Chapter 17 – The Third Front
“Uuurgh… Applejack warned me that you were trouble…”
“Yeah, urrgh, Rarity said the same thing!”
“Well maybe you should have listened to your charming sisters instead of blindly trusting a handsome draconequus like me, hmm? But either way, I fail to see what I have done wrong this time.”
“You did nothing wrong, that was awesome!”
“Scoots! He broke our crusaders clubhouse!”
“Yeah, but you can always make another one, right? And when are we ever gonna get another awesome ride like that? So cool!”
“Hmmm, I think I like you, Scootaloo. I’m sure I could make an opening as assistant chaos-maker. How would you like to fill that position?”
Spike, who had been lying dazed in a pile of broken wooden planks, suddenly snapped to attention.
“NO!”
The three fillies and one draconequus turned to Spike in surprise, at which point he scratched his head sheepishly, realising the volume in which he had just shouted.
“Eheh, I mean, uh, no. Scootaloo, you absolutely cannot spend more time with Discord. In fact all three of you should get away from him. Haven’t Twilight and the others told you how bad he is?”
“But Ah thought you said he was reformed?”
Discord smiled and summoned a halo to appear above his head, as he so often did when his allegiance was called into question. Spike rolled his eyes.
“He’s not that reformed.”
“Oh come on Spikey-wikey,” Discord began in a faux-stroppy voice. “Whatever can I do to get you to trust me? I did what I was asked. We are now near the Crystal Empire.”
At these words the three crusaders jumped to their hooves and peered around through the darkness excitedly, any remaining nausea from the bumpy trip or tiredness due to the late hour completely forgotten. It was true, the Crystal Palace was visible in the distance, light emanating from its many windows.
“So where’s Rainbow Dash and everypony?” Scootaloo asked excitedly. “Where’s the battle?”
“Oh is that why you brave fillies wanted to come here?” Discord asked innocently. “You wanted to join the fight for the empire?” He twirled on the spot and came to a rest wearing a military jacket and helmet, and a second later identical helmets popped into existence on the heads of the others, including Spike who shook it off in annoyance. “Stand to attention, mares of the Chaos Squadron. The night is young and the hour of war is nigh.”
The three fillies grinned at each other and then stood straight and snapped clumsy salutes, their helmets rattling noisily against their heads as they did so.
“Oh come on, this is ridiculous.” Spike stomped over to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, pulling off their helmets and throwing them to the ground. Upon realising what he was doing, Scootaloo clasped a hoof to her head to hold her own helmet firmly in place, rapidly backing away from the approaching dragon.
“I think it might be past his bedtime,” Discord stage-whispered to Sweetie Belle, who started giggling uncontrollably. The draconequus beamed. “Oh you three really are so much more fun than your sisters.”
If his intention had been to get the three crusaders on his side, it was certainly working. Spike was beginning to feel very nervous about the whole situation.
“In answer to your question, dear Scootaloo,” Discord said, turning to the young pegasus who was still wearing her helmet and looking very pleased with herself about it. “The battle is over thataway.” He pointed eastwards, towards the nearby Crystal Mountains, and as he did so a large arrow shot through the air following his gesture. “You might want to run if you intend to get there before the fighting is over. It appears that the peaceful ponies of Equestria can hold their own rather well.”
Ignoring his suspicion for now, Spike addressed Discord anxiously. “You know what’s happening? Are Twilight and everypony okay?”
Discord looked through a massive pair of binoculars that had appeared in front of him. “Hmmm… Yes, damn them, it looks like everything’s going smoothly. When will they stop letting me down?” He tossed the binoculars at Apple Bloom who let out a short yell and braced herself only to find them splatter all over her as though they had been made out of jelly.
“We should go and help!” Scootaloo said eagerly, her enthusiasm having not dropped for even a second since they had originally received the letter back in Ponyville. “I want to fight some more Shorts!”
“It was ‘Shards’ not ‘Shorts’,” Sweetie Belle corrected.
“Whatever.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Spike looked into the direction Discord had pointed and could just about make out sounds and movement from the mountains. “It’ll be very dangerous.”
“Yeah well, we’re going no matter what, and it will be even more dangerous if you don’t come too.”
“Yeah!” agreed Apple Bloom, as she continued trying to wipe the gunky binocular liquid off her body.
“You should go with them,” Discord said matter-of-factly. “That’s what a good dragon would do.”
