The thunk of a knife making contact with something wooden could be heard even from where Fluttershy stood outside the room. Slightly nervously, she opened the door into the room. A pink Earth Pony stood in the middle of the room, which had wooden targets covering all of the walls. Fluttershy approached the pony cautiously.
“...Pinkie Pie?” she said. The pony turned, revealing her face to Fluttershy. It was definitely Pinkie, but her appearance was… off. Her hair all hung straight, like a curtain, over her face, and her eyes had a cold, dead look in them. Even her skin had more of a grey tone than usual.
“Hello Fluttershy,” she said, without the slightest bit of enthusiasm in her once bubbly, light voice. “It’s been a while.”
“Pinkie-- what-- how are you doing?” Fluttershy fumbled.
“I’m doing great,” Pinkie said, though her face said otherwise as she glowered at Fluttershy. “I’ve mastered throwing knives.”
Without warning, an enormous knife appeared in Pinkie’s right hoof. She turned and hurled it at one of the wooden targets highest up on the wall. It soared through the air faster than Fluttershy could track it’s progress, striking the exact center of the target with a loud thunk a split second later. Fluttershy’s eyes widened.
“I haven’t missed a target since the first day of training,” Pinkie said, staring around at the walls, which were covered in her knives.
“Have you seen Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, worry in her tone. She may have been a hardened military commander, but that didn’t mean her other personality had completely vanished. Right now, her only concern was for her remaining close friends.
“No,” Pinkie Pie said, flatly. “I haven’t seen anyone.”
“Why not?” Fluttershy said, surprised.
“Too busy training,” Pinkie said.
“Pinkie,” Fluttershy began, “that… that can’t be good for you! You don’t need to train every second of every day!”
“The railroad system is gone,” Pinkie said. “We’re in for the fight of our lives. Training is the only important thing right now. Survival is the only important thing right now. If you’ll step outside for a minute, I need to run my full practice.”
She turned away from Fluttershy, yelling to a pony that Fluttershy couldn’t see, “Prepare the full practice!” Fluttershy ran to the door, but didn’t leave, wanting to see what Pinkie was about to do.
All of the targets vanished from the walls, and there was silence for a minute or two. Then, one by one, illusions of ponies and various monsters began appearing in the room. But they hadn’t even been there two seconds before one of Pinkie’s knives found a home in their chest. Each illusion collapsed to the ground, as they all received fatal injuries. Fluttershy stared in amazement as Pinkie killed at least sixty illusions in less than a minute. Where she was hiding so many knives, Fluttershy had no idea, but she appeared to have more than enough. The illusions stopped, and Fluttershy watched as Pinkie hurled a knife straight for her. If she hadn’t been paying attention, she would’ve been just as dead as all of the illusionary ponies. But luckily for her, she moved fast enough to see the knife travel right past her head, hitting the wall behind her with a clatter.
“Oh my gosh,” Pinkie said, finally showing an emotion; concern. She rushed over to Fluttershy.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I thought you were another illusion!”
“Pinkie, this isn’t healthy,” Fluttershy said, choosing to not comment on her near-death experience. “It’s amazing that you can do that, but you need to take a break.”
Pinkie wanted to argue, but she knew Fluttershy was right. She sighed in defeat.
“All right,” she said.
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“How many?” Celestia asked. “How many cities have fallen today?”
“Too many to count,” Ventus replied, his head in his hooves. “Fillydelphia, Baltimare, Detrot, Hoofington, Cloudsdale…”
“How on earth are they moving so fast?” Celestia asked, pacing about the room. “It shouldn’t be physically possible.”
“I don’t know, but at this rate, Equestria won’t even last three more days,” Ventus said. “Without the railroads, we can’t move anypony anywhere fast enough to be of any help.”
“I can use solar transport,” Celestia said, “but it takes too much out of me for it to become the main mode of transportation. I can only use it about once a day.”
“Shall I gather Fluttershy and her squadron?” Ventus asked, finally taking his hooves off of his face. “We’re still moving them, right?”
“Yes,” Celestia replied, looking grim. “I’ll move them using solar transport. Go find them.”
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In Twilight’s hospital room, Pinkie stood in the middle of the three, looking downcast. Fluttershy stood beside Twilight’s bed, as they stared at the pink earth pony.
