Harmony Theory

by Sharaloth

Chapter 11: Fighting A Shadow

"Do you have everything you'll need?" Twinkle Shine asked her student.

"Yeah, Astrid packed so I don't have any books to weigh me down," Star Fall said, not without a hint of disappointment. Star Fall had slept in, and thus had no say in the preparations, which was just how Astrid liked doing it. They were all standing on the balcony, looking out at the city and preparing to leave. Rainbow Dash and Astrid were already wearing their saddlebags and ready to go. Dash was already in the air, circling the building with restless energy. All that was left was for the white pegasus to say goodbye to her mentor. "We'll be fine, Professor. I mean it."

"I know, but..." the golden unicorn sighed. "You've got a lot on your mind."

"And I'll have time to think about it," Star Fall assured her. "You taught me how to prioritize my focus, I'm not going to let my worries get the better of me when it counts."

Twinkle Shine nodded, smiling sadly. "I'll still be worried, though," she said. "Here, I want you to wear this." She lifted a small golden necklace up to her student. "It's got some protective enchantments laid into it. Not much, but maybe enough to keep you from getting hurt accidentally if things go bad."

"They won't go bad, Professor," Star Fall assured her, but took the necklace anyway. "Thank you. It's pretty."

"And I hope that's all it has to be," Twinkle Shine said. "Please reconsider."

"Professor..."

"Please. I've got a meeting with the King today, but after that I can go talk to Gamma, have her send someone else..."

"No," Star Fall said, putting a hoof on her mentor's shoulder. "My job. My life. My choice."

"I know," Twinkle Shine sighed, then pulled Star Fall into a hug. "Be safe."

Star Fall hugged her back, squeezing tightly. "You too."

"Oh, what trouble could I get into?" Twinkle Shine asked with a laugh. "I've got meetings with Royalty and magical experiments to do today. I won't be in any danger like you will."

"You worry, I worry," Star Fall said. "It doesn't have to be rational when it comes to family."

"Oh!" Twinkle Shine blinked back the tears that filled her eyes.

"Hey, Fall, not to break up the special moment or anything, but we're already running late," Astrid said.

Star Fall pulled out of the embrace. "I'm coming!" she shouted over to her companions. "Professor, I've got to go."

"I know," Twinkle Shine said, pulling back and composing her features. "Send me a message when you're heading to Spike's."

"I will," Star Fall promised, then stepped over to Astrid. As one the two of them took flight to join Dash in the air, circling the penthouse once before heading into the west.

Twinkle Shine stood and watched until they were completely out of sight. “Stay safe, my little Fallen Star,” she breathed. “And beware of Nightmares.”

Two hours later, Twinkle Shine sighed as she looked at the larger-than-life painting of herself and the Royal family that hung in the Hall of Memory. It was only the latest in a series of such paintings that dated all the way back to the founding of the Kingdom. Each depicted the Royals and their chief advisors, guiding and protecting the remnants of Celestia’s Kingdom from the depredations of the Lunar Heresy. The Royals, of course, looked powerful and magnificent and happy in each, while the chief advisor always looked straight out of the portrait with a somber expression that had become ingrained tradition. She had wanted to smile for her turn on the canvas, but the King had overruled her. Every time she passed it now she thought of it as a missed opportunity.

“My dear Professor!”

Twinkle Shine turned and swept into a bow as the King strode into the hall, flanked by his Griffin guards. He walked with his wings and horn held high, his height allowing him to tower over common ponies. His white coat was freshly washed and brushed, and shone in the lights of the hall, as did his simply-styled blue and purple mane. He was naked to display the mark of his birthright, his Glyph a scepter topped by the symbol of Celestia. “Your Majesty,” Twinkle Shine said.

“Professor, please walk with me,” the King said. She rose and stepped up next to him as they made their sedate way down the hall. “I have heard that your daughter has returned from the Storm.”

“Just yesterday,” she confirmed. “I hope Gamma has told you of what she has found.”

“She did brief me,” the King confirmed, smiling down at her with an eager gleam in his blue eyes. “Is it true? Does a hero walk among us?”

She shrugged. “I cannot say for sure. She certainly has the power of an ancient pegasus, and the attitude and appearance do match up.”

“Come now,” he urged. “You can be more certain than that.”

“No, your Majesty, I cannot,” she said. “I haven’t had much time to examine her, and what I was able to do is inconclusive. I would say that she believes her claims, but you and I both know that the easiest way to sell a lie is to make the one telling it believe it is truth.”

He nodded, eyes turning to the portraits on the walls. “Gamma spent very little time on our visitor from the past. She was more concerned with Cash and his machinations. I find her focus on this criminal frustrating when the navies of our enemies gather in the seas and the heroes of the past may walk among us. Do you think she is obsessing?”

“I think Gamma obsesses over everything she does,” Twinkle Shine replied, but sighed and continued. “However, I would also say that she never does anything she does not believe is important and necessary. If she is so focused on Cash, then he might be worth the effort. My student is similarly convinced investigating him is essential. As to those navies, I must ask you again, your Majesty, to withdraw our forces from the Stile Islands. Our presence there is only aggravating the Republicans.”

“I wish them aggravated,” the King said, coming to a halt. “And we are not talking of our military now. I wish to speak more of Gamma and Rainbow Dash, and, of course, your daughter.”

“Of course,” Twinkle Shine said, moving to stand in front of him. “What more do you wish to discuss?”

“Gamma has assured me that Rainbow Dash has agreed to serve the Kingdom. Furthermore, that she has developed a friendship with your daughter. I am well pleased with this, but I need your counsel on how to proceed. Should I publicly recognize her, or should I wait? Rainbow Dash’s arrival can only bring joy to my people, and lift their spirits in the shadow of a possible attack on our shores.”

“I would hold off on that, your Majesty,” Twinkle Shine cautioned. “At least until I am more certain of her identity myself. False hope can be far more devastating than none.”

The King nodded. “Wise. When will you know?”

“It will be a few weeks at the least. Even if I do all the verification I can, I will not be able to be one hundred percent sure.”

“But you will be sure enough," the King mused, putting a hoof thoughtfully to his chin. "Very well, in two weeks I will take what you can give me and make an announcement. It should be a doubly joyful event.”

Twinkle Shine was careful to let none of what she was feeling show on her face. “You’ve decided then?”

“Yes," he confirmed with a happy grin. "As I was hoping, my son Regal Stature has shown himself to be the best choice.”

“He’s five years her junior,” Twinkle Shine pointed out.

“As if such a small thing as age has ever stopped the nobles,” the King laughed. “They’re both Magic Talents and Regal has proven himself worthy over and over.”

“He has? I thought Regal was fairly quiet. I hadn’t heard tell of his exploits like I have some of the other candidates. He hasn’t sought out military service or made himself beloved of the people or participated in the workings of the government.”

“And so he proves himself,” the Kings said. “While the others have been currying favor and jockeying for position, Regal has been learning magic and the art of ruling. He is intent on making himself a stallion of intelligence, refinement, power and wisdom. What better traits for the father of a Goddess?”

Twinkle Shine took a deep breath and slowly let it out, controlling her anger. “Your Majesty, I must once more caution you against such fantasies. While a Royal heir she could foal, a Goddess is not possible.”

He smiled kindly at her. “I have heard your arguments many times over the years, Professor. I know them almost as well as I know my own. But I remain firm. Remember that my line has in us a deeper power than simple magic, and it is from that place that I draw my certainty. There is a certain... spark to your daughter. A feeling of connection beyond herself.”

“It is the power of Friendship, your Majesty,” Twinkle Shine said. “Nothing more.”

He shook his head. “It is more. I know it. You will too, once she fulfills her destiny.”

She sighed. “As you say, your Majesty. Still, Regal Stature may not be the best choice. He has many good qualities, true, but this matter needs careful thought. The wrong choice would not only lead to disappointment for you, but misery for my student.”

“I have made my decision, Professor,” the King said, gentle but firm. “It will all be well. I have been told that both Rainbow Dash and your daughter are on an assignment, but they should return soon. When they do I will meet with them both. I want to see this hero for myself, and I wish to inform your daughter of the happy news. You are, of course, free to tell her first, but I would very much like to be the one. She is to be my daughter as well, and I desire a closer relationship with her than I currently enjoy.”

“Of course, your Majesty,” she said, long years of practice allowing her to say it without grinding her teeth. “I’ll see it done.”

“Very good. Now, to the matter of our missing Dragon...”

