Act 1 : Scene 1: Glimmering Hope
Let me tell you a tale of a warrior and a strategist.
This is the story of the famous Blacksmith, and once the proud leader of our country, Starlight Glimmer. And her relationship with her greatest comrade, and most trusted friend, Princess Twilight Sparkle, the hero of Equestria, the Twilight of Iron.
Stories of these two have differed from teacher to student, but I intend to retell what really happened all those centuries ago.
Beginning from when Starlight Glimmer and Twilight Sparkle first met, on a night, long lost to time.
That night was dark for the young Starlight Glimmer. Fiends were on the prowl, and the only thing she could do was run. Fear leaked from her fragile soul. Tears of remorse and regret fell like rain from her cheeks as she galloped through the thicket of the Everfree Forest. Whimpering in silence, as to fulfill her mother's dying wish.
"Don't scream..." She had told the child.
The thought of dishonoring her family's memory by crying out loud was the last thing she wished to do. But such a task became harder and harder with each passing second.
What would she do? Would she run for forever? Or give up once and for all, surrendering her life to death itself? None of these questions could she answer. But fate alone would decide her destiny, in due time.
Trotting past four large trees, and counting them as she did, Starlight leaped right after the fourth and into a dip in the dirt path. Tumbling onto the gritty ground, Starlight bit her tongue to stop herself from shouting. The fall hurt, but breaking her mother's promise would be far more agonizing. Starlight scurried to her right, beneath the trunk of that fourth tree. Hiding here was where she had always been told to go in case she should need to leave Ponyville. Starlight huddled down in the snug cavity, praying to her ancestors for protection.
She was imagining them hugging her, whispering words of comfort. But those thoughts became distant with the sound of samurai armor approaching and approaching fast.
"Has the girl been found?" demanded one of the samurai.
"Not yet, I was so sure she had fled this way," said another. All the while Starlight kept her eyes shut, mindfully praying to not be found. And then there was nothing, no sound or voices of danger were being made around her.
Peeking out from behind the tree, Starlight could only see the night's moon shine on the clearing in front of her, and no one was in sight.
Stepping out from her hiding spot, Starlight felt comfort that her ancestors really had protected her, and still were. But those thoughts were dashed away the moment she was pushed against the sharp grass.
"Let me go!" she cried, and they did, tossing her against the hard bark of the tree she was just hiding under, the samurai surrounded her.
"Found you, ya little brat!" one of the samurai said with joy.
"And we thought we'd have to burn down the forest to find you," said the other.
The very thought of burning the forest struck Starlight with hate. To think that these Ponies would even consider such a horrible thing. But then again, Starlight was only just beginning to understand, just how demonic the royal army had become these last few years. For just then, another group of samurai had come through the woods.
"What is going on here!?" the leader of this group demanded. This samurai was a mare, her eyes seemed to resonate kindness when she saw Starlight, but when standing side by side with her captors, Starlight frowned in fear.
"We found her captain, she was hiding under a tree," said one of the samurai, and the captain stepped forward to the child, smiling, but Starlight continued to frown, looking away from the captain's eyes.
"Little girl, do you know why we are here?" the captain asked, but Starlight remained silent. The captain hissed under her breath, "Look at me," the captain told Starlight, but she wouldn't listen, "Look at me!" the captain ordered, pulling Starlight's head toward her. The force of the yank made Starlight wince in pain, but she bit her lip, forcing back the tears. "Good, now, I'm going to ask you a few questions... Okay?" the captain stated, Starlight nodded, and the captain let go of her head. "Very good, now, is your name Starlight Glimmer?" the captain asked, Starlight nodded. "And you're a member of the Starlight Clan, is that right?" again, another nod of the head. "Then you would know where the Yoso no Chowa is, right?" Starlight just stared at the captain, eyes glaring amidst gritting her teeth to hold back her tongue.
"Come now," said the captain, "don't be so angry, when you tell us where it is, we'll take you back to your family..." that sentence only sent a wave of emotion through Starlight's body. Causing her to remember that flash of time when her family died to the blade of a samurai. Their bodies fell as flickering silhouettes behind her bedroom's paper shudder doors. Whilst fire surrounded her vision, of a samurai striking with a blood stained sword.
"Kutabare!" Starlight cursed, spitting in the captain's face shortly after.
