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A Song of Storms: Snow and Shadows

by The 24th Pegasus

Chapter 18: Chapter 17: The Storm

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Chapter 17: The Storm

Typhoon moaned as she hung from the wall. Every inch of her body ached. Ever since she had been branded, Jewel’s cronies had beaten her relentlessly, day in and day out. Her limbs were sore and numb, and her wings were crying out desperately to be used. But she couldn’t use them, because they were firmly chained to the wall behind her.

She looked up, and winced at what she saw. Positioned directly in front of her, at Jewel’s request, was a large mirror. Just seeing herself was absolutely crushing to Typhoon’s spirits. She felt like she didn’t even recognize the hollow mare that was chained in the mirror across from her.

Sometimes she didn’t realize how much she hurt until she saw the bruises and gashes covering her face and body. An old blood stain decorated her muzzle, and more dried blood covered her coat. Her wings had lost several feathers from disuse, and the once proud blond things now only sat on the ground, absolutely worthless. Her once vibrant and multicolored mane was now a tangled mess of displaced and dirty strands, and her tail was no better. The base of it was also stained, but not with blood.

That’s what really crushed her. It wasn’t so much the blood or the bruises or wounds. Blood and cuts she could deal with, not this. She did not earn these scars in battle, and some of them bit deep into her mind. They were signs of torture and imprisonment, not a Legionnaire’s glory and honor on the field. Looking at the face of the hollow mare across from her, Typhoon cringed at what she saw. She could still feel the heat of her own weapon pressed against her body, searing the flesh underneath. Some of the scars weren’t too noticeable; a stripe here or there across her chest, which would only be covered again with armor. But there was one that stood out above all the others. It was the streak of seared flesh across the right side of her face, the one she could not hide, the one that branded her as a broken mare, that stung her the most.

Her stomach rumbled yet again, and the usual pangs of hunger returned to her. They had stopped feeding her three times a day a few days ago, instead cutting her down to one loaf of sawdust bread and half a cup of water a day. That, combined with the continual stench of her own waste just below her, made her increasingly nauseas and faint as time wore on. It was a pitiful existence; sometimes in the dead of night when they’d heat horseshoes in the fire and place them on her hooves she cried out for the end. She cried for the sweet release of death and its cool kiss that would spare her from the fires of pain and agony.

But of course they wouldn’t give that to her. That would have been too simple. Seeing her squirm, seeing her bleed, seeing her ravaged, all made her captors laugh. That, and apparently Cyclone’s threat of death if they killed her stayed their hooves from pushing her too close to the end. If only they’d slip up just once, twist the dagger too far…

Typhoon remembered that first night Jewel came to talk to her. She couldn’t tell how long ago it was; they always kept torches burning near her, to blind her as she tried to sleep and to make it uncomfortably hot, and as such she had no way to measure time. But she remembered how she was determined not to be broken then, how she was going to make Jewel pay for everything he had done to her, thrice over. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Every day, her resolve was chipped and fractured until it was little more than a pile of crushed words she had spoken some time ago.

Typhoon the Broken. That’s who she was.

Just then, the castle rumbled. It was difficult for Typhoon to tell through the pain and numbness in her body, but the stone wall she was chained against definitely trembled. There was also a dull boom that somehow managed to separate itself into something distinct against the roaring in her ears. They twitched slightly against the ragged strands of her mane, and she struggled to pick out anything else.

When the door suddenly blasted open she screamed from the sudden bang that filled the room, millions of times louder than the only sounds of her breathing moments before.

As Typhoon shook and trembled against the wall, a single and familiar unicorn walked into the room. The bells on his hat tinkled as he massaged his horn with a hoof, and he took a deep breath when he cleared the smoke. Without any further of a delay, Star Swirl the Bearded threw several large sacks onto the ground and immediately hobbled over to Typhoon’s side.

“Nnngh… Star S-Swirl? What’s g-going on?” she managed to mumble. She slightly tilted her head downwards to see the archmage fiddling with the manacles around her limbs. With an aura of green Arcana, he ruptured the hinges of one cuff, freeing Typhoon’s forelimb. The limb almost immediately dropped away, accidentally striking Star Swirl’s horn.

“Watch it, child,” Star Swirl grumbled as he moved to Typhoon’s other side. “We don’t have much time.”

“S-sorry,” Typhoon slurred. Stretching her forelimb, the mare sighed and moaned as she worked out days of soreness and agony from the limb. She heard another pop by her side, and soon her other forelimb was freed. Reaching over with that one, she slowly stretched both limbs, moaning with delight as she did so.

In a few seconds, Star Swirl had busted all of the locks, letting Typhoon unceremoniously flop to the floor. After groaning and mumbling for a few seconds, the mare stood up, taking the time to loosen her body in every direction. Flapping her wings a few times, she was exalted to find that she could still fly, and that the limbs hadn’t decayed too badly from disuse. Jubilant, she turned to face Star Swirl.

She was immediately rewarded with a small burlap sack striking her face and knocking her over.

“Eat. Drink. Arm yourself,” Star Swirl commanded as he telekinetically placed the rest of his provisions around Typhoon. “We need to get moving. Time isn’t on our side.”

As Star Swirl ordered, Typhoon tore open one of the bags and almost squealed with delight as she saw real food for the first time in ages. It was all she could do not to choke herself as she gorged on the succulent plants and bread Star Swirl had brought her. In a few minutes she was done, and, pulling out a waterskin, emptied the whole thing in a matter of seconds.

“What’s going on?” Typhoon asked as she felt energy build up within her. Opening the final sack, she pulled out her weapons and armor and began to strap them on with expert precision. As she did so, Star Swirl stood and faced the doorway.

“Your brother, that’s what,” the old unicorn answered. “Showed up less than ten minutes ago with a sizeable army. Nearly twenty thousand fliers by the look of it, and about a quarter of them wore black armor.”

“Praetorian Guards,” Typhoon muttered as she reached for her own black armor. “And what about Cloudsdale? My mother? My father?”

“I couldn’t tell you,” Star Swirl replied. “Happened to look out the window just a little while ago and see the first fires. While the Diamond Guard scrambled, I immediately came down here to free you. We have to get to King Lapis before your brother—”

“Hey! What the hay are—what are you doing in here?”

Typhoon jumped, only half armored, as hauntingly familiar voices assaulted her ears. She looked towards the remains of the doorway where two of the unicorns who regularly beat her were standing. For a moment, panic kicked aside her training and she began to tremble. It took a considerable amount of effort to try and quell that fear.

Star Swirl, meanwhile, had calmly turned to face the two newcomers. With a confident step forward, he cleared his throat and addressed them in his grandfatherly voice. “It would be wise of you to turn around and run the other way, young stallions. This doesn’t need to get any more complicated than it currently is.”

The larger of the two unicorns, a dark orange stallion, snarled and advanced. “I don’t want to have to wreck your shit, old man, so I suggest you step aside and let us at the mare.”

Star Swirl looked beside him at Typhoon, who was still only half armored with one wingblade hanging loosely from the crest. Looking back at the two unicorns in front of him, he responded as neutrally as possible.

“No.”

The two unicorns both glanced at each other and bared their teeth. As one, they both charged up arcane bursts of energy and released them at Star Swirl. The elder unicorn in response briefly flared up his horn, and with a wall of arcane energy he swatted the two bolts aside. He then raised an eyebrow at the two, as if asking them if that was all they had.

Enraged, the two unicorns charged their horns again. This time, the wall and ceiling behind Star Swirl briefly shimmered before suddenly exploding outward. Just before the massive chunks of stone could collide with his back, Star Swirl’s horn lighted again. The orange and blue auras pulling the rocks towards Star Swirl disappeared, replaced by the archmage’s own Arcana. Calmly and delicately, he pushed both piles of rocks back into their proper places without missing a stone. With one final flash, the room around him looked unchanged from ten seconds prior.

Star Swirl shook his head. “Tut tut. I expected much more from you two. Whatever do they teach kids these days in magic kindergarten?” Then, with a blinding light, Star Swirl summoned a three-foot wide beam of arcane energy and blasted it at the two unicorns in front of him. When the light cleared, there wasn’t a single hair left to be seen of them.

“I do apologize things got so heated, but you were in my way,” Star Swirl said, seemingly to the invisible remains of the two unicorns who previously occupied a point in space across from him. Turning over to Typhoon, he picked up one of her bracers in his Arcana and held it in front of her. Noting the apparent shock in her face, the unicorn shrugged his shoulders. “I abhor violence.”

Typhoon cautiously took the bracer from the archmage and began to strap it to her foreleg. “You just completely vaporized them both!”

“Yes, and I guarantee that they only felt it for a second,” he nonchalantly responded. “Please, do be quick, we’ve wasted enough time here as it is.”

