Chapter 7 - End of Illusions
What alerted them was Twilight’s scream of “Cheerilee!”
Pipsqueak and Dinky, failing to find the nonexistent tunnel, had rejoined Diamond at the entrance. Cautiously, the three made their way up to the closet. The older filly motioned the other two to wait while she made sure things were safe.
Diamond peeked out of a window, barely lifting her eyes over its edge. The purple alicorn was out there, fussing over the teacher. Diamond turned back to her friends. “It’s safe, Twilight’s here.”
The younger foals crept out of the closet, and the three of them made their way outside.
“Miss Twilight?” Dinky was the one who finally worked up the courage to ask, “Is… Is Miss Cheerilee gonna be okay?”
Twilight looked up, noticing the foals for the first time. “Wha… Yes, she’ll be fine. She just needs to wake up first.”
“But… the blood?” Pipsqueak this time.
“Not mine.” All eyes turned to the groaning mare as she regained consciousness. “The ba…d pony hit me with a stunner spell.”
Twilight relaxed at hearing this, then immediately tensed up again. She turned to the foals. “And you three? Are you hurt?” The foals mutely shook their heads. “Do you know where any of the others are?” The alicorn felt her heart freeze up at their expressions. “Children? Where are–”
“They got her.”
At Diamond’s words, Twilight felt the ice cube in her chest drop into her stomach. Already knowing the answer, she asked, “Who?”
“Nyx. They got Nyx. We were in the shelter under the school, she… she made me promise to take care of Pip and Dinks, and then… She surrendered so they’d go away.”
“AND YOU LET HER!?”
Diamond’s ears flattened. “I’m sorry, by the time I realized what she was doing, it was… I couldn’t risk them getting… I’m sorry Twilight, I…” The filly bolted.
The Princess of Friendship instantly realized her mistake. “No! Diamond, wait! I’m not angry with you, I just… Diamond, get back here!”
The filly just kept running, a trail of droplets flying behind her. Twilight started flying to catch up, but Diamond had already hit the forest. By the time the mare reached the clearing, the filly had vanished.
The shadow sped along the ground, fueled by grief and pain. She flitted back and forth, checking up on everypony that she could think of. Nyx was the only one who they knew had been taken.
She didn’t know whether to feel relieved that the rest of her friends were alright, or ashamed that she was the only pony who’d failed. The only ones she hadn’t found yet were the trio, but she wasn’t worried about them. Those three could take on anything.
She did find them though… well, one of them at least. She had gone to Twilight’s castle to try and apologize for not saving Nyx, but found Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash there, sitting on a couch talking to the alicorn. Apparently the pegasus had had her own run-in with these ponies.
Rainbow Dash was one of the first ponies that the others had run into coming into town. She had immediately found out where Scootaloo was and raced off to make sure she was okay.
“…And then Rainbow Dash caught me and did a totally awesome Sonic Rainboom, and then we came back to town.”
Twilight’s next question went forever unasked as the door opened and all four local Apples walked in. Of all the reactions, Applebloom’s was the loudest. “SCOOTALOO!” She tackled her friend out of her seat. “Ah was so worried after that pony tried ta get me! But you’re alright!”
“Yeah, course I’m alright. And guess what? Rainbow Dash and I pulled off a perfect ‘You’ll Never Take Me Alive!’ On our very first try too!”
“That’s great! Ah know ya’ve been wantin’ to try that out!”
“Applebloom, did you say you were attacked too?”
“That she did missy. On that note, can you do a Silver Trace Spell?”
“Well, yes, but I’ll need a part of the pony, some hair or something… Why?”
Granny Smith didn’t answer directly. “Big Mac, Applejack, go get that leg outa the cart.”
Rainbow’s eyes were pinpricks. “What happened?”
“…and when Ah ran in, Granny was standin’ there holding a shotgun like Grandpa’s old one over the fireplace, and the stallion was teleportin’ away!”
Rainbow Dash was still in shock. “Granny Smith… took a pony’s leg off… with a shotgun?”
“I were aimin’ fer ‘is head. My old eyes just ain’t what they used to be.”
Further comment was cut off as the door was flung open, slamming into the wall and almost snapping off its hinges. A white and purple… something, that bore a distant resemblance to a mare rushed in.
“Applebloom! Scootaloo! Thank goodness, that means she’s here too!”
