Harmony fall, is it so bad?

“GRRRR” I groaned when I felt the first rays of sunlight hitting my eyes. Despite it being dawn and having my eyes closed, they were powerful enough to dazzle me.

No matter how hard I tried to go back to sleep, it was impossible, both because of the sudden arrival of light and the resulting frustration.

“Mmh” I heard a noise and felt something move on my side. I opened my eyes to see a sleepy and drooling Luna, and despite that her horn still gave off a slight glow. Had she done something?

Whatever it is, don't notice it

“Good morning?... What happened to us?” I was pretty groggy too, I was never the best at mornings without that damn alarm clock that gets on my nerves.

"… You fell asleep after… that… and I decided to keep you company” Luna blushed a little, and most of her sleepiness dispersed.

What happened yesterday?... Oh... Oh! I remember

I didn't need a mirror to know that she had an idiotic smile from ear to ear.

“What do you mean when you say 'after that'? "I'm going to need to refresh my memory," I told him in a playful tone.

To which Luna responded by biting my ear and pulling

“Ouch, ouch, okay, I get it!” She finally let me go, and I proceeded to rub my ear “Abusive.”

“Kiss”

I couldn't help but jump when I felt her kiss me right on the area where she had bitten me before.

"Better?" she asked

“Now you're the one with the silly smile!” I complained, completely embarrassed, I only managed to make her smile widen “To hell with it, let's go back!”

That seemed to catch Luna's attention, since she immediately stood up and looked worried. “I must return to the castle, my sister informed me that today she had to replace her daytime duties.”

“Let's go then,” I said, taking the opportunity to avoid any other embarrassing events.

We both headed back to Ponyville in a somewhat awkward silence, neither of us knowing what we were supposed to say after last night.

Obviously, the festivities had already ended a while ago, and only the ponies were left clearing their play stations.

Apart from them, there weren't many ponies left awake, but there was something strange that I noticed, and that was that each one seemed to be talking about something that I couldn't hear.

They often gave us short, poorly concealed glances, thanks to those huge eyes. Considering that Luna is a princess, normally this behavior would not attract attention, but the fact that they are trying to hide it so insistently and laughing makes it suspicious.

Luna didn't seem to notice, or she just didn't care.

I could already see their carriage with a pair of Thestrals in very good physical shape, they could be seen a little tired, but they seemed to refuse to show weakness, always attentive to their surroundings, in fact, they were already looking at us even before I noticed them.

“Princess, Spirit, wait!” To our surprise, our walk was interrupted by a familiar voice

“Lady Rarity, what a pleasant surprise.” Luna greeted her politely, obviously trying to hide the fact that we had forgotten about her.

“Likewise, princess, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to deliver this to you.” Only then did I notice the floating bags she was carrying with her.

“I am very grateful to him, but there was no need to bother, especially after I broke his last attempt to grant me something.”

“With all due respect, princess, it's nonsense, plus that stroke of inspiration they gave me wasn't going to let me sleep until I made them something worthy, even if that meant having to undo some old dress to get the material” Rarity stated proudly while He brought a bag to Luna and another to me.

I was a little touched by the fact that she also did something for me when, she had no reason to do it at all.

My curiosity got the better of me, and I opened the bag to look inside.

“BOM”

I immediately closed it as she tried to extinguish the flames of embarrassment all over my face. I looked to my side, seeing how Luna was doing the same with a no less blushing face.

“Seeing how much you liked those socks, I thought you could use an outfit to complete the outfit,” Rarity scoffed without the slightest hint of shame.

This mare is crazy!

While I continued in my personal delirium, Luna realized something that had gone unnoticed by me. "Lady Rarity, when you say that we 'inspire' you, what did you mean?"

My whole body tensed up at what Luna was implying.

“There, darling, please, that show that you two gave us last night was worthy of one of those novels that I used to read as a filly, it makes me believe that I could still find some prince charming for me, oh my, just imagining it, ah~” One She once again returned to her drama queen status while I felt like I was going to have a seizure.

Meanwhile, Luna and I looked at each other as we realized the implications of what she had just said.

“You, you, you, you” I tried to put what I was thinking into words, but I was too dazed for that.

“You saw us!” Luna completed it for me.

“Well… only in part” I confess with some frustration “Keeping those rioters in order was quite a challenge.”

Unruly?... The colts!

Realizing this, I looked back at the ponies who were gossiping earlier and noticed how some of them were carrying their tired children, but that their parents seemed to insist on keeping them awake with a chat in which they shot us occasional glances.

I didn't need to ask what that talk was about... I shit on everything!

I take it back, forget about Rainbow, I'm going after Pinkie, and then this whole damn town!

“Um… excuse me” As if the devil decided to make an appearance, one of those colts appeared behind Rarity.

She was a mare, a unicorn with white fur and a mane that varied between various shades of pink. She looked tired and somewhat confused.

“Oh, this is my beautiful sister, Sweetie Belle, and she stayed awake until now because she wanted to tell you something, princess” Rarity introduced her.

