//------------------------------// // Nightwatch: Through the Fire and the Flames, Part III // Story: Sigil of Souls, Stream of Memories // by Piccolo Sky //------------------------------// Twilight’s hat and robe had vanished, her wand arm was still numb, and she could barely walk by the time she finally managed to stagger up to the others. They were in the middle of a street, though one could hardly tell. They were surrounded by rubble on all sides in the wake of the devastation. And with Twilight’s spell gone, the smog had rolled back in. It had lessened somewhat overall, but between the numerous ruined buildings and fires throughout the city, there was more than enough smoke and dust to make up for it. It was practically night all over again when she arrived. Of the six, only Fluttershy and Rarity still had their Anima Viris. Fluttershy was still moving sorely considering the gash slowing her down, and was struggling to heal Pinkie who was still quite unconscious. Rarity had only taken a few blows but, not being nearly as durable as Dash or Applejack, was wavering around and holding a hand to her bleeding forehead. Dash was lying on the ground and Applejack had barely pulled herself up into a seated position near her. Everyone was panting and tired. They barely had enough stamina left to stay alert, let alone be enthusiastic about it. However, on spotting her, they nevertheless greeted her with a smile between gasps. After a few moments, she was able to weakly smile back at them. She hobbled only close enough to get to the remains of a bit of brickwork and leaned her body against it. Dash slowly raised a hand. “I know… I say this a lot… But we…were…awesome…” “I feel like the cow done chewed me up, swallowed me, spat me back up, chewed me some more, swallowed again, and finally dumped me in a pile on the lawn…” Applejack spoke up wearily. “But…damn. Seein’ that big bastard die was worth it…” “That…w-w-was quite…something…” Rarity spoke up shakily. Now that things were calmer, she seemed to be realizing just how crazy all of what happened was. She wiped for her forehead. “Right now, I don’t think I ever want to see another Nighttouched or Light Eater for the rest of my life.” “Wha…?” Applejack echoed back. “We can’t call it quits now… Look what we just did!” She turned her head toward Twilight. “Still think puttin’ all these Light Eaters down fer good ain’t possible after that?” Twilight grimaced. “That thing might have been big…but who knows how many more of them are out there? For all we know, there could be a hundred of these things in Equestria…” After saying that, however, she smiled ever so slightly. “But…then again…we did manage to kill this one. And when most of you didn’t know much about your own Anima Viris or any spells. That does have to count for something…” “Um, if no one has any problems with it,” Fluttershy spoke up, looking up a bit. “For now, could we just go some place to rest? Pinkie’s still out of it and…um, well…I don’t want to sound rude, but…most of you look terrible.” Dash grimaced. “Don’t worry, I look better than I feel…” “Um, don’t you have that backward?” “I wish…” Twilight groaned and began to push herself up. “Fluttershy’s right. We need to get out of here. We…” A rustle echoed down the road ahead of them. The five women immediately tensed, knowing full well the city was still rife with Nighttouched, Light Eaters, and possibly the local authorities. They looked to the source, just in time to see a brick that had been loosely kicked, apparently on purpose, slowly clatter down the road. In moments, all five spotted both the foot responsible and who was attached to it. With her hair spread out like a wildfire, and glaring at them with green, glowing eyes, a woman dressed in black stood at the end of the road. She smiled at the six of them with a ravenous gleam, like a predator sizing up prey. After a time, she drew herself up and began to walk forward. She held up her hands and offered a slow, methodical clap. “Bravo, bravo,” she cooed. “You know, when I got off the airship, I thought for a moment that I’d have to actually kill that Tantabus myself just to make sure it didn’t kill you first, but you six actually pulled it off.” She smirked. “Considering your rather sad excuse for using your powers, that really is something.” “Who are-” Twilight began, before her eyes widened. “Wait…what did you just say?” “Did…did she know what that monster was?” Fluttershy asked nervously. “Who in Greater Everfree is she?” Rarity spoke up. Dash, however, narrowed her eyes. “I got a pretty good idea…” she muttered, before speaking up loud enough to be heard. “You’re that Trottingham fire witch, aren’t you?” “Uh, did you say ‘fire witch’?” Applejack nervously asked. The woman stopped. She put her hands on her hips for a moment, smiling rather smugly. “My official title is Lady Sunset Shimmer of Queen’s Lynn, but that doesn’t matter to you six anymore. I’ve been running around the past few days trying to find you so let’s cut to the chase.” She shifted one of her black gloved hands over to the other and began to unstrap it. Her cyan eyes focused entirely on Twilight. The mage recoiled a little to see her grinning at her. “So tell me, what’s your name?” Twilight looked a bit caught to be put on the spot. However, she firmed up after a moment and stared back defiantly. “Why should I