Nodding, Typhoon quickly strapped on the rest of her armor and fixed her sword by her side. Looking at the cirrostratus blade, she could still see burnt flesh and hair clinging to the metal. When she got back to Cloudsdale, she would clean that off. It was too painful of a reminder to let linger, and the only reason she didn’t take care of it now was because Star Swirl was already walking through the door.

“Hey, wait up!” Typhoon called as she galloped after him. She paused briefly by the doorframe where Star Swirl’s arcane energy had vaporized the two unicorns. The stone was glowing orange and was slightly springy underneath her hooves. The amount of energy needed to melt stone was simply unfathomable to her, and that he had been able to summon it without breaking a sweat…

Well, that explained why he was River Rock’s only archmage. It was simply impossible to measure up to him.

“Come along now, before my arthritis starts acting up!” Star Swirl called from the end of the hallway. Typhoon quickly flew over to him, then bit down on her lip as she waited for the old unicorn to ascend the stairs. At the rate of one step every two seconds, it was a painfully long wait.

After fighting down the urge to not just carry the unicorn up the stairs until Star Swirl had successfully ascended them, Typhoon came out onto a wide hallway that went on for about a hundred feet before it came to a door. Just as she was ready to fly there, several unicorns came out of the door, horns glowing. With a light push, Star Swirl stayed Typhoon and shook his head.

“Sorry, young mare, but let me handle this.”

Straightening his hat with his Arcana, Star Swirl slowly began to walk forward. Even as the first volley of arcane and telekinetic attacks came his way, he erected another shield to absorb their Arcana. Then, channeling it into his own horn, he began to fire back with frightening power.

“Sorry!” Star Swirl exclaimed as the first unicorn disappeared into a puff of smoke and a blinding flash. The unicorns near him stumbled and dove out of the way, but Star Swirl’s next bolt was ready for them. With another flash, he removed another two unicorns from the face of the earth. “Sorry again!” As a fourth soldier tried to run, he too was instantly vaporized. “Ah yes, please say hello to your grandmother for me, Shimmering Aegis! She was a lovely mare.”

When the hallway had been emptied in a terrifying display of power, Star Swirl smiled and began to walk to the other door, whistling as he went. By this point, Typhoon figured that it was a good idea to stay behind the unicorn and let him take care of most of the trouble for her. She hated fighting unicorns anyway.

“Well, they sure cleared out in a flash, didn’t they?” Star Swirl asked before lightly chuckling. “Can’t say I don’t blame them. I’d be gone too if I was on the other end of those kinds of blasts.”

“Right,” Typhoon slowly replied, eyeing the scorch marks along the walls and floors cautiously.

The door at the other end of the hallway was locked, but a little bit of magical finesse from Star Swirl forced it open in no time. There, they stopped in front of a large panoramic window that looked over the north district of River Rock.

“Your brother’s absolutely ruthless,” Star Swirl commented as he rested his forehooves along the sill. “And this is only half of the northern district. The other half is entirely obscured by smoke and fire.”

“Why would he do this?” Typhoon muttered. “Jewel said that he planned on uniting the three tribes under his rule. Why would he try to completely destroy River Rock?”

“My bet is that he wants the Diamond Guard to surrender,” said Star Swirl. “It’s hard to take more soldiers into your ranks if they’re all dead. Plus, a large portion of the Diamond Guard is of noble blood. They’ll do anything to stop the burning of their city—and their inheritance.”

Typhoon scoffed. “This is why the Legion professes the words ‘Ante Legionem nihil erat, et nihil erit post Legionem.’ It reminds us that we give everything up for the Legion when we enlist. It’s supposed to prevent personal gains from clouding our judgment…” She sighed and looked back to the fires outside. “Unless the Legion is our personal gain. Then, obviously, it doesn’t work so well.”

Star Swirl grunted and began to move down the hall and up a slightly inclining walkway. “Questions for the philosophers to handle. Right now, Imperator, we’ve got a battle to fight. If Cyclone gets to the King…”

“Right, well we can’t let that happen,” Typhoon agreed as she fluttered over to Star Swirl. Together, the two ponies ascended the ramp and made it through several hallways and staircases without too much of an incident. Eventually they found themselves in front of a rather large iron door.

“Let me take care of that,” Star Swirl said as he walked up to the construction. Finding a hole in the center of the iron, he inserted his horn and focused. After a few seconds of concentration, he relaxed and pulled his horn out. Inside the door, Typhoon could hear the turning and grinding of innumerous gears and bars as whatever locks that had been in place opened.

When the grinding and clanging stopped, a single unceremonious push from Star Swirl opened the door. With a small bow, he gestured for Typhoon to go first. The mare hesitated, but ultimately fluttered her wings against her side and walked on through.

Just then, there was a loud chorus of shouts from behind them. Both Typhoon and Star Swirl turned to see a company of Diamond Guards, nearly thirty strong, charge into the area. Glancing at Typhoon, Star Swirl lit his horn and shouted with surprising forcefulness. “Go! I’ll take care of these guards! Find Lapis and keep your brother away from him!”

“But—”

“Now!” Star Swirl ordered. With a wash of green Arcana, the iron doors quickly slammed shut between them. Typhoon could hear the numerous locks and bars sliding back into place, followed by the groaning of twisted metal as the archmage sabotaged the inner workings. Then, there were blasts of mana as the two sides exchanged fire.

Releasing a tense breath, Typhoon stretched her wings and began to flutter-sprint down the hall for extra speed. She didn’t know where she was going; she had rarely ever been this far inside of the castle before. She only hoped that by following the largest torches and hallways she’d make her way to some room she recognized.

Sliding around a corner, her ears twitched at some sound and she instinctually dove to the ground as a dozen bolts of raw Arcana sailed over her head.

“You!” Jewel snarled as Typhoon scrambled up from the ground. “What are you doing out of your cage, bird?! You should have the respect and patience to wait until your master comes to see you, not the other way around!”

“Clever,” Typhoon retorted. “Did you think that up yourself? Such a shame that’ll be the last chance you get to taunt me.”

“When I put you down, I’m going to rip your wings from your body and use the feathers to stuff your corpse!” Jewel shouted. With the quick scrape of metal against metal, he drew his sword with his Arcana and pointed it at Typhoon in preparation for a formal duel.

Typhoon’s response was to draw her sword and flare her wings. Ice briefly shined against the crests, but then it suddenly melted away. In its place was fire, pure and unbridled Empatha screaming for the chance to burn away Jewel’s flesh.

To see such powerful flames lash off of the wings of an ice empath was a truly unnerving sight. For Jewel, it was enough to make him take several worried steps backwards.

With a scream of fury, Typhoon charged at Jewel, her wings trailing fire as she went. The unicorn in response directed several bursts of magic at her, but Typhoon spun past all of them. Briefly rebounding off of the wall, she suddenly charged forward and swung her sword down towards Jewel.

The unicorn was able to deflect the attack by spiraling his blade with his Arcana to catch the blow, and he quickly pushed back even as he backtrotted to put several feet of space between him and the fiery mare. From that position, he attempted to fight at a distance and keep himself away from the scalding tongues of fire.

Typhoon wouldn’t make it easy for him, however. Instead, she swung and hammered at the sword in front of her, attempting to sunder the weapon. Using his magic, Jewel was able to spiral and twist the sword with speed, but each of Typhoon’s relentless attacks pushed the sword a little closer to him, and in turn pushed Jewel further back the hall. With another surge of magic, Jewel was able to press back, putting Typhoon off balance and toppling her advantage.

The magically-held blade struck at her quicker and harder, and now Typhoon was the one backpedaling to keep the weapon away from her. Juking left and right, she avoided swings and slashes before catching Jewel’s blade on her wing. With a shove of the limb, she forced the weapon away from her and swung at it, knocking it against the wall.

Sparks flew as the weapon grated against the stone of the castle wall, but Jewel was able to pull it back just as Typhoon’s sword embedded itself in the stone it was formerly against. Gulping, Jewel lowered his gaze and backed up again, pointing the sword at Typhoon in preparation for her next onslaught.

Ripping her weapon out of the wall, Typhoon was more than ready to continue the fight. Again she charged at Jewel, but this time much more aggressively. As Jewel sent out his sword at her, Typhoon deflected it with a wingblade and slid underneath. The sword tumbled through the air and Jewel’s magical grip on the weapon faltered slightly as his face became suddenly full of fiery mare.

Just as Typhoon thought she had Jewel beat, the stallion suddenly drew two more swords from additional scabbards against his sides. Both weapons swung themselves at Typhoon, and the mare had to brake hard and throw up her wings to catch both before they could slice at her. Rebounding off the block, Typhoon pivoted on her front hooves and slashed a wingblade towards Jewel’s throat. Twisting his two swords, Jewel was able to easily deflect the strike. Pressing back on Typhoon’s wing, he was able to push his swords to her right side and strike back at her. Typhoon turned herself slightly, but not enough to avoid taking the hilts of two swords bludgeoning her across the face.

