“Twilight!” Phillip shouted, writhing against the magical ropes.
“Working on it!” Twilight cried, futilely trying to undo their bonds, firing spell after spell. Spike was gnawing at the conjured ropes while Flash squirmed next to him, cursing beneath his breath in panic.
Daring continued to stalk towards them, snarling like a wild animal, eyes blazing with fire. She started to circle them, eyes darting back and forth as she considered which one to attack first.
“Daring,” Phillip panted as she closed on him. “Daring, listen to me. This isn't you. This isn’t you, you hear me?”
She thrust her face into his, her narrow eyes locking onto his as her growls reached a manic pitch, hot breath assaulting his face. Up close, Phillip realized that she was trembling violently; for a moment, the colors faded away from her sclera and he saw fear in her eyes. She turned away, panting heavily, and moved back a few paces.
“Daring, fight it,” Phillip whispered. “Fight it.”
But even as he spoke, she whirled around and Phillip watched in despair as the swirling colors returned to her eyes.
“Twilight!” Phillip cried as her muscles tightened like a panther about to pounce on a lame raccoon, a snarl rumbling out of her chest.
There was a snap as Spike managed to bite through one of the glowing ropes. Twilight seized the loose end in her magic and quickly unwound the bonds. With a roar, Daring lunged at them, her wings spread in midair.
A flash of purple light filled the chamber and Daring landed on the ground with a grunt, snarling in disbelief as her hooves found nothing but cold stone floor.
A moment later, the four figures reappeared further down the hall with another snap and another burst of purple light. The predator whirled around with a growl.
“Run,” Twilight breathed.
They sprinted down the dark tunnels, guided by the magenta glow of Twilight’s horn, running past the carved bones on the walls, their pounding hoofsteps and desperate pants echoing off the walls. The heavy flapping of wings sounded from behind them as Daring pursued them, her animalistic howls echoing in their ears.
“Which way?!” Flash cried in panic as they rounded a corner. “Which way back?!”
“Left, left!” Phillip shouted, glancing over his shoulder at the golden beast, glowing eyes half-glimpsed in the darkness as she bore down on them.
They whirled left, stumbling on the stone floor, sprinted up an incline, then charged around a right turn. The Skeleton Chamber yawned up ahead, the trio of screaming statues beckoning them on.
As Phillip burst through the threshold, he slowed briefly, reaching back to one pocket. “Duck!” he ordered his companions as he jumped, twisting in the air as he threw. The boomerang whistled through the air, passing over Flash, Twilight, and Spike’s heads as they ducked beneath it, and spinning towards its target.
Daring swooped beneath the weapon, her belly scraping against the floor briefly, then rocketed right at Phillip, face alive with rage. Phillip cartwheeled out of the way, hot wind from Daring’s wake striking him as she missed by inches. She bellowed in fury as she swooped around again for another attack, swerving around the skeleton of the unicorn.
“Stun her!” Phillip barked as he caught his returning boomerang.
A volley of purple spells streaked through the air, but Daring weaved in and out of the fire, dodging every shot. She snarled in elation as her hooves seized Phillip.
But with a twist and a grunt, Phillip grappled her limbs and threw her off. She slammed into the stone base of the pegasus statue with a howl of pain and fury and Phillip and Flash both leaped forward to pin her down.
A blinding white flash momentarily illuminated the chamber with a crack of thunder and a cloud of black smoke rolled across the stone. Phillip and Flash scrabbled blindly where Daring had been, spots dancing before their eyes as they coughed on the fumes, but the mare had vanished.
“Where’d she go?!” Flash shouted, his head whirling around. Twilight lit her horn up and started trying to clear the smoke away as they all squinted through the twisting tendrils of cloud.
A gust of wind, visible as a ripple across the smoke, gave half a second’s warning. “Twilight!” Phillip cried, pointing.
Twilight turned and screamed at the sight of the feral pegasus lunging at her, the glowing eyes piercing the dark like headlamps, one hoof drawing back to strike.
