• Published 27th Mar 2012
  • 4,550 Views, 265 Comments

The Order of Koaxia - HellRyden



Six incredibly powerful beings arrive in Equestria, heralding an age of doom yet to arrive.

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Fight The Power!

This is the continuation of the story of six mares who have yet to realize their own destinies.

Darkness has fallen over Ponyville. Fluttershy, after a night filled with terror, struggles, and revelations, has inherited the powers of the East Abyss, and she could not have met her counterpart in a stranger way. Rather than confronting her directly, Descartes entered her mindscape and attempted to break her resolve and her spirit.

He failed. Fluttershy resisted with shocking force, and countered with a Stare hard enough to break his veneer and cause a few of his memories to leak out. Seeing into Descartes’ past and who he really was, Fluttershy realized that he was not someone she had to fear. Attempting to connect with the dark Koaxian, she reached through to him, and discovered the beginnings of what had driven his Order to Equestria.

Meanwhile, Captain Shining Armor, having arrived in Ponyville ahead of his division to ensure the safety of Twilight and her friends, is now in the midst of preparing himself for the arrival of his vice-captain. But while surveying the area surrounding the countryside town, he senses a wild burst of energy... a cold void of absence... coming from the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage.

But even as he rushes to the aid of his sister and her friend, they are not the only ones in danger - for several new presences lurking within the Everfree now close in on Ponyville, and Pinkie Pie is the sole pony who even has an inkling of what’s going to happen...


“The Order of Koaxia”

Chapter 8

Fight the Power!

Shining Armor had been in the midst of his meditations when it hit him.

The unicorn stallion had been immersed in a meditative trance at the moment - the trance allowed him to better sense the energies of the Weave surrounding the countryside, and he had been attempting to get the lay of the land and to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Of course, he had also been in the midst of putting together a plan for the province’s defence, to be enacted by his division once they had arrived - but what he hadn’t expected during his little planning session was for a sudden surge of cold, lifeless energy to crash against his senses, nearly freezing him to the spot and forcing him to take in a sharp breath.

Immediately turning towards the direction the surge had come from, the stallion’s metaphysical eyes narrowed as he honed his senses in on the signature of magical energy. The young captain began tracking the power back to its source as fast as possible, his mouth curling up in a tiny smirk as he realized that he was finally getting a glimpse of one of the strange, mysterious presences that had been lurking about Ponyville...

Found you...

... only for the bottom to drop out of his stomach as he realized just where it had come from.

The western edge of Ponyville, right at the borders of the Everfree.

Fluttershy’s cottage.

By Celestia, Twilight was still in there.

The young stallion immediately exploded into movement. His eyes flew open as he threw himself out of the trance and back into consciousness, his horn flaring as the broadsword lying next to him was suddenly enveloped in his signature aura.

Yanking the blade up, Shining Armor shot to his hooves, his heart pounding in his chest. Abruptly, he disappeared from sight in a sudden rush of wind, reappearing several hundred feet away for barely an instant before winking out again.

As he flashed from point to point, the young captain attempted to calm the panicked hammering of his heart, his legs nothing but an indecipherable blur beneath him. The notion of Twilight getting hurt while under his watch, and right under his nose no less, made his gut clench in terror, and Shining Armor redoubled his speed.

Celestia, please let Twilight be okay!

The captain had originally sequestered himself away upon a remote, lofty bluff at the northern edge of Ponyville itself, a fair distance from Fluttershy’s cottage. Nevertheless, he reached his destination in little more than a few minutes... and the moment the cottage came into sight, Shining Armor immediately knew something was very wrong.

The dawn around him was barely in its infancy - having awoken early to commence his preparations for the arrival of his division, the young captain had already been up and about long before the sun had even begun to rise. Now, the eastern fringes of the horizon were beginning to turn blue as the first of the sun's rays peeked over them, but the world around him was still largely dark and unlit.

But it may as well have been shining bright as midday when compared to the utter wall of black that curtained the entire area around Fluttershy’s cottage. Even as Shining Armor looked on, the billowing shroud of cold, empty absence that he felt surrounding the forest-side homestead abruptly waned as the first of the sun's rays peeked over the horizon. As light fell upon the cottage, the curtain of energy fizzled out and faded from sight, finally revealing Fluttershy's home.

The young captain's heart leapt to his throat as he prepared for the worst - a burnt out husk, a mountain of wreckage, any conceivable scene of devastation... But the cottage was still standing, and appeared to have been completely untouched.

That didn’t mean that the house’s occupants were unharmed, though. Shining Armor’s jaw clenched, and he burst into movement, disappearing from sight again.

Skidding to a stop, he blurred back into sight at Fluttershy's doorstep and booted open the door without so much as a pause. Animals everywhere started and began raising a racket at the sudden intrusion, but the stallion didn't care - all that mattered to him was his baby sister's safety.

"Twily! Twilight, where are you!?" Shining Armor cried out as he galloped into the living room, his senses reaching out simultaneously as he frantically searched for his sister’s magical signature. To his relief, he could still sense it, strong and steady as it pulsed in tune with her heartbeat on the floor above him, but the guard captain wouldn’t be satisfied until he had seen with his own eyes that Twilight was alive and unharmed.

Galloping up the stairs, Shining Armor all but smashed down the door to the guest bedroom, behind which he could sense his sister's presence. He was stopped only at the last moment when it suddenly swung open and out, allowing his sister to step out, rubbing tiredly at her eyes with a hoof.

“Stars, brother, keep it down!” Twilight whispered harshly. “You’re gonna wake Fluttershy up if she hasn’t already! What’s the problem?”

