//------------------------------//
// Broken Dreams 
// Story: Dark Matter 
// by moguera 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 14: Broken Dreams

For a long moment, Scootaloo stared at Inkwell's unmoving figure.  She was panting, almost gasping for breath.  Her body was soaked with sweat and her limbs were shaking.  She had no idea she'd been working so hard.  But now that the battle was over, all of that exertion was taking its toll.  But the battle wasn't over yet...at least, Scootaloo wasn't certain that it was over yet.
She didn't want to check, but, at the same time, knew she had to.  She had an obligation to make sure that Inkwell was truly out of the fight and that she wouldn't come back to cause problems at a later time.  However, she was terrified of what she would find.  The time had come to see whether or not she had ended up killing another pony.  Though she'd told Arkenstone that she was prepared for this possibility, the reality of being a killer was still something she wasn't truly ready to accept.
Gulping Scootaloo took off and flew, tracing the trench her attack had torn through the earth, following it to its ultimate end.  Her path took her past the wall and across the street, where Inkwell lay up against the side of another building, its wall cracked from the force of the mare's impact and the wind driving her.  Scootaloo's stomach churned as she got her first good look at the mare.
There was no question that Inkwell was no longer a threat.  Even if the mare managed to miraculously get back on her hooves, she wouldn't be using her magic anymore.  The cracked horn was now gone.  In its place was a jagged stump, slowly oozing blood as fragments of the horn littered the ground around her.  One of them was even imbedded in the wall like a piece of shrapnel.
That wasn't the only injury Inkwell had suffered.  All four of her limbs lay at awkward angles.  One of the bones in a hind leg had snapped and actually broken through the skin.  Its white color contrasted sharply with the blood spilling from the room, forming a crimson pool right beneath the injury.  Inkwell's chest looked slightly deformed and the mare's muzzle was bent crookedly, more blood seeping out of her nose and mouth.  Those soulless black eyes were no longer visible, the lids having closed.
Scootaloo wanted to vomit.  Her stomach was violently trying to reject its contents and send them back up and out through the filly's mouth.  She forced the feeling down mercilessly and leaned in, putting an ear up against Inkwell's now offset nose, praying silently.
She heard it faintly, just the barest whisper of breath.  Inkwell was alive...for now.  But with injuries like those, she wasn't likely to last for long.  Scootaloo was torn.  She had a battle to see through to the end.  After all, Twilight still needed rescuing and the Elements of Harmony had to be recovered.  But, at the same time, she didn't feel she could abandon a critically injured mare like this, even if she had done unspeakable things in the past and had been trying to kill Scootaloo only a few minutes ago.
The click of hooves against the stone street caught her ears and Scootaloo looked up, her body going tense as she turned to face what might be a new threat.  However, she relaxed a little when she saw a small formation of Royal Guards with none other than Shining Armor at their head.
"Geez," said the stallion, his eyes going wide, "I was debating whether or not to go through the front gate.  I guess it's a good thing I heard you fighting out back here."
"Yeah," said  Scootaloo, looking down at the mare, "Can you help her?"
Shining's eyes went to Inkwell and hardened as he glared at the mare.  He knew for certain that she had personally killed two of his ponies.  Part of him wanted to let her bleed out on the street.  However, one look at Scootaloo and the worried, tortured look on her face snuffed that anger out.  If Inkwell was going to die, it should be on his watch.  There was no need to let a filly become a killer at such a young age if he could help it, even if she had legitimate reasons for doing so.  Besides, Inkwell and the few of her cohorts who managed to survive this affair would still need to stand trial when all was said and done.
"We'll do what we can," he said, nodding to one of the unicorns behind him.  The mare stepped forward, clearly reluctant to help a pony that had murdered her comrades.  However, her horn flashed and she set a stasis spell on Inkwell to hold her body until she could be treated.  Such spells were mandatory for Guard unicorns so that they could aid their comrades if they were injured in the field.
"You've done really well," said Shining, smiling down at Scootaloo, "I think Dawn would be proud of you."
That brought a smile to the filly's face.  She forced it back down a moment later.  "I've got to get back," she said, "Rumble might need help."
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" asked Shining.
Scootaloo grinned and nodded.  "Yeah.  After fighting her, the rest of this should be a cinch."
"Okay then..." said Shining feeling a little dubious.  Statements like that were bad omens after all.  Still, he felt he could trust in Scootaloo a little more after what he'd just seen her do.
The filly flew back towards the mansion whilst the other members of the Royal Guard looked to Shining.  He could tell that they were reluctant to leave the fate of such an important operation in the hooves of foals.  But Shining felt that they would probably do better than he or his subordinates could manage in this situation.
