Chapters Should I?
Today was supposed to be perfect. Twilight's brother was supposed to be married, to her old foal-sitter no less. There was supposed to be singing and dancing and an overall feeling of merriment. Twilight was supposed to be surrounded by her friends and family, wishing her brother well on his honeymoon.
How then had it gone so perfectly wrong.
Not that she didn't understand the factors which led her to be locked in her room; first watching ponies flock into the castle to see the wedding she had been kicked out of , then watching said ponies flee in terror as the sky filled with assailants. She knew she hadn't acted appropriately and probably should have sought council with Princess Celestia first. But the fact that her brother's safety was involved caused her to rush, to not think. She knew that mare calling herself Cadence wasn't right, there was so much off about her that Twilight was genuinely surprised that no one had realised it before her, but when she tried to stick her neck out for her brother what happened? She got accused of trying to ruin the wedding and not knowing what a headache relief spell was.
She knew what a bucking Headache relief spell was.
No the piece she didn't understand was how easily they all brushed her off, it was as if all the things she had done for them meant nothing. 'So what if you were right about nightmare moon? So what if you saved us from discord? So what if you know almost every * Bucking** book in the Canterlot archives cover to cover? NO! You cant possibly know a headache relief spell when you see one*'. You can't possibly be right about the mare you have known almost your whole life! This day couldn't possibly get worse.
Oh how wrong she was.
She had watched as the shield suddenly collapsed, and allowed hordes of black, insect-like, pony shaped creatures into the streets, where they began terrorising the locals. She gaped in horror at the spectacle unfolding before her, royal guards lay unconscious in the street, families were driven along the main boulevard like sheep into alleys and houses where they were quickly dispatched. Twilight didn't know what happened to those she lost sight of, but she feared the worst.
Suddenly she realised two things that startled her. The first and most direct, was that she must have been right, there was no way Shining would let the shield get that weak without telling anyone. The second, and probably the worst of the two. Was that she was feeling some mixture of excitement, anger, and glee about the whole mess. Like she was enjoying the suffering of the people down below.As she looked over the city, she started to think out her next move, if any.
What should I do? There's no way to the elements, and even if I did find a way they wouldn't work without the others, and the princesses are indisposed so... Twilight silently began to take inventory of her situation: let's see... my friends abandoned me; my brother is...well I don't know what he is; Luna hasn't been seen all day; if I'm right, the cadence that I met while here has something to do with those bugs outside; and Princess Celestia is probably incapacitated if those bug-pony things are here. In short, I am absolutely bucked because my friends believed someone they had just met over me! As she was thinking out her next move she heard footsteps outside her door.
"The Queen demands we bring her the one called 'Twilight Sparkle' alive." a gruff voice in the hall stated.
Well crud Twilight thought, there goes my time
"What if she fights us?" A higher pitched voice questioned, "what then boss?"
"Well then, we 'persuade' her." the gruff voice replied. Twilight didn't think she'd enjoy being "persuaded" so she began to prepare her defense, grabbing as much of her heavier furniture and placing it in front of the door, barricading it. The doorknob rattled, and suddenly there was a pounding on the other side, "Boss, the door wont budge!" the higher voice called. As he finished his sentence there was a smacking sound followed by a high pitched scream. "Shut up Flitter!" the gruff voice said, "we don't want her hearing us!"
"Uh, boss?" a third voice said asked, "weren't you going to open the door?" Suddenly there was a series of knocks going up the center of the door stopping around a quarter of the way up. "Ah, found it!" The gruff voice exclaimed, and with that Twilight's door exploded inward showering her in splintered wood and bits of brass. Twilight immediately charged her strongest stun spell and fired into the opening earning a satisfying thud as one of her mysterious attackers hit the wall opposite the door.
"Flitter!" Her other attacker exclaimed as he and his other companion barged through the door, shooting spells all the way. They were monstrous, all black with insect-like eyes and holes dotting their legs; they both had horns, however one of them had wings while the other had a bulky piece of what twilight could only describe as a carapace on his back; neither of them had fur, only that black, shiny material. Twilight fired a quick spell at the winged one, turning him into a winged sandwich. Suddenly, she felt herself leave the floor as the other bug-pony rammed into her. Unfortunately for them they both forgot the dragon-sized portal filled with glass that lead to a land of pain called the ground. As they began to free fall the bug started to use a mix of thrusts, uppercuts and jabs designed to keep the opponent off balance. Sadly this had two flaws: one, the severe lack of a floor at the current reduced her usable moves by a significant amount; and second, Twilight was the strongest unicorn since Star Swirl the Bearded and didn't take too kindly to being punched by an opponent with a horn. Twilight dodged his(and she could only guess it was a he) next attack and suddenly noticed the fin on his neck. So as the bug went for another pass, she grabbed him by the fin and proceeded to throw him repeatedly and quite liberally into the wall adjacent to them. The bug suddenly used his magic, which was a sickly green color, to remove twilight's magic. He then tried to shoot her with what twilight could only assume was a killing spell; not having any of this, she proceeded to blast them both through a window, stopping her now-slide with the unfortunate bugs face.
