Justice Itself

by Autocharth

Act III - Ch. 27 Vanishing Act

Chapter 27 Vanishing Act

***

The windigoes were leaving, and nothing could stop them. Rainbow Dash and Applejack kept up their bombing maneuver, using the farmer clad in armour as a living payload. It didn’t work, no matter how many holes they punched in the herd, no matter how many windigoes screamed in pain, they just didn’t stop.

“We can’t let them get back to Twilight!” Rainbow Dash panted, wiping sweat from her forehead with a limp. “We won’t!”

“URRRRP!”

The sound, the force, of a monstrous belch blew some of the windigoes out of the mass of surging beasts, but they simply neighed and continued on their path. Pinkie landed next to Rainbow Dash, pouting. The branch she had weighed down and turned into an impromptu slide shot up the moment she stepped off it. Rainbow Dash caught sight of something red on the branch as it snapped away.

“They’re ignoring me!” Pinkie complained. An explosion from the dynamite launched from her makeshift catapult sounded in the background. She looked back, but only frowned again. “Awww, they ignored that too! I thought Granny Pie’s explosive lessons said that would make a good distraction.”

Wisely deciding that questioning Pinkie Pie on the nature of things her grandmother had taught her would wait for later, Rainbow Dash spread her wings, light flaring along each feathers.

“I’ll go warn her!”

“Hold yer horses, sugarcube,” Applejack interrupted, putting an armoured hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “Rarity an’ Jade shoulda have done that. ‘Sides, ya don’t have much left in ya, do ya?”

“I’m fine!” Rainbow Dash growled. Despite her claim otherwise, the pegasus felt a weight in her limbs and a sense of emptiness within. Yet there was a flicker of light and she wasn’t about to sit this out.

Applejack pulled her until they were looking each other in the eye. “Rainbow Dash,” she began. “If y’all try to teleport away an’ make yerself useless, Ah’ll clonk ya over the head. Ya port that far, tired as ya are, an’ll be just as useful but givin’ Twilight one more pony to look out for.”

“She’s right, Dashie! We can still help, but if you go off on your own what about us?” Pinkie pointed out. “You’ll be all tired and we won’t be able to help.”

This was bad, and Rainbow Dash knew it. Pinkie Pie was making sense. The greatest sign of danger. She let out a frustrated growl, and after a moment her shoulders slumped. Releasing the power within, Rainbow Dash felt the energy settle and begin to slowly, slowly, recover from her continued use.

“Fine, but we’re still heading there right now!” She declared as she took a step. Her drive failed her at that moment as her hoof buckled underneath her. She yelped, trying to flap her wings and lift herself up to keep from falling into the snow. A steelshod hoof caught her, and before she knew what was going on Rainbow Dash found cool metal pressing against her stomach.

Applejack could be heard to sigh from nearby, and only after they started moving did Dash realise she had been thrown over her friend’s back.

“Hey!” Rainbow protested. She noticed, as she wriggled and tried to get off, that the design of the armour had changed a little. It seemed rounder, just as smooth and curved but with a definite feeling of strength and defense to it. One of the shoulders even seem to have a rather apple-like symbol on it.

“Ah’m as strong as a pair o’ oxes, an’ y’all are on yer last legs. Ya wanna get there fast an’ be in any shape to help? Then be quiet an’ hold on!” Applejack began to run, galloping through the snow. Pinkie bounced in her wake, letting Applejack lead the way because, armoured and empowered as she was, she didn’t need to bother with silly delays like ‘going around’ obstacles. Applejack just rammed right through them. Rocks, trees, they were nothing to her.

Rarity watched them go, sighing. “Of course they forget about us,” she complained.

***

“Uh, Twilight…what, exactly, are we supposed to do?” Spike asked nervously. He tried not to show it, putting on a strong front for her and glaring off into the west. “I mean, they can’t see Fluttershy, can they?”

She ran a hoof over his spines, smiling reassuringly at him. “I told you, I need to be close to keep the spell going, and there’s always a chance they could find her eventually. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”

“I’m not worried,” he muttered. The spell-blade covering and extending from Twilight’s horn was pretty cool, and if he was honest Spike wanted to see it in action. Not that she would need it! Not with him! He had been practicing since the Nightmare’s attack, and he was going to show Twilight how useful he was.

“Of course you’re not,” Twilight agreed easily. She wasn’t going to argue about it. The bond between them was stronger thanks to Fluttershy’s influence. Twilight glanced into the area Fluttershy was probably in. She hoped her friend was okay.

The distant neighs of the windigoes were finally reaching their ears. Ardleon had yet to restrain them, as Twilight had distantly hoped. Why, she had no idea. Perhaps his pride had been stung by being forced to abandon the attack yesterday, or perhaps he simply no longer needed them. The thought made her stomach feel hollow. The only reason she could imagine for that was if he had Paladin already. Their formerly angelic friend could surely not move that far. His body was only recently producing it’s own weather magic, she hoped he wasn’t able to control it well enough to speed himself faster than they could catch up.

‘Rainbow Dash knows pegasus flight and weather magic like I know unicorn magic,’ Twilight reminded herself. ‘She knows how much she taught Paladin. It’s not like anypony will be able to show him any more, after all. We’ll find him soon.’

Pointing her horn towards the oncoming herd, Twilight prepared the first spell. They were coming in hard and fast, like a river bursting from a dam in a tremendous, deadly torrent. She split her attention, putting the constant attention she needed to keep on powering the spell over Fluttershy to the back of her mind. It was shockingly easy to partition her mind, to divide herself between them.

‘Another effect of the angelic infusion from Tyrael,’ Twilight considered calmly. She wasn’t surprised by how calm she was, with the deadly tide of windigoes bearing down on her, simply because she understood right now. ‘I’m doing that again, experiencing calm, rapid thoughts without my emotions rising or overwhelming me. Useful, especially since I can clearly segment my mind, dedicating areas to certain tasks. Yes, very useful.’

She used the already present energy from the light blade spell to channel a beam of magic, lashing out at the tip of the oncoming herd. The ray broke against the leading windigoes, splashing out into a cone across them. Twilight let out a pant, closing her eyes and pushing more and more energy out, drawing on the endless well of power lurking just below the surface of her magic. The beam throbbed and thickened, a core of white magic running through it as it brought the advance of the windigoes to a halt. They spilled out from the beam’s corona, the tight stream of frosty equines becoming an exploding wave that spread out. She turned her head, following one side and forcing them back. The other side of her initial attack was unimpeded, and the windigoes began to charge from there.

Moments before she shifted her attention to a shield spell, a wave of green fire belched from behind her. Dragon fire sent the windigoes howling back, rearing and whinnying in pain. As the emerald fire went out, Spike took in another great breath. His chest puffed out, and he breathed out another spout of flame, a stream he swept along in a half-circle. Ice melted beneath it, but the windigoes backed off.

He gave her a grin. “See? I said I’d protect you.”

Twilight offered him a warm smile, blasting a windigo back into it the now swirling ring wintry beasts. She didn't know how to explain how Spike's fire, previously next to harmless, had gotten so much hotter but right now she didn't care. “I knew I could trust you- jump!”

They both jumped, a sneaky windigo that slipped under the wall of green fire charging at them. Under it went as both jumped, sweeping past Twilight and finding a blade of magenta light awaiting. Where Jade’s blade had only distracted and annoyed, Twilight’s sheared through it. She stared in wide-eyes shock at the bisected creature as it broke and faded, it’s remnants writhing, tearing itself apart. Seeing it this close was different from just blasting them at distance. She was distracted from contemplating that by Spike leap-frogging over her bowed head, the tip of her horn beam missing him by just a few scant inches, and coughing a cone of fire at the beasts taking advantage of her moment of weakness.

“T-thanks,” she stuttered, forcing her thoughts away to focus on a shield spell. It caught a sudden influx of windigoes. They piled against it, and she let them remain there for a moment as it absorbed the force of their assault. Her shield dome bowed beneath the attack before rebounding, their own momentum redirected and used against them with a nudge from Twilight. The shield broke as she blew them away.

“I really, nngh, I really hope Fluttershy is making progress,” Twilight panted. Her magical reserves were endless, and as much as she exalted in the feeling of being able to draw on it forever, that was the flaw. Power was wonderful, and endless magic normally made her giddy, but a bottomless font of energy was only as good as the conduit it was channelled through. Her body could only handle so much magic use, and she could only use so much at one time.

“I’m sure- ah!” Spike ducked beneath an attack, puffing some magic fire into its face. “I’m sure she’s doing well!”

Not far from them, hidden by Twilight’s own magic, Fluttershy cried. Tears frozen on her cheeks, she tried to push past it. Each wave of memories took only a second, each as horrible as the last. She viewed the attack from a hundred different angles, she felt the fear and hate of each pony as the windigoes infected them. She felt her heart break countless times, but she pushed herself onward. Each pony she tied into the growing web, a single shining thread from her to them, added to the reach and depths of the network of souls.

She reached blindly for comfort, and found it from her friends. Fluttershy hid her suffering from them, hid it with all her willpower, but she let their feelings wash over her and calm her. Their presence helped, no matter how distant they were.

‘I have to keep going. I have to,’ she told herself, and she reached for the next pony. A foal, the same age as the crusaders…

***

Far away, Paladin stopped. He turned his head, a look of agony so obvious that Gilda noticed. She hovered in place next to him, feeling incredibly awkward. He had been doing this for the last few minutes, stopping mid-air and looking back.

“Seriously, dude, what’s the problem? Is there something you need to go back for?” she demanded.

After a moment he shook his head. “No. No. We must continue.”

“Yeah, where are we- you going anyway?” asked Gilda. She had been curious, but just hadn’t cared enough to ask. Now that he was apparently reluctant, she did. Granted, she still didn’t really care. She just wanted to pay him back.

He resumed flying, leading them ever northward. “Someone awaits me. The fate of Equestria lies on my shoulders. I go to stop the windigoes.”

“What?” Gilda gave a disbelieving laugh. “Seriously, I got the feeling you’re one of those ponies who feel like they have to do everything, but come on! You really believe that?”

“I know it,” he snapped, a rare sign of annoyance. “It It is my responsibility to do this, before any more are hurt.”

“Oh, you’re just gonna beat all the windigoes, on your own?” she mocked him with a sneer. “Just like that? Leave it to the pony princesses or those Element things, you’re biting off more than you can chew.”

He turned a minor glare on her, his expression twitching into anger for a split second before returning to his impression of a stone wall.

“I can end this without others being hurt. I will end this. I cannot shirk my duty because others might be able to do it,” he replied darkly.

Gilda rolled her eyes. “That sounds like the best reason not to do it! Someone else can deal with it, why bother? Leave it to them.”

Paladin just shook his head. It was already clear to him that Gilda avoided responsibility, but what she said just disgusted him.

“This is my duty,” he repeated stubbornly.

“Says who?”

He went to reply, and found no immediate answer.

Gilda snickered. “That’s what I thought.”

“...I say it is,” Paladin finally answered.

“Riiiiiight, why? Seriously, why? It’s not like it’s your fault!” Gilda was amazed at his thickness. Really, how could somepony be so stupid? Well, there was the answer right there. Somepony. Ponies were weird like that.

Paladin remained silent, his thoughts known to only him, for nearly a minute. When he finally answered, it would have been lost to the wind had his barely practiced weather magic encompassed them.

“It is. The being causing this, the one who commands the windigoes, he is directing them to besiege Equestria because of me. Everything is about that, it all comes back to me,” he murmured.