"Set up a perimeter," he said, "We'll make sure that none of the Baron's lackeys get away when this is all over."
The authority in his voice erased all traces of doubt in his ponies and they quickly moved to obey him.  They hesitated when they heard a familiar, bestial howl echoing out from the estate, a sound many of them remembered hearing during the enemy raid on the Palace the other day.  Be safe kids, thought Shining as he took one last glance at Scootaloo's receding form.  He hoped that they would make it through this.  He didn't want to face Twilight if she found that foals had been hurt attempting to help her.



Greenblight's trademark roar was not what it used to be.  It now sported a watery, gurgling quality.  Along with that, the foam around his mouth was now flecked with streaks of red as he spat blood every time he made a sound.  Rumble had delivered several solid blows to the stallion's side and stomach.  He'd held back somewhat out of a reluctance to do too much damage.  While he wasn't an anatomy expert, Rumble did remember the biology lessons Cheerilee had taught, primarily the fact that, behind the muscles of the stomach area, a pony's body was full of soft and squishy organs.  Rumble didn't want to be the one to squish those organs when all was said and done.  Maybe it was imprudent of him, but he wanted to do everything possible to avoid killing his opponent.  Greenblight couldn't keep his berserk rage up forever and when it passed, the stallion would collapse like a sack of potatoes.
I've just got to make sure he doesn't kill me in the meantime, thought Rumble nervously as he slipped around another flailing slash from Greenblight's scythe.  With only one foreleg, the stallion could barely manage to swing the heavy weapon.  As a result, his attacks were all too easy to avoid.
Beating his wings to gain altitude, Rumble climbed into the air above Greenblight and launched his meteor hammer straight down, aiming for the spot right between Greenblight's wings.  The scarred stallion was twisting, turning around to continue his pursuit of the colt and, as a consequence, the steel weight ended up slamming into his right wing where it met his shoulder.  The wing suddenly began to move erratically and Greenblight was no longer able to keep himself in the air.  As he fell, he continued to roll his body  over so that he could swing the scythe at Rumble one last time.  It was a futile gesture as the colt simply rose a little higher, which, along with Greenblight's own fall, carried him easily out of the reach of the weapon.
Greenblight slammed down onto the floor with loud thud, sprawling out on his back.  Rumble winced and averted his eyes slightly, hoping that the fall wasn't enough to kill the stallion.  Looking down, he could see Greenblight's three intact limbs flailing in the air as though the stallion were still trying to reach up and somehow magically pull his enemy down to him.  His eyepatch was askew, revealing a mass of scar tissue where his other eye had once been.  The sight of the ruined socket made Rumble want to retch.  The scythe lay nearby on the floor, forgotten.  Its blade, which had already lost its tip the the wall earlier, had snapped in half.  The shaft had cracked and split partway along its length.
From the twitching, shifting motion of Greenblight's body, it was clear that he was trying to get his hooves back under him and continue the battle, even if he had no way of reaching Rumble now.  Rumble simply opted to continue hovering well out of reach, watching his opponent cautiously.  Even if he had clearly won, there was no telling if the stallion had some other method of violence at his disposal.
Gradually, Greenblight's motions began to slow.  His legs lowered and the stallion's angry snarls were replaced by wet, watery coughs.  Finally, he lay still, gasping and hacking.  A minute later, he began to groan as the berserk rage that had possessed him only moments before completely subsided and the collective pain of his injuries and exertions set in fully.
"Th-this is...this is impossible," coughed Greenblight, pausing to spit out another gob of bloody spittle, "I can't have lost to...a foal."
"You did."
Both Rumble and Greenblight looked over to see Arkenstone walking through the ballroom doors.  Behind the stallion, Rumble could see the still forms of numerous ponies...or rather, what was left of numerous ponies.  It seemed that the Banehammers had fought to the last and Arkenstone had dispatched them with ruthless efficiency.  Rumble felt an icy chill go down his spine and he paled as he forced himself to look away from the corpses.
As Arkenstone approached, Rumble finally came down to land next to him as the blind stallion reached out and gently ran a hoof through Rumble's mane.  "That was well done, especially for your first real battle."  His smile widened and his ears twitched at the sound of an incredulous cough from Greenblight.  "That's right.  Not only did this child defeat you, this was also his first real experience with a life or death battle.  Thank you for making sure it was a valuable one.  I don't doubt he gained a great deal from this."
"Um..."  Rumble looked back and forth between the two stallions, trying to take in Arkenstone's smug demeanor and Greenblight's expression of disbelief.
"Hey!  Are you guys all right in here?" asked Scootaloo as she came flying in through the windows.
"We're fine," said Arkenstone, his muzzle turning up towards her, "How did you fare?"
