Into Darkness We Ride

by Rated Ponystar

The Great Unknown

The wilderness was calm and cold, with only the unnatural wind slicing across the darkened plains and the soft pitter-patter of Celestia’s blizzard against the long-dead grass. The world, was cold and, for all intents and purposes, dead.

Then something moved.

Near the base of a frost-covered knoll, a small rocky outcropping stirred, knocking a layer of fresh snow loose. One of the larger boulders budged.

Then a pair of eyes peeked out from behind the stone from the shadows of the hill.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes glinted magenta against the thin light that reached the opening. She leaned against the cold stone and gritted her teeth, pressing firmly against the rock and causing it to budge another few inches, giving her a clear view of the surrounding few meters. She sniffed the air and pricked her ears over the wind, listening for nearby patrols.

The breeze betrayed nothing, and the pegasus let out a relieved sigh, before turning back to the shadow of the jagged tunnels. She scowled and tapped her hoof impatiently against the slick floor.

Several minutes later a winded Applejack pulled herself up out of the depths of the tunnel.

“‘Bout time,” the pegasus said in an impatient whisper. “What did you do? Crawl here?”

“Yeah, it’s easier when ya ain’t gotta run over everything in yer way, ain’t it?” the earth pony scowled heatedly.

“Say what you want, AJ. I think all the housework’s made you soft,” Rainbow said with a wink.

“Sure is easier when yer in the guard runnin’ drills everyday,” the earth pony huffed. “Now get outta the way.”

“Yes ma’am.” Rainbow chortled. Technically, she outranked Applejack, but neither was in a position or mindset to give any credence to the chain of command for the time being.

One inch at a time, the earth pony’s burlier build let her unwedge the rock from the hillside.

Rainbow floated up and leaned the top of the rock just enough to the side to peer around. Her eyes acclimated quickly to the dark landscape, and nothing jumped out at her.

“Clear?”

“From the looks of it,” she acknowledged, and with a grunt and a push, Applejack shoved the boulder aside several more inches.

At last, she forced a gap large enough for the two to fit through, and the pair scampered out into the waiting cold, ducking into the cover of an outcropping.

The earth pony’s fur bristled on contact with the frigid air.

“S-s-s-s-sweet R-R-Rover,” she stammered, emerald eyes widening. Just enough light filtered through the air for her to see her breath leaving her on clouds of steam. The faint snow pelted against her exposed legs like tiny, crystalline projectiles, and she clutched desperately at her thick winter cloak.

“Weird how warm it was underground,” Dash muttered, shaking out her coat and ruffling her feathers. She cast a glimpse Applejack’s way. “You okay?”

“What the hay was I thinkin’ agreein’ to th-this...”

The pegasus smirked and removed her own cloak, draping it around Applejack’s withers.

Her friend appeared about to protest, but Rainbow held her cover firmly in-place.

“You ain’t gonna be cold?”

Rainbow flashed a cocky smile. “What? In this? I’ve flown through worse than this before. No biggie.” She shrugged. “Forgot how you earth ponies can’t handle the cold like we pegasi can.”

“I’ll be f-fine as soon as we start movin’...”

The pegasus nodded. “Then the quicker we get going, the sooner we don’t have to worry about running into Sombra-jerks…”

“Rainbow, wait!” the earth pony protested, her teeth clamping down on the pegasus’s tail.

“Wait for what?!” her friend asked, rubbing her sore tailbone.

“Don’t you think it’d be smarter if ya flew ahead and scouted out the way in front of us? Ain’t nopony exactly been out this far since Shinin’ Armor tried to bust us outta this mess. There could be anything waitin’ for us out here.”

Rainbow blinked and scowled.

“AJ, our friends are back home, fighting for their lives. Every second we take is another friend that dies because we weren’t quick enough!”

“Shh!”

Rainbow pinned her ears and sighed, lowering her voice. “We don’t have time to be careful, Applejack. Time’s something that’s not on our side anymore. Think of Goldie and Cadance and Shining Armor…”

“I am, sugarcube!”

