She wished for the freedom to yell her frustration to the heavens above.
The flow of battle had turned against her.
Blasts weren’t as disruptive when they failed to explode in time to unbalance a monster. Blinding shots did little if they fizzled too soon when thrown improperly. The careful and calculated control she had exercised was slipping away with the urgency of the threats called forth. Every moment mattered, but she was still stuck fighting the star beast and it unnerved her, no matter how much she wished to deny it.
And in those giant reflecting pools of green, she saw the glitter of amusement of a puppetmaster. Curse the King of Shadows! Curse him and his games!
She dodged the swipe of a paw, barely, noticing the action alone had caused small dots of white to swirl at random. But closer examination, between two blasts of her magic, revealed those dots to be snowflakes, and worry gripped at her heart. Were the windigoes already growing in power?
Briefly, her gaze went downward, not to her allies but two more victims of Sombra’s magic. The ones that depended on this enemy she had challenged. Wordlessly, she prayed. There were many sins to her name, she could call this one another.
She summoned forth her power, searched through the dark well in her source and pulled. Energy blazed through veins, and she felt the pressure built up in her horn. Her heart sang, for the shortest of instants, to the melody of her own magic. It felt good to let go of the limits, to be as she was meant to be. And power, power built up still stronger within her as the spell distorted the air around her.
There was no more time to lose.
For a creature of this strength, restraints were impractical.
All at once, the magic erupted in a tidal wave of blue light.
There was no time for it to roar, to scream and shout its pain. Within less than the instant needed for the attack to make contact, it was already too late. Its head lied backward, scorching and unmoving. Then, pushed by its own weight, it started falling on its back.
Luna let out a shaken sigh, then started to turn.
The Ursa Major was no more.
And her cubs wailed beyond even the dark king’s control.
Luna forced herself to look away, teeth grinded together. There was no time.
A glance confirmed her worst fear and some. There were easily fifteen windigoes overwhelming Sombra’s forces. A third of that had drunk up the hatred of the Three Tribes to cause an unending blizzard. She wished not face this many monsters at the height of their powers again.
“Don’t be afraid, my sweet Luna,” he whispered in her ears.
Her heart blazing, she shook herself free of those wretched memories. With the thunderclap of a wingbeat, she dove headfirst into battle.
--
When the worst of the storm had hit, they had acted quickly. The red pegasus had taken off close to the ground and urged them to follow. His fellow soldier had not hesitated, and she hadn’t seen a reason not to trust him. Even she could tell about where the worst of it originated. It was the best time to take their distance from it, especially with the unearthly creepy horse ghosts neighing around.
In complete circumference of the fighting, they had found a caved-in part of the ground that made them much harder to detect. But, even in their avoidance of the frozen things flying around, they managed to share their hiding places with undesirables.
“Consarnit, Am Ah a rotten luck magnet or did Ah just miss a scroll about this?” Applejack growled, stomping.
Her hooves cracked the wood, forcing a helpless yelp out of the timberwolf, just before two more weapons cut into it. The brittle material gave out easily, turning into dust under the strong assaults. It would be a wound that the monster would not regenerate from.
On either side of it, the two pegasi were not having much more fun, as the creative flow of curses out of the gray coated one could attest. Wiping the sweat off his brow, he retorted, “Ma’am, I regret to say I think it’s your Celestia-damned luck.”
At his side, his companion found the strength to snort in spite of their situation. He quickly punch his shoulder, seemingly offended. “Rain, don’t say that to an Element’s bearer!”
“She’s Honesty.” Rain shrugged with his wings. “You want me to lie to her?”
“S’fine, guys. Ah don’t think it’s really important right now.” Applejack shook her head, before gesturing toward the howling winds around. “We’re kinda busy, remember?”
Grimacing, she sent a worried look in the direction her friends were supposed to be. At least, from what she remembered. It was starting to get hard to tell at all. Turning to the stallions, Applejack mumbled. “Ye think you could get me to mah friends fast?”
From their sudden hesitation, she could tell it was not going to happen.
The red one cringed, his tail twitching once. “With that kind of dangers roaming around, you’d have to be a pretty fast pegasus not to fall prey to the weird things flying around.”
Applejack didn’t feel the need to ask if they thought they could be fast enough. Things were turning out more dire than she had hoped. Without her, the others couldn’t zap that darn unicorn king and be done with it. With her stuck in this trench, things weren’t in their favor and wouldn’t turn either.
“Did somepony call for a emergency dose of awesomeness?” a well-known cocky voice came from above.
Looking up, they all saw the rainbow-maned mare flying overhead with barely a scratch on her.
“Rainbow?” Applejack called, taken aback by her sudden appearance.
“Come on, AJ, no time to lose!” Rainbow Dash landed next to her, quickly taking her hoof. “We gotta go back to Twilight and the rest right now! This fight should already be over by now.”
Still a little shocked, the mare looked at her previous company with a hint of worry. This wasn’t how she had imagined their daring escape.
“Fly, we’ll hold them back,” the red pegasus gestured for her to take the offer quickly.
Applejack grimaced. “Y’all helped me way too much for me to leave yeh like that.”
“It’s what we’re supposed to do.” Rain shrugged, with an easy smile. “You mares are supposed to be saving everypony. So get to it.”
Briefly, her legs shook with anger. She seemed ready to buck something, anything. But finally, gritting her teeth, Applejack simply tilted her Stetson to them.
“Come on, Rainbow,” she said, settling down on her friend’s back. “Show off yer supposed awesomeness.”
No sooner said than done, Rainbow Dash took off at a startling speed for a mare carrying another pony on her back.
“Dashie! Applejack!”
Their jaws dropping in collective indignation, the two glanced to their right, in time to see pink and light blue collide with them.
The hit was too much for Rainbow’s precarious flight. Without any opportunity to straighten up, the three of them crashed violently into a pile of snow. Though fortunate in that it softened the failed landing, the impact lifted much more snow, creating a white cloud that obscured their sight.
They could not have seen the windigo heading straight for them.
“Look out!” One of their guardian took off toward them, grasping his only weapon in his hoof.
The blade was trivial, he knew. He doubted it would even leave a mark on such a thing, but there wasn’t enough time to push three civilians out of the way. So he spread his wings wider, took place in-between prey and predator, and stared his death in the eyes.
“Fireflight!” Rain shouted.
He gritted his teeth, tensing every muscle in his body. His heartbeat felt loud in his ears. His feathers rustled with every one of them, every beat that left him that much closer to his demise. In the last seconds, strands of his coat whitened under a new layer of cold and he understood with absolutely certainty that would be the thing to do him in, when the windigo suddenly contorted in midair with a bloodcurdling shriek.
An aura had taken hold of its body, brighter than the cold swirl in its eyes, burning with power. With almost insolent ease, it launched the beast away despite its snarls.
“Do not touch the cursed spirits, soldiers!” Princess Luna warned from above, her figure already disappearing through the growing storm, with only the illumination of her repulsing spells to follow her progression.
Then, the few instants of stunned stillness came to an end, and the three mares quickly untangled themselves from the ground, Applejack and Rainbow doing so with a particular haste and annoyance.
“Pinkie!” they shouted in anger. “What are you doing here? We were supposed to stay together!”
“Yup,” she nodded in earnest. “That’s why we’re together in this right here.”
“No, I meant with Shy and Rare and Twi!” Rainbow grunted. “We can’t just split up like that!”
The following reply died down on Pinkie’s lips, as her mane suddenly stood straight on her head. At incomprehensible speed, she twisted around, her blue eyes suddenly on the trees and the open air around them.
Recognizing the signs, both her friends frantically scanned their surroundings, but that valiant effort was unneeded. Their enemy announced its presence clearly. An ominous, ever echoing neigh flowed around them, as wisps of frozen air snaked near them. The trail led to the floating windigo above them.
Some of them wouldn’t admit it, but the equine-like creature unnerved them in incredibly creepy ways.
And one of them did not need to admit it at all.
“I got this, girls!” Pinkie confidently strutted toward the spirit of hatred.
For a short moment, the other ponies did not react, mesmerized by the brisk pace she set herself on to meet a windigo head on. Then, they saw her crouch down.
“Surprise hug attack!” she shrieked as she jumped up high in the air.