“Are you coming too, Discord?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Me? Oh no, I couldn’t. A battlefield may be chaotic, but it’s not my sort of chaos.” He suddenly vanished and appeared floating in the air above them, surrounded by a mass of random items including: a rhubarb pie, three wheels, a purple mouse, a book titled ‘The essence of the soul’, and two umbrellas. “My sort of chaos is far more eclectic. And besides,” he continued, “I made a promise to a good friend of mine that I wouldn’t go near any of those Shard things.”
“Awww.”
“Don’t be upset,” Discord mumbled through mouthfuls of rhubarb pie. “I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun without me.” He then grabbed an umbrella in each hand and floated upwards into the sky, vanishing into the night within seconds.
“Good riddance,” Spike muttered under his breath.
“Well what are we waiting for?” Scootaloo asked excitedly. “Let’s go find the battle!”
“Yeah!”
Resigning himself to the fact that he would be unable to persuade the three fillies against the idea, at least not until they had seen for themselves how dangerous it was, Spike followed them as they ran towards the mountains. Strangely he now missed Discord’s presence. With him around you expected carnage, but it would be his carnage. Now the cold night air and the unknown terrors it contained seemed far more threatening.
Tucking his tail between his legs, Spike hurried to catch up with the excitable crusaders. Perhaps some of their confidence would rub off on him.
---
The jackets were proving to be just as functional as Rarity had hoped, and she allowed herself to feel a small measure of pride, even in her current situation in the midst of a hectic battle. She, and the few other unicorn guardsponies with her, had even been able to get into a sort of rhythm. The battle in the western front was entirely in the snow-covered Crystal Mountains, with the main aim being to stop any Shards getting through to the field behind them, where extra enemy numbers might overwhelm the ponies in the central front. The Shards here were emerging from deeper in the mountains in waves, and this is what had encouraged their strategy.
Upon identifying the Shards' approach, Lieutenant Lance Arcus had stationed the crystal unicorns, including Rarity, at intervals along ridges of some of the taller mountains in the area. As each wave of Shards approached, they would fire their arrowheads at them, with the intention of taking out as many of the shadowy constructs as they could before the main ground troops could engage them. Once the battlefield was mixed with Shards and earth ponies it would be too much of a risk to continue launching projectiles, and so the unicorns would be more cautious until that wave of Shards had been eliminated, at which point they would retrieve as many arrowheads as they could find in the snow, reaffixing them to their jackets, before repositioning themselves along the mountain ridges.
It was a tactic that seemed to be working. Each wave had been eliminated without too much difficulty, and although each time the unicorns found themselves with fewer arrowheads, there would surely be enough to last them the night. There weren’t even many pegasi Shards in this part of the mountain range, and thus only a couple of Wonderbolts were visible a distance above, scouring the skies cautiously. The general consensus amongst the ponies of this front was that the battle was not turning out as dangerous as they had feared. They were going to win.
Of course, inevitably, that was when the unicorn Shards arrived.
This was a wave unlike any previous. There were maybe a hundred Shards, which might not have matched the numbers of previous waves, but they were all unicorns. As soon as they came into view Rarity could hear frantic yells from the ponies in the valley behind her, including the voice of Lance who was presumably either trying to shout orders or just settle everypony down. From up here she could not make out any of the words, so she attempted to quell the anxiety rising within her and manipulated an arrowhead into the air in front of her once more. She knew what to do. It shouldn’t make a difference that they were unicorns.
But it did make a difference. Even as Rarity attempted to aim her shot, the blasts of magic coming from the unicorn Shards were making it almost impossible to see what was happening. She let loose anyway, and just trusted that it would connect with at least one opponent. To her horror, almost immediately after firing her own shot she had to duck out of the way of a retaliatory blast of magic that came from nearby on the mountain. It appeared that some of the Shards were ascending and would soon be joining her.
Rarity glanced left and right but could not identify any ponies nearby. Confused, she was about to yell out the names of those she knew she had been stationed up here with, when she spotted the battered body of one of the crystal unicorns lying in the snow a distance away with a hole clear through his chest. Perhaps he had been caught out by the approaching Shards just as she had, but he had not been so quick to dodge. Rarity’s throat was beginning to feel rather dry.
