Firefly froze, utterly still in the dark space. Shapes moved through the room, silent in the night. But one of her wings was up, uncovered in the comfort of the castle. She felt the air playing against her feathers. With no windows open and the air perfectly still, she could feel it all so clearly.
There were two creatures in the room, adult sized and moving quickly. She saw them only as thick shadows against the faint light from behind. Firefly felt rooted to her bed, suddenly overcome with fright. Who would be sneaking into their bedroom in the middle of the night? This was Canterlot Castle, how had they even gotten inside?
Somepony else tapped against the door, a series of three purposeful clicks. The door swung open, and this time she heard hoofsteps. Two more ponies, moving much less quietly than the first. The more they moved, the less clearly she could sense their movement in the air. They were spreading out, which meant at least one of them was probably close to her.
Something settled on the floor with a thump—one of the huge dressers. Firefly's heart raced faster and faster, her breathing accelerating. She needed to do something! Whatever was happening these weren't their friends! No pony working for the princess would need to sneak in like this.
No matter how fast her heart raced, Firefly remained glued to the bed. She should scream, or buck out with all her might, or do something. But what good could three little ponies really do on their own?
“We don't have much more time,” whispered a voice, barely into her ears. “The guards change in another two minutes, Dire. Which one is the earth pony?”
“Get them all if you can,” came another voice, a little louder. Firefly opened her mouth to scream, but the strength didn't come to her. “We'll find a use for—”
“Help!” Risk screamed. His voice was shrill and echoing, resounding off the vaulted ceiling. “There's somepony here, we need—” Then everything happened at once.
Firefly opened one eye, just in time to see a pair of ponies coming down on her with an oversized cloth bag. They both had dark bat-wings instead of feathers, which explained how they'd moved so quietly.
Firefly had already been trapped once; she would not let them grab her again. She didn't even think about what happened next—her mind reached desperately for open sky, and she found it waiting for her. Outside was limitless energy, the weather of a whole planet.
This time there was no spell containing her—every window in the room exploded at once, showering the interior with glass. The balcony doors smashed across the room, striking one of the shadowy outlines and sending them flying into the wall. The net landed squarely on Firefly anyway, toppling her momentarily sideways, and snapping her wings to her sides.
She flailed around on the ground, blind to what was happening. She heard a grunt from Lilac, but nothing at all from Risk now. An alarm rang from outside, and hooves pounded down distant hallways.
Somepony tried to lift the bag she was in, and Firefly yelled a second time. But she couldn't spread her wings, not with the fabric so tightly around her sides. There was something strange about the cloth. The skies were open now, their power raging untapped, yet somehow still out of reach.
She screamed in frustration, trying to get her hooves under her. Then someone gripped the back, tossing her sideways. “Which one is in there?”
“Something's growing, look at the floor!”
“Onto the balcony! We have to leave, now! If either princess hears this—”
Someone dragged her across the floor. She smacked into a wall, recoiling in pain. She felt a lip underneath her, and suddenly there was tile underneath, and a chill wind passing through the bag. It wasn't much, but it was enough. She spread both wings as far as she could, filing the bag with a growing dark cloud. It stretched to its full size, straining the stitches.
Lilac was many stories off the ground, far from her power. Firefly had no such weakness. “Fly!” somepony yelled. “They're coming from the walls!”
Somepony hefted the sack with Firefly a second later, struggling to get it over the railing. But it was so swollen now the fabric caught, resisting the attempt. “What is she doing in there?”
“No, don't—” The bag uncinched, and a face appeared. The barrier separating Firefly from the sky vanished. Lightning erupted from around her, followed by a blinding flash and terrible roar of thunder seconds later. Her prison tore itself apart, in the same instant her captor went careening off the balcony and into the void.
Wind whipped around her, ripping up entire tiles and bits of decoration. Power raged in her chest, fighting for release—but there was no one there. She hovered over an empty balcony now, with the wall behind her completely imploded. There was a single pony on the ground in the bedroom, crumpled against the far wall and moaning in pain. It wasn’t Lilac, and it wasn’t Risk.
She flew up, cutting across the sky. She left a trail of angry sparks behind, gathering dark clouds in her wake. But where she flew, she found no sign of the enemy. No bats in flight carrying heavy cloth bags between them. As to the streets—there were thousands of homes, a whole city spiraling out in all directions. Even at this late hour, there were hundreds of shapes moving down below.
“Where are you?” she shouted into the dark. There was no reply. “Lilac, say something!” With no clear destination, Firefly flew in a circle, barely even conscious of the other watching ponies. There had been only a few at first—but as her search went on in vain, they were soon joined by more. Dozens of sturdy-looking creatures, wearing purple armor. Their wings were dark and silent against the night sky and gradually setting moon, just like the creatures that attacked her.
But these were no clandestine invaders. They wore Equestrian banners, and aside from the color their armor was a familiar design. They didn't get close to her—instead they put themselves between Firefly and the city below.
They're afraid of me, she realized. Either her, or the dark clouds gathering behind her. What had been a clear night was rapidly transforming, as rain appeared practically from nowhere. The stars faded as an ocean of gray settled around her, soaking everything in all directions.
