Sigil of Souls, Stream of Memories

by Piccolo Sky

Daybreak: The King of Despair, Part IV

She wasn’t able to ponder it. At that moment, Sombra snapped his foot back—landing it squarely on Twilight’s face. Not only did it cause blood to gush from her nostrils but it also sprawled her alongside Dash’s own broken body in an instant. Growling, he snapped out his arm and took up his sword again before giving himself a fresh shield and began to stomp up to this new and improved foe.

“Come on an’ get me, ya’ big bull’s ass!” Applejack shouted back as she ran to meet him. “I’ve got a lickin’ ta’ give ya’!”

Sombra’s only answer was to pick up speed. As soon as she was in striking range, he brought up his greatsword and swung it out horizontally for her. She neither balked nor attempted to duck. Rather, she braced her shield against the arm bearing it. The sword connected, letting out a resounding clang and a shine of sparks, and Applejack’s arm bent in slightly as she shifted…but, in the end, she held. Not only that, but she gave a yell of her own and quickly swung her sword down on the blade. For all his size and power, Sombra was stunned to see her twist the blade down and deflect it to the ground. And as soon as it was, she advanced with her other arm, swung upward, and connected her hammer with his jaw.

It was instantly fractured again, with half of it sent flying and the other half left hanging on only by muscles and sinews. A sound of rage and anguish came from his multiple throats as his head was smacked upward. On recovering he was infuriated at having sustained such a powerful hit, but Applejack was already moving. Lashing out with her hammer, she used the axe side to hook around his shield and yank it forward, and her power was so great that in spite of his own size he was sent staggering forward right into her. She quickly snapped her hammer head back and slammed the broad side into his exposed innards, bashing and ripping the guts inside, before arching up and smashing it again into his face, breaking more of his piecemeal skull and sending him staggering back.

Still advancing, she brought her arm back with the axe head in front and swung it at his chest. Sombra managed to plant his feet and quickly swung out with his shield to deflect it. However, her axe remained locked against the shield and she continued to press in, and as a result he brought his own sword around to try and slice into her from the side. Again her shield went up and out, and the weapons collided and held. In spite of being far smaller than Sombra’s ramshackle body, the two held firm and dug in, glaring at one another as their respective weapons and shields struggled to overpower the other. Their teeth barred in each other’s faces.

Finally, Sombra’s crown began to gleam again, clearing meaning to blast her at close range. He never got the opportunity as she responded with something far more rudimentary—driving her head inward and smashing her own helmet into his still-rebuilding skull. His face was caved in, physically driving him cross-eyed, and he reared back enough for her to lift an armored boot and drive it into his middle to knock him away. As soon as he was off, she brutally swing her axe head out and slammed it across his face one way and the other, sending exposed muscle and bone flying with each thundering blow.

He nearly recovered to try and come at her again, but she quickly arched her hammer down, cleaved it against the ground, and yanked up another bit of rock and dirt as she had before. Pivoting the weapon around to use the hammer head, she swung and smacked it against Sombra with sufficient force to obliterate it on impact. Between his injuries, the rocks slamming him, and the eruption of dirt and mud in his face, he lost his balance and spilled backward; losing his footling and landing on his back.

Quickly, Applejack made a short leap and brought her hammer up and behind her head, meaning to bring it down for a crushing blow. Yet for all the injuries she had inflicted on Sombra, he still wasn’t out. Letting out a vicious snarl, he snapped his greatsword up and swung it across Applejack as she was still airborne in her strongest blow yet. Her shield went out to protect her, but the blow was so powerful that it nevertheless cleaved halfway into it, bent it in half, and still smacked Applejack out of the sky. The blade completed its arc and smashed her into the ground—still embedded in her protection.

Snarling and fuming, Sombra shot to his feet and snapped his multi-jointed limb back, ripping Applejack’s shield out of her grip and flinging it aside as she still lay hurt and stunned on the ground. As his black tendrils snaked out and kept bringing him fresh “replacement” parts, he held his tower shield over him before slamming it down on her like an oversized hammer. The ground shook and thundered as she was smashed into it. Still bellowing in anger, he brought it up and slammed it into her two more times, physically pounding her into the ground each time, before finally yanking it back and tossing it aside. Applejack was left lying in a hole, bloodied, bruised, and moaning from the beating.

Instantly, he swung his greatsword around, wielding it with both arms, and then brought it down for a killing chop. While it was a weak resistance, Applejack managed to lift her weapon up and cross it in front of her. The two collided and her arms buckled enough to let the sword come all the way down into the tip of her chin before she managed to hold. That, however, only made Sombra bring his whole weight down on her with a murderous rage, pressing in, and slowly starting to cut through her weapon entirely to finish her. She grunted and strained, using everything she had with her new power to hold him back…

But as the two fought, a faint yet clear song echoed over the battleground.

