Apple Bloom would have ran headfirst into the room had Kiln not stopped her with a hoof. He raised an eyebrow, put a hoof to his lips, and poked his head into the chamber of hearts. After a moment, he rushed in—a crunching sound followed soon after. “Ye can come in.”
Apple Bloom did so, and was soon halted by the horror before her. Her stomach swam as she gazed upon a Painted One lying motionless on the floor, his eyes lifeless and gray. “You killed him!”
“Aye, an’ the others’ll do much worse if’n we don’t get a move on.”
“Y-you—” Apple Bloom’s ears lay flat as she curled back, her tail between her legs. “You killed him.”
“Open yer eyes, lass!” Kiln pressed his hoof against her chin, raising her head. He waved at the room around them, dark save for the faint glimmer of a propped-up headlamp. “He’s already long gone, but they’re the ones that need yer help!”
Apple Bloom sucked in a breath, but couldn’t seem to fill her lungs. Dozens of ponies milled around the room. Their thousand-yard stares turned to her briefly; the attention couldn’t hold. It only took her a moment’s work to find the orange coat of her dear friend. “Scootaloo! Scoots! You’re okay!”
Scootaloo walked over to her, her expression as empty as an abandoned silo. The young mare’s purple wings lay against her sides, dirty and mussed from lack of care or use. Apple Bloom nuzzled her. “Come on. We gotta get y’all home.”
Kiln stomped a hoof. Every living head in the room turned to him. “Ye heard the lass! Group yerselves in fives an’ be ready to run. As soon as the doctor gives us the word, we run!”
Apple Bloom hugged Scootaloo and received no hug in return. She turned her back to the dead body of the Painted One, and pushed Kiln as far out of sight as possible. “We’ll get you your hearts back. Promise.”
***
Button Mash really, really wished he was wearing goggles.
The armor kept the dust particles out of his eyes, but it wasn’t helping too much with the wind. It felt like the worst levels of a video game—the ones where your success and failure was determined by sheer dumb luck. He jerked out of the way of a pillar of stone. He slid along the edge of the rock wall. He sped down a corridor and tried to block out Rumble’s panicked screams.
A lance of energy zinged past his head. “Rumble!”
“AAAAAAA—what?—AAAAAAAA!!!”
“Shoot back!”
The Painted Ones were hot on their trail the entire way. Button winced as they narrowly avoided a stalactite. How deep did these caverns go? He knew it was once an underground city, but things were getting ridiculous. His internal sense of direction told him they were going in circles, but vertically they were all over the place. Up and down and left and corkscrew!
He heard Rumble vomit behind him. At least they were back-to-back.
“Well,” Scootaloo said, “if he can’t hit them with a laser, maybe puke’ll do the trick.”
Button took a sharp right turn. The sound of magic blitzing through air came from behind. “Dang it!” Rumble said. “I can’t hit them if you’re moving around all the time!”
“Would you like me to hold steady?” Button Mash pushed both control pads forward, hitting what he was mentally referring to as Sudden Death Speed. “Maybe pull up so that they get a nice, big profile to shoot at?”
“Whatever works, bro!” Rumble’s hoof pumped the pedal. Magic clashed harmlessly against the stone walls. “Just don’t come crying to me when they roast us!”
The machine’s maneuverability was off the charts. Every little twitch and movement of his hooves was responded to with immediate speed. At times, it was almost like the machine knew what to do before he did. His heart rumbled with magic, and his fairy strings tingled with the power. The machine tingled right back at him. “Scootaloo?”
“Yeah, I feel it, too.” Scootaloo’s heart pulsed as they took a hairpin turn. “It’s like we’re both flying the ship.”
“Okay.” Button buzzed between stalactites in a zigzag pattern. “Any ideas?”
“Yeah. One.” Scootaloo laughed in the metaphysical back of her throat. “I saw this in a movie once…”
Button’s mind’s eye saw the scene as clear as day. “I getcha. Rumble? Hold on!”