Firefly stopped circling. The storm didn't care at that point—as before, she'd already given this one all the power it needed just by calling it here. Dispersing that power once she got the inertia in place—she hadn't learned that part yet.
I don't think any of our lessons at Whispering Willow were supposed to teach us this.
“Excuse me!” a voice called through the wind and rain, somehow perfectly clear despite the incredible energy. “Young pony! I'm sure the population of the fair city below us would be quite grateful if you don't pull down a million gallons on their heads!”
Firefly turned, and saw another pony hovering there. She wasn't riding the storm like Firefly did, but floating in active defiance of it. Wind whipped around her without reaching her feathers, taking the moisture of rain with it.
She was much taller than Firefly herself, or almost anypony else she'd ever met, with dark blue feathers and a dark black splotch on her flank. Firefly knew her by her cutie mark, the same as everypony in Equestria probably did. “Princess Luna?”
The Alicorn was less incredible and frightening than her sister, perhaps. But compared to ordinary ponies, the difference was academic. She approached slowly, cutting through the air more than flying the distance. While her soldiers fought the storm, she simply ignored it. “And you—my sister spoke of you. You're one of the fillies rescued from Willowbrook. Why did you rip a hole in my sister's castle?”
She whimpered, looking away from her. “There were—ponies attacked us.” She gestured weakly off into the storm with one hoof, in no particular direction. She could easily get her bearings from the landmarks under Willowbrook. But she hadn't flown over this city enough to know which direction was which. She couldn't even point towards home.
“My best friend—she couldn't get away. Took another unicorn too—off that way. I tried to stop them—but I couldn’t.”
“That is... dark tidings.” The princess hovered close, within reach this time. “They penetrated into the castle itself?”
She nodded again. “We th-thought we were safe. How could they—don't you have guards? Septum was right... the Lightless Star can reach anywhere in Equestria it wants. There's no spell powerful enough to keep them out, no walls high enough. Anything they want, they can take.”
She sagged in the air, snapping her wings closed to either side. She fell only a short distance, to a waiting patch of dark cloud. Firefly wasn't sure if she'd called it there, or the princess had—but she didn't much care anymore.
How much more could she lose? Her home was a crater, her father was dying, her only connection back to Earth would probably be next. Even Risk was probably halfway to Willowbrook by now. “I'm not strong enough.”
“We will see.” The princess waved her back towards the castle, insistent. “You've brought quite the downpour for the capital. Let's speak somewhere dry.”
Firefly followed her exalted escort to the nearest flat surface atop the nearby castle. Most of her escort broke off from there, though a small group moved in close, following their princess. They kept their distance from Firefly, but not so much that she couldn’t hear them.
“What kind of pony is that?” one whispered. “Look what she did to the sky.”
Firefly didn’t have to look—she felt the downpour on her wings, now that she wasn’t actively manipulating it to keep it away.
The princess nudged at a fallen stone pillar with her hoof, then looked down at Firefly. “I sense substantial power in you, Firefly. How many lives did it cost to summon you to this world?”
Firefly stared back, far too confused to give a proper answer. “I have no idea what that means,” she said. She landed beside the princess, but kept her wings open. “My friend Lilac Empathy—she was the one who understands magic. We should rescue her; she can tell you.”
The princess’s horn glowed brilliant blue, and she circled around her once. “At least... six. Those who burrowed through the fabric, rending themselves in the process. Their spirits depart, but their magic endures. And more...” She stopped just beside her, nudging her wings wide. “They tried to do something to you, didn’t they? The well... continues to fill, never overflowing. Do you know why?”
More guards appeared from the other doorway, finally bashing through the wardrobe blocking the door. They stepped in, then came to an abrupt halt almost as quickly. Whatever they were waiting for inside the bedroom, it wasn’t the smoking crater they found. “I don’t,” she whimpered. “We have to find my friends!”
Luna shook her head slowly. “You aren’t understanding me, Firefly. You hold the concentrated power of many pony lives—you are an endless reservoir, a barrel with no bottom. Do you understand what the Lightless Star would do, if that power fell into their hooves?”
“Lilac is already there!” Firefly argued. Maybe it was the more casual way this princess spoke with her, or maybe it was just the urgency of the situation. She couldn’t be silenced by the Alicorn’s intimidating aura. There was too much at stake! “Whatever I am, she is too! We came together!”
The princess turned away from her. Familiar faces appeared in the doorway—Twilight Sparkle, and several of the servants caring for her. “The Lightless Star misunderstand our history. They reach into Abbadon, into an infinity of unmade worlds. I do not know what miracle allowed them to pluck you from it—but it will not happen twice. With one of the Ancients for their conduit, not even Discord could imagine what they’ll dredge.”
Firefly took off. It wasn’t her wings that lifted her, not exactly. She demanded to be lifted, and so she was. “They already have one!” she yelled. “They took Lilac. Are two apocalypses so much worse than one?”
The royal guard stumbled backward from her. A few drew their weapons again, stepping protectively between her and their princess.
Luna waved them off. “Where will they take her?”
There was only one answer. “Willowbrook.”