Colours of Dusk

by AlphatheGriffin17

The Pieces Move

Meanwhile…

“And you say the princess picked them up?” asked Keen Eyes.

“That’s what it looked like,” replied Chief Forensics. “Caused a real stir when her guards showed up, saying we had to help search for two wanted fugitives. They’d flown the coop though, no sign of them.”

“But the changeling,” pressed Keen, “what happened to her? Where was she taken?”

“I would have thought to Canterlot,” said the Chief. “Couldn’t tell you for sure. Luna instructed the whole thing be kept pretty hush hush. How come you’re so interested in her anyways, kid?”

“Oh um… just don’t want her coming back is all, sir,” he said quickly. “Don’t need things to get more dicey with a changeling hanging around.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Look, keep this to yourself, okay?” The Chief adopted a serious look. “This isn’t the sort of thing ponies like us should be sticking our noses into. I can feel it.”

“Oh trust me, sir, I’m staying well away from it,” promised Keen. “Okay, I gotta get back to my beat. Thank you for your time, sir.”

The Chief waved him off, already going back to his paperwork. Keen Eyes saluted and stepped back out into the precinct. He walked casually past the other officers at their desks or reviewing cases, heading straight for the door.

When he got outside, he cut into a nearby alleyway. He double checked that nopony was watching, then his body was consumed by a green flash.

In Officer Keen Eye’s place, a changeling named Thorax took a few calming breaths. His hunger gnawed at him, but he managed to ignore it. This was far more important than love cravings.

So the rumours were true. They’d been circulating around the Hive that the princess had been found, but nobody in charge was telling them the details. Besides, they were all too caught up in their internal squabbles to really care. Somebody had to do something and Thorax decided to be that somebody.

It had been a real undertaking, getting this far. He’d had a few close calls but had managed to slip away before anyone looked at him too closely. Now at last, he had a destination and no time to waste.

He morphed into a nondescript pony and set off for the train station. A glance at the map told him that the town of Ponyville was the next closest stop before Canterlot.

His memory flashed at the names. Nervously hanging around on the fringes of the fighting, only feeding with the greatest reluctance. His heart aching at the suffering they were putting the ponies through, but being too afraid to speak up.

Well, now he wasn’t afraid. He’d find her and bring her back. Then she would fix everything. It would all be okay.

He slipped away to morph into a train conductor, hoping he might be able to get a quick snack before or during the train ride.

---

Little Strongheart followed closely by Chief Thunderhooves, along with the half dozen buffalo accompanying them. They weren’t stampeding, but treading carefully, as if they feared to awaken something that slumbered nearby.

This made her nervous. Very few things could withstand one buffalo, let alone their numbers. They always found strength in one another. But she could feel it. The apprehension. The fear.

She looked to the Chief, but he was gazing resolutely ahead to their destination. A cave, far away from their main settlement. He had instructed her not to speak and said it with such gravitas, she didn’t dare disobey.

They reached the mouth of the cave. It was dark. A familiar scent wafted from inside, one of her fellows. She started forward but the Chief stopped her and shook his head. He indicated the mouth of the cave.

She recognised the symbols that adorned it. They were the sort used to ward against evil influence. But was that meant for something trying to get in… or something that might leave?

A chill ran through her at the thought. What was here that could cause such concern?

One of the party approached with several bags, laden with food. Once he set them down, two others stamped their hooves. The cave wasn’t very deep. Whatever was inside would hear it.

Strongheart tensed, her eyes gazing into the dark for any sign of movement. The others waited too. And waited. And waited.

Thunderhooves frowned. Strongheart wasn’t sure what that meant. The others looked concerned as well.

Then, they heard it.

Hooffalls. Large and steady. At once, the buffalo took a few steps back. A couple reflexively lowered their horns, their nostrils flared.

Strongheart looked to the Chief. He seemed just as tense, but not for the same reasons the others were. He seemed almost… confused.

As the sound got closer, Strongheart began to understand why. There were other hooves, moving outside the larger set. These sounded smaller, like those of a pony or similarly sized being or creature. But she didn’t expect to find ponies out here.

That’s when they came into view, emerging from the shadows of the cave. They were ponies, roughly half a dozen of them in total. Two at the front of the group, standing close together, carried a buffalo on their backs. The buffalo was unmoving, eyes closed.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Thunderhooves demanded. “This is forbidden ground! You have no business here!”