She blinked a few times, looking a tad poleaxed. The look she gave him said ‘what, seriously?’ loud enough that she shouldn’t have needed to say it, but she did anyway.

“Yes, seriously.”

“Pfft, what bull,” Gilda responded to this knowledge with the very easy disbelief. After all, he was pretty strange but he couldn’t be that important. She didn’t have good enough luck to know any important ponies.

“It’s true,” he said, trying to contain his annoyance at this constantly contrary griffon. “The suffering occurring all across Equestria is my fault, and so it is my duty to end it.”

“Come on, as if! What, it’s all your fault? Right, sure.” The griffon made no attempt to hide her opinion on that. “Not the crazy guy who is doing it; it’s ‘your’ fault.”

“Yes. I could have prevented this,” insisted Paladin with a scowl. “His actions would never have reached this point if I had done better, if I had done more.”

“Whatever, dude,” Gilda shrugged. “Feel free to be delusional and guilty, just don’t drag me into it.”

Even as he went to snap at her, Paladin realised that he was doing just that. Gilda’s loneliness would kill her, if she accompanied him much further. He fell silent, thinking again about this. Gilda was lonely, that much was clear however troublesome and difficult she was. He was unsure how telling or asking her to leave would go. She might refuse and follow him anyway just to be difficult, and what would he do then? Assault her, as he had the monkey guards? Strike without warning, as he had done the unicorn guard?

He thought about that as they flew on, the ground speeding past in a zooming panorama, and did anything but think about the feelings from Fluttershy. They were, he was sure, his fault.

***

“...”

“What did you say, Spike? Behind you, high!” Twilight blew a windigo apart. That was the ninth. Nine windigoes destroyed since this began. Some had been reduced to shreds, shreds that quickly faded away or were absorbed by other windigoes. Three had been completely vaporised by Twilight’s magic, destroyed when the entire herd tried to rush her. Each time they did, she was forced to use a shield again, destroying...killing more of them. So long as they came at her piece meal, she limited herself to fighting those and the rest watched, torn between a need to attack and their survival instincts urging them to let her tire herself out until she couldn’t defend herself against the whole herd.

They thought, or their master thought, that they were outsmarting her, tiring her out without falling into her trap. Had she not been maintaining Fluttershy’s spell, Twilight might even have done that. As it was, she feared her bluff would be called. She couldn’t do what they thought, and if Ardlon had truly abandoned whatever plan had spared them, she couldn’t win this as it was.

A blast of green fire lit the sky, illuminating the town square into a toxic-snow hell for a moment. The windigo she had warned Spike about fled, and Twilight counted a fifth for Spike. She wasn’t sure if it was angelic essence leaking over their nascent bond, or if dragon fire was simply able to harm windigoes, but it was effective nonetheless.

“I didn’t say anything!” Spike shouted back. He leaped wildly out of the way of another windigo, soaring over Twilight back as she swept her horn-beam across his pursuit. She wished she was as small and agile as Spike.

“...T-Twilight..”

She frowned, although she let the expression drop as she ducked beneath a swinging ghostly hoof, horning spitting out beam after beam, riddling the windigo above with holes. She didn’t need a crazy pony cranking her tail to unload like that.

It hit her a few seconds after she hit it, knocked back by a frosty gale. The it in this case was, in fact, Fluttershy. Stumbling over her unnoticed friend, Twilight remembered her. Well, she had known Fluttershy was there, but it was just sort...in the background. It wasn’t really important, and even though she was casting it, the spell was taking full effect on Twilight. She pushed herself up, straining her ears.

“Tw-Twilight…” she heard Fluttershy at last. “I’m...I’m done…”

Her eyes widened, relief washing through her. The plan! She could do this!

“Spike,” Twilight shouted, a sudden wave of selective force cast in magenta light that blew every windigo near them away. “A ring of fire, all around. Give me as much time as you can.”

He nodded, inhaling and starting to turn. Releasing his breath, Spike’s emerald fire struck the snow.

‘It’s going to melt and there won’t be anything to burn! No no no! I need to make a ring for Twilight. Don’t burn the ice! I have to do this!’ Spike thought frantically, willing his fire to burn without touching the ice, to flare up into a wall of searing green. He closed his eyes as he ran, and as he completely a circle guided by instinct and spatial awareness, Spike wondered how he managed to keep one breath going this long.

That quickly became much less important a question. His primary concern suddenly changed to the fact his fire was doing it. A ring of emerald fire surrounded them, its heat not touching the ice beneath it The flames licked high, almost a dome, and from a pained whinney the windigoes evidentually suffered where the ice did not. Spike grinned.

While Spike did that, Twilight put her attention firmly on Fluttershy. She didn’t so much end the spell as shift it to the background, letting another layer of magecraft within the first spell come forth. Fluttershy was no longer hidden from attention. For an awful moment, Twilight wished she was.

Her friend trembled, frozen tears on her cheeks, her eyes rimmed with red and a look of pain and horror on her face. As Twilight stared at her, Fluttershy focused her gaze on the unicorn. Shock, despair, loathing were all written in that gaze and Twilight couldn’t pull herself away.

“Twilight…” Fluttershy repeated faintly, her voice a trembling whisper. “Help them.”

Also on reflex, Twilight obeyed. She had prepared for this. Casting her will out, Twilight forced her mind to open. This was no metaphor, at least not as most would expect. The way their angelic gifts worked, how they did what they did, completely escaped Twilight but she refused to let that stop her. Reaching through the bond between them, she cringed back at the flood of emotions from Fluttershy. The things her friend had witnessed...ignoring her anger, Twilight grasped the centre of the web, the core formed by Fluttershy where hundreds of shining threads joined. Through Fluttershy, Twilight’s magic spread, branches of her spell snaking along the invisible net cast over the town. The distinct threads that were her friends, almost at the edge of the town, were added to the network, right after Spike.

“What did that magician say?” Twilight asked herself. She gave the windigoes a frosty smile, though the effect was wasted with the roaring ring of fire. “Oh, that’s right. Now you see us…”

…

……

………

The windigoes swirled about, confused. What had they been doing? There was nothing here, and their hunger grew. Snorting and nieghing between themselves, they queried their silent master. He stirred from his trance, only a stray thought commanding them north, before he returned to his meditations.

Just like that, the windigoes left. The cloud cover broke a minute later, sunlight streaming over the silent, unnoticed town.

………

……

…

“Now you don’t,” Twilight finished, letting her spell drop. She beamed at Fluttershy, her expression the hysteric look of somepony who hadn’t slept recently.

“They’re...they’re gone?” Fluttershy asked, slowly standing. She looked back over the past minute, trying to make sense of what had happened. She had known the plan, and yet it kept slipping her mind. She knew they had done something to make the windigoes leave, but her memory just seemed to slip and slide away. She had trouble even paying attention to the effort to remember.

“Oh,” she whispered. She blinked. What had she been thinking about? The plan...she had remembered what they had done, but she forgot. Or she just...didn’t notice the thought about it. “...my head hurts.”

“You and me both,” Spike agreed, staggering over. He looked at Twilight’s expression. “Uh, Twilight?”

“Fluttershy, you should be able to free everypony now. Spike, I’m going to have a nap. Because.. reasons. I need to nap. Night night,” with a dreamy, vague smile Twilight swayed and collapsed face first in the slowly melting snow. She didn’t hear the cries of alarm from Spike or Fluttershy, already lost in a deep, relaxing sleep.

***

Gilda looked away from the ground, her fascinated view of the speeding terrain changing to the pony causing it. If she didn’t know better, she would have felt like she didn’t even need to flap her wings. She did, and it was a hard pace, but Paladin’s sky magic was now tightly wrapped around them in a tight bubble of influence. Every factor was in their favour, aiding them, and any wind that might blow them off course or disturb their path came to an abrupt end against the sphere of control.

She wasn’t sure why, but Paladin was suddenly in a good mood. Well, not really good, but better. He was glancing back every few seconds, and she had heard him sigh in relief at least once. It made the next hour less annoying, at least.

It was nearly an hour after that when he stopped, steady wing beats holding him aloft in one place for the moment. He was looking back again, and GIlda cursed her luck.

“What’s the hold up?” she demanded. “Thought you were on a schedule, that whole ‘fate of Equestria’ thing?”

Her sarcastic question went ignored, Paladin’s gaze fixed to the south. South-east, technically, but Gilda really didn’t care. It wasn’t where they- he was going, so she didn’t have any reason to.

“There’s something…” Paladin turned his head, running his gaze back and forth curiously. “What is it…”

Gilda shrugged, giving him a nasty smile. “Maybe you’ve just got gas.”

Again, she was ignored, so she let out a few more grumbles just in case he was listening. Being ignored never pleased Gilda, especially not now. She flapped impatiently, arms crossed.

Ahead of them the dark northern forests ran into a white wonderland of the Frozen Wastes, a place where winter ruled all year. The harsh, magic-augmented pace had forced them further north than Gilda had ever been, and she looked at the paling vista, as greenery became ice, with an unimpressed look. They had entered the frozen wastes, no doubt about that, although some greenery remained.

Paladin gave the horizon a hard look, trying to spot it. He knew something was wrong, although at least not with Fluttershy. The minute movements caused by the beat of his wings kept him from staying perfectly steady, throwing him off. If only he could get a good view. He was sure there was something wrong with the clouds at the very edge of his vision. Stretching out his senses did nothing, and Paladin cursed his mortal senses. When the windigoes had been swarming around Canterlot, he could detect the hints of Ardleon’s essence, but only when it swamped him. His reach was paltry, confined to petty hearing, sight, and smell.

His ears twitched. He could hear the wind howling, distracting him further. The world seemed determined to make this harder. Shaking sight, wind in his ears, a nostril catching the scent of winter…the sound of a storm continued to beat at him, but Paladin suddenly realised no winds buffeted him, that the sound was not, in fact, passing through his ears. He heard it as though both close yet distant, a sound that was not so much a true sound as a feeling translated into a lesser sensation.

His eyes widened in horror. “Gilda! Down!” he roared, wings snapping tight as he fell into a dive. He glanced up as he descended, and his wings quickly reversed and spread. Gilda was still exactly where she had been, scowling down at him. In the distance, the rushing gale grew louder, yet she heard not so much as a whisper of wind.

“What?” she demanded. “Go all the way down? What for?”

“There isn’t time! Windigoes approach! We’re in danger!” Paladin shouted up to her. He didn’t need to look to know the windigoes, the storm of frost and hate that swung to his mind in a way they had not before, were getting closer, bearing down on the pair.

Yet still Gilda remained where she was, and by now he feared it was too late. She just crossed her forelegs, her eyes narrowed scornfully.

“Do not,” she shrieked. “Order me about! I’m not some nancy pony, don’t even try telling me what to do! There aren’t even any of the damn ghost th-”

He only had time for a strangled groan, launching himself up. Paladin came in at Gilda like a missile, and he had the momentary satisfaction of seeing the shock on the griffin’s face as he slammed into her. They went up a little bit more before gravity took hold of the mass of fur and feathers, pulling them relentlessly towards the ground. He reacted without thought, turning the hastening dome of weather magic into a cushion of air. Gilda clawed at him, trying to get free, panicking at the sudden attack. He grunted, feeling lines of pain dragging across him as they fell.

His improvised protection struck the ground ahead of them, snapping branches on the way down. An unknowing duplication of Rainbow Dash’s method of making most crashes without breaking anything, most of the time at least, it kept them safe until they hit the ground. Above them the sky became a sea of writhing winter spirits as they stormed north. Beneath Paladin, Gilda stared at them. The single minded ghost-beasts ignored or missed them, intent on their command. Had they remained in the sky, there would have been no such luck.