It was Dash’s turn to hush her.

Applejack frowned and calmed herself. “Ain’t nopony know better than I do what’s at stake here, but…” A sharp chill ran through her as a particularly-nasty wind sliced down off the knoll and cut straight through her cloaks.

Even Dash shivered a bit at the sudden cold.

“But it don’t mean we gotta be reckless either,” she continued. “Everypony else is countin’ on us to live long enough to finish the job anyway. It ain’t gonna do anypony any good if we rush off without thinkin’ and die out there...”

The pegasus bit her lip and looked to the south, then to the north, where the palace spires of the distant Crystal Empire still gleamed faintly on the horizon, like a last beacon of hope dancing on the edge of Existence. Even so far away, Applejack felt like she could reach out and touch it, like she still felt its warmth washing over her -- though that was a relative term in this day and age.

Rainbow grit her teeth and looked to the south again.

“We can be quick and careful…” she muttered impatiently.

“Rainbow…”

“‘Rainbow’, nothin’! We have a mission to complete and we’re not going to finish it by standing around talking about it!”

Applejack pinned her ears back.

In days past, she would have met Dash’s bullheadedness with her own and put the pegasus squarely in her place. Her friend’s brashness and attitude, however, had saved either of their lives on multiple occasions, and experience had taught her well when it was and wasn’t worth arguing with her.

Rainbow Dash had transformed a long time ago from a starry-eyed dreamer into a hardened warrior, and she had the instincts to back it up.

Applejack, on the other hoof, had learned to know when to step aside.

She relented. “You have a plan then?”

Rainbow’s stern expression slowly softened and she glimpsed around with the eyes of a bird-of-prey.

She turned back to face the farmgirl. “You still got that map of Equestria on you?”

Applejack blinked and looked down at her saddlebags, retrieving the scroll and hoofing it over.

Rainbow nestled herself down low into the shelter of the rocky outcropping and knocked her aurastone necklace several times to improve the lighting it gave off.

Applejack glimpsed around several times as a precaution and hunched low, peering through the low light at the map.

The pegasus’s stone highlighted the Crystal Empire on the map, then traced south, peering all around the perimeter of the old Imperial prairies.

“Not much cover if we get seen by a passing pegasus or something…” Rainbow muttered, narrowing her eyes.

The light of her stone stopped to the south and slightly to the east.

Her hoof landed on Neighagra Falls.

“We can break for here. There’s water, cover from air scouts, and shelter from the weather. ...We can hope, anyway.”

“‘We can hope?’” Applejack raised an eyebrow at her friend. “That don’t sound very reassurin’.”

Dash sighed and shoved the map back into her saddlebags. “It’s the best chance we’ve got anyway. Following the train tracks would be suicide, and the river wouldn’t be much better…” The pegasus looked at her grimly. “At least this way, we have nature on our side.”

“And you don’t think Celestia and her goons would figure the same thing?”

Rainbow looked at her. “It wouldn’t be any different if we just hoofed it straight south for several days. Except Celestia isn’t looking for us yet, and we have the bonus of cover this way, which gives us an advantage for a change.”

Applejack couldn’t help it. She chuckled.

The pegasus looked at her quizzically. “What?”

Reining in her giggles, the farmgirl smiled. “You. Lookit you. Actin’ all grown up and serious…”

Rainbow blushed. “Y-yeah? What about it?”

Applejack sighed wistfully. “I can still remember when it was a pain the neck to get you off yer rump to do anything work-related.”

“Yeah.” Rainbow smirked. “Good times.”

The two smiled at each other.

“C’mon pardner. Let’s go.”

Nodding silently, Rainbow turned to the south again and led the duo down the blighted hill, and onward into the waiting unknown.

***

The procession passed by like shadows against the light of a flash stone in the background. One after another, faceless shapes would pause in front of the faintly-lit crystalline caskets. Their heads would bow in respect, and then they would move on to make way for the next pony.