Rather than respond directly, one of the two ponies at the head of the group stopped. He raised his hoof to the smaller pony standing beside him, who after a moment made a small sweeping gesture to the remaining four, all of whom immediately stopped and stood frozen in place. There was something wrong with them. There were spaces between their limbs, shining like stars. Like magic. Their faces were unchanging, parts of their bodies covered with metal.

The one who raised his hoof was different to them. A mane like bone and fur like mud, hungry enough to swallow a buffalo whole. He wore loose clothes and seemed to heft most of the weight of the buffalo on his back. The other ‘pony’ at his side, this one fully robed just seemed to be supporting it.

“This is your only warning!” barked Thunderhooves. “Set him down and leave.”

The pony regarded them. With a grunt, he dropped the buffalo roughly to the ground. She tried to get a good look at the buffalo, noticing that his fur and horns were also covered in the same symbols around the cave entrance. This was all meant for him? What could warrant such a thing? And why did these ponies want him?

“I had hoped for this,” said the large pony in a clipped, curt voice. “Good. You shall provide a challenge.”

Incensed by his remark and still tensed, one of the buffalo charged without the Chief telling him to. At the speeds he was running, he would reduce him to pulp.

But the pony didn’t flee or move. Just watched. She could feel the earth shaking as her tribesman closed the distance. Even as the Chief ordered him to stop, he wouldn’t do so in time.

Then, the pony moved.

He met the charge, forelegs raised. He caught the buffalo’s head in a lock, struggling against his might. Strongheart was flabbergasted at the sight. No pony should’ve been able to do that! He should be flattened!

The pony grunted and twisted. There was a sickening crunch. The buffalo stopped moving. The pony let go, kicking away her tribesman’s body like a coyote would the bones of its meal.

“Perhaps not,” the pony remarked. “Who is next?”

---

Ember, princess to the dragon lord, had expected an uneventful day. Her father had commanded her to go, with a small group of other dragons, to a distant part of the Badlands. Not even one of the interesting parts.

Lava Lake was exactly as it sounded. It was the largest body of molten magma anywhere in the dragon lands. No dragon ever came here because it was so… boring. No erupting volcanoes, no dangerous creatures to battle or gems to eat. The lava was even lukewarm by dragon standards, so it wasn’t much good for lounging about in.

Her father’s instructions were simple. There was a dragon who lived on an island in the lake’s centre. They had to go there, make sure he was still present and then report back to her father on the mystery dragon’s status. That was it. Fly over there, check to see if the dragon living there was in fact still living there, and then fly back. One of the dragons, some punk called Garble, had agreed with her on how ridiculous it sounded.

“I’ve heard about this dragon,” he’d said. “Apparently, this guy doesn’t ever move from this place. Not for anything, nothing. They say he just sleeps all day, every day. He’s not even worth messing around with.”

Privately, Ember had to agree. While dragons certainly liked to lounge around, they were also expected to be active. Challenging other dragons, raiding their hordes or adding to their own, things like that. A dragon who didn’t bother with these things was either so big and tough they didn’t need to or so fat and lazy that they didn’t care. Ember was banking on the latter.

This was meant to be easy. Annoying, but easy. Then they reached the island and found three ponies there, dragging along the either sleeping or unconscious body of an adult copper-scaled dragon, easily as large as all three of the ponies put together. She and her escort had, of course, confronted the ponies. And now, two of the dragons she’d journeyed with were, somehow, dead. It was just her and Garble now.

“How are they doing this?!” he bellowed. “These are ponies! This is impossible!”

“Shut up and get your guard up! Here they come!” she ordered.

There were two of them, both dressed in red and wearing weird masks. Blades flashed along their forelegs, already glistening with the blood of their fellows.

“Get ready, we’ll take them together,” she said. “You go in on the left-“

“No, I’m taking them now!” Garble’s wings flared and he charged. “No pony gets the best of me!”

“Garble, no!”

But he had already lunged. His target jumped over his head, slashing their blades at his wings. He cried out as the leathery membrane was cut. The other went for his eyes. She got one of them but he managed to grab her knives before she got the second.

Snarling through the pain, Garble slashed at her head and she ducked. The other had landed behind him and was going for his legs.

Ember ran to help, when something darted in front of her. She felt the wind get knocked out of her stomach and a hoof slam into her face. She went reeling, but recovered to see her opponent.

