The Reluctant Protector

The maid came back with a tray of six glasses and a crystal decanter with some amber liquid inside. She set the glasses down, then poured some of the liquid into each one. “More,” I said. She poured a bit more into my glass then turned to leave. “Bottle stays.” She turned back and set the decanter down in the middle of the table next to the teapot, tucked the tray under her arm and made her way back to the annex.

I stared at my glass. The granite whiskey stones sat heavily in the bottom, enchanted to keep whatever drink they were in cold. I quickly reached for the glass and downed the contents in three hearty gulps. Not taking a second to savour the, likely extremely expensive, bourbon. I poured another for myself and left the seal of the decanter off, and took a more conservative sip. I let the liquid sit on my tongue. It was strong stuff. It felt like it would only be a matter of time before it burned through, but I let it sit. I definitely wouldn’t be tasting anything for a while.

Luna pulled her glass to herself but didn’t drink, just put it in easy reaching distance. I stared into my tumbler and moved the liquid around some. The stones inside clinking quietly, then felt something warm on my arm. I looked down to find Celestia gripping me, gently moving her thumb back and forth. I smiled and placed my hand over hers, but didn’t meet her eyes. Doing that would surely open the dam.

I finally swallowed the liquid and said, “I don’t know where to start.” My voice coming out shakier than I intended.

Celestia sighed, then reached for her own glass, taking a very small sip. “Perhaps some context?”

I nodded. “Um… You all know the story of how Equestria came to be?” Celestia’s grip on my arm tightened somewhat, then went quite limp. But she didn’t let go.

“Of course!” Twilight said. “The story of Hearths Warming.” She sat up a bit straighter and cleared her throat. “Before the rule of the Princesses, the three tribes of ponies, Earth, Pegasus and Unicorn, where divided by hatred. However, there was a tense peace between them. Earth ponies managed the food, Pegasi the weather and Unicorns raised the Sun and Moon.” She poured herself a glass of water from the pitcher and drank. Then cleared her throat once more and continued.

“A mysterious blizzard appeared during the tense peace talks between the three tribes. The blizzard raged for over a year and with no way to stop it, the three tribes fled the old world to the new one. However, the blizzard followed them. It was discovered that the blizzard was actually a herd of spirits called windigos. Beings of pure malevolence that feed on hatred. The tribes’ distrust for one another made for the perfect meal, and the windigos followed them. All seemed lost as the new world began to freeze over. Six ponies, two of each tribe, were trapped in a cave. As the air around them got colder and colder, they put aside their differences and shared stories as the end seemed near.

“The fires of their friendship formed during those last moments, melting the ice and driving the windigos away, never to return. Three of the six ponies maintained warm relations and decided to share the new world with each other, naming it Equestria. Now we celebrate this at the end of every winter, giving each other gifts and spending time with one another to keep the fires of friendship stoked and to keep the windigos away for another year.” Twilight finished her story then took another gulp of water and sat back in her chair looking quite pleased with herself.

I stared at her. Then slowly turned to look at Celestia. She would not meet my gaze. I’m sure she felt as though it was burning through her. She looked to Luna, perhaps a silent plea for help? When none came, she sighed and looked at me.

“How long did that crock take to think up?” I asked. Twilight spluttered.

“Wait,” Lyra said. “That’s not what happened?”

I continued to stare at Celestia. She was looking down into her glass, not saying anything. “No,” I said. “That’s not what happened.”

“It is okay, sister.” Luna said in an attempt to assuage Celestia’s concerns. “They can be trusted.”

Celestia was quiet for a few moments longer, then downed the rest of her beverage and nodded.

I patted her arm and looked to Lyra. “We were at war.”

“A war between the three tribes?” Twilight asked.

“No,” I said, finishing the rest of my own drink and pouring another. “The army of the dead.”

Dream Valley was in chaos. The rolling, freezing fog was pouring down off of the majestic mountains and glaciers in the west and with it, came the dead. Nobody knew of their origins, only that they came like a wave. A wave that encompassed all it washed over and those that fell to it, only added to its number.

The bells came first. A warning? A battle-cry? Nobody knew that either. They rang for a full day before the fog came. Heavy, tolling things that resonated in your bones and didn’t stop. ‘Bong.’ Silence. ‘Bong.’ Silence. ‘Bong.’ Silence. A full day. The repetition was maddening.

A shaky alliance of the Earth, Pegasi and Unicorn tribes was forged by none other than my sister, Megan Williams. Ever the charismatic diplomat, she had travelled the old world. She saw the destruction left by the undead legions. And she warned us. She saved us. The army that we formed thanks to that alliance was rivalled by only one thing in the known world. And that was our enemy.

“Knock! Draw! Loose!”

“Fire!”

Arrows and boulders covered in flaming tar sailed overhead and disappeared into the silent, freezing fog. Unicorn magi raised their heads and sent spears of piercing light into the mountains. Hoping, praying that this would stem the flow of skeletal, greasy, rotting corpses of every species long enough for our fighters on the ground to have even a chance against them.

They were weak things, the dead. It didn’t take more than a few hits to take one down. But there were so many. They were agile and faster than one would think. An hour of firing blindly into the fog yet we didn’t see a single undead, but we knew they were there, waiting. Whoever gave the order to cease fire doomed us. But the order came and the firing stopped and then the screaming started.

The fog rolled over our vanguard like it had a mind of its own and we could hear them. Our troops I mean, not the dead, they’re silent. Our troops were screaming. I killed a lot of our own that day. If our army wasn’t going to fire into the fog, I would.

