Act IV - Ch 31. Song Against Shadow
Chapter 31 Song Against Shadow
***
Rarity daintily dabbed at her forehead with a handkerchief. It came away sweat-stained. She shuddered in horror. “Oh, my poor handkerchief! Such beautiful fabric, marred by sweat! Its delicate lace, heavy with dirt!”
“Ya didn’t have to help, ya know,” Applejack pointed. She carefully patted the dirt, almost cooing as she fussed over the earthen bed.
“And simply sit back while my friend was in need of help? Perish the thought!” Rarity shook her head firmly. She waited patiently for Applejack to finish mothering the apple tree seed the unicorn had carefully planted.
Applejack offered her an amused grin. “An’ ya wanted to try out yer new outfit,” she reminded her friend.
“Well, perhaps just a tad...really, I’m certain this time I have struck the balance between practicality and fashion! Why, look at the adorable pockets.” Wiping her forehead again, Rarity followed the earth pony to the next spot. A bag of seeds levitated from one of the ‘adorable pockets’, waiting for Applejack to dig the hole.
Chuckling, Applejack concentrated on getting the hole just right. There was a science to this, one few outside the Apple family truly appreciated. Everything mattered when it came to producing the best apples all year round, and they needed all the help they could get. She grimaced, shooting a look across the battlefield. It was an ugly scar in their orchard.
“Once Big Macintosh is out of the hospital, I’m sure it won’t be long before the farm looks better than new,” Rarity’s kind words intruded on Applejack’s musings, bringing the mare back to the real world.
Applejack sighed. “Ah hope so. Ah don’t feel right, not bein’ there when he wakes up, but Ah know Ah got a responsibility to get the farm runnin’.”
“He certainly wouldn’t thank you for leaving it like this. Besides, I can hardly imagine he wants to see it like this. I think it would be best if he didn’t have to see it, yes?” Suggesting that as she began her part once the hole was ready, Rarity looked to where others worked. Destroyed stumps were being removed, debris was being gathered and the earth cleared by more than just their close friends. Rarity waved in reply to a call from Time Turner, who hurriedly turned back to making sure the stump Derpy was flying off with didn’t hit anypony.
The sight brought a smile to Applejack’s face, and she thought that dropping the price of apples in the Ponyville market for a few weeks couldn’t hurt. She nodded at Rarity in agreement.
“Yeah. What with the nightmares he’s been havin’ over what happened when the Nightmare was in town, Ah don’t think this’ll help. Ah don’t want anythin’ adding to whatever silly guilt he’s got goin’ on,” she explained as they moved to the next spot.
Rarity looked at her incredulously. “Nopony really had much of a choice, and he managed to fight off whatever dreadful thing cursed him! He slept until this morning, all through two days!”
“He won’t see it like that. Mac’ll blame himself, an’ try to get back to work before he’s healed up, if Ah know him,” Applejack said with scowl.
“Well, hopefully Rainbow Dash will keep him occupied. That is how we convinced her to stay in the hospital, remember?” The fashionista smirked. It had, after all, been her idea. “You know she would be out of there as soon as she could on her own, but with us trusting her to keep an eye on your brother, we can buy her a few days of recovery.”
“We better,” grunted Applejack sourly. “That mare’s one big bruise but she won’t admit it. Got hit so hard she lost consciousness, but no, she wants to get right back to flyin’ around without a care”
It was no challenge for Rarity to see it was more than just Rainbow Dash’s habitual recklessness bothering Applejack. From there it didn’t take much of a leap of intuition to guess that it might be something to do with not just the fact that Dash had been hurt, but the circumstances that had led to it. She had been trying to protect Applejack’s home when she was hurt. Rarity was sure that was the ultimate source of Applejack’s worry and annoyance.
“They’ll be fine,” she assured the farmer. “Everypony is working hard, and it might not be done today but it will be done. Sweet Apple Acres is important to the town.” She giggled. “And perhaps Celestia will return Twilight’s letter with an offer for some of those fine guard-stallions to come down and help out.”
Applejack rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t restrain a chuckle at her friend’s antics. “Eeyup, be nice to get some help. Ah’m glad Spike was able to send that letter for me before he had to go help Twilight an’ Apple Bloom. At least Ah know Ah got family on the way to help out again.”
“I do hope Twilight has swift success. I’m positive she will, and your sister will be fine.”
***
Sweetie Belle trotted through town, bouncing along cheerfully. Nothing much burdened her thoughts. She knew something bad had happened in Sweet Apple Acres the other night; everypony had heard the roaring of some terrible creature. She knew Big Mac and Rainbow Dash were in the hospital, and that a lot of ponies had been rounded up to help over the few days since
She also knew, however, that everything was all better now. Or going to be. Twilight and Paladin and Applejack and Apple Bloom had saved the day! Rarity said so. The filly beamed as she took happy, bouncing steps through the town. On a whim she let the happiness rise up and out, a cheerful whistling tune.
High above, working hard to clear the clouds, Cloudchaser grumbled to herself. “Stupid Rainbow Dash. Getting beat up. Flitter should be dealing with this. I’m not supposed to be at work today.”
Descending to break a cloud, Cloudchaser paused. Her ears twitched. Her complaints fell silent, her mouth hanging openly dully. She could hear perfection. She could hear pure beauty.
Sweetie Belle passed on, her whistling slowly dying down, not at all aware of the pegasus laid limply atop a cloud, absorbed by her memory of that perfect, pure sound.
***
Deep within a place of chaos and disasters, where destruction occurred on an almost weekly basis, there was the heart of the storm of chaos that drew events to life here. Gnarled and wicked, it sat stubborn and unique, set apart from all those around. Thrusting up into the sky and deep into the earth, it shielded the lair below, and in that lair blades were lifted up. Power gathered, sweeping over a cloth-shrouded glass, probing and searching, analysing whatever lay within. As the magic boomed and fizzed, a sinister laugh filled the laboratory.
“Tehehe! ‘s ticklin’ me!”
For a certain definition of ‘sinister’. It was certainly capable of evoking fear in the local populace, although mostly when voiced in unison with two more voices and a great deal of excitement. Monsters might occasionally wander by, magic might spread confusion and chaos, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders were always present. likened by some to an adorable curse.
Twilight sighed. “I’m sorry, Apple Bloom, but I need you to hold still for just a little bit longer, okay?”
The filly nodded, then realised the contradiction right there and stopped. “Er, whatcha lookin’ for again?”
“I’m analysing the angelic essence,” Twilight explained. She had her eyes shut, feeling out the energies as an ingenious creation of her own worked to sketch out the readings.
“Ah should be helpin’ everypony fix up the farm,” whined Apple Bloom. She started fidgeting again, looking at the obscured object next to Twilight. “What’s in there?”
“Nothing you need to worry about. It’s just for comparison. Now, let’s just go back over what you felt during these episodes of yours.” Twilight took out a notepad, dipping her quill in an ink pot and poised over the page.
Apple Bloom sighed. “Ah told ya, it’s hard to describe! Everythin’ Ah looked at, Ah just saw ways Ah could make it, Ah dunno, better. It was like everythin’ was unfinished.” The filly rubbed her head tiredly as she tried to wrap her mind around what she had felt. It felt so distant now, so utterly alien, that she still had trouble working out her own thoughts and feelings. “Ah wanted to make stuff. Really good stuff. Perfect stuff.”
Copying down what she said, Twilight followed Apple Bloom’s thoughts. “So...you had a drive to build and make? Interesting. You wanted to create. Not just create, but create perfect things.” She underlined ‘perfect’ several times.
That was the important word. Perfect. It kept showing up in relation to all things angelic. Paladin’s former kind strove and were made of it, it seemed. Given the only angel they had met as an angel had been Ardleon, temper and self-control were clearly not something of an angelic trait. Then again, she thought of Paladin.
“Perhaps he gained more control thanks to having a physical body...no, he found Ardleon’s actions deplorable and upsetting,” Twilight muttered to herself. Her quill put her mumbled remarks to paper. Shaking away thoughts on that subject she tried to focus on Apple Bloom and took a look at the results of her magical analysis.
There was definitely angelic energy inside Apple Bloom. There had already been no doubt about that, but it seemed the intensity had abated. The question of how it had happened was more important, and Twilight found herself frustrated. She pulled over the book Princess Celestia had given her. The repository of lore on soul magic was the source of her analysis spell and informed her whole research.
Slowly, Twilight became aware of Apple Bloom’s waving hoof. The filly lowered it when Twilight looked at her.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
“Ah was just wonderin’ why we had ta do this? Ah mean, Ah helped, right? Those posts Ah carved fixed Mac!” Apple Bloom grinned brightly. “It made things better.”
Twilight frowned. “Well, yes, but we need to know where and how this got into you. Paladin is adamant it didn’t come from h- uh, come from the one source we know about. If it came from the only other option...we need to be sure. It might be helpful now, but it could be a danger later on.”
Spike popped his head out of the bit of delicate magical machinery Twilight had him realigning behind Apple Bloom. The little dragon gestured wildly at Twilight, attempting to make clear through motions and charade-like articulations that telling Apple Bloom she might be dangerous was a bad idea.
“Not that you’re in any danger,” Twilight quickly backpedaled. “But we just want to be absolutely sure. It’s very important.” She have the filly an alarmingly fake-reassuring smile.
Apple Bloom blinked. “Oh...kay?” She shrugged. “If ya say so.”
Further discussion was forestalled by the sound of the door to the lair- the basement opening above. It wasn’t long before Paladin’s maneless head appeared. Despite the exhausting battle and work in the damaged field since then, he looked to be in a good mood. He nodded his greetings to them all.
“I see you have begun,” he remarked. Giving the covered case a sharp look, Paladin looked over the range of machines. “You appear to have upgraded.”
“Good morning, and yes! The Princess had this delivered over the past week, and I only just got it all installed. Well, Spike is realigning the crystals - and not eating any.” Twilight shot a look at the sheepish dragon.
“Hey, they looked delicious,” he reasoned. At Twilight’s flat look, he added, “If it helps, they tasted delicious as well.”
“It doesn’t,” she grumbled. Giving Paladin a wan smile she began to sort through her notes. “I’ve done the preliminary tests, but I can confirm that the angelic essence is there, and that it has decreased since the night of the attack.”
Paladin nodded. “Indeed. I suspected the spell would drain it somewhat. Fortunate for all of us, but especially you, young Apple Bloom.”
Her eyes widened. “W-what? But Twilight said Ah’d be okay!” The farm-filly gulped, looking around nervously. “C-can ya do anything?”
Twilight smiled sheepishly at Paladin’s arched look. She shrugged helplessly. “You’ll be fine, like I said, we just have to be sure. Paladin is just a bit…”
“Blunt? Frank? Tactless?” Spike provided cheerfully.
“Yes.” Twilight sighed. “One of those. Back to work on those crystals, young dragon.”
Grumbling, Spike dived back into the machine, muttered complaints about how zingy they were and it wasn’t his fault they were made so deliciously.
“You will be fine, if we simply do our best. The main concern is extracting the essence.” Paladin rested a hoof on Apple Bloom’s shoulder. “I promise, your soul will be your own as soon as we can.”
She looked at him uncertainly. “But Ah really helped, didn’t Ah? Ah made Mac better.”
“You were also hunted by a foul creature of darkness,” he reminded her sternly. Paladin frowned darkly. “You do not understand what has happened.”
Apple Bloom pouted fiercely. “But that’s not fair, Applejack got magic armour, an’ Twilight is even more super-duper magical, an’ Rainbow Dash can teleport. Ah don’t see ya tryin’ to take it outta them!” she whined.
Paladin closed his eyes for a moment, taking a calming breath. “Apple Bloom, you do not understand. What has happened to you is not like the angelic essence that was gifted to them. They were given it when their souls were on the edge of destruction, drained of life force and locked within their own minds. It was a union of mortal and immortal, given freely and to help.”
How hard it was to explain a way a child would understand. It was clear by the look on her face that Apple Bloom saw her unasked for ‘gift’ as just that, a gift. She wanted superpowers, to be as magical as any heroine or story book adventurer. As he tried to reason out a proper description, Spike appeared again.
“Hey, Apple Bloom, you know those bird nests Twilight tried to make at her first Winter Wrap Up?” he asked. All three ponies stared at him in confusion. Spike rolled his eyes. “Well, do you?”
Apple Bloom grimaced. “Yeah, they were really, uh…” She glanced at Twilight. “Creative?”
“Creatively yuck.” Spike ignored the look Twilight shot him. “Okay, so think about your soul as one of Rarity’s nests. Beautiful ribbon, well-made, strong yet appearing so delicately made, a gorgeous mane…”
Spike stared off into the air, a goofy look on his face. Following until that point, Apple Bloom stopped nodding and looked confused. “Huh?”
Twilight coughed, loudly. “Spike, the nests?” she reminded him none too subtly.
“Oh, uh, right. Well, your soul is one of Rarity’s nests. This angelic stuff is turning your soul into Twilight’s nests. If we can get a good look, we can stop Twilight from finishing ruining it.” Spike beamed at his brilliant analogy. “See?”
Apple Bloom answered by yelping in fear and jumping behind Paladin. She peeked under him, giving Twilight a fearful look. The unicorn twitched dangerously.
“Spike…”
He looked at her innocently. “Yeah?”
“Get back to work.”
Not bothering to hide a chuckle of amusement, Paladin looked down at Apple Bloom. “Twilight was just as a metaphor. She is not doing anything to you in truth, save for helping you. True, angelic essence was given to your sister and her friends but the manner was different. It was a unison of mortal and immortal, as I said, but it was one done to help them, to heal them. The essence within you was forced into your being and it does not seek to join or harmonise with your own soul.”
Apple Bloom still didn’t seem to fully understand, Paladin judged by the look on her face, but she knew it wasn’t good. She pouted once more.
“Ah thought Ah’d get super-powers like ya gave my sister,” she mumbled sourly. “Ah was gonna see if Ah could make a laser sword.”
Paladin paused. “A...laser sword?” Despite himself, there was a note of interest in his voice.
“Paladin, no.” Twilight gave him an annoyed look. “Don’t encourage her. I’m sorry you don’t get any ‘superpowers’, but we can’t risk you getting hurt. How do you think Applejack would feel if something happened to you?”
The filly sighed. “Ah know, Ah just…” She shrugged helplessly. Almost too quiet to be heard, she added, “Ah just wanted to feel special.”
Wires and gears bounced out as Spike exploded from the machine. “Hey, don’t feel like that! You’re plenty special without superpowers. I mean, look at me.”
“Yer a dragon with super-hard scales, diamond crunchin’ teeth an’ fire breathin’!” Apple Bloom countered.
“So? Pretty much every other dragon ever has hard scales, and can breath fire. In dragon terms, I’m not all that special. I mean, it’s not like I’m going to get a cutie mark, so I don’t have a special talent, but you don’t hear me complaining.” Spike absently pulled a foot out of the machine’s innards, picking a bolt off his toe-claw. “You’ll get a cutie mark eventually, but you don’t need that to be special. Like Paladin, he’s wei- special, even though he didn’t have a cutie mark for a while.”
Apple Bloom’s brain took a moment to process that. It was true that Spike didn’t have a cutie mark. Now she thought about it, Spike would never have a cutie mark. She was mostly certain she would get hers one day, but Spike couldn’t have that. Slowly, she thought back to all the time she had ever complained about not having her cutie mark yet around Spike and winced.
Something crunched under his foot, breaking the silence. Twilight’s look of deep thought vanished as Spike pulled his foot out again, shards of a crystal lattice stuck between his toes. He gave her an apologetic smile. The unicorn pointed at the door.
“Out. Out now, young drake. Since somedragon ate the spares as a midnight snack last week, we need some more. Rarity should have some we can use, hopefully."
He sighed, stomping away with a scaly scowl. Twilight shook her head before hurrying over to the machine. She muttered under her breath as she sorted through the wires and other miscellaneous bits and pieces. Paladin and Apple Bloom shared a glance and both shrugged.
“Is the machine truly required?” he asked.
Twilight exclaimed, “Of course it is! How can I give the Princess accurate findings when she arrives? She already told me she and Princess Luna will be coming down in a few days to see what happened.”
A frown creased Paladin’s features. “A few days? Something turns Macintosh into a monster and sends him against his family and friends, while a child is found with alien angelic essence, and they’ll be here in a few days?”
“They have important work to do!” Twilight looked up, ready to defend her mentor. “Princess Celestia replied to my letter right away, and told me to let her know if anything else happened. She and Princess Luna are doing something they can’t leave undone.”
His eyes narrowed dangerously. “What is so vital that a threat like this is ignored?”
She glared. “It’s not being ignored! She didn’t actually tell me, but I trust Princess Celestia’s judgement and so should you. If she feels something is so important this has to wait, I think we should be willing to consider she might be right.”
“You are…” Paladin sighed. “Correct. Whatever their reasons, I am sure the Princesses have thought this through. Rash decision making and ignorance of threats does not lead to a thousand-year peace such as Equestria has known. The benefit of the doubt is their’s. I hope they do not waste it.”
Twilight harrumphed. “I would never doubt them. We just have to trust the Princesses, and for now that means trying to work out how to safely remove the essence from Apple Bloom. Do you have any suggestions?”
Accepting the change of subject, Paladin put hoof to chin and thought hard. Apple Bloom’s soul wouldn’t collapse on itself without the angelic essence holding it together, so that would be no concern. Extracting the essence, however, and finding a place for it to rest, would not be so easy.
