The Return of Tambelon

Chapters

1. Signs and Portents
2. The Quality of Mercy
3. Point of No Return
4. Hunter, Prey
5. Strange Relations
6. Meditations on the Abyss
7. The Geometry of Shadows
8. A Race Through Dark Places
9. Soul Hunter
10. Acts of Sacrifice
11. Darkness Ascending
12. By Any Means Necessary
Born to the Purple
Ceremonies of Light and Dark

1. Signs and Portents

Carrot Top blinked a few times when she heard a knock at her door – coming just as she was about to take a bite out of some of her namesake product, of course; it was apparently that kind of day. Frowning, she glared at the door, mentally willing it to tell whoever was on the other side to go away, even as she crunched down on a carrot in a very determined and, she believed, threatening manner.

Naturally, the door remained inanimate and powerless to stop a second series of knocks. The farmer stood, looking forlornly at her lunch even as she trotted over to her front door. She’d just spent all morning plowing her fields for the next round of planting, and still had a long day ahead of her. She didn’t need an interruption to the one break she was likely to get today, least of all while her stomach was growling at her for having only half-finished her breakfast. With a beleaguered sigh, Carrot Top opened her front door.

“What?” She demanded of Luna Equestris, Shepherd of the Moon, Caretaker of the Sun, Mistress of the Star Beasts, Sovereign of the Three Tribes, the immortal, eternally youthful Princess of Equestria, and not the kind of pony you wanted to make demands of, and certainly not in the tone nor volume of voice that Carrot Top had used.

Carrot Top slammed her front door shut and willed herself to not exist.

Then she realized that the only thing worse than shouting at Princess Luna was slamming a door in her face.

Carrot Top slowly opened the door again, peeking out cautiously. Princess Luna was still there, looking at her with a bemused expression. Standing beside her was Trixie, looking like she was trying to decide whether to be sympathetic towards Carrot Top or else doubled over with laughter. Behind the two of them were two ponies of the Night Guard, both earth ponies, and behind them, another earth pony with a dozen adolescent foals from all three tribes, each in Colt Scout uniforms.

Luna smiled beatifically at Carrot Top. “Is this a bad time?” she asked.

My little pony, My little pony
Ahh ahh ahh ahhh...
My little pony
Friendship never meant that much to me
My little pony
But you're all here and now I can see
Stormy weather; Lots to share
A musical bond; With love and care
Teaching laughter; It’s an easy feat,
And magic makes it all complete!
You have my little ponies
How’d I ever make so many true friends?

Some part of Carrot Top’s brain that didn’t value life very much tried to make her say yes, this is a bad time. The rest of her mind fell upon that part and trampled it within an inch of its life even as it passed a message along to her vocal chords. “Um, no,” Carrot Top said, opening her door fully and waving a hoof. “Um, c-come on in, your majesty…”

Luna inclined her head in thanks, striding in with all the grace and poise that was expected of her station, making her way to Carrot Top’s living room. Trixie followed, having settled on smiling at Carrot Top. She leaned in close to the earth pony. “Don’t worry,” she said, the volume of her voice perfectly normal as she continued with “believe me, it takes a lot more than that to offend the Princess.”

“Shh!” Carrot Top demanded in a harsh whisper.

“Why?” Trixie asked. “The Princess can hear our heartbeats, probably.”

“Well, Dame Carrot Top’s, certainly, given how hard it’s beating,” Luna chimed in. Carrot Top only barely registered the usage of her knightly title of 'dame' instead of simply 'miss' - the earth pony was still getting used to the idea of being created as an official Knight of the Realm.

Carrot Top jumped, turning to face her sovereign. “I – I am so sorry, your majesty, I didn’t mean to – or shout – or slam – ” her front hooves gestured wildly as though she was physically trying to point out her excuses. Trixie ducked under one wild swing, backing away a few paces lest she be beaned in the face by the panicked earth pony.

Luna held up one hoof. “Please, calm yourself,” she insisted, inclining her head. “I’m the one who showed up unannounced while you were trying to eat – ”

“Food!” Carrot Top exclaimed, eyes widening. She rushed towards her kitchen, clambering about as she began digging around in cupboards and her ice box, looking for food fit for a princess and failing to find, at least to her eyes, food fit for even a visiting aunt.

Back in the living room, Princess Luna looked to Trixie, one eyebrow raised slightly. “Will she be alright?” she asked her student.

Trixie waved a hoof. “Give her a few minutes.”

Indeed, a few minutes later, Carrot Top came out of her kitchen, a tray balanced on her back and carrying enough of a hastily thrown together carrot salad to feed a whole herd of ponies, and laid it before the Princess. “H-here you go, your majesty, just, um…I-I just, I wasn’t expecting you – and, uh – m-must be hungry from the trip here…”

“It looks quite delicious,” Luna assured Carrot Top. “I wonder if you could pack it to go, however? I’m afraid this visit isn’t for pleasure, but rather is connected to your status as an Element of Harmony.”

Carrot Top blinked a few times at that. “O-oh,” she said, her fear not disappearing, precisely, but rather being replaced with more of a grim foreboding rather than embarrassed panic. She shifted from one hoof to another. She couldn’t stop herself from glancing out a nearby window, at her carrot field. “Will, um…I’m sorry, your majesty, but will it take long?”

Luna nodded solemnly. “About a week,” she said. “Hence, the colt scouts, whom I have arranged to look after your farm while you are gone.” She offered a slight smile again, this one consoling rather than bemused. “They all have merit badges in carrot farming, and will be more than up to the task of maintaining your farm while you are away, I assure you. And I will compensate you for your time.”

Carrot Top nodded, pressing her front hooves together worriedly. She couldn’t precisely say no to Princess Luna, could she? Not as long as she was the Element of Generosity, and a recently-appointed Knight of the Realm as well. “O-okay,” she said softly. “Um…I guess I better go grab my things, then…”

“Please do,” Luna said. She ruffled her wings slightly. “While the matter is…serious, I do not anticipate any problems. I would rather explain everything to you and the other Elements all at once, however.”

“No…problems?” Carrot Top asked, blinking. “So…so this doesn’t have anything to do with Corona, does it?”

It was barely perceptible, but Luna flinched slightly at the mention of her sister, the Tyrant Sun, the would-be Queen of Equestria. She didn’t let any discomfort show beyond that one slip, however, instead shaking her head. “No, it does not. As I said, I would rather explain everything all at once. Pack for a few days at sea, then go to the Representative’s Residency. I need to go and collect the remainder of the Elements now.”

Carrot Top nodded, as Luna and Trixie turned to leave. “Can I at least know where we’re going?” Carrot Top asked before they could.

Luna stopped, looking to Carrot Top. “The Sea of Tranquility,” she said. “Or more specifically – the isle of Tambelon.”

Far, far to the north, in the oftimes volcanic mountain range that served as a buffer zone between Equestria and the various southerly Griffin Kingdoms, lay the dormant but by no means dead volcano in which Celestia, the rightful ruler of all ponydom, had made her temporary home.

Hewn from obsidian and laced with veins of gold, the palace that Celestia had ordered her minions to construct sat suspended by three mighty bridges in the crater of a volcano, an ideal hiding place for her, as few ponies who would seek her out would ever think to check within a burning caldera. Not that Celestia had been hiding. She had been biding her time. Planning. Preparing.

But no longer.

Celestia trotted down from her golden throne. “Zecora!” she called, keeping her voice under control lest she shake the palace loose and send it tumbling into the magma below. “Zecora! Where are you? I have hidden long enough – it is time for action!”

The steps of the golden throne lead down to a broad, wide throne room, which also doubled as the first floor of the palace – there was simply not enough room for a proper antechamber. Across the throne room was carelessly scattered piles of gold, heaps of diamonds, and collected trinkets and sundries of little use but great value. It was the stolen horde of a green dragon. Celestia had used some of it thus far to fund the construction of her palace, and intended to use more to spread her influence into her sister’s stolen realm.

Her sister. Even the thought of that usurper made Celestia all but shiver in anger. Celestia stopped at the base of her throne, taking a moment to collect herself. Her mane and tail were already animate flames due to the anger she constantly felt at the usurpation of her position – the last thing she needed to do was let her anger get the better of her, express itself by compounding the heat of her flames, and subsequently melt her horde.

She might have been in a somewhat better mood, however, had Zecora responded to her call the first time. She did not like having to summon a servant more than once – five times was all but unforgiveable, and Zecora was rapidly beginning to run through the admittedly large amount of goodwill she had earned from the alicorn more than half a year ago, when she had aided Celestia in her time of need and helped prevent her treacherous sister and the corrupted Elements of Harmony from sealing her once more within the burning heart of the Sun. Since then, she had proven to be loyal and trustworthy, a rare quality in this day and –

Where was that zebra?

“Zecora!” Celestia demanded. The palace rattled from the force of Celestia’s exclamation, but didn’t collapse into the magma pool that lay beneath it. Then Celestia was off once more, head bowed low and wings ruffling in supreme annoyance as she trotted over to the stairs of her palace and up one level, to her servants’ quarters. Currently, most of them were hiding, having sensed her bad mood and giving her a wide berth. Her servants were, unfortunately, few and far between right now – Zecora herself; a small cluster of salamanders, representing a larger tribe over which Celestia now claimed total dominion, that peered from the doors to their shared quarters but did not attempt to waylay Celestia in any way; and Solrathicharnon – Solrath – the Red, an ancient dragon. This last did not properly have quarters on this level, as he was too large to fit anywhere in the palace beyond the throne room, and preferred to sleep within the magma that lay below anyway.

However, that was not the case today. Solrath was instead glancing in through a window in the palace, though all that she could see of the wyrm was one golden, blind eye. She heard the sound of the dragon inhaling sharply. “She is in her room, O Queen,” Solrath said, his voice a touch too subservient, probably passing over into mocking territory. Celestia would have to deal with that later. “Perhaps she is ill.”

“For her sake she had better be on death’s own doorstep,” Celestia hissed as she stood before Zecora’s door, raised one hoof, and pushed forward. The door, hewn from stone, shattered at the alicorn’s touch, and she found herself staring into the room of what was once, but not currently, her most trusted minion, inasmuch as Celestia felt she could trust anything.

Like the palace as a whole, the room within was kept magically cool, at least compared to the thousands of degrees that it should have been. Celestia had seen fit to grant Zecora a further boon of making the room appear as though it were within her native homeland of Zebrica – it looked like the inside of some tribal hut, decorated with masks, spears, and other trinkets and sundries, its center dominated by a fire pit and pot for brewing potions. It was before this pot that Zecora sat on her haunches, facing the door, head cast down and lips moving silently. She did not look up to acknowledge Celestia.

That only incensed the alicorn more as she took a single step into the room, opening her mouth to speak. She was caught by surprise, however, when Zecora suddenly glanced up, eyes open wide. There was no sign of the Zebra’s aquamarine irises, nor pupils – her eyes instead were white, glowing with power much as Celestia’s own did. Her face otherwise carried no expression as she began to speak, her voice sounding at once like her own, and yet somehow twisted:

“Know, O Queen of the glorious Sun,
“That far from here dark work's begun
“On an island lost to time and tide
“Comes a Ram with evil at his side.

“Black horns I see, and eyes of red
“Black heart I hear, calling the dead
“Red eyes he has, and fangs of white
“Red blood he seeks, and end of light.

“An army made of sticks and stones
“A palace hewn from rocks and bones
“A city built from hate and spite
“A plan hatched by dark of night.

“He sees his chance amid the stars
“A choice made breaks prison bars
“Freedom gained from the folly of one
“Who chose to fight, rather than run.

“A bargain struck to fight a power
“An alliance made in darkest hour
“To stop the rise of an ancient foe
“Sun's glory shall be brought low.

“This is what I see from so far:
“The return of Demon Ram Grogar
“The threatened death of the Eternal Dawn
“And the Return of Tambelon.”

Celestia froze as Zecora stopped speaking. The zebra’s eyes fluttered once, then again, before she swayed and fell onto her side, letting out a yelp of surprise that was completely at-odds with the scene that Celestia had just seen. She looked around as though seeing her room for the first time, and then noticed Celestia standing before her door. Zecora scrambled to her hooves, but only so that she could bow low, pressing her face to the floor beneath her.

“M-my Queen! I apologize for any insult!” she exclaimed. “My gift called to me, and you heard the result! I did not mean to ignore your hail– but – but I cannot control when visions come from beyond the pale!”

Celestia stared down at Zecora, before taking two long steps into the room, spreading her wings wide as her mane and tail both flared. “Visions?” she asked. “Ah – thy gift of prophecy of which thou hast spoken so highly. I have never seen thee demonstrate it before today.” Celestia was all too aware that she was letting herself slip into older, now-antiquated speaking habits. Under normal circumstances, she had little trouble adapting to the evolution of language, but the past thousand years had not been normal, and Celestia had found herself needing to make a deliberate effort to speak modern Equestrian – an effort she sometimes forgot to make when particularly incensed.

Zecora cringed. “I beg forgiveness, majesty, it was not my intention to ignore – ”

“Silence,” Celestia ordered. Zecora obeyed that command instantly, at least, once again casting her gaze to the floor below. The alicorn considered the zebra for a moment longer, before folding her wings on her side, forcing herself to ignore her anger and look at the situation logically. “Grogar is not a name you should know. It should be obscure even to Solrath.”

From outside of Zecora’s room, Celestia heard the dragon rumble angrily. Dragons were prideful beings, and showed that pride with name length – a syllable earned for every great achievement. To refer to Solrathicharnon as merely Solrath was a grave insult. But, he had failed in her initial task to him, and there was nothing that even a dragon as old as he could do to Celestia.

Zecora’s head remained bowed. “My prophecies enlighten me with visions and words,” she explained, “but I need to research their meaning as the time occurs. I am gifted with knowledge of what is to come – if given a library, I could – ”

Celestia fluttered her wings once more, and Zecora fell silent again. Her rhymes grew annoying, on occasion, though Celestia knew enough of zebra culture that it would be pointless to order her to stop, at least not without also inflicting lasting harm on the zebra to make her point clear, something she was uneager to do for something that was merely annoying. She was above such pettiness.

“There will be no need for research,” Celestia said, eyes narrowing as she turned around. She paused at Zecora’s doorway a moment, before setting her horn aglow. The door repaired itself in moments, though it remained open as she glanced behind her at the zebra. “Follow,” she ordered.

Zecora did so without hesitation as Celestia walked back the way she had came. “Solrath, salamanders, you will join me in the throne room as well.”

The dragon again rumbled, while the salamanders seemed uneager to be in the same room as the larger dragon, but a single glance from Celestia was enough to convince them to come. Celestia glanced at Zecora. “You have no control over yourself when your gifts manifest? A nod will suffice,” she added quickly at the thought of another rhyme. Zecora had her mouth open and ready, but did indeed nod instead of speak at Celestia’s demand. Celestia considered this as her little entourage reached the throne room and she climbed the steps to her throne. By the time she had turned around and settled down, Solrath was entering the palace through its great double doors, and Celestia had made her decision.

“You will be forgiven for your disobedience, Zecora, if your actions are not yours to control when your prophecies manifest,” Celestia decided. “Especially if your prophecies continue to yield news of such dire consequence.”

Zecora inclined her head in thanks, visibly relaxing. One of the salamanders – Behir, Celestia believed, though she had trouble telling the snakes apart from one another – slithered forward. “U-um,” he hissed sibilantly, “We, er…misssed what the zebra ssaid, Majessty…” Celestia supposed that she couldn’t rightly blame them for that, as they no doubt had imagined that she had been about to teach Zecora an abject lesson for ignoring her calls, and had not particularly wanted to witness a fate that could one day befall them.

Celestia looked to Zecora. “You remember your prophecy?” She asked. At another nod, Celestia waved a hoof, leaning back slightly. Zecora closed her eyes, and repeated it exactly, word for word, though without the odd inflection she had possessed its first time. At its conclusion, Celestia glanced to Solrath, the only one in the room who was possibly both old and informed enough to understand what had been said.

The wyrm, of course, did not see Celestia’s gaze, being blind. Somehow, however, he seemed to know that Celestia expected him to speak. “I know of Tambelon,” he rumbled. “An island, the only island, in what ponies call the Sea of Tranquility.” He hissed. “A tiny thing, covered in jungle and devoid of settlement.” The dragon looked directly to Celestia, a slow grin spreading on his mouth. “A recent development, I gather.”

Celestia let out a slight laugh. “Not recent, no. Not even for me. The island has been abandoned for some two thousand years, ever since Grogar was defeated by my sister and I.”

“Who wass Grogar?” Behir asked. At a glare from Celestia, he quickly added a “Your majessty?”

Celestia pressed her lips together tightly. “Tambelon,” she began, “was not always abandoned. Once, long ago, it was the site of an equine city – ponies, yes, but far more donkeys. When Equestria was yet young, only entering the end of its first millennium, the island of Tambelon, and the great city built upon it, was already old. Its inhabitants flourished on trade crossing the Sea of Tranquility. And they were a…peaceable, idealistic folk, protected by a strong navy from outside threat but having no interest in expanding their borders, concerned instead with philosophy and learning.”

Even Celestia knew that, coming from her, that was high praise. In an age where the nascent Equestria had seemed beset on all sides by monsters and hostile nations, Tambelon had been a bastion of peace and stability. It hadn’t lasted. “Thither went Grogar,” she continued aloud. “His body was that of a great ram, but his mind, and his soul…black as a night without my sister’s moon. Through treachery and deceit, he inserted himself into the royal court of the Tamberlaan, that he might gain access to their libraries of sorcery and spellcraft. Once he had what he came looking for…none on the isle of Tambelon survived.”

Celestia remembered it even now. Tambelon was small, yes, but not so small. In addition to the city, it had possessed small villages, farming communities and seaweed-harvesters that kept the Tamberlaan fed. Thousands of ponies and donkeys and even a few representatives of other races had called the island home, had loved, and lived, and never stretched out a hoof to harm their neighbors.

But when Celestia and Luna had flown over it to bring down Grogar…it had been devoid of life. Every jack and jenny, mare and stallion, every foal, had lain still wherever their life had been snuffed out: in their homes, their shops, their boats and their fields, even in the roads and the streets. Grogar had walked and moved amongst their bodies as though they were not even there, uncaring, unconcerned at his act of equicide...the sheer apathy he had shown towards his own crimes had pushed any thought of reason from Celestia's mind, and Luna's, as well.

“What did he seek that led to an event so bleak?” Zecora asked.

“Death,” Celestia responded, through hard-grit teeth, “and life-in-death. Grogar was a necromancer, a speaker-to-the-dead, with power over disease and decay, though his skill in the other forms of magic were by no means lacking. Starswirl himself, perhaps, was as mighty a sorcerer as Grogar…but no other mage, not before, and not since.”

“Who’ss Sstarsswirl?” Behir asked.

Celestia’s eyes narrowed. She nearly reprimanded Behir for asking so stupid a question, but then again she supposed that salamanders cared little for pony history. “Irrelevant,” Celestia said, wings fluttering in annoyance as she pressed forward. “What matters is that my sister and I, when we learned of Grogar’s actions upon Tambelon, journeyed there to bring vengeance down upon him for what he had done to the Tamberlaan. For a full night and day, Grogar challenged us, defied us, fought us to a standstill – but no longer than that. My sister and I stood triumphant, and I would have slain him then in retribution for the death that he had brought to Tambelon. Luna, however, suggested a…different punishment. Grogar had desired immortality, you see – and so Luna stayed my killing blow, and suggested instead that we banish Grogar into the realm of Shadow.

“Time does not pass in Shadow as it does here. Centuries may pass here, but they amount to mere weeks within Shadow. Grogar's magics were more than strong enough to kept him fed and watered, and so instead he would suffer, marooned in a place beyond the world while that world learned of what he had done, became horrified – but then, over time, slowly but surely, forgot about him. He would be denied even the immortality of fame. And when at last none knew his name but Luna and I…then, he would be allowed to die.”

