//------------------------------// // Chapter 16: “Though you escape from judgment’s view…” // Story: The Ghost of Coltistrano: Phantom Eulogy // by EthanClark //------------------------------// The morning was dark, storming, and thick with patrolling soldiers, forcing the duo to duck and weave through backstreets, underneath bridges, and any other desperate path to avoid detection as they carefully trekked across town. Before long they were beyond the far perimeter of Ponyville and headed towards a familiar building. A large farmhouse, framed by endless rows of vibrant apple trees, standing tall and brilliant against the coming storm, excellent cover from soldiers flying overhead and free of patrolling guards, allowing Gilda the freedom to run full sprint towards the big house on the hill. Kindle, however, shivered on her back. Her claw slammed against the door, drawing a gasp from the ponies in the adjacent kitchen as Gilda barged in. “Where is she? Rarity!” Gilda’s call was hushed by a firm hoof from the orange pony before her, shooting her a stern glare. “Keep yer gab shut, Gilda,” Applejack grumbled. “You’ll bring the whole damn army with that racket.” “Right, right, sorry. Is she still here? Not like there’s anywhere else she could’ve gone.” Her words summoned the bobbing mane of violet curls, rushing down the wooden staircase, her hurried steps threatening to knock the family photos from their perches on the wall. Rarity nearly skidded across the floor into the kitchen to face Gilda. “You’re back! Are you two alright?” “Kindle’s hit, he’s bleeding bad.” Gilda’s words struck Rarity like an arrow, sending her into a magic-fueled frenzy to summon what thread and ointment were convenient, laying him out on the nearby sofa. With a trembling lip she finally spoke. “What happened? Did Shield Wall do this?” “I-It’s not so bad,” Kindle piped up, hissing at the sudden entrance of a needle. “Gave him the slip not long after you did, but… I think I saw Glint.” Applejack turned to Rarity, leading everyone into the living room as the unicorn addressed her. “This is getting too dangerous, Applejack. If Shield Wall is onto us, then the three of us will leave as soon as possible, for you and your family’s safety.” “Nuh-uh, y’all are staying put,” the earth pony declared with a stomp of her hoof. “Ain’t no place safer for y’all than here, and I will not throw you to the wolves. ‘Sides, no way them jarheads would risk a tiff with me. Who else’s crop are they gonna eat, the greedy hogs.” “I’m with AJ, we can’t just split. If we leave with Tightwad lurking around, we can kiss the refugees and Ponyville goodbye.” Gilda crossed the room to Rarity. “We need a plan.” Rarity locked her eyes onto the wooden floor. Around her wrist sat the scrap of black cloth, and she gave it a gentle rub as her thoughts collected in her mind. “If Shield Wall is here, then this is our chance to get answers. It may be a trap to draw us out, or even kill us, but we’ll have to spring it if we want to capture him.” “What about the Tornado?” Gilda shot Rarity a worried stare. “The second anything happens to him, you know he’ll order it to fire on the city.” “We can take it, I can still fly,” Kindle sputtered, painfully sitting on his elbow. “And die trying, dumbass,” Gilda nearly shouted. “You both will need to take control of it,” Rarity declared. “Meanwhile, I can go out and find him, myself. With luck, he’ll find me.” “Whoa, whoa, what?! You’re gonna face down Tightwad, alone?” “It’ll be crazy enough to throw him off balance, enough for you two to back me up. I learned from the best.” Rarity gave the scrap an affectionate caress. “Rarity, everything you’ve told me about that unicorn tells me he’s a right filthy bastard in need of a hanging, but this don’t sound anywhere near safe.” Applejack placed a gentle hoof on Rarity’s shoulder, her voice low and heavy with worry. “You don’t gotta do it alone. Say the word, and the girls and I will wrangle up the whole town to help you.” “I could never ask you to risk your lives, Applejack. You don’t-” “It’s what friends do, ya hear?” Applejack’s smile filled Rarity with a gentle warmth, filling her completely as Applejack patted her cheek. “That beau of yours must’ve been one-of-a-kind, getting yer hooves dirty on his account.” Rarity chuckled, but the moment of calm was broken by the young filly who bounced down the stairs, red mane streaking behind her. “They’re comin’! They’re comin’!”  