• Published 12th Oct 2014
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DayBreak - MyHobby



After an attempt is made on Celestia's life, Twilight Sparkle must assemble a team to track down the assassin and bring her to justice. Danger awaits as they delve into the origins of both the attacker and alicorns.

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Do

Luna shielded her eyes from a lightning strike just outside the castle walls. The storm had engulfed the entire city. Wind whipped rooftops away. Rain flooded the streets. Hail bludgeoned through windows and walls. Through it all, fire charred everything that was not soaked through.

And still it grew more intense.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

Luna looked down. A soldier approached her, his head bowed. “If we fly into that storm we’ll be shredded in seconds. I feel… I feel that we are of far better use assisting the population with emergency response.”

Wind buffeted the walls in an attempt to tear the castle away from the mountain. Luna hoped it wasn’t possible. “There is no way to pierce the storm?”

“None that we can think of.” He shrugged. “If you have any suggestions…”

“No. Thank you, Captain.” Luna swallowed. “Please go forth and assist the populous. Still, keep your eyes to the sky and seek an opportunity. I do not believe Stonewall’s forces can stop them alone.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The soldier left down the spiral staircase from the Dream’s Keep, leaving Luna in solitude.

Her balcony door opened into blustery air, held at bay by a shimmering blue shield. Rain pelted the energy sealing her away from the carnage. She looked to the right and spied the shattered mirror that had, not too long ago, held the visage of the villainous Nightmare Moon.

“So I’m to be helpless again?” she said. “Wishing for power I should not have? Agonizing over how past misdeeds have shaped the present?”

She fell silent as another set of hoof taps clambered up her stairwell. She held her head high to address the new arrival. “You may enter.”

Natter wiped his forehead with a pristine clothe even as he bowed. “Your Majesty, I am afraid I bring frightful news.”

Luna scrunched her muzzle. “More frightful than a hurricane the size of Cloudsdale?”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle is missing, Princess.” Natter’s monocle fell from his face. He didn’t bother to replace it. “Time Turner, Daring Do, and Skyhook have gone into the depths of the mountain to find her.”

“Oh.” Luna lowered her head. Her hoof ground into the marble floor. “Oh. Do we know what happened to her?”

“Mr. Turner suspected Dulcimer was responsible.”

“Of course not,” Luna said. “There is no way Twilight would have gone along with—” Her eyes widened. “No. Oh no. I never told her.”

The shards of glass scattered around the broken mirror jingled from the force of her voice. “No! How could I have been so stupid?

Natter jumped back. His monocle rolled across the floor before he scooped it up. “My lady, I can assure you that she is in the best hooves—”

“I should have been there, Natter!” Her wings flared. She paced back and forth across her observatory, loose feathers fluttering from her back. A tremendous, biting itch spread across her flanks. “I should have been there to help them!”

“But you’re here right now!”

Luna stared at Natter. Her lip curled downward. “What was that?”

Natter shook. He took a deep breath and let it out with a shudder. He made several false starts before finally speaking with a broken voice. “You are here right now. You can do something right now. This… this train of thought isn’t healthy, Princess. You mustn’t abuse yourself in this manner over things you had no control over. Take charge now and make things better.”

Luna held his gaze. When she spoke, she kept her voice cold. “I believe you are correct.”

He let out a sigh of relief.

“I can do something.” Luna turned to the shield holding back the fury of the storm. Her horn glinted.

The shimmer fell away and let the wind in. Natter backed into the stairway as his skin was chilled to the bone. He covered his eyes as freezing spikes of rain threatened to blind him.

Luna stood firm in the face of the storm. She walked towards the balcony with hard eyes. “I shall do something. I shall stop the storm myself. I shall calm the raging hurricane if it kills me!”

Natter held out a hoof. “Luna! Wait!”

She was gone, swallowed up by clouds and darkness.

He let his foreleg drop. “Don’t do it alone.”

