Chapter 12: The Calm before the Storm
*** 3 months later ***
War, it was something that many of the ponies of Equestria thought they would never see in their lifetimes. It was October, the middle of autumn. Ponyville had the Running of the Leaves, but even an annual event such as that was dwarfed by the fear building up in everpony. The deadline of Tikara Balak's war was soon approaching, only one day before the first battle began. Two months ago, to the surprise of Celestia and Luna, Tikara Balak had sent them a map of where he was going to strike, five separate battlefields. They were reluctant to rely on information handed to them by the enemy, but none the less they fortified their positions at the five soon-to-be battlefields, going so far as to build fortresses. The Princesses realized that to Tikara this was a game, he had a powerful army, and this was his way of giving them a handicap. For precaution they doubled patrols over different regions of Equestria, just in case the information was nothing more than a trap. In no time the volunteer army was renamed the United Equestrian Army, or UEA for short.
During preparations for the war Twilight's friends had made their decisions about what they wanted to do during the war. Fluttershy didn't want fight, in all honesty they others understood, Fluttershy instead wanted to help by clearing as many animals as she could away from any war related locations. Pinkie Pie also didn't want to fight, she realized with the war about to start there would be many sad ponies, so Pinkie wanted to find ways to spread as much cheer as she could around Equestria, any way she could. As for Rarity, since she had a keen eye for detail, she would better help in the armory, checking every piece of armor and weaponry for flaws and imperfections.
Some had other ideas. Applejack joined the UEA; she didn't want to just standby and do nothing. She was going to protect her family, her home, and her friends with everything she had. Moved by his little sisters resolve, and worried for her safety, Big Macintosh also joined the UEA; needless to say it was a sad goodbye for Granny Smith and Apple Bloom. Rainbow Dash joined the UEA's Aerial Corp. where, to her surprise, the Wonderbolts captain Spitfire was heading up the 01st pegasus squadron. Twilight was given a pristine honor by Princess Celestia; she was given command over a battalion of unicorn magicians, an honor she was more than happy to accept. Acting as Twilight's lieutenant was, to the disbelief of many of the unicorns and UEA soldiers, the young Bright Blade. Despite his powers Twilight was still hesitant about bringing him on the battlefield with her, but then again she had her own reasons and she was under orders.
*** 3 months ago – Canterlot Palace Throne Room ***
"Twilight, may we have a word with you, alone" asked Celestia.
Twilight was barely out the door before the Princess called for her. Twilight motioned for her friends to continue on without her, Bright Blade looked a little worried, but Twilight gave a reassuring smile that seemed to satisfy him. The guards posted outside the throne room closed the heavy set doors behind them which gave a loud sound. "Was there something else your Highness," asked Twilight.
Luna and Celestia traded glances with each other, something was on their minds and whatever it was seemed to trouble them both. "Twilight the young colt, Bright Blade, do you know where he got that sword," asked Luna.
"No, actually today was the first time I've seen that sword. I mean the others told me about, but they never mentioned its name," answered Twilight.
"Twilight, this is something that must stay between the three of us here, do you understand?" Twilight nodded her head fervently. "That sword, Excellion, once belonged to our brother Arion," said Celestia.
"WHAT!" said Twilight, a little louder then she intended.
"Our brother Arion forged that blade from the light of the stars themselves, even went as far as to infuse it with powerful magic. During the battle with our mother Arion tried to call upon Excellion, but no matter how much he called out it never appeared before him," said Luna.
"We figured out long ago that Excellion was a sword forged to combat evil, when Arion turned evil Excellion would no longer answer to him, the two of us thought it was gone forever," said Celestia.
Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing; the very sword that Bright Blade wields was once the sword of the Star Prince, Arion. A thought came to Twilight after a moment to process that information. "Could Excellion be the reason why Bright Blade can transform into an alicorn, I mean your brother was an alicorn like yourselves so maybe the Excellion still retains some his power," queried Twilight.
The Princesses took a moment to ponder this, it would make sense, but even so there was still something about Bright Blade they couldn't put their hooves on. "In any case you should be proud of your little cousin Twilight, our brothers sword seems to have chosen wisely in picking its new wielder," Luna praised.
