Chapter 70
Note addressed to Grand Master North Wind, from Grand Master Steadfast Word. Found in the ruins of the Star Shine Building.
Everything is in your hooves now.
I have laid the groundwork. I have accepted the hard task and taken the sin upon myself.
You shall build upon the foundation I dug.
Saints have mercy on me.
Star Shine Building, New Canterlot City, 1113 AF
“Stand up. Bring her with you if you want, but don’t tarry. We have little time.” Steadfast Word’s voice held nothing of the warm, almost fatherly tone Emberglow remembered. She blinked at the tears in her eyes, looking down at Rarity’s limp form.
“Can’t you give us a moment?” Her eye kept sliding back up to the cleanly severed stump of a horn on Rarity’s forehead, nestled in the sweat-matted wisps of purple mane. “Isn’t there enough compassion left in you for that?”
“Compassion?” Steadfast barked a humorless laugh. “It is compassion that drives me, Emberglow. Compassion for the world. For everypony in it who will suffer if I fail.” For a moment, his monstrous white eyes seemed to soften. “You have one minute.”
“Rarity? Rarity, love, I need you to wake up. Please.” Emberglow gently brushed a lock of mane out of Rarity’s face. She leaned down, kissing her forehead gently, before glaring up at Steadfast. “I’m not following you without her.”
Steadfast lowered his spear, its blade hovering above Rarity’s torso. “Unacceptable. I will destroy her and drag you along with me. You are necessary. She is not.”
“If you’d give me a gauntlet, I could…”
Steadfast’s cold look stopped her, and she turned back down to Rarity, gently shaking her with her hooves again. Rarity was breathing shallowly, but her eyes would not open. “Please,” Emberglow whispered.
“Here,” Steadfast finally said, and Emberglow looked up. Steadfast was holding out a canteen, and Emberglow took it, eyes narrowing with suspicion. Steadfast snorted. “You don’t trust me?”
Emberglow stared at him, meeting his cold gaze to hers, before deliberately looking down. She took a small drink from the canteen first, rolling the liquid around in her mouth for a few seconds before swallowing. It was just water. She splashed a little on Rarity’s face, watching her muzzle scrunch up a bit, before she trickled a little into her slack jaw.
At first there was nothing, and then Rarity coughed, sputtered, and swallowed. Her eyes shot open, hazed with pain, but to Emberglow it was like uncovering precious jewels. She hugged her love tightly.
“I was too late,” she whimpered. “I’m so sorry.”
“Emberglow,” Rarity whispered back, and Emberglow sobbed again. “I am glad you are safe.” She lifted her own hooves to hug back, albeit weakly.
“We have little time, ponies. Come.” Steadfast nudged Emberglow, hard, with the butt of his spear.
“Can you walk?” Emberglow said gently, and felt Rarity’s nod. “I don’t want you to die. He’ll kill you if you can’t.”
“A bit late for that, darling,” Rarity said, blinking away tears as she felt at her forehead with one hoof. She let out a small whimper, but gently pushed Emberglow back, turning and placing shaky hooves on the ground. “I shall manage, you cruel thing. Point your weapons elsewhere.”
“Very well. Emberglow, you know she is weak. If you flee, or otherwise delay me, I will end her.”
“You already did,” Emberglow snarled, and Steadfast merely shrugged.
“You get to decide how her last days are, then,” Steadfast said. “Follow. I won’t ask again.”
Rarity struggled to her hooves, trembling. Emberglow steadied her with a hoof, before slipping a wing around her.
“How are you feeling?” Emberglow asked, before cursing herself for the question. The two of them stepped over the broken door of Steadfast’s office, into the rubble-strewn hallway.
“Cold, darling,” Rarity whispered back. “Cold and empty.” She leaned into Emberglow, nestling under her wing. “But I’m glad that you’re here with me.”
“I will stay by your side forever,” Emberglow choked out.
Steadfast never turned to look or acknowledge their words, and the two mares stumbled down the hallway after him.
