Ask and ye shall receive.
The room was quiet as everypony waited. Applejack, a scar running up the side of her muzzle and over her now-missing ear, stared out the window at the softly rolling clouds. Pinkie Pie, smiling but lacking her usual energy, was leaning heavily on Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy, dark rings under her eyes, was curled up with a sleeping Spike in a corner, while Rarity sketched something on a pad, frowning slightly. Twilight sighed, looking at her friends and how much this war had hurt them all.
War. It was a word that hadn't been uttered in Equestria since... well, since before Nightmare Moon. And it wasn't really the best word to describe the conflict between Equestria and these strange, alien invaders.
Slaughter was a better word.
They had shown up one day, in huge numbers outside Manehattan. Several welcoming parties had gone out; several welcome parties were horribly killed. The entirety of Manehattan had followed. After that, it had been horrible loss after horrible loss. Sure, there were victories here and there; Applejack had led a successful counterattack and drove a war party away from Hoofington long enough for civilians to retreat. By and large, though, the ponies were loosing, and loosing quickly. The sprawling country had been reduced to the mountains around Canterlot and many small towns and hamlets scattered across the countryside.
Thus, the Princesses had summoned Twilight and her friends. They were waiting now for Celestia to acknowledge them, and it was getting on her friend's nerves.
"Ah ought ta be out there," Applejack muttered. "Them buggers are massin' fer an attack, and we need ta get ready for 'em." What she didn't say was that the remaining ponies had no idea what they were doing. The best they could do was dig some trenches and pray to Celestia.
Rainbow Dash fidgeted, disturbing Pinkie. "I need to get out there and kick some flank," she said. "Sitting here and staring at them isn't getting us anywhere."
"We all want to do something, Rainbow," Twilight reassured, "but the Princess needs us for something. Whatever she has planned has to be important if she pulled us away from our preparations." Secretly, she was afraid her mentor was going to tell them to run while she held off the invading army.
"Well, ah sure don't appreciate her callin' us in only to leave us hangin,'" Applejack grumbled.
"I am afraid that it was necessary, Applejack." The melodious voice of Equestria's ruler soothed the hearts of all the ponies present, comforting them without a single word to that end. "My sister and I had to make some final preparations." The goddess herself stepped around a corner into the room, bathing everypony present in a soft glow.
"What's going on, Princess?" Twilight asked, going straight to the point. "You didn't say what you needed us for."
Celestia sighed. "Walk with me." Fluttershy dragged herself to her hooves, Rarity put away her sketchpad, and the six friends followed Celestia as she walked into the palace.
"We're loosing," Celestia started. "Almost to the point where we can do nothing to stop these invaders. It is not because we lack the strength to fight, but because we don't know how." With these words, she sighed. "The last Equestrian war was long, bloody, and before even Luna's time. Since then, my ponies haven't needed to raise a hoof to fight, and that makes me happier than anything. But without practice, skills rust. With more than two centuries since that last battle, even I know little of warfare." With this, she stopped outside an unremarkable door. "You are here to remedy that."
The door, surrounded by a warm yellow glow, swung inwards, revealing an empty room. Princess Luna sat in the middle, finishing a simple circle surrounded by eight symbols. She looked up at the entering ponies.
"Good, you're all here," she said. "If you would stand here, Rarity... and here, Pinkie Pie..."
"What's this all for?" Rainbow asked as she stood on a stylized lightning bolt inside a jagged circle.
"Equestria needs a leader," Celestia said, standing on a simplified sun symbol. "One who knows about warfare. Without proper guidance, we will loose; we may already have. But by channeling the powers of the Elements, Luna and I can summon someone who can help us."
This was good news; no, this was great news. If there was somepony-no, someone who could help us, Twilight thought, then it was worth doing anything for. "What do you need us to do, Princess?"
"Just stand there," Celestia said. She closed her eyes, and her horn started to glow. Luna joined her, eyes closed and channeling magic. Twilight felt something tug at her, and with a flash the Element of Magic appeared on her head. Her friends gained their own elements in flashes of color, and each of them was gripped by a white glow. Feeling the familiar power growing in her, Twilight closed her eyes and let it run its course.
While nopony saw it,t he room was filled with a blinding white glow emanating from each of the eight floating forms. It seemed like an eternity to Twilight, as she floated there, the power of Magic flowing through her to Celestia and Luna. Then, the magic stopped, Twilight collapsed, and every ounce of power in the room imploded, converging on the center of the room. Twilight stood shakily, looking at the other ponies in the room. Each of her friends stood up, shaken but alright, while Celestia and Luna looked at the pony that had joined them.
He was a brown earth pony, strongly built and bearing a long, unkempt mane. His cutie mark was some kind of blade, and he seemed to be asleep, breathing deeply and evenly.
"Who is he?" She managed to ask. Celestia examined the new pony for a moment before replying.
"Our savior."
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Topic: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic (Read 224573 times)