Through the soul of friendship

by ShieldStar

Chapter 22

Author's Note:

Chapter 22 is up! Things are truly getting serious! Let me know if you all find any typos.

Through the soul of friendship
Fanfication by Shield Star
22

Star Lance galloped through the camp, when the looming shadow of Solus rushed down. A flash of light and the rainbow light of the elements of harmony burst forth. The shadows cracking with light. The cracks grew and expanded pure light pouring forth from them. The form of Solus stumbled back falling to its knees, the light of the rainbow unrelenting. Solus lifted its head a silence scream as the light consumed it, the shadows crumbling like sand filtering through an hour glass.

As the light of harmony receded, the element bearers returned to the ground. Reed squinted hard into the swirling dust, eyes still dazzled from the light of harmony.A Spear of darkness shot out and impaled Reed. It burned like acidic ice as Reed cried out, Dark laughter slinked from the settling dust. Huge glowing red eyes loomed out of the dust the cloud. A hand as big as a house shot forward, slamming and pinning Reed to the ground. It began to crush Reed, the sharp bone and rotted flesh it was comprised of slowly lifted its prey into the air.

“RUN! RUN AS FAR AND AS FAST AS YOU CAN!” Solus’ hollow laugh boomed, like thunder.
“Do you really think they can escape me? What foolish wisp of hope, do you truly delude yourself with? HAHAHA, YOU, ARE, MINE!” the giant hand pulled Reed into the darkness as Solus Spoke, soon there was nothing left, but a reaching hand. Soon even that vanished with a soft ripple. The world rocked and hundreds of corpses clawed from the ground each shrouded in dark fog.

Star saw the Elements of harmony blast the wall of Darkness, and she slowed a bit as the shadows cracked and dissolved. ‘Did it work?’ Star continued to slow, when suddenly there was a cry and shadows exploded up and loomed out of the dust cloud. “Ahaha, did you really think your pretty colors and warm feeling could harm me?” Star redoubled her gallop, practically flying at the huge shadows. “RUN! RUN AS FAR AND AS FAST AS YOU CAN!” Souls’ hollow laugh boomed, like thunder.

“Do you really think they can escape me? What foolish wisp of hope, do you truly delude yourself with? HAHAHA, YOU, ARE, MINE!”As she crested the ridge she saw Reed’s hand vanish into Solus.

“NOOOOoooAAAARRHHHHHH!” Star screamed as she charged in a battle cry already ripping from her throat. The Ground shook and the dead rose, Star didn’t stop, she bulled through, jump over, dove under. Her lunar guard’s blade spinning like a top about her.

“AHAHA! What is this?” Solus crowed in delight, “You want him back, Soo much? By all means, come on in.” and the shadows too swallowed Star Lance.

There Was a Flash of pure Light and Solus Froze, however the dead rushed the living.

~>Inside Solus

Reed floated in nothing but pain. Senses of his friends dieing, horribly continued to play before him, Applejack tried to buck at a skeletal bear, only for a skeletal wolf to bite her throat. Twilight was chased down by a hoard of decomposing snakes each leaping on her back before she finally stopped twitching. Pinkie dodged swipes from the bear that had attacked Applejack, when too late her pinkie sense warned her from below and monstrous rotted badger sprung.Claws ripped up and in, Rainbow Dash dove a second too late to save her pink friend. Suddenly a boney bear claw broke and mangled a wing and a pack of rotted rats swarmed her as she crashed to the ground. Fluttershy tried begging with the dead animals, but one of the missing royal guards barreled into her, trampling her. Rarity and a few guards fended off the attacking dead for a moment but a bolder crushed the group, a white leg struggling for a moment more before shuttering and lay still, blood slowly staining the pure coat. Others died and Reed thought he saw Star Lance Charge only to be gored in the neck, by a missing guard. Again and again he saw them die, and others die, and more and more die, the nice doctor, the strange cook, his father, his mother, his grandparents, if he knew them they died in horrible ways again, and again, and again.
“AAAARRRRHHHHHHHHhhhhhh?” a bright light appeared out of nowhere, and yet if reed had to say it appeared from behind him. “Where the hay am I now?” the visions of death faded as Reed turned towards the light. “Reed? Is that you? About time it feels like I’ve been running through this cursed thing for hours.”

