War of Harmony IV, a Novelization.

by FadFreaky

Rating: teen
Tags: Trixie, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Mystery, Rarity, Adventure, Pinkie Pie, Sex, Gore, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 20940

Rarity, united once again with Pinkie Pie, follows Luna's orders of going to the Everfree. She is there to find the strength to save her friends... and to end the war ravaging Equestria once and for all.

How long has it been, Equestria, since we've seen peace? Years upon years of bloodshed and tears stain every part of our beloved country now. I stand now on the precipice of it all coming to an end. I do not write this down for any to see, but to have a listen into my thoughts. See through my eyes as I travel with my friend, Pinkie Pie, into the Everfree. There I will conquer the mission set out to me by Princess Luna. If I fail, the war continues, and harmony will disappear for years to come.
With the help of creator Marshall Ruffy ( who helped so much with this and helped edit spelling, grammar, etc. ) along with my two pre-readers ( James and LoN, you know who you are. ) I am happy to present this to you, readers.
Story has a sex tag for mention of sex, no acts of which actually do take place.
For those interested, the novelization in the title isn't just for show. This is an rpg maker MLP game of which I have novelized, for those interested you may look it up, that is all.

Published 2015-06-28 05:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-05-25 21:37:58 UTC

A Fool and a Failure

I let out a soft sigh of gratitude upon seeing the trees, and a smile graced my face. We were safe for the moment, and I reveled in it. The magic emitting from the trees with our elements inside repelled beasts and monsters of ill intent. However, because of its safe haven nature, it often had beasts surrounding it. No regular ponies could have made their way here, let alone two, but we were anything but ordinary.

'We were lucky to have timber wolves being our only problems getting here,' I thought grimly as I looked to the sky. The rainclouds had yet to part, and now a light breeze was passing through. It blew leaves and other stray things through the air. I kept a careful eye to make sure none of the stray foliage blew into my mane. However, that was merely a passing thought as I drifted my eyes from the scenery to look straight ahead.

The six trees of harmony stood in front of us as we left our previous path behind. A tree for each bearer stood in the clearing ahead of us, matching our coat colors. The largest being the purple elemental tree of magic, as it displayed every trait surrounding it along with its own.

My thoughts turned grim at Twilight's tree as we passed, I wondered how the fool was enjoying herself right then. Part of me couldn't blame her, but I had every right to be mad at her. I don’t care why or how I just-

"Rarity? Are you okay?" I felt Pinkie Pie's hoof on my shoulder and I realized I had stopped, and that I was shaking. I took a deep breath and exhaled shakily. I smiled appreciatively at Pinkie before shrugging her hoof off.

"Just fine, darling. Let's just stay focused," I said politely, walking past the trees to the alter's straight ahead. Pinkie wasn't bouncing anymore, just walking behind me with a concerned look. That didn't matter to me though, for the good of the mission I had to stay focused. It was hard though, so many memories, so many failures were made here... I was grateful when we came to the turn, but a frown appeared on my features.

"Of course, the way would have to be blocked," I said grimly, staring at the vines obstructing our path forwards. I was not the most magically capable unicorn, but even a foal could feel the magic radiating off the vines.
‘Time to look for clues for what we need to do…’ I idly thought to myself. I turned to my left. A stoney statue of Princess Luna stood there. Trotting into the small clearing it stood in, my thoughts drifted to her.

'Luna, the true savior and defender of the people.’ A small smile graced my lips. The inscription on the pedestal the statue was on top of simply stated this.

PRINCESS LUNA

-LEADER OF THE REBELLION-

I wiped away a bit of the dust gathering on the pedestal before turning around. Pinkie gave me a curious glance as I walked past her, my eyes focused in a glare. On the opposite side of the Luna statue was a Celestia statue, also on a pedestal.

‘I suppose you’d be Queen Celestia now, wouldn’t you?’ I mused. Celestia, a name once spoke in reverence, but now seen as the one and only queen of Equestria. A queen she is, but history will speak of her as a tyrant..

QUEEN CELESTIA

-Ruler of Equestria-

Is what the inscription read, a similar looking offering plate with nothing on it is also nearby. Suddenly fog rolled in, blinding me before vanishing just as quick. I turned to ask Pinkie something when I saw her standing there.

Trixie, a frown came onto my face and what Pinkie described to me later as, “A superduper crazy look!“ in her usual bubbly voice.

“Trixie,” I said, not hiding any of the anger and venom in my voice.

“Rarity?” she responded, a questioning tone in her voice as she seemed slightly confused at me. As if she had the gall to e- no, no, I must calm down.

“ Why are you here?” I said, cutting straight to the point, Pinkie bouncing up next to me to examine the new arrival.

“ I’m here because Spike has given me strict instructions to help any of the six that came looking,” Trixie recited from her memory, a smile on her face, apparently pleased at her, “duty” of hers. I was surprised, Spike was here?

“ You’ve seen Spike? Where is he? What is he doing?” I asked did Spike beat me here or… how long had Trixie been here?

“ Why would I ask you? I cannot trust you,” I said, frowning at her once again. A hurt expression spread across her face at this, and she spoke.

“ Wait… please.” An expression of regret glimpsed her face, I could only offer an expression of impatience.

“ I know that I messed up, and there is probably nothing I could ever do to make it up…” Damn right there isn’t, so you’d better watch it.

“ But please give me a chance?” she asked. I snorted at this, her expression of hope quickly vanishing before Pinkie chimed in.

“Rarity… give her a chance, what harm would it cause?” Always the optimist Pinkie, but you don’t know her like I do.

“ I do not want this whore of a mare’s help,” I spat vehemently, Trixie looking quite hurt.

“Rarity!” She looked to apologize for my words, but Trixie teleported away before anymore could be said.

“Why did you do that, Rarity?” Pinkie asked, strangely calm which greatly clashed with the angry look she was giving me.

“ She knew what we were supposed to do.” A tick mark appearing on her forehead as she looked at me angrily. Getting rid of Trixie was necessary, so I waved off her concerns.

“We can figure it out, I’m sure,” I said with a smile.

“Well, we can’t go east yet, so let’s head west!” I remembered what lay to the west, but I trusted Pinkie to lead me right since whatever Trixie had to offer was not available. We trotted back to the trees of harmony, taking the westernmost path available to us. We walked for a while, the woods going on and on… I looked up, but I couldn’t see the sky anymore, and the forest had taken on an almost red hue. Droplets of something red dripped down onto the two of us.

“Rarity, this place is kind of scary… and not in the way I normally can just laugh off,” Pinkie admitted, rubbing up to me. Truthfully, I didn’t like the look of these woods either; magic was definitely at work here.

“ I didn’t ask you to come with me, Pinkie. You can still go back home,” I replied with an ultimatum. She seemed surprised at me saying this, quickly and stubbornly replying.

“ No way, Rarity. I’m here to help you all the way!” she told me. Pinkie wasn’t known for her honesty, but I could believe her just this once. It wasn’t in her to lie… much.

“ Good, now let’s get through these woods as fast as we can,” I said, hurrying my pace. I really didn’t want to wait to see this wood’s version of monsters.

“ This is the way to Sister Palace,” Pinkie idly thought, vocalizing it. I guessed that she recognized the route, but best to avoid making her curious.

“ I wasn’t here for that. Neither were you,” I stated, not wanting to play therapist time with Pinkie.

“Wanna go home?“ Pinkie asked, not even expecting a positive answer but simply asking. She already knew my response to that, so I simply scoffed and kept on trotting. I didn’t even catch the worried look that Pinkie gave me as she followed me.

“I’m here for your sake, Rarity. You need your friends right now.” Dear Luna, she wasn’t kidding. At the same time, I hated what she said and what it represented to me. Where were- no, she’s trying to get this reaction out of you. Just keep trotting and don’t even think about arguing with her right now. It was a quiet trot for a while, until something took notice of our presence. More specifically me, they recognized me, which could be bad.

“Ghosts, Rarity. Those are ghosts!” and she wasn’t lying. I didn’t know what magic brought these souls from their rest. Ghastly white earth pony ghosts in bright gold armor, their manes a blood red approached us.

“We’re putting them back in the ground Pinkie, get ready for a fight!” I stopped trotting and spread my legs out, putting myself lower to the ground. I made the first move, springing towards the ghost my attack gem glowing brightly as I struck it. To my surprise, it actually recoiled when I struck it. If it was even slight pain, I felt more confident about this. Its eyes glowed purple, and it smirked at me, then a rush of memories washed over me. Failure after failure, tragedy after tragedy kept hitting me as hard. It was only when Pinkie shook me that I was knocked out of my trance. I collapsed, all my energy gone as Pinkie galloped out to protect me.

‘ I’m bleeding,’ I idly thought to myself, wiping the blood that was coming out of my muzzle away. I looked up to see how Pinkie was doing. Unfortunately, it had come to relying on her. Her spastic motions and reality defying movements puzzled the ghosts. It was, however, to no avail. Pinkie landed at my side bloody and bruised.

“Pinkie… Pinkie run!” I shouted, getting to my hooves, trying to pull her up.

“ Can’t brain today I have the dumb…” Pinkie muttered incoherently, her eyes closing.

“ PINKIE!!!” I screamed, the ghosts were nearly upon us. I shook Pinkie again and stood up, options going through my head. What could I do now?

“ Don’t let anypony else die, Rarity… “

Recovery, and Accepting Help.

“Don’t let anypony else die, Rarity…”

‘I won’t. I WILL NOT!’ This situation had gone to tartarus, but they weren’t taking Pinkie from me. Avoiding the ghosts’ eyes was a must to escape the hell that was last time. Whatever they did to me nearly incapacitated me, and I couldn’t afford that now.

I got to my hooves, ready to fight with grim conviction. The ghost to my right smirked at me and dropped his guard. Whether or not it was a feint would be decided rather quickly.

I shot forward blindingly fast, my red tinted hoof throat punching the ghastly ghost. His companion darted forth to assist, but I spun around, hooves at the ready. We traded blows for a bit, but a lucky strike in the weak spot of his armor knocked him backwards.

With the two quickly occupied for the moment, it was time to make my escape. I stopped momentarily and lifted Pinkie on my back, grunting and breathing heavily as I began to run off. It wasn’t the first time I’ve had to carry a pony out of harm’s way. Being wounded and having to retreat with someone completely unconscious, however, was a nightmare.

I turned my head to see if the ghosts we’re still pursuing, and tripped. Pinkie slid along the ground further ahead, so I focused my attention elsewhere. There was no point in looking or understanding what happened. I struck fast at my pursuer and picked up Pinkie before galloping down the path. I didn’t have to turn around this time to see how far away they were. They were right on top of us, breathing down our necks as the path stretched on. My vision was darkening as my unattended internal wound bothered me. My pace was rapidly slowing, my wound being the primary cause.

Then, the light of the clearing ahead revealed itself to me. I pushed myself harder, but with minimal results. Pinkie and I were in dire straits, but we made it! My horn glowed as we arrived in the elemental trees clearing. That restoration crystal wasn’t there before, but there was no time to ponder. I tapped it and paused as the liquid inside flowed into the both of us.

“Pinkie, are you ok?” I voiced aloud. I trailed my hoof along her forehead as her wounds were taken care of. She started shaking, and I took my hooves off before she sprung up and exclaimed.

“Right as a twitching tail during an earthquake!” And that much was obvious. She didn’t seem at all affected that we almost died.

“Oh, by the way, that is the same forest where we laughed at all those scary trees, right?” she asked me inquisitively. With a questioning look at her, I responded.

“I believe so, yes.” Where was she going with this exactly?

“Then they need to get outta my forest of laughter!” she shouted, looking particularly furious with them being there, being more determined than ever despite the fact that we almost died.

“Time to fight!! PINKIE PIE STYLE!!” Pinkie shouted again. I just had to put my two cents in before we made a foolish decision.

“Didn’t we just get our flanks kicked?” Although truthfully, they only had the upperhoof with their hidden technique. Which means the reason we lost was my fault… dammit. I was startled out of my thoughts by Pinkie’s mane straightening, and her gaze sharpening.

“Last time you did this, Spike was there to stop you… and I assure you that you do not want me to ‘stop you’!” I threatened, gritting my teeth and stating forcefully. She had nothing to say in response, that eerie unsettling look of hers stared back at me.

“Just having fun, Rarity!” she stated simply, her features returning back to normal with ease. She giggled at my unsettled look, and I sighed, running my hoof along my face. That… Pinkamena state of hers was quite dangerous. Spike explained it to me as a sort of, “berserker” state that consumed Pinkie.

