Chapter 34: No Longer Hustle & Bustle
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It was something unprecedented in Canterlot history (at least the last one thousand years, anyway), purely because nopony thought any living creature would be stupid enough to set foot in Canterlot to declare an attack of any sort, let alone one of this magnitude. However, that is exactly what happened that day. Most of the civilians felt themselves too unsuited for battle, so they fled into their homes. There were the odd exceptions, but not one so odd as the blue pony with a white mane and tail hopping from building to building.
"I haven't felt objects like this since...!" Silver grumbled, blasting away two Shadow Ghouls with a compressed soundwave as he began to fight his way through the city streets. "The ruined picnic..."
The blind pony gritted his teeth as that memory resurfaced. He'd "seen" the Shadow Ghouls before, but they weren't so tough as this. Before, it took one clean hit to defeat them; now, it took at least two to put them down for good. It was one of the few times Silver Espada could honestly say there was no substitute for eyesight; maybe then he'd be able to see subtle differences.
Silver launched another compressed sound wave into a crowd, making his way for the castle.
"Gonna go meet Virid and Blitz...even if Twilight's brother makes me go home. He's gotta know I'm not gonna sit around doing nothing!" the unicorn said, continuing to jump around.
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The unexpected invasion by the Shadow Ghouls was bad enough, but they seemed to be uninterested in causing havoc just anywhere in the city. They seemed to constrain the majority of it to within a few miles of the castle. It didn't make a lot of sense to Virid, but that was what he was getting out of all of it. He hadn't seen a sea of summons like this in his life, nor had he even heard of them. He and Crimson remained close to the castle, fighting off the various summons with help from their captain, and the other guards. Though Virid was pretty sure the princesses could do something, it wasn't his position to tell them to help.
The Royal Guards' duty was to make sure no harm came to the princesses. No matter what conspiracy theorists tried to assert, it was the way it had to be. Try as he might, Virid never understood why some ponies thought that of the princesses (mainly Princess Celestia considering Luna had only been back for a year). To him, it was clear all they could do was--
"Virid, could use a little help over here!" Crimson called out. Virid's head turned, seeing Crimson jumping away from a small group of black Shadow Ghouls. The green pony let out a sharp yell, letting out a perfectly calculated stream of amber laser blasts. The small flock was reduced to black smoke by the attacks.
"Sorry about that Crimson. Just got lost in my thoughts..." Virid nodded, waving off the incident. The two had a small problem-though they had lead a small platoon, due to the absolutely random nature of the attack, the two had managed to get seperated from them and were now fighting back to back against shadow creature after shadow creature. Even being outnumbered, they held fast to their duty: the Shadow Ghouls would not be allowed to get to the castle, no matter what.
"I don't understand," Crimson grunted, using his magic to leap into the air and crush the head of one of the creatures. "Why attack here, in broad daylight?"
"Remember, they attacked Azure and his friends in broad daylight, too!" Virid said, coolly firing laser after laser at the ghouls. He paused to rest as Crimson began to pick up where they left it. "As for why...my guess is they want their guy back, either to get him back or to silence him! Remember, he probably knows a lot of important stuff! He hasn't talked, though!"
Virid's eye trailed to the side as he caught sight of the Shadow Ghoul. Quickly, Virid leapt up, avoiding the hit, while charging a pressure wave in his forehooves. The unicorn brought them down first as he began to fall, taking out the ghoul. The green unicorn smirked, satisified with his handiwork.
"Gloat later, Virid!"
Crimson's shout alerted Virid to another Shadow Ghoul, too close for Virid to react. However, he didn't have to worry too much. A purple blur filled his vision, and the next, the ghoul had been sent flying. A quick laser attack from Crimson swiftly finished off the vile creature.
"Always got my back, Crimson, I feel the need to gloat..."
"Be serious, Virid...We're getting swarmed here. Got any ideas to lay out this small platoon?" Blitz asked. Virid looked around, still smirking only a little.
"Very well..." Time seemed to slow down around Virid as he began to strategize everything. Ghouls seemed to be coming out of every conceivable crevice possible, and only a few of them were the black and blue color mentioned to him before. The rest were the same charcoal hue, and all of them were pretty strong for what they were. If they were going to stall the process, they had to do something big.
Virid noticed they were the only ponies in the area, and he noticed something in the environment that could prove useful. It was a bit risky, and the paperwork'd be a pain in the flank later, but the pony didn't see any other way.
"Crimson, follow my lead!" Virid called out, immediately making a beeline towards one of the walls to a building. Crimson merely followed, both taking down any Shadow Ghouls in their immediate path. One of them was blasted away while another received a kick in the thorax for its efforts. The two continued their freegalloping until they'd made it to the roof of the building. The Shadow Ghouls were below and getting ready to climb. A couple had taken to the sky.
"Now what?" Crimson asked, firing at the flying ghouls.
"This!"
Virid let out a charged laser shot. At the very first instant, Crimson thought Virid wasn't even trying. It wasn't until after the shot flew through the air that he realized the green unicorn's plan. It was a straight shot, and hit its mark: the steel beams supporting a large watertower. The supports were sheared with little effort on the part of the spell, and the water tower began to creak.
