Daring sensed it before the others, if only because she knew what to expect.
“GET DOWN!”
She tackled the merchant and threw herself over Curiosity, who was now writhing in terror from being unable to find her way out of the blanket covering her.
The caster shell struck Seht’s shield, trailing a thin blue line behind it. As it did, the beam connected, and suddenly the world erupted as a twin pair of translucent forms trailed like lightning down the path of the shell, the image of two coiling twin dragons spiraling from the end of Wun’s rifle toward their target. The air itself seemed to ignite in light and heat.
When the entirety of the contained spell struck, it detonated in a plume of energy brighter than the sun. The explosion ripped through the air, flinging screaming thestrals in every direction and leveling several buildings. Daring Do held her head to the ground, avoiding the blast of light and the sudden violent surge of magical energy spilling out from the impact zone. Even clinging to the ground, she felt herself being lifted from the force, feeling the electrical sensation of magic washing over her and a familiar taste of metal in her mouth.
The merchant raised his horn and cast a shield spell, protecting them from the brunt of the impact, although it was apparent that his magical skill was only passable at best.
When Daring Do could finally look up, she saw the destruction wrought over the battlefield. Any fortifications they had managed to assemble were gone, and the thestrals had been thoroughly dispersed as well as largely injured.
And yet their foe still stood. He stood firm, his shield spell broken, holding the sword that had once belonged to Honor before him. The blade was no longer black, but luminescent white, the now-active runes on its sides releasing waves of powerful magic. Although the magical blade had absorbed most of the spell, the effect had still been devastating—much of Seht’s body had been badly damaged, revealing only black, bitumen-like fluid among iron bones.
He fell to his knees, stabbing the sword into the sand to support himself. The sand boiled on contact with the magic, and even before his body could generate a system of spells traced themselves across the ground around him. The space around his mask erupted in red light.
Suddenly, a spell erupted from him. A single beam, a blast of red light focused forward and upward, a single ray of magic that traced its way through space, drawing itself across the zeppelin tower. Daring Do saw the hydrogen cells of several zeppelins ignited explode, the corsair’s included. Then the beam slashed through the tower itself, cutting through the steel even at a distance—and the whole of it began to collapse.
Wun lay in a growing pool of silver fluid, quietly laughing to herself. The only caster shells worth using came at a terrible price, as did all important things in life. Yet she had survived—and borne witness to a sight she had never before seen firsthand.
She sensed the beam in her teeth even before it ignited, slicing its way around her and through the docking spire. She saw the explosions, and watched as her world was consumed by fire. With what little magic she could summon, she bubbled herself, just as her platform fell and she plummeted to the sands below.
The magic expenditure had badly weakened Seht. As he stood, panting, parts of his body began to dry and collapse to dust. He quickly took a deep breath, and his body once again started to regenerate—slowly.
That was when he was suddenly struck by a liquid projectile. It exploded at his side, covering him in a green, sticky fluid that rapidly oxidized into a black substance harder than cement. Turning his face toward it in confusion, Seht attacked it with his magic, corroding and weakening it—only to be struck by another three balls of the substance by the time he had collapsed the first one.
The least injured of the thestrals had redoubled their efforts. Weakened and injured by the sunlight and the blast, some had taken hold of their changeling weapons and were continuing the attack in a last, desperate effort.
The strongest of them rushed forward in spite of the sunlight that burned their bodies, their swords raised high.
Dignity met her adversary first, raising her blade over her head and bringing it down with as much force as she could summon. Seht, still bound by the changeling adhesive, raised his own sword in defense. There was a sound of metal striking metal, and Dignity’s blade was cleaved in twain.
With a single motion, Seht shifted his own blade, preparing for a downward strike. Dignity, thrown off balance, could not move to block in time.
Honor, though, leapt over her, blocking with his own borrowed blade. Seht’s glowing rune-sword struck the mottled metal, and the convergence of two equivalent blades produced a sudden surge of magical feedback. Honor and Dignity were knocked back by the blast, and Daring Do leapt into the air, grabbing Honor as he was thrown past her.