Riding in the trunk of a car is not comfortable. Riding in the trunk of a car that is going off-road is painful. Doing it for all of a night and most of a day is torturous. One of the downsides to being in the body of a ten-year-old filly was that Calumn felt that torture more acutely than he would have otherwise. Every large bump sent him smacking into the lid of the trunk, every rocking turn meant he slid all over the empty space.

Blaze, on the other hoof, seemed to be able to sleep through anything. He barely snorted in irritation every time his head was smacked. His reaction to Calumn bouncing into him was usually just to chuckle and mumble something including the words 'cute' and 'tiny'.

Eventually the car seemed to find a relatively smooth path and Calumn managed to get a little rest. It didn't last long, but physical sleep wasn't as important as the energy of love, which he was getting plenty of.

"Hey, buddy, you up?" Blaze asked.

"Yes. Nice to see you awake too," Calumn said. "I hope you got enough rest."

"Meh, I've had worse," Blaze said. "Pretty thirsty, though."

"Nothing I can do about it. They want us alive, but they don't care to check on us, which makes me think we aren't that far from our destination."

"I'm kinda hoping we get a little more downtime, you know?" Blaze said. "'Cause when we stop we're going to be in the middle of nowhere with Charisma and her boss. That's not a good place to be, buddy. Trust me on that one."

"I'll get us out of this," Calumn promised. "Now, I have to know, how do you know Cash?"

"Okay, well, Max kinda likes to cross the Storm. Like, a lot. Sometimes a couple times a month. A few years ago I was his guide, and he kinda really liked me. Offered me the whole full-time gig, good pay, lots of benefits, dental, you know, the whole deal."

"And you turned him down?"

"Um, no. I was all sorts of younger and stupider and it seemed like a great gig. Also, hey, there was this hot pegasus chick who kept eyeing my flank. I though, 'wow, Blaze', which is what I call myself in my head, 'cause sometimes I like to think of myself as two different people having a conversation. Which is fine, but sometimes they get in arguments and I have to step in to break it up. But then none of us knows who anybody is and there's punching and kicking and some really hurtful insults thrown. Then the police get called and I get tossed in the tank to think about what I've done, and I always call myself to come post bail, but you won't believe how high that gets after your two hundred and seventieth arrest. It'll work out, because there's a tax break after three hundred, assuming I don't show up as a hanging judge at my arraignment..."

"Blaze!" Calumn snapped. "Focus!"

"Oh, sorry. Anyways, I said 'Blaze, this is awesome. You could be set for life! And sex! You could be set for sex!' So I took the offer, and I hooked up with Charisma, and I found out real quick that it was a huge mistake."

"Because Charisma's a sadist," Calumn reasoned.

"Oh, not really," Blaze mumbled. "She likes hurting people, not seeing pain. It's a fine distinction, I guess, but it's definitely not sexual for her. What really got to me wasn't the beatings, it was the drama. Max and Charisma were always together, uh, not in a very-special-somepony sort of way, just always travelling together. So they were always together, but sometimes they had Big Jim with them, uh, he’s called that because he’s this really big guy, not for any ironic reasons, and he had his eyes on Charisma, and she wasn't shy about being affectionate. With me. While he was there. So he beat me up too. I think it was his way of trying to get closer to her, you know? Share interests?"

"Sounds like a wonderful relationship."

"Yeah," Blaze said warmly. "Those two were made for each other. Except for the whole thing about them being completely wrong for each other. Anyway, it was sweet and I was totally on board with it, if only to make the hurting stop, but things didn't really work out with happy endings. Ya see, he was all sweet on her, but she just didn't connect with him, if you know what I mean. You know? Right? Nudge? What I mean is she didn't like him."

"I would never have guessed."

"Yeah, but could he take a hint? Well, yes, but not from her. I tried to tell him, you know, between kicks to the face. I really did, but it just seemed to make him madder. It was then I figured I couldn't stay. There I was, caught in the middle of this Luna-ordained perfect relationship, and it was killing me. I mean that. That wasn't a joke or anything. That was a statement of literal truth. The psychologically-scarring kind."

"I get it, Blaze," Calumn said, forestalling future clarification. "So that's it? They hired you on, you didn't like the treatment you got, so you left?"

"Yeah. Sure. I'd explain it more, but that's the basics. Also, Max scares the piss out of me."

"How?" Calumn asked, eager to learn more about the unicorn.

"Well, he's a pretty energetic guy, and he laughed at all my jokes, and he hung out with Charisma and me a couple times, and I had nightmares about him ripping my heart out. Every now and then I'd just catch him looking at me, and there was nothing equine in his eyes. It wasn't even animal. Buddy, I cannot describe it to you, it was just wrong. Charisma likes making people bleed and Big Jim can't take a joke, but both of them are still ponies. I'm not sure what Max is, inside his head, but he's not a pony."

"I'm not a pony," Calumn pointed out.

"Not the same thing, buddy. Not the same thing at all." Blaze was silent for a long moment, which just hammered home the gravity of what he'd been saying. Finally he spoke up again. "So how do you know Max?"

"I've been investigating him for years," Calumn said. He figured with all Blaze knew already this extra bit of information wouldn't be an issue. "He's got a criminal empire on both sides of the Storm, big money, big problems for people like me. We've been trying to shut him down practically since he started up, but it's like fighting a shadow. Every time we hit him one place he's already sprung up in another, and we've never been able to pin him down personally. That's why I'm here. That rainbow-maned pegasus, Dash, she's connected to him somehow. We don't know why, so I was sent to find out."

"Wow. Small world," Blaze said. "Though, he does cross the Storm a lot, so there's good odds any Storm-guide you got would have dealt with him before."

"Hadn't thought of that," Calumn admitted. "He's had his own personal guide on the payroll for years. There's a pretty high turnover rate in your business, it just never occurred to me that you might have met him."

"No big. But if I had known, I would have gotten us out of that hotel room, like, way faster."

The car slowed to a stop not much later. They could hear voices outside, as well as the sounds of machinery and magic at work. Calumn shifted back to Janice in preparation, resetting the ropes just as the trunk was opened. Strong hooves grabbed them and pulled them out of the car to fall onto hard-packed earth.

"What do we do with them now?" a stallion's rough voice asked.

"Clear out a storage room," came Charisma's reply. "Make sure the door can be secured and toss them both in. I want guards on them at all times. Get them some food and water, but they do not leave the room for any reason. Any reason. They need to shit, someone will get them a bucket. Am I clear?"

There was a moment of silence before the stallion replied, his voice shaking. "Perfectly, ma'am."

"Good. Come on, Conrad, we'll get you settled in while we wait for Max."

Conrad's reply was lost in the sounds of machinery as Calumn was picked up and carried into a building. He went limp, waiting patiently. They would have their opportunity soon, but if he was careful he could learn a lot before he made his escape.

He just hoped he could be careful enough.

Twinkle Shine stood on her penthouse balcony, setting the wards to a new configuration, one that would muffle and distort the energies she was going to be unleashing within. She had already informed the building supervisor that she was doing some magical experimentation and that they might experience some strange sounds and lights, but that it was all safe and contained. She had also informed the University that she wouldn’t be back for several days, cancelling her classes and office hours.

Finally ready, she looked to the setting sun, staring wide-eyed into the light. “Am I doing the right thing?” she asked. The answer was the same as always.

Twinkle Shine sighed and walked back into the penthouse, shutting the doors securely behind her. Her magic wended through the penthouse, securing breakables, sealing doors and shuttering windows. Lights were turned off, and by the time she reached the secured practical magic room the entire estate was safe for a hurricane. She removed the furniture from the room, clearing it out completely before bringing in one thing: a mirror. She hung the mirror on the wall, securing it with a long-lasting enchantment that would prevent it from breaking.

Finally ready, she closed the door. The strong protective enchantments locked into place, ready to contain all energies unleashed to this one room. They wouldn't be enough to completely conceal it, but they would serve to muffle what was to come. Completing a final check to make sure all the spells were working properly, she took a deep breath and looked to the mirror. It was nearly pitch black in the room, but she could see her reflection by the light that radiated from her eyes. The reflection stared back at her, patient but eager.

“I Am Still Weak,” the reflection stated. “This Will Be Difficult.”

“I know, but there's more than enough power to deal with one pegasus.” Twinkle Shine sighed. “Just stick to the plan and it will all work out.”

“It Would Be Best If I Were At Full Strength.”

“With knowledge of the Elements somewhere out there?” Twinkle Shine snorted. “I won’t so easily throw away a thousand years of effort.”

The reflection stared at her with quiet anger for a long moment before speaking in a whisper that resonated through the room, rattling the door in the frame. “Begin.”