Glances were exchanged. Most of them knew this hysteria well, and even those that didn’t knew to be delicate with it. “Who Rarity?” Twilight slowly asked.
“Sweetie Bell of course! She’s not at the Boutique, and not with our parents, but if the other two are here, so is she… where is she?”
“Sugarcube, slow down, back up, and tell us what happened normal-like, okay?”
“Well with all the commotion in town, I was running around trying to help, but I couldn’t find Sweetie, so I went home to see if she was there, and the Cutie Mark Crusader Ballista was set up at the top of the stairs, and between the condition of Opal’s bed and my walls, it was obviously fired, but she wasn’t there, and she wasn’t at our parents’, and she wasn’t anywhere else, so she has to be… with… the… Crusaders… right?” The expressions of everypony in the room had slowly gotten more and more grim. “R-right? She’s here, right?”
Rarity looked to Rainbow first. The racer simply averted her eyes. Applejack pulled her hat low so the unicorn wouldn’t see her face. Twilight slowly raised a hoof to her mouth. “No. Oh Celestia no… Not Sweetie Bell too.”
The fashionista’s rump hit the floor with an audible thud. For a moment, it seemed like she might collapse in on herself. She was broken out of her stupor though, by Scootaloo.
“Too? Not Sweetie Bell… too… Twilight… where’s Nyx?”
There was stillness for the briefest instant before the alicorn’s composure broke. That moment would remain burned into Diamond’s mind forever, the strong front that a desperate mother was trying to put up shattering.
The two mares wept into each other’s shoulders, a pair of fillies somehow a part of the teary embrace as well. The invisible shadow sped off to find an empty room where she could rematerialize and cry her eyes out.
She had failed. Completely, totally, utterly. She had failed.
And now her friends were paying the price.
Cheerilee opened her door. “Feathers.”
“Flowers. Heard about the attack.” The other mare entered and followed her into her living room.
“Obviously. You’re here after all.”
“And you’re upset.”
“Dead straight.”
“Was this Midnight Star?”
“Don’t know, don’t care. These ponies foalnapped two of my students. I’m bringing them down.”
“Do we know who ‘they’ are?”
A metal object landed on the coffee table. “Both of the ones I saw were wearing these. That’s probably our best lead.” It was a pendant, a platinum chain with a single, blood red eye that would dangle from it.
Feathers picked it up and slipped it into her saddlebag. “I’ll find out what this means. Anything else I can do for you?”
“Wait a while? The others’ll probably show up soon.”
“You kept in touch?”
“We retired together. They live in Ponyville too.”
“Family reunion time it is.”
“Diamond Tiara, there you are,” Filthy Rich commented as his daughter trudged through the door. “Hurry now and pack your things.”
Pack her things? “What? Why? Are we going somewhere?”
“Yes darling, we’re going to be leaving town for a little while. Not long, just until things are a little safer.”
“Just until…” Diamond’s eyes hardened. “So we’re running away. We’re just taking off and leaving the problem for somepony else to deal with.”
“Diamond Tiara, I don’t much care for your tone young filly!” Spoiled Rich came into the foyer from another room. “Your father and I know what’s best.”
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
All males have an exceptionally strong survival instinct geared towards one specific kind of self-preservation. This instinct is so strong that it can often cause certain involuntary reactions that, while unbecoming in most situations, are perfectly stallionly under the correct circumstances. Registering the impending catfight through this ancient sixth sense, Filthy Rich ran for the hills – in this case, the kitchen.
“I said, ‘no.’ Two of my friends already got foalnapped today, I’m not going to run away and let the rest of them get taken. Not. Happening.”
“Young mare, your father and I have discussed this already. We know what is best for you and–”
“Like you knew what friends were best for me?”
“Such insolence!” Spoiled gasped, “This is exactly what I was talking about! Palling around with those classless hooligans has robbed you of the good grace that I instilled in you.”
“Crusaders Mother. They are the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and you will use their name, because they’ve got a whole lot more ‘class’ than you do.”
“It’s like I don’t even know who you are anymore! This is most certainly not how I raised you.”
“Why whatever do you mean? I’m just jilting my family for my social life, isn’t that exactly what you do?”
