//------------------------------// // Act Three: Chapter Thirteen - The Fall // Story: Turning Points // by Slatewings //------------------------------// Act Three Chapter Thirteen - The Fall The city shook as the sun broached the horizon. Peridot woke to the sound of clanging alarms. “Huh? Wha? Whoa!” she tumbled out of bed as she wrestled with her blankets. “Ouch!” she yelped as she landed painfully. Throwing off her tangled blankets, she stumbled to her window and threw back the shutters. The Empire seemed strangely calm, even as warning lights lit up across the city and warning sirens and bells began to sound. For a moment, Peridot considered crawling back under her covers. Bam! CRACK! The floor shook beneath Peridot’s still unsteady hooves, sending her tumbling against the window frame. Outside, the ever present force field dome over the city rippled and to Peridot’s horror, began to crack. Her eyes widened. “Lumine!” she yelled as she turned from the window. She expected to find him in his chair by the door where he spent most of his sleepless nights but she was the only one in their rooms. “Lumine!” Another tremor shook the castle as Peridot yanked open the door and sped out into the hall, immediately slamming into a guard pony hard enough to knock his helmet loose and sent it clanking across the floor. “Oh! Sorry, sorry!” she said as she tried to untangle herself from the unfortunate guard. “Phalanx?” she asked as recognized the now enchantmentless stallion. “Yes ma’am, the prince ordered me to find you. The city is under assault.” “Yeah, I noticed,” Peridot said, dusting herself off. Phalanx tried to replace his helmet only to find that one side had been dented in far enough to render it unwearable. “How in Equestria… This armor withstood three engagements with a rebel tribe, the great phoenix migration AND a dragon attack! How did you managed to…” Peridot smiled sheepishly. “Oh… doesn’t matter,” he hung the damaged helmet on his belt. “Where is Lumine?” “I don’t know, I was going to look for him.” “You don’t know?! Miss Peridot, the Empire is under attack, we cannot defend it without him!” “I’m sorry,” she frowned. “He was gone when I woke up. Maybe he went out for a walk.” Phalanx rubbed his chin, “Hm… We have to get to the spire then. Prince Dutiful is already there rallying the Imperial Guard. If Lumine is at all aware of what is happening, he will already be on his way there.” Peridot nodded. “Very well, but you get to explain to the prince why I am out of uniform.” Unlike months ago, when the changelings first attacked, the city was well prepared for an assault. By the time Peridot and Phalanx were on their way, squads of volunteers had already roused the citizens of the city and ferreted them away in well hidden bunkers and safe houses. With the streets effectively cleared they reached the base of the spire in minutes. “Dutiful!” Peridot called out as the guards’ encampment came into view. “Is Lumine here?” The prince glowered, “You don’t know? I thought I sent the corporal to find you both. “ He pointed a hoof at Phalanx, “And why are you out of uniform? Where is your helmet?” “Uh… That would be my fault…” Peridot scuffed a hoof. “I kind of broke his hat.” “How did you….” The city rang like a glass bell as more spiderweb cracks fanned out across the overarching forcefield. “It doesn’t matter. We need to find Lumine, NOW. That force field isn’t going to last much longer.” “He’s at the top of the spire,” said a mare’s voice. Prince Dutiful spun, “Who… Benevolentia?! What are you doing here?! You should be in the tunnels. It’s not safe for you here. Guards, please ensure the princess reaches shelter safely.” A pair of guards approached the princess. “No.” She stomped a hoof. “Disregard that order, I’m staying.” The guards looked back at the prince, unsure of what to do. Dutiful was their commanding officer, but it was the princess who held the throne. “Benevolentia please, think of our child.” “I am, Dutiful,” she said with another hoof stomp. “I won’t simply hide in the caves while my Empire is in danger. What will it matter if I’m safe if the changelings conquer the city? You think we can stay in the tunnel’s forever? In the end, I’ll be food for their hunger just like anypony else!” Prince Dutiful stepped toward his wife, “Would you stop thinking in black and white! It’s entirely possible for the city to lose you even if we are victorious! And then what? Are you willing to leave the Empire crownless and heirless with a widower on the throne?” “My dear husband, I am the princess of this Empire and I will not sit idly by while other ponies fight my