• Published 24th Jun 2016
  • 860 Views, 246 Comments

Shine Of The Silver Sun - Nameless Narrator



Necromancers and dark mages are rising all throughout Equestria. Some ponies aim to find out why and destroy the root of the new evil. For now, though, the important ones are those standing against the new darkness - The Order of the Silver Sun.

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Mistakes: Vigilante

The next evening found a certain, totally not at all hung over anymore, black and white unicorn mare still inside her room, but this time walking around with determined expression etched on her face. While Connie had been utterly wasted when she talked to Astray, she remembered the whole thing with complete clarity. Now she was certain the three didn't need her around, and that she had to sort herself out before ever butting into anyone else's life again. That said, her drunken chat with the satyr reassured her that the arena exercise will have a positive result in time despite knowing the three will be scarred for a long time to come. After all, vast majority of ponies never got into a situation of closely realizing their mortality until it was too late. Those three had their world view forcefully changed far before they should, but Connie now knew at least one of them... the important one took it well.

She would never say it to Astray's face, but despite being the least useful out of the three he was the one keeping them from becoming a brainless army squad only obeying orders, instead remaining a group of real individuals. Connie understood how important the first quality was at times, but the second one held greater weight in her mind.

"I need to fix my own mistakes, and one of those is not being a unicorn," Contradiction muttered to herself while packing some basic requirements for leaving the mansion for few days. She stopped and rubbed her horn, then she sighed and shook her head, "A stupid light spell... give me at least something that wouldn't make me completely reliant on gadgets and tools."

Sighing again, she shook her head in full knowledge of how pointless her wish was, and continued packing. Some bits, a toothbrush, a set of clothes just in case, her Order insignia, a spare set of combat horseshoes, a book...

She scoured the room for anything useful that could fit into the open and already overflowing saddlebags on her messy bed. Granted, she sucked at arranging things neatly so the fullness of the bags was more her fault than the contents'. Walking past the central table, she stopped and looked at the wrapped square of cloth containing the shards and the handle of the Blade of Balance broken by Bubbles. She carefully spread the cloth, revealing the fragments arranged into the shape of the original oversized greatsword.

"Should I take this with me?" she levitated the whole mess so that it hovered next to her as a singular blade which she gave several careful swings, "More fragments can mean more flying weapons," the shards scattered into the air around her, slowly floating in a ring surrounding her body, "Nah, I'm not Blaze, I can't focus on so many things at once. Anyway," the shattered sword returned onto the table in its original fragmented shape to remind the mare of her stupidity and mistakes. Connie focused, and a deep groove appeared on the wall she looked at, "who needs weapons when you can do this?"

Connie's eyes turned to the space under her bed from which a wide cardboard box slid out with just the gentlest nudge of her telekinesis. One by one, her 'toys' presented themselves for examination, each one being quickly rejected with a shake of the mare's head.

"Maybe now is not the time," Connie mumbled to herself. When the numerous replicas returned to the box, she was left with only one, not so oversized like most of the others, levitating in front of her - Cromach's. She kissed it and lodged it inside the prepared saddlebags, "Just this one for good luck. If I somehow succeed here I'll have the real thing anyway."

With just a little space left in one of the twin bags for food and water she'd get in the kitchens later, she looked around her room as if giving it a goodbye, and left.

Her plan was simple, but there was a chance of it working. She needed the help of a real unicorn to finally find Black Shield and whoever was controlling her. Thankfully, she had some leverage to get an even better result - an alicorn. Being one of the saviours of the whole world had its perks, especially when having to persuade a certain alicorn princess whose behaviour sort of led to the disaster in the first place. So, find Celestia and pressure her into using whatever personal resources necessary to locate the target.

After that, it was up to Connie to redeem herself on her own. She wouldn't ask for guard assistance or any more help dealing with whoever Celestia found. This was her and only her business, her original drunken screw-up. She had no idea that she believed the same thing as everyone involved in the situation.

"Tickets... tickets..." she checked her bags again, found a single piece of paper, and nodded to herself while walking through the mostly empty halls of the Order headquarters.