Their voices had steadily been rising in both pitch and volume. When the slap came, there was an almost imperceptible flash of shadow on Diamond’s cheek, reflexively protecting her. It didn’t keep her head from hitting the wall though, and there was a terrible screech as one of the settings in her tiara twisted, one of the gemstones popping out of the mangled headpiece. “You are nothing like me.”
Diamond picked herself up, ice in her eyes. “I’m not leaving my friends. Run if you want, but I’m not coming with you. The cowardice ends here.”
“You brat!” Another slap, but this time Diamond was ready for it. The shadows coalesced exactly where she willed them too, and they were covered entirely by her mother’s hoof. The filly didn’t move, neither flinching nor recoiling from the blow.
“But Mother, you just said I wasn’t anything like you.”
And then the filly turned and strode out of her home, never even noticing the shadow that followed her. She made it all the way to the forest before she broke down into tears.
Midnight sighed, “Oh Diamond.” He lay down next to the sobbing filly and gently, almost hesitantly, draped a wing over her. “I’m sorry. I was trying to make sure you didn’t take this lightly, and it seems I did my job too well. Diamond, listen to me very carefully.
“None of what happened was your fault.
“You did your best, that’s all anypony can ask for. You’re an exceptionally strong filly, far stronger than you should have to be. You did save two of your friends. You will be able to get the others back.”
“B-but I failed. I let everypony down!”
“I doubt Pipsqueak and Dinky would agree with that. Putting aside the fact that you really haven’t failed, there’s nothing wrong with failure. Not as long as you can pick yourself up and keep working at it.”
“But the oath, I swore–”
“You swore to never fall, not to never fail. There is a great difference there. You swore to never cease fighting to stay in the light, that doesn’t mean you can’t make mistakes, that doesn’t mean you have to win every time. I would never have put that kind of pressure on you.”
“Then how…” *hic* “How do we know it’ll work out?”
“Because we do our best. And others do their best. And at the end of the day, enough ponies will do their best that it’ll work out in the end.”
“Then why do I feel so bad!?”
“Because something bad happened. That’s not your fault; it’s the fault of the ponies who did it. We’ll keep fighting, but Diamond, it’s okay to feel bad.”
“But big fillies don’t cry.”
Midnight suppressed a snort. “Diamond, in my life, I have lost many friends, all of my siblings and my parents twice over, and watched someone I love dearly be imprisoned through plans I laid. I can tell you without shame that I wept on each of those occasions. Crying is okay.
“Never let your enemies see you cry, but still cry. When the time is right, when you’re with those you can trust, let it out. When you stop crying… trying to cut out something like that is as dangerous as letting it rule you. If you don’t care enough to cry…”
“…The Nightmares?”
“That was where you were heading. You’ll need to watch that for a long time.”
“…For tonight can I just cry?”
“Yes. Cry for tonight, and on the morrow rise and fight.”
The next day, Diamond didn’t do much. She had slept in the Crusaders’ Clubhouse instead of going home, and she spent the day there, thinking things over. School had been canceled, though she probably would have sat there anyway.
It was late afternoon when she heard the hoofsteps. They stopped just outside the door. “Diamond Tiara, we need to talk.”
“What would you want to talk to me about?”
“I’ve already lost family because of the Shadows, and I ain’t keen on losing any more.”
Diamond’s heart skipped a beat. “What are you… How’d you know?”
“I can sense it in you. Come with me, this place isn’t private enough.”
Diamond finally opened the door, nearly dropping in shock at the pony on the other side. Granny Smith was standing there, but she seemed… off. “Follow me child,” The old mare said without her usual accent, “We need to talk.”
On the other side of town, Cheerilee had another visitor. Or rather, the same visitor was back again.
Feathers was lying on her sofa, still panting from the flight to Ponyville. “…dropped that thing like it was hot. He knew what it was alright, all my contacts did. This cult, they’re called the Blood’s Eye. They’re secretive enough that nopony’s sure about much, but they apparently worship one of the denizens of Tartarus. His eventual release is a common theme in what little we’ve found about them.”
“Any connection to Midnight Star?”
“Not that I could find, although one of my cult specialist contacts thought she recognized the name. She said she needed to check her source to be sure though. She’ll get back to me on it.”
“So you flew straight here to tell me…”
“Oh, that’s right! I almost forgot! They’re old, real old, so they’ve had to move a few times over the years, quote, ‘when the guards or others get close.’”
“Others?”
“I don’t get it either. Hopefully it means you’ve got friends out there.”
