Quiet. The castle infirmary was quiet. I sat off to one side nervously fidgeting with my helm, while my Hata remained close at my side. I was no doctor, and even if I was, there was nothing to do - there were a scarce few patients to treat. I looked over to Twilight, who sat at Celestia’s side, while my medic worked on her. I lamented the fact that the better of the two healers I had brought with me was one of the first to be slain upon contact with the enemy. At least he died with honor, I thought.
“Sister!?” Exclaimed a voice from the double-door entrance to the ward. Glancing over, I saw the agonized face of Princess Luna calling out to her wounded elder-sister. The two of us leapt forward at the same time, before I intercepted her, the large equine tackling me bodily. Despite her mass and the impact of being plowed into, I managed to slow her to an arduous crawl. “Let go of me, before I cast you into the sun!” She growled angrily, not entirely realizing who she was speaking to.
“Princess Luna, your sister will live.” I groaned into her shoulder; the alicorn took a deep breath and hesitantly looked down at me, “Are you calm?”
She took another deep breath and nodded. “I will contain myself.”
“Fair enough.” I nodded and tentatively released her, when she did not appear ready to bolt, I took a step back and placed my fist over my heart, bowing my head slightly as I did, “I stand ready for your command, sovereign.”
Luna promptly walked past me and for a fraction of second I thought she did not recognize the significance of the gesture, before I felt her wing pressing against me, pulling me along side her. “What happened?”
“Satos wasn’t Satos.” I explained, a twinge of anger at being deceived causing my voice to flatten, “The demon released me thinking I was running.” I snorted in amusement, “Ne Ni Nei do not run from battle.”
At that point, my medic strolled around to the foot of the bed to stop in front of Luna and mirrored my gesture, bowing his head and placing his fist over his heart. “E’geh Shal Gmat A Ne Ni Nei Vas Kelovo.” looking up he depolarized his visor and offered Luna his hand, “I await your command.”
Luna tentatively shook his hand, regarding his similarly colored teal eyes to her own through his translucent visor. Though she might not have been able to discern it, the man wasn’t very old, in fact, he was the youngest of us with but one heir. Returning her hoof to the floor, she addressed the one real question on her mind.
“You are the one treating my sister?”
“I am.” He nodded, “From what I can tell, her injuries are extensive, but all her bones have been reset and the nanomachines are doing their work. I would be more confident if I could get her up to our ship, but…” He shook his head.
“But…?” Luna questioned him curiously.
“Nothing leaves planet until we have pacified the demon.” I informed her.
“What happens if you don’t?” Twilight asked hesitatingly, causing the few able bodied ponies in the room to regard me timidly, both princesses included.
I took a deep breath and looked to the floor. “Then the demon burns with us.” I revealed somberly.
“You…” Twilight gaped disbelievingly and I nodded in affirmation, “You would burn Equis?”
“You could do that?” Luna gasped in disbelief.
I once again nodded. “Our ship is fitted with enough antimatter to shatter the planet. If all of us fall, you will need to contact our ship to flag off the strike.” I shook my head, “I can’t tell you how long you’ll have, but it’ll be enough time. Our ‘friends’ are not about to destroy themselves unless there’s no other option.”
“Antimatter? What’s that?” Twilight asked hesitant to know the answer, now that she knew it could ‘shatter’ the planet under her hooves.
I frowned slightly. “Particles with an opposite...charge to normal matter. When these two forms of matter meet, they do so in a most violent reaction that results in the utter annihilation of both and with an extremely high energy yield.” The two equines regarded me with abject horror, to which I sighed, bringing my hand over my heart and my eyes low, “Don’t worry. By my honor, it will not come to that.”
Shal Gmat once again bowed his head, his hand upon his heart. “I take upon this burden so that you need not… I take upon the evils of this world, so you need not.”
I took a step forward to recite the second half. “I suffer these blows so you need not… I accept the fall, so you need not.” I looked back up into Princess Luna’s awestruck eyes and smiled serenely, “This is what it means to be Warrior Caste, to serve.”
Twilight looked uncomfortable, perhaps ready to protest, only she could not bring herself to do so.
Luna sighed then and took a step forward. “We shall collect the Elements of Harmony and lead you to where the demon is.”
“No, ma’am. You just point us in the right direction and we’ll see it done.” I shook my head, defying the princess and earning a stern glare that would’ve wilted lesser men, but years living with Karai Negai had hardened my nerve.