They beelined down a straight hallway. The Painted Ones closed in, their magical bolts getting closer by the second.
Rumble swallowed. “Hope you know what you’re do—”
Button pulled back on the pads and brought them to a lurching, gut-wrenching halt. The Painted Ones continued on at full speed. Without a second’s thought, Button leaned hard on the controls and propelled their dragonfly-machine towards the enemy. He pumped the pedal once, twice, thrice, but each shot missed by a mile.
Rumble’s cry of “Argh, horseapples!” echoed through the tunnels. The Painted Ones slowed down, their ship turning on its side to bring its weapons around. Button’s ship circled around theirs, always moving, always seeking a target yet staying out of the enemy’s sights.
Button knew he had to time it perfectly. If he broke out of the lock too soon, they’d have a clear shot down on their heads. One shot from the laser would turn them to cinders. “Rumble! Get ready!”
He pulled the control pads the opposite direction. The vehicle flipped, its wings releasing spiraling purple contrails.
Rumble pumped the pedal several times, and was rewarded with a direct hit. The Painted Ones vanished in gray smoke clouds, and the dragonfly-machine spiraled into the side of the wall.
Button’s legs trembled as he set them down. He leaned against the wind screen, his heart thudding against his breastplate. “We’re alive.”
Rumble unclipped himself from the seat and rushed over to the other dragonfly-thing. He scooped the heart out of the power source and carried it back. “Here. We’ve gotta try and save as many hearts as we can.”
Button reached out to scoop the heart up. “Y-yeah. Lemme just put i—”
“Long live Ahuizotl!” the heart decreed. “All hail the God of the Sun!”
Button frowned. He tilted the heart back and forth. “Are you for real?”
“Ahuizotl and the Painted Ones are eternal!”
“Throw it back, Button,” Scootaloo said. “This one’s three sizes too small.”
Button frowned at the heart. “I don’t get it. Ahuizotl’s using Painted One hearts for his war machines?”
“Only Painted Ones can be trusted to work to Ahuizotl’s benefit,” the painted one said. “You slave ponies shall be used to power the Hesperus Mactans and the Sun Device!”
“Hespa—?” Button Mash decided to file the thought away for later. “How many Painted Ones gave up their hearts?”
“Enough… to threaten… Equestria.”
The heart dimmed a bit. Button glanced at Scootaloo. “How you holding up?”
“Never better.”
“Don’t lie to me about that.” Button Mash held the villainous heart aloft. “This guy doesn’t look long for this world.”
“You and your friends,” the Painted One said, “will not survive.”
Rumble pressed his lips together. “You ever listened to half a conversation before? It gets on your nerves.”
“Sorry, Rumble.” Button glanced around, his ears twitching. He heard nothing in the surrounding—wait! There! A voice from down the leftmost hall. “Hear that?”
Rumble flapped an ear, his eyebrows raising. “Sounds like singing.”
“Where there’s smoke, there’s a fire.” Button grinned. “As Big Mac would say.”
Rumble ran a hoof along the side of the dragonfly. “You think this thing’ll be enough to take out Ahuizotl?”
“It’ll give him a run for his money.” Button waited for Rumble to strap in before lifting the dragonfly off the ground. “So, we wanna give this thing a name?”
Rumble tapped his chin. “How about something ridiculously hopeful and gloriously out of its league?”
“Like?”
“The Smooth Sailing.”
Scootaloo snorted.
“Don’t laugh.” Rumble sifted in his seat. He arranged his body so that his bad wing didn’t bump the side as easily. “I’m trying to keep a stiff upper lip.”
“Wait,” Scootaloo said. “Wait. Did you hear me?”
Button waited several seconds for Rumble to respond. “Did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Hear Scootaloo.”
“Huh?” Rumble glanced back. “No. I woulda been doing backflips if I did.”
Button scratched the back of his head. “Did you hear somebody snort?”
“Yeah. Wasn’t that you?”
“No, dude.”