tell you that?” “Aw, don’t be that way. We’re both alumni from the same school, after all. Besides,” She smirked a bit wider. “Wouldn’t Headmistress Celestia frown on you being so ‘unfriendly’?” Twilight snapped back as if she had just been stung. The others quickly noticed her reaction. “Er, Twilight? You alright?” “Do you know this woman?” “N…no…” she slowly answered, never breaking eye contact with Sunset and sounding confused herself. “I…I…” She hesitated a moment longer, but then boldened up and called out to the fiery-haired woman. “I’ve never seen you before in my life. You couldn’t have gone to the academy.” “I couldn’t have? Well then, how in the world do I know about magic, mana, Promethian Sigils, Anima Viri, Household Seals, the royalty of Canterlot…” She shrugged. “Need I go on?” Twilight was struck dumb. She could only stare at the woman in open-mouthed surprise. Sunset finished unfastening her glove but left it on. “Come on, tell me your name. I’d rather call you by something other than ‘hey you’.” She stared at her a bit longer. The other women looked between the two of them, seeing the growing tension. The mage finally frowned. “Twilight Sparkle.” “That’s better.” She flashed her teeth. “Ok then, Twilight Sparkle. You have two choices. You can either come with me right now…” She yanked off her glove and bore what was on the other side to the women, who all mutually gasped on seeing a Promethian Sigil with five large runes on five of its six points. “Or we can see how many of your friends I need to kill before you agree.” Twilight nearly stammered. “F-F-Five? You have…five?!” “Things will be a much easier for you if you just tap out now,” Sunset went on. “You see, now that I’ve found you, I don’t need to bother going around killing everyone else in Greater Everfree with a Promethian Sigil on their hand trying to track you down.” The faces of the others fell. “You mean…” Applejack began to say, “that woman who got shot up at Fort Chestnut…and all the people who got hit by those cannons…” “Ms. Cheerilee…” Rarity half-whispered, “is dead because…because of…” “You… You’ve been going around killing people,” Twilight spoke up in a mix of shock and disbelief, “just to find me?” “There was one lesson I taught Celestia before we ‘parted ways’, so to speak,” Sunset answered, not the slightest remorse in her voice. “Nobody keeps me from what I want. Looks like you might need to learn the same lesson. And right now?” She snickered as she began to lift the hand with the sigil into the sky. “I think it’s almost cruel to even use an Anima Viri the way you six look, but since you somehow managed to kill a Tantabus I actually want to see if you can give me a decent fight. Last chance, Twilight.” Twilight trembled, not just from the woman’s imposing presence but what she had been saying to her. Nevertheless, Rarity tightened up and forced herself to step up to her side, in spite of the fact she had discard her rapier again. Fluttershy, shaking and cringing but nevertheless realizing that she was still one of the only two who could use her Anima Viri, forced herself to move in closer behind Twilight. Dash and Applejack were only able to pry themselves up and stare. Sunset snorted. “Have it your way.” She paused only long enough to reach behind her and pull out a small metal object. Once it was around, she pressed a button and deployed a spring-loaded blade. After that, she glanced over her hand for a moment. “Let’s see…who to open things up with…? Oh, I know…” Focusing entirely on Twilight with a look both of victory and superiority, she held her hand to the sky. “Member of my house, I command you to come to me! Wondrous Beauty—Mistmane!” Much to the dread of the others, Sunset’s own aura erupted as her five-pointed sigil came to light. She seemed to grin wider yet as her aura blazed red before snapping free and streaking over her head. The image that it made this time was of what looked like an elderly, venerable woman, but nevertheless with a fortitude undeniable in her gaze and a vitality, even beauty, that seemed to radiate even through her decrepit features. In moments, it broke and fell over her. Sunset seemed to relish the sensation as her black clothing altered. Most of it became tighter and clung to her body in a more skin-tight format, only shifting to break in key parts while being fastened with a belt and buckles in other spots. The jacket separated from her sleeves and grew longer, thicker, and swept around her neck. It could be considered a robe, only it swept back over her shoulders to let her body be clearly visible beneath. She held her knife out, and it rapidly lengthened in her grip until it became a long, twisted wand in her outstretched hand. Finally, a wide-brimmed hat, a darker color than Twilight’s own when she transformed and fixed with a crescent moon symbol, swept up and capped the top of her head. Her cyan eyes gleamed with a yellowish tint like a pair of jewels beneath the shadow of her brim. The aura receded, revealing the new form. While she definitely looked different from Twilight’s own, there was no mistaking she had assumed the Caster role. The group was quite nervous, especially knowing what Twilight was capable of. For the first time, images of what would happen if that same magic was turned on them began to flash through their minds. They were so petrified