Twinkle Shine fell to her knees as her guts twisted and her organs began to fail. She let out a gurgling mewl that turned into a choking cough, blood flying from her mouth to paint the floor in splotches of dark red. Her horn glowed brightly, golden light illuminating the room well enough for the Professor to see the bits of herself she was spitting out. She tried to pull herself to her hooves but her legs shattered as she moved, dropping her to the floor. An agonized scream ripped its way from her throat, the sound overlaid with another voice, one that rumbled through the building and shook dust from the walls all the way to the ground floor.

Her broken legs stretched out, straining tendons and muscles as new bone grew between the breaks of the old. Stretched beyond their limit, her muscles began snapping like rubber bands, wrenching new screams from her even as her throat was choked off with her own blood. She scrambled for breath, vomiting out the blood and bile that was filling her lungs, frantic to get air. Her legs went blessedly numb as her spine broke apart, vertebrae growing and shifting as her body elongated. She desperately gasped for what air she could, trying to stave off what came next even as the rational part of her knew it was inevitable and necessary. Then her ribcage collapsed and put an end to her panting.

She shook, eyes rolling as her horn elongated and her entire skull deformed, teeth falling from her open mouth. Black flames began to lick up her horn, eating away at the golden light. Her pupils faded to a blind white, and with a final, gurgling exhalation she faded out of consciousness.

She heaved a deep breath, forcing air into lungs that were still too small. The pain seared through her, but she welcomed it with a fanged grin. She flexed her legs, finding that the muscles were beginning to re-establish their hold. With an agonized growl she got to her hooves, her newly re-fused spine protesting the movement with a series of pops and cracks. She ignored it, spitting out the last of the bloody refuse that tainted her mouth, and flexed her entire body. Her sides split open, spilling black blood that shimmered like oil and wriggled like worms as it sizzled and spat on the floor. Wings tore themselves from the binding flesh, spreading their dark feathers wide in the black room. With a flare of dark power her coat was set crawling with tendrils of shadow, changing the golden color into a harsh gray.

She shook her head, the white hair falling away as her true mane flowed into the world, shadows and ashes billowing in an ethereal wind. Her ribs snapped back into place as her heart surged to life. It beat strong and hot like a furnace of power pounding in her chest with an insistent rhythm, the drum-beat of war. Muscles filled out and wounds closed, and she reared back with a cry of triumph. Her Glyph, her mark, appeared on her flank with the burning hiss of a hot iron sinking into flesh, a white heart of thorns, pierced by a black sword.

Nightmare Umbra, the Destroyer, had returned.

She settled back to her hooves and looked into the mirror. Her reflection looked back at her with the pained eyes of a mortal pony. “That hurt a lot more than I remember,” Twinkle Shine said.

“Pain Is Irrelevant, Action And Result Are What Matters.”

“Sure,” the Professor sighed. “Test the link.”

The Nightmare’s horn flared with black fire, her magic finding the talisman given to Star Fall and locking on to it. “She Is To The South And West. I Will Not Reach Her Before Daybreak.”

“They’re making good time. Remember the plan.”

The Nightmare snorted derisively. “Worry Is Not Required. I Will Keep To The Plan.”

“Then I’m ready,” Twinkle Shine said, and closed her eyes. When the Nightmare opened them again her reflection was her own. She grinned in the darkness, her eyes illuminating everything with their harsh glow. With a stamp of her hoof the room was bathed in fire, burning away the remnants of her transformation. She threw the door open with an effort of will and stalked through the darkened penthouse to the balcony.

The sun had sunk away as she had changed, and the stars were just now creeping into sight. Twilight, her time. She took a deep breath and let it out as a cloud of ashen smoke that hovered before her, heedless of the wind. “Gather The Clouds,” the Nightmare commanded it. “Call Them In Strength. Call Them To Storm.” The smoke-wisp spun in acknowledgement and sped off into the dusk.

Nightmare Umbra swept her dispassionate gaze across the city, and nodded in satisfaction. Then with a flare of black fire from her horn she dissolved into ash and flew off towards the south... and Rainbow Dash.

The day’s travel had taken them far from the capitol. Dash had wanted to go faster, farther, but Star Fall just didn’t have the stamina for it. When they made camp for the night it was in a forest clearing a mile or so before the woods gave way to vast, rolling plains. Dash thought that the plains were probably what had become of the Equestrian prairies from her time, but she couldn’t be sure. Too much had changed.

Star Fall had been uncharacteristically silent throughout the trip, and any attempt Dash made at conversation had been met with little enthusiasm. Even her offers to show off more weather-working were rebuffed. This worried her, Star Fall usually had tons of enthusiasm to learn about weather magic. There was more than just lack of sleep making her withdrawn today.

She had asked Astrid about it, but the Griffin didn’t know either. She said she’d ask Star Fall when they had made camp, but asked Dash to not be there, guessing that the white pegasus might feel more comfortable talking about it with her oldest friend if there wasn’t an audience. So it was that Dash had made her excuses and stepped out into the forest for a bit.

She’d stayed away for as long as she could, but eventually curiosity and boredom had gotten the better of her and she headed back. Dash came back to the campsite and caught the sound of Star Fall and Astrid talking. She didn’t want to interrupt if they were still talking about whatever had been bugging the pegasus, so she crept up to listen.

“Did you know?” Star Fall asked. She sounded tired and hoarse, like she had been crying or was about to.

“I swear I had no idea,” Astrid replied. Her voice was high, and would have been a shriek had it been louder. Dash knew that tone from a Griffon, frustration and anger. “I knew that getting me as your guard was weird, but I thought it was just the Professor being worried about you. She’s got enough pull with the Crown to make it happen. I never imagined it was anything else, Fall. Believe me.”

Star Fall sighed. “I didn’t think you knew. Now, though? I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“You’ll figure it out,” Astrid assured her. “You’ve got the smarts to think your way through anything.”

“That’s the problem, Astrid. It’s not about thinking through it, it’s about making a choice. Do I go along with it, or do I try to run from it?”

“I don’t know, Fall. I’m sorry, but that’s gotta be on you.”

“I know, it’s just frustrating,” Star Fall audibly stamped her hoof. “What will you do?”

Astrid laughed. “Fall, it’s not my decision.”

“I’m asking what you’ll do if I decide to run.”

There was a long moment of silence before Astrid spoke. “Oh, that.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve got my oaths to the Crown, Fall. My clan. What will happen to them?”

“I don’t know.”

Astrid let out a frustrated growl. “You’re a tough friend to have, Fall.”

“What’s going on?” Dash asked, deciding enough was enough and she had to know. She stepped out of the trees, stern and frowning in what she hoped was a determined look.

Star Fall immediately looked at the ground, refusing to meet Dash’s eyes, but Astrid wasn’t having any of that. “If she’s your friend she deserves to know,” the Griffin said.

Star Fall nodded. “Okay. Dash, there’s something I learned last night. It’s made things complicated.” She told Dash about what the Professor had revealed to her.

Dash sat down as she listened, confused and angry, but not interrupting until it was all over. “Okay, so how is that even possible? The King can’t tell you who to marry, can he?”

“He can, and does,” Star Fall sighed. “It’s not a power he invokes often, but if it’s in the interest of the Kingdom he’s allowed to do pretty much anything.”

“Star, that’s stupid. No one can force you to marry someone you don’t want to.”

“Sure they can,” Astrid piped up. “How do you think it works for Griffins? The best and brightest get paired up and told to make some eggs.” Dash stared at her, horrified. “What is that look for? It’s how we keep the species strong. Weak genes equals weak Griffins equals extinction. I told you about this, remember?”

“You said careful breeding. Not ‘forced to marry someone against your will’!”

“Well, we don’t actually get married, but it’s the same thing, Dash. The King just wants Fall to participate in his own little god-making experiment.”

“One that won’t work,” Star Fall put in. “But one I might have to go through with anyway.”

Dash stared at her, uncomprehending. “Why?”

“Because what happens to my family if I don’t? What happens to me and Astrid? What happens to... to my entire life? I’d have to run, Dash, and the only place that would take me, the only place where I wouldn’t be hunted down in days, is the Republics. I’d have to defect. I would have to, if I wanted to survive. That’s not much of a choice, Dash.”

“That’s not fair!” Dash shouted, flaring her wings and kicking at the ground. “He shouldn’t be allowed to force you into a choice like this! Princess Celestia would...”

“Celestia isn’t here!” Star Fall snapped. Dash stopped and stared at her, wide eyed, and Astrid winced and murmured a short prayer under her breath. “She isn’t. She left us in the lurch and let the world go to hell, and she isn’t coming back. So whatever she ‘would’ have done means nothing. We are the ones who are here, we are the ones who have to make the decisions.”