The rest of the building felt eerily quiet. The intensity of Emberglow’s ingress had faded, punctuated only by the sounds of continued fighting downstairs. The atrium. With a shudder of horror she thought about the crowd of refugees there.
“How are you doing, Emberglow?” Rarity said, shivering as Emberglow helped her past the still, slumped forms of the bodies that filled the hallway.
“Don’t worry about me.”
“I can’t help it, darling. I love you.”
It sent a cold sort of shiver down Emberglow’s spine, and she leaned over to nuzzle Rarity’s cheek. “No, please. I’ll be okay. It’s you I…” she choked.
“You could just run. Leave me. I’m…”
“Don’t you say it,” Emberglow hissed. “And I won’t. I won’t leave your side. Not ever.”
“Darling…”
They followed Steadfast down an unfamiliar hallway, to an elevator. Steadfast leaned out and pushed the button on the elevator with the butt of his spear, before motioning to them both with the point. “Inside, please.”
Rarity scowled at him, but the two shuffled into the elevator, and Steadfast climbed in beside them. He reached out and pushed the down button, and the doors slid closed behind them with a clatter of machinery. The elevator gave a tremendous lurch, metal screeching against metal as the contraption dipped and slid downwards.
In the confines of the elevator, the cold wind that seemed to follow Steadfast everywhere pressed close around them. In seconds Emberglow and Rarity were both shivering, their teeth chattering. Steadfast himself seemed unaffected, though his mane swayed and ruffled in the wind.
“Why didn’t you ever respond to my letter?” Steadfast asked suddenly, his eyes jerking to Emberglow.
“You didn’t listen to Mercy?” Emberglow shot back. “I want nothing to do with you.”
“Yet you were drawn back here. As if you had no other choice.”
“I had no other choice!” Emberglow shouted. “You kidnapped Rarity. You maimed her!”
“You do feel strongly about her, don’t you?” Steadfast said. His voice was casual, as if he were discussing nothing more important than a snowstorm. “No matter. Whatever it was that drew you back here, it was destiny. We are both Elements of Harmony, after all.”
Emberglow’s mind froze. No. It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be…
The silence was broken by Rarity’s coughing laughter. “You? An Element of Harmony? How pathetic. You sully her name with your lies.”
“Believe it or not, it doesn’t matter to me,” Steadfast said emotionlessly. “But I bear the Element of Magic. She spoke to me, when I touched it.”
“Oh? What did she say?” Emberglow could hear the curiosity in Rarity’s voice, despite the circumstances.
“That’s between her and I, isn’t it?” Steadfast said. Rarity scowled. “But Emberglow. You should have answered. I…” He paused, his ears turning, darting about as if listening for something. “No. No. It is not necessary. No! I will not!” He blinked a few times, his eyes losing focus for a moment before looking at Emberglow again. “But you should have answered. I need you. You need me. We need all the Elements.”
“And will you torture and maim the others, as well? What if the other elements are unicorns?” Rarity growled. Steadfast waved a hoof.
“Then they can serve their purpose towards ponykind, before making the sacrifice all unicorns must make.” Steadfast said. “Are you telling me that is so? Are there unicorns among the chosen ones?”
Emberglow and Rarity both stared at him.
The elevator lurched to a halt, and Emberglow nearly stumbled to the floor trying to hold Rarity up. Steadfast reached out to the iron door, and with a powerful yank, wrenched it open. Emberglow stared at the place his hoof had touched; hoarfrost collected along the wrought iron. Emberglow locked eyes with Rarity, and they shared a frightened look.
“Come. I need to show you. You need to see why.” Steadfast sounded tired. He stepped off the elevator, into a blank hallway. “You need to know. I need you to know.” He paused, looking up. “Peridot. Jumpy. Joy. Brightblade…”
They stood, silently, waiting in the hallway while Steadfast breathed in and out, slowly, frozen. A tremendous shake wracked his body from head to tail, and he stumbled, before spinning to stare at them.
“What… what did you… you cannot…” he stammered, holding a hoof to his forehead, breathing slowly. “I…”
Emberglow and Rarity took a step back, and Steadfast suddenly jerked, leveling the spear at them. “No. No, I can… I can do this. Bring your Element. We need to find a scroll. I left one in Joy’s laboratory.” The spear’s tip shook. “Follow me.”
