Sunset slowly swished her tail back and forth as she watched the skies. She had been awoken from deep study from a strong rumble, before anything not bolted down found itself thrown upon the ground including most ponies. Most were unharmed, as the real threat of the quake had been slightly out of town. Thinking of Conductor though, still staring into nothing on the end of an icicle… It sent shivers up Sunset’s body like she had never felt before.
Spike placed a hand on on her leg as he scratched at the side of his face, grinding away a few of the scales that clung to the bone. Of course, it didn’t hurt the dracolich, but it was still an odd practice to most, and caused Sunset to smile ever so slightly. “You know, you shouldn’t do that so much. It’ll send the wrong impression to ponies.”
Spike shrugged, before snapping his claws and grinning back to his aunt. “And you shouldn’t stare at the sun, and yet, here we are.”
Sunset rolled her eyes, happy for his company as she looked back up. She wished her friends could join her in the vigil, but most of the rest of town was working on clearing the debris, especially from the obliterated train station. But somepony had to watch for help, and who better than their royal connection. She raised a hoof as she saw something in the sky, and zoomed in with her magic. “Spike, get me some tea, scones, and sandwiches.”
He asked no questions, but instead raced downstairs. They both knew what the proper protocols for talking to Celestia was, and while neither of her children had done so in a long time, they would follow it now. Chairs, a table, and a nice, white cloth was brought out from their hiding places, and into the living room. The cotton cover had only just landed upon the table when the door opened.
Sunset looked up, noting a few, errant feathers as they fell to the ground, and she swallowed hard as she bent her hooves and bowed to the princess. Celestia nodded in return, her hooves shaking with each step as she came closer. “Thank you for the meal, but Spike, if you would be willing, please collect the rest of the element bearers. I need to speak to them as well.”
Sunset looked back up as she heard the skittering of claws, and the thump of something heavy. Her eyes widened as she saw the chest open, and there sat the elements of harmony, something they had only used for what seemed like the most dire of situations. Then again, with what happened to Conductor… She shut her eyes tight, and breathed in slowly. “What is it that I can do for you, princess?”
Celestia took a slight sip of her tea. “You saw the ice, correct? Felt what it was like?”
The yellow mare slowly nodded, wishing she didn’t have to. “It felt like her normally though. Not darker, crueler, or…” She shut her eyes, knowing they were all simply excuses. “Yes, princess, I did.”
“Then you must know what I am to command you to do.”
“Please princess, you can’t be serious. To hurt Twilight would only hurt-” She stopped as Celestia brought a hoof up, a tear falling down her cheek as she shook her head.
“You don’t get it. She feared that this very thing would happen, and wanted to be gotten rid of before she could cause harm. Instead…” She breathed in, her whole body trembling from exhaustion and pain. “Instead, I sent her straight into the clutches of a mad stallion, and lost her. Now, Canterlot lies in ruin, and my sister is helping the refugees get to safety.” She paused to take another sip of tea, before the cup fell out of her grasp, and crashed against the floor. She stared at it, and shut her eyes. “Two weeks ago, I would have agreed with you Sunset, but now, I need to put the kingdom before my heart. I do not have the strength to defeat her, nor the time while I try to fix Equestria, but you do.”
Sunset stared at the chest as it was pushed towards her. Once a symbol of pride for her, she now wanted nothing to do with the damned things. In fact, right now, Sunset would do anything to just get this conversation to disappear, and go help reconstruct the town. It didn’t though, not as Celestia continued. “You always wanted to be a important, to do things that affected all of Equestria. So now, for the sake of the land, I beg that you put aside your feelings, and make sure that when you confront her and your new enemy, that you make sure to aim to kill.”
Sunset placed her hoof onto her necklace, trembling as she felt her heart beginning to crack. This… this simply could not be happening. Nothing she had ever done before had prepared her for this, not even time as a homicidal wraith herself. She still needed to give an answer though, and she could only think of one. She instead, said the opposite. “Yes.”
Celestia nodded as she lowered her head, and took a bite out of one of the small sandwiches on the table. It was only a moment later that Spike walked back in, a bouncing, pink pony following close behind him. Sunset looked through her mane as they shuffled in. All of her friends had been brought in for this, and soon she had Rarity on one side of her, Fluttershy on the other, both making sure she was okay, as they could see the tears that stained her fur.
In the rafters, Trixie put a hoof to her mouth, and shushed Marble Pie as both spirits floated high above. Marble needed no such prompting though, as she rarely spoke, but her essence gave away her own concerns as it trembled. They all were waiting to hear from Celestia.
Now with a new cup, Celestia sipped her tea again, before beginning. “So, as you may have assumed, something has gone wrong, and it will be your six’s job to put it right.” Her horn glowed, and she smoothed out a map onto the table. A quill circled the blank, northern part of it, and Celestia tapped it. “Up here, lost for a thousand years, was a part of the kingdom called The Crystal Empire. Once a beautiful beacon of light for Equestria, a corrupt, and power mad stallion took over it, and drove it into the ground. My sister and I had fought him just before the Empire’s disappearance, and had thought we had removed him.”
Rainbow grinned. “So, let me guess. You want all of us to go up there, elements his rump out of Equestria, and be home in time for the next Wonderbolt’s show, right?”
