“Star Swirl lives in the observatory?” the other Pinkie Pie asked in utter bewilderment.
“The one just north of town?” Sunset elaborated. “It was abandoned a long time ago because people thought it was haunted.”
“I... have no idea what you’re talking about,” Twilight admitted.
“Here,” Sunset said, and pulled up another browser on the computer. When she had searched for maps in her area, she displayed it to the rest of the group.
“Here’s the Canterlot suburbs,” Sunset spoke, jabbing at the screen. “Where we are now. Over here’s the urban part of Canterlot, and just north of that, there’s a road that leads to this observatory.”
“Why didn’t anypony talk about this before?” Twilight asked her counterpart.
“Nobody felt the need to,” the other Twilight said. “It’s just a spot that was presumed haunted after things started to get spooky. Noises in strange places, disruptive experiments, failed budget applications, that sort of thing.”
“So the scientists working there just packed up and left because of a few bad noises?”
“They didn’t have enough money to pay the rent,” the other Twilight responded. “Their budget mysteriously ran out. And nobody really cares about demolishing the building either. Whenever people have tried to, there would always be some issue with the demolition company or with the funds required.”
“More of Star Swirl’s magic,” Sunset murmured. “Influencing people in subtle ways.”
“How does that even work?” the other Pinkie asked. “Ponies that come from Equestria can’t cast spells because they’re not unicorns anymore. If Star Swirl came from Equestria but he’s still using magic, how does he do it?”
Freedom Fighter perked up and looked at the window all of a sudden.
“Freedom?” Twilight asked, turning when she heard his motions. “What’s-”
Freedom Fighter grabbed Sunset Shimmer by the shoulders and forced her to the ground.
“Hey!” Flash cried, standing up. “Get off--”
Crash
The window exploded in a shower of broken glass as a heavy crossbow bolt sailed through and split into the closed pink door. The girls screamed and leaned away from the shattered window.
A black, chitin-covered hand grasped the windowsill. And then another.
And then two more, and then his six-eyed head appeared.
Freedom Fighter was standing up and had drawn one of his folded batons off his hip. With a snap of his wrist, he doubled the length, then with a twist activated the weapon. He was now holding a three-foot long glowing yellow bar of energy.
The creature in the window pounced through using only his arm strength and slammed headfirst into Freedom Fighter, sending both of them crashing through the pink door and into the hallway. Twilight helped Sunset off the floor and looked to see Freedom Fighter grappling with the humanoid monster on the floor, his yellow staff off to the side and smoking on the carpet.
The creature had punched near Freedom Fighter’s head so hard his fist went through the floor. Freedom Fighter grabbed the arm and yanked his joint, snapping his elbow the wrong way.
The creature bellowed in pain and swiped his claws across Freedom Fighter’s cowl with one of his other arms. He ignored it and kicked the creature atop him in the crotch, then put his left fist under the creature’s chin and willed the claws in his arm to spring forth.
Three glowing yellow claws shot out and impaled the creature’s brain, sticking out of the top of his head. He quivered, stuck like that for a time, then disintegrated into black sand on top of him.
Twilight gasped and put a hand to her mouth. “Noxxa,” she whispered in fear through her hand.
“Let’s go!” the other Twilight was saying, watching Freedom Fighter stand up and retrieve the half staff on the ground. “What even was that thing?”
“That…” Twilight managed to say with a closed throat, “was the army of Tartarus we were talking about.”
“We need to get out of-” Flash started, trying to lead the other Twilight out, but was stopped by Freedom Fighter’s outstretched fist. The three claws out of his left knuckles were glowing. Freedom Fighter shook his head no resolutely.
“We have to get to safety!” Flash protested.
Freedom Fighter, after another shake of the head, jabbed at the dust pile, then encircled a space all around them with a finger.
“What’s he saying?” the other Pinkie Pie asked.
“There’s gotta be more of them,” Twilight deduced. “They might be surrounding the house!"
“Some mess you had to drag us all into, eh, Twilight?” Sunset Shimmer asked, from inside the room still. “You couldn't have come back here with good news?”
“...sorry!”
A tinkling sound sang upstairs, and Noble Blade looked up. He and Fluttershy, who was on his lap, were the only people in the secluded room.
“What was that?” Fluttershy whispered, following her boyfriend’s gaze.
A scream then sounded from upstairs, and there came the sounds of fighting.
“Twilight!” Noble cried in concern. “She’s upstairs!” He stood up, setting Fluttershy aside. “Come on, let’s-”
Crash
A heavy dent from behind made Noble jerk forward and collapse on his face. Fluttershy was thrown beside him with a thud.
“Get ‘em!” came a clicking command from the window, and several footfalls hit the floor.
“Noble!” Fluttershy screamed, sitting up and scooting away from the window. “Help me! Help-” Her voice cut off as a hand closed around her mouth.
Noble was up on his feet in an instant, sweeping out his glittering sword with one fluid motion and grasping the hilt with two hands. Two strange-looking humanoid beasts, with black chitin for skin and six yellow eyes, were holding Fluttershy hostage. Two sickly black hands were over her lips and nose.
He was almost paralyzed by the incredible notion: the Noxxa were here! They had followed them through the portal mysteriously, without anypony knowing! They were really there, clamping their black hands over Fluttershy’s mouth so hard Noble could see the indentation of her skin. That detail made him harden his mind and grip his sword tightly.
