Midnight Rising

"Congratulations, class of 2107, for your graduation from Ranger Academy! As your Empress, I hereby christen you all Royal Rangers! May you all lead prosperous careers in service of your Empress and Her will! Special congratulations are in order for the stallion who graduated top of your class; Meteor Shower!"

The world of Equus spun far below, my eyes on the beautiful planet beneath me. Its verdant meadows, its lush jungles, crisp, clean oceans. Our world, our seat of power, our might. The state of living down there the culmination of a near-millennium of Empress Twilight's brilliance, Her contributions to advance our position not only on Equus, but throughout the known galaxy. A beautiful land, a beautiful race.

All about to be ended by the mad Princess Flurry Heart.

I looked up from the glass floor, watching as Flurry Heart stood by the Harmony device, the sphere of steel and silver glowing a brilliant purple, its ports overcharged. The focusing lens extended through the glass floor and out into the Void, aiming straight down at Equus, preparing to fire.

I positioned myself on my stomach, lying prone, my eyes falling on the Harmony device, the reticle landing right on it, and I blinked. Eldritch fire lanced out across the gunbay, sailing through the air and striking the mystical sphere. An intense whine and hum could be heard from it as it charged up, and I blinked rapidly, unsure if I was even doing any damage. At the time I didn't even realize I was groaning through gritted teeth, that warmth spreading across my bottom-right as I fired away at the will of a pony long forgotten.

A tremendous white flash filled the room just as I saw Flurry Heart's eyes open, glowing white, and a mighty BOOM reverberated throughout as the Harmony device exploded. I caught glimpse of Flurry Heart's body being flung across the room, her armor singed black on the left side, her eyes closed.

I shakily stood, feeling lightheaded, and I realized that warmth on my side was me bleeding, my warm essence sandwiched between my body and suit. The suit would apply pressure to the wound and prevent me from bleeding out entirely, but I knew I was in trouble. It would only take a moment of unconsciousness for Flurry Heart to kill me, and even with the Harmony device destroyed, she was still a grave threat to Equestria.

I stumbled around the Harmony device, thick black smoke bleeding out into the gunbay, making it difficult to see. I crouched low, catching glimpse of Flurry Heart getting to her hooves, her upper body obscured by the smoke as she stood up. My gaze fell on her hooves and I blinked, firing. Magical fire erupted and raced out, striking the floor around her hooves. She shouted in anger and took to the air with a burst of the rocket boosters built into the hooves of her armor, disappearing into the smoke. I struggled to track her but lost sight, finding her only when she came barreling out of the smoke cloud and plowed into me with a *thunk*, our bodies tumbling across the thick glass floor. I rolled and flung her free from me, my head pounding and vision blurry. I scrambled to my hooves, looking around, catching Flurry Heart getting back up on the far side of the room, where there was no smoke.

"STOP! FREEZE!" I commanded, turning to look at her. Expectantly she did not heed, instead taking flight again. I fired again, my orbs striking her shield as she came sailing toward me. I dodged to the side and she sailed past, landing on her hooves and turning around to face me. I crouched low, trying to keep track of the mad Princess through all the smoke. I heard a deep, vibrating whir and three beams of blue magic erupted from within the smoke, blasting across the room in a spiral fashion. I scrambled away, the smoke clearing away from the blast. It was starting to thin out, the ship's filtration system drawing the smoke out, improving visibility.

"YOU FIGHT AGAINST YOUR OWN INTERESTS! I'M TRYING TO SAVE EQUESTRIA, YOU IGNORANT CRETIN!" Flurry Heart declared, lifting the metal wings of the suit, revealing the suite of rockets and firing two, prompting me to dive to the foor, the missiles streaking overhead and detonating against the far bulkhead with deafening roars. As I lied on the floor Flurry Heart dove for me, entwining our bodies as we rolled across the floor. I jabbed my hoof into her barrel to no avail, as she thrusted her horn towards my head, the tip glowing blue. I shifted my head to the side and her horn stuck the floor, glancing off, the glass glowing.

Rearing my head back I headbutted her, the thick steel of my helmet hitting her skull with a characteristic *thwack*, the mad Princess squeezing her eye's shut in pain. With Flurry Heart distracted I planted my forehooves in her stomach and kicked, throwing her off me and allowing me to roll back over onto my hooves.