“Huh.” Rumble gripped the seat tight as they sped on down the rock tunnel. “Maybe I’m not hopeless.”
***
Daring Do pulled herself out of the dirt and dust. Her wings burned like twin furnaces, ripping into her joints like a manic, clawing beast. She shouldn’t have flown. She should have found another way to save Spike. But what else would she have done?
Past regrets weren’t important at the moment. The Painted Ones’ mechanical army marched into the room. Some had been blown back by the magical outburst—the one caused by Sweetie’s song—but still others thundered into the antechamber. Spike was crawling across the ground to get away. The poor guy’s arms and legs were shaking. His breathing was erratic. His tail twitched to and fro. He was in shock, whether it was from the trauma or blood loss, and his blood pressure was getting dangerously low.
The room itself had become a death trap. The various pieces of machinery that had erupted from the floor danced around on gearwork and mechanical mayhem. One of the fleshy Painted Ones had been caught between two puzzle pieces and been crushed—the machine didn’t even slow down. Sweetie Belle held on for dear life near the top, waiting uncertainly as the pieces came together at the center.
Martial and Blankety fended off automatons, while Care reached Spike and dragged him behind an outcropping. The machines were too close to safely fire their magic bolts, so they’d switched to using their sharpened legs. Blank’s carapace deflected blow after blow, and Martial’s swordsmanship was in top form.
That left Daring Do and Ahuizotl. She kept him in the corner of her eye. He had bashed his head when Sweetie’s song flung him from his perch. Still recovering. Good.
The hearts glimmered atop a tower of puzzle pieces that was slowly coming together. All they needed to do was grab those hearts and hightail it. Daring Do checked the straps on her saddlebags and nodded to herself. She had to climb the tower, grab the hearts, and save Sweetie, all the while not getting crushed or killed by Ahuizotl. Easy.
Daring took a leap and landed atop a circular puzzle piece as it passed by. It carried her up and around, closer to Ahuizotl than she liked. The beast stirred, opening one yellowed eye and grimacing her way. He rolled catlike to his feet, the heat of his breath causing fog to flit around the cool underground room. He coiled like a spring… and pounced!
Daring leaped off the puzzle piece an instant before Ahuizotl’s claws connected. He scoured deep marks in the bronze-colored material. She reached up and snagged the bottom of another piece with one hoof. A huff of effort brought her upward, gaining her a newfound, if tenuous, perch. She was still for but a moment before she was forced off, ducking underneath Ahuizotl’s airborne claw-swipe. His tail-hand snagged her tail and flung her into the ether. A roll of her body and a grasping of her forelegs saved her from splatting against the wall.
She clung to her bronze-colored platform, which was on a straight path to the center of the room. Other pieces ahead of hers connected together, building a tower of metal which all led up to the heart reliquary. Four horns took shape atop the sun device—filled with trails and tracings for what could only be magic. She jumped to the side of the tower and gripped the layered, nearly stepped, surface. Careful movements led her upward. Careful glances behind kept track of Ahuizotl.
The mad god leapt from puzzle piece to puzzle piece. His graceful movements seemed at odds with his enraged demeanor, but that was Ahuizotl in a nutshell. Daring rotated around the sun device, keeping its main body between her and the enemy. One strike, she knew, and she was deader than dead.
Her hoof slipped, but she was caught by a soft, white foreleg. She looked up and saw Sweetie Belle pulling with all her might, trying to bring Daring to the top. She lent the strength of her hind legs to the endeavor, and was soon standing beside Sweetie Belle. She pulled the young mare close and hissed in her ear, removing her saddlebags. “Put the hearts in here. I’ll distract him.”
Sweetie took the bags without a word, her mouth hanging open and her eyes pleading an unspoken question. Daring winked. “I got this. Trust me.”
