CHAPTER SEVEN
VESTIGES
Celestia was dreaming of white chrysanthemums. She was laying in a field of them, and they were shining bright as the reflection of sun on the water. From horizon to horizon they stretched out until they met the cloudless sky, and in rippling waves they swayed back and forth in the same gentle breeze that swept over her. She watched as their soft petals fluttered like a drop of dew jittering on the strand of a spider's web. As she looked they stared right back at her—millions of faces with a single, pale yellow eye meeting her gaze.
Then before her eyes, the flowers began to lose their features. They started to spread out like water falling on a painting, merging with each other to become a great white mass that spread out all around her as far as she could see. But she still felt their stare, and then she heard their cry. It was a gasp of hopelessness. The call built until it was a howl of fear. They were lost and afraid, with nowhere to go and nopony to turn to.
Countless voices called out to her. In their sorrow they were reaching, pleading for rescue. Celestia felt their overwhelming grief and began to stand in order to help them, but in a panic she realized that she couldn't see them anymore. Everything was a mass of colorless white before her. The sky had turned overcast, and the pale ground had merged with the sky and sent her into a blinding white void. Her world had become a blank canvas.
Help us!
Rising up, she frantically began whipping her head back and forth in an effort to see something. "Where are you?!" she cried out. "I can't see you!"
Please! Princess! Help us!
She began to run as fast as she could towards the voices that were more clear than others, but they were coming from everywhere at once. In the total whiteness she couldn't tell if she was moving or not. Her hooves didn't even feel like they were touching the ground. Still she ran forward, nearly tripping over herself in her haste.
"I will! Just tell me where you are!"
You promised! You promised you'd keep us safe!
"I will keep you safe! But I can't see you!"
Princess!
"I can't…see!"
Princess!
"I…I can't…"
She felt like she had run for hours before her knees began to give out underneath her. Slowing down from her frantic gallop to a wobbling stumble, she collapsed on the ground, or what only could pass for the ground in this weightless, infinite purgatory. Between heaving gasps of breath, Celestia craned her neck upwards to the meaningless sky. Closing her eyes in frustration and defeat, she could only softly whisper.
"I can't see you. I'm sorry. I…I just can't see where you are."
A single voice on the breeze drifted past her before fading away with all the rest.
You promised.
The words were a dagger in her heart. Finding anger in her sorrow, she screamed as loud as she could at the faceless, accusing voices.
"WHERE ARE YOU?!"
As her words echoed into the void, a roar of arctic wind blasted her with the full force of the Frozen North. The white around her had turned to snow, and the rolling hills of chrysanthemums had become drifts of ice and blizzard. The sky was dark with angry, low-hanging clouds. Shielding her eyes from the whipping frost and biting wind, Celestia tried to see where she was. As she trudged through the snow, working hard to lift her hooves in the knee-deep drifts, she heard a new voice on the air.
Sister!
Celestia's head snapped up. Was she here, too?
"Luna? I hear you!" she called into the storm. The roar of the winter wind threatened to swallow her voice.
Celestia! We must do something!
"Where are you? What's happening?"
Following the voice, she continued plowing through the snow, trying desperately to reach her sister. As she reached the top of a large hill, she saw a great red glow in the sky. It was pulsing in villainous satisfaction behind a gathering of heavy clouds that spewed snow, its glow breaking through them like fire hidden by smoke. The weather twisted and roiled around it, sending arms of black storm clouds spreading across the massive snow covered field.
Celestia! What do we do?!
Looking at the red glow smoldering in the sky, Celestia could only stare in awe, dumbstruck at the overwhelming terror and the crippling despair she felt radiating from it. She had seen this before, over a thousand years ago, and it had haunted her every day since. She tried to remember what to do, but all that came into her mind was the knowledge that she had failed utterly.
CELESTIA!
As Luna's great cry split the night, a new voice came rumbling like an earthquake, terrible and sharp with hate and venomous promise.
They will be ours.
With that a mighty crack of horrible magical power shattered the world around her. The snow was blasted away, and a crushing arctic squall slammed into her chest, knocking the air out of her lungs and sending her flying backward. Before it was lost to her sight she saw a crimson dome flashing like a second sun before it blinked out of existence.
As she fell upon the ground, the snow was gone. Instead she again landed in a meadow populated by those same white chrysanthemums. Closing her eyes, she shook her head back and forth, her body still steaming from the cold.
"I failed." The words were acid on her tongue. "They needed me. And I failed them all."
Celestia felt one of the flowers brush up against her cheek as she lay on her back. It was soft and gentle against her face. Opening her eyes, she turned her head.
It wasn't a flower. It was Twilight Sparkle's mane. She was laying on the ground next to her, but was frozen solid as if carved of ice. An emotionless expression was etched on her face. Her eyes were hard and unblinking, staring directly into Celestia's soul.
Mouth agape, Celestia stared at her favorite pupil in horror. There was no life in her except for the piercing glare of those condemning eyes. Then Twilight spoke.
"You promised."
Celestia recoiled in shock. She cried one word before she awoke, her voice merging with the wail of her sister as they cried the same as Luna had done one night a millennia ago, the same night they last had seen that red glow.
"NO!"
Snapping her eyes open, Celestia found herself back in her bed in Canterlot Castle. The fire in the hearth was still slightly burning, and the embers were casting faint shadows across the covers with their dull orange glow. Slowly rousing herself to sit up in bed, she found that she was covered in sweat. The blankets were damp and clung to her as she removed herself from the oven that was her bed.
She stood by the window and let the night air cool her overheated body until the drying sweat began to make her shiver. As she went over to one of her chairs, grabbing a dry blanket and wrapping it around herself, she turned to look outside. The moon was high in the sky. It was still some hours until daylight, but Celestia knew she'd be unable to sleep again tonight.
She wondered where Luna was. At this time of night she was always very busy. Celestia just hoped she was close by. Closing her eyes briefly, she magically called her sister to her.
After stoking the fire to a respectable blaze and placing the kettle over it, a short time later she had a cup of tea ready. Sitting in the chair which faced the window to the north, she sat and sipped her favorite lemon blend, and waited for her sister to arrive. The whole time she scanned the horizon like a hawk, but saw nothing.