But Twilight moved, bobbing beneath the swing just as Bobby had shown her a dozen times. She twisted her hips and her back hoof, puffing out sharply as her left hook drove into Daring’s ribs, just like she was the heavy bag in the basement; the blow thumped into Daring's flesh and the madmare let out a gasp of shock. Without slowing, without thinking, Twilight twisted the other way, her right elbow smacking into Daring’s nose and breaking it with a crack and a gush of blood. Daring howled, tears of pain running from her glowing eyes even as she swung blindly and missed Twilight once more as the unicorn ducked and retreated.
Flash pounced on the blinded mare, twisting to throw her to the ground. Spike and Phillip piled on, pinning her wings and forelimbs to the ground. Daring writhed beneath them, roaring in fury and spitting out phrases in a language that none of them recognized.
“Daring, c’mon. Snap out of it!” Phillip cried, leaning down and trying to get her to look at him. She replied by lunging at him, spittle flying from her face as she snapped at his face.
“Ockt-szzl!” she snarled.
“Now what?!” Spike cried, squirming as he tried to keep Daring’s wing trapped.
“Twi, do something!” Flash called. “Unbrainwash her or something!”
“I can’t!” Twilight cried, her face frozen and glowing with panic. “I don’t know how the Mirror works and this is dark magic way beyond what--”
“TWILIGHT, I DON’T BLOODY CARE!” Phillip bellowed at her, desperation converting into anger. “HELP HER!”
Twilight flinched for a moment, trembling and frozen with uncertainty, then took a breath and closed her eyes. Her horn lit up, the magenta glow casting the room with its blasphemous decorations in a cooling, calming color as a faint humming like a musical tone filled the cold air. A circle branded itself into the floor around the struggling ponies; within it, purple mists swirled around the ponies, filling the air with a faint scent of lavender as they traveled up to Twilight's horn.
“Daring, listen to me,” Twilight whispered, bending down to the hate-filled face. “This isn’t you.” And she touched her glowing horn to Daring’s forehead.
Daring gasped and went still as visions suddenly flooded her head, a wave of sounds and smells and touches and faces and emotions…
Soda bread and spag bol beneath the stars. A didgeridoo droning quietly beneath a mother’s singing. Giggling at the sight of Muziqaa sitting on Phil’s head, his trilby sliding down the little colt’s head. Singing Piano Mare up on stage, smiling as the tears ran down her face. Slowly revolving in place, listening to Phil whisper Can’t Smile Without You into her ear.
“Remember who you are, Daring Do,” Twilight intoned, her voice carrying through the thrumming music. “You are a brave mare, a kind mare, a hero. You are a mare who is loved by so many ponies. Come home to us.”
Daring blinked slowly as her struggling slowed and her snarls abated, replaced with heavy, trembling breaths. The swirling anomalous colors slowly faded from her sclera and she blinked as fresh tears began to run from her eyes.
“Oh, Faust,” Daring whimpered, her voice cracking as she shook. “Oh, Faust, I’m sorry…”
“Shhh,” Phillip whispered, his lock turning into an embrace as he tucked Daring’s head into his chest. She cried and clung to him as the others all hugged her as well, Twilight gently casting a healing spell over her broken nose.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Phillip soothed her, stroking her mane. “We all know that that wasn’t you, right? It was the mirror that made you like that.” He kissed her forehead when she sniffled. “It’s okay, Daring.”
Daring swallowed and took a shaky breath. “No, it’s not,” she growled. “Because that lunatic has Tirek’s Mirror. C’mon, let’s go!”
She stood up and started heading for the tunnel outside. The others all glanced at each other, then hurried after her.
“By the way,” Daring said, shooting a grin at Twilight over her shoulder. “Nice hook. You’ve been paying attention.”
“Thank you,” Twilight nodded.
“What happened?” Flash asked as they hurried up the twisting halls. “Where’d he come from?”
“I’m sorry, he snuck up on us about twenty minutes after you went down there,” Twilight admitted. “He had his weapon on us the whole time, and he was using a silencing spell so we couldn't call for help.”
