//------------------------------//
// Chapter 27: Fallen Star 
// Story: Harmony Theory 
// by Sharaloth 
//------------------------------//


While the ultimate purpose of an Inverted Element remains identical to its Active counterpart, the method by which it accomplishes that purpose is in opposition to what is seen in the Active phase. This creates a sometimes counterintuitive effect whereby a result is achieved via actions that would normally prevent such a result. The logic of Inversion becomes apparent only when we understand that opposite methods can result in the same outcome so long as we have a clear idea of what that outcome is. Which is to say that in studying Inversion I was forced to reverse my own standard methodology, and instead work backwards from effects to determine causes.

Difficult as that was, I made significant progress once I abandoned conventional experimental thinking. Eliminating my bias towards superficial, emotional aspects (which ponies are naturally inclined to value) was an even greater hurdle, but one that was particularly essential. What I discovered is that the basic, mechanical difference between Active and Inverted Elements is something surprisingly simple, and might best be termed as a matter of directionality. That is, the focus of the Element shifting from internal to external, or vice-versa. 

Take, for instance, the Element of Loyalty and its Inversion, Betrayal. It is an easy trap to fall into to question the logic of Betrayal fulfilling the binding purpose of the Element. The act of betrayal is, after all, a breaking of bonds, is it not? This, however, is a byproduct of our biased perspectives when attempting to apprehend the mechanics of the Elements. With the Elements, Betrayal still binds, it is the direction of the binding that differs from its Active counterpart. Loyalty works inwards, taking outside entities and binding them within a group. This creates friendships and societies. Betrayal works outwards, taking inside entities and binding them outside the group. This creates traitors and outcasts.

The other Elements follow a similar pattern, with one exception. Kindness regulates inward, while Cruelty regulates outwards. Laughter energizes outward, while Anger energizes inward. Generosity distributes outward, while Greed distributes inward. Honesty connects inward, while Deceit connects outward.

To conceptualize it in a more accessible way, one might imagine the aspects that the Elements were named after. For example, a joyfully laughing pony will motivate others to sing and dance and laugh, while an angry pony only motivates themselves, their negativity draining the energy from those around them. Alternatively, an honest pony will allow others to connect with their innermost self, wearing their heart on their sleeve as it were, while a deceitful one will connect to others without showing any of their own true nature.

Magic is, again, the odd one out. In both its Active and Inverted states, it operates in both directions. It does not, however, do both simultaneously. Whether this is a rule the Element itself must obey or merely a limitation of its Bearer, I cannot say. 

The question that arises from this knowledge is then: what is Inversion to the Element of Magic? Magic does not alter its directionality, but it still undergoes Inversion. Why? Or, rather, what else is changing during Inversion that I have not even thought to look for?

With all that I have already discovered, I find myself questioning if I really want to know. 



-From the sixth section of Harmony Theory by Twilight Sparkle




Chapter Twenty-Seven: Fallen Star 



Star Fall stared into the mirror and barely recognized herself. The royal beauticians had done their work with the excellence that they were famed for, and so the mare who stared back at her from inside the glass bore as much resemblance to her self-image as Astrid bore to a chicken. Her feathers were immaculately preened, oiled so that they shone with an iridescent finish. Her coat had been brushed and scrubbed until it practically glowed; she didn't think she'd ever been this pure a shade of white before. Her mane flowed in bouncy locks that held an upward curl at the ends, and her tail had more volume than she had thought possible. The beauticians had done an incredible job taking advantage of her naturally red hair to weave ribbons of color through it that did a better job imitating a fire than any dye job she had ever attempted on her own. 

Those were all important, but they were merely the frame around the true portrait. The makeup they had applied to her was subtle, but astoundingly effective. Her eyes were the first thing she noticed. They stood out, their blue impossibly bright. Those eyes said so many things. When she held them wide they spoke of innocence, of purity, but with just a slight narrowing they transformed into eyes that knew power, eyes that commanded respect and attention. 

Her lips were full and red, forming a mouth that could smile with dazzling joy or be set in a firm, serious line. She hadn't tried pouting yet, she didn't know if she wanted to see what that made her look like. Her ears, too, had been paid ample attention, and the makeup and careful brushing made it harder to tell how she was feeling. She would practically have to lay them flat to show boredom or sadness. Yet they displayed attentiveness and strength easily.

Her Glyph, too, had received some attention. The lines and curves of the magic circle that had defined so much of who and what she was glittered with an application of expensive crystal dust. Each of the seven points had a gem affixed to it, showing a different color starting with the red of her magic at the uppermost point and going through each of the main colors of the spectrum. She could feel those gems with her magic, and by exerting a small effort of will she could make sparks of light flash between them, displaying her Glyph to even greater effect. 

She was a masterpiece of makeup and grooming, and it made her feel uncomfortable, awkward and alien. She wished Rarity were here. She hadn't known the unicorn for more than a couple weeks, but somehow she felt that Rarity would have known just the right thing to say to put her at ease with all the pampering and the makeup. 

Worse than the shine of the glamour, though, were the things it couldn’t cover up. The stress and scramble of the past month had left her fifteen pounds lighter than she had been when Rainbow Dash had first fallen out of the sky. That lost fat had not been replaced with muscle, merely burned to keep her moving from one crisis to the next. It had left her lean and hard. She could see it in the mirror, even through the makeup and the artful fluffing of her coat. The hollowness of her eyes was covered, but her cheekbones stood out, as did her hips, though that was hidden somewhat with her wings closed.

She looked in the mirror, seeing past all the amazing work the beauticians had done, and found herself dwelling on one thought: Why do I look so tired? 

That thought was interrupted by the arrival of her friends. "Woo-wee! Well, ain't you a pretty sight," Applejack said as she and Rainbow Dash entered the antechamber that Star Fall was waiting in until it was time to walk down the aisle. They were both dressed in the outfits Rarity had made them for the audience with the King those weeks ago. They looked good, and a comfortable good, unlike Star Fall's own stunning-but-exhausted.

"Yeah, Star, you look great!" Dash added. She looked around the room with mild curiosity. The tools that had been used to prepare Star Fall for her wedding were scattered like chaff, but the ponies who had used them were gone. Only Astrid, herself preened to shining perfection and struggling to maintain her rough military edge despite it, kept Star Fall company. "Where is everybody? I thought you'd have, like, a gazillion servants or something here."

"Had," Astrid grumbled. "They were done and getting bored, so I kicked them out before they could start painting me up the same way they got Fall."

Applejack chuckled. "You’re lookin’ good, too, Astrid."

"Great," Astrid deadpanned. "How's the seats?"

"Fillin' up," Applejack replied.

"Yeah, there's a ton of unicorns," Dash said. "But also, like, a whole section of Zebras in these crazy costumes!"

"The delegates from the Zebra nations," Star Fall said. "You probably also saw the Republics’ ambassador. She usually arrives early."

"I dunno. What's she look like?"

"Earth pony," Astrid said. "Blonde mane, wears a lot of silver, probably surrounded by ponies in dark suits."

"Oh yeah, we saw her," Dash said.

"She was givin' us a lot of mean looks," Applejack said. "Real unfriendly-like."

"She doesn't like surprises," Star Fall said. "And you two are a doozy." She sighed and glanced at herself in the mirror again before looking away. “Almost everyone else should be nobility, not that there wasn’t a push to let community leaders in.”

“I’m just surprised they aren’t televising the whole thing,” Astrid said with a snort. “Nobody wants to miss the wedding of the century, they might as well treat this like the circus act it is. Come right in! See the crown prince marry one of the –gasp!– lesser races!”

"Be nice, Astrid," Star Fall said. "And shouldn't you be practicing?"

Astrid’s eyes narrowed. "Keep talking about that, Fall. I'm pretty sure I saw some green dye around here somewhere."

"Don't mind her," Star Fall told Dash and Applejack, a genuine smile touching her lips. "She's just nervous about singing."

"I’m sure you’ll do just dandy,” Applejack said to Astrid before turning back to Star Fall. “And how are you, sugarcube?" she asked. "If I were you I'd be as nervous as a groundhog at a fun-fair."

"Thats... about how I feel, yeah," Star Fall said, shrugging. "Not about getting married itself, but… well what comes after."

“I’m assumin’ you don’t mean the weddin’ night,” Applejack said with a dry sincerity that was not in the least suggestive, but made Star Fall blush all the same.

“No. That’s… not a worry of mine,” she said. “I mean once it’s all official, irrevocable. I’ll be next in line to be Queen of the Solar Kingdom. The responsibilities, the politics, the scrutiny… I’ve been able to deal with it for the past few weeks, but how long can I hold out?”

“Hey, Star, you’ll do great,” Dash said, grinning that confident, cocky grin of hers. It lifted Star Fall’s spirits just by being there. “And if you need help, you’ve got us. Right, guys?”

“All the way, Fall,” Astrid said. “Right to the end.”

“Eyup,” Applejack said. “It’s what friends are for.”

"I just wish we could be up there with you today,” Dash said. “Are you sure you don't get bridesmaids?"

Star Fall shook her head. "Royal wedding tradition, and not one I can subvert easily. We ‘stand before Celestia exposed, with none to hide us from her glory or judgement’. Same sort of stuff they use to justify why I’m not allowed to wear dresses anymore."

“Well, we don’t got the best seat in the house,” Applejack said. “But if you look for us, we’ll be there, cheerin’ you on.”

“Thanks,” Star Fall said. “I do feel better knowing you’re here. Like it’s not going to be some horrible disaster.”

"Come on, Star,” Dash said. “It’s gonna be fine! You think the King or the Professor’s gonna let anything go wrong? Not a chance."

"Dash is right on that," Astrid said. "Face it, Fall, you'd actually have to try to screw this up. All the running the country crap will happen when it happens. Today, all you gotta do is just stand in your place and say your lines and be the prettiest little pony you can be."

Star Fall chuckled. "It really will be that easy, won't it?"

Astrid snorted. "Trust me, Fall, whether you want it or not, this day is going to be perfect."

"Be careful when you say that, Astrid," Twinkle Shine said, sweeping into the room. "I'm sure it’s been said before, and didn't go so well for them."

"Yeah, but they weren't getting married to royalty," Astrid said.

The Professor stopped, a subtle, amused smile playing at her lips. "No. I suppose they were not." She turned to her student, and her smile grew in size and warmth. "Ah, my little Fallen Star, you look lovely." Star Fall started at the affectation, she had rarely heard the Professor use that name for her. It reminded her of her mother, and that reminded her of her own decision to exile her parents. She shook the thought away, hanging on to the positive feelings her friends had generated.

"Hey, Professor," Dash said. "How's it going?"

"Busily," Twinkle Shine replied. "Enough so that I haven't had any time to work on a way to return you and Applejack and Rarity to your own era, I'm sorry."

"That's..." Dash looked to Applejack, a private communication passing between them, volumes of meaning in the space of a shared glance.

"We're mighty thankful for the thought, Professor," Applejack said, ducking her head. "We know you'll do your best if and when you get the chance."

"How's it looking out there?" Star Fall asked.

"Hurried," Twinkle Shine said, sighing. "Royal weddings are not supposed to be done on such short notice. I've been trying to put out fires before they spread, but it's almost as if the world is trying to anger me. Did you know that the seating chart put Lord Haymane next to Lady Summerfrost at the reception?"

Star Fall winced. "Ouch. No I didn’t. With the bad blood between them they wouldn't get through half the dinner before that blood was spread all over the table; not a good start."

"And of course, neither of them were willing to be moved,” the Professor said, laughing.

"Of course," Star Fall agreed, rolling her eyes.

"Anyway, that's why I'm running late," the Professor said, coming forward and giving Star Fall a delicate nuzzle that did not mess up her careful grooming. "All fires contained, all details seen to. We’re almost ready to begin.” She looked to the other ponies. “Applejack, Rainbow Dash, you should be taking your seat before an opportunistic noble decides that the assigned seating plan doesn’t apply to them. I've signalled that we're ready, so they’ll be closing the doors soon."

"Alright. Take care, sugarcube," Applejack said, nodding to Star Fall.

"Remember, be yourself," Dash said. "We'll be right there to back you up."

Twinkle Shine looked to Astrid as they were leaving. "I believe you have your own position to go to."

Astrid sighed. "This is gonna suck."

"Not for me," Star Fall said, grinning at her friend as Astrid followed Dash and Applejack out of the room, closing the door behind her and giving her and her mentor some privacy.

There was a silence that stretched between them. Twinkle Shine examined her student with a wistful, almost sad look on her face. Star Fall looked back, trying to keep her turmoil from her expression. She loved the Professor, dearly, but her plan to direct Umbra at the nightlands was the worst sort of evil. Star Fall was having trouble reconciling the mare that had spent the last decade teaching her with the one who was even now planning genocide by unleashing the Destroyer on the nightlands. It complicated things between them, so much so that now they were alone she found herself at a complete loss for words.

“I…” the Professor began, then paused, looking off into the distance for a second before collecting herself and continuing. “I tried so hard to protect you from this.”

“I know,” Star Fall replied. “But you couldn’t. The King demanded it, and… and in the end, I chose it.”

“Star Fall, I know you’re disappointed–”

“Damn right I’m disappointed!” Star Fall snapped, shocked at the anger in her own voice. She took a breath, stretching out and re-folding her wings to work out some of the tension before speaking again. “I don’t want to talk about that,” she said. “Not now. Not today.”

“Okay,” Twinkle Shine said, nodding slowly. “I’m proud of you. I want you to know that. You have truly become a wonderful mare, my most faithful student.”

“I… I’m proud too. Proud to have been your student.” She ventured a small smile, finding that she didn’t have to force it. “You’ve taught me so much. More than magic and history and math. You taught me about life. About friendship and doing my best, and doing what’s right, and how to carry responsibilities even when they are so heavy.” She paused, realizing that she was skirting close to the very topic she had said she didn’t want to discuss. “I’m here because of what you taught me, Professor. And I want you to know that no matter what, I will always, always cherish my time as your student. If I’m a good princess, if I’m a good pony, it’s because you taught me how.”

Twinkle Shine’s eyes sparkled with tears as she reached out. Star Fall met that embrace and fell into it completely. They were locked in a tight hug for a moment, then the Professor gave a small yelp and jumped back, holding a hoof to her chest. 

“Professor?” Star Fall asked.

Twinkle Shine stared at her, frowning. “I just… got a shock. That’s all.” She peered closer at Star Fall’s neck. “Are you wearing the necklace I gave you?”

Star Fall reached up and nudged the little golden amulet. It was almost perfectly hidden by the careful grooming of her coat, but their embrace had mussed her enough to reveal it. “Yes. It protected me before by reminding me of all the people who love and care for me. I’m about to be naked in front of a thousand judgemental nobles. I figured I could use the support.”

“Oh. The enchantment must… Well, that’s…” Twinkle Shine still held her hoof to her chest, and she lifted it away to reveal a dark smudge on her golden coat. “Well. I’m glad it can still be of use.”

“Are you okay?” Star Fall asked. 

“Perfectly fine,” the Professor said. “Just a little shock, that’s all. The enchantments on the necklace were just reacting to my magic. That’s all.”

“Okay,” Star Fall said, a small frown quickly disappearing as she shrugged the odd incident off. “So. They can’t start until I get there. I guess we shouldn’t keep them waiting any longer.”

“No,” the Professor said, though she was still frowning down at the singed, ashen spot on her coat. She brushed the last of the smudge away and looked up to smile at Star Fall. “We shouldn’t. Come now, it’s time to walk you down the aisle.”



***



The cathedral was as old as the Court of the Sun, built at the same time and for the same reason: to put on full display the power and majesty of the growing Solar Kingdom. Being made to impress, it was built with all the spacious grandeur that the young kingdom could afford. It was shaped as a tiered semi-circle, ten columns of pews radiating out from the altar, the central two the longest and the others becoming progressively shorter. Columns like the trunks of mighty trees spread arched branches that held up domed windows depicting scenes from Celestia’s long rule, and the altar was backed by a huge statue of the Alicorn. Hidden spotlights shone on the statue, making it glow even on the gloomiest of days or the darkest of nights. 