"Me?" Luna was surprised

"Yes," Belle confirmed and began to explain, apparently somewhat unsure. "Well... we had a lot of fun tonight with Nightmare and the other boys, and I wanted to ask her if we would see her again next year." The filly looked at us with puppy eyes "... Yes, it's not much of a bother."

Luna seemed moved, and somehow all the nervousness that Belle had was contagious to Luna “That's very good... I mean! It wouldn't be any trouble, I would love to spend the next Nightmare night with you”

“YESSS!” The filly jumped in euphoria at Luna's legs, giving her a hug. The difference in her size made the sight of her as comical as it was cute. “And you can also help us get our own special pony!” And the tenderness is gone

“Hey, Belle, I think you're still a little young to be thinking about those things,” I said as a series of humiliating thoughts from my past came to mind, which I internally swore to never remember again.

"I agree with Spirit on this case, little sister, a young girl your age shouldn't have those kinds of worries until she's older."

“Oooooh” The tender marshmallow made a pout that would have melted me before, but apparently Rarity had acquired a monstrous resistance to its charms because she did not hesitate to take it with her magic and let it fall on her back despite the girl's attempts to escape

“Speaking of which, I think we agreed that after your goodbye, you would go straight to bed.”

"Oh no"

“Oh, yes” After giving Sweetie Belle a scolding look, Rarity looked at us again and then bowed while preventing Belle from falling by holding her with her magic. “Goodbye, princess, I hope you had fun and that you enjoy those gifts I gave you.”

Luna also bowed, but this was less striking and more of an assent. “Thank you very much, and I reiterate my gratitude for joining us on this special night.”

“What gifts?” Belle asked curiously.

“Oh, nothing dear, forget I said that.” Without anything else to say and wanting to avoid that topic, Rarity began her march back to her home.

“Well… now what do we do with these things?” I asked, pointing to the floating bags carrying kinky socks and other less pure things, “Should we throw them away?”

To my surprise and delight, Luna didn't seem to like the idea. “I… could take care of such possessions… if you don't mind.” Poor Luna tried to mask the nature of her request, acting as if taking care of these things was a chore insignificant

I found the idea both exhilarating and terrifying, as a man of the human species. Obviously, I experienced everything that could be done with this body alone, as soon as the idea entered my head

Did you want to go further with Luna? Fuck yes! But even so, and despite the growing emotion that the idea provoked in me, I couldn't shake the idea that I would only humiliate myself. At this moment, the mere idea of being alone with Luna filled me with panic.

I'd better wait until I have a little more control over this body and adjust to the idea of having a relationship before trying something so extreme.

“Hentai” I just said to her while she handed her my bag.

“…I don't know why I feel like whatever that means is more insulting to you.” Luna was genuinely confused by that feeling.

Damn otaku trends! Our shameful existence transcends dimensions

Pushing away her shame, I approached Luna to say goodbye to her with a kiss on the cheek. “I'll come see you in a few days, as always.”

Luna looked disappointed. "So... you're not coming?”

"Can? Wouldn’t that cause problems?” I asked, trying to rely on as many excuses as possible.

Living with Celestia, haha, no

"That's how it would normally be, but seeing that the whole town already knows it, I have no doubt that by tomorrow, the news will be a trend in Canterlot." I was skeptical that the information could arrive so quickly in a world without telephones, but to my surprise, Luna looked at me with absolute seriousness. “Never underestimate the power of a good gossip.”

"Sure... but, even so, I enjoy the freedom that my lifestyle gives me. Thanks for the offer, but I prefer to continue as before." As expected, Luna seemed dejected. "Hey, I promise to come see you more often, agreement?" I surprised myself by letting myself be carried away by instincts I didn't know I had about her and rubbing against her in an attempt to comfort her.

To my surprise, far from being surprised by her extensive contact, Luna reciprocated by resting her body against mine and bringing her face closer. “Yes, but don't make me wait too long, or I'll come look for you.”

Instead of answering, I settled for one last kiss before we broke contact, and she climbed into her carriage. The Thestrals, proving to have mastered the art of discipline, they remained respectful at all times without saying a single word, although I could swear that I saw one biting his lip and the other with dead eyes, as if his reason for living had suddenly been taken away from him.

I decided to ignore that

The carriage Luna was using this time had no roof, so we continued saying goodbye until we disappeared from each other's sight.

Oh my god... I'm really in love

Even knowing how idiotic and dangerous it would be to live with her in the castle, I found myself regretting not having accepted her offer.

Somehow, the moment she left, everything took a backseat. The opportunity to tour the town did not produce any type of emotion in me, the gossiping ponies were indifferent to me, the possibility of knowing and experimenting no longer attracted me.

As she walked down the streets, she tried to force me to find something that piqued my curiosity or that I even found remotely interesting.

But it was no use, my mind kept wandering to the next task I had assigned myself.

I concluded that the city council should serve

I stopped in front of the large structure, still adorned with cobwebs, pumpkins and other things more striking than terrifying, in my opinion.

My magical fire should be able to burn regardless of the material, as long as it does not have magical protections.

The resulting fire should be big enough to attract the attention of the entire town, including a certain pegasus with a prismatic mane, and among all that chaos, no one would notice if, on one of her trips to bring rain clouds, she didn't return.