"I won," said Scootaloo, though the look on her face indicated that she wasn't very happy about that.  There was another disbelieving exclamation from Greenblight.  "Shining Armor is here with the Royal Guard.  I think they're setting up outside."
"Good," said Arkenstone, sniffing in Greenblight's direction, "Rumble didn't deal anything too life threatening.  This one will keep for a little while.  Now it's time to find Twilight."
Even as those words left Arkenstone's mouth, an explosion sounded from upstairs.  One of the ballroom walls along the upstairs balcony exploded outward, sending a rain of small debris falling downwards.  A quartet of armored ponies in Elderflower's colors were sent sprawling along the balcony, one smashing through the railing, his hindquarters hanging off and threatening to drag him off the balcony to the unforgiving floor below.  However, a violet aura surrounded his body and yanked him back onto the balcony before he could fall off.
Twilight Sparkle, clad in silvery armor, emerged from the newly opened hole in the wall, a cold expression on her face.  However, as she looked down from the balcony and spotted Arkenstone, her eyes widened.  Her stern countenance melted into an exuberant smile.  "Arky!" she exclaimed.  Turning around, she smiled and beckoned to someone behind her.  "You see, Coco.  I told you everything would be fine."
"Th-that's wonderful," said Coco, a note of skepticism in her voice as she crept out onto the balcony.  However, she relaxed a little when she saw Arkenstone and the foals.  Then, when she saw who was lying on the floor a short distance away, her eyes widened and she gasped.
Twilight also noticed the foals.  "Scootaloo...Rumble...?  What are you doing here?"
She would have teleported down, but Twilight knew that there were still some of Elderflower's guards left, plus who knew how many mercenaries.  The Banehammers might not have been the only mercenary force he had on his payroll.  Instead, she led Coco to one of the spiral staircases leading down to the ground floor so that she could walk to Arkenstone.  As she approached, she came around the edge of the ballroom doors and saw the mess her special somepony had left in the main entryway.  Her eyes widened and Twilight went pale.  Looking back, she could see that Coco hadn't yet reached an angle that would allow her to see out into the entryway yet.  Thinking quickly, Twilight gripped both of the ballroom doors in her magic and slammed them shut.
Coco looked at Twilight in confusion as the lavender mare took a moment to collect herself.  Finally, she managed to give Arkenstone a questioning look.  Though he couldn't see it, Arkenstone seemed to sense her silent inquiry and shook his head slowly.  "They refused surrender and fought to the last," he said softly.
Swallowing hard, Twilight nodded.  Then, she turned to look at Rumble and Scootaloo, who were still watching the reunion nervously.  "Why did you bring them?" she asked.
"They volunteered," said Arkenstone, "After they agreed to my terms, I decided to put my trust in them.  In all honesty, they saved my life a few minutes ago.  If they hadn't separated Greenblight and Inkwell from the rest of their soldiers, they might well have been too much for me.
Turning back, Twilight could see that Arkenstone was not in the best of shape.  Though he hadn't been injured, he was apparently in pain, breathing a good bit harder than usual.  Beneath his beige coat, his skin was also a little pale.  Clearly, his injuries from Terra Heart were still bothering him.  In spite of that, he had taken on several dozen heavily-armed mercenaries.
"Oh Arky," said Twilight softly, reaching up with a hoof to gently caress his cheek, "You shouldn't push yourself like that."
"I'll be fine," said Arkenstone, "I am no stranger to fighting while injured.  Admittedly, I'm in a bit worse shape this time around than usual.  The Banehammers were no slouches either."
Coco was silent throughout the exchange, staring incredulously at Greenblight, who was still coughing and moaning on the floor.  The whole experience felt surreal to her.  Here he was, the stallion who had terrified and threatened her, who'd once held the blade of that now-broken scythe to her throat and demanded she follow his orders lest said blade lop her head off.  But now he was helpless, only capable of twitching and groaning in pain.  From the sound of things, Inkwell wasn't much better off.  These ponies had made the past few weeks a living Tartarus for her.
Does that mean...? she wondered, Doest that mean it's really over?  Is everything really going to be all right?
"Hey," said a tentative voice from her side.  Looking down, Coco stared at Scootaloo, who was looking up at her worriedly.  Coco let out a tiny gasp as she saw the grayish-purple ribbon wrapped around Scootaloo's neck.  "Are you okay?" asked Scootaloo.
"Yes," said Coco after a moment's hesitation, "I think I am."
"You said Shining and the Royal Guard were outside?" asked Arkenstone, turning his attention to the filly.
"Yeah," said Scootaloo.
"Then could you and Rumble escort Coco out and make sure that she is safely in their custody?" requested Arkenstone, giving Scootaloo a proud smile, "You fought well.  But now it's time to complete your mission.  You came here to help out Coco and Twilight, correct?"