As she brushed herself off, Twilight took stock of her new predicament, they were hunting her, that was only logical, through her childhood home, she had the advantage. As she began to strategise, she noticed something interesting and familiar about the hall she was in, there were no lights, not a one. Thinking back to her extensive knowledge of Canterlot castle, she quickly identified the hall as one she had visited with Celestia when she was very young.
"Where are we Princess?" Twilight asked, she had seen many halls of the castle, but this one had her confused, "why is there so little light?" Scooting closer to the Princess to retain the relative feeling of safety that came from being around the Princess of the Sun
"Well I haven't turned them on yet Twilight." Princess Celestia reassured, "don't worry, just give me a second." She raised her horn to a sconce on the wall, and suddenly they all lit, giving the hall a warm, cheery atmosphere. "Is that better?" The Princess asked
"Oh yes, much better Princess!" The eager little filly replied, "but why are we here exactly?"
Snapping back to reality, Twilight couldn't help but smile. She had been so excited to be Celestia's student and had only been able to look up and wonder what made her so special...
A frown soon took the smiles place as she remembered part of why she was chosen. She was an "element of harmony " and had one job, being the weapon the Princess pointed at all her enemies. Thinking about it , Twilight realized she would need to have a word with her mentor about how they need to reevaluate their relationship. She did not want to be a weaponised neurotic dork all her life okay, I wouldn't say "neurotic" per se... actually, maybe I would, looking back on my life. Suddenly, Twilight realised she had been standing in the dark for a while now, and quickly turned on the lights. As the lights turned on she started walking, going past doors marked 'testing labs' and 'research center' all restricting access to "authorised" personnel only. As Twilight walked she began to remember why she and Celestia had been down here...
"Princess, what is this place?" She asked as the princess in question opened a door and ushered the young filly inside, the room they entered was lined floor to ceiling with notes and scorch marks from many years of late nights researching the object that took up the main area of the room. Said object was locked in a strange metal container with a glass pane inlaid to show off the contents, next to the pane was a black pad with a light above.
Looking over the room in its current state, Twilight could still see the drawings she used to bring down here. She was amazed that they hadn't been removed or covered up. Although to be fair, she was the only pony to go down here for quite some time.
"That is an ancient relic from the wars of old." The Princess said, pointing to the metal container, "We are in the testing chamber for said relic." As they walked farther into the room Twilight suddenly picked up on the intense quiet surrounding the relic, the kind that makes you hate being alone, suddenly feeling extremely uncomfortable with the room, Twilight huddled closer to the princess. If she had looked up, she would have seen the princess smile at her behavior.
As Twilight, realizing what she was doing, hurriedly walked forward to examine the relic further, Princess Celestia began to speak. "There were originally thirteen. I was there for each choosing."
"Choosing? But who chose?" The young filly asked, "and why was there only thirteen? That's an odd number." She began to walk over to the wall and examine the study notes posted there, as she read she noticed a pattern, they all ended with "STATUS=INACTIVE." Continuing her perusal of the vast research papers, she continued to see the same pattern. Turning back to the princess, she saw that the Princess appeared to be, for lack of a better term, musing over the relic. Poking the Reagent to get her attention, Twilight informed her of her assessment. "They all say inactive, so that means it can be 'active' right?"
As Twilight walked further, she again felt that intense quiet...
"Right you are, as always, my young student." The Princess stated, kneeling down to the young filly's height, "I will answer your questions as you asked them OK? Now, for the first question, they chose. They chose the ones they would assist in combat, and they stuck with them till the very end, even being destroyed with them." As the said this she swept her hoof towards the relic, "the hoof-pad on the storage pod is how it chooses." At this the young filly's eyes lit up, "Oh!" Twilight exclaimed, "it reads a pony's magical signature?"
"Not quite, Twilight." The Princess said, looking up towards the relic, "Yes, it takes a sample of your ambient magic and runs it against a sample in its core. But it also can see everything about you, from your past to your conscience."
