Scythe Claw cackled with glee from his position near the back of the ghul horde. Following tactics that had served his kind well for centuries, he had divided the tribe into five groups, each one approaching from a different direction. All four sides and from above. The ponies and camels were now thoroughly trapped, the horde closing in on them like ants upon a spilled crumb of food. Still, this was not the time to be overly cocky. He loathed to admit it, but the low lander troops worked well in groups and had their nasty, nasty tricks. His eyes were particularly locked on those buffalo and their cannons. Those horrible things and their equally horrible balls of death had killed so many of his kind in previous clashes. They would have to be dealt with. Clacking his beak together in a challenge, he raised the gnarled staff that was his badge of office skyward, the black gem set in the tip almost eating the light around it.

Blessed with some of his dark lord’s power, Scythe unleashed another wave of clawing darkness, aiming for the buffalo and their death spitters. Death upon the interlopers! For the glory of Lord T’arek!

It was all Carrot Top could do to keep herself from turning and running. The screaming and disjointed singing of the ghuls rose to an almost out of control cacophony, made all the worse by whatever magic had just been invoked on them.

She wasn’t sure if it was possible for her to feel more in over her head. Even the professional soldiers looked like they were wavering, only Parlak’s commanding presence keeping them steady. The camel commander walked along the lines, giving what she assumed were slow and even orders.

“Carrot Top! We need some sticky bombs!” Trixie yelled, her voice barely audible over the din.

Said sticky bombs were the latest result of her alchemical tinkering, something she had finally began to work the kinks out of during the Contest of Champions. Their one downside was the combination of relatively rare herbs needed to make them. But they had some help on their side this time.

The sultan had provided them with supplies before leaving Al-Asitana, so Carrot Top’s bags had been quite full when they first set off and the multiple days of travel time so far had given her plenty of time to whip some up. Fumbling for her saddlebags, she had just undone the clasp when another wave of dark magic slammed home.

A deep wail of terror rose from the buffalo, the hulking troopers now looking around with wild eyes. Carrot Top realized what was coming the moment before it happened, as did Cheerilee.

The buffalo whirled about, breaking into a full run to get away from the source of the magic. Carrot Top and her friends scattered throwing themselves to either side to avoid the impromptu stampede. The motion was repeated through the lines, ponies and camels alike scrambling to avoid being crushed. And then they were free, and running straight towards the line of ghuls approaching from the rear of the square.

But Carrot Top didn't have time to see what was going to happen to them. The ghuls were almost upon them. Returning to her saddlebags, her shaky hooves closed around one of her sticky bombs.

Cheerilee wordlessly pointed at the mob straight ahead of them, which was the still the largest, despite a peppering from the crossbow ponies, and the effort of the jinn. Supernatural fear crippled their accuracy and sapped their will to fight, the bolts raining down in a haphazard scatter.

With a deep breath, Carrot Top pulled back and then pitched the bomb as far as her earth pony strength could manage. The vial tumbled awkwardly through the air before breaking against one of the lead ghuls. With the tell tale shattering of glass, the mix of herbs reacted violently with the air, thick yellowish glue exploding outwards in a wave. The sticky strands bound limbs and wings to bodies and bodies to each other, the front line coming to a tangled, stumbling halt.

The charges to their right and left continued unabated though, crashing into the ranks in the next breath. It almost seemed like a shudder rippled through the camel defensive line but the armored spear wielders simply grit their teeth and stabbed back. Parlak plunged into combat at their side, setting about the grim work of battle with a stony face.

Carrot Top looked up again gasping at the sight of the buffalo. The mob that had been approaching from behind had fallen upon them with a vengeance. Clubs rose and fell with an almost frantic fury, bashing them to the ground, even as nets were tossed over their bodies. The bound jinn continued to do their best, lashing out with shards of stone, tongues of flame and other elements as they were now all turned loose. But the ghuls ignored them, heedless of the cuts and burns. Instead they focused on the camels that controlled them. And as each of those camels fell, the jinn vanished back into their bound items.

A shadow fell over her body with a high pitched cackle. Yelping, she scrambled to get away from the ghul a thick net in its claws. She bumped into Lyra, who spun around as the net was tossed over their bodies.

Gritting her teeth, Lyra grabbed the net in her aura and tried to lift it off them. She strained against the surprising weight of the thing, noticing the heavy stones that had been tied along the bottom edge. Carrot Top joined in with her hooves, the heavy mass of rough spun fiber beginning to slowly lift off of them.

More ghuls swooped in now, even more nets in their claws. Again and again they were tossed, raining down on the defensive square. With limbs and bodies tangled, the Naqahns found their efforts being dragged down just as quickly, weapons unable to be brought to bear. The lines of ghuls pushed forward now, their clubs lashing out indiscriminately as they dragged soldier after soldier to the ground.

“Cheerilee! Get that anklet out of here! If they get control of Yangin, we’re all doomed!” Trixie shouted.

The ghul came swooping in low, club swinging through the air in a wild arc. Raindrops, still free from the nets, dove to intercept, spinning into a literal flying kick. But the ghul proved to be faster on the wing, the club striking home just at the edge of the starmetal hood of Cheerilee’s armor. Raindrops’ kick crunched into the side of the ghul the next moment, sending it wheeling away. But Cheerilee collapsed to the ground in a heap.

In the next moment another pair of nets were thrown over Raindrops, the ghuls focusing their efforts on the new threat. Trixie backed towards Cheerilee’s fallen form with Ditzy, the blonde pegasus rushing to check her fallen friend.

