“Captain!” Sabra called, poking his head out through the cockpit hatch. “There’s something ahead of us!” In the main cabin, Captain Song and Dawn looked up from the windows, lowering their glasses. “Directly ahead on the ground. It looks like bodies.”
“Dawn, keep watching the sides.” Sabra stepped out of the way as Steel crossed the cabin, stepping into the cockpit and crowding the small space. “Where?”
“There,” Sky Bolt said, pointing at a series of distant, discolored lumps in the snow ahead of them, scattered between a small copse of trees and a number of large, snow-swept rocks. Being in the open was what had drawn Sky Bolt’s eyes to the bodies in the first place. That and the faint crimson slashes of red soaked into the white around them, faded under the constantly falling snow but still visible even without binoculars despite the distance.
“Well, it’s too many to be Hunter and Nova,” Steel said, lifting his binoculars and steadying himself against the wall of the cockpit with one hoof when another gust of wind rolled over the airship. The storm that had been building since the last big burst had followed them from the city, spreading out and coating the mountains in a thick carpet of snow. “Unless they’re mixed in there but …” He went quiet for a moment, and Sabra shared a glance with Sky Bolt. While it was unspoken, that had been a worry for both of them.
“Yetis,” Steel said at last, not lowering the binoculars. “With some sort of black growth on their heads.” He turned, looking at Sky. “You said that Sombra used yetis, right?”
“Yes,” Sky said, nodding quickly. “He got them all worked up so that they’d attack everything nearby.”
“That might be what happened here,” Steel said, peering through the binoculars once more. Ahead of them, the small pile of bodies was drawing steadily closer. “I don’t see any other bodies though, just the yeti. Maybe they turned on one another, or ran into another pack. It could have been Hunter and Nova; the terrain there is ideal for an ambush, but against that many yeti?” He shook his head. “A direct confrontation like that would go differently. There’d be signs of magic use.” He turned the binoculars away, looking across the rest of the mountainside below them. “I don’t see any of that. Just a lot of churned snow and dead yeti. Maybe an advance guard that Sombra drove ahead of himself. There do seem to be tracks coming from the east.” He lowered the glasses and pointed. “The glacier’s not much further; just over that mountainside there.”
He paused for a moment, clearly thinking, and then nodded. “Keep our current course. That keeps us in-line with where they came from and the glacier. We’ve got dead yeti, but no clear sign of Sombra or the rest of our team yet.” The unspoken worry that either had slipped past them already went unsaid. “Good job spotting this. Keep it up.” With that, he turned and walked out of the cockpit, heading back to his position by the port windows of the main cabin.
“Poor yeti,” Sky said as soon as he was gone. “I mean, I know they’re vicious and aggressive, but that’s not their fault if Sombra’s in their heads.”
“Agreed,” Sabra said, moving back into position and lifting the cockpit’s binoculars once more. The distant snows leapt into fuzzy view, and he adjusted the focus just as Sky had shown him, sharpening them once more.
He checked the bodies again first, playing the glasses over them and feeling a faint shiver of revulsion run through him. He could see the black crystals growing from many of their heads now, like dark crowns. The crystals Sky had told them of had been grey, but if Sombra truly was growing stronger with every passing moment, then perhaps that explained the change in color. More snow lodged against the bodies as he watched, caught by small eddies and crevices against each still form. Slowly covering the dark blacks of the crystal and the reddish-pink of the snow in a blanket of white.
Before long, they’d be buried completely, no sign that they’d ever been save a few misshapen lumps. And what would happen then? Would they remain there, frozen for eternity until some unfortunate beast found them? Or would they sink down slowly through the layers, compacting along the bottom of the snowpack in a macabre graveyard? Maybe some of the iceworms that Sky had spoken of would find them and consume them, nature cycling onward in its great pattern.
He ran his eyes over the scene once more, checking for any last-minute details that he’d missed, but saw nothing save that which he’d already identified. Corpses, almost a mound of them. Bloodied claws, torn fur, and stained snow.
“Such callousness.” He pulled his gaze from the pile of bodies and went back to scanning the mountain ahead of them, searching for any sign of their team or the one called Sombra. “He enslaves them, only to cast them aside just as readily.”
“Was the whole city like that? All his followers?” Sky asked.
“It was. They were.” He'd only been able to fill her in on all of what he and the others had seen, but he knew she’d gathered a few observations from that as well. “To Sombra’s followers, the ponies that lived there were just tools. Like batteries. Items, not living beings. And when they did not fulfill what the Order declared their intended function …” He swallowed. “They had those cells. Designed to torment and abuse. Tools of torture.”
“That’s sick,” Sky said, disgust in her voice.
“Yes,” he agreed. “As sick as enslaving a band of yeti.” Taking the mind of another creature … The thought made him shiver, not that the cold air wasn’t doing its best about that already. Imposing one’s will over another’s for gain. “He is evil.”
