Limitless Skies

by Priceless911

Ch16 The Stage is Set

With the light of the full moon lighting her way and a navy cloak covering her scars and weapons, Silvia made her way through Canterlot in hopes of finding Equinox before he could hurt anypony else. As she continued through the dark desolate city her rage filled expression made her intentions obvious as an unknown voice came from an alley, “Psst… miss Silvia?... where might you be going at this hour?”
Silvia stopped and looked at a cloaked stallion as she replied, “Who are you?... a member of the Cutters?”
The cloaked stallion put the hood on his head down and replied, “I'm afraid not miss Silvia. You see, the Cutters are no more.”
Silvia replied to the familiar stallion, “Fancy Pants? Wait, what do you mean by, no more?”

Fancy Pants looked around as he replied, “All in good time my dear, but first we must hurry. The streets aren’t so safe anymore. Especially for you and I. come with me, we shall meet with the rest.”
Taking his advice, Silvia trotted into the alley and followed Fancy pant until they arrived at Mr. Drib’s blacksmith shop. As they approached the door, Silvia looked at the sign and spoke, “Here? But isn’t this place clo…”
“Please make haste my dear… this is the only place for us to hide since they know where we live.”
Still confused, Silvia followed Fancy Pants into the shop as they closed the door behind them and went to the back of the building. As they entered the back room, Silvia was surprised to see a small group of ponies in there wielding weapons and wearing cloaks. As she entered, one of the cloaked ponies looked up at her and spoke, “A bat pony? Is she one of them? Are you here to fight us too!?!”
As the pony stood up to ready himself for a fight, Silvia took a step back in worry as Fancy Pants spoke up, “Set you mind at ease, she isn’t a part of this attack that befell our friends. This lovely young lady just so happened to be the daughter of Lady Mist.”

Everypony in the room stood up and greeted Silvia, that is, except a cloaked stallion in the back of the room who only turned away in shame. Not noticing the distant individual, Silvia asked, “What’s going on? Why did you bring me here? And what’s this about an attack?”
Fancy Pants sighed in disappointment as he replied, “Well, you see my dear; the Cutter’s haven has fallen under attack by a renegade group of Bat ponies.”
Silvia was shocked, “What?...”
another member of the Cutters spoke up, “A bat pony claiming to be The Boss’s son attacked the boss and led an army into the Haven. Luckily we were on missions so we weren’t caught up in the attack.”

Silvia replied with anger, “Equinox… so this is why he gathered a secret army… but what happened to the rest of the Cutters?... what happened to mom?”
Fancy Pants sighed, “I'm afraid my dear, that Lady Mist is gone. While the rest of us are imprisoned.”
Silvia sat down in disbelief, “Gone… meaning?...”
“She’s dead… The Reaper… is dead…”
the voice that answered came from the back of the room from the stallion who remained turned away with his cloak covering his face. Silvia looked at the stallion as she asked, “but… how?”
The cloaked stallion replied, “Nox… he challenged her to a duel for The Reaper’s scythe. During the whole thing, it seemed like Nox wasn’t going to get what he came for… but then he carried out a disgraceful attempt at saving his own life. He gave the order and an arrow came from the surrounding crowd behind her. But, when she dodged it, she saw that it would hit Nox instead, so she diverted it away in an attempt to save his life… but in return… he stabbed her in the back… literally.”
Silvia replied with a face of pure rage, “H-how dare he… She saved his life and he repaid her b… wait a sec…”

Silvia turned to the cloaked stallion and gave him a skeptic look, “How do you know that this is what happened? I thought you were all on missions?”
Fancy Pants replied, “He isn’t a member of the Cutters, we found him in an alley outside the haven and he told us the whole story.”
The cloaked stallion continued, “I know… because I helped him… I… I fired that arrow…”
Silvia glared at the stallion as she trotted closer to him, “What?... you helped him?”
Shade nodded his head as he replied, “Yes… I though he was doing good for our kind… but he abandoned me in the end.”
Silvia continued approaching the stallion as she replied in anger, “You helped him? Don’t you realize what he has done? He killed the owner of this shop who happens to be a good pony! He tried to frame my friends just because he was an earth pony! He killed his own mother in cold blood! And that’s not the worst of it! He tricked me and my team, lead us on a wild goose chase and got them slaughtered! HE IS THE REASON I LOOK LIKE THIS!!!”

