Breathe.
The airship shook around him, shuddering in the wake of another gust of wind. It had been doing that a lot more since they’d suffered damage to one of the rear rudders.
Breathe. Focus.
He tried to push away the sounds all around him. The rumble of The Hummingbird’s propellers. The constant drone of the snowstorm. The constant creak of the main cabin, battered after several encounters with Sombra. A faint, low whistle as wind whipped over the hole in the airship’s side several feet back from the main cabin. It hadn’t penetrated into the spaces they inhabited, but the opening was an avenue for the storm anyway. As well as a drag on their maneuverability.
Breathe. Focus. In and out.
Hoofsteps on the cabin deck, constantly moving. He knew them by weight. Dawn, light and precise even when she was focused elsewhere. Steel, solid and heavy, each hoofstep carrying the weight and purpose of a mountain. Nova, nearly silent unless he wanted you to know he was there, but ever sure. Hunter, relaxed and easygoing, with a sort of cadence that suggested a slight swagger.
Breathe! He tried to pull his focus back from the world, away from the physical, but it wouldn’t come. He let out a sigh, shaking his head as the bunk beneath him shook again.
Nothing. Not a glimmer. There was simply too much going on around him, too much competing for his attention. He let out another sigh and opened his eyes.
The sun had risen again, though the only sign of it was that the storm outside was no longer a seething black mass of cloud and whirling snow illuminated only by the airship’s lights. Instead, a dull, grey light had diffused through it, enough to see by, even if it was dim and seemed to cast the world in a perpetually faded look.
Thankfully, the interior of the cabin was still lit, though not as well as it had been the day before. Several of the magilights had gone out for one reason or another, leaving the cabin only half as lit as it should have been. And there was no time to spare for Sky to find out what had caused them to go out. Not when she needed to be at the helm at all times.
He shook his head, trying to bring his focus back in line. He could feel exhaustion lurking at the edges of his mind, like a pack of wrathlions sneaking through the grass, waiting for him to slip up and pounce. From the look of the rest of the team, he wasn’t the only one feeling a similar presence. Though they’d all taken moments here and there through the night to gather a little sleep, fifteen or twenty minutes here or there couldn’t compete with what they’d asked of themselves over the last few days. All of them were flagging, their motions sometimes sloppy or ill-timed.
Nova and Hunter looked the worst, even though Steel had made sure to give them extra rest shifts during the night to make up for having gone the longest without any breaks. It had definitely helped—Hunter had all but collapsed after saving the ship from Sombra’s crystal explosive—but it was still evident in the way they both moved that they were exhausted beyond measure.
Sabra slipped off of his bunk, armored hooves thumping against the padded deck and drawing Captain Song’s attention. “No luck?”
“Hapana.” Sabra shook his head. “My mind is too …” He waved a hoof as the word he was looking for eluded him. “Broken down? Ya kuharibika? Vunjika?” The word came to him in a quick rush. “Scattered! My mind is too scattered.”
Steel nodded. “I know the feeling. Well, at least you tried. Can’t hurt, right?”
“No,” he said with a small shake of his head. “It cannot. Has there been any sign of Sombra?”
“No,” Steel said, shaking his head slightly. “There hasn’t. We’re all still hoping the old adage holds true.”
What—? His mind caught up with him before he’d even asked the question, and he supplied his own answer. “No news is good news?”
Steel nodded. “We haven’t seen him in hours, and the train that the Bearers are on is due any minute.”
“That does not mean we won’t see him shortly,” Dawn said quickly, pulling her gaze away from the right—Starboard—side window to glance at both of them. “The city itself is in clear view, and our foe has not proven to be foolish so far.”
“That’s right,” Steel said, nodding before turning to look back at Sabra. “Same as before: Pick a side of the ship and start looking. We’re still holding the same patrol pattern as we were before you took your break.”
Sabra nodded and stepped over to the port-side window, moving for one of the larger, still-solid pieces to keep his view as unobstructed as possible.
The first thing his eyes were drawn to was the Crystal Empire, sitting about half-a-mile off on the Crystal Plains. The thick, falling snow obscured it somewhat, but not enough that he couldn’t catch glimpses of the shimmering shield over it, and even an occasional view of the central palace.
For all their work and delays, Sombra had arrived at the city sometime that morning. When, Sabra wasn’t sure, as the hours after midnight had begun to blend together, but despite everything they’d thrown in his path, Sombra’s shadowy form had reached the shield.
Only to burn away upon contact and retreat across the plains, leaving small crystal towers in his wake. Twice more he’d attempted to assault the city, and twice more he’d been turned away. Once by the team and some of the last of Dawn’s makeshift bombs, and once by another impact against the shield, which again had burned away the smoky substance that seemed to make up Sombra’s essence. They’d pursued him that time, but lost track of him in the storm.
