Chapter 27: Leviathan

As expected, about a dozen heavily armoured ponies followed Rarity after a ‘heart-breaking’, and completely made up story about her friend that got trapped by a group of criminals in a side street not too far from here. Twilight found it amusing, what a few males, and even mares would do to help a gorgeous mare like Rarity. Sure, Twilight herself was not too shabby, far from it, but the fashionista just had this certain sense of… sex appeal, that her lavender friend lacked without copious amount of chaos magic.

Blaze and Twilight waited for another minute before teleporting inside through the open door, it was a lot easier than to hope that those enchantment wouldn’t scatter their atoms into infinity. She looked around, the other end of the door was… really disappointing. A bleak and completely empty corridor, lit by strange, glowing tubes fixed to the ceiling. The lavender unicorn was by no means outdated when it came to Arcane Science and especially Arcane Tinkering, but this was… a whole different level. Twilight didn’t even know how these light things could work without any external input of magic. Maybe crystals that could be charged with raw magical energy and store it indefinitely. She had heard of them before, these highly advanced storage crystals were called ‘Lacrima’ an old word for something like tear drop, the mare guessed that name was chosen because of their spherical form.

“Hey!” Blaze whispered, tapping Twilight’s shoulder. She had been watching the mare stare at those strange lamps with a dreamy expression for several minutes now. Deep in there her little student was still the same… somewhere. “I know that these things are kinda cool, but we have to hurry up if we don’t want to get into a fight!”

The lavender mare was startled for a second, ripped out of her wonderfully technical day-dream. She cursed herself under a breath, tapping into a special kind of spatial manipulation. A second later Rarity just ‘plopped’ into existence right in front of them. Her eyes were filled with fake tears, that disappeared after she cut off her very convincing illusion magic.

“That took you long enough, darling. I almost ran out of depressing stories to tell them. Now where exactly do we have to go?” The fashionista let her gaze wander around as well. The corridor could really use someone to spruce it up a little bit, nothing but white, sterile tiles and futuristic doors every now and then. “Well this looks just ridiculously bleak.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and nodded forward, the right door had to be somewhere eventually. It was somewhere in the center, she knew that much, but the rest was a gamble more or less. The mare rounded a corner, but before she could say anything, something bumped into her. Not something… someone. A relatively short unicorn mare, brown coat, long beige hair that was tied into a ponytail. She wore thin, black framed glasses, and a lab coat with a stylized sun symbol on the sleeve. The mare rubbed her head, eyes closed as she spoke up, “My bad! I Just don’t know what’s wrong with me today, hehe. I’ll be on my way the—”

Before she could speak any further Twilight’s spell had hit her. Her completely paralyzed body remained on her haunches, looking slightly embarrassed, even a small smile on her muzzle. No… this mare definitely did not deserve to die, “This should be enough to prevent anypony seeing us too early. Don’t worry Blaze, she didn’t even notice it, and will be just fine once we are done.”

Morning just nodded, the yellow mare was glad that her former student at least listened to her. She could be reasoned with, a sign that this Nightmare, or whatever was deep within her, didn’t have full control yet. They continued their way as quiet as they could, sneaking carefully past corners from now and just barely avoided running into a full dining hall. This place really had a lot of employees, not just workers from the communication center, many wore similar lab coats, so there seemed to be research facilities in here too.

“Careful now… I think it should be here somewhere,” Twilight stated, rounding another corner. At the end of the corridor there was another door, but it looked different. Thicker, bigger, with two keypad locks, a scanner that could identify different eyes, and even a scanner to shove your horn in, apparently for scanning your magical signature. The lavender unicorn had no idea how any of that worked, but in the moment they didn’t have to. If this plan would succeed, they would have a whole army of ponies very willing to share their secrets with. She summoned her massive blade, ready to slice the door into half. “Let’s go.”

After several hours of walking, the little group decided to rest for a while. Applejack couldn’t go much further with her injured hind leg anyway, even after a little treatment from Fluttershy. The mare knew surprisingly much about first aid for an animal caretaker, well, taking care of another pony wasn’t so different, or was it? The yellow mare’s knowledge was still very limited to the basics, using a firm stick as a cast, and tightening it with gauze bandage from the supplies they got.