Scootaloo nodded, while Coco brought a hoof to her mouth.  They came here for me...after what I did...  Her eyes began to water.  The feathers of a pegasus' wing gently brushed against her side and Coco looked over to see that Rumble had come up next to her.
"It's going to be okay," he said, giving her a reassuring smile, "Let's go."
"A-all right," said Coco.  Scootaloo and Rumble began to lead her to the opposite end of the ballroom and the doors that led out to the backyard.
Twilight watched them go, smiling fondly, glad to see that Coco was going to be all right.  Coming up next to her, Arkenstone gently nuzzled her cheek.  "I've never been so scared in all my life as I was when I found out somepony had taken you," he admitted.
Twilight couldn't help but giggle as she returned the nuzzle.  "And here I thought you'd been teaching me to handle myself."
"That I did," agreed Arkenstone, "But, as Fluttershy can no doubt tell you, knowing how strong the pony you care about is doesn't make it any easier when they are gone."
"True enough," said Twilight.  Her smile dropped.  "I guess it's time to end this."
"Yes," said Arkenstone, "We'll need to track down Elderflower before he gets away with the Elements.  I'm sure I can pick up his scent somewhere."
"There's no need for that," said Twilight with a smirk, "I tagged him with a tracking spell the last time I saw him.  He didn't even notice.  I can teleport us right to him."
Arkenstone sniffed sharply and tilted his head up.  A few seconds later, Twilight realized why.  Hooves pounded as more armored ponies in Elderflower's colors spilled out of the hallways leading into the ballroom and the balcony above.  After beating down several of the Baron's guards already, Twilight found herself wondering just how many Elderflower had on his payroll.
"Perhaps you should go on ahead," said Arkenstone, "I will deal with things here."
Twilight swallowed and turned to regard her coltfriend.  She had gotten a glimpse of the carnage Arkenstone had unleashed upon the Banehammers in the main entryway.  She shuddered to think that the ballroom would end up in a similar state.  If Elderflower's guards didn't back down, Arkenstone would slaughter any who dared try to fight back.  She didn't want to see him paint another room with blood.
Still, she decided to have faith in him, knowing that Arkenstone would never spill blood unnecessarily.
"I'm off," she said, closing her eyes an concentrating.  It was the work of a few seconds to get a fix on the tracking spell she'd planted on Elderflower.  Her horn blazed and Twilight vanished in a burst of violet light, leaving Arkenstone alone, facing the remainder of Elderflower's forces.
Grim-faced ponies began to advance on the lone stallion, but froze in place as a powerful sense of fear settled over them like a heavy, smothering blanket.  The source of that feeling was Arkenstone as he once again opened his eyes.  "I do not have much patience for foolishness to begin with.  What little I had today has already been pushed to its limit.  Before any of you so much as think to start this battle, I would advise you to take a look in the next room."  With a faint hissing and whistling noise, Arkenstone's blades flashed, moving faster than the eye could see.  They sliced the ballroom doors to pieces, sending chunks of wood crashing to the floor and revealing the blood-soaked tableau that lay beyond them.  Many of Elderflower's guard paled as they looked through the doors.
"That is going to be your fate if you insist upon seeing this through to the end," promised Arkenstone, "I am not in the mood for games, particularly not with the likes of you.  If there are any among you who value your lives, you will drop your weapons and surrender...Now!"



Twilight reappeared, blinking away the lights of her own magic as she sought to get her bearings in her new surroundings.  She was in a wide hallway with numerous doors, evenly spaced, running down either side.  The way was lit by several lanterns.  A short distance down was an intersection with another hallway.  From her position, Twilight could see even more doors down that other hallway.  Given that she knew the Baron had been below her when she first teleported, she figured that this must have been the basement and the barracks for Elderflower's guard, as well as where he had been billeting the Banehammers when they stayed here.
Her ears twitched as she picked up a low scraping noise, the sound of something large and heavy being dragged across the floor.  Elderflower appeared around the corner of the intersection, grunting and straining as he struggled to move something with his magic, often tossing his head and making pulling motions with his body, as though he were physically harnessed to his burden.
Twilight could easily recognize the signs of a unicorn who didn't do much heavy lifting with his magic if he was still defaulting to such pointless physical gestures.  But that made sense.  The Baron was a pony who did everything possible to keep from getting his hooves dirty.  He left the hard work to others and only made an actual effort of his own if he was left with absolutely no other option.