battles for me!” Crack! A sound like tearing stone cut her off. Peridot looked up. “Look out!” she cried as house sized chunk of force field separated itself from the purple dome overhead and plummeted downward. Ponies screamed and scattered as they rushed to get out from under plunging fragment. Prince Dutiful’s eyes widened as the chunk’s landing place dawned on him. “Benevolentia!!!” he bellowed, clammering his hooves against the road as his mad dash propelled him toward his wife. He reached her when it was a bare dozen pony heights over his head and pulled her to the ground with his forelegs wrapped around her and covered her with his body, hoping to shield her from the worst. Unable to reach them, Peridot watched in horror as the massive chunk of solid magic fell toward two of the ponies closest to her heart. She tried to cry out but found her voice had failed her as she realized how hopeless it was. Her eyes filled with tears as she prepared to clench them closed, unable to watch, when the falling slab of forcefield suddenly sparkled, crumbled, and shimmered out of existence. “Benny! Dutiful!” she practically screamed as she tore across the polished road to her friends. “You’re okay!” She threw her hooves around them and squeezed as hard as she dared. “Yeah…” Dutiful said, somewhat confused. “I guess we are…” He held his wife’s face in his hooves, “Benevolentia, Love, please. I know you want to help, and I know you want to do your part… but I can’t defend the city while you’re in danger. You’ll have your chance to do your part but your part comes after we win.” For a moment, Peridot swore she might have seen a shimmering in the edges of the prince’s eyes. “I’m begging you, get to safety.” Benevolentia bit her lip, conflicted, but nodded. “Okay… I promise. As long as you promise to come back to me when this is over.” Dutiful smiled and nodded, “Promise.” Peridot blushed and looked respectfully away as husband and wife shared a farewell kiss. Dutiful rose to his hooves and nodded to two nearby guards who helped the princess up and started back to the castle, the princess’s neck held stiff as she forced herself not to look back. From high overhead, a twisted voice spoke, “What a touching moment… I think I’ll feed on the two of you first.” Every pony below looked up and to their mutual despair saw Chrysalis, Queen of the changelings, floating just outside the hole left in the forcefield. “Guards!” the prince bellowed, looking upward, as his face contorted in undisguised rage, “Retrieve and arm ballista!” With disciplined movements mastered over long weeks of training the guard ponies quickly assembled into squads and drew their arms from disguised caches. The Queen of Changelings sneered down from the gap in the forcefield above as the ponies scampered back and forth. In seconds, bronze and oak snapped together and well oiled and fitted parts slid together and clicked into place. Prince Dutiful caught a spear tossed to him by a passing guard and pointed it skyward, “FIRE!” For a moment Chrysalis’s sneer vanished as she saw the needle tipped shafts streaking toward her. A flutter of hope stirred in Peridot’s chest as the bolts soared home, only to be stilled as a flash of green emanated from the changeling’s horn as she summoned a forcefield of her own. Her stomach sank as the flurry of guards bolts were burned to nothingness by the flaming green barrier. “I must say, I am disappointed,” Chrysalis called down as she dropped the forcefield. “After all this waiting I was rather looking forward to a bit of challenge. But, if that is all you have to offer, I suppose we should get started then…” Summoned by some silent signal, the sky behind her suddenly filled with the swarming insectile figures of the changeling swarm. Chrysalis laughed maniacally as her subjects raised themselves into the air before slamming down on the surface of the forcefield. Cracks spiderwebbed out from the points of impact and tiny flecks of purple magic rained down like broken glass. The changelings prepared themselves for another assault, raising themselves high above the dome and igniting their horn’s magic as they expected to plunge straight down to the street below. Peridot watched as they fell and felt her last glimmers of hope slip away. She looked away and closed her eyes as she surrendered to the inevitable. The sensation of somepony wrapping their hooves around her drew a startle and she opened her eyes to find Phalanx’s blue forelegs holding her. Peridot managed a thankful half smile and looked upward to watch the end come. But it didn’t. Just as the changelings were about to strike the