“...I’m sorry,” Pinkie said, looking at them. “I’m sorry I’ve been hiding from you both.”
“It’s all right, Pinkie,” Twilight said, soothingly. “Just don’t hide anymore, all right?”
“Why were you hiding from us?” Fluttershy asked. Pinkie took a few moments to respond.
“...Not from you,” she mumbled. “I wasn’t hiding because of you.”
“For what, then?” Twilight pressed.
“I…” she gulped, hard, before the words came tumbling out of her.
“...I was hiding from myself. From the truth. I didn’t want to face the grief. The pain… or the fear. I wanted to detach myself from it all.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“But the truth is… I’m lost inside. And… and I’m scared.”
Her voice began trembling.
“I’m scared as hell, and there’s nothing I can do! Our friends are gone, and they’re not coming back! I can’t do it! I can’t be brave like you all are! I don’t want to die!”
Her resolve finally broke, and she burst into tears. Fluttershy held her in her arms, letting her release the emotions she had blocked out for so long. Several minutes later, Pinkie’s sobs subsided into just tears.
“...Thank you guys,” Pinkie said, wiping her eyes as she withdrew from Fluttershy’s embrace. “I needed that.”
“Withheld emotions become stronger over time,” a new voice said. “While you don’t have to experience them immediately, they can come to destroy you in the long run.”
Ventus smiled at Pinkie, who looked surprised to see him.
“How long were you standing there?” Twilight asked, having not noticed the stallion.
“Only about thirty seconds,” Ventus said, indifferently. “Commander Fluttershy, the Princess wants a word with you in the throne room.”
“Oh... all right,” Fluttershy said, confused. She stood and exited the room, waving over her shoulder at her two friends. They waved back, as she walked down the hallway away from them. Next, the doctors came in, and ordered Pinkie Pie and Ventus out so they could do work on Twilight. Reluctantly, the pair left the room.
“I’m sorry you had to see me like that,” Pinkie said, awkwardly.
“We all need to cry sometimes,” Ventus shrugged. “Like I said, ignoring your feelings hurts way worse in the long run.”
“I’ll have to remember that,” Pinkie said, as they walked down the corridor together.
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A day passed by, and they received even more reports of fallen cities. Fluttershy and her entire squadron were sent to Ponyville via solar transport, but Celestia wouldn’t tell Twilight or Pinkie that. She told them she was giving Fluttershy a few jobs to do, so the demon wouldn’t be able to find out where she had gone.
“Why is Sombra so fixated on destroying the Elements of Harmony?” Ventus asked Celestia in a private conversation. “I mean, once the Element of Honesty died, the rest were rendered ineffective, right?”
“Correct,” Celestia said. “I don’t know why myself, but it’s better to keep them safe. If we can somehow survive this mess for another two weeks, the new element bearers should be chosen, and we can destroy Sombra.”
The doctors soon came to inform Celestia that Twilight had been restored to full health and functionality. Celestia brought Twilight to the throne room to relay her new orders.
“I’ve been lying to you, Twilight,” she said. “I haven’t been giving Fluttershy work to do. She and her squadron have been reassigned to Ponyville.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Twilight asked, confused and slightly hurt at the revelation.
“I don’t want the demon knowing we did it,” Celestia said. “Which is why I’m reassigning you to Ponyville as well. You need to leave immediately. Unfortunately, without my solar transport or the railroad system, you’ll need to go on hoof.”
“I can make it,” Twilight said, confidently. “I’ll leave right now.”
“That would be excellent,” Celestia said. Then, surprising Twilight slightly, she walked forward and embraced her student.
“Be careful, Twilight,” she said.
“I will, Princess,” Twilight replied, as Celestia released her. “I will.”
Twilight, not having anything she needed to pack, departed immediately, heading through the now-empty city towards the Everfree Forest. Celestia watched her go with a sick, twisting feeling in her stomach. She felt that she would never see her student again, which was entirely likely, given the circumstances. She shook it off, and walked back to the throne room.
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Pinkie Pie walked down the road, kicking a loose pebble as she did so. She had tried to find Twilight after she had been discharged from intensive care, but couldn’t find her anywhere. Now that she wasn’t avoiding them, she was dying to see either one of her friends.