Flash grunted. “I shouldn’t have brought you along,” he said. “I should have--”
“Flash, it wasn’t anypony’s fault,” Phillip cut in. “And she helped us with Daring. Focus on getting out of here.
They reached the exit and scrambled up the ladder, finding to their relief that the trapdoor could be opened from the inside. They climbed out into the frosty air and hurried over to where their truck was parked.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Daring cried out as they approached. All four of the truck’s tires were flat, and there was a foul-smelling puddle beneath the vehicle.
Flash bent beneath the truck. “Shit!” he grunted. “He punctured the gas tank and cut the brake line!” He slapped the door in frustration. “This guy really doesn’t want us following him.”
“Can you fix any of this?” Daring asked Twilight.
Twilight grimaced. “I could try to refill the tires and reseal the punctures, but I can’t refill the fluids.”
Phillip growled. “Spike, we need--”
“Letter to Shining and Cadance, already on it!” Spike interrupted Phillip, scribbling down a note on a notepad that he’d retrieved from the truck. He rolled up the note and puffed out a jet of green flame. The note turned into a cloud of emerald smoke that rose up into the air and disappeared.
“What vehicle did he take? Did you see?” Phillip asked Twilight.
“I didn’t see,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “He must’ve driven up, but I didn’t hear him because I wasn’t paying attention and now we don’t know where--”
“Twilight, calm down,” Phillip urged her. “Let’s check the road with a tracking spell.”
Twilight took a breath. “Right, right.”
They hustled down the narrow dirt road, Twilight scanning the ground with her horn. Tire and hoof tracks appeared in a magenta glow.
“There,” Phillip pointed at a set of large hoofprints leading down the mountainside. They followed this trail up the slight incline through the trees where the hoofprints intercepted a single, wide tire track.
“Motorcycle,” Flash concluded, bending down. “Two kickstands, wide tires…”
“Scratch here,” Phillip called, bending down to study a tree next to the tracks. “Gray paint.”
“Gray motorcycle, great. We need to get to Cuore as fast as possible!” Daring said, snatching Phillip beneath his forelegs and heading south in a gray blur.
Flash grimaced as he bent down to allow Spike to hop up onto his shoulders. “So how’d you come up with that trick to calm Daring down?” he asked Twilight, grabbing her beneath her forelegs.
“I figured that since the Mirror caused its victims to become enraged, she might calm down if I showed her some happy memories with a Recollecto Spell,” Twilight said as he lifted her into the air and started heading south after Phil and Daring. “Honestly, it was a lucky guess.”
Flash sighed. “Well, hopefully we--what is that?” he said, stopping in midair behind Daring, who was staring curiously at the swirling blue circle of energy that had appeared in midair in front of them.
“It’s a portal!” Twilight shouted. “Go through it, it’s from Cadance!”
The pegasi hesitated for a moment, then flew through the portal. There was a brief moment where their vision was obscured by swirling blue and black lights as a warm blanket enveloped them, and then they tumbled out of the tunnel and landed on a sidewalk.
Shining Armor and Empress Cadenza were standing before them, both of them adorned in cuirasses: royal purple for Shining and pale blue for Cadance. A squadron of Royal Guards surrounded them, their eyes panning the skies and the few cottages that lined the crystal paved road.
“Are you all okay?” Shining asked, helping his little sister and Spike to their hooves.
“We’re fine, Shiny,” Twilight said, hugging him briefly. “He was there. He took the Mirror. I’m sorry, he snuck up on all of us and he--”
“Twi, it’s okay,” Shining shushed her. “You did what you could. Now it’s time for us to do our part.”
He nodded down the road, where a pair of cruisers stood, their lights spinning. A barrier blocked off one lane of traffic, while gendarmes stood by, watching for any oncoming vehicles. Captain Orrizonte was manning the roadblock; he gave the detectives a brief scowl before returning to the radio that he was speaking into.
“We had these roadblocks set up fifteen minutes ago,” Cadance said as a yellow four-door came rumbling down the road, stopping at the barrier. The middle-aged blue pony behind the wheel rolled down the window, peering worriedly out as a gendarme approached her. “All of the roads leading north out of Cuore have been blocked by gendarmes and there are roving patrols. This road here is the major road leading into the city.”