city’s forcefield, a sickly flash of magic flared from the top of the spire and a shimmering pulse of green and black magic washed outward. As it passed, cracks and fissures in the forcefield sealed closed and gaps, such as the one through which Chrysalis glared down through, filled. The changelings didn’t have time to react. Instead, they slammed into the pristine surface of the dome at full speed. “No.. NO!” screamed Chrysalis as her forces dashed themselves against the barrier and the defenders below let out surprised cheers. The defeated and broken assault force bounced and slid down the smooth surface. She fumed and raged, and slammed her own hooves against the dome as she used the impact to vault high into the sky. She drew back her head, lit her horn, and sent a blinding beam of green light downward to strike the dome just above the spire. From the spire, Lumine responded in kind, sending a beam of his darkened magic upward to meet the attack. Down below, the city shook beneath the attackers’ hooves and the titanic forces rang the city like a crystal bell. Peridot felt a hoof on her shoulder and turned. “Benny?” she asked. “What are you still doing here?” The princess winced, her ears pressing down flat, as another wave of vibration rippled through the surrounding buildings. She pointed down the path back to the palace. Several of the buildings along the path had toppled when their foundations cracked and failed from the reverberations caused by the magical struggle overhead. “I’m blocked and,” she touched her stomach, “I’m afraid I can’t really fly right now.” Peridot felt a touch of regret as her protector released his hold and turned to the princess. “Princess Benevolentia, there’s a bunker only half a block away,” he straightened his armor. “If you’ll allow me, I can take your highness and Lady Peridot there.” The princess looked pained, still not wanting to leave her husband, but nodded. “Thank you corporal.” Phalanx called to the Prince and pointed down the street to the north, the Prince nodded and returned to his work without a word. “This way Your Highness,” he said taking the lead. Peridot trotted to Phalanx’s side, “So, I’m still ‘Lady Peridot’?” The guard pony smiled, “You are when the Princess is around.” He looked back over his shoulder, “Don’t worry, Your Highness. We’ll be there in-LOOKOUT!!!” Phalanx pivoted and leapt backward, knocking Peridot to the side as he did. He took a single step and launched himself at the princess, scooping her up in his hooves and rolling so that he slid on his back with the princess held to his chest. A heartbeat later, a massive spike of milky white stoke lanced down from the sky and speared the ground where Benevolentia had been only a moment ago. The impact of the ground against her back knocked the air from Peridot’s lungs. She rolled over, gasping, as she struggled to find her breath. Peridot looked up to see the spike of crystal and stone embedded in the road. “Benny!” she croaked as she desperately sucked air into her chest. “Benny! Are you okay?!” “I’m okay!” came the princess’s answer. Thank Harmony, Peridot thought to herself as she rose to her hooves. She let out a cry as one of her hind legs refused to take the weight. Phalanx and Benevolentia appeared around the stone spike. “Peridot! Are you hurt?” asked the princess as she ran to Peridot’s side. “It’s my knee…” she answered through gritted teeth. “The ligament’s torn… I can heal it … but not here. I need time.” Phalanx’s look of concern shifted to one of guilt. “It’s okay… priorities. If you’d let that thing land on Benny… I’d have had to hurt you anyway.” Phalanx tried to muster a smile when the ground shook again. “We need to get out of here,” he said before turning to Peridot. “You up for another piggyback ride?” “A what?” said the Princess, looking confused as Phalanx bent to allow Peridot to climb on. “Nevermind, as long as we get to the bunker and away from buildings that might fall on us.” “Agreed, Your Highness,” said Phalanx rising to his hooves. “This place isn’t safe for anypony, let alone Yourself.” As if to accentuate the point, a sharp crack shook the ground beneath them and a smattering of hoof sized rubble rained down behind them causing the princess to jump, still nervous from her close call. “It’s okay! I’m okay!” she said, a bit too insistently. Suddenly a blazing green spear of magic lanced down from above, drawing a scorched line in the ground between Benevolentia and Phalanx. Everypony, including combat tested Phalanx, let out of startled scream. They scattered and sought cover beneath a half crumbled arch at the edge of the