Fire Emblem, Fate is Magic

Ponyville, Inside Twilight's Castle, Mere Moments Before Trouble Appeared

Twilight Sparkle had nearly fallen asleep in her throne, not long after Applejack had managed to quell the shouts and cries of the "people" of Ponyville, exhaustion had finally hit the princess after all of her hard work. " I...I just got to stay awake, I have to find a solution...," Twilight mumbled as she fought to stay awake, she kept a tight grasp on the book in her hand, a strange one that she had happened to come across in a book store on her last trip to Manehatton, filled with writings and legends that she had never heard of before. She had been reading the book several times over for the past few nights, hoping that something from it could shine a light on the current predicament. " There has to be a solution....," she mumbled again as she rubbed her eyes in an attempt to keep herself awake.

" Listen Twi," her friend Rainbow Dash started, " You've been at this since this whole thing started, you know more about being a..human, than all of us, why not just take a break, heck, who knows, we might be able to get use to these, bodies or whatever we have now,".

Applejack looked at her formerly cyan colored friend, the expression on her face was a confused one, " Ya know Rainbow, of all the ponies, er I mean, people, I'm surprised you're taken this so lightly, I mean ya can't even fly anymore with yer wings, they just sit there on yer back,".

" That is not true, I can do anything, that includes learning how to fly like this," Rainbow said confidently.

A gentle hand placed itself on Twilight's shoulder, belonging to none other than Fluttershy, possibly the kindest of Twilight's friends, " It's going to be OK Twilight, we could um, try to find a way to help while you rest," her voice as gentle as her touch, and her smile even gentler.

A small smile formed on Twilight's tired face as she gave her soft spoken friend a nod, " Alright Fluttershy, thank you," she stood up out of her throne, gave her friend a hug and went to leave the room. " Can you all do me a favor while I rest, " she started off, catching the attention of everyone in the room, " Please don't push yourself too hard, alright,".

" Ya can count on us sugar cube, now go and catch some Z's, we'll be fine," Applejack replied, followed by a nod from everyone else in the room.

" OK, thank you all," Twilight was just about to leave the room, when suddenly the sounds of screams coming from outside her castle caught her attention, instantly waking her from her tired state, and causing her to run outside to the sound of the distress. " Girls come on somepony, i mean, someone, somebody is in trouble!!," her friends swiftly followed her, them too being concerned by the origins of the screams. Upon getting outside, Twilight was shocked to see the citizens of Ponyville rushing towards her castle in a panic, fear was in their eyes as they fled from what Twilight could only describe as a horde of monsters dawning horrific metal mask, " Oh my Celestia...what are those things!?,".

Twilight's friends joined in on her shock, their eyes as wide as Twilight's, " I have no earthly idea darling...but..but..," Rarity couldn't quite spit out the rest of her sentence due to fear.

" But they have blood on them!," Fluttershy screamed, finishing her friends sentence unknowingly before fainting.

The five members of the mane six who still had consciousness, began to slowly back into the castle, " Twilight, ya gotta help all of em' create a magic barrier, do somethin, we can't just let those things tear them apart," Applejack said in a panic while keeping her sister and her friends from harm.

" I..I'll try to, but I haven't tried making such a large scale barrier in this body," Twilight had hesitance in her voice, not only had she not practiced it, but she doubted that she had enough energy to even hold it up for more than a few minutes. She shook her head quickly, regaining her composure before giving a somewhat confident nod, " Alright, I'll try, here goes nothing!!!," holding her hands out, Twilight began to focus what magic she could into her palms in place of her horn, resulting in her hands glowing slightly with her magical aura. " I need everyone to hurry to the castle!!!!, you'll all be safe there!!!!!," she shouted out to the scared citizens, who had no second thought of taking safety in the castle.

" Are..are you sure you can do this darling, I can help if you would like," Rarity asked her still tired friend, the concern was obvious in her voice.

Replying to her friends request with a small nod, Twilight grabbed Rarity's hand while still keeping her own held forward to channel magic, " Thank you Rarity, maybe our magic combined will be enough to hold this barrier up,". The both of them began focusing greatly, the strain on the both of them was showing easily as they used whatever magic they could to slowly, but sure, build up a barrier around Twilight's castle.

Just Outside of Ponyville

Axel, the noble and brave king of Valla, rushed towards the sound of danger, his blade, the Yato, drawn and in his hand, " Hurry up Shura!!, the screams are getting louder!!,".

" I'm right behind you!," his faithful friend said trailing his lord from not too far behind. " Lord Axel, are you sure we should be doing this, we don't even know where we are!," he asked the king that he had sworn to serve.

" I don't care!!!," Axel replied, " If there's someone in trouble, I'll be there to help them!!!," going from simply running to a full sprint, Axel closed in on the source of the sounds.