There were fewer free-floating pieces, now that Daring was hopping between them. More and more they came together to form a single-shafted towering sun device, shaped like a four-horned lightning rod. The flap of wings caught her attention; Martial Paw hovered over her shoulder. “Marty—”
“Take my talon,” he said, his sword facing away from her. “I’ll lift you to the—”
“Make sure Sweetie gets to safety. The hearts, too.” Daring hopped down to a lower platform. Ahuizotl closed in, ever nearer. “I’m counting on you, Marty.”
Martial’s talon closed. He rose out of the mad god’s reach. “As you wish.”
Daring jumped to a mechanical arm carrying a shard across the room. She hung over it, her hind legs dangling. She kicked herself upwards and got a sure footing atop the mechanism. She sat there for a moment, catching her breath, rubbing her chest.
“You are old, Daring Do.”
“Horseapples.” She secured her pith helmet with a hoof, glaring at the oncoming ugliness of Ahuizotl. His eyes shone bright in the dark of the cavern. His growls rose above the constant clatter of the automatons. “You’re five times as old as me.”
“I am seventy times as old as you.” The monster prowled towards her, deftly stepping between puzzle pieces. “And yet all the younger. Your wings disintegrate. Your heart sags. Your mind rebels. Death comes for you, moment by moment, second by second. You can run, but not escape. You can lash out, but never win.”
“Yeah well… same old, same old.” Daring dodged away from the swipe of a claw as big as her entire body. “One thing’s different, though. This time, you ain’t getting away.”
Ahuizotl smiled, and a bitter chill slide down Daring’s spine—like an icicle through the heart. “Escape? No, Daring Do. This time, I triumph!”
***
“Wait!” Rumble shouted. The sound of his voice caused Button to bring the Smooth Sailing to a halt. “Look back there! It’s Apple Bloom!”
Button hit the reverse and flew in close to the archway. Sure enough, he could see Apple Bloom and Kiln standing in the door. Behind them, colors and colors of heartless ponies. “Good grief, look at them all.”
He touched down, and Rumble climbed out. He moved straight for Apple Bloom, keeping Kiln in sight at all times.
She rushed up and gave him a quick hug. “You’re alright!” She pulled away and stared him right in the eye, her eyebrows high and her face tight. “You still got Scootaloo’s heart, right?”
“Right here!” Button Mash hopped down from the Smooth Sailing and carried Scootaloo’s heart to her. “Safe and sound.”
“Ohmygosh!” Apple Bloom grasped the heart from him and cupped a hoof to her mouth. “Scootaloo! Come here!”
Scootaloo’s body and mind trotted out of the cavern, covered in dirt and stone dust. Rumble sucked in a breath, standing up straighter and squaring his hooves. Apple Bloom held the heart at leg’s length and chewed on her bottom lip. “How’s this supposed to work?”
“How d’yah think, lass?” Kiln tipped his hat back and scratched a sideburn. “Just let the magic happen.”
Apple Bloom and Button held a gaze. He shrugged, and she walked towards Scootaloo’s body. She touched the heart to Scootaloo’s chest and waited.
The heart sparked from within. Scootaloo’s eyes shimmered to match. The heart flashed, sparkled, and shone, then vanished in a flurry of white magic dots. Scootaloo’s fairy strings glowed from within, from the edges of her hooves, to the threads in her wings, to the very core of her heart. She took in a breath, her body shaking, her footing unsteady. Rumble rushed in to offer her balance.
She leaned against him. She lifted her hoof to grab his foreleg, and he met her midway. She looked up, he looked down, and their eyes met. She reached up to hug his neck, intelligence and happiness returning to her eyes.
She laughed and nuzzled his cheek. “I am, like, super-hungry right now, dude.”
Kiln’s mouth twitched upward. “Huh. So it can be done.”
Apple Bloom turned wide eyes on him. “You didn’t know?”
“Few things in life are certain, lass.” Kiln frowned at the tunnel leading to Ahuizotl’s sun device. “Least of which whether our friends will e’er return.”
Button stood alongside him. The corridor offered only darkness and the sounds of battle. “I’ll go.”
