Twilight of Equestria

Chapters

Light's Slumber
Lunar Interlude
Awakening
Sunrise
Shining Return
Thunder Interlude

Light's Slumber

Chapter 1: Light's Slumber

Twilight Sparkle lay back on her bed, sighing in exhaustion. Yet another Summer Sun Celebration come and gone. Three years ago today, she’d met the greatest friends she’d ever known and, together, they’d managed to free Princess Luna from the horrors of Nightmare Moon.

It had been a long, enjoyable, sometimes frustrating, but always rewarding, time since that day. In the past three years, she and her friends had discovered the joys of friendship and, as the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, had saved not just Ponyville, but all of Equestria several times over.

She closed her eyes, feeling much more tired than she should, even taking in the fact that she’d woken earlier than usual to watch Princess Celestia raise the sun. She had one of Pinkie Pie’s parties later, but it couldn't hurt to rest her eyes for a bit, could it? Before long, she was asleep. However, unbeknownst to anyone, a certain timer was ticking down, and had just reached its end. Deep inside Twilight, in some intangible place that harbored not just her magic, but the very core of her being, something ignited.

For a moment, all was peaceful. Then, beneath her sheets, her starburst cutie mark began to glow. As it did, Twilight’s eyes twitched beneath her eyelids. At first, it was nothing more than that. Soon, the jerky motions had spread to her entire body. As she began to convulse, light gathered, welling up from her horn.

At first, the effects were confined to her bedroom, but soon the entire Golden Oak Library began to shake as magic ran free within it. Books tumbled from their shelves, but rarely reached the floor. Anything not bolted to the floor had begun to rise into the air. Some objects changed forms, while others vanished, reappearing elsewhere. Flames erupted from nowhere, though they never seemed to ignite anything.

It wasn't long before the effects had begun to spread beyond the tree that Twilight called home. Soon, magic was erupting all over Ponyville, seemingly random in target and effect. Fortunately, it seemed to refrain from causing any actual harm, though several ponies found themselves rising into the air, helplessly caught in a telekinetic field. They were lucky, as the fields soon faded, dropping them to the ground with no idea what was happening.

It wasn't long after the events began that Twilight’s number one assistant, Spike the dragon, noticed what was happening. As Twilight’s assistant, he’d been exposed to all sorts of magic, so he managed to keep relatively cool. He rushed to inform Twilight, only to find the unicorn convulsing on her bed, her entire body blazing with ethereal light.

Not knowing what else to do, Spike managed to catch a quill from the air. He quickly scribbled a note onto a piece of stray parchment before releasing a blast of his emerald fire. The message vanished as it was consumed by the flames.

Knowing that the one pony that might be able to help Twilight was now aware of the situation, Spike now felt comfortable beginning to freak out. Narrowly managing to dodge a flying book, he screamed at the lavender mare to wake up. A moment later, he threw himself unceremoniously to the ground in order to avoid a quill’s sharp tip.

In a brilliant flash of golden light, a tall mare with an alabaster coat materialized several miles outside of Ponyville. Her appearance was unmistakable, with both a unique horn and a set of splendid wings. Her mane was shimmering energy, glowing with many colors, primarily pink and green. Even if she wasn’t recognized from them, she wore golden regalia signifying her position as Princess of the Sun, which only highlighted the symbol of her charge emblazoned proudly on her flank.

Celestia frowned as she took in her surroundings. Having been a master of the teleportation spell for millennia, she was sure that she’d made no mistakes in the casting. There were two possible answers. Either someone had placed a powerful teleportation-redirection spell over the town, and she hadn't felt the resistance such a spell would cause, or there was an intense enough magical disturbance that the spell’s innate protective features had triggered. Now deeply worried, as such a disturbance would be incredibly dangerous, she spread her magnificent wings and took to the air.

Surprisingly, she met with powerful resistance. The magic in the air was strong enough to provide a tangible sensation. Unwilling to waste time, her horn glowed a powerful gold. A wedge of power formed before her, its golden light parting the very air. Her shimmering wings flapped harder than they had in years and Celestia left a golden trail as she soared through the air.

At such speed, it didn't even take her a full minute to reach her student’s balcony. What she saw in the village was deeply distressing. Ponies and objects of every shape and size hovering helplessly in the air. The natural elements running amok. Fortunately, her superior eyes had not seen any sign of actual injuries to her precious ponies.

Without so much as a twitch, the doors swung open, admitting her to the library. She stifled a bit of inappropriate laughter at the sight of her beloved student’s assistant fleeing from flying objects. It was much harder than usual, but she managed to levitate him into the air. Placing the poor dragon on her back, her wings now shielding him, she laid eyes on the reason she had raced to this small town in record time. Her faithful student was convulsing in the air, the lavender aura around her so bright that it almost prevented her from seeing the mare within.

“Twilight!” The princess called, but it was no use. Her voice could not reach the mare.

This was no ordinary magical surge. Twilight had certainly had incidents before, some that had been truly incredible, but never anything like this. Her horn blazed as she invoked a spell she had developed years earlier and, for a moment, the magical storm pouring forth from her student faltered. Unfortunately, it soon broke free again, even stronger.

The sun princess frowned. It had almost worked. Unfortunately, her own power was simply insufficient to suppress the magical energies that were pouring forth from her student. Suppressing her worry for the young mare, she forced herself to concentrate.

Taking a deep breath to center herself, Celestia closed her eyes. Her very essence reached out from her body, calling upon the entity she represented. For a single, infinitesimal moment, the sun dimmed as the immortal mare drew upon its power fully. Her horn turned a solid golden color as she tapped into the almost infinite well of power that gave light to all of Equestria.

When she opened her eyes once more, they had changed completely. Now, they were blazing stars, identical to the orb that shone in the sky above. Light erupted forth as she cast her spell a second time. Crackling golden fire materialized in endless streamers pouring from the tip of her horn. It quickly wrapped itself around the entirety of Twilight’s aura, not burning the tree despite touching the wood in several places.

The flames compressed inwards, forcing Twilight’s own energies back into her. It wasn't more than a few seconds later that the flames were actually sinking into Twilight’s body. The lavender mare’s spasms quickly stopped, and she sank down to the bed, which also fell to the floor.

All around Ponyville, the magic had ceased to wreak havoc. Ponies who had been caught up raced back to their homes, reassuring themselves that their families were alright. Of course, this was Ponyville, where odd things happened every few days. Sure, this had been a particularly confusing incident, but it wasn't too unusual for Ponyville. Seeing that there were no remaining effects, it wasn't long before they were returning to business as usual.

By the time the sun had returned to normal, Celestia had already returned to Canterlot, bringing along the comatose Twilight. Worried about what had happened, Celestia forced herself to bring Twilight to what was probably the most hated room in the castle. It was an almost forgotten chamber that hadn't had a guest in decades.

Once upon a time, it had been Starswirl the Bearded’s personal lab. Celestia still wasn't quite sure what had happened, whether it was a safety measure gone wrong or a magical accident. What she did know was that the room was completely magic-isolated, beyond any other enchantment ever developed. No magic from outside could affect anything on the inside. Unfortunately, the room seemed to drain magic from those within in a decidedly unpleasant manner to power that boundary. It was bad, even for earth ponies and pegasi.

What’s worse, the normal magical protections were insufficient to prevent Twilight’s fits from wreaking havoc. The princess had tried to bring her to a normal magic-isolated room, but it hadn't worked. Her suppression spell had faded, and Twilight had begun to blaze with light once more. Fortunately, she’d been able to catch the fit before it could get worse, and her spell had worked without drawing on the sun.

Celestia did her best to suppress her despair, but was fairly sure that she wasn't doing a very good job. What had happened to her poor student? She looked down to the mare on the bed with distress. She remained there, standing still and worrying for several minutes. She only looked up upon hearing the sound of the door swinging open.

“Sister? Are you alright?” Luna asked hesitantly. “Has there been any improvement at all in Twilight Sparkle's condition?”

“No change.” Celestia sighed.

“What happened to Twilight, Princess?” Luna had entered the room with three of Twilight’s best friends and Spike. It was Applejack who had spoken up, though all three looked rather distressed. Spike had raced to Twilight’s bed and was looking distraught.

“I’m not altogether sure.” The princess of the sun admitted. “Spike sent a message that magic was ‘going crazy’. By the time I arrived in Ponyville, it was truly a disaster. It took a great deal of power to wrest Twilight from her surge.”

“A magical surge?” Spike asked, alarmed. “I thought you said she was done with those?” The young dragon shuddered in remembrance of some of the horrors that Twilight’s magic running loose had caused. The more magical a unicorn was, the more ridiculous the effects of their surges, and you didn't get any more magical than Twilight Sparkle.

“I believed she was. This incident was unlike any other. I’m sure you remember the spell I have used in the past to quell my faithful student’s powers? Well, the spell failed. I was forced to draw upon the sun itself to pass through even her unconscious defenses.” She still sounded a bit shaken about that.The idea of her magic being unable to help Twilight had made her quite fearful.

“I-is she going to be alright?” Fluttershy asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“I am not sure.” Celestia admitted softly. “She appears to be in a sort of coma now.” Her eyes shifted to Luna briefly, before turning away.

“Has anyone told Dashie or Rarity about this?” Pinkie Pie’s usually happy demeanor had fled at the sight of her friend's current appearance. Her pink hair hung limp.

“Rainbow Dash should be completing her Wonderbolt training in the next two weeks or so, and I have no doubt that she would depart immediately should she hear what has occurred. I do not believe Twilight would appreciate Miss Rainbow sacrificing her dream just to check up on her. Once she returns, she will be told. As for your friend Rarity, I believe she is currently in the Crystal Empire? I have sent a message to Princess Cadence, who will take the time to inform her.” Celestia glanced at her sister again, hesitating.

“Is there something you need, sister?” Luna asked, arching an eyebrow.

“I… Yes. Yes, there is.” Pressing on, despite her misgivings, the princess continued. “I have a suspicion as to what has happened to Twilight. Do you remember a certain incident not long after we acquired our cutie marks?”

Luna tilted her head upwards as she consulted her memories. Recalling the incident in question, she nodded her head sharply.

“Yes, I recall. You fell into a deep slumber for many days. I was forced to move your sun and my moon both.” She complained before frowning. “Dost thou believe Twilight Sparkle is suffering from something similar?”

“I… Yes. If my suspicions are correct, then the catastrophe earlier today was a result of Twilight acting as a sort of conduit for the magic used throughout Equestria. I would be willing to bet that, should we examine every unicorn within a certain radius of Ponyville, we would find that, in addition to an extraordinary magical surge, Twilight replicated every single spell used.”

Luna froze at that. The level of power required for something like that would be utterly absurd. She doubted that she could do such a thing herself without tapping into the full power of her night. Even then, she would be hard pressed to perform such a feat.

Celestia continued her explanation. “If I am right, then Twilight will be aware of every use of magic around her. It is doubtful that her sanity will survive without the proper training.”

Twilight’s friends looked appropriately horrified at that, but Celestia wasn't done. “What’s more, I am unsure if Twilight will even be able to awaken without assistance. I myself had a great deal of trouble, and that was only with dealing with the changes of the sun. Twilight must learn to handle a far greater level of understanding, should my suspicions be accurate.” She turned to look directly into Luna’s eyes.

“I want you to cast your coma-joining spell on me, sister. Send me into Twilight’s mind to aid her.”

Luna’s jaw dropped. “No! Absolutely not! You yourself forbid me from using it. I could never… I would never do such a thing.” She declared.

“Er… Excuse me, but what’s this spell y’all are talking about?” Applejack requested. Her two companions looked just as confused. “If there’s some spell that could help Twilight, why wouldn't you use it?”

“Because what our dear sister has seems to be forgetting is that the spell is a failure. We originally developed it to utilize our knowledge of the dreamscape to help those who were trapped in endless slumber. We thought that the aid of a loved one might assist in the recovery of such patients, by allowing them to interact directly in the form of a dream. Unfortunately, we did not realize the consequences. Once our spell is used, neither can wake alone.” She addressed Celestia now. “You would be trapped within the mind of poor Twilight.”

“I am aware.” Celestia retorted. “You have been asking me to take on a larger role in governing our country. This is your chance. I have no doubt that Twilight will wake if I can assist her. All you need do is inform the court that I have taken a short leave of absence. I am sure that you will do perfectly well.”

“We will not do such a thing, Celestia!” Luna growled, turning to leave.

“Then I will find another.” The princess of the sun replied determinedly. “It is a difficult spell, but there are several unicorns in Canterlot who are strong enough to cast it, and you forget that I know how it works as well.”

Luna glared at her sister. “Why would you demand this?! You know full well that the public knowledge of you being unconscious for many days would be an invitation of disaster.”

“There is nothing I would not do for my family.” Celestia stated, her determination clear.

Luna and Celestia exchanged heated glares for a moment longer, until the younger of the two finally gave in. “Very well. If you insist on this foalishness, then I will aid you. Better that than the alternative.”

The princess of the night turned to glare at the three Element bearers. “You will tell no one of this, do you understand?” She kept up her glare until they each agreed. Even Spike, who had barely moved from Twilight’s side since arriving, nodded his head.

Celestia curled up on the bed around Twilight’s prone form. Luna stepped forward and placed one hoof on each mare’s head. Her horn blazed with shadowy power as she invoked her magic. Celestia’s eyes closed and Luna leaned back, barely restraining her tears.