The long hallway ended at an imposing steel door, and was filled with nothing but the sounds of three sets of hooves echoing along the stone walls. But Steadfast didn’t approach the door, instead turning to the right, into a smaller room. “Just a detour, then we shall face our destiny together as Elements, hm?” He pushed the door open, once again leaving behind the shadow of hoarfrost on the surface.
Inside was a laboratory. The walls were lined with bookshelves, and four tables inside were covered with alchemical equipment: glass bottles, alembics, candles, and pages of notes. The room smelled musty and foul, and Emberglow recoiled.
“It’s like you can feel it…” Steadfast whispered. “We killed a goddess in this room, you know. And all I had to pay to do it was one overzealous friend.”
“You are a monster,” Rarity sobbed. Emberglow felt bile rise in her throat. “You… you destroyed one of the greatest, most wonderful—”
“She was an abomination. A threat,” Steadfast said. He looked away, his eyes sad. “I only did what I was forced to do.”
“She was an alicorn, you idiot,” Rarity sneered, and Emberglow did her best to hold on to the trembling mare, perhaps to stop her from doing something dire. “She could have solved all of this for you. If you’d let us try.”
“I won’t fall for unicorn lies,” Steadfast’s eyes darkened with zealous determination. “We don’t need to take poison into our breast just to correct a problem that we are fully capable of solving ourselves.”
“Are you, though?” Rarity pushed.
“I am,” Steadfast said, turning his back on them and walking over to one of the tables, where a stack of papers waited. “I was born for this. It is my burden.” He shuffled through them with a hoof, before his eyes lit up. He passed the paper over to Emberglow.
She eyed it suspiciously. It was totally blank.
“What is—”
“Dragonfire scroll. You will summon the other Elements.”
“I won’t!” Emberglow snarled. It felt impotent.
Steadfast watched her steadily. “You will. Your purpose here is to save the world. To remake it in Harmony. My purpose is to lead you to do so. This would have been so much easier if you’d come when I’d asked.” He blinked, and growled. “You didn’t have to run. You could have listened.” With each new word, his eyes seemed to flare, glowing with a cold, baleful energy. “And now everything is imperiled, because of you! You spoiled, ungrateful…” His head twitched, and he blinked again, taking a deep breath. “Nevermind. It doesn’t matter. You’ll see the consequences of your rebellion soon enough.”
It didn’t sound like the Steadfast Emberglow knew. She shared another frightened look with Rarity.
“I don’t care what you tell them. Tell them not to come. Tell them it’s a trap. But the Elements will come if you message them.”
“I…” Emberglow opened her mouth to refuse again, but Steadfast leveled the spear at Rarity’s throat. With a growl, Emberglow snatched up the paper. Steadfast held up a pencil off the desk next.
“Write.”
Emberglow blinked back helpless tears and put the pencil to paper.
Steadfast captured me and Rarity in Star Shine basement. Rarity’s horn gone. Steadfast made me write this. Don’t come, it’s a trap.
Emberglow glanced up when she finished, staring into Steadfast’s cold gaze.
“You said you didn’t care what I wrote,” she said defiantly, and Steadfast shrugged. He held up his hoof, doing a quick spell to light one of the candles. He held the candle out to her. “I… um, I’ve never used a—”
“Think of the recipient.” Steadfast sounded as if his patience was cracking. “Hold their image, their voice, in your head. Then ignite the scroll in the candle flame. The enchantment will find them.” He began tapping his hoof on the floor, waiting as Emberglow carefully rolled up the scroll and touched the edge to the flame. She thought of Heartwing, his odd eyes, his hooting laughter.
The scroll burst into green fire, consuming the paper in a breath while Emberglow yelped and jerked back. But the flame was heatless and harmless, and she watched as a wisp of emerald smoke flitted towards, then through, the ceiling.
“Good. Now. I’m going to show you the Machine. You need to know. You need to understand. You need to see what I’m trying to build, and what I’ve been trying to prevent.”
