There was a pounding of blood in her ears. Polished suits of armor sat in the peripheral of her blurred vision, dashing down the large, crystalline corridor to somewhere. Anywhere, but not where she ran from. A few guards shouted after her and tried to follow, losing her as quickly as she came. Then, there was a call. A sharp, violent melody rang through the air as a siren to any and all guards within the castle walls, and the dutiful guardians soon put the pieces together and began to give chase.
Abby knew very little about the Crystal Palace. Her working knowledge was enough to get her into the throne room with minimal effort, but now she found herself lost in the twisting hallways of the castle and with the metallic clack of hooves not far behind her. Every now and then she could spy a guard just around a corner behind her, forcing her to pump her legs ever faster. She cursed the tower-like construction of the palace, robbing her of a quick escape. Trapped in the middle of a hallway, Abby awaited her capture when something brutally yanked her tail, pulling her through a small opening in the stone wall, sliding shut behind her.
When she stood to brush herself off she froze, locked in place by the face of a dark and very angry figure.
“You blew it,” Alate seethed, her jaw clenched.
“Where are we,” Abby panted as she scanned the dark and cramped room. “H-How did you evade them?”
“Servants’ passage, the castle is full of them, not like you would know. Now... “ Alate closed in on Abby. “Why did you tell them?!”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, a reveal was always part of the plan.”
“So soon? You couldn’t wait until after Shield Wall was dead? Are you that desperate?”
“Don’t insult me! The only reason you even have the chance to kill him is because of me, remember?”
“So you keep reminding me…” Alate relented, stepping back against a cabinet in the cramped servants’ room. “I hope you have a plan, because we not only have Shield Wall, but the Ghost on our tails.”
“I-I know, just… just let me think.”
Alate huffed. Watching the yellow unicorn pace around the small room, muttering and staring into nothingness, drew a long and irritated hiss from between her teeth. They both snapped from their relative comfort when the stomping of hooves passed by, just outside the room, but quickly moved on down the hall and allowed Abby to continue her frantic meditations.
“This is ridiculous,” Alate grumbled.
“Well, I would love to know your great plan, yes?”
“How about we start with ‘Not letting the only pony who can stop us in on the scheme’? You completely spilled your guts to him.”
“Give it a rest! Yes, perhaps I was… forward, but this isn’t yet unsalvageable. We can still appeal to them, let them know-”
A withered chuckle came from within Alate’s chitin-covered chest, drawing a heat to Abby’s ears as it continued. The changeling rubbed her wrinkled eyes with a hoof.
“You ruined it, countess, admit it. Now, your lover won’t even dare listen to us, especially after how you insulted his mare.”
“He is not hers!” Abby stomped toward Alate, a wicked glare in her eyes that almost made Alate flinch. “We still have a chance to correct this, to give some meaning to the bodies you’ve piled up and, if nothing else, appeal to his mercy.”
“‘Mercy’? Pfft, they won’t give us mercy, but we don’t need them to. We have the horn.”
“The horn? The horn… yes, yes that’s it! If we turn over the horn to him, he’ll have no choice but to agree to our help.”
“What?! You want to just give it to them?”
“And I suppose you have a better idea?”
“You haven’t even thought about it, have you?” Alate pulled the long, slender object from within her rags, it’s shape seemingly absorbing what scant light the room had. “This is the horn of King Sombra. Shield Wall wants it for his attack. The princess wants it sealed away. We have the ultimate bargaining chip and you want to just give it up?”
“It’s of no help to us, we can’t even use it,” Abby said, swiping her hoof toward the horn as it was pulled away.
“They don’t know that! Shield Wall can’t complete his plan without it, so he’ll come looking for it. All we have to do is force him out of hiding, with this as the bait, then we strike. The Crystal Empire will be saved, Darrox will be avenged, and you’ll be free of your lover’s curse.”
“That isn’t why I hired you, Silver will never forgive me if we don’t help him now.”
