Aurora took a deep breath and tried to think rationally. The day had started like any other, but had now been getting progressively weirder for her.
It started with the breakfast; they ate the slightly burned vegetable stew that the kids had managed to make out of the contents of the garden. But then a fresh set of plates was set, and Pinkie Pie announced that she wanted to show off a new trick she had learned during the night. She snapped her… hoof? Aurora wasn’t quite sure what happened. And in a flash of light the plate in front of her filled with sweets.
“Edible illusions,” explained Pinkie Pie, beaming. “They’re not really real, but really yummy, and you’ll never be full, so you can try everything and never have upset tummy.”
“Haven’t you tried this thing before, Pinkie?” asked Applejack.
Pinkie just beamed wider. “I did! But It’s even better now. Come on, give it a bite!”
“Well, as soon as we get any…” said Apple Bloom, who was sitting beside Applejack.
Pinkie’s expression turned into a sheepish grin - the only plate that had been filled was Aurora’s. She quickly repeated the trick for everypony. Aurora looked around in suspicion, then leaned in and smelled the piece of cake in front of her. It smelled of chocolate and whipped cream. Slowly, hesitantly, as if expecting the cake to pop out of existence, she took a small bite. It had all the right texture, and tasted real too, but…
“Pinkie?” she asked after quickly swallowing the first bite, “Why does it taste like strawberries? I can’t see any here.”
“Because it’s a surprise,” replied Pinkie with a giggle. “I told you it was an experiment.”I already knew knew how to make illusion cakes. But I was trying to see if I could make them taste different and still keep them real.”
Aurora took another bite and chewed thoughtfully. “That doesn’t seem to make much sense.”
Pinkie tilted her head, and stuck out her tongue. “And where does it say it has to make sense to be funny? We’re just trying to make you feel good here. I mean all of you. I mean I.”
Aurora raised an eyebrow. Pinkie ignored the unasked question, and dug into her own plate, filled will strangely colored muffins.
***
“What are you doing, Rarity?” asked Aurora an hour later.
She was just about to go into the Dissonance - Obsidian had just made sure that with two awakened members they could complete the spell without the full set, and Twilight insisted that Aurora and the kids accompanied them this time. But just before starting the ritual, Aurora decided to double check if Rarity, who was staying on guard, knew all the tricks to operating the magic mirror. And so she returned to the guards room, only to find Rarity sitting over her suit or armor, brow furrowed in focus.
Rarity yelped and tried to cover her work with her hooves. Then, realising that it was already too late, she withdrew her legs. “Oh, nothing big, darling. It’s just that I always make some nice things for my friends to wear, but I have very little to work with here. So I thought I could at least make your armor match your mane a bit better.”
Aurora looked down, and found that her armor had already been partially transformed with magic; the color shifted into white with a distinctive, pearly sheen.
“Um… that’s very nice of you,” she said, “I’m sure it will make me look great. But could you do it in your free time? We’re leaving you on guard duty here.”
Rarity turned pink. “Of course, of course! I was just trying to make it a surprise, that’s all…”
“Do you know how to shift the perspective?” asked Aurora, pointing her wing at the mirror on the wall.
Rarity got up to her hooves hastily, and approached the artifact, giving Aurora a quick bird’s eye view of the slope on their side of the mountain.
“You can move the point of view higher,” said Aurora, “as long as you keep it directly above the mountain top. The mirror is here, but the viewing spell originates from the inner sanctum. It is useful for checking the sky,” she added.
“Thank you," replied Rarity, still pink in the face, “I will make use of it.”
“Um… we’re about to start,” said Fluttershy, poking her head in from the staircase.
“We’re ready,” replied Aurora with a smile, following the yellow pegasus down the stairs.
They entered the main cave, and opened their wings to fly the rest of the way.
“Um…” asked Fluttershy suddenly, “I was meaning to ask… have you ever had a pet?”
Aurora looked at her in surprise. “No, never.”
“Would you want to have one, one day?” asked Fluttershy.
Aurora considered the question. “I’ve never thought much about that… hey! What is it with you guys all day?”
Fluttershy looked taken aback by the question. “Um… nothing?” she tried weakly.
Aurora tried to establish eye contact for a couple of seconds before finding her attempts futile. Rolling her eyes, she followed Fluttershy towards the sanctum.
***
As the spell sent them into Dissonance, they found themselves in the familiar chamber of the Void Passage. Immediately Twilight approached the wall where the still image of the previous day’s story was still displayed. She focused, and the picture shifted, slowly rewinding backwards. Twilight watched intently for a moment, taking out her notebook, before pausing the picture and turning to Obsidian. “Will you stay here with me in case I need some more details or explanations?”
Obsidian pulled one of the cushions towards the Amaranthine and sat down. “What else could I be doing with my time?” he asked.
“Checking for any more traps in the ruins?” supplied Applejack helpfully.
“I think I could use the Amaranthine myself,” said Twilight.
“You probably could,” replied Obsidian, turning away from her to look closely at the flower. “But it is still dangerous to you, and you are an easily obsessed kind. Better to not let you drain yourself when every day might end in a battle.”
“And what about us?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Did Verba do what you-”
At that there was a jingling sound, as if somepony had disturbed a crystal chandelier. Verba flew into the room, took a pony shape, and pointed his horn towards the door that would lead them out of the room if it really were the Crystal Tower.
Pinkie Pie hopped to the door and pushed it open. Behind it, there was a beach.
***
“What is this place?” asked Aurora, looking around. She had already taken into the air for a better look, leaving behind the pleasantly warm sand under her hooves. From what she could see, they were on a small island in the middle of a calm ocean. The Sun was shining in the sky, and a pleasant wind was blowing, swaying the leaves of the nearby palm trees rhythmically. There were some huts among the trees, and close to the edge of the water, a line of beach chairs set on the sand.
“It was Twilight’s idea,” said Rainbow Dash, beaming, “We’ve spent weeks training, or fighting for our lives. We need a day to chillax.”
“And then Twilight got the idea to spend a day here,” said Applejack. “She made this place with Verba yesterday before we left.”
“We have a whole day to spend here!” said Pinkie loudly, trotting towards the water, the Cutie Mark Crusaders close behind her.
“And when the evening comes,” continued Applejack, “We’ll bring Rarity here to us. Obsidian doesn’t care about having fun, so he’s agreed to stand watch, and Twilight will help us make a fire. There will be snacks and singing.”
“Hey, this water isn’t salty!” called Scootaloo loudly.
“Yup!” agreed Pinkie Pie. “You won’t have to worry about swallowing any!”