He brushed past them, shoving Rarity into Emberglow and earning a startled complaint as he made for the lab’s exit.
“I’m not sure if I can see a way out of this, Emberglow,” Rarity whispered, barely making a sound. Emberglow nodded.
“I’ll look for an opportunity, but I will not risk you. We’ll go with him for now.” She hated the idea of being the damsel in distress, waiting for her friends to show up and save her from the villain. But that was really beginning to look like the best option right now.
Back in the hallway, Steadfast was approaching the large steel doors. Even in the chill of the corridor, Emberglow could feel an even greater cold radiating from the imposing metal. Steadfast seemed unconcerned as he reached out and brushed a hoof against the surface.
Yellow light filled the corridor as dozens of runes flared to life on the surface of the door. He reached out, tapping them quickly in an order too fast for Emberglow to see. With another flash, the runes disappeared, and Steadfast pushed inwards.
The iron hinges gave a mighty creak, and Emberglow could see Steadfast’s muscles straining as he shoved. With a grunt of effort, he moved the immense slabs enough to enter the dark room beyond.
“Come inside. Come see the Machine.” He waved with his spear, pointing for them to go first. “Down the staircase to the bottom, please.”
Emberglow and Rarity stepped out onto a balcony overlooking an alien-looking artifice. A black orb was suspended from the ceiling and walls by a series of steel chains, hovering over a hexagonal ring of obsidian crystals. Both the ring and the steel orb were covered in crystals of frost.
give up
nothing to live for
let it roll over you
“Do you… do you hear them?” Steadfast breathed. His eyes were fixed on the orb. “Do you hear what they say? They say I should kill you, Emberglow. Just like I…” He screamed in pain, clenching a hoof to his head. His spear clattered to the floor, unheeded, as Steadfast seemed to crumple in on himself.
Emberglow saw a window of hope. “The door!” she shouted, and Rarity gave a quick nod, stumbling towards the open door while Emberglow lunged for the spear. Her wings flared, pumping to give her just the slightest burst of speed.
“No!” Steadfast shouted, just as Emberglow’s hoof curled around the weapon. She felt a stab of agony as the room’s bitter cold condensed and seized around her hoof, freezing into an icy prism that fused her hoof, and the spear, to the floor.
Steadfast threw out another hoof, pointing at the open door. A wall of ice, thick and clear, grew from the floor, cracking as it extended higher than Rarity’s head as she tried to flee, blocking their escape.
“No!” he repeated, hissing with agony. His narrowed eyes glowed with icy light. “You cannot. Not after what I’ve given. So many dead.” Emberglow tugged at the spear, at her frozen hoof, panting as Steadfast approached. She looked up at him just in time to see his hoof, descending towards her face. His slap knocked her onto the floor, her stuck hoof twisting painfully as she screamed.
Steadfast shoved his face close to Emberglow’s and she recoiled. There was frost on his fur and mane, and it was growing. He put a hoof against her barrel, shoving her hard and twisting her stuck hoof even more. Icy cold radiated from his hoof into her fur as she tried to squirm away.
“Look at what you’re doing to me, Emberglow,” he hissed. “I should… I should hurt you. I need to…” He trailed off as he shoved, pushing hard into her barrel, his frigid hoof grinding against her ribs through her armor. “You need to be punished for your rebellion. Scourge you. Flay you.”
As he spoke, his words took on an echoing quality, as if the wind was whisking them away, floating them around the room. She panted, her breath fogging in the intense cold. Only something was odd. Steadfast’s breath didn’t do the same.
With a sudden surge of revulsion, Emberglow twisted, the bones in her hoof protesting as she lined her hind hooves as best she could before kicking hard.
Her hooves slammed into Steadfast’s chest, and he grunted and jerked slightly, stepping back. It was enough time for Emberglow to finally wrench her hoof free of the ice that held her. The spear remained stuck to the ground.
Emberglow scrambled back and away, scooting so she was between Steadfast and Rarity. Steadfast, though, stood where he was, shaking and jerking. His lips moved silently, and tears leaked from his eyes.
