//------------------------------//
// 12. Before the Dusk 
// Story: Trouble at Midnight Castle 
// by RainbowDoubleDash 
//------------------------------//

Magic was embedded into the very foundation of Midnight Castle. Eldritch forces permeated every stone, every sconce, and especially every window and pane of glass, all designed to preserve it from the passage of time and prevent light from entering it. And Midnight Castle’s magic was ancient, which made it both powerful and entrenched, made it a fundamental part of what the castle was. When Scorpan had blasted open a wall, he hadn’t simply burst apart a window and shattered stone. He’d rent apart that ancient, entrenched magic, and left behind a void that the rest of the magic of the castle struggled to try and fill, even as there was nowhere for it to go, no magical matrix to follow, no pattern to enforce.

There were consequences.

The whole Midnight Castle shuddered. Dust that hadn’t moved in more than a millennium, that wasn’t supposed to move because of the preserving magic of the castle, shuddered and fell. In the chapel to Tirac, even as sunlight poured in, lances of orange-black magic arced across the hole and reverberated across the castle itself. The magic of the castle bent towards its sundered enchantment like a wounded creature might clutch at an injury. Because that magic was so interwoven with the architecture, the castle itself tried to bend with its magic, nevermind that it was made of unyielding rock. And throughout the castle, the sound of stone scraping against stone could be heard – as well as stone shattering.

Incredibly, some part of Tirek, some peripheral aspect of his thoughts, was actually able to take note of all that, and find it oddly appropriate that Daring Do was here – she’d probably be familiar with the concept of ancient things collapsing when their magic was disrupted violently, at least if the novels by A.K. Yearling were anything to go by. Tirek figured that Midnight Castle was probably too structurally sound to completely collapse…but this section, at least…

He had no time to consider that, however, because he was far, far more concerned with the small pony and the primordial entity of absolute darkness and evil that he was holding aloft in one hand.

Cozy was screaming – or perhaps the Rainbow of Darkness was. But either way there was screaming, and the filly kicking her legs and flapping her wings. But Tirek had her firmly by the back of the neck and was holding her completely off the ground. She wasn’t touching any shadows, couldn’t touch a shadow. She couldn’t escape the sunlight…and nor could Erebus.

“Let me go!” She cried out. “Release me! It burns! IT BURNS!”
 
Definitely Erebus at the moment – Cozy didn’t speak like that. Tirek wouldn’t have listened anyway, as he needed all his effort focused on his arms. Cozy was only a foal, and a pegasus at that and so naturally light. But Tirek was so very reduced from how much power he should have had. His arm already trembled with the effort it was taking to hold Cozy/Erebus aloft. He had to use his other hand to hold up the arm. He struggled to his hooves, letting out a wheeze from the effort.

He tore his eyes from Cozy/Erebus, casting about for the Sun Stone, but didn’t see it. What he did see was an awful lot of rubble and glass on the floor, and dust in the air all around him. He also heard a crack from above him, glanced up and saw a section of the ceiling nearly as large as him had broken loose and was falling right for – 

But there was a flash of rainbow and blue, and Rainbow Dash was suddenly there, above him, She couldn’t stop a stone that large, but she could slam into it forehooves-first and push it as it fell. Only a few feet, but they were enough for Tirek to stumble the other way and avoid being flattened.

Rainbow Dash flew in front of him. “Time to move, big guy!” She shouted, doing her best to be heard over Cozy/Erebus’ screams.

“I’m trying!” Tirek insisted, starting forward as quickly as he could, picking his way around the debris, keeping Cozy/Erebus in the air. “The Sun Stone! Find the Sun Stone!”

Tirek’s hoof caught on something, and he stumbled and almost fell. But then there was someone else beside him – Caballeron, holding out a hoof and catching him.

“Easy my friend!” The pony glanced behind himself, at a unicorn who looked desperately like she wanted to run and yet was forcing herself not to. “Miss Pose, grab the foal!”

“R…right! Okay!” Glory said, stepping in front of Tirek. Her horn glowed, and she sized Cozy/Erebus in her magic. “U-um…please let go of her, Lord Tirek. I can keep her in the air.”

Tirek didn’t want to, but recognized that for all the bruises and dust that was on the unicorn, magically, she was in much better shape than he. He released the screaming monster inhabiting the body of a pegasus foal, dropping his arms to give them a break, then followed Caballeron and Glory out into the sunlight and away from the collapsing section of Midnight Castle.

Scorpan was coming down from the air, joined by Rainbow Dash and Daring Do – and the blue pegasus’ hooves, Tirek noted, were empty, while Scorpan was panting, still recovering from the depletion the magical force he had unleashed caused.

“The Sun Stone?” Scorpan asked when the three were together.

“Didn’t see it,” Rainbow Dash said, and looked to Daring Do and Scorpan. “I think it’s under rubble – gonna need help to look for it.”

“Digging up treasure is my specialty,” Daring noted, tipping her hat.

“If it isn’t broken,” Scorpan said. “It is not indestructible, or anything like it.”

Tirek growled, looking to Cozy Glow. She was less flailing and more writhing now, screaming, clutching at herself in the sunlight, using her wings to try and shield her eyes even though the sun seemed like it burned those too. Glory was holding the child aloft, Caballeron next to her to steady her as she worked to keep the foal floating in the face of her struggles. His own minions were gathering around for support too.

Tirek looked back to the two adult pegasi. “Go! Find it!” he looked to Scorpan as they did. “What do you even need the Sun Stone for? She’s in true sunlight now!”

Scorpan eyed his brother, one eye twitching. “And if I was five unicorns willing to sacrifice all my magic forever, maybe I could do something with that. Otherwise I could never manipulate the magic of the Sun, no creature could!”

Tirek was shocked enough at his brother’s outburst to not even be able to immediately retort, which gave him time to reconsider updating his brother on the current events that he had clearly missed out on. “Very well. We’ll find the Sun Stone. We must.”

Scorpan looked at Tirek closely, and glanced to Cozy/Erebus where she writhed. “If…if she were willing.”

“What?”

“If she were willing. I told you. I’ve been telling you, brother…I threw out the Rainbow of Darkness because I wanted to, and it still took all of my will. Cozy Glow doesn’t want to…she wants the power, wants the darkness…”

Tirek bristled. “She doesn’t know – ”

“She does!” Scorpan’s grip on his spear tightened. Glory, Caballeron, and the three other earth ponies looked over at his outburst. Scorpan stepped away from Tirek, and jammed a finger at the Sun. “And even if she didn’t…we don’t have time to convince her. Not in just a few hours.”