--Two weeks later--

The cyan mare flew through the air. The wind strained against her as she pushed her body to its limits. A moment later, the air exploded around her. As a wave of color poured forth, the high-speed flier wasn't done. She shot down before turning 180 degrees and flying back up through the ring of light. Less than a second later, there was a second blast of the light spectrum. The two rings of color were perpendicular to one another, and they spread through the sky, dazzling anyone watching.

Rainbow Dash flew to the ground, breathing heavily. Her new Double Rainboom was utterly exhausting, but it was certainly a perfect final stunt to showcase why she was a perfect candidate for the Wonderbolts. She shook her head to clear it, her rainbow mane swishing behind her. It was certainly the most stressful stunt she had as well. Not only did she have to perform a 270 degree turn immediately after breaking through the barrier, she had to decelerate just enough that she could push through it once more, all in a fraction of a single second.

“Well, that was certainly impressive.” A voice called out. Rainbow’s face lit up as she recognized Spitfire, the captain of the Wonderbolts. “Are you ready, Dash?” The older mare asked proudly. “Ready to join the Wonderbolts?”

“Yes!” Rainbow cheered, doing a quick back flip out of sheer joy. She would have done more, but she’d just gotten out of the most strenuous test she’d ever taken before, both physically and mentally.

“Then come with me. All you have left to do is fill out some paperwork for Ironhoof and swear the oaths. You've done it, Dash. It's a bit premature, but let me be the first to welcome you into the Wonderbolts!”

Spitfire led the beaming mare back into the building and into a rather large office. It was clear from the lack of luxuries that it was the office of a rather hardworking pony. The high-quality weapons and armor on the walls showed that the owner was clearly a military pony.

Ironhoof Thunderstorm was a rather intimidating stallion. He was a dark grey color, reminiscent of the most dangerous kinds of clouds. He was the biggest stallion Rainbow had ever seen, even larger than Bic Macintosh. He had a lightning bolt shaped scar going over his left eye, though he still could open it. His wings were enormous and jagged. His cutie mark was a blood red tornado.

The massive pegasus' head shot up the moment the door opened. He was instantly alert, though he relaxed a bit upon seeing his guests.

He smirked as Rainbow followed Spitfire to his desk. He extended a hoof to Rainbow, who shook it eagerly. “Well, well, well. If it isn't the great Rainbow Dash, the fastest pegasus alive.” Rainbow blushed heavily as he continued. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“No, the honor’s all mine.” Rainbow demurred. After all, this was Ironhoof Thunderstorm! He was the mayor of Cloudsdale and, more importantly, in charge of the Wonderbolts. He was also a military advisor to the Solar Throne, effectively in charge of most of the pegasi in the Equestrian Army.

“You’re an inspiration to all of us pegasi, Rainbow.” He pushed a small stack of papers forward. At the top of the first page ‘WONDERBOLTS’ was emblazoned in ornate lettering. “I have your contract right here. But before you can get to dealing with the paperwork, I’m afraid that you have one last thing to do.” He paced a bit. “You see, the Wonderbolts were originally a military unit, and technically still are. In order to join, you have to make a couple of oaths. It’s pretty much just a formality nowadays, but they are still on the books.”

Rainbow frowned slightly at the reminder. It was the one piece of Wonderbolt history she really disliked. She wanted to join them to inspire others. She had no desire whatsoever to join the military. Still, she looked at the single piece of paper. Her frown became much deeper.

“What the hay?” She demanded, shoving the paper away. “There’s no way I’m swearing anything like this! I don’t even know what this pegasus nation is supposed to be!”

Ironhoof glared at Rainbow. “The Wonderbolts are the pride and joy of our race. It’s only right that they would swear to serve our interests above all else. Times are going to get hard, Dash. We have to have every card that we can get.”

“What are you talking about?” Rainbow demanded. “Equestria is at peace! We’re on good terms with all of our neighbors! Even if it wasn't, I support all Equestrians, not just the pegasi! That oath is more than biased; it practically demands that I be willing to kill anypony that threatens a pegasus!”

“Rainbow, please!” Spitfire spoke up. “Think about this. All you have to do is swear the oath and you’re in the Wonderbolts!” She hesitated briefly. “We haven’t been called into military service for decades!”

Rainbow shook her head. “I will never swear an oath like that.”

“I’m afraid that you don’t have a choice.” At some signal, a pair of armored guards entered, blocking the door. Ironhoof sighed, obviously frustrated. “I had intended to do this more slowly, but I’m afraid that the ideal opportunity has come upon us. You see, Princess Celestia has been out of commission for two weeks now. This is the best chance for a first strike we’ve had in centuries. So, you’re going to swear this oath, or we’re going to lock you up forever. Now make your choice!” His eyes sparkled with rage.

“Buck you, traitor!” Rainbow snarled as she turned away.

“You’re being called into service Rainbow. For the sake of all pegasi, you have to join! The unicorns have been squeezing us dry for years! Don’t you have any loyalty at all?” Spitfire demanded as she placed one hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder.

The rainbow-maned pegasus lowered her head. “Of course I do.” She spat, laying out the elder pegasus with a perfect punch. “I am loyal to Equestria. I’m going to stop you!” She flew as fast as she could, slamming into one of the pegasus guards. She hit him with enough force that he slammed through the door, giving her a perfect exit.

Unfortunately for the cyan mare, there were eight more guards outside the room. Cursing as they surrounded her, Rainbow prepared herself for a fight. The odds were bad, especially considering how exhausted she was, but she just had to escape.

Her eyes briefly lowered to look at the crystal bracelet on her right foreleg. It perfectly matched her coat, and had six marks inscribed on it. Twilight had given it to her just before she’d left, forcing her to promise not to take it off. 'For them.' Rainbow thought as she glared at the other pegasi.

She made the first move, managing to duck under one of the larger pegasi. She rammed into his legs, knocking him over. She took the time to snatch his spear in the process. She didn't have much practice with the things and, in a moment of panic, she hurled it at a charging stallion. She'd only wanted to get him away and winced at his scream. The spear had pierced right through one of his wings.

The athletic mare took to the air, narrowly avoiding being impaled in three places. She shot towards the exit, only to see three more guards ahead of her. That made an even dozen. The odds were looking really bad now, but Rainbow couldn't give up.

She used her superior aerial abilities to grab one of the guards ahead of her, hoisting him into the air. While that normally wouldn’t be the best idea to use against another pegasus, Dash was well aware that it was rather hard to take control of one’s own flight from a standing position. Before he could react, she turned and, pumped her wings hard. Using every ounce of her body’s strength, she swung him into one of the guards charging her from behind. Luckily, pegasi were naturally light ponies, or there was no way she could have swung him like that, regardless of the force her wings could produce. She managed to land several well-placed kicks that broke spears into pieces.

Her chest heaving, Dash braced herself as they moved to surround her again. She glanced down at her leg again and glanced at the bracelet. Twilight had sworn that it would keep her safe. 'You know, Twi, if there was ever a time I could use some of your help, it would be now.' Sunlight glinted off the crystal, as if mocking her thoughts.

Even as she thought that, a pair of the guards tackled her from behind, managing to restrain her briefly. A third stepped forward and leveled his spear to skewer her. She glared at him hatefully. She would not close her eyes. She was going to face her death proudly. Nevertheless, she found herself unable to hold back a flinch as he moved closer.

As he thrust the spear forward, Rainbow found her vision completely eclipsed by light. A moment later, she realized that she was still alive. He hadn’t managed to complete the attack. The building was decimated. As she watched a rippling wave of rainbow light explode out of her position, she realized what had happened. Somehow that crazy egghead had managed to get the bracelet to trigger one of her own Rainbooms!

Thanking the lavender mare with all of her might, Rainbow took to the air, using the speed granted by the Rainboom to propel her away from Cloudsdale. She had to get to Canterlot. She had to warn them. 'I’m coming, Twi.' Rainbow thought determinedly as she shot away from the cloud city.

Author's Note

Going to be entirely honest here. I probably shouldn't be posting this. I have stories I should be working on at FFnet and I haven't seen more than a fraction of this show. That being said, I've read a substantial enough amount of fanfiction here to (I think) have a decent idea of how everything works. This plot bunny came to me while I was away from my computer and wouldn't leave me alone, so I wrote this on my iPhone. All 4,375 words of it (ANs don't count). Hopefully it'll stop gnawing on my leg now. As a result, this isn't exactly up to my usual writing standards, but I think it came out OK. Edits will probably happen regardless. I'm not entirely happy with a few pieces of this (namely the latter sections), but I hope it was at least decent. I'll probably update the Rainbow/General Thunderstorm conversation at some point, since it looks a bit off to me.

As I said in the description, updates will be sporadic. I might update in a few days or in a few weeks. Or, I might come to my senses and delete this entirely. Anyway, if I do end up continuing, I'm going to need a huge number of OCs, so if you feel like you want to take a shot at creating a character, please do! Obviously, the pegasi are the main antagonists (or are they?), but they're not all evil. And you don't have to limit yourselves to ponies either. Griffons, zebras, donkeys, etc. are all fair game. The more OCs that are submitted, the fewer I have to come up with on my own, which obviously means at least a slight increase in update speed.

Next time: Lunar Interlude. We take a look at how Luna is dealing with the situation that has been thrust upon her.

Let me what you think. Hopefully this didn't turn out too poorly.

Lunar Interlude

Princess Luna cursed as she rubbed her eyes, a loud noise ringing in her head. She concentrated and her horn glowed faintly. The noise ceased and she sighed in relief. She glared at the balcony in annoyance before slowly getting off the bed. Normal alarms were useless, so she had to cast a spell on herself to ensure she would wake up.

Why did she have to get up at this ungodly hour? Oh right, her sister had decided, in her usual self-righteous overbearing manner, to join poor Twilight Sparkle in her coma. Now, she had to get up early enough to raise the sun every morning.

Her horn blazed with her dark magical aura as she reached into the sky above. Her thoughts brushed against the sun. It resisted her touch, apparently still displeased with her for her actions in attempting to bring about eternal night. The damn ball of fire could really hold a grudge. Nevertheless, it begrudgingly moved over the horizon.

She sighed in relief as she watched the dawn briefly. She turned and cantered back into her room. At least the stupid sun had stopped burning her every morning. It had been two weeks of this so far, and she hated every day of it. She was the princess of the night, damn it! She wasn’t meant to get up this early. As she was tending her mane, she heard the door open and the clink of fine china.

If she had to wake early, at least she had that delightful elixir, coffee, to help. She’d been slowly catching up on everything that had occurred since her banishment, but nothing had matched the magnificence of the dark beverage. She’d ordered the staff to send some to her room at dawn every morning.

After finishing her early morning coffee, she headed off for breakfast, and more coffee. With her sister sleeping, she had to host the Day Court. After two weeks of their inane babbling, she was half convinced that they should just purge the nobles completely. Why should she have to deal with their nonsense?

Luna barely managed to suppress a sigh of relief as the last petitioner of the day exited the room. It wouldn’t be proper for her to sigh in front of the pair of royal guards flanking her. She rose to her hooves and made to leave as well, when she heard a shout. Pausing to listen, she was surprised to see a cyan mare burst into the room, her chest heaving. Judging from her mane, it was Rainbow Dash, the element of Loyalty.

“Princess!” The pegasus cried, only to freeze as she looked at Luna.

The princess of the moon frowned. She hadn’t interacted much with the bearer, but she wasn’t aware that Rainbow Dash disliked her so much. She had to hide how much the look of horror on the pegasus’ face saddened her.

“What is-” Luna began, taking a step forward, only to be cut off.

“Get the buck away!” Rainbow screamed as she charged forward.

Considering the pegasus was suddenly moving a good deal faster than the speed of sound, Luna didn’t have much time to react to the charge. She braced herself, only to be surprised when the pegasus shot over her shoulder. She whirled in time to see Rainbow tackle her guards, who had raised their spears behind her. The sonic boom passed over them, shattering the windows.

“What is going on, Rainbow Dash?!” The dark princess demanded. “Answer us!” She realized that she had slipped into the more archaic speech of a thousand years ago, as she usually did when she was especially emotional.

Rainbow didn’t even wince at the use of the Royal Canterlot Voice. “Pegasi. Coup. Had to stop them.” Her breaths were coming in short harsh gasps now, and she looked utterly exhausted.

Luna reared back in shock. She obviously couldn’t be sure from just five words, but it sounded like the bearer of Loyalty was accusing the pegasi of attempting a revolt. How was that possible?

Luna’s horn glowed as she cast a rejuvenation spell on Rainbow. She’d apologize to the pegasus for the effective hangover the spell caused later.

“What art thou saying? Tell us everything!” She ordered.

“It was General Thunderstorm. He… he basically said I had to swear to serve his orders or he’d lock me up. He said that, since Princess Celestia wasn’t here, it was the best chance he’d get to attack. I managed to get away and flew right here.” Rainbow finally took a breath. “Your guards must be part of it. When they saw me, they made to attack you. I’m guessing that Thunderstorm told them to be ready, in case I managed to get away.”

Normally, there was no way that she would just believe the pegasus’ claims, but this pony was basically the living incarnation of loyalty. She might not be the element of Honesty, but there was no way this mare would lie about something like that.

Luna glanced down at her guards. Unlike usual, she was accompanied by a pair of pegasi from the Solar Guard. Had this rebellion really gotten so far as to compromise Celestia’s personal guard? She wondered if any of the Lunar Guard had joined.