Celestia didn't have to wait for very long. She was only halfway through her second cup when she heard wings flapping above the spired dome of her bedroom chambers. Landing silently, Princess Luna appeared on the balcony. The deep concern on her face made her seem even more dour than usual.
"Sister," she said, "You seem troubled."
Celestia smiled grimly.
"I don't even have to tell you why, do I?" she stated more than asked. "You've already seen it."
Luna stepped forward into the bedroom.
"Yes," she said. "I have."
Celestia took another sip of tea. "Having a sister who can see everypony's dreams can be useful."
"It can," Luna replied. "Especially when those dreams involve thousand year old curses. And ponies who hadn't been there when it happened."
There was a moment of anxious silence between them. Celestia was staring into her teacup with an intensity that threatened to boil the water inside of it. She said nothing.
"Celestia," Luna asked as she knelt down by her sister's side, "What's happening?"
With a turn of her head, Celestia looked at her. Her voice cracked and slightly trembled.
"Luna," she said, "I think I've made a terrible mistake."
* * *
The wind was cracking against her face as she flew against the storm howling out the north, but still Cadence pushed on, heedless of the stinging pain in her eyes or the numbness of her body. Above and behind her, the royal guard surrounded their princess, watchful for the dangers they were all undoubtedly heading into. The frostbitten gleam of their silver helmets caught the sickly green blaze of the unholy wall of fire as it heaved its hulking mass far into the night sky. Ever larger it loomed as they raced forward, pumping their wings as fast as they could as they slammed into the leading edge of the blizzard that proceeded it. The dark magic radiating out was nearly choking.
Looking down and to her sides, Cadence saw her pegasus troops below her, spread out in a series of Vs. The heavy winds shook them, but they remained in formation as they disappeared into the first of the snow-heaving clouds. Seconds later Cadence and her guard followed them into the storm. As the clouds enveloped them, the temperature plummeted even lower than it had already been before. It was a twisted coldness, devoid of nature—less a presence of winter and more a lack of anything except for harsh, uncaring nothingness.
Shivering from mane to tail, Cadence put her head down and raised a hoof to her face, doing her best to shield her eyes from the ice and snow that was pummeling her. Her blindness in the blizzard was close to total, and her world became a bleak canvas of angry, rolling clouds touched by the menacing emerald glow of the fire. Angling her flight downwards, she brought herself closer to the ground, hoping that the clouds would thin out as she got lower.
She had to be able to see the ground. That's where he would be.
But the weather was not clearing. The clouds remained thick and heavy, and the snow continued to buffet her about like water breaking on rocks. Lower and lower she went, but still she could see nothing but white and grey. Based on her intuition she guessed she was getting fairly low to the ground, a concern put into sharp focus when suddenly, like spears, the tops of trees shot out at her from the icy miasma. Gasping in surprise as they threatened to skewer her, Cadence quickly began to pull up as she spread her wings as far out as they could go and furiously pumped them backwards to slow herself. Her descent had been quicker than she had thought, however, and the branches of the tree tops grabbed at her legs to scratch them as she soared above them. Looking behind her, she noted that her pegasus guards had been more cautious in their descent, and had gauged their altitude and the distance to the trees more accurately than she had done as they pulled up comfortably clear of the danger of the branches. She normally would have felt slightly foolish, but she had never claimed to be an overly skilled flyer, and the matters at hoof were far more important than trivial matters such as caution. She didn't have the time to be careful.
The head of her royal guard, a light grey pegasus with deep blue, wizened eyes named Vigil, caught up to her as she maneuvered left and right around the taller trees sticking out of the canopy.
"Princess," he shouted over the howling of the storm, "Let us lead! It's too dangerous!"
Tears began forming at the corners of Cadence's eyes. Vigil was right. It was insane to even enter this foul storm, let alone go rocketing through it as haphazardly as she was. She was just as likely to smash herself against something than to find what she was looking for. But she couldn't stop. She couldn't even let somepony else lead. He was out there somewhere, and she had to find him.
She shook her head violently as a brief gasp of sorrow found its way out of her throat. Her tears were quickly freezing to the side of her face.
"No!" she cried out as she put her head down and carried onwards with renewed strength. Vigil gave a resigned grunt as she pulled ahead of him once more. Turning to signal the other five royal guard, he sped up to catch his princess, and took his place protecting her rear. She may be putting herself in harm's way, but Vigil would not let harm find Cadence without going through him and his men first. Falling into formation, the squad joined her in whipping around the trees in the roaring blizzard as they searched for the prince. Barely visible, the other pegasus troops could occasionally be seen higher above them when the clouds briefly parted.
They were nearing the wall of flame. Even in the storm they were aware of it looming right in front of them—a towering barrier marking the end of the world. He had to be close. Cadence wouldn't allow any other possibility to enter her mind. She was almost there. He'd be right in front of her. Only a few more seconds and she'd find him.
Almost there.
Cadence offered a brief prayer to anypony who might be listening.
Somepony. Please. Tell me he's going to be right there.
It was at that very moment that a disheveled, haggard looking pegasus soaring through the air nearly crashed into her. His helmet was gone, but the light armor he wore designated him as a scout of the Crystal Empire. It was dented and torn, filthy and caked with the mud, leaves and twigs which coated him from head to hoof. He had ice crystals forming in his mane and on his nose from when the sweat and other fluids leaking from his face had frozen. He looked as if he had been running for hours. His eyes went wide as he swerved at the last second to avoid crashing into Cadence.
Briefly going on high alert, Vigil and his troops charged forwards towards the beleaguered pegasus and quickly surrounded him. Then, recognizing the uniform, they eased off. Vigil, who had immediately positioned himself between the stranger and Cadence, barked a quick series of questions at him as they hovered in place.
"Name and outfit, soldier! What are you doing?!"
After taking a brief moment to clear the surprise from his mind, he mechanically answered with a crisp but breathless shout of "Sir! Steadfast! Pegasi Scouts, 1st Company, sir!"
"1st Company?" Vigil answered. "You were with the prince? Where is he? Where's the rest of your company? Where do you think you're going, Steadfast?"