Aurora looked around the gathered ponies, from Applejack, to Fluttershy, to Pinkie Pie, who was already playing in the water, to Verba, who had already abandoned the pony shape, instead spreading his runes across the sand in a rectangle, finally to Dash, who was fluttering in the air slightly above her.
The pegasus met Aurora’s gaze with an uneasy grin, and pointed at the sky. “So, how about a flight?” she asked. “Our wings are already healed, and the air is great.”
Aurora swatted her wings downwards, launching herself up to Rainbow’s level. Dash was already flying away, flapping backwards, still grinning at Aurora. “How about we race to that cloud!?” she shouted, pointing at a distant clump of white on an almost clear sky, before turning around and flying there, a rainbow contrail stretching behind her as she built up speed.
Aurora glared after her and followed, steadily building altitude. It didn’t take her long to notice that Dash wasn’t really racing - she was flying faster than most pegasi could, but it was still a fraction of what Aurora had seen her capable of - this was her ’leisurely speeding’, just enough to enjoy the rush of air without straining herself too much. For a moment, Aurora allowed herself to do the same, just soaring into the sky. The wind in her feathers, the warmth of the sun on her coat. It was the perfect summer morning, a still image gathered from some old memories and assembled like a puzzle, meticulously, to touch every sense in its own special way, a dream that could make a pony wish it would last forever.
This isn’t real.
Aurora folded her wings and plunged, swooping down towards where Rainbow Dash now was, rapidly building up speed. She saw Rainbow look over her shoulder, and see her - then accelerate as she realised that she was being chased for real now. But Aurora had more altitude to turn into speed - she felt the pressure in front of her build up, then disappear, just as Dash was seconds away from reaching the cloud she had set as the goal - the rainboom launched Rainbow forwards, propelling her head-first into the cloud bank.
Aurora made a sharp turn upwards, turning a full circle before shedding her momentum and landing.
Rainbow Dash emerged, still slightly dazed, a white beard of cloud stuff hanging from her face. “Hey,” she said, chuckling, “You don’t need to be so rough.”
Aurora stood in front of her, the dream cloud obediently becoming semi-solid to let her stomp for emphasis. “Perhaps I do. What in Tartarus is going on here? You’re all behaving weirdly.”
Dash shook her face clean and met Aurora’s gaze, but leaned back defensively. “What do you mean?” she asked.
Aurora flapped her wings impatiently. “Don’t what do you mean me, okay? I’m not stupid. Or do I need to list it to you? Just what are you trying to achieve here?”
Dash turned slightly red, scratching the back of her head with a hoof. and sitting down on the cloud. “We… just thought you too could use some time to chillax. Okay? It’s been a really rough week, and…”
“Nopony told me about this, but all of you knew,” interrupted Aurora. “And Pinkie made those illusion cakes for me. And Rarity… this is all about me. Why?”
Rainbow Dash hesitated. “Because… you’ve had it the worst,” she finally said. “You’ve lost everypony. All your friends. And we made you show it to us like some Hearthswarming play. That was horrible of us.”
“Perhaps,” replied Aurora. “Perhaps it was. But you needed to see what had happened. And I still need too. I’ll need to finish the vision, and have Obsidian pull it further with that flower of his. We need to find out what happened to Vengeance.”
“Are you sure-” started Rainbow Dash.
“Yes, I’m sure,” replied Aurora, pushing into her personal space. “We have a war to win. And I want no special treatment, not from you, not from anypony. Get it? You all have got your share of pain, and there will be more before it's over. I’m not special.”
“That’s not special treatment,” protested Dash, rising from the cloud. “We always do such things for each other. We’re just finally treating you like one of us, as we should’ve.”
Aurora’s expression softened. “You do?” She looked around. “Fair enough. I’ll play along, but…” Her face grew stern again. “Never say that I lost all my friends, get it? They’re all here,” she said, punching her own chest, “always with me, as long as I fight to finish what they started. That’s what you learn when ponies die around you. If your friends die, that doesn’t mean they’re lost, that means they are your friends for life. A friend is never really lost, unless you abandon them. Remember that.”
There was a moment of tense silence. Then Aurora grinned. “Another race? For real this time.”
Dash responded with an awkward smile. “Sure, why not?”
And so they raced, until they couldn’t feel their wings, and then swam with PInkie, until all they could do was rest on the beach chairs, absorbing the warmth of the afternoon sun. Then Obsidian brought in Rarity, before grumbling something under his breath, and leaving to guard them in the waking world. Twilight and Verba made the sun set, and Pinkie started a fire on the beach. They sat on the sand and baked dream potatoes until late at night, and all of them wished that day would never end.
***
“Hey, wake up everypony! We’ve got company!” shouted Applejack.
Aurora snapped awake, rolling from her sleeping spot onto her hooves in one fluid move, ready to fight before she fully woke up. Around her, others were waking up in much less coordinated manner.
“Who is it?” demanded Dash. “Are we under attack?”
“Not yet,” said Obsidian, entering the roo. “But the uninvited guests are right at our doorstep.”
He pointed his hoof at the magic mirror behind Applejack. Everypony was already awake enough to see the three shapes standing in the swirling snow in front of the main gate.
“That’s Mrs Bluebonnet!” called Scootaloo out loud, “and that Pierce guy!”
“And that’s Enigma,” added Obsidian, glaring at the figure in the middle.
“What are they doing here?” asked Twilight Sparkle.
“And how did they find us?” added Rarity.
“I can feel the protections straining,” said Obsidian. “Guilt is testing the spells using his pattern emanation. Do you see? The snowstorm is less severe around him. He’s dampening the spell just by being there.”
Twilight looked around the chamber, before turning towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “Girls, go to the house next to the garden and hide! We will go down there, and see what they want.”
“Well, what could they want?” asked Aurora, quickly strapping on her wing blades. “See that weird thing on the unicorn's side? It’s that thing that destroyed Celestia, isn’t it?”
“They haven’t used it to break down the door,” noticed Fluttershy. Everypony was already walking down the stairs, using their magic to armor up in a hurry.
“Perhaps they want to save energy,” suggested Twilight.
“Or maybe they just want to talk?” proposed Rainbow Dash. Her friends looked at her strangely.
“Hey, I’m not saying he’s trustworthy or anything, but he’s supposed to be super sneaky, isn’t he? He wouldn’t just stand in front of the door if he wanted a fight.”
They got down the stairs, and faced the inner side of the gate, Rarity sparing a moment to look back towards Sweetie Belle and exchange reassuring nods. As the sound of the three fillies’ hooves disappeared in the distance, the Elements braced themselves, the lights of protecting spells spreading across their armors and coats.
Twilight took a deep, calming breath. “So, what now?”
