In the depths of the Everfree forest, a lonely path snaked through the woods. In the days before Nightmare Moon, it had been overgrown with hanging branches and weeds. Now however, the wet dirt lay in plain view, hidden only by soft, rotting branches and growths of mushrooms. Had there been any stars out to see by, it would have been easy to follow it through.
Had anyone tried to follow it, of course, they would have been taken through a copse of skeletal trees, around the edge of a cliff, and eventually stopped by a broken bridge. Had they somehow persisted even then, they would have finally come across unspeakably old ruins, once perhaps a temple or palace. And then, after braving a dozen dangers in the lightless void of day, they would have finally seen something very strange indeed.
Behind the old ruins, between a crumbled wall and a very knotty tree, a light shone out like a torch. It shifted and swirled through the air like the night sky itself, throwing away shadows despite the darkness of its own light. And beneath her shifting mane, Luna looked down at her hooves.
A thousand thoughts shifted wordlessly in her head as she stood like a statue. A thousand memories played out like a disjointed movie. This was where she had first left Equestria of course, at the “behest” of her dear, departed sister. This was where she had almost been thwarted a second time, as well. Finally, this was where she had sealed her victory forever, and killed her first mare.
Her gaze remained fixed on her dirt-stained hooves. Of course she could have used magic to dig, but it felt somehow wrong. She had used them to dig this hole the first time, it was only right that she use them to unearth it.
She couldn’t help the memories returning again at that thought. The weeks following her takeover, her fracturing insistence that everything was how she wanted it, her regrets mounting against her. The guilt, the regret, the hatred. Oh Gods, the hatred. Burning and burning like a torch in eternal night, the only fuel that kept her going. Hatred had almost kept her from coming back here, almost kept her from digging the grave now beneath her, almost kept her from erecting the headstone that now stood haphazard before her.
She had thought she had mastered her hatred by coming here the first time, but her argument with the captain showed her otherwise. Something was terribly wrong, not just with her actions, but with her. She knew that now, on some level she always had, but without her torch, how would she keep the night away?
A traveller in the woods, having braved a dozen dangers to see what the night herself was standing over, might have been disappointed. Still mostly covered in dirt, a haphazard skeleton lay still and silent as the guardian above it. Perhaps the only notable feature was the horn protruding from the top of the skull, pointing in accusation directly toward the alicorn.
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“Oww! Ughh, I can’t see anything!” Twilight yelled, nursing her stubbed hoof.
“I thought you said you could see? Isn’t that how you got to my house from Ponyville?”
The voice sounded even softer than Fluttershy’s normal voice, as if it was muffled by a mound of blankets. She was used to the strange effects of the day by now though, and hardly noticed the distorted acoustics. A small part of her wondered how she could become accustomed to something so unnatural.
“Err, yea, I did.” Twilight muttered, distracted by her thoughts. “Well, I could before. It’s been fading slowly, but now it’s pretty much gone. We’ve got to be pretty close to Ponyville by now anyway though.”
“Oh, uh, how are we going to get back to, uhm, the other Ponyville then?”
“I’ll... I’ll figure something out. We just need to hope that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie found Applejack’s element. Then we can, uh, make our way back and save the town.”
“By stopping Trixie?”
“Yes.”
“The Elements will just... do that?”
Twilight didn’t answer. She knew Fluttershy was just honestly curious, but she didn’t want to snap at her friend so soon after gaining her trust again, and couldn’t guarantee that she wouldn’t.
Yes, fine, I don’t really have a plan. I’m gathering the Elements of Harmony because that’s what Celestia told me to do last time and it worked then, but this time I don’t have Celestia to tell me how to fix things, and things here have been broken for so long that they’ve gone and mended themselves all wrong, so my plan to to do the only thing I can think of and hope that it magically works. Are you happy now?
Instead she said, “They did last time, so yes. We’re here.”
Twilight wasn’t sure how she knew it, but she knew they had entered Ponyville. Maybe she had just picked up on the ground being harder packed from long-absent traffic, or perhaps a half-remembered smell had floated by, but she knew she was home in some twisted sense.
“So, uhm, how do we find Rainbow Dash.”
Twilight stood still and thought for a moment. She chastised herself, once again, for not specifying a better meeting place than “Ponyville.” Just as the silence began to drag awkwardly, she took a deep breath.