So again, they’d gone back to patrolling the southern plains around the city, keeping the railway in view at all time. “Sombra wasn’t stupid when he was alive,” Steel had told them. “And from what we’ve seen, he’s still got some wits about him. He’s bound to notice the railway and attach significance to it. As much as keeping him off of that shield helps Princess Cadence, we can’t cover the whole city and the railway.”
And they had to protect the railway. The Bearers are the last piece of the puzzle. Once they were in the city, their mission was to fall back and observe. But until then … The Bearers needed to make it to the city.
“Glasses?” Hunter asked, and Sabra pulled his gaze away from the window to see Nova passing the pegasus a pair of binoculars. He peered through them for a moment, then glanced back into the cabin. “Boss, do we have a crystal southeast of the city? Say … about four-hundred yards east of our current position?
Steel stepped away from the port window and up to the cabin’s table, rearing up on the edge as he looked down at the map there. “Yeah,” he said after a moment, and Sabra turned his focus back to what he could see through the glass. “We do.”
“Right. False alarm then. Sorry.”
“It’s fine, Hunter. Better safe than sorry.”
Tracking the locations of Sombra’s crystal’s had been Nova’s idea, especially when he’d pointed out that Sombra had, on several occasions, hidden inside them. And had a habit of leaving them everywhere he moved. Whether or not the shade realized it, he’d made a network of them around the city across the Crystal Plains, and Hunter had suggested altering their patrol to keep track of as many of them as possible around the southern end of the city.
His mind burned as he looked out across the plains once more, his view to the north, The Hummingbird’s path currently eastward. I pray the Element Bearers arrive soon, he thought. The longer we wait, the more tired we become. And while Nova and Hunter had both indicated that Sombra had rested in some form as well, they’d yet to see any sign of it since he’d found his old body.
A shiver rolled down Sabra’s spine at the thought. He consumed his own remains. He didn’t understand it, but Nova’s description had been grim, reminding him far too much of the dark shamans of the Plainsland’s past, with their blood elixirs and callous disregard for life.
The shield around the city seemed to flicker, and he narrowed his eyes. Had it flickered, or had it just been another flash of lightning rolling through the storm, or a brief ray of sunlight playing across—?
It flickered again, the shield pulsing and momentarily glowing bright. He opened his mouth to shout in warning, but Captain Song’s bellow beat him to it.
“City attack! North! Now!” The deck pitched underfoot as The Hummingbird went into a sharp turn, the growl of the propellers transforming into a roar. The sweeping snow outside the windows shifted, roiling and churning as the ship powered through the air. By the time they were close enough to get a good look, Sombra was likely to have given up, but all the same, if they could track him even for a short time …
It’d be better if we could do more to drive him off. The princess’s shield was doing well enough at that, holding him back out of the city limits. There was a reason she was able to resist him, though tired as he was, he couldn’t remember what it was. Something about … her magic? And Sombra’s?
Somepony was talking. It was Captain Song. He pulled his focus back to the moment, turning his gaze away from the window for the moment.
“—of the city, furthest from us,” the captain was saying. “The princess’ magic will hold him back, but she’s not all-powerful. But we’re low on options. We can buzz him, hope it drives him off or pulls his focus. Or … one of you can blast him,” he said, his focus shifting between Dawn and Nova. “Magic still seems to work pretty well.”
“Of the two of us, Nova is the stronger caster,” Dawn said. “Even as tired as he is, he would have better luck striking out at Sombra directly.”
“It is my talent,” Nova said, nodding. A faint yawn echoed out of his helmet in the wake of his voice. “Even though yeah, I’m really tired.”
“All of us are,” Steel said. “But I know I can count on each of us to put in every effort. We can’t beat him. But we can make his … unlife, I suppose, as miserable as possible until the Bearers are safe behind that shield.” He paused for a moment and then let out another call. “Bolt? Any change?”
“Still hitting the city shield, boss!” Even Sky’s voice sounded tired, worn despite the warmth in it.
We’re all tired, he thought, pulling his gaze back to the window, staring out at what he could make out of the plains. Here and there he could see the cold, dark metal of the railroad, winding across the windswept plains until it came to a final, empty stop about a quarter-mile from the edge of the city.
Has he figured out what the rails represent? he wondered. Did they have railways in his day? Or something like them? There were ancient wagon-ruts in the Plainslands that dated from thousands of years ago, made to guide wagons and caravans through cities with ease. A modern train was simply a newer adaptation of the same idea. But would he know that? There hadn’t been any ruts like that in the streets of the city, not that he’d seen. But surely Sombra had traveled to places outside of the city and seen the same?
Whether or not he has, Sabra thought, eyeing the snow-covered rails. As Steel said, he has to be suspicious of them. Especially when they lead to the “front” of the city.
He followed the tracks back with his eyes until they wound out of sight in the storm. Just until the Bearers arrive. The barrier around the city was still flashing when he looked back, pulses of light flickering across its surface. From around the unseen side of the city, so their foe truly was to the north.
“Nova, get ready to standby at the rear hatch,” Steel ordered. “The rest of you, we’re on lookout duty. Anything dangerous, out of the ordinary, or most importantly, our target. We call it out, we guide Nova to it so we can hit it.”
