Seven Years Ago

Plans

Awakening after suffering trauma normally causes one to be sore and in pain, and Lyra wasn’t the exception. The first thing she knew when she returned to the land of the living was that every part of her body hurt. A dull ache throbbed from the top of her head down to the bottom of her hooves. The worst, however, was her horn, which felt like somepony had smashed it with a hammer and stabbed the inner nerves with a scalding hot knife. Her tongue felt dry and swollen, and her eyelids felt heavy. Lyra tried to open them but winced when they came in contact with light. She closed them and let out a small groan.

“Sweet Celestia! She’s awake! Twilight, everypony, get in here!”

Lyra winced once more as the voice cut through her head like a razor blade, making her headache worse. She recognized the voice as belonging to Spike, and soon heard the sound of galloping hooves across wooden floor boards and the worried voices of other ponies. The sounds grew closer until Lyra heard them coming from beside her. A pair of hooves grabbed her and started shaking her like a ragdoll.

“Speak to me, Lyra! Tell me you’re alive! Can you hear? Speak? By Luna’s Beard! She’s a deaf-mute now! Twilight, you’ll pay for this!”

The shaking stopped and Lyra was dropped back onto whatever surface she had been laying on, and she heard the unmistakable sounds of Roseluck trying to attack Twilight. Hooves were smashing into muzzles, bookshelves were toppled over, and expletives were shouted. Lyra heard Bon-Bon shout something about Roseluck needing to calm down, before there was a loud bang and Roseluck’s voice went silent.

During this time Lyra had slowly opened her eyes, letting them adjust to the light of the room. Lyra was lying on a bed in the living quarters of the library. Well, what used to be the living quarters of the library. Books were strewn everywhere, littering the floor and covering nearly every surface. Twilight’s desk had been overturned and smashed into pieces, resembling kindling more than anything else. The bookshelves had fallen over, and one appeared to have been blasted with a fire spell, the top of having been reduced to ash. Twilight sat in the corner, nursing a bloody nose and black eye with Bon-Bon’s help, while Roseluck was unconscious and trussed up with rope. The center of the floor housed a huge scorch mark in the form of a circle, most likely from Twilight’s memory spell. And beside her, sitting on the edge of the bed, a despondent baby dragon stared at the mess with horror in his eyes, knowing that he would have to clean it up.

Lyra slowly turned her head towards the dragon. “Spike, can I get some aspirin? I’ve got a killer headache, and all this chaos isn’t helping.”

Spike snapped out of his momentary stupor at the sound of Lyra’s voice. “Huh? Oh, sure. I’ll be right back.” He hopped off the edge of the bed and waddled down stairs, his feet making soft padding noises along the way.

Bon-Bon, noticing that Lyra was awake, got up from helping Twilight and trotted over to the bed, concern in her eyes. “How’re you feeling, Lyra?”

“Like somepony beat me with a baseball bat. My everywhere hurts, I’m thirsty as hell, and we didn’t get anywhere with the memory spell. All-in-all, this day sucks flank. Speaking of the memory spell, Twilight, what do you think went wrong?”

Twilight looked up from the ministrations she was performing on herself, a piece of tissue in her nose stemming the flow of blood. “I don’t know, Lyra. The spell was performed perfectly, and you didn’t use your magic during it, but it felt like there was some foreign magic at work during the spell. It was like a wall was stopping the spell. The magic caused the spell to backfire, giving you a nasty shock and knocking you unconscious. The gems I used to amplify my magic melted into the floorboards. I’ve never seen anything like it. After that we put you to bed. You don’t really know the after effects of a backfired spell until after a pony wakes up. But when you did we had a little episode with Roseluck.”

“I know that Roseluck can be protective of her friends, but I didn’t think she would try to bodily harm Twilight. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her that angry. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her angry before,” Bon-Bon said.

                Their conversation was interrupted when Spike came up the stairs holding a tray with two glasses of water and four aspirin on it. He handed one glass and two aspirin to Lyra, then Twilight. “I figured these would help after that shiner Roseluck gave you.”

“Thanks Spike,” both unicorns said in unison.