One of the other salamanders – Ravid, perhaps – blinked a few times. “That sseemss kind of hardcore for Luna,” she said.

Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “The morals of the time were different,” she noted, “and Luna may be slower to anger then I am, but when incited she has a cold fury that knows no mercy. Only now…” Celestia stood and stepped away from her throne, as the fires of her mane and tail heated up in anger. “Now I wonder if perhaps this was some plan of hers all along!”

“What do you mean, my Queen?” Zecora asked, a confused look on her face. She shied away from the heat of Celestia's flames, and the alicorn took a moment to will them to cool. Unlike every other individual in the throne room, Zecora was not fireproof.

Solrath chuckled slightly before Celestia could answer Zecora, as he sat back on his hind legs, tapping two of his claws together. “Her Majesty wonders if even then, Luna was plotting to overthrow her,” he rumbled. “A bargain made to fight a power…an alliance struck in darkest hour, yes? A plan hatched by dark of night…”

Celestia glared at Solrath as she advanced down the steps of her throne, but did not respond – he was right, after all. “A thousand years ago, my sister stole the powers of Tirek and stopped my rightful coronation. Perhaps that was only a final, desperate bid for power, however.” She paced around before her throne, glancing at her servants one at a time, before looking upwards. The gold-and-obsidian ceiling did not impair her vision at all if she did not will it to, and nor did the subsequent layers of her palace. She saw through to the night sky, and the waxing crescent moon that hung in it. “The magic that imprisoned Grogar within Shadow was supposed to last until my sister or I bade it leave. If he is returning, then, it can only be through my sister’s will. By corrupting the Elements of Harmony, Luna has already struck a grievous blow against me, and it has taken me half a year to fully recover. But the Elements could not banish me again – never again. Perhaps Luna now grows to fear my power…and so she seeks out allies. She means to bind Grogar to her will.”

Celestia shook her head. “The Elements, the demon ram Grogar, that imposter alicorn within Cavallia, and Luna herself…no small challenge even for me to overcome should she ever find me and attack. She would do anything to keep Equestria in her hooves, away from me – me! Her own sister – her elder – her better!”

“So what, then, shall we do, O Queen?” Solrath asked. He was back, it seemed, to playing the role of faithful servant. The act did not fool Celestia as he supposed it did, but she was content to play along for now. As long as Solrath did as he was bade, she cared little for what he thought of the orders.

Celestia thought. Prophecies were, by definition, forewarnings – Tambelon would return, but it had not yet. And Celestia had encountered no small number of true prophecies in her time, and had learned that they only ever spoke of what could happen – prophecies could be fought, and overcome, if one had a mind to do it. Perhaps there was still a chance to act before her sister struck whatever fell bargain she intended, and leave her designs stillborn.

One thing was certain. Grogar could not be allowed, under any circumstance, to ally with Luna. The cost to Equestria would be too great, and Luna would gain far, far too powerful an ally.

Celestia looked to the salamanders. “You shall remain here,” she ordered. “I see little use for a tribe of fire-lizards on an island. But Zecora, you and Solrath – ” again the dragon rumbled, his façade dropping for a moment, but he did nothing other than growl – “shall accompany me to Tambelon. Perhaps we can beat my sister there, and lay a trap for her. I can banish her once more to the Moon, and then slay Grogar as I should have two millennia ago.”

“As you decree, my Queen, so shall it be,” Zecora said, bowing low again. Unlike Solrath, Celestia found no hint of mockery in her voice. She was honestly loyal and obedient, prophet-induced tardiness aside.

Solrath, meanwhile, was pressing the claws of his forelimbs together tightly, and barred his fangs. “Luna…” he hissed, “banished. That is all you intend to do, O Queen, to such a traitor?”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed. Solrath had a personal vendetta against Luna, as the last surviving member of a family of dragons that, some thousand years ago, had thought to invade Equestria and plunder it with Celestia no longer around to protect it. Luna had rapidly – and fatally – disabused Solrath’s father and most of his brothers of the notion, and the few surviving wyrms had fled. Solrath had apparently never gotten over it, however, and he desired Luna’s blood.

He would never get it, of course, but it was useful to string him along. “It is all I intend, Solrathicharnon,” she said, using his full name for added effect, “but Luna is treacherous by her nature. Perhaps you shall have your chance.”

Celestia doubted immensely that he would. A thousand years ago, Luna had stood tall against eight dragons and won. Solrath presented no threat to her. Luna would be banished within the Moon, for a thousand years or longer, as Celestia willed it. She would take back Equestria from her clumsy hooves, and guide it once more into the daylight, ensure that no being could ever threaten it and the foal-like ponies that inhabited it.

“We leave in one hour,” Celestia commanded. “And soon thereafter – Equestria will be mine once more.”

Author's Note

:yay:

This is the first story I've ever written where each chapter was fully planned out ahead of time. We'll see what effect that has on my writing.

Tambelon - this version of Tambelon, anyway - is at least a little inspired by the idea of a city of scholars and philosophers that fell due to outside invasion or internal treachery. It's sort of a mix of Alexandria, Cíbola, and Timbuktu. The last is probably due to the relative similarity of names.

Incidentally, I emphatically do not mean to imply anything by comparing donkey-ruled Tambelon to African Timbuktu.

2. The Quality of Mercy

“…Grogar had made his goals and intentions plain,” Luna said, as she continued relating the story of Tambelon to the six Elements of Harmony. She shook her head and made a sweeping motion with one wing. “Slaughtered ten thousand beings single-hoofedly, all as part of his mad quest to achieve immortality. He felt no remorse for what he had done – he was a monster, through and through. Even after my sister and I had broken through his every defense, exhausted his magical power, even as he was helpless before us, there was not a trace of regret. I knew then that death would have been too mild a punishment for him.”

Carrot Top shivered a little at the way Luna said that last line – though the Princess had been telling a rather chilling narrative the whole time before regardless. She looked around the living room of Trixie’s house, to each of her friends. Lyra was following all of this with rapt attention, and the way her horn would occasionally glow slightly suggested that she really wished she had a parchment and quill to write down everything that Luna had said. She was, after all, a bard at heart. Trixie, too, was listening intently to the story, seemingly just as interested in this forgotten history of the world.

Cheerilee and Raindrops, meanwhile, looked as unnerved as Carrot Top imagined she did. Grogar sounded like a monster, it was true, but it was difficult to imagine any being so monstrous that death seemed too mild – even Corona, the Tyrant Sun, had only ever faced banishment, though then again her crimes has been substantially more limited than Grogar’s were being described as, and her infamy was more born from her story being one of madness and betrayal than simply having a high body count.

Ditzy Doo, however, stood up. “Too mild?” she demanded. “What did you do instead?”

Luna grimaced slightly, tucking her wings tightly at her side. “Trap him in Shadow,” Luna said, holding up a hoof as her horn glowed. Above her hoof, an illusion of the planet appeared, spinning in place. As the six ponies watched, a dim fog seemed to creep off of the globe, forming a second, darker, indistinct globe of its own that didn’t quite fully detach from the sphere of its origin, instead passing through it. “Shadow is…not quite another world, but nor is it our world. It is like an…echo, a realm of mist and fog and darkness. It is devoid of life, to my knowledge, but it is not uninhabitable.

“Time does not pass in Shadow as it does in our world. Hundreds of years here translate into only a few weeks or months there. Rather than slaying Grogar, my sister and I exiled him, and the fallen city of Tambelon, into Shadow. There he would remain as the world slowly forgot about him. His magical power was more than enough to create food and water for himself, to keep himself alive, while here in our world we would slowly forget about him. Having been denied physical immortality, I and my sister sought to deny him even the immortality of infamy.”

Luna flicked her hoof, dispelling the illusion of the world and Shadow. “Unlike with Tirek or other early threats to Equestria, we would build no monuments to the defeat of Grogar. He was not entered into any history texts. Knowledge of what Grogar did was passed along by word-of-mouth only, and even that, Celestia and I knew, would fade over time. Eventually, he would be forgotten by all, save we two. When that day finally came, then we would bring him back from Shadow, let him know that he had been forgotten, and then, he could die.”

Ditzy blinked rapidly at that, taking a step towards Luna with eyes that were surprisingly hard despite being walled. “That’s…that’s horrible,” she said. “It’s torture. It’s…cruel. Just as cruel as he had been.”

Luna scowled for a moment at Ditzy’s accusation, but after a moment her gaze softened. “The morals and expectations of the time were different,” she admitted. “The concept of an eye for an eye was considered just and fair. I am a product of the times just as much as any of you are. Even five hundred years ago, I doubt very much that you would object to my decision.” She held up a hoof before Ditzy could speak again. “But times change, and I change with them, I promise. That is why I am here today. Well…partially.”

Luna looked from Ditzy, to the rest of the group. “Grogar was banished into Shadow by the Elements of Harmony,” she explained. “But after madness claimed my sister, and after I was forced to banish her into the Sun using the Elements, Corona and I both lost our connection to them. The result of that was that Tambelon returned, nearly a thousand years ago. I sensed its return, however, and so personally banished it and Grogar back into Shadow then – but then, five hundred years later, it returned a second time. Once again I banished it. It would seem that even if I can duplicate the scale of the Elements’ act, I cannot duplicate their length. Left on its own, Tambelon will keep returning, once every five hundred years, until it either remains, or the Elements banish it forever once more.

“Of greater concern, however, is the nature of the Elements themselves. When Corona returned and you six used the Elements upon her, the Elements had a different result on her then they had when I used them.”

“Corona was weakened instead of banished,” Lyra noted.

Luna nodded. “Exactly. But this raises questions, one in particular: why?”

The six looked between each other at that. Carrot Top had never really wondered that before, and nor had anypony else, it seemed. “Maybe they just work differently for us,” Cheerilee suggested. “I know I wanted to buck Corona back into the Sun.”

“Me too,” Raindrops noted.

“Or maybe they don’t work right for us for a different reason,” Carrot Top said, fidgeting a little. She decided not to voice her other concern – that the Elements didn’t work because Corona had grown too strong for her to ever be banished again. “Maybe because we’re just regular ponies instead of alicorns, we can’t control them.”

“Perhaps,” Luna said, though she shook her head. “I do not believe that to be the case, however. And certainly, in the past, the Elements seemed to always do whatever it was that Celestia and I needed them to do…but not always what we wanted.” She looked to Trixie, raising an eyebrow. “You have some experience with that, yes?”

The other five ponies looked to Trixie, who blushed slightly, tapping her front hooves together. “Right,” she said, waving a hoof a little. “When I went to that other Equestria. I got all the Elements of Harmony together and put them on that world’s versions of you guys after making them think that they were you, because I thought that the Celestia of that world was Corona. I wanted to fix everything…and the Elements over there fixed everything by breaking the spells I’d put on everypony.” She grimaced. “Not my finest hour…”

“You didn’t know, Trixie,” Carrot Top reassured her friend. “If you’d been right, it would have been very heroic.”

“I wasn’t right, though,” Trixie said with a sigh.

“No, but there was no lasting harm,” Luna noted, and she grinned slightly, “Nascent, equicidal alicorn notwithstanding. The point is that the Elements have long been a force of magic and mystery. I have respected that mystery in the past before, but the imminent return of Tambelon presents an opportunity that, in light of Corona still being at large, cannot be ignored.”

Carrot Top grimaced at that. She had suspected that something like this might have been the case as soon as Luna had mentioned using the Elements on Grogar originally, and she hadn’t liked it then. She didn’t like it now, either. “You want to conduct some kind of experiment,” she surmised.

Ditzy blinked again, looking to Luna at once in disbelief and for confirmation. Luna met her gaze silently for several long moments, before nodding. “Yes,” the princess confirmed.

“No,” Ditzy responded, tapping one of her hooves on the floor. “I’m not…I’m not going to use Grogar for an experiment, no matter what he did. He’s spent two thousand years banished! Isn’t that enough?”

“By my estimates,” Luna said, raising a hoof, “from his perspective, it has in fact been only about four hundred days, barely more than a year. And with respect, Dame Ditzy – though you are right now demonstrating exactly why it is that you earned your Element – Grogar deserves no kindness.”

“A close friend of mine thinks that everypony deserves a little kindness,” Ditzy said sternly. “I happen to agree with her wholeheartedly. I’m not saying that you should forgive Grogar or anything…but if he’s going to be imprisoned, it should be here, in Equestria. You shouldn’t lock him away in an entire empty world!”

“I agree,” Raindrops said, standing up and stepping over to her fellow pegasus, using one wing to brush Ditzy’s own as a sign of camaraderie, though she gave a hard look to Luna. “We have jails and prisons here, your Majesty. Put him in one of those. And I don’t care how magical he is, you’re stronger. You could cook something up. Or…or if you can’t, just execute him and be done with it already. Don’t make him suffer.”

Luna looked at the two pegasi, before smiling slightly, and bowing her head. “As I said,” she noted, “times change. I am glad that they seem to have changed for the better, that even a monster like Grogar can earn some measure of sympathy from you.” She looked at Ditzy in particular, her face growing slightly more stern. “However…learning the extent of the Element’s power is important for the security of Equestria. The Elements may be able to place a more permanent barrier on Tambelon than I can; however, I can pass between this world and Shadow with…some effort, but not much. Dame Ditzy, would you consent to using the Elements in an attempt to banish Grogar once more to Shadow, if I give you my word as Princess that I would retrieve Grogar from there, to be brought back to Equestria for imprisonment?”

Ditzy shifted a little; evidently, she had thought the banishment was an all-or-nothing affair, and hadn’t considered the possibility of simply seeing if it was possible and then immediately reversing it. “I…” she said, shifting from one hoof to the next, wings twitching in agitation as she eyed Luna. “You promise?”

Luna spread her wings and placed one hoof to her heart. “I swear, Dame Ditzy. Though…” she looked at Ditzy. “Understand: there will be no modern trial. I will be invoking my royal authority on this matter, and it will not be challenged. He will be returned to Equestria and imprisoned for the remainder of his life.”

Cheerilee blinked at that, eyes wide. “No trial?” she asked. “I’d kind of assumed there would have to have been one, even if only for show…can you do that?”

Luna grimaced. “If I feel a threat or benefit to Equestria is great enough, yes, I am legally endowed to bypass any law I need to and act as an autocrat. The willful, unrepentant slaughter of some ten thousand Tamberlaan by blackest magic makes Grogar a great enough threat that he should have no opportunity for freedom.” Her face darkened. “I have only once, in thousands of years serving as ruler of Equestria, invoked such authority as I am now – that being when I officially cast down my sister as co-ruler and established Equestria as a monarchy rather than a diarchy. I hope this impresses upon you the threat I feel Grogar represents.”

It certainly did for Carrot Top. It was only two months ago that the six of them had risked high treason itself to try and convince Luna to take a more active role in Equestrian affairs. At the end of the event, Luna had revealed, or more let slip, how greatly she feared being seen as a tyrant that placed herself above Equestrian laws. For Luna to be so adamant about Grogar…Carrot Top couldn’t help but shiver.

Ditzy shivered as well, likely for the same reason. After several long moments of silence, however, she nodded. “Okay,” she said. “Okay, then. I’ll help.”

Luna didn’t smile – she knew that Ditzy was only picking what to her seemed like the best of many bad choices. She did nod, however, and looked to the remaining Elements. “Are the rest of you in agreement?” She asked. At length, each nodded in confirmation. Luna fluttered her wings as she stood. “Then we should leave immediately,” she declared. “Tameblon awaits.”

Luna had said immediately, and meant it – there was a private train parked at the Ponyville station awaiting them, and inside of half an hour, they were off for Lariat, in the western province of Broncordia that bordered the Sea of Tranquility’s northwest. By the time they reached Lariat, night had fallen; this had, however, been anticipated by Luna, who had several hotel rooms already reserved for the six of them, sympathetic to the fact that though she was nocturnal by her very nature, the six Elements were not, and would want to get some sleep in before going to the haunted isle.

The following day, they had set out not long after dawn – not so early for Cheerilee, Ditzy, or Carrot Top, but rather later than Raindrops, Trixie, and especially Lyra were used to. The latter two were essentially dead on their hooves as Luna had taken them to the boat that would be conveying them to Tambelon: the Royal Equestrian Ship Wingsong. It looked much like other ships-of-the-line built in the past hundred years, with a thick wooden hull supporting three masts billowing with the pale blue sails preferred by the Equestrian Navy. The RES Wingsong, however, had an additional feature that none of the ponies had ever seen on a naval ship before – a pair of steam chimneys that, once the ship got underway and cleared Lariat’s harbor, began to propel the ship into the wind with little difficulty. The captain of the ship had informed them that they would be at Tambelon within just two days – much faster than a pure sailing ship would have been able to reach the island, given that the wind was not expected to be with them at all during the trip.

Unfortunately, this still gave Carrot Top two days to discover a new fact about herself: she got horribly, horribly sea-sick.

“Urgh,” Carrot Top groaned as she lifted her head from over the railing, eyes closed and a cloth at her mouth.

Lyra grimaced as she ran a hoof across Carrot Top’s back, rubbing it gently to help her along. “Better?” she asked.

“Urp,” Carrot Top responded, freezing in place for a moment, then throwing her head over the side again. She spat, but didn’t throw up, at least. “Th..this is…this is punishment f-from Luna for…for slamming a door in her face…”

Lyra smiled a little at the absurdity of the statement. “You really think Luna’s that cruel?”

“Y-yes…I th-think she – oh Stars – I think she is. A-and is fat. And…and I d-d-do not agree with – eugh – with the tax code addendum from t-two years ago…”

The mint unicorn couldn’t help but chuckle as she leaned on the railing, looking out to sea. “You’re just hoping that Luna strikes you dead so you don’t have to deal with being sea-sick anymore, aren’t you?”

“Shaddup.”

Lyra obliged, more than willing to let Carrot Top’s change in temperament slide given how green she was looking. Lyra herself didn’t get sea-sick at all, and had instead been able to enjoy the past few days. She wished Bon Bon could have been here, rather than back in Ponyville. Up until today, the skies had been host to only small, puffy clouds that blocked the Sun without bringing any rain. The sea had been placid, as well, the rocking of Wingsong hardly noticeable to her after just a few days, even if Carrot Top still noticed it acutely.

Lyra actually found herself wishing that Wingsong hadn’t had seam power at all, and had instead been forced to rely on her slower sails, just so that she could enjoy the cruise more – but then again, she had gathered from Princess Luna that Grogar would be free soon, and if they weren’t there to deal with him, that would be officially a Bad Thing.

Today – the final day of their travel to Tambelon – had been the sole exception to the generally pleasant weather. A fog had appeared several hours before dawn, and had refused to go away. Wingsong had several pegasi crewmembers even now working to dispel the fog ahead of the ship, something that Raindrops had volunteered to help out with. Every now and then, Lyra caught sight of her friend flying along ahead of the ship with the white-uniformed crewmembers.

Of more concern to Carrot Top was that the seas had gotten a little rougher – not enough for Lyra to notice to any extent, but it had meant that Carrot Top had spent all morning on the deck, leaning over the side of the ship and wishing that Luna would hear some of the rude things she was saying about her so that she could be banished to the Sun, which presumably didn’t sway as much.

Part of Lyra was concerned about the fog, or more specifically, the fact that it seemed to rise as they were approaching Tambelon itself. One didn’t need training or talent as a storyteller to suspect a connection between the two. Of course, Lyra did have both training and talent as a storyteller, and that training and talent couldn’t help but think it appropriate.

“How’s she doing?” Trixie’s voice asked from behind Lyra.

