Sigil of Souls, Stream of Memories

by Piccolo Sky

Daybreak: Shadow Over Canterlot

Author's Note:

And long last...the newest chapter.

It didn’t take long for the others to finish running up the stairs and rush over to the wall where the others were standing patrol, but on seeing what Twilight and the group had spotted they froze in their tracks. A few of them, mostly those who had escaped the shadow once, paled and went as still as statues. Two of them turned and ran back down the stairs, one of them beginning to babble hysterically. Everyone else who remained was soon stricken with terror.

Twilight couldn’t be sure, but she almost swore she could see the dark cloud twisting when people ran. Like it was…smiling.

“Twily!”

Snapping out of it, she turned to the voice of Shining Armor. He was still poised at the bell, but he had stopped ringing by now, and was now radiating with his own aura in the Healer role.

“What are you waiting for? Come on!”

Twilight hesitated a moment, but then nodded back. She quickly held up her hand and drew on Starswirl and her own aura lit up. Seeing that light ignite shook the others out of their terror. Where until now they had been stuck staring at the cloud with increasing dread, they now looked to Twilight as she assumed the role of the Caster. And seeing her looking powerful with her new blazing aura emboldened them. The rest of the women quickly donned their own Roles one after another, and by the time six auras were perched on the wall, it served enough to quickly stir the others out of their own fear. They were able to muster their courage and continue all the way to the parapet, taking cover and leveling their weapons at the approaching foes.

Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie all moved up near Shining Armor. Sunset nearly followed, but hesitated on realizing she couldn’t help. Starlight stayed at her side, taking up a rifle and ammunition clip nearby. After a moment of seeing her loading it up and getting it ready, Sunset reluctantly began to do the same.

“So…” Twilight exhaled nervously. “How do we fight this thing?”

“I was kind of hoping you had an idea…” Shining Armor spoke back uneasily. “I can only help people like this. I can’t fight back against it. And…I honestly don’t know how you go about fighting a shadow.”

“You reckon it works like the Tantabus thing did?” Applejack suggested. “Like maybe we can hurt it like it’s some normal Light Eater?”

“Maybe…but it’s huge just like the Tantabus. It’ll take us all time to fight it, and it has minions helping it.”

“It…it looks a bit…scarier…than the Tantabus did…” Fluttershy muttered.

“Yeah! The Tantabus didn’t have big bloody eyes that looked like they’re burning!” Pinkie offered. “You don’t think he’s going to be harder than it, do you?”

“To hell with it…” Dash retorted, putting her fist in her hand. “Let’s just get out there and start attacking! Where’s Rarity? We need her for this!”

“Hold up, y’all…” Applejack cut in, holding her hand out to them while pointing with her other. “It’s doin’ somethin’!”

Everyone focused on it again. Sure enough, the situation had changed. All of the Nighttouched and barbarians that were walking with it suddenly halted. The shadow over them, however, had begun to churn over itself and billow like a growing storm cloud. And as it did, it raised itself up and over its followers, spreading its black, inky tendrils through the air and blazing its blood red eyes forth with greater intensity and power.

Then, as if the wind had changed, it suddenly swept forward and began to roll over the remaining distance…right for the wall where everyone was gathered.

“No…”

Twilight turned to Shining Armor, seeing his own eyes widening with panic. The rest of the people with them from Hoofheim began to tremble and break. They lowered their weapons and shrank back with growing fear.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s doing what it did before!” he shouted back. He quickly spun to the group. “Everyone hang on! Brace yourselves! Don’t give into it!”

“What’re you-”

Twilight cut herself off. The shadow was moving too fast. Already, it was looming over them. She could see the lights within it and, indeed, they looked just like hideous eyes glaring down at them all. Malevolent…greedy…hungry… She could almost hear it on the air as it rushed in on them like a storm front, or even an avalanche.

Heh…heh…heh…

Twilight went rigid, immobilized by shock…and fear. Her mind couldn’t work. She didn’t know what to do. As she stared at it, Shining Armor whipped around to her. He ran up to her as fast as he could, and just as the shadow spilled over them and everyone else on the wall he put his arms around her as if he was trying to be a human shield. Moments later, both of their auras were snuffed out along with everything else…swallowed in darkness.

Within the blackness, it was impossible to see anyone or anything. The wall had vanished, as had the citadel and the city of Canterlot. Everything was now nothing but darkness—vast, empty, and stretching infinitely everywhere. Eternal nothingness in all directions. Twilight couldn’t see her own body, let alone that of Shining Armor or anyone else around her. However, she didn’t have anything but blackness to look at long.

Inside her mind, she began to see things. Images of her family coldly turning their back on her as a stranger. Not just in the present, but in the past. Seeing the crying child on their doorstep and throwing her out to slam the door in her face. Leaving her horrified and agonized. It felt like icy knives were being driven into her heart with each uncaring look and gesture.

That wasn’t all, though. When she turned away, she saw the carriage on fire again. Only this time, there was no flaming oblivion. There were the twisted, malformed remains of her students roasted alive. Reaching out as if they had struggled to escape but had been left to burn.

And through it all, rising like a demon from a pyre, was Celestia’s roasted corpse. Her bony, blackened fingers pointed out accusatory at her while her drying lips revealed a mouth full of charred teeth. As parts of her scalp and skull crumbled to dust, she could hear her voice.