***

*Tap tap tap tap!*

"Mmmhm?" Contraiction groggily opened her eyes.

She had left the Order grounds under the cover of darkness by telekinetically tossing herse- vaulting over the outside wall, and had rushed to the train station where there was an over-night train to Canterlot to catch.

For the first time in a while she was having a decent sleep, and now this was happening. She rose from the padded bench in an empty coupe, rubbing her eyes. The colder air and the dim light outside meant only one thing - the train was pulling up the Canterlot mountain and it was super early in the morning.

*Tap tap tap tap!*

It came from near her head, she realized. Branches hitting the window? No, the window only showed the passing rocky mountainside and nothing else she could make out in the still prevalent darkness.

*Tap tap!*

There it was! Something thick and snake-like hit the top of the coupe window and then pulled back up. Had some of the electricity cables torn off and was flailing around?

Wait, weren't those cables usually connected to a generator in the back of the train and led through the floor?

Connie shrugged, she was far from a mechanical pony, that used to be Fortune's job.

Giving her saddlebags a quick look for any possible sign of theft, she slid the window open and stuck her head out to check for a possible train malfunction. Huh, something was hanging from the roof, something that...

...shot towards her, wrapped tightly around her neck in an instant, and dragged her choking upwards.

A moment of flailing her legs and helplessly begging for air later, the living noose relaxed, leaving Connie to drink in lungfuls of air and the entirety of her situation.

Wind was howling around, the surface she was lying on trembled, and she had trouble getting back on all fours without falling over, but considering how bad things could have been it was fairly calm. Connie found herself slipping backwards, quickly turned her head around, and grabbed a nearby indent with her foreleg. When she finally regained some sort of steadiness on the roof of the moving train and stood up, she looked forwards and froze.

By now, Connie would recognize the titanic form of Black Shield anywhere, and the undead earthpony's tail whipping the air behind her gave a clear explanation of the agonizing bruises all over Connie's neck. The most surprising thing was, however, that Shield was only standing there, watching the unicorn and rubbing some collar Connie didn't recall seeing on her before.

Even a crippled unicorn like Contradiction could, though, feel a charge of magical energy build up and...

...fade without doing anything.

She watched Shield, careful about not slipping on the roof again, but the earthpony didn't look intent on doing anything. Connie, on the other hoof, felt the familiar onset of boiling fury. This earthpony... no matter her circumstances... this earthpony was behind all this. Her breathing quickened and she started trembling.

Break her!

Connie could.

Crush her!

She knew that Shield was far enough in case Connie struck with full power, but such attack might shift the whole train-

Obliterate her!

She couldn't... she had to control herself this time. Every time she failed it made things worse, but this ZOMBIE-

End her threat to HIM!

"Calm down, that's not you..." Connie whispered, "That voice isn't yours... something is wrong but it doesn't matter now. Just focus properly and you can do it. Ignore evil voices in your head, no matter how right they are."

Still, this was why Connie was here, and she wasn't going to let this opportunity get away from her.

As soon as Shield saw the dim flicker of light around Contradiction's horn, she leapt forward. The roof dented where she'd been standing a fraction of a second ago.

Connie had been completely wrong. The distance that looked enough was nothing when accounted for the moving train, and Shield cleared a quarter of the train car length within a second and crashed into the smaller unicorn.

Everything was a rolling ball of pain for Connie, and the best she could do was just blindly shove with her telekinesis. The metal roof underneath her bent, but the weight on top of her disappeared as well.

"Aaaah!" she slid backwards, just barely catching onto another vent before plummeting down the mountainside or under the wheels of the moving train. Pulling herself on all fours, Connie quickly scanned the area and got ready to jump away from...

...Black Shield calmly and steadily standing nearby, tail stabbed into the roof for balance.

Now that Connie knew how Shield would react, she fired up her telekinesis again and, as expected, found herself facing a lunging earthpony. This time, though, she jumped backwards over the hole between train cars in hope that Shield would go whoosh right down and enjoy the final seconds of her un-life as mincemeat.