"You brat!" the captain said on reaction, hitting Starlight across her face, and throwing her into the midst of the other four samurai, as all five of them began to stomp and kick dirt into her face.
"How dare you speak to your elders that way!" they said, "You dishonor your ancestors with your pride!"
I would never do such a thing! I would never dishonor them! Starlight thought because she couldn't speak, as the taste of blood and dirt filled her mouth. But the reminder of raising her voice to the captain made her feel worse than dirt. Wondering if she had just broken her mother's promise, and was being punished for it.
The samurai continued to hit and hurt young Starlight until the captain backed them off.
"Enough!" the captain shouted, halting the other samurai from hurting Starlight. Personally grabbing Starlight by the mane, the captain spoke into her ear, "Tell us where the Yoso no Chowa is Starlight... And we will bring you back to your family, would you like that?" But even with the thought of Starlight's smiling family engraved in her head, to see her loved ones one last time, she shook her head. Starlight knew better than any pony that they were dead, and she would never see them smile again.
The captain threw Starlight's face into the dirt, angered that she was denied the Yoso no Chowa's location. But she didn't think too much of it, walking over to the very tree that had provided Starlight with protection, laid a large rock. Picking up the stone, the captain brought it over, and while lifting it high over Starlight's head with the help of her Pegasus wings she said, "Fine, then if you won't help us, we'll just have to destroy Ponyville until we find it."
And in that moment, Starlight thought to cry out, praying one last time in the hopes that the Gods would hear her, and exact vengeance for her death and the death of her family. But as I've said before, fate alone, would decide her destiny.
For lightning seemed to have struck the rock over Starlight's head, and a broken sword fell beside her with the rock. This sword was thrown, and the other samurai were scared, looking around in a panic until they laid eyes on the one responsible for saving the child. It was a lone mare, clad in black and gray robes, and a hat made of straw covering her face. She looked up at the samurai, eyes empty and cold, and even to Starlight, her expression showed the same level of emotion or lack there of.
But unlike the captain's eyes, Starlight could tell that this stranger, was here to save her.
"State your business, ronin!" the captain said, judging the mare by her lack of armor. But the stranger only drew another one of her many swords, levitating it close to her body, her horn glowing red. The other samurai stepped back out of fear, but the captain told one of the samurai, "Kill her!"
The samurai flinched but built up the courage to charge sword swinging. Then the mare dodged, and her blade slipped through the armor, impaling the poor soul. The action was so quick, and so precise, that Starlight wondered if the samurai was truly dead, until the body fell to the ground, lifeless.
This angered the captain, "Well don't just stand there! Avenge your comrade!" she said, and two more came charging in. The stranger sheathed her blade, waiting for their approach to strike. And opened it only to disarm one of them, with a fast whip of her blade. The stranger then continued to duel the other, cutting and slashing specifically to find an opening, only to attack at the hilt, breaking it, the weapon now useless to hold. The samurai darted away from the battle, and just when his comrade had found his sword, light left his eyes as he fell, with one clean cut across the chest.
But as this fight drew to a close, Starlight noticed the shimmer of a blade under her chin, gleaming in the reflective moonlight. The stranger turned from her kill to see Starlight, as tears began to drip from her face.
"Drop your weapons!" the captain said, drawing the blade closer to Starlight's neck. The stranger cringed under her hat. "Now!" the captain ordered, and the stranger did so, as the captain gestured to her last guard to kill the stranger. Drawing his katana, the samurai moved slowly towards the stranger. But as his blade was raised, the stranger tackled the samurai and scuffled for a grip of the sword. Eventually, the blade was out of both of their reach, and the stranger resorted to beating the samurai with her bare hooves. One blow after another and the captain could hardly watch with each punch causing blood to fly onto the grass.
"Stop it!" the captain said, and the stranger stopped. She turned to the captain, leaving the wimping samurai to cower.
"Did you stop when she cried?" the stranger asked, pointing to Starlight. "Did you stop after I took the first life? Or the second? No," the stranger continued to say, "You couldn't even stop when I crushed your comrades face into the ground. Are you going to stop now?"
The captain feared the stranger and wished for no more misfortune to befall her tonight. She dropped the knife at Starlight's neck.
"Now go back to your masters, and see if they will show you mercy," the stranger ordered, "But don't worry, the Empress loves cowards..." and with that said, the captain and her half dead ally fled the battle, quickly, and without a word.