“Fate has been cruel and order unkind.

The sky has turned cloudy and gray.

No wind in the trees. No birds on the breeze.

The harmony’s silent today…”

Twilight, in the midst of her pain and weakness, wiped her bloody nose and slowly raised her head to the sound of the voice. There, once again seeming to had become detached from the current situation, was Fluttershy. She was crouched over the remains of one of the tunnels that had erupted after the dragon’s fire; in particular one now filled with the dead and desecrated remains of the animals Sombra had warped for his own ends. She gazed at them tenderly, still in the form of the Minstrel, as she sang.

“But into the stillness I’ll bring you a song,

And I will your company keep,

‘Til your closing eyes and my lullabies

Have carried you softly to sleep…”

Fluttershy wasn’t able to sing the next part, for at that moment the silence was pierced again by a horrendous scream from Sombra. She looked up in shock and Twilight spun back to him. He had dropped Applejack’s bleeding body and had reared back, now grasping his own pieced-together skull as if to block out the noise, and staggering backward. He looked disorientated…even unsteady…

But her Scholar form saw the truth and gasped.

“It’s a hymn…a requiem… Fluttershy’s singing a Harmonium requiem…”

She apparently was able to hear that as Sombra began to regain his footing. “I’m…I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to make him mad… I just saw all the poor animals and I wanted to do something for them… I don’t even know any other Harmonium songs except-”

Twilight cut her off. “Fluttershy, keep singing!”

“Wait…what?”

“Keep singing that song! It’s a requiem! It’s putting the souls Sombra’s using to rest! It’s killing him!”

This was punctuated a moment later when Sombra’s grotesque eyes opened wide—realizing that the ladies had not only found a weakness but a means to exploit it. Quickly, he hefted his weapons again and started to dash in to try and finish Applejack.

“Sing! Now!”

“O-O-Ok…”

Nervous as she was, Fluttershy started singing again. It was like Sombra had been exposed to nails on a chalkboard with the power of a factory steam engine. He halted in his tracks and faltered again, bellowing and clutching for his head once more. Before long, Twilight saw the body parts he was composed of were no longer fully “obeying”. Some of them were coming undone. Others were swelling and bulging in ways that Sombra hadn’t intended. Even his voice sounded more disjointed than before.

It wasn’t enough to fully cripple him, unfortunately. Even with his body no longer fully under his control, after a few moments he managed to bite back his pain enough to look wildly at Fluttershy. He extended his hand to no doubt drive a crystal through her. This quickly snapped Twilight out of it. Clutching her bleeding hand to her chest, she moved her intact hand again. It was still quite difficult, but as Sombra came bearing down on her she finally managed to pull one off. A fireball erupted from her complete sigil and straight toward him.

Fluttershy’s singing had not only disrupted his balance but also his ability to defend himself. He couldn’t even divert the strength to bring up his shield, and the fireball hit true against his chest and quickly burst across it. This time, much to her dread, Sombra didn’t slow. He let the fires keep spreading and focused entirely on pushing himself toward her—fully intending to strike her as soon as he was in range. Twilight realized this and struggled to defend herself again, but she hadn’t expected to generate another spell so quickly with just one hand. The look on her face made it clear she knew she didn’t have time.

Yet her sight line from Sombra was broken even as she tried, as Rarity suddenly stepped in between the two with renewed passion and vigor in spite of her own broken hand. Heedless of Sombra’s mad charge, she glared rback at him fiercely.

“I’ve learned another ‘trick’ thanks to your monstrous pet, you brute!”

With that, Rarity took in a deep breath. Her throat gave off a dull glimmer from under her skin—one of lavender light that radiated up her neck and shone through her teeth. A moment later, she opened her mouth wide and proceeded to belch a torrent of fire.

It may not have been as large as what the faux dragon had made, but Twilight and Applejack alike were both soon gaping in shock as Sombra’s entire body was washed over by the same intense magical flames that the monster had generated. Even if Sombra had been able to bring up his shield it wouldn’t have helped him. The fires licked and swept about him until his entire body was engulfed—instantly lit aflame at the same time.

It was too much for him. With his whole body enflamed, he had no choice but to halt as pieces of him began to char and fall off. His shield swung in front of him to cut off any further fires. Tendrils shot out everywhere, although none of them dipped within the crystalline perimeter. It seemed as if everything of “value” had already been claimed from there already. But soon parts were being pulled back in as what was still intact moved away further—much larger and in greater quantities and sizes than before.