*Whooosh*

The wind and fog swept into the clearing then cleared quickly. Trixie stood across from us as it passed. As much as it pained me, we almost died, and if I wanted to better our chances…

“Trixie…” sighing, she glanced at me and hesitantly asked,

“Do you need my help?” Don’t push it by saying we need your help, but…

“Yes,” I reluctantly said, Pinkie nudging me and offering a comforting smile.

“I know you don’t want me around... so I’m going to do my best.” Even if Trixie was a betrayer and a deceiver; She was a powerful pony to have around for her magical talents.

“Glad to have you aboard, Trixie!” Pinkie quickly began chattering with the mare whose eyes rose up in surprise. I let the two mares get acquainted, laying down against Applejack’s tree. They talked quietly, their eyes glancing at me occasionally.

“Girls, I have a plan.” They snapped to attention and leaned in eagerly. I got back to my hooves and walked in front of them before turning to face.

“What’s up, Rarity?” Pinkie piped up first, her eyes inquisitively staring into mine.

“I hate to admit it, but I’m not very effective at fighting the undead.” Pinkie nodded, her memory of the fight playing out while Trixie remained silent.

“But I did learn something a while back to help Twilight fight.” My eyes glanced over to Trixie. Her eyes widened in realization, then at shock because I would actually be helping her.

“Hopefully, it will make both your magic more potent,” I stated, including Pinkie because surprisingly she could use magic. As Twilight had come to find out, each of us used magic in a different way due to being element bearers. This came in two different ways, direct and indirect.

Indirectly, the element bearers inspired different effects based on their respective elements. Pinkie Pie being the element of laughter inspired others to carry on no matter what. No matter how bad things got, Ponies that were on fire, poisoned, it would be as if the effects meant nothing. Directly, and it’s important you know this now, Pinkie’s laughter actually harmed ponies when imbued with magic. It is things like this that constantly make me grateful that she is not a sadist.

“We should probably get going. I know you said you were on a mission after all,” Trixie piped up. She was right, I took the lead with the others flanking my side behind me. We headed back into the Forest of Laughter, and very quickly, our previous enemies faced us.

This time, however, they lacked surprise, numbers, and skill to face us. With a flash, our group set off, Pinkie taking on one ghost while me and Trixie handled another. The ghost chuckled as my hoof seemed to pass through. The chuckle then became a cry of pain as my horn glowed and I jumped away, avoiding the weaker strike. Trixie quickly launched into action, her horn glowing a very light but noticeable purple . Several ice shards shot out and launched through the ghost who howled in pain as they impacted him. The ghost who was fighting Pinkie heard the cries both charged Trixie, who stepped back. When both of them came, I blocked the hits, getting bruised and knocked to the side. Trixie luckily got away, and Pinkie gasped and let in as much air as she could…!

“Hah! Hah! Hah!” Pinkie laughed haughtily and loudly at the ghosts. The one with the shards still inside of him ghastly moaned and then passed on. Before his friend could get revenge, more ice shards struck him, and he fumbled. It was then that I called upon my magic, my element…

“Element of Generosity... WRATH!” I whispered then shouted, and with my glowing red hoof I struck. The ghost spasmed in pain as my hit struck its mark critically before fading away. It appeared to have dropped a flask. Upon opening and smelling the contents, my eyes widened.

“Whatcha found, Rarity?” Pinkie Pie asked me, Trixie coming around to look.

“Hmm… Magically infused water,” I hummed in thought, shoving the flask into Pinkie’s hooves and walking ahead.

“We should avoid anymore like them,” I said, seeing as how the trail went on for a longer period of time. That and nopony in their sane mind would be coming this way anyway.

“Shouldn’t we try to clear them out?” Pinkie asked, but we simply didn’t have that luxury to do so.

“That would probably take a long time…” Time being something we lacked if we wanted to get this over with quickly.

“Plus, it is very rude to be disturbing their rests.” Although truthfully, it was uncertain if they even were at rest.

“By the way, Trixie, you never told us why you were here.” Stopping a moment to ask this question had been on my to-do list for a while.

“...? Yes I did,” Trixie said, raising an eyebrow.

“I think she means the real reason,” Pinkie chimed in, and she was spot on. Trixie, however, took a big dislike to my prying, and had no problem showing so.

“I have no reason to tell you. All you need to understand is that I am following Spike’s order… nothing more.” With an intense look of dislike directed at me, she huffed. Pinkie obviously saw the danger present in what Trixie had just done.

“Maybe we should just leave it alone for now…” She said carefully, I gave her a look of disdain at this.

“Don’t side with her, Pinkie. What are you thinking?” I said quite rudely, but being frank was what was necessary to get through that head of hers.

“I’m not siding with her… but even IF I was you don’t have to be mean about it…” She said defensively, but I knew better. She was defending Trixie’s right to not explain. And, considering who she is and what she’s done while helping us. I sighed, 'That’s a bad combination for disaster, why can’t she understand that?'

The rest of our walk was continued in silence. Trixie and Pinkie where no doubt whispering behind me. When the forest path ended and a wooden bridge came into distance… That was when the memories started coming in. In the clearing, there stood the bones of many dead soldier ponies. Even further beyond that, in front of the bridge to the Everfree Castle, there laid a sleeping Ursa Minor with dried blood smeared onto its maw.

“We have to get past that?” Trixie said uncomfortably, having a history with said creatures.

“Not yet, we still have time to prepare. Search the area, girls…” I said firmly, horn glowing as my cutie mark was detecting something. Trixie stopped at the bones ahead of us and looked like she was about to cry.

“I… caused this…” I had no words to say to her, none that she would like anyway.

“You did what now?” Pinkie asked confused. These bodies did look old and long deceased, not to mention Trixie would never have been able to take them all on. Indirectly however…

“Nothing… nothing at all, let’s continue,” Trixie said, steeling herself against what she caused.

“A monetary crystal!” I announced to the others with a shine in my eyes.

“A what?” Pinkie asked me, poking it experimentally.

“A monetary crystal. I used these during the war to purchase items I’d previously come across.” It was a big help, but Pinkie still seemed unconvinced.

“What?” She said giving her best flat and Maudlike impression.

“Well my talent is finding crystals, Pinkie. I just need to find them and we can use them,” I said unabashed. This is what my talent was supposed to be.

“So we can buy and sell? Because I’ve so been looking forward to selling all this junk of mine,” Pinkie said with a gleam in her eye.

“Just buy, unfortunately...” Sighing, the crystals had no need for things except to sell them. Although, I have to question where they even get these items from…

// DISCOVERER DETECTED

// OPENING ITEM NEXUS

The monetary crystal sold potions, magical regenerative water, and gems of all kind. I made sure to buy a bit of everything, but I wasn’t exactly made of bits. Luckily, Pinkie and Trixie were there to share in buying supplies. Although Trixie only shared her bits with Pinkie, not trusting or wanting to share her funds with me.

I also managed to find another recovery crystal, and with their frequence here… I was starting to suspect they commonly appeared in areas of great bloodshed. Tapping the top bubble, we all sighed in relaxation from being fully restored.

It was time, however, for the toughest part of our journey so far. The Ursa Minor was awake now, staring at us and waiting. If it’s bloody maw and the broken sword in its neck were any indication, it wasn’t going to step down.

“Let’s go girls.”

Author's Note

Kept you waiting, huh?

Boss Battle: Ursa Minor!

Our trio approached the Ursa which stood up, not liking our approach. It had been nestling comfortably in front of the bridge and had quickly noticed our loud and abrupt entrance. It gave us a glance, starting from Pinkie, to Trixie, then to me. The beast stood in front of the bridge, in front of our path to the offering. We all shared a look at each other as well. Pinkie looked quite determined, and Trixie was oddly pleased. Our surroundings were favorable to fight such a creature. A large circular clearing with two bone piles of dead soldiers near the center. The bones themselves could make for quite a distraction if used correctly...

“An Ursa… I shall have my revenge,” Trixie said, her eyes narrowing as ideas circled through her head.

“Easy Trixie… It’s only a minor. While it is in the way, you shouldn’t make the same mistake as last time.” Being cautious would yield better results, and it would be smarter to incapacitate the Ursa rather than kill it.

“To hell with that. It’s in the way anyway. Let’s get it,” she said with bloodlust. Pinkie nodded in agreement.

“She actually does have a point.” And with that, I was outvoted. The Ursa would die. I gave my silence and a nod as my response. You might think Pinkie wouldn’t have agreed so quickly, but she wasn’t Fluttershy with her love of animals. Gummy was truly her only animal friend, and that was due to it being unable to harm her. The plan for the battle was simple: improvise and see what worked. If we had time during the battle, we would come up with a plan. The Minor, however, was tired of waiting for us. It inhaled, drawing in air and finally...

GROARRRRRRR!

The Ursa's roar pierced the silence of the clearing before it charged us, its paw going for a low overhead swing!

DUCK!

I bucked its back leg before galloping from underneath. To the right, Trixie readied her magic and launched ice spikes at the beast. The beast let out a roar of anger at this, turning its eyes to the caster. That was the case before the beast felt Pinkie crawling on its side. The aforementioned mare quickly lept from the Ursa as it rolled over and tried to crush her.

Crackle! Rattle!

The bones moaned and were crushed over the Ursa’s massive weight. To my satisfaction, some of the bones the Ursa landed on came to life. It was a welcome distraction as Pinkie and I rallied with Trixie.

“Pinkie, Rarity,come up with a plan yet?” Trixie asked. I moved my eyes to Pinkie who seemed pleased that I trusted her to handle this.

“Okay, Trixie, we need you to bring down that Ursa. Rarity, you’ll know what to do when shes brought it down. I’ll handle distractions once the big guy is done chomping on his bones,” the supreme party planner stated with confidence. Trixie and I nodded and then went the opposite direction from each other across the side of the clearing. Pinkie stood by herself with a cocky grin and opened her mouth.

“When we’re done with you, not even your momma’ll love you!” The bear recoiled its head, looked genuinely insulted, and let out the angriest roar yet. It recklessly charged Pinkie, who readied herself to dodge at the last moment.

RIP!

“Uh oh! Timberrrr~!” Pinkie giggled, sliding out of the Ursa’s grasp as it shattered its head against a tree. This tree in particular then fell onto it and was then ripped to shreds by the Ursa’s teeth. Before the Ursa could continue its rampage, however, it was interrupted by Trixie.

Groooooo….

The celestial bear let out a groan as its leg buckled and literally bubbled outwardly from Trixie’s magic. Taking the opportunity while the beast was down, I jumped and climbed on top of it, seizing the moment to buck it in the eye with a strong WHAM when it gnashed at me with its teeth. Pulling the sword out of the creature’s neck wasn’t easy, but it let out a smooth schlick as the deed was done. With the handle in my mouth and sword at the ready, I struck. The Ursa roared as I slashed at the back of its neck. With its attention on me, I had to act fast to avoid danger. Throwing myself off the Ursa was a good idea at the time. The loud thud and shaking of the earth made me glad to have thrown myself o-. SMACK, CRUNCH

“Buck…” Was my whimper of a response after coming to my senses. The hard wood behind me informing me the Ursa had smacked me into a tree hard enough to leave an imprint on the wood. Pinkie was by my side immediately, wrapping bandages and gauze on my right leg. She pulled me from the small imprint I had left in the tree and steadied me. Pinkie gave my leg another look before grimacing and steadying me. It seems that I had offered a pitiable attempt at guarding from the Ursa resulting in it being dislocated.

“Don’t say anything, just… relax!” saying relax firmly she reset my leg and received a dignified grunt of pain in response.

“Still good, Rarity?” She patted my face, concerned, and I nodded back to her. Satisfied, she lept up and charged over to the Ursa and the screaming mare it was attacking and missing. I took a brief moment before getting up, looking for my dropped sword. Seeing it, I broke into a gallop and reclaimed, turning to see the other two..

“Rarity, please get off your flank and help me!” Cried Trixie before said mare got batted into a pile of bones. Pinkie galloped off to pull her out of the pile, a pair of skeletons climbing after them waving their spears.. While I had some choice words for Trixie, my rage was directed firmly to the Ursa. It turned towards me and roared at a volume so loud that I thought my eardrums might burst. Thinking fast, my levitation grabbed hold of a spear and flung it at the wide open mouth of his. Its teeth chomped down on it and broke it in half almost immediately. Despite its utter uselessness at slowing it down, it made the perfect distraction for my next move. Charging forward and backstepping its wild swings in retaliation made it switch tactics. It snapped its teeth viciously, trying to snatch me up in its jaw. Eyes narrowed, I countered with a quick brief strike, plunging the sword into its nose. I expected the sword to jam into it, but instead it cut through like butter. The Ursa Minor actually whimpered, backing up away from me, seemingly shocked at taking actual damage.

