Lucent in Tenebris
Applejack
Applejack stood her ground in the fog, and no changeling dared to advance on her or her companions. The ponies stuck together in the streets, hugging the dim light of the lamps nearby. The billowing mist seemed to come from nowhere, and though they could not see, the sounds of battle still continued all around them.
A silhouette swept down in front of Applejack. She couldn't tell if it was pony or changeling, and she wasn't going to take the risk. She swung out with a hoof. The shadow reached up and caught it before planting it firmly back on the ground. The figure's wings swept and the fog around them churned, dissipating just a bit. Soon Applejack could see her brother and Caramel, and the bunch that fought with them. The pegasus cleared away a bit more of the fog.
“I should've figured you'd be in the middle of this, AJ,” said Rainbow Dash, shaking her head.
Applejack wanted to spring out and hug Rainbow Dash. She would have, were it not for the war that continued to rage around them. Instead she brushed away some of the fading mist with her hoof.
“Just where the hay have you been?” she demanded. “What's going on with all this fog? This some pegasus thing?”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Why don't you try saying something like, 'thank Celestia you showed up, Rainbow Dash. We were tied up tighter than a rattler in a rope factory!'”
Applejack hit her head against her hoof.
“I'll tell you the whole story later,” Rainbow continued, extending her wings. “The skies are ours. Spread the word, and drive the changelings out.”
The two mares paused a moment and bumped hooves. They had already made their silent vow: to stand victorious and share their trials in the days to follow. Rainbow Dash took to the sky, leaving crescents of fog to drift in her wake.
“Well, you heard her,” said Applejack, stomping her hooves. “Let's take back Canterlot!”
A group of changelings noticed the thinning fog in their area and advanced. Applejack quickly knocked aside the first and the other ponies crushed the rest beneath their hooves. As the air continued to clear, she could see the shapes of the pegasi flying above. The ponies broke from their formations, each pony striking like lightning at the swarms they passed, and then reformed their flights a moment after. Thousands of whirling bodies swarmed above them, and every now and then one would plummet and crash to the ground below.
I hope we don't lose any like that... she thought. She forced the image away and waved at more of her group. The ponies of Ponyville began to reassemble.
“They won't be comin' at us from above,” said Applejack. “That gives us a chance to push them where we wan'tem.” She waved her hoof. “To the main square, now!”
The ponies surged through the streets of Canterlot. Without the advantage of flight, the changelings could only face them in small groups. Though scraped and bitten, the ponies pushed onwards and the battle began to turn.
Fluttershy
Fluttershy's body ached all over. Days without respite bore their toll on her. But fatigue and fear were only another burden that she had learned to carry. She followed Rarity through the castle, finding empty hallway after empty hallway. It seemed that the changelings did not care to hold the keep itself—every last one had gone to join their queen in battle, and those that did cross the path of the army of beasts did not stand for long.
“I do wish I could have shown you the castle in a less violent manner,” Rarity admitted, rounding another spiral staircase.
“I wouldn't mind seeing the gardens,” Fluttershy replied, making herself smile. She tried so hard to remember what it was like to live a normal, peaceful life. Pretending for even a moment that it was the way it used to be made it easier to move on.
The descent to the dungeons forced them to leave some of the larger beasts behind, but Fluttershy had little qualms about allowing a manticore or a grizzly to guard the hallways. The further down they reached, the darker the stone seemed to be, until they eventually came to a narrow doorway leading into the castle underground.
“There's no telling what's beyond this door,” said Rarity, leaning in to eye through the keyhole. “We don't have time to dally around, though. Be prepared for whatever may be on the other side.”
“I'll be okay,” Fluttershy reassured her. She found herself doing that repeatedly, as if Rarity couldn't believe that she was able to walk on her own four hooves. I guess I can't blame her. She doesn't know what I've been through since we last met...
Rarity lowered her horn and a blue glow covered the lock. There was a series of clicks and Rarity shook her head a little. Then the latch clicked and the door shuddered. Fluttershy blinked.
I guess she's been through a lot, too.
Rarity nodded to her, and then opened the door a crack. They leaned in and looked through the single line lit by torches. Light bounced off of the walls, making the stone seem to shake and shimmer with shadows. A hard green substance covered parts of the corridor leading down to the cells. They could not see any ponies within, but they could see the cages and smell the awful musk of the changeling's slime. A trio of pegasus guards watched the passages with vacant interest.
Birch stuck her nose to the door and sniffed. Then she growled. Fluttershy tried to silence her with a brush of a wing, but the changelings already noticed the rumbling disturbance. Each of the guards changed into their original form and screeched.