staring at her that none of them noticed that Twilight’s face was the most shocked of all. Her jaw hung loose as she began to step back. “No…” she nearly whispered. “No…it-it-it….it can’t be… You didn’t… You couldn’t…” “What’s the matter, Twilight?” Sunset sneered. “Cat got your tongue? What’s so scary?” She took a step forward. “My Caster form?” She took another step forward. “The fact that I’ve got five Anima Viris to your one?” Sunset advanced one final step. “Or maybe it’s the fact that I just used Headmistress Celestia’s own Anima Viri?” She brandished her gleaming sigil. “And because of that you can probably guess what the other four are, can’t you?” “You…” Twilight half-gasped, taking a step backward. “It’s not… How…? How did you…?” “And guess what? I only need Starswirl the Bearded from your hand to make a complete set. So while it would be more than easy enough for me to turn you into a soot stain right now, maybe, just maybe, you’ll realize how stupid of a decision it would be to pick a fight with me if I let you take your best shot.” The others all reacted in surprise. “Wh-what?” Still smirking, Sunset stood tall and held her arms out. “I’ll go ahead and let you cast one spell totally for free. Don’t think I won’t try to block against it…and definitely don’t think I won’t hit you back…but you can cast whatever you like. I’d like to see if you were half the student I was.” Twilight didn’t move. Everything Sunset had said clearly shook her up too much. She was almost pale and shaking even more than she had been from her previous exhaustion. In a moment, she looked like she’d faint. “Twilight!” The sound of the harsh whisper from her left caused her to turn to it. She found Rarity looking nervously back at her. “I don’t know who you are or what this woman is babbling about, but I do know she looks just like you do and, from what I’ve seen, that makes this a very big problem,” Rarity nervously whispered. “And I further know that if I was to try and fight you with my little flames, icicles, and oversized static shocks, I wouldn’t get very far, which means I can’t do anything against her. Neither can Fluttershy and neither can the rest of us!” Twilight looked to her other side. Fluttershy was standing her ground, but was cringing and almost covering her eyes. Behind her, Applejack and Dash couldn’t even get up. While Applejack had yanked herself closer to Pinkie Pie to at least act like a shield, Dash could only grit her teeth angrily at Sunset. They were all defenseless, and while she was hardly any better, they were all looking to her now. It was enough to make her at least concentrate more on the matter at hand. With that, she turned back to Sunset. “As soon as it’s time, we’re grabbing the others and running for it.” She exhaled. “Um, when ‘it’s time’?” Fluttershy nervously asked. “You’ll know.” With that, she took a step forward closer to Sunset. She took a deep breath and held her hand up, then extended a finger and began to trace in the air. “Oh?” Sunset laughed. “Taking me so lightly you don’t even think you need your Anima Viri? Or just too worn out even for one spell?” Twilight didn’t answer. She kept inscribing the rune as she chanted, and the color of the sigil turned fiery red. It was far cruder and simpler than her other sigils, and yet it still seemed to tire her more than ever. By the time she was nearly done, her finger was shaking so much that the rune was ending up sloppy and she began to sweat and waver again, but she completed it none the less. As soon as it was done, she shoved her hand into it and a rather large fireball, easily the size of her entire body, erupted and sailed toward Sunset. Yet large as the attack was, the others only needed to glance at it to realize it wasn’t nearly as focused or potent as her past. This one was far more diffuse and weaker in spite of its increased size. Sunset never lost her smirk as she calmly traced a sigil of her own in the air, this one icy blue, and snapped her wand down. An icy wave rushed out and struck the fireball, instantly splitting it in half. The two pieces sailed on either side of her, striking the debris and rubble and instantly catching it on fire. In spite of how weak the attack had been, it ignited fast and quickly lit up a pair of blazing torches on either side of the woman. Not that she noticed as she saw Twilight’s arm fall, numb all over again, and watched her stagger. “I didn’t expect much from you, especially without an Anima Viri, but that? That was one of the more pathetic things I’ve seen in a while. What did you hope to do with that miserable fireball?” Twilight staggered a bit more, letting her own tiredness push her back to the others. When she finally regained her footing, she glared back at Sunset and smiled. Sunset’s own look ebbed, puzzled at this, when she heard a flapping of wings over her head. Before she had a chance to look up to it, a series of snarls went out in the gloomy fog around her, before the ground began to shake with the sound of incoming feet. “I’m not going to do anything. They are.” They began to emerge from the darkness a second later. Yellow eyes circling in the air. Yellow eyes on either side of the road. Yellow eyes in front and in back of the group. All of them focused on the fires and the woman shining between them. Soon after, another mix of bats and birds began to descend. Larger, snarling land creatures, including more of the wood constructs, came out on either side of Sunset. The ground thudded and shook as two of the lion-like creatures emerged from either side of the road, growling lowly, and began to approach her. Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity stiffened soon after as a swarm of Nighttouched rats scurried past their bodies; apparently more attracted to the light around Sunset as well as the glow she was radiating. However, Twilight didn’t wait for the chance of getting their attention. Instead she turned around and hobbled over to Applejack. “Go now!” The others snapped out of it and sprang to life. Fluttershy moved back over to Pinkie and quickly started to get her on her back again. Rarity went alongside Dash and, although it still took her some effort, managed to pull her off the ground with her enhanced strength and put one arm over her shoulder. Twilight herself managed to get Applejack to her feet, and as soon as they could began to flee down the road. Sunset herself watched as the scores of Nighttouched approached her from all sides. She particularly glanced at the ones above and the two lion-like ones in front of her, before looking behind her and seeing the wolf-like ones. Finally, she looked forward and saw the six using the opportunity to escape. The whole time, her face appeared as if she found the whole thing funny. “Oh Twilight,” she called out, holding her wand up and rapidly beginning to draw a sigil. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you? You play with fire…” She finished snapping a much neater, intricate, and blazing sigil of fiery red a moment later. “You get burned.” Swinging her wand out, a pillar of fire erupted from the end of the sigil and streaked over the encroaching Nighttouched, down the road, over the heads of the six women, and finally arched down and smashed into the ruined pavement with an explosive force. It was so massive it not only instantly blocked off the entire route in a wall of fire, but the flames flared up violently from it and washed over the bottom of Fluttershy’s robe and one of Rarity’s sleeves. Both women screamed in alarm and dropped their passengers. They quickly recoiled and began to tear and pull furiously at their clothes before the fire could spread to engulf them completely. Twilight was horrified, nearly dropping Applejack herself. She tried to hold out her hand to cast a spell to help, but all she got was a sharp headache that nearly made her collapse for her effort. Fluttershy and Rarity continued to rip and tug at their attire for a moment, before, without warning, it burst all around them into the same fragments of aura that their colors had been. Both women collapsed to the ground soon after. Fluttershy cringed and clutched for her legs, while Rarity held her arm out and writhed. Their injuries were minor, only first-degree at best, but Twilight quickly picked up on the true reason that Sunset had done that. Neither of them were donned with their Anima Viris any longer. All six of them were now back in their normal bodies. The flames didn’t stop with the initial eruption. They quickly spread in either direction as if they were alive, racing around the area. Twilight looked and quickly realized that they were making a wall of fire around the area. She was cutting off their escape… As for Sunset herself, still smiling, she lowered her wand. The Nighttouched were still closing in, but the fresh flames she had ignited distracted them. Many of them were now pausing and looking around at them instead of her. She used that moment to flip her robe back a bit more and hold her hand with the sigil up again. She looked past the monsters and down to Twilight, stared back with growing anxiety. “Nice try. You even caught me off guard for a second. How about to thank you I show you something I’ll bet Celestia never waved around?” She held her gleaming sigil up, the point for Mistmane still burning bright. “Emblem of the Caster, right? Well…watch carefully.” Her face seemed to grow wild as she held her hand up again and bellowed. “Member of my house, I command you to come to me! Bravest of Champions—Flash Magnus!” Twilight let out a gasp, stricken with fresh horror, on seeing a second rune light up on her hand at the same time. The aura that erupted was so powerful that she was nearly blasted into the fire wall by the wind, while the nearby Nighttouched were all forced back several steps. Even the lion creatures. Sunset herself held her hand to the sky triumphantly and watched as light streaked out from her in a much more blazing red than before, this time etching the emblem of a bold, young, and fearless warrior in a broomed helmet. Soon after, the light broke and flowed over her, and she changed again. Her tight footwear became broader and more rugged and padded, for kneeling and heavy-duty traveling, but remained its black color. The rest of her clothing separated from her body slightly and lengthened with a short skirt, gaining a bit of a reddish tint more akin to her hair color. The cape shrunk behind her but the hat remained, losing the brim and steeple to cover the upper part of her head in a hood before brandishing a pair of small wings alongside of it. Her hands became covered in long, thick, durable gloves that exposed the fingers, and the wand lengthened