The frightful flood of frosty fiends passed eventually, leaving Gilda and Paladin in sudden quiet. He heaved himself off her, sitting back and groaning as he began to check where Gilda had scratched him. She hadn’t drawn blood, he was pleased to find. They still smarted.

“We’re safe.” he sat up, grunting as his wing popped and protested. “Damnation, my wing is..sprained, I suspect. I cannot be certain.”

Gilda rolled onto her front and stood up, shrugging. Adrenaline was pumping through her, the realisation of how close they had come to being caught by the windigoes screaming at her . “Hey, if you had explained or something you wouldn’t be hurt, would you?”

He looked up from his wing, a hoof testing the sprain. “What?” his tone was flat, but the surprise was stil evident. He wasn’t sure he had heard right.

“If you had been faster, just said the windigoes were coming, I could have come down on my own,” Gilda sneered.

“I did,” Paladin replied. He was surprised, caught off-guard, and it took him a moment to realise Gilda was blaming him. The sheer gall of the claim made him almost snap back, but he restrained himself. Just.

“Yeah, but you didn’t really. I couldn’t see them, why should I have just taken you at your word? Not my fault you can’t explain things fast.” Gilda shrugged it off, nonchalant despite the slight jitter from the adrenaline.

“Not your fault...Gilda, I was clearly quite serious. You have only known me for just over a day, but has anything about me ever suggested that I would joke about windigoes? That I would jest?” he snapped now, his tone dark and offended.

She shrugged again, scowling now. “Hey, don’t blame me, not my fault-”

“When is something your fault?” Paladin cut her off. He looked the griffon in the eye, eyebrows furrowed as he gave her a look just shy of a glare.

“What?” she asked dumbly.

“When,” Paladin repeated, “is something your responsibility? When do you accept fault?”

She bristled, glaring at him. “I don’t. Unlike you, I don’t go picking up blame and responsibility like some sort of...animal loving critter collector. At least this time it already is.”

He seemed to have passed his bout of short temperedness, which annoyed her. It was easier when he got upset back at her. Now he was just nodding, as though he had expected such an answer.

“I see,” he said, and she immediately decided he didn’t. How could he? He was just another namby-pamby pony.

“Sure you do,” she snarked.

Paladin shook his head slightly. “Perhaps not everything, but I have gotten a sense of you. Gilda, do not blame me for this. I warned you, and all you had to do was trust me. Very little to ask, and though I risked myself you promptly lay the blame upon my shoulders!”

“Because you are to blame!” Gilda shrieked at him. Her claws dug into the dirt, cold earth pressed in tight fists. “Don’t go blaming me for this, dweeb.”

The insult was childish and petty, a defensive gesture she hadn’t needed in ages, largely because she hadn’t had anyone to insult. Paladin had no idea what it meant, but he heard the pettiness in her tone.

“I wasn’t seeking to lay blame upon either of us, but I will not be insulted in such a way. Perhaps it is time you begin to reconsider your attitude to fault. If you never admit mistake, if you never accept blame, how can you learn and grow?” Paladin kept his own tone as frosty as the wind, cold and hard.

“Sounds to me like you’re saying it’s my fault, which it isn’t! You ponies! What is wrong with you all? Acting so high and mighty, like you’re perfect! It’s not my fault! It’s never my fault!” She advanced on him, glaring viciously at the unflinching pegasus.

He matched her, his injured wing ignored. “I know I’m not perfect, I am completely aware that I am as flawed as any other mortal. I simply lack the sheer arrogance to blame others for everything! I will not be mocked like this, not by you.”

“Oh, there it is! I knew it! All you ponies, thinking you’re so much better than me! That you don’t need me, that you’re too good for the griffon!” Gilda screamed, an anger greater than before blowing through her.

The force of her anger took him by surprise, but Paladin refused to back down. “I never said such a thing, and I never meant that anyway. But refusing blame, putting it on others, how can you stand to do that, when it leaves you alone?”

Gilda drew back as if struck, and for a moment he thought he had gotten through to her. But her anger came back, and her wings spread wide.

“You take all that responsibility, and you’re as lonely as I am! It wasn’t my fault, and I’m not going back to her like some helpless beggar!” Gilda roared. With that she turned and took flight, soaring away with desperate speed.

Paladin blinked. He had seen a moment of something shining before it was soaked up the feathers of her cheek. Had that been a...had she just…

“Gilda! Wa-arh!” In his rush to pursue her, his injury was forgotten and when he unfurled his wings to take off it was quick to remind him of its presence. He drew his wing back with a hiss, stumbling a few steps to waste the momentum his intended take off charge had gathered. By then Gilda was gone, flying hard and fast. She was, he was relieved to note, at least heading south.

He watched her go until, at last, Paladin lost sight of her. He was, once more, alone.

***

When Twilight came to it was to find the snow-locked, frost sealed town gone. To be more accurate, it was the rime and ice that were gone, transforming the town from a wintery hell into a rather damp town mainly notable for said dampness. There were also a lot of ponies who apparently decided the moment she woke up was the optimal time to scream out and attempt tactical assault hugs, all at the same time. Her fight or flee reflex aptly selected ‘flee’ and she popped from one side of the room to the other.

“Have a nice nap?” Pinkie asked brightly, watching the mass of wriggling ponies trying to hug an absent Twilight.

Twilight blinked, rubbing her forehead. “I...fainted.”

Pinkie nodded. “Yep!” She giggled. “Everypony was really excited to thank you. Maybe a little too eager, but you can’t ever be too eager in my experience.”

Considering Pinkie Pie’s experience in being eager was quite substantial, Twilight was inclined to take her word for it. The pile of unsuccessful huggers added significant credence to her claim. She nodded thoughtfully, turning over the last of her memories. She felt remarkably calm.

“How long was I asleep?”

“A who~oooole day. Don’t worry, Fluttershy did her magic-emotion-thingy and got everypony out, which was easy-peasy without those mean ghosties all over the place.” Pinkie’s smile dimmed slightly. “Fluttershy is...she really needs something to make her smile. She’s really sad.”

“Huh...okay, I...I think I remember what happened. I’m guessing - just guessing, moments after waking up, mind you - that she could have gotten the feelings from all the ponies who had been-”

She interrupted herself, teleporting from one side of the room with Pinke. The overeager well wishers, having made another attempt to glomp her with extreme prejudice, formed a pile where she had just been.

“-caught by the windigoes and saturated in dark emotions. Um, I don’t mean to be rude, Pinkie, but I am really hungry. Let’s get something to eat, and then go see about Fluttershy, okay?” Twilight suggested, her stomach letting out a sympathetic grumble.

Pinke nodded, clearing her throat...angelically.

“Ahem!”

They looked up at Pinkie, meeting her blinding smile.

“Hey everypony! I know you’re really excited to thank Twilight with wonderful hugs, and it was super fun when you kept hugging the rest of us earlier, but Twilight is really, really hungry, so a little later, okay?” Pinkie suggested with a cheery tone that told everypony she was sure they were all reasonable ponies, and if anypony proved her wrong she would cry and make them all feel bad.

Whether it was that or her natural charisma, Pinkie Pie had them cleared out with minimal fuss beyond some shouts of thanks and one wild attempt at a glomp. Pinke interrupted with a counter-tackle hug, and disappeared to acquire some food for Twilight. She took the opportunity to sit down and think.

She remembered right up until just after she finished her ‘now you see me’ witticism. That had felt rather good. She could see why Rainbow Dash wrote down all of Daring Do’s really good one liners, hoping to one day use them.

‘I’m thinking unusually sharply for having just woken up, hungry, after a day sleeping from exhausting magic use,’ Twilight thought. It was, she was not very surprised to note, exactly that. ‘Exhausting magic use, not exhausting my magic itself. This is all so fascinating, I need to learn more.’

Her stomach rumbled loudly and she blushed.

‘After breakfast.’

When breakfast came, it came in the form of a flash of light and a grinning pegasus. Rainbow Dash slapped Twilight’s back with a wing, putting down a plate of delicious smelling food in front of her.

“Pinkie said you were hungry. You did awesome!” she said with a wide grin. “I mean, that thing with the magic, that did the, you know, stuff, was totally cool.”

Another totally cool thing was the look Twilight gave her friend. “You can’t remember what I did, can you?”

Rainbow Dash’s shoulder slumped. “Not really, no. I mean, I know you did something, but everytime I try to remember I just kind of...forget. I know what you did, I think, or I knew at least, but I just can’t focus on it. ‘s weird.”

“I imagine,” Twilight agreed dryly. She levitated the food up, eating contently but quickly. “How is Fluttershy?”

“She’s...doing better. ‘Shy had a lot taken out of her doing whatever it was you need her to do, but she wouldn’t rest until she had made sure everypony in the town was safe and unfrozen.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “I feel a lot better, I got over being tired from all the ‘porting even faster this time, but with Fluttershy like that...I feel kinda useless.”

“We’ll work something out,” promised Twilight, taking another bite. She chewed it, her thoughts and breakfast both. This was going to be tricky.

While Twilight ate, Rainbow Dash filled her in on what had happened.They had spent the past day enduring the thanks from all the ponies of the town, helping them repair what damage they could.

“It’s weird, but Jade and Wild Card asked us not to mention them,” Rainbow confided her in. She shrugged. “No idea why, they just said they were private ponies. Wild Card made some crack about Jade keeping herself to herself and her coltfriend. Whoever it is must be pretty cool, because she might be awesome, but Jade isn’t easy to get along with!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at this but shrugged it off. “I’m sure they have their reasons.” Privately, she wondered what reasons they could be. Finishing her meal, she pushed the empty plate away and stood up. “Okay, let’s go see Fluttershy.”

“She’s in the next room, come on,” Tail flicking about in agitation behind, Rainbow Dash led her out, knocking on the next door in the mostly dried hallway. The door swung open with a creepy creak that made Dash roll her eyes.

Peeking into the dark room, Twilight let her eyes adjust. “Fluttershy?”

A soft whimper answered her, and it was only as she caught sight of Fluttershy’s shivering form that she realised the bond was silent, the distant, back-of-her-mind sense of her friend’s emotions empty.

“Fluttershy, hey, Twilight is up and about! And she’s going to tell you what the rest of us told you,” Rainbow Dash added quickly with a grin.

Fluttershy managed a slight smile at her friend’s confidence, but her drooped ears and the sad look in her eyes didn’t change.

“I...I guess, if you say so.”

Rainbow Dash sighed, facehoofing and giving Twilight an impatient look. Shaking her head at the utter lack of subtlety, Twilight stepped closer to Fluttershy. She wasn’t certain she could do more than Rarity or Pinkie should have done by now.

“So...what’s wrong? I can guess, but I’d rather hear it from you.” She decided to start there.

Fluttershy looked at her sadly. “I, I saw their memories. Th-the attack...it was just horrible. A-all because of that nasty Ardleon,” she murmured.

Twilight nodded slowly, trying to think of something she could do. She could transfer a memory to a willing mind, but nothing that could simply erase them. They were clearly tormenting her friend, and Twilight knew she had to do something.

“I don’t know how that must have felt, Fluttershy, but you’re stronger than you think. You won’t let this get you down for long. You helped all of those ponies. We have more ponies to help,” Twilight tried to comfort her, cursing herself for her clumsiness. She had done fine when it was on the topic of magical abilities, but this was a bit beyond her.

