The dusty stone of the Fortress of the Shadowed Sun surrounded them like a tomb. Scratching noises came from the walls. Every so often, the floor beneath their hooves would rumble as Dogs charged through a hallway below them or tunneled beneath the ancient structure.
Garnet coughed as a spray of dirt filled her face.
“Shh!” Nightblossom hissed. “You’ll give away our position!”
Garnet waved an apology at the batpony and continued her long crawl through the narrow passage.
“I really wish we had a warrior or a paladin with us,” Wind muttered. “This is going to be brutal.”
As they rounded a bend, a new sound echoed through the battered fortress. It was a song, but in a language Garnet had never heard before. However, she recognized one voice in the strangely discordant harmony: Snow’s svelte tones. The sorceress had to admit that for a villain, she could certainly sing… even if the song was sending shivers of ice down her spine.
“What are they doing down there?” Garnet whispered up to Nightblossom, who was currently leading the crawl through the tight passage.
“Nothing wholesome, to be sure,” Forest muttered from their rear. “The Light of the Sun has not fallen upon these stones in many years. I can feel it trying to leech away my will. It is unnatural.”
Finally, the tight passage let out on a large dusty balcony level. It looked like nopony had been here for years if not decades. Dust coated everything, but they were in luck. Nightblossom’s quick and brutal interrogation of a hapless guard shortly after entering the Fortress had told them what they needed to know.
They all crept out of the passage before they approached the weathered railing of the Chamber of Echoes within the Fortress of the Shadowed Sun. It was massive, six stories tall ringed with balconies similar to this one. A few enchanted crystals hung from the ceiling, coating the chamber with a sickly green light. Other crystals protruded from pillars scattered throughout the pit, alternating between glowing green and blood red shards. But at the bottom was their real prize.
Exactly fifty ponies in the traditional garb of the Bards Guild were all standing in a strange trance-like state, wavering left and right as they stared at a pulsing red and black crystalline orb hovering ten feet above the ground. Their mouths were open and they were indeed singing, but now that she was in the same room, the sound filled Garnet with dread and despair. She wanted to shrivel up in a corner somewhere and weep forever at that awful sound, but she forced herself to look deeper and find their true enemy: the creature they knew as Snow.
She caught a glimpse of a white mane beneath the orb and realized the unicorn must be standing directly below it. She chanted guttural syllables in a language Garnet didn’t understand, but it had the tone of a great spell. And if her lore knowledge was correct—and it usually was—then she knew what sort of spell was being cast.
“Well, this looks bad,” Wind muttered.
“You think?” Nightblossom growled.
“By the Sun’s Light, what are they doing?”
“Summoning spell,” Garnet said with gritted teeth. “A powerful one.”
“Why would they need bards for a summoning spell?” Wind asked.
“Look at the crystals around the room.” Garnet pointed. “Those weren’t grown here. They were moved here. I think Snow is attempting to unleash something horrible upon this world.”
“Well, don’t let me stop you from being overdramatic, but what might that be?” Nightblossom said with a roll of her eyes.
“The Umbrum.”
Forest sucked in a breath. Nightblossom paled. But Wind looked confused.
“Never heard of them,” Wind said.
“Legend says that they were once ponies, cursed by Harmony itself for their greed and wickedness to become creatures of nightmare and shadow.” Garnet grimaced. “They once lived far to the north in the frozen wastes beyond Icehoof Dale. Before the defeat of their empire, they consumed the land, feeding off of the emotions of everypony they could grasp until their victims were filled with nothing but despair or apathy. Then they fed off of that and it made them even stronger.”
“That’s why they want the bards,” Nightblossom whispered. “If they can corrupt the bards of the land into telling tales of despair and pain…”
“...They would create a new feeding ground.” Wind nodded. “They’d unleash more of their kind. If their power grows unchecked, they will swarm the land and devour… everything.”
“Such abominations cannot be suffered to exist,” Forest declared. “We must not allow them to complete the ritual.”
“They wouldn’t be in the middle of it, if somepony hadn’t required a full rest,” Nightblossom said with a pointed look at Garnet.