But just as one wave of them was about to join to Sombra’s burnt husk, a flash moved out and, in a spin of light and force, shredded both the body parts and the tendrils carrying them to pieces. Sombra’s roasted skull, now having only one intact eye, looked in surprise as what few pieces were still intact joined to him and the blur descended and landed with a smile. Pinkie was back, still carrying both swords and looking no worse for wear.

“Sorry I’m late! He made me really, really dizzy!”

Sombra bellowed at her with what was left of his face, and raised his sword arm to strike her away again. Yet over the sound of his own roar, a much smaller one echoed with it. Applejack, forcing herself up again, was charging him from behind and used the axe end of her weapon to chop the amalgamated arm off his body. He tightened his face in agony and turned to her, only to have her cry out again before she reversed to the hammer and swung it into his chest. The impact was so strong that it shattered him right off of his hip bones and knocked his upper torso several meters away.

Both Applejack and Pinkie Pie tried to press their advantage, while Sombra, still smothering his flames, yanked out even more tendrils to get more body parts. He closed his remaining eye and yelled. Crystals began to erupt from the ground between him and the two ladies: cruel, jagged ones designed to pierce their feet like caltrops. Applejack was forced to grit her teeth and tough through them or run around them, but Pinkie didn’t even seem to notice as she ran right through. As a result, he instead implemented his spire-like crown and began to shoot beams of darkness and death after her.

She nimbly twisted around one and vaulted over another. Before he could get a third off, Twilight managed another fire spell—this one aimed at his remaining eye. The aim was true and soon he was bellowing again as he was blinded. In spite of her injury, Twilight had forced herself up and was coming after him. She had already seen Rarity hunch over and nearly collapse after that exhale of fire, while Fluttershy, although still singing, was growing more weary-looking and dizzy. The others were almost at their two-Anima-Viri limit.

This had to end soon.

Pinkie Pie reached Sombra just as he managed enough body parts to force himself back up, but blinded and incomplete he could do little other than try and shoot her at point blank range. She ducked underneath, losing only a few strands of hair in the process, before performing her “blade dance” to try and cleave into him again. This time, through blind defense, he brought his shield in front of him to intercept and block her, but with his reduced physicality it still made him stagger. He blocked two more blows from her as he waited for more arms to rebuild his “fighting” limb, but right before the pieces could join Applejack burst through and proceeded to cleave the approaching appendages into bits.

Infuriated anew, Sombra’s monstrous maw opened up and belched more of his foul miasma at both ladies simultaneously. They both quickly pulled back, only to have crystals erupt behind them to block their way. In another moment they would have been engulfed by it. However, Twilight managed to counter faster and quickly whipped up a light wind spell to blow the miasma aside. And as soon as it was clear, both Applejack and Pinkie rushed back in.

By that point, Sombra had finally managed to rebuild his sword arm and brought his blade down on Applejack as she neared. She was forced to halt and block the massive blow, but this, in turn, left him open as Pinkie darted in and opened another slash across his side. He spun his head about and sliced out with his beam again, this time seeming to tag Pinkie and knocking her back momentarily. Yet the move cost him as it allowed Applejack to advance and proceed to take a chunk out of his barely-rebuilt left leg. He quickly brought his shield arm about and broadsided her again. It wasn’t as hard as last time, but it still connected hard enough to knock her off of her feet and send her sprawling on her back. He tried to follow up with a killing beam—only to have Twilight ignite a ball of light in his face for a blinding spell. He hissed in rage and misery as his newly-replaced eyes became useless once again.

As the three continued to hammer away at him relentlessly, his tendrils kept going out to rebuild him as fast as they were damaging him. Yet it wasn’t long before the tendrils started having to go farther and take longer, and grew thinner as a result. He began to slow in his regeneration; whether it was from loss of power, lack of “material”, or both. What more, as Fluttershy forced herself to keep singing in spite of her weakness, Sombra couldn’t pull himself “totally together”. In fact, some tendrils were breaking off from him and simply fading into the air. And more followed suit as he started to clearly slow down…

Applejack lunged forward and delivered another punishing blow across the face just as Sombra was about to exhale his miasma again. This one ripped his jaw clean off, making his multiple, tooth-lined palates hiss in absolute rage. He couldn’t replace it. What tendrils he was still sending off had grown thin and needed to focus to reach farther to try and rebuild more important parts of his body. Instead, the foul vapor exuded in a thick cloud around him as he blasted it at her. Yet while it made her retreat, he didn’t have the jaw to forcefully spew it at her.

