Equestria's Ray of Hope

by The_Darker_Fonts

The Burning City

The billowing smoke from the fire’s below stung Nova’s eyes, but that wasn’t the reason he was crying. He stood at the same precipice he had been crowned on all those millenia ago, wearing the same crown, but looking over a much different city in a time he could never have predicted. The city that had stood since before his birth, the first settlement of the strangest land, now burned.

Three months ago, the first wall had finally fallen, practically shattered by the endless barrage of the minotaurs’ trebuchets. Then, last month, the second wall had been overrun by the minotaurs, tens of thousands of them flooding into the interior and slaughtering everypony they had come across. Diadem had been slain that day, standing with the last of the soldiers fighting on the wall. Nova had tried to save them, but even with his almighty power, nothing could be done to save them from the endless horde. Then, at last, three days ago they breached the third wall, breaking the last line of defense between the minotaurs and Old Unitaria.

Fighting was ongoing all across the wall and in the neighborhoods directly around it, whatever soldiers remaining putting up a valiant effort to buy as much time for their friends and family as possible. The fighting was finally dying down, though, as the last several hundred of his soldiers not at the harbor were overwhelmed in the vicious melee. Ponies were hardy creatures, but against the bovine beasts, they stood no chance.

Nova should have been able to do more, should have been able to save his ponies as the Pathfinder had done four thousand years ago. He had killed hundreds upon hundreds of minotaurs in the last few days alone, but there were always more to replace them. He was forced to abandon the effort to lead the evacuation of Unitaria, ensuring that every foal, mare, and stallion was aboard a ship ready to leave or equipped for the long flight over the tundras. Tendril would lead the ships the long way around the northern tips of the continent, through the melting ice and to the far eastern coast, while he would guide the flock of pegasi across the continent, over the mountains, and to the far deserts.

“My Prince, you must come away from there immediately,” Ember Wing instructed, rushing to Nova’s side. “The minotaurs’ crossbows could undoubtedly reach us by now.”

“I would strike them down first,” the Prince spat bitterly, his eyes scanning the streets near the large palace for signs of life. They hadn’t breached that far into the city yet, the brave souls on the wall still attracting the most attention.

“You’ve no time for that,” Ember insisted, pulling him away from the ledge. “The final ships have been loaded. Bless those stallions on the wall, they bought us enough time. We’ve everypony ready to embark or take flight. We just need to load whatever soldiers we can on the final ship.”

“I’ll gather whoever I can,” Nova grimly told the stallion, looking him over long and hard. “Get to the ship. You’ll need the head start.”

“Yes, my Prince,” Ember agreed, his voice shaky. With the slightest hesitation, stealing one last glance at the burning city, the earth pony turned and began running.

Sighing deeply, Nova turned once again to the precipice, this time spreading his wings wide and lighting his horn. Eyes set on the wall nearest to him, he thrust his wings down with a powerful burst of energy, sending him soaring into the air. He narrowed his eyes against the wind, looking down in the empty, cluttered streets for any wandering soldiers. It didn’t take long before he saw a group of maybe thirty soldiers standing behind a makeshift barricade at the end of a street, prepared to fight to the death to defend it.

“Flee to the harbor,” he called down, enhancing his voice so it echoed over the city. “The way is clear, get to the boats!”

He watched with the slightest satisfaction as many of the soldiers took off running while several others took flight to meet up with where the pegasi were. He repeated the call as he flew over another group of soldiers, and soon he watched as dozens of soldiers were taking to the skies above the city, their comrades on the ground not far behind them. However, even as the survivors began making their way towards the ships, the minotaurs on and around the wall sensed the change in battle and began attempting to push towards the harbor.

From his vantage point swooping through the sky, he was able to spot a group of charging minotaurs barreling down one of the streets closest to the palace, chasing several dozen of his soldiers. With a growl, he dove toward the street, the wind screaming in his ear. He approached at neck-break speed, spreading his wings wide and cupping his wings to slow himself enough that when he slammed into the ground, he was able to channel that power through himself and into the street. Flowing magic through the action, he turned the street into a wave of shattered cobblestone that flew into the face of the minotaurs, crushing them or rending apart.