“Rainbow Dash!” She yelled, screaming into the blackness. Even to her, it sounded slightly muffled. After a few moments of silence she yelled again, but she knew her calls were being swallowed up before they travelled any real distance.
“Rrruuuughh!” she yelled, stamping the dirt in anger. “Just once! Just once have one thing in this blasted world go right! Every single step there’s another problem or block or bone-headed move in the way! Why can’t anything ever just go right?”
Fluttershy remained silent.
Twilight collapsed to the ground, wanting more than ever to just cover her eyes up and wait for everything to pass. “If Celestia were here, she’d know what to do. But she’s not and I don’t have my magic and I’m out of patience, so screw this!”
“What do you-”
Twilight was back on her hooves in a flash. She could feel her shoulders set and her legs locked as she leaned forward and screamed. “I’m done! I’m done fighting every inch of the way just to take another step! I’m going to get these elements back to their owners, beat Trixie, and save Ponyville if it kills me! Do you hear me?”
Her words were swallowed in seconds, and Twilight stood panting, staring down the darkness all around her as if waiting for an answer. After a few moments, she stamped her hoof, as if to make a point, and turned towards the center of town.
“Twilight, uhm, I’m sorry if I, uhm, where are we going?”
“To Sugarcube Corner.” Twilight said without missing a beat. “Because if my luck continues like it has, something went wrong with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie, Pinkie went crazy, again, and now she’s probably back there by now to rebuild her rock-trap-piano-wire-monster. Again.”
Twilight didn’t even try to make out the darkness around her anymore, moving based on months of memory alone. Sure enough, her hoof caught on chunk of rubble after a few moments, but instead of catching her balance she put all the strength in her leg behind a kick as soon as she felt resistance, launching whatever debris had lain in the road so far that she never heard it land. As if the cosmos somehow sensed her anger at it, the rest of the trip was uneventful.
After a time, Twilight stood at the doorstep to Sugarcube corner, her lip twitching at the sight before her. “Huh. Alright, that’s actually good to see.”
“I can’t see anything, Twilight.”
“Exactly. No lights means Pinke hasn’t been back here to rebuild freakishly fast, which means they’re still at the farm, which means that nothing catastrophic has happened yet.”
“But we still have to find them. How are we going to do that?”
Twilight thought for a moment, putting a hoof to her chin. “We don’t have time to just sit here and wait for them, but we’ll never find them in this darkness. Bleh.” She sat down with an unseen poof of dust, her jaw setting as she glared stubbornly at the darkness. “Just once, a little guiding light would be helpful,” she muttered, half hoping that her good luck at finding the store deserted would hear her and send another gift.
On the horizon, dawn began to break.
___________________________________
The captain beat her wings rhythmically, too lost in the act of flying to think, something she instinctively was glad of. Pushing the air around her, feeling it break before her like a wave as she cut through it... there was something deeply therapeutic in the act.
Sonic rainbooms were no stranger to her of course, having performed her first as just a little filly. She knew that in a disconnected way that her wings were burning, her body fueling itself mostly on adrenaline, shutting down everything non-essential. Apparently worry was non-essential, because she was smiling as she looked around, practically a passenger enjoying the flight in her own body. Everything was just so peaceful, and even the roar of the air crashing around her and whipping through her ears had become white noise after a time.
In all directions, the world was lit up like she hadn’t seen in almost a year, a wave of rainbow pushing the darkness back in her wake. It blew the darkness away from the ground ahead of her like wind blowing smoke, and she began to recognize the area she was flying over.
A strong twinge in her autopilot functions told her that the ruins below her were important, and she contemplated stopping. She knew that this was not her destination though, so she did not worry. Worrying took energy, and she needed her energy for flying. Even focusing took more energy than she could spare, so she let her mind drift away while he body churned and burned and pushed itself through the air like a missile.
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Twilight’s jaw dropped slowly as dim orange light began to break over her, followed by red and blue and a cacophony of colors driven wedge-like through the air by the speck above her. “What in the... Rainbow Dash?” Twilight muttered, dumbfounded as she turned her head to watch the flying figure pass her. “But how... wait, the captain?”