Shield hadn't been a fighter when she was alive, but not many Royal Guards had really had the misfortune of getting into a life or death situation. Equestria was mostly a peaceful country despite a hiccup here and there, but most unnatural threats weren't dealt with by grunts pounding the pavement like Shield. That, however, didn't mean she hadn't gone through periodical re-trainings and tests.

Plus, all the crazy stuff she'd been through since being reanimated helped.

When Connie jumped back and Shield saw the hole opening underneath her, she had the presence of mind and the body size to simply reach out with her forelegs and pull herself onto the next car. She allowed herself a grin after seeing Contradiction's scowl, but the show wasn't over. Before anything, Shield was a Royal Guard and would act as such unless forced to do otherwise. Thankfully, Contradiction seemed to have some sort of respect for pony life and refrained from breaking her along with the train itself.

Now, if only she could get her onto the next car...

Connie was getting accustomed to the train's movement under her hooves, but she still needed to survive Shield's attacks. What was giving her hope was that while Shield had easier time moving around, it wasn't by much and she could still hold her own.

Backing away over the roof as Shield jumped the next gap, Connie was able to move and charge her telekinesis at the same time. She just needed a small nudge, a bit more control. Shield's quick movements from side to side and the wobbling train were just making it so difficult to simply get a good hold of the flesh golem and rip her in half. Connie needed a little more steady ground, or some more time to get used to things.

She saw Shield pounce again, and her mental push hit this time, cutting the jump short and ramming Shield's muzzle into the roof. Connie used the time she'd bought herself to carefully run away and jump over the next hole between train cars. Shield, however, was soon in pursuit and Connie knew she was definitely slower and weaker. If she wanted to survive and not cause more collateral damage, she couldn't let Shield catch up to her. Connie's goal was close.

Now, if only she could bait Shield onto the penultimate car...

Wrapped in their mental game, both mares, dodging and weaving, cleared the last two cars. When the end of the train was only few steps away, Connie finally got a good mental hold of Shield, focused, and heaved. The earthpony whizzed past her surrounded in a white glow, then...

...Connie felt a crushing blow to her side knocking her off balance, then something brushed her hind leg and the world became a blur.

"AAAAAAAAAAAaaaa!"

Hearing Contradiction's panicked scream, Shield smiled and untangled her tail from the unicorn's leg mid-fall. All according to the plan.


Connie fell, covering herself in a telekinetic cushion and rolling away. Shield was far more graceful due to her overwhelming strength, and simply landed with tail impaling the ground and took the remaining kinetic force just by tightening her muscles. The unicorn hissed in pain from the previous hit and touched the spot. Something sticky was there, but it wasn't blood.

Chewing gum and a... wrapper or something?

Nevermind, there were more pressing matters around than some sticky coat. As Connie stood up and shook her head, both of them grinned and said:


"Right where I wanted you."

"Hook, line, and sinker."

They frowned at each other.

"I was baiting you!"

"I was baiting you!"

Four eyebrows furrowed, four eyes narrowed.

"What? I got you off of the train and, as you might remember from last time, now I'll freaking end you once and for all," Connie growled.

Shield smiled to herself, reassured that both her and Contradiction had the same train of thought concerning preventing harm to passengers.

"Alright," the undead earthpony chuckled, "you got me."

The amused admission did little to quell Connie's fury which was finally allowed to boil over. Her horn flashed, and...

...her focus broke when a blue, shimmering doorway appeared behind Shield and a smaller, robed pony figure walked out of it.

Connie's memory was good enough to put two and two together, recognizing the shape's size as the one from the ceremony. So, they gathered in one place. A mistake she could finally punish with full force and end this once and for all. This time she wasn't wasted beyond all reason. This time...

"Proceed with the plan," the robed unicorn said coldly, "We'll see what she-"

Secret Seeker couldn't finish the sentence because his whole world turned into pain.

Connie was seeing red, and her full power flowed freely now, hindered only by the barest remains of self-control. She laughed as she telekinetically punted the surprised wizard into the steep mountainside to break his skull against the rocks.

She couldn't finish him off, as the massive body of Black Shield was already blocking her view and about to smash Connie's head off.

Eradicate her!