There were only a few remaining minotaurs who stumble to a stop at the sight of the black alicorn. He glared at them with his horn glowing, challenging them to approach. The beasts hesitantly raised their weapons, Nova’s cue to charge them. Speed enhanced by magic, he lithely leapt over the dead bodies and broken street, slashing his glowing hot horn through the abdomen of the nearest minotaur. The others moved to swing at him, but he pulsed shield out from himself, pushing away them all and sending a few into the air. Levitating several swords and axes that lay scattered across the street, he flung them into the remaining minotaurs, sending each down. The street cleared, he shot into the sky again, hungry to fight more minotaurs.

His eyes turned to the wall, where the sounds of fighting had crescendoed into a cacophony of screams and metal clanging. The minotaurs had pushed onto the wall once again, and this time they seemed determined to kill everypony there. With a growl, he soared through the air, swooping over the city, igniting his horn once again. As he neared a segment of the white brick wall covered in minotaurs forcibly advancing on his soldiers, he released a massive beam of fire from his horn, lining it up perfectly with the wall so it burned all the way down to the next parapet. Dozens of minotaurs were incinerated by the blaze while several others were sent over the wall by the shock of the blast, their screams cutting off abruptly. Circling, he dove towards where the few minotaurs he hadn’t blasted were fighting his soldiers. Staying in the air, he wrapped his hooves around one of the horns of the minotaurs near back as he passed by, dragging it over the side of the wall and letting it drop. He went to replicate the move, only finding that his soldiers had already cleared the few minotaurs.

“Get to the ships as fast as you can,” he instructed. “Don’t try fighting the minotaurs. Just run.”

He didn’t stick around long enough for the soldiers to respond, swooping over the next parapet. A couple crossbow bolts flew at him, but they were each too inaccurate to threaten him. This portion of the wall was bloodied so severely that it could have passed as always being red, minotaurs still crowding it. He ignored them, reminding himself that saving the lives of his soldiers was more valuable than killing a couple more minotaurs. The next several parapets were either destroyed or overran as well, until he neared the final western parapet, where the wall would then link with the sheer walls of the Western Pillar, the cliff that overlooked the city’s west.

Here, he found several hundred of his soldiers trapped. The parapet was blockaded so that no minotaurs could breach their lines from there, but the minotaurs were already using ladders and crossbows to try exterminating the remainder of his soldiers here. They fired from buildings that rose near the wall from the other side of it, the commercial interior between the third and second walls, giving them a lethal vantage point. Once again lighting his horn, this time he had to strain as he tore one of the larger, stone-brick buildings from its foundation, minotaurs and all. With a grunt, he threw the levitated structure at the other buildings, watching with satisfaction as it crumbled several of the threatening structures with a burst of dust and debris. By fortune alone, several of the ladders, all with minotaurs still climbing them, were collapsed by stray chunks of stone and wood.

With the pressure alleviated momentarily, the soldiers were capable of pushing the last couple of ladders down without Nova’s assistance. He came in for a landing, but even with their successes, there were no cheers from the trapped soldiers. Pausing to take his breath as the crowd of soldiers shuffled, hooves clacking nervously on the stone, the alicorn stared out over the city that burned. The situation was beyond hopeless for them. Even if they managed to push the minotaurs off the wall and retreat to the boats, there was no returning to Unitaria. There wouldn’t be anything to return to once they abandoned the city, as the minotaurs had demonstrated with Green Pasture and Equity.

“My Prince, Ganderbuck, at your service,” an exhausted soldier near him reported once he pushed through the crowd. “We’re thankful to have you, my Prince, but there is nothing you can do to help us. The minotaurs occupy that parapet and our last escape off the wall. If we tried pushing through, we’d be slaughtered like everypony else. Just leave us to stall them as long as possible and we’ll be proud to-”

Nova turned away from the noble stallion, lighting his horn and wrapping his magic around the entire parapet. He felt his strength rapidly begin to drain as he strained to tear the parapet’s stone apart, crushing it and pulling at it as hard as he could. With a sudden, thunderous crack, the parapet shattered where it met the wall. Without missing a beat, he thrust the structure forward, sending it crashing down on the minotaurs on the other side of the wall. The force of the stones crashing against each other caused the entire segment of the wall to collapse, a cloud of white-gray dust to shoot into the air. Over the sound of crashing stones and crumbling brick, Nova was able to hear the soldiers begin to shout orders to each other.