During one of his tugs, the Baron caught sight of Twilight out of the corner of his eye, standing there with one eyebrow raised, as though she were genuinely bemused by his current predicament.  Elderflower's heart leapt into his throat as the ramifications of her presence sank in.  There was no sign that his guards were still pursuing her.  She hadn't a scratch on her and she was regarding him as though he was no threat whatsoever.
"Having trouble, Lord Baron?" asked Twilight, applying a mocking inflection to those last two words, making her verbal acknowledgment of his rank into an insult.
Elderflower wanted to say something...anything...  But instead, he simply stood there and stared at Twilight.  He'd had her at his mercy.  She had been in his home, under his authority.  He'd been in control the entire time.  And yet, in less than an hour, everything had come crashing down.  Now Elderflower was reduced to fleeing through the basement of his own manor, forced to take on the burden of carrying the Elements himself, as though he were some lowly beast of burden.  How had everything fallen apart so completely?
"It's over Elderflower," said Twilight, "It's time to give up."
In spite of his current situation, Elderflower's lips twitched up in a smile.  "It's over?  My dear Dame Sparkle, I'm afraid I've only just begun."
Twilight's peytral clanked loudly as she smacked it in lieu of her own face.  "For Celestia's sake...you did not just say that.  What in the world did you take for your electives at school, Cliche Villainy 101?"  Silently, she did acknowledge that it was partially her fault for hoofing him a straight line like that.
Elderflower seemed a little nonplussed that Twilight was not taking his words seriously.  It took a moment for it to sink in that she truly didn't regard him as a threat any longer.  "You arrogant brat.  I have given you every opportunity to be a part of something great, something noble.  I gave you the chance to assume a role befitting your current rank and the opportunity to rise beyond the meager station of your birth.  Despite that, you've spurned me, thrown away everything that would be yours...And for what...commoner sentiment?  How could a pony like you possibly be entrusted with the Elements of Harmony?"
"Maybe because I understand them better than you ever will," replied Twilight, "I know how the Elements work.  The things you dismissed a sentiments and platitudes are actually the core of the Elements' power.  They don't draw their strength from magic in the unicorn sense.  It comes from something deeper, something greater."
"Ridiculous!" snapped Elderflower, "The sixth Element's name is Magic.  There is nothing else it could possibly be."
"If that was true, then we probably wouldn't have needed the Elements to beat Discord," said Twilight, "But the truth is, we could throw our unicorn magic at him all we wanted and it would do nothing.  More of the same wouldn't accomplish anything.  That's why the Elements worked, because they weren't simply an extension of what we unicorns can already do.  They're a power that exists beyond the boundaries of tribe and class."  Her eyes narrowed.  "But that's beside the point.  Give up the Elements.  I'm taking them back where they belong."
Elderflower let out a wordless snarl and used his magic to flip the lid of the chest up, revealing the Elements in their resting places.  Then, he wrenched out the tiara decorated with the six-pointed star of Twilight's cutie mark and held it over the floor.  "I will give up nothing," said Elderflower, "Even if I cannot escape with the Elements, there is no way that I would allow them to fall back into your hooves.  I would sooner smash them than give them up."
With an angry groan, Twilight rolled her eyes in exasperation.  "Oh for Celestia's sake, I'm getting sick of this.  If you want to smash the Elements, be my guest."
Elderflower blinked in confusion for a second before his anger returned.  "Don't you dare underestimate me.  I will do it!"
"Let me help you with that then," said Twilight, her aura taking hold of the Element of Magic.  Carelessly wrenching it free from Edlerflower's magical grip, Twilight hurled it down to the floor.  The star-shaped gem shattered like glass, the golden metal of the tiara warped from the impact.  The Element of Magic now seemed to be nothing more than a mass of twisted gold wire surrounded by fragments of shattered gemstones.
"What have you done?" cried Elderflower, backpedaling away from the mess.  He'd never expected Twilight to call his bluff, much less carry it out for him.  "Are you insane?  How could you destroy something so important?"
Snorting derisively, Twilight strode forward, her approach causing Elderflower to fall back further.  "Weren't you the one threatening to destroy the Elements?  I just saved you some work.  Now quit yelling and just watch."
Closing her eyes, Twilight filled her mind with thoughts of her friends, the ponies she cared about most.  She thought of the Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadance.  She thought of her family, her parents and Shining Armor.  She thought of Coco Pommel, who'd endured so much at the hooves of Elderflower and his cronies.  She thought of Blueblood and Fancy Pants, who'd worked so hard behind the scenes to help her and her friends.  She thought of Arkenstone, the stallion she loved.  More and more ponies flashed through Twilight's mind and she felt a sense of tremendous warmth flow through her.  Smiling, Twilight basked in that warmth, letting it fill her.