She lost track of how much time had passed or how many had paid their dues; there were far more ponies to count than a single line of them could accommodate in any reasonable amount of time. Minutes had passed like hours, and Golden Scabbard sat in the front row, watching it all take place in front of her. Endless shadows crossed her dull, soulless expression like a slide show of familiar-yet-nameless ponies.

Every so often, one of the attendees would approach her and offer their condolences.
Not that she heard them. She was simply aware of them speaking to her, and that the occasional word she picked up implied that they were expressing sympathies.

Most ponies who were on the line of battle knew that the three were a virtually unstoppable trio. Battle, for them, had become such an art form that the three would hold little competitions mid-fight to see the body count they could wrack up before the opposing forces tucked tail and ran. Some had referred to them as “The Elements of War”.

Now they were gone, and the hopelessness was palpable, and not an iota of it was offset by the mysterious return of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

A foal passed by, nuzzling against her unwounded fetlock, and she looked down.

A tiny earth pony filly – she couldn’t be more than a few seasons old – pinned her ears and stumbled nervously back beneath her gaze. She didn’t even come up to barrel-height for the mare, and her black mane and gray fur appeared to be in dire need of a brush. Not even a cutie mark adorned her flanks.

Goldie blinked blankly and motioned with her good hoof.

The filly responded slowly, timidly approaching the wounded warrior. Goldie brushed her hoof down the foal’s mane and back.

“Where are your parents?” she asked softly.
The filly looked up at her and rubbed her fetlock against her watering eyes.

Heart aching, Goldie reached forward and took the filly under her hoof and pulled her nearer before looking back to the funeral line.

The shadowy specters of mourners flickered across her field of vision, one by one.

She couldn’t tell how long it had taken for the line to disperse.

A guard acting as usher approached her, gently prodding her side.

He asked her if she wished to say her goodbyes – her goodbyes to a pair of false idols, laying in crystalline caskets and casting a black shadow of misery over the congregation.

Her eyes traced slowly back to the caskets, wherein lay her “friends”, dead from their fierce struggle.

The soft, magical light of the candles illuminating their remarkably-convincing faces lent an air of somberness over the innumerable bouquets of flowers that otherwise did not exist in her eyes. The caskets flickered not only with a crystal surface, but the hundreds of false tears shed over the bodies of the golems.

She looked back to the guard, then the gathering around her that avoided her gaze out of respect. Her golden gaze then looked down to the mother- and fatherless filly, clinging desperately to her leg.

Silently she slid out of her pew and nudged at the filly with her hoof, spurring her into motion.

The two turned for the exits and Golden Scabbard led in a limp amidst whispers of concern, outrage, pity, or whatever it was they were saying – she didn’t care.

Already, all the light of hope had vanished from her charges’ faces, and expressions weary with emotion passed by in countless numbers on either side of her.

One of her nurses from the critical care wing of the palace rushed to stop her, only to be pushed aside by a pulse of her horn.

She didn’t care if she was abandoning the funeral early or for what her caretakers had to say. She cared little for the false whispers of encouragement the Princess would have for the remains of her Empire. To her, knowing they were empty made them meaningless.

The pair of guards watching the entrance of the palace looked at each other as the little filly and her surrogate guardian approached.

Neither dared pull rank to try and stop her, and a level stare from Goldie was all that was needed to have their way cleared for them.

The pair stopped at the top of the palace steps together. Beneath them, several lines of honor guards barred the entrance of any others. Thousands of ponies, perhaps more, held vigil, grasping or levitating mourning candles and creating a sparkling, multihued sea of light below.

The guards parted way for the two as they passed, and Goldie led the way through the crowds back to the Diamond District.

***

All was silent, dead and normal perched on the edge of the Crystal Plains.

In stark contrast to the brilliant Imperial capital nearly fifty miles away, Celestia’s fortress-like stronghold seemed to devour every photon of light that came near like a black hole. Legions of soldiers of all races surrounded its armed, spiked walls, performing drills, escorting prisoners, and mending damaged arms and armor.

