Sunset's Last Glow

by Note Worthy

Chapter 1: Balance of Day and Night

Sunset’s Last Glow
Chapter 1: Balance Of Day and Night

The last thing that Phoenix Ember, Stealth Light or Defiance felt was their hooves nearing Celestia to pin the alicorn to the ground. The light that was coming from the Sun Princess had been painful to experience, one that burned them down to their cores. As suddenly as the flash began, it ceased.

Stirring, Phoenix looked around to see what had happened. Spotting Defiance and Stealth Light lying unconscious nearby roused his attention, setting his goal to mind of what needed to be done next. Standing to his hooves was a painful experience, as the dark coated pegasus stumbled and collapsed to the floor after trying to get upright again. Neither Nightmare Moon or Celestia could be spotted anywhere in the area. Must have used a mass teleportation spell on us.

"Damnit..." A second attempt followed, this one landing him on his hooves. Taking careful strides, the General reached his fellow Shadowbolts. Check for pulse... Luna forbid that they're-- Hoof reached for neck as Phoenix exhaled softly, hoping that nothing had befallen his comrades.

The gentle thrumming of Defiance's heartbeat put Phoenix at ease. Sidling over to check Stealth Light, he found him to also be alive but unconscious. Not for long... Phoenix began working on rousing the other two ponies. "Come on, Stealth--now is not the time for napping."

With an ugly groan, Stealth Light rocked slightly as his eyes rolled forward and opened. "What in all Tartarus was that... ugh, my head. Where are we?"

"Good question, Stealth. That light we spotted must have been some sort of teleport spell. We could be anywhere."

Stealth looked over to Defiance. "Is he...?"

"Unconscious, but alive." After assessing that Stealth Light was alert, Phoenix took a moment to assess his surroundings. What he saw confused him for a minute. There seemed to be no windows or sources of light visible. The room was illuminated barely by a deep blue glow.

"Work on getting Defiance awake. Wherever we are, we still have a mission to complete." Phoenix ordered Stealth Light, before trotting off to explore the area.

He didn't get more than five steps before he felt his muzzle slap into something. "What the hay?" Bringing his hooves to bear, he pushed against the area that was keeping him from walking onward. "There's a wall here. In fact, I can't even see any light."

"Doesn't sound like any teleportation spell we'd been briefed about by Luna. I remember... ugh, barely, seeing like... little specks of colored light in the beam." Stealth Light made his way over to Defiance to try and wake him.

"How many specks were there, Stealth Light?"

"I... think six. Remind you of something?"

Phoenix nodded. "The one angle we thought Celestia would never use. It was a calculated risk." Those specks of light, as Phoenix knew, were the Elements of Harmony being used in a way that had only been done once before, when it was necessary to seal away Discord before Equestria descended into an eternal chaotic state.

"So. It's over. Despite all our planning, effort and work--we've lost."

"Silence your tongue, Stealth Light. It's a bit too quick to be making presumptions as to what's happened to our battle."

Defiance shot up like a cannon being fired, flapping as if to escape the impending beam of light, and smacked headlong into the ceiling, no more than five feet above his head. "Oww!" The orange colored stallion was redirected to the ground, landing with an "oomph!" It was then followed by a string of curses, especially those directed toward Celestia.

"Good to know that you still have an eloquent mastery of basic Equestrian language, Defiance."

"Shut up, Phoenix. Where the hell are we?" Dusting off his coat and shaking some of the marbles back in place from his fall, he gave Phoenix a glare.

"I have no real good idea. Seems to be some sort of blue room."

"Where's Celestia?" Defiance spat, looking around and wishing to finish the job that they'd started.

"Not here. I don't know where she is, much less where we are." Phoenix replied. "It would stand to reason she'd use some method of magic against an aerial assault. Nightmare Moon was supposed to take care of that."

Stealth Light frowned, concluding Phoenix's thought. "She must have underestimated Celestia."

"I think we all did, Stealth," Defiance said, groaning as he stretched out his wings. "So now what, Phoenix?"

"We explore, look for a way out, look for some sort of sign that there's some way out of here. Get an understanding of where we are." With a wave of his wing, he began walking away from the other two pegasi. After taking at most eight full strides, he felt his muzzle slap into something. "Nnngh... another wall. That's about twenty feet from where you two are."

"Is this some sort of holding cell, Phoenix?" Defiance asked, his own exploration started, through sore and frustrated muscles wanting for something more than to be in this blue box.

"Could be, but... why have it be a deep luminescent blue? That's a lot of trouble for what could be accomplished with iron bars and a blocked ceiling. Stealth Light, anything?"

The third pegasus didn't respond immediately, his attention captured elsewhere. The lead pegasus and Defiance shared a look for a moment before Phoenix clapped his hoof against the "floor", trying to get Stealth's attention.