“Move! Move, we’ve almost won!” he cried, and Daring Do had to agree.
They two of them raced back into the battle, just as Seht had extricated every part of himself except one of his rear legs. The blast had apparently injured him, and his hold on his sword was weakening. Still, though, he directed it at Dignity, who was lying on the ground, dazed by the blast.
Honor jumped back into the fight, raising his own blade for a second block. Seht, now knowing the effect of crossing swords with Honor, was forced not to strike. Instead, the space around his mask ignited with red light.
Daring Do, springing into action, unhooked her whip. She flicked it out, and, against all odds, it somehow wrapped around Seht’s neck, right where she had wanted it to land. Jumping past the larger creature, she landed and pulled with all her might, forcing his head upward. The bolt of energy meant for Honor fired harmlessly into the air.
“Please, stop!” cried Daring Do through the handle of the whip in her teeth. “We don’t want to hurt you!”
Dignity, no longer dazed, and as Seht turned his head to look back at Daring Do, his mechanical eyes empty and soulless but the eyes below them pleading and pained, Dignity plunged a Storm Kingdom blade into his chest.
The voltage arced through his body, through his magically generated flesh and into his iron bones on its way to the ground. The energy was so great that it conducted through the whip around his neck and into Daring Do herself, knocking her back with surprising force. Seht, though, could not escape it; his leg was still stuck, and he was forced to conduct the full force of the blade’s magic through his body. He stood there, convulsing and sparking and starting to smoke.
Honor and Dignity stepped back, still holding a defensive posture but seemingly sure that the battle was over. That Seht, already weakened, could certainly not withstand this blow. Daring Do, to her own horror, realized that she had inadvertently been complacent with their deception.
Even the remainder of the thestrals began to peek out from their hiding places, smiling and on the verge of cheering—not realizing that they could only step out at all because the sky had begun to suddenly darken.
Daring Do looked up, though, and saw that what had once been a clear blue sky was now filled with yellow storm clouds, dark and frightening, rolling in from every side. Storms that had begun to violently circulate around them, forming a vast and terrible vortex.
Then the sky exposed with lightning, red bolts of energy striking down from above, not directed at the thestrals but at Seht himself. Electricity from above pouring through his body, vaporizing the changeling cement binding him and fueling the rapid and horrific regeneration of his flesh.
Dignity’s eyes widened, not understanding. “What—what’s happening?!”
A thought came to Daring Do, and she cried out in realization. What Wisdom had said, but that they had dismissed. That Seht was King of the Red Desert—and Lord of the Tempest
The weapons the thestrals had brought began to shake, and then suddenly burst, the glass chambers holding their power crystals shattering as the crystals within were reduced to pure magic. The magic, siphoned from its source, began to revolve around Seht as he absorbed more and more of it, restoring himself and his internal power.
The unicorn merchant appeared beside Daring Do, picking her up and pulling her away. As he did, he lifted his crossbow and fired dimeritium-tipped bolt at Seht. Seht did not even bother to block it; instead, he opened a small portal. The bolt passed through, and the merchant cried out as it suddenly emerged from a second portal and lodged into his own horn.
The space around Seht erupted into red light, then contorted, folding a cube around him as he levitated into the air. Daring Do stared up at it, and then found herself screaming in pain. She saw the symbols it was constructed of, and comprehended their horrible meaning—but she was a Pegasus, and her brain was not capable of withstanding the profound magical force held within them. She closed her eyes, trying to block them out, but even without seeing the symbols closed she could still perceive them.
Seht rose into the air, the cube turning slowly around him as he accumulated more and more energy from his surroundings. The original Storm Kingdom blade oxidized and collapsed to dust, and the storm above him seemed to freeze. The world, for one tiny, brief moment, was suspended in silence.