Typhoon grunted and shook droplets of blood from her nose, which splattered against the stone wall and glass window of the side of the hallway. Snarling, she dove back against Jewel, swinging her wings and windmilling her sword over her head before driving it down towards the stallion.

Jewel was able to cross his swords above his head to deflect Typhoon’s spinning slash, but one of her wingblades cut across his right shoulder. The wound instantly seared itself shut with the heat and flames coming off of Typhoon’s wings, but the unicorn still stumbled to the side. Seizing the opportunity, Typhoon twisted onto one of her back hooves and slammed her body down towards Jewel. The weight of the attack disarmed Jewel of another of his swords as he attempted to block, and he suddenly found a wingblade slashing across his left foreleg. As he shouted in pain, he managed to buck Typhoon off of him and roll back into the middle of the hallway.

In an instant the mare was up and attacking Jewel again. Swinging her sword left and right and throwing in her wingblades for good measure, she steadily chipped away at Jewel’s defense. She could see the sweat running off his brow as he struggled to keep his magic going, watch his teeth gnash against each other with effort, but she cared little about it. The roar of blood in her ears and the indomitable red haze around her vision blocked everything else out. There was Jewel, and he needed to die. It was all that her rage would permit her to think.

After delivering a powerful blow to Jewel’s sword to strike him off balance, Typhoon quickly transitioned to her forehooves and bucked at the weapon. The sword was launched out of Jewel’s magical grasp and into the ceiling, where it stuck. Then, Typhoon bore down on her defenseless enemy.

Swinging her sword relentlessly at the gap in Jewel’s armor around his neck, Typhoon drove the stallion backwards at an alarming pace. Jewel desperately bobbed and weaved to avoid the attacks, and, seeking a weapon, located the first sword Typhoon had knocked away from him. With a steady stream of Arcana, he latched onto the sword and pulled, sending the point sailing towards Typhoon’s flanks.

Typhoon saw Jewel’s horn light up, and she managed to suppress her rage for a moment of rational thought. Grunting, she swiftly flung herself to one side of the hallway. As she did, she felt a sword pass within an inch of her face. Then, a spatter of blood showered across her brow and armor. She looked up just in time to see Jewel crumple in front of her, his sword lodged deep into his shoulder.

Sheathing her sword, Typhoon walked towards Jewel. Her eyes were cold, yet they were full of rage and hate. As Jewel grunted and struggled to crawl away with the sword lodged in his shoulder, Typhoon grabbed the hilt and spun him onto his back. Then, kneeling over, she slammed a foreleg across his throat and pressed.

Gasping for air, Jewel tried to shake Typhoon off of him, but his body was too wounded to move her and the heavy armor she wore. Flaring up his horn, Jewel tried to channel mana, but a quick strike from Typhoon against the base of his horn caused him to shout and lose the spell.

“No more tricks,” Typhoon flatly said. “No magic can help you now.” Then, reaching towards her side, she pulled out one of her daggers and looked the blade over. “The horn is the most sensitive spot on a unicorn’s body, much like the wings of a pegasus. So I wonder,” she said as she lowered the dagger towards his horn, “Just how sensitive is a unicorn’s horn?”

“You… y-you wouldn’t d-dare!” Jewel sputtered as he squirmed under Typhoon’s gasp. “You wouldn’t!!”

She would.

As the dagger barely dipped into the hard flesh around the base of Jewel’s horn, the stallion grunted. But then Typhoon began to slide the weapon down the length of his horn, shaving off the exterior like the skin of a carrot.

The screams were deafening.

“Please!!” Jewel wailed as he struggled. Mana and blood spurted from the wound along the length of the horn, and Typhoon began to move to take another slice off. “Please, Typhoon!! I beg you!! Please, stop!!”

“How many times did I ask you to stop?” Typhoon quietly simmered. “How many times did I ask you to stop beating me, to stop burning me, to stop scarring me, to stop doing the unspeakable? How many times did I hang against the wall, broken, beaten, violated, and you just laughed?”

When she chuckled, Jewel understood the true meaning of fear.

“Please! Please, just staaaaAAAAUUGGHH!!!!” The unicorn writhed and thrashed as his words turned into screams. Typhoon remained unmoved, her eyes fixated on the task at hand. She felt nothing stir inside her; nothing except for the morbid satisfaction of vengeance, the joy of making her tormentor finally pay for everything he had done to her.

“This ends with your death,” Typhoon flatly stated. “Until then, I’ll enjoy making you scream.”

She worked her way around the horn, making each stroke of the dagger longer and deeper than the last. By this point, Jewel’s mane was completely soaked in blood, and bright bursts of rogue Arcana occasionally sparked out of the horn and sizzled against the blood it produced. His screams echoed off of the walls and rattled Typhoon’s ears, but she didn’t pay them any mind. Soon they began to decrease in volume as Jewel’s consciousness began to slip from him. After shaving off the outer layer, Typhoon stepped back to admire her work.

“P-please…” Jewel weakly whimpered. “Just… j-just stop… please…”

Typhoon regarded the pony in front of her. The once-proud stallion had been reduced to a sniveling wreck of a unicorn. She could see the bare flesh and bone and crackling leylines within the horn that once served a purpose. Now, they were nothing more than meat and support and flickering sparks of mana. Jewel was suffering, and greatly so. Not only had he experienced the greatest pain in his life, but now his pride was taken from him as well.

She remembered that he didn’t take her wings. They had been twisted, sure, and they had been bruised, but he hadn’t taken them from her. It might not have meant much to the broken mare at the time, but it was something now. Losing her wings would have absolutely crushed her, and she would have given up on life.

“Just… kill me… kill me and be done with it…”

Typhoon sighed and lowered her dagger against Jewel’s neck. In one fluid motion, she slit his throat, ending his life. The muscles in his body relaxed, and his neck rolled back, spewing blood onto the ground around him.

Standing up, Typhoon sheathed her dagger and nodded towards the body. “May Mobius show you his mercy in the Great Skies, or wherever it is your soul goes off to when you die.”

Then, turning around, she looked at the closed door ahead of her. “And may he show me mercy for my actions and judge my honor accordingly.”

Her hooves echoed sadly off the stone walls as she walked towards the door. With a thud, she shut it behind her, leaving Jewel’s body to bleed out across the center of the hall.

-----

Amidst a shower of rain and arrows, Cyclone descended unto the streets of River Rock. All around him was death and chaos. Ponies ripped each other apart from the highest spires of the city to the snow-choked streets below. The Diamond Guard had responded at the signs of the first fires in the north, but it did little to help them against the combat expertise of the Legion. Unicorn blood and armor rained down from the buildings and spilled out into the streets, freezing over into a crimson quagmire as it touched the snow and ice.

On either side of the Emperor, several companies of the Praetorian Guard descended and formed up around him. Overhead, half of the remaining regiment provided overwatch against archers on the buildings, while the rest of the troops flew off ahead towards the castle. After checking that his soldiers were in perfect formation, Cyclone loosened his sword and began to shout orders.

“Praetorians, shields!” he screamed over the chaos of the siege around him. All of the pegasi reached behind themselves and fastened sturdy onyx shields to their left foreleg. When they were all sufficiently equipped, Cyclone grabbed his own shield and drew his sword. With a quick flutter of his wings, he elevated himself above the Praetorian Guard and pointed down the street towards the sturdy masonry of Burning Hearth. “As one! Advance!”

Settling himself back into his position at the head of the column, Cyclone led the advance against the castle. The heavy shield fastened to his left foreleg was a little unnatural, as pegasi usually didn’t fight with shields, but it was exactly what he needed to terrorize the Diamond Guard. When the unicorns saw an unstoppable wall of Cirra’s elite advance towards them, their morale would immediately be broken.

Cyclone spared himself glances down the side streets as the column advanced. The dead bodies of unicorns littered the snow and ice everywhere, interspersed with the occasional Legionnaire. The grinding of sword against sword filled the main street as Legionnaires fought and overwhelmed their Diamond Guard enemies in a flurry of strikes and skysteel. To the left, a company of Legionnaires had a small group of unicorns pinned against the side of a building. The pegasi swung their swords at the weapons the unicorns held aloft in their magic to move them out of the way before whirling into a series of slashes with their wingblades. Blood sprayed from wounds and the screams of the dying were plainly heard as their bodies fell, one by one. Within a few seconds, five unicorns had been turned into five horned corpses, and the company of Legionnaires flew off to find new targets.