Sky didn’t reply, but it wasn’t as if there was much more to say. Somewhere in the mountains around them—hopefully ahead and not behind—two members of their team were fighting to keep that evil from reaching its objective. According to what Captain Armor had relayed to them, the Element Bearers were expected to arrive the next morning. As long as Sombra made it to the city after that event, the Dusk Guard’s role in things would be over.
The Hummingbird shook again, a gust of wind jerking it upwards and downwards through the sky and making the view through his binoculars a confusing blur of motion. Not that there was much to see that wasn’t identical to what they’d seen before. Never in my young life could I have imagined that there could be so much snow. There were mountains in the Plainslands, and some of them had snow year round, but he’d never actually been to any of them. Snow itself was a rare occurrence for most other places in his homeland, and though he’d read of such places as the Crystal Mountains, actually seeing them stretching around him was … sobering.
Even the mountains around Whitetail Woods only saw snow in the winter, he thought as he slowly moved his gaze across another copse of snow-laden trees, searching for any signs of Hunter or Nova. Nothing but branches met his search, however, standing silent with their white coating and waving back and forth under the wind.
“The glacier will be in view in a few minutes,” Sky said, her voice pulling his focus away for a moment. “You should be able to see where I left them then.”
“Asante.” Technically, the glacier was already in view, at least to his right, weaving down out of the mountains ahead. But until they were close enough to rise over the mountain in front of them, he wouldn’t be able to see where Sky had left Hunter and Nova.
Trees. Rocks. Snow. Snow. Trees. Snow. Rocks. The constantly blowing snow made it hard to pick out details through the binoculars, a constant haze of white drifting back and forth across his view. Beneath him, The Hummingbird rumbled once more as a gust of wind caught against it, blurring his view even further.
“Hang on,” Sky said as the faint shaking continued, forcing him to try and pick out details as they zoomed past. “Let me take us up a few dozen feet. See if this doesn’t even out.” He nodded, but said nothing. They’d been in a constant battle of altitude as they’d begun searching, fighting to avoid the worst bits of the storm billowing out from the Crystal Empire. Sky had mentioned that it did appear that it was the last of the storm, the empire’s return meaning that there was no longer anything feeding the weather’s power, but it didn’t change the fact that one way or another, the Crystal Empire and the surrounding countryside would be feeling it for the next few days.
Life without a weather crew, he thought, view stabilizing once more. Then again, it is not as though a weather crew could have done much against that storm. Hunter had pointed out as much. With so much rogue energy being infused into it, a team that flew opposed would need to number in the hundreds, maybe even thousands, and be sore pressed to avoid injury and danger.
Better to let it take care of itself. To fortify one’s own position until the storm had passed. That was what they did in the Plainslands when a storm arrived. And, now that he was thinking about it, how trade caravans survived the light storms of the Turuncu Desert. You couldn’t stop them from occurring. You simply anticipated their arrival and prepared as best you could.
Though in all fairness, there was a fair bit of difference between a light storm and … whatever the weather outside their airship was. Snow-storm? Snow-thunder? Thunder-blizzard? He shoved a few Equestrian words together in his mind, searching for a common thread or cadence between them. A few felt like they fit, but given his still somewhat-limited grasp of more technical terms, it was likely that nothing he was thinking of was correct.
A storm is a storm, however, he thought, peering ahead as more of the scene past the closest mountain came into view. And when we’re out in it, I’m not sure knowing the proper name will be as important as knowing how to survive it. He felt an urge to reach back and check to make sure the heat mod was still in place on his armor, but kept his focus forward, waiting for the glacier to come into view. Almost there.
They were all wearing their armor now, including their helmets, which did make using the binoculars even more difficult than normal. Barring a direct order from Dawn, however, Steel’s directions had been clear. Helmets were not to be removed, even when drinking or eating. Which could be done, albeit with difficulty.
But there were to be no exceptions without Dawn’s express orders. Not after Sky had related the team’s experiences with Sombra messing with their heads and emotions. Even if they removed the rest of their armor and their suits, the helmet was to stay on.
Almost there. He could see what looked like open terrain coming up around the edges of the glacier. Any moment now the mountainside ahead of them would fall away, revealing the glacier as a whole. The airship shook again, momentarily blurring his view, but then, as it stabilized, their target came into full view at last.
It looked almost like a dirty, flat road. One that was hundreds of feet across, stretched between the embrace of two massive mountains. Filthy in some places, but clean in others, each shift a sharp, clean one, giving it a brushed look as though a master painter had lowered the implements of their craft from the sky and crafted it with a single, solitary swipe, each line a ridge of ice captured mid-stroke.