"Wow... Wait, where did it get it's sample?" The young filly asked, "and what about Pegasi and earth ponies? Could they use them too?" At this question, the Princess' eyes grew sad, "No my student, the griffon who made these was only able to make them for unicorns. The magic passages for Earth Ponies and Pegasi do not work the same way as Unicorns. The Pegasi and Earth Ponies did have alternatives though."
Twilight stepped up to the container, even after all this time, no-pony had been chosen. She looked down at her hoof, then back at the black pad. Am I willing to do this? If it works there's no going back...
"Could you use one Princess?" Twilight asked, earning a chuckle out of the Princess. "No my faithful student, I cannot; to tell the truth, I actually asked the same thing at the start of the project, and the old griffon told me my magic passages are... pretty bad, 'the most screwed up thing I have ever seen' I think is how he said it. But no, It will choose one who matches its signature and has the purest heart."
But why should I? What have they done for me that I haven't repaid them for?
"How do you know that?" Twilight asked, again earning a chuckle from the Princess, "Oh C'mon Princess! Please tell me!" She then gave her cutest stare, hoping that it would work. It did, much to her surprise, as the Princess began to chuckle for the third time and sat down to allow Twilight to climb onto her back. As they ascended to the Princess' full height, she explained how she knew to the filly on her back, laughing the whole way up.
"Because it's name is 'pure heart' my faithful student." She chuckled, and indeed it was, for engraved onto its left chest plate were the words "Pure Heart." Twilight couldn't help it, she facehoofed. "Now," the Princess said, "do you want to try and activate it?"
She had declined then, not wanting to have been disappointed. Yet now here she was again, in front of the container for the relic. They walked out on me twice! But to top it off... they promised they wouldn't She just had to touch it, just a touch, to see if she could use it. No, no matter what they did we will get through this! Yet, just as she was going to touch the pad Celestia's last words to her, that last warning as they were leaving, gave her pause.
"Perhaps it's for the best," the Princess stated matter-of-factly, "to be chosen is to give up your life to the service of Equestria as one of it's finest, one of the Equestrian Rangers."
No, I will figure out a way! There has to be a way!
"I've never heard that term before Princess," Twilight replied, "what's an 'Equestrian Ranger'?"
"A long unused branch of our military, they led very lonely lives, anyone who they got close to, anyone at all, became a liability as soon as they donned that." The Princess answered, pointing to the relic with a sad weathered smile, "They lost friends faster than any other...now come on, lets go finish your lesson for the day and then..."
"ICE CREAM!!!" Twilight squealed, giving her best smile as she jumped off the Princess' back and raced out the door, down the hall and out of sight.
"Wait Twilight!" The Princess chuckled as she began to chase the filly, now on the hunt for ice cream as well.
Well, last chance: leave and try my luck, or this... . Suddenly, images of all the people she had met, all she had helped, flashed before her eyes, and as the images faded, she knew what she wanted...no had to do. Placing her hoof on the black pad she began to think of her friends and family, yes, I am willing to give up everything for them. Suddenly, the eyes flashed, and pieces of the armor began to shift. Suddenly, a feeling of apprehension washed over her looking at the armor behind the, now receding, glass. It's now or never i guess, she thought, looking upon her friends' and families salvation.
As Twilight pulled her hoof off the pad, she couldn't help the apprehension she felt as the eyes on the helmet of the suit of armor in the pod-like structure lit up. Then, the suit began to slide out of the pod and into the room; upon further inspection, she discovered that it was was on a Stand with twin arms meant to pull or push it. Suddenly, the armor opened, pieces sliding back to reveal the inside, even dropping the helmet to further allow her entrance. Instead of jumping in headfirst, Twilight began to examine the armor, she could clearly tell the equestrian designs, more for form than function, from the obviously griffon designs. The griffon pieces were truly amazing: the angles made so as to catch the light from anywhere in the room; the leg-plates locked together in such a way that Twilight doubted very much that, not counting breaks or fractures, leg injury was at all possible. The entire piece was covered with faded blue highlights. The helmet looked very intimidating, resembling a mix of a griffon's and ponies' head. The entire thing appeared to be made of interlocking plates of silver, unlike the equestrian standard which allowed freedom of movement by being made up of several very separate gold plates.