“Then perhaps you should’ve thought about that before you confessed to him.”
“Oh, don’t you dare start with me,” Abby stated, firmly. “I’m the one who found you, who gave you what you needed to avenge your brother. Everything you have is because of me. And, if you’re keen on keeping it that way, I would highly suggest you watch your tone.”
Fierce sea green eyes met the pale orbs of the changeling and held. Seconds of silence ticked by between them, and soon Alate gave another chuckle and broke contact.
“I’ve drained the love from more ponies than I have years of life, but yours is the only one too sweet for me.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re obsessed.” Alate’s words forced Abby to stumble back. “Lose the one you love for all that time, now all of a sudden he’s back but just out of reach? It’s the makings of an addiction.”
“I seem to recall telling you to-”
“‘Watch your tone’, yes, I remember, but like it or not we’re stuck together, and if your wild craving for him is going to interfere with our purpose here then I might not wait for another slip up...”
“I am still in charge, here,” Abby stamped.
“But you’re not in control.”
Even in the darkness of the servant’s passage the two managed to share a firm glare. With a sharp huff Abby relented, throwing her hooves in the air and backing against the wall opposite her partner, sliding to the floor with a pout. Alate ignored her and slid the horn back between her rags when something reached her ears. She perked up and faced the empty hallway. There was a soft tapping at the edge of her vision, and an occasional chirp nearly forcing her to jump in surprise as the sound came ever closer, unimpeded by the darkness until it suddenly stopped. Alate looked up.
She froze in the gaze of dozens of sharp, yellow eyes bearing down on her from the ceiling. Matte armor disguised the bat ponies in the darkness. Abby looked up from her stupor to Alate and nearly screamed. One by one, the Night Guard slid down the walls of the hallway like rivers of dark water and surrounded them, and soon parted for another figure. Tall, grey mane, smirking.
“Ladies,” Shield Wall crooned.
Alate wasted no time in reaching for a vial of potion, but a wave of dark hooves collapsed around her and pinned her to the floor, leaving Abby to stand in utter fear before the unicorn. Her mouth trembled. Short breaths escaped her heaving chest as golden eyes consumed her vision with each step closer.
“Y-You… b-but I wa-... they-”
“Careful, my dear, save your breath.” Shield Wall reached a gentle hoof to Abby’s shoulder, causing her to flail against him in terror, the Night Guard moving to react. “No! If one touches her, then two will die!”
Abby watched as every hoof that dared to reach her vanished from sight. Another pony, with grander armor and a wild look in his eyes, approached Shield Wall and leaned toward his ear.
“Sir, the regiment is in place, all they need is your order.”
“Ahead of schedule, commander? Wonderful, such an improvement from before, would you agree?” Shield returned his gaze to Abby, ignoring his subordinate. “Forgive me, Abundant, but when I was informed of your arrival I was urged to come for you, but imagine my surprise when I learned that you were behind Gavel’s murder, with this creature as your weapon.”
Alate spat at the unicorn’s hooves, prompting a bat pony to clamp her mouth shut.
“Unruly, these changelings, yet you managed to tame-”
Hoof met cheek in a powerful slap across Shield Wall’s face. The eyes of the room fell upon Abby, with a tangible wrath in their gaze, but when the first step forwards was taken Shield Wall rose up against them with bared teeth and frenzied eyes, enough to scare the Night Guard away. The low growl in his throat soon faded and he caressed the fresh welt on his face.
“You wound me,” he chuckled.
“Y-You… you dare touch me, after what you’ve done?”
“Consider it a blessing, my dear, since you and your pet are hopelessly outmatched.”
“Then you wish to fight us?” Abby said defiantly.
“Of course not. My forces are under orders to ignore you and, if need be, protect you, but we both know how… productive your meeting in the throne room was.”
“You were spying on us?”
“My dear, I spy on everyone.”
“When I tell Silver you’re here, there will be no escape for you!”
“Tell him?” Shield Wall paused for a second, until a smile crept across his face.
