//------------------------------// // Chapter 15. // Story: Equestria Girls and The Golden Bell // by Sparky Brony //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer walks slowly towards the potions classroom. Even though it’s the weekend, or perhaps because of it being the weekend, the halls are relatively quiet and bereft of students. As she rounds the corner, she stops short, looking at the door. Rather than being locked, or even closed, the door is partly open though the room is still dark. “Professor Snape?” Sunset says softly as she opens the dungeon door the rest of the way to the potions classroom. Usually the teachers lock their classrooms when they are not present. In this case however, someone has been here. She glances around the dark room, “The root I’m looking for is usually found in the Everfree forest, but I don’t know what your equivalence is.” She listens for a moment, but all she can hear is soft bubbling and crackling sounds. She glances around, on Saturdays, the teachers usually have the time to get caught up on paperwork, so they are usually in their classrooms or offices. The potions classroom is curiously empty though. Professor Snape isn’t there, though a few potion stands sit bubbling quietly, long term brews that do not require constant attention. She steps into the classroom, her head rotating around, the sounds of the equipment, of liquids slowly bubbling, the smell of burning coals... Slowly, she brings out her wand and lights the room with it, the light spilling out as if she was using her hornshine. She walks over to the closet where the potion ingredients are kept, the large doors stand closed. Standard lock picking spells wouldn’t usually work here, but she knows a few more advanced techniques. Touching the door, however, she finds it unlocked, carefully she opens the door and starts looking through the different ingredients in the expansive closet. She takes note that a few bottles are already gone. A rustling from the door to the classroom gets her attention, turning she extinguishes the light and draws the door nearly closed silently. “He’s not here,” comes another voice. Sunset can’t hear this voice clearly enough to recognize who is speaking, but she can tell it’s a male. She brings her wand close and flattens against the wall. Who else would be here? She hears soft footfalls against the stone floor. Electric currents run up her spine, they are getting closer! She clenches her wand, thinking of what spellforms she would need. Her eyes focus on the door knob as it rattles. Time draws out as she gets ready to deal damage to whomever is trying to steal from here. If it’s the thief returning she could be in real danger. “Hmm, it’s open. Professor Snape usually doesn’t keep the supply closet unlocked.” Comes the voice, much clearer. Sunset trembles as she points the wand at the door as it opens, revealing two figures. Sunset steps forward, her brightly glowing wand leveled at the nose of the intruder, who’s hands fly up, “What the heck?” The boy shouts as he stumbles back, landing on his rear. “Sunset Shimmer, what are you doing here?” Comes a familiar voice, time slams back to normal as the spellform in her mind suddenly dissipates and she takes a step back, pointing her wand straight up. “Rarity?” She looks down at the boy, who’s trembling on the floor, “You are…Neville, right?” He nods. “What are you doing here?” She sighs as she shoves her wand away into her robes, “I need a root that I can usually get…” She glances at Neville, then back at Rarity, “at home.” She looks at both of them, “What are you two doing here?” Rarity reaches down to help Neville to his feet, he straightens his robes, “Rarity, Applejack and I were in the greenhouses, there’s a new crop of mandrakes. But the crop will be lost to flesh eating slugs if we don’t get any repellent.” Sunset cocks her head to the side, “Flesh eating slug repellent?” Both of them nod, “I told Professor Hagrid about it, and he went to London. He wasn’t able to get any, though. He said Knockturn Alley is nearly deserted.” He doesn’t notice Sunset gasp softly, but Rarity does, her eyes narrow as Neville continues, “I thought professor Snape would have some in his supply closet. But he’s not here, and I know that Hagrid left again.” He shakes his head. “Borgin and Burkws never closes, but it’s closed right now." Sunset shudders, “There’s more going on than we know,” She says softly, glancing over at Rarity, “Would you come with me, to London?” “Students can’t leave the school without permission from a house head,” says Neville. Sunset closes and locks the supply