To the right, a group of Legionnaires led by a centurion had several Diamond Guards penned in. Their weapons and armor lay off to the side, and the unicorns were shivering and scared. With a forceful shout, the centurion led the prisoners away to the northern quarter of the city where Cyclone’s Legion was holding the defectors. Cyclone smiled to himself as he saw them go. Smart bastards, they were.

There was a shout, and Cyclone looked up. Amongst the smoke and haze, Cyclone spotted a wedge formation of pegasi diving across the street from the right. Each one held a large clay pot in their hooves, which left a trail of smoke behind it as they dove.

“Brace!” Cyclone shouted as he propped his shield up and leaned against it. Around him he could hear the unmistakable stomping and clattering of armor as the Praetorians wordlessly obeyed his command.

There was a short chorus of shouts, and then the wedge of pegasi released the pots they held in their grasp and swiftly banked hard right. The earthen containers flew forward on their momentum and slammed into a group of buildings along the right side of the street. There was an impressive plume of fire and a wash of heat as tongues of flame leapt from the smoking pots and scorched through the buildings. With a boom, the streets shook from the explosion, and Cyclone could feel his teeth rattling in his jaw.

When the shaking stopped, Cyclone relaxed his posture and looked at the carnage. Several burning bodies fell out of the windows of the torchwood buildings, and the unicorns on ground level cringed and fled in the opposite direction. The Legionnaires on the street cheered and took wing, pursuing the fleeing Diamond Guard.

“Shields down and march!” Cyclone shouted to the Praetorian Guard. As one, the soldiers loosened their brace and lowered their shields to march with Cyclone. With his guard still entirely intact and unshaken behind him, Cyclone continued the measured march towards the castle.

As Cyclone burst through the wall of smoke and flame the firebomb Legionnaires had created, he could see several unicorns in defensive positions ahead of him. Their horns lit up in preparation for an offensive barrage of spells, but their magic dissipated almost immediately as they saw rank after rank of the Praetorian Guard emerge behind Cyclone. As the smoke and ash swirled to reveal a seemingly demonic legion of unfazed Cirrans, the Diamond Guards abandoned their positions and fled for their lives.

“Steady!” Cyclone shouted as he sensed some of the pegasi around him repressing the urge to give chase. “Steady now! Keep to the pace, we advance as one!”

The unicorns that had abandoned their position soon left the Praetorians behind, disappearing behind another veil of smoke from a separate firebombing run. Cyclone could see the looming spires of Castle Burning Hearth standing tall on the other side. They were close, but he knew the worst to come was waiting just on the other side of that smoke.

“Ready shields!” Cyclone ordered as he shifted his own onyx shield higher up his foreleg. When the Praetorian had finished adjusting their defenses, he began to march again through the smoke. The scattered sparks and coals struck at his face and eyes, but Cyclone paid them no mind. Instead it only seemed to make him more comfortable and more confident. His Empatha thrived off of fire, and he walked through the haze of smoke and ash, his wings swirling the clouds behind him as the rest of the Praetorian advanced by his sides.

Almost immediately they were greeted by a barrage of arrows. Several hundred arrows rained down on the Praetorians from all over the castle. Instinctively dropping himself behind his shield, Cyclone could feel the lethal points pounding against the skysteel and stone, causing it to shake against his foreleg. Around him, several Praetorians were felled by lucky shots, and a few airborne soldiers dropped amongst the main unit on the ground, but the pegasi only shifted to fill in the gaps in the ranks.

Turning his head to the regiment of Praetorian Guards above him, Cyclone pointed with his sword towards the castle. “Clear out those archers, now!” With a brief salute, the general commanding that regiment relayed the order back to his stallions, and with the silent battle cry of the Praetorian Guard the soldiers flew upwards to try and strip the castle of its defenses.

Of those there were many. Castle Burning Hearth was covered in numerous balconies and firing positions from top to bottom, and each one was fully packed with archers. The multihued wash of Arcana made a glittering display of these balconies as the archers reloaded and took aim again. At a glance, Cyclone put together that there were easily several hundred archers all along Burning Hearth’s battlements that were raining death down on the soldiers below.

Just then, another massive volley of arrows was released from the castle. The shafts made a horrible whistling sound as they flew, and the sky seemed to almost darken from the sheer number in the air. Much of the Praetorian Guard that was in the air had to disperse and bank hard to weave out of the way of the arrows, but still some fell as the barrage continued on its path downwards.

“Shields!” Cyclone ordered. Hunching over, he lowered his head behind his own shield and braced it with his shoulder. Above him, he could see the Praetorians in the successive rank raise their shields over the first rank’s heads to protect them from the volley. Bracing in that position the entire way back through the regiment, the Praetorian Guard awaited the incoming barrage.

It was an experience that would break lesser stallions. The shields rattled violently and threatened to topple Cyclone and the other Praetorians trying to stand up to the volley. The rumble and roar of arrows bouncing off of skysteel and onyx was deafening, and Cyclone gritted his teeth to try and press back against the volley. He heard a few choking gasps and shouts around him as some arrows found the tiny holes in the Praetorian Guard’s defense and dropped a few soldiers. Then as quickly as it began it was over, and Cyclone lowered his shield and began to advance again.

The courtyard in front of the castle was absolutely filled with bodies of both factions, with arrows sticking out of the necks and chests of most of them. There had to be several hundred if not thousand bodies in this stretch of land alone, and the amount of arrows littering the ground almost made it difficult to walk across. On the top of the castle, Cyclone could see the archers reloading for the next volley.

They never got the chance. With two regiments of Legionnaires at their tail, the airborne Praetorian Guard slammed across the balconies of the castle. Ponies fell by the dozens off of the walls, screaming and twisting as they plummeted to their deaths. The archers tried to brace themselves, to retaliate, to do anything, but the relentless stream of Cirrans put them into such bad chaos and disarray that they could do little except scream and die.

A cloud of red fog hung in the air in front of the castle as the Legion completed its first pass of the castle, and Cyclone couldn’t see any more Arcana lining the balconies. The archers were, for the most part, completely decimated.

“Alright, stallions!” Cyclone shouted over his shoulder. “This is it! We sever the head of the Diamond Kingdom and it’s ours! Now,” he called out as he pointed his sword towards the massive iron doors of the castle, “Praetorians! Charge!!”

With a collective shout and the drumming of thousands of hooves in unison, the Praetorians sped across the open ground toward the castle. There were still several Legionnaires and Diamond Guards dueling in the courtyards, but Cyclone didn’t care. The Legionnaires that were smart saw the Praetorian Guard coming and broke from combat, leaving their opponents momentarily confused before the wall of Cirra’s finest slammed through and eviscerated them before they had the chance to react. Several other Diamond Guards tried to stand and fight, but only after a momentary delay in their charge did the Praetorians cut them down. In a minute, the Praetorian Guard had crossed the courtyard and gotten under the range of the archers with only a few casualties.

There were a few ragtag Legionnaires huddled against the stone walls, panting for breath and their faces streaked with soot and blood. In front of the iron door, a group of fifteen Legionnaires were trying to slam a portable ram against it to force it open, but to little effect. A series of manashots and arrows suddenly emerged from murder slits decorating the stonework around the door, and several Legionnaires were pelted relentlessly and fell.

“Sir, we don’t have the manpower to open this door!” a centurion shouted to Cyclone. Blood had repainted one side of his green face red, and a wing hung loosely by his side. “Not when we’re getting pounded like this!”

Cyclone turned to the Praetorians behind him. “Give me some space, and keep their attacks away from me.” Then turning back to the centurion, Cyclone pushed him aside and drew his sword. “Let me handle this, soldier.”

Centering his sword on the seam between the two iron doors, Cyclone took a deep breath. With a sudden shout of rage, his entire body ignited in flames. The Empatha cascaded down his sword until it glowed brighter than the sun. Then, plunging the cumulostratus sword into the seam of the doors, Cyclone pulled downwards.

The iron soon glowed orange with heat, and shortly thereafter began to hiss and bubble as the sheer power of Cyclone’s Empatha began to melt it away. The centurion stood back, amazed, but the rest of the Praetorian hardly seemed to notice. Apparently they had expected nothing less of their Emperor, and they instead focused on keeping the Diamond Guard away from him.

With one last hiss and a crack, Cyclone could hear the bar holding the doors shut suddenly burst as he sliced through it. Withdrawing his sword, he pivoted on his front hooves and delivered a powerful buck to the doors. The massive behemoths swung open, and he could hear several startled shouts as unfortunate unicorns tried to hold the scalding doors closed or were otherwise smashed across the face as they opened. Those that were farther back cursed and charged their horns to try and riddle Cyclone with holes.

Before they could even try, however, the Praetorian Guard rushed into the castle. Their gold and onyx weapons flew true, and the skysteel blades discharged their terrifying effects on each soldier they cut into. In a matter of seconds, the first line of Burning Hearth’s defense was cut to ribbons.