“Alright… Do we know where they are now?”
“As of this moment, they’re operating out of Manehatten.”
Diamond followed Granny Smith into the old farmhouse. The elderly mare led her towards the back, and down into a root cellar. They switched directions, heading back towards the front now as they tiphoofed around jar of produce. About two-thirds of the way back to the front, they stopped.
A wooden retaining wall was blocking their way. Granny turned left, following the wall until they came to the end, where a large chest was sitting in the corner. The mare set a hoof to the lock, and Diamond heard things moving inside.
When the chest quieted down, Granny opened the chest, revealing a steep staircase. She continued to lead the way down, pausing only to make sure that the lid was securely shut and locked behind them.
The pair arrived in a large cement room. What little wasn’t lightly covered in dust had obviously been dusted recently. Granny noticed the filly looking around in curiosity. “Ain’t no air moving round down here, so this old place looks better than I expected. Even after all these years…
“I imagine you’ve got a lot of questions. I’ll try to answer them as best I can, but I should probably tell you a story before you start asking. It’ll save time.
“This town has a lot of secrets, and it looks like you’ve found one of the big ones. Before I get any further ahead of things though, I should introduce myself properly. You see, there’s another name you need to know me by, a name I’ve not heard in a long time… A long time…”
Granny shook her head to clear the memories, then returned her gaze to Diamond’s. Diamond gasped in shock as something familiar happened, something that she had felt several times, but never seen anypony do. Granny Smith’s shadow rose up around her, wrapping the mare tightly in itself. When she opened her eyes, she might as well have been a different pony.
Her eyes were the same green that her coat usually was, but that was the only real resemblance. Her coat was a slate gray, and her mane and tail a deep black. Her cutie mark had been replaced as well, a rainbow colored apple now adorning her flank. The mare smiled as she watched the gears click into place in the young filly’s mind and expression.
“You’re…”
“My name is Zap Apple.”
Twilight scowled at the report in front of her. They had found the stallion Granny Smith had shot up. He had been lying in a ditch outside Canterlot with his throat cut. The others that had been injured hadn’t left behind enough uncontaminated samples to track them effectively, although the blood on the playground was enough to find its source if they got within a mile or so.
That wasn't very comforting though. The mare had had her illusions shattered with the rest of the town. Things weren't going to resolve overnight this time. Things wouldn't be happy right off the bat. This time the danger was real, and worst of all, her little Nyx might not–
“Are you Princess Twilight Sparkle?”
The alicorn looked up to find another mare standing there. She was a soft blue, so pale it was almost an off-white. Her mane was a snowy white, with ice blue highlights. What struck Twilight though were her eyes, a vibrant blue that almost seemed to twinkle. The mare cocked her head and Twilight realized she was staring.
“Y-yes. Yes. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle. How can I… Wait a second, how did you get in here?”
“The window.” The mare pointed at a small opening, barely six inches around.
“Rrrright. Uuuummm…”
The mare suddenly blinked. “Oh, I’m being terribly rude, I should introduce myself. I’m The Winter Star, one of the four wishing stars. My role is to signal winter, and to try to use by connection to it to grant wishes hung on me.”
Twilight blinked as she realized that the mare’s eyes didn’t look like they were twinkling, they actually were. It was vaguely reminiscent of… She gasped.
The astral mare smiled. “I’m here for a couple of reasons, but first and foremost to grant a wish. A few years back, you were desperately hanging wishes on every star you could see. You hung one on me too, and now I get to help grant it.
“We need to have a little chat though, because you need to understand how this works before I can help you get your daughter back.”
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Wow, Granny Smith is a hardcore mothafucka.
Wild guess : Agent Sweetie Drop ?
And Diamond got a stalker. If it's her old butter I will like you forever. I found a little odd that she can't sense the darkness in other when all the other Shadow Ranger can do it.
I was right, they are "blood-bender".
i never saw this one coming. Several Shadow Ranger hidden in Ponyville aka Granny and maybe Randolph, a secret organisation, two crusaders, one timelord's offsprings. The plot thickens.
I wish I had the next chapter.
7010980 Basically it's just a matter of training. Diamond could easily sense other Shadow Rangers and really anypony of the night, but she would have to know how first.
And no on Sweetie Drops, she's still on assignment, not retired. I can promise though that you will be surprised when you find out who they are.