“What are you – ”

Scorpan moved, faster than Tirek could react in his weakened state. His world was pain as Scorpan jammed a fist right into his stomach, then used the same arm to grab Tirek by one of his horns and force him to the ground. Tirek tasted sand in his mouth.

“Failed before,” Scorpan said, turning towards Cozy/Erebus and pointing his spear. “Won’t fail again.”

Tirek coughed, eyes wide as he tried to get his mind away from the agony in his stomach and get his six limbs sorted out. He heard Glory let out a cry of surprise as Scorpan rushed forward.

Everything felt so sluggish as he managed to get to his knees. Scorpan was not unopposed in his charge – two of Caballeron’s minions ran forward to meet him, as did Caballeron himself, the two earth ponies grabbing his legs and making him stumble so Caballeron could deliver a hoof-punch right to the gargoyle’s face. But Scorpan only spat, grabbed Caballeron by the throat, and hurled him away.

Tirek got his legs under him and started forward, though he could barely manage a canter-speed. Scorpan kicked one earth pony off of him, used the butt of his spear to knock away the other. The final minion, the biggest of the three, charged Scorpan next and grabbed the gargoyle around his waist. Scorpan grabbed at the pony with one hand, but this one wasn’t as easy to dislodge as he bucked Scorpan in his kidney, making him sputter and nearly collapse.

Glory took advantage of the pause to gallop away – and, necessary, close to Midnight Castle. Cozy/Erebus screamed in her grip.

“Let me go!” Cozy screamed. “He’s going to kill her you stupid mare! You can’t live with that! Release me! Get me out of the Sun!”

Scorpan drew back his spear and jammed it down. The earth pony wouldn’t let himself get skewered and released Scorpan, leaping back, leaving himself open to a kick. Then Scorpan rose into the air and shot out after the fleeing Glory.

But the action had bought enough time for Tirek to close the distance, meet Glory where she was running. With a desperate roar, Tirek drew on the last reserves of his power and called up a shield around himself, Glory, and Cozy Glow. Scorpan’s spear slammed into it, caused it to shudder, sent pain all through Tirek. But the shield held.

Glory shifted from hoof to hoof as Scorpan backed up, drawing on his own magic, getting ready to blast through the shield. “Wh – what are we gonna do?!” She demanded.

“Tirek…” Cozy cried. Tirek glanced to her, and saw the filly’s eyes were as wide as they’d ever been. “Tirek – you have to let me go! I can save us, I can save you, I can stop Scorpan! I’m the only one who can!”

“Erebus can,” Tirek corrected. He looked to Scorpan just in time to see him let loose with magic. The orange-black lance collided with Tirek’s shield and burst it apart like it was nothing. Kinetic force slammed into Tirek and sent him stumbling backwards, landing on his haunches next to Glory. 

Yet in spite of the pain, he barely felt it. He didn’t have time to feel it, he needed to find some way to put an end to this – to stop his brother, to save Cozy from him…but not at the expense of losing her to Erebus once again…unless…

Tirek reached out, and looked into Cozy’s eyes…and past them, to the monster underneath.

“My offer still stands,” he told Erebus.

Cozy blanched. “No way! Erebus is my friend – ”

“Done!” Erebus interrupted – 





“What was that?” Rainbow Dash asked, sticking her head up from where she’d been looking for the Sun Stone. She’d heard Cozy/Erebus screaming = well, the filly had been screaming this entire time, actually, and in a way that made Dash’s fur stand on end. Evil psychopath possessed by an ancient evil or no, Cozy/Erebus still sounded like a filly in immense amount of pain.

But the cadence of the scream had changed. There was fear in it now. Abject terror, even.

Daring looked up from where she had pried up a fallen section of ceiling. She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything there was a crack and another bit of ceiling came loose. The two pegasi had to roll to avoid it. It landed with a thud where Daring had been, cracking in half and sending up a plume of dust.

Cozy screamed again outside. And Glory, too – Dash heard her voice.

Daring looked to Dash. “Go, I’ll keep looking. I’ll be fine.”

Dash didn’t hesitate. She knew Daring’s lane, knew she could find the Sun Stone if it was there to be found. Wings beating, Dash flew out of the dust and shadows of Midnight Castle. She found herself looking at Scorpan having just finished blasting apart a shield spell that Tirek had summoned up. Glory was behind Tirek, while the centaur was on his haunches.

Time stretched out for Dash as she took in the details and processed them – Scorpan was attacking Cozy. Probably didn’t trust them to find the Sun Stone. Was trying to end the threat of the Rainbow of Darkness while he could, while it was stuck in a little filly who couldn’t defend herself as long as she was away from shadows.

“Yeah no,” Dash decided, launching herself forward just as Tirek reached out and grabbed Cozy’s hoof, just as Scorpan lunged. Last time Dash had been in this situation, she’d been too slow and Cozy had been lost.

Not this time. Dash couldn’t break Scorpan’s spear, and probably couldn’t tear it from his grasp, But she could slam into it as fast as her wings could carry her, force it to the side. The spear plunged but missed its target, jamming into the ground even as Dash’s momentum rolled her over it. She spun in the air and turned around, ready to act again if she needed to. Instead…

“Done!” Cozy’s voice exclaimed – 





Done?! Cozy exclaimed inside her own mind. What do you mean, done?! You’re my friend! You can’t just abandon me!

The darkness writhed. Erebus was in agony in the sunlight, but Cozy was forcing it to stay here, forcing it to stretch out this moment like it had before. She’d always been a quick learner when she set her mind to it. But at the same time, she could tell it wouldn’t last. She couldn’t stretch this moment out forever. Already the darkness was breaking, motes of light shining through it

I can, Erebus said, and I am.

But why?!

Because Tirek has opened my eyes to something – he can defend himself. You can’t. I can restore Tirek’s magic. The darkness within him is great, and I can turn that darkness into a bottomless well of power.

But – but once Scorpan has been taken care of, you’ll come right back, right?

The darkness was quiet a moment, or whatever the equivalent of a moment was when one was stretching out a moment to cover a while. 

And the moment was enough - would have been enough on its own. But apparently that wasn’t enough for Erebus. He had to twist the knife.

You are a foolish child, Cozy Glow.

Cozy screamed as the Rainbow of Darkness cast her aside and the moment stopped being stretched out towards infinity. Back in reality, Scorpan’s spear missed, thanks to Rainbow Dash. Cozy barely noticed or cared about that fact. She was too focused on the drain she felt across her body as it felt like something vital was tearing itself from her body and soul, flowing out of her through her hoof and into Tirek.

“No…!” Cozy managed to gasp out. It was power that was leaving her. The power of the Rainbow of Darkness, the power that had let her stand hoof-to-hoof with Tirek, that would have let her overthrow Grogar…it was leaving her because Erebus was leaving her, casting her aside.