She glanced over her shoulder to acknowledge Trixie with a nod, then looked back to the mist-cloaked water. “Better, actually,” Lyra noted, hoof still rubbing Carrot Top's back. “Though I can’t tell if that’s because she’s getting used to the water, or if she just can’t keep enough down to throw back up later.”

“Urgh…”

Trixie settled down next to Carrot Top, placing her own re-assuring hoof on the mare’s back. “We’re nearly there,” she said. “The sea’s a little rougher now because we’re in shallower water.”

“Really?” Carrot Top asked, without looking up.

“Absolutely,” Trixie said, though at a glance from Lyra, she simply shrugged and put one hoof to her lips. Lyra nodded, and Carrot Top didn’t see. Trixie looked back to Carrot Top. “Do you want me to ask if Luna could try flying you back once we’re done at Tambelon?”

If anything, Carrot Top became even greener at the thought of flight. Lyra looked to Trixie. “She was woozy when Luna transported us to the other Equestria as well,” she noted. “I think Carrot Top just can’t handle traveling anywhere except on hoof.”

“Or train,” Carrot Top said meekly in her own defense.

Lyra just chuckled and patted Carrot Top’s back. She looked to Trixie. “So…” she said softly. “Do you think Princess Luna would mind if I wrote something up about all this?”

Trixie eyed Lyra. “It’s not really that great a story,” she noted. “The brave Knights of the Realm came to Tambelon after two thousand years just to see what was up. Grogar was there. They banished him again, then brought him back and hauled him off to jail. The end.”

Lyra chuckled a little. “When you put it like that…” she said. “I was more thinking of writing a piece or two on Tambelon itself. The Princess’ plan worked: I knew that Tambelon was considered haunted, but I didn’t have any names and I didn’t know anything about its history. Grogar’s probably been basically forgotten.”

“He sounded like he deserved it,” Trixie noted.

“Yeah, but then there’s more to it than that,” Lyra said. “It isn’t just Tambelon that’s been forgotten. It’s all the beings that lived there, too – the Tamberlaan. From what Luna said, it sounds like it was a pretty interesting place at one point. Its whole history shouldn’t be forgotten about because of how bad its end was…or really, especially because of how bad it was. That’s not the kind of thing that should just be forgotten about, just to make one ram suffer.”

Trixie grimaced, but nodded. “Yeah,” she agreed. “I guess that – ”

“Land ho!”

The two unicorns and one earth pony glanced towards the ship’s bow, from where the call had come. The call would probably have normally come from the crow’s nest, but with the pegasi of the crew sweeping ahead and passing through the fog, they had been the first to spot the island. One pegasus in particular, Raindrops, flew right up to the three of them and landed on the deck with a slight thud, shaking herself. She was wet from the fog, but for Raindrops, this was a good thing – there was the ghost of a smile on her face, and her movements were a little easier and more fluid then they normally were. “Fog breaks up ahead,” she said. “Then about a quarter of a mile…well, you’ll see.”

Trixie and Lyra got up, trotting towards the bow of the ship, helping Carrot Top follow along. By the time they and Raindrops reached front of Wingsong, Cheerilee and Ditzy had also come up on deck, and joined them.

The fog seemed to part suddenly, like reaching the edge of a cloud. The water beneath them was a dark, impenetrable blue and choppy, while the sky overhead was clear of any cloud. But that was not what drew the attention of the six friends. Instead, their eyes were drawn to the Isle of Tambelon.

They were approaching from the island’s northeast, and so saw sheer cliffs rather than the sandy beaches they had been told dominated the southern end of the island. The cliffs were bleached white marble, and from here they could see that their tops were crested with trees, twisted pines and curled deciduous trees with bending, twisting branches that almost seemed to be forming a natural wall. The cliffs gave way to the west as Wingsong angled to travel perpendicular to the island, revealing a wide, semi-circular cove that gave way to a marsh choked with reeds and grasses. Rising from one of the drier sections of the marsh, Lyra thought that she could see the remains of a stone structure, but if so it was overgrown and half-sunk. Past the cove, the cliffs of the island rose up again, stretching for miles westward before curving out of sight.

Lyra frowned. “This is it?” she asked.

“I guess,” Cheerilee said, leaning forward a little and squinting. “For a haunted, abandoned island, it doesn’t really look all that bad…”

Carrot Top shook her head. “There’s malaria in that marsh,” she said. “I’d bet my…mane…eugh…” Carrot Top threw her head over the side of the ship again, retching. Ditzy reached her first, holding her until she finished her dry heaves, then looked to her friends. “I’ll take it, can we go ashore now?”

Unfortunately, the answer had been no – neither Luna nor the captain of Wingsong had wanted to make their landing on Tambelon in a mosquito-infested swamp, and it was too far distant from their goal, the remains of the city proper, anyway. Still, it took only an hour of sailing before Wingsong reached a more favorable harbor, this one a cove much like the previous one, but surrounded by a rocky beach and pine forest instead. Wingsong had too big a draft to sail into the cove itself, but it did drop anchor outside of it, and prepared a lifeboat to carry Cheerilee, Carrot Top, Lyra, and Trixie to the island, while Ditzy, Raindrops, and Luna elected to fly, Luna propelling the lifeboat along with her telekinesis.

“Why aren’t any of the crew coming with us?” Cheerilee asked, as she pulled the Element of Laughter from her saddlebags, and sighed a little before slipping it on, sucking in a breath as she did. Ancient artifact of magic and mystery it may have been, but it was also a little tight around the throat, thanks to Cheerilee’s coat being a little thicker and fuzzier than was typical.

Luna looked down at her as she kept the boat moving. “Grogar is exceptionally intelligent, and extremely desperate,” she noted as she guided the boat into the cove. “With Tambelon having returned twice before in the past, it is likely he has prepared for his return in some way. In case something goes wrong, the fewer ponies I’ll have to protect, the better.”

Cheerilee supposed she could understand that, and she smiled. “Guess that’s what happens when I sign up to be a Knight…” she noted, tugging at her Element a little. She couldn’t help but wonder if the Element of Laughter was tight because it somehow found it funny. If so, its sense of humor left something to be desired.

The boat made landfall within minutes. Nopony even tried to beat Carrot Top to being the first off; she leaped into the four-inch-deep water without hesitation and galloped straight up the rocky shore. Her legs were shaking and she herself swayed a little, unused to being on solid ground after two days at sea, but she had notably brightened. “Finally!” she exclaimed, settling down on the beach and digging her front hooves into the stones beneath her. “Earth ponies were not meant to go to sea…”

“I’m fine,” Cheerilee noted as she hopped from the boat herself, leaning down and staring at the beach’s water for a few moments. She thought she had seen some kind of small fish in the water, but it was already gone, probably startled away by everypony piling out of their little boat at once.

Luna set down next to Carrot Top, looking down at her with a frown. “I am sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know you suffered from seasickness.”

Carrot Top jumped slightly at the Princess’ apology. “It’s fine,” she insisted, “I mean – I didn’t even know myself, I’ve never been on a boat before.” She looked past Luna, at the forest. “Um…but I think I see some plants I might be able to use to maybe mix something up that could help for the return trip. Do you think, after we’re done here, I could have a few hours to look around?”

Luna nodded, though Cheerilee chuckled. “Careful,” she noted. “This is an evil, haunted island, remember. You don’t want to make all the ghosts here mad that you’re stealing from their garden.”

Carrot Top looked at Cheerilee with narrow eyes. “I’m sure they won’t mind,” she said, as she stood up, a little more sure of her own hooves now. She trotted up the beach and to the edge of the forest, considering a few of the smaller brushes for a few moments before beginning to bite the leaves off of a few. “And I’m starving…” she said between gulps.

Cheerilee chuckled again, and even Luna smiled. “You’ll have to eat as we walk,” the Princess said, spreading her wings and horn glowing slightly. “The city of Tambelon, or where it used to sit in any event, is about an hour’s trot from here. And I sense that Tambelon will be returning not long after that.”

Carrot Top nodded, even as she tore loose a particularly juicy-looking, leafy stem and followed after Luna and her friends, munching on it as she cantered along a natural road through the forest – though the hint of what looked like the occasional worked stone poking up from the dirt and fallen leaves suggested that it might once have been an actual, cobble-stone road. At a look from Raindrops, Carrot Top held out some of the plant she was eating. “Want some?” she asked. “It’s pretty good.”

Raindrops eyed the plant. “No thanks,” she said. “I…don’t eat food unless it’s been washed first. Sorry.”

Trixie was not as picky as Raindrops, however, and tried a bite. She chewed thoughtfully for a few moments. “Needs…dressing. Ranch, maybe.” Her friends stared at her for a moment, each of them blinking in surprise. “What?” Trixie asked.

“Just…ranch dressing? That’s it?” Lyra asked. “Not chili sauce?”

“Not chocolate?” Ditzy put in.

“Not shrimp?” Cheerilee asked with a chuckle.

Trixie glanced between each of them, before realizing what they were getting at. “Oh, ha ha,” she droned. “Just because you ponies don’t like a little variety in your food…”

Carrot Top finished her impromptu meal, and moved onto second course, nipping a leaf from a nearby tree. “This is all really good,” she noted. “I’m surprised nopony lives here…”

Luna glanced back to Carrot Top. “I have discouraged any attempts at settlement,” she noted. “The island’s reputation as being haunted has also played a factor. There have been a few attempts…but they always fail due to a lack of support.”

The remainder of their trot was done in silence, except for Carrot Top occasionally breaking off a leaf or, once, stopping for about a minute to dig up a tuber, all in an attempt to fill a stomach that had been thoroughly emptied over the past few days. Cheerilee fought off the urge, born from being a teacher of school-aged foals, to warn Carrot Top against eating a plant that she didn't know, as chances were Carrot Top did know the exacts species of each plant she was sampling. Her special talent may have been carrot farming, but back in Ponyville Carrot Top had found a decent supplement to that in the form of mixing up various elixirs for those that needed them, most specifically a hangover cure that Cheerilee’s sister, Berry Punch, could probably not have lived without.

As the six ponies and one alicorn cantered along, they saw, here and there, various signs of the civilization that had once called the island home, small glimpses through the forest – a crumbling wall that once marked the edge of a farm; a weather-worn rock that might have once been the head of a magnificent statue; branches in the road they were walking that revealed that, yes, there was cobbled stone beneath the dirt. Once, they had even seen, through the trees, an entire abandoned town, overgrown and with fallen walls and a complete lack of roofs, and a fountain filled with stagnant water.

Yet despite the ruins, the island did not seem unpleasant at all. Apart from the trees, which seemed whole and healthy and, while twisted, hardly evil in appearance, they also saw signs of other life – a chipmunk here or squirrel there, sparrows and crows and jays flitting amongst the trees, even once a coyote or some other wild canine, which had quickly scampered off at the sight of the herd of ponies, apparently having little interest in tackling such large game.

Cheerilee hadn’t even realized they had reached the walls of the city of Tambelon itself until they were already there, the path before them suddenly ending. The walls had become completely overgrown, with only the barest hint of stone peeking through from the tangle of vines and other plants that had built up between its bricks, making it look more like an overgrown cliff face than a wall. That was, at least, until Luna’s horn glowed, and her magic tore aside a tangle of vines and branches and even a complete fallen tree, revealing a broad, wide gap in the wall – the front gate, though the doors had long since rotted and the portcullis was little more than rust that dissipated at Luna’s slightest touch.

Walking through the walls and passing into the city itself, Cheerilee at last got a sense of grim foreboding. On the other side of the walls of Tambelon was nothing – just a solid mile of packed earth under their hooves, stretching to the other side of the walls, which appeared to form a rough square around the city. Nature, which had grown over and reclaimed so much of the island and even right up to the walls of Tambelon itself, had not passed those walls. Even with no ponies around to guide it or shape it, the wilderness had apparently taken one look into the city, seen the complete emptiness, drawn its own conclusion, and decided to leave it alone.

It was eerie – to look out from inside, and see a thick, verdant, living forest; then to look within, and see nothing but dirt, and the pristine, untouched stone of the inner wall. Cheerilee shivered despite herself, and she wasn’t the only one. The only break to the smooth plane of the former city’s floor were three large holes some thousand feet distant, and nearby, three chunks of packed earth.

Cheerilee glanced to Luna at that, and found the alicorn looking at the three imperfections and smiling, almost wistfully. When she noticed Cheerilee’s stare, the smile dropped slightly, but didn’t entirely go away. “Those are my doing,” she said, waving at the holes and chunks of earth, “but…well, it would take some time to explain. They aren’t related to Tambelon or Grogar, however.”

“What were they for?” Cheerilee asked.

“Throwing at Princess Cadance,” Luna said. At a start from the ponies, she chuckled slightly. “As I said, it would take some time to explain…and it isn’t important.”

Luna waved a wing, beckoning the ponies to follow. They did, and Luna walked with purpose towards a point just shy of the center of the former city, standing still for a moment and looking around as though checking landmarks. “Here,” she said at length. “Here, we will be right in front of the gates of the former palace. The last two times Tambelon returned, Grogar was here, waiting. I do not see why now would be any different. The city is only a few minutes from its return now – we will wait for it, then – ”

Whatever Luna was about to say was drowned out as there was a bright flash from all around them, and the world was suddenly nothing but fire.

3. Point of No Return

For the barest moment there was little but heat and light and the absolute certainty on Ditzy’s part that she was going to die – but then…

Ditzy opened one eye, then the other. She was holding onto her friends tightly, and they were holding onto her. Something felt off, though…like she was looking at a dream…

She and her friends looked between one another. “We’re…okay?” Trixie asked.

“I don’t know…” Ditzy said, putting a hoof to her chest. “Everything seems – ”

She saw movement out of the corner of her eyes, and turned quickly – then gasped.

They were in a city. A full, intact city, with tall buildings made of stone and decorated with gold and gemstones, with roofs that were either sloped and tiled to catch rain water, or else topped with domes shaped like upturned onions. And this city was bustling, alive – equine beings trotted back and forth and all around, dressed in long, multicolored, intricately woven robes and with their heads wrapped in turbans and the poorest amongst them wearing more jewelry than Ditzy had ever seen in one place. They weren’t quite pony in shape – they were a little taller, with longer ears and muzzles, thicker fur, and a slight tendency towards bucked teeth – these were donkeys, talking and trotting and buying and selling and looking vibrant and alive.

“E…excuse me?” Ditzy asked, reaching out for the nearest one, a jenny, “Excuse me, where are we – ”

Ditzy’s hoof passed straight through the jenny like she wasn’t even there. Ditzy yelped, backing away – right into, and through, another donkey. She beat her wings in panic, taking to the air, and saw that Raindrops had done likewise, her own eyes wide in shock. Ditzy’s land-bound friends, meanwhile, had bunched back together in shock, even as the donkeys of the city street continued to trot through them like they weren’t even there.

“What’s happened?” Cheerilee demanded, grabbing onto the nearest pony, Lyra, tightly. “We’re not – we’re not dead, are we? Not ghosts?”

“I have a pulse,” Trixie said, one hoof at her neck. “My heart’s beating…I don’t think I’m dead…” she looked around a few moments, eyes growing somehow wider. “These are donkeys…this is a city full of donkeys. I…I don’t think we’re the ghosts…”

Ditzy swallowed at that, flying higher to get a look around. She saw that the city was behind four sturdy, broad walls, and that beyond it was settled farmland, a dozen farming villages in easy sight, and beyond them, the sea, blue water stretching for miles in every direction.

Ditzy let herself fall back down to the ground, to her friends. “This is Tambelon,” she said. “Tambelon, how it used to be.”

“But why are we – ” Carrot Top began. She was interrupted, however, by a sudden loud shout, a proclamation of some kind. The six turned in its direction, and saw that the ponies on the street were beginning to part, getting out of the way for a procession of some kind of guard, marching ahead of a golden, covered palanquin, and ahead of the guard a herald of some kind.

“Ngasilaken!” the herald was calling. “Ngasilaken kanggo pangeran!”

“What’s he saying?” Ditzy asked. With the street around them clear, the six at least no longer had donkeys walking straight through them.

“I don’t know, I don’t speak Donkey,” Cheerilee said. None of the others did, either – donkeys weren’t very common in Equestria’s central or northern reaches. Not that it likely would have mattered, as all six had accepted that this was Tambelon as it had once been. Two thousand years of language evolution would have stood between them and intelligibility.

“Pangeran kang?” one of the donkeys, a jack, asked the herald as he approached.

“Bray,” the herald returned. He was wearing a very forced smile on his face, and clearly had little joy in telling the donkey whatever he had. The jack, for his part, sniffed a little, a look of displeasure coming over his features, then turned and trotted down a side-street and away from the procession – though not before stopping to use his hind hooves to kick some dirt in the way of the procession. None of the donkeys noticed, save the herald, who simply let out a sigh, then continued.

The covers of the palanquin were opened, and the six ponies got their first look at whoever it was that was inside. He was a donkey, though that was hardly surprising, and was the most overdressed, wealthiest one they had seen yet – his turban was studded with rubies, his clothing looked woven from gold and diamonds, and he wore a bright red sash tied about his midsection, into which was tucked a curved, ceremonial-looking knife. He waved to the crowd, but the smile he wore was even more forced than that of his herald, and seemed to hide great disgust for everything he saw around him.

“Sugeng enjang, warga saka Tambelon!” He called from the palanquin. The donkeys waved and bowed before him – though rose quickly when he was no longer looking at them. The palanquin-bound donkey seemed to pay them no mind, instead holding up a hoof. “Ana wong aku kaya sampeyan ketemu…”

The donkey waved a hoof at something behind his palanquin, which had been out-of-sight of the six ponies. That something now stepped into view, and Ditzy found herself wondering how she could have missed it.

He was a ram – the tallest ram that Ditzy had ever seen, easily as tall as Corona, if not slightly more. His coat was the white of snow, his beard elegantly trimmed, his horns curved and well-polished and filed. In stark contrast to the sheer wealth and grandeur of all the donkeys surrounding him, he wore nothing save for a plain, if fine, travelling cloak, a collar from which hung a brass bell, and a pair of travelling bags that looked laden with books. His eyes were green and sharp, taking everything in.

Ditzy’s first thought, on seeing the ram, was to think that this was Grogar. But he looked nothing like what Ditzy had been expecting – nothing like the necromancer responsible for the deaths of thousands. He looked less like an evil overlord, and more like he belonged hoofing out presents to foals on Hearth’s Warming Eve.

The palanquin-bound donkey waved a hoof over the ram, who bowed to the crowd. “Iki,” the donkey said, “Grogar.”

“What?” Raindrops asked. “That – no. That can’t possibly be Grogar.”

“Looks aren’t everything…” Cheerilee began. Even as she said that, however, the world began to grow indistinct and fuzzy. Ditzy felt herself swooning, and she looked to her friends, who were similarly beginning to stumble, and fall, and…

And Ditzy woke up lying on her side, a shimmering blue field around her holding back thick, black smoke, and silhouetted within the smoke, something black, alicorn-shaped, and with glowing white eyes.

Celestia’s wings were tensed and horn already glowing, ready and waiting to strike at the first sign of trouble as she orbited around the column of smoke that marked where she had set off a fireball right on top of her sister, a fireball that had been supplemented by a blast of Solrath’s own breath. The two were making long, lazy circles around the blast area She had no doubt that Luna had survived – but what of the corrupted Elements…?

There was a gust of wind, and the black smoke from Celestia’s fireball was dissipated, revealing an alicorn with a single wing spread, covered head to hoof in black soot, though the force of another wing-sweep brushed all the detritus off of her and into the wind.

Luna glared upwards, at Celestia and Solrath. At her hooves, the six Element-bearers were encased in shimmering sphere of blue magic, fallen but unburned, and still breathing. They were slowly coming-to, in fact, and beginning to stand and take stock of the situation.