“Nice job, Rarity!” Pinkie complimented, taking position to my left and chugging some hot sauce.

“Glad to see you contributing,” Trixie half complimented half alluded to me not contributing before hoof. She took a position to my right, magic at the ready..

“Alright girls, he’s scared of us, now’s our chance!” Pinkie and I quickly charged the beast from opposite sides. The beast could only switch its views between the two of us as we approached. Pinkie exhaled flames at the beast, who raised its paw in defense, roaring in pain from the flames. I took the momentary distraction from Pinkie to launch myself high. My sword raised to stab myself into the Ursa’s head which fell back, roaring. Gritting my teeth and holding on to the sword was all I could do. The Ursa rose onto its haunches, its paws smacking at me and trying to pull me off.

STAB, schlick, stab, schlick, stab.

If I was going to fall and break my legs, then the Ursa was going down with me! Down it went, blood splattering over my features as I stabbed again and again.

“TRIXIE, SHARP POINTY ICE BELOW IT NOW!” I screamed, as the Ursa tipped over and proceeded to fall backwards. With a mighty THUD, the Ursa hit the ground and it let out a pathetic whimper. Schlick, sword out, jumping off the Ursa to observe and…

“Ooh… too much.” Pinkie commented, wincing at the scene.. Trixie had followed my instructions to a dot. The Ursa was impaled quite heavily through the chest by a large and very sharp, jagged, ice shard. The beast was throwing its paws up in the air as it inhaled air weakly and in short bursts.

“YOU’RE MINE!!!” Lightning crashed before striking the Ursa’s chest and traveling through it. It stopped breathing rather shortly after, its misery at an end.

“Haha!” Trixie said in triumph, jumping up a bit happily. I could only offer her a questioning look. the Ursa was done for after all.

“Was that necessary?” Trixie then just scoffed and paid no mind to the creature’s body, walking past.

“Not like we have a use for it anyway.” But murdering the creature as she did was hardly necessary.

“So… coup de grâce, was the answer.” Despite my words, it was hardly a mercy killing.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.” Trixie waved off my statement, not at all interested in discussing it. She then looked at me and winced, nose wrinkling at my unpleasant stench.

“Ugh, Rarity… You’re covered in that Ursa’s blood.” She gagged, and I sniffed a bit, insulted. The blood was starting to smell, but it wasn’t like this was anything new to me.

“Don’t worry. Let’s find somewhere to camp and I’ll clean up.” The girls kept a wide berth away from me to avoid the stench. The bridge to the castle hadn’t changed a bit as our party crossed over it.

‘It was only few years ago that we came here looking for the elements… how time passes when you no longer notice it.’ A somber mood passed over me. It was getting harder not to get overwhelmed by it all… Day and day out, I struggled for a long time with what had happened.

Approaching the steps of the large Everfree Castle, Pinkie asked to stop.

“I’m kinda worn out. Can we take a break before we continue?” Pinkie didn’t really wait for an answer, already putting her saddlebags and such down.

“That does sound like a wonderful idea,” Trixie agreed, finding a nicer spot off the path to set her things down.

“I could use the rest as well… along with a bath.” With that, I bid farewell to my partygoers for a bit. Taking a short detour at the river of the sea serpent was the plan. My fur and mane were quickly clean of the dried and wet blood that caked it during my bath. Unfortunately, my friendly serpent was nowhere to be seen, and the bath passed in silence.

Upon returning to the camp, they had already gotten a fire going for warmth. Strangely enough, nopony was really sitting near it as Trixie laid down a good few feet away. Pinkie herself was sitting down on the steps, seemingly satisfied with observing me. The fire was warm, and it crackled nicely under the darkness of the evening. I took the moment to appreciate the solace and calmness the clearing offered… However temporary it was, it brought me joy to have these times. Taking a moment to appreciate was nice, but I caught something in my peripheral vision. Trixie was eyeing me across the clearing. Sufficiently warmed up, I approached Trixie ready to ask her something.

“Rarity,” she greeted curtly, probably not very enthused to even converse with me. Shocking, we all know, considering.

“What do you know about where we are?” Interested to see what exactly she knew, I got down to it.

“This is the cliffside of the western edge of the Everfree Forest. Close to the base of the Dragon Mountain. And closer than that, we are standing in the shadow of the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.” Nodding approvingly at this information, I went on further to ask…

“What can you tell me of Dragon Mountain?”

“Nothing much other than the Dragons had just recently re-migrated across the ocean before the invasion.” Which was true, and Equestria was lucky to not have to deal with pesky, looting, greed-driven dragons.

“What else can you tell me about the offering inside the castle?” I asked, trying to get more information about these offerings.

“Inside the crumbling ruins we will find the offering of the moon, but I cannot say more than that.” Which left me somewhat disappointed. Why did Spike insist on putting me through these trials?

“Anything else?” Trixie asked. It was her job to answer my questions related to the offerings and my quest. Otherwise, I’m not sure she would’ve stomached answering them. Now, however, was a good time to test and see if that was true.

“I was wondering if you felt like talking?” I asked putting on a more polite tone. Hopefully this would make her more receptive.

“Well, we are just standing around a campfire, Go ahead.”She nodded her head and then further added.“What did you want to talk about?” She asked cautiously, and straight to the point, I responded.

“Earlier, before the Ursa, you seemed to be hiding something. Anything I needed to know?" She stiffened and looked at me in disbelief.

“You have got to be kidding me.” I remained silent, although I did look briefly confused at her outburst.

“You treat me like dirt!? And then…” She paused to chuckle at how ludicrous the situation was in her eyes. “Then, you expect me to tell you something personal!?” I closed my eyes in response and said nothing, what was there to say?

“To hell with you, Rarity, get away from me!” she said in a fit of rage, and my neutral expression quickly became devious.

“Sometime soon… you might get what is coming to you.” My eyes narrowed mirthfully along with a smirk trailing my lips. She was greatly un-amused and remained silent for a bit before chiming up.

“I doubt that!” She then huffed and closed her mouth, stepping away and glaring at me. I decided to head back to the fire. Since that conversation was over and had hit a dead end, my eyes went elsewhere. Taking a moment to glance at the castle we would be going up too soon., I then lowered my eyes to see Pinkie looking very unimpressed with me. She quickly pulled me over and began angrily whispering.

“I know you believe in your heart Trixie deserves everything that has happened to her, but could you at least try a little harder to be nice or at least civil?” Idly, I wondered who she was to be asking me if I could be civil to Trixie.

“Aside from that, do you have time to talk, Pinkie?” Her hostile demeanor melted away at the prospect of just talking.

“OF COURSE!...What did you want to talk about?” My eyes drifted to Trixie and then I asked.

“What are your thoughts on Trixie?” She smiled and then responded positively.

“I think she has changed a lot. Not exactly sure what the reason for the change is! But, she is a lot more fun to be around now.” Hmm, so Pinkie was willing to look past what she’d done, if only I could do the same.

“Do you think she has a hidden agenda?” Given her hostility to my questions, and eagerness to come along despite it all… What was Trixie truly after traveling alongside Pinkie and me?

“Well, let me ask you a counter question, Rarity,” Pinkie stated, no doubt changing the topic to avoid giving an opinion. She took my silence as a cue to continue and then asked me…

“If Spike had given you strict instructions to follow, would you dare stray?” Pinkie asked me slowly, giving a deathly serious look. This was a deeply personal question, but I would play along.

“If I knew that he was dead, I would go about as I felt.” Experience had taught me sticking to the machinations of the dead was a fool’s task. Pinkie, however, disliked my answer greatly as she grit her teeth.

“Rarity…” Closing my eyes and frowning sadly, my response came immediately.

“Truth hurts, Pinkie.” My words were hard and bitter, and for a moment I hated myself for what I was doing.

“Yeah it does, but that doesn’t mean you should be so blunt about it,” She chided me, but it was no use for her to lecture me on this.

“You asked and I told you. It’s that simple.” Going on to ask any less of me would be wrong, so then I proposed this.

“Would you have rather I told a really good lie?” Then, her response shocked me a bit.

“In some cases, that is the better thing to do.” The shock quickly turned to disappointment, and frustration.

“Not sure I agree with that, entirely.” Pinkie shrugged, and it was simple to see no more words needed to be said.

The other two looked in no hurry to leave camp so I sat back down by the fire. Trixie was a mystery to me. She stated she was here on Spike’s orders, but could that even be true? Not only that, but her personality had changed completely. She had ditched her showmare clothes who knows where, and she was helping us find these, “offerings”... All because she supposedly owed Spike somehow. Had Luna and he known this when they had sent me here? And for what purpose? Our party was an uneasy alliance, Trixie only working with me due to her promise with Spike. I sighed. It wasn’t like the answers would find out themselves if I just thought about it long enough.

The time for pondering would last forever if left unchecked, but that time was over now. The fire was quickly extinguished, and the girls got up, taking their places by my side. Our party walked up the steps to find the offering that lay deep inside.

Author's Note

Trixie, Trixie, Trixie... It no doubt seems cruel, how I have treated her. However, I ask you to be patient, the answers to why will come in due time. Maybe it will not justify my actions towards her to you, but that does not matter to me. There is a time to learn these things, but it is not yours yet. - Rarity.

The First of Many

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The dusty and stagnant air of the Two Sisters’ castle was haunting and familiar to me. Cobwebs decorated the walls and corners of the room, and my ears rang from the silence inside… Vines and decaying pillars littered the confines of the room and were testaments to its age. What was also prevalent, however, were the several signs of battle that littered the hall. Arrow head marks and indentations along with shattered rubble and dried bloodstains painted the floors and walls in small bursts.

Clip clop clip clop
Was the sound our hooves made upon the smooth marble floor and echoed throughout the various rooms, the silence broken. My companions were silent for once, choosing to instead remain cautious. The castle was no doubt once a beautiful place, but it stood now as a shadow to what disharmony wrought upon Equestria. This could not be allowed to happen to Equestria if there was something I could still do. Forgive me for stating the obvious. It helps me to focus.

In the center of room, the main item of interest was the Statue of Harmony. Its six stone orbs were once again proudly on display, serving as placeholders for the actual elements themselves. What brought my eye to them was quite simple. There were pieces missing from each of them. Glancing towards Trixie, her solemn look and silence were not giving much to go on. Was this a part of Spike’s trials that he left for us? There were brief words exchanged, but they were merely stating what was already noticed.

“Who made this hole in the wall?” Pinkie asked with a curious look, peering through.

A small smile graced my features as I stated in response, “If I had to make a guess… Applejack.”

Pinkie naturally threw a questioning look my way in response and said, “What makes you say that?”

Answering it was rather easy, if not a bit boring. “If Twilight had done this, you would see magical residue around.” Then to go for the final blow, my observations left my mind,” And I don’t see any around here.”

However, our little duel of words was not quickly absolved as Pinkie asked, “What does magical residue look like?” This was a quiz. Pinkie has seen in the past what such residue looked like.

However, I answered truthfully in response, “High impact spells will leave what would look like burn marks.” Pinkie was pleased by my response, and nodded. She would later tell me, “I was so happy to hear something that wasn’t a fat lie or harsh truth out of your mouth.”

“The courtyard on the other side will lead us to the tower.” Pinkie commented as she stepped on through. The hole in question was caused when Applejack bucked a soldier straight through it, part of the wall crumbling on top of him.

To my surprise, there was not a courtyard on the other side of this wall. I never claimed to understand the Everfree’s environmental patterns and terrain very well. But, and hear me out, how is it that a pathway like the one in front of us came to exist? Sighing, Pinkie bounced a bit as she had my full attention, “Pinkie?”

She smiled, “Yes Rarity?”

She got a frown in response, “This doesn’t look like a courtyard.”

Being peppey as always, she exclaimed, “Ohh, did I say courtyard? I totally meant twisty foggy death trap waiting to happen… weren’t you listening?”

I frowned, Pinkie wasn’t usually a sarcastic pony, but she’s forgiven considering, “Guess I missed that part then.”

Letting that pass was the best thing to do, but the aforementioned death trap was rather harrowing indeed. The fog was thick, hard to see through, and it made me shiver, my lush and fashionable coat offering no protection. The path ahead of us was long and windy indeed, and we were marching to avoid falling off. A short walk later, the actual courtyard Pinkie was talking about revealed itself. Patches of grass and hard dirt was all it consisted of, and much of the courtyard itself was completely gone. A good comparison for the size would be a yard or two of rough grass and dirt, but that wasn’t the first thing to come to mind.