Twilight easily drank hers’, using telekinesis to lift the glass, but when Lyra tried a searing pain erupted from her horn. She let out a squeal of pain and dropped the aspirin on the bedclothes, holding a hoof to her horn. A wave of nausea and dizziness hit the unicorn and she fell back onto the bed, writhing in pain. Twilight and Bon-Bon rushed to her side, both of their eyes wide with concern and fear.

“Don’t use your magic yet, Lyra! Magical backlash as powerful as that will have lasting side effects. Headaches and dizziness are just small symptoms. The physician Paracelsus said that unicorns may lose their horns if they try to use magic too soon after an incident of magical backlash,” Twilight said, going into lecture mode.

The color drained from Lyra’s face at the implication. “Lose my horn? I wouldn’t be able to use magic, play my lyre, or do anything. I’d have to carry everything in my mouth like an earth pony. Oh Celestia help me! I don’t want to get weird stuff in my mouth! Who knows where other ponies’ mouths have been!” Lyra slumped down and buried her head in a pillow while Bon-Bon glared at Lyra for her ‘earth pony’ comment.

“You shouldn’t have to worry if you don’t use magic for a little while. Wait about a week before you try any magic, and then only start with levitating small objects and the like. You should be fine if you just get some rest. I’ve dealt with cases of magical backlash before, mostly from exhausting myself or messing up a spell. None of my cases were as severe as yours, so you should be extra careful. I know a poultice that should help with the pain in your horn, too.”

“Thanks Twilight,” the mint-green unicorn replied.

“You should try to go back to sleep after taking the aspirin. We’ll check up on you in an hour or two. We also have to wake Roseluck up and tell her you’re fine. I hope you feel better, Lyra,” Twilight said, levitating Roseluck and walking down the stairs with Bon-Bon and Spike.

Lyra reached for the aspirin, still on the blanket, and attempted to pick them up with her hooves. After several attempts she resigned herself to leaning down and sucking them into her mouth. She managed to hold the glass, albeit unsteadily, and drank down the water and pills. Setting it down on the nightstand, she curled up and laid her head down on the pillow, drifting into thought.

Foreign magic? Why would foreign magic interfere with Twilight’s spell? For that matter, where did the magic come from? Was it another unicorn, or something else? The only other races that can use magic are the direwolves and qilinese, and they would have no reason to use magic on me. They don’t even live anywhere near Equestria. It involved my memories, so maybe it was John. Why would John erase my memories? The only reason is that he didn’t want the existence of humans to be known, but then why did he give me Henry? And why can I remember him, but not the next few hours after? I didn’t go to sleep for a while after I was found. My parents say that some Royal Guards asked about the situation, but they left when they learned that I just got lost. Apparently they were on some mission in the Everfree forest. What if the foreign magic involved the Guard or Celestia?

Nah, that can’t be it. The Princess would never do something like erase a pony’s memories.

Right?

***

The city of Canterlot has long been called the jewel of Equestria, and it has lived up to the name. Sitting astride the tallest mountain in the country, Mount Canter, the capital city of Canterlot acts as a beacon for the rest of Equestria, shining its light upon the nation under the guidance of the benevolent goddess and monarch, Princess Celestia. Made up of monolithic towers of gold, ivory and gem studded blocks of marble, Canterlot painted the perfect image of a city fit for a queen and the loyal Guard and aristocracy who served and protected her. Ancient buildings and mansions contrasted with modern businesses and inventions like the steam cars that bustled in and out the thoroughfares and streets. Merchants peddled their wares at the bazaar, selling silks and spices from far-off countries and kingdoms. Cries of “The finest!” and “Only sold here!” mingled with the talk of the buyers and gossip of the wealthy as they trotted around the wonderful city. Canterlot was truly a gem among cities.

Past the lower market and housing districts was the haven of the upper class. The royals and aristocracy had built a ring of mansions and estates, flaunting their wealth and power. Garden parties and social gatherings were a constant thing, with talk of business and inheritance mixing with talk of pleasure and leisure. Discussions of art and high culture could always be found along with bits of politics and strategically crafted marriages, all to add status and power to the ponies the talk was about.