Applejack wasted no time in ushering the three upstairs and cramming them all into a spare bedroom before shutting the door and returning to the first floor. Kindle crossed the room and dared peek out the lone window. What he saw froze his very soul. Beyond the pane of glass he saw a dozen soldiers, some holding lit torches, led by the unmistakable image of Glint. He could barely hear the words barked at Applejack, but the soldiers surrounding them twitched and fidgeted in place, inching their flames ever closer to the house and its stalwart owner. Two rows of six, standing in formation, began to spread out across the front yard of the ranch house atop the hill, encircling its owner like carrion birds. Glint stood front and center. Piercing, yellow eyes held the mare before him in their gaze, but the intensity of her expression threatened to overpower him. She was tall, firm, with a presence stronger than the thickest trunks of the trees of the orchard around them, enhanced by the grimace across her face. Even the soldiers kept their distance as they moved around her. Always watching, always shifting in place, but never taking the first step. Applejack held firm. Staring down a dozen armed soldiers, encroaching upon her home, stoked the dull embers within her into a flame, one that grew with each snide glare the soldiers shot her. Finally, her attention was focused entirely upon the bat pony who dared take that first step forward. Glint was careful to move slowly, measured steps following each other, until he stood a respectable distance away from the mare and her home, more than close enough for a conversation. The one thing protecting him from the lord of this land. “Ma’am, under the authority of the Royal Court of Canterlot and Equestria, we are here-” “You boys got a lotta nerve stompin’ up here,” Applejack said grimly, cutting him off. Glint paused to compose himself, blinking a few times and looking to the other soldiers. “... Here to investigate possible enemies to the throne. Two fugitives headed this way and we’re looking for them.” “Well, you can look somewhere else. You assured me you jarheads wouldn’t so much as breathe towards my property without permission, and you yo-yos charge up here like yer lookin’ for a fight.” The soldiers began to twitch, a few daring to inch forward while Applejack was distracted. Glint, however, never stopped watching. “Ma’am, please, the sooner we get this over with, the better it is for everyone.” “What’s best is for y’all to clear out, ya hear? Fifteen percent of my crop not enough for bullying the ponies in town?” “Miss Applejack, please forgive the commander, he’s from Canterlot,” Lighthoof chirped, stepping forward before halting at Applejack’s renewed scowl. “W-We still honor the agreement we made with you, and we’ll be gone before you know it, but these fugitives are linked to the attack in Coltistrano. They’re enemies of Equestria.” “Well, there ain’t no ‘enemies of Equestria’ here, so yer more than welcome to search from outside my fence as we agreed.” Lighthoof peered sideways to Glint before giving a sharp sigh. “Ma’am, these are criminals. We are under orders to find them and arrest them. We followed their trail to this house, so if they are on this property, and you don’t let us conduct our search, then you’ll be arrested alongside them.” “Is that a threat, short stuff?” “Enough,” Glint demanded, wedging himself between the two. “Lighthoof, stand down and return to the troops. I’ll handle this.” “We have the authority-” “I’ll handle this!” Lighthoof was forced into silence, instinctually leaning away from a near-seething Glint before taking his chance to join the other soldiers. Glint huffed. He stretched his neck and slowly turned back to an unphased Applejack, taking a moment to recompose himself, receiving only a stern eyebrow from the orange mare. Glint stepped closer and spoke in a hushed voice. “Applejack, right? The sergeant major isn’t as nice as he appears but he’s right, the sooner we’re allowed to make a search the sooner we’ll be gone. It’ll be better for you in the long run.” “Better to let you fellas know I’m fine with you breaking a deal? In yer dreams. Fifteen percent.” “Ma’am, please, this isn’t what you think.” “Hurry up, commander!” Lighthoof shouted from the sidelines, the perimeter of soldiers having inched even closer. “Sis?” Applejack whipped around to see a young, yellow filly peeking through the open front door. “Is everything alright out here? There’s a lot of shoutin’.” “Applebloom! I told you to stay inside.” Glint’s heart sank. He watched Applejack embrace her sister, an opportunity the soldiers took to advance even more towards the house. Applejack spun on her hooves to face them. “What did I tell you fools?! Get off my land!” “Your hostility towards soldiers of Equestria has been noted and you are being arrested for obstruction of justice,” Lighthoof declared, dismissively, glaring at Glint. “Way to muck that up. At least we won’t have to break the door down.” “Lighthoof, I’m ordering