A quick and precise attack… yes, I can do that, although I must also prepare for the attack to miss. As much as it bothers me to admit it, the bastard is fast, so a plan B wouldn't hurt.

Everything seemed to be going well in my mind, the gears were already turning and the foundations of a plan were already forming. The only thing I didn't like was how dangerously close I was to the school.

I thought about alternatives, but for the first time, I felt lazy. I simply felt that it was not worth the effort to alter a plan that already seemed perfect to me.

Everything seemed tedious to me, in my eyes, the world lost its value... children still seemed cute to me, but... they are like a decoration, a nice painting or a fun toy

I decided to just retreat back into the forest. A change had happened, I don't know precisely what change, but something felt out of place inside me.

But for the life of me, I couldn't place what it was.

Anyway, a hit like that needs at least a week of planning, I'm not a careless person.

I couldn't disperse the tension that invaded me until I felt the earth staining my hooves. This forest had always seemed comforting to me, and that's exactly why I felt lighter. I dropped my costume, and my mind returned to happier topics like what to do for myself future date with Luna

I'll have to work really hard to-BBTBOF

…

Shock

I was lying on the ground

What the fuck was that?!

A memory came back to me of a long-forgotten programming class. My group was trying to start a motor for a fan made with garbage from our homes... it didn't matter, what was relevant was that I was in charge of the wiring and the one that connected the plug, like the one that connected that Arduino chip with that breadboard

I must have done something wrong, or the cables were in worse condition than we thought, because as soon as we connected the thing to the wall, a spark was heard and a burning smell came out.

We unplugged the thing immediately, only to realize that the plastic on the plug had melted and stuck together, ruining not only our project but some of the school property.

My mind is now that plug

It didn't hurt, nothing hit me, but it was like my entire brain suddenly filled with information only to suddenly cut off.

The always-constant flow of information between me and my creations had been suddenly cut off as a large number attempted to communicate, and sparks had flown as a result.

The experience stunned and disoriented me for a while.

I had to reconnect, that was the important thing, it was my best skill and my life insurance for desperate escapes.

Using countless hours of practice, experimentation, and intuitive control, I was able to feel my creations again.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding as I felt the presence of the rest of my being again. I was whole again, but something was wrong. The signal from those closest to me was stable, but with everyone else, it was noticeably weaker

I had to make a notable effort to let the information pass

“Btt”

“BTTT”

“BBTTTTTT”

The reports did not wait and-

…

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!” A gigantic pink dome covered a huge section of the Everfree, the same one I was in, but that wasn't what scared me, it was the army that was crossing it, led by Princess Celestia herself.

I didn't even have to think about it, I activated 'Flame gate' in the furthest place possible, without caring if there were witnesses at the exit.

“Puff.”

A cloud of black smoke was what my flames transformed into as soon as I tried to change their nature, covering my body completely in soot, leaving me like a black stain.

“… Oh, oh” The connection was not strong enough to let me pass, nor them to enter…

I'm trapped

Time later

“Injury report” Celestia asked with fear.

“23, princess,” she lamented the pegasus mare who was giving her the report, “4 for getting too excited with the spears after her speech, 7 for sprained ankles on the way here, and 5 for due to the common cold. It seems that a guard came, ignoring her condition and infecting the rest

Celestia looked at her, bewildered. “I counted 16.”

“Oh, yes, we think they must have gotten lost along the way… maybe they separated from the invisibility barrier… for some reason,” she replied with some embarrassment.

Celestia didn't mind that part, in fact, she smiled to herself. There were a lot less of them than she expected!

Usually such long marches ended with at least 50 injured or discarded for various reasons, but there was no doubt that she had done a splendid job managing her forces.

Unfortunately, her good mood was soured upon seeing her approach the captain of the guard.

The smile on her face faltered, but she managed to hold it. “Go find your lost companions and take them back to Canterlot.”

“At her command.” The pegasus mare bowed before flying away.

As soon as they separated, Celestia's face took on a serious expression. “I thought we had already made our duties clear.” She said dryly.

“Princess, please reconsider, we still have time to look for her sister.” Shining Armor pleaded once again.

“I already sent guards to look for her, and they confirmed that she is no longer in Ponyville, she could be anywhere from here to Canterlot.”

“We can wait” Shining couldn't help but grimace at his poor suggestion, even he knew that this was a rather unfavorable idea, by train it would take them around 3 hours just to get to Canterlot and that is assuming that Luna is already there and not have decided to take a walk somewhere else

As expected, Celestia did not accept. “No, she refused to allow this abomination one more second of freedom if I can prevent it.”

The captain was getting exasperated, that was a poor excuse from his perspective, and he didn't know if the princess had made it up in hopes of motivating him or if he was totally serious.

But one thing he couldn't deny was the fact that the more time passed, the more likely it would be that his enemy would find a way to breach his shield.

Not that that was an easy task, but he knew extremely little about this dark mage and her unusual abilities.

Even Celestia was completely unaware of them.

And that's exactly why he would never have agreed to this plan, if he had known that Celestia was planning to do it alone, the sisters were supposed to go together!

“At least let me accompany you” He knew she wouldn't listen to him, but he couldn't be calm with himself if she didn't try her best.