Silvia raised her scared wing from under her navy blue cloak as the entire room gasped at the sight of the mutilated wing and the prosthetic replacement that replaced it. Still hiding his face, Shade replied, “I… I know… but I…”
Silvia paused, “Wait a second… your voice… you…”
as Silvia lowered her wing, she glared at the stallion as she replied, “You... you’re the pony who gave us that phony letter from dad weren’t you… you helped him do this to me didn’t you!?!”
Shade didn’t reply, in a fit of rage Silvia grabbed him and slammed him against the wall as he hood fell down, “YOU HE…”

As soon as his hood fell down revealing Shade’s bandaged covered face, Silvia jumped back dropping him to the ground as she gasped in horror, “C-Celestia’s word… y-your…”
Shade looked at the ground as he replied, “Thanks… everypony here refused to tell me how bad it is… at least… I now know.”
Silvia tried to ask, “Wh-what happened?... did… did Equinox do this?”
Shad shook his head, “No… The Reaper did, just moments before she died. I only wish… it killed me. Then maybe I could have died thinking I was doing good.”

Fancy Pants stepped forward as he spoke, “This is how we found him. This poor miscreant did everything in hopes of bettering his kind when in actuality he was only bettering your brother’s goals”
Silvia could only ask, “But… what is his goal? To take control of the Cutters?”
“N-no… what he plans is far worse than that.”
Silvia turned back to Shade as she asked, “If it’s far worse than that… then you need to tell us. What is Equinox planning?”
Shade continued, “In… in seven years, on the night of the thousandth year of the summer sun festival. The Stars will aid in her escape, and she will return to bring forth night eternal.”

Fancy Pants stepped forward, “You don’t mean…”
Equinox nodded his head, “Yes… Nightmare Moon. In seven years, she will return, and with her, Commander Bolt and the intent of bringing forth eternal night.”
Silvia was shocked, “You mean… they will come back? But… I thought they were permanently trapped in the moon and stars?”
Shade shook his head, “There is no such thing as a permanent prison. Even a royal guard knows that.”
Fancy Pants spoke next, “By bringing forth eternal night… he is widely shifting the climate to better your kind. The bat ponies of the world.”

Shade nodded his head, “Yea… and with the title of The Reaper and the entire bat army on his side, he won’t have any problems joining with her to overtake Equestria in her name. It will be one war that even The Cutters couldn’t prevent.”
Silvia immediately reacted, “We must warn the Princess. Maybe she…”
“It’s no use, if I know Nox; he already has his lackeys guarding every entrance to the castle. Even if we tried, he would just kill us before we could get inside.”
Silvia replied, “But we gotta do something… the longer we wait the more time he has to find and wipe the rest of us out.”

Fancy Pants nodded his head, “I couldn’t agree more. In fact, we already have a plan that we have set in motion. As we speak, messengers are on their way to the residents of Cutters who have either retired or who have been laying dormant for a number of years. By dawn we should be able to triple in numbers and with them, sneak into the haven and free our comrades.”
Silvia though to herself, “But… wouldn’t Equinox expect that? I'm sure he has a number of ponies watching that place like hawks.”
Fancy Pants nodded his head as he replied, “True… however, and I hate to ask this… would you mind working as a decoy? You see, if you arrive there at the front step, he would put all of his focus on you to include his guards.”

As Silvia though about the offer, another member of The Cutters stepped forward, “You got to be kidding me, her? She turned down the offer to take over as The Reaper! She doesn’t care what happens to u….”
“I’ll do it.”
“What?”
Silvia turned to the member of the Cutters and spoke, “I'll do it… now that I can fly again, I want to. And if we manage to take the scythe back. Then I'll manage to reconsider my decision about joining.”
Fancy Pants smiled as he replied, “Splendid, then it’s all set, at the first light of dawn, we will attack the haven.”
Silvia looked through the group as she realized something, “Wait… where is Octavia?”
The group of ponies looked amongst each other in curiosity as Shade replied, “last I heard, she was alive and had escaped the bat ponies. I figured she went to find you.”

