The Devil You Know

Princess Luna had more control than Twilight Sparkle did, so while she was moving swiftly throughout the castle, her movements were poised and confident. Anger hardened her eyes, her muscles were taut with the desire to charge into battle and bring her enemy to ruin. Twilight Sparkle was all but running ahead of her, hooves ringing out against the floors while she raced towards the main hall itself.

Chaos ruled in more than one area of the castle, guards scurrying to and fro while trying to just get a better handle on the situation at hand. The princess and her lavender shadow moved nearly as one against the armored tide flowing against them, until they could make it to the main hall and the thrones within. Luna ascended the dais, every inch the Equestrian Princess that had been her birthright. Twilight Sparkle hovered near the first stair leading upwards, all but vibrating with her own imminent rage.

When the guards realized they were no longer alone, they quit running about pell-mell and turned to face the lunar deity. Faces upturned to look at their leader, there was a definite sense of mingled fear and hope amongst those who had sworn the solemn duty to protect the kingdom from whatever evil might come to their doorstep. Even though Twilight was angry, she sympathized with those who seemed more nervous than brave. They were merely ponies, and they truly had no idea what they were up against.

Princess Luna took a moment to quietly clear her throat, the gesture almost unneeded since the hall had fallen silent at their arrival anyways. Her fierce gaze took in the soldiers that waited for her decision, knowing in this moment the enemy had the upper hand. The first move in response would need to be strategic, anything less would simply mean sending these ponies to their deaths needlessly.

"Lieutenant," she said finally, the moments having stretched to eternities when in reality it was only minutes.

"General," replied a voice from the armored throng.

"Have any aerial troops managed to get us a view since this attack started?" Luna's question was succinct, keeping it to the point instead of anything broader.

"One, the rest died rather violently," the Lieutenant replied. His voice seemed to have an undercurrent of shakiness to it as he spoke, but the response was as simple as the question.

"Where is the survivor?" Luna inquired then, her words slightly softer, but the steel underlying those words brooked in no uncertain terms that she was biting down her anger.

"I'm.... I'm here, Princess," said a much more timid voice, near the back of the room. Ponies shifted apart to form a pathway to the dais, and a heavily bandaged pony with one visible eye and a crutch under one leg limped forward. Twilight felt the blood drain from her face as this soldier drew closer, noting one of this wings was missing some of the feathers while the other appeared to have been blackened with soot.

Luna remained stoic, but her own horror slithered up her spine upon seeing the sorry state of the little pegasus who'd managed to return to the castle alive though not unharmed. She gestured for him to continue, and the soldier visibly took a deep breath before beginning his report. The ones nearby appeared to be silently lending support and courage, though his fighting days were clearly done until he could heal up in the infirmary.

"I... I was flying about, trying to make sense of the smoke when I managed to pass over the main plaza," he began. "There, sitting on the fountain, was a great flaming pony. They seemed to take great delight in burning or cutting down whoever got near enough, and when I'd turned to fly away I accidentally dropped my sword." He grimaced, but Luna gestured for him to keep speaking. Her eyes were sympathetic.

"When it fell and clanged against the stones, the pony looked up and saw me. A voice called out to me in sweet tones, like that of a mare. I flew closer. I shouldn't have flown closer. I shouldn't have. I shouldn't--" As the pegasus broke down into sobs, the closest of his allies draped a foreleg across his back and murmured encouragement to him.

"She--she said horrible things to me, then she used her fire to burn me out of the sky," he continued, tears falling freely from his limpid eyes. "Crashing into the ground, I somehow barely avoided her sword when it swung at me. I don't know how I made it, the others were burned and impaled when they came to help." Once again, the pony was too distressed to continue while others came close to soothe and encourage him.

"When the captain flew at her in my defense, I grabbed my sword and flung it at her." A great, hiccuping cough interrupted him, then he resumed. "It was knocked away by her blade, then she used it and her own steel to disembowel the captain in front of me." The pegasus shuddered. "As his guts spilled forth, he told me to run. To my shame, I did." With that the poor little pony broke down completely, his sobs overwhelming in the silence that followed.

Princess Luna and Twilight Sparkle were both stunned. This was an enemy they'd never heard of before, or at least... Twilight gave a little gasp as an idea of who it might be occurred to her. "Princess," she said suddenly, startling the other mare. Luna looked down at her, both eyebrows raised. "Can I go to the library and do some research? I think I know who it is."

Luna nodded her approval, and just like that Twilight Sparkle hurried out of the room in the direction of the library. She had a feeling that somewhere among all the books and scrolls lie the answer to their dilemma, at least in identifying the threat to Equestria. From there she would then have to figure out a way to discover weaknesses, a way for them to win without being overrun, conquered, or wiped out completely.

Twilight's hooves all but sparked against the tiles of the floor as she galloped as fast as she could, hoping beyond hope that her hunch was right. She needed to be right, because otherwise this was going to eat up precious time they didn't have before the enemy had obliterated their defenses and did who only knew what else to them for their own amusement.

Daybreaker was thoroughly entertained by her own antics, having discovered by chaining up corpses with her sword and her magic she could get her victims to make musical noises, and she was composing her own violent little songs to pass the time. She was in no hurry, having taken down the aerial platoon sent no doubt to scout her location and try to take her out that the castle was going to be responding soon.

This was what she was hoping for, of course. A proper battle instead of these useless little upstarts trying and failing to get her attention beyond amusement or irritance. Either way, Daybreaker knew that the castle was likely weighing their options before responding with all the respect she deserved so was content to wait. Shifting slightly on the fountain edge, she trailed her tail within the cool waters behind her in lazy repose.

Her sword rested within a pool of crimson, the sounds around her mostly quiet aside from the roar of the flames consuming buildings and faint screams of fear. Daybreaker had decided a rest was her best option, so when a few ponies darted past her spot she let them pass unmolested. They seemed to be more afraid that she did nothing more than track their motion with her head, a fiery statue that lived and breathed carnage.

Soon enough, the real fun was going to come, and she needed to be ready. Daybreaker lowered her head to her hooves, closing her eyes to take a nap. While the sword lay silently, should any danger be detected the song of death and rage would fill the air while she took her prey.