“Move… out…!” Cyclone panted as he stumbled into the room. “I want this castle locked down, now. High Guard, on me, we’re going to pay Lapis a visit!”

Then he stumbled forward, and the centurion cautiously approached his side. “Sir, are you alright?”

Cyclone angrily waved him off with a wing, scattering sparks everywhere. “I’m fine, soldier, but don’t expect me to discharge that much Empatha at once again. Luckily, I can deal with a few hundred Diamond Guards while winded.”

Stepping forward, he stopped in the center of the long hallway leading deeper into the castle, closer and closer to King Lapis. Raising his head, Cyclone confidently screamed into the air:

“Brace yourself for the storm, good King! The Diamond Kingdom is finished!!”

-----

Hurricane’s wings ached by the time he crossed over Low Valley territory. He had been flying almost nonstop for the past four days since defeating the Windigos in Equestria. That, combined with the weight of his armor and weapons and the blades on his wing crests, left him panting in flight.

Pan Sea stuck by Hurricane’s side the entire flight. Although worried about the Commander’s exertion, and the stress in his own wings as well, he remained silent. After what had just happened in Cloudsdale… there were times when there was nothing to say, and now was one of them. If Hurricane wanted to talk, he would talk, and if he wanted to grieve, then Pan Sea would let him grieve. After all, the legate they picked up before leaving seemed to have the thousands of soldiers following in Hurricane’s wake under control.

He glanced back at the pair of soldiers spearheading the formation—the “Iron Legion” as the mare leading it had apparently settled on. They were definitely an odd couple; Iron Rain was at least six or seven years older than Pathfinder, and had a musculature easily as strong as his within a very athletic body. When she wasn’t screaming orders at the top of her lungs, she was trading quips and jokes with her husband, who reluctantly flew by her side. He would nod or chuckle occasionally, but as a whole he flew on, silent.

With a sudden spurt of speed, Iron Rain accelerated up to Hurricane’s side. “Impressive legion you’ve put together, sir. They’ll be damn good soldiers, even if more than a few were trading blows with each other a few hours ago.”

Hurricane delayed before speaking. “Hmm… I hope so. Imperator Cyclone’s got the Praetorian Guard with him, and the Gods know how many other soldiers. They’ve been working on River Rock for a few hours by now. When we get there, they’ll be heavily entrenched at the castle.”

Rain scoffed. “You think the Diamond Guard will fall apart that easily, Commander? This is their territory we’re talking about.”

“Yes it is,” Hurricane agreed, “But they aren’t a match for Praetorians, let alone the thousands of troops that defected along with Cyclone. They’ll likely have taken the district around the castle by now; in a short while, they’ll have the castle itself.”

The Legate flew silent for a few moments, thinking. “If they’re going to be entrenched, sir, how are we going to drive out Praetorians? I mean, I could handle myself charging the gates, but I don’t know about him.” With a flick of her wing, she gestured towards Pathfinder in flight. Seeing her attention focused on him, Finder scowled, causing Rain to giggle.

Hurricane ignored it. “It’s going to be bloody, that much is certain. We’ll have to rout them with numbers alone; the Praetorian is going to find all the best defensive positions and lock them down, and they won’t break until they’re dead. They’re loyal to their leader, and they’ll fight until the bitter end.”

“Pardon me for asking, sir, but aren’t you their leader?” Rain accused.

The Commander shook his head. “The Praetorian Guard was founded to protect the Emperor, no matter their actions.”

“So? Aren’t you technically the emperor in all but title, sir?”

“They’re convinced I’m dead and my son proclaimed himself emperor,” Hurricane said. “The Praetorian is loyal to the system, not the pony in charge of it. They’ll stand and fight, as he commands, for he is their emperor now.”

Rain grunted. “Then how should we deploy the troops, sir? We stand a better chance if we just drive straight for the castle. We’ll be fresh, and they’ll be weary.”

“No,” Hurricane countered. “We’ll only get cut off and taken apart, and this ‘Iron Legion’ of yours will be for nothing. Despite how fearsome of a soldier you must be to be a legate, none of these soldiers can stand up to a Praetorian alone. You’ll lead them to their deaths.”

The mare huffed but stayed her tongue.

“We need the Diamond Guard’s support,” Hurricane continued. “Their magic and knowledge with the local terrain will help us get past the Praetorian. After all, it’ll be hard to form a defensive line with magic thrown your way.”

“If I may, sir, this plan is going to backfire horribly,” Rain insisted. “We’ll lose too many soldiers trying to liberate the city; many valuable soldiers that could help us retake the castle. And if what you said earlier is right, then they’re worthless against the Praetorian. We’re better taking our chances with what we have, killing the usurper, and putting an end to this thing once and for all.”

“We’re not killing my son!” Hurricane growled at the Legate. “I’ve lost enough family today!”

“Sir, there might not be a choice,” Rain softly reminded him.

“Then let me deal with it,” said Hurricane. Then he turned an accusing eye towards the mare. “And you’re thinking too much like the Imperator yourself. You think we can do this by ourselves, but we can’t. Old Cirra is gone, and despite Cyclone’s attempts to bring it back, it won’t happen. We have to work together with the other races, or we’re all going to die.”

“But I—”

“Report back to the legion, Legate,” Hurricane commanded. “You have your orders. I expect them to be carried out faithfully.”

With a quick salute, Rain relented from her position and drifted back towards the main body of the Legion. Hurricane could hear her shouting orders, and listened as those orders cascaded down the ranks until each centurion relayed them to their troops. Then there was silence, and Hurricane looked back to see Rain and Finder flying side by side again, although the Legate seemed slightly deflated.

Looking below and off to the right, Hurricane could see small wisps of smoke rise from the buildings of Amber Field. There were no fires, though, and the city seemed absolutely peaceful. Cyclone must have spared the earth ponies until he had taken care of the unicorns and gotten the Diamond Guard under his wing. Besides, the earth pony police force wouldn’t have been able to do much against several hundred Legionnaires, let alone several thousand plus the Praetorian Guard.

Directly ahead, differentiating itself from the clouds as they approached, was a thick plume of black smoke rising from between the massive cliff walls of a valley. Tiny flakes of orange flame and ash drifted on the swirling winds pouring out of the storm clouds overhead. The valley was awash in an orange glow, and the thin trickle of the water scattered its light skywards. Overhead, tiny black dots rode the currents and dive-bombed the city below, scattering fire and smoke with each new pass.

“Back where I started twelve years ago…” Hurricane mumbled to himself. “That was the last time I broke a siege around River Rock. Today, I’m going to end another.”

Pan Sea fluttered closer to Hurricane’s side and looked down on the fiery mess that was once the pride of the Diamond Kingdom. “It’s finally come down to this, hasn’t it, Hurricane?”

Hurricane was surprised to hear Pan Sea actually call him by name. “I suppose it has, Pan Sea. I’ll be glad when we can finally bury this once and for all.”

The smallish pegasus nodded and flapped his wings a few more times in the silence. “Whatever happens, it’s been an honor to fly by your side, sir.”

“Hey, we’re not going to die now after coming so far, right?” Hurricane nudged Pan Sea with his elbow in flight. “Besides, you’ve got a lot to live for. Too many have died today; you don’t need to join them. So stick in there for one more fight, eh?”

Pan Sea chuckled. “If you say so, Hurricane. If you say so.”

Then the two pegasi began to glide downwards towards the city several miles away. Behind them, the Iron Legion descended with them.

And the second Legion that day made its way into the killing fields of the unicorn capital.

-----

Typhoon pressed her back against a doorway as she heard several pairs of armored hooves trot by on the other side. She had made her way through hallway after hallway and had seemingly gotten nowhere for the past fifteen minutes. Every once in a while, a group of Diamond Guards would storm through a room, quickly take stock, and leave, presumably going to the front. Typhoon tried to follow them as they left, but she continually lost the trail in the sounds of battle and chaos going on outside.

When the hooves had gone, Typhoon carefully opened the door and looked around. She could see flickering shadows disappear around the corner to her left, and she cautiously fluttered after them. Even though she was technically opposing Cyclone’s invasion of the city, she didn’t want to get caught by the Diamond Guard. With the city burning outside, the unicorns wouldn’t listen to a pegasus wandering the halls of their castle. Her best bet was to find King Lapis and explain herself. The King would understand, unlike the rest of the soldiers in the castle. If Cyclone got to him, the entirety of the Diamond Guard would be in his hooves.

Following the shadows and sounds of death, Typhoon slowly worked her way through the castle. Occasionally she’d have to sprint to the ceiling and cling to a chandelier as she heard a squad of Diamond Guards approaching, holding her breath and praying that they didn’t look up. None of them ever did, and she was thankful that her blond coat was a close enough match to the color of stone in the dim candlelight around her. As soon as they passed by, she quietly fluttered down and gently trotted after them on her naked hooves. At least the steel horseshoes the Diamond Guard wore made it easy to hear them coming.

