For whom does the bells of Hell toll?
“What makes a hero? Is it a pony’s resolve to do good? Or is it the actions they take to achieve a goal? Is what makes a hero the caliber of a pony’s followers, or an ability to lead?” Celestia stood before the remains of the Equestrian people in the last bastion of Equestria, Canterlot City. Celestia was replaced by her sister Luna, dressed in her blue and silver generals outfit with appropriate cap atop her head.
“What happens to a hero when they leave too early? Does a hero ever truly leave us, or do they carry on through our own actions and heroics? Do our heroes expect us to give up in the face of adversity or do they expect to rise up where they’ve fallen, pick up the mantle and continue the fight for the sake of our lives?” Luna declared, looking out at the crowd of mourners in the ballroom before her.
"Fillies and Gentlecolts. Colonel Shimmer told me of a saying often said in the human militaries and I feel it fits now, regardless of it's origins. Though the winds may blow, though the flames may consume. Our friends may be gone, but they will never, ever, be forgotten!
“Captain Soren Mercer will continue to live on in all of us! Do not let his sacrifice be in vain! We will drive back the Griffons who enslave us, who consume us! We will not go quickly into the night, we will rise up for Captain Mercer who fought to protect us though he has fallen!” Luna stamped her hoof on the stage as she felt necessary, her voice rising up gradually as the crowd began to grow more and more rowdy and eager to get back to the fight. “We will rise up to fight for our brethren who have fallen alongside Captain Mercer, those who have fallen in the line of duty! We will not let their sacrifices be in vain! We will rise up!”
The entire auditorium rose up in voices and stomping of applause, with Luna grinning at her ability to instill fresh breaths in her troops. Celestia and Luna both turned from the stage and Celestia was the first to give the seventeenth consolatory hug to the now alicorn’d Sunset Shimmer.
“We will always remember Captain Soren’s memory.” Celestia announced softly as Sunset sucked back another sniffle amidst flowing tears. “As soon as we’re able, we will have a monument constructed to him in the Castle Courtyard.”
“Thank you, Princess Celestia.” Sunset forced a thin smile, wiping a tear off on the back of her hoof. Pressing a hoof to her womb, Sunset’s smile drifted off into oblivion. “I’m sure that Soren would have made a great father.”
“I know he would have.” Luna offered with a smile as she magically removed her cap and held it under her wing. “Do you know anything about the baby yet?”
“Yeah. It’s going to be a girl so i’ve decided to call her Saren after her father. The biggest difference is that Saren will be taking my last name since I wasn’t able to properly marry Soren and take his name.” Sunset sighed, sitting back on her rump to watch her stomach and slowly rub it with her hooves.
“If you’d like, I can have your last name formally changed to Mercer.” Celestia laid down before Sunset, as did Luna in support. “That way Saren can have her father’s last name properly.”
“Thanks; but for as much as I want to, I couldn’t stand being married after Soren’s already died.” Sunset lowered herself into a laying position as well, her mane acting almost as a curtain to hide her sorrows.
“Of course. Then what will you do? Will you go back to your world with your child?” Celestia inquired, teetering on the edge between hopeful and dreadful. The elder princess had come to enjoy Sunset’s presence in Equestria, as well as Luna greatly appreciated all the advancements in human technology that Sunset had gotten from the Sergeant.
“Maybe. If we can end this fucking war before I have to go into labour then i’ll spend the rest of my pregnancy in the human realm so that it ends sooner. After that…” Sunset drifted off to the side for a moment, trying to come up with a game plan. “I dunno… If you’ll excuse me, i’d like to head back to my room to rest.”
“Of course, Sunset Shimmer. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.” Celestia replied with a nod, standing with the other two alicorns before heading off to do her own thing.
~~~
In a dark corridor, a quad of guards stood posted outside a gated room in stone. A lone figure, no taller than a teenage pony and clad in black, click click clicked down the stone hallway towards the nearest Guards.
“Halt! Who goes there!” a guard demanded, his horn lighting up with a tiny spotlight of white light.
“Princess Weiss Schatten, de facto leader of the dragon nation. I’m here to see him.” The little dragonling announced, stepping into the light to let her white and gold scales glow in the magic light.
“Oh, of course, Princess. We can only allow you in there for ten minutes.” another Guard replied as he pulled the key out and put it into the lock, turned it and once the large tumblers thunked open, swung the door open.