"I WILL NOT LOSE! You WILL know Harmony!!" Flurry Heart thundered, firing her horn at me once again. A red ball of fire was sent careening across the room, casting its intense glow along every surface as it went. I dodged away, the magical fireball hitting a bulkhead and detonating, slagging the entire bulkhead. I charged right, back toward the smoldering Harmony device, as Flurry Heart opened fire, blasting red spikes of magical fire at me as I went.

I took cover behind the remains of the Harmony device, hearing Flurry Heart's heavy steel-covered hooves striking the glass floor as she moved get a shot on me. I leaned out and fired, eldritch fire striking the mad Princess's suit in the breast, having no discernible effect. I fired again, this time aiming for Flurry Heart's face, and she erected a magical shield to block my shots.

Charging in, Flurry Heart dropped her shield and rounded the Harmony device, swinging her head, trying to stab me through my suit with her horn. She was reckless, charging around the battlefield like that, but I guess when you're an insane Alicorn Princess you do things like that. Either that, or she thought herself unstoppable. I backed away, my gems recharging. Having been tackled by Flurry Heart twice already I didn't want to test my CQC skills further, particularly not with an Alicorn.

"Come HERE!!" Flurry Heart screamed, charging forward with her head lowered, horn pointed out. I dodged to the side, and she swung out with her hoof, which I ducked. I fired point-blank into the mad Princess's side, my shots close enough to make her armor glow, but it wasn't enough to penetrate. Flurry Heart turned, pouncing on me and pushing me against the destroyed Harmony device, causing us both to collapse to the floor. Once again I found myself dodging horn thrusts that made the glass floor glow, locked in the grasp of a psychotic Alicorn. I found leverage and swung up with one of my hindlegs, catching Flurry Heart in her backside with my heavy steel boot. She grunted in pain as the force of the hit transferred through her suit to the sensitive area and I brought my helmeted head to hers once again, knocking her away and scrambling back to my hooves. As she lied on the floor I backpedaled, firing at her. With a burst of magic that made my fur stand up she teleported away, reappearing behind me. I bucked, and Flurry Heart grabbed my hindlegs with her magic. She upended me and threw me across the room, sending me hard onto the floor on the far side.

Groaning, my vision blurred, I rolled over and got back up, blinking and opening my eyes wide, feeling punch-drunk. The room spun, and I shook my head, trying to clear the fog. I heard steel on glass behind me and turned around, firing instinctively. I saw a flash of green spread over Flurry Heart's face, temporarily blinding me. I scrambled back, my vision coming back, revealing to me that the mad Princess was unscathed. I missed!

"That you did, oh good Hunter!" Flurry Heart declared, reading my thought. She sauntered up to me, horn glowing blue. "I think you'll find that Harmony can not be stopped. It's not a belief; it's an ideal. Ideals can NOT be crushed, try as Empress Twilight might. The Equestrian Empire will find out, if not today, then another, that if you act the way they do, resistance will be inevitable. Even if I fall here today, the day will come when the flag of the Equestrian Empire will be seen only in books!" Flurry Heart shouted, firing her horn, a spiral lance of blue fire stretching across the room to me. I dodged to the right, firing at the Princess as I went.

I will lose a straight slugging match. It's time to use guile and fight dirty I thought to myself once I was outside of Flurry Heart's telepathy. It degraded me to use the tactics of the lesser species, but I was not going to survive against such power. "What's so great about Harmony?" I called out, my eyes scanning for the mad Princess.

"Genorosity, laughter, loyalty, honesty, and kindness. Love and tolerance. Friendship. They're what make Harmony so special. A collective, working together in unison, accepting of one another's differences, for the betterment of all" Flurry Heart answered, coming around the Harmony device's husk.

"That's not too far removed from what we believe now. A single collective, in unity, working for the betterment of all of Equestria" I replied, the Equestrian Imperial Anthem coming to mind. "Twilight, Twilight, may the Empress live forever. Unity, Unity, bring our species together" I recited. "The anthem runs a bit longer than that, but that's the core of it. A single collective, working in unity for the betterment of all."

"You forgot the last part; 'to the detriment of all others'. Under Harmony, ALL species are included! Such a thing elevates EVERYONE, not just EVERYPONY. Can you not see how this is better?" Flurry Heart asked.