Star Fall watched that statue as she began the long, slow walk up the aisle. It was easier than looking at the faces of all the ponies staring at her as she made her way to the altar. It was one of Spike’s creations, the benevolent eyes and soft smile on its face practically a trademark of his depictions of the Goddess. Where other artists often chose to show her as stern and noble, or the ever-popular Sun in Her Fury aspect, he had always depicted her as a gentle mare. Majestic and sublime, yes, but also distinctly equine and almost vulnerable. When Spike showed her, she was a deity concerned more with love than with power.

A fanfare announced her entrance, one that ended quickly, only to be replaced by Astrid’s voice over the speakers. She sang, and Star Fall smiled. Griffins weren’t known for their dulcet voices, and Astrid had a particular talent in that regard. She compensated for her tin ear by singing with an enthusiasm that was one part shame to nine parts bravado. It made any song she cared to belt out a challenge, daring the listener to complain. 

“Did you have to insist on her singing?” Twinkle Shine leaned in and asked, wincing as Astrid hit another cracking high note with pitch-perfect imprecision. “This isn’t a terribly dignified start for you.”

“It’s a message, Professor,” Star Fall replied. She needed that bravado now. She would not be seen as some weak girl thrust into a place far above her natural position.

“Of course it is,” her mentor said. “I just wish you had chosen a different one.”

Star Fall just smirked and returned her attention to Celestia’s warm gaze. She let her mind wander, taking her thoughts where it would. She had never questioned her faith before, not really. She had never taken advantage of her friendship with Spike to ask all the questions that another would have. She had been far too focused on her studies to even consider the theological possibilities of knowing someone who had been practically raised by her deity. Now, she wished he were here as questions filled her idle mind.

She’d seen the Goddesses, witnessed their nature and vast spirits at work. Yet the experience, combined with all she had learned, cast into doubt everything she had taken for granted about them. For one, the Elements of Harmony played a far greater role in the rule of Celestia than she had ever imagined. Even with Twilight Sparkle hiding them, how could knowledge of such important artifacts become so thoroughly lost? Worse than that, Luna was Nightmare Moon. That meant the Goddesses could turn malign. Celestia Nova had always been taught as an imposter, a pretender, but what if it was something else? What if that had been another lie? If Nightmare Moon was Luna, then Celestia Nova could have been Celestia herself.

If that was true, then what of Nightmare Umbra? Surely the Destroyer hadn’t come completely out of nowhere.

She couldn’t continue down that line of thought, as she had reached the altar. She genuflected to Celestia’s icon, careful to keep her wings held high and steady. Then she took her position at the left hoof of the Goddess and looked across the altar at her groom. This was it.

Regal Stature gave her a wan smile, and Star Fall took heart in the fact that he looked even more nervous than her. She hoped she wasn’t showing as much of her anxiety as he was, though. He’d have to learn to conceal his emotions better if he was going to be King. She supposed that, as the fourth child, he had never really thought he’d needed to before.

Standing behind their son were the King and Queen. Their wings touched over Regal’s head, a living arch to show their blessing for his union and ascension. Behind them, sitting in the first row of plush-cushioned pews, were his siblings, who for their part actually looked pleased to see their youngest brother standing before the assembled nobles. That either spoke of how well they could fake their emotions or how well loved Regal was. Star Fall chose, for the moment, to believe the latter.

Beyond them sat the extended Royal families: uncles, aunts, cousins, and other representatives from each of the bloodlines that comprised the Royals. This wedding represented the first in centuries, perhaps since the founding of the Kingdom, that one of them had married outside of those lines. If she bore a Royal foal, it would inject some desperately needed new blood into the dangerously narrow Royal gene pool. That alone, she supposed, accounted for how few of them seemed openly hostile when they looked at her. Many were even regarding Star Fall with open curiosity, as if trying to figure out why the mare marrying into their family was missing her horn. Others were guarded, but their mere presence showed that they were willing to accept this union. She saw no clearly happy faces, but she couldn’t have expected much.

Regal opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again, shaking his head. She leaned over to him. “It’s okay,” she whispered. His ears twitched at the sound of her voice. “I’m nervous too. We’ll get through this together, alright?” He relaxed a bit, and nodded his thanks.

At that moment the high priest, flanked by a pair of robed acolytes, stepped up behind the altar. He stood under the benevolent gaze of Celestia’s statue and lit his horn with a warm, yellow glow, signalling the start of the ceremony. Astrid’s song came to a warbling end, and the faithful were called to attention.



***



The ceremony was taking forever. Dash squirmed in her seat, shifting her wings in a vain attempt to find a position they could hold comfortably as the priest began yet another round of call and response chanting. “Aw, man,” she griped, keeping her voice low enough that only Applejack sitting next to her would be able to hear. “Come on! If Princess Celestia hasn’t heard you guys by now, she’s not gonna!”

Applejack jerked, blinking her eyes and looking around worriedly. “I’m payin’ attention,” she said, loud enough that she got a dirty look from a unicorn in the seat in front of them. She caught her bearings and leaned in towards Dash. “Have we gotten to the part with the vows yet?” she asked at a lower volume.

“I wish,” Dash groaned. “What ever happened to just saying ‘I do’ and getting on with it?”

“Now, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack began with a chiding tone, but paused and looked to the priest, who showed no sign of stopping, before speaking again. “That’s a good point.” She sighed. “I’ve been at weddin’s for half a dozen cousins, and ain’t none of them been this bad.”

“Do you think it’d be okay if I slip out for, like, half an hour?” Dash asked.

“I think it’d be noticed, sugarcube.”

Dash slumped in her seat, barely resisting the urge to fiddle with her outfit. It was almost painful being forced to hold still for this long without anything interesting to focus on. Applejack seemed to have perfected the art of sleeping with her eyes open, so she could at least get away from the boredom. Dash had no such escape, and if something didn’t change soon she was going to start gnawing her own wings off.

A shadow passed over the crowd and Dash looked up to see that the great windows were being covered by a thick mist. A wave of murmurs went through the gathered ponies and even the priest paused in his droning. They watched as the fog rolled over the whole of the cathedral, blocking out all of the sunlight that had been shining in just moments before.

Dash was not a mare to let a chance like this pass her by. She shot to her hooves immediately, catching the attention of the entire congregation. “Don’t worry, guys. I got this,” she announced, quickly taking off the costume barding and laying it on her seat.

“What’re you doin’?” Applejack asked.

“Hey, this is Star’s day, right?” Dash said. “I’m just making sure no bad weather spoils all the…” she shot a glance at the priest, who was frowning at her breach of etiquette. “Fun. I’ll be back when I’ve kicked this fog back in line.”

Applejack snorted. “Enjoy it, sugarcube.”

Dash flashed a grin before taking off and zipping down the aisle to the door. Manes were ruffled and clothes blown by the wake of her passage, but she didn’t care about the stir she caused. She needed to get out and work her wings, and it looked like this was her lucky day. She landed by the doors, eyeing the Griffins that stood to either side. “Hey, guys,” she said, trying not to shrink under their glares. “I’m gonna clean up outside, alright?”

One of them looked to the other, a big red Griffin who stared down at Dash for a long moment before shrugging. “She’s the hero. If she says she can do it, I figure she can. Go ahead, the guards outside will let you back in when you’re done.” Dash thanked him as he pulled the great door open just enough for her to slip out.

Outside, the world was reduced to a dark gray soup. She took a deep breath, tasting the heavy concentration of moisture in the air. Something about it made her uneasy, creating a sick feeling of subtle recognition in her gut, but she couldn’t put her hoof on exactly what it meant. She pushed her way forward, the fog resisting her pegasus magic enough that it was like shoving her way through a pool of molasses. She tried kicking a path for herself, but the clouds just filled in any area she cleared almost as soon as she had cleared it.

“Well, this is… weird,” she said, and found that her voice had a strangely dead quality to her own ears. Like she was in a soundproof room. She cocked her ears and listened, but found that she couldn’t hear anything. No sounds of traffic, or of the throng of ponies that had been waiting outside the cathedral for their first sight of the new royal couple. She could barely hear her own breathing. The fog was so thick it swallowed the noise of the city completely. “Okay, whoever made this fog is really overdoing it.” She trailed off as the truth of her own words hit her.

Someone had made this fog. Icy bands seemed to constrict her chest as her train of thought continued. Someone had made the fog, but that was impossible. The only ones capable of working the weather in this time were herself and…

Her wings snapped out and she sucked in an involuntary gasp as her heart began to pound. A surge of terror and adrenaline roared through her. She clamped down on the rising panic, forcing her breath to come in short, controlled bursts as she channelled the fear, letting it focus her attention. 

She strained her ears again, listening through the deadening mist for something, anything. A wisp of mist brushed against her, pushed by the wind of something passing close. In the fog, whatever it was could have been close enough to reach out and touch, but she had seen and heard nothing. She focused on the mist, on the little billows and eddies that told her finely-honed weather senses where others were moving through it. She waited for a minute, then another, and finally she felt the passage of another large body near her. She leapt on it, forcing her way through the resisting fog with a growl of effort.

She rammed into the side of another pony, sending them both falling in an awkward tumble. She recovered first, grabbing the other pony and rolling to sit on top of them and prevent them from scrambling away and getting lost in the mist again. When she got a good look at who she had caught, her heart skipped a beat.

The pony had no eyes, only black, empty pits that swirled with tiny flecks of grey ash. Its body was solid, but had a strange, springy give to it that made her hooves feel like they were sinking into sand when she pressed them down. It had no mane, no coat, only a thin, shifting coating of ashen dust. It snarled up at her, revealing teeth that were gleaming white and far, far too long and sharp.

Dash scrambled back, and the ghoul twisted to its hooves in a sinuous motion that had it moving in ways a pony should not have been able to. She braced for an attack, but instead the dead pony simply stared at her for a long moment, empty sockets not making her doubt for a moment that it could see her perfectly. Then it turned and rushed off into the mist.

“No way,” Dash said, shaking her head and forcing herself to move. “Not now, come on, not now!” She felt more than saw the mist thinning ahead of her and pushed harder, finally breaking through the fog and seeing what was on the other side. Light and noise hit her like a wall after the silent darkness of the fog, nearly stunning her.

The city was a warzone. A chorus of a thousand screams were audible over the deep thunder of explosions and staccato pops of gunfire. The crowd that had gathered was in a rioting panic, scattering along every available avenue as ashen ponies chased them with flashing jaws and stomping hooves. Soldiers and police tried to herd the stampede into some kind of organization, but their efforts only made them targets for the attackers. Close by, Griffins screeched as they slashed at advancing ranks of ghouls. Their claws tore through grey flesh with ease, only for the wounds to heal instantly, knitting closed like flowing water. As she watched, a group of the eyeless ponies overwhelmed one of the Griffin warriors, hauling him to the ground and attacking with hooves and teeth.

Dash acted without thought or hesitation, rushing forward and slamming into the mass of ash ponies with all the force she could muster. The ghouls were scattered, their bodies flying end over end from her hit. Dash didn’t wait to see how they landed, she grabbed the downed Griffin and shot into the air with him, leaving a shimmering trail in her wake. She arced high and came down to land on the roof of one of the skyscrapers surrounding the Court of the Sun, letting the stunned Griffin fall to the roof as soon as she landed.

“No, no, no,” Dash said, turning to the edge of the roof and looking down on the battle. There was too much to take in, more than even her incredible observation skills could analyze at once. The cathedral was surrounded by a thick shell of mist, its manufactured nature even more clear from the outside, and she watched a Griffin uselessly beating against the barrier. It appeared that Dash’s pegasus magic was the only reason she had been able to get through at all, though the ghouls seemed to be able to move in and out of it with little problem. She looked to the open streets and saw small groups of Griffins and pony soldiers fighting vicious, but losing battles against indestructible ash ponies. Soldiers fired their weapons or threw grenades, doing more damage to each other and the people they were supposed to be protecting than to their enemy. An island of resistance had formed around the entrance to the palace grounds, where soldiers were creating a barricade out of vehicles, but it was the only one she could see.

A look to the sky showed her that there was a legion of ashen pegasi up there as well, circling the Court of the Sun and clashing with Kingdom air forces. She looked back to the streets and confirmed that most of the ghouls on the ground were earth ponies, though she did spot one or two unicorns among them, who were thankfully not using any magic.

“You!” She turned at the sound to find the Griffin she had rescued getting to his feet. “What is the situation?” 

“Uh, crazy!?” Dash said, practically shouting. “You know more about it than I do, buddy!”

He winced, clutching at his side where blood was darkening his fur. “I meant inside the cathedral. The Royals… are they safe?”

“I don’t know about safe,” Dash said. “But they’ve got no idea what’s going on. Last I saw they were still going ahead with the wedding like everything was just hunky-dory!”

“We have to get to them,” he said, wincing as he limped to the edge next to her. “Get them to safety.”

“I don’t think that’s an option,” Dash said, fear freezing her blood. She pointed to the sky and the figure gliding down from the clouds. A huge pony, wings and horn declaring her divinity as much as the crushing pall her appearance placed on the battlefield. Light blazed from her eyes, and wherever her gaze fell, despair overcame the defenders. Umbra looked upon her forces as they inexorably beat back the soldiers of the Solar Kingdom, and at her unspoken command they fell back, giving the defenders a moment’s peace to realize how little that moment would buy them.

“None Are Safe,” the Nightmare said. Her voice reached everywhere simultaneously, buildings shaking with its power. It was a whisper that could not be ignored, a promise that could not be denied. “Not Kings. Not Slaves. Not The Greatest Of Lords, And Not The Least Of Foals. To Know My Power Is To Know Your End.”

The Griffin collapsed next to Dash, his eyes too wide and his breath too shallow. “Celestia save us,” he begged, his voice shaking with terror.

“I Am Not Here For You… Today,” Umbra continued, landing in the street before the cathedral. “Run, And Live.”

As if her offer had lifted a paralysis, a great cry went up from the ponies and they began running again. Soldiers broke and ran. Police joined the herds they had been directing. The Griffins, to their credit, held their ground, but Umbra’s fear was infecting them just as much as it had the others, and their movements had the edge of panic to them. Umbra’s forces harried the departing people, hurrying them on, but were soon turning their eyeless attention to those who were not fleeing. Umbra watched the exodus with impassive fury before turning towards the shrouded cathedral and walking towards the fog.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Dash cried, leaping from the roof and streaking towards the Nightmare. She knew she couldn’t beat Umbra, but she was determined to keep her from getting to the defenceless ponies trapped in the cathedral. She almost made it, but ten feet from Umbra she was intercepted, a pegasus ghoul slamming into her and knocking her into a rolling crash along the street. She tumbled end over end, but managed to flip herself onto her hooves and skid to a stop, glaring at the dark Alicorn as a dozen ash pegasi dropped to the ground between them. She met Umbra’s gaze. “Alright,” she said. “You want me? Right? You want to find out who made me or whatever! Well, here I am! Now’s your chance!”

“You Are No Longer Relevant, Rainbow Dash,” the Nightmare said. Dash felt the bottom drop out of her stomach at the dismissal. She had been terrified of Umbra coming for her, but the thought of her going for someone else was so much worse.

“I thought you didn’t believe me about who I am,” she said, trying to think of some way to delay Umbra.

“Your Identity Has Been Confirmed,” Umbra said. “And Thus Is No Longer A Concern. Fight Me And Die, Or Flee And Survive. It Does Not Matter. You Cannot Stop Me.”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see about that.” Dash flared her wings, but the moment she started moving the ash pegasi attacked, forcing her to dodge and block their flurry of kicks and bites.

“No,” Umbra said, dissolving into a cloud of ashes that merged with the unnatural fog. “We Will Not.” Dash could only watch in agonizing frustration as the Destroyer went for her friends.



***



“I swear, before the gathered court and before the light of Celestia’s day,” Star Fall began. Her breath was unsteady and her feathers shook as she made the vow, but her voice did not tremble or falter, and of that she was proud. “I shall be your comfort, your hope and your counsel. As the sun always rises without fail, so shall I be for you. Constant and bright, a beacon so that you may rule with clarity and wisdom. From now until the Goddesses return to Equestria, I will be yours, if you will be mine.”