"Sir! I was headed back to the Empire, sir! We must—"
At that moment Steadfast glanced behind Vigil and saw Cadence. He had not registered that it was his princess whom he had nearly bowled over and out of the sky. He gave a quick shout of surprise and shot towards her. She instinctively recoiled at the movement, and Vigil went into an aggressive posture and was ready to attack before Steadfast stopped before her and bowed in reverence as best he could while in the air.
"Princess Cadence!" he said with head lowered. "There's no time! Prince Shining Armor needs you! He needs all of us!"
Cadence felt a new found hope along with fear. He was alive! But what about now? Were they too late?
Steadfast raised his head and shouted with frantic urgency.
"Now! We must go! Follow me!"
Then he spun around and flew back the way he came. His disappearance in the clouds was nearly instant. Cadence charged after him with all the speed she could muster. Vigil and the rest were close behind her. Steadfast's faint figure could barely be made out ahead of them as he moved like a pony possessed.
As they followed him through the blizzard, after a few minutes the clouds suddenly parted. Cadence found herself at the edge of the forest, and in the eye of the storm. In the little bubble of calm was a snow-covered meadow, drifts flowing over it like sand dunes. Small mounds jutted up sporadically, the result of boulders and rocks spread throughout the field being buried in the snowfall. The opposite tree-line held three things:
The first was the wall of green flame, sitting no more than fifty meters behind the trees and seething skyward in uncontrolled rage. It was creeping forward—a sluggish but unstoppable juggernaut stretching across the horizon.
The second was a horde of creatures of solid black and shadow, dull grey armor faintly reflecting the glow of the fire. They lined the border of the meadow from end to end: Hundreds of pairs of glowing red eyes shining from underneath their vicious, dragon-head shaped helmets. Like the wall of flame, they too were slowly and deliberately making their way forward.
The third was a lone, prostrate figure sprawled out next to one of the boulders by the tree-line. Cadence saw with both relief and dread his old blue overcoat poking out through the mound of snow it was half buried in. With a stone falling into her stomach, she saw the creatures were converging on him. He was making no move to escape. Steadfast, floating a short distance in front of them, turned around and pointed towards his fallen leader.
"There he is!" he bellowed. "The beasts are upon him!"
With that he was off, rocketing towards the wall of flame and line of vile creatures. Cadence was right behind him. As they passed by him, Vigil took a brief instant to register the situation and assess it strategically. There was little room or time for intricacies. It was going to be messy, and probably very short-lived. It was eight against hundreds. He put their chances at next to nothing, even with Cadence's magic. Still he prepared himself to dive after and protect his princess as best he could.
It was then, after hearing a series of hails from above, he looked around to see the formations of pegasi magnificently break through the clouds and enter the clearing all around them on their side. Their timing could not have been better, and Vigil's spirits were raised. Now with nearly the entirety of the pegasi force of the Crystal Empire joining the fight, their odds had just improved. It looked to be a glorious battle. With a smirk of fervor and determination, he signaled the charge and roared into the green-tinted night sky.
"FOR THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE!!!"
They joined their princess in her charge as she streaked through the night like a shooting star, her magic bursting at the seams as a brilliant glow radiated from her, beating back the darkness and momentarily making the field as bright as daylight. As she rocketed across the field towards where the gathered monsters were thickest, Steadfast and her guard in tow, she screamed her husband's name—a battle cry to both bolster her own courage, and to hopefully assure him, if he could still hear, that help had arrived. As she reached the enemy lines her magic detonated around her like a solar flare, sending her foes reeling as the spearhead of her attack smashed open the way for the forces behind her.
Like arrows falling from the heavens, the pegasi slammed into the lines of dark unicorns, filling the air with howling war cries, peeling metal clangs, heavy thuds and deafening crashes as colliding bodies went spinning, twirling and tumbling through the forest and meadow. Cadence shined like a meteor as she blasted the giant black unicorns before her with bolts of magic and sent them hurtling through the air as they dissipated in gouts of smoke and shade, leaving their armor to disintegrate in the clouds of snow that kicked up as they hit the ground.
The battle raged around Cadence, Vigil and Steadfast as they threw themselves at the enemy in dire desperation. The initial charge had given momentum to the pegasi forces at first, but as it continued the fight started slowly shifting in the enemy's favor. Their unending waves of forces combined with their shear mountainous strength and bulk began to wear on the army of the Crystal Empire. As the pegasus forces began losing ground, the line of battle shifted from where it had been punched back to inside the tree-line to back out in the meadow. They simply did not have the physical strength to combat these brutes in this fashion, and it was beginning to become clear they would not win this fight.
In the midst of the battle, Vigil stepped back from clashing with a particularly big foe as two other pegasi flew in to fight in his stead after seeing their commander struggling. Taking the brief moment to catch his breath, he saw at the edge of the clearing a black mass surging out of the trees. It was another enemy force, and they were making their way behind them. Vigil knew that soon they would be flanked with no cover to be had whatsoever. At that point he knew that soon one of two things would happen: Either it would be a route, and they would be forced to retreat before rescuing the prince, or it would become a slaughter. Neither option was acceptable. But they had to leave now.
"Princess!" he called out to Cadence, who was slightly ahead of him, slogging her way through the hoards of enemies in an effort to reach where Shining Armor lay. "We have to fall back! We'll be overrun soon!"
Cadence turned and shot him a look full of anger and disbelief. Then, following his hoof as he pointed out the new threat, she looked to their sides and saw that he was right. With a cry of anguish she fired off another magical bolt from her horn, vaporizing another monster that was rushing her. Looking ahead through the rapidly clearing black mist that the creature left behind as his final howl and the clattering of his falling armor echoed off into the darkness, Cadence saw the motionless form of Shining Armor still laying against the boulder. In between them was about thirty yards and a dozen enemies.
It was then she saw, coming out of the trees, a massive unicorn that stood a head above any of the rest. Additional dagger-like horns flared out from the giant dragon helmet to make the beast even taller, and extended to his tail in a row of spikes which protruded from its spine all the way down the armor. A great black beard flowed from underneath the helmet, swaying in the wind and spotted with the snow that had caught in it. With thunderous and menacing footsteps it made its way towards where Shining Armor lay. They had mere moments before it was upon him.