Confusion briefly appeared in the windigo’s eyes, before it glared and flew in a straight line toward her. Shards of ice already formed within its tail and its mane. But one rainbow-colored snatched its target away before there was any contact. The creature only howl in anger as it followed the afterimage and the trail leading back to the group of ponies.
“Hey!” Pinkie protested, aggravated by the intervention.
“The princess just told us not to do that!”
“But it’s the way to deal with those meanies, right?” Pinkie said, looking at them confidently. “Love and tolerate, and hugging while slowly freezing to death.”
A… contemplative… silence followed that ingenious finding.
“Urgh, Pinkie!” Rainbow groaned, facehoofing. “What are you talking about?!”
Before anything could be said, their attentions were stolen by the angry howl of the windigo, cheated of another victim. Much faster than before, it flew at the edge of their little group, silently daring them to try to escape while it froze them alive.
And perhaps it was that circling motion and the ice crawling in their direction, the very same things they had been told to imagine a few years back, that stirred up the farmmare’s memories.
“No wait, Ah think she might be onta sumthing.” Applejack placed her hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “Don’tcha remember the play? The whole fancy theater thing we did on Heart’s Warming Eve?”
Rainbow Dash looked at her as if she’d grown a second head.
“…What?” she deadpanned. “You want us to hug to chase away the icy monsters?”
“Ah wouldn’t even be surprised if it worked.” Applejack tapped the necklace around her neck.
“Friendship is magic… al, Dashie!” Pinkie declared with utmost serious. “Of course it’s going to work.”
Scowling before both of her friends being so insistent, Rainbow’s resistance crumbled and she rolled her eyes. “Fine!”
“If you’re absolutely certain about this, ma’ams, we’ll do our best to buy you time,” Fireflight declared solemnly, to which Rain nodded in approbation.
Swiftly, the two soldiers turned, intent on giving that spirit-monster-thing the fight of its life, but bumped into something on their first step. On reflex, their glancse went downward. There, they saw the orange leg on their breastplate forcing them back. Their jaws hanging, they blinked, unable to understand.
“Yeah, y’all coming into the hug too, y’know?” The farmmare gave them both a sly grin. “Saved my skin there, yeh think Ah wouldn’t wanna know y’all better?”
“But…” they started to protest, but were cut off by a suspiciously strong grip from the pink mare. In one fell swoop, she gathered all five of them in a closed circle. Nopony but her knew how they had come to be collectively hugging each other.
“So… how long are we supposed to be hugging while windigoes are on the loose?” Rain asked slowly, shifting a little under the hooves of the rather attractive mares.
“Hopefully not until we are covered in ice,” Fireflight deadpanned, his eyes still trailing on the neighing beast circling them in the snowstorm.
“Well, according to the script last ti-” Rainbow grumbled, but was cut off.
“Any second now. We’re all friends here!” Pinkie insisted, scrunching up her face to will the friendship to friendship faster.
But with the passing seconds, her daredevil friend started to feel embarrassed. Denying up to the red on her face, Rainbow cleared her throat. “I just want you two stallions to know I’m only doing this because she asked. I’m usually doing more awesome stuff.”
At that, a worrying fit of coughing shook the bearer of Honesty, making the others turn to the now blushing mare. “S’rry, swallowed wrong there.”
Pinkie seemed the only one to take it at face value. The others noticed how suspiciously like laughter her cough sounded. It was more or less confirmed when her leg brought Rainbow in a stronger embrace, still chuckling goodnaturedly. “Never change, Rainbow.”
“Of course not,” she said, boasting without shame. “I’m already the fastest pegasus in Equestria, no need to be any different.”
Rain and Fireflight exchanged knowing glances, and perhaps there was a little fondness in those usually serious eyes. Freezing here, with those mares? It could be worse.
Inside of them, it was like a bubble of true warmth had popped, a spark that linked them together. From the three mares and the two stallions, the bond carved itself on their hearts and they accepted each other. Serenity and warmth filled their every pore, a light pink aura surrounded them in the midst of the storm. They felt lifted by the most powerful of magic.
Harmony sang in their blood.
--
I had felt cold, chilled to the bone even.
Snow had fallen and ice had covered all. The storm had brewed above, and the time for reaping had come. So simple, such an amazing joy had sung within me through the unleash of my power, it had been… perfect.
But not anymore.
Fire. My veins were filled with bucking fire!
I writed on the ground, holding my barrel with my wings and my hooves, vainly trying to ease off some of the pain. Worthless, but equine as far as reaction goes. Through the blur of my tears, I attempted to locate the reason for this, and found it instantly.
Two hearts of pure energy shone over two spots of the battlefield, sending the children screeching away in unholy terror. I knew what those were, I had seen them in action before… With a light beyond those of the magical beacons, so bright it seared, so strong it blew away every remnants of darkness lingering, their bonds burned through the night and fended off evil.
I wanted to hate them for it. Deep down, I just knew there was something primal wishing to lash out at the stupid amount of pain they were putting me through. But every ray of light those hearts sent my way were filled with something too pure for that. To even resent them self-defense… It just seemed so petty…
My mind felt so clear… it had been before, but I could see now that it was just a lie, just an adrenaline rush and the words of an ancient curse.
“Prepare yourselves,” I whispered, hoping to carry it to the girls.
My hooves dug into the ground, my muscles tensed, as I steeled my resolve. My gaze locked on the monsters I had summoned. They were going to ruin everything. I could not let that happen, too much hinged on this mission succeeding!
From the pit of my guts, the same devouring desire rose to overwhelm me. I did not fight it, staying focused on the windigoes with every ounce of willpower I possessed.
“Enough!” I shouted, the echo reverberating over the battlefield. “Feast no longer! You. Are. Mine!”
Through the air went a pulse of magic, and silence fell at once. The shadows of the past melted, and the cold winds stilled.
Dark clouds gathered at my behest. The sky took on an inky shade of black, casted upon those accursed ponies a reflection of their hearts. Darkness.
With thunder and storms, I summoned Light.
“STOP!” I bellowed. “CEASE AT ONCE!” My panicked shout was punctuated by the strikes of lightning, and below me the mortals scattered, though not to the singing of their hearts. They were vile creatures, I was starting to suspect. They simply did not wish to challenge my power directly.
But they would bid their time, once more.
With more fatigue than my display of strength warranted, I landed straight where the heart of the conflict had taken hold. Thus, I knew despair once more.
I recognized them. I recognized so many of them. None seemed to be moving. None breathed. They were long gone.
For the shortest instant, a blasphemous curse toward Vitam Mortem lingered on my lips. How could the Elders be just if they had asked this of me? Why did they give me such a task if they were to claim so many of the innocents I was meant to save?!
No… I shook my head. It was not my place to question them. My place was only with the fallens. So I trotted through the ruins of a burning military camp.
My hooves stopped next to a young adult’s head, into a puddle that smelled of iron and copper. The taint soiled my fur, added a shade of red to it.
Half of his face was indistinct, hidden by a caved-in piece of his helmet. The other half was known to me.
A knot tied itself in my throat. What had it been…? Oh, yes, he had wished to be a baker. To feed his community, to give them something to eat and appreciate.
A noble goal, that was never to be.
Judicium, have you given it to him? Or was his heart deemed unfit for a reward yet?
No, no, of course not. The fault was not this stallion’s – nay, this colt’s. If anycreature would ever need to bear it, it would be me. I had been given the task to restore Order to this land, I had yet to succeed. There were… obstacles to my mission.
The faces of a few ponies flashed in my head, insignificant in every aspect other than belonging to all three separate tribes.
The rot started at the head. The ROT started at the head!
“Caelum,” I heard them call.
They swooped down, and their hooves sank down into the mud. Once more, they repeated my name, together.
Two voices, both feminine. Both of them of my kind, able to understand.
My eyes went to the sisters, first to the eldest.
Celestia the Dutiful, whose eyes still asked the same question. She had been chosen for a reason and we both knew it. Hers was the power of flames and light. Hers was the power to purge this world.
For a long moment, I could not find the strength to answer. Had I tried, there would have only been a supplication.
And we would be asked to return Home to the smell of burning flesh.
It took a moment of contemplation to force myself to tear my gaze away from hers.
Luna, sweet and loving Luna. The younger sister, the temperance to my anger, the one they had sent to support me rather than my mission.
Her wing fell onto my back, her gentle touch soothing against the evergrowing cold of WAR and FAILURE. The fires of my anger felt tampered with a glance of her beautiful eyes, there was still hope, they told me.