“Ditzy, you need to get her out of here! Now! If there’s any chance for us to get out of this, we need her free to be able to summon Yangin. Find a place to hide, get them up and find us!”

Ditzy’s one good eye swept around the rapidly dwindling remains of the Naqahn lines. “How?”

“I’ll give you the opening!” Rearing up on her hind legs, Trixie threw her forelegs wide. “Alright you overgrown chickens! Its time for you to learn what the Great and Powerful Trixie can do!”

Horn lightning up she screwed up her face in concentration, reaching as deep into her reservoir of magic power as she could. The spell radiated outwards, coiling around and past the soldiers, before hitting the ghuls.

A fresh round of shrieks rose from the bird like creatures but with a very different tone compared to before. Now they were the ones shrieking with fear, Trixie overwhelming their senses with her newest spell; pandemonium. A mixture of illusion and a little bit of transmutation, she had created it to fight against Corona. The idea was simple. Overwhelm every sense of the target with false information. Sight, sound...even taste and smell. Trixie’s spell attacked them all with a one two punch.

The ghuls fell back, screaming and swiping at invisible threats. Ditzy grabbed Cheerilee around the barrel and took wing flying for the nearby peaks as fast as she possibly could, focusing with all her might to keep both eyes fixed on her target for as long as possible. She was very glad for the lightness of the starmetal armor, for she doubted that she would have been able to lift her friend.

Swooping between two mountains she dropped into an ungainly dive at the sound of the ghul shrieks taking on a triumphant air again. Yelping, she almost hit the ground with a rolling thud but she barely managed to come into a controlled stop with a wild flap of her wings. Looking around for someplace to hide, her good eye caught a rocky overhang a few yards away from where she was. Throwing Cheerilee over her back she galloped for the ledge, sliding underneath it. Holding Cheerilee close, she jammed her eyes shut and hoped that the screeching would pass.

Scythe Claw watched the grey coated pony and her magenta cargo disappear into the mountains with a dispassionate gaze. No point in giving chase. Why run after scraps when the fest was at talon?

With a roar of victory, his tribe began to lift their haul into the air by the nets. Wheeling through the air, and back towards their home, another disjointed song rose from their beaks.

Crush, smack! Whip, crack!
Smash, grab! Pinch, nab!
You go, my lad!
Ho ho! My lad!

Down down to ghul-town!
Down down to ghul-town!
Down down to ghul-town!
You go, my lad!
Ho ho! My lad!

Ghuls quaff and ghuls beat!
Ghuls laugh and ghuls bleat!
Batter, jabber, whip and hammer, hoooo!

You go, my lad!
Ho ho! My lad!

From her position at the bottom of one of nets, Trixie really wished that these overgrown birds would learn how to carry a tune.

The response came from above her and to the right...or was it the left? She couldn’t tell with the few unconscious camels in between her and Carrot Top.

For a few minutes, the sound of rummaging and the occasional groans from Carrot Top’s air sickness fought to be heard over the raucous singing of the ghuls. But eventually, a yellowish hoof popped into view above Trixie’s head with a bottle. Reaching out with her magic, Trixie carefully took it. Observing the top, she could see that the cork was strong and wax seal tight.

“It turns to glue when exposed to-hurk- air. Maybe if you can set it up to drip?”

Trixie wracked her brain for a moment. “Knife...I need a knife. Carrot Top, can you reach that soldier's bag?”

The sound of rummaging returned and after a moment or two, Carrot Top’s hoof reappeared with a pocket knife. Carefully taking this as well, Trixie ever so slowly twisted the tip of the blade against the cork, digging out a small channel.

“They weren’t exactly being careful at the end there. They probably just scooped us all up to be done with it. Ah!”

A light trickle of glue flowed from a hole in the cork. Beaming with at her success, Trixie slide the neck of the bottle through one of the holes in the net. Watching the glue drop its way towards the ground, all she could do was hope.

A soft groan of pain floated from Cheerilee’s lips, hooves clutching at her forehead as she flopped over. Ditzy didn’t take her hooves off her friend’s side. The wound on Cheerilee’s forehead was beginning to look nasty, a massive black and blue bruise blossoming through her coat, surrounding her left eye. The ghul had gotten completely lucky, hitting her in one of the few places that the starmetal armor wasn’t. The sick sensation in her stomach just wouldn’t go away because she had no idea how badly hurt her friend really was.

Biting her lip, Ditzy looked down at the platinum anklet in which Yangin presumably continued to sulk. She needed help and there was only one option right now. Placing her hooves against the anklet, she could feel a slight warmth in the metal.

Another groan from Cheerilee nearly sent Ditzy’s temper to the boiling point. Her friend was hurt! Did Yangin even know? Or did she even care, for that matter? And now she was pouting in her item just because they hadn’t taken her route through the mountains! Of course, the moment she thought that, an idea struck Ditzy just as hard. Perhaps stroking the ego of the jinn would make her more cooperative.

“Yes, really! The ghuls ambushed the whole group and hauled almost everypony and camel away! I need your help to get them back.”

Somehow, Ditzy was expecting more of an argument from Yangin. She might have watched over them at night but she had also basically abandoned them when moving through the pass, when she knew the ghuls might be watching.

But there was a rush of warm air, followed by a burst of crackling flame that shot through the air with a dizzying burst of speed. Hitting the ground it roared high, reforming into Yangin. Her expression was grim, jaw set and brow furrowed in concentration.

“We need to get moving. Your friends will be dragged right back to their lair and then things start to get really grim.”