Lightning lit the way to the city. She kept her wings tight and dove for one of the squares. She landed beside a crumbled fountain, in the midst of several dismantled market stalls. Shadows of frightened ponies huddled in meager shelter lay just beyond her vision. She cast a shield around herself to block the force of a dozen murderous hailstones.

The clouds swirled overhead, black and all-encompassing. She locked her eyes on the eye of the storm, where the air was at its calmest. Surrounding the eye was the eye wall, the single most vicious part of the storm. Rain became a furious bludgeon, and lightning became a shower of arrows.

Luna pressed her teeth together and focused deep within her chest. She felt her heart pound, churning the nutrients within and converting them to magical energy. If flowed to her hooves, to her wings, and to her horn. She forced a breath from her nose and pressed against the storm.

She touched the wind and twisted it backwards. She grasped the rain and hauled it upwards. She ignited the lighting and pressed it inwards. Powerful though they were, storms were ultimately fragile constructions. The conditions had to be perfect. One small flaw would turn the entire monstrosity in on itself and dissolve it.

She just had to take control of a portion of the storm. She just had to do that one little thing.

The storm pressed back. Her hooves went numb. Her wings fell slack. Her horn buzzed. She was flung bodily across the city square and crashed into the remains of a fruit stand.

She screamed a curse. She brought herself back to her feet, quick to add another charge to her ever-present shield. Hailstones continued their assault, filling the streets with ice. She reached out with all her might once again, and was once again tossed aside.

And again.

And again.

And again she fell.

She smashed her hoof into the stone rubble of the fountain. She cried out and clawed at the storm with everything she had. She found herself flattened by the sheer violence of the hurricane.

“I can’t do it alone,” she gasped. She crushed the fountain further beneath her foreleg. “I could never do it alone.”

Her back crawled. Her shadow lay stark against the ground in the light of a thunderbolt. It flowed across the square to rest a velvety wing on her back.

“Oh, Luna,” Nightmare Moon said. “You never had to do anything alone.”

***

Time Turner howled. The spell stabbed deep into the marrow of his bones. He crumpled into a ball of hooves and agony. His skin stretched. His muscles slacked and seized. His eyes burned and his throat grew raw.

Dulcimer smirked as he watched the cylinders fill with magic. “That sensation you feel is every single cell in your body aging rapidly. I’m removing years of your life. I once used it on a metal cord, and it rusted to dust in seconds. How long will you last?”

Daring Do released the crystal she was prying away from Twilight’s cell. She scampered across the cavern. “Time! You let him go you b—!”

Dulcimer released Time from the spell. He turned his attention to Daring and unleashed Sombra’s spell upon the ground. A three-meter-tall wall of spikes ran from one end of the room to the other, blocking her off completely.

Daring’s hooves crashed against the wall. “You freak! You evil freak!

Twilight Sparkle grasped the loose crystal and rocked it back and forth. Slowly, a centimeter at a time, it pulled out of the ground.

Dulcimer glanced halfheartedly at Time. The earth pony lay on the ground, his coat graying to an unhealthy pallor. “You know,” Dulcimer said, “I could probably save you with this machine. Something tells me you wouldn’t appreciate it.”

Time Turner tried to lift his head. He settled for rolling it to face Dulcimer. “You don’t give a flying feather about undoing the evil you’ve done.”

“I care as much as a person like me is capable of caring.” Dulcimer stepped onto the iron plate and settled in to receive his new power. Energy crackled at the tips of his cylinders. The pooling puddle of ambrosia flowing out of the unicorn tube burned at the edges. “Even you have to admit that compassion gets strained when people lord their morality over you.”

“Your blasted grandmother’s death doesn’t excuse—!”

“You think this is about my grandmother?” Dulcimer chuckled. “The mare’s been dead for two decades. I’m over it. But I haven’t forgotten the lesson I learned.”

Hatches at the top of the cylinders snapped open. A bright shine illuminated the ceiling. Dulcimer tilted his head. “Life is a precious thing. It needs to be protected. Who better to protect it than me?”