And then Seht released the full force of his contained magic. Not outward, but inward, driving the entirety of it into his body, summoning it into an uncontrolled and limitless amplified feedback wave.
The merchant, though wounded, cast one last shield spell around himself and Daring Do as the blast went off. Daring Do was blinded by the surge, and she heard a sound like breaking glass as the merchant’s shield spell was torn asunder. Then there was a blast of pain, and then only light. As she fell, she saw a smoking metal mask dropping to the ground before her.
With a gasp, Daring Do awoke. For a moment, she was sure she was paralyzed, because she could not move. Except that was not entirely true. With an incredible amount of mental effort, she could; it was not damage to her nerves, but a form of extreme fatigue. From the cold sweat covering her body, she wondered if she had been convulsing, and for how long.
She did her best to stand, but the world was spinning and cast in strange colors. The sensation was new to her, a sense of grogginess and confusion that she could only liken to the sensation of being a small filly filled with asp venom coursing through her veins.
With great effort, she stood. The merchant lay beside her. He had fallen partially covering her. His injured horn was sparking with energy, and he was unconscious but still breathing. Daring Do lurched her way across the sand, feeling the world tilt, to find the same of Dignity and Honor. Both were collapsed in the sand, and both were alive.
The only pony that did not seem to be unconscious was her—and a earth stallion sitting, watching, and drinking from a large bottle.
“Cretin…?”
“You’re all so lucky,” he said. “Nopony got hurt more than they can’t get less hurt from.”
Daring Do nearly collapsed from nausea. “Can’t say the same for Seht.”
“No. She’s fine too.” Cretin pointed.
Daring Do turned. She wished she had not.
A skeletal hoof extended from the sand, clawing forward. The mask, though intact, was now connected to a skeleton instead of a body. A skeleton that was rapidly regenerating itself. As Daring Do watched, black fluid surrounded it, assembling into something like flesh. Into a body, skin, a cutie mark and a glossy tail. It must have taken several minutes, though, and the regeneration was barely complete by the time Seht finally rose to a standing position. He walked forward with a severe limp, favoring one rear limb severely and breathing heavy, ragged breaths.
He approached Daring Do. Daring, barely able to stand herself, braced for an attack. She saw red light ignite around Seht’s headdress, and felt herself gently pushed out of the way. Confused, she watched as Seht slowly limped past her and toward the city.
“Wh...what?” Daring Do turned to Cretin, who just shrugged.
“She’s not Nightmare Moon," said Cretin, "therefore, not a threat. So why even bother? Come have a drink, I still have more glowsticks.”
Daring Do stared at him, not understanding the meaning of his words but knowing the intent. She could not, however, give up.
So she followed Seht.
Seht proceeded into the city, toward the fort. Daring followed, not sure exactly what to do. She was one pony, almost on the verge of unconsciousness herself. She doubted she could do much, although she still had the changeling grenades that the merchant had given her. In his current state, she doubted that Seht could get out of them easily. It might stop him—or it might just buy a little more time.
Except that something in her mind was telling her that something was wrong. Something did not add up, and did not make sense. It was a nagging, irresistible thought. It was like a puzzle was set out before her, but a piece was missing. Or several. It was like Caballeron in the Iron Pyramid, mistaking the Quadrangle for a Trinity. A single piece of information was missing, a single flash of insight.
But there was little time left. If Wisdom was right and Seht reached the fort, what he might do was unfathomably terrible. Except that, as far as Daring Do had observed, Seht had never shown any aggression unless he was attacked first.
She was so engrossed in this thought that she nearly ran into him when he finally stopped. Not at the fort, but in an alley lined with high buildings. Daring Do frowned, and then looked up herself to see what Seht was staring at—and she saw a simple sign painted with the sign of a star.
Seht turned, changing course, and passed through the door to the library. Daring Do watched, dumbfounded, until she smelled a strange, unpleasant rotting smell.