“You swore that your life was mine.” Luna returned, reminding me of my oath, “I call upon you to follow me. For the slight against my sister and the lives of my subjects, they will be revenged.” She declared with a snort and a look of wrath that was all too familiar to me.
I took a deep breath and nodded in defeat. “Ao Imperatus Domina.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Keep moving forward! Not one step back!” I bellowed, as our mixed forces cut through the horde of shadow beasts that surrounded the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. I might’ve been in awe of the structure, if not for the shadows leaping from the ramparts and towers, to glide down after us like shadowy bats. “On high, on high!”
Shoulder to withers, I fought side by side Luna, her fearsome war-scythe that seemed to defy all sense of rationality, hew shadow beings like so much wheat in her telekinetic grasp. I had long since abandoned my Hata for sabre, favoring staying in her shadow, on her weak-side - though I hesitate to call any side of the rolling nightmare ‘weak’.
Raspy cries and wails filled the air as Hata-fire and magic energy provided our force with a sufficient base of fire, doing their best to thin the inhuman wave of darkness and hate. It did not silence their screams, however, when a lucky shadow managed to eek through the withering hail-fire and close the gap, cutting down another of our own. There was simply no time to concern ourselves with such things. If the demon managed to succeed…
If only the damn ponies had let us scorch these damned trees. I swore to myself as yet another shadow attempted to leap from upon high, down upon the Princess at my side.
“Ha-ha! We have not had to fight like this in more than a thousand years!” Luna laughed in the face of her foes, as if she were not fighting for her life as the rest of us were. Indeed, even her seemingly impenetrable armor had seen its fair share of battle damage, as she waded into the darkness as if invincible. Then again, it was hard to say she wasn’t, the wounds she must’ve sustained didn’t seem to faze her in the slightest.
“Remember, Princess, thou are but mortal!” I chuckled; a part of me had to agree with her admittedly insane sentiment, a part of me was more alive than I had been in ages. The sound of metal against metal drew my eyes to the fore and I was suddenly staring down the barrel of a cast-steel bombard canon. All color fled my face as I realized whom the bore was aimed at, “Luna!”
No sensation even registered as Luna’s form was violently replaced with my own, only a bright flash of light and then the world went white. Nothing ached, nothing hurt, nothing. Just nothing. This was it? Once again I failed. Maybe this time I actually managed to save someone’s life? Against a large bore cannon? Right...
Get up. A disembodied voice screamed within the nothingness. Get up! You’re not done yet!
That was when I felt my lungs fill with air and a high-pitched whistle settled over me. Everything ached, but nothing felt broken. The positively foul taste of confetti filled my mouth and as comprehension slowly flooded over me, part of me wanted to laugh. The Party Cannon. I shielded Luna from Pinkie Pie’s Party Cannon…
“Asto! Asto!” I heard my name called out as if from a distance.
I smiled weakly and my hand instinctively found one of her legs. “Here…” I reassured her weakly, only for her to squeeze my form tightly.
Finally managing to open my eyes, the violet neck of Equestria’s prettiest purple princess pulled away, her own pretty pools regarding me worriedly. “Asto are you alright!?”
As the sound of fighting all around slowly filled my ears once more, I wondered if the fighting had abated. “What’s happening?” I instead answered.
“Luna’s mopping up the last of the shadows.” Twilight reassured me, “After Pinkie showed up...well…”
“Pinkie?” I mumbled confusedly, not so surprised by the fact that it was her, but by how she had gotten into the Everfree Forest.
Right about then a pink mane attached to a pink head popped up over Twilight’s neck, her expression looking rather sheepish. “Sorry~” She tittered guiltily.
“You hit me?” I asked incredulously to which she nodded, looking even more sheepish.
How did the mare fit into the cannon? No, don’t ask such questions. Down yonder road leads madness. I warned myself, before loosing a chuckle-sigh. I wasn’t shot by Pinkie Pie’s Party Cannon, I was shot by Pinkie Pie from her Party Cannon. That explained a few things…especially the taste of confetti in my mouth. Which left me with the question, where did my helmet end up?
“The shadows fled when Pinkie Pie was reunited with us.” Twilight explained.
“That makes sense, I doubt that they would survive a blast from the Elements of Harmony.” I mused, struggling weakly to sit, “H-help me up.”
“No, the medic said you should lay down, that you had a concussion.” Twilight insisted, a hoof on my tender chest.