To her surprise, Fluttershy sighed and shook her head. “It’s not that. I…” her voice trembled. “I wish I was. I really do.”

“What?” Noting Rainbow Dash’s confused look from the door, Twilight frowned slightly. “I’m sorry Fluttershy, but...but that’s kind of surprising. What is wrong then? Can we help with that?”

Fluttershy ducked her head, letting her mane hide her face for a moment. She whispered something, but before Twilight could ask for a repeat, she lifted her head and did it on her own. There was a sadness in her voice, with a hint of….fear? It certainly got Twilight’s attention.

“Ardleon is an angel...t-the same thing as Paladin used to be, right?” Fluttershy asked, flinching at her own words. “A-after everything Paladin told us, Ardleon has done all this. They were also so afraid, so hurt and frightened and angry. I-if Ardleon would do that...what was Tyrael like?”

That was not what Twilight expected, and it took her a few seconds to marshal an answer. “Well, Tyrael is Paladin. We just call him Paladin.”

“I-I know, but...Twilight, I-I never realised how different he must have been. Are other angels like this?” Fluttershy looked away, shame rising in her eyes. “I...I’m afraid. Paladin is my friend, but this...it made me think. About him. About...about the Nightmare.”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash shared looks of concern.

“What, Nightmare, capital N?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Why are you thinking about that? We beat it, Paladin fried it, we won, woo, problem solved!”

Fluttershy shook her head again. “He...he killed the Nightmare. I-I tried not to think about it, but I can’t do that anymore!”

“Killed it? It’s just a crazy monster!” growled Rainbow Dash. “You can’t kill something that isn’t a person. What’s the problem?”

“Rainbow Dash! How can you say that? It- she, could think, could talk! Even if she was evil, we might have been able to help her. The Elements of Harmony healed Princess Luna, why couldn’t they help the Nightmare?” Fluttershy asked hotly, surprising fierceness in her voice.

“It was possessing everypony in Ponyville, and trying to make them kill us! The thing was what got healed out of Princess Luna!” Dash shot back, trying to keep her frustration from her voice. She didn’t understand what Fluttershy was talking about, not in the slightest.

“No, no, no. The Nightmare was part of Princess Luna-”

Rainbow Dash interrupted; “Yeah, the crazy part!”

“No! She needed our help, b-but Paladin...he killed her. We could have helped her! Why did he do that? He didn’t have to,” Fluttershy quivered at having to argue, not enjoying it, but she wasn’t backing down, not over this.

Twilight looked between the two, trying to work out what to do. Fluttershy’s words rang true, horrifyingly so, but she forced herself to be calm.

“Fluttershy,” she finally found her voice. “What brought this up? Seeing what Ardleon did, how is that related?”

Looking away once more, Fluttershy seemed to hate the things she was saying, but she said them nonetheless. “It just made me think, and, oh, Twilight, I-I don’t want Paladin to be like that. Ardleon made them so afraid, and Paladin wants to be like that again! W-why?”

Understanding blossomed. ‘She’s worried if Ardleon is like this, Paladin - Tyrael, really - was like that as well. He might become the same again, if Ardleon gets him.’

“Whoa, that’s totally different!” Quick off the mark, Rainbow Dash went right up to her friend. “Fluttershy, the Nightmare was a monster. It was super-evil, and that’s what Paladin thought! He didn’t want to risk it hurting anypony else. You might as well try redeeming Discord, heck, he’d probably be easier. He might be twisted, but half the time he was doing stuff because he thought it would be funny. The Nightmare wasn’t even really a pony, and Paladin knew that!”

“How much of a pony did she have to be? Princess Luna said she was a part of herself, so doesn’t that make her worth a chance?” Fluttershy looked miserable at her own doubts in their friend’s nature, but it was easy to see it was gnawing at her. “Paladin didn’t know that, but, if he had, would he have done it? I-I just don’t know, and I don’t want him to turn into an angel again! T-they’re….they’re monsters! But Paladin isn’t, and I don’t want him to be!”

Twilight laid a hoof over Fluttershy’s trembling shoulders, and after giving Rainbow Dash a hard look, the pegasus joined her. “It’s okay, Fluttershy. Paladin isn’t like that. Do you really think he is?”

Fluttershy gave a small shake of her head.

“Fluttershy, I honestly don’t understand the problem, but Paladin is a good guy,” Rainbow Dash comforted her, her voice gentle despite its characteristic roughness. “I mean, yeah, Ardleon is pretty bad, but he’s crazy, like the Nightmare. Whatever Paladin was like as Tyrael, he was probably way cooler than this guy.”

That got a small smile from Fluttershy, nodding weakly. But she couldn’t dismiss all her fears. “B-but, I just can’t understand. I felt Paladin’s emotions, and he’s so new to them even now. I don’t want Ardleon to take him back and turn him into an angel again. Oh, I know I’m so selfish, Paladin wants to be who he was so much, but I just can’t stand the idea of him being like th-that monster.”

“Fluttershy, I can’t honestly say if you’re wrong.” Twilight sighed, wishing she knew more. “We don’t know what he was really like before the Princesses gave him a pony body. He was shocked at what Ardleon did at the Gala, so even if who he was and who he is have changed, Paladin can still recognise things that are wrong.”

“Besides, if this bozo tries to lay his dirty hooves-”

“Hands,” Twilight interrupted.

Rainbow Dash gave her an annoyed look over Fluttershy’s head. “His dirty hands on Paladin, we’ll buck him to the moon. I mean, we’re awesome!”

Her words seemed to work, Fluttershy peering up at her hopefully. “...you still want Paladin to be alright, even after how mean he was,” she observed, voice soft but warm.

“What? No!” Rainbow Dash tried to look aloft, but neither of her friends were fooled. “Okay, okay. I’m still angry at him! He was a total jerk, and I should know. But I don’t want him to get hurt, or something stupid.”

Fluttershy slowly stood up, giving Rainbow Dash a hug that received half-hearted complaints in response. “Thank you.”

“No problem. Uh, for what?”

“For helping me. Thank you both. I, I’m not sure I’m entirely better, sorry, it was just so horrible, seeing that attack again and again, over and over,” Fluttershy shuddered, her hooves getting tighter around Dash’s neck.

Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder. “We’ll be here, and soon Paladin will too. I promise, we won’t let Ardleon get to him. I’m not even sure Ardleon could change Paladin into an Angel again. Forcing a soul to transmute unwillingly is impossible.”

Her friends gave her the wide, helpless stares of ponies who had no idea what she was talking about.

“I have a book from the Princess, about soul magic,” she explained. “Changing a soul in it’s entirety can’t be done without that soul wanting to change. the aid of another to help guide the process. Souls are conceptual entities. Paladin was, as far as we understand, representative of the concept of Justice. Every part of any process to transmute his soul back into an angelic soul would be need to genuinely reflect that, in literally every way possible. Ardleon and Tyrael’s concepts of justice could be hugely different from ours, but unleashing a horde of hate-powered windigoes on a continent, tormenting countless innocents, does not sound very just to me.”

This was much easier, talking about magic. She could do this perfectly well. It was nice to share as well, and she enjoyed the chance to tell any of her friends what she found.

“So Ardleon being all nasty and mean makes it super impossible for him to do what he probably wants to do?” Pinkie asked.

Twilight nodded. “Exactly, and- Pinkie!”

Pinkie blinked, looking over Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy’s heads as they suddenly realised Pinkie had, at some point neither could remember, made their hug three-way.

“Yeah-huh?” Her expression was all innocent curiosity.

“Never mind,” Twilight muttered, rubbing her forehead. “Yes, if that is what Ardleon wants - if - then it’s impossible unless he’s adhering to a concept of justice both he and Paladin share. Of course, given that one culture’s perception of justice can be very different from another’s, we can’t be too certain how he defines it. But it’s safe to say Paladin probably doesn’t share it now, even if he did before.”

Pinkie nodded seriously. “Okie-dokie-lokie. See, I told you Fluttershy, Twilight would know what to say! And now you’re not as sad as you were before, we can go find Paladin and Ardleon and make everything better!” She released Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, bouncing off them and striking a pose. “That big meanie better look out, because we’re gonna find him and totally tattle on him to the Princess! Then he’ll stop making those nasty windigoes go around hurting everypony!”

The determined, albeit silly, look on Pinkie’s face made her friends smile slightly, and the certainty in her voice inspired confidence. Pinkie could be relied on for more than smiles; there was nopony who could help you feel confident like her. Fluttershy finally let go of Rainbow Dash, a small but determined smile on her face. The memories and emotions of the town remained with her, a painful knot in her heart. But she was ready to keep going, and stop more ponies from suffering the same.

“Applejack and Rarity are getting our stuff together, so if Dashie is ready to fly you can start making your big fancy spell!” Pinkie provided the purple pony. “Spike is even drawing those magic pictures for you!”

Twilight smiled as well. “Oh, good, I’m glad you were-” she froze for a moment, blinking. “Wait, Spike is what?”

***

Spike was the centre of attention in the town square. Much as Twilight had done, he had made a circle and warned everypony to stay out of it. Applejack had loudly added to that warning, making sure he wouldn’t be disturbed. When pressed, she would have admitted she wasn’t sure what Spike could do without Twilight, but it turned out quite a lot.

Twilight stared, mouth agape, at the fiery green runes hovering a few inches above the ground. They were very close to what she had done yesterday, and even as she watched Spike puff out another, she couldn’t help but be impressed. She didn’t even know Spike could shape his fire like that, and the scholar in her was gleeful at the prospects.

“Spike!” she called, waiting until he had finished one rune but before he could begin another. She gave him a proud smile as he ran over to her. “This is amazing!”

He beamed at the praise, throwing his arms around her. “Thanks! I was feeling really useless. since you weren’t waking up and there was nothing you could do, but I remembered that when I thought about it reeeeeeally hard when we were fighting the windigoes, my fire did what I wanted it to.”

Twilight suppressed a winced, suddenly recalling her thoughts as she had sliced apart windigoes, destroying them. Killing. She understood Fluttershy’s thoughts on the Nightmare.

“So, I thought maybe if my fire was magic, I could help you with the runes, and I was pretty sure I could remember them. What do you think?” Spike had noticed nothing, and was looking at her, desperate for approval. She just couldn’t imagine letting him down now.

“I think it’s wonderful. I never knew you could do this with your fire,” she admitted. Her horn ignited, scanning the flames. They were more fire than magic, but although he had only laid down about a fourth of the rune array, he had certainly saved her time. “Amazing…”

Spike actually blushed at the praise, grinning widely. Nothing in the world, save a kiss from Rarity, could make him feel happier at this moment. It was a wonderfully refreshing feeling that swamped Fluttershy, who basked in the little dragon’s pride and happiness as she followed Twilight. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were busy with crowd control, managing to keep the grateful masses at bay through shouting and confusion, respectively.

Approaching Twilight, Applejack grinned as well. “He’s been workin’ mighty hard on this,” she told the unicorn. “Workin’ those lungs raw, Ah’d say. Y’all should be proud.”

“I am. Thank you for looking after him while I was out of it. How are you doing?” Twilight asked her friend, giving her a warm smile.

“Shucks, Ah’m fine. Y’all had the big job, after all, we just had ta keep those beasties occupied. Hope we kept ‘em busy long enough for ya,” Applejack demurred.

“Let’s say it was a team effort. Speaking of, where are Jade Facade and Wild Card? We couldn’t have done this without them, they really do deserve thanks for that.” Glancing around the town square, ringed on all sides by ponies, Twilight could find no sign of either of the mysterious ponies.

