Tempest Shadow stared at the infirmary bed, her silence weighing down on her like a boulder on her shoulders. Starlight Glimmer stared blank-faced back at her, her own silence as cold as a frozen bridge. The persian blue eyes, normally alight with humor, were as empty as an open grave, and just as inviting. She lifted a hoof, the hoofcuffs securing her to the railing rattling as she tested their strength.
“Do you know how she enchanted the mirror?” the smaller lavender unicorn next to Tempest asked.
Tempest Shadow shook her head. “I’m not the one with a doctorate in theoretical magic,” she grunted. “She tried explaining it to me once, but it flew over my head.”
“Hmm,” Twilight Sparkle mused, studying Starlight Glimmer like she was an insect on a microscope slide. Starlight’s icy gaze turned to her, examining her with a cold disdain as she tested the other set of cuffs.
Tempest felt the two pegasi detectives watching stiffen up, their tension rubbing against her like the heat from a fire, and she instinctively glanced up at them. Detective Herring instinctively stepped back; Detective Sentry swallowed but kept his eyes on Starlight with a visible effort. Aside from the three on-duty nurses, they were the only ponies in the infirmary, the only sounds their own voices and the occasional rattling of the cuffs securing Starlight to the bed.
“Can you help her or not?” Tempest Shadow asked Twilight.
“Well…psychomancy is a very complicated branch of magic,” Twilight admitted through a grimace. “Without knowing what exactly Sombra did to her, or how she countered it, there’s not much I can do. In fact, if I try to fix it on my own, I might just make it worse.”
“What about that spell you used on Daring?” Flash offered.
“That was different,” Twilight explained. “She was affected by an overwhelming emotional surge. This is heavier brainwashing. That’s like…” Her face creased as she tried to come up with a suitable metaphor. “That spell I used on Daring was like cleaning gunk off the spark plugs. This is if somepony went into the engine and rewired everything and swapped out the pipes and if I try to swap something out, I might just make it worse.”
Flash blinked at Twilight, then chuckled feebly. “You really don’t have any idea how cars work, do you?” he asked.
Twilight pouted a bit. “That was the best analogy I could come up with,” she protested.
Tempest cleared her throat sharply, sending the humor retreating from the room. “Then what’s the plan?” she declared icily.
“This is something best left for a squad of professional psychomancers,” Twilight explained. “I can send a message to the Princesses and they’ll send a team over from the Royal Academy to free her from the programming…”
“And how long would that take?” Tempest asked, her eyes hovering on the bruises on Starlight’s jaw. Her friend met her stare with the same chillingly empty gaze that burrowed into her heart.
“Days. Weeks, maybe,” Twilight admitted.
Somewhere far away, a stallion sat in a circle of salt and blood that glowed faintly with a crimson aura, a small bundle of deep violet hair wrapped around his own black strands sitting before him. His eyes closed, he let out a thoughtful hum as he processed this new information, the distant voices buzzing into his ears like a weak radio connection.
Starlight would have an easier time escaping during transport to the Royal Academy than she would now, cuffed and surrounded by a legion of police officers. Or perhaps he could have her wait until she got to the Academy itself: there might be some useful trinkets or information there she could steal on the way out, perhaps even some potential new recruits.
Regardless, the best thing that she could do now was wait, be a cooperative prisoner. Let them lower their guard. Once she was back, their work--
“We can’t wait that long.”
The traitor’s voice snapped in his ear and he heard the bed railings squeak loudly. A scowl crossed his face. What the hell--?
“Starlight Glimmer,” Tempest Shadow said, bending over her friend, her grip on the railings so tight that the observing ponies briefly wondered if they might just snap off entirely. “Look at me. Listen to me.”
The pale blue eyes stared back at her in silence, no emotion on her face.
“Your name is Starlight Glimmer,” Tempest rattled off. “You were born in Sire’s Hollow in 1920. You and your best friend Sunburst graduated from Cuore University in 1941.”
“Tempest, that’s not going to work,” Twilight said gently.
“You love flying kites,” Tempest continued unabated. “Ever since you were a little filly with Sunburst. I met you on the Eighth of the Moon of Harvest, 1937: you and Sunburst were flying your kites out on the quad and your kite landed right in front of me while I was jogging and I trampled it.”
“Tempest, stop,” Twilight entreated, trying to pull her away.
“Wait,” Flash said, putting a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.