“I am Danarian, a Ne Ni Nei. Do not think that I’m about to lay down while my enemy yet breathes.” I fired back sharply, “Hell no! Let me up, we need to move, to press the advantage.”
In my hurry to get up, I never heard the quiet that came with the end of the fighting, nor did I hear the pair of silver horseshoes that stopped near my head. What I did feel was a pair of large lips against my own and the dark-indigo underside of the royal muzzle. So stunned was I that I barely realized what had happened, until she had pulled back slightly and her eyes were regarding mine.
“Consider your debt repaid.” She spoke sweetly to me, rattling my mind back into gear, only the confusion must’ve been evident for she continued, “Though I doubt that the posterior of Laughter would’ve injured me, you threw yourself into the path thinking it would.”
“You...kissed me.” I stated utterly bewildered.
Luna kicked her head up in a whinnying laugh. “Yes, that is usually what one does when they find another attractive, is it not?”
I looked to Twilight with a pleading expression, to help me understand what was going on, only she shook her head, seeming to be as surprised as I. In reality, she was more surprised with the Princess’ choice in timing than the declaration itself. When that sentiment was gleamed through our link, I was both shocked and surprised. I had never known, let alone suspected the princess felt thusly…
“I’m flattered…” I murmured, feeling a definite need to have a long talk with my lover, if we all survived this. “Now, help me up...my task is not yet complete.” The ponies regarded me incredulously as I began to rise. Noticing their expressions, once more upon my feet, I smiled. “I take upon these evils…”
“Tau Niem, you should rest.” Luna insisted with a concerned expression.
I shook my head. “No. I didn’t fight once before, once when I had the chance to protect those I loved and cared for. When my courage was tested, it was not others I failed so much...but myself.” My heavy eyes regarded Luna’s own, “You know what that feels like, failing yourself, don’t you?”
Luna took a deep breath and regarded the ground between us, before nodding.
“Asto, this won’t bring her back.” Twilight whispered from beside me, her eyes wide and full of concern for my well-being.
“I know…” I sighed, looking down at her and affectionately scratching behind her ear, trying to alleviate her stress, “But it might just bring me back...and in the end, I think that’s what she’d want more than anything.”
Pinkie trembled strangely upon her hooves, it was a Pinkie Sense that she had never felt before, it was one that frightened her. “Tau-” She started but I was already looking at her, my serious expression silencing her.
“I know,” I sighed in acceptance and looked to the darkened sky, “...but I’m done running. If I’m to die here and enter the halls of my ancestors, then I do so without regret.” I suddenly slapped the dust off of my robes with both hands, startling the assembled ponies. “Where are my weapons? I’ve wasted enough time.”
The far side of the castle exploded outward, toppling more than an acre of forest, as flying rock rendered so many trees to pulp. The thunderous roar of crashing stone caused the assembled ponies to tense in shock, my own head snapping to it in concert with them. There was a moment of relative silence as nothing but the reverberating roar of the cataclysm rolled over us.
“Ah suppose at least now we know where the big-bad is…” Applejack's voice suddenly piped up from beside me.
Twisting around to look at her, I saw the rest of the mane-six converging on us from elsewhere. Reaching down, I swiped Applejack’s hat and placed it on my head.
“Eight is a fortuitous number.” I offered the blond maned mare an affectionate ruffling of her hair, earning a deep frown from her that caused me to return her hat to her head, “It looks better on you anyway.” I smiled to her, before looking to the mares that had turned to regard the two of us.
“We should away, our forces press on without us as we speak.” Luna declared frankly, earning a soft nod from me.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Into the castle we charged, the toll for pressing through to the home stretch was proving enormous. If only there was some other way...but there wasn’t and there wasn’t the time to dwell on it, especially when the enemy could simply pull the walls down upon us if they thought they were going to lose. This only led to us being more reckless, storming groups of shadow beings before they could do so. Not that it stopped them from trying on more than one occasion, and on the last, the only thing that saved us was the two Princess’ quick reflexes.
Though the mane six merely teleported to safety, when Luna looked to me, she knew she simply could not do the same. Closing her eyes, she tackled me bodily, taking me off my feet and throwing me aside using her own mass. My ears rang, my head spun, but as soon as the vertigo became manageable, I looked up and could not see her. Dust filled my vision thoroughly, causing me to cough violently - or was that the newly bruised ribs? Crawling forward, into the unknown, I clambered over rubble, feeling about for the Princess. The girls called out for us as they slowly made to follow, now searching for both of us. Then I felt it, the unmistakable feeling of the Princess of the Night’s astral mane, and it was just as I remembered it.