They did not wait to be ambushed. Rarity swung the door open and the pack of timberwolves poured ahead of them into the narrow corridor. The ponies followed after, worrying their way between the wolves and the changelings and the rock-hard substance they left.
More changelings came up from the basement but Birch and her pack dealt with them swiftly. Rarity and Fluttershy soon found themselves staring at the cells, each packed with changeling pods stuffed with captive ponies.
“There are so many of them... we have to do something!” Rarity looked around frantically for a key.
“Why don't you just use your magic?” wondered Fluttershy.
Rarity shook her head. “These cells were made to hold unicorns as well as any other pony. The metal is going to be resistant...” She frowned and turned over another unconscious changeling. “I don't think that they planned on letting these ponies out, though.”
Fluttershy flapped her wings. “Well, we're not just going to leave them there! Come on, any creature with strong enough teeth... help me take down these bars.”
Equestria was not known for having a breadth of criminal activity. Fluttershy couldn't even have imagined the dungeons coming to any use, at least until Nightmare Moon had taken power. But even then the cells were not made to hold up underneath a siege. The timberwolves, the rats, the swarms of creatures ate away at the metal and spat aside sections of the bars.
“That's enough,” said Fluttershy, once they'd made a hole big enough for them to crawl through. “Now the other ones...”
They squeezed into the first cell while the animals labored at opening the other cells. Rarity almost couldn't will herself to drag her belly across the slime, but the moment that she saw Ember encased in a chrysalis, she practically scrambled through Fluttershy to get to the other side.
“They're weakest right here,” said Fluttershy, reaching up to tap her hooves against part of the sac. “Just a little damage and the whole thing will come apart. You can use your magic if you need to.”
Rarity's horn flickered and she tilted her head. “You sound like you've had to open these before,” she said.
“It's been a long year.” Fluttershy sighed and shook her head. “Let's save these ponies, Rarity.”
The unicorn smiled. “You are truly amazing, Fluttershy,” she said.
“Um, thanks...”
“Well, I already thought that before this whole mess happened. But that doesn't change the fact that you're really impressive. I'm glad that you're here with me.”
Fluttershy nodded. Rarity sparked her magic and sheared a bit of the face away from the chrysalis. Fluttershy grabbed the exposed corner with her teeth and tugged. The pod split open and green goo poured out onto the floor. Once it'd widened enough, Ember slid out onto the floor. A moment later he began coughing up green fluid and rasping for air.
“Are you alright?” Rarity asked, leaning down to prop him up. He gave her a weary look, but allowed her to support his weight. He didn't even complain when she flicked the slime off of his armor and straightened its fastenings.
“I'm still alive,” he said, squeezing and opening his eyes a few times. “The changelings! They're--”
“Fighting in the city,” said Rarity, striking her magic across another chrysalis. “It's all out war, but right now our worry is the ponies in this castle. Who all got taken?”
“They were slowly gathering the guard,” said Ember, rubbing a sore spot on his shoulder. “I don't know how many they managed to retrieve. They took my brother. Turner is missing, too.”
“We'll find them,” she said. “The others are accounted for, except for... Spike! Oh, goodness. I can't believe I forgot about him in all this. He's still up in my tower.” She looked around frantically. “But I can't just leave you alone here.”
Fluttershy shook her head and dragged her hooves across another pod, freeing the pony within. “I can handle it,” she said. “And each pony we free can help me.”
Rarity drew a breath and made to protest, but then she saw her friends and how they helped the others without worry or hesitation. Fluttershy put a slightly sticky wing on her back and gave her a nudge.
“We all have something important to do,” she said. “If you're worried, I can send a timber wolf to protect you...”
Rarity glanced over at Birch and bit her lip. “No, that's quite alright,” she said. “I'm used to getting around Canterlot by myself. Plus I know a shortcut...”
Fluttershy tore open another sac. Rarity squeezed back beneath the cell and paused for a moment. Then she engulfed herself in magic and caused every drop of the changeling slime to slide off of her and onto the floor, before galloping off and away up the stairs.
Ember paused a moment and looked back at the huge crowd of animals around them. “You know, it occurs to me that Rarity and all of her friends are crazy,” he said.
“Um, I'm sorry...” muttered Fluttershy, helping another earth pony to her feet.
Ember laughed and waded through a pool of slime. “No,” he said. “I think that's brilliant. And might be the only thing that will save us in the end.” His attention turned to another pod hanging near the back of the room and his eyes widened. “Shadow! I'm coming, brother.”