Rumble’s head popped up, and Scootaloo turned. “Like heck you are—”
“Dude, you help them get these people out of here.” Button touched a hoof to Rumble’s shoulder. “You shouldn’t even be walking. Maybe the Smooth Sailing will give Dr. Do an edge—”
“Y’ can’t go alone!” Apple Bloom waved a hoof at the dragonfly. “How’s that thing even work without a heart?”
Button pulled the Painted One’s heart out of his saddlebag. “I have an ace.”
“All shall bow at Ahuizotl’s feet!”
“Or maybe just a joker.”
Scootaloo spread a wing across Button’s mouth. “The whole point was that I was helping you fly—”
Button pulled her wing down gently. He smiled as best he could. “Sweetie’s still in there. I promised I’d help save her and all the hearts. I’ll see you guys later.”
He hauled himself into the cockpit and pressed the Painted One’s heart into the receptacle. The Smooth Sailing came to life in a heartbeat. He shot them a mock salute and hauled tail down the corridor.
It definitely wasn’t as responsive as before. It jerked and yawed, but Button was always able to get it back on track. The flash of light came from beyond the opening. A sea of mechanical bodies coated the floor. He flew into the room, and the world became chaos. Spike and Care were pinned down, with only Blankety Blank to fend off the Automatons. Martial hovered close to the top of a tower, where Sweetie Belle could be seen desperately stuffing hearts into saddlebags. Daring Do played a game of keep-away with Ahuizotl, the prize being her life.
With only an instant’s hesitation, Button took aim at Ahuizotl and fired.
The magic bolt hit Ahuizotl in the back. The energy arched and dispersed, eventually coming to the gemstones arrayed across his breastplate. The mad god snarled at Button and shouted an order.
The automatons in the room activated their cannons at once.
Several shots impacted the bottom of the Smooth Sailing, all reflecting off. The shot or two that hit the wings sent him wobbling through the air. He yanked hard on the control pads, correcting his flight path and jetting him past the tower. He saw Sweetie Belle for a brief second—she looked at him with wide eyes and shouted something he couldn’t hear. He looped around the tower, took aim at the assembled automatons, and opened fire.
His shots, too, reflected off their bronze-colored outer shell. He bit back a curse and pulled up.
Care Carrot launched a ball of flame at the frontmost automaton. The sheer heat of her assault caused the mechanoid’s thorax to bubble and melt, and the rest of the machine crumbled under its own weight. She ducked back around, rubbing a throbbing forehead. Blankety Blank shot down, coated in green fire, and ripped the legs off another attacker. The thing still clawed at him with grasping mandibles. He was soon forced to retreat as others moved in to fill their brothers’ place.
Button Mash looked up. Stalactites hung above the automatons and his friends. Created from years of mineral deposits and leaky caverns. Heavy, to say the least. Closer inspection saw bronze-colored metal beneath the stone; invulnerable to blasts of magic. A few well-placed shots would be the key. He backed up, aimed carefully, and opened fire.
A sharpened chunk of half-molten rock tumbled down to crush a half-dozen automatons. Another joined it, and another, and another. More and more Button cleared away the stone and caused the metal beneath to shine. More and more automatons came to an abrupt end.
Button frowned. There, at the edge of the ceiling, he saw… a hinge? Perhaps several of them. What would they do—
Of course! The sun device! The ceiling opened up for it! Maybe he could—
A sudden weight pulled the Smooth Sailing downward. Button glanced back, right into the gaping maw of Ahuizotl. The mad god grasped his craft with one massive paw, and the other reached for a wing. With a single mighty tug, Ahuizotl ripped the wings free.
The Smooth Sailing tumbled through the air. Button wrestled with the controls to no avail. Tailspin, corkscrew, backflip, there was no way to regain heading. The dragonfly-machine crashed sidelong into the rock wall, crumbling into a misshapen jumble of parts.