Applejack tried not to let her suspicions show. They had earned trust, she would give them that, but Wild Card had been a bit too knowing for her. He just gave her the heebie-jeebies, and when he had looked at her she had felt as though he already knew more about her than she did.

“Ah guess they’re just modest, or maybe their business don’t lend itself well ta bein’ recognised,” Applejack suggested. “Rarity went ta get ‘em when Pinkie told us ya woke up. Ah been meanin’ ta ask ya somethin’ anyhow. ‘s about my armour.”

“Is something wrong with it?” Twilight began to work on the runes Spike had already placed, fixing the slight flaws and injecting her own magic to connect the array together.

“Nope, an’ that’s just the thing. It’s gettin’ even more comfy, an’ natural to wear. Even looks a lil’ different,” the farmer explained. She kept well out of the way of Twilight’s magic. It wasn’t done, getting in the way of a mare and her work, even if that work was magic, which Applejack suspected didn’t count. She kept that opinion to herself.

Twilight hummed thoughtfully. “All of the abilities we gained from Paladin’s angelic essence are connected to us in ways that are as much symbolic as anything else. Changes to it’s appearance might reflect the armour becoming more naturally part of you, shedding traces of Paladin’s identity and matching yours more closely.”

“So, Ah’m just gettin’ better with it?” Applejack blew out a sigh. “Gotta say Twi’, this has all taken a lotta gettin’ used to. Magic armour! ‘s pretty darn amazin’, an’ Ah ain’t sure Ah really let Paladin know that. Been tryin’ ta play it cool, if ya get me.”

“‘Play it cool’? Why?”

Applejack gave a self conscious shrug. “Well, it’s kinda magic, ain’t it? Ah ain’t never had magic before, Ah’m an earth pony an’ we can’t do nothin’ fancy like you unicorns, or them pegasi with all the flyin’ an’ weather magic. Just good old earth pony hard work, makin’ plants grow an’ livin’ healthy.”

“So you didn’t want to act too impressed, because you thought we would take you for an oaf, did you darling?” A regal, familiar voice asked. Applejack started, looking around to find Rarity behind her. “Sorry to eavesdrop, but that really is very silly, dear Applejack. We are all very knew to these strange things. Why, I found it quite frustrating! Imagine being able to spot flaws that are literally too small to fix, and...and trying to finish a dress like that!”

“Feelin’ sneaky, are ya Rarity?” Applejack asked dryly, shaking her head. “Ah know it ain’t easy for y’all either, but ‘s just kinda strange. How am Ah supposed to feel?”

“There’s nothing wrong with feeling that way, really,” Twilight assured her. “Rarity, how are you?”

Rarity smiled, letting out a sigh as she ran a hoof through her mane. “Oh, I’m as fabulous as ever. The ponies here have been ever so grateful, and they have a lovely spa. Nothing compared to Aloe and Lotus, of course, but still quite lovely. I am very glad to see you up and about, darling.”

“So am I. Where are Jade Facade and Wild Card?” asked Twilight, glancing about for the two absent ponies.

“Waiting in a building just down the road. They are very private ponies.” Rarity exchanged a quick look with Applejack. The farmer nodded, understanding their shared worries about the nature of their allies. “Shall we go see them?”

Twilight nodded. “Spike, we’re going to see them. Can you keep at it please?”

“Sure thing!” he agreed, beaming at being given such an important job. With this task in his trusted claws, the mares hurried down. Pinkie bounced around them, serving as a marvelous distraction. It was hard to focus, even for ponies wanting to show their gratitude, when she came bouncing along.

“Ah, a pleasure to see you recovered,” Wild Card greeted them. He sipped his tea, sharing a table within the small building. It seemed to be a cafe, although nopony else was in there. Jade Facade sat next to him, her face suited to her name. Cups of tea were spread out for them at all the seats of the round table Wild Card occupied.

“Thank you,” Twilight took a seat at the table, her friends doing the same. “I’m glad you’re both here.”

“Thanks so much for helping us,” Fluttershy said, giving the pair a soft smile.

“Oh, it was nothing,” Wild Card dismissed it with a flap of his hoof. “After all, it’s only right to spread the kindness. When a pony helps you and leaves before you can return the favour, well, what can you do but help others in need?”

His expression was open and warm, the sort of face you could trust. Applejack couldn’t help but feel like there was something else going on, although she had no idea what.

Jade Facade gave what was, possibly, a very small nod. “That Paladin fellow did leave rather abruptly, and I suppose we’re not likely to be able to pay him back in kind.”

Wild Card felt quite validated in his preparing the air, enjoying the sight of their spit-takes. It made this even more enjoyable. He raised an eyebrow at them innocently.

“Is something wrong, ladies?” he asked, not a touch of anything untoward in his voice.

“Paladin?” Fluttershy exclaimed. The fact she was exclaiming got her friends’ brains working again, and their clamouring of the same one word question filled the abandoned cafe for a few seconds.

He waited for the commotion to die down before replying. Wild Card hid an amused smirk behind his cup, catching a twitch at the corner of Jade’s lip. It really was too easy sometimes.

“Paladin was his name, yes,” he finally answered. “Rather large stallion, quite memorable. I dare say I’ve never seen a pegasus with wings a different colour than his coat.”

“That’s him! Our super-duper friend, Paladin. Where did you see him? Was it near? Far?” Pinkie asked, bouncing in her seat.

“Just to the east, although he was travelling north.” Wild Card shrugged. “I can’t really tell you much more. He appeared when we were being menaced by windigoes, was somehow able to hurt and then left after introducing himself.”

“Sounds like him ta me,” Applejack spoke up, banging a hoof on the table. “We can find him now! He was headin’ straight north? How far east was it that y’all saw him?”

Twilight was less optimistic. “We don’t know if he kept travelling in a straight line. But we have a better idea about where he’s going, and we can’t rule out the possibility of Paladin being able to find Ardleon. The sooner we find Paladin, the sooner we find Ardleon-”

“-The sooner we can tell the Princesses,” Rarity finished. She took a delicate sip before continuing. “Thank you ever so, Mister Card, Miss Facade.”

“It was nothing, really. How fortunate, that we came across your friend when we did. Any assistance we can give is assistance we’re happy to offer. I would still be cowering in a cave, were it not for you and your amazing powers.” Wild Card gave them a curious smile. “Perhaps you could share your secret in regards to those?”

The girls exchanged uneasy looks. It wasn’t a secret, exactly, but none of them felt comfortable sharing the story. At least, not without Paladin.

He shrugged, catching their look. “It’s no trouble, then. We’re simply pleased to be of service, aren’t we?” He nudged Jade.

“Yes,” she said without expression.

Wild Card sighed, running a hoof over his goatee. “Yes, of course we are.” He told them how far away he had met Paladin, and bade the girls farewell as they went to find a map.

He sat alone with Jade Fire, sipping his tea quietly. He could feel her questioning look, but waited patiently for her to ask. He was in no rush. To pass the time he pulled out the golden compass, watching the indicator shift minutely as Twilight got further away. This close there was little change to observe.

“Why didn’t you mention the griffon?”

Wild Card smiled, tucking away the compass. “Celestia paid for the location of one pony. She wasn’t paying for a griffon.”

“Always about money,” she remarked.

“Always about profit,” he corrected her. Wild Card dropped the compass into his bag. “Not all profit is money.”

***

The news about Paladin energised them. They were closer now, and with Wild Card’s information Twilight had sent Rainbow Dash off to an exact location. Not just flying northward randomly, but flying along a path they had determined.

“If Paladin keeps moving as fast as he had to, to get that far north so quickly, he should be in the Frozen Wastes by now. We’re making a guess that the windigoes were further north than ponies often go, so probably somewhere in the far north, in the mountains and glaciers,” Twilight had explained. “We’re going to go to the area Paladin is most likely to pass through. We’ll head north from there, and hopefully we can find him.”

The prospect of the Frozen Wastes was chilling, but none of them felt nervous once they had Fluttershy’s woolen garments on. They had been literally made with love, and they would protect them from cold, natural or wicked.

Fluttershy watched Twilight and Spike work. She reached out to Paladin again. He felt frustrated, and regretful. Withdrawing from their bond, she tried to ignore the remaining connection that sat at the back of her mind, constantly aware of how he felt. Instead, she focused on how she felt, thinking about everything that had happened.

It boggled her mind, to think they had crossed nearly half of Equestria in one day. She would never have believed Rainbow Dash could fly so far and so fast, or that Twilight could move all of them across such a distance. She pawed at the ground, thinking about home. Poor little Angel Bunny, all on his own without her to make him dinner. She hoped Posey was keeping him safe, she had tried to give her the right instructions. A veterinarian shouldn’t need much help, but even one of Ponyville’s veterinarian couldn’t be expected to know how to deal with Angel Bunny.

Her doubts about the real nature of angels remained, nagging at her. She trusted Paladin, or at least she wanted to, but did he really understand what he had once been? He wasn’t an angel anymore, he had said so himself, and it was hard for her to imagine him as one. Until she recalled what happened to the Nightmare, that is. She shuddered. She didn’t want him to have been as nasty as Ardleon. He was her friend. She wanted to believe the best of him, she did, but she worried so about the creature waiting for him.

What made an angel, an angel? Had he looked like Ardleon? Had he possessed the same chilling presence Ardleon had displayed at the Gala? Fluttershy remembered what she had felt, what felt like so long ago, when their eyes had met and she had beheld him. No, Paladin was not like Ardleon, not as she had felt him. Ardleon had emanated arrogance and rage, a freezing fury that cut to the bone. New he might be to mortal emotions, Paladin was nonetheless far warmer a pony since he had accepted no longer being an angel.

She saw his default expression, that flat, emotionless look, and almost giggled. Yet he was was warm, when she had felt his emotions that first, deep time. Passion burned in his heart, a thirst, a need to see justice done. His flame might have faltered, but always it was there, a flicker ready to burst into a blaze. Fluttershy only hoped the blaze would melt the wall he had tried to erect between he and them.

Wrapping her woolen coat tighter, Fluttershy got up. It was no use, sitting there thinking about things she couldn’t do anything about. She would find something to do that would help. She would be useful, no matter how small a way she might be limited to.

***

Paladin marched through the cold weather, glad once more for his thick coat. Except, he remembered, it wasn’t his. It was property of the royal guard, something he had stolen. He let the shame eat away at it. Rejecting the shame would be rejecting the crime. For all that it was necessary, he had stolen things he had no claim to and injured a pony.

‘If I return, I will face judgement for my crimes,’ he told himself. He needed that reminder. Paladin had to remember why he was doing what he was doing, why he had hurt his friends. Part and parcel of being able to return was to let justice take its course. No matter how much he believed he had done what he had to, that didn’t excuse him.

He, unlike Gilda, didn’t throw responsibility to the side. If he erred, he would do what was right. The blame would not be shoved onto another, simply to make himself feel better. Paladin scowled at the frosty white landscape around him, mulling over what had happened as he trudged through the bleak wastes. A cold wind blew, and he was thankful for the magic woven into the coat. It would be madness, to come to the Frozen Wastes in less than this. He adjusted the scarf Fluttershy had made him, his hoof tingling as it ran across the storm-grey material.