The wounded, the sick, the dead and the dying lay in droves all around the grounds, filling the air with – what was to Celestia – a pleasant precursor to the main event to come, and a happy reminder of those past to soothe her rattled nerves.

The former matriarch of Equestria draped a hoof over the edge of the highest tower in the fortress and fixed the Crystal Palace in the distance with dark, hateful eyes.

The visions ran through her head, and the more she thought about it, the less she liked it. For years, she had been convinced of her former pupil’s death. She had torn her body asunder, left her crushed, broken and beaten at her hooves.

If it hadn’t been for Princess Cadance’s timely intervention, she would have killed her right there.

No doctor, no matter how skilled – not even her own surgeon could have mended such wounds…

Celestia’s eyes narrowed.

“M'lady, the courier has arrived.”

Her ear twitched, and gray eyes slowly turned to the right. One of her generals, Spitfire, if she remembered correctly, stood at attention at the top of the spiraling stairwell. A cup of steaming tea was extended to her in offering.

Celestia eyed the beverage with contempt and looked at her air marshal bitterly.

Spitfire shuffled uneasily beneath her queen-lord’s gaze.

No more words were uttered, and Celestia instead turned her steely attention back to the gleaming city.

Without hesitation, the Wonderbolt flight’s commander bowed her head respectfully and turned to retreat down into the shadows of the tower.

A biting wind blew by, and the former princess bit her lip, drawing blood.

You've impressed me before, my dear student... have you truly learned to conquer Death's cold clutches as well?

No answer came to her mind, no matter how long she considered the possibilities. Even the ex-matriarch's vast wealth of arcane knowledge and experience could come up with no solution to how her once-precious apprentice had survived her wounds.

Celestia snorted.

“Or perhaps, I simply wasn't thorough enough the first time...” she muttered.

The clatter of unsure hoofsteps behind her drew her attention once more, and an old, black sky carriage drawn by old personal guard landed. A trio of unicorns forcefully threw a rucksack to the stony, black floor and disembarked from the ride.

A pony-sized form wriggled insistently in the sack. From the sounds of his – she assumed – muffled gasps for air.

A slight pulse from Celestia's horn and the top of the makeshift bag came undone, roughly spilling Chanter's ragged body onto the cold ground.

Celestia turned to the couriers and nodded, receiving a salute in turn before the carriage was drawn off.

The trio of unicorns forced the doomsayer to his hooves with painful sparks of magic.

The former ruler's dark eyes looked over her former subject as a lion would prey.

“You kept me waiting...” she droned, though the undercurrents of impatience ran strong in the firm tone of her voice. “I left myself quite exposed waiting outside the wall for you... after an hour waiting, I was beginning to think that you had been discovered...”

In normal circumstances, Celestia would have been furious for being made to wait. Her mind had been occupied enough, however, to cool her infamous wrath.

“F-forgive me m'lady. The guard details were strict in where we—”

Celestia's gaze grew stern, and Chanter became quiet.

“If your regent bids thee come, you come,” she said firmly. “I would hardly ever risk an asset for something insignificant, you understand.”

Chanter swallowed nervously and nodded wordlessly.

Celestia turned her icy gaze back to the city.

“I presume that the deaths of the last two Elements of Harmony have left the populace in turmoil.” A slim smile crossed her muzzle. “Their morale is broken. The funeral services have doubtlessly left hope shattered, and an entire Empire on its knees, awaiting its inevitable end.” She glimpsed backwards to Chanter. “Yes?”

Chanter averted his eyes and didn't answer.

“Except for one thing, of course...” she purred menacingly.

The doomsayer flinched.

“The unexpected return of an old student of mine, while certainly a surprise, had most definitely left me questioning the value of your information... all of it,” she said. “For it was you, I believe, who informed me of her demise the first time, yes?”

He bit his lip.