The reaction of Tirek was immediate. He rose to his hooves with newfound strength. He couldn’t draw on the power of the Rainbow of Darkness in the sunlight, but Erebus could direct its power inward. Tirek was already glowing with power, growing in size, his horns lengthening, his muscles bulging. The moment he stood he leapt, the leap carrying him more than a dozen feet and into the shadow of Midnight Castle.

Glory let Cozy go as she backed away from the terror that Tirek was becoming, and the filly managed to get her wings under her. Scorpan had lost all interest in her, gathering up power and hurling it at Tirek. But Tirek raised his arms and called up a triple-layered shield augmented by the shadows under his hooves, and the lance of magic splashed harmlessly against it.

Cozy screamed. “Give it back!” She shouted, making to surge forward. Before she could get more than a few feet, though, she was grabbed from the air by Rainbow Dash.

“Okay, Cozy?” Dash said. “Really need you to focus right now – ”

“Get off me!” Cozy squirmed and wriggled as best she could in the older pony’s grasp, but it was no use. “You dumb – Tirek stole Erebus – ”

“No, kid, it didn’t. Erebus abandoned you.”

Cozy began to retort that it was only because Tirek had worked his charms on Erebus, that he’d bamboozled the Rainbow of Darkness the way he’d bamboozled Discord. But then Dash was forced to drag herself and Cozy down to the dirt, taking Glory with them, as Tirek roared and released a burst of magic power right at Scorpan.

The gargoyle put up a shield spell of his own – and Tirek’s power burst through it like it wasn’t even there and sent Scorpan flying over the edge of Midnight Castle’s plinth.

Tirek was bigger than Cozy had ever seen him at this point. Probably not as large as he’d been when he’d fought Princess Twilight…but he was getting there. He kept stepping backwards and into the shadow of Midnight Castle, knocking down portions of the castle with mighty blows from his arms since he’d grown too large for the main entrance.

“Oh YES!” Tirek howled, his voice reverberating with power. “THIS IS MORE LIKE IT!”

Cozy tried to get her hooves under her so she could give Tirek a piece of her mind, but Rainbow Dash grabbed her again under one leg while she used the other to lift Glory to her own hooves.

“Glory? You okay in there?” Rainbow Dash asked. She’s barely gotten the words out when Scorpan came soaring up again, gathering magic and launching it forward into a continuous beam that Tirek blocked with one hand that didn’t even seem to have any magic power behind it, just contempt.

Glory shook her head frantically, even as she reached up to her head and pulled her goggles back down and seemed to draw a little strength from them. “J-just do wh-whatever you have to t-to g-g-get me out of here!”

“Cool! Follow me!”

Cozy kept squirming, but Rainbow Dash’s grip was tight as she flew forward, Glory galloping behind her. The ponies ran under the continuous beam of magic. Cozy could feel it’s heat and her fur stood on end from the power. They’d barely gotten past it when Scorpan ran out of energy without having even scuffed Tirek.

Tirek retaliated with one outstretched finger that launched a tiny bead of magic - and when the bead hit Scorpan, it exploded, tossing the ponies forward and sending Scorpan flying once more, smoke trailing from his fur. Rainbow Dash lost her grip on Cozy at last, but no sooner had she done so than Glory once more seized her in telekinesis.

“Dumb stupid cheating magic!” Cozy shouted. She turned her head to look at Tirek putting her hooves to her mouth. “Tirek! Hey Tirek! Help a filly out here!”

Tirek turned to regard the three ponies, which made Glory and Rainbow Dash both freeze. Cozy laughed, even though she was trapped. “Ha! C’mon, Tirek, grab me and send these guys packing and then we can figure out how to share Erebus!”





Tirek turned to regard the three ponies. Cozy Glow had managed to break away from Glory’s telekinesis and was flying up and out of her magical reach.

”Give the Rainbow of Darkness back you big dummy!” Cozy screeched. “It’s not fair that you’re getting it when you’ve already got all that power! Give it back or I’m going to Canterlot and getting the princesses and the pillars and Discord and everypony!”

That might be more than I can handle, Erebus said in Tirek’s mind.

“Cozy,” Tirek said, raising his hand and grasping her with telekineses, pulling him towards her, “we’ll discuss this later. For now…” he looked to Glory and Rainbow Dash. “Our deal is concluded. Erebus has been removed from Cozy Glow. So now what do we do - go our separate ways and fight each other later?”

Rainbow Dash flared her wings, and Glory’s horn lit up. “There’s no way I’m gonna let you get back to Equestria with that thing!” She called.

“And how do you propose to stop me?”

“I’ll figure something out!”

“M-me too!” Glory insisted.

Tirek grinned, raising a hand. “Oh really?”





Tirek grinned, raising a hand. Power gathered at the tip of one finger as he aimed at Rainbow Dash, Glory Pose…and Cozy Glow, still held in Glory’s telekinesis.

“O-or blast them and then grab me,” Cozy said. “Either way, really…”

Tirek clenched his teeth, and narrowed his eyes. The power grew.





Tirek clenched his teeth, and narrowed his eyes. It was doubtful that Rainbow Dash or Glory posed the slightest threat to him…but he couldn’t take that risk. Nor could he risk their escape. They were enemies, after all, and he’d given them a chance to make a more intelligent choice…

“At least I get to see Rainbow Dash bite it,” Cozy groused from beside Tirek.





Cozy’s eyes grew wide as she floated in place beside Glory. She dropped her hooves from her mouth “Um…T-Tirek…?”

The centaur smiled. His eyes…the pupils and sclera were gone, there was nothing but inky blackness.

“Not at the moment,” Erebus said.

“MOVE!” Rainbow Dash cried. She reached out to grab Glory, but the unicorn was already galloping and dragging Cozy with her. And it was a good thing too, because Tirek/Erebus launched another blast of magic – a wide beam that crashed into the ground and ploughed through it, carving a hole straight through it and out the side of the plinth before impacting with the water far below and exploding.

Cozy hung limply, barely feeling the water that had been tossed up into the air and now rained down on them. Glory’s and Rainbow Dash’s gallop had carried them behind the contours of Midnight Castle, out of sight of the centaur. Not that walls would protect them, at least not directly…but the more of Midnight Castle that Tirek brought down, the more exposed he – and Erebus – would be to the sun.