He voiced his thoughts to Twilight quietly, studying the lair for something that might be a suitable repository for fragments of an angel’s soul. It was not a simple matter of energy storage. Symbology, intention, reflection of the nature of the essence, all were required and he did his best to convey this.
Twilight groaned. “So, what you’re telling me is that we need, what, an Ardleon shaped something or other we can put the essence into?”
He nodded, and added, “Preferably made from frostiron.”
“Frostiron? There wasn’t much recovered...I’ll have to ask the Princess if she can spare some. If we can work out a proper way to make it, and a way to extract it. Hmm…” Twilight looked around the lair thoughtfully. “The book has theoretical spells capable of affecting the soul.”
Paladin followed her gaze. He grew concerned as he considered her words. “The book about soul magic?”
“Yes.” She grimaced. “It’s not particularly pleasant, since a lot of it is about rummaging inside somepony’s soul, but I think I can work out how to extract the alien essence from Apple Bloom. It’s mostly a matter of re-purposing spells already in the book.”
The book, so innocent looking, floated over to them in Twilight’s magic. She began to flick through the pages, searching.
“Princess Celestia compiled this book from the work of several rather mad ponies over the centuries, as well as her own brief study of soul magic. She never said as much but I think it would be reasonable, given the parts of this I can tell she researched herself, to assume she was trying to find a way to separate the Nightmare from Luna,” explained Twilight. She didn’t cease her scanning of the text. Briefly pausing on certain pages, she illuminated lines and paragraphs of words that appeared as ghostly text above her.
“Yet she must have abandoned the effort. You yourself told me that the Elements of Harmony cleaned Princess Luna. Why would Celestia have relied on them if she had discovered the means to extract the Nightmare?” Paladin pointed out.
Twilight nodded. “Good point,” she agreed. “I think you’re right. If I read what..." she searched for a moment. "...this passage says correctly…” The unicorn cleared her throat. “The nature of entities able to afflict the souls of others makes them near-impossible to harm without hurting the victim. The more powerful creatures can, with enough time, thread their own being through their victim’s essence, such that only the most powerful and delicate of magic could remove them safely. A fail-safe, as it were, to force any would-be, uh, I think she wrote sister, crossed it out, and then it and the next word which might be saviour got blotted by something, anyway - to search for other means.”
The two shared mutual glances of sympathetic pain. Whenever she wrote this, Celestia had clearly not been enthused with the result. Paladin could see why. He felt a sickened weight in his stomach at the thought of such a creature. The sound of a nervous cough made them both check on Apple Bloom.
“Uh, that’s...that’s bad, right?” Apple Bloom asked worriedly.
Twilight smiled, suddenly regretting that Spike wasn’t here to distract the filly. “Don’t worry, there’s more, I promise. You’ll be fine. Listen, there’s more, but to just get it over with, that applies mostly to sentient entities. The theoretical spell Celestia did her best to construct from the failed work of a few of the insane mages she had to deal with is based on an attempt to be as delicate and precise as she would have needed. She gave up because she believed it wouldn’t work against a sentient creature.”
Paladin’s eyes lit up with understanding. “A full mind, which the angelic essence may not possess! It is only a fragment of Ardleon’s being, and lacks any sapience to direct it. It may cause urges and feelings, but those are simply results of the aspect it embodies.”
“Meaning the spell should work perfectly!” Twilight winced, clamping down on her enthusiasm. “The only problem is...it’s not finished. I said Princess Celestia did her best because it’s not complete. The only similar spell she could find that works was one that was designed to..”
Both Paladin and Apple Bloom watched Twilight trailed off. The unicorn glanced at Apple Bloom, then to the door, with an expression of uncertainty.
“...actually, Apple Bloom, why don’t you go get a snack?” She suggested with all the forewarning of a Pinkie Pie attack. She shooed the confused filly up the stairs, nearly slamming the door shut behind her.
“That was...strange,” Paladin ventured.
Twilight sighed. “I know,” she agreed. “I really didn’t want to talk about the darker aspects of this spell. There’s a reason Celestia refused to use it in her own; it was made to rip out parts of a soul. Just tear out aspects of them, of who they are. The pony who made it was insane, and he ripped empathy, love, free will, from ponies.”
“Disgusting. I am sure Princess Celestia dealt with him as was needed. Twilight, you are doing all these tests, yet you already seem to have the magic needed. Or nearly so.” He put a hoof on her shoulder. “I am confident that you can work out a means to extract the essence safely. I will give you what aid I can, to help you learn how to access your angelic magic, but in the end it will fall to you.”
“I get that. I just...I need to know everything I can. Every possibly relevant piece of information about the essence in Apple Bloom. Such as, for example, how it got into her? It must be Ardleon, we have no reason to think there are any other angels hanging around.” Twilight shook her head. “This is Applejack’s little sister! I need to do this right. There’s no room for error.”
Paladin said, “I agree, and I understand. So take your time. Take your measurements and scans and everything you can, and then focus on working out how to safely extract the essence. We have time, for now.”
Giving him a sigh, Twilight glanced at a cloth-covered case. “You’re right. We have the time we need. We just need to get to work. So…” Her expression brightened. “Time for you to teach me angel magic!”
“Ah...yes…” Paladin winced. “I suppose it is.” Shooting a glance at the same case, Paladin forced away his curiosity. He had something to accomplish, he could indulge later.
Surely it wasn’t that important.
***
Spike stomped out of the library with a fearsome scowl. He had just been trying to help, and he had! It was hardly his fault twilight got so annoyed about the bird nest reminder, or that he hadn’t looked where he was stepping.
‘Okay, maybe the last one was a little bit my fault,’ he admitted. Spike found himself adding “Ooof!” out loud when he hit something and went down. The drake ran up a claw to his head, rubbing it as he looked at what he hit.
What turned out to be who, Sweetie Belle sitting up with a huff. “Oh, sorry Spike,” she chirped brightly. “I was just coming to see Apple Bloom. Applejack said she was here for some reason.”
Spike helped her up. “It’s alright, I should have looked where I was going. She’s down in the la-” he coughed. “The lab. Do you know where Rarity is?”
“Yep! She’s at Sweet Apple Acres, helping Applejack and everypony fix up the damage from that freak storm!” The filly frowned. “Huh, I wonder why Apple Bloom isn’t there helping too?”
Giving her a fake grin, Spike shrugged. “No idea! Well, I need to get a crystal thing from Rarity, so...wanna come? They're doing a bunch of tests and Twilight’s in a bad mood."
Sweetie Belle wavered, torn between going with Spike to see her sister and seeing Apple Bloom. She wanted to do both. On one hoof she had a great song she had heard somepony sing she wanted to show Apple Bloom. On the other, she wanted to show Rarity too!
"Let's go see Rarity!" She agreed. "I'll come back when Apple Bloom is done helping Twilight."
Cheered by having a friend with him the little dragon nodded happily. "I'm sure they'll be done in no time, once I get Twilight her crystal."
They departed for the farm. After a moment, slithering between shadows, Scorpan followed.
"Wanna hear this song I heard? It's really beautiful!" Sweetie Belle asked. She gave Spike a hopeful smile.
"Sure," he said. The streets were less busy than usual, a lot of ponies having agreed to help repair the farm. Being a national, world and town saving hero could be helpful at times. Especially with the memory of an unnatural winter fresh in the minds of many ponies.
She took a breath and threw her head back. Sweetie Belle's mouth opened. A single note, crystal clear replaced other sounds. It was just a note of sound, no words at all. After a few seconds Sweetie Belle closed her mouth.
"I can't remember the rest, " she said sheepishly. "But it'll come back to me."
Spike stared at her. His mouth hung open, an expression mirrored on the slack face of a pony who had been trotting down the street. He kept walking only because she was.
"That...wow..." Spike regained his composure, but his senses still reeled from the perfectly pure note. "Wow."
She blushed, looking down and kicking at the ground shyly. "It was just a sound. I can't even remember the words."
"I hope you do!" The words were out before Spike realised, before he even thought them. He wasn't exactly surprised that he wanted to hear more, but he was surprised by how much he wanted to.
"I can tell you if I remember more," Sweetie offered. Her blush remained but she was enthused by how much he liked it.
Spike nodded eagerly. "Please! I bet that song must be amazing. Where did you hear it? Maybe you could ask to hear it again."
Her expression scrunched into a look of intense concentration. Spike waited. And waited. And waited. They reached the edge of town when he finally burst.
“Well?”
Sweetie Belle gave him an apologetic pout. “I can’t remember! I think I was half asleep when I heard it, it’s just kind of stuff in there.”
Seeing the filly frowning at herself in disappointment, Spike gave her a reassuring smile. “Hey, don’t worry about it! I’m sure you’ll remember it. We all forget stuff. Even Twilight does. Why do you think she has all those checklists?”
She giggled. “I never thought about it.”
“I wish I never had to,” Spike lamented. He gave an exaggerated sigh. “Checklists for everything. I think she got the idea from Princess Celestia’s steward. He’s got these lists thiiiiiiiis long,”
His arms were spread to their limits, and the wiggling of his fingers indicated he couldn’t fully show how long it was. Sweetie Belle continued to giggle. The pair continued their chatter as they approached the farm. They were pointed to where Rarity and Applejack worked by Fluttershy. They let her go, watching the yellow pony trot away followed by a line of animals.
“There she is!” squeaked Sweetie Belle, pointing into the field.
Rarity and Applejack were putting a small tree right. As they watched, the unicorn pulled out a bottle of perfume and gave it a few puffs before returning her magic to trying to correct the leaning tree. The young pair got close enough to hear Applejack huff and let out a complaint about the smell.
“The smell? The smell? Darling, the only smell to be concerned of here is sweat! Icky, nasty sweat! This perfume shall keep such wretched odours at bay.” Rarity’s smile stretched into a sinister grin. She levitated the perfume up again and took a step towards Applejack. Her voice was a mischievous purr. “Come now, darling, why don’t you try a little?”
“What? No, Ah’m fine…” Applejack’s eyes narrowed. She backed away, giving Rarity a dark look. “Rarity, stop right there. Ah’m warnin’ ya…” She took another step back, mirroring Rarity’s step forward.
“Or what? Hmm?” The perfume inched closer and closer, floating threatening around Applejack. “Come now, don’t you want to smell of something other than sweat and dirt?”
Applejack glared. “No.” She batted at the perfume, trying to knock it away. “Get that away, or Ah’ll get it away myself.”
“Well, I can’t do that darling,” Rarity told her with a nefarious giggle. “It would be a crime to leave you stinking away. Got you!”
The perfume darted forward, her magic pressing the the pump. Applejack dodged, the sweet-smelling cloud puffing over her head as she tried to escape. Rarity was quick to follow, chasing her friend around the tree. Tail snapping back at the looming bottle, Applejack saw a hint of purple and green off to the side. She looked over in time to see Spike and Sweetie Belle watching, snickering, before she ran face first into a cloud of perfume.
“Gah!” The mare stumbled, gagging and dry-retching as though she was about to bring up a lung. Her hooves flailed wildly, prompting a roll of her eyes from Rarity.
“Please, darling, you’re being a drama queen,” Rarity said without a hint of irony. She smiled at the pair of younglings. “Why, hello there! Is something wrong?”
Smothering his snickering, Spike shook his head. “H-hi Rarity. Twilight sent me to get another matrix-grade crystal. The other ones, uh...broke.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow. “They...broke?” she asked, carefully duplicating his pause. The dragon rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Containing a brief chuckle, Rarity took a moment to recall where she had the spares. “Fortunately for you, young drake, I have a few that should serve as replacements. Chest number four, the white ones on top. I’m sure a smart young dragon like yourself should have no problems finding them.” She smiled. “And there’s a little purple chest with the gems too flawed for me to use. I thought you’d like them, Spikey-wikey.”
Spike saluted. “I shall find them!” he declared, like a knight vowing to undertake a gallant quest. Both unicorns suppressed their giggling, Rarity with considerably more success.
“Sweetie Belle, did you need anything?” she asked.
The filly shook her head. “I just wanted to see you!”
“It’s lovely to see you, Sweetie, but why don’t you help Spike find those gems he needs?” Rarity suggested. “I’m sure you wouldn’t want to stay here with all this dreadfully sweaty work.”
Applejack stood up, despite the pall of perfume that had engulfed her. She coughed. “Hard work is messy, sugarcube.” She grinned at Sweetie Belle. “But don’t ya’ll worry, go help Spike. We got everypony we need.”
“Okay! Have fun!” Sweetie Belle beamed, turning to leave with Spike.
“Oh, and darling,” Rarity called out. “Please, do something, for me; don’t touch anything else.”
They watched the youngsters walking back to town for a moment. The only sound was Applejack’s hat flapping as she as tried to get rid of the perfume.
“Hope Apple Bloom is okay,” she muttered. Rarity nodded in agreement, not saying anything. Applejack gave her friend a curious look. For some reason, Rarity was smiling. It was a tad devious.
The bottle of perfume floated up behind Applejack, Rarity’s magic depressing the pump.
Pffft!
“Gah! Rarity!”
***
Paladin sighed deeply. “Twilight, perhaps we should put this on hold?”
The unicorn shook her head as she focused. “I’m sure I can get it this time. I just need to-”
Fomp!
All three stared at the apple. At what had been an apple. Apple Bloom, wearing an odd head contraption wired to a machine, whimpered.
“That poor apple! Ya’ll are lucky Applejack weren’t here to see this!” she exclaimed.
Twilight scowled at the remnants of the apple. “I think I mixed up the restoration part. I didn’t think I could make an apple explode like that.” She rubbed her horn tiredly.
“I think,” Paladin suggested gently, “that we should leave this for later. Apple Bloom is not reacting to the presence of angelic magic. Your machine reads nothing, and I doubt even with the more accurate machine repaired when Spike returns it will detect anything.”
Reluctantly, Twilight had to agree. She sighed and turned the machine off. “Alright. This angelic magic is hard. I mean, I know I shouldn’t expect to have mastered it instantly, but...well, I’ve always found it easy to learn spells.”
He began to clean away the remnants of the apple, sweeping it and throwing it into a chemical waste disposal bin. Paladin gave her an amused smile. “Angelic magic will take a long time to learn. Your progress in the space of an hour is remarkable.”
That brought a smile to Twilight’s face. She began to unhook Apple Bloom, double-checking to make sure the filly was okay after the tests. None had been invasive or anything, but she wanted to be safe.
"Thanks. You only just moved out, and you’re already planning to spend more time here.” Twilight gave him a sly smile. “Fluttershy might get jealous.”
Something that sounded distinctly like Paladin choking on his own tongue answered her for a few seconds. Paladin cleared his throat, keeping his face turned away from them. Apple Bloom giggled, and Twilight couldn’t help but join in.
“I, ahem, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” His tone was bland and flat, or at least meant to be. There was an undeniable struggle to keep it so.
“Of course you don’t. Apple Bloom, you should remember, the first stage is denial.” Trying to restrain her amusement, Twilight continued to tidy up. Her attention was really still on Paladin. She discreetly pulled a book from its hiding place under some equipment, and quickly scanned to the page ‘Your Friend And Denial’.
“First stage?” Paladin demanded. Frustration bubbled past his stony mask as his cheeks continued to blaze. It was infuriating, how non-compliant his body still was. “First stage of what?”
“Oh, nothing.” ‘Remember what Rarity said, try not to push,’ the unicorn reminded herself. ‘Just gentle teasing.’ She saw Apple Bloom trying to see what she was reading. Twilight raised her hoof, gesturing for the filly to stay quiet about it.
Paladin glanced over for a moment. “I am not in denial of anything.”
“Denial? About what?” Twilight moved a box, pretending to be doing things.
“Fl- nothing. As you said. Nothing.” His displeasure at the slip was hard to miss, and she risked a look to see Paladin facehoofing. It was very hard to keep from grinning at him.
“Of course I did. Did you need any help cleaning up after the party? With everything that happened, there must have been quite a bit of mess left,” Twilight asked, closing the book with a victorious smile. Gentle teasing had been a success. A new breakthrough in inter-personal skills.
Paladin shook his head as he finished what he was doing. “No, Fluttershy stopped by on her way to help at the farm to he-” His teeth clicked shut.
Twilight didn’t say anything, she just smiled cheerfully and not at all smugly. Not at all.
“My home is clean,” Paladin said, voice once again bland and empty.
“Good to hear.” She trotted past him, guiding an amused Apple Bloom up the stairs. “Let’s have some lunch and then go help Applejack. Spike should be back any minute.”
Knowing Spike at least would not join in needling him about the...stuff between him and Fluttershy, Paladin nodded. “I’m sure. I do wonder what’s is delaying him.”
***
Spike looked doubtfully between the two fillies. Scootaloo nodded eagerly. Sweetie Belle did the same. His gaze dropped to the range of bright array of sticks with bits of cloth tied to them..
“Alright...if you’re sure,” he agreed uncertainly. “Rarity won’t mind?”
“Nah, of course not! They’re just trash, right? Come on, light ‘em up!” Scootaloo urged him. She pointed at the first target. “Ten points for that one! Twenty for the one behind it. Come on, mister-fireball!”
Spike winced. “Don’t you have better things to do, like bother Rainbow Dash instead of stalk us?” he asked.
“Hey, Rainbow Dash says ninja are awesome! If I can get a ninja cutie mark, she’ll think I’m awesome. You’re just mad you didn’t spot me until I attacked!”
“You jumped out of the bushes in front of the boutique! While I was trying to carry an armful of gems!” Spike pointed out.
