Legion of Shadows

by Strythio

The Market

Sunset signed, in writing, a 'legally binding' document stating that she would be Trixie's partner in crime until Trixie so deemed it necessary to break things off. In exchange, Trixie levitated the book over to Sunset, whom was more than ready to once again get back to work. With her hooves, she re-opened the book back to the table of contents, as she had failed to properly bookmark her place last time she had perused through it.

Before Sunset could get a crack at both reversing the spell on her horn and figuring out how to kill Twilight, the sound of a mass of beating wings brought her attention to the skies.

Snow, in small amounts, continued to fall, but the owner of the wings was nowhere to be found. The beating sounded far, yet close, and even Trixie looked around in curiosity before shrugging her shoulders. "Guess it is our imagination."

Sunset then noticed a part of the ground a few meters from Trixie move; it was subtle, but she could have sworn that she had also seen a glint in the snow. Flipping open the book, discounting what she saw for now as her mind playing tricks on her the unicorn flipped through the pages while searching for the spell.

The wing flapping only seemed to grow ever louder in response, much to Sunest's annoyance. "Trixie, if that is you, really, I need you to cut it out. I am trying to concentrate over here!"

When Sunset looked back up, however, she noticed that Trixie's mouth was agape, and that she stared up into the sky as if it held a new constellation that no one had previously seen before. Sunset chanced a look upward, only to see an entire army of pegasi flying high above them. Although individually they were mere dots in the sky, together they were a large moving mass that made the already dark skies even darker.

Her own mouth fell open, as such random mobilization seemed very out of the ordinary. The fire cackled violently, and upon looking towards the fire briefly, the earlier patch of ground had clearly moved again; but this time, it was mere inches away from Trixie's left instead at a rather ignorable distance of several meters.

"Trixie-" Sunset started before the moving ground turned into a pouncing dragon. Claws extended, the dragon grabbed a startled Trixie and breathed a small amount of fire upon her horn. The horn, once touched by the flames, became black as night, much to Trixie's dismay.

"Unhand Trixie or face her wrath!" Trixie wiggled and attempted to free herself to no avail.

The dragon, oddly enough, was a dark blue color, and was nearly five times the size of the two mares; how it managed to sneak around for so long was beyond Sunset. It had a large, shovel-like tail, sharp teeth and claws, and sapphire eyes that seemed to be sizing up the situation. Sunset knew was that this was a dangerous situation, as there was no helping Trixie without some sort of magic. And she would be damned by Celestia herself before trying to take on such a large dragon using nothing more than her hooves and horn.

A crack of thunder resounded in the sky, and a small group of pegasi descended from the sky, thunderclouds forming as rapidly as the pegasi had arrived.

These three pegasi wore what looked to be grey flight suits with a dark yellow stripe of lightning along the sides. If Sunset would have guessed, it was the Wonderbolts with some very different uniforms, perhaps made in order to fit in with the oncoming storm.

Of course, she did not have time for guessing, and instead backed away from the fire and the dragon, as she did not want to risk the book catching afire from the dragon's movements. The dragon looked like it was about to burrow underneath the ground again in an attempt to escape with Trixie, its free paw already going for the ground.

One of the pegasi from the trio descending streaked down, leaving behind a blue and yellow thunderbolt streak, smashing into the dragon's right paw, which held Trixie.

The paw opened and the dragon roared out in pain, freeing Trixie. Sunset would have assumed that the impact might would have hurt, but the pony was already diving back up to avoid getting singed by the angry dragon's fire. Trixie dropped straight on her rear, directly in the path of the dragon, who was preparing to stomp down on her in its fury. Before she could get stomped on, the other two pegasi swooped in and swept her off her feet, the ponies barely avoiding a run in with the large pancake maker as it smashed into the ground, sending snow and dirt flying.

Trixie was unceremoniously dropped off next to Sunset on her stomach with her mane disheveled. Sunset watched Trixie struggle to her hooves, not quite thinking that she could have used a helping hoof; she was too entranced in watching these three pegasi, who seemed to now be the center of attention for the angry dragon.

The dragon roared and breathed out a spray of fire in an attempt to ward off the pests that had interrupted its seizure of Trixie; the pegasi nimbly dodged, regrouping a few meters in the air above the dragon. Now that they were in one place and much closer, Sunset could notice the familiar set of flight goggles characteristic of the Wonderbolts, and could take note of the manes of the trio.

The first one to arrive, in the center of the formation, had a brilliant amber mane with brilliant gold stripes. The one on the left had a light cyan-gray mane with streaks of a lighter shade. The one on the right had a light gray mane, and bore a much more defined lightning stripe.

The light gray maned one spoke first, shouting, "By order of Fleetfoot of the Equestrian Wonderbolts, dragon, cease your resistance and come with us; you will not be asked again."

The dragon paused for a moment, processing this information for a moment. It seemed as if it considered the implications of the statement, and was weighing the risk with the benefits of continuing its task. After a few moments of contemplation, the dragon stomped its shovel-like tail into the ground, tossing up dirt and snow into the air. While not high enough to disrupt the pegasi, the shockwave did disrupt the delicate train car setup, the screeching of the metal predicting imminent collapse from the top down.