They were such simple vows to be the focus of such an elaborate ceremony. Yet, they were perhaps all that was left of the original Royal marriages that had come after the Schism. They were the heart of the event, and thus the most untouched by centuries of successive elaboration. She glanced away from her groom, her eyes first finding the Professor, whose face was tight with worry. Star Fall couldn’t blame her; it was far too late to back out now, and what would come next would be a challenge like none she had ever faced before.

She looked past the Professor, seeing Applejack in the crowd, leaning forward and smiling in a reassuring way. She wished that Dash would hurry up and clear the fog away like she had promised. The mist covering the sun could be seen as a bad omen, a sentiment she did not want to have to deal with. Even more, she wished Dash hadn’t left. She was missing, as she would say, the ‘best part’.

Regal swallowed heavily and she turned her gaze back to him. He opened his mouth twice before he managed to find his voice. “I sw-swear,” he began, “before the gat–”

The cathedral went dark. Star Fall jumped at the sudden loss of light, and from the sounds of surprise and fear she heard, she wasn’t the only one. Still, in a room full of unicorns no darkness could last long. A thin, multi-hued light filled the cathedral as a thousand horns lit with magic, casting kaleidoscopic shadows that twisted and whirled as the gathered unicorns looked this way and that, seeking an explanation. Star Fall felt the urge to rush about and find out what was happening, but she stood fast and took calming breaths. She was a princess now, and it was the duty of others to do the rushing.

“The power’s out!” a voice called, though Star Fall could not see from where.

“Eyes open, Fall,” Astrid said, alighting next to her. “This feels like a prelude to an attack.”

“Who would be attacking our wedding?” Regal asked, and Star Fall could see the confusion and anger in his eyes.

Star Fall and Astrid shared a look, communicating their shared fears in a glance. “Regal, if anything starts, stay back,” Star Fall said. 

There was a muffled boom and ponies began shrieking as the decorative torch sconces set into the pillars burst into flame. Not normal flame, though. This was a black, cold flame that devoured the horn-light and leeched color from the world. Star Fall’s breath caught in her throat. She had seen this fire before.

“What in Celestia’s name?” one of the acolytes asked, reaching a hoof towards the black fire.

“No!” Star Fall shouted at him, but it was too late. His hoof was touched by the Ashfire, barely more than a lick, but it was enough. His coat ignited and he began screaming. Star Fall started towards him, but Astrid grabbed her wing and held her back, her claws painfully tight. The acolyte’s screams became desperate, tea-kettle-high shrieks as he desperately tried to smother the flames that spread over him. His horn burned with magic, covering his body with an aura of power, but that only made the fire spread faster. All motion in the cathedral was stilled as they watched the pony’s final moments. The fire spread over his body and burned inward with shocking speed. It consumed him. Utterly. When it was done, all that remained was a pile of grey ashes.

The cathedral might have erupted into panic then, had the ashes not immediately begun to move. They shifted and swirled in place for a moment, then began streaming down the central aisle, past the terrified guests. Tendrils of Ashfire joined the parade of ashes, twining about it like serpents. Even the Professor seemed dumbstruck by the sight of it, her gaze glassy as her eyes dully followed the progress of the acolyte’s remains.

When the ashes and fire had reached the entrance to the cathedral they swirled up, becoming a whirlwind of black and grey that soon took a shape. Star Fall knew what to expect, knew what she would be facing, but even so she felt her stomach flip and her knees grow weak as that shape became clear. The Nightmare emerged from the darkness like a ghost, casting her own luminance that filled the cathedral and corroded the magical light cast by the other ponies until only her own monochromatic glory could be seen.

Umbra stood in silence for a long moment, surveying the terror-stricken faces of the assembled nobility. Then she grinned, revealing gleaming, sharp canines that were stained with a hint of red –the only color visible in the harsh light she cast– and it was like a dam had burst. A thousand ponies screamed as one, scrambling over each other to get away from the Destroyer. Dozens were trampled, alliances and enmities were forgotten in the panic. Black fires rose up to block the exits, causing the crush of ponies to become even more unbearable as those in front began shoving against the ones behind them, lest they touch those deadly flames. 

Star Fall didn’t shy back or try to run. She had Astrid’s steady presence at her side and the sure knowledge that this was a fight she had won once before, and could do so again. She faced the Shadowed Alicorn squarely and spread her wings in defiant challenge. They weren’t the only ones. In the audience, Applejack stood in front of a group of fillies and colts, her immovable form preventing them from being overrun by the older nobles. The Professor narrowed her eyes, a small, eager smile playing at her lips. Griffins rushed to the altar, creating a screen of bodies between the Royals and the Nightmare. Star Fall spotted Astrid’s friend Roan front and center, clutching one of the ceremonial halberds in his claws. She even saw the King step up beside her, his eyes wide but unafraid as he looked upon the Destroyer.

“Silence,” Umbra said, her terrible voice settling like a yoke on the shoulders of everyone present, stilling them and driving more than a few to their knees. “To Call Yourselves Noble Is Laughable,” she continued, taking long, slow steps down the central aisle. Nobles scrambled to get out of her way, leaving a wide space clear around her. “You Claim To Worship Celestia, Yet When I Look Into Your Precious, Little, Sun-Loving Faces, I Do Not See Ponies She Would Be Proud Of. Just Look At You Now: You Trample Those Weaker Underhoof In The Hope Of Buying Yourself Another Breath Of Life.” Umbra smirked, looking at one cowering pony in particular, who shrank away with a miserable squeak. “Craven Beasts, That Hope Is As Empty As Your Hearts.” 

She passed by Applejack, not even giving the ancient hero a glance. Star Fall frowned at that. She had expected the Nightmare to home in on Applejack instantly, attacking her as she had Dash those many weeks ago. “Eight Hundred Years Have I Waited, Marshalling My Power. Eight Hundred Years Have I Given You To Do The Same. When I Emerged From My Silence I Expected To See Armies Arrayed Against Me! Heroes And Sages Aiding Great Leaders In Battle Against The Only Foe That Will Ever Matter For You. A Worthy Challenge To My Dominion. What Have I Found? The Petty Rulers Of A Broken World, Sitting In Pretty Rows Celebrating The Union Of A Blushing Filly And A Pampered Fop Who You Expect To Be Your Sovereign. Are You Such Fools That You Thought Me Gone Forever? Were You Not Informed Of My Return? Did You Not See The Signs?”

“We saw!” the Professor called out, catching the Nightmare’s attention. “And we are not afraid! You have been beaten before, and you will be again!”

“Beaten? No. At My Weakest I Fought Three Of Your Best, And They Did Not Impress. The Student Who Thinks Herself A Princess? Her Magic Could Not Match Mine. The Soldier Who Forsakes Duty? Her Fury Was But The Wind, Its Might Spent On Empty Bluster. The Hero A Thousand Years From Home? She Was The Only One Who Could Challenge Me, And Even She Fell To My Power."

Star Fall’s frown deepened at those words, though most of the rest of the audience cringed. Umbra’s words didn’t sit right. Umbra hadn't thought Dash was telling the truth about herself before. Had denied it completely. Finding out the truth about Dash had ostensibly been the reason she had attacked them. As she had told Astrid after that fight: Umbra didn't lie, she was too powerful to have to. Yet, here she was, accepting Rainbow Dash as the ancient hero she claimed to be. What had changed? And, even further, why all the posturing? What need did a Goddess have to boast like this? 

Unless, of course, she wasn't nearly as powerful as she was trying to make them believe she was.

"Rainbow Dash got back up!" Star Fall called out, taking the attention of the room. "Astrid, Dash and I were all knocked down, but we stood back up. We stood together! You have power, Umbra, but we have power too! We have the strength of our unity, of a thousand people standing together!"

Umbra's eyes narrowed, their glow brightening until they were a pair of lidded suns, burning with cold fury. "So Be It. If A Thousand Stand Together, Then Together A Thousand Will Fall."

The entire cathedral shook as if in an earthquake. Chandeliers swayed drunkenly about and windows rattled as ponies crouched down to keep their footing on the lurching, bucking floor. Star Fall dropped her spread wings low, using them to keep her balance in ways the gathered unicorns couldn't. She noted with a distant interest that the Griffins were doing much the same as her, but the Royals were stumbling just like their wingless cousins.

Light pierced the darkness of the cathedral, and Star Fall looked up to see the fog clearing from the great skylights, letting the sun shine in. The stained glass windows did not make it easy to see what was going on in the air above and around them, but she could still catch glimpses in the clearer panes. Pegasi and Griffins wheeled and dodged between explosive blasts of anti-air weapons. Ponies attacking ponies, ponies attacking Griffins, and, shockingly, winning. It was hard to make out, especially so in the sudden dazzle of the sunlight, but Star Fall could still see that some of those pegasi wore the uniforms of Kingdom Soldiers, while the greater number by far wore no clothing, and were the same shade of ashen grey as the Nightmare that threatened them all.

A prismatic blur streaked across the sky and towards the window, moving so fast that Star Fall had barely registered its presence before it had arrived. Glass shattered as Dash made her entrance, making some of the cowering nobles let out renewed shrieks. Showing an aerial agility that was shocking even to Star Fall, the ancient pegasus turned her dive into a spin, becoming a whirling rainbow tornado that caught every shard of falling glass and launched them towards Umbra with incredible precision.

The Nightmare did not flinch as the glass embedded itself in her body, some pieces punching straight through her to shatter on the floor. Wormy tendrils of black blood forced the embedded glass out and sealed her wounds shut. Her regeneration was so fast that Dash had not even touched down before most of her injuries were gone, far quicker than it had been during their last encounter. 

Dash alighted next to Star Fall, keeping her own balance on the strangely shifting floor with a casual ease that made Star Fall question if Dash even consciously noticed that things were moving. "Sorry I'm late, Star," Dash said. "I couldn't get in as long as that fog was in the way."

"You're here now," Star Fall said, giving her friend a grim smile. "That's good enough."

"What's the situation outside?" Astrid asked, crouched low as the room continued to shake.

"Not good," Dash said. "There's these, uh, nightmare ponies. They're attacking all the soldiers and Griffins out there. I had to take on a dozen just to get in here, and they do not go down easy. Or, uh, at all."

"We need to get these people out of here," Star Fall said, looking at the nearest exit, and the Ashfire that blocked it. "Maybe I can put that out, give a chance to evacuate if she can be kept distracted."

Dash frowned. "Uh, not a good plan, Star."

"Why not?"

Dash blinked at her in confusion. "You mean you don't feel it?"

"Feel?" Star Fall shook her head.

"You got too much oil on your feathers, Star," Dash said. "Trust me, evacuation? Not an option."

Star Fall closed her eyes and focused on her other senses. She did feel like the shimmering oil on her wings was acting like a blanket, dulling her senses. She paid attention to what she was feeling in her wings, and her eyes popped open in shock. She was feeling an air pressure change; one that was usually caused by a sudden increase in altitude. "Oh, no."

"Yes," Umbra said, her words like a signal that stilled the shudders of the cathedral. "There Is No Escape. There Is No Victory. There Is Only Me." Her horn flared and the great statue of Celestia was blown backwards, ripping through the wall and the huge stained-glass windows of the back of the cathedral and falling into the thousand feet of open air between the cathedral and the ground. "And Death."

"Celestia save us!" cried one noble in the terror-struck crowd.

"She Will Not," Umbra assured them, staring balefully at the Professor.

"Then I will!" Dash declared, stepping forward. 

"And so will I," Astrid snarled, stepping up next to Dash.

"So will we all!" Roan called, and the Griffins echoed his sentiment with a unified shriek. Astrid grinned at the support.

"Looks like y'all are outnumbered," Applejack said, straightening her hat and smirking at the Nightmare. "I bet you're regrettin' leavin' your army outside, huh?"

Umbra looked from Dash to Applejack, then back again, and Star Fall thought she caught a moment of worry on her otherwise impassive features. Then rage twisted her expression, eyes burning with unholy radiance. "They Are Not Here For Them." She gestured with her horn at the nobles before spearing Applejack with a hateful stare. "They Are Here For You."

Then, in a flash of dark power, Applejack was catapaulted from her place. She smashed through the window with the speed of a bullet, continuing in a tumbling arc over the battlefield of the Solar Capital. There was a moment of stunned silence as they processed what had just happened, and Umbra turned her attention to Dash. "Save Her, And Abandon Them. Or Save Them, And Lose Her. Choose." 

Dash's eyes were wide and stricken, her mouth open as if caught needing to say something, but lacking the words to express whatever it was that was driving her to cry out. Star Fall could understand Dash's dilemma, but to her there was no contest. The world needed its heroes, now more than ever. "Go!" she cried, her words a command as much as they were a plea. Dash did not waste a moment, and with a streak of rainbow light and a gust of wind she was gone. Umbra's gaze tracked slowly back to the Professor, but Star Fall was not about to let her control this situation any more. "Attack!" she roared, and her forces answered her call.



***



Applejack tumbled end over end through the air. The cathedral, held up in an aura of black power, grew smaller and smaller with every rotation while the massive city spread out below her only came closer. She tried to make sense of the spinning world, to bring it all into some kind of stable focus, but the ground had literally been swept out from under her hooves, and she could find no purchase for her body or her thoughts. 

One thought managed to make it through the dizzy confusion, a memory of watching a friend fall, just as she was now. That friend had been saved by another, and Applejack knew that her own hope of salvation lay with the same pony. Come on, Rainbow Dash, she thought, squeezing her eyes tightly shut to keep from having to see the wildly spinning world. I believe in you. She spread her legs wide, feeling her tumbling fall stabilize somewhat. You'd never let me fall. She relaxed her tense body, taking a deep breath as she felt the cold wind whipping past her. "So hurry up and catch me already!"

There was a crack like thunder through the air, accompanied by a momentary pressure that pushed the breath from her lungs. Then she felt warm forelegs wrap around her torso and her fall was arrested. "Heh, sorry AJ," Dash said in her ear. "Had to slow down to catch you."

Applejack smiled at that boastful apology, opening her eyes to look up at her grinning saviour. "No worries, sugarcube. And thanks for savin' me." 

"It's what I do," Dash replied. Then she looked beyond Applejack and her features hardened. "This is bad."

She looked down at the city street they were gliding over. There was fighting everywhere. Pockets of soldiers struggled against grey ponies who bled ashes when injured and didn't stay hurt long. Applejack looked into the sky and found the cathedral, which floated unnaturally in the afternoon sky. More fighting was taking place around it, but from here it was clear the skies were dominated by ashen pegasi. What few Kingdom forces there were around the cathedral were desperately trying to clear the way for a few small parties of Royals to make their way down to the safety of the palace.

"Let me down," Applejack said.

"But Star needs our help!" Dash cried.

"And y'all are gonna give it to her," Applejack assured her. "But gettin' through that mess will be hard enough on your own. I'll just slow you down."

"You won't!" Dash protested, but her confidence withered as Applejack gave her a hard look. "Okay, fine. Those nightmare ponies are pretty damn tough. But we need you against Umbra, AJ. Really."

Applejack sighed. "I don't know what you expect me to do. I'm a farmer, not a soldier."

"And I'm a weatherpony," Dash said, giving Applejack a reassuring squeeze. "And we've both saved the world a couple times."

Applejack nodded at that, it was true after all. "I know we gotta do somethin', but I just ain't sure what to do about Nightmare Umbra. What you told me about her... I don't know how bein' strong and tough will help." Dash was silent at that, and Applejack supposed she was thinking about how little being fast meant as well. "Look, sugarcube, I'm better with my hooves on the ground anyway. Let me see if I can help against the bad guys down here while you get back to Star Fall. If you can coax Umbra down to my level, well, then I've got more options to work with."

Dash frowned, but gave one slow nod. "Alright, but..."

"If y'all need me, you'll know where to find me," Applejack said. "Tell you what, these, uh, these nightmare ponies don't look so tough to me. I bet I can take out more than you before you make it back to Star Fall."

"You want to challenge me? Now? Like this?" 

"Well, if y'all don't mind givin' up the Iron Pony crown..."