“You...” The stallion stared at his sister, suddenly finding himself at a loss for words. Twilight hadn’t sensed the blanket of cold, dead energy? But she had been right in the thick of it! “You didn’t sense it at all?”

“Sense what?” Twilight squinted at her brother curiously, her expression scrunching up in thought as the gears in her head began to turn. “Shining, did something happen while I... was...”

The lavender unicorn's eyes suddenly widened as she seemed to realize something, and her mouth dropped open in horror as she sensed the residual energies of the dark presence that had only just begun to fade.

“Oh, stars... How did it happen right under my nose!?”

Panic lending her speed, Twilight bolted out of her room and past Shining Armor, galloping to Fluttershy’s bedroom door and banging frantically on it. “Fluttershy! Fluttershy, open up! Are you all right in there?”

When there was no answer, fear gripped the young mare’s heart in a vice; Twilight barely managed to keep herself from dissolving into hyperventilation as she continued pounding on the door, praying for an answer. “Fluttershy, can you hear me? Answer me, please!”

“Twilight, stand back!” Shining Armor shouted from behind her, and Twilight turned around just in time to see her brother rearing up on his hind hooves, his horn aglow with a bright spark of energy as he prepared to charge the door. The young scholar barely stepped out of the way in time - as she vacated her brother’s path, the guard captain was already galloping forward, spinning around at the last second before delivering a buck to the door worthy of the Apple clan itself.

The door instantly yielded under the force of his blow - the lock was broken clean off as the door slammed open, and Shining Armor darted inside, his broadsword already halfway out of its sheath as his eyes scanned the entire room for any potential threats.

There weren’t any - the room was completely devoid of enemies, and even as he probed the Weave with his arcane senses, he could not sense any more of that cold, dark power that had blanketed this entire area not more than a few minutes ago. After a few tense seconds, Shining Armor decided that whatever had been here was already long gone and slid the broadsword back into its sheath, gesturing for his sister to step inside.

Twilight did so immediately, rushing over to Fluttershy’s bed to check on the pegasus. At first the lavender mare had been terrified that she would reach Fluttershy’s bed only to find that she was missing, or worse, but the yellow pegasus was still underneath her covers, breathing and very much alive.

Twilight let out a massive sigh of relief as she felt Fluttershy’s life force still pulsing strongly and steadily through her arcane senses. However, her relief soon twisted into consternation as she realized that there was a very different feel to the gentle pegasus mare’s mana signature.

On the surface, it still felt as it usually did - a boundless fount of warmth and light, representative of Fluttershy’s love for all things living. But underneath it, another darker, far more malevolent presence stirred briefly. It was active for only an instant before settling down until there was no sign it had even been there... but Twilight felt stained simply for brushing her senses against it.

The lavender unicorn gulped nervously, and gently set a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder, praying to the stars above that her friend had been unchanged and unharmed... but when her hoof failed to elicit a response from the pegasus, Twilight’s worry only grew.

Quickly turning Fluttershy’s still form over, she was horrified to realize that Fluttershy’s eyes were wide open... but blank, and staring. There was absolutely no response from the pegasus, even as Twilight desperately began to jostle her shoulder.

“Oh... Oh stars, please, no...” Twilight whispered to herself in horror as she shook Fluttershy vigorously, attempting to get any response out of the comatose mare. The pegasus didn’t even stir. “No! This can’t be happening here too! Fluttershy, wake up!”

“It’s no good, Twilight.” Shining Armor’s voice came from behind her, and Twilight whirled her gaze around to meet her brother’s somber stare. "It looks like we're too late."

The young captain stepped forward, passing a hoof over the unconscious mare's eyes as he closed them, and spat out a short curse beneath his breath. "Damnit! If only I'd been faster... Twilight, you’re sure you didn't feel anything at all while you were sleeping? There was an entire blanket of dark energy hanging over this place!"

Some of his frustration must have unintentionally leaked out through his tone, because his sister began stammering out an apology to him. "I-I'm sorry! I really didn't feel anything, I-"

Before she could get any further, Shining Armor quickly held out a hoof, stopping her as he brought himself under control. "It's all right, Twilight. These guys managed to keep themselves hidden from even Princess Celestia's senses. Now that I think about it, I really shouldn't be surprised you couldn't sense anything, even if you were right in the thick of it. Still..."

The young captain gave Fluttershy's unconscious form a pensive look, deep in thought, and shook his head. "We gotta keep this under wraps, Twilight. Rainbow Dash and Rarity already have records of being admitted into the Ponyville hospital while in comas for inexplicable reasons. If Fluttershy gets admitted as well, it's going to raise some eyebrows somewhere, and if word gets out, it'll attract attention from more than just Equestria."

Twilight shot her brother a mind boggled look. "Attract attention from more than just Equestria? But... How? Why?"

"You and your friends are the Bearers of Harmony, Twilight," Shining Armor explained as patiently as he could without pinching the bridge of his nose with a hoof. "You’re the only six ponies who can even wield their power, and they are the most powerful form of magic known to Equestria. If there are any foreign powers that would wish to attack us, you and your friends would be prime political and strategic targets, because Equestria would be severely weakened without the power of the Elements as a deterrent and an asset. If rumors start floating around that the Bearers are starting to drop left and right... The other nations might take the chance to capitalize on that. We can’t afford to let word of this to start spreading around.”