Finally getting down to business, Twilight walked towards the armor, her armor apparently. As she began to climb into it something strange happened; it met her halfway, dismantling and then building around her legs almost as soon as it touched her. As it continued to build around her, she suddenly felt something prick her back. It wasn't the worst sensation by any means, like a shot, but it had been uncomfortable enough for her to notice. Suddenly she felt intense pain from every inch of her body, causing her to cry out and collapse, it felt like she was on fire. Then as quickly as the pain appeared, it subsided, leaving her aching. Picking herself up, and feeling the neck armor crawl and lock into place, she took one last look around the room before her eyes settled on the helmet. Well, here goes, last piece She thought as she picked it up in her forehooves. Turning it over and scrunching her eyes shut, she placed it over her head. I will protect my friends and family, whatever the cost. Then she blinked.
when she opened her eyes, she immediately closed them again. Why is it so bright? As she opened them again she attempted to get a look around. When she had one thing became quite clear... she wasn't in the room with the pod anymore. In fact, she couldn't think of anywhere in equestria she might be. In desperation she asked, "Where am I?"
"you are nowhere, yet everywhere at once, look around you.
"I, don't understand," Twilight said, "why are there so many me's?" There were hundreds, thousands maybe, of... well, her!Twilight Sparkles as far as the eye could see standing behind her. They all had slight differences, some in clothes, some with wings, some still who looked like they would soon be mothers. They all appeared significantly older than her.
"They are your futures. Every possibility for you if you take off the suit.
"what do you mean, 'take it off?' I don't really have a choice but to use it. Besides, what would I do without it?"
"Oh, but there is a choice; for you see, I want to help you succeed, so I will let you in on a secret: Deep in the tunnels beneath Canterlot, there is someone trapped who you know. The real Cadence sits and weeps in the caverns while an impostor has used her identity to capture the city. That is your choice: don the suit and save the city, or save cadence. The choice, is yours...
"who are you to want to help me? Besides, If you know so much why couldn't you save cadence while I save the city, or the city while I go after Cadence!"
"Because this is your choice and yours alone. I cannot aide you without you making it.
"OK, I guess that makes sense, give me a minute." Twilight began to pace and think, if she chose Cadence, she would need to save her friends and the city somehow without the suit. However, if she saved the city first, she would be able to save Cadence nearly hassle-free. But if she didn't save Cadence first, she may not save her in time. Suddenly, she remembered something her brother had once told her.
she had been sitting on her bed, looking out her window to view the street outside, where other fillies were playing and enjoying themselves. As her brother crept into the room, he heard her sigh.
"Hey Twily, what's up?" Shining asked, "you should be happy, you passed the test!" When she did look at him, it was only to immediately look away and back towards the window. "Celestia made me her personal student."
"Yeah, So?"
"So, when it happened I was excited, but when I was going home, I started getting picked on" the look on her face spoke volumes to her older brother.
"Was it Blueblood?" He asked, making Twilight think he already knew the answer.
"Yes." She whispered. As she said this, she curled into a ball and began to sniffle.
"You just need to learn to ignore them," Shining said, "those ponies, they were jealous."
"Jealous?"
"Yes, they saw what you earned through hard work that they couldn't buy and it made them mad that it wasn't theirs." As he spoke, Shining's looked out.
"Did you ever have to deal with jealous ponies Shiny?"
"Oh yeah," he chuckled, "let's just say that 'jealous' is an understatement for what they put me through."
"What did you do about it?"
"I realised that no matter what I thought of them, those jealous ponies are my responsibility." He said, "I am their sworn protector, whether or not i'm in training the safety of this city is my priority. I found out later that every couple generations an 'armor' is born into our family, each with a similar mark to mine. Each of them served in the guard and achieved high positions in it."
"Cool... but how does that help me? I don't have a shield on my butt, and I don't think I can protect anypony."
"That's not true Twilight, and as for how it helps you? Think on it, I'm sure that you can find a lesson or something in it. Now come on, go downstairs and get ready for dinner."
She had found a lesson in what he said, it was her responsibility to help protect ponies, from herself. Celestia had told her later that her magic would need to be tempered in order to prevent things like her entrance exam from happening again. Thinking back on recent events in her life, she could probably apply his words to her situation now. the people of the city need me more than Cadence does, there's no guarantee I could save her anyways with Canterlot sacked. I could even find a way to save her along with the city . Having made her choice, Twilight said, "I choose to save the city."
"So be it...
On-the-job-training 2(edited)
On-the-job-training 2
"So be it, please know that your choice will have lasting consequences for the rest of your life. Before I let you loose on the world, you need to be trained.