Following a company through an open door, Typhoon jumped back in alarm as several stray arrows skimmed past her nose. Clinging to the doorframe, Typhoon leaned out to see what was going on.

Praetorians. There were several of them in this small access point between halls, fighting and routing a much larger company of Diamond Guards blocking their path. Their skysteel swords sang with death as they slashed them through the air, bringing fire, ice, thunder, and lightning to the unlucky unicorns they felled. Although the Diamond Guards tasked with defending the castle staunchly held firm in the face of such frightening slaughter, that was exactly what it was.

Deciding she had delayed long enough, Typhoon left the cover of the doorframe and flew in the opposite direction of the fight. If the Praetorian Guard was here, that meant Cyclone was somewhere inside the castle. There was little time left; she had to get to Lapis, fast.

Quickly taking wing, Typhoon managed to fly up to the ceiling just before a large company of Diamond Guards entered the room ahead of her. Their captain shouted orders, and the unicorns swiftly set about trying to secure defensive positions. Before they could get even halfway done, however, a storm of Praetorian Guards smashed through their lines, ripping the outmatched unicorns apart limb from limb and spilling crimson vitality all over the marble floors. In the chaos, Typhoon was able to dive out of the room and continue down the hall.

After twisting and turning her way through numerous corridors in the labyrinth that was the castle, Typhoon suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. Ahead of her was an entire company of Diamond Guards, massacred where they had once stood. Several fractured pieces of armor scattered the hall, along with numerous clean, diamond weapons. Most of the bodies were covered in scorch marks, and the stone walls seemed warped, as if a fire had passed through here recently.

Gods, no.

There was a shattered door along the right side of the hall, and Typhoon galloped through it. More dead bodies and scorch marks lined the passages, and she could hear shouting ahead of her. There was a resounding thud that echoed off the castle walls, followed by the scrape of skysteel against diamond. An authoritative voice shouted orders, and all too quickly the sounds of combat stopped.

“Cyclone!!” Typhoon screamed as she galloped towards the throne room. “Cyclone, stop this madness!!”

-----

“Please! Please oh please oh—gaaaaaugh!!!”

Cyclone grimaced as he plunged the blade of his sword into the throat of a Diamond Guard. The blood spattered across the side of his muzzle, and Cyclone shut his right eye as the vitality of the unicorn sprayed over his face. As the weight on the end of the blade sagged, Cyclone grunted and wrenched his sword to the left, freeing it from the Guard’s neck with a savage slash. The gurgling of blood choking through the remains of his neck was the only sound that the soldier made as his limp body fell dead to the ground.

Around him, the Praetorian Guard formed a loose ring that freely flowed around Cyclone as he progressed, creating defensive lines in hallways and protecting his flanks. It led for relatively swift progress throughout the castle and left a trail of bodies in its wake.

“Praetorians!” Cyclone shouted, looking around him. “Door, now!”

On command, the Praetorian Guard assembled into two lines, each two ranks deep, cutting off both sides of the hallway. Another knot of Praetorians in the middle lowered their shields and hoisted a portable ram between them. With a single command, the soldiers shouted and rammed the heavy nimbus skysteel into the door. The stratus head on the ram smashed into the door and released a burst of thunder, rattling the heavy oak. The Praetorians recoiled from the blow and backed up to the end of the hall, lowering their shoulders for another strike.

Cyclone watched the hall around him while this went on. Several Diamond Guard companies rallied to the outside of the throne room, but the double ranks of Praetorians slaughtered those that got too close with ease and pushed the survivors back. Charging their horns, the Diamond Guard resorted to showering the soldiers with Arcana.

Knowing that he couldn’t afford for his soldiers to take such blows, Cyclone flew into the middle of them. Pointing his sword at one company of soldiers, he flared his wings. “CHARGE!!”

Around him, the thudding of hooves advanced as one solid wall of noise, even as the similarly solid wall of soldiers suddenly bore down on the flat-footed unicorns. Those that were close were split limb from limb in a second, while those further down the hall turned tail and fled, abandoning their weapons as they did so.

“Halt!” Cyclone shouted as his soldiers were almost to the corner. “Fall back and resume defensive stance! Don’t let them bait you out!”

The Praetorian responded with a guttural grunt and resumed their original positions. Behind him, Cyclone could see that the doors to the throne room were badly battered, and a magical aura from within was trying to hold them shut. As the ram hit again, it strained and flickered, barely holding the door in place.

Sheathing his sword, Cyclone picked up the very rear of the ram and braced it against his shoulder. “One more time! Bring the doors down!”

With a heave, Cyclone helped the Guards propel the ram forward. Spreading his wings for balance, the Emperor shouted as his body absorbed the shock from the ram pummeling the door. With the cracking and splintering of oak and metal, the doors gave way ever so slightly. Inside, he could hear the curses and screams of unicorns who ruptured leylines trying to hold the door shut with their Arcana.

The small opening provided by the ram was just enough for the soldiers to fit in, one by one. The first few that entered were mercilessly riddled with bolts of Arcana, falling within a few feet of the door. The next ranks that made it through were able to quickly take wing, avoiding the bolts of mana the Diamond Guard sent their way.

As soon as he heard the scraping of metal against metal, Cyclone squeezed his way in and flared his wings, taking stock of the situation. There were ten unicorns in the room, but they quickly began to fall as Praetorians engaged them. Unicorn blood covered the stairs and armor tumbled down in pieces along with the filleted Diamond Guards. The weapons clattered noisily on the ground, and the screams of the dying were short. And in the center of it all, standing in front of his throne with two guards by his side, was King Lapis himself.

“Nopony goes after Lapis!” Cyclone shouted as he slowly walked through the room. Behind him, the rest of the Praetorian had forced open the doors and had filled the room, making a wall behind Cyclone. “He’s mine and mine alone!”

Lapis glowered at Cyclone as he advanced. By this point, the other guards in the room save the two by his sides had been downed, most fatally so. The Praetorian Guard took up positions around the room, ensuring that there were no more unicorns hiding in the shadows or up above. The noise in the room had died down to a quiet grunting and panting as the Emperor of Cirra challenged the King of the Diamond Kingdom.

“King Lapis, your reign over the Diamond Kingdom is finished. River Rock and all of its holdings belong to the Cirran Empire, now and forever, and in the name of the Gods themselves. Surrender now, or die.”

Lapis bared his teeth as he glared down at Cyclone. His horn was nearly black from the Scourge, and the crown around it was stained with blood, yet he still resembled a powerful king. His response was just as definitive of that role.

“Conquest does not make you just in the eyes of your gods,” he spat. “You’ve ruined the lives of innocent ponies, butchered fathers and husbands for your conceited dreams of empire. What have you to gain from so much death?”

Cyclone smiled and walked closer to the throne. “Everything we’ve ever lost. Your ponies will make good fodder against the Gryphon Hordes when we retake Dioda. Then, Cirra will have an Empire that spans an ocean, and everything will be as it was meant to be. The Empire will be reborn!”

“I remember your kind when they first arrived,” Lapis said in a grim voice. “A small party of soldiers tasked with finding new land. Strangers, lost in a land they did not know, and weak. We gave them food, showed them our cities, counseled them. We welcomed the chance to work together with winged ponies.” Raising his head, he looked down his nose at Cyclone. “Given the benefit of hindsight, we should have killed them when they first came. It would have saved many more lives in the two decades since.”

“Nopony else has to die today,” Cyclone said. “Order the Diamond Guard to surrender, and then step down. River Rock is already lost, whether or not you and you alone decide to add to the bloodshed.”

Lapis’ decayed horn sparked a few times in anger. “I am too old to fear death, and my kind will never forgive you for this devastation. We shall fight you with every last soldier we have. The better to spite your dreams for conquest by forcing you to rebuild the Diamond Guard from scratch. I hope many more of your precious Legionnaires die in the coming hours.”

Cyclone growled. It all would have been so much easier if the idiot just gave up. Flicking his wing crests out to the sides, the red pegasus began to advance. Four Praetorians pounced on Lapis’ two guards, dragging the struggling unicorns away and slitting their throats. With a short flutter of his wings, Cyclone bypassed the steps entirely and landed on the dais where King Lapis still stood defiant.

The King didn’t even flinch when Cyclone drew a dagger and eyed him, waiting for some sort of reaction.

“Do your worst, and may it bring you and your usurpers to Tartarus for all of eternity.”

The blade was quick and terrifying. A slash of steel and a glint of light, and the King was left wheezing for breath.

“Cyclone!! Cyclone, stop this madness!!”