“Couldn’t something out of the ordinary be like … a flying pony that’s lost?” Hunter asked. “I’m not sure we’d need to target that one.”
“I’m operating under the assumption that anything we see that’s out of the ordinary right now is because of one thing, and one thing only,” Steel replied as The Hummingbird began to ascend, climbing over the shield around the city but still coming close enough to it Sabra felt he could have jumped out of the side hatch and landed atop it without much injury.
Close, he thought. Sky had explained to him about how keeping close to something that obstructed a view, like a cloud or mountainside, was a good way to sneak up on something. The shield didn’t exactly block any view … but it did obstruct it, and it couldn’t hurt. Unless maybe the wind pushed them into the shield, and it kept them out the same way it seemed to the weather and Sombra.
“Why?” Steel asked. “You expecting to see a mail-pony around here?”
“Don’t tempt fate, boss,” Hunter replied. “Stranger things have happened. We are in the middle of a storm.”
“Point taken.”
He couldn’t quite see through the shield yet enough to make out where it was under attack, not with the light pulsing the way it was. But they were close to the peak. Close to coming over the top of the dome and—
The pulses stopped, the shield going clear just seconds before they crested over it.
“Feathers,” Hunter said, his voice echoing across the cabin. “That’s not good. Did he get through?”
“The shield is still there,” Dawn answered. “He couldn’t have gotten through. He just stopped.”
“Right before we could get a good look at him,” Steel said, and Sabra could hear him moving into the cockpit. A second later there was a sigh. “And … he’s vanished.”
“Magic?” Dawn asked.
“No idea. Do we have a crystal on the north side of the city? Actually, three of them, in a staggered line heading about … say five degrees off true north, out into the plains?”
“We have one,” Dawn said. “Not three.”
Another sigh echoed from the cockpit, followed again by Steel’s voice. “Not your fault, Bolt. He’s wary of us. At least that’s a good sign. Bring us down on top of that crystal by the city’s edge anyway and let’s take a look. Maybe he’s nearby and we’ll get a shot at him. Then we’ll circle the city back down toward the railway.”
“Everypony else,” he said, stepping back into the main cabin. “Keep alert. You see anything, speak up.”
The order was clear, and they each went back to their positions by the windows, peering out and looking for any sign of Sombra.
The city looks … different from up here, Sabra thought as his eyes slid across the crystal buildings. Peaceful. It looked … empty too, like a model that’s owner hadn’t gotten around to adding the ponies yet.
They must all still be inside, he thought, his eyes catching a flash of gold. Two Royal Guard, moving down a street with a wagon of what was probably food or some other supplies. It would be wonderful to see the city alive and full of warmth once more. As it was, even for its beauty and without the banners of Sombra’s rule everywhere it still appeared cold. Lifeless.
The Hummingbird descended through the air above the surface of the shield, the buildings beneath them growing smaller and more widely spread as the edge of the city neared. He could see the location where Sombra had tried to batter his way through, now, a dark crystal monolith pushing out of the ground just outside the shield. There was no sign of the shade himself though. No sign of shadows moving across the snow, or boiling, twisting dark smoke.
Still, even if he was gone, the captain was right. It was good to know that Sombra had fled at their approach. Even if it was only out of wariness or a desire to avoid them.
A faint shiver crawled down his spine, prickling its way between his shoulders and sending faint tingles all the way down to the tip of his tail. If he wants to avoid us until our mission is complete, I do not believe I would mind that. There was always that cloying, persistent sense of fear whenever they came close to him, eating through them like some sort of acid eating away at stone …
He shook his head. Focus. The airship had slowed now, keeping a good distance from the ground, but not so far that any of them had any difficulty picking out details. The wind was smoothing over the snow around the edge of the city already, but it was clear that something had disturbed it, whipped it into patterns and whorls that didn’t match the surrounding area.
Green grass just on the other side of the barrier, Sabra thought. And on this side, snow. It was powerful magic, however it worked.
Powerful enough to hold Sombra out, he thought, his eyes coming back to the black crystal standing amid the snow. It seemed to soak up light around it, pulling it in and making it hard to see where the crystal’s edges lay.
Still, there didn’t seem to be any smoke curling out of it, or living shadow sliding around its base. Captain Song apparently thought so too, because The Hummingbird went into a lazy turn, giving them a full view of the surrounding countryside as it curved back toward the south end of the city. For a brief moment Sabra could see all three of the crystals Steel had spoken of, forming a faint line marching to the northeast, and then the first one slipped out of view behind them.
A loud grinding sound rumbled through the cabin, like gravel caught between two boards, and Sabra’s ears folded back. From the cockpit, he heard Sky let out a faint growl, then a curse.
“That rudder again,” she said as the grinding sound stopped. “Wind must have finally torn something loose.”
“Can we still fly?” Steel asked.
