The three survivors coughed, breathing heavy amidst the cloud of dust left behind. Midnight glanced back at the tunnel, and saw nothing but a hefty pile of rubble blocking the way. That was too close… she thought, brushing some dirt off her coat.
“Is everypony okay?”
“I’m okay,” Echo answered in between light coughs.
“Starlight?”
There was no response. Starlight was busy looking down at the wound on his leg. It didn’t look particularly deep or devastating, but it was bleeding a fair bit. He gave it an experimental poke and winced at the incurred stinging.
“Star…?”
“I’m all right, Mid. It’s just… just a scratch.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, approaching him. “If it got you with its stinger—”
“I’m fine.” His words were hard and abrupt. As if to prove his point, Starlight got back to his hooves, albeit shakily, and smiled at Midnight. “See? Fine.”
Midnight simply nodded, and helped Echo get back to her hooves.
“I… I think I can do this on my own,” Echo said, rising to stand again. Even though her sight was gone, her keen hearing remained, if not strengthened by the loss of her other sense. She could hear every little noise around her, and could get a general mental image from the sound waves. She navigated a few slow steps, her ears swiveling about as she issued a few vocal chirps.
“The ramp continues up ahead…” She paused for a moment, getting her bearings. “And curves around like a U-shape. We’re in another large cavern… right?”
Midnight and Starlight were both impressed. Echo had described the general gist of what the new chamber looked like. The path curved down to a lower plateau in the towering cavern, and down below a tunnel could be seen.
Midnight stared in awe at Echo's ingenuity. “Using sound to move... just like navigating through the Shades.”
“I haven't done it in some time, but I think I still remember how to work it...” Echo said as she took a few more confident steps.
“All right, Echo. If it’s working for you, go with it,” said Starlight, taking the lead gradually down the ramp. “But you let us know if you need any help at all.”
Echo nodded, smiling a little now that she didn’t feel entirely crippled. The ponies trotted leisurely down to the lowest level of the cavern and approached the only doorway in the entire cave. They stepped through into the adjacent cave, and the sight floored Midnight.
A large domed cave housed a pool of water that overtook most of the chamber. An altar-like platform carved out of stone sat slightly above the water. But what was most striking was the atmosphere. The air felt as if it were charged by electricity, mystical energy crackling around them. Midnight could feel the fur on the back of her neck stand on end as they approached the platform.
This must be the aether pool thing Fleethoof was talking about… she surmised. As the ponies trotted up the steps onto the platform, archaic runes and symbols could be seen drawn on the stone, left there for all time. Crystals like the ones they had found in the mansion lay scattered about. A book sat alone in the center of the platform and abandoned rope lay carelessly strewn across the floor. Midnight wondered how many ponies had found themselves bound down here.
“Take a look at that…” Starlight murmured as he approached a small podium at the edge of the platform. An amber crystal sat perched on the dais, faintly glowing and pulsing with infused magical energy. Every so often, the crystal would emit a spark, and the glow would return as bright as ever.
“This must be what’s keeping the time spell in place,” said Midnight, studying the crystal from a distance. “That’s gotta be our key home.”
Starlight ducked his head down till he was eye level with the crystal. “So, what do we do? Just smash it or something?”
Midnight had already begun looking through the book left behind by the ponies that had performed the unholy rituals down here. “I guess so. I mean, none of us are unicorns, so smashing it makes— Wait.”
A passage in the book had caught Midnight Dasher’s attention. The book had been a roster of spells that had been performed and what their effects were. Many of them were the botched immortality spells she and Fleethoof had already discovered, but one was different. It had nothing to do with life or immortality or curses.
It was a spell to reverse time.
Midnight’s heart skipped a beat. If there was a spell to rewind time, then maybe they had a chance to get Fleethoof back from the dead. Even though she had no idea how it would work, the mere prospect of saving him brought a swell of excitement.
“Star! We can save him!” she said happily, all but bouncing in place as the stallion looked at her like she was insane. “There’s a spell here for reversing time! It undoes everything that happened to anypony within this circle in the last hour. It looks like it might have worked before, but it wasn’t what whoever wrote this was looking for. Maybe we can save Fleet with this!”
Starlight looked at the mare with deep skepticism in his eyes and shook his head. “Mid, that book was written by deranged ponies who practiced black magic in underground caves. We can’t trust a word it says.”
“But isn’t it even worth a shot? I mean, we have nothing to lose!”
