//------------------------------//
// Chapter 15 - Line in the Sand 
// Story: Shadows' Call 
// by NPP6 
//------------------------------//

	Black Diamond, Featherdown, and Page Turner dodged around a cultist as he jumped out at them at an intersection. As they continued their headlong charge, they heard his voice behind them, “You foals really think you can outfox us in our own tunnels?!”
Diamond grimaced. “He’s right, we’re too easy to outmaneuver as a group like this. Split up, they can’t catch all of us. They’ll probably even have to pull some ponies away from attacking Sweetie and the other foals.”
At the four way intersection immediately ahead, all three chose different paths.



It had taken them a few minutes, but the Blood’s Eye Assault Party had finally managed to pull themselves together. They had assembled in the crater that the blast left behind, using it as a makeshift staging point while they took stock of the situation and prepared for their assault.
“What happened?” Subtlety was demanding of a smaller unicorn stallion.
“I’m not sure sir, but… Something caused a catastrophic failure. Probably a collapse on the other end. The energy would have built up until it reached a critical level, and then… Well, you saw what happened. It was all forced out at once when the pathway collapsed.”
A third cultist approached the pair at the center of the gathering, limping slightly. “So,” she asked, “What now?”
Subtlety opened his mouth to respond, and everypony was shocked by the dark laughter that came out. It wasn’t the fact that the laughter seemed to be only just this side of sane – Subtlety’s laugh was legendary for being the only thing that outwardly showed just how unhinged he was – it was the fact that his laugh suddenly sounded like a pair of fillies.
Subtlety himself was surprised enough that his jaw hung open for a moment. Once he shut it, the laughter continued, slightly more terrifying now that its source was no longer known. Later, some of them would swear it came from everywhere, others nowhere, and yet more would claim that it was projected directly into their minds.
After the laughter subsided, voices came, their sources just as shrouded in mystery as the laughter. “Now?” Her voice was dry, raspy. Young, but with a dangerous edge to it that froze marrow and blood. “Now it’s story time for you little foals.”
“Ya see,” Another voice, another filly. Just as young, just as dangerous, just as chilling. “Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were these three fillies, close as any sisters.”
“They did a lot together, even binding their destinies. And they went on so many adventures you can’t count them all.”
“Barely survived most of them. Two reasons for the barely–”
To really understand, you need to know a little about these three fillies.”
“The first, she was a troublemaker. Raised on a farm, with that spot of earth in her bones. She was rooted and grounded, but still managed to get herself in trouble more often’n not.”
“The second, she was this daredevil pegasus. Half the town still thinks she has a death wish.  She was constantly pushing the other two, trying the dangerous stuff. She was the brains behind half of their crashes.”
“Between those two, these fillies got into more trouble that two hundred ponies could in a hundred years of Apple Bucking Seasons. They usually made it out alright, though all three became quick healers.”
“But the third, she was the voice of reason, of caution. She was the sweetie of the group. She was the one who pointed out the bad ideas, she was the one who always cared about other ponies – even the bullies.”
“She was the one who believed that there’s good in everypony. If’n she ever saw her friends facing down an army o’ cultists, she’d be telling em ter go easy, to remember to show mercy ‘cause we gotta be the good ponies.”
“If it came right down to it, she’d probably plead for leniency for somepony who’d done something terrible to her in front of all the Princesses. She’d talk about how we need to forgive, how we can all be friends.”
“Now Ah’m hoping that this here story ain’t finished yet, but ya’ll’ve been good little foals, so I guess we can wrap up story time and get to what ya came here for. Now, like all foal story-time stories, this one’s got a moral to it.”
“A lesson that you need to learn. You see, somepony took that third filly away. Ripped her out of the lives of her friends and family. They hurt those ponies badly, and nothing hurt them more than the thought of how they might have hurt that filly.”
“Yah see, if Sweetie Bell was here, she’d be telling us to be nice, to try not to hurt you. But Sweetie Bell ain’t here.”
“Sweetie Bell can’t help you because she’s gone. Sweetie Bell is gone because you took her away from us!” The roar of the last words was accompanied by the roar of wingbeats as an orange filly came careening over a rise, catching air as she did.
The cultists reacted instinctively, lashing out with magic blasts and projectile weapons, but the filly simply twisted, swinging her scooter like a war scythe to deflect the attacks, several of her enemies having to dodge the returned fire. As she neared the ground on the other side of the crater, another filly appeared.
This one was a pale yellow, and her arrival was no less dramatic. She slipped two vials out of holsters on her bandoliers, zipping them out like kunai. One hit the ground in the middle of a cluster of cultists, erupting into green flame. The other shattered under a cultist’s hood, drenching his face with poison joke extract and splashing a small amount at his nearer friends.
The entirety of the assembled cult left standing took an involuntary step backwards.