You failed me… You failed all of us…

Her eyes widened in horror. Feelings of dread…of terror…of failure…of hopelessness…all washed in on her like a deluge. Weighing down on her like an elephant on her chest. Blackening out any good thought or happiness she ever had. Wiping it out of her memory, as if feeling joy had never been anything but a childish dream or fantasy… Smothering her…drowning out any light…any life…any will inside of her…

I never should have made you my student… I hate you…

Her jaw slackened as her retinas began to turn red. The corneas started to turn a putrid green. Bleakness…sadness…despair… That was all she could think now. All that there was. All that there would ever be in the world…

“Twily!”

From out of the smothering darkness and despair, a faint, weak voice sounded. It barely reached her, nothing more than the faintest glow. But in the world of blackness and despair, it was a glow. A warm one. A hopeful one. And weak as it was, her mind gravitated toward it. Enough to where she was able to look away from the flaming bodies, the cold rejection, and the misery she was feeling. She kept looking at it, and she struggled to reach it. It grew brighter as a result, and banished away the images and terror. It grew stronger and so did the voice with it.

“Twily!”

Twilight let out a gasp within the endless blackness, like she had nearly drowned but broke the surface just in time. Although she was surrounded by darkness, she felt Shining Armor holding onto her. She heard his voice. He was here in the darkness with her.

“Shining Armor!”

She heard him gasp in relief. “You’re out! You broke free!”

Twilight blinked a few times, still taking deep breaths, but then looked around. In spite of Shining Armor’s hopeful voice, they were still immersed in darkness. And while he sounded like he was here and alright, she quickly realized they might be alone in that. All around them, embedded in the endless gloom, there were lights coming on. Blood red lights with green corneas. On seeing them, she began to hear voices around her.

“Why…why?! Why was I even born?!”

“Come back! Come back! Don’t leave me!”

“Go…go away! I had to! I had to take care of them!”

“You…you hate me, don’t you? For what I did? I couldn’t stop myself!”

“No! I did my duty! I saved lives!”

“Let me die… Just…just please let me die…”

It took Twilight a moment to realize it was the voices of the ladies. Yet in as an agonized, twisted, broken cacophony. Everyone making noise at once and impossible to sort it out. And soon, they vanished as more voices joined them from everyone else on the wall. She even heard Spike’s whining over it.

The shadow was taking them. Invading their minds. Crushing them with their own fears and despair. And unlike her, no one was there to pull them all out. She wasn’t sure she could help any of them…let alone pull them all back…

Yet just as her fears began to surface, a voice…powerful and resonant…stronger than all of the darkness and piercing it through and through…spoke two words.

“Be…still!”

Twilight almost heard an angry snarl on the wind as, with a tremendous gust, the gloom was blown back and away. It receded and the night sky and the wall was once again revealed. She once more saw Shining Armor holding onto her, and both of them were glowing with their Anima Viris. They stared at each other in bewilderment, then looked around.

Everyone was about them, twisted in expressions of pain and horror. Their eyes had nearly turned. Yet now free from the darkness, they held those positions only a bit, and then began to blink and ease. The blood and green vanished from their eyes again, restoring them to normal, and their looks turned to anxious bewilderment, like they were awakening from a nightmare. Fluttershy continued to cringe, but slowly peeked out from her hair. Spike shook his head and got up before trotting over to Twilight. Applejack let out a few gasps and rubbed her brow. Rainbow Dash looked like she had been primed for a fight she was going to lose when she eased. Pinkie simply blinked a few times before hopping up, seeming confused by the whole thing. Starlight looked around tensely for a moment before rising. Sunset clutched her chest and let out a long exhale to steady herself. They slowly eased and looked around, and saw that the shadow was retreating; resuming its place above the attacking barbarians and monsters.

Twilight looked around, trying to spot their savior, and soon let out a gasp on seeing her in their midst.

Luna was standing there now, and she was clad from head to toe in ornate, Equestrian armor looking like it was made of silver and etched with emblems of the moon. Her helmet enclosed around her eyes and mouth, but one could still make her face out and her eyes from within. A long spear was in her hand and against the ground with a gleaming tri-bladed tip, and her hair had been let loose to flutter behind her almost like a cape or banner. In the dim night light, it seemed to gleam like a sky of stars. Her hard eyes looked boldly and without fear into the eyes of the monstrosity as it retreated.

And with that, the eyes developed a new look.

Anger.

As everyone slowly recovered, Shining Armor let Twilight go as he, and most of the others, now looked at Luna in awe. She never broke or regarded them, however. Twilight swallowed. “Luna…th-thank y-”

“Save your gratitude. This is far from over,” she coldly cut off. “I’m doing my best to bluff Sombra at the moment. All I have left to me is the power of my voice, and while it might have been enough to command him to release you so long as he relies on such power to be tangible to the living world, it’s far from enough to defeat him. The moment he realizes I’ve lost my power he’ll destroy you all and raze Canterlot to the ground.”

“Wha…what?” Twilight half-stammered. The others around her looked to her in shock and confusion.

“What are you talking about? Sombra? ‘Such power’?” Sunset echoed back.

