//------------------------------// // Starlight vs The Forces of Evil // Story: A Witch in Broad Daylight // by Epsilon-Delta //------------------------------// The Phoenix King flew high above Crater Cemetery. Starlight wouldn’t waste any time. She’d end this fight in a single move! Starlight and her five most faithful servants gathered and took position. Lilymoon, Night Glider, Double Diamond, Sugarbelle, and Party Favor stood in a pentagram with Starlight in the center. Each one glowed with a different color of light as Starlight began to cast the spell, directing their energy into hers. She felt power overwhelming. True power! Power worthy of her as her eyes glowed white and she began to lift into the air. The five colors swirled around her, forming a rainbow. It wanted to escape from her and flow outwards, but this was her power. And Starlight took control of that ugly swirl of clashing colors, turning it into a pure, perfect white. Her white! The colors of the others became uniform and capitulated into a single point. And from that point, the azoth spell erupted! A light of the most perfect white imaginable, so flawless it would make fallen snow look a starving black compared to it, shot into the sky and arced down towards Nightmare Moon and her pit of darkness like a purified rainbow. The light came crashing down on the crater. Structures collapsed and ghosts fled as it tore its way down to the nexus of blackness. Starlight could see a wall of chains between her attack and its target. Though normally invisible to non-psychics, a network of them stretching out in every direction became visible… and Starlight’s pure white light shattered most of them. The links exploded. At last, Starlight exposed the form of Nightmare Moon! The vague form of an alicorn made of flittering darkness and flames, its edges undefined as they seeped out to darken the world began to rise from the pit. But something held it back, in place, as the white light formed a ribbon around it and began to tear it to pieces. Nightmare Moon’s body lost its definition. Soon those flames would be snuffed out completely. Then the alicorn unleashed a screech that shook the ground, tearing a crater in the dirt around her. Starlight could feel her body shaking, the sound so loud it impacted her like an airburst. Nightmare Moon lifted her forelegs, then stomped back down. The fire that made her up erupted rather than smothered out. It stretched the hyper-white ribbon. And then the ribbon snapped. Absolute darkness consumed the world. Time froze briefly as Starlight and her five chosen became nothing but white silhouettes against the backdrop of a devouring black. The world snapped back. Double Diamond, Sugarbelle, and Party Favor let out a hideous gag as they tumbled to the back of the ship and lost consciousness. Night Glider only barely managed to stay awake. Lilymoon and Starlight alone remained after the shot. Most of the crew would be out meaning the Phoenix king was flying forward unguided. How?! There was no way Nightmare Moon should have been able to survive it! She’d done the math so many times. There was absolutely nothing, not even a god, that could survive the azoth spell. Or at least, a proper azoth spell. It had to have failed, been imperfect in some sense. Starlight had enough faith to execute any spell perfectly. The other five loved and obeyed her completely, putting them in perfect harmony with Starlight. Did Starlight do something wrong? She reminded herself of her mantra. Faith meant never admitting you were wrong. Always double down, never apologize. She had to make this look like a win, blame this on somepony else. Nightmare Moon’s body still hadn’t solidified. She was a pony of the darkest fire, a mere outline. And she staggered to one side as she trotted forward. Only one step before stumbling, held back by an invisible force. She was injured, and Starlight still had most of her strength left! She was trapped and Starlight was free to move about as she pleased. She could still salvage this if the others believed in her! “It’s not over yet!” Starlight called out! She couldn’t let her confidence waver for a moment. “I knew this would only weaken her! But look how terribly I’ve injured it. I can destroy her through conventional means now!” Lilymoon and Night Glider nodded, not doubting for a second that she was telling the truth. The fires that made up Nightmare Moon flared. Another wave of darkness came at them, this one wouldn’t be dampened by an incomplete azoth spell. “Lilymoon!” Lilymoon dug her hooves in and gritted her teeth. So intense was the strain from blocking even a single attack that her eyes bugged out a little, but she did manage. Starlight created a spear of purple light just above her. The moment the attack passed, Starlight threw the spear down at Nightmare Moon’s form. It tore through her wing with impossible speed, destroying a small portion of it. Starlight had just enough faith to damage the god! She could get a few more hits in before retreating, leave Nightmare Moon badly wounded, and claim that was all she intended from the start. Starlight turned to Lilymoon, panting heavily already. It meant making the filly put herself through intense physical strain, but Lilymoon was only here to serve her purpose. “Lilymoon, I believe in you!” Starlight called to her. “You were born for this!” Lilymoon nodded and rose to a semi-confident state again. “Nightglider! Take control of the ship! Keep us on the edge of its range!” Starlight ordered and Nightglider ran off to obey. Now she just needed to… “What are the chances that some undefined thing makes it impossible for you to win this fight?” Starlight turned to the voice. Sonata Dusk! What was left of that pony stood on the deck of her ship laughing. The doll she possessed was burnt up, covered in mud, and stuffing poured from its bursting seems, but it still stood. Much further behind, Starlight could see it… the rest of her fleet was a safe distance away, but a circle of flames began to surround it. She’d thought that her next target wouldn’t interfere until after this fight was over… what made him change his mind?! Either way, his presence did make