Shield scored a deep bleeding blow to Contradiction's side with her tail stabbing like a scorpion's and was about to land on three legs and knock the unicorn out when she suddenly was much further away than a microsecond before.

In fact, she'd been tossed off of the narrow ledge where the train tracks were and down the mountain. Grabbing the closest outcropping and steadying herself with her tail lengthened and wrapped around another one, she looked upwards.

About three pony lengths, that's what she now had to climb up a nearly vertical incline. Oh well, the mansion had been worse.

Secret Seeker blinked as a shadow appeared in front of him. It raised its hoof, and he had enough presence of mind to roll away before Contradiction's half-physical, half-telekinetic punch cleaved a chunk of raw stone out of the mountain where his head used to be. He was an excellent wizard, though, and he had a repertoire for every situation. Conjuring a purple domed barrier around him, he took a breath to recover and-

The shield shattered with a single blow, sending agonizing feedback shocks through Seeker's body. Then he felt mental pressure surround his skull, threatening to squeeze his brain out of his ears.

Connie shivered, watching the flailing unicorn hanging in the air with eyes wide and manic grin on her muzzle.

Return all the pain!

"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" she screeched and squeezed.

Seeker vanished just before the pressure of a black hole turned his head atom-sized.

"No no no no no!" Connie stomped the ground, "You're not running away this time!"

She had no idea what happened. The wizard was clearly gone, but...

...she saw white, see-through tentacles form around her and shoot out into the space the enemy had occupied before teleporting away. Their tips disappeared as if entering a hole, but Connie still felt them. It was her telekinesis given shape.

Why? Nothing made sense, but all she was certain of amidst the growing confusion was that she didn't want the enemy to get away.

Hooves got dragged out of empty space by the thick tendrils, followed by the rest of the screaming and cursing mage.

"Wha-"

Seeker couldn't finish his distraught question before a tentacle wrapped around his barrel and squeezed all the air out of him. He tried thrashing around and gasping for breath, but the damn things weren't allowing him to move. What was happening? How could a unicorn with a suppression syndrome do this to him? How could anypony do this to anypony? There was no magic he could recall capable of doing this.

Just like you wanted. Now execute him. Get your revenge.

The few remaining brain cells in Connie's head not completely consumed by either rage or the overwhelming 'what the heck just happened?' feeling worked overtime. What she did was not magic, it was a divine ability she had seen Blaze use before. She shouldn't have any divine power, though, that made no sense. And what about the tentacle thing?

Wait...

The spark of clarity coming Connie's way faded when the rest of her everything conjured a telekinetic spike aimed at the choking unicorn in front of her clearly on the verge of losing consciousness. More pressure... launch!

Fire everywhere. When the ringing in Connie's head stopped, she realized the hacking, coughing, and searing pain all over was hers. Everything burned, she could barely see through the veil of tears, and every breath felt like having molten magma piped right into her lungs.

Blinking away tears, Connie stood up on her now overly sensitive legs for which even the cold morning mountain air felt like being submersed in boiling water. The wizard was sitting a fair distance away surrounded by a circle of flames. However, a chunk of his barrel was missing along with his foreleg, and guts were spilling out of his torn abdomen. He was clearly in shock, still sitting and staring at his remaining foreleg covered in blood while blood trickled out of his mouth.

Looking down on herself, Connie realized she wasn't in much better shape, but at least still in one drastically charred, smoldering, dark piece. She chuckled, not like her coat hadn't been charcoal-black before anyway.

Black Shield pulled herself up on the ledge and her mouth gaped for a second. Her 'master' was clearly as near death as possible without actually dropping, because she felt his magic still forcing her actions, but this opened a new option for her. As soon as she recovered from the shock, she charged at the swaying, blinking, and stumbling unicorn with small fires still in her mane and coat.

As she got close, she saw Contradiction turn her head and fumble backwards in growing panic. The telekinetic shove only slowed Shield this time. Contradiction fell on her plot, raising her forelegs in front of her muzzle. Rearing on her hind legs, Shield could very easily break them both along with the unicorn's skull...

...but she forced the confused magic inside her to obey her this time.