“Now this truly is remarkable!” The pony had wings like a dragon, sharp fangs and glowing yellow eyes with narrow slits. “Fast enough to keep a dragon on the back foot. The doctor outdid himself, don’t you think?”

“It’s a good thing you know a doctor already.” Ember snorted smoke. “You’ll need him when I’m through with you.”

The bat pony smirked. Ember blinked and she was suddenly almost on top of her. She barely had time to block the claw that flashed at her face, glancing off the scales on her arm. Ember angled a kick but the pony flapped out of reach, up into the air before barrelling towards her.

With a flap of her wings, Ember was in the sky too. A fireball shot from her jaws but the pony had already moved out of the way. She came at Ember again. Ember lashed out with her claws, twirled to attack with her tail and ended it with a kick.

The pony either dodged or blocked all of them and still had the speed to manage a counterattack. Slash, slice, lunge, cut. Ember only just managed to block them and still felt a sting of pain across her belly.

She pulled back, glancing at the wound. Just a cut, nothing deep. Her eyes scanned for Garble and she found him.

Just in time to see one of the masked ponies cut across his throat, while the other held him in place.

“No!” She snarled at the trio. “You’re going to pay for that!”

“Then by all means…” The bat pony smirked as the masked duo flanked alongside her. “Come and collect.”

---

Gilda landed to find Griffinstone in flames. Or several different houses up in smoke at least. Her fellow griffins, in one of those rare cases where none of them were demanding bits from each other, were working to extinguish the flames.

That wasn’t the worst of it though. Several griffins were lying on the ground, parts of their bodies covered in circular scorch marks and burns. They weren’t moving.

She felt her blood boil. Griffins may not care about much beyond themselves or accumulating bits, but one thing rang true: you never, ever attacked a griffin and expected to just walk away.

She managed to find the one directing the efforts. The oldest and gruffest of their town by the name of Grandpa Gruff. He was squawking orders to the fire teams to keep the water coming and get the wounded away.

“Hey Gruff!” she barked. “What in the hay happened?”

“What does it look like? Fires you daft cub!” he shot back. “Now make yourself useful and get your rump to the mountain river!”

“I can see that but what caused them?” she retorted. “Did someone overdo it with the scones or something?”

“Oh that’s exactly what happened. Too much flour, you know, a little bit- of course not you ejit! We were attacked!”

“What?!” Gilda gripped his shoulders. “Who were they? An earth pony, o-or a unicorn with weird puppets? Tell me!”

“If you’d get your claws off me, I’ll tell you!” Gruff shoved her away. “It was one of the ones with wings. Covered in bits of metal with light firing from tubes on his legs! Made off with Kernel, that old hermit who lives on the cliffs! There, anything else or can we get back to actually putting out these fires?”

Gilda moved off in something of a daze, not really paying attention to what was going on anymore. Light coming from his legs… but unicorns were the only ponies who could do that sort of magic. How had this guy managed?

Still, remembering what little Samore had told her of the place she’d escaped from, Gilda had a strong idea of who this guy was probably associated with. She didn’t know why they’d made off with a griffin, but she knew who might know.

Spreading her wings, Gilda shot off for Ponyville as fast as she could.

---

Tight Lip was doing all she could to organise what remained of the Order of the Beast. The members of the Order who could still move were galloping towards the door of the Oubliette. They all understood the importance of their task and moved with the speed to match it.

Two other ponies were being hurried along. They weren’t Order members, but their protection was of paramount importance. One was an elderly Pegasus mare in her early-mid seventies last Tight Lip had checked, the other a young Earth pony. He couldn’t have been much older than eight. At least that meant they wouldn’t have to worry about transference for a while, but she made a mental note to start looking into a replacement for the Pegasus. Normally, she could do that task at a more leisurely pace.

Until they’d received the command from Celestia that the Hosts be moved to the Sanctuary. Far from any civilisation and one of the most closely guarded secrets, such a command would have only come if the situation was most dire. They’d spent months of effort and considerable resources trying to track down the rogue ponies Celestia had directed their attention toward, with little success. Even so, they had ideas as to the intention of their enemy, especially in the wake of the incident with the changeling Host a few weeks prior. Those suspicions were becoming more and more tangible with each passing day. She’d been confident they could protect their charges.

But then it happened, suddenly and without warning. About a dozen members were dead already, their bodies in the antechamber near the entrance. It had happened so quickly and it was only because they’d been alerted to some kind of incursion she and her subordinates had managed this much.

