

    North Star then said, “He wanted me to pay up front.”

    Then he heard a noise from upstairs princess Cadence came down she then said, “Who are they Core?"

      Core then said “My apologies little princess these two are Lance and North Star they came to help get back Obsidian.”

       She smiled then said, “Is that true you came to rescue Obsidian?”

      Lance then said, “Of course why else would we be here?”

      North Star rolled his eye then said “Yeah we came to save Obsidian.”

       She then says, “Well you two better get a move on then.”

       She headed back upstairs then North Star said, “So who’s she?”

        Core replied, “She’s Princess Cadence and the heir to the crystal empire.”

       Lance then said, “How did she escape?”

      Core then said “With the help of Pine and our mole in the crystal empire.”

      Lance then said, “So has Pine really set everything up?”

     Core shrugged then said, “He told me to wait here until he gets back and then he’ll discuss everything with you.”

     Then the doors opened to the house and Pine stepped in and threw off his black hood.

      He then smiled and said “North Star this is the first time we met.”

     The raven on his shoulder flew to North Star. North Star patted his head then let the bird eat from his plate.

      Then as Pine sat down he then said “Everything has been arranged first were going to sneak in using a disguise, we’ll dress as mercenaries and we’ll present ourselves to King Sombra.”

       Lance then said, “How do we get King Sombra to trust us.”

     Pine then said, “Obsidian, he’s the mole and he’s Sombra’s captain of the guard. He has full authority of the guard and as of right now Sombra is hiring any pony who’s willing to fight for him we’ll simply act as friends of Obsidian and he can vouch to our loyalty but that won’t be enough we will also display our loyalty as well.”

      North Star then said “How?”

     Pine then said, “We pretend to give him Harmony’s daughters.”

     North Star burst out laughing then said, “Harmony is a myth and a legend she never existed.”

     Pine then said, “She’s real and we do have her daughters another friend of mine has left to keep them from harm and they have agreed to this plan.”

     North Star was going to say something then Lance said “North Star we should let him finish.”

     North Star nodded then Pine resumed “Once we present the daughters of Harmony to Sombra that is when we’ll strike, Celestia the eldest will take on Sombra as for the rest of us we’ll protect her  and kill any pony trying to intervene.”

       North Star then said “I’m sorry but this isn’t going to work I’m the most powerful unicorn alive I’m the one best suited to kill Sombra.”

       Pine then said “This is our best option Celestia has more experience and knows how to beat him we can defeat him easily if we work together.”

      North Star then let the bird fly out a small window near them then said, “Take us to them then, I want to see them for myself.”

      Pine then said, “I will but first the gold.”

      Core threw the sack of bits at Pine who caught it then said, “Alright then I’ll take you to them.”

Shade then said, “Why do you want to fight Sombra?”

       Celestia then said “My sister and I were born for one purpose to defend Equestria and to keep it from falling apart we must destroy those who would take our freedom away, if I could, I would parlay with Sombra instead try to make him surrender peaceful. But I know better he won’t go down without a fight and I have to beat him.”

          Shade then said, “Determination won’t be enough, stand up and I’ll show you what I mean.”

        Celestia stood then Shade stood on his hind legs then rotated his front leg then said, “When I look at you I can see the fire in your soul but there is also doubt and within this doubt I can beat you.”

       Celestia tried to blast him then Shade jumped backwards then threw a dagger over Celestia’s head then said “Your predictable what did you learn on your travels?”

       Celestia then said, “You’re over confidant.”

      She then sent a pile of rock from up around Shade and he was trapped.

Then she said, “I’ve battled many foes and Sombra will fall.”

       Then as she released Shade he replied, “Then don’t think he’ll go down without a fight, know that as you had fought me and victory will be assured.”

       Then Pine flew in with Lance and North Star teleported in then Pine said, “Shade I hope you didn’t kill any of them while I was gone.”

      Shade then said, “actually she almost killed me.”

      North Star then went up to Celestia then said, “So you’re the one who will take down Sombra.”

Celestia then said, “You must be North Star.”

       She bows then said, “You have my gratitude in defending Equestria.”

      North Star then said, “Do you? Even though you abandoned us for so long you think you can come back and think that we’ll all just bow to you!”

      Lance then said, “North Star what are you…”

      Celestia interrupted then said “Your right all of you  deserve an explanation for our absence.”

      North Star then in tears said, “It doesn’t matter why if you were our protector and savior you should have come to our aid when King Sombra attacked. Hell, you should have been there even before that! No we will continue on our current track to kill King Sombra then you can explain why you allowed all of this to happen.”

     Celestia then said, “Alright then, I promise.”

     North Star then collected himself then said, “So you know King Sombra tell us everything about him.”

       Celestia then said, “What I know is only what my father wrote about him. He was a warlord known as the black crystal sage he used his power to nullify magic users horns then killed them with it. Not only has that he been influenced by Necro a dark mage. Necro is more powerful than King sombra and has him under his hoof; he obeys him knowing Necro can tear his powers away if he disobeys his commands. However, even with his powers, he has one major weakness it is his soul, it has been fractured using it to fuel his dark magic it has taken its toll and I can rip it out of his body using the artifact with the crystal heart. There is only one problem the crystal heart was given to Queen Sapphire. From what I learned from my father’s notes, its current location is unknown. Once this is done he’ll be destroyed.”

      Pine then said, “My mole says he has the crystal heart it was given to him before the queen was killed so that’s settled.”

       North Star then turns to Celestia said “looks like I don’t have a choice I’ll help you but I don’t trust you or your sister.”