both above and below drastically until it was nearly the size of her, before snapping and bending backward. The collapsing cape suddenly became conical and slung over one shoulder before dozens of shafts with fletching emerged from it, and a tight string attached to either side of what her wand had become…now fully a longbow. She held her hand out for Twilight to see clearly even from her distance. Twilight wondered why for a moment, before she saw the emblem on her hand shift. “What the…? That’s…that’s not possible!” “Maybe for some common student who never got to the advanced courses,” Sunset called out mockingly. “There’s…there’s no such thing as that role! There’s only six!” “Didn’t you ever wonder why they were called ‘base’? What’s the matter?” Her light died down, revealing the newly transformed Sunset standing there radiating more power than ever. With a move as quick as one of Dash’s own runs, she reached behind her, yanked out an arrow, and knocked it in the bow. “Your first time seeing the Archer role?” Without another word, she snapped her bow to one side and let an arrow fly at one of the lion-like creatures with the speed of a rifle bullet. A wet ripping sound went out. The monster froze momentarily before the entire upper half of its head slid off the rest of its skull. The body fell lifelessly to the ground a moment later. Sunset soon drew another arrow and sent it through the heart of the other lion-like creature. A third one shattered two of the wolf-like constructs in one shot. The fourth one shattered five. At this, the other Nighttouched roared and began to run forward, but Sunset didn’t even shift her footing. She merely yanked out one arrow after another and let it fly at whatever monster was nearest. Not only did each mark kill its opponent, not only did each shaft get fired with enough force to usually vivisect them, but the arrows almost always went on to cut through the ones beyond it as well. Twilight only had to watch the one-sided massacre for a few moments before she realized that there was no way to fight what Sunset had become. She turned back around, dragging Applejack with her, and faced the wall of flame now blocking their way out. Rarity and Fluttershy had bit back their own minor burns to start rising again, but Dash and Pinkie were still on the ground and only one of them conscious. She stared at the roaring flames for a moment, but couldn’t see any way around them. They were already sealed off and, even if they weren’t, they didn’t dare risk running closer to Sunset now. Applejack finally shook her head. “No use! Ya’ gotta run through it! Maybe if we break fast enough we’ll only get a little crisp!” “That’s crazy!” Twilight shouted back. “Even if that’s possible, we can’t run through them when we’re bringing you with us!” Dash rolled her head back and looked up behind her. “Rarity! You can do those tricks even without being in that form, right?” Rarity groaned. “There’s no way I could possibly…” She trailed off on seeing everyone looking desperately back at her, and she quickly realized there was no other choice. Giving a bit of a whine of her own, she aimed both hands at the blaze in front of them. “Icicleicicleicicleicicleicicleicicleicicleicicleicicle…” Soon, the small shards of ice and slush began to fly. If it had been only one of them, it wouldn’t have managed more than just a bit of slush on the fire that would have quickly evaporated. Yet she kept concentrating until she too began to sweat, and kept letting the small bits of ice and slush flow. They kept hitting the fire one after another, and gradually they managed to wear away enough of it to hit the ground where it was burning. As she kept going, flames began to slowly get snuffed out and the blaze gradually began to lessen. Twilight gripped Applejack a bit tighter and braced herself. “Ok, the moment it looks good enough, we’re-” She was cut off as a man leapt right through the fire, reached out for her, wrapped his hands around her throat, and tackled her to the ground. Applejack was knocked loose and flung into the dirty road as well, but she scarcely had a moment to look up before a housewife burst through the fire wall and leapt on top of her, seizing her by the head and attempting to get enough leverage to beat it against the street. Rarity looked up in shock and alarm before a twelve year old came out next, grabbed her by the wrists, and with violent force wrenched her to the ground to try stomping on her sides and stomach. A Griffonstone soldier soon followed after and seized Fluttershy, violently wrestling her as he looked nearly ready to bite her throat out, before an apple cart vendor jumped forth and seized Dash by the leg. Much to her shock, he began to drag her toward the flames, not caring that he himself was soon set ablaze by wandering into them. He simply tried to pull her in with him. At least a dozen others popped out as well. Many of them were singed or even lit ablaze when they did, but that didn’t stop them from violently assaulting all six girls. Biting, clawing, beating, some grabbing rocks and attempting to bash their brains in while others trying to cut their throats or simply set them on fire with their own bodies. Twilight herself was being throttled while two more grabbed for her legs as if they meant to rip her in two. She glared at them in panic and shock even