Exhausted though he had grown, the Prince still retained the strength to stand upright and turn to the soldiers once again. Locking eyes with Ganderbuck, he instructed, “Have your unicorns carve out stairs in the side of the cliff with their magic. We’re evacuating soldiers now, and you can only hope now that you outpace the minotaurs.”

“Yes, my Prince,” the shocked stallion replied. Having the soldier’s confirmation, Nova took flight once again, his wings feeling much harder to push against gravity. Nonetheless, he flew, soaring back over the city and towards the eastern segments of the wall, where it would meet with the North Pillar. Much like the Western Pillar, the sheer cliff cradled the city and its harbor, serving as the natural ending to the wall and a barrier to the blasting coastal winds. There were far more minotaurs here, and only scattered, surrounded pockets of soldiers desperately holding their own in the final hours of battle.

His stomach churned with nausea as he recognized that there was no way to save all of them, or even most of them. The minotaurs were overwhelming the soldiers rapidly, so shoving aside his dread and anger, he scanned for the largest pocket of soldiers and flew down towards them. He charged his horn, feeling the strain begin a migraine as he released the spell on the minotaurs not quite on top of his soldiers yet to their right. The burst, not quite focused, exploded with a blossom of flame enveloping the entire segment and breaking apart with a spray of stony shrapnel. He landed right behind the remaining minotaurs, releasing another short slash of magic that cut through the air and halved the minotaurs, extinguishing it before it reached his own ponies.

With this side cleared he burst into the air, charging a final charge of magic as a flash of black obscured his vision, pain from using so much magic too quickly threatening to overtake him. Fighting for his consciousness, he focused on the power in his horn and remembered Concordia’s Edict for the briefest moment, managing to time it with the release of his spell. In an instant, a wave of white, sparking magic surged from the tip of his horn, passing over and around the ponies and then striking the minotaurs. Nova was incapable of watching the rest, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as he felt consciousness finally escape him. He began to fall as he drifted off to-

With a crack he landed on the wall, his left wing breaking on impact and snapping him back awake with a shout of pain. Instantly soldiers moved to help him up, when a sudden explosion lit the entire sky with a blinding flash of white and red, shaking the wall and sending those still standing to the ground. Nova’s eyes widened as he watched with wonder as sparks filled the air, followed by a plume of dust as the Edict worked. Even in spite of his success, he was incapable of getting up himself, requiring the aid of those soldiers knocked to the ground to assist him. When they did so, he recognized the awe in their eyes, which flitted between him and the lingering veins of magic surges in the sky.

“No time, friends,” Nova reminded them with a grunt of pain as he was forced to use the smallest surge of magic to heal the broken bones in his body. “We must evacuate immediately, if you want to live. The boats are loading soldiers now. You must hurry to the harbor. Ignore the enemy; the city is theirs.”

The grim news was not at all unexpected, but even still Nova saw the sorrow in their eyes and defeated glances beyond the wall at the destroyed sections of Unitaria. Taking a breath, stabilizing himself, he consoled, “We must do now as our forefathers did when the winds and snow threatened their homes. We must run and find a new shelter, away from conflict and safe from the hazards that draw us to such ends. Then, we will rebuild a new haven for ponykind to thrive from. Go now, survive that we may rebuild and thrive once again.”

His words seemed to have enough of an effect on the soldiers to get them moving, but even he knew they were simply words right now, especially hard to believe as the soldiers were forced to scramble over dozens of their dead comrades in order to get off the wall. However, with this large group saved and his wing healed enough to fly again, Nova took to the skies on another rescue mission. Before he could get over the next parapet, though, dozens of ponies suddenly were taking flight all across the wall, abandoning those earthbound to their doom. Brow furrowing, he darted through the air to catch one, who upon spotting the alicorn, paused.