Rainbow turned to look at Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie?”
Pinkie closed her eyes in focus, and for a moment her body twitched weirdly. “No clear reading,” she finally said with a shrug.
“That… might be good news,” said Rarity hesitantly. “Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy took a step towards the door.
“I… I’m not sure about Enigma, but the other two are not angry,” she said. “I can project some peace, just in case.”
“You do that, Fluttershy,” said Twilight, “And the rest of you, prepare yourselves. Applejack, use Honesty too. We’ll find out what it is all about.”
With a push of magic from Twilight’s horn, the ice barrier was dispelled from within. The gate swung outwards, the six Elements standing in the doorway, Aurora and Obsidian behind them, facing the newcomers.
“So, you have found us,” said Twilight Sparkle in a formal tone, trying to look confident, but still eying both Enigma and Pierce’s pattern gun nervously. “What are you looking for here?”
“We’re here to warn you,” started Enigma. “This hideout is no longer safe.”
“We’re also here to join you,” added Pierce.
“What?” asked Twilight in surprise. She made no gesture to invite the three ponies in, but her magic extended outwards, creating a bubble of calm weather outside the gate. She looked from one pony to another. “Dr. Bluebonnet I can understand, after what Applejack had told me. But you?” she eyed Pierce suspiciously. “You’re supposed to be one of Celestia’s best agents, aren’t you? What happened to change your mind?” She took a closer look at him. “You aren’t a changeling, are you?”
“He’s been my agent before he was Gloria’s,” said Enigma. “Since I was the one who designed her original screening procedures, I could tell him how to act to be recruited. He was my insurance in case she wanted to trick me, which she did. When I left the palace, I tasked him with keeping an eye on Dr. Bluebonnet. Last night she finally decided to escape Canterlot, so he contacted me, and I facilitated their escape.”
“And how did you find us?” asked Aurora from the second rank.
“North Star did,” said Pierce. “He found some old books describing Nevercrest, and wrote about it to Luna.”
“The Shattered despise this place,” added Enigma. “They prefer not to remember of its existence. But once reminded of it, they would check. We passed their high altitude scouting team on our way here.”
“I didn’t see anypony,” protested Applejack.
“They’re good at their job,” explained Enigma. “They didn’t need to get too close either. That avalanche site on the slope below is rather hard to miss.”
Obsidian’s jaw clenched. “I take it you didn’t take them out?”
“Not much point,” replied Enigma. “Their not returning would be a message just as clear. Either way, you need to get out of here.”
“How much time do we have?” asked Twilight. “There are things I still need to learn here.”
“Depending on how much extra support the Shattered want to bring,” replied Enigma, “I’d say about six hours.”
Dr. Bluebonnet stepped forwards. “If… if knowledge is what you seek, I think I can help. I’ve worked with Dr. Stone for years, and… when I left, I took some of her old notes from the archives. I can’t translate all of it, but between Mr. Enigma and Obsidian…”
“You have them with you!?” Twilight’s eyes widened with excitement. “This might be exactly what I’ve been working on! If you can help me, that’s great news.” She turned her head back inside the cave. “Oh, I need to use the Void Passage more than ever. We cannot afford to waste a second more.”
“Stop,” said Obsidian sternly. “There are other things we cannot afford to do.” He pushed between Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, into the front of the group. “Let’s get them tested first.”
“You,” he said, pointing his staff at Bluebonnet. “Are you the pony you claim to be, Bluebonnet the engineer?”
Bluebonnet looked taken aback, but when Applejack looked at her and nodded, she met Obsidian’s gaze. “I am.”
“You have come here to aid us in our battle against the Shattered, and not as their agent?” continued Obsidian.
“Yes,” said Bluebonnet sternly. “I’m here to help you, and this is no trick.”
“Fine,” said Obsidian. “I’ll use my magic to scan you later. There might be things about you you’re not aware of. The Shattered are capable of all sorts of tricks. Now, what about you?” he said, turning towards Pierce.
”I’m here as an agent of Enigma, to help you fight the Shattered, but above all to fulfill my duty of protecting Dr. Bluebonnet,” said Pierce, glaring at Obsidian. “Know that, and never make me choose between the two.” He exhaled and turned towards the Elements. “I’m the same pony you met before. You can call me Pierce.”
“It’s Pincushion though, isn’t it?” asked Rainbow Dash.
The unicorn’s face turned stiff. “How do you know that name?”
Rainbow Dash smiled. “It’s a long story, but you could say I had a dream about it.”
Pierce looked around. Enigma and Obsidian were unreadable, but Bluebonnet looked suddenly tense. The rest just seemed confused.
Finally, Pierce sighed. “That name used to be mine. But I haven’t used it for years. It is of a pony I have left behind. I now bear whatever name Enigma gives me.”
Obsidian sneered. “I see Guilt chooses the most appropriate underlings. Very well, you can come in and do your duty.”
His sneer disappeared as he turned to face Enigma. “But you won’t. I will not allow you inside.”
“Why not?” said Applejack, alarmed. “He said he’s here to help us. He’s already helping. I can tell he’s being honest about it.”
“Because his honesty isn’t worth a spit,” said Obsidian slowly. He was now standing on the forefront of the group, facing Enigma, his staff twitching at his side, ready to leap between him and Pierce, who checked his weapon nervously.
Twilight looked sideways towards Fluttershy, who returned a nervous glance and sent more power through her gem.
“You were honest when you vowed your loyalty to the Empire, weren’t you?” said Obsidian. “And yet, it didn't stop you from changing your mind later, spitting on your duty, performing that crazy ritual along with the others.”
“You know that’s not the whole story,” replied Enigma. His voice was still calm, but his nostrils flared slightly.
“We’ve been told in detail what happened,” continued Obsidian. “You had your reasons. You always do. Don’t you see this is where the problem is? You had reasons to fight for the Empire, you had reasons to disobey orders, you had reasons to destroy the Empire, fighting alongside the other Shattered.”
“The Empire betrayed me,” barked Enigma, suddenly no longer calm.
Obsidian snarled in return, baring his teeth. “Oh, I’ve heard that one too. Slaughtered over a false accusation. The fastest pony in the world can never get an alibi. All the Elements of Harmony who defied the Emperor to defend you, who didn’t go to battle until they had to protect everypony from your rampage. All the civilians Vengeance turned to ash when you lured Verba away so she could burn the capital. You must have felt so betrayed by all of them.”
“You…” Enigma ground his teeth. “I acknowledged my fault, and suffered punishment for it.”
“Oh, right,” replied Obsidian. “Three hundred years sealed in stone, before the Shattered freed you. How steep is the price of your justice. A day’s time out for every life taken? And then you were broken out by the Shattered, and you instantly rejoined them.”