It was a miracle in and of itself that they got away relatively unscathed. It could’ve been a lot worse, plus they got enough supplies to keep them covered for a while, maybe even until they’d reach the east coast line. Applejack was still awfully quiet throughout the whole travelling, her mind stuck on the brief conversation with this strange looking pony… Scarlet. She had sounded so familiar, yet… not at all. Her voice had been so powerful, but pleasant and gentle at the same time. Her demeanour and way to emphasize certain letters were very similar to Rarity’s accent, but the mare was definitely not a normal pony. Something the country mare had never seen or heard of before.

She couldn’t deny that… she had been quite alluring, even though the mare was straight… at least Applejack never truly thought about the other possibilities. A yellow furred hoof on her shoulder ended that train of thought, causing her to look into the gentle cyan eyes of her long time friend.

Fluttershy gave her an empathetic smile, “You’ve been really quiet the last few hours, ever since we left that village. Are you alright? Should I check your leg again?”

“Ah’m fine, sugarcube… jest thinkin’. Did yer... notice anythin’ weird with that Scarlet?” Applejack asked in a careful tone, not giving away any of those strangely confusing thoughts about that mare.

“Well… I guess she was really pretty, especially her hair. And her accent was kind of similar to Rarity’s.”

“She was… wasn’t she? Uh… Ah mean her voice! It was somewhat similar, right? Heh,” She quickly corrected herself, just what was going on inside of her? Applejack had never seen anypony in that light, well no mare, and she didn’t even know who this mare really was .This one conversation was enough to cause this.

Fluttershy smirked, but didn’t comment on the first part. She hadn’t really been thinking about that mare after they left, she was kind of nice. She gave them food, even though Scarlet was a follower of this Luna or Nightmare Moon. Definitely not a normal pony either, too pointy ears, and her horn had been weird. Also, Fluttershy could have sworn to catch a glimpse at fangs in her mouth, and what kind of vegetarian pony needed that? They would probably see her again, at the very least when they inevitably confronted Nightmare Moon, or she stopped them before that.

“Welp, thanks for yer opinion, sugarcube. Let’s hit the hay fer now, Rost and Sharp already agreed on doin’ the first watch shift,” The country mare stated in a neutral tone, this mare was obviously still on her mind.

Fluttershy just nodded and got comfortable, she didn’t notice how tired she was until now, “Good rest, AJ”

“Night, sugarcube.”

It didn’t take the rebellion long to take over the entirety of Baltimare. Most ponies were awfully easy to convince, and just wanted their peace. They didn’t really care who was in charge, as long as their homes and families were protected. Since the recent events in Canterlot, and the total quarantine of the city, many weren’t so sure what to think about Celestia anymore.

News of an opposing force had spread like a wildfire. Celestia’s former protegé and an alicorn related to her, the responsible ponies for the Nightmare of Canterlot. Only the princess’ highest ranking guards really knew how exactly Luna fit into all of this, the newspaper just made up the rest… as per usual. Many had seen the ‘Nightmare of Canterlot’ as something positive though, sure, a lot of guards fell in the battle, but a public execution was just as barbaric. Her ‘loyal’ subjects saw it as an act of desperation, rather than intimidation, and especially those who suffered under her tax reforms immediately jumped at the opportunity to undermine her authority.

They needed a fresh pony at the top, or even multiple, and who just so happened to be the cause of all of this? Exactly, two strong-willed, smart strategist who conquered the mind of many ponies like Sapphire Shore’s new album. Even before they started to claim whole cities they had been something like ‘celebrities’, and not even in a bad sense. The photos from the newspaper clashed with those on the wanted posters and Celestia’s plan caved in like a card house in a strong breeze. Their simple rescue mission had caused many to doubt the princess’ faculty of judgement.

Luna, Pinkie and Silent met at the town square, right next to the almost lifeless body of the impaled general. Her coat was dull, and the crystal formation was soaked with her life juice. Quite the shocking sight, even for a stallion like Silent, but he merely shrugged and focused on the Princess of the Night, “I presume she wasn’t much of a challenge. Anyways, the entire city is on our side. WE ALL HAVE ENOUGH OF CELESTIA, ISN’T THAT RIGHT?!”