A rage unlike anything she'd ever known surged through Cadence's veins, and another burst of bright light flared out from her as she channeled all the magic she had left to spare, knocking back any creatures nearby. Spreading across the battlefield and drowning it in pure shimmering white, the radiance temporarily stunned both pegasi and aberrant unicorn alike. With a scream of fury Cadence charged, knocking aside the giants who blocked her path with righteous fury and heedless determination. Her blast of magic had removed all but a few of the enemy from her path, and within moments she had covered half the distance.
She was very close now. There was only ten meters left. Only three unicorns remained. She darted around the first as it lunged at her with snapping jaws and wicked fangs. As she smoothly passed by it, she heard the distinctive crunch of a pair of hoofs breaking hard stone, followed by a mighty crash and piercing shriek, and she knew that Vigil was close behind her, watching her back and delivering finishing blows to the monsters who stumbled in her wake.
The second unicorn she dispatched with another blast of her magic as it dared to stand before her. It was a fleeting but satisfying pleasure to watch it evaporate. The armor didn't even have time to hit the ground before she smashed through it. Like its owner before it, it soon too became nothing more than dust in the breeze.
The final creature did not wait to let her make the first move. It had seen her coming, and using its ill-fated companion in front to block it from Cadence's vision, the monster was waiting to meet her as she passed through the falling armor. So it was that it had the element of surprise on Cadence as it met her with slathering mouth and lowered spear-like horn, ready to impale her as it grinned manically. She did not have time to stop, and could only gasp in surprise once as it cackled in morbid satisfaction, ready to deliver the deadly blow.
Fortunately for Cadence, since it had been preoccupied with ambushing her, the creature had not been paying attention to its own surroundings. That meant that Steadfast, who had been covering their charge from the side, likewise had the element of surprise over it as he leapt into the air to deliver two hooves to the monster's face. With a yelp it collapsed to the ground, Steadfast tumbling over its rapidly dissolving carcass as he rolled end over end with the momentum of his impressive hit. He came to a stop at the foot of another creature whose legs were taken out from underneath it by the impact, and Steadfast immediately recovered from the crash and proceeded to lay into the prone enemy. Cadence gave a brief sigh of relief, and made a mental note that if they managed to get out of this, Steadfast was going to be bestowed the highest honors she could give.
The path was clear. Shining Armor was only feet away from her now, the towering figure of the massive black unicorn nearly as close as it gazed at her in wrath. Those red eyes threatened to drill holes in her as she approached its prize, but she would not be frightened by them. She was leaving here with her husband.
Digging down deep, she realized that she didn't have much power remaining. She had used nearly all of her magic energy earlier, and she knew she was incapable at that moment of casting another blast able to obliterate an enemy, especially one as clearly powerful as the one before her. But she didn't need to destroy it. She just needed to delay it. Drawing on all her hope and all the reserves of magic power she had left, she sent a single blast at those terrible eyes.
Her aim was as sharp as her magical talents. The beam of radiant energy that shot from her horn seared its way through the left eye-slot of the massive dragon helmet. The great brute reeled backwards as it roared in outrage and agony as smoke poured from the wound. Its huge head violently shook back and forth as it tried to clear away the pain.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Cadence rushed over to Shining Armor. He was unconscious, looking pale and battered as he lay half buried in snow. Lifting a hoof to his dirty and beaten face, Cadence leaned in close and gently whispered to him.
"It's alright, darling," she said. "I'm here. We're going home. I'm here."
Perhaps it was her deepest desires making her see things, but just then she could have sworn she saw him grin. Either way, he was still breathing. She would take that for now.
A flurry of movement from the other side of the boulder startled her before she recognized Vigil, who immediately began preparing Shining Armor to be moved.
"He's really hurt," she said as Vigil gave him a quick look-over.
"Looks like it's broken," he said, noting the troubling angle of his front left leg. He glanced over his shoulder to look for the rest of the guard and then, seeing them approaching, started to heave Shining Armor up out of the snow, being careful to avoid jostling the injury. Cadence took his other side, and together they brought him up to stand on his back hooves.
Hearing a roar from behind, Cadence turned to see that the titanic unicorn had fought through enough of its pain to regain some of its senses. With teeth bared and its single remaining eye ablaze with hate, it looked down on Cadence from its immense height and snarled.
Staring back with equal amounts of spite, Cadence spat back at it.
"You can't have him!"
The monster roared again and charged forward.
"We go," said Vigil dryly. "Now."
Spreading their wings and then flapping with all their might, Cadence and Vigil lifted Shining Armor off of the ground and away from the raging beast. Even as they quickly ascended, the immense brute was nearly upon them as they floated above the heads of the others. Leaping on top of Shining Armor's boulder and jumping towards them, the giant snapped its massive jaws at their hooves, missing by inches before it came crashing back down to the ground, crushing some of its smaller underlings beneath its bulk. Staring up at them with one eye alight with evil glowing red, it roared one last time in defeat as Cadence and Vigil made off with its trophy.
Around the battlefield the pegasi gave the order to retreat. Taking to the sky, they abandoned their hopeless battle. It had ended not a moment too soon, as the wave of enemies that had worked around the flanks poured into the fray just then, attempting in vain to catch the pegasi with gnashing teeth as they soared away. While it would have been inaccurate for anypony to call this situation a victory, as they flew away from the hordes of monsters and the giant wall of fire, they couldn't help but feel that had pulled off a miracle given the circumstances.
Cadence and Vigil carried the unresponsive prince into the storm that they had passed through. This time the wind was at their backs, and they were through before they knew it. As Cadence began to finally catch her breath and regain her wits, she looked around. Most of the pegasi seemed to be accounted for. With a sigh of relief she also saw all of her guard still surrounding her, as well as Steadfast, the lone scout who had no doubt helped save the day. He was flying by Shining Armor's side as the prince hung between Cadence and Vigil, desperately trying to gauge the condition of his commander. Cadence smiled, relieved that he had made it.
They would need good ponies before this was over. After all, this could only get worse from here. She didn't quite know how, but she was fairly certain those beasts would think of something.
After they had been flying for only a short time, the wind oddly began to die down. Looking back, they saw that the storm had begun to weaken. It slowed in its advance, the clouds began to fade, and the snow lessened in intensity. And then it simply stopped and dissipated into nothingness. A strange quiet came over the world, with the only sound remaining the distant roar of the wall of green fire.