“No,” I told them. “I must complete my mission.”
The air around me shivered.
There would be another parlay. It would be the end of this war.
Blazing cold erupted from the tip of my wings, waves of cold air washed down my surroundings. Webs of ice spread. Spread over the inanimate, over the living… over the dead.
A white mist blurred my sight. I could not understand, I did not understand. There were screams, they pierced through a veil, and they were panicked and pain. But why? Had I not already stopped this battle?
The haze dulled my senses. I only knew I had to stop the Three Tribes from fighting anew.
I had entered the chancellor’s tent after leaving his guards unconscious. The lesser of his qualities was at least some courage. Even when faced with the howling winds, he refused to back down.
“You don’t understand! You would NEVER understand! How could you, with your wings and your horn, Caelum?!” The young stallion slammed his hooves onto his table. “We grow the food they demand, we work tirelessly on our crops, it is the price we paid for in sweat and blood! And they still look down on us, because they are somehow more ‘special’ than us?!”
“You promised a ceasefire.” My voice was cold, colder, colder, colder… freezing… “You wagered your name on it. You swore peace for the sake of your own. You betrayed them as much as you betrayed your enemies.”
“They would have betrayed us FIRST! That peace treaty was a ruse by the featherheads and the snobs, and we showed them that no more! No more mocking, no more bullying, no more threats! They can all starve to death for all we true ponies care!”
I had heard enough, I did not need to stay and listen to this mad rambling any longer.
The whispers of my anger were growing stronger, growing harder to repel. I was not weak, I would NOT fall to the influence of Chaos! No… No, I shook my head, I would simply ignore those insidious thoughts, until my mission was completed.
Though ignoring them never made them go away. They came back with an alarming regularity. With every skirmish and every senseless destruction, the taste of ashes twisted my expression into a scowl at the foolishness – nay the evil of that species.
The destruction of their lands didn’t faze them. The deaths of their own did not concern them.
In their hearts, there was nothing but the insane hatred of the ponies that did not share the same attributes. Were they on the verge of death, were they forced to live together or perish, they would do their best to meet an early grave.
“Perhaps they could be helped along that path…” murmured a sweet voice at the back of my head.
How could they demand that I stand back while they promised to cease when the orders were already moving to attack the other two? How could they DEMAND that I stand back and watch their foals die?
…They really did. They wanted me to stay out of the way so they could kill each other and feed their precious egos.
I hated them.
…I didn’t think it was possible for an alicorn to feel it, but how else could I explain the burning sensation in my chest, the anger every one of them inspired me…? Were my eyes the same as theirs? Were they showing only my desire to see their corpses on a battlefield for once?
Was I truly the one meant to do this?
I… had a mission…
But I would never be able to lead those little monsters toward peace if the very sight of them made me nauseous.
The memories shuffled, blurred before I felt transported to a damp and dark place.
I stood immobile, transfixed despite my best intention.
The piece of hatred pulsed within its prison, a dim shade of grey filtering through white light. With time, it should dissipate into nothing and my mission could continue as ordered. Twice it became dim, only to turn blinding. With a jolt of my magic, I forced it back under its seal, and turned my back on it.
When I spread my wings to fly, I could only have imagined the echoing cry.
I retched, the ground shaking beneath my hooves, or vice versa.
Once more… I was still too WEAK!
Frost covered my mane, its hardened edges fell into my eyes. They prickled, but caused nothing more than mere discomfort.
The tips of my feathers felt strangely cold. Soon it spread further.
My whole body shook, an invisible thing pressing down over my barrel, forcing my breath into ragged and quick intakes of air. Lines of white ran over my fur, cutting through the gold like rims. They reached my heart.
There was no warmth in my chest every time Luna comforted me. I simply wished she focused her energies on more useful things.
She was there, between the soldiers and the monsters, with blue flames and mystic light her companions. Her roars were terrible, and pained.
They made my blood curdle.
The deads left me indifferent. What pity was I to have for those fools?
Monsters were falling. Beasts were falling. Ponies were falling.
“Celestia, may I speak to you? Privately?”
Her eyes briefly shone in suspicion. How right she was.
There were screams, equines and then not. I could not tell whom they had originated from. They mixed together, onto the canvas of a mare’s cries of horror.
Celly?
I found it in myself to smile. The children flying around me were delighted by the memories I kept close to my heart.
King Iron Crown.
Chancellor Slow Braised
Lady Commander Typhoon.
Dead!
An hysterical laughter rose from my throat. Too suddenly the entire debacle felt like a story told in jest. Things were so clear to me for the first time in decades! The only way to end the war was to end the species!
I was not laughing.
Though I could hear the echoes, I was not laughing. Truly. There were few times I could have ever experienced so little a desire to laugh. In fact, I could barely fight back a scowl of disgust at the spectacle in front of me.
Ponies… fighting…
They moved through the blur over my senses, weapons in mouth or spells at ready. I didn’t recognize their opponents. It was as if I was sinking in a sea of pitch black darkness. My breath caught in my throat. The bloodthirsty rage threatened to choke me.
It didn’t change. That was all I knew. A millennia of peace would not purge them of their unworthy individuals. There was only one solution.
For a split second, I wished I could summon the indifference I had first felt toward them. It would be better than this… It would be less… painful…
They really just deserve their fates, don’t they? He whispered.
A spell, just a simple one, would be more than enough to give them what they deserved. It would be easy. I had already accomplished more complicated feats with comparatively less experience. With a thought, I could deny them their lives through me. Within the space of a heartbeat, they would be crawling on the ground with their hooves pawing at their throat.
Lowering my head, I pointed my horn toward the contingent of ponies.
That was the will of the sky.
My will.
No… the thought was sudden, subtle. His will, right? …There's a difference. Why would I...?
“Prince Ventus! Look out!”
I turned around, distracted by the warning, only to see the raging face of a manticore closing the distance between us. I did not even think to unleash the spell on that creature.
A gray blur tackled it in midair, away from me. The mass of muscles and fur rolled, roaring like its lion head suggested, pawing at the stallion’s back and viciously slashing his left hind leg. A strangled scream got stuck in his throat, but he did not let go.
It ended all in a moment. Two swift strikes of a blade to the neck silenced those growls forever. The manticore’s paws fell down slowly and did not twitch.
Panting, the stallion stood, gasping when he inadvertently placed weight on his injured leg. I stood by while he spat his blade into his hoof, then spat more saliva to the ground, glancing quickly at the lines of red scarring his leg. Yet, even then the self-preservation returned to the background when he caught sight of me.
“Are you alright?” the pegasus asked with honest concern. “It didn’t get you, right?”
What…? Why did you do that? And, remembering the thoughts that came to me instants before, I felt horror grasp my throat. Why did I want to… to…?
No evil whispered an answer to me. There was only stunned silence ringing through the echoes of my mind.
--
Their hoofsteps echoed rapidly into the small tunnel. They were galloping as quickly as possible, the only light being that of her and Rarity’s horn. At their necks and her head, the Elements rested and glimmered in the dark, waiting for their use.
The artefacts were at the front of Twilight’s mind. There had already been too much pain born from her botched teleportation spell, they had to end this as soon as possible. They had to use the Elements without hesitation!
The screams still rang to her ears. The growls and the roars still made her fur stand. Every second. Every second was one the fighting went on. Her feathers were still stuck together with traces of frost. She willed herself to ignore its source, only the most immediate consequence should count at the moment.
She tried not to think of the red pegasus that had chosen to stay back, claiming he would stop anything from entering after them. There had been little time to thank him, he had protected her friends, brought Applejack, Pinkie and Rainbow back.
She tried not to think how they were leaving the fighting to others…
No! The fastest way to end this madness was to surgically remove the infection at the top! A precise intervention to break away the enemy’s coordinated attack, then pick off the last of the resistance was the best solution. Even if, in the corner of her minds, she only prayed she’d be forgiven by those she was leaving behind to fight.
Her steps almost became a stumble, so taken by her morose thoughts that she did not notice the change in terrain.
They came into an open area that seemed to be deep enough into the hills. Above them, the ceiling was a comfortable enough height that a full grown dragon could stand without crouching. But their enemy himself was not within sight.
