"Blessed are they who stand before the corrupt and wicked and do not falter. Blessed are the peacekeepers, the champions of the just." -Benedictions 4:10
~Harmony~
February 1st
8:22 am
Twilit Castle Throne Room
P. Twilight Sparkle
As I sat on my throne, more ponies came to my castle for refuge. From survivors of Los Pegasus to a large detachment of guards from Canterlot, almost everypony who was surviving was arriving. My shield spell, with the help of the unicorns present, expanded to include more of the Everfree Forest, a small town being built outside my castle walls to hold everypony. It was to be named Twilight Town, after me. I found that fact both flattering and disturbing.
"Twilight, more survivors approach. There appears to be three mares, one badly injured, and a Guardspony." Spike called out. The team I sent to Ponyville had found little left of the place, and none of the creatures who sacked it. The ground, according to them, seemed blighted and uninhabitable by any form of life.
"Send them in, Captain." I called to Emberswirl, who stood by the door. When Flash Sentry hadn't arrived with the larger detachment, I had feared the worst. So had Drac, the Threstral that belonged to the Lunar Guard. My fears were made unnecessary when I saw Flash enter my throne room, along with a nurse, Trixie, and an unconscious pegasus mare. The mare's fur was almost completely missing, but what little remained was a dark blue. "Flash! I'm so happy you're alive!"
I bounded off my throne to grab the guardspony in a hug. "Uh… well, thank you, your highness, but I must get medical aid for this mare. She's been subjected to the blood of those creatures who attacked the castle, and it apparently has some rather… unusual qualities."
I nodded. "Guards! Get this mare to the infirmary and treat her with what we can until I get there." A few salutes, and several guards came and took the mare away, the nurse following to help out. Trixie respectfully bowed, saying nothing, and left. "So, Centurion," I said, jumping back to my throne in an attempt to stay professional. I failed slightly due to my blush. "Tell me exactly what happened to separate you from the rest of the Canterlot guards."
His story was… horrifying, to say the least. This taint that they put in mares apparently transforms them into breeders for their kind. "But wait…" I said at the end of his report. "If those creatures were once ponies… then doesn't that make all of these creatures ponies as well?"
"I wish I could say so, Princess." Flash responded. "As much as ponies they might look, these creatures are anything but. Their magic resembles an old form of dark energy known as Blood Magic. I found a tome on it in the castle library when I tried to find out what I could about them. They use their own life force, and that of their enemies and allies, to fuel their magic."
"That's horrible." I replied. "I could never think that that kind of magic existed… what can it do?"
"From what I recall, Princess, the abilities of Blood Magic range from healing allies, to the caster, to weakening or killing enemies, to even raising the dead."
Spike thought it wise to speak up here. "Raising the dead? As in, zombie ponies?"
Flash nodded. "I saw it firsthoof as we fought the creatures off. The spellcasters of the group would reanimate the bodies of the fallen to fight for them." He shuffled on his hooves. "It's not exactly rebirth, but it's a perverted form of life itself."
"Either way, Flash Sentry, you have performed admirably." I started, in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Your courage to stay behind and save the lives of other ponies who would have died otherwise shows how strong you are, not only as a soldier, but as a pony."
"W-Why, thank you, Princess…" He stuttered, bowing in respect.
"Now, I have been informed of the situation at hoof." I continued. "Emberswirl, how does the guard fare?"
The unicorn who was my Captain of the guard saluted in his response. "Princess, your guard isn't very large at this moment in time. At least, not large enough to, say, attack the monsters in Canterlot."
I nodded. "Thank you, Captain." I turned to Flash Sentry. "Since Emberswirl is a unicorn, and with both Celestia possessed by an unknown evil and Luna unable to perform her duties as a Princess, I hereby ask that you, Flash Sentry, join me as my Captain of the Pegasi Guard."
Spike, Emberswirl, several guards, and Flash Sentry himself were stunned. "Twilight…" Spike started, "Are you allowed to do that?"
"I've read Equestrian law, Spike. Fifteen times over. If Flash agrees, then he is allowed to join my guard in the event that the princess he serves is unable to perform her duties. Since Celestia isn't herself anymore, I'd say this is the case." I turned on my throne to Flash. "What do you say? Do you accept my offer?"
Flash bowed low, then nodded. "I would be honored to join your guard, Princess. I know many of the guardsponies that were under my command before would as well." I smiled, knowing to ask them later. However, when I opened my mouth to respond, a pony burst open the doors to my throne room. The mare was a crystalline earth pony, wearing the pink-tinted steel armor that belonged to Cadence's guard.
"Princess… Twilight…" The mare huffed. "Crystal… Empire… under attack!" she panted, unable to string more than a few words together. I jumped off my throne and glided to her side, wrapping a wing around her tired form.
"What happened? Did Cadence send you? Where is she now?" I asked.
"Monster attacked… I was sent… by Princess… Cadenza… I'm not sure… where she is…" The pony was obviously exhausted, having run from the Crystal Empire by herself.