She began to lift into the air only for Ditzy to dive forward and grab her hind leg. She latched on for all her might, Yangin twisting her neck around to peer at Ditzy and her bravado.

Yangin’s eyes flicked very quickly from Ditzy to Cheerilee, the jinn’s own confidence seeming to drain away. She floated back, licking her lips as if her mouth was suddenly full of cotton.

“Healing falls under the category of water elemental magic. What about the name ‘Choking Fire’ is so hard to understand?”

“I’ve seen you manipulating other elements than fire!” Ditzy practically snarled, stomping a hoof.

“And water is the element of calm, even flow. Water wears down mountains with its slow inevitability, not with the wild fury that is fire! You want a healing jinn? Fly your rump all the way out the eastern seas and talk to my sister!”

Ditzy felt her wings droop. “Please try? I know you don’t like her. But she’s one of my best friends.”

“I can’t! I’ve never been able to pull off healing water magic! I don’t have the head for it! Do I look like the calm and flowing type to you!?”

“No...I don’t,” Ditzy admitted with a shrug. “But I have a foal that I had to raise myself. I understand keeping your cool.”

Yangin rubbed her forehead. “Stars above! Prophet, you better be taking notes wherever you are!”

The crack and snap of flame returned as she swooped over to the unconscious form of Cheerilee. Settling back on her haunches, her rubbed her hooves together, staring at the wound for a moment.

Slowly pulling her hooves apart, small droplets of water began to float up from the ground. They sputtered and jittered as they rose, a few of them threatening to burst from the chaotic pulses of motion.

“Created to be one of the most powerful jinn on the planet and I’m struggling to control one stupid spell.”

Ditzy walked over to her side, keeping her best friendly smile on her muzzle. “It’s okay. Just take a deep breath.”

“No, it’s a starting point. It was a starting point for my friend Raindrops too.”

Ignoring that crack Ditzy looked at the sphere of water that was forming between the jinn’s hooves. It seemed to be barely holding together but even she could see the sparkling of the magic in its depths.

In truth, she was asking because it gave Yangin something else to focus on besides her own anger.

“I can’t really give you the academics of it. It just...comes natural to us. Usually,” she grunted. “But I do know that you can fit a lot of magic effects in under them, depending on how good you are at...stretching definitions.”

“Just breathe. Don’t let the distractions derail your focus. In and out. In and out.”

Inhaling deeply, Yangin squeezed her eyes closed and began to mutter to herself in Naqahn. Slowly, the sphere regained its even texture. She took a second deep breath, lightly running her hooves over the surface of the sphere, a shimmering sheen appearing where they traced. Whatever she had just done, it seemed to be the limit. With a cry, Yangin dropped the sphere of water onto Cheerilee, where it burst into a crashing wave of magic and water.

Cheerilee sat bolt upright, sputtering and shaking the water out of her face. Ditzy almost pounced on her, pulling her friend into a tight hug.

“Ugh...what a headache,” Cheerilee groaned. “I had this dream we were attacked by ghuls….”

The dazed expression dropped away from Cheerilee as she suddenly realized where she was and who was around her.

“Kidnapped by the ghuls,” Yangin answered. She floated into the air with a fresh smile on her face. “And we are going to get them back.”

The pit yawned like a gaping maw below Trixie’s hooves, its jagged edges and random sharp rocks that stuck out from that edge resembling so many stony fangs. The nets dropped lower and lower, the ghuls showing a surprising amount of care, rather than just dumping them in en-masse. Inching closer to the blackness, it almost began to feel like her head was being squeezed in a vice. Sensations and feelings almost wafted up from the bleak blackness and she could feel the gamut of emotions twisting through her body like a poison.

All of it felt familiar and Trixie twisted in the net, dreading what she might see once they passed the lip of the pit. Ghuls from the tribe that hadn’t been involved in the battle were beginning to crowd around the edge of the abyss. Crowded shoulder to shoulder, Trixie could feel their eyes almost drilling into her as they stared.

As they dipped past the edge of the pit, she heard Lyra gasp, the net swaying a bit more violently. Trixie tried to twist her head to get a look at what Lyra had just seen, but her view was thoroughly blocked.

They were dumped onto the floor of the pit with little ceremony at this point, bodies spilling across the dusty grey flagstones. Ghuls that had been carrying nets wasted no time, plucking the crossbows, and cannons from among their still unconscious wielders and soaring back to the lip above. There was a surprised yelp from Carrot Top as her saddle bags were likewise pulled away. Scrambling to her hooves, Trixie took in their surroundings, the chamber bringing a whole new flood of memories for her.

In the little town of Oaton she, Raindrops and Cheerilee had been unlucky enough to discover a small round chamber hidden in the forest. The dark spirit that had resided there had ensnared a childhood friend of Cheerilee’s and driven her to the brink of rage induced madness.

It was only later they learned it had been a shrine dedicated to Tirek. This place, however, was more like a cathedral, yet clearly of a similar design that Trixie would recognize it regardless. Like the shrine, it was almost perfectly circular in nature, large enough for a few hundred ponies or camels to fit within. The walls were covered by strange, spidery like script. She couldn’t read it but she had a feeling it was most likely the Naqahn version of the dark writing in the Equestrian shrine. A dozen pillars supported what ceiling remained, sixty feet above their heads. The pillars were pockmarked with carved holes in which horrors had been placed with a near reverence. Animal skulls covered in runes that almost hurt the eye to look at. Bone fetishes fashioned into the shapes of camels and ponies. Wax sealed jars of unidentified liquids.