Celestia’s prized student paled visibly as she realized the implications of her brother’s statement. She and her friends could easily have been targeted for kidnapping or assassination by any of the foreign nations surrounding Equestria, and at any time, if their leaders had ever gotten around to getting ideas. Gryphonia, Draconica, Minos; the names of nearly every nation beyond Equestria’s borders flickered through Twilight’s mind as she considered her brother’s words, and she realized just how dangerous and deadly a world she really lived in.

“So...” Twilight’s voice faltered for a moment, as she searched for the right words. “So what are we supposed to do then? We can’t just leave her here like this!”

“Maybe not for a long time,” Shining agreed, placing a consoling hoof on his sister’s shoulder. “But she can afford to stay here, at least for a little while.”

“But if we-”

“Twilight!” her brother cut her off, his tone shifting from comforting to authoritative in a heartbeat. “I’m not suggesting we leave her here to fend for herself! But we can’t act without thinking, not with things the way they are. We need to plan first, alright?”

“I...” The lavender mare trembled slightly, her mind frantically trying to process her situation. This was crazy; Fluttershy needed help, and she needed it now! She couldn’t just leave one of her friends on her own like this. There was no way this was the right thing to do.

“Twily...” The librarian flinched a bit as a pair of hooves wrapped around her body, enveloping her in a gentle embrace. “I know it’s scary. I know how powerless you must feel right now. But you have to trust me, please. I swear, I’m not going to leave Fluttershy, alright? I’m going to stay right here and protect her for as long as I need to.”

Squeezing her eyes shut, Twilight tried to hold back her tears as she leaned into her brother’s comforting hug. Her thoughts were warring against each other, half of them screaming that she had to get Fluttershy to the hospital, the other half pleading with her to trust Shining. Stars above, why did it have to be so hard?

“Shining,” she spoke after a moment of silence, her voice shaky. “If I... If I agree to do what you say, what would you need me to do?”

Twilight felt her brother’s hug grow even tighter, just for an instant, before he released her and stared into her eyes. “The Princesses need to know about this,” Shining replied. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Princess Celestia already knows about what happened, but in case she doesn’t somepony needs to tell her. Go back to the library and send her a letter; make sure to give as much detail as you possibly can.” He paused for a moment, searching for something in his sister’s gaze. “Do you think you can do that?”

After a second of hesitation, a nod came in response.

“We also need to make sure the other Bearers know about this,” the captain continued. “You know Ponyville better than I do; what’s the best way to get word to your friends?”

“Applejack should be out on the farm at this time of day,” Twilight muttered as she thought. "The only way to get a message to her would be to go talk to her face to face, but Sweet Apple Acres is way outside of town. Pinkie Pie’s easier, thankfully; I can just stop by Sugarcube Corner on my way back to the library.”

Shining Armor nodded, a plan already forming in his head. “All right, good. Go talk to Pinkie Pie first, then head to the library. Now Twilight, I know how you are with letters, but you don’t have time for fifteen drafts, okay? Just write the first thing that comes to mind; it’ll be enough to give Celestia what she needs to know.”

The mare let out a mix between a sob and a chuckle at her brother’s joke before nodding with as much resolve as she could muster. “I... Okay, I can do that.”

Once again, Twilight let her eyes sweep over the unconscious form of her friend. “And... And what about-”

“Hey, who do you think you’re talking to?” Shining Armor said with a hint of jest in his voice. “I’m the stallion who was able to shield all of Canterlot for months! I think defending a single cottage falls within the realms of my meager abilities.”

The siblings shared a brief laugh at that, but their mirth was short lived. “Shiny,” Twilight choked out, unable to meet her brother’s eyes. “I’m... I’m scared.”

Once again, the stallion leaned forward to wrap his sister in a hug strong enough to crush a lesser pony. “I know,” he replied, “but I also know you. And I know that no matter how scared you are, you’re going to do everything you can. You’re Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia’s personal student, the Bearer of the Element of Magic, one of the most powerful unicorns in history, and...”

Twilight stuttered in protest as Shining ruffled a hoof through her mane, the noogie only worsening her bedhead. “And you’re the best little sister in the world.

“Now go on. You’ve got my word as a captain of the guard, Fluttershy will be safe. I promise.”

“I... I know.” Twilight gave her brother one last imploring look, and reluctantly turned away, trotting towards the door. “Please... keep her safe.”

And then the lavender mare vanished in a flash of purple light as she teleported out. Shining Armor gazed at the spot where his sister had stood not more than a second ago, and shook his head with a smile as he considered the few foreign presences that were beginning to skirt around the edges of his senses, heading in the cottage’s direction - presences that paled in comparison to his own. “I don’t think that’s going to be much of a problem, Twily.”

His horn sparked as the broadsword across his back was bathed in his signature aura, the magical equivalent of laying a hoof on its hilt, and his face lit up in a fierce grin.

And so, the mice come out to play...


The jaunty tune pouring from the speakers would have been enough to drive most ponies to drink, but, to this one mare, it was only part of her morning playlist. It was barely six in the morning, and already Pinkie Pie stood in her room wide awake, her head bobbing and her hoof tapping against the floor absently to the beat.

She might have appeared lost in the music to any outside observer, but the truth was that that the pink mare's mind was running a mile a minute. Inane and eccentric lyrics continued bouncing around the walls of her room, but her thoughts were occupying a totally different tangent as she paced about, muttering to herself underneath her breath.

"So, situation review!" Pinkie muttered to herself. "Dashie's in a coma, Princess Celestia says we might have Aliens on our hooves. One day later, Rarity shows up in a coma as well, while Dashie suddenly busts out of the hospital at the same time. Connection between the two events? Highly probable."