“Noble Blade,” one of them spoke slowly and deeply. “Guardian of the Sun. The first time I get to meet you, and I already-”
Noble cleaved his sword up through the arm holding Fluttershy’s mouth, and the Nox cut off his monologue to scream in protest. Thick black sand poured out of his arm stump, but he had three more hands to use, which were all holding the sanding stump.
Noble swirled his sword up and out, and he was now holding it with one hand near his own head.
“Not another move,” the other one snarled, jutting out a short Black Blade and holding the edge to Fluttershy’s throat. “Or the pretty one bleeds all over the knife.”
Noble froze and stared into Fluttershy’s uncovered eyes. They were welling up with fear.
“Fluttershy,” he whispered. “It’ll be okay.”
“Help me,” she pleaded quietly. “Help me, Noble! Please-”
“Shut up, whorse,” the Nox growled, and yanked back on her hair. “You’ll only be begging for me when I’m done with you.”
Noble gripped the pommel with his free hand, getting ready for a swing.
“Try it,” the Nox smirked. “Try it and watch her die.”
Noble was motionless. The Nox missing an arm was off to the side, holding his shoulder stump in pain, but had drawn a handle-less axe blade from his hip and was holding it in one of his hands.
“Put the sword down,” the Nox commanded. “Throw it to the ground.”
Noble Blade glared at the Nox defiantly, but lowered the sword.
“Drop it, I said.”
Noble was motionless except for his hand, which now held the pommel of the sword only.
“On the ground!”
Noble threw the blade at the Noxxa’s legs, who jumped back nervously as the blade almost sliced through his knees. He looked down at the chrome sword in front of him, then back up.
That was all the time Noble needed to rush forward and smash him in the face with an armored fist. The Nox staggered back, and Fluttershy was released. Noble hit him in the face again, then in the stomach. Then he reached behind him, drew out a dagger from his waist, and swiped at his belly.
In response, the Nox swung at his head with the Black Blade knife. Noble ducked under the knife, then grabbed his arm and squeezed. The knife dropped from his grip and Noble caught it with his free hand, then he scissored the Noxxa’s throat open with both knives. Sand poured out, first from the open wound, then from all over his body as his life ended.
Fluttershy was screaming and retreating away from the other Nox, who was stumbling and cursing as he attempted to secure Fluttershy. A wicked, serrated axe blade was in each of his three remaining hands.
Noble considered hurling the knife at him, but discarded the idea immediately because it might miss and hurt Fluttershy. So he dropped both knives and picked up his chrome broadsword, then put himself in the way of the Nox and his girlfriend.
The Nox froze as he realized his situation. Then he drew his lips in a grimace of defiance. “Curse you,” he snarled at the knight. “Die with your friends!”
He lunged at Noble’s neck, but Noble stepped aside and swept his sword up, cleaving through his other pairing arm. The axe clattered as it dropped, and the Nox stumbled into a wall.
The Nox turned around in time to see Noble Blade impale his gut so hard that the sword went through the wall and emerged from the other end.
“Die with my friends,” Noble muttered with narrowed eyes. “Speak for yourself.”
And he jammed the blade in his gut upwards, and the Nox gasped and began to drip sand on the priceless blade from all over his body.
Noble Blade stared him down as the Nox disintegrated around his sword. Then he drew the sword out of the wall, blew off the dust, and turned to face Fluttershy. “Are you hurt?”
Fluttershy shook her head no while looking at the ground. She was shaking; her arms were tightly around her waist.
“Let me see your neck,” he commanded, coming over.
Fluttershy lifted her head obediently. Her neck was clean from injury.
“Oh, Fluttershy,” he groaned, and hugged her tightly. “You’re all right. You’re all right.”
A scream that sounded like Rainbow Dash came forth from the kitchen, and then a roar of anger and few slicing sounds of steel biting into chitin.
“Come on!” Noble commanded, striding from the room with his sword out. “They need our help!”
Then came an abrupt crunch, and the struggling ended. Noble hurried faster.
Noble Blade made his way to the kitchen and screeched to a halt in the doorway. Black dust was sprayed across the marble kitchen counter, with the bent blade of a serrated kitchen knife in the midst. Firestorm, panting, was clutching one of his swords with both hands and breathing heavily. Rainbow Dash looked shaky and pale, and her human counterpart was holding her by the shoulders to steady her.
“What happened here?” Noble demanded, scanning the room to check for danger.
“I-” Rainbow Dash started, then gulped and wiped her hands on her ripped jeans. “He just appeared out of nowhere! He burst through a window in the kitchen and he went for Firestorm and I was right by the knife drawer and it was right there and I couldn't just leave Firestorm grappling with him and I just-”
“Stop it,” the other Rainbow Dash tried to interject. “Geez! Calm down!”
“I just did it!” Rainbow exclaimed, leaning against the back of the counter and gripping the edge of the counter with her fingertips. Her eyes were wide and feral. “I just sank the knife into him! I couldn't stop myself-”
“Stop it,” Firestorm told her, sheathing his sword. “Rainbow, you’re being a silly-willy. Thank you for-”
“I killed a guy!” Rainbow rocked back and forth, hugging herself tightly right under the curve of her breasts. “I killed him! I didn't even think about it, I just went ahead and I stuck it in his back while he was grappling with Firestorm on the table, and I don’t feel awesome!”