What was however sent a chill to their spines. Piles of bones and… fleshy parts laid next to a cauldron and ominous chants echoed around. The image seemed straight out of a dark novel about rituals and other magics ponies were not meant to know. Somepony, mare-like it seemed, moved stiffly around a large metallic pot. From their position, the Elements’ bearers could easily hear the bubbling liquid stir in its cauldron, and even more so see the sinister glow it crowned the cave with. There was still only one thought crossing their minds.
That mare-like shape could only belong to one pony.
“Zecora!” they called for her, their voices strong with panic.
The zebra shaman truly was in a pitiful state. The purple hue tainting her whole being did little to cover up the harshness she had endured. Smudges and blots of dried blood dirtied her fur. Trails of dried tears had marred her face, almost as scars would have. Her right hind leg was twisted too far to be normal, and she did not favor it.
But less than her physical state, it was in her eyes that the trials had left the deepest traces. Once sparkling with wisdom and good nature, now just empty orbs that reflected nothing. Or almost, for their images did appear to register to her.
Upon seeing them, upon realizing that she was in the presence of her friends, Zecora’s chanting came to an abrupt halt, even at great physical strain. Her wheezing breath soon turned into a wet cough. Through it, even as they all sprinted in her direction, she whispered hoarsely, “Flee…”
“Not without you!” Rainbow Dash replied hotly, taking to the air without realizing her mistake.
She first felt a wrong pull at the tip of her feathers. It was light enough to be almost unnoticeable, but not from an expert like her. Every instinct honed by years of flight Thus, she got to see firsthoof the shadows stretching toward her in a massive gaping maw.
“What the b-?!”
There was no time to finish her sentence. The remaining bearers could only look up in time to see her, sclera colored green, disappearing beyond the light.
Their reaction was synchronized, as the danger their friend was put in woke every protectiveness bones in their bodies. At once, they turned their attention upward, spells and aerial feats already started in the hope to rescue Rainbow, at the moment they really couldn’t afford to. From the closest shadows, black smoke leaped out of the trap.
The darkness swallowed them all.
--
What have I done? What… happened?
The whispers were far in the back of my head. They could not at this point influence me. The actions of one dutiful soldier had extinguished their cries of unworthiness. It was as if every restraint on me had fallen off at the same time, leaving me with nothing but the pure truth.
And what a fearsome truth it was.
As gentle as I dared, I asked the air to lift my savior off the ground. Dazed as he was, it still took him very little time to regain his wits and stand of his own free will. I should have concerned myself more with his well-being, I should have done everything to be certain, but…
“Prince Ventus?” the loyal pony called for my attention, trotting on three legs.
I could not look away, I could not give him the attention he so rightly deserved. I was too taken by the devastation visited upon this place.
Ice. Snow. Cold.
It should have been a forest. A clearing in the forest. But I was before a frozen wasteland, something like a graveyard full of icy tombs. There were shapes under the snow, blue from the chill, lifeless and screaming. Dim light still shone on them from the beacons, adding a macabre twist to every sculpture.
I stared, my heart jumping in my throat at the open jaw of stalactites and stalagmites. A timberwolf, confined within the hatred of the windigoes. It would never hunt again. The light had already deserted its eyes.
A lump formed in my throat. There could only be one pony responsible for this. I had been so angry… The image still floated in my mind. Sombra’s spell had overwhelmed my reason, in that haze, I would only respond one way.
And if anyone had been caught up in the crossfire...
The sorry state of the clearing was more than enough answer.
I took a step forward, trying to swallow despite the dryness in my mouth. The ice beneath my hooves creaked, white lines spreading across the surface. I flinched, finding the noise grating. Yet, in a way, it was also oddly comforting in the mostly silent clearing.
Forward I looked, to the spot the soldiers were returning. Unease filled my heart at the thought of those brave ones I had placed in the crossfire. As if to reflect that, a strange event prevented me from going to them.
Moved by a force outside my control, the air gathered in a spiral before me. Wisps of cold emanated from it, and the form became that of an equine. It looked at me with curiosity, neighing softly. Again, the sound echoed, but… it did not… resonate with me. Not as it had happened before. With a startle, I realized that I wished not take back this creature.
Behind me, the soldier’s breath hitched up, and I felt him tense up. Without looking, I knew he was ready to take whatever action he would judge necessary to repulse this windigo.
“Wait…” I asked him, my tone betraying my fascination.
This one was different, utterly different from the others I had yet seen. Physically, it was the same. In every way, it was as its brethrens before, but… upon materializing, it had looked at me not in fear or envy. The dancing frost in its eyes had lit up. Almost with... affection.
It neighed, but quietly, unlike everything a windigo stood for.
Grandfather? it asked me.
The word took my breath away.
It can’t be…
An actual living being? One who was not born as a legacy of an alicorn’s hatred, but as the member of an ancient species. No less a fragment of hatred than a regular changeling was a fragment of poisoned Love.
I looked down, a cold hand gripping at my heart while the frightened neighs of the windigoes came back to me. My shoulders crumbled under a sudden oppressive weight. There was no coming back.
They were gone. I’d taken them all back.
And, as the realization hit me, the world tilted.
My muffled scream only came out as a grunt against the ground. Cold circled my mouth, from the snow covering the spot I’d fallen into. Hooves hurriedly tried to lift me, but their grip slipped through my body entirely. I was not right. I was not right at all. My wings felt stretched across miles, my head across hundreds of miles. Weightlessness. Things spun in a weird pattern. The face of a pony was there, only to be replaced by another I knew resided in another town, then by the dog sleeping in an apple farm somewhere, then the ticking of a clock, the snores of a grandfather, steps in a hall, running water, rustling leaves, crickets, voices, noises, noises, noises.
I attempted to shake my head, to clear it, to chase the distractions, it was not the time. They only grew stronger.
So small… I had never felt smaller…
No, I thought, desperately trying to stand but falling everytime. We could not afford to stop. Not yet! The dragon… it was still on its way to Ponyville! There was still… My focus had to be on the dragon!
I stopped, a select few words reaching me and leaving me speechless. My knees giving out barely registered, it had been that much more striking.
I could not believe my ears.
--
On the decks of the Sky King, the mood was to restlessness. Ponies paced on the deck, except those that were blatantly stretching their wings just under the balloon. Twitches shook their legs or their tail, while pulses of blood were pumped by their fast beating hearts. Adrenaline was keeping them all on edges.
Sounds carried over well in the silence of the night, and the battle further in the forest had been echoed by more than one monstrous roar. One of them had been strangely equine.
They itched to join the fray and help their comrades, but the only order for now was standing as the rear guard. As a last failsafe against whatever was out there.
Thus, when one green pegasus going by the name of Lost Leaf shouted, he got the attention of the whole crew.
“Unknown object detected, Captain!”
Instantly, his nervosity aiding, Prince Blueblood’s head snapped in the direction the vigil had pointed at. Through the inky black skies, it was impossible to see much further than the immediate surroundings of his ship.
He saw it. Them, rather. Two flashing green lights moving closer and closer.
He had heard many tales in his youth, back in the days his father was alive, back when his aunt visited them and narrated tales of the old Equestria. The world was harsh back then, or so Celestia remembered. There were threats around every corner, some more dangerous than the others, though none quite as much as them. The flame-breathers, the great winged lizards, the bane of civilization, Greed-in-the-form-of-fire. And though he had once – eyes wide and smile twice that – wished to have been there, to witness such majesty and epic battles, Blueblood had wisened up over the years. Irony made it so he was now to face that which he only knew the worst of.
A dragon.
One most unprincely squeak rose from his royal throat, all higher functions of his brain shutting down with abject terror.
“Pro-!” he started saying, only for the shout to die down in his throat.
Protect me! At all costs! Those should have been his words. Those would have been his words, not too long ago. He could easily picture his mother glaring through his head for not saying it faster. But hers was not the image that held the most sway over his mind anymore.
The little village, full of commoners on the way here… The shining marvel that was Canterlot further back. And the white alicorn at the heart of it, her surprise at his demand. She’d been almost shocked, something that he had never been given to witness in all his years in the castle. But then, all of it had been replaced by a fondness and the warmth of a heartfelt embrace.
And one more, cladded in gold and silver. He was explaining gentle truths, with eyes so full of rage that they terrified him. He was screaming with more self-loathing than should have been healthy.