The smirk produced a sound. A deep, frightening chuckle that grew into a bold and bellowing laugh, loud enough to threaten discovery by the world outside the small passageway. Some of the leering faces around Abby joined in. They mocked her, and the rhythmic laughter of so many foes began to dig into her skull, traveling like a poison to her soul before Shield Wall ceased.
“The whelp would sooner arrest you than help you, my dear, you know that.”
“N-Not if he knows you’re here… Silver-”
“Has abandoned you. I was merely an onlooker to the horrendous display of apathy, but you were there, staring him in the face. Did you see any compassion, or remorse? Perhaps initiative to repair what he so willingly left to rot? Or was all you saw a mask, lingering over the face of somepony you so desperately loved, even to defy even me, while he gives his heart to another? Somepony less deserving?
“The gall of her, to walk so brazenly into a heart you once filled, as if she could replace you. You. The mastermind behind a plot that fooled even I, sending my forces and the Ghost onto a wild chase across Equestria in fear for our very lives. Such talent, yet he chooses her.”
Abby shook where she stood, her eyes flickering between Shield Wall and Alate, still pinned to the floor, as if she would hold some rebuttal. Instead, the changeling’s eyes were on Shield Wall, a death glare he passively ignored. Ruby hairs dangled in front of her face, concealing tears welling in the corners of her eyes. She flinched, though, when Shield Wall reached a hoof for her chin, slapping it away and glaring at him.
“What do you want, you bastard?”
“For you to join me.”
This was the one statement she never expected. Hushed muttering drifted between the Night Guard, and even Alate managed a double-take from her prone position. Nopony moved as the proposal sunk in.
“I know your tricks, Shield Wall,” Abby finally said.
“This is no trick, I promise, merely an affirmation of what I told you once, long ago in Manehatten Bay. He forgot his place, and I only ever meant to rescue you from that single mistake.”
The confession was met with the side of Abby’s face, dignified in its ignorance toward him, staring off into the space before her as Shield Wall felt a heat rise from within him, threatening to burst from his mouth before he quelled it with a sharp breath. Another second of silence from the countess urged him to release that breath in a long, trembling exhale of tension. Instead of pressing, he turned to face the restrained changeling.
“And then there is the matter of you,” he said, recovering his composure. “Another old, withering bug, a bane to my existence in all forms. To think I would be so lucky to kill not one, but two such meddling vermin.”
Alate gave a smug grin from the floor she was held on. With a wave of his hoof, though, Shield Wall beckoned the soldiers to release her and she rose to her knees, directly in the unicorn’s line of sight exposed to the building fury beneath his stoic face. Again, she smirked.
“I’m pleased to know I’ve made your life as miserable as you’ve made mine,” she chided, happily.
“All you have accomplished is forcing me to waste time and resources, like a constant thorn in my hoof, but I am forced to deal with you.”
“You can blame the countess for tha-”
A terrible crack rang out across the room. Shield Wall had thrown his hoof violently against Alate’s exposed face, threatening to chip the chitin, almost sending her back to the floor. The veil of stoicism had fallen, replaced by a seething grimace.
“Filth does not address its superiors, least of all her!” The same hoof propped her back onto her knees as he continued. “Now, you possess something of mine, something that traitorous Kindle managed to steal from me and I want to know where it is. Consider me merciful for not allowing my soldiers to tear you apart and granting you the chance to save your own pathetic life. Now, where is it?”
The same staggering silence he received from Abby return from his prisoner, with the addition of a mocking smile dressed across her face, stained green from her blood. He struck her again. Droplets fell across the floor and wall beside them, hardly making contact before another strike landed, then another. Only Abby winced at each crack that reached her ears.
“I do not have time for this game any longer… I have you within my power. I need only give the order and the sad, little flame of your life will be extinguished. You will tell me its location or I will wring it from your lifeless corpse!”
“You have such strong talk,” Alate said through a gurgling chuckle. “But the boy hits much harder than you do.”