When she heard armored hoofsteps, she turned back to face the door. Five armored pegasi were standing against her, hefting their weapons towards her. They slowly moved towards her. Luna glared at them. Did they really believe her to be so weak as to be brought down by a mere five pegasi? Her horn blazed with power. Two of the stallions’ shadows came to life. They slithered like snakes across their owners’ bodies, binding their limbs. Unfortunately, the other three had taken to the air, so the spell couldn’t trap them as well. No matter.

Luna animated her mane with one of her favorite combat spells and it shot out, expanding enough to ensnare one pegasus and slam him into the floor. A volley of magical bolts erupted from the tip of her horn. The black tinged spells struck with pinpoint accuracy, leaving the last two pegasi on the ground. Their wings had been Luna’s target. It took quite a bit of damage for a wound to the wing to be permanent or fatal, but it was only the most exceptional flier that could continue to remain in the air after one was struck.

Rainbow’s jaw dropped as she watched Luna dispatch five royal guards in less than four seconds. “What the- That was…” She stammered uncharacteristically.

“Did you expect them to pose more of a threat to me?” A smirking Luna asked the cyan mare. “You seem to forget that I have lived for thousands of years, just like Celestia. We are both quite skilled on the field of battle.”

“No, I was just a bit surprised to see how easy it was for you.” Rainbow shook her head. “Wait a second, why would these five bother attacking on their own? They have to have some idea how powerful you are.”

Luna’s eyes widened and she galloped to a window nearby. As she thought, there were a huge number of pegasi in the sky, flying away in the direction of Cloudsdale. Rainbow cursed at the sight.

“Do you want me to go after them Princess?” She offered.

“No. I don’t think that would be a good idea.” The alicorn said sadly, quite distraught at the sight of the fleeing pegasi. “No matter how fast you are, they outnumber you more than a hundred to one. I must organize our defenses.” She paused. “Could you deliver these seven to the dungeons for me?”

Rainbow nodded. She made to begin her new task, but froze. “Princess, where is your sister? We could really use her help right now.”

Luna sighed. “I’m afraid that my sister cannot join us. Celestia is currently aiding your friend, Twilight Sparkle, in a matter most dire. Neither of them will wake for many days.”

Rainbow’s expression was horrified. “What happened to Twilight?” She demanded of the older mare, all thoughts of the dungeon forgotten.

Luna groaned and gave Rainbow a short synopsis of the events that had occurred two weeks prior. The cyan pegasus darted away the moment that Luna told her where the lavender mare slept. The princess of the night sighed as she lit her horn, using a rather draining teleportation spell that would send the pegasi to the dungeons.

‘Buck this’ Luna thought. ‘I’m getting more coffee.’

The next four weeks passed with a horrifying swiftness. Reports of conflicts kept coming in. Manehattan was an almost complete loss in less than four days. The pegasi had apparently been slowly altering the weather patterns around the city for weeks, and the biggest storm in Equestrian history had decimated the town. Thankfully, about half of the ponies there had managed to escape unharmed, but the number of casualties was still unknown.

They’d managed similar attacks on several smaller villages, though Luna had managed to coordinate enough of the remaining loyal pegasi to prevent any of the larger cities from being destroyed in such a manner. Rainbow Dash had been invaluable, her knowledge of weather manipulation and pegasus abilities proving immensely useful. In fact, the rainbow-maned pegasus had been acting as Luna’s unofficial lieutenant. She’d refused to return to Ponyville for more than short trips, as she’d wanted to remain in Canterlot to help.

Luna took another long drink of her steaming mug as she examined the map. It joined three more on the table. “We just don’t have enough pegasi.” She complained. “Less than thirty-five percent of the Canterlot Guard pegasi remained loyal, and the army itself is even worse off.”

Rainbow shrugged. “We’ll have to make do with what we have. It will be a lot harder, but if we cut the weather teams in half, we should be able to at least stop any more weather-based attacks.”

Luna sighed. It was the right thing to do, but it would make life significantly worse for the civilian populace, as the lack of planned weather would make farming, among other things, much harder.

“You’re right. I’ll give the order.” Luna finally admitted. “Have you come up with any ideas on dealing with Las Pegasus or Fillydelphia?” It went without saying that taking out Cloudsdale would have to wait, as the cloud city had been heavily fortified in the last few weeks.

Rainbow shook her head. “I’m afraid not. Until Celestia and Twilight wake up, I don’t think we have any unicorns who even know the cloud walking spell. At least, no one I’ve talked to knows how to cast it. It sucks that those traitors took the books on casting it, so you can’t learn it. I had no idea how complicated it was until you had one of those eggheads from Celestia’s school explain it, and he didn’t know any more than the basics. Twilight cast it like it was nothing.”

“She is the element of Magic.” Luna agreed. She noticed Rainbow playing with a crystal bracelet on her wrist. It was very hard to see, considering how closely it matched the mare’s coat. “I had not thought you one for ornamentation.” She commented offhoofedly.

“Oh this?” Rainbow asked, raising her hoof to show the bracelet more clearly. “Twilight made it for me, apparently. It… well, somehow it fired off one of my Rainbooms when I was trapped back in Cloudsdale.”

Luna froze. “Truly? May I examine it?”

“Um…” Rainbow hesitated. “I… Twi made me promise not to take it off.”

“There is no need for you to do so.”

“Alright then.” Rainbow nodded and Luna ignited her horn. Black energy swirled around the bangle.

“Quite impressive. I have not seen an enchanted artifact this impressive in a very long time. It is a three part enchantment, and it does not even need to be charged.”

“Oh?” Rainbow asked, interested now. Had Twilight’s spell really been that awesome?

“Yes. It stores a specific type of energy, monitors your emotional state, and releases the energy should you reach a certain emotional peak. The carving of the gem itself is quite impressive as well. It grants the bracer a great deal of storage capacity. Twilight must have permanently altered the color of a high quality gemstone in order to have it match your coat, as I know of no gem on this planet that has that coloration and this level of magical potency.” Luna took a deep breath as she shook her head in amazement. “I suggest you treasure this greatly, for I doubt there is another unicorn alive that could craft something like this. Indeed, neither I nor my sister could craft something of this caliber.”

“What? But aren’t you two supposed to be super magical? How can you not be able to do something like this?”

“Indeed, but enchanting is something of an art form, and the necessary talent is unique to the individual, rather than learned. Neither of us are gifted in that manner. We can create some basic artifacts, but they are rarely worth the effort.”

Luna tilted her head to look out the window. It was an overcast night, as they simply did not have enough pegasi to do much more than ensure that the clouds were not a threat. Cloudsdale had been pumping out more clouds than ever before, and it appeared that Las Pegasus and Fillydelphia had both begun to produce clouds as well. She wished she was able to control the sun a bit better. Celestia would have probably been able to manipulate its power to at least reduce the cloud cover.

Suddenly, a scroll burst into existence with a flash of green flames. Luna quickly grabbed it with her magic and read through it. Rainbow looked eagerly at it.

“That’s from Spike, right? Does he have any news from the Crystal Empire?” She asked. They’d sent the young dragon to Cadence less than a day after the first attack. The usefulness of the dragon’s ability to send and receive messages was incredible.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they’ve had any success at all with replicating the Crystal Heart’s protection. On the upside, it looks like Shining Armor will be bringing a detachment of the Crystal Guard to help in a few weeks.”

The pegasi had apparently attempted to use another storm to attack the Crystal Empire. Upon learning of this, Luna had sent several weather teams to try and assist. However, the help had been unneeded. Apparently, the Crystal Heart could protect them from malevolently created weather. The crystal ponies hadn’t even noticed the storm.

It had been Rainbow’s idea to see if they could replicate the effects of the national treasure. A dozen unicorns had been sent to examine it. Unfortunately, it appeared that the Crystal Heart’s magic was unique.

Luna opened her mouth to continue, before immediately turning to look at one wall. “I need to go do something. Can you clean up here?” She asked as she finished off her mug, setting it down on the table. When Rainbow shrugged, the princess lit her horn and vanished.

Luna rematerialized just inside the boundaries of the palace. She had elected to remain invisible, so no one observing would have noticed. And it just so happened that three individuals were watching. They were clad in black that would have made them rather hard to notice even on a clear night. Considering the overcast conditions, they were nearly invisible. Of course, that was no barrier to the princess of the night, who could see as clearly in the dark as she could in the light..

Luna used one of her signature combat spells, and her ethereal mane suddenly split in several tendrils. Before they could even twitch, two pegasi were impaled through their wings. She allowed herself to become visible as she slammed them into the ground. The third intruder was sent flying backwards by an enormous blast of force before he could react.

“Did you really think that you could just sneak into my castle? Did you think that this pathetic cloud cover somehow blocks my sight?” She sneered, elongating her mane more. It coiled around the captured pegasi, heedless of their fearful cries. It wasn’t long before they were completely enshrouded in her starry mane.

“I am the princess of the night. There was never any hope for you to sneak past me, especially during my night. Do you think anything can hide from me beneath the night sky? Give up your foolish attempts at stealth and run, little pegasus. Run away and hide. For if I ever lay eyes on you again, I assure you that I will not be so merciful.” The horrorstruck intruder turned and shot away as fast as he could.

Luna’s disgusted sneer turned into a satisfied smirk as the pegasus faded from view. With a quick pulse of light from her horn, she teleported the captured pegasi to the dungeons. That had worked perfectly. She was sure that she’d made quite the impression on that third pegasus. He would not be returning any time soon and, with luck, they would be much more fearful of her.

Of course, she obviously couldn't actually see everything under the moon. Such a thing would be far too much for her brain to handle. That didn't mean she couldn't encourage her enemies to believe that she could. Her wards around the castle would inform her of any attempts to infiltrate it, so she could back up her bluff.

She turned to look at a certain area of the castle with a sigh. ‘Wake up, Celly. I get the feeling that I’m going to need your help soon.’

Author's Note

Well, this turned out significantly differently than I had thought it would. It was supposed to be a 1500 or so word explanation of the next few weeks from Luna's POV. Then she decided she wanted some coffee and to kick some flank. Rainbow wanted more screen-time. I don't even like coffee, yet I addicted Luna to it. I have no idea what my muse is thinking. Anyway, the plot bunny's still hanging around (teeth wedged firmly in my thigh), so I managed to get this out a lot faster than I had anticipated. I wouldn't expect this rate of updating to last.

For future reference, interludes are shorter chapters in another character's POV. I'll usually use them for time-skips and other such situations. This is probably about as long as they'll get.

I've probably made some changes to the world. For example, Fillydelphia and Las Pegasus are both cloud cities like Cloudsdale. I couldn't find anything on the wiki saying otherwise and I find the idea of assaulting flying cities to be epic. I've also made the cloud walking spell incredibly difficult because, if it wasn't, the war would be over way too quickly. Basically, very few unicorns actually know how to cast it without instructions and all of the books on it have been stolen, so they don't know more than the basics. It's also going to be dangerous to mess the spell up. I have no idea how enchanting actually works in FiM, so I made it ridiculously hard and rare. Twilight's just awesome like that.

Next time: Awakening. Our protagonist awakens from her long nap.

Thanks to everyone who sent me OCs. I'm still looking, so send me more! I really appreciate all of the feedback and favorites. Let me know what you think about this chapter!

Awakening

--One Week Later--

Violet eyes snapped open in the darkness. Their owner examined her surroundings briefly, before closing them again. She didn’t have time to waste. Images of a burning body plagued her mind.

Twilight Sparkle cast her mind from her body, examining the surroundings with her magic, rather than with her normal senses. She barely even noticed the drain from her astral projection. Canterlot was protected by a number of magical protections. Chief among them was the castle’s wards against teleportation. Only the princesses could teleport through them. They could temporarily give permission, but not permanent exceptions. Twilight knew she couldn’t afford the time to locate Luna, and Celestia would be asleep for quite a few more minutes. It was another consequence of the spell used on the solar princess, she somehow knew.

Twilight examined the wards carefully. These were very old wards. They were more powerful than modern wards, but would have been many times more difficult to cast. In essence, the castle’s protections were formed of patches that were placed adjacent to one another, like the pieces of a puzzle. It was quite interesting, but she was getting sidetracked. With a minor extension of her will, Twilight cast her mind further through the wards, slipping between the patches like water through cracks. She found her way out of the wards in seconds.

A moment later, the lavender mare vanished from her lying position, leaving behind only a bright flash of light. The alabaster alicorn curled inward, seeking the warm body she had been deprived of.

--Two minutes earlier--

Rainbow bid Fluttershy farewell and flew back towards Ponyville. She’d make one last pass through the town before returning to Canterlot. She might want to help Luna, but there was no way she’d leave her home completely unprotected. Those royal guards posted here were nice and all, but she’d rather keep an eye out herself.

It was as she was finishing up her final sweep that she saw it: an enormous pitch-black cloud in the shape of a sphere. It was less than a fifteenth the size of Ponyville, but not by much. Nowadays, pretty much all of Equestria was dark, the cloud cover blocking most sunlight. However, this cloud was so black that it was clearly visible despite being engulfed in shadow. It was moving at a rapid pace directly towards the town. Well, a rather quick pace for a cloud, anyway.

Rainbow shot towards the cloud, dipping to the ground first to pick up a rather hefty rock. She flew towards it and hurled the stone at the giant cloud. To her shock, the rock bounced off of the pitch-black cloud.

The pegasus cursed as the cloud continued inexorably towards Ponyville. She was NOT going to allow this thing to get near her friends. She reared back to gather momentum before rocketing forward, hooves outstretched. Surprisingly, she punched right through the cloud, her usual weather-manipulation magic working perfectly.