“What are you doing soldier, abandoning your comrades,” Nova demanded, looking the pegasus over angrily.

“Sir, General Hayburn gave the order for those who could fly to leave,” the young stallion replied, glancing back down at the wall briefly before cringing and looking away. “He… insisted we lived.”

“Then live,” Nova ordered with a nod. “I will do what I can.”

There was no time for a response, Nova nose-diving straight down into the fray. The scene on the furthest east parapet was similar to that of the western one, save a crucial difference: the minotaurs had breached the parapet. The fighting here was crowded and brutal, minotaurs and ponies alike fighting bitterly for their lives. As he rapidly approached, he ignited his horn to levitate a minotaur, only to find that his previous excursions had left him too exhausted and with too few reserves to use magic. He had to veer sharply off course to prevent himself from crashing headfirst into the minotaurs. The pain in his head almost made him drop from the sky, forcing him to land near the back of the line of ponies.

“My Prince, what are you doing here,” he heard a voice call between the crowded bodies. Nova looked around for the familiar general, picking out Hayburn’s bright golden mane through the crowd. Pushing his way through some of the soldiers, he met the general halfway, to which the stallion immediately told him, “Get out of here, my Prince. We can delay the minotaurs even longer yet.”

“But I can rescue you,” Nova attempted to charge. “I’ve already helped everypony on the western wing. It’s time to evacuate here.”

“There’s nothing you can offer us that is worth more than your life, Nova,” Hayburn replied with a frown. Nova’s eyes followed the stallion’s hoof as it pointed up, revealing the smallest swirl of smoke leaking from his black horn.

Pressing his lips into a thin line, the alicorn declared, “I can still fight, still help you get off this wall.”

A sudden crescendo in screams reminded the both of them that the minotaurs were only a few dozen spans away, the sharp clang of metal on metal piercing the air decisively. Hayburn looked back to Nova, giving him the briefest of smiles, before softly telling him, “Go, my Prince. They will need you in the coming days.”

Nova had to bite back his pride, instead telling the general, “We will always remember you. All of you.”

“Go,” was all Hayburn could say, tears brimming his eyes. “Go…”

Nova went, soaring into the air in the direction of the harbor. He couldn’t bring himself to look back at the wall, to watch those he abandoned fight and die. Instead, he allowed the sweeping winds to carry him down to the harbor, forcing aside emotions momentarily to focus on those he could yet save. In the streets, dozens of soldiers were making their way swiftly to the ships, and in a rare stroke of luck, they weren’t being followed. His eyes turning to the oceans, his heart lifted ever so slightly at the sight of eighteen ships, loaded with as many ponies as would fit, floating in the water. There was one final, nineteenth, ship, still docked on the moor and slowly loading with the trickle of soldiers that were making their way to it.

He flew past it, landing on the foremost, colorful caravel. The deck was crowded with mares, foals, and stallions, all pressed tightly together and watching the smoke rising from their burning homes. His heart groaned at the sight of so many of his ponies suffering, but all he could do now was ensure that they would make it out of this, that their suffering would be alleviated one day. He touched down on the stern, right beside Admiral Junction, startling the young stallion slightly.

“Hoist your anchor, admiral,” Nova commanded before the unicorn could bow. “We must begin leaving immediately. The minotaurs are breaching the Old City and we can’t risk these ships being in crossbow range.”

“Right away, my Prince,” Junction replied with another quick bow before bellowing the orders to those around him. A pegasus standing nearby took off to carry the news to the other boats, as the ponies on the deck began to stir at the news. Shouts, wails, and crying soon followed as the reality that they were leaving their homeland for good. Some simply stared at the smoke rising over the city while others glanced warily at the cliffs that flanked either side of the harbor, shrouding it in shadow. As the ship jerked, beginning to raise anchor, Nova gently lifted off the wooden deck and taking off toward the wall once again.