“Rainbow!” Firestorm yelled, gripping her shoulders and forcing her head up. “This isn't the time to panic.”
“This is the perfect time to panic! I’ve never killed anything before!” She widened her eyes in realization. “Except for the Timber Wolves at the Castle of the Two Sisters--b-but that’s not the point! This is different! This is really, really-”
Firestorm silenced her ramblings with a kiss on the lips. When he pulled away, he asked, “Better now?”
Rainbow was silent for a moment as she processed what happened. Then she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Kinda…”
“Rainbow, you helped me when I was in trouble. You’re better than ever in my eyes because of that.”
“I, um-o-okay.” Rainbow tried to pull away, but Firestorm held her in place. “But I still killed a guy! I just went and-”
“Dash. Look at me.” Firestorm leaned his head down to haze into Rainbow’s rose irises. “What you just did was better than allowing me to die.”
“I know!” Rainbow stamped the ground. “But I just...I just did it without thought. Am I...am I really-?”
“No,” Firestorm reassured her. “No, no, no, Rainbow. Don’t you dare.”
Rainbow hugged him and closed her eyes tightly as she burrowed into his shoulder.
The rest of the girls that were downstairs came into the kitchen apprehensively. “Is he gone?” the other Applejack asked, peeking over the other Fluttershy.
“He’s gone,” Noble Blade said. The sight of him with a drawn sword made the girls keep their distance. “What we should be asking is why he was here.”
“I’ll do you one better,” Firestorm said. “How did he get here?”
“I’ll do you one better,” Pinkie Pie spoke up from the doorways of the kitchen. “Where he was here?” She had on an absolutely serious look. Then she widened her eyes. “Wait. That’s not what I mean. Hmm, let me think…”
Noble spared Pinkie a glance of confusion, then shook his head and said, "There’s bound to be more of them.”
“How’d they follow us through the portal?” Rainbow asked. “I thought the Noxxa were across the Celestial Sea. If they managed to sneak into Equest-”
A shattering BOOM interrupted her sentence, and down the hallway, splinters of wood and drywall shot into the kitchen as the front door exploded. Everyone ducked or jumped away as the ground was caked in white slivers, remnants of the door and front wall.
Coughing and hacking, all of them gazed through the hallway leading to the front door. But through the motes of dust floating in streams of light, they could see that there simply wasn’t a front door anymore.
Beyond the broken edges of the massive hole in the faraway wall, the shadowy outlines of dark figures were working around a large tube on wagon wheels pointing at them head-on.
“Get out of the kitchen!” Noble Blade bellowed, gesturing out with his sword. As the rest of the girls quickly filed out, Noble reached over his back with his other arm and attached his shield on his back to his arm, then brought the shield in front of him and crouched. “Me and Storm will hold them off!”
“What about Twilight and the girls upstairs?” Rarity wailed, tugging at her mane so hard she was bending her head.
“Freedom Fighter’s with them!” Firestorm yelled, swiftly yanking both swords off his back with a single flourish. He crossed the swords, then held both of them out at his side.
The tube on wheels was being readjusted as the figures outside now had a clear shot inside. Noble could see down the hallway and out the wall and into the darkness on Pinkie’s lawn.
Noble, after stiffening his stance and snarling out a breath, charged.
The cannon fired.
A heavy jolt hit Noble’s shield so hard his charge reversed direction as he staggered back ten paces and hit his back into the kitchen counter. He could feel a bruise well up under his armor near his back, and his arm seemed to lose all feeling.
“Noble!” Firestorm rushed over to his side. “Are you okay? What-” His eyes traveled to something on the floor. “Oh, boy.”
Noble turned his head to see what he was talking about. It was a flattened, black lump of lead, lying discarded on the floor like a rotten fruit.
“Is that what hit my…” Noble gazed on it in shock, then looked down at his shield. There was not a mark anywhere on the surface to indicate where the cannonball had struck, except for a blackened streak across the Equestrian coat of arms.
“Where did your father get that thing?” Firestorm asked in wonder.
Noble swirled his sword and held it near his head instead of answering him. Anything capable of hurling lead that fast needed to be stopped. “Let’s go take that weapon out.”
“Oh, I’ll take it out,” Firestorm snarled. “To dinner! I hope Rainbow doesn’t mind.”
“That’s not what I-” Noble started, then he sighed through his nose. “Just follow my lead.”
“To be fair, it is a very sexy weapon.”
“Storm!” Noble cried, shaking his shoulder. “It's going to be reloaded soon!”
“Yeah, yeah, okey-dokey-loki,” Firestorm tiredly said, then he held both swords behind him and sprinted ahead of Noble into the hallway.
Noble checked around him to make sure the girls had departed. Seeing them and the two purple dogs crowding around the sliding glass door that led to the backyard, he followed Firestorm.
The dark figures outside were readjusting the metal tube; they had finished reloading it already. Firestorm was almost to the edge of the wall they had blasted through by the time they were done, and when he finally reached it, he vaulted the drywall still in place and somersaulted on the ground just as the cannon fired.
The cannonball blew apart some of the interior walls visible from the outside. As the walls blew apart, sections of the roof it had been supporting collapsed in on itself. With a shattering noise, portions of the roof fell and scattered all over the lawn and the living room.