“We already discussed that when we were making the plan, you would only become a target, and we know that our opponent is willing to kill, I refuse to take that risk.”

“My life is nothing compared to yours, I beg you.”

“Stop it” Celestia's wings spread fully as she used Canterlot's royal voice, drawing the attention of some nearby guards “Do you think I'm incapable of defending myself? “Do you think that the despicable bicorn is superior to me?!”

"Of course not! But I took an oath to protect you, princess. I beg you, let me do my duty." Shining knelt as far as possible, clinging to the slightest hope.

“That oath was not for me, but for Equestria and the inhabitants of it.”

And it was best for Equestria to have her princess safe and sound, but continuing to protest beyond this point could be considered insubordination, even so Shining was starting to consider it.

"Is everything okay, princess?” With the arrival of a voice that Shining new quite well, the captain knew that she had taken too long.

An opportunistic nobleman had arrived

“Everything is fine, Commander Iron Blade,” his princess assured him as she returned to a more relaxed posture and looked at the newcomer.

"Of course, but if your majesty is willing to listen to a suggestion from one of your most loyal and trusted legion commanders." This unicorn had undoubtedly had the idea of being chosen as legion commander by the princess herself.

It was true that Shining Armor was the captain of the Canterlot guard, but as expected of an army whose objective was the supervision of each Equestrian city and its borders, it was made up of multiple military branches.

One of them were the legions, which could vary in number from 1,000 to 10,000 soldiers, supposedly, since the largest recorded legion did not exceed 7,000 soldiers, and of course, in these times of peace, the legions were not only few, but that barely met the numerical requirements

Equestria had discarded the need for having troops in reserve long ago, being seen by the nobility as nothing more than a waste of resources and bits.

The only exceptions were Canterlot the capital city, Horseshoe Bay, right on the coast of Baltimare, the area closest to the border of Griffonstone and finally, a series of mountain ranges on the side of Vanhoover called Galloping Canyon. No one knew why. They had placed those troops there so close to the frozen north, perhaps the Yaks, although they were hardly considered intelligent beings by most of the ponies, so such caution seemed unreasonable.

“And what kind of advice do you think would be appropriate to give me?”

"I couldn't help but notice a certain displeasure on the part of our captain, and that worries me terribly, after all, as you already know, the maintenance of the force field depends on him, and therefore the success of this mission rests completely on the idea of him being capable of maintaining it until the capture of our fugitive”

Celestia narrowed her eyes without even making the slightest effort to deduce exactly her intentions. “And would you like that responsibility to be transferred?”

“Clearly, I know that we agreed that the captain would wait for us with about ten guards in case of emergency, but I consider it more expedient if he allowed a volunteer comparable to him in terms of magical power to take charge of a small garrison specialized both in protecting the captain and in containing him if the situation warrants it”

“Are you suggesting that he would disobey an order from the princess herself?” Shining protested indignantly.

“Isn't that what you were already doing by questioning her like that?” Iron Blade faced Shining, almost clashing their horns.

“Enough, both of you,” Celestia declared, putting herself between them and forcing them to separate. “Legion Commander Iron Blade, you accepted his proposal to ensure the safety of Captain Shining Armor and our mission until my return.”

“Princess” Shining, for the first time in his life, felt abandoned by Celestia

“Even now, you question her.” Iron Blade shook his head as he clicked his mouth disapprovingly, as if he were a misbehaved colt, which only irritated the helpless captain more.

“Iron Blade immediately selects the guards who will assist you,” Celestia declared, not wanting to waste any more time on pointless quarrels.

“At his command” Iron Blade went directly to carry out his order with a cheerful step, with the idea that he had earned some favor from the princess.

"Because?" Shining obviously didn't believe such a thing.

“Because it means one less burden that I will have to carry with me and that I hope you will take care of” And she was absolutely right.

“… Okay, but please take care of yourself, we will be waiting for you”

“Remember, no matter what happens, don't drop your shield.”

Celestia made sure to look the captain in the eyes, but it wasn't necessary. He already understood perfectly the importance of his duty “I will not fail him.”

Celestia didn't say anything, instead, she hugged him like a mother would calm a scared child. “Thank you for taking care of me.” She whispered, erasing any bad resentment Shining might have had.

With that farewell and seeing Iron Blade return with fifty soldiers, Celestia left to lead the main force that had almost completely crossed the barrier.

A simple nod is what the commander received as a greeting and farewell.

Once the last of her guards crossed the shield, Shining closed the small opening she had left, allowing Celestia to discard the barrier she herself had created to cover that opening against the threat of teleportation.

Once inside, no further orders were needed, they had previously assigned groups to be able to spread throughout this section of the forest until they found their objective.

This lasted for hours, from the beginning, they didn't know what to look for, a house? A stronghold? A lone pony living off nature?

This gave rise to many false alarms, fights with predators, legs twisted by the uneven terrain, complaining noble relatives, among many other ailments.

Until something changed, Celestia's observation skills, trained to detect the slightest alteration in facial expression in a variety of races and perfected after a millennium of political stratagems, allowed her to notice a certain irregularity that was repeated contrary to the natural pattern of the leaves

Celestia stopped her pace, everyone who followed her example, although after a minute of simply observing nature, one of them was encouraged to speak to her.