“Oh yeah? But what about him?” he asked, pointing to Fleethoof's body on Midnight’s back. “What if we mess the spell up? What if it brings him back like one of those undead monsters? Could you really do that to him? Do you think he’d want you doing something like that?”
Midnight shook her head stubbornly. “I don’t care. I can save him. Too many ponies have died tonight. If I can bring one back, I’m gonna do it.”
“Midnight, think for a second. We’re not even unicorns! We can’t cast spells!”
“But that’s the beauty of it—this spell doesn’t use any actual magic!” Midnight flipped the book open again, skimming the spell. “These crystals we've seen all over the place already have magic infused in them! It’s just a certain combination of crystals, the right timing with this aether stuff, and—”
Midnight drifted off into silence. She reread the last step over and over again, feeling hope slipping away through her hooves again. Starlight winced as he leaned against the dais, taking some weight off of his aching, burning leg. He cast a hard look at Midnight, waiting for her answer.
“And what, Mid?”
“…A blood sacrifice…”
Starlight gave a hard laugh, the expression on his face pure incredulity. “So you need to sacrifice one life to save another? No, not even save a life—reverse an hour. See? They were madponies!”
Midnight Dasher chewed on her lower lip for a moment. Of course there would have to be a catch with something this good. But Fleethoof had given his life to save hers and let them get away. They had gotten away—so maybe she could return the favor.
“I’ll do it…”
Starlight looked up in a flash and stomped a hoof down. “No way. No! Not a chance, Midnight! Like you said, we’ve lost enough ponies today, and I’m not about to let you throw your life away to save somepony who’s already dead.”
“He’s dead because he was protecting us, Star—protecting me!” Midnight snapped angrily, her eyes burning intensely. “And it’s not up to you. It’s my decision. And I want to do this.”
“Why? He’s just a pony, Midnight! It’s not worth it!”
Midnight gave a rueful smirk as she set Fleethoof’s body down gingerly in the center of the runes. “He’s always been worth it…”
Despite his protests, Midnight continued to set up the scattered crystals in the pattern the spell book described. Across the platform, Echo looked up suddenly, staring off intensely at the tunnel they had come through.
“Midnight, stop this nonsense now!”
“You can’t make me do anything, Star. We rank the same. Plus I wouldn’t listen to you anyway.”
“Guys…?” Echo called out softly.
Midnight placed the last crystal in its place, double checking all the positions and nodding at her handiwork. “Okay, it’s all set. Now, I just need to wait for another energy spark from the big yellow crystal, and it’s done.”
Echo raised her voice a little more. “Guys?”
Starlight had still refused to back down. He grunted as he limped across the platform to stand beside his teammate, ignoring the numbing tingling spreading through his leg. “Please, Midnight. Just think for a second of everything you’re throwing away.”
“I’m thinking about everything I’m saving, Starlight.” Midnight’s smile was nervous and unsure, but her eyes showed an iron will and unwavering resolve.
“Guys!”
“What?” both Starlight and Midnight snapped in unison.
A loud screech tore through the otherwise silent cave. Starlight’s hair stood up on end. Midnight felt her chest tighten and blood turn to ice water. Everypony recognized that noise all too well by now.
“How did they get down here?” Starlight muttered, unslinging his rifle from his shoulder.
Midnight followed his lead, chambering a round in her weapon. “We should’ve known they wouldn’t make it easy for us.”
The stallion scoffed. “This was easy?”
The sound of many hooves thundering down the rocky path towards them put the ponies on edge. From the darkness, the undead ponies emerged like shadows given physical form. They molded perfectly out of the dark, their red eyes glowing and burning with wicked bloodlust.
“Those with the mark must be cleansed…” one hissed from the mob as they skulked up towards the platform.
“You cannot leave… Nopony leaves…”
“Stay with us… Stay…”
“As soon as Fleet is back, break that crystal and go home,” Midnight said to Starlight. “Don’t stop to check on me, and don’t try to save me. Just go, got it?”
Starlight’s eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched, tensing for the fight while ignoring the stinging in his leg. “You giving me a choice in the matter?”
“Nope.”
He smirked. “Didn’t think so. It’s been an honor, Dasher.”
“Save your goodbyes, Star. It ain’t over yet.”
The gunfire started all at once. Both ponies unloaded into the horde of enemies, knocking the zombies back with shrieks and yelps. Echo leaned against the railing of the platform, her pistol clutched in her hooves. She listened for where the cries would come from, and then release a few shots in that direction, hoping to either hit them or hold them back for her friends.