Realization struck her as her eye picked up movement from the ground. A few hundred meters away in the direction of the farm, another rainbow streak lifted off towards the dark-costumed blur in the center of the rainbow. From the ground it seemed to happen in slow motion and Twilight was afraid that Rainbow wouldn’t able to catch up to the speeding captain, but Dash had judged her trajectory well and the two dots gradually collided.
Twilight squinted, but couldn’t make out the details of exactly what was happening. The rainboom was still expanding, lighting up everything in sight as bright as day, but something was falling down from it. No, wait, two somethings! “Dash!” Twilight yelled, running towards the falling duo.
She kept her eyes to the sky as she ran through the ruins, trying to make out what was happening above her. The two pegasi were entangled and falling, but not so fast as to be free falling. Somewhat relieved, Twilight eased up her gallop as the two dropped out of sight beyond the ruins around her, reassured that her friend wouldn’t be hurt in the fall.
The pegasi had landed some ways out of Ponyville, and it took Twilight and Fluttershy a few minutes to reach them. By the time they arrived, it looked to Twilight like the two had just been napping in the grass from the way Dash was reclined on her haunches and the captain was laying on her side. If it hadn’t been for the heavy pants filling the air, it could have been a strangely-colored sunny day back home.
“What happened? Are you alright?” Twilight asked as she cantered over, keeping a wary eye on the captain.
“Yea, fine, just, whew, hell of a sprint.” Dash panted, wiping sweat from her brow. “She didn’t, fight or anything, just kept trying, to fly away, like she didn’t notice me.
“I didn’t.” the captain grunted from the ground. “Was on autopilot a bit. Was trying to... to save the town. I have to hurry... and get... why’d you stop me?”
“She’s still a bit out of it,” Dash said, drawing a hoof across her mouth to wipe away her drool. “Been coming around slowly since we touched down.”
Twilight heard Fluttershy land behind her, and her mission came flooding back to her. “Wait, where’s Pinkie? Did you two find the element?”
Dash smiled, reclining further backwards. “Yea yea, we found it no problem, I couldn’t see anything, but I guess Pinkie was used to digging through ash in the dark because she had it in no time. We’d been looking for you for like half an hour when the sky got all lit up and I went to catch this one. Pinkie is probably right behind us.”
“Or right beside you.” somepony said from beside Twilight.
Twilight froze in surprise, but calmed down as she realized it was Pinkie. She was used to her friend popping up suddenly, but the way she had spoken so calmly and softly was a bit unnerving.
“Wait, this is great.” Twilight realized, ears perking up in wary excitement. “With that rainboom, we can see all the way back to Ponyville! Dash, we have a clear shot! We can be back in minutes!”
“Then we have to go now,” the captain said, raising unsteadily to her feet. Twilight could see the exhaustion in her as her flank heaved and her legs trembled, but her wings flare out strong and steady. “You shouldn’t have stopped me. There’s no telling how long they have left, nor how long the light will last.”
Twilight walked over to the struggling mare, grim determination in her face. “I don’t have the patience for any more tricks, from you or anyone. Whose side are you on?”
The captain lifted a few feet into the air, her gaze every bit as steady as her body wasn’t. “I don’t want anypony else to die.”
Twilight looked towards Rainbow Dash. Dash gave a short nod and Twilight felt herself relax. “Good enough. You take Pinkie and stay in sight. Get Fluttershy to help if you can’t handle the weight, you look exhausted.”
“Hold up, there’s one more thing.”
Twilight turned to see Dash coming toward them, Pinkie and Fluttershy looking on silently a few paces back. The captain let herself back down to the ground, looking at Dash curiously.
“We need my element of harmony. The element of loyalty. You should have gotten it that night at the castle, although I don’t know why after what you did. If we’re to defeat Nightmare Moon, you need to give it to us or help us get it from wherever you had it.” Dash’s voice was calm, but Twilight could sense accusation. They needed the captain’s help, but Twilight could tell that her companions were not likely to become fast friends.
If the captain took offense, she didn’t show it. After a moment, the costumed mare ducked her head into her outfit, pulling out something that twinkled in the evening light. “Here,” she said, tossing the gem into the dirt at Rainbow's hooves.
Rainbow didn’t move to pick it up immediately, instead eyeing it’s bearer cautiously. “If it means so little to you, why carry it around all this time?”