"Hey, cloud dreamer, you still with us?" Phoenix called out.

Snapping away from where he'd been looking and craning his ear, Stealth Light blubbered for a moment. "Wha-huh? Crap, sorry, Phoenix. But I hear... what sounds like somepony talking. It's really distorted..."

Defiance looked over toward Stealth Light. "I'm good with this sort of stuff, Stealth. Where's it coming from?"

Using his sky blue wings to point at the direction of the sound, Stealth put a hoof to his mouth as he motioned Defiance and Phoenix over. It took only a matter of a couple of moments before the three pegasi were all straining to hear what Stealth Light had said he heard.

"...little foal...defeat me...never see your Prin...your sun. The night will last forever!"

A feather could be heard falling in the chamber as all three stallions looked at each other. "It's not over yet..." Abandoning the effort to understand the room they were in, Phoenix looked to his comrades.

"Battle poses, Shadowbolts! Victory will be ours tonight!"

As the three prepared themselves for battle, the noises outside got louder but muddier, harder to understand. "General...I hear other voices. None I recognize. Defiance, ready for battle, sir!"

"Stealth Light, prepared to usher in eternal night, sir!"

"And I, your general, Phoenix Ember, ready to stand by your side as we fly into eternal honor."

That was when things went wrong. Very, very wrong. The chamber started to rattle, shake, and crackle at the sides. Blinding light was visible from the outside, piercing the chamber they stood and prepared to attack from. A wash of the color spectrum joined the white.

"HOLD FAST, SHADOWBOLTS!" Everything went topsy turvy. Then the three were pulled away from each other, light acting like knives slicing them apart. Each time one went to approach the other, another beam of light, be it purple, yellow or blue, shot between them.

"Phoenix!" Defiance shouted. "I can't see you!"

"Defiance, where are you?" Stealth hollered.

"Shadowbolts! Stay together! We are vulnerable when separated!" Phoenix quipped.

It was too late. The light severed their connections to each other, even as hooves and wings desperately longed to touch. A blast of light exploded around them. Then, nothingness.

---

"Class, eyes front!" Red Ribbon barked, assessing the crew of cadets in his room. The gathering of pegasus all turned slowly to regard the dark-red maned instructor. A couple of cadets were in the midst of a chatter that had them temporarily distracted from the stallion's directions. He paused, watching them talk amongst themselves. Using his wings to grab a piece of chalk from the trivet at the board in front of him, he turned around with a whoosh and pinged one of the chatty students in the head.

"Tail Vane, see me after class. Now, everyone else, what did we just learn about, other than to heed the teacher when he calls for your attention?"

There were some murmurs as ponies seemed to be searching around in their heads for the correct answer to the question. Phoenix Ember rose his hoof, looking at Red Ribbon.

"Phoenix Ember."

"Sir, the lesson learned was that you need to be alert to your partner or wingpony for any incoming objects or weapons fire, sir."

"Correct, Mr. Ember. Tail Vane, if I had just shot you with an arrow rather than chuck a piece of chalk at you, you'd be dead. Your wingpony partner, Amethyst Curl, was too busy talking to you about whatever unimportant chatter you were engaged in to notice that I was even taking aim for you. Even when on civilian patrol, it is important that you maintain communication with your wingpony to possible threats. As single fliers among a group, we are weaker than when we soar and glide together. Now, open your textbooks. Because Mr. Vane and Mr. Curl were yapping, they've decided that in addition to your exercise regimen, your homework load for today just got doubled."

A collection of groans arose in the class, with some of them laced with threats and angry words. Phoenix merely sighed. This is going to be a long day...

---

The last noise Phoenix remembered hearing was something akin to glass shattering, and a mournful scream of defeat. Then all went silent, save for a soft but steady whistle. He groaned softly as he reopened his eyes, assessing the situation around him. It took all of his available energy to not scream. The ground was coming up quickly. His wings, as of yet unresponsive, stuck defiantly to his sides.

With a grunt, fighting against the pull of gravity, his winged snapped out. From his downward perspective, he heard his neck make an ugly sound above the crying of air as his altitude stabilized from the freefall he'd been in. Exhaling for a moment, he started a canvassing of the area.

Where's the castle? "Defiance! Stealth Light! Wingponies stay toget..."

The words died in his throat as he looked around to see where his friends were. Given the information he knew about their last positions, it was just a matter of looking to his side and finding them would be easy.

They're... The spot where the other two pegasi had been previously was now occupied with nothing. Phoenix fluttered in the air, dumbfounded. "Defiance! Stealth Light! Report!"

Behind him the calm of night that he'd seen only for a for a precious few minutes before now broke. The sun, cresting the eastern horizon, slowly raised into the sky.