The stallions sudden shout elicited a wave of cheers and eager agreements from the ponies that had gathered around their meeting place. It really seemed like they had more than enough of her oh so ‘precious’ sister. That caused her to smile faintly, she was really lucky to have these ponies as her partners, “Very well. Good job you two, and of course all who helped us today. I am sure that Rainbow Dash and Silver will be back soon with good news from Fillydelphia. Now Capone’s ‘workers’ can restore order in the town. We will leave a few here that can train the willing citizens, blacksmiths and factory workers have already began their work with eagerness. Furthermore, at least two Archmages will stay here as well, to ensure maximum safety for our loyal subjects.”

“Okie Dokie Lokie!” Pinkie said with her usual cheeriness. The fact that they could solve this with as few victims as possible was a huge relief for the still quite pacifistic earth pony. A hoofful of guards resisted and attacked Silent, so that was at least somewhat justified as self defense. She had met a lot of nice ponies here, and could even imagine to stay in Baltimare for a while, but only after everything was over. “Do you guys know what that calls for?!”

Silent blinked twice, cocking his head, “A… party?”

“Yes, silly! A party!” Another wave of cheers and joy washed over the citizens near them. Even Luna couldn’t help but giggle at the pink mare’s antics. This was far from over, but they deserved a small moment of peace and happiness before this would get any more intense. In the cheers nobody noticed a certain ‘thud’, indicating something quite big hitting the ground and disappearing in a flash. A trickle of crimson was all that was left, a desperate last attempt to resist against the ever growing darkness.

Of course Luna had taken notice of that, especially since her ice crystal had vanished, that meant a certain somepony hadn’t been as dead as she played to be. The blue alicorn didn’t expect Mistral to be able to even create a clear thought while being impaled and losing a lethal amount of blood. In the end it didn’t really matter though, next time she wouldn’t have the time to flee.

“Let us celebrate our victory against the Sun Tyrant!” She said, once again accompanied by cheers and agreement. This was going frighteningly well, and soon her dear sister would be the last pony willing to stand.

The castle experienced a true, wrathful earthquake that day. Celestia stood in the middle of the throne room, her wavering, almost golden magic holding the two scrolls of her ‘allies’. Random objects caught on fire as she read further into them, both containing what was probably the signature on her terms of surrender. At last even the durable parchment of the scrolls began to smoke, slowly turning into smoldering cinders that were taken away with a slight breeze.

Celestia Solaris, Princess of the Sun,

It has come to our attention, that your liberal style of ruling is no longer able to maintain the peace and harmony that had reigned for over a thousand years now. While the Saddle Arabian kingdom greatly appreciated our trade routes to Equestria, managed by your government in the past, we are not willing to support weakness in our alliance.
Our goddess spoke to us, she is not an entity of vengeance, but one of firm rules and confidence. You have shown neither since this rebellion had turned into a serious threat to your rule, those who decided to rise against you even came from your own tutelage.

We chose not to trade with the leaders of this rebellion, but we will not interfere into this war. Once it is over we will gladly resume our usual trade exchanges. A firm hoof on your subjects is of utmost importance, and it seems that a thousand years of solitude did not hone your ability to maintain that. With this letter we officially step back as a member of the Leviathan Alliance. May the light of our goddess shine upon you.

Signed, Himiko, Queen of the Saddle Arabian Union.

Celestia had cringed while reading that name, of course the griffon king had chosen the name of their alliance. A group of kingdoms that have the task of maintaining harmony throughout the land should not be named after a powerful beast of the dark ages.

The letter disappeared in the all consuming sun fire as well. Those accusations were ridiculous! Celestia was the most powerful mage that ever lived, with exception of very few who could meet her gaze as an equal, enemy and ally alike. With the Saddle Arabian Union they had lost many experts and sharpshooters, as well as masters when it came to stealth missions. The griffon king’s letter had around the same contents, only without any sophisticated language, it was visible one last time before the fire destroyed it as well.

Princess Celestia, Ruler of Equestria,

Our senate has observed this pitiful display of weakness for long enough now. Half of our members were already willing to attack your land. We are no barbarians though, as a former member of the Leviathan Alliance, we paid our debts to your kingdom by not raiding your towns. Only the strongest and most confident rulers are able to keep their subjects in check. In our opinion it is time for a change of leadership in Equestria, but we won’t interfere with this civil conflict. That’s why we have decided to leave Equestria to handle its own mess, those traitors come from your wings after all. New negotiations can be made once this disturbance has been dealt with.