Save near the middle, where the whole image had crumbled and cracked, as though the paint had been allowed to bubble and then dry and then had later collapsed in on itself, forming a giant, elongated crater that stretched across almost the whole of the glacier. A twisted, broken scar that was made all the more eye-catching by the thick, black crystals poking forth out of its edges and the brilliant blue of the disturbed ice, both muted only by falling snow.
“Well,” Sky said as he lowered the glasses. Even without them, the black outlines of the crystals were clearly visible against the snowfall. “I think that’s our sign. Captain! We’re here! And so was Sombra!”
Sabra lifted his binoculars once more, pressing himself up against the control housing as Steel pushed into the room. It was hard, at the range they were at, to make out size or any sort of clear detail from the crater in the glacier, but he didn’t need it. Just a splash of familiar color. Or better yet, a lack of one.
“Sun above,” Steel breathed as he pressed up against Sabra, filling the small cockpit. From the corner of his eyes, he saw the captain lift his own binoculars. “That’s an incredible amount of ice to be tossed around like that.”
“It was a crevasse when I left, boss,” Sky said. “Open.”
“This isn’t open,” Steel said, and Sabra gave his words a small nod of affirmation. “It’s more like a collapse. Sombra went down in it?”
“And Nova and Hunter were going to follow him.”
“Then I hope they’re not still down there,” Steel said, a faint chill floating in the wake of his words. “If they are, then even if they did survive whatever did … that, there’d be no way for us to know or get them out.”
A flash of brown caught Sabra’s gaze, and he narrowed his focus, only to feel equal parts relief and worry when it turned out to be a small, shrub tree, its bark the color that had caught his attention. It wasn’t Hunter, but at the same time, it wasn’t Hunter.
What happened here? The captain clearly had the same question, though as both of them panned their binoculars across the scene, not much was made clear. The glacier was twisted and broken behind the crystals, so the crevasse Sky had spoken of had to have collapsed, but then if that was all, then the ice would be somewhat uniform.
“Captain,” he said, putting a voice to his thoughts. “The ice near the center.”
“I see it,” Steel said. “There’s a hole.”
“Yes.” And massive chunks of blue ice around it. “Something dug its way out.” It wasn’t hard to see how either, not when there was a titanic black crystal holding the larger pieces back.
“So it’s most likely that Sombra got out, then.” Steel went quiet for a moment, then turned suddenly, the end of his binoculars smacking against Sabra’s. “Move to the other side,” he said quickly. “Check the area on the western side of the glacier.”
“Yes sir.” He moved, crouching to duck under Sky’s hooves as he maneuvered his way over next to her bunk. “Should I be looking for something specific?”
“Yeah. Signs of Sombra and our teammates. If Sombra had to dig his way out, I’m hoping that means it’s because somepony buried him. Look for crystals, broken trees, anything that might indicate—”
“I found them,” Sabra said. “Black crystals. Here and there.”
“What direction are they going?”
“Are we facing east right now?”
“Almost perfectly,” Sky said.
“Northwest.”
Steel sucked in a breath, the hiss filling the cockpit and almost harmonizing with the rumble of the airship’s engines. “Well, it’s not directly toward the city. There’s some hope then. Does it look like a trail we can follow?”
Sabra panned his glasses over the mountainside. As they moved closer, the view was becoming clearer. There was a smattering of black crystals scattered along the ground heading away from the glacier, into a small, thick forest of trees … and then his eyes widened.
“There’s an opening in the forest.” Something had brought down a tree, creating a gap in the woods that exposed the ground. Snowfall had covered it back up, but not enough that he couldn’t see the signs of an explosion. Another point in the favor of their training. “Something blew up.”
“Thank the Creator,” Steel said, his words heavy with relief. “That’s got to be them. Who else would blow up a tree?”
“Nova?”
Sabra lowered his binoculars and glanced back at Dawn’s words. Even she was in the cockpit now. Or at least halfway in, about as far as she could manage given the limited space.
“Can you think of anypony else that would blow up a tree? Or that could manage it with the gear they had?” Steel asked. “Even if it isn’t our teammates, if there isn’t another trail to follow, this is our best bet.”
Sabra lifted the glasses again, peering further up the mountain and closer to the peak. The snow there looked … different. Strange. How he couldn’t say, but there was something about the way it had settled that didn’t seem right.
Or maybe I’ve just not seen enough snow. He moved his gaze down, but nothing leapt out at him. It was just a mountainside.
“I’m not seeing any hints of activity on the far side of the glacer,” Steel said. “Dawn?”
“Nothing notable,” came the medic’s answer. “Just more mountain. One moment.” She backed out of the cockpit, and a moment later her voice echoed from the main cabin. “But I can see the crystals Sabra has spotted, as well as the blank spot on the woods. I believe I see another one beside that. Heading north up the mountain.”