“Fall, that’s enough,” Astrid said, laying a claw on her shoulder.

Star Fall’s eyes fell. “We have to make the decisions,” she repeated, but the fire was leaving her voice. “I have to make a choice, and either way I lose my freedom. I’m sure the Goddess hates seeing me forced into a situation like this, I’m sure she would do something about it if she could. She can’t, and you can’t, and Astrid can’t, and the Professor can’t. Nobody can. Each of us, we’re on our own. There are no gods left in the world.”

Dash’s mouth hung open. She couldn’t think of something to say, even as every instinct she had screamed at her to do something. Star Fall let out a sob and darted off into the forest. Dash made to go after her, but Astrid blocked her way. “Let her go,” the Griffin said. “She needs to think about it. She’ll be fine, but we need to let her work it out.”

“She wasn’t sleeping last night,” Dash said, staring off into the forest. “She said she was reading a book, but this must have been eating at her.”

“Probably was,” Astrid said, pulling Dash gently back to the camp. “It’s a tough place to be, but she’s stronger than she looks. She’ll make it through.”

“I... okay,” Dash let herself be led back to the fire. As she walked she looked up through the canopy of leaves and found the moon. “See what I mean Princess? This stick-yourself-in-the-sky plan sucks,” she kept her voice low so that Astrid didn’t hear, but she made sure any watching Goddess wouldn’t mistake who her words were directed at. Soon she was sitting by the fire, contemplating dinner and the Griffon across from her. “You didn’t get to answer her question.”

“Which one?” Astrid asked.

“What would you do if she ran?”

Golden eyes stared at her, unreadable. “That’s not a question I’m going to answer.”

“Why not?” Dash demanded. “She’s you’re friend, Astrid.”

“You ever have conflicting loyalties, Dash?” Astrid’s golden eyes bored into Dash’s, unflinching. “It’s either my friend or my home. Fall or my family. Have you ever had to make a choice like that?”

“Yeah, as a matter of fact I have,” Dash said, hovering up and around the fire so she could look the Griffin in the eye. “I know exactly how hard that is.”

“Oh yeah? Then what did you do?”

“I picked my home over my friends” Dash said.

Astrid blinked at that, surprised. “How’d that work out?”

“The world nearly ended.”

“Ouch.”

Dash shook her head and backed off. “It wouldn’t have made a difference if I’d gone the other way. That situation was kinda unique, you know? But I did have to make that choice, and I did learn something from it.”

“What’s that?”

“I learned that some things are more important than others, and if you stay loyal to one thing it might end up betraying another, but sometimes you gotta do it anyway, because your highest loyalty has got to be to yourself.”

“That’s pretty selfish, Dash,” Astrid pointed out.

“No, not like that,” Dash said, growling in frustration as she searched for the words she needed. “I mean you’ve got to be loyal to who you want to be, to the person in your head who’s the best, most awesome you there is. So you gotta look at that and ask who you want to be? The Griffin who’d abandon her friend when she’s in a bad position like this? Or the Griffin who’ll stick by her when she’s got all this injustice coming down on her head.”

Astrid snorted. “I can tell what side you come down on.”

Dash laughed. “Yeah, well, I don’t have the same sort of attachment to this kingdom that you do. I’m all for being behind Star, no matter what she chooses.”

Astrid nodded. “Honestly? So am I, but it isn’t just a simple ‘friend or country’ decision, there’s a lot more behind it. I just don’t want to sugarcoat it. Not for Fall, and not for myself. So, would I go with her? Not going to answer that one until I need to. That’s the last I’m gonna say on it.”

They ate and waited in silence until Star Fall returned. Her face was wet with tears, but she gave them a smile. “Sorry,” she said. “I was getting a little worked up.”

“Not an issue, Fall,” Astrid said. “You deserve a tantrum or two.”

Star Fall shrugged. “I guess, but you two don’t deserve to have me tantrum at you. I’ve got some time to think about this, and I will. I figure I’ll go along with it, but I’ll still think it over to make sure that’s the best choice. It can’t be my priority though, this stuff with Cash, and you, Dash, it’s too important. More important than whether or not I have to marry.”

“Star... Don’t think like that,” Dash said, hovering up to Star Fall. “Your life is kinda important to me, okay? I don’t know about this Cash guy, but I’ve got the Professor working on my stuff, right? That means it’s not on you, and you can take whatever time you need to think about what you want. And when you’ve figured it out, well, you’re my friend, and I never leave a friend hanging. I’m behind you. One hundred and twenty percent,” Dash grinned at her. “Whatever you want.”

Astrid nodded. “Ditto. Except for the impossible percentage bit.”

Star Fall smiled and joined her friends by the fire. “I love you guys,” she said.

“Don’t get sappy on us, fall,” Astrid said, making a gagging gesture.

Dash just laughed, and the night passed without any further drama.

“I’m betraying you”

Dash snapped awake swinging her hooves wildly and gasping for breath.

“Whoa!” Astrid cried, stepping back. “You okay there?”

“Uh, what? Huh?” Dash looked around herself. The blankets she had been sleeping in had been tossed about and she was sweating a little. “What happened?”

“You were freaking out in your sleep is what happened,” Astrid said. “Again. You doing alright?”

Dash took stock of herself as her heartbeat slowed and the adrenaline soaked out of her veins. “Yeah, I’m fine. Weird.”

“Bad dreams again?” Star Fall asked as she put out the fire.

“No,” Dash said. “No bad dreams. At least none I can remember. What time is it?”

“Time to get going,” Astrid said. “There’s a bit of breakfast ready, but eat quick, we want to get out ahead of that,” she pointed a claw at the sky, and Dash stared.

The morning was gray and overcast. Worse than that, it felt wrong to her, both to her weather-pony training and her natural pegasus magic. There was something ominous about these clouds. She could feel it in the way they were coming in from the east, the horizon dark with them. She could see it in their speed, as they came on with the swiftness of a flying pegasus. Worst of all was the light breeze that was flowing towards the storm, as if the clouds were gathering all the air to themselves.

“Star,” Dash called out. “Is this normal weather?”

Star Fall looked up at the gathering storm. “It’s just a storm, Dash. Maybe coming down from the arctic. I don’t know enough about meteorology to be sure.”

“And I’m used to making the weather,” Dash said, shaking her head. “I don’t think we should fly very high today. I think this storm is going to break right on top of us, and unless you know how to handle it, flying in a lightning storm is pretty dangerous.”

“We know, Dash,” Astrid said. “I was hoping to make better time, but we’ll be ground-bound until the storm passes.”

“We don’t have to go that far,” Dash protested.

“You can fly through a storm like that, we can’t,” Star Fall pointed out. “Not just a lightning storm, but any decently powerful wind can knock us right from the air.”

“Right, keep forgetting that stuff,” Dash sighed. “Okay, fine. I can live with walking for a day.”

There was a rumble of thunder and Star Fall’s head came up, frowning at the storm. “Now that you mention it though,” she said. “There is something bugging me about it. It feels... wrong.”

“Yeah,” Dash agreed, staring into the clouds. She didn’t even notice that she and Star Fall were looking at the very same point.

Astrid did. “Is this some kind of magic thing?”

“I think it’s a pegasus thing,” Dash said. “We should get moving.”

“I think you’re right,” Star Fall said, getting to her hooves. Astrid quickly concealed evidence of their stay and they hefted their saddlebags up. More thunder rumbled from the clouds, but there was a particular tenor to it that set even the Griffin on edge.

They set out, keeping up a good pace that took them out of the woods and onto the rolling, rocky plains. The storm swept up behind them, growing heavier and darker with shocking swiftness, casting the land under it into utter blackness. They walked faster. Lightning flashed in the sky, thunder that sounded like rumbling, vicious laughter following in its wake. At some point Dash realized that they had broken into a gallop, Astrid loping along next to them, golden eyes wide.

“Star, this is definitely not a normal storm!" Dash called out. "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" Star Fall called back. The wind started gusting to the point where they had to keep their wings tightly to their sides or be thrown about, and the rush of it drowned out all but the loudest shout. "We need to find shelter!"

Dash looked about, wide fields of rocks and grass dotted with a few sparse copses of trees for miles around. "I don't think that's an option!" Astrid shouted, noticing the same thing.

Star Fall's lips pulled back in a grimace as she desperately thought of a way to protect them from the unnatural storm. "The Everstorm spells!" she cried. "I can modify them to protect us! I just need a minute!"