Signed, King Ironclaw XIV.
Ruler of the Griffonian Empire

Accusation over accusation, it only added more fuel into her frustrated rage, Even the beautiful silken curtain in the far back end of the hall began to smoke dangerously. Her allies made their decision to back out of this before also being targeted by Twilight and Luna. Those two always managed to be one step ahead of her, and Celestia had no idea why! How could a young mare, and her younger sister make such a mess of her carefully arranged harmony?! She never seemed to be ahead when it came to planning, even her leadership circle was dwindling more and more. Law was unfit to make political decisions, Dawn helped where he could already, and the princess still worried greatly about Mistral’s whereabouts. Then there was Specter, but… he didn’t seem to have any luck with attacking the rebellion, quite suspicious, considering his usual success quota.

Maybe she had to question him very soon. Right now she needed some time to calm down, and plan her next move carefully. Stalliongrad was still an important factor that would be the main source of new weapon prototypes. Maybe something that could stop her… former student before it was too late.

If only it would be that easy…

Two swings… two strikes of her mighty blade was all it took to best the thick steel door before the little team. They hadn’t waged a war in centuries, their defenses were pathetic for any moderately smart enemy, but now it was too late to fuss about that anyway. Before even one of the engineers or communicators in the large room could blink, they were covered in a thin layer of a vibrant blue crystal. Rarity had really found herself a gorgeous new magic, and it was quite effective too!

“Great job, Rarity,” Twilight said, her compliment accompanied with a warm smile. Maybe it was just the stress of this day, but the lavender mare could definitely see a faint blush on the fashionista’s cheeks. Maybe it was about time to explore that a little further, but this was neither the right time nor place to do that.

“O-Oh please, darling, it was hardly worth mentioning. However, now that we have effectively cut of all their connections to the outside world, what now?” Rarity replied, looking around the room. Many strange machineries were placed on desks for the ponies to work on, she really didn’t care much about Arcane Tinkering, but these communication devices looked quite interesting. A wireless box with a small plastic shell on top of it, perhaps a prototype of a portable thought sending spell? As of right now very, very few ponies could use that kind of magic, Celestia was without a doubt the expert on this, as she was able to hear the thoughts of all her subjects… that were loyal and willing at least. An easy, portable version of that would be… groundbreaking!

Twilight walked in between Blaze and Rarity, gently laying one forehoof on their shoulders, “You’ll see. Now it’s time to wrap this up.” Then they sunk into the shadows below, disappearing from the odd sight. Despite their reputation, nopony got hurt during their mission, another way of showing the ponies that they were in the right!

They appeared in the small town square, in the middle of hundreds of ponies who backed up in shock. It seemed that some of them already took notice who exactly appeared in their rather small citadel. Twilight’s horn flashed for a second, only moments later a rectangular darkness appeared from thin air, right next to them. Ten ponies in brilliant white robes, but with the rebellion’s emblem engraved on it came out of it first, followed by a few dozen rather elegantly clothed ponies. Pinstripe suits, golden watches, and the occasional cigar could be seen in the masses, Capone’s mercenaries, the common troublemaker in Equestria these days.

The lavender mare calmly stepped in the middle of them. Before she could speak though, something happened within her, Twilight felt an enormous boost in power, her mane began to waver slightly, resembling a light version of Luna’s hair, her eyes started to glow faintly as well. What was even more impressive, were the phantom wings appearing on her back. Long and graceful, resembling Celestia’s, only not as ‘physical’. Her now thunderous voice boomed through the crowd, carried even into the last corner of Stalliongrad, “For years you were forced to work under Celestia. For years you had to create weapons for her enjoyment, and for years you were suffering under her inability to bring peace to our borders. This ‘peace’ is nothing more than a sweet lie, made up by the most dangerous criminal in the last thousand years, Princess Celestia!”

The crowd was absolutely silent, somehow her voice carried such… confidence and strength, it was hard to ignore it and not solely focus on every word. At the last part a few gasps could be heard, sure, the working conditions really weren’t all that great, but Celestia… a criminal? Then her voice boomed through them anew, “We have come to put an end to this madness! We spread the truth throughout the land, and we reclaim what Celestia took from her subjects. Stalliongrad will no longer produce weapons for the Equestrian Army, the city will no longer suffer under her twisted harmony. As advocators of peace we give each of you a choice. Join us, and live your life in true, blissful harmony, or leave the city without any trouble.”