" I've never figured it out, how the hell does he run so fast barefooted," Shura mumbled to himself as he followed Axel into the town.

Upon reaching the town, Axel took in the destruction around him, seeing ravaged buildings, bodies here and there, and a sight ahead of him he was all to familiar with.  His eyes widened as they laid upon the large green beast who had mask for face, " Faceless?!? Here?! but how!?,". Not thinking twice about the dangers ahead of him, Axel rushed towards the horde of faceless, his blade ready to end each and every one of them, " Begone monsters!!!!," with a mighty yell and a single wide swing, he Yato cut through the masked monsters with ease, easily cutting a path through them like shears to a hedge.

Shura reached the town shortly after his lord did, his bow drawn as he spotted the faceless in front of him, " I guess we're closer to home than we thought," using some of the rubble around, he made his way onto the rooftops of the buildings, gaining an easy vantage point to keep an eye on Axel, and take out any faceless in his sight.

The fearless king made short work of any faceless in his sight, pushing through monstrous horde, nearing what he could only describe as a castle, just as colorful as any other building in this town. " That, must be where the survivors are held up at, if I can just get through them, I should be able to put a stop to these faceless ," the thought raced through his mind as he grew ever so closer to the castle.

He was so focused on reaching the castle however, that he hadn't noticed the large faceless preparing to strike from behind, " Not today," Shura shot two arrows off, both aimed directly at the faceless attempting to strike Axel from behind.

Axel quickly turned around, coming face to face with one of the masked brutes, readying to strike, only to watch it fall as two arrows hit it in the back of the head, " Thank you Shura, that's another one I owe you,". Continuing on through the horde, both Axel and Shura took down as many faceless as they could, always staying on the move to prevent being caught off guard again.

Just Outside of Twilight's Castle

Both Twilight and Rarity were doing their hardest to keep the barrier up, not only was using magic in this form new to both of them, but Twilight didn't have enough strength to keep going for long. " Please darling, you need rest, let me keep these, fiends at bay," Rarity pleaded with his exhausted friend.

" No!!," Twilight exclaimed, " Rarity you and I both know that you can't do this alone, these things are relentless....you wouldn't last a second out here, neither of us would," Rarity could only silently agree with her statement. Sweat ran down Twilight's forehead in beads, she felt as if her body could give out at any moment, " Rarity....just..just get inside the castle with the others, I'll be fine,".

" I won't just leave you here Twilight Sparkle!!," the bearer of the element of generosity refused to leave her friend, even if it meant her life.

" Rarity....," Twilight cringed as the strain became to much, " Please Rarity..I can't, I can't keep up much longer!!!,". But before Rarity could give her response, they were both silenced the sound of a raising voice, and not a scream of fear, the voice was almost like a roar, a fierce cry of battle, "..What..what was that...," Twilight's body gave out right then, dropping to the ground, still barely conscious.

" Twilight!!," Rarity too dropped her focus, tending to her fallen friend before turning her head to the sound of the yell, her eyes widened as the source of the cry came into view, " Sweet Celestia...,".

" Haaaaaa!!!!!!," Axel cried out with ferocity as he cut down several more faceless, and any that he missed while going through, were easily picked off by Shura on the rooftops. " Shura we're here, just one more push!!!," with another mighty cry, Axel began swinging his blade faster, his usual determination had filled him entirely.

Twilight opened her eyes slightly to see the dark haired young man cutting through the horde of beast, " Who.....who is that...,".

" I'm not sure darling, but whoever he is he-," Rarity cut herself off upon seeing one of the monsters rushing right for her and Twilight, " No!!, I won't let you hurt Twilight!!," Rarity hugged her friend close, acting as a human shield, screaming right as it's massive fist came down on top of her, but such a thing never happened. She opened her eyes to see the beast on the ground, an arrow sticking out of it's mask, then laying her eyes on the one responsible for shooting the arrow, an aged man with black and white hair, " My word,".

Axel's movements with the Yato were as graceful as they were skillful, the barefooted warrior rushed back and forth, making sure not a single faceless even got close to the two girls. " What are the two of you waiting for, get to safety already!!," but before the two could reply, the faceless began to retreat.

A dumbfounded look was on Shura's face as he watched the masked brutes leave the town, " What, their just giving up?".

" This is strange, I've never seen them act like this before," Axel replied to his archer friend. He put his Yato away before turning to the two women on the ground before him, to which he held his hand out to them, " It's alright, take my hand,".

Rarity hesitantly took the strangers hand, using it to help both her and Twilight off the ground, " Th..th..thank you, bu..but, who are you..?," her voice still shaky from ordeal she had just experienced.

The young man looked at both of them, the crown atop Twilight's head caught his attention, but rather than give a question of his own, Axel decided to answer theirs, being as kind as ever while speaking, " Hello there, I am Axel, king of Valla," he said, giving a slight bow to go along with his words.