you to stop!” Glint shouted, earning a snort from the sergeant major. “You’re the puppet’s agent, not mine, and unlike you I can actually get the job done.” “Sis, what’re they doin’? That’s our house!” Applebloom was shoved back through the door as the soldiers advanced on the front porch, Applejack standing her ground and shouting as loud as her lung could conjure. “This is their home, you can’t-” Glint’s plea was ignored with a yawn from Lighthoof. “The queen’s orders are not to be ignored. We know they’re inside, and if not then we’ll burn it to be sure.” “Burn it…” Glint’s mind went numb, and in that moment he was no longer in Ponyville. The rainy sky above turned dark. Tilled earth and rows of trees became ash-laiden plains of desolation, filled with the screams of faceless ponies kept alive only in memory. In the haze he never noticed his eyes trail upwards, landing on the second floor window and the silhouette of someone inside. Another bat pony. Kindle peered out. Locked in their shared moment, the gaunt expression Kindle wore pulled Glint back from the miasma of ash and fire. It gripped him. Though Glint could hear shouting and struggling, the screams of the filly, and the muffled yells of others inside the house, he and Kindle never broke their gaze, as if Glint could hear his pleas through thought, alone. He heard a quick crack. In front of him one of the soldiers, a unicorn, had lit a flame on the tip of his horn, earning Lighthoof’s fanged grin. Then, Lighthoof flew past the soldiers, crashing against the sturdy house walls like a sack of dirt before sliding onto the ground, coughing. The unicorn turned to meet a hoof that slammed into his jaw. With each strike thrown, more furious than the last, the soldiers slowly took notice as Glint threw himself into a frenzy, tearing through whoever approached the house. Two jumped towards him in unison, but Glint’s powerful wings made him far faster. He locked the neck of one beneath his foreleg, beating once and spinning the captured soldier into the other with a crack. Precise and powerful jabs landed against another soldier as Applejack looked on. She cradled Applebloom’s head against her chest, taking the opportunity to rush inside and leave Glint to his rampage. “Y-You’re betraying us?!” Lighthoof sputtered. “We’re following orders! The queen-” Glint struck the sergeant major’s head like a ball, sending the sergeant major even farther from the house, but one terrifying strike was all he could deliver before the platoon rushed him. Lifted from the ground, cursing wildly, Glint flailed and beat his wings. Their eyes shifted to shades of sickening pale green. A chorus of wicked hissing filled his ears as he was pulled back down under them, breaking his balance and subjecting him to a ferocious beating, but Glint steadied himself. Four hooves slammed against the ground with a loud bang and Glint was rooted in place, whipping his head side to side and lashing out against the nearest changeling to him. One slipped in, sinking its fangs deep into his hind leg.  His howl was joined by a crash, glass shards raining down on the group. Beating leather wings soared around them, picking off the stragglers farthest away, while the echoing caw of a gryphon pierced their ears. Gilda and Kindle swooped in and crashed against the collected soldiers.  Now scattered across the dirt, Gilda took her chance to point a claw to Glint. “Kindle, get your idiot inside, make sure the Apples are safe. Rares and I got this.” She held her gaze on the recovering soldiers, their disguises dripping away from them like bubbling oil to reveal their true faces. With a smirk as the signal, three strands of shimmering blue light fired off from the broken window, landing square against their targets. Rarity could see the entire battlefield from her vantage point, her horn blazing hot with azure power. Lighthoof rose to his hooves, his chest heaving, releasing a loud, shuttering hiss urging his soldiers to attack. Synchronized beats of her mighty wings and swipes from her claws turned Gilda into a vortex of violence as she zipped across the ground, crashing against changelings two at a time. One managed to leap onto her back and coiled its legs around her neck. She bucked and reared back, until a loud pop and scent of sizzling chitin reached Gilda’s senses, casting the changeling off with a burn of blue flame upon its hide. “Do be more careful, darling!” Rarity shouted from the second floor, firing off another shot. A few of the changelings took the chance to form up and launch their own volley of magic, green blasts that soared and pierced the outside of the house, desperately searching for their unicorn target. Rarity squeezed through the broken window, erecting