“Obsidian, stop it,” hissed Twilight behind his back, but he didn’t react in any way.
“Are you going to list my sins until you waste the chance of getting my help?” asked Enigma. “Are you so stuck in events from thousands of years ago that you can’t see the present past your own grudges?”
“Obsidian, this really isn’t helping,” said Rainbow Dash.
Obsidian barely glanced back at her, before facing Enigma again. “Oh, so you don’t like hearing about your past sins? You prefer we focused on the present? Let us move to more recent events then. After you were freed and rejoined the Shattered, you changed your mind, and left them. Then joined them again. Then left them again, and are now actively scheming against them. I’m sure you had your reasons every time. But how can I know you won’t have a reason to turn against us next?”
Enigma’s eyes no longer glared in anger. He seemed to shrink, not mad anymore, but tired and frustrated. “I rejoined the Shattered because I saw them as the only family I had left,” he said, “ then left them when I had enough of their madness, hating the sight of what they had become. I rejoined them again hoping to save a life of a little girl. And now I have become their enemy because they abused my goodwill to betray me.”
Obsidian looked at Enigma, silently considering his statement. Then he turned his eyes towards Bluebonnet. “Ah, I understand. It was her daughter, wasn’t it? The girl who attacked Arrogance to ‘free everypony?' And now she fulfills her daughter’s dying wish, while you are finally free to act? A curious story. Tell me, Guilt, how is it that the fastest pony alive couldn’t make it in time to stop such a tragedy from unfolding? You won’t tell me the situation blindsided you?”
Enigma’s eyes widened, his face changing so rapidly that everypony took an instinctive step back. Only Obsidian remained where he had stood, looking at Enigma with a sneer.
Finally, Enigma forced his expression to calm, and closed his eyes. “That is enough. I don’t need to be here. Dr. Bluebonnet wants to help you. I have brought her here. But I don’t need to bear the sight of you a second longer.”
And with that he was gone. For a moment there was no sound but the swishing of wind.
Then Pinkie Pie spoke. “Gee, nice going there.”
Obsidian snorted. “He isn’t exactly helping his cause, is he?” he said over his shoulder. “Well, it’s not like I expected a thank you from you anyway.”
Twilight pushed past him to stand in front of Bluebonnet and Pierce. “Please forgive us,” she said. “It seems he really has been stewing in that grudge for four thousand years.”
“Enigma had anticipated the problem,” said Pierce. “We talked about it and agreed that we would join without him if he isn’t welcome here.”
“You said some really horrible things,” said Fluttershy to Obsidian, disappointment ringing in her voice.
“He did some really horrible things,” replied Obsidian. “Have I told you how he killed Surprise, the first Laughter? He first attacked her with his words, breaking her until she could no longer laugh, and then-”
“Now is not the time for this!” interrupted Applejack angrily, the power of Honesty ringing in her voice.
“Come on, guys,” said Rainbow Dash. “Let’s all get inside, and prepare to get out of here.”
***
“Okay, I’m finished,” said Obsidian ten minutes later. “I can’t guarantee there are no tricks here, but there are no monsters hiding inside them, no deadly diseases, and no hidden compulsions to kill you.”
“Okay then,” said Twilight, pulling out a short list, and crossing off the first item. “In that case, let’s use the time we have left. First, we cast a spell to send me and Dr.Bluebonnet into the Void Passage. We’ll compare notes, and try to figure out as much as possible. Obsidian, you stay here, and make a teleportation circle - it must be powered up and ready to go when we come back. Aurora, you stay in the mirror room, and tell us if there is anypony coming. The rest of you, pack our things and bring them here.”
“What exactly are you going to do?” asked Dr. Bluebonnet nervously. “I’ve heard of the Dissonance from what I was told when you all returned, but I have no firsthoof experience. I was told direct exposure is dangerous.”
Twilight gave her a reassuring smile. “We’ll stay here physically. The spell will only send our minds to the Void Passage, a stable spot established within Dissonance. We can make thoughts into images and objects there, and also view some old memories. This will allow us to check things much faster, and Verba, guardian of the passage, can help us translate.”
Aurora nodded, and took to the air, flying towards the gate. Applejack turned around towards some of the already cleared houses in the distance. “Apple Bloom!” she called aloud.
A pink mane poked from the window. “We’ve heard everything!” shouted Apple Bloom. “You can count on us, sis!”
Bluebonnet watched as the three fillies emerged from the ancient ruin and galloped towards the garden. “You have the children here with you?” she asked, a hint of shock in her voice.
“We could think of no place safer for them than at our side,” replied Rarity.
“That’s… horrible, actually,” said Bluebonnet. “What about your families? They made it out of the Crystal Empire, didn’t they?”
The Elements exchanged meaningful looks. “They’re safe,” said Twilight. “But we can’t contact them right now.” She looked around. “Is everypony ready?”
The Elements took their positions around the circle. Obsidian stood aside, his staff planting itself in the very center. “Please, step inside,” he said to Bluebonnet.
The scientist looked down at the lines cut in the stone floor, and finally nodded in understanding. “This looks like a very high energy spell,” she said. “I hope your circle is precise.”
“We have used it before,” Twilight reassured her. “I only modified it a bit to make it easier to switch ponies. Everypony? On my mark.”
The six Elements closed their eyes, and the circle filled with swirling colors.
***
“May I have a moment?”
Rainbow Dash looked up from the bags she was packing. Pierce was standing in the doorway, looking in.
“What is it?” she asked, grabbing two sets of saddle bags, one her own, and one Twilight’s, and flinging them across her back.
Pierce walked in. He hadn’t dropped his own luggage since he entered the cave, and the pattern gun still hung at his side. “I need to talk to you,” he said, gesturing with his head towards the stairs.
“Just a sec,” said Dash, shaking her withers to set the bags evenly across her back. She took a glance at Aurora, who was standing at the magic mirror, her bags the last ones not packed. The mare nodded, a small gesture, but Dash knew it meant she would manage without help.
Satisfied, she walked out of the guards room, and down the stairs.
Pierce did not speak until they reached the ground floor and started walking into the cave. Dash knew what it was all about, and started formulating the answer before the question was asked. “So… what do you need?”
“You said you had a dream about me,” said Pierce in a terse whisper. “What was all that about? And don’t tell me it’s a long story. I don’t appreciate ponies randomly knowing my secrets.”
“The truth is, we don’t know,” replied Dash. “Remember when you found us asleep in those changeling pods? Turns out the changelings weren’t the ones who put us to sleep. Applejack asked them, and they didn’t know who did it.”