Time Turner twisted his lips. “You’re an insane hypocrite.”

Dulcimer clicked his tongue. “Way to label people, Turner.”

He cast his spell and sent its agonizing waves over Time once more.

Time screamed. His hoof-gun fell from his stump as the straps frayed and dissolved. His mane fell out. His heart palpitated.

Daring Do skipped back. She looked to the top of the wall, where razor-sharp shards waited to impale anything that fell from above it. She looked to her wings, which ached with every movement. She looked to Twilight, who still did everything she could to pry her way out of the prison.

“Cuss it,” Daring said. “The things I do for love.”

She took a running leap and flapped her wings. She winced as her entire body protested, as her nerves shouted “No!” She forced magic through her weak fairy strings, pressing against the ground, punching her way upward.

The crystal spikes loomed beneath her like the teeth of a gaping jaw, ready to bite her in half. Another flap of her wings pressed her forward. Her joints burned. Tears squeezed from her eyes. Through the blur, she saw Time writhe.

She let out a shout and dropped to the floor. Dulcimer twisted toward her and ended his spell. He chewed his lip as he prepared another crystal growth to send through her heart.

Her hoof brushed against Time’s gauntlet. She grinned.

With a smooth motion, she clasped it to her foreleg and flicked it on. Dulcimer froze mid-snarl. The energy around the cylinders slowed. Sound fell to muted echoes.

Time Turner smiled her way.

She pulled his three time bombs from her shirt pocket and leapt into action. She wound them as she ran, setting them to go off almost instantly. She circled around and tossed one to the top of each tube. When she was certain they would catch the alicorn magic en route, she turned to Dulcimer.

She lay into him with a strong right hook just as her gauntlet ended its spell. He jolted back, his nose bleeding, as all three bombs went off simultaneously. His spell struck the ceiling and crafted a chandelier of shards.

Daring Do stood over him. Behind her, three magic bubbles stopped his device cold.

“If… you were smart…” Dulcimer groaned. “You would have stayed… on the other side.”

He lashed out with his hind legs. She took a measured step back and avoided the blow completely. She scowled as he got to his hooves. “If you were smart—which you really aren’t—you wouldn’t have tried to woo my niece with three dead bodies in the room.”

Dulcimer shifted to a boxing stance. “Touché.”

He jabbed, and she knocked his hoof aside. He feinted with his left hoof, before launching a hail of purple spikes her way. She ducked beneath them and clobbered his chin with an uppercut that carried him back against the broken cylinder. The ambrosia flowed over his coat and burned.

He launched himself at her. His hoof connected with the side of her head, but her hoof rammed into his already broken nose. She pressed the advantage, throwing her hooves into his chest, his face, and anywhere else she could get an opening.

She caught a glimmer from his horn. She slapped the bone, which caused it to flicker out.

“Daring!” Time wheezed. “It’s his aging spell! Throw away the gauntlet!”

Dulcimer’s hoof caught her left wing. The muscles seized in a cramp that spread through her entire side. “Quit distracting me!”

“No, no, no.” Dulcimer plowed his hoof into her stomach. “He knows I’m just buying time!”

He grasped her shoulders and slammed her against the glass of the earth pony cylinder. She looked up and saw the shield cracking. Crumbling. She had minutes until the magic came to transform anypony who was standing in the circle.

She brought her hooves against his ears. Hard. He reeled as his head rang. She wiped her mouth. “You, buddy…”

She crushed his busted nose with a mean jab.

“Are done.”

Her next punch hit the same spot. He flopped onto his back and lay with his legs sprawled. A tiny whine crawled its way from his throat.

She wrenched the activation switch into the off position. She ran to Time’s side and held his hoof. “Time! Time, you gotta be okay. Please tell me you’re okay.”

He looked up with dim, weary eyes. His wrinkly skin sagged beneath the weight of a frown. “You’re here. That’s what counts. Right?”