this fight unwinnable. “Ha!” Sonata held up the coin. “My magic coin makes me invincible.” “Let’s test that.” Starlight created another spear, this one pointed at Sonata! “Ack! What are the chances I get out of here alive?!” An explosion from below tilted the ship, letting Sonata tumble off. Something happened to the engines! It would crash soon if Starlight didn’t do anything. She enveloped the entire ship with her magic and began to turn it, flying it away from Crater Cemetery. A third and final wave of darkness washed over them. Lilymoon clenched up as she blocked that with everything she had. They should be out of range now but… Sonata fell to the ground with enough force to dislodge one of her wings. It’d been holding on by a threat this whole time. Literally. Not that it mattered too much. She had more important things to do right now besides. For once she’d done something right! Oh, if her mistress praised her for once in her life, she could die happy! And luck had it, this was one of the rare times she was actually above ground. Sonata could see that glorious form, rippling darkness as though a piece of reality had been torn right out, standing towering over her as it watched Starlight retreat. Her visage alone was one of the few things that appeared black to ghosts and predeads alike. “I don’t understand…” Her mistress’s voice was deep and rumbling. It deafened every other sound in the world when she spoke, even when softly as she did now. A contingent of ghosts began to gather behind her. “Mistress!” Sonata hobbled over to her. “Mistress! I destroyed like, half our enemies! “That coin…” Her mistress’s eyes, if you could call them that, were like twisting vortexes of white in that zone of negative reality. They twisted as though turning to look at Sonata. “No.” “No?” Sonata stepped back. “But I… I saved the day, right? I destroyed Twilight and Starlight and Rainbow Dash and… I was doing it for you.” “No!” Her shout seemed to stop time itself for a brief second. “You were never on my side! You acted only against your will and wanted no part of this!” “Wuh? But…” The chains around Sonata loosened and then fell off. It was like a crutch had been torn out beneath her. Everything left Sonata as she fell limp and thoughtless to the ground. Without the cast that was her chains, her aura was too weak to stand on its own. “Should we kill her?” Another ghost asked. “No! Whatever you do, do not kill her. It can’t be us. Throw her somewhere in the woods and toss that coin into the ocean.” Sonata wasn’t entirely aware of what was being said or done around her. Some more words were said after that, but her mind was empty, and she had no idea what any of them were. If they carried her off, she didn’t notice that either. But eventually, a small, creeping thought did come to her mind. Her aura wasn’t completely empty and devoid of emotion. One thing had seeped through recently. Fluttershy. That tiny bit of love and kindness Fluttershy had slipped through the chains still lingered inside her. “Fluttershy!” Sonata sat up with a jolt. She was vaguely aware she was in a different spot now but that didn’t matter. All that mattered, all she could think of was Fluttershy. “Fluttershy…” Sonata began to drag herself forward, not sure what she was even doing, only knowing that she wanted Fluttershy, to feel that love again. Fluttershy… was everything. Starlight managed to get the engines working again and revive some of the crew. A relief force of pegasi flew on the deck to fill in the gaps. They were chugging along back to the rest of her fleet now. But she still had work to do. Nightglider came back above deck to find Starlight sitting near the edge, next to Lilymoon, leaning the side of her head against one hoof. “I don’t understand why the azoth spell failed,” Nightglider complained with a worried look. “Oh, you don’t, do you?” Starlight closed her eyes and sighed. “I told you that it would only destroy Nightmare Moon if you had absolute love and faith in me!” “But Starlight! I do love you!” Nightglider ran to her side with tears in her eyes. Starlight stood up and slapped Nightglider away. “So what? You’re saying this is my fault?!” Nightglider shook her head with a horrified look. “We both know that my plans are flawless so that means there must be something wrong with you.” Starlight glared down at her. “But!” “Lilymoon, did you lack faith in me?” “I’d never make a mistake like that.” Lilymoon smirked seeing one of her rivals for Starlight’s attention getting dressed down. Unfortunately for Nightglider, she was the more expendable of the two and would have to take the blame. “See?” Starlight turned back to Nightglider. “It could only have been you.” “No! I do love you with all my heart.” Nightglider rubbed the mark Starlight left on her cheek. “Not enough, you don’t! And after all the personal training I gave you. I expect you to double down on your mental exercises and actually mean it this time". “I will!” Nightglider pressed her forehead against the ground, sobbing and trembling. “I’m so sorry!” "And don’t you dare try blaming me for your screw-ups again.” Starlight huffed and kept her head up as she trotted back below deck. Lilymoon smiled at the demoralized Nightglider once more before running after Starlight. “I guess that idiot just wasn’t ready, huh?” Lilymoon smiled up at Starlight always eager for her attention. “We can only rely on each other.” “That’s right.” Starlight knelt and hugged her. “You’re the only one I truly care about, Lilymoon. We really are the only ones who can understand each other. We’re all either of us has.” Lilymoon melted into her grip. “But…” Lilymoon opened her eyes. “I mean, we can still win, right?” “Of course. I thought one of my lesser underlings might fail me like this. I expected to only weaken Nightmare Moon before moving on to the next phase. But we will have to deal with some other threats before I can return to this final battle.” “Fluttershy…” Sonata limped forward through the mud, directionless at first. She needed to get to Fluttershy. That thought drove her forward like a dream did a sleepwalker. She didn’t know where Fluttershy was… just that she needed to