Fancy Pants nodded his head as he replied, “That is correct, if anything Octavia would seek out you of all ponies for help. But if she didn’t find you, then where would she be?”
Silvia though to herself as she replied, “Probably Ponyville.”
Fancy Pants was confused, “If she sought you out there, then wouldn’t you two have crossed paths?”
Silvia shook her head, “Not likely, I came here from the Equestrian Caverns. Chances are we missed each other. When she gets there, Allen will tell her that I'm on my way here so she will just turn around and come back. No biggie.”

Fancy Pants smiled with hope as he asked, “Would it be a good idea to ask for Mr. Key’s help too?”
Silva shook her head, “Not likely, I appreciate everything Allen and Derpy did for me… but this is a matter that I should solve myself. Besides, Allen and Derpy aren’t really the fighting type. I’d be better for everypony if they just sat this one out.”
As Silvia turned towards the center of the group, one of the members of the Cutters asked, “So… what do we do about him?”
At that moment everypony in the room looked at Shade who continued hiding his face, knowing full and well that they were talking about him. When Shade gave no reaction to the question, Silvia sighed, “I would ask him to leave… but I know he has nowhere to go. But I’m not going to bother asking for his help. After what he did, I’d rather he stay as far from this as possible.”
With her cold words, Silva turned away from Shade as she and the rest of The Cutter refugees started discussing their plan for the coming fight.

Less than an hour before dawn, Allen stepped out of his home as he made his way to his aircraft that was sitting in the middle of the field behind Derpy’s house. As Allen checked the fuel level he smiled, “Ready and willing, let’s have us an early morning flight.”
With that said, Allen trotted to the prop and have it a good jerk downward as the spinning propeller started making popping sounds as it began spinning on its own. With the sound of the loud engine outside, Derpy woke up just slightly enough to turn her head and look out the window to see Allen and his plane sitting in the field. Still half-asleep, Derpy rolled her way to the edge of the bed so she could join Allen on his morning flight, but with her drowsiness proving too much for her, Derpy fell back asleep before she reached the edge of the bed to get up. Outside, Allen climbed into the cockpit of his plane and put the goggles over his head as he slowly increased the throttle and road the aircraft to the end of the field before taking to the sky. When he was airborne, Allen raised his plane to a moderate height as he started to see a cerulean blue pegasus lazily flying as if she had just woken up for the day. Recognizing the mare from a distance, Allen pitched his aircraft around and flew towards her to speak with her.

With a tired yawn, the pegasus continued flying until Allen flew up from below and leveled out right next to her as she looked over at him and jumped with surprise, “WHOA! WHAT THE!?!”
Allen waved to her from the cockpit as he yelled to her, “Hey! Rainbow Dash! I was wondering, what’s the weather forecast for today?”
Still unsure as to whether or not she was dreaming, Rainbow Dash replied, “Um… today should be scattered showers but I plan to clear it all up before this evening.”
Allen nodded his head, “This should be a good time to test durability in humid weather… Alright Thanks Dash!”
With a thankful smile, Allen pitched his plane away as Rainbow Dash watched him in confusion, “Either that’s Allen Key and his invention that everypony has been talking about… or I gotta start laying off the cider before bed.”

As Allen continued flying at a cruising speed admiring the melancholy backdrop that was the dawn-Shaded landscape, Allen noticed somepony trotting down the road that lead into Ponyville. Recognizing the dark cloak, Allen brought his plane around as he flew over calling to the cloaked figure, “HEY!”
With the call, the pony looked up at Allen as she put her cloak hood down revealing who she was. As the mare waved at Allen, he waved back as he smiled, “Octavia! Hey! Follow me! I'll lead you to Derpy’s house!”
Thinking that this could hasten her goal, Octavia started galloping down the road, as Allen led her towards Derpy’s house so that she could speak with them.

Making a few U-turns so Octavia could keep up, Allen lead her to Derpy’s house just as the sun began rising as Allen landed his plane in the field and shut of his engine. Feeling a little more awake, Derpy climbed out of bed and exited her house as she met Allen and Octavia on the field as she trotted up and spoke, “Oh hey Octavia, how are you?”
Octavia sighed as she replied, “I wish I had been better… but I can’t say it could be any worse.”
Hearing Octavia’s words, Allen climbed out of the plane’s cockpit as he replied, “Really? Is everything Okay?”
Octavia shook her head, “No… but I need to Speak with Silvia, is she here?”