“Turn us north, Bolt.” The deck tilted underhoof as The Hummingbird went into a tight turn. “And everypony keep their eyes out for any signs of Sombra’s trail or our own team. For now, let’s pick up a little speed, at least until we’re not sure where we’re going next.”
The hum of The Hummingbird’s engines increased in pitch, and they surged forward through the air, their path a gradual arc that lined up with the forest on the glacier’s edge. Steel spotted signs of a second explosion after several minutes, and after a few minutes more they came across an array of crystals embedded in the ground.
“Scorch marks,” Steel said. “If he’s not chasing our team, then there’s someone else out here.” Sabra nodded. The more Sombra’s trail moved north, the more likely it seemed that he was pursuing someone. But the largest surprise came when they neared the strange section of snow that he’d looked at earlier.
“Avalanche,” Steel said as he looked down at it. “No doubt about it.”
Sabra’s eyes widened. He’d heard avalanches over the winter in the Whitetail Mountains, been warned about them several times. One had even made his small shack shake in the dead of night, filling him with a gripping worry that his quest was about to be buried … but his location had been safe, as had been promised. But the idea of thousands of tons of snow roaring down the mountainside like mud could beneath a steep rain, but just at a sound? It was unnerving.
“The conditions out here might have been ripe for one, what with the storm over the last few days,” Steel said. “So the explosions we saw the aftermath of earlier might have caused it.”
“Or?” Sky asked.
“Or Hunter and Nova set it off themselves to bury Sombra,” Steel replied. “Risky, but given our team’s history already for making grand gestures, entirely believable.” He paused. “Bolt, bring us closer to that bit of rock higher up the peak. The one poking out of the snow like a shelf. It looks like it’d be a safe place to ride out an avalanche.”
“You’ve had experience with that, captain?” Sabra asked, sliding his view over to the rock in question. Or at least what he assumed was the rock in question. It did look stable.
“Let’s just say if Hunter and Nova did drop an avalanche, it’d be a move more than a few griffon generals would nod in approval of,” came Steel’s reply. “Always use the terrain to your advantage. Which means both looking at how it can be a weapon, and how it can shield you from others. There was a clan leader about, oh, four, five-hundred years ago who wiped out his opponents during a regency war by damming up the river they used to water their crops.”
“Dried them up?” Sky asked.
“No,” Steel said as the rocky outcropping came closer. “That’s what the other clan thought. They simply spent a lot of extra wingpower bringing in rainclouds from elsewhere. Then when the general ordered the dam torn down … it flooded and destroyed his rival’s best farmland. Sure, the following years were good, but it forced the clan to surrender because their immediate funds dried up.”
“Wow.” He could hear the awe in Sky Bolt’s voice. “That’s impressive.”
“An army can’t fight on an empty stomach. Not for long anyway. And while they can fight with an empty purse, it breeds discontent. If you can’t pay them immediately, then you need some other cause to pull them in. Freedom, gains, justice … But you still need to pay for their gear. Running an army is tough work. Think about how much work we put into this team, then scale it up.”
“You’re right. That’s a lot of work,” Sky replied.
“It is,” Steel said as the rocky outcropping drew close. “Which is why in a few months, once the schedule has settled, you’re all going to start learning about it. Large armies, how they function and how they move. Just in case we’re ever called on to take one down. Not that there’s much chance of that—anyone that moved on Equestria would be asking for a solar flare to wipe out their weather, as well as all of our allies to move on them, which would include the entire Griffon Empire. But … things change, and we may not be able to count on that tomorrow, so we’ll be ready. Anyway, anypony see anything on that rock?”
Sabra snapped his attention back, centering his binoculars on the craggy stone and taking a long, careful look at it. Thankfully, it was devoid of much snow, but at the same time, it wasn’t possessing much else. It was simply a rocky bit of stone, jutting out of the snow around it and into the air.
“Sabra.” Steel’s voice was clear and sharp. “To the left of the stone, in the snow. What do you see?”
He tugged his view to the side, focusing through the shadows and falling snow. “Hoofprints?” The depressions certainly looked like it, moving in a haggard line away from the stone.
“Could be,” Steel said. “Bring us closer.” The Hummingbird hummed as Bolt complied with Steel’s orders.
“Yeah, those could definitely be hoofprints,” Steel said a moment later. “Probably quadruped. Moving pretty fast from the shape.”
Sabra nodded, and rolled his gaze back to the rock, checking for any other signs. Possible hoofprints are a good sign, he thought. But we need somethi—What is that? He frowned, pressing forward against the cockpit glass. “Sky?”
“Yeah?”
“How much closer can you bring us?”
“If the wind isn’t too bad, probably forty feet is as close as I’d want to get.”
He nodded. “Closer.”
“See something?” Captain Song hadn’t countermanded his request. That was a good sign.
“Perhaps.” It was very faint. He was lucky he’d see it at all, but … The image through the glasses blurred, and he adjusted the focus, eyes narrowing as the small splash of color clarified.