But the worst of it was the statue that dominated the west end of the room. True to Lyra’s word, it was Tirek. Carved from a red marble it was a massive construct. Luna, Corona and Cadenza could have stood on each other’s backs and just reached the statue’s chin. Its arms were raised skyward and head thrown back in a cry of victory. This was not Tirek, weak and drained of power. Rather, this was Tirek flush with victory and surging with strength.

“Why is this here?” Lyra asked. Her eyes flicked furtively around the room, lingering on each of the horrific looking things for just a moment. “All the legends say that Tirek ruled over ponies, not camels.”

Lyra shook her head. “I can’t say that they did specifically. They mentioned that he had followers, but most of the tales I found talked about what he did with ponies.”

Parlak looked up at the statue of Triek with a frown. “Before the time of The Prophet, our own legends say that dark emissaries came to the camel lands from the east. They spread his dark word and built shrines and temples all across the lands. When The Prophet rose, the first thing he did was lead a great series of what you would call crusades against the followers of Tirek. The temples were torn down and many of their followers driven off.”

Carrot Top ignored the chamber and its contents, instead looking at the unconscious soldiers that were beginning to stir. “They only took the ranged weapons. Why?”

The answer to that question came as a sensation of magic rippled through the room. In the wake of that, they could feel a sense of anger beginning to spike. Raindrops visibly shuddered, her wings flaring almost out of instinct. She jammed her eyes shut, muttering under her breath.

Trixie couldn’t blame her. The feeling of anger was like a vice on the sides of her head, whispering and urging her onwards to do horrible things. Plunge her horn into Carrot Top’s throat. Bash Raindrops on the head till she stopped moving. Break Parlak’s legs for dragging them into a foreign war in the first place.

Her friends weren’t looking much better. Carrot Top was practically shaking, pawing at the flagstones with a frantic energy. Lyra was holding the sides of her head, rapidly humming some kind of upbeat tune in what Trixie could only assume was an attempt to drown the urges out. And Raindrops just stood stock still keeping with her muttering chant. And Parlak had gone for his sword again and was now locked in a battle with himself whether to actually draw it or not.

In desperation Trixie thought back to a spell she had seen cast during the Oaton venture and something she had practiced a few times since, just in case. Horn flowing with magic, she quickly chained the spell out, hitting herself, her friends and Parlak as quickly as possible. As the abjuration magic settled into place the whispering voices lessened, fading into the background.

With the pressure on her mind fading a bit, Trixie could think a little bit better. The ghul’s plan was now a bit more evident. The negative emotion amplifying effect here was quite strong, and could quite possibly drive creatures to violence. Quite simply, the ghuls were planning to let them kill themselves.

Groaning, Trixie reached into her magic again, casting the abjuration spell and pushing it as far as she possibly could. Her horn almost screamed in agony as she threw the spell out again and again, wrapping it around the soldiers. She didn’t stop until she was sure that she had hit them all. As the last casting went off, she collapsed to her knees an icey strain of exhaustion settling into her. With the Pandemonium spell from before, she was pretty sure that she had pushed herself right to the brink of over channeling.

Lyra’s horn sprang to life now. The ghuls hadn’t taken her lyre, probably because they didn’t recognize it as a weapon worth taking, so now she played it with a vengeance. Her tune was steady and calming, aimed to support and bolster Trixie’s original spell. The ghuls let loose a chorus of angry shrikes at that, the mob seething around the lip of the pit.

“Well, you might have forced them to come down here and do their dirty work themselves,” Parlak said.

“What about looking for a way out?” Carrot Top asked. Everyone looked at her and she shrugged back. “If this is a temple, you need a way in, right? I don’t see stairs anywhere. Or ruins of stairs.”

“Wait,” Trixie frowned, holding up a hoof, “they’re just watching us now, right?”

“Ditzy got away with Cheerilee and Yangin. If we just stay here and hold out, they’ll find us. If we try to escape, we might just force them to attack us directly again.”

Frowning, Parlak shook his head. “It’s far too much of a risk. They could attack us any minute, once they work out that the pit isn’t doing what they want. And if we do find a tunnel, we could use it as a natural choke point if we are forced to fight.”

She regretted saying that almost immediately. Red hot anger surged forth again, threatening to overwhelm the counterspell.

Parlak practically snarled his response. “How many battles have you been in little pony? This is what I was trained to do, I know how to fight a war and we aren’t going to just sit here and wait for them to attack!”

“Like your plans have been working so well so far!” Raindrops said, her voice a low growl.

A fresh round of cackling and cawing came from the ghuls, the flock adjusting their position as a section of the ring parted. A ghul with gnarled staff tipped with black crystal gazed down at them almost brimming with glee. Raising the staff high, those in the pit realized that this was ghul that had rained the fear based spells on them before.

With another screeching laugh, the ghul jabbed his staff towards them, a familiar looking wave of blackness leaping forward. Falling on their heads like a thick blanket, everyone felt a chill run across their bodies, from the tips of their ears, to the end of their tails. Just on the hooves of that sensation, a disjointed melody, much like the other two ghulish ones, sprang to life. The leader began to almost hop around the the pit's edge, waving the gnarled limb of wood like a conductor’s baton, darkness staining the high noon sky.

In the depths of the night, they were running and crying
The nightmare they had was as bad as could be
It shook them out of their wits!
Rattled their bones to bits!
Then they opened their eyes
and the nightmare was here!