walk over towards her, to where they last met. She didn’t know how long she wandered, just that she drifted in a direction. Massive explosions erupted behind her at one point, but it hardly mattered. A large section of the forest caught fire, but Sonata didn’t care. It didn’t matter if she was on fire so long as she found Fluttershy. “Fluttershy… wait.” Sonata remembered… yeah! She remembered where Fluttershy was. She was… she was with that cold-blooded pony. Sonata could barely remember her name. Only Fluttershy. Only things that related to Fluttershy. They’d mapped out the encampment. After perhaps hours, Sonata’s head cleared just enough to remember that. Sonata turned and walked in that direction now. Faster. With more purpose. To Fluttershy! That was the only thing that mattered. The rest of the world just blurred around her into a non-Fluttershy mush. She passed a squad of armed ponies. Sonata had no clue whose side they were even on, but one of them looked at her all funny, then shot her in the head just in case. Probably didn’t know she was a ghost. Sonata fell to the ground and a whole bunch of them ran by before she worked up the will to get back up. Sonata hadn’t even planned that, but she was past the army now. Soon… she was getting closer. She could feel an aura! For a brief moment she remembered that unlimited fount of love and kindness that flowed through that specter, the most perfect thing in the universe. But the aura she felt wasn’t Fluttershy’s. It was… “It doesn’t matter,” said Sonata. “Just Fluttershy. I want… Fluttershy.” That aura rushed towards her. Not that it mattered. A ghost appeared and smashed a blade of ice into Sonata’s face, throwing her back, out of what remained of her doll. Not that it mattered. Only Fluttershy. “You!” That ghost pounced on Sonata, a second blade of ice around her foreleg. Sonata fell right out of her body. Wasting no time, a second ghost rushed forward to grab Sonata’s body and flew off with it. It didn’t matter what happened to that. That first ghost… Shadowbolts… with Fluttershy… and through that Sonata could just barely remember the name Indigo Zap. “Bastard! What are you doing here?!” Indigo swung her foreleg wildly, smashing it into Sonata’s head hard. “This is for all the horrible things you’ve done to us! For Sugarcoat and Lemon Zest and–!” “Fluttershy.” Sonata went limp. “What?” Indigo pulled Sonata in close. “There’s no chains around her.” A second ghost pointed out. “What?!” Indigo took a closer look at Sonata. “Son of a… She is clean!” “Flutter…” “Ah, crow!” Indigo threw Sonata aside. “After all these years I finally get the chance to beat the shit out of her and now she’s freed?” “She was under mind control,” the other ghost reminded her. “You wouldn’t blame Zest for what she did, would you?” “Yeah, yeah. But fess up.” Indigo grabbed Sonata’s wing and jerked her back in. “How did you get out of your chains? Did Lemon Zest free you? Did she break out? Was it in Pinkie Pie? Or?” “Fluttershy…” The word oozed out of Sonata’s quivering lips. “Fluttershy freed you?” Indigo eyed her squarely. “Flutter… shy! I want my Fluttershy!” Sonata sniffled, then burst into tears. “I love Fluttershy so much!” Indigo tilted her head, unsure of what to do next. “We have occupied Canterlot!” Nailbat’s proclamation sent a wave of cheers through the crowd. It was amazing how many ponies had shown up over the past half day or so. Thousands of them filled the streets of the town just north of the gorge. The crowd he gathered was large enough that he had to stand on top of a house to be seen by even half of them. They were heavily armed, uniformed, and organized. As Fluttershy looked around her she found heavy artillery waiting to be moved. No, this wasn’t a crowd. It was an army. A second battle started shortly after the first. This time between ponies. Flash Bang’s forces quickly retreated as more of Nailbat’s supporters gathered in the area. It hadn’t gotten too intense before a retreat was issued by the former. Yet everypony knew this was only the beginning, merely repositioning around one another for the actual battle. “We were in the best position leading up to the fighting. We now occupy most of the major cities. Militarily we have the others in a chokehold. But now is not the time to get overconfident. While Starlight and our true enemy live, even total military victory can amount to a pile of ash in seconds. And they are not the only threat we must overcome. “Starlight has not yet suffered defeat. She had always planned on retreating to Area 5X as her temporary seat of power. This is our true objective. If Area 5X falls there will be nothing to stand between us and absolute victory. We will have the keys to destroying those who would be tyrants. None would be able to stop a truly free, democratic, and equal Equestria from thriving. “You have stood by me through dark times already, but the final darkness lies ahead. I ask for your courage one last time as we march on Area 5X and lay siege to the very heart of tyranny! Who among you will rise to the challenge of our lifetimes?!” Looking around, it seemed not one pony would back down from that challenge or give anything less than their lives. Nopony save perhaps Fluttershy who lowered herself partially back underground. Up until now, she fought against individual maniacs and never with the goal to kill them. Something like war just didn’t make sense to her. She didn’t know any of the ponies in Area 5X, let alone all of them on the way there, or why they would be fighting to defend it. And so many of them would certainly die. At the same time, she did want Nailbat to win. Or rather to have won. She really did like all of her new ghost friends. But how much could she bring herself to support them? To go to war? So Fluttershy left them to their cheering and flew back out of the town, towards the more desolate and still-flooded planes to the south. Even the most pro-ghost faction kept the living and undead segregated for the most part. So the ragtag group of ghost resistance fighters had their own, second camp off to the side. That one army was only one of many camps that made a patchwork of dissident groups