Sweetie Belle added, “You were trying to get a cutie mark on your own?”
“Don’t be a sourpuss.” Scootaloo turned to Sweetie. “Ninjas are lone wolves, all quiet and sneaky on their own. I can’t get a ninja cutie mark by doing it with anypony else. Duh.”
Sweetie Belle pouted at her. Her wide eyes shone, and her lower lip trembled.
“Oh, fine, we can go do ninja-things together, after Spike shows us his new fire stuff!” Scootaloo grinned. The hoof sized ball of fire Spike had nearly incinerated her with when she jumped out at him had rather impressed her.
The targets, made from cutoffs from the boutique and random sticks Scootaloo had fond, were scattered about the place. The small stream that ran past and through Ponyville was the backdrop to their homemade target range.
“Go on, it’ll look cool!” Scootaloo kept on urging. She was practically bouncing, wings buzzing in eagerness.
Sweetie Belle started to get into it too, and with their pleading Spike finally conceded defeat. He took a breath, focusing on the fire inside. It wasn’t really a physical thing, changing how his fire emerged. The way Twilight described magic was closer to how it felt for him.
The ball of fire he spat out was smaller and far less intense than the one he had nearly fried Scootaloo with. The angry orb of flickering flame shot through the air, hitting the first rag tied between two sticks dead on. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle cheered, and Spike allowed himself a little grin of pride.
“Do another!” Scootaloo told him. She pointed at the next furthest target. “That one!”
His pride egging him on, Spike spat another fireball at that target. It hit - barely - and the flame spluttered, a colourful flare that died away instantly. A followup shot hit dead on, and set the three cheering.
The next twenty minutes became an exciting game of fire and burning rags. At least until somepony saw the flicker of flame. The three kids fled, ducking out of sight until Cloud Kicker left, muttering about fire hazards.
"I think I better take that crystal back to Twilight," Spike said, running a hand across his spines.
Scootaloo sighed in disappointment. "Too bad, that was really cool. Wanna go be ninjas now, Sweetie?"
"Uh, I don't wanna leave Apple Bloom out," Sweetie Belle smiled apologetically.
"Okay, so let's just practice being ninja, then we can be real Cutie Mark Crusader Ninjas when Apple Bloom is free." Scootaloo grabbed her friend’s hoof. “Come on! We have ponies to sneak up on!”
“Bye Spike!” called Sweetie Belle, hijacked by her friend. She waved on the way, prompting Scootaloo to remember to do the same.
Spike gave a half-hearted farewell, watching the two speed on on Scootaloo’s scooter. He went back to the gems he had been kindly donated by Rarity, and the one Twilight wanted. He popped one into his mouth, chewing it with loud crunches. His teeth reduced the emerald to splinters, which were promptly ground into even smaller bits. Arms full of gems, he began to walk home.
‘Maybe I shouldn’t have spent so long playing...’ he thought when he realised how much time had passed. The little dragon shrugged it off. ‘Twilight won’t mind. Probably. I did have to go out to the farm, after all, I didn’t spend that long playing.’
It was entirely sensible, giving Spike some reassurance. He grinned to himself. The library-tree wasn’t that far away either. He went between two houses, cutting down his return trip by a whole two minutes!
There was a sound behind him, the thump of something hitting the ground. Spike turned to look.
“Wha-”
***
Twilight, Apple Bloom and Paladin sat around the table. Well, only Paladin and Apple Bloom were sitting. She was teaching Paladin how to play Go Fish. Twilight was pacing.
“Do you have any fours?”
Apple Bloom shook her head. “Nope! Go Fish!” She grinned at him.
He drew a card, letting out a grunt of annoyance.
Twilight continued to pace. She added some muttering, “Where is he? He left an hour and a half ago, and we had to eat lunch without him.”
True to her words, the table was cleared of the salad the ponies had shared. A bowl of gems was all that had been left. Twilight grasped it in her magic, preparing to put it away, only to put it back down. Neither Paladin or Apple Bloom said anything.
“We can’t leave because he might get back just after we go, but if we should be helping Applejack and…” Twilight came to a stop. She facehoofed. “I can just leave him a note. Tell him to join us at the farm. Why didn’t I think of that before?”
“Because you have spent the past half an hour acting particularly anxious and unsettled,” Paladin answered. He glanced up from the game to give her a concerned look. “Is something wrong? I’m sure Spike is alright. Rarity is at the farm, she may have simply distracted him.”
Twilight nodded, but try as she might she just couldn’t accept that. “I know, I just...I don’t know. Nothing should be wrong, but I really am worried. Something isn’t right.”
Her thoughts turned inward, yet she found no answers. There was simply an unsettling sense that something was wrong. Try as she might, Twilight couldn’t manage to define it. With a look at the clock and a sigh of defeat, she left a note for Spike just in time for Apple Bloom to win the game.
“Blasted fish,” Paladin muttered as they left the house. He noticed Twilight seemed twitchy, looking over her shoulder and down streets they passed. Although he didn’t say anything, Paladin looked around a bit himself.
They were halfway to the farm when a cloud of ashes consolidated into a scroll. Paladin didn’t need Fluttershy’s empathic powers to see how relieved Twilight was as she snatched the scroll up and all but ripped it in half trying to see what it said.
“He’s with the Mayor!” She lowered the scroll, tension draining from her. “She needed him for paperwork to help with getting help for the town, to make the deadlines. I’ll have to talk to her about time-management, she should have her paperwork done before she needs his fire-mail to get it in on time.”
Paladin nodded in silent agreement, while Apple Bloom was rather less placid. She hadn’t been able to crusade for a whole day, so she felt the need to shout a bit. On the bright side, nopony was surprised to see them when they arrived at the farm. Fluttershy floated down from a tree, a nest of happily resettled birds chirping away.
“Hello, Paladin” She landed in front of them. “How are you? And Twilight, and Apple Bloom,” Fluttershy hurriedly added.
Twilight smiled, Apple Bloom giggled and Paladin twitched.
“I’m fine,” he grumbled. Waving off Fluttershy’s concerned look, he took in the sight of the farm. “And you? I see the farm is in good hooves.”
“Oh, very good! Everypony has been so wonderful, coming out to help the Apples get the farm back in order. I’ve been rounding up all the little animals who got frightened off by the fight. Most of them are back, although we’ve had to find them new homes,” Fluttershy explained.
Paladin frowned. “I thought Applejack didn’t like ‘pests’ in the orchard.”
“Animals are a part of nature, and they’re important even on an farm. So long as they don’t run rampant. Applejack can get...very upset when she thinks they’re hurting the farm.” The thought brought a brief frown to Fluttershy’s expression before she cheered up again. “They’re all happy to be back.”
Twilight silently ushered Apple Bloom away. Engrossed in their inane conversation, Paladin and Fluttershy didn’t notice. They kept on talking, their discussion somehow going from the animals in the farm to the rest of the restoration effort and how they had wrangled so much help.
“Uh, they didn’t even notice us leavin’ ‘em,” Apple Bloom pointed out as she set off with Twilight to find Applejack.
“That’s what happens, sometimes.” Twilight couldn’t help the smile that blossomed on her face. ‘I can’t believe Rarity was the only one to notice. I’m glad she pointed it out.’
“Weird,” was Apple Bloom’s well thought out response. Without waiting for Twilight’s slow pace, the filly took off the moment she saw Applejack’s telltale hat.
Twilight smiled, but in the back of her mind something was wrong. Her good cheer faltered. Spike was safe. She had the scroll he sent. Everything was alright. There had been no sign of the winged monster.
‘I’m just tired. That’s all,’ she tried to reassure herself. ‘I have no reason to worry.’
So why did she feel like something terrible was going to happen?
'Pinkie is working, and everypony else but Rainbow Dash is here. Nothing is wrong...I hope.'
Fluttershy paused mid-sentence, looking in Twilight’s direction. The uneasy anxiety she had felt from Twilight, fortunately fading not long ago, had returned. Worry for her friend began to plague the pegasus, and she started to reach out to Twilight.
“Fluttershy? What’s wrong?” Paladin’s voice cut through Fluttershy’s thoughts. She looked back and found him closer, close enough to make her yelp and jump back. “Sorry, but, are you well?”
The worried undercurrent to his words and the emotions she felt from him gave Fluttershy a strange reaction. It was bad that her worry about Twilight was making him worry, but at the same time she felt...flattered? That he was so worried about her made something flutter in her chest.
“Oh, uh, I-I’m fine,” she said quickly, trying to ignore the heat growing in her cheeks and keep him from detecting the alarming emotions. Judging by the moment of confusion he felt, smothered so fast she almost doubted her empathic senses, Fluttershy hadn’t been entirely successful. “H-how are you? I mean, ignore that, I’m sorry.”
He gave her an awkward but reassuring smile. “It’s alright. I am, as I said before, fine. Was it Twilight?”
Fluttershy blinked, an expression of surprise answering him. His smile was less awkward and more confident now.
“I suspected so. Twilight fears for Spike, he took too long to get back to the library. He sent her a letter, fortunately. How does he fare to your senses?” Paladin asked.
Closing her eyes for a moment, Fluttershy concentrated. “I...I can’t really tell,” she admitted. “I can sort of sense him through his link with Twilight, but it’s kind of fuzzy. He just feels...bland. Like he’s having a nap. I’m sorry. If I push too much harder I’ll actually, um, invade his emotions. I don’t want to be intrusive like that. It’s harder to avoid that with you, so I don’t want to do it to him.”
“Please, Fluttershy, stop apologising. I understand. I can’t ask you to do something so intrusive.” He held up a placating hoof. “It’s alright. He may he having a nap, for all we know. Unless something alarming happens, we don’t need to worry. We sent off the beast, and from what Rarity and Pinkie say it was injured. It would be foolish for it to act again so soon.”
“If you say so…” Fluttershy bit her lip as she looked at Paladin. He looked back, his confusion not so readily concealed this time. The larger pegasus was waiting for her to go on. She fidgeted.
“Are you sure nothing is wrong? Was there something else?” Paladin asked. His confusion and worry returned, try as he might to suppress them.
“W-well, no, I just...um…” Fluttershy blushed and shook her head. “Never mind. We should start helping the others. I-I’m sure Applejack could use your help.”
Both felt disappointment, and for once both knew exactly why. The pair parted to get to work, their shared emotion leaving neither able to distinguish that the other felt it.
‘Oh, I should have said something. Why didn’t I?’ Fluttershy berated herself, sighing forlornly. Sighing forlornly was exactly the sort of thing she was supposed to do, according to the cheap romance novels she very occasionally read. ‘I shouldn’t be so scared. We danced in Canterlot after all...’
At some point in her silent self-recriminations Fluttershy began to gather some of the animals waiting for her help in finding places to stay, but she barely noticed. Her thoughts were occupied by uncertainty and self-doubt.
Paladin was soon put to work hauling the heaviest of the debris from the unfortunate battle field. Each step sent a faint warmth into his hooves, the trace remnants of the purification spell invigorating the soil and the plant-life. As good as it should have been, it just annoyed Paladin. His replies to most ponies were grunts or a single grumbled word.
‘I’m a damned fool. I know exactly what is going on. I should do more than just stand around awkwardly. At least she was trying. I should have done the same.’ His disappointment in himself burned furiously as the powerful pegasus worked. ‘A fool! What, am I afraid? Where has my courage gone?’
“Hey, Paladin!” called a pony. He wasn’t sure who, and in his dark mood he made no effort to identify them. “Could you give us a hoof? This stump is a bit big-”
Ignoring the pony, Paladin stepped up to the broken stump that had once been a tree, spun on his forehooves and unleashed a buck worthy of any Apple family member. The stump was ripped from the earth, a shower of dirt filled the air around it. His tail snapped and his wings flapped, clearing the dirt from them, before Paladin went back to his original task.
“Uh...thanks…” The pony, Caramel, shook his head. He dusted off his dirt-strewn mane. “I think Paladin’s in a bad mood.”
Caramel wasn’t the only pony to think that. Rarity watched, her lips pursued. She had been intending to help find any debris that had been missed, but from the look of Paladin she had something far more important to deal with. She remembered what Fluttershy was doing, and it didn’t take her long to find the meek pegasus.
‘Oh dear, it seems something has soured,’ she thought as she viewed the look on Fluttershy’s face. Rarity didn’t need magical vision to see that, once again, Fluttershy was beating herself up about something. ‘That mare just can’t seem to help blaming herself for anything.’
“Yoo-hoo, Fluttershy, darling, could you spare a moment for moi?” Rarity called. She approached her friend with a wide smile and not a hint of plotting to her manner.
“Of course I can,” said Fluttershy, relief flooding her. The interruption broke her from her cycle of self-recrimination, and the mare gave Rarity a weak smile. “Do you need help?”
Rarity’s smile became a tad more knowing. “No no, darling it isn’t me who needs help.”
“Uh, w-what do you mean?” Fluttershy squeaked. She closed off her empathic senses, doing her best to respect Rarity’s privacy. The only one she couldn’t stop ‘listening’ to was Paladin, unless her own emotions were giving her trouble, and given the worry she had sensed on Twilight, Fluttershy already felt like an intruder today.
“You seem so out of sorts, Fluttershy. If anypony is going to see that, surely it would be me. Speaking of things I’ve seen…” Rarity gave her a teasing look. “I saw Paladin. He certainly looked to a bit blue. I think he was disappointed, and I can’t help but wonder what it could be.”
Try as she might, Fluttershy’s cheeks began to heat up. She looked away, her mane covering her face. “I-I wouldn’t know…” ‘He was disappointed too?’
Rarity gently drew Fluttershy closer, nodding as she did so. “Really? Our dear friend, very disappointed. A bit lonely too. Perhaps that new home of his is a bit less homely, all on his own there. He doesn’t even have a pet to keep him company when he wakes to face the morning. A cold, lonely breakfast...”
“That’s not true,” Fluttershy couldn’t help but protest. “I stopped by this morning, and we had a lovely breakfast together.”
Rarity’s smile was that of a predator with a meal in sight. “Did you now?”
The warmth in Fluttershy’s cheeks flared. “Y-yes…”
Not saying anything for the moment, Rarity guided her friend. Though she could have pulled away, the embarrassed pegasus couldn’t bring herself to and so just let her friend over to the edge of the field. They watched the white-winged blur of gloom working, silently surveying him.
“I...I wanted to...a-ask him…” Fluttershy began after a minute. She trembled slightly, but forced the words out. “I-if he wanted to...g-go for dinner, l-later.”
Despite the terrible nervous stutter born of her anxiety, Fluttershy felt the unpleasant tangle of fears and anxieties weighing her down unknot as she admitted it to Rarity. They were still there, but it was nice to let it out.
“Well, I think we can both tell why Paladin is disappointed, can’t we?” Rarity pointed out. “You should ask him. Paladin will say yes, we both know it. He runs around being all valiant and stoic and such, but right now I think our friend out there is as afraid of this as you. He has even less experience than you.” Rarity giggled. “I don’t think he’ll be reading any romance novels either, so you’re the only hope he has for learning anything about it.”
Fluttershy found herself giggling at the image of Paladin reading a romance novel. She couldn’t imagine him reading one for more than a few minutes before finding something frustratingly inane. The laughter made it easier to take in what Rarity said, and when the mirth faded she felt calmer, more at peace with her dilemma.
“I know. I don’t want to let him down.” She watched Paladin work, even this distant seeing him work out frustration through application of his formidable strength to his work.
“You won’t, darling, I’m sure of it.”
***
“Oh come on!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “What’s wrong with this colour?”
Scootaloo shook her head. “It’s too bright! Who ever heard of a ninja dressing in bright colours?”
“Well, I like it.” Holding her nose up in a fine impression of Rarity, Sweetie Belle attempted to stride gracefully past Scootaloo. Since she was currently draped in a bright orange towel, this ended less than well. In fact, it ended with Sweetie Belle meeting the grass on a face-to-face basis, as it were, minus one face.
The mare watching them snorted, trying to cover her amusement as the fillies argued about what would make good outfits for ‘ninja’ out of her goods. ‘Not like I’ve got much business to distract me today,’ she thought, sweeping her gaze across the near-empty marketplace once again.
“Stop falling over! Ninja don’t fall over! They’re super-sneaky and stealthy and silent and they don’t fall over bright orange towels!” Scootaloo, a dark brown towel wrapped around herself, attempted to help Sweetie Belle up.
Cotton Blend had to work even harder to hold back a laugh as the orange filly fell over her friend, tangling in her own towel.
“Pick a new towel. Orange is a bad ninja colour.”
“But you’re bright orange!”
“Yeah, and I’m awesome, which is why I picked the darkest towel here!”
Listening to the two bicker amusingly, Cotton Blend smiled. Resting her head on her hoof, she silently cursed whatever had caused so much damage and kept everypony up the other night. She could drift off herself, right here….
A sound, liquid silver transmuted into noise, woke the dozing mare. She wasn’t sure how long she had been asleep but she didn’t even care. A dreamy smile covered her face.
“Huh? Did you say something?”
Scootaloo pulled her head out of the mass of towels had fallen on her head. She risked a glance at the stall manager. The older mare was smiling weirdly, but not in that way that sometimes happened when somepony was so angry they acted nice until they exploded. Rainbow Dash had called it PCSS, or Post-Crusader Stress Syndrome. It caused the afflicted to save up all their stress and anger for one giant explosion, luring unsuspecting fillies into lowering their guard with the only thing they had left, niceness, first.