The great emperor of Cirra flinched and his blood turned to ice as he heard his sister’s voice. Lifting one nervous hoof off the ground, Cyclone slowly turned away from the dying monarch and toward the door.

There she stood, blocked off from the throne by several resolute Praetorians. Her armor and face were spattered with blood, and her sword was crimson instead of the blue it normally was. Her features were haggard, her frame lean, and her hair dirty and unkempt. A distinct scar cut across the right side of her face, a terrible burn mark that crossed her brow and eye before running down her cheek and the side of her muzzle. In her haunted eyes was a sort of bewildered anger mixed with desperation.

“T-Typhoon?” he stammered, the feathers of his wings inching out ever so slightly in alarm. “What are you doing here?”

It was the only thing he could ask. He knew what happened to her, but that didn’t make him want to strangle Jewel any less. He never wished that sort of abuse on his little sister. He was promised she would be taken care of, and it was on that promise that he had left her in River Rock in the first place. His actions had put her through hell.

When Typhoon looked at him, there was hurt in her eyes. “I came here to stop you, Cyclone. To stop this madness before you threw yourself over the cliff. But…” she paused, seeing the dying figure of Lapis behind her brother. “But it looks like I’m too late.”

Cyclone said nothing, instead only looking at the King as he bled out.

“Why, Cyclone,” Typhoon pleaded, “why are you doing this? Why do so many have to die, why did you put me through the worst horror I’ve ever experienced?! Is all this pain and suffering worth it to you? Is this what you want to be remembered for? The bloodthirsty tyrant who betrayed his family and toppled nations to build his empire?!”

“NO!!” Cyclone shouted. Even the Praetorians in the room flinched from the forcefulness of Cyclone’s denial. The Emperor was panting through clenched teeth, and he looked at Typhoon from underneath his helmet. “Everything I’ve done is for Cirra. Every. Last. Thing. Whether or not you or mother recognized it, everything I’ve done is to take back Dioda. We will be the strong empire we were once again. We’ll drive the griffons out of our homeland, and then we’ll kill Magnus. And it’ll be over. The war will be over.”

“What war?” Typhoon said. “There is no war other than the one you started!”

“The Red Cloud War isn’t over,” Cyclone insisted. “No, it’s far from over. Until we take back Stratopolis and Zephyrus and Nimbus, it’ll never be over. Until one of our two races is ground into the dust, it’ll never be over.”

“It is over!” Typhoon shouted. “It was over when our father led Cirra across the ocean! When Stratopolis fell, we lost, don’t you get it? It ended there and then!” Her wings shook visibly, and she stepped closer to the Praetorians. They responded by lowering their weapons against her but refrained from attacking. “All you’ve done is prolong the death and the suffering on these foals’ dreams! You’ve thrown away family and friends, Cyclone. You betrayed me, Cyclone, me, your own sister!”

Cyclone’s shoulders shook. “Ante Legionem nihil erat, et nihil erit post Legionem. Before the Legion there was nothing, and after the Legion there will be nothing.” Then he stood tall, and all uncertainty was washed from his face. “Our oath tells us to put nothing between us and our service to the Legion. All I’ve done is to better the Legion, Typhoon. All I’ve ever done. And if I had to put my family out of the way to do so…”

“Your family is the Legion,” Typhoon gravely said. “And you betrayed us.”

“It was never my intention to hurt you.”

“And yet it happened anyway.”

Cyclone scowled. “I was going to have you freed when River Rock was under my control. I could have shown you everything that I put together, and maybe then you would have understood. You could have flown by my side, and we would have ruled the new Empire together.”

“And what about mom and dad?” Typhoon challenged him. “Are you just going to kill them too?”

“I don’t expect them to understand,” Cyclone muttered. “They can stay behind or side with me. Either way, with the entirety of the Legion in my control, not even father could stand against me.”

“You don’t know that,” Typhoon seethed.

“One pony, no matter how skilled, cannot take on a Legion.”

Typhoon took a deep breath and locked eyes with her brother. “Cyclone... please, end this.” She reached for her sword, carefully loosening the hilt from its scabbard. “Don’t make me have to.”

Cyclone’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly. He knew that look in her eyes. It was hers and hers alone, the grim resolve and unflinching determination nestled within. “You… you would kill me? Your only brother?”

The words were mere whispers.

Typhoon said nothing. Her sadness was plainly written on her face as she drew her blade. The tip quivered nervously as she held it in her mouth.

Drawing his own sword, Cyclone looked to the Praetorians on either side. “Guards, back. I will kill anyone who attempts to intervene. If I die… she is your new emperor.”

With a single nod, the Praetorian Guards slowly parted for Typhoon to enter the room. She did so nervously, cautiously, keeping wary eyes on the ponies in onyx around her. With the solid hiss of steel against oiled steel, dozens of blades slid into their scabbards.

The Guard was watching to see whom it would follow. There would be no turning back now.

Cyclone slowly walked down the dais until he stood on the even tiling of the floor. He and Typhoon were barely ten feet apart from each other, close enough to pick out the individual strands of hair on each other’s coats. They stood in silence, swords drawn, panting not from exertion, but from anticipation.

Typhoon studied Cyclone just as much as she knew he was studying her. In front of her was not the brother she knew. Cyclone was proud, yes, but he was caring and supportive. For as long as she could remember, he had been by her side. Even then he had been harsh, he had been mean, but he loved her.

“Cyclone!” I shouted to my brother. Mom and Dad were off doing Gods know what, leaving their children to hang around the palace by ourselves. I had taken the opportunity to scamper out of the palace and away from its walls. I hated being cooped up inside the cloudstone walls. It was much more pleasant in the cool summer sunshine.

“What is it now, Ty?” a bored voice came from behind me. As I looked over my shoulder, I watched Cyclone lazily canter over towards me. He was only eight, but in my five-year-old eyes he was still unimaginably wise.

I leaned forward and let the breeze blow through my short, multicolored mane. The sun was warm on my feathers, and I opened them to the sky, letting the heat build in my wings. The small things at my sides quivered and twitched with each passing ripple of air, and I gave them a few cheery flutters. I giggled to myself as I felt spirals of air behind me twist through my tail.

“I wanna go flying!” I shouted, more to the world than to my brother. I looked at my wings, at the short primary feathers that were rapidly growing. They were strong, blond things, nearly identical to Mommy’s. How I loved Mommy.

“You’re too young for that,” Cyclone muttered. He teasingly smiled at me and reclined against a bank of cloud. “Wings that small and you’ll never be able to fly. The Legion’s gonna laugh at you.”

I contorted my face into as angry a pout as I could muster. “Nuh-uh! I’m gonna be the best flier in the Legion some day! Just you wait!”

Cyclone scoffed. “I’m waiting, sis, and I’m not seeing anything.”

“Oh yeah, well watch this!”

I turned around and leaned off the edge of the cloud, shaking my rump in some imitation of a cat stalking her prey. I could see for miles from up here. There was the town of Amber Field, impossibly large and sprawling across hills and low valleys for as far as the eye could see. It was impressive just to look at; Cloudsdale was little, but Daddy said that they were adding more every day. One day, it would be bigger than Amber Field and River Rock put together!

I looked a little farther to the south. I couldn’t see River Rock from this angle, but I knew where the mountains were that it was built under. There was always a little plume of smoke rising from it too. Cyclone said it was from the castle, where the unicorn king and his daughter, the princess resided. He usually teased me, saying how one day I’d be a princess too and would have to sit around wearing a pretty dress while stallions of all ages came and asked for my hoof in marriage.

Ew, no, I told him. I only wanted to be a Legionnaire like Mommy and Daddy, and maybe one day if I was good enough, I’d be a member of Daddy’s Praetorian Guard!

But that would never happen if I couldn’t fly. Cyclone’s words bit at my pride, and I scowled to myself. I inched closer to the edge of the cloud and opened my wings, my tiny tail twitching back and forth in anticipation.

“Typhoon?” Cyclone said from behind me. His voice was considerably more worried than it had been just previously. “Uh, I don’t think that’s a good idea. You can’t even glide yet!”

My naivety mistook my brother’s warning for another challenge. “Who needs to glide?!” I retorted. “I’m gonna fly!”

Before Cyclone could give out more than a startled shout, I closed my eyes and leapt off of the cloud.

I dove, my eyes shut and a smile plastered across my face. The wind screeching past my ears and ripping tears from my eyes felt so natural to me. I folded my body into an arrow and felt the air glide past me with ease. I felt so alive. I had finally satiated my pegasus instincts. I opened my wings.

The air tested the feathers, played with them for but a moment, then spurned me away, condemning the life of one small filly to the hard earth below.

I opened my eyes and saw the ground rushing towards me, a blur of gray mountain stone and muddy green hills widening in my descent. I fluttered my wings, twisted them every which way, but they were too small. They refused to catch the wind. All they did was sling and slam me into a dizzying and nauseating downward spiral.