a diamond shaped shield as cover and rushed along the awning of the house. One changeling snickered as he lined up his shot, until the vice grip of a claw clasped around his horn, the other landing square against his jaw. Lighthoof took his chance and fired, colliding with the shield and shattering it into a spray of glittering sparks and knocking Rarity onto the ground. She barely had enough time to roll away from Lighthoof’s knee as it struck the dirt beside her. When she stood, eyes locked with Lighthoof, she was immediately beset upon by a flurry of quick strikes, forcing her to cover up. She held her forelegs around her head, firing off bolts wherever she could. Each one glanced off Lighthoof’ chitin until one sliced through the soft meat beneath his foreleg as he reared back to strike again. He howled at the pain and Rarity, moving on pure instinct, lunged forward to ensnare the wounded leg, buck her hips, and send the sergeant major tumbling over her back and crashing against the dirt. Lighthoof sputtered on the ground, writhing as his soldiers frantically ran from Gilda and the straggler she hurled against a tree, huffing and turning to Rarity. “Damn, Rares,” Gilda said with a whistle, giving the wounded Lighthoof a quick kick. “Never seen you get so dirty before. Who knew you had it in you?” “I-I… oh, dear… this is why I let Silver do the heavy lifting,” Rarity said between pants. Gilda’s gravelly chuckle soon dissipated, turning to the house to spy the two bat ponies in the doorway. Kindle carried Glint’s weight against him and lead him into the yard, keeping a gentle pace to avoid spilling any more blood from the hastily bandaged wound on his leg, but Glint’s momentary respite was snatched away when he became trapped in Glida’s powerful claws, lifting him from the ground.  “You son of a bitch, you followed us here! Gimme one reason not to bust your brains right here and now!” “Gilda, easy! He’s wounded.” Kindle latched onto her outstretched claws, but like sturdy branches of fur and muscle Gilda refused to budge. “That bite’ll be the least of his problems if he doesn’t talk. Now, bat boy! Spill or be spilled.” “Do it!” The endless catalog of threats within Gilda’s mind scattered like leaves at Glint’s outburst. He shuddered in her grip, the hot breath and tears meeting her tensed talons joined by a weary, hollow expression staring back at her. Again, he begged. The wordless chattering of his teeth managed to draw out a quiver in her beak as the final push to release the grip upon his fur, sending Glint tumbling against the dirt below, releasing a sputtering, whimpering cough. “The heck’s your deal?” Gilda’s comment was lost to the patter of raindrops around them, following Kindle with confused eyes as he sat beside him. “Glint… commander?” “No! Not that, never again.” Glint recoiled at Kindle’s very words before collapsing at his hooves. “Luna’s sky, Kindle, you were right. You… please, Kindle, just kill me. You don’t know what I’ve done, what he’s ordered me to do.” “Glint, what’s happening? Equestria is falling apart and no one knows why. Is Shield behind this?” “No… they are.” A shaky hoof pointed to the wounded Lighthoof, his true form on display, crawling away in retreat. “They’re everywhere. Shield’s only working for her, payment for helping him attack Coltistrano. For burning… they were going to burn the house, Kindle. With all of you inside.” “Wait, ‘her’? Kindle, you buying this shit? Who’s so scary they’ve got Shield Wall working for them?” “Queen Chrysalis,” Rarity stated, joining the group with reclaimed breath and meeting the nervous glance Gilda sent her. “Seriously? You think the queen of the changelings gave Shield an army for funsies? There’s no way they’re changelings, not even if…” Gilda paused, the last of her silent words leaking from her beak as she pondered them, casting a solemn gaze upwards to the dark, cloudy sky. “They’re afraid of the storm.” “The soldiers in Ponyville,” Rarity began, leaning down to Glint and speaking in a chilling tone. “The changelings are in charge, aren’t they? That’s why they’ve attacked the citizens, why you’re allowed to roam free. Something’s happened. Glint, we need you to tell us.” Despite being stunned by her revelation, Gilda still spoke up. “If we can even trust this asshole. He attacked the Empire, tried to kill Silver in his own house, not to mention nearly killed Kindle. Truth or not, this reeks of a trap.” “It’s not, I swear.” Glint hobbled onto his uninjured hoofs, still clinging to Kindle. “The changelings wanted you killed, but I was sent by Shield. He… wants you to join him.” Gilda’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks, but it was Rarity who stepped before the wounded bat pony to strike him across the face, drawing blood. “Join him?! I would sooner throw myself from Coltistrano’s cliffs than serve him!” “H-He wants to overthrow Chrysalis,” Glint said through a sore jaw. “She’s taken the princesses, with the entire EUP under her control. Even between me and Abby we don’t know how to stop her.” “Wait, Abby’s alive?” Gilda asked, the fire within her dimming. “She’s as much of a victim as Silver was, used for her money and connections, but even with her help we can’t find a way to defeat Shield, let alone Chrysalis.” “There was a way, but your mongrel of a master murdered him!” Rarity yelled, baring her teeth. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t want to-” “‘Sorry’? Shield Wall burned a city to the ground! You’re asking for forgiveness when you created orphans?!” “I didn’t want to!” Glint’s yell was soon drowned by a renewed flood of tears, streaking down his face as he grit his teeth, his foreleg trembling. Rarity held her vicious scowl for a few moments more, but the sight of Glint crumbling before her, gasping for air with his head hung low, soon dulled her rage. She slowly crouched beside him. “You were following orders, right?” Rarity’s words snatched the breath from his throat and he nodded. When she looked to Kindle she could see the worry painted on his face. “What do you think, Kindle?” He wiped a welling tear from his cheek and looked around, taking stock of the battlefield. “Well, I’d say we’ve only got a few more minutes before reinforcements come. Some of the changelings ran into the trees. They’ll come for the Apples if we don’t do something.” “Then we have to move. We’ll need a distraction, something to lure both the changelings and Shield away from here.” “Don’t forget about the Tornado,” Kindle stated. “It’s been making patrols around the city perimeter. If the changelings are as bloodthirsty as Glint says, they’ll fire on the city the first chance they get.” Gilda stepped forward and scoffed. “We can take it. If Kindle and I get the drop from above then there’s no way they’ll see us coming.” “I can help.” Glint’s voice trembled. “They’ll still think I’m one of them, and if we move fast enough they might not yet know what happened here.” “Yeah, no. Despite the thrashing you took, jury’s still out on the ‘trusting you’ thing.” But Gilda felt the grip of Rarity’s stare, who walked to her. “We need every advantage we can get, Gilda. If Shield Wall is here in the city then this is our chance to capture him. To find out what he knows.” “Rarity, you know who this guy is. We can’t let him pull a fast one on us.” “No, but Kindle trusts him, and that counts for something.” Gilda gave a ragged huff, dragging her claw down her face. “Same plan as before? We go get the Tornado and you run blindly into the jaws of death?” “That’s the plan.” Rarity murmured, a quiver in her voice. “Then you’re as crazy as Silver.” Gilda placed a claw around Rarity, a gentle gesture that drew a warm smile from the unicorn. “Use that sending stone. If things get nasty, I’ll be there.” Rarity sent her a warm smile, and after a pause she flung herself into Gilda’s chest. Gilda was stunned. Her forelegs slowly wrapped around Rarity as she allowed herself to return the gesture, but the moment was fleeting. Before Gilda’s eyes opened once more she felt Rarity’s warmth pull away and watched her rush off into the treeline, the chill of rain threatening to return. She turned back to Kindle and Glint and, with a quick gesture of her head, gathered them to her sides and led the charge into the sky, wings spread against the storm as they climbed higher over the city. As Rarity ran, thick drops crashed against the stone streets, with rippling puddles dotting her winding path through the city, darting in and out of alleyways and across battered streets as if death itself were at her heels. Soldiers on patrol would see flashes of her violet mane and turn to follow. Some would even hear her hurried hooves splash against fresh rainfall, alerting them to their primary target. Dozens were drawn to her. Like lightning from the storm itself, Rarity sprinted through Ponyville, a lone mare with all eyes of the enemy upon her. Two chased closely behind her, gnashing and hissing as their truer selfs emerged, but Rarity pressed on. Azure bolts flew from her horn and crashed against loose tile and thatching above her. Rain was joined by heavy straw and slate to crash upon the soldiers, trapping them against the wet earth with only their curses and growls to continue the chase. She had no time to revel. Three more swarmed in as she emerged onto the larger street, drawing the attention of soaked passersby to the skirmish. Rarity produced a flash from her horn with a yell, its piercing