Firestorm had flicked the switches on his swords and was rushing forward towards the dark figures, the bars of flame behind him looking like comet trails. As he came to the nearest one, he threw both his flaming swords in front of him with one swift strike and cleaved a Nox into three rapidly dissolving pieces.
A Nox swept a massive battle-axe at him, forcing him to contort backward as it almost shore through his skull. Firestorm then held one thin blade up to protect his head as the Nox cleaved down again.
As the axe met the flaming blade, the axe melted around it like the axe was made of soft cheese.
Firestorm widened his eyes with glee and fixed the Nox a devious look. Then he took his other blade and thrust through his abdomen.
As the Nox fell back and started to dissolve into dust, Noble Blade had ran out of the rapidly deconstructing house and twisted the hilt of his sword. The entire sword glowed blue like it had a cheap light inside, but the hum the blade made and the fans of light that followed its trail spoke to the blade’s deadliness. The ground under him was a brilliant, bright sapphire, a product of the cross he held.
Several Noxxa broke off from the main body on the lawn and charged to meet him, with swords and axes in three of their four arms. Noble Blade, still sprinting, swiped his sword upward as the first one came near, splitting his chin to the top of his skull. He then crouched and spun as the second came near, and two sizzling halves fell to the lawn and began to disintegrate.
Firestorm was already busy shearing through three Noxxa of his own, and around him flaming piles of dust were all that was left of his opponents. For all the trouble he was getting, though, there was still more to throw at him.
Noble punched with all his might with his left arm, and the edge of his shield met a Noxxa’s sword stroke and chipped off a sliver of iron. He then threw his sword sideways in front of him, and the blazing blue sword effortlessly cut through the Noxxa’s ribs and into his chest cavity.
“Storm!” Noble yelled. He yanked the sword away from the Noxxa’s dissolving chest. “Get to the weapon! I’ll deal with these!”
Firestorm nodded, then simultaneously leaped and spun his outstretched arms in a diagonal circle, slicing almost effortlessly through the Noxxa surrounding him. Landing on a twisting foot, Firestorm instantly sprinted to the strange tube, which had fired again with a deafening blast and a plume of smoke.
More of the interior walls were splattered all over the inside. Drywall, paint chips, and wood splinters coated the floor of the house and vomited onto the front lawn, dusting the green grass a pale white. After trembling a little bit, a corner of the house collapsed entirely in a plume of debris and flurrying dust.
Firestorm slowed his pace when he saw it. Uncomfortable reminders of the Castle of the Two Sisters flooded his brain. Rainbow and the other girls were still trapped inside.
He skidded to a halt before he could reach the cannon. His head swiveled from side to side, switching between the faraway cannon and the trembling house.
“Storm!” came Noble’s cry. In front of the house, Noble was holding off and slicing through a mob of Noxxa that was slowly encircling him. Sheets of blue light followed the trail that the sword cut in the night air, almost hidden by the horde of monsters surrounding it. “Destroy it!”
Firestorm swiveled his head from side to side again. The house had another beam collapse and fall into the ruins.
Firestorm closed his eyes. “Oh, I am gonna get so chewed out for this.”
And he turned and ran back to the house as fast as his legs could carry him.
“Storm!” Noble roared as he swirled his blue blade around him like a reaping farmer. “Get back!”
“There are still people in the house!” Firestorm bellowed as he ran. He jumped over a Noxxa’s sudden stroke and sliced him in the throat, then continued to sprint. “I gotta get them out!”
“No, Storm!” Noble bellowed as he eventually got entirely surrounded by thrusting Noxxa spears. His shield and sword were never at rest. “I need you out here!”
Firestorm reached the house, jumped up the front steps with a single bound, and kicked aside a loose part of drywall. “If I don't get them out, they’ll die!”
Noble, remembering how the girls had began to file out through the back, bellowed out, “They’re already out!”
“What?”
Boom
An explosion above Firestorm from the cannonball impact showered debris in front of him and forced him to stumble back further into the house. Firestorm disappeared in the midst of dusty debris and fallen beams.
Noble let loose a roar of frustration and kicked a Nox backward so hard he and his comrades behind him stumbled back. Noble charged. As the sword went through one disintegrating Nox after another, Noble broke free of the encircling gloom and twisted his heel so he turned around to face the cannon.
Several crossbows sang their whistling tune after him, and he started to juke and weave his way to the cannon, trying his best not to run in a straight line. One time the tip of a bolt scratched across his shoulder plate, and he shouted involuntarily before he could feel any pain.
As he neared the cannon, the cannon crew was putting away their reloading material and drawing their swords. They began to bunch up in a tight pyramid as Noble charged at them head-on.
Right as he put down his final footstrike, he applied more pressure to it as he bent his knee, and he straightened his leg and leaped.
He soared into the pyramid of Noxxa with his shield in front of him like a battering ram, and he plowed through them like a scythe into wheat.
As he landed he rolled with his blade at his chest and stood up as quickly as he could. Raising his blazing blue sword above his head, he swung down and cleaved through the tube of cast iron like he was splitting wood.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bolt of sun-colored energy hummed through the air, struck a cannon wheel, and sent splinters flying everywhere, making both Noble Blade and the Noxxa around him spring back. Noble wheeled to see who it was who had come to his aid.