"Timber!" Virid called out as the tank fell. The tank hit the ground, crushing an uncountable amount of the ghouls before it burst open, drenching the remainder of the ghouls on the ground. The water didn't go underground due to the cobblestone roads, so it just hung there at the feet of the ghouls. The ghouls hissed in confusion and anger as they became soaked up to their knees.
"Alright, Crimson, you know what to do..." Virid observed.
"Okay then..." Crimson knew what he had to do, his horn already crackling with the spell he had while Virid took over blasting the flying ghouls out of the sky. The unicorn's horn was not glowing purple as usual; the glow was more erratic and sparking a light purple color. Blitz let out an electrical surge from his horn, straight into the water.
Water conducted electricity; the base of Virid's plan. With all the ghouls below soaked, they were all hit by the electric current and were damaged enough to burst into black and bluish smoke. There were a few climbing up the side of the building after them, and some were still in the air, but the two had cut down on their workload.
"That's how it's done..." Virid smirked, blasting another ghoul away. The two continued to pick off the stragglers using their own innate talents, Virid sticking to magic and Blitz relying more on physical blows than magic. Three more flew towards the duo, and Virid caught them, aiming to blast them himself. However, before he could do anything, an odd, buzzing sound resounded nearby, and the ghouls vibrated violently, stunned long enough for some dark blue lasers to finish them off.
Virid and Blitz turned, spotting Silver on a nearby rooftop. Already he was leaping across, heading towards them.
"Silver..." Blitz observed, "Should have known you wouldn't stay inside..."
"Not on your life, Blitz," Silver responded. "I'm not going to sit around and do nothing while they're at it again..."
"Silver, as a Royal Guard, I must inform you that we are responsible for your safety just as much as we are the princesses' safety," Virid advised, now sounding as though he were reciting the code. "Any harm you take will reflect badly on me..."
Silver inhaled as though he were ready to say something, but a look from Blitz caused him to think better of it. The message reflected in the pony's movement pattern was clear: "Remember Twilight's brother?"
"I understand, Virid, don't worry. I'm not out to get myself hurt." Silver assured.
"Textbook response," said a voice, "But c'mon, I already know you and Azure don't care how bad you get hurt..."
All heads on the roof turned towards the door on the roof, which was now wide open. All three of the ponies recognized the pony there.
"C-Captain!" Virid stuttered, all traces of a smirk vanishing from his face. "About that water tower..."
"Don't worry about it, Virid," Shining waved his hoof dismissively, but he did not remove his helm all the while. "Yeah, paperwork's not gonna be easy on that one, but after a day like this, I don't think anypony's going to mind a missing water tower..."
"This is Canterlot, you know..." Silver interjected, "Hub of stuck-up ponies..."
"Silver!" Virid called out, seemingly aghast, "Watch your mouth!"
"At ease, Virid...there's no time to be fighting amongst ourselves." Shining walked to the edge of the roof. "Even with that entire platoon taken out, they're still spawning everywhere non-stop. If we want to put a stop to them, we've got to find the pony that's summoning them..."
It's gotta be that "Shade"... Silver remembered how powerful the unicorn was. Probably got himself a new jewel after the one I cracked...Well, wouldn't mind taking another crack at him, that's for sur--
"You're gonna be a little delayed!"
Shining looked down over the roof, and was made to regret it instantly. Something orange--a forehoof--caught him right under the chin and caused him to recoil back. However, he was quickly able to recover, without too much delay.
"Captain Shining Armor!" Virid called out, practically teleporting to his captain's aid. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Shining rubbed his chin twice, "What hit me?"
"That was me..." The voice came from above. All eyes--including the blank eyes of Silver--trailed upward. Those that could see saw an orange pegasus pony staring down at them, hovering casually above them, all confidence. The pegasus's mane and tail were jet black, same as his cloak. His eyes were odd: his left eye was blue while his right was a light orange color. They didn't know his special talent, but they could plainly see he was the same as the other cloaked ponies.
"What are you ponies?" Crimson asked, "And what do you want with this city?"
"None of your concern, I'm afraid," said the pegasus. "Here, I'll cut you a deal. If you can manage to catch me, I'll tell you everything you want..." The orange pony quickly began to touch down, mere feet from the unicorns. None of them knew what his game was. Was he grossly overconfident, or was he another surgically modified pony?
"We took your friend down...We can take you down, too." Virid asserted as he stepped forward.
"Friend? Oh. Tagane. Thought for sure you guys had killed him." The pegasus chuckled, "That might be impressive, considering you're unicorns and all, but I'll let you in on a secret..."
His body seemed to melt into the ground, or rather, a hole in the ground, glowing dark blue. The blue hole closed as quickly as it appeared.
"Silver, can you see him?" Virid asked.
"I can't get a reading," Silver responded, forgoing the obvious joke in favor of the bigger problem.