This ring of riches and opulence enclosed the Crown Jewel of Canterlot, the Royal Palace, home to the diarchs Princess Celestia and her sister, the recently redeemed Princess Luna. Within the walls of the Palace was the School for Gifted Unicorns, built by Celestia in 269 C.E. for the express purpose of fostering magical talent among the many unicorns that lived in Canterlot and beyond. An exchange program had recently opened up, though only a few Qilinese had joined the school. There was talk that the direwolf clans were thinking of sending a child from each main family to study and improve relations, yet certain dietary differences might make that difficult. It was all talk, anyhow.

The Headmistress of the school, Princess Celestia herself, currently sat beneath the shade of an oak tree in the north castle gardens, drinking a cup of pekoe tea and catching up on some reading, glad to be away from the monotony that comes with ruling a country. Since the return of her sister she had mountains of free time on her hooves. While she still dealt with most of the work, Luna and her Night Court had taken quite a bit of the load off her back. Several of the royals had taken to the nocturnal lifestyle, befriending Luna and helping her with readjusting to the modern world and governing the country. Surprisingly, Luna’s best friend was Blueblood. He had taken it upon himself to teach her the ways of the modern Canterlot socialite and, while Celestia was wary at first, she had found that it had done both Blueblood and Luna a world of good. Luna had quickly integrated into society due to being forced to go to parties by the prince, and Blueblood had mellowed out and learned to be a proper gentlecolt due to Luna’s Old World manners and a generous application of the Royal Canterlot Voice. The prince was even seeing somepony, not a stuck up noble, but a showmare by the name of Trixie.

Even though everything seemed to be tranquil and happy, Celestia still felt uneasy. What with the recent changeling invasion, she had felt that the Royal Guard needed to be expanded and their training standards re-evaluated. The Guard now had a much tougher regimen, and even though this had deterred some ponies, the invasion had caused many ponies to join to protect their country. In less than three months the Guard had swelled to twice the size it had been before, and it was still growing. Celestia had also authorized the creation of local militias, sending some of her top guards out to train them. Even Ponyville, the home of her student Twilight Sparkle had a militia. It was led by Macintosh Apple, who had turned out to be a surprisingly good drill sergeant.

Though the Guard had grown larger and the militia had been created, Celestia still felt something was wrong. For the last few days there had been a feeling that she was being watched by something more powerful than her. There was nothing more powerful than her, the exceptions being Discord and a changeling queen hopped up on concentrated love. This sense of fear had made her slightly paranoid, causing her to keep a protective barrier around her personal chambers at all times, with only her most trusted servants and guards knowing how to open it. The barrier blocked against physical and psychic attacks, and it was barely detectable, unless one was skilled in magic. Celestia had also started an exercise program to strengthen herself and increase the chances that an embarrassing defeat, like the one during her niece’s wedding, wouldn’t happen again. She had already lost some weight and could feel stallions and mares glancing at her flank more than usual.

Her reverie was broken by the sound of a filly giggling. The princess lifted her muzzle from her book, a tawny romance novel she wouldn’t dare let the populace catch her reading, and looked around for the source of the laughter.

The source turned out to be a filly who was rolling around in the peonies and daffodils of the garden. She was a unicorn with a light red coat and blue mane. She had yet to earn a cutiemark. Celestia recognized her as the child of one of her servants. It was summer break, after all, so servants would often take their children with them to work, sending them to play in the daycare or the garden. The child was humming some sort of tune while she frolicked and rolled happily in the flowers.

“Excuse me, little filly, but what song are you humming? It sounds beautiful,” the princess inquired.

The filly stuck her head out of the flowers, a rose petal sticking to her nose. “It doesn’t have a name. It’s an old nursery rhyme from a book I read. Would you like to hear it, Princess?” the filly asked exuberantly.

“Of course I would.”

The unicorn foal jumped out of the flowers and ran up to the princess. Clearing her throat with a cute little “Ahem,” she started the song.

When the nights are long, dark and cold

They shall be lit bright by the race of old.

Their king is graced with eternal youth

Wearing a necklace of direwolf tooth.

He sits upon the thrown not yet seen

That mysterious monarch, the Man of Green.

A just ruler is he, righteous and fair

He banishes evil, all tyrants beware.

The king is gone, but not for long

Soon to return to right a terrible wrong.