Who’s hiding now? she thought to herself, not really paying attention to where she was going.
Without knowing how she got up there, she found herself on top of one of the enormous buildings. She had a view of the entire city just from where she stood. She stared out into the fields and the Everfree Forest beneath the city, unseeingly. The clouds overhead were a pale, storm-cloud grey. So at first, when she saw a speck of black in the sky, she didn’t register what it meant. But as it drew closer, she realized just how fast it was moving.
“Is that… is that Sombra?!” she exclaimed, as her knee suddenly grew pinchy - the sign of something scary about to happen.
Her question was answered when she saw a large number of monsters beginning to pour out of the Everfree Forest. Immediately, she jumped up and streaked back towards the palace, running as fast as she could. A minute later, she burst through the palace doors, frantically searching for anypony to warn. She almost ran headlong into Iron Hooves in her panic.
“What’s wrong?” He asked, looking concerned.
“Sombra…” Pinkie panted, “Attacking… Canterlot… any second…”
Iron Hooves, looking scared, ran off. A moment later, the city alarm system was triggered. Pinkie grabbed one of her many knives, and clenched it hard in her hoof.
This is it, she thought to herself. It's all or nothing now.
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Ventus burst through the doors to the throne room, galloping towards Celestia at full speed.
“Princess, what’s going on?” he asked, panic in his voice.
“Sombra’s forces are approaching from the northeast,” Celestia said. “My magic shield should protect us for a while, but I don’t know how long I can hold it.”
The throne room doors burst open once again, and a surprisingly calm-looking Iron Hooves crossed the threshold.
“Iron Hooves?” Celestia seemed surprised. “Why aren’t you--”
She cut off, as she inhaled sharply. Iron Hooves had blinked.
And his eyes had turned blood-red. Not just the iris - the pupils had turned as well.
“Demon,” Ventus breathed.
The demon’s eyes hardened on Celestia. Next moment, she was flying through the air as if snagged by an invisible hook. She landed roughly at Iron Hooves’ feet.
“No!” Ventus cried, rushing forward. The demon raised a hoof, and attempted to fling Ventus aside as though he were a ragdoll. To it’s immense surprise, however, Ventus remained firmly planted on the ground, even after the demon’s second attempt. Instead, it grabbed Celestia, and pulled her with it as it glided back several yards through the air.
“That’s close enough,” the demon said, holding Celestia up on her back hooves without touching her. It didn’t even bother to warp it’s voice: it was feeding on the combined fear of every single pony in Canterlot. Ventus stopped dead, staring into the demon’s red eyes.
“Well, you’re certainly interesting,” the demon remarked, smiling evilly. “What are you?”
“Shut your mouth,” Ventus snarled, maliciously.
“Ooh, not very polite, are you?” the demon said, smiling even wider with Iron Hooves’ teeth. “I’ll just have to see for myself, then.”
The red eyes flashed, and Ventus felt an eerily familiar feeling in his mind, similar to his own dark powers. He was easily able to push it down and out of him. The demon looked shocked now.
“You’re not pony,” it said, shaking it’s head. “There’s no way a pony could’ve done that.”
“Why are you helping Sombra?” Ventus asked. “What’s in it for you?”
“You don’t know how hard it is for demons to exist outside of our realm, do you?” it said, glaring at him now. “Almost everywhere else knows exactly how to destroy us. Equestria is ideal, but there’s the small problem of the Elements of Harmony.”
“The Elements are useless now,” Ventus said, through gritted teeth. “You should know that; you’re the one who killed Honesty!”
“If so much as one of the Elements exists in this land,” the demon continued, “then my… less powerful friends can’t get in. Why do you think demonic activity here is so uncommon? I’m using Sombra to build a better world for my race, where we can exist without any outside interference.”
“I swear, I will tear each and every one of you apart,” Ventus snarled.
“Ventus, don--” Celestia began, but the demon twisted it’s hoof, and her voice shut off as though someone had hit mute on the television set.
“Shut your mouth, you light-worshiping whore,” the demon said, malevolently, before grinning evilly at Ventus once again.
“Anything you do will only hurt this body, and only after I leave it,” it said. “I have all of the power here. In fact, why don’t I give you a little demonstration?”