As Elderflower watched, Twilight Sparkle's body began to glow.  Where it lay on the floor, the remains of the Element of Magic began to glow as well.  First the tiny gemstone fragments began to twitch, then rattle against the floor.  The bent and dented form of the tiara slowly lifted off the ground.  Yet, not so much as a spark issued from Twilight's horn.  The tiara seemed to dissolve into a stream of molten gold that began to swirl around Twilight's head, while the shining shards of gemstone orbited it like glittering stars.
Twilight opened her eyes, which blazed white like twin suns, their luminance almost blinding Elderflower as he was forced to avert his gaze.  His legs were trembling so much that it was all he could do to remain standing upright.  The stallion was certain that the harsh light from Twilight's eyes was going to scour him from the world.  The hallway was growing uncomfortably hot and Elderflower felt as though he was on the verge of bursting into flame.
Finally, the light faded and Twilight stood there.  Her armor was gone.  Instead, she now wore the tiara of the Element of Magic, whole once more.
"Impossible," gasped Elderflower.
Twilight couldn't quite keep the smug smile from her face.  "You wouldn't know," she said, "When my friends and I found the Elements, they were just a bunch of rocks.  Nightmare Moon shattered them right before my eyes.  It wasn't until I realized what the Elements were and why my friends were there that they took on the form that they have now.  The Elements aren't a bunch of cheap amulets.  You can't break them or smash them.  You can't simply hoof them over to somepony and expect them to work just because that pony might be good with magic.  They're so much more than that.
"That's why your plan has no hope of succeeding.  Unless the ponies you gave them to could truly embrace the virtues of Harmony; Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Loyalty, they'd wouldn't be able to do a thing with the Elements.  In your hooves, they're useless."
"No!" yelled Elderflower, stamping his hoof down, "I am the one who will bring true harmony to Equestria.  I will put things in their proper order and put everypony in their place.  I will never accept this mockery of harmony that you and Princess Celestia preach.  I was born to guide this nation to greatness!  That is my right, the right of all of noble birth."
"You're not bringing order," said Twilight, "You're throwing a fit because things aren't going the way you think they should.  Ponies have died and you've sown nothing but misery and pain with your schemes.  If that's your idea of order, I'd rather see Discord break out again before I support that."
Elderflower's eyes narrowed dangerously.  "So be it."  The tip of his horn lit up, the aura brown at first.  Then it turned white, becoming a blinding flash that forced Twilight to cover her eyes with a yell.  She heard the drum of Elderflower's hooves as he rushed past her.  Galloping down the hallway, Elderflower pulled open a door, rushed inside and slammed it shut behind him.  There was a click as a bolt slid into place and Twilight was left alone with the Elements.
When she opened her eyes again, it took Twilight a moment to get her vision back to normal and stop the random lights from blinking across her eyes.  Her first impulse was to go after Elderflower, but she could still sense her tracking spell on him.  She could find him easily enough.
But first, she had to get the Elements out.



Elderflower spit out curses as he tripped over a rock and went sprawling.  As he did, he scraped past a crystal formation, its sharp, jagged edges drawing lines of red across his coat.  With a grimace, Elderflower forced his hooves back under him.  He was glad that he'd excavated a passage into the Crystal Caverns.  The magical properties of the crystals would interfere with any attempts to trace him using magic.  He assumed that Twilight had used some sort of tracking spell on him, which would explain how she'd teleported down to him so easily.  However, she wouldn't be able to do that down here.  On top of that, these caverns were probably completely foreign to her.  A pony who was unfamiliar with the caverns could wander for weeks and not enter the same chamber twice.
Elderflower, on the other hoof, had invested a great deal of time and money in making sure that the caverns beneath his estate had been carefully investigated and mapped, complete with routes leading to the estates of his allies...not that he was heading to any of his fellow nobles for help.  Instead, Elderflower was making his way to the massive chamber that had been dubbed the Grand Hall of the Crystal Caverns.  It was a large, high-ceilinged cavern with a surprisingly clear floor, free from the abundance of crystal stalagmites found in other chambers.
It was large enough that well over a hundred ponies could assemble there.  When they had discovered it, Elderflower and his allies had decided to use it as a rallying point for the mercenaries they gathered as they planned for their assault on the Palace.  The raid had been implemented much earlier than planned and hadn't required such a massive force.  But the other nobles had not disbanded their forces yet.  After all, they were still useful in other capacities.
The plan had been to use the mercenaries to stage further attacks on the city of Canterlot and stir unrest and fear within the city for Elderflower and the others to quell once it reached fever pitch.  Doing so would be simple once Elderflower debuted the Elements of Harmony and their new wielders.  However, that plan had now been shot to the moon.