It took a moment before Twilight and Red both saw what Flash had seen: a single tear glimmering in the corner of Starlight’s eye. The blue irides twitched once, then again, then Starlight closed her eyes for a moment, shaking her head as if disoriented.
“Your favorite drink is banana daiquiris,” Tempest pressed on, her voice rising to a higher pitch with every other syllable. “You put pineapple on your pizza so Sunburst and I wouldn’t eat it! And you are not a fucking slave to any fucking wannabe king!”
She grabbed Starlight’s shoulders. The purple unicorn looked back up at her, more tears shining in her irides, her myokymia increasing by the moment as her breathing began to accelerate, taking in great, gasping gulps of air.
“He took Sunburst,” Tempest whispered. “He fucking killed your best friend, Starlight. Do you remember? When we were crossing Neighagara Falls, they caught up to us. And they…” She paused for a moment, as if considering the weight of her words, then took a breath and continued. “They shot him.”
Starlight shuddered, pain flickering across her face as the memory was dredged up before her. Her breathing accelerated, becoming heavier with every exhalation.
“He took your friends,” Tempest pressed. “He took your home. He took your freedom. He took your work and fucking perverted it and made it into a weapon.” She gripped Starlight’s shoulders tighter. “Fight him, Starlight,” she growled. “Fight him. Don’t let him take your life!”
Starlight’s eyes scrunched up and she curled up into herself, gasping and panting, more tears leaking from her eyes. “Tempest…” she whispered, her horn flickering in spasms of emotion.
“Come on, Starlight,” Tempest begged. “Come on--”
“Tempest!” Red suddenly shouted, but it was too late.
Tempest gagged as Starlight’s left hoof suddenly wrapped around her throat. Her eyes widened in horror as she met Starlight’s glare, the persian blue suddenly replaced with venomously glowing green.
“Traditrice,” Starlight snarled in a voice that was not her own as Tempest, Red, Flash, and Twilight were all sent flying back by a wall of vivid crimson light, crashing into the other cots and into the wall. The other set of hoofcuffs snapped open as the three nurses gaped in horror, stunned into stillness.
Starlight lunged off the bed and snapped her hoof out. One of Tempest’s Modello 1938s flew from its holster to her hoof. A twisted smile crossed the possessed mare’s face as she centered the sights over the stunned unicorn’s forehead and began to squeeze the trigger.
That smile was wiped away a moment later when a gust of wind slammed into her like a hammer, knocking her off-balance and sending the turquoise beam into the ceiling. The glowing green eyes whirled furiously on Flash and Red as the two stood up, reaching for their sidearms.
“Don’t shoot her!” Tempest roared, grabbing Twilight and rolling behind the cover of another cot.
Snarling a curse, Starlight fired a few shots at the pegasi, forcing them both to dive behind cover as she raced towards the window. A couple of shots shattered the window, twinkling glass fragments falling out into the darkness to join the dustings of snow that fell in sheets from the night sky. Starlight leaped through the glass, hissing in pain as the jagged remnants of the window sliced into her. Her horn began to light with a twisting miasma of turquoise and scarlet, covering her body as she prepared to teleport.
“No, you don’t!” Red Herring shouted, darting after her as if shot from a cannon. Starlight snarled in furious surprise as he wrapped his limbs around her, her teleportation spell instantly fizzling out as her concentration was broken. The pistol tumbled from her hoof to the street three floors below.
Flash leaped out after his partner and tackled Starlight as well, limbs and wings flailing as the trio tumbled through the sky like three leaves ensnared together in a whirlwind. They slammed onto the snow-covered rooftop of a neighboring building, still struggling, crimson lightning firing from Starlight’s horn as she fought back.
“Levati da me!” Starlight snarled, firing a spell into Red’s chest. He grimaced as the torrent of magic slammed into him like water from a fire hose, but determinedly held on as the spell fought against his protective ward.
A flare of purple light lit up the night as Twilight and Tempest teleported onto the roof next to them. Tempest joined the melee, trying to pin Starlight down even as she snarled and tried to strike her.
The glowing eyes locked onto Tempest’s orbits. For just a moment, the green glow dissipated, revealing the wide blue eyes behind it, terror and desperation shining in her face.
