Chapter 13: Reunion

“43 YEARS?!?” Twilight’s eyes were wide and her jaw was slack. “ Taara!!! You said time passed considerably slower in Equestria than on Nirn!” Twilight, exhaustion kept her from moving much during her very visible distress.

“I did….you were gone for over 240 years…and ONLY 43 years passed here what, did you think that it would be mere days?...” Taara scoffed. She understood the distress and even sympathized with her friend but Twilight was being a little annoying for her at the moment. There was very little they could do or even could HAVE done. The vast majority of that time passed when she was sealed away. Even if Taara had gotten to Twilight when she was still young, they both would be facing this same situation or something similar to it.

A calming hoof plopped onto Twilight’s shoulder. “Its alright sugar cube….we just thought for so long you were gone forever… a lot of people were upset you vanished... but this is not your fault… its all Princess Melody’s fault… She was the whole reason for this… For everything… but no… lets get everypony back to HQ… there ain’t many of us left…. But the princesses keep the resistance up…” Apple jack smiled warmly though her face betrayed signs of despair and pain. Taara knew the look well. Apple Jack had seen years of war and bloodshed, she knew loss and pain, Taara easily saw at least this much.

“Princesses?.... oh thank Celestia they are ok…” Apple jack noticeably flinched and shook her head. “…what?”

“Twilight…you might want to sit down…” They looked eachother in the eye and Twilight shivered. “Princess Celestia died 28 years ago… Princess Melody killed her when Celestia came to deal with all the trouble brewing up here…”

Twilight’s heart sank. “How?... how did this happen.. who.. what…”

Apple Jack sat down calmly looking to Twilight and those who came with her from Nirn. “After you vanished, the whole kingdom mourned for months… But time went on. Nothing was quite the same. Shining armor blamed himself for you being lost into that mirror. They quickly had it moved and locked away where no pony could ever use it again. Two royal guards volunteered to go in after you but they did not return either… So the mirror was sealed away under the Crystal empire… Everything seemed to be getting a little better when Princess Cadence had two children. Twins, They named them Bronze Armor… and Melody. The kingdom was overjoyed with them. After we lost a princess we gained a prince and a princess. But soon… there were signs that things were not all well. At ten years old it was discovered that Bronze armor had the talent for dark magic. Exceedingly powerful dark magic. Well talent is not quite the word. He was attuned to it but had no control. Princes Melody developed a talent for artifice. Even at that young age, she could easily create amazingly complex magical artifacts. But then the problems started. For some reason she started to become cruel. We think that Cadence and Shining Armor were struck with fear in remembrance of what happened to you… They had sheltered their children for too long. And soon Melody started to show signs of cruelty and spite. She was driven to anger and thirsted for power. We were all blinded by her youth and supposed innocence that we did not see what she was planning. She forced her brother to summon a great darkness. This darkness utterly possessed him. His kind heart was overwhelmed. As he rampaged, a victim of his own talents and his sister’s deceit. Celestia came to put a stop to it. Melody crafted shackles that would stop him. Celestia went quickly and succeeded at stopping his mindless rage by affixing the magical restraints upon him. But this is exactly as Melody had planned… They were not restraints but a method of dominating Bronze Armor’s soul. He and all the dark magic that possessed him were instantly brought under her control. Using her new weapon she struck down Celestia. Shining armor instantly came to her aid but he was destroyed utterly... Princess Celestia was able to escaped but she was mortally wounded… She eventually died in Canterlot. Cadence was locked away in a secret dungeon and Luna took Equestria’s armies into the Crystal Empire to stop the madness. They in turn were defeated by Bronze Armor’s power. She is still with us and continues to lead the resistance. Shes been our leader trying to divert everypony out of harms way… Melody has taken all of Equestria by conquest… She rules by an iron hoof…”

Twilight sat where she was, shivering and shaking. She felt sick. The news of Celestia alone hit her like a train. But her brother too, not to mention all of Equestria conquered by an evil mare who’s main weapon was yet another innocent bystander.

Spike hopped up looking Apple Jack in the eyes. “What about the others?...what about Rarity… Rainbow Dash… Pinkie?”

Apple Jack looked down and Spike could tell it was bad news. “Rarity … no one has heard from …not for years. She was imprisoned when she tried to talk sense into Melody. Pinkie went back with her family and actually is leading a lot of earth Ponies in rescue missions to get them out of harms way and out of labor camps. The pie family has been hard at work in that for years. Rainbow Dash joined the Wonderbolts a LONG time ago… and ever since Princess Celestia died they have been doing hit and runs on the Crystal Empire. No one has heard from her in over a year but that is not uncommon…and… well.. Fluttershy…. You will have to see this to believe it…”

Apple Jack stoon and gestured for them to follow. “You will see when we get back…but for now…who are these folks and how did you meet them?...where the hay did you go?”

Taara happily gave a firm nod. It was about as formal as she got. “I am Arch mage of the college of Winterhold…This scruffy foul smelling wolf is Baldir… the harbinger of the companions…. And the…I really don’t know how to say it in a way you would understand…. The…umm.. feline one is Ra’shala… Twilight came into our world 240 years ago… But she spent around 230 something years sealed away magically… She was thought to be just a unique type of pony, being delivered to my college as a specimen for study…” Twilight cleared her throat and continued where Taara left off.

