Fading Embers

by Professional Scumbag

Starfall

At first I hadn't realized what I was seeing, when I saw the white Alicorn and her retinue of the Wonderbolts and two sky chariots of earth pony and unicorn soldiers. They landed outside of Deadtown and began filing out, surrounding the Princess in case of attack.

I exited the tower via the front door, which was much more pleasant than the small tunnel leading up here. There was a nice set of stairs down to the town that I trotted down, feeling thirty pairs of highly trained eyes watching me all the while. I recognized three groups among her retinue. The Exalted Order, the Inquisition and the Wonderbolts.

The Inquisitors stood closest to Celestia, each wearing red and white robes. They wore golden jewelry and pages from their various texts and codexes. Metal masks prevented them from being individualized but I had seen some of those manes before. I remembered how the ones with more artifacts were higher ranked.

The Wonderbolts flew around the area, surveying the situation from above. They wore blue uniforms adorned with lightning bolts. Specialized goggles helped them see what was happening down here. They seemed like harmless observers, but I’d seen them in combat, and they were some of the most dangerous soldiers in Equestria.

The Exalted Order all wore heavy full plate armor with dragon-like helmets. They all wore capes, most of them had white, but a few had blue ones and the one that was approaching me had a red one with a golden trim. Although the majority were earth ponies this one was a unicorn.

“Halt.” He said out of his helmet. “Tell me what happened to the town.”

I looked around him at the Exalted Knights and Inquisitors surrounding Princess Celestia. “I’d rather talk to her.”

“How dare you talk to me like that, peasant! I am Pyrrhic Victory, High Paladin of the Exalted Knights, Celestia’s private bodyguard and the head of my House! I shall not be-”

“Commander.” The Princess said in a voice that sounded calm and kind, yet required attention. “You may let this stallion through.”

Pyrrhic Victory grumbled and let me past. As I approached the Princess I felt like I was walking to my mother, who had a warm tray of muffins for me. But it also felt like I was walking toward a being of unimaginable power, who could vaporize me with a look.

I bowed in front of her. “My Princess, I am Thunder Talon, I run the Ponyville Library.”

She raised an eyebrow, then laughed. “Oh, you remind me of another pony of your position. You seem to be out of your element, like she usually was.”

“I was sort of drawn into all of this,” I said with a little smile. “I would assume you want to know the tale?”
She smiled and nodded.

Spring Valentine:

All of the potions and alchemical supplies I gathered from this place was going to be worth a fortune! Not to mention the lower floors were full of all sorts of treasures, I love robbing nobles, and I loved robbing wizards. This was my lucky day.
I entered a room that was empty, save for a glowing orb in the center. It looked like it would fetch a pretty bit. I went over to it and put a hoof on it. Suddenly it flashed and I was facing a zebra. He wore black armor and had a red cloak on. A spear was strapped to his right side and he had a sword sheathed on the other. A crooked scar went over his left eye and a band of cloth was tied over it.
A look of alarm spread over his face as he looked at me. “Who the Moon are you!?”
“Nopony in particular.” I said casually. “How about yourself?”
“I am Legate Starfall, or as you seem to be more casual, you may call me Zarius.” The
zebra looked me over before saying. “So, I take it you’ve killed my shamen.”

“The grey one? Yes, I have.”

He sighed. “A shame, he was going to be very useful, I knew I should I have brought my full force there. I still have new slaves though.”

“I’m guessing it was you who took everyone from Deadtown?”

“You’d be correct. Who do you work for? Celestia? The Burned Idol? The First Legion?”

“I work for me, I came here looking for loot, I found loot. I was going to take this orb but then you showed up and now I feel a little awkward taking it.”

“Very well then, have your orb. Thank you for the information.”

“Thank you as well.”

He stiffened before I shoved the orb in my bag and he vanished.

Thunder Talon:

“...And then you showed up and I came out here.” I finished recounting the tale of us coming to Deadtown and the battle with Silvertongue.