The pink party filly trotted over to her room's dressing table, squinting at her reflection in the mirror. "Nature of Dashie's problem that made her break out of the hospital? Unknown. Only she changed into some weird new shape, but information limited right now. Thoughts on situation?"

"Need more information." She replied to her own statement almost immediately. "Too many unknowns. Don't know what we are being faced with here. But how to find out...?"

Plonking down on her rump, the pink filly sat there for several minutes, tapping her chin thoughtfully as she racked her brains for whatever straws she could grasp at. She was trying her darndest to remember what Twilight had taught her about investigating things during that 'mystery' they had run into while in the Friendship Express, but for the life of her she just couldn’t come up with anything useful.

"Come on, Pinkie!" She muttered to herself crabbily as she rapped herself on the skull with a hoof, as though trying to jostle out a thought by force. "Use that brain of yours! Why isn't my Pinkie Sense kicking in like it usually does? Now would be a really good time for it to start telling me something!"

She continued sitting there for several moments, the song's vocals around her beginning to reach a sopranos crescendo... And still absolutely nothing happened. No sudden rush of insight, and certainly no unexpected revelation.

"Well, that was a letdown." Pinkie sighed. "And the dramatic timing was just right too! Why does this Fourth Wall stuff keep coming to me on and off?"

The pink filly sat there almost expecting an answer, but when none came, she simply gave an idle shrug. Evidently, her inexplicable Pinkie sense wouldn't be telling her anything any time soon, and she wasn't accomplishing anything by sitting here and futilely racking her brains for answers she had no knowledge of.

Getting up to her hooves and turning to face her door, she had been just about to take a step when a sudden flash of indigo light stopped her in her tracks. Blinking out the stars in her eyes, Pinkie Pie realized that the sudden arrival in her room was none other than Twilight Sparkle, and the lavender mare was looking right at her with a frantic look in her eyes.

“Ooh, ooh, Twilight! Perfect timing!” Pinkie began, a grin spreading across her face. “You’re exactly the brainy-wainy pony I need to - oof!

The party pony found herself cut off as Twilight rushed forward and wrapped her in a bone-crushing hug. Apparently sorting and shelving books for a living did wonders for leg strength; the unicorn’s grip would give Applejack a run for her money.

For a moment, Pinkie was content to simply return the (almost, but not quite painful) embrace. Hugs, especially hugs from her bestest friends, were always enjoyed! However, it didn’t take long for the earth pony to notice a slight wetness on her shoulder, or the trembles that ran through Twilight’s body. “Twilight? Are... are you okay?”

It took the librarian a few seconds to answer, and when she did her voice was on the verge of cracking. “...No. No, not really.”

“Oh...”

Pinkie was, for once, unsure of what to do. Her typical method for cheering up a friend, or for solving almost any problem, was to throw them a party. But it was a little hard to man her party-cannon when Twilight was holding onto her like this. And even if she could, something told her that it’d take more than some confetti and streamers to lighten the lavender mare’s mood.

At a loss, the baker strained to remember the methods of induction that Twilight had taught her during that MMMMess. Maybe she could figure out what was bothering the unicorn, and could help fix it!

Hmm...Twilight’s mane and, considering her breath, teeth were unbrushed, and she had teleported straight up here instead of waiting for Sugar Cube Corner to open for the day. Whatever it was, it was apparently too important to wait a couple of hours.

Moving on, the unicorn was holding her super-duper tightly, and she was obviously trying to keep from crying. It went without saying that something was making Twilight sad, but what? She had said something about trying to track down Rainbow Dash, but if she’d found Dashie wouldn’t she be happy instead of sad? Well... it was always possible that Dashie was-

NO! There was no way Dashie was hurt, or worse! Something like that would’ve registered on her Pinkie Sense for sure; she would know if something bad had happened to Rainbow!

But... But if it wasn’t Dashie, then what was bothering Twilight so much? Oh, she didn’t know what to think!

“Pinkie...”

Twilight saying her name was enough to snap the earth pony from her thoughts. “Yes Twilight?”

“It’s... it’s Fluttershy...”

Pinkie’s mind went blank for a moment, before a single thought made its way to the surface: No. No. They couldn’t have gotten to Fluttershy, could they? She hadn’t felt it with her Pinkie Sense, so there was no way they could have done anything to her! Well... unless they had managed to sneak past her Pinkie Sense. Wait, was that even possible?!

As her mind desperately raced for an explanation, Pinkie barely noticed her mane starting to deflate like a leaky balloon. If they... If they got Fluttershy too...

A sudden, loud sniff from Twilight brought her back to earth. And it awoke... something inside her.

No. Pinkie thought as she gritted her teeth. No way, she thought as she refused to let the sadness overwhelm her, her mane and tail slowly regaining their lost poofiness. There was no way in Tartarus that she was losing it, not when Twilight needed her. There would be time to be sad later, after they had stopped these mysterious meanies and saved their friends.

Apparently Twilight had reached a similar conclusion. After another loud sniffle, she finally broke off the hug, wiping at her eyes as she took a few deep breaths. “Okay,” she began, managing to keep her voice from cracking, “I know you must be wondering what the hay’s going on. But I need to ask you a few questions first, all right?”

Though she was burning up inside to find out what exactly had happened, Pinkie managed to restrict her response to a simple nod. If there was anypony who could figure out what was going on, it was Twilight; if there was anything Pinkie could do to help her, she’d do it in a heartbeat.