Their forces were spread far and wide on the Equestrian landscape, Canterlot was the last city that held their ground as a force of the old harmony and their dying goddess. Many weren’t sure about it, somehow they wanted to hear more, but betraying Celestia? In the first few minutes not much happened, most looked to their loved ones with unsure expressions, but then some went down to her knees, facing Twilight. Not many from the Solar Guard followed their example, but most of the civilians decided to pledge their loyalty to her. They weren’t stupid, even if this was genuinely wrong, they were just stronger than their old princess at the moment, and the fact that they wouldn’t hurt anyone earned a lot of bonus points.

“Were you doing that?” Twilight asked herself mentally… well, not exactly herself.

I thought it would be… hmm… a bit more impressive like this, my shade. A few alterations to your physique wouldn’t hurt as well~

“No, thank you. I know we are allies, but I’d rather not have my body changed. Maybe when this is over, but for now these intimidation tactics will be strictly temporary… thank you though…”

Mhm~ So clever, so strong. I know why I like you so much, dear Twilight.

The lavender mare blushed, but focused on her surroundings again. Rarity and Blaze sticked close to her while their allies got to work. They had to calm the ponies and answer their questions as good as possible. Quite the workload, but still without a single victim, this was definitely the right way… for all of them!

Applejack had a pretty rough ‘night’, that mare had been on her mind constantly. Not only her rather subtle similarities to Rarity, but also her personality in general. Polite, sophisticated, generous, all things that she admired, and tried to integrate them into her lifestyle. She was not much of a fancy city pony, but the ability to speak in a high language was rather important when she would lead the farm one day… well, Applejack was already kinda leading it, but not officially before Granny Smith… yeah.

Their little camp should be safe for now, no movement on the verge of this small forest for hours now. Rost and Sharp had been right that it was boring and tiring at the same time. The constant, only dimly twilight of the sky was quite unnerving after several months. She couldn’t talk with Fluttershy either because they chose to patrol in a wide radius on different sides of the camp to cover more ground. Applejack, sunken in thoughts as she was, didn’t notice the stump of a fallen tree right in front of her and ate dirt again that day. The country mare picked her stetson up while sitting there, getting the soil out of her mouth, “Bleh! Pfrr! This damn Scarlet with her pretty face! Why do Ah always have tah get distracted by that?”

“Well, I don’t know about that, but I do appreciate the nice compliment, darling~” Of course AJ hadn’t been expecting an answer to her completely random and undirected question, but a slender and flawless navy blue hoof covered her mouth before she could release a startled scream. She was not as easily spooked as the (old) Fluttershy, but this had been a little too much. “Shhh. Wouldn’t want your companions to ruin this moment. I am just here to talk for a little bit.”

Her form was released from the surprisingly gentle grip and she turned around, seeing Scarlet in her full glory. This time she didn’t wear any armor and her body was definitely nothing to be ashamed of. Slender legs that were neither too long nor short, almost perfect hourglass figure, flawless, shiny coat and almost silky hair that was now loosely falling down her shoulders. Applejack hadn’t noticed it until now, but the mare actually had two different eye colours, the right one was red like her hair, and the other one sported an icy, almost uncanny vibrant blue. Scarlet’s cutie mark was a pretty black, dark violet and blue coloured flower that looked similar to a lotus, but with sharper petals.

“Quite the sight, is it not? A nightshade flower, symbol of my family,” Scarlet had noticed the country mare staring at her flank a while ago, but really didn’t mind the attention. It seemed that this was an honest and strong pony that wouldn’t hesitate to stand up for her friends, an admirable trait, in her opinion. Also, she was definitely not worried that Applejack’s ‘doors didn’t swing that way’, because obviously they did, or would if the mare thought about it for a while.

“Oh, uh… s-sorry, I was just… phasing out for a moment. However, landsakes girl! Did ya ever hear about just approachin’ somepony from the front? Ya scared the hay outta me!” Applejack said in a fake irritated tone to hide her embarrassment that Scarlet had just seen her staring at her flank. The noticeable blush on her cheeks was almost not the most subtle indicator for her odd interest.