“I sure as heck hope so.” Daring smiled, but she couldn’t force herself to look happy. “Look. Rest for now. I’m gonna tie this creep up and get Twilight free. You just… You just sit tight.”

He reached up with his foreleg and touched her mane. She brought her lips close for a short, tender kiss.

A loud cough, full of blood, came from behind them. Daring Do swung around, her hooves at the ready to fight.

Dulcimer’s face was a mess of blood and bruises. He couldn’t even see straight, with one eye staring blindly into the distance. His ear twitched as he pulled down the activation lever. “Idiots.”

The shields shattered, the magic flowed, and three sets of lightning—one purple, one yellow, and one blue—lanced down to strike him through the heart.

The unicorn tube, the one cracked by the volleygun slug, exploded.

***

Rarity trudged through the basement of her store. Her hooves waded through three-inch-deep water, and the level was rising. “Well, this is certainly a terrible place to keep the guests.”

“Top floor lost the roof,” Rainbow Dash said, hovering over the basin even though her coat was already soaked. “Store front’s toast and open to the air. I think it’s time to move out, Rarity.”

Rarity growled in the back of her throat. “And here I didn’t think to insure against terrorist attacks.”

Rainbow Dash gave her a half-grin. “That’s almost funny.”

“I’m not joking.” Rarity shook her hooves out as she hopped up the stairs. “Mostly.”

Rainbow Dash landed at the top of the stairs and addressed the patrons. “Everypony listen up! Everyone who can carry somebody needs to get a move on. This place is caput and we’re headed to someplace safer.”

“Rainbow Dash…” Rarity spoke through her teeth to whisper into Rainbow’s ear. “Just where are we going?”

“I’m thinking,” Rainbow hissed. “The palace is too far, and the whole darn block is burning.”

Rarity shivered as a fresh wind howled through the broken window, carrying drenching rain with it. “Well, heaven help us all, does anypony have any suggestions?”

The far wall groaned. The ceiling bowed as water poured between holes in the woodwork. Rainbow Dash yelped and flew up to push her shoulders against a crack in the rafters. “Everypony run! Get out of here! She’s coming down!”

“The back door!” Rarity shouted. She flung the door open from across the room. “There’s shelter in the alley! Keep your heads low!”

As they left, she sent a spell running through the wood. It touched one side of the fractured beam and pressed it against the other. Her magic did its work quickly, sealing the two halves of the whole together.

Rainbow Dash let it go and moved to hold up a different section of the ceiling. “Get out of here, Rarity. We can’t fix it like this. You need to get out!”

“Well then let’s leave together!” Rarity stomped a hoof. “I’m not going without you!”

“Not asking you to…” Rainbow squeezed her eyes shut. “But this is really heavy.”

Water gushed through a hole to her left. The wood became unbalanced on her back and threw her aside. “Crud—!”

Rarity grabbed her in a spell and dragged her down to the floor. She wrapped her foreleg around Rainbow’s shoulders and tugged her. “Let’s go before my livelihood becomes the death of me!”

Rainbow Dash nodded. They set off towards the rear entrance.

The doorway caved in. The roof crumbled. The two of them skidded to a halt and ran back the way they came, towards the shattered front window.

Rarity screeched. The wood beam she had repaired shattered completely. It rained down, followed by plaster and water. She covered her eyes. Rainbow Dash glanced up, gasped, and shoved Rarity aside.

The weight of a building landed on Rainbow Dash’s back all at once.

Rarity howled through her teeth as the far end of the beam crushed her left rear leg. Rain fell freely into her showing room. Her mane plastered against her face. Blood mingled with streams of water. “Rainbow! Help!”

She looked across. “Rainbow?”

Rainbow Dash lay beneath the pile of wood, her coat white from the crumbled plaster. Deep cuts covered her back. Her nose sat in a puddle.

Rarity couldn’t see her chest moving. “Rainbow!”