“Yes,” said Pierce with a nod.
“Well,” continued Dash, “While we were asleep, we got into this place called the Void Passage. It’s like a magical maze that messes with ponies’ minds to find if they're good enough to be the Elements. You were in my dream there, as a military officer or something. I don’t remember much of it, the place messed with me something fierce. So I didn’t recognize you right away. It was only when I searched your pockets, and found the sunglasses, that it clicked.”
“You searched me?” asked Pierce.
“Hey, you were paralyzed with venom, remember?” said Dash defensively. “You had a lot of stuff with you, and I was trying to find something that would help.”
“How could you have dreamed about me?” asked Pierce. “You’d never met me before.”
“Obsidian says you can find everything in Dissonance,” said Dash. “Except for the Shattered. It spits them out. But… he said the Void Passage reads the minds of those inside it to make its stories. And that’s weird because none of us had known you before.”
“I had seen you all before,” said Pierce. “But you hadn’t seen me. And even if you did, none of you knew anything about me. Perhaps there was somepony else there with you?”
“I don’t think so,” said Dash. “The Void Passage is very hard to get into. There was just Verba, but he’s like, a part of that place. He doesn’t even have a body anymore.”
“So, nopony else was there, that you know of,” said Pierce glumly. “Something is not adding up here. Like those girls that disappeared from the castle. It wasn’t Enigma that took them. The changelings?”
“Not them either,” said Dash. “We tried to see who did it, but he masked himself even from Obsidian’s magic.”
They were almost back to the group. Pierce stopped, and looked Dash in the eyes.
“If you find out anything more, let me know,” he said. “Also… call me Pierce.”
“O… okay?” replied Dash confusedly.
Pierce gave her a stern look. “This… has brought back some painful memories. Things I’d rather not remember. So… Pierce. Not Pincushion, and definitely not Pin.”
***
“So... this is the Void Passage.” Bluebonnet looked around. They were in the center of the temple, surrounded by the half-assembled ritual relay, tended to by still images of ponies long gone. She poked the image of past Verba curiously, and flinched when her hoof went through him.
“It’s a vision of the ritual the first Elements of Harmony performed,” said Twilight. “I’ve been trying to piece together what exactly they did, in hope it would let me find out what went wrong for the Shattered. But I can’t see inside the equipment they’re using, and I can’t feel their spell, just see it. So my data is incomplete. You said you had some notes from the Shattered?”
“Yes, yes.” Bluebonnet turned to reach for her saddle bags. “Wait a moment, if this is a dream…”
“This is just a reflection of you,” said Twilight. "The notes won’t get damaged, even if something happens to them. I actually had to make a spell to let me take proper notes here that I could take with me.”
“So…” Bluebonnet pulled at a thick stack of papers with her teeth. They nearly fell apart, but Twilight managed to grab them with telekinesis. She banished some of the images, and made the papers levitate in front of her in neat rows.
“You’re right,” she said. “This looks very similar to what they did. It’s like… a number of versions, created over passing centuries. We’d just need to know the language to make sense of all the descriptions. Verba!?”
There was a jingling sound, and Verba emerged out of nothingness right beside Bluebonnet, who first flinched away, and then stared with fascination. “Is this… Verba? What’s happened to him?”
“A longtime exposure to Dissonance without having a body,” explained Twilight. “His ghost kind of… dissolved. These runes are old protection spells he used to have, keeping him together. Verba, could you take a look at this for us? We could really use a translation.”
Verba walked to Twilight’s side. He didn’t make any move to indicate that he was reading, just standing still for a moment, but then sparks of light appeared on the pages, lines of foreign symbols morphing slowly into legible text.
Bluebonnet looked over Twilight’s shoulder. “He’s going to translate the whole thing? But we only have a couple of hours.”
Twilight smiled. “Fortunately, time is a bit relative here. We should manage. In the meantime, let us look at what we have learned so far.”
***
Twilight looked at a large sheet covered with notes. It was an enlarged version of what she had put in her notebook, tiny cribbles that wouldn’t be possible without magic, enlarged to easily legible form.
“So, I think we have the whole schemata. The way it looks, the first stage works much like the circle we used to get here. The combined powers of the focus users create a funnel that harnesses the magic of the leyline into a single spell meant to reach the Dissonance - these prongs serve a similar purpose to what Obsidian’s staff does in our circle, directing the magical energy. But once the breach appears, and the magic of Dissonance comes crashing down into the sanctum…”
“The flow is reversed,” continued Bluebonnet. “It’s so much power, the leyline becomes irrelevant. The magic hits the array…”
“And is separated into frequencies,” said Twilight, eyes glowing with excitement, “each flowing down one of the prongs, based on how they had been attuned by the console. With one pony at the base of each prong, receiving the magic through the focus… it would be empowered by matching energy, and welded to their own aura. Yes! That’s how they did it.”
Bluebonnet looked at the image of the ritual preparations around them. “With the sixth pony gaining energy from each conduit, as the magic of Friendship could synergize all five frequencies. So, the six ponies performing the spell gained the powers of Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, Loyalty, and Friendship, while… the rest was channeled away from the circle…” she fell silent, looking at the sealing container. “And you say that barely held.”
Twilight followed her gaze. “Yes. They were very lucky it worked as it did. But what about the Shattered? None of it explains what happened to them.”
Bluebonnet sighed. “I had hoped the notes would have some more clues for that. You said the containment device wasn’t there, so they must have modified the array to just vent the energy outside.”
“Or create a smaller tear,” interjected Twilight, “but a smaller phenomenon might create less power output.”
“We also know there were just six of them there,” continued Bluebonnet. “That means nopony at the console to adjust the settings on the fly if anything went wrong. It was extremely foolhardy of them.”
“So, that creates a very dangerous scenario,” said Twilight. “But unless they made some other modifications, this doesn’t explain the pattern splicing in the least.”
“The rest does make sense though,” said Bluebonnet. “Let’s assume something is wrong with the spell itself. Or… perhaps it was repeating the ritual in the same spot that caused it? Like trying to inject into a vein that’s already scarred from a previous attempt?”
Twilight squinted skeptically. “Can you even damage Dissonance? It’s supposed to be endless.”
“Let’s focus on what we know for now,” said Bluebonnet. “We can theorize later.” She stopped, and looked at Twilight. “You know, we could've learned a lot by just asking, if Obsidian hadn’t kicked Enigma out of here.”
“I didn’t mean for that to happen,” said Twilight. “But it’s not like I can persuade him. All of his friends died fighting the Shattered. And… when Vengeance burned the capital of the Alicorn Empire, the mare he loved was there too.”