Twilight winced at that, she remembered lying to Princess Celestia about who Bright Blade was. Wait a minute, thought Twilight. This is my chance, my friends aren't here and neither is Bright Blade, if anyone can help me make sense of all this then Princess Celestia and Luna can! After mustering up her courage Twilight told them everything. How she had lost her memories of ever knowing Bright Blade, how she seemed to be the only one effected, about the secret journal with entries she apparently wrote down a year ago, and about the lie she told Celestia upon her visit the day after the siege. "You see until now I thought I was the only one who lost my memories of him, but after speaking with you at my house I realized that I wasn't the only one affected. So you see Princess I'm sorry I lied to you, but it was the only thing I could think of on the fly," Twilight finished.
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna looked at each, as if something had been confirmed. "Twilight…I want you to continue monitoring Bright Blade," said Celestia.
"Do you suspect something," asked Twilight.
"Neither of us can be sure at the moment, but I have a feeling that this war will left the veil over many things, be vigilant Twilight Sparkle," warned Luna.
*** Present Day ***
Twilight had been staying at Fort Avalon, one of five fortresses, which was located five hundred miles away from Ponyville, and two hundred away from Canterlot. Twilight was at a war meeting, battalion leaders made up of unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi were all assembled in a large stone room. A table in the center had a map of Equestria marked with the locations of each of the fortresses. A flag was hung on the wall that had the symbols of all three pony tribes as well as the sun and moon, in the center the initials UEA were stitched in shiny golden thread. One stallion was at the head of the table, the one in charge of Fort Avalon, Major Broadside. He was a large earth pony stallion, as big as Big Mac, with a brown coat and weathered black mane. His intelligent gray eyes peered around the table, making sure all were accounted for before he spoke. "As you all know, tomorrow is the Promised Day. All the other forts were put on high alert; we don't know whether or not if the enemy will strike in the dead of night or early in the morning, with that said I need all of you to double check everything from your weapons to your armor. Spellcasters review your spells; Aerial teams refine your formations. We have the advantage in this ponies," at this Broadside slammed his hoof on the table, "the enemy has no magic or flying capabilities so we'll be able to tear them a new one, and we will own the battlefield!"
"Yes sir!" the battalion leaders shouted.
"We have Canterlot at our backs, all those living there have been evac'd to other locations, further from that is Ponyville. As much as it urks me, the Ponyvillians there decided to stay and tough it out. On a professional level I think it's stupid, but on a personal level I commend them for their bravery. So with that being said I'm making this clear to every pony in here, not one of those creatures is going to get any anywhere near that town, least of all Canterlot, do you get me!"
"We get you sir!"
"Now get some dinner in ya, lights out at 2100, dismissed!" Major Broadside saluted the battalion leaders who then saluted him back.
Twilight began trotting down the halls of the fortress; she was still having difficulty adjusting to her new position as battalion leader. In fact she was having trouble adjusting to the whole living in the fortress. It only seems like yesterday my friends and I were just enjoying our everyday lives at Ponyville, now we're fighting to save our world, thought Twilight. She made her way towards the courtyard and was greeted with a familiar sight. Bright Blade and Applejack were once again doing strength training, and just like before he was trying to push past the line Applejack had made in the ground. While this was going on Rainbow Dash was hovering in the air motivating Bright Blade. "C'mon BB you can do it, push with everything you got!"
Twilight stood in the doorway, watching as Bright Blade butted heads with Applejack, the workhorse refused to move an inch. In the end Bright Blade collapsed on the ground, obviously tired. "Wh-what's – how far did we move," said Bright Blade, panting.
Rainbow Dash took out some measuring tape from the saddlebag she was carrying and measured the distance. "Well this isn't too bad, you made at least 1.5 inches," said Rainbow Dash.
"Well hot dang, that's better than you did last time Bright," said Applejack.
Twilight couldn't help but giggle at her friends as she watched them help Bright Blade train. She then heard heavy hoof steps next to her. Twilight turned to see that Major Broadside was standing next to her in the doorway; apparently he was also watching her friends in the middle of their "training session." Twilight immediately straightened her posture and saluted the Major. "Major Broadside, sir!"