Even though their efforts kept the horde of undead at bay, the bat ponies knew they couldn’t win. Their enemies were invulnerable, and their ammo reserve was running low. Each shot fired brought them closer and closer to their inevitable doom.
Gotta hold them off long enough to bring Fleet back and let the others escape… Midnight grit her teeth as she kept the plan in the forefront of her mind. She had accepted her life as forfeit. The survival of the others was all that mattered now.
Starlight, however, had other ideas. He kept glancing over at Midnight Dasher, making sure she was thoroughly distracted by the fight as he slowly slunk towards the crystal dais. She wasn’t thinking clearly. She was stricken with grief and wasn’t making rational decisions. He had to tear her away from the dead captain if he was to save her.
He continued shooting as he backed up towards the spell crystal, now halfway across the platform. A little further and they would be free. They could go home, and the nightmare would finally be over.
Starlight inched across the floor—and a searing jolt of pain shot through his leg. He cried out and collapsed to the cool stone beneath his hooves. His heart was racing, and he had broken into a cold sweat. His world began to sway before his eyes like he was on a wayward ship adrift at sea. For some reason, it had become more difficult to breathe.
No… No, I was so close…! he thought and looked down at his injured leg. Not now! Please, don’t let it be true!
“Get back, you freaks!” Midnight shouted as she kicked one of the advancing monsters off the platform and reloaded her weapon. The gunfire resumed shortly afterward.
Lying across the floor, Starlight groaned as a tight pain gripped at his chest. He felt like he was having the beginnings of a heart attack. His breathing was labored and shallow, stuttering with each inhale. He glanced over at the corpse of Fleethoof, dark horror shrouding his mind like a cloak. Is this what he had experienced?
Starlight felt his hoof nudge something under his armor as he rubbed his tightening chest, and furrowed his brow as he pulled the object out. His eyes widened in recognition. It was the flare Fleethoof had given him from the helicopter.
“No!”
The scream from Midnight had been so blood curdling, it shocked Starlight back into reality. At first, he didn’t know what had happened—until he noticed the scattered arrangement of crystals. One of the undead ponies must have knocked the crystals out of place.
Midnight gave another cry as she forced the ponies back again. They had already pushed the two fillies back about halfway, and were eagerly advancing up the stairs towards them. Starlight took a deep breath and held it in. This was no easy decision.
“Midnight, Echo, move!” he said.
At his call, Midnight glanced back, and then quickly dove to the side when she saw the flare in Starlight’s hooves. The stallion took aim at the mass of ponies rushing up the stairs and pulled the release cable. The small rocket flew across the platform and impacted into the chest of one of the zombies before bursting in a bright explosion of brilliant white light. The ponies shrieked in terror while the one caught fire, tumbling down the stairs in a cascade of flames before tearing back out through the tunnel. The others backed away, shielding their eyes from the bright light before retreating into the darkness after their brethren.
“No! No! I was so close!” Midnight wailed as she stared down into the water beneath the platform. The crystal was nowhere in sight. “I can’t— I…”
“Mid, what happened?” asked Starlight.
“Those things, they... they knocked a crystal off. I don't have enough now. I don't... I can't...”
Starlight could see traces of crystalline tears welling up in the corners of Midnight's eyes while she stared hopelessly down into the misty water below. He pursed his lips tightly, fighting back a wave of nausea that hit him like a wall. He knew he would be unable to convince the stubborn Midnight to leave otherwise, even without a way to rescue her friend. But Starlight's guilty conscience wouldn't allow him to deny her the opportunity.
“Mid...”
Starlight’s call went unheeded. She continued to stare with anguish and defeat down into the pool. They did not have time for this.
“Midnight!”
This time, she turned around. To her amazement, Starlight was holding another crystal, the one he had taken from the mansion. With a flick of his hoof, he tossed it across the distance to her. Midnight grasped it eagerly, handling the precious stone with delicate hooves.
“Go on. Save him if you really think it’s worth your life.”
Midnight exhaled slowly, her shoulders drooping with release. The momentary respite was exactly what they had needed. She set the crystal back in place and ejected the empty magazine from her rifle, realizing she had spent her last one and switched to her pistol. All she needed was one bullet now…
Across the platform, Starlight slumped against the stone dais holding the spell crystal. His whole body felt like it was running a high fever, and his vision had begun to blur. Try as he might to deny it, he knew the truth: he was dying as well. He swallowed to try and wet his dry, arching throat. Visions of his team flashed before his eyes. Nocturne, Eclipse, Daybreak, and Blackjack… He had let them all down.