“There is no time for questions,” Luna retorted, still not looking away. “You’re outmanned and overpowered. You have one hope now: the Morning Glory. It’s the only thing that can drive him away.”

“The Morning Glory?”

“Did I not just say there’s no time for questions?”

Twilight stammered a moment. Sunset, however, jumped in. “It isn’t ready yet! We were still waiting for the final pieces to cool!”

“Then finish it now! And bring it out here while you have time! I’m not sure how long we’ll be able to keep him at bay!”

Now Twilight not only looked stunned, but everyone else on the wall with her. They anxiously turned and looked at Luna. “Hang on a sec!” Rainbow Dash protested. “Twilight’s the best at her Anima Viri! We need her to defend the wall!”

“Do any of you know how to finish a Morning Glory?”

The group was quiet for a moment. Dash herself winced. “Uh…no.”

“Then keep quiet! Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, do as I say! Take anyone you need with you! The rest of you, we will hold the gates of Canterlot as long as necessary for them to complete their task! Understand?”

There was a moment of hesitation from the group. Many of them looked fearful and uneasy. Twilight herself was uncertain, looking back to the shadow that was halting its retreat and then back to the academy. Yet after a moment, she swallowed, and reached out and took Sunset’s hand.

“Right. We’ll need Igneous Pie and Apple Split to help us finish, and then Big Macintosh to help us haul it. Everyone else, stay here and stand your ground!”

Shining Armor took one deep inhale, but then nodded back. “Right. Everyone, you heard that! Stand your ground! We’ll keep them out of the walls no matter what!”

Sunset was hesitant a moment longer, but soon Twilight began to pull her along. When that happened, she exhaled but then quickly fell in step behind her. Igneous Rock Pie soon followed after, having not even taken up a firearm to begin with, while Big Macintosh hesitated, looking anxiously back at Applejack.

“We’ll be fine! Just git so you can get back quick!”

He cast her one more long, anxious look before he finally made the turn and left. The remaining people who were armed quickly took their places on the wall and got their weapons at the ready. That left the four remaining girls, already in their Anima Viris. Dash and Applejack took one look at Luna in her current form, not really sure how to take this recent turn of events, but ending up resigning themselves to stepping forward. Pinkie quickly hopped up at their side.

“Wasn’t there supposed to be five of you?” she mused aloud. “Well, no matter. We’ll have to hold them with what we have.”

“You, uh…really think we can take out a guy who’s nothing but a big shadow?” Dash asked.

“You’re about to find out.”

At that point, the shadow was no longer idle. While it stayed behind and the eyes reformed, still looking angrier than ever, there was a new unified movement going on. The barbarians were beginning to advance in ranks toward the gates. They brandished their weapons menacingly, even if their faces were obscured from view.

However, that wasn’t all the group noticed. They heard a crackling sound through the air. Like a frozen river or lake would make during the spring thaw, echoing up and down through the valley. It took them a moment to wonder what it would be before one of those on the wall, who turned out to be the Huntsman Celaeno, looked up from her own position and spotted it. She immediately pointed. “Look down there!”

The others did so and saw the area alongside the path advancing to the gates. The ground was fracturing around it. And in its wake, shards like obsidian were emerging from the ground in razor sharp clustered formations. They seemed to be forming a crystal palisade along either side of the pathway, as fearsome and menacing as it was. It was almost trying to seal off the potential battlefield against any escape as the barbarians advanced…

Applejack stared at a bit longer, but then exhaled. “Well, it ain’t gettin’ any safer down there.” She hefted her hammer. “Let’s go!”

To the surprise of the others gathered, she simply vaulted right over the parapet. She sailed downward for the three stories before she landed on the ground before the gate with a loud connection.

Rainbow Dash glanced back up at Pinkie and Fluttershy, but then simply shrugged and threw herself over the edge as well. She landed just as Applejack got up and began to menacingly ready her hammer.

Fluttershy blinked a few times. “Oh my…”

“Whoo-hoo!” Pinkie cheered, quickly bounding up on top of the parapet, and motioning toward her. “Come on, Fluttershy! Beat you down there!” And, with that, she nimbly hopped off the wall herself.

“I’ll, um…take the stairs…” she half-muttered before quickly turning and rushing for the stairwell down to the ground level.

As for Pinkie, she landed right behind the first two girls soon after, springing back to her feet even faster than the two of them had done. However, Applejack and Dash were already advancing, with the former smacking the shaft of his hammer in one palm while Dash slapped her fists together and cracked her neck. All around them, the crinkling sound of crystal continued to emit as the obsidian shards grew on either side of them, but their attention was fully toward the approaching barbarians and their glowing eyes.

Suddenly, the front line shifted weight, aimed their weapons forward, and barreled forward in a charge. The second line soon formed behind them and came as well. Not waiting to be reached, Applejack and Dash quickly leaned down and rushed in to meet them, and in moments the two connected.