“Get them inside!” she commanded. “Activate the seals!”

“They won’t respond, ma’am,” reported Anon, her hooves moving across the activation point. “Those crystals he’s used, they’re disrupting the connection points for the sealing spell.”

“Then find a way to work past them!” she shot back. “You know what’s at stake here, he can’t be allowed to-!”

Movement behind her made her whirl around. The torches at the far end of the corridor had been extinguished. They couldn’t see anything beyond the small pool of light provided by their remaining torches and the magic being cast by the unicorns present. But they knew it wasn’t just darkness that lay beyond their sight.

“He’s coming,” Lip whispered. “Positions, now.”

They spread out along the corridor. Unicorns prepared offensive spells, Pegasus and Earth ponies angled rapid-fire crossbows down the hall. All of them were tensed. Nopony moved or spoke a word. They didn’t dare to even breathe.

“What’s going on?” The voice came from the Earth pony Host. “I-I’m scared.”

“Not to fear, little one,” the Pegasus Host assured. “I’ll look after you. You whippersnappers! After all you put us through, you’re still-!”

Somepony cast a spell that silenced the mare’s voice. Good thing too. The distraction had made Lip look away for a brief moment. When she looked back… she couldn’t be certain, but she thought she could see something. Cloaked in the shadow, standing there. Watching them.

She channelled magic into her horn. Her ears picked up the creak of a crossbow wire being tensed, the shimmering of other spells ready to fire. Lip took in a breath and let it out. It did nothing to calm her mounting nerves. But she would do her duty. They all would, all ten of them still present.

For a long, long moment, there was relative silence. It weighed down on them oppressively, like water from a steadily worsening leak above them. Just waiting for the moment it would all come crashing down.

Then she heard it. A steady, metal clanking. Hooffalls, of a pony swathed in armour.

Light flared, blood-red at the far end. From a unicorn’s horn. A levitation spell, cast on the handle of a sword.

Lip heard a pony ahead of her gasp in terror. All of them stared for an agonising second, the length of time it took for her to yell:

“OPEN FIRE!”

Magic surged and bolts were loosed. Fallen Soul’s blade flashed, angling to block the projectiles. His stride wasn’t even broken. It was like he was simply cutting away weeds or swatting at flies.

One of the spells went right back to its caster. His yell was cut short as he fell. Another’s cry became a gurgle, a crossbow bolt redirected to his throat.

Two Earth ponies switched to close range weapons and charged. They didn’t get three hoofsteps before sharp shards of crystal erupted from the ground beneath them. Fallen marched between them, his sword cutting down another who tried to back away.

Another spell shot at him, but his aura caught it. It turned back on its caster. Three others raised their crossbows, but his magic surrounded them and yanked them out of their hooves. Down came his sword. One. Two. Three.

Less than ten seconds. That was all it had taken.

Just her and Anon were left. She’d managed to get the seal on the doors working and they were starting to close. They just managed to get through when more clusters of crystal forced them open and Fallen entered the room.

Anon cast a spell, but it was stopped from leaving her horn. The colour of Fallen’s magic consumed her horn, then her whole body. Strangled cries emerged from her throat while she levitated off the ground. Then her eyes fell into the back of her head and she went limp. Fallen let her drop to the floor and resumed his march.

“You won’t-!”

But Lip’s defiant yell was ended early by something sharp and cold entering her chest. She looked down to see the sword, up at the faceless visor of its wielder. She tried to stand but she could already feel the strength leaving her legs.

She felt something coppery and warm in her mouth when she coughed, collapsing to the ground. The sharp pain struck her again, this time in her back. As the life left her body, she could faintly overhear the words exchanged.

“You stay back, you monster!” snarled the Pegasus Host.

“P-Please, don’t hurt us!” cried the Earth pony Host.

“Fear not,” Fallen breathed. “I have plans for thee. Thou shalt be liberated. I shall liberate us all…”

The words faded, her vision darkened and Tight Lip heard no more.

Comments

[Auto-Buscus]

Oooooh crap! Things are moving fast and creatures and ponies are already met with their brutal ends… and this is just the third chapter. A stark contrast to the previous two.

And so it begins…

[Stellar_]

Hell yeah, Thorax! Interesting that he's showing up way earlier in cannon, I like it.

At first I thought the Hosts would all be the Student Six (which would have been really cool NGL) plus Ray, but then I realized the Changeling Host had already been revealed, so oh well!