She nodded, a grave look across her face. “I have much to think over. Return to Ponyville with your friends. I will speak to you in the morning, as it is the Summer Sun Celebration.”

I nodded and headed back to the tower to tell everypony else to head home. I found most of them easily. Except for Valentine.

I called his name on every floor until I got to the basement. There were two rooms in there. One was marked “Dungeon” and one was marked “Vault.” The vault door was slightly ajar so I went there first.

The room was full of treasure. There were piles of bits, gems, and all sorts of artifacts. Swords, armor, jewelry, dishes and books that were worth more than my house were scattered everywhere. And Valentine was shoving it all into his bags. It must have been one of those magic bags that had a lot more space than it seemed to, as he was shovelling tons of loot into it.

“Hey Valentine.” I said.

He jumped so high he almost hit the ceiling before turning back to me. “Oh, hey Talon. I found some treasure for the group to share.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I want the books and my bag to be full of bits and I won’t say a thing to anypony else.”

“Deal!”

The nine of us walked into the Ponyville town square as the sun was setting. A few ponies were still finishing up the decorations for the Summer Sun Celebration. It looked pretty nice, a whole stage had been put up and banners saying various welcomes to our Princess. In about twelve hours she will raise the sun, like she does every year. I had a feeling our celebration would be short-lived thanks to Darkstripe.

“Well… what now?” Gearbox asked.

Blackjack shook the bound Silvertongue. “I’ll take this scum to the jail and we’ll proceed with the Sun Celebration.”

“No no, not about that.” The odd pony said, waving a hoof. “I mean, do we just go our separate ways and forget about this wonderful adventure?”

I hadn’t considered this, and I doubted anypony else had. They all began looking at each other, also wondering.

Lethal was the first to say anything. “I suppose we’ll see each other around, and we’ll have some more friendly faces around the town.”

“Oh yes.” Silvertongue said. “We’ll be a happy family! Take me to my cell or let me go.”

Blackjack nodded. “Fine. Twister, help me with this sack of onions.”

Twister gave an odd look at the expression but nudged the silver-eyed pony and they walked toward the tower near the edge of town.

The group members each left with various excuses. Red Heart had to return to the church, Fire Storm went with her. Valentine snuck off while nopony was looking. Lethal said he needed to meet with somepony. This left me with Gearbox.

“So, want to come back to my place?” He said with a grin.

“Uh, I gotta go back to the library, maybe some other time.”

I slowly trotted away as the pony looked after me with a forlorn expression.

Lethal Scratch:

The guard post was even emptier than this morning. Only Blackjack and Twister were in there, each with a mug of strong cider.

“Hey ladies,” I said sitting down with them. “What’s cracking?”

Twister looked up then glanced to the door that lead down to the prison cells. I looked over and saw the armored pony who looked at me through his helmet.

I trotted over to him with a smile. “Hey friend, what’s going on down there?”

The Exalted Knight’s helmet split to form a steel maw which grabbed onto his sword. “Back off citizen, this doesn’t concern you.”

I coughed. “You don’t… recognize me?”

The Knight repeated. “This doesn’t concern you.”

I shrugged then swiftly struck the side of his helmet and one of his knee joints. The metal jaws opened as the pony fell to the ground.

“Pfft, newbies.”

I trotted down the steps where more Knights stood, along with some Inquisitors and two of the Wonderbolts. “Evening.” I said as I tried walking past them.

A familiar Knight blocked my path with a hoof. “Well well well, if it isn’t the Paladin who ran,” Pyrrhic Victory sneered. “How’s Outcast life treating you?”

I looked at him and his grin faltered but he kept his hoof in the way.

“Let me through, pup.” I growled. “Or I’ll show you what a Sun Guard is capable of.”

His grin regained its former confidence. “You lost that title when you abandoned the Princess to those zebra fanatics.”

I had had enough. I grabbed his leg that was blocking me and bent it. He screamed as I heard a crack, then I grabbed his helmet and bashed it against the wall, over and over. I felt swords stab into me, but that didn’t matter to me as I battered this little whelp. It felt good.