Applejack’s opening smash into the first barbarian struck the helmet so hard it was half dented in and swiveled around before the impact cast its wearer aside. She wasted no time but quickly swung her hammer around and back in either way, catching two more barbarians on either side of her before they could close in on her with each swing. All four were battered away. Not relenting for a moment, she charged right in, ducked under a swing of a hasty cleaver for her head, and then lunged forward and seized the barbarian by the neck. Crying out, she spun around and flung him into three of his companions coming at one side, right before hefting her hammer again and pivoting around to the claw portion. With a mighty cry, she swung out and caught it against three of their weapons as they tried to stab her from the side, ripping them out of their hands or breaking the shafts, then swung the hammer up and around to bring it down on another’s head with a loud crack before snapping her head out and smashing it into another.

Dash easily dodged the first stab for her own torso with a pitchfork fashioned into a crude spear and drove her first fist into her opponent’s side before a follow up palm to the face sent him tumbling back head over heads. She dashed forward into the next incoming soldiers; dodging a slice for her leg and countering with a kick with her opposite leg, evading a swipe for her shoulder and retorting with a right hook, and outright deflecting the third strike with one leg before countering with a follow-up kick from her other. Another came from behind her with an axe to try and cut her down, but she quickly answered by spinning around, blocking with one arm, grasping the shaft of the axe with the other, and ripping it clean out of the barbarian’s hands. She followed up by shooting forward with her opposite arm, seizing the person, and then leveraged her weight up and against her to hoist her over her head, flip her over, and drive her down headfirst onto another coming from her other side. Both went down in a heap, and she followed up by vaulting over two more slashes for her legs as she leapt into the air and delivered a finishing kick to them both.

Pinkie’s own approach was far different. Laughing all the way, she charged into the midst of an entire line of the attackers, nimbly dodging stabs and swipes and emerging on the other side of them. At once, five of them had their pants fall down to their ankles, tripping them as they struggled to turn around. Others quickly moved in and stabbed out with pitchforks and hastily-made spears. She giggled again as she spun and pivoted about them, swinging out with her dagger. The head of one of their weapons fell right off, while a pitchfork’s end was carved off its shaft, and a third’s weapon fell into pieces. They kept coming at her from behind as well as in front, but she twisted and turned through each one, removing weapons and armor with each pass.

By the time Fluttershy reached the gate and the defenders risked opening it enough to let her quickly slip out, the three were knee deep in the barbarians. Applejack and Rainbow Dash continued to flatten one after another as soon as they were striking range, and in spite of both being rather warmed up at this point they managed to keep up with the onslaught.

“Ha!” Dash yelled as she drove a fist into the next nearest one, sending her flying back into her companions. “These guys are all show! They go down easy!”

“Yeah, but they ain’t stayin’ down!” Applejack shouted back as she batted away two trying to grab for her hammer arm.

“Huh?” Dash retorted as she paused for just a moment. More attackers were still running at her, but as she noticed them coming she realized some of them were ones that had already been hit. In fact, no sooner had the force of her impact ceased to be felt by her opponents than they immediately sprang back up and at her with undiminished vigor. Even the one she had stomped on, which should have broken no less than four ribs, was coming at her again just as readily as the others. And considering the fact that Applejack’s own blows had to be breaking bones and skulls, that was no small matter. Even Pinkie’s antics were only stalling them briefly, for they reached and clutched for the three even without weapons to hold them back long enough to get hit.

One managed to grab her ankle when she stalled, and as she grit her teeth and yanked her leg free, she felt the attacker’s nails dig into her skin and leave a bloody scratch in its wake.

Applejack brought her heavy hammerhead down on another attacker, this one causing an audible crunching noise, and yet after looking like her neck had been crushed inward she continued to attack her. “We might be in a pickle!”

Another chorus of tramping came out from the enemy line. In the midst of their battling, the three looked back out over their attackers. In spite of the fact they were already swarmed and struggling to bat away the painless barbarians, a fresh line was moving down to join the others.

“Ready!” a voice called from the parapet wall. The three glanced skyward briefly, and saw Shining Armor was rallying those with firearms. Most of them weren’t nearly marksmen enough to risk firing among the ladies, but this new line was still at a good distance away.

“Aim!” he shouted, causing them all to quickly put their weapons to shoulder and eye them in their sights. “Fire!”

A chorus of bullet noises rang out, and blood erupted across the entire line. The impacts of the rifle bullets stalled over half of them if nothing else, and while most of them forced their bodies to lurch forward, not only were many of them moving more slowly now but five of them fell to the ground and stayed there.

“Alright!” Dash yelled as she pumped a fist. “Looks like they do stay down if you hit ‘em right!”

Those on the walls ejected their spent cartridges and took aim again. Yet no sooner had they done so when Shining Armor cried out a second time.

“Wait, stop! Don’t shoot!”

Applejack snapped her head skyward. “Say what now?!”

At the same time, they heard a loud gasp from behind them. Fluttershy had just taken a few steps forward only to cup her mouth. “Oh no!”

“Look!” Pinkie joined in.

Both Dash and Applejack looked to two of the fallen bodies. On landing, the impact had knocked their helmets off of their heads.

And in their wake, they saw two people. Haggard…thin…pale…but definitely not warriors. One of them was overweight, balding, and with a mustache and beard. The other was a young woman no older than sixteen. For a moment, the same green and red light was in their eyes. But it slowly faded out, and when it did, their eyes were pale and glassy. Like they were blind.

“Those are people from Hoofheim!” Shining Armor shouted. “It’s them! That shadow brought them all the way down here! It’s using them!”