Before Ventus could react, the demon punched at Celestia, and a horrible rushing wind swept the room, almost as though death itself was rushing at Celestia. Her heart stopped, and she fell to the ground, as both the magic shield surrounding Canterlot and the sun vanished, leaving Equestria still lit, but with a much more grey light than before.
“No!” Ventus screamed, as the demon threw Celestia’s dead body out of one of the palace windows. He fell to the ground, overcome with grief. “No…”
“Now,” the demon continued, as though nothing had happened, “I can’t have you messing around with my plans, but my power doesn’t seem to work on you. I guess I’ll just have to get creative with how I kill--”
”Do you know how dead you are, you son of a bitch?” Ventus snarled, his now-distorted voice much deeper than before. He felt his own dark forces stirring, stronger than they ever had before. Except, this time, for the first time in a century, he wasn’t planning on doing a damn thing about it. The demon’s eyes widened in shock.
”You killed the mare who might as well be my mother,” Ventus said. It was almost time. He could feel his eyes trembling, begging for it to happen.
”What say you, we have a face-off…”
He let the darkness take over, and his eyes went pitch-black. Not even the whiteness outside of the iris remained, unlike the full-blooded demon across from him.
”...Demon on Demon?”
Never had any demon looked as terrified as the one in Iron Hooves now did.
“No,” it said, taking several hasty paces back. “This isn’t possible! You can’t be! You’re not the--”
He was cut off, as Ventus moved his eyes and sent the demon smashing into the ground. It tried to move, and couldn't.
"Pathetic," Ventus said, with a much more evil smile than any the demon had previously made. He raised a hoof, and Iron Hooves began to gag. The demon tried to fight it, but it was no match for the demonic half of Ventus, which was not only feeding on the fear of the entire city, but also on the real demon's fear.
Iron Hooves' eyes and mouth opened, and black smoke began pouring out of them. Ventus easily forced the demon away from Iron Hooves.
"You should have stayed where you came from," Ventus snarled, his deep distorted voice as menacing as ever. "I'm going to rip you apart from the inside. Then I'll put you back together, good as new, so I can do it again. And again. And again..."
But at that precise moment, the demon barely managed to break free of Ventus' grasp. It flew as fast as it could out of the broken window.
"You can't hide that easily," Ventus said. He walked to the window, and burst apart into smoke. Not smoke like King Sombra's dark magic, but a real, demonic dark cloud. He tore out of the window, following in the demon's wake.
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As Sombra approached the palace, he knew something was wrong. He could sense the demon in the place; he was familiar with it's aura. But he sensed another power. Something much darker, much more evil, much more powerful, and much more terrifying than the demon he knew.
What could be doing that? he wondered. The demon said it's the only one in Equestria at the--
He stopped, as he heard the unmistakable sound of a knife flying towards him through the air. If he had stood there a spit second longer, he would have been dead. But he just managed to move aside fast enough to avoid death. He turned to look at his assailant, as Pinkie Pie hurled another straight at him. Again, he only just avoided death.
Pinkie kept him busy, hurling knife after knife at him. He didn't have time to cast any spells, as the concentration he needed for them would slow him down too much. But after a minute, he decided to chance it. He charged his horn, preparing to burst into smoke.
A knife struck him in the side, the searing pain distracting him. He spun sideways, as two more knives grazed him in the sides. Instead of taking off, he turned and ran for it. Pinkie chased after him, determined to destroy her wounded prey, as two dark clouds burst out of the palace window ahead.
The demon flew hard away from Ventus, but it couldn't move fast enough, and without a pony to possess, it couldn't go anywhere. It could only run from Ventus' fury, but he wasn't making it too easy for it. Ventus constantly sent psychic blows at the demon, forcing it to change directions when it didn't want to. The pair of them flew right over Sombra, who looked up at them as he ran.
Two?! he thought in surprise, but he couldn't keep looking up. He was getting slightly ahead of Pinkie Pie, and he turned a corner to see a group of shadow ponies trying to break into some buildings, dead bodies of soldiers lying in the street. Sombra forced several of them back between himself and Pinkie, and as she rounded the corner, her knives struck them instead.