“Woah… do you see that black scoring?” Pinkie asked rhetorically.

Going off the previous conversation I concluded, “Some powerful magic was used here, but I’m not sure what…” What spell could leave a meter long spot of just black score marks?

However, my wonderment was quickly cut off when Trixie spoke up, “This looks like the magical residue of a very rushed teleportation spell.” We looked to her, silent, before she smiled and continued, “And since it was rushed… it pulled much of the surrounding area along with it.”

Her frowning face lowered, disgruntled eyes ignored, I added, “That would explain why nopony was here when I got here...And why this place is so deformed.”

However, Pinkie noticed my temporary slip up, “I didn’t know you were here during the battle.” Both eyes were on me now, Pinkie eying me up. Was she on to me?

Wasting no time, there was a calm response from me, “I wasn’t… I got here later that evening.”

Pinkie wasted no time in asking her next question. “So what happ-”

“Let’s continue.” Pinkie pouted at this interruption. Trixie gave me a thoughtful look as I examined the rest of the courtyard, finding a locked door. It didn’t budge like a door with a lock would, unfortunately. then I could have picked it, maybe. Going around it was not an option either, so it was time to opt for something else.

While pondering in thought, something immediately struck me as odd… Frowning, my hoof stepped onto the blue switch and a small click was earned for my efforts. An unlocking mechanism perhaps…? There were multi-colored boulders conveniently placed around the clearing. I stress the convenience of such, but it was nice to not be involved in a fetch quest for once. Pinkie and Trixie took five while watching me push the red, brown, and blue boulders to their switches respectively.

“Hey Rarity, where’ve you and the others been all this time anyway?” Pinkie asked as I pushed the boulders along without struggle. It was a question that would… well, it would take about as many chapters as this one’s taking, if not more.

Still, not wanting to leave her standing awkwardly, I used a cliche, “It’s a long story. What about you darling?”

Pinkie frowned and then receded into herself a bit. “I don’t really wanna talk about it either, then.” Trixie of course said nothing, although noticing Pinkie’s demeanor shifting, smiled and whispered something in her ear that brightened her up.

Paying no further mind to them though, the last boulder clicked and held its switch before the door shot open. Pinkie chimed up once more, “How strong are you, Rarity?” she asked quizzically.

There was a bit of confusion, “...What?”

Pinkie then took that as the invitation to smile, and hop around while chiming out, “You were like moving that boulder 10 feet at a time!” She paused. “How’d you do that?”

Another pause, then slowly, I opened my mouth to respond, “Remember when the six of us were taken to train?”

A spark of realization danced in her eyes and she shut them as she spoke, “Yup, and you started six months later than everypony else?”

I smiled “Exact-” frown and then chiding, “No, Pinkie. I was kept in six months longer.” A brief shiver and tingling ran along my spine and there was a visible shudder visible in me as this was said.

Then, Pinkie’s eyes shot open and she asked a bit puzzled, “You were kept for six months longer than everypony else?”

A beat, then a response, “Yes.”

Pinkie was not satisfied though, she went further in her line of questioning, “So what happened?”

A sigh, and then a frown came onto my face as I recalled, “Celestia sent me… Some place special.” I gave a charming wink her way and was hoping to leave it at that…

“Where?” But, Pinkie wasn’t dropping it yet.

I let that hope leak out by keeping my voice firm, “I’m just answering your question.”

Pinkie then continued anyway, letting her annoyance seep into her voice, “So, your ‘Special Training’ is why you’re so strong now?” Pinkie asked skeptically.

Since this wasn’t going anywhere fast I gave her a bit to chew on, continuing with, “That’s half of it, yes.” And before more could be discussed, I moved on, Pinkie and Trixie hurriedly following me through the door. In front of us lay the castle stairs, very long, drawn out, and just dreadfully outdated.

We started the simple trek up the stairs, the other two following behind. ‘I wonder how Opalesence is doing throughout this mess…’ The thought glanced my mind as we trekked upwards, little else occupying my mind. The stairs in question had the sun and moon symbols hoof-carved into the stone, not at all decayed or shattered surprisingly. About four flights of stairs later, we finally made it to the top where the throne room was. The room was surprisingly bare and clean, the three of us approaching the only object of interest in the room.

Phew...whoosh…

...A small breeze had been drifting through a small crack under the throne, I turned to Pinkie and asked, “Feel that, Pinkie?”

It was barely noticeable, so I didn’t blame her when she responded with, “Feel what, Rarity?” her head turning to face me, one scrunched up in confusion.

Trixie asked as well, “What is it?”

I smiled and then announced one of the most common themes of our time, “There is a hidden passage under the throne.”

Pinkie, however, then chimed up something that threw me off, “Sorry, I was too busy reading the inscription.” Confused, I asked for her to point it out, and it simply read, The Death of Three Will Light the Path. Overall, it wasn’t the most impressive cryptic inscription purposely left for me, however, it had a clear purpose. The loud screeching of stone back the way we came led me to believe something had changed.

With that in mind we began the descent back down the steps silentl-, “Rarity, I’ve been wondering…” Trixie broke the silence, however, with her question. She sounded hesitant.

I didn’t turn to look at her as I responded, “Yes, Trixie?”

She replied back a little slowly afterwards, no doubt feeling awkward, “I’m… I’m sorry, again, for everything. I know it probably doesn’t mean anything to you.”

It was a few moments before she got her reply, “It’s not that easy, and you’re right. It really doesn’t mean anything.” There was silence afterwards, we stepped back into the courtyard where something caught our eyes.

A little bit aways from the scorch markings and the farthest part of the courtyard stood a statue. Besides it not being there when we were here a few minutes ago, it was a stone Nightmare Moon statue on a pedestal. Trixie gave us a weird look as we paid it no mind, not at all changing in stance as we shifted to read its inscription.

“You two really don’t find this odd at al-”

“Nope.”

“Darling, Please.”

Trixie started to ask and probably rant, but Pinkie and me respectively silenced her concerns quickly. The statue read something similar to what we saw on the throne, the Death of Three Will Light the Way. Then, out of the mouth darted what looked like an orange spirit zoomed out of the creature’s mouth, heading back the way we came. I sighed, “More ghosts, great. Pinkie, we’re counting on you.”

The mare in question nodded, “Got it~!”

We headed back to the throne room, taking another few story climb up the staircase, “...You don’t forgive easy.” Trixie said softly.

Eyes rolling, she got in reply, “I don’t forgive period. Prove yourself or remove yourself.” My voice was harsh, perhaps even uncaring. Trixie was silent afterwards, pondering my words. I couldn’t have cared less what she was thinking. We arrived at the top shortly after, entering the throne room, our eyes widening in surprise at what we were seeing.

Red pupils stared at us and Pinkie exclaimed, “Nightmare Moon?!”

Quickly interjecting, I pointed out, “No, it can’t be, we freed Luna from you and…”

Trixie stepped forward, “You are the essence we were sent to destroy!”

Our group snapped to our combat ready stance, and the alicorn draped in sickly dark orange armor and black fur smiled, “Perhaps an essence now, but with your deaths, I will be complete!”

Before more could be said, she zoomed at us. Marshall Edge clashed against the Nightmare’s Dark, a sickly blade, small and intimidating with its runes and abominations carved into it. The shriek of blade tearing against blade loudly rang through the once silent building. She took to the skies as I dodged another well aimed strike, blasts of explosive magic peppering my former position. I looked up to see her horn glowing and pointed at me. I gritted my teeth. My defense gem shot in front of me and glowed green as my body was illuminated in green. The flames burned me, but I felt nothing. When the spell of the nightmare finished, she swerved and avoided the various shards of ice Trixie was shooting at her.

Pinkie helped me to my hooves and then… I deepened my breathing, I remembered every gritty detail of my training, the blood dripping down my hooves, the vital points on every part of a pony... My heart hardened and my eyes snapped open, the night-no, the essence was zooming on Trixie. Like a shadow, my hooves silent as I darted across, I timed the exact moment as the nightmare thought she would be safe…

“GAH! GET OFF OF US!” I dug Marshall’s edge right into her heart, but I was shocked to find that she was merely wounded. “YOU CANNOT KILL US GENEROSITY! BEGONE!” And with her words in the royal canterlot voice, I was blasted back and grunted as I hit the wall…

Trixie darted to my side as well as Pinkie, “That should’ve worked! Why didn’t it?”

Looking closely, there was a faint, aura, about her, “We are invincible, thy filthy tricks will never take us down!”

Her confidence, her stance, that aura… her aura! That’s it! I turned to Pinkie, “Pinkie! You need to-”

“Already on it! Trixie, cover me!” The mare nodded and her horn glowed as fog filled into the room, I could see very well, but the nightmare was blinded. Using the fog, I waited until Pinkie worked her own special brand of magic, “TAKE THIS NIGHTMARE! PURGE!!!” The fog lit up as Pinkie glowed brightly as if the elements were flowing through her, and then struck. The shimmering aura around the Nightmare vanished.

Then, there was a clash of metal as our blades met yet again. She grimaced, “You…! There is no hope! You cannot win-Nnn-” Her speech was quickly interrupted, however, by all our combined attacks.

Pinkie’s glowing red hoof, Trixie’s ice dagger, and finally, Marshall’s edge straight into her throat, I wasn’t one to gloat, but, “Your lies are as see through as your claims to be Nightmare Moon, you Essence of Lies.”

The physical body of the being vanished quickly as her life faded away, leaving only silence in its wake. She left no blood on my blade as I sheathed it. A wind blew through the room and caught my mane up. Hurriedly patting it to fix it, there was a startle in the group as one out of the three torches in the room blew aflame. Everburning, no kindling, no lighting, I stared and pondered lightly for the moment.

Of course, “Seems like there’s two more where that came from, you two up to the challenge?” I turned inquisitively asking of them,

Pinkie, of course, responded first, “No problem! With the three of us, we’ve got this in the saddlebag!” Her tongue stuck out as she wrapped a hoof around Trixie and smiled, posing as if she was taking a picture.

Trixie smiled and her eyes lit up, “I had my doubts about the three of us working together, but that fight has cured all my doubts.” She seemed confident, maybe even cocky, but there was rejoicing in not having to hear her complain.

My companions following me close behind, we headed back out the door and into the pitch black midnight, no moon in the sky to see.

Castle Wrap Up

Sorry to keep you waiting.
Yes, Trixie can handle it.
You will have her payment, correct?
...Excellent, Trixie has been needing funds for a while.
It should be no problem, Trixie is well traveled.
Trixie is curious about your request, however, why do you need these borders re-checked?
...It has really been that long? hmph, Trixie will keep shut then, she expects her payment, Trixie knows your type.
The list… let’s see.

First stop… Trottingham.

Stepping out and trekking down the stairs had already lost its luster, but it seemed like somepony blessed us today. A short ranged teleportation sigil glowed brightly in the dimness of the outside. Our party approached, and while I didn’t have a clue, Trixie’s magical training came to use and we were able to configure it. Her horn glowed, and we were at the bottom of the stairs, a little less weary for wear.

The path back to the statue hadn’t changed a bit, skimming over it, the statue remained as gray and dreary as it was before.

“Why is it that we always get the weird stuff Rarity?” Pinkie asked, although she really had no room to talk. I gave her a questioning look and she smiled innocently, I kept my snide remark to myself as I responded.

“Very bad luck, Pinkie”

“Ya think it’ll get better one of these days?” She asked with a hint of curiosity.

“Probably not, no, we just have to make the best of it.” I responded not so optimistically, life just loves to throw you a hoofball.

“Given up hope on things getting better, Rarity?” Trixie asked, digging for answers and furrowing her brow.

“I’ve done my best to bury the past so I can focus on the future… It doesn’t work that well,” I said with a smirk as the statue asked if I wished to summon an essence via my mind again.

“Why? What happened?” Pinkie asked. Was it right to be mad at her? At anypony who wasn’t there to help?

“You weren’t there for it, so don’t worry about it.” I said dismissively, Pinkie frowned but kept her tongue silent for once.

“Trixie, the Second Essence, where is it?” To the point and on task was I, Trixie responded in kind.

“East, back where the elements of harmony first were.” She nodded and tightened her lips as we walked on the thin paths of ground that snaked its way back to the room in question. Stepping into the aged and dusty room.

With caution, we entered, the room was bare except for the statue.

“Empty?” Pinkie asked confused, the creature should’ve been here, should it not?

“...Trixie, where is it?” Pinkie looked at me, a bit worried by the harsh whisper in my voice.

