Cost
by PisumSativum
Pre-read & edited by: Floutsy, Fruitaloo & a few Anonyponies
Purple, pink and white.
Three ponies in a room. One regarding the others. Her face betrays her confusion and worry.
"What possessed you to DO such a thing?"
A white face dares to briefly tear her eyes from the ground. Her gaze meets the speaker’s for a brief moment.
A perfectly clear teardrop meets the floor.
The sun falls below the horizon.
~*~
Mid-Afternoon.
Two versus eight.
The surrounding buildings were on the verge of collapse; their foundations crumbling, their walls burnt. Prone forms littered the battleground. Those whose eyes had yet to close revealed symbolic hearts where irises once were.
The fallen were breathing.
A flash of brilliant light forced every eye shut. They missed the rainbow that follows.
The rainbow didn't miss.
~*~
Dawn.
A young stallion arrived on time. After receiving an answer to his knock, he opened the door.
There were two expecting him; one pink, one white. Both regarded him with gentle smiles, inviting him to enter.
The stallion closed the door behind him. His eyes tried to match the gaze of the white pony, but focused everywhere else, instead. They looked to the third occupant, who nodded reassuringly for him to speak.
He cleared his throat, but even that was marred by his shaking body.
~*~
Soon after...
A purple unicorn read in silence. Her brow furrowed and her tongue poked from the side of her mouth. Her dragon busied himself with a broom and a half-lidded stare of utmost boredom.
Both expressions were lost when a distant boom reverberates their library.
Faces pressed up against the glass of the window, they witnessed not a multicoloured explosion in the sky (a common occurrence as of late), but billowing smoke from a mountainside city. The unicorn beholds the sight with pinpricked pupils until a burst of green flame materialises a scroll. A scroll sealed with a wax image of the moon.
Within moments both had read it’s contents. In just as little time, they had both bolted out of their home.
~*~
Noon.
Six ponies disembarked from an ornate wrought iron chariot amidst the cacophony of terror and destruction. Around them, ponies were fleeing towards the mountain roadways leading to the rest of Equestria. A tower in the distance disappeared in a pillar of white, only crumbling ash left in it’s wake.
A Princess greeted them; fear etched upon her face. A white stallion flanked her, seeming barely to keep his composure. His breaths were ragged underneath his finely adorned armour.
He revealed a small chest to the newcomers. Apprehensive yet understanding faces eyed the box as a purple unicorn took it within her telekinetic grasp. They knew their mission.
Eight ponies headed into the madness.
~*~
Morning.
A door explodes into splinters as a stallion is flung through it. Mercifully keeping hold of his consciousness, he craned his neck from his position on the floor to behold the horror of the two beings before him.
The largest had a body of purest alabaster, her mane and tail a billowing inferno of nuclear fire. Pure undulated rage was focused at the unicorn, as ethereal wisps of smoke drifted from the corners of her eyes.
The other’s visage was altered to a much lesser extent. Her body was still as pink she was before, but her mane was now a river of purest silk, cascading down her body whilst accentuating her physique. Her eyes did not mimic the pure brutality of the other, but held a cold uncaring glare. She was both beautiful, yet terrible to behold.
He knew he had but one chance of survival. The third.
He ran.
~*~
Early Afternoon.
Canterlot was in ruins. Craters of ash marked where proud businesses and homes once stood. An army of heart-shaped irises marched through the streets. Two Nightmares watched from a balcony.
One let out a primalistic yell as she called down a beam of pure sunlight upon yet another home. Before the smoke had even began to clear she had begun to seek out a new target; a home that offended her with it’s very existence.
None would be spared her wrath.
The other peered down her nose at the marching army, comprised of both civilians and others more militaristically inclined. She regarded them with a blend of indifference and amusement, they were her pawns to do with as she pleased.
None would dare oppose their beloved.
A heart-eyed pegasus dared approach; eager to please her new mistress. She was spared her life in exchange for the information she wished to report.
A wicked smile broke out over both of their features. The time had come.
~*~
Meanwhile...
A brawl had broken out in a marketplace, long abandoned by merchants and customers. Eight ponies fought to fend off an army of heart-shaped irises.
A hat-wearing farmer bucked her attackers back several feet, whilst a timid pegasus took shelter behind. A white unicorn utilised spare materials and fabrics from the destroyed market to trip and bind her foes. In the air a prismatic blur single-handedly kept the lovestruck pegasi busy, being far too nimble for them to register where she was at any one point of time. A pink pony bounced around, incapacitating enemies whilst remaining inexplicably untouchable herself.