Dare, little prince, dare and show me what nobles are worth! The alicorn smirked smugly, looking down on his figure from the invisible heavens. His tone was that of amusement. They’re better than commoners and soldiers, right?
Anger burned at his heart.
“C-come, y-you big… scary, fiery, monster!” Blueblood challenged with a shaking voice. “I will show you what happens when you face a prince of Equestria!”
Ponies stopped and stared. His crew, his troops, all stopped, half of them already in the process of preparing their own counterattack, looked at their cowardly leader in astonishment.
And though he agreed with them, he still found it in himself to grin. The pride of a prince was not so easily squashed. What character was that of one that could never back up his claims of greatness? It was high time that he showed all of Equestria what he meant when he was listing the reasons he was fit to be an actual leader. A dragon should be just about right for that purpose.
Mad, he was absolutely mad!
--
“Stop,” she demanded, channeling power through her horn and projecting it outward.
The smoke dispersed, faded further into the cavern, away from her. Briefly, the light of her magic illuminated the rocks and the earth and she could see she was on a plateau. No traces of her friends. The realization made her heart constrict in her chest. She was alone. Mostly, in truth.
A low chuckle rose from the shadows.
Sombra’s voice echoed around her, surrounded her from all sides. Through the pitch black darkness, she could not see him, but could no less deny his presence.
She tensed, mentally forming the structure needed for a few spells that could come be useful. Scanning her surroundings, she tried to detect his presence, to find where he was. Then, he started to speak.
There had been an expectation, one born from an illusion shown to her in a castle on a mountain and from a shadow looming over an empire. Though he had managed to frighten her before, Twilight had not known, never even heard, the Archmage of Shadows. Where she had expected it raspy, demonic, grating, his voice was warm and suave, floating in the air, stroking her ears smoothly like a lover’s caress. His tone was accented with decorum, formality and respect. When he spoke, part of her was moved and, with a brief surge of horror, realized that it was not dissimilar to that of another royal pony in her life.
But his words could not have been more different. He started by picking apart her first fear.
“You are afraid, Twilight Sparkle. You see a kingdom of ashes, the burden of a kingdom pushed onto you. You fear responsibility. For one with so little ambition, for one who thirsts for knowledge rather than power, those wings are so heavy. Sometimes, you dream of them falling off. What a relief that would be for you, little filly.”
She flinched, subconsciously folding her wings closer to her sides. Their touch was however all too obvious in her mind, and the words of the fallen king seemed to seep deeper into her mind.
“And what a betrayal it would be toward the one on her golden throne in Canterlot. How would your teacher, this second mother of yours, take the rejection of her protégée? Surely, she would renounce you, abandon you.”
The image was there, terrible, of Celestia denouncing her as a disappointment. It was not real, it was NOT, but to imagine it alone made her want to sob. Never, never…
She did not realize her magic had started to flicker, even when she was gritting her teeth together and shot wild looks to find where he was hiding.
“A fear that is so common.” He was next to her, his breath tickled her ears. “One your friends share. The fear of loss.”
The shadows gathered, made her look to her far right, where she could only catch a glimpse of a weeping pink mare, of a quiet and broken white one.
“Stop!” She yelled, refusing to think of her friends reduced to such sadness.
“And another one, that you revealed at this moment.” Sombra laughed, and it seemed he was closer to her than her loved ones, that he could see deeper in her than anyone had ever done. “The fear of failure.”
Flashes of light blinded her, in a succession so fast she could not understand. But behind those blinding displays, there had been ponies hiding their faces, hiding themselves from the judging eyes of those they had sworn never to let down. She had seen her own amongst the many others, the most terrified of them all, curled up on herself.
“Amusing, wouldn’t you say? Those that thrives for contact are those that fear solitude the most. But then again, fear is a powerful motivation. It is the driving force behind every mortal, Twilight Sparkle.”
“Twilight,” echoed a gentle voice around her.
Despite herself, her mind weighted the argument and compared it with Fluttershy.
There was no need to even imagine. It had been something she had seen dozens of times before. Half of her mane placed between her and others, as a weak and imperfect shield she hoped to disappear behind. She crouched, backing away and obviously readying herself for a swift escape. As every other time, Twilight felt the urge to take that poor mare in her hooves and let her know that she did not need to be afraid.
But… no matter how many times they came to her help…
“Ah, and here is the wisest of your friends, she who fears others the most.” And the way he said it unnerved her. He was intrigued. “How right she is. Behind every pony is a darkness that awaits its moment. Even those closest to you. Or, I would say, in this case, especially those close to you.”
Something flickered in the corner of her eye, and Twilight jolted, twisted her neck quickly to catch it, but whatever it had been was gone. Gold…
Eyes of a greenish blue stared at her, devoid of love and care. Ice crawled over the memory; ice crawled over everything.
“You’re wrong!” she shouted. It was wrong, she knew it, in her bones. Some ponies, some people were not just puppets to their fears. They were strong and good, and there was so much more to them than that! But it was already too hard to express even that much.
A deep chuckle resonated around her.
“Oh? Is it the bedwarmer you’ve chosen? That noble prince you sought? I’ve seen his fears and yours, Twilight Sparkle. They are quite entertaining, to tell the truth. You might think the spirits of law would have more interesting fears, but perhaps he is too young for it. You are featured quite prominently in a fear of his.”
And though she wanted more than ever to shake off the King’s dark voice, parts of her could not help but wonder … Me?
“Would you like to know?” he asked with insufferable kindness. “Do you wonder what could he possibly fear in relation with you? I would surmise it is quite a good deal more fascinating than cradling your corpse and cursing the gods through his sobs.”
Her lips quivered, no matter how much she tried not to. Tears threatened to roll down her cheeks… Every image had stricken her at the heart, and no amount of rationalization could help her deal with the perverted thoughts he was putting in her head.
“Stop! JUST STOP!” she shouted, sending a blast of magic through the air. “I don’t care of what he’s afraid of, what any of my friends are afraid, they still matter to me! We’re more than just that!”
“Ah, but you fear him as well, don’t you?” he said with his suave voice, and Twilight flinched, silent. “Have I been mistaken before? Could you be even wiser than your cowardly friend? You fear the emotions he is making you experience. A mare of logic such as you cannot bear the thought of losing control of yourself.”
As if summoned by his words, everything she had herself noticed came back to mind, and she wanted to curse her thorough organization of it. There was the fire in her chest, the lightness that carried her away, the fleeting thoughts that came and go, all about herself and him, all about them, together lost in a passion.
And the rest of her life felt so distant when such a thing happened.
“This stallion you court… you know of his power. You know of his desires.” Her cheeks grew a darker purple, before she forced it to recede. “He is outside, close to you, but when faced with his fears, he called forth an ancient power. The spirits of hatred, the windigoes. In my youth, they were the monsters adults named to control foals. They are his to command, he is theirs to corrupt. And when that happens, what will become of you?”
S-she already thought of that. She made the checklist and everything! She’d be ready… she’d… be ready… she would… could…
“Power can be overcome, you think,” Sombra continued, relentless. “Cleverness, determination and allies will allow you to bring down any foe, but those are useless when turned against the fickleness of one’s heart.”
Suddenly he was too close, intimately close, and a wisp of black smoke caught her chin in a gentle grasp. His eyes were riveted on hers, and they spoke of pity and amusement at once.
“And your heart wavers.”
--
There was light in the darkness, a spark to pierce through the pitch black veil. It sailed across the skies, toward a similarly flying target.
“No!” came the despair filled scream.
Fire swooped across the deck, and Blueblood froze in place.
Everything was going to Tartarus.
His ship… his beloved ship…
He had been the one to design it, to draw the plans and submit it to another for verification. He had been the one to move assets around to finance its construction. He had had the pleasure of piloting it first! Every inch of that airship was his, every detail was known to him as intimately as any mare.
And it was with the complete mental image of his most prized possession still in mind that the idea struck him like a freight train. In any other circumstances, his jaw would have dropped and he would have stared dumbly ahead of himself.
“Take the wheel,” he told his second-in-command right as he started to gallop. “Stay within sight of the head!”
“What?!” the mare yelled, but he paid it no mind.
He had already jumped down on the main deck.
“You three!” He pointed at the nearest ponies. “Smother the flames! Now!”
Without waiting for a response, he spun on himself and sent a sweeping glance over his troops. His voice still shaking, but this time with excitement, he addressed the moving soldiers, “Unicorns, focus on blocking its attacks!”