"We should have just kicked ass and been done with it," the center pony grumbled aloud, head looking upwards at the slow dismantling of the train car shelter.

"Can it Lightning Dust," Fleetfoot ordered, looking at the disaster preparing to happen, "Thunderlane and I will get the unicorns out of here, you handle the dragon with your bad self."

Sunset could detect a slight bit of sarcasm at the end there, though Lightning Dust seemed to take no particular offense to it, and in fact, seemed to take pride in it.

"Yes ma'am!" In a streak of blue and yellow, Lightning descended upon the dragon, whom apparently had been following the conversation. The dragon, in response, blew fire, only to blatantly miss its target.

Sunset's attention was diverted as Trixie chose this point spoke up, as already Thunderlane and Fleetfoot had swooped down to get them. She had long gotten back to her hooves, and uneasily watched the events unfold. "Wait, there are passengers in some of those cars!"

"There shouldn't be," Thunder commented with a concerned expression, "I could have sworn we had already checked on our way down here."

The ceiling cars fell in, temporarily narrowing the opening at the top of the encampment and threatening to crush all who remained at the bottom, dragon and ponies alike.

Sunset howled in frustration, as she realized that there would not be enough time to continue looking up the spell now. She hastily began packing the book back into her saddlebags, some of the rest of her belongings having apparently been looted, as there was far more room for the tome than there should have been on either side of the bags. She would have to keep note of that for later, if she was still around to look into it.

While Sunset did this, Trixie turned towards the still lit fire near the center. Her horn glowing brightly again, the unicorn let loose stream of magic into the fire. The fire responded by sparking and flaring, with the surrounding snow shifting to an array of colors. Innumerable rockets fired into the air, each rocket bearing a strange square plate on one side.

With precision rivaling a surgeon, Trixie attached these fireworks to the descending train cars via the metal plate. The rockets then exploded, sending a dazzling amount of light all around. The blast was so great, that it forced all into the snow face or rear first. Sunset found the world once again going white, with dazzling lights of the rainbow to add into the mix..

The roar of the explosion deafened her, the ringing in her ears only making an oncoming migraine worse. Sunset, at this point, could only wonder why she had to be the unicorn to be stuck in this situation. However, a few minutes later, when no train car came crashing down atop of her, instead a few bits of burning ember, she had to admit that Trixie had far exceeded her initial expectations when they first me. Granted, she could have done the same thing, or something similar, had she had access to her magic, but as fate would have it, she at least had been stuck with a unicorn while her magic was inaccessible.

Brushing snow from her muzzle, the still dazzled Sunset looked around. The sky was completely visible now, and the stream of pegasi and thunderclouds still baffled her as they flew on like an endless sea in the sky. This kind of mobilization was on the scale of a response to an invasion of sorts; had she come back to the middle of Equestria in war? Were there even that many pegasi in the Military? Then again, they were pegasi, and most pegasi had some sort of military background in the least.

As the ringing slowly began to subside, the migraine earlier creeping up on Sunset came full force. Rubbing her head, Sunset brushed against her now unrocky horn, the spell apparently having worn off at last. She looked to her left to see an unconscious Trixie, surrounded by a presumably shouting Fleetfoot.

Ah, so Trixie had over-exerted herself; Sunset could feel her horn return to its more natural state, the spell likely wearing off with the castor in such shambles. Well, better late than never, as now she could bail out of this place before anything else happened. Before Sunset could prepare a teleportation spell, her mind reeled at the thought that she almost left without her saddlebags, which were being inspected by Thunderlane.

Unable to concentrate fully with her migraine, Sunset shakily walked over towards Thunder, viewing the blown away train cars with a level of disbelief. He looked in her general direction, gasped and dashed towards her, dropping the saddlebags back into the snow. Sunset almost ran forward, but when he passed right through her, she realized that not all was right with her senses.

She looked back to see Thunder running up to a unicorn with a crimson mane with yellow stripes. For a brief moment, Sunset did not process that that unicorn might be her, until Thunder unburied her head from the snow. As comical as it would have been to see herself out cold as if she had been staying up for an exam, the sight of herself in such shape caused her to freeze in place, mind locked in on a single answer to this oddity.

Fear crept up her spine, ethereal as it was right now, as she realized that she was having an out of body experience. She backed away, only to notice the dragon beginning to stir as well. It had landed quite some distance from the three ponies Sunset had spotted so far, and though its blue scales had turned into a darker shade of blue, the sapphire eyes still locked onto Trixie with killer intent.

"Is anyone still paying attention to the dragon?" Sunset exclaimed, realizing that she also could not be heard.

Or so it seemed, as shortly after speaking, Thunder looked from her crumpled form towards the dragon. He shouted, and Fleetfoot responded with perked up ears. She had already been back on her hooves, and had likely been searching for the third of their party. She shouted back at Thunder, who stooped down low to bring Sunset onto his back. Fleet then shouted yet again, this time towards the limping Lightning Dust, who seemed to appear at just the right moment next to the Wonderbolt.