Some part of Cozy noted that, anyway. Mostly, she was focusing on the fact that Tirek had just attacked her. No – Erebus had…but Erebus couldn’t do anything unless Tirek wanted it to happen, that was how he worked…

But…

The adults kept going until they reached where Caballeron and his crew had been hunkering down, near the ramp that led down the side of the plinth. Glory barely slowed as she ploughed right into Caballeron, hugging him tightly. She lost her magic grip on Cozy, but again Cozy was too slow to act — the three goons grabbed her from the air, and she was passed to the biggest and held tight in his earth pony grip.

“Alright,” Caballeron said, “and now we run, yes?”

Rainbow Dash glanced to him. “Are you kidding?” She demanded, using both hooves to indicate Midnight Castle. “I need your help to stop him!”

“That’s not happening, Miss Dash,” Caballeron said. “It took everything we had to hold back Erebus when it was just in a small filly, and we still lost! What chance do we have now? All we can do is take advantage of the fact that Erebus’ power can’t reach very far while the sun is still up.”

“I-I’m not a hero,” Glory said, eyeing the ramp down. “I’m just a socialite a-and an illegal artifacts collector. I sh-shouldn’t even be here, I belong at h-home or in a museum – ”

“Look, I wasn’t a hero when Nightmare Moon showed up to Ponyville,” Rainbow Dash noted. She landed in front of Glory, and put a hoof on her withers, looking her in the eyes, then looked to Caballeron. “But Equestria needed saving, so I stepped up to the plate. So you’re scared? So am I! So we’re up against an unstoppable force of darkness? Been there! If we don’t stop the Rainbow of Darkness here and now, all of Saddle Arabia is going to suffer — and then Tirek is probably gonna come looking for revenge on Equestria. There is no running from this! All you can do is put it off! You really think that’s the best option?”

Glory looked to Rainbow Dash, then looked to Midnight Castle, then back to Rainbow Dash. 

“Yes,” she said as she turned and fled down the ramp.

Caballeron paused as he passed Rainbow Dash, put a hoof on her withers, nodded firmly, and then fled himself. The big earth pony holding Cozy glanced down at her, then let go of her and ran along with his compatriots. Professor Dash was distracted, Cozy could have made her getaway…but she didn’t. She picked herself up, but instead of trying to fly, she sat down, staring at the ground as what had just happened replayed in her mind.

“He…” she mumbled, “he attacked me…”

Rainbow Dash turned around. “Yeah…and that’s a surprise how?” She asked. “You’ve attacked Tirek a whole bunch the past few hours!”

“To try and prove a point!” Cozy objected to her former teacher. She stomped a hoof. “I would have stopped if he’d just listened to me…I never wanted to hurt him…th-that wasn’t really Tirek, though. That was Erebus. He basically said so. Erebus attacked me – ”

“But Erebus can’t really do anything unless Tirek wants to do it,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Shut up!” Cozy sprang to her hooves, flared her wings, scuffed a hoof on the ground. “Tirek would never want to attack me! I’m his friend!”

Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs as she sat down, one brow raised. “Then why did he let Erebus attack you?”

Cozy chewed her lip. “I…m…m-maybe Erebus tricked him. He can do that. He…when Erebus first possessed me, he showed me an illusion of the school, looked like Gallus and Ocellus and Silverstream. Talked like them, too. And because it was all just in my head we had a whole conversation in less than a second. So maybe Erebus is tricking him somehow! Maybe he’s showing Tirek some illusion…”

“Okay,” Rainbow Dash said, rubbing her temples. “Okay, maybe. But that definitely means that Erebus isn’t your friend.”

“No, he is – ”

“Cozy? Friends don’t try to blow each other up!”

“Y-yeah – I mean, no – I-I mean…you don’t know anything!” Cozy turned, taking to the air. “You’ll see, I can convince Erebus to come back and I can convince Tirek to give him back – ”

She didn’t even make it a couple inches before her hind hooves were grabbed. “Oh come on!” Cozy turned back to look at Professor Dash. “Your dumb speech didn’t work, you’ve lost the Sun Stone and don’t even know how to use it and Scorpan is probably dead, you sure as heck can’t do anything to stop Tirek! You’ve lost, Professor Dash! So let me go and convince Erebus to come back!”

“Why in the wide wide world of Equestria would I let you do that?” 

“Because if push comes to shove, who’d you rather have ruling Equestria — Tirek, or me?”

“Neither of you!”

“That’s not an option!”

Rainbow Dash didn’t have a retort for that, but she didn’t let Cozy go, either. Cozy stopped trying to fly away and instead landed, giving up on getting out of the adult’s reach. She looked to Midnight Castle, and saw that Tirek/Erebus had knocked down another wall in order to retreat inside the castle’s shadows. It seemed like he’d at least stopped growing…but last time Cozy had seen him, he’d been over thirty feet tall, bigger than Cozy had ever seen him before. And if the Rainbow of Darkness wasn’t lying about its own power and the power it could grant to Tirek…

“Well, we’re doomed!” Cozy said, throwing up her hooves. “Any bright ideas?”

“I’m thinking!”

“Hey, Discord! That’s my bright idea. That’s where we’re at, ‘cause I’m sure not waiting for you to think of anything. Discord! Get your snakey butt out here! Hey, start shouting, maybe he’ll get the message. Discord! Wanna go draco-a-cento on Tirek? I don’t speak Mexicolt, I don’t know if that’s right. DISCORD!”

“…Cozy…you’re a genius!”

“Yeah I know I…wait, what?” Cozy looked to Rainbow Dash, and saw that Dash was scanning Midnight Castle, looking it over even as parts of it continued to fall. “Can you really get Discord here? Because I’m still mad at him for wrecking the spellvenger hunt – ”

“No, not Discord – I mean, maybe not, but…” Professor Dash was prancing in place, wings flapping as though the only way to get her dumb brain to work was to literally jog her thoughts. “You…you messaged Tirek while he was in Tartarus. How’d you do that?”

“Same way Spike can, basically. It takes me a little longer ‘cause I don’t have any magic organs or magic fire, I need a real fire and to draw a rune and need to do this little ritual – ”

“Who else can you send messages to? Does it have to be paper? How long to set it up? Did you bring anything to write with?”

“Anypony as long as I know basically where they are, it just has to be something flammable, about five minutes, and yeah in my bag, but what – ”

“We can keep Tirek trapped here. We can keep the Rainbow of Darkness trapped here!”

“No we can’t! The Sun’s gonna set in just a little – ”

Rainbow Dash stepped forward and put a hoof on Cozy’s withers. “Not if we write a letter to Princess Celestia.”

Cozy’s eyes widened. “Oh.”

“Tell her to pin the Sun in place over Saddle Arabia – ”

“Oh!”

“Tell her to bring it closer to the planet, turn up the heat, park it right over Midnight Castle – ”

Cozy whickered. “Aaand you’re back to being the dumb one, unless you want to get fried – ”

“Hey!”