Dash looked back at the clouds. They boiled in the sky, moving in thickening waves that the rainbow pegasus had never seen before, not even above the Everfree Forest. Only the Everstorm had come close to it, and they were a thousand miles from that twisted place. A moment of fear shot through her, but was quashed by a burning determination. Unnatural or not they were still just clouds, and no cloud got the better of Rainbow Dash!

"Astrid, keep the wind off of Star!" Dash yelled, skidding to a halt.

"What are you going to do?" Astrid asked as she and Star Fall came to a stop themselves. The Griffin pulled Star Fall close to her and gripped the rocky earth with her talons before flaring out her wings, buffering the pegasus against the force of the wind. Star Fall wasted no time in pulling out one of her spell-sheets and setting to work scrawling out her spell.

"I'm going to kick some sense into those clouds!" Dash replied, then opened her own wings and took off into the sky.

The wind caught at her like a giant pillow smacking her whole body at once. She flapped her wings furiously, magic rising to her need and stilling the air around her. She shot up, quickly reaching the level of the clouds as they came on. From this height she could see the full extent of the storm, and it made her eyes widen. Clouds from one horizon to the other, all of them pulling towards the central massive cloudbank that towered like a mountain and flashed with arcs of lightning.

She hovered there, trying to think of how to break up a storm that large, that powerful. It would take her entire weather team back in Ponyville to do it, if they even could. There was no way a lone pony was going to make any difference, and if there was a supernatural cause behind it, she would be fighting against that as well.

Dash shrugged at the thought. When had something being impossible ever stopped her from trying it?

She shot at the storm, taking a deep breath as she went. When she was close enough she pulled to a halt and with a great heave she blew at the clouds. Her breath came out laced with pegasus magic, expanding into a wind that rivalled the one the storm was creating. It crashed into the oncoming clouds and they were pushed back. Dash took another huge breath and did it again, then again, turning her head so that her magic-fuelled breath could catch as much of the storm as it could. Clouds billowed and roiled, flattening as if they had come up against a wall, and for a moment the storm was halted in its advance.

Dash panted with exertion, feeling a little lightheaded from the heavy breaths. "Hey you!" she called to the storm. "That was just a taste of what you've got coming if you don't break it up and start acting normal right now! Don't make me come in there! I mean it!"

The clouds paused in their billowing, as if they were a movie and someone had stopped the reel. There was an enormous groaning noise, like the scream of a tortured mountain. "Well, that's weird," Dash said to herself. Then the storm shot lightning at her.

The bolt came without warning, and there was no way for Dash to avoid it. It lanced horizontally from the cloudbank, a booming mass of electricity that narrowly missed the pegasus. It was still close enough for it to singe her mane and feathers, and the blast of expanding air knocked her for a loop that took her a few precious seconds to recover from.

When she righted herself she stared with wide eyes at the storm, which was moving again and coming right at her. "Alright mister, you just messed with the wrong pony!" she snarled, and attacked.

She dove at the storm, flying in a corkscrew pattern that allowed her to avoid the lightning bolts that the storm hurled her way. She hit the clouds with all four hooves, grunting with effort as she gave it the most powerful cloud-busting kick she could. A section of cloud the size of Sugarcube Corner buckled and exploded into tendrils of thin mist that were quickly caught up by the wind. Dash banked away from the storm, then changed direction suddenly and rammed it again, bursting another piece of it.

Lightning burst from the clouds, two and three bolts at a time, each clearly aimed for her. As fast as she was, outrunning lightning still wasn't really an option. So she flew erratic patterns, zig-zagging across the face of the storm as she kicked it to pieces.

It didn't take her long to realize she was getting nowhere. Every cloud she broke was just sucked back into the main body of the storm, every lightning bolt she dodged was just followed by two more. She was managing to hold back the storm, but that was all, and it was already taking a toll on her energy reserves.

Finally she backed off, dropping away from the clouds and down to the ground. She spotted her friends and made for them. Astrid was still standing strong against the wind, sheltering the white pegasus who watched Dash with eyes full of awe and worry, her hoof poised above a completed spell-sheet.

Dash poured on the speed, having to fight against the wind that was flowing towards the storm. Blasts of lightning struck the earth in her wake, burning the grasses and sending dirt and stones flying. "Star! Do it now!" she screamed as she approached her friends.

Whether Star Fall heard the cry over the wind or not, she began to charge her spell. The paper flared with light, the spidery script beginning to crawl across the page like a living thing. With a thrust of her wings Dash was there, just as a dome of bright red light sprang up around them. Lightning splashed against the dome, redirected into the ground without striking them.

Rainbow Dash braked hard, shedding all of her momentum in a couple sweeps of her wings so that she didn't overshoot the bubble of safety. "Wicked awesome spell, Star," Dash congratulated her as she set down.

"What the hell is going on with this storm, Fall?" Astrid asked. The barrier kept out most of the wind and thunder as well as the lightning, so they didn't have to shout to be heard, but her voice was edging into a screech anyways, revealing her fear.

"I don't know!" Star Fall said, shaking her head as she stared out of the translucent dome towards the roiling clouds.

"It's like the Everstorm," Dash said. "I could feel it when I was up there, there's serious magic pushing this thing."

"But that's impossible," Star Fall breathed, eyes wide. "No one has that kind of power. No one except..."

Astrid and Dash stared at Star Fall, but she had gone still. "Fall," Astrid said, breaking the silence. "You can't just trail off like that. Who? Who could do this?"

"Astrid," Star Fall said, quivering with fear as she pointed with her hoof. "Look."

The storm was twisting, clouds flowing over each other into a funnel that stretched out from the storm towards them. Lightning crawled over the surface of the tornado like a thousand electrical spiders and an ominous red glow came from within.

"Can the spell hold against that?" Astrid asked. Star Fall just gave her a shocked, incredulous look as an answer. "Great. Dash?"

"Ready!" Dash said, crouching.

"Wait for it," Astrid said, grabbing on to the limp Star Fall and clutching her close. "Wait for it." The funnel was right above them, jabbing down like a massive, impossible spike pounded into the earth. "Now!" Astrid shrieked, and dove out of the barrier.

Dash did the same, leaping out in a different direction as the unnatural tornado touched the spell and tore it apart. The wind caught at her and threw her to the ground, but she bounced well out of the destructive reach of the twister. She rolled to her hooves immediately, turning to see which way the attack would go.

The funnel cloud didn't chase her or Astrid, instead spinning and sparking in place. Dash watched, and saw a shape take form in the center of the tornado: a large, winged equine shadow only illuminated by the flashes of lightning that danced across the clouds. The shape reared up, then brought its hooves down. They struck the earth with a sound like a hundred thunderclaps compressed into one, and the tornado exploded outwards in a burst of wind and lightning that hit Dash like a brick wall. She tumbled from the force of it, but managed to keep her head and skid to a stop on the rocky earth as the wind passed by and the world was thrown into an eerily silent stillness. When she looked back at where the storm had touched earth her jaw dropped open.

There stood a dark Alicorn. She was as tall and regal as Celestia had ever been, her wings extended and her head held high, horn pointing straight up. Her mane was a floating swirl of darkness and ashes that was transparent, but the world viewed through it was a barren place of shadows and death. Her coat blended with the storm clouds, gray and dark such that her true dimensions were only revealed in the flashes of lightning. Dash noted the heart-and-sword cutie mark almost as an afterthought, as all her attention was drawn to the pony's eyes. They glowed with incredible power, icy white within fiery gold within midnight black. They were eyes that held a thousand years of malice and rage, and they were staring right at her.

"Nightmare Umbra," Star Fall said, the whisper loud enough to hear in the almost reverent quiet that had descended with the appearance of the Destroyer. She lay on the ground, more than ten yards from Dash, but thankfully not on the other side of the Alicorn.

The Nightmare's burning gaze swung slowly to the prone white pegasus and the Griffin that stood protectively over her. She regarded them with an expressionless disregard that was more chilling than all the rage she had been directing at Dash. "I Am She," Nightmare Umbra confirmed, her voice rumbling through the air, more something felt and understood on an instinctual level than heard. Dash shuddered, even the Royal Canterlot Voice wasn't as bad as Umbra's speech. "I Have No Interest In You," she continued. "My Target Is This One," her head tilted slightly towards Rainbow Dash. "Leave, And Live."

The implications for not leaving were clear. "Star, get out of here!" Dash shouted, flaring her wings and thinking as fast as she could about how to get out of this.

"Dash, this is Nightmare Umbra! She's going to kill you!" Star Fall called back.