So there he waits on a throne not yet seen

That mysterious monarch, the Man of Green.

The filly finished her song and looked up at the princess with her big, round eyes, waiting to hear praise. Celestia tried not to show how unsettled she was by the song, not wanting to upset the filly.

“That was beautiful. You have an amazing voice, little one. Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if you got a cutiemark for singing one of these days.”

An impossibly wide smile erupted on the filly’s face, who jumped and down with glee at being complimented by royalty.

“Could you tell me what book you read that from? I’ve never heard that song before.”

“The book was called Songs of My Ancestors. I think it was written by Princess Platinum’s grandfather. That’s what my mommy says, anyway. Oh, can you play with me, Princess? That is, if you’re not busy.” The filly widened her eyes and stuck out her lower lip, going for the cuteness factor, hoping it would work on the princess.

It did.

“All right, little one, I’ll play with you. I also didn’t get your name,” the princess replied.

“My name is Winter Breeze, Princess! Ooh, can we play tag? I like tag!”

“Of course we can play tag. And you know what?” The princess paused for a moment then tapped the filly on the nose with her hoof. “You’re it!”

“No fair!”

The princess ran away through the garden, the filly hot on her hooves, but her mind was elsewhere. Platinum’s grandfather, Prince Bronze Light, had been a friend of Starswirl, and he had the gift of prophecy. One of his books had predicted the founding of Equestria. He would normally write his prophecies in the forms of stories or songs to make sure they wouldn’t be known to the public and cause chaos. Bronze had become insane towards the end of his life, but any prophecy of his that was deciphered or revealed would come to be true, but not always in the way expected. Celestia hoped that Winter’s song was just that, a song about the legend of those despicable creatures. Because if it wasn’t, she knew one thing.

She wouldn’t live much longer.

***

Wind moved through the trees, whipping the branches into a frenzy of leaves and twigs, the sound more akin to a howling noise than anything a tree would make. The sound echoed throughout the forest, the animals and creatures that called the place home lifting their heads and stopping their activities to listen to the eerie noise. It wasn’t a natural wind. The animals could feel it. There was magic in this wind, not pony magic, but something much older and wilder. The breeze seemed to move of its own accord, travelling a specific path through the foliage. Across a chasm the wind moved, stopping once it crossed the other side. The howling noise increased, sounding like that of a wolf, only much deeper, intelligence apparent in the sound. The wind coalesced, forming into a tight ball of magic and air. It stretched out, giving itself form. The body shape was the first thing seen, thrice as long as a pony’s body and nearly as tall as Celestia. Then came the features, long claws on muscular legs with dangerously sharp teeth in a canine head. The wind solidified, gaining form and color, the color of a starless night. It was something seldom seen in Equestria, but it was known and feared.

It was a direwolf.

The majestic beast lay down on the grass and waited. He had a friend to wait for, and he wanted to make sure he had arrived early. She was never on time, always being incredibly early or incredibly late. He may end up waiting for two hours for her to arrive, but he had grown to be patient with her. She was different, but in a good way.

Around twenty minutes later the direwolf heard the sound of something crashing through the trees and landing hard on the ground. Whatever had crashed issued a small grown before getting up, rather noisily at that. The sound of hoofsteps approaching him from behind made the beast look up and turn his head. What he saw was a grey colored Pegasus mare with a bubble cuitemark and a blond mane standing before him with a sheepish grin.

“I’m late again, aren’t I?

“You’re early, actually. Now come give your old friend a hug. I haven’t seen you in ages, Ditzy!”

The mare rushed forward and wrapped her forelegs around the direwolf, burying her face in his fur. “It’s so good to see you again, Shift. Though I wish we were meeting under better circumstances.”

Shift nodded solemnly. “I wish that, too. Anyway, how is Dinky doing? Has she set anything on fire with her magic? I remember you saying she did that almost constantly when she first started learning.”

Ditzy let go of her friend and laughed. “No, she’s actually gotten a lot better. She can levitate several objects now with no problem. I got a few books for her to learn from, and she’s been practicing nonstop. I find her asleep with her nose in a book almost every night. Though I hate having to go and check out books from the Ponyville Library. Every time I see Twilight I’m reminded of that bastard. I even dropped a piano on Twilight about two months after she moved to town. I feel kind of bad about it now. It’s not her fault her brother’s a deadbeat dad. She doesn’t even know. But that bastard will get what’s coming to him tomorrow. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Enough chit-chat, we should get going. The meeting is starting soon.”