Dash's incredulousness morphed into a cocky grin, a new light gleaming in her eyes. "I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were getting into!" she said, and laughed. "You're on! Kick some ass, AJ!" And with that she let Applejack go. 

"You too, sugarcube," Applejack replied, not watching her friend depart in a rainbow streak. She fell again, but this time the distance was barely two stories up, and she wasn't spinning like a flipped coin. She hit the ground in a roll, coming up to her hooves and skidding to a stop facing a group of ashen ponies.

They were menacing a trio of soldiers who were backed up against the caged front of a store. Televisions in windows behind them showed silent news reports of the battle that raged throughout the city, scenes of panic and violence. Terrified salesponies and civilians sheltering within cowered behind displays and counters, watching the fate of those protecting them. The soldiers looked to Applejack with some confusion, but the ghouls were expressionless with their empty, black eye sockets and sharp-toothed snarls as they turned to the newcomer. 

"Get away from them!" Applejack called out. "Or I ain't gonna go easy on you." The ash ponies seemed to hesitate for a bare moment before all of them lunged at her as a group. "Thank you kindly," Applejack said, putting her head down and running into the attacking monsters.

A hoof hit her shoulder hard, but it might as well have been a gentle poke for all she felt it. She spun and lashed out with a well-placed kick. Her hoof sank into the creature's ashen body like she was kicking sand, but she did feel it connect with something solid before the ash pony was thrown back. 

"Run!" one of the soldiers called out. "They can't be hurt!" 

Applejack weathered another pair of blows before reaching out and hooking a foreleg around the neck of an attacker. She swung herself onto the ash pony's back, riding it with expert ease as it began to buck and thrash to throw her off. She squeezed with her strangling foreleg. The ash pony didn't need to breathe, but she wasn't trying to choke it. Her leg sunk into the ash until it was almost completely through, then she felt it come up against something that did not yield as easily. With a yell she dragged up and back, twisting hard on the pony's head until it came completely off. 

The ash pony practically disintegrated, becoming a whirling cloud of choking ashes. Applejack galloped away, still clutching the dismembered head of the creature. She looked behind her to see the cloud flowing after her, followed closely by the remaining ash ponies. "Well, they don't like that," she mused, coming to a stop and setting the head down on the street. It snapped at her, but she pulled her hoof up and out of the way of its flashing teeth. "I wonder how much they're gonna like this!"

She brought her hoof down on the head, smashing down hard enough that she cracked the pavement beneath. The skull of the creature shattered from the blow, exploding in a burst of black power that blew Applejack's mane about. The billowing cloud that was the creature's body immediately lost its unnatural animation, drifting to the ground as normal ashes. The other ash ponies paused for a moment, regarding Applejack with their empty eyes. 

"Well, I guess this means y'all aren't as invulnerable as your mistress, don't it?" She stretched out her legs, working each of them in turn until they gave a satisfying pop and she felt the rush of ready strength fill them. "Suits me. Who's first?"

They charged her, and Applejack met them with a confident smile and a whoop of excitement. She dodged the first one to attack her, stepping past it so that she was facing the next one squarely. When the one in front of her swiped at her face, Applejack ducked low, putting all her weight on her forehooves, and kicked out behind her. Her aim was true, striking the first ash pony's skull hard enough to reduce it to powder. She didn't pause as the explosion of magic rolled over her, instead doing a half-somersault forward and kicking her other leg up into the jaw of the ash pony that had struck at her, shearing that one's face completely off.

One of them got a kick into her flank, and she rolled with the blow, coming to her hooves with two of them on either side of her, dangerously close. They snapped at her with their sharp teeth, one of them managing to score a shallow gash on her neck before she pulled back. She reared up on her hind legs and grabbed both ash ponies, smashing their heads together with strength only an earth pony could wield. Shards of bone pelted her just before the twin explosions of magic cleared them away. 

Applejack spun to face her final opponent, who struck out recklessly, uncaring of the fate of its allies. She let the hit land, grabbing the ash pony’s foreleg in her own and pulling it close so that she could land a vicious uppercut that tore the head from the creature's body, sending it spinning up into the air. Applejack let go of the body as it disintegrated, tracking the movement of the falling skull. She stomped on the ground, cracking the pavement into rubble beneath her. She pulled up a hoof-sized chunk of the street and frowned as she continued to watch the arc of the ash pony's head. Then, in a well-practiced motion she tossed the rock so that it hung in the air, spun and kicked the hunk of pavement. The rock sailed across the street, partially breaking up from the force of her kick, but enough of it stayed together that when it intersected with the skull, the ghoul’s head exploded like an overripe melon. 

Applejack nodded in satisfaction at the final blast of released magic, then turned to the soldiers. "How are y'all doin'? Anyone hurt?"

There were three of them, all earth ponies, two stallions and a mare. All of them wore the uniforms of Kingdom soldiers, and they all were staring at her with open mouths and wide eyes. "That was... incredible!" the taller of the stallions managed to say.

"You... you're her!" the mare said, the awe in her face turning to something more like reverence. "The hero from the past... it's true!"

"Well, that's, uh, about right," Applejack said, suddenly uncomfortable with the way the mare was looking at her. "But not important right now. If none of y'all's hurt, then there's a whole lot more of these nightmare ponies to deal with, and I can't take them all on by myself." She scanned their faces, and found that the awe and reverence was joined by hope and courage. "If we're gonna beat these things, I'm gonna need you workin' with me. Are y'all willin' to give me a helpin' hoof?"

"I'm with you," the reverent mare said, and her words were echoed by the other two immediately.

"Alright. Good." Applejack looked up the street and spotted another group of ash ponies who were heading their way. "They got skeletons under that ash. I figure it's the only part of them that's real. The way to get rid of them is by breakin' their skulls. Think you can do that?"

The soldiers looked to each other. "Close quarters combat?" the tall one asked.

"Guns were fucking useless," the shorter stallion said. "But I don't like the idea of letting them get their hooves on me."

"A little teamwork goes a long way," Applejack reminded them.

"The hero is right," the mare said. "Working together, we can take them out. One at a time, at least."

"Then I'll make sure y'all don't get too many at once," Applejack said. "And, by the way, my name's Applejack."

"Private Roseleaf," the mare said.

"Lewis," the tall, dark-maned stallion said.

"I'm Corporal Swing," the shorter stallion said. "It's a pleasure to work with you, ma'am."

"Just Applejack," she said, watching as the approaching ash ponies broke into a gallop. "And I'm happy to meet y'all, too. Now what's say we teach these varmints a lesson about not attackin' innocent ponies?" The soldiers cheered. Knowing they had her back, Applejack rushed out to meet the enemy.



***



A dozen Griffins leapt from their positions, attacking the Nightmare with claws and weapons that could not hope to hurt her for long. They didn't need to. They were not foolish in their tactics, coordinating their attack with the brutal efficiency that was the hallmark of Griffin combat. Umbra let the first few blows land without so much as a flinch, but the warriors did not stay long, striking and withdrawing just as another of their number was attacking from another angle. Their large bodies soared through the cathedral with such power and grace that Star Fall could almost believe they had practiced for just such an eventuality.

She couldn’t afford to watch, though. As strong as the Griffins were, they were only a delaying tactic, and she needed to be ready when that tactic inevitably failed. "Get the Royals out!" she snapped at the remaining Griffins. They were already on it, ushering their charges towards the hole Umbra had created by destroying Celestia's statue.

"That means you, too, Fall," Astrid said, her eyes locked on the fight between Umbra and the Griffins. The Shadowed Alicorn stood in place and took whatever hits they scored, only replying with a few devastating blows that inevitably took a combatant out of the fight. Bones shattered under her hooves and Griffins burned at the touch of her horn. The elite warriors were not the only ones fighting, though. There were others stepping up, nobles and house guards charging in to fill the widening gaps in the Griffins’ offense. Star Fall was heartened to see the courage of her fellow ponies, but she knew that their morale could not hold out against the Destroyer, no matter how defiant they were now.

The first of the Royals left the cathedral. Their Griffin escorts were immediately set upon by ashen pegasi, but it looked like they would at least make it away from Umbra's immediate influence. Star Fall didn’t watch after the first group was away, too busy doing some quick calculations in her head. She had known it from the outset, but she still cursed when she came to the definite answer that even if every Griffin was carrying two passengers at once, there was no way they could ferry all the flightless ponies to the ground and fight off the airborne attackers before Umbra simply killed them all. 

Her stomach flip-flopped with sick fear as she realized that the most logical thing to do was abandon the Nobles. To fly away and fight another day. No matter what happened, Umbra could always just drop the cathedral. Even if by some miracle she lost the fight, she would still win. Thousands would die, and there was nothing Star Fall could do to stop her. Not even Rarity's amazing power would be enough. They were doomed.

But she wasn’t going leave them. No matter that some of these nobles wouldn’t hesitate to abandon her if their positions were reversed. She thought of Rainbow Dash, standing under the crushing weight of Umbra’s will, giving her the strength to do the same. Would Rainbow Dash leave these ponies to die? The answer was clear, and thus so was Star Fall’s decision.

"No," she said. "We can’t leave. We're the only ones that have fought her and won, Astrid, we’re going to stay until we can't be here any longer. Until everyone here is safe." 

She looked at Regal and the King, still inexplicably at her side instead of being the first to be rescued. She could see in the King's stern stance and ready wings that he was not going to abandon this fight either. Regal, too, had the look of someone who would stubbornly refuse to leave, no matter how smart or important it was that he survive. As she looked at them, a thought occurred to her, one that gave her a glimmer of hope. 

"Spell sheets!" she called out. "I requested there be a few available."

"None in the cathedral, Princess," the high priest said, dropping his head. "I'm sorry, I thought they would be used to show off your... your magic. I forbade them."

"What?!" Star Fall growled.

"Professor Twinkle Shine allowed it! I thought..."

"No, not important," Star Fall tore her mind away from her anger. If this worked there would be time enough for that later. "I need something to draw with!"

"Ink?" Regal asked.

"No, something magically conductive," Star Fall replied, shaking her head and wincing as she realized her only likely option. "Like blood."

"Star Fall, no," Twinkle Shine said. "Save yourself. You are too important to this nation, to this world. I will deal with the Destroyer."

"Professor..." Star Fall began to protest, but the words died in her throat as she saw her mentor draw out a length of crystal chain. Each link was as black as obsidian, but had a strange, liquid texture to it that seemed to flow in dark currents as the light hit it. The Chains of Tartarus. 

Umbra's attention was immediately drawn to the golden unicorn. Her wings swept out at her sides, creating a gust of wind powerful enough to send all her assailants tumbling end over end across the length of cathedral to crash against the walls or the mass of clustered ponies. "You know these, don't you?" the Professor said, hefting the chain before her, clasping it in her magic and twisting the links into the shape of a circle before her, a circle that began to distort the air within it, bending light like a lens.

"You Do Not Understand What You Seek To Use Against Me," Umbra said, Ashfire licking down her legs and spreading into a circle of death around her.

"I understand that you fear it," the Professor said, narrowing her eyes as her horn began to pulse brightly with golden light. "I understand that you are threatening the ponies I love. I understand that you hold innocents hostage to feed your pride and arrogance. I understand that you presume yourself untouchable! I do not care what I have to do to bring you low! Return to whatever hole you crawled out of, Nightmare! You will find no victory here!"

"Your Chain Is Incomplete," the Destroyer said. "The Fragment You Hold Cannot Contain My Power."

"And your power hasn't fully returned," the Professor said, a wild, hopeful look in her eyes. "Otherwise you would have destroyed me by now. I'm willing to test my fragment against your power. How willing are you to do the same?"

Umbra's eyes went wide with rage and her horn burned with dark fire. "Fool!" she roared, sending forth a blast of power that screamed through the air towards the Professor. Star Fall felt a cry rising in her throat, but Twinkle Shine moved the circled Chain and caught the Destroyer's power with it. The Alicorn's energy splashed against the distorted air and swirled into a vortex that drained into the links of the dark chain. 

"Was that really the best you can do?" the Professor asked, her grin mocking the Nightmare as she stepped to the side of the altar the Royals had recently evacuated, away from both the nobles and Star Fall.

"Insolent Foal!" Umbra screamed. "I Am Immortal! I Am Inevitability Itself! You Can No More Defeat Me Than You Can Stop The Hands Of Time From Turning!"

"Maybe not," the Professor said, and her smile dropped away, to be replaced with a cold, grim anger that Star Fall had never seen on her mentor before. "But your crimes against this world are great, and unforgivable. It's about time someone punished you for them." She brandished the Chain of Tartarus and spoke in a voice that reverberated through the air with power, the Old Equestrian words flowing with the cadence of a chant: "I rebuke you, spirit of darkness! I repel you, scion of evil!" The distortion within the circled Chain stretched, twisting into a lashing whip of strange power that reached out to Umbra, attempting to wrap around her neck. The Nightmare reared, avoiding the noose and batting it away, sending a burst of solid magic back at the Professor, who deflected it again with the power of the Chain. "With these words I deny you! With these Chains I bind you!”

"Incredible!" the King said, watching the battle with awestruck wonder.

Star Fall had to admit that it was an incredible sight, and under better circumstances she would have loved to sit and watch the titanic forces vying against each other. As much as she wanted to sit back and cheer for her mentor, though, she had more pressing concerns at the moment. "Astrid, I need blood, and it can't be mine."

"Do you really think that's necessary, Fall? I mean, the Professor's kicking ass!"

"It doesn't matter if she wins or not!" Star Fall hissed. "It might even be worse if she does. Think about it! All that's holding us up right now is Umbra's will. If that breaks or she decides it's better used elsewhere..." she didn't have to complete the thought, she could see that Astrid understood. 

"You can stop that?" Astrid asked. Star Fall knew she wasn’t asking for reassurance, she was looking for an honest estimation of their chances.

"I don't know," Star Fall admitted. "It's... it's a long shot, but it's the only thing I can think of."

"Use mine," Regal said. "I... I don't know how to help here. I'm not strong enough to carry anyone to the ground, and I was never taught any combat spells. If I can be useful by giving blood, I will. Gladly."

"No," Star Fall said, and she could see his face fall at her denial of his sacrifice. "I need you for this, and you have to be as strong as you can be."

"Then use mine," the King said.

Star Fall hesitated. "Your Majesty..." she began, but was interrupted as he reached up and slashed his fetlock open on the sharp tip of his horn. 

He held his injured leg out to her, turning his attention back to the magical battle. "Well?" he prompted. "Get to it!"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Star Fall said, wasting no more time. She dipped her hoof into the dripping blood and began to draw a large circle. "Astrid," she said as she worked. "I need you to keep everyone else organized. Keep them away from me and what I'm doing, okay? Any messups on this spell and... and..."

"I get it, Fall," Astrid said. "What if the immortal bitch decides to interfere?"

Star Fall paused for a moment as she considered that possibility. "Then there's nothing we can do about it. Let's just hope the Professor can keep her full attention."

"Pretty thin hope, Fall," Astrid said, dropping into a ready stance. 

Star Fall absorbed herself in the creation of her spell. She could hear the sounds of battle in the background, but she refused to look up, no matter how much the shrieks and gasps of the crowd made her want to. She had to walk the frustrating line between making sure the spell was done right, and making sure the spell was done quickly, and she could only hope that she wasn’t making a mistake in her design. Mistakes here would not only kill her, but everyone else in the cathedral. 

Focused as she was, she still noticed when Roan came up to them. "Your Majesty," he said, saluting. "I have news."

"My wife? My children?" the King asked.

"Within the palace," Roan said. "Only the three of you remain." The King nodded at that, his wings relaxing a bit in relief. "The fighting is fierce, though. Umbra's forces aren't living creatures, they do not die without great force, and they show no signs of tiring. Lady Dash is fighting to get back here, but they’re paying her special attention, dedicating a battalion to keep her back. So far we have managed to open a passage to the palace, but it will not last. There is a limited window to get you out of here." 

The King looked down at the designs Star Fall was scrawling with his blood and worked his leg to keep it flowing. "The Princess has a plan," he said, raising his voice so that it carried to the nobles pressed against the walls not far away. "I have placed the future of my kingdom in her hooves. It seems only appropriate that I do the same with my life."