I screamed for Mommy.

I flailed my limbs, I writhed and turned in desperation, trying to find some way to save myself. Cloudsdale was but a solid sheet of white cloud far above me. Why did I ever forsake it? I knew I was too young to fly!

Then my back hit something hard, and I thought for a split second I had hit the ground. I whimpered briefly, but when I realized that I was still alive and not in pain from a several mile fall, I opened my eyes and looked underneath me. There was Cyclone, straining as hard as he could with all his young wings could muster, carrying me towards a nearby cumulus cloud.

“Gods,” he was saying. “How much do you eat, fatty?”

Just this once, I had no retort for him. I realized just how much he loved me, even if he would never say so.

Cyclone began to step to the right, with Typhoon matching him hoof for hoof. She had never been a proud mare, unlike himself, but she was cold and collected. There was none of that now. The shell of concentration she was so excellent at building was cracked and broken. Her mind was racing—that much he could tell just by studying her face. She was a completely different mare now. She was dangerous and struggling to hold herself together. Just like her brother.

I dropped my sword and turned away even as I stumbled backwards into the ditch. I rolled down the earthy embankment, head over tail, my heavy armor clattering around me all the while. The burning in my side only seemed to get worse with each jarring blow as I tumbled. Just when I thought I could take it no more, I slammed my back into the bottom of the ditch. I lay there, dizzy and breathless, clutching at the dagger stuck in my side.

All around me, the sounds of war and death raged on. Skysteel sung and ponies died by the hoofful. I could see the black smoke from the fires choking the sky above me, and the red glows of the ashes and embers wafting across the field. On the ridge above, the Crystal barbarian that had struck me laughed and kicked my sword into the ditch after me. It fell, spinning end over end, before finally coming to a meek rest in the mud and blood filling this trench.

I managed to find the strength to move my neck. All around me were the dead of Legate Thunder Hawk’s legion. Warlord Pyrite was putting up a stubborn resistance in the Middle Pass. His soldiers jumped Thunder Hawk’s vanguard as we entered the pass, and it was a slaughter. I could see the dead and dying faces of friends I had known all too briefly scattered around me. The young ones like me were calling for their mothers. The veterans were quieter, only asking for one thing: that they be buried in their homeland, that distant Empire my father had told me about so many times before bed.

I looked around again. I decided the blood pouring from my side was an excellent match for my crimson coat. At least it wouldn’t stand out when they found me.

I thought of my sister; I only hoped Typhoon would make it through this battle when the rest of the troops showed up.

The barbarians were coming back now. The vanguard had been routed, and the Crystal Ponies had but a few minutes before the rest of the legion arrived. But they were savage brutes, and rather than concern themselves with taking defensive positions, they would have their fun. I watched as they galloped down into the ditch, weapons drawn against the wounded and helpless of Cirra.

There was a blue pegasus next to me. Feather Fall, her name was. She was nice enough, with a soft voice and a tender heart to those she loved, but a magnificent warrior in the heat of battle. It was her dream to one day go back and see the lands of her parents, that tiny town known as Altus which was briefly the capital of the Empire before the Exodus. She was but a few days older than me, and we had trained together during camp. I had a crush on her, but I never admitted it, to either her or myself.

I watched as a barbarian caved her skull in with a spiked war hammer so red you would think it was forged in blood.

I would have screamed in rage and despair were I not so scared. The brute took his time removing the hammer from the shattered remains of her forehead, enjoying the sickly sounds her spattered brains made against his weapon. When he finally hoisted it, he let rivulets of blood pour off of the weapon onto Feather Fall’s corpse.

Then he turned and looked at me. His eyes cruelly lit up, and he gingerly set the war hammer down by his side as if it were his foal. Reaching towards me, he hooked a hoof underneath the breastplate of my dented armor and hoisted me off of the ground with a single leg. My blood poured down my left side, dripping off of my hoof.

“Another scrawny runt for the pyre, eh?” the barbarian taunted. He was a massive creature, with muscles that could lift buildings rippling underneath his crystalline coat. He had seen war and death, and had probably been responsible for much of it. He was at least forty, while I was barely sixteen.

I wanted to beg him not to kill me. I wanted to plead for my life like a foal, just so I could die in peace. Please, oh please put me down and leave me here to bleed out. I’ll take the quiet death over having my ribs crushed beneath a few hundred pounds of iron any day.

Instead I said nothing as I flailed my limbs at his face, trying to strike him and make him let me go. Instead he just held me further away from him, denying me my chance to hurt him in some way.

“Pathetic,” he muttered to himself. “You Cirrans send your stallions to die so young. Well, I’ll be happy to oblige your Commander if that’s what he wants.”

He threw me back against the side of the ditch. The dagger slammed against the dirt, driving the blade painfully deeper into my side. As my vision swam before my eyes, the brute lifted up his maul and eyed my throat.

A sudden volley of arrows denied him his satisfaction.

The barbarian choked out around the shafts pricking through his neck and his chest. He dropped the hammer and lurched to one side, collapsing uneasily against the dirt. His blood poured into the channel, joining the red river that was already there. Above, I heard the war cry of the rest of the legion as it flew into the pass to try for the second time today to drive Pyrite’s brutes out.

I slouched back, smiling through my scowl, and waited for the cool kiss of death to finally take me.

“Cyclone!”

I jolted back from the darkness and looked around, tired. Dropping out of the air was a young mare, for all matters a filly, clad in armor one size too big for her. She sheared off several blond feathers as she struggled to slow her descent, ultimately clattering face-first into the bloody channel. But she stood up and shook it off, her eyes fixated on only one thing: me.

“Ty…Typhoon?” I mumbled, delirium threatening my mind. I was sure I was seeing things as I lay there, dying.

“Hang on, Cy, I’m gonna get you outta here,” she said, her voice even. Her eyes widened as she saw the blood pouring from my side, but other than a nervous gulp to swallow her nausea, she showed no reaction. “Right. We gotta stop this bleeding. Can you cauterize it?”

I struggled to summon Empatha to my side. I got a few sparks but nothing else.

Typhoon pursed her lips and began to dig through her saddlebag. “Looks like we’re gonna do this the old fashioned way,” she muttered, pulling several rags out. Tearing one into strips, she prepared a bandage and a wrap to hold it in. Then she looked at my side. “Erm, you might wanna clench your teeth.”

I knew what was coming next. That didn’t mean I was prepared for it. The jagged dagger was ripped from my side, tearing through even more flesh on its exit. I barely managed to stifle a scream. My blood splattered against my sister’s face, and for a brief moment her eyes widened. But she wasn’t out of it long. She threw the dagger off to the side and quickly reached for the bandages by my wing. With perhaps a little unnecessary force, she stuck the bandage over my wound and tied it securely to my side. After a little longer to check that it was set, she crawled around me and picked my sword up out of the mud. Wiping it off on her own wing, she located the scabbard under my wing and slid it in.

I could still hear the fighting and death around me. My comrades continued to stream in from overhead, assaulting the stone fortress Pyrite was holed up in. My view was blocked when Typhoon leaned over me and heaved, managing to lift me onto her back, armor and all.

“You can’t fly like this!” I wheezed at her. She was wearing armor as well. Together she had to be trying to carry nearly three times her weight. But she either didn’t hear me or flat-out ignored me. She crawled out of the ditch with me sprawled across her shoulders.

Then she jumped.

I clenched my teeth as we plummeted. Typhoon was keeping her wings by her sides for some stupid reason. I tried to scream to her to slow down, but the wind shoved the words back down in my throat. The river below was approaching awfully fast.

At the last second she opened her wings, and somehow we didn’t die.

As we managed to coast on some thermals back to camp, Typhoon looked at me with a playful wink. “Gods,” she said, echoing words spoken long ago. “How much do you eat, fatty?”

I realized I would have given my life for her. After all, I already owed it to her.

The two siblings looked at each other longer as they continued their slow circle. There were tears in Typhoon’s eyes, and Cyclone was shaking and heaving. But they didn’t stop. They continued to circle each other, their weapons held high as ever.

On some unspoken command, the two leapt at each other, without so much as a single sound.

Author's Notes:

So yeah. A few things about this one.

First off, sorry it took so long. You can blame one Ruirik for showing me this game called Total War: Shogun 2. It's eaten up obscene amounts of time that would have gone towards writing.

Second thing is that I bit the bullet and broke 17 into two parts. Otherwise, this would have dragged on even longer. So you still have the entire duel between Cyclone and Typhoon to look forward to. I'll try to make sure it doesn't take as long this time.

Anyways, I hope you're enjoying the story! One more chapter to go!

Next Chapter: Chapter 18: End in Fire Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 14 Minutes
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