Black Diamond skidded to a stop in another cavern. This was the largest one yet, although the space created by the massive hole in the floor helped that some. There was a large spire in the center of the hole, with a narrow arching stone ledge bridging the gap. There was also some kind of machine on the spire, but that wasn’t what had Diamond’s attention.
It was the pony standing on the ledge that held her gaze. He was a pegasus, and one that she would have recognized even without the oversized cast his wing was in. She had put him in that cast, back in Ponyville.
“I figured one of you lot would find your way here soon enough. You know, a filly like you is the reason I’m here tonight instead of attacking Ponyville with the others. I’ll have my revenge on her soon enough, but you’ll do for now.”
Diamond quietly shifted Blacklight into his offensive position as she stepped forward. “Who are you?”
“I am Devotion. I would ask for your name, but the dead have no need of names.”
Diamond’s next step had the barest of hitches in it as she lashed out with her shadow. Fortunately, she could still use it in this place, she just didn’t dare go into it.
Devotion jumped back, wide-eyed at the attack. It still clipped him, sending him tumbling even further backwards. As he regained his feet however, he began chuckling unexpectedly.
“I’m actually impressed that you would dare to use darkness here. But let me tell you something, this pit we’re standing over? It’s saturated in darkness. And a filly like you doesn’t stand a chance against my master.”
“Maybe not, but I’m pretty sure I can take one of his two-bit flunkies.” Diamond lunged with Blacklight, and the pair began dancing around the bridge. The stallion’s unarmed status and injured wing were keeping him on the defensive, at least until Diamond landed another hit with her shadow that threw him backwards a pace.
“Master,” He whispered, “Lend me your strength. Let me be a vessel for you.” An evil wind began to blow, and Diamond felt a sickening sensation in the pit of her stomach. Corruption was the only word that came to mind. An image formed around him, a pony not unlike the astral manifestations that the stars could sometimes use. But instead of light and stardust, this was made of darkness.
He was an alicorn, not unlike the one she had seen in the dreamscape when she was returning from the darkness. Like that one, he had bat wings and draconic eyes, but the colors were different, as were the finer points of his shape. His coat was blood red, with black patches that looked more like stains of some kind than coloration patterns. His mane and tail were a coal black, and his eyes were a dead grey.
When devotion next spoke, it was in stereo with another voice, one that Diamond knew instinctively to fear. “So, the Star has sent his Shadow. I wonder how I didn’t see that before… He must be desperate if you’rethe only thing he can throw at me. I respect your courage though. Surrender now and I will let you live. You cannot hope to defeat me; the prophesied Warrior of the Night is imprisoned. Nyx’s heir can stop me no longer.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to do until she’s ready.” The dance began anew.



The path was strewn with craters. From her position in the wagon, Applebloom would toss one of the compressed weather canisters into the air, then spin and deliver a buck to make her siblings proud, launching it out as an artillery shell. When it ruptured upon hitting the ground, lightning, gale force winds, hail storms, or whatever else had been packed into the canisters would explode out of it, leaving wreckage in the wake of the “battle.”
There had been several residents of Ponyville lying in wait to ambush the cultists at various points, but none of their plans had counted on the group fleeing for their lives instead of sneaking into town. The driven cultists and driving fillies blew right past them.
The cultists had tried to mount a counteroffensive in the center of town. They had managed to force the pair to abandon the scooter and wagon, so they were no longer being harried on all sides, but they had still been forced to flee the twin forces of nature.
When they finally arrived at Ponyville Elementary, they slid to a horrified stop. There was an entire army of the demons they were fleeing there; they could see them through the windows, making some kind of nefarious constructs.



Diamond dodged another blast of darkness, returning fire with her own shadow attack. Devotion/Demon Blood deflected it, but then stumbled. The filly took advantage of the momentary weakness to dart past the lowered guard and deliver a series of blows with Blacklight.
The stallion finally dove backwards to escape. He tumbled a little ways, and then stood, laughing as he did so. “This mortal’s frame is starting to give out. I am impressed filly, your Lord would be proud. I congratulate you on becoming the first mortal I have called a worthy opponent in over a century.”
Diamond smirked before rushing him again. They traded a rapid series of blows, before the stallion slumped. Before Diamond could recover from her surprise at the stallion’s sudden cessation of combat, Devotion started screaming, his voice once again normal.
He turned to Diamond, murder in his eyes as he clutched on heavily wounded foreleg to his chest. “You little bi–” A clean right hook finished both sentence and stallion.
Diamond took a moment to recover, spinning around when that moment was interrupted by a dark double laugh. Another stallion was standing there. He had somehow gotten past her and was next to the strange machine on the spire.
“Someday legends may be told of the filly who almost stopped me.” A blast of dark magic lanced out, too fast and too wide for Diamond to dodge. She, Devotion’s unconscious form, and a chunk of the bridge were thrown out, away from both spire and bridge.
A piece of the wreckage caught the back of her head, adding its effect to the exhaustion the filly was already facing. Black Diamond felt her consciousness slipping away as she fell into the dark pit.



Cheerilee looked up as she heard what sounded like several fillies screaming. After a brief glance out the window, she charged outside to see which of her students the cultists had managed to corner. She was preoccupied enough that she didn’t notice both of the other chaperones right behind her and half of the class abandoning their macaroni pictures to gallop out right behind them.
Something that did give her pause was the revelation of the shrill screaming’s source. The cultists started backpedaling in wide eyed terror, only to freeze with more screams as Applebloom and Scootaloo barreled around the corner trailing smoke and lightning respectively.
The entire tableau froze for a breath, before one of the cultists had an idea. “They can’t chase all of us! Scatter!”
And pandemonium ensued.