“Captain Song, I believe we are following our team.” The words felt good to say aloud, a knot of tension somewhere in the back of his mind relaxing.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because few others would be carrying, and thereby discard, one of the ration bars Sergeant Dawn procured for our stores.” Through the binoculars, he could see a chunk of the brown bar lying against the stone. “And fewer still would have dropped one so recently so that the snow would not have covered it.”
“Good eyes, Sabra,” Steel said, his voice sounding over Sky’s sudden “Yes!” “I see it too. All right! Some good news!”
“You found them?” Dawn asked, poking her head into the cockpit once more.
“We did,” Steel answered. “Tracks, and a quarter of one of your ration bars. Congratulations, Sergeant, they’re for more than just eating.”
Sabra, meanwhile, had moved his attention back to the tracks. “It looks as though they circled the mountain.”
“Leading him around,” Steel replied with a nod. “All right. Then we do the same. Sky Bolt! Can you see those tracks well enough to follow them for a few minutes?”
“As long as one of you gives me back a pair of binoculars.”
“Do it. Take mine,” Steel said, holding them out. “If you lose track, don’t neglect to pick up some altitude and get a better vantage point. Those two couldn’t have made those tracks more than an hour or two ago. Circle the mountain after them. The rest of us, let’s make final checks and get ready to assist them in whatever they need. Once we’re geared up, and our responsibilities meted out, we’ll all help keep an eye out for either Sombra or our two team members. So final check, prep, now!”
At Steel’s shouted final command, Sabra nodded and moved for the door, once again ducking under Sky’s seat and giving her a quick smile behind his helmet as she pulled her hind legs out of the way. We find Hunter and Nova, then we hold out for just another half a day.
* * *
Sombra spotted them first. The only warning they had was Sky’s cry of alarm from the cockpit and a sudden, jarring tilt of the floor as The Hummingbird rolled to the side. Sabra rolled with it, throwing his weight back and twisting to look up out of the starboard windows. Something black and inky twisted by them, like an eel made of smoke.
The Hummingbird didn’t even level before a crushing weight pressed down on him from above, almost throwing him off balance. From the curse he heard Dawn utter, followed by a thud, not everypony had been so lucky. She slid down the tilted deck toward him, bouncing off of the side of the cabin’s central table. A small avalanche of debris preceded her, writing utensils and papers that had been resting on the table before the sudden tilt had given them enough speed to hop over the lip. The only reason there wasn’t more sliding with it was that most of their equipment and gear was held securely in cargo-webbing.
The Hummingbird abruptly tilted the other way, so fast that his hooves left the deck. He was airborne for only a moment, his body twisting to bring his forehooves down on the lip of the table in a sudden stop, and he balanced there as Dawn let out another curse, rolling back the way she had come. Only to stop when Steel’s hoof shot out of the hatchway to the main hall, catching one leg and arresting her tumble.
A shadow flitted across the portside windows, and the airship tilted once more. Sabra reared back as the table dropped out from beneath him, switching to his rear hooves and balancing atop the lip once more as The hummingbird stopped tilting.
Then the pressure pushing against him from above eased, their rapid ascent slowing, and the deck leveled out. He stepped back, off the table as the deck began to level, glancing over at Dawn as Steel pulled her up.
“Sorry!” Sky called from the cockpit. “I had to avoid those … that … Well, whatever that smoke was! On a related note, I think we found Sombra!”
Sabra moved to the window, pushing his head up against the glass and bending his neck to look down as directly as he could. Beneath them was a small forest of snow-covered pines, giving the ground a mottled look like it was covered in old carpet. A cloud of what looked like black smoke was oozing between them, and as he watched, vanished under the cover provided by the foliage, only appearing here and there when he guessed its movements.
“Situation?” Steel asked, his voice echoing through the ship.
“Nothing’s hit that I can see from here,” Sky said. “Or that I can feel in the controls. Everything feels responsive. Still, that jerk tried to hit my ship!” There was a fiery edge of anger in her voice, enough for him to easily picture the set of her jaw though he wasn’t in the cockpit. Her eyes would be narrow, her teeth bared. “He tried to hit it! And I can’t even hit him back!”
“Where is he now?” Steel said, apparently choosing to ignore Sky’s indignation. “Anypony have eyes.”
“Below us!” Sabra called. “Moving through the trees.”
“Heading?”
“I don’t know,” he said with a small shake of his head. He didn’t dare move his eyes from the forest. If he did, it was likely he’d never be able to locate the faint wisps of smoke among the trees again. “What is our heading?”
“Northwest!” Sky called.
“Then he is heading west! Through the trees below us!”
“I see him,” Steel said. “Fast, isn’t he? Can we get ahead of him?”