“Dash, drop it.” Twilight interjected.
“Because it did mean something. I was loyal to Luna, to my friend, for a long time. Perhaps too long. I know you can’t believe that, but it’s true.” The captain drifted towards Pinkie as she spoke, shrugging off Fluttershy’s help as she lifted her of the ground. “You need it to stop Trixie, not Luna. Don’t forget that.”
The captain lifted off, moving swiftly but clearly leaving room for the rest of the group to follow. Fluttershy took off silently, leaving Twilight and Dash standing over the final element. Any luster it once had was hidden by the dust and dirt of the dead earth.
____________________________________________________
Red opened his eyes a crack, shielding them from the soft light around him. His entire body ached, more so in some places than others, but the soft bed sheets around him and the warm mattress beneath called for a to return to sleep.
Red rolled over, pulling the sheets up to his chin. That nap felt great, he thought, the glow of sleep already returning, I think I’ll do it again...
“Finally awake, I see!”
Red’s eyes opened again. Sleep vanished from his thoughts, the voice ringing far too many bells. He rolled himself back over, shielding his eyes as they adjusted to the light.
“It’s about time, Red. You’re missing everything!”
Red’s memory buzzed. There had been... something. Something important. Was it still happening?
“The Haybowl! Come on bro, your team is waiting!”
That voice again. Red struggled to remember, but his mind was as fuzzy as his eyes. Somepony moved next to him and Red extended a hoof, trying to touch whoever it was. Realization hit him as a dark spot swirled into focus in front of him, forming the shape of a lanky, black pony.
“Black?” Red gasped, but the shape retreated? “Brother, wait, but you-”
“Red, wake up, you’re missing everything.” The voice was cheerful, but insistent. Just like he remembered. “Red, your team, they need you. They’re losing.”
“Black,” Red mumbled as he threw off the bed sheets. Where was he? “I remember. You died. What are you doing here?”
The black pony took a step back into the light, enough so to illuminate a red checker piece on his flank. “Come on, nothing has ever kept the Checkers brothers apart before!” You’re here now, and your team needs you.”
Red’s memory flashed. The Haybowl! Shit, what time was it? Red jumped out of bed, standing before his brother in full Hayball uniform.
“Hurry up, Red!” Black stamped his hoof impatiently, turning towards the door. “If you don’t wake up, you’re gonna miss everything.”
Confusion floated through Red’s head. But I’m already-
Black turned back from the door, his eyes full of cheer. “Red, damnit, get up. I can hear you breathing, and we need you up before they regroup!” Had his voice changed? It sounded different, like someone he used to know. “This wall isn’t going to hold itself up!”
Black turned and vanished out the door, but Red couldn’t move. Celestia, everything hurt all of a sudden. He groaned, collapsing back on the bed. He had to get moving, he had to get to the Haybowl, he had to wake up.
Red opened his eyes for real, looking up at the impassive face of Big Mac. “Damn,” he muttered. His chest hurt in ways not related to his injuries, and that was all he could think to say.
Red sat up, his memory returning. He was laying in the same spot that he had fallen. He couldn’t hear any more crashes, but cracks and booms resounded aplenty from beyond the stone behemoth behind him.
“They pulled back just after you went down,” Big Mac answered his unasked question. Red took his extended hoof and stood up, testing his weight for injuries. “One of the stalactites got through. Their leader must have had enough of that, because they have all their firepower focused above them now.
Satisfied that nothing was immediately wrong with his body, Red turned his attention back to the wall. Not many ponies were left standing, but the wall held. “How are the pegasi doing?”
Big Mac didn’t answer. Once Red saw his face, he didn’t have to.
“Shit. What’s the plan for the next wave?”
“Same as before,” Big Mac said. “We buy the town time. If the resistance gets here in time to save even one soul, then we-”
“Actually, I don’t think we have to be so grim.” A white unicorn mare stepped out from behind Big Mac, practically prancing to the center of attention.
“Pop, I thought I told you to stay back until your magic returned.”
“You did, and I listened. Look!”
For a terrible moment, Red thought that the green light that shone across them was an incoming spell from beyond the wall. When realization dawned on him, he nearly choked. “Your magic...”
Pop shook her head, the soft light from her horn following it and drawing lines in the air. “Not just mine, everypony’s! The block wore off, we have a chance!”