"Princess…"

"I have you!" The poor pony jumped and backed away when he saw Celestia's horn begin to glow.

Briefly, he questioned what he could have done to insult his princess, but then he realized that it wasn't him that Celestia was looking at.

In fact, Celestia had not even noticed the guard's presence, her total concentration was on the creature she had caught.

It looked like a bird, but calling it a bird would be an insult to that species, in the same way it would be to call the Timberwolves an animal.

These things were only parodies of what were real living beings, and yet this… bird writhed, trying to free itself from its magical grip.

Celestia observed it and analyzed it, it was noticeably weak physically, the branches formed its skeleton, and the leaves replaced its feathers.

Celestia could perfectly understand that such a thing had gone unnoticed in this environment, even she noticed it by mere luck. For all she knew, they could be surrounded by these things and have no way of knowing.

“This is unexpected of you, Celestia, don't you know that it's rude to show up at someone's house without an invitation? I didn't have time to clean the place” Celestia was visibly surprised when the thing stopped shaking, and she began to speak in a distorted voice, resulting in linguistic barbarism.

She reminded Celestia of the ancient necromancers she faced in the past, who used their undead as extensions of their being.

He didn't like reliving those memories.

“Can you blame me? The last time we met, you did not give me your address and showed a total lack of decorum.” Despite her impassive face, those words were spoken with notable hostility.

“Fair enough,” Forest admitted. “If it's any consolation, Blueblood was the first and only decent fight I've ever had with your kind.”

“Don't you dare name it, you are not worthy.”

"Are you serious? Are we talking about the same type? He may have put up a good fight, but only when compared to the rest of his species, all things considered, he's not much of a compliment."

“Big words for someone who is moments away from falling to the same race you denigrate.”

The bird had no facial expressions, but Celestia could notice its inner flame flickering “Yes… you are right, but I ask you, Celestia, how much are you willing to sacrifice? “You wouldn’t have brought in such a force if you thought this would be easy, so why don’t we avoid bloodshed?”

Forest Heart waited for a response from Celestia, but she didn't say anything, she just kept looking.

“I can't fix what I broke, but I can make it up to Equestra in other ways, I have a lot of knowledge to the extent of which you cannot imagine or understand, I can return your books to you in perfect condition, and I will even lend my wolves as cannon fodder if the situation requires it.” so that you no longer have to risk your precious ponies, even if you hate me, you must understand the benefits of an alliance.”

“Nothing” Without thinking, without meditating, or doubting, Celestia gave her refusal.

"That is a no?" The surprise in Forest's voice was conveyed perfectly, not that she didn't expect a rejection, but she didn't expect such an immediate response.

“It is the answer to your previous question, what am I willing to sacrifice? That's simple, nothing, you will have nothing more from me, you may have taken us by surprise before, but now I am the one who has caught you off guard” Celestia attracted the bird inches from her face, looking at it with an intensity that made Forest tremble despite not being present "I can sense your desperation, even through this creature, I can tell, you are terrified, and it is good that you are, because before you is the judgment of Equestria" Celestia fully spread her wings as she acquired a pose that highlighted his magnificence

On any other being, it would have looked ridiculous, but this was an alicorn, a physical manifestation of one of the forces that made the miracle of life in the world possible.

Her emboldened guards assumed positions behind her princess as they aimed at Forest Heart's aberrant creation with their spears and horns.

“This is my counteroffer, surrender, and I will be merciful, I will help you disassociate yourself from that disgusting dark magic that afflicts you, but reject this offer and by my name and the sun that empowers me, I promise you that no more lives will be lost and that I will personally lock you in the deepest floors of Tartarus where you will never again be able to harm an innocent pony or even see the light of my sun again.”

With the speech over, there was only one thing Forest Heart could say.

“Once I tear you apart and show you how pathetic and useless you really are, I'll have fun playing with your little soldiers the same way I did with Blueblood, then I'll go to Canterlot and fuck your sister's brains out! ”

“SHIIIIIIING”

A golden, car-wide beam of energy incinerated the poor magical creation and the trees behind it.

Celestia had lost her composure, something unthinkable, but everyone present understood. How could someone dare to speak in such a way to her princess?

"Oh, come on Celestia, who are you fooling with all that theatrics? To your soldiers? To your subjects? We both know what really happened when you failed to contain Discord!”

Where before there was a single voice coming from a single creation, now there are dozens of voices coming from the forest around them, too many to count, impossible to locate them all.

"Be quiet!" Celestia demanded, and in doing so, she made a mistake and exposed a weakness.

"Blueblood didn't die as a hero, he was just a crying fool who chose the wrong hole to hide in, it was what was expected of him, but you?" A weakness that Forest would gladly use. “You failed him, protecting him was your responsibility, and instead you allowed yourself to be captured.” Those words cut deep. “You abandoned your family, again!” But none of them burned the way her past mistake did. “And that's why you are and will always be useless.”