palace courtyard. Peridot glanced back from her perch on Phalanx’s back and saw that most of the guards had done the same, and for good reason. The beam that nearly struck them had not been the only one. Beyond their hiding place, spurts of magic began to lance down at random, splitting stone and felling trees and buildings alike. One lancing green spear sliced a chunk off the palace itself and sent it tumbling down the side of the structure. Peridot noticed the tip of one of the towers was missing and thought of the spike that had nearly crushed them. High above, the battle between Chrysalis and Lumine continued to rage, but it was clear that Lumine was losing. Chrysalis’s attack had punctured a hole in the top of the forcefield and was slowly but surely pressing downward. The point where the changeling’s magic met Lumine’s darkness-charged magic broiled with intensity. A wicked green-on-black ball of energy formed where the two contacted, riddled with off color lightning and sending out bolts of errant magic in all directions. With a flash, Chrysalis’s magic surged and punctured the spherical maelstrom sending out a magical shockwave that sent the remaining guards ducking for cover as city-block sized forcefield fragments began to rain down, not all of which fizzled out before striking the city below. In seconds, the city was exposed to the swarm overhead and dread crept into Peridot’s mind. It wasn’t the sense of impending doom, nor the risk of being crushed by a falling chunk of the city’s formerly protective dome, nor even the prospect of being bug food, it was the lifting of darkness she’d felt in her heart since the day Lumine had enacted his plan. It could only mean one thing: he was no longer casting his spell. She could see it in Benevolentia’s face as well, whose eyes were locked upon the no longer blowing apex of the spire. “Not again…” Peridot whispered, “I can’t lose him again.” “OUCH! Hey! What are you doing?!” Phalanx yelled at Peridot’s receding form, rubbing the back of his head where her hoof had clipped him when she leapt from his back. “Peridot! Come back!” Benevolentia shouted. Peridot didn’t hear them. The pounding of her pulse and the clatter of her hooves blocked out the sound before it reached her ears and the growing pain in her leg each time it struck the pavement, heedless of the injury she was causing herself, drove out any thought besides that of getting to her friend. The twinkling shards of the forcefield fell like a thin purple snow, getting into Peridot’s eyes and nose before they faded away to nothingness. She wheezed and choked when a shard caught in her throat before it could dissipate. Her eyes closed involuntarily when a bout of coughing seized her as her body tried to expel the, no longer there, fragment. Her good leg caught on some protrusion in the road, she stumbled and caught herself with her other leg. She had just enough time to think, Bad idea, before the leg caved and she fell, belly down, on the road. All around her, changelings were descending from the sky. They didn’t come streaking down like the last time they invaded the city. This time they descended lazily, contemptuous. They knew the Empire was finished. A few brave royal guards fired ballista bolts in a desperate attempt to drive off the attackers, a few even hit their marks, but they were soon swarmed and either glued to the ground, encased in resin, or were subdued and quickly fed upon, leaving them stupefied and lethargic. She shakily lifted herself to her hooves and continued to dash to the spire, lighting her horn and casting a spell to ease the pain in her leg as she ran. A quartet of changelings landed in her path and hissed as she advanced. She ignored them and barrelled straight between them, drawing confused glances from the bug-like creatures. She approached the guards’ barricades and, giving it everything she had, and perhaps a touch of telekinetic assistance, jumped right over them. She touched down to an explosion of agony in the hind leg that nearly blinded her as she slid to a stop. “GUARDS! FIR...huh? Peridot?!” shouted the Dutiful. “I nearly had you shot!” “Have… to get.. to Lumine…” Peridot answered breathlessly. “If he’s still alive, he’s in the Heart Spire.” Worry gripped the prince’s face, “Where’s my wife?! What’s happened?!” “She’s okay… with Phalanx,” she struggled to rise. “Lumine… I have to get to him…” The prince shouted over his shoulder, ordering a guard to seek out the princess and get her to the bunker. “You were suppose to stay with Benevolentia, Peridot! She’s going to need you if something happens!” He grunted, “Then again… if