“Not if we want to keep him in view,” Sky said. “We’ll have to circle to the side, and even then we might lose him.”
“Do it,” Steel ordered. “Just do your best. We need to get ahead of him and think of a way to slow him down. Any ideas?”
“A stiff wind?” Dawn suggested. “He looks like smoke. How are we—”
A bright flash from below cut off her words, and The Hummingbird jerked slightly in response. But the flash hadn’t been directed at them. Instead, it rolled out of the forest, right in Sombra’s path, and the cloud seemed to recoil from it.
But only for a moment. Then it surged forward, sweeping over everything in its path. As Sabra watched, jaw dropping, the trees around the shade turned black and jagged.
Crystal, he realized as the cloud surged forward. It’s turning everything into crystal.
“Captain!” Dawn’s voice echoed through the cabin. “I see Hunter! Off our three o'clock in the air.”
Part of him wanted to look, but the better part of him forced himself to stay at the window, watching as more bolts of light lashed out from the forest in sequence, striking at the black cloud. Whether or not they did any damage, Sabra couldn’t tell, but they spurned the cloud forward through the trees, striking out at the source of each attack.
“Sombra appears to be engaging Nova, captain,” he called as the cloud caught up to another beam source and swept over it.
“Appears,” Steel answered. “The odds of Nova actually being there are slim to none. Bolt, change our course to intercept the lieutenant. We need information. We can catch up to Sombra when Nova’s done bothering him.”
“Yes sir.” The deck underhoof tilted, the motion much smoother than it had been earlier, and the forest vanished from Sabra’s sight, along with the ground, as the airship went into a tight turn.
“Specialist Sabra? Greet our lieutenant at the door, would you?”
“Sir.” He pulled himself away from the window, flipping back and pivoting on one hoof as he moved for the door, only to catch a disapproving stare from Dawn.
“Careful of your side, Sabra,” she said, her tone cautioning. “Don’t overexert it.”
“Yes sir.” He gave her a quick nod as he ducked out of the room, moving quickly down the hall toward the rear hatch. The rumble of The Hummingbird’s rotors was more pronounced as he moved back, less a sound and more a sensation that resonated through his hooves.
Seeing Hunter through the rear hatch sent a wave of relief through him. Even though they’d known that the pair were still alive, it was good to see one of them with his own eyes. He clipped a safety rope into place and then swung the hatch open, ignoring the stiff winds as he waved at the approaching pegasus.
“Lieutenant Hunter!” He wasn’t sure that the pegasus could hear him, but he called out anyway. Hunter returned his wave, wings picking up speed as he flew toward the open door. In seconds he was there, tucking his wings tight with a final snap to burst through the door in a rush, and then spreading them to bleed off the excess speed.
“Steel?” he asked, glancing at Sabra, eyes focused.
“Cockpit.”
“Thanks.” With a nod Hunter was gone, galloping around the intersection and up toward the front of the airship. Sabra pulled the hatch shut and disconnected the safety line before following, pushing his side slightly in a quick jog. Wounded or not, if Hunter was in that much of a hurry …
“—rapped to see you,” Hunter was saying as Sabra reached the main cabin. The lieutenant looked weary but determined, his wings sagging even as he spoke to Steel and Dawn. “We’ve been trying to lead him astray, but he gets more and more determined with every attempt. We’ve had to take some risky chances to keep his attention on us, and well … we’ve had some close calls as a result.”
He lifted his wing, and Dawn let out a gasp. Beneath it across the plating on his side was a small line of black crystals, jutting out of his armor. “One of his tendrils,” Hunter said, lowering the wing once more. “I’ve seen what happens when it hits living tissue. It’s … disturbing.”
“Is it a conversion?” Dawn asked quickly. When Hunter gave her a blank look, she extrapolated. “As in, does it convert the material around it to create the crystals? Or are they spawned by some other process?”
“The second one,” Hunter said, lifting his wing once more. “At least, they seem to cover things, rather than turn them into crystal. This Sombra really has a thing for crystals, by the way.”
“Probably his special talent in some way.” Dawn bent down slightly, eyeing the crystals and lighting her horn.
“Don’t,” Hunter said. “Nova already tried. These things suck up magic like a Celestia does cake. We haven’t been able to break them off either, short of damaging the underlying material. We tried it with a tree,” he added quickly. “Took the outer layer of bark right off. Or wood, where it had punctured the bark.”
“Anyway, as I was saying, we’ve been running ourselves ragged all over the mountain.” Hunter shook his head, sinking back on his haunches. “You saw the avalanche? That was us. And tree traps, and snares, and just about every other trick we could think up.”
“Did any of them work?”
“Most of the magic ones did,” Hunter said with a shrug. “The physical ones …” He waved his wings, and Sabra noticed another small line of crystals along his left flank plating. “Half the time we can’t even tell. We can’t even tell some of the time with the magic ones. Ever since he got his body—”
“Hold up,” Steel said. “Body? He’s corporeal?”