“My apologies, I guess you could say it’s… well, somewhat of a habit,” The thestral mare replied in an apologetic tone, she really was nice…

“You… aren’t a normal pony right? Ah mean Ah do have a lot of questions, but that’s been bugging me since earlier.”

“You are right, I wasn’t always like this though. I was living in the outskirts of Manehattan with my family until… well, Princess Luna came to us. I always had been fascinated by the night and the moon, I just had to agree as she offered to change me into this, a creature of the Night, a thestral, and her child,” The mare stated calmly, standing proud while her gaze was drawn to Applejack more often than not.

“Agreed… with Nightmare Moon?! Are ya out of your mind? It sounded like ya had a good life, why would ya give it up?” The country pony replied with an accusatory tone, obviously she was not happy nor satisfied with that answer.

Instead of growing irritated, Scarlet just continued to observe Applejack, while calmly answering her questions, “I have asked myself that a lot of times recently, but it’s a decision you chose for life, so I will go through with this. You see, my father is quite influential in Equestria, he owns companies like Hay Burgers, or ‘Gloria’s Milky Delicious’. We lived in a mansion just outside of town, but… it’s not exactly easy to live like that as a child either. I have never felt like a proper lady like they wanted me to be… even if my pronunciation and vocabulary begs to differ, something always sticks with you. I always wanted to be a Solar Guard, or even an Archmage, but my parents would have never allowed their daughter to do something so… dirty and dangerous. So I did what every rebellious young teenager would do, I studied as much magic as I could in my free time. From teleportation.” She emphasized her point with a quiet flash of her pink magic, appearing next to Applejack. “To advanced summoning magic and magical weapons.”

Her magic reservoir conjured a set of delicately crafted and decorated daggers. They were slightly curved in the middle, ending in an upwards curve to offer more space for the razor sharp edge. The emblem of her family, and her cutie mark were imprinted on it as well. A second later Scarlet dissolved them, “Maybe now you understand why I accepted her proposal, even though it might sound unreasonable from your perspective.”

“Well… that’s… mighty expressive, honestly. Ya seem tah be a pony with the right intentions and dreams, but I gotta say, you’re choice in leadership is really weird. The next question would probably be why ya decided tah help us common folk,” She said in a hushed tone, not wanting to alert her friends and ruin this moment.

“You are far from ‘common folk’, Applejack, and to be honest, you caught my interest. You were so brave and righteous, crippled by a serious injury already, and still willing to stand in front of your friends to protect them. I might not have the rights to say this, but I might be able to help all of you. Normally we thestrals can’t even think about acting against our mistress, but somehow… their way just isn’t right. We need harmony, if we want it or not.”

Applejack stayed quiet for a moment later, letting the whole thing sink in before answering, “Ya don’t eat ponies, right?”

That elicited a little chuckle from Scarlet, and by the gods was it nice to hear, and she looked so… gorgeous while laughing. A faint blush managed to creep onto her cheeks as well, “N-No, actually we have some similarities with vampire fruit bats. I can eat everything, but we kinda prefer fruits, especially gentle and juicy apples.”

“H-huh? Sorry, didn’t quite catch the last part,” Applejack said, her face bright red at that point.

Another giggle came from Scarlet, “Oh, it’s nothing important, let’s just talk some more.” This mare was definitely strangely alluring, and seemed to be interested in her as well… could the thestral mare find something more than companionship in this eternal twilight?

Only time and courage could tell.

“Woah!” Scootaloo ducked under a large fireball that would have probably turned her into a pile of smoldering cinders. Now only the outer spikes of her purple hair had some scorch marks on them. “Be careful with that!”

The emerald colored fireball impacted with a light blue shimmering barrier sphere, a thestral mare had agreed to help them ‘train’, she had a first row spot for that new, and delicious dragon’s behind. Spike huffed in frustration, “Sorry Scootaloo, I can’t really aim when I create it with two claws.” He walked over to the three mares that had watched his impressive display of ‘dragonslayer magic’. It was odd that a dragon would learn how to cast it, but what did they know about ancient magic?

There was a lot of commotion around them, apparently their big ‘operation’ had been a full success. Even the friendly thestral mare had left after the last spell, but not without giving Spike a long and nice view of her own plot, adding a sultry wink to it before trotting off. The fillies didn’t pay it any mind, but their newest friend’s scaly face was definitely a few shades redder than usually.