“Better than a chance,” Big Mac added.
Red couldn’t remember the last time Big Mac smiled, but he remembered this one for the rest of his life.
“Then we can give our colts in the air some reprieve?” Red asked. When Red didn’t hear any answer, his heart sank. “Mac? Come on, I know you have something up your sleeve.”
Big Macintosh shook his head slowly. Screams continued to float on the air from beyond the wall. “The pegasi have standing orders to retreat in this situation. If they’re still up there, it’s by their own choice.”
“But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t-”
“Listen! If they aren’t right on our doorstep, this won’t work, and then more ponies will die. A lot more.”
Red glared for a moment, “When you said we had a chance, I assumed you meant all of us. When did the pegasi become expendable?”
“We’re all expendable. That’s what we signed up for. You want to help them? Then make sure nopony crosses this bridge. If they make it to the town, then this was all in vain.” Big Macintosh turned away in a huff, calling out over his shoulder, “Pop, stay with me, give the signal when I say so. I hope everypony’s ready.”
_________________________________________________
In the dungeons below the battle, past abandoned store rooms full of shattered crates and barrels, Trixie screamed in rage.
“Where are you!?” She yelled at the empty jail cell, its door blasted off the hinges. Down the hallway, both other cells stood similarly empty, and Trixie could find no trace of her quarry nor any other area of confinement. She stood trembling for a moment, her reason fighting with her disbelief for control of her mind.
“Where else,” she muttered under her breath. “Where else could they be holding her? The guardhouse? No, it was deserted.” She began to pace back in front of the cell, the light from her horn making the shadows thrash around her. “A secret room here? No, they’re too crude and stupid.” A small part of her upturned her nose at the lack of dungeon development, but her pacing was otherwise uninterrupted. “The town hall? She must be there, it’s the only place left. Maybe they brought her there to keep a closer eye on her?” Trixie stopped pacing, but her frown betrayed her skepticism. She hadn’t accounted for the possibility of the captain not being here, but it wouldn’t be a problem. While her buffoon of a general was drawing all eyes towards himself, slipping into town would be easy enough.
Her smirk returned as the plan crystallized in her head. With the captain gone, the last thread would be trimmed, and Nightmare Moon would have no reason to suspect her of anything. And without a reason to suspect her, getting close enough to Nightmare Moon would be a snap.
She could feel the magic forming itself in her mind, her horn glowing brighter in anticipation. With Nightmare Moon’s latest boon, and more importantly her weakening herself to give it, their strength was equal enough for Trixie to practically taste the power she craved. She felt her blood rush and her skin crawl at the image of herself on the throne, the drained and dry husk of a goddess merely a memory. So strong was the urge to reach out and grab it that she barely kept herself from galloping back up the tunnel towards the town.
_________________________________________________
Thu-thump. Thu-thump.
The sound of his own heartbeat drowned out every noise around the General. He loosed another bolt of magic, letting the thuds in his chest and head build the anticipation. Glee surged through him as another shadow in the stalactites above burst into flame, plummeting down towards the ground.
“Sir! They still aren’t retreating, but there can’t be more than a handful left. Shall we return to the assault?”
“No!” The General snarled, barely letting his sergeant finish. “They’ve been a thorn in my side since our first step. Burn them from the skies, then char them again!”
Thu-thump thu-thump thu-thump.
With the shifting tide of battle, the General’s adrenaline had long since run out, but something else, something stronger, coursed through him now. Something popped softly in the shadows above his host, and another burning shape began to sink to the ground. His muscles tensed so much at the sight they began to vibrate, his whole body seemingly frozen as his blood roared through his veins. He felt as if he could feel everything around him without even looking, like the entire host of anger and death was reaching out to him, yearning for him to demolish his foes with a flick of his hoof. How easy it had all become with Trixie’s gift.
More like her payment! He thought, startling some small part of his mind. Repayment! After all I’ve done for her, all the bootlickings and beatings...
Thu-thump thu-thump thu-thump.
“Enough!” The General yelled, making his sergeant jump. “They aren’t dying quick enough! Back to the wall, tear it down for good!”
The ponies around him barely hesitated before their training kicked in, and within moments their ranks were reformed and pointed back towards the bridge. The general could see fires flickering atop it, but more importantly, he could feel things to kill.
