Summer Sun, Dawning Chaos

by CTVulpin


Act IV, Scene 3: Castle Storming Funtimes

Ashen Blaze sighed and drummed a hoof impatiently on the helm of the Lirin. The Order-naries, save for Gale who was being made to let her injuries rest by Yu-san, a few Royal Guards, and Twilight were waiting for the other Element Bearers to rendezvous with them so they could discuss the next plan of action. While the others stood around outside, Ash was effectively hiding inside the trans-dimensional ship so as not to spook any random ponies who might wander by, as unlikely as that was. The Diamond Dog Ash had freed from mind-control had not believed the explanation that there were two ash-grey unicorn stallions with wild red-and-orange manes and had adamantly refused to accept or provide any help to the ponies in stopping the rest of his pack. Due to the lack of a knowledgeable guide for a pre-emptive strike against the Dogs, Gale had lent PC back to Ash so it could link up and use the Lirin’s scanners to try and locate and map the Diamond Dog tunnels underneath Ponyville’s streets. The head-mounted computer was currently sitting on an empty seat, and Ash was bored. “How long have we been waiting?” he asked.
Fifty-eight minutes,” PC relied immediately, “Unless you want to add the time it took you to return here from Twilight Sparkle’s home.”
“If I told you that was a rhetorical question, would you care?” Ash asked, bored enough to purposely start an argument with his computer.
A simple question like that, which has an easily provided answer, can’t possibly be rhetorical,” PC responded.
“What definition of ‘rhetorical’ are you using?” Ash asked, “You normally don’t expect an answer to the rhetorical question because the answer is obvious.”
Really now?” PC asked in turn, sarcastic, “They are also asked in a sarcastic tone like what I just employed. Your request to know how much time had passed was not made in sarcasm, but a weary tone. It’s been fifty-nine minutes now by the way.”
“I wonder what’s taking those girls so long,” Ash muttered, making sure not to phrase it as a question.
PC took it as a prompt anyway, saying, “Sadly, my inability to read the minds or predict the behavior of organic beings makes it impossible to speculate.” Ash sighed and started drumming on the helm again. A second later, PC piped up again and said, “Five ponies approaching, matching the life-signatures of Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy.
“I thought you said…” Ash began, but then paused and thought back. “You know they’re coming, but you still don’t know why it took them this long.”
There may be hope for you yet sirrah,” the computer deadpanned. Ash ignored it and went to the ship’s hatch to wait, leaving PC on the seat.
“All right girls,” he said when the five arrived, “Just so you know, we’ve discovered that the Diamond Dogs are being mind-controlled by bespelled gems Thamule gave to them. Word of this is already being relayed to the guards so they know what to do, and PC should be able to provide a map and plan for storming whatever’s passing for their encampments soon.”
“Great,” Rainbow Dash said, “but shouldn’t we be going after Thamule soon?”
“Of course,” Ash said, walking out of the ship, “I just wanted to alleviate any concerns you might have about Ponyville’s safety. Now, everypony gather around and-”
“Wait! Don’t close the ship up yet!” Everyone turned to see Gale limping up the road toward them, leaning slightly on Yu-san Maesi for support.
“What’s wrong Gale?” Heart asked, “I thought you were staying behind to rest that leg.”
“Oh, I’m staying,” Gale responded, “but I’m not going to sit around and be useless if I don’t have to.” She looked at the ramp leading up into the Lirin, frowned, and then sat down where she was and asked, “Could someone bring out my Gel Launcher equipment?”
“May I ask why?” Ash said, “I mean, you left it here because you can’t use it with hooves.”
Gale rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Please,” she said, “With a few extra parts and a little time I can easily modify it for equine use. It’s what I was trying to develop before all this nonsense started, remember? Since the Dogs are being controlled by magic, my Magebane gel will be quite useful.”
“Hm… Truth,” Ash said with a nod, “Just a moment then.” He turned to head into the ship, only to see that Soul was coming out with the launcher and ammo pack floating beside him.
