The Darkest Hour

by Anemptyshell

To Face Your Demons

Upon the night, they march to the house of demons in the dark. A poet I may not be, but yet these visions beckon me. A forest fraught with the darkest dread, yet they shall not bow not one of head. A prison key doth hold all sway, and from its lock will come the day.

So we ambled through the lanes of Ponyville. The dreary town is even more so with all the citizens hidden away. It seemed Chrysalis had let the word spread. I couldn't help but stifle a laugh. Spade chuckled right along with me. I wasn't sure what the joke was, but Spade certainly did. The surreal quiet, the darkened homes, and the restless roads. A straight path right to the Everfree and Nightmare beyond.

I could feel my skin crawl as we passed home and store alike. Even Bright Pitch walked in quiet contemplation. Spade offered waves and muted greetings to ponies I didn't know. His peers and neighbors, those he wanted to protect.

Since the night prior, Sombra hadn't said a word. Though I'd caught him giving the rest of us odd looks. The tension was palpable and didn't help the oppressive feel of the town closest to the Everfree. A town that knows all too well what eternal night really means.

I couldn't feel my legs. If I focused too long on them, I feared I might start running and never stop. Well, until Sabre caught me and beat some sense into me.

"Sabre."

Sabre looked back from his spot at the front of our fellowship. "Yes?"

I took a deep breath. My jaw quivered as I tried to meet Sabre's gaze. "I'm scared."

"Good."

I had recoiled at his answer. The quiet had left the others free to listen in. If the others had thoughts on the subject, they didn't voice them. "Excuse you?"

Sabre shook his head and looked back toward the ever-enclosing horizon of the Everfree. "Yeah, good. You'd be crazy not to be. Fear is good. It keeps you alive. Nightmare Moon thinks it is a bludgeon, a weapon to force her will. It's not. It's a shield, a defense against the worst there is. So, good, be scared, just don't give in to the fear."

I blinked, my brain trying to conjure some sort of response. Yet as hard as my mind fumed, nothing was produced but smoke and sputters.

"He's right. You see lots of fear, all kinds of it. I've seen more fear while tending the graves than I'd care to admit. Some of it was mine, but that made the difference. I'd crush it all under my shovel if I could. The folks around here deserve it."

Spade waved idly as we passed some sort of bakery. In its heyday, it would have looked like some whimsical gingerbread house. It was all the pity that day had long passed.

"Fair," I conceded.

"Besides Star, was it not you who pulled me from my despair some time ago? You simply couldn't leave me be. Now, look at me, marching off to fight the night itself."

Blueblood had sidled up to me and jabbed me in the shoulder. He didn't have any maps, no charter or atlas to look at. We were home, and he knew well where to find that on a map. I offered a nod. I thought we'd managed to round off all the empowering speeches. But ponies will be ponies, which meant being too wholesome, even in the dark.

"It'll be okay. Look, here comes the Everfree, and then we save the day."

Thorax pointed to the tree line, some thirty meters out. There was no going back from here. The Voice's parting words from last night rang in my head. With a single chance, a star pulled down to bring back the sun. I hid a smirk at my own analogy. I was giving myself way too much credit. All I did was make some friends. Anyone could do that.

Chrysalis had alerted Thorax some hours ago that the mission was a go. By this point, either She and Shining had pulled Nightmare's toy soldiers off to battle. Or we would be walking right into the noose. It was better not to think about it.

"So, Nightmare no doubt has the Elements with her. That means all we have to do is, um, magic?" I said.

I received a swat at the back of my head by Blue, to Sabre's approval.

"Did you even attempt to think that through before speaking?" Blue asked.

"I mean, we have the users, and the Elements are semi-sentient magic artifacts that have untold magical powers. So ya know, they'll do whatever they want. They'll know or whatever when we get there. Right?"

This time Sabre swatted me.

"As far as we know, the sixth Element activates the rest. So, as long as we have the sixth user, we should be fine," Bright said, waving in dismissal.