Then the glow reasserted its presence, Starlight’s countenance twisting back into a snarl, her horn flaring angrily. Conjured scarlet knives darted from her horn; Tempest ducked and twisted to avoid the attack, but Red and Flash both grunted as the blades dug into their vests. The conjured weapons began to pulse and flare, violet light flashing across the vests as the cursed weapons began to sap the energy of the wards.
“Twilight, fucking do something!” Red shouted, fumbling for his hoofcuffs, biting his teeth against the growing cold of his failing ward.
“I…” Twilight balked, panic on her face. “I, I only know the basics of exorcism! I’ve never tried to--”
“Twilight, you’re the magic expert here!” Red barked. “You--”
His sentence was cut off when the daggers embedded in the pegasus’ vests exploded in an array of scarlet fireworks, sending both screaming stallions skidding across the roof. Flash slammed into an air conditioner with a grunt, while Red had to grab onto the edge of the roof to keep from sliding off.
Tempest Shadow’s elbow smashed into the back of Starlight’s head, sending her into the snow with a grunt. Tempest grappled for Starlight’s foreleg, then yelped as a glowing emerald serpent suddenly wound itself around her arms. Before she could react, the conjured snake wrapped around her neck, then her forelegs, binding them together. Tempest gagged and choked, her breath wheezing out as Starlight bucked her off. A muted scream came from her throat as the conjured fangs sunk into her neck; Tempest’s limbs trembled and she toppled onto the snow-covered roof.
The possessed mare leaped on Tempest, sneering as she conjured another serpent to bind her hind legs. “We have unfinished business, Colonel,” she snarled in that horrible double voice, Starlight Glimmer’s own voice muffled by the deeper masculine snarl.
“Vaffanculo!” Tempest gagged out, defiance and fear competing in her eyes and voice even as her strength began to fade like a dying candle.
Starlight’s face twisted unnaturally in a cruel smile. Turquoise and scarlet magic swirled around the two mares as she prepared to teleport…
Then suddenly vanished. The glowing green eyes narrowed in furious disbelief as a circle of purple flames appeared around them.
“Ignitum stella!” Twilight shouted, pushing her forelegs out. Starlight snarled as a six-pointed star burst into flame within the circle. Snowflakes and motes of light began to swirl within the circle, like a small tornado, rising only to immediately fall back towards the ground. Starlight grimaced, suddenly moving sluggishly as though concrete blocks were tied to her limbs.
Twilight locked her gaze onto the glowing orbits. Her knees trembled from both cold and fear, but she met the harsh glare with a determined gaze of her own as Red and Flash hurried to her side, the stallions wincing with every step but standing up straight on their own.
“Sombra!” she shouted, her voice carrying the weight and power of a gunshot. Starlight suddenly shuddered slightly. “I command you to release Starlight Glimmer!”
A shadow seemed to peel away from Starlight, a swirling black maelstrom of clouds that clung to her body. A pair of glowing green eyes with scarlet irides, full of hate and rage, glared back at its captor.
“Your will is weak, girl,” the shadow and Starlight spoke as one, the specter’s voice a rumbling sensation like a hurricane speaking.
Twilight shuddered, suddenly buckling as though a great weight was pressing down on her back.
“Hang on, Twilight!” Flash cried, gripping her shoulder with one hoof. With the other, he pulled something out of his pocket and thrusted it at the trapped mare.
From a chain dangled a circular silver pendant depicting a chalice carrying a heart-shaped flame, surrounded by six gems: purple, red, orange, white, pink, and yellow. The eye at the top of the pendant turned to stare at Sombra; the glowing green eyes in the midst of the maelstrom widened as they focused on the symbol, the swirling smoke retreating slightly.
“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Highest shall dwell in the shadow of Her love,” Flash began to pray, his voice stiff with forced calm. “I will say of the Mother, ‘She is my refuge and my fortress, my Goddess, in whom I trust.’”
Twilight took a breath and shook her head as if steadying herself. “Sombra!” she shouted again, her voice belying the continuing shaking of her knees. “Begone from this place! Begone from Starlight Glimmer!”
“NO! SHE IS MINE!” the maelstrom roared in fury and tried to launch itself at Twilight, who screamed and instinctively ducked. The black cloud slammed into the edge of the circle and stopped as if it had struck an invisible wall.
“Surely She will save us from the fowler’s snare and the deadly pestilence,” Flash continued praying, holding the pendant up like a shield. “She will cover you in Her arms and under Her wings you will find refuge…”
Starlight flinched, shaking her head with a grimace, then started to lunge at Twilight. Tempest, still bound by the enchanted serpents, rolled in front of her with a great effort, causing Starlight to trip over her body.