Rainbow Dash was the first to run into us in the thinning cloud, promptly pressing into my side and trying to urge me to move, while I was still trying to assess Luna’s injuries.
“I’m alright, but I need to check on the Princess, before we try and move her.” I tried to calm the pegasus with a hand upon her withers.
“It’s too dangerous, the whole thing could come down upon us!” Rainbow barked, before coughing.
She was right, but I wasn’t about to move a potentially injured patient, for fear of doing more harm. “Twilight, Rarity! We need your help!” I called out, only to join Rainbow Dash in a coughing fit of my own.
“Fluttershy, help me clear this smoke!” Twilight cried out, trying to keep herself from the coughing fit that Rainbow Dash and I were having.
The meek pegasus squeaked at being put on the spot, but did her best to join her friend in making enough of a wind to clear the biting cloud of pulverized rock-dust. Though it was less than efficient, seeing as it had to go somewhere, they did manage to clear the air enough to see that Luna still breathed. It was with a deep sigh of relief that I collapsed over the Princess’ withers, tiredly offering the mare a squeeze. Applejack was the one that confirmed what I already knew, as she knelt before our unconscious leader - Luna was alive, if incapacitated. The lot of us managed to move the Princess free and carry her back to the open hall we had entered from, putting us back at step-one.
Seeing that Luna was safe where the rest of the few casualties had begun to assemble, I did my best to keep quiet until I had left her behind. With a roar, I let out my hate. It took all the discipline I had not to lose my head. There is something primal inside a man that can’t stand seeing a woman being hurt, and in my case, it clearly extended to mares as well.
“Tau Niem.” Never before in my life had I felt a tremor of pure fear from the simple act of stating my name, yet something instinctual warned me to be wary of this being.
“Aul Discord.” I responded in a steely voice, frozen in place.
There was a brief pause and I swear I could sense his brow raising in curiosity. “I am no god.” He finally replied flatly.
Turning around, I saw the serpentine creature regarding me coolly from one of the columns that adorned the passage. We regarded each other with flat expressions, as enemies now forced to work together for a common purpose.
“Make no mistake, there is no reverence left in that word.” I retorted bluntly, eyeing him suspiciously, “I don’t trust your ‘reformation’ for one second, betrayer.” I hissed.
My words caused the creature pause, before he sneered as if...proud. “It was your choice that brought my kin to your home, just as it was theirs’ that brought me here…”
Taking a step toward him, I narrowed my eyes. “Regardless, Scion of Chaos, I refuse to be your tool. I aid you in this for the same reason you aid the ponies, because I must.”
Discord uncoiled himself from the pillar to float before me, an almost unsettlingly serious expression upon his muzzle. “You knew this was my plan from the beginning.”
I nodded. “When the ponies revealed you had been released, I knew you were involved somehow.” I paused to take a deep breath, “You know, you could’ve just asked for help.” I informed him with my eyes closed and an ironic smile upon my face.
“I still can’t believe you renounced your own people.”
I frowned and then shook my head. “I’m not done wandering yet.”
There was a moment of silence between us, before I opened my eyes and looked at him pleadingly. “Just promise me one thing, Betrayer. Promise me that whatever happens you will keep them safe.”
“Tau Niem…?” The voice of my mare called out, desperately searching for me.
“I’m over here!” I turned my head and called back.
A claw was upon my shoulder. “If that is your price~” His voice hissed in triumph.
As quickly as he came, he was gone.
“Luna’s going to be alright.” Twilight assured me, correctly assuming that was the reason why I had left, only to look past me and smile, “You found a way around?”
Without looking back, I nodded, playing along with the farce that was Discord. “I think so.”
Walking back to Twilight, I wrapped my arms around her neck, pulling her head into my belly. “Whatever happens, I want you to know I love you, Twily.” My words elicited a calming purr from her, “I don’t know how, but I promise I’ll get you through this.”
“Us. Get us through this.” She murmured in response, nuzzling me.
At the sound of clopping hooves approaching, I tapped her neck and she released me. The two of us shared a smile, before the other five of her friends joined us, each of them offering me a sheepishly hopeful smile.
“I suspect that the demon is right through there.” I proclaimed without embellishment.