“All right then, first question,” Twilight continued, magicking a quill and sheet of parchment into existence. The simple, familiar act of notetaking would hopefully help her calm down. “Have you been approached by or sensed any new presences in Ponyville lately?”

Even though it still annoyed her a little, the librarian couldn’t dismiss the power of Pinkie’s mysterious sixth sense. If it was accurate and sensitive enough to detect falling objects, then maybe, just maybe, it could pick up on the assailants that had been-

“Yep! Managed to pick up a big one yesterday!”

Twilight paused for a moment, eyes going wide, before beginning to write furiously. This was going better than she could have hoped!

“Really?! What did it feel like? Could you tell who, or what, it belonged to? Could you tell where it was?”

“Umm... Kind of like a regular unicorn, except HUGENORMOUS, Shining Armor, and at the library.”

Oh. Right.

Sighing, Twilight crossed out a good portion of what she had just scrawled across the parchment. “All right, I probably should have seen that one coming. In any case, question two: have you sensed anything that isn’t my brother? Maybe late last night or early this morning?”

After a moment of thought, Pinkie replied with a mournful shake of her head. “Sorry Twilight, but I’ve got nothing. Mr. Cadenza was the only weird thing I felt yesterday.”

“Pinkie, that’s not how names...” Pausing for a second, Twilight considered the numerous ways indulging this tangent could go wrong. “...Okay, so that’s a no on Pinkie Sense picking them up.”


After a few more minutes of questioning, the unicorn stared dejectedly at her results: several scrolls worth of (mostly unhelpful) notes, the conclusion that these attackers, whatever they were, could avoid being detected by the Pinkie Sense, and a constantly growing headache. Pinkie’s surprising amount of patience and clarity was a pleasant surprise, but it would take more than one silver lining to alleviate Twilight’s disappointment.

Well, if they had done all they could here...

“All right Pinkie,” she began, her horn glowing as she rolled up the scrolls, “I guess that’s all for now.”

The party pony’s ever-present smile drooped a bit as she detected the disheartened tone in her friend’s voice. She didn’t have to ask to know that they were still stuck at square one.

Still, there was at least one good thing that came out of it. When Twilight had first arrived, she had been a wreck. And while she certainly wasn’t smiling now, her voice had finally grown steady and her eyes had dried. Hopefully she’d be able to keep it together a bit longer.

“Anyway,” Twilight continued, banishing the parchment back to wherever she had summoned it from, “it’s probably best if we stick together for now; I don’t want any of us getting caught alone. Come on, we need to go to the library.”

Pinkie nodded in answer as an indigo aura began to engulf her, responding to the unicorn’s once more shining horn...

Only that Twilight never finished the spell. A hoof suddenly jabbed against her horn unexpectedly, jolting her concentration, and the librarian cried out in surprise as her spell fizzled out. Pinkie’s hoof rested firmly against her horn in a halting gesture, and the party mare’s expression was unexpectedly serious, her gaze directed far away as she looked past Twilight and out the window behind her.

“Double pinchy knee, floppy left ear, twitchy tail... Twilight, did you feel anything while on your way here?”

The librarian cocked her head in confusion at her pink-maned friend, and trepidation began to build up inside her, almost feeling as though she didn't want it hear what it was Pinkie had to say. If it had to do with another one of their mysterious stalkers... “No, not really - why?”

“Eh, never mind then. I guess you wouldn’t know that Rarity’s awake already.”

"Rarity's wha-?" Consternation instantly turned to relief, nearly a palpable thing now perched across her shoulders, and it was all Twilight could do not to sag right on the spot. "Oh, thank Celestia! But... How do you- Never mind. I should know better than to question that right now."

The lavender mare shook her head. She had stopped trying to understand Pinkie's mysterious sixth sense long ago, and she wasn't about to start again now. More importantly, Rarity was awake right now, and with any luck, she wouldn't have broken out of the hospital leaving a gigantic blizzard in her wake - and that meant they'd finally be able to get some answers!

"Come on, Pinkie." Twilight's expression finally broke out into a relieved smile for the first time in days, and she grabbed a hold of her friend, immediately focusing her horn upon the energies to cast a teleport spell. "I think we ought to go pay Rarity a visit."

"Sure!" The pink party mare beamed in response. "I was entertaining some ideas for her 'Thank the Stars you're out of your coma' party, and I'll finally be able to put them to use! Say, do you think she'll appreciate a little cherry chan-"

Before she could get any further, the two of them were enveloped in a flash of fuchsia light, and the duo winked out of sight.


Spike had no idea how long he had been sitting here, by Rarity's side. He and Sweetie Belle hadn’t left the seamstress' bedside for hours now, hovering over her unconscious form for the past day and night, their heads bowed with worry.

Sweetie Belle had barely eaten anything in all that time. Being fair, Spike hardly had any appetite himself, but he knew how important it was to keep oneself nourished. He had taken the liberty to go grab some sandwiches from the hospital's cafeteria for the young filly and himself, although the bland, uncomfortably soft pony food made his draconic taste buds crawl. Still, it wasn’t like the cafeteria served gemstones, so he had to make do. Listlessly, the dragonling bit into the clump of bread and flowers clutched in his claw, stared at it for a moment, and then tossed it uncaringly onto the paper plate on his lap. Screw nutrition, there was no way he could stomach that thing, not in this mood.

Next to him, Sweetie Belle sat in her own chair, breathing softly. The filly was fast asleep, exhausted after staying up the entire night and watching Rarity’s body for any sign of consciousness, all to no avail. Now her head rested on Spike's shoulder, and the librarian's assistant had resigned himself to serving as Sweetie Belle's impromptu pillar of support.