Starlight whirled on Tempest, a snarl of rage on her face…then froze, blinking at something. The venomous green aura in her eyes faded, revealing her natural blue irides as she focused on the small wooden disc that had fallen out of Tempest’s coat pocket, with two crudely painted cutie marks upon it: a purple star with two mint-colored swirls, and a hurricane with a firework painted in the eye.
The maelstrom of shadows snarled and clung to her, but Starlight screamed, clutching her head and writhing as though in pain. “No!” she protested. “Get…get out of my head!”
“...nor the pestilence that stalks the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday!!” Flash continued, thrusting the pendant out at Sombra’s form; the cloud of shadows hissed and recoiled from him, still determinedly clinging to Starlight’s struggling form.
“Help me!” Starlight begged, reaching up for her three observers.
Twilight stood up straight, every trace of fear and hesitation vanishing from her face. Her horn lit up like a blazing fire, the circle and stars glowing brightly as the morning sun in response.
“SOMBRA!” she shouted, her voice carrying such power that everyone froze for a moment. “Thrice I bid thee! Thrice I command thee!”
“You will only observe with your eyes--”
“Thrice said and done!”
“--the punishment of the wicked!”
“Begone! Begone! BEGONE!”
Twilight stomped her front hooves against the ground, causing the spinning snow and energy to swirl with even greater speed. The swirling shadows screamed in fury as they were pulled away from Starlight, tossed about within the whirlwind, then forced down into the ground, swirling like detritus being sucked down the drain before finally dissipating harmlessly. The magic circle faded away to nothing, bringing in a sudden quiet that was filled with the soft wind.
Starlight sat up slowly with a groan, her eyes returned to their normal color. She glanced around, then saw Tempest still laying on the ground, the serpents that had been binding her limbs having vanished.
“Tempest,” Starlight gasped, hurrying over to her side. Her horn lit up as she scanned her friend, then she formed a circle of her own around Tempest, whispering a healing chant as she grasped Tempest’s forehoof in both of her own.
Tempest wearily looked up at her and gave her a feeble smile. She picked up the ornament with her free hoof and placed it on top of Starlight’s hooves. The purple unicorn smiled shyly back at her, continuing her chant.
Twilight collapsed to the ground, panting as sparks flickered from her horn. “I…I did it…” she gasped out with a smile.
“You did it!” Flash cheered, hugging her tightly.
“Yeah, yeah, great job all around,” Red groused. “Starlight, is she gonna be okay?”
“I’ve had worse, Detective Herring,” Tempest grimaced as Starlight’s healing spell washed over her body.
“She’ll be fine,” Starlight confirmed with a relieved sigh and a faint smile, gripping Tempest’s hoof in both of her own.
The larger unicorn gave her a faint smile in reply. “You never were the best at offensive magic…”
“I left the ass-kicking to you,” Starlight replied.
“And we’re all better off for it,” Red replied with a wince.
Panting and clutching his chest over his thumping heart, Sombra sat in the smoking ruins of his salt circle, the salt and blood spread across the floor like the scorch marks of an explosion. He snarled and smashed a hoof against the floor, hard enough to crack the tile. The small bundle of purple hairs blew away as if retreating from his wrath.
Damn them all! Damn the traitors! Damn that young unicorn! Damn those two nobody detectives with their snooping! And above all else, damn Phillip Finder and Daring Do! What power was keeping them alive?! Why couldn’t they just die?!
Enough. Anger served nothing. He took a few moments to breathe, frowning at the scent of burnt salt and blood that hung in the air. Every exhalation came out as a quiet wince as his bones protested every movement; his own spell being thrown back at him felt like being crushed beneath massive boulders, pulled inexorably into the ground until he was forced back to his own body.
He had endured worse.
That technician--Twilight Sparkle--was stronger than he anticipated. A mere student, and she had been enough to trap him and banish him from Starlight’s body. Granted, the youngling had helped--his blind faith in the false goddess had a power of its own he could not deny--and Starlight had been fighting back; he thought that he’d finally broken her, but once again, he’d underestimated her.
His gaze turned to the bundle of hairs. He briefly considered trying to possess her once more but decided against it. He had neither the energy to perform the spell nor the time to prepare it; and besides, they were sure to keep her under closer guard from now on.