“It should be here-Ah!” Trixie was yanked down and interrupted, courtesy of myself.

“Eep!” The feminine sound escaped my lips as Pinkie was behind the both of us, rushing and pushing us. A blast soared over us and scorched bits of Trixie’s mane. It scattered debris with a magical explosion and left a big hole in the wall, similar to the one we entered from.

“Damn, and here I was hoping you would have died!” The Lesser Nightmare Essence, a very light blue in color and grimacing at us. It darted behind the statue of the elements and we took pursuit, Pinkie and trixie on one side, myself to the other.

“She’s not here!?” Pinkie asked almost panicking, but I narrowed my eyes in doubt.

“Trixie! She’s invisible, look for her!” I barked out, the mare turned in the direction and barely formed a shield spell in time to block the next attack flung her way.

“Pinkie! We need your purge!” A bright light surrounded pinkie as the purge spell went through the room and revealed the invisible essence. She took to the skies and dived at us, time seemed to slow, memories going through my mind. Vital areas, nerve tissue, pressure points, the quick and efficient ways to kill a pony. Marshall Edge in muzzle, as quickly as the essence came by, she had her left wing cut straight clean off. It only took one clean precise strike, a fairly simple one too. The blood from the missing limb gushed out, getting a bit on me but not much.

CRASH

The essence knocked a few of the stone orbs from the statue down as her one wing flapped fruitlessly. She seemed almost in shock at the missing appendage, but not for long as her horn glowed and sewed up the wound.

“Eternal Princesses, Rarity, how did you do that?” Pinkie asked almost breathlessly by my side, sickened by the blood coating me. Whether it was a general distaste or something further I would not figure out until later.

“Less talking, more ridding the world of this monster.” I launched myself at the nightmare, Pinkie following and covering any weak points I left. Trixie showered her with offensive ice magic, the essence was cornered.

“I cannot die here… No!” The nightmare lashed out at us, Pinkie and I covered her well, but as we were wearing her down with blow after blow…

In a panic, the nightmare let out a large shockwave that pushed us back. Our hooves were firmly rooted to the ground as it dragged us backwards, slowly skidding with our backs against the wall. She turned to Trixie and teleported in front of her, the poor unicorn held up her defense gem. The green shield that surrounded her shattered easily under the nightmare’s assault. The nightmare grinned triumphantly, ready to tear her limb from limb… Unfortunately for her she was body slammed by Pinkie and I.

In a compromising position like that, she was taken care of quickly, and I’ll spare the details. I helped Trixie to her hooves, although she was visibly disgusted by the blood coating my hoof and coat.

“Ugh… Should we take a break to wash you off?” Pinkie chimed in from the side, her smile faltering.

“We’ve wasted enough time on resting as it is Pinkie, come on.” My thoughts went back to that essence, how cowardly it fought, acted. Running, hiding, attacking while we were weak, it weighed deeply on my mind. A chord in my heart, was it a reminder? The answers would wait.

The walk back to the statue was uneventful, but something very peculiar upon arrival.

“Wowsers! Glowey eyes!” Pinkie darted up to the statue and stuck her hoof into the glow. Trixie’s protests rang aloud with her intrusions on its personal space.

“Pinkie, please, step away from the statue that is oozing magic please…” Trixie asked with a surprising amount of patience and hope. Pinkie bounced on back besides her as I myself advanced up to the statue. The others were not far behind as the voice popped into mind again.

The Death of Three will Light the way

Summon an essence?

With a short reply in the affirmative, the essence appeared right where the hasty teleport took place. This one was gray in coloration, and as it turned to face us, Trixie chimed in.

“I shouldn’t have to tell you where this one is~!” She said with a grin, a strange cheer in her voice. With a raised eyebrow, and a doubt for her sanity, there was a reply.

“Go ahead… amuse me.” with an air of satisfaction, she continued with her spill as the Essence looked visibly annoyed. Trixie pointed straight at it and continued.

“Right there! See?” There was silence, a pause, and the thickness of it all could be cut with a butter knife. Pinkie looked between the two of us, and the essence was relatively unsure of whether or not it should attack.

“Why! Thank you so~~ Much!” Trixie took a step back and smiled innocently, although I was not amused if that was to go by my words. The Essence was far beyond having lost its patience as it started lowly.

“Are you… Are you done?” The Essence’s eye twitched and it stomped its hoof impatiently.

“You’re supposed to be paying attention to me! Fighting me! Stop worrying about where I am because I’m right here!” There was a bit of awkward silence at the essence’s words. Then she launched herself at us, and the battle began. The Essence glowed visibly as it struck fast and quickly. Being close to it struck me with a feeling of something so so wrong! Even as Trixie hurled ice, Pinkie breathed fire, she kept going after me. There wasn’t much space to maneuver around, and falling down the huge holes would probably kill me. Factoring in the fact that there was an evil alicorn in our hooves, and mine specifically, the others would be carrying most of the weight.

Reflecting on how I clashed with the last essence mid-fight, I pondered. The blood loss may have weakened her to even make such a clash possible. But in the present moment, it would be better to avoid such an event again. Ducking a decapitation and sliding below her telegraphed magic attack deemed me with her words.

“Why do you even bother fighting? Eventually you’re going to die fighting and I want to be the one to do it.” The Essence grinned with fangs as she continued her strikes. Her tone struck a nerve, and there would be no response given, just the sounds of battle. Death was something that rarely fazed me, as many adventures had slowly driven that fear away. In its place, grim determination stood, after all, some ponies avoided their deaths. Some did not, others found a way to circumvent it, or ponies died only to come back.

I’ll spare the rest of the details of the fight since it progressed in quite the same manner as the other two. In fact, it was almost gimmicky how they were alike bar one difference. I suppose it wouldn’t be a trial if I didn’t have to do the same thing more than once.

“Do you think we should go back to the throne room?” Pinkie asked, idly wrinkling her nose at the blood coating her hooves.

“The death of three will light the path, and I think we killed the three.” I responded, although it was possible the puzzle left something out.

“A fair point, but as I recall from our last visit to the throne room, it only seemed to light the torches.” Pinkie and I turned to her, and she took that as her ability to continue.

“If we interpret it literally, then it’s only going to light the way we have to go rather than open it.” It was a very good observation, but if it was true, what were we supposed to do next?

“We could put these shards back in the fake orbs of harmony!” Pinkie chimed in, pulling some gray and dulled shards out of her… hammer space.

“And that’ll solve the puzzle?” I asked with genuine curiosity, a raised eyebrow, and a skeptical closed line mouth.

“Beats me, maybe you should go communicate with that weird statue again.” The weird statue in question had not changed since the last interaction, but I felt hesitant to approach it.

“Perhaps if it is our only option, let’s go place those shards.” I took a swig from one of the potions procured from the shop gem. My wounds ached less, and even magically healed faster, although the pain was still as sharp as ever. We put the shards in, but we didn’t have enough at the moment to fill every orb with a shard, so that meant-

“Statue time Rarity! Come on!” She smiled and hopped back the way we came. Her enthusiasm for a statue that sent deadly beings at us was disturbing, but who knew how much Pinkie had changed during my time away?

Regardless, we arrived at the statue, and with a short approach, the voice spoke to me again.

You are not prepared!

And the statue shattered, our defense gems sprung to life as shards from said statue battered us. In the place of the statue, stood… Nightmare Moon?

“Oh come on! How many of these things do we have to fight!?” I said impatiently, and so began an even more difficult fight where close encounters with death were abundant. But I must know by now documenting these similar fights must be quite taxing on your eyes, so I’ll spare you the displeasure of viewing it.

The fights had gradually been increasing in difficulty to this fight, but it wasn’t very different, if at all, from the others. I’d say it was a combination of all three with a love for killing and death. The kicker being that it survived mortal wounds and generally made for a frustrating fight.

“So the essences culminated together to form one super essence…” Trixie remarked with interest afterwards.

“The aura was distinct though, just like the others.” Said I with eyes furrowed and posture relaxed. This one reminded me of death, as cliche as it was, but something really made that idea stick.

“Got two more shards, which is all we needed!” Pinkie grins as she pockets the shards, and bits the being had left behind. All on all, the castle had been one annoying obstacle in our path. One of many I’ve had to pass through to get what I needed.

“How much have you had to go through, Rarity?” Trixie startled me out of my thoughts, and I slowly turned with a raised brow.

“Didn’t figure you for the one to try and talk to me about it, Trixie.” The mare in question let out a breath, seemingly pleased that I wasn’t berating her for asking.

“It’s just that you don’t seem affected by the weird occurrences, the bits, the essences, etcetera.” I smiled in response to that, and I opened my mouth to respond.

“You’ll be around to get used to it, Trixie, probably.” The mare seemed annoyed, she seemed to think I had a death wish out for her. Maybe she wasn’t wrong.

“Very helpful, so you’re not going to answer me are you?” Trixie said curtly and with as much refinement as she could muster. I smiled sweetly and let the silence of the night be the answer. Pinkie of course was worried about our choice of words, but I could tell she was happy we weren’t outright insulting each other this time.

“Andddddd here we are! Oooh, secret stairs.” The throne that covered the air had moved over to the side and revealed said stairs. Pinkie smiled and peeked her head to look into the lightly lit stairway to who knows where. It was a tight fit for all of us to enter, but we made it work.

“So, I suppose this all came together rather nicely.” I said with a smile, and a bit of relief to my voice. After all that, surely the object of our search was at the end of these stairs? To briefly describe, the stairs were ancient looking and somewhat decayed. There were cracks, but overall it stood together and the walls were very spaced out. The light of the torches did illuminate the stairwell now, a pale blue light lit the path as we headed downwards. Then, Trixie stopped and we did as well.

“A long range teleportation glyph…” Trixie murmured and ran her hoof along the glyph placed at the top of the stairs. It was blood red in contrast to its blue counterpart.

“Can we use it? Ignoring the fact that we have no idea where it goes that is... “ I was already factoring it in as a possible escape route in case things get hairy.

“Well, not really.” And that all screeched to a stop in my head and face planted into a wall.

“Explain.” Trixie recomposed herself and breathed in deep, eyes furrowing as she sent out her explanation.

“We have to find the other end, activate it, and then it’s usable.” Well that brought up questions, who could’ve left this glyph? Why wasn’t it activated either? Trixie activated the glyph and we continued down, but my questions remained on my mind-

“SPIDER WEBS!!! SPIDER WEBS IN MY MANE!!!” I pawed and eeped at the sticky substances. The abandonment of the castle and my lost thoughts led to me stumbling right into a large patch of them. There looked to be no way past them either, if we wanted down, my mane would have to suffer..

“Oh no! They’re all in your hair!” Pinkie giggled at the obvious, Trixie getting a smile as well.

“Help me get them out!” Blood may not faze me, wounds may hurt me, but I will never tolerate anything harming my beautiful mane!

“No chance of that now.” Trixie giggled and her horn glowed as she turned to Pinkie.

“We’re going to need to burn it all off, won’t we, Pinkie?” The eager mare besides her nodded and began inhaling before I wailed in response.

“NOOOO, Not my mane!” And Pinkie stopped, giggling with Trixie. I stopped and looked at them, my wails dissipating and a look of confusion replacing it as I brushed over my mane.

“Just kidding Rarity, you got it all out already.” I of course was highly embarrassed, and vowed the girls would regret this later.

“Finally, something to pick on her about.” Trixie whispered to Pinkie, she probably thought I couldn’t hear her. They shared a moment of celebration and high hoofed, all sorts of fan fare. Though I was was more worried about the huge spiders that were on the webs above and around us.

“Worried about the spiders too Rarity?” Pinkie giggled, and I frowned, head lowering in partial embarrassment. They were about to comment further when-

Po-Nies…

“Ohhhh nevermind, these spiders are creepy.” Pinkie laughed this out and I was gritting my teeth, very uncomfortable. The two glowing red eyes spiders relaxed on their webs as many others crawled by. Their voices were booming in volume, but they remained silent afterwards. Only watching and waiting, seeing what we were doing.

“I don’t like spiders in general, but of course they had to talk this time.” I shook my head and pressed on. I could only hope this was bad as it was going to get.

“Especially spiders that spaz and climb along the walls like ninja ponies, right Rarity?” I grimaced at the imagery, I was trying not to look at this point.

“Or with eyes glowing so red, all you can see in the dark is them before they leap out and grab you!” Trixie commented alongside Pinkie and grinned. A tick was growing on my head as they talked, but I wasn’t going to give them satisfaction and kept walking.

It wasn’t far before we entered a large chamber like room. The walls had small unlit candles in openings in the walls. Cracks littered the floors and walls, same as before, and dust was practically everywhere. I had tweaked our defense gems to repel dust for our comfort and our looks.