Button crawled from the wreckage, blood dripping from a gash in his foreleg. The riot armor’s magic finally gave out with a pop, having protected his body from the worst of the crash. His head swam as his eyes fogged over. If only he could just get to his hooves…
The weakened limbs refused to budge, and so Button lay still, hoping against hope that he could regain the slightest hint of strength.
***
Twilight Velvet paced across the deck of a Royal Guard Airship Epona, the largest in the fleet. To either side of the ship, other vessels could be seen moving across the sky. Magic-powered cannons and mechanical crossbows lined the sides of the warships. Soldiers cantered to and fro to their preassigned stations.
Centurion Stonewall, Captain of Celestia’s Royal Guard, landed lightly beside Velvet. “Are we getting any help from the other Knights?”
Twilight Velvet shook her head, going over the letters that had been delivered a scant few seconds before. “Special Agent Bon Bon is tied up investigating the Saddle Arabian fiasco. Starlight Glimmer ‘and companion’ are recovering from the explosion. Con Mane gave me some bunkum about a powdered donut treatment. Fizzlepop Berrytwist is just too far away to make it before the operation begins.”
Stonewall blew a light breath through her lips. “Stay safe, Bonnie.” She walked a few steps forward, bringing her near to the prow of the airship. “This is more horsepower than we’ve ever thrown at Ahuizotl before. We’re gonna catch him.”
“I hope so.” Velvet stuck her tongue out. “I never even got close when I was Captain of the Guard. Daring always had all the fun.”
The Everfree Forest lay before them, overgrown and bursting with uncontrollable magic. In the center of the forest, a tangle of thorny vines could be picked out of the green. The location of the old palace. The one-time seat of the Changeling Empire. Velvet leaned on the rails. “What’s the plan, ma’am?”
Stonewall shot Velvet a sidelong glance, her ears falling as surprise wrote itself across her face. “Never thought you’d call me ‘ma’am,’ ma’am.”
Velvet smirked. “You’re the brains of this operation.”
Stonewall gave her a small nod. “The fire mages are gonna cut a hole in those vines—big enough for the flagship to fit. We’ll deploy the troops while the lighter vessels maintain altitude, ready to rain heck down on anybody stupid enough to poke their head out.”
Velvet peered down and saw the faintest hint of Martial Paw’s airship, the Vanishing Point. She took a steadying breath and set her face like flint. “Just hold on, guys. Just hold on a little longer.”
***
Queen Cicada laced her consciousness through the inner workings of the Changeling Empire’s flagship. The heartbeat of the pony slaves was now interlocked and self-sustaining. Magic pumped through the body of the ship, to its legs, to its wings. With a thought, Cicada set the wings to beating. The airship rose but a few meters and stopped, its upward movement halted by a stone ceiling.
Cicada had no time for subtlety. She needed to get airborne. The time was ripe; the Sun Device was nearly complete. She knew that the pony soldiers would be drawing near.
Dozens and dozens of magic cannons swiveled, pointed upward, and fired. Their concentrated beams cut a swath through the cavern ceiling like a plasma torch. The flagship, the mightiest of the Strutters, the Hesperus Mactans itself, climbed higher and higher through the molten earth.
She came into the open air, and found herself face-to-face with the Royal Air Navy.
***
Velvet stared gap-jawed at the massive thing that climbed out of the new hole in the ground. Eight segmented legs clawed at the hillside, grasping its way towards the castle. Each leg was as tall as Twilight Sparkle’s castle, though as thin as two-lane road. The bronze-colored metal of its exterior glinted in the daylight. Two body segments shifted and shuddered with each step; together the body was larger than the Epona itself.
Eight glowing red portals shone from the spider-shaped automaton’s face. Cannons dotted the surface, all swiveling to aim devastating power towards the Equestrian Armed Forces.
“Evasive maneuvers!” Stonewall shouted. “Get us cloud-cover! Raise the magical shields now!”
The spider opened fire, and the Epona shuddered.
***
Care shook Spike’s good shoulder. “Come on, Spike. Stay with me!”