Regret began to colour his thoughts, immediately driving him to shy away from thinking about them. He couldn’t afford to back out now. He couldn’t even afford to slow down. With his wing injured he was reduced to walking. On the ground, he found his crudely wielded weather magic faltering. For whatever reason, it seemed to lessen when he was on the ground. As alien as this power was to him, Paladin’s memories of his time as Tyrael remained and he had some idea about how to manipulate ethereal energies even with his reduced faculties. Contact made the magic less willing to move as he commanded. Despite his best effort, he could still not reduce the cold wind as it blew over him.

Paladin grunted as his wing throbbed. He had done the best he could, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had both explained basic wing-care in the event of an injury, so he had some idea about what to do and his wings were safely within his coat. His inability to fly, though, made the stoic pegasus anxious.

He kept on going, forcing his way forward. No matter how cold the weather, regardless of how hard his trek became, he was not going to stop. His path would end only when he reached Ardleon, and for that he supposed he was relieved Gilda had left. She had been argumentative and rude, but she had been unexpected company when he had been alone. It was a beneficent balm that soothed more than one wound, and both had found their loneliness lessened.

His loneliness only seemed to grow with each step. The bond connecting him to his angelically-infused friends remained quiet from their distance, save Fluttershy, but the deeper he went into the freezing wasteland, the less distinct their link became. Something muffled their connection. He wasn’t sure if he was happy about this or not.

Pausing, Paladin checked the time by the sun. It was dipping, and soon it would be night. He kept on going, pushing his way ever closer to the roof of the world. Shadows lengthened, and in the twilight, he never saw the rainbow-tailed dash of blue. To be fair, she never saw him, speeding her way towards the area Twilight was sure he would be around.

Her search was unsuccessful, and as the sun began to slip away, an hour late, her wings glowed. She vanished in a spark of light, an unseen ripple emanating from the momentary mark she left on the ether.

***

His eyes opened.

He felt them. The thieves. The defilers. The enemy. Close.

At the heart of the storm wrecking the glacial lake, a storm composed entirely of windigoes, a sharp crack! broke the howl of the wind. Another crack, and another, and then another. With each violent sound the centre of the glacier was given one more wound, sinister cracks emanating from a single point. At last the surface gave way, ice exploding into the sky. The windigoes above whinnied and roared in glee, the destructive display pleasing them.

A pit with jagged, broken edges on all sides, was created in the few seconds it took for it to form. A fell wind blasted from the pit, and slowly a figure rose. Cloaked in frosty mist that drifted away from him in an endless fall, he gestured, his ice-rent hand jerking up. He repeated it, the motion smoother this time, like he was learning the movement again. The deep ice before him cleared, and an image formed. A snow bound landscape answered his silent demand, focused on a single spot, only a single mark visible only to his senses. As if in response to his observance, they appeared. Their filthy use of stolen glory amplifying their paltry mortal magic.

He watched them...and he felt his hatred grow. He reached out, his hands clenching, strangling them from afar, before falling down. He sent his will out, commanding not just the windigoes but the very winter itself. Veins of ice ran through his form, and the very material of this world was bound to him. He commanded, and the north obeyed.

They would tell no one, in the little time that remained. There would be no warning for their kind. His eyes flared, a hunger for their destruction gathering within him. He might even have given in, had he not found an eighth spark of life. A spark tinged with His essence. A thought and he saw the thing the great Aspect had been reduced to. He perceived more than mortal eyes could, and the weakness of mortal form was once more made apparent.

“Tyrael…”

His fists clenched, trembling. His purpose affirmed, Ardleon return his sight to the seven mortals. They were close enough now; they would serve their purpose.

***

They appeared in a blaze of light, and this time Rainbow Dash didn’t immediately keel over. She just groaned, aching in a way she couldn’t put into words. Whatever metaphysical muscle her teleportation used, it was certainly getting a workout.

“So, yeah, no Paladin. I could’a missed him, it’s getting dark, but I looked all over the area you said, and no sign of him. If he’s somewhere here, he’s hiding,” Rainbow Dash flicked her tail around to indicate the surrounding, rather bleak wastes.

Rarity frowned, looking with an expression of disdain. “Ugh, such a place. What could anypony find of worth or beauty this far north?”

Lowering her map, Twilight gave a weak shrug. “Well, I’ve read about some myths, that ice ponies with great cities that shone in the daylight used to be up here. Just old mares’ stories, really. You’re sure you couldn’t see any sign of him? I was sure he would be around here.”

“Not a thing, it’s like nopony has been through here in forever. I can understand why.” Rainbow Dash scowled. “Stupid weather. Even without windigoes its hard to get a sunny day this far north, too much interference from the mountains.”

“What about Fluttershy’s ‘connection’ to Pally?” Pinkie Pie asked cheerfully. She wasn’t bothered by their surroundings. “Maybe she can tell us what direction he’s in? Then he won’t be able to escape!”

Ignoring Pinkie’s maniacal cackle - more of a nefarious giggle, in all honesty - the rest of her suggestion directed their attention at Fluttershy. She managed to avoid flinching, nodding at them before shutting her eyes.

A second later, she opened them. Given the look in her eyes, success was not what she had for them. She trembled, not saying anything for a moment, in which her friends felt their worry grow, and the abrupt sealing of her end of their bond.

“...I-I can’t tell. There’s something, all around us, a s-shadow…” she stuttered. “C-cold, and angry, I think...I think he knows we’re here.”

“Who does? Paladin?” Applejack asked, rubbing the side of her head.

Pinkie had gone ram-rod still, her eyes wide. Snow was suddenly flung in every direction, the party pony erupting into a doozy. She staggered about for a moment, her eyes spinning.

“I-I don’t think so!” Pinkie squeaked, eventually falling onto her rump. “Oooh, that was a doozy.”

“It’s that Ardleon guy, right? If he shows up, so what? I’ll ‘port up and buck him in the face!” Rainbow Dash said confidently, floating before her friends, shadow-boxing. She grinned, seeing the awestruck looks on their faces. “Yeah, I know, I’m totally epic, right?”

“Uh, Rainbow, darling,” Rarity began carefully, her eyes firmly fixed on something behind her.

Applejack’s method was blunter, and altogether more effective. She yanked Rainbow Dash down by her tail, and pointed at the sky behind her. Dark clouds rushed towards them, moving faster and with greater fury than they should. They bled a palpable wrongness to Rainbow’s experienced eyes.

She said, “Oh.”

Twilight’s horn began to charge. “Spike, stay on my back. Girls, get ready. I think Ardleon is coming to-”

Pinkie cried out, jumping up. For a single frozen second, they all wondered what she was doing now. The slithering tentacles of frost burst from the ground, one misty faux-limb catching Pinkie Pie’s hooves and freezing solid, trapping her there. Despite the shock, the others began to react. They weren’t fast enough.

A ball of ice the size of Ardleon’s fist crashed into the back of Appejack’s head, sending the earth pony to the ground before she could summon her armour. The ice became his fist, the angel looming above Applejack. His wings cracked and crunched, grinding together. A magenta beam slammed against his chest, green fire burning away the mist that had threatened Twilight.

The undisciplined blast of magic tapered out, and Twilight took in her friends’ conditions with a single glance; Rainbow Dash was slumped on the ground, the shattered remains of hailstone matting her mane, Rarity was barely avoiding the mist tendrils, letting out shrieks as it tried to get her, and Fluttershy already caught.

Feeling Spike’s claws digging into her coat, Twilight focused on Ardleon. Even in the near darkness, the changes that had swept him were obvious. Ice dug furrows across his form, a web of glacial rime that mended wounds in it, and his eyes were if anything even brighter, glowing with a fierce, furious blue. The greatest change, however, were his wings. The fire was gone; in its place, the same dark ice formed skeletal wings that grew from his back like great talons.

“You will find, mortal, that I have more than recovered,” he hissed, fixing her with a glare. His hand shot forward, blasting a chilling wind over Twilight and Spike, blinding them with snow and flecks of ice. Her horn glowed, drawing from her endless reservoir of magic as she tried to fight the force of the wind. A cry of pain burst from her lips as something cold closed about her horn, dispelling the gathering energy.

“Twilight!” Spike tumbled off, crying out futilely as she was lifted into the air. Ice snapped into place around him, locking him against the ground. A burst of fire shot out, but Ardleon sealed his mouth shut with an idle twitch of his ice-wings.

Ardleon held her by her horn, giving Twilight a shake. “Give up your futile struggle, mortal. You will be undone; savour what time remains yours.” His fist tightened, prompting a cry of pain from Twilight and a muffled yell of fury from Spike. He turned to look down on the dragon. The whelp glared at him.

Releasing Twilight, her horn now encased in ice, Ardleon lifted Spike into the air. An idle gesture spun the dragonling before him, his gaze penetrating far more than skin-deep.

“You are of no use to me, mortal thing,” Ardleon finally declared. “No, you will serve another purpose. You will deliver my message to Tyrael; consider it a final task, in the time you have left.”

Spike screamed, his flailing forstalled by tightening ice.

“Be silent. Tell him that he will be restored soon. I will return his glory to him, if he comes to me. These thieves will suffer the price for their insolence. Tell him that, mortal,” the angel commanded. The ice grew around Spike until he was entirely encased. Immobile, all Spike could do was look on with eyes wide in outrage and fear.

Raising her head, trying to summon magic through her numb, trapped horn, Twilight reached out to him. “Spike….”

He was gone, thrown beyond her reach. Her eyes widened, a scream of denial rising from her. Another cry, Rarity’s, joined her as they watched Spike shrink into the distance, A heavy weight slammed into the back of Twilight’s head, silencing her. Just barely conscious, she was aware of Rarity falling silent too, the last of her friends to be conscious. Something gripped her mane, tugging Twilight up to stare weakly into Ardleon’s cold, unforgiving eyes.

“W-why?” she croaked, feelings tears running down her cheeks. She didn’t understand what he had done, all she knew was that Spike, her precious little brother, had just been thrown to his death.

“Because justice demands it.”

She had enough time to think about how wrong he was before cold darkness overtook her.

***

In the gloom, Paladin almost missed it. His wing ached, and he knew he would have no rest with it. So he pushed on, unwilling to lose any daylight, not matter how faint it had become. He caught the sound of something soaring through the sky, the whistle of wind, and lifted his head just enough to catch a glimpse of something shooting past. His unease, already growing by the second as he felt something wrong from Fluttershy, her emotions so mixed and muffled he couldn’t comprehend them, only grew. He galloped in the direction it had gone, skidding over ice and smashing through snow. It was important. Whatever it was, it was important.

The landing spot was a half-collapsed snow drift, the scattered slush spread out and nearly completely obscuring whatever it was. A hint of jagged ice revealed that it was there, and Paladin advanced wearily. He considered the problem, and eventually slipped his uninjured wing free. A strong wind blew with his heavy flap, clearing away the loose snow.

It wasn’t long before he had abandoned that effort, leaping over to pull it free the moment he saw a hint of purple scales and green fins. He pulled the jagged egg of ice out, feeling it crumble in his hooves and leaving him with a sniffling little dragon, trembling with shame and fear.

“Spike!” He laid his wing around Spike, trying to coax some warmth into the dragonling. Paladin wasn’t sure what to say, but he felt a cold, hard nuggest of fear forming in his chest.

Spike clutched at the feathery blanket. “H-he’s got them! Even T-Twilight and Rarity!” he wailed.

Though he knew the answer, Paladin still asked. He had to be sure. He had to know, “Who?”

“Ardleon,” Spike answered, pulling the little green beanie Fluttershy had made him over his eyes, trying to hide his fear. “Ardelon has them.”

And that was how Paladin, his heart burning with fear and shame, realised how wrong he had been. He had failed.