Then with a groan, that too began to fade. The base of the fire started growing thinner and wispier. Then it went out completely from the bottom up, hissing in dark menace as it was swallowed up by the air, the last of the green flames whisking at the sky in a final swipe before everything was again plunged into the darkness of the night. The moon's pale white light seemed alien to everypony's eyes, and they all had to take a moment to adjust from the green tinted nightmare they had been living in for the past few hours.
The calm that lay over the northern forest of the Crystal Empire was not reassuring. Something was horribly, impossibly wrong.
They were still half an hour's flight out of the city. Shining Armor's condition was slowing them down, otherwise they probably would have already been approaching the gates. Cadence needed to get him back as soon as possible, but as she watched the fire go out she realized with dread certainty that she needed to know what was going on back there. Deciding that knowledge superseded caution at the moment, she called for a halt.
"Vigil," she said after everypony was stopped, hovering in the air, "Let's set Shining Armor down here. We need to take a look at him."
Vigil obeyed, gently taking him from her hooves and lowering him to the ground, where he found a relatively soft spot to lay him down. A medic followed him down and immediately began examining his broken leg.
Steadfast stayed at his place by Cadence, but his stare couldn't be moved from the prince. With a smile, she placed a hoof on his shoulder and said "Steadfast, I want you to stay with Shining Armor."
"Princess?" He asked as he tore his gaze away from him and looked at her.
"You've served the Empire well," she said. "And you helped save my husband. We're both forever in your debt. I may not be able to stay with him, though. So I need somepony I can trust looking after him. He could use a good friend right now."
He smiled back as his chest literally swelled with pride. Snapping a salute, he joined Vigil and the medic down below.
Turning then to her pegasi soldiers, Cadence called out "Who has command?"
An older, tan pegasus with a white and blue striped crest on his helm flew forwards and bowed vaguely over his considerable paunch.
"I do."
"Oh thank goodness, Colonel Stormbreaker," she said, recognizing his heavyset figure even when it was mostly in moonlit silhouette. "I'm very pleased to see you're still with us." The chaos of the scramble out of the city had made it so Cadence had had no idea who was leading the troops. She was very relieved to see the old veteran still around and kicking. They might be needing his leadership again before the night was done.
"Your Royal Highness," Stormbreaker said with another minuscule bow. His face was grim. "Forgive me," he asked, "But shouldn't we keep moving?"
Cadence shook her head. "Something's not right, Colonel," she said. "That fire wasn't looking to die out anytime soon. Something made it, and I need to know what. We need to know what we're facing."
Stormbreaker nodded in reluctant agreement.
"Allow me to investigate, Highness," he said, "But at least remove yourself back to the safety of the city."
Again Cadence shook her head.
"I will not sit in the castle waiting to hear news from somepony else about what's happening in my kingdom. I've done enough of that today," she said. "I will stay right here with my husband. Take as many pegasi as you deem necessary and form a scouting party. Head back to where the wall of fire used to be. Find out what in Equestria is going on, and get back here as soon as you can."
Begrudgingly, Stormbreaker bowed and accepted her order.
"As you will. I shall return without delay," he said.
He barked some orders and pointed a bit before forming up two squads and taking the lead at the head of one of them. Giving a salute to Cadence, he prepared to leave on his mission.
"Be careful, Colonel," she said. "Please. We've had too much tragedy tonight."
Then with a crisp "Your Highness!" he was off. The two squads of pegasi followed close behind, soaring high over the trees. It wasn't long before they were little black specks in the night sky, and then were lost between the spaces between the stars.
The ranking officer remaining, a rather young-looking Lieutenant whose name escaped her, approached Cadence and gave a quick, time-conscious salute before asking, "Princess, what will you have of me? What are your orders?"
"Post scouts to our rear," she said as she examined her remaining forces. "I want to know if those beasts come anywhere near us. We must be ready to leave at a moment's notice. If they come, don't bother fighting. Just fall back. In the meantime, we wait for Stormbreaker to return from his mission."
"Yes, princess."
"Send a squad back to the city," she added. "Inform them of everything that happened, and tell them to prepare the defenses. Give special consideration to the northern area of the city."
"As you command."
He was off like a shot the moment she dismissed him, obviously wound very tightly and ready for more action. Cadence knew that she was doing everything she could given the circumstances, but it still didn't feel like enough. She was doubtful that the city's defenses could hold against the monsters. Perhaps if it they had a wall or if it was perched on a mountain somewhere it would be different, but being out in the open on a plane the Crystal Empire had essentially no fortifications or natural defenses. Strategically it was a nightmare to defend, but that had seldom mattered because of the Crystal Heart. That would normally give them a great advantage over any attackers.
But something was not sitting right with Cadence about the Crystal Heart. The moment after Twilight cast that spell was when the wall of flame had erupted in the distance. And while that may have been a coincidence, it did seem rather suspect. She didn't know exactly what Twilight had done, even though nothing overly unusual had been attempted, but perhaps a terrible mistake had been made somehow. The more she thought about it the worse of a feeling she got, until she wasn't sure she'd even use the Crystal Heart if the need arose.
This was bad. Really bad. She needed help.
She gently floated down next to Vigil, Steadfast and the medic, who were all attending to Shining Armor as they prepared to set his leg. Steadfast already had a crude splint started, the two thick branches needing only one more strip of fabric before it was ready. The other two were checking him for other smaller injuries he may have sustained.
While the medic continued his work, Cadence stepped in to briefly pull Vigil aside and quietly asked him "Who in my guard in the fastest flyer? Besides yourself, I mean."
Vigil shook his head. "I don't factor into it, your Highness. Whipcrack is the fastest by far. Makes the rest of us look bad."
"Good," she said. "I need to borrow him and his speed."
"He'll be delighted to show off," Vigil smirked. Looking up and over Cadence's shoulder, he called out to a lithe pegasus who seemed to dance on the air as he descended. The jet-black pony had an ivory muzzle and a pair of bone-white streaks on either side of his mane shooting out from his temples. Cadence had briefly talked to him on occasion, and while he had struck her as a pony of relatively few words, with most of them bordering on arrogance when he chose to speak, she had little reason to doubt his skill.