Tears that, to Emberlgow’s horror, froze into tiny icicles immediately.
“Why can’t you… why can’t you…” he breathed, turning slowly so that he faced the two of them. He reached down to the stuck spear and ripped it off the floor effortlessly. “Last chance, Emberglow. Down the stairs.”
“A-are you all r-right, d-darling?” Rarity’s teeth were chattering. Emberglow nodded, wrapping a wing around Rarity. She felt like she didn’t have much warmth to give, but what she had she would share.
Warily, keeping their eyes on Steadfast, the two of them made their way down the spiral staircase. Emberglow limped on her wounded hoof. It hurt, but didn’t seem broken.
“What is happening to him?” Rarity whispered, and Emberglow shrugged. “Has he always been this… unstable?”
Emberglow shook her head. “Never. This is… it has something to do with this place.”
She knew she was right. He was responding to the voices the same ones she did her best to ignore, tickling at the edges of her mind.
At the bottom of the stairs, nestled up against the crystal ring, was what looked like a small workstation. Atop it rested a pile of books, some papers, and even a random assortment of paperweights, as well as a small pillow.
“This is where I come to be alone,” Steadfast said, and then laughed. “Only I’m alone all the time, now. Everypony leaves me. Or dies. Peridot. Brightblade. Joy. Jumpy. You should all…I should—” he cut off with a gulp.
“We’re here now, Steadfast,” Rarity said. “Tell us what you brought us all this way for.”
“You know why we’re here, don’t you? You know what this machine is?”
Emberglow could guess. This machine was why they had come to New Canterlot City in the first place.
“It contains the creatures known as Windigoes,” she whispered.
As soon as she said it, the wind seemed to pick up, howling about the circular room like a whirlwind. Emberglow’s mane and tail whipped about, her feathers trembling in the cold air. Rarity pressed in against her.
“N-no matter what happens, stay close to m-me,” Emberglow continued, clutching her close. Rarity nodded. She raised her voice. “Yes, Steadfast. I know what this m-machine is.”
“It was the only thing keeping us safe,” Steadfast said, descending the stairs himself. He moved past them to the pile of books, pushing his hoof through the paperweights until he found one, what looked like a lump of purple amethyst. “This is the true charge of the Knights Mystic. This is why we exist. To protect the Machine, and thus protect the Diarchy from those who would see it undone.
“The Machine,” he continued, “was not just a prison. It was a generator. Powering the most ingenious spell Tirek the Creator ever made. It used one enemy to repel another and kept us all safe. Until it started to falter.”
He lifted the crystal up to his chest. “This is why the Element chose me. I will save the Diarchy. I will save us all.”
“F-from what?” Rarity laughed bitterly. “From Harmony itself? That’s what t-this machine was d-designed to repel. Your own m-machine is anathema to the f-force you claim to lead.” She huffed. “You’re an ignorant f-fool.”
“AND YOU DID ANY BETTER?” Steadfast roared, wind whipping his mane and tail about. Shards of ice and snow filled the air around him, swirling like a whirlwind as he approached them. “YOU AND YOURS ABANDONED EQUESTRIA!” He waved his spear erratically. “I will be a better Element of Magic than Twilight Sparkle ever was! I will succeed where she failed! I will bring peace! And I won’t leave the job half done,” he finished with a vicious snarl.
Emberglow shoved Rarity so she was behind her, spreading her wings to shield her as best as she could from the onslaught of ice. It hurt to spread her wings, to hold them open even as they began to freeze. Finally Steadfast shrank back, and the wind seemed to slow. Emberglow shook frost from her feathers.
“S-sorry, I…” he gasped, then looked back up at the shield. “You need to know. You need to understand what I’m doing. I need you to understand, Emberglow. You’re my…”
“I am nothing to you,” she interrupted. Steadfast jerked back, and his eyes hardened.
“Very well. But you must listen.” He pointed a hoof at the machine. “Even now, the Machine is in its final moments. It’s why that abomination was able to approach the capital. But when it breaks, the prisoners inside will break out. And they will ravage the Diarchy. Only the Elements can stop them.”