The gash in his arm was deep, nearly to the bone. The piercing in his shoulder was even more worrisome. The young dragon’s eyes flickered in an attempt to regain his wits. “Button’s in trouble—”
“We’re in trouble.” She pressed him back when he tried to stand. She peered over the rock they’d taken shelter behind. The automatons were recovering and regrouping. Most of those crushed by the stalactites were none the worse for the wear, merely coated in dents and missing limbs. Still, they moved slower, and it seemed their internal mechanisms weren’t running as smoothly as before.
With little warning, they charged.
Blankety Blank dove down to Care’s side, his insectoid eyes wide. “I c-can’t seem to do enough damage. These th-things are insane!”
Care Carrot winced at the sudden appearance of a jolt of pain in her forehead. “I don’t know how long I can keep up these fireballs. I th—”
She shrieked and threw herself to the ground. An automaton’s sword-like leg stabbed the rock right where her head had been. Blank lunged at the machine to throw it off balance, but it knocked him aside. Others were also climbing the rock, their mandibles poised to slice.
Spike gripped the foremost automaton’s legs in his claws. He braced himself with his tail thrashing. “Get out of here!” he screamed. “Go help Aunt Yearling!”
One of the automaton’s unrestrained legs lashed out and stabbed him in his arm wound. He grunted, tottering on unstable footing. Steaming tears leaked from his eyes.
Care brought her horn to a white glow. A thin, fierce lance of light and magic pierced through the machine, melting a thin trickle of material. The machine halted when she connected with its heart, and the dead automaton crumbled to the ground. Blank grabbed it from the back and tossed it bodily into the crowd of waiting monstrosities.
Care pushed Spike to the ground. “Siddown! I didn’t bring you all the way here so you could die!”
“I wanna help,” Spike said sleepily. “I need to help.”
“Then help me,” Care said, breathless, “by staying alive!”
***
Martial Paw touched down the instant Sweetie Belle had the hearts in the bag. “Hold on to me. I’ll take you past the automatons.”
Sweetie climbed aboard his back and wrapped her forelegs around his neck. The saddlebags full of hearts sagged from her sides, shimmering and glinting, hopeful to the last.
Martial got one last glance at Daring dancing around Ahiuizotl, and braced himself for takeoff.
Sweetie gasped, then shouted in his ear. “Button! Button’s hurt!”
“I’ll come back for him.” Martial locked his wings to prevent their combined weight from yanking them out of the sky. He coiled his hind legs. “You have to get out. Find the others. Rumble and Apple Bloom are still out there. They’ll help you.”
The ceiling crumbled outward.
Martial and Sweetie ducked a boulder that rained from above. A long, metallic leg lanced through the ceiling and grabbed it, pulling the two sides of the roof apart. A mechanized spider face leered at them, and other legs joined it in its mission. Sweetie screamed, and Martial took off without her.
He would have to act fast. If he could fly past and grasp her, he might be able to ease them down to the ground before—
The automatons fired at him. He pulled away and sought another opening. They gathered around the base of the tower and started the long climb to the top. Sweetie Belle looked at the machines, then to the spider overhead, then back to him. She unclasped her bags and held them out.
Martial snapped his beak. She meant to throw the bags to him! It might be the only chance to get the hearts to safety, but that left her in harm’s way.
What choice did they have?
She heaved and tossed the hearts into the air. He swooped in, around laserfire and tumbling stone, and latched the bag with his talon. He redirected himself towards Care and Blank, intending to leave the saddlebag with them now that they were no longer a target.
If he was fast, he could get back to Sweetie and do… something.
***
Daring Do’s hoof slipped. She caught herself before falling several meters to the floor, into the waiting blades of the automatons. She hung upside-down from the arm as it drew ever closer to completing the sun device. Ahuizotl circled beneath her, laughing.
“You have already failed, my dear Daring Do.” Ahuizotl leaped up and pawed at her, but she climbed out of his reach. “All your friends, all your troops, all your weapons of war, cannot stifle the march of destiny!”