as she was choked, yet also managed to catch one thing about them. Every last one of them bore a Promethian Sigil that was burning wild. She seized the hands on her throat, but even if she had the full feeling back in both she couldn’t pry off the iron grip. She craned her head back and saw Sunset had already killed half the Nighttouched and was easily on the way to killing the other half. It might not have mattered, because they were now not only trapped but fighting for their lives…and losing. She began to turn red and then blue faced as she struggled for air, but was powerless to move or fight off anything else. Even healthy she couldn’t fight away three of them together. In spite of the fact the two got a grip on her legs and began to pull apart, her vision began to grow hazy and dim… Like at the end of a tunnel, she heard a bear roar, before a purple dog streaked in front of her vision and latched onto the neck of the man throttling her. Without pity or mercy, he bit in and tore savagely. Although her chest was splattered with warm, red fluid before the man was ripped to the ground, his hands were yanked off, and Twilight instantly gasped for air. She didn’t even notice as a flock of birds swooped around and furiously pecked at the eyes and hands of those grasping her legs to force them to let go. She was too busy lying there struggling to get her bearings back. As soon as she had her wits, she sat up and saw their saviors. Smoldering a bit themselves, for they too had to leap through the fire, were the larger animals of Fluttershy’s group. They were now fighting off the attackers for all they were worth. It didn’t take her long to see Spike himself had come to her rescue as he pulled himself off the remains of the man to go and attack another. Angel was stained red and rising from the Griffonstone soldier’s body, while Fluttershy’s bear had just finished slapping down a third and fourth attacker. The rest of the animals that could make it were pecking and scratching at the remaining citizens in an attempt to keep them back. Twilight immediately held out a hand to them. “Stop! Stop it! Don’t kill them!” “Why?!” Dash nearly screamed as a trio of raccoons managed to scratch off the hand grasping her ankle, leaving the man to succumb to the flames he had pulled himself into. “They’re trying to kill us!” “Damnit, it’s the things on their hands! They don’t know what they’re doin’!” Applejack shouted as she struggled to help out her own defenders by punching wildly at the ones clinging to her. “Twilight, can you use that seal thing on them?” “I’m too drained! And we can’t hold them all down! We just have to get away from them!” She shouted back as one of the nearby attackers clinging to Applejack abandoned her and turned to go after her instead. Spike immediately snarled and barked angrily at him, inserting himself between the two. The attacker took one step forward, face soulless and motivated only by burning anger, but then stopped. He slowly looked up and away from her and down the street. He wasn’t alone. The other attackers slowed in their own fighting after a few more moments; looking down the street as well. Sunset Shimmer was still the biggest light out of all of them, now more radiant even than the blazing fires. And she had killed all but the last third of the Nighttouched. Even the ones in the air had gone down two or three at a time from her arrows. The six gradually stopped fighting and even the animals slowed after a moment on realizing they weren’t being attacked anymore. Instead, they looked up to them and saw them silently stare at Sunset without moving a muscle. Then, as one, all of them began to walk—right past the six of them and toward Sunset. They quickly began to pick up the pace until they were breaking into a run. Sunset was still picking off a few Nighttouched when she looked down and saw the mob charging for her. Letting out a little laugh, she reached for another arrow and she zeroed in on the nearest. “Wait!” Twilight shouted. “They don’t know what they’re doing! They’re just civilians!” Sunset pulled back her bowstring. “Your point?” she answered before sending a shaft into the chest of the nearest one. Remarkably enough, while the force snapped the crazed woman back, it didn’t go any further. She buckled for a moment, staggering there, before she aimed her crazed look forward and charged again. Sunset raised an eyebrow in amusement before knocking another arrow. This one went into, and through, her heart. After that, she went stiff before falling flat. Now having a “feel” for it, she pulled another arrow and put it through the heart of another one. By then, the mob had reached her; far more direct than the Nighttouched. In response, she began to backpedal at last, but never lost her smile or poise. Even backing up from them she easily knocked another arrow and took off a third’s head. A fourth managed to reach her at last, but she simply shifted her grip, wielded her longbow like a staff, and knocked her to the ground before evading further. Twilight was stricken with helplessness and hopelessness. She turned back to the others and the animals, but they could do nothing now. In the aftermath of the assault, all had been injured too much to make it through the flaming barrier, but even if they could they’d never get away. They couldn’t fight back either. They were