She looked out at the street and saw that every plant, ever potted fig tree and every small, manicured garden, was rapidly dying and decaying. From the far end of the alley, her sister was approaching, her gate unsteady and her rifle at her side. Her eyes were wide and her teeth bared, her fur stained with mud and silver. She barely even looked like a pony.
“Daring,” she said, a rasp escaping her open mouth, her lips and jaws unmoving as she spoke. “You look as I feel. Which is to say, terrible.”
“Wun, I thought--”
“I can taste it, Daring.”
“Wun? What do you...”
“I can taste it. I can taste what is mine. I have to have it. I WILL have it.”
“Wun, the mist-spell and the caster, you’re not in any state to keep going, you have to stop--”
Wun’s head turned sharply, her narrow pupils focusing on Daring Do. “Don not try to stop me, you hideous little winged beast. The prey is weak. My own sister shall not steal from me. Not my rightful property. Shall she?”
Daring Do winced, and took a step back. She gestured to the door of the library. “He’s in there.”
“Then so shall we be,” said Wun, tearing the door of its hinges and throwing it to the side.
Inside, Daring Do was met with the coolness of the air within the library and the familiar scent of books. She was also greeted by an oddly pitiful sight. Not far from the door, Seht was lying on his side on the cold tile, among the shelves, gasping for breath and no longer able to stand.
A disturbing smile crossed Wun’s face, and her magic gripped her rifle more tightly. As she stepped forward, though, her path was blocked with a pale unicorn with a mottled face.
“May I help you?” asked Twilight Felt, blocking Wun’s path to Seht.
Wun’s head cocked, her mouth contorting into a distinctly inequine snarl. “A child of House Twilight, how unexpected but so very...predictable. That this backwater would conceal a bastion of heresy and perversion as yourself. You may assist me by stepping aside. That creature is my property. I purchased it.”
Felt nodded. “And you, of House Perr-Syntt, a lineage of ponies with curiously vegetable-based cutie marks. Considering you are the descendants of farmers, that is not unexpected.”
Wun's pupils narrowed. “For the sake of your advanced age, I present you with one chance. Just one,” growled Wun, through gritted teeth. “Step aside, heretic.”
“This is a library,” said Felt, sternly. “All are welcome here. This is a safe place for all to learn. Neutral territory, so to speak. There will be no fighting here.”
“Then your chance is expended. Celestia is not here to protect you, young-House filth. This action is legally justified.”
Wun raised her rifle and, before Daring could stop her, fired a caster shell directly into Felt’s chest.
The room ignited with light as the explosion tore through the shelves, ripping books to shreds and reducing their pages to ash. Shelves splintered as the room filled with light and smoke as the entirety of the library was reduced to rubble.
Daring Do watched in horror, but just as she was about to close her eyes the direction of the explosion seemed to reverse. The dragons from the shell quivered and retreated, moving backward. The splinters of the shelves moved backward, finding one another and reassembling themselves into well-polished furniture. The torn pages of books found their way back into their spines and covers, and ash reassembled into ancient tomes. The books flew back onto the shelves into their correct and organized positions as the light and smoke retracted onto itself, reforming itself into a single glass shell.
Then Daring watched in amazement as the shell moved in reverse, retreating backward from Twight Felt to the tip of Wun’s barrel. Wun watched too as the casing, which had not even yet struck the ground, reversed course, sliding into the side of her rifle as the bolt wrenched itself from her grasp and slammed back into position.
Daring turned to Twilight felt, and beheld a terrible sight. His horn was ignited with brilliant pink-violet light, and the sleeved that covered his tattooed hoof had been fully incinerated by the mark beneath. Daring Do now beheld a system of unfinished runes fashioned from a language that no pony could ever hope to read without being consumed with instant madness, centered around a single pentagram which held at its center a brilliant red eye.
Silver fluid began to drip from Twilight Felt’s eyes, ears, and nose. He glared at Wun, who stared back. It was the first time Daring Do could recall having ever seen her sister afraid.
