Whether Sombra's scheme was of sound mind was no longer a question of concern. His mental health was debated, and Cadence's state of mind was universally agreed upon by all voting bodies. The sum of said bodies was me and my companion compendium. All we had to do was stand there and be as conspicuous as we could be. This involved very little, as standing atop the tallest tower in the city, which was a glowing beacon of love and harmony, did most of the work for us.
"You think she's seen us?" Thorax asked.
It was a naive hope to believe otherwise. It was, in fact, a thought of abject insanity. The beam of hissing arcane death that buzzed maybe two hoves left of our curious bug was proof enough of that.
If the second and third beams, closer by a margin, weren't enough secondary proof, the speeding rocket of pink was undeniable.
"There you are!"
Cadence's announcement was enough to make one regret all recent life choices and pray that whatever came after life was no crueler than one's untimely demise might be. I was tugged hard to one side as I debated such thoughts by a cursing Sabre.
"Move, call out her spells, and keep active."
Orders were orders, though Blue and Bright didn't seem to need any advice. A moving target was eye drawing, and a moving target with enough wit to drive you up a wall was attention-keeping. Bright was making his presence known.
"You seem mad, Candy, did Thorax humble Nightmare's favorite toy?"
The roar that followed was second only to the pitched line or bright pink fire that sent Bright flying away like a bat out of hell, and Cadence was right behind him. Scratch that. She was catching up quickly. She'd have already had him if she was in any reasonable state of mind. It was confidence-boosting to realize she was so preoccupied with deadifying Bright that she'd forgotten she could just grab him out of the air.
"Woo, that one was close."
Bright shouted as another gout of flames seared the tips of his feathers. Or, more precisely, the leather equivalent, if it had one.
"Cadence!" Blueblood had taken to the center of the spire and glared at his deranged cousin. Cadence stopped her pursuit at the drop of a bit. She matched Blue's glare with one of her own. Both had their horn alight. I gulped as Blueblood sneered. "How far you've fallen. That even a wretch like me is disgusted by your addled assault. It is almost laughable how you, the once beloved gem of Canterlot, are now nothing more than a rabid dog."
"Is that so?" Cadence asked. The swirling mana burst in the air as the alicorn started at a slow trot toward her heckling cousin. Blueblood didn't give an inch.
"Acutely."
Cadence laughed, a shallow harsh whinny that lacked even a semblance of mirth. "Says the coward who hid himself away as the world changed forever. The frivolous waste of flesh that had nothing but his own bitter resentment and himself for company. Where was this spine when Nightmare came for me? Where was my supposed cousin when I was left in the dark?"
I shuddered and tried very hard not to draw any attention at all. The others, even Sabre, were left in pregnant silence. Yet, even then, Blueblood did not move. Cadence was atop him, their horns inches from one another.
"You're not wrong, and by no means will I pretend that I stood my ground as you had. I threw myself into the dark happily while you were dragged kicking and screaming. On that, my dear cousin, you and I agree wholly. That said, I stand now, before you, and no amount of dark with change that."
Blueblood sighed. His horn flickered, and the light died. "That said, I will not fight you. You deserved better; even now, twisted as you are, you are my family, the only family I have left. A bond I will not shatter, for Nightmare, or any other."
The sound of metal on flesh rang out over the Crystal Empire. The sound of a body hitting crystal followed in quick succession. Cadence stood over Blueblood as he shook his head and lay on the ground. He'd barely had the chance to regain his wits when another metal-clad hoof kicked hard into his exposed stomach. The wheeze Blueblood heaved was sickening.
"Then you will die, as much a coward now as you were the day the sun fell."
"No, he won't."
Thorax let a blast of magic fly from his horn, hitting Cadence in the back of the head. It, however, did little more than stagger the alicorn. Who turned with a snarl. "Little bug."
Thorax's legs were shaking, but he hissed back with all the gumption the changeling could muster. It wasn't a very intimidating sound but more surprising than one would think.
"He's not a coward. He doesn't even hate you. All that you've done, and he still doesn't hate you, even now."
Thorax's voice carried even against the winds of the encroaching snow and ice. Cadence stalled, if only for a heartbeat. The Crystal Heart thumped behind her, the catalyst had begun to spin faster, and the light surrounding it grew brighter. If Cadence knew or cared, she didn't show it. I just hoped it stayed that way.