It was Freedom Fighter. Up in the window of the bedroom, he had affixed himself as a sniper position with a drawn bow. Already he had pulled back his string and fired again, and an entire section of earth threw up and out under the feet of the Noxxa. Enemy dust and soil intermingled on the lawn.
Noble felt a large mass leap onto his back, and two hardened hands were prying at his neck, trying to wring it. Noble struggled with him for ten seconds, gasping and wheezing, then he reversed his grip on the sword, brought it to his waist, and drove the sword up behind his back. The sword drove through his enemy’s posterior and through his spinal cord to emerge at the nape of the neck. The Nox instantly disintegrated, and Noble’s throat was now free.
“Get the girls out of that room!” Noble bellowed at the house, pointing a finger at Freedom. A Nox in front of him thrust a wicked iron spear at his abdomen, but Noble deflected the thrust with his shield and swiped his sword at full force through his neck. The spinning body disintegrated before it hit the grass.
Freedom Fighter sent one more explosive burst of yellow energy at the hated race, then slung his staff over his back and kicked out the window. Glass tinkled down the slanting roof, and the wooden frame hung in splinters. He motioned with a wave of his arm, then slung an arm around someone and jumped out, skidding on the tiles and gently touching off the high edge of the roof.
As Freedom Fighter touched down on the ground, he settled Sunset Shimmer gently onto her feet, then turned around and jumped high enough to grab the edge of the gutter above him. Pulling himself up, he went back into the window. The other Pinkie Pie poked herself gently out of the window and hopped off the roof, and as she descended her skirt inflated like a parachute. She floated to the ground like a flower petal and touched off gently on the ground.
Out of the window next came Flash Sentry, who was slowly scooching along on his butt on the slanting roof. After carefully making his way to the edge of the roof, he slowly hung off the gutter until only his hands were gripping the edge, then he dropped and crouched on impact, landing on his butt.
“Are you sure this is the only way?” came the voice of one of the Twilights.
“The house is too unstable now!” came another voice that sounded like Twilight. “We have to jump!”
“Are you crazy?”
“I know a lot about crazy! Trust me on this!”
“Twilight!” Flash Sentry called, scrambling to his feet. “I’ll catch you!”
“Are you sure?” came one of the Twilights.
“I’ll do it!” Flash affirmed, holding out his arms pleadingly. “Trust me on this, Twilight!”
The tall boots of the other Twilight came out of the window first, then the small torso, and then finally, the other Twilight was wobbling on the edge of the roof. It was two stories to the ground below, and to the other Twilight, it was a lot higher than that.
“Jump!” Flash cried. “I’ll catch you! Don't worry!”
The other Twilight hesitantly put her toes to the edge and bit her lip. “I don't know!”
“Trust me!”
As the other Twilight shuffled until more of her boot was off the edge, a rupture burst from the drywall beside her, making her wobble more and windmill her arms. From the rupture burst Freedom Fighter, carrying Twilight in his arms and his staff on his back. In a single bound he leaped to the edge, then down two stories to the lawn. Bending his legs and rolling to the side in a fluid motion, he ended up in a standing position, holding Twilight by the arms and staring into her face for any sign of injury.
Twilight forced one of her arms out of his grip. “I’m fine. I just feel really...”
Her blue shirt was ripped at the abdomen and near her collarbone. There was a long gash in her purple skirt. Little pockmarks of black were on her face.
Freedom Fighter nodded after seeing that she had nothing serious, then turned back to the torn-apart house. Flash Sentry and the other Twilight were lying in a heap on the lawn, looking dizzy and cross-eyed.
“He didn't catch her?” Twilight said slowly. She coughed. “Well, I mean, it's hard for anybody to catch a falling person from any height weighing in at a hundred thirty pounds-”
Freedom Fighter held up a single finger, and she cut off abruptly. After checking over her exposed body one more time for injury, he sprinted off into the night towards the large party of Noxxa that Noble was holding off.
Noble, for himself, wasn't in a good situation. A lucky mace stroke had dented in his shoulder armor, a thick red gash had opened up on his forehead, and his legs were ready to give out from under him. His strokes came slower and wider. The Noxxa surrounding him near the ruins of the cannon were growing more daring by the minute.
Finally, panting hard, he prepared himself to make one final stand. If this was how he was going out, he needed to make sure everypony else got to safety first. Raising his sword one final time, he bent his knees and gritted his teeth.
And then he saw a six-foot-long bar of blazing yellow energy erupt in the hands of the shadow warrior sprinting at full throttle towards him, and he smiled. Not today.
“What in the world could that be?” Noble asked, pointing behind the Noxxa in shock.
The Noxxa turned in time to see the yellow bar chop through a line of necks and collapse their bodies into dust.
Freedom Fighter swirled the staff at speeds too fast to follow with the naked eye. He essentially created a vibrating yellow shield around him as he plowed through the Noxxa ranks. Every time it made contact with the chitin-covered flesh of any Noxxa warriors, limbs went flying, dissolving into dust, or bodies collapsed into ash piles. In almost no time at all, Freedom Fighter and Noble Blade were back-to-back with their swords and staves, slicing apart and impaling any Noxxa that came near.
It seemed to take forever. Both men were panting and wheezing and sweating in their armor. But finally, the last stragglers of the fight retreated and ran off into the night, and after Freedom Fighter took his last shots at the Noxxa with his converted bow, they were gone entirely.