“Again!” Solrath exclaimed, inhaling, then letting loose a straight line of flame hotter than the surface of Celestia’s Sun. Luna’s horn glowed and conjured a shield before the Element-bearers, blocking the fire; then, in another moment, she was there, beside Solrath and driving her hooves into his sternum. The dragon roared in pain as he was sent flying away.

Celestia wasted no time, however – her telekinesis reached out and wrapped Luna in a white glow. Her younger sister cried out as Celestia turned and beat her wings, flying away from Tambelon, dragging Luna after her. She could banish her sister to the Moon easily enough, but it would take time – time enough for the Elements to gather power to be used against her. Conversely, she could not focus solely on the Elements, for last time she had tried, they had protected their bearers against everything she had thrown against them while they gathered power.

One problem at a time.

Celestia stopped over the open ocean, drew Luna close, and then bucked her sister down. The column of water that rose stretched a hundred feet into the air as Celestia dived after her sister. Luna could breathe water, of course, but the transition from air to liquid was never a pleasant one and it would distract her –

A blue-tinged hoof connected solidly with Celestia’s face and sent her flying from the water and into the air. Rather than spending a few seconds choking on water, it seemed, Luna had just held her breath.

Celestia checked her ascent, reaching out with telekinesis again. A burst of Luna’s own telekinesis collided with Celestia’s horn, however, disrupting her magic. Celestia lashed out with flame, but Luna teleported out of the way, and sent a sharp gust of wind Celestia’s way that would have hewn stone in half. Celestia rolled out of its path, then dove forward, driving her front hooves into Luna’s chest. Luna cried out in pain, but brought her own hooves down on Celestia’s neck. The white alicorn plummeted from the sky and into the water.

Rage gripped Celestia then, as the flames of her mane and tail and, indeed, her entire body, flash-boiled the water around her as she rose, launching a beam of fire and heat straight up. Luna avoided it, but only barely, and her feathers were singed on the way. Celestia once again reached out telekinetically, and managed to snag Luna again. She slammed her into the water’s surface – at these speeds, with this much force, the water might as well have been stone – then lifted her, then brought her down again, then a third time, before holding her atop the water.

Celestia grinned slightly as she spread her wings wide. “This is familiar, sister,” she said. “Half a year ago we stood as we do now – you, helpless like before…and next…”

Celestia began to gather power, power enough to force her sister into her Moon. Luna’s horn glowed midnight in response as a look of panic overcame her features, and she forced herself to her hooves despite the telekinetic aura, began to strain against it – and Celestia’s eyes widened in shock as Luna broke it, then dove down, into the water.

“What?” Celestia demanded, pushing off from the ocean and ascending into the sky, glaring down at the water below. Luna had never been strong enough to break her telekinesis before – how had she…

The pop of a teleporting body was all the warning Celestia got, but it was all she needed as she willed herself to teleport as well, only a few feet, but out of the way of Luna’s descending hoof. She lashed out with her own hoof, but Luna teleported again – then Celestia, again, as Luna again tried to strike her from behind, and Celestia responded in kind.

The distances they teleported grew, neither able to land a blow on the other as they descended down, then across the water’s surface – into the beach of the island. Celestia’s last teleport carried her not into the air, but under the sand. When Luna stopped to try and find her, she rose quickly, fire and hoof striking Luna’s stomach and sending her into the air. But Luna, though caught by surprise, managed a strike of her own, bucking Celestia’s face, then, when she stopped her ascent, lashing out with a bolt of pure magical force that sent Celestia sprawling.

Luna set herself back down on the beach while Corona picked herself back up, quickly taking up a position of standing tall and wings raised high. Luna’s own position was stooped down, ready to move, wings spread wide and out. Neither alicorn was breathing particularly heavy yet – they had not even begun to fight.

Corona took a step forward to stand at an angle from Luna, as the flames on her mane and tail flared. Already the sand beneath her hooves was beginning to melt and burn, becoming blackened glass. Luna gave ground at Corona’s advance, keeping the same distance between them – both alicorns were too old, knew each other too well, to want to try and look tough in front of the other. The white alicorn was sneering, but Luna knew that the sneer was covering concern – she had expected to be able to banish Luna with no problems, but Luna had against all odds resisted the attempt. Corona would talk, therefore, buy time to come up with a plan. Luna had to keep her mind focused elsewhere…

Corona opened her mouth.

“I have a daughter. An alicorn daughter,” Luna interrupted before Corona could speak, trying the only thing she could think of: reaching out to her as her sister, setting aside title and rank and responsibility and simply trying to appeal to the bond they shared. “You’re an aunt.”

Whatever Corona was going to say was lost at that. For a second - just a second – the glow of power left her eyes in surprise. “Impossible,” she declared at length. “Long did we try to produce children. Both of us. It never worked. The meek seed of a mortal stallion can find no purchase within us.” She leaned forward slightly, eyes narrowing. “You speak of the imposter sitting in Cavallia, no doubt. A mere shadow of a true alicorn – probably some hybrid creature you somehow endowed with immortality.”

“She wasn’t born…normally,” Luna admitted, gritting her teeth and trying to let the slights against Cadance slide. She noted that Corona wasn’t using archaic Equestrian anymore – a good sign? She couldn’t tell. “The circumstances of her birth are…are complicated.” Luna glanced down for a moment. “She owes her existence to me, though, and she was once a part of me, but now isn’t. She was born from me. She’s my daughter by any measure, a true alicorn, strong and beautiful. Your niece.”

Corona stared for several long moments, one eye narrowing slightly. “That explains her name,” she said. “Cadenza…Cavallian for Cadance. You wished to name any daughter of yours Cadance, I recall.”

Luna felt a flutter in her chest. She remembered! More to the point, what she was saying – she believed when Luna said that Cadance was a true alicorn. Corona had listened to her. “Yes,” she said. “That’s...that’s her name. Cadance.”

“She claimed to be me,” Corona said, stomping a hoof.

Luna cast her mind back nearly a thousand years, remembering the one time that Cadance had met Corona, when the latter was still locked in the Sun. “She thought she was,” Luna tried. “I…didn’t raise her. She had been brought up thinking she was you, reborn. I told her the truth.” Luna took a step forward. Corona didn’t give ground – maybe, that was another good sign? Luna kept herself at the ready, regardless. “I…I only just recently told her that I was her mother. A mistake – I should have told her a thousand years ago. Like I should have been there for you, helped you when you needed it. I’ve made so many mistakes, but I’m starting to put them right.” Luna took another cautious step forward. “I want to help you, Tia.”

Corona was silent for several long moments more, before turning her gaze once more to Luna, eyes narrowing as she shook her head. “When I have reclaimed my rightful crown, traitor, I shall afford her mercy, offer her a subordinate position to my throne. If forced, I shall banish her within the moon. I shall not slay her. But she will not stand in my way!”

Luna blinked as the flutter in her chest turned rock-solid. Sometimes, she wasn’t sure why she let herself feel hope anymore. Her thoughts turned instead to the six ponies in the center of the island. Solrath would soon recover from the blow that Luna had landed upon him – and Luna had no idea what other surprises Corona had in store. Luna could afford to wait no longer. Her horn glowed, and she attacked.

Trixie hadn’t even picked herself up when Luna had disappeared from her field of view in a flash. Overhead, Corona and a red dragon circled, but as Trixie watched, Luna appeared next to the dragon and landed a blow in the dragon’s sternum, the cracking sound reaching Trixie’s ears a second later and as loud as thunder.

“Corona?” Raindrops exclaimed as she picked herself up, her and Ditzy’s wings both beating as they fought against their pegasus instincts to fly away, though they couldn’t stop themselves from launching into the air and hovering in place near their friends. For that matter, Trixie realized she was hopping from one leg from another as her own hindbrain inquired as to why she wasn’t running, either.

As the six watched, the dragon began to fall, roaring in pain, while Luna had only a moment to turn to regard Corona before she was wrapped in a white aura, and dragged out of sight suddenly. They had little time to panic, however, as the dragon righted himself in the air and spread his wings wide, not in time to fly, but quickly enough to slow his fall. He still landed with an earth-shaking crash, one claw clutching at his chest where Luna had bucked him and not paying any attention to the ponies. Even from where he had landed, nearly halfway across the dirt field, he was huge – hundreds of feet from snout to tail-tip – and gradually, the look of pain on his face was turning to one of anger.

“That, uh…” Raindrops noted, “that doesn’t look like Spike.”

“Twilight said that Spike left Corona,” Trixie said, as the six began backing away very slowly from the dragon. “I…I guess Corona found a new dragon.” She remembered her saddlebags, and remembered that her Element of Magic was still in hers, due to it not being the lightest thing in the world to wear. She took it out and set it on her head now, though. “I think we should – ”

“No, wait,” Cheerilee said. “Corona’s still around, and remember what happened the last time we used the Elements? We were knocked out for Stars know how long. We use these on him, and even if they do anything, if Corona comes around – ”

“The Queen is not whom you should fear,” a new voice said, “when other threats lie so near.”

Trixie froze, then glanced behind her. She found herself looking at a zebra, clad in a brown, hooded cloak, and with a staff with one crooked end slung over her back, and holding a pouch in one hoof. Before any of the six could react, Zecora flicked the contents of the pouch into the open air – a blue, sparkling powder that seemed lighter than air. She exhaled then, blowing it towards them, washing over them before they could do anything. They coughed at the dust, but Raindrops and Ditzy additionally let out cries of surprise as their wings suddenly froze up, and they fell to the ground.

The powder dissipated in moments. Carrot Top and Trixie helped Raindrops and Ditzy back to their hooves. Each of them were looking to their wings in shock; they trembled, but couldn’t move. Even as they did, Zecora unslung the staff on her back, holding it in her front hooves as she reared back. Trixie noted that her cloak had several pockets in it, which looked filled to the brim with powders and potions.

Raindrops tore her eyes from her wings, and glared at Zecora, starting forward, but Trixie stopped her with an outstretched hoof as she looked behind her. The dragon had gotten all four claws under him again, his breathing having returned to normal and his golden, blank eyes gazing in their direction. “No fighting, just running,” Trixie decided.

Her friends needed little encouragement. They broke apart quickly, Trixie, Cheerilee, Raindrops, and Lyra moving to Zecora’s right, and Carrot Top and Ditzy to her left, confident that Zecora couldn’t possibly stop them. The six all knew what direction Tambelon’s main gate lay in, and they ran with all speed –

A bottle of something red flew over Trixie’s head, towards the gate. Her other friends skidded to a halt just as the bottle touched down before it, shattered, and a red, hissing mist burst free. Trixie was slightly slower in stopping, and the tip of her tail hairs were caught in the edge of the mist – and began to burn, red licks of flame starting up. She let out a cry of fright at the sight, quickly wrapping her cape around her tail’s end and smothering the flames before they could start to burn something more than hair. She didn’t have time to do anything else as Cheerilee grabbed the collar of her cape and began dragging her backwards and away just as another incendiary bottle touched down right where she had been standing. Getting her hooves under her, the two of them managed to outrun the mist that spread from that attack as well. A glance at Zecora showed what the crooked end in her staff was for – she was using it to hold potions, then sling them with surprising accuracy.

“Can’t run,” Cheerilee noted. The gate was completely blocked by incendiary mist.

Trixie glanced at the dragon, who was now lumbering forward. “Can’t fight,” she responded, looking around. All the rest of her friends were still alright, but she didn’t have any chance to run up to them as the dragon began to inhale. Letting out a cry of fright, Trixie picked a direction and ran, Cheerilee going a different way. With a roar, the dragon exhaled a line of flame. Naturally, it struck the ground right behind Trixie, and began to follow her as she ran. She could feel the heat of it, and just knew that her tail was getting singed – nevertheless, she somehow managed to remain just ahead of it as the dragon finally ran out of breath, though not before it had left a hundred-yard line of charred earth following Trixie. With another roar, it charged after her.

Trixie eeped as her horn glowed, and she flashed out of sight and changed direction. To her horror, however, the dragon didn’t slow down or seem fooled in the slightest – it could see through her invisibility as it swiped a claw. Trixie threw herself to the ground, front hooves holding her hat and the Element of Magic to her head as she did, and the claw missed her by mere inches. She rolled over just in time to see it raise its other claw and bring it down towards her, but it stopped suddenly, roaring in shock. It didn’t take Trixie long to see why – somehow, a certain magenta earth pony had climbed onto the dragon’s back and was even now scaling it, taking time as she did to drive a hoof down as hard as she could into its scales, apparently with enough force just enough to hurt it, however mildly.

Trixie shook her head as she dispelled her apparently useless invisibility. One day, Cheerilee would have to tell her a little more about whatever it was she did before she was a school teacher. Standing, Trixie’s horn glowed brightly, and she launched illusory fireworks at the dragon’s right eye, then shielded her own eyes and set off one of her magnesium-flare spells right in front of its left, which was opposite Cheerilee. The dragon, however, didn’t even seem to notice, beyond glaring down at Trixie again with its blank, golden orbs –

No, Trixie realized. Not quite blank; there was a vague outline of iris and pupil. Trixie’s eyes widened. “You’re blind!” she exclaimed.

The dragon let out a slight grunt. Cheerilee had reached his shoulder, but he simply heaved himself backwards, then threw that shoulder forwards. Cheerilee went flying with a cry of fright, and it was all Trixie could do to use her telekinesis to slow her down so that, when she collided with the ground and skidded a further twenty feet, it was only painful, not bone-breaking.

The dragon glared at Trixie – its eyes having no problem locking on to her. “Not entirely, little pony,” it rumbled, as Cheerilee picked herself off. She wobbled slightly, but otherwise seemed fine. “I can see you!” His head snapped forward, jaw open and exhaling flame.

Trixie barely dived out of the way, then set off running again, Cheerilee close by. Trixie looked to her. “How’s everypony else doing?” she asked.

Cheerilee glanced around, but a very large dragon was blocking most of her field of vision. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Trixie – remember what I said about the Elements?”

Trixie offered a grim smile. “You take it back?”

“I take it back,” Cheerilee confirmed. Both skidded to a halt – surprising the dragon pursuing them – and began running in the opposite direction, barely avoiding the dragon’s lashing tail.

Zecora had been tying down the other four Elements with disheartening skill. Ditzy was stumbling from a cloud of green mist, coughing up a storm, while Carrot Top had stopped next to Lyra, who lay prone on the ground, breathing, but hooves on her ears and curled up like she was trying to withdraw herself from the world. Sheer numbers had apparently prevailed, however – as Trixie watched, Raindrops leapt at Zecora as the zebra tried to ready another, violet potion in her staff; she brought the staff up to block Raindrops’ blow. It didn’t break, but whatever potion she had been loading fell to the ground, though its container remained unharmed.

From there, Zecora swiftly found herself on the defensive as Raindrops lashed out again and again with her hooves, occasionally angling to use her hind, but mostly sticking to her front. Zecora lashed out with her staff several times in her own attacks, but Raindrops managed to roll with nearly all the blows – and the one solid blow that did land, squarely against Raindrops’ shoulder, only made Raindrops stumble slightly. The pegasus’ lips were curled back in a snarl already; at Zecora’s blow, she let out a shout of rage and simply lunged bodily at Zecora, heedless of any potential counter-blow. The zebra wisely elected to retreat instead, getting as much distance as she could from the pegasus. Raindrops might have continued to chase after her, had Trixie not reached her then. She made sure to approach from the front, in clear view of Raindrops; even still, the pegasus nearly lashed out at her before she saw who it was.

Raindrops joined them in galloping away from the dragon and back to their friends. Lyra was picking herself up, but seemed unbalanced; Ditzy was recovering from her coughing fit, while Carrot Top had dashed over to and retrieved the bottle that Zecora had dropped, glanced quickly at it, and then threw it at the dragon as it charged. It didn’t slow down or even acknowledge the bottle, but the liquid inside spread beneath its claw and created a wide area of some kind of slippery substance. The dragon’s eyes widened and it roared in surprise, wings flaring, as it slipped and came crashing down to the ground. It was up in moments, but the slight delay had bought the six time to regroup. A glance at the main gate of Tambelon showed that it was still glowing with an incendiary cloud.

“Elements?” Lyra asked. She needed Ditzy’s help to stay steady.

“Elements,” Trixie confirmed, as the six turned to face Zecora and the dragon. Trixie closed her eyes, focusing on the Element of Magic that sat atop her head, while her friends began utilizing their own foci. The power of the Elements of Harmony lay buried within each of them, it was only a matter of digging down and accessing them, bringing the power to the surface and –

The ground began to shake. Trixie opened her eyes as the six of them struggled to stay on their hooves – and failed, in Lyra’s case, as she tumbled to her knees and hocks, though she was swiftly joined by the rest of them. Trixie glanced, and saw that Zecora and even the dragon were similarly shaking, though the dragon beat his wings and took to the air, eyes wide in surprise as he soared into the sky. The sky, however, didn’t look like it was much more inviting – storm clouds began to gather from nowhere, arcs of lightning streaking across the sky and peals of thunder deafening all who stood within the city’s walls.

Trixie almost asked what was going on, but checked herself. The answer was obvious – in their life-and-death struggle with the minions of Corona, the six of them had completely forgotten their reason for being here in the first place, and Luna’s warning that they had had only a few minutes to go.

The earthquake stopped, but the return of Tambelon from Shadow continued unabated. Mist suddenly began to creep over the walls of Tambelon, a fog thick enough to be cut by a knife. It washed over the six friends quickly, and each of them gasped at the fog’s unnatural chill. Soon, it was too thick to even see each other, though they huddled close together.

Gradually, however, forms began to take shape in the mist – dim outlines, slight mars in the grayness. The first thing they were able to see was each other, but soon thereafter they picked out large shapes nearby – buildings like those they had seen earlier, that seemed to gradually be unveiled from the mist, or perhaps created by it. The dirt beneath their hooves had changed, being replaced by cobblestone streets.

But this was not the city they had seen that was being created before their eyes. There were signs of battle and chaos everywhere – collapsed roofs, holes in walls, craters in the streets, detritus and refuse gradually unveiled. This was a city that had seen a war. And apart from each other, they could see not a single other creature – living, or otherwise.

Lyra looked to the other five. “Grogar,” she said. “Princess Luna said that Grogar would be waiting for us in front of the palace gates. We have to use the Elements on him – then after that, we can hide from that dragon in the city.”

“Well, where’s that?” Raindrops demanded sharply. She was still quivering with barely-contained rage, lips still pulled back in a snarl, though she was careful not to look at any of her friends lest they think her anger was directed at them.

Ditzy glanced around. “We’re on the main street,” she said, pointing. “I recognize that building – what’s left of it, anyway – from, from that whatever that happened to us. Meaning…” she pointed. “This way.”

The battle between Luna and Celestia paused yet again when the sky began to roil and the earth began to shake. The two looked at each other, knowing what was coming.

“Celestia – ” Luna began. Celestia’s wings snapped quickly, however, propelling her forward and against her sister, slamming her shoulder against Luna’s side. The blue alicorn cried out in pain and went flying; she sailed even further when Celestia caught up to her and bucked her with all the force she could muster.

“I do not have time for your lies!” Celestia proclaimed, catching up another time and bucking her sister yet again. “I will not let you ally yourself with Grogar! He dies this day!”

Celestia’s horn glowed gold, then, and she teleported, to a thousand feet over the former city. Mist filled its walls, though the mist was dissipating, leaving behind buildings, roads, streets, sewers, parks – all of them ruined, all of them broken, from when Celestia and Luna had a thousand years ago stood up to the demon ram. The mist was all folding into a single point in the city’s southwest – the front gate of the former palace.

Celestia dove. Even as she did, she saw six mares running down the former main street of Tambelon, towards the palace – the bearers of the corrupted Elements. They had already reached the bridge that stretched across the palace’s moat. One of them – the gray pegasus – chanced to glance up, and saw Celestia. She let out a cry of fright, and the six of them all stopped, looked up, and saw the white alicorn descending.