By now, she was panting and sweating—clearing reaching her limit. But she was pushing forward and, of the two, it was no longer clear who would give out first. However, as Twilight looked between the two of them from afar, she abruptly halted in her next spell to check on Fluttershy. By now, she was looking rather pale; like she was straining to keep her voice going. She would give out any time as well. So rather than finish her smaller spell, Twilight began to draw a more elaborate sigil yet again.

As soon as Applejack saw a break in the miasma, she lunged forward with the axe end of her weapon. Sombra answered by swinging his shield arm around, now barely able to move the large protection, and letting her clang harmlessly off of his crystal. The amount of power she had put into the swing meant she was knocked back as a result, giving him breathing room again. However, Pinkie, still active and shrugging off everything he was doing to her, quickly darted in. A moment later, and the shield limb was cleaved off entirely.

When his maddened eyes looked to her, the anger was laced with a foreign emotion…a hint of panic. There were no more limbs nearby to grab onto and no power to connect them. He couldn’t bring up his shield again.

However, it reverted fully into hate once again when Pinkie tried another move. Letting out a horrible sound, he again made crystals erupt from the ground. These ones were long, sharp, and stake-like; and they instantly pierced Pinkie in all four of her limbs to impale her in mid-lunge. In spite of how gruesome it looked, there was no blood, and Pinkie, stuck in mid-air with her thin sword extended toward Sombra, only wiggled uselessly for a moment on them before looking disappointed.

“Hey! That’s cheating!”

With her incapacitated, he spun around back to Applejack as she was still getting up. He didn’t have enough limbs for his sword arm. Only two were currently attached. So instead, he immediately lunged for her with the conjoined limb and wrapped his ramshackle fingers around her throat. He didn’t go for the full throttle. Rather, he leveraged that to throw his entire half-complete body at her. She struggled to withstand him, but weakened as she was she was soon forced down.

Now with her pinned by his weight, he again reared his disgusting, half-cleaved jaw over her. He couldn’t project his miasma before, but with her down he finally had a chance to finish her. He began to vent it once again…

But got no more than a few puffs out before balls of fire began to smack all over his body, lighting him up once again.

As he recoiled in anguish, Twilight paused in her sigil to look surprised. She turned to Rarity, but not only had she collapsed onto all fours she had lost her Anima Viris and reverted fully back. And she certainly hadn’t cast the spell. However, she soon realized the truth on looking back up to Pinkie Pie. She was still immobilized, but she had used the opportunity to release one of her Anima Viris and go into the role of the Magician. With her thin sword now a wand and pointed at Sombra, it was little trouble to ignite him once again.

Seeing that, Twilight quickly resumed her sigil casting. Not long after, Fluttershy gave out one last tired exhale then collapsed to the ground completely. The song was over, but at this point it no longer mattered. Sombra wasn’t able to keep charging forward this time, and as his tendril cut off he backpedaled—trying to use whatever limbs he had to extinguish himself with little success. Yet even now, clouds of black continued to come off of him. His open mouth vented more miasma, but now rather than anything “purposeful” it seemed like a gaping wound shedding blood.

Pinkie was left trying to work her limbs out via cutting through them one at a time, which left Applejack standing alone. She was too winded to press any advantage and simply stood there with weapon hefted and staring at him. Dash, finally coming around again although reverted, grunted and hefted herself up just enough to look out and spot him.

His fires subsided but didn’t go out as he slowed. His one remaining eye glared ahead hatefully, but also was wide and with pupil shrunk. It looked around at them one after the other, and the sigil that Twilight was making. Pinkie managed to free one limb, which she used to quickly free a second, but other than that no one moved.

Suddenly, the light in the one eye went dim as it turned into a regular eyeball and, like a hastily made card house, his body collapsed all together and disassembled. However, a thicker black cloud arose from the carrion mess, and instantly rose and shot away from it. It began to ascend rapidly in the sky, but also moved back toward the palisade walls and south.

“The jerk’s running away!” Dash managed to shout.

At that moment, however, Twilight finished her sigil. She glared at his fleeing shadow and drove her finger into the center.

“No…he’s not.”

A concentrated dark pulse, the exact same that she had utilized on Sunset Shimmer back on the airship, erupted. While it was harder to do with one hand, the power of the Scholar gave her the extra strength she needed to pull it off. Sombra picked up speed, but in the end her wave was faster. It caught up to him before he ever reached the palisade and he had no time to maneuver.