As the disjointed melody echoed off the walls, the effects of Tirek statue returned, stronger than before and now with an undercurrent of fear from the added enchantment.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Lyra shouted, horn glowing a little bit brighter. In contrast to the ghul melody, Lyra’s original tune actually slowed slightly, taking on an almost restful quality to it. Taking a deep breath, she fixed a glare on the leader and began to sing back at him.

Now is the time to seize the day
Stare down the odds and seize the day
Minute by minute, that’s how you win it
We will find a way.

Her magic radiated outwards quenching the dark light that hung around their hocks. The dark conductor jerked back with a surprised caw before glaring and redoubling his efforts.

We’re hungriest beasts in all Naqah!
When you came here you made a mistake!
We’ll make each of your pay!
Not one will get away!
Little pony, beware, T’arek’s awake!

The rest of the ghuls joined in now forming, in a perverse mockery of Lyra’s chosen profession, a backup chorus.

In the depths of the night, we’ll find you!
In the depths of the night, just before dawn!
Your meat will be sweet
When the curse is complete!
In the depths of the night, you’ll be gone!

Lyra shuddered at the lyrics, but played on, letting both magic and music flood the air around her, drawing the dark magic in. At the moment she was effectively acting both as anchor for her own enchantment and bulwark against the ghul’s attack. She just hopped that her magic wouldn’t give out on her.

But let us seize the day
Courage cannot erase our fear
Courage is when we face our fear!

Letting her magic take over the playing for a moment, she jabbed a hoof towards the statue of Tirek.

Tell those with power, safe in their tower
We will not obey!

Admittedly, Tartarus was about as far from a tower as one could be, but that was besides the point right now. She motioned to her friends and the army around her with both her forelegs, still glaring up at the ghul leader.

Behold the brave battalion that stands side by side
Too few in number and too proud to hide
I say to all others
I will not stutter and we will not fall to you!

The leader now began to grow incensed at Lyra’s continued resistance and began to direct his lyrics directly at her.

I can feel that my powers are slowly growing
A slash of my claws and you won’t be well!
As the pieces fall into place
I’ll see you crawl into place!
Your power’s a disgrace, now farewell!

Dark lightning flew from the tip of the staff’s black crystal, striking the statue of Tirek directly between the eyes. Their glow grew more intense, and more dark magic flooded into the chamber to another cheerful verse from the ghuls.

In the depths of the night, terror will strike you!
In the depths of the night, evil will brew!
Soon you will feel, that your nightmares are real
In the depths of the night
You’ll be through!

The blackness closed in on Lyra specifically now, engulfing her field of vision for a moment. When it cleared, it seemed that day had turned to night. Sparing a quick glance around her, she yelped and almost lost control of her spell at what lay all around her. Her friends, not moving and not breathing either. Squeezing her eyes closed, she focused on her playing. That ghul was just trying to break her concentration. Well, two could play at that game.

Opening her eyes, she now focused both magic and eyes on the flock’s head trouble marker and played faster.

Now is the time to seize the day
Stare down the odds and seize the day
Once we’ve begun
If we stand as one
Someday becomes somehow
And a hope becomes a vow!

And this ends right now!

Swiping a hoof across her strings, she sent a burst of magic racing towards the statue of Tirek. It hit with a loud twanging sound, the enchantment the ghul had placed upon it falling apart and the nightmare with it a moment later. The ghuls recoiled and shrieked for a moment, but a quick snap of the leader’s beak brought forth another chorus.

In the depths of the night evil will find you!
In the depths of the night terror comes through!

My dear, here’s the sign!
It’s the end of the line!

The chorus continued their near chant like chorus, beginning to hop and jump around the edge of the pit, their excitement reaching a fever pitch.

In the depths of the night….
In the depths of the night….

The leader thrust his staff skyward and the flock took the sky, swirling and wheeling above her head. Wings and bodies blacked out the remains of the noon sun, triumphant cackles filling the air now.

Fly my minions
Rise for our master!
Let your talons gleam!
Take them now, yes, fly ever faster!

In the depths of the night!
In the depths of the night!
In the depths of the night!

Lyra shuddered, taking a few shaky steps back as the leader took wing as well with a triumphant lyric.

THEY’LL BE OURS!

With the whole flock barreling down on them, Lyra dropped her buffing enchantment, trusting Trixie’s abjuration spell to carry its weight. Instead, she slashed a hoof hard across the strings, unleashing a raw wall of sound in a desperate brust. She could hear Parlak shouting commands behind her and the sound of armor rattling as spears were leveled to receive the charge. The leading edge of her sonic blast battered into the lead ghuls, sending a few cartwheeling away beak over claws, but the ones behind plunged on unheeding their brethren. Her friends stepped forward now to back her up, ready to fight-

She heard the whoosh of flame before she saw anything, the ghul flock was so thick. But then red, orange and yellow burst through the crowd, the resulting explosion sending multiple ghuls flying every direction, their feathers smoking from the intense heat of the magic. The sphere of flames plowed onwards, striking the floor with all the force of a thunderclap. As those flames faded away, the form of Yangin rose to her full height, mocking smirk in full force.

Without waiting for an answer, she threw her forelegs out to the sides, sending fresh torrents of flame screaming through the temple. Ghuls ducked, wheeled through the air and dove for cover behind the pillars in a desperate attempt to get away from the jinn that had appeared in their midst. In the chaos, Ditzy dropped through the hole in the ceiling landing with a bit of an ungainly stumble next to her friends.