"As long as we have the sixth Element, you mean," Blue said.

Blue would have swatted Bright if the thestral hadn't taken wing and left Blueblood sneering up at him.

"Sombra."

The dour royal stared into the forest, almost lost in plain sight. I tapped him on the shoulder, returning him from the wince he came.

"Sombra."

"We shall see in time."

These were the first words he offered all day, and they were hardly optimistic. So we were off. The main path through the Everfree was as exciting as the trip through Ponyville. The birds chirped, and woodland critters scurried about. The group continued bickering about the Elements and where they may be found or used in hushed whispers. I was more concerned with Sombra. He looked pale, even for him. The magical hues that covered his eyes in the Crystal Empire were all but snuffed out. I don't think I'd seen them even spark since we began traveling earlier that night. He simply stared forward and tried his best not to notice my looks. We had little time to waste as is. If we lost our nerve now, we were all but doomed.

"You think the Elements will spare Luna?"

I was jolted from my own thoughts by Bright as he lazily glided above me. He was grinning down at me, eyebrows wriggling. I rubbed a hoof down my face and groaned.

"Hopefully," I said.

"It would make things much easier," Thorax said.

"If not, we'd most likely need Cadence, if she can do it at all."

Spade offered a chaste smile Blueblood's way. The unicorn grumbled under his breath. That only encouraged Spade smiled harder.

"I would much prefer if we leave that particular conversation and burnt bridge be unless absolutely necessary."

"Sorry, Blue," I said. Spade didn't stop smiling.

The quiet returned, and the last vestiges of the forest passed us by. Everfree Castle was in sight. It was left to interpretation if the fact it was as deathly quiet as Ponyville had been was a good thing. Whether it was or wasn't, it certainly didn't make the old structure any less imposing.

"Game faces on," Sabre said as we came to the bridge that separated us from Nightmare's undying all-consuming wrath. I slapped both hooves to my cheeks and readied my frail nerves. The other seemed about as ready. All but Sombra, who still seemed more interested in staring into space than a fight for Equiss' survival.

"Five bits on Her Majesty waiting in the foyer," Spade offered.

Bright hummed, flittering about the group, wings whipping up dust trails as he went. "I dunno, I think she'll be on her throne all kitted out with armor and weapons and nasty spells just waiting to end us. That's what a good villain does."

"Ten on her lounging in her throne so overconfident she isn't even scrying us out at all," Sabre said, tapping the pommel of his sword. "Probably has a monologue prepared as well."

"Sounds about right," I agreed.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?"

Blueblood passed Sabre and was first over the bridge. The rest of us paces behind. The old rope tensed under our weight, the slight swing of the wood leaving the imagination to what lay beneath. A feeling I'd not had on the way out when we made our daring escape. Though running for your life leaves little time to ponder the integrity of such things. The bridge held all the same. It was only after reaching the end I recalled the wings pressed to my sides.

The front gate was wide, and the continued silence had every cast shadow a knife in the dark. Every crackling torch, a fatal spell cast. Yet, Spade lost his bet. No one was waiting in the courtyard, the foyer, or the main hall. Room by room, we moved ever deeper into the dragon's den. Which considering what we were up against, a dragon would probably be less violent and unstable. The clack of hoof on stone left an echo that seemed to follow us just a second behind.

"Throneroom it is, then."

Spade mused, shovel cast over one shoulder. He tutted past every crack and chip in the castle's stonework. Even on the way to our potential doom, the crazy pegasus pondered his masonry. It was almost enough to draw a smile o my face. I wondered if the spirits of Ponyville, those he buried, and those still sitting in their homes waiting for the end of this war. A war they'd not asked for, a battle they'd thought long lost. If those spirits were here with him now? If they smiled from Elysium, from the very stars Nightmare Moon pretended were her own?