      Pine sighs then runs his hoof through his shaved mane and then says “it doesn’t matter if you trust them or not we have to work together to see this through and we won’t be able to do that if you two are bickering so just stay out of each other’s way and we’ll be fine.”

     Celestia then said “Fine by me.”

      North Star then said, “I’ll go back to Core’s place for the night, I need some time to think.”

     Then North Star teleported,

     Lance turns to Celestia then said, “I apologize for my commander’s behavior just let him vent.”

     Celestia nods then said, “I think I know where he’s coming from, hopefully if I can explain things to him we could work together.”

       North Star was back at Core’s cottage.  Core was coming downstairs as North Star helped himself to some pie and more cider.

       North Star then said “Core do you believe in Celestia and Luna?”

       Core then said “Yes I do they are harmony’s daughters and she’s the reason Equestria exists I don’t know for sure if they’ll bring everlasting peace but I do know we need them now more than ever.”

       North Star then said, “I don’t believe it, it’s not from a lack of faith or judgment it’s because I’ve seen this world. War opened my eyes I proclaimed that we fought for freedom but we had to kill for it. If we could handle problems without the need of violence and bloodshed the day we could build upon the history of peace that’s when we’ll have an era of peace until then we’ll have a kingdom built on the honor of blood.”

      Core then said, “I fought as well during the war. I was there at battle of the frozen gate.”

     North Star looked up then said, “You were there?”

     Core nodded then said, “I remember you blasting the side of a mountain crushing an entire regiment of ponies and in doing so choked a major crossing point keeping King Sombra’s army at bay. After that battle I lost it I couldn’t bring myself to continue fighting so I deserted.”

      North Star then said, “There was no penalty for desertion Core I made sure of that.”

     Core then said, “I know that’s what made you a great leader you understood our weakness and you put yourself at risk to save us and this kingdom. Now you feel that Celestia this pony from nowhere who hasn’t done anything for us is just going to take it away just because of her heritage.”

       North Star then said, “It’s not that, ruling Equestria has never been my goal I would gladly give Celestia and Luna the throne I just have doubts running through my mind about why they left us for so long.”

      Core then said, “Honestly what do you  think would have happened if they tried to unite our race 50 years ago?”

     North Star then said “They probably would of failed, No your right Core they probably have perfectly good

reasons.”

      As he got up he then said, “Do you have an extra room?””

      Core nods then said, “There’s an old bedroom upstairs last door to the left.”

       North Star then got up and left the kitchen as he climbed the steps he said “Thank you Core.”  

        That night Pine was on the roof of the barn removing the string off his crossbow and replacing it with another then as he tightened it.  He then slotted it onto his rotation cuff then he pulled the lever back with his teeth and then slotted ten arrows into the magazine and placed it in the right side of the crossbow. He then aimed it at a pine tree a few yards away then he he kicked his arm back and the bolt hit the trunk.

       Luna flew next to Pine and said, “I wanted to thank you for helping us earlier.”

       Pine nods then places the cross bow on his belt using his teeth then says, “You’re welcome how’s that shoulder?”

       Luna then twisted it and said, “It healed nicely what did Shade use?”

     Pine then said “Honestly I don’t know he has herbs I’ve never seen before.”

Luna then said, “Is it okay if I ask you a question?”

      Pine shrugs then says “Sure.”

       Luna then says, “So why are you helping us?”

      Pine replies, “Honestly I’m doing this for the bits.”

       Lance laughed then sat beside him then said, “I bet you have more at stake in this quest then you let on.”

      Pine scoffed then said, “Please no pony knows my past.”

     She then said, “You helped start the miner rebellion.”

     Pine then muttered “So what? That was years ago.”

      Luna then said, “I also know you were raised by dragons and you even created a joint army of ponies and dragons.”

      Pine then said “How do you know all of this my past is secret and all the miners I freed never left the dragon’s valley?”

        She then said, “My father documented everything in the last five years while we were gone and when we returned he made us read all of his notes.”

      She then paused and said “The reason we didn’t claim our throne before now is because until know your race had to learn to survive on its own without our assistance.”

      Pine then said, “I really don’t care. You should tell that to that crazy unicorn.” Luna then said “North Star?”

       Pine then said “Yeah him, he’s a nice fella but is arrogant and full of spite. War did that to him as it could do it to any pony but I hope your sister can work with him.”

       Luna then said “Of course she can North Star is strong and so is my sister they’ll butt heads but they’ll do fine hell my sister and I do it all the time.”

     Pine then smirks and replies, “Like me and Ember she always hated when I lead the dragons into battle and gave them different orders when she was in charge.”

    Luna then said, “Ember, I hope I get to meet her.”

     Pine then said, “Maybe one day you will.”

     Luna then said, “Of course I will I want to help heal the wounds between ponies and dragons.” Pine then shakes his head then said, “It’ll never happen were two different specious. Trust me I tried, the miners that live with the dragons in the mountains are doing fine but they still have resentment it’s just how we are some things will never change.”

      Luna sighed then said, “Guess not.”

     Pine then said, “What about the rest of the world is it like this?”

     She shook her head then said, “There’s deserts and forests lands covered in ice and the chaos lands full of mountains and ash there’s even a land to the east full of lung dragons and it’s beautiful.”

     Pine then said “well I’ll make a wish myself I want to explore this world it’s the reason I left the mines and my reason for helping you when I finish helping you defeat King Sombra and make peace here in Equestria I want to go across the ocean and leave this place.”

     Luna smiled then said, “Well once this war is over I will make sure your wish comes true!”

    They pounded hooves then talked through the rest of the night

Episode 3

“A fragile

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