Rainbow Dash
Rainbow Dash's flight opened up to her as she ascended and she took her place at the front. They banked to the north and sliced through a pocket of changelings. Each encounter was ferocious but brief. Each pegasus broke off into a seemingly chaotic spiral pattern, drawing one or two changelings from the pack. Then they moved into position and sent the changeling to the ground through whatever force necessary—hoof or head or whatever they could use. Most changelings were poor fliers, or at least were so unused to facing their enemy in the air that all of their tactics crumbled in the face of fully trained pegasi. They couldn't manage to swarm a single team of flying ponies.
Rainbow sprung off of the back of a particularly chunky changeling and her flight rejoined her shortly after.
“What are our orders?” asked Snowflake as they swept back over the streets of Canterlot.
“Maintain air superiority,” said Rainbow Dash, allowing the airstream to carry her voice back to the others. “They've got a heck of a fight on the ground, but we can't let them have all the fun, can we?”
“No, ma'am!” answered back her flight. Rainbow Dash flustered a little and faced forward. It was a bit odd, having ponies answer to her. But rather than fill her with a strange glee, it made her choose every word and movement with deliberation. Leading a flight meant taking the safety of each and every pony into consideration—those in her charge and those who were not.
Pegasi and changeling alike filled the skies over Canterlot. When they weren't engaged, it was only because another wing nearby busied themselves in tearing through the changeling ranks. Skirmishes broke out in a moment's notice. The fighting ended almost as quickly as it began, and it was not always a changeling who fell. The pegasi that did fall always had another wingpony to dive and help them recover, or at least make sure they landed without too many broken bones.
The changelings had nothing of the sort. They fought on instinct and with the mind that they would have their entire hive behind them. In the sky, they did not. But the more the changelings realized that, the more descended. The pressure on the ground forces grew to a boiling point.
Rainbow Dash saw Spitfire's wing move in. The two v-shapes split and merged together, seamlessly working into a single solid formation. The ember-maned pony gestured at Rainbow Dash.
“We've got to take more of the heat off of them down there,” said Rainbow Dash.
Spitfire nodded. “You got a plan?”
Rainbow Dash grinned. “The market district has been cleared,” she said. “Let's lure them over there and give them a taste of real pegasus power.”
“That the crazy weather pony talking?” Spitfire laughed. “That's just dangerous enough to work. Let's do it.”
The wings broke apart again. This time they soared further up, towards where the changelings were regrouping. But instead of drawing them into combat, they tilted and bowled straight through the enemy ranks. The changelings gave chase and soon scores of the creatures pursued the two wings over Canterlot.
They met up again in over the market district. Rainbow Dash lamented the stalls below, fresh produce and beautiful crafts now doomed to destruction. And then she laughed at the thought of a thousand tomatoes smeared across the city walls.
Spitfire gave her the signal. Rainbow Dash signaled back, just a small gesture of hoof and wing.
“Hurricane formation!” she declared, and then the flight shifted. Every pegasus in the area spun into a circle, forming a perimeter around the changelings. A couple managed to escape the funnel before it formed, but the prevailing winds grabbed them and dragged them back into it.
The flights accelerated and a full-blown twister formed in Canterlot. Carts and boxes thrashed about on the ground below before being drawn up into the hurricane. The changelings whipped around in the winds helplessly. The pegasi dodged debris and the enemy as they brought their hurricane to higher speeds.
“Release!” shouted Spitfire.
Only a couple of the pegasi actually heard her, but the signal traveled quickly. The first pegasi broke upwards, and the ones beneath them followed. They let the currents launch them into the sky and the hurricane dissolved beneath them. As it did, the changelings crashed into one another and plummeted to the ground, piling into the wreckage of the market.
“Let's clean this up,” said Spitfire, “and then join the earth ponies.”
Rainbow Dash saluted. “Consider it done.”
They parted again. The skies were beginning to clear of changelings, but Dash knew that that was only the beginning. She turned her ponies towards the castle and flew.
Snowflake flapped up to Rainbow Dash. “My friend is by herself in the palace,” she said. “We have the skies now. I need to return to her.”
What, does she think she's not one of us? Rainbow Dash thought, considering the white pegasus. No. She has friends down there. And so do I. We were with them before we were with Cloudsdale. Maybe... maybe that's where we need to be. I can't abandon my flight, but... we can fly without her.
“I don't care where you're going,” said Rainbow Dash, “as long as you're taking down changelings. Get moving.”
