Chapter LI: Her World is Black
The silence was deafening. The four ponies stared at each other across the field, none of them moving. The wind ripped at the strands of the mare’s mane, pulling it across her face. She didn’t even seem to register it, just brushing them out of the way. She visible swallowed a couple times, then took another step forward.
“Is it really you?!” she asked again, her voice slightly panicked. That was the breaking point. Almost as if somepony had fired a gun, the three friends rushed forward, tackling the pink mare. The four embraced, letting out laughs and squeals of happiness, and in Rarity’s case, tears of joy. Finally, the laughs subsided, and they broke apart.
“It really is you guys!” the pink mare said. “I can’t believe this!” The life had returned to her eyes, and he coat and hair had turned a brilliant, fluffy, pink. Something about her tugged at memory in Lightning’s mind, but he just couldn’t place it.
“Umm, Twilight?” he said, pulling her over to him. “Who is this?”
“This is my friend Pinkie Pie!” she said, a smile from ear to ear. “She was one of my friends from Ponyville!” She turned back to the others. Phoenix walked over to stand next to Lightning.
“Mares” he said simply. Lightning nodded.
I can’t believe it’s you!” Rarity said, hugging Pinkie. “How long has it been?”
“Eleven years.” said Pinkie, her eyes dropping. “The worst eleven years of my life.” She seemed to lose any sort of energy, falling on her haunches. Her hair blew out, falling around her shoulders in a lifeless bunch. Twilight, Rainbow, and Rarity rushed over to her, while Lightning and Phoenix hung back, watching the whole scene.
“Everything that made my life worth living, back in Ponyville, I can’t do here.” she said, wiping her nose on her arm. “I can’t throw parties, I can’t make cupcakes or any sort of treat. I only had one friend, Silver Tooth. And he...he..” her voice trailed off. She pointed to the side of the clearing. None of them had noticed before, but lining the side of the clearing were small crosses, each no more than a foot tall. One looked fairly new, with flowers covering the ground near it. “That’s him.” she squeaked, large tears falling from her eyes. While the others comforted her, Lightning and Phoenix walked over to the cross.
Engraved on it, along with his name, was a pair of dates, and two letters. D.H.
“What do you suppose that means?” Phoenix asked. Lightning felt his heart sink. He bowed his head and waited a moment before he spoke.
“Death Hunters.” he said firmly. Phoenix nodded.
“Poor bastard.” he said, touching the cross. His eyes worked his way down the line of crosses. “Shit, look at these. D.H., D.H., D.H.... How close to that base are we?” he said, looking around. As soon as he said something, Lightning felt a tingle run down his neck. He felt like he was being watched, a thousand eyes peering through the brush at them. His hoof twitched towards his gun, but he pulled it away. He was being stupid.
“So who are they?” he heard Pinkie sniff quietly. Twilight trotted over and pulled Phoenix and him over to them.
“This is Lightning Storm and Phoenix Fire.” she said, pointing at each of them in turn. “They are friends from our Bunker.” She winked at Lightning. “And Lightning, is AJ’s husband.”
Pinkie’s eyes opened as wide as possible. She jumped straight to her hooves, her color returning. “I missed it!?” she yelled. “How long ago? Where was it? What food did you have?” she asked, running back and forth between them. Finally, she stopped, panting slightly. She turned to Lightning.
“Well, it’s good to meet you.” she said, sticking out her hoof. Lightning smiled and shook it. She looked down at the emblem on his armor, then at the others. “Ummm...What are you wearing?” Lightning heard Phoenix laugh from behind him.
“It’s complicated.” he said, walking over to her. “Basically, we have been enlisted, against our better judgement, into an army.”
“And why is that?” Pinkie asked, looking back to Twilight.
“The reason, is to destroy the Death Hunters.” Twilight said. “And, conveniently, Phoenix left out the most important part. We are under the orders of Princess Luna.”
“If it was possible, Pinkie’s eyes widened even further. “Luna!? Are you kidding? I can’t believe this.”
“Well, it’s true.” Rarity said, walking over to her. “And, now that we see that this Bunker is safe, at least for now, I think we should head back.” That last part was addressed to Lightning.
He nodded. “Yeah, we probably should. It will probably be another day back.”
“Take me with you!” Pinkie almost screamed. “I have nothing here. Please, take me with you.” Her face took on a more serious expression. “If you are fighting them, then I want to fight with you.” Lightning smiled at her.
“I wouldn’t think of leaving you.” he said. “If you have anything in the Bunker, get it now. It is probably not safe for us to stay in one place for very long.” Pinkie nodded, rushing back over to the Bunker.
“Be back in a minute!” she yelled over her shoulder, then disappeared through the door. Twilight, Rainbow, and Rarity instantly crowded around each other.
“I can’t believe we found her!” Rarity said, hopping up and down. “It has been so long since we saw her!”
“Too long.” Twilight agreed. “I am just glad she is OK.” Her eyes drifted towards the row of crosses. “Aren’t you glad we saved that ration, Rainbow?” she said sarcastically.
“Shut up.” was Rainbow’s only reply.
“Just hope she will be able to make the trip.” Twilight said. “She looks a little--” Her voice broke off suddenly. Lightning heard, his neck swiveling around to face her.
“What is it?” he asked, adrenaline kicking into his veins. She waved him away, placing a hoof on her lips at the same time. She stood completely still, ears turning from one direction to the other. Then Lightning heard it too. The complete silence. Not a minute ago, birds had been chirping in the trees. Now, nothing.