you can get Lumine casting his spell again…might be her only chance.” He stamped a hoof and pointed to a pair of guards who were attempting to repair a half shattered ballista. “You two, get her to the top of the spire as fast as you can. Carry her if necessary.” The two snapped to attention and issued a brisk salute before running to Peridot’s side and slipping their heads under each of her forelegs. “Thank you, Dutiful…” Peridot said as they hoisted her. The prince nodded and waved down a passing guard, barking orders. Peridot heard a distant voice. “Open the gate!” it yelled. Peridot’s escorts hesitated. “Open the GATE!” it repeated, louder this time. There was a grinding sound as somepony pulled back the makeshift barricade. Peridot mentally facehoofed, that might have been easier than jumping over it. “Prince Dutiful!” said a stallion’s voice. “Where is the Prince?” Wait a minute… Peridot thought. Phalanx? “Oh my gosh!” She shook loose her escort and yelled back, “Phalanx! What happened! Where’s the princess?” “It’s okay, I’m here,” said Benevolentia a moment later as the tired mare stepped through the gate. The guards closed it behind her. “We have a problem.” “What kind of problem?” asked the Prince as he strode through the gathered guards to meet his wife. “She’s coming,” Phalanx answered “Who? Who’s coming?” asked the Prince. “Why...me. Of course,” answered a twisted voice. At that moment the guard’s barricade began to glow; a moment later it blew open, scattering debris as Queen Chrysalis calmly strode through, followed by scores of lesser changelings. The queen looked like she had seen better days. Months of near starvation had left their mark on the fearsome being. Her mane, such as it was, hung about her head like a wet towel and her carapace, once gleaming black, had lost it’s sheen. Still, no pony who could hear her voice could doubt her strength. “Well isn’t this a splendid little reunion?” Chrysalis asked, looked back and forth between Benevolentia, Dutiful, and Peridot. “Monster! Guards! FIRE!” Prince Dutiful roared. “Please…” the queen said, rolling her eyes and summoning a wall of flame that consumed the ballista bolts enroute. Peridot summoned her strength and sent a shining beam of sky blue magic streaking toward the changeling’s chest. With a flicker of her horn, Chrysalis summoned a green disk of a force field that deflected the blast. “Oh come now,” she said, “No need for that quite yet. You’re going to have all the time in the world to feed me.” She smiled wickedly, “Well, at least a decade or two if I save you for special occasions. “Speaking of which,” she scanned the crowd, “where’s you’re charming little spellcaster friend? I had such a time getting through his defenses that I thought I’d commend him personally.” Peridot took an involuntary step forward, her face twisting into a snarl. “Well,” Chrysalis said with a smile, “Isn’t this interesting…” she cocked her head to one side to speak to her followers behind her. “Go find the spellcaster, check the peak of the tower. Bring him here to join his beloved for my amusement.” She waved a dismissive hoof, “Cocoon the rest.” The guards raise their weapons in preparation for the assault and Prince dutiful drew his spear, slamming its base into the ground in challenge, and the ground shook. Dutiful looked down in surprise, the prince was strong, one of the most imposing stallions Peridot had ever seen, but he wasn’t that strong. The sky began to rumble above the city. Peridot looked up to see a pulse of fel light emanate from peak of the spire. Joy welled up within her as a tiny kernel of hope blossomed. “He’s alive,” she said to herself as the green and black bolt of magic shot skyward. Never once in the past few months had she thought she would be so happy to know that Lumine was casting that dark spell. Chrysalis was visibly vibrating with frustration. “Not this time. Not this time!!! ARGH!”, she let out a piercing scream as Dutiful’s spear sunk into her shoulder. She roared and withdrew the weapon and crumpled it under the force of her magic. She set the fragments aflame before cocking her head back and sending a lance of magic to strike Dutiful in the chest. The blast sent him flying backward, through a trio of guards, to slam into a puller. Benevolentia screamed as her husband sunk to the ground, smoldering and unmoving. She ran to his side and began frantically tearing off his armor, praying that the blast hadn’t penetrated. The spire pulsed and sent a burst of green black light shimmering through the translucent surface of conduit embedded road they stood on. At the far edges of the