"She's going to try," Dash replied with a smirk. "I’ve fought a Nightmare before, remember? She doesn't look so tough. I can take her," she lied. The Nightmare's gaze travelled back to Rainbow Dash with all the inevitability of an advancing glacier. Dash met her eyes, forcing herself not to shake. “Astrid.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” the Griffin replied, scooping up Star Fall again.

“See you guys later!” Dash said, and leapt. Her takeoff came not a moment too soon as a bolt of crimson energy lashed out from the Nightmare’s horn, the spot where she had stood only a moment before blooming into fire. Dash’s wings caught the expanding air from the explosion and she used it to throw herself even higher. She flew up for a bit before stopping and turning back to her opponent. “Hey! Tall, dark and unimpressive! You want me? Gotta catch me first!”

“No,” the Nightmare replied, her voice reaching Dash as easily as if she had been standing right next to her. “I Do Not.”

Dash dodged a bolt of lightning that blasted down from the clouds. “Gonna have to do better than that!”

The Nightmare snarled, face twisting in anger as she spread her wings and took off towards the pegasus. Dash turned and flew, banking and looping as she gauged how good her pursuer was at flying. To her delight, Nightmare Umbra proved to be a mediocre flyer. She had strength and could pick up a good speed when flying straight, but she lacked maneuverability and acceleration. Dash could fly circles around her.

The chase took them up into the storm, Dash diving into the rushing clouds while dodging lightning and blasts of magic. She couldn’t risk looking back to see if Star Fall and Astrid were making good their escape, it took all of her concentration just to stay one step ahead of the enraged Nightmare. She came out the top of the storm with a shout, the Nightmare hot on her hooves. Lightning shot up at her, but she had gotten the measure of the storm now, and knew when and where it was going to be blasting. Exhilaration thundered in her veins, and the burning strain of her wings was a joyful song that formed the soundtrack to the fight.

Nightmare Umbra snarled, the sound making waves in the sea of clouds below them. She followed Dash’s dodging motions, firing dark magic at her, but all she hit was empty air. When she suddenly stopped shooting, Dash turned to find the Nightmare’s horn creating a pillar of black flame as she cast her spell.

Dash’s breath came in frosty bursts and she gasped as the temperature dropped so far and so fast that she could feel it even through the natural pegasus resistance to cold. She felt her wings stiffen as her feathers iced over, and snorted in frustration. “Clever, damn it,” she said to herself. Knowing that the Nightmare’s superior strength would let her fly more easily than Dash could with ice-coated wings, she did the only sensible thing and dropped back towards the ground.

Passing back through the storm was easier than going up, it had given up trying to hit her with lightning and was now just being a big, dark obstruction. Dash came through the bottom and dove towards the ground, pulling out of the dive only a yard above the rocky plains and skimming along as the Nightmare chased her. Bolts of explosive magic sent up blooms of light and heat as the Destroyer attacked, leading her target enough that Dash had to dodge each shot with wide, swerving turns that left blue and pink trails in her wake.

Nightmare Umbra thudded into the ground, setting herself quickly and firing off a volley of magic at Dash. The pegasus twisted through the air, juking and spinning as the magical missiles followed her every move. Dash grit her teeth and poured on the speed, breaking through the sound barrier and banking in a wide circle around where the Nightmare stood. She came to a stop when she realized the missiles had stopped tracking her. She looked back towards the shadowy Alicorn and grinned.

“You can’t keep up, can you?” Dash laughed. “Your aim sucks and you just can’t keep up with me. Of course, you should have expected that. I am the fastest pony in Equestria after all!”

“Yes,” the Nightmare replied. Dash was surprised that she had even heard her from this distance. “You Are.”

“So whatcha gonna do, slowpoke?”

“Adjust My Tactics,” Umbra replied, her horn erupting in black flame and her eyes narrowing. The Nightmare shuddered, and Dash frowned, trying to figure out what she was up to. I took her a moment to realize that it wasn't Umbra that was shaking, it was the ground. She widened her view and saw that a chunk of the plains a mile wide and centered on the Nightmare was being torn out of the ground whole.

"No way," Dash breathed. The Nightmare's fanged grin was all the warning she got before the floating island of rock and earth was flung at her, aiming to squash her like a bug under a particularly large flyswatter.

Dash turned and fled. She accelerated as quickly as she could, but a look back made her feel like she was falling instead. She burst through the sound barrier again, wincing at the pain of it. She risked another look back, sure that she was leaving the Nightmare in her dust, only to see that Umbra had pushed the entire mile-wide chunk of land into supersonic, and was still gaining on her. "Oh come on!" Dash shouted, barely able to hear her own voice as she pulled out even more acceleration. Something that large at this speed? Forget hitting it directly, just touching its mach cone would be fatal.

The adrenaline, the exertion, the danger, the speed, all of it was coming together in a sweet spot of magic and determination that Dash had spent years trying to attain in practice. The rest of the world fell away and everything was reduced down to the open air in front of her and the magic-propelled death behind. The voice in the back of her head was urging her on, glory and victory just one last push away. Touch the spectrum, it said, show her the true meaning of speed.

Dash pushed a hoof out ahead of her, streamlining her body as the magical barrier protecting her from her own speed narrowed to an acute angle. She flew harder, overtaking her own magic, and sparks of static lightning began to flash across her body. She could see the colors of the spectrum dance across her hoof, an explosion of light and sound building around her, waiting for her to make just one more push.

"No."

Nightmare Umbra's voice destroyed Dash's concentration. It had felt like her brain had been hit with the claw end of a hammer. She scrambled to reorient herself, but it was too late. The barrier of her magic snapped into solidity in front of her, an elastic stretched to its limit, but not beyond. Dash had a split second to contemplate the terrible consequences of being hurled back into the oncoming island of death. Then she twisted around, set herself, and aimed.

The barrier did what it always did when she failed to reach Rainboom speeds and flung her in the opposite direction from what she had been travelling in, firing her like a slingshot pellet. Unlike usual, however, she had managed to aim this slingshot, and so had some control over where she was going. She blasted to the side, tumbling in a curled ball of pink feathers and blue mane. She went wide of the island, missing the brunt of the shockwave. What she did catch was enough to make her bones rattle and her guts feel like Big Mac had mistaken her for a particularly obstinate apple tree.

She forced herself to straighten out, extending her wings and catching the air to slow her headlong rush towards the ground. She was subsonic again, and levelling out was impossible due to all the turbulence created by the enormous chunk of rock that had just passed through the area at mach four. She managed to control her descent, though, and touched down with a minimum of rolling and bouncing. When she came to a stop she turned to look at the swiftly retreating island. Not even the Nightmare was going to be able to stop something with that kind of momentum and turn it around quickly.

It was then that Nightmare Umbra stopped the island by the simple expedient of no longer holding it together. The entire chunk of rock disintegrated under the forces it was suddenly once again subject to. The shockwave collapsed with a deep crash that shook a landscape already torn up by the immense pressure wave that had hit it. Dash weathered the rumble with barely a wince, focused more on the center of the debris cloud. The Destroyer broke through the falling mass of rocks like an angry god, tendrils of shadow and fire dragging boulders the size of houses with her. She was a long way away, but Dash knew it would take mere moments to catch up.

The pegasus took off, dodging as the Nightmare used boulders as supersonic missiles, throwing them at her. They impacted the land like bombs, reducing an already torn countryside into a cratered warzone in moments. A cloud of dirt and smoke rose up into the stormy sky, adding itself to the swirling storm that was still above their heads.

Dash panted hard, she could keep this up for a while yet, but all the dodging was taking its toll. She didn’t know how much power the Nightmare had, but from everything she’d seen so far, and the way the attacks kept coming, she was sure Umbra would win any contest of stamina. All she had going for her was her speed, and Umbra had shown clearly that she could overcome that advantage if she tried. Running away wasn’t going to work, so she had no choice but to change her own tactics. It was time to attack.

She curved around and shot at the Nightmare. Umbra saw her coming, filling the sky in front of her with a minefield of floating rocks and explosive magic. Dash flew straight into the danger zone and began to rush across the explosive array, setting off every spell she could. The air filled with light and fire, obscuring the pegasus from the view of the Nightmare.

Dash took full advantage of this, rushing under the explosions and then up. Nightmare Umbra sensed her coming somehow and skewed to the side, but Dash was too fast and too agile to be dodged completely. Dash smashed her hoof into Umbra’s wing, tearing it as she passed. Umbra began to fall, spiralling to the ground.