Virid's ears pricked up as he registered a sound. The Pegasus was now coming out of a red hole in thin air next to him. Time seemed to slow down for the green unicorn, but there was no way he could come up with a counterattack. Caught off-guard, Virid was struck in the face, and sent stumbling backward. His helm did take some of the force, but he definitely was gonna have to get that dent out later.
"I'm a whole different game from Tagane...he'd never beaten me once!" the pony boasted as he vanished once more into the ground without a trace.
Virid managed to get control of himself, and looked around.
"Silver--"
"I'm pushing it as hard as I can, but I can't 'see' him!" Silver cut off Crimson.
"Stay sharp," Shining said, looking around, "We don't know where he might attack next!"
"He's right, you know..."
Silver found himself lifted from his feet by a powerful back kick to the ribs.
"Darn it...!" The blind unicorn gasped, managing to get control of himself with a little application of freegalloping. This time, he managed to get both forehooves on the ground, and as soon as he was facing the pegasus, he let out a compressed sound wave from his horn. The invisible attack soared at the mysterious orange pegasus, but the Pegasus merely vanished into the floor to avoid it.
"He did it again!" Crimson shouted. "How's he doing this?! Is he like the other one?"
"Heh, almost got me that time..." The pegasus ignored Crimson's question as he reappeared. "But, you'll need to be a lot faster than that to land a hit on me..."
The pegasus dropped his guard, closing his eyes and putting a hoof over the center of his chest. Crimson's horn lit up purple.
"You mean like this?!"
Crimson blurred, a purple smudge against the background as he rushed the orange pony. There was no way he could have avoided it, and he was sent stumbling backwards by a shoulder tackle to the chest.
"Crimson, move it!" Virid shot a laser to the pony, aiming to deal more damage. Crimson quickly blurred out of the way, allowing the laser to continue. All the while, the pony's head remained lowered; however, if one were close enough, they could see the grimace change to a smirk. The pony's chest seemed to glow, and the next, a hole materialized into the air in front of him as he waved his hoof. It had a dark blue outer ring, and the laser entered the hole, passing inside as it closed behind him.
"What?!" Virid's jaw dropped.
"Alright, so you managed to hit me..." the pegasus said, recovering from the tackle and sarcastically applauding their efforts. "Now, you get your prize!" This time, he waved his other forehoof. Off to Virid's side, another red hole with a dark swirl within opened, and out of it came the laser Virid shot...now weaponized against the pony who fired it.
"Look out!" Shining's horn lit up, and Virid saw a light purple glow glide in front of him, halting the attack before vanishing without a trace. The pony was not too surprised; his captain was, after all, a pro at shields, as indicated by his cutie mark.
"Thank you, Captain..."
"Thank me later. Right now, we need to keep our eyes open..." Shining said, walking forward, glaring at the pegasus pony. The pony shrugged nonchalantly, cracking his neck a bit as he continued.
"Guess you know what my secret weapon is..." The pony said, "Portals..."
"Yeah. Doesn't mean you're invincible," Silver said. "We'll find a way to beat you..."
The orange pegasus looked around as the ponies surrounded him at the 12, 3, 6, and 9-o'clock positions. He smirked.
"If you can, go for it. I've got all the time in the world..."
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Canterlot's statue garden. A place where statues of ponies who had been exemplary in life were immortalized for their virtues. The only exception was the singing statue Princess Celestia took Virid and Blitz to see. Even here, ponies were ambushed and forced to fight or flee from the Shadow Ghouls. The statue of Discord sang to the heavens in its still image, not even phased by the ongoing chaos.
At least, that was what it appeared to the average bystander. Nopony could see it, but there was a very faint, almost non-existent, glow beneath the stone surface in some places. And in some of these faintly glowing places, hairline fissures were beginning to form.
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Princess Celestia was beginning to piece together the motives of these ponies. Though she wanted to help her subjects, her sister was stil somewhat recovering after being purified. Her sister wasn't exactly in the best of shape to fight for too long, for a variety of reasons. Luna wanted to help, but Celestia had to deny her the right.
However, the centuries-standing ruler knew what those cloaked ponies and ghouls were here for.
"Sister, why are these upstarts attacking here?" Luna's vernacular had improved somewhat since her return from the moon, but she still slipped into Old Canterlot mannerisms very easily.
"Luna..." Celestia began, "Do you remember back when we fought Discord, all those years ago?"
"How could I forget..." Luna said, a hint of sorrow in her tone. "Because of what happened during all that..."
"I know..." Celestia said. "It left long-lasting scars on us...But...do you remember the cloaked pony that took that item we made against Discord so long ago?"
Luna looked up, "I recall that, yes...Is he not still in the dungeon? Is he not their target?"
"If that were the case, we wouldn't have a choice but to fight..." Celestia observed.
The solar princess watched her lunar sister begin to piece things together on her own. Eventually, though, a light glided across her eyes.
"No..."
Celestia glanced again towards the statue garden. If the point of the attack wasn't to do anything in particular other than stir the pot...that would hasten the time limit on that encasement...
And an old foe would face a new generation...
And there was nothing she or her sister could do, even after all these years, to help them...