“I only need five.” Weiss mumbled, scurrying into the room to step up onto the solid stone coffin. “Hey. How’re you doing? Are you comfortable in there?” Weiss asked with a small smile as she laid down on the coffin. “I bet your scales are really starting to cramp up, huh? Can’t really do any kind of proper scale maintenance when you’re like that, can you?” Weiss looked up at the Guards watching her in confusion before they quickly turned away and resumed their posts.
Hopping down off the tomb, Weiss pressed a claw to the stone surface and traced the name in silence. “Don’t worry. You won’t be in there much longer.”
Five Weeks Ago
Princess Celestia
“Your majesty, are you certain you wish to proceed down this avenue of action in these troubled times?” a service pony asked cautiously. She knew it wasn’t in her place to question the Princesses orders but she felt like she had to ask at least once.
“Yes, I am certain. Things I have seen require me to head out beyond the borders of Equestria in order to hopefully assure our survival.” Celestia sighed, her mane solid and flowing down her neck and back as the bath water washed off the day’s troubles. The service pony continued to gently scrub the alicorn’s fur with her hooves, wearing specially made shoes to prevent due injury or damage to the coat.
“Are you going to personally look for that human thing? Wasn’t he supposed to be an asset to Equestria’s defense?” the mare asked casually. At least this wouldn’t be out of place to talk about.
“No, unfortunately he is unattainable as he is now. He still has much to do and no time to do it. Shame though…” Celestia drifted off in thought, as though she was watching the passage of time presently and the view was quite unpleasant. “I rather liked him.”
“Oh, Princess! You sound as though he’ll never return to us again!” The mare chuckled nervously, taking a moment to wave her hoof at the alicorn’s neck in jest. Celestia merely slipped deeper into the water until just the top of her head was above the soapy water. “You don’t mean…”
“He will return to us.” Celestia announced, rising out of the water just enough to do so though the quickly reddening eyes suggested that whatever she knew was quite unpleasant. “But not for long before he must leave.”
“Well i’m sure that your parents, wherever they may be, will be watching over him from on high.” the service mare replied firmly set in her beliefs. Even Celestia had to chuckle to that, the idea that her own mother and father were in a position to watch over the proceedings of Celestia’s realm.
“Please finish your work. I wish to retire for my trip tomorrow.” Celestia requested, rising from the water with her fur completely drenched and hanging off her body quite sorrowfully. No wait, that was Celestia’s mood as she was quickly cleaned and dried off.
“May I ask if your sister, Princess Luna, is aware of where you’re going?” The mare asked as she set to cleaning up the towels while other service ponies began the task of scrubbing every inch of the royal bath house.
“She does not. Nor is she informed of my intentions and I wish to keep it that way. I wish I could tell her something that would alleviate her inevitable suspicions that I’d been taken captive by our feathery enemies, but I cannot risk the purpose of the trip with undue attention.” Celestia replied as a white housecoat magically floated over from a rack and landed on her back with her sun printed just over the breast.
Stepping up into bed as the covers peeled back, Celestia collapsed with a sigh and allowed the day’s events drift off as the service staff all vacated the premises.
So much to do and so little time.
~~~
Just before scheduled dawn, in the short period that allowed for her and Luna to switch places, Celestia, sans crown, cast a dark cloak about herself and shimmered away from view. In reality, the cloak had been sewn to appear like Luna’s mane and night sky and should work to conceal the elder alicorn in her travels.
Stepping out onto the balcony, Celestia made a quick visual check for her sister, then let out a short magical ping in all directions; looking for her sister’s specific magical signature.
Holed up in her room preparing for bed. Perfect.
Spreading her enormous white wings out wide, Celestia took off at a gallop before launching up into the air and immediately aimed as high up as she could. The benefit of being the representation of a celestial body was that her own physical body had been conditioned to withstand the near vacuum of the upper atmosphere.
She’d never tell anypony, but she was one of four creatures to have ever actually flown into space for a short duration of time before requiring to return planetside for oxygen. Her sister Luna had gotten close but was turned away a few hundred meters before Celestia, if one was to neglect Luna’s banishment that is. The other two creatures, one being a special dragon and the other a Harpy, had long since perished and were now lost to the annals of time.
Regardless, Celestia now approached the thin threshold between atmosphere and true space but kept short of breaking it as she continued to accelerate faster in the long downward arc to her first destination.
This burst of speed had Celestia unintentionally hit terminal velocity before bouncing back to let her wings merely ride the currents down. At the same time, Celestia looked over the landscape beneath her and judged that now would be a descent to time raise the sun, if at least to cover her approach with blinding light.