Dash stared blankly for a moment, before her look turned to anger. “Are you kidding me? Well what are we supposed to do now, then?”

“I don’t know!” Applejack began to shout back. “But…AUGH!”

As she had been calling out, one of the barbarians lurched forward, seized her by the arm with one hand, brushed her own helmet back, and used her exposed mouth to bite into her forearm. Blood gushed up around the wound as Applejack arched in pain. She quickly spun around to the attacker, and tried to lift her hammer up to knock her back, only for two more of the formerly beaten barbarians to reach out and seize her limb. They dug their nails in as well, drawing blood, like they were trying to tear her apart. Another came up with a hatchet, bringing it back to bury it in her neck, while still another came from her side meaning to slash her throat with a sickle. Crying out in pain and fervor, she twisted the bodies of the two clutching her arm in front of her to guard, but the barbarians simply drove their weapons into their companions. If anything, they tried to hack through them to get to her.

Dash noticed this and nearly went after Applejack, only to feel herself halted as two of the barbarians she had knocked to the ground reached out and seized her by the ankles. They began to furiously drag her back while trying to bring their heads up to bite at her as well. Two others reached out and seized her limbs, grabbing them and yanking them backward. With her torso open, two more with crude spears advanced and tried to drive them into her belly. She twisted out of the way of one, but she couldn’t wrench herself free of the other before the spear came forward. Instead, as she tried to pivot herself to one side, the blade shot forward and sliced along her midriff.

Pinkie exclaimed in shock, just as one of the barbarians came up behind her and smashed her in the back of the head with a solid club. She only faltered a little at it, but an entire wave of the disarmed attackers used the moment to surge at her, push her back off of her feet, fling her to the ground, and mass on top of her. They were soon dogpiling on her body with progressively more throwing themselves on top. Even she found herself unable to wiggle free. And she only had to struggle for a moment or two before she spotted one coming up to her brandishing a rather large axe. He was clearly aiming for her neck to sever her head from her body.

“Fluttershy!” Dash yelled between grit teeth as she tried to pry loose. “I think now might be a good time to sing your song!”

“B-B-But…but I don’t know if I can! And I don’t know if I can make it so just they’re affected!”

“Just do it!”

The woman gulped, but on seeing the attackers only continue to relentlessly pour on top of the others, she finally forced herself to step forward. Holding her hand high, she once again performed the call for her second Anima Viri, and a moment later her garb changed from the Healer to that of the Minstrel. Exhaling again, she put her lyre up to her side and soon began to play on it.

Even when she only hit the opening chords, the music alone was enough to make the attackers slow. Dash was able to yank her arms free a moment later while Applejack was able to throw her own backward. The barbarians hardly seemed to notice. They turned their attention to Fluttershy.

“Hush now, quiet now,

It’s time to lay your sleepy head…”

As soon as she started singing, they went still all together. Somehow, Pinkie was now able to slip her way out from under them while Dash and Applejack quickly extracted themselves the rest of the way. None of the attackers came after them as they stepped back.

“Yay, it worked!” Pinkie cheered.

“Back up, everyone!” Applejack called. “Get the wall between us an’ them!”

“Hush now, quiet now,

It’s time to go to-”

Fluttershy’s song was cut off as she let out a scream. The others, who had just been starting to back up, snapped around to her in alarm. They got a rather terrible surprise.

The ground in front of the front gates, where Fluttershy was still standing, suddenly erupted into black, razor-sharp crystals. Like a rock pincushion. One of them had stretched out far enough to pierce her right through her leg and skewer her on a needle-like spine. She was faltering now, dropping her lyre and crying out in pain. Worse than that, however, was that with her low experience and endurance with the Minstrel, it took only a moment for her to lose her focus and revert back into her normal body.

Worst of all, no sooner had her song ceased than the mob of attackers immediately started swarming forward again.

“Ugh!” Dash yelled as she quickly belted the first one in the face while backing up further. “That’s just great! Now…wha?!”

She had taken one step back toward the crystal palisades, trying to get more distance on her attackers, only for the wall to suddenly erupt into more massive, jagged, and sharp crystals. She had to quickly leap forward, back into her attackers, to avoid being slashed by them. Applejack was much the same. She had just finished swatting two more when crystals lashed out behind her, one of them sharp enough to cut into one of her bits of armor. And no sooner had she stepped back toward her foes when the ground beneath her erupted in more of the obsidian crystals.

Pinkie herself bounded over to Fluttershy to help her up, but no sooner had she helped her back up to her feet when the ground right in front of the gate was torn apart as even larger crystals cruelly burst forth. Not only did it force them up into the attacking wave, but soon the gate was completely blocked off by them.

The four moved back as far as they could, but in moments they found themselves meeting with each other. While Applejack and Dash quickly aimed themselves forward for the barbarians, who even now were regrouping and readying for another mass movement, Fluttershy and Pinkie looked around and saw the crystals continue to come forth. They were angling themselves now, aiming their razor-sharp tips for the ladies…clearly being intended to force them back. And they kept coming both from the back as well as from either side.

Applejack finally glanced around them and grit her teeth. “Great! They’re herding us in like a bunch o’ cattle!” With that, she swung her hammer around against the nearest, most brittle-looking tip. Unfortunately, it harmlessly dinged off. She didn’t even leave a scratch. She tried hitting another head on, and only yanked her arm back in pain from the jarring blow. She had no time for further, as she had to back up to avoid being pierced by another.