cabinet door, then she grabs Rarity’s hand, “We aren’t traditional students, Neville.” She stops and looks back at him. “Head back to the greenhouse; Rarity and I will find out what is going on.” He nods as Sunset breaks into a run, dragging Rarity along. “But, Sunset, how are we going to get to London, this Knockturn Alley?” “The fastest way I know how.” Sunset puffs as she pounds up the stairs. “Teleportation!” “But the school is warded! You can teleport within the ward, but your teleportation can’t cross it.” Sunset smiles grimly, “Every ward has a boundary.” They break out onto the ground floor and rush through the halls, Sunset nearly skids as they turn down the corridor heading towards the bridge to Hogsmeade. Rarity finally shrugs off her hand and runs beside her. In moments, they are running across the covered bridge. As they reach the end of the bridge, Sunset stops cold. “Did you feel that?” Rarity puffs a bit, trying to catch her breath. “Feel what?” Sunset looks back at the entrance to the bridge, she walks slowly over to the threshold and reaches out a hand. “Yes, that’s the ward.” She says softly and turns around. She grabs Rarity’s hand and raises her wand, “Let’s go,” She says firmly and the wand brightens. In moments, the magic takes hold and they wink out of existence. *** Rarity stumbles a couple of steps as she tried to get her bearings. “Is teleportation usually that…” she shudders, “extreme?” Sunset nods, “It takes some getting used to. Though there are some unicorns that can do that over and over, jumping from location to location in a fight rapidly.” “I saw you do that in your duel,” Rarity says softly. Sunset nods, “It’s a bit different with a wand compared to having a horn, but the basics are similar.” She glances around, “This is Diagon Alley. it looks pretty quiet here.” Rarity glances around at the storefronts, “It looks like most of the stores are closed on the weekend. Is it some sort of holiday? I doubt most businesses would willingly close if they had a chance to make sales.” She starts walking slowly down the street looking up at the signs, “Where is this Knockturn Alley?” Sunset shrugs, “I’m not exactly certain, Professor Dumbledore said it off this street somewhere, so we will just have to find it.” Rarity takes a deep breath trying to settle her stomach. “Well, let’s get going.” She walks off, her steps getting steadier as effects of travel start to wear off. Sunset walks behind her, keeping her eyes peeled. After some time, Rarity falls back to walk next to Sunset. “There are people here.” She nods her head towards an open window, a small face looking out. When the child notices Rarity and Sunset looking at her, she disappears. “A little skittish, I think, though. I know my robes are just ghastly but I did not think they were that out of fashion.” As they go deeper into Diagon Alley, a few more people seem to be out and about, visiting the few shops that are open. Many of the mages eye the girls in their school robes, the MACUSA patch quite visible on their chests. Sunset looks around, “Something is wrong here.” “That vision you had a couple of days ago, dear?” Rarity says softly. Sunset nods as she leads them to a corner, “This looks familiar to me... I think Grogar was here.” She takes a turn, this area seeming somewhat…darker to her. A few denizens are here, their robes usually black or a dark gray, and many of the wizards and witches remind her of Professor Snape. Long, greasy hair abounds among them. Rarity moves closer, holding to her sleeve. “I don’t like it here, Sunset,” she murmurs softly. Sunset feels her friend shudder against her, she points at a sign. “Here we are.” They look at some of the different storefronts, before Sunset motions to Rarity, “Borgin and Burkes. This is the place.” The large store is closed, and this entire area is devoid of people. “There is something really wrong here,” she murmurs, her eyes flicking back and forth. After a moment, they both stop short. “Did you hear that?” She asks softly, Rarity’s wide eyes answer her question easily. The both look towards the sounds coming from further down the alley. “Let’s go," She growls as she dashes down the alley. “Darling, are you certain we should be running towards that?” Rarity gasps as they turn the corner. Both stop, Hagrid is sitting behind a stack of crates. Professor Snape is next to him, firing spells at a trio of masked figures on the rooftop. Sunset takes off, putting on speed, her wand coming out and glowing brightly as she fires spells at the different figures. She skids to a stop next to Hagrid and reaches over the crate