Roan looked like he was about to argue, but then looked at Star Fall, his sharp, predator's eyes piercing her like they could see beneath her skin and into her very heart. She did not ignore his stare, but did not stop her work either. Something seemed to connect with the big Griffin and he looked away from her towards Astrid, who gazed back with a confident, almost smug air. "As you say, your Majesty," Roan said, saluting first the King, then Star Fall. "The Griffins await your command."



***



The Student Is Attempting Something, Umbra’s thoughts rumbled in Twinkle Shine’s head. She spared a glance for Star Fall, keeping it short so that she could continue to focus on the spectacular battle she was having with the Nightmare.

“That’s a levitation matrix,” she whispered, careful to keep her lips from moving too much and revealing that she was speaking.

She Believes She Can Overcome My Power? Umbra’s thought was tinged with disbelief.

“Alone, no,” the Professor said, lashing at Umbra with the Chains again, a split-second too slow to catch her. “I suppose, if she got every unicorn in the cathedral to add their power to the spell, it might be enough. Clever of her.”

Then She Cannot Be Allowed To Continue.

“Don’t hurt her!” Twinkle Shine hissed. The desperation she sent to Umbra with those words made the Nightmare flinch for a moment, and the entire cathedral shuddered in response.

I Will Merely Remove Her From The Stage, Umbra’s mental voice growled, and Twinkle Shine knew she had acquiesced and would not hurt her student. She relaxed a bit at that. Umbra’s power did not often lend itself to subtlety, but Star Fall’s amulet should protect her from mere rough handling.

“Astrid will try to protect her.”

I Will Direct My Power Appropriately. Then with their unspoken agreement, they shifted their act to give Umbra an opening to keep Star Fall from ruining everything. 



***



A flash of harsh power sent ripples through the stone of the cathedral, and a thousand voices cried out as the building dropped a few feet. "Fall," Astrid said, a note of suppressed panic tainting the otherwise stoic calm of her voice. "Please tell me you're almost done."

"Just about!" Star Fall said, digging her hoof into the King's open wound once more. He winced at the pain, but did not cry out. Star Fall was so engrossed with finishing her spell that she didn't even notice that the Nightmare's focus had shifted away from her duel with the Professor until it was too late.

"Your Efforts Are Wasted," Umbra snarled, and sent a lash of ashen magic at her. The power tore a furrow in the marble tiles of the cathedral floor, sending chips of stone spraying like the wake from a fast boat. Star Fall had only a moment to register what was happening, and even pegasus reflexes were not fast enough to let her dodge the attack. 

Griffin reflexes, honed by a lifetime of bodyguard training, were, however, enough to save her. Both Astrid and Roan were in front of her in a blur of dark bodies and dyed feathers. The magic hit Roan first, off-center, throwing him back and to the side. The force of the hit was such that when he clipped a pillar half his body simply crumpled into a boneless ruin. Astrid was similarly thrown, but the spell struck her more directly, and she was tossed back and through the gaping hole behind the altar rather than into something solid.

Star Fall felt the magic as a push that lifted her off her hooves, but the force of the spell had been spent on the two Griffins, so she dropped back only a few feet from where she had been standing. She knew that if Roan hadn't interposed himself she would have been flung out of the cathedral like Astrid had been. She refused to look at where the big Griffin had fallen. There was no time for shock or sadness. She had to finish her spell. She jumped forward and swiped her hoof along the floor, completing one of the last sigils.

"Star Fall, no!" she heard the Professor scream. She looked up to see that Umbra had the magical distortion of the Chain of Tartarus wrapped around two of her legs, a disadvantage she was at because she had chosen instead to eliminate Star Fall. A wave of Ashfire flowed along the channel cut by Umbra's previous spell. The deadly magic streaked towards her and left her with very few choices. If she dodged, it would consume her nearly finished spell, ruining her work. If she stayed, she might protect the spell, but it could instead consume her as it had the poor acolyte earlier. 

Yet, she had survived it once before. Without knowing it, without any conscious effort on her part, she had shrugged off Umbra's most feared power. Max Cash had told her that there were ways a Magic Talent could defeat Ashfire, but he hadn't told her what those were or how he had learned of them. All she knew was that it was possible, and her Talent was the thing that made it so. 

She closed her eyes and touched the amulet that nestled at her throat. She would trust in her Talent. She would trust that she could survive the Ashfire again. 

She braced herself for the fire, but it never touched her. Instead, a cold silence descended on the cathedral. Star Fall opened her eyes to find that, once again, someone had stepped in to shield her from doom. This time, however, it was not a Griffin pledged to protect her with their life.

The King shuddered as the tongues of black flame began to consume him. He was facing her, his wings outstretched, and so she could clearly see the agony in his eyes as his hindquarters disintegrated under the onslaught. Time seemed to slow as she looked into those eyes. The battle between Umbra and Twinkle Shine had paused, the Professor gaping at her dying King with an unfathomable expression, like loss and shock and deep panic all at once. The distorted magic of the Chains faded, freeing Umbra, but even the Nightmare was focused on the scene. 

"Why?" Star Fall asked. "I could have..."

"You are... more... important," he wheezed out, his voice cracking in his agony. He reached out for her, but his rear legs were barely more than charred bone, and he collapsed. She knelt down in front of him, afraid to touch him as the fire made its unstoppable advance through his flesh. His eyes kindled with an internal light, and Star Fall saw the universe of stars and light that was the Deep Power within them. "The Goddesses," he whispered, and she got as close as she dared to hear his last words. "My vision... I saw... You must... live." Ashfire covered him completely, now, only the light of the Deep Power showing through the darkness. "Twilight... Sparkle... will be… reborn… through… you..."

Then the light went out, and all that was left of the King of the mighty Solar Kingdom became a stream of ashes which flew back to the Shadowed Alicorn, joining with the Nightmare. Star Fall touched her forehead to the bloody floor where her sovereign had died. "I will. I promise. I will bring her back."



***



This Is Unacceptable! Umbra screamed in her thoughts. 

She couldn’t reply. Could barely think. She was too focused on the King, dying in front of her eyes. With him went all her hopes. Centuries of planning and waiting. Of manipulating governments and creating history from the shadows. 

“No,” she said, the denial weak, her spirit close to breaking.

I Will Not Abandon The Plan So Easily! Umbra roared. His Son Will Do Just As Well As He. Continue. Twinkle Shine didn’t react. Continue! The Nightmare threw a blast of power at her, then reached into her mind and forced her limbs into motion, barely deflecting the deadly attack. 

“Star Fall,” the Professor whispered, tears filling her eyes as she took control of her body back and tried vainly to recapture the rhythm of her false battle with Umbra. “I’m so sorry.”



***



"No." The voice was the Professor's, but the emotion filling that soft-spoken word was one Star Fall had never thought to hear from her mentor. She sounded defeated, broken. Umbra took that moment to lash out, a burst of power that the Professor only barely deflected, stumbling back and nearly falling, as if her legs had lost all coordination. She focused on the Nightmare again, but it was clear now that she was going to lose.

Still, the renewal of the fight broke a kind of paralysis that had been holding the onlookers. A cry of anger rose from the gathered nobles, joined by a shrieking, berserker war cry from the Griffins. Spells flashed into Umbra's sides, nudges of telekinesis or tiny flung objects. Some precious little actual combat magic was thrown in as well. Griffins took to the air, circling the Nightmare and flashing down once again in coordinated strikes, talons raking her and coming away with wriggling worms of vile blood wetting them. A warrior went down next to the Nightmare, his limbs twisting into horrifying angles as the invading blood ruined him from the inside. He still snapped at Umbra with his hooked beak, attacking with his last breath as she stomped on his head and ended his struggles.

Star Fall pushed herself up. She took a deep breath, then with the last of the blood the King had gifted her, she finished her spell. She ignored the fighting, blocking out the angry cries that were increasingly becoming desperate. She refused to look as another Griffin was killed, and then a brave, stupid noble who tried to attack the Nightmare physically. 

She turned to Regal, who was staring at the place his father died. Tears dripped down his cheeks, falling from him in little crystal droplets. She didn't have time to allow him grief. "Regal!" she snapped. He jerked, blinking several times in quick succession as he looked at her. "I need you to send me into the Deep Power."

"What?" He shook his head, trying to clear it. "I don't understand. My father–"

"Is dead," she said, and his ears fell flat at the cold bluntness of her words. "I need your help now."

"I..." He shuddered. "I can't."

"Yes, you can," Star Fall said, letting her voice soften. She reached out for him, and when he flinched away she lunged in and caught him in an embrace. She buried her face in his neck, wrapping her wings around him. "I'm sorry, Regal," she said. "I'm so sorry, but he died to make sure this happened. You need to do what you did before, and you need to do it now."

"I don't know if I can," he whispered to her, agony and indecision wrenching the words from him. “I’m not… not like him, or you. I can’t just…” He trailed off, shaking. “I’m not supposed to be king yet.”

"I believe in you," she said, tightening her hug. "He believed in you." She looked to the priest who still stood nearby, gaping at the ongoing battle. "What's left?" He blinked at her in incomprehension. "To the ceremony. How much is left?"

"It's... the Prince must say his vow, and then I seal it," the priest said.

"I’m not marrying you because your father wanted me to,” Star Fall said to Regal. “I had a choice. Part of that choice was made because I saw something in you, something that told me you could become a great king. I believe in what I saw, and I know your father did too. I believe in you. Say the words, Regal. Mean them."

He took a shuddering breath, and then began. His voice was weak at first, but gained strength as he spoke the vow that would bind them together in one purpose. “I swear... before the gath... the gathered court and before the light of Celestia’s day. I swear that I shall be worthy of your comfort, that I will fulfill your hopes and heed your counsel. As the sun rules the sky, so shall I rule this land, banishing the darkness and bringing warmth and life to my Kingdom. I shall set my path by your constant beacon so that my sight will ever be clear, and my power measured with wisdom. From now until the Goddesses return to Equestria, if you will be mine, then I will be yours.”

Star Fall looked expectantly to the priest, who cleared his throat and did his best to keep his voice from shaking as he spoke, his eyes locked on the losing fight not a hundred feet away. "Then by Celestia's light, you are wed. You may... you may kiss..."

Star Fall pulled back and held Regal's face with her wings. "This will not be for nothing," she promised him.

Pain still ruled him, but he struggled to speak again, trying to force out one last thing that he had wanted to say before the world went wrong. "I... I lo–" She cut him off by pressing her lips to his. His eyes flared bright with the Deep Power, and Star Fall felt her sense of self melting away, lost to the swirl of light and darkness that drowned her even as it filled her with new life.



***



“This is bullshit!” Dash snarled, hoping she was using the profanity correctly. She hovered high above the city, staring at the legion of ash pegasi that barred her way back to the floating cathedral. There were easily over a hundred of them, and –lucky her– they were all dedicated to stopping her progress.

She juked to the left and ten of the creatures rushed off in that direction. Dash reversed herself immediately, her wings pumping hard and fast as she shot to the right. More of them moved to intercept her there and she changed course again, going up this time. When a bunch of them ascended to match her, she instead shot down towards the center of their formation. They were fast, though, and clever enough that the holes left in their blockade weren’t big enough for even a pony as fast as Dash to break through.

Still, she tried. She pushed herself to supersonic, then came to a sudden halt, then started forward again, chasing her own shockwave. The sonic boom hit the ash pegasi in front of her, breaking parts of their bodies into puffs of grey. She grit her teeth and blasted through, only to be tackled out of her charge by one of the ghouls. It bit at her, but she twisted and scrambled away from it, only losing a few feathers and a hundred feet of altitude. But the damage was done and her attempt had failed.

She soared away from them, looking over her shoulder to see if they followed, but while they tracked her movements they did not pursue. Which was the most frustrating thing about them. She was faster than they were, stronger and more agile, but there were too many of them. She could evade a dozen of them at once, but the thirteenth would manage the interception. She could dazzle groups of them with bursts of light and thunder, but there were always enough of them unaffected that they could block her. Yet they weren't interested in taking her out, and every time she tried to thin their numbers by baiting a few off so she could lose them in the streets or take them out, they refused. 

Which wasn’t to say she didn’t have to deal with being attacked. No, this group of nightmare ponies were only interested in blocking her, but every other group saw her as fair game. 

One such group was winging towards her now. She could evade them easily enough, but every time she did that she ended up farther away from the cathedral. So instead she turned to face the newcomers and rocketed in their direction. 

They set themselves to fight her, but she wasn’t going to give them the chance. She put on a burst of acceleration, a ribbon of rainbow light trailing her charge as she broke the sound barrier again. She hit one of the nightmare ponies head on, unafraid of the crash. She’d found out quickly that while the ashen pegasi had skeletons inside them, their bodies were essentially dust. This one exploded as she passed through it, bits of rib and leg flinging through the air. The nightmare pony wasn’t destroyed, but the shockwave of Dash’s supersonic flight scattered the rest of the ash and made it take longer to reform itself.

The three remaining ghouls barely reacted to the explosion. Instead they turned to follow Dash, moving with a uniform, deadly efficiency. She dove towards the streets, and they followed close on her tail.

She could’ve poured on the speed and left them far behind, but she was frustrated and angry, and they presented the perfect targets to vent some of that anger on. So she kept her speed down, just enough to stay ahead of them as she evened out to skim the rooftops of the Solar Capital. She zig-zagged across the streets, keeping her general direction towards the palace. The nightmare ponies followed, showing a level of agility that would have been respectable even for a pony of her own time.

Respectable was not, however, anywhere near her level. Dash braked hard, performing a backwards somersault in midair that landed her on the back of one of her pursuers. She kicked off immediately, letting physics do its thing and sending the ghoul crashing into a roof, the skidding impact shredding it to cloud-form. The maneuver also put Dash behind the other two attackers. 

They tried to turn on her, but she was far too fast for that. She hit one hard, tearing through its yielding body and ripping one of its wings clean off. It spiralled down, crashing into a building wall before vanishing into an alleyway. Dash turned her attention to the last one. It circled towards her, and she let it come. Alone they weren’t any match for her, not that it seemed to stop them from trying. She barely considered how she would take this one out, already thinking ahead to her next attempt to reach the cathedral.

It turned out that she didn’t even need to fight, as a shrieking Griffin fell out of the sky and hit the ash pony with a slashing fury. It didn’t last long, discorporating into ash that drifted down towards the street as it slowly reformed. 

“Astrid!” Dash called to the new arrival, circling above. 

“Sorry for the kill-steal, Dash,” Astrid said, flapping up to her. “You rescue AJ?”

“Yeah, she’s on the ground doing her thing,” Dash replied. “What’s going on? Did Star get out of there?”

Astrid shook her head. “She’s doing some crazy magic thing to save everyone in the cathedral. I got tossed out by big, gray and scary. Now I can’t get back in.”

“Yeah, they’re screening,” Dash said, looking up at the ghouls who were waiting to intercept them. “And there’s too many! I can’t get past them!”

“Fuck!” Astrid snapped. “Well, I’m not going to be much help. I can barely take two of these things on at once, and they don’t exactly stay dead when I kill them.”

Dash repeated Astrid’s profanity, filling the word with all her frustrations. “We can’t stop trying,” she said. “We gotta help Star.”

“Yeah,” Astrid scanned the skies, golden raptor eyes darting between pockets of fighting. “I think we can get some help, but it’ll take some quid pro quo.”

“What?”

Astrid pointed. “If we take out the baddies going after our guys, then we can get those guys to help us break through to Fall.” Dash nodded as she thought about it. “It’s a numbers game, right? There’s too many of them for you or me to take on ourselves, so we get an actual force together. Enough of us to counter enough of them for you to make it through.”

“Yeah!” Dash crowed, flying a quick barrel roll around Astrid. “That’s a great idea! It’s gotta work!”

“It damn well better,” Astrid said, glancing up at the floating cathedral. “Hang on, Fall. We’re on our way.”



***



Applejack was a juggernaut. She crashed through groups of ghouls like a cannonball, crushing heads with every opportunity and knocking ash ponies aside like toys. She bled from dozens of shallow wounds that stained her orange coat a dark red, and her clothing had long ago been torn to shreds that she had stripped off. Still, the wounds did nothing to slow her down, and each new wound she received only made her focus for one deadly instant on the one who had hurt her. In her wake followed a sizeable force of soldiers, falling upon the scattered ghouls and working in groups to dispatch them. 