As Celestia touched down, her horn lit up and began the task of guiding the sun along its predetermined track. Honestly, you’d think that after being moved along the same lines for millennia on end that the celestial body would've figured it out on it’s own.
“Princess, a pleasure for us to see. But your reason for visitation, what might they be?” a zebra cracked an eye at the Alicorn amidst their morning meditation.
“I wish to speak to your chieftain. Would I find them in the monastery?” Celestia replied with a kind smile, the kind that would rival the sun she rose with it’s warmth.
“Indeed you would. I’d show you the way, if I could.” The zebra smiled in reply, motioning towards her legs which had been seemingly locked in place to balance upon a remarkably thin stick. Had the zebra moved in the slightest, Celestia was sure that injury would be the consequence.
“That’s quite alright. Thank you though.” Celestia gave a quick nod and took off at a casual walk through the monastery grounds. Looking back into her memory and comparing it to the surroundings before her, the Captain had once described images of the zebra homeland as african; whatever that meant. He described it as being very earthy, plenty of browns and greens in the art and style of decor.
“A mask for you, should love be true!” A zebra mask dealer offered as he lifted what looked like a mask from a pair, presumably the other would go to a special somepony or similar.
“Very lovely, but no thank you. I am unfortunately on business and cannot stop for souvenirs.” Celestia nodded back to the dealer as she continued down the mosaics stone path. Celestia had a number of stops to make today and the zebra monastery was the first down a very long list. Provided nothing hindered her progress, she figured she could be back in two weeks time.
“Approach no further! We wish not to convict you a burglar!” a guard demanded as Celestia placed a single hoof on the first step into the temple.
“Oh, don’t mind them.” an elderly mare of a zebra with who knows how many rings around her throat and a cloak of intricate designs and colours adorning her shoulders. “They mean you no harm. I must ask what your doing here, but first come inside where it’s warm.”
“Thank you, Elder.” Celestia continued the short trek up the steps, taking them four at a time with her significantly longer legs.
“At a time like this, we must be wary. For a war is upon us, we cannot tarry.” the elder replied with a faint smile. As soon as the doors into the elder’s room had swung shut, the Elder gave a sigh and pulled her cloak off. “Seriously though what is it with zebra’s and the rhyming thing? It just get’s harder the older you get!”
“I’ve always assumed that it was a form of formal speaking. Or perhaps it’s not and a lack of pentameter indicated formal speaking?” Celestia looked thoughtfully at one of her oldest friends.
“Either way, it’s quite exhausting having to use it so early in the morning. Speaking of early in the morning, too what do I owe the pleasure?” The elder asked as she began pouring a green/herbal tea from a fired clay pot into two cups for the figures of authority.
“I wish it was for a social call,” Celestia replied, pulling the hood off her head. The Zebra raised a curious eyebrow at the lack of crown adorning the alicorn and made a note. “But as you can see, i’m not here on official Equestrian business.”
“So it seems. If that is the case… You seek the Azeroth stones…” The zebra sighed and took a sip of her tea, as did Celestia who smiled sheepishly. “What have you seen, Princess, that requires such ancient stones?”
“I’ve seen the end of it all. Not just for Equestria, but for all of us.” Celestia admitted under her breath. She didn’t want to risk any guards outside overhearing her voice and causing undue trouble for her.
“I see…” The elder zebra slowly played her her cup, swirling the remainder of the liquids within. “This is very grave news indeed. What happens if you find the stones and can use them in time? Are we all saved?”
“Not guaranteed, no. We’ll just have an easier time at saving everything.” Celestia slowly shook her head and took another worried sip.
“And if you fail or are late?”
“Then I hope whatever deities you pray to are lenient.” Celestia replied sternly, instantly setting the mood.
“That bad, huh? Well, I’ll have our archivists bring everything we have on the Azeroth Stones to a private guest room, if you wish to remain long enough to do so.”
“I would appreciate that, thank you old friend.” Celestia stood and downed the remainder of her tea before turning to remove herself from the elder’s chambers.
“Oh please, i‘m no where near old enough for you to call me that. I’m certain you’ve had older friends than I.” the mare chuckled as Celestia stepped through the doors to be escorted to her new temporary abode.
This was going to be a long day.
~~~
“Do you think it wise to go alone? Not in a hundred years has a zebra gone below.” the elder asked curiously as she stood next to Celestia with a pair of guards on either side of them. Celestia had scoured through the provided literary material over the course of the morning and had discovered an entrance to a hidden cave at the northern outskirts of the monastery.