Sweetie Belle’s concentration broke. “Aww, I thought I could remember the words. Oh well. Just a song I’ve got stuck in my head.
“Whatever.” Shrugging it off, Scootaloo looked away from the weird expression on Cotton Blend’s face. “Let’s go do our ninjaing!”
“Okay! Uh, Miss Blend, can we take these?” Sweetie Belle asked. She gave the recumbent mare her widest, wettest, most pleading eyes.
Cotton Blend barely reacted. She blinked, twitching.
“Looked like a nod to me! Let’s go!” Before Sweetie could question it, Scootaloo had pushed her onto the cart behind her scooter. They took off, the slumped, dreamy expression of a mare lost to a single sound left in their wake.
***
Daring Do flashed the fiendish frog a smirk as she slipped beneath the door. The grinding stone wall fell with dreadful speed, and the gap was already too small for the croaking crook to squeeze through. All she left for the autocratic amphibian was her helmet, knocked off by the descending rock. She took it back a moment later, snatched up with barely a second left until the great stone trap sealed. Caught in the trap he had planned for the daring archaeologist, there was nothing-
“Hey! Are you listening?”
“Huh? Er, eeyup.”
Rainbow Dash looked at Big Mac suspiciously. “But were you really?”
“Uh…” He gave her a confused stare. “Eeyup.”
“Hmph, I don’t believe you! Here I am, keeping you company for Applejack, reading you the most awesome book series in the history of forever, and you’re not even listening!” Rainbow glared at him. “What the hay do you want?”
“Work,” was his blunt answer. The earth pony shifted on his extra sturdy hospital bed. A curtain separated his bed from Rainbow Dash’s; the room they were left in otherwise bland and boring.
Dash snorted. “No can do. You’re not getting up anytime soon if I have any say about it, buster. If I let you out Applejack won’t let me buy cider for next season!”
He couldn’t decide if he should be flattered she loved their cider that much or annoyed that she loved their cider that much. Mac settled for sighing. “Doc said-”
“-that you need to stay here until they’re sure you won’t go arse up the moment you step out of here,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. She rolled her eyes. “Applejack told me what the doc said. You’re staying in bed, got it?”
“Miss Dash!”
The pegasus jumped, nearly tumbling from her stool. She looked up, giving Nurse Redheart a nervous grin as she walked in.
“Uh, hey-”
“I don’t want to hear it. Back in bed, this instant. Scolding Macintosh for wanting to do exactly what you’re doing, if I heard correctly.” The nurse settled an unamused stare on Rainbow Dash. She gestured at the bed closest to the door. “In.”
Rainbow Dash scowled, grudgingly climbing back into her bed. “I’m fine,” she muttered. Dash shot a foul look at Big Mac. He wasn’t saying anything, but his expression said enough.
Nurse Redheart fussed over her for a few seconds, checking her bandages. “I seem to recall Doctor Stable saying you had bruises across your entire barrel, muzzle and that’s just the least. You will be here until we can be sure you’re not bleeding internally.”
“Oh come on! Look, I’m as awesome as ever! I could probably do a Sonic Rainboom-ouch!” Dash rubbed a bandage on her chest, where the nurse had been checking.
“Dear me, how clumsy!” Redheart’s smile was far too sinister for a nurse. “I suppose if such a light tap hurts, the doctor must be right. You just stay there. I’d hate to have to suggest a wing-cast to the doctor.”
The scene made Big Mac smile. Seeing the nurse deal with one of her most frequent patients so skillfully, he had to admire how quickly she made Rainbow Dash concede defeat. No easy task, as he had discovered since waking up. The thought reminded him of what had happened, on the night that felt like it had only just happened…
Mac shuddered. The terrible memories of his body enslaved to the will of another being for the second time rose up, leaving a sour, painful sensation in his gut. He shut his eyes as he tried to avoid it, but he couldn’t help it. The darkness had violated him in every sense of the word, befouled his body and mind until he had been lost in an endless fog of torment. His flesh had been twisted and bound in magic to create something monstrous and violent, something that had torn through his home and tried to hurt others. He had hurt others, and the injured mare sharing the room with him was just the most obvious example.
“-ac? Mac, come on, talk to me!” A scratchy voice, Rainbow’s, cut through the swirling mess of guilt and self-loathing. He opened eyes he didn’t remember closing, staring into the worried magenta pair right next to him. Relief broke across Dash’s face when their eyes met. “What’s wrong? Do I need to get Twilight to do some fancy magic again?”
“Miss Dash, please, get back in your bed!” Nurse Redheart, on Mac’s other side, ordered. Her tone was cool and in control. The sight of her hoof checking his pulse made Mac started. He hadn’t even noticed her checking him. “Mister Macintosh, are you okay? Can you tell me what just happened? You appeared to have a fit of some kind; you weren’t reacting to us.”
Rainbow Dash, having moved not a single inch, nodded frantically. “Yeah! You were just sorta whimpering.” She ignored the pointed look Redheart sent her, focusing on Mac.
“A-Ah’m fine,” he croaked a few seconds later. “Just...nothin’. Ah’m fine.”
“That’s crab-apples! How was that ‘nothing’?” Dash demanded.
“Rainbow Dash, please, get back in bed. I’m going to talk to Doctor Stable, and I need you to keep an eye on Macintosh for me. If anything happens, anything at all, I want you to hit the emergency button - yes, that one - and we’ll come galloping.” The nurse finished checking Mac for any other signs that something was wrong. Aside from his physically beaten state, there seemed nothing else for her to question. She ushered the reluctant pegasus back into bed before leaving, but not without one last look at Mac.
He ignored it, turning over on his side, just as he continued to ignore Rainbow Dash when she renewed her reading. Despite wanting to let the story wash over him and take his thoughts from his dark deeds, Big Macintosh found no comfort. He lay, quiet and guilty, afraid of nopony so much as himself.
***
The shrill blast of a whistle, accompanied by a chorus of clanging from a bell, announced the end of the day’s labour. Applejack made sure to meet and thank every single pony who had come to help, and each left with at least a bit of baked goods.
“Granny might not have been able to help in the field,” she explained to Twilight. “But she wasn’t gonna do nothin’ all day. Whipped up these as a little thank you gift for everypony. Here, have yer’s. Pinkie’s already gulped hers up an’ gone off to drop some off with the ponies right at the edge of the farm.”
Twilight almost declined, but if she let him push a few gems in she was sure Spike would like it. “Thanks. I’m sorry Spike couldn’t be here to help.”
Applejack shrugged. “Y’all explained sugarcube, Ah understand. Mayor needed his help to help us, so he’s earned one of these as much as anypony. Why, look at that, there she is! Mayor!”
The Mayor trotted over, beckoned by the farmer’s call and wave. “Good evening,” she said, her eyes trained on the departing ponies and then the work that had been done. “I must say, I was expecting to see rather more destruction.”
“Everypony’s helped out, couldn’t have done it without ‘em.” Applejack’s smile fell. “An’ since Mac ain’t turned up, Ah’m guessin’ Dash kept him in the hospital. Hope they’re doing okay.”
“We could check on them together,”suggested Twilight. “Mayor, is Spike home?”
The Mayor blinked, looking at Twilight in wild confusion. “Uh...I don’t know, I didn’t go by the library on my way here, sorry.”
“Oh, uh, were you done with him then?” she asked.
“Done with him? I’m sorry Twilight, I’m not sure what you mean.” The Mayor sounded a tad nervous, checking anxiously to make sure Twilight’s mane wasn’t springing up.
The feeling of looming disaster that had plagued Twilight hours ago returned. She was vaguely aware that she was staring a bit worryingly at the Mayor. The older mare had taken a step back.
“Spike was with you. I got a letter. From you. That he was with you.”
The Mayor shook her head slowly. “I haven’t seen him.” She shot Applejack an urgent look. Applejack shrugged helplessly.
“Twi’? Y’all okay there?” Applejack asked in as soothing a tone as she could.
Twilight shook her head. “No. No. Something has happened.”
“Now hold on there, sugarcube, he might'a just done this to get some time to himself. Could just be off with the fillies, playin’ or somethin’. No reason to get too worried.” Applejack reached out to pat Twilight on the shoulder, but found her hoof left in the air as the unicorn dashed away.
Off to the side, Paladin was staring emptily at the darkening sky. He had worked hard today, but he was still unsatisfied. Despite his best efforts his thoughts kept drifting back to…
“Excuse me, Paladin?”
...Fluttershy. He turned his head, surprise flittering across his face. “Yes?” He suppressed a wince at his bland, empty tone of voice. She didn’t seem to notice, or care if she did.
The pegasus in question took a deep breath. “I was...I wanted to ask you something before, but I chickened out. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have.”
“It’s...it’s fine.” Now, to his chagrin, he was the one stuttering. ‘Master yourself, you fool.’
Her smile was warm if shaky and nervous. “Well, the thing is, I wanted to ask you...w-would you like to..go ou-”
“Fluttershy!” They both jumped, barely landing before Twilight had pulled Fluttershy away. “Where’s Spike? I need you to focus on him, really hard, and tell me where he is and how he’s doing and is anything wrong!”
Some nearby bushes, from which a curled purple tail stuck, let out a snarl of frustration.
Paladin stared at Twilight. He felt like he had just been...he wasn’t sure what to call it. Fluttershy had, he was very sure, he hoped, been about to ask him a very important question. The sort of question he should have asked himself. A question Twilight had interrupted.
“I need you to make sure he’s safe. You have to check on him, please.” Twilight would have gone on, but something odd was happening.
Fluttershy was glaring at her. It wasn’t the near-mythical Stare. It was just a glare. But it was a glare from Fluttershy. The most gentle of her friends, the kindness, meekest of ponies was glaring at her with more than just a hint of frustration.
“...please?”
The glare relented. “Alright.” Fluttershy did her best to calm down, seeing and sensing Twilight’s worry. She closed her eyes and focused on Spike’s tiny, nearly impossible to sense presence. It was only reachable through Twilight, the feelings carried down a distant link.
While Twilight waited anxiously, she found Rarity suddenly beside her. The fashionista had a few leaves in her mane.
“I couldn’t help but overhear, darling, is something wrong with Spikey-wikey?” she asked.
Twilight gulped. “I think so. Something is wrong, I’m just not sure what. I need Fluttershy to check on Spike, to make sure he’s not afraid or hurt or worried.”
“I see.” Rarity’s tail flicked absently. “I do hope he’s fine. Once we know, remind me to have a talk with you.” She pulled Twilight close. “About interrupting two ponies when they are about to do something very special.”
Drawing back, Twilight wasn’t quite sure how to react to the low hiss Rarity had said that in. She settled for nodding nervously. Rarity had a slightly frantic look in her eyes, one that told Twilight disagreement would earn her no favours.
“Now we’re clear on that, whatever is the matter with Spike?” Rarity went on to ask.
Fluttershy was wondering the same thing. Spike was difficult to reach, but not this difficult. His presence was fluid, escaping her touch no matter how gently she reached for him.
“I….I can’t reach him. Every time I try, he slips away,” she said. “Like I’m groping around where I can’t see, and everytime I get close, he moves away.”
With some trouble controlling his frustration, Paladin actually managed to bring himself to approach without glaring at Twilight. His wings flexed in frustration instead. He imagined he could hear his own wing muscles creaking as they tensed and loosened repeatedly.
“What’s going on?” he asked, catching sight of the varied worried expressions before him. The Mayor and Applejack joined them, the Mayor looking guilty.
“I can’t reach Spike. He’s there, but distant. More distant than he normally is through Twilight, I mean. I don’t think he should be able to do this.” Fluttershy sounded more worried by the second. “Should he?”
The question was fired at Paladin. He covered his uncertainty. A thought later, remembering he was friends with all but the Mayor and she was quite nice anyway, and he let the uncertainty show.
“I don’t know. Empathy was more Auriel’s domain.” Ignoring the Mayor’s confusion, he considered the implications. “But I don’t think so. It would require dedicated mental focus. Unless…”
Rarity leaned in. “Unless what?”
“Unless someone or thing is hiding his presence on purpose. Unless there is an entity capable of detecting Spike’s bond with Twilight and deceiving it.” Paladin sent a pointed look at the recovering battle field.
While the others gasped in shock, the Mayor cut right to the point as they reeled. “Sir Paladin, I’m afraid I don’t quite understand everything you’ve said, but are you saying whatever caused that mess is still around?”
“I suspect so. The actual creature that did the damage is of no concern; it is the being who was behind it. Whoever he or it is, we had thought the damage it suffered would have kept it from returning.” His eyes darkened. “It’s seems otherwise. There is no coincidence.”
“Why are we just standing here talking?!” Twilight’s voice rose in pitch and fervour. “A monster has kidnapped Spike! Form a search party! Call the Wonderbolts! A search pattern, we need a grip map of the town so we can- ah!”
Before she could go on Twilight fell to her knees. She cringed, fighting back tears. There was a red hot knife in her mind, or so it felt to her. Emotions assaulted her, maddened rage and boundless greed. She could taste the visceral thirst for everything in the back of her throat.
Her friends watched Twilight collapse mid-sentence. Before any could react, a whimper was all the sign Fluttershy gave before following suit. Paladin’s head jerked as though struck a physical blow. With a firm shake of his head he forced the third-hoof empathic blast back. From Twilight to Fluttershy to him, but he had already practiced raising shields against this. He opened his eyes and looked upon his pained friends; the righteous fury the sight roused, the need to go to her- to their aid that rose up, they flowed through him with renewing strength.
“What in tarnation-” began Applejack. Another sound cut her off. It was, in many ways, an answer to her question.
A roar that reached every ear in the region struck out. It summoned the darkest of emotions in all who heard. It bespoke fury and greed, primal envy of all things different. Fights with friends, painful injuries, the loss of loved ones, thoughts of these things were pulled from the darkest depths of each mind. Beneath the first layer that sent ponies sinking to ground, Paladin became aware of another sound within it. The louder roar carried this lesser sound, letting all hear something that had no more right to be heard from so far than the roar did.
It was fear. A child’s terror as everything violently changed and twisted. It was someone calling for his family, for a mother to reassure, for a sibling to protect, for friends to save. Each alone was terrible, yet they added to a sum total far darker, because they all knew that voice.
It was Spike.
“S-Spike…” Twilight trembled. She tried to stand but the splitting pain drove her back to her knees. “W-we...need to…”
“Twi’, calm...calm down…” Each word was forced, but Applejack slowly shook off the effect of the roar. “Where did it come from? We gotta know-”
Twilight didn’t bother waiting for Applejack to finish. She could barely stand, but she knew they were too far away to help Spike. Though the roar and it’s effect had faded her link with Spike remained forced open. A constant cloud of false-emotions forced on the thing, the construct, which had consumed him flowed to her and there was nothing she could do about it. That did not mean she was just going to give up.
Her horn flared, spell-light blinding in its power scooping up everypony near her. Twilight cast through the pain that was like a drill in her skull, a sloppy, wasteful casting she would have been ashamed of any other time. For now, she didn’t care about that. All she cared about was getting closer to Spike. The violent flash faded, leaving a stunned Mayor Mare behind. No sign of Twilight or her friends lay in their wake, swept away by her crude teleportation.
Mayor Mare blinked, clearing her eyes. ‘I really hope there’s not much damage this time.’
***
Tirek watched his creation charge off to war, and he was satisfied. “This time,” he rasped,” this time my corruption will not be undone.”
“Of course, my lord. The mortals will fall as they should have fallen." Mindful of his master's temper even when weakened - especially when weakened - Scorpan kept his head low and his tone grovelling.
"And you shall have the chance to make up for you failure." The monstrous demon gestured. "Go. The dragon will reach town soon, and you have a role to play."
With a bow Scorpan's form shifted into shadows, leaping away to soar towards the beast charging into town.
Shadow-stained scales stretched over powerful, sinuous muscles. Each step devoured the distance between the Everfree and Ponyville. Where Mac's corrupted form had torn the earth apart with each step, the shadow dragon had a deceptively light touch. It never let its claws linger for more than a moment in one spot. A hiss escaped it, rattling up its long neck, as Ponyville came into sight.
Atop this sinister mount, Scorpan enjoyed his position of power. It was but a tantalising taste of something he desired.
'I will stand astride the Canterhorn,' he promised himself. 'I will rise above even him soon.'
One hand stroked the ebony crest thrusting from the dragon's skull, watching the shadows writhe beneath the surface. The power was entrancing, not least because of the thirst it elicited in him.
'I will rise.'
***
Dirt blasted in every direction. A low, scorched crater had been carved a few inches into the ground where the five ponies had been deposited. The sound of dry retching followed.
"Spike..." Twilight panted. She lay on the ground, bathed in sweat, but her eyes were wild despite her crippling exhaustion. She tried to stand but her legs gave way before she could make it.
“That,” groaned Applejack, “was not pleasant.”
Rarity dry-retched her agreement. Paladin kept from voicing his thanks largely to sheer force of will. He still looked like he wanted to throw up. He took a stumbling step towards Fluttershy, who was laid out on the ground. Between her deliberate emotional attack and the shock of the rough teleport she was barely holding onto consciousness. She simply groaned at Paladin’s gentle prod.
“I don’t think Fluttershy will be able to help.” Paladin shuddered, his feathers ruffled and untidy as a shiver ran through him. “I can feel what this is doing to her. Whatever is behind this is channeling such darkness at her. Far darker than the windigoes were capable of.”
Rarity clenched her teeth. The roar had made her head ache, and it remained a dull throb. “We shall have to stop this without her. If we stop Spike…” She shook her head. “Oh goodness, I know that roar was Spike’s. I just can’t think anything else. The poor thing. We have to help him.”
