Chapter 18: Burning the Last Bridge
“Very well done, Professor,” the fake Applejack spoke, her voice becoming familiarly harsh in tone. Fluttershy quivered, cuddling up next to Pinkie Pie for comfort. Pinkie in turn threw her arms around her meek pegasus friend, in full knowledge of the mark that Gilda left on her memory.
“Gilda!” Rainbow Dash yelled, furious at her former companion. “Get out of that suit so I can pummel you!”
Gilda first removed the hat, the outer skin of the costume quickly following suit to the ground. Gilda stood proud, wearing what appeared to be shadowy armour, complete with a crescent moon shining from the chest plate.
“No...” Luna whispered, quivering. “Please, no...” Celestia stood, open-mouthed at the sheer sight.
“I can’t let you do that, Dash,” the griffon replied. “This piece here is the armour of Nightmare Moon. After you six blew it apart in freeing Princess Luna, you made the mistake of not picking up the pieces. After you lame ponies ran me out of Ponyville, I went to the castle in the Everfree Forest, hoping to find remnants of it.”
“We didn’t run you out of Ponyville,” Rainbow was close to snapping. “You forced yourself out!”
“Details, Rainbow Dash! It doesn’t matter now. I gathered all the pieces and spent months piecing it together, all waiting for the last resort on taking on Equestria’s so-called heroic ponies. But I intended never to let you even get this far. So, here I am! You should know that one pony’s magic alone can’t shatter this.”
“She’s right,” Celestia sighed.
“What’s more,” Gilda continued, “I can do THIS!” She raised a claw, dark, writhing beams pouring from the talons. The deep purple threads wrapped around the Princesses’ hooves and hung them upside down from the ceiling. This made Celestia very angry.
“GILDA! Let us down!”
“I take orders from nopony, Celestia! Now I’m in charge, and my first order of business is to make this entire land fall into silence!”
“But the griffon king is at peace with Equestria!” Twilight shouted. “Surely you can’t rule easily over us without help... Oh, no... No!”
“So, Little Miss Lightbulb caught on! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to see a pony about a dog...” The vicious griffon turned to purple smoke, before whipping out of the throne room door.
“Now wha’ do we do?” Applejack questioned, worry palpable in her voice, as she scooped up her hat to its rightful place.
“I know where she’s headed,” the purple unicorn replied. “I also think she’s got something we need.” She looked to the ceiling. “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, we’re going to stop Gilda.”
“We have our trust in you, my faithful student,” Celestia replied, resigning herself to hanging from the ceiling for the time being.
“Yes, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna agreed. “Defeat this enemy of peace!” The leader of the group turned to the rest of the group.
“Trixie, are you with us?” The blue unicorn hesitated for a moment, before wearing a look of determination.
“Trixie... I mean, I can put aside our differences to depose that traitor.”
“Professor?”
“But of course, Twilight,” Layton responded.
“I want to come too!” spoke up Luke.
“This is more dangerous than before, Luke. You must stay here and keep the Princesses company.”
“But...”
“I would not be able to bring myself to explain to your father if anything happened to you here, Luke.” With that, the Professor ran for the door with seven ponies in tow, leaving behind Luke, Spike and Big Macintosh to wait.
It wasn’t long before the group of eight reached Twilight’s destination: the Palace sculpture gardens. It looked normal, except for one spot seemed oddly bare. There should have been a statue where the empty spot.
“Twilight!” Rarity exclaimed. “Discord’s statue... It’s gone!”
“It’s as I’d feared...” Her unicorn friend spoke, strained in fear. “We need to find them before...”
RUMBLE.
“Wh-what was that?!” Pinkie yelped, her tail shaking wildly and her head under her front hooves.
“Rainbow! Fluttershy! Hold on to me!”
“Got it!” The cyan pegasus clutched onto Twilight’s left side. Fluttershy grabbed on to the unicorn’s right side. Both pegasi flapped their wings fiercely, and Twilight’s horn lit up brightly, a magical field surrounding the rest of the group. The ground continued to rumble, before collapsing beneath them. Layton and the remaining four ponies held steady in mid-air, Twilight’s levitation spell keeping them from falling into the abyss below.
“Good call, Twi!” The farmpony praised her talented friend.