Megan was beside me the entire time. She never had my ‘talent’ with magic, so it was up to me. A necessary sacrifice I reasoned. She agreed. The few for the many, we said. The wave had to be stopped. It was quiet after that. Silent. The snow on the ground muffling everything and as the remains of our army retreated behind our defensive barriers, I almost wished for the sound of bells to return. But they didn’t. Only the quiet.

The fog had stopped. Taunting in its rigidity. Then they emerged. Our friends. Our families. Our warriors. The best of us. The front line of the once-living baring the scars of my ‘defence’, showing what I did.

The remains of our army had given up. They wouldn’t fight them, how could they? Hours before they were drinking with them, sharing stories with them, their hopes, their dreams. Now, nothing more than an army of rotten, leathery flesh and bones.

“It’s time to go,” I said.

“Go?” Megan said, despondent. “There’s no where to go. We’re completely surrounded.” She stared at the army before us. Unmoving macabre statues. They knew they had won, now they were conquering our hope.

I turned and grabbed Megan by the shoulders. “Look at me,” I said. She did. “What am I?” Megan said nothing, I shook her. “What am I?” I asked, forcefully, getting in her face.

“Y- You’re my big sister.”

“Damn right, that means it’s my job to protect you, do you understand?” Megan said nothing. I shook her again, “Do you understand me?!”

“Y- Yes!”

“Good. Now I have a job for you. Gather everyone who can be saved and bring them here. They all trust you; they’ll do what you say.”

“Everyone?”

“Everyone!” She gave a shaky nod and ran off deep into the castle to gather those who sheltered behind its monolithic walls. Those watching our exchange on the ramparts were looking at me incredulously. “Celestia, Luna?” I called.

“Yes Ma’am?” said a young, white unicorn mare with pink hair no more than nineteen as she came running up to me. Followed closely by a slightly younger, dark blue unicorn mare with light blue hair.

“Stand close to me,” I said, taking their hands. “I’ll need your help for this.”

“What’s going on, Master?” Luna asked me.

“We’re going to take a shortcut away from here.” I spoke. “Just keep hold of my hands, both of you. I’ll need to borrow your mana for this to work.”

“Will… Will it hurt?”

I gave a shaky smile. “No, my dear apprentice.” She nodded.

I closed my eyes and began to breathe. In. Out. In. Out. I could feel… everything. The breaths of the surrounding guards. The wind as it began to pick up. The ice forming on the metal of my breastplate. I could feel Megan. She was running, panicked, through the castle shouting orders. I could feel the thunderous hoofsteps of the ponies as they sought to carry them out.

The dead below could feel it too. One stepped forward out of the horde. Then another. And another. Then four. Then twenty. And soon they where running. They hit the immense wooden door of the castle over and over again. Shattering themselves upon it. They ran over their own, as their bodies filled the deep moat. They used themselves as steps as they began to ascend the castle walls.

The wind was howling as the freezing fog encroached. Closer and closer it came as the temperature dropped even further. Then Megan appeared. “They’re here!” She yelled over the storm of ice and snow. “We’re all here!”

I didn’t respond. I couldn’t. My mind was elsewhere. I was searching, searching for a safe passage. Where to? Anywhere but here, that’s for damn sure. Then, I found it. My eyes shot open with blinding pale blue light. So did Celestia’s. Then Luna’s.

The wind stopped and all was quiet once more. Save for the untold numbers of bodies clambering over each other. Trying desperately to breach the walls or pile on top of each other so high, that they could simply walk over them.

A single point of light appeared in front of me and my apprentices. Then it grew. It continued to expand until it was the size of a house. Blue light exploded from the sphere bathing the surrounding landscape in light. The sphere tuned black, then an image appeared inside. I moved to the side, creating a path dragging Celestia and Luna with me, sill grasping their hands. “Inside!” I screamed. “Get inside! Now!”

The remains of our army and civilians thundered past us and into the sphere. A few brave or foolish souls stayed behind, poking and prodding at any undead who managed to get over the wall, buying us time. I finally let go of my apprentice’s hands and practically threw them through the portal. I followed quickly behind them. My connection to their mana now lost, the portal began to close.

“Artemis!” I heard.

My stomach dropped. Turning back to the portal, I could see the castle on the other side. And Megan. She was running towards the hole in reality with all her might, she must have double checked that she had found and warned everyone. She was running past the guards that had stayed behind to defend us and kept running, even as they fell. The dead poured over the wall and were gaining on her. The portal was shrinking.

“Megan!” I screamed, and held out my hand, sticking it back through the portal to the other side. The air back in Dream Valley was freezing now. My hand went instantly numb, then the pain started. But I held on, holding my arm out desperately waiting for her to grab it. The gods only know how she managed to reach me before the dead got her, but she did. Her left hand grasped my right and I pulled with all my might.

Then, the portal closed and I fell back. I hit my head on the hard ground and my vision went blurry. We had done it. We had escaped against all odds and I held my sisters hand all the tighter. Someone screamed. Had some of the dead managed to get through? My eyes shot open, the headache forming from my fall forgotten and I looked around, ready to act.

The ponies where all fine. But they were staring at me. No… Not at me. At my sister. I looked to her hand, which I began to notice was not squeezing mine back.

It hung there, grasped in my own as it dangled in my grip. Ending at the elbow in a bloody stump. Megan was gone.