After all, her master was dying, right? It was much more important to save him than to kill the already defenseless attacker. After just a quick jab which sent Contradiction on her back, Shield turned away and rushed as fast as she could towards Secret Seeker. Maybe, she hoped, just maybe she wouldn't make it in time.

However, she was wrong. She saw the two rings on Seeker's horn shimmer just as the unicorn's body began rebuilding itself. New blood, new organs, new limb, new skin, new coat. All right in front of Shield's eyes.

The utterly exhausted but unhurt unicorn fell over twice before standing up with the help of Shield's tail.

"Thank... stars..." Seeker gasped for breath, "for extensive... research... and... offensive contingency spells."

"The fire?" Shield nodded to the smoking and blackened mountainside all around.

"Yes..." Seeker keeled over on his backside, and said the exact thing Shield hoped not to hear, "I think... I've got the grasp... of the rings' power. Now... erase... the witnesses."

Shield stopped her body just for enough time to ask:

"Shouldn't we get you out of here instead?"

"Kill her... or buy me a minute... and I'll do it myself."

Shield really, REALLY didn't want to do it, but she had no choice anymore. After such a direct order, Contradiction had to die.

Connie saw carefully approaching Black Shield through the haze of flashing stars still clouding her vision.

You stopped ME, a deity, how dare you mock my remaining presence by losing to a MORTAL? That is unthinkable. CRUSH THEM LIKE THE WORMS THEY ARE!

She laughed quietly. Things made just a flicker more sense than a moment before. She had been sure the voice of rage calling for blood and revenge hadn't been hers. Connie knew she wasn't a good or a nice pony, but such murderous intent had been unnatural. Over time she'd chalked it up to being mortally worried for Cromach who said he might love her eventually.

But no, that wasn't it, and the real enemy finally revealed itself. Now, though, now that she knew the rage wasn't her own, but something imposed on her by the foreign presence within herself, she could be herself, she could focus, she could fight back.

"Harmony?" she whipered.

I admire your fighting spirit, but you cannot keep watching everything you do all the time. You will slip up, and your power will give me my revenge on you damn ponies! The lesser creatures who stoppe- slowed me down will live through carnage they deserve.

"I will find somepony who knows about divinity and gods, and they will purge you out of me," Connie breathed out, trying simultaneously to deal with the voice in her head and Shield inching forward. Thankfully, for reasons she didn't know, Shield was overly careful and hesitant in her approach and was giving her a ton of time to sort this out and recover.

No, they will not. I am a reflection of the god's power inside you. You faced me, you stared into the abyss and it stared back. Your power is half yours and half divine. It is both my reward, my admission of your temporary victory, and a curse, my chance to get back at you. I truly AM you, just like Nightmare's power IS a part of the griffon you want to mate with until both your hearts explode. What a wonderful sight that would be.

"Why me...?"

You, the griffon, the fake alicorn, and the hybrid hippogriff were the ones who fought me and my avatar directly.

"I, Cromach, Blaze, and Straw?"

The griffon already possesses Nightmare's essence, the hippogriff was Nightmare's direct host at the time, and I am sure she left a mark on him as well, the traitor alicorn trash... got what he deserved, but you were the only one untouched. Not anymore.

"Doesn't... matter. Now... that I know it's you... I won't lose it again."

We will see, but for now do not dare shame me by getting your head caved in by the flesh golem.

The heavy weight in Connie's head disappeared, and she looked Black Shield in the eyes, now calm, focused, and collected.

Glimmering purple projectiles from the healed unicorn obviously controlling Shield pierced the air and shattered against a carefully crafted fields of telekinetic pressure. Connie quickly ducked underneath Shield's left hook and sent her flying upwards with another mental blow. She knew any physical attacks she could land unarmed would do little to nothing against a golem with hardened flesh, so she just dodged and used her most powerful asset.

Now that she could focus, Connie found out Shield, aside from her absurd strength, size, reach, speed, and endurance, wasn't a dangerous enemy. She was a poor fighter with ridiculous physical attributes, but that was it. Even this tired, Connie could bait, step backwards, and pretend to attack without actually doing so to control Shield's movements.