His friends had been taken.

Author's Note:

Not much in the way to say. Bit shorter than usual, but it felt like the best place to stop. And hey, cliffhanger! We're here, ladies and gents, the end of Act III is upon us! Then it's on to Act IV!

As ever, many thanks to editors Web of Hope and Nealend86!

Comments

[Nealend86]

The sheer gall of the claim made him almost snap back, but he restrained himself. Just.

Give in to your anger, strike her down! Then your journey to the Darkside will be complete!

[SwimmingDalek98]

Oh, boy… oh, boy...

[Sketchy Markks]

Tyrael, even as an angel, seemed to actually care about mortals... So Fluttershy- calm down.

[Lord_of_Shadows]

Shit ´bout to hit the fan!

[thefluffyone]

Oh goodie.

Tyrael can get his powers back, and the ponies will be normal again.
He just needs to convince Ardleon to keep them alive....

[Blue Spark]

Chapter is over 14,000, says that it's shorter then usual.
What kind of weed are you on!?

[Nealend86]

3932718 Good luck with that. Ardleon has gone kinda insane and his new form is vaguely demonic if you haven't noticed.

[The Servant Archer]

3932729
The stuff this guy is on.

You want some?

[Blue Spark]

3932921
I have changed my mind...
Carry on.

[The Servant Archer]

3932924
Are you sure? I have a ton left over...

[Blue Spark]

3932932
No, no... I'm good.
Can't have too many trolls in the internet now, can we?

[The Servant Archer]

3932935
...Did you even listen to the song? Watch it, then talk about trolls- but whatever the man is on, it's some REEAALL good stuff.

[VampDash]

This bitch.... is going down! NOPONY FUCKS WITH PALADIN'S FRIENDS THE BASTARD!

[Blue Spark]

3932964
I watched part of it but I know what the song is...
I thought I was making a smart comment or something since, you know, this is the Trolololol song.
And Trolls and this song kind of go hand in hand I thought.
Did I miss something? :/

[The Servant Archer]

3932975
...Nah, I'm just smoking some of my product, I really don't know what's going on...

[Blue Spark]

3932977
Ah, I see.
Have a good time then.
I'll go back to what I was doing which was... Nothing...
Yeah.

[TheStratovarian]

Now that, is an ending.

[l0vot]

"When breakfast came, it came in the form of a flash of light and a grinning pegasus."

This sentence makes me firmly believe Rainbow Dash is the breakfast.

This is a good chapter, it's nice to see Spike get some power for once (he didn't even get any powers when he was transported into a superhero comic, in fact the only time he had any power, it was fueled by greed and left him a mindless shell until he lost it).

Also, the six have once again shown extremely poor tactics when going into battle. They saw a shitstorm approaching at high speed, and they just stood there until it was too late. Not even one put up their main defenses or started preparing for battle. Not even Applejack who can become near-indestructible instantly and maintain her armor for long periods of time with little effort thought it would be a good idea to suit up. I'm not saying they would have won, or even evaded capture, but they could have at least made it difficult. Spike was the most prepared as he managed to block an attack, and buy Twilight some time (of course said time made no difference because of her performance issues, but he at least did something useful).
I think TD the alicorn princess needs to give them some more basic strategy lessons.

[xbox432]

Ooooh, goody! Glad to see some of them beginning to realize that Paladin/Tyrael isn't just from an other country, species, or heck even world. but that he is inherently a different being to them. Maybe now they'll begin to understand a bit more as to WHY he's having such a hard time adjusting. Oh yeah, and emotionally uncertain Dashi is best Dashie! The image I had of her trying to comfort Fluttershy was just adorable.

Below are some typos for your editing pleasure:

*to the wind has his barely - to the wind had his barely
*but it was just sort...background. - but it was just sort of... in the background.
*a nostril raising stiffening scent of winter – I’m honestly not sure about this one, but it sure reads awkwardly
*“It’s not that. I…” her voice trembled. “I wish I was. I really do.” - “It’s not that. I…” her voice trembled. “I wish it was. I really do.”
*angelic soul would be need to genuinely - angelic soul would need to genuinely
*was somehow able to hurt and - was somehow able to hurt them and
*one of Ponyville’s veterinarian couldn’t - one of Ponyville’s veterinarians couldn’t
*Yet he was was warm, - Yet he was warm,
*burst into blaze. - burst into a blaze.
*between them and him. - between he and them.
*to come to Frozen Wastes in - to come the Frozen Wastes in
*momentary mark she felt on the ether. -momentary mark she left on the ether.
*A a pit with jagged, broken - A pit with jagged, broken
*found an eight spark of life. - found an eighth spark of life.
*muscle her teleportation she used, - muscle her teleportation used,
*I’ve read some about myths, - I’ve read about some myths,
*air. Ice snapepd into - air. Ice snapped into

[GodOFInsaNity666]

I always feel like the girls don't deserve his powers
Because rainbow use it for her own bullshit gain

[Aurora Dimmet]

I really want to smack Fluttershy. Idealism is one thing, but when you judge someone harshly for the things they do in the name of true good, you are part of the problem.

Can't stand people like that. No, not everyone can be reformed. No, not everyone /deserves/ the chance. No, not everyone has a little spot of light and rainbows and goodness in their hearts waiting for a gentle touch to free it and make everything super-sunshine happy. Sometimes you just need to fucking shove a sword through someone because they deserve it and are going to hurt the real innocent people. Or already have and need to be punished for it.

[Autocharth]

3933168 They were all looking UP at what was threatening, but still distant. The ice mist came from BELOW, and they had begun to react when the mist attacked. One of the first things that happened was Ardleon taking out AJ before she could armoured up, for that very reason. It was a surprise attack, and, well, they're not used to proper fighting. They're not trained fighters. They have fancy powers, but they're just doing their amateur best. Whereas Ardleon has been at war for eons

Also: I love Spike, of COURSE he was going to Take A Level In Badass!

3932639 We all know that, but she doesn't. The only actual angel she's seen is Ardleon who is...not at his best.

3932718 As Nealend says, Ardleon is crazy now, and as Twilight said in the chapter; without being sincerely believing in the same concept they're empowering him with, it won't work. Ardleon is too mad, too bloodthirsty for it to work, and before you get all eager; Tyrael's angelic essence is holding the Mane 6's souls together. Ardleon's method would ONLY work by killing them.

3933192 Glad you like it, and oooh, such a short list this time! Hurrah!

3933430 Because Dash is using it for convenience, they ALL don't deserve it?

3933639 I agree, in part, but this is meant to be in keeping with Fluttershy, and her entire society which has very little in the way of killing or violence. You might not agree, but she has good reasons for believing as she does. So far all the other bad guys have been defeated without killing, why should the Nightmare be different, is essentially her thinking. She doesn't KNOW the Nightmare was beyond redemption. Nothing at all in her life has EVER given her reason to think otherwise. She thinks Paladin was too harsh, even if she can understand why he might think he had to do it. It's all about different points of view, and how a different culture would effect thoughts on such things.

[thefluffyone]

3933674

So that means the ponies keep the angel powers?

To be honest, I'm not really a fan of that idea.
It just feels a bit iffy to me, is all.

[Autocharth]

3933770 Maybe, maybe not. Right now, in the way Ardleon wants to do it, it's not possible, but there are always ways.

[RanmaChaos]

Great! I hope in the next chapter or so Ardleon explains just how significant Tyrael's gifts are. I feel like the ponies just don't appreciate or even get that Tyrael ripped off pieces of his body/soul/BEING to save their lives. Not that I'm not happy with what happened, I just want the mares to be more aware and grateful. His Armor( like a second skin), Sword( like a horn), his Wings, Voice, Perfection, and his Robe( not sure how it fits or what it represents, but I'm sure you thought of something good).

[Lmaozorzz]

I really want him to become an Angel again.
I will be disappoint if not.

[Hoof of Approval]

And here we go, final act! Maybe.

LET'S GO BEAT UP A ROGUE ANGEL!

[Autocharth]

3933816 Oh no, there's another Act. Four Acts, as there was in Diablo (sans expansion). Final chapter of Act III is next chapter, I believe.

3933802 Guess you'll just have to keep reading to find out then!

[forrest yuchnitz]

3933802 me too

[Raistlin]

3932849

Maybe the other archangels will appear in the last act. Ardleon is: a) giving angels a bad name, b) a step away from turning into a demon and c) drawing the attention of the Prime Evils to a new world full of souls to consume. I cannot imagine them too happy about it.

[Gyro Steambass]

Justice? Really? I mean, REALLY!?

[Aurora Dimmet]

3933674

Oh, no. I perfectly understand WHY she thinks that way. But the fact she -prevents- the opposite from even occurring to her is so beyond naive that I go cross-eyed just trying to put myself in her shoes. But judgment is required to understand who is worth saving and who can only be saved by the sword metaphorically or literally.

Fluttershy refuses to be the one to make that judgment, yet will judge those who have to. I've had to deal with that sort of thinking a lot in my life (metaphorical sense), and let me tell you - when you're the one on the shit end of that stick it gets old fast. I'll actually feel bad for Paladin if she confronts him about this, with the way he feels about her. - Is what I mean.

[Autocharth]

3934265 I tried to imply it, but she feels bad for thinking about things, making judgements, about Paladin. She's going to discuss it with him, because she needs to hear why he thought it was needed, and what he thinks. Just because two people (or ponies) like each other doesn't mean they can't have very different positions on things. She's not judging him, or she wasn't before, she's just worried it might indicate that angels are more like Ardleon than Paladin. Nor do I think Fluttershy would be judgmental or anything like that at someone for such a decision. She would believe it had been wrong, and they were wrong to do it, but she would still feel the same level of kindness to that person as she does to whatever person they did whatever it was to.

Just the way you feel she's wrong for her position, she would feel you were wrong for yours. You think you're right and she's wrong, so you're being as judgmental as she, if you call holding an opposing position judgmental. She's not saying he's evil, but she just disagrees with what he did.

Judgmental is looking at someone, and looking down on them, or thinking they're evil or bad, that sort of thing. Fluttershy is not being judgmental, as I see it. I don't agree with her position, but I understand it, hence why it appears. She doesn't have all the information or the sort of personality to believe that someone or thing can be beyond redemption.

So, really, I mostly disagree with you calling her judgmental.

Edit: she is making a judgment, about the Nightmare. She's judging that she deserved a chance at redemption and being helped. It's not a judgment you agree with, but it's a judgment nonetheless.

[Aurora Dimmet]

3934273

All of these things you've said are intrinsically understood and don't need to be restated, no worries - I'm not asking for clarification, you didn't make a mistake and make things confusing! You did a good job, and the fact I can say these things and not mean anything towards you proves that.

I'm merely voicing my dislike with the character's viewpoint, not the way you wrote the story. I find her viewpoint to be hopelessly childish. And that's perfectly fine for Fluttershy, because Fluttershy lives in a world that knows more peace than pretty much any other you'll run across, and even in that peaceful world she tends to sequester herself away to avoid even further conflict and development. I understand why she thinks that way, and why she feels that way. I understand that she doesn't want to accept that things can be another way than the way she feels they should be - despite never being presented in canon or here as having enough practical experience to be able to formulate more than an idealistic opinion on the matter.

I just say I'd feel bad for Paladin if she gives him those 'how could you' eyes. You know the look, the one where even if you know you did the right thing it'll still break your heart to see how it affected someone else that you care about. ... I don't quite remember early on in the story too well, but didn't he already give them the gist of his past, or was the bit about where Tyrael has slain pretty much unlimited hordes of demons just for our benefit in a flashback?