In that split second where time slows after one makes an enormous mistake, Rainbow saw the inside of the cloud. It was filled with liquid rainbow. The volatile substance exploded right before her eyes. She brought her forelegs up to protect her face, for all the good it would do her. As she raised them, she could see the rainbow light already wrapping around her leg, though she couldn’t feel it. She braced herself for the end and, as expected, she was sent flying back.

To her shock, she felt no pain. Recklessly making a slight gap to see between her own legs, she saw a rainbow trail between her and the cloud. Then, the cloud exploded. Twilight’s bracelet had saved her again, she realized. Unfortunately, even flying away at Rainboom speeds couldn’t allow her to escape an explosion of this size from ground zero of the blast.

Despite her best efforts, the rainbow explosion slammed into her. She could feel it burning her, and she knew she was only on the very outskirts of the blast. Part of her back was even outside of it. Gathering up every ounce of strength she could muster, Rainbow forced herself away. Hurtling backwards at full speed, the cyan mare braced herself for impact with the hard ground.

Her flickering eyes could see that the blast radius ended outside Ponyville. Unfortunately, she was rocketing towards the middle of town at an incredible pace. She closed her eyes, just hoping that she survived the crash.

A sphere of brilliant purple light manifested in the center of Ponyville with a shockwave that left a five foot crater in the ground. It coalesced into the shape of a pony before taking on features. The whole process took about a quarter of a second.

Twilight shook her head. ‘Note to self: use less power when teleporting.’ She glanced around before letting out a gasp at the sight of a falling pegasus. Twilight pointed her horn towards the falling mare. Before it even had time to gather a visible glow, it released a bolt of light. The stream connected with a glowing bracelet on Rainbow’s foreleg. As it did, the pegasus’ movement ceased instantly. ‘Who would have thought a prank would save her life?’ Twilight thought wryly. She wasn’t sure that a normal telekinetic grip would have been able to stop the other pony in time.

Sighing in relief, Twilight wrapped Rainbow in a lavender aura and gently lowered the smoldering pony to the ground. She refused to allow herself to think about any possible consequences of the burns and lit her horn. Twilight was no healer, but she had done plenty of reading on the subject and had an overwhelming amount of magical power. With all of Celestia’s teachings, Twilight knew just enough to be confident of her ability to heal the pegasus. The unicorn was positive that she could heal at least enough to ensure that the cyan mare would be out of danger.

A wave of power washed over the pegasus, playing across her wounds. Moments later, they began to heal, starting with the most serious ones. Releasing another sigh, Twilight turned her head to look for the cause of Dash’s injuries. There were two dozen armored pegasi flying towards the town, five of them pushing ominous black clouds.

“T-Twilight?” Rainbow whispered in amazement, having regained consciousness as her wounds healed.

“It’s me, Dash. You’re safe now.” Twilight said reassuringly. “What happened?”

“No time!” Rainbow cursed, seeing the oncoming pegasi. “We’re at war with the pegasi! Those black clouds are filled with liquid rainbow! Be careful!” Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she turned to look back at the pegasi.

“Leave it to me, Dash.” Twilight made to move away, then paused. She turned back towards Rainbow and lit her horn. She quickly raced through extremely advanced calculations before raising a hoof and placing it on Rainbow’s bracelet. The crystal blazed a brilliant violet as Twilight’s horn’s glow seemed to transfer to her creation. A moment later, power erupted from it, growing into an enormous dome that covered the entire town. With a crystal anchor, the barrier would last for a very long time, and be practically indestructible.

Pleased with her work, Twilight galloped towards the pegasi.

The pegasus strike team was quite pleased, despite things not going as scheduled. That traitor, Rainbow Dash, had managed to trigger the Super Battle Cloud before it could hit the town, but she’d probably died in the process. The clouds were tough to produce, but General Thunderstorm would have been happy to lose many more to deal with the rogue.

The sudden purple shield was somewhat worrying, but it shouldn’t be a problem. The Battle Clouds would pass right through it. Even without the Super Cloud, the ones they still had would be enough to destroy more than a quarter of the town. It would still be an excellent test of their power.

The leader laughed as a single lavender unicorn stepped through the barrier, the shield rippling with her passing. She looked different from the reports, but no single unicorn could hope to stop them, no matter who she was.

Clearly, Twilight Sparkle felt differently. He didn’t know whether to laugh at her arrogance, or to pity her stupidity.

Twilight stepped confidently through her shield. She glared at the attackers for a moment before applying a spell to amplify her voice. It wouldn’t be as good as the Royal Canterlot Voice, but it would work all the same.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle. I am the Element of Magic and the personal student of Princess Celestia. Ponyville is under my protection.” She declared powerfully, with a note of pride. “You can either leave now or be destroyed.”

She could see their laughter, but couldn’t hear their responses from this distance without a spell’s aid. Oddly, she thought she could actually feel them rejecting her generous offer for some reason. How strange. Could it be another new ability? She’d have to investigate that later.

“So be it.” She declared, lowering her head and cancelling the vocal-enhancement spell. Her horn began to glow once more. This time, the glow built until it was absolutely blinding. A colossal beam of brilliant energy erupted from the tip of her horn, the power so intense that she was actually driven back until she was pressed against her shield. Six pegasi were caught in the blast, which had extended far enough to bore a hole in the cloud cover above. ‘Remember to anchor yourself to the ground next time, Twilight.’ She reprimanded herself as she examined the results of her spell.

Three of the black clouds floated in the air, unaffected by her potent spellwork. ‘That wasn’t exactly a destruction-based spell, but liquid rainbow should have reacted. The clouds are clearly magically inert. Yet the pegasi can move them. Interesting... Maybe they’re only immune to unicorn magic?’ If that was the case, then she still wouldn’t have a problem.

It was really quite fortunate that she’d had the chance to spend a full seven weeks with Princess Celestia in the dreamscape. It had given her plenty of time to examine the new abilities she’d somehow acquired.

A sphere of bluish-purple light formed at the tip of her horn. It split into a shining trio of energy bolts that exploded through the air. The beams of unicorn-directed pegasus magic tore through the black clouds like tissue paper, causing the reservoirs of liquid rainbow within to detonate.

Not taking the time to watch the spectacle, Twilight twisted to the side, narrowly avoiding a charging pegasus. She directed a concussive blast into him, slamming him into her shield. She took a moment to set up a recurring loop of the spell. Even as she teleported away, he was being repeatedly slammed into it. The spell would repeat for however long the magic she’d infused into the air lasted.

Her teleport took her to a spot directly beneath one of the two remaining black clouds, this one being pushed by a pegasus towards the barrier. Realizing that her shield, composed of unicorn magic as it was, would be useless against the strange clouds, she composed another bolt of pegasus magic and fired it into the cloud. She winced as the cloud’s bearer was caught in the explosion. She took the time to compose a quick spell to pull the pegasus away from the blast.

In the time it took her to do that, she found herself surrounded. Five of the remaining pegasi had surroundenod her. Unfortunately, Twilight had never been particularly adept at martial combat. However, she found herself easily dodging their attacks. Somehow, with every beat of their wings, she received a flash of their emotions and mental state. From that, she could easily calculate their form of attack. She quickly converted about a third of her magic into that of an earth pony. She felt her counterattack shatter one pegasus mare’s ribs.

After managing to catch another in her rear leg as she flew by, Twilight had decided she was quite sick of physical fighting. She raised one hoof and concentrated all of her magic there, her horn glowing. When she slammed it down, the earth shattered, an enormous violet-tinged earthquake rippling out from where she stood. One pegasus slammed into one of the rocks that violently jutted out of the earth, while a second was simply buried beneath a mound of mud. A violet blade materialized and tore a deep gash in the earth. The shaking widened the gap and the third unharmed pegasus, as well as the one that Twilight had kicked in the leg, fell into it.

Twilight sighed in relief as the brawl ended. She surveyed the surroundings. The remaining pegasi had made good use of her distraction and had pulled a collection of crackling storm clouds out of the enormous mass blocking the sky. She wove a shield around herself as they sent bolt after bolt of lightning down at her. Fortunately, the lightning was unable to breach her specially crafted barrier. All each stroke did was make the shield glow brighter.

She carefully surveyed the battlefield before something caught her eye. A pegasus was flying towards the last black cloud, which had been ignored in the fray. She prepared herself and, as he paused to take hold of it, she teleported directly above him. Her hooves slammed into his wings, earning a cry of pain from the stallion as they snapped to his sides. His cry became fearful as she cast a gravity manipulation spell upon him, shifting the way that he interacted with the world’s gravity. The other pony was pulled towards the cloud at a rate about fifty times that of normal gravity.

Twilight teleported back behind her shield, but the pegasus was ripped through the cloud, which detonated. The pegasus was, luckily for him, pulled through the explosion as well. The charred pegasus, temporarily bereft of flight, slammed into another. The two were left sprawled out on a storm cloud together, unconscious.

‘That’s fifteen down.’ Twilight thought to herself, her chest heaving. She wasn’t magically depleted, but combat like this was tiring. ‘Nine left.’

The pegasi had not stopped directing their lightning at her shield and she found herself in a position akin to that of a turtle trapped inside of its own shell. It was entirely possible that they hadn’t seen her leave, considering how brief her trip outside had been and how bright the lightning was against her shield.

Finally, Twilight decided on a new course of action. Her horn blazed with power as she mentally accessed her shield spell, altering its structure. The moment the next bolt of lightning made contact, the entire dome exploded outward, pushing away the clouds and pegasi but doing no real harm. Twilight then unleashed a pair of bluish-purple energy ribbons from her horn. The two began to rotate rapidly, forming a tornado-like funnel with a wide mouth. The addition of a powerful wind vacuum didn’t hurt either.

The lightning from the clouds was soon drawn into the middle of the light. The clouds themselves soon followed. Twilight waited until her creation had consumed all of the clouds before dispersing the energy constructs and inverting her wind spell. She had mixed her constructs with a stasis spell that kept the lightning active, so when the suction was reversed the lightning followed the clouds, blasting away all of the pegasi. Four of them were rendered completely unconscious.

Twilight didn’t bother waiting for them to pull themselves together. While they were still stunned from her prior offensive, she unleashed a volley of energy bolts. They numbered in the dozens, and three ponies fell in quick succession to stun bolts. The remainder of her attack was something else entirely. The bolts shifted in midair, converging on the one who Twilight guessed had been in charge, judging from the markings on his armor. It was just luck that she managed to catch the last pegasus in the bubble that formed from the energy.

With a final spell, Twilight summoned all of the unconscious attackers, enlarging the sphere to contain all of them. She absently altered the environment within the sphere, making it anti-gravity and null-magic, ensuring that they couldn’t do more than twitch.

Twilight had a bright smile on her face now. She was pretty tired, but that fight had been surprisingly exhilarating. She cantered back into Ponyville, levitating the giant sphere of captives behind her. She dispelled her giant barrier as she passed back through it.

A mostly healed Rainbow Dash could only stare at the happy looking lavender mare. The enormous purple bubble with twenty four floating pegasi in it might have had something to do with the dumbstruck look on her face.

“Did- did you just beat all of them?” Rainbow asked, amazed.

Twilight nodded, quite pleased with herself. “Yup. It was a bit of trouble, but nothing I couldn’t handle.”

Rainbow stared for a moment longer before forcibly pulling herself back to normal. “Um… yeah, we’ll talk about that later. First of all, why can’t I move?”

“Oh.” Twilight blushed. “Sorry. I guess I forgot to reverse the prank earlier.” A beam of light erupted from her already glowing horn, striking Rainbow’s bracelet. The pegasus immediately shot into the air with a joyful cry.

Rainbow finally returned to the ground a bit later. “Um… What prank were you talking about?”

Twilight shrugged. “Just a little spell I made with your bracelet. It alters the parameters of the bracelet. Instead of storing your Rainbooms, it consumes all of your momentum. It even keeps you from falling due to gravity.” Twilight giggled. “I thought it would be fun to prank you for once.”

“Um… Well, thanks for the bracelet.” Rainbow decided to ignore Twilight’s idea of a prank. “It really saved me a couple of times. I’m sure it took a lot of work.”

“As long as it’s helping you, then it was worth every second.” Twilight stated definitively, smiling brightly.

“Um…” Rainbow found herself struggling to suppress a blush at Twilight’s earnest reply. “We should probably get those prisoners to Luna.”

“Alright.” Twilight agreed. With a brilliant violet flash, twenty six ponies and a magical force field vanished from Ponyville.

Once they arrived in Canterlot, Twilight dropped off her captives in the prison before heading into the castle with Rainbow. The cyan mare spent a great deal of time informing Twilight what had happened. The lavender unicorn could only listen, stunned, at the horrifying tale of the beginning of this Equestrian civil war. Twilight wished that she was in some horrible nightmare, but knew that it was reality.

Once Twilight had finally managed to accept the knowledge, Rainbow turned to Twilight.

“Hey Twilight, I was wondering… What happened to you?”

Twilight tilted her head to the side, confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well… Your horn is longer, you’re taller, your mane is all glowy… Not that it’s a bad look!” Rainbow backtracked hastily. “No, you look awesome!”

“What are you talking abou…” Twilight’s voice trailed off as she conjured a full mirror. “What the hay!” She exclaimed as she looked at her reflection.

She was indeed several inches taller, with a horn that rivaled Celestia’s. Her lavender coat glowed faintly, and her mane was luminescent, as was her tail. Both flowed as if from some nonexistent wind. Her hair left trails of light as it moved. Her cutie mark pulsed with inner power, and even her eyes were more radiant.