Still, Elderflower had no intention of giving up so easily.  I'll show the Princesses and Twilight Sparkle just who should be running this nation.  I will use our gathered forces to bring about such an eruption of chaos that, even with the Elements on her side, the Princesses won't be able to quell it.  I will plunge this city into anarchy and wash the streets with the blood of all those commoners.  Then Celestia will have no choice but to concede the necessity of the Noble Court.  It would be an easy task to carry out.  All Elderflower had to do was reach the chamber and give the orders and the assembled mercenaries would launch an all out attack on Canterlot.  He'd already sent the order for them to assemble a while ago in preparation for the original plan.  They would already be there, waiting for him, when he arrived.
With a final sprint, Elderflower burst into the Grand Hall, his mouth open, ready to start barking orders.  However, he came skidding to a halt at the sight before him, his voice dying before it left his lips and his jaw going slack with shock and horror.
The Grand Hall had become a mausoleum.  The cavern floor was covered with blood and entrails beneath the hacked and dismembered bodies of dozens of ponies.  One of the few crystal formations jutting out of the floor was decorated by the forms of pegasi impaled on the spears of crystal shards.  The walls were scorched and pitted from bolts of unicorn magic that had either missed their target or been deflected.  The floor, where it was visible through the gore, was cracked by the hooves of fighting earth ponies.
Only a dozen or so ponies remained alive and they were presently engaged in the process of dying horribly.  As Elderflower watched, the remaining mass of armed and armored ponies undulated as they surrounded and converged on something, earth ponies surging forward to crush their enemy beneath the weight of their armored bodies, whilst pegasi rose up to strike from the air.  From behind, unicorns launched bolts of eldritch power past their comrades, trying to strike down whoever was inside the center of their encirclement.
The light thrown off by the crystals flashed off something silver.  A pair of wings flashed out, slicing cleanly through armor of the finest steel as though it were paper.  Feathers attached to thin wires lanced out, slicing off limbs and piercing skulls.  A cream-colored colt danced amongst the hardened mercenaries, leaving naught but death and blood in his wake as he whirled through the mercenary formations like a dervish.  As Elderflower watched, Perlin Bluestreak cut down six of the remaining mercenaries with a single, elegant-looking spin before flaring out one wing and spearing most of the rest on wire-bound feathers.  The very last of the surviving mercenaries survived no longer as Perlin's wing parted his head from his body.
Only as the last of the assembled mercenaries slumped to the ground in pieces did Perlin finally notice Eldeflower's arrival.  Smiling jovially, the young stallion folded his wings, secreting them beneath his black cloak once again as he came at a trot towards Elderflower.  "Ah, Lord Baron, I figured I'd be seeing you one last time."
"What is the meaning of this?" demanded Elderflower, "How dare you betray me?"
Perlin canted his head at Elderflower.  "Betray you?  I'd think I've done a pretty good job serving you so far.  All I've done now is honor my contract with my employer."
"Honor your contract...  You've slaughtered my ponies and did nothing to defend my estate when it was attacked.  What in the world are you babbling about?  How is this honoring your contract with me?"
"It isn't," said another voice.  Looking over, Elderflower almost felt as though his eyes would leave their sockets as he saw who else was in the caverns.  Wight Shade's crimson eyes glittered with amusement as he approached.  The light of the crystals refracted off of the strange transparent substance that sheathed his off-white horn, becoming even stranger colors that swirled around him as he approached.
"Perlin's contract with you was at my behest," explained Wight, "I was the one who recommended and introduced him to you, if you'll remember.  However, at the time, I neglected to mention that I had already hired Perlin to work for me."
"Doing what?" demanded Elderflower.
"To work for you," replied Wight, "That is to say, I asked Perlin to serve as your pony until such a time that I no longer had any use for you, Lord Baron."
"Use...what use?" asked Elderflower, shaking with rage as he glared at Wight.
"Various things," said Wight with a shrug, "In all honesty, I mostly needed you to continue stirring things up here in Canterlot so that Celestia's attention wouldn't wander too far abroad.  That ended up working quite well for me.
"By the way, I would like to thank you for returning the Elements to Twilight Sparkle.  I am quite grateful that you went to such lengths to acquire them.  But now, it is best that they are returned to their proper place."
"You were the one who suggested I go forward with the plan to steal them in the first place," Elderflower pointed out, still trying to figure out just what was going on.
"Yes," admitted Wight with another shrug, "I was taking a bit of a gamble at the time.  Unfortunately, it didn't pay off as much as I was hoping, though I suppose your efforts did end up helping me in the end."
"You scum," snarled Elderflower, "After everything, you have the audacity to say that you were the one using me!  You are just a simpering court official that Princess Luna took in on a whim, out of sympathy.  You cannot even use magic, so you don't even deserve to be called a real unicorn."