Together they were a wave of hope that flowed through the streets, making their way towards the great open center of the city where the fighting was heaviest and the cathedral still floated far above. Group after group of ash ponies were destroyed by them, and with each team of soldiers they rescued their numbers and spirits grew. Applejack spotted their destination ahead of them, and let out a great cry. "There it is, folks! Let's get runnin'! Yee-haw!"

The soldiers repeated her cry, the sound a roar that buoyed Applejack along as she set herself into a steady, ground-eating canter. For all her outward confidence, she was worried. A look up to the sky showed her that Rainbow Dash was still fighting to get into the cathedral, rainbow trails criss-crossing as she fought a legion of nightmare pegasi to even get close. She didn't doubt that her friend would succeed, but every minute it took her was another minute that everyone in the cathedral was trapped with Nightmare Umbra. 

A herd of ghouls blocked her path to the Court of the Sun, their eyeless faces tracking her charge with eerie synchronicity. There were hundreds of them, possibly thousands. Too many for her to fight head-on, even with the backup she had gained. Fortunately, a head-on fight wasn't her plan. She had found that the ash ponies always focused on her in preference to any other target, and that suited her just fine. It certainly made things easier for the ponies who were following her into combat. 

She hit the front lines of the ash ponies with her head down. She didn't even bother to target any of them, just barrelled through with the weight of the world set into her bones. Even clipping a ghoul sent it hurtling through the air to crash into buildings or its fellows and scattering the lot of them. Applejack didn't bother to see what happened to them after, her sights set on her goal: the line of overturned military transports and sandbags that had been holding the ash ponies away from the palace since the fighting began. 

A cry went up from those behind the makeshift barrier, a cry answered by Applejack's own forces. She slowed her charge as she came up to the barricade and turned her attention to clearing out a place for the soldiers following her to come through. Roseleaf was the first to come to her side, the earth pony soldier gripping a steel-cored baton in her teeth and swatting away any ghoul that got too close. The remains of her squad weren't far behind, and Corporal Swing began shouting up at the barricade as soon as he was close enough to be heard.

"We need an entrance!" 

"If we open a hole, they'll get through!" came the near-panicked reply.

"We'll hold them off!" Swing replied.

"They'll overwhelm you!"

"No they won't!" Swing looked over at Applejack, who gave him a quick glance before going back to stomping ash ponies to powder. "We've got a hero on our side!"

The ponies behind the barricade went silent, and Applejack decided that now would be a good time to show off. It might make the difference between being let into shelter and being caught up against a wall with a thousand nightmare ponies surrounding them. They could scramble over the barricade if necessary, but doing that would leave both them and the defending ponies open to attack from the ghouls. She slammed her forehooves into the ground, breaking through the pavement to touch the soil beneath. She drew in a deep breath, calling to the earth. It responded with a slow, eager warmth that travelled up her legs and filled her with a calm sense of purpose. A ghoul attacked her while she was gathering her focus, but when it bit her it found that her flesh had become as solid as granite. Teeth shattered, but the creature did not feel pain and lashed out with its hooves, to no avail. 

"Get ready!" she called out, then charged into the horde. She didn't want to go too far, but she didn't want to be too close either, so she picked a spot fifty paces from the barricade, where the ghouls were gathered close, and went for it. They struck out at her as she ran, clipping her with hooves and sharp teeth. At first she barely felt the blows, but she was concentrating the power she had drawn up into one hoof, and so the protection it had afforded her faded with every step until she was back to her everyday toughness. Which, apparently, was still leagues better than the best body armor of the Kingdom army, a fact which tugged at a persistent, nagging worry that had festered in the back of her thoughts since Harrenhorn.

This was not the time or place to explore that worry, though, so she set it aside and focused entirely on her objective. She shoved her way through the press of ghouls, accepting the hits they landed on her without retaliating. Finally, she reached the spot she was aiming for, all the strength she had called up concentrated in her right forehoof. It felt as if she had stuck that hoof into a fire, like it was about to split apart from some great internal pressure. Which was, essentially, true. 

She leapt up, a dozen ash ponies leaping with her, kicking her with hooves and slashing with their snapping teeth. She wound up for a wild haymaker of a punch, then came down with the swing. Her hoof hit the ground with a sound like a mountain shattering, and the world bent beneath her. A ripple of shattered pavement rolled out from the point of impact, followed immediately by the earth erupting under the hooves of the nightmare ponies. 

Some were destroyed immediately, their skulls crushed by debris or overpressure. Others were simply tossed high into the air, flung dozens of feet by the explosion. Applejack rode out the blast, then kept her head down as bits of broken street and earth rained down. When that was over she stood at the center of a ten-foot wide crater, with the ground cracked and torn for twenty feet beyond that. She shook herself off, tapped her hoof on the revealed bare earth to shed some of the leftover energy, and trotted back to the stunned ponies at the barricade. 

They watched her with open awe, making her miss a step as she recognized more of them with the same look that Roseleaf had. She reminded herself that there were still more important things to take care of and gestured to the watching ponies at the barricade. "Open up! I'll keep them back for you!"

There was a squeal of metal against pavement and one of the vehicles that made up the barricade shifted to open a passage wide enough for two ponies to squeeze through at once. Immediately Applejack's forces began funneling inside. 

The nightmare ponies were not mindless beasts, as much as they acted it sometimes, and they understood an opportunity when they saw it. They rushed the retreating lines of soldiers, striking with the suicidal tenacity of creatures that were not truly alive and so could not really die. The soldiers, as brave and strong as they were, would have been overwhelmed if Applejack had not been there. She rushed from place to place, barely stopping long enough to stomp a ghoul down or buck its head to shrapnel. 

The pace was brutal, and it left little time for her to catch her breath. She knew that even her stamina would hit its limit, and soon if she didn't get the chance to sit down and take a drink of water. Still, she wasn't about to stop if it meant the ponies she was protecting would be left in danger. So she fought on, feeling her limbs grow a little heavier with every passing minute, her pace get a little slower, her breath coming a little harsher. 

Fortunately, she had enough in her to see the job done. Soon it was just her, Roseleaf and a couple other soldiers holding the area around the open path through the barricade. Sweat stung at her many wounds, and her hooves felt like lead as she lifted them to smash down another ghoul. "Go through!" she told Roseleaf, reaching out to shove the other mare toward the path. "Get them to close it up!"

"But you!" Roseleaf protested.

"I'll get myself over!" Applejack replied, trying not to pant and reveal just how tired she was getting. "Just get movin'!"

She obeyed, followed closely by the last few soldiers as Applejack took up a position right in front of the path, blocking it. She set her hooves wide and bent her knees, rallying her remaining strength to resist the coming tide. 

They hit her like a rockslide, and it was all she could do to weather it. There was no chance to lash out with killing strikes, no opportunity to aim at all. Applejack was reduced to shoving and flailing, relying on her earth pony strength to be effective. They hit her and they bit her, and she was expecting that, but they also, frustratingly, ignored her. Ash ponies climbed over their fellows, climbed over her, to get into the passage that was slowly closing behind her. She had to rear up to throw those ghouls away from the passage, and that compromised her balance. They went for her legs and it wasn't long before she went down, and they were all over her.

She curled up, protecting her face and belly as much as she could as they swarmed over her. The passage had been closed, however, and so the ponies behind it could fend off any ghoul that tried to climb over. She had done her job. 

For a moment, that felt like enough. But then she heard Roseleaf screaming her name in desperation, and she knew she had one more pony to save: herself.

She dug deep into her reserves and surged to her hooves, throwing a group of ash ponies away. There were a dozen more ready to take their place, but she didn't give them the chance. She prided herself on being one of Ponyville's best athletes, and if rodeos were anything to go by she was one of the best in Equestria. Not blue-ribbon, maybe, but close enough. One of her athletic accomplishments just happened to be the high jump, and she put those skills to work here.

She leapt straight up, easily clearing the reaching hooves of the ash ponies. She wasn't good enough to leap completely over the barricade, but that didn't matter. She slammed her forehooves into the metal roof of the vehicle, deforming the thick armor enough to get purchase. Then, with a yell of effort, she threw herself higher. She rose up past the top of the barricade, tumbling slowly as she flew over the makeshift wall and into the courtyard beyond. 

She landed on all four hooves, her knees barely flexing as they absorbed the impact. She spent a moment just taking a series of deep breaths and letting the tension out of her muscles before she reached up, adjusted her hat, and looked around at the soldiers she had saved. They were all staring at her. "Everybody here?" she asked. There was a dull nod from one of the soldiers, none of them said a word. She gave them what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Well, alright. Good work everybody. Now, if y'all don't mind, I'm gonna sit for a spell. Mind seein' if you can rustle me up a glass of water? I'm mighty parched."

She suited actions to words, dropping her rump to the ground and letting out a tired sigh. As if that had broken some kind of spell, the soldiers suddenly erupted into wild cheers. The euphoria was palpable, and while Applejack knew she would never be comfortable with the adulation in their eyes, she allowed herself a smile. She had saved lives. Directly and demonstrably. Saving the whole world with Twilight and her friends had been different: more abstract, less visceral. This? This was what being a hero really was.

She missed her home and her family so terribly it felt like the pain would rip her in half some nights. But whatever had taken her from her life and thrown her into this strange and frightening future had also allowed her to be here and save the lives of these ponies. For the first time, she was glad for it. For the first time since she had woken up buried, she felt like she was where she was supposed to be.



***



Entering the Deep Power was just like the first time Regal had sent her there, and yet again it was entirely different. It was at once both a wholly new and comfortably familiar experience that made her gasp with wonder as the darkness passed and the light filled her mind. A billion galaxies of living stars hurtled through her sight, blending into a path of radiance that was shimmering music under her hooves. She hit that path at a gallop, ignoring the impossible splendor about her to focus on rushing towards the churning duality at the center of the Deep Power.

Celestia and Luna, revealed in their ultimate glory, still danced in their eternal cycle. Star Fall felt the pressure of their presence, and with that came an understanding of her own insignificance in comparison. Even if she were to exert her full will and power on them, she would amount to less than a breath of air in a hurricane wind. Their attention would turn to Equestria when they willed it, and not before. She would find no help from them.

Fortunately, she was not looking for their help. In truth she hadn't needed the King's final words to tell her what her ultimate goal would be. Twilight Sparkle had awoken for her before, if only for a moment and in a strangely personal way. Perhaps this time she could persuade the most powerful Magic Talent who ever lived to return to her world and save it from the darkness that was threatening it.

Twilight Sparkle was as Star Fall had last seen her, suspended between the dual vortices of the Goddesses. Her wings were still wrapped around her, a representation, perhaps, of the barrier between herself and the living world. She had opened that barrier for Star Fall before, she would have to do so again.

Star Fall streaked like a comet across the infinity of light and power, reaching her destination to hang suspended before the ultimate expression of magical Talent. "Twilight Sparkle!" she called out. She hadn't thought of what to say, hadn't had time to think it through. All she knew was that without help they were all doomed, and this was the only help powerful enough to make a difference. "Equestria needs you! Please! Nightmare Umbra's going to kill everyone, and we can't fight her alone!"

There was a reaction, though not as much of one as she had been hoping for. Twilight's head rose a fraction, her eyes opening just enough to let a slice of blinding light emerge. Star Fall felt power in that sliver of a gaze. It poured forth like heat from a furnace, surrounding her and seeping into her with a rush of energy. Star Fall shivered at the infusion of magic, a mere side-effect of catching the edge of Twilight’s attention. That level of power was on a completely different level from Umbra, and the thought of bringing that strength into a world as unstable as it was struck Star Fall as more than a little frightening. Yet, for them to survive, it had to be done. So as Twilight's wings opened and the ascended pony reached for her, she willed herself to fall into the offered embrace, accepting whatever came from her decision.

"This Is Not Your Place!" The voice, so alien in this place, sent a chill through Star Fall. That chill turned to freezing pain as she felt herself yanked away from Twilight Sparkle, thrown through the universe of lights until she could stop her tumble with an act of will. She looked back towards Twilight to find Umbra barring her path. The Destroyer was ghostly in the eternal lights of the Deep Power, her entire body taking on the same monochrome translucence as her mane. Star Fall was struck with the certain knowledge that the Nightmare did not belong here, that she was even more foreign to the Deep Power than Star Fall herself. "I Will Not Allow You To Wake Them." A swirl of ashes spun around her, blackening the light of the Deep Power like soot on a light bulb. Like a corruption that spread a little more with every heartbeat.

"I won't give up," Star Fall said. She looked beyond Umbra and saw Twilight, her forelegs still outstretched and her barely-open eyes turned towards Star Fall. All she had to do was get to her, and she could still make her plan work. The only problem was that she would have to get past Umbra first, and the Nightmare had already shown that she could throw Star Fall around with ease. 

"Your Defeat Is Inevitable," the Nightmare snarled. "Your Surrender Is Merely Acceptance Of That Fact." Star Fall let her talk, focusing instead upon the Deep Power. She could feel this place, could sense the magic in it. It was different than the magic she could feel in the physical world, more primal, more real, if she had to put a word to the sensation. With the bleed-off power from Twilight, she felt like she had gained enough strength to manipulate the energies of this place. It was not enough to match the Nightmare directly, but perhaps it would be enough to distract her for the instant that Star Fall would need. She drew out her magic, and it flowed out of her and danced around her in a whirl of crimson sparkles. She almost stopped at that, amazed at how easy it was to use her Talent here. The power formed lines and sigils as soon as she thought of them, the spells becoming reality without the lengthy process they required in reality. She could have sat all day and watched her magic form the complex, beautiful patterns of spell after spell, but Umbra was watching. She focused, shutting out her wonder and her curiosity; she couldn’t afford to waste the time. She knew that she could use her magic without drawing out a design first, and that was enough. Thousands depended on her, and she would not fail them. 

She launched herself at Twilight. Her magic flared, motes of energy aligning into a spinning, seven-pointed circle of power. She bent the power to her design and sent a beam of energy slicing towards Umbra. The Nightmare, as usual, didn't even bother to avoid it. Instead of letting it hit her, though, she smacked it aside with a flare of dark power. That vile magic then immediately roared out to cut Star Fall off in her charge. The attack had been a feint, though, and Star Fall twisted in mid-flight, shooting off in a new direction. The change in direction was easy: her hooves found purchase wherever she wished them to and her wings caught at the airless air of the Deep Power like sails. She flew with more ease and power than she had ever known in Equestria, a pegasus unbound.

As fast and as free as she was, she could not avoid her enemy. Where she went, Umbra followed. The Nightmare’s movements were much more like they were in the material world than Star Fall's now-unfettered potential, but while the pegasus was by far the more maneuverable, the Nightmare still outclassed her in sheer power. As if to prove that point, she sent out a pulse of energy that shook the billion galaxies, shattering the radiant path and turning the currents of the Deep Power into a crashing roil.

Star Fall cried out as the whole universe shuddered from Umbra's rage. She twisted her magic into a new design, stabilizing the area around her and willing herself a solid place to stand as she evaluated the damage done. As soon as she had done that some subtle sense told her to dodge, and she did not question it. A moment after she moved, Umbra came screaming through the place she had stood, the Nightmare using a burst of acceleration that left a path of stars guttering like embers in her wake. 

Star Fall rolled away, coming to a stop facing the Nightmare. She flared her wings and brought forth a pair of spell sigils that shot forth hundreds of crimson threads, each finding an anchor point wherever Star Fall willed them to. She also created a third spell design beneath her hooves, one that began rotating at incredible speed. She fed power into that third spell, filling it until it outshone the radiance all around her. 