“Now that you see what we face, would you rather I be at my weakest?” Garnet snapped back. “Be happy that Fate smiled upon us—for once—and restored my power after fighting those guards.”
“Nay, the Sun smiled upon you,” Forest said with a gentle touch of her hoof. “Even Fate must sway to the pleas of the righteous in times of great need.”
“How long until they finish, you think?” Nightblossom asked.
“Maybe… twenty minutes?” Garnet replied “I’m guessing here.”
“I would like to mention we are five stories up. Does this not seem to be a problem?” Forest asked.
“Not when you have two winged ponies with you.” Nightblossom grinned. “What do we need to do to disrupt the ritual?”
“The orb,” Garnet pointed. “It must be shattered. And Snow must be captured alive.”
“Why alive?” Nightblossom protested. “She can’t do us any harm if she’s dead.”
“Because Umbrum are creatures of shadow. They can possess somepony but once in a body, they cannot leave it until the host either dies or… certain unpleasant rituals are done.”
“You think Snow’s got an Umbrum in her?” Nightblossom asked, tapping her chin with a hoof.
“It’s possible,” Garnet replied. “I’d rather not risk it escaping and deciding to take one of us.”
“Though the Sun’s Light protects me,” Forest declared. “I would not see it free to cause more pain. I am so sworn. We must contain Snow at all costs.”
“Okay!” Nightblossom said with a ready grin. “Here’s the plan. Garnet, with Forest’s support, will match wits with Snow. Wind and I will destroy that orb thing.”
“What of the Dogs?” Forest asked. “Snow has a veritable army of them.”
Wind shook her head. “Dogs are easily susceptible to sonic vibrations. If you think their song is bad for us, it would be like having one’s head in an angry wild thunderstorm for a Dog. As long as they’re chanting, we only have to worry about Snow.”
“And if she can control the bards?” Garnet asked. “I don’t know how deep her power goes.”
“Then we improvise,” Nightblossom said as she flicked out her hoof-batons. “After all, what could possibly go wrong?”
“You did not just say that,” Sunset declared.
Lemon Hearts's eyes practically danced with laughter. “Oh, yes I did! Somepony’s got to say it before the big final battle.”
Just then, the hourglass in the room turned over once more as the chimes of midnight sounded out over the slumbering city outside. Sunset stared at the hourglass in shock.
“Have we been playing that long?”
Minuette grinned. “Time flies when you’re having fun! Though if you are too tired, we could call it here and continue—”
“No way!” Lemon Hearts cried. “We’re doing this! Right now! Come on, Minuette. Let’s get this party started!”
“Somepony’s chomping at the bit,” Twinkleshine muttered to Sunset.
Sunset grinned. “I don’t blame her. I want to see how this turns out.”
Twinkleshine nodded as Minuette’s smile grew ever wider.
“On second thought…” Sunset began.
“It’s already too late.” Twinkleshine sighed.
Wind Speaker had Garnet in her hooves as she leapt off the balcony in time with the batpony who held Forest Whisper. They both circled the room a few times, checking their angles before the two fliers looked at one another and nodded in unison. Garnet managed not to scream as they plummeted toward the ground.
“Now!” Wind cried and Garnet found herself in freefall for a few seconds before landing roughly just past the steps of the stone dais where Snow was standing with her eyes closed, floating in a black cloud of eldritch magic. On the opposite side, Nightblossom gently deposited Forest before she flew up and crashed against the orb, causing the entire thing to shudder and shake. A pair of explosive arrows erupted from Wind’s battle-saddle, piecing the crystal of the sphere and detonating, sending chunks of smoking glass flying across the room.
Snow’s eyes opened. They were blood-red and dark magic billowed from them like smoke in a tomb. A wicked smile curled her muzzle.
“Ah, so the brave heroes arrive to defeat me at the eleventh hour? And here I thought you would be too late. I would have been most disappointed. It’s so much more fun to watch a hero fail at the last moment, no?”
“I wouldn’t know!” Garnet shouted. “I’ve never watched another hero fail!”
Before Garnet could protect herself, a tendril of black smoke curled around her neck. Garnet shuddered as a spell pulsed through the magical construct even as she was lifted into the air. She felt the spell strike against her mental barriers and the world swam. The power coursing through her held an ancient fear enchantment.