The resulting blast was too much for the weakened ladies. Dash was knocked back to the ground, Applejack and Twilight were swept off their feet, and Pinkie’s crystals were knocked aside with her still on them—ironically freeing her. Sombra’s cloud, on the other hand, was annihilated. Instantly burst like a popped bubble and driven out on the four winds. No trace of darkness or gloom, let alone any grotesque, menacing eyes, were left behind as the bang erupted for miles in all directions.

When the echo finally died, the ladies slowly and weakly picked themselves up. Twilight exhaled, releasing her own Anima Viri for the time being and leaving only Applejack and Pinkie Pie in theirs. The two looked out ahead as the winds calmed to see the aftermath of the final attack.

In their midst, hovering mere inches from the ground, was a hazy black mist. As dark as it had become, it was very difficult to see—much less the faint outline of colors that resembled eyes and a mouth. Both were now wide, twisted in anguish and despair but no longer having the energy for hate.

“Now, Pinkie! Take his Anima Viri now!”

“Huh? Oh, right-right!” Pinkie answered before cheerily bouncing over to the still-eerie and somewhat menacing sight. It didn’t even seem to notice her as she came to a stop. Afterward, she stuck out her tongue and looked to the sky with a thoughtful expression. “Hmm…now how did that go? Oh yeah!” Clearing her throat, she straightened her shoulders in an impression of trying to look big and important and boomed out.

“Valiant spirit, my household opens its doors to you!”

The dark mist didn’t move. The lips on it twisted slightly. The anguish in its eyes remained, giving way to a more forlorn look.

“Um…” She coughed louder. “Valiant spirit, my household opens its doors to you!”

The mist let out a mild groan, although Twilight and the others could hear it even from where they were due to how quiet it had become. The eyes dimmed, as if they were half-shutting. A faint voice, only a shadow of the menace and power it had once been, responded.

“I did only what I was meant to do… Why…is this my fate…?”

Twilight looked puzzled at that. As for Pinkie, she started to look uneasy.

“Um, Mr. Sombra? I don’t know if you heard me, but I said: ‘Valiant spirit, my household opens its doors to you.’ Soooo…”

The eyes slowly opened again. With its last vestiges of strength, the mouth changed once again into a malevolent grin.

“So be it… If I cannot rule this world…I will aid…and relish…its destruction…” Then, loud enough to echo. “I, Sombra, the King of Despair, pledge myself to the House of Pinkamena Diane Pie!”

“Wait…” Twilight tried to interrupt. “Sombra, what are you-”

“Oh, good! ‘Cause this was getting kinda awkward… Ahem… The binding is done; may our souls be as one!”

In a flash, a sigil lit up in the sky—one that drew Sombra’s remains up into it. It did not ignite into gold like all of the other Anima Viris they had encountered so far, however. This one was a much more menacing color: blood red. And somehow, in spite of the fact that it was glowing, it still seemed strangely “dim”.

The visage that materialized in the center of it was no better. For a brief moment, the ladies saw him—the original Sombra in all of his “glory”. He had the form of a man, obviously, and based on the cruel armor he wore and the crown on his brow that was the true image of what he had tried to reproduce, he was a warrior king. Yet the malice on his face…the hate…the cruelty…the lust for power… It twisted his grin into something monstrous. Even when he was alive, it was clear he was a demon.

But then it broke apart, and the light streamed into Pinkie’s outstretched hand. A moment later, a third light gleamed from the back of it, and then dimmed again.

The landscape was silent once again. Everywhere the eye could see was nothing but crystals from both Sombra and Rarity and the carnage of the remains of the vast multitude that had been consumed. It was darker now. The wind blew cooler. The only sounds were gasps from those still recovering and the faint rush of the ocean behind them.

Twilight was first to push herself fully into standing. She was still agonized, obviously, and clutching her severed fingers to her chest which had, mercifully, slowed in bleeding. “Pinkie…are you alright? How do you feel?”

She spun around and developed a childish thoughtful expression. “Hmm…a little tired…sleepy…a little less happy than usual…” Her eyes widened. “Oh…and maybe like there’s a big, monstrous darkness welling up inside of me threatening to take me over and destroy the world!”

A pause, and then she let out a small burp.

“…Nope! It was just leftover cake!”

Twilight sighed in relief. She turned to the others. Fluttershy was shaking all over, trembling like a leaf as she got back onto all fours. Rarity had managed to sit back as she cradled her own broken hand but looked increasingly fretful. Rainbow Dash was sniffing, possibly due to still bleeding from her nose, but trying to get up in spite of how wobbly she was. Applejack was still breathing a little heavy but stood to one side. She had released her Anima Viris, and now she stood there with her hammer at her side looking at the ground. Her face was grim.