Bluebonnet shook her head. “There is no winning this one, is there? So, we know something goes wrong with the ritual, and the sanctuary is flooded with pattern instead of magic. An event of this magnitude would likely… wipe all the spirits around the mountain.”
Twilight looked with worry, as Bluebonnet’s face contorted with sorrow. Not knowing what to say, she stayed silent until the scientist composed herself enough to continue.
“But here, within the sanctuary, it would be different. There would be a powerful spike of magic going upwards against the flow of pattern. The energies are antithetic to each other. Some would be cancelled out. A lot of it would disperse explosively. Probably devastate the sanctuary in the process. But there would be more pattern than that, so finally the descending energy would reach the array… and it would conduct it the same way as it does magic.”
“It would?” ask Twilight, visibly surprised. “I didn’t think it would be compatible.”
“It is,” assured her Bluebonnet. “Although, with nopony to cut the power… the conflicting energies would likely blow it up. Since the Shattered survived, it must have held long enough for the procedure to be complete… the next in line would be their foci. These would definitely be destroyed.”
“Is that why they called them ‘Shattered’?” asked Twilight.
Bluebonnet raised an eyebrow. “Is it? I assumed it was about their souls, but that makes a lot of sense. The foci would be the last thing shielding them. And the array still filtered the energy into frequencies. So, if they were shielded enough to walk out of there…”
“They would receive much less power,” said Twilight. ‘But it would be welded into their beings all the same. Obsidian said that it isn’t about the power they have, but the power they can call upon - their minds are living conduits for pattern.”
“How are they even alive?” said Bluebonnet.
“Barely?” replied Twilight. “This must be a big part of what is wrong with them. A lot of their emotions are lost, and the rest is magnified because that’s all they have left. This makes them all crazy.”
“I have seen them being emotional,” said Bluebonnet. “Perhaps the effect diminished over time as their minds adjusted.”
“They’re not emotionless,” said Twilight, “but they can do horrible things and not care. If they didn’t care about something before, it… you know Enigma much better than I do. What is important for him?”
Bluebonnet considered the question. “I must say, I don’t know. Sometimes he’s quite pony, and sometimes he does things I don’t understand at all. He does seem to care the most when he feels guilty about something.”
There was a shimmer of light, and Aurora appeared behind them. “Hey there. I’m here to tell you that we’re almost ready to evacuate. Also, I wanted to use the Amaranthine one last time before we go. Are you two finished here?”
“Not quite,” said Twilight. “But I have noted down how the original spell worked, and that has given me some ideas. Now that I know how the pattern has been bound to the souls of the Shattered, I think I could devise a spell to reverse the process. Problem is, it would require an absolutely massive amount of power.”
Aurora stared at her. “You could really do it? After just a couple of hours of work?”
Twilight blushed. “Nopony before me had all the data to work with. And it’s still not finished. I will need to work on it when we have a bit of peace. So, what do you want to use the Amaranthine for? I’m surprised Obsidian allowed you to use it.”
“He said we can’t all be here if the enemy could show up any minute,” replied Aurora. “But there is one more thing we have to find out.”
“Which is?” asked Bluebonnet.
“Vengeance,” said Aurora. “We need to find out what has happened to her.”
“Do we?” asked Twilight. “If nopony knows where she is, nopony will free her. And we can look for her resting place after we’ve dealt with the others.”
“Obsidian said so too,” said Aurora. “We argued about it for almost an hour. But then Pinkie got all shaky, and said it was important.”
“It’s the… Pinkie Sense phenomenon, isn’t it?” asked Bluebonnet.
“So, you know about it?” asked Twilight. “If she says it’s important, it probably is.”
“Truth be told,” said Aurora, “I’m not sure if she’s really had a premonition, or just played it in front of Obsidian for my sake. She’s been weird...ever since that last battle. I could hear her mutter to herself whenever she thought nopony was listening.”
“Let us not waste time,” said Bluebonnet. “What do you want to do exactly?”
“She’s going to use the Amaranthine, Obsidian’s scrying flower,” explained Twilight. “Verba, could you bring it here?”
The guardian of the Void Passage dissolved into a cloud of runes, and flew away. Twilight approached Aurora. “Pinkie is always strange, more than many ponies would believe. But if you are worried… we might repeat the healing spells on her. Perhaps that concussion left some lasting effects…”
There was a jingling sound above them, and Verba descended into to room, bringing with him the pot with the red flower in it. He set it in the center of the room, the visions around it disappearing until the chamber was almost empty again. He then flew away as the three mares approached the flower.
“So, what does it do?” asked Bluebonnet.
“It filters the images flowing through Dissonance,” said Twilight, “finding visions from specific times and places.”
Bluebonnet looked in fascination. “It can look into the past? Why didn’t you use it to learn more about the Shattered?”
“We did,” explained Twilight. “That’s how we learned most of what I’ve shown you. We’d use it more, but it is very draining to use, and Obsidian insists we need to be ready for a fight at any time.”
She turned towards Aurora. “So, where do we start?”
Aurora approached the flower cautiously. “If I had the time and power, I’d watch the whole of history after I was trapped, find out what happened to the rest of the Resistance. But what we need now is Vengeance. I need to find out what happened to her.”
She leaned in, and sniffed the flower. “So, how do I use this thing?”
“It almost uses itself,” said Twilight. “That’s the danger, actually. You need to let its magic touch you, and flow through you. It will feed off your essence, and in return, it will show you what you want to see.”
“The thing is,” said Aurora, “I don’t really want to see that.” She stared at the flower, sighing softly, as the plant pulled a translucent image of her face out of her. The walls pulsed, transforming into an image of a demolished penthouse.
***
The floor exploded with girders and stone, half the penthouse collapsing in seconds. Aurora felt the stone tiles give way under her hooves, but spread her wings and recovered, taking to the air, while staying inside Aquila’s protective shield. She sent a pulse of wind, pushing away the dust, clearing her field of vision just in time to see Vengeance flying towards them, her gleaming silver armor surrounded by a vortex of metal shards. A beam of power from Aquila went straight at her, but the alicorn shifted out of the way, sending a salvo of shards against their barrier.
Aurora braced for impact. In never came. The shards shifted away before they hit, and Vengeance herself disappeared too.
Where did they go? Aurora looked around frantically. Not only couldn’t she Vengeance anywhere - she realised that the initial explosion had divided the team; Whisper was nowhere in sight, and Jingles…
Jingles was standing several yards from them, swaying on the uneven ground, blood dripping from under his clothes. As Aurora watched, something small and metal appeared right next to him, flying at such speed it went straight through his barrell and disappeared from sight. His protections had already dissolved, and the light of Laughter faded around his neck. He looked down on his chest in surprise, then briefly towards Aurora, before turning his eyes towards the stormy sky.