city, the foci began to glow black. The queen snarled, knowing what was coming. At the outskirts of the Empire the black tainted foci sent a jet black pulse of energy inward, lighting each foci they encountered in the same impossible glow and sounded a mournful tone, not unlike that of a cracked brass bell. As the wave of energy crept by, trees died, plants withered, and all creatures, pony and changeling alike, let out a howl of despair. When it reached the palace the dark energy encircled it as if it was avoiding the center of the Prism where the Heart once lay. With a sharp crack, broken, jagged, darkness filled channels sprouted in the ground beneath the last of the defender’s hooves as dark spell forced its way to the palace and began to crawl up its pearlescent surface. When the black corruption reached the apex, the ground shook and a jet and emerald green sphere of energy pulsed and washed outward and downward over the defending guards and their opponents, leaving blackened and warped structures and bizarre crystalline growths sprouting from the ground. Only those ponies protected by the heart of the Prism at the base of the spire were spared the anguish of the spel’ls passing. Queen Chrysalis and those few that accompanied her were not so lucky. Peridot’s hooves shot up to cover her flat pressed ears as the changelings began to scream. “AAAAAUGGH!!” Chrysalis’ wail would have shook the ground had it not already been shaking. The Queen of Changelings collapsed to her knees as she held her head and screamed again. The lesser changelings had already stopped moving. Peridot watched as a pink and green magical aura seeped from queen and subject alike and dissolved into the ground. As it washed over her hooves like a fog before the blackened ground swallowed it up, she felt elation swell within her. She didn’t need her magic to know it was the very essence the changelings had stolen from the ponies of the empire while they fed. Chrysalis looked up and sneered before falling, still, to the ground. Cheer rose like a tide from the cities defenders. Guards, known for their unflappable stoic discipline, were throwing their helmets in the air and dancing in celebration. Minutes past before Peridot realized that she had joined them, despite her injured leg, and for the first time in her life nopony complained about her total lack of dancing ability. Nothing in Peridot’s life compared to this moment. After months of struggle and sacrifice, all their hard labor, the Empire was finally free. Peridot cheered and sang, dancing among the guards. There wasn’t a thing in the world that could have dampened her spirits. Except… “PERIDOT! HELP!!!” Benevolentia’s voice pierced Peridot’s happy illusions. She looked around, struggling to the princess through the throng. She found her cradling Dutiful’s head, by the pillar Chrysalis had driven him into. Peridot’s eyes widened, seeing her fallen friends, she cut a path through the crowd and knelt at his side. “Is he?” Benevolentia asked, unable to finish the question as Peridot lit her horn and passed it over the prince’s prone body. The guards had began to form a respectful circle around them as they realized what has happened. Peridot bit her lip in concentration as she probed with her magic. “No,” relief swept over her. She looked up to meet her friends tear filled eyes. “He’s alive. He needs immediate attention but he’ll be okay.” She felt the princess’s wrings draw around her in a hug. “Oh thank Harmony…” The princess withdrew and Peridot looked over the prince’s discarded armor. The once proud and polished steel had been blackened and warped and pushed in severely. “Dutiful’s a tough old buck, Benny. I’ll have him good as new in a day or two.” Benevolentia nodded thankfully. “Thank you, Peridot,” the princess said as Peridot set to work. “Any time, Benny. I just hope it’s not too often.” Peridot paused in her work, “Oh, Benny. We need to send somepony up to check on Lumine,” she glanced up at the still glowing tower. “He might be have been hurt in the battle.” Benevolentia rose to her hooves, “Don’t worry. I’ll go get him.” Peridot shook her head, “Dutiful needs you here, just send a guard.” “Dutiful needs YOU here,” the Princess countered. “He might be hurt. I can fly him down faster then the guards can carry him.” “I don’t know, Benny,” Peridot said. “Like you said, you’re not really in flying condition.” The princess chuckled softly, “I can fly down just fine, Peridot. Besides, I know how much he means to you, wouldn’t you rather have me check on him?” Peridot’s blue cheeks blazed red. “I do not…! I mean… we…” The princess raised