“Sergeant,” The General snarled, his every muscle protesting that he wasn’t rushing headlong at the enemy.
“Sir.”
The General opened his mouth, but caught himself before he spoke. His mouth opened and closed uselessly as his brow gradually unknotted and his scowl faded.
“Sir?”
“They have nothing left.” He finally added, his voice carefully calm. “Advance with full shields until we are in range, then have our colts pull that wall over. We’ve picked them off to less than a handful by now, and they’ve lost their air support. Even if they won’t admit it, it’s over for them.”
“Sir.”
Time seemed to crawl for the General. Something inside him screamed out in betrayal, demanding a headlong charge. He saw himself standing atop the wall, eyes aglow as the entire town galloped away in fear. He saw the bodies around him, his own troops mingled indiscriminately among the rest, as the entire town drowned in shadow and hate-
The General shook his head, clearing the vision from his head. The sound of his heartbeat faded, leaving a splitting headache in its wake. Groaning slightly, he turned to follow his troops, hoping it would all be over soon.
He walked briskly through his colt’s ranks, feeling the air tingle around him as the shields were pulled up one by one. The mass approached the wall again, a soft thunk signalling that they had again entered throwing range for the defenders. The general glanced side to side at his troops, chins up and chest forward to a stallion. His own chest swelled with a bit of pride as he took in the remnants of his forces. They might be Trixie’s army, and they might have been disrespectful and snobbish to him in the past, but today they had all fought together. There was something familiar in that to the General, almost like having a friend again.
“Colts,” He said with a smile, looking backwards to his men rather than towards the enemy, “let’s finish this and go home.”
The stomp of horseshoes on the dusty earthen floor gradually silenced as the soldiers arrived at the wall. Every eye gleamed with the eagerness of victory and the promise of reprieve. The General grinned from ear to ear, unable to suppress some of his own eagerness at what was to come. The slaughter the blood the gore the fire the… the promise of home, Trixie’s favor, maybe an early retirement. What the hell did Trixie do to me anyway?
The electric buzz of stones colliding with the shield was constant, but substantially less than before their last assault. The soldiers advanced until they were a scant twenty yards from the wall without problem. It wasn’t until the General opened his mouth to give the attack order that solitary green flare shot into the air, whistling towards the ceiling.
“Who the hell?” The General sneered, turning on his men. “Who attacked without order? We’re not here to-”
“Sir, it came from the other side! It wasn’t us!”
The wheels turned in The General’s head, the answer clicking in his mind just as the flare above exploded in dazzling but harmless light. “Their magic is back.” The General deadpanned.
The flare faded, but the sky remained lit. The General wheeled on his sergeant, nearly headbutting him to the ground as he sneered in his face. “The unicorns! Earth ponies on the wall, pegasi on the ceiling! Where did they station their unicorns?!”
The sergeant sputtered but didn’t answer, and the sky grew brighter. In the space of a second, a distant whistle became ear-splittingly loud as a green burst of something bright and painful plowed into the ground where the sergeant had been, exploding a moment later in a burst that singed the General’s face and flung gore in all directions.
The air instantly became full of screams. The rock beneath their feet shook with the force of explosions, but The General turned slowly, surveying the battlefield. Behind them, the guardhouse they had assumed was abandoned had lights in every window, horns shooting death onto the open battlefield below them. He knew his colts would try to shift position, to keep up a shield between themselves and the new threat, but it was too late. They were too late.
Another explosion rent the earth and stone beside him, showering him and debris and pain. He saw a colt in front of him break ranks and run towards the exit, only to fall silently into the dirt when a rock caved half his skull in. The panic had kicked up a dust cloud that now obscured all vision, only dim lights and whistles heralding the death that rained on them from all sides.
Hell had opened it’s maw and was swallowing his men, but The General could only stand and stare it in the eye while carnage reigned around him. It’s over, he thought.
Not yet, something else thought back, expressing it’s meaning not in words but in the blood and fire around him. Give up. Give in.
His head was pounding and his blood felt like fire. Something intangible crawled up his back and seemed to seize at his mind. Anger and hate and rage flared in his eyes as he stared slackjawed and defeated at the slaughter around him.
The General gave in.