to fire a spell at one of the figures, getting him to duck. She looks over, “Are you using a..” her eyes fasten onto the pink umbrella in the huge man’s hand. Hagrid shrugs as he uses the umbrella to fire off more spells, he slumps back, “It’s a long story.” Sunset glances at Rarity for a moment, without prompting Rarity draws her own wand and takes a breath. Silently, the two girls look at each other before nodding. As Sunset steps out, she raises her wand high, creating a unicorn shield dome, the light opal glow taking solid form above them. Sweeping her own wand low, Rarity’s wand glows cornflower blue as she gathers up debris from the ground, unsatisfied with merely flinging garbage, she snaps her wand firmly, transforming the debris into sharp shards resembling large cut gems. As Rarity raises her wind Sunset creates a hole in the shield though which Rarity unleashes a burst of stones that cut through the air towards one of the cloaked figures, cutting through his cover and sending him staggering backwards before he dissolves into smoke and flashes off. A second figure quickly relocates himself to the other side of a chimney for protection. A few seconds later, they can see the figures dissolve in a teleportation of their own. Sunset lets down the shield as Rarity walks up next to them. “Students are not permitted off school grounds, Miss Shimmer.” Snape growls. Rarity huffs, “We aren’t exactly Hogwarts students, as you know, Professor.” Snape glares at her, “To maintain your cover as American students visiting, you should follow the rules of Hogwarts.” Sunset rolls her eyes. “Write a letter to Princess Celestia.” She points up at the rooftop, “Those looked like the ones I saw in my vision -- Grogar and his new minions.” Hagrid looks at Snape, “I thought you said they were Death Eaters.” Snape looks uncomfortable, “They are, but they are acting differently. They immediately attacked me when I approached. I don’t think they are in full control of their faculties.” Sunset steps up, “That’s Grogar. He’s a necromancer, he’s also exceedingly powerful at mind control.” She stops as a breeze starts to come up, blowing trash around a bit. “I don’t think we are done here; I think they went for reinforcements.” She whirls around, and as she does, black smoke streaks in and one by one, a dozen forms slam to the ground and coalesce into humans in black robes. Sunset flashes a shield into existence around her friend and the professors “Run!” Several of the humans raise their wands. Sunset turns and follows her friends as the first spell impacts her shield. She flicks her wand, turning her shield into a barrier, normally a barrier like that could last a few hours. But under this kind of attack, they will take a few moments to blast through it without her sustaining it. It does give them the crucial few seconds to get into the smaller part of the alley. Blood pounds into her ears as she skids through a turn. Rarity’s voice cries out, “Here they come!” In a fluid move of Rarity’s wand, several windows shatter and the shards of glass fly like daggers in the direction of the pursuers. In response, one of them lifts his wand creating a shockwave that reduces the shards to dust. This doesn’t stop the Death Eaters from being sandblasted for a moment, however, causing them to cover their faces. Sunset points her wand behind her blindly, shooting binding spells as she rushes down the narrow alley. Rarity skids to a stop, her wand glowing brightly as she again gathers debris from around them with her magic. She points her wand at the advancing humans and her wand flashes even brighter as the debris turns into compact packages that she fires like shotgun blasts at the advancing wizards. One is caught in the chest and flops back onto the ground, screaming. Rarity raises her wand again and blasts at another death eater that decided to take to the rooftops, she blasts the board he’s standing on. His loses his balance with a scream as he starts to fall to the ground, before turning to dark smoke. Snape stands up next to Rarity, firing curse after curse himself with sharp flicks of his wand as they both walk slowly backwards, explosions of Death Eater blasts and bolts flashing by them or exploding against Hagrid’s umbrella. Sunset gasps and quickly puts a chest high shield in front of the two, letting their spells pass over as the shield deflects several curses directed at her friends. Rarity huffed once as she continues her attack, “This is so undignified. Could you not just teleport us out of here? Preferably to somewhere more civilized?” Sunset growls, “There’s too many