Dash stopped her ascent, wary of tricks and counterattacks. A sharp pain in her leg made her look at it, and she screamed in horror. Black tendrils squirmed over her hoof, the blood of the Nightmare attacking the one that had spilled it. They jabbed into the sensitive skin above her hoof and Dash’s veins bulged as the animate blood invaded them. She shook her hoof, scraping at it with the other, tearing her skin in order to pull the tendrils free. The Nightmare’s blood hadn’t managed to get deep into her system, so it fell away in wriggling globs. Finally all that was left was a dark stain on her hoof, and her own blood dripping from her foreleg.

“That was so not cool,” she said, unable to completely still her shaking.

“You Cannot Defeat Me,” the Nightmare said. Dash looked down to find Umbra standing on the ground, staring up at her. “You Cannot Escape Me. Surrender, And Your Death Shall Be Swift And Merciful.”

“Yeah? I think if I can hurt you I can beat you,” Dash said, holding up her bloody hoof. “How’s the wing?”

“Repairing Itself," the Nightmare replied, lifting its wing to show Dash the gash she had caused. It was closing fast, tissues being knitted back together by worms of oily black blood. "You Are Incapable Of Bestowing Lasting Injury Upon Me.”

“Maybe I don’t have to,” Dash grinned. “Maybe I just have to knock you out. I figure a couple minutes of sleepy time and you get left in my dust.”

The Nightmare’s eyes narrowed. “You Cannot.”

“Why don’t we find out!” Dash shouted, and blazed an ethereal trail as she dove at the Nightmare. Umbra’s eyes opened wide in surprise, anger, and something that made Dash’s spirit surge: apprehension. If the Nightmare was worried, then this just might work.

Umbra dodged back, but Dash didn’t correct to hit her, instead banking hard and swirling around the dark Alicorn. Her etherealized trail began to show its true rainbow colors as Dash spun faster and faster around Umbra, who fired wildly into the tornado of light that surrounded her. Dash grit her teeth and with a wrenching twist of her wings and a burst of magic she reversed direction and travelled into her own ethereal trail. It was a move that only a few Pegasi could pull off, and none of them could do it with the flair of Rainbow Dash. It was more than just a sudden reversal, though, the interaction of the fading magical wake with the new one had a unique effect. An effect that Dash had discovered by accident, and had then worked it into one of her ace-in-the-hole signature moves: the Buccaneer Blaze.

Light burst all around Nightmare Umbra, the dark Alicorn crying out and flinching away from it. Dash was on her in an instant, hooves flying in a flurry of punches and kicks, striking with all the speed she was capable of in as many places as she could reach. She was careful not to use the edge of her hooves, she didn't want any more of that horrible blood on her, but she pounded away at sensitive joints until bone and muscle gave with sickeningly loud sounds.

Dash had never hurt another pony this badly before and the bile rose in her throat with every crack and dull thud that accompanied her blows. She didn't let up, though, and she wouldn't until the Nightmare went down. She could be disgusted with herself later, after she had survived. Umbra collapsed to the ground with a cry, but was still more than awake enough to cause problems. Dash shot up fifty feet and then rocketed down, aiming to smash into the Nightmare's head and hopefully do enough damage to put her down for the count.

Umbra's cruel, fanged smirk told her she had made a mistake, but the warning came too late to do anything about it.

Dash froze in midair, all her momentum halted completely. A black aura surrounded her, encasing her in Umbra's telekinetic grip. She struggled against the hold, feeling it give slightly, but not enough to escape yet.

Umbra rose to her hooves, broken bones snapping back into place and bruises melting away as Dash watched. The Nightmare regarded Rainbow Dash with a triumphant gleam in her luminous eyes. "Your Mobility Is A Nuisance," she said, then threw Dash into the ground.

Dash hit hard, Umbra was capable of accelerating her an incredible amount over a very short distance, but it still wasn't as hard as she was used to crashing, and the Nightmare had to let go of her in the instant before she hit the ground for the impact to have any effect. She bounced off the torn earth, twisting to escape, but the Nightmare caught her before she could more than half-turn. Then she slammed Dash into the ground again. And again. And again.

"Your Resilience Is Similarly Annoying," Umbra said as she hefted the dazed pegasus up. With a flare of her horn the earth burst around her. A dozen pillars of stone, each yards wide, erupted from the ground to rise a hundred feet high all around her. Dash stared at the newest display of the Nightmare's power, wondering what they would be used for. She didn't have to wait long.

Nightmare Umbra whipped the bound pegasus around in a circle, sending her smashing headfirst through each of the pillars she had created. Then she did it again, sending her into the falling sections of stone as they came crashing down. Then she did it again to the remnants of the pillars that were still in midair before finally throwing Dash hard into the ground where she lay on her back, eyelids fluttering as she shook from the trauma.

Dash couldn't focus as she was freed from the Nightmare's telekinesis. She knew that she should be trying to escape, but the thought was distant and consciousness fleeting. Her mind was brought back into focus as Umbra touched her horn to Dash's head and sent a jolt of agonizing magic through her. She looked up at the Alicorn, wings already scrambling. Umbra simply placed a forehoof on Dash's chest and it was like the weight of a mountain had come down on her, forcing the air out of her lungs and squashing her attempts to run.

As she stopped struggling the Nightmare eased up on the pressure, allowing Dash to draw a harsh breath. "Your Arrogance, However, Is Welcome," Umbra said, eyes flashing.

"What... is your... deal?" Dash asked between pained gasps.

The Nightmare simply regarded her, the rage and triumph draining from her features, replaced by a pensive frown that seemed wrong on her cruelly beautiful features. "Who Made You?"

Dash blinked at that. "What?"

"You Are Not Rainbow Dash."

"Are too."

Umbra snarled, the pressure of her hoof increasing until Dash's ribs creaked before easing again. "You Are Not Rainbow Dash. You Are Not A Modified Pony Of The Modern Age. Therefore You Are A Construct. Who Made You?"

"I was born, not made," Dash snapped, staring the Nightmare defiantly in the eyes. "I am Rainbow Dash. I just woke up in the future, I don't know why, but I figure stopping you has got something to do with it. And I can see why that's important, 'cause lady? You are nuts."

The Nightmare tilted her head slowly to the side, as if she was listening to something only she could hear. "I Watched Rainbow Dash Die," she said. "I Watched Her Burn In Death. Some Of Her Ashes Are A Part Of Me, As Are The Remains Of All Her Friends. You Are Not Her."

"That's... disturbing on a lot of levels," Dash said, then narrowed her eyes at the Alicorn. "I know who I am. I don't care what you saw."

"You Lie," Umbra hissed, leaning down until her nose was nearly touching Dash's. "Who Made You? Who Thinks To Challenge Me With This Pathetic Copy? Answer Me!"

"Or what? You're going to kill me anyway," Dash pointed out. "Buck you, nag. I hope when they bring you down they put your statue right next to Discord."

Nightmare Umbra jerked back as if she had been struck, eyes wide and filled for a moment with an emotion that went beyond simple fear. Something in what Dash had just said terrified her to the core of her being. Dash tried to use the moment of distraction to escape, but the Nightmare regained herself too quickly, slamming her hoof back into Dash's chest hard enough to crack ribs and make her heart stutter. "No! I Do Not Care What May Be Learned! For That She Will Die Now!"

Dash was too busy trying to breathe to spend time wondering who the Nightmare was talking to, and so missed the way Umbra's lips seemed to move in a whispered reply. The pressure on Dash's chest increased, and she scrabbled at the Alicorn's hoof with her own, trying to shift it but finding it utterly immovable. Her mouth worked, but she could make no sound as her vision began to fade into gray, the eyes of the Nightmare somehow the only color she could see in her dying world.

There was a flash of crimson light and suddenly the pressure was gone from Dash's chest. She sucked in a breath eagerly, greedily sucking at the air so that her cracked ribs roared with agony. She embraced that pain, revelling in it and the way it meant she was alive for another minute. She rolled off of her back, panting for breath as she tried to discover what had happened.

Nightmare Umbra was pulling herself to her hooves several yards away as another bolt of crimson energy slammed into her, throwing her back to the ground. Dash tracked the bolt back to its source, and found Star Fall standing atop one of the larger boulders left behind from the pillars Dash had smashed through. A trio of spell-sheets hovered in front of the white pegasus, the red glow of Star Fall's magic surrounding them.

"Star," Dash said, trying to rise and finding that she just didn't have the strength.

"Stay down, Dash!" Star Fall cried. There was fear in her voice, but also determination stronger than steel. "I'll handle her now!"