Applejack narrowed her eyes, sensing that I was withholding something, yet the orange mare did not speak her suspicions. Part of that might have been the subtle nod I gave her, acknowledging that fact...or the fact that I turned to kneel before Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy, I need you to understand something.” I spoke to her in a serious manner that made her tense up, but also granted her confidence, before offering everyone a quick glance, “The beings that live beyond the veil, within the land of shadow are not bad, but evil. There is no chance of redemption. Once this fight begins, we will be fighting for our lives and those of everyone you know.” Fluttershy seemed to shrink, as did Twilight, only for me to smile, “I want you to know, no matter what nightmares we face beyond that door, we do so as friends. Nothing will change that. Nothing.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
What awaited us changed everything. Generation after generation of Danarians were taught that what lived beyond was nothing but shadows, beings that shunned the light and lurked in darkness. Beings too hideous to stand seeing themselves, so their lives became lies that consumed them, until they became lies… The red-coated mare that stood expectantly in the room was anything but that. I had expected to see her as she was in the throne-room when this had all started - a horrifying monster of shadow - and though I knew that was her true form, the skin she wore was off putting...and not just to me, but each of the girls seemed ill at ease at her appearance as well.
“Expecting someone else~?” Not-Satos trilled in a sweet, yet chastising voice.
“Something else, more like it.” Applejack retorted sharply, before I could.
“Ouch.” The demon simpered, “That doesn’t seem very friendly.”
“I think revealing your true colors in Canterlot might have had something to do with that.” I retorted bluntly.
“I suppose that is true.” The demon simpered once again.
“You have two choices here, Demon. You can retire from this futile endeavor and return from whence you came.” I warned her in an even tone.
“Or~?”
“You misunderstand, that is both choices.” I smirked, likewise earning a matching one from Rainbow Dash, “Your choice is how much of our revenge we get in the process.”
“Tau…” Rarity murmured, gaining my attention.
Turning about, along with the rest of the girls, we saw more of her shadow minions crawling down the walls, dripping from the shadows like muddy paint. Furthermore, the portal we had travelled through was absent, trapping us.
“Extinguish the lights!” I barked desperately.
“But-” Rainbow Dash protested.
“Do it!”
Even as Rainbow protested, Twilight’s horn glowed brilliantly, before snuffing out each of the lights in the room, plunging us into utter darkness. Fluttershy was instantly beginning to pant heavily, moving toward hyperventilation.
“How are we supposed to fight it now?” Rainbow asked skeptically, looking in the direction she had last seen me.
“It’s a being of shadow, it needs light to spawn in its minions. In the darkness it is vulnerable.” I explained patiently, calmly.
“Vulnerable? I don’t know about that~” Not-Satos trilled slowly, menacingly; her voice seeming to come from everywhere at once, “You see, this is our natural habitat.”
“Tau Niem…” Applejack quietly called my name looking for reassurance.
“This one is of the Fobos...a fear-demon.” I explained, “Without her minions she cannot physically hurt us.”
“Why am I not reassured…?” Applejack asked warily.
“Physically~?” Twilight enunciated slowly.
“Hey, one thing at a time~” I urged her encouragingly.
Only the demon started to laugh in a soft, yet cackling, taunting tone.
“T-Tau... it’s not so funny when it’s the ghosties laughing.” Pinkie whined in a soft voice, and though I couldn’t see it, the six girls had clearly butted themselves back-to-back in self-defense.
“Stay strong, Pinkie Pie.” I urged her, “It’s just playing on our fears.”
“I have not yet begun to play on your fears.” The demon trilled once more.
“N-no...no...no… not a musical!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed frantically in horror.
“Rainbow, dear it’s just-” Rarity began, only to suddenly stop, “No...how? Stripes? Tau Niem, how could you!?”
“Rarity, Dash, snap out of it!” Twilight then bumped her friends audibly upon their heads; and if the sound of them physically shaking out of it was any indication, it worked.
That was about the moment I heard it moving about around me, my head slowly tracking the noise as it went.
“It’s only a matter of time until I figure out where you are and when that happens, I’m going to end you, Demon.” I spoke evenly to it.
“Ah, but how long do you think your friends can hold out?” She purred back, “How long do you think you will hold out? Yes, that’s right, I know your fears. I can feel each one of them and they are many~” At her words, I swallowed, I had not thought about that and the worst part is she was right - I was afraid. “Not so talkative now, are we…?”
“I am imagining my hands around your throat~” I admitted coolly.