Landing softly next to them, Whipcrack stood at attention.
"Sir!" he barked.
"Whipcrack," Vigil said, "Our princess has need of you."
He turned to her and gave a quick bow. "What would you have of me?"'
"I need you to fly to Canterlot," Cadence said. "As fast as possible. Inform Princess Celestia of what has been happening. Tell her we need unicorn support. We need as many as she can spare. I doubt the Empire can hold against this enemy unless we have magic to combat them."
Whipcrack nodded. "I understand, your Highness," he said. "Is there anything else?"
"Yes," she said. After a slight pause, she said "Tell Celestia I…have reason to believe this is somehow connected to Twilight Sparkle."
She had ended her sentence, but the silence afterwards was heavy with thoughts left unsaid. Whipcrack raised his eyebrows in anticipation of hearing their conclusion, and remained silent. Finally Cadence took a deep breath and, regretfully forcing it out, finished in a whisper:
"I believe it's connected to Twilight Sparkle…and King Sombra."
Whipcrack's eyes went wide as saucers. He remained rigidly at attention, but his face had gone pallid as he worked it out in his thunderstruck mind.
"Do you understand?" she asked him.
Taking a last moment to compose himself, Whipcrack vigorously nodded and grunted "Yes, I do."
"Good," said Cadence. "Then go. Quickly. You may hold our best hope in your hooves, Whipcrack."
He bowed low, saying "I shall not let you down, your Highness!"
As another pegasus shot off into the night sky, this time headed southeast, Cadence stopped to wonder if she was making the right choices. Was she being a fool for staying here? Had she sent Stormbreaker and two whole squads of pegasi to their doom? Was she doing more harm than good to Shining Armor? Had she adequately prepared the city? Were her defenses here good enough if they had to fight? Was she overlooking anything?
What should I do?
She let those fears wash over her like water as she sat down by her unconscious husband. They threatened to drown her, but Cadence refused to let that happen. Instead she held her breath and focused all her thoughts on him, finding her center in the one thing she cared about most in all the world. No matter what happened, right now he was with her and relatively safe. That at least kept her head above water.
They had prepared the splint for his leg, and Vigil and the medic were getting ready to set the broken bone. Steadfast was holding Shining Armor's shoulders down on the chance that he would wake up from the shock and pain. Resting a hoof on top of his good one, Cadence gripped tight. A tear had begun to find its way to her eye, but she blinked it away. Now wasn't the time for that. She had to be strong.
Strong for both of them.
The bit of forest they were in was just a stone-throw's south of a small river at the northern border of the Crystal Empire. The waters had swelled recently during the spring thaw, but the past day's cold snap had caused them to slightly freeze over. Large chunks of ice made their way down the river, smashing into the banks where, less than a week ago, an expedition from the museum had found both fossils of interesting fern life as well as an object of more sinister origin.
The pegasi had set down by it without much thought as to its nearness to the city. But had they arrived there a few minutes earlier, they would have been close enough to see an ominous red glow not far to the south. But they had arrived too late, and now it was gone. And the night was very black and very quiet.
* * *
It left the hoofprints, Twilight Sparkle observed.
That was all there was left of the Crystal Empire. The great castle was gone, as was the stadium, the vast library, the roads, all the houses, and all of Sombra's giant crystalline spires. Even the twin crystal pillars that sat outside the train station were missing. But the hoofprints were still there. Some of them suggested frantic running to no particular place, but most of them were headed out from the center.
And the hoofprints all suddenly stopped at the place their creators had been when they had vanished into thin air. As the wind blew the snow across the plain, the only evidence that they were ever there was being erased, gust by gust.
She didn't leave any tracks, though.
Twilight had searched the snow all around for places Rainbow Dash could have landed, digging until she couldn't feel her hooves. She had screamed her name into the night over and over until her voice was gravel and broken glass. After what seemed like days, when nopony had answered her call, and every inch of snow around her that she had searched had turned up empty, Twilight found herself numb with both shock and cold. Gasping for breath as her lungs burned with excursion and the winter frost, she sat down at the place she had landed and waited, gazing into the sky. A gentle snowfall began, coating the world with a new layer of white.
Even though the results had been the same for the hour that she had been sitting in the snow, Twilight could not tear her eyes away from the clouds. Perhaps if she stared enough, looked close enough for long enough, she would see that familiar streak of colors soaring overhead. If she willed it hard enough, maybe fate would reverse its cruelty. Maybe that would be enough. But the sky above remained empty as Twilight sat motionless in the gathering snow.
It wasn't until she heard a soft rustling to her side that she finally moved, turning her head to see what it was as her heart leapt into her mouth. But as quickly as her hopes raised, they were quickly dashed as she saw a rabbit bouncing through the snow drifts. It stopped and looked back at her with quizzical eyes before hopping away in a huff, off-put by the pained and disappointed expression directed towards it that was etched upon Twilight's face. As she turned back, the snow that had been building up on her head and shoulders fell to the ground with a soft, wet thump. Feeling the weight she hadn't noticed before suddenly lessen, and seeing the large pile that had collected on top of her, she realized how long she had been sitting there, and how long ago the point of reasonable denial had passed. With a crippling wave of nausea, Twilight finally acknowledged what she did not want to accept.
She's not coming back.
Raising herself up, Twilight started walking. Where she was walking to, she didn't know. She didn't have anywhere in particular to go. There didn't seem to be much point in that. Where was she supposed to go when nothing was left? She supposed "over there" was just as good as anyplace else. There was nopony to be seen anywhere in the snowy darkness. For all she knew, nopony else had made it out of there. For all she knew, all of her friends were gone. Part of her didn't even want to know. One heartbreak was bad enough. To lose everypony…
No. Don't even think about that.
With a painful swallow of her sorrow, she decided what she had to do. She had to find out what happened to the rest of her friends. There had to have been somepony who made it out of there in time. Somepony had to know something, and she would find them.
After that…I have no idea what I'm going to do.
It wasn't long before her hoof banged against something in the snow with a metallic ting. She had found two parallel ridges in the middle of the field. She brushed it off to uncover train tracks. Being the only remaining identifiable landmarks she could find, Twilight followed them back towards the Crystal Empire's vestiges.
