Chapter 13: In Memoria

Twilight stumbled back from Arkantos, staring wide-eyed at him. The thought that he wasn’t important hadn’t ever occurred to her. Looking at it now… he was right. To the rest of Equestria he would be a freak, something that should be gawked at, or… sent back.

But she wasn’t the rest of Equestria.

“You ARE important, Arkantos! And I’m GOING to help you! We’ll get out of this together!” Twilight stepped up. “Do you understa-” She cut herself off as she saw he was shaking. He wasn’t angry… he was… crying. She cupped his cheeks and for a moment hugged him. “We’ll get out of this together.”

Arkantos shook his head. “Gods… why do you have to be here?” He pulled away from her, “Stay close to me… here isn’t safe.” He moved quickly, leading her away from the remains of the command tent and deeper into the village.

“W-where are you taking me?” Twilight asked.

“The further we are from the front lines the better the chance of survival is.” He said, though she saw him visibly cringe. “I’ve lived through this battle once… a…” He trailed off.

“Wait… if this is just a memory… won’t… changing it let her control it?” Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, using her magic to grab Arkantos. “We can’t leav-”

Arkantos grabbed her and covered her mouth, pulling her into a dark alley.

Her eyes widened as she saw two gore covered soldiers, fresh blood dripping from their swords.

She gagged into the metal gauntlet covering her mouth as the scent of death flooded her nose.

The passed by near quietly, clearly there was some sort of sneak attack going on.

“FIND THEM AND BRING THEM TO ME!” A female voice boomed from only a few hundred feet away. Twilight’s eyes widened even more.

“This isn’t how it happened… It’s too late to avoid changing anything… we have to find a place to hold out.” Arkantos whispered. “She doesn’t know my world. She won’t be able to just ‘find’ us so long as we don’t engage them directly. Or if we do… make sure they’re dead.”

Twilight looked up at him and nodded slowly.

“Good… stay close, and stay low.” Arkantos motioned for her to follow.

“Why don’t we just engage her?” Twilight asked in a whisper as they moved through the twisting alleys in an attempt to find anywhere safe to hide out, even for a little bit.

“It’d be suicide. If she has an army, she’d be protecting herself… we’d have to isolate her and take her out. But, if she planned out an entire trap to return… she’ll be too damn smart to fall for a simple trap… we’d need something big…” He muttered.

“We could ju-” Twilight cut herself off. There were no Elements of Harmony. There was no ‘purging’ the evil with good. It dawned on her that this world… this hellscape she was now in, it was a war.

“Cut the head off the beast and several more will sprout up in it’s place.” Arkantos said, pulling her quickly into an abandoned building.

The scent of fire and the screams of both those fighting and those dying were loud outside. But in here, it all seemed to fade away, at least for the moment.

Twilight looked around, the place they were in was once a bar, or… was it a bakery? She really couldn’t tell. She rationalized it as his mind filling in voids in his memory to make this dream more real.

“Behind the counter.” He motioned pulling Twilight right beside him. He pulled his helmet off. “This armor’s too bulky…” He sighed. “Something I learned after this battle.”

“Really?” She laughed quietly, forcing a bit of normalcy to the hell just outside.

“KEEP THEM AT BAY! HO- AAH!” A man outside screamed. Before anything else could be heard, something even more strange happened for Twilight.

She was under the belief that this horrible battle, the death, the animosity… it couldn’t be any more alien, but before the sound of tearing flesh and a body hitting the wall just outside could completely click in her mind…

He pulled her in close, drawing every last ounce of her attention to him. “Twilight, listen to me.” He breathed quietly.

Her eyes widened and locked with his.

“What ever happens…”

Her breath caught in her throat, she’d seen action and war movies in the past, thanks mainly to her brother and Rainbow Dash. With hell going on all around the protagonist and his love interest, the main characters would always profess their love for each other. “A-Arkantos?” She mumbled.

“You ARE making it out of here.” He squeezed her tightly. “I won’t let you die… not so long as I live.”

“Ark… don’t talk like that… w-”

“You don’t understand… you’re too naive, and too… too innocent to fully grasp what’s going on here.” Arkantos closed his eyes, pushing her head into his neck, silencing all but his voice.

He was doing this for a mixture of reasons, one was to spare her from the sounds of the fight going on outside. It was horrible even for him to listen too. He knew the men dying outside… this was a standpoint, one he retreated to after the attack on tent.

She didn’t… she couldn’t know, everything was going how it should be. Everything except this moment. (And of course Nightmare Moon)

“I won’t let you die.” He rested his head on top of hers.

“I won’t die Ark…” She mumbled, shivering slightly as she pressed in closer.

“You’re damn right you won’t. Only over my cold dead body will she get control of you.” He growled.

It became apperent as to why he was acting this way.

“Ark… w-why did you take us here?” Twilight muttered. “Why isn’t it a patchwork of things… why doe-”

The door came down.

“HOLD OUT IN HERE! Barricade the door!” A voice ordered, the door being sealed shut with tables and chairs.

“Stay close Twilight. And no matter what happens over the next few minutes, stay behind me. Stay right… the fuck… behind me.” He ordered, causing her to stiffen up. “Captain Feras!” Arkantos shot up, drawing out his sword. “What’s the status? I haven’t been able to gather much since they bombarded the command center.”

“My liege!” Feras saluted. “We’ve been pushed back, but, we’ve put a dent in their numbers. Some of them have broken rank and run.” He reported. “Still… things don’t seem good for us.” He glanced to his men who seemed reinvigorated by the sight of their prince. “But, we’ll make do with what we have. And if we die…”

“We die with honor!” The men shouted.

“And if we win?” Arkantos put his helmet back on.

“Victory for the Empire! Hail to the prince! GLORY TO THE KING!”