“This is… new.” She murmured as she examined her appearance. She swung her head from side to side to watch the motes of light left in the shimmering trail of her mane. “I’ve gotta say, this is pretty cool.” She said, barely catching the nod of agreement from Rainbow in the corner of her eye.

“Indeed. Your new appearance is most intriguing, Twilight Sparkle.” A new voice called out. Twilight banished the mirror into nothingness as she whirled to face the alicorn of the night.

“Princess Luna!” Twilight called excitedly. “It’s great to see you!”

“I am pleased to see you as well, my friend.” Luna agreed with a smile. Unfortunately, her smile soon mutated into a grimace. “I take it Rainbow Dash has informed you of the situation?”

“She told me, but I still can’t believe it. Equestria at war with itself? It’s the stuff of nightmares!”

“I agree, but it is the reality we face. Fortunately, Celestia will wake soon and-” As if on cue, sunlight shone through the window for the first time in weeks. As the three ponies looked through the glass, they saw the cloud cover melting away.

“Celestia’s awake!” An ecstatic Twilight proclaimed.

Author's Note

Well, I've decided to break this chapter apart, since it was a lot longer than I expected. I'm starting to get the feeling that I should just scrap what little outline I've managed to cobble together, since nothing seems to go according to plan. This felt like a good stopping point to me. Not a cliffhanger, but an ending that will (hopefully) leave everyone wanting the next chapter.

So, I sort of consider this to be the real story's starting point, since it's the first that really stars our protagonist. Twilight basically decided to spend her debut being awesome and showing off some her new stuff. If she seems a little (or a lot) OOC, then remember that she spent seven straight weeks with Celestia. No books or breaks. Just two ponies in a dreamscape. I'll probably include some flashback stuff later. I don't think she's too OP, since they were really just canon fodder. 24 nameless soldiers vs the main character in a situation like this shouldn't be much of a contest.

Hopefully the combat scene wasn't too dragged out. I think it flows pretty well, but I also haven't slept properly in three days. I also just watched Pacific Rim, so I was kinda in the mood to write epic fight scenes. One battle comprises more than a third of the chapter, so you can probably tell.

I may rewrite some stuff once I catch up on sleep. We'll see. I have a lot of work to do, so fanfic writing may have to wait. Re-writing even more so.

Next time: Sunrise. Celestia awakens.

I wanted to thank all 60 people who've thumbed up the story thus far, as well as the 85+ who've favorited it. (If that isn't a word, it probably should be). Anyway, let me know what you thought of this chapter, and of the new Twilight. Her awesomeness has only begun to be shown. What do you think of the abilities she's displayed thus far? 10 house points to anyone who can name three new abilities exhibited here. I wouldn't mind an opinion on the Battle Cloud as well. It's just the first of the weapons that will be unveiled over the course of this war.
Oh, and I'll probably begin introducing OCs next chapter, so if you want to make one, now's probably the best time. Some are going to be very important.

Sunrise

Celestia let out a long sigh as she glanced up at her sister’s moon. Two months. She couldn’t be gone for a few weeks without all of Equestria falling apart. It had been several hours since she’d finally awoken from Luna’s spell. The news she’d received from Luna, in addition to Twilight’s story about her fight, was most troubling.

Thinking of Twilight, she was quite pleased to hear how easily her protégé had dealt with a large group of attacking ponies. It was a little concerning how easily the purple pony had adjusted to combat, but she supposed it couldn’t be helped. Their minds had been intermingling for seven weeks, leading to each of them absorbing some mental traits from the other. Naturally, Celestia’s immortal mind had made a more significant impression on the fledgling awareness of her beloved student.

While she regretted the loss of the unicorn’s innocence in this manner, she couldn’t help but be grateful that the young pony would not have to deal with as much of the trauma suffered by those new to warfare. Hopefully, Twilight would not have to take many lives. The solar princess knew full well that pretending that there would never be any deaths was nothing more than an exercise in futility. She could try to keep Twilight from the battlefield, but her most faithful student would never be willing to let other ponies be hurt when she could help them.

Celestia trotted out the door, making her way to the kitchens. She glanced up at her student’s room, where she knew the purple unicorn and her cyan friend were fast asleep. She smiled as she continued on her quest. Those reports could wait until she had some cake.

Twilight glared at the collection of military ponies in front of her, focusing especially on the one currently speaking. General Stalwart Strength was effectively the pony in charge of all of the Earth Ponies in the Equestrian military, a counterpart to Ironhoof Thunderstorm, the traitor leading the pegasus uprising.

Most of them were displeased by her presence, but Princess Celestia had not only allowed her entry, but commanded it, so they couldn’t do a thing about it. Twilight wasn’t sure what, exactly, the Princess wanted, but she was quite happy that the alicorn wasn’t going to try and shut her away. She wanted to help.

Twilight was well aware of just how different she was from the average unicorn now. She had more power than she knew what to do with, and abilities that had never been recorded in any book she’d ever read. Even Celestia hadn’t seen anything like them before. She was going to use those powers to help Equestria.

What’s more, her body was significantly stronger now. The substantial changes had been as a result of her new abilities. Her body had been altered to be a better conduit for her powers. The spontaneous growth, however, was a bit unpleasant for the lavender mare. Twilight had never been a particularly graceful pony, but now she could easily be defined as clumsy. It would be a while before she could adjust to her new physique. It would, unfortunately, be even longer before Rainbow stopped teasing her about tripping over her own hooves.

She turned her attention back to the conversation at hand, still wondering why the Princess had told her it was so important for her attend.

“- and you ruined the element of surprise that your presence would give us by just burning away the cloud layer!” Stalwart finished. He was only about average size for an earth pony, but his intimidating presence made up for it. He was a camouflage green color, with an almost metallic grey mane. His cutie mark was of a broadsword, matching the one on his back. He had a scar across his brow, with another jagged scar running down the side of his head from it.

Twilight barely managed to hold herself back. How dare this bastard speak like that to Celestia? She restrained her temper, forcing it down. As she did, the tiny motes of light that had gathered to her horn began to dissipate. Unfortunately, with magic as potent as Twilight’s now was, the lavender mare needed to keep a tight control of her emotions. It was bad enough that, without intense concentration, her horn shattered most things it touched. It was a probably a good thing that Celestia had spent plenty of time teaching her to control her emotions in the past few weeks.

Celestia didn’t even acknowledge the agitated tone of the general. “Firstly, I had little idea that we were at war. Secondly, even had I known, I would have done the exact same thing. It would not have been the first time that my presence ended a war. As for my student, she is here for a very important reason.” The white alicorn turned to look directly at her.

“Twilight Sparkle is hereby named the Solar Champion. From this day forth, she shall be my personal emissary, bearing my authority and acting in my name.” Celestia declared proudly, her gaze shifting to the others in the meeting, as if daring them to question her.

For an instant, Twilight began to panic. With Celestia’s training, however, she managed to calm herself down and think about the situation rationally.

Being a princess’ Champion was one of the biggest honors in Equestria. There was never more than one Solar or Lunar Champion at a time. Originally, that’s pretty much all it was. It was a title given by Celestia or Luna to their most trusted mortal. It gave them a few perks, but generally few responsibilities. Then came Luna’s banishment. Celestia, for all of her power, could not be in two places at once, so she needed ponies she could trust to do major tasks and to make important decisions. Being named Champion became a huge responsibility, but the power of the position rose accordingly. A pony would become one of the most powerful in all of Equestria by gaining the position.

In essence, besides the noble title and the history, it wasn’t all that different to her current position. Celestia had sent her to deal with all kinds of problems in the past. This was basically just making that official and giving her some authority. She focused her gaze on Celestia and spotted the mischievous twinkle in her eyes. It had been another test of her self control then.

“I accept.” Twilight finally stated aloud. She was understandably overwhelmed still by the appointment. “I will do my utmost to honor this prestigious position and you, Princess Celestia.”

“I accept your pledge, Twilight Sparkle. May you do honor to the Celestial Throne.” Celestia responded formally, before addressing the others in the room. “Before we move on, I would like to request that you each send me a few of your best soldiers for Twilight’s Escort. You have until sunset tomorrow to present me your suggestions.”

The gathered ponies grumbled a bit in quiet annoyance, but gave their agreements. They knew better than to argue with the princess when she did something like this. Stalwart, opened his mouth to say something, but looked at Twilight and thought better of it. Twilight’s loyalty to Celestia was very well known, as was the princess’ protectiveness towards her student.

“If it pleases the princess, I’ll give our report now.” One of two unicorns sitting together spoke up. They were identical, save for the different cutie marks. Electric blue in color, with bright yellow manes, they were Roaring Gale and Striking Storm. The twins worked together to serve as Stalwart’s counterpoint, directing the unicorns of the Equestrian military. Gale, the elder, was generally considered the one in charge, but Storm had a killer tactical mind. Their names and cutie marks were related to their magical abilities.

They were both elementals, meaning they had a strong affinity to one or more branches of elemental magic. It limited them in several ways, but it also gave them access to great destructive power. Gale, with his whirlwind cutie mark, commanded the air itself. Storm, on the other hoof, bore a lightning bolt mark, and commanded the sub-element of lightning, a fusion of air and fire. Interestingly enough, Storm wasn’t really able to use either component, just their combination.

At Celestia’s nod, Gale proceeded. “The black clouds that lingered after the Princess’ dispersal of the great veil are seemingly immune to even my wind magic. My brother’s lightning magic also had no effect. They repel small projectiles as well, responding only to proportionate force to the cloud’s size. The only unicorns who have had any success in eliminating them have been those capable of long range telekinetic attacks. Unfortunately, we have very few artillery ponies at this stage.”

The black clouds had apparently been moving beneath the cover of the cloud veil. Thunderbolt’s plan, whatever it had been, had failed.

“Um… I saw those clouds at Ponyville.” Twilight responded hesitantly. “My friend, Rainbow Dash, dispersed them relatively easily, as they respond to pegasus magic normally. I was able to project a bolt of pegasus magic that destroyed them easily enough. Unfortunately,” She continued as Gale opened his mouth eagerly. “That ability is unique to me and defies accepted magical theory. I don’t dare attempt any sort of tests to replicate it, as it would be impossible to work on anything but live ponies.” She paused to let that thought sink in.

A pony’s magic was part of their very being. In addition to the natural magics that are common to all ponies, such as the cutie mark, pony bodies are literally built to channel specific types of magic. Unicorns have horns made of super-dense alicorn, capable of channeling massive amounts of controlled magic. The bones of pegasus wings are also made of alicorn, albeit a much lighter version. It allows them to fly, while a small amount of the substance runs through their other bones, allowing them to manipulate weather. Similarly, earth ponies have skeletons almost half composed of alicorn. It is denser than the alicorn of pegasi, but not even a fraction as potent as that of a unicorn.

Changing the magical makeup of another pony would practically guarantee. The absolute best case scenario would be a horrific mutation, as the magic inherent to all ponies would destroy them in an attempt to correct their structure. Ponies in the past had tried it and been declared mad scientists or murderers for their actions.

Twilight continued a moment later. “However, I have begun learning the art of enchanting, and I hope to be able to produce something that will enable us to deal with the black clouds at some point in the near future.”

“Why are we so worried about these clouds, anyway?” Stalwart demanded. “It’s not as if they’re causing any problems right now?”

“The clouds are filled with liquid rainbow. Enough of the stuff to destroy a good portion of the castle.” Gale explained.

“Wait a sec. Liquid rainbow? I’ve seen that used as house hold decorations! Hell, I’ve seen ponies using it as a condiment before.” Stalwart refuted.

“There are two states of liquid rainbow.” Twilight lectured. “The first, the kind you’ve seen before, is refined, or stable. It is completely inert, almost harmless. As you said, ponies could drink it with no harm besides a little heat. In its raw state, however, liquid rainbow is enormously volatile. It detonates violently with even the slightest provocation. The explosive yield is significantly higher than almost all conventional explosives, regardless of size.”

“Huh. Sounds interesting.” Stalwart mused.

“Moving on.” A pony spoke up, startling Twilight. She’d barely noticed the black coated unicorn until now. She had an equally black mane, leaving only the whites of her eyes and her gold cutie mark standing out from the darkness she was seated in. The mark was an eye over a golden triangle. Twilight remembered who this was: Keen Mind, the head of Celestia’s Intelligence Agency (officially the Equestrian Intelligence Agency, but CIA rolls off the tongue so much better than EIA).

“One of my agents spotted at least four different Griffons inside of Cloudsdale.” She reported matter-of-factly. “Unfortunately, we do not yet know the details of their meeting, as we were unable to get any sort of listening spell onto any of them.” She paused. “There are also some very recent rumors of unicorns going missing, though my ponies are not entirely sure on the veracity of those claims.”

Celestia frowned. “I want you to look into that immediately. Also, I would like you to assign an appropriate liaison for Twilight’s new Escort as well.”

“As you wish.” Keen Mind bowed her head to the princess.

“As for my department, Princess Luna’s been doing a damn fine job keeping Canterlot under wraps. Even after losing most of our pegasi, we’re still managing to cover enough ground to do our job.” That was Steady Stride, an earth pony who coordinated the defenses of most major cities. He led the various city guards. A light brown color, he wore a standard guard helmet that matched his cutie mark. Apparently, he hadn’t been seen without it in years. Stride was one of the fastest earth ponies alive, able to keep pace with the average pegasi while still having more strength than most earth ponies.