The young dragon wrung his sweaty claws against each other, like he had countless times over the past few hours, as his gaze shifted from the sleeping filly to the motionless form on the bed before him. He may have been sitting here for close on twenty four hours now, but he still couldn’t shake the nervousness from his eyes as he scanned Rarity for any sign of life, any hint that she might still be there... but, several minutes later, there was still nothing.

Sighing, Spike slumped back into his seat. What the hay was he supposed to do now? He wasn’t tired enough to fall asleep, he didn’t have the energy or will to leave the room, and there was no way he was going to wake up Sweetie just to have somepony to talk to. But if he didn’t do something else soon, all of this waiting was going to drive him crazy.

A distasteful grimace spread across his face as he spotted the sandwich on his lap. The lifeless lump of bread was only slightly less boring than sitting here and doing nothing, but maybe a bit of chewing would help to keep his sanity inta- wait, what was that?

The young dragon's head immediately snapped up, his eyes spreading wide in the tiniest hint of hope. Had that really been-?

Yes! As his gaze locked on Rarity, he realized that the beautiful unicorn was softly stirring. Her eyes blinked open blearily as she glanced around, taking in her surroundings. After a few seconds of listless observation, her gaze fell upon Spike and her eyes widened in recognition.

The seamstress let out a small gasp, and Spike broke out into an uncontrollable, relieved grin. Turning to the sleeping filly by his side, he quickly began shaking her awake.

"Sweetie Belle, wake up! Rarity's awake!"

The slumbering filly by his side stirred fitfully and glanced up at him uncomprehendingly as she attempted to process whatever it was Spike was saying. It only took a second, however, for the words to sink in, and Sweetie’s eyes quickly widened in delighted relief.

"She is!?" The young filly's gaze darted to her sister's bed, where Rarity was still looking at them in a daze, and she shot forward, enveloping the older mare in a hug. “Big sis!!! You’re awake!”

Rarity coughed weakly through Sweetie’s tight embrace, but the young fashionista returned her sibling's hug nonetheless, her voice soft and hoarse in the filly's ear.

"S...Sweetie Belle, wha...?"

As Sweetie sheepishly loosened her grip, Rarity took the opportunity to look around the room, her gaze shrouded by confusion. "Where... am I?"

"Ponyville hospital! We brought you here right after we managed to fish you out of that huge snow bank we found you in!" Spike supplied helpfully as his head popped over Sweetie Belle's shoulder, giving Rarity a furtive look. "Are... you all right, Rarity? You don't look all there..."

It was worryingly true - the more he examined the unicorn mare's expression, the more it felt like something was gravely amiss. There was a curiously distant look in her eyes as she glanced at him blearily, as though she was still in the process of dislodging cobwebs from her mind.

"I'm... not really sure," Rarity answered, her eyebrows furrowing in thought as she looked down at her hooves strangely. "I remember sending you to get help, and then running for my life in some sort of maze made out of ice... and after that... Nothing."

Spike's expression fell - Rarity couldn't remember anything about her mysterious attacker? Twilight was definitely going to be disappointed - this had been one of her foremost leads to finding the missing Rainbow Dash, and she had specifically instructed him to inform her the moment Rarity woke up. Well, whatever had happened, Twilight would just have to deal with it some other way - he was just glad that Rarity was finally awake.

Giving her sister a distracted look, Rarity slowly extricated herself from Sweetie Belle's embrace. Reluctantly letting go, the little filly looked up at her elder sister questioningly, her expression confused. "Sis?"

"I... I think I need some time alone..." the seamstress replied uncharacteristically distantly, her expression perturbed. "I have to get back to my boutique. There’s something that I need to look into..."

"Sure, no problem!" Spike piped up, eager as always to help the love of his life get whatever she needed. "We'll just get you checked out of the hospital, and then-"

A porcelain-white hoof suddenly raised itself to stop him, and Rarity gave him a grateful, if slightly vacant, look that set his spines tingling with apprehension again.

"It's all right, Spike." The alabaster unicorn gave him a genial, unreadable smile as she got out of her bed, and walked slowly towards the door. "I... think I'll manage this one just fine on my own."

Before the dragonling could even muster a reply, there was an abrupt swirling of magic, and Rarity suddenly vanished in a swirl of misty vapor. Spike stared agape at the spot where she had stood not more than a few seconds ago, and then looked at Sweetie Belle, who was looking at the same spot with a similarly slack-jawed expression.

“What... just happened?”


The world reasserted itself into solidity around Pinkie Pie as the teleport spell finally ended, and the baker rapidly shook her head, trying to blink the stars out of her eyes. By the time her vision had begun to clear, she could already hear Twilight rushing off from her side, the clopping of the librarian’s hooves audible against the wood of the hospital floor.

"Spike!" Twilight's voice was high and urgent, and when Pinkie finally blinked the spots out of her vision, she saw the purple mare standing next to a very confused looking dragonling, who was staring perplexedly at a tiny pile of white dust on the floor. “Where’s Rarity? Pinkie Pie just said that her Pinkie Sense went off, saying that she’s awake! Was there any sign of...”

Noticing Spike’s shell-shocked condition, Celestia’s student took a moment to look up and registered the empty bed, the closed door, the pile of snowdust on the floor, and, most importantly, the sizeable residue of ice-tinged magical energy that permeated the air, feeling for all the world like a pony-sized scar in the Weave. It didn’t take Twilight long to identify the nature of the residual dregs of energy - the remnant scar that had been left behind practically screamed out teleport spell - but when her mind connected the dots she found herself floored by disbelief.