In the center of the room a big symbol or insignia in particular stood out, but was rather covered up and rubbed away. Although I could make out a star, a pattern of sorts. I turned to backtrack, perhaps we had missed something for the room?

“Why are we leaving?” Pinkie stood rooted in her tracks as I turned, stepping away from the doorway.

“There’s nothing here as far as I can see, at least, at the moment.” But Pinkie seemed to have something in mind, and so I stayed and listened.

“There seems to be something here, Rarity, haven’t you noticed the pattern?” Trixie asked, and I tilted my head.

“Of course, but what does that have to-” Pinkie put a hoof to my lips and I furrowed my eyes.

“Trust us, we got this!” She winked at me and the two went about their uncovering of the room’s secrets.

“What’re you doing, Trixie?” I asked her first. She turned and gave me a fake smile as one can differentiate a real and a fake one by the eyes.

“I’m interested in the symbol in the middle of this room.” Her horn glowed and she turned away from me to continue undusting, uncovering.

“Pinkie, you are-” I started before being interrupted.

Just looking and brushing off these carvings!” I frowned as she brushed her tail along the wall, spitting dust in the air.

“I suppose I’ll just sit in the corner and sew a dress then.” I threw up my hooves exasperated. The two dug into their mini excavation of ancient relics before turning their heads to address my comment.

“With no equipment? Wow you’re good!” Pinkie said not so sarcastically with a giggle, although I know she was pulling my tail.

“That would be impressive, we should watch that instead Pinkie.” Oh my they were really going to drag this along wouldn’t they?

“Just pass me the popcorn, Trixie.” They had no popcorn, but it still annoyed me to hear them pratter on.

“I hate both of you…” I seethed, their stupidity was unrelenting it seemed. They stopped harassing me shortly and went about their going-ons. I would give them a minute to do their business, and then check their results. In the meantime, I sat against the wall and tried not to think about the spiders outside. Strangely enough, some kind of… Unsuspecting music played. I had no idea where it was coming from. It did remind me of the colt that Sweetie Belle used to bring over, and his joy-boy. I could visualize the bright light and somewhat catchy music it gave off. The quick reminder of it sent me on a nice memory streak, an enjoyable one.

“Rarity? Rarity~!” Pinkie shook me and stirred me out of my thoughts. She received an irritated look and smiled sheepishly before continuing.

“I looked at the carvings, and there’s a bearded pony on it, so~...” I did know who she was referring to, but could it really be?

“Starswirl-” I started, “The Bearded?” Trixie finished for me, and she proudly continued.

“Now that I know who was here, I think I know what THIS is here for.” Trixie pointed to the uncovered and dusted of symbol in the middle of the room.

“Pinkie and I have uncovered a teleporter, Rarity.” She looks extremely excited at this discovery. But, it was curious how different it looked from the predecessor teleporters. Trixie was happy to explain that away quickly with her next sentence though.

“It takes at least two ponies to use it correctly, but it should fit three just fine.” She pointed her hoof to the position all of us would have to take. Still, I was interested to ask what she knew about this place.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a good guess about this place, would you?” I lowered my head and asked lowly, still not trusting the spiders outside.

“A good guess? No. A simple guess? Yes! Because this is the entrance to Starswirl the Bearded’s Archives!” She looked extremely excited at the concept, and I found this humorous.

“The place where he stored all of his books and spells for every spell he ever chronicled.” And that enthusiasm was understandable, I found myself getting excited at the prospect. It wasn’t in my profession to use magic much, but maybe I could find something nice in these archives.

“But then again, this room could just all be a lethal trap. It could simply kill us because we are messing with magic that we shouldn’t be.” I was silent at the response, what kind of thing is that to say to somepony? Especially when we were going to use this in a few moments judging by Pinkie’s excitement.

“How exactly do you know this is a teleporter again?” Trixie smiled and tapped her horn and her eyes brightened.

“I can sense magic, especially the arcane, and I felt it when we walked in here.” Interesting, I mentally stored that fact as it could no doubt be useful. Still, one thing that perked my interest came to mind.

“Why couldn’t I feel the magic?” Trixie looked inquisitively and her smile died down in response.

“You haven’t been trained at a magic school or institute of any kind, have you?” Of course she was right, but I was still out of the loop.

“Indeed, but what does that have to do with it?” The specifics were important, and I was very curious.

“You don’t use that magical ability of yours much, but those who have actually developed it can naturally sense these things.” Trixie was talking down to me, and that gave me a wicked smile.

“These magic spells are not for the fragile, after all.” It almost made me giggle, I’ve saved this mare’s life from harm and taking far worse injury. Yet she had the gall to call me fragile for not harnessing some magic?

“Why don’t you come get a piece of “Fragile” then?” I raised my voice and goaded her, a menacing smile on my lips. She frowned and stared at me in response.

“After this is all over, I might just take you up on that.” She was calmly stating this, but I wasn’t content to just cut it off there.

“How about NOW? Right now, or are you just an ignorant BITCH just like I used to remember?” That hit a nerve, and she flinched visibly, Pinkie had definitely noticed us by now.

“I’ve just about had it with you!” Trixie was definitely angry now, and I was happy at that, but I didn’t let it show.

“Rarity stop!” Pinkie was quick to try and intercept, but I didn’t listen, even as she was at my side and holding onto me.

“Trixie stop!” She was quick to latch onto Trixie next, if one of us had calmed down then her job was done. But, I could see it in her eyes, Trixie wasn’t ready to back down yet.

“I think it goes without saying you should be thanking Luna Pinkie is here, Trixie.” Trixie kept up her bravado at that, but something in my smile gave her a slight tremble. Was it the predatory smile, the fierce eyes? Or maybe the fact that there was no hesitation on my part to say it.

“You won’t have the chance you st-” It seemed she played right into my hooves, and I was on her in an instant. She gasped as my blade met her throat, only threateningly of course, I don’t needlessly kill. Our noses were touching as I looked in her eyes.

“Come on…” My smile was disarming, but the intent to kill was there all the same.

“Give me a reason.” A smile broke onto my face, and I wouldn’t blame you if you thought I might be crazy. It was best to address that annoying me wasn't the wisest thing a pony could do. A few tears welled in Trixie’s eyes, and it seemed that this had the effect that I wanted on her.

“You wouldn’t be the first.” My smile left and I just stared still, my grip on the blade not loosening.

“And I assure you…” My mouth brushed her ear and I whispered lowly into her ear. The mare stiffening from the proximity of my blade and Pinkie could only watch in horror at this display.

”Not the last.”

A Twist

Trixie couldn’t move, she couldn’t. If she did, she might cut that neck of hers. And, of course, Trixie did enjoy living and would rather that not happen. And, as she stared into the hardened eyes of Rarity, Trixie wondered what she did to deserve this. Well, it was quite obvious to Trixie why, but this in particular seemed to be a little too much. The nervous sweat beading down her cheek and the small sword at her throat seemed to have reassessed Trixie’s original…shall we say, thoughts, about Rarity. The mare’s haggard appearance before never seemed to quite reach its ultimate conclusion until now. Trixie had never taken her as one to kill in cold blood, but it seems like she just might be made an exception o-

“But I’d rather not stain my coat with your blood today, darling.” Marshall Edge was withdrawn and Trixie’s gasp in relief signalled her fall to the ground. Rarity fixed her own mane with a single hoof then offered her hoof to Trixie. The former stage magician took the hoof shakily and was helped back up. Pinkie, on the sidelines, could only exhale a very big sigh of relief. Yet, even with it all being over, Trixie couldn’t take her eyes off of Rarity. To be held at the very edge of death, a death that she almost felt like she deserved, Rarity didn’t kill her. Yes, the mare had been treating her horribly, but Trixie almost felt gratified and humbled by the display. It was that same braggitudeness that she had displayed all those years ago that got her into so much trouble. It had reared its head again, and she almost got her throat slit over it.

“Rarity, a moment please.” Pinkie took Rarity by the shoulder and walked off with her to their lonesome. Trixie, left alone, had to reorganize her thoughts bit by bit. Rarity had clearly been through much, that goes without saying...but something specific had happened to her here. Trixie could tell. There were many stutters and questions in conversation that she always hastily covered. To Pinkie, perhaps, it was not so visible in that this was her friend. Trixie, however, had come from Canterlot, and Trixie believed firmly that a Canterlot mare could always smell a liar.

“I know you have your reasons for being mean to Trixie, but this is getting out of hoof, Rarity,” Pinkie said immediately in a harsh whisper as they were off to the corner of the room. I, of course, was not surprised by her immediate outcry at the situation.

“I just can’t stand being around her.” Pinkie looked up and down, around, did a 360 search, scanned me with a sca-

“Pinkie, please, what even is that contraption?” My words recalled the scanner hastily, and a smile was put on Pinkie’s face instead.

“Don’t worry about it! So, Rarity, any questions or stuff? Because it’s clear you’re not getting over Trixie for a bit.” The sweet smile carried subtle undertones of a mare getting tired with my attitude. Still, quite not there yet, I was ready to ask Pinkie her fair share about the going ons of this room.

“How did you figure out this teleporter needed two to operate?” The inquisitive gaze Pinkie received made her quite pleased.

“I was assuming that it needed two since there are two carvings on the wall.” A curt frown was due in response to that, by me, and Pinkie seemed nonplussed as I began.

“That is not reassuring… Not in the least.” Pinkie’s nonplussed state of being turned sprinkly happy shining quickly.

“I’m telling you that I’m right and not to worry about it.” Rather forward of the mare, but that was to be expected given how things were playing out.

“Well, I don’t plan on stopping here, even if there are some questionable assumptions being made.” My gaze lingered on Pinkie doubtfully for a bit, and then returned to normal.

The entire mural that Pinkie and Trixie had uncovered had four stars of varying size. Varying amounts of swirls and brushed bits made a nice looking vortex with three stars intermixed. I was instructed to stand on the largest star, and upon doing so… the stars on the mural lit up, glowing the colors of our respective coats. Pinkie mentioned something about a lift off before my consciousness left my body.

“Rarity?” I heard Pinkie calling my name questioningly and I shook my head, eyes blinking rapidly.

“Yes?” I asked quite stone faced, wondering what she had to ask.

“How did we get into sand?” Looking around, there DID appear to be a large amount of sand… and dust, eugh.

“And did you notice the spider webs?” It was like she was trying to tick me off with my cleanliness habits being disrupted in every way.

“How many floors are there in the archive?” Pinkie’s motor was running at a rapid rate, and now she was off asking questions I couldn’t possibly know the answers to.

“Pinkie…” I attempted to bring her back to the matter at hand with a frown and a negative tone.

“Can’t we just ask somepony where the offering we’re looking for is?” That rose questioning looks from me and Trixie.

“What does the offering even look like?”

“Do you see the faint glow of stars above us?”

“Pinkie…”

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to get sand out of your coat?”

“Actually, yes.”

“Are these spiders poisonous?”

“Since this is sand and old architecture does that mean we aren’t in Equestria anymore?”

“Pinkie?”

“Yeah?!”

“...”

“Oh.” Pinkie stopped her rambling and zipped her mouth close with nary a word.

That was all there was to that, and we actually took a look around at the room rather than questioning it. It felt… ethereal, the room... stars in blues and oranges dotted my vision as we looked throughout the room. Behind us hung a tapestry, corroded to tartarus with a blue portal. Poking the portal provoked no reaction, and we continued forward to the end of the room. Strangely, at the end of the room stood a blue swirly vortex thingy... a galaxy? A few discarded scrolls to the side and ruined goblets were strewn nearby it. The scrolls themselves contained words that, at the time, I could not understand. The translations, however, stood as follows.

война нелэбежна

War is Inevitable

Necessum est bellum

A war is inevitable

There was little to be said about such dusty and sandy scrolls, however. Yet at the time, and as of now, I can only think of it as a warning to Equestria’s inevitable conflicts with its neighbors. That was neither here nor the time, though, and our group of three approached the main eye catcher of the room.

“The KNOWN universe!” Trixie exclaimed behind me, and I was at a loss. Planets, stars, asteroids, meteors, the amount of everything was just insane!

“This is a star chart. Starswirl was the only one to actually see and log everything!” It was a lot to wrap my head around, that was for sure…

“I want to touch it…” Then Trixie’s next statement made me facehoof. Pinkie must’ve been rubbing off on her as the mare in question was bouncing and nodding eagerly for Trixie to do so. I, of course, was having none of that and grabbed the offending hoof before it somehow got us into trouble. But it was for naught

Who dares disturb this chamber.