Snowflake smiled. “Yes'm,” she said, and then swooped away towards the ramparts. More changelings noticed her departure and turned to follow after.
Oh, no you don't...
Rainbow Dash snapped her wings shut and dived after the changelings. She would fight and scrap until there was nothing left of her rather than let the changelings harm her or another pony.
Pinkie Pie
The fighting never seemed to end. The long night was making the children restless, and the calm was beginning to wane again. Pinkie had spent the better part of the evening singing and making sure that everyone was comfortable and well-sugared. But even she was beginning to wonder if things would ever look up.
One of the young fillies stood up and trotted towards the pile of furniture at the cellar door. Everypony looked after as she scrambled up towards it.
“No no no no,” said Pinkie, bounding over. “You can't go out there!”
“I miss my mom!” the filly cried, tugging at a barrel.
“I know, but you have to wait for her,” pleaded Pinkie, trying to tug the filly away. It proved to be a mistake. The filly had latched onto a barrel and when she pulled, the barrel moved with the filly. Just a couple of inches.
The door rattled violently. The filly pounded her hooves at the back of it and then bucked Pinkie away with surprising ferocity. A black substance began to creep beneath the door. Something between a flattened snake and a line of tar wiggled its way inside. It pooled at the filly's feet and the children looked on in horror as the fluid form slowly shaped into a changeling. The filly who had opened the way changed her form, as well. The two changelings flickered their wings and rose up, hissing.
Much to Pinkie and the changeling's surprise, the children laughed. They pointed and laughed and giggled and chortled at the changelings, some even rolling around on the floor.
“Well, they are kind of ridiculous, when you think about it...” giggled Pinkie.
The changelings looked at one another and cocked their heads in confusion. Rather than disappearing, they let a metallic screech and the children stopped laughing immediately.
Pinkie sighed. “Well, it was worth a try,” she said.
The changelings opened their wings and jumped at the crowd of children. They managed to soar a couple feet before Pinkie brought out an obscenely large standing cannon from behind a box (or as she knew, in a sliver of one of Discord's gaps behind the box) and fired. The cellar shook as a massive glob of pink gooey confection smacked into the changelings midair, plastering them to the door. Taffy and frosting splattered across the furniture and the entrance, leaving it completely sealed and the changelings trapped beneath it.
Mr. Cake peered over from behind a bag of flour where he and Mrs. Cake had hidden. “What... what?!”
Pinkie pat the smoking weapon on the barrel and smiled. “Party Mortar Mark 2,” she said. “I thought it might have come in handy.” She bounced the curls of her mane with a hoof and squinted. “Though I think we're stuck down here, now. I guess it could be worse.”
The children all turned to face Pinkie at once. And then a few of them started giggling. The tension dissolved as soon as the changelings became fixtures in a sugary prison. Pinkie slid down the canon and landed amongst the younger ponies.
Mrs. Cake sighed and put her hooves across a sac of powdered sugar, letting it cushion her upper body. “You're an odd cookie, Pinkie, but I know you're working really hard to protect us,” she said. “Thank you... truly.”
Pinkie leaned back and beamed. “No problem, Mrs. Cake!” She clapped her hooves and turned about again. “You wanna sing another song?”
This time the children cheered at the thought of a song. She smiled and tapped her chin, trying to conjure up the appropriate one.
Things are really bad... she thought. But we have to smile. Our happiness is what they want to take away... but we won't give them the satisfaction!
Lyra
The palace unicorns crowded into one of the gated archways in the upper terrace. They huddled together and wrapped their wounds in improvised bandages, tearing away at their fancy shirts and dresses. Most of their clothing had already been marred by the combat, anyway. A few of them held the line, raising shields and sending out volleys to keep the creatures at bay.
“Where do all these damn changelings keep coming from?” groused one of the unicorns.
Lyra tugged at the wrap of silk around her barrel, winced, and then slumped back again. “I'm thinking of writing a song about it,” she said. “It involves the queen and a whole lot of nasty--”
“Please don't spoil it for us,” said a unicorn beside her, frowning. She laughed.
“Alright, fine,” she said. “But you're going to listen to it later, you hear me? When all this is over you're going to listen to every word and note.”
Her brash optimism could only light the fire under them for so long. Somehow, she expected the castle guards to show up eventually and bail them out. No such help came. Many of the changelings seemed determined to bring them down, and with most of the ponies fighting outside of the castle, they were on their own.
“They probably don't even know we're in here,” one unicorn said to another. “Why don't we send up another signal?”
“That'll just bring more changelings,” said the other. “Besides, the pegasi are too busy being noble warriors to come and rescue us.”