“AAAAAAAh!” Celestia was now grinding her teeth, trying to contain herself, but it was impossible, each word was spoken with malice, designed specifically to bring out the worst in her, and for a moment she relented.

A powerful flapping of its wings lifted it several dozen meters into the sky, the ideal place to unleash its anger.

A burst of flame that would put a dragon to shame ejected from her horn, seamlessly enveloping the surroundings and destroying any artificial creatures she might have encountered.

In the distance, the bicorn smiled, with the negotiations failing the best she could do now was heat the metal until it was red hot and strike while it was still hot.

“BOM”

An explosion echoed in the distance, the sound muffled by the distance, but one that Celestia and all the troops inside the dome had no problem recognizing.

It was the sign, a group had found something

Despite Celestia's need to get there as quickly as possible, she managed to be conscious enough to remember to put out the flames she had created.

"Move!" The soldiers, momentarily dazzled by the spectacle they witnessed, shook off their shock and followed their princess from land and air.

Celestia obviously took the lead, gaining distance between herself and the group, but it didn't matter.

The only thing on her mind was making Forest Heart suffer.

It didn't take long for her goal to appear in his vision.

It was a tiny dome compared to the one they were already in, but the unicorns that powered it had not been trained since childhood in a specific magical area so compatible with their talent.

Celestia arrived at her objective and was horrified to see the dome surrounded by at least 50 modified timberwolves besieging them from all sides.

Inside was a group of 20 ponies, the exact number they had agreed upon for the groups that would explore the forest by section.

She internally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that everyone was alive and apparently unharmed, but her peace of mind didn't last long when she saw a part of the shield give way.

It was only an instant, but one of the guards, an earth pony who was not taking proper precautions, was too close to the barrier, and the timberwolf's reinforced tail managed to stab him in his hind leg.

Celestia saw red

Like a meteorite, Celestia descended from the sky without trying to slow down.

“BOM”

The ground shook and cracked as it impacted the earth, forming a fiery crater.

Despite the fearsome spectacle, the Timberwolves did not hesitate to respond to the challenge, they changed their objective and headed straight to Celestia.

The first one tried to jump on her

“SHIIING”

Was blown up heavy by an energy beam

Three others tried to take advantage of that moment to attack from different directions.

“BOM”

They failed when a shock wave hit their bodies, completely destroying them.

The Timberwolves realized that attacks like that were not going to work, so they opted for a simple race driven by the power of numbers, hopefully at least one of them would manage to reach it.

But to her surprise, her race did not last long when the legs of those in the front line were swallowed by a burning mace.

The sight would have been disconcerting, to say the least, to any enemy, however, the Timberwolves knew no fear.

Undeterred, they jumped on the bodies of their companions that were being consumed by the lava that was now the ground, using them as platforms to reach their prey, and almost got it.

Celestia flapped her wings once, and a tsunami of flames and melted rock engulfed all who dared to think of her as prey.

The guards behind her gaped at the devastation their princess was capable of.

“Open the shield”

"Eh what?" The guard closest to her asked.

“Open it, now!” Even though the fight helped clear some of the anger Celestia was feeling, she was still a long way from being satisfied.

Faced with the outburst, the unicorns stopped supplying magic to the shield out of pure fright.

Celestia wasted no time and immediately went to the injured guard. A flash of her horn, a nod of her head, and voilà, the wound was gone, she didn't even leave a scar.

“You're okay now” The guard, still shocked, only managed to give a slight nod. “Who is the leader of this group?”

“It's me, Soft Breeze.” A pegasus mare showed up, struggling to remember the proper way to behave.

"Report"

The pegasus bowed his head

"What happened?" Celestia asked slowly, to her growing frustration.

Breeze finally managed to partially emerge from the post-battle haze and respond appropriately “Our group was exploring the area without separating us more than five meters from each other, just as he told us… jeez, if we hadn't listened, that timberwolf would have…” Breeze couldn't finish what he was saying when the shock of his first battle came back, along with the realization of how close he came to dying

“Soldier Soft Breeze, I need you to concentrate,” Celestia said this time with more intensity.

"It's true," Breeze said, shaking his head. “A noise, came from a cave, maybe an internal collapse? He heard the echo of the rocks falling… if it weren't for that, we would never have realized that it was there, it was well hidden. It was when we cleared the obstructions that the first wolf attacked, nearly decapitating me. I dodged it out of pure reflex!

"Enough! "I think with that, I can get an idea of what happened next." Celestia preferred to have the full story, but she wasn't in the mood to put up with what was surely a high-born girl facing the world for the first time, so she just inferred that the unicorns reacted quickly, creating the barrier and sending the signal.

Without paying more attention to the mare, Celestia was on her way to the entrance of the previously mentioned cave when she sensed them.

Magical protections, some intended to ensure that the entrance goes unnoticed, others to attack any invader

Celestia noted with disgust that several of the defenses could easily kill a pony or something larger with traps that turned the floor into a spike trap, turned the air toxic, released electric shocks, there was even a long, sloping hallway with a rock. Huge and round, that would crush anyone passing by

Normally, she would be patient, she would take her time to examine the various defenses, pose hypotheses and counterattacks.

But she wasn't in the mood.