"Saying it does not make it so. Why should we sacrifice everything we've built the past nine centuries, everything we've learned, our way of life, just to include the other species? There was no room in Twilight's Equestria, otherwise she would've included them" I countered as Flurry Heart approached me. I kept my stance carefully guarded, but made no attempt to hide away from her. If I could make her talk, she might let her guard down. She was naive enough to engage in the conversation I posed.

"Because it's the right thing to do. Have you seen the way the other species live? The squalor, the poverty? The bitterness and anger in their hearts? You've never known Harmony; you've never known how such dark thoughts can poison the land. Your dominance was born of hate and feelings of superiority, and they are self-destructive. If Equestria does not fall to another, as I predict it will, then it will consume itself. Ponies, wallowing in such anger and hatred, will turn on each other, and your way of life will collapse" Flurry Heart explained. She was only about fifteen feet away from me now, and she had stopped.

"I...don't agree" I replied, feigning doubt. My gems were nearly recharged, and I placed my eyes on Flurry Heart's face. "Our will is strong. We all believe in it. Nothing could ever turn anypony on their fellow Equestrian, so long as Unity holds true."

"Societies built on the backs of those who will not see the fruits of their labor are doomed to destruction. You should know this, oh good Hunter" Flurry Heart said, dripping with sarcasm.

I fired, three shots of green eldritch fire racing out for Flurry Heart's face.

Her shield came up, blocking all three shots, the magic dissipating in her shield. She lowered it, looking down at me with sadness and regret. "You're a lost soul. You'll never know Harmony. When Harmony returns to Equestria, I'll make sure history remembers the Royal Hunters. Not as envoys of a corrupted will, but as hollow visages of ponies, who've lost sight of themselves, and were brainwashed from birth to know only their Empress."

Flurry Heart took to the air, hovering, her horn glowing, her body encased in her shield. She rose halfway to the ceiling, her armor dissipating as if it was being burned away. She still had no mane, but her tail came unfurled. Azure and pink, her flank bearing no cutie mark. Her tail fluttered as if there was a breeze, arcane swirls spreading around her. I backed away, never taking my gaze from her. She opened her eyes, the orbs glowing white, and she released the spell, the shield exploding in a shockwave. Immediately my suit went dead, and I kicked the backup, with no effect. My guns, my HUD; all dead. Flurry Heart remained hovering, her eyes returning to normal. "Come," she whispered. "There is no use in delaying. We both have a destiny to fulfill."

I craned my head around to my back and slotted the cutlass stored there into the receptacle on my helmet. With a 15-inch blade, it was about as long as Flurry Heart's horn. Flurry Heart looked at me again, and said "before we die, I would know you not as Hunter, but as pony." She let off another burst of her magic, and my suit fell away from my body. I looked down to where my helmet had fallen and pulled the cutlass out, taking it in my teeth, as Earth ponies had always done. Flurry Heart looked me over, taking in my neutral colors, my lean, toned body. I felt naked. I was naked. "This is the face of the buck who has hunted me across the breadth of the stars...who swears loyalty to my aunt Twilight..." Flurry Heart said, and with that she lashed out at me, swinging her horn. I leaped back to dodge, rushing back in to strike, swinging my head, the handle of the cutlass firmly in my teeth. The blade whiffed, slashing at only air.

"There's a certain poetic irony to this, isn't there?" Flurry Heart asked as she swung at me again, her horn passing near my head. I thrusted forward in response, the tip of my cutlass cutting off some of the fur around her neck. She rammed her shoulder into my face, and I staggered back, hearing her close in. I dropped to the floor, hearing her horn whoosh through the air as it passed over me. She kicked me as I lied, and I scrambled back up to my hooves. "Two ponies, at the edge of the stars, able to be here by the work of our forebearers, trying to kill each other. Don't you see? The schism has already begun. It started as a crack, the day Twilight killed the Princesses, and now that crack has spread into a complete fissure that divides us. For now, it's just us. But that fissure will spread to the rest of ponykind!" Flurry Heart yelled, lancing out with her horn. I ducked, lashing back, my blade cutting her right forehoof, blood welling out and staining her pink fur. She grimaced, but the wound was inconsequential.