“Must I resort to torture, then?!”
“Do your worst, little colt, I know your methods well.”
“I disagree.”
His first hoof shot out to restrain her jagged horn, the sudden action painting Alate’s face with shock as the second swung in an arc, fast enough to whistle through the air, slamming into the base of the horn. Black specks of chitin and bone fell from her forehead, followed by an agonizing wail that made even the Night Guard recoil. She fell again, feeble and writhing, as she grasped the wound with trembling hooves. Abby stumbled back. Shield Wall, though, gave a wicked sneer, wide-eyed and leaning over the changeling, igniting his horn to wrap the discarded one in his power. It dangled close to Alate, slowly pressing its tip into her neck.
“That is my method, worm.”
“Enough of this! Stop!” Abby forced herself between them, throwing herself over Alate and knocking the severed horn away. “Does your cruelty know no bounds?”
“She brought this pain upon herself by defying me!”
“Because I asked her to! If you wish to hurt somepony, then hurt me.”
“This wicked insect knew her offense when she decided to oppose me. Do not sully yourself with her foolishness.”
“You’re one to speak of sullied hooves, Shield, with the bodies you’ve buried in your madness.”
“And you are different, my dear? How many lives have ended for your own single-minded pursuit, or do you believe yourself better for ushering their ends through your pet?”
As the unicorns bickered, Alate lay on the floor in a haze. The pain, followed by the distortion of magical power in her skull, cast visions before her eyes, with mumbled words and half-spoken statements leaking from her mouth like blood from her shattered horn. Her legs felt weak, cold. Her near-lifeless limb found a shape as it fell numbly across her body, poking her with enough force to remind her of its presence. With weary eyes she looked down and found it, resting in her rags.
It blended perfectly along her chitin. Her attention never deviated from the horn in her rags, even before she began to feel an icy chill seep into her body from its touch. Then came the voice. It was low, hardly registering as more than a growl, but its melodious tone spoke a wordless plea in her mind. The runes upon its sleek surface began to glimmer. Alate shifted her limp gaze to Shield Wall, towering over her and Abby like an obelisk of pure malice. The voice came again, and this time she listened.
Shield’s bickering with Abby ended abruptly when the object of his desire entered his vision. The Night Guard followed his gaze and tensed. Even Abby, still draped over Alate, was aghast as she watched her comrade hold the horn close to her chest. With a steady and threatening voice Shield Wall extended his hoof.
“Give it to me…”
His words fell on deaf ears as Alate turned to Abby.
“Move aside, Abby,” Alate mumbled, drawing the horn closer. “You’re in the way.”
Abby hardly had time to blink before a screeching torrent of dark power flew from Alate’s forehead, announced by the crack of bone and a terrible shriek. Some managed to retreat and avoid the wild whips of pure shadow lunging out for them, while others were swallowed by the green flame that coated the hallway. Shield Wall stood defiant, barely holding on behind his magical barrier as he was pushed back against the wall. When the display of dark power had ended, he found himself being lifted from the floor by Glint.
“Sir, there’s no more time. We can secure the Crystal Heart and lock down the castle, just give us the order.”
“Then do it. Go!”
A shrill chirp left Glint’s mouth, and all at once the remaining Night Guard fluttered down and out of the servant’s passage, following their command to flood the palace. They both smashed through the passage door and into the brewing chaos. The palace hallway was slowly being overrun by a flood of Night guard clashing with the palace soldiers, but a single glance toward the small passageway revealed Alate, standing in the doorway with a wreath of vile magic about her. The horn rested upon the fresh wound, green blood still flowing from the seal between her flesh and it’s cursed shape, its runes slowly spreading onto her chitin to complete the union.
The streams of smoke and power from her eyes were all Shield Wall needed to flee the scene. He sped down the hallway, avoiding his forces engaging with the Crystal Corsairs and guards, never once looking back at the wrathful changeling charging after him.