“Heart and I will stay with you,” the yellow unicorn said to Gale, “You’re injured, so if you’re going to go shooting berserker canines you’ll need someone to watch your back.”
“But, what if we need you when we catch up to Thamule?” Twilight asked.
“The princesses ought to be more than adequate help I’d think,” Soul said with a smile, “Heck, I’ll bet that by the time the seven of you catch up all you’ll need to do is use the Elements to finish the job.”
“That would be nice,” Fluttershy said optimistically.
“This is risky,” Ash said, “Thamule’s proven to be a tricky little meeper.”
“You’ll be fine,” Gale said, “It’d be anywhere between seven and nine against one. Now get going.” Ash heaved a sigh and gestured for the six Element Bearers to gather around.
“Oh, Ash, one last thing before you wear yourself out,” Rarity said. She opened her saddlebag and levitated out a necklace made of round gemstones held within woven strands of copper and gold wire. The gems were arranged in a rainbow pattern centering on a single large ovoid fire ruby inscribed with a stylized “AB” that nearly resembled Ash’s cutie mark of his Meis insignia. “I was working on this to replace the necklace you’d lost when Thamule attacked me,” Rarity explained, “You do still need your magic enhanced, don’t you?”
“Oh, uh, right,” Ash stammered as he let Rarity put the necklace on him, “Thank you Rarity. It’s… it’s perfect.” A wistful smile formed on his lips for a brief second, but then he blinked and shook his head, sobering. He drew a pattern in the dirt as he began focusing his magic, horn and necklace glowing in tandem, and then stomped on it and spoke in sharp command, “Destulf juri iska, Transport!” The group was engulfed in a ball of orange light, which hung in place and flickered for several seconds, and then vanished with a sharp crack, leaving only a patch of scorched, smoking dirt behind.
“That… was not normal,” Soul said, worried.


Deep in the underground halls of Canterlot Castle, a knotted pattern of interweaving lines which had been carefully carved into the floor near the wall began to glow, and then to throw off fitful sparks of orange magic. After a moment, a large bubble of orange light formed in the air and popped, dropping six slightly singed mares and one very scorched stallion onto the floor. Twilight was the first to get her feet under her and rubbed her forehead as she sat up. “Is everypony ok?” she asked. A chorus of moans answered her.
“Oh my poor hair,” Rarity groaned, gingerly feeling up the frazzled mess her mane had become, “I hope I don’t run into anyone important looking like this.”
“What, more important than the Princesses we’re lookin’ fer?” Applejack asked flippantly. She ignored the flat look Rarity shot at her in favor of checking her Stetson for damage. Aside from some soot and some easily repaired dents, it seemed to be fine, so she flipped it back onto her head and helped Fluttershy to her hooves.
Rarity vented her frustration with a ladylike snort, and then noticed that Ash had hardly moved. “Ash, darling, are you ok?” she asked, touching him gently on the shoulder, “Was there something wrong with the necklace? I must have accidentally weakened its focusing power trying to make it look-” She cut off as Ash cracked an eye open and put a hoof over her mouth.
“The AEoM is perfect Rarity,” the unicorn stallion said, “The problem wasn’t on our end.” He hauled himself to his feet, with some help from Rarity, and went to look at the weave pattern in the floor, which was still spitting the occasional spark. “This is odd,” he said, “the waypoint I set here has degraded, but the transport spell still brought us to it. If it was broken before I cast the spell the teleport should have failed completely, and after the connection was made the power flow should have refreshed the waypoint’s weave, not damaged it…”
“Perhaps there was another force in play?” Twilight asked, “Maybe Thamule did something.”
Ash shook his head, “That would mean he expected someone to try and follow him here using the way-point, and I - last seen being discarded into the void - am the only one who could. Besides, I don’t see any disturbances in the local magic threads besides the signatures of my own magic and the effects of you and Rarity being here.”
“Come again?” Applejack asked, confused.
“Technical stuff, don’t worry about it,” Ash said, waving the question off as he looked over the group and then down the hall, “Come on, let’s try to find Thamule’s trail.”
