The spears hit the grey pony, driving him across the room. He seemed to twist in on himself into a vortex of purple energy and then he and the spears were gone, leaving only a mess of blood where he had been.
“Excellent,” Rosalia said. “And that is the end of that.” She turned back to Scootaloo. The pegasus’s eyes were wide with horror. “Now then, girl, it’s time for you to sleep. I doubt it is a sleep you will ever wake from.”
Scootaloo steeled herself and tried to move, but Rosalia caught her before she could shift more than a few inches. Her leg snaked around Scootaloo’s shoulders, dragging her closer. Her horn touched Scootaloo’s temple and with a flash of pink light, Scootaloo slumped to the ground, eyes closed.
Nocturne was watching the spot where Starswirl had vanished. “He’s gone,” she said, clear interest in her voice.
“Even if he teleported away, he couldn’t survive those wounds,” Rosalia assured her.
“Yes, you are likely right. Still, that was a curious one.” Nocturne turned her attention to the unconscious ponies. “You returned the moment the lock on this room fell, even though one of your opponents was not yet defeated. We are disappointed in you.”
Rosalia’s head jerked back like she’d been slapped. “Disappointed? I did as you requested. Not one of them will suffer lasting injuries.”
“You came back to show that pony the end of our fight. You wanted her to see us kill her ally. You wanted to inflict a measure of pain before the kill.” Nocturne’s voice dropped the usual reverberations once again. “I taught you to be cunning, calculating, but never sadistic. You obeyed the letter of my orders, but not the intent. You still allow yourself to be driven by your emotions. Tell me, what is this pony, that you would lower yourself to hurt her?”
Rosalia looked down at Scootaloo, shame flooding her chest. Even as she considered her queen’s words, she felt a fresh wave of hatred toward the pony for inspiring such shameful actions. “She is nothing, my lady.”
“Then you have no objections toward releasing her?”
Rosalia tried to keep silent, but she could tell from Nocturne’s look of displeasure that her eyes had betrayed her. “My lady, it is not because of my emotions that I believe we should do away with these ponies. I spent over a thousand years trying to free you, and they are actively seeking to undo my work. They wish to imprison you once again.”
“And do you truly believe they have a chance of doing so?”
“I didn’t think anything could stand against you,” Rosalia said. “I’ve had a thousand years to reflect on that belief. There is no reason to take chances.”
“Well put,” Nocturne said slowly, face softening. “You would be right, if my own survival were all I cared about.” Nocturne crossed the room to stand before her. “Of course, in that case I would have to destroy you as well, to be sure you couldn’t turn against me as your sisters did. But that isn’t going to happen, is it?”
“No, my lady,” Rosalia said. Of course not. Nocturne might have been a spirit of instinct, a patron for predators and creatures of the night, but she was more than those predators could ever hope to be. Just as Discord wanted to share his chaos with the world, so too did her lady want those she ruled to survive. Not just survive, but to grow stronger, to thrive despite any cruelties the world might throw their way. In her own way, she was even more kind than Celestia. That, more than the life she’d been given, was what had bought Rosalia’s loyalty throughout the millennia.
Rosalia bowed her head. “What is your wish?”
Nocturne turned her attention to the unconscious ponies on the ground. Sparks of magic passed over them as she examined each in turn. When she spoke, the resonant timbre had returned to her voice. “The older pony claimed that these were, what word did he use? Exceptional ponies. We wonder what makes them so. They are brave for coming here, but their actions were foolish. We are not yet convinced of their worth in reshaping ponies into a species that can survive on its own.”
Nocturne’s horn hummed with quiet power. She tilted her head, and Scootaloo’s pack shifted. The flap of the pack opened and a glowing uncut gemstone floated free. “Likewise, it seems there is much you have forgotten in your time living among them.” The gemstone floated closer to Nocturne, turning lazily as she examined it. “Do you know what this is?”
“Harmonic magic, if I had to guess. I saw Celestia do something with the Elements of Harmony, the ponies’ greatest weapons, just before you were freed. Perhaps she thought the magic would work on you.”
“It wouldn’t,” Nocturne said. “It’s powerful. Maybe if there were more. This is but a trifle.” She set the crystal back down beside Scootaloo. “They don’t seem any different than any other ponies, but then your feelings toward them give some credence to the older pony’s words.”
The direction of Nocturne’s thoughts dawned on Rosalia then. It was to be a game, then. Her lady would be testing her. Testing her worth against the best the ponies had to offer, to see which side came up wanting. If the ponies simply left after being spared and never crossed paths with the changeling queens again, that would be it. But Rosalia knew and Nocturne suspected that that wouldn’t be the case. They would try again, better prepared, and Rosalia would have to be ready.
Simply waiting until they showed up again and beating them was the simplest answer. It’s what her lady would have gotten from Lirian, and maybe even from Chrysalis, but she wanted more from Rosalia, the daughter she’d created to be her tactician.
If that was what Nocturne wanted, what it took to win her favor once more, Rosalia would play.
“You will allow the six of them to leave with all of their belongings.” That would include the fragment of harmonic magic. Rosalia knew better than to argue against a direct order such as that. She also knew her lady’s expectations of her. The game had already begun. It was time to make her first move.
Rosalia looked down at the unconscious bodies at her feet, then looked up to her queen. She steeled herself and said in an even, unwavering voice, “Five.”
“Hmm?” Nocturne mused.
“There are five. Four ponies to lead the others of their kind, and one dragon to bear witness to those across the sea.” She forced herself to meet Nocturne’s gaze with her own. The weight behind her queen’s eyes threatened to bury her, but she continued. “The sixth is a changeling.” Rosalia stepped forward to stand over Mimic. “Chrysalis is gone. The sixth is mine.”