[Smurf]

shit is about to get real!

[Autocharth]

3934471 Ah, I see! I kind of got that feeling, but I wasn't certain so, you know, I did it just to be safe. I do apologise if I jumped down your throat at all, but at least now if anyone does have such issues I can now direct them to those comments. I do have trouble separating such things, at times.

Paladin gave them a basic run down, but that's a hard thing to really understand, to really...comprehend, since it's just so alien.All of them BUT Fluttershy experienced vivid dreams of part of a battle of Tyrael's. I'd write more, but I just finished a chapter for another story (Bloodlines) and just started chapter 28 with my daily 1K words, so I'm all typed out.

[Aurora Dimmet]

3934485

Not a problem. I spend most of my time around these parts duking it out with jerks and trolls, so good-natured disagreements don't ruffle me any. And now we're also on the same page, so everything is win-win!

Oho, Fluttershy didn't see Tyrael's past. That would explain why Rainbow of all ponies can see the issue in a more 'mature' light, while Fluttershy can still hold onto her hope that everything can be fixed in a kinder way. That innocence is touching, just... mph. Here's hoping the lesson won't be too harsh on her! I really can't see Ardleon being 'redeemed' with a talking-to and whatnot. Even if he would settle down and listen to them, his thinking is too alien, like Tyrael's was. Even putting aside being born for endless war, just their whole levels existence are too far apart without meeting on one or the other's home ground. Mortality/corporeality or immortality/effervescence.

It seems hard times are ahead for the crew's mental states. Looking forward to your next chapter!

[Autocharth]

3934502

Good natured disagreements that can be resolved through discussion and sharing views are such a lovely thing, aren't they? Especially when it finishes with happy understanding.

I just read the new Diablo 3 novel, Storm of Light (which for Australians was over twice the price, digital purchase, which drove me into a rage and sent me searching for ways to buy it without paying such a huge increase for a day) and the difference between angels and physical, meaty beings is huge. One of them, granted one who is a huuuuuuuuuuge douche, spies on Tyrael, watching him 'eat, drink, piss like a mortal' and finding it all filthy and disgusting, wondering why Imperius hasn't executed him yet. Shockingly, despite being a dick, Imperius is a bit more understandable, and even states that he still thinks Tyrael will come to agree with him and hadn't forgotten how they had saved each other in battle countless times.

It did, however, affirm my characterisation of Tyrael/Paladin, and adjusting to a mortal form.

As for meeting on a home ground...well, the High Heavens are shown to be hard for mortals to go into and not get lost in the beauty, drawn into various aspects and having to resist mightily to resist.

The book also had HEAPS of fun details about angels, including the birth of a new angel in it, so look forward to me being able to include new details that I haven't just made up!

[Emerald wake]

3932718
Prolly not gonna happen
Paladins angel essence has fused with the mane 6 hence the easier use and the armor conforming to applejack
Let's just put it this way if ardelon wants to take it back he's going to need to rip off a part of their soul
Just mull that over

[Nealend86]

3934047 C doesn't really count because they're kinda dead at this point. The Prime Evils fell to the Diablo 2 heroes's rampage across the continent and their storming of Hell itself.

[Knight Breeze]

pretty good, but you have a lot of errors throughout this chapter. I would suggest you go through it with a fine toothed comb.

[Grahf]

The only thing on my mind is if this is act III how is act IV going to top it

[Frazzled Pony]

Goddamnit! Die Ardleon, die!

Once again, love the story, the balance between humor and drama, and the balance between the two canons. Wow.

You seem to be channeling Warcraft cinematics with Ardleon. Bursting from the ice reminded me so much of the Wrath of the Lich King trailer, while the bit with the frozen map reminded me of Warcraft three Undead ending. Not sure if you have seen them, but it is definitely a compliment to your skill that your description is on par with those cinematics, which is unbridled awesome to me. Also Ardleon capturing the Mane Six was awesome, reminding me of a Diablo 3 cinematic.

Gilda! You were making progress. And then you stopped. Bugger.

Ardleon would fit right in alongside Izual in act IV. I love the parallel. Some might dislike them for seeming too similar in motive, but, well, it's all in the execution (he he) and you have that down to an art.

Now, nitpicks:

"They were also so afraid, so hurt and frightened and angry. I-if Ardleon would do that...what was Tyrael like?” Didn't you mean "they were all so afraid"? The "also" seems odd.

"“What? No!” Rainbow Dash tried to look aloft, but neither of her friends were fooled. " Think you meant "aloof", not "aloft".

"Twilight suppressed a winced," Should be "a wince", without the "d".

" It wasn't done, getting in the way of a mare and her work, even if that work was magic, which Applejack suspected didn’t count. She kept that opinion to herself." I dislike this sentence. A lot. The wording makes it seem she has little respect for what is essentially Twilight's main talent and craft. I'm guessing you mean to make the distinction between hard labor and magic, as in Winter Wrap-up, but the wording here makes AJ sound like she dismisses Twilight's abilities and effort completely. No friend, particularly one as close as AJ should be, would dismiss something so important as magic is for Twilight. Even more so because the magic is obviously taking a lot out of Twi and is so important to their quest.

“I can’t really tell you much more. He appeared when we were being menaced by windigoes, was somehow able to hurt and then left after introducing himself.” Think you missed a "them" after "hurt".

"The prospect of the Frozen Wastes was chilling," Seriously? Isn't this too punny for the seriousness of the situation? That might just be me though.

"Contact made the magic less willing to move as he commanded." Seems a little short this sentence. It would make more sense with something like "Contact with the ground" or something, because I'm not sure what you actually mean and if he is meaning air magic gets less cooperative or if it is the magic he had as an angel he means. Makes the most sense with air magic.

"The undisciplined blast of magic tapered out, and Twilight took in her friends’ conditions with a single glance; Rainbow Dash was slumped on the ground, the shattered remains of hailstone matting her mane, Rarity was barely avoiding the mist tendrils, letting out shrieks as it tried to get her, and Fluttershy already caught." Missed a "was" after "Fluttershy".

“Be silent. Tell him that he will be restored soon. I will return his glory to him, if he comes to me. These thieves will suffer the price for their insolence. Tell him that, mortal,” the angel commanded. The ice grew around Spike until he was entirely encased. Immobile, all Spike could do was look on with eyes wide in outrage and fear.
Raising her head, trying to summon magic through her numb, trapped horn, Twilight reached out to him. “Spike….”
He was gone, thrown beyond her reach. Her eyes widened, a scream of denial rising from her. Another cry, Rarity’s, joined her as they watched Spike shrink into the distance, A heavy weight slammed into the back of Twilight’s head, silencing her. Just barely conscious, she was aware of Rarity falling silent too, the last of her friends to be " The structure "He was gone, thrown beyond her reach" is a little vague. I at first didn't realize that that was the point when Spike was sent flying, it just seemed like a half-metaphor. I think you should make it a little more explicit what Ardleon does, like saying he throws him into the air and a chill wind picks up, carrying the frozen dragon into the distance. As you have it there, it almost seems like the story skips a single sentence and then just goes to Twilight despairing.

"A hint of jagged ice revealed that it was there, and Paladin advanced wearily. He considered the problem, and eventually slipped his uninjured wing free. A strong wind blew with his heavy flap, clearing away the loose snow." Just checking, do you mean "weary=tired" or "wary=caution"?

"It wasn't long before he had abandoned that effort, leaping over to pull it free the moment he saw a hint of purple scales and green fins. He pulled the jagged egg of..." Clumsy here, the "it wasn't long". I suggest rewording it slightly, maybe the simpler "He quickly abandoned that effort, leaping over..."

Still, awesome chapter. I'm really need to see how this ends and have high hopes for the climax now. Though I dread the ending, as I can't imagine it being anything but bittersweet goodbyes. Still, looking forward to it.

Happy writing.

P.S

Just read the comment below this: You going to have a fourth act? How? Ponies loving and tolerating Sanctuary?

[khatre]

Even IF Ardleon goes back to being his normal self that normal self was a Heroic Level Douchbag.
Its what he was before all this started and I don't see him learning any humility .. or even being capable of learning humility at all ...
He is a being in Serious need of ponyfication .. he needs to be powerless for a bit to learn and maby grow beyond his limited capacity.

[Buckshot2825]

I'M SO EXCITED!

Things are heating cooling up! Can't wait... no seriously, i can't wait. GIMMIE

now

[The Well Dressed Ninja]

3938634
Seconded

[PhycoKrusk]

Perhaps better than any other chapter so far, thus one illustrates the exact depths of conceited arrogance that Ardleon has reached. Nowhere in his plan to restore Tyrael’s powers does he consider whether Paladin wants them back or not. His attitude is simply that Paladin does want them back, but might not realize it, but Ardleon realizes it because he is an Angel, and is therefore automatically aware of what is best for everyone and everything that is not also an Angel.

He is, however, extremely flawed, and actually has a serious Father Complex going. He is not doing anything that he is doing right now because he thinks it’s “right.” He doesn’t care about right or wrong at all. The only reason he is doing anything he is doing right now is because he thinks it will please Tyrael. He went along with the plan not to wipe out humans because it was Tyrael’s idea. He went looking across the cosmos for Tyrael for no other reason than that it was Tyrael. He hates Paladin with every ethereal fiber of his being, because Paladin is not Tyrael.

Now, I’m not saying that he fell even before he came to Equestria. I’m just saying that if any of the Seraphim was going to fall, it was going to be Ardleon. He fell into the same trap that so perfectly captured Izual. The trap of thinking he was smarter than Tyrael.

And thinking you are smarter than Tyrael is the same thing as telling Kenshiro that his attacks only tickled you.

[Keeper of Jericho]

Oh boy, finally we're going to get rid of Ardleon. I hope he goes in the nastiest way possible because villains like him just suck and deserve no better. He needs to lose everything he holds dear, have the realisation of his mistakes come crushing down upon him together with the weight of his crimes, while being forced to stay sane. Then the guilt should be allowed to slowly eat away at him until it destroys him utterly and completely. Yes, there would be no better end for one such as him and he would deserve no other fate.

My sadistic fantasies aside, I do have a practical question. Simply out of curiosity, how many acts are there going to be?

[Autocharth]

3948910 That's a bit vicious, although I do suppose it's understandable why you'd feel that way. And there will be four Acts, so one more left!

[Cadmium]

3943594
Ardelons thinking is actually quite spot on here. Imperious was horrified when Tyrael shed his wings in the cinematic, if Tyrael falling out of his own free will is such a massive sacrilege to one of the council who has known Tyrael since the beginning of time and knows why he does it even if he doesn't agree, i cannot imagine what an Angel who doesn't know Tyrael as good, aka Ardelon, would think about one of them, one of the Archangels even, being stripped of his power against his will.

And you can see in his ramblings that he considers the ponies worse then the forces of hell. The deamons are following their nature just like the Angels do.

But those mortals, in his eyes, choose to commit one of the vilest and most terrible acts one can commit against an Angel out of their own free will, they stole his very being to empower themself with it and sentenced him to mortality.
Also once again the windigos are certainly not helping even if he has absolute control over their actions, their nature spills over and amplifies his negative believes to the point of him giving up everything and falling just to right this wrong.

I once again repeat my prediction that in the end he truly sees what he has become, is horrified by it and gives up his essence so that tyrael may become divine once more even if it isn't instant this could give him the boost he needs to start recovering again by his own while the m6 can keep his gifts.