Midnight Rising

"Twilight, stop this! I... STOP! STOP STOP STOP!! N... No... WAIT! STOP! She's... She's...dead... YOU KILLED MY SISTER!! HOW COU--"

"Tell me about her. About Flurry Heart. She was your daughter?" I asked of the Shining Armor AI as we raced across the stars to the Siren system, what would hopefully be our final destination in our mission to stop the mad Princess. We sat at the kitchen table in my ship, the stars a blur on the viewing screen next to us. As always, Shining AIrmor's expression was unchanged, and he paid little attention to the stars.

"She was. She was but a newborn at the time of Twilight's Ascension. She was part of the first generation to grow up under the New Dawn, knowing nothing but Empress Twilight, manifest destiny, and Equestrian exceptionalism. She experienced all the wonders of the Golden Age just as it was beginning. She was never a zealot about the New Dawn, but she followed it all the same" the Shining Armor AI explained.

"What changed?"

"She did. The story of Flurry Heart is similar to that of Twilight's story. She grew up under the Empress, and Her vision for Equestria. One day, She sent Flurry Heart on... a mission. Deep into the jungles of the Everfree Forest. When she came back, she was different. Like how you know her now. She claimed to have seen the truth about Twilight. She started ranting about 'lies' and 'falsehoods', and she confronted my sister with these accusations. My wife at the time, Cadance, Flurry Heart's mother, intervened and...she was killed in the crossfire. Twilight condemned Flurry Heart to the realm of Tartarus, along with any who proclaimed to follow her. It was a stain that briefly marred the Golden Age, but as you know it has survived to this day" Shining AIrmor told me.

"What was this mission Empress Twilight sent Flurry Heart on?" I inquired. Shining AIrmor paused for a moment, as if thinking, before leaning forward in its seat.

"Meteor Shower, I'm about to tell you something that Twilight...expunged...from the records. She never intended for anyone to find this out, and certainly not somepony like you... Flurry Heart was the first Royal Hunter."

I arched one of my brows, intrigued. "Really?"

"Yes. Twilight sent Flurry Heart into the Everfree Forest to find a band of rebels. Their leader? Fluttershy. One of Twilight's closest friends before the New Dawn, and leader of the Harmony Brigade. Her followers? Pinkie Pie, Maud Pie, Limestone Pie, Moondancer, and Sunburst. I don't know the specifics, but they turned Flurry Heart away from the New Dawn" my mechanical partner said.

"So that's what happened to Fluttershy and Pinkie. They were banished to Tartarus along with Flurry Heart and the rest. If Flurry Heart and the rest found a way out, then why haven't we heard anything about Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie?" I inquired.

"My guess is that they were killed while in Tartarus... A fitting end" the Shining Armor AI spat. "That conniving little bitch, Fluttershy, turned my daughter away from the New Dawn and caused my wife's death. In her stupidity and IGNORANCE she deigned to resist the New Dawn, peaceably like a coward, but she still had blood on her hooves. I hope she was savagely ripped apart by one of the realm's beasts. She infuriates me because she was so shy and timid, but she used that shyness like a cloak to shroud her conniving ways. I would have enjoyed watching Twilight hang her if she'd been captured."

"I understand your anger. I feel the same for all of Equestria's enemies, particularly the ponies who turn their backs on the Empress" I said.

"It goes beyond just simple enemies of Equestria. Fluttershy, Pinkie, Moondancer, Maud; they were all friends of Twilight. They didn't just betray their Empress, they betrayed their FRIEND. And what's worse, they turned my own DAUGHTER against the New Dawn."

I nodded, beginning to see all the puzzle pieces click into place, seeing where all this began. Flurry Heart's ambitions, her return, the hows and whys of what she's doing. "There's still one thing I don't get; the Elements of Harmony. What are they?" I asked.

"The Elements were items of great magical power. Six gems, turned into enchanted pieces of jewelry, sporting the cutie marks of their bearers. The Elements can be wielded by sole Alicorns, but they work even better when used by six individual bearers. Twilight and Her friends Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie were the last bearers of the Elements. Twilight keeps the pieces in her living room" the Shining Armor AI stated.

"I've seen them. So if the original pieces are still intact, then Flurry Heart's facsimilies shouldn't work, right?" I questioned, earning a shake of the head from the AI.

"Flurry Heart would know that, though. She wouldn't put all this time and effort into creating replicas of the Elements of Harmony if she didn't have a way to make them work. The final piece of this puzzle is that device the Starborn created for her. Which, as a side note, I'd love to find out how she got the Starborn to cooperate with her."

"I've wondered that, too. She probably fed them some foolishness about getting back at the Empire that created them. I don't much care about the Starborn, to be honest" I said, leaning back. "It's too bad Flurry Heart turned her back on the Empress. An Alicorn Royal Hunter was probably a fearsome sight to behold."