The Star Chart lit up as words bellowed from all around us. Trixie was no help in preparing to talk to it, looking skittish as all could be. Despite all her interest before, she remained silent, and I gave her a quick reprimand.

“You may be able to sense magic better than I, but you definitely cannot sense when something is dangerous.” My voice was rather cheerful as I said these words, but my expression turned rather flat at her, and she stepped back, thoroughly cowed. The Star Chart grew rather disinterested in our shenanigans, however.

Speak, Interlopers.

“We are…-”

“Archeologists.” I was quick to answer for Trixie. This was no doubt a guardian for our artifact, so we were best to portray ourselves as something peaceful.

“And we have stumbled upon this find of the century.” The galaxy seemed to process the words given to it, and there was a thick apprehension amongst us.

Knowledge seekers.

I will permit you to roam this archive.
And soak up the knowledge found within.

But you are FORBIDDEN to take archive property with you.

All items to be re-shelved must be placed at this location to await an attendant for pickup.

Failure to comply will result in termination of Archive SStB site Equine.

“Site Equine?” The curiosity was quite peaked by this point and I further asked.

“What are you?” There was no hesitation to my words, and the being that stood infront of us responded in kind.

I am the preservation of the entity that is known to you as Star-Swirl the Bearded.

“Known to us?” Trixie and I asked curiously aloud, we shared a brief look before the universe model continued.

Your species “Sapien Equus”
The talking and thinking equine.

“But Starswirl was a unicorn… everyone knows that.” Trixie shook her head and looked like she was forced to swallow a bad pill. It would serve us no importance to wonder when answers lied in front of us, and I asked further.

“What was Star-Swirl the Bearded?” The being in front of us lit up bits and bobs before it responded.

A species of bipedal humanoid.

Classification: “Homo Sapien”

Name designation: Merlin

Age: Unknown

“Merlin?” Trixie gasped aloud, as if this name was of some great declaration of something amazing. Pinkie and I, however, were less enthused by the answers we were given. Before further questions could be asked, however, the spectral being continued.

Enough information has been gathered to verify you and your entourage as “knowledge seeker”.
The blue portal will lead you to various locations in the installation.

Program complete.

*SStB Entity enters hibernation mode.*

“No!!” But, the unknown entity in front of us had already dimmed and was giving no further response.

“I have questions…” She put her hoof through the projection and looked down, dejected.

“So many… questions.” For a brief moment, Trixie seemed to remind me of Twilight Sparkle with her… shall I say words, or curious state of mind at the moment, but the thought was quick to leave me. Pinkie took her shoulder and smiled while I offered some encouragement.

“Come on, Trixie. There’s an entire archive to explore.” The upset mare nodded and swallowed before we turned back to the blue portal. It seemed that this was not the portal we arrived in, but, in fact, was an entrance to an archive by Star Swirl the Bearded! There didn’t seem to be a way back from where we were, so it was time to be on our way. Our group marched through the portal. That same feeling of consciousness leaving me took ahold, and there was no feeling.

Orders, and reaching the Trees.

With the permission of creator Marshall Ruffy, I humbly present…

The War of Harmony IV, a novelization

It was a foggy day as I stood in the camp miles away from Canterlot. The golden splendor of the castle as preparations were being made. Preparations to finally end years of war and bloodshed unmatched in Equestrian history. I heard the clip-clop of hooves rushing about outside my tent; the battle would be soon. It was when the tent flap opened and I turned to see who had entered that my curiosity grew.

“Element of Generosity,” Luna said to me cordially. She always had an awkward way of greeting ponies. She had not changed much over the years, perhaps her title, but she was still a proud alicorn mare. When Spike entered after her words, I immediately was on guard. Paranoia told me they had something planned.

“Rarity, you understand the gravity of the situation better than anyone at the moment.” Yes, but I don't think you need to tell me that, Luna. She then paced a bit, turning to me to continue.

“ I need you to go to the Everfre-”

“Absolutely not!” I interrupted her. Running now would solve nothing and I refused to. I glared, putting my hoof down literally and metaphorically. Luna sighed, her eyes taking on a pitying look. Spike himself could only cross his arms and stare at me incredulously.

“Rarity, we’re all tired of this, and there’s a simple reason we need you to head there,” Spike reasoned with me, his eyes pleading me to reconsider. Spike had grown over the years the wars had gone on, becoming a deadly warrior. Then again, we all had become deadly in our own rights. I was skeptical of this, the only thing there for me were my memories and failures.

“Generosity, what we are doing still has a chance to not end in bloodshed. You know that more than anypony that there is still one that can stop this.” Was she really bringing her up? The fool that was my friend that felt by mere obligation to stand by and watch that tyrant buck everything up?

“Then simply tell me where she is, I will solve the matter and bring a surrender quickly,” I stated adamantly. There was no reason to deny this of course, deny it, however, she quickly did. Luna was quite resolute in her point.

“Generosity, you are not ready to meet her. War has tempered you, but it has weakened you.” She paused. I had nothing to say, of course, simply staring back at her. The meaning of her words were quite obvious to me. War had made me stronger. It had also taken away things that I could never get back.

“I am sending you to the Everfree to find the strength to save her. In your state, you will more than likely fail.” I nodded; I would do as they ask and keep my doubts to myself. No doubt Spike agreed with Luna completely on the matter, so it would be a losing battle on my end. I knew what lay in that forest, and from experience I can say this…

‘It’s never as simple as it’s said.’

-----------------------------------------A few days later.------------------------------------------

The Everfree was quiet today. The only sound was the clip-clop of our hooves and the occasional bird call. The beaten path that we were following was not a well-traveled one as ponies preferred to stay clear of the Everfree in general. It wasn’t hard to understand why, the unnatural forest was a weather mare’s nightmare; the forest did not bend to pony hooves, its clouds and fauna completely wild and untamed. Today’s weather set by the pegasi was due to be sunny, but the Everfree denied such, its rain clouds dotting the sky. It created quite a moody outlook for the forest, a sharp contrast to the colorful duo of ponies walking its path.

During my thoughts, my eyes scanned the surrounding foliage for danger. It was not uncommon to hear of ponies being attacked in the Everfree due to it being filled to the brim with dangerous creatures. Things such as timberwolves, cockatrices, and manticores were the norm of the Everfree’s habitat. My thoughts however began to drift away from my surroundings to something else.

Pinkie Pie, my dear friend and the element of laughter... it felt so good to be with her and talk to her again. I trotted up to the mare, her mane and tail was a darker pink in contrast to her coat as a whole which was quite a light pink. You may ask why I pay attention to such details, but my former job as a dress designer required such an eye for color. Physically, Pinkie had quite some muscle, but her unhealthy eating habits kept her from being completely fit.

‘Faust help me understand how she manages to stomach so much in the first place and still keep her image’ I thought to myself with jealousy. And her personalit-

“Rarityyyyy!”

*knock knock knock*

I shook my head, my thoughts disrupted as the pony in question knocked on my head.

“Yes, darling?” I asked, putting on a smile and trying not to dread the coming question.

“What’re you thinking about?” She asked with a quirk of her head, her eyes searching me for the answers she craved.

“A lot’s on my mind right now darling… but my thoughts were on you recently.” My head turning to look at hers, a thin smile graced my lips as she smiled back.

“It’s been awhile since we’ve actually been able to talk, I just wish Fluttershy would’ve come with us.” Her voice saddened at this, but she honestly couldn’t blame Fluttershy, though. There have been some horrific things happening these last few years, but I won’t be like her. That when everything is finished, everypony may be at peace.

“ I can’t blame poor Fluttershy. Things haven’t exactly been the best for anypony lately.” That was quite the understatement.

“ Yeah, I just thought that she wouldn’t give up on everypony like that. Doesn’t she care?” I turned to look at her my mouth opening to say something, but stopping. What could I truthfully say?

‘The world’s changed, she deserves the truth and not the lie,’ I thought and decided to myself.

“ Pinkie I- “

*Crack*

I turned, my eyes scanning. Pinkie stopped as well, her eyes scanning the opposite direction. We were both silent; there was no telling if there was anything stalking us, and talking would not help us find out. It was only when I turned to her that I realized we had both made the mistake of looking away at the same time.

“Hit the ground, Pinkie!” I pulled the energetic and jittery mare to the forest floor and above us soared our predator, a timberwolf. When another howl sounded, Pinkie’s gasp alerted me that the wolf did not hunt alone. Timberwolves were magical entities, literal wood given life due to magical cores inside of them. They attacked and preyed upon many different creatures, but as ponies, we were unlucky enough to be its quarry. My eyes focused onto the disgusting creature, its green eyes staring back into mine.

“Rarity…” Pinkie started.

“I know,” I finished for her. Our backs to each other, the wolves had us in a situation where running meant turning your back, and doing so might as well have been suicide. Fighting was the only option, and with that in mind I had no trouble charging the wolf hooves ready. The wolf must’ve been used to its prey not fighting back. It’s wooden jaw cracked and broke under my hooves as I smashed it in with a buck that would make Applejack proud. It retreated, whimpering. While waiting, my ears twitched a bit as I registered the sound of Pinkie engaging her wolf, but what alarmed me was the surge of heat I felt. The wolf in front of me reformed its jaw quickly, its magical energy not yet depleted, and its broken jaw now seeked to tear my throat out. It was mere beast, though, no match as I dodged its poorly aimed fatal blow. I, however, did not dodge the scratching along my coat. It left marks, bits of blood that would have to be cleaned up later. I glared in anger, and for a moment the wolf knew true fear in the shape of a mare.

I approached the wolf, eyes ablaze and heart hardening for what was about to done when the most bizarre thing occurred…

“Blaghhhhhh!” Pinkie shot past me with flames shooting out of her mouth as tears dropped from her eyes. The timberwolf stood no chance against the flames and was burned to cinders. It was only when she turned to me to say something that I realized that my jaw had dropped in surprise.

“Hehehe!” She giggled and I quickly closed my jaw blushing before shaking my head and asking.

“How-” I was rudely interrupted.

“Simple!” She held up a bottle of what looked like… Hot sauce?

“ Hot sauce, darling? “ I asked in the most confused tone I think I’ve ever used. I was no scientist or bookworm like dear Twilight, but that didn’t just… but then a realization came as I remembered this was Pinkie Pie.

“ Mhm! Good stuff, too!” She looked ready to drink more, but saved it on the basis that we might “ Run into more timberwolves, silly!” I couldn’t find the ability to argue with that logic. We continued on down the path, the previous conversation between the two of us forgotten.

Any attempts to further converse were silenced by the fact that our scuffle seemed to attract more attention. More of the timberwolves prowled the path to our destination and it was in our best interest to avoid further discussion. Luckily the packs were spread out quite a bit and were small enough not to be any major threat. It was actually in the midsts of one of our scuffles with one that me and Pinkie conversed.

*Pant, Pant*

“Wow Rarity, you haven’t slipped at all, huh?” Pinkie chattered out, the sweat pouring down head as the two of us stood side by side against the remaining timberwolf.

“ Unlike other ponies, I never had a chance to,” I replied heatedly, a frown on my face as Pinkie reminded me of some not so sweet memories. I charged towards the Timberwolf eager to avoid the conversation further. It swung an overhead swipe at me, and I easily ducked it, my other hoof smacking the other paw that was coming towards my right side. It was then that Pinkie blindsided it, knocking the creature on its back. I seized the opportunity and channeled the gem I had in my saddlebag, drawing upon its power. I shoved my hoof straight through the timberwolf’s chest, and it let out a pained whimper as I tore out its magical core. It dissipated in my hoof and along with it, the timberwolf ceased to live. I idly rubbed my leg; punching through wood would leave a lingering ache there...

“Wow, Rarity! That was really cool!” Pinkie gushed as she looked at me. I had an embarrassed smile, crossing my hooves and replying.

“ It wasn’t raw strength, dear. I have my trusty gem to thank for that.” My head turned to look at the dying red glow inside my left saddlebag. It was an Attack Gem, they often substituted for weapons in a pinch, but they really couldn’t compare to one. Speaking of the gems and how they substituted for weapons, my thoughts began to drift to my most recent o-...

“ Pinkie, what are you doing?” I asked as she patted her hooves all over the remains of the timberwolves.

“ Getting the-*Grunt* spoils of our labor, Rarity!” she said, pulling a bag of bits out of the remains of a timberwolf. This would normally incite a discussion between the two of us about why there were bits inside a timberwolf. However, I’ve had this conversation with dozens of ponies already, and Pinkie was no stranger to that. I accepted the bag of bits, putting it in my saddlebags for later.