of us, I don’t trust myself trying to take more one with me.” She pants for a moment as she brings up another shield to deflect another attack from above, “and there’s some kind of static around the alley. I don’t want to risk it.” Reaching out, Hagrid picks up a loose paving stone with one hand and heaves it, taking out a chunk of a rooftop, causing a death eater to turn to smoke in a teleportation to another roof. “We can’t keep this up forever; we need to get out of here!” Snape growls, “And I thought Potter was insufferable. Do tell me you at least let someone know you were coming here.” Sunset angles her shield to let Rarity ‘machine gun’ the debris along down the alley, “Nope, didn’t want to make it too easy for a former dark arts master and duel instructor. We’re too exposed here, we are going to need to move, to make it back to Diagon alley.” She stands up and moves next to her friends, her shield shimmers as she diverts some of her magic to attack, “I’ll be right behind you, get going!” She shouts. They move back as she steps forward, she fires off a spell and the death eater she was aiming at avoids it easily. The smile on his face gets a grin from her, she creates a human sized shield and sends it at another death eater as he tries to take advantage of her apparent distraction. It catches him and blows him back. Sunset grins and fires off spells at three others that are trying to advance. The first one levels his wand at her, she looks him in the eyes, and he stops for a moment, a confused look on his face at the expression on hers. Then he’s yanked off the ground as the spell that landed just behind him completes. A large group of vines intertwine and grab his legs. She grins as she fires off another spell as she sidesteps a vivid green spell sent at her. She whirls around and aims a stun spell at the death eater that tried to get her from behind. Something tickles the back of her mind and she drops and rolls on the cobblestone to avoid several spells aimed at her. She glances back and sees Rarity duck out of the alley and starts to walk back slowly, her attack spells start to abate as she has to focus more on defense. Several strong spells come at her, and only a quick shield thrown up at the last second deflects them. nut it’s not enough. Her shield shatters and she’s blown back. She thinks quickly and rolls as she lands. She darts backwards and fires several spells blindly as she turns the corner her friends took. “It’s Diagon Alley!” She murmurs as she looks at the few people walking along. She growls, “Get to your homes!” She shouts as she runs. She makes it to her friends and turns around, setting up a shield. “I can’t do this much longer,” she pants as she crouches behind cover that her friends have also ducked behind. Rarity is looking worse for wear as well. Her normally immaculate hair is hanging limply as she drips with sweat. Her movements are sluggish, far slower than they were in the duel the other day. This can’t go on. Snape stands up and fires off several spells himself, then he ducks down, panting. “We can’t continue like this, we’ll get overwhelmed.” Sunset nods grimly as Hagrid grabs two barrels, he stands up and throws them at the advancing death eaters. Knocking one flat and another is slammed into a wall. They fire back as Hagrid ducks back down, his hair smoking. Snape takes a moment to blast a cooling jet of water, extinguishing the enormous man. Hagrid offers Snape a smile as Snape moves to the side, blasting more spells at the other mages. The death eaters, for their part, keep advancing. Two young mages rush across the street, only to get cut down by a spell from one of the death eaters. Sunset shudders as she watches the two bodies tumble bonelessly along the alley. She takes advantage of the distraction to blast the death eater that had fired at the innocents. Her rage enhances the spell, blowing him into a wall, the shotgun sound of bones breaking reaching her ears. She shifts to aim at another Death Eater, but she has to duck as another spell comes close enough to nearly singe her hair. She crouches down. “I think I can teleport, can you?” She asks Snape. He nods and grabs Hagrid’s arm. Before he raises he wand, though, a thundering voice booms across the square. “ENOUGH!” Sunset cringes as a bright flash of light slams to the ground, then when the light fades, she finds herself smiling. Albus Dumbledore is standing there, his wand raised at the Death Eaters. Flames erupt from the end of the headmaster’s wand. Moving his wand in slow circles, he raises it to his lips and blows, the flames rushes forward