Lyra grit her teeth and pulled her instrument across her legs. “Quit whining. You can't always expect other ponies to rescue you and pull your weight.” She glanced towards the back of the archway where a heavy gate and more ponies sat. “Any luck?”
A unicorn mare at the other end shook her head. “This door is the only thing between us and another swarm,” she said. “And the waterway is too narrow.”
“Well, we'll just have to be patient then.” Lyra struck a string and frowned when it sung back a sour note. Her horn glowed and she adjusted the tuning. “We're too brilliant, too strong. They won't be able to break through.”
For the moment that proved true. She had to keep reminding them, though. Every time a changeling battered itself on the shield that they were maintaining, the unicorns flinched and shuddered. The magic flickered with their resolve. If they began to lose faith, then they would lose the shield. And then the changelings would be on them. Most of them would survive, but they were already battered and wounded. She knew they wouldn't all make it, and the moment one of them went down, panic would ensue.
I can't let it come to that. She ran her hooves over her cracked instrument, replacing strings and tuning it a bit. Looks like you took a beating, too... but we're both still kicking. Even if I'm down like this, I can still play...
The sound of music filled the archway beneath the garden. Unicorns turned and looked as she strummed out an aria, letting her emotions pour into the music. She vented. She gave her hope and her determination to the sound and let it carry them. The shield grew stronger as the unicorns found their focus. She leaned her head back and sang.
In a land of riches and beauty old,
the changelings come to take us all
but all our mares are bold
and our stallions stand tall
The unicorns' unleashed another volley and the changelings seemed to relent for a moment. Then a dull pounding began to sound at the door behind them. Lyra exhaled and continued to sing.
The devils batter the door
they stain the heavens black
and Canterlot wages its war
to win our country back
The wood splintered behind them and the changelings swept in to batter the shield again. For a moment it faltered. Several changelings dove through the gap, only to meet another volley of spells from the unicorns behind it.
So let loose your might
and stand together now
to end this endless fight
victory will be ours somehow
The door rocked on its hinges. Lyra gripped her instrument tighter, and drew up the chorus of an old song. A favorite song, one she imagined to be played when she faced her end.
From shadow and shade
our hooves lift the flames
to drive the nightmare away
You can ties us all down
and burn down the town
but you cannot take the fight from our bones.
Fight hard my friends, for come dawn
Equestria will rise again
The door behind them cracked and heaved, finally splitting down the middle. It swung uselessly open, but rather than a swarm of changelings, they saw line after line of armored guards. Prince Blueblood stood at the front wearing a ridiculous suit of blue and purple armor.
Lyra swung up her lyre between her hooves. “What are you doing here?”
“Saving your sorry flank,” said Prince Blueblood, tossing his mane back. “My cousin is such a dear, but she couldn't think for a second that I'd be willing to spend the entire battle hiding in the forest. Where's the glory in that?”
Lyra shook her head. “It was too muddy for you, wasn't it?”
The prince coughed and waved his hoof. “My second officer thought that the palace needed help. Turns out she was right. We also happened to bump into a few friends along the way. They should be here very soon...”
Moments later the sky filled with color as pegasi swept down. Between the guards below and the fliers above, the changelings swarming the castle stood little chance. They pushed the fight away from the wounded unicorns, and some of the guards rushed in to examine the injured. Prince Blueblood trotted over to Lyra, standing tall and gallant. She tried not to gag.
“Perhaps you'll consider changing that foul ditty of yours, now?” ventured Blueblood, helping Lyra to her feet. She allowed him in turn to support her weight completely.
“Absolutely not,” she said, sticking her tongue out. “But, I may be convinced to add a verse or two.”
“If you'd just act a little bit a lady, you might be able to get by here.” Prince Blueblood shook his mane. “Where is my cousin?”
“The throne room, before the fighting broke out,” said Lyra. She hooked her lyre over her back and began to follow Blueblood out into the open. “The changeling queen is up there. Shining Armor... they're fighting on the rise. We should probably do something.”
Prince Blueblood deposited her near a couple of unicorn guards. “I will do something,” he said. “You need to stay and let us take care of you.”
“You won't last five seconds around the queen,” spat Lyra. “And I'm not staying here. I can still walk.”
“You're just going to be in the way,” declared Blueblood, before flicking his tail and pacing away. A small squad of soldiers followed at his gesture. “They will keep you and the others safe until the fighting is over.”
Lyra watched him disappear into the palace and reached for her instrument again, instinctively. That arrogant son of a mule... does he think he'd actually be able to fight? I'm surprised he didn't piss himself halfway into Canterlot.