Almost as if on cue, part of the temple wall burst outward, a collection of loose stone and soil scattering itself across the flagstones. Cheerilee stood in the entrance to a long and seemingly worked tunnel, grinning about as wide as any of her friends had seen her grin.

Cheerilee beamed right back, motioning for everyone to follow. “Yup! And I found the other end of this tunnel! It lets out about half-way back down the canyon. Let’s get going!”

“Go ahead!” She called, throwing a fireball over her back. The detonation flushed a half dozen ghuls out of their hiding spot from behind one of the legs of Tirek’s statue. “This was what I was made for. I’ll catch up with all of you on the other side.”

Parlak nodded once, already giving commands, the army beginning to advance towards the tunnel with weapons raised. A few of the ghuls that weren’t focused on Yangin noticed this and came charging their way.

She put a slight flick in her wrist on this one, letting the sound coil around their claws and yank them back to the ground. Raindrops charged forward as they hit the ground, her hooves lashing out in a flurry of strikes, sending them slumping to the ground.

Her friends took the lead, galloping down the ancient hallway with a hammer of hooves. Then cames Parlak and the army bringing up the rear. Yangin watched them go with a satisfied nod, before turning to throw herself back into the battle. This was going to be fun!

Agha Scythe Claw watched his tribe’s feast stampede away from under his talons, free and unopposed. An explosion, followed by a bunch of pained screeches, echoed from the temple summoning a fresh round of rage from Scythe Claw. That cry was the reason all of this was falling apart! That jinn with power the likes of which he had never seen before.

Angrily clacking his beak, so hard that it threatened to crack, he swooped for his chamber. Tucking his wings close, he shot straight down the corridor, not bothering to land and walk the rest of the way. He flared his wings just before the altar to his lord, grabbing the small statue that he had always prayed to in a taloned hand. With his other, he bent a claw inwards, slicing open a small cut on the palm.

The blood was dripped onto the statue, disappearing as it was drunk by the stone. The little rubies for its eyes blazed to life, the magical connection to the dark below formed in an instant.

“My lord! A powerful jinn attack-strikes my tribe! I need much-much more power to kill-kill it!”

The dark voice that responded did so with the deep rumbling tones that he had come to expect.

“Camels and ponies dare to strike-strike my home! An example must-must be made!”

Scythe Claw nervously clacked his beak. T’arek asked for much. But if his tribe was to ever be powerful enough to collect food and plunder from the low landers, the jinn needed to die and the army needed to be destroyed.

A wave of blackness surged forward, enveloping Scythe Claw in a smothering blanket. Spasms wracked his body as the dark magic flooded in, warping flesh and twisting bone in its wake. And while the power flowed in, a flickering spark floated out, sputtering through the air before it was swallowed by the darkness of the statue. The magic sputtered out once the spark was swallowed, leaving Scythe Claw standing dazed.

As he pulled his mind back together he realized that his chamber looked smaller than it was before. Had he been able to look at himself, he would have realized that his eyes now glowed with a baleful red light.

It had been a long time since Yangin had fought like this. Not since she and Luna had their punch up now that she thought about it. And Luna had put up a better fight. Not that the ghuls weren’t trying their damndest. She’d almost feel bad for them if they weren’t a bunch of deranged, cannibalistic worshipers of a Tartarian monster.

A gesture ripped one of the pillars from the floor, a second flipped it horizontally, and a third pitched it across the room. It truly didn’t matter where. She had so many targets that it was ridiculous.The massive slab of stone cartwheeled through the air smashing many ghuls to the ground with its bulk. Their cries of pain elicited a dark chuckle from the jinn, as much as part of her didn’t want to.

Right now, she really was doing what she had been created to do. Fire was an element of war and destruction and fifteen hundred some odd years since her creation, despite many attempts otherwise, here she was burning ghuls. As angry as that made her though Yangin wasn’t in the mood to stop. They worshipped a Tartaurian monster. So they made good punching bags.

“And where is your god now?” She challenged with a mocking tone, forelegs spread wide.

The heavy flapping of wings filled her ears, a new larger ghul diving through the hole in the roof. It immediately dove for the massive statue of Tirek, perching between its horns. It was a hideous, malformed thing, with bulging muscles and glowing red eyes. Grabbing the horns in its malformed talons, magic cascaded across the statue’s surface to the glee of its rider.

The question of what the spell did was quickly answered. The statue ground to life, an equally twisted bright light appearing in the carved sockets that were its eyes. A mighty cawing cheer tore from the throats of the ghuls she hadn’t already dispatched, the tribe taking heart at the effigy joining the battle.

“Ahh...so there it is,” Yangin blinked. Not that she was worried. The clumsy nature of the statue would be easy to-

The ghul on the statue opened its beak. It was such a simple gesture, done with a bored energy. But as he did it Yangin felt a horrible chill, as cold as the deepest blast from a windego’s breath, tear through her insides. Magic streamed from her body and into the gaping beak of the ghul. She dropped like a stone, limbs flapping, tumbling head over tail. Snarling, she barely arresting her descent with a jet of flame fired directly beneath her. Gritting her teeth, Yangin threw a fireball right at the ghul to break the connection. With an angry shriek, it rolled backwards, hiding behind the statue’s head.

Galloping forward like an out of control train, the idol of Tirek brought both forehooves down on Yangin in a vicious stomp. She felt the flagstones crack and break under her body, doing their best impression of her ribs...if she had any. The idol reared up stomping again and again in a near frenzy of destruction. It kept grinding her past the flagstones, deeper and deeper into the ground with its bulk. Under the grinding, punishing assault, Yangin did something that she hadn’t done in centuries.