"Emberswirl," I said, turning to my faithful Captain. "Take this pony to the infirmary, she needs rest." I said, trotting out of the throne room.
"What are you going to do, Princess?" he asked in reply.
"I'm going to the Tree of Harmony. Maybe something there can help us."
Fifteen minutes later, the Tree of Harmony's cave.
I had come alone, as my request, to this cave. After giving it back the Elements of Harmony, the tree seems to rest on some sort of hallowed ground. The very air in the cave seems magical, blessed even. The tree still bore the cutie marks of my friends and I, as well as Celestia's sun and Luna's moon. After we restored its magic, it even started to sprout a few leaves here and there.
I'm not sure what I wanted to find here. I left the box it gave us here in front of it, as it was too heavy to lift, even for Applejack, and it seemed to be magic-resistant. The hexagonal lid of the box still refused to open without its keys, but that troubled me little in comparison to the crisis that plagued Equestria. I sat down in front of the tree, closing my eyes as if to hear it.
To my surprise, I did hear a voice. "Listen, Appleseed, I know the Tree of Harmony is a sacred place. But I'm just not understanding how it can help us." The voice was male, and so was the pony who responded.
"Blitz, Ah know this must be hard on y'all," The accent on this voice was definitely familiar. "But Ah reckon' Ventus needs his space. We did jus' tell him what had happened, after all." I turned around, only to spot four ponies I don't recognize approaching the tree. Two earth ponies, a unicorn, and a pegasus. Each one was new to my eyes, but strangely familiar as well.
"Um… Hello?" I called out towards them.
"Well now, dears," the unicorn of the group said. "It seems somepony else knows about the tree. And an alicorn mare, to boot!" The posh accent, as well as his appearance, reminded me of Rarity.
"Oh! Oh! Oh! Hi! My name's Cherry Cake, what's yours?" a beige earth pony said, bouncing uncomfortably close to me.
"Uhh… my name's Twilight Sparkle, and uh… I'd like to know your names?"
"I'm Cherry Cake! But you already knew that, silly!" The earth pony said. She was bouncing in a rather unpredictable pattern, like a certain mare I knew.
"My name is Perfect Stitch. A pleasure to meet you, dear." The alabaster unicorn said.
The green earth pony stallion spoke next. "Mah name's Appleseed. Pleasure, miss." Even his name was similar to Applejack's, let alone his disposition.
Finally, the pegasus. "Name's Spectrum Blitz. You won't find a faster flier anywhere, Twilight." Now that was a cocky attitude I knew by heart. And it was all too coincidental to believe.
"Who are you ponies?" I asked. "I've never seen or heard of any of you in my life."
Appleseed walked up to Spectrum. "If you won't tell her the truth, Ah will. No more secrets, Blitz." The cyan pegasus looked away, as if lost in thought. "You know Ah'm right on this one, Blitz."
"Yeah… You're right." Spectrum turned to me. "Now, princess - I assume since you're an alicorn you are such - well, could you inform me of the situation at hoof for those on the other side?"
"Well, it's not going anywhere but bad for us, there corrupted monsters are- wait, shouldn't you know all of this?" I asked. "This threat is attacking all of Equestria, if not, the word! How do you not know this?"
"Because we're dead, Princess Sparkle." Stitch said. I could feel my eyes widen in my confusion. "We exist in the afterlife, where these creatures have no hold. I believe it's the magic that the Tree of Harmony gives off that lets us see each other." His three friends looked at him downright flabbergasted. "…What? The fashion pony can't know a thing or two about magic?"
I thought for a second. "That actually makes sense. The Tree of Harmony does give off a unique magical signature, I guess it could blur the line between the living and the dead… that, and I've met almost everypony who's taken refuge near my castle, I know I'd remember seeing you four."
"Well what pony, princess or not, would forget seeing such a fabulous stallion like myself?" Stitch proclaimed. Appleseed smacked the back of his head with a forehoof.
"Wait, if you're ghosts to me… how can you be touched?" I asked.
"It's the principle of relativity, Princess." Stitch said, nursing his bruise. "We're ghosts to you, and you're as a ghost to us. You and I cannot touch, but anypony from the same plane of existence can." It sounded pretty reasonable to me. To test it, I hesitantly reached out a hoof to Blitz. As expected, I passed straight through him.
"As much as this s a fun science project, we do have more pressing matters to begin with." Spectrum said. He flew up to the Tree of Harmony, inspecting each of the elements as they rested in the branches of the tree. "Why, they've changed quite a bit since I last saw them."
"Might I ask something?" I said. "How o you four know about the Tree of Harmony? It's supposed to be a secret to everypony. Same goes for the elements; how do you know about them?"
Blitz landed and turned to me, looking straight at me while he responded. "Oh, it's quite simple, princess." He said. "We know so much about the Elements of Harmony and the Tree of Harmony because we created them."
~End of Chapter~