“After what happened to Manehattan, it looks like the common pony has decided to do something to help. We have a lot of ponies searching for survivors beneath the wreckage. I’ve assigned a couple of guards to protect them and stop looters. Otherwise, the only real thing I have to report is that a lot of officials are complaining about the reduced guard. Everypony wants more ponies to protect them, but I just don’t have enough to support them. We’ve been working on increasing recruitment, but…” He shrugged.

“Why don’t you just coordinate with the actual military? Just get them to post a unit or two at the towns that are in the most danger?” Twilight asked, curious. “I mean, it’ll probably be more effective than just marching them to wherever they’re needed, since, if the pegasi attack, they’ll be doing it so fast that we probably couldn’t get anyone there before they got away.”

Stride looked at her closely, making Twilight shrink back into her seat, feeling a bit like Fluttershy for some reason. Stride wasn’t particularly big, but he could certainly be intimidating.

Finally, he leaned back and smirked. “I like the way you think.” He turned to examine Gale, Storm, and Steel. “Well?”

Gale and Steel looked at one another, having a silent debate. “It’s a good plan. It’ll take a bit to figure out which divisions would be best, but there shouldn’t be a problem with assigning a few units to help out. I take it you can get us a garrison in each city?”

Stride grinned. “It shouldn’t be a problem.”

[

Celestia beamed at Twilight as the meeting came to a close. “That was very well done, Twilight. I’m quite impressed at how you handled yourself.”

The lavender mare blushed as she followed the princess from the room. “Thank you, princess.” She paused. “So, what was with the sudden appointment? Couldn’t you have warned me first?”

Celestia smirked at the young pony. “I could have.” She agreed. “But you’re so cute when you get all surprised.” She cooed, making Twilight blush again.

“Princess!” Twilight practically whined.

“Fine, fine.” Celestia capitulated. “To be honest, I had always planned on this. I was going to give you another year or so, then offer the position to you. However, with this war, I don’t have that option anymore. You are the strongest unicorn alive… No, you are the single most magically powerful pony in Equestria.” She held up a hoof to forestall Twilight’s rebuttal. “We discussed this before. You can, with relative ease, cast a spell stronger than anything I can produce normally. Spells far more potent than anything in my sister’s arsenal as well. In terms of actual magical casting, you exceed every other pony ever born.”

Twilight tried to argue. “But I… There’s no way…”

“Twilight…” Celestia placed a hoof on her shoulder. “It doesn’t help anyone for you to deny your abilities. You can do things no other pony can. You are the Element of Magic and there is a reason for that. I know you want to help other ponies, my faithful student. If you embrace your abilities, you can do so much more. You can do anything your heart desires.” Celestia looked proudly at the lavender unicorn. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you. To be happy.”

Twilight was rendered speechless by the heartfelt emotions in Celestia’s words. Her mouth opened and closed, but nothing emerged.

“So… Solar Champion, huh?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. The two had met up for lunch after Twilight’s meeting. Twilight had wasted no time informing the pegasus of what had occurred.

“She just sprang it on me in the middle of a really important meeting.” Twilight complained to her friend. “It’s a huge honor, and I’m flattered, but did she really have to surprise me like that?”

Rainbow shrugged. “So, what kinds of things are you going to be expected to do?”

Twilight tilted her head as she considered the question. “Well, anything Celestia needs, I guess. Same as usual, but a bit more formalized, with a lot more power. Considering we’re at war and my… above average power, I expect I’ll be sent to a lot of battlefields. It’s tradition for a Champion to have an Escort, basically a set of personal bodyguards or companions. Generally, they’re handpicked, or just volunteers from the royal guard, but when Celestia asks for the top military officials to send some of their best to work for me… Well, there are only so many reasons that I’d need highly trained soldiers.”

“Huh. Where do I sign up?”

“What?!” Twilight was surprised. “I mean, I was going to ask you… but, seriously?”

“Element of Loyalty, remember, egghead?” Rainbow jabbed Twilight accusingly with her hoof. “Did you really think I’d let you go out into a battlefield without me?”

Twilight’s expression quickly twisted into a brilliant smile. She wrapped her hooves around Rainbow. “Thank you so much!” Twilight cried, not noticing the heavy blush on Rainbow’s cheeks.

“N-no problem, Twi.” Rainbow replied, pulling away from Twilight’s embrace. “By the way, we need to come up with a better name than ‘Twilight’s Escort’.”

“Why? What’s wrong… Oh.” Twilight’s face lit up as the negative connotations of the phrase hit her.

They ate in a companionable atmosphere for a while, making small talk. Eventually, something that Twilight had told her made Rainbow speak up.

“So, you said that you’ve got a lot more power than the average unicorn, right? Just how much are we talking about?”

Twilight hesitated for a moment. “A lot, Rainbow. I have more raw power than I know what to do with. I have more unicorn magic than the princesses themselves. Not to mention… after that,” She paused to figure out the correct word. “Coma, I can do things no other unicorn should be able to do. Things that shouldn’t be possible according to the laws of magic! Things like generate and manipulate pegasus and earth pony magic.” She paused for a moment to let that sink in. “It shouldn’t be possible, Rainbow! I… I don’t know what happened to me!” She gestured at her body with one hoof. “I mean, look at me! Just one look and you can tell that I’m a freak!”

Rainbow watched as her friend got increasingly hysteric. “Twilight! Just stop for a second.” Rainbow shuddered as Twilight’s faintly glowing eyes glared at her for the interruption. The pegasus forced herself to press on. “Stop beating yourself up.” The cyan mare commanded. “All that stuff you can do? It sounds awesome! You’ve got a ton of power, you’ve got a stronger body, and you’ve got superpowers. None of those sound like bad things, Twi. It’s a little outside the norm, yeah. But remember, we’re the Elements of Harmony! Six ponies who can use a bunch of magical jewelry to defeat gods! That isn’t normal, is it? Being different from everybody else isn’t a bad thing, Twilight. It’s what makes you special.”

Twilight listened to Rainbows rejoinder, feeling her fear drain away. The other pony was right. “I… You’re right, Rainbow. I guess I was getting a bit too worked up about it.” She examined the other pony. “That speech was positively profound, by the way.”

Rainbow grumbled a bit before brightening. “Come on, Twi. I seem to remember you finally agreeing to join me for physical training, to get used to that new body of yours.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Sure, sure. Let’s get this over with.”

As the two ponies left towards the outdoor training grounds, Rainbow voiced a question. “So, you said you can use pegasus magic, right? Does that mean I need to give you flight lessons.” She was doing a rather poor job at concealing the eagerness in her voice.

Twilight chuckled. “No, not quite. I don’t have the proper wings or body structure to actually fly. Who knows, though? I mean, my body alters itself as necessary now, so I can do things like use earth pony strength. Maybe one day I’ll be able to grow wings.” It was only an absent thought, but at seeing Rainbow’s excitement, Twilight made an offer. “Alright, if I ever do gain the ability to fly, I promise that I’ll let you teach me to fly.”

“Yes!” Rainbow did a quick backflip in midair. “So, you said you can do a bunch of stuff that breaks the laws of magic, but you only mentioned one…”

Twilight nodded. “Well…”

Two days later, Twilight and Rainbow were waiting in the new set of quarters they’d been assigned. As the Solar Champion, Twilight had been given a much bigger room, as well as several more for her Escort. Celestia had made her decisions, and Twilight was waiting on their arrival now.

The first pony to enter the room was, interestingly enough, a crystal pony. He was a black unicorn with a stark white mane. His cutie mark was an empty circle, which Twilight found a bit odd.

“Greetings Champion Twilight. I am Silent Shade.” He introduced himself. “Keen Mind has instructed me that I am completely at your disposal.”

“Thank you for coming.” Twilight replied.

“I didn’t have much choice.” Shade admitted. “All the same, I do look forward to working for you.”

“So, what do you do?” Rainbow asked, curious.

“Covert Ops.” Shade declared. “I specialize in information acquisition and target removal.”

“Sounds pretty cool. What’s the cutie mark mean?”

“It represents my special ability.” A moment later, Shade faded from view completely. “I can bend light around my body, rendering myself invisible.”

The door swung open. “Reporting for duty!” A cheerful voice called out. Dull purple in color, with a fiery red mane, the unicorn sauntered into the room as if he owned it. His cutie mark was a blue eye. He wore a red cloak that matched the color of his mane.

“I’m Arcane Gaze. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He introduced himself.

Something about this pony struck Twilight the wrong way. “So you were the pony spying on us from the hallway?”

The pony seemed to lose his swagger, fumbling his step. “W-wha? No! Why would I-?”

“Don’t bother lying.” Twilight shrugged. “I can sort of read the emotions of anyone using magic around me.” She’d experimented a bit after the battle in Ponyville. It was easiest with unicorns, since their magic was shaped with thought. She could get a good sense of their minds with a single spell, even reading thoughts if she tried hard enough. With pegasi, she could get flashes of emotion every time they flapped their wings or touched a cloud. Earth ponies were much harder. She got the barest sense of their current emotional state, but only when they were doing something. It was sometimes annoying, but the sense wasn’t strong enough to actually distract her, and it really helped her out when she was fighting those pegasi.

As she finished her statement Shade cancelled his spell, restraining Gaze from behind.

“Would you like me to deal with him?”

“Not just yet. I’m going to operate under the assumption that you were just waiting for your turn and that Celestia sent you, since I didn’t sense any malevolence in your mind.” She decided to leave out the other sensation she got from the little perv for now. “Clearly you left for a moment, as your spell faded and returned just as Shade demonstrated his spell.”

“Y-yes, ma’am. Th-that’s exactly what I was doing. I’m sorry.” When Shade released him, he pulled out a pair of glasses from a pocket on his cloak, donning them. “As I said, I’m Arcane Gaze, sent to join your Escort. My vision is horrible far away, but I can reverse it with a spell, allowing me to project my sight as well. When I do, I can also project my spells, allowing me to be a long range attacker.”

Rainbow glared at him. “I don’t like anyone spying on me, but your abilities sound useful. I think we’ll keep you for now. Don’t you dare do it again.”

“Yes ma’am!” The pony saluted.

Twilight sighed. “Take a seat. Might as well have everyone meet each other. ”

Two earth ponies entered the room together, both clad in full armor. “I am Rock Quarry.” The first, yellow, with a brown mane, said. His cutie mark was a collection of broken stones. He bore a spear on his back

“And I’m Ironhammer. We’re here to join your Escort, Champion Twilight.” He was brown, with a blue mane. On his back was a massive sledgehammer that was rather similar to his cutie mark.

“Thank you very much.” Twilight said with a smile. The two seemed rather reliable. “I look forward to working with you.”

“Well, this seems like one big party.” A new voice declared from the still open doorway. She was a snow white pegasus, with a two toned grey mane. Her cutie mark was a silvery snowflake. She was a bit bulkier than most pegasi. She wore leather armor that would do very little, if anything, to hinder her mobility.

“I’m Winterjet.” She proclaimed . “General Stride assigned me to your Escort this morning. So, boss lady, looks like I’ll be working under you.” She didn’t sound very pleased about it.

“Yes. We’ll be working together for some time, so I hope we can all get along.” Twilight agreed. “In any case, this is Rainbow Dash. She’s my best friend, and she’ll be the leader of this group. Welcome to the Twilight Brigade.”

Author's Note

Why do I do this to myself? I hate writing group dialogue and politics. So, of course, I write a story that's pretty much based around it.

In any case, this is probably my least favorite chapter. Too much talking, no action. I might have to rewrite it. Let me know what you think.

Winterjet is the first donated OC in this story. Thank you Kapuchu!

The concept of pegasus wing bones being made of alicorn comes from Ardensfax's A Bluebird's Song. It's one of the best TwiDash stories around, and a great story overall as well. Thanks for letting me use it!

Anyway, I really do need more OCs, so please send them. Try to refrain from sending me more good pegasi, since I have received way too many as it is.

I'd really appreciate more feedback in the comments, so I know what everyone thinks about how it's been going so far. Suggestions, complaints, and compliments are all very welcome.

I wonder if anyone will get the references in this chapter?

Next time: Shining Return. The Crystal Empire sends aid.

Remember, the more feedback I get, the faster I tend to write.

Shining Return

Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire and captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard, looked around in a brief pause in the fight. It was the biggest battle he’d fought in a very long time. Carnage was everywhere and it was depressing to watch. The peace of Equestria was gone, replaced with a bloody civil war. He took a moment to dispatch a low-flying pegasus with a bolt of magic that struck the other pony's wing.

He’d thrown up a shield large enough to encompass the entirety of his force at the first sign of an attack, when dark grey clouds began to gather above them. Almost four hundred ponies shielded beneath his strongest barrier. It would have been enough to defend against even the mightiest storm. A wild flurry of magical bolts saved a pair of crystal ponies from a group of pegasi, giving them time to regroup.

Unfortunately, the attacking pegasi had sent a huge number of smaller black clouds through the shield. Ignoring his magic completely, the clouds made contact with the ground, unleashing their contents. Dozens of ponies had been hurt, if not killed, by those attacks. He had been forced to release the barrier, as a much smaller cloud had nearly made contact with him. It had been fairly simple to trace the cloud’s trajectory back to its origin. As it turned out, he knew his attacker well. Indeed, he’d once considered her a friend. But it was obvious that Spitfire was leading this attack. She’d joined this traitorous insurrection, so she was an enemy, nothing more. He turned back to the fight and prepared another spell. A shield managed to catch one of the Wonderbolts who had accompanied Spitfire, slamming her into the ground with tremendous force.