The stranger knew the captain would never kill the child, she could tell with one look that the captain had never killed in her life. She did, however, consider it a gamble to have tackled that samurai like that. If she had been wrong about the captain, the child's life would've been lost. But showing those fools how powerless they were, was exactly the message she wanted to deliver.
Now alone, the stranger looked down at the filly, and without even a word said, Starlight was now clinging to the stranger.
"Are you alright?" the stranger asked with surprised eyes. Starlight nodded, her nose brushing up against her savior's robes. The stranger held the child in turn with tenderness and care, true concern felt from this nameless hero. Starlight continued to tremble, holding her breath as to not cry out loud.
"Child," the Stranger began, "It's alright, you may cry," but the young Starlight shook her head violently into the stranger's chest. "How come?" the stranger inquired.
"B- Because-" Starlight manged to say, "I- I'd be dishonoring m- my mother's final wish!" keeping her voice as hushed as she could. The stranger held the child tighter.
"You won't dishonor them young one. Your mother and father were wise and brave to stand against the samurai, it proved just how much they loved you. And it also explains why they told you to remain silent," the voice that spoke to Starlight was not one of a murderer, nor a demon. It was a friendly voice. "Cry young one. It is safe to cry now. You honor your ancestors by living tonight, cry..." And with her eyes overflowing with tears for friends and family long past into the afterlife, Starlight cried, gripping the stranger with all the strength she had. The stranger held the foal dearly, enjoying the sight of the wisps gathering around the filly. Every ancestor comforting the little soul for having the courage to live, to see where her fate would take her.
"What," Starlight began, only beginning to dry her eyes of her tears, "What is your name, stranger?"
The stranger looked down at the child, and as Starlight looked up, the stranger said...
"Twilight... You may call me Twilight."
And as the night grew old, the sun rose over the thick trees, morning born again. A Glimmering Hope could be seen as the next day began. Starlight Glimmer would not know if this would be her last day. And she wouldn't know. Not for many days, and nights to come.
Act 1 : Scene 2 : Starlight's Blade
Waking from her slumber, Starlight rose from the soft grass she had slept on. A fire had just been extinguished and Twilight wasn't anywhere in sight. Looking around a little more, Starlight found two mounds of rocks, with large sticks at the head of each for the grave markers. Starlight recalled the night before and the battle that had occurred.
A twig snapped from behind, calling Starlight to turn in fright.
"You're awake," Twilight said, the child breathed easy.
"You buried them?" Starlight asked. Twilight simply nodded. Cleaning up the campsite, Twilight covered up any sight of them being here. From their hoof prints to the burnt earth and ash riddled twigs. Now blanketed by brown dirt. Starlight noticed that she had a robe across her back legs. She then looked at Twilight, as she was wearing a set of purple armor, with edges of silver lining the rims of each plate of metal. Twilight's head was free from her hat that laid next to Starlight. Twilight's mane ran long down her neck and seemed to have been neglected for some time. Her bangs were cut unevenly but the strands of red inner woven into her dark blue hair added such beauty that Starlight could only compare it to her own mother or sister.
"We should be moving," Twilight said. Reaching down to grab her robe. Starlight stood and lifted her hero's hat to her. Twilight thanked her with a smile as she levitated it with her magic, setting it atop her head, horn prodding from a hole made for it.
"A real samurai..." Starlight whispered, praising Twilight. But her hero gave no sign of gratitude in regard to that statement.
"Come along," Twilight said, starting off in the direction back to town. As Starlight began to follow, she turned back to the graves and continued to question the point of burying them. They were nothing more than thugs who wore samurai armor. Real samurai, never abused their standing. They were to be right, true. Something greater. Thoughts of the night before still lashed back at the young filly. Fire and death.
"Hurry," Twilight said from a distance. Starlight snapped away from her thoughts and turned around. Twilight was nearly out of her sight. In a panic, Starlight hurried over, catching up and began to keep pace with her hero. Starlight found herself staring again at Twilight's mane. Her parents had told her that staring was not polite, but she couldn't help it. That colorful mane. Even though she compared it to her mother's, it nearly resembled her own hair. Hair that she didn't know where it came from.
Twilight glanced down at the girl, catching her eyes in her own. "Yes?" Twilight asked.