Leaving aside subtlety and opting for raw power, Celestia sent a wave of magical power that broke down the barriers she had detected and then spread throughout every inch of the excavation.

It was like dropping a bowling ball on sheets of glass, the defenses were shattered one after another

As soon as the information gathered by Celestia's spell reached her, despite her state of abject rage, she couldn't help but be surprised by the size of the lair.

It extended in a zigzag across hundreds of meters, it must have taken years or decades, centuries even!

How long had Forest Heart actually been preparing? Or did she find it by chance? It was not possible to do such a thing in just a few months

However, for Celestia that fact quickly lost importance.

Her spell had already scanned the entire underground structure and given him a complete map, but more importantly, she found Forest Heart and his creations.

All meeting at a single point, in one of the deepest areas of the underground fortress, a much larger and more spacious area to the point where a small city could fit and the pegasi could fly without problems, and of course a few side tunnels overflowing of enemy troops awaiting their arrival

She didn't have to think about it anymore, Celestia launched her own magical explosion into the sky, signaling to all of her forces that they should gather together.

And so it was, slow, almost unbearably slow, each time Celestia seemed more impatient while the ponies did not stop arriving and looking for her place among so much nature.

“Attention ponies!” All of her heads turned in her direction, giving him her full attention. “The time has come, prepare for the fight, follow me!”

Not everyone had arrived, but she was not willing to waste any more time, her enemy was also preparing for their encounter.

"One moment!" Celestia's march did not stop as she passed the entrance to the cave, but she made a sign indicating to the soldier who could speak, "With all due respect, your majesty, do you think it is prudent to enter enemy territory like this?"

“Do you think we will lose?” She responded bluntly.

“Of course not, but a cornered animal is the most dangerous, if it gets desperate enough, it could cause the mine to collapse.”

Celestia paused at the observation, not at the obvious proposal for a collapse, but at the fact that this was indeed a mining operation.

In her outburst, she had overlooked some obvious details.

Celestia slowed her pace and looked at the earth pony, this time with real attention, and she was surprised to recognize him. Shining Armor was in charge of organizing the forces, how they would be divided, and who would lead them.

And this guard was one of those leaders, just like Soft Breeze

Internally, Celestia gave her approval of her decision. Not only did this guard dare to question her, but he also didn't seem to be carried away by the idea of a certain victory just because she was present.

“I highly doubt that something like this will happen and if it does, we should not worry, the enemy's organization suggests that they expect a direct confrontation, with backup troops attacking us from all directions, but I have already destroyed their magical defenses and plan to form a barrier in the area of combat, it will save us most of the problems and will protect us in case of collapse” Celestia explained, but out of respect for the stallion she decided to follow his advice “But just in case, divide the unicorns, one for every five ponies, tell them to prepare for Teleport your companions if possible, otherwise they are spells that manipulate the earth, they should have the knowledge to make a shelter”

“Affirmative” The stallion nodded and stepped back to give the order to his peers.

That was it, no more delays. Celestia made her horn shine and took the first step, her guards followed her in the previously agreed upon formation.

More guards joined every second as Celestia went deeper. From time to time, they came across rocky pillars that served as support and hindered their group progress, as well as secondary paths that followed the minerals and that Celestia ordered to avoid, she already knew how to avoid them where they were going, and I knew they were empty

The entire plan of the place was already in her head, and despite having a single objective, her mind trained to multitask could not help but deviate periodically, thinking about the possible uses for such a place.

Throwing it away would be a waste for such a work. Even if he disliked its creator, he had to admit the place was well made, they had descended for a long time, and at first glance there were no traces of instability, the main path had a cubic shape and was spacious, leaving a respectable distance from the mining areas, its entire route had been well established with a uniformly sloping ground, even with occasional stairs, it just needed some lighting and to do something with those annoying pillars

They were the only thing that didn't match the rest of the place, they weren't polished, their structure was uneven, and they seemed scattered randomly, as if someone saw a crack in the ceiling and said, 'I'll cover it with this'. Maybe I was giving it too much credit to its creator

Anyway, he may also have used it as a mine or a guard base. Since the founding of Equestria, the ponies have always tried to claim the territory of the Everfree, perhaps this place is the first step to finally achieving that goal.

“Pum.”

It was then that, in her carelessness, her horn touched rock, as always the sensation of rubbing against such a sensitive organ was disorienting, but she quickly composed herself to verify where she had gone wrong.

The cave had narrowed significantly at some point when he got lost in his wanderings.

“Did something happen, princess?” asked the same stallion that she had advised her at the entrance to the mine. Celestia didn't even notice how close she was.

“Nothing, just distracted me,” Celestia excused herself as she prepared to continue.

The stallion nodded. “Shall we turn around?”

Celestia's march stopped before beginning “What? Because?"

“Why… there is no longer a path?” The guard responded, confused.

…

Celestia didn't know what to say because it was true, right in front of her there was a half-excavated rock wall.

The stunned princess blinked a couple of times, hoping it was a hallucination or something similar, but she did not faint, raising one front paw and moving it fearfully, pushing her forward.

The hard rock stopped their progress

"That?" She questioned herself.

“Is something wrong, princess?”