“Ponies never needed the Elements to defeat Windigoes before,” Rarity said. “All we needed was harmony. Friendship, between earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns. That’s all it takes.”
“We’re past that now,” Steadfast hissed, and placed the crystal on the ground in front of him. “Now. Tell me your secrets, Rarity. The Element is mine. Twilight spoke to me when I touched it. So why won’t it respond to me now?”
“T-that?” Rarity laughed. “You think that is the Element of Magic? Darling, the cold has gone to your brain.”
“Believe what you will. When I found this, it was hidden away in our secret archives, inside a book that hadn’t been touched for centuries. The book crumbled to dust when I touched it, and I reached for the fallen gem. It was shaped like the six-pointed star of Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark. I touched it. There was a fleeting vision, a moment where I thought I could see her. And she said…” Steadfast shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. When I awoke from the vision, the Element looked like this. I assure you it is what I say it is.”
He stepped closer to them, and Emberglow shrunk back, taking Rarity with her. “Now. You knew her. Tell me how to make it work, again. How do I make the spark?”
“You c-can’t force it, you c-cretin!” Rarity shouted. “T-true magic c-comes from loyalty, kindness, lau—”
She never got to finish. There was a tremendous crack from up above, something striking against the ice barrier Steadfast had left in place. All three looked up.
“Tell me! Now!” Steadfast hissed, surging forward and shoving Emberglow aside with a brutal strike of his spear. His grip twisted in the front of Rarity’s blouse, and with one hoof he lifted her into an awkward half-sit, before lifting her even further so she was standing on her hind hooves. Steadfast was floating, Emberglow realized with horror, his hooves suspended on wisps of white, snowy wind. “How do I make the spark? The world is doomed to a frozen death if you do not!”
“I… I told you, you can’t. You, Steadfast, will never b-be able to make it work.” Rarity grunted and choked. “Where is your friendship? Where is the generosity and laughter? The loyalty, honesty, and kindness? You are barren.” As she spoke, the lumpen, uneven gem in Steadfast’s hoof pulsed with light. They both noticed, and Steadfast’s eyes went wide.
Emberglow lunged for them both, but Steadfast slammed her back with a wide swing of his spear. The haft impacted against her right leg and tossed her aside to bounce against the tile floor. Rarity’s strained words continued, forced out through chattering teeth.
“You… are… not… the Element of M-magic! You cannot walk in Twilight Sparkle’s horseshoes!” Rarity seemed to gain strength as she spoke. “AND YOU NEVER WILL BE WORTHY OF HER MEMORY!”
Another loud crack came from above, and Steadfast screamed with frustration. “No! I am the only—” his head jerked, spasming back and forth. “No, I cannot! There’s no…” He hissed in fury. “I will. I will! Only leave me be! I will overcome! I will rise! And you will be nothing!”
The wind had become a localized maelstrom, and he tossed Rarity casually away. She hit the ground with a thud and a cry of pain, and Emberglow rushed to her, shielding her with her body.
Steadfast, meanwhile, was rising into the air. He reached into his armor, pulling out a glass vial with a familiar looking chalky potion inside. Emberglow gasped. It was a potion of Knighthood.
“If you won’t tell me your secrets, unicorn, I’ll take them from your soul.” He held up the potion in one hoof, and the Element in the other. “You have a connection to this. We both know it. We both saw. So if it won’t respond to me, maybe it will respond to a piece of you.”
Emberglow stared in horror. The potion was made from Rarity’s horn. She didn’t know how she knew, she just knew, and the idea made her want to retch. But Steadfast didn’t give her enough time to consider what was happening. With a mighty throw, he slammed the gem against the ground, where it shattered with a musical tinkling sound into a billion little pieces.
“No!” Emberglow and Rarity both shrieked in horror.
The purple dust, all that was left of the Element of Magic, swirled and spun through the air, making lavender trails in the whirlwind that surrounded Steadfast. While the two mares watched with terror, he pulled the cork off the vial, and like magic, the purple dust swirled inside, as if attracted to the concoction it held. The liquid churned and discolored, forming a grayish purple mass. Steadfast stared at it, his cold eyes somehow twisted with terror.