an eyebrow. Maybe now that this is all over… Peridot thought. “I guess that would be better…” she acquiesced, sheepishly. Benevolentia smiled and started toward the stairs to the palace, “Just take care of my husband okay?” “Promise, and you bring Lumine straight here if he’s hurt.” Benevolentia nodded, “Of course.” Peridot and Benevolentia shared a moments glance before setting to their tasks. Peridot returned her attentions to the wounded prince. His injuries turned out to be worse than she thought. Not only did the blast shatter a number of ribs and bruise virtually all of his organs, but the splinters of bone had managed to get into places where nature had not intended them to be. One by one, Peridot wrapped each jagged fragment of bone in her magic and carefully guided it back into place and rejoined it to bone. Engrossed in her work, she scarcely even noticed as the guards began to gather up the fallen changelings and medics arrived, emerging from the palace to bandage and patch up the various injuries received by the guards during the battle. Not even the panic and frantic search that ensued when the changeling queens body mysteriously disappeared while under guard broke her concentration as she labored to patch up and repair her friend. After a, seemingly, eternity of effort, Peridot touched her horn to Dutiful’s forehead and his eyes snapped open. “Benevolentia!” he gasped, trying to spring to his hooves. “Where is she!?” “It’s okay! It’s okay!” she used her magic to hold him still. “Benny is fine, she went to go get Lumine.” A smile blossomed on Peridot’s face, “We won.” The prince stilled, “We won? Lumine did it?” Peridot nodded. “I want to see my wife. Where is she?” “She went to get Lumine at the top of the spire.” Peridot looked around, noticing how dark it had grown. “She should have been back by now.” “Take me to her.” “What? No way, Dutiful,” Peridot shook her head. “I just finished gluing back together that bag of broken glass you had for a ribcage. You’re nowhere near ready to be walking on your own.” He met her gaze, “Please Peridot, I’m asking as your friend.” He grimaced as he tried to rise, “Please don’t make me ask you as your prince.” Peridot chewed her lip as she offered him her hoof, “You know, technically, you’re not my prince.” “True, but I am the imperial guard’s prince and that’s close enough.” “Point taken,” Peridot said as she helped him to his hooves. She cast a quick spell to alleviate the worst of the pain. “You want me to get a guard.” “Please that would be prefer…” he took a step and bared his teeth in pain. “Actually, no. I’d rather not be seen to be so injured by them.” Peridot cast a spell and relief washed over the prince’s features, “That and I know pain spells .” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Peridot guided the prince through the scattered rubble that scattered the palace courtyard, with the prince stoically following beside her. It wasn’t until they crossed the threshold that he sagged and lent against her. Her injured hind leg screamed in protest but she managed to keep her balance long enough to cast a pain suppression spell on herself. Peridot was loath to risk further injury but she knew she could take all the time she needed to heal herself once she could get the prince to the clinic. After a long, and fairly painful, climb up the spire’s twisting staircase, they finally arrived at the top. “Benevolentia!” called the prince as they rounded the final curve. “Benevolentia, it’s Dutiful!” Peridot couldn’t help herself, “Lumine! We won! You can stop casting the spell!” They topped the final step. “Benevolentia! Are you he…” the prince’s voice cut short. The top of the spire was unnaturally dark, despite the setting sunlight shining bright on the west horizon the top of the spire was black as midnight. Dark, unnatural, crystals jutted out from the floor and ceiling thrumming with power. Even the floor had been stained to an inky translucent blackness. And, laying there, in the center, was the unmoving body of Princess Benevolentia. “Harmony, no!” Prince Dutiful cried, throwing himself to her side. “Benny!” Peridot gasped igniting her magic. She ran her horn over the princesses body. “She’s… she’s badly hurt.” “Can you help her?!” “I… I don’t know. I can’t figure out what wrong.” She focused her magic. “Nothing I do is working.” The prince scooped his bride up in her hooves as he burst into tears, his hoof found its way to her swollen stomach. “The baby… is the baby okay.” Peridot focused, “I think so. The baby is fine, but if I can’t do something to stabilize Benny it won’t matter.” “We’ll do it!!!” “I