"Nothing more to say, 'good' Hunter?" Flurry Heart questioned, stabbing her horn forward, prompting me to turn. Her horn lanced against my already-wounded side, cutting all the way to my cutie mark. Fresh blood dripped out, collecting on the floor. "How much more have you got in you? How much longer can you keep this up?"

"As long as it takes" I replied. I darted forward, lashing out. I whiffed through the air again, Flurry Heart grabbing me. Her hoof on my bloody side slipped, and we collided together, my face to her neck. I turned my head to slash, cutting open her chest. She reared her head back and let off a burst spell that sent me tumbling across the floor, blood smearing the thick-pressed glass. I blinked, and Flurry Heart was standing over me. I rolled away as she brought her hooves down, trying to crush my body. I got back up to my hooves, feeling the effects of blood-loss taking their toll on me. Flurry Heart dashed forward again, stabbing her horn at me. I leaped back, swinging my cutlass, the blade cutting along her horn with a horrible scratching sound. Flurry Heart shrieked high enough that my equilibrium was thrown off, and I staggered back, desperately gulping to pop my ears and try to keep my hearing intact. I closed the gap and stabbed her, sinking the blade to the hilt in her shoulder. She smacked me away and tore the blade from her, throwing it across the floor to me. Blood ran from the wound in her shoulder, and blood seeped from her tear ducts, making it appear as if she was crying blood; a side effect of damaging the horn of a Unicorn(or Alicorn). I gripped the handle of the cutlass with my teeth and picked it back up, keeping my stance low and guarded.

"May the blessing of Harmony carry me, deliver me, and with me return to Equestria" Flurry Heart whispered, throwing herself at me. I leaped away and she reared her head back, her horn cutting into my wounded side. She pushed up, her horn lodged in me, parallel to my body. She strained and lifted, and I shouted in pain as she lifted me into the air, partially impaled on her horn, the conduit of magic stuck between two of my ribs. She fired her horn, throwing me into the air. I came back down on her back, gripping her desperately. Flurry Heart bucked, trying to throw me off. "Remove yourself, foul Hunter!" she shouted.

I groaned in pain, my voice gutteral and strained. I held onto Flurry Heart for dear life, straddling her, my stomach to her back, facing the same way she was. My blood continued to leak and pour out, matting Flurry Heart's fur. "The time has come!! HARMONY WILL RETURN!" the mad Princess bellowed. I gritted my teeth, biting down on the handle of the cutlass hard enough to crack my teeth. Flurry Heart bucked especially hard and I was dislodged from her body, sailing forward, my face heading straight for the back of her head. I turned the cutlass in my mouth's grasp, pointing the blade forward, the long blade sinking into the back of Flurry Heart's neck. Her legs gave out under her as her spine was severed, and the blade hilted, a good half of it sticking out the front of her throat, the arteries severed. I rolled off Flurry Heart's body, exhausted, beaten, and bloody. I looked over at her, her eyes wide with terror, blood flowing from her neck. She coughed and sputtered, blood spraying out of her mouth. Her eyes turned and bored into mine, and I felt as though I could feel her fear. She stared at me, her eyes asking, pleading, begging for help, even as she tried to ignite her horn, no doubt attempting to finish me off and take me with her. Her azure orbs were filled with horror, anger, and confusion as they dimmed, life quickly leaving her.

"Harm...on....y....."

My gaze never left Flurry Heart as her head went slack and dropped to the glass floor, her face pressed against it, unseeing eyes staring down at the world of Equus. I was breathing hard, my vision darkening. I knew I was in trouble. Dead, even, as the blood continued to flow from my heavily-wounded side. I tried to get up, to find an emergency medical kit or reach the one on my suit, and I collapsed, my body having nothing more to give. I rolled onto my stomach, wincing in pain, looking down through the glass floor at Equus far below me, the world untouched, Empress Twilight safe. I had long accepted that being a Royal Hunter would likely mean my death, but I would be lying if I said I felt no fear as I lied bleeding on that cold floor, high above our world, the cold expanse of the void separated only by a mere half-a-foot of thick glass. I let out a ragged breath as I struggled to keep my eyes open, quickly losing that fight as my vision blurred and darkened, the solemn stillness of the now-quiet gunbay my only company, offering no comfort, no solace, as my eyes closed...

...And darkness took me.