No... Celestia's still alive. We failed. No eternal night... He fluttered a bit more, discovering that the castle was nowhere in sight. A beautiful city gleamed in the distance, seemed too far away to reach for. What is that? Below him, a thicket of trees that indicated he wasn't far from the Castle of the Two Sisters.

"The Everfree Forest."

Mind awash with trying to figure out the current situation and deal with the thrumming migraine that the Elements of Harmony had caused, Phoenix descended toward the ground, moving through trees and vines. It felt good to be back on Equestrian ground, although definitely not in the manner and capacity he was promised by Nightmare Moon earlier on. He strode about the trees, the illumination from the sun above jetting through the thick foliage. Lost, confused, and fighting off the desperation of a mission gone horribly wrong, Phoenix felt his stomach grumble. Hmm. Of all the things I'd forget to pack is rations...

Birds and other creatures made their morning songs as he strolled in the muddy ground, fresh from a rain the day before. Must have been a pretty good dousing… I wonder if Adept Shield is still running the weather operations. I’ll have to pay him a visit… and see if I can persuade him to shift his loyalties one more time. If not, I’ll just put a sword in his side and end it quickly for him.

His walk lasted a couple of minutes as the forest began to ebb away to a small clearing. In it, Phoenix found something he would never have thought to happen upon in the Everfree Forest—a small cottage, made from hardened mud and other materials. There were a couple of quaint windows on the side, and smoke drifting out of the chimney. Who would be so foolish as to build a house out here in the middle of this dank place? Must be some sort of isolationist or just a crazed pony that decided this was the best place to set up shop. Phoenix flapped his wings once more, drawing them in and approaching the building, figuring there being little better to do other than investigate, capture whomever might be inside, and use the weapons at his disposal to convince them that they were on the losing side.

Shadowbolts don’t knock, Phoenix. Just walk in. He pushed forward on the doorway, and it opened into a warm house, filled with trinkets, masks and bottles of potions and spices. Inside, he could hear some humming coming from another part of the house. He quickly flitted into a place where he could monitor the whole of the place without being seen. Stealth above all… observe what’s going on.

The humming drew closer, as Phoenix used his wings and back hooves to press himself against the rugged-textured ceiling of the hut. He looked down and noticed the occupant walking over to a large cauldron that was bubbling slightly, smelling of unusual fragrances that Phoenix could not quite place.

“How strange. I was sure that this door I left closed--perhaps somepony has entered my house undisclosed?” She shook her head, spat something in her native tongue, and walked over to the door, closing it and fastening the lock, thinking it had just been the breeze of the day. “Back to work, no time to shirk,” Zecora said as she turned from the door and walked back to the main part of the house.

The rhyme reached Phoenix’s ears with all the grace of hooves against smooth slate, the grating sound making him cringe as he watched the zebra mill about her home. He couldn’t quite place where she might have come from, as zebras were very uncommon… almost a myth that Luna had told them about during their classes from a couple of weeks ago to Phoenix’s recollection. He shifted a little bit, to get a closer view on what the smaller mare was working on.

“Memory of time and many fortunes sighted; I pray that this spell not be blighted.” She added some spices to the kettle, stirring it with a spoon that was sitting nearby on a desk. A moment later, she turned and began to flip through a book, browsing its contents. She seemed to get lost in the tome, and this allowed Phoenix to look at the room a little more. The greeting masks didn’t catch him off guard—in fact, most of everything inside of the house seemed welcoming. Is she working for Celestia? A shaman, medicine pony. I don't see any markings that wo--uh-oh. His grip on the ceiling slipped slightly. Grunting, he tried to maintain in the silent observation position, not knowing what the zebra's alliances might have been.

"Hmm, a small sound? Yet no one around?" Zecora turned to look to her sides, finding nothing out of place. "Is someone else here? Please, you have nothing to fear."

Sweat from the shock of his arrival, and the humidity in the hut force him to try and readjust. Everything was just a little too far out of reach for a firm hold, and he felt the hoof grasp that he had slip. Luna-dammit... can't... hold... ON! He tumbled from the ceiling, crashing to the floor with a loud THUMP.

Zecora gasped and trotted backwards. She observed Phoenix, still clad in his metallic Shadowbolt armor. It bore the symbol of Nightmare Moon, ebony through and through. His helmet dislodged itself in the fall, revealing his red and orange mane. She pressed herself against a wall, putting as much distance between her and the pegasus.

Phoenix groaned. To add to his stomach being empty, he now had to deal with the room swimming about and the headache that he'd been trying to rid himself of doubling. He flailed on the floor, hooves splayed cross ways for a moment. A try or two later, he found his gravity and began to speak.

"Ih'm... Genewal Feenix Embur of de Sfadowbowts... ugh, my hewd..."