“I’ll be fine. I didn’t come to be Princess through sheer will and by raising the sun every morning. I can take care of myself.” Celestia replied, staring down into the depths below. If the first of five Azeroth stones was down there, Celestia had no choice but to retrieve it from the claws of whatever dwelled within.
“We still offer you a weapon of your choosing. We cannot stand the thought of you losing.” A guard replied, shifting around nervously but remaining in position. Celestia’s horn glowed brightly and a long poleaxe shimmered into view, pulsing with solar energy.
“Who ever said I would lose?” Celestia grinned before taking the first step into the cavern.
“Good luck!” the elder bade before she and the four guards turned away to resume their daily duties.
“I’m going to need it.” Celestia muttered under her breath, magically pulling her cloak tighter around her body. “I hope I can get back out in time to lower the sun again. I may have to let Luna handle both for a night; that’ll really unnerve her if my disappearance already hasn’t.” Gradually the slope began to increase in angle until Celestia was all but forced to spread her wings to keep from sliding down in a rockslide of her own design.
Suddenly the ground dropped away altogether, leading into an enormous cavern barely lit save for the glow of Celestia’s horn as she held her weapon close to her.
“A certain death for anypony unable to achieve flight, for sure.” Celestia mumbled as her horn cast a wider glow around her, illuminating the immediate darkness of her surroundings.
Gliding towards the ground, Celestia was forced to pull up sharply and spin her poleaxe downwards as what looked like a massive worm or eel leapt up to greet her with maw open and hundreds of rows of razor teeth all eagerly to tear her limb from limb.
“Woah, forgot about you guys…” Celestia exclaimed, keeping out of the range of the eels as they repeatedly burrowed into the ground before popping back out again for lunch. “I suppose that’s what happens when you’re out of sight. Now,” Celestia cast a beam of light forwards to search for an indication of direction for travel. “Where am I going?”
“That isssssss an exccccccellent quessssssstion. What isssssss a pony princcccccesssss doing way down here? How did you even manage to find ussssss?” An eel demanded from below, warily watching the only source of light as it soared overhead; looking for another cave entrance to follow.
“Oh, you speak. My apologies, I was unaware that you had intelligence.” Celestia replied, holding relatively still but remaining out of the reach of the others.
“I ssssssupposssssse that’sssss what happensssss after a dozen ccccenturiesssssss underground. I’ll be honesssssst though. I’m probably the mossssssst intelligent one of ussssssss.” the eel replied, still watching hungrily. “You mussssst excusssssse my brothersssss and ssssssissssssterssssss. We haven’t fed on anything ssssubsssstantial in ssssseemingly eonsssssss!”
“Then how’ve you remained down here for so long? I can’t imagine there are many good sources of meat down here. Why not move elsewhere?” Celestia remarked while poking the nose of a particularly hungry eel with the tip of her axe heads.
“Oh pleasssssse. Where would we go? You know asssss well asssss I do that we’d be quickly driven off for caussssssing quite a disssturbanccccce when coming up to feed.” the eel rolled it’s eyes and Celestia had to admit, she was having a hard time with the fact that the eel didn’t seem to have any sort of gender identifier in it’s voice.
“I see your point. Look, I apologize but i’m wasting time. There wouldn’t happen to be an Azeroth stone down there, would there?” Celestia requested kindly. The sudden tension in the air became stifling as every eel previously attempting to kill her suddenly stopped and stared at the alicorn in shock.
“Uhhh, nope, sssssorry there’sssss nothing down here like that!” The eel exclaimed hurriedly as the entire cavern floor previously writhing with eels was suddenly vacated, leaving Celestia both worried and able to safely land among piles of various animal bones.
“I see… What under my sun would have had that kind of effect on them?” Celestia wondered out loud as she scanned the walls for any sort of indication.
Her light passed over a symbol scratched into the wall, just over the entrance to another tunnel and caught her eye. Cantering to the tunnel entrance, Celestia pulled some of her notes out to search through for the symbol she was certain she’d seen before.
“There it is… I knew I remembered reading about this…” Celestia mumbled, lifting the page up to compare the symbols. They were identical. Stuffing her notes back into her saddlebags under her cloak, Celestia bravely set hoof into the corridor as she relied on her magic to illuminate her path. “I would still like to know what caused those eels to run like that?” Celestia wondered as she continued deeper.