“Liya, watch out!” he barked as a blue unicorn, one of the few ponies he trusted to watch his back, was about to be attacked from behind. One of her three floating swords disengaged from its previous enemy, managing to wound the approaching pegasus. Shining released a quick bolt of light that knocked away the pegasus who had tried to take advantage.

He exchanged nods with the blue pony, before glancing back at a certain carriage. Unlike the others, which held weapons, munitions, food, or other such materials, this one held a VIP. Luckily, it had been missed in the initial attack. He hurried towards it, planning as he did.

They'd managed to take out most of the attackers, but that wasn't saying much when you were outnumbering them 400 to 250. At least a fifth of Shining's own ponies were either dead or too hurt to move. About half of the remainder was hurt enough to make fighting difficult. Almost all of them would need time to rest and heal.

The storm had picked up now. Before long, they’d have to deal with lightning. He needed to set up another shield before that could happen. Unfortunately, his magical reserves weren’t infinite. He might be able to set up one more that could encompass his group. It would drain him, however, and he wasn’t sure how long he could last under a concentrated barrage from a storm like the one above them.

Nevertheless, he sent out orders to have those ponies that could still move to form up around the carriage. Now that the storm had built up to its full power, many of the pegasi had pulled away to take advantage of their aerial firepower. That meant he had a limited window of opportunity. It was a gamble, but at this point, it was pretty much all he had left.

Once he’d managed to gather enough of his forces, he nodded at one of two groups of unicorns. They unleashed a flurry of light at three of the fallen carriages. The result was the contents of the containers being hurled in every direction. A second group of unicorns used their telekinesis to direct the debris, knocking the attacking pegasi away.

Once the enemies were clear of the area, Shining quickly cast the strongest shield spell he could. He slumped onto his side as the spell took effect, a shimmering opaque field blocking the view of the enemies. He closed his eyes as he remembered the unconscious or dead ponies he’d been forced to leave outside the barrier. He could only hope that help would arrive in time.

--Two hours earlier--

“-and furthermore, there are countless pegasi who have been working overtime with little compensation in order to make up for the traitors’ absence! We will most certainly not be rewarding their loyalty with extra taxes or this disgusting idea of ‘pegasus police’!” A grey coated pegasus with a two-toned black and white mane declared.

There was some grumbling from a few of the most biased unicorn nobles, but Evening Dew, one of Canterlot’s relatively few pegasus nobles, had made his point, and the anti-pegasus proposals had lost their support.

Twilight sighed in a mixture of relief and annoyance. The idea of punishing pegasi for the actions of the traitors made little sense. It wasn’t like it would do anything but hurt ponies that were still loyal anyway. That being said, there were enough idiot nobles (Blueblood, in particular, came to mind) for her to be worried that such a law might still pass. Of course, Celestia would veto such a thing, but it was good to avoid having to do so. The princesses hated using their power in such a dictatorial manner, but would if it were necessary.

Twilight shook her head. She wasn’t really a fan of politics. She’d rather just go back to her research, but she needed to be there. Being the Solar Champion meant that she now had a position of political power, one directly linked to the princess. If going to these stupid meetings meant helping Celestia, then she’d go to every single one.

Fortunately, it seemed that the meeting had come to a close. Twilight left the room with everyone else, looking forward to a nice relaxing evening of magical research.

Rainbow Dash grumbled as she trotted down the hallway. So much for a group training session. Silent Shade seemed rather unwilling to do anything more than follow orders, which was both helpful and annoying, as the pony listened to orders she gave but was unable to improvise or do anything further. She had a bit of a hard time trusting Gaze, as he seemed way too much like a voyeur for her liking. The two earth pony soldiers stuck together, rarely speaking with any of the other members except when necessary. The soldiers were rather closed off, especially when dealing with her or Winterjet.

Speaking of the other pegasus, she seemed to be somewhat resentful of working under Twilight, let alone taking orders from Rainbow. It was rather understandable, considering how much younger the cyan mare was, but it was still annoying.

They were much more organized around Twilight, but Rainbow could tell that they were only acting in such a manner because of Twilight’s position. The cyan mare really wanted them to work as a proper team. As the bearer of Loyalty, she found it a bit galling that a group she was in charge of didn’t have much of her element to speak of.

Unfortunately, Rainbow didn’t really know how to solve the problem she was dealing with. The only real leadership experience Rainbow had was from leading the weather team in Ponyville, but that hadn’t been much work at all, as she pretty much spent most of her time napping or with her friends. She could singlehoofedly clear the sky in ten seconds flat, so she didn’t really have to deal with the rest of the team outside of major disasters and weather from the Everfree. Everyone in town knew of her skills and she’d earned her position, so she’d never really had to establish much group cohesion.

She glanced out a window and was immediately drawn from her thoughts. Without a second’s hesitation, she shot out the window, barely taking the time to open it. Making sure to keep her speed below Rainboom levels so as not to damage Canterlot, she caught the falling pegasus before it could hit the ground.

“H-help!” He gasped out.

Her eyes, like those of all pegasi, were exceptionally keen, so she had been able to pick out the colors of the Crystal Empire on the pegasus’ armor even from the palace.

“We’re under attack!” The pegasus continued with barely a breath. “We need help now!”

Rainbow’s eyes narrowed as she lifted other pony up. “Hold on tight.” She ordered before flying back to the palace, still carrying the other pegasus.

Rainbow barely took the time to knock once before throwing open the door to Twilight’s room. The lavender mare had somehow managed to turn the simple bedroom into a combination library/laboratory. She was currently tinkering with what looked like a bracer. It was about a hoof and a half in length and had a single large gemstone mounted on it. That was all she had time to see before speaking.

“Twi, we’ve got to move!” She called. “Your brother is under attack by a bunch of pegasi!”

By the time Rainbow completed her sentence, Twilight had already gathered everything she might need and was heading out the door.

“What the hay are you waiting for, Rainbow?” Twilight demanded.

“That isn’t good enough!” Twilight retorted.

“Well, without enough pegasi, we just don’t have the ability to field ponies as fast as we’d like. I stand by my estimate of half an hour. Even if we had more, it would still be twenty minutes with pegasi at full speed.” Stalwart Strength glared at her. “None of us like it, but we’re moving as fast as we can.”

“I don’t have time for this.” Twilight snarled back, her horn glowing. She vanished in an instant, reappearing in the training grounds outside, where the members of her brigade had gathered.

“Alright. Long story short, they’re going to take about half an hour to get there. I’m not willing to wait that long. Shining Armor and the crystal ponies need help and I can give it to them. Obviously, we’re going to be heavily outnumbered. The best estimate of the one scout who made it is about sixty pegasus enemies. I’m not going to order any of you to come along, and there’s no time for debate.” She took a deep breath as her horn began to glow. “Now come over here and place a hoof on my back or go join up with the normal army.”

She closed her eyes as she cast her mind out. She’d already surveyed the maps of the ambush zone, so she had a good idea of the area. She used her magical senses to pick an area that would allow her to survey the battlefield from a nearby hill. To her slight surprise, she had six hooves on her back.

“We’re going now.” She declared. With that, violet light radiated from her horn, slowly growing to encompass all of them. It was crackling angrily, blazing brightly enough that she could see it even with her eyes closed. Once all seven ponies were within the swirling magical field, she unleashed the spell and they vanished with a blinding flash.

The seven ponies rematerialized on the hill Twilight had selected. They saw a huge collection of storm clouds raining lightning upon a huge dome of light. Twilight instantly recognized it as her brother’s shield. To the lavender mare’s new senses, the opaque barrier might as well have been glass. She surveyed the field, examining the area. There were a number of hurt ponies littering the battlefield. She could tell from the presence of magic which ones were still alive. With that in mind, her horn began to glow.

“Wait for the signal.” She ordered.

“What signal?” Gaze asked, confused.

“You’ll know.” She told them, vanishing with barely a purple flicker.

To his dying day, Shining Armor would deny that he yelped like a little filly when his little sister appeared right in front of him, her horn blazing. She was significantly different from the last time he saw her, but it was definitely still Twilight.

“Twily?” He asked in surprise.

“Wait a sec, Shiney.” She ordered with surprising authority. The violet light engulfing her horn seemed to explode into the ground, a field of light expanding along it.

Shining was knocked back by the sheer force of Twilight’s casting, the spell almost knocking him off his hooves. He could only watch in amazement as ponies were shaken to the ground as the field of energy passed beneath them. What had happened to his dear little sister?

Rainbow was getting antsy already. Why did she let Twilight just ditch her like that? She glanced at the attacking pegasi and barely managed to hold back a snarl when she saw a flaming trail behind one of the pegasi. It was Spitfire, one of her personal heroes. How could the captain of the Wonderbolts do something like this?

Her glare was drawn away by one of the other ponies. She looked back at the dome to see a violet shape spreading along the ground. It was an enormous six pointed star, one that encompassed almost the entire battlefield even before one counted the points of the star.

There was a series of resounding cracks that shook the ground. To the amazement of everypony watching, the ground rose up. Along each of the points of the star, a piece of the ground was ripped from the earth, curling towards the center of the shape. Above the shield of Shining Armor, a second, much larger, dome was being built.

Rainbow was gaping as she watched Twilight’s magic construct the enormous earthen barrier. Her friend really was amazing. Once the dome was complete, Twilight appeared atop it and spoke to their enemies.

The cyan pegasus, on the other hoof, narrowed her eyes as she glared at the sky. If Twilight was going to do all of this, then Rainbow could do no less. She couldn’t make shields or teleport. What she could do… No, what she was going to do was make sure that Spitfire didn’t disgrace the name of the Wonderbolts anymore. If she could take out the leader, then the others would be disorganized. It would probably bring an end to the whole battle.

For the first time in her life, Rainbow Dash prepared herself to kill a pony she had once known and looked up to.

“Alright, Shiney.” Twilight sighed in relief as the spell finished. It was not easy to move that much stone around. It wasn’t just that it was a draining spell, it was also incredibly difficult to actually get the spell to work. She had basically used telekinesis to just move the earth. “You should be safe here. You’re too drained to fight and a lot of your ponies are hurt.”

“Twilight, what are you talking about? Where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m going back out there.” She declared. “I can’t let them get away with this.”

“Twilight?” Shining was shocked at the way she was talking.

“Princess Celestia named me her Solar Champion. That means that I have a duty to the ponies of Equestria. I’m going to go and teach those traitors just what it means to turn against our country.”

“Twilight, I…” He closed his eyes, unable to believe what he was about to say. “I suppose I can’t say anything against wanting to serve your country. Just… Just be safe, ok? And good luck.”

Twilight smiled at him. “Thanks BBBFF.” She said as a brief purple flash replaced her body.

She reappeared atop the dome, conjuring a protective shield around herself to block lightning.

“I am Twilight Sparkle, Solar Champion of Equestria.” She declared, amplifying her voice with a quick spell. “You have ambushed an ally of Equestria and inflicted grievous wounds upon them. This is your one and final chance. Surrender now and we will not be forced to harm you.”

The only response she received was an attempt to overwhelm her shield with lightning. Her eyes narrowed in response.

“So be it.” She hissed, her horn ablaze. Concentrating her power, she unleashed a beam of light into the air. The beam split apart into innumerable bolts of light that tore the storm apart. She shook her head. Using that many extremely high power spells in quick succession took its toll, even for her. Regardless, it had the effect she wanted, scattering the pegasi. She took a deep breath as she drew in ambient magical energy to restore herself before joining the battle.

“If I had to guess, that’s the signal.” Rainbow remarked, a little surprised by the incredible effect of Twilight’s spell, but not allowing it to slow her down. She glanced at the rest of the Twilight Brigade to see that Gaze seemed to be staring off into space, while the others had moved towards the battle. She waved a hoof in front of the unicorn’s eyes, earning no reaction whatsoever.

She realized that he was using his projection ability, so he probably couldn’t even hear her. She took to the air, shooting towards a certain group of blue-suited pegasi.

She unleashed her Sonic Rainboom once she was close enough for it to affect them. Her hooves drove into one of the pegasi, as Spitfire dodged out of the way. She forced her regret away as she turned towards one of the other Wonderbolts. She delivered a lightning fast series of blows that left him reeling. She tackled him while he was stunned, breaking their attempted encirclement. She shot towards the ground for a good distance before releasing the pegasus and turning back. Unfortunately, Spitfire was already on her.

With blazing hooves, the older mare struck her. Rainbow did her best to block or avoid the strikes, to little avail. She couldn't help but grunt as she took a flaming hoof to the gut.

"You could have been one of us, Dash!" The other mare snarled. "One of the greatest Wonderbolts in history. Now? Now you'll be nothing more than one more pegasus traitor."

"Buck you!" Rainbow snarled. Despite her bravado, she was still getting her flank kicked. She tapped into her bracelet and released a bit more than half of the stored energy. A blast of rainbow light knocked the attacking pegasus away.

Unfortunately, it didn't do much more than give her a moment to catch her breath. Two Wonderbolts shot towards Spitfire, knocking her back through the Rainboom at Dash. The yellow pegasus slammed into Rainbow, blazing hooves first. She did a quick backflip, leaving a flaming trail behind her. She then kicked the cyan mare through the trail.

Rainbow screamed as she passed through the flaming wall, the pain from her back hurting just as much. The bearer of Loyalty plummeted towards the ground like a falling star.