Nocturne held Rosalia’s gaze for a long moment, neither blinking. “Very well. You will allow the five to go. The changeling is yours to do with as you please.”
Rosalia nodded. “And, if I may, my lady. I have one other suggestion.”
*****
Scootaloo woke up. Under the circumstances she had to consider that a win, even with the headache and stiffness in her neck and shoulders. She opened her eyes just a crack.
She was in the same spot she’d been knocked out in. She was lying with one cheek against the cold stone floor and her left foreleg pinned under her.
“Stand,” Rosalia said from somewhere behind her. In the peripheral of her vision she saw Sweetie Belle shift and start getting to her hooves. Others were moving around her too. They must have been woken up on purpose then, which meant surprise was out the window. She stood too.
Rosalia stood between them and the throne room doors. Nocturne sat on her throne on their opposite side, bearing every bit as regal as one of the princesses. Laying on the floor at the base of her throne were the Elements of Harmony.
Scootaloo’s stomach twisted when she saw them. What were they doing here? And where were the bearers?
“Where are Thistleroot and Mimic?” Apple Bloom asked. Scootaloo looked around the room again. The two of them were indeed missing.
“Mimic’s whereabouts are of no concern to you,” Rosalia. “As for Thistleroot, he woke up early. We talked and then I sent him on his way.”
“Wait, do you mean like, actually sent him on his way?” Spike asked. “Or like...”
“He’s alive.”
“Enough,” Nocturne said. “Ponies of Equestria, hear us.”
Spike fell silent and they turned back toward her.
“You have each shown a level of bravery that we have yet to see from your kind. Your actions here are a hopeful sign that ponies have not been rendered entirely incapable over the past thousand years.”
Scootaloo shifted, looking sideways at Apple Bloom. She looked as confused as Scootaloo felt. Scootaloo wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but it sure wasn’t praise.
Nocturne continued. “But bravery such as that must be tempered with wisdom. This was a fight you could not have won. Why did you come?”
It took Scootaloo a moment to realize that it wasn’t a rhetorical question. “We came to save our friends. We had to at least try.”
“Did you?” Nocturne asked. “And would your deaths have accomplished anything?”
Scootaloo’s gaze fell to the floor. She was right, but where was she going with this?
“By now we are sure you realize that you will be leaving Night’s End with your lives. This exchange would be meaningless if we planned on killing you, after all. This is a chance for you to share with your kind what has happened here today. However, should you return, you will not be shown mercy again.”
“What about our friends?” Scootaloo asked.
“We have asked Rosalia about them. It seems they are considered heroes of this land. They defeated Discord, as well as many other threats. Is this true?”
Scootaloo considered lying, but the weight of Nocturne’s gaze settled on her and she found herself nodding, just like the last time she’d encountered the creature face to face.
“Then they will remain where they are for the time being,” Nocturne said. “It is because of great heroes that the average creature grows complacent. Ponykind will simply have to make due without them.
“But not forever.” Nocturne paused, pondering the issue. “One year seems fair. In one year, ponies will have learned to live in a world without their heroes, or they will have perished. Either way, I will free your friends from their confinement myself.”
Scootaloo blinked, unsure if she was understanding Nocturne correctly. She’d just let them go? Just like that?
Nocturne seemed to note the surprise on her face. “We are not a monster, no matter what you might have heard. Your friends will be released, and your lives will be spared. There is no reason to fight against us.”
She had a point, Scootaloo thought, looking to each of her friends in turn. Maybe Nocturne wasn’t as bad as they’d initially thought.
As her gaze slipped from Apple Bloom to Sweetie Belle it fell on a smear of blood to their left. Her last few moments of consciousness before Rosalia had put her out played again in her mind. Starswirl injured. The jagged spears Nocturne had summoned to finish him off. The spears had been ugly things. Magic with no purpose but killing.
Changelings, windigos, specters. All three had been created by Nocturne as predators. Predators created to attack ponies. And then there were all of the natural predators that would be allowed to roam Equestria under her rule.
She remembered the ruined Canterlot, torn to pieces by Nocturne’s magic.
Scootaloo hadn’t meant to let her thoughts show, but the queen was too perceptive. “You seem to disagree,” she said. Scootaloo hesitated.
“We have already promised you safe passage,” Nocturne said. “Your words will not change that. We would know the thoughts of our subjects. Speak.”
“I was there when you fought Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”
“Yes, we remember.”
“You told them the same thing, that there was no reason to fight, but you’re wrong. If you really think we have to protect ourselves, then that means protecting ourselves from you too.”
Nocturne’s gaze flicked up over Scootaloo’s head toward Rosalia, and for the first time that Scootaloo had seen, Nocturne smiled. “E's kmyt. Then there is just one final matter to attend to.”
And then Nocturne destroyed the Elements of Harmony.
There was no flash, no flair or drama to the act. It happened so suddenly that Scootaloo might have missed it had she blinked.
Nocturne’s horn shimmered and the gemstones worked into the elements lifted free. The gold of the necklaces and tiara instantly began to tarnish.
Nocturne nodded once and the gems shattered into thousands of tiny fragments. Each of the fragments shattered again, reducing the elements to dust, and then they were gone.
Scootaloo stared at the tarnished necklaces, her brain not wanting to register what she was seeing.
That couldn’t have just happened.
But it had. Scootaloo fell back into a sitting position, her eyes still affixed to the ruined necklaces.
The Elements of Harmony were gone.
They had lost.