The pony and direwolf began to walk through the woods, the direwolf walking slowly, his long legs making it hard for the Pegasus to keep up with him. Ditzy rarely flew when she was close to the ground, due to her habit of crashing into things.

It didn’t take long for them to reach their destination, an old, ruined castle. What once served as the capital of Equestria, the Everfree Castle was now broken and rundown. The walls that had surrounded it had been shattered and worn away, the foundations being the only thing left. Craters marked the ground, telltale signs of Celestia’s fight with Nightmare Moon all those years ago. The fight had nearly destroyed the entire castle, leaving only smoldering ramparts and crumbling towers. The Everfree forest had soon reclaimed the castle and the lands surrounding it. Seldom visited, the castle was a perfect place to hide and plot.

Ditzy and Shift made their way to a large structure in the middle of the ruins. It had once been the Chamber of Harmony, housing the Elements, where the Bearers had defeated Nightmare Moon and turned her back to Luna. The chamber had recently been rebuilt, the holes in the walls being repaired and the entire thing being enchanted with protective spells and incantations. If observed by a creature with the Sight, the entire compound would be seen glowing, the power radiating off of it. Even a creature without the sight could tell that it contained powerful magic, the familiar tingle of arcane energy filling the air.

Approaching a steel door set in the building, Ditzy knocked on it with a hoof. A small panel opened and slid out, revealing a pair of maroon eyes.

“Password?”

Shift sighed. “Come on, Radiance, you know who we are. Nobody can remember your ridiculous passwords, anyway.”

The voice on the other end spoke up. “How do I know you’re Shift and Ditzy. You could be spies for Celestia, or changelings for that matter. I won’t let you in until you say the password.”

“Open the door or I’ll rip your throat out,” Shift said, his voice filled with irritation.

The speaker beyond the door paused. “Password accepted.”

The great door slowly eased open, letting the direwolf and pony into the compound. The door-keeper, a pink unicorn with a blue mane, closed it behind them, using a spell from her horn to seal it with several mundane locks and more enchanted ones. She had a cutiemark in the shape of a lock surrounded by a six-sided star.

The unicorn hurried to follow the two, already halfway down the hallway. Torches lined the walls, illuminating the granite passageway and the motifs that were painted upon them. The images showed vast armies of ponies and humans fighting against an with a red coat and orange mane, who was drawn glowing like the sun and burning whatever she came across. The images topped at another, smaller door, made of hawthorn and covered in runes. Radiance stepped forward and placed her horn to the door. The runes reacted to her touch, glowing for a few seconds before returning to normal. The door slowly swung open into a chamber nearly as big as the throne room in Canterlot. Weapons and various other items were stacked along racks on the walls, reaching about halfway to the ceiling. Swords, spears, knives, and a menagerie of offensive weapons clashed with bottles and vials filled with liquids that could only have some magical significance. A large window on the opposite side of the room gave a view of the surrounding area and forest.

A group of about a dozen ponies stood in the middle, milling about and waiting for something to happen. Several of them were checking over their weapons and other implements, sharpening swords and daggers or fixing saddlebags and leather armor. The two ponies and direwolf walked into the crowd, greeting each other with simple hellos. Ditzy sat down on the ground and waited. She was tired from her flight, and she hoped Firefly and John wouldn’t take too long with the Body Transfer ceremony. It was a fairly straight forward spell, but it required quite a lot of preparation and magic to accomplish.

After a few minutes of waiting a creak could be heard coming from the opposite side of the chamber. Two ponies walked out from the door. The first was a green cloaked pegasus with a stern look on her face. Her mane was blue and her fur was orange. Her cuitemark, two blue lightning bolts, was hidden underneath the cloak. The next was a brown unicorn stallion who, unlike his companion, had a smile on his face and was whistling a jaunty tune as he walked. He had a black mane and a tan horn poking out from it. His cuitemark was a hammer surrounded by a black circle. The assembled ponies and direwolf bowed in reverence as he approached. The unicorn surveyed the crowd for a while before clearing his throat and saying one command.

