To Chase The Shadows of Redemption

Dire Comet sat in part of a circle around one of the many established fire pits that their unit had put up for the night. There was hundreds of them set up decently spaced out, with ponies mingling and finding warmth.

They had been marching for days now, and soon would be reaching the destination of Byane. It was a smaller village near the border of the Griffin Kingdom, and it would be their final spot before making contact with the enemy.

Splitting off, four main forces had been sent to each identified position that command wanted them to start from. Dire didn't know much more than that, and he also didn't care to. He was here for one purpose, and he was sticking to it. Leave the rest to those who had already spent enough time painstakingly going over the details. He didn't need to hear it to add on to the stress he already held. None of them did, really.

He had stood out against the rest of the ponies as the only aged one, well, he hadn't seen any others of similar stature, but few had even acknowledged it.

Not only this, but while the eventual battle formations would have them separating, the tribes mixed for times like these. He enjoyed that greatly. The times of his youth tingled in his mind as he heard the excitement and passion of those younger than him, as they discussed what was to come.

"Do not underestimate the griffins, young one," he was looking at one in particular who had made a naive comment, "I can tell you that would be your first and last mistake this warpath sooner than you can blink if you let it. Trust in those around you and always consider how things might change."

He had cut in on the plethora of voices, and many ponies quieted and had given him the room to speak quickly seeing as he was one of the few who seemed like they knew what they were talking about, as they had no clue on anything about him. For all they knew he was a veteran.

"None of us have ever experienced anything like this, and neither has our ancestors for longer than we can remember. Our progeny probably will only hear whispers of it if we're lucky, and not partake in any continued bloodshed. Let's all hope this goes smoothly, as our great Princess Celestia has so passionately spoken about. But make no mistake, this is war. Some of us will not be making it home."

Everypony became downcast at that, but there was one that pepped up to counter it.

"But it's not like we can back down from something like this! They did something unforgivable! Celestia has been at our side for as long as history and they tried to take her away from us, and now they threaten to hurt all of our families eventually if we let it. We must fight!"

"We all know that, son, that's why we're all here after all."

There was some light chuckles, but the underlying truth of his statement still held true and that was punctuated by the serious looks the majority slowly transitioned to. Ponies who had allowed any kind of distraction of their purpose quickly righted it.

Dire did not know what lay in store for any and all of them, himself included. What he held on to instead, was that even if he met his end, he could demonstrate to the world what he had kept inside of himself for so long. That would be enough for him. It didn't matter who actually saw it, or if anyone did at all. He would go out with fireworks, not like a candle being extinguished by the gentle wind, of that he would make sure. If he survived long enough, he was sure that he could continue to improve. That would only increase his chances of surviving even more, and he bet everything on it. He just had to make it to the point of momentum. Forget everything about unassailable odds, for nothing mattered if it came down to that anyway. He would believe that there was always a path forward, regardless of any circumstance that would sweep the mind off the rug.

It was during this night, that, when formality and strict adherence to the military standard could be dropped and all could relax a little, that he noticed several pegasi doing tricks in the air above them. One of them stood out as particularly impressive to him, and he couldn't help but smirk at it. Even if he couldn't make out the details of the pony well so that he could remember her, if it was indeed a mare like he suspected, he would want to remember seeing her at times like these before everything if she amounted to anything after all of this. His eyes weren't perfect like they used to be, especially against the trickery of the night. He was glad that ponies could still have that kind of energy even when facing a situation like this.

Twilight sat back in her chair in a lonely room. It was stiff, but she hardly noticed. Without Celestia here, it had become a barren place. Books surrounded her like always, a dream scenario which was sorely lacking at the moment. The cramped nature had never bothered her.

She had been ruminating about the spells Celestia had told her she would cast to save Luna, once it was time. Having actually just came from seeing her earlier today, it made the feeling of desperation all the more real. While she wasn't going to be the one casting these spells, it still felt right to be learning them.

There was aspects of the magic that really reminded her of a spell she had already essentially mastered and succeeded in using - Krazor's spell. Channelling magic of which would normally overwhelm any mortal unicorn was certainly a daunting prospect for anyone not named Celestia. Still, she couldn't help but wonder how much of the burden was simply lifted by the sanctuary amethyst itself. For all they knew, it could contain absurd amounts of energy and have next to zero problems storing them. You could leave enough magical energy inside to blow up several buildings, and leave it for decades only to come back and find the crystal as dormant as ever, a mischievous glimmer in the depths the only sign of any untapped potential.

While on the topic, she couldn't help but marvel at how incredible such a feat was if it wasn't so rare. The amount of breakthroughs in magic would be exponential if they had access to items in excess such as this with some level of availability for the average researcher. However, the sanctuaries were considered legendary treasures for a reason.