"Then what, praytell, does my worthless cousin feel," Cadence asked.
Thorax shook his head. "Many things, sorrow, familial love, but mostly, above all, he pities you. He pities what you've become."
"Thorax, move!" Sabre yelled.
He was too late. Cadence's horn writhed in a whipping storm of magic. Her typical blue aura had darkened to a nearly black affair. A single pulse and a spell met their mark. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. I watched Sabre leap forward, Bright flying in from Cadence's blindside. Spade had placed himself between Cadence and the Crystal Heart. And I, I hadn't moved at all. I stood and watched, mouth agape.
"Thorax!"
"Blueblood!"
Thorax stood untouched by Cadence's attack. Instead, Cadence had found her blast firing high and away from her target. Blueblood, prone or not, had managed to trip up his cousin. His horn shimmered, and his aura wrapped around Cadence's hind hoof like a vice. The alicorn was left stunned for only a moment before she violently shook her constrained hoof. The aura died out, and Blueblood smiled from his place behind the raging alicorn.
"How dare you!"
Cadence had no further time to regard her cousin as Bright plowed into her from the side, sending the alicorn bouncing like a stone across the platform. The Crystal Heart was a blur in motion as it spun in place. The whir was audible even over the wind and our unorthodox battle. Spade had glanced back over his shoulder. He seemed struck between maintaining position between Cadence and moving away as fast as the pegasus could.
Thorax took the brief reprieve to move to Blueblood, who was made to stand. Sabre was furious. He rushed Cadence, who had reorientated herself and seemed a second away from a meltdown. That was something she and the Crystal Heart had in common.
I hissed and galloped away to join Sabre. Bright was a second behind me. The others would play defense. We only had to stall a little bit longer. That said, I felt Cadence hadn't even begun to fight. The look on her face, the storming aura that seemed to darken further as she regained her footing. She didn't even twitch as a dark beam of magic arced forward in a line left to right. Everyone either ducked, dodged, or was flung away by the attack. I barely managed to weave beneath the spell and hoped those behind me had handled it. Sabre hadn't even slowed. He leaped over the beam and hit the ground running. His blade was free and aimed for Cadence's throat.
"Star, go low. I'll hit high," Bright said, coming up to my side. The aerial advantage had cleared him of the last spell, and Bright looked unamused for what might be the first time. His brow sat heavy, and the twitching frown he wore felt out of place on my thestral comrade.
"Right."
The air felt oddly thick, the cold had dissipated, and both my heart and the Crystal behind me thumped in tempo. I'd contemplate Bright's emotional well-being once Cadence was dealt with. If, if she was dealt with. I really hoped Sombra didn't screw us.
Sabre was on Cadence hard. Swing and a miss, stab, half-step, and stab again. Sabre was a blur of motion and his sword sliced through the air. Cadence seemed unphased as she danced around Sabre's barrage, eyes trained past him and the ones who'd roused her ire.
"Eyes forward," Sabre said. He feinted to the side and stepped forward for a lethal blow. The blow fell short, and Cadence flexed a wing and tossed Sabre's hoof aside. We were seconds out. We could do this. The spark hadn't burned out yet.
Thorax had helped Blueblood up and was leaning into the unicorn as he favored one foreleg over the other. I barely had time to catch that before being forced to swivel in place and avoid another spell. Cadence had blasted Sabre off his hooves and sent him sliding toward the edge of the spire.
I bit my lip, and the taste of iron titillated my tongue. I sped up. My legs burned, but I paid them no mind. Bright arrived first, soaring down in a divebomb. Cadence pivoted around it and hooked Bright in the side of the face. He dropped hard and settled on a second before I rammed forward, meeting Cadence headfirst. Even with all my speed and a direct hit, the alicorn barely budged. I moved her less than three hooves back. I was left blinking as she returned the favor.
Cadence's wings flared, and with a single push, I could feel my hooves dig into the Crystal beneath me. The traction barely slowed me as I was flung back with Cadence's second flap.
"Pitiful. Any of you would dare pity me after everything I've seen. You have no idea what horrors rest in the dark. This whole pathetic joke ends here."
I had a feeling she meant it too. She looked to me, to Spade, Blue, and Thorax, and then behind her to Sabre, who was still lying inches from the spire's lip. Cadence started walking. I cursed and pressed myself to my hooves. The world was blurry, and my body throbbed.
"Cadence!" I yelled.