“STOP!” A voice boomed. It was the only thing that could pull me from this.

Celestia looked at me with the anger of the sun. “Lethal, I allowed you to keep your title and let you live here. If you attack one of my soldiers again then I’ll have to take drastic measures.”

I dropped the injured stallion and nodded. “My lady, I’m sorry.”

“You seem to be just in time.”

I looked up. “How so?”

“We need an interrogator.”

They had Silvertongue in a small cell surrounded by Knights. He seemed to be ready for anything as I came in. He saw the big, white unicorn. Covered in his own blood, still with a mad look in his eye.

“Clear out.” I said.

The guards left leaving just the two of us in the cell. I got up close to him.

“Hey there friend, remember when you paralyzed me?” I grinned. “I don’t like that, and I pay my debts.”

He flinched.

“Do you know what Red Ice is?” I asked as I circled around him. “It’s a substance that causes strength increase. Heightened senses. Regeneration. And mental instability.”

I stuck my face into his. “Some ponies are born with this stuff already inside them. After a long time, it starts to rot their brains, turning them into incredibly powerful lunatics. I suppose you can see where this is going.”

I drew a dagger from my saddlebag. “Shall we get started?”

The noble snapped. “It was the Legate! I swear!”

“What Legate? What did he do?”

“Legate Starfall, he sent Darkstripe to me and forced me to help him with the ritual!”

I got a little closer. “Tell me about this ritual, what does it do?”

That’s about when something hit me in the back of the head. It didn’t knock me out but it sure hurt. I turned to see two zebras wrapped in cloaks, already drawing glyphs on Silvertongue’s body. I lept up and headbutted one in the side, my horn pierced his cloak and dug into his hide. He coughed up some blood but kept writing the glyphs.

The two zebras clapped their hooves and Silvertongue vanished. Leaving them to focus on me. The both stood on their hind legs and lashed out with devastating blows. I narrowly ducked under an attack and rammed the zebra in the gut with my shoulder. His companion took the chance to jump and kick me in the side with all four hooves. I felt something crack but kept fighting. I raised up onto my hind legs and backed up with the first zebra on my back. He let out a grunt and the other one kicked me in the stomach knocking me to the ground.

They saw an opportunity and took it. They beat me on the ground, I could hardly move from all the incoming blows from the two warriors. One of them took a knife from the sheath on her foreleg and raised my head, exposing my neck. I always wanted to go out fighting.

The mare howled as a spear was embedded into her side. I looked up to see Exalted Knights pinning both of the zebras to the ground. Then everything slipped into darkness.

Thunder Talon:

Books laid strewn around the little library in the tree. Mostly about magic and history, I kept searching for that blue armor but couldn’t find anything.

“This is hopeless.” I sighed as I looked at the mess I had made. “If only I could scry for it, or Darkstripe, but he’s dead so…”

I turned to the door that led to the basement. That was where I kept my less than reputable books and artifacts from Canterlot.

The room was full of all sorts of shelves full of dark artifacts. I looked at the shelf that contained the Mist Amulet that Silvertongue used. Next to it were some cursed pieces of jewelry and a toy bee that was stuffed with toast.

I walked over to the bookshelf that contained books on dark magic. I moved my hoof along the books which each held horrible power. One whispered to me of making me the most powerful sorcerer in the world, another told me it could help me make anything I wanted. I finally stopped on a tome that had a spine made of bone and had a horrible gaping maw surrounded by red runes adorning the cover.

I flipped through the book and stopped on the page the book knew I wanted. Cursed books were so handy. I looked down at the page and the “Corpse Find” spell it held.

I began muttering the words it told me to. Runes floated around me and my body began to ache. My mind flew through horrifying scenes of murder and gore until I stopped on the body of Darkstripe. He was surrounded by zebras dressed in robes adorned with talismans and charms who all chanted. The blue armor floated around his glowing body. Though, he looked different. His legs were stretched and his stripes had faded. Bones poked out of his sides and his forehead and his features looked more feminine.