“We’re gonna have the chance.” Releasing Twilight, Applejack abandoned her efforts to get a response from her friend. She nodded towards a distant figure that grew larger with each step. “He’s comin’.”
Closing her eyes for a moment, Rarity opened them and Saw. She focused on the distant figure. A cold shiver ran down her spine as she Beheld the creature that had been crafted from the little dragon.
‘Not so little now...but not the monster Macintosh was,’ she noted with surprising detachment. The monster Spike had turned into on his birthday came to mind but this...this thing she couldn’t think of as Spike was slender and lithe, and not quite the same size. Despite her wishes Rarity could See flashes of Spike within the monster; it was written into the dark magic that formed the shadow dragon. The instinctive greed all dragons suffered blown out of proportion, fed on a river of foul intent that flowed in a faint miasma from the creature perched atop Spike.
Rarity glared. The hairy, leather-winged thing couldn’t see it, but she did and she wished she had some sort of magic beam vision instead. Because there was nothing she wanted to do right now so much as reduce him to a faint smear on the floor.
”It’s Spike,” she said through teeth still clenched. “That thing is there again, and little Spikey-wikey has been turned into a monster! Oh, I will not sit by and let such an innocent little fellow suffer!”
“I see. Then this is our chance to strike this foe down.” Paladin tried to think of plans, tactics to employ against Spike’s corrupted form. “Damnation, Twilight and Fluttershy would have been the best for this. Twilight could attempt to use a purification spell if I instructed her and we used the remaining posts Apple Bloom made. Fluttershy could try to reach him emotionally to shake off the binding.”
Applejack grinned, winking back at Paladin. “Mac fought it off, Ah’m sure Spike can do the same.”
Taking her lack of armour as a sign of faith, Paladin looked back to the approaching shadow dragon. Spike’s twisted scales were pitch black, eating the light around him. Only the cloud of dust left in his wake and the blot of deeper darkness he created with his light-sucking scales made him stand out.
“Indeed. Macintosh resisted such control. Spike can surely do the same.” He studied the approach of the monstrous parody of their favourite dragon. It wasn’t aiming quite at them. “Where is he going…”
He silently noticed Rarity doing the same. Her eyes glowed with a hint of energy as she observed the shadow dragon. Her expression was tight with barely suppressed anger.
“I,” she declared. “Am going to give the creature that did this such a slap.”
That, it appeared, was that.
Paladin couldn’t help but chuckle despite the circumstances. “I suspect you’ll have to get in line. The last thing he’ll need to worry about is a slap.
“Not the way I’m going to slap him,” Rarity snarled. Her anger didn’t fade, but her attention suddenly shifted. “Wait a moment. Paladin, he’s not coming straight at us. He’s curving. Where could he be going?”
It was Applejack who answered. She whipped her head around, looking down the street. Twilight had dropped them on the outskirts of town nearest the Everfree, and thus Spike. The approaching dragon was indeed aiming for another part of town. At this rate, he would simply outrun them.
“The hospital,” she whispered, eyes wide with horror. “The hospital is in that direction! What if it’s goin’ after Mac fer breaking outta that dark magic! Come on!”
“Applejack, stop! Get Twilight on your back,” Paladin ordered. He didn’t wait, slipping a wing under Fluttershy, scooping her up and depositing her on his back. Nestled between his wings, Fluttershy squirmed, groaning in pain. “Keep them from falling.”
Unable to fly, Paladin was nonetheless determined to not let it stop him. He galloped down the street, trying to remember the fastest way to the hospital. Uncertainty slowed his pace until Applejack overtook him. Twilight bouncing on her back, Applejack tore past him. Without wasting words she took lead. With Rarity desperately bringing up the rear they pounded through the streets.
Gritting his teeth, focusing on the task at hoof, he still felt Fluttershy’s pain echoing at him. Whatever that creature was, he wasn’t going to leave enough of it for Rarity to slap. He was far, far too angry for that.
‘I’m going to destroy him,’ he thought absently. It felt like simply writing down a list. A burning, infernal list. ‘Whatever, whoever, he is, I’m going to end him. Painfully.’
Oddly, the thought gave him relief more than anything else. The monster riding Spike had planned this attack, that was clear, but had failed to reckon with Paladin’s fury. It was a lesson he was going to teach the monster very, very thoroughly. His hooves itched to take part in such a lesson.
Rarity kept up with the others simply through sheer force of will. Her legs ached, leaving the mare wondering how Paladin had managed to gallop so long and far to reach them after Ardleon caught them. Spike had told her so, telling her all about how brave and cool Paladin had been. The little dragon idolised the brave if odd pegasus, Rarity had seen quite easily.
Her eyes narrowed and she slowly closed the distance between her and the others. It infuriated her, the thought of some puerile beast using magic to corrupt the dear little dragon.
The shadow dragon was closer than ever, its presence sending cries of panic through the town. The only mercy was its focus on the hospital, slicing through the streets with no interest in the ponies it stormed past. A deep rumble and the crash of its charge through the town cleared the streets around the shadow dragon’s path. It - Spike, but not - leaped over buildings, eyes fixed on its target.
***
Rainbow Dash groaned as she pulled herself up. She was shivering. When had that started. Blinking wetness from her eyes, she looked around. Her first attempt to ask if everypony was okay came out as a croak.
“Here you go.” A cup of water was shoved in her face. She took it eagerly, ignoring the spill that wettened her chin in her thirst. It wasn’t until she had emptied the cup did she realise it was a pair of little orange hooves holding up the cup.
“S-Squirt…” Dash muttered. Her shivering hadn’t stopped. She couldn’t seem to make it go away. Peering past Scootaloo’s worried face, Rainbow Dash caught sight of their other visitor. Sweetie Belle was next to Nurse Redheart, peering at Big Mac worriedly. After that, Rainbow saw….she saw….
A frightened squeak left Rainbow Dash’s mouth. She was curled into a ball of ruffled feathers and whimpering seconds later. Scootaloo stared in shock at her idol, looking in the same direction to find what had done this. Redheart and Sweetie Belle did the same.
“What’s wrong? Was there something on the wall? Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo asked frantically. “I thought you were all better from the whole afraid of being inside thing?”
Redheart gave the filly a startled look. “Rainbow Dash is claustrophobic? I heard rumours, but she’s been completely fine while she’s been here.”
“I heard Rarity and Fluttershy talking about it, they said she still gets nervous unless she has a friend or an open window,” Sweetie Belle added helpfully. She frowned. “I thought we were all friends with her.”
Leaving the unresponsive Big Mac for a moment, the nurse hurried over to the window. She opened it, peering outside. “I think that sound did something...very cruel.” She shuddered at the memory. “Considering how fresh their trauma is, it might have been worse for them.”
Sweetie Belle scrunched her face up. “That roar was nasty. But I felt fine.”
“You’re the only one! Look at Rainbow Dash! Help her!” Scootaloo pleaded.
Sighing, Nurse Redheart tried to gently get Rainbow Dash’s attention. “Come on now, you’re safe here,” she murmured softly She was rewarded by a magenta eye peeking out.
“I-I know…” Rainbow Dash hated the tremor in her voice. “I just….that roar...it all came back…”
“We all experienced it. It was terrible. Do you want to go outside? I opened the window.” Her tone as gentle as it ever had been, the nurse tried to inject as much warmth as she could into her voice. It was easy, given Dash’s state.
A shake of the head was just about discernible amongst the shivering. “N-no. I’m fine. Damn it, I sh-houldn't be so...p-pathetic...
Scootaloo deemed the nurse’s help not sufficient. Wings buzzing she climbed onto Rainbow’s bed. She threw her hooves around her idol’s curled form
“You’re not pathetic! You’re awesome! And cool and radical and wicked and everything!” Scootaloo all but yelled in her need to make Dash feel better. She was latched on tight, the shivering made her tremble but not loosening her determined grip in the slightest. “Everypony is afraid of something! I’m afraid of ghosts, and mushrooms!”
Sweetie Belle bounded over. “Me too! I’m afraid of tangerines! They’re like evil oranges!”
“What? I’m trying to be serious and help Rainbow Dash, stop being silly,” Scootaloo scolded her friend with such fierceness anyone would think the other filly had insulted somepony.
“I am being serious. What’s so scary about mushrooms anyway? Tangerines try to trick you into thinking they’re oranges, but they’re really not!”
“Mushrooms are super-scary! Have you looked at them? I heard there’s a kind called a death cap, of course they’re scary. Death, Sweetie Belle, death!” Scootaloo sounded as frantic as any filly terrified of a mushroom could.
“That’s one kind of mushroom! There are good ones, Rarity makes a salad with them!” protested Sweetie Belle.
“Then your sister is evil! An evil ‘shroom eater! Rarity eats death cap!”
“Nuh-huh!”
“Yeah-huh!”
Their bickering was interrupted by an odd, strangled sound. It took them a few seconds to realise it was Rainbow Dash, and she was...giggling? They stared at the older mare as she gave in and let out a peal of laughter. The pegasus slowly uncurled, as though her laughter was pushing her body out.
“Y-you two…”Recovering slowly from her fit of mirth, Rainbow Dash gave the two a shaky smile. Scootaloo promptly threw herself at the older mare. “Hey, watch it squirt. All bruised, remember?”
“Sorry, I’m just so glad you’re okay!” Letting go, Scootaloo looked embarrassed. “Seeing you like that was really…”
Rainbow Dash gave her a comforting nuzzle. “Yeah, I know. Don’t worry, I’m back to normal…” She wrapped a wing around the filly, not entirely just for Scootaloo’s benefit. “Mostly. I think. Whatever that thing did brought it back. s-so, let’s just get on with it. How’s Mac?”
As much as Rainbow’s recovery from her brief episode heartened the nurse, Redheart felt it sinking when she looked at the catatonic stallion. “Nothing. Nothing at all. Maybe if we get one of his sisters-”
Screams interrupted her suggestion. All four conscious ponies rushed to the window, peering out as the sounds of panic spread through Ponyville on well-worn paths. It was something of a reflex now.
“I don’t think that roar was the end of it,” Rainbow said. She winced as she pulled the bandages restraining her wings off.
“What do you- stop that this instant!” The nurse didn’t wait a moment once she saw Rainbow’s hooves at work. The pegasus fended her off, hoping back.
“I gotta get out there and help. Whatever’s happening, my friends are gonna be in the middle of it and I’m going to be there with them. Loyalty, remember?” Ignoring Redheart’s attempts to stop her, Dash had her wings free. “Sorry, you can be angry after I help them, okay? Girls, stay inside. See ya!”
“Miss Dash, get back here this second!”
“Woo! Rainbow Dash! Save the day!” Cheered Scootaloo.
“Bye~bye!” Sweetie Belle waved.
***
Clearing the corner, the three came into sight of the hospital. Lights glowing in the darkening twilight, it was a beacon in the face of the oncoming monster. Ponies were streaming out the nearest door.
Paladin scanned their surroundings, looking for anything to give them an advantage. Where were the towering arches to be collapsed into barriers, the bridges that could be brought down to trap their landlocked foe? Ponies, for all their pleasant homes, were not at all good at defensive considerations.
“Let’s... put them down... in the hospital,” Rarity suggested between sucking in precious, precious air.
Applejack and Paladin wasted not a moment with rushing in. Combining his booming voice with his distinctive feature of bigger-than-everypony-but-Big-Mac, Paladin commandeered a pair of nurses.
“Put them somewhere safe, and assure these ponies; no harm will befall them while we stand.” With that he turned, knowing Spike and their true foe were nearly there.
This proved far truer than he had known, the corrupted dragon bearing down on the hospital with only a hundred yards between them. He roared, the sound lacking its magical charge but terrible nonetheless. The furred monster atop him pointed a claw at the hospital.
A rainbow-comet came flying down, trailing a gust of wind that swept under Spike’s claw. His step was thrown off by the blast that blew his claws off and the momentum sent him face-first into the dirt. Rainbow Dash hovered above, smirking.
“Heh, how’s that feel, you ugly-”
“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity’s voice pierced eardrums for a hundred feet. “Get down here this second!”
“Geeze, jealous I knocked scaley down or what?” Rainbow Dash asked as she came to a halt, hovering above the three of them. She grinned, an expression which faded when Rarity gave her a gentle prod in the side with her magic. “Ow! Careful, I’m hur- err, a bit bruised.”
Rarity harrumphed. “That ‘scaley’ is poor Spike! Whatever that dreadful beast did to Macintosh has done the same to Spikey-wikey!”
That rather took the wind out of Rainbow’s sails. She ducked her head. “Oh. Uh, oopsy? I think he’s fine.”
“He had better be! That foul creature riding him, however, you can do as you want with.” Rarity’s expression was far too wrathful to be lady-like. She glared at the furred monster holding itself steady as Spike stood once more.
Applejack said, “Dash, how’s Mac? He ain’t comin’ out too, is he? Y’all should both be in bed.”
Rainbow Dash smiled, the pointed statement bouncing off. “He’s still there, don’t worry. Scoots and Sweetie Belle came by for a visit, so I doubt if he wakes up he’ll leave them alone.”
“If he wakes up? Is he okay? How could he sleep through that roar?” The questions poured out, Applejack advancing on Rainbow Dash with a sharp look. “He's unconscious again? He better be-”
“AJ, calm down, there’s a nurse with them, they’re fine. We’ve got Spike and that thing up there to deal with.” Rainbow Dash flew over her friend, hovering between the three. “What’s the plan?”
Paladin had kept his focus trained on their foe, gaze calculating and measuring them. “Moving our foes away from the town is our first priority. Spike’s corrupted form may not be as gigantic as Macintosh’s, but it’s too big for us to risk here too long. Then we must separate Spike from whoever that creature is.”
“I can do that!” Rainbow Dash volunteered with a grin. “I’ll blast him off Spike’s block easier before you know it.”
“Just make sure it’s before he knows it too, sugarcube,” Applejack warned her. “Lemme get my armour on…”
She took a deep breath, preparing to summon her coat of shining armour. A harsh, croaking voice cut through the air before she could. It was an old, craggy voice with deceptive placidity.
“Surrender the foals, mortals,” called the hairy creature. He gestured at Spike. “Else I, Scorpan, shall unleash my pet upon you. You have no angelic magic to break my hold upon him now. You have no hope.”
“Your...pet?! Release Spike this instant, you wretched beast!” Rarity yelled, her horn glowing. A subtle light spread through her eyes, peering deeply at this Scorpan and Spike with her Sight. The shadowy energies that created the shadow dragon’s form were thicker and more binding than they had been on Macintosh. She tried to find some weakness, some flaw they could exploit.
Scorpan chuckled, his peculiar voice lending the sound a doubly sinister quality. “I slaved away beneath a tyrant for countless eons. Now his power is mine, I shall never give it up. The dragons never let him take their spawn. They were far too wise; they destroyed them, rather than let my former master get his hands on them. I have surpassed him; he released not a single slave, why should I?”
Paladin’s hoof came down with unexpected force when he stepped forward. “Because whoever you may have served once, beast, is not here to protect you. Release the dragon, surrender yourself and you will be shown justice.”
“What justice would that be? The noose? The axe?” Scorpan shook his head. “I tire of this. Your chance has passed. Dragon, breathe.”
Spike’s mutated form didn’t bother breathing it. It simply lunged forward, a cloud of dark fog blasting from it’s maw with a earth-shaking roar. Applejack threw herself forward, armour shimmering into existence. The black fog-fire rolled over her, and kept on going.
“Applejack!” Rainbow Dash teleported, appearing above Spike’s head with legs primed to buck. and shut off the attack. A claw caught her back leg and she looked down in shock to see Scorpan, wings extended, pulling her to him. He backhanded her, gangly limbed striking with deceptive strength that knocked her to the ground. She bounced, senses lost in the tumble, before she too vanished within the expanded explosion of heatless dark fire.
Launching himself into the air, any plan of Paladin’s became moot. The fire-fog cloud reached up faster than he could ascend. With a furious roar of defiance he was dragged within. Rarity watched in horror. She saw the forms of her friends silhouetted within the spreading darkness, limp and unmoving, and unburnt. She saw nothing burning, only the ever-growing shadows.
“W-what…” she stammered.
“Rarity!” The high scream made her look back in the moments before she was caught. Sweetie Belle was staring at her in horror from the hospital, her eyes wide and teary as she watched her sister consumed by fire.
“Sweetie, come on!” Scootaloo pulled at her friend. “We gotta-”
Whatever Scootaloo meant to say, she never had the chance. With the ponies outside caught within the ominous fire-fog, the shadow dragon’s still-gaping maw rumbled. The flames poured out in greater volume, guided to wrap around the hospital. They crept in through every window, under every door. Ponies collapsed, but no burns appeared as their forms were gripped in the foul substance.
Scorpan reclined atop Spike, watching the shadow-swamped building. It felt good to taunt them, to claim power. His smirk died as he considered the lies he had told.
‘Lies. Why must they be lies?’ he asked. He cast his eye on the enslaved dragon, frowning thoughtfully. ‘All that power, and my master’s attention turned to crafting the next corruption. He’ll be so deeply buried in that wretched sack by now...’
His thoughtful frown turned into a sinister smile, unfolding slowly and smugly. One claw trailed along Spike’s scales, dragging a thread of darkness with it.
‘Yes. Why not make the lies true?’ He lounged there, gathering another thread of shadow-magic from Spike’s form. ‘Let the mortals stew in their own phantoms. I have the time.’
