Inspiration

“If you’ve got a dream and a lot to do- put your hooves up, and I’ll follow you.”

As the five walked into the fortress’s entry hall, they noticed that features inside were still assembling themselves.

A large stairwell rose up from the floor to a mezzanine level and a set of double doors. Aside from a chandelier, whose candles ignited when they stepped on the pattern of sun and moon in the floor’s center, the ceiling was shrouded in shadows.

As they beheld everything, posts rose along the sides of the stairs. A circular chunk coiled up to meet the top of the first support, growing into a banister up each set of posts before turning to follow the mezzanine.

The five ponies stood still, staring in wonder at their surroundings. Behind them, pieces of the rubble were lifting themselves up, the shattered wall piecing itself back together.

Rarity cleared her throat, breaking the spell that had transfixed the others. She walked in a slow circle, following the pattern in the floor tiles, looking up at their surroundings, noting how the mostly circular room had four large supports filled in with black crystal along the perimeter which gave the impression of corners.

“Does your book mention this place, Pinkie?”

Pinkie flipped through her book, following Rarity’s eyes.

“Yeah. There’s a woodcut that looks just like the exterior but without these lower walls here, like it used to be an open space. And there’s a sketch of a heart right about where you’re standing. The interior pretty much matches the description in the book, too.”

Rarity chewed the inside of her cheek. “Like the rest of you, I grew up on tales of the Two Sisters and the fables of the ancient world.”

Realizing the others were staring with uncomprehending expressions, she tapped one of the railings with a sturdy forehoof.

“One of my favorite stories was of the Battle of Silanzi Tor, ‘Shattered Tower’ in the modern tongue. It speaks of the first and greatest of the Sisters’ defeats, right here on this exact spot a thousand years ago. Right here, this exact spot, was the birthplace of our independance. Here, ponykind built a great temple to Selitos- the Horned Mother of Unicorns.”

Pinkie nodded a little and wobbled a hoof, opening her mouth to reply before being cut off by Fluttershy.

“Actually, it was a holy site devoted to Rhewedig, Mother of Pegasi.”

Pinkie puffed her cheeks out and rubbed her forehead.

“No, you’re both… Look, no. All three races claim this spot. There’s a blank in our history of about a hundred years, long enough for the real story to get confused. Silanzi is the name of the Earth Mother, the Queen of the Wild.”

She laid the book out flat so the five heads could crowd around it.

“Silanzi Tor was built at great expense to the newly unified races at the spot they brokered peace. It’s almost an exact copy of the fortress used as a neutral space for negotiations in the Old Kingdom, and both served as shrines to the Three Mothers.”

She flipped the page to where a helpful ancestor had sketched the interior of the Tower.

“Originally, this lower part we’re sitting in was open, with an eternal flame symbolizing the Fire of Friendship, and was used as a parade ground for the Three Armies. Right where we’re standing, there’s an intersection of six ley lines.”

She pointed to a circular room directly above them.

“There are three main floors that were used as shrines to the Mothers. There’s also writing along the side here that nobody’s been quite able to decipher, but it talks about the Elements of Harmony.”

She flicked the page over, Twilight’s forehead thunking against hers as each quickly read over the passage.

“It speaks of a black magic rite,” Twilight offered, using a pen to point to a specific word in the passage. Pinkie quickly scribbled notes into a blank book. “It says… something something… ah… shit.”

Rainbow Dash wormed her muzzle into the huddle, pursing her lips at the words. “It’s runic Lleferyddbluen, the passage speaks of Agor y Drws.

Pan fydd y bum gwrthrych yn cael eu gosod,

a'r geiriau llafarganu'n,

pum hud dod yn un

Bydd yr haul a'r lleuad yn cyfarfod

a bydd y drysau i dragwyddoldeb agored.”

Twilight and Pinkie stared at Rainbow Dash and blinked at the utter gibberish that fell from her mouth. She frowned and flushed hotly, rubbing her snout as she looked aside. “What? Some of the Wandering Moons still speak stuff like Lleferyddbluen…”

Twilight rolled her eye and peered down at an untranslated symbol, Pinkie patting Rainbow’s forehead in consolation. None of the three noticed the growing unease of their other two companions.

“Tartarus,” Pinkie pointed at one of the runes with a sharp-tipped finger, “Later in the book it speaks of this rite being performed and the Sisters appearing from a doorway, and later of the ritual chamber being used as an exile for dissenters and monsters. If they’re trying to re-open this rift, well, you get why I was so anxious to get moving.”