“Oh yeah, we can fly. We’re just not going to turn as sharp. We’re basically—” Another rumble echoed from the back of the airship. “—just not going to be using that rudder much. It’ll strip some gears, probably, or snap something. But it’s nothing that’ll ground us.”
“Good. Keep looking everypony.”
Sabra nodded out of habit, turning his focus back to the falling snow around them. Minutes passed, The Hummingbird slowly circling around the eastern edge of the city, but there was no sign of Sombra anywhere.
He’s out there. Somewhere. Watching. Waiting. Biding his time. Another shiver. And who knows what—
A sudden clatter made him jerk, and he turned to see Hunter picking up his binoculars from the floor. “Sorry,” he said as he spotted everypony’s eyes on him. “Tired. They slipped.”
“We’re all tired,” Steel said, stepping out of the cockpit. “And on edge. Just do your best. The Bearers should be here soon. Very soon.”
“Actually, boss?” Sky’s voice echoed out behind him. “I think they’re here.”
Steel jerked upright, his ears standing straight up as he turned. “What?”
“I think I see the Bearers. The train they’re supposed to be on, I mean.”
“Where?” Steel reared and charged into the cockpit, and a second later a whoop echoed through the cabin.
“That’s it!” the captain called. “That’s the train! Good eyes, Sky Bolt, especially through this. Hunter?”
“On it,” Hunter said, leaping over the center table with a snap of his wings and heading down the hallway. “I’ll pop the flare.”
“Should we pick up speed?” Sky called from the cockpit.
“No,” Steel said. “But take us up. Let’s make that flare visible inside the city. As visible as it can be in this snow anyway.” The storm outside, almost as if it were sensing the imminent arrival of the Bearers, seemed to be rising in intensity, the clouds almost looking darker than they had a few minutes earlier.
Or maybe that’s just my imagination, he thought as The Hummingbird began to quickly ascend, climbing into the air and nearing some of the low-lying clouds. A moment later a bright flare shot out over the city, burning bright against the storm. From beneath the shield, there was an answering pulse of light.
“That’s confirmation!” Steel said, nodding. “Get us to the south side of the city. We’ll keep watch over the Bearers while they’re collected, and then we can get clear.”
Strange, Sabra thought as Steel looked around the cabin. I should feel relieved at such a message. But … Something had him feeling … off-balance. He couldn’t put his hoof on it. Is it that this is too easy? Is Sombra planning something? What?
“That storm is getting worse,” Dawn said as Hunter and Nova moved back into the main cabin.
“Building for a big finish.” Hunter moved up to the window and looked out over the storm. “I could feel it when I fired the flare. In the next hour we’re probably going to be blind.”
Blind. Something about the thought made him shift slightly. Blind against … Sombra. Except we won’t be anymore. We’re almost done. He shook his head. I really need some sleep.
“Sky Bolt, keep us high as you can without losing track of the ground. The rest of you keep a lookout for Sombra making a move on the Bearers. We’re taking no chances.”
Another chill rolled down Sabra’s back, and he frowned. Something … Something isn’t right. It was the end of the mission, yes, but there was something else he couldn’t explain, something—
“Bearers?”
Sabra froze as the voice rolled over him, his body locking in place.
“So that is why you harrang me! The Elements of Harmony!”
“Where—?”
He wasn’t sure who had spoken, but their words cut off as smoke exploded out of the heating vents, pouring over him before he could even move. He felt a peculiar crawling sensation, as if the ground had dropped away beneath him …
And then everything went completely black, his senses and even the main cabin fading away as the world vanished.
For a moment, all was nothing. Nothing but a clenching, soul-consuming fear with no direction and no sense.
Then he was falling, his armor gone, nothing but his body dropping through an endless expanse of black, roiling clouds. Beneath him, something glimmered, a shining, rolling reflective surface that was rushing up at him.
The lake.
He landed on his side, hard, though the blow didn’t knock any breath from him. There wasn’t any to have. None of it was physical, tangible.
He was back in his mindscape, the boiling, churning waters of the lake stretching all around him.
Except he wasn’t alone. The empty void above him was home to a churning storm, black clouds that coiled in and around themselves. The horizon was no longer a flat line, a silvery intersection of water and endless sky, but a jagged, edged wall of crystal, surrounding the lake on all sides.
“My my … you are willful one …” The booming words echoed all around him, and he shivered as they seemed to bore deep into his mind. “Possessed of great spirit.” A deep, rolling laugh echoed across the lake. “And from such a lesser species, too …”
He pushed himself up, his limbs trembling and shaking across the water’s boiling surface. It looked more turbulent than ever, churning and writhing around a single, central maelstrom beneath the surface. The same one that had plagued him for days now, worse than ever.
A low, rumbling chuckle echoed across the lake. “I see now. Your mind is open to me. As are the minds of your fellow ponies. I see your fears, zebra. And soon, so will YOU!” The crystals on the horizon seemed to swell with the voice, closing in on the lake. Sabra couldn’t breathe, but he wanted to, to jerk in great breaths as his chest seemed to collapse in on itself. The smoky sky above him twisted and curled.