Rarity stared into the gloom. It clung to her, making every gesture slow and difficult. She blinked, trying to work out what was happening.
“Useless. Honestly Rarity, this is useless! You’re the lamest friend ever!” Rainbow Dash’s voice, clear as ear-grating crystal, growled. Rarity turned her head, seeking the source. Her friend lay where she had been knocked, limp and only twitching. Despite this, her voice continued to growl angrily in her ear. “Why did I ever think somepony like you was actually worth wasting my time on?”
“Don’t be so harsh, sugarcube, ain’t her fault she ain’t got no use. ‘s what fancy mares are like. All gussied up an’ as useful as a chocolate kettle,” Applejack’s voice said. It couldn’t be the mare herself, because she was slumped on the ground.
The voices of her friends, her loved ones, the Princesses, soon everypony she had met began to yammer away in Rarity’s ears. She shook her head, trying to ignore them. There was nopony to say the harsh, painful words, but they still hurt to hear.
‘My sister!’ Rarity turned again, looking for Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo was on the ground at the door, but Sweetie Belle was gone.
“You should just go away and die,” her mother’s voice sneered.
“Be quiet,” Rarity yelled. She thought she did anyway. She didn’t hear it herself. Her Sight remained, but her hearing limited to the phantom voices. Each step took so much effort, she was exhausted when she reached the door. “S-Sweetie Belle? Are you there?”
“Hopefully your sister’s talent won’t be so wasteful.” scolded her father.
“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity screamed, trying to drown out the voices. Given she couldn’t even hear her own voice, it failed. She staggered into the hospital, passing the fallen, twitching ponies. They lay across the floor, dropped mid-panic. Rarity called out again, needing to know her sister was safe. She had to make sure of that first, before-
“R-Rarity?”
Rarity’s eyes, already wide and wild, began to dart about frantically. “Sweetie Belle? Where are you?” It felt so strange, talking without actually hearing herself.
“Rarity! I can’t tell! Everypony is around me! Help!” Her sister cried out, trailing off into a whimper. Sweetie’s voice cut through the fakes, dispelling them for a moment. The second she stopped speaking they resumed their constant, demoralising attack.
“I’m coming!” Forcing herself to move faster, Rarity searched with growing desperation. “Keep talking!”
She homed in on Sweetie’s voice, following it as closely as she could. “I-I think I’m in the...club house? Or home? It keeps changing, and I can see everypony around, pointing and talking and glaring and I can’t hear them and I-I want a hug!”
Stooping beneath a desk, Rarity wasted not a moment in giving her shivering, whimpering sister just what she wanted. Eyes closed, focusing on her sister' voice, Rarity held her tightly. “Shh, I’m here now, Sweetie, everything is going to be alright. You’re in the hospital, remember?”
“I do...w-why can’t I see it? Everything’s all dark and scary. I wanna go home,” whined the filly. She pressed against Rarity for protection, a protection it broke Rarity’s heart knowing she couldn’t give.
“It’ll be alright,” Rarity assured her. She wished she believed it herself. “Everything will be okay…”
She had to work out what was going on. She had to come up with a plan. Her friends were out of it, and she doubted they would be roused anymore easily than the ponies fallen around her. The only time she could even hear herself think was when Sweetie Belle’s voice cut away the fakes.
‘Focus!’ Rarity ordered herself. ‘I need to come up with a plan myself. Come now Rarity, you can do this. Work out what I have; myself, my Sight, and- and- oh, blast, it’s so hard to think with them screaming in my ears, I need to have Sweetie talk so the voices...’
Rarity’s eyes popped open in surprise. How had she missed that?
‘Sweetie Belle’s voice! Why can it...oh...’ Her own question was answered. With her eyes opening she Saw her sister clearly, her proximity letting her See clearly through the gloom that clung to everything. Rarity Saw Sweetie Belle, something she had never bothered to do. She’d never had the need. That, given the glow of ragged, unnatural angelic energy, was turning out to have been a mistake.
“Oh, Sweetie…” She murmured, hugging her sister. “Not you too.”
“Not me? What’s wrong? Did I do something wrong?” Sweetie’s voice became even more frightened, as though afraid her sister was angry with her.
Rarity ran a hoof through her mane. “Not at all, you haven’t done anything wrong, I promise darling,” she soothed. “Something just...surprised me. Your voice, Sweetie darling, have you noticed anything different about it?”
If she found Rarity’s interest odd, Sweetie Belle was too overwhelmed by everything to question it. “Uh, well, a bit. Spike said the song I’ve been trying to remember sounded good, even though I could only make sounds, and I’ve been getting better with it all day, each time I try.”
“That’s wonderful.” The small smile that brought to Sweetie Belle, even in the midst of this crisis, warmed Rarity’s heart. ‘Oh, if only Twilight were here! She would know how this works. Apple Bloom was apparently obsessed with making things when she got some of this angel magic. So, it’s making Sweetie’s voice magic? Like my Sight. Goodness.’
“I know! It’s so nice! I can’t remember the song, but I can feel it in there somewhere, and when I sing part of it I feel so good!” Sweetie Belle took refuge in talking of something else, her eyes closed against the shadowy forms of her friends and family silently moving their lips, speaking things she couldn’t hear. “M-maybe it’ll help.”
Before Rarity could say anything Sweetie Belle opened her mouth and...sung. It took a few seconds for the fact that the pure, soaring sound was coming from the filly. A crystal clear note cut through the fog-fire. The note changed as Sweetie sung on, and the ponies around them stirred.
Rarity’s spirited soared with the wondrous sound, yet it lasted only a far too brief few seconds. Sweetie Belle fell silent, and around them came thumps as ponies went prone once more. The sounds came rushing back into Rarity’s ears.
“So, did you like it?” Sweetie Belle asked hopefully. She kept her eyes closed, just holding onto her sister.
“I...y-yes, Sweetie Belle. That was beautiful.” Rarity found herself breathless in awe. She wanted to hear it again. Such was the beauty of even the memory, so fresh and vivid she could almost truly hear it, that it felt like the voices were quieter now, suppressed or pushed from her.
Inspiration came to her, like a spark setting her mind aflame. The voices were quieter. Weaker. She peered down at Sweetie Belle and felt the blossoming of hope at last. She was no longer flailing blindly for something to do. Her Sight allowed her so see past the torments poor Spike’s corrupted fire - though it didn’t burn, she hardly found this more merciful - but she couldn’t lend that to others. But Sweetie Belle’s voice, that angelic song, was a different matter.
‘And there is one pony who knows about the songs of angels. We just need to get him,’ Rarity thought with a wide smile. She stood, helping Sweetie up. “Come now, darling, we have to go outside. We have a very important job to do.”
“Um, okay? ...wasn’t there a monster outside?” Sweetie’s voice trembled slightly.
“...yes, but trust me, you’ll be fine.” Why that dirty Scorpan fellow hadn’t attacked with Spike yet, Rarity wish she knew. All she could do was hope they could wake Paladin, and he could help Sweetie Belle to free the others. They reached the door. “Wait here.”
Beyond the fog-fire, Scorpan continued his work. His attention was focused on drawing minute threads of dark energy to himself. Rarity Saw the deliberate delicacy in the creature’s work; nothing he drew out threatened the web of corruptive magic’s stability. She could only hope he was distracted by it, enough that he didn’t hear the sound of Paladin being slowly dragged by the panting unicorn.
“What are you doing?” asked Sweetie. She cocked her head, but kept her eyes shut.
“Just...bringing Paladin over...w-we need to wake him up,” Rarity huffed and puffed with each word. She finally got the big pegasus inside, quietly closing the door behind her. He remained still aside from twitching, his eyes wide and staring at nothing.
Sweetie Belle leaned closer, frowning. “What’s a….imp-eyrie-ass?”
“Mind your tongue. Paladin is seeing things that aren’t there, like you were. I can see past them, but nopony else can. They can hear things too. Rather dreadful things, that block out everything. I can’t even hear my own voice.” Rarity ran a hoof through her sister’s mane. “But I can hear your voice, and you aren’t fooled either. So you need to help Paladin hear past them as well.”
“I can do that?!” Sweetie Belle almost swelled with her own sudden sense of importance. “I can help! I’ll do my best...uh.” she trailed off. “How?”
Rarity smiled, though Sweetie couldn’t see it. “Just do what you do oh so wonderfully, darling,” she answered. “Sing.”
***
He stood in the High Heavens, yet he did not tower with the height of a archangel. He did not shine with holy light. His lightsong was not brilliant and clear.
“No brother of ours,” snarled Imperius. He stood above and before Paladin, pointing Solarion at him. “I thought you stronger, and yet you have devolved into this...abomination!”
Auriel descended, her graceful form belying the disappointment in her voice. “Though I am Hope, there is none for you. You are no longer even Tyrael. You are just mortal.”
Paladin’s breath escaped him, along with his words. Their's weighed upon him so heavily he couldn’t move. He couldn’t talk. He could only hear them, watching his comrades- watching Tyrael’s comrades look down upon him.
“You have failed us all, mortal,” whispered the voice of Itherael. “You failed justice. You failed us. Our fate is defeat. You have taken Tyrael from us.”
From above came the final voice. It carried the wisdom of ages, so great that the melody that it threatened to capture him entirely.
“Justice is dead. Because of you,” Malthael accused softly.
The Spear of Valor slammed into the ground next to Paladin’s head. “You took him from me. My brother. My wayward brother, who waged war at my side since light first dawned on creation. You deserve death.”
“N-no, Imp..erius…” Paladin croaked.
“They’re wrong!”
Hope soared in Paladin’s heart. That was Twilight’s voice-
“You aren’t mortal. You’re not even a pony!” Twilight appeared from behind Imperius. Her glare was as hateful his. “We tried so hard to just relax, to pretend there was nothing wrong with you being some insane….spirit or whatever! We were wrong!”
Paladin blinked. There was something strange. Twilight’s voice had...changed. Before he could think on it, Fluttershy stepped into being. He hadn’t seen her, but there she was. It wasn’t hate on her face. It was far worse. It was disappointment.
“You should have told me. But you didn’t. You let things get in the way. We never had the chance to do anything. To be anything. And it’s all your fault…” As she spoke, Malthael descended. One of his long, curving blades slowly dropped down to frame her neck. “It’s all your fault-”
Fluttershy’s voice became warped and faded, modulating weirdly. Another sound broke through it. Suddenly everything was wrong. Wise Malthael’s voice should have been truly enrapturing. It was among the most beautiful, peaceful of sounds in creation. It was meant to, but he felt...nothing. The fire in Imperius’s voice could not lift morale and send the weakest of hearts into battle with a cry of valour on their lips. Auriel’s voice brought no hope to fight the despair. There was no knowledge to Itherael’s words.
There was no kindness in Fluttershy’s voice. It was not the voice that made him feel such strange, alien emotions. It was not the pony who touched something inside his soul reserved for her alone.
For an instant, he heard it. A song like those of his memories. The music of the Heavens washed clean his ears. His breath drew in, not a pant but a great lungful as he burst from the waking nightmare that had gripped him. The sensations of his body returned. He could feel his heart beating, that strange chambered organ pumping blood throughout his equally strange yet now so familiar body. His veins burned with life.
The gloom cleared for a moment, long enough to see Sweetie Belle as her song ended. She beamed down at him. He stared at her in shock and awe, pieces clicking into place. ‘Another fragment of angelic energy, expressing an aspect of Ardleon’s being. It must be!’
“Look, Rarity, he’s not being all weird...hey! I can see without all the stuff!” Sweetie Belle beamed.
“Wonderful darling! Oh thank goodness, the voices are gone!” Rarity helped Paladin up, her own relief clear. “I think other ponies are waking up too. I knew you could do it!”
Paladin grunted. He stood unsteadily. “Indeed. I feel freed. Be warned, though, the effects may not last. Whatever foul magic has transformed Spike has mutated his fire into a thing of nightmares.”
“Huh? Spike? Where’s Spike? Do we need to go out and get him?” The filly asked worriedly.
An atrocious roar broke the silence. Something slammed into the hospital’s facade, followed by tremendous grinding as it was ripping away. The roar echoed on, growing and throbbing with power. As glorious as the angelic song expressed in Sweetie Belle’s voice had been this was a bass scream that sent the ponies slowly roused slumping back to the ground.
“I have ears,” hissed Scorpan. His amplified voice reached every corner of the hospital. “I heard that wretched sound. Surrender the vessels. I will have the sundered angel’s essence, if I must tear it from you.”
Rarity heard a faint whisper, a hint of the voices returning, but she fought it off. From his stagger Paladin felt the same. He shook his head to clear his sight. The dark, ethereal flames pressed in on them. They cracked open, an ebon claw breaking in with a shower of dust and debris. She covered her sister, looking up at the deadly weapon that had no place on poor little Spike.
“We need Twilight! If I help her, she can- no, she can’t use angelic magic on her own, not yet. Damnation, we need more of those stakes Apple Bloom infused with her overloading energies.” Paladin hissed a curse under his breath, the sort that could only be heard around farmers or sailors and had a good chance of curdling milk. He spread his wings defensively. “Or wake up the others. Go, Rarity, get Sweetie Belle away! I’ll distract them, you wake the others.”
“We can’t just leave you here,” Rarity protested.
Sweetie Belle stared at the claws ripping their way towards them. She understood, vaguely, that they were meant to be Spike’s, somehow. Her lower lip trembled. Her friend, a big scary monster again?
“B-but...we were playing a couple hours ago!” Sweetie Belle wailed. “Me and him and Scootaloo! He can’t be a big monster!”
Rarity began to pull on her sister, trying to drag the filly away. She glared at Paladin and his defensive stance right in front of the wall Spike was attacking. “Sweetie, darling, I know it’s hard. We have to get away, so Paladin can...keep him occupied. We’ll fix Spike, just like we did Macintosh, I promise.”
“It’s not fair! Spike’s nice! He said my song was good, e-even though he didn’t get to hear much. It’s not fair!” She thrashed in Rarity’s hold, distraught by how everything was horrible. Everypony was being weird, somepony had made Spike into a monster, and there was a big hairy thing riding him and she didn’t like it at all!
Despite her best efforts, Rarity couldn’t soothe her sister. She settled for just forcefully carrying her away, which would have worked if she hadn’t found herself being shoved into a gallop and Sweetie Belle thrown onto Paladin’s back as he rushed them away.
“Thanks goodness you changed your mind!” Rarity panted. She waited for his reply, but his attention was fixed, as much as it could be, on the filly on his back.
“Spike heard you sing the angelic song before?” Paladin galloped off to the side. They had to avoid Spike and Scorpan without leaving everypony around them to get hit by debris.
“Y-yeah.” Clinging tight, Sweetie wished she had wings. This sort of thing was surely easier with wings. She yelped as she was bounced about.
“We don’t have the store of angelic magic or Twilight, but we have another method.” Coming to a stop, Paladin looked back the way they came. The sounds of destruction were gone. It was eerily silent. “The sound of an angelic song - for that was clearly what we heard - is a brilliant flame imprint upon the mind. If we can guide Spike from it with that memory, we may break the spell.”
Rarity felt, for a moment, vindicated. She had trusted that Paladin would know what to do. Choosing to wake him over her other friends had not been easy, but it seemed she had picked right. She gave him a firm nod of agreement.
“Then you had best get back to work, darling,” she said as began to walk away. “I shall keep that dreadful Scorpan busy.”
She had the pleasure to watch Paladin’s mouth drop open in surprise. “What? I need to do that.”
“No, Paladin dear, you need to help Sweetie Belle sing. I don’t see anypony else here who knows about angel songs, do you?” She raised one exquisite eyebrow.
Paladin spluttered, trying to get her to come back. “Wait, no, Rarity- how do you know where they are?”
“Trust me, darling,” Rarity called back. “They shall find me. Sweetie Belle, I’ll be back soon.”
“Okay Rarity! I’ll come save you with my magic voice!” Sweetie called back.
He stared after her, trying to grasp that she had left him - him - to get Sweetie Belle to sing. The filly beamed up at him, sensing hope like a shark scenting blood in the water. Paladin took a deep, calming breath.
It failed to calm him.
“Fine,” he growled. Despite his annoyance, he knew Rarity had made the right choice. ‘I can’t even hear my own lightsong. I...I don’t have one, how am I supposed to help Sweetie Belle give voice to the angelic energy within her?’
Paladin looked down at Sweetie Belle uncertainly. “You can hear the song you’re trying to voice, yes?”
She shook her head. “Nope! I heard it...somewhere, I’m not sure. But when I try to sing it, I keep getting more of it. I don’t really understand it, but it feels good. Can you really help me learn more of it? I didn’t know you could sing.”
“I can’t. Not anymore. Sweetie Belle, that song, it’s very special. More than you can imagine. You know what a soul is? This song...it’s like a song made from a soul, and about the soul at the same time, about everything good that exists.” Paladin groaned. “This is complicated, and we have so little time!”
Sweetie Belle cocked her head to the side. “Can’t you just try singing and I’ll pick it up?”
“I can’t! I can remember the lightsongs, the beauty of the angelic choir, but I can’t give voice to them! Sweetie Belle, I want to let you hear them in their full glory. Nothing would give me greater joy than to hear them again! But I can’t.” He sat back, trying to think of something, anything, he could do.
“...uh, Paladin? Rarity, and her friends, they talk about you with all this ‘angelic’ stuff, and you’ve heard it all, so...are you an angel? I thought angels were kind of magic ghost pegasi.” Her eyes widened. “Are you a magic ghost pegasus? Are there more? Maybe they could help.”