That actually got a chuckle out of Wight.  "Well...I was lying a bit about not being able to use magic.  You see, due to the circumstances that left me with this..."  He gestured up to the off-white horn jutting up out of his forehead.  "...it is true that I have been rendered unable to use my magic in its original state.  However, rather than being reduced to not having magic at all, I actually ended up creating a new form of magic, one uniquely my own."
"Spare me your lies," growled Elderflower, stalking forward.
Perlin moved to intercept him, but Wight halted the young stallion with a raised hoof.  Turning his attention back to Elderflower, Wight smiled politely.  The next instant, a sound like that of a large balloon bursting filled the cavern.  Elderflower was blown off his hooves and sent slamming into a nearby wall with a cry of pain as he felt his ribs on one side crack under the force of impact.
There had been no flash of light from Wight's horn, no shimmering aura.  There was no visual evidence to indicate that a spell of any kind had been cast.  But the results were undeniable.  With a groan, Elderflower forced himself back onto his hooves.  Looking up at Wight, he shuddered with fear as Wight continued to smile politely down on him.
"As I said before," explained Wight, "I am most grateful for your assistance, Lord Baron, however unwilling and unwitting it may have been."
"You will pay for this," snarled Elderflower, "I will make you pay."
"No," replied Wight in a careless tone, "You won't.  Now then, I have promised Perlin that he would not have to worry about anypony going after Ms. Pommel again when all is said and done.  I believe you are the last pony who currently poses any threat to her."
Perlin took another step forward, but paused as Wight raised a hoof again.  "Seeing as I was the orchestrator of this situation, I believe I should take some responsibility towards cleaning it up.  Besides, I recently came up with a new 'spell' of sorts and have been looking for a test subject.  You will probably be as good as any, Lord Baron."
A shimmering ripple ran up the length of Wight Shade's horn.  To Elderflower's speechless horror, it began to change.  The seam that formed the horn's spiral slowly began to widen as the horn began to...uncoil...as though it had been made from a strip of some claylike substance that had been wound together, unwinding from a spiral into a loose helix.  At where the "horn" met Wight's forehead, a strange, unearthly light began to build, spreading slowly up through the center of the helix.  A strange buzz began to fill Elderflower's ears, making his teeth rattle and his organs squirm.  At first, he simply thought it was the spell itself.  However, as the light built, the buzz faded away, replaced by a lack of any auditory sensation so profound that Elderflower wondered if he had spontaneously gone deaf.
The light continued to grow, swallowing all of Elderflower's other senses.  His sense of smell went first, leaving Elderflower feeling as though his nose had vanished from his face.  After that went the sense of taste, turning Elderflower's tongue into nothing more than a lump of flesh within his mouth.  Finally, his sense of touch went as well.  The Baron felt as though his body had faded away from around him.  Even his sense of space and time were gone and the stallion found himself trapped within an endless moment that seemed to drag on forever.  The light built, swallowing everything until it was the only thing that Elderflower knew.
Perlin watched as the light faded and Wight Shade's horn began to draw back, once again winding up into the familiar spiral of its usual approximation of a normal unicorn horn.  Blinking, Perlin reached up with a hoof to rub his eyes.  As he did so, he felt another dull throb through his right hoof.  But the young stallion ignored it for the time being.  He had no words for what he had seen.  Wight's "magic," if it could truly be called that, was so alien that even its effects were hard to describe.  It was as though the light had been absorbed into Elderflower.  Perlin had seen what could only be described as shadows being washed away until Elderflower himself became a shadow...a shadow that was still there, now standing starkly against the wall, illuminated with the lights cast by the nearby crystal formations.
Hardened fighter and seasoned killer that he was, Perlin couldn't stop himself from shuddering as he looked at that shadow and realized it was all that remained of the pony he had once worked for.  The fact that Elderflower had threatened Coco, used her as a tool to maintain Perlin's obedience, did little to alleviate the feeling of wrongness that Perlin felt at that moment.  His hoof throbbed a little harder.
"Well...that was an interesting result," observed Wight, tilting his head and examining the shadow on the wall, "It's a pity that I don't have time to analyze the residual effects, but we must be going."  He smiled politely at Perlin, the stallion's mannerisms giving no indication that he had thought anything about how completely he had eliminated another living pony.  "Let's be off.  We still have work to do after all."
"Of...of course..." said Perlin.
"Now that you no longer have to worry about Ms. Pommel's safety or your contract with the Baron, we can also begin work on your new wings," said Wight, "The sooner we get started the better.  I am sure you will be eager to master your new assets."
"Yes..." said Perlin, glancing back at his cloak and the mithril-feathered wings hidden beneath it, "...I'm sure."