How in the blazing hells of Tartarus had Rarity suddenly become capable of teleport spells, and for that matter, managed to cast one that had a touch of an ice elemental affinity to it!?

“Spike...” Twilight began slowly, fixing the young dragon with a look that plainly said that she wanted to know everything, and she wanted answers now. “What happened here?”

“I-I don’t know!” The young dragon was practically in a panic, his claws digging into his skull as he clutched at his head in wide-eyed bewilderment. “Rarity suddenly woke up, but she was looking all weird and distant, and before we could even check her out of the hospital, she just got up and teleported herself out! I don’t know how she did it!”

"Rarity cast a teleport spell!?" Pinkie Pie blinked. "But... I thought only Twilight could do that!"

"Well apparently, not anymore," the aforementioned unicorn muttered with a tinge of trepidation in her voice as she glanced at the tiny pile of leftover ice dust, eyeing it pensively. "I always had my suspicions, but if this is what they're capable of..."

"They?" Spike gave Twilight a puzzled, suspicious look. "Twilight, does this have anything to do the guys who attacked her?"

The lavender unicorn didn't answer, instead staring uneasily at the small mound of ice dust, attempting to divine just where Rarity had gone. Several seconds later her gaze suddenly shot up and locked right on to Pinkie Pie, who was still reassuring a confused and scared Sweetie Belle over her sister's abrupt disappearance.

"Pinkie."

The baker’s head snapped up and her gaze met with Twilight’s, whose eyes had gone wide with apprehension. Rarity was just about to slip through their hooves, and if they didn't act fast, she might disappear on them just like Rainbow Dash did! Never mind getting some answers, they had to make sure she was all right!

“Come with me - if there’s one place she would have gone to, it’s going to be Carousel Boutique. You and I are going to go make sure she's okay."

Before Spike could even get in a word of protest edgewise to find out just what the hay was going on, the librarian's horn sparked again, and the two mares vanished with a sudden crack!


Twilight didn't waste even a moment when she came out of the teleport spell. The instant she felt solid ground reassert itself back into existence beneath her hooves and the familiar interior of Carousel Boutique formed before her eyes, she immediately reached out into the Weave, frantically searching for anything that felt like Rarity's magical signature.

She didn’t have to look far. The moment her senses spread out, she was immediately struck by how cold the boutique felt. A quick sideways glance at Pinkie, however, told her that she was the only one feeling the mysterious drop in temperature. A distinct chill that seemed more metaphysical than physical permeated the air around her. Though her physical body told her that the room around her was no warmer than a typical sunny spring day, her arcane senses painted a much different picture - through spectral eyes, the entire place was shrouded in a blanket of freezing frost.

There were no two ways about it - these were the very same energies she had felt flowing through the fashionista's body the night they brought her to the hospital. Rarity was here.

"Twilight?" Pinkie's voice jolted the unicorn out of her reverie, and she looked over to see the pink baker giving her a concerned look. "Are you all right? You're shivering!"

The young mare started, and took a look down at herself before she realized that her friend was right - she was shivering. The cold, non-physical as it was, had raised her hackles visibly, and her forelegs were actually trembling.

"I-It's fine, Pinkie," Twilight reassured her as best she could, as a sudden shiver rippled through her chest. Gritting her teeth against the cold, she forcibly stilled her legs and drew in an unsteady breath. Stars, if she couldn't get used to this new acuity in her ability to sense magical auras, it was going to start becoming a major pain in the flank... "Come on, she's in here somewhere - I can feel it."

The pink mare didn't question her, instead simply following Twilight further into the boutique, her usually raucous, bouncing hoofsteps producing only the slightest whisper of noise.

"Rarity?" Twilight called out as she strained her ears to listen for any sign that they were not the only ones in the boutique. "Are you in here?"

There was no answer, and the young librarian felt her apprehension grow. Rarity's presence here was as clear as day, there was no doubt about that, and there was no way the seamstress couldn’t have heard her calling out her name just now. The lack of a response could only mean a few things, and virtually all of them meant bad news one way or another.

Twilight bit her lip and continued walking further into the boutique with Pinkie Pie, both of them calling out Rarity's name every few seconds, hoping for a reply. If, by some bizarre twist of fate, it turned out that she was wrong, and the seamstress wasn't here... Twilight became so sick with trepidation that she didn’t even dare to consider that train of thought.

The further they ventured, the more the young student realized that it was getting colder. A sideways glance out the corner of her eye confirmed that even Pinkie was beginning to feel it; the normally exuberant mare's bouncing had stopped completely, and she was instead walking along at a subdued pace. She had begun to shiver as well, and her every exhalation produced a thin mist, something that Twilight realized she was doing as well.

"I-I-Is it j-j-just m-me, o-o-or has it just g-g-gotten a lot c-c-colder in h-here?" Pinkie muttered out from behind chattering teeth. Twilight found herself agreeing with her. Her own shivers had increased twofold, and as she looked around her, she realized that physical signs of the intangible chill that hung over the boutique had begun to show. The windows around her were beginning to frost over, and, if she looked closely enough, she almost thought she could see tiny ice crystals coating the furniture of the room.

And all the while, the chilling, frigid presence that she had begun to sense upstairs grew steadily stronger.

"Pinkie," Twilight breathed out urgently, quickly tilting her head in the direction of the stairway.