There was another crash from the ice barrier up above.
“There is… there is no other way.” Emberglow could barely hear his whisper over the cold wind. He tipped the vial back and drank it.
A third crack came from above, accompanied by a loud shatter as the barrier finally broke. Ponies rushed in from above, first Terminus, buffeted about by the maelstrom as he flew in with Emberglow’s shield held in front of him. Then Heartwing, Lofty, and even Topaz rushed through. Emberglow could not hear their shouts and cries over the wind whipping about her head, but even seeing them brought a sort of comfort.
Heartwing didn’t bother with the stairs, instead leaping over the edge of the balcony to land right next to Emberglow, cracking the tile floor with his hooves, his new prosthetic making a metallic clang on the floor. With a flash of his horn, a yellow shield appeared around them. Terminus landed soon after, and Topaz and Lofty came down the stairs.
“Situation?” Heartwing shouted.
“Steadfast just drank a Knight potion. Made of R-rarity’s horn. And he smashed the Element of Magic!”
Four pairs of horrified eyes shot to the stump of Rarity’s horn, before looking back up at the figure writhing in the storm above them. Steadfast was doubled over, his mouth wide open in a silent scream of pain. Blue light leaked from his eyes, and tears dissolved into puffs of snowy air as soon as they made contact with the air.
“We have to kill him,” Terminus gripped his spear, landing next to Heartwing. Heartwing nodded, and Lofty stepped up, the three of them leveling their spears up at the twisting figure. “It’s the—”
“I HAVE DONE IT.” Steadfast’s voice boomed through the room, reaching over the wind to shake the walls and floors. Each of the ponies flinched, their ears pinning back. “I HAVE GATHERED THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY. AND NOW THE SPARK IS INSIDE ME. YOU HAVE TO KNOW. YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND. BUT YOU CHOOSE IGNORANCE AND REBELLION. SO I WILL MAKE YOU UNDERSTAND.”
Heartwing tried to step forward, but nearly lost his footing when the wind pushed him back. Steadfast raised his hooves in the air, his entire body still trembling with agony.
The ice in the storm began to collect, forming along his hooves like some sort of gauntlet. A line of ice connected them, before extending further out, finally forming what appeared to be a giant spear of ice.
“IF YOU WILL NOT HELP ME BY CHOICE, YOU WILL HELP ME BY DESPERATION!”
Every muscle in Steadfast’s body clenched, and he rammed the spear down at the black steel orb. Metal screeched and ice shattered, splintering against the shield in a thousand little flashes of light. Brittle white lines of frost spread over the black metal. The screeching deepened in a dissonant crescendo until each of the ponies were clutching their ears at the unholy wail.
“IT IS DONE. NOW NOTH—”
He never finished. With a deafening explosion, the orb shattered, hunks of shrapnel flinging through the air and embedding themselves into the wall. One piece struck Steadfast in the chest, spraying blood into the wind. It froze into trailing red clumps almost the moment it touched the air.
Another chunk, larger than a pony, slammed the shield hard enough to toss Heartwing backwards. The golden orb of magic flickered and faded, and everypony braced against the renewed onslaught of the wind.
With horror, Emberglow watched as shapes began to form in the wind. Ponies, she thought at first, but they were too large. Long, thin legs ended in sharply glinting hooves. Thin, wispy manes stretched over emaciated barrels, skin stretched tightly over skeletal ribs.
But their faces were the worst. Rows of jagged icicle teeth snarled in open maws, their subzero breath adding to the flurry of ice and snow filling the room. Eyes, empty and dead, bored into Emberglow.