A spike of pain went through her head as Connie had to deflect a ball of fire flying at her like a meteorite on crack which splattered the area around her in liquid flames. The wizard was the real problem, Shield was just something to occupy her. It was clear offensive fire magic was his speciality, but contingency spells proved he had knowledge of high-tier magic as well. As soon as he would realize direct attacks are the least useful and do something tricky, Connie would be in real trouble.

More fireballs.

Good, he clearly wasn't used to the stress of combat and thinking properly. Connie just needed to step aside and...

...her hind leg gave out, leaving her open for a punch from Shield which, while softened by telekinetic shield, knocked the air out of her.

Connie couldn't get up anymore with the earthpony's hoof on her barrel. Her world was spinning, she gasped for breath, and her mind was too clouded after such a long combat. That sucked, when she finally conquered her head, her body ruined by the TSS caugh up to her.

On the other hoof, if she didn't need to focus on her body anymore, then...

She grinned at the approaching wizard and Shield standing on top of her.

"You know," Secret Seeker said, carefully examining the burned and battered black and white unicorn on the ground, "A second servant might be useful, especially if she keeps her strange powers after reanimation. An excellent protector and a research subject."

"Admit it, you are just tired of my plot," Shield commented, trying to buy Contradiction a little time to recuperate.

"Not now," Seeker nipped that attempt in the bud.

A shiver ran down Shield's spine as red dots started floating around Seeker's horn. She could remember the last sight she saw when alive anywhere. The bloody specks in the air dropped and drained into Contradiction who, strangely, didn't move at all. Shield recalled the spell being quick but painful. Perhaps the mare was too weak to even squirm anymore?

Then they heard the rumbling from above. The creaking of tortured stone and breaking earth. Seeker's spell faded.

"Heheheh," Connie chuckled, momentarily free from the life-draining magic, and whispered, "You know... what they said about me... once? That I could raze... a building. Time to prove them... wrong."

"Holy... Celestia's... plot..." Shield looked upwards and her jaw dropped.

Like in slow motion, she watched massive shards of rock clearly ripped out of the high mountain roll down, gathering more and more of their shimmering and fragmenting brethren into a gigantic avalanche about to wash all three of them down along with the ledge and the train tracks. She couldn't believe what she was witnessing. A gigantic half moon chunk of the mountain which she's lived on her entire life, and a while after it, was now missing, falling down on her.

She was tearing down the entire side of mount Canterlot...

"Shield, to me!" she heard Secret Seeker, and immediately jumped to protect him from the incoming rocks, "We're leaving!"

Seeker's horn flared, and...

...nothing happened.

Looking down on the white tentacles wrapped around both her and Seeker's legs, she hear her master yell:

"NOT AGAIN!"

"Hey, you thieving bastards!" they both heard Contradiction scream while sitting up, "If I'm to go, I'm taking you down with me."

"KILL HER!" Seeker roared.

Shield started running, but the first giant rocks landed on the ledge, shattering it and the train tracks. She looked back at her master.

"Aaaaah!" Secret Seeker, surrounded by his barrier, was falling down the mountainside like a bright puple marble.

Shield couldn't feel pain, but she sure as hay felt the impact that half-crushed her from above. Had the path underneath her not broken as well, she'd have gotten the full pancake treatment.

Connie, having the 'advantage' of being on her back when it all started was already falling, surrounded by her own telekinetic ball. Watching the other two being devoured by the avalanche, she relaxed...

...and then she saw the two bright flashes.

"NOOOOOOOO!" she screamed, realizing that she was too weak to stop them from teleporting away, "I'll fix my mistakes, I'll fix-"

A larger rock bounced away from her mental cushion, making Connie bite her tongue.

The Order of the Silver Sun's purpose was to train normal individuals as a group to fight divine and unnatural threats, powerful but solitary enemies. She... she went against everything she'd been taught since Cromach got her off of the streets sucking dicks for food two years ago.

Contradiction tried to make everything right alone, and that would be her final mistake, one she wouldn't get a chance to fix.

She hit the mountainside, stopping briefly only to see a bigger stone just above her, then more pain, then darkness.

And regret. Short-lived regret.