Eventually, the four found themselves pushing themselves back-to-back, surrounded on three sides by spiked crystals reaching so far that they were nearly poking into them. The only place to go was toward the barbarians, who themselves had fully mounted up again and were now advancing once more.

“Wh-what do we do?” Fluttershy called out.

“What do you think?” Dash answered as she grit her teeth and readied herself. “We fight ‘em!”

“But…but what if more of them get killed?” Pinkie said nervously.

“I don’t like that either, but they’re fittin’ to kill us so long as they’re brainwashed!” Applejack shouted back. “All they gotta do is force us back onta these spikes!”

“Well even if we could run for it, I think they’re making the choice for us!” Dash yelled back. “They’re coming in, so get ready!”

Sure enough, the front line was now in a full charge, and there was nowhere else to go or run. The ladies could only brace themselves and wait for the inevitable. Dash and Applejack stepped forward, meaning to take down the first line as best as they could…

The chance never came. Abruptly, the ground in front of them erupted into fresh crystals, creating thick, crude, irregular, “bar-like” barriers. The attackers ran into them, and immediately tried to press their arms, legs, and even heads through the gaps to get through, but each of them were halted and left vainly clutching at air.

The four ladies were stunned, breaking out of their poses and gaping. Moments later, some of the barbarians began to claw on top of each other, stacking their bodies to climb over the top of the new crystalline barrier. However, they merely sprouted again, this time creating an angled overhang on both sides of the barrier that served to prevent any attempt to crawl over it.

“What…?” Dash remarked. “He hems us in, and then he stops them from finishing us off?”

“Did that big scary shadow guy change his mind or something?” Pinkie asked.

“Wait…” Fluttershy spoke up mildly. “Look at these crystals.”

The group did so and soon realized something. These ones weren’t made of black obsidian-like material. Instead they had a blue hue and a more diamond-like appearance, like a mixture of quartz and sapphires.

“I…don’t think he made those…”

“Oh, oh!” Pinkie chirped. “Maybe Rarity did!”

Everyone turned to her. “What makes ya’ say that?”

“Because she’s standing right there!”

She pointed back up to the walls, in particular one of the side parapets nearest the gate tower everyone else was posted at, and as the ladies looked up they got another surprise.

Rarity was indeed standing there against the wall, looking bolder and with more bravado than ever. However, what they immediately noticed was that her attire had changed. Her hat was now more of one suited to a captain of a ship, and her regalia had gone from purely fancy and debonair to looking more suited to an officer’s type role. She had long white boots, but the rest of her vesture, which included a shirt, tie, waistcoat, and larger embroidered coat over it, were all in shades of blue as opposed to red. Her rapier as gone, replaced with a stave with a silver unicorn on the head. Most noticeable of all, however, was that her face was now partially concealed behind a dark blue masquerade mask.

As she smiled confidently and held her stave out at the shadow, the group could see her hand with the Promethian Sigil. It had two symbols on it now, and both were blazing together.

“What the heck…?!” Applejack exclaimed.

“Is…is that really Rarity?” Fluttershy asked.

“How did she get two Anima Viris?!” Applejack shouted. “And how is she making them big rocks herself?”

As for Rarity, she looked boldly on at the shadow and let out a bit of a haughty laugh, before speaking loud enough for all in the area to hear her.

“That’s right, you horrid brute! Let’s see how you like it when someone takes that ghastly technique for yours and gives you a more-refined-and-elegant taste of your own medicine! Now,” She held her stave higher. “I’ll create a fitting fortification to make sure the likes of you and your…your…”

Her stave lowered a little. Her smile ebbed, and she reached up and wiped at her forehead.

“Dear me, I suddenly feel a trifle faint… I know Sunset said that one…needed to build stamina for two at once…but I…” She exhaled loudly. “I didn’t…expect that it…expect…ex…”

Suddenly, she let out a moan, and in an instant collapsed to the roof. At once, her Anima Viris broke, and before she even hit the top of the tower she had reverted back to normal again.

Applejack’s face sank. “Great…”

“Look on the bright side!” Pinkie chirped. “Now those people that big ugly shadow is controlling can’t get us!”

“Um…” Fluttershy spoke up nervously. “Does…does anyone feel scared that he’s not even trying anymore?”

The four looked forward. Sure enough, the barbarians weren’t even trying to squeeze through the crystals at this point. Instead, they backed up and stood tall. Not only that, but the massive shadow was looming closer. From this near, the eyes that it possessed were even more maddening and fearsome. It was enough to make all of them shake in growing fear as it seemed to make the night darker yet. The wind picked up, and they heard a deep, low noise over it. Repeated, but with a malevolent tone to it.

“Is…is he…laughing?” Dash spoke up, actually sounding a little nervous for once.

Applejack stared on at him a moment longer, beginning to sweat a little, before turning to Dash. “Well, it’s your turn now!”

She turned to her. “Huh?”

“Ya’ said you’d use two Anima Viris when ya’ had too! Now’s the time!”