If it could be called speaking. Tongue lolling out between words and eyes looking temporarily in two different directions, Phoenix's words were barely decipherable. Zecora's reaction was outside of what Phoenix had thought the zebra would do: rather than checking on his condition, she froze in place and merely stared at the pegasus before her.

"Stay back, armored demon from the sky! What are you doing here, and why?" Zecora reached around for anything to defend herself with. One of her medicine sticks lay a few feet out of her immediate reach. She slunk toward it slowly.

Still slurring his words badly, Phoenix responded. "We're here to... take over, bring night eternal. Where am I?" Why are you telling her the plans? This is still an ongoing operation! Didn't they teach you anything in basic training, Phoenix?

"My house, a place of solace and peace! Not a place I would find a beast!", the zebra responded. Inch by inch, she approached the stick. Eyes darted back and forth between the wooden implement and the slurring pegasus who was barely standing under his own power.

"I'm... lost. Please help me. I'm looking for my friends, Defiance and Stealth Light. They'll look like me... at least they should." His tone was pleading, exhausted, disoriented.

"Of friend or foe, I do not know. You frighten me so, now you must go!" In a quick move, Zecora slid over and grabbed the stick. She rushed toward Phoenix, still in a highly anxious state given his attire and sudden appearance. Working on a whim, Zecora thought that he might be drunk and confused. It explained his disconnected and slurred speech.

Clarity returned to Phoenix, and he put his hooves up as he saw what Zecora was doing. "Stop! I surrender! Please, I need help!"

Zecora was already too far into her swing to pull back. The bum-rush completed with the sound of a resounding WHACK as Zecora took the staff and lowered it with all intentional force onto Phoenix’s head. He hit the floor, a tumbled mess of feathers and coat landing into a lump.

Mommy, the stars are pretty... I want ice cream...

She gasped as Phoenix fell in front of her, the stick falling from her hooves. All at once, the shock wore off and she realized what it was that she'd just done. Her hooves became a flurry of activity as she plucked various jars and ointments off of the shelves, pouring them into the cauldron in carefully measured amounts. She didn't speak a word, too focused on her work. Healing herbs and liquids were dumped into another kettle. What have I done? Have I come undone? He asked for my aid and help, and I hit him like a spoiled whelp. Foreign pegasus from another place, please see sadness on my face. I wish I had not acted so rashly, to attack one that did not speak brashly.

She stirred, whipping the mix up until it formed a purplish paste. "Please... allow this to cause you to wake, so I can apologize for my mistake." Now was the hard part: she had to wait for it to be ready. The smell the concoction made was floral and bitter, the house beginning to smell of pepper. Done with her first alchemic creation, she turned to her open fire-pit, preparing another smaller, tunneled pot. Odd zebra warning glyphs were on it, indicating to "Handle With Care" and "Do Not Use For Food". In the ingredients went: a catalyst, fuel, and propellant and a touch of clove so it wouldn't stink once it was launched.

Lining it up with the chimney, Zecora knew it would be at least a half hour until the purplish muck was ready to apply to Phoenix's head and other wounds. Tapping her hoof five times, she stood back and waited for the reaction she'd used many times before. A moment later, a ball of energy spewed forth from the kettle, and made its way to the chimney, going straight up. A couple of moments later, there was an explosion of energy and light outside—even noticeable in the middle of the sunrise.

In his relatively unconscious state, Phoenix’s body could not deliver any words. But his spirit, still vibrant and awake, had a simple plea: “I’m sorry, Princess Luna. It appears as though I have failed you in the simplest of tasks.”

Comments

[Borg]

They saw the one they swore their lives to, in her stark beauty and grace; the Dark Mare, staring down this impudent unicorn mare—barely even older than a filly. All alone—something that his brethren would consider not the brightest of strategic decisions considering what she was daring to challenge.

Well excuse me for not sticking near my allies while my enemy suddenly teleports the only weapon I can conceivably use against her to an unknown location.

“You don’t scare me in the very least, you confused pony. So put your stupid little stick down and—“

The next sound that was heard was that of a resounding WHACK as Zecora took the staff and lowered it with all intentional force onto Phoenix’s head. He hit the floor, a tumbled mess of feathers and coat landing into a lump.

"So, what are you going to do now?"
"Well, first I'm going to take get knocked out by your stick."
Seriously, what kind of a soldier is not even familiar with the concept of a club?

I have to say, I find the narration unnecessarily hard to follow in many places.
And to be clear, I love a good story with fundamental mysteries, and I have no problem with a viewpoint character whom I do not initially understand. But this feels like you forgot to explain, not like you chose not to explain, and while I couldn't say what gives one impression or the other, I can still say it is a very important difference. There's an art to keeping information known to the viewpoint character from your audience, and I think you're keeping too many secrets.

[Note Worthy]

3264839 I would ask that you give this chapter a reread--most of it was gutted and written in a less convoluted light. Learning experiences.