"At ease Miss Sparkle," Twilight lowered her hoof, "So, that's the colt I was briefed about?"
"Yes sir, I'm guessing the Princess made you aware of his…abilities," asked Twilight.
"To be honest I'm still having trouble believing a kid like him has that much power, and I'm still not too excited about the idea of having him fight on the battlefield," said Broadside.
Believe me I'm not too thrilled about the idea either, thought Twilight.
"Ah well, he'll be with you and the other unicorn magicians at the back. Watch yourself out there tomorrow Miss Sparkle," said Broadside. With that Broadside left Twilight standing in the doorway, his hoof steps reseeding down the long hallway. Twilight returned her gaze to her friends who were still in the courtyard, Big Macintosh seemed to have joined the group, but something was off. Only Applejack and Big Mac were there, and they seemed to be staring up into the air with a worried expression.
"She's crazy," said Applejack.
"Eeeyup," responded Big Macintosh.
What followed next was a scream that sounded like it was getting closer and closer. Don't tell me – Rainbow Dash! Twilight's suspicions were correct as she witnessed Bright Blade free falling from the sky above the fort. Just like before Rainbow caught Bright Blade and brought him back to the ground, stiff as a board. "Jeez, what's it going to take to get those wings of yours to pop out," asked Rainbow Dash.
"Well dropping him from the air and scaring him half to death isn't going to help," said Twilight.
Night fell over Fort Avalon, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Bright Blade were standing on the walkway, staring up at the glowing full moon. The world seemed to be standing still, holding its breath in anticipation. During dinner all the soldiers looked almost sad, anxious, worried. Many of them acted like this was their last meal, in reality it just might've been, the atmosphere made it very depressing for them while they ate.
"Man, I wish Pinkie Pie was here," said Bright Blade.
"I'd be lyin' if I said didn't agree with ya there BB, it be good to lift some of the spirits of every pony here," said Applejack.
Twilight sighed, her friends, her family, all was at risk. She feared for the safety of her friends, even though she liked the fact that they were fighting beside her, she didn't know what she'd do if she came across them dead on the battlefield. Bright Blade seemed to notice Twilight's nervous look, she felt the little colt put his hoof against her right foreleg. "Don't worry Twilight, we'll win, I just know it," he proclaimed.
"Yeah, BB's right," Rainbow Dash put her right foreleg around Twilights neck, "no matter what happens we'll beat those things and take out Tikara Balak!"
Applejack placed her left hoof on Bright Blade's shoulder, "And we'll come back home together," said Applejack.
The four friends then turned their gazes towards the soon-to-be battlefield. A barren field, no grass, just dirt and rock, with many mountains on the horizon to the north, their silhouette shadows looked like jagged teeth about to bite down on everything. None of them could picture it, that soon they would be out there, fighting for their lives and that tonight could be the last time they see each other alive.
On that note they all left the walkway and headed to their respective rooms. Twilight and Bright Blade were in their room. It was a fairly big room that was divided into two halves. The first room was a living room/study, with a large bookshelf containing many spells and enchantments from the royal library; some were personally hoof picked by Twilight and others by Princess Celestia. For the past three months Twilight had been reading them, studying maybe her forte, but the spells in most of these books had complicated spells. Bright Blade was reading some books that Twilight had brought with them from the library while she studied some of the magical tomes. Twilight looked over her shoulder and watched him as he snickered and giggled at the book he read, "Daring-Do: The Hunt for the Crimson Rose." Twilight saw him yawn which made her look at the clock. 10:30, it's getting late I better wrap this up, Twilight thought. "Bright Blade time to go to bed, we need to be up early tomorrow."
"Ah Twilight just a couple of more pages," asked Bright Blade.
"C'mon Bright Blade, head to bed, I'll be there soon," said Twilight.
Bright Blade sighed and closed the book; he then trotted into the bedroom and closed the door yawning the whole way. When Twilight was sure that Bright Blade was in the bedroom she closed the book and levitated it back to its place on the bookshelf. Twilight's horn began to glow, the flap of her saddlebag flipped open and a square shaped bulge in the bag disappeared. She then turned her head to the podium; something began to shimmer into existence on the podium stand. It was her leather bound journal; Twilight then levitated a quill pen and began to write.