“No,” Hunter said with a shake of his head. “He … absorbed it, I guess that’s the best term for it. It was under the glacier head, in what might have been a shrine of some kind way back when. He found it, sucked it up, and went from running from us to doing the chasing. And he’s been getting stronger ever since. He uh …” He paused, glancing toward the cockpit. “Sky Bolt filled you all in, right?”
“She did,” Steel said with a nod.
“Good. Well, he’s basically still that, just … worse. More dangerous. He’s always trying to mess with our heads, but he makes it come and go, just to wear on us. And yes,” he said as Dawn moved to speak. “He did get inside my head once. Nova ripped it out, but …” He closed his eyes and shuddered. “This thing is a monster. A starkers monster. We’re nothing to him but resources to be used for more resources.”
He shook his head, another shiver rolling down his frame, and then looked at the captain. “Magic seems the best way to counter him, but as fast as he’s growing in power, he’s moving toward ignoring us altogether. Most of our harassment has been Nova hitting him with beam traps—since that’s his special talent, it’s easier on him, but he’s still exhausted. I am too. He’s back that way, just in case you were wondering,” he said, waving a hoof in the direction he’d flown in from. “We were setting some more traps when we spotted you, but didn’t want to give up our position.”
“Understood,” Steel said, half turning his head toward the cockpit. “Bolt? Swing around to starboard and take us east, toward where Hunter was. We’re picking up Nova.” He brought his focus back. “Any other ideas or advice, lieutenant?”
Hunter shook his head. “Keep your helmets on—”
“Already issued the order, unless Dawn countermands it to check your head.”
“—and keep harassing him. Magic seems to be our best bet, but loud sounds and explosions seem to work. Might be able to make something with what’s on board.”
“Hey boss?” Sky’s voice echoed from the cockpit. “We’re moving toward Nova but … I think that thing is following us.”
“Feathers.” Hunter had gone very still. “He must have guessed what we’re doing. We need to get there fast. If he catches Nova on the ground …”
“I know.” Steel turned. “Full speed, Bolt! Let’s see this thing really move.” There was a slight delay, and then the roar of the propellers increased to full pitch, the deck beneath them vibrating. Steel turned back to Hunter. “Can we slow him down?”
Hunter let out an audible breath and sank back. “Dawn could fire a spell at him. Nova might have a couple of traps set up already. Do we have anything aboard that we could jury-rig into a big boom?”
“Not fast enough!” Sky answered from the cockpit. “You’d need me to do it, and I’m flying this thing. And will be if we want a fast pickup. Plus, no time.”
“Right.” Steel turned his visor toward Dawn. “If you can think of anything, do it. In the meantime, Sabra?” He snapped to attention as Steel’s eyes fell on him. “Get to the door. We’ll have to pick Nova up fast, and without losing much altitude. I want you running the hoist. I’ll drop and grab Nova. Sky, ETA?”
“A minute? Maybe less?”
“Go!”
They broke, and Sabra once again found himself galloping down the hall, Dawn’s disapproving eyes upon him. Steel was harnessed in seconds, ready to drop as Dawn and Sabra clipped their safety lines into place. A sudden lightness came over Sabra as he pushed the hatch open, The Hummingbird descending at a rapid clip. Wind poured through the open hatch, icy wind that made the tips of his ears sting.
Steel leaned out of the open doorway, hanging from his harness. “There’s Nova!” he shouted, his voice all but swept away in the roar from The Hummingbird’s propellers and the howling wind. “And Sombra. Dawn, cover me!” He jumped out of the door, the arm that held his rope snapping out and humming as rope dropped through it. Sabra moved out into the doorway after him, shoulder to shoulder with Dawn as she prepared to offer support—thought what it would be, he wasn’t sure.
The captain was dropping fast, the winch—arm—he couldn’t recall the proper name for it at the moment—hissing as it spun, and Sabra pressed the lever at its side, not locking it but applying a gentle brake so that the captain didn’t slam into the ground. The area they were passing over was mostly craggy, rock covered snow mixed with a few trees, which meant that he couldn’t let the captain drop too far, or one of the lines could catch against something. Bringing the captain’s descent to an abrupt, bone-shattering end.
Granted, it was almost hard to worry about that with the liquidous shadow spilling over the ground behind them. It was like watching a fluid move, but one that was aware and hunting, and it darted forward with a sinuous grace, flowing from rock to rock behind them. Then, as Sabra watched, a black crystal shot out of the ground, the shadow sliding into it. Moments later, an inky black tendril of smoke erupted out of it, lashing out not at Steel, but at the rope holding him in the air.