trapped and all they had left was the time it would take for Sunset to finish off the last of her attackers. Her face nearly sank in futility, when a loud sound right in front of her snapped her out of it. Not only her but all of the women and animals too. A sound of grinding rubble and pavement, as if being shoved out of the way. Soon it was accompanied by a loud, chugging steam engine. All of it was coming right from the other side of the flaming wall before them. Seconds later, everyone snapped back as the front end of a trackless engine burst right through the wall of flames, heaving dirt and debris over it to smother it enough to make the trek. It only rolled far enough through to expose the side hatch before halting. The group was flabbergasted and shocked in the wake of its arrival. The hatch on the side, however, began to turn even as it was coming through the fire wall. With a hiss of hydraulics, the door opened up wide a moment later. Twilight’s jaw dropped yet again on seeing who was on the other side: the same woman she had run into in Fillydelphia the night of the surge. “Y…you?” The woman, however, was looking about as nervous as the rest of them and far more frantic. “Get in! Now!” Twilight was stuck rooted to the spot, but fortunately the others didn’t need much prompting. Rarity snapped out of it, rolled herself up, and clambered over to Dash. Putting her hands under her arms, she started to drag her inside. Applejack began to pull her own body toward the open vehicle, but fortunately she didn’t have to do so long. A pair of individuals, a man and a woman, suddenly emerged from behind the Fillydelphian and quickly moved to assist. One grasped Applejack and pulled her up to quickly bring her inside, while the other went to Pinkie and got underneath her enough to drag her in. The bear and rabbit actually moved to either side of Fluttershy and quickly got her up and brought her forward. The Fillydelphian gave them an odd, and somewhat frightened, look as they pushed past her and inside, which was only compounded when she saw the flock of birds go in as well, followed shortly thereafter by the rest of her critters, including the ones who had been trapped on the other side of the fire and now used the trackless engine itself as a bridge to climb over and into the open hatch. Spike let out a sharp bark, finally snapping Twilight out of it a second time. She saw him looking back to her as he ran into the hatch as well, along with the Fillydelphian frantically beckoning her. Twilight stared back a moment, then back behind her. Sunset was now being closed on two sides by the wild people, but even so she was slapping them away with her bow easily. There was no doubt who would win, just as there was no doubt she couldn’t do anything for them now or hope to stand against her. At last, she turned away and rushed into the trackless engine as well. She was still going in when the Fillydelphian reached up and began to pull the hatch closed again. “Get us out of here as fast as you can, Diamond!” “Don’t need to tell me twice!” a voice yelled from the cockpit. Moments later, the engine yanked itself back over the wall of fire as the hatch was still closing. It didn’t waste time turning around. It simply accelerated to full speed in reverse to put as much distance between itself and the Trottingham noble as possible. Sunset did, in fact, see the engine pulling away. It happened at the worst possible moment. If it had arrived at any other time, she could have sent out an arrow to shatter the engine, but three of the maniacs were grasping for her at once. In the time it took her to get free enough to take aim again, the engine had vanished into the smoke and smog. With her new abilities, she could have spotted them from twenty miles away under clear conditions, yet the industrial waste and fires made it impossible. She had no choice. As soon as she finished slaying the last of the Nighttouched, she turned about to return to the landed Rising Sun as fast as she could. The airship was docked in the one place it could guarantee to be untouchable, right in the midst of the shadows from the Tantabus, and in the chaos it seemed no one had ever even noticed it had come down before she took off on it again. The airship was already flying in pursuit before she reached the bridge. By that point, she was back in her innate body as she quickly stormed up to her position. “Where are they?” she half-demanded. “There’s too much cover from the fire and coal dust!” the marksman called from her station. “I can only give a general direction! I keep spotting an engine moving due west! It’s nearly to the Fillydelphian border! I might be able to give the gunner a target-” “Intercept! I specifically said intercept! I need one of them alive! Where’s the Prodigy and the Legacy? Are they anywhere near to cut them off?” “The last signal we saw from the Prodigy they were still behind us. We can’t find the Legacy in this smog.” “Terrific…” Sunset sneered. “Griffonstone’s best defense is its own filth. And Flash is still gone so no help there…” She clenched her hand into a fist. “Just catch up to them! It’s taken us this long to find them! I don’t want to lose them now!” The crew silently turned back to their respective stations. Sunset herself wiped back a strand of her hair before advancing closer to the front windows. Her