"Please, forgive me," Starlight began, shying away slightly, yet determined ask now that she had her attention. "I was only admiring your hair."
"It's only hair," Twilight said, off-putting the mood.
"Yes, but, where does it come from?" Starlight asked, and Twilight raised an eyebrow to the foal.
Stupid, it comes from your head... Starlight thought. She turned away from Twilight, face red with embarrassment. But Twilight was curious. She examined the foal closer, noting the child's own hair as to the question she was asked, and came to an answer shortly after that.
"You mean to ask, as to where someone is born with hair like ours?" Twilight fixed the question, making the young filly happy that she understood her. Twilight herself even smiled. Starlight only turned to her, waiting to hear the answer. But Twilight's smile faded at the only possible truth she had.
"Azure manes," Twilight began. "Belong mostly to royalty."
"Royalty?" Starlight gasped. How exciting!
"However, it is also known that one must be claimed by that very same parent or else the birthright, and even your blood, will not matter. It means you were born from a noble and a possible serving girl in his household." That news dampened Starlight slightly, but the knowledge she had now of herself did still make her somewhat joyed to know.
"But love is never something you are really born with," Twilight said. "It is found. Were you not loved?"
"Dearly," Starlight answered without tears. Twilight found that rather strong of her to say so. "And you?" Starlight returned the question.
"And me?" Twilight asked.
"Have you found love?"
"I did," Twilight hesitantly answered.
"And what were they like to you? Your family?" Twilight stopped walking for a moment. Her gaze had shifted from Starlight and to the ground. "Twilight?" Starlight started. But Twilight's shaking head ended the conversation. She continued on without any word about family or loved ones. Starlight still followed, though she felt that she had angered Twilight. The silence between them broke when Twilight asked about directions.
"Is your village far from here?" she asked.
"Only a little more," Starlight said. Now the shrubbery was growing greener. Signs of pony farm work near. And just as they passed the last bit of the forest, both of them came upon the sight of a village in ruins from atop the hill. Smoke trailed from the nearby houses, almost blocking the view a battle still in progress. Starlight stepped forward, but Twilight's hoof stopped her.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"That's my village!"
"Have you noticed anything else?" Twilight whispered as she pointed at two samurai below them. And they, along with four more of them, were rummaging through a single home, while the rest of their army fought off what little resistance still held in the town.
"I need to go!" Starlight struggled against her savior's grip, but Twilight held her back.
"You'll be captured!" Twilight warned. "Why does the empire want you?" Starlight stopped her fussing to look back at Twilight, only to recall the other promise she made to her mother.
"I can't tell you," Starlight said, bitting Twilight's hoof in order to gallop toward the house. Her house.
"Wait!" Twilight shouted, but the foal was already halfway there. She charged after her, calling Starlight's name, alerting the samurai near them. One of them, another captain, reared her head, spotting the ronin galloping toward her direction. She drew her weapon as Starlight ran past and into the house. Twilight cursed, drawing one of her many blades as the lone samurai readied to fight. Their swords met, but Twilight's swing hit her opponent's blade to the ground, allowing her to just flip the cutting edge of her katana toward the samurai. And with one sweep upward, the samurai's neck had been cut open, and so she left her there to engage the next inside the building.
"Starlight!" she called out, looking for the filly past colliding blades. The walls inside the house were crumbled into piles, burnt wood with lingering smoke messed with her focus as she continued to fight off incoming enemies.
The samurai proved to be better trained than the last group, but as they grew in numbers around her, Twilight saw them relax as if they had her. What a foolish way of thinking. Without warning, Twilight drew two more blades with her magic. One was another full-length katana, the other being the broken one she kept from the night before. She forgot about that. And as three blades came swinging at her, Twilight managed to block two of them, as the third hit her back, cutting open her robe, but merely leaving a scratch in her purple armor underneath.
Twilight's next action was to buck the samurai behind her back, and with one more push forward, she took one of her levitating blades in hoof and angled it past one of the other samurai's sword, sticking it through his armor, and pinning him to the wooden wall behind him. The other samurai yelled at Twilight for killing his comrade, which alerted her to duck just in time before the blade swept over her hat, cutting into the wall itself. The samurai was now stuck, trying to pull it free. Twilight picked up her other two blades, the full sword, and the broken one, and cut them both into the samurai's side. The samurai fell, leaving only the other left, who was then joined by the final two.