Slowly but surely, the passage seemed to light itself up and the need for a cloak to warm her slowly declined. A dull red glow seemed to seep in from ahead of her, as did the gradually increasing heat, until finally Celestia stood out on a ledge just large enough for her to stand on over what appeared to be the heart of an active volcano.
“Ahh, I suppose that would do it.” Celestia noted as she stared down at the magmatic flows beneath her and at what appeared to be magma golems of some kind, either lounging around mindlessly or taking a dip in the liquid rock nearby. “Well, this certainly will be troublesome…”
Day of Celestia’s Disappearance
“You play a dangerous game, General Luna.” Luna’s best Captain, Rainbow Dash announced with a sigh as the two and a handful of other military officials looked over the maps before them.
“Well, what would you suggest? The enemy have us completely surrounded on all sides, including the air, and have shown that they retain patrols all hours of the day and the night. We have absolutely no way to get in or out of Canterlot and our food supplies are running thin!” Luna huffed angrily, having reached the end of her patience. “What would you suggest we do then?”
“Well we can’t very well blow them up! We don’t have anything powerful enough to do that!” Dash shouted back, now no longer seated as her forehooves posted on the table. “If we had someone who could do so, I’d suggest we get somepony to take up Captain’s rifle and shoot those motherbuckers!”
“But we don’t.” Luna stated slowly and matter-of-fact, glaring at her younger. “Fact is that the amount of precision and training it would take for somepony to be able to accurately use that thing would take as long as it would for us to get the Captain back in the first place! Never mind the fact that only a unicorn or alicorn could use it, and even then only my sister and I would have the magical strength to keep it from flying off when we pull the trigger!”
“Then why don’t you use it! You’ve seen him do so, you were there when he killed the Manticores and the Basilisk among others. Why can’t you fire his .50 cal?” Dash demanded, glaring right back at not only her princess, but her friend and superior officer as well.
“Because I don’t know how! He had to use all kinds of formulations and equations that I don’t even know where to begin!” Luna shouted back, just as heated as Dash. The other officers wisely remained silent as they formulated their own battle plans amongst themselves.
“I might.” A single, sweet female voice announced from the doors of the room. In stepped Luna’s Colonel, Sunset Shimmer in her blue and silver uniform and cap under her arm with Captain’s Berret slung over her shoulders. At her arrival the remaining officers under her rank, which was just about everypony in the room, all stood at attention with a sharp salute. “At ease.” Sunset ordered, stepping up to the empty end of the table. “I’ve done a bit of research into shooting techniques and had Captain’s old sergeant teach me what he knew before having Twilight adapt those formulas to Equestrian science. I may not be as accurate as Captain, but I think I might be able to at least use it.”
“Would you be willing to try?” Luna asked both hopefully and eagerly in the hopes that they’d get a very powerful asset through Sunset and Captain’s gun.
“I don’t see why not.” Sunset shrugged the rifle off and approached a window at random. “Frankly, I can literally point this thing out any window and be able to put a griffon in the sights.” Sunset added as she knelt down at the window sill and unfolded the bipod. Flipping up the lens caps, Sunset took a moment to orient herself and take aim out past the Canterlot walls.
“Can you do it?” Dash asked, looking up and over Luna’s shoulder from the table.
“Shh and we’ll find out.” Sunset replied as Luna’s horn glowed and bestowed the flight data that she’d often give to Captain on their hunting trips. “Thank you.” Sunset mumbled as she zeroed in the scope for 1000 meters. By her estimates, she had an almost 40 degree downward angle towards the nearest target: a tent set up for what looked like officers.
Doing her best to do so, Sunset worked at slowing down her breathing just like the sergeant had taught her and once she was ready, pulled the trigger between breaths. The gun pushed back with the recoil but Sunset watched the flight of the bullet all the way to the left of the tent and her intended mark. At least she had the elevation set correctly.
Adjusting her windage dial, Sunset began to work on her breathing again before putting another bullet down range; this time through the tent and presumably through an officer, judging by the sudden explosion of blood and gore.
“Well there we have it.” Sunset sighed, watching the griffon’s scramble trying to figure out where the shot had come from before extracting the rifle from the window and shut the scope lens caps. “By no standards am I a sniper but I can apparently get lucky with Captain’s rifle.”
“That may be all it takes to turn the tides on this war, Colonel.” Luna grinned as she began envisioning the potential success and coming end of this war, now shifting towards the Equestrian victory.
“Excuse me, but I bring urgent news!” A guard burst into the room, all heads turning to face the newcomer.