eyes remained on the ground below, but it was a testament to the skill of her marksman that she was able to find anything in the mass of smoke with the occasional fire burning below. However, they were quickly reaching the more open skies of the city parts that had escaped destruction. From there it would be much easier to see where they had to move. She was just beginning to conclude this to herself when a blast from outside of the ship rocked the air so much that the entire ship buckled. She stumbled in place from the violence while the rest of the crew quickly grasped for anything solid to brace themselves. She glanced about in surprise. “What just happened?” “My lady, look!” The first mate pointed off the bow. In the emerging light, the shadows of several airships arranged in a row right along the border hovered far in the distance. She could just make out a plume of smoke rising from one of them—signifying a fired cannon. She held up her hand. “All stop!” The helmsman quickly went to work, not only cutting the forward facing engines but activating the rear facing ones. They didn’t get more than a hundred meters closer before dropping to a halt. As they hovered in midair, Sunset quickly glanced from port to starboard in the distance. After a few moments she had made out eight different airships; all bearing the standard of Fillydelphia. Each one was aimed in such a way that the fore cannons had to be pointed at them. After about half a minute, a signaling light began to radiate from one of them. The operator quickly followed the patterns and rapidly jotted down the resulting message. Unfortunately, it was a rather long one. Two solid minutes of signals came from the Fillydelphia squadron and still there was no end to it. Sunset, on her part, felt her impatience flare again. Her hands griped the railing nearest her so tightly she almost chipped the paint. “Well,” she finally spoke up the moment they ended transmission, “what is it?” The operator swallowed, clearly uncomfortable to have to be the messenger for this. “My lady, they said that was their only warning shot. If we approach any closer they’ll open fire. They say they have been advised to be on the lookout for a trio of Trottingham airships that have been attacking Appleloosa and that coming any closer will constitute a military hostility. They have orders to destroy on sight in that case.” Sunset ground her teeth and glared almost murderously at the airships ahead of her. A covetousness swelled forth inside of her, even a passionate need, so strongly that everyone around could see it. She hadn’t replaced her gloves, and she began to raise the hand with the sigil. “Full speed ahead.” Half of the individuals on the bridge looked at her as if she had lost her mind. “My lady…” the first mate began. “I said full speed ahead! Now!” The crew shook all over, although it was impossible to tell if it was fear of carrying out the order or fear of retribution if they didn’t. The first mate somehow found the boldness to speak up again. “My lady…there are eight Fillydelphian airships out there to the Rising Sun. We can’t even guarantee backup from the Prodigy. We can’t possibly win…” “Oh yes we can,” she half-sneered as she held up her hand to the air. “Carry out my order. You’re all about to witness some real power.” She paused, before turning her head behind her. “On the other hand, if you’d like to get a more first-hand look at this power, by all means…keep sitting there staring at me stupidly not doing as I told you.” Several crew members paled and withered. A few actually began to tentatively reach for their controls. The first mate, however, swallowed and spoke out as boldly as she dared. “My lady, attacking those ships is nothing sort of suicide. We’ve been running out of port for days over half of Greater Everfree. We’re running low on fuel as well as munitions. We have no chance of outmaneuvering eight of their vessels now. Even if you do have a power that will allow you to triumph over them, the odds that they won’t be able to fire at least once on us before that is effectively negligible, and only slightly worse than the odds of their disabling the ship on the first shot.” She hesitated, then finally spat it out in an almost fearful sputter. “With all due respect, my lady, I don’t believe even you have a power that would allow you to survive an airship crash from this height.” Sunset wheeled on the first mate like a cat on a lame mouse. Several crew members stiffened. The bridge became deathly silent. At any moment, everyone expected her to lash out. They expected her to leave the first mate in ashes or in pieces, and any of them could be next. Time slowly ticked by, and no one moved or even dared breathe. Finally, Sunset’s fist relaxed. Her jawline shifted and she straightened. “Fine. Get us out of here, and be quick about it.” The first mate saluted, looking like an elephant had gotten off her chest, before turning back to the crew. They quickly went about executing the orders. As for Sunset, she stood there rigid and still frowning for several moments. After a while, she looked back up and to the airships. She stared at them a moment before looking down below, where she knew the trackless engine had to be moving. “You’ll find staying away from me won’t be nearly as easy now that I know your name and your face, Twilight Sparkle.”