“Oh! But if Scorpan’s still alive then maybe he can tell us how to use the Sun instead of the Sun Stone, or tell Princess Celestia how!”

“Right! And even if that doesn’t work we just have to get Twilight and Applejack and everypony else down here, we’ll use the Elements of Harmony, and if that doesn’t work we’ve got the Pillars, or Discord, or the Princesses – ”

“Right! All I need is about five minutes and something to write with and a way to make fire…” Cozy frowned, and looked back to Midnight Castle. “Oh. All my stuff is in there…”

“On it!” Rainbow Dash took to the air. “You get back to Glory, see if you can convince her to help you! And find Scorpan! I’ll go grab your bags!”

“They were in that – ”

“Throne room where you choked me, yeah, I remember!” With that, Rainbow Dash shot towards the castle. Cozy wasted no time in throwing herself over the side of the plinth, heading for the raft that Glory and Caballeron and the goon squad had come here on.

Now…the real question was how to use this to get Erebus to become her friend again…





The ponies had avoided his blast and fled. It was little matter, he could deal with them once the Sun went down.

“I’m going to get the Rainbow of Darkness back,” Cozy said from where she floated. “Just you wait!”

Tirek rolled his eyes as he settled down to wait. Erebus seemed to have reached the zenith of the power it could provide Tirek for now…and Tirek felt almost as strong as he had when he’d first met Cozy Glow, all those years ago. With this power, he could easily challenge Celestia and Luna together, perhaps even Cadance or Twilight at the same time as well…and the power of Erebus would grow.

“Tirac lost the Rainbow of Darkness!” Cozy pointed out. “Some centaur or gargoyle just snuck up on him in his sleep. Wham! I could do that.”

“No you couldn’t,” Tirek countered. He did release the filly from his telekinesis, though. “I’ll take precautions.”

“I’ll get around them! You’ll see!”

Persistent, isn’t she? I don’t think she’ll give up…

Tirek chuckled, ignoring Erebus. His first instinct was to reach out a hand and pat Cozy on the head, but he remembered how much she hated being patronized. “I’ll look forward to it,” he decided. “It should keep me on my hooves. Cozy, I promise you: we’ll find a way to give you all the power you desire. Perhaps I can research a way to transfer the magic I steal to others…I could give you the powers of an alicorn.”

“I don’t want the powers of an alicorn, I want the Rainbow of Darkness!” Cozy screamed, and stomped her hooves. “I want it, I want it, I want it!”

Tirek grimaced. “If you can’t calm down then I’m going to have to - argh!”

The last came as bright, hot pain suddenly lanced along his back. Whirling around, he saw a jasmine-coated pegasus with the Sun Stone in her front hooves, flying forward.

Daring Do shot past him. “Sorry! You were blocking the exit - ”

She got no further when a blue-rainbow streak came in, grabbing Daring Do. “Come on, change of plans!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she flew on by and pulled Daring deeper into the castle.

“What?!”

Tirek roared, charging towards where they’d gone, or trying to.  But he’d grown too large - he couldn’t fit through the door.

Change of plans? Erebus demanded. What change of plans? What are they talking about?

Tirek growled, looking down at his massively increased form. He slammed a fist against the wall. “I don’t believe this…I finally get more power and it’s literally holding me back!”

“Hey, I could fit - “ Cozy said.

“No!”

I can’t do much on my own…Erebus said, as shadows writhed, but I will follow where they go.





Dash had let go of Daring as the two raced down the corridor, but Daring had the presence of mind to follow her. “What are we doing?” She demanded. “Change of plan? What’s the plan?”

“Can’t tell you. Shadows have ears,” Dash explained. “Just keep that Sun Stone handy!”

Daring did, though there were problems. “I’m not a unicorn, I can’t make it glow brighter, have to use my hooves…I’ll do what I can.”

“Great!”

The two pegasi arrived in the throne room easily, and Dash galloped over to Cozy’s supplies, Daring following as she went through them and finally pulled out a set of crayons and a notebook, which fell open as she did, to a map of Equestria with extensive modifications.

“The FIENDship Express? Seriously?” Dash asked.

Daring peeked over her withers. “Kid’s not bad at map-making, though.”

“Is that a roller coaster?”

Beyond the limits of the Sun Stone’s light, the shadows writhed. A vague, pony-sized shape appeared. “C’mon now RD, what in tarnation are ya up to?”

Dash and Daring both whirled to face Erebus, who seemed to be, just barely, wearing the shape of Applejack. “Okay, not cool,” Dash said. “What are you doing, Erebus? I know it’s you.”

“Ah don’t got a face of mah own, y’all know that, but Ah just figured a face ya could trust would - ”

“Also you’re really bad at the accent.”

Erebus stomped Applejack’s hoof. The shadows changed. “Fine!” Dash’s own voice spoke back at her. Wings flared in the darkness. “What’re you doing? You know there’s no way out. The Sun will set in just a few more hours. And that Sun Stone doohickey is no threat to Tirek! You’ve lost. Why not surrender? Tirek can be trusted to be cool.”

“As long as you’re not messing with what he sees and hears,” Dash pointed out.

“True. But the way I see it you don’t really have any other choice.”

Dash grinned. “That’s what you think!”

“You’re bluffing!”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!”

“We’ll just you wait ‘til - “

Daring all but leaped onto Dash, one hoof jammed right up against her muzzle. “Shadows have ears,” she reminded her.

Dash felt heat flush through her face as her ears dropped. “Oh. Right.”

Erebus whickered and stomped a hoof, exactly as Rainbow Dash would have. “Fine, don’t tell me your stupid plan! I don’t need to know it anyway…because guess who this room is big enough for!” She stood up straighter and pulled back, morphing into the form of Tirek - and then the shadows fell away, revealing the real thing.

Dash was already moving, holding the paper and crayons, while Daring and the Sun Stone with her, but Tirek moved to block them, reaching out with telekinesis and seizing both of them. His power also tried to reach for the Sun Stone, but the telekinesis failed somehow, the aura manifesting but then instantly disappearing.

“No matter,” Tirek - or maybe Erebus - said, horns glowing as power gathered and be opened his mouth wide. “Your magic will be mine - “

It probably would have been, and Dash wasn’t sure what exactly she could do to stop it. Her mind raced, but before anything could come up, Daring pulled back her hooves and threw the Sun Stone right at Tirek’s open mouth.

The centaur reeled as it went into his throat - and got stuck. He released the pegasi, and his hands went to his throat as he stumbled backwards. Dash started to move, but noticed they Daring was still behind with Tirek - she’d leapt forward and kicked Tirek right in his face.