In spite of himself, he had to check to see if there was anypony he could save left, if there was even one soldier alive that he could help survive. However, with his rapid approach to the wall, he could see for himself that there was nopony to save, and nothing he could do. Where Hayburn and his soldiers had been struggling just a few minutes ago now lay hundreds of dead ponies and minotaurs, painting the white wall red. Swallowing hard, he veered away from the terrible scene, towards the leeward side of the Eastern Pillar. Topping the slim mountain and coming back down, he was greeted by the sight of some hundred thousand pegasi, crammed onto the side of the sheer face.

“It’s time to take flight, my ponies,” he called, his voice booming over the shrill wind. Their eyes turned to them as they tore their gaze from the ocean and columns of smoke rising over the mountaintop. “The city is evacuated, and the soldiers are making their way to the last ship. We must leave now to be ahead of the boats!”

Here and there came half-hearted cheers or calls of affirmation, but the vast majority of those gathered simply began standing up, the dire situation far too grim for any amount of celebration. Nova himself felt one last, terrible tug at his heartstrings as he too glanced at the burning city from his spot in the sky, the culmination of three years of relentless and brutal war. The ponies couldn’t see his pain, though, not right now. He needed to be strong for them, to lead them one last time with courage that he was struggling to muster in the face of such a massacre. He could be thankful at the very least for these couple hundred thousand ponies that remained, though it was a depressing drop from the over two million ponies who had once lived all across his great Unitaria.

The pegasi began taking to the sky, a massive, moving flock of young and old, stallion and mare, civilian and soldier. They moved as fast as they could, following the lead of Hollow Sea, the chief navigator Nova had appointed to guide the flock. Like far too many of those in charge, he was much too young for such a prominent position, but he was also practically the only one Nova could personally trust for such an important task. Satisfied with the pegasi’s departure, the Prince turned for a final time to check on the status of the boats, waiting until the last of the pegasi had left the cliff’s face before leaving.

He found the boats all moving, four of them having already escaped the confines of the cliffs and harbor and out of the narrow opening into the open ocean. The rest were moving to exit, with the ship bearing surviving soldiers the last in line. Before Nova could begin his descent towards them, however, a sudden ball of flame smashed into the side of the frontmost caravel, shattering the wood and sending ponies flying overboard.

Screams and shouts filled the air as Nova froze in his path, ice cold dread overwhelming him as he realized exactly what was happening. Somehow, the minotaurs had managed to get their flotilla to harbor, and now his ponies were left defenseless in the water.

Another flaming projectile struck the same boat, followed by several others flying through the air. Two of the other ships were struck as well, one splitting in half at the force of the blow and beginning to sink immediately. From just out of sight, two minotaur galleasses emerged, smoothly moving past the crippled ships and taking aim into the harbor itself.

“No,” Nova shouted desperately, diving towards the waters and charging his horn, pushing through the pain. Blackness enveloped his vision, but he managed to unleash an unrestrained beam of magic at the nearest ship. The effort and pain took the last of his consciousness, and he once again was enveloped in black.

He wasn’t even aware that he was falling until, with a sudden slap, he crashed into the ocean. Searing pain shot through his body at the harsh impact and his head burned like it was on fire, but his greatest concern now was that he was plunging deeper into the harbor’s waters. Forcing his eyes open, he began sluggishly kicking his legs and flapping his dredged wings, managing to begin rising out of the warm, salty water. Emerging with a painful gasp, he looked around, eyes stinging and head pounding.

His blast had leveled the two minotaur boats to nothing but floating, flaming debris and dead minotaurs. However, another trio of minotaur galleasses had breached the harbor, with even more attempting to enter still. Nova desperately tried to fly out of the water, but his wings were too weighed down by the water, his plumage drenched, and muscles exhausted. He was helpless, floating there with burning wreckage around him, his city in flames and his fleeing ponies under attack. Tears began to fall as, just a couple dozen spans behind him, a flaming projectile slammed into a nearby caravel, a fresh chorus of screams echoing from the boat.

“My Prince,” a voice cried from above, drawing Nova’s teary eyes. Three pegasi descended to him, reaching out to pull him from the crashing waves. They struggled for several moments before finally being capable of pulling him from the water, lifting him into the air. Just as they were beginning to go, however, a flurry of crossbow bolts flew past them, one striking the pegasus carrying his right wing straight in the head. He fell without a sound, almost bringing the rest of them with him. The other two were able to grab Nova before he slipped away, flapping their wings hard to get out of the range of the crossbows.