“That was…horrendous…” Rarity practically moaned. “And…we still have to do that four more times?”

“And then take out someone worse than all of them…” Dash groaned.

Fluttershy closed her eyes and let out a meek whimper.

Twilight’s own demeanor sank; clearly not able to bring up anything to encourage them this time. Instead she turned to Applejack. She was still looking at the ground.

“Applejack…thanks,” she spoke with a meek smile. “You really saved the day. But I didn’t know you found another Anima Viri…”

“I didn’t,” she answered, flatly…almost coldly. “Not ‘til just now.”

The way she said that make Twilight hesitate. The others looked over to her. Slowly, Applejack reached up to her hat and removed it. She reached behind her head, grasped her ponytail, and turned it in front of her. She undid the small tie on it and let her hair flow out.

She held up the ribbon in front of her face. Her expression tightened.

“‘Fore we headed on the train, I lost my hair band. So…Big Mac gave me this one fer luck.”

Everyone’s faces blanched white. Even Pinkie gave a start. Twilight’s jaw loosened. No one said a word. Applejack’s face kept tightening; struggling to hold herself together and keep up her brave front.

It didn’t work. Even from a distance they could see the tears welling up in the corners of her eye. She held a moment more before she flung the ribbon away as fast as she could.

“Ya’ damn fool! Why ya’ always gotta be so stubborn! I told ya’ it’d get ya’ killed one day! You horse’s ass! You…you…!”

She couldn’t hold anymore. Dropping to her knees, she began to sob.

Rarity swallowed and tried to rise again to move over to comfort her. Pinkie was closer, but for once she didn’t move for the same reason Twilight didn’t move. In spite of Applejack’s pain, fear had seized them both. If something had happened to Big Macintosh, then something could have happened to Marble Pie and Shining Armor.

Yet thinking of Shining Armor slapped Twilight with realization as her own head looked up.

“…Where’s Spike?”

Fluttershy and Rarity both turned to her. Twilight went paler yet. Her face began to turn fretful as she looked around, and only grew more anxious on seeing nothing but ash and body remains.

“Where’s Spike?!”

“I-I-I don’t know…” Rarity answered. “I…I haven’t seen him since he tried to stall that horrid mole…”

Fluttershy let out a gasp and cupped her hands to her mouth. “He…he wasn’t with us when that dragon breathed fire… You…you don’t think…?”

“No…” Twilight half-whispered, looking around even more frantically. “No…no, no, no… It can’t be… Spike? Spike?!”

“Bravo, bravo, bravo!”

The sound of a man’s voice once again diverted everyone’s attention. In a heartbeat, they turned to the edge of the palisade that faced the ocean.

Standing on top of it, slowly clapping, was the peddler.

“Marvelous... Magnificent! Very well done! I’m so glad I decided to speed you on your way! There’s so much to see across all of Greater Everfree but nothing like this!”

Spike and Big Macintosh were both forgotten. The ladies stared at him in surprise…and unease. Applejack couldn’t rise and tears were still running down her cheeks, but Dash put her hands into fists and tried to look as formidable as possible.

“You…” Twilight remarked.

“Oh, hi there!” Pinkie waved. “You know, if you wanted to follow us, it would have been easier to ride in the train…”

“What in the world are you doing here?” Rarity accosted.

He smirked and stopped clapping. “Why, enjoying the show, of course. You ladies are a riot. I’ve been having fun for months watching all of your ins and outs.”

Dash instantly frowned. “I don’t like being spied on.”

“And I must say, this was the best I’ve seen so far. Far better than the Tantabus. A whole major metropolitan area and you didn’t so much as level one building.”

Dash gave a start. Pinkie looked confused, but Twilight went rigid.

“Oh, and that fight with Nightmare Moon? Bor-ring… All that fire and all that shadow…and still everyone who died there had already died seven years ago.”

Now the group really did look uneasy. “Wait…what…?”

“I mean, at least you got a few Trottingham flunkies crushed or eaten when you fought Sunset Shimmer on the airship. But here? Oh-ho! Wonderful! Nothing but carnage and chaos for an entire square mile! You’ve definitely stepped up your game. I can’t wait to see the messes you leave behind when you round up the other four Anima Viris.”

The ladies had gone dead silent. Even Dash didn’t look bold anymore, and Pinkie, even with her childish mindset, began to realize the truth.

“Um…should he know all that stuff?”