“Go! Move!” Daring shouted. Dash hesitated a fraction of a second more, but then took off down the shadowed halls of Midnight Castle. She plowed into a wall at almost every turn, but the sunlight streaming in from outside guided her path, so she ignored the pain and kicked off from the walls and kept moving.

Behind her she heard a roar. Tirek must have gotten the Sun Stone dislodged. She crossed the threshold of the former chapel to Lord Tirac, saw the bright sunlight from the hole that had been blasted into it. She felt more than saw movement behind her, was certain she felt Tirek’s fingers brush and almost grab the tip of her tail, but didn’t dare look as she dove out into the sunlight and turned as fast as she could, getting out of sight, out of the ability to grab her with telekinesis.

Tirek roared again. Dash just dove over the side of the plinth, and finally had time to hope that Daring would be okay.





Cozy was not normally a blunt pony, but right now she didn’t feel like she had time to be anything else. She reached the bottom of the plinth just as Caballeron’s gang had kicked off in their inflatable raft. She didn’t have time for a long speech or to convince them to listen to her, so she did the next best thing: she grabbed a sharp rock from the ground, flew up to the raft, and gashed as large a hole as she could in it.

“Hey!” The ponies inside called out as the raft began to deflate and sink. They bailed out, while Cozy was grabbed in Glory’s telekinesis. “You - you little monster! What are we supposed to do now?!”

“Help me light a fire so I can send a letter to Princess Celestia and get her to pin the Sun in the sky,” Cozy answered.

The ponies were floundering in barrel-deep water when she said that. They pulled themselves back into the beach. “What?” Caballeron demanded. “What are you talking about - “

“I can send letters! With magic! And fire! And Princess Celestia controls the Sun, and Erebus can’t leave Midnight Castle while the Sun is up!” Cozy crossed her hooves. “It’s Professor Dash’s plan! It gives us time to think up something to do about Erebus. Worst-case scenario we can keep him here long enough for the rest of Professor Dash’s dumb friends to get here and blast him with magic!”

Cozy had no intention of things getting that far, of course. She’d have Erebus back soon. But step one required isolating him.

“This is a trick…”

“It’s not a trick!” Rainbow Dash’s voice called. The pegasus landed on the beach, holding crayons and paper. The other ponies raised their eyebrows at the sight, but she ignored them as she focused on Cozy, holding out the paper. “Here. Write fast, keep it simple, say it’s from me, and hope Celestia doesn’t need more convincing than you’ve got paper left in here. I’m gonna go look for Scorpan.”

With that, she was off. Cozy looked to Glory and Caballeron expectantly. The former looked to the latter, and he threw his hooves in the air. “Fine! We’re doing this, then. I need a vacation…”

“Tiatarta’s nice this time of year,” one of the henchponies said as Glory set Cozy back down on the ground. “This little town south of Los Pegasus. Great seafood if you’re into it.”

Cozy had been about to start writing, and instead had to put her hooves to her mouth as she turned green. “Sh-shut up,” she insisted. Then she swallowed, composed herself, and put crayon to paper.

“Princess Celestia isn’t going to believe a foal’s mouth-writing.”

“Puh-lease,” Cozy mumbled around the crayon. “I learned how to forge all my professors’ writing in my first week at school. Now let me focus…”





Rainbow Dash circled the plinth of Midnight Castle in ever-widening arcs, eyes scanning the water for any sign of Scorpan. She found him floating limply in the water a few hundred feet from the plinth, though at least it was face-up. She shot over to him, preparing herself for the worst. She may well have found it: while Scorpan’s eyes were open and he was breathing, he was just floating there, his spear bobbing a few feet away.

“Okay, break time is over,” Dash said, flying over the gargoyle and looking down at him. “You can move, right?”

Scorpan’s eyes only barely focused on her. “What’s the point…?” He finally let out. “Erebus…Erebus has won. I failed…”

Dash resisted the urge to drag her hooves down her face. “Look, losing sucks, I know that! But we haven’t lost yet. As long as Erebus is stuck in Midnight Castle we’ve got a chance!”

Scorpan’s head moved slightly to look at Dash directly. “The Sun Stone…?”

“Uh…last I saw it…Daring had thrown it down Tirek’s throat.”

Scorpan stared.

“I think he coughed it back up though.”

Scorpan lay his head back in the water. “So we have nothing.”

“Nuh-uh! We’ve still got the Sun!”

“I cannot direct the power of the Sun. We’re doomed. We’ve lost. I’m sorry…it’s my fault.”

“Maybe you can’t do anything with the Sun, but I happen to know somepony who can: Princess Celestia!”

Scorpan once more looked to her. “What? But…she’s just a filly…”

“She was just a filly back when you knew her…which is really weird to think about…but it’s been a thousand years. She’s a Princess of Equestria, and the Alicorn of the Sun! She can move it around whenever she likes, I’ve seen her do it back when Nightmare Moon was defeated, and then later when the Plundervines were…” Dash stopped, and let out a groan. “Look, you don’t really know what those are, fine. But I promise, we’ve still got a chance at this. Cozy Glow is writing a letter to Princess Celestia right now and is going to get her to pin the Sun in the sky. Night won’t come until Celestia let’s it, so Tirek - so Erebus - is trapped.”

Scorpan blinked. He shifted in the water, getting upright in it. “She…controls the Sun?”

“Yeah!”

“And you didn’t tell me?!”

“Cozy Glow is the one who knows how to send letters by magic and she was kind of not on our side at the time…actually she still isn’t, but she wants the Rainbow of Darkness out of Tirek, so we’re working together at least ‘til that.”

It also finally occurred to Dash that she was letting Cozy Glow, of all ponies, send letters on her behalf. There was way too much going on right now…

Scorpan floated quietly for several moments. “With…with the power of the Sun itself, Erebus could be…but no. No, it won’t work! Erebus can simply hide in Midnight Castle. Celestia cannot keep the Sun in one place forever…it would damage the world. And we cannot draw Erebus out…”

Dash flew over to Scorpan’s spear, plucking it from the water and holding it out to the gargoyle. “One thing at a time, buddy. Erebus isn’t hiding in Midnight Castle; Tirek is. And I dunno if you noticed, but he’s huge right now. Not a whole lot of places that can fit him, and you already busted open one hole…”

Scorpan stared at his offered spear. He began beating his wings, rising from the water, and toon the spear. Yellow-black magic cackled along its length.

“I understand,” he said.

“Cool! Now follow me, we gotta meet back up with Cozy…”







Dear Princess Celestia,

There isn’t really much time. This is Rainbow Dash. I really really REALLY need you to move the Sun so that it’s stuck over Midnight Castle, which is in Saddle Arabia. Like, RIGHT now.