Dash hesitated. Suddenly, she looked even more nervous than she had a second ago. She looked to one side, nearly stammering. “I…well…er…”

“What’s the hold-up?!” Applejack shouted. “Yer all we got left in reserve now!”

“Don’t worry!” Pinkie quickly interjected. “We’re in this cage of crystals right now and he’s nothing but a big shadow! He can’t get us even if he wants to!”

A moment after saying that, her smile faded a little.

“Does…anyone else hear that?”

The others looked up. The deep, booming laugh was still echoing out, but it wasn’t alone. Another noise was coming on with it. A sound that seemed like wind at first, but soon began to break up into something more like rushing. It wasn’t water either, though. It was something louder, and growing louder yet. The four looked up ahead through the crystals, and as they looked back up at the shadow they began to see it.

They gaped in horror.

---

“Oh no…”

That was all Starlight could manage, which was far more than everyone else. Right now, they were watching the portion of the city below them come to life as hundreds…thousands…tens of thousands of swarming, black, loathsome things, all with the same sickly green and red eyes, were emerging from within it. Clouds of insects like bees, wasps, and flies, legions of vermin like rats and mice, and great flocks of twisted, nightmarish songbirds. All gathering together. All massing into a great cloud of corrupted, vile life. All coming to form one great swarm bigger and larger than the entire gathering below them.

And now, both they and their defenders were gathered into one spot to be blotted out by it.

“We’re in big trouble,” Celaeno muttered as she started to step back.

“We’re here!”

At once, everyone turned around. Hauling up the stairs two at a time, red-faced, sweating, and struggling, the group that had gone to help Twilight and Sunset with the Morning Glory was fiercely yanking it up to their level. As the swarm continued to gather in front of them, Big Mac hauled it to the top step, even as Sunset and Twilight continued to fuss about it and struggle to hastily finish the last few pieces without breaking it all together. They kept working as it was promptly dragged to the parapet of the roof right in front of Luna.

“Set it down gently! Gently!” Sunset shouted. Those with her quickly lowered it as fast as possible as Twilight hurriedly put in two more pieces.

“Is it ready yet?” Luna called to both of them. “Because we are dreadfully short on time…”

“Just about!” Sunset responded as she quickly reached for the side and pulled out a long, thin, metal rod gleaming like brass. “Twilight, are you good?”

The woman didn’t answer. As soon as she had put in the final two pieces, she looked up and gaped at the sight. In particular the menacing shadow and the ever-growing swarm behind it. “Oh no…”

“Twilight!”

That snapped her out of it. Stammering and blinking, she spun back. “Uh…yeah! We’re good!”

“We don’t have time to hook this up to a steam engine! Work the crank!”

“Right!” she answered. Quickly, she moved around behind the apparatus, zeroing in on a manual crank attached to it. She grasped the handle with one hand, braced against it with the other, and began to rotate it around. After getting a momentum going, an audible vibration started to come from it.

The swarm, meanwhile, finished building. Now it began to lurch forward like a cloud of thick, black smoke.

“If that thing’s going to work, use it now!” Shining Armor exclaimed.

“Just a second more!” Sunset stated as she dropped to her knees. She looked over the side for a moment before she found a tiny hole—just the size of the rod diameter. She held it up and aimed it at it. “Here it goes!”

With that, she shoved the long rod inside. The metal shaft slid right through the mooring with the hole, through a pair of the plates on the inside, and straight through to the other side.

It was like connecting a bell. Immediately, a much more loud, resounding, and rhythmic peeling began to belt out. It wasn’t quite like a gong or a true bell, but it produced a characteristic, loud hum. Loud enough for those nearby to cover their ears and stand back, and for Sunset, Twilight, and Luna all to wince, but everyone, including the ladies imprisoned below, turned their attention to the shadow.

The swarm halted in its tracks. The hideous eyes in the black cloud widened slightly, as if it could actually hear the same rhythmic humming. There it held as the noise continued to peel louder, progressively resounding deeper and over more of the landscape, while everyone else watched and waited expectantly.

Gradually, however, a noise began to mingle with it. Odd and unnatural at first, but soon become much stronger and, this time, unmistakable—malevolent laughter.

Twilight began to wince even as she kept cranking. “I…don’t think that’s a good sign…”

Sunset stood up, looking shocked and confused. “But…but how? I don’t know if it would work on the people, but those things are Nighttouched, aren’t they? It should be sending them bolting for it! It should-”

She was cut off by the sound of Spike growling and barking. Everyone turned to him, only to see he wasn’t looking ahead anymore but rather to the side. The others looked up as well, and everyone felt their nerve wither as they paled.

The entire city was coming to life with the hideous black swarming things. They were crawling out of everywhere. From under trees, from out of homes, from within wells…and all gathering together in huge black masses all around them. Their horrible sickly red and green eyes were lighting up clouds of darkness that were billowing greater and stronger all around them, stretching nearly as high as the wall itself. Not just the swarming things, but all manner of twisted and corrupted creatures began to emerge and join with them. Each one snarling, snapping, and full of nothing but malevolence as the shadow continued to laugh louder and stronger.

“We can’t even protect one gate!” Starlight shouted in growing anxiety as she glanced around. “There’s no way we can fight them all off! That’s assuming they even need to worry about the gates!”