Both Derpy and Allen looked at each other in confusion as they both looked back as Allen replied, “no… she left the day before yesterday. Why? Is everything alright?”
Octavia shook her head in disappointment, “No… I need to tell her. Where did she go? Is she in The Equestrian Caverns?”
Allen thought to himself as he replied, “I think so, but she said she was going there first before heading back to Canterlot.”
Octavia gasped in shock, “No… are you sure? Did she say that herself?”
Hearing the distress in Octavia’s voice began worrying the two as Derpy asked, “Yes, she told us herself… what’s wrong Octavia? Is she in trouble or something?”

Octavia shook her head, “No… it’s nothing… I… I must return to Canterlot as soon as possible.”
As Octavia turned to trot away Allen stepped in front of her, “whoa now… you just can’t talk to us with such distress and leave without an explanation. Now if it’s something that involves the Cutters then you can tell us since we already know about them. Nevertheless, if it involves Silvia like we know it does, then you have to tell us. She is our friend too, so tell me, what’s happened that she has to know about?...”
Octavia looked into Allen’s determined eyes then back at Derpy who gave her the same stare as she looked back at Allen and replied, “The Cutters were attacked…”

Not expecting the answer, Derpy asked, “W-what?...”
Octavia continued, “Yesterday morning… Equinox, Silvia’s older brother led an army of bat ponies into the haven and took control of The Cutters.”
Allen asked, “W-what about The Reaper… she couldn’t stop it?”
Octavia shook her head in sadness, “The Reaper… is dead. Equinox, her own son killed her when he challenged her to a duel, and cheated.”
Allen and Derpy looked at each other in worry as Octavia continued, “If Silvia is on her way to Canterlot… then I must get there before her. I must get to her before Equinox does. Cuz if I don’t… then I'm sure he will kill her too.”

Understanding what Octavia was talking about, Allen looked at Derpy and nodded his head, “Derpy?”
Derpy nodded back as she replied, “On it.”
With that said, both Derpy and Allen began pushing the plane until it was turned around and facing back towards the long stretch of field that was used as a runway before Octavia asked, “Um… what are you doing?”
Allen replied, “If Silvia’s in trouble… then we are going to help her. The fasts way back to Canterlot is by this plane. And if she is on the road than I can easily flag her down and warn her before she trots into a trap.”
Octavia spoke up as Allen climbed onto the wing of his plane, “But what if she is already in the city. You don’t know who you’re up against.”

With that comment, both Derpy and Allen gave Octavia an unamused look as they each spoke one after another, starting with Allen, “Yea, Equinox, big dark bat pony.”
then Derpy, “Big meanie,”
“Kind of a jerk,”
“Likes to hurt other ponies feelings,”
“Sneers at surface ponies,”
“Likes to lie a lot,”
“Hates his sister,”
“Tricks ponies into trusting him.”

Hearing all the comments that the couple named to describe the pony in question, Octavia could only give them a blank stare as she replied, “Um… okay, perhaps you do know what you’re up against… but what if you face him… I don’t think you could fight him, especially in that thing.”
Allen climbed into the cockpit as he put his goggles back over his eyes and smiled, “Listen Octi, if there is anypony crazy enough to pull this off, it’s me. So say what you want… I'm going. And if you want to help too then you better start running now, cuz there is only room for one pony in this plane, there is only one seat.”

Allen then looked at Derpy and continued, “Derpy, stay here, I know you want to go too, but I'd rather you stay where it’s safe.”
Derpy gave Allen an unhappy look, “But… I want to help too.”
Allen shook his head, “No, it’s too risky, we know that Equinox will use everything he can to get the upper hoof in a fight, he would even threaten you, and I don’t want to take that risk. I wouldn’t forgive myself if he hurt you to get to me. So please… stay here where it’s safe.”
Derpy hung her head as she replied, ‘all right Allen… I'll stay out of Canterlot, but please be careful.”
Seeing Derpy hanging her head in sadness made Allen smile to cheer her up, “Derpy…”
Derpy looked up, “Yes Allen?...
Allen replied with a gentle smile, “I love you.”
Derpy smiled back, “I love you too Allen.”