As she walked down the middle of the tracks, she came to where the station had once been. The tracks only remained up to a point, suddenly disappearing when they hit the circular zone that the dome had cut into the ground as it had descended, taking the station with it. The tracks came back into existence further on down the way as they continued east. As she stood at the edge of the gap in the tracks, Twilight gazed upon the bizarre aftereffects of the curse. Piles of snow that had been shoveled off the platform still stood there by themselves out in the middle of nowhere, outlining the place where the station used to be. The edges of the piles still stood at straight angles, the wet snow retaining the shape it had when it had leaned against the walls of the station. The building seemed to still be there, only invisible, and Twilight had to walk over to it and cautiously put a hoof against what should have been a wall. The only thing she touched was air. She could still see it in her mind.
That's where we'd get off the train. About right there was where the newscolts were. There's where the ticket booth was.
The early morning train would be arriving in a few hours, assuming that it was on time. She had the passing thought that somepony should really stand watch for it further on down the tracks to warn them so that it didn't derail. But who was left to do so? Maybe she would have to do it herself, since the train was likely going to be her only way out of here.
As she began walking further across the gap in the tracks, she found that she could begin to make out faint specks in the distance, huddled together and slowly massing towards each other. It had been difficult to spot them in the dark at first, but the clouds had begun to part, and the vast snow-covered field was starting to glow and brighten it as it caught the moonlight. As the dark abated, she saw them on all sides, ringing the borders of the field that contained the place they had once called home.
Her spirits raised at the knowledge that she wasn't alone. Perhaps there was still hope that the rest of her friends would be among them. She began heading towards the closest group, who seemed to have the same idea as her as they followed the tracks. Finding a new reserve of strength she began trotting through the building snow, daring to hope to see familiar faces.
Before she got too close, however, she realized that these were not her friends. Even from a distance she noticed a lack of color in the group. They were made up of mostly tan and black ponies, with no flash of pink or orange or yellow or flowing purple locks, and there was certainly no little dragon to be seen among them. Even though it was the first collection of survivors she had come across, and there were many more that she could see off in the distance, Twilight couldn't help but feel crushed.
The ragged gathering of ponies approached her, looking shell-shocked and lost. There were about a dozen of them, all of them shivering and covered in snow, and a couple were coated in soot. The most filthy of those was an earth pony wearing the uniform of the City Watch. His helmet was missing and his face was streaked with ash and frozen sweat—marks of his exertion during the catastrophe. Being the one in a uniform, he seemed to be leading the group, but the bewildered and dazed expression on his face suggested he was just as lost as everypony else.
"Do you…know what happened?" he asked her as they met at a bend in the tracks. His voice was quiet, as if he didn't dare speak too loudly least something else terrible happened because of it.
"It…" Twilight began before the words cracked and caught in her mouth. Her voice was still raw from shouting earlier, and it pained her to speak. Taking a deep breath, she tried again.
"It was the curse," she said.
He grimaced as she spoke, feeling the answer to be true but wishing that she had been wrong. The rest of the group shared fearful glances among themselves. A row of yells immediately fired up, and a few in the rear broke down and started sobbing.
"I told you it was Sombra!" one cried out. "I told you!"
"We don't know that!" somepony else replied.
"Who else could it be?"
"She's a liar!"
"How could this happen?" another asked through their tears. "He was gone. We were free from him."
"It's not possible! It has to be a trick!"
"What kind of trick, you fool?!"
"How did he come back?"
"Who is she, anyway? How does she know all that?"
"Not again. Please not again."
Twilight watched in silence as they yelled at each other in fear and confusion, some angrily insisting that it was Sombra, others denying it just as viciously. It had quickly devolved into a shouting match, and all semblance of orderly discussion was lost until the uniformed pony turned around and spoke to the others in the most calm and commanding voice that he could manage.
"It's alright," he said. "We're alright. The important thing right now is that we're safe. We made it."
"But the others didn't!" a frazzled looking unicorn shot back at him. "A thousand years with Sombra! They're all trapped with him! Do you understand that?!"
The guard's face turned grave, and he turned his back on the unicorn. After a moment he looked back over his shoulder slightly to give him a stare that could melt ice.
"I understand," he spat back. "I was there the first time, same as you. I remember."
He looked back at Twilight, his expression still severe but now more contemplative than angry.
"Only this time we're not trapped with him," he continued. "I'll take that for now. It's better than the alternative. We should be grateful that we escaped."
An uneasy quiet came over them all as each took a moment to consider their new reality, soft sobbing the only sound that remained as it floated gently on the cold winter breeze. As they stood in silent contemplation, Twilight drifted off into a daze, thinking about her friends. Though she was relieved to find survivors, she was getting antsy and started looking towards the specks off in the distance. She thought see saw a pink mane. Maybe that was them over there.
"Are you hurt?" A voice snapped her out of her thoughts. The uniformed pony was looking her up and down with concern in his eyes.
"What?" she asked, not understanding the question.
"Are you hurt? You look pretty banged up."
Glancing down at herself, she realized for the first time how frightful of a mess she must be. Over her various cuts and scrapes, of which she had plenty, she was covered in all manner of filth. And while the snow had cleaned some of it off, the foulness of Sombra's cocoon still lingered. Bringing a hoof up to her mane, she found hardened slime that turned her hair into a clump of tangled disaster that tugged painfully at her scalp as she touched it. She'd probably end up having to cut a bunch of it off, she realized.
Then with a sudden flash of panicked remembrance she touched her horn. To her utmost relief the small black crystals that had embedded themselves in it were gone. With the slightest bit of trepidation, she focused her power and felt that familiar tingle flowing through her as her magic pooled in her horn—an old friend returning to give her comfort. She couldn't help but sigh in relief.
"Oh thank goodness," she said to nopony in particular. "My horn. Thank goodness."
The uniformed pony was puzzled by the strange outburst that had not answered his question. He followed her gaze to where she had been looking previously, out to where the rest of the survivors where gathering, and after a small shiver he gestured for Twilight to follow.
"Come on," he said. "It's better if we're all together."