“There are no comets seen…” he rasped, a trickle of blood appearing in the corner of his mouth.
Aurora opened her mouth to scream his name, but her voice was lost in a roar of thunder. A pillar of lightning fell from the sky upon Jingles, turning his body ablaze, and making the blades embedded in his body glow white hot. As Aurora’s eyes recovered from the flash, she saw the rest of his body get stripped off and disintegrate, the half-charred Laughter clanking to the ground uselessly.
“BOW!” called the voice from the skies. Vengeance was above them, wings spread wide, blinding radiance glowing from her.
“You bow!” growled Aquila, eyes blazing with white light, a wide cone of power shooting upwards to envelop the Shattered. Aurora could see her try to shift, fail to when her power was disrupted, and then, just as Aquila’s magic was about to get a solid hold of her, something big and metal fell from the sky.
“Then turn to ash,” said Vengeance.
Aurora could feel the pulse of the Shattered’s power. She braced for impact, Loyalty enveloping her in a cocoon of magic. The explosion took out the rest of the penthouse, sending a shower of stone to the ground beneath. It took the floor from underneath them too, though it made no difference this time - the remaining Elements stood their ground in the air, no longer relying on the treacherous footing.
Some kind of bomb, Aurora managed to think before they were attacked again - a whole girder flying at them like a javelin, infused with enough pattern to pierce through the barrier and strike Aquila. Aurora saw her lose balance, and the barrier falling, She’ll kill her, she thought panically - she caught a glimpse of white feathers in the corner of her eye, another girder flying in to exploit the opening.
“NO!” screamed Aurora, A pulse of red expanding from her as the desperate surge of magic from Loyalty launched her to from still to rainboom in a split second. She collided with the side of the second girder, bending it and knocking it of course, rebounding herself towards Vengeance. She could feel her power dampened by the pattern aura, her momentum absorbed by the ability she had earlier experienced from Hate.
It was not enough. Her hoof found its mark, nearly breaking itself from the impact as it tore through armor, flesh and bone, sending Vengeance spiralling towards the mass of rubble beneath. The alicorn hit the building in a spray of blood. Aurora herself plowed through the ruined floor next to her. She got up, her armor field reassembling around her as she recovered from the crash.
“Now, get her before-”
Everything exploded. Aurora’s magic protected her, but she still recoiled, a piece of grit hurting her eye despite her aura. Then there was lightning all around her, burning her coat, and cramping her muscles, forcing her to her knees.
Vengeance emerged from the rubble, levitating herself up, her broken foreleg righting itself, as her muscle and skin flowed like wax, reknitting. “Such arrogance… to think you worms can challenge me…”
A curtain of metal and stone rose in front of her, shielding her as Aquila struck at her with a wide beam. The lightning around Aurora disappeared, a bubble of power from Sauti protecting her and healing the burns. She looked at the clash of power just in time to see the barrier melt - Aquila’s magic powered through the pattern protection and transmuted the stone into water, sending it flying in all directions before blasting the rest away.
Is she still there? I need to hit her the moment she emerges, she thought. Spreading her magical senses, she started looking for a spot that would resist her the most - Vengeance couldn’t hide herself while fighting at such power level.
There were two points, one clearly Vengeance herself, the other was swirling in front of her, a point of density she funneled her power into.
“AQUILA!” shouted Aurora, her voice reaching her sister over the noise of battle, their magical connection bringing the full context of the warning through. Aquila dropped a spell she was about to direct at Vengeance, instead casting a portal that spun around itself, taking out a large chunk of stone, sending the anomaly…
A second sun erupted in the sky, far above. It was too far up for them to even hear the noise, but Aurora still shuddered, instinctively shielding her eyes. A pony made of stone in Aquila's likeness exploded from the floor in front of her, absorbing a spray of metal projectiles that would have hit her barrier. She sprung up and spread her wings. Around her more stone ponies appeared, all leaping towards Vengeance, trying to dogpile her to hold her still for a precious second.
We can’t let her teleport again, she thought, as the Shattered spun a blade of pure lightning around her, cleaving through the golems, Aquila needs a clear shot.
“Together!” she shouted, the light of Loyalty intensifying. This time she did not charge into close combat; instead her power spread in strands of red, enclosing the area around Vengeance, a net of magic to dampen her pattern powers.
A long iron nail appeared in the air, inches from Aurora’s face. She felt Aquila’s magic yanking her away in a teleport effect, a split second before it could embed itself in her eye. The spell dropped her in the air above Vengeance. From her position she could see Aquila’s next spell shoot and spread out like a spider web of lightning, catching and disintegrating more projectiles, as they kept appearing around her to strike from different directions. Aquila herself was almost too bright to look upon, the crystal upon her forehead enveloping her in a blazing halo. Vengeance was in front of her, trying trick after trick to bring her down.
I need to weaken her, she thought. She dove down, expanding her magic as she descended. A spike of rock shot up to meet her, transforming into metal as it missed her by inches - but Aurora wasn’t foolhardy enough to try a straight charge - she would not catch her enemy off guard a second time - rather than try to strike Vengeance directly, she exploded with magic, a ball of red that enveloped the Shattered, as Aurora hit the ground next to her.
Aquila focused her spell. Vengeance looked into her eyes, and suddenly her gaze was beams of light. The barriers held, but the spell still dissolved, as the unicorn fell down screaming.
The rubble erupted from underneath Aurora, another spike blunting itself on her protections, but still hitting with enough force to knock the breath out of her, dispelling her magic armor, and sending her rolling. Vengeance turned to look upon her.
Something teleported right next to her - Sauti lunged forward, grabbing the alicorn with her forelegs.
Vengeance pulled, but the blind mare held her with supernatural strength, belying her size and age. Kindness shone like a star, bathing the both of them in pink light.
“You think this can stop me?” said Vengeance coldly.
“Not for long, but it can,” replied Sauti. “You will not hurt another pony.”
Aurora got up with a grunt. Her first instinct was to charge into battle, but the power emanating from Kindness stopped her too - it was not within her power to interfere with the two mares. “Aquila?” she called weakly.
Aquila righted herself, eyes squinted shut, no longer glowing white. It was obvious she was not okay, but she still managed to point her horn at Vengeance - standing the furthest away, she could act, at least to an extent.
“Oh, you are mistaken, mule,” said Vengeance. “I can’t escape you, but hurt you? For all your power, you’re holding me down. Your Kindness is imperfect, and so is your protection. I can strike back against you.”
Sauti just held tighter. “I know.”