light blinding the soldiers before her and allowing her to slip between them, dodging their desperate swipes as she did. The citizens called after her. But the excitement brought more attention to her. From above flew a squadron of three, and Rarity fast approached a blockade at the end of the street. An urge to stop welled up within her but she resisted, more fearful of her fate if they caught her, and with renewed vigor Rarity fired another blast at the formation before her, but instead of bursting into sparks the spell expanded, shifting into a familiar diamond shaped barrier that hovered above the ground, waiting patiently as Rarity bounded towards it and slammed her hooves onto it with all her might. Soldiers below stood in awe as her leap soared right over them. Her elevation, however, put her right in line with the squadron, reaching down and snagging Rarity by the tail. She yelped in pain. The sudden yank disoriented her as she swung in their grasp, but once she felt herself rising higher into the sky she took drastic action. Another flash. The squadron frantically covered their eyes, fighting the overwhelming assault on their senses as their prey fell, and Rarity crashed against the stone below, skidding along the street until she finally rolled into one of the growing puddles. She felt pain, not yet noticing the puddle growing red from her own blood. When she finally rose she was met with the growing number of soldiers forming around her. No matter where she looked, another menacing figure blocked her potential escape. Poneis watched from behind windows and along sidewalks. Some twitched and stepped forward, while others tried to restrain them, but all could see the scene unfold before them. From the crowd a disguised Lighthoof emerged, hobbling from his fresh wounds towards Rarity with two soldiers in tow. “For breaking the authority of the crown, for assaulting royal soldiers, and for being a complete pain in my flank, you are under-” Rarity’s hoof rocketed through his chin. He wobbled for a second before Lighthoof completely succumbed to the power of gravity as his entire body fell limp, shocking the soldiers beside him so much they flinched as Rarity readied herself. Once they found the courage to attack the dainty and scowling unicorn, though, they were forced to the ground by two other ponies, rushing from the sidelines. More and more began to join them in the street and shouted towards the crowd of soldiers who soon became swallowed by the growing mob.  With furious hooves she sprinted away, darting into one of the flanking alleyways while the shouting from behind faded, but beyond the narrow passage something stood, waiting. Tall, made immune to the rain by its power, glaring at her with golden eyes. More figures emerged. The limited space of the alley was soon filled by six soldiers at her front and rear, forcing Rarity to skid on her heels and nearly topple over into the mud. Hot clouds of breath fogged her vision as the figure approached. “Beautiful execution on the sergeant major, Miss Rarity.” Not even the chill of the rain cooled the searing heat building in Rarity’s chest, her cheeks flush with anger. “Touch me, and I’ll give you one, too.” “My, how crass you have become, no doubt Silver’s influence. Perhaps-” “Don’t you dare say his name!” “A little too close to the fallen hero?” Shield said, chuckling at her outburst. “He always was soft with you, and like any other respectable mare you took the bait.” Rarity sought to make due on her threat, stepping forward with a malicious throw of her hoof before her vision was filled with glimmers of gold. Gasping and flailing, she was pulled against the ground. Shield’s barrier held her firmly, a vice grip of aurous power, and he dared close the distance. “I trust Glint has failed his 'official' mission to eliminate your friends, but did he manage to deliver my request?” “And I would rather die,” Rarity spat, straining against his influence on her. “Truly? On the run, without direction, and with all of Equestria becoming slowly infested by these shapeshifting vermin, you would refuse the means to make things right?” Shield’s comments drew perplexed looks from the guards around him, but he ignored them. “What good can you do alone? You have been cornered and I barely did anything at all.” “But we found you, didn’t we?” Shield paused, allowing himself a moment before releasing a deep, coarse laugh that echoed through the narrow alleyway. “Indeed, you did, Miss Rarity. Truly, smarter than your contemporaries, and for that I will give you a choice: you can either help me remove this growing tumor from Equestria, together, or you can die in the mud, alone.” Without a moment’s hesitation she spat at him. Shield recoiled