"So it would seem," Blueblood said. From where I'd met the cartographer here in these very halls. The stallion that walked ahead of me would have seemed a different stallion altogether. Had I not watched Blueblood outsmart and best Cadence, I'd think this a doppelganger.

The self-pity and loathing were nowhere to be found. This Blueblood strode through the halls of this hollow fort with the air of a conquering hero. Head high, eyes forward, mane billowing in the slight breeze such halls were prone to. The noble I would imagine he once was. No, that wasn't right. This stallion was someone new, someone, better. A noble by merit, not just some birthright.

"Spade's gonna owe someone bits by the end of this," Bright said. "Though, I think there will be many ponies who need them more than us. Maybe some changelings too."

Bright had joined us on the ground not long after we'd entered the castle. He strutted right behind Blueblood. He seemed unmoved by the quiet. Though, this castle had been his home for a long time. He knew it in and out and trotted around like he owned the place. Bright Pitch had been one of my first friends since I'd woken in the Everfree. He was eccentric, enthusiastic to a fault, and clueless at times. He was somepony best had in bursts. Yet, at the same time, he stood side by side with our ragtag band.

He told stories by the fire, laughed along with Spade's jokes, and sincerely appreciated Sabre's decisiveness. He hopped about, eyes alight with a fire brighter than any we'd had on the road. His wings twitched every membrane total to the burst with a desire to move forward. Bright, ironically enough, was an open book. A story not yet finished and one that even he couldn't capture in any tome. An honest tale from a genuine pony.

"True," Sabre said. He hadn't drawn his rapier yet. Though I doubt it'd take much convincing. Light Sabre scoured every shadow we passed, every nook and cranny. He'd always been tense, but this was different.

I don't know what I did to deserve a friend like Sabre. I don't think I really wanted to know if it was fate, coincidence, or the Voice's workings. He was the one to find me in the woods all those weeks ago, and from that day forward, he'd been by my side.

I could feel a tear in the corner of my eye. We'd made it this far. It was all up to them now. I'd do everything in my power to see this through. Their lights were still there, six lights, six bearers, and one crazy tyrant to overthrow. It was almost over. One way or another, tonight it ended. My heart pounded in my ears with each step.

"You okay, Star?"

Thorax had drawn up beside me. I wiped away the unshed tear and nodded. "Course I am. Well, as okay as one can expect for something like overthrowing a crazy alicorn queen."

Thorax tutted. "You shouldn't lie, Star, especially to an empath." Thorax pulled me into a hug. I didn't have the energy to spare. So there I stood as the Changeling got it out of his system. Thorax was a bit of a contradiction. He'd broken down in tears the night we'd met. He was a Captain of Chrysalis' Hive, of Equestria's hive.

He had a pension for gentle prodding and an abundance of hugs. He was no fighter. He was small, with almost no muscle at all. He seemed to stumble over his own hooves at points and rarely met your gaze. He smiled all the same. He never gave up, either. I recalled the image in last night's mind-melding. The purple Changeling he'd stood beside. Chrysalis had the right idea back then. It wasn't a guess or up for debate. Any who thought it was, was delusional. Pharynx was most assuredly looking down on Thorax and was most assuredly proud of his brother. I'd fight anyone who thought otherwise.

Thorax released his hug. "Feel better?"

I nodded. "I do," and I meant it.

"Good."

Thorax skittered forward, catching up with the others. No one had apparently seen us stop. They weren't paying attention for all the attention they were paying. That was to say, all but one. Sombra had been trailing behind since we arrived. I stuck my tongue out as Sombra passed. He rolled his eyes in kind.

"Bit for your thoughts?" I asked.

"Unlike the others, I do not gamble."

"And I don't do requests," I fired back. "What did The Voice tell you last night? You've been completely different since we came out of the Hive mind. What happened?"

Sombra stopped midstep. He chanced a look forward to the others, then back to me. Several agonizing seconds passed. I was sure Sombra was ready to shut me out and move on. I was wondering how well slapping him upside his head might pay out. I doubted it would end well for me. But, I was tired of mopey Sombra.