“Your mind will shatter like glass before me. Break into a million tiny pieces, because you. Have. Failed. Failed to protect these Elements from me. I will break your mind and that of every pony on this craft. I will see you fall from the sky, your mindless shells broken apart upon the earth. And then I will go forth and rip the Bearers apart before they ever make it under that cursed barrier!”
“You are a failure, zebra. Just as you always feared you were. Deep down, as every lesser being does.”
The lake was churning harder now, the water roiling with such ferocity that it was almost impossible to stand upright. The horizon was closer now, jagged crystals closing in even as the clouds above him seemed to thicken.
“You cannot stop me. You cannot save your friends. You are nothing! Weak and impudent, lashing out like a flailing foal who barely grasps the universe around them!”
Each word was like a physical blow, pressing him down, his hooves slipping beneath the surface of the water. He wanted to push back, wanted to stand upright, but why? What was the point?
“You will not stop me, zebra! The crystals were closing in, rolling across the surface of the lake. “You will not keep me from these Bearers!” The water was over his knees now, the clouds bearing down on him taking on a vaguely equine shape. “You are nothing!”
The water pressed against his chest, whipped to a froth that was threatening to drown him. “You have lost! Everything you’ve ever accomplished is meaningless! I see your mind, and you will die a failure, never to return home. Your journey ends here, your question unanswered!”
The water licked against the bottom of his chin, and he closed his eyes.
Wait. He paused, his downward descent halting. What did he just say?
He opened his mouth, lifting a single hoof free of the water, and looked up at the shadowy figure, a sudden warmth spilling through every limb. Then he spoke, a single word echoing out across the lake as he brought his hoof down.
“No.”
The sound exploded out of him like a golden ring, his hoof coming down on the surface of the lake and sending a single ripple that bounded out, sweeping away every mark of turbulence before it, leaving flat, calm water in its wake. The crystals growing up around the edges of the water stopped, frozen.
“What!?”
Sabra shook his head slowly. “You’re wrong.”
“Do not speak to—”
“Your words are lies. Falsehoods. Deception.” He rose, pushing himself up on all four hooves. “I understand now.”
“You understand NOTHING!” The equine figure moved towards the surface of the lake, a towering figure easily several times Sabra’s size, streams of black cloud coiling back from it toward the sky.
“It is you, I believe, who does not understand,” Sabra said, looking up at the figure. “Or perhaps you do, and that is why you try so hard to distract us.”
The figure growled, and two glowing, green eyes burst into being on its head.
“But to do that, you prey on our fears. You make us doubt, because doubt opposes faith. And if we lose faith in ourselves, or in our friends, we become weak. We fall.” He took a step forward, and the shadowy figure did as well. “You make us doubt ourselves until those cracks spread, and we doubt other things as well, Things we know. We begin to fear.”
“Shut up!” The words were almost a growl. “You are nothing! You know nothing!”
“I disagree,” Sabra said, taking another step forward. Then another, working his way toward the center of the lake. Where the maelstrom surged beneath the surface. “I know many things.” The shadowy figure snarled, a red horn protruding forth out of the smoke as it asserted itself.
“But right now, there are a few that matter most,” Sabra said, coming to a stop squarely upon the maelstrom, writhing under the surface. “Such as how you make me and everypony else doubt. You desire our faith to be fear. Because you fear what can come from someone having faith.” The water beneath his hooves began to rumble, the flat surface shaking like a table. “And you worry what will happen if someone with a little faith …” He looked down through the water, eyeing the spinning, churning maelstrom of emotion that had eluded him for weeks, then looked back at Sombra, and smiled.
“You worry what will happen if they take a chance and act on it.”
He dropped into the water, slipping beneath its surface, down into the maelstrom as it swept over and around him, flipping him and spinning him in all directions, dragging him down toward whatever was at its heart …
And he let go.
His hooves touched something solid, and the next thing he knew he was breathing again, water breaking around him as he rose through the surface of the lake on a plinth of grey stone, feeling more alive than he ever had in his life. Water rolled off of his flanks, leaving his coat without so much as a trace of wetness. The water rolled off of the stone too, back into the surface of the lake, flat and calm once more, like a silver mirror.
And there, in front of him on the small stone island, was a raised mount that he recognized at once. There was one just like it in his quarters in the barracks, only not made of stone. A gift. And resting upon it, waiting for him, was a simple, white staff.
With a howl, Sombra’s shadowed form leapt forward, the massive figure dwarfing him and bringing a titanic hoof down to grind him against the stone. He watched it descend, chest swelling … and lifted his hoof.
He felt the impact roll up his limb, but there was no pain. Sombra’s hoof stopped as if it had struck a wall, unmoving.
“You see, Sombra,” Sabra said, smiling up at the figure as it bared its teeth. “You have forgotten your philosophy. You have built yourself on fear. And what opposes fear?”
