Darkshard Chronicles

by sevenofeleven

DarkShard Chronicles Chapter 2

DarkShard Chronicles
Chapter 2

Scavenging Ponyville and Attack.

Twilight slept fitfully. Lots of running and screaming was involved in her nightmares. She finally woke up still feeling tired.

Spike was up already.

"Are you OK?" Spike asked.

Twilight shook her head no. For a while they waited together as the sun rose.

A few birds chirped to greet the dawn. On a good day it would be a loud and noisy greeting. Now just a few brave birds dared to sing.

Stormwing, a male pegasus brought strange news. It seems like the bodies of the dead ponies were gone. That just fed Twilight's sense of foreboding.

The Mayor called a early breakfast meeting. Most of the more influential ponies attended.

"I have called this meeting because we need to make some hard decisions. First we need to share some info," The Mayor said.

"Um, most of the birds I have spoken with do not like it near Ponyville. They think that the air around the town is wrong," Fluttershy said and sat down.

"The corpses of the dead ponies are gone. Maybe we can come back?" Stormwind asked eagerly.

"My Pinkie sense is telling me something really bad is coming. Why is this stallion talking about moving back into town?" Pinkie Pie whispered to Twilight.

"Maybe because he does not have a horrid screaming crystal in his house," Rarity whispered back.

She was angry but also a bit confused.

Twilight agreed with Pinkie but she wanted to study the crystals some more.

"Well, Princess Twilight Sparkle, what do you think?" The Mayor asked.

A small but vocal group wanted to move back. The rest of the ponies were still trying to deal with their new surroundings and what happened to them earlier.

"I think we should move the camp. It is too close. Also we should get supplies from the town one more time," Twilight said.

It had come to this, now it was the "town" not Ponyville. Ponyville now did not feel like home for many ponies anymore.

She wanted to go back to her library and get some important books that would help with studying the crystals.

After some back and forwards with the ponies that wanted to move back, several teams were selected to return to Ponyville one last time.

Twilight, Spike, Rarity and Lyra would go to the Treehouse library. Twilight was not sure about Lyra. She seemed off somehow. Her bright eyes hid a personal darkness.

"Why do you want to come with us?" Spike asked.

"The crystals killed Bon Bon. If I had not been downstairs making hot cocoa, I could have been upstairs," Lyra said in a quiet voice.

She turned up the intensity of her bright golden gaze on Spike. He retreated.

Twilight hoped that Lyra would not cause trouble or get herself killed. Too many ponies have died already.

Nopony felt like talking. Everyone could feel the coldness move across their bodies like a sharp knife when they walked into town. It was not the cutting edge. No, it was the flat edge. Any second the threat could be made real.

Twilight used her telekinesis to open the door. She moved closer after a few minutes. So far no attack. They moved into the library near the doorway. The crystals started their warning whine.

The crystal in the ceiling was growing downwards while the small crystals on the floor had combined into one crystal that was growing upwards. Twilight gave Spike a list of books to get. Rarity and Twilight combined their magic to make a protective bluish purple shield so Spike can get the books without being attacked.

Lyra waited for the shield to go up and for Spike to start looking before she made her move.

"Dieeee!" Lyra yelled.

She fired a bunch of gold magic blasts at the crystals on the floor. The crystal in the ceiling started firing at Lyra but the shots were blocked by the shield. The crystals on the floor took a lot of damage from Lyra's attack.

Lyra moved to the crystals on the floor. She jumped up and down. Her hooves ground the crystals to a dark purple powder. Twilight made a mental note to get the powder before they left.

Once the crystals on the floor were no longer a threat, Lyra fired away at the one in the ceiling. The shots from the crystal in the ceiling were still being blocked. Rarity was starting to get tired from supporting the shield.

"Got 'em all! Lets go!" Spike yelled as he ran for the doorway with the needed books.

"Lyra! Lets go!" Twilight shouted.

Lyra fired a powerful blast that blew off a piece from the ceiling crystal. It seemed like she was beyond reason. Spittle flew from her mouth while she shouted unintelligible things.

Rarity used her telekinesis to grab the crystal powder and the blown off piece. They went into pouches in her saddlebags for later study. Twilight would probably get more out of it but Rarity wanted to check them out.

"Come on, Lyra dear. Do not kill yourself for revenge," Rarity entreated.

Lyra fired one more blast and ran for the door. When everyone was outside Twilight closed the door. She would miss her library tree house home. The tree was dying, yellow leaves were scattered all over the ground. Too bad. Twilight remembered many days reading in the tree's shade.

Rarity wanted help with her home but when she saw the crystals growing through the walls of the building, recovering her belongings did not seem to matter anymore.

They met Pinkie outside SugarCube Corners. Her face told the story. The crystals had tainted all of the foodstuffs inside. She did not want to bring back anything.

The other scavenger groups had better results. A lot of goods were sold from stalls not stores. Twilight and Pinkie's team helped to carry items. Everypony decided to leave quickly.

Ponyville was filled with the sound of galloping hooves one last time.

Later in the afternoon while the new supplies were being stored away and other ponies were preparing to move the camp, some of the pegasi guards shouted warnings.

Strange gray ponies were slowly walking towards the camp. Their unsteady gait and lusterless eyes screamed undead. It did not help that they had no coats just bare gray flesh. Behind them purple lights could be seen. Instead of horns, the tops of the undead unicorn's heads were missing. Purple flames danced where their horns should be.