Celestia’s eyes widened, and time seemed to slow, as she saw the Elements begin to glow. They were working their dark magic now – to strike out at her? To finish whatever ritual it was that was returning Grogar? Celestia didn’t know, couldn’t know. If it was her, then there was little she could do. She could not personally harm the Elements, at least not with magic, and the corrupted bearers would have all the time they could want to summon Grogar.

For the briefest instant, she considered fleeing, striking at another opportunity; she was far too old to consider such a move cowardice. But there would not be another opportunity – Luna would see to it. Grogar would be squirreled away somewhere, to work his dark magics, to prepare for a final strike against her by Luna.

She had to risk it. For Equestria, for her ponies, she had to fight, not run.

There hadn’t been time for a choice, and even if there had been, it wouldn’t have mattered. Even with the mist roiling and coiling towards the gates of the palace, even with all they knew of Grogar, seeing Corona, the Tyrant Sun, descending towards them, would have meant that the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony would have dropped anything. Their fear of her was simply too ingrained, a thousand years of terror burned into their minds.

The Elemental foci responded to their pleas without hesitation. Trixie’s eyes glowed white as she felt herself lifted off of the ground, her friends likewise, while the foci flowed brightly and pure magic caused a windstorm around the six. Corona let out a roar of denial as she descended like an angry solar flare, her entire body alight, but in the end, it proved to be for naught – the Elements of Harmony ignited, a rainbow of pure magic and harmony lancing upwards and coiling around Corona before she could even think to avoid it.

Everything went black. Trixie wasn’t sure for how long, but for some reason, she suspected it was only a few moments before she woke up on the ground, surrounded by her friends – and staring at the prone, unconscious, but still breathing form of Corona, her mane and tail no longer animate fire, but instead normal, pink hair, and her form having shrank down somewhat – still taller than most ponies, but now no longer looming over even Princess Luna. Trixie gasped, scooting herself backwards and away from her.

Trixie glanced around. Her friends were all coming-to as well, and backing away from Corona’s fallen form. Around them was the ruined city of Tambelon, while overhead, the sky was blocked from view by a gray-tinged, yet transparent, shimmering field, looking like it was large enough to encompass at least the entire city, if not the island as a whole.

Then Trixie looked to the palace, and let out another gasp of surprise.

Standing on the bridge were a dozen constructs – golems of some kind, a part of Trixie reasoned, made from sticks and cloth and bone and stray bits of metal, held together by stitching and little else, each shaped like some kind of hulking ape, with long claws and hunched stances. Their eyes were glowing gemstones, and whoever had built them had seen fit to give them wide mouths full of sharp, pointed teeth made of glass, metal, or whatever else had been lying around. Despite their ramshackle appearance, they seemed expertly made for what they were.

But despite that, it was not because of the stitched golems that Trixie found herself suddenly screaming. It was the being they were flanking.

Staring at the six of them was a ram – a ram that rivaled Corona at her full power for height, and whose broad shoulders and powerfully built body suggested more than double her weight. His horns were curled and black, his coat the gray of soot, and his eyes glowed pure red. His mouth appeared to have fangs, and clasped around his neck was a bell, a bell that looked more than a little familiar – it was the same one as had been worn by the white ram that the six of them had seen earlier. But this ram looked otherwise nothing like him.

This ram matched exactly what Trixie had imagined the demon ram, the speaker-to-the-dead, the necromancer Grogar, to look like.

Grogar raised a hoof, and his horns glowed bone white as he closed his eyes. “Verborum modernorum.”

Trixie let out a gasp as she felt something reach out from Grogar, and touch her mind. From the sound of her friends, the same thing happened to them. Before she could say or do anything else, however, the touch withdrew, and Grogar opened his eyes, glancing yet again at them.

“Interesting,” he said, his voice deeper than even the dragon’s had been. He glanced to the golems that stood on either side of him.

“Kill the alicorn. As for the ponies – take one alive. I don’t care which.”

4. Hunter, Prey

Grogar’s stitched golems didn’t hesitate a moment, rushing forward claw-over-foot, using their forearms like forelegs and letting loose hollow, low-pitched wails. The jasmine-coated pegasus, who had just managed to stand, was the closest pony to the lead golem, which leaped, claws outstretched, mouth wide, ready to rip and tear…

…and in the next instant, it went flying backwards, its face a crumpled mess from where the pegasus had punched it with surprising force and accuracy. It rolled a few times before landing in front of Grogar, tried to pick itself up, but then fell to the ground, deflating like a balloon at its master’s hooves as the light in its gemstone eyes went out. The other constructs paused in their charge, looking at their fallen compatriot as they processed this new, unanticipated information.

Grogar raised one eyebrow, but whatever the rest of his reaction might have been was lost as the world suddenly flashed painfully bright white. Grogar grimaced as he closed his eyes against the glare, throwing a shield spell up in front of himself instinctively. When the light at last cleared, the six ponies and alicorn – Celestia – were nowhere in sight, and the golems were looking around, heads snapping about for a few moments, before they turned as one to Grogar and bowed their heads, one of them automatically taking the lead.

“Ponies – and alicorn – have escaped – Master,” the lead golem said, its voice halting, watery, and sounding like it was echoing from the bottom of a well.

Grogar scowled at that. “So it would appear,” he noted, glancing behind him, eyes darting over the rubble and detritus that was the main gate of Castle Tambelon. He noted the largest pile in particular, or more specifically, the hem of a robe sticking out from behind it. “Bray. Stop hiding and get over here.”

From behind the rubble, a brown-coated, turbaned donkey head appeared. Regrettably, the head was still attached to its owner’s body, as Bray came slinking out from where he had been hiding, head bowed low. He still wore the same robes he had before their exile had begun, though they had seen much better days. “A-aku iki ora ndhelikake, Pemilik – ”

“We can’t have that. Dedi verba.” Grogar’s horns glowed as he flicked a hoof at Bray.

The donkey let out a yelp of fright, ducking down and covering his head, but when pain, misery, and death failed to fall on him, he opened an eye, glancing at his master. “What – what did – gah!” Bray put a hoof to his mouth at the sound of his own voice, speaking a language he had never heard before. “What is this?”

“Equestrian,” Grogar noted, rubbing one hoof against his coat. “The language of those ponies these days, it would appear. You will find it useful.” Grogar turned, indicating the five golems. “You five, awaken five – no, ten more. The fifteen of you will then follow and obey Bray until I order otherwise.” Grogar turned to Bray as the donkey was muttering to himself, getting used to the language that had taken root in his mind with no warning. The five golems, meanwhile, took off at full speed through the gates of Castle Tambelon, heading for the Necropolis contained therein to gather some reinforcements “Bray. When they return, you will lead them. Scour the city. Find the ponies and Celestia.” Grogar pushed past Bray, heading towards the palace. “Kill Celestia. Bring me one of the ponies alive, it does not matter which, but I want it unharmed if at all possible. Kill the rest.”

“Of course, Master. A-and I hope you know, I wasn’t hiding, I was...was assuming a position of tactical – ” Bray tried, when there was a sudden sound, like a mountain falling and hitting the ground, from above. Both Grogar and Bray flinched in surprise as they looked up instinctively, and saw the gray shield that Grogar had erected, now covering the whole of the island, ripple, but hold strong. Just barely visible beyond the ripple was a small, midnight-blue dot.

Grogar frowned. That would be Luna, then. “Oh, and Bray,” he said, turning to the donkey once more. Bray glanced, then let out a cry of fright as white energy struck the ground near his hooves. The donkey stumbled backwards, falling on his rear. Grogar jabbed a hoof at him. “Don’t. Dawdle.”

“Of course not, Master!” Bray exclaimed, scrambling to his hooves, and taking off towards the Necropolis, that he might meet his golem servants halfway. “Right away, Master!”

Grogar watched him go for a moment, then glanced upwards again at the shield as it was rocked under another blow from Luna. It would hold – not for long, but this time, maybe it would be for long enough. One of his hooves went to the bell hanging at his neck.

“One more,” he intoned, before setting off for the palace.

For several moments, all there was in Raindrops’ mind was running alongside her little herd of friends. The only thinking part of her brain still active was badly wishing that there could have been flying instead, but though her wings were no longer quite as stiff as they had been, they still couldn’t flap with nearly as much speed or force necessary for her to fly, even with pegasus magic.

At length, everypony stopped, if for no other reason than to try and figure out where they were. It was pointless, though – all they could see was cobbled stone beneath their hooves, and ruined buildings everywhere. They sky overhead was gray and shimmering, a field muting all sunlight that managed to filter through.

The six ponies were panting, glancing between each other, Trixie putting one hoof to her head to check that the Element of Magic was still in place. She had been the one to engineer their escape, quickly conjuring up black fields over all their eyes before letting loose a burst of bright, painful light. In the confusion, they had run, as even Raindrops knew that her strike on one of the golems had been a lucky one – the remaining five would have no doubt overwhelmed them, especially if Grogar had entered the fray.

Raindrops nodded her head at Trixie. “Horn’s glowing,” she noted.

“Huh?” Trixie asked, glancing up a moment. Indeed, her horn was glowing cerulean. “Oh, right, I grabbed…”

Her eyes widened, and she turned around quickly, as the remaining five all did as well. Each of them stifled shouts of surprise, as held in Trixie’s telekinetic aura was none other than the Tyrant Sun. Trixie’s horn cut out in shock, and the white alicorn fell to the ground unceremoniously, breathing but otherwise lying still.

The six stared. “T…T…Trixie…?!” Lyra exclaimed.

“I wasn’t thinking!” Trixie exclaimed, as they bunched together, holding their breaths. Corona didn’t move, however. At length, Trixie let out a sigh. “Okay,” she said. “Okay, um…uh…what do we do with her?”

“We can’t leave her,” Carrot Top said.

“We could,” Raindrops put forth. “We very easily could.”

Carrot Top glanced at her. “That’s the adrenaline talking,” she said, pointing at Corona. “She’s still Princess Luna’s big sister. I don’t think Luna’d be too happy if we left Corona to get killed by Grogar.”

The other five considered a moment, wincing. “She’s weak right now, remember?” Cheerilee asked. “Like after the first time we hit her with the Elements. She could barely stand, couldn’t even fly, couldn’t do magic. She…she could be our prisoner. Once we get away, we can turn her over to Princess Luna.”

The ponies looked to Corona with more than a little trepidation. “O…okay, um…” Trixie said, making to step forward. Corona’s wing twitched then, however, and she let out a cry of surprise, backpedaling several paces with her friends. After a moment, Lyra leaped forward, horn glowing gold and seizing Corona in her telekinetic aura. Trixie joined her a moment later, their two auras mixing together as they jointly held the alicorn in place.

Corona’s wings twitched a few more times, as did her hooves. One eye opened slightly, groggily – revealing a violet iris and normal pupil – as she struggled to try and move herself into a sitting position. When she realized she was being held in place, however, her eyes snapped open, quickly locking onto the two unicorns. She snarled. “You would dare – ”

“Sh-shut up!” Trixie exclaimed, stepping forward and pointing a hoof. “You’re – ”

“Do not speak to me like that, you treacherous – ”

“You’re our prisoner – ”

“I am nopony’s prisoner! Never again!” Corona struggled against the telekinesis, but weakened as she was, she couldn’t do more than twitch and spasm, and after several moments stopped, breathing heavily and glaring at the six ponies.

Trixie took another step forward, feeling much more confident now that Corona had shown herself as unable to escape. “You know, we could have left you behind with Grogar. He wanted to kill you.”

Corona paused a moment at that, before smiling darkly. “Your attempts at a bargain proved futile, then?” she asked mockingly.

Trixie blinked, glancing to her friends. “What?”

Corona’s eyes narrowed again. Her horn flashed bright gold – and Trixie and Lyra cried out as streamers of magical force seemed to reach from Corona’s horn to their own, wrapping around them. The telekinesis surrounding her failed, and she stood, pulling her head back. Lyra and Trixie struggled, but it was like Corona was pulling them towards her. “I had thought I might need this against my sister,” she intoned, wings spreading wide “but I have prepared for this moment, treacherous foals! I shall take your power to fuel my own, and then – ”

Raindrops was moving then by then, galloping towards Corona and leaping at her, having already shucked her saddlebags. Corona’s eyes widened, but she didn’t have time to react beyond that as Raindrops’ hoof landed on her muzzle. She crumpled, though her wings beat to carry her backwards and away from a potential follow-up blow. None was coming, though, as Raindrops was too busy holding her hoof in pain – hitting Corona had hurt, like punching a solid, reinforced concrete. It had, however, been enough to disrupt whatever Corona was doing to her friends, as Lyra and Trixie both stumbled and fell to their knees and hocks, breathing heavily.

Corona was on her hooves again quickly, glaring at Raindrops as her mane briefly lit up in flames, though it sputtered out and died a moment later. “You would dare strike – gah!” she had to move quickly, as without her noticing, Cheerilee had somehow moved up alongside of her and bucked at her. She still stumbled slightly from being clipped by Cheerilee’s hooves. Her eyes widened further when she noticed Cheerilee in particular, as the schoolteacher slipped off her own saddlebags. “You!”

“You?” Cheerilee asked, a grim smile on her face. “Not thou? Goodness, I’m a good teacher.” She blew Corona a small kiss. “Still single, by the way.”

Corona sputtered helplessly at that, as Raindrops charged at Corona. Though she was flabbergasted by the school teacher, however, she noticed Raindrops’ charge, and lashed out with her own, longer foreleg before Raindrops could land her own blow. The pegasus cried out in pain as she fell backwards and away, but Cheerilee was on Corona then, this time solidly bucking her side. The alicorn cried out in pain as she stumbled backwards, though she didn’t fall. Her horn glowed as she saw Raindrops charging again, and she lashed out with a line of fire straight at the pegasus – a line which passed right through her harmlessly, as she disappeared in blue mist. Eyes widening, Corona’s head whipped around as she saw Trixie’s horn glow, having recovered somewhat from the magic-drain that Corona had cast on her. Lyra was standing too, taking her lyre from her saddlebags and glaring at Corona.

The alicorn sneered again, then closed her eyes and set her horn glowing. With a golden flash and pop, she was gone.

Raindrops couldn’t stop herself from letting out a sigh of relief despite herself as she picked herself back up. “One less problem,” she noted.

“You mean one more,” Cheerilee corrected, as she and the pegasus rejoined their friends. She glanced up. “I’m going to assume that whatever that shield is, it can’t be teleported through. So Corona’s still stuck under it. Meaning that now, not only do we have to look out for Grogar and those killer rag dolls, but we have to keep an eye open for her, too.” When they rejoined their friends, Cheerilee looked over Lyra and Trixie. “You two okay?”

The two nodded. They were panting, but then, so were Cheerilee and Raindrops. “Corona leeched our magic, somehow,” Lyra said, as she put her lyre back in her saddlebags. She glanced over Raindrops, who, between Zecora and Corona, had so far taken the worst beating out of all of them. “How about you?”

Raindrops was getting her saddlebags back on, and Cheerilee retrieved hers as well. “Not too good,” she said bluntly, looking at her wings, fluttering them as hard as she could. She managed to get a little lift, but not much. “At least this is wearing off…”

Ditzy flapped her own wings. She got more lift than Raindrops, but landed again in moments. “Give it an hour, maybe,” she said, glancing around. “Okay, um…so, what is the plan, then?”

Trixie took the Element of Magic from her head, putting it back in her own saddlebags. “We need to get to the edge of that field,” Trixie said, pointing over her head. “See if we can talk to Princess Luna, somehow, ask her what to do. Hang on…” Trixie closed her eyes, horn glowing. One by one, the six of the blinked out of sight.

“Um, Trixie?” Cheerilee asked. “It’s a good plan, but I can’t see anypony, either.”

“I can see all of you,” Trixie said. “I can’t silence you all, though – not after what Corona did. Everypony make for the main gate. Once we’re back in the forest, I’ll make us visible again. We can get to the beach we landed on then.”

“How’s Princess Luna going to know to look for us?” Raindrops asked, looking at her hoof, or rather, where her hoof should have been. She’d never been invisible before, and the novelty almost – almost – made her forget about the situation she was in.

There was a pause, and Raindrops knew Trixie well enough to know she was grimacing. “Get ready to run…” she intoned, as a blue glow appeared from nothingness, then launched itself into the sky. Raindrops heard hoof-steps, and set off herself, trying to follow them. Glancing up, she saw the blue glow burst apart into large, brightly glowing letters:

LUNA – IT’S TRIXIE – WE’RE OKAY – MEET YOU WHERE WE STARTED

“No way Grogar knows where we landed on Tambelon, right?” Trixie’s voice asked near Raindrops.

“I hope not…”

Smack.

Celestia’s teleport ended with her colliding with Grogar’s magical shield at the edge of the island, about a thousand feet in the air. She let out a cry, more in surprise then pain, as she began to fall towards the ground beneath her, where she could see thick forest lying at the edge of a sheer cliff face –

– no, not thick forest, but rather, the edge of a farm, with a fence erected to prevent donkeys from falling off. Celestia spread her wings and checked her fall, landing easily on the ground and looking around. It was as though she were in a dream. The field in front of her was bare, devoid of plants, but for the best of reasons – the harvest had already been brought in, and in the distance, Celestia could see a team of donkey jacks, pulling carts laden with wheat behind them. They trotted on cobbled, well-maintained roads that wended their way towards the distant city of Tambelon.

Celestia stared, wide-eyed. This was Tambelon as it had once been. But how was she seeing this? Beating her wings, she launched herself forward, towards the donkeys and landing in front of them. They paid her no mind, didn’t even acknowledge her. Acting on a hunch, she reached out towards the nearest, and found her hoof passing through the jack.

“This is a dream,” Celestia said aloud, glancing around. “A memory – imprinted here on the land somehow – ”

There was a slight squeal, and Celestia, and the donkeys, looked and saw a foal jenny chase after her even younger brother, who had a doll in his mouth and was laughing. The lead donkey of the procession held out a hoof and stopped the foal.

“Give it back, son,” he said, his voice stern but even. It took Celestia a moment to realize that what she was hearing wasn’t Donkey – though she knew it, even the archaic form that would have been spoken here – but instead, was modern Equestrian. How…?

The foal looked at his father, realized a tanned backside would follow if he didn’t obey his father, and relented, mumbling an apology as his sister took back her doll and held it close. “I wanna go to market,” he said.

“Not today, son,” the father said, mussing the foal’s mane. “It’s the King’s birthday celebration. Too many donkeys. You might get lost.”

Celestia paused a moment, before her eyes widened. “King’s birthday?” she asked. “Which one? Not… no, this couldn’t be…”

In the distance, from the city, there was a flash. Celestia looked, and saw, from the palace of Tambelon, tucked safe behind its city walls, a white sphere of magic begin to expand outwards. The donkeys themselves couldn’t perceive it, not being attuned to magic, as the foal continued to beg his father to let him go with him and the father kept saying no as he continued his trot, heedless of what was approaching…the jenny foal was just happy to have her doll back and was talking to it…the other donkeys in sight were talking to each other as well, one had told a joke and he was laughing…

“No!” Celestia shouted, beating her wings and taking to the air, horn glowing as she conjured as strong a protection spell as she could, shielding all the donkeys as the rim of the expanding magical sphere approached. She had mere seconds. “No – no – no…!”

The sphere reached her. It passed over her like she wasn’t even there – because she wasn’t. Neither was her protection.