“I’m sure you will get the hang of it,” Sweetie Belle stated with her squeaky voice. “It’s not like—” She was interrupted by a very familiar sounding voice coming out of the town ‘portal’ hall.

“I would certainly agree, darling. We have not fought once during the whole mission, and we still managed too—” The sophisticated seamstress was the one being interrupted now by a little filly’s desperate shouting. That was apparently enough talking with Morning Blaze.

“Rarity! Rarity!” The mare in question was almost tackled to the ground by a little white blur that had rushed to her hooves and was now hugging her affectionately. She was confused for a moment, but then could make out the details of the filly in front of her.

“Sweetie Belle… is that really you?! Oh darling! I missed you so much! How did you… I mean…” Rarity was simply out of words, this was the best thing that could have happened for her. The mare’s parents were safe no matter what, but she had been worried sick about her little sister.

“She came back with Spike and two other fillies, that’s why I had to go for a while before we entered the city,” Twilight chimed in, looking at the filly next to her. “I didn’t want to get your hopes up, because there was a serious chance to… you know. I’m glad you two reunited though, and now that we basically have cornered Canterlot you have some free time until our next move.” With that the lavender mare left them alone, she had a certain dragon to focus on.

“Rarity, what did she mean with ‘you know’?” Sweetie Belle asked, looking up at her big sister.

“Oh, nothing important, dear. How about we talk about things while getting some ice cream? I’m fairly certain that a few thestrals have a sweet tooth around here and keep Sugarcube Corner running for a while.”

“Yay!”

Finally… this was the moment Spike had been waiting for, week after week he had asked himself why it came to this. Now Twilight was standing right in front of him, a faint smile on her face. She seemed… different yet again, a bit fitter than what he remembered, smooth curves around her waist, and even somewhat of an hourglass figure. Not really on a model level, but it showed that the mare was pretty disciplined when it came to eating, “S-So… how did your important thing go?”

Twilight nudged his arm gently, signalling the teenage dragon to follow her. For most this would probably be a pretty weird, affectionate gesture, especially when it came from the most wanted criminal in Equestria. Her friends knew the truth though, Twilight was not like that, she was just angry, and wanted the best for this land. Discord, Luna, the Nightmare, all those powerful figures were just tools in the end, all of them were, they had to work together for a brighter future. If only it would be that easy with everything. The two of them walked through the, now once again, busy streets of Ponyville, seeing a lot more thestrals, workers, soldiers in their new armor and normal farmers just providing food. Luna had been busy a lot, apparently, those bat ponies were extremely efficient warriors with the right training, and the recruited civilians would also be a fine addition, their plan was almost complete.

“It was a success! We could convince most of Stalliongrad to join us without any bloodbath. Most start to see the cracks in Celestia’s ‘perfect’ mask. Let’s not talk about politics too much though… how have you been?” The lavender mare asked in a careful tone, she wanted to finally spend some time with her number one assistant.

“Well… I was trying to master a few of these spells, worked on it whenever I could. Other than that I mostly just helped out here and there. The princess stopped teaching me once everything… started to fall apart. She has been angry a lot lately…” Spike’s voice broke for a moment. The dragon needed a moment to regain his composure, it felt like he was just a baby dragon in her presence all over again. He wanted to sit next to her on a few warm cushions, reading books while a cozy fire crackled in the fireplace. “Sorry, I was getting off track. I, um… well, I had this growth spurt a few weeks ago, and since then a lot of mares started to stare at me with weird glances. It was kind of awkward.”

The mare glanced sideways, seeing his green and purple scales reflect the light at her, underneath this alluring protection, his muscles were a lot more defined than in the past. Twilight could definitely understand why they were staring at him, “I guess that’s just normal when you reach a certain age. You have certainly become quite the handsome gentledrake.”

“Gee, t-thanks, Twi. You are also p-prettier than before… n-not that you weren’t pretty before! I don’t know, I guess I just noticed it now,” His scaly cheeks reddened notably once again. What was with all those mares around him?

“You think so?” Her face lit up a little, a warm smile on her lips. “I’m glad you think so, it’s hard to keep track on everything these days. Have you… have you talked to my parents? I’m not worried, they are strong, but… you know, just to be sure.”