The scatters of hooves shook the deck. Lieutenants started choosing formations, and the light of magic illuminated one side of the airship.
“Pegasi,” he shouted over all noise. “Distraction! Make sure it doesn’t sink us OR leave!”
His subordinates sent him a steely look, their expressions grim at the request. Perhaps in some other bizarre dimension, he would take the time to apologize. In this one, he turned around as soon as the words were said and he took to the lower levels. He only prayed that his orders would give him enough time.
The door flying open within his magical grasp, Blueblood barreled down the stairs toward the inner levels of his ship. His legs moved faster than he could ever recall moving, his breathing already fast in his chest, his heartbeat thrice that. He jumped steps at such speed they scrolled past him in seconds, and his mad race continued within the inner part of his ship.
He remembered, blood pulsing in his temple, leg springing at evergrowing rhythms, that there was still more to do.
“Cannoneers!” he shouted again, his tone starting to break. “Keep the dragon at bay!”
They were already doing just that, or trying to. Scattered across the bowels of his airship, Blueblood’s crew maned the cannons in pairs of two, working near piles of cannonballs and barrels of explosive powder. He saw, quickly, the sparks going off, then the deafening sound of shots fired. For once, he found them comforting.
The sprint toward the front of his ship somehow felt like eternity and the blink of an eye. Everything he had never cared to notice seemed intrusively present. The smell of burning wood entered his mouth and nose, the dragon’s shouts never stopped, and were only covered by the cracking thunders, the wind was bitingly cold, even when his heart pumped pure heat throughout his entire body. Then, he was already in sight of the front.
Passing by one of his worker – Daybreak, he somehow remembered – struggling with a canon, the prince scampered to the one contraption he really hoped to remember how to use.
His horn lit up before he had even reached it, aiming for the string, then the handle underneath. His hooves fell onto the sides of the bow-like top, and he bypassed half the protocol he had drilled into his head. A small burst of light picked up the one piece missing, another forced it into position. Everything happened in a blur, no thought existed for him other than the goal he had set up for himself.
He had done it, he had done it dozens of times already. The very first time had been his task alone, a personal indulgence of his, and it had gone so the following times as well. Granted, it was simply meant as a way to anchor the airship when pegasi could not be recruited for his trips, but in these circumstances, he was willing to make do!
He’d have cursed, he wanted to, and insulted every deity he could think of for putting him in that situation. But even with the shaking of his legs, he had enough dexterity to execute his task perfectly. Above, the screams were louder, sending pangs after pangs of abject fear into his heart. In the corner of his eye, the image of the rampaging monster never disappeared. The twin green circles never faded from sight.
The final ‘clink’ he heard was the only thing that stopped him from fainting.
A prayer whispered under his breath, the magic of his horn flickered and he pulled the lever.
The harpoon flew.
It cut right through the air, as if it were weightless, ethereal maybe. But it was all too real a weapon, and its trajectory was as a straight line. By the prince’s side, the rope unrolled around its wheel at a frightening pace, wheezing against its hold from the friction alone. Even the slight burning smell it gave off could not be registered, as Blueblood attention was transfixed on the harpoon whose shape was disappearing in the night’s darkness.
It will never… he thought with a sudden dread filling his veins. Of course it would not! How could he even th-?
Before he had even finished his imagining the worst, he caught a lightning fast glimpse of the harpoon, right before it hit, with a shade of colored light washing over it.
Through a feat of marksmanship none would have expected from him, the projectile embedded itself in the green-tainted orb of sight that was the dragon’s right eye.
The elated sensation was blown off, in the space of a second, by the roar of the dragon. In a jerk of its massive head, the beast pulled back and with it, the rope started tensing. Within seconds, it unrolled at immense speeds, reaching its full length with a frightening clank of metal against metal. Under the ballista, its solid attachments cringed on their spots, and the shock rippled on the floor.
With a thunderous rumble, the front of the airship started to lift with the dragon’s maddened pull.
“Cannons!” Blueblood shrieked, so loudly he thought his vocal chords would break, all while trying not to slide off his spot. “Cannons! Hit its wings!”
A veritable barrage of projectiles blasted into the dragon, tore into its wings, through the more fragile membrane. Resonating ripping noises filled the air when the cannonballs broke through. The dragon’s flight lost coherence.
Things deteriorated after that.
With a long plaintive howl, the reptilian beast struggled. Its movements grew frantic, too clumsy to keep afloat. Foam erupted in the corner of its jaw, popping and flying off with its blazing hot breath. But its efforts amounted to too little. Steadily, the huge flyer lost altitude, still flinching and lashing out with every flash of lightning hitting it. Its claws missed target and when it tried to breath fire, the sparks died out harmlessly. With the last of its exertion taking hold, its entire body seemed to give out at once.
Unable to glide, it started to fall.
Eyes wide, Blueblood realized too late the flaw of his panicked-induced plan.
The rope! He had to get to the rope! He had t-
The airship shook through its whole frame.
Half lifted by the pull, Blueblood scrapped at the ground, yelping without any dignity, looking everywhere for any suitable object. With clanks and clinks, debris bounced off the planks. When one passed within eyesight of him, his magic engulfed it in his grasp.
It would do, he thought, still sliding.
He struck. Once, with just enough strength to graze the solid rope. Not enough. And the tilting of his ship was now accompanied with a sinister creaking noise over the dozens of ponies screaming. Gulping, sweat running down his coat, he readjusted his grip on the shard of metal and focused very intently on the rope, on the same spot as before.
The shard moved in an arc, faster and stronger than before, and with the ruthless backlash, the airship was freed.
The movement was stronger and more brutal than he could have imagined. Instantly, he was hit by a sensation of weightlessness, by the feeling his internal organs had been suddenly left behind. His mind turning blank with complete horror, he saw the window he shot the harpoon through offer him the exact same courtesy. The wooden frame scrolled past his head, then his shoulder and his barrel.
And his scream was cut off by the jerk of a sudden deceleration.
Blueblood could not move; heat spreading to every corner of him, tears shining in the half shade of the torches, he stared into the open air below him. Two hooves were firmly holding onto his flanks.
His body almost protested when the pull roughly jumbled his insides around again. He could have sworn, while his earth pony worker saved his life and helped him back inside the ship, that his heart was somewhere above his throat.
“R-remind me…” He swallowed weakly, his eyes glazing over. “…To give you all a raise.”
Then, having used up all his courage for the year, the Prince of Unicorns leaned over the railing to expel the content of his stomach overboard.
--
So heavy… Her head felt so heavy. Mist seeped from her eyes, a strange filter tainted her sight… There was… there should have been something strange, but she could not think. An invisible chain pulled at her limbs, pulled at her neck until she was forced to look only downward.
“They are your shackles, Princess.” A faint touch lingered over each of the stars of her cutie mark. “You are a magical prodigy, a unicorn born with the potential to tear apart the current Order of this world. A unicorn with such potential that she transcended her species to pry at the domain of gods! And you squander it each day wasted with those worthless companions of yours!”
His last outburst echoed in the cavern, sinister and angry. Flinching, she had backed away as much as she could. However, that hadn’t stopped her brain from instinctively picking apart what she had heard, and she knew one thing: he genuinely believed everything he told her. Good, she could believe the same as well then.
There was just one thing that bothered her, if ever slightly. Why did he suddenly sound like he was in a hurry?
“Join me, Twilight Sparkle, I am soon to be reborn,” his voice made its way within her so easily, “I will show you the path that is free of fears.”
With his words, she leaned forward, thinking. His proposal was a solution to every one of her problems. He’d take away those wings, and the weight on her shoulders. She could fade away behind her books again, forget she had ever tried to go out. She would be able to study to her leisure… It would be so easy. Easier than anything else, really.
She opened her mouth, willing herself to give away everything he asked but she did not even manage to put forward a single word.
“Twilight!”, called five familiar voices. “We’re coming!”
It was as if she’d been slapped awake. Suddenly, the enchantment was gone and the pony in front of her returned to being the most evil pony in history. Jolting, she felt the sparks of her own magic cleaning away all the residue, and she recoiled away from Sombra, before a loud pink burst winked her some distance from the dark king.
“This changes nothing,” Sombra growled, the shadows around him twisting in preparation.