Feeling a little better about her situation, Derpy trotted to the propeller, as she looked at Allen and spoke, “Ready?”
Allen replied, “Contact!”
With the sounds of loud popping heard, Derpy jerked the propeller down as the engine started up and began spinning on its own. Feeling confused as to why Allen was acting so calm in this situation, Octavia looked at him and called over the sound of the engine, “Will you be alright!?!”
Allen looked back and smiled, “Do I have a choice?... And… Derpy!?!”
Derpy looked at Allen as he continued, “I'll come back to you!!! I promise!”
With those words, Allen looked forward as he increased the throttle on his plane as it roared down the field before taking to the sky.

As the biplane carrying its earth pony pilot vanished into the light of the rising sun, Octavia looked at Derpy and asked, “Are you sure he’ll be okay? I know you trust him and all, but do you really think he can face Equinox?”
Derpy continued to watch the vanishing plane as she smiled, “I wish I knew… either way it wouldn’t matter what I said about it. Allen places two thing above everything else in his life. First his friends, then flying. And if either of those is threatened, he will devote everything to save them. Even his life.”
Octavia gave Derpy a look of surprise, “You’re… acting very mature considering the…”
As Octavia looked closely at Derpy’s face she started to see tears rolling down as Derpy replied, “I… I did the right thing by letting him go… didn’t it?”

Octavia couldn’t help but feel sorry for the distressed pegasus as she hugged her and replied, “You did the most mature thing you could have… and to be honest, maybe your judgment is better than we know. If you think he can do it… then maybe he can.”
Derpy continued crying as she asked, “Then why do I feel so scared?”
Octavia replied, as she stopped hugging Derpy and looked her in the eye, “Because you’re worried about him… it’s common to worry about somepony you love. Trust me… I worried all the time about Silvia… just like I'm worried now.”

With tears still rolling down her face, Derpy turned around and spoke as she began trotting away, “Then… if we are going to help them… we better go now.”
Octavia gave Derpy a confused look, “Go now? But I though you said you were gonna stay out of Canterlot.”
Derpy wiped away her tears as she smiled, “You’re right… but we aren’t going to Canterlot. There is a pony I know who can help us but it might take some convincing so we better leave right now.”
Though Octavia had no idea what Derpy was talking about, she decided to follow her since she obviously knew what she had planned.

At that exact same time, back in Canterlot, the sun began peering through the buildings of the waking city as Silvia trotted through the street alone wearing her navy blue cloak that covered her wings and scars. As she came into view of The Check Inn, the surrounding bat ponies looked at her in confusion as they each stepped forward as one spoke, “Who is that? One of your friends?”
The second bat pony shook his head, “No… but she is a bat pony. You know her Ace?”
A third bat pony shook his head, “No… she’s kinda cute though. Maybe she is a friend of the Boss.”
A forth bat pony shook his head, “I don’t know… Something about that scar on her eye seems familiar.”

The third bat pony broke away from the group and trotted towards Silvia as he replied, “nah… it’s just a sign of experience… she’s got to be part of the bosses group. Why else would she be here?”
As the stallion approached Silvia, they both stopped as he spoke, “Well, well, you must be lost, nopony as pretty as you should be in this side of Canterlot. You must be a noble or something.”
Silvia gave the flattering bat pony a dull look as she sighed in hopelessness, “Yea… or something.”
while Silvia was still standing in front of the flirting bat pony, another bat pony exited the Check Inn as he recognized their guest, “Uh oh… ACE!!! GET AWAY FROM HER!!!”
The pony standing in front of Silvia turned to his friend in curiosity as the yelling stallion continued, “IT’S SILVER STREAM!!!”