(AN: I was so tempted to end it here. But I wouldn’t do that to you guys.)

In the skies above, the battle was going relatively well for the Twilight Brigade. Winterjet's frost-coated wings proved to be quite effective weapons against the pegasi. She was remarkably agile, and skilled enough to outmaneuver most of the pegasi. Arcane Gaze, for all his stumbling and awkwardness in normal life, proved to be rather ruthless, bolts of magic sending pegasi falling to their deaths.

The two earth ponies were able to at least harry the pegasi with ranged weapons. Rock Quarry proved remarkably adept at hurling stones, able to get large rocks fairly close to lower-flying pegasi. Ironhammer was able to send smaller stones high into the air with his hammer, though only in a straight line.

Silent Shade was invisible, striking down those who got close enough. His range was rather short, but anypony that got close enough fell to his magic or small blade.

Twilight joined the fight not long after her team, releasing devastating bursts of power that could remove several ponies, should they get close enough. She was easily able to predict where they would dodge, and slim beams of light sent them falling to the ground. Unlike her soldiers, she laced a pair of spells into all of her attacks that would slow their fall and keep them unconscious.

She spotted the signature blue jumpsuit of the Wonderbolts on a pegasus and fired off a storm of small energy bolts. As expected of an elite soldier, the pony managed to evade them all. Unfortunately for him, Twilight had expected that. The bolts remained in the air around him. A moment later, they discharged their energy. It was impossible to dodge, as she’d effectively turned the air around him into her weapon. The pony fell hard, saved from a grisly fate only by Twilight’s mercy.

Twilight turned away from the battle when she felt Rainbow's signature move. She managed to find her friend immediately and was shocked by what she saw. To her horror, she saw her friend falling from the sky, trailing flames and obviously burnt.

"Rainbow!" The lavender mare cried in horror, her horn igniting with power. Violet tendrils of radiance lashed around her long horn, stretching down to scorch the earthen dome beneath her.

"Rainbow!" Someone called out. They were calling for her. But it would be so easy to just keep her eyes closed. She was so tired... Couldn’t she just nap for a bit? But she knew that voice. She knew the one it belonged to. And there was no way she’d leave Twilight.

The cyan mare's eyes snapped open and she spread her burnt wings, suppressing the pain. She managed to catch the wind and broke out of her free-fall. Spitfire had turned away, heading to join her comrades. Rainbow winced as she activated her bracelet, utilizing every last ounce of power she could muster. It was going to hurt a lot in the morning, but this was her only chance.

With all the power of one of her Rainbooms directed behind her, Rainbow shot like an arrow, slamming into the older pegasus. Spitfire howled in pain at the collision. Rainbow used the opportunity to turn away, realizing that her final attack had failed.

“You should have stayed down.” The yellow mare spat, a bit of blood leaving her mouth. She reared back, flames engulfing her. She was still coated in flames as she flew towards the cyan pony.

A lavender flash of light interrupted her charge. Spitfire hurled herself to the side, narrowly avoiding a beam of light as wide as she was tall.

“Get the buck away from my friend.” Twilight growled, her head down. She was somehow floating in the air. Her horn was still glowing, despite pointing towards the ground. Twilight barely needed to twitch to send a swarm of magical bolts at the Wonderbolt. Despite the ease with which she could attack, Twilight knew she wouldn’t last long in a mid-air battle. Regardless of her skills, the other pony was faster and better trained.

By converting a significant portion of her power into pegasus magic, she could use it to float, resisting gravity in the same fashion that all pegasi did. Of course, without the appropriate wings and body structure, there was no way she could actually fly. She was basically using her horn like a rocket, holding herself in the air by sheer force of will. Like a top balancing, she knew that a single mistake would send her tumbling to the ground. If she had more time, she could cast something like the Flutterwing spell, but it was a difficult spell even under controlled conditions, and it was far too easy to disrupt for use in battle.

“Tch.” Spitfire cursed, seeing Rainbow behind Twilight. Even scorched to the bone and exhausted, the cyan pegasus was still willing to fight. “Fine. You win this round.”

The yellow pegasus turned around and flew towards the main body of the battle. Before long, the remaining pegasi were retreating. Twilight sighed in relief as she grabbed her hurt friend and teleported them both to the ground. She waited until the pegasi were gone before reaching out with her magic to release the earth dome.

It wasn’t long before she heard a voice call out. “Twilight!” Her eyes widened and a smile appeared on her face at the sight of a sprinting purple dragon.

“Spike!” She wrapped her hooves around the young dragon. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Rainbow, darling, what have you done to yourself?” A horrified Rarity gasped as she stared at her burnt friend. Twilight had conjured a soft stretcher for the pegasus to sleep on.

“Rarity!” Twilight was quite pleased to see her friend. “I’m really happy to see you’re safe, but please keep it down. Rainbow needs to rest. She’s been hurt pretty bad.”

“What happened to her?” The bearer of Generosity asked, still horrified by the wounds on her friend.

“She was fighting against Spitfire. You know, the captain of the Wonderbolts?” Twilight sighed. “Rainbow got hurt pretty badly.”

Rarity shook her head. “I still can’t believe that we’re at war with ourselves.”

“It’s gotten pretty bad.” Twilight agreed. “I can only hope that this ends soon, but I get the feeling that things are going to get worse before they get better.”

“Speaking of better, what have you done to yourself, Twilight? You look amazing!” Rarity gaped, having finally gotten a good look at the lavender mare.

“I…” The blushing mare shrugged helplessly. “I still don’t really know. It’s something to do with the Element of Magic, I think.”

“Well…” Twilight trailed off as she turned around. Coming from Canterlot was a huge number of ponies. The reinforcements had finally arrived.

“Well, now they show up.” Twilight grumbled.

Author's Note

Well, classes are back, so my writing time will be severely curtailed. That being said, I wanted to get this out. This is a chapter I've been planning since I started this story. I'm not entirely happy with the beginning in particular, but I think it turned out pretty good for the most part.

If you've seen FMA:B, you have a pretty good idea of the dome Twilight made. I didn't really think about it until after the part was written, but it's pretty much what happened here. If you haven't seen it (or read it), then what are you doing reading this?

Okay, three fan-made OCs in this chapter, two new ones. Liya and Winterjet are from Kapuchu, while Evening Dew belongs to Bringer of Despair. Thanks to both of you! As to everyone else, keep sending them. I need a LOT of OCs for future chapters.

Next time will probably be the first Thunder Interlude. It should be a short one describing Thunderstorm's reactions to the events thus far.

Thanks to everyone who 'thumbed-up' this story, and to everyone who commented or favorited it as well! Every writer enjoys feedback, so let me know what you think! Remember, the more feedback I get, the faster I tend to write.

Thunder Interlude

Ironhoof glared at the fading rainbow trail. One pony. Eleven elite guards against a single unarmed and exhausted filly, and the cyan mare had managed to get away. On the other hand, he’d obviously been right not to deal with the brat himself. Whatever treachery Celestia had placed on her had obviously enabled the Element of Loyalty to escape. Unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected.

He hadn’t really expected her to join him, though that would have been an unbelievable coup. There was a reason that he’d placed a full squad of ponies outside his room, after all. He’d thought about simply killing her himself, but he’d been wary of Celestia’s precautions. There was no way that one of the six Elements of Harmony wouldn’t have protective enchantments on her, and he didn’t dare trigger them himself.

He gnashed his teeth. Even if he had planned for it, he’d hoped that they’d still be able to take her down. He’d carefully measured her stamina and strength throughout her Wonderbolt training, and had ordered Spitfire to increase the final test accordingly. She should have been too tired to fight, let alone trigger yet another of her signature Rainbooms as she escaped.

Malevolent plans came together behind his ebony eyes as he watched a legion of pegasi return from Canterlot. Things were in motion now, and no one, not even the precious princesses, could stop the coming storm.

The dark grey pony smirked savagely as he looked over the map of Equestria. With casual ease, he crushed a miniature town beneath a single hoof, destroying the mock town on the three dimensional map. Everything had gone according to plan. It had been weeks of careful manipulation, but it had paid off in the end. Manehattan had been completely obliterated by the massive storm. He had no illusions about the process being successful on a much wider scale, but it was still a major success, and one that he knew would be repeated in the coming days. Per his orders, clouds were now blocking out the sky across the whole country. Equestria was going to fall, and the pegasi would take their place as the rightful rulers of ponykind.

Ironhoof stared into the basin with relish. It was an old artifact, one that had been quite difficult to acquire. It allowed one to see great distances. Essentially, the bowl was linked to any water placed within it. If somepony should remove some water and carry it with them, then the bowl could be used to watch everything that occurred around them. It was very limited, and often stopped functioning for no reason, but it was still enormously useful.

He’d given a small container of water to the leader of his strike force so he could personally see the effects of the Battle Cloud. It was his secret weapon. He’d had ponies working on it for years, and it had only recently been completed. Effectively, the clouds were immune to both unicorn and earth pony magic, and even resistant to conventional damage. They would still detonate if ruptured or if they struck with sufficient force, but attacking them with projectiles was futile. It was an extremely delicate process to fill them with unrefined liquid rainbow. However, the result was a weapon of incomparable power.

He knew the clouds worked on a small scale, but this would be the first true combat test. Of course, with any luck, the actual combat test would be postponed. If the enormous Super Battle Cloud worked, it would destroy the village completely.

He’d picked the home of Celestia’s secret weapon, Ponyville, for the test. If it worked, the threat of the Elements of Harmony would be eradicated. Even if the giant cloud failed, he had sent enough battle clouds to reduce most of the town to rubble. It would be another great show of the power of the pegasi.

Ironhoof watched with great anticipation as the giant cloud neared the small village. He frowned as he saw a cyan figure fly towards the cloud. It had to be Rainbow Dash. He smirked. She might be able to stop the cloud, but not without killing herself in the process. The blue blur paused for a moment, hurling something at it. Nothing happened, obviously, so he knew she would proceed to try and break it like she would any other. He grinned savagely as he watched eagerly.

Sure enough, the blue pony flew into the cloud. He cursed as a rainbow propelled her away from the explosion. How? He’d studied her abilities, and there was no way that she could trigger one of her signature Rainbooms in the complete opposite direction of her flight.

He watched her plummet towards the ground, propelled by the blast. She was going too fast for even a pegasus to survive, he thought gleefully. Unfortunately, she had already gone beyond the range of the bowl, so he couldn’t watch her body collide with the ground.

A moment later, a huge dome of energy materialized over the town. A lavender figure stepped out of it. It could only be Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s protégé. He felt hatred build within him. Despite his rage, he could only watch as the unicorn decimated his forces, the surface of the bowl going dark as the pegasus carrying the water hit the ground, obviously breaking the vessel containing it.

He roared in absolute fury as he struck the basin. The stone bowl fell to the reinforced cloud floor, the water within spilling out in an instant. His black eyes seem to burn, growing even darker. They seemed to emanate a foul light.

Ironhoof stood on one of Cloudsdale’s new walls, staring into the distance. Celestia had returned not long after her student had foiled his plan with the Super Battle Cloud. Her presence meant that he had to move much more carefully. As he had been one of her top advisors, he had a better idea than most of just what she was capable of. Because of that, he knew his moves had to be planned carefully.

He’d planned out an ambush for the reinforcements from the Crystal Empire. His second in command, Spitfire, was in charge of more than two hundred and fifty pegasi for this attack. He’d picked out a point along their probable route and had planned everything out.

Everything had been going according to plan, until the basin failed. Unfortunately, there was no way to reestablish a link, so he was forced to wait for the return of his army.

Hours later, he finally saw ponies coming towards him. In the lead was Spitfire, but almost all of them, even the captain of the Wonderbolts, were injured. What’s more, there were far fewer ponies than there should be.

Ironhoof listened coldly as Spitfire gave her report. He heard of Twilight Sparkle’s creation, of how her insignificant ‘Twilight Brigade’ managed to overcome his pegasi, saving the wounded Crystal Empire forces. He ordered her to the medical wing without betraying an ounce of emotion.

Once the returning ponies were gone, he allowed his emotions to boil forth. Black smoke actually emerged from his eyes as he roared to the evening sky.

“Twilight Sparkle!” He roared, his voice filled with pure hatred.

He smashed his hoof into the ground, tearing the reinforced cloud beneath, which was stronger than steel. A massive gash was ripped in the wall, large enough for even a pony of his large size to walk through with ease. Considering the wall shielded the entirety of Cloudsdale, a rift of this size would take days to repair.

His anger temporarily sated, he stalked away from the wall. He had plans to make. Celestia and her precious Equestria would fall, and Twilight Sparkle would be nothing more than a minor obstacle, even if he had to kill her himself.

Author's Note

Well, here's the first Thunder Interlude. There will be at least one more later. This one's short, but I wanted to give an idea of Ironhoof's character, as well as show his reactions to the events so far. In case it isn't obvious from the ending, he is ridiculously strong. Picture a steel wall that blocks all of Cloudsdale, then picture a pony tearing it completely with a single strike. For anyone who's worried about Twilight being too powerful, I hope this relieves at least some of those doubts. I measure character power levels to a scale (or several, in the case of this story) to make sure that characters fit where they're supposed to. Twilight is OP when you compare her to regular ponies. But so are many other characters.

Next time: Aftermath. We see the results of the Twilight Brigade's victory and more.

I need a lot more OCs, so keep sending them to me! Also, I really want to know what people think of the story so far, so please let me know. Any comments, good or bad, are welcome!