“Then out with it!” Luna demanded as Sunset brought the rifle to the table to set it down and adjust her clothing.
“Ma’ams, Princess Celestia is gone!” The guard replied, dropping the jaws of everybody in the room save for the General.
“Guards,” Luna turned to the other soldiers in the room with a scowl. “Take this joker to the sub-dungeons so he can think about how funny his words were.”
“I jest not, General. I’ve personally checked the Princess’s quarters and her servants said that she hadn’t been seen since sunrise.” The informant replied as his compatriots held melee weapons aimed at his neck to subdue him.
“Release him.” Luna demanded and stepped slowly towards the pony. “What do you mean, she’s gone?”
“I mean, General, she’s not in Canterlot. She’s gone!” The pony reported as dutifully as he could as his nerves rose with each step that the Princess of the Night took towards him. “I had soldiers scour every inch of the city, ma’am. She’s not here!”
“How long has she been gone? Are there any indications that she may have been captured by the enemy?” Dash demanded, now stepping up behind her superior.
“I don’t know ma’am. The servants say that Princess Celestia wasn’t in her room when they came to wake her for the sunrise. There was no evidence of forced entry into her tower either.” The guard replied, looking between the General and the Captain.
“Which means that she likely disappeared in the hour between sunrise and moondown. That’s the only hour of the day that neither of us are aware of the other’s dealings. We usually spend that hour in our rooms preparing for the day.” Luna mumbled to herself. “So if there was no forced entry, then either she knew her captor or she left of her own volition. Have the staff servicing her all last night taken into custody and interrogated. Find out everything they know about my sister’s behavior last night and if they may know where she has gone.”
“General?” Sunset spoke up from relaxing against the table behind everypony. “Not that this isn’t interesting but if i’m going to be a sniper, I need to get somewhere to train. I also have some tasks I need to deal with in my world.”
“Fine, do what you must but be ready to receive orders at a moment’s notice; even in your world.” Luna replied firmly. “Dismissed Colonel.”
Sunset saluted and shouldered the rifle currently being closely examined by a small handful of pony officers, all chattering about how such a rifle was so lethal at such extreme ranges.
Stepping out of the room and pressing her back to the wall momentarily, Sunset had to take a deep breath as she lightly nuzzled the rifle strap; imagining it slung over her boyfriend’s shoulder or the buttstock pressed into his powerful shoulder.
“Fucking hell, where are you!” Sunset hissed, directing the question towards her absent lover as she pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes to clear away the moisture condensing on her face.
“Are you sure? It’s not a false positive or something like that?” Sunset asked, staring at the results on the page before her in disbelief. “But, we’d only been together once and we were careful!”
“I’m quite certain, Miss Shimmer. We ran the tests quite a few times just to be sure. I must remind you that the best way to prevent pregnancy is by not engaging in sexual activities in the first place. Even with the best contraceptives, there is still at least a two percent chance of failure and impregnation. I must say, whoever the father is, he has quite the strong swimmers.” The doctor replied with a sigh, looking down at the upside down clipboard in Sunset’s hands. “Now, you’re still at the stage where you don’t have to keep the child, whether through abortion or by giving up the child to a couple who does want one.”
“I, um, I’d have to talk to the father first. He doesn’t know that i’m pregnant yet.” Sunset mumbled back, the clipboard dropping to the medical bed next to her.
“Would you like it if I told him? You could bring him in and the three of us can talk about options.” The doctor offered supportively, taking the clipboard from next to the girl to look over things for the thousandth time.
Shaking her head, Sunset pulled her knees to her chest and sat back against the wall. “He can’t. He’s serving in the military and he’s overseas right now.” Technically not untrue, but still not technically accurate. “Last I heard he went missing…”
“Oh, I am so sorry. I didn’t know. I’m sorry if I brought up any bad emotions about that.” The doctor backpedalled, trying to cover for anything he may have done to offend the girl.
“No, it’s fine. The government tells me they’re actively trying to find him and bring him home to me.” Sunset replied with a heavy sigh, staring at the floor with the world racing through her mind. “He’ll be home soon and we can talk about things then.”
Sunset found herself coming out of the memory having sunk down against the wall and tears actively streaming down her face. The rifle had clattered to the ground next to her as the strap no longer had a shoulder to hang from and now rested against the wall with a pair of NLAF soldiers standing guard.
“Fucking bastard, why’d you have to go and let yourself be kidnapped!” Sunset screamed suddenly, startling the guards though they refused to take away Sunset’s privacy. “Thanks for the privacy.” Sunset announced weakly, addressing the soldier’s before her through sobs and tears.