The gendarme pulled out a wand and passed it over the driver, noting the faint green glow of the wand that confirmed that she was not using any illusion spells. He nodded to Orrizonte, who signaled for her to continue on.
“Frostbite is on a gray motorcycle,” Phillip reported as the car passed them. “And there’s something else…”
Shining and Cadance both listened as Phillip explained what had happened. Shining sighed and closed his eyes. “I was afraid of that,” he admitted, then waved over Captain Orrizonte. “Captain, warn your men to look out for a gray motorcycle.”
“Yes, general,” Orrizonte nodded, bustling back to his cruiser and grabbing the mouthpiece of his radio.
“He can’t have gotten that far,” Daring grunted, grabbing Phillip and taking to the air again, ignoring his sharp bark of protest. “Flash, c’mon. We can search from the sky.”
“I’ll go with you,” Cadance said, nodding to two pegasi Guards, who both spread their wings. “If we find Frostbite, I’ll send up a flare.”
“Be careful, honey,” Shining said, giving his wife a brief nuzzle. The winged ponies flew off to the north, spreading out across the clouds.
“Shining, you said you had a defense against the Mirror?” Twilight pressed.
“A love magic shield, conjured up from the memories of those you love the most,” Shining nodded. “The Mirror works by spreading a wave of psychosomatic energy transmitted through light. The real trick is that the shield isn’t for something physical: you have to filter out the energy in the light.”
“I didn’t even think of that,” Twilight said, glancing back down at her notes. “I assumed it worked through just a psychic blast, but transmitting it through light, that’s different!”
“Fiendishly clever, isn’t it?” Shining grunted. “Conjoining love and light magic is the hard part. But tell me about how you helped Daring.”
“I just got lucky,” Twilight admitted. “I used a Recollecto spell and infused it with Tranquilo Maxima and infused it with some love magic.”
“But it worked!” Shining smiled at her, giving her a brief squeeze. “Before we primarily relied on just stunning them until the effect wore off. Just more proof that you’re the best magic-user I know.” He took some of the notes. “Now, tell me again how that worked…”
“Shit, this has all gone wrong,” Frostbite grumbled, throttling the bike up the road.
“We’ll have to find another vehicle,” Skyline said, tightening his grip around his commander as he burned around a corner.
“If we can commandeer a cruiser, we can probably sneak past the roadblocks,” Frostbite muttered, pausing at a stop sign. Before them rose the stone gables of a small village, smoke rising from the chimneys. A large sign welcomed them to the township of Collina Nord, population 3,400. Ponies were walking up and down the sidewalks, milling about the small stone memorial fountain at the center of the town.
“Or we can just plow through them,” Skyline urged. He nodded to the saddlebag strapped to the back of the bike. “You have it. You can use it.”
“On soldiers?” Frostbite growled, proceeding down the road and turning into an alley. Nodding when he noticed that neither of the adjacent houses had side windows, he turned off the bike and walked it behind a hedge.
“You had no problem using it on the detectives,” Skyline pointed out.
“That was an accident, sergeant!” Frostbite snapped back, hiding the bike within the branches. After some rummaging around in one of the saddlebags, he extracted a gray trench coat and flat cap, and a makeup kit and a stencil of a horseshoe. He tossed the disguise on as he dipped the brush into the powder and quickly covered up his cutie marks with the fake markings. “Get your disguise on.”
Skyline frowned as he removed the jacket that he was wearing and threw it into the bush, then took the makeup kit himself and added a few false age lines around his mouth and ears. “Sir, we don’t know if any of them might be involved,” he protested as his CO began adding a faint layer of blush over his face, just enough to hide the age marks and crow's feet. “And besides, our priority is still the same: find Blue Moon and get him to tell us who else is part of this.”
Frostbite scowled as he tightened the belt around his trenchcoat and put the makeup kit back. He unhooked the saddlebags and tossed them over his back, frowning at the heavy weight that he felt rolling around inside the left one.