Pushing the thoughts of what she was doing out of her mind, Rarity ran up to the corpse and extracted as many of the diamond arrowheads as she could see out of the jacket he was wearing. No point wasting good ammunition. She then turned back to the mountainside where Shards were still ascending and considered her options. She could remain here and potentially have to face off with several Shards herself, or she could flee down the mountainside behind her to find allies.
One quick glance backwards made up her mind. The ponies below were already overwhelmed by Shards, with crackling flashes of red magic lighting up the snow around them. If she descended she would only be inviting more Shards into the fray. At least up here she could potentially have the element of surprise.
She readied multiple arrowheads and snuck up to a tall boulder at the edge of the ridge. It took her far longer than she would have cared to admit to pluck up the courage to peer around it, and then she quickly pulled her head back again. There were at least twenty unicorn Shards climbing the mountain towards her. That seemed a ridiculous number, had even more Shards turned up? Or perhaps in the dark her eyes had tricked her?
Rarity risked another glance. Then she took a deep breath. How would one take on twenty Shards at the same time?
After a few moments, she stopped thinking. She just needed to get into the zone, like when she was sewing. When she was that focussed, everything became far clearer. Resolutely ignoring the feeling in her stomach, Rarity stepped quickly out from behind the rock and launched five diamond barbs at the same time.
She did not even look to see if they had connected. Of course they would have. Instinctively she then ducked back behind the boulder as erratic blasts of magic were sent towards her. Some impacted the boulder, causing it to splinter and start shaking, which gave Rarity an idea. Putting as much force as she could muster into her horn, and leaning against the boulder herself for good measure, Rarity was able to nudge the rock enough that it slowly toppled over and started rolling down the slope.
Immediately Rarity readied another collection of arrowheads. The sound of splintering came from beneath the boulder as it ploughed through Shards on its haphazard path down the mountain, and at the same time Rarity launched the arrowheads at the few remaining Shards she could spot. Only then did she realise that she had given up her only means of cover, and so she started galloping down the opposite mountainside, aiming to get out of line-of-sight.
…Only to discover that there were now unicorn Shards climbing this side of the mountain too. Where were they all coming from?
Rarity instinctively felt with her magic for any further arrowheads, and discovered that her jacket now contained only empty slots. Not wanting to pause for a moment, she instead lifted as much of the nearby snow as she could with her magic and flung it towards the approaching Shards.
She was getting sloppy now. Very little of the snow even got close to her targets, and she was gasping for breath as she ran towards a rock formation in the distance where she could hopefully get some cover for a moment. The sounds of muffled explosions were echoing in her ears as the pursuing Shards shot spells that tore at the snow-covered earth a few steps behind her. It was with great relief that she finally reached a boulder and threw herself behind it.
She took a few moments to catch her breath, and then her mind whirred wildly trying to think of something to do. It was only when she realised that she really needed her diamond arrowheads back when an idea struck her.
Trying to shut out the sounds of the chaos around her, she put all her concentration into her horn and her gem-finding spell. Sure enough, within a few seconds she identified that one of the arrowheads lay in the snow some distance away back in the direction of the pursuing Shards. Rarity smiled to herself.
In one swift motion she leapt out from behind the rocks and yanked the arrowhead towards her with all the speed she could muster. The barb tore its way through the bodies of several of the approaching Shards, shattering them to pieces in its wake, before reaching Rarity where she called it to a halt an inch from her face. Without a moment’s hesitation she then launched it away once more, steering it to connect with the remaining Shards she could see.
Rarity’s few moments of triumph at the sight of so many eliminated Shards turned very quickly into horror. Up until this point every defeated Shard had released a shadowy mist that had dissipated quickly in the wind, but the mist that had escaped from this collection of Shards was shaping into a cloud, as though it had some sort of consciousness. It then began to slowly move forwards, threatening to consume her.
The Shards had been scary, but there was something about a wall of darkness inexorably approaching that awoke a more primal fear in Rarity, and any coherent thoughts left her as she started galloping away in terror. She twisted her way around the rock formation she had been using for cover and attempted to run behind the mist and back towards the main field of battle. The shadowy fog merely passed directly through the rocks, almost catching Rarity as she sprinted out the other side.
That was when she spotted two unicorn Shards that were standing a few feet apart with their heads down. Their horns were lit with an erratic red glow, and Rarity almost threw herself out of the way until she realised they weren’t charging a spell to launch at her, they were in fact controlling the mist behind her.