He moved, his body spinning with a fluid grace, shoving aside Sombra’s hoof and reaching for the staff. An electric surge rushed through him as his hoof touched the staff, and he knew.
With a howl Sombra brought his hooves down again, but he leapt aside, spinning out of the way and bringing the staff around to whip across the shadow’s jaw. The blow rocked the smoky figure back. “You speak lies,” he said, dancing around another blow and bringing the staff up into Sombra’s midsection. “You prey on our doubts, but that is all the power you have. Fear opposes faith, but faith, acted upon, can become knowledge. And knowledge can be a powerful, dangerous thing.” He blocked another blow, effortlessly turning it aside and striking out once more. Sombra howled as he flew back, almost to the edge of the lake.
“And knowledge is what I sought. You were wrong, Sombra.” He danced across the water, his body glowing as his light steps left mirrored ripples on the surface. “I hadn’t failed. At least, not yet. You almost made me believe that I had.” The staff hummed as it swept through the air, leaving behind glowing trails as he brought the tip into Sombra’s sides again and again.
“But that last lie, I knew it was wrong.” A blow to the head. Another to the shoulder. The smoky figure of Sombra was almost backed up to the edge of the lake now. He let out a growl and the crystals surged forward, only for Sabra to shatter them with a blast of his staff.
“And I know now why the princess is able to keep you out, Sombra. Why you can’t penetrate the barrier around the city. I should have known from the very beginning, but I too, had forgotten my philosophy. And then you said I would never find my answer.” Another blow. A howl of pain as he forced the shade back. “But you were wrong. I already have. I did some time ago, even if I didn’t understand it fully until now.”
He lashed out with several rapid blows, driving the shadow up against the crystal barrier at the edge of the lake. It was smaller now, still larger than he was, but far from what it had been mere moments earlier.
He smiled. “And that’s why I remembered. Because I found my answer, Sombra. And I love her. Just as I love my team, and my home.” He was glowing now, light shining out of his body as he balanced on his hind hooves, staff at the ready.
“And a perfect love casts out all fear. That’s why you cannot penetrate the princess’s shield. She opposes you as thoroughly as a flame burns away dry leaves. Philosophy, read, studied, and now understood.” He leaned forward, looking the shade right in its glowing green eyes.
“Now get out of my head.”
He threw his entire body into his staff, striking the shade with all his might, a shockwave rolling out across the lake with the impact, shattering every crystal into nothingness even as the shade shot back into infinity—
And Sabra sat up, jerking back as dark clouds of black smoke peeled away from his body and the bodies of each of his fellow Dusk Guard, coalescing in the center of the cabin with a scream of pain and anger. He could see it streaming out of the other members of the team, but as he watched, the tendrils slowed and began to thicken.
“No.” There was a familiar weight in his hooves and he leapt forward, off of his bunk and through the air as he brought his glowing staff across in another blow, putting all the force he could muster into it. The tendrils of smoke snapped as the cloud shot across the cabin, slamming into the starboard side glass with enough force to split the pane into two large pieces. Even as he jumped to follow, Sombra’s form slipped through the crack with a scream of pain, the black cloud falling through the storm.
Only when it vanished from sight did Sabra turn to see the rest of the group rising to their hooves, shaking their heads as the last of Sombra’s magic burned away, dissapaiting into the air.
“Sabra?” Hunter was the first to speak. “Where did you get that?”
He ignored the question, instead slapping his staff into its place on his back and bolting for the cockpit. Sky was in her seat, as usual, pushing herself up with one hoof and looking around with a concerned look in her eyes. “Sabra?” she asked. “What—?”
He opened his mouth, part of him shouting to say that he knew now. But then he paused.
The time is not right. Not now. Not when she’d just been gripped in who knew what horror.
“I wanted to make sure you were all right,” he said instead. It wasn’t time. Not yet. “Are you?”
“I … I think so.” Her wingtips were trembling, but there was a smile in her eyes. “Thank you.”
“Everyone okay?” Steel’s voice echoed through the cabin. “What just happened?”
“Helmets!” Dawn’s command came right behind the captain’s question. “Now. That was mental magic on a massive scale.”
“Yeah, but what fought it off?” Hunter asked. Sabra turned to look back into the cabin. “And where did Sabra get that?”
He followed Hunter’s pointing hoof just in time to see the white, shimmering staff he’d slung astride his back fade away, and his jaw dropped.
“Well, this is just a guess,” Nova said, rolling his eyes. “But it’s a staff on Sabra’s back that just faded into nothing. So I’m going to say Sabra plus magic, and that it’s tied into the big bad shade getting kicked out of our heads somehow. Sabra?”
He didn’t answer. Couldn’t. Not with what he’d just seen. A staff. In my hooves.
“Sabra?” Steel’s voice shook him from his shock. “Any answers?”
“We had a battle of wills,” he said, turning his eyes back to the captain. “Sombra lost.”
“And the staff?”