October 27th: Tonight may be the last night I get to write in this journal. Everypony here is on edge, and it's easy to see why. As much as I hate to say this I'm glad that my friends are here with me. It's been three months since the war declaration was given, as per Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's orders I've been keeping a close eye on Bright Blade. He hasn't transformed since the day the Daemoni attacked Canterlot, and ever since then he's been training like crazy. Sometimes he'll ask one of the soldiers to spar with him, they humor him thinking it's cute but they soon find out how serious he can get, it's actually kind of funny to see their reactions. I guess when he fought Tikara Balak it really shook him; I guess that's the first time he really felt powerless. I haven't seen any suspicious activity from him, but that doesn't mean something will happen. I have mixed feelings about having him at my side tomorrow I don't want to put him in that kind of danger…
Twilight paused for moment, even with her overwhelming suspicions about Bright Blade, she still couldn't help but feel attached to him.
If something happens to me and this is found, I want my friends to know that all the time I've spent with you were some the happiest moments of my life. Spike don't be sad for long, you're a great assistant and an even better friend. Princess Celestia, thank you for watching over me and being my mentor. Princess Luna, I'm glad to have been your first friend, and I hope you make many more. Shining Armor, Cadence, I hope the two of you raise a beautiful family together. Mom, Dad, I love you.
With a tear falling down her left cheek Twilight reapplied the invisibility spell to the journal and took it back to her saddlebag. When she placed the journal back it clanged against a golden tiara with a violet crystal in the shape of her cutie mark. Twilight remembered when she got it; Princess Celestia had given them all their Element items hoping that they might give them some protection during these times. She sighed and went to the bedroom.
Late at night Twilight was having trouble sleeping, tossing and turning. It's not every day you might face your own mortality, especially when the creature you're about to face is a soul sucking monster. Just the thought of having the life drained out of her made Twilight shutter. On her fifth turn she saw Bright Blade standing at the edge of her bed with a pillow in his mouth. "Bright Blade, what's wrong," she asked.
"You look like you were having trouble sleeping, I was too…do you mind if I…if I sleep in your bed tonight," asked Bright Blade, sheepishly. Twilight gave him a sideways glance, but she didn't think anything of it. She then flipped open the covers, silently telling him to go ahead. Bright Blade got up into the bed, fluffed up his pillow and laid his head down. To say that this was awkward for Twilight would've been an understatement, having her back to him the whole time, she almost wished that her lost memories would come back, hoping that it would make it less awkward. "Twilight… are you scared," asked Bright Blade.
"…A little," she responded.
"I'm sorry," he said.
Twilight turned her head. "For what?"
"I wanted to become strong enough to help you during the fight, but I haven't been able to change since three months ago – But that doesn't mean I won't be helpful, I'll do whatever I can, I'll beat Tikara Balak this time," proclaimed Bright Blade.
Twilight sighed, the young colt still felt bad that he couldn't defeat Tikara Balak during their first encounter. "Bright Blade, you don't have to keep beating yourself up for that. Even when we combined our magic together we couldn't even overpower him!"
"I know, I know! But what good is it having this power, these abilities, if I can't even use these powers at will then what good am I," asked Bright Blade, he almost sounded like he was going to cry.
Twilight turned around and started to stroke his mane consolingly, "Shhh, that's enough Bright Blade…" Twilight tried to think of something she could do to calm the young colt. Oh…what was that song that Fluttershy sang to the Crusaders during their sleepover, she taught it to me one time…how did it go?
"Hush now, quiet now
It's time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to go to bed
Drifting off to sleep
The exciting day behind you
Drifting off to sleep
Let the joy of dream land find you
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to go bed…"
Twilight raised her head up a bit to see if Bright Blade had fallen asleep, he had. It was times like this that Twilight was reminded that despite all the power and skill he possesses, he was still a kid.
"Hush now, quiet now
It's time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to go to bed
Drifting off to sleep
The exciting day behind you
Drifting off to sleep
Let the joy of dream land find you
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to go bed…"
The time is nigh, the hour draws near. The ponies of Equestria have made their preparations for the war to come, but will it be enough? Will the fate of the world be decided tomorrow…War in Equestria: The Tale of Bright Blade.