He glanced back over his shoulder at Echo, and then at Midnight. His eyes dropped slowly to Fleethoof’s body.
He could still save her though, and as team leader it was his responsibility to keep his ponies safe—no matter the cost.
“This stallion of yours…” he began, struggling to get back to his hooves. He had to use the dais for support, his weakened muscles feeling ready to give in again at a moment’s notice. “He’s really worth it, huh…?”
Midnight was quiet for a while. Starlight’s question brought up so many thoughts and emotions attached to the answer. A wistful smile touched her lips, and she nodded her head. She did her best to ignore the dampness in the corners of her eyes.
“Yeah… he is.”
Starlight swallowed hard again and nodded his head in understanding. He stared blankly out into the expanse of the aether pool while his life began to flash before his eyes. The pain had yet to reach the excruciating levels Fleethoof had endured, and he planned to keep it that way. He had made up his mind. If he was going out, it was on his terms.
Echo remained quiet as she listened to the scene unfold. Midnight Dasher had confided her secret with her when she returned from Canterlot. She knew the truth behind the nocturnal guard and pegasus captain. She heard the intent behind Starlight’s words as well.
A soft crackling filled the air with electric tension again. All at once, the runes began to glow with a faint blue light, and the crystals Midnight had arranged began to hum with life, absorbing the magical energy in the air. She looked at them in bittersweet joy. The ritual could actually work—and she was really going to die for it.
“Okay, I guess this is it then… Star, do me a favor. When you get home, just tell my mother and brother—”
Bang!
A single gunshot went off behind Midnight’s back, making her jump in fright. She spun around and stared in shock. Starlight lay across the floor on his back, blood starting to pool beneath his head from a gunshot wound running through his temple. His pistol lay clutched tightly in his hoof.
“Starlight!”
The runes began to glow brighter as the crystals sparked as bright as the sun. Pure white light flooded the chamber from the pool of water, and electricity arced through the air around the platform. Echo ducked down on reflex while Midnight watched in a mixture of awe and horror as the spell took form. Fleethoof and Starlight’s bodies were encapsulated in a pale purple aura, and with a loud sound similar to a lightning strike, light engulfed the cavern.
Midnight shielded her eyes with her hoof and listened to the spell pop and snap before fading away gradually. When she was sure the light had dissipated, Midnight dropped her hoof from her face and looked anxiously at the two prone ponies before her. Neither of them stirred.
Without waiting another second, Midnight Dasher ran first over to Starlight. Much to her horror and expectations, he was most certainly dead. She checked his pulse to confirm the spell hadn’t affected him in any way, and found that he had definitely expired. Midnight bit her lip and caught a sob in her throat. Her own friend had killed himself to spare her life—she had to make sure his sacrifice hadn’t been in vain.
Midnight turned and hurried over to where Fleethoof lay. She crouched beside his body, lifting him up in her hooves as she waited nervously for some sign of life. To her amazement, his injured side had been healed, and it looked as if he had never even been scratched.
“Fleet? Fleethoof? Can you hear me?” she whispered, holding her breath unconsciously between every sentence.
Everything was still for a minute longer. And then Fleethoof’s chest rose and fell slowly. Midnight felt her breathing quicken, and when his eyes slowly opened her heart skipped a beat. Fleethoof stared blankly up at the ceiling for a moment, blinking his eyes a couple of times before turning his head to look at the mare that held him. He saw the smile on her face and the relieved, pained tears in her eyes.
He stared up at her with distant, glassy eyes. “I was dead, wasn't I…?”
Midnight gave a sound crossed between a happy sob and a laugh. She pulled the weak pegasus into a tight embrace, the giddiness so foreign to her in this dismal place. Fleethoof took a few deep breaths, his lungs aching as they got used to inflating again. He groaned as Midnight’s legs tightened around him, threatening to crush the renewed life out of him again. His gaze swayed around the chamber, taking in where they were and what was happening.
“I thought you were gone,” she all but sobbed into his shoulder. Fleethoof clung onto Midnight’s back with a small smile.
“For a while there, I was. Starlight... did he...?”
Midnight didn't say anything at first, still reeling from the cataclysmic emotions of what had transpired. Echo smiled as she listened to the emotional reunion. But the moment was ruined when she heard the flare extinguish and a shuffling of rocks coming from down the tunnel, followed by a low, rasping breathing. Her head snapped up and turned in the direction of the tunnel. The sounds were getting louder.
“Midnight, they’re coming. We have to go.”