"Oh yes. Twilight groomed Flurry Heart, from birth, to fill the role. For twenty years my daughter trained. It was a learning process not only for her, but also for Twilight. She didn't know what would make a good Hunter. That's why it took so long. The day she graduated, though... I've never been more proud and terrified of my daughter. Flurry Heart was fast, strong, powerful, and she had the backing of our Empress. Carte blanche to do whatever she wanted, so long as it furthered Equesria's position, much like you. There hasn't been and Alicorn Hunter since" the Shining Armor AI stated.

"I'm curious to know; who were the Royal Hunters after Flurry Heart?" I asked.

"I only know of the ones before I was sent off to the planet of Tirek. Let's see, after Flurry Heart there was Trixie. Trixie was a fun Hunter; she used illusion magic to confuse her targets. After Trixie was retired a Pegasus named Soarin' was made the new Royal Hunter. He was killed by dragons during a war against them. Then came Spitfire, after her was Sweetie Belle, and then Applebloom. She was the latest Royal Hunter at the time I was sent off to Tirek, about a hundred or so years after the New Dawn" Shining AIrmor told me.

"I'm sure they all served admirably" I commented.

"Without a doubt. I wonder just who the ponies that were made Royal Hunter since were. Your predecessor, tell me about him" the Shining Armor AI requested.

"Disc Jockey? She was a descendant of a mare named Vinyl Scratch, I guess. She was ruthless, but her career was mostly unremarkable. With the exception of one incident. Disc Jockey was the Royal Hunter when the Starborn gained sentience. During our wars with the Starborn she killed thousands. It came to our attention that there was an army of Pegasus Starborn hiding on a Griffin colony. Empress Twilight was nervous to send Disc Jockey, because of the dual threat. What did DJ do? She dropped an asteroid on the planet, cracking it in two. Millions of Starborn and Griffins, dead. She cracked wise about 'killing two birds with one stone' for a while after that" I explained with a slight grin.

"She was sent to kill Starborn, but ended up killing million of Griffins too? What was Twilight's response to this?" my mechanical ally asked.

"She called DJ 'efficient', 'creative', and, naturally, She called her 'foolish'. Still, she got the mission completed" I answered.

"My sister has changed much from when I last knew her. Still, She is my sister, and She is Equestria's ruler."

"Your sister is a magnificent, beautiful, intelligent, and powerful mare, Shining Armor AI. I remember when I was a foal--I don't much like to talk about myself, just so we're clear--and I saw Empress Twilight in the flesh for the first time. The first word that struck me about Her was 'majestic'. She looked other-worldly, still does to this day, and regal. She is my everything" I said.

"Before you pop the question to Her, you have to ask me for permission first" Shining AIrmor cracked wise, making me shake my head.

"You jest, but it goes deeper than that. She is basically my Goddess. And, as much as I respect and revere my Empress, if She asked me for my hoof in marriage, I would decline. I have no space in my life for such things, and I have never once felt attraction or affection for anypony outside of a platonic level. None of that particularly matters to me" i explained.

"No love to call your own? No kids? Not even sex?" the Shining Armor AI asked, speaking frankly. I shook my head.

"I've never wanted any of it. A doctor would say I'm asexual, but it's a bit more complicated than that. It's not that I'm physically incapable, it's just that I do not care. I have no room in my life for anything but Empress Twilight and Equestria. I made it very clear to my parents, before they died, that our bloodline ends with me" I explained.

"I see."

"There's something else I'd like to ask. The Princesses; did Twilight kill them?"

The Shining Armor AI looked like it was in thought for a moment, as if it was reliving the past, before nodding. "Yes. I didn't want to speak about it, and there's a good reason it's been left out of your history books. Three Alicorns, two sisters, one the student of one of them for over 20 years, fighting to the death. Three Alicorns fighting would be bad enough, but when all three share a connection? Something that binds them as friends? ...It was brutal."

"How did Twilight win?" I inquired.

"She used that emotional connection to her advantage. Celestia and Luna, they wanted to cleanse her. They thought she was posessed by a corrupting spirit. My sister, all she wanted to do was kill them. Neither of the two sisters could commit themselves to lethal force. Celestia was first. After that is when the gloves came off, to use an old idiom, and Luna tried to kill Twilight."

"Two Alicorns, trying to kill each other... And Twilight won. Impressive, no doubt."

"Luna always was the weaker of the two sisters..." Shining AIrmor commented.

The rushing outside turned to stillness as we arrived in the Siren system. I rose from my seat and headed into the bridge, looking out via the viewscreen. The mapchart screen showed me the nine planets in the system; Orthros, where our scientific survey team was, Tartarus, Wendigo, Etherea, etc. There was even a garden world towards the center, though its native population of giant carnivorous lizards deterred all who thought of visiting. "We're here. The Siren system. The de facto home of the Starborn. When they fled the Horsehead Nebula, this is where they went. The largest concentration of Starborn in the known galaxy reside here."

Shining AIrmor looked out the viewscreen, its eyes scanning the stars. "This is where my daughter fled to..." the AI whispered.

"We're going to make a stop at our colony world, and then we're going to head in to find Flurry Heart. There'll be no escape this time for her and Moondancer. We put an end to this, here and now" I declared, taking the sticks in my hooves and taking us to Orthros.