“Oh, but that isn’t quite true, is it, little witch?” Snow cooed. “You have done many horrible things in your life. Heroes have often failed… to stop a monster like you.”
A blast of pure sunlight erupted from Forest’s horns and ripped the tendril in half, dropping Garnet to the ground.
“She is no monster!” Forest cried. “You and those you seek to unleash are!”
“She has done everything she can to stop your mad plot, Snow!” shouted the pegasus as two more arrows blew chunks out of the sphere.
“And while maybe there were those who called her that in the past,” Nightblossom bellowed. “We know better!”
Garnet grinned, feeling her heart lift and the wild magic within her flare.
“Now, as Nightblossom said earlier,” the sorceress said as Eoana appeared beside her. “Let’s dance.”
Sunset’s hourglass must be wrong, because there was no way it was past two o’clock in the morning. Then again, the boss fight had taken forever. They had been doing great until Snow had empowered ten of the bards with Umbrum she had hidden in the blood red crystal shards. Then things just went crazy.
Plus there was the damn hydra. Minuette had grinned like a lunatic when that thing had ripped through a wall.
Still, the bards had been freed and the party was now escorting them back to the border of the Badlands as dawn peeked over the horizon. Minuette had promised their journey would be uneventful, despite the fact that their true enemy had escaped.
“I still can’t believe you let her get away!” Lemon Hearts whined through another yawn. “We had her right where we wanted her!”
Twinkleshine shook her head as she slowly shuffled toward the door. “It was either that or let Wind Speaker die beneath the crumbling orb. Forest will not leave anypony to die, Lemon Hearts. You know that.”
“Pffft… oh well, just means we get a new nemesis. I’m sure she’ll show up again… at the worst possible time.” She shot a glare at Minuette, who just grinned in response.
“Who knows what may lay in wait for you next time!” Minuette declared in her most dramatic voice, which earned her a round of giggles from the exhausted girls.
“Hey… um…” Lemon Hearts suddenly turned red for the first time that night. “Speaking of next time… why don’t we do it at my place? Maybe next Friday? I think Lyra might be available. And didn’t you say Gaffer would be free next week?”
“Sounds good to me,” Minuette answered with a nod.
“As long as it doesn’t go until two in the morning again, I’m fine with that.” Twinkleshine let out a jaw-popping yawn.
Sunset just stared at the hourglass, her head down.
“Sunset?” Lemon Hearts said quietly. “What about you?”
“What about me?” she said.
“Well… is Garnet going to join us?”
Sunset’s head shot up and she stared at Lemon Hearts. “You… you actually want me there?”
Lemon Hearts frowned. “Look, I’m not saying that you’re my best friend or anything. But I have to admit, tonight was fun. And… well… if you’re really trying to make things better, I have to be willing to give you a chance. Anyway, since that whole ‘Minuette-laughter-plague’ thing… I’ve felt better.”
“Told you!” Minuette chirped.
Lemon Hearts shot her a glare, but there was no real annoyance in it. “Yeah, fine. I was holding onto stuff I shouldn’t. I guess you’re not the only one who needs lessons on what being a friend means. So, you coming or what?”
“Uh… sure?” Sunset replied, stifling yet another yawn. “What time?”
“No more all-day sessions. So… umm… Eight. Sharp. And you need to bring the snacks!”
“I think I can do that.”
“Well… good!” Lemon Hearts declared. “Glad that’s settled. Because Nightblossom still has a few bones to pick with Garnet about that whole fire thing. And she’s not going to go easy on you!”
Twinkleshine shoved her friend in the side. “Come on, you. Let’s go home. Our parents will probably kill us for being out so late… again.”
“It’s okay. Don’t sorceresses have a reincarnation spell? And you can use ‘Spare the Dying’ or something.”
“Har, har.”
“Goodnight girls!” Minuette called as the two ponies headed for the door.
“Goodnight!” they chimed, waving one more time at both Minuette and Sunset. With a final smile, they headed out the front door.
“Need any help?” Sunset asked.
Minuette shook her head as she folded the map into her saddlebags. “Nope! Just about got it.”