“Thanks, but it’s not over yet! We need to stop Gilda!” The group descended into cavern, a dimly-lit affair. Hershel could make out some plinths in the distance, but his deductions were caught short by a flash of darkness across his sight.
“It’s her!” Twilight exclaimed, her breath rushing quickly from her body in astonishment. Sure enough, the griffon hovered in front of them, her wings flapping a gust and the plate on her torso glowing a malevolent purple.
“It’s good to see you’re still on your hooves, you dweebs! Still, you can’t stop me, not with your magic.”
“You have made an oversight, Gilda,” the professor stood tall, facing the perpetrator and looking her in the eye.
“I highly doubt that, Layton!”
“While a unicorn’s power would not be able to break your armour on its own, I believe there is a way to get through it. Twilight?”
“Professor?” Princess Celestia’s student sprung to attention. Layton whispered quickly into Twilight’s ears, and her eyes widened in delight.
“Perfect! Rainbow, Rarity, Trixie! Come over here!” The three summoned ponies quickly gathered, whilst Applejack and Pinkie Pie fended off Gilda’s swipes and strikes. “We’ve got a plan...”
Puzzle 048
“Oh, no! The Nightmare Armour must be scrambling our spells! Even worse, we can’t combine our spells until we rearrange some of the paths. Two pairs of tiles need to be swapped in order for this to work. Any ideas, Professor?”
“Hmmm...” Layton gave the situation a quick though. “I’ve got it.” Layton directed the three unicorns’ magic as necessary. “Miss Dash, take your position.”
“On it!” Rainbow stood, ready to receive the spells. Twilight, Trixie and Rarity fired their spells, coating the pegasus in an intense golden glow. The unicorns kept pouring magic into the airborne pony until she was ready. She turned and flashed a determined grin.
“Your turn, Gilda!” Rainbow unleashed her wing power, catapulting at Gilda with an effortless Sonic Rainboom in her wake, both her magic and her feathers propelling her past the sound barrier. She hit the griffon square in the chest, shattering the dark plating and knocking her aside like she was nothing. Gilda slammed into a nearby wall, the armour completely free of her body. She struggled to get up straight, woozily wobbling back and forth.
“My head... My body” She muttered gruffly, before being set upon by Applejack and Pinkie again.
“You ain’ gettin’ away this time, Gilda!” The orange pony declared angrily, holding her.
“It doesn’t matter now, cowgirl!” The griffon spat, as Celestia appeared in a flash. “It doesn’t matter at all.”
“I know what you’ve done, Gilda.” Celestia took hold of the griffon with her magic, before turning to her protégé. “You need to end it here, Twilight.”
“I understand, Princess. Everypony, with me!” The group of eight gathered together, starting for the depths of the cavern, when...
“Well, well!” A male voice called out from the darkness. “I seem to be free again, and old stretch of the legs is in order! Now, I see what my griffon friend has set up here. Very admirable. But! I’ve no need of the spares for this. I think it’s time to open up my Equestrian silence. Ha-HAHAHAHA!” A click rang out, with the professor, Celestia, Gilda and Trixie flung back towards the opening.
“Discord!” The sun princess’s fury was bubbling over as she picked herself up from the ground. “What do you intend on doing?”
“I’ve already made our intentions clear, Celestia. The Equestrian silence, as you are about to hear! Or perhaps not, as the case may be.” A grey bubble of magic rose, separating the six friends from the four at the entrance. Celestia tried to shout again, but not a squeak of sound came out. Layton gathered a rock and threw it a short distance, but not a single noise occurred. Gilda tried to raise her wings, but they felt like they were glued to her side. Trixie tried to fire a spell at the grey bubble, but not a single drop of magic came from her horn.
Outside the bubble, there was no noise, no flying and no magic. All over Canterlot, items in levitation dropped like flies, no sounds of breaking could be heard. In Cloudsdale, the pegasi found themselves firmly rooted to the clouds, some ponies scrambling to keep from falling to the land far below. Ponyville, Appleloosa, Manehatten, Trottingham, everywhere was silent, everywhere was without magic or flight.
Only the inside of the bubble had any of this left. Only the six friends could bring these back to Equestria, and Twilight wasn’t keen on losing the battle.