Star charged through the inkiness of Solus as it enveloped her. It was decidedly uncomfortable, cold and hot, wet and sticky, thick like dirty fog. Star lit her horn to see Reed laying upon the ground before her, still and grey. But he was too grey not even his closes had color. Star charged passed dragging her sword through the fake. On and on she charged and over and over she came across Reed dead, but each time the illusion proved a vital flaw. After what felt like an hour of running Star Stopped and flared her light spell. “Enough of this! Where is he!?”

“HAHAHA You Think I Would Just Give Him Too You, Little Tiny Pony? No He Is Mine And He Is Dead. Give Up.”

“Never, if you won’t give him back then I will take him from you!” Star Lance Reared up kicking.

“But Which One Of Us Is The Real One?” Out of the inky fog ten Reeds slunk in to her light. “HAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA.” They chuckled darkly to themselves.

Star slammed into the ground a wave of light cascading away from where she struck. The False images of Reed hissed as they dissolved, and Star Again charged forward. But the illusions soon changed, instead of reed already being dead more and more often Reed was dying and calling out for her. Star flinched at first when she galloped to them only for them to lash out with a boney claw. Now Star concentrated a beam of light on the dying causing them to hiss and dissolve. On and on she ran in till she came to a large stone rotunda. “Reed! Reed! Answer Me Please Where Are You!?”

The sound of malicious laughter echoed and rebounded around the rotunda. “I’m here!” Reed called from off to the left. “NO, I’m Here!” again Reed Called this time from the right. “No it’s lying, I’m here!” “Liar, I’m Down Here!” “Star Please, I’m Right Here!” over and over the calls of reed became more and more desperate and numerus.

“Stop It! Please Stop It! why are you doing this!? Stop!” Star’s Light flickered and shrank as she collapsed to the cold stone floor tears in her eyes. The Calls Stopped, the air tight with the anticipation of someone about to win. Star Lance Sobbed, as her light shrank to illuminate only her. Something flickered out of the corner of her eye, and she turned. A ghostly figure of yellow light was kneeling next to her, it looked like reed. It reached out and touched her horn. ‘Remember my touch, remember my soul, feel my heart, and see your goal.’ And her light winked out.

The Darkness Rushed in only to be held barely back by the light of the figure. Star heard sobs, and pleading for it to stop, “don’t hurt them, hurt me instead, Please No, NO, Noooooooo, nonono…”
The yellow figure slowly pointed and to a small yellow light winking not far off. ‘Remember my light, and feel your soul, go forth and achieve your goal.’ Star Lance rose to her hooves, and ignited her horn the light exploding like a flare in oil, “REED! I’M COMING! AAAAAAARRRRHHHHHHHHHH!”As Star charged once more. A forest of trees appearing before her, then blistering cold tundra, until finally she was in what seemed like an endless maze of a burnt out house. But she never lost that tiny yellow light.

Twilight blasted another rotting corpse with magic, doing her best to fend off the hoard of dead. The huge figure of Solus crouched frozen, light and shadow marbled every part of it. Twilight wasn’t sure what had happened to stop it, but for the moment she was concerned with holding back the hoard while her friends got far enough away.

Wisps of shadow shot out for the towering figure, quickly followed and vaporized by bolts of light. The guards focused of keeping the shadowy hoard contained, but it was a battle they were quickly losing.
For a hundredth of a second multiple wisps of shadow shot out and curled away. The light sparked and crackled catching most of the wisps in a beam. Another beam lashed down at the shadowy hoard melting the shadows that gave the corpses life.

“Star Lance, How did you Get here?”

“I Saw you get grabbed, I came to get you out of hear.”

“You’re not real, I saw you die.”

“Saw me Die? As if I-“

“Why are you doing this to me?!” Reed screamed into the darkness.

“Who the hay are you talking to?”

Leave hear out of this Solus!” Star took a step back.

“Solus? Solus! You Think I Am Solus?! After I charged screaming into this black hearted thing? After I saw you! Dead before me! After again and again I ran to your body only for it to be a fake!? After I Charged on and on through the dark with only your fake corpse to tease me? “

“Star-

“Even when you came out of the dark begging for help, dying always dying! NO! I am not the black Evil thing called SOLUS! I almost Gave up! Almost gave in! But You!” Star Reared and slammed the ground with her front hooves, a wave of light crashing around Reed. “You came to me when I begged, Begged! And Every single one of you was a lie! ‘Remember my touch, remember my soul, feel my heart, and see your goal.’ That’s what the yellow figure said! That’s what you said!”