“That priority hasn’t changed,” Frostbite replied, leading his sergeant down to the other end of the alley. A quick glance around confirmed that the few ponies that were on the street showed no interest in them. He briefly scattered pale blue powder from a tube on the ground behind them, the powder glowing briefly before fading out. “But we won’t get in there if there’s an army between us and them,” he pointed out, heading down the street and immediately turning right at the intersection.
“We have Tirek’s Mirror!” Skyline protested. “You’ve seen what that thing can do! No one would be able to stop us!”
“We did learn how to stop it, sergeant,” Frostbite grunted through his teeth, giving a brief nod to a large red yak heading up the sidewalk past them. “In case you forgot. What matters now is getting to the precinct in one piece.”
Spotting a small diner, he beckoned his cohort inside and pushed through the glass door, the bell over the frame ringing to announce their entry. The scent of coffee and grilled bread filled his nostrils as he entered, giving a brief nod to the few denizens sitting at the booths that lined the walls.
“Two coffees,” he said to the gum-smacking waitress at the bar, climbing up onto a rickety stool. The waitress nodded and slipped into the back to grab their drinks.
Spinning red and blue lights danced across the wall. Frostbite and Skyline, along with the other customers, all looked up and stared as an olive green cruiser slowly drove up the road, the gendarmes inside looking back and forth.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Frostbite muttered, rubbing his face with his hooves.
“It’s okay, sir,” Skyline said, patting him on the back. “We’ve been in worse stints. We’ll get out of this one. If we can get behind the main line--”
“Just stop,” Frostbite hissed as the waitress emerged, carrying a tray with two steaming cups of coffee in her mouth that she set down before the stallions. Both of them took their drinks and sipped languidly at the hot, bitter drinks as the other diners returned to their meals.
“I’m telling you, we can use that,” Skyline hissed, nodding to the saddlebag that Frostbite had dropped onto the floor. “They’d be so busy dealing with the riots that--”
“Innocent ponies could die,” Frostbite cut him off, blowing off the top of the coffee.
“Not with the Emperor and Empress here,” Skyline urged. “Just hiding here isn’t an option. You know they’re going to--”
Cries of amazement sounded from the window. The stallions looked up to see the Empress herself, her royal blue cuirass reflecting the dancing sparks of the aquamarine flare that was hanging in the air over a distant alleyway, walking down the sidewalk, with two Royal Guards in full armor flanking her. The trio’s heads were swiveling back and forth, faces set in deep frowns.
“Fuck, they caught up faster than we thought,” Skyline muttered. “Now what?”
“They’re going past us--” Frostbite was interrupted when she saw Cadenza speaking to the red yak, who was now standing outside his rug shop, sweeping the steps. The yak pointed to the door of the diner. Cadenza and her two Guards both turned towards the window and started walking across the street.
“Oh, no,” Frostbite muttered, freezing up. His hooves, still gripping the cup, suddenly felt ice cold.
Skyline turned around and glared at Frostbite. “Sir, the Mirror.”
Cadenza had already reached the sidewalk and was heading for the door. Frostbite felt his heart drop into his empty stomach, throbbing violently.
“Sir, we don’t have another option.”
The doorbell jingled as the Empress entered. Dishes clattered as diners jumped out of their seats and knelt upon the floor.
“Sir, now!”
The violet eyes, cold determination having replaced love and happiness, locked onto his. “Colonel Frostbite?” Cadenza called, stepping forward. The two Guards kept their hooves on the triggers of their submachine guns.
“Sir, the Mirror!”
Frostbite stared at doom approaching, the cold spreading through his body.
And then his hoof, as if acting under its own impulse, dove into the bag. It wrapped around the bony handle and pulled the weapon out, hoisting it high into the air.
Cadenza froze, her face fixing with horror. The Guards snapped their weapons to him. “Colonel, don’t!” Cadenza screamed.
For just one tremulous moment, Frostbite hesitated.
And then colors that had no name began to pour from the glass.