As the stallion recognized the name, he turned back to Silvia who was smiling sinisterly as she raised her wing and lunged forward bashing the side of her prosthetic wing against his face as she knocked the unsuspecting pony to the ground. Before the stallion could pick himself up, Silvia placed the blade portion of her prosthetic against his neck as she looked at the nervous bat ponies and called out, “MAKE A MOVE AND HE DIES!!!”
The group of bat ponies took one step forward, but after hearing the threat, they each held their position as the pinned stallion yelled, “She’s bluffing!!! Even when Silver Stream was famous, she never in her career killed another pony!”
Silvia smiled sinisterly as she replied, “You’re right… I won’t kill you… if I did, then you wouldn’t be able to feel pain… right?”
At first, the stallion was confused but then without warning Silvia pulled the stallion’s wing straight out and stomped on it with her front hoof as a loud cracking sound was made followed by the screams of the pinned bat pony.

Seeing the sinister mare break their comrade’s wing right in front of them, the surrounding bat ponies took a step back in shock as Silvia looked at them and called out, “I came to see Equinox! Get him out here now… if you don’t, then we just might see how many times a bat pony’s wing can break before it becomes permanently unusable.”
with the pinned stallion looking back at her with fear in his eyes, Silvia stomped on his wing a second time as he screamed in pain leaving the rest of the observing bat ponies to cringe at the sight of their tortured friend’s pain. Almost immediately one of the bat ponies yelled to another, “GET THE BOSS!!! HURRY!!!”

As the nervous bat ponies ran into the Inn to find their leader, Silvia stood over her whimpering hostage who tried to bear his pain as he looked back up at Silvia and spoke, “You… you’re a traitor… don’t you know what we are trying to do… what Nox is trying to do?... H-He’s trying to build a new home for us. One where we are in control, don’t you get it? The bat ponies can finally climb to the top of the list along with the alicorn. But you… why are you trying to hold us back?”
Silvia didn’t even look at her hostage as she replied with an unconcerned voice, “I'm not… you are. Building an empire over blood paved streets. It’s you who is putting our race at the bottom of the list. After this… we will be lucky if we follow changelings on that list. Besides… I'm not in it for the bat pony race… nor am in in it for the Cutters.”
“R-really?... then why are you doing this?...”
Silvia looked down at the pinned pony as she raised her wing high enough for the hostage to see her scars, “I'm in it… For her. She died so I could live… so I'm gonna get back at the pony responsible for this… Even if I have to kill him.”

Though Silvia exposed her wing to show her scars, with the anger in her voice, the pinned hostage could only focus on the razor sharp prosthetic wing, which only made the poor bat pony fear for his life all the more. Not long after, Equinox exited the Check Inn with The Cutter’s cloak and scythe followed by his newfound members of the Cutters who were of course, his bat pony soldiers wearing cloaks. As the Cloaked bat ponies quickly surrounded Silvia, Equinox put the hood down on the cloak he was wearing as he smiled, “Well, look what crawled out of the shadows… If it isn’t my oh-so privileged baby sister. What brings you to Canterlot sis?”
Silvia stepped off the pinned pony and trotted closer to Nox as the terrified hostage quickly picked himself up and ran for safety. Then Silvia stopped and spoke, “I'm here because of what you did?...”

Equinox nodded his head as he kept his distance and began pacing around his sister, “Really? and what was that?, was it for killing that member of The Cutters in the Everfree forest? Or was it for the blacksmith?... on the other hoof, you could be here cuz I fought my way into the Cutter’s haven and killed mother… so… which is it?”
Silvia glared at Nox as she opened her wings revealing her weapons and replied, “You know why…”
Nox smiled, “Oh… so you want revenge for that little team of royal guards right… well I don’t have to apologies for them. That mission was meant for you to die… not them. So if anything. It’s your fault for letting them get involved.”

Silvia trembled in rage as she tried holding herself together. But with Equinox knowing just how much his words were affecting her, he could only smile, “What?... was that it?... are you mad at me now… do you want to hit me hmm?…”
“Shut up… I'm here to settle this… here and now…”
Equinox looked around at his surroundings as he replied, “So… does this mean what I think it means?”
Silvia nodded her head as she readied herself, “Yes… Equinox… I challenge you to a duel. And this… Will be a fight to the death.”
Equinox smiled sinisterly as he replied with confidence, “My name is The Reaper … and ya know what?… I accept.”

Comments

[Priceless911]

5413866
just adds to reasons she had no friends prior to NMM's return