“Are you now~?” She giggled sadistically, “Or are you imagining your friends dying, just as you let her die~”
Out from the darkness, my greatest fear was shown to me, my worst nightmares realized before my eyes. Lain out before me in that smoke filled corridor, was the body of my wife, and Twilight and each of the friends I had made in Equestria. In that moment, my blood ran through my veins like ice-water. I shook and shivered, I could feel the terror sapping the strength from my limbs, just as the abomination of machine and flesh came back around the corner, its red, jelly eyes promising death. Teeth of metal flashed as it lunged at me and once again, I stood frozen, staring down my death, unable to move. Claws reached out of the shadow to clutch my heart, its teeth to gore my throat. There was no malice in those mechanical eyes, no hate, no fear, no loathing, just the promise of death. In that instant, the demon struck, the two of us colliding in a meeting of flesh and bone, and corporeal shadow. Stillness fell between us, my arm around its neck, staring into its eyes as a look of shock came over it. Slowly, it looked down to see the blade in its belly.
“My greatest fear is letting it control me again~” I whispered to the demon, pulling it close, “Now! On me!”
I twisted my entire frame about as the abomination glared back at six-pairs of glowing-white eyes, hovering off the floor. For a fraction of a second it wailed in dread as it stared down its own demise, before the power of the Elements of Harmony washed over us. Two voices cried out in the darkness made light by the prismatic-wave, before the world was rocked asunder…
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Twilight was on fire. Her entire body ached from the blast that had resulted from...something. Honestly, everything was a little jumbled at the moment. With a cough, she cleared her lungs and found herself able to breathe. It was about that time that her brain informed her that she was not in fact on fire, but rather that she had been scorched in some kind of magical blast.
“E-everyone…?” Twilight whimpered loudly over her ringing ears.
A chorus of acknowledging-grunts came back to her.
“I think I twisted a wing…” Rainbow Dash groaned.
“I landed on my horn.” Pinkie groused.
“That was my horn.” Rarity quipped indignantly at the pink mare atop her.
“Sorry~” Pinkie returned sheepishly, rolling off of her friend.
Still, Twilight couldn’t see anything through this damned dust. For a moment, she wondered where it had all come from, before looking up to see part of the roof was missing. It hadn’t fallen, it was simply gone. Suppressing a coughing fit, Twilight lit her horn to try and blow away the nasty, stinging powdered-rock that bit at her sensitive throat. As the cloud cleared, she could finally make out a pair of struggling figures in the center of the room.
“Tau Niem…?” Twilight murmured, taking to her hooves. As she began her first hobbling steps toward them, she managed a glimpse of what was going on. Before her was Tau Niem and in his arms, was the struggling form the demon had taken on, violently trying to claw its way free. “Asto!” She shouted fearfully and darted forward.
The beast looked to her and emitted a mechanical whine, before redoubling its efforts to escape. With a sickening snap, one of his arms fell to the ground with a clatter and the monster skittered off toward the shadows.
Twilight’s shout became a desperate-scream as she leapt toward his falling form, using her wings to propel herself toward him...but it was not to be. Just outside hoof’s grasp, he hit the floor and shattered like a vase knocked off an end table. Crashing upon him with a dreadful shriek, she began collecting the fragments that had been his body. A forearm, his head, a hand, pulling each marble piece into her breast with tearful sobs. Only with each piece, she noticed that he was continuing to splinter into smaller and smaller pieces. At this rate there would be nothing left.
It was the sound of metal upon metal that snapped her from her from her mourning and when her eyes fell upon AJ and Dash standing over the metal-skeleton, pounding on it, something in the young mare snapped. In a rage, she abandoned the crumbling form of Tau Niem, sprinting over toward the corner where the two other mares had it subdued. With a savage snarl, she knocked them aside and began anew, her tears fueling her rage, giving her each stomp an unnatural strength. With the world dead to her, she never heard the warning voice of the pink mare that tackled her bodily away from the downed thing.
“Twilight, stop!” Pinkie Pie commanded in an unusually serious tone.
Whatever rage Twilight might have still felt, her confusion trumped it and the anger she felt at the pink mare for stopping her. It made her pause just long enough to actually hear what was going on, including the gasps of shock from her other marefriends. Pinkie couldn’t bear to watch as Twilight’s ears and then eyes were turned toward the creature on the floor. The noises it made were dreadful, shrill, ear-rending things that Twilight quickly realized were sobs. Then she heard it faint as a whisper…
“Don’t-don’t let her see me…” A small, tinny voice pleaded from within the mangled pile.
“A-Asto…?”