“Of course, ma’am. We both have family who haven’t come back from battle. We both understand the need to cry sometimes.” One pegasus replied, looking back with only an eye before turning to offer a winged assistance to help the girl to her feet.
“I know, I know. I’m not the only one who’s lost a loved one.” Sunset sighed and sucked back the remainder of her emotions to shoulder the rifle again. “Gah, but it definitely feels like i’m the only one.”
“You’re never alone, Colonel. I actually go to a therapy group every wednesday who helps family members who’ve lost loved ones to this bloody war, if you’d like the meeting place?” The second soldier, a unicorn, offered.
“Maybe. If I feel up to it i’ll come find you for that information, Corporal.” Sunset replied, wiping her face off on the back of her sleeve before excusing herself to her duties. “Oh, have you seen Princess Twilight anywhere?”
“Last I heard she’s still in the labs working on both recovery and trying to perfect those new magic guns.” The pegasus replied, saluting at the officer’s exit.
“Thanks!” Sunset replied, giving a quick salute back before running off. The one place I don’t want to go right now; the dungeons where Captain used to live.
~~~
A short jog through the castle halls later, Sunset stood before the large wooden door into the ex-dungeons/ex-Captain’s home/newly equipped Canterlot Laboratories. With a sigh, Sunset pulled on the large handle of the door and stepped inside. Immediately she could hear the chattering of military scientists and the humming of various machines that’d been magically added to the rooms.
“Twilight?” Sunset called as she set foot onto the landing of the dungeon, watching any number of pony scientists scurrying about in white labcoats.
One such scientist approached Sunset and requested that the human follow her deeper into the expansive room. Many of the cells had been knocked down entirely, leaving stone pillars to hold the ceiling up in order to make room for the new labs and projects that had quickly taken up the space left behind.
“Sunset?” Twilight’s head stuck out from around one of the few walls that contained the lead scientists offices, her head still bandaged from Twilight’s recent release from the Canterlot hospital. “Sunset! How great to see you! Too what do we owe the pleasure?” Twilight’s entire body rounded the doorway as the guide left to her own work. “Please, come inside!”
The two females stepped into Twilight’s office, formerly Weiss and Eben’s room, and Sunset shut the door behind her, shutting out most of the noise.
“Hey Twilight. I’m actually here to see about our… Uhm, project?” Sunset replied, setting the rifle down at the doorway before taking a seat before Twilight’s large oak desk.
“Oh, that.” Twilight nodded in understanding of the vague inquiry. “Yeah, i’ve been unable to make much progress; considering…” Twilight replied loosely as she looked up at her forehead devoid of horn.
“Right, sorry. How’re you doing with rehab?” Sunset asked, trying to sound supportive of her friend’s severe injury.
“Slow going. I’m still trying to do everything with levitation but I can’t. It takes me a second to remember I have to do things with my wings more often.” Twilight sighed, lifting a cup of tea with her right wing to take a sip before setting it down again. “And I can’t even turn myself human now… Must be nice to have hands.”
“I suppose so…” Sunset replied. Already the mood in the room was grim and neither girl had much to offer to cheer things up. “How goes the other projects?”
“They’re on-going.” Twilight grumbled, her head now resting on her hooves on the desktop. “Slowly, mind you without my magical input. But,” Twilight’s head and ears perked up as she deviated away from the dark mood in the air. “You’re here about Project Lazarus, right?”
“Yeah. As much as I hate to say it, we’re fighting in a war where the ability to instantly recover even fatally wounded soldiers has become necessary to win.” Sunset sighed, leaning back against the chair to lift and rest her leg over the armrest.
“Yeah, and this isn’t even a project that we can tell anypony about.” Twilight added before taking another sip of tea.
“Playing with black magic has that effect…” Sunset mumbled, examining her nails absently. “Did Weiss find what we need?”
“Actually, yes.” Twilight replied confidently, surprising Sunset if but a little bit. “Through her own research she’s discovered that red diamonds achieve the effect we’re looking for. Charge those with the appropriate spell and we should be able to restore any soldier who’s not dead or missing their brains.”
“So what if a soldier has suffered the removal of all limbs, left to bleed out?” Sunset asked, looking directly at Twilight. She was still having to get used to seeing Princess Twilight without her horn.