coming together but not quite completely. The Mad Science Institute, MSI, were enthusiastic supporters of Nailbat and had its own camp, for example. And MSI had two more war bands they brought with them. One was a camp of snow pony warriors from all the way north in the far reaches. Then the Shadowbolts, what the main group of ghosts resisting Nightmare Moon called themselves. The ghosts Fluttershy freed were folded into the latter. And there were a lot more than Fluttershy realized. She could tell the difference between the two types of ghosts in that the Shadowbolts didn’t have the weak aura and dazed look on their faces. Those battle dolls, things Fluttershy was only vaguely aware of until a day ago, were everywhere, standing in rows ready for the invasion. Terrifying weapons sat mounted on their backs. Sour Sweet seemed largely recovered, though still leaning on the aura of another ghost as she helped work on them all. Fluttershy felt a commotion going through the collective auras, some hostility towards the far end that stood out in exception even over all the unrest. Curious she approached. She found one of the higher-ups in the Shadowbolts, Indigo Zap, holding a limp pony by the collar, hoof pulled back threatening to strike. “Sonata?” Fluttershy pushed passed the other ghosts. It really was her. Nobody in sight. And she didn’t have any chains on at all! “Fluttershy?!” Sonata sprung back to life, giving her those same puppy dog eyes all the recently freed ghosts had for her. Only more. “Fluttershy!” Sonata flew passed Indigo and grabbed Fluttershy in a hug. “Fluttershy!” Sonata leaped out of her body and into Fluttershy’s forelegs. “I love you so much! I love you more than love itself! I didn’t even know what love was until I saw you! I’m not even a lesbian but let’s get married anyway! You’re just so… so…” And Sonata began wailing and crying into Fluttershy’s chest. Not even out of the agony of being enslaved for so long, nor relief from being freed. What tiny shred of an aura remained was just so overcome with love and affection. “Um. How did you get free?” Fluttershy patted her on the back. The other ghosts circled around, wanting to hear this too. “Nightmare Moon just let me go.” Sonata looked up, eager to please Fluttershy. Skeptical looks surrounded her. “You expect us to believe that?” Indigo asked. “She just let you go?” “Well she was a total bitch about it. I had just helped them all out so much with my magic coin and she was acting like I just committed some horrendous crime or something.” “Wait.” Fluttershy held Sonata at arm’s length. “Did you say… a magic coin?” “Yeah! It was granting me any wish that I wanted. But she just threw it into the ocean.” Oh no! Rainbow Dash… “I think I understand what happened.” Fluttershy looked to Indigo, slightly worried for Sonata as well. “Um. Sonata, how much did you use the coin?” “A lot! Like a lot a lot.” “Oh my.” “Is that bad?” Still smiles. “The coin draws luck from the future. The more luck you use it to get, the worse the luck will be later. So…” Fluttershy couldn’t tell if that was even sinking in. “Oh.” Sonata’s smile didn’t fade one bit. “Logically that sounds bad. But right now I feel nothing but love for you, Fluttershy. So who cares?” “Oh, great.” Indigo backed away. “So this bitch is a bad luck bomb just waiting to explode. No wonder the enemy wanted to get rid of you. Take Sonata far away before she gets any of it on us!” Suddenly, Fluttershy thought maybe she should have kept this conversation private. Though her life was in mortal danger, Sonata just hummed and stared lovingly at Fluttershy as two ghosts grabbed her from behind. She couldn’t just… “Wait!” Fluttershy stopped them, unsure of the reason herself just yet. “Um. Let’s think about this for a second. Like. Um.” They waited with little patience for Fluttershy to come up with something. “Oh! Why did she let Sonata go, though? I mean. Take the chains off? If she wanted Sonata to just stay away, it would have been easier to just command her to go to the other side of the world and stay there, right?” Fluttershy nodded. “What are you getting at, exactly?” Indigo asked. She had no idea herself! This just sounded like the kinds of questions a smart pony would be asking in a book. “Um! I remember hearing something about the ‘bad’ in bad luck being subjective. So maybe the bad luck will be good luck for us? And bad luck for somepony else.” “I really don’t care enough about this pony to risk an explosion of irony now of all times!” Indigo grabbed Sonata by her collar. “If you’re worried about her, go dump her on that bitch Aria.” “Oh yeah.” Sonata broke free in a jerk and grabbed back onto Fluttershy, much to Indigo’s distaste. “Where is Aria anyway.” “She went out looking for you,” said Fluttershy. And Fluttershy hardly had time to go looking for her. But it didn’t seem like she’d convince the Shadowbolts to take Sonata either. But that reminded her of something! “Hold on!” Fluttershy stopped Indigo from hauling her off again. “I remember now. Aria had all kinds of information to leak to us. Sonata is also part of the Noctilesence family, so she’ll have just as much to share with us.” Sonata nodded. “Uh-huh! I’ll tell you everything! Not that it’ll matter too much at this point.” “Great,” said Indigo, “but we already know all of their family secrets. We got–” Indigo’s eyes snapped to a point just behind Fluttershy. She turned as well to find Nailbat walking towards them, as though summoned by that comment. “Nailbat!” Fluttershy’s face lit up at a new source of hope. “Oh, that’s right. You’re related to Sonata, right?” “Yeah! Yeah! That’s Dagi’s kid!” Sonata put her foreleg around Fluttershy and pointed at him. “Grandson,” Nailbat corrected her. “Did you hear all that?” Fluttershy approached what seemed like her best bet at that point. “You wouldn’t throw out a member of your own family, would you?” The look he gave Sonata was too cold to give even the most distant relationship. Yet just as Fluttershy was about to write him off as heartless… “If you want to keep Sonata with you so be it,” said Nailbat. “Dude!” Indigo flew up to him. “You heard the part where she’s got serious