One of the unicorns removed her bandage and the other dabbed something wet into her wound. She yelped at the stinging sensation, which slowly evolved into a burning, and then a mere uncomfortable pressure. The other soldier brought out a new bandage and quickly wrapped it around her, sealing the medicine to the wound.
“Give it to me straight,” she said. “Am I going to be alright?”
The soldier nodded. “A few days to heal, if you take it easy. This kind of magic can do a lot worse... I'd say you got off lucky.”
Lyra laughed. “Sure. Lucky limping unicorn.” She shook her mane out. “You realize that the prince is going to just get in the way, right?” She waited a beat to allow them their dignified silence. “I'm going after him. You make sure nothing happens to these ponies, alright?”
“Miss, that's hardly--”
“I'm a free pony,” declared Lyra, stumbling away from their reaching hooves. “You can stop me, or you can let me go help your spoiled prince.”
She half expected to feel the medic tug her back with a spell. But no one nor any force stopped her from slipping away into the castle grounds. Looking back, she found that the soldiers had already moved on to other ponies and other patients. The fighting continued far above them, peppered with the occasional volley of unicorn magic from below.
I guess they've got their hooves too full to worry about a stubborn mare, she mused, swaying as she went. Hopefully Bon Bon had the sense to duck into a wardrobe or something. Her gaze wandered upwards to the terrace where blue and emerald lights flickered and flashed. Then she pushed on, in spite of the nagging numbness making her hindleg lag behind the others. She was determined to be there to the end. For the fight, for Equestria, and so that someone would be there to sing the songs of the end—whatever end happened to come.
Rarity
When Rarity reached the tower, she found Spike fending off two changelings by wielding a yardstick in one claw and a crochet hook in the other. In spite of their aggressive nature, the two seemed to have difficulty approaching the strikes of his implements—though it may have been the occasional wash of dragonfire that discouraged them from getting too close.
“Rarity!” Spike proclaimed as she entered the room, turning the changelings' attention to her.
She knocked one out with a spinning buck and sent the other through the window with a burst of magic. Then she hugged up Spike tight between her hooves.
“Oh, I can't believe I was so thoughtless as to leave you up here all by yourself!” She squashed his cheeks. “I mean who would have thought there would be an invasion today? But that's no excuse for my behaving irresponsibly.”
Spike was torn somewhere between squirming away from the attention and swooning over her. In the end neither feeling could last, given the gravity of the situation. He tossed the yardstick and the needle aside, and Rarity only flinched a little.
“Let's get you out of here,” she said. “We can cut across to the western keep and meet up with Fluttershy. Oh, I hope she's alright. This is just a total mess! We can't be sprawled out like this...”
She'd gotten halfway out of the room before Spike dug his claws into the floor and screeched to a halt.
“What about the elements?” he asked.
Rarity tapped a hoof on the ground. “Of course! I'd completely forgotten about them in all this racket. I was more worried about you...” She smiled sideways. “But you are right. We can't leave them here.”
“I've managed to get them back together,” said Spike. He ran over and pulled one—the Element of Generosity—out of one of the bags. It looked just as it had when she and the rest of her friends had found it, so long ago. Gray, inert stone. But at least it was whole again.
“You've done a wonderful job, Spike,” said Rarity. “But let us hurry.”
She would reward him in due time. Probably with a jewel painstakingly selected from her collection. For now, though, she needed to get him out of there. They put the stones into two bags, one for Spike to carry and one for Rarity to drape across her back. Then they hastened from the tower and to the castle below.
When they exited onto the ramparts, a white pegasus swooped down from above. Snowflake flitted her wings frantically.
“Rarity! I've been looking all over for you.”
Rarity paused and lifted back a hoof. “Snowflake? I... wait. How do I know it's really you?”
Snowflake rolled her eyes. “Crack me over the head if we have to, if it saves us the time.”
“That's quite alright.” Rarity shook her head. “No other creature has quite the attitude of a pegasus, let me tell you.”
“Naturally,” said Snowflake, beating her wings once. “Canterlot is a disaster zone. Ponies are fighting in the streets and in the sky. I don't know when it'll stop...”
Rarity turned her gaze towards the throne room. “It may stop,” she said, “if we take down the queen.”
“They're still fighting in the upper gardens,” said Snowflake. “A bunch of guards just went that way to help, I think. But we should join them and make sure it's enough.” She leaned forward and met Rarity's gaze. “The more the better. Let's end this here and now.”