Aurora saw nothing, but her magical senses screamed in warning, about the buildup of pattern. Something was radiating from Vengeance, suffusing both mares.
“Sauti!” shouted Aurora.
Something small and black flew at Vengeance, embedding itself in her chest plate. Aquila finished her spell, and everything was bathed in blinding light.
“Murderers get no protection at all,” said Aquila.
The black diamond seemed to grow, or rather, the space around it seemed to fold in fractals. Vengeance hissed in anger, as her body shrunk, slipping out of Sauti’s grasp, before collapsing upon itself and disappearing. As the light faded, the gemstone fell among the rubble, sparks of red now dancing underneath its surface as its magic strained to contain the foreign energies.
Sauti stood still for a while, as if surprised that it was all over, before falling forward. Aquila’s magic caught her before her face could hit the floor, lifting her suddenly limp body into the air, and bringing her to the unicorn’s side.
Aurora flew to join them. Aquila’s eyes were still closed. She was covered in cuts and bruises the Elements' magic had had no time to heal. However, Sauti looked much worse; despite few visible injuries, she was clearly in pain, her breathing quickly becoming shallow.
“Sauti?” asked Auila., another spell growing at the tip of her horn.
The blind mare smiled sadly. “Too late for that… I’m afraid she knows her tricks well… I can tell, I’m already dead inside. Better use it on yourself. You can still be healed.”
Aurora looked at her, absorbing the statement, a death sentence her friend had pronounced upon herself. There was no changing the truth of that…
Truth!
“Whisper!” shouted Aurora in sudden horror. Moments before all of her energy had been devoted to winning the fight, keeping herself and her friends alive. Now with the adrenaline levels falling, her stomach clenching from the sudden surge of stress it had undergone, she was beginning to once again think clearly.
He disappeared after the first blast. Was he buried under rubble? But we blew up the next floor or two when we fought! Where is he?! Is he…
Her thoughts becoming more frantic by the second, Aurora rushed around the ruined tower top, scouring the rubble for any signs of life or magic. She caught one signal, and rushed towards it, her throat clenching when she recognized Laughter. Tossing it aside, she kept looking. There was nothing more there.
“WHISPER!”
“Aurora?”
The voice called from behind her. It sounded out of breath, but definitely alive. Whisper crawled from among the rubble and stood, taking in the scene, a weak current of magic pushing the dust out of his coat.
“She dropped me down the shaft,” he managed, his eyes widening as he comprehended the situation. “Had to climb back up. I’m… too late.” He stared into her eyes. “Is it over? Did we get her?”
“Yes,” managed Aurora before galloping at him. She almost collided with the stallion, their amulets clanking together as she grabbed him in a desperate hug. “She got Jingles… and Sauti…” She felt suddenly torn between the comfort of his hug, and her friend breathing her final breaths behind her.
“We… need to get out of here,” she whispered.
Something stung her in the shoulder. She barely noticed at first, her coat, marked with burns and scratches, indifferent to another prickle of pain. Was it a sharp piece of debris that got… no. She was getting numb. She turned in surprise, and saw Whisper withdrawing his left foreleg, a tiny stinger hiding in the frog of his hoof.
“What…” She could say no more, her mouth refusing to obey her brain. Whisper released the hug, running past her to join Aquila at Sauti’s side. She turned after him, an awkward pirouette that left her unable to keep her balance when her legs went soft underneath her…
Within seconds it was over, Whisper standing over three limp bodies. He looked around, and sighed. “So that’s what you call ‘pulling your punches’? You really made it look like you actually wanted to burn everypony to ash.” He turned around, scanning the surrounding rubble. “Now… where are you?”
The diamond was not there.
***
“Where did it go?” asked Twilight. She was standing over Aurora’s shoulder, looking at the vision, than at Aurora’s face, her worry increasing as the pegasus was getting visibly paler.
“Vengeance,” said Aurora between laboured breaths. “Where is Vengeance?”
The vision shifted, meters below, onto the side of the now crumbling tower, towards a small, dark shape flying down almost vertically, sticking close to the wall to remain hidden; a black pegasus filly with a evilly glowing gemstone held in her teeth.
“Who is it?” asked Bluebonnet.
“Charcoal,” gasped Twilight.
“I told her to go to safety,” said Aurora. “She must have got to the top at the same time Whisper did. We were both too busy to notice, and then she knew not to trust anypony… where?”
She took a deep breath, and stared at the Amaranthine. “Where did she take it? Where is Vengeance now?”
The chamber around them went dark, and then a new vision appeared: a group of ponies, tired-looking unicorns with sunken eyes, standing in a magical circle around a small stand, with a conspicuously empty indentation in the very middle. Everypony was channeling their magic, the lines of runes around them slowly filling with light.
“This looks like a sealing spell,” said Bluebonnet. “The principles are similar to… wait.” Her eyes widened. The field of vision was quite narrow, but it still covered the concentric lines of stars on the floor underneath the runes.
“It’s here,” she said. “It’s the same room the ritual took place in!”
A black pegasus mare entered the circle. She was changed, older, and way more serious. But there was no mistaking her for anypony else. Slowly, solemnly, she dropped the black diamond onto the stand. Instantly the circle came to life, new lines of magic spiralling out, forming layer after layer of wards inside the room.
“That’s why the inner sanctum was sealed!” gasped Twilight. “The power of the leyline maintains the spell, keeping Vengeance from eroding her bonds. But… that will seal them in!”
Bluebonnet stared at the vision. “They didn’t have the Elements, or even foci. These are normal unicorns trying to make a binding way beyond their skill. They had to give it their all to make it work the way they wanted…” She swallowed loudly, and stepped back, as if trying to stop herself from throwing up. “So horrible… why did they?”
“To get the job done,” said Aurora. “To keep Vengeance trapped here forever. And Charcoal?”
The pegasus was still standing in the circle with the others, the growing magic casting multicolored reflexes against her skin.
“Why isn’t she running away?” asked Twilight. “She’s not a unicorn.”
Aurora jerked her head back, breaking off the link with the flower. The vision grew dark, and disappeared.
“She… I think she chose to stay. She did all she could. She had to be the last, because nothing she’d do would work better than just keeping this place secret.”
She slumped to the ground, face struggling to stop the welling tears. “So she could escape, and never mention any of it, live and grow old pretending all of her friends never existed. Or she could stay there with them, and… keep watch.”
“We've found out what we needed,” said Twilight, instinctively turning towards the door. “We should get out of her before-”
She stood still as a statue, until both mares turned to look at her with worry.
“No,” said Twilight. “No. She’s here, and the Shattered are coming here.
If Vengeance is here, we cannot leave.”