A hailstone left an indent in the floor beside Rarity. She shrieked and tugged her leg from under the board. Her muscles and bones stung and ached all at once. The words came hard as she dragged herself to her friend’s side. “Be alright! Please be alright! Wake up!”

She reached out to cradle Rainbow Dash’s head, but thought better of it. If there was a spinal injury, she didn’t want to make it worse. She turned her eyes to the rubble. She lit her horn and grasped the top layer, and slowly dug Rainbow out piece by piece.

She slapped a puddle. “Really, Rainbow Dash? You’re going to die now, after all we’ve been through? You’re going to let a dumb building be the end of you? I think not! I shan’t allow your story to be postscripted in such a dismal way!”

She heard a beastly howl from the storm. She looked up, afraid of what demon might fly from the shadows. Instead of a monster, she saw a bright light, shining blue in the night. It was a bubble of magic; a shield. It surrounded the familiar form of a particular alicorn princess.

Luna screamed at the storm, her horn glowing white. The spell she was casting popped, with the force throwing her back several meters. She scrambled to her hooves and tried again, with the same results.

Rarity looked up. Every time Luna reached out, the clouds sparkled with a faint blue glow. The magic winked out just as she was rejected. “My word. She’s trying to grab the storm?”

Rarity went back to removing the debris from Rainbow’s back. “She has to succeed. We both do!”

***

Lanner’s blade slid from Andean’s. He struck again only to have it ricochet from the steel surface. Andean backed away, his movements slowed by the hole in his chest. It had missed his heart, but he feared there was something wrong with his lung. It was getting hard to breath.

The smaller griffon swooped around, dragging the tip of his single-edged saber along Andean’s side. A thin line of blood traced his movement.

Andean swung wide, his eyes glaring daggers. Lanner ducked beneath the blow and jabbed his sword into Andean’s stomach. The king yanked himself away with a flap of his wings so that it barely broke the surface of his skin.

Lanner waved his sword around at the surrounding combatants. “Nearly seventy to almost forty. This battle is over, Andean.”

“It’s over—” Andean pressed his talon harder against his wound. “—when you fall lifeless to the ground!”

Lanner lunged, but fell short when Andean brought his sword down. He climbed higher. “As king,” Lanner said, “I will have to take a wife. Perhaps I shall wait a few years until Corona is old enough? I’m sure she would adore stories of how her brave father died in battle—”

“No!” Andean thrust his broadsword upwards in a furious attempt to skewer Lanner.

It was the opening the traitor was waiting for. He leaned to the side and avoided the blade completely. He drove the tip of his saber deep into Andean’s shoulder. He twisted.

Andean’s scream became something between the roar of a bear and the screech of a condor. His left arm went limp and flopped against his side. He brought his broadsword up and around, but by the time it reached Lanner, the smaller griffon had already flown away.

The clumsy swing threw Andean off balance. Lanner flitted to his back and slashed with his curved blade. He struck three times before Andean was able to bright his sword to bear.

“Andean,” Grenadier Lanner said, “you look tired. Perhaps it is finally time to sleep?”

Andean roared and sliced. Lanner deflected the slowed attack easily.

The griffon king’s wings beat sluggishly. His heart raced. Every muscle in his body ached. “You… won’t… touch her.”

“Certainly not until she’s of age.” Lanner shrugged. “It wouldn’t be proper.”

Andean brought his wings down in a powerful stroke that launched him at the traitor. He thrust his sword and grazed Lanner’s rear leg.

Lanner brought his sword down on Andean’s wing joint. The king lost control and spiraled downward. The ground swirled in the opposite direction of the clouds. He reached out with his hind legs and caught the edge of the eye wall. The force of the storm jolted him higher, giving him enough time to grasp the air with the magic in his wings.

The clouds before him slowed in their inexorable journey around the eye. They shimmered with a faint blue glow. It felt familiar. Pony magic. A specific pony’s magic. It winked out a second later, and the clouds returned to their whirlwind pace.