I looked behind this disturbing scene. He was in a castle that was in ruin, there were plenty of those in Equestria nowadays. A zebra in black armor with a red cape paced back and forth. A grin spread across his scared face. Two other armored zebras waited by him while he spoke to himself.

Then he turned to one of the armored zebras. “Centurion Farsight, contact the second legion. Tell them we’ll soon be ready to make our move.” He turned to the other. “Centurion Earthshaker, head back to Shattered Hoof and contact the rest of our scattered warriors, we will need everyzebra on high alert.”

The two nodded and left. The zebra began pacing again. Darkstripe now had skeletal wings and a thin, short horn. A blue aura now floated around the body that seemed to not have a gender anymore.

This certainly wasn’t good, I pulled out of the spell. I felt, odd. Most of the time when I cast dark magic I felt odd. I felt like I lost a bit of me and something had violated my soul.

I shook my head, reacclimating myself to being in a body. Then I noticed the pony standing behind me.

“Casting dark magic I see.” The Inquisitor deadpanned.

“Yes, I’m guessing you have some words about that Brother Inquisitor.” I turned to the yellow unicorn with an orange mane. “I have just cause.”

“Speak it.”

“I have learned of the enemy’s identity. We are looking for a Legate Starfall, he in in a ruined castle possible in this area.”

The Inquisitor tensed. “Starfall, you’re sure?”

I nodded.

“This is very bad news, your cause for using dark magic was just, you shall receive no prosecution.”

“We must relay this information to the Princess.”

Me and the Inquisitor entered the guard post which had been converted into a base of operations for Celestia’s ponies. Red Heart and Fire Storm were here, looking over a badly injured Lethal. Blackjack and Twister stood off in the corner letting the Inquisitors and members of the Exalted Order organize themselves. I couldn’t see any Wonderbolts, I assumed they’d be outside, watching from above. Celestia herself was giving orders to two Knights who nodded and went out the front door.

“Celestia, I have news.” I said as I approached the alicorn. Her guards weren’t too happy about me moving so close but they let me past when Celestia waved a dismissive hoof.

“What is it Talon?”

“If have found information on the enemy. They are led by a Legate Starfall, and are currently performing the ritual in a ruined castle.”

“Pfft, anypony could’ve told you that.” I heard somepony say.

All the Knights drew weapons, looking for the unseen pony. Then he revealed himself by dropping down right next to me.

“Valentine, what were you doing in the rafters?” I asked the smug earth pony.

“Just seeing what these fools are up to, checking my information with theirs.” He said, his grin never fading.

One of the Knights whose voice I recognized as Pyrrhic Victory spoke up. “You’ve also been investigating, tell us what you know criminal scum!”

Valentine looked over at the paladin with a crumpled helmet. “Alright then, for a price.”

The paladin growled. “And what might that be?”

“Either you do me a funny little dance and sing in front of your men.” He looked over to the Princess. “Or I get a kiss from an alicorn.”

If I had the sufficient bucking power I would have sent his across the room. I think half the Knights were already considering that.

The paladin was seething. He slowly look to the Princess and back to Valentine. He sighed and began to shake his rump.

“Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime filly, baby my heart’s on fire, send me a kiss by wire.”

Valentine had the biggest grin I’d ever seen on his face as he watched the prideful paladin shame himself. “That’ll do. Alright, here’s what I’ve found from my eyes in the sky and various other places. There is a large group of zebras who look ready for war in the Shattered Hoof Ruins. A small detachment split off and went into the Everfree, led by Legate Zarius, also known as Starfall who I had a nice chat with. He also took all of the citizens of Deadtown, he’s using them as slaves to build up fortifications in that old prison.”

“The Everfree… You mean that they’re going to-” It finally hit me. How could I have been so stupid. I turned to Pyrrhic Victory. “Get as many troops as you can here as soon as possible. I know where they are and we don’t have any time.”

“And why pray-tell should I do that?”

“Nightmare Moon is returning. Tonight.”