"Fool!" Umbra raged, rising in a burst of black fire. Star Fall fired another burst of magic at her, but the Nightmare deflected it with a casual flick of her horn. "Your Power Is No Match For Mine! Why Have You Returned?"

"Yeah, it was dumb of me," Star Fall said, then gave Dash a reassuring smile. "But Rainbow Dash is my friend, and you do not leave a friend hanging!"

"Fallen Star, I Warn You..." Umbra didn't get the rest of her threat out as a Griffin suddenly appeared on her back, a spent spell-sheet stuck to her feathers, and began mauling the Nightmare.

"Oh yeah, and Astrid agrees," Star Fall said, then hopped down and rushed over to Dash's side. "How badly are you hurt?"

"Pretty bad," Dash admitted, coughing. "Not as bad as when we first met, though. Give me a minute to get my breath back and I can fly."

"How about fight?" Star Fall asked. "I don't think we can outrun her."

Dash considered it for a moment. "She's tough, but she can be hurt. All of us working together? Yeah, we can do it, so long as we're careful."

"Then we'll be careful," Star Fall said, then snapped her gaze back to where Astrid and Umbra were tangled in a mass of raking talons and kicking hooves. "Clear!" she shouted, and her brow furrowed in concentration. The spell-sheets flashed a brilliant red as her magic flared, a triple blast of crimson lightning lancing out and smashing into the Shadowed Alicorn just as Astrid leapt away from the fray. The bolts grounded through the unprepared Nightmare, sending her sprawling even as her horn lit with dark power to counter the effects of Star Fall's attack.

Astrid rushed over to them, taking her place in front of the two ponies as Dash pulled herself upright. "Get the blood off of you," Dash said. "It's not normal."

Astrid quickly complied, spitting out wriggling worms of the oily blood and scraping it off her claws before it could start attacking in earnest. "Fuck, this bitch is hardcore," Astrid swore. "She wrenched one of my wings out of the socket. You'll have to kick it back in." Star Fall grabbed the limp limb, holding it in place before slamming a hoof down on the joint, resetting it. Astrid didn't even wince at the pain. "Thanks," she said, quickly folding the injured wing down. "The invisibility trick worked."

"For once," Star Fall snorted. "How badly did you hurt her?"

"She didn't," Dash said. "Nightmare Umbra heals too fast, you either make it count or don't count it at all."

"Shit," Astrid swore again, shaking her head. "This day just keeps getting better. What's the plan then?"

"Star, those blasts of yours seem to actually hurt her, when they hit," Dash said. "Astrid and me can distract her, you line up the shot. Then take it, we'll keep her down so you can get a few more in before she gets back up. We keep her on the ropes long enough, she might throw in the towel. Sound good?"

"Sounds like the only plan I can think of too," Star Fall said.

"Hey, all I've got are looks and muscle," Astrid quipped. "You brainiacs say this is the plan? I'm game."

"Awesome," Dash said, smiling at her friends. "Let's do this!"

"NO."

Nightmare Umbra's voice crashed over them like a steamroller, twisting in their guts. Dash fell to her knees and Star Fall followed her. Astrid managed to stay up, but the effort cost her and her injured wing started twitching violently against her side.

The Shadowed Alicorn rose from the ground, not standing or flying but simply floating up from where she had fallen. Her eyes blazed ever brighter as her shadow-and-ashes hair swirled in a tempest of darkness around her. "This Is An Unacceptable Outcome." Her ears flicked as if she was listening to someone shouting in them. "My Purpose Must Be Fulfilled."

Dash forced herself to her hooves, the effort a purely mental one. There wasn't any physical force holding her down, it was just that the Nightmare's will was so strong her body was responding to it rather than her own brain, and she had to remind her limbs who the pony in charge was. "Star, Astrid," she said. "Fight it. We can take her. Together."

Slowly Star Fall rose. "Together," she repeated, and her spell-sheets flared.

"Together," Astrid joined in, raising her head.

"Now!" Star Fall shouted, blasting Umbra. The beams of crimson light lanced at the Nightmare, who knocked them aside contemptuously. The magical attack had been a feint, though, allowing Dash and Astrid to get close to her while her vision had been obscured.

Astrid flashed past the Nightmare, talons tearing her throat out as she passed. As the Griffin fell to the side, scraping the blood from her talons, Dash rushed in from the other side and bucked Umbra's forelegs out from under her. The Nightmare fell, crashing into the ground and making choked, gurgling noises as her throat regenerated. Star Fall took the opportunity to lay into her with another burst of red magic that knocked her onto her back.

Astrid attacked again, ripping and tearing at sensitive muscles before leaping away again and making room for Dash, who pounded on joints and broke bones. Star Fall followed this up with more devastating magic. The Nightmare's horn flared, prompting Astrid and Dash to rush in together to disrupt whatever spell she was casting. They pounded on her head, talons tearing out the Nightmare's eyes while hooves stomped hard enough to crack her long black horn.

The Nightmare was clever, though, and she had used the threat of her magic as a distraction while her body healed. She slammed a hoof into Astrid's gut, sending the Griffin flying. Dash tried to back off and let Star Fall hit Umbra again, but the Nightmare twisted and slapped a wing down on top of her, crushing the pegasus to the ground. Star Fall took a shot anyway, but Umbra's cracked horn roared to life, sending a wave of black fire at her.

Umbra spun to her hooves, grabbing Dash in another telekinetic hold and lifting her to eye level. "Enough Of These Games," she snarled.

Dash struggled, surprised to find that she could move at all. The grip the Nightmare had on her paled to the near-absolute binding she had used earlier. She looked more closely at the Alicorn, and found that many of the wounds they had inflicted on her weren't healing very fast at all. Magic leaked from the cracks in her horn, sending ripples of shadow and heat into the air. This only intensified as Umbra cast a new spell, a tiny black sphere appearing at the tip of her horn. Dash could feel the sucking, clawing power of that spell, and knew that if it touched her she was dead. Still, she grinned. "Is that the best you can do? Hah! And I thought you were supposed to be scary."

"You Know Nothing," Nightmare Umbra said, her voice filled with so much hatred that Dash flinched back despite herself. The Alicorn lowered her horn until the death spell was only inches from Dash's face.

Then Astrid's claw wrapped around the horn, just above a large crack. "I know you shouldn't take your eyes off a Griffin in combat," she chided, then kicked the Nightmare in the face. She held on to the horn, and with a snap it broke in half. The Griffin wasted no time in reversing her grip on the sharp magical bone and stabbing it right into the Nightmare's chest, death spell and all.

Umbra reared up in surprise, agony twisting her features before the rage came flooding back and she turned on the Griffin. Whatever she was going to do or say, she never got the chance as three blasts of crimson light struck her, and went straight through. The Nightmare looked back at her body, finding three holes, as big around as grapefruits, punched neatly through her.

"And I know a few good combat spells," Star Fall said, walking towards them. "Dash, how are you doing?"

"Peachy," Dash replied. She could move easily now, the telekinetic grip fading away. "How are you two?"

"Burned, tired, but good," Star Fall replied.

"I got hurt worse than this in training," Astrid said. "I'll be fine."

"You Are All Doomed," Nightmare Umbra said.

"Are you still talking?" Astrid snarled. "Fall just turned you into a screen door! What will it take to convince you to stay down?"

Umbra ignored her, turning her attention back to Dash. As she spoke her body began to disintegrate, falling apart into ashes that were swept away by a sudden, cold wind that blew past. "Your Victory Is Fleeting. I Will Return, And I Shall Have My True Power Then. Tell Your Masters, Whoever They Are, That I Am Coming. I Will Hunt Them. I Will Find Them. I Will Kill Them. And I Will Kill You Too."

"And I will stop you," Dash promised, staring the Nightmare in the eyes as she fell apart. "Now and in my own time. I will stop you."

The Nightmare didn't reply, only stared at Dash with unadulterated hate and rage until what was left of her burst apart into a cloud of ashes that rushed away into the storm. There was a moment of quiet stillness as the Nightmare left, then the clouds opened up and it began to rain.

Dash looked up into the skies, feeling the malevolent will behind the storm vanish, letting move and act according to its nature once again. She could have broken it up now, but she just didn't have the energy. Instead she looked up, trying to estimate the position of the sun. "Hey, Princess Celestia," she said. "About the whole sticking-yourself-in-the-sky thing? If that was the only way to deal with her, then I change my mind. I am behind that plan one hundred and ten percent. I'd really appreciate it, though, if you could do the 'sealing her power' thing again. You know, before she kills me. Uh, thanks."

With that said Dash flopped onto her back and began the long, involved process of freaking out.