“I-I, ‘Remember my light, and feel your soul, go forth and achieve your goal.’ I remember saying those words when I Cleansed Solus from you. Star it is You!” The two hugged briefly.

“Come on we have to get out of here, what did you mean when you said you ‘Cleansed Solus’ from me?”Star asked as she turned back the way she had come at a brisk trot.

“It was when this whole mess started, you had just started viewing my dreams and watching out for Solus.”

“I think I remember, there was that one time when Solus tried to get at me.” They were already making their way through the Burnt house, and soon star saw the cold icy tundra bordering the lush forest.

“It did get to you, the slightest contact with Solus is enough to give it a way in, where it can really start to do damage. There are signs of a person being infected with Solus… any way I saw one of these signs and knew I had to act. When I cleans someone from Solus I ended up leaving a trace of my aura, soul, being, whatever you want to call it behind.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Star stopped, “we are going nowhere.”

“Huh?”

“We keep running through this stone rotunda and entering another just like it.”

Reed growled in frustration, “Solus is manipulating the space to trap us. We need a guiding light or some other line out of here.” Reed looked around for a way out.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Reed sighed, “I didn’t tell you because it was too dangerous for you to know you had contact with Solus. Why? Because if someone who does not know how to properly guard against Solus and has the chance to repeatedly encounter Solus, the best way to protect them is to place a ward and never mention it to them.”

“But… why?”

“Because by giving them knowledge of Solus counteracts the ward to hide them. Solus finds hosts and victims by sensing the fear directed, or really any emotion or thought, at it. Thus rendering the ward useless.”

“Okay. So how do we get out of here?”

“You Will Never Escape Me! Because Sweet ReedWon’t Use His Power.”

“You could always let us go.” Star shot.

“HAHAHA, And Lose Such A Delectable Morsel As You? Never!”

“Reed any ideas?”

“Star how did you get here?”

“I Charge forward mostly, but that doesn’t seem to be working.”

“No, it doesn’t. What else, did you use a spell or..?”

“Just my light spell, sometimes I charged it up or focused it.”

“I See.” Reed put a hand to his chin, thinking.

“Why can’t you use your power?”

“Because, by manifesting my power Solus can drink it up. It’s like turning on a water tap and drinking from it. But maybe…”

“Maybe what?”

“You Think I Would Just Let You Rest And Think? Heh Heh.”
“Come on we have to move. Put as much power as you can in to you light spell.” The two charged once more in to the shadowy arch, Star poring power in to her light spell.

Twilight took another step back and the hoard of dead continued to batter against the shield sheet ha the other unicorns where casting. A crack started to form in front of her and she redoubled her spell. The light and shadow behind the hoard continued to spark and clash. The form of Solus still hadn’t moved since the unicorn guard had charged in. a few other guards had tried to go in after her but the sheer number of corpses had driven them back.

‘Twi---- Twili—t, pleas- Twilight! Ca- you –ear me? If –ou –an, --ease, fo-us on –end-ng –n m-y -ur-‘s t-uch. We-eed –ou as – g-id-ng li-ht, pl-as- -wili-ht –ocus.’

Twilight blinked, and looked around, the sound of the hoard and battel had all gone very quiet. Rarity was speaking to her but she couldn’t hear her friend. Rarity brushed her sweaty frazzled mane away from her eyes and gestured in front of Twilight. Twilight turned to see a spider web of cracks had formed in her part of the shield. Twilight ramped up her spell’s power and the cracks quickly mended. What had that been, it had sounded like Reed, but distorted- REED! Her epiphany almost caused her to lose her hold on her spell.What had he said to focus on? His touch? Twilight thought about when Reed had saved her from Solus. What had he done? She remembered the horrible fake Celestia, and the bright yellow light. The Light, is that what he meant? His aura’s touch? She remembered it’s kind warm glow, and the feeling that everything was going to be okay right then, that no matter what happened that everything would turn out okay.

There was a flash of blinding light and a beam of yellow shot forth from her horn piercing through the hoard and into the swirling mass of light and dark of Solus.