bad karma hanging over her, right?” “There’s no way to know which way her luck will go,” concluded Nailbat. “We owe Fluttershy a debt besides. I’ll indulge her.” Indigo couldn’t object to that but remained indignant as she left. “Um. Thank you.” Fluttershy bowed her head. She looked again at Sonata, too absorbed with Fluttershy to even notice her life had just been spared. “Either way, I have more important things to speak with you about.” Nailbat took off his hood, revealing his rough, tired, and scarred face to Fluttershy. “Have you heard anything about your friends yet?” “You know what’s happening with them?” Fluttershy moved forward, eager for any news. She was sure they were fine but… “I can’t tell you anything good. Perhaps not horrible at best. But I’ll say what my spies can confirm.” Sonata looked up at Fluttershy with something close to curiosity as she felt Fluttershy’s aura tense up, bracing for what was to come. “Twilight and Screwball fought. Screwball is dead, I know, but Twilight, Pinkie, and the remaining two witches who were involved have all vanished.” “Is Twilight–” “I have no idea her condition,” said Nailbat. “I have ponies looking for her, but they found nothing so far. Then there’s the castle. The Bloodstorm Cartel is now under the control of Baton Pass. Even with Sunset Shimmer defending it, it seems likely they’ll successfully storm the castle within a day or two. Finally, Rainbow Dash…” Fluttershy didn’t dare breathe. This was what she was most worried about. The coin would have focused on destroying her. “Is she…?” “I’m getting conflicting information.” Nailbat shook his head. “One pony says they saw Starlight snap her neck and kill her. Another said she was barely alive and being held on board the Phoenix King. It would make more sense for Starlight to keep her alive as a hostage. So I think it likely she’s alive in some condition.” That was good news! Not the part about Dash being held captive. And on the Phoenix King… that meant she was right under Starlight’s nose. “Is there… any way you can mount a rescue?” Fluttershy asked. “Of Rainbow Dash or the castle.” “With the size of the force surrounding them and the castle under Sunset’s control no. Even if it weren’t, I need everypony I can to hold the major cities and advance on Area 5X. And frankly, I think that should be your priority too.” Her ears perked up at the suggestion. “Fluttershy. If you want to help your friends, I believe joining my army will be the best way to do that. We don’t know what state they’re in right now, but whatever the case the biggest threats to their existence remain Starlight and our enemy. You understand that, don’t you?” He was most likely correct about that. “I can destroy both of them.” Nailbat looked down at the chains around his own foreleg, the ones that attached to his bat, his namesake. “But I need to liberate Area 5X first. As a specter, you would be immensely useful in the invasion. I know we can win if you’re by our side. We can save everypony together.” He held his hoof out to Fluttershy. It was unlikely she’d get a better offer. Who but Nailbat could Fluttershy even hope to be victorious? “But. You’re talking about war,” Fluttershy’s voice was meek. “If I go with you, I’d… would I have to kill somepony? Even… somepony innocent?” “It is possible. But you would save far more lives. Perhaps millions or more. Potentially the lives of those you hold dearest.” Fluttershy shook her head and Nailbat’s hoof retreated. “I’m sorry. Even if it is a good idea I… I can’t. I can’t fight in a war. I can’t kill ponies I don’t know anything about. I’m sorry.” Fluttershy hung her head low as Nailbat idly scratched behind his ear, eyes closed. “I see.” His eyes opened again. “But you must do something. You’re a specter and I won’t tolerate you doing nothing in a time like this. If you won’t fight with me then answer me this: what good will you do, Fluttershy?” Fluttershy swallowed. Her old self would have cowered away completely. Not just object to war, but object to everything. She really would have done nothing. Fluttershy couldn’t be her old self anymore. “I’m going to find Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy pledged without even thinking if it was possible. “If she’s alive she’s being held by Starlight personally,” Nailbat warned. “Without Twilight, there’s no other pony who can fight her directly.” “Rainbow Dash wouldn’t care if something like that was possible,” said Fluttershy. “I’ll find a way. I’ll find Rainbow Dash and I’ll remind her!” Nailbat watched her with tired eyes. Always tired. “That I’ll allow,” he said. “It may not be entirely hopeless. Starlight is busy. Many think her in a weakened state after that battle. You won’t be close to the top of her list of immediate threats. But I’ll recommend you avoid fighting her at all costs.” Fluttershy nodded. “And one more thing. I’ll spare Sonata, but I want you to keep her with you. I don’t want her wandering around or close to my forces.” Fluttershy nodded again. She felt bad about potentially taking advantage of her mental state. But the alternative was leaving her to die. Maybe Aria would randomly show up. “My first problem will just be getting there without too much attention,” Fluttershy mused to herself. “My aura is so huge any psychics will see it from miles away.” “I think Sour Sweet might be able to help you with that.” “Oh, hey it’s my body!” Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, and a small group of ghosts had gathered around the battle doll staging area she passed before. Though they had normal dolls as well. And Sonata’s body. These looked more uniform than Fluttershy would have expected, even if work was being done on them. The row or amor more closely resembled what a proper army would field rather than a rag-tag group of resistance fighters. MSI and Sunny Flar had some connection to these ghosts, and that explained it well enough for now. But in addition to their nice, shiny row of death engines lay a pile of dolls that may or may not be salvageable. Sonata’s body was at the top of that pile. Fluttershy had to take Sonata’s word that was what it was. It was all charred and cut up with missing limbs. Thankfully only stuffing and dirt were coming out of its many lacerations. “Um. Can you fix this?” Sonata floated up to the remains of her remains and lifted it for inspection. “I don’t have anywhere near that skill,” said Sour Sweet. “With Phantom Troupe gone, I don’t think there’s anypony left who can repair that. You know. Other than…” “That creepy guy,” Sonata finished. “Don’t remind me he exists.” Sour Sweet shuddered. “How does he make people who taxidermy ponies as a hobby look normal? But he’s the only one good enough. If you want to find him go ahead. I’ll just keep this in the scrap pile for now.” Sonata did not object. Sour Sweet noticed Nailbat and Fluttershy were both there and stood at attention. “Sour Sweet. I want you to give her that thing,” said Nailbat. “It’s no use to us. “Ooh. That’s ominous.” Sonata flew down to Fluttershy’s side. “What is it?” “We recovered it from the battle with our enemy.” Sour Sweet led them behind the row of battle dolls. “I’ve been doing some work on it but I wasn’t able to get it to function. Not piloting it myself, that is.” A suit of elongated, purple armor stood before them. The armor they’d just been fighting! Nightmare Moon’s! There wasn’t a single dent or scratch on it even after all that. In Fluttershy’s mind, that was Nightmare Moon. Even with the danger far away for now, she still remembered that sickening feeling and shuddered. “You want me to have…. This?” Fluttershy cringed at the thought of lugging such a cursed thing around with her. “Fluttershy, that’s a battle doll,” Sour reminded her. “The most powerful battle doll. It’s literally invincible. This thing would survive the sun exploding.” Sour gave it a smack with an ice blade that shattered harmlessly against the armor. “Just remember,” Sunnyflare dialed the hype back down, “you aren’t invincible inside of it. Twilight was able to knock our enemy out of it.” “Sure.” Fluttershy couldn’t muster a smile at what most ponies would droll over. “But. I’m not really trying to fight anypony right now. So.” “It’s a matter of stealth,” said Nailbat. “You wanted something to hide your aura.” “Oh, that’s a great idea!” Sour smashed her hooves together. “This thing sucks up aura like you wouldn’t believe. It’s why even a trained pilot like me can’t control the damn thing. Only a specter would have a chance. And even then, it’d take up most of your aura so…” “So none of it would leak out,” Fluttershy concluded. Even if she didn’t like the idea of running around in that armor, it was starting to sound like a good one. Invincibility. Invisibility. Or close enough on either account. “Alright.” Fluttershy floated up to where the eyes should be on the armor. “For Rainbow Dash, I’ll do it.” Fluttershy closed her eyes and flew into the armor to possess it. What Sour meant became immediately apparent. It was like Fluttershy’s aura was getting sucked into a black hole. Her emotions and willpower drained as the vacuum threatened to snuff it out and leave her numb. Strangely, losing both feeling and willpower served to counterbalance one another. Fluttershy could push herself, largely detached to keep feeding her aura into the pit. Though it seemed bottomless at first, Fluttershy could see it filling up, the metal saturating. The question now was if even a specter could fill it out. Just as she reached her limit, Fluttershy could feel it again. Her aura and emotions weren’t gone, just sort of stuck. But as long as she was in the armor, she was in contact with it and felt relatively normal. Though she was worried leaving it might mean needing a minute to recover. Who even knew what staying in too long would cause? Fluttershy took a step forward and felt at once mighty and clumsy. The strength she felt behind those metal hooves… the ground itself felt fragile beneath them. Yet even being careful of her movements, Fluttershy stumbled. She wasn’t sure if even something this strong would help or hurt more in a fight. At least until she got used to it. “Can you feel my aura?” Fluttershy asked. Sour Sweet squinted, then slowly started flying backward. She stopped about thirty feet back. “I’d say you should be hard to detect after ten meters,” she concluded. That was so much smaller than Fluttershy ever had before. She nodded; confident she might be able to fulfill the mission soon. “Do I get one?” Sonata pointed to herself. “Since my body isn’t working right now?” “No.” “But I’m not used to being away from a physical body.” Sour grumbled and rolled her eyes. “Fine. A small one. Smallest I have.” Sour floated to the pile of scrap and pulled out a mostly intact doll. “I think this one mostly works.” “Nice!” Sonata flew into the armor. It stumbled around a few steps before she stabilized herself and looked up at Fluttershy. She was a good deal shorter now. And that was all Fluttershy would get to work with. Nailbat’s army began moving out. Though far away, the commotion was so loud and the group so big, that Fluttershy could see and hear it even outside the town. They were moving in the opposite directions. There was absolutely nopony to hide behind past this point. Fluttershy had to stand alone for once. And she was determined to do just that. Unless you counted Sonata, that was. The banshee hobbled along after Fluttershy, still getting used to her subpar battle doll. She found a way to keep up with Fluttershy’s much larger stride, by skipping alongside her with three of her legs. They got out of earshot of the army and left the mostly abandoned town to enter the woods, and it became too quiet. Rather it became normal. But after so much chaos, normal felt eerie and still. Not a violent rain like what happened just a few days ago, but a nice gentle one that slowly drifted between being a mist and a drizzle. That too felt wrongly calm after the intense storm just a day ago. It didn’t look like the rain would be letting up any time soon. Not that it was a bad thing. Ghosts liked this type of weather. Rain falling through you was a nice feeling, even if they couldn’t get that right now. Plus it extended the period they could be active during. Adding to the gloomy weather were a few decrepit hooves clawing their