Rarity’s tapping on Pinkie’s hip became more frantic, leading her to straighten and glare at her, before the unicorn wordlessly pointed and brought her attention to a scowling grey muzzle.

“Oh.”

While distracted with discussing the form and function of the Tower, a squad of about twenty of the Nightmares’ soldiers had shown up and quietly surrounded the five. The dark ones all possessed yellow eyes, tufted elongated ears, sharp teeth, batlike leafy noses, and grey coats, the pegasi with stunted batlike wings and the unicorns with cracked horns.

The other half of the company was made up of white unicorns with flickering flaming manes and tails, and pegasi with phoenix-like red-flamed wings. None of them seemed any better off than the bat ponies.

The five ponies drew into a loose circle, facing the company and their naked blades. Pinkie and Rarity shifted to defensive postures; Twilight drew and cocked her pistol. Only Fluttershy seemed not to react much.

Fluttershy took a deep, calming breath and pushed Twilight’s pistol to the floor with an admonishing glance.

They glanced intermittently at the largest of the soldiers, the only one in the group with intact, albeit rusted and cobbled-together armor. Fluttershy cleared her throat as she sat back on her haunches, glancing up at the male.

“Are you in charge here?”

The batpony seemed taken aback. Fear he could handle, fighting back he could handle, but this pretty mare threw him off guard. He cleared his throat before replying in a voice that was higher-pitched than seemed to match his stature.

“Lieutenant Pumpernickel, ma’am. I wouldn’t want to hurt any of you fillies if I don’t have to, so please just surrender.”

Fluttershy waved off the others, stepping close enough to rest a hoof against Pumpernickel’s chest. He looked down at her, chewing his lower lip.

“I don’t think you’d like to fight us either, Lieutenant. I understand you’re just following orders, but your ponies don’t look ready for a battle.”

With a poignant expression she gestured to the assembled squad. Twilight rolled her eye at Fluttershy looking like she was about to cry in front of the enemy. “I can’t imagine you were treated very well…”

She looked over the lieutenant and his weary, sickly soldiers. Some leaned on one another for support, and at least one had his eyes closed.

“You’ve been awake all this time?”

The lieutenant refused to look at her, glancing over his squad much the same way a father would his ill children.

“Of course, the Princesses would want you ready for a counterattack whenever they could reopen the rift…”

She suddenly recoiled as a couple of the soldiers shuddered at her words. “You... You’ve been in Tartarus suffering for all this time then?”

The other five blinked in surprise as the male sighed and scuffed a hoof. “We were put in Tartarus before the Tower fell into the hooves of the revolutionaries. We promptly had weapons pressed upon us and sent out when the gate reopened. A thousand years is a long time to think things over.”

She cleared her throat as she sat down again, the bigger male following her to the floor. She tapped her hooves together as she collected her thoughts. “A lot has changed in a thousand years, Lieutenant. Whatever obligation you had to the Sisters, a millennium of service must have discharged it. As citizens of Equestria you’re long-due for retirement. You don’t have to fight anymore, under Equestrian Law.

“Welcome home, Lieutenant.”

Pumpernickel contemplated this for a minute before nodding along with the words of the silver-tongued mare. He barely could open his mouth  to reply before Fluttershy spoke again.

“Nopony needs to die, Lieutenant. If your squad were to surrender, lay down arms, and help us defeat the Sisters, it would look very good for you.”

A hushed conversation followed, and Twilight had been dragged forward. The squad formally surrendered to her, the mare fitting Pumpernickel’s straight sword across her withers.

Fluttershy smiled at her friends. “Everypony wants to do good, to do the right thing. Sometimes we just need a little inspiration, someone to show us how to be generous.”

With that, she returned to the gaggle of ponies to talk over their terms, how to leave, and how to convince other members of the Nightmare Army to follow them in laying down arms.

With a glance of finality, the four raced up the stairs leading to the next floor, the double doors opening from the other side to let them through.

The mysterious observers continued watching from their vantage point on the mezzanine. Overlooking the lower floor where the surrender had taken place, and where Fluttershy and the Nightmare troopers were now discussing the proper way to speak to the remainder of the army outside, the batpony lowered her opera glasses and glanced to her companion.

“You see that?”

“Yes. There’s a wave rolling back towards the past. Everything we lay in place is undone.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know what happens. And I don’t think you do, either.”