Cheerilee whipped her head around, the scream she heard still echoing off the walls. Her friends had looked as well and Ditzy was looking quite concerned as well.

Trixie nervously licked her lips. “What, exactly, could make her scream like that?”

“Not sure. But I’m going to find out.” Cheerilee said, beginning to push her way past the soldiers, Ditzy right behind her.

Cheerilee took a deep breath. “It’s my fault she’s here. I forced her to lead us here. Not to mention she helped me and just saved your hides. I’m not going to leave her to get crushed by whatever that is!”

“Her rescue will mean nothing if you go back there and fall!” Parlak snapped. “And if you fall, then Equestria and Naqah may fall with you! Are you truly going to say that one jinn is worth the fate of two nations?”

Pushing onwards through the soldiers, she smiled as the rest of her friends fell in behind her. Despite their occasional disagreements, they could count on each other to have their backs. At an order, the crowd split to give them room to pass and Cheerilee began to gallop for the pit. But when the sound of dozens of hoof falls filled the tunnel behind her, she spared a quick glance.

“I was assigned to be your guide and guard. If you are going to do something foolish, then it will be done with proper backup.”

Mentally chuckling, Cheerilee lowered her head and ran as fast as she could. She had made a promise to Yangin, and she was going to keep it!

Thick limbs of of obsidian raised to continue the assault, the cackling of the ghuls an unending cachoughny of mockery. If it hadn’t been for the magical nature of her body, Yangin was pretty sure that she’d be dead from that punishment.

Snarling, she tapped into her earth magic, sinking straight into the ground. At that moment, Cheerilee’s transgression against her was all but forgotten. This Tirek worshiping vermin had just tried to eat her magic. Her magic! She was a jinn, she was basically nothing but magic!

Reaching into both her own magic and the elemental power infused into the very stones around her. To that she added some of her own nature. The bubbling rage and power of fire. Even in the depths of the earth, she could feel the heavy hoof falls of the statue above her head. Taking her laced elemental magic, she gave it a twisting flick. Elemental power twisted up and with another push, exploded outwards. She smiled wide as it punched forward. Earth plus fire equalled magma!

She followed behind the spell, pulling the flame back out of the magma as it engulfed the idol. Without the fire to make it lava, it solidified back to stone and rock. Leaping into the air, she landed on the statue’s back, ready to show that ghul the error of its ways.

A condensed ball of shadow crashed into her from behind, unfolding into the ghul. The icy chill of the magic drain returned as it dug into her hump. Yangin groaned, her legs beginning to buckle as the very essence of her being was being drained away. She grasped at the fraying threads of spell power, seizing upon her inner flame magic. She engulfed the whole of her body in a roar of magic and fire. The ghul sprang off of her, landing neatly in front of her.

“Rat-rat? No-no. Ruler. Leader. Powerful,” it said, tapping a claw to its chest. Then it turned that same claw to Yangin with a twisted smile. “Weapon. No more.”

Kicking off from the statue she soared into the air, with an ungainly motion. Every inch of her body hurt, the threads of magic that kept her intact as a living, thinking being threatening to unravel. But she had barely risen a few feet above the shadow when the agony of the magic drain returned. Dropping from the air like a stone, she smacked snout first into the floor.

So...this is it…. Eaten by ghuls. Have to say, that I didn’t see this coming.

She idly wondered what she’d face when it was all over. Would she go on to whatever fate awaited normal creatures? Or as a being of pure magic, would she just stop existing, with no creature to mourn her passing? Whatever it was, she was going to find the answer soon.

The battle cry came roaring out of the once choked passage and was quickly followed by a squawk mixed with surprise and pain.

Yangin barely was able to force herself upright again, stumbling to turn back towards her attacker. Raindrops was standing resolutely between the ghul leader and herself, wings flared and twitching with nervous energy. She was crouched down coiled and ready to strike, her muscles almost rippling under her coat.

The rest of her friends, buckethead and his troops had come storming back into the chamber and right into the ghuls. Lyra played away, attacking the emotional enchantment on the room, while the charge tore through the flock, scattering the tribe like leaves before the wind.

The ghul had opened his mouth again and Raindrops, preparing herself for a physical attack, yelped as her magic was struck at instead. Beating her wings like mad, she tried to pull away, only for them to go limp. Her cutie-mark was fading away, right before Yangin’s eyes. She struggled to raise a hoof, and send a jet of flame into that ghul’s stupid beaked face. But her magic wasn’t listening to her anymore.

But Cheerilee and Parlak came rushing in, pony from behind and camel from the side. Much to Yangin’s surprise, the camel commander moved to step between Raindrops and the ghul. The flow of magic drain ended immediately, Parlak twisting pivoting into a sweeping strike with his saber. The ghul leader jumped back from the razor sharp weapon edge and right into Cheerilee.

Yangin blinked as the pony that had bound her to this trip, sprang up, grabbed the ghul by his long neck and pulled back as hard as she could. Her weight bent it back, leaving the leader staring at one of the far walls. Angrily screeching, he reached and clawed at the pony that was now latched onto the small of his back.

Shaking her head to clear it, Raindrops slalomed past Parlak, spun around and delivered a powerful buck right to the ghul’s stomach. He was unwilling to fall however and let loose another angry shriek.

Black magic burst from his body, coiling around and engulfing Cheerilee in it’s dark grip. So ensnared, a few more tendrils lashed out from the mass, grabbing the ground and pulling Cheerilee away. She hit the ground, shuddering, eyes wide in what Yangin could only assume was fear. A moment later, the magic drain struck her as the ghul turned his attention on his latest attacker.