“I talked to your mom last week, she is worried about you. They don’t believe that you are evil, or corrupt, you just made some bad decisions on how to handle a bad situation. They also didn’t believe Celestia when she said that Shining Armor went missing after he searched for you here,” He replied, slowing down a bit so that his thoughtful big sister could catch up.

“Shining… Armor?” Twilight whispered. She had banned that name out of her mind for the longest time, trying to forget the situation that lead to his demise weeks ago. Who knew about it? Her friends, including Morning Blaze… that was it, Celestia didn’t really have a clue, so it might work to keep it like that. It had been a horrible crime, but she couldn’t make up for anything anyway. “He didn’t come to Ponyville at least. We fortified the entire city a lot, but I would have let him in… he is still family… after all. I’m glad that mom and dad are okay though, well relatively. I can’t come back yet, but once Celestia is done for, I will bring peace into Equestria once again. Then we can spend time as a family as long as we want.”

Spike nodded, oblivious to her shift in tone, “I believe you, Twilight. What kind of brother would I be if the word of my big sis wasn’t trustworthy anymore? I know you have done some… questionable things, but I also know that you have a reason for everything.”

“Thank you, Spike. You have no idea how much that means to me, especially now that… everything gets more serious each day. I have found some true friends and allies here, but also a lot of enemies. I don’t know how long this last assault will take, but this finally has to end. I know that we were the ones that continued this eternal war between… order and chaos, but someone has to. The borders between those two sides is… difficult to discern sometimes,” Twilight answered, staring into the distant fields, and even further, the capital.

With Discord’s ominous proposal looming over her, and the constant gaze of her other… ally over her shoulder it was difficult to see just who was the ‘bad guy’ in this war. Celestia has done terrible things in the past, but Twilight knew very well that she was far from innocent. They should never have resorted to violence like they did in the past. It was far too late to reverse her emotional outburst though, it was time to bring this to a close. After that Luna, Discord and her would establish a fair and equal system of government for everyone, especially regarding their enemies and other countries. The lavender unicorn doubted that her not so imaginary shadow ally would stay put for much longer either, her plans were as much of a mystery as her own, and she worried about her true intentions. She seemed to be far more violent than any of her allies, even Discord, who just wanted to rule over stuff and spread some chaos. The Nightmare was almost… too eager to help Twilight along, as far as she was concerned, it just could take over anypony she wanted. Her magical limits were next to boundless, same with just about any experienced alicorn, their reserves were not bound to just their bodies, it was like they could draw energy from the very air itself.

Twilight didn’t quite know how all of that worked just yet, but she would certainly find out! Only her own death would stop her from gathering knowledge, but unfortunately all of that had to be held back for a while… at least until she either succeeded, or failed to bring true peace to this land. Failure would most certainly lead to her own execution anyway, so where was the point in playing it cool. Their troops included nearly… well, about 70% of Equestria’s population, about 3.5 million ponies. Not all of them wanted to fight, obviously, but a good chunk was willing to defend their new harmony, and stop Celestia from spreading more and more lies. There was no way they could let the princess live now… her oldest friend, and like a second mother for her. Maybe Twilight knew… deep down that Celestia really loved her… in more ways than one, maybe she would even admit that she shared some of those feelings, if she really thought about it, but it was far too late to stop now. Both of their sins just weighed too heavy to exist next to each other.

“Um… Twi?” Spike asked in concern, looking up at his friend. She was phasing out a lot, even more frequently than back when… everything was alright. He didn’t exactly care who’s fault it was, but the teenage dragon wouldn’t just stand at the sidelines and watch his sister suffer like that… no matter what she might have done.

“Hmm? Oh sorry. Did you say anything?” Twilight replied, looked at her assistant, with a distant expression on her face.

“Are you alright? You have been phasing out a lot.”

“Of course I am, Spike. I really don’t have time to be sad or anything like that right now. We have to prepare, organize and train. It won’t be easy, but after all of this is over, things will turn out for the better.”

Spike just nodded, following his oldest friend once again. Something was definitely happening with her, but the dragon also respected her privacy and knew when to back off. She would express her problems soon enough, and if not, Spike knew how to get those things out of her and make her feel better. That was what a now ‘big’ brother had to do for his sister.

If only he knew...