towards the alleyway, taking the form of a giant flaming bird, trailing pure fire. The heat from its wings causing glass to melt and turning loose newspaper pages to ash instantly. With a brutal screech, it slams into a Death Eater, wrapping its wings around the poor soul before exploding outwards in all directions. The headmaster steps to the side and throws a vivid blue rope of energy at another Death Eater, who tries to bat the spell away. The rope entwines around the man’s body getting him to scream as he fall over, before he dissipates into smoke as he teleports away. The other death eaters try to press their attack, though swiftly, their advance falters under his onslaught. Professor Dumbledore’s face is grim as he continues to attack. Sunset smiles and stands up, she whirls towards the enemy and fires off more spells as she moves from behind cover. Rarity stands up next to her, along with the two teachers. Together they march slowly forward, driving them back. Sunset risks a glance back at Dumbledore as they continue to press their advantage. One, then two additional Death Eaters end up crumpled on the ground as spells find their marks. Dumbledore bats away their spells easily as Sunset continues to make shields to deflect the faltering attacks towards them. She begins to smile grimly as the death eaters continue to lose ground. Finally, one fades to black mist and rockets off, then a second dark mage teleports away signalling a mass retreat. In moments, the field is clear of combat. A total of four of those in black robes are on the ground, dead or dying. Dumbledore steps up to one of them, the one Sunset had blasted into the wall. He lies on the ground, gasping for air despite a nearly crushed chest. The death eater spits up blood, “The necromancer will end you all,” He hisses. He brings his wand up, “Avada kedavra,” he mutters before anyone can do anything. Unbeknownst to him, the tip of his wand is broken, exposing the core. A green blast of energy blasts back into him, his head flops back, his eyes already unfocused in death. Sunset takes a moment to look around at the devastation. She glances quickly at the bodies of the two young mages cut down, then turns away with a shudder. She looks at the dead Death Eaters. One of them is sprawled on his back, his mask laying on the ground from when he fell. She looks at his long bright white hair, the face of a middle aged man, she's seen that face before. Behind her, Dumbledore curses softly as magic comes from the sky, retrieving the bodies of the fallen death eaters. She looks at him as he turns away, “We need to go,” he murmurs softly. He gathers them close and waves his wand. Sunset stumbles, they are at the gates of the school. “Come with me,” he says firmly as the gates open before them. Sunset looks around at the others, Professor Snape is bent over, his hands on his knees as he breathes heavily. Professor Hagrid is panting softly as well, he glances at his umbrella shaking it out once, before he shoves it into a fold of his jacket. Then her gaze falls on… “Oh, Rarity!” Sunset cries as she rushes to her friend. She uses her finger to wipe the blood off of her friend’s face, “You’re hurt!” Rarity’s eyes widen as she reaches up, when she touches the gash that starts at her cheekbone and goes to her hair line, she winces when her fingers find the injury, she pulls her hand back, looking at the blood on it, “Oh, dear. They did mean business didn’t, they,” Rarity says softly, “I’m sure it will be okay, Sunset.” Sunset blinks tears from her eyes, “I went there without thinking, Rarity. You could have been killed. This isn’t some game anymore.” Professor Dumbledore’s voice comes from behind her, “It will be just fine, child. We will take her to the infirmary where it can be fixed very quickly.” She looks back at him, he has a gentle smile on his face, completely different than the grim look he had while fighting the death eaters, he reaches out and gently touches Rarity’s cheek, “I sincerely doubt there will even be a scar.” Rarity heaves a breath at those words, “Oh thank goodness, facial scars so went out with spandex. I have absolutely nothing to go with one.” She holds a handkerchief to her cheek, then smiles tremulously at Sunset and the Headmaster before following him onto the castle grounds. Sunset puts her wand into her robes gingerly, looking back out at the expansive lake and the ship moored there. Just a matter of minutes ago, she was fighting for her life, and now she’s safe. She sighs and shakes her head as she walks back onto the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.