"Perhaps an example will help educate you. An awakening of sorts. You six have caused enough damage, I think. Isn't that right, corporal"
"Star, the heart," Thorax yelled. I chanced a single look back. The Heart was darkening. The energy was out of control.
"Rope!"
I blinked, and there it was, a length of rope. Spade had tossed it over with a single hoof. The other end in his other hoof. I didn't even consider it. The length had a loop at the end, and Cadence had plenty of need for it.
"By the stars, Spade," I mumbled to myself. He'd been plotting from the start.
It was scary, what a gravedigger could think up. He had looked tired and sad. Not that he looked defeated. It was the exact opposite. He seemed to have come to terms with everything all at once. As Blueblood had pitied Cadence. Spade's eyes held something more profound, a darker sorrow. That would have to wait, however. We had work to be done.
Cadence had reached Sabre and had planted a hoof hard into his side. Sabre twisted and swung blindly as his captor. I hadn't even noticed I'd held my breath until I let loose a guttural cry. This managed to get both Cadence and Sabre's attention.
Cadence smirked with the ease of flicking away a grain of rice. She pushed Sabre over the spire's side and toward the city beneath.
"No!"
I was seeing red. The world wreathed itself in shadows. Cadence is the only thing other than myself. Cadence sneered. I rammed into the alicorn for the second time. She'd already planted herself in place. The sound of shattering behind me was barely a hoof note in the sudden game of dominance Cadence, and I had found ourselves in.
A game I had no intention of playing. As suddenly as I'd pressed forward, I relaxed, and Cadence stumbled forward. The moment she did, I plied past her and dove over the edge of the Crystal Spire.
"All you've done is prove us right," I yelled as I leaped.
I spun in mid-air and saw Cadence stunned by the pivot, and I managed a tap from my eyes to my hooves and back up to Cadence. She followed my example and no sooner had she complied than she was suddenly pulled off balance and out of sight.
This was stupid, a really dumb stupid plan. Cadence gone, my tunnel vision found a new focus. Sabre was still falling. He was doing everything in his power to halt his momentum, not that gravity really cared. I'd managed to dive, my wings twitching at my sides as I pushed myself as hard as terminal velocity would allow. I was catching up, but just as quickly, so was the ground. The spire was tall and massive, and it is with that fact that I was even attempting something so mind-bendingly stupid. I flared my wings and flapped as hard as I could. The added velocity was nice, but I was still too slow. At the pace I was going, even if I reached Sabre, we'd have no tie to pull up. I wanted to scream. My body was wrecked with anger. The shadows still pulled at my vision, and all I could do was watch.
Who had I been kidding? I could barely fly. I'd be lucky If I could save myself at this point. Sabre needed me, and I was stuck helpless in a free fall, and all I could do was watch. as the world shook.
Sabre needed me. The world was bathed in fire.
I felt the heat in my neck. Sabre believed in me.
I was sent plunging faster as the shadows grew darker. To hell with it. I could still see it in the distance. The dark reached out, but the light never truly faded out. I could always see straight ahead. The dark called at my vision, but it could never truly seize it all.
If I was plummeting to my death, I was doing it my way. Sabre was approaching. A second explosion above was followed by a shriek like the damned had risen from, Asphodel. I rocketed forward. Sabre had seen me coming. He seemed confused and then very confused. I opened my forelegs wide and slammed into Sabre. The shriek reached an apex, and then, there was silence. I pulled up with everything I had. My wings felt as if they might rip off. The wind sheered at my coat, and the empire below prepared to embrace us. The sudden arc as my trajectory changed almost had my grip slip. I was no longer nose to the ground but belly down. I was still coming in hot and heavy, but I was slowing. Sabre said something, but it was lost in the wind. I could barely see. The world felt both all too clear and incoherent at the same time.
"Pull up! Pull up! Pull Up, damn it!"
I chanted to myself. My wings dragged hard but did not fold. The ground was coming up fast. I braced myself as best I could. Sabre at least had his recovered armor. I wasn't that lucky.
Then the ground embraced us. I was left winded by the sudden impact. Sabre landed first and was ripped from my grip. He fell off behind me, and then my head met Crystal. The Crystal reminded me that it was a lot harder than my head.
The world swam. My left side spun and landed me on my back. Then the the shadows came, and the world went dark. The last thought I managed was wondering if I'd receive my darwin award before or after I reached Elysium.