“Right,” the girls said, falling into step as Ash led the way toward the stairs. They reached the ground floor without incident, and then Ash slowed his pace to nearly a crawl, casting about with an increasingly confused and irritated manner. “Where did he come in from?” he muttered, “I don’t see any signs… No damage, no spell remnants…”
“No ponies,” Twilight added. Ash stopped and looked at her, and she gestured around her, explaining, “This is an emergency, so there should be guards everywhere. We’re completely alone in here; there aren’t even any bodies of ponies Thamule fought through.”
“Maybe he found some way to force everypony out to save his strength?” Rainbow Dash suggested.
“Without arousing suspicion?” Ash replied incredulously, “And then he’d have to keep everypony from coming back, and that takes effort and focus and…” He shook his head and picked up the pace, heading toward the residential wing on a hunch. “This just doesn’t add up,” he said after a while, “A subtle, solo infiltration job with pains taken to avoid detection was never my style as Meis Thamule, although I always had a veritable army of military-trained mages at my beck and call and my opening move was usually an orbital bombardment… You’d think an evil clone of yourself would be easy to… predict…” He trailed off as he noticed a disturbance in the magic field in front of him. He stopped and followed the bent and twisting threads, his head tilting from side to slightly as it craned up, and then his eyes went wide as his gaze reached the ceiling. “Uh… Twilight,” he said, “I found your brother.” Twilight looked up and gasped in fright, which was quickly echoed by her friends. Up on the ceiling, held in place by four bands of orange light around his legs, was the still form of Shining Armor.
“Oh my gosh, Shining!” Twilight exclaimed, “Shining Armor! Are you ok? Say something!” She whirled on Ash and grabbed him by the shoulders, verging on hysterics. “Get him down!”
“Gimme a sec girl,” Ash replied sharply enough to make her back off without sounding too harsh. He looked up and focused on the bands, channeling his magic as he muttered under his breath. “Start with the air strand and –yikes!” The bands disintegrated almost the moment Ash’s magic touched them and Shining plummeted to the ground. Ash tried to dive out of the way and banged his head against the wall as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy leapt into the air to catch the falling unicorn and Twilight reached out with her telekinesis. Shining’s fall was halted just short of the floor, and after gently lowering him the rest of the way Fluttershy began checking for a pulse as Twilight pranced in place in panic. After a tense second, the butter-yellow pegasus let out of a small sigh of relief and gave Twilight a reassuring smile.
“He’s still breathing,” she said. Twilight nearly collapsed in relief, happy tears building in the corner of her eyes.
“Are you ok Ash?” Rarity asked the grey stallion, who was rubbing his head and staring at the spot Shining had been hanging from with utter confusion.
“Huh?” Ash said, snapping out of his distraction, “Oh, I’m fine Rarity. Nothing broken. But… that binding spell…”
“It was easier to undo than you expected,” Rarity said, “Is that so strange?”
“It wasn’t just unexpectedly easy,” Ash said, “it was instinctively easy. Those bindings were woven exactly the way they’d have been if I’d cast the spell.”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand darling,” Rarity said.
“Nobody casts spells exactly the same way,” Ash explained, “If you can sense the magical flows involved, you can potentially identify the caster by the weave of the spell. It’s like a fingerpri- er… That is… it’s like a cutie mark; even if two ponies have similar looking marks, there are differences in what they represent and, well you know.” Shining Armor chose that moment to stir and moan, causing Ash to freeze up for a second. “Oh skvetch, he is not going to be happy to see my face when he wakes up.” Biting his lip, he began to back away and think fast, his eyes darting about. “Leaving him here alone isn’t prudent,” he said, voice speeding up as he spoke, “but we can’t leave somepony to watch him; we need all the Elements together, but trying to explain that I’m not Thamule will waste valuable time… skvetch!” He stomped in frustration, the ringing thud of hoof against stone echoed loudly off the walls, startling Shining Armor into consciousness. His bleary blue eyes opened and locked onto Ash’s panicked green ones. “Captain,” Ash said pleadingly, “Don’t jump to conclusions, I beg you.” He continued to back away as Shining raised his head and regarded him with an unreadable expression.