“So what’s your deal, Minuette?” Sunset asked as she leaned against the hourglass. “I still don’t get you.”
Minuette grinned, walked over and tapped the hourglass. “‘Right time, right place,’ remember?”
“And why Ogres and Oubliettes?”
“Besides Moon Dancer suggesting it? Maybe because I saw you six months ago when you had your head buried in Lost Empire of the Crystal Princess and I happened to sneak a peek over your shoulder at your character sheet. I’ve been playing with this idea ever since.”
Sunset stared. “You’re kidding.”
Minuette grinned. “Nope.”
“You little brat.”
Minuette’s grin turned into a giggle.
“I still don’t get you,” Sunset repeated.
“Sunset…” Minuette’s smile never faded. “I’m actually pretty simple. I like it when ponies get along. I like it when my friends smile. More than anything, I like it when my friends laugh. And when you girls finally started laughing with me… It just felt right. I was waiting for just that moment.”
“And you had to wait until we were screaming at each other?”
“Sometimes, ponies need to yell a little to be heard over the voices inside of them. More than anything, that’s the time when the ponies need to laugh and smile, so they get out of their head and back into the world.”
Something in the way Minuette said that sent chills down Sunset’s spine.
She couldn’t possibly know… could she?
Don’t be ridiculous, the familiar voice scoffed. Nopony can read minds.
However, the way Minuette’s smile combined with a little twinkle in her eye made Sunset doubt that little assurance.
“Anyway, I need to head home,” Minuette said as she shrugged on her saddlebags. “Mom and Dad know that I’m on a special assignment from the Princess though, so I don’t think I’ll get in trouble. And don’t worry, I told Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts’s parents too.”
“Hey, let me see that letter.”
Minuette smirked and levitated the scroll out. “Oh, now you want to see it?”
Sunset made a grab for it with her magic, but a yawn knocked off her aim. Minuette laughed and tossed it at her. Sunset fumbled it for a moment and then unrolled the scroll.
Dear Minuette,
I know Moon Dancer already informed you of our arrangement, but in case Sunset decides to press the matter, I thought it prudent that you have something to show her.
As I will be indisposed this week for a diplomatic summit in the Dragon Lands, you are under royal orders to make sure Sunset Shimmer has some fun in whatever manner you deem fit for the week. Moon Dancer has assured me of your qualifications and I have little doubt that you will be up to the challenge.
Thank you for your help.
Yours Truly,
Princess Celestia
“I so called it,” Sunset said with a tired little laugh. “I knew they were conspiring against me.”
“But for a good cause!”
“Yeah…” Sunset grinned a silly little grin. “Yeah, I think so. So, I guess I’ll see you next Friday, then.”
“What do you mean next Friday?” Minuette cocked her head.
Sunset blinked. “What?”
“I’m under royal orders to make sure you have fun for the entire week, Sunny,” Minuette said with a giant smile.
“Oh no, you can’t be serious!” Sunset cried.
“Yep!” Minuette’s smile was geographically impossible. “I’ll see you tomorrow around lunchtime. I’m thinking of taking you out for doughnuts.”
“You don’t need to keep me company all week!”
“Sorry, Sunny, but the last thing I want to do is disobey a royal order. What kind of loyal subject of Equestria would I be if I did something like that?”
“One that values other ponies’ privacy?”
Minuette laughed. “Silly Sunny. That’s just no fun.”
Sunset hung her head, knowing she was beaten through and through. She walked Minuette to the door, and opened it.
“See you tomorrow, I guess,” Sunset said with a sigh. “But if you show up before noon, I reserve the right to practice my sunfire spell on you!”
“Yowza, you do like your sleep, Sunny.”
“Well, considering the last time I went for a few weeks without a good night’s sleep… yeah, I’ve come to appreciate it.”
“Well, I’ll do my best. Goodnight, Sunny.”
“Goodnight, Minuette.”
Minuette had reached the sidewalk and Sunset was just closing the door when the blue unicorn called out to her.
“Oh and by the way?”
“What?”
“You stopped twitching when I call you Sunny.”
With that, Minuette cheerfully trotted out of sight, leaving Sunset to stare after her with her mouth hanging open.
Dammit!