Wary, her heart beating at a maddeningly fast rhythm, his target was glancing toward every corner of the cave. She only stopped once she saw the tunnel behind her, lit by a faint blue glow.
They’re coming! All I need to do is stall him, Twilight thought. Slowly, the corners of her lips turned upward. She knew just what to do, and perhaps it was entirely her imagination, but it felt to her as if the air itself had chosen to lift her, to carry her despite her burden. With her voice clear and strong, she gazed into the eyes of the abyss. “Here’s one very important truth.”
A bolt of magic struck the king in his would-be face.
“You know nothing, Sombra,” Twilight spat, her horn burning with brighter magic still. “You are a clueless foal that stumbled upon the right answer without ever understanding how to reach it! Fear may be powerful, but it is not all-powerful! My friends and I can be afraid of one another, but that’s because we care, not the other way around!”
“You fool! You wish to blind yo-”
“Don’t bother wasting more of your time and mine with your psychological evaluations!” She glared at him, feeling her anger grow stronger just remembering what he had put her through. “The ponies I should talk to about my emotional problems are my friends and my family, those that care about me, not some brutish, arrogant, stuck-up monster that stole a crown a thousand years ago and enslaved as many ponies!”
This time, it was a shockwave that sent him reeling back.
Twilight was not even winded. She pointed straight at him, her eyes narrowed. “You are not worthy of knowing that.”
Her ears picked up a faint sound, of air being tossed aside quickly, and its source sent cold air washing over her fur. In panic, she turned around, her wings half opened, so certain he had prepared a spell to strike her down. She was too late.
Twilight found herself almost strangled by two soft yellow legs, with strands of pink hair stuck in her mouth. Before she had time to react or escape, the words finally nailed down what she had hoped: “Twilight, you’re okay!” Fluttershy cried with relief.
The bearer of the Element of Magic was not far behind on that aspect either. Every single one of them had escaped Sombra’s trap and they had all come rushing to her aid. It warmed her heart like so little else could.
“Thanks to you,” she replied with a smile. “I’m not sure if I would have snapped out of it in time without your help.”
“Oh, don’t thank us. Thank her.” Applejack grinned, sending a very impressed look to the yellow mare that wouldn’t let go just yet. “Shy here snapped out of it first. Quick as that, we’re all freed.”
“W-well…” The mare of the hour shrunk on herself, a pleased smile and a blush on her face. “I really was afraid, and Pinkie was almost awake by then…”
“Yep!” Pinkie giggled. “Sure scared us both when she tried to help. We were both like ‘Wah! I’m real, you’re real, meeeep!’.”
From sheer relief, they shared a laugh over the silliness.
It could not be helped, but one dark unicorn had no intention of standing still while their mockery echoed in his lair. With a satisfied smirk, he laid a trap. In seconds, a wisp of black smoke slithered across the rocky ground toward their little group. It went from shadows to shadows, slipping beneath notice under pebbles and debris. The mares could not conceive how swiftly it could move, how deadly it could be. They did not realize death was within a hair’s breadth.
Silently, the snake-like construct struck, aiming straight for the heart of its target.
It was only then that she saw it, that lightning fast spell. Fluttershy’s pupil shrunk into small dots, a cry of shock dying in her throat, there was no time to do anything else. Already, the fangs sank into her neck under the horrified gaze of her friends.
At once, they rushed to her side, praying there was still something to be done. Rainbow Dash was the first there, and, at the spectacle she saw, froze as still as Fluttershy had.
The light of the Element of Kindness kept the construct’s fangs at bay while it writhed helplessly in its place. Steadily, the power of the Element grew and its shine became harsh, until a single pulse of power threw off the tendrils of shadows, and made King Sombra roared in pain.
For a split second, his shape blinked out of existence, as if Harmony rejected him. He grew lesser, lost in strength and hatred under a power greater than his. He was no longer the formless menace of dark magic; his appearance was that of simple unicorn, sweating and panting under the strain, but even then the girls thought him wrong to look at. His body could be seen through, save for his blood red horn.
Dressed in his silver armor, his cape on his back and his crown on his head, he snarled at them, bubbles of black magic popping around his horn. “You fools could have ruled alongside me! Your power could have dethroned gods, but you are too pathetic to realize it!”
“We dethroned you!” Applejack shouted back. “That’s good enough for me!”
From her left, she heard a shocked gasp.
“Sweet Celestia! What is that garish thing he’s wearing?” Rarity asked in all too real horror. “That is so over-the-top I would not recommend it even for a foal’s school play!”
“You know it, Rarity!” Pinkie swiftly nodded. “His costume is hitting every box on my cliché checklist.” Then, she lowered her voice and placed a pair of sunglasses on her muzzle. “That’s a new academy record.”
“Don’t you dare mock me, peasants!” Sombra shouted, sending a wave of dark crystals in their direction.
Not a single one of them reached the six mares, for their Elements’ light was strong enough to dissolve the crystals into nothingness. Cocking a sly grin, Rainbow Dash flexed her wings smugly. Doing a shot loop, she showed off a few more moves, all with the knowledge he couldn’t do a thing to them.
“That’s the guy that the Princesses kicked out of his own throne room before? And now he thinks he can take on Equestria again?” Rainbow asked with a raspy voice. “Ah! Who do you think you’re kidding, dude? You can’t even lay a hoof on us!”
The mocking taunt was echoed over by the others’ giggles, something Twilight Sparkle joyfully joined in. After the tugs at her heartstrings, it felt so good to just stand together with her friends. She knew she had been right all along and, looking at the furious shadow being, she found herself ready to put an end to it all.
The power built up easily in her crown, without any restraints. The fear had completely disappeared.
Smiling, she addressed them all one by one. “Thank you. You’ve saved me again.”
“Aww shucks, s’what we do, Twi,” Applejack easily said with a wave of a hoof, “and we’ll keep doing it ‘long as we live, right, gals?”
There was a strong series of agreement in response.
“Ready then?”
This time, there was no need for words.
“Well, Sombra, it’s over,” Twilight said, letting loose the power in her crown and linking it with the other Elements. “You’ve lost.”
The cavern shaking from the strain, their magic burst in a maelstrom of colors.
And the Rainbow of Light washed over them all.
--
Far away, farther than the deepest abyss of the highest peak, beyond the reaches of the skies and the celestial bodies themselves, on the other side of the Veil, there stood amongst the dancing stars two stallions, sitting in companionable silence. A long curve of cold light cracked the space behind them, though neither alicorn showed great care for it. They seemed perfectly unaffected by its presence, nor anything else.
They had shown themselves to be patient. They could wait longer, for time stretched infinitely to those with wings, horn and earth’s strength. That, however, did not mean they would be happy to do so.
A shadow of worry passed over the red stallion’s gaze. The shift in the balance of power had been evident enough, with the extinction of the most immediate threats to Harmony. Below the unmoved surface, there was unease. His knowledge of the change was incomplete, relied on nothing more than the intuition of a thousands of years old alicorn, by choice.
Scrying would have been too difficult. To see and remain incapable of acting? It would be the very definition of powerlessness. And that was the one thing he was not allowed to be.
So Magnus Vis of the Old Powers silently asked those above to be merciful toward his sons.
Answers did not come, neither in the form of words or images. The Astral Planes remained undisturbed in their peaceful state. A quiet serenity reigned over the shimmering stars, whose glint gave off the faintest noise. But, if one listened carefully, they could pick up an interference. It was akin to a rumble, mute but starting to spread through the space.
Together, Magnus and Dominus looked to their surroundings, projected their senses onward, but could not understand the source of this phenomenon that was only growing in intensity.
Struck by a horrified realization, Magnus attempted to look at the space he was not meant to. The muscles of his neck bulging, twisting his body as far as he could, he forced himself to turn until he was at the very edge. But it still was not enough, and the rumble erupted into chaos.
Tendrils of void flew from the rift.
It was over in an instant.
The peaceful glint of the stars had not changed. The inevitable movement of the celestial bodies continued on its course as the gears of the cosmic order as they had always done. By all definitions, nothing had happened. But Magnus could not stop the madness of his fast beating heart.
For a moment, a troubling eternal and ephemeral moment, it had been as if he had seen a shadow of a giant dug its claws into his friend and tore him apart. The thing had stood over the body, with a pale cloud seeping through its monstrous lips. There had been fear, mindcrushing terror that pushed against his mind, as the shape lowered itself closer to them, then… nothing.