“Shiny,” Twilight said, imposing herself in her brother’s line of sight, “It’s me. It’s ok, everything’s under control.”
Shining looked at Twilight’s tiara, then down at her eyes, and then smiled and said, “Heh, I knew he was a fake. He was freakishly strong for a Changeling though. I don’t think even their Queen could’ve mustered such power.”
“What you faced was no Changeling,” Ash said, his panic washed away in an instant to be replaced by his usual stoic demeanor, “And I’d suspect he’s got some of Discord’s curious dislike for killing in him, otherwise I doubt you’d be breathing right now.”
“So what... Never mind,” Shining shook his head and hauled himself shakily to his hooves, “We need to hurry. I don’t know how long he’s had to try and reach the Princesses.”
“Well,” Ash said, “if you think you can keep up after being beaten up and suspended from the ceiling by your legs, you’re welcome to join, but if you can’t you should find some place to bunker down because I won’t wait for you.” Casting a meaningful look at each member of the group, he started walking down the hall at a quick and determined pace. Shining Armor huffed tried to follow Ash, but after a few steps he fell to his knees with a grunt. “Chop chop ladies,” Ash called over his shoulder, “Celestia’s waiting!”
“I’ll be ok Twily,” Shining said reassuringly, “Go on.” Twilight nodded sadly, gave her big brother a quick nuzzle, and then galloped to catch up with Ash with her friends close behind.
After reaching the hall leading to the royal suites, Ash’s ears perked up sharply and he frowned grimly, with bared teeth. “Something’s wrong,” he said, picking up the pace, “the latent energy’s becoming looser and it’s practically convulsing with the echoes of rapid spell-casting.” He skidded to a stop upon reaching the doors to Celestia’s chambers, hastily tracing a spell pattern on the floor, and then bucked the doors with all his might. The doors shivered but held fast, and Ash stumbled away to regain his balance. “AJ,” he said authoritatively, “lend me your strongest apple-bucking kick.”
“You got it pardner,” Applejack said. As she got into position, Ash traced out another spell and activated it just before Applejack’s legs lashed out, adding strength to the earth pony’s kick and flinging the doors wide open. Ash and the girls caught a fleeting glimpse of Thamule standing over the limp form of a midnight blue alicorn before they vanished in a blinding flash of orange light.
Skvetch!” Ash cried, bounding into the room and slamming both fore-hooves into the recently vacated slot. “Keli nu’tar safk,” he spat, “Kwi destulf, skvetchte vaer thuml?” He began pacing in tight circles, his face close to the floor and his whole body practically radiating power as he searched for something.
“Ash, are you,” Twilight started to ask as she came into the room, but then her eyes fell upon a figure near a wall that had been hidden from sight from the hallway and she screamed in mortal terror. “Princess Celestia!” Startled by the cry, Ash looked up and followed her with his eyes as she tore across the room to Celestia’s side. The regal white alicorn was lying in the middle of a fresh bloodstain on the carpet, her normally pristine coat dull, ragged, and discolored by cuts and bruises. Her mane was now a single hue of pastel pink and lacked all the usual ethereal sparkles and autonomous movement. Her tail would have likely been in a similar state, except that it was missing save for an inch or two. Ash’s eyes flicked to Pinkie’s tailless rump for a second as the Element Bearers ran to join their leader by Celestia’s side, but then he forced his gaze back to fallen Princess to finish taking in her wounds. The Princess’s horn had been shattered, the pieces littering the floor around her and leaving only a jagged stump on her head, and one of her wings was a burnt and withered shell of its former majestic self. Fresh rage bubbled up in Ashen Blaze’s chest, and he quickly seized it and forced it under control as he went back to his investigation of the spot Thamule had teleported away from, tuning out the sobbing and hysterical first-aid attempts coming from Twilight’s group.
If I can’t stop whatever he has planned for Luna, he thought, there will be no mercy or forgiveness.