Freedom Fighter made a motion to go after them, but was stopped by an armored gauntlet on his shoulder.
“We’re needed here,” Noble told him, coming around to look him in the eyes. “We need to focus on what we came here for first.”
Freedom Fighter narrowed his scarlet eyes and clenched his left fist around his yellow staff so hard it creaked. After a resigned sigh through his nose, he twisted the staff, and with a click, the yellow color ceased.
Noble went back to the destroyed home and when he got close enough, called into the ruin. “Firestorm!” he yelled. “Are you in there?”
The house dropped more showers of dust and slivers of wood.
“Storm!” he called again, running up the porch steps. “Storm, come out of there! We need you!”
A cruel chuckle split the air, and Noble spun towards the source.
A Nox had managed, in the chaos on the lawn, to infiltrate the home. He was pinned under debris near the front entryway, and he was missing a leg and hand, but he was still alive, and bending over in pain as he chuckled. A thick jacket with pockets was on his torso, ripped at the armpit to make room for his arms.
Noble knelt near him, making his cape jump and settle slowly on his back, and put the tip of his drawn sword to his black neck. “How did you penetrate the portal?” he breathed.
The Nox blinked all six of his sick yellow eyes and smiled. “You can do nothing to me, Guardian. I have a destiny. You won’t!”
And he pressed the tube in his hand. His jacket seemed to beep furiously.
Noble jumped back, hopelessly attempting to get outside the blast radius. He was too close to the suicide bomber. He knew that he wasn't capable of surviving.
A blast of orange enveloped his view, blossoming out to enfold him in its deadly grasp.
Then a rainbow of color appeared in his field of vision. A pair of arms wrapped around his center.
The next thing he knew, he was behind the house, with the other Rainbow Dash holding him and panting hard, facing a collection of colored girls, all dirty and torn. His sword was lying on the ground beside him.
“Dgah, what…” Noble was confused beyond measure. Wasn't he about to die?
“Noble!” came the voice of an angel, and a small yellow bundle crashed into his torso and clutched him tightly around his waist, making him stumble back. “Oh, my goodness, oh, my goodness! You’re here! I was sooo worried about you!”
“Fluttershy…” he whispered. He held Fluttershy by the back of the head and her back, and realized that yes, in fact, it was her. “I’m here now. I'm here.”
“Kiss me,” she whispered. “Let me feel you.”
He swept her up and complied enthusiastically.
“Um, hello?” came the brash and tired voice of the other Rainbow Dash. “No thanks for saving you?”
Noble faced the building not too far away. The ruins were ablaze, crackling and coiling flames up into the dark night sky. The distant sounds of firefighter trucks wailed through the still air.
“Firestorm,” Noble muttered in shock, gazing at the flame. He couldn’t be gone, he just couldn't... “You were in there...”
“He what?” Rainbow Dash yelped, bringing her fingers to her mouth in worry. “Stormy!” she cried into the flame. “Firestorm, come out! Please!”
“Firestorm!” Twilight called into the raging inferno. “Firestorm!”
“Come out of there!” Starlight called with cupped hands.
Freedom Fighter had materialized out of the shadows beside both Applejacks, and both of them recoiled at his appearance. Freedom Fighter put his cupped hands to his mouth and leaned forward, though no actual sound could be heard from the mute.
The main section of the house collapsed on itself, and sparks sprinkled into the sky and intermingled with the stars. The other Pinkie Pie’s house was now only a sparkling, flaming ruin. Shadows danced on the grass in front of them, twisting with the motion of the flame.
“No... no, no, no…” Rainbow fell to her knees, a dead and hollow look in her eyes. “Is he really... I... I can’t just…” After struggling for words, she just inhaled heavily and began to heave breaths in and out, in and out.
The other Pinkie Pie was just staring at her burning house, collapsing on itself with flurries of sparks. “Maud…” she whispered. “Maud, no…”
Noble knelt to Rainbow Dash’s side and laid a hand on her shoulder. His stomach felt sick and way too large for its proper place. He felt pain in his lungs from the fire. Firestorm was better than this. He had to have gotten out. Of course he had to.
“Noble,” Rainbow whispered emotionlessly, staring ahead into the flames. “Is this really happening?”
Noble Blade didn't want to say yes. It simply didn't occur to him. But he nodded slowly anyway. “I don't want it to,” he whispered, staring at the conflagration.
“He was the best thing to happen to me.” Rainbow sniffled and wiped her nose on her leather jacket sleeve. “I loved him.”
“Me too,” Noble Blade concurred.
“I loved him.” Rainbow Dash was leaking silent tears down her face. “I loved him, and now he’s g-g-g-” She couldn't finish.
“He was a great man,” Firestorm agreed somberly, laying a hand on Noble’s shoulder. “Worthy of honors beyond comprehension.”
“Yea,” Noble agreed, lapsing into archaic language. “Firestorm was indeed a hero.”
“So that means you won't get mad at me, right?”
“Absolutely not,” Noble agreed fervently, looking to the side to look at the person speaking. “For thou wast trul--WAIT A SECOND!” Noble stood up and looked the offender in the eye. “STORM!”
“Stormy!” Rainbow cried, leaping to her feet.
“Hiya!” He gave a demure little wave to the group at large by wiggling his fingers. “Just coming by to say OW!”