at the indecent assault on his face, wiped the spit from his face with a low growl before leaning to one of the soldiers beside the restrained mare. “Take your time with it.” Hissing filled Rarity’s ears as the soldiers closed in around her, their faces melting away to reveal the chitinous layer beneath. She writhed beneath the golden force keeping her pressed to the mud, its source resigning himself to watch the scene unfold, without so much as a smile to betray whatever dark emotion lurked beneath his stern visage, and within seconds the changelings were upon her. Then came a pop. Rarity’s world went white. Her ears rang and wracked her skull with a deep pain, but she could feel her limbs move once more. Blindly, she tried to scan the ground with outstretched hooves, but all her withered senses could detect was the sound of muted thuds and distorted cries. Even as her vision returned she struggled to see through welling tears brought on by the flash. Soon, the patter of rain was all she heard. Wiping her eyes and shaking her head, she whipped her damp main aside and tried to take in the refocusing world. What she saw were bodies. The six changelings who held her life in their hooves, bereft of their disguises, lay prone in the mud, barely breathing, and Rarity could see a single trail of hoofprints racing away from where Shield once stood. At her hooves she found a small shard. When she leaned over to inspect it she immediately shot back up, the hairs on her neck stiff as the sound of billowing fabric announced itself. Her peripheral barely detected the edges of black as she choked out a shaky breath. Then, gently, gloved hooves caressed her. “Run with me.” His hooves pulled away. Wildly, Rarity spun around to meet the face she prayed the voice belonged to, but all she found was the empty alley behind her, until she looked up to the rooftop to see the last glimpse of flowing black cloth before it slipped away. Tears joined the raindrops upon her cheeks, and with a broad smile and renewed spirit she spun on her heels and dashed out of the alley to follow the trail while a leaping bolt of black followed overhead. Like thunder, they rolled through the rainy streets of Ponyville, Rarity’s pace invigorated by the shadow following her. Then came the shouting of soldiers. Two sped up behind her, blaring a horn to summon others, and moved to wedge the unicorn between them. Rarity looked straight ahead, smiling as two limbs of darkness coiled around the soldiers and pulled them into the air above. She rounded a corner to race down Ponyville’s main thoroughfare, eyes locked onto the heavy hoofprints left by her quarry, but occasionally her attention was caught by a pony on the sidewalk looking up, pointing, screaming, transfixed even as more soldiers raced down the street. Rarity pulled left. In the dead end alleyway four more soldiers approached her, no longer caring to disguise themselves as they stepped forward, ichor dripping from their fangs, pale and cloudy eyes locking her in place, but still she smirked. A yelp from behind alerted them, and their number was down to three. Turning back to Rarity the changelings found her gone, left alone in the alleyway, looking in every direction for the vanishing pony. Another cry brought them to two. They pressed against each other, trembling in the cold rain, scared to look toward the mouth of the alley when they heard the feminine chuckle of their target. Rarity had reappeared. When she pointed behind them, though, their bodies moved faster than their minds to face the silent stalker who reaped them like wheat, but what they were met with drew from them a piercing cry as it leaped to consume them in its darkness. Onlookers gasped, some cheered, as Rarity emerged unscathed from the alleyway to continue her hunt. At the end of the thoroughfare stood the Ponyville City Hall, and around it stood a dozen other soldiers and one tall, graying unicorn addressing them. As Shield Wall turned to face Rarity he scowled. Without warning he fired a bolt of gold, just whizzing past Rarity’s head as she slid through the mud and hugged one of the buildings, taking cover from the volley of blasts which followed.  “You have friends in this city, it seems. Would you dare raise them against me, knowing full well what I can do? What I will do?!” His taunting fell on deaf ears. In the cover of the falling rain, Rarity was obscured enough to fire her own azure bolt without detection, missing Shield Wall by a hair and flying into one of his soldiers. The volley returned and tore through her limited cover, dwindling by the second. Shield let loose a cackle at Rarity’s growing desperation and reveled in the reckless violence. With so much noise below, he failed to detect the wisp of fluttering wings. Instead, he heard the clinking metal of a capsule at his hooves. A flash burst in his face, too quick for the barrier he failed to erect, forcing him to shove his hooves into his eyes to remedy the searing pain. Soldiers around him shouted orders he could barely understand. With all his trained senses and practiced technique, the shots he blindly fired veered off into open air as his horn frantically followed the muted sounds of fighting his ringing ears struggled to make out, but the noises of battle were growing softer by the second. A deep breath and a forceful shake of his head and Shield once more could see the world around him, as well as the bodies. His dozen soldiers, trained and vicious drones of the hive, lay beaten around him as effigies to the presence he could not find but could almost sense, like a phantom on the edge of his vision. Rarity walked forward as he gawked. “So much for dying in the mud.” Shield snarled, but his fury evaporated as the rumble of dark laughter echoed across the storm. “No… no, no, no, no!” It taunted him. With clenched teeth and wild eyes he charged Rarity, only for a shadowy limb to steal his momentum just as he was upon her, yanked back to tumble through the mud as he rolled to the hooves of another pony. The source of the cackle. His fierce stare twisted with terror as he fell back to lay eyes upon the shape he knew, the shape he feared. Dark, tall, clinging to the side of City Hall with one end of its shadowy form in one hoof and peering into him with striking amber eyes. Lightning pierced the sky.  “Though you escape from judgment’s view…” The darkness spoke in a timber colder than the rain. Shield could only tremble as it slithered to the ground before him. “The Ghost now sets his haunt upon you!” The darkened face of the shade was pulled back by a gloved hoof, and from within a pony glared back at the shivering unicorn in the mud. His lip quivered, his brow sunken into his eyes, and the waves of long, argent locks framed his amber eyes which burned with the fires of one night. A night they both knew. “A trick… a ploy, I… I killed you…” By whatever resolve still lurked within him Shield stood, but he shuffled back. When his enemy approached he threw a strike, then another, both easily deflected as a hoof drove straight into his side. Another sliced across his brow. Shield was bleeding, strands of red mixing with the rain and filling his eyes as he came under assault by strikes and practiced kicks. A wild swing was enough to buy Shield some space as he reached into his coat to produce a slender and jagged icon, aiming it at his opponent. With a yell, he dove under the cursed horn and grappled the limb holding it, pushing it up, and from its tip a pulsating stream of verdant, sickening magic split the storm above them. They fought over the horn, Shield, his vision returning, could more easily drive his hooves underneath the flowing cloak and strike its wielder, putting him on the defensive as they continued to trade blows. He swung with the horn like a knife, smacked aside by precise hooves. Then, from above, the hovering mass of wood and metal Ponyville feared descended upon them, turning to point its starboard rows of long guns directly at the duel below. “One wrong move and you’re buried!” Gilda’s cry shook both combatants with its fury, but Shield wasted no time in responding. A second wave flew from the horn, aimed for the gryphon, but the cloaked pony fought and overpowered Shield, forcing the beam upwards and slicing through the airship’s balloon, instead. For that, he drove a hoof straight into Shield’s muzzle. Though he fought for control of the horn, twisting and yanking with all his might, Shield defiantly howled and pushed against him, raising his barrier as a final means of overpowering the wrathful wraith, enough to land one good strike and backstep away. They paused, waiting for the other to make a move. After long, agonizing seconds, enduring the burning eyes of his resurrected foe, Shield swiped along the empty air with the horn. From the side, Rarity fired a final blast of magic to rip through his barrier. It cut deep, sending him toppling through the portal, sizzling as the rip began to disappear. The city became silent. Damp, shivering, but never once looking away, Rarity stepped towards the figure before her, returning her gaze. From the wreckage of the airship came Gilda, freezing at the peak of the hull. Kindle, followed by Glint, forced their way out from one of the gunports to look across the main square, and the welling cheer within Kindle’s chest was quelled by his own awe. They, and the citizens of Ponyville, slowly approached. Rarity pressed a hoof to his cheek. “Silver?”