Twilight, by now, had stopped bothering with the crank. She had risen to see everything for herself, and it struck her with dread and panic. “We’re completely surrounded! I…I can’t keep them all away!”

“I don’t suppose this citadel has a secret way out, does it?!” Shining Armor nearly shouted.

It was too late for that. No sooner had he said this than the swarms gave out mutual, horrible cries, drowning out the laughter, and all began to surge forward. Twilight’s eyes widened in horror. She looked below, seeing her friends, and seeing that they were now struggling fiercely within their crystalline confines. It took her only moments to realize they’d pour in through the gaps between the crystals and rip them apart without even giving them a chance to defend themselves. Then they’d move on to the citadel and totally overwhelm it from all sides at once…

“You!”

Hearing Luna’s voice caused Twilight and Sunset both to look around, seeing the woman now throwing her spear to the side, standing over the Morning Glory, and pointing at the latter. “Pull that pin out!”

Sunset blinked, surprised for a moment, but she didn’t question it. She bent down and pulled it free. Immediately, Luna hunched over the bell, stretched her hands out, and made them flat. Then she shoved them forward and inserted them in the spaces over the bell between the holes.

“Now shove it in!”

Sunset was aghast. “What?”

“I said shove it in!”

“But…but your hands are in the way! They’ll-”

“Do it now while we yet have time!”

Sunset winced. She looked up at Twilight, who gave her the same look back, but Luna’s impassioned look, combined with her resounding, commanding voice, was not only not to be denied but seemed to push her to obey. Still looking uneasy, she bent down, aimed the rod, looked up one more time to Luna only to see her closing her eyes and concentrating, and then shoved forward.

Luna grit her teeth a moment later. “More! All the way through!”

“But, but…I can’t-”

“All the way! Now!”

The voice was so powerful this time that Sunset’s limbs seemed to move without her will and shoved in more. She felt soft rigidity give way a moment later, but then it grew stuck. Still wincing, she closed her own eyes and twisted and pushed. Luna began to hiss, and finally cried out a little, but the rod continued to go through…piercing through one hand, tracing through the bell, and piercing the other. By now, the rats were beginning to worm their way to the ladies below. Twilight heard them crying out as Applejack and Dash tried to stamp them.

“Now crank it!”

Twilight, a bit aghast at the sight of Luna’s pierced, bleeding hands gushing over the Morning Glory, shut her own eyes as she grasped the handle and began to turn again. As three of the massing hoards slammed into the gates with a thunderous crack and began to work into them, she winced and rotated as hard and as fast as she could. Soon, it began to hum again, at a slightly different pitch now that it was moving through Luna. A moment later it was louder than before. A third time and it began to reverb around the gates, and finally, with the fourth one, it peeled over the entire citadel.

At once, a mutual screech, ear piercing and horrendous enough to make everyone cringe and tremble, came out from the thousands of creatures about to break through. The ones closest fell like they had wandered into clouds of poisonous gas. Those that didn’t immediately spun about and bolted away as fast as they could. To the rush of thousands of wingbeats and claw pats, the entire monstrous assembly was either struck down or put into full retreat, still screaming as they fled off into the night.

The hideous eyes of the cloud widened in alarm as the chime continued to resonate, gaping about and watching as the legions it had under its command were sent fleeing. Only the barbarians remained, and many of them had already been shot or struck down. They seemed indifferent to the chimes, but the shadow was not. Twilight was initially as stunned as everyone else to see the enemy flee, but after getting over her initial shock she began to rotate the Morning Glory crank more readily, and as the chime sounded louder it not only chased away the enemy faster but seemed to make the shadow retreat ever so slightly. Soon, the entire citadel was silent save for its chiming.

The others on the wall recovered and looked out, Sunset among them. She saw the shadow stop glancing about and glare at them. The look in its horrible eyes was full of anger and violence. Purple mist billowed from them like a furnace. However, it made no further move or attempt. What sounded like a low, animal growl echoed once throughout the entire structure.

Then, the remaining barbarians turned and began to move away in the same synchronized manner as before. The shadow’s eyes vanished back into its cloud, and it slowly began to pull back with them. It took a good ten minutes, but eventually they descended the hill and went into the streets. Ten minutes later, and they were gone from there too. However, Twilight kept cranking for another ten minutes afterward while everyone else silently watched before they were willing to accept it was over. When she finally stopped, there was nothing but the quiet and stillness of the night.

A few moments more passed, before everyone turned and looked back to Luna. She was still wincing and bleeding. Sunset actually stared at her dumbfounded for a moment before her mind registered to pull the pin out. She let out another wince as her hands were freed, and she pulled them back and clutched the bleeding limbs to herself.

“How…how did you know that would work?”

“I didn’t,” she answered as soon as she had her composure back, still pressing her hands against her cloth portions of her armor. “At least, not entirely, but I had the hope that since they originated from me that if I put some of ‘myself’ into this device that it would be enough to force them to obey.”

Saying this wasn’t lost on everyone else in the area. Starlight raised an eyebrow and voiced what many were now thinking. “What exactly do you mean by ‘originated’ from you?”

Luna continued to wince, but she closed her eyes and sighed.

“This would come out eventually, and now you’re all a part of it even if Celestia would say you weren’t… You might as well all know now who exactly your host is.”