Following the railroad, they trudged through the snow towards where everypony seemed to be converging, nestled up next to a grove of trees on the eastern side of the field. Twilight walked near the front of the group, the light she was casting from her horn serving as a beacon for those who may have still been lost. They picked up more refugees along the way as they traveled. Some had been hiding in the woods, while others had gotten turned about in the dark of the great expanse of the now featureless plain before seeing Twilight's spell. By the time they had gotten close enough to hear the various sounds of the main mass of survivors, their troupe consisted of nearly forty ponies.
One survivor who had come out of the woods, a modestly pretty looking earth pony with a dark brown mane and light tan coat, had taken a spot right next to Twilight. She stayed quiet, but remained slightly behind but very close to her, as if she were afraid to step back into the darkness.
After they had been walking for some time without saying anything, she moved up to walk next to Twilight and spoke to her in a weary whisper.
"Thank you," she said.
"For what?" Twilight asked.
"For the light. I was so afraid. I wouldn't have moved from under that tree if I hadn't seen your light. I probably would have froze. So thank you."
Twilight managed a small smile.
"You're welcome," she said.
They walked side by side for a bit longer before she spoke again. This time her voice was a little less timid.
"What's your name?"
"Twilight," she answered. "Twilight Sparkle."
"I thought so," she said with a grin. "I recognized you. You did a great thing for the Crystal Empire."
"Once," Twilight replied. "I don't know if I deserve any more praise."
"Why? Did you do this?"
Twilight's words struggled to come out. She was a bit surprised by her bluntness.
"No," she said, "But I...couldn't stop it."
The other pony paused to consider that.
"Could you have stopped it?" she asked.
Twilight thought back on everything that had happened. Sombra's spirit inside her. The Crystal Heart being corrupted. Her being imprisoned and her magic taken from her. And they hadn't known a thing until it was too late to do anything about it.
"Probably not," she answered. "But I'd like to think that I could have."
"We all like to think we can do everything," the other pony said. "But that's not always true."
Twilight turned to look at her. Her mane was cropped close and worn up in the back, the longest part being the bangs that brushed across her eyes. She had a cutie mark in the shape of a mineral vein running through a rock. Her multi-pocketed vest was well-worn, the brown fabric having been faded to a pale green by the sun.
"I didn’t catch your name," Twilight said.
"Didn't say it," she answered. "Terra Ore. Pleased to meet you, Twilight."
"Were you…trapped here the first time, Terra?"
"No," she said. "I'm from Mustangia. I was an intern at the museum. Archeology department. Guess I'll need to find another job. Although I don't know how I'm going to get a reference. I'm pretty sure my boss is gone."
Twilight turned to look at Terra in shock. She certainly was being cavalier about the whole situation. Seeing the expression of surprise she getting, Terra lowered her head in embarrassment.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I get sarcastic when I'm upset. I keep thinking that I'll wake up tomorrow and it'll all be back to normal. But it won't be. Tomorrow it'll still be gone. And a lot of ponies I know still aren't going to be here."
She let that sit for a minute.
"Did you lose anypony?" Terra asked.
Sorry I'm breaking my promise.
"Yeah," Twilight answered after a moment. "I did."
They were almost upon the gathering of survivors. The swelling crowd was filthy and ragged. Sobs and shouts filled the air, but most ponies were quietly sitting by their crudely constructed fires, doing what they could to remain warm and try to come to terms with what had happened. A great bonfire had been built in the center, which now overpowered the light that Twilight had provided. At this point anypony could see the fire as long as they were on the plain. She decided she didn't need it anymore and extinguished her horn.
They were still barely within shouting distance from the site when, as the magic around her horn faded away, she saw a group of four ponies headed towards them. The familiar curls of Pinkie's deep pink mane stood out as she bounced in excitement, and Twilight could make out Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity struggling to keep up with her as she seemed to glide over the snow. Spike was there, too, clamped onto Rarity's back with his stubby arms wrapped around her neck—barely visible behind her hair. Even from this distance she could hear him calling out her name.
"Your friends?" Terra asked.
Twilight's face brightened with a huge smile as her world got a little less empty.
Breaking into a run, Twilight bounded across the tracks to meet them halfway. Her sorrow was temporarily put aside as she ran into the embrace of her friends. Pinkie Pie was the first to reach her, bellowing out "TWILIIIIIIIIGHT!" and nearly knocking her over with the enthusiasm of her hug. The others were close behind, and soon Twilight was surrounded by them as they all held each other close. At first the only sounds were their soft sniffles and sighs of relief. Then, when the lump in her throat had gone away a little, Twilight found her voice.
"I'm so glad to see you all," she whispered into Pinkie's mane.
"Me too!" Pinkie sobbed with joy. "And three! And four! All the numbers!"
"We didn't know what happened to you!" said Fluttershy from her other shoulder. "I was so scared!"
"When we didn't see you two flying out, we feared the worst!" said Rarity.
Spike was clinging to Twilight's leg, burying his face into her chest.
"I tried calling for you," he said with his voice muffled, "But you didn't answer! I didn't think I'd see either one of you again!"
"I knew you'd make it," Applejack said from behind, giving Twilight a bear-hug that threatened to steal her breath. "I knew Rainbow Dash wouldn't let us down."
"Where is she?" asked Pinkie Pie. "I owe the fastest flier in all Equestria the biggest, bestestest hug ever! She has no idea what she's in for!"
In midst of that group hug, Twilight Sparkle suddenly felt alone and empty as reality came crashing back. The cold wind blew through her body, leaving a chill that sank deeper than anything the Frozen North could produce.
"Twilight," asked Rarity after a moment when Pinkie hadn't gotten a response, "Where is Rainbow Dash? Isn't she with you?"
She still couldn't answer. One by one, everypony released their hug and took a step back, gazing at Twilight with growing apprehension on their faces. Only Spike remained firmly attached to her leg, looking up with eyes wide with dread. Twilight's head bowed and her eyes closed.
"Where is she, Twilight?" Applejack asked. "What happened to Rainbow Dash?"
"She's…not here."
Silence washed over them. Applejack pursed her lips and furled her brows. Snow had begun to fall once again, and it was collecting in her blonde mane, giving her hatless head a fine dusting of white powder, some of which fell off her head as she shook it slightly, trying to comprehend what she was hearing.
"What did she do?" she asked.
Twilight raised her eyes.
"She saved me."