Parlak charged forward again, once more placing himself between ghul and pony. It took Yangin a moment to realize why. Camels, unlike ponies and herself, did not have an internal well of magic to take.

Gritting her teeth, Yangin extended her senses outwards reaching deep into the ground around her. Made from the bones of the natural world as she was, Yangin ripped the earth magic forth and poured it into her own form to shore up what had been taken. Magic and legs stabilizing, she threw herself into the air, shooting out of the pit.

She climbed into the sky, the natural flow of the wind, bolstered her further. While wind magic may have been beyond her purview to control directly, that didn’t mean she didn’t get any benefit from its existence.

It was a bit of irony that fire needed air to exist but too much would make flame sputter and die, a relationship that had been carried along into her existence. And now the warm sunlight and billowing mountain winds were making her feel almost normal.

Glaring angrily down at the pit, she extended her magical senses into the air around her, pumping both water and fire into it. Clouds gathered with a frightening speed, twisting and churning through the air. Forming dark and heavy, they billowed, grew and grew again beginning to resemble a massive thunderhead. But the darkness within them didn’t signal the presence of rain. Oh no. On and on she swirled and churned the clouds, whipping it into a near frenzy of a stormfront.

Eighty feet below, Raindrops looked up at her work. Yangin couldn’t make out what she said from this distance but after a some wild gestures, ponies and camels stampeded back to the cover of the tunnel.

A moment later, the deformed ghul leader came screaming out of the pit, those of his tribe that hadn’t run right behind him. Yangin reached into the stormcloud now seeding it with fire magic as well and then waited. Once the ghul leader drew within twenty feet of her, Yangin threw her forelegs forward and unleashed her prepared malestrom.

Fireballs and choking ash alike rained down in a furious torrent. Ghuls were blasted from the sky, wheeling away with seared feathers and other burns. Explosions of heat and power detonated across the floor of the canyon, adding to the black char patterns on the stone. Ghuls shrieked, dove for cover, ran and flew in every direction. Anything to escape the wrath of the jinn. But the vast majority of her spell was aimed right at the leader who had dared to try and eat her magic.

It opened its beak wide, drawing in the magic of the spell as it approached. At first. But the ongoing flurry of elemental power pushed on, bursting and slipping past his efforts en masse. Flame twitched and wracked its body, almost juggling the cursed creature in mid air.

The anger that surged through Yangin felt good to her. Every creature wanted to use her power. Every creature treated her like a thing to be used. “A weapon am I? A wind up toy!?” she bellowed now urging even more lightning to develop in the depths of the cloud. “Such grand words coming from a puppet of being locked away in pit in the ground! And just because your average jinn is as smart as a houseplant doesn’t mean that I deserve to be treated like a damned tool!”

The built up fire strained at her magic grip, beginning to reach the limits of her control. So, with a snort, she pointed at the ghul leader and let it loose.

Raindrops practically jumped at the latest explosion that rumbled high above her head. It was nearly as if Corona herself had just been unleashed on Naqah and the only thing that was protecting them from that wrath was a few tons of stone between them and the fireballs.

She felt sick and it wasn’t just because of the ash that she and her friends could see raining into the pit. Twisting her head about, she peered at her cutie-mark, still faded to the point of almost being gone. Cheerilee’s hoof rested on her back, the magenta colored mare’s expression anxious. Her own mark was also faded, but no where nearly as bad as Raindrop’s was.

Sighing, Raindrops leaned against her friend. “It was the right call. You promised to let her go once we got the army. And she did save us.”

Another massive explosion shook the stones above their head, Carrot Top wincing at the rumble.

“Well, those ghuls did try to eat us and drain her magic,” Trixie said, “so, I for one don’t really blame her.”

Parlak shrugged. “The greater jinn were created with great destructive power. Like many things with such power, it depends on where they are aimed.”

Straining their ears, the group could indeed hear- or rather, not hear- the sounds of explosions anymore. The rain of ash was slowing too, a magical tingle beginning to fill the air. Creeping forward to the edge of the tunnel to look for the source, Raindrops immediately jumped back as Yangin hit the temple floor with a distinctively loud thwack.

Panting, the jinn pointed a hoof skyward. “The ghuls...won’t bother you anymore... or anyone else probably, for a good long while… I think I put the fear of The Prophet into them.”

“I will be...I just need to rest...let my magic come back. Yours should come back too now that the big guy is….gone.”

With that, she fell apart into a rush of flame, flowing into the depths of her anklet.

Trixie, looking quite drained herself, leaned against Ditzy for support, sighed. “Sometimes, I wonder if she takes anything seriously.”

A bottle of ether appeared in Carrot Top’s hoof and Trixie sighed again, holding her nose with one hoof before drinking the potion down as quickly as possible. She still hated how the mixture tasted..

“At this point," announced Parlak, "we might as well push through the rest of Blackstone Pass on our own. While I have no doubt that Yangin shook them up, we shouldn’t linger. The ghuls will regroup if we tarry to long,”

“Agreed!" replied Lyra as she wiped her lips after drinking her a bottle of ether herself. "Let’s recover all our equipment and get out of here. The sooner we leave behind this forsaken pit the better.”

With their decision made, the expedition set off once more, determined to face whatever might be waiting in the depths of the ruined capital.

Chasing Smoke

by GreyGuardPony

The Battle of Blackstone Pass