The magical force reached the donkeys, passed over them in a second, and each suddenly fell to the earth, as limp as the doll that tumbled from the jenny’s grasp –

Celestia hit the ground with a thud, unable to get her wings under her as the dream, the memory ended. She had landed on the cliff face, one hoof hanging over the cliff’s edge, her fall having broken more than a few tree branches, some of which had landed atop her. She lay still, ignoring the slight pain, unmoving, unthinking…

There was movement to Celestia’s side, beyond the cliff face and the field. She looked and saw her sister, flying at high speed. Their eyes met for a moment, and Luna checked her flight, looping back around as Celestia stood, wings spreading wide and feeling her rage taking shape as fire around her body.

“You…” the white alicorn hissed as she stood. Luna’s horn glowed, and she touched it to the field. She couldn’t penetrate it so easily as that, but she could project just the tiniest portion of her consciousness through, creating an avatar that materialized on the other side of the field, standing before Celestia and staring at her as impassively as possible.

Celestia was anything but impassive as she glared at her sister’s avatar. “You treacherous nag!” She roared, the flames wrapping around her flaring. “After all he did – all those he murdered – you would ally with Grogar?”

Luna blinked, daring to feign confusion to Celestia. “I’m not going to – ”

“LIAR!” Celestia shouted, launching a gout of flame forward.

Luna stepped out of the way, her neutral expression finally dropping to one of anger. “I’m not trying to – ” Another blast; Luna avoided this, too, and cantered backwards. Celestia advanced, leaping and driving her hoof into the avatar’s body. It burst apart into midnight-blue smoke that quickly dissipated; Celestia turned when it did, glaring through the field at the real Luna.

Luna didn’t waste any time in creating a second avatar, but this one was further away, ready to move. “I am not here to ally with Grogar!” she exclaimed.

“Yes you are!” Celestia shouted, lunging. Luna leaped backwards and away, but Celestia continued to stab at the avatar with her horn, lashing out at the only thing she could. “Because you are a traitor! And you fear that the Elements can no longer affect me so you are allying with the necromancer – ”

“I am not!” Luna objected, her avatar lashing out at Celestia. The blow landed ineffectually, and the avatar burst apart, having destroyed itself. Luna created a third, this one glaring angrily at Celestia.

Celestia was breathing heavily. Drained of magic as she was, this was beginning to exhaust her, but she couldn’t stop – wouldn’t stop. “You are!” she insisted, fire around her flaring again. “Why else would Tambelon return?”

“When I lost my connection to the Elements,” Luna said, as she avoided a burst of flame from her sister, “it returned on its own. I banished it again myself, but I can’t keep it away forever, it returns every five hundred years!”

“Lies!” Celestia, rather than trying a line of fire, instead released it as an explosion. Luna’s avatar only rolled her eyes, allowing itself to be destroyed and creating a third once the flames had cleared. By now, the flames around Celestia’s body had died down to nothingness as she sucked in air – she was taxing her stolen power to its limits, and needed to recover.

“I am not trying to create an alliance with Grogar,” Luna said, eyes narrow.

“Liar! You are – ”

“I am not – ”

“Yes you – ”

“Am not – ”

“Are too – ”

“Oh – just SHUT UP!” Luna’s avatar exclaimed loud enough to rattle Celestia’s bones, wings flaring and body glowing deep blue, her mane roiling and expanding into a vast, dark nebula that created a hemisphere around her, looking like it wanted to surge forward and envelope the older alicorn. “SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT! UP!”

Celestia backed away several steps at Luna’s display of power, before remembering that this mere avatar couldn’t do a thing to her. She held her ground, glaring at her little sister. “I – ”

“No. I am not doing this with you anymore, Tia,” Luna intoned, stomping a hoof. “I did not come here to ally with Grogar. That you would even think me capable of that speaks volumes about how delusional you are!”

Celestia’s eyes widened. “You dare – ”

“I came here to lock Grogar away again. But now because of you – YOU, Celestia – he may very well escape!” Luna jabbed a hoof at Celestia. “If you ever valued Equestria, Tia, if you really want Grogar to be dealt with, then you will stay out of my way!”

Celestia opened her mouth, but Luna didn’t wait, her avatar disappearing in an instant. Celestia turned to the real one on the other side of the field, but it had already shot off, skimming low over the water surrounding the island. Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “Get – you can’t talk to me like that! I am your older sister!” Luna didn’t slow down, however – it was doubtful she could even hear Celestia through the field – but Celestia didn’t let that stop her as she beat her wings and took to the air, following after her. “GET BACK HERE!”

The stitched golems were quick, and efficient. They couldn’t see through invisibility, but they could sense when and where magic had been used, follow it like a dog following a trail. Thus, it was only fifteen minutes before the squad of fifteen stitched golems stood at the gates of Tambelon, looking out into the forest beyond. Bray stood amongst them, glaring through the gate.

“Ponies – have fled – into the island – Prince Bray,” the lead golem said.

Bray flicked his ears in annoyance, and not just because the golems referred to him as prince rather than king. No, it was at the thought of leaving Tambelon, however ruined the city had become. It was exactly what he needed in his life right now: a trek through his old stomping grounds and a grand tour of what had become of them. “Let’s go,” he intoned.

The golems started to move, but stopped after a second, turning around in perfect unison and staring at a ruined building – a former shop of some kind, a bakery, if Bray recalled correctly. Bray looked as well, and thought he saw a black-striped tail.

“Intruder – found – Prince Bray,” the lead golem said, as two of the other ones rushed forward and into the building before Bray could give any kind of order to do such. He rolled his eyes even as a brief scuffle commenced; one of the golems flew back out from the ruined building, damaged but still functioning, while the other emerged after a moment, holding a black-and-white-striped equine, a jenny from the looks of her, in its claws and against its body, squeezing tight. After several moments, she realized she had been caught, and stopped struggling, instead glaring down at the donkey.

“Oh?” Bray asked, head tilting to the side. “Well that’s a new coat color on a pony.”

“Prisoner – is – a zebra – Prince Bray.”

Bray frowned a moment; he'd heard of zebras, but he'd never seen one before today. He sighed, however, as the damaged golem picked itself up. One of its arms hung limply by its side, and an eye was missing. “Not a pony…oh well. Take her to Grogar, I’m sure he’ll find her interesting. Or he’ll kill her. We’ll see when we get back. You,” he pointed to the damaged golem, “go as well.”

“We – obey – Prince Bray.”

The zebra said nothing, closing her eyes and apparently accepting her fate as she was carried off, back to the palace. Bray sighed again. “Very dignified,” he noted, looking back to the forest. “Alright, then. Lead on.”

The six ponies, against what seemed like all odds, had escaped the city easily enough. They hadn’t stopped running even once they were out of sight of Tambelon’s walls, though Trixie did dispel her invisibility. After a good fifteen minutes of running, the six of them skidded to a halt at the beach, tossing several stones in the air as they did and each of them gasping for breath.

Beyond the magical field that surrounded the island, Luna was standing in the water, waiting for them; beyond her, they could see Wingsong, floating undisturbed in the water. As they neared, Luna’s horn glowed, and suddenly she was there, inside the field and amongst them on the beach. “Princess!” Trixie gasped, dashing forward and making to nuzzle Luna.

Luna backed away, however, holding up a hoof. “This isn’t me,” she said quickly, pointing out to beyond the field, where another Luna yet stood, staring in. “This is an avatar. It is fragile; if you touch it, it will be destroyed, and I’ll have to create a new one.”

Trixie blinked at that, slowly backing away. She glanced over, at the real Luna, then back to the avatar. “So…” she intoned, “you can’t help us.”

The avatar shook her head. “Not as long as this field is up,” she said, looking past Trixie and to the rest of the Elements. “How are you all?”

“Tired,” Ditzy said, wings beating slightly. “I trot around a lot…not used to running, though.”

“Zecora did something to me and Ditzy, too,” Raindrops said, her own wings flapping, lifting her up for a few moments, then giving out. She hissed a little, looking back to the Princess. “Can’t fly. It’s wearing off, though.”

Luna pressed her lips tightly together, looking them over. “Tell me what happened,” she said. The six did, leaving nothing out – especially not the strange, collective dream they had endured just as Corona’s attack began. Luna frowned at that. “It was an imprint,” she said, looking down. “You can’t just magically kill ten thousand beings in an instant, on their home soil, and not leave some kind of impression.” She glanced at the six. “I would ignore them if possible. They are memories of events that have already happened. They can’t harm you, but they might distract you at a critical moment.”

The six nodded. “What do we do?” Carrot Top asked.

Luna grimaced. She pointed to the field blocking her from entering the island. “I can destroy this, but it will take time,” she said. “This field is much like the one he used to keep Celestia and I out two thousand years ago. It is much more hastily cast, but then, there is only me this time fighting against it. Well,” she glanced behind her, past her true self, and to Wingsong. “Me, and whatever damage Wingsong’s canons can do.” She looked back to the six. “It will be several hours – perhaps as much as a day.”

The six started at that, glancing between each other at the thought of being trapped on Tambelon for a full day. “Princess,” Cheerilee said, stepping forward, “why does Grogar want one of us alive?”

“It would be a temporary thing,” Luna said, closing her eyes and scowling deeply. “Grogar did not kill the Tamberlaan simply because he could. It was part of a ritual – an attempt to bargain for eternal life. It could be that he needs one of you so that he could finish the ritual.” She shook her head. “I cannot give you all the details – there is no time. You must run, and hide. The Elements would save you from Grogar, but not from his golems. So stay on the move, remain out of sight. Keep each other safe.” She grimaced. “I…I am sorry. This was not how things were supposed to occur.”

“It’s not your fault,” Lyra said, shaking her head. “It’s Corona’s.”

“Yes,” Luna confirmed, her grimace worsening. “I should have anticipated something like this…but I did not.” She pointed to the forest. “Now go. Hide. And…good luck.”

The six nodded as one, then took off. Trixie spared a moment to glance back at her mentor, who only cocked her head at the forest. Grimacing herself, the unicorn set off as fast as her hooves would carry her.

5. Strange Relations

They ran for what felt like hours from the beach, putting as much distance between themselves and the city as they could. They stuck to the road in the woods as much as possible, though it began to give out after a few minutes. At length, the six were forced to stop through sheer exhaustion, though they forced themselves to keep going long enough to get off of the road and into the thick forest that framed it, though they made sure to stay close enough to the road to keep an eye upon it.

They were all breathing heavily, even Raindrops, the most physically fit, but also physically beat-up, of the six of them. A few bruises and welts were already showing through her coat. “Those don’t look too good,” Trixie noted. Cheerilee, meanwhile, took to keeping an eye on the road.

“Hang on,” Carrot Top said after a moment of catching her breath as she looked Raindrops over, then slid off her saddlebags and started rummaging through them. She came up with a bottle of rubbing alcohol, a cloth, and a number of small, tightly sealed packages and a bowl and grindstone. Raindrops offered no objection beyond the occasional wince of pain as Lyra took the rubbing alcohol and cloth and got to work seeing to her, dabbing her cuts, while Carrot Top unpacked a few of her packages and poured them into the bowl, beginning to grind them together. “Anypony got water?”

“Some,” Ditzy said as she fished through her own saddlebags and produced a waterskin. Carrot Top added a few drops to her bowl, turning her mix into a paste. She used her hoof to apply the paste to the worst of Raindrops’ wounds, though it was Ditzy that produced the actual bandage wraps to make sure the paste stayed on and didn’t dribble.

“There,” Carrot Top said, letting out a slight sigh. “That should help with any pain. Speed the healing process too, maybe.”

Raindrops grunted out a thanks, closing her eyes tightly and focusing on breathing. Carrot Top nodded, understanding that Raindrops was most certainly genuinely thankful – but also that her anger issues had been pulled to the fore today, and that a large part of her wanted to just start trampling the nearest thing underhoof until she anger was spent. She needed a few minutes at least to rein herself in. Carrot Top, instead, turned to look at everypony else. “Anypony else got any cuts or bruises?” she asked. “There’s plenty of this stuff left.”

They all needed it to some greater or lesser extent, even Trixie, who had come through with the least amount of physical pain, though both she and Lyra still had headaches from whatever Corona had done to them. Carrot Top, meanwhile, grimaced as Ditzy finished helping her tie a bandage around one of her own bruises. “We’re not very good at this, are we?” she asked.

Cheerilee smiled grimly. “We’re knights, not soldiers,” she said.

“I thought knights were supposed to be good at fighting dragons.”

“Maybe once upon a time. These days they mostly just go to parties and worry about the lettering on their business cards.” Cheerilee sighed after a moment. “You’re right. We need to get better at this whole ‘defending the realm’ thing…”

“One thing at a time,” Lyra said. Her hooves were gently gliding across her lyre in nervousness, though she made sure to keep the notes barely audible. After a moment, though, she brightened, and her horn glowed as she reached into her saddlebags and produced brown paper bag. “We escaped. Celebratory candy?”

For being bipedal, the golems were fast. Bray was not used to running anywhere, least of all through the forest that had once been his homeland. Was all this the result of the King’s Forest – his – spiraling out of control in his absence? This land should have been cleared and pastured, growing hay and grapes and whatever else it was that farmers grew for the city. Had nothing really thought to settle the island? On the one hoof he was grateful enough that he wouldn’t have to devote energy to evicting squatters, but on the other it seemed like a terrible waste.

The lead golem was moving close to the road, its gemstone eyes focused on the faint magical trail. It was a trail that was, unfortunately, growing increasingly diffuse. They had been tracking the magic of the earth ponies, their hooves leaving behind the faintest trace that could be followed, but after nearly four hours the trail was at last gone.

(Bray had needed to make a few stops on the way to catch his breath. The golems had stopped moving at his command, of course, giving no objection, but they had just stood there, staring at him, until he had ordered them to move again. It was unnerving in the extreme).

“The magic trail – has ceased – Prince Bray,” the golem informed the donkey.

Bray grimaced at that, touching a hoof to his chin and scratching it in thought. Grogar would have his head on a pike if he returned empty-hoofed, but he hadn’t the slightest clue where to start scouring the island, as no matter how small it was, it was still quite a lot to search, especially with the forest to consider. He glanced to the thirteen golems with him. “Spread out,” he decided after a moment. “You three,” he pointed to two at random, “remain with me. The rest of you split into teams of two and scour the island. If you find the ponies, don’t attack – ”

“That – conflicts with – the Master’s – commands – Prince Bray,” the lead golem objected.

Bray snarled. “And who is your commander?” he demanded. “Grogar put me in charge of you rag-doll cretins! And if you would let me finish: don’t attack the ponies. Instead, one of you keep following, the other come back for me. We’ll gather all of you puppets and attack them together. Understand?”

The golems were silent for a moment, but then bowed their heads as one. “Orders – acknowledged – Prince Bray,” the lead golem said. In a flash, the ten he had ordered to spread out were gone, while the remaining three golems stood silently beside Bray, waiting for additional orders.

Bray whickered in annoyance as he began trotting down the road, and the three golems followed. “Conflicts with the master’s orders, Prince Bray,” he mocked in a low voice. “If he’s so great how come he can’t make you speak properly?” The stitched golems made no response, and Bray only rolled his eyes as he continued to trot, glancing around occasionally. It was no good – the forest was too thick. After about ten minutes of trotting, he was just about willing to start giving up, when there was a boom from overhead.

Bray let out a yelp, starting to gallop, the golems following, out of well-ingrained instinct before his conscious mind was able to tell him that it was probably just Luna trying to break down the shield again, something that was confirmed when he glanced up and saw a ripple spreading across it. He had just begun to slow down, when from his right, there was a flash of golden and blue magic, and the three golems following him crumpled, not having time to react. Spinning around with wide eyes, he saw six ponies mares – two from each of their tribes – emerge suddenly from the underbrush. A jasmine pegasus and two earth ponies, one yellow and one magenta, were on the golems before they could rise to defend themselves, trampling them underhoof until their gemstone eyes stopped glowing. Then they turned to him.

The donkey stared at the six of them in confusion, mouth opening and closing a few times, before he let out a low groan. “Ohhhh no,” he said, trembling slightly and backing up several steps. “Oh no, oh no, you’re gonna – you’re gonna – oh please don’t hurt me! Please!”

The donkey threw himself to his knees and hocks, front hooves pressed together and over his head in surrender. Ditzy was beside him in an instant. “Hey, hey, calm down,” she said, her tone mothering as she gently lay a hoof on his shoulder. He flinched, and switched to staying ducked down, hooves over his head. “Calm down,” Ditzy insisted. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

Lyra nodded in confirmation, as Raindrops ground one hoof into the back of a golem’s head a little more enthusiastically than could be considered normal. The mint unicorn chose to ignore it as she focused on the donkey in front of her. “We saw those golems chasing you,” she said. “Come on, we should get off the road before any more show up…”

The donkey looked up at them. “Oh thank you!” he exclaimed, eagerly following the six to their makeshift camp. “I – oh, I thought they’d found me! It was terrible!”

Their camp wasn’t much to look at – a tiny sward, no more than ten feet across, that had somehow managed to not have any trees growing in it. Their saddlebags were arranged in a rough circle at the end furthest from the road, half-unpacked as they had begun to take stock of their supplies. There wasn’t much – a few light snacks and water skins, some minor first-aid supplies, and Lyra’s own lyre. They hadn’t expected to need anything at all, however, so Lyra counted them as lucky to have even as much as they did.

Lyra glanced the donkey over. He looked a mess – he wore a red turban with a blue feather and white gem set into it, though the turban was loose and the feather wilting. He also wore a long robe that was frayed at its edges. Looped through one ear was a gold earring. His eyes contained no small measure of panic that was not offset at all by Ditzy trying her best to comfort him.

Trixie eyed the donkey. While she’d leaped to destroy those golems they’d seen chasing after him as quickly as the rest of them, now that they were down, she looked more than a little suspicious. “Okay, first thing’s first,” she said. “How come you speak Equestrian?”

The donkey eyed her. “I – I don’t know,” he admitted. “I just – aren’t we speaking Donkey? Who are you?”

Trixie’s gaze softened at his obvious confusion. “Trixie,” she said, then went around and introduced the rest. “That’s Carrot Top, Lyra, Cheerilee, Ditzy, and Raindrops. You?”

“Bray,” the donkey introduced himself after a moment, eyeing their packs, and more specifically the food there. “Um – can I…?” Ditzy nodded at once, taking one of her own snacks – a muffin, of course – and hoofing it over. Bray all but inhaled it. “Oh, it’s been too long since I had real food…”

“Yeah, about that…” Trixie said. “How are you, um…here?”

“Trixie,” Ditzy warned, one eye on her while the other remained on Bray.

Trixie shook her head and made a cutting motion with one hoof. “No. Nuh-uh. Last time we were in a bad spot and we trusted somepony – sorry, somebody – we’d just met, it was Zecora, and we all remember how that ended. I get to be paranoid.”

“I’m with Trixie on this one,” Cheerilee put forth. “I’m not saying we should truss him up and leave him or anything. But I’d like to know more about him.”

Bray finished the muffin, and nodded at Trixie and Cheerilee. “I…it’s okay,” he said. “I’m…I’m a survivor. I’m the survivor. I…I don’t know how. I was in…in a magic circle when Grogar…when it happened. I was protected.” He looked down. “I hid. I hid for a long time. Then everything was dark and cold, mist everywhere outside of the city…I’ve…I’ve had to hide. Steal food. Those golems don’t have to eat, but Grogar still does. Has a garden he maintained with magic. B…but then, all of this has happened. The sky’s back to normal…” he looked up at the shield that stretched over the horizon, “basically, anyway…and so I ran. I ran into the forest. Then those golems appeared and they were chasing after me and I thought they’d finally caught me…and then you appeared.”