way to the surface. Fluttershy forgot it was already Fall again. The zombies reminded her to look up at the trees, though those were only now beginning to turn color. The undead always started emerging before the leaves changed. While zombies technically existed all year round it was easy to forget about them during the spring and summer. They mostly emerged around this time of year and were swiftly exterminated by winter. Only a few would be left staggering about the forests and lonely places come Spring. Fluttershy frowned as she counted the number of zombies already above ground. They already passed five or six dumbly shambling about on the surface and ten times that many digging themselves up. You didn’t normally see this many except around a blood moon or during the peak of zombie season, around Halloween. “This is a lot of zombies,” said Fluttershy. “When’s the next blood moon again?” “It’s on Halloween.” Fluttershy felt it an even worse omen that Sonata would know that off the top of her head. There were usually two blood moons over Equestria a year. One in winter or fall and one in spring or summer. The last one had been in summer and passed with little incident since there were so few undead around that time of year. But late October was the absolute worst time for one to occur. Fluttershy did remember one happening once on Halloween a long time ago. It’d been a horrific couple of hours. “Um. Is something bad going to happen?” Fluttershy asked. “The way you just knew that…” “Oh, sure! The world’s going to end on Halloween. Probably. If Starlight failed then I dunno who’s gonna stop it. Not me.” “The end of the world? Would a blood moon on Halloween really be that bad?” “Yeah! I know a lot about this stuff.” Sonata picked up her pace so she could face Fluttershy as she skipped backward. “Fun fact: Blood moons aren’t random. It’s like, they set up the rotations of everything exactly right, so a blood moon goes straight through Equestria on Halloween every thirteen years like clockwork. And that’s why thirteen is an unlucky number. And also why Halloween is on that day. This is the actual hallowed evening coming up. A true Halloween. They used to only celebrate the holiday once a decade about. But. I dunno. Capitalism or something.” “Oh. I didn’t know that.” Though thinking back, it was an unusually common occurrence. So it wasn’t a coincidence that a ‘True Halloween’, as Sonata would put it, just happened to be coming up. “It’s like, the time when all the stars and crud are aligned. And there’s all kinds of gateways and nexuses and stuff I don’t know anything about. But uh…” Sonata stopped to think about what she was even getting at. “Oh right. Important thing is that’s the only time Nightmare Moon has a chance of escaping. See? She was supposed to get out thirteen years ago, on the last True Halloween, but that got messed up. But that’s the thing about being immortal. You get unlimited attempts at everything.” Fluttershy was hardly an astrologer, but she knew the basics. The reasons zombies started coming back in September wasn’t because of the weather, but the stars. The sun could ‘block’ out constellations. Only in fall was the constellation Pegasus visible and Equestria exposed to its magic. Those were the strongest of the stars, the brightest and closest in the sky by far, visible even in Manehattan. She could guess that on that date, Pegasus, the moon, the planet, and the sun would all be perfectly aligned. Sonata didn’t even have to explain to Fluttershy why Nightmare Moon getting free would be so horrible. But that gave them only a month to figure things out. Nailbat seemed to have some kind of plan. But Fluttershy would have to find the others before she could hope to come up with anything herself. “But somepony did stop it last time? How?” “I don’t think we could do that again,” Sonata warned. “We’d need that headphones pony. Or somepony who can use the element of Laughter’s powers.” If Fluttershy remembered correctly, that meant Pinkie was also an option. Wherever she was. That’d be the next move after getting Rainbow Dash. “Also it’ll get way harder to stop each time” Sonata went on. “I don’t know if you could kick the can a second time.” That flash of hope dimmed. “But why? Are the chains weakening?” Fluttershy asked. “The alicorn chains? She controls those chains, remember?” Sonata laughed, apparently unable to feel concern for such a dangerous fact. “They aren’t holding her back.” “Then what is?” “My goddess! Princess Luna!” Sonata put her hoof on her heart. “She’s been holding Nightmare Moon back with sheer willpower this whole time. But that’s gonna run out eventually. Probably within a month.” Luna. Had Fluttershy heard that name before? “Who’s Princess Luna again?” “Our goddess! The god of my family and all the ghosts. She’s your god too.” Sonata ran out in front of Fluttershy and grabbed the larger forehooves in her own, swinging them back and forth. “All ghosts are Luna’s children. And that’s kind of why Nightmare Moon hates us so much. Oh! Oh, do you want to convert to my religion? Yeah! You could be my sister in Luna. Lunarism is the best religion cause our holidays are the most fun.” Sonata hummed and smiled, swinging Fluttershy’s hooves back and forth as she imagined them as ‘sisters’. Fluttershy wasn’t sure how to respond to such an offer. It was common wisdom that religion was rarely worth the risk. “I’m sorry.” Fluttershy shook her head. Sonata wasn’t disturbed at all by what could be seen as a rebuke to her religion. “I still don’t understand. Like. What kind of god is Luna?” “Alicorn!” “Alicorn? That can’t be true. There’s only the Queen of Light and her seven sons.” “And a couple extra! You remember Star Feather?” That was… The Darklord’s daughter created from an alicorn feather. Golden Feather’s sister, or maybe cousin to be technical. The granddaughter of the Queen of Light, Fluttershy supposed. Fluttershy nodded. “Well that’s her,” Sonata put it bluntly. “What?! But… you just said her name was–” “She ascended beyond reality and became an alicorn. The best alicorn on top of that. Luna invented ghosts, you know. Not on purpose but still…” Fluttershy remembered