End it... with a fight? Rarity looked back at Spike. How could I lead him into such danger? But he's no better off anywhere else here. No. The only way to ensure our safety is to do as she says. And we are not alone... we can do this.
“With so many ponies against her, there's no way she can win,” said Spike. “C'mon.”
Rarity picked him up with magic and deposited him on her back, buckling briefly under the weight of the dragon and the additional elements. Still, it wasn't enough to dampen her spirits. “Such a noble attitude. I think you may be very well be our courage, Spike.”
“Awesome,” chimed the dragon.
“Hold on tight,” she said, and winced as his claws grasped about her shoulders. She broke into a gallop and Snowflake soared above her as she made her way upwards.
Ponies of all kinds gathered where the changeling queen fought hoof and horn with Shining Armor. On the highest terrace of Canterlot, overlooking the mountains and valleys of Equestria, the knight and the queen exchanged blows and magic with a ferocity unmatched even in the rages of war. Shields and barrages lit up the statues and the grass on the fan-shaped balcony.
The ponies thought they had come to help. But not the guard, not Blueblood, nor Rarity or any of them dared to get caught up in the rampage. Stone cracked and grass withered beneath their magics. Shock waves rushed across the balcony and nearly knocked the ponies over every time one of the combatants hit the ground.
For all of this they may have intervened. But they would not go near Shining Armor. He fought like an animal, a monster unchained. He fought with no thought to his surroundings or his own body, not seeming to feel or understand the gashes and burns already spread across him. Any damage he'd done on Chrysalis was more difficult to register, but she seemed just as desperate and tired.
They met in the middle and clashed again. Their horns crackled with magic and then burst, sending the two flying away from each other. They came back again, drawn by the sheer determination to destroy one another.
Rarity tugged Spike down against her. Each pony looked on silently as the fight continued. But an enormous rumbling, as if the very foundations of the mountains shook, drew their attention upwards. In the battle, in the war they had failed to pay mind to the emptying heavens. The blackness now flooded across the sky as every single star and light was snuffed by some unseen force.
“What's going on?” Spike said, hugging onto Rarity's back. “Rarity, I'm scared.”
“I don't know,” she said, rubbing at his scales.
None among them knew. They all looked to one another for comfort and answers, but found neither. Even Shining Armor and Chrysalis had to stop and take notice at the sudden void in the heavens, their attention torn to the empty horizon.
An explosion echoed through the sky, growing louder and louder. The sound of the destruction would have caused their ears to burst had they not had the sense to cover them right away. Then there was a blinding flash of light somewhere far away.
A darkness came. A darkness more true and empty than any they had ever seen, more complete than any Nightmare Moon had ever brought upon them—that darkness blanketed the land in an instant.
As Rarity's eyes adjusted, she realized that she was still alive. Cold and almost unable to see, but alive. And she began to hear every other pony stir around her as well. When her vision became clearer, she could see the outline of a purple dome encompassing all of Canterlot.
Shining Armor stood still at the center of the balcony, straining under the energies that surged out from his horn. The shield that he produced was the only thing protecting Canterlot from what lay in the void beyond.
Chrysalis took a step back and smiled, showing a single fang.
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Kinda falling over sleepy, but here we go.
Next update... soon.
I love you for all these updates. In a totally platonic way. Don't tell Shiny.
1980488
That's okay I totally ship you two anyway.
You have a knack for cliffhangers you know that?
1980499
Is there any other way to end a chapter?
1980508 When you end it with a suspenseful yet unfulfilled climax, leaving the reader waiting for the next installment, ....
nnope
Edit.
True darkness...? Oh dear.
A single fang? That's mildly suspicious. Doesn't make too much sense if she was suddenly Discord in disguise, but if reality just full on broke who knows what might happen next.
I loved how thoroughly unleashed Shining is, exactly what I was hoping for.
Chrysalis if shining armor passes out then that dome will collapse and you will die from the void.
This isn't your ordinary everyday darkness. This is... advanced darkness.
1980497 - Ship beyond death? Ship unto-death? You killed off Cadence...
An excellent chapter though. Shining in full rage was awesome. Show Queeny just how strong Sparkle's brother is! Granted he probably also won't survive this...
Sucks to be everyone else in the world though, if everything outside Canterlot is now simply void.
The darkness comes! It will consume us all!
And in the Nothing, Twilight had to remember all the happy friends she knew: the Rock guy, the giant turtle, the Luck Drago...
... Sorry, got mixed up there.
The sky is falling, and everything else with it.