Umbra regarded the spell-strings for a moment, then dismissed them and leapt towards Star Fall again. The strings that touched her body were consumed with black fire, snapping. Star Fall watched the approach of the Nightmare, counting silently as each string was broken. When the last string broke she stomped down on the spell beneath her hooves, activating it. The broken ends of her strings shot out, passing all around Umbra without touching her and anchoring themselves to the spinning third spell. That was when the true nature of her trap was revealed. The magic she had poured into that third spell blazed along the strings, turning them from minor strands of connecting magic into deadly beams of power. Umbra stopped, finding herself surrounded by a version of the same combat spell Star Fall had injured her with in their first encounter. Stopping wasn’t enough, though, the spinning of the third spell also caused the energized strings to twist together, collapsing into a single rope of magic straight through the Nightmare.

Umbra was carved into dozens of spectral pieces. Pieces that simply flowed back together as Star Fall's spell spent itself and dissipated. "Pointless," Umbra said as she continued her approach unfazed.

"Oh, hell," Star Fall cursed under her breath. She looked to Twilight, still watching her but not moving to help. She looked back to Umbra. Cleverness and spell-work weren't going to save her here. Umbra was too powerful, too invincible. If she was going to get to Twilight, she would have to stop thinking like herself. "What would Rainbow Dash do?" she asked herself. Then, just like that, a possibility became clear. 

"Hey! Umbra!" she called out.

The Nightmare paused, her eyes narrowing. "Your False Confidence Does Not Fool Me, Fallen Star. You Are Beaten, There Is No Hope To Overcome Me, And You Are Too Intelligent To Deceive Yourself."

"Made you look," Star Fall said, and threw all her magic into a formless burst of light and sound. The resultant explosion rocked Umbra back, and Star Fall saw her chance. She shot a tight arc around the Nightmare, her wings actually brushing Umbra's side. Their eyes met for a moment at that touch, and Star Fall drew strength from the surprise she saw there. Then she was past and putting all her power into her flight. 

Distance was confusing in the Deep Power, but she still had the sense of moving at incredible speed. Faster than she had ever moved before, as fast as sound, as fast as lightning. For a moment she understood how Dash felt when she flew. The speed, the freedom, it was intoxicating. No wonder Dash never wanted to slow down.

Then the cold vise of Umbra's power crashed into her, and Star Fall was brought to a wrenching halt a few agonizing inches from touching Twilight's outstretched hoof.

"No," Umbra said, both far away and dangerously close.

"Yes!" Star Fall hissed, reaching deep into herself and bringing out as much magic as she could, leaving nothing behind. She slid forward with taunting slowness, her focused will and power enough to loosen Umbra's hold only a little. 

"She Will Not Wake!" the Nightmare roared, redoubling her hold. 

"She doesn't have to," Star Fall growled. She gave up on trying to escape Umbra's power. She looked into the light of Twilight's eyes and willed her voice to reach the sleeping pony. "Just help me save them. Please, Twilight. Please help me!"

It was only a tiny motion, but there didn't have to be much. Twilight stretched her hoof a little farther, and touched Star Fall. Power poured into her, as much as she had been given when Twilight had kissed her forehead. More. She gasped and twitched from the sheer amount of energy burning through her. Distantly, she could tell that her physical body was reacting as well.

"No!" Umbra screamed. "This Is Not Acceptable!"

Star Fall was yanked away from Twilight, but it didn't matter. She had what she needed. “Regal! Bring me back!” she shouted, but she could barely feel him and knew he wasn’t responding. She tried to pull away from the Deep Power herself, to sever her connection to Regal and return to her body. After a moment of blind effort she realized with a jolt that she couldn't break away, and she knew the reason why.

Umbra loomed above her, spears of Ashfire polluting the Deep Power and solidifying to sharp points aimed at Star Fall's heart. Her power held Star Fall, making escape back to her body impossible. "I Will Not Allow You To Jeopardize My Purpose, And You Have Done Far Too Much Damage Already." She almost sounded sad as she said it. "You Must Die." Star Fall curled up, though she knew there was nothing that could protect her as those spears fell. 

The Deep Power exploded with magenta light, and the spears of Ashfire shattered against a barrier that surrounded Star Fall. She saw Twilight reaching out for her again, her eyes now half-open and her horn flaring. 

"It Is Not Time!" Umbra shrieked, her own power flaring in response to Twilight’s intervention. It swirled out from her, gathering into a vast cloud of destruction that loomed like an enormous storm that whipped the currents of the Deep Power into a roaring frenzy. "This Is The Only Way!" 

The Deep Power bucked and whirled as the two powers clashed. Star Fall screamed, her voice lost in the cacophony of opposing, alien powers.

"Enough!"

The voice –deep, commanding and most certainly male– silenced the shuddering of the Deep Power in an instant. Umbra's Ashfire magic vanished, and her eyes went wide in shocked confusion. Twilight's protection vanished as well, and Star Fall looked over to find her once more curled up between Celestia and Luna, asleep to all appearances.

The stillness lasted only another moment, then a great force rent the Deep Power in two. It was like the universe itself had been cut by some impossible blade, the break clean and sharply defined with Star Fall on one side and Umbra on the other. A new force moved through the lights, repairing the damage their battle had wrought. It slowly became visible in its actions, a sinuous shape, with long claws that were at once powerful and delicate in their work. Star Fall could barely comprehend what she was seeing, and before she could start to make sense of any of it, the unknown power took hold of her and roughly ejected her from the Deep Power.



***



They were falling.

That was the first thought Star Fall had on regaining consciousness, and it immediately dominated all other concerns. Somehow, whatever force had wrenched her and Umbra from the Deep Power had also ended the Nightmare's telekinetic spell on the cathedral. Or perhaps the shock of the ejection had caused her to drop it herself. The why didn't matter. All that was important was that the cathedral was no longer being suspended in the air, and it would not take long for it to hit the ground with all the lethal consequences that entailed.

The screaming of the nobles filled the air, drowning out the screaming of the air itself as it rushed by the windows and doors and gaping holes in the cathedral walls. She felt light, her stomach threatening to empty even as her instincts demanded she spread her wings and stop her fall. That would have been a mistake, of course, as the forms of several griffins on the cathedral ceiling attested. Flight was still possible, but with the air currents coming in from outside, anything other than careful, focused movement was inviting disaster. 

Standing with preternatural stillness amidst the falling, rocking cathedral, Umbra opened her burning eyes. There was anger there, as always, but also shock and a measure of fear as well. She turned her gaze not to Star Fall, but to the Professor, who stared back at the Nightmare with a strangely parallel expression.

Star Fall's eyes turned away from the two of them. She still felt the power Twilight Sparkle had given her, raging within like a hurricane, pushing beyond the bounds of her control. She had expected that, had counted on it. She pushed herself away from Regal, who was just regaining his senses after being cut off from the Deep Power so suddenly. Stumbling on the rolling floor, she made her way to the edge of the spell sigil she had scribed with the dead king's blood. 

"As above, so below!" Her breath came out as a mist of crimson light, sparking at the focus she invested in her words. "As within, so without!" She touched the blood sigil, pouring all the power Twilight had given her into it. The magic rushed out of her with the purpose she had given it, crashing through her body in a way that was both intensely painful and an exquisite release. Her wings opened and she threw her head back. "Fly!" she cried out, her voice resonant with power. "Make it fly!"

Radiant crimson fire exploded from her spell, washing over the ground, climbing up the columns, coating the windows, lighting everything with the translucent aura of her magic. Ponies screamed anew as it rushed over them, but it was not meant for them, and did not touch them. Instead it took hold in the stones and steel of the cathedral, surrounding it and bolstering them. There was a moment where the weight of the entire building seemed to come down on her back and Star Fall gasped at the immensity of it. Then her magic won the fight against gravity and the mass of the cathedral, and the deadly fall slowed to a gentle descent.

Star Fall grit her teeth as she held the spell together. The power she had been given would not last forever, but if she timed it right, it would last long enough to set the cathedral down without endangering the people inside.

"I knew you could do it," Regal said, coming up next to her. "What happened in there? It was all so confusing."

"I'm not sure," Star Fall said through her clenched teeth. "We'll talk about it later, okay? I've solved one problem, but the source is still right here."

"Indeed," Umbra said, her voice a whisper that cut through the continuing noise as clearly as if it had been said in a silent room. "Your Efforts Are In Vain, Fallen Star. You Think You Have Saved This Edifice To Ponykind's Arrogance, But I Am The Destroyer, And All Things Will Still Fall To My Will."

"Not today!" the Professor cried, raising the Chains of Tartarus again. "Star Fall, you did it! When we touch down get out of here and leave her to me!"

"Professor!"

"No arguments!" Twinkle Shine snapped. "I... we can't lose you too."

Star Fall was about to reply when Regal touched her shoulder, catching her attention. "She's right," he said. She wanted to argue, but she was too rational to not see the sense in it. She was a Princess now, and with the King dead she would soon be Queen. Add that to the King's prophecy about her, and they really couldn't afford to lose her. She had refused to leave until the people were safe, but with that accomplished she really couldn’t justify remaining. Yet she still hesitated.

"She Will Still Die," the Nightmare said, black fire flaring around her horn. "All You Have Done Is Delay The Inevitable For Another Day. And You, Twinkle Shine, Shall Not Even Last That Long. You Cannot Win This Fight."

"We'll see about that," the Professor growled, and then the whole cathedral bucked as it hit the ground.

The people were thrown about by the impact, those that had regained their hooves during the float down once more tossed to the floor. That floor broke apart in great cracks, the remaining windows shattering in heavy shards, most of which thankfully fell outward and not in towards the sprawled nobles. The great columns shifted and cracked, but the ceiling held up. It was all over in less than a minute.

The moment the building had settled the Professor raised her voice, augmenting it with a spell that could let her words reach the farthest seats during a lecture. "Everybody out! The doors should be clear now! Move!"

They didn't need to be told twice.

Star Fall galloped away from Umbra, towards the hole in the cathedral's wall that now showed a view of the Court of the Sun. Ashen ponies fought with uniformed soldiers outside, a contingent of Kingdom forces battling their way to the fallen cathedral and the survivors now rushing out of it. Regal followed her, and he was so eager to leave the broken church that he did not even notice when she stopped at the threshold, looking back at the renewed battle of wills between her mentor and the dark Goddess.

She knew she should leave. It only made sense, and it was what the Professor wanted. But she also knew that Twinkle Shine had been thrown by the King's death. Enough that she had lost her edge over Umbra before. It would be easy, too easy, for the Nightmare to capitalize on that weakness, to say nothing of how her efforts so far had to be tiring her. Umbra hadn't lied: alone, this was a fight that the Professor would not win. 

Star Fall could not accept that. Not even if it endangered her own life, not for all the people who would need her now that she was a princess. She had sent her parents away, had seen Astrid flung out to an unknown fate. She had watched the King burn to death. She had lost too much already. She would not lose Twinkle Shine too.

She turned and stepped back into the church, focusing on her magic. There was still quite a bit of strength left in her, though the whole of Twilight's borrowed power had been spent in landing the cathedral. The Nightmare could be hurt, could be driven away. She had done it before. She only wished her friends were by her side. Together, she was sure, they could take on anything.

"Fall!" a shrieking voice called out to her, and Star Fall flushed with warm joy at the sound. Astrid dropped out of the sky, stumbling a bit in her landing, but still managing to rush to Star Fall without falling. "That was fucking awesome!" She grabbed Star Fall in a tight embrace, one the pegasus returned with fervor. It lasted only a moment before Astrid let go, turning to face the Nightmare and setting herself in a ready stance. Her eyes narrowed and her tone hardened. "What happened?"

"The King's dead," Star Fall said, and Astrid jerked at that revelation, her talons curling into fists. "And... Roan." Astrid's head dipped. "He got hit with the same thing you did, but he..."

"I had a feeling... It doesn't matter," Astrid said, hot anger straining her voice. "He died protecting you, his Princess. He died a Griffin's death. We can cry like hatchlings later, right now we've got a bitch-goddess to deal with."

"I've got an idea," Star Fall said, and was about to explain it when she was interrupted by another arrival. 

Applejack fell into the cathedral, rolling over and over as she wrestled with a pair of ash ponies. They worked in eerie tandem, biting and kicking and not leaving an opening unexploited. It didn't matter, though. They were up against Applejack in a contest of strength and stamina, which was no contest at all. Applejack pinned one, ignoring the attacks of the other, and crushed its head with a well-placed stomp, eliciting an explosion of dark power. Then she turned on the other and caught it in a crushing bear hug. The creature began discorporating into an ashen cloud, but Applejack did not let it get very far. She snapped her head forward, striking a headbutt so powerful that it stove the ghoul's skull right in, destroying it utterly.

"Pardon for the wait, Star Fall," Applejack said, dusting herself off and straightening her hat. She was bloody and ragged, but she moved without pain and Star Fall could see a new sparkle in her green eyes. "Had some trouble gettin' back. Saw your groom on the way in, by the by. Made sure he got a good escort back to the castle."

"Thank you," Star Fall said, smiling. 

"The plan?" Astrid prompted, watching the battle between Twinkle Shine and Umbra as it intensified, the two combatants apparently so focused on each other that they were ignoring everything else.

"We need to coordinate or this is going to end badly," Star Fall said. "Astrid, find a weapon, not a gun. Something long and with an edge, there should be something around."

"On it, Fall."

"Applejack, when I give the signal I need you to charge her head on. Dodge any black fire that comes your way and don't stop to fight, but make sure you take out her forelegs on the way by. I'll be hitting her with a blinding magic blast, which is about all I can do without my spell-sheets. Hopefully that will be enough to give us our shot. Once she's down, Astrid, that's when you hit her with the weapon. Cut off her horn, her head if you can, whatever is your best target, just hit her. Then drop the weapon, you do not want her blood getting into you. It won't kill her, but the point is to give the Professor an opening. If she wins this fight, so do we. Remember! Do not let the black fire touch you! If there's no way to do your task without getting hit, then abort. Got it?"

"Ready when you are, sugarcube," Applejack said, settling into a runner's crouch.

"Set!" Astrid said, hefting a ceremonial halberd. It wasn't a weapon made for fighting by any stretch, but it had an edge and was heavy enough to do damage, so it would do for the one strike it was needed for. 

"Good! On my signal!" Star Fall drew her magic together, focusing it in her rear hooves as she turned away from Umbra. Once again she silently thanked Dash for that one lesson in weather-working. It had saved her life with Charisma, and now it could very well save her mentor's. "One... two... Go!" She kicked her legs out, releasing the magic she had gathered in them directly at Umbra.

The flash of light was bright enough that it overpowered the sun for a blinding moment. When the glare cleared, Applejack and Astrid were on the move. The earth pony rushed along the broken, uneven floor with as much ease as if it had been level ground. Astrid arced through the air, her halberd already beginning its swing. Applejack reached Umbra, head down and aimed squarely for the Nightmare's knees, and suddenly came to an absolute stop. Astrid's falling blade touched the back of Umbra's neck, and both it and the Griffin came to a dead halt.

Umbra turned her head from Twinkle Shine, regarding Star Fall with a harsh disdain that sent chills down her spine. "Pathetic."

A burst of telekinetic power expanded from Umbra's horn, blowing Astrid back against a still-intact wall and crushing Applejack to the floor. The Chains of Tartarus protected the Professor, but Star Fall could only stare in impotent shock as the wave of magic slapped into her, sending her sprawling back. The force wasn't simply a quick blast, either, and Star Fall found herself held to the floor as if nailed there. 

"You Have Interfered With My Purpose," Umbra hissed, dragging Star Fall into the air and splaying her out painfully. "I Will Not Allow This To Happen Again."

"No!" the Professor cried out through clenched teeth, her horn bursting with new light as she redoubled her efforts.

The Nightmare staggered under the renewed assault, but increased her own clashing magic to compensate. "Burn, Fallen Star. Burn And Become One With Me." Ashfire roared from Umbra's horn, flowing across the space between them.

I can survive this. Star Fall's frantic thoughts turned to her first fight with Umbra, how she had been hit with Ashfire then and came out barely singed. How did I do it? She couldn't remember. How!? The black flames hit her, striking her chest squarely. She screamed as she felt the fire bite deeper than her coat and skin. Screamed until there was nothing left in her lungs to scream with. The Ashfire burned inside her, sending tendrils of agony through her veins. It grabbed at her magic, eating it like a ravenous beast, growing stronger and hotter as it fed on her power. Instinctively, she pulled her magic away from the consuming flames, and immediately felt the pain recede as the Ashfire was left without its fuel. That's it! Star Fall could have laughed, because even as she realized the trick to beating Ashfire, she knew that it wouldn't be enough. Umbra would not let her escape death so easily. 