Pinkie swore. Sombra was nowhere to be seen. Only the shadow ponies remained, and they seemed to be immune to her attacks. She had no choice but to turn and run in the opposite direction, desperate to find some unicorns to kill the shadows, as the two dark clouds of smoke flew overhead again.
The demon changed direction quite suddenly, catching Ventus a bit off-guard. He compensated, now about a second and a half behind. The demon swept down to the street, and shrouded the body of a dead unicorn soldier on the road. It stood on the soldier's hooves right as Ventus arrived. And as Ventus transformed back into his pony self, the demon summoned its dark corridor. Before Ventus could stop it, it stepped into the darkness, and it vanished. It had escaped.
"Buck!" Ventus swore nastily, kicking over a nearby light pole in fury. As he did so, Pinkie Pie emerged from an alleyway ten feet from him. One look at his black eyes was all she needed. Her knife flew through the air, finding a home in Ventus' chest. He looked down at it in curiosity, as the black receded from his eyes slowly, his clear blue ones fighting to be present once more.
"...Ow," Ventus said. Pinkie stared in amazement.
"How... how are you not dead?!" she exclaimed.
"I'll explain later," Ventus said, yanking the ten inch blade from his chest and tossing it aside.
"I'm sorry," Pinkie said, trotting closer. "It's just... your eyes... they were--"
"I don't blame you," Ventus said. "I'd have done the same."
As he said this, a large group of shadow ponies rounded the corner from the same place Pinkie had come from.
"Light spell! Light spell!" Pinkie exclaimed, cowering against his side.
"Umm..." Ventus said, awkwardly. He had been unable to do any light spells since the battle at the Crystal Empire, a million years ago. "I can't--"
But the need for him to do the spell work vanished, as an enormous spotlight fell from the sky, crashing into the ground directly in front of them with a ground-trembling thud. They jumped about a mile into the air.
"What the--"
"Heeeeeeeeere's Johnny!" A voice cried out deafeningly, and the spotlight burst into life. The entire street was enveloped in blinding white light. The shadow ponies all screeched and burned to dust. A giant axe appeared, swinging downward with a swoosh. The spotlight exploded, bursting into millions of tiny metal and glass shards. The shards began to move, floating into the air, reforming themselves into an enormous figure that the two instantly recognized.
"Nice timing, Discord," Ventus said in gratitude, as the draconeqqus finished reforming into his true self. "But was all the flair really necessary?"
"I'm the God of Chaos, General," Discord exclaimed indignantly. "I can't simply cast spells without doing anything exciting! It'd kill me!"
"Well, we owe you one," Ventus said, stepping away from Pinkie's side. "What's happening?"
"This battle is already lost," Discord said, his voice growing serious. "The soldiers were all slaughtered. I'd be willing to bet we're the only ones left."
"Then there's no sense in staying here," Ventus said. "We need to get out. Can you teleport us?"
"There's no telling what'll happen," Discord said. "You could all end up falling into a pool of lava or materializing inside the walls and getting crushed. I don't recommend it."
"We'll have to go on hoof, then," Ventus said, stepping forward. "But first, I need to know."
"Know what?" Pinkie asked, but Ventus ignored her. Turning away from them, he closed his eyes, and bent closer to the earth. His horn lit with black aura, and his eyes grew slightly darker, but not as black as they had been. He cast a dark spell of revealing - more powerful than the normal spell, which swept the entire city in a manner of seconds. As Discord had predicted, most of the soldiers were dead. But there was still one more.
"Spike," he muttered, before coming out of the spell. "Spike is still alive, and he isn't far. You two get moving. I'll grab him and follow."
They nodded, immediately turning to run. Ventus wasn't accustomed to seeing Discord following orders, but Celestia's personal training of the chaos god seemed to have gone well. He turned and ran through the city, passing through alleyway after alleyway. Soon, he reached the road where Spike lay, gravely injured.
"Hey, Spike," Ventus said. The dragon was unconscious, and slightly pale from blood loss. Ventus didn't know any healing spells, as he had never needed them, and cast about his mind for an idea of what to do.
It came to him naturally, without even thinking about it. His horn glowed, and his eyes instantly flashed back to black again. Spike was enveloped in dark aura, and something entered his bloodstream. Immediately, his wounds began to close up.
"What...?" Ventus said, not even finishing his sentence in shock, as his eyes returned to their natural blue.