And that’s when she heard the voices again, more clearly than she ever had before.
sharpen our teeth on their bones and pick through the
consume them and move on all the ponies the whole city is
the blood the blood is hot it steams freeze it freeze it forever
steadfast is the one he hurt you broke you tore you kill him
kill them all then be free to ravage
“FACE ME, WINDIGOES,” Steadfast shouted. “I AM YOUR FOE! YOU HAVE SOUGHT TO CORRUPT ME FOR DECADES BUT I HAVE HELD STEADFAST! ELEMENTS, AID ME, OR THESE CREATURES WILL RAMPAGE ACROSS THE DIARCHY. THOUSANDS WILL SUFFER.”
take the fool he is ours has always been ours
he listens he never should have but he did
we will go inside we will own him rule him
As if they were one creature, the starved, shriveled things turned and looked at Steadfast. The whirlwind converged, spinning tighter and tighter around him.
we can take him join with
drawn inside we feel stolen magic stolen from
could be ours will be ours so hungry
no no no too strong will too
there is hurt and pain and
we cannot we cannot we cannot
To Emberglow, they sounded afraid.
There was a sickeningly liquid sound, and the Windigoes began to flow like water into the bloody hole in Steadfast’s chest. They whinnied in panic as one after another they were sucked in and absorbed. Icy shards erupted from Steadfast’s body, slicing through his flesh as he convulsed and wailed in agony, his screams audible even over the wind.
“YOU WANTED THIS!” Steadfast howled. “YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD CON… CONSU…”
“Any ideas?” Lofty shouted to the assembled ponies.
Terminus gave Emberglow her shield. Her hooves shook as she strapped it on. “Sorry, no spare weapons,” he whispered.
She shrugged hopelessly.
“There’s nothing.” Emberglow sounded despairing, even to her own ears. “There’s nothing to do! He destroyed the Element of Magic! It’s… he consumed it!”
Rarity opened her mouth to say something. She looked tired and confused, her gaze locked on Steadfast. But she stayed silent.
“Like calls to like,” Heartwing recited, eyes frozen on the horrific figure twitching and spasming in the air above them. “Corruption summons corruption.”
“You know what’s happening?” Lofty yelled. “How do we stop it?”
“We kill him,” Heartwing said grimly. Terminus and Lofty both spared a sympathetic look for Emberglow, but she nodded.
Maybe if they had the Element of Magic, things could be different. “What’s the plan?”
“I’ll draw his attention. Lofty and Terminus, look for a soft spot to stick a spear into. Emberglow, keep Topaz and Rarity safe. Get them free and clear if you see an opening.”
“But I…” Topaz began to protest.
“We brought you when there was a chance we needed the Elements,” Lofty said. “Now…”
“It’s best if you get to safety,” Heartwing said, and Topaz gulped and nodded.
Elements of Harmony. You may rest.
The words were not spoken, they were whispered, carried through their heads and their bodies like a freezing wind. Each of the ponies looked up. Steadfast had stopped screaming and twisting.
The stallion that used to be Steadfast was changed. This creature had large, jutting shards of ice protruding like broken bones from his limbs and torso. He was taller, lankier, as if something had stretched what was left of Steadfast too thin over an expanding frame. Like the Windigoes, his maw was now full of jagged icicles. He opened his mouth to breathe, and once again the voice cut through them.
You may rest, little ponies, it repeated. Rest forever the sleep of eternity. I thought to goad you to helping defeat the creatures inside the machine. But it is no longer needed. The Windigoes and I have come to an arrangement.
“Shut it down,” Heartwing hissed, and Lofty and Terminus both sprung into action, Terminus launching into the air while Lofty cut left. Heartwing planted his hooves, horn afire as a tremendous beam cut through the air. Emberglow was close enough to hear Heartwing’s grunt of effort.
Steadfast didn’t even lift a hoof. The magic struck, pushing him back a few feet. Steadfast grunted, flailing a hoof at Heartwing. A shard of ice sliced through the air, and Heartwing swore and jerked back, just in time to avoid being eviscerated by the razor sharp projectile.
I told you. I don’t need you. With the crystal princess dead and the Windigoes a part of me, I can move on to rebuilding what comes next. And I realize now I made a mistake.
Emberglow could feel the cold of his words so deeply it hurt.
I don’t need the Elements. I never did.
All I ever needed…
…was complete control.