Andean glared up to see Lanner twirling his blade. Teasing him. Mocking him. “If this battle is to be won, Princess,” Andean said, “I suppose it would have to be fought together.”

***

Twilight Velvet and Blankety Blank blinked into existence in the midst of the bridge. Five ponies looked their way, three at various consoles, and two of them hefting volleyguns. The armed ponies jerked their weapons downward.

“Whoops,” Velvet said. “Wrong floor.” She vanished in a cloud of sparks.

The ponies swiveled their guns. One felt a tap on their shoulder. He raised an eyebrow and found her smiling at him. “Made you look.”

She grasped the gun in her hooves and smashed his nose in with a headbutt. She kicked his legs out from under him and sent him to the floor. She held the volleygun’s spear point at his throat. “Anypony moves, I fire!”

The other guard hiccupped. Blank leaped on his back and sunk his fangs into the pony’s neck. The pony screamed and kicked, but was unable to get free. Within moments, he was unresponsive and quiet.

“That was…” Velvet cringed. “Violent.”

“H-he moved.” Blankeyt Blank hefted the second volleygun. “Get the lightning c-cannon out of commission.”

Twilight Velvet left the conscious guard shaking under Blank’s watchful eye and marched over to the ship’s wheel. The helmspony sat tall, her face smug. Outside, the ship’s cannon blasted through the wall of a skyscraper.

“Shut it down, clown.” Velvet shook the volleygun. “Shut it down or tell me how! I’m through with you featherbrains taking lives!”

The helmspony grinned wider. “You can’t. I can’t either. You lose, popsicle-head.”

“I am able to physically rip you in two!” Twilight Velvet shouted. She rolled her eyes. “And that’s disgusting. But I will shoot you if you continue to be a problem.”

She menaced the other crewmembers with the barrel of her gun. “How about you? Anybody who wants to opt out of shutting off the dadgum cannon gets a one-way ticket to the garbage chute.”

“We can’t shut it off, ma’am,” one of the ponies said. “In emergencies, the standard procedure on airships is to switch control to the auxiliary bridge. We’re completely cut off.”

“What?” Twilight Velvet grabbed the ship’s wheel and gave it a spin. Nothing happened. “We can’t even steer the dumb thing? Whose idea was this?”

“Um…” The helmspony leaned far to the side. “I think your changeling ate him.”

“D-drained him,” Blank said. “He’ll be fine in a couple days. Maybe weeks. A year, tops.”

“Everypony shaddap.” Velvet pricked the helmspony in the ribs. “Where’s the second bridge? I hope to the Creator that it’s actually on the airship.”

The helmspony shook her head. “I’m not gonna tell you. You’re not gonna be alive long enough to need to know.”

The conscious pony beside Blank hopped to his hooves and grabbed the changeling. The others circled around Velvet and attached spurs to their hooves. She took a step and turned, but she was already surrounded.

The helmspony jumped, her spur ready to strike. “For Equestria—!”

She landed chest-first onto Velvet’s volleygun. Shock stretched her face as her last breath left her.

Velvet gritted her teeth. Her eyes grew wet. “Stupid.”

The others charged. Velvet pulled the blade from the pony’s chest, and brought the butt against another’s throat. As he fell gasping and choking, she twirled it and clocked the third on the head with the metal head of the volleygun.

Blank sunk his teeth into the guard’s foreleg. Once the pain took hold, he slipped out of the guard’s loosened grip and flipped him head-over-tail. A firm punch to the chest took the wind out of him.

“You stupid fools!” Velvet screamed. “Look outside! Look at it!”

She dropped the volleygun and sent magic to her horn. She dragged them by their ears to the window and pressed their faces against the glass. “Do you understand what you’ve done? Do you see what you’re trying to do? It’s a waste! It’s worthless! It’s less than worthless! You’re destroying cities, murdering people, and for what?

One of the ponies whined. “For a free Equestria.”