As she continued to run, Rarity felt around for another arrowhead, but to her dismay she could not sense any nearby. She was just considering whether she had it in her to attack the Shards physically when she spotted a distant speck of blue start descending towards her from in the clouds. It appeared that one of the Wonderbolts would be coming to her rescue.
A few moments later the diving pegasus crashed into one of the Shards, breaking it apart instantly, before turning to the other and smashing it across the face with a forehoof, similarly destroying it. Rarity, still running from the approaching mist, turned to look behind her and slowed down as she realised that without the Shards to control it, the shadowy mist had stopped its approach. The dark cloud still looked ominous, but now that it was stationary it felt a lot less threatening.
“These things really aren’t that hard to kill. I don’t know what all the fuss is about.”
Rarity spun around in shock at the voice. The blue she had spotted wasn’t part of a Wonderbolt flight-suit after all.
“How are you doing Rarity?” Rainbow Dash continued. “You look like you’ve been enjoying yourself.”
Rarity smiled as she felt the tension leave her stomach. “And where have you been?” she asked in mock-outrage. “I hope you’ve received a stern lecture from your lieutenant about showing up late to a warzone.”
Rainbow grinned back. “I’m glad I got here in time. It would have been no fun to see those two Shards take you out.”
“I could have dealt with them myself darling,” Rarity sniffed. “Don’t pretend you were being a hero.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Rainbow replied, grinning even more widely. She then looked around at the many piles of fragments nearby, the cloud of black mist behind Rarity, and the torn up patches of earth where the Shards’ spells had hit. “I see you’ve been making a mess.”
“Yes, well, desperate times and all that.”
Rainbow walked up to Rarity and raised a foreleg. “Congratulatory hoof-bump?”
Rarity rolled her eyes and raised a leg in response.
She was not quite sure what happened next. One moment she had a foreleg raised and was staring into Rainbow Dash’s strangely eager eyes; the next the world was spinning around her, her face connected with the snow, and her surroundings turned black.
If Rarity hadn’t been winded by her sudden tumble, she might have realised where she was before gasping for breath. As it was, by the time she identified why the world around her was black, it was too late. Dragging herself to her hooves, she scrambled out of the shadowy mist and started exhaling desperately, as if she could empty her lungs of any foul presence. Before long she was forced to inhale another gasp of air, and despite being away from the mist now, this breath tore at her insides like daggers. It had been cold all night, but this felt on another level, as though too much air would freeze her from the inside.
She looked around her. Rainbow Dash was gone, but she could see somepony else approaching from the distance. Instinctively she started walking towards them, each step taking far more out of her than she would have expected.
“Miss Rarity, is that you?”
“Lieutenant?” Rarity croaked, shocked by how frail her voice sounded.
“I saw movement up here and wondered if it-” He stopped in shock as he took her in completely for the first time.
“Stop gawping, please,” Rarity muttered. “What would your wife think?” She smiled, but Lance was clearly in no mood for jokes.
“What happened? Are you… I mean… did you get-”
He was cut off when Rarity threw herself towards him, pulling him to the ground. A second later a blast of magic zipped over their heads, impacting a nearby rock with a loud crunch.
“More Shards…” Rarity croaked simply.
“More of them?” Lance pulled himself up and then reached a hoof down towards Rarity.
“Just go,” she said, waving a hoof dismissively and then letting it drop to the ground in shock as she spotted how black it was.
“I can’t just leave you.”
“You can and you will. We all knew the risks.”
Lance Arcus frowned as he looked Rarity up and down once more, and then sighed.
“I’m so sorry, Miss Rarity.”
She closed her eyes as a searing pain spread through one of her back legs, and when she opened them he was gone. Now alone, she examined herself thoroughly for the first time. Her white coat which she was usually so proud of was now completely black, and the leg that had just caused her so much pain was coated in shadowy crystals, which were spreading up her body even as she watched.
It wouldn’t be long now.
“Rarity?”
Rarity did not turn her head upon hearing the voice. Surely the Infection was making her crazy. She could not really have heard that voice here.
“Rarity, it is you!” The voice was terrified. “What’s happened to you?”
Rarity closed her eyes. That voice could not be here. And if Rarity turned to look she would see nopony and she would be all alone.
“Rarity?”
