//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14 - Threshold 
// Story: Shadows' Call 
// by NPP6 
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	Black Diamond and Featherdown stood on the roof of what would someday be a six story building. At the moment, only the skeleton had been erected. It wasn’t difficult for the fillies to track their targets with binoculars, even at this late hour. The propensity their opponents had for cloaks was a dead giveaway.
At this point, they only had one real problem left.
“Which one do we hit?”
Diamond sighed, “I don’t know. All four could be where they’re keeping them.”
Featherdown nodded. Both of them had read enough comic books to know where this conversation was going. “And as soon as we attack one, we risk warning the other three.”
Diamond closed her eyes and lowered her head in thought. After a moment, she straightened. “Alright. We’ll go after the construction site. That’ll be the easiest one for them to fortify.”
Featherdown nodded again. She had decided a while ago to trust her friend completely with this stuff.
Diamond reached out for her now familiar shadow, feeling it respond, but… something was different. Off. Instead of manifesting her shadow, she sensed with it, trying to figure out what the difference was. She could feel it, another familiar sensation, just beyond the reach of her shadow. It reminded her of…
Featherdancer shot her a look of concern as Diamond gasped. The younger filly shook her head, chewing her lip as she did. “We can’t travel by shadow. Not here. Not tonight.”
“What? Why?”
“Darkness. Something’s making it powerful here. Being in the Night is dangerous enough, going into shadows when it’s this strong… That’s too close. Both of us would fall.”
“So how do we get down?”
Diamond looked around for an answer, surprisingly finding it. “Featherdown, how good are you at gymnastics?”
The older filly followed her gaze to the tower crane on the far end of the half-constructed building. The work worn ladder was glinting in the moonlight.



Midnight Star and Princess Luna stood side by side, ghosts perched on solid air as they watched the two fillies. “Your apprentice has come far.” The mare broke their silence as the ponies they were observing began moving across the building.
“Yes she has,” The stallion whispered. “Though I doubt any of it is because of me. I told you, she was always going to save the day.”
“That may be, but would she have been able to save herself? Be honest with me Midnight, she was never going to die in this battle, was she?”
“…No, not this one. Another one, a few years from now. One of the trio probably would have had to do it. They probably would have felt that they owed it to what was left of their friend inside… her.”
“The Nightmare. We came close. Too close.”
“I know. The danger she was in…”
“No Midnight. Think about it. Killing a half-dozen ponies is a lot of weight, but still, she shouldn’t have gone over the edge that easily. Something else was involved. You mentioned that the Darkness has been luring her in for years now, but why does it want her so desperately?”
“…I don’t know.”
“Then that is something we should try to find out. Besides, there is no more we can do… unless… Midnight, there is no more we can do here, but might we do something in Ponyville?”
Midnight shook his head. “No. We’ve probably done too much already. I daren’t upset the balance any further. Besides, the Winter Star is in Ponyville, they’re in good hooves.”
“On that note, wherever did Poppinjay end up?”
“…She’s not hopeful about that. She tracked down Panpipe, called in a favor. She’s waiting in the wings in case things go wrong. If Ponyville falls, then she’ll evacuate the foals.”
“That doesn’t sound like her, usually she’s got plenty of hope to go around.”
“Yeah, well, she doesn’t particularly care for me at the moment, so…”
“Oh. Right. I forget that you still have to deal with all of them.”
“Not all of them, just most.”
“…Do we know where the other three are?”
“No. But knowing our friends, they likely aren’t too far.”



“Cunning, is it ready?”
“Almost M’Lord. A few more hours and we will have enough life energy to open the gate.”
“Ponyville?”
“Despair has done her work well, our enemies have been largely disarmed. And the foals have all been gathered in one place for our convenience. Once we have them as hostages, Ponyville is ours.”



“Thank you so much for organizing this Madame Boardmare.”
“It was no trouble Miss Rarity. I really didn’t do all that much, just suggested to the rest of the school board that we hold this little get together to show our support for your sister and the Princess Nyx. They took it from there, even organizing the foalsitting at the schoolhouse. Believe me, I’m getting far too much credit for my small part.”
“Well thank you nonetheless.”
“Really, it was my pleasure.” Rarity didn’t see the dark smile on the mare’s face.