Afterburner Blaze blinked as the window showing Ponyville had several cards spin out of it to create more windows. “I knew that Applebloom and her friends were capable, but this…”
Shade Darkwing laughed, “After the things your some-odd great granddaughter and her friends have done and survived, I’m not entirely sure they’re even trying hard.”
Destiny meanwhile was shaking her head. “I know that Demon Blood told his followers he wanted Tartarus breaking loose…”
Midnight Star nodded with a smirk, “But you still have to doubt that this was what he had in mind.”
Fate turned to Luna, who was watching Ponyville with her head tilted slightly. “What are you thinking about?”
“If there’s a way I can get away with watching the nightmares of Blood’s followers without having to help them.”
“Ah. Now you begin to understand the eternal struggle I have between entertaining myself and delivering retribution on those who defy me. I will tell you that the first one ends in broken looms less often.”



Sweetie Bell covered her worry with a defiant smirk, just like she had seen Applebloom and Scootaloo do hundreds of times. She was lucky that she had managed to dodge and sting the cultists long enough for the rest of the foals to start waking up.
She stuck her head out to fire off another pair of blasts before ducking behind cover again. Her attacks didn’t do much more than sting a little, none of them did. But now that the rest of the foals were awake, they had the cultists outnumbered four to one, and pain was turning out to be an excellent motivator.
Two more of the cultists had been knocked out and hooked up to the machines that kept them unconscious somehow. The rest of them couldn’t get into the room much further than a step or two before being driven back by the onslaught. On the whole, Sweetie and the rest of the foals were doing just fine… But she was still worried about her friends.



Featherdown somersaulted between a mare’s legs, hitting her with the binding spell as she did. With the cultist falling bound, gagged, and very surprised behind her, the filly kept running.
She screeched to a halt as she rounded a corner to find a stallion holding Page Turner with a knife to his throat. “I thought that that would get you.” The stallion chuckled. “Surrender or he dies.”
Featherdown hung her head, the light around her horn dying out. She could only hope Black Diamond was doing better.



Cheerilee spun at a noise behind her. The stallion she had knocked out hadn’t even hit the ground yet, and she was already facing another opponent. The unicorn mare didn’t seem to be planning on a fair fight though.
Green magic surrounded Cheerilee as she was lifted bodily. It was the most intense around her throat, a fact Cheerilee only knew because she could feel the pressure there cutting off her breathing.
She forced herself to remain calm, remember your training, just wait for the ripple, and you can escape. That opportunity would never come.
Just as the edges of Cheerilee’s vision began to get fuzzy, the other mare screamed in agony. Cheerilee dropped to the ground with an audible WHUMP as the other mare clutched her shoulder. As her head cleared, the teacher could see a quarrel embedded in that shoulder.
A second bolt sped out of the night, striking home in the mare’s other shoulder. Cheerilee swiveled her head to see Silver Spoon walking forward, loading the newly invented bolt-action crossbow a third time.
When she fired this time though, the unicorn caught the projectile, turning it slowly in her magic until it was facing the filly who had released it. “Should’ve killed me when you had the chance. Shame your aim’s not better.”
“It was… good enough” Cheerilee said, forcing herself to stand and spin in a fluid motion that wrenched several of her muscles and elicited a chorus of protests from parts of her body that hadn’t done this in years. The double-hoofed buck caught the unicorn under the chin, more solid than any uppercut. The mare was lifted bodily by the force, flipping backwards a full rotation and a half before landing unconscious, sprawled on her back.
Her moment of relief was interrupted by a scraping sound, and she spun again, readying for a fight.
Fortunately it was only Muffins and Bon Bon, each dragging an unconscious cultist of their own. “How…”
Bon Bon shook her head slowly. “Apparently everypony in this town has secrets.” She motioned to the unconscious cultists and Cheerilee and Silver Spoon’s hooves. “Probably best to keep ‘em that way.”
Muffins was looking at the filly with concern. “Are you feeling alright? A pony’s first fight is never easy.”
Silver nodded. “I’m fine. That was for Diamond Tiara.”
Cheerilee turned to her, confused. “What do you mean?”
Silver’s eyes tabled. “These cultists foalnap Nyx and Sweetie Bell and a few days later Diamond Tiara vanishes too. I’m not stupid, I can put the pieces together. You adults don’t need to keep coddling us, we know they took her too.”
Realization dawned for Cheerilee. She had gotten so used to keeping her dealings with Diamond Tiara a secret that she had forgotten she was one of the only ones who knew where she’d gone. “Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara wasn’t foalnapped. She went to rescue Nyx and Sweetie Bell. I tried to stop her the night she left, but… I’m sorry.”
Silver was grinning from ear to ear. “Don’t be. If she’s with Black Diamond, then she’ll be fine.”
Cheerilee cocked her head in confusion. “Who’s Black Diamond?”
Unobserved by her or Silver, Ditzy Doo and Sweetie Drops exchanged a pair of wide-eyed looks.