"Wait, train? Shouldn't we like, get me back to Equestria so I can save Canterlot before it falls?"
"Silly Twilight, we never left the room where you put me on. We are inside your mind, where time travels faster than you've ever thought possible.
"Wait, if we're in my mind, then haven't I thought..." Twilight suddenly found her mouth filled with filly hoof.
'"Be quiet, I've wanted to say that for centuries.
"... so... training?"
'"Oh... Oh! Yes training, we should probably... do that. follow me...
"So... who are you exactly?"
'"Isn't it obvious? I'm Pure Heart, But please, just call me Heart. I help run the armor
"So why is your name on it?"
'"Every suit was named for the intelligence implanted into it.
"Oh, so were you..."
'"A pony? Yes, I guess I was at one point, I volunteered to have my soul transferred into the suit.
"Your soul!?" Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, causing Heart to turn and give her a sarcastic eye roll.
"No, my brain, of course my soul! how do you think all the functions on the suit work? It would take at least two ponies to run them all, so the griffon who made the suits decided to put an extra pony in it, with none of the space requirements. I just happened to be the one to volunteer to help run your suit.
"But why?"
"I really couldn't tell you, it just felt... I don't know, right? It was something I could do to help, before I had felt like I wasn't able to help, so when they came and said they needed volunteers... All right, here we are... so let's get to it.
"Let's do it."
"When you're using the armor you can't use your magic directly, this is to prevent you from losing control of your magic.
"That seems kind of unnecessary, I mean, I have a pretty good handle on my magic."
"When the armors were made very few unicorns had full control of their magic, so quite a few used their hooves.
"Oh, so how do I use magic?"
"your magic can be indirectly used through varying apparatus, for example: you can charge your greaves with magic through the sapphire ley lines inlaid into the armor; or, if range is what's required, you have twin EM-2 magic directors , think of them as handheld magic mortars without so much kick. There was also the EDSM-7 long range director and the EM-6 automatic repeater among others, but let's focus on the EM-2.
"What do 'EM' and 'EDSM' stand for?"
"They stand for 'Equestrian Magic' and 'Equestrian Distance Suppression Magic', and they are gonna be your best friends. Now back on topic, the EM-2 is what the griffon's would call 'semi-automatic', you can fire off spells in pretty quick succession, but not as fast as say an EM-6. Accuracy is pretty good, some spells go a little to the side though, so stay within... Oh, let's say... 30 feet. All your magical gear run your magic through a scrubber to change the frequency to prevent your identity from coming out.
"Vigilante much?"
"Hey, your words not mine. So anyways, the armor you're wearing is the "ESDF Com-skin tier-2, Victoria for short, and comes equipped with a magical shield which is good against up to 20 level 2 unicorns, 19 level 3's, 18 level 4's and so on. The armor can also withstand a small sun going supernova, and a herd of buffalo.
"What do you expect me to be doing!? I don't plan on taking on any suns or even a single buffalo!" She shouted, "Who even builds things to take on a small sun exploding!?"
"I don't expect you to ever be in those situations! It's just a precaution made by the griffons. Now, you need to practice using the weapons.
"Great... So, you gonna spawn some?"
"Nope, we're going on a field trip.
"but how will I ask you questions?" She suddenly felt the urge to blink, she fought it at first, but it steadily got harder and harder to push off.
As she finally blinked she heard Heart say, "I'm linked to your mind, one of the many things that are going to be different from now on...
When Twilight opened her eyes she was back in the room with the pod. So, what now Heart? Suddenly, a dot appeared on her visor, and what is that?
I turned on your tracker, your weapons locations can be tracked to within a couple feet with it. You can also use tracker dots to trace peoples movements. Anything being tracked will appear on your visor as a yellow dot until it's close enough to touch, then the dot turns white. So follow that dot already. Oh, you should probably know that your body has been grown to fit inside the suit, so you are approximately a head higher than you were before. Your muscle groups have also been grown and trained to compensate with your growth spurt and your training; after all, you cant stop the changelings alone when you're all flabby.
Hey, I wasn't flabby! Slightly pudgy maybe, but I had some muscle, and why didn't you tell me you'd done this before?
Honestly I forgot, but you needed to have the build of a 20 year old athlete, so now you do. Take a few practice laps and when you feel ready, go get your weapons.
This isn't over, I hope you know that. She thought as she began walking around, when she felt satisfied she headed outside into the hall.
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Pure Heart-1: An apology in a room full of echoes
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On-the-job-training 4.2774536657 DO NOT READ... SANITY WARNING!
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