So. He had lost the pawn he’d worked so hard to reacquire, and Tempest Shadow was most likely still alive. As were Phillip Finder, Daring Do, and their cohort.
Worse, Starlight would no doubt be able to lead the police to where she’d been held. He grimaced with the realization that he’d have to destroy it first. Damn: another hideout lost. But no matter. He had others.
And what mattered more: he had the amberclaw, and Starlight’s notes. His plan could go forward.
And no one would be able to stop him this time.
Sombra stood and took a broom and mop from the corner to clean up, simultaneously grabbing a notepad to send a missive to the Doctor. It was a new year, and there was still work to do.
The sun hung at its zenith over the city, proudly declaring that there was only half a day left until 1951. A palpable excitement seemed to hang in the frosty air at the promise of a new year and all it would bring.
The light illuminated the burned wreckage of an old mill in the Dockside District, the hollowed-out framework covered with scorch marks, faint tendrils of smoke still rising from the hole-punctured rooftop. The entire edifice looked as though it might fall over if the wind picked up. Surrounding the entire complex was a chain-link fence. A sign clung to one section of the fence: “Construction Zone. Do Not Enter.” A cluster of vehicles was parked along the street, including a bright red Trotillac convertible and a jeep with “Ponyville Fire” painted on both sides. The sound of the Maresippi crashing against the shore could be faintly heard in the distance, masked beneath the constant music of voices, car engines, and creaking ships.
Phillip Finder and Daring Do barely paid the warning sign any notice as they proceeded towards the opened gate. Phil checked over his shoulder at the building across the street: a brick construction with a restaurant on the bottom floor. The window on the front depicted a large steaming plate with a pair of fish, a bowl of soup, and a loaf of bread.
“I don’t remember much of where he was keeping me,” Starlight had said last night. “I was kept in a basement most of the time…but when we left to go after the truck, he led me up a set of stairs and through a door in the wall. I remember that we were in some old building with construction tools everywhere. And when we went out the window, I saw a restaurant across the street…it had a window with a plate with fish, bread, and soup on it. We headed west from there--him flying, me teleporting across the rooftops--and I saw the river to the left of us.”
Phillip paused, crouching down and brushing away some of the snow and mud to reveal a strip of silver partially buried in the ground, uncovered by the trampling of boots.
“Pretty sure that wasn’t in the original blueprints,” Daring commented, punctuating her sentence with a yawn.
“Well, look what the cats dragged in,” a scruffy-maned Detective Matchstick commented from the doorway of the mill, observing their haggard expressions and shadowed eyes.
“You’re not that good-looking after being up all night, either,” Daring groused at her.
“What’re you complaining about?” Matchstick replied. “You got to fight that masked freak. I had to sit all night in the woods with nothing to show for it.”
Phil cleared his throat. “Starlight narrowed the Doctor’s hideout to this area. Fire started here last night. Not a coincidence.”
“You’d be right,” Matchstick replied, beckoning for them to enter with her head.
The interior of the mill reeked, the scent of smoke, burnt wood and gas covering a dozen other revolting odors. Burn marks ran across the wooden walls and floor, still drenched from last night’s bombardment of water; ashes crunched beneath the detectives’ hooves as they walked around the wreckage of abandoned and ruined construction machinery and tools that had been left behind by construction crews.
“Didn’t even need the bellows to tell me that this was a fire was started by gasoline. Lots of it,” she said. “And following the scorch marks leads…over here.”
She pointed to a standing wall that was covered in burn marks, black waves painted across the wooden surface. A certain yak wearing a turncoat jacket and a hard hat was tapping at the wall with a frown.
“The fire started at this wall,” Matchstick explained. “But there’s no traces of gas on it. And I decided to check the building’s blueprints and found something interesting. There’s supposed to be a set of staircases leading down into a basement where this wall is.”
“Aha! Wall is hollow!” Yona confirmed with a bright smile, banging her hoof against the wall. Sure enough, her strikes made a deep hollow thumping.
“Great,” Daring said. “There’s got to be a way to open it--”
“There is,” Matchstick grinned as Yona backed up a few feet. Yona snorted, a grim smile on her face as she pawed at the ground, lowering her horned head.
She charged, the entire building shaking with every stomp. The yak smashed into the wall, the false door splintering into fragments that spilled across the floor.
A narrow passage yawned behind it, a set of stairs leading down into the foundation of the building.