“Free from what?” Velvet smacked the helm. “Free from peace? Free from long lives? Free from bad hoagies—What? What could possibly be worth all of this?”

“Free from fear,” the pony said, “that Celestia would abuse her power and burn the world. She has too much control. It needs to be spread out among the ponies.”

“Oh. I see. Democracy.” Velvet nodded. “Freedom to chose. A great thing. A wonderful goal to strive for.”

She slapped him. “This isn’t a noble, holy crusade, you slimy green road apple! Those aren’t soldiers you’re killing with that cannon! Those aren’t tactical locations you’re demolishing! You’re not fighting a war! You’re killing families in their own homes!

She moved away from them and released them from her grip. “It’s my family out there. My home. How many more lives do you have to waste before it gets through to you?”

Sour and bitter combined to flow into Blankety’s horn. His stomach churned from his proximity to her. He waved a volleygun. “T-tell us where the other bridge is. Now.”

The three remaining conscious, living crewmembers looked at each other. Two shook their heads, but one spoke up. “It’s in the engine room. In a small enclosure with some sound-proofing spells—”

“Orange Marmalade!” One of the warriors grabbed the pony’s foreleg. “You’re betraying—”

“There are five ponies there.” Orange Marmalade lowered his ears. “They’ll be ready, since they know we’re under attack. We sent a message when you showed up.”

“That’s where Care’s g-going… She won’t be ready for them.” Blankety Blank rubbed his chitinous exoskeleton. “I sh-should help her. Can you guard them?”

Velvet hefted her volleygun. “Do you have the rope?”

They made quick work of restraining the warriors. Velvet sat by the door as Blank disappeared down the hatch into the interior of the aircraft. She kept two eyes on the prisoners, but listened intently for sounds of battle.

“Orange Marmalade,” one of the ponies whispered. “You traitor! The Mother herself is gonna hear about this—”

“Chill out,” Orange said. “It’s all going according to plan.”

The other pony raised their eyebrow. “I don’t get it. What’s gotten into you?”

“I know something—” Orange Marmalade grinned. “—that they don’t know.”

He flicked his ear towards the window. “I saw Commander Hurricane herself enter the airship. They don’t stand a chance.”

***

Your sister cannot stop the storm,” the Ba’al rumbled. “And your friends on the airship will fall one after another.

Celestia kept her eyes trained on the windows to the outside world. She saw Hurricane, stalking through the bowels of the Thunderhead. She saw Luna, trying and failing to quell the whirlwind. She saw the Cloudsdale guard get torn apart piece by tiny piece. She saw the two cities fall apart as one.

You are lost.” The Ba’al twisted his talons through the murk. “You have nothing to fight for. No grand victory to pull from the wreckage of your kingdom.

Celestia’s muscles tensed. She winced as Luna was hurled away from the storm yet again. A darkness crept over her sister, tantalizing and terrifying. Celestia could tell that Luna was doing her best to ignore it, but as alone as she was…

You are left alone, Celestia.” The Ba’al’s throne loomed into view, a vicious construction of black stone and horrific carvings. Chimeras, hydras, grotesques, and cockatrices tangled together to form the back of the chair and the armrests. The green eyes parted the mist as he leaned forward. “With nothing but darkness and death to keep you company.

Celestia lifted her eyes to him. She saw a broad, chiseled chest. Red fur coated his torso and turned black as it reached his limbs. Feathery wings adorned his back. A spear was clutched in his left talon, while the right gripped the armrest of his throne. Large horns framed his bull-like head.

Celestia stumbled back. At first it had looked like a red coat, but with a second look, she realized that the monster was burning.

The Ba’al pressed his hind legs, which ended in hooves, against the invisible, illusionary floor. The giant, winged, fiery bull lifted himself from his seat and pointed his spear at the chaotic visions of the battle. “Watch closely, Celestia! I want you to know the pain you shall feel! I want you to know the disaster you shall awake to! I want you to know what I am capable of!