Celestia smiled at the joke, but it quickly faded as she nodded. “Yes, I wish for you to go and defeat, from what I know, The Lich King, Sombra, as well as-”
Pinkie giggled, cutting Celestia off for a moment and shoving an additional spike into Sunset’s heart. “Sombra? I mean, Discord was a cool guy, but this dude just sounds like he is trying too hard. I mean, what could he d-”
“Shut up!” All of the ponies’ eyes widened as Celestia slammed her hooves into the table, breaking it as she seethed. “Do you not understand that this bastard has not only destroyed every last bit of the railroad in Equestria, but may have also made Twilight into a full fledged wraith who will devour every soul in Equestria if you do not stop her?”
A silence filled the room as they watched Celestia for a few moments, and looked away as she collapsed onto the ground, losing the last of her composure as she became a sobbing wreck. Applejack slowly trotted over, and placed a hoof onto the ruler’s shoulder. “That-That’s just worst case though, princess. Maybe, just maybe, she could still be fighting that side of her up there?”
Celestia looked up, her royal instincts trying to get her to stand up and be firm again. These six, possibly more than any other ponies in Equestria right now, needed her to be strong. She just couldn’t do it. She couldn’t muster up the hope. She was just about to speak, when a loud, obnoxious, and familiar voice butted in.
“You better not be trying to say my wraith, Twilight, would go out like that. The Kind and Giving Trixie is not going to believe her adversary was taken to the darkside so easily, especially while Marble here still seems fine.”
The mares stared at the two spirits as they hung in the room, before Pinkie leapt into the air with a gasp, and hugged her sister. “That’s right! You’re connected to Twilight, so if she went bonkers crazy, you should be feeling it, right?”
Marble’s essence shrank slightly as she felt everypony’s eyes on her. She still managed to squeak out an, “Mhm,” in response though.
Sunset blinked as Applejack rubbed her hoof deeper into Celestia’s shoulder, trying to loosen her up as she spoke. “See? We don’t know the full picture, so we shouldn’t give up so easily on our friends. Wouldn’t you agree, princess?”
Celestia looked up to all of them, before taking a deep breath, and pushing herself up. The map soon raised itself up, now stained with tea and littered with crumbs, but still plenty useful. “I thank you all for the sentiment, but I simply cannot put my faith into it. If she needs to be put down, I need to know that you will follow my orders, and do it. Will you?”
After a long moment of silence, one by one, following Sunset’s example, they slowly bowed to their princess. She nodded in return, and three lines stretched from Ponyville, to the northern part of the map. “Good. Now, as far as I can tell, with the trains being out, there are about three paths you all can take to get there, and while the Crystal Empire will be dangerous, you all may want to split up into faster, smaller groups for the trip.”
Trixie floated down slightly, before placing a hoof on the middle path. “I’ll take this one. It should go close to a friend of mine, and, if she kept her word, she may be able to help us out, just in case anything goes wrong.”
Pinkie looked at the same line, before gasping and turning to Marble. “We should join her sis! This one takes us right next to home, and we can pop in while Limestone might be there.”
Marble sucked her lips in, before dryly stating, “She might punch you though.”
Pinkie shrugged. “What’s a punch between sisters?”
Sunset smiled, before looking to the map and pointing to the one going to the left. “There’ll be a lot of climbing this route, so Rainbow, Fluttershy, you two may want to go this way by yourselves.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “If you think I’m letting my sister go by herself with this daredevil, you’ve got another thing coming. I’ll go with them.”
Rainbow caught the mood going around the room, and grinned. “Think you can keep up?”
“For Twilight, definitely.”
Fluttershy smiled as she thought of the fun the three of them could have, before turning to Rarity. “I suppose that just leaves you and Sunset to go down the path to the rig-”
A loud crash cut Fluttershy off, and it sounded like it had come from just outside of the treehouse. The mares rushed to the window, and saw that a wall to a house had collapsed. Sunset stepped back, tears touching the edges of her eyes at the reminder of what Twilight had done, even if they were all trying to follow Trixie’s example and act like that meant nothing. At least, so far, all of them were safe. She looked to her friends, and paled as she noticed something was off. Her fears were dispelled as a roar ripped through the town.
The stone wall began to melt as black flames jutted through the cracks. Soon, a completely skeletal claw came around, and pushed the stones away, causing the mortar that kept them together to break. Slowly, the figure stood, surrounded by black flame, his scales now only covering half of his arms, legs, and even jaw. The rest was bone as the dracolich crossed his arms, and darkness filled the gaps. Rarity’s jaw almost hit the floor staring at the tall, imposing dragon.
Spike stretched his body out. He felt like this was close to his final stage of growth, like maybe this was the body he was supposed to be made with. Strong, tall, but still only about twice as tall as a normal pony, with long limbs that could reach the prey he wanted. His tongue flicked out, a black coil of magic the slid along his lips, before he turned to them, his skeletal tail, impeded by no skin, swung behind him. “I am not about to just watch Twilight go mad, or see others go off to help her while I stick around doing nothing, so I’ll go with Sunset and Rarity.”
Celestia smiled at her son, and while a part of her wanted to keep him safe, she knew he had to do this, and nothing she could presently do would stop him. She nodded and turned away from all of them. “Then you all have your tasks, and I must go elsewhere. There is simply too much that needs royal attention for me to stay,” Celestia lowered her voice, and said the last two words to herself, “or help.”
While they were all bowed to send the princess away, Rainbow looked to Sunset and whispered, “We… we can’t be serious about killing Twilight, right? I mean, even I care for her too much to do that. Sunset?”
Sunset looked away as a tear fell down her face. “I… I don’t know. When we all meet back up at the empire though, then we’ll make our real decision. Deal, everypony?”
Slowly, each pony nodded, before they went their own ways to get prepared for the trip.