Twilight took a step in one direction, then another. Finally, she smiled slightly, her eyes closing. Her horn started to glow, the air around it shimmering. A bulb of light grew from the end, growing until it was a half foot in diameter. Then, with a small twitch of her back leg, she released it. The ball of magic flew into the trees, lighting them up as it flew. Three seconds later, a burst of purple color filled the clearing and forest, bursting through the tops of the trees. The air around Lightning’s ear pressed it, making him feel slightly seasick.
When the light cleared, Twilight started walking towards the trees. Lightning galloped over to her.
“What the hell was that?!”
“A concussion spell. Causes any pony in the near vicinity to fall unconscious from the force of the blast.”
“And why did you do that?”
“I thought I heard something.” she said simply. They reached the treeline, and she started to pick her way through the underbrush. Everything Lightning touched tingled, as whatever magic was leftover slowly left the area. Turning, Lightning could see the others had walked over to the edge of the trees, watching them. A couple minutes of searching produced something that made Twilight gasp when she found it.
Laying in the plants, blade drawn, was a Death Hunter. It’s eyes were tightly shut, and his hooves were near his head, almost as if he had been covering his ears. Lightning nudged it with his hoof, and it didn’t move. A small trickle of blood was falling from its ears.
“Do you think it’s dead?” he asked Twilight.
“Well, I did ramp up the spell a little.” she said, biting her bottom lip. “Just to be safe. But...it might have been enough to kill...” Her voice trailed off.
“Well, if he is, that saves us the trouble.” he said, leaning down to feel for a heartbeat. He found none. Standing up, he turned to face the others. But Twilight didn’t move. She said something under her breath, but Lightning couldn’t hear her.
“What?”
“‘If you do not join us, one of your friends will perish.’” she said, turning to face him, eyes wide. “That was in Luna’s letter. If we hadn’t been here, he would have killed Pinkie!”
“You don’t know that.” Lightning said. “He could have just been a scout or something.” But Twilight just shook her head, walking away from him.
“She knew. Somehow, she knew.” was all she said. Lightning watched her go, then trotted towards the others as well. Twilight told the others that the Hunter was dead. They didn’t seem to notice what Twilight had. They were only glad that none of them had gotten hurt. They were still talking when Pinkie returned.
She had on a pair of saddlebags, buckles in the shape of her Cutie Mark. A happy smile was spread across her face. She cantered up to them, jumping around when she reached them.
“Can we go now?” she asked, jumping around Phoenix, who only stared at her. Lightning nodded, but had a sudden idea.
“Luna knows where we are, and what we are doing, right?” he said, looking at Twilight. She nodded. “Then I bet she can hear this.” He looked up at the sky. The sun was just falling to the west. “Are you going to make us walk all that way?!” he said to the sky. The others just stared at him. “Mind giving us a little help?”
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a small tingle ran through Lightning hooves. He looked at the others, and they were slowly being enveloped in a dark blue halo. He felt the feeling of weightlessness reach his chest, then the world disappeared. Lightning could see nothing but pure, fixed, blank scapes going for miles. The next second, the gravel roads of the Bastion slammed into view. He slipped to the side, landing on his haunches. his head ached and stars flew into his vision. When they cleared, he looked up into the smiling face of Queen luna.
“You could have given me a little warning.” she said, smiling. She was still wearing her pitch black armor, but her mane was down, waving in a non-existent breeze. She smiled at each of them, then walked over to Pinkie. Pinkie dropped down into bow, but Luna just tapped her shoulder.
“That can wait. We have much to discuss right now.” She motioned them to follow her, then walked over to the Temple. Pinkie could only stare around at the buildings. her eyes were as wide as plates. Lightning smiled, knowing he had looked like that the first time he had been there.
Luna led them down to the room he had been in before. Lunar was waiting patiently next to Luna’s chair. He nodded when Lightning walked in, but that was all. To his word, Fluttershy and Cora were not there. they detached from Luna and stood at one end of the table, while the Queen walked to the other. Lunar pulled the chair out for her as she came near. She sat down, placing the tips of her hooves on her upper lip.
“I am glad you returned.” she said, after a pause. “And I am glad that your friend did not die.”
“So you did know about that Death Hunter!” Twilight yelled. Luna nodded.
“I did. And I used that to get you to come out here.” she said, placing her hooves on the table. “I apologize for using you like that, Miss. Pie. But it was the only way to get your friends out here.”
“It-t-t’s OK.” she said in a shaky voice.
“Now, for the reason you were sent.” she said, looking straight at Lightning. “What did you find?”
“We found the Bunker, like you asked. It is of no threat to you.” he reported. “We also found their base.” he said, pulling the small camera out of his bag. He slid it down the table towards her, and she picked it up in her hooves. Her horn started glowing, and a puff of smoke rose from the camera. Within the smoke, pictures formed. Lightning realized they were the pictures of the base. Luna watched them keenly as they flashed before her. Finally, the smoke dissipated, and she turned back to Lightning.
“Anything else?” she asked. He shook his head.
“That was all.” Luna stood up and started to pace around the chair. Sharp clangs rang out with each step she took. She began to mutter to herself. A few moments later, she stopped and faced them.
“I have made a decision. And I don’t think you are going to like it.” She took a deep breath. “If that Bunker is as close to the base as you say, then it poses a threat, whether friendly or not. And that leaves me with no choice.” She looked them over one by one. Finally stopping on Lightning again.
“I will have to destroy the Bunker.”