We continued on, a few words between us as we walked but no substantial conversation. At least, until we, ( and by that I mean I ) found something that quickly drew the attention of Pinkie.

“Bouncy~, Jiggly~,Crystals!” She exclaimed loudly, her body moving to match her descriptive words stopping at the last one.

“ No ordinary crystals, Pinkie. These are Restoration Crystals!” I exclaimed with a smile. these were quite rare! While limited in the amount they could be used, they had an amazing ability to heal anypony who harnessed their energy. Unfortunately, such crystals were rooted to the ground and could not be moved; any attempts to would cause quite the explosion. The physical characteristics were described by Pinkie. The crystals themselves were simply three orbs stacked on top of each other.

“ Oooh! Oooh! Lets try it out!” Pinkie reached out her hoof and grabbed the top most orb, the area flashed bright! Blinking, I looked myself over, all my scratches were gone, along with my fatigue!

“ Can we-” Pinkie started to speak.

“ No Pinkie,” I interrupted, giving a stern look putting my hooves on the ground firmly.

“ Awww…” Pinkie trusted my judgement enough not to ask why, but we wasted enough time here already.

“ Lets just get to the Trees of Harmony already, darling. I’ve had enough of this dreary pathway.” I stated simply, walking past Pinkie hoping to get there SOMETIME this morning. Skipping past a few more timberwolf encounters darling, we saw our destination. There in the large clearing, the multi-colored trees of harmony stood. I let a brief fill of satisfaction flow into me. We were finally here.

Author's Note

If you note inconsistencies in the writing between this story and the show. You are not mistaken, probably. The creator had made the story of this universe before the Tree of Harmony was a thing. That is all, enjoy your reading.

Starswirl's Archives

My vision cleared as I stepped out of the portal onto the other side. The portal behind us had turned a red color and deactivated as Pinkie and Trixie stepped out of it. There was a silent acknowledgement that going back wasn’t an option. Yet, the sandy and dusty hallway we had entered only led around a corner into a dark hallway. The only light in our current hall were two lit and everburning torches The sinister, red glow of the portal had a certain finality to it. Thankfully, there were no limitations upon us that stopped Trixie and I from simply lighting our horns to illuminate the way. And, with that in mind, we rounded the corner.

The first thing that assaulted us was not, in fact, a physical thing. Instead, it was the smell, the smell of… what WAS it?

“Do you girls smell that?” I asked , eyes scanning the walls of the room.

“Smells like oil!” Pinkie remarked cheerfully. Oil could mean burning and fire, and by extension, light. We found the oil trough and lit it, the fire from the oil warming the chilly archives. The room also lit up quite brightly, enough to shed some light into the nearby rooms. However, this did not come without the consequence of GIANT SPIDERS TRYING TO KILL US!!!!

“Oh NOW you try to attack us~” I huffed, our party encountering a singular pair that proved quite tough. They two arachnids skittered about the walls of the room and were twice the size of any pony. The first of our attackers leapt at me with incredible speed and strength. From the front, its full weight was poised to land itself entirely atop me, but it misjudged its prey. The creature let out a screech as it had Marshall Edge driven into its body. My hooves skidding against the ground as the beast was barely being beaten back by me, its hairy and powerful legs reaching for me as its fangs chomped and drove forward at my body.

“I’ve got you, Rarity!” Pinkie called out in reassurance as her body slid underneath the both of us. Her limbs glowing red with the attack crystal’s power, and she kicked out! The spider soundlessly got bucked straight across the room, Marshall Edge slicing straight through its spot on the body as I held it strong. This did, however, lead to the two of us getting splattered in gore.

“Eeeewwwwww….” Pinkie said as she looked over herself. A mere glance up barely saved her in time from the second spider. She eeped and projected strength in her legs to bounce over the other in the pair. With its current target having escaped its grasp, the spider turned to me. I dived back as the humongous arachnid tried to land and square its weight on top of me. But, before it could continue, it froze and shook in pain as multiple icicles rammed into its side. The beast could not sustain the frenzied magical assault on it and fell down from its wounds. It scrambled about on the ground and curled up, barely clinging to life as it died. The other gargantuan arachnid made no further movements. Our group warily waited to see if they were getting back up, keeping our distance. Yet, as minutes went on… They didn’t.

“Whew!” Pinkie giggled lightly, the tension melting away from her. “ Sorry for teasing you earlier now, Rarity.” I gave her a flat face as she squeed innocently. Only now seeing my uncomfort for spiders had a basis. A sound of disgust exited my throat as I watched the spider juices now lining my chest, and Faust knows where else...

With that out of the way, I examined the room we were currently in a bit better. It was a square room with three pathways, to list: the one to the left we just came from, the one to the north that led to the archives, and the one to the right that was most likely the exit. Decrept shelves and scrolls lined the walls leading to the archives. The fire from the oil had heated up the room, and combined with the dry atmosphere, was certainly uncomfortable.

“Be on guard, girls. I don’t want to be too optimistic in thinking those were the only giant spiders.” The girls sharpened their gaze at the thought and nodded, their smiles and relief becoming cautious frowns. Pinkie was ruining the imagery wearing glasses with hairy eyebrows, an obnoxious looking nose, and a moustache.

We ventured into the archives, and might I say they were not what I was expecting. The age and cobwebs really showed on the worn away bookshelves and structured halls. There were, of course, more spiders as well, and they were dealt with accordingly. I would dreadfully need a bath after this. Notably, the giant spiders crawling about the archives remained neutral until we bumped right into them. It was curious, they displayed an almost pony sort of restraint until we came in close. The first floor of the archives itself reminded me of the standard Canterlot archives, a square room with lined shelves of not only books, but other items. Two stair cases on each side of the room lead further upwards. A webbed-over door at the end of the room was probably where our arachnids were coming from.

Pests needed eliminating, and I needed to vent some frustration from how long tonight was taking. We had nothing to remove the blockage of the burrow, and I had no wanting to chop away at the webbing. So I took to killing the pairs of arachnids around the singular floor. I would occasionally bring on a scolding or two from the girls for purposely leading them to combat. It was hard to take the two seriously, given one’s nature and the other’s failures. So I disregarded it, and when I had my fill of the dead creatures, we went about searching the archives for clues to the artifact that I needed in my possession. Whether it would be the stone for Luna’s statue or Celestia’s statue, I needed it.

We went up the left staircase first, which did not actually lead up to another archive room. The hallway to the other archive room, I assume, was blocked by some caved in boulders. The paths we could travel led to small singular rooms, and were along balconies that did not leave much room for combat. Nevertheless, we pressed onwards and entered the left room on the second floor. It appeared to a laboratory or chemical room of sorts. Housing many multi-colored substances in jars and other scientific tools.

“Oooooh! Look at this!” Pinkie exclaimed aloud, digging up a note for us. It was a largely plain piece of tan paper.

“I have completely explored all 113 floors of this archive.” Pinkie got a funny expresion upon hearing this and exclaimed loudly “113 floors?! Holy Moly!” I smiled in moderate amusement and kept reading in her place.

“I narrowed my search down to the rare books and chemistry wing. A broken display case and a burrow dug into the back wall behind some shelves. That was when the swarm came from the upper hallways.”

“The swarm?” I asked aloud. Whoever was here, was probably referring to the spiders, but I was unaware they had a specific name for their entirety.

“I had to hold out against them for three hours until I collapsed the tunnels on both the western and eastern hallways.”

“That would certainly explain the mess back in the hall.” The girls peeked out the door to confirm this and nodded. Pinkie’s eyes lit up in realization and she exclaimed.

“I know WHO was here!” A smile came upon my face and a smooth response came to her from myself.

“Do tell, Pinkie.” Pinkie, however, was not going to give up her information…

“Find more notes and I’ll tell you.” This did not sit well with me, either she did not know, or she did not think the information was important and was just trying to distract me. Still, my curiosity won out, and I searched the room with the girls, looking for more notes. I noticed in the bottom left the room had a large hole in it, filled up with webbing. I kept my distance and kept looking for the notes

But, there were no more to be found in that room, and we went across the top of the room we came from to enter the right-most one. The bottom and right of it had large holes filled up with webbing. What caught our interest, primarily, was the line of display cases, and the broken one in the middle with the tan paper inside it. The faded word “grimoire” was etched onto the display case, but there was only the tan paper.

“I have found the grimoire… but something else has found it first. I negotiated for the book, but it came at a high price. I traded an offering of the moon which is made from a rare and precious lunar metal. I could have taken it by force, but the creature was unhostile and seemed to understand my words. I bartered the offering for the grimoire, and now it is time to leave this place. I can sense that Equestria will need me soon.”

“Luna… so this is where you went.” The pieces were certainly coming together now, but Pinkie was a bit upset that I got it without her needing to tell me.

“YOU RUINED IT!” The mare pouted before smiling and explaining.

“I wanted to tell everypony who it was.” I giggled, a lightness returning to my features at Pinkie’s exclamations.

“Well at least now we know where the offering is located.” A pleased blush rose to my cheeks along with a smile. The offering was here, and since the other rooms were out...

“The offering is back there…” I stated, arriving back at the burrow.

“Want me to burn it down?” The webs looked to thick, and there were many more flammable items.

“No, the webs are too thick, we need to do something else…” Pinkie’s eyes lit up as she exclaimed “Chemistry puzzle!”

With that bit of curious behavior, she pulled Trixie along to find something that could be used to destroy the burrow without bringing the archives down on our heads, hopefully.

They found the book on something called, “alkahest.” Before I could learn the chemicals to make it, I was interrupted.

“Since I have studied chemistry, I just need Pinkie to tell me what to use.” Trixie explained, and I nodded, approvingly. As long as she wasn’t being smug about it, I had no problem with her being useful. Still, I expressed my doubts.

“If you say so.” We returned to the chemical lab, where I took a backseat to the process of the chemistry. I rested Marshall Edge by my side and closed my eyes, enjoying the moment of respite.

“ONE OF THOSE!!” Pinkie exclaimed, I cracked open an eye to see the two hilariously messing about by the table. Pinkie was quite loud, something Trixie was adjusting to, but not yet completely. They didn’t spill anything yet though, so clearly they had some sort of cohesion to their mad process.

“Ok, what next?” Trixie asked as she finished pouring the chemical.

“That shiny thing! Right there!” I closed my eyes and shook my head, what was the point of looking at the chemicalbook if she was going to identify this stuff by appearance…? More than that though, how WAS she identifying them by appearance? We had only gotten the name- wait, excuse me, Pinkie Pie.

“They’re all shiny…” Trixie flatly said.

“What was the order to mix these?” Trixie asked, continuing off from there.

“Red first?” Pinkie said with a bit of hesitation, oh Faust don’t let them blow me up.

“No, I really need to…” Trixie said, but was interrupted.

“Purple third?” The chatterbox Pinkie said, then lit up as she remembered.

“Oh YEAH!! I remember I put the letters side by side!” Pinkie smiled, and then listed them out for Trixie. Pinkie always did have a strange way of doing things, and I leaned my head back, trying to tune them out...

“ R, A, P, E, Ruby, Aqua…” My eyes shot open, the letters… The letters.

No! Nononono! Don’t think about it again!

“Stir it up and add a” Pinkie’s voice vanished like dust in the wind.

I was losing control, my mind was slipping back. I was a prisoner again, their captive, and…

‘Hey guys! He did say to leave her alive. But I didn’t hear him say we couldn’t…’

I’m… I can’t, I’m all out… I had fought them to what I thought was to be my last breath. But they couldn’t even kill me, no, they couldn’t grant me that mercy!

‘NO! STOP! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!’ I screamed and screamed, but they didn’t, they wouldn’t.

‘Gag her so she’ll stop screaming!’ It was a sign that they knew wrong, that they knew the terrible thing they were doing had consequence.

Block it out… stay calm… It was so hard…

‘I’ve never seen a mare this pretty!’ Their disgusting chilling voices, they stuck out even now. How they sounded like ordinary ponies, how anypony could be…

‘Hey!! You’ve had your turn!’ Disgusting, disgusting disgusting disgusting! Tainted!

“And done!” Pinkie’s voice reached out to me, mingled in with the voices of… I gasped quietly, the memory shattering as I remembered where I was, what I was supposed to be doing. They couldn’t let me see me like this, the tears, the scars, they would have to hide again. If I let them see there would be questions… I couldn’t. To go back would break me like it nearly did. I put on a strong face, stepping out the room and hearing the girls step out with the alkahest shortly after. The mission would come first. There would be a time for tears later.

Author's Note

Being a female soldier carries its own risks.