Zecora awoke with a start. It wasn’t often she received this sort of visitor, but experience had taught her to be fully alert when dealing with them. “I demand to know who goes there that would disturb this lonely mare.”
She heard the laughter before she saw it. A mare manifested in front of her, unlike the other ghosts she had met, but still with an ethereal quality. “The Ghost Pony of the Northern Range.”
Tears formed in the corner of the zebra’s eyes. “Old friend it is good to see you, what kind of favor might I do?”



Scootaloo had fallen asleep watching the crackling flames in the hearth. Neither she nor Applebloom had had the heart to go to the school. The entire thing felt like they were throwing a party to celebrate Sweetie and Nyx getting foalnapped.
She knew she was asleep, because the fireplace was talking to her. No, wait, it’s not the fireplace talking, it’s the FIRE! She continued to watch in awe as the fire shifted into the shape of three ponies. She wasn’t quite sure how, but somehow she sensed that it was a mare, a stallion, and a colt not much older than her.
The stallion was talking, “…aloo, Scootaloo, can you hear me?” Mutely, the filly nodded. “Good. Alright, listen carefully, because the longer this takes, the more it will cost. There are two things you need to know, little known secrets about pegasus weather magic…”



“Mare of shadows, stand aside. Your granddaughter must turn this tide.”
“I’ve told more dangerous’n you that the shadows don’t get ter go near that filly.”
“I know not if you think this better or worse, but she already bears the shaman’s curse.”
“She already done told me ‘bout that there ghost town in the Everfree, what’s that got ter do with this.”
“She is special, this you know. But war is coming and she must go.”
“Just who do you think you are?!”
Zecora leaned forward and whispered in Granny Smith’s ear. The old farm mare dropped back on her haunches wide-eyed. “In this town a secret everypony holds, some that are new and some that are old.” The zebra walked into the house, but paused at the base of the stairs to turn to her host. “Do not fear for my little friend, I refuse to allow her bright life to end.”



Cheerilee looked around uneasily. She had volunteered to watch her students tonight as a matter of course, but… She was starting to feel something off about things. Retrospectively, she regretted not letting her students weld some of their artillery to the playground – it would have made it far more difficult for the school board to take the weapons away when they decided that they were “too dangerous” for a school.
Apparently, they had never seen some of the schools Cheerilee had visited in her last job. She rolled her eyes, despite living in this town her entire life, she could never figure out the odd mix of insane daredevil heroes and oddballs with utterly spineless herd mentality panderers.
Still, the few strong ponies there were had a responsibility… Even if the greatest threat to her students right now was that airhead Bon Bon and the bubble brained mailmare giving them too much candy. She swore, if a life-or-death disaster ever struck, those two would be the first to go.



“Wake up, wake up, dear Applebloom. Without you Ponyville is doomed.”



“…and that’s everything Shining and I managed to find out. He’s got forty Crystal Guards standing ready to deploy as soon as we know where to go. They’ve been rotating out every eight hours.”
Celestia nodded. “Excellent work Cadence. Luna and I have taken the same measures with the Solar, Lunar, Royal, and Canterlot Palace Guards. As soon as we find this cult, Nyx and Sweetie Bell will be safe… I suppose that I should begin relaying what I know now…”