“Banned!” cried Twilight Felt, and before Wun could protest her body was surrounded by a violet sphere. She vanished in a flash with barely a poof.
For a moment, the room was silent, and then Twilight Felt lurched and fell to the ground.
Daring Do rushed to his side, catching the elderly stallion as he fell. His body was oddly light, as if he were made of paper.
“I can’t believe I just saw that!” she gasped, helping him to the floor. “That was—that was chronoplexy, you’re a chronoplexer—”
“There are no natural-born chronoplexers,” sighed Felt, wiping silver from his mouth. “Such would be impossible by all known...all known laws of magic...” He grimaced, and his body shook.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m old is what’s wrong. Did the explosion hurt you? I can’t reverse everything sometimes, with biological tissue--”
“I’m fine, but you’re hurt!”
“If I met my end protecting books, then my life would have been worthwhile.” He sighed. “Although I doubt I will be allowed depart with such dignity.”
The ground around them shifted, changing as a rune traced itself in red magic. The magic burst into something like flame, but more granular and sparkly. The red light s hifted around them, instead becoming golden. Daring Do took a sudden breath, surprised how easy it was, or how good she felt.
Twilight Felt’s eyes widened. “This is restoration magic.”
Both of them looked behind themselves, to where Seht’s was standing at the apex of the spell. Then the light around his head faded, and he continued deeper into the library.
Daring helped Twilight Felt to his feet. “I should go,” she said.
“You may stay,” he said. “If you respect the books, and the other patrons. Your sister, I am afraid, is too uncouth today for the library. I have given her a two-day ban. The first one, actually. I feel so terrible.”
“It’s okay. She doesn’t even like reading. But she’s powerful, she might--”
“No. She is not. Not in the slightest. Being a pureblood sometimes comes with...overconfidence. It is more an axiom than anything else.”
Daring Do had never thought of that before. She had always assumed that her sister was an almost godlike figure, a member of the upper echelon of Equestria’s master race.
“I would only suggest,” said Felt, looking over his shoulder at Seht, “that you do not disturb her. She is something I cannot readily predict. Why not take a seat, and read a bit?”
Daring nodded, and watched as Felt limped behind his desk and picked up a book and began reading, as if the Seht’s presence in his library was no different from that of a child looking for a book on scorpions or a student looking for a particular magic tome.
Daring Do, though, could not contain her inherent curiosity. Although she kept her distance, she followed Seht through the library. Seht did not seem to be in any particular hurry as he moved to the center of the room.
Then he engaged a spell. Books flashed with red light as they were pulled from the shelves, orbiting Seht. Then, as Daring Do watched, thin threads formed between the tomes and Seht’s head. The books swirled faster, some being re-shelved as new ones were drawn, all forming gossamer strands of text flowing into Seht’s mind. Soon the entire of the library was in motion, each book being taken, assimilated, and replaced in a systematic pattern with mechanical precision. Daring could not help but stare, not quite in awe but not quite in confusion either. It made no sense, and yet perfect sense. Seht had not come for the ponies in the town, but for this. He had identified the location of the nearest library and traveled in a straight line toward it.
The process took a surprisingly long time, and Daring Do found herself sitting at a table with a book on rare and unusual edible grasses laid out in front of her. She barely even looked at it, noticing it only when it was gently picked up in red magic and spent a few moments orbiting Seht before being replaced on the desk and opened to the correct page. Beside it, Daring had taken a quill and was quickly jotting down a hastily-prepared letter.
After perhaps thirty or forty minutes, Seht returned the last of the books to the shelves and stood still for a moment. Then he took a single deep breath--a sigh--and began walking to the exit of the library.
Daring Do nearly fell out of her chair trying to follow him, and was looking past a shelf when Seht stopped at Twilight Felt’s desk, his mechanical mask slowly turning toward the unicorn as Felt set down his book.
“You...you are...the Scion of Line of the Darkbringer.” The voice that came from Seht bore a bizarre and erudite accent, and though it was mechanically distorted and deepened by the mask, Daring Do instantly recognized the voice as female.