Twilight didn’t answer that question. She was focused fully on the grinning man, who, at this point, didn’t seem to have any pretentions of being purely friendly or jovial anymore.

“…Who are you? And don’t say ‘a peddler’.”

“Oh Twilight…you’d think by now you’d be used to not getting the answers you want. Besides, there’s no time for such trifles as that.”

He held up his hand and snapped his fingers. Immediately, the crystals to his left shattered completely.

This was shocking enough in and of itself, as none of them had managed to make so much as a blemish until now. Yet the shattering obliterated them so much that they were reduced to snowflake-like dimensions, and the sea breeze instantly took them up and blew them away. As they were scattered off into the night, it revealed what had lain beyond the whole time: the artificial island still gleaming with the mysterious lights.

Yet at that moment it made a sound. A humming of some sort that seemed mechanical but was nowhere as crude or noisy as that of modern steam engines. While it was a bit hard to see in the darkness, the ladies saw the front of it at the place closest to the shore open up. Against the metallic island it was more like a cave opening than any of the structures, and once it did open it led into nothing but blackness. However, at the same time, a metal ramp slid out from beneath it to mesh totally with the shore. It was undoubtably an opening. One large enough for all six to stride in comfortably.

“Your prize awaits you: the Crystal Heart. That is what you came for, isn’t it? Oh, and there’s a bonus! There just so happens to be a man inside waiting for you who knows the identity of the Angra Mainyu you’re so dead-set on stopping. Perhaps you should pay him a visit while you’re there.”

The ladies remained still, but were looking increasingly uneasy at how he knew all of these things. Twilight looked again to the dark opening but let out a shudder. She looked even more fearful than she did on the train. They all did.

“That looks…s-s-scary…” Fluttershy finally mumbled.

“You cannot be serious. You don’t honestly expect us to simply waltz right in where you tell us to go after exposing what you’ve been up to, do you?” Rarity retorted.

He shrugged in response and leaned back. For a moment, it looked like he would fall off of the crystal spires…only to halt on air as if an invisible cushion was supporting him. The group grew even more nervous as he began to float into the air while reclining. Like he was being supported by an invisible balloon.

“Suit yourselves. Run on back home if you feel like it. But you’ll have to go in there sooner or later. You or the Angra Mainyu, at any rate. You see…”

He smiled wider. This time with a sinister twist to it.

“You need what’s in there.”

He held up a hand and tapped a part of it, right where the sigil of an Anima Viri would go. It took a moment but they got the insinuation.

“You’re saying another one of those big ones that Anger Whatever thing wants is in there?” Dash called out.

“Why don’t you go see for yourselves?”

Twilight grimaced. In spite of the untrustworthy appearance of this mysterious man, she found her body leaning toward the opening. However, her feet remained fully rooted to the ground, and the pervasive, unknown fear continued to restrain her.

“I wouldn’t trust him…” Rarity muttered.

“Well…he hasn’t actually lied to us so far…” Fluttershy meekly offered.

“What do you want to do, Twilight?” Pinkie asked.

The mage hesitated a little longer. She swallowed. Then she looked at the entrance and slowly shook her head. “I…I think we’ve seen enough for one day. We…we should get out of here.” One of her feet began to slowly step back.

The grin turned into a frown. “There you go, being boring again. I’m disappointed. Here I thought you were all about the truth and finding answers but it seems you’d prefer to crawl on back to your little library and bury your nose in books. Fine, fine…” He rolled his eyes and waved his hand as he spun in midair. “Go on home. It’s past your bedtime anyway.”

The taunts only seemed to antagonize Dash a little. Everyone else, however, had indeed seen quite enough. Even so, Twilight found herself needing to focus to cause her feet to move back. A part of her body seemed to want to keep moving forward…

“Oh…just one last thing.”

The man suddenly straightened in midair. He opened up one side of his coat.

“Since you’re going home early, I’m sure you won’t mind if I handle the ‘pet-sitting’.”

He reached inside and, like a magician pulling a particularly large rabbit out of a hat, he drew out a glowing, metallic collar that was attached to a cringing, whining purple dog.

Twilight gasped. “Spike!”

Spike spotted her, letting out another whine. He was suspended by the collar around his neck—looking like it was made out of the same material as the island behind him. The tall man smirked as he hovered the canine in front of him, causing him to struggle like he was being choked.

“Not a very responsible owner, are we? Letting your dog run off like that. No telling what sort of trouble he might get in.”

Twilight’s teeth clenched in a rare show of anger. Her good hand raised to start making a sigil. “Put him down now!”

“Sure. I’ll just…oops!”