Silently, Black Diamond and Featherdown slipped through the construction site. Whatever it was, it looked like it was mostly underground. With two tunnels to pick from, they arbitrarily chose the one on the north.
The tunnel led down at a steep angle, and when they reached the bottom, both fillies were glad they hadn’t wasted time deciding which tunnel to take. The other one let out a few yards in front of them.
They were in a cavern lit by torches. Nopony was around, but they stayed on the edges of the lights anyway. Even though only Diamond could sense the Darkness, both of them were feeling uneasy. Paranoia seemed like a good policy.
Three more tunnels branched out, but noise was only coming from one. They followed it until they arrived at an intersection. The tunnels ahead and to the left appeared to be the same as behind, but to their right, they could hear voices. The cultists weren’t bothering to be quiet, deep in their lair, but navigating the twisting maze was still no small feat.
The pair stopped just outside of another large chamber. They were close enough to hear what was being said without having to worry about getting caught.
“–ony’s here and the gates are primed, so why aren’t we moving already!?”
“Bravado, hold your tongue! We will move when Cunning relays the order and not before!”
“But why do we wait!? A pathetic town in the middle of nowhere, do we even need a plan to destroy it!?”
“Underestimate the ponies of that town, and I guarantee you it will be the last mistake you make.” A third voice cut through the argument. “Has it not occurred to you that everything that happens has some connection to that place? Do you learn nothing from this fact?”
A laugh that Diamond was entirely too familiar with rang out. “So, if Cunning’s here, I guess that means the wait’s over!”
“Astute as always Subtlety. Lead them into battle.”
The room lit up and the eavesdropping fillies scrambled further back into the tunnel. There was a sound, a combination of a hoofstep on a stone floor, a rock splashing into a pond, and a unicorn’s teleport spell. It repeated over a dozen times before anypony spoke.
“Ponyville will be ours.”
Diamond was gone before Featherdown turned to look.



Scootaloo was just pulling up when Applebloom came down the clubhouse ramp.
The pegasus was riding her scooter and towing the wagon, but unlike usual, she had a pair of saddle bags draped over her handlebars and several metal canisters where Sweetie Bell would usually sit. Applebloom smirked as she recognized the canisters from the time they’d tried to get their cutie marks as weather ponies.
It looked like she and her friend were on the same page.



Blacklight left a pair of indigo light trails in the air as Diamond cut through the teleport gate. With the energy from the cuts still powering her assault, she caught a stallion cleanly under the jaw with a forehoof before spinning to deliver a full buck to the forehead of the mare next to him. She joined her comrade in dreamland.
The nine remaining cultists finally reacted, only to turn around as they were attacked from behind. Three of them fell bound a Featherdown attacked with her magic, two of the three gagged as well.
Diamond didn’t waste her friend’s distraction and the pair of fillies were off like twin streaks of lightning. They heard the shouts from behind them:
“They’re getting away!”
“Stop them!”
“Where did they even come from?”
“Don’t let them go right, we have to keep them away from the prisoners!”
THUNK!“You IDIOT!”
Smirking, the two veered right and vanished into the dark tunnel.



Applebloom was climbing down the clubhouse ramp when Scootaloo pulled up.
The earth pony had a pair of guard courier saddlebags strapped tightly around her waist, as well as a pair of bandoliers making an X across her barrel. Scootaloo smirked as she recognized some of the potions in the flasks on the bandoliers from their war preparations and a few of their adventures.
It looked like she and her friend were on the same page.



Diamond and Featherdown galloped through the tunnels. The cultists chasing them were adults, but they were also trying to track the fillies, and were more easily winded to boot. The pair managed to build up a bit of a lead before bursting into another cavern. This one was smaller than the others, but still large enough to house a large machine of some kind. Dozens of foals were hooked up to it, including one that Diamond recognized.
“Sweetie Bell!”
The Ponyville filly rushed to her friend, slashing the wires and tubes attaching her to the machine with a single pass of her blade. She heard a similar cry from another part of the room, so once she had removed the unicorn’s breathing mask, she raced over.
Featherdown was using her magic to work on cutting free a pale brown colt with a forest green mane and tail. Diamond stepped in and helped her friend lower him to the floor before running back to Sweetie Bell.
Fortunately Sweetie Bell’s adventures with the other crusaders had left her rather used to regaining consciousness. She was quickly rousing. “Wha… wha’s go’ng on?”
“Sweetie Bell, please wake up. Do you remember getting foalnapped?”
After a moment, the white filly nodded. “I ‘member.” She yawned. “Where are we?”
“In the headquarters of the cult that foalnapped you and Nyx. Listen, we don’t have much time. They got a lot of other fillies and colts too. Can you help me save them?”
Another nod, this one firm. Sweetie shook her head as the last of a gas she didn’t know she’d been breathing cleared from her system. “Count on it. Where’s Nyx?”
“I don’t know. They must be keeping her somewhere else.”
“Indeed. After all, we could hardly risk keeping her with the others. Imagine if you had freed the alicorn instead of these useless foals.”
Diamond slowly turned to face a stallion… at least, what was left of one. He was missing both ears, his tail, an eye, one leg below the shoulder and another below the knee. He shifted his wings in the absentminded way winged ponies tend to do while talking, and Diamond saw that the webbing had been completely stripped away, leaving his bat-like wings skeletal.
“What… who are you?”
“I am Technique, lead scientist of Blood’s Eye. And I’m afraid your rescue attempt ends here little filly.”
Diamond smirked. She finally realized why Midnight had had her practice this expression, it helped her feel better about the situation. “Just one problem. I’m not a filly right now.” Blacklight swung out and locked into what she was starting to think of as ‘attack mode.’ “I’m a Shadow Ranger.”