Sunset could feel an odd tug towards her body, and as the world blackened out, she could begin to hear again as the ringing completely subsided. She felt heavy, she felt pain, and she could still feel that migraine at full force. She could heard the cackling of flames, though other than that the area seemed awfully quiet now.

"Lightning, get the blue one and go! I'll keep tabs on this dragon!" Fleethoof shouted with a very urgent tone.

"But ma'am..." Lightning began, potentially wishing to stay and fight.

"No buts! Thunder, you're not in the air yet?"

The flapping of pegasus wings alerted Sunset to Thunder's compliance. Her eyes crept open, the bright orange flames of the fire dimming. Well, she could not use her magic, but at least she could get a lift.

Just as Sunset thought this, she heard Thunder howl in agony, the wind flapping becoming far more erratic. She could see, blurry as it was, that they had not yet left the ground, and she had a feeling that they would not be leaving the ground anytime soon.

"Fuck!" Thunder cursed aloud, "I don't think I can take off." He held his left wing as if it were injured.

The dragon by this point, realizing that its quarries were a bit busy, dug its shovel-like tail into the ground and hastily began back burrowing its way into the ground. Within seconds the large dragon had already re-submerged, the area it had descended back into the ground at blending back in with the surroundings shortly after the dragon's head went under. Such digging skills were the only explanation for how the dragon had sneaked up on them in the first place.

Attempts at willing away her migraine were failing miserably, the pounding in her head refusing to subside for even a brief moment's worth of magic. Sunset could feel strengthening tremors, and could deduce that that dragon had not yet given up the draw for Trixie, the earlier stare adding some backing to the thought. Fleetfoot lived up to her name, and swiftly dashing over to where Trixie lay, likely having also picked up on the obvious intentions of the dragon. Upon arriving, she grabbed the unicorn's horn with her teeth and, using it like a handle of sort, swiftly swung her form to the side, moments before the dragon re-emerged in that spot.

Upon noticing its target once again being flung out of reach, the dragon instead snapped its jaws at Fleet, who narrowly avoided getting her muzzle trapped between the razor sharp teeth.

"Danger close!"

Lightning's words made no sense to Sunset, especially when yellow snow smacked the dragon straight between its eyes. The yellow snow stuck in place, and before the dragon made another move, a bolt of lightning descended from the sky, striking with pinpoint accuracy the dragon where it had been marked.

The bolt was so powerful, that upon thunder sounding, it sent Fleetfoot flying backwards, straight towards Sunset and Thunder. Without remembering that he had her on his back, or so Sunset hoped he merely had forgotten, Thunder rushed to try to soften Fleet's landing, only to also be sent backwards by the sheer force.

Thunder took the brunt of the force, though Sunset could hear the crack resounding from the smacking of the two bodies. The trio rolled for a few minutes in the snow, the world spinning and the ground going from freezing cold to warm. At last, they came to a stop Thankfully, Thunder had not rolled on top of her, as his weight would have been far too much for Sunset to handle at this point.

She heard the thump of the dragon, likely finally bested at this point. Rolling from atop of Thunder, Sunset once again found the cool ground an odd comfort, even if a very painful one yet still. At least now she did not have to worry about her own weight doing any further damage to either of the pegasi, though her gaze looked up towards the sky, a sort of haze beginning to claim her vision.

She could feel her earlier wrappings beginning to unravel, her earlier injuries possibly being re-opened by the damage she had sustained. Even with all the help in the world in the air, and she still might end up dying right here in the cold snow.

Sunset's vision darkened and blurred, her hearing once again becoming like that of bells ringing. It was a nuisance, really, but she could feel the cold beginning to numb her even moreso than her loss of her sense of touch. Just before she gave up the pot, her vision focused and brightened again, with Lightning Dust standing over the three.

Although she could not hear her, she could mildly read lips, and figured that Lightning was calling someone, hopefully for assistance. What arrived, however, was far from assisstance, and in fact were two more large dragons of the same type that had previously attempted to kill them off, red and green respectively.

Instead of attacking, they actually chatted with Lightning, engaging in a full blown conversation. Based on the pegasus' expression, they were making her some sort of offer, or perhaps giving her a no-win set of options that would lead to a moral delimma of the highest kind.

Of course, their wide grins and Lightning's subsequent hoof pointing suggested otherwise. The dragons went off to somewhere out of Sunset's sight, with a body beneath her beginning to stir. Her hearing returned just in time to catch a few of Lightning's words.

"The goods are secured... dealt with... best get them to... the wrong idea..."

Lightning's voice faded as once again blackness overtook Sunset's vision, the dream world calling her in ways that she had never been called before. It was alluring, irresistible, and almost like the described embrace of death. Sunset would not have welcomed that, but it seems that, if indeed that was what was calling her, she did not have much choice. So she ceased her fighting and gave in, all feeling leaving her once again.

Author's Note:

The very end of the chapter was going to end sooner, but then I tacked on some of the next chapter's end intro bit in order to make the next chapter less shifty (as in, constantly having breaks in the story). That last bit fit on anyways, and still left this chapter with the kind of cliffhanger that I had been going for.