Still, there was two major hurdles to get out of way in order to actually save Luna. First, you had to learn how to convert living things into life energy, and then store it into something. In their case, this meant setting up a large magical construct to designate an area of which you wanted to take that energy from. That kind of spell had to have had a million different variations, so it hadn't really had a properly designated title besides being an energy condenser variant. Problems arose if the life you were trying to take had any level of consciousness, as the souls could resist having their life essentially snatched away, and it would ruin the spell entirely to have that resistance. Instead, that was why the forests were so perfect for this. They had already marked down several uninhabited areas with large growths to use. While it would be a pain, it was basically required to modify the spell in order to target more specific kinds of life (to prevent the issues mentioned), making it even harder. Celestia had already shared her outline for how it would be done, and it was something Twilight had already gone over plenty trying to master it.

They had no desire to kill smaller animals that lived in the forests, even if they destroyed the ecosystems they lived in. They could deal with that later and give those animals a new place to live, but they only had so much time to help Luna. If you had nothing to store it, the life energy would be wasted under most circumstances. Unless you had some kind of magic that was esoteric enough that used it, it would be a massive waste. They had only known one spell currently that could harness it, because it was useful for their situation.

Well, two technically, but Twilight hardly considered the 'Divine Rebirth' spell to be a fair example. It had never be used in history as far as they knew, and existed only as a concept. Not to say that it wasn't exciting to imagine pushing the boundaries and actually using something like that which would make history, but it was unrealistic and thus a waste of time to look at right now.

What she actually looked at, was the Life Convergence spell. This spell had actually been used in the past, even if it had become a lost art over time. Twilight knew in theory how to cast it, but it wasn't something you could just up and practice. In the same way that you didn't just have life energy available for use in casting. The idea of flooding and amplifying the souls ability to heal into an artificial state in that so much energy was pressed onto an individual in a safe way that it basically spilled and wasted some energy in order to make sure the soul had absolutely no gap in its soothing shell that it used to heal was something that amazed Twilight. There had to be waste to make sure that the soul never had a moment of vulnerability during a moment of change. If you cast the spell and it started to lose power, or stopped entirely halfway through, the adjusting soul would be in a truly hazardous position as it never had the time to finish its liquid transition into a more solid form. The fluid constitution of the soul meant it was all the more vulnerable, after all. You couldn't just induce it into a vulnerable state like that and then expect it to be fine if you just left it like that.

It was to that point that Twilight knew why the princess studied so hard, and strained to be ready so thoroughly. Twilight felt it right to do no less.

Still, she had become a little bored of looking at some of the same material lately. Her mentorship in Celestia had been temporarily replaced by several ministers, most of which she enjoyed shadowing. She had never gotten to see that side of Equestrian politics until now, and she couldn't help but feel like she got to see the better parts of it still.

Her confidence in the competence to help out at any governing position had increased, and it pleased her to know she could be of more help in the future if things got even tougher. It was never something she wanted to spend her life in, but dabbling in all sorts of areas like that did a pony good.

Besides, she got to meet many ponies who she hoped could form connections with in the future. Friends.

It was as her thoughts glided that she returned to darker places and something that had disturbed her as of late. She had-had time to process it now, and couldn't help but find her conversation with Celestia on that day to be somewhat strange and concerning on that day.

The mannerisms, and how she spoke had felt out of character on reflection to the point that Twilight had questioned her own memory several times. At the time she had been too overwhelmed, and the pacing of the conversation had felt like a flood for her. None of the contents had really processed properly until after, and by that point the princess was already gone. Not that she'd see her again so easily now, anyway.

Twilight had known that Celestia had been struggling for some time now with her sister, but this had felt different. There was a sense of finality and fatalism that had encompassed the conversely colder attitude she had taken with Twilight.

Not only this, but the way she spoke about the death of the griffin's had seemed so... so empty. Like it hadn't mattered. She knew that the princess must've been wholly upset still at the way the turned on her so suddenly, but she couldn't shake this feeling. Not only that, but it was how she had said it. Twilight was certain of those words, at least.

"I killed them in cold blood, Twilight."

This had been such a strange way of responding to her mention of self-defense. Why had she responded that way? The foreboding sense of guilt in sins that Celestia had shared only further cemented the sentiment. Even talking about sacrifices. Twilight knew that they had to get the sanctuary, and that the sacrifices of war she had mentioned had been an unfortunate thing that was forced upon them by the griffins hostility. For this reason, Twilight didn't view it as true sacrifices. Celestia obviously had felt guilty for the impending death regardless, so that had alleviated her worry quite a bit. It still bothered her. All of it. Clearly, both of them had not been in the right state of mind. She was sure that Celestia had been more so, in fact. Her life so recently almost been taken from her. That was right.

There was too much to ask her, and she would likely never get an answer until the war was basically over. No doubt, it'd bother her for the longest time. She'd just have to live with it, she supposed. Even if it nagged at her.

She sighed, and began to pack up her things so that she could return home to her parents place. She was glad to spend some time there and have a reason to do so these days, even despite the reason why.

She had made much progress so far, but more was clearly still required. She'd keep this up. But for now, it was time to rest.