The undead unicorns fired lavender blasts at the hovering pegasi. Most of the pegasi dodged the shots. The ones that did not fell to the ground dead trailing lavender smoke and flames. The undead earth ponies started moving faster towards camp.

Twilight could not believe what she saw. The sense of wrongness from the attacking undead army was overwhelming. A bunch of gold blasts hit the gray army. She saw Lyra at the front line destroying the undead with her magic. Twilight joined the fight. Applejack led the earth pony forces and they engaged the enemy with powerful blows from hooves.

Lyra howled and screamed while she blasted the enemy with golden blasts of magical energy from her horn. The gray ponies changed their strategy. Several of the corpse unicorns focused their shots on Lyra. So far they were missing. Twilight took advantage to use more powerful spells on the invaders. They went flying high in the air only to get smashed on the ground.

Besides their strength and magic, the undead could bite. They did not have regular pony teeth. Jagged pony teeth filled their mouths. Some ponies shied away from fighting when the undead started to snap at them.

After a few minutes the undead were destroyed, the last one was surrounded by a bunch of defenders until Rarity crushed it with a telekinetic blast.

Twilight was with Rarity when she took a sniff at her last conquest.

"Eww, now that is rank!" Rarity said with disgust.

Twilight took samples of the dark purple ichor from the undead.

The victory was not without consequences. Several ponies had been bitten and others killed.

"We need to burn the bodies and deal with this sticky icky stuff," Pinkie said.

She pointed to the pools of ichor on the ground.

"I don't like saying this but I think we should keep a close eye on the ponies that got bitten," Rarity suggested.

"Good ideas. Ah suggest that unicorns use their carry magic to move these dead pony thangs to a place where we can burn them. I will help with digging a hole for the ashes," Applejack said.

The ponies that died would be cremated and graves dug for the ashes. Twilight did not help. She wanted to study the samples she had before they moved the camp to its new location.

Several unicorns used fire spells to burn the ichor off the ground. Others helped with the cremation tasks. It was nighttime when they were finished with the battleground.

Morning came at the new camp. Twilight had stayed up all night to work with Lyra, Rarity and several other ponies. Pinkie Pie had been helpful too.

Twilight yawned, it had been a long session of study and experimentation but they now had more powerful spells to deal with the undead threat. She looked forward to a quick nap when Pinkie burst in.

"I found Dashie!" She said triumphantly.

Rainbow Dash walked in. She had a bunch of bandages all over her body.

"Rainbow Dash, you are OK!" Twilight said and walked over to her friend.

Twilight could see in Rainbow's eyes that she had been through a lot.

Rainbow managed a weak smile.

"I have to go back to the hospital tent soon. Do you have books for me to read? Maybe some Daring Do?" Rainbow asked.

"I could only get magical research books. Sorry," Twilight was almost overcome by sadness.

Her books and home were gone now.

"Hey, I understand," Rainbow Dash said.

"The crystals messed up Cloudsdale. The crystals just flew through the town and damaged a lot of buildings. You should see what they did to Canterlot," Rainbow said and winced.

Twilight helped Rainbow back to the hospital tent. Scootaloo was waiting outside, she had a bandage wrapped around her head. Once Rainbow was in bed resting, Twilight visited the other patients.

Nurse Redheart pulled Twilight aside.

"Ponies that get bitten by the undead have a fast moving gangrene that eventually kills them. The dead rise and try to attack the living," Redheart said and looked away.

She did not like having other ponies kill their undead friends.
The sounds of ponies getting their heads crushed still lingered in her ears.

"If you can spare the time, we could use someone to research spells to help out," Redheart entreated.

"I will see what I can do," Twilight replied.

She did not do too much research on healing magic but she knew more about the alien death magic. Maybe that could help out?

What did Rainbow say about Canterlot? Twilight had missed that. Was Celestia and Luna alright? She yawned again. Twilight went back to her tent.

"Are you OK, Twilight?" Spike asked when she showed up outside her tent.

"Somewhat. I still miss my home," Twilight said sadly.

"Yeah, me too," Spike replied.

"Spike, can you find out what happened to Canterlot?" Twilight asked.

"No problem I will find out. Get some sleep," Spike said with confidence.

Twilight slept for a while. When she woke up, there were several scrolls next to her. One of them was open. She started with the opened scroll. It was a personal letter from Princess Celestia. Was she ok?

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle: I am sorry that I could not contact you earlier with more information and advice. Many of the major towns in Equestria were attacked by the dark purple crystals. Canterlot Castle has been rendered unlivable. Canterlot has been abandoned to the enemy. Cloudsdale is not fit for any pegasi to live in. Tomorrow I will send a carriage for you and the other Elements of Harmony. When you arrive we can talk more at length. Your Mentor and friend Princess Celestia.

The letter seemed pretty terse but maybe there was a lot going on. Canterlot Castle and Canterlot abandoned? Wonder how many of her friends there survived?

The other scrolls were spell scrolls for fighting the crystals. Who ever made these scrolls used a different approach. Might be useful for later.

Twilight decided to finalize her projects and document her findings. They might need them in the Canterlot camp. What will she see when she reaches the Canterlot Refugee Camp?