Who is this? How did you learn this spell?




Look, there isn’t time to explain everything! I told you, this is Rainbow Dash!




Why are you writing in crayon, and why did you change crayons, and seriously, who is this? Rainbow Dash is on vacation.

Sister, what troubles you?

Somepony is sending me letters claiming to be Rainbow Dash.

How do you know it isn’t?

Because she’s on vacation in Saddle Arabia. Try to keep your voice down, I have a dictation spell running, it might pick up - oh wait no I didn’t proofrea




I’m on vacation in SADDLE ARABIA, I need you to pin the Sun over SADDLE ARABIA, and my crayon broke! I PROMISE that this is Rainbow Dash and IT IS AN EMERGENCY!!!




If you were Rainbow Dash, then you would know that the movement of the Sun is bound by a number of international treaties to ensure the proper flow of time and weather across the planet, and you would know that I cannot alter its course simply on a whim as per the terms of the Treaty of Pferdchenwortspiel.




NO S I WOULDN’T!!!




Very good, that was a test, though the treaty I was referring to is very real and very serious. Although…Luna, does that look like a crossed-out “S”?

Indeed it does. I suspect whoever is writing this went to write “she” and corrected themselves.

I agree. We’re going to need more proof, “Rainbow Dash”. And I should warn you that I am in no mood for games right now, not after what has just happened in Tiatarta.



“Huh, small world,” one of Caballeron’s henchponies remarked as he read the letter. “Gosh, I hope it wasn’t anything too bad, I was serious about that vacation…”

Cozy Glow resisted the urge to let out a scream as she read the latest return message from the princesses. Instead, she put her hooves to her temples and rubbed them, trying to think. At least she didn’t have to do the spell’s ritual every time, just when she was setting it up. Afterwards, anything burned in the fire would go to her chosen recipient.

“This isn’t working,” Glory said. She’d helped to light the small fire on the beach, using whatever flammable materials they had as the fuel, but ever since then had been as jittery as a twittermite. “This isn’t working and you wrecked our best chance of escape!”

“We have another raft, Miss Pose,” Caballeron pointed out, indicating his minions. The biggest one was inflating it now. “It will be a tight squeeze, but we don’t have to go far. We can still make it.”

“Exactly!” Cozy remarked. “So let me think…I thought sounding desperate would work but now I gotta try and reason with them…but I need to sound like Professor Dash…”

“If I may,” Caballeron put in, “have you considered telling the truth? Or a version of it at least.”

“Pfft! No! Why would I do anything as stupid as that? The princesses were gonna keep me locked up in Tartarus for a whole year, there’s no way they’d listen to me!”

“That much is true,” Caballeron allowed. “But perhaps if they knew the danger that Tirek was currently posing, the specific nature of the threat.” He leaned back, considering. “You could mention that Tirek has escaped from Tartarus and is in possession of the Rainbow of Darkness. Oh, and of course you should say that ‘you’ - that is, Miss Rainbow Dash - are here with Daring Do. If Princess Celestia knows of Miss Dash’s vacation, then she may know the reason for it.”

Cozy considered. “Huh…okay, yeah, good idea.”

“I have some experience with forgery myself.”

Glory looked at him. “How much experience?”

“Er…why, I meant of letters and documents of course. Certainly not of artifacts!”



Princess Celestia, it’s DEFINITELY me. I’m here in Saddle Arabia with Daring Do. We were looking for the Sun Stone, you know that, and we went to Midnight Castle. And I don’t know how but TIREK is here! And it turns out that there’s something called the Rainbow of Darkness, and he has it!

So look. A lot has happened but right now we’ve got him trapped in Midnight Castle. But if the Sun sets then he’s gonna be able to escape! All you need to do is just hold the Sun over Midnight Castle for just a few hours! We’ll figure something out!



Cozy rolled up the paper and went over to the fire, but paused as something occurred to her. “Wait,” she said, “but if I send this, what if they go to Tartarus to check? With teleporting they could get there instantly…and they won’t just see that Tirek isn’t there, they’ll see that I’m not!”

Caballeron considered, then nodded. “Yes. That would seem to be the case.”

“Then I can’t send this!” Cozy felt her eyes growing wide. “Grogar will kill me if he finds out!”

”Grogar?!” Caballeron, and all three of his henchponies, exclaimed at once. “The Father of Monsters?!”

“Yeah! He’s back…but he wanted to keep being back a secret…”

“Then keep it a secret!” Caballeron insisted, dashing over and snatching the letter from Cozy. “If even half the stories of his power are true…”

Cozy wholeheartedly agreed. Caballeron was about to tear the letter up…but a blue streak flashed on by, and the next thing anypony knew, Rainbow Dash was hovering over the fire.

“Yeah, I knew it would be a good idea to listen in for a few minutes,” she said, and tossed the letter into the fire. It was instantly consumed with red magic, and disappeared - off to Canterlot.

Cozy was about to start screaming, but Dash jabbed a hoof at her. “Nuh-uh. You’re gonna listen. I don’t know anything about this Grogar, but I do know about Tirek and I think we’re all pretty much experts on Erebus too at this point. So we’re dealing with them because we have to, right now. And then we’re gonna deal with you, Cozy, and then you bunch,” she turned her hoof to Caballeron and Glory and the three henchponies, “and then Grogar. That’s the order of importance right now!”

Cozy felt her blood boiling…but she forced herself to breathe. To think. And against all odds, all reason…Rainbow Dash was right. Getting killed by Grogar tomorrow wouldn’t matter if Erebus tricked Tirek into killing them today.

Scorpan returned then, flying down to join them. Cozy backed away at the sight of him, but the gargoyle didn’t even look at her directly, didn’t even acknowledge Cozy now that she no longer had the Rainbow of Darkness…a fact that made her grind her teeth. 

“If this works,” he said, “if Celestia believes us…then we have a chance to not only trap the Rainbow of Darkness again. We might be able to destroy it.”

“What?” Cozy demanded. “No! I need that power!”

“I can’t believe I’m gonna say this…” Rainbow Dash groused, but then finally landed and got down to eye level with Cozy. “No you don’t, Cozy. Think about it: you had so much power in the School of Friendship, until you tried to grab at all the magic of Equestria. And you never had power here. Erebus did. The second he abandoned you, you lost it all…except your letter-sending spell.”

Cozy blanched. “What good is that?”

“Well if this works, then it means that you managed to convince Princess Celestia that you were me, and using that, convinced her to change the orbit of the Sun. I’ve never done that! With a few dozen words and a letter, you’ve already done more than anypony else will today to defeat Erebus once and for all!”