Ditzy’s eyes were wide as dinner plates and both focused on Bray by the end of his story, and she had both hooves to her mouth. “You…you’ve been by yourself…hunted and alone…for two th – ”

“More than a year?” Lyra interrupted quickly, stepping up next to Bray. He flinched back, but then nodded. Ditzy glanced at Lyra in annoyance, and Lyra leaned in close to her. “New foal trying to stand,” she whispered. “Just for now. Two thousand years is a lot to take in…”

Ditzy considered a moment, then sighed and nodded. “Good point,” she said, then shook her head, looking back to Bray. “That’s horrible, though,” she said. “Did Princess Luna know about you?”

Bray considered, looking between the six of them. “I…I think she did,” he said. “It’s okay. I don’t blame her. Necessary sacrifice.”

Ditzy’s look became hard then. Trixie quickly stepped up to her. “Ditzy, I know Luna,” she said. “She would not banish Tambelon if she thought there were any survivors from what Grogar did in it.”

Ditzy looked to Trixie. “You sure?” she asked. “Times change, remember? Maybe Luna back then would have.”

Trixie opened her mouth, but Raindrops was between the two of them instantly, pushing each away from the other. “We can discuss this later,” she insisted. “Right now, we need to focus on staying alive.”

“On that note,” Carrot Top said, looking Bray over, “are you hurt? You don’t look too bad for somepony who’s spent the last year hiding…”

Bray shook his head. “I’m fine. I have a little magic of my own.” He reached up and placed two hooves on either side of the gem set into his turban. It flashed slightly, though nothing happened. After a moment more of trying but getting no results, he smiled sheepishly. “A little,” he repeated.

“Well, that’s okay,” Lyra said. “We only have to last a day, maybe less. Then Luna will bring down the shield and we can escape.”

“We should move now, though,” Cheerilee said, as she began packing up what little she had taken from her saddlebags. “At least we shouldn’t camp out so near to where we destroyed those golems.”

Bray’s eyes widened, and his ears dipped low. “M-move?” he demanded. “No, wait – this is the perfect hiding spot! Isn’t it?”

“Not anymore,” Cheerilee said. “Don’t worry, as long as you’re with us, you should be fine – ”

“B-b-but, we just got here, and – ”

“Look, we have to move, now, before – ”

The world went white for a moment. Lyra’s eyes widened as it did, though before she could say anything, it had re-appeared…though it was different. The forest was gone, replaced by hilly, tall-grassed pastures that seemed to fill most of the island, right out to its beaches and cliffs. The road was no longer dirt with the occasional stone poking out, but rather genuine cobbled stone. In the distance, Lyra could see a walled city; glancing around her, she saw her five friends, plus Bray, who was looking around in wide-eyed confusion.

“One of these again,” Cheerilee noted. “Stars above, the Princess was right about them being inconvenient…”

“Not much we can do – ” Ditzy began. Then she screamed in horror, wings beating and taking her into the air. Everypony instinctively dashed away in the direction Ditzy was staring, at least until she stopped herself, hooves at her mouth as she stared. Lyra chanced a glance, and saw, lying in the grass, something brown-furred, with long ears, slightly bucked teeth, and open, staring eyes. It was a donkey, a jack. He didn’t look much older than Lyra. And he wasn’t moving.

In another moment, Ditzy was beside the fallen jack, Carrot Top next, and the remaining four ponies a moment after that. But nopony could do anything – every time they tried to touch the jack, to move him, their hooves passed through him.

“I-it’s a memory,” Raindrops said, as shaken as the rest of them as she stared. “He…he’s dead. He’s been dead for two thousand years. There’s nothing we can do.”

Ditzy had tears in her eyes as she landed, next to Trixie. Trixie didn’t waste any time in wrapping her hooves around the distraught pegasus, who herself didn’t waste any time in burying her face in Trixie’s neck and sobbing. With monumental effort, the rest of them turned from the donkey jack, closing their eyes, determined to just ignore everything until the memory passed. Lyra glanced at Bray, who’s eyes were wide.

“Dead! All of them!” Bray exclaimed in anger. After a moment, however, Lyra realized that Bray’s mouth hadn’t moved – and that his voice had come from the opposite direction.

Lyra turned, and her eyes grew. “Uh…girls…” she intoned at what she saw.

Trotting up the road was Bray, though he looked different – his turban, his robes, all much more well-kept. He wore a look of anger on his face as he glanced around.

And following behind him was a massive ram with glowing red eyes and sharpened teeth – Grogar, or a memory of him, anyway. He was looking past the donkey he followed, out to sea, and completely ignored the ponies and, for that matter, the dead jack. Bray – the memory of Bray, rather – trotted up to the fallen jack, using a hoof to push him around a few times, before letting out grunt of disgust. “Dead too,” he noted, and turned to Grogar. “What is the meaning of this, Grogar? Explain yourself!”

Grogar didn’t speak or move other than to squint slightly. Bray took exception to that as he stomped his forehooves. “You killed them all! The entire kingdom!” he shouted. “That wasn’t what was supposed to happen! You were only supposed to kill my father and siblings and any ponies on the island! I was supposed to rule a kingdom, not a graveyard!”

Grogar didn’t turn to look at the donkey. “O Prince Bray – ”

“King!” Bray exclaimed, stomping a hoof again. “King! My father is dead, my older siblings are dead – I am King of Tambelon!”

“What kind of king are you if you don’t have a kingdom?” Grogar asked, half-heartedly nodding his head in the direction of the fallen jack. Bray sputtered, and Grogar at length looked to him. “I used you. The hundred ponies that called Tambelon home only sweetened the bargain, I’m afraid. The life-force of all ten thousand Tamberlaan, regardless of race…that was the true goal, always.”

Bray stumbled backwards, eyes wide. “Ten…ten thousand souls…wasted on you…”

“Unfortunately not. Souls can only be traded willingly. It was merely the life-force that animated their beings and tethered their souls to their bodies that I collected. A fine bargain, regardless. More than nine thousand donkeys, a hundred ponies, the odd griffin or camel…yes. It will do nicely.”

Bray sat down heavily, hooves at his head. “No,” he hissed. “No, no, no! You promised that I would be king of the Tamberlaan! King! You promised, Grogar!”

Grogar looked back and out to sea. “If you absolutely insist,” he said, cocking his head towards the water, “there are survivors; the furthest edge of the island was untouched. They are even now fleeing to the mainland. I can see them from here. There’s…oh, maybe five hundred. Maybe more. Go to them. You are the last surviving member of the royal house. You are their rightful king. No doubt that the quality of your blood will set aside all differences, make them forget all your past mistakes. Including the fact that it was you who brought me here, you who introduced me to your late father.”

Grogar turned and started trotting towards the city. “When you have made your choice, Prince Bray…I shall await you back in the palace. I have much work ahead of me…”

The world faded to white again, and then once more back into reality. The six ponies had moved closer to the road, but were staring with wide eyes at where the memories of Grogar and Bray had been. Slowly – reluctantly – they turned to regard the real Bray.

He was standing, and a change had come over him. His head was held a little lower, his eyes were narrowed, his ears folded back, and his lips curled in a disdainful sneer. Flanking him were two of the stitched golems, and eight more appeared all around the ponies, emerging from the forest and standing hunched and waiting.

Bray smiled. It was wholly unpleasant. “I had hoped to wait until you were asleep, but oh well. Golems – attack.”

“We – obey – Prince Bray.”

The golems rushed in, and Ditzy Doo let out a whinny of fright as she reared back in surprise, lashing out with her front hooves. The closest golem to her checked its charge and fell back before Ditzy could strike her, while the second-closest leaped over her, trying to get behind her, to flank her. She beat her wings, still stiff but largely recovered, as she tried to fly up and out of the way: Raindrops and Cheerilee were both much better at fighting that she was. Unfortunately, the golems could leap exceptionally well – one of them jumped from under her, coming up with teeth gnashing like some kind of shark. Ditzy struck out with a hind hoof as best she could, and hit the golem in the chin, sending it sprawling. It was up in a moment, however, already seeking a new target.

Trixie had immediately created illusory copies of herself, which scattered, some running away, some pretending to cast spells. Ditzy had no idea which one was the real Trixie, or even if the real Trixie hadn’t simply turned herself invisible. The illusions fooled the golems for several moments, during which one had is head torn off by Raindrops, but then as one the golems suddenly began to ignore any copy of Trixie excepting if it was making a direct attack – apparently resolving to deal with the ponies they knew were real first.

Raindrops and Cheerilee were fighting as best they could, but the golems seemed to have taken their measure. They were careful to avoid Raindrops, only trying to attack her from behind, one of them often serving as bait to draw her in while one or two more would circle around. Cheerilee soon found herself tied down completely defending Raindrops’ back as the jasmine pegasus invariably took the golems’ bait. For their part, the golems could bend and twist in ways no pony living creature could match, and made use of this surprising agility to avoid every attempted blow from the schoolteacher.

Carrot Top was with Lyra, meanwhile. The mint unicorn had picked up a fallen tree branch with her magic and was swinging it around, warding golems away and trying to make her way to her lyre. Carrot Top was lashing out at any that got too close. Then three rushed from three sides, and Carrot Top only noticed one of them while Lyra dealt with just one more, the third, meanwhile, raised its claws to bring them down on the mint unicorn’s back. Lyra didn’t notice until it was too late.

Ditzy did, however. She had flown over, and landed on the golem’s back with all the force she could muster, sending it sprawling. Carrot Top whinnied in fright when she noticed it, and quickly dived forward, landing on the golems’ head and stomping down until it stopped trying to get up. Ditzy, meanwhile, bucked to ward off another, as she looked to Lyra. “Lyre!” she shouted: Lyra’s spellsongs were the edge that they needed to win this. Lyra acknowledged Ditzy by dashing towards her saddlebags. A golem rushed after her, but before it could strike her it suddenly stumbled over something and fell to the ground, then went flying away as though wrapped in an invisible telekinetic aura – Trixie, no doubt, invisible but by no means not helping.

Lyra’s hooves closed on her lyre, and she stood on two legs swiftly, a difficult pose for most ponies to maintain but one that she’d spent years practicing. Ditzy had little time to appreciate it as another golem leapt at her; she and Carrot Top both bucked at it, and it stumbled. It recovered far faster than they had anticipated, however, and leapt at them low, looking to slice out their legs.

That was when there was a loud thrum, and the golem got knocked back as though hit by a charging rhino. Ditzy glanced and saw Lyra’s horn glowing bright, holding her lyre aloft telekinetically as her hooves danced across it. In the heat of battle, with her friends in danger, she wasn’t playing true spellsongs, simply two- or three-note melodies that seemed to augment her normal telekinesis, focusing it into a solid blast of sound that sent the golems flying. Ditzy let out a whoop of joy, and another when Lyra turned herself towards Bray – who had sat out of the battle, watching it with a grim smile – and lashed out with magic.

Bray, however, was not intimidated. He grit his teeth and the gem set into his turban glowed – and the blast of Lyra’s magic suddenly bounced harmlessly off of a white, magical shield. Lyra’s eyes widened as she struck out with more magic, but Bray’s own magic stopped each of her blows. He raised a hoof and flicked it at her, and tendrils of white energy struck at Lyra, knocking her back – and her lyre from her grasp – before pulling her forward and towards Bray. He stopped her flight with an outstretched hoof, holding her in the air.

“You bone-headed foal!” he exclaimed, throwing her to the ground at his hooves and kicking her once. Lyra cried out in pain, but didn’t have time to do more than that when Bray kicked her a second time in the back of her head, knocking her unconscious. Bray glanced up and smiled, waving another hoof and casting magic across the small battlefield. Trixie suddenly blinked into existence, eyes widening but having no time to react to a backhand blow from one golem that sent her sprawling. Raindrops, meanwhile, was panting heavily, covered in small cuts. She was still fighting, but beginning to falter. Cheerilee was similarly exhausted, and didn’t quite move fast enough to avoid a blow that sent her tumbling into Raindrops, knocking both over. The golems attacking Carrot Top and Ditzy were growing bolder as well, one scoring a blow across Ditzy’s side that she only barely managed to avoid serious harm from; it still left her with a long line of red.

Bray laughed as he looked down at the unconscious Lyra, placing a hoof on her side. “Well, I have my captive,” he noted. “Kill the remainder.” He glanced up at the five remaining ponies as they struggled but gradually began to lose. “I was an heir to the throne of Tambelon, you short-eared nags! My magic is utterly beyond yours – ”

There was fire.

Ditzy cried out as she dropped to her stomach, hooves over her head to press her mane down, as a line of fire cut through the golem in front of her. The golem burst into flames instantly. It turned in the direction the fire came from, heedless of the flames, but its body collapsed after taking a single step towards whatever had attacked it, its body providing more than ample fuel.

Bray’s eyes widened as two more golems were struck by gouts of flame before the golems fully registered the threat and retreated backwards, towards Bray. Ditzy looked herself, and saw a white-coated alicorn, eyes fairly glowing with power, and flames danced through her pink mane and tail and at her hooves.

“But it is not beyond mine,” Corona declared.

Bray sputtered a few moments, before glancing to the six golems that yet remained. “Attack!” he ordered. “Attack! Now!”

The golems surged forward. Corona’s eyes narrowed at the sight, and her horn glowed bright gold as the flames on her body flared up, fully consuming her. The first golem to reach her simply exploded, while the next was dispatched with a flick of Corona’s horn that completely bisected it. The remaining golems paused to assess the situation, which proved to be their undoing – four quick blasts consumed them. Corona turned then to Bray.

“You live?” she hissed, ignoring the ponies as she stepped forward. “You dare to still draw breath?!”

Bray’s mouth worked, but no sound came out other than a yelp when Corona lowered her head and charged. Ditzy felt the heat of her passing acutely, and she was sure that her fur was singed; Raindrops had to dive out of the way to avoid her. Bray, meanwhile, dived forward, landing atop Lyra as the gem in his turban glowed. In a flash, he disappeared – as did Lyra, though the Element of Loyalty remained behind.

Corona passed through where Bray had been – and with far less grace than Ditzy expected. Indeed, the Tyrant Sun stumbled when she slowed, dropping down to her knees as the flames around her body suddenly died, leaving behind only smoke. She was breathing heavily, and her wings sagged.

Ditzy was aware of her friends gathering near her. She and Raindrops both had raised wings, ready to fly in a moment. “The Elements – ” Cheerilee began, but she choked on her own words when she saw the Element of Loyalty lying by itself, where Bray had been when he teleported with Lyra.

Corona was standing. Trixie let out a cry of fright at that, charging forward, horn glowing. Ditzy followed, as did the rest – if they were going to go down, they were going to do it fighting. The white alicorn, however, when she saw their charge, didn’t take up a defensive posture. Instead, she held up a hoof. “Hold!” she demanded. “I would bargain with you!”

The words alone were enough to make the five start and halt their charge. “What?” Ditzy demanded.

The Tyrant Sun’s eyes were narrow as she turned to face the five of them fully. “Though I feel sickened that I have been driven to this…I propose an…alliance.”

Author's Note

dun dun dun...

6. Meditations on the Abyss

The five ponies stared at the alicorn in shock, mouths hanging wide. Corona lowered her hoof. She remained with her wings flared, her body tensed, ready to defend or attack as need be, but for the moment, she remained perfectly still, save for the occasional pull of the breeze at her mane, or a slight flick of her tail.

Trixie recovered first, stepping forward and stomping a hoof. “You can’t be serious,” she insisted.

Corona glared at Trixie, then glanced down, at the Element of Loyalty that had been left behind when Bray had teleported himself and Lyra, roughly equidistant between herself and the ponies. “Time is short, and so I shall be as well. Your compatriot has been captured by Grogar’s servant. I do not know Grogar’s plan for her. It is irrelevant: whatever it is, it cannot be allowed to be seen through to fruition.” She glanced back up at the five of them. “Had I my full power I could brush Grogar aside with naught but the slightest effort of will. Instead, thanks to your actions, I am weak. I could not challenge Grogar in battle – but nor could you. My sister yet lies beyond Grogar’s shield-spell and can render no aid.”

Corona began trotting forward, tucking her wings against her sides as she did. “Meanwhile, you five and I are yet enemies. However, without a bearer for the Element of Loyalty, you cannot direct the Elements against me, and without the Elements, you cannot defeat me. At best you can merely drive me into retreat. But that will not help your compatriot.”

Corona stopped before Trixie, who had held her ground, gritting her teeth. Her own muscles were tensed, though, ready to move. Trixie could feel the heat rising off of Corona as she neared, as the alicorn’s body still cooled from the fiery power it had just unleashed. “The Elements are at this moment the only weapon of any use against me or Grogar. But, as your pitiful attempts against his golem servants show, you will never reach the demon ram in time if you must battle your way past them.”

Cheerilee stepped forward at that. “You didn’t exactly look good yourself,” she challenged.

Corona bristled slightly, but then leaned forward towards Cheerilee. “Indeed not,” she conceded, though anger was evident in her voice, “but it was a far better showing than you. Grogar’s servants are composed largely of cloth and straw. They burn.” She waved a hoof at the still-smoldering remains of several stitched golems. “You cannot deny that even weakened as I am, I am nevertheless far better suited to the task of destroying Grogar’s golems than you. Additionally, I have been in the city of Tambelon before. I know its streets and its alleys, its twists and turns.”

Corona held her position for a moment, then backed away a few steps, to the Element of Loyalty’s focus where it yet lay. She lifted it with one hoof, examining it for a moment, before flicking it with more than a little contempt at the five ponies. Trixie caught it telekinetically, glaring at Corona as she began speaking again. “This is what I have been driven to, false bearers. The only chance of defeating Grogar while I am so weakened, lies with you. And your only hope in defeating Grogar or myself, and in rescuing your compatriot, lies with me.” Her wings flared again, and she stomped a hoof. “Make your decision: yea, or nay. And do so quickly. I sense we have precious little time.”

Trixie’s mouth worked a few moments, before she risked a glance back at her friends. All of them were still breathing heavily from their encounter with the golems, exhausted, sweating, more than a little bruised or nicked by the golems’ claws. Carrot Top was fidgeting slightly, clearly wanting to go for her pestle and bowl as fast as possible to mix up more of whatever that healing paste was. Raindrops already bore several bandages, many of them now ripped or torn. Ditzy had retrieved Lyra’s lyre from where it had fallen, and was holding it close, much as Trixie was holding the Element of Loyalty. Cheerilee’s front and hind legs were shaking slightly – she was exhausted from their fight and was barely standing. All of them looked as torn as Trixie felt – on the one hoof, Lyra had been kidnapped and Corona had a point about their abilities; but on the other, this was Corona, the Tyrant Sun.

“I don’t…” Raindrops said, scuffing a hoof in the ground. “I don’t…argh, I don’t know!”

“We might not have a choice,” Cheerilee said. “The enemy of my enemy…”

“Is our enemy too,” Ditzy said fiercely. Both her eyes were focused on Corona, and narrow. “She kidnapped Dinky. My filly. She – ” Ditzy paused a moment, then stomped forward, passing Lyra’s lyre over to Raindrops as she glared at Corona. “You tried to kill my daughter!”

Corona’s head inclined, her own eyes narrow. “You lie,” she said smoothly. “I merely held her hostage. Her life was in the hooves of the ponies of Ponyville, held against obedience to my commands. And as I recall I was merciful when you – you, a mother – went against those commands in spite of my warnings!”

Ditzy sputtered. “You’re not being merciful just for not killing a foal, you…you insane nag!”

Corona stepped back at the insult, eyes wide. “You dare – ”

“We don’t have time for this!” Trixie interrupted. Corona and Ditzy both turned to glare at her, but she took off her hat, and telekinetically grabbed at her discarded saddlebags, bringing them forward from where they had lain. She pulled out a sheet of parchment and tore it into five piece, then fished out a pen and inkwell. “Okay, we’re doing this in secret, so we never have to know who voted which way. Just make an Y on the parchment if you want to…to do this…and an N if you don’t. Put it in the hat. Secret ballot. Okay?”