“And lo, just as I am on the cusp of ultimate victory – just as I have dashed my greatest enemies into broken dolls and smite their ruined bodies upon the freezing, dying battlefields for which they have fought, just as I am on the verge of the elimination of Old Harmony itself...”

She turned, a goddess angered as though she were a building thunderstorm.

“...when who should appear to light my foes' darkest hour?”

She stopped, mere inches from crushing him under her mighty hoof.

“Are there any other of mine enemies long-forgotten whose impending return I should be aware of? Have my old friends Applejack and Rainbow Dash gained Enlightenment through the Elements they bore? Have their deaths done nothing more than allow them to rise again in regal splendor as phoenixes from the ashes of their old forms?”

The former Sun Princess's breath could be likened unto the heat rolling off burning coals. The waves of fear rolling off of Chanter's prone form fed her fury further, and he covered his head as if in preparation for an attack.

One of the unicorn guards yanked up on his mane sharply.

“Her Ladyship asked you a question, knave!”

“SPEAK!” another demanded.

Celestia raised a hoof calmly, and all was silent again, the armored unicorns falling back into line behind the informant.

She stared down at the trembling stallion, and took a deep breath.

“You can understand my awkward position, Chanter,” she said.

The named pony looked up in surprise at the monarch.

“If, after all, this information you gave me about my fallen pupil proved to be untrue, how can I know for sure that other things you have told me cannot be as unreliable?” Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “Are you so certain that the wielders of the Elements of Harmony could be destroyed so easily? Are you so certain that you have not been discovered – that you are not falling for a deception that is beyond your ability to comprehend?”

“Y-Your Highness...” he sputtered, “I attended the funeral of Loyalty and Honesty. I saw their bodies myself...”

“It is not the fates of the Elements of Loyalty and Honesty that concern me, slave...”

Cold eyes, calm and calculating reached deep into his soul.

“Th-then—”

“If my dear Twilight has truly returned from her grave – that is, if she truly ever perished—”

“Sh-she did, m'lady! I saw her perish!”

“SILENCE.”

Even the wind and Celestia's own guard attachment stood deathly still. The irritation the sun immortal wore on her expression was a dire one.

Celestia breathed again and looked to the city with disgust.

“Regardless of the circumstances of Twilight Sparkle's unfortunate return, I must know for sure the source of this 'second life' she now has.” Her dark eyes narrowed. “I must know where she has been all these years... what she has been seeking... and why she has chosen now, of all times to return.”

Celestia turned back to Chanter.

“This is your task. Be swift and bring word to me quickly...” Her eyes twitched, looking at something far behind her indentured servant.

Chanter turned, and saw—

“D-daddy?”

His breath left him as his daughter was brought up to the roof on a tight chain.

Chanter reached forward to reclaim his little girl, but was shoved back by the trio of unicorn guards barring his way. A group of blades hovered before him, wrapped in dark, telekinetic auras.

Celestia's hoof fell forcefully on his withers, pinning him to the ground.

“Remember... there is much at stake for your success...” She narrowed her eyes at him. “And a heavy price for betrayal...”

Author's Note:

Sorry for the lateness. I'll do better next chapter. T_T - TwilightUCrazy

Comments

[SHL]

Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuun!!!!

[Aatxe360]

Hmmmmmmm...

Thanks for the update.

[Sunny]

Biggest question to all of this is why Celestia went grimdark. I mean, it's, well, completely -not- her.

[GreatDreamer]

5529773
wasn't she corrupted by Sombra?

[Sunny]

5562254
I would assume she was somehow, but I don't think we've seen any explanation for it. I mean, Sombra in-show had his face wiped in by the Royal Sisters the first time round, so.

[GreatDreamer]

5562280
It could be because of luck, or they could have been taken by surprise and/or something being different than last time.
I'm just happy Sombra is being given an actually intimidating role in this fic.

[Sunny]

5562313

Hence the curiosity. I'm not saying it can't be sold, just that the bill of sale is higher!