“Nice one, Yona,” Matchstick said, crouching down at the entrance and shining a beam from her horn into the depths. A narrow set of stairs led down into a pitch-black basement, long abandoned and forgotten. The scent of gasoline and smoke intensified from beneath, stinging at the investigators’ eyes.
Yona descended first, testing the air with her bellows and gauge. “Air safe,” she reported once she reached the bottom. “Found where fire started.” She pointed her headlamp up at the ceiling, where a row of small, narrow holes had been drilled into the thick wood.
The three ponies slowly panned their flashlights across the narrow room. There was little left, and everything that was left was burnt: the remnants of the wards etched in the stone walls were hidden beneath ash, and a pile of scorched wood and fabric in the corner was all that remained of a table, chair, and cot.
“Well, don’t think we’ll be getting much out of this,” Matchstick sighed.
Daring bent down to sweep aside some of the wet ash, revealing a burnt scrap of paper, the writing on it obscured. She and Phillip both exchanged grim looks.
“But what did he have you do while you were there?”
“He…had me working on a spell. A complex magical formula. Something from the Kyaltratek that needed the amberclaw.”
“What does the spell do?”
“I’m…I’m not sure I believe it, but…it was a spell to stop time. But I know how to stop it.”
A train rattled through the snow-covered countryside, the rolling white hills glowing beneath the starlight. Within the single passenger car, a pair of unicorns stared out the window.
“I didn’t think we’d ever go back to Canterlot,” Tempest Shadow commented, sitting stiffly at attention in her gilded leather seat.
Sitting next to her, Starlight turned back to the table in front of her, papers covered in chicken scratch and sketches. The central paper featured a sketch of what appeared to be a circular pendant, runes encircling a gem embossed in the silver material.
A shadow crossed over the table and Starlight jumped with a gasp, whirling about.
The Royal Guard in the impeccable suit that almost hid his shoulder holster stepped back, raising a hoof placatingly. “Easy, Miss Glimmer,” the brown earth pony said. “I just wanted to tell you that we’ll be at the Royal Academy in about an hour.”
“Thank you, Captain Eagle,” Tempest Shadow nodded, her movements still slow and careful after her injury.
Eagle retreated to his chair at the front of the car, opposite another Royal Guard, both of their postures relaxed even as they kept their eyes on Starlight. Two other Royal Guards were sitting at the opposite end of the car. Three other passengers occupied the passenger car: earth ponies, each of them wearing blindfolds and golden headbands with runes inscribed into the surface, the marks glowing with a faint silver aura that pulsed in time with their quiet chants and prayers. The energy of the psychomancers’ spells was like a warm blanket wrapped around Starlight; she shifted and curled up into herself, trying to draw their protective embrace closer to her.
Tempest Shadow looked down at Starlight, then placed a hoof on her shoulder. “They’ll help you,” she said. “We’ll never have to worry about him forcing you to do anything again.”
Starlight smiled feebly up at her and returned to her work. “What are you doing?” Tempest asked.
“It’s a protective charm,” Starlight replied. “It should counter the…” She swallowed. “The time-stop spell that I had to work on.” She was silent for a moment, then forced a smile on her face. “I should be able to test it at the Academy once they’re done cleaning out my head.”
Tempest nodded and looked out the window, observing the moon’s path across the clear star-spangled sky. A glance at her watch confirmed that it was almost eleven at night; a moment later, Starlight let out a loud yawn.
“Rest,” Tempest commanded.
“Yeah, yeah,” Starlight grumbled, curling up in the seat.
Tempest glanced over at Starlight as the smaller unicorn nestled up next to her, a smile crossing her face at the weight and heat of her friend’s body against her. Her gaze passed over the pendant resting against Starlight’s chest: the small wooden ornament with the cutie marks painted upon it.
Her gaze also passed over another sketch on the table: a cross-section of a unicorn horn with a single word underlined beneath: “amberclaw.”
“Tempest?” Starlight murmured, her eyes flickering.
“Yes?” Tempest asked.
Starlight leaned up and brushed her lips against Tempest’s cheek. She froze, her eyes widening as a quiet squeak escaped her throat.
“Happy New Year, Tempest,” Starlight whispered, curling back up and going to sleep.
Tempest slowly raised a hoof to her reddening cheek, pressing it against flesh still warm from Starlight’s kiss. A smile crossed her own face as she turned to watch the world pass by outside.