“I think … There are old records—very old records—of sages wise enough that they were gifted by the Creator with the power to manifest physical representations of their will in dire need. I …” He looked down at his hooves. “But for me to—”
“You’re the youngest master in what, a thousand years?” Steel shrugged. “I expect if you write your monastery to tell them about it, several of them will make good on some bets. Now …” He looked around the cabin. “Where’s Sombra? And where are the bearers! Move ponies, this isn’t over yet!”
“And helmets!” Dawn called again as they began to move back to their posts. Sabra detached his, taking a brief moment to glance at the clock. How long was I—were we—out? His head tingled as Dawn’s scanning spell went to work.
Probably would have helped to look at a clock before Sombra attacked us, he thought, jamming his helmet back into place and looking out the window. The storm had grown only thicker during the time they had been out, the snow falling fast and furious. So furious that he couldn’t even make out the dome of the city.
Assuming I’m looking in the right direction, he thought as The Hummingbird went into a tight turn.
“We drifted!” Sky called from the cockpit. “We were out for a least a few minutes without autopilot! Not really sure where we are, but I’m making a rough guess and trying to bring us back around to where the Bearers might be!”
“Understood!” Steel called back. “We’ll let you know the moment we see—”
“I see them!” Hunter shouted. “Starboard side! Running for the city! It looks like Captain Armor is with them and … Yeah, they’re being chased by smoke! Sombra’s after them!”
“On it!” The Hummingbird went into another sharp turn, and a moment later Sky let out another shout. “I see ‘em!”
“Can we get there in time?” Steel asked.
“I …” There was a pause. “No … But I think they’re going to make it! They’re almost at the city entrance!”
There wasn’t any point to watching anything else. Sabra turned away from the window as both Steel and Hunter rushed to the cockpit door. Nova and Dawn followed, peering over their backs, and Sabra stepped up beside them. Through the glass and the swirling storm he could just make out seven running figures, pursued by a cloud of black.
Run, Bearers, Sabra thought. You do not wish to be caught by that creature that pursues you. But the cloud was drawing closer, closing the gap. Run!
But they were already moving at a full gallop, and Sombra was almost upon them. They’re not going to make it.
Then one of the figures stopped and spun, sending a pinkish bolt into the cloud and knocking it back. The other six slowed, but then turned and ran.
Captain Armor. He’s holding the line. The Bearers slipped through the shield. But that means …
Sombra’s form descended on the captain, spilling over him and the edges of the shield.
“Bolt!” Nova’s shout rang through the cockpit as the unicorn turned and grabbed hold of the mod in the middle of Dawn’s back. “Hard left!” Then he turned and galloped back down the hall, the yellow glow of his magic removing his own mod and attaching Dawn’s.
Sabra turned and bolted after him. He could only think of one thing Nova could be trying to do. The Hummingbird tilted, propellers roaring and the deck jerking underhoof. Sabra rounded the corner just in time to see Nova, Dawn’s mod in place of his own, shove the hatch open, horn already aglow.
“All right, Smokey. You want to take on some magic?” Nova’s horn blazed, so bright it was almost hard to look at. “Then take this!”
A brilliant pillar of bright yellow light burst through the clouds, slamming down atop the ground where Captain Armor had vanished. Sabra’s visor tinted as the light boiled away Sombra’s form, and even as far away as they were, Sabra could hear the shade’s scream of pain and rage. It was like seeing a beam from a light storm connect.
Then it was over, the pillar vanishing, a sudden dimness falling over the world as the glow around Nova’s horn winked out. Nova himself slumped, his body going limp, and Sabra darted forward, catching him by his armor before he could slide out the open hatch.
Down on the ground, Captain Armor stood in the middle of an open circle amid the clear black. He raised his hoof in what might have been a salute, then turned and dove through the barrier wall even as Sombra surged toward him.
Then the deck tilted underhoof once more, The Hummingbird peeling up and away as it moved away from the city. Sabra hauled Nova’s tired, panting form back into the hallway, propping him against the wall before turning and shutting the hatch.
Their mission was over. The Bearers were in the city.
Now, they would wait.
* * *
The waiting, Sabra decided, was almost worse than participating. They held position a good two miles or more from the city, floating in the air as the storm intensified and then faded, watching as Sombra grew in size and power. More than once he lashed out at them, driving them further away, but in each instance it seemed he was only half-interested, returning quickly to surround the city.
Hours passed. Steel gave orders for everyone to stay in their armor, but approved members of the team resting and cleaning up, or seeing their wounds tended to. The motions almost felt empty, however, as they watched Sombra assault the city again and again, each time with more and more force. His size continued to swell as well, until there wasn’t a single open spot of land around the city that wasn’t surrounded in smoke.
And still they waited, watching. Either for the Bearers to succeed … or for the city and all within it to fall.
No, Sabra thought as he stared at the city. The waiting is definitely worse than actually doing something.
Not that there looked to be much they could do anymore. Nova had fallen asleep almost immediately after casting his massive spell, though he’d avoided burnout this time around. And he was their hardest magical hitter. And the black smoke that made up Sombra had now encircled the city on all sides … What could we do? he thought as he watched the shield shimmer once more. It is as the captain said: we are out of our class.