The twenty-seventh cultist stepped through the portal, looked around to get his bearings, and then stepped aside to make room for the next one. There was a brief pause, the universe hesitating while they waited, and then a ripple moved across the face of the portal. Before any of them could react to that, the portal ruptured, energy exploding out across the clearing, throwing them bodily through the air.
In the distance, standing at the base of the clubhouse tree, Applebloom and Scootaloo saw and heard the explosion. They didn’t speak, didn’t signal, didn’t even need to look to know what the other one was doing.
Before the blast had finished echoing, they were racing towards it, Scootaloo’s wings buzzing as Applebloom readied some of their ammunition in the wagon.



Sweetie Bell, Featherdown, and the mostly recovered Page Turner were doing their best to free the other foals. Together, they were doing about as much as Black Diamond, who made sure to take time, while dancing around the room driving the half-blind-half-lame mad scientist back and forth, to slash through tubes, wires, and various other bits of machinery.
By the time the rest of the cultists showed up, the only pony being farmed was Technique.
Sweetie was the closest coherent foal to the tunnel they were trying to come through. It was obvious that they couldn’t take the rest of the foals with them in their semi-conscious state. Somepony had to buy time. “GO! Find Nyx! I can hold them off until these guys wake up and you get back.”
Diamond hesitated, but only slightly. Featherdown and Page Turner followed her into another tunnel. They couldn’t let Sweetie down now.



In a desolate place, a pair of rocks stood in a clearing. A mare sat on one, working calmly at her small hoof loom, humming as she did so. Her sister was across from her, chuckling to herself as she dealt and redealt a set of cards on the other rock.
Four alicorns approached, a pair from each of two different directions.
“Fate, Destiny,” Midnight acknowledged. “Any plans for tonight?”
“You tell us. What brings Hope, Dreams, Emotion, and Truth to our home?”
Shade snorted. “As if you didn’t know Destiny. Equestria’s at stake, are you planning on interfering?”
“Are you?”
Afterburner took a step forward. “Easy now everypony. I don’t think any of us are looking for a fight. Fate, please try to be less touchy.”
“Be less touchy! Do you know how many of my looms you’ve broken?!”
Midnight’s voice cut across the clearing. “Do you know how many of our friends you’ve taken?”
The awkward silence hung in the air for a long moment before Luna cleared her throat. “So… Glad I’m still young, yet again. Also, does anypony know where Lace is?”
Destiny laughed. “As usual for you lot, Lace Heart is right in the thick of things. Tell you what, let’s just sit back and watch, something tells me there’s not much my sister and I can do anyway.”
Fate muttered something about free will, but set down her loom as her sister’s cards rose into the air, spinning out into a pair of circles. One showed a pair of fillies racing down a road on the outskirts of Ponyville, the other a trio of foals running through tunnels.
A single card broke away from the second window, spinning out to make another, this one showing a unicorn filly standing stubbornly between a number of adults and four times as many unconscious foals.
Fate sighed. “Maybe you’re right sister, looks like I would have just broken my loom again anyway.”