“This wall shouldn't be here, it should be a corridor.”

“Could we have missed a tunnel?”

"No! This is where I'm sure." Celestia refuses to accept any possibility of failure

“It couldn't be much deeper anyway.” The guard simply shrugged his shoulders.

“What makes you say that?”

“My first three years in the guard, I was assigned to Dodge City, and you can't live there without learning a thing or two about mines, and let me tell you, they don't usually go that deep.”

Celestia froze in place. “But this mine is at least 700 meters long, we are not even halfway there.”

"Now I'm sure you were wrong, princess. As far as I know, there is no such deep mine, the temperature, oxygen and gas pockets become too serious a problem at that point, something that could change if there were more unicorns willing to work in mines and not leave all the work to-”

The guard continued to ramble, but at this point, Celestia was no longer listening, she was dealing with the growing feeling of discomfort, as if someone had dropped an anvil into her stomach.

Something had gone terribly wrong.

She again gathered her magic for another scanning spell, but this time instead of releasing power like a brute, she opted for a more delicate style.

She searched for imperfections and errors between her magical projection and reality as her magic spread throughout the structure of the mine.

It didn't take long for her to find them, one of them was right next to her on the wall that was supposed to lead her to deeper parts. Then there were the side roads that were longer or shorter, the stalactites that shouldn't be there, even the road I was on didn't have the appropriate dimensions.

Then she injected her magic into those places. It didn't take much, comparatively, it was nothing more than a gentle breeze, and the plane she had been following blurred before her incredulous gaze.

Like a work of art with paint thinner thrown on it, the mine map was replaced by a pirate imitation fit for a 6-year-old colt.

And she and her soldiers were at the bottom

But there was one more thing that his spell detected—one thing that was too far away to notice before. His spell had been designed to detect specific magical life forms, such as ponies or modified Timberwolves, but now that the barrier was gone, and the distance had shortened significantly, she could easily detect a similar enough magical life form right behind her.

Celestia turned around just to see a rock pillar larger than her deform, releasing what appeared to be a shovel-shaped limb and falling in her direction.

"Princess!"

“CRASH”

Celestia felt a blow on her side before she crashed into the wall and felt something metallic fall on her.

She quickly composed herself and noticed that what she had on top of her was the earth pony that had been accompanying her, but she was not okay.

When she died, when she pushed her, he positioned himself in the line of fire and received the blow. The armor did a good job of preventing the wearer from being torn in half, but it deformed horribly.

On the side in the rib area, she had a deep dent, just by looking at it, she knew this was bad.

“Contain him!”

A scream caught Celestia's attention.

Her soldiers had already set out to stop the creature using their spears, but the narrow terrain made it quite difficult for them.

That was something that the thing took advantage of.

Celestia had never seen anything like this, of course she had seen golems before, she herself created several in her student days, but there was a world of difference between those puppets, only able to follow instructions and make the simplest movements, and this thing that was in front of me

She was a biped with four upper limbs that moved in perfect synchrony, it was almost as if she had spent her entire life practicing with them.

She extended her first arm, deflecting the spear attack to the ground, earning herself a few minor scratches, and using one of her legs to step on it and break it, disarming a guard.

It was heavy and strong, enough to put their lives at risk, that was all Celestia needed to know to finally react.

It took enormous self-control on her part to not unleash a single blast of arcane power that would surely collapse the mine, so instead she created an ornate sword of light and sent it flying.

“CRASH”

The thing was strong, I had no doubts, but also very slow. Despite seeing the attack approaching, she could not evade it and was split into two halves, which, as soon as they hit the ground, fragmented.

There was no more time to waste

“Princess, is she okay?”

Celestia ignored him and focused on stripping the wounded soldier of her armor while she cast a scanning spell.

“Three broken ribs, bone fragments in the left lung, a torn kidney…” Celestia murmured and breathed a sigh of relief.

It wasn't serious, maybe for other ponies it was, but for her, it was just a spell

"FLASH"

And so it was, a flash of his horn and the guard breathed as if his lungs had been squeezed, which was partially true.

“Cof, COFF, EZ” The poor pony coughed and struggled to breathe, but he was alive. He would be in enormous pain for the next few days, but he was alive!

Celestia congratulated herself and allowed herself a moment to relax.

“Get him away, get him away!”

That moment didn't last

"Doctor!"

At that moment, she remembered

“Be careful, this is how it goes!”

The countless pillars that had passed since they put a hoof in this damned mine

“He's dead, it can't be, he's dead!”

But it wasn't until she heard that scream, that echo brought to her through those infernal hallways, that she realized.

She had broken her promise, the battle had just begun, and countless ponies died.

Worst part? She still had her scanner spell active, she could feel better than anyone thanks to her magical sense. Every life was lost, every battle that was fought, every drop of unicorn blood was spilled.

“Attention to all my golems”

Celestia felt a chill when she heard that voice coming from the remains of the advanced golem as it reformed.

Forest Heart's voice

“Half of you must explode.”

The breathing of everyone present was cut short when the golem gave off an increasingly intense green aura, almost causing them blindness.

And still, no one blinked or looked away.

“BOOOOOOOM”