The voice was now only a few inches away and Rarity couldn’t hold back anymore. Pushing her hooves ineffectually against the ground, she turned towards the direction of the voice. When she saw the filly standing there with horror in her eyes, she knew she must be hallucinating.
“Oh Sweetie Belle, you shouldn’t be here.”
“Rarity what’s going on? Why do you look like that?”
“I’m… I’m just a little under the weather.”
“Rarity! I know you’re lying!” The voice was quavering a lot now. “Please don’t lie to me.”
Rarity slowly reached out a now crystalline foreleg, which took almost all the effort she could muster, and without hesitation Sweetie Belle ran over and wrapped her own forelegs around her sister. Over Sweetie Belle’s back Rarity thought she could see some other shapes; were they also fillies? And in the other direction a pegasus was landing; or was it an alicorn? It did not seem so important right now.
“Don’t leave me, Rarity.”
Rarity could feel her heart break. The Infection was spreading up her chest and she was soon unable to turn her neck, not that she would have wanted to look away from her sister.
“I’m so sorry Sweetie,” she choked out, before breaking into painful coughs.
Sweetie Belle simply stared back in horror, tears glistening in her eyes.
Rarity took one last deep breath. “I’m so happy that I got to see you one more time Sweetie Belle.”
Sweetie Belle forced her face into something like a smile, somewhat obscured by the tears now streaming down her cheeks. “I love you Rarity.”
Rarity sighed and closed her eyes.
---
Twilight felt unable to move as she heard the tell-tale splintering sound. The noise seemed to coincide with her brain also breaking into pieces. For a few moments she stood still, blankly staring at the small white unicorn filly who was equally frozen in place, surrounded by small crystalline fragments.
This was not the scene she had been expecting to arrive to. She and Cadance had been duelling to a stalemate with Black Fractal for a few hours now, and so it had come as a relief to fly off to investigate what appeared to be a giant arrow pointing in this direction. Cadance had assured Twilight that she would be able to hold off Black Fractal by herself for a while, and so she had flown over with the hopes of finding… what? What was she expecting? Not this.
She had never really expected this might happen. Not to one of her friends.
A pained sob filled with a gut-wrenching amount of anguish echoed over the mountaintop, and Twilight concentrated once more on the filly in front of her. Her mind wasn’t working enough to question why Sweetie Belle was here. She just was.
As Twilight looked on, Sweetie’s sob turned into a scream. A gentle glow started to appear around her horn, which Twilight only noticed absently. Perhaps if her mind had been clearer Twilight might have stepped over towards the young filly, but instead she only continued to watch as the scream turned into a roar.
Suddenly, out of the snow a distance away, Twilight noticed a small shape rising. She had just identified it as an arrowhead made of diamond, when she spotted similar shapes ascending out of the snow in other places on the mountainside, and in fact she could barely look any direction without seeing a few arrowheads rising. She turned back to Sweetie Belle only to see that the glow around her horn was now pulsating as the filly continued to scream in rage.
And then Sweetie Belle turned her head towards Twilight and Twilight looked into the depths of her wild eyes. There was no recognition there.
“Sweetie Belle?”
The young unicorn’s primal wail stopped at the same time as an explosion of sound echoed across the mountains. Each of the hovering arrowheads zipped unerringly in different directions, and fracturing sounds built up like a crescendo, breaking across the buffeting winds. And then, without warning, the night fell into silence. The wildness left Sweetie Belle’s eyes and she blinked in surprise, not even noticing the small flash of light from the direction of her flank or the image of a diamond arrowhead that imprinted itself there. Her legs then collapsed underneath her, and her eyes rolled up in her head as she fell to the earth.
Pinkie Pie caught her before she hit the ground. At this point Twilight did not even question how Pinkie was here. Of course she would be.
Hearing voices from beside her, Twilight turned to see Applejack with Apple Bloom pressed close to her chest, Scootaloo being talked to soothingly by a blue pegasus stallion, and, standing by himself, a young dragon.
Any thoughts Twilight may have had of re-joining Cadance to duel Black Fractal were gone in moments as she saw the blank expression on Spike’s face, with wide eyes and open mouth and his whole body shivering. Her mind finally cleared, she kicked off from the ground and flew over to comfort her little brother.
---
Meanwhile, at the back of a forgotten cupboard many miles away from the conflict, a small spool of rainbow thread disintegrated, leaving a shelf containing only dust.