Then, as he watched, the shield around the city flickered and went out. Cries of dismay sprung up around him as Sombra surged in from all sides, crystal growths bursting out of the streets. Crystal ponies began running in large groups toward the center of the city, driven by the attack. A spear of crystal broke free of the rest, rushing toward the center of the city with incredible speed.
Then there was a flash from the base of the tower, and a moment later the streets began to glow, a soft blue light rushing down them as Sombra’s forward charge came to a complete stop.
“Well,” Dawn said. “I was right. It’s not just for looks.” The glow spread, rising up the central tower, sublimating through the homes, until the entirety of the visible city was simply glowing in warm, soft shades.
Then there was another flash from the base of the tower, and a wave of magic exploded outward, rolling over everything in its path. Crystal shattered and broke apart as the wall slammed into it like a force, the smoke around it seeming to sizzle and then fade away. The spear of crystal that had punched so deeply into the city seemed to resist the longest, but then it too dissolved breaking apart and flying back even as it faded into nothingness. A bright pulse of light shot up the tower, hit the peak, flashed once … and then a shockwave rushed out across the sky, blowing the storm apart in a blast of magical energy.
“Uh … guys?” Nova said moments before the wall of magic slammed into The Hummingbird, passing right through its hull and sweeping over them. The magic prickled, bright light erupting all around them as all the aches and pains of the last day seemed to melt away. Suddenly, Sabra felt good.
No, not good, he thought with a smile. I feel great! He felt energized, alive, like he’d just woken from a long rest to the greatest morning ever, like his heart would burst from his chest. Like he’d felt when he’d thrown Sombra out of his mind.
That, he realized as he looked around the cabin, had not been the only change. What he could see of everyponies’ faces looked different, the hairs shining and refracting like crystal ponies’ did. Even the black crystals along Hunter and Nova’s armor were gone, burned away as if they had never existed.
“Oh great,” Nova said, his voice echoing through the cabin as he spotted his reflection in the window. “This had better not be permanent.”
“You don’t like it?” Dawn asked, her own mane done up in a style that reminded Sabra of the ancient Romanes. Her helmet had been off when the spell hit, apparently. That or … He pulled his own helmet off, feeling his mane as it bounced back to the same new style.
“You ever try sneaking while glowing and sparkly?” Nova asked, trying to adjust his mane with his magic and failing. “It’s not easy.” His horn glowed again, and he let out a faint sigh of relief. “It’s a glamour spell. Gone in a few hours. Good!”
“Guys!” Sabra turned, breath catching in his throat as Sky practically flew out of the cockpit. She’d removed her helmet as well, and the crystalline glamour on her face was …
Hunter elbowed him. “Easy, casanova. Try closing your jaw.” Sky’s eyes met him, and her smile widened.
“Guys!” she said again, waving her hooves. “Forget this. Look at the sky.”
“Whoa.”
“Impressive.”
“Beautiful.”
Sabra’s jaw fell again as he looked out of the windows. The early night sky was rippling with ribbons of rainbow colored energy that danced and flowed like nothing he’d ever seen. Just looking at them brought a sense of peace and wonder, like everything was going to be all right.
“It’s pure emotion magic,” Dawn said, astonishment in her voice. “From the Crystal Empire.” And she was right. He could see the ribbons emanating from the tip of the Crystal Palace, shimmering and winding through the air as if caught in some unseen wind.
“They just keep spreading,” Hunter said, his voice quiet. Sabra could understand the feeling of awe, watching as the magic filled the sky. “They’ll probably see this from Canterlot.”
Captain Song nodded. “That’s what the princesses meant when they said they’d know if the Bearers succeeded. They would have seen this before.” He gestured with one hoof, waving at the shimmering sky. “The Bearers succeeded.”
“Not quite,” Hunter said, pulling his helmet off and giving his mane a toss. Even it had been altered, the hairs long and flowing. “Not just the Bearers.”
“We succeeded.” He looked at Steel, and the captain nodded. “We did it. All of us.”
Steel let out a chuckle. “The lieutenant is right,” he said, his eyes sliding over each of them, pausing, and then moving on, a wide smile on his muzzle. The stoic pony looked … happy. Relieved. “Armor down, everypony. We did it.”
Nova was the first too cheer, and then Sky added her voice in. Sabra added his as well, throwing his hooves up and letting out one of the shouts he’d learned as a cadet. Hunter, Steel, and even Dawn joined in, adding their voices to the mix.
A wing fell over his back as their cheers faded, and he turned his head to see Sky standing next to him, a smile on her muzzle. For a moment they shared a look, a spark … and then the entire team had crashed together, pressed together as they stared out the window at the sky, basking in the soft, shimmering glow of rainbow colors.
“We did good, team,” Steel said, his voice quiet but, Sabra could tell, full of pride.
“Now … Let’s go home.”