He returned to his seat and clanged the butt of his spear. “I want you broken and lying at my feet. How much shall you suffer before we reach that point?

***

Captain Care Carrot eased her way along the walkway. It was held aloft by thin cords that attached at the roof and sides, holding it steady. The first of four massive gasbags loomed before her, encased in a metal framework. She looked over the side to see a couple more walkways running alongside and around the bag. Below that was the canvas of the underside of the Thunderhead’s envelope.

She kept her horn charged with a simmering pink light. The thrum of the engines rose as she continued her trek to the rear. The wind beat the canvas, and the gasbags flexed. A crackle signaled that the lightning cannon had fired again.

The airship was empty. Abandoned. She had expected to fight her way to the engine room, not have an evening stroll. It seemed that Hurricane didn’t have as many warriors as they thought. That was good. That meant they might actually stand a chance.

The walkway above her stirred. The airship rumbled. Care glanced up and strained her ears, but found no sign of hoof steps. It must have been the wind.

She peered around a corner, leaning against the gasbag’s framework. Empty skies ahead. She stepped into the open area between the bags, a long stretch of staggered metal mesh walkways.

She placed one foot forward and stopped. Metal scraped against metal behind her. She threw herself onto the walkway.

Hurricane’s leg-length wingblades flew above her. They halted in midair and retraced their paths, connecting once more with her armor. Care turned and saw the red glowing eyes inside the commander’s helmet.

“Nice look,” Care said. “Suits you.”

Hurricane flew forward, and Care raised her hooves. The blades on the commander’s boots sparked as they met the enchantment on Care’s armor. She held her ground, pushing against the commander with all her might.

Commander Hurricane struck her metallic horn against Care’s head. The captain lost her balance and tumbled off the walkway. The next platform caught her with a clang.

Care flipped onto her hooves. She hopped back just before Hurricane stabbed through the walkway with her wingblades. She brought the side of her hoof against the commander’s muzzle. Their force fields screamed as they clashed.

Hurricane wrenched her blades from the mesh and threw a punch at Care. Captain Carrot shoved it aside and kicked out once, twice, thrice, hitting Hurricane in the chest each time. The commander brought her hooves up in a flurry, swinging her wings to catch Care off guard. Care backed away slowly, but her hooves moved like lightning, blocking, redirecting, jabbing, and chopping.

Commander Hurricane leaped into the air and spread her wings to their full span. She launched all ten wingblades with a snap.

Care wrinkled her brow. Her horn blazed from pink to pure white. Fire burst from the magic in her body, shooting upwards and outwards. It hit Hurricane with an explosion of force.

A blade hit her side with enough force to peel part of her armor away. The rest clattered to the walkway and fell to the envelope.

Hurricane spread her wings and called the blades. Midway to their nesting place, she flew forward and circled around Care. Her magic crafted currents in the air, swirling and raging. Dust raged around Care, choking her and stinging against the gap in her armor.

The blades followed Hurricane and edged closer to Care’s body.

She poured ounce after painful ounce of magic into her horn. She felt the tingle reach from the bottom of her hooves to the tip of her tail. Her heart pounded as her fairy strings strained. Fire licked the tip of her horn. A blade grazed her back.

She released it in a single, violent burst of flame. Scorching heat engulfed her and pushed the blades away. The decompression of air eliminated Hurricane’s attempted whirlwind. The commander landed head-first against the gasbag. Lighter-than-air gas leaked from a puncture in the lining.

Care’s knees knocked. She stalked forward, her hooves ready to battle. “Is that all you got? Come on! Come on!

Commander Hurricane stood up. She extended her wings. Her blades zipped from across the room to meet her. “Only a fool charges to death so eagerly.”

“I guess that’s a problem we’ll have to work through.” Care snapped her teeth. “Together!”

Captain Care Carrot and Commander Hurricane charged at full speed, weapons at the ready, their magic flashing in the low light.