The last word came just as Freedom Fighter had stomped across the backyard in rage and slapped him across the face with all the force he could muster. Firestorm reeled backward a few steps stupidly, then collapsed on his butt, and then his back.
“We thought you were dead!” the other Twilight cried.
“How’d you get out of the house?” Sunset Shimmer asked him.
“You were a goner!” Pinkie declared.
Firestorm brought his fingers to his lips to find them bleeding, then winced. “Come on,” he moaned. “That was uncalled for.”
“SO WAS THAT!” Noble bellowed, pointing at the burning house. “What happened in there?”
“I decided to get out a different way. I'm not so big of a frickin’ idiot that I decide to stay in a demolishing house. I got free, then remembered that there was a kooky sister living in the house, so I went into her room and got her out as well by going out one of the windows the Noxxa shattered.” He took a few deep breaths at the end; he had said it all in one breath.
“You got Maud out?” the other Pinkie Pie asked hopefully. “Where is she now?”
“Hey, Pinkie,” came a voice from behind her that was flatter than a sedimentary deposit. “Nice to see you.”
Pinkie swiveled around and grinned so hard a high-pitched sound came out of her mouth. “MAUD!” She threw her arms around her neck lovingly.
Maud made no movement to her affectionate gesture, but she did nod in acknowledgment.
“We were worried sick about you, Storm,” Rarity scolded him. “You should be ashamed of yourself!”
He scoffed. “Well, excuuuuse me for barely making it out in time! What, dija think I played dress-up to pass the time?”
“What if you had died?” Rarity asked, pointing down at him. “What would that have meant for all of us? We would have failed in our quest! Or what about Rainbow Dash? The mare you love?”
“And what about me?” Firestorm asked. “I would suffer as well because I’d be dead. You think I would want that?”
“But without you, things just don't seem right,” Rarity said almost tearfully. “You think I want that to die with you? To lose that sense of... of life you bring to us? I don’t! I…” Rarity stopped talking and stared at the ground.
“Well, shoot,” Firestorm muttered, looking at his boots. “That actually kinda worked on me.” He stood up, only to have a light blue girl fling herself at him and furiously begin to kiss him, forcing him back down again. The kisses were so wild and random that some kisses ended up on his cheeks, his upper lip, his chin, and even his nose.
“Storm...” She repeated the name in between kisses. “You're here, and you’re gonna stay for good. You got that? Huh?”
“Wasn't planning on it,” Firestorm managed to say in between kisses.
While that was going on, the other Twilight, along with both Pinkies and Maud, were staring at the burning house. The crackle of the flame made them raise their voices to be heard.
“It’s gone,” the other Pinkie Pie whispered. “Everything in there is gone. All the files on parties I could throw. All the party supplies in the basement. It’s all…” She stared ever harder, like staring at it would reverse time. “...gone.”
“Pinkie,” came a flat and emotionless voice. Maud laid a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay.”
“No, Maud,” the other Pinkie protested feebly. “Maud, our house is gone. We don't have-”
“I know that,” Maud flatly spoke. “Losing a shelter is bad. But it's only a building. That can be replaced. Your friends can’t.”
“But…” the other Pinkie said over the crackle of the flames, swiveling to look at her sister. “It’s our home! All of our things were in there! All the memories we had with it! We can't have slumber parties or birthday parties or happy-three-and-a-half-year-friend anniversary parties! What are we going to do? What can we-”
“Pinkie.” Maud laid a hand on her shoulder and stared blankly at her. “Calm down.”
“B-but our home! I feel terrible! I just... I can’t-”
“Pinkie,” Maud repeated, continuing to stare emotionlessly at her. “Calm down.”
The other Pinkie had a distressed look on her pulled face as she went between trying to obey her sister and trying to react to the tragedy that had just happened. Finally, she fell silent, though she was still trembling in place. “Thanks, Maud.”
“No problem,” Maud said without emotion. “We can stay at our uncle’s house until this one can be replaced.”
By this time the police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks had arrived on the scene. Firefighters were leaping out, trailing hoses that slithered and sloshed on the ground, and let loose with their hoses. After the collective party was taken aside for safety by a young officer, they looked on as the firefighters extinguished the snapping flames.
During the extinguishment, Noble Blade leaned his head down and whispered to Twilight, “What do we know about Star Swirl?”
“We know where he is,” the other Twilight said before her counterpart could. “In an abandoned observatory north of town.”
“How long will it take to get there?”
“We have to go through the more urban area of Canterlot. I would guess about... twelve hours or so. Not counting traffic.”
“Twelve hours?” Noble whispered in shock. “That’s too much.”
“We don’t have a faster way,” Twilight explained.
“No. No, there has to be another way. Twelve hours will allow the Noxxa to regroup and attack again, and if we're on the move, we won’t be as ready to meet them. We need a faster way, or we will fail.”
“There’s the metro,” the other Rarity suggested, coming over to Noble Blade and the two Twilights.
“Right,” the other Twilight said with extreme sarcasm. “The metro, with all twenty-something of us. That won’t be conspicuous at all.”
“Not to mention dangerous,” Twilight added. “With all of us underground in the same area, the Noxxa will have a perfect chance to ambush us. Either on the tracks or at whichever station we stop off at.”