Daring Do stared into her glass of Manticore Rare as if seeking answers within the dark red liquid.
“What would Sombra want with a spell that can stop time?” she pondered out loud.
“Nothing good,” Phillip muttered and downed another shot of Kanga-Rum.
“Be better if we find him before he can use it,” Flash replied, tapping a map of the Everfree Forest spread across the floor.
“And kick his flank!” Rainbow declared. “If Twilight could beat him, then so can we!”
“I didn’t beat him, Rainbow,” Twilight explained, not looking up from her book. “I merely forced him to release his possession of Starlight. And I drained almost all of my magic doing it.”
“It still means he can be beaten,” Flash said, sitting up straight and placing a hoof over the Navahist icon dangling from his neck.
“You got lucky that time,” Daring replied. “Which is why we need a better plan. And every advantage we can get.”
“This Thicket…” Twilight frowned, looking over a book of local legends. “Are you sure it exists?”
“I’m sure,” Daring replied, flipping through another book of Ponyville’s history.
“How?” Twilight frowned at her. “You…well…you were on drugs at the time.”
Daring sighed and mopped her forehead. “I…I can’t explain it, but…I just know that it wasn’t just a hallucination. That this Thicket is real and that we need to find it before the bad guys do.”
“The map,” Phillip said. “The city with the zebra. It’s on there.”
“I don’t know…” Twilight murmured. “There’s no evidence that Thicket actually exists, or that there are still even any zebra, or, indeed, any sapient creatures living in the Forest. Zebra legends tell of a home they had in the land that is now the Forest, but even their own scholars think that it’s all just stories.”
“C’mon, Twilight,” Rainbow said. “After everything we’ve said and done, you’re balking at this? Everypony thought that the Pony of Shadows was just a myth, and--”
Silence fell over the group at the mention of the beast; shudders ran up and down spines. Twilight hugged herself and leaned closer to Flash.
“It’s…scary,” she admitted quietly. “I used to think that everything had a rational explanation, that all magic had been studied and explained. And then we’re fighting legendary monsters, immortal madponies, and sleeping gods.” She buried her face in her hooves. “I feel…small. Powerless. There’s so much I just don’t understand.”
Flash pulled her closer, drawing his wings around her. “I understand,” he said soothingly. “But a wise pony once told me that being brave isn’t the same as being scared. When you were faced with Starlight, with Zugzwang, or any of the others, you didn’t hesitate. You acted.”
He tilted her chin up so that she looked at his smiling blue eyes.
“There are things we don’t know and that we might never know,” he said. “So focus on what you do know. You are one of the bravest, strongest mares I know, and we have so many strong friends. When the time comes, we’ll face them down. You just need to have faith.”
Twilight managed to smile and leaned up to nuzzle Flash. “Thank you,” she breathed.
Phil yawned and glanced at his watch. “Bugger,” he muttered. “It’s been 1951 for twenty minutes.”
“Hell of a New Year’s Party,” Daring said with a sardonic chuckle.
“You kidding?” Phillip grinned back. “Doing research with my wife and best mates. Best party ever.”
Daring chuckled and leaned in to kiss him, humming happily as he embraced her. Behind her, she heard Flash and Twilight pulling each other into a kiss as well, and Rainbow gagging.
“Happy new year,” Phillip breathed, pressing his forehead and nose against hers and rubbing in circles, taking in the scent of jasmine, bourbon, and sweat that clung to her, so familiar and always so comforting.
“Happy new year,” Daring replied, taking comfort from the warmth and weight of his body against hers, like an unbreakable shield against the tempests of the world.
“C’mon, guys, let’s get back to work,” Rainbow Dash urged them, grabbing another book and flipping it open.
“I thought you hated ‘egghead work,’” Twilight chuckled.
“Unless it’s Compass Rose or something about the Wonderbolts,” Flash added.
“And finding legendary cities so we can kick bad guy ass!” Rainbow declared.
Faint smiles flashed through the group as they returned to their work. Outside, the snow glistened beneath the clear indigo sky, Polaris and the other stars twinkling overhead, promising to guide them.
“Sister, we both know why it’s waking up.”
“He still lives.”
“Damnation. We hoped that the power of the Crystal Heart might be enough.”
“Clearly it wasn’t. We must be vigilant. Wherever he hides, we’ll root him out.”
“And this time, we’ll make sure he’s dead.”