“No, I’m….not really. It’s so very complicated. That’s why this is so hard, I have to put things into terms not just for you, but for myself. I can remember it all, but I struggle to explain.” He could hear them, the lightsongs of the angelic choir, but he found no real words capable of conveying it. It was alien to this world. It was alien to him. It hurt to think about, even accepting as he had that he was Paladin. ‘Tyrael is gone. I cannot be him anymore...but it hurt to hear those hateful words. The illusion knew where to strike my heart.’
Head bowed and eyes shut as he struggled, Paladin slowly looked when he felt a warm presence at his side. He stared down at the filly hugging him.
“Uh…”
“Please don’t be sad. E-everypony is in danger, and Rarity is out there fighting some meany monster version of Spike.” She looked up at him with pleading eyes. “You can’t be sad too. We need to do something. There has to be something you can tell me to help me sing the magic song.”
He gently wrapped a wing around her, sighing. “I’m trying. But nothing compares to the sounds and experiences I once knew. What words can I use? What could I speak of that would make you understand what I mean?”
She pouted as they sat there. “I’d love to know as well.”
Paladin’s reaction was subdued, but it felt to him like stepping into the warmth of summer from the heart of winter. What words could compare to what he knew and felt as an angel, yet were different and wholly mortal?
‘I don’t need to inspire her as Tyrael would have. I need to inspire her as I would. A mortal’s heart has power greater than even the archangels can comprehend. They- We have .’
“Sweetie Belle, I can’t tell you about the lightsongs, about the beauty of the heavenly beings from whom it is born,” he said softly. “But I want to tell you about something else. Because power and glory are one thing. There are things we feel that no ‘magic ghost pegasi’ can equal.”
“Really? What’s that?”
Paladin looked back, towards where Fluttershy no doubt lay. “Love.”
“Huh?” Sweetie Belle blinked up at him, confused.
“Everypony you love, everything in your life worth living to see and experience. Your friends and your family. All of it,” he urged. “You have the power to express great things through the angelic song that lurks within you. You just need to know that. So think of everything you love, of everything good in your life...and let that out.”
Uncertain, but trusting the big pegasus, Sweetie Belle nodded and took a breath. Her brow knitted in concentrated. “I’m not sure I’m doing it right. I’m thinking about all the good stuff, but it’s hard, w-with what’s happening…”
“I know. It can be hard to see the joy when sadness surrounds you. But the joy is never gone. No matter how far you fall, the light is still there. Waiting simply for you to grasp it.” Paladin smiled down at her sadly. “There is light within you, the light of someone who fell. It simply waits for you to truly reach for it and it will be carried forth. Sing, Sweetie Belle, sing with all your heart and make that light pure once more. It is stained and hurt, but if you simply wish to help, I know you can sing it purely.”
She tried. She really did. It was so hard but she listened to his words and tried to find the light he was talking about. Even with the gloom all around them and the fear that her sister was in danger, Sweetie Belle kept looking for that light. If Paladin said it was there, it was. She just had to look, and hope. Her thoughts drifted to her sister, wondering if Rarity was alright. Sweetie Belle decided she was. She was Rarity, of course she was going to be fine!
And just like that, thoughts on her sister, the light came into focus. Sweetie Belle’s eyes opened, a small ‘oh’ falling from her mouth and ringing with astral tones.
***
Rarity emerged from the hospital just in time to yelp and dodge beneath a slash of claws as long as her. She had to gallop away, hugging the wall as the shadow dragon snarled.
“Here I thought I would have to use some fancy light shows to bring you to me,” she huffed. Sight cutting through the fog-fire that flickered around her, Rarity Saw the change in the magic swamping Spike. It remained strong, but it had been stripped in places. Diminished. The seething darkness around Scorpan had grown, leaving no question as to where it had gone.
Scorpan sneered. “I could sense you, pony. A seething fragment of angelic energy bound in a mortal soul. Surrender the young vessels, the yellow and the white one, and I shall make your death painful.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you mean ‘painless’?”
“No.” He regarded her with cold, contemptuous eyes. As monstrous as he was to her sight, both mundane and magical, Rarity couldn’t help but find his manner as ugly as his face.
“You, Mister Scorpan, are among the foulest, most vile creatures I have ever had the misfortune to lay my eyes upon. I suspect if we were within the same proximity as we were at Sweet Apple Acres, which may I remind you is when you ran with your tail tucked so firmly between your legs you must have needed a chisel to dig it out, I would slap you. I would then do it again, because I never need to fear damaging what passes for your face. While normally I firmly believe that the beauty we show the world with our bodies should be a reflection of the beauty in our hearts.” Rarity sniffed. “I am quite relieved to be wrong in your case. A glimpse of a face that matches your heart would likely render me and anypony with taste blind, deaf and dumb! Which would be something of a relief, since we would never have to see, hear or talk of you again. In summary; you are extremely ugly.”
There was a beautiful moment of stillness, the only reaction from the hairy beast being a twitch. Rarity allowed herself a smile. It felt good to let it all come out on occasion. If only she had a camera to get a picture of his expression to immortalise it.
“You...wretched little…” Scorpan held his claws up as if he could strangle her from a distance. His contorted expression of fury made him even uglier. “Kill her!”
The shadow dragon reacted to the command instantly, snarling and hurling itself forward. Scorpan snapped his wings out, remaining where he was with slow, gravity defying beats of his wings.
“Rip her apart,” he ordered. “Slowly.”
Feeling only a very slight regret for her decision to mock Scorpan, Rarity moved just in time to keep her head on her shoulders. The darkened claws cut through the air her neck had just been occupying. She galloped away with her horn alight. A needle thin blast of magic lanced out at Scorpan. He casually backhanded it away without breaking the beat of his wings.
“Not going to attack your precious little friend? Don’t bother, there’s nothing left of the dragon for you to salvage. It’s all gone.” He gave her a smug, mocking smirk. “Even if there were, the corruption spell has buried any remnant thought or memory so deeply that you could never recover it, not even with all the magic of that wretched Wukong and your meager princesses.”
Rarity kept just barely ahead of Spike’s attack, too busy to reply to the egomaniac taunting her. She had to keep Spike in her sight, so she could see where he was going to attack. His speed was incredible, each blow of his slender, razor claws leaving a deep gouge in the dirt. Rarity powered her horn again, but she couldn’t bring herself to attack Spike. She fired the slender blast at his feet, trying to knock him down. Another followed, a few rapid beams aimed at the perfect spots to disturb his balance. He lunged and fell, slamming his front into the ground as Rarity moved away. She winced in guilt.
‘I am going to give him so many gems after this!’ Rarity thought. The darkly scaled beast rose again, snorting puffs of furious shadow-fire from it’s nostrils. She yelped as she dodged a blast of it. This fire certainly burned, no fog, searing away grass.
The dance continued, Rarity’s unwillingness to actually hurt Spike hampering her. All she could do was just barely stay ahead of him, and soon she realised why. Scorpan gestured occasionally, slowing Spike. The monster was enjoying making Spike hunt her!
“Spike, darling, I’m trying not to hurt you, and I hope you’re doing the same! Surely you-oh!” Her plea was cut off by a whip of Spike’s tail knocking her arse over teakettle. Before she could recover he was on her.
“Hold her,” Scorpan interceded before the shadow dragon could rip her apart. “I want to do this slowly. Bit by bit.” He gave Rarity a wide, hungry smile as Spike lifted her in his tail. “The nightmare-fire will keep the vessel contained. We can afford the time before we go in search of the other.”
Rarity was starting to regret never asking Twilight to teach her teleportation. She struggled against the hard coils of Spike’s tail with a sense of deja vu. Hopefully when Spike was fully grown he’d be less grabby with his tail. Rarity fixed a glare on the monster that had changed her once-little friend.
“The worst thing about you,” she snarled, not a brutal roar but the growl of graceful scorn. “Is that you must have it in you to not do this. To be a better...monkey, or whatever you a-ah!”
Scorpan lowered his hand once Spike had given her the painful squeeze. “Do not,” he seethed. “Call me that. Ever. Again.”
Rarity let out a scornful laugh. “Oh? Will you kill me if I do, darling?”
“I hope there’s something of the dragon left to watch this. I hope he can see it when he kills you.” Scorpan hovered closer, reaching out.
A note drifted on the air, a single golden sound. The world paused, holding it’s breath as it waited for the next note.
Rarity’s ear twitched, picking up faint words. Paladin’s voice. Another note followed the first, just as brilliant and as beautiful.
Paladin pushed the door open, his wing shielding Sweetie Belle as she sat on his back. Sweat matted her coat as she focused on the song. It poured within, a surge of sounds she could only just hear. The single few notes that whispered at the edge of her mind came to life, starting with the note Spike heard only hours ago.
The nightmare-fire began to clear, and Paladin aimed his smirk directly Scorpan. “I warned you, beast. You have no idea how powerful a mortal soul can be, for it holds light equal to all of the Heavens when pure. What is a child’s heart if not pure?”
Claws clamped over his ears, Scorpan snarled viciously. “Kill her!” he commanded Spike. A shudder ran down the shadow dragon’s body and up his tail, but he didn’t squeeze Rarity in the slightest. “I said kill her!”
Rarity gently patted the dark scales, smiling softly at the dragon as he swayed. She could See it, with each alien word that left her sister’s lips, the pulse of life like the beat of a heart within the dark magic. “Don’t worry about what that awful creature is telling you, Spikey-wikey. You don’t have to do what he says.”
“Kill her!” When the mesmerised dragon did nothing, Scorpan let out a frustrated growl. “I’ll do it myself!”
Spike just trembled, his corrupted form shuddering. His tail shifted, tightening and loosening to Rarity’s displeasure as he finally began to move. Each movement was wild and jerky. It made it harder, but she fixed her Sight on the fiery core at the centre of the shadowy coils. It pulsed with each note, growing and incinerating the magic restraining it. She gasped in wonder.
The nightmare-fire was fading away as Sweetie’s voice rose higher and louder, reaching notes no mortal had any business reaching. It swept through the hospital, clearing the nightmares that clung to the ponies within. They stirred, the sounds tormenting them slowly fading. They woke to a sound unlike any other; quite literally an otherworldly voice singing a song with words they couldn’t grasp. They were beautiful, amazing, but they were so alien that understanding them would take more headspace than a single pony had.
Applejack lurched to her feet, shaking her forehead. “W-what’s goin’ on?” she mumbled. Her head hurt. For a moment she experienced pain, the emotional abuse from her waking nightmares that brought bile rising from her stomach. The farm-mare clamped down on it, forcing her stomach to calm. The bizarre shadowy fire was clearing away, with no sign of Spike. Just the sound of beautiful, ethereal singing that calmed her anxious nerves, and the slumped form of-
“Rainbow Dash!”
Applejack ran over, remembering how her friend had been thrown to the ground. Cursing Dash’s rashness, the pegasus’s injuries keeping Applejack from giving her a whap on the head, Applejack began to haul her up.
“Owwwww,” whined the pegasus. She twitched weakly. “Argh, my everything hurts.”
“Yeah, Ah guessed that. Come on sugarcube, we gotta work out where Spike went an’ fix him up. Then we’re getting ya back in bed to fix up yerself.” Applejack glanced at Rainbow Dash, noticing how weary her friend was and considered leaving her there. No need for Rainbow Dash to hurt herself more.
“Right, let’s go...what’s that singing, by the way? It’s beautif- err,” Rainbow Dash coughed loudly. “I mean, it’s pretty cool.”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “No idea. But yer right, it’s beautiful. Ah think it’s what woke us up. Sounds kinda...familiar.”
Nodding, Rainbow Dash tried to free herself from Applejack’s hold. “Yeah, I know what you mean. But it’s pretty sweet, I think it’s on our side. Uh, AJ, you can let go now.”
“Not on yer life. You’ll fly off an’ get hurt the second Ah let ya go. We’re gonna go look, but yer not leavin’ my sight.” Starting towards the singing, one hoof keeping a firm hold on Rainbow Dash, Applejack smirked slightly as the pegasus’s weak struggles did nothing to dissuade her grip. “Let’s go!”
They reached the hospital doors just as Fluttershy and Twilight were helping each other. They only had seconds to exchange cries of relief that they were all alright, for a given value of ‘alright’ before an agonised roar interrupted them.
“Spike!” Twilight and Fluttershy yelled at the same time. They bolted through the hospital. Applejack took off after them, forced to let go of Rainbow Dash to keep up. She spared a second to jam the pegasus onto a chair. “Stay!”
Rainbow Dash glared balefully after her. “What does she think I am, a dog?!” Her wings glowed, and she vanished.
She appeared in time to see Rarity hit the ground in front of her. The wild teleport had landed her outside the hospital again just as the white unicorn landed with a yelp of pain. Rainbow Dash slowly looked up at the looming shadow dragon.
“Oh, damn it.”
The singing was so loud here it almost drowned out Rarity’s voice as she stopped the pegasus from attacking. “Wait! Spike is- I’m not sure, but the magic is breaking!” Rarity leveled a hoof at Scorpan. The wiry fiend had his hands clamped over his ears, yowling in pain. “Him! You can attack him!”
Rainbow Dash grinned. “Awesome.”
Scorpan didn’t see what hit him, eyes closed as he cringed back from the agony of the song. Violent force slammed him into the ground. Dirt flew in every direction when he hit but he had no time to react. The hooves that had hit him left, only to come crashing down again.
“Turn our friends into monsters, will you? You’re so in for it!” Rainbow Dash glared down at him as she stood above Scorpan, hoof raised to strike.
He wrenched one hand from his face, glaring past her at the shuddering, shrinking bulk of the shadow dragon. For once the fiend didn’t speak, wasting no breath on monologuing as he spread his fingers to unleash a blast of dark energy that blew Rainbow Dash away. She caught herself before she hit the ground, sore wings pumping to keep her aloft, but Scorpan was already gone. His form dissolved into shadows and shot away, gone in an instant.
“Y-yeah, you better run!” she shouted after him.
The others had arrived behind them, charging out to watch the dwindling form Spike had been forced into. Twilight was by his side as the last of the shadows broke, catching Spike before he could hit the ground. The darkness was once more that of a normal night, the nightmare-fire gone.
Paladin caught Sweetie Belle as the song faded and she sagged, holding her steady with a wing until Rarity could claim her.
“She did...amazingly.” Paladin shook his head in wonder. “To hear such a song once again...as though Ardleon were at my side once again, pure and whole.”
“I’m sure it was. Will she be okay?” Glancing between Spike, being hugged by Twilight, and Sweetie Belle, Rarity couldn’t keep the worry out of her voice.
Paladin sighed. Ponies were approaching now the monster and the evil fire was gone, and more were waking up inside the hospital. “I do not know. She may have released the ‘pressure’ of the essence before it grew too great, as it did for Apple Bloom, but I don’t have the answers. She should rest, and we should try to find a way to remove the essence from them both as quickly as possible.”
“But, Paladin, she saved us. Apple Bloom saved Big Macintosh! Surely this isn’t so bad,” Rarity reasoned. She and Paladin watched Applejack trying to, awkwardly, explain the situation without making it out like Spike had turned into a monster – again – while Twilight fussed over Spike. “I had best go help Applejack…”
Nodding, Paladin’s thoughtful expression slowly became grim. “Perhaps. You’ve seen the growth when left unchecked. We can’t be sure what effect an angel’s energy within them will cause over time. Think on how Apple Bloom acted. Do you want Sweetie Belle obsessed with singing, and nothing else? It was beautiful, but she deserves more in life.”
Rarity paused, nodding tiredly. “Yes, yes, you’re right. I’m just tired and...it was beautiful, wasn’t it?” Shaking her head, she trotted over to relieve Applejack.
Lost in thought for the moment, Paladin stared off into the distance. He thought of the attacks, so close together and so vicious. The twisting of Spike and Macintosh was an underhanded tactic. It made anger fill him. The thought that someone would twist and distort his friends was not a thought he welcomed.
Soft as a feather, Fluttershy laid a hoof on his shoulder. “Are you alright?”
“Am I- what?” Paladin blinked owlishly at her. “Fluttershy, you were the one I had to carry through the town. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. It wasn’t nice, at all, but I feel fine now.” She gave him an unconvincing smile. It faltered slightly. Both knew he could sense the sea of pain that lurked within, just as both knew she could sense his anger. “I-I’ll feel fine, later.”
Nervously, uncertainly, Paladin unfurled a wing. He slowly opened it, looking at the ground a few inches past her without saying anything. He wasn’t sure what words he could add to the offer. When she realised what he was offering, he felt her surprise and a surge of peculiar happiness that overrode his uncertainty.
Fluttershy gingerly, looking away just as firmly, stepped a bit closer. His wing lay across her back, their sides touching. Neither said anything, both intensely relieved Rarity and Applejack had most of the attention from the ponies demanding to know what was going on. The pegasi stepped back at the same time, fading into the background.
“I….I was going to ask, before,” Fluttershy began to say. “We got interrupted, but I was...I was…” she took a few more breaths, just shy of a nervous fit as she tried to work up the nerve. She looked over at him, hiding most of her face behind her mane. “W-would you like to...do something, s-sometime?”
Paladin went very still for a moment. He wasn’t sure what to think. He wasn’t quite sure what to say. So he settled on a nod. It was a very firm nod. “Y-yes,” he croaked, voice curiously weak. “That sounds….”
“FUN!”