"The Voice knew the secret of the Elements. The sixth Element, to be exact. Even if they chose to be as obtuse as possible with their riddles and word games."

"Oh?"

"That, however, is beside the point."

"The key to beating Nightmare Moon is beside the point?" I asked. I had to restrain myself from yelling. It would alert the others, but worse, if Nightmare Moon was watching and listening in, it would warn her.

"You can still see the lights, correct?" Sombra asked. He barely seemed to note my rising stress, or more likely, didn't care.

Sombra had, in the time I'd known him, changed. It wasn't excessive, and it wasn't drastic. His physical changes were potentially concerning, if only after tonight. When we'd met, his eyes had glowed with green and red. An aura that seemed to suck the joy from anything they gazed upon. They, however, never held malice, as intimidating as they might be. His horn had also changed. The fact his horn had been curved was different. The fact it had looked like a red hot poker was much more attention-grabbing, however. It was not a furnace now. It was more a gentle flame. The light it sheds is far less dense and even less of a health hazard.

Sombra was terse, stoic, and pragmatic. These were facts none would contest. He would butt heads with Sabre. He scoffed at Spade's jokes and, by some miracle, could ignore Bright's child-like wonder. He was many things, some I think he could work on. As that may be, I don't think I could genuinely say one bad thing about the Crystal King. In the end, it was clear that Sombra cared far more than he'd ever admit.

"I can," I said.

"How many lights do you count?" Sombra asked.

I chewed on my lip. The air seemed to grow colder. The torch lights seemed to dim, and I suddenly felt tiny. Sombra's gaze pierced my very soul.

"Six," I said. "I count six."

"I see."

Sombra picked up his pace. We were a hall from the Throneroom. Time was up. Sabre and Bright were already there. The former looking for a fight, the latter looking for a story. When Sombra and I arrived, the others stared down the double doors. I could almost picture Nightmare Moon lounging with a toothy grin, and faux politeness abound. A cordial etiquette that never reached her eyes. Those teal slits hid nothing. It was like she never felt the need. Sabre was right about the bludgeoning fear she wielded with practiced ease.

"Everyone ready?" I asked.

No one answered. I swallowed hard. Sombra's horn lit, and the doors swung wide.

Six lights in the dark, six hopes abreast in heart. Though the path may bore a weight of land. So collect the chosen of clan. Altogether, they face the dark, so as one each beat of heart. No poet am I, a voyeur, yet, we watch what is stored. All order breaks and comes all…

"The best of luck, young heroes."

Comments

[Gmanhshope10]

wow if this is going in the direction that I'm thinking its going than that would be an interesting twist, where the main character we have been getting to know isn't the 6th element but is the one to bring them all together. For him to be the one responsible for sparking the fire that will restore the light to the world but not the source itself.

I am curious if Star will be able to, after bringing the elements together still be able to continue to exist in equestria. whilst nothing has made it 100% apparent there are just too many references for him to be anything other than human(plus the tag). And I can't help but shake the feeling that the shadows that take over his vision is his soul or something trying to return to its universe or something. And the reason that he blacks out and loses vision is because what is a body without a soul, just flesh. Plus Celestia saying she had to "pull another wayward soul from the aether" is keeping him there until the elements are sparked or the world is saved or whatever. I could see this story going with the champion has fulfilled his chosen destiny and there may not be enough magic to keep him here or alive, unless the elements are used on him.

[Anemptyshell]

11405136

Going to be real with you, that is one deliciously spicy take. A deep dive to respect for sure. I won't say what or why, but one of your queries had me crack up. We're almost there, I guess we'll just have to find out the truth together.

[Gmanhshope10]

11405528
well your welcome for cracking you up and i hope that if nothing else the theories spark or spice up future chapters or stories. keep up the good work on the chapters