1980508 With another chapter? But seriously, amazing work, this keeps getting better and better.
Suddenly, first-person!
this is epic :D im loving the battles you describe them so well its easy to see them.
1980508
with a non-clifhangery ending?
You just blew my mind! I'm being dead serious. I'm sitting here at college, and my mind's about to burst.I just had an overdose of pure awesome. But if I die from this it'd be worth it your chapter was THAT FREAKIN GOOD!!!!!!!
I think I'm becoming addicted to this story. Unfortunately it seems that the end is approaching.
1980447
Idk how you're able to make all these updates so quick but I love you for it. Amazing story can't wait for more!
This is your fourth update in as many days, and this one is as big as the previous three combined. Damn, you're on a roll, Starsong.
I would say i'm tired of the cliffhangers, but this one wasn't as bad as some other recent ones, so i'm letting you off with a warning, this time.
This was the most epic chapter I've read in a MLP fanfic thus far. I salute you!
And in the end everyone will wake up and everything will be like it was before everything happened and then Twilight remembers the imaginary friend and his blue box and then he arrives at her wedding and.... Wait that was a different show.
The climax of the story is drawing near and with Celestia, Luna and Discord fighting over the reset button and the rest of the ponies fighting over Canterlot this is going to be interesting.
1980898
Yeah I am lazy and horrible but it all worked out in the end, eh. :3 One of the biggest complaints about Cross was the massive cast. Because there was like, what, 40+ characters, people felt most of them didn't really get to develop at all. I think the other major ones are how brutally slow the game starts up and the weird learning curve on the combat system. It's kind of ridiculous.. but once you actually know what the hell is going on, it flows pretty smoothly. The soundtrack is utterly gorgeous, and I think a lot of it is floating around now so it's pretty easy to get taste. Cross was the game that convinced me that Yasunori Mitsuda is actually a far superior composer than Uematsu or Sakuraba and I will nerd fight over it. Another one I love.. but I swear the whole soundtrack isn't melancholy.
The 3D didn't age well, no. The 2d we're used to is highly refined and sort of mastered art of painting whereas 3d was still in development for, I'd say, well beyond the PS1's life cycle. The cutscenes still hold together pretty well though. And Harle is still one of the best characters ever. It's not quite the ugly mess say, FF7 is now, though.
1981316
Spent a couple of weeks doing no updates/revisions and just stockpiling new ones. Seems to be working out pretty well.
This is one of those stories.
I am so friggin' scared right now.
1982573
I should give it a try. I mean I AM in possession of a PSone and the game; I just have yet to play it myself. Rather, the last time I tried playing it was long before I had the ability to play RPGs properly. I haven't heard much of the OST, but what I have heard does not disappoint. No nostalgia here. Nope. None at all.
That's certainly true @ 2D vs 3D. When I made my last post I thought "wait, the counterpart to 'Brand Spanking New' 3D graphics would be like, pong or something" but figured to just go with it anyhow for some reason.
1980447
...um, should I be worried about Gilda's health right about now? I could have sworn she had sided with the Pegasi (but not RD), but I might be getting my fics mixed together. Either way, anypony, anygryph, any-"Whatever term one uses for Diamond Dogs", etc not currently in Canterlot has now discovered first hoof what a "Reality Bomb" feels like, and apparently if feels like Heat Death.
And I can't help feeling a bit sad for the Pale Mare. All those Pony souls (and maybe Zebra) all around the world (Prance, Manehatten, Saddle Arabia, etc) all getting dumped on her doorstep all at once. That kind of upswing in anypony's workload is enough to put my teeth on edge.
1984234
Gilda didn't appear in this story. Which sucks, because I like gryphons. Originally there was a part for her, as well as a lot of other characters with speaking lines, but this thing is already bloated as it is and so I cut them.
1984459
Story will be there for you when you're ready? :3
These events robbed them all of their innocence. No more happy-go-lucky ponies. Except for pinkie, but that's a given. Do not mess with somepony who wields cartoon physics.
1980871 nonsense! Where would be the fun in that?
Love how celestia plays timelord and causes a massive heat death so she can have a universal reboot to equestria doesn't become so, human in nature. But if you think about it, it's the chaos that created us. The battle of energy creating heat and light necessary for any life. So the harmony of everything results in a heat death whee everything is equall and without conflict, resulting in the deletion of time and space. In other words, Discord can minipulate the force necessary for, everything.
I know this is years after my first read, and no one is likely to ever see this, but...
I don't think I've ever seen Shinning so powerful before, holding back the end of existence itself, and I love it.