They both started, jumping like lightning had been shot up their spines. Paladin’s wing contracted around Fluttershy, holding her tight against him as he slammed against the hospital, searching reflexively for the threat. The adrenaline that had been fired through his system slowly faded as he realised who it was.
“Pinkie,” he said, not quite keeping a growl out of his voice.
Pinkie beamed at the pair. “I can’t believe it! I totally missed the whole thing with Spike, and now I almost missed Fluttershy asking Paladin out!”
They both winced, looking around in case anypony heard.
“Pinkie, that’s private,” Fluttershy hissed, her cheeks red.
“Which means you should go away,” added Paladin in a deep, frustrated rumble.
Pinkie pouted. “But- oh, fine…” She did exactly what neither had expected. Pinkie turned and trotted away, head hung low. Paladin’s ear twitched, catching a mutter.
“Oh my. I, um, I think that was a bit harsh of us. Pinkie feels very-” Fluttershy began.
“Useless,” he finished for her. Paladin shook his head at her surprised look. “She said when she was walking away.”
They watched Pinkie, her manner cheerful the moment she felt eyes on her, bounce over to Spike and Twilight. The tingling, bitter emotions hidden below the surface didn’t fade from Fluttershy’s sense. It was so unusual to feel from Pinkie Pie she almost doubted she was really feeling it.
“I’ll talk to her. If something is wrong, she needs somepony to talk to.” Fluttershy let out a quiet little sigh, rubbing her forehead. “I know I should do it now, but after everything...my head just…”
“It’s alright. Perhaps you should go home and rest?” Paladin looked around. “There appears to be no more threats. Might I…” he hesitated. “Might I walk you back?”
There were no overt threats, but his face was hot again. Stupid blood. Stupid cheeks.
Blushing as much as he was, and glad for the gloom that hid it, Fluttershy nodded. “O-okay, that would be...nice. Thank you.”
Nopony noticed the pair depart into the night. With Applejack and Rarity commanding the attention of the crowd, they didn’t even notice Twilight trotting away with Spike clinging weakly to her back. Pinkie bounced along at their side, smiling as if all was well with the world. Except, of course, for the smallest of guilty frowns when she looked at her friends’ battered states.
“T-Twilight….” he mumbled, his eyes barely open. “S-sorry…”
She stopped, pulling him off her back into a hug. “You’re awake!” she cried, hooves tight around him.
“Sorry,” said the little dragon. It was obviously taking effort to keep his eyes open, but he fought hard to stay conscious. “P-please-”
Twilight ran a hoof down his limply hanging spines. “Shhh, it’s okay. You don’t need to be sorry, Spike, you didn’t have a choice.”
“I-I hurt-”
“Nope!” Pinkie interrupted. She stole Spike, bouncing him into her lap. “That meany monster-face did. You, Spikey-wikey, didn’t do a thing! So why not have a nap, so you wake up all refreshed and happy?”
He shook his head weakly. “No, I gotta tell the others I’m sorry, I..” Tears began to well up his in eyes. Twilight shot Pinkie a look of panic and uncertainty, knowing she wasn’t good at this sort of thing herself but wanting desperately to do something.
Pinkie gave her a reassuring smile and leaned down, her mouth next to Spike’s head. “Are you sure you don’t want to sleep peacefully?”
Twilight blinked, and Spike was asleep. “Pinkie…” she took the dragon from her ever-surprising friend.
“I thought it would be better if he had a nice nap,” Pinkie said with a shrug and a grin. “Since I’m finally here, I thought I might as well try and be useful!”
There was something about the way Pinkie said that, something that made Twilight frown. It shouldn’t have, but she knew there was something she wasn’t picking up on.
“You two go sleep it off! We can deal with all the stuff in the morning!” Pinkie was behind her, pushing Twilight with her head. “Go on! Everything will be right as chocolate rain!”
“I- okay, fine. We need to have a talk soon.” Blinking tiredly, Twilight sighed. She carried Spike in her magic and gave Pinkie a probing look. “Are you okay?”
“Awww, Twi’, you were the guys who were actually doing stuff and being useful, why would there be anything wrong with me? Nighty-nighty!” Tone chipper and grin as wide as ever, Pinkie bounced off hastily.
Twilight stared after her. “Ooookay...it’s just Pinkie. That’s all.” She sighed again. “It can wait until tomorrow morning. Nothing will happen tonight, not now. I hope.”
***
She had heard it. Stronger than before. Louder. The music. The song. It had been so distant, but she had heard part of it. It had been perfect, but empty. No, it had been lonely. As empty and lonely as the apartment around the mare, who lay in her bed with the sheets kicked away. Her eyes bored into the ceiling, seeking the heavens with eyes that could never see so far. She didn’t move for a long time. She just lay there, staring. Somepony shouted something through the door, but it was slurred and ugly and not at all perfect. It wasn’t like the music she could hear. It had no place in that music, she decided.
Eventually she got up. The mare didn’t move far. She took a few steps to the case holding her instrument. Yes, the instrument. The song was gone as it was every time she woke up, but now a hint remained. On the edge of her hearing, she could make out the faintest tinkle of angelic chimes. They were beautiful. Perfect. Lonely. Lonely and perfect.
Taking up her instrument, she began to play. She played until the dawn came and somepony banged at the door, moaning about hangovers. She had played for hours, staring at nothing at all, hooves working her instrument. She kept playing, and it wasn’t until exhaustion overcame her that she put down the instrument.
She wept. She cried bitter tears. The music that haunted her was perfect. The urge to lash out at the cello before her grew, fed by fury that it couldn’t match the music. It was just wood and string and glue and varnish. It was so weak. She was so weak. Why she wasn’t smashing it to bits for failing her escaped the distraught mare. Something held her back.
She cried until she almost forgot why she was crying. She eventually stopped crying, finally, but the knowledge that she couldn’t match the music in her head never quite vanished. And now, it was a little bit louder.
***
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SHAZAM!
And you all thought the last few chapters were long
Welcome to the big leagues, Justice!
New chapter, drop everything, READ!
And well done on the milestone!
Dear Lord... 26k chapter
Aaaaaaaaw yiss, more Justice! Also, holy crap Octavia also has angelic essence??
Dammit, the chapter went up while I was asleep. Oh well.
Love Rarity's tirade.
Scorpan: "THAT IS! YOU CROSSED THE LINE, SISTER!"
Dang, that was one amazing chapter!
When I read about Sweetie being able to sing angel song I had this scene in mind (the part I'm referring to starts 0:27):
At the end of this chapter... I think that there is a certain grey earth pony mare who has at least a fraction of this angelic essence... and it'll most likely make her mad.
Really good job on this chapter! It was worth waiting!
Wait, are you insinuating that Octavia is a former Angel as well?
Great
So considering 2/3 of the CMC got bits of angel in them everypony would probably think lil Scoots got one two, this can onky end well for her.
But now that last part hints Octi has the next piece, and I can't help but feel it's not gonna be as dandy as the last two cases.
Then there's Pinkie acting strange.
Talk about getting more questions than answers since the start ofthe chapter.
… Houston, we may have an angelic essence infection.
So… is that Tirek's plan? Infect ponies with angelic essence, let it grow, and then eat it? Clever boy. Sow the seeds, but let your enemies grow them… and then steal the crops… I'll be damned if it isn't ingenious. But, I wonder… how many others are infected with angelic essence? There's only so much Ardleon to go around...
Hopefully what?
it seems octavia has an angelic shard piece
I have a bad feeling about this.
You always have a bad feeling about things.
Yeah but this time I mean it.
4594433 I've actually got a World of Warcraft crossover story planned, once I've finished Justice Itself.
4595270 should have some they can borrow, which is now fixed, thanks for catching that.
4595073 Or that's what I WANT you to think! Dun dun DUUUUUUN!
4595143
Don't think Tirek is behind Ardleon's soul being spread around. He'd have had to gotten his hands on 'em first. More that it just... split up and looked for homes, and Tirek wants the power of an angel added to himself.
4596334 Either way, he's getting more power than he did if he just ate the soul raw. With hosts, its fragments can grow stronger, and thus gift him with new levels of power.
A fun chapter to read. And interesting little ending note.
4596194 Damn you and your knowledge of what is to come being the author and all!
*shakes fist*
Holy hell that took forever to read. I love me some long stories but dang was this on a whole other level. Comments: I so wanted to scream - Kawai, every time I saw Flutters and Pally together; the CMC are gonna have a blast pretending to be superheroes, and is was that blush on Sweetie's face just for the compliment or for who gave it to her?
Also, poor Octy. I hope she has somepony to pull her out of her despair. 
Lastly, as always you'll find some typos I ran across, hope it helps.
*adamant it didn’t from h- uh, come - adamant it didn't come from h- uh, come
*eyes. “Well, have you?” - eyes. “Well, do you?”
*we can use, hopefully - we can use, hopefully.
*the Element of Harmony cleaned Princess - the Elements of Harmony cleansed Princess
*If I read what...this passage - I'm actually not sure where you were going with this sentence
*to use it in her own; it - Same as above
*The drake up a claw to his - The drake put up a claw to his
*the slack faces of a pony - the slack face of a pony
*a small tree right. As they - a small tree upright. As they
*important even in an farm. So - important even on a farm. So
*it’s kind of of fuzzy. - it’s kind of fuzzy.
*she was supposed to, according - she was supposed to do, according
*loom working, silently surveying ti. - ti - him?
*Fluttershy felt her the unpleasant - Fluttershy felt the unpleasant
*trap he he had planned - trap he had planned
*Redheart’s smile was a far - Redheart’s smile was far
*The darkness had violated - The darkness had violated
*least one bit of baked good. - least one bite of a baked good. -or- least a bit of baked goods.
*“We could do check on - “We could do a check on -or- “We could check on
*how to react the low hiss - how to react to the low hiss
*ear in the reason struck out. - not sure, but doesn't make since
*no more rights to be heard - no more right to be heard
*she cared about getting closer - she cared about was getting closer
*with each step the shadow dragon - with each step, the shadow dragon
*Damn it, I sh-hould be so - Damn it, I sh-houldn't be so
*the shivering make her - the shivering made her
*Redheart’s attempts stop her, - Redheart’s attempts to stop her,
*darkening twilight it was - darkening twilight, it was
*sharp look. “He unconscious - sharp look. “He's unconscious
*here too long.Then we - here too long. Then we (space between "Then" and "we")
*focusing on her sister’s, Rarity - focusing on her sister, Rarity
*his words. Theirs weighed - his words. Their's weighed
*Itherael. “You failed justice. - Itherael. “You failed Justice. (I think you want that capitalized in this case)
*creation. You deserved death.” - creation. You deserve death.”
*her, but there was she was. - her, but there she was.
*command instantly, snarling - command instantly, snarling
*it holds all light equal - it holds light equal
*Rarity pauses, nodding - Rarity paused, nodding
*few more breath, just - few more breaths, just
*Nothing will happen night, not - Nothing will happen tonight, not
4597252 Yeah, tried to do in one chapter what I did in two last time and it didn't quite work out....next chapter should be 15K words again.
Damn it, some of this stuff I swear wasn't like that in the gdoc. At least this time the upload didn't randomly delete a sentence! Thanks for catching that stuff, damn I wish they weren't there to be spotted.
whew...that was a hard read (spike needs to actually get more than he does in show and you do a good job of that), but a great one never the less.
Also, read the whole chapter while listening to this. Had quite the impact.
4597265 No worries Auto, I'm glad to help out. Helping catch typos is the least I can do for such marvelous free entertainment. And gdocs is evil, I seriously hate editing on it. Great for collabs but I've noticed it get a bit wonky every now and then.
poor Octavia
4594324 It's so... Beautiful
Why can't evey chapter of every story be as long and good?! 
Why?! 
img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080305031940/shadowhearts/images/thumb/5/55/3D-Frank.jpg/300px-3D-Frank.jpg
The word is "cockblocked".
You made me cry three or four times throughout the story...
4604284 Excuse me, but where is it stated, contextual or otherwise, that angelic weapons can't be destroyed? Even then, these are the angelic weapons of an angel. A very powerful one, but not an archangel which is an order of magnitude more powerful than an angel. Angelic weapons are hard to destory, certainly, but a magical being such as nephalem or any other entity with signifcant magical power could break them. El'druin or Solarion could take the sort of might only a fully empowered Nephelam possesses to break and are essentially the next best thing to indestructible to nearly all beings, but lesser angels wouldn't as tough. Ardleon is just an angel, not an archangel, as I've said before. What you've got right there about being indestructible is fanon. Technically what I just said is fanon as well, since it's not stated anywhere, and so neither is more 'right' than the other, in the end.
Tyrael gave them his powers because, oddly enough, he didn't want them to die because most of their life-force had been drained as it was explained and stated. So, you know, you kind of missed that.
As for the world resisting rather than boosting Angelic power, it was also made quite clear that something about the world Equestria is in resists alien entities and power. That's why Tyrael was put into a mortal shell, to protect him from that until he had enough power to resist it and not be destroyed.
Believe me, I pay a lot of attention to the world and story, and how everything works, of Diablo. Of any setting I take an interest in and write about.
4603483 Really? In a good way?
4440782 4604284
Okay, I'm going to take this one step at a time.
Fair point, but there's no need to be so toxic about it. Congrats, you found a point where a flyby comment may have been a bit of stretch in logic. Relax.
In all cases of the princesses talking about their subjects, Tyrael is potentially the sole exception in a threatened group that at least covers the inhabitants of the castle. Pointing him out as an exception is a waste of time. in this case though, he's included because he's someone they've accepted responsibility for. He's their guest and therefore under their protection.
Hold your horses there. Ardleon is an angel. Just an angel. Malthael (An archangel) couldn't even pull that off without a ton of help from other fallen angels and an artifact that contained the seven most powerful demons ever.
That is utter fanon, and total nonsense. Nowhere has it ever been stated that angels and demons can't be hurt by other crap. Hell, look at the first two games; The PCs weren't nephilem, and their followers certainly weren't anything more than talented humans, yet Demons get their scaley (and otherwise) asses handed to them in droves.
Your spelling's fine. Alternately, !) the Worldstone going boom could be an unusual type of explosion, and not one that directly counters El'Druin's fact of being.
2) El'druin is the uncorrupted weapon of an archangel.
Both taken into account, Celestia's sun fire thing could totally be on the same level as Ardleon's tainted ice blades. Celestia vs a fully powered Tyrael might not end as pleasantly, but that's an argument for another time.
IIRC nobody ever said Equestria was 'pure', but assuming I'm wrong, let's pull that one apart, because there are multiple ways Equestria's 'purity' could be taken:
1) Yes, the purity referenced lines up with the angel's being purity personified, and we all call bullshit.
2) It means 'untainted', not just by the universe's black and white definition involving demons, but overall unchanged since its creation. Equestria has never seen an angel; they are Other, and so whether they are pure and absolute good or not, it's unimportant because they are alien (Which BTW, it's been pointed out numerous times that Tyrael is/feels like an alien.)
I could probably BS a few more options, but the point is made.
1) Yes he was, until...
2) The author kinda handed you the reasons, twice, so I won't bother repeating it.
4604729 I would think so, Twilights little panic attack coupled with the discription of the roar kind of just caused me to choke up. This was a wonderful read, thank you.
Great chapter, as always. A very small number of small things that I could have commented on but none of them were big enough for them to really stick in my mind.
Except for that long-winded "you're ugly" from Rarity. It was utterly awesome, but the fact that she says that his face does not accurately reflect his utter loathsome inner qualities does not in fact mean he is ugly. She does imply it at the start and state it at the end, but it kinda needs just a short version of "though it it is impossible for a face to actually be as ugly as you are on the inside, you are still plenty ugly on the outside." Additionally, her not worrying about damaging his face can, at face value, look like she says she can't hurt him, instead of what you mean, that she can't possibly make him uglier. I hope I make some kind of sense here.
So much angelic stuff, I love it. And I love that Rarity was the front line character here.
Soooo many mental assaults. It is odd how fitting that is for the setting, though it also has something to do with your skill, I have seen catastrophically bad fics with mental assaults and nightmarish terror. You make it work perfectly, probably because you so perfectly make the battles revolve around negative and positive emotions and power, egoism and madness vs friendship and love. So great.
Have I said how brilliantly you write these characters yet? Nevermind, because it bears repeating: You write them brilliantly, not least because you keep them true to the show, somewhat, by them seeking other solutions than combat and killing and succeeding.
4604898 Good you're here, that saves me from having to also responding to all that utter fanboyish drivel.
Now, the next chapter please. Happy writing.
4607997
I live to serve.
4608321 Yes, yes you do. Have a moustache, have all the moustaches!
4610846
You know, I've always wanted to go find the original inventor of Barricade.
Way too big. I had to stop a few times. I recommend reducing chapter sizes. Please.
4634146 Why do people complain about chapter sizes so much?
Anyways, if you look at the other chapters in this story, you'd see that Autocharth normally keeps them around 15k. He just managed to make this one unusually large and decided that he didn't want to split it up. Besides, he's already commented on this.
Just have applebloom make a perfect cello Octavia, then you can play the perfect song while sweetie belle sings the perfect song
This is what I was hearing from Sweetie
And the prize for best "Ugly" insult EVER goes to...
*claps* well done! I thoroughly enjoyed that hour.
*continues to next chapter*
Hmm, me thinks this is how changelings were made. it makes total sense that they would feed on love after that, forever trying to regain what was stolen, forever doomed to repeat the crime that they themselves had been victims to. How sad.