“Gotcha!” Dawn’s horn flared, and a shimmering, orange shield appeared in the air, connected to her horn by a thin, bright line of the same color. The tendril slammed into it and she let out a grunt, but the shield didn’t disappear, and the tendril fell back as the airship moved on. They’d scarcely left it behind when Sombra slid out from beneath the crystal he had grown, moving along in their wake like a trailing shadow.
There was a faint hint of a shout from Steel, but even with his talent, Sabra couldn’t make it out. The roar of the wind and the propellers combined was far too much to hear words. Even so, he could see that the captain was gesturing at something ahead of them, and he spotted a familiar purple figure running at full speed ahead of them, snow billowing around them. And he’s running in the same direction we are, Sabra noted. Good. He remembered. Matching speeds.
The terrain around Steel was clear now. Sabra let back on the brake, dropping the captain even lower toward the ground, keeping an eye on the captain’s shadow to try and gauge the distance. There was a small flash as the ground rope hit the snow, electrical energy that had built up in the atmosphere grounding out, and he locked the line in place, readying the system that would start pulling them back up.
Steel was almost on top of Nova now, and coming up fast. Dawn blocked another tendril that lashed out at the line, but as she did so a small jagged shadow shot across the ground, heading right for Nova and the captain. Sabra let out a shout of warning even though he knew there was no way for them to hear his voice, not over the cacophony of other noises.
Then Nova leaped, spinning in midair, front legs extended and wrapping around Steel’s. At the same time his horn fired, a yellow beam shooting beneath the captain, between their arms, and slamming into the point of the shadow. It recoiled, burning away under Nova’s assault.
Sabra slammed the lever home, and both ponies shot into the air, the rope growling through the arm as the drum at its base spun. The system picked up speed quickly, Captain Song and his cargo halfway to The Hummingbird in seconds.
They were almost at the door, Sabra easing off their tremendous speed, when three tendrils whipped through the air at them. Dawn cast her magic again, her shield blocking one of them, but the second slipped past, heading for the line while the third swept right at the captain and Nova.
A glistening white, clear shield snapped into place around Steel and Nova, the captain’s mod activating and blocking the third tendril. It crashed against it, boiling away like water on a hot stone. The second, however, was about to hit the line when Nova let go of the captain, dropping through the air, out of the captain’s barrier, and cut the tendril in half with a quick burst of his beam spell. The severed half broke apart into clumps of thick smoke.
Sabra looked on in horror as Nova dropped … Only for a bright yellow bubble to appear around the falling unicorn and vanish. A sudden snap and answering flash appeared behind them, and Sabra turned just in time to see Nova reappear facing a slightly different direction and fly back into the wall, sliding down toward the storage rooms past the T with a loud bang.
Then Captain Song’s hoof was in his, and Sabra heaved, pulling him back inside as Dawn disconnected her safety and ran for Nova. “Aboard!” Steel called, his bellow echoing down the hall as Sabra pulled the arm in and closed the hatch. Moments later the downward pressure was back as The Hummingbird shot up into the air—
And then Sabra staggered as something exploded across his mind, hate and rage and regret and pain and loss and panic and madness—
And then it was gone, leaving him gasping for breath as The Hummingbird continued its rise.
“Helmet check!” Sabra pushed himself up, turning as Dawn pulled her helmet off, forgetting Nova for a moment as she scanned herself with her magic. Satisfied, she replaced her helmet and turned to each of them in turn, scanning them one by one and pronouncing them clear.
“We were lucky,” she said as soon as she’d returned from the main cabin and cockpit. Nova had sat up, one hoof rubbing at the side of his helmet. Like Hunter, his armor bore a few small streaks of black crystal growths. “There was no infective magic in that last attack.”
“Good,” Nova said, grunting slightly. “I hurt enough as it is.”
“Specialist Beam,” Steel said, moving until he was standing over Nova and glaring down at him. “That teleport was one of the most risky, fool-hardy moves I’ve ever seen.” Then his gaze softened. “That said, it worked, and it was one of the craziest stunts I’d ever seen as well. And we probably both would have gone down if you hadn’t tried it.” Another pause. “If it hadn’t have worked, you’d probably have been lost to us, Nova.”
Nova merely nodded. “I know. But I couldn’t think of anything else.”
“So you threw yourself in the line of fire, taking a chance on death, so that maybe only one of us would die rather than both.” Steel lifted a hoof as if to clap him on the shoulder, only to stop as Dawn let out a quiet cough. “Thank you, Nova. You make a fine Guard, and I couldn’t ask for better.”
“I …” Nova appeared to be choking back tears. “Thank you, captain.”
“You’re welcome. Now, if it’s alright with Dawn, can your check of Nova be done in the main cabin? We’ve got a debriefing to do. And then, once that’s over …” He panned his gaze across the four of them.
“Once that’s done, we’re going to discuss how we delay an ancient, powerful shade for the next fifteen or so hours.”