The pink mare gave an acknowledging nod, unable to muster the energy for anything more through the strength-sapping cold. Together, the two mares bounded forward and up the staircase, anxiety lending them speed in spite of the chill that gnawed away at their bones. Whatever it was that awaited them, they had to make sure Rarity was okay!

The stairway couldn't possibly have had more than a dozen steps, but to Twilight it felt like the longest climb of her life. Every step blurred away beneath her painfully slowly, until, after what seemed like an eternity, she finally reached the second floor.

It took her less than a second to find out which door the chilling presence was behind. It was kind of hard to miss, especially when her mind was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Without waiting for Pinkie to catch up, Twilight galloped forward and threw open the first door on her right, bracing herself for almost any manner of sight...

"Rarity! Are you all-"

... Except for the one that she was faced with. Celestia’s prized student blinked as her words abruptly died in her throat, and she stared open-mouthed at the strange creature that was sitting in the middle of Rarity's bedroom, its legs crossed and its eyes closed.

The entire room was practically coated in ice. The floor had been completely frosted over; Twilight didn't dare take even a step inside for fear she might slip and fall. But the sight of the room’s state was nothing compared to the creature sitting in the center of it. Twilight recognized its shape and silhouette with a spasm of sudden apprehension - it was the same one that belonged to the 'human' she had glimpsed in Rainbow Dash's memories of the attack on her, yet she immediately noticed several key differences.

For one, its build was far more slender, more feminine than the muscled, angular body of the human, Melchior, that she had seen in Rainbow's memories. Its features were far gentler, more elegant and smoother than the hardened edges of Melchior’s weathered visage, and a flowing gown and cape, each the color of the purest snow, was draped around its body. However, its most striking feature was its...

Its...

… Its mane.

By Celestia, she recognized its mane. That distinctively curled, elegant coiffure of rich purple... There was only one pony she knew that had that manestyle, but Twilight’s brain refused to make the connection, unable to believe what she was seeing.

The human seated before her opened its eyes, pure white orbs that were aglow with power, and it regarded her with a mildly surprised expression.

"Oh, Twilight?" Rarity's voice came forth from the creature's lips, and the young student felt her face turn white. "What are you doing here?"


Shining Armor exhaled lightly, sheathing his broadsword with a sigh as he returned his shield to his back. The bodies of his attackers lay unmoving around him in a half circle, and he found himself frowning not at their presence, but at how suddenly they had appeared.

They had quite literally popped out of nowhere. He had sensed at least half a dozen minor presences approaching the cottage a few minutes ago, ghosting in and out of perception as he watched over the unconscious Fluttershy. But before he had even begun to draw his weapon and prepare to meet them as they had begun to close, they had vanished from his senses... and then abruptly resurfaced right on top of him as six... things literally suddenly burst through the woodwork, a cacophony of shattering glass and chilling, malevolent cackles announcing their arrival.

His broadsword had all but flown free of its scabbard before he could even register what they looked like. Moving only on instinct, the unyielding steel of his sword and shield had intercepted his opponents’ in a blur, and sent up showers of sparks as he deflected the blades that would have opened up his throat had he been an instant slower.

Moving with preternatural speed, the young guard captain had thrown himself between the unconscious pegasus and their sudden attackers, slaying all of his foes in a haze of flying steel and frantic movement before he had even known what he was fighting. His heart still pounding from adrenaline in the wake of the fight, Shining Armor gulped in an attempt to slow his breathing before looking down at the bodies of his assailants, getting his first clear look at them.

'Patchwork' was the first thing that came to mind as he looked over their tattered, frayed remains. There was no way they could have ever have been alive - though they had the basic shape and silhouette of a pony, that was where the resemblance ended.

Their bodies were horribly misshapen, as though their sculptor had lost interest halfway through and abandoned them. Every one of them had had at least one of their limbs replaced almost entirely by a humongous, wickedly sharp blade, all of which were rusted to the point that it almost felt toxic to even look at them.

The sight would have been far more grisly and horrifying, had the rusted blades been crudely attached to a living pony’s body. Fortunately, the bodies they had been brutally bolted onto had obviously been as sentient as a sack of meal. A closer look availed the realization that the attackers’ remains were composed of fraying, patchwork fabrics slung around a rudimentary wooden skeleton, not unlike a sort of... scarecrow, if he had to give it a name.

These were probably magical constructs then, crudely brought to life with enchantments most likely.

But... that can’t be right. Shining Armor’s lips tightened into a thin line as he pursued that line of thought. Magical constructs have little to no sentience whatsoever, and they’ve got about as much emotion as a rock to boot. Yet the high-pitched cackles these... ‘Scarecrows’ had assaulted his ears with during their brief attack hadn’t felt much, or at all really, like some sort of recording imposed upon a normal magical construct - it had felt more like they were really enjoying the fight, right before he had eviscerated them and spilt their inert fillings onto the floor.

There was only one path that road of logic went down, and the guard captain scarcely dared to even speculate what it meant. Emotions from an inanimate construct implied the presence of a living spirit controlling it - and that would mean that these scarecrows had been possessed.

The question was by what, exactly?

Shining Armor was starting to get the feeling that he didn't want to know the answer to that question.

No, there was no use worrying about that now. The young captain shook his head, and began moving over to check on the unconscious Fluttershy, both to distract himself and to make sure she hadn't been hurt through the fight.

With his attention divided between the heavy thoughts and examining his charge, it was little wonder that Shining never felt the oncoming presence until it was right on top of him. By the time he did, it hardly mattered; something that felt suspiciously like a freight train suddenly grabbed him by the head, and flung him out of the window, throwing him down to the garden outside.