“And I don’t believe all of you have metro passes either,” the other Rarity admitted with a finger to her chin. “Well, I don’t know what else to do. I think…” The other Rarity trailed off. “I believe we’re up a creek without a paddle.”
“Fer heaven’s sake,” Applejack said, coming over with her hands in her small pockets. “What’s th’ use? If we were all pegasi we migh’ be able ta make it, but we ain’t got wings. We’re stuck with walkin’.”
The other Rarity nodded somberly. “We don’t have wings,” she agreed. “We don’t…” The other Rarity widened her eyes all of a sudden. “Wings.” She pulled her smartphone out of her pocket and pulled up her contacts list.
“Um…” Twilight said, looking above the other Rarity’s smartphone. “What are you doing?”
“Calling in a favor somebody owes me,” she replied, tapping on a name and holding the phone to her ear. “Hush, girls. A lady needs to hear what must be said.”
When the other line finally picked up, Rarity held one hand on her hip as she spoke. “Hello, Fancy Pants?...Yes, this is Rarity...Never mind why I’m calling this late; I need to ask something of you. You said if I needed anything from my client, I need to only ask. This is what I’m asking now…. Wait, really? Great! Now, this is what I need to ask of you. Do you have anything at the airport, perchance?... Oh, yes, that’ll work perfectly... I’ll see you there, then! Thank you ever so much for being so cooperative! Ta-ta!”
Noble Blade beamed as she closed the call. The other Rarity, seeing his smile, raised her fist triumphantly. “Crisis averted!” she proclaimed. “Fancy Pants has agreed to meet us at the small airport just outside the suburbs. It shouldn’t take us more than a half-hour to get there if we just take the bus.”
“Well, Ah’ll be.” Applejack put a hand on her slender hip and aimed her eyes to the side. “Convenient.”
“Fortunate, darling,” the other Rarity corrected with a wave of her pearly hand. “There’s clearly a difference.”
Noble felt something tug at his neck, and he swiveled around. Starlight Glimmer was stamping on the edge of his thin brown cape.
“Starlight!” Noble exclaimed, jerking back and tearing a new hole on the edge of the cape. “What are you-”
Starlight stamped some more on the tattered piece of cloth on the ground. “There was something on it,” she spoke quickly.
“Like a bug?” Noble asked, motioning for her to move away by flicking his fingers. “I’ve never met an insect I have not vanquished yet, you know.”
Starlight removed her shoe. “Sorry.”
Noble stooped down and squinted at the piece of cloth. There was certainly something on it, but the night was too deep to see clearly, so he reached to the side, picked up his sword, and twisted the handle. The entire scene burst into brilliant blue light.
A twisted and broken microphone was clipped on the piece of thin brown fabric.
Noble widened his eyes. It was black and unnatural-looking, alien and foreboding.
“Oh, it was bugged, all right,” he muttered.
Captain Slath heard everything the girls said before it cut off with a spray of static. Splitting his mouth with a wide, unnatural grin, he swiveled around to the rest of the spy legion, gathered near the mouth of the portal. Over a hundred Noxxa were gathered on the school grounds, holding wicked swords and spears that glinted orange from the occasional torch held in the hands of some of them, making the mob look hungry for death.
“We know where they’re going,” he announced to the gathering of unnatural creatures. He clenched all four of his fists and raised one of them. “And we will take them down!”
The crowd roared and shook their weapons up in the air. Guttural, high, or deep shouts accompanied the roar as Noxxa let out their individual war yells.
“And it’s all thanks to the help of my new friends,” Captain Slath announced, waving one grandiose arm behind him at the three girls there. “Should we succeed, Marshal Malice will reward us secularly. And should we perish, Solaris will please us eternally!”
As the crowd roared again at the mention of Solaris, the three teenage girls behind Captain Slath trembled in different degrees.
“That was the portal to Equestria this whole time?” Aria asked incredulously, pointing at the stone block.
“That’s convenient,” Sonata commented softly, trembling at the collection of demons and monsters in front of the stone block.
“What do we do now, Adiago?” Aria asked. “The portal is right there! We can go anytime we want after they leave!”
“No,” Adiago refused. “We stay with Swath, or whatever he is.”
“What?” Aria whispered in shock. “But we can ditch the doofus now!”
“We keep to our word,” Adiago affirmed. “We promised him. Besides, don’t you want revenge on Twilight and the Rainbooms?”
“Well…” Aria started, then scratched at a lock of hair. “...Kinda. But I want to go home more.”
“I need your full compliance here,” Adiago snarled, pulling at the front of Aria’s shirt and staring into her face. “Follow. My. Lead. And you won’t get hurt. Would you rather take your chances with me, or with him?”
Aria nervously glanced at the captain, who was still riling up the mob of demons beneath his feet. The portal was right there. They could just go once the mob left, and nothing would happen.
“I’ll do what you want me to do,” she eventually muttered unenthusiastically.
“Great.” Adiago released her. “You’re not an idiot.”
Aria smoldered with clenched teeth and stared at Adiago, but neither party said another word.
“I don’t want to be an idiot!” Sonata volunteered cheerfully.
“You’re gonna need more work on that,” Adiago muttered.
Captain Slath turned around to look down on his newfound allies. “I have a feeling,” he snapped in his jaws casually but sinisterly as he leered over their bodies, “that our newfound alliance will last permanently.”
And all three girls felt a new surge of uneasiness course from their heads to the base of their spines.