In the forefront of it all stood three ponies. A stallion stood his ground whilst his impenetrable shield surrounded them, taking the brunt of magical volleys fired from enemy casters. A purple unicorn was lost in concentration, turning any weapon of the enemy (makeshift or otherwise) into inert objects; useless for combat.
Beside them was a princess; the dark alicorn focusing her gaze upon her brainwashed subjects one at a time. With eye contact and a minimal amount of concentration her target fell limply to the floor, slumbering as if having a good night’s rest.
A figure dropped to the ground in front of them, unconscious but alive, shortly followed by a scratchy voice from above.
“Hey Princess! What’re we doing here? We need to get going!”
The purple unicorn was about to interject, but the alicorn held a hoof to her mouth.
“Fret not! They shall most assuredly come to us once they learn of your arrival!”
~*~
Elsewhere...
A stallion observed the city from one of the castle’s spires. The room’s décor was dark, a palette of midnight blues and deep purple. Silver astronomical ornaments were dotted around the room, shining like stars from their positions on the surrounding shelves and other such resting places.
She had told him to rest here after bringing her the ill tidings. Her personal entourage of servants and medical personnel tended to his wounds in her absence.
Bandaged and bruised, he gazed down at the city he inadvertently helped to destroy.
He had yet to stop shaking.
~*~
At the marketplace.
The tables had turned.
The arrival of two had halted the momentum of eight. Fire and scorching sunlight heralded their arrival, threatening to scorch all to cinders, friend or foe, if not for the timely intervention of a magical barrier. A captain buckled under the pressure of ensuring the life of all; nopony should have to die that day.
It was two versus eight.
The surrounding buildings buckled from the hellish onslaught, waiting to collapse from the slighted agitation.
A purple pony levitated 5 amulets to her friends.
Mindless soldiers lay incapacitated around them; held down, bound or unconscious. None were at fault. None should have to die.
A Princess and a guard fought to protect their charges from their foe. One was unwilling to harm her sister, the other unable to hurt his wife. They kept them at bay for as long as they could.
A brilliant light blinded those in the vicinity. They did not see when the purple pony opened her eyes, revealing nothing but a white glow.
They missed a rainbow that erupted to overwhelm the Nightmares.
The rainbow did not miss.
~*~
The sun falls below the horizon.
Two princesses sit despondently, one regaling their story. An explanation for their earlier actions. As she tells her tale, her eye-line gradually falls back down to the ground, eventually closing altogether in shame.
A unicorn stands transfixed; listening to her mentor’s excuse. It wasn't long, but in that short amount of time a succession of emotions evolve on her face.
Worry. Then shock. Then confusion.
Then anger.
“Princess...”
The mentor’s head rises upon hearing her student’s voice, opening her eyes to meet her gaze.
A lavender hoof travelling towards her face at high velocity was the last thing she witness before she fell unconscious.
~*~
The previous night.
A young stallion worked at his desk. His eyes darting back and forth between papers as his quill scribbled down notes and calculations seemingly of it’s own accord; if one were to ignore the glow around it matching the one around his horn, that is.
On his desk bore a name plate, naming it’s occupant as one mister “Break Even”. His flank carried the image of a scrolled parchment behind three gold coins. His shift had ended many an hour ago, but he still had a job to do.
The Equestrian budget couldn't balance itself, after all.
Errant strands of hair were separated from his mane, and bags were clearly visible through the fur under his eyes. He was scanning through the ledgers, finding anything that could help Equestria get out of it’s current deficit.
Suddenly his eyes lit up. He leaned forward as cogs whirred in his mind, looking at a series of entries in his books. He levitated a fresh sheet of paper to his desk, and his quill started to jot down some basic calculations.
Not a moment later he was busy scribbling down a note requesting an audience with two Princesses at their earliest convenience. After sealing it in an envelope, he was halfway through the door to send it before he halted; a look of apprehension on his face.
He shook away what doubts he had and made his way to the Castle sorting office, leaving a page of calculations on his desk.
Current Deficit - 902,013 Bits
Yearly combined spend on
Eyeliner (for the Princesses
Celestia and Mi Amore
Cadenza) - (17450*52) = 907,400 Bits
Ask the Princesses to stop using so much freakin’ Eyeliner