“And well the short version is that we all teamed up and spent seven years learning everything we could from eachother before we finally came back… we… kinda had to break into an area worse than Tartarus dealing with a God of madness….mad….Discord!!! Where is discord?”

Apple Jack sighed again as they trotted along. “He was called into the fight after Luna failed to strike down Melody. He was pierced through the chest with something. It seals away his magic and as an added side effect, we cannot remove it without killing him. It attacks his body with magic every time anypony gets near it.”

Twilight had a bit of hope. This was Equestrian magic and almost no one alive knew Equestrian magic better than she did. In addition, Twilight had a grand master of Tamrielian magic with her.

“Though I must say Twilight…I am surprised that there were ponies just like us on the other side of that mirror…” Baldir scoffed and Taara smirked.

“There wasn’t. We are just disguising ourselves as inhabitants of your world as to not cause conflict or panic….Twilight often did the same for us back on Nirn… Talking ponies are not very common anywhere but here I would guess”

They continued to talk as they walked for just over two hours until they finally found their way to a deep cave. Heavily disguised with magic it was more than just a cave. It housed thousands of ponies. Most of which were active members of the resistance. Walking along Twilight spotted something that was almost painful to see. A one winged Alicorn with a notched horn.

Luna gave a shocked gasp when she noticed Twilight. Luna's extensive injuries made her a little harder to identify but Twilight easily spotted her and trotted over. “Twilight!... we thought that you were gone forever. This is the best news we have had in years…We are just one step closer to Taking back our world” Others as well seemed to notice and hope swept through the small cave as whispers and smiles spread like fire.

Twilight smiled, though still a little unsure of what to do. For her, sure, she had only experienced seven years, but so much time had passed. It felt so unfair, she was angry at Princess Melody, but most of all she was angry at herself. If she had not been so eager to go see the dig site. She would never have been sucked into Nirn. She could have stopped all of this.

Trying hard to keep a smile for the sake of the reunion of them all. "Wait... Apple Jack... you said Princesses didn't you? Is there another Alicorn other than Luna?"

The scarred Luna smiled and looked back. "There is Princess Twilight. Let us reintroduce you to her. Princess Twilight, meet Princess.... Fluttershy."

Twilight gave a very confused look before Fluttershy rounded the corner nervously. And there protruding from her forehead was a long and graceful horn.

"Wait....what?...no...what?....but.....what?"

Fluttershy's eyes widened when seeing Twilight and she quickly dashed over hugging her tightly. Unlike Apple Jack Fluttershy did not appear to have aged much more than a few years.

Returning the hug Twilight stepped back. "Flutteryshy... how in the name of Celestia did you become an alicorn?"

Fluttershy gave the same old shy smile. "Well..um...actually it was Celestia..."

Apple Jack hopped up beside the two. "Its true...with the last of her power she sealed all her magical essence into Fluttershy."

Twilight tilted her head, questioning the judgment of choosing Fluttershy during a time of war. "Um...well really no offense to Fluttershy but... WHY?... why did Celestia choose the most shy and fearful pony in all of Equestria to be a princess to replace herself?"

Apple Jack let out a nervous chuckle and looked off to the side. "Well... to be honest...she had the one qualification that none of us other ponies had...it placed her at the front of the line..."

"I...um.. I was standing the closest...." Twilight applied a generous amount of hoof to her face and Fluttershy smiled nervously.

"Oh.. but she has been a wonderful princess... without her this resistance would have ended ages ago. Flutteryshy has always had a knack for animals and nature. Its her birds that bring back intel every day and her new magical powers that grow nutritious fruits even here, deep within these cave systems. Her new magic has an extreme importance... I am guessing you might be wondering why we didnt at least try and use the elements of harmony... the long and short of it is that Melody ordered her soldiers to cut down the tree of harmony... but.. thanks to Fluttershy... we moved the fallen tree and are keeping it alive. Though it takes up a considerable amount of her power and time to keep the tree alive."

Twilight was now more than exhausted. It was so much to take in, so much had been lost and so much had been done. She could hardly take it. But there was a comforting hoof on her shoulder before there was a magical flash and the hoof turned to a hand. All the ponies present either stared in awe or hid behind something. "What in the sweet name of Celestia is that!?!"

Taara ignored them as she pulled on Twilight's chin making her look the old arch mage in the eyes. "Twilight... we have been friends for a very long time...and I will guarantee you... your people will have us at their backs...Until a long term solution is found... the mages college... and ALL of its influence is at your disposal."

"As well as this one's own services... as tedious as they might be" Lacking the magical prowess Ra'shala did not revert, nor did Baldir as he grinned wide and stamped his axe into the ground.

"Me as well you dumb horse... if there is a war to be had... you will find no greater ally than a bunch of angry Nords.. and if that stuck up bitch thinks shes got an army in that one little pony... she will change her mind when all the forces of Skyrim descend upon her castle." Spike stood beside him still clad in the old armor the companions made for him. It was no doubt that she STILL had the support of the somewhat kinda legendary Zeikkinzukjoor, and by default all the dragons that Spike had made friend's with.

Twilight's face turned to a smile. There was indeed hope, the resistance was struggling to keep going with just Fluttershy and Luna. But  with Twilight, three legendary dragonborn and all the forces that came with them. This resistance was about to turn into a full blown one sided war.

"now then... PRINCESS... whats our first move?"