“You destiny is a footnote in the history books,” Daring snapped. “It says ‘Oh yeah and Daring also fought this guy. He was dumb.’”
“I assume you refer to the fictionalized accounts of our meetings?” Ahuizotl spread his arms. “I have read them, you know. They are rather amusing. Your portrayal of me as a blithering idiot especially brings a spot of joy to my heart.”
Daring squinted at him. “Huh? Wha—?”
He launched himself at her with no warning. A massive paw slashed at Daring Do and knocked her against the side of the tower. Black filled her vision as he caught her, pinning her to the bronze-colored metal. She squirmed and kicked, but he was unmovable. His rotten breath burned her nostrils. She gagged for air.
“I feel joy,” he hissed, “because I knew how very sweet it would be when I finally, finally, got to throw all of that back into your face. Your lost loves, your dead friends, your failed missions. Your life is a story made of lies, written to entertain but little else. There is nothing to be learned. Nothing to be taught. Empty words and a dead legacy.”
His tail-hand slithered behind his back and drew the Spade of Hearts. He held the blade close to her chest. “Fanciful stories lacking worth.”
Ahuizotl’s smile filled Daring’s world. “And you’ve just reached the final chapter.”
The Spade plunged into her chest. She felt her limbs deadening. The ache in her wings fading. The will to struggle passing. Her heart burned brighter than ever before as it was drawn up from the core of her being. Her body tried to maintain its grip, but the heart’s connection was severed.
Ahuizotl held the heart in his palm as he sheathed the Spade of Hearts. “Ah, Daring Do. One of the strongest hearts I’ve ever had the ire to face. What shall I do with you? Wear you as a trophy? Use you to power a cannon that would murder your friends?”
He cupped her chin as her deadened eyes stared at nothing. “Alas. These, too, are but fanciful words. I’ve known for years and years what I would do if I ever held your life in my hands.”
He smashed the heart against the side of the tower. It turned to stardust in his grip.
***
Martial Paw’s head shot up. The flash of magic from the tower, the shriek of pain, the roar of triumph… He was forced to watch as Ahuizotl tossed Daring Do aside. Her body tumbled limply, lifelessly.
No. No, it was impossible. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t.
Martial dropped the hearts and launched himself at Daring. He was across the room in a moment, cradling her gently in his forelegs. He brought her gently to the ground, his heart shattering.
Her mustardy-yellow coat faded to gray. Her pith helmet fell from her head and rolled across the ground, forgotten. Her face, so full of life and confidence, now hung limp. Martial shook his head. It couldn’t be.
“Doctor?” His voice was stilted, halting, hesitant. He could barely get the words out. His talon trembled as he stroked her cheek. “Dr. Yearling? D-Daring? Daring, please don’t—”
Things happened around him. Terrible things. The automatons climbed the tower. The roof crumbled to reveal an open sky filled with magic. Ahuizotl roared in victory as the great machine tore the sun device out of the ground.
Martial didn’t care. His entire world lay solely in his talons. “Daring, please, don’t go.”
He pulled her close and wept. There was nothing else he could do. She was gone forever. Completely and totally. Nothing left.
It couldn’t be, but it was.
He grasped her pocket watch in his talon. It fell open, the latch having been shattered. The crystal within was broken, and the hands were stopped dead. The picture beneath, of Daring Do and Time Turner, stared back at him, telling a tale of lost joy.
Martial Paw crumbled beneath the pressure. “Don’t leave me here alone.”
***
Button Mash rose to his hooves. He staggered up to Caballeron, who didn’t so much as react to his presence. The wound was dangerous, but clean. If he acted fast, he could save him. He pulled bandages from his saddlebags and pressed them over the blade’s entry point.
A blow to the side of his head knocked him to the ground. Before he could move, he was gathered up by mechanical limbs, restrained and enclosed. A Painted One scowled at him from behind the automaton. “You shall heal the servant of Ahuizotl, sure enough. But on his time.”
The lot of them rose into the air, and were devoured by the spider.