Where the hell did that come from? he wondered, silently. Spike was healing at dark-blood-rate, and Ventus could sense he hadn't given him dark blood.
But he didn't have time to deliberate the matter, as he sensed Sombra moving about the city. He lifted Spike into the air with his magic, and galloped hard back the way he had come. He used magic to track down where Pinkie and Discord were headed, and caught up with them quickly.
"Let's go!" he called, as he pulled ahead of them.
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"Where did they all go?!" Sombra yelled, still flying over the city. "There's supposed to be three Elements of Harmony in this city, and there are none!"
A spot of darkness on the ground distracted him. He swept down to the ground, meeting up with the demon.
"What is going on?!" Sombra asked. "There aren't any--"
He stopped. The demon didn't look nearly as imposing as usual. He had ditched his dark cloak, leaving Sombra to look into his blood-red eyes, which were still wide with fear.
"What happened?"
"I'm getting out," the demon said, voice shaking. “I can’t stay here.”
“What do you mean, you can’t stay here?!” Sombra asked.
“There’s a pony. Ventus, he’s called. He has demonic power.”
“How did he get it?” Sombra asked.
“Don’t know. He could’ve made a deal, but I highly doubt it. All I know is, his eyes go black when his demon powers take over.”
“So?”
“So,” the demon said, angrily, “there’s only one other demon on record that had black eyes, and he was no pushover.”
“So this Ventus pony is stronger than you?”
“He nearly killed me,” the demon said, shaking his head. “I don’t have to deal with this. I’m off. I’m releasing the army, and your obligation to kill the Elements. I’m done.”
“You can’t do that!” Sombra yelled, angry. “You said a demon can’t break a deal!”
“And I would rather face the consequences of breaking a deal than stay here with that thing inside of Ventus,” the demon said, turning away.
“But-- but--” Sombra spluttered, angrier than he had ever been before.
“Look,” the demon said, turning back to face him again. “You should be glad I’m leaving. You weren’t going to survive. As soon as you were finished doing my dirty work for me, I was going to rip your soul from your body, and let some demon possess your corpse for the rest of eternity. No relaxing in the Crystal Empire for as long as you want. You were never going to see it again.” He glared at Sombra. “So quit. your. whining.”
“So these past two weeks have all been for nothing?!” Sombra roared, walking towards the demon. “I could have just stopped with the Crystal Empire like I wanted to?!”
“You made a deal,” the demon reminded him. “I would grant you an army to take back your Empire, and you would destroy the Elements of Harmony for me in return. Now, I’m breaking contract. Your army goes bye-bye, and so do I.”
It turned, and opened up a dark corridor.
“I would go destroy the final remaining city,” it said, looking back over its shoulder. “They might come find you in a few years to slaughter you if you don’t. But if you see Ventus, I recommend hauling ass.”
Before Sombra could yell anything else at the demon, the soldier’s mouth opened wide, and he let out a yell as the dark cloud exited from him. It swept right into the dark corridor it had opened earlier, and the moment the last bit of smoke disappeared into it, it vanished. The soldier’s dead body fell to the ground, eyes black as night.
Sombra let out a strangled yell of fury, and disintegrated the dead soldier’s body. He was infuriated. He hadn’t needed to go to all of this trouble after all, and now his forces were coming out of their trances. He was alone, completely and totally alone, left to face the combined threat of the Element of Magic and, apparently, an extraordinarily strong demon.
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The dark unicorn sat, watching King Sombra destroy more dead corpses in his rage. He sent his thoughts to the dark spirit, for the first time in a few days.
Canterlot has fallen. The demon is gone.
Gone?
Yup. Sombra is furious about it. Apparantly, his army existed because he made a deal with this demon. But it just broke their contract.
Looks like I'll get to do some destruction of my own after all. What is the status of Twilight Sparkle?
She's still on her way to Ponyville.
Is the ritual ready?
Yes, it is. Do you think it's time?
Yes. Sombra only has one more city to destroy, and she's heading for it. This is the perfect time.
All right. I'll move to intercept her now.
The connection died, and the dark unicorn sighed, looking away from Sombra, who was still vaporizing even more dead corpses in rage.
All right, he thought to himself, taking a deep breath. This is it. Let's see how this goes.
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