can’t! There’s nothing I can do! None of my spells are working. Its like she’s not even there.” Peridot fell to Benevolentia’s side and wrapped her hooves around the fallen princess, intertwining her hug with Dutiful’s. “How could this happen?” wept the prince, tears leaving dark streaks on the his silver cheeks. “Is she… am I going to lose her… them?” “I…” Peridot’s voice gave out on her and emotion gripped her throat. “I don’t know how to save her…” The two of them clung to each other, holding Benevolentia between them as sorrow wracked their hearts. And then somepony spoke, “A shame.” The shear coldness of the voice lashed at Peridot’s mind. She jerked and looked up, the speaker’s words like a fresh wound. “L… Lumine..?” He stepped out from the impossible shadows. Lumine, but not Lumine. Peridot back-peddled recoiling away. The pony the stood before them looked like Lumine but… there was something else shining through him, something that turned his once silver coat to charcoal grey and rendered his sapphire blue mane black as jet and set it moving as if blown by an invisible wind. His horn, bent and stained red showed none of the distinctive dark glow of the black spell. Instead, the whites of his now blood red eyes shined with an evil green light. Even the pupils had changed from their natural round to like those of a snakes. Lumine turned those eyes on Peridot as an unnatural purple flame shown streaming back from their corners. “Lumine?” he asked, as if considering his answer. He smiled, revealing a pair of too long teeth. “No… better. I am… his shadow. Sum vera, Umbra.” The stallion’s voice set her skin to crawling. He looked down at Benevolentia’s body and sneered as if a loathsome insect had just crossed his path. “A waste, pesasi are so rare in my new empire. The child might have been useful…” Dispassionately, he plucked the crown from Benevolentia’s golden head and wrapped it in his twisted green and black magic. The metal warped and twisted from a beautiful tiara of silver filigree to a simple dull band fitted with a single gem. He set the crown on his head, containing his ever moving forelocks, and laughed darkly. “What?” Prince Dutiful rose to his hooves, all thought of his injury swept away. “What have you done?! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!!!” He threw himself at Lumine, roaring like a wild animal. But, before he could take two steps Lumine’s bent horn sprang to life sending the prince slamming viciously into the pillar beside the stairs and held him there. The prince’s eyes swam as his head impacted the stone. “Stop it!” Peridot cried. “Lumine please! Please! Why are you doing this?” Lumine smiled, “Because, my work is not yet complete. The the spell needs room to grow, the Prism must be expanded. There is still so much of this world not blessed by its touch.” “No…” Peridot’s stomach turned to water as she heard his words. In her heart she knew… the friend she loved so much had been consumed by his own black spell. “Lumine please.,. come back. Come back to us. Come back… to me, Lumine! You can’t do this! You have to stop!” He spun his head around to face her and bellowed with enough force to send Peridot sprawling backwards, “I DO NOT TAKE ORDERS FROM SLAVES.” Peridot landed hard on her injured leg and screamed in pain and heartache. “What... what do you want?” rasped Prince Dutiful as he struggled to remain conscious. The fallen Lumine smile wickedly, baring his fangs, and leaned in, his face a bare hoof width from the prince’s. The voice of Hatred answered, “Crystals…” At that, Lumine, or what was left of him ignited his horn in magical flame and touched it to Prince Dutiful’s forehead, filling him with the full force of the Black Spell. The prince let out a terrible cry as the spell struck him and the weight of all the sorrow that ponies are heir to came down upon his shoulders. The prince’s body hung limply from the pillar, pinned there by the band of green and black magic around its neck. Lumine’s shadow turned to where Peridot lay splayed out on the floor. The monster that had been her friend advanced on her, his eyes unreadable but his intentions unmistakable. Peridot pushed against the smooth floor, sliding backward to the very edge of the balcony. She leaned against the rail, supporting herself as she rose to her three good hooves, and took one last look up at the stallion that had come to mean more to her than she could have ever expected… and knew that he was gone. And so, she did the only thing she could do. Peridot wrapped Benevolentia in her magic, levitated the princess and floated her over to her… and jumped.