"For the Empress!" one of them shouted, and they all charged her. Twilight lifted her swords as they all hit her katana. Breaking it, and they all stumbled through the charred wall. Twilight rolled to her hooves first, just in time to plunge one of her broken blades into a samurai's back neck. One of them returned to his stance and began to dual her, katana against dagger. Twilight managed to work around the samurai with and grabbed him by the neck. Causing him to drop his sword as her dagger touched his throat.
"Surrounder or I will kill him!" she threatened. But the samurai charged anyway, running his blade through his ally to get to Twilight. And this time a piece of the blade broke off inside Twilight's armor. She cried out in pain but stilled herself as she dropped the dying pony and locked hooves with the last. The final samurai drew his kaiken. They both tried to force their own blades onto each other, until Twilight lost her standing, falling to her back, sword piece still in her side, with her enemy's dagger inching closer to her face. She had dropped her broken sword to prevent the dagger from reaching her. Both of them were putting every ounce of strength they had into this moment. Twilight was breathing heavy, she couldn't hold out much longer. And as the samurai grinned at his inevitable victory, a young voice cried out, as a sword rammed into the unsuspecting samurai's neck. Twilight fell back, relieved of the struggle, but didn't fail to take notice that little Starlight Glimmer, had saved her.
She sat to examine her wound. An inch of that samurai's blade had jammed its way into her armor. "Greatest armor of all the empire indeed," Twilight grumbled. A comment for an old friend, who had made her that armor. She popped the blade out, causing her armor to retract and tighten around her wound. She would have to treat that properly later. But until then, that would have to do.
Twilight's attention then turned to Starlight, who continued to stare at the dead body. "Starlight?" Twilight started. She was holding back her hoof carefully from her, unsure what damage had been done to her for killing a pony.
"I..." Starlight began, but tears soon followed after. Twilight held back from comforting her. She needed to feel this alone, as Twilight has for countless deaths. Twilight looked back to the trail of blood that led to this room. Six ponies, lives devoted to their empress, snuffed out in a matter of minutes. And all because they crossed her path. This bloodshed could have been avoided, but the child charged in anyway. It was about time she knew why.
"Starlight, why is the empire after you?" Twilight asked again, and as she began to retrieve her swords, Twilight noticed a grouping of three ponies just outside the shutters to the garden. A family.
"I- I promised my mother I wouldn't tell," Starlight said.
"That promise has cost the lives of nearly a dozen ponies. It would be best if you keep your mother's words from being stained any longer." Starlight straightened her back, a shock of guilt began to well up inside her as she turned to Twilight. Her eyes were red, and her thoughts returned to the family that protected her. But without any further words, Starlight walked over to the floorboards just behind Twilight. And with every panel lifted, Twilight began to see the reason for secrecy.
"I am Starlight Glimmer. The last of a clan that named me that. I don't know where I came from, but it wasn't from here. And even though I know little why that is, I do know this..." Starlight trailed off as she lifted up six swords, chained at their hilts and sheaths. "These swords were with me when I was found. As far I have known, these were created with me. By some great artist with unsurpassed skill."
"Are those-"
"Yes," Starlight answered. "They are the Yoso no Chowa. The 'Elements Harmony'." Twilight stared at the weapons. A grouping of holy artifacts that once slew the god of chaos, and the Lunar Tyrant, Nightmare Moon. They were the only tools that could fix this world, save it. And, they were the only things forged that could kill the Empress. That which illuminates the heavens. Amaterasu. Celestia herself.
"So now you know," Starlight finished. Looking up to her hero. But what she saw in Twilight's eyes was not kindness, nor was it of excitement. It was lust. A strong desire for power in a time of need. Twilight reached for the blades, to which Starlight pulled them away. A void had been cut between the mare and filly. And one that would not be easily bridged.
"Give them to me," Twilight stated, extending her hoof out to the swords. But Starlight didn't know this pony anymore. She never knew her. But this moment ceased to be as loud horns sounded just outside. The empire's horns. Music that meant an execution was at hoof. The empire had finally taken the town. Both unicorns looked to one another in worry, and Twilight rushed to the streets, finding a crowd of villagers, corralled like sheep.
Author's Note
Thought it was about time to continue this one.