“That was Saunder,” the pegasus who took the fallen stallion’s place to his right growled in exertion. “He always wanted to be a soldier.”

“He woulda been a good one,” the second pegasus- whose voice Nova vaguely recognized- mournfully replied. Soon, they had managed to lift him enough away that they were no longer threatened by the minotaur’s weapons. Others swiftly joined them two, helping tow their Prince out of harm’s way, as all he could do was helplessly watch his ponies be slaughtered. Some unicorns on the ships were blasting back at the attacking galleasses, and even though they were doing damage, it soon became evident it was not enough.

As he rose higher into the sky, slowly being pulled north and up, he caught sight of the minotaur’s fleet beyond the Eastern Pillar. There were at least fifty more ships, each equipped with a pair of trebuchets, loaded and ready to fire. Even then, Nova bitterly realized that they wouldn’t need them. By the time the pegasi had pulled him to the rest of the flock, there were only three caravels still floating and five minotaur vessels that filled the harbor. Tears streamed down his face as he watched yet another of the pony’s ships get hammered by a volley from the minotaurs, sending it and the ponies aboard into the sea.

“There’s nothing we can do, my Prince,” the pegasus to his right softly told him. “You have to lead us. We need you if any of us are going to survive.”

Nova remained silent for a long, sullen moment as he pondered his friend’s words. Finally, after collecting his strength and silencing his pain momentarily, he commanded, “Let me go.”

“What,” the pegasus to his left questioned. Nova gave him a firm look out of the corner of his eye, confirming to the hesitant stallion what he wished. Hesitantly, he nodded and let go of him in conjunction with the others holding him, allowing him to drop.

The wind whipped his face as he fell, but setting his brow, he unfurled his wings, catching the air and lifting into the sky once again. He felt the pain in his taxed muscles and used it to drive him, pushing himself to rejoin the flock of pegasus in a matter of seconds. His larger wings allowed him to swoop around them and take the lead in the front. Many of the pegasi were looking behind them as they flew, watching in horror as clouds of smoke rose from the flaming ships in the harbor.

His heart, battered already by these last three years of tragedy, broke at the sight. Many of the pegasi in the crowd had family members that were earth ponies or unicorns, and now there was no chance that any of them would make it to a safe haven. Somehow, he needed to draw their attention away from their losses and survive until they could land safely… somewhere. He knew better than to try to use an inkling of his dwindling magic reserves, so instead he relied solely on the power of his voice.

“My ponies, brothers and sisters,” he called to those that could hear him. “We must move, we need to fly as far and fast as we can. It is the only way that we can help our lost family now! In life we will remember and redeem their deaths, avenge the hatred of the Seven Tribes through our continued existence, refusing to be subjugated and exterminated by their armies! They have bought us time we would not otherwise have, and now we must use it to live!”

The pegasus, the remainder of his ponies, watched him with teary, scared eyes, but beyond that, they listened. In a matter of mere moments, they began flying forward once again, turning from Unitaria one last time and heading the course northward. Nova watched them fly past, assuming the role of guardian now that those who hesitated were once again safely on the move. His eyes strayed to the city behind them all, to where smoke continued to rise in the air from the burning buildings and sinking vessels.

He swallowed down the pain of a hundred thousand lost lives and a city he had provided peace for over two thousand years. Just this one more time, he needed to remain stronger than the forces of aversion as he had millenia ago and lead his ponies to peace. Then… then he could hurt. But right now, Aspects prevailing, his ponies needed their Prince.

Turning in the air, gathering his strength in mind and body, he flapped his wings fiercely, ascending into the clouds to guide the ponies of Unitaria to peace.

Author's Note:

Oh yeah, there's more of them. As this point it should probably be expected that the world is much larger than Equestria thinks... Anyways, as always, questions, comments, and concerns welcome and wanted.

Comments

[ShortCaveman]

Wow this was pretty good