The man made a gesture to lower his hand, only to suddenly make a hand wave. With a zip, Spike let out one more whine before he was pulled back into his coat and disappeared into thin air.

“Butterfingers.”

Twilight’s anger surged. “Let him go right now!”

“Of course. But you’ll have to go in to pick him up,” he grinned in response, pivoting in mid air and gesturing toward the open doorway. “Your choice, Twilight. Decide whether you’d like to go back to your castle with or without your dog. I’d suggest you decide quickly. The old man inside is a much worse pet handler than you.”

With that, he held up his hand and snapped his fingers. Instantly he ignited into light—much more brightly than any of the Anima Viri connections the ladies had made before. Twilight, in spite of her anger, was forced to look away momentarily. While it was only a fraction of a second, when she was able to look back both the tall man and Spike were gone. Only the artificial island remained.

Twilight, on her part, hesitated only a half a second longer before she squared her jaw and began to walk toward the opening.

A moment later, Dash ran in front of her and held up her hand. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m going in after Spike,” she flatly retorted. “I’m not leaving here without him.”

“Uh, hello? Did you see what that freaky guy just did? Did you hear him? There’s no telling who he is or what he wants! He’s got to be another of those weird bad guys Luna showed us!”

“He isn’t, but even if he was I don’t care! Spike’s the only one I had after the Lunar Fall for years! I don’t know what he can do to him and I’m not going to find out!”

She paused, still incensed, but exhaled.

“But you’re right that I don’t want to go in there. Mostly because it feels almost like my body is pulling me in that direction against my will… I’ve got to anyway, though. I’m not going to ask any of you to come with me.”

“I’ll come.”

The ladies were rather surprised to hear Fluttershy speak up. While still looking nervous, she walked up to Twilight’s side.

“I mean…um…I still think I’m too tired to heal much…and I don’t think I can fix your fingers, Twilight… But I hate the thought of Spike being in there with some scary guy all alone…”

Dash frowned. “Terrific. You can’t heal and Twilight can’t even cast with that hand.”

“Frankly, we all need doctors at this point…” Rarity muttered.

“Not me!” Pinkie cheerily offered as she bounced up to Twilight’s side. “I’m still fresh as a daisy and fine as a birthday cake! I can come!”

Dash let out a groan at that, before reluctantly stepping aside and up to them. “Well then, I’m coming too I guess… This place is freaking me out and I’m not about to turn chicken before the three of you.”

Rarity let out a tired sigh, but then began to reach for part of her dress. “It’s a good thing I went with the wide ribbon on this one so I can use it for a sling. I think going in there is an absolutely horrid idea, but Twilight’s right. I’m not about to let little Spikey-Wikey be subjected to some awful fate; hand or no hand.”

Seeing the rest of them decided, Twilight paused before she turned to Applejack. Yet she was surprised to see that the farmer had already risen. She was wiping the tears from her face with the back of her hand and clenching her jaw.

“Harmonium knows how many folks we lost already today… We ain’t losin’ no one else on my watch if I can help it.” She hefted her hammer as best she could. “Let’s get to it while we still got enough spit an’ vinegar to put up a fight…”

Twilight hesitated, especially at Applejack who clearly wasn’t at her best, but she ended up looking to the others and smiling weakly.

“Thanks, everyone…”

With that, she began to lead the way toward the metallic island. She stopped only long enough to reach down for the remains of the only intact weapon she could find—a bit of bone she could use for a wand. Once she was gripping that firmly and holding her staunched hand to her chest, she led the rest of the way.

Her step only slowed a moment on reaching the shore, seeing that the metal platform now extended all the way to it, before she tentatively stepped out and touched down on it. Yet as soon as her foot made contact she took a deep breath and boldly walked the rest of the way inside. One by one, keeping their own eyes forward, the others followed after her.

It wasn’t until all vanished inside and the shoreline was again quiet save for the wind and water that the same bright flash erupted again; causing the tall man to reappear in thin air right where he had been. He smiled as he looked at the entrance for a few seconds before a new noise echoed in on the breeze: an airship engine.

He turned and looked up to it. Parting the remaining clouds and coming in for a landing was the same airship that had escaped the summit at Mount Aris.

He grinned in a mixture of glee and malice. “Ah, the guest of honor finally graces us with her presence. Now tonight’s fun can really get started.”

Snapping his fingers again, he once more vanished long before the pilot of the airship ever got the chance to spot him.

Author's Note:

Next chapter, some of the mysteries finally start getting answered...

Comments

[dannny43]

Nooooo not big mac! Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck, man why you gotta do this to me, first marble then mac, damn