Midnight Dasher looked over at Echo just as a high-pitched cry of rage echoed through the cavern. Fear gripped at the mare’s soul, and she clung protectively to the stallion in her arms. The darkness had returned again, and so were the ponies.
“We have to get out of here right now.” She looked down at Fleethoof again with worry in her honey-toned eyes. “Fleet, are you all right if I take care of the crystal—”
Fleethoof was well ahead of her. He was already reaching into his jacket to draw his weapon. Squirming out of her grasp, he sat upright and racked his pistol.
“I’m fine. You go get us out of here. Echo and I will hold them off.”
Midnight didn’t look convinced. “But you—”
“Midnight, I’m fine! But I’m too weak to do much and Echo can’t see. It's up to you. Now go!”
Fleethoof stood up, albeit while shaking, and stumbled over to the railing of the platform. Echo had already taken up a spot beside the stairs, and was listening keenly for any signs of activity. Her ears swiveled about, picking up every little detail of sound.
Slumping against the balustrade, Fleethoof turned the flashlight on his gun back on and trained it at the tunnel. His head was spinning and pounding like he was hungover. He felt like he was going to be sick at any moment. Just hold out a little longer… he thought while shaking his head to try and clear the daze. Almost there… Almost out…
Midnight had scrambled across the platform, eyeing the amber crystal suspended in the air slightly above the dais. She watched as it pulsed with magical energy like a heart, maintaining the integrity of the seal they were trapped in. Snatching it up form its home, she cast one last glance down at Starlight’s body. She’d never be able to repay him for the sacrifice he’d made in her stead.
The gunfire started up out of nowhere. Fleethoof saw the first set of glowing red eyes emerge from the tunnel and didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. The recoil made him flinch more than usual in his groggy state, and his shots went wide, hitting the rock all around the creature. It was still enough to make it draw back with a hiss.
Echo followed the captain’s lead and listened closely for where the hooffalls from each pony hit the earth. She turned her gun in the general direction and fired. The bullets struck around the monsters’ hooves, and they fell back again, still trying to push forward and surround their prey.
Midnight’s eyes narrowed and she looked long and hard at the crystal in her hoof. Starlight’s death would not go in vain. Nopony’s death would. With all her might, Midnight lifted the crystal above her head and threw it down hard onto the ground.
Clink!
The crystal hit the stone floor and bounced about for a bit before settling on its side. Midnight stared in horror, her mouth agape. It had barely chipped! She looked up as the gunfire picked up again. Anxiety began to close in around her. Why hadn’t it broken?
Picking it up again as quickly as she could, Midnight threw it down against the floor again. A few pieces broke off, but it remained mostly intact. Dread gripped at her heart and soul as she brought her hooves down on it again and again, the metal horseshoes she wore slowly taking pieces off it off at a time.
Things were looking grim. Fleethoof grit his teeth as he stumbled backwards from the stairs while reloading his gun. The zombie ponies had started pushing their way up towards them, and they were running out of time and ammo. Echo had just spent the last of her rifle rounds and was popping off shots with her pistol. Fleethoof glanced over his shoulder at Midnight, watching as the bat pony assaulted the magic crystal with everything she had.
Fleethoof snapped the slide closed again and resumed shooting as he and Echo backpedaled closer to Midnight. She had gone into complete crisis mode, proceeding to just wail away at the object underhoof. Thin, spindly cracks had begun to weave their way through it, but still it refused to break.
“Midnight,” Fleethoof called back to her.
Midnight Dasher brought all of her weight down again and again. She could hear the sound of the crystalline object beginning to break and it gave her hope and spurred her on. But their time was up. Fleethoof and Echo had completely fallen back to her side now, and the zombie ponies were stalking across the platform towards them.
Fleethoof put a bullet through a pony’s skull and felt his heart sink when he saw the slide of his gun lock back. He was completely out of bullets. Beside him, Echo fired off the last of her ammo too. Midnight heard the gunshots stop and redoubled her actions.
“Midnight!”
She could see the cracks almost completely through the crystal now. Just one more good hit would do the trick. Fleethoof looked up and saw the entire population of Sunny Town surrounding them, leering like rabid wolves. They were cornered. They were out of time. They were done for.
The pony nearest Fleethoof gave a hiss and lunged, leaping through the air at the pegasus. Fleethoof gave a cry as he anticipated the strike. Midnight Dasher brought her hooves down once more, and felt the crystal give way. The sound of the gem shattering reverberated around the cavern, and a blinding light consumed the world. Time stood still as whiteness overtook everything.
And then there was nothing.