Twilight's warning Starlight would attempt to do something similar, so it was a possibility. As for that second part… “How do you invent ghosts.” “Well.” Sonata looked as though she were about to deliver a lecture but soon stumbled over herself. “I got no idea how this stuff works on a technical level, but she did it! And here we are. Ghosts.” Sonata raised her forelegs to the side. “Hm.” Fluttershy watched Sonata skeptically as another zombie began silently emerging from the ground behind her. “What? You don’t believe me?” Sonata dropped her forelegs. “Okay! Pop quiz. What’s like the main thing everypony wants out of their religions and gods and stuff?” “I don’t know a lot about religions.” “What’s the one thing every bogus, scam religion makes up?” Fluttershy shook her head. “An afterlife, yeah?” Sonata leaned in. “That’s what everypony wants. To go off to some magical land where everything is awesome and live forever. An actual god who isn’t a total asshole will just level with you and say there is no afterlife. But imaginary gods and their scam cults? They’ll tell you whatever you want to hear. And nopony finds out there’s no afterlife till they die so it’s the perfect crime. Any religion that teaches there’s an afterlife is inferior and wrong. At least, that’s what they taught me in school.” “But you said your school was racist and bad.” “Oh. Right. Maybe that’s just propaganda. But the point is this! Luna knew that if she could create a demonstrably true afterlife then none of the other gods could compete with her, right? Cause like who else are you gonna worship at that point? The zebra gods? Nah. Our religion would be the best and eventually only religion. Like it should have been.” “Why did she want everypony to worship her?” “What? Do you not want everypony to worship you?” “That sounds like way too much pressure.” Fluttershy lowered her head. “Well I get it. This goes way back. Luna’s dad and what’s her face’s dad… that’s the Darklord and Radiant Champion. Their rivalry goes back all the way. Like before time as we know it existed! Like, uh.” Sonata fidgeted her hooves, trying to think of an example. “Like do you know why werewolves and vampires and stuff are all weak to silver?” “Because. Oh!” Fluttershy stopped her march. “I do know this one. The Darklord created every type of metal except silver. So that’s the only metal that could hurt him. Right?” That was one of the most common stories. “Uh, huh.” They started walking again, Sonata ran up along Fluttershy’s side to keep with her stride. “So he goes and creates every metal. And their mom just blows him off with an ‘oh, that’s nice dear’. Then his brother comes along decides he likes the whole metals thing and creates his own. That’s silver. And their mom loves that one.” “Oh my. Did that really happen? I could understand being upset about something like that.” “Uh huh. And Luna’s dad made gold and platinum after that but still didn’t receive any praise. From what I heard it was like that with everything. She loved the Radiant Champion’s creations like music and wind and flowers and ignored the stuff the Darklord created like wheat and metal and electricity. That kind of thing gets passed down to their respective daughters. That’s why the elements of laughter and honesty are like the exact opposites and like it literally shaped half the crap in our world– and uh–” Forgetting what she was even getting at, Sonata stopped and fell behind again. “And ghosts?” Fluttershy reminded her. “Right!” Sonata ran out in front. “So that’s why uh… well she didn’t mean to create ghosts but that was the closest she got before–” A flash in the sky silenced both of them. When lightning ripped through a cloud, it turned from a softly glowing white to a pitch black to a ghost. A thunderstorm now would be too much. But the sound that followed wasn’t the low rumbling of thunder but the quick crack of an explosive shell. More followed, some of them spraying green or blue across the clouds. That had to be them. Sonata offered the telescope to Fluttershy. If the airships were under the clouds, Fluttershy would be able to see them. Light rain like this gave ghosts maximum visibility. However a ghost did have to hold the telescope backward to make it work. “Let’s see.” Fluttershy held the wide lens to where her eyes should be. The image wasn’t great. Fluttershy could only see a pinprick at a time from this great distance. There was so much fire and light coming from the battle that it obscured the image even further. But she could make out flaming things flying and circling around… An airship. Definity an airship. And there another and then three more. The Phoenix King alone would be made entirely of metal, but she couldn’t discern something like that from here. One unsettling clue made Fluttershy think the last of the five might be their target. It had the attention of something absolutely colossal that loomed just behind the airship. Fluttershy thought she saw green eyes, but if that were the case, whatever it was would be at eye level with the aerial fleet. “Five airships!” Fluttershy announced. “One of them has to be the Phoenix King! But we have to hurry, it looks really bad over there.” “It’s starting to look bad over here, too.” Sonata pointed behind Fluttershy as she lowered the telescope. Fluttershy turned and stepped back. “Eep!” Hundreds of zombies were now milling about behind them, stumbling over one another. “Where did so many zombies come from so quickly? I’ve never seen it like this even on a blood moon!” At least they were harmless. Though some of the trees appeared to list to one side. There couldn’t be enough of them to knock the trees down, could there? “I think It’s because the ground is opening up.” Fluttershy looked down. There were slight fissures on the ground, the kind you’d get if everything dried out to an impossible degree. Impossible because it was raining. A tremor shook the ground, nearly knocking Fluttershy off her balance. The fissure that opened up just behind the rows of zombies was much bigger now. Many of the zombies fell in only to be incinerated by rising flames. “Why is the ground opening up?!” “Well that I don’t know.”