“Rise.”

The ponies rose and waited in anticipation for their orders. This was what they had been waiting for. Several years of careful planning had finally lead up to this. Tomorrow their long awaited goal would be fulfilled, and they would finally have revenge on that witch that destroyed their home.

“So,” John said, pausing for dramatic effect, “Who’s ready to nail that tyrant into her coffin tomorrow? I know I am!”

This brought a round of cheers from the ponies and direwolf, all except Firefly, who just face-hoofed. “Can you try to be serious for more than one minute, John? We can’t have any screw ups.”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head, Firefly. We already know the plan; we’re just going over it one more time. So, Shift, all the Diamond Dog clans have been assembled?”

“Indeed, my lord. All the ones in Equestria and several beyond have been gathered under the banner of my brother. Their warriors have taken their positions in the mines beneath Canterlot and the other vital locations. The repopulation efforts have gone very smoothly, as well. Twenty new pups have been born. It was a bit difficult convincing the surplus females from my clan to mate with the male Dogs, but it has worked itself out. I must say, it will be great once the Dogs have been restored to their former glory. They won’t have to take anymore slaves to survive. What little slaves they did have were released when my brother defeated their alphas. I found it strange that the tribe that lived near Ponyville didn’t want to fight, though. They’re convinced that some pony will destroy them with her banshee wails if they try.”

“Strange indeed. Anywhoozit, Firefly, you’ll incapacitate Twilight Sparkle, her dragon, and as many of the Bearers as possible. Just make sure to get the first two, and don’t be seen. While any of them could be a problem, without their leader they’ll be easier to deal with.

“Next is the weather squad. Clover, Ritz, Cracker, and Tim, you four will hide in the thunderclouds above the city and use the force gems to make the lightning stronger. After that, aim the lightning at the Night Guard barracks, the School for Gifted Unicorns, and the tower Princess Luna sleeps in. If you have some extra energy left, blast Fancy Pants’ mansion. That prick’s had it coming for a long time.

“Cyclone, Zephyr, and Radiance will break in and steal the Elements of Harmony during the attack. I know the magical lock will be tough to break, but I have faith you can do it, Radiance. If you doubt you can make it out with all of them, just try and take one. But remember, your safety is more important. If you can’t get any, get out as fast as possible. I don’t want any of you getting caught.

“Pony Joe and Moondancer, I need you two at the train station in Canterlot. Wear your disguises, and, when the time comes, take out the tracks. It’ll be more difficult to get the guards in and out of Canterlot. It’ll also supply a distraction.

“Graphite, Thoroughbred, and Apricot, you’ll place the magebomb in the cloud production machine in Cloudsdale. When that thing goes off, Equestria will have no place to make clouds and control the weather for a while. This will cause the weather patrols in every town to have to make clouds manually, which takes up quite a lot of time. All the pegasi will be stretched thin.

“Ditzy, your job is to take out Shining Armor. I know you have a vendetta against him, just try not to kill him. But by all means, beat the ever-living shit out of the guy.

“We all know what my job is. Once I get to the throne room, I’ll change back to my old body and rip out Celestia’s heart. After that I’ll head back here. The army of Dogs will have decimated the Equestrian military outposts and fortresses by then and will make it back to the ruins of Tambelon, where we’ll plan our next move, with the exception of the Northern tribes, who will be able to take the border with the Old Lands rather easily. We can’t take all of Equestria with our current forces, as I didn’t count on Celestia building up the Guard this quick or making the militias. This attack will completely destabilize the country, giving us time to plan smash-and-grab missions to gather territory. Once we’ve gathered enough territory and resources around Tambelon, we’ll be able to finally capture and keep forts for the long term. All of your family members should already be in the city, correct?”

There were nods from all ponies present.

“Good. Within the year, we will have killed the tyrant and butcher of Frostin, revived the Diamond Dog tribes, and established a new order in Equestria. Long live the New Oppidum Empire!”

A resounding cheer broke out amongst all those present, repeating the mantra of their leader.

“Long live the New Oppidum Empire! Long live the new Oppidum Empire! Long live the new Oppidum Empire!”