Even with the anonymity, everypony needed a few minutes to decide – even Ditzy, despite what she had said, as she kept looking to the Element of Loyalty, and to Lyra’s lyre. At length, however, Trixie had five folded pieces of parchment inside of her hat. Once they were all in, she took in a deep breath, and held it as she took out the parchment and laid them out for everypony to see: Three Ys, and two Ns. None of the five looked pleased, and each glanced to the other, wondering who had voted which way – but they had voted, and the results couldn’t be argued with.

Trixie turned back to Corona. “Okay,” she said. “Okay. For now – until we’ve dealt with Grogar – we’ll work with you.”

Corona grimaced. “I am no happier with the circumstances,” she said, then glanced up at the sky, eyes looking around before they focused on a nearly imperceptible blue dot beyond the shield spell. “I will inform Luna of our predicament. Then we must move.” Her horn glowed, and then a missile of light shot towards the shield wall.

Luna was focusing her power, bringing it to bear against the shield-spell in single, catastrophic blows against a single spot on it rather than continuously pounding away at it. Though it did not feel like a faster processes, it was indeed, due to the intricacies of how magic reacted to magic, at least at the sheer scales she and Grogar were capable of, even if the latter was only capable of such feats once in a great while.

Just as importantly, the focus required to prepare herself for each blow meant that she didn’t have to spend time thinking about just how grim the situation beneath the shield was. She had seen the golems, at least before they had disappeared beneath the trees. It was yet another testament to Grogar’s talents that he was able to control so many golems, instead of having them run wild as was typically the case – no doubt the fouler applications of necromancy were somehow involved.

She saw the burning missile heading for her from beneath the shield wall, and readied herself, of course, just in case it was some kind of attack Grogar had that could pass beyond it. It was not, however – instead, the missile burst apart and became illusory words, much as her student Trixie had done several hours previously, though these were tinted orange.

Sister – I have allied myself with your lackeys, for now. Grogar is a great enough threat. This changes nothing between us once the demon ram has been dealt with.

“What?!” Luna demanded, falling onto the spell shield with wide eyes, watching the words as they faded. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, though no sound came out. At length, she closed her eyes, horn glowing, and once more projected an avatar through the tiny cracks in the shield’s defenses. The avatar was off the moment it was created, following back to where the words had come from – a small clearing in the woods, near the road.

She saw her student, Trixie, and Trixie’s friends – four of them, all bearing small wounds and bruises. Lyra Heartstrings was missing. And she saw Corona, who watched her approach with a carefully neutral expression. As before her mane and tail were still pink, and her eyes still normal, not glowing white with power.

The avatar landed, looking over the five as Carrot Top tended to their wounds. She glanced to Corona, then looked back to her apprentice. “What happened?” she asked. “Where is Dame Lyra?”

Trixie bit her lip, glancing in the direction of the city of Tambelon. “There’s a donkey named Bray – ”

“The traitor prince,” Luna gasped, her avatar backing up a step and wings flaring. “He’s alive?”

Trixie eyed Luna. “You never mentioned him,” she noted.

“I didn’t think I would have to! I thought he was dead!” she glanced at Corona. “We both did!”

Corona’s eyes narrowed a moment, considering, before she heaved a sigh and nodded. “It was through Bray that Grogar seized the city,” she said. “But having done so, Grogar would have had no further need of him – and Bray would hold no small grudge for having his kingdom robbed from him. We had assumed Grogar had killed him out of practicality. Evidently we were mistaken.”

Trixie glanced between Luna and Corona, looking more than a little surprised to see them in agreement over something. She shook her head after a moment. “Anyway,” she said. “Bray attacked us. He had golems, and he knows how to cast spells. He was…he was kicking out flanks.” She looked down. “You’re not gonna believe this, Princess, but…Corona saved us. But Bray teleported away, and took Lyra with him.”

Luna looked to Corona then, eyes wide. “You…saved them?” she asked.

Corona’s own eyes were narrow. “Practical necessity,” she stated. “Whatever Grogar’s plan is, it cannot come to pass. The Elements are the only weapons of any use right now.”

“And we have to save Lyra,” Cheerilee put in. Carrot Top was wrapping a bandage around one of her hind legs as she spoke. “We can’t wait for you to break through the shield anymore.”

“No, of course not,” Luna responded, though her voice was small. There was no other option – not if they wanted to save Lyra and stop Grogar. That her sister was even capable of forging such an alliance, though…after a moment, she looked to Corona. “Don’t – don’t hurt them. Please.”

Corona whickered in annoyance, flapping her wings a few times. “If there is to be treachery, sister, it shall not be from me,” she stated. “Not while Grogar yet lives.”

Luna’s eyes narrowed for a moment, before she turned back to the remaining Element bearers. “Be careful – ”

Luna’s avatar winked out of existence. Her consciousness took a split second to return in full to her body, just long enough to be surprised, to wonder what had happened. When it did, her world was nothing but dragon fire – fire teeming with magic, enough to burn through magic itself, to harm even an alicorn caught unawares. Luna had been so caught. She screamed in pain as she leaped backwards from the spell-shield, but the fire followed her until its creator finally ran out of breath.

Luna plunged through a cloud, instantly vaporizing it from the heat and errant flames that still existed on her body. The next cloud largely held out as her horn glowed brightly, healing magic dancing across her frame as she alighted on the cloud’s top. Burns cooled and healed over, fur and feathers grew back, hooves cracked from the sudden heat repaired themselves, and turquoise eyes glowed with power. Evidently, Solrathicharnon was outside of the spell-shield, had been waiting for Luna to become vulnerable. He had attacked her, but he hadn’t killed her. He had made a decent start, but his first blow had not been crippling – and nothing less than a crippling first blow would cause her to fall against a dragon, no matter how ancient.

All this had happened in a matter of seconds.

Solrathicharnon was gone.

Luna blinked a few times in surprise, looking down at where she had been. Black smoke still hovered in the air over the shield wall, but of the dragon, there was no sign. Luna glanced around, casting both her mundane and magical senses outwards, but she could find no sign of the dragon. If not for the soot still staining her body and the ache she still felt from his fire, she might have thought she had imagined the whole thing.

Luna grimaced as she closed her eyes. Perfect. This was exactly what she needed to add to her list of problems: Grogar was below, Bray was alive, her apprentice had been forced to ally with her mad sister, one of her little ponies captured by the necromancer, and now, to top off everything, there was a dragon with a grudge who could apparently pull off a disappearing trick that would have made Quartermoon the Magnificent jealous.

Was anything going right for anypony today?

Trixie glared at Corona. It was possible that the white alicorn had not intended to take the lead, that simply her longer legs meant that she had naturally just moved up to the front. Possible – but not likely. Taking the lead position had simply occurred too naturally, and Trixie thought she had seen a small smirk.

Corona had to have noticed the glare, but she said nothing as they all cantered down the road as fast as they could manage. The five normal ponies were all too tired for a full gallop, but Trixie took some comfort from seeing that Corona herself seemed tired. They managed the first fifteen or so minutes in silence, but it didn’t quite last as Carrot Top glanced upwards. “What do you think happened to Princess Luna?” she asked.

Trixie grimaced, glancing up herself. Luna was visible, barely, beyond the spell shield, looking just fine despite her avatar’s sudden disappearance. “It looked like an explosion,” she said, remembering the fire in the sky that had occurred concurrently. “That dragon, I bet.” She looked to Corona. “Hey. Do you think you could call your pet dragon off?”

Corona scoffed. “Doubtful,” she said. “Solrath has no true loyalty to me. He is using me purely for revenge against my sister.”

Cheerilee blinked at that. “For what?”

“A thousand-year-old grudge.”

Trixie thought about that for a moment, before her eyes widened as she remembered a conversation with Luna from months ago – just after Corona had first returned from exile, in fact. “That family of dragons Luna mentioned,” she said. At a look from the other four ponies, Trixie explained. “After Luna banished Corona – ”

“Celestia,” Corona corrected with a glare.

Trixie ignored her. “ – the first time around, she was…she was broken. Luna told me that she spent years just wandering from town to town across Equestria, doing anything she could to forget what she’d done. Drinking, mostly.” Corona scoffed and rolled her eyes, but Trixie ignored her. “Then a family of dragons attacked Equestria. They thought it’d be an easy target.” Trixie looked to her friends. “Luna said she ‘convinced’ them to leave.”

Corona glanced down at Trixie, offering a thin-lipped smile. “Eight dragons entered Equestria looking for plunder,” she said. “Only three left. And of those three, only Solrathicharnon now lives. For a thousand years he has dreamed of revenge against Luna. If there is any mortal being that could challenge her, then it is he. And so, he and I work in concert. But with Luna so open to attack at the moment, and weakened as I am, there is nothing I could do to rein him in.” Corona looked back down the road, her face darkening. She was silent for several long moments before muttering, almost to herself, “it does not surprise me to learn that, after betraying me, Luna spends the better part of her days in a stupor – ”

“She doesn’t,” Ditzy interrupted with a glare. “Luna’s a complete teetotaler. She’s famous for it.”

“Well, not complete…” Trixie said. “One goblet at formal gatherings, that’s the rule. Though I’m pretty sure she sneaks a few bottles for whenever Princess Cadenza visits, for them to share.” Trixie smiled a little, remembering a surprise revelation, at least to Trixie and her friends, that had occurred a few months ago. It was one of the only truly good things to come out of the Grand Galloping Gala. “Guess now I know why…”

Trixie expected another jab from Corona at that, but the white alicorn said nothing. Indeed, for just a moment, her face seemed to soften – her wings sag a little, her head droop just slightly more, and her eyes glanced down instead of ahead on the road. For a moment she looked full and truly tired, not simply from running and fighting, but somewhere deep inside of her. It was only for a moment, and Trixie was certain she’d just been imagining things. “My niece – the dragon – Luna – none of these are relevant to what we must do,” she declared, glaring back at the five. “Focus, Element-bearers. The palace of Tambelon is vast, and I do not know where to begin looking for your compatriot if she is not kept in its dungeons. Do you have some means of detecting one another? A tracking spell?” Trixie shook her head, and Corona whickered in annoyance. “Foolish. You should have considered that.”

“I’ll remember that,” Cheerilee deadpanned. “But we don’t have it. So we’ll start in the dungeons. What happens if we run into Bray? Can you take him?”

Corona’s whickered again. “Bray is of little concern. He was not lying about his magical knowledge – Tambelon was a city of learning, and its royal family placed great stock in education. But Bray cannot cast spells without the gem in his turban. And I am certain that will burn as easily as any other part of him.” She glanced down. “My greater concern is Grogar. The demon ram is perhaps the greatest mortal spellcaster to have ever lived. Only Starswirl himself could challenge that claim.” She looked back to the five ponies, considering for a few long moments, before heaving a long sigh. “If we encounter Grogar before we have retrieved your ally, you should run. I shall hold him off as best as I am able until you can gather the Elements.”

The five needed a few moments to take that in. “Seriously?” Raindrops asked. “You’d sacrifice yourself like that? I thought you hated us.”

Corona rolled her eyes, looking forward again. “Whatever Luna’s faults and treachery, she has no desire to bring lasting harm to Equestria. Grogar would. If I must choose, then I choose Luna. But I think you will find that even weakened, I am not so easy to kill. Even if struck a fatal blow I can always return to the Sun to heal. Even Grogar’s shield could not stop such an occurrence.”

“Well, wait,” Trixie said. “Why aren’t you doing that now, then? To escape? Just popping to the Sun and then popping back?”

“While Grogar lives? I think not.”

Trixie grunted at that. It made sense – Trixie certainly wouldn’t leave right now even if she could, not while her friends were in danger. “How many of those golems do you think Grogar has?” Trixie asked. “And how come they haven’t gone all destructive and stuff? Golems aren’t supposed to be this…obedient.”

“They are powered by captured life-energy,” Corona said, “and Tambelon’s destruction gave him life energy to spare. He has as many as he could build while trapped in Shadow. It is probably best to assume that he will always have more.” She looked to Trixie. “That same life-energy is what makes them obedient. They are…leashed, I suppose you could say.” She scowled. “It is vile magic that animates them, viler even then the black magic my sister used to corrupt the Elements – ”

“Oh for the love of…” Carrot Top interrupted. “Luna didn’t corrupt anything. Luna didn’t use dark magic. Luna wasn’t even there when we earned them!”

Corona glared at her. Carrot Top looked back, eyes narrow, cheeks puffed slightly, looking like she was imagining something happening to Corona. Whatever it was, it probably didn’t happen. “Luna,” Corona said at length, “knows more dark magic then I believe you realize, my little pony. She grows addicted to things easily. It is her weakness, and the reason why I had sought to remove the burdens of governance from her. And dark magic in an insidious, addictive force.” Corona stopped trotting then, looking away and down. “You – you do not know. Of course you do not. Luna has spent a thousand years expunging her acts from history.” She stomped a hoof. “I am the elder sister. I am the stronger sister. This is not boasting, this is fact. How, then, could Luna challenge me a thousand years ago, little ponies?” Corona made a cutting motion with one hoof. “At what was to be my coronation as Queen, she came, after she had stolen the Elements, after she had turned everypony against me. You did not see her. You could not feel the change to her nature as I had! There was so little of her left…it was midday, the Sun stood in its zenith in the sky, and yet when Luna approach the horizon grow black, and a red moon rose, stars trailing it like tears weeping for what Luna had become in her jealousy!”

The five ponies stared. “You’re wrong,” Ditzy said.

“I am not!” Corona stomped a hoof, her mane and tail flashing with flames. The ponies backed away in fright. Corona noticed, and took in a deep breath, calming herself. “My sister,” she said, through grit teeth, “used blackest magic to combat me, a thousand years ago. You fear me as a tyrant? My soul remains as pure as the flames I conjure. Luna was corrupted, debased, only a tiny shred of ego remained, totally at the mercy the black power she had summoned from Tartaros to combat me! I was there, I saw her! And that is not something that can be simply cast aside. She suppresses it now, perhaps. But how can I, how can anypony, allow a barely-contained nexus of black magic to sit upon the throne?”

Corona looked between the five mares. None of them had an answer for her. She whickered once more, turning back around and beginning to canter again. “Enough. There will be silence for the rest of our journey.”

Trixie had a feeling that was a good idea. She was grimacing more than a little, however, and she looked up, to where Luna sat outside of the spell shield. She knew that Corona was in some ways correct – Luna had been forced to call upon dark magic to fight her so long ago, though she didn’t know nor care to know the specifics. She also knew, however, that the Elements of Harmony had destroyed that magic nearly completely, and what little of it had remained had been purified, then mixed with the ‘shred of ego’ Corona had mentioned to become Mi Amore Cadenza.

But Corona didn’t know about that part, and probably wouldn’t have believed it anyway. All the white alicorn knew was that, a thousand years ago, Luna had shown up to her coronation suffused with magic summoned from one of the denizens of Tartaros. No wonder Corona had such a hard time accepting that Luna was in the right, had not been sullied. Mad already at her coronation, she had been treated to the sight of the one constant throughout her millennia of life teeming with black magic.

Trixie looked to Corona, and for the first time, felt something other than anger or fear. She felt pity – pity for how mad she was, and pity for how isolated the alicorn believed herself to be. Trixie quickly tempered it by reminding herself just how dangerous Corona was, but at the same time, the feeling lingered, and she had a sense that it wouldn’t be going away any time soon.

Hearing was always the last thing to go when one slipped into unconsciousness, and it was also the first thing to return, though her other senses soon followed. Lyra was aware of very little for a long time besides cold stone and an errant piece of straw under her body, the sound of water dripping somewhere, the smell of mold and mildew. She opened her eyes groggily, but they barely helped – wherever she was, it was dark. She struggled to get her horn glowing to provide some light, but it didn’t work. Gasping and reaching up to her head, she felt a ring clasped around her horn securely – a magic-suppression ring, cutting off her ability to perform even the most basic of spells.

“Ah. The unicorn has awoken,” a voice said. Lyra looked. She saw she was in a dungeon cell of some kind, a tiny one. Standing outside of it was something huge, shaggy, and horned. In the dim light, she couldn’t see much more than that, but she didn’t need to. She bit back a scream at the sight of Grogar, determined not to give him the satisfaction.

Grogar’s horns glowed bone-white, illuminating his face, his red eyes. He was looking at her with a carefully neutral expression. “It is time for some…experiments,” he said, magic reaching from his horn to Lyra.

She couldn’t stop him as she was wrapped in the magic, which quickly pierced her body – violently, it felt. She tried to keep from screaming to spite Grogar, and managed to last a few seconds before she failed. She writhed under his magic as it coursed through her body.

Dimly, she was aware of him speaking. “The pain will only be passing; you should survive the process.”

Small consolation. The magic began to target specific parts of her body, rather than presenting her with just pain in general. First it was the frogs of her hooves, feeling like they’d been slit. Then there was pain in her throat like she was being choked. A headache that felt like a split-open skull. She could have sworn she had a heart attack, or a ruptured spleen, or her horn torn off – even as she was aware that none of these things were actually happening to her, that she was still whole, if not healthy.

“Interesting. Your heart is beating somewhat faster than I would have expected. Too much sugar in your diet, I think.”

Lyra tried to say something at that, but all that came out was a long, low cry of pain. Her throat was ragged by now, and this pain was real. “Nevertheless, you are as fine a specimen as I could expect,” Grogar said. “And a unicorn, too. Fortuitous; they always did make the best bargaining chips.” Grogar looked to his left as the glow to his horns died, and the pain stopped. “You get to live awhile longer, Bray.”

There was a whimper – well, there was a lot, actually, mostly from Lyra as she curled into a ball; the constant agony may have stopped, but her body was little more than aches and pain. But there was additional whimpering from outside of her cell, as a voice – Bray’s – spoke up. “Th-thank you, Master. I did try, b-but the alicorn…Celestia…”

“Shut up,” Grogar ordered. “Gather the golems, all of them. Post half around the city and the remaining inside the palace. Celestia will attack, the palace must be defended, and unfortunately, I need you to do it, while I prepare the circle.”

“Y-yes, Master!” Bray exclaimed. There was frantic hoof-steps as Bray must have fled from Grogar. The ram watched him go, before glancing back in at Lyra.

Lyra stared back. She managed to hoist herself into a sitting position. She was positively dripping sweat, shivering and panting, but she managed to give Grogar the best glare she could. “Wh…why…” she demanded, “why are you…doing this…?”

“To be honest, I have no interest in you at all, unicorn,” Grogar answered, turning away. “However, he always had a special hatred for all ponies, and for unicorns in particuar. So, unicorn, you shall be my final sacrifice, for the one thing I need to complete my destiny.”

Lyra took in deep breaths at that. “He?” She demanded. “Who’s ‘he’?”

Grogar looked to Lyra, and he said a name.

Some months back, Trixie, Raindrops, and Cheerilee had gone to a town called Oaton at the request of one of its citizens, in order to help it with some trouble it was having with a lumber company. Lyra had been busy and couldn’t go, but she was a bard at heart, and so had learned all she could about what had happened on the three’s unexpected adventure. They had uncovered tangled conspiracy, full of secrets and lies, betrayal and cover-ups, and a surprising number of monsters. They had also uncovered an ancient and dark temple to a forgotten time of Equestria’s early history, and a malevolent, corrupting force, the remnant of an even more powerful being long since defeated. Trixie had called it the Whisper, but Luna had advised against her giving it that name, or any other, as names were something that contained no small amount of power. She hadn’t told Trixie the Whisper’s true name, and Trixie had taken the hint from Luna and done no research into the matter – whatever their occasional differences were, Trixie respected Luna, and trusted that when Luna said that some things were best left forgotten, she knew what she was talking about.

Lyra wasn’t like that. She was a bard. She wanted to know stories, even – especially – the forgotten ones. And so, after she had learned all she could from