“As long as they’re not physically or brain dead, the black magic should be able to completely restore them to full health.” Twilight reported as she hopped down from her chair to interact with a floor safe under her desk. Popping back up a minute later with a pile of papers in her mouth, Twilight sat back down and passed a number of them to Sunset who looked them over.
“Wow. How’re we going to be able to even test this? We have no way of charging the red diamonds since nobody involved in the Project has any way of casting the black magic now.” Sunset looked up from the papers before her at the lead scientist.
“I know. We’ll have to bring somepony else in. Somepony who is otherwise unrelated to Canterlot Labs and is not actively serving. Somepony who, ideally, has already had dealing with dark or black magic.” Twilight explained, her face gradually becoming more and more grim as she spoke.
“You already have somepony in mind?” Sunset set the papers down on the desk again.
A knock on the door had Twilight request the pony come in.
“Perhaps I could be of some assistance, darling?” Rarity requested with a kind smile, shutting the door behind her.
“Rarity? What’re you doing here?” Sunset stood from the chair and addressed the newcomer.
“Dear, as Twilight said, you need somepony capable of casting magic, who has no ties to the Canterlot Labs or to the New Luna Armed Forces and has history of casting dark or black magic.” Rarity replied firmly as she entered deeper into the tiny room to climb up into and sit down in a second chair.
“You, have cast black magic?” Sunset asked incredulously, looking between the mares. “What happened?”
“Oh, Spike found a book in the old Castle of the Two Sisters some time back. It held black magic that let Rarity conjure up anything and everything she could imagine. Was a pain to clean up afterwards.” Twilight explained as Rarity coughed with a sheepish grin.
“All that even though I couldn’t actually remember what happened during it all. Twilight tells me that this project will be playing with life and death, right?” Rarity looked between the two existing co-conspirators of the project.
“Sort of.” Sunset replied, holding a finger up. “It’s not going to be so powerful as to raise the dead back to life, that would be not only morally wrong, but also would kill morale in our own troops to see their dead friends rise back up and continue fighting. Project Lazarus aims to let ponies who’re fatally wounded be fully restored. It won’t work on already dead soldiers.” she explained, finally bringing Rarity fully into the loop and permanently binding the unicorn to the Project.
“Oh, then I can get behind this endeavor. What do you want me to do?” Rarity inquired eagerly, flipping her mane out of her face in the process.
“Well, when Weiss get’s back from her own trip, we’re going to teach you a black magic spell. You’re then going to have to work with Weiss to charge the Red Diamonds into spellstones that should hopefully achieve the results we’re looking for.” Twilight explained anxiously.
“Red Diamonds? Why must we be using so rare of stones for such a task?” Rarity demanded nervously. “You realise that such stones are so rare, so expensive that not even most of the Canterlot nobility can afford to own even one?”
“They’re also, theoretically, the only stone with the structure to support this kind of powerful black magic.” Sunset replied for Twilight, staring directly at the white mare.
“You speak as though you have no real idea what you’re doing right now.” Rarity smirked, slightly curious about how much the two had already accomplished.
“Honestly, we don’t. Up to now we’ve only been able to work in theoreticals and hypotheses. Since I lost my horn and Sunset can’t cast magic, adding in the lack of proper materials, we’ve had nothing to go off of.” Twilight explained, taking another sip of tea in the process.
“So then what do you have at the moment?” Rarity looked from Sunset to Twilight and then back again curiously.
“We have the spell. Twilight had Spike dig through the restricted areas of the Canterlot Libraries and we believe we’ve found a book of black and dark magic spells that contains the spell we’re looking for. As soon as Weiss gets back with the Red Diamonds, we’ll have you learn the spell and before we even try loading the spell into a spellstone, we’ll have you test the spell on some of our mortally wounded soldiers in the hospital to test its effects.” Sunset explained firmly. “I understand the moral issues that there is with moving directly onto pony testing, but we don’t have the time to spare with animal testing.”
“I understand. I’ll also assume that this is going to be on a need to know basis, right?” Rarity looked firm in her resolve, as though she was glad to be finally able to properly help in the war efforts besides sewing up specialized officer uniforms.
“Yes. Officially, Project Lazarus doesn’t exist and not even the Princesses know about it.” Twilight nodded in reply. “So I suppose without much further adieu; I welcome you, Rarity, to Project Lazarus.”
“Welcome Rarity.” Sunset smiled warmly, giving the mare a hoofshake in welcome.
“I’m glad to be here. I hope we can make a difference.”
“Us too… Us too…” Sunset agreed as Twilight finished her tea.