Twilight Felt looked up from his book. “The current Scion is my niece, and she will be the last. But yes. I am of House Twilight.”
“These words...these are the first words I have ever spoken.”
“Then I am honored to be the first you have spoken to, miss. But might I ask, how do you know my family?”
“Our Lines cross, in the distant past. The Abyssal Darkbringer...Twilight Void. In your language. He...she...was dear to us. The first of your kind to address us.”
“I am ashamed that our line no longer recalls his or her name.”
“You have no reason to. That your Line remains... this means the prophecy is still intact.”
Felt smiled. “That an immortal born of House Twilight will lay waste to this world and bring about the demise of all things pony. None of this House are immortal, and none ever shall be. This, I assure you.”
“And yet I fear I awoke too early regardless.”
She started walking toward the door. Felt stood up.
“I cannot protect you out there,” he said, quickly. “They are hunting you.”
“And yet I cannot remain here. I am too distant from the Codex. My cellular structure is decaying. And my task is codified. It..." Her voice wavered. "...must be completed.”
“Are you sure?”
Seht turned back to Felt. The light behind her mask illuminated, and one of the blank notebooks form Felt’s study levitated to her side. The magic closed around it, and then it hissed as smoke rose from the pages. She presented it to Felt.
“What is this?” he asked, taking it.
“Repayment. The content of the Codex concerning what you seek.”
Felt opened the book, and Daring Do saw his eyes grow wide. Even in the distance, she could see that it was written in Arcanic, the text burned into the pages.
“What is this?” he said. “This...this his documentation...about everything...” He stopped suddenly on one page, and tears welled in his eyes. “These...these are coordinates...” He looked up. “To where?”
“To somewhere far beyond.” Seht started walking toward the door. “With this, I settle my debt, and depart with a warning." She gestured to Twilight Felt's hoof. "Do not complete that Mark. Your kind, the Silver. You never comprehend the forces you consort with. It will consume you, inevitably, as it did the others.”
Daring Do stepped out from her hiding place and, against all logic and better judgment, ran after Seht. “Wait! Seht, I need to talk to you--”
She blocked Seht’s path, but was pushed out of the way softly with a burst of magic. Seht did not look at her, and did not address her. She stopped at the space where the door had been, and where Wun was glaring at her from across the street, her body unable to enter the perimeter of Twilight Felt’s exclusion spell.
Then, in a flash of light, Seht teleported.
Daring turned back to Twilight Felt, who was now standing, holding what was now the most precious book of his collection. He seemed oddly pale.
“She didn’t even talk to me.”
“I doubt she would,” said Felt, staring at the gap. “I am well over eight hundred years old, the son of Twilight Phoenix. And her age dwarfs even mine.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Felt stared at her. The look on his face was severe.
“What?”
“I do not know what she intends to do. But she is a mage of almost unfathomable power, and power that seems to come from an external source.” He held up his marked hoof. “Like much of mine does.”
Daring Do took a breath. “I know. And I have a gut feeling that this is still going to go very bad, very fast. I...” She looked across the street to Wun, and decided to make a decision on her own for once. She turned back to Felt, and held out the letter she had written. “I think we need reinforcements. Your niece is part of the Royal Court, right? Can you contact her? We need reinforcements. From Canterlot.”
“We...do not have a good relationship. But I think she will make an exception.”
“I can get you a carrier pigeon, if you give me a few minutes--”
Felt smiled. He took the letter from Daring Do, folding it into a scroll and wrapping it with a small band of cloth with the House Twilight seal. “I am a Twilight. We have other ways to communicate.” He held the paper to his horn, and it ignited with magical fire, burning away to nothing but producing no ash. “But it will take time. I’m not strong enough to intervene, not anymore. The outcome of this is now up to how you choose to handle it, adventurer.”
Daring Do took a breath. “I know,” she said. “And I have an idea.”