His friend didn’t seem any different, there didn’t even seem to be an injury at all… But things were not as they should have been. Feathers ruffled, mane disheveled, he seemed at long last awake from a long and terrible nightmare. And the waking world presented realities no less frightening.
Briefly, Magnus saw a mirror of himself in the Alicorn of the Wild. He saw the touch of Pandora in his friend, her inescapable grip ensnared them all.
Then, looking into the heart of the still spreading corruption, Dominus Ferus called a name through time and space with all the might of his emotions, in the hope that his son would answer.
--
The ringing in my ears was killing me. Thankfully, it was the only ill effect I could detect on my person. Little to no injuries had befallen my person.
The same couldn’t be said of the gray stallion at my sides. So why in the name of buck was he still standing protectively close to me?
“You should rest, soldier…” I said quietly, feeling all sorts of shames giving me grief over his health.
“Not until the commander gives the confirmation that it is over!” the stallion replied strongly, still on the lookout for more threats.
I could tell his heart was still pumping fast from the adrenaline alone. He had that slightly manic twitch under his eyes, and his attitude on the lookout were just a little too stiff. This guy would crash hard soon.
As if to prove me right, he then shook his head quickly, blinking fast. “…My Prince,” he added, his ears lowered sheepishly as a show of his forgetfulness.
“You think I care about titles after you jumped on a manticore to save me?” I asked incredulously. “Hay, I’m still wondering why you’re not cursing me righteously.”
“I-I would never!” he stuttered, suddenly staggering.
Sighing, I helped stay standing, feeling another pang of guilt wreck my conscience. What sort of trouble would I bring next? Or would come to me?
I heard the movement of air above, just as the shadow scrolled past our forms. My throat tightened when I recognized her.
Luna landed smoothly in front of us. Graciously, her hooves touched the frozen ground and her horseshoes tinkled. But the lightness of her figure was contradicted by the sternness of her gaze. First, she addressed my companion.
“At ease, brave one,” she commanded. “Victory has been attained at last. The last few enemies flee this clearing as if my sister and I were chasing them.”
As I predicted, his hind legs gave out under him and he sat on his haunches on the spot. A long sigh of relief came from him, and I could understand the feeling rather well. Only a last bout of paranoia was preventing me from doing the same.
“It’s really over?” I asked quietly.
To my surprise, Luna raised an eyebrow skeptically at this. “Have you not felt the Powers at work, Whisperer?”
I snorted. It was all I could do to keep from laughing.
I knew you could do it, Twilight.
“I’m afraid not, cousin. I’m having trouble feeling anything but fatigue at the moment. It took a lot more out of me than I had hoped,” I said with a weak and sort of smug smile. It slipped quickly though, as I had to lift a hoof and push it against my ear in the hopes I could stop that freaking ringing!
The look she gave me was devoid of sympathy. Or warmth, for that matter. In the cold blue of her eyes, I saw nothing but the same warning she gave me in my dreams some time ago, but now the warning had grown more dire. Emotions rumbled beneath that stony glare.
I could not help but wonder: did she want to kill me?
“What you have done may have broken apart the chaos of the battle, at first.” Her mouth twisted into a scowl, and her tone lowered. “But this came dangerously close to backfiring on everypony here, do you understand that? Do you understand the risks? Or was I too optimistic about your intelligence?”
I flinched. Ouch, that stings a little.
Then, grinning coltishly, I picked up a little breeze to brush the stars in her mane. “He always liked this part of you a lot, you know?”
Her frown deepened and sparks fizzled around her horn.
Touchy. I snickered under my breath, shrinking away a little just to put some distance between my angry cousin and myself.
Seeing as she was not calming down, I forced myself to become serious again.
“Caelum’s not coming back, Luna...” The muscles in her neck tensed. “He was never in a position to do it. He’s as close to dead we can get and I’m not him.”
I let the words sink in.
Slowly, gently, the tension in her gaze eased up, and the crease of her brows softened. The warrior maiden receded to show back the somewhat awkward princess of the night. She breathed easily, and surely she was thinking the same thing I was:
Finally, it’s ov-
I fell, struck speechless, everything coming to a halt. Time slowed down, the world spun, when the pain hit me.
It felt as if someone was clawing at my skin from the inside, with searing hot metal.
I screamed, madness suddenly gripping my mind, thrashing on the ground and trembling. It wasn’t possible, it wasn’t possible! That kind of pain was not possible!
Yet, far from receding, the blaze spread throughout me, invading every inch of me until I felt trapped in a cage of fire. My thoughts were only a frantic plea for mercy that was not answered. A low pitched, a long call, perhaps a howl or an echo, ripped apart the fabric of the skies, and the pain burst forth. And the pressure disappeared.
Eyes wide, I stared at the pool of blood forming beneath me. My hoof went to my chest, and pain mixed with the strange wet feeling. It even did a rather freakish squishy noise, when my broken skin pushed against the wound. Too suddenly, like time was catching up, I folded on myself, the pain turning insufferable.
Another scream escaped my lips, but it stopped abruptly when my body retched and a nauseatingly wet cough shook me. There was liquid sticking to my throat and itching, demanding to be thrown out. Red droplets colored the snow and ice around me. My mouth was filled with the taste of metal.
A faint ‘thud’ came from my left, snowflakes lifting from the ground in that spot. Some of them even fell into my blood and melted in red goo. I could not bring myself to care who had fainted, even if somepony shouted their name so close to me. I just wanted my agony to stop.
It did not, but the creaking sound from above provided a fair distraction.
Weakly, jumping in their orbits because of my spasms of pain, my eyes turned to the skies. And even so broken, I realized it could get much worse.
The vault of heavens was a field of celestial white. The darkness of the night was no more. I could no longer see the stars and the constellations. The moon itself had paled so much as to become invisible onto this canvas of pure light.
However, it would have been false to declare it monochrome, to say it was only a great blank space. In complete opposition to the moon, there was a hole. Lines of nothing had spread from that single point, as if the air was broken glass and the realm beyond was a void. Within was another astral body, akin to a star, moving and spinning on an unknown orbit.
But no new sun had grown into the skies. That, I realized through the mind numbing terror, was an eye, of light and darkness, of ice and fire, and it was scanning the earth in search of something.
The Burning Eye… I wanted to cry. Just like my dream… weak, helpless, while it threatens to overwhelm the world. And I can’t do anything about it…
Darkness was growing stronger. It floated around the edges of my sight, slowly seeping over every form, every color. My eyelids were heavy, demanding much of my remaining strength just to keep them open.
And if I had been in the least bit smart, I would not have wasted what little energy I had left to look at the event unfolding. Had I had kept the smallest amount of control over my body, I would have let myself drift away from the pain.
But the thing in the sky commanded anyone’s attention. It could not be ignored. All that could be done would be to try… and endure.
Gritting my teeth, I bit back another scream as the air start to rumble.
What now?! I still had the strength to growl.
The eye became still. Its piercing light turned inward, to the void it came from. I did not understand, at all. Why? What was going on?!
And there, in the sudden shift of flames, there appeared something else within the eldritch being, something that made my jaw drop when I realized what it was.
Shock.
No, that… couldn’t be… The fires shivered, trembled with rage. They pulsed, sending forth a shockwave across the skies. A scream that was not a sound broke through my eardrums, reached past the flesh and the spirit, down to the essence that made me an alicorn. I thought my head would split open. Barely, I registered the night skies darkening again.
The flames dimmed. Just like that.
It… it… left…
I could have laughed, but the pain would have been too much. I could have fallen deep into slumber, but still my body shivered and my feathers rustled even under my weight. There was still something to happen, something to shock the One Beyond.
I found out, when my sight blurred.
Tears fell from my eyes, and I would have understood, in other circumstances, would not have felt shame at my weakness. But that was not my tears. Fighting with the last of my power, I managed to witness the last of these catastrophes. From the broken skies, torrents of water fell, not as rain but as waterspouts, vortex of liquids falling and breaking into the earth.
Beyond all levels of perception, beyond senses and intuitions, beyond even the spark of life granted by Vitam Mortem, a part of me felt the High Skies and the lowest Circles of Tartarus tilt in imbalance.
And the cries of four astral alicorns were my last thoughts before my fall into unconsciousness.