Cozy processed that. “S…so what?”

“Tirek taught it to you, didn’t he? It’s a connection to him. And that’s the kind of power that we actually need right now. Scorpan can bring down Midnight Castle and expose Tirek and Erebus to the Sun. I can keep him distracted. But you, Cozy…you’re the one that’s gonna have to get through to him. You’re the only one with the power to get Tirek to give up the Rainbow of Darkness. And you can’t do that with magic darkness tentacles. You need - ”

“Oh please don’t say it - “

“The Power of Friendship.”

Cozy had been about to laugh aloud at the “Magic of Friendship”, but stopped short at Rainbow Dash’s word choice. “Wh…seriously? You’re admitting I’m right? That friendship is power?”

“Nopony ever said you were wrong! Just that there was more to it than that.” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “But if right now you want to think of it like that, if it helps, then fine! Right now it’s the best power we have. Your friendship with Tirek can help us save him from Erebus. You can.” Rainbow Dash leaned back. “So! Are you gonna sit here after Erebus just abandoned you, something no friend would ever do?”

“N…no.”

“Are you gonna let him get away with possessing the centaur that is your best friend?”

“No!”

“Are you gonna just let Erebus take over Equestria when you wanted to rule it all?!”

“No!”

“So are you with me?” Rainbow Dash held out a hoof. “We save Tirek, we beat Erebus, we work together to do it, and then we figure stuff out from there! The power of your friendship is gonna let us win! Right?”

“Yeah!" Cozy bumped her hoof against Dash's offered one. “Also just for the record I know exactly what you’re doing! But you’re right. You’re right!”

“And…” Caballeron put in, looking to Glory, then to the inflatable raft and his henchponies, “what is our role in this, Miss Dash?”

Rainbow Dash turned to regard the unicorn and earth ponies. “Honestly? I thought you were still just going to run away, and that’s fine. We can do this.”

“But!” Cozy interjected, getting a flash of inspiration from a flash of sunlight off of Glory’s goggles just as she turned to leave, “but…if Scorpan is right…if we can actually destroy Erebus…then he won’t need the Sun Stone anymore…”

Caballeron had been half-turned around, and Glory had three hooves in the raft already. But she stiffened at Cozy’s sing-song temptation. “I…but…b-but…” She looked behind her, at Rainbow Dash’s encouraging grin, and Cozy’s giant one.

“Oh…I AM SO PEEVED AT MYSELF!”

Cozy’s eyes widened and she forgot to flap, only not crashing because Scorpan grabbed her. Caballeron’s eyes were the size of dinner plates, and all three of his henchponies backed away from Glory as the unicorn’s horn took on an angry blue glow.

“Of all the rutting things you could have brought up you just had to buck that beehive! And I know you’re playing me like a two-jangle kazoo! And I’m going along with it!”

Caballeron cleared his throat. “Miss Pose, is that wise — “

That only caused Glory, now out of the raft, to advance on him. “Youuuuuu shaddap! You promised me a Sun Stone and I am getting a Sun Stone! And you’re gonna help me get it! And you’re gonna put it on a big necklace to make up for my yacht that you gave away!”

“Alright, alright!”

“And call me Glory! I think we’re on a first name basis at this point!”

For some reason, that seemed to cheer up Caballeron. Cozy didn’t get it, but Glory pulled down her goggles and snorted and pawed the ground, looking ready for a fight. And then the fire flashed, and a piece of paper tumbled out of it. Cozy got to it first, and unfurled it.



My apologies, Rainbow 

HOW COULDST THEY HAVE ESCAPED?! WHAT FOUL SORCERY IS THIS?! HOW WERE WE NOT ALERTED?!

Dash, for not believing you 

BAD DOG, CERBERUS! THAT’S A VERY BAD DOG! THOU HAST BEEN ENTRUSTED WITH BUT ONE JOB! ONE! BAD DOG!

earlier. The situation is even worse than we feared as

Oh…I’m sorry, Cerberus! You’re a good dog, you just did a bad thing, but I’m sure it’s not your fault…

Cozy Glow seems to have escaped as well - I don’t know how this could have happened as I had visited her myself only a few days ago

Whooo’s a good boy? Who is? You! Yes you are!

Luna will you please keep it down while I’m dictating!

I apologize for that. The treaties I mentioned allow me to move the Sun out of its normal orbit when needed for the security of the world, and this certainly qualifies. I can mitigate the environmental effects somewhat as well with Luna’s help and her power over the Night to keep that part of the world cool. But I can’t do this for very long without causing major, global catastrophe. 

The Sun is already moving. Please, Rainbow Dash, tell me you have a plan?



They all read the letter. Cozy grabbed a crayon and held it out to Rainbow Dash. “You want to take over?”

“Actually,” Rainbow Dash said pushing it over to Scorpan, “I think this one is Scorpan’s letter to write.”

Scorpan looked at the the crayon, then took it and the offered paper. “Very well…”





“So what,” Cozy Glow demanded of Tirek, as he hunkered down in the ruined chapel of Lord Tirac and watched as the shadows lengthened, edging closer and closer to the moment of his true freedom, “your plan is to just sit in here and wait for night?”

“And what else do you propose I do?” Tirek demanded. “Erebus requires shadows to work!”

“I thought you had power all of your own! Why not go out there and just crush the ponies?”

Because that would be utter agony for me? Erebus asked Tirek, the darkness writhing within his mind. I am on your side, now. No need to inflict pain on me unnecessarily.
 
We shall see how unnecessary it proves, Tirek thought back. But aloud, he looked to Cozy. “Patience will benefit me. There is nothing left that can…stop…”

Tirek’s voice trailed off as he noticed the shadows moving – and not in the way they were supposed to. Nor were they moving of his accord. Instead, they were shortening, almost as if the Sun’s course was reversing. But that was impossible! Unless…

They contacted Celestia. They somehow got in contact with Celestia! Actual, true terror crept into the voice of Erebus. They’re putting the accursed daystar over me! They’re denying me my freedom, my RIGHT!
 
“And more importantly,” Tirek intoned, standing, “mine. I cannot hold it against them…but I will not be a prisoner any more! A thousand years was long enough!”

The pain will be like none other…but if you must leave the castle to strike them, do it. I will endure. I am Darkness. I am eternal! And besides…The shadows moved, and a dark slave stepped out from within them – a pegasus. Daring Do. We have a contingency.

“Yes…” Tirek intoned. “A bargaining chip.”

That, Erebus acknowledged. And deep within itself, far beneath what Tirek could hear within his own mind, it added, and much more, if needed…