She also noticed something else. The necklace that the Professor had given her was sparking and flashing at the touch of the Ashfire, but was not being consumed. Somehow, the Professor had created something that was resistant, if not outright immune, to Umbra's magic. The realization gave her a new idea, but one that she had to survive long enough to put into play. She couldn't free herself, so she raised her eyes to the sun in the sky and prayed. 

Her prayers were answered with a rainbow streak that fell through the smashed ceiling window and landed with bone-shattering force on the Nightmare's back. Umbra's concentration was broken as she crumpled to the ground, releasing Star Fall and the others from her magical grasp. Astrid and Applejack wasted no time in scrambling away from the Nightmare and back to the missing wall. Star Fall simply fell, her body feeling cold and weak from her efforts to resist the Ashfire. She didn't hit the ground, though, because in a flash of prismatic light Dash was there to catch her. 

"Hey, Star," Dash said, giving her a weary smile. 

"Just had to... make a dramatic... entrance, huh?" Star Fall gasped out, smiling back as best she could. Her chest was a mess of burned flesh, but she couldn’t feel any pain from it. She could only hope that the damage was superficial.

"Heh, you know me," Dash said. Now that she could get a better look at her, Star Fall could see her friend was in rough shape. Her coat didn't show blood as well as Applejack's did, but it didn't completely mask it either. More telling were the missing and ragged feathers in Dash's wings, testament to fierce, sustained combat. She set Star Fall down just outside the cathedral, glaring back inside at Umbra. "I wish I'd gotten here earlier."

"You got here just in time," Star Fall said. Inside, Twinkle Shine finally had the advantage. A loop of twisted space circled Umbra's neck, dragging the Alicorn's head down. As if realizing that she was now losing the battle, the Nightmare spread her wings and took off, crashing through the crumbling cathedral wall. The battered cathedral finally collapsing in the wake of her departure. Star Fall would have worried, but the Professor had seen what her opponent was doing, and was already rushing to the exit. They all galloped away from the church as it finally gave up the fight to gravity and fell in on itself, sending up a plume of dust and smoke that rolled over the square. 

"No way!" Dash cried out. "You are not getting away like that!" She was gone from Star Fall's side in an instant, her ethereal trail lighting up the dust that was choking the living ponies within. Dash whirled around cloud, flying with the supernatural speed she was famous for, creating a whirlwind that sucked up the billowing dust and funnelled it into a neat pile next to the fallen church. The impossible feat took her barely ten seconds.

With her cover gone, Umbra stood revealed, hovering above the street, still held by the distortion of the Chains. Twinkle Shine raised the crystal links above her head, calling forth even more power from her already blazing horn. Star Fall was amazed at the strength the Professor was displaying; she knew that her mentor was the strongest Magic Talent in the Kingdom, but she had never imagined this. It was something she would have expected from Rarity, perhaps, but not a modern unicorn. All around she could see the similarly amazed faces of the nobles who were watching, kept from running to the palace by the horde of ghouls that the Kingdom soldiers were still fighting to keep at bay.

"I banish you from this land!" the Professor intoned, the Old Equestrian words ringing clearly all the way to the Court of the Sun. "Take your darkness and trouble us no more!

"This Is Not Your Salvation," Umbra growled. "I Grow Stronger. Soon, This Binding Will Not Be Able To Hold Me."

"It will hold long enough," Twinkle Shine replied, just loud enough for Star Fall to hear. 

"Arrogant Foal!" Umbra roared. The sudden volume was like a mighty blow, shaking the ground. "Learn The Price Of Chaining A Goddess!" Umbra abandoned her defence, letting the magic of the Chains wrap around her completely, but turning her freed magic into a counterstroke that would annihilate the Professor in turn.

Star Fall had only a moment to act. She remembered the amulet on her burned chest, sparking and resisting Umbra's magic. She didn't know how much it could do against this, but every little bit would help. She tore the amulet from her neck, flinging it at her mentor. It wasn't a perfect throw, but it was good enough. The chain caught on the Professor’s horn, the amulet spinning around to settle on her head. The amulet sparked again, reacting with Twinkle Shine's magic. The Professor flinched back with a surprised yelp.

And so did Umbra.

Star Fall froze in shock as the Nightmare twitched and slapped at her head in a perfect mirror of the Professor. The magics both of them were employing fell away, forgotten. Finally, Twinkle Shine pulled the amulet from her head, throwing it to the ground. She looked up at Star Fall with incredulous disbelief, and then at Umbra, whose expression of shock was quickly morphing into utter rage. 

Star Fall stared at her mentor. A pit had opened up beneath her, and she felt like she was falling deep into the earth, her wings paralyzed at her sides and her magic far away. The amulet had burned the Professor, as it had earlier, but far worse this time. It had practically melted a deep rent in Twinkle Shine's head, a wound that revealed what was missing from within. A wound that bled ashes.

A cry went up from the people watching the confrontation. The sharper eyed ones had seen the same thing Star Fall had, and come to the same conclusions

"Star Fall," the Professor said, heartbreak in her eyes as she reached out to her student. "I–"

"No!" Star Fall snapped, shying back. "How? Why?" She fell to the ground, staring with wide, unblinking eyes as she felt her entire world fall apart. “No…”

"I'm sorry," Twinkle Shine said.

"What have you done with the Professor?" Dash screamed, slamming into the unicorn in a rainbow blur, knocking her to the ground. 

"I'm sorry," Twinkle Shine said again, still staring at Star Fall. 

"Where is she?" Dash demanded, striking out at the Professor, her blow making more ashes pour from the wound in Twinkle Shine’s head, a dark imitation of gushing blood. "What did you do to her?"

"She Is Twinkle Shine," Umbra growled. "And She Is Me." Star Fall felt her gaze drift to the Nightmare. A vast distance seemed to separate her from what was happening. The Destroyer glared back at her with disgust. "Sentiment. I Warned Against Such Weakness."

"So she was always..." Astrid said, shaking with horror. "This was all an act? Part of your plan?"

"A Plan That Has Failed."

"I'm so sorry, please," Twinkle Shine reached to Star Fall, her outstretched limb stomped down hard by Dash. "Please, I never wanted you to be hurt!"

"Enough Of This," Umbra said, dropping to the ground. She looked to the Professor as if Dash was not standing over the false unicorn, ready to attack at a moment's notice. "Subterfuge Has Failed. The Time For Action Has Come. Or Shall I Obliterate This City And Start The Plan Anew In The Remains Of A Shattered Kingdom?"

"No!" the Professor cried. "No. It's... it's not necessary. There is still a way."

Umbra's eyes narrowed. "That Is A Dangerous Path To Contemplate."

Twinkle Shine slapped a hoof on the ground in frustration. "It's all I have left!"

"My Purpose..."

"Will be fulfilled!"

"There Is Much That Can Go Wrong."

"So much already has," the Professor replied. "The risk now is in not taking advantage of it."

"Anybody else feel like they're only hearin' every other sentence of this conversation?" Applejack asked, keeping her distance from the Nightmare.

"Agreed," Umbra said. "Step Aside, Rainbow Dash."

"Why would I do anything you say?" Dash demanded, glaring defiantly at the Nightmare.

"Because I Have Agreed To Leave You And The Rest Of This City Alive," Umbra replied. "A Leniency Granted Only By The Persuasive Grace Of The Pony You Have Struck Down. Stand Aside, Rainbow Dash, As I Reclaim What Is Mine."

"Do it," Star Fall said, finally finding her voice.

"But Star!" 

"Let her go, Dash," Star Fall said, surprised at how calm she sounded. She got up, looking at Umbra because she couldn't bear to see her mentor. "We're done."

Rainbow Dash looked like she was about to object again, but shook her head and stepped away from Twinkle Shine. There was a pulse of subtle magic that sent icy fingers along Star Fall's wings, and the Professor simply collapsed into a cloud of grey ashes that whirled in place for a moment before flowing into Umbra like a river joining the sea. In moments there was nothing left of Professor Twinkle Shine save the forgotten links of the Chain of Tartarus. 

Star Fall regarded those discarded crystal links, wondering how much of what the Professor had ever told her was true. "Beware, Fallen Star," Umbra said, and Star Fall forced herself to look at the Nightmare. "The Revelations Of This Day Will Endanger You." The Nightmare blinked, and suddenly her eyes weren't their usual burning orbs, but the dark blue of her mentor. "I'm sorry, Star Fall, you have to run. Find Gamma and Spike. They'll take care of you." Another blink and the Nightmare was back. "This Is Not Finished," she said, looking to the ponies watching behind the walls of the Court of the Sun. "My Purpose Will Be Fulfilled. Prepare Yourselves. Prepare... For War."

The Nightmare leapt into the sky, and with the screams of a thousand damned souls her army followed her. The ash ponies fell apart, their incorporeal bodies flowing after their mistress in a great storm of ash and bone, shrieking death and horror as it fled across the horizon.

Star Fall watched it go. Then, with careful and deliberate motions, she sat down, put her head in her hooves, and wept.



***



"It will be okay," Regal assured her.

Star Fall forced a smile. "No it won't," she said. "Umbra was right, this is going to destroy my credibility with, well, everyone."

"Not with me," he assured her. "And I'm going to be King. That's got to count for something!"

Star Fall nodded at that and leaned in to give him a kiss on his cheek. It seemed like something he needed. 

They stood within the military transport, its crystal engines already glowing with the power to make it fly. Bandages were wrapped around her chest and barrel, but the doctor who had examined her wound had told her that she had, miraculously, sustained little lasting harm from her brush with Ashfire. She was inclined to believe that her survival was less miracle and more another bit of theatre from her former mentor.

The moon was rising outside, the long, terrible day finally at an end. The streets were empty, the city still locked down, but that wouldn't last long. This was her only chance to escape what was coming. Astrid stood nearby, as did Regal's Griffin escort. Other than that, the ship had only a skeleton crew. Enough to get Star Fall to the Everfree Verge quickly, but no more. 

"I'm Twinkle Shine's student, and Twinkle Shine is the Shadowed Alicorn," she said. The thought of the Professor’s duplicity hadn't gotten any easier, and the words still felt foreign on her tongue. She had to face it, though, had to embrace the truth behind her mentor's lie. It was the only way she would ever move beyond it. "Everything I've done, every promise or deal I've made, especially recently, they're all suspect. Was it really me, they'll ask, or was it Umbra using me as her pawn? Worse, what if I was a willing collaborator."

"You weren't!" 

Star Fall shook her head. "Can they know that? I'm a pegasus with unicorn magic who was adopted into nobility and married the crown prince, for Celestia's sake! How hard is it to imagine that all that was because of Umbra's influence? Because of her power? I'm trained to think of all the possibilities, Regal, especially how people can influence and manipulate each other, and even I'm not sure I wasn't being used."

"But why run?" he asked. "Won't that just confirm everything they think?"

Star Fall shrugged. "For some, yes. Hell, maybe for most. But I don't matter. Not anymore."

"Don't say that."

She smiled again, brushing a lock of his messy hair from his face with her wing. "I meant that I'm not leaving for me. I'm leaving because it makes you look better. If I stayed it might make some believe my innocence, but it would make more people question your judgement. You'd have to put me on trial and execute me to get them to believe you aren't being manipulated by me."

"I would never!"

"And that's why I have to go," Star Fall sighed. "You would never. And because of that you would be dragged down with me."

He hung his head. "I know."

"Look, I'm not going to stop," Star Fall said, putting a hoof under his chin and raising his gaze back to hers. "I'm not done. Not by a longshot. Umbra's still out there, still working to fulfill her 'purpose', whatever it is. And there's Max Cash and the Elements of Harmony as well. I'm not going to stop fighting against them. I'm not going to stop making the world a better, safer place."

He smiled at that. "I know you won't give up."

"And there's more." She had debated whether to tell him this part, but ultimately decided he deserved to know. "Your father, before he died, he gave me a prophecy. Something he had learned from the Deep Power." Regal's ears perked up at that, and he leaned forward as she whispered the dying words of the King in his ear. When he pulled back there was a new light in his eyes, a flash of his family's divine heritage confirming for him the truth of what she said. "So, you see, there's still at least one great thing that I'm meant to do."

"If... when you do it, there won't be a pony alive who would think that you’re Umbra's puppet," Regal said. 

She shrugged. "We'll see. Now, I have to get going, and you have to go to your mother. She's... you'll need each other, now. More than ever before."

He nodded, sobering at the reminder of what his family had lost and the new responsibilities that would soon become his. "Stay safe, Star Fall," he said, nuzzling her awkwardly before turning and practically running from the ship, his guards close behind. 

"You too, Regal," she said to his retreating form. The ramp started to retract, but she kept watching, and so she didn't miss the two ponies who rushed onto the transport at the last minute. "Dash! Applejack!" she said, a more genuine smile tugging at her lips and her wings widening with surprised joy. "You don't have to come with me."

"Nuts to that, sugarcube," Applejack said. She had been washed and had her multitude of wounds looked after, which translated to several bandages wrapped around her body and a certain stiffness in her movements. 

"Yeah, there's no way we're letting you go off on your own!" Dash said. Astrid cleared her throat loudly and Dash smirked at her. "Okay, the two of you go off on your own." Dash’s own injuries had been less extensive than Applejack’s, and so she was adorned with only a couple gauze wrappings around the worst of her scrapes.

"You two are heroes... Again," Star Fall said. "The guards are all talking about how you two took on Umbra's army practically single-hoofed."

"Now, that's just untrue," Applejack said. "There were a whole mess of other ponies doin' their best too."

"Yeah, and for me I guess Astrid helped," Dash said.

"Thanks, Dash," Astrid deadpanned.

"No prob," Dash replied.

"True or not, that's what they're saying," Star Fall said. "You could stay here. The Kingdom could really use some heroes. Especially now.”

“Ain’t my place,” Applejack said. “And you could use the friends, Star.”

“Yeah!” Dash said, hovering over and throwing a foreleg around Star Fall’s shoulders. “After what happened today, what kind of friend would I be if I just stuck around here? You need us, Star, so we’re going wherever you go.”

Star Fall smiled, blinking the film of tears from her eyes. “It’s not going to be easy. I’m heading after Max Cash.”

“All the more reason to come along, then,” Applejack said. “I’d like to get my hooves on that no-good, child-killin’ bastard as much as anyone.”

“Alright, then.” Star Fall took a slow breath. Something about the two ponies joining them made her feel stronger, surer of herself and what she had to do. “Let’s get going.”

“Strap in.” Astrid pointed towards the harnesses that lined the walls. “They’re gonna punch it to max speed as soon as we’re at altitude.” They got themselves secured, then Astrid raised her head and called out in the piercing shriek that only a Griffin could achieve. “Start it up!”

The hum of magical power accompanied a shudder in the floor as the transport lifted off from the courtyard. Star Fall wished that the transport had windows at this level, something that would let her watch the Court and the city fall away beneath her as she left it for the foreign lands behind the Everstorm. Five times before she had left for the same purpose, and as much as she wanted to believe this time was the same, she knew it wasn’t. Nothing would be the same again.

That thought made her laugh, which caused Rainbow Dash to look at her with an expression that was both puzzled and excited. That only made her laugh again. Of course nothing would be the same. That life, that world, had ended the moment Rainbow Dash fell out of the sky. 

“What?” Dash asked, her voice raised to be heard over the increasing rumble of the transport’s engines. “What’s the look for?”

“I was just thinking,” Star Fall replied. “That it was worth it.”

Dash cocked her head to the side. “What was worth it?”

“Meeting you.” Star Fall blinked tears away before they formed. There would be no crying now, not until it was all over and done with. “No matter how crazy it gets, Rainbow Dash, I’m glad to be your friend.” Dash didn’t reply, just smiled back at her, letting her know the sentiment was returned. Star Fall nodded in satisfaction, realizing that when she said the words, she meant them. “Whatever happens. It was worth it.”