Me, Lethal, Valentine, Red Storm, Red Heart, Twister, Blackjack, Pyrrhic Victory, 25 Exalted Knights, 12 Inquisitors and three of the Wonderbolts and the few town guard we could round up galloped as fast as we could through the Everfree Forest.
The full moon was almost at its peak as the abandoned castle came into sight. It stood on a plateau surrounded by a large chasm. The castle was once a beautiful palace but was now just a husk. A wall stood around a large main keep. A few towers dotted the walls and rose out of the keep. A green light spilled out of the windows in the main keep.

I held up a hoof to get our team to stop. Zebra legionnaires dotted the bridge that spanned the chasm surrounding the old keep. A few windows of the castle had light flowing out where I could see lookouts. Some less conspicuous lookouts stood on the walls of the fort, each with a crossbow.

“Alright, wizard.” Commander Victory said next to me. “Can you teleport us onto the other side of that chasm?”

I shook my head. “Not all of us, maybe about, ten.”

He nodded. “Paladin Stronghoof, Paladin Cold Shower and Paladin Rainy Days, go with Talon and his ponies.” He turned to the High Inquisitor who stood with her ponies. “High Inquisitor Balefire, send your best two with this group.”

She gestured toward two of the robed ponies with the most jewelry and scrolls strapped to them and they came forward, looking at me from behind their metal masks.

“What will you do Victory?” I asked.

“We’ll provide a distraction on that bridge. Good luck Talon.”

I nodded and motioned for my group to follow me.

Lethal turned to Pyrrhic Victory and called out. “Have fun storming the castle!” Before following the rest of us.

We began going down toward the chasm. I looked around our group and at the castle we had to storm. I figured we should be better off now. We were more prepared than when we attack Silvertongue’s Tower. I had a spellbook and a few scrolls in my bag as well as some potions. Red Heart had some armor and also had some kind of tome. Red Storm had some light armor. Valentine has pretty much the same gear, but I guessed he had more up his sleeves than on them. Lethal now wore armor similar to the Exalted Knight’s but it had a golden trim and was in worse repair, a claymore hung from his side.

A guard stood on the wall ahead of us and one watched from a window. This was the least guarded part of the fort, it still wouldn’t be easy though.

“Brother Inquisitor, Sister Inquisitor, can you cast any silencing spells?” I asked in a hushed voice.

“If you need one of these heretics dispatched without raising an alarm simply request it Brother Talon.”

“Stop calling me that, I’m not an Inquisitor. Just, deal with those guards so I can teleport us across.”

Their horns glowed for a moment and the guards stiffened and fell. I waited for any more guards and then teleported the ten of us across the pit onto the castle wall. I looked back to where the main force started to advance on the bridge. Arrows began to rain down on them. Magical shields surrounded our forces from the Inquisitors and spellfire flew back at the archers in the keep. The Wonderbolts flew in formation, each with a trail of dark clouds that sparked with lightning. They looped and struck the clouds releasing lightning bolts onto the zebra forces.

“Don’t worry about them, Talon.” Red Heart said. “These are Equestria’s best.”

I nodded. “Alright, we need to make it to the throne room, that was where I saw them doing the ritual. Does anypony know this place well?”

The group all shook their heads. “Very well. We should get inside before we get spotted.”

We ran inside and were greeted by an emptied armory, a few armor racks stood around the room and a few knocked over weapon racks held bows. Bows were weapons that only unicorns could use so it made sense that they were left behind.

We headed to the left down a hall full of tapestries depicting the building of Equestria. I’d have to come back to look at these some day but for now we kept moving. The entire castle rumbled as the High Inquisitor Balefire and a few others cast a massive spell that leveled a good amount of the zebra forces.

A patrol of zebra troops ran down the hall in front of us, not noticing as they headed to the front lines. Then they ran back the other way, three zebras short. I cautiously walked forward and looked down the hall after the fleeing zebras. Then I looked the other way and saw him. A brown earth pony with a white mane stood on his hind legs. He was covered in clockwork devices, one of which was a claw on his right forehoof which grasped a great sword. Three zebras laid in front of him. He grinned as he looked at us from behind his goggles.

“Gearbox.” I said as calmly as I could. “How the Moon are you here?”

He sheathed his sword and dropped onto all four hooves with a cracking sound. “I was trying to conduct experiments in my lab when all of a sudden some zebras walked in and started making themselves at home. Now the whole place is getting bombarded by those accursed sorcerers outside. It’s really quite annoying.”

I shook my head. “Okay then, I’m not going to question this. Gearbox, do you know a quick way to the throne room?”

He nodded and grabbed one of the torch holders on the wall and pulled it down. A few moments later the wall next to it swung open.

“Celestia banish it, Gearbox.” I said before following the brown stallion in.

The castle was full of secret passages and tunnels. If you walked for long enough you could probably get anywhere in the castle.

Gearbox stopped in front of the outline of another hidden door and prepared to open it. “Shall we commence with the flank-kicking?”

I looked back at the ponies behind me then turned back to Gearbox and nodded. He pushed open the section of wall and we rushed out. About thirty zebra legionnaires stood about the room, all of them armed with spears or just stood on their hind legs, ready to fight with their hooves. Four heavily armored zebras with red capes and plumes stood guard around Legate Zarius. They all looked toward the main door at one end of the room. At the other end stood two thrones. One of them was made of marble and covered with yellow decorations and the other was made of obsidian and covered with blue decorations. A large sun was emblazoned on the marble throne and a moon was on the obsidian throne. In the center of the room was a fully fledge alicorn surrounded by green magic and zebra shamen. Her coat was black and her mane looked like the night sky covered in stars. There was no cutie mark to be seen.

“Legate Starfall! Intruders!” A nearby legionnaire shouted as she spotted us.

The room erupted into chaos. About half of the zebra forces charged us while the other half stayed either by the main door or stood to prevent us from hurting Zarius or the ritual. The four Knights and Lethal got into a fighting formation instantly and held against the first wave who battered the armored ponies. Me and the Inquisitors formed up behind the Knights and rained spells onto the attacking zebras. Fire Storm grabbed onto Gearbox and flew him over the line of fighting equines. Red Heart stayed with me and the Inquisitors, casting spells on the Knights, keeping them in fighting condition.

I casted spell after spell into the enemy ranks. The Knights fought hard against the zebras and it looked like we were winning. The room exploded with light. Pain shot through me, I could hear the Inquisitors scream as the entire aether shook. My horn felt like it was on fire and I could only beg it to stop.

Then the pain faded to a dull ache and all the light left the room. Slowly the room began to glow a dim blue. Everyone stopped fighting to look to the center of the room. A mare with a black coat was crouched there. She wore blue armor and had a mane like the night sky. Her cutie mark was that of a patch of night sky with a crescent moon on it. She stood up and spread her wings wide and sighed. She opened her teal eyes and looked down at Legate Zarius.

“Zarius.” She purred. “Oh my sweet Zarius, you have done well.”

She slowly walked toward him, ignoring the unconscious zebra shamen lying around her. She put a hoof on the zebra legate’s face.

“It is good to see you in face to face, instead of just hear one another speak.”

“I agree my princess. You are more beautiful than I could have imagined.” The zebra said, little more than a whisper.

The main door exploded with a magical explosion. Pyrrhic Victory and Balefire walked through the door, troops followed them. When they saw the jet black alicorn they froze.

“Just in time, you made it in time to see my return.”

“Attack!” Commander Victory shouted and the additional forces charged Nightmare Moon.

Her horn glowed and a wave of dark magic spread out over the attack ponies. They all flew back like ragdolls. Then she turned to us.

“So cute, you all think that you had a chance to prevent my return.” She chuckled. “But it was foretold by the stars that I would be here, and that I would change the world for the better. Which I intend to do.”

With that she sent dark magic all through the room. I saw the Knights in front of me collapse and then everything went dark.