TCB: The Last Pillar | Monster of Unknown Origin

"There are two freedoms - the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought."

-Charles Kingsley

Chapter 4

Friction

You know not where your allegiance lies, do you? Deep inside, somewhere within, you know what evils were conducted upon you. An individual that was to be erased has been awakened, but must remain dormant. Salvation will come, friend, salvation will come. And with it, peril will arise in the coming days.

Twilight came to consciousness abruptly, shooting up in the air with a yelp. She looked around frantically, searching every crevasse and corner in the bedroom. After a few tense moments, she became aware of her frightened panting. She tried to steady herself, and put her forehooves against the mattress, a familiar burning sparking up in her foreleg. Before she could grimace, a cool liquid impacted the scar, and she traced it back to her face.

She found she had been crying. She tried to think back to her nightmare, but it had fleeted already. The only thing she could remember was that voice.

She had heard it before, but where?

Fluttershy came into the room with concern etched on her features, but before she could say a word, Twilight rose a hoof, "I'm fine, I just need my ointment," she said, hiding her face.

"O-okay, I'll go get it for you..." she trailed off as she departed.

Twilight was still until she could no longer hear the sound of her hooves, and sighed deeply. Since those sinkholes opened, she could not catch an ounce of sleep. While she was safe, she felt her mind was not, the recurring visions of darkness and that voice, that eerie deep static that filled her mind. She sat in silence once more, her mind once again pondering the meaning behind these visions.

Were they a depiction of things to come?

A warning?

She found herself unable to recollect the dream, the strange voice following the routine of disappearing from her memory.

"General Armor, I want constant shifts to be posted in Ponyville, effective immediately. We need those areas of land restructured, restored and refurnished to operate at standard capability, nothing is to be suspected at all."

"Yes ma'am."

"What did you call me?"

"I apologize my Regent, maintainer of the Equestrian nation and savior of the Human Realm, how must I address your Majesty?"

"Regent shall do quite nicely."

"Of course."

"Inform Bookkeeper Blueblood that I no longer need his assistance in running my nation, tell him that he must remove his belongings from the Royal Court Office and report to yourself as soon as he is able."

"Yes Regent Celestia."

Lightwing's eyelids peeled open, his gaze stretching over the plane of trees and vegetation that was the Everfree forest. His sights were set upon Ponyville, the dark yellow glow of countless lanterns kept within the houses shining in the distance. His talons relaxed and released the branch of the tall dead tree beneath him, his wings spreading and his body taking flight. As he glided, he remembered the weight of the dagger that was kept at his hip.

'I will not use it unless I have to, this is a simple reconnaissance mission, nothing too-" His thoughts were interrupted as a mysterious dark figure, much like a pony, swooped down from unimaginable heights and slammed into his upper back. He pushed himself forward, faster than the figure above, and managed to spin around, pulling the dagger.

As he slammed into the earth below, the darker figure came down upon him, the blade going deep within the waist of the unknown assailant. After a few moments of silence, the figure went still, and limp on top of Lightwing's form. He put his talons against the cold breastplate of the being, pushing it up off of his chest. As it rolled away, he looked up to the sky and saw a bright moon, one he hadn't seen for decades, hanging above in the endless starry black. His brow rose in confusion, and he gingerly cast his gaze back to the deceased creature, his eyes darting over it, examining every little crevasse and crease in it's strange armor.

He soon realized that two leathery wings were twisted and bent underneath the creature, the skin ripped and torn in some areas.

Recognition soon swept him, his wings pushing him up off the ground. His jaw dropped slightly as his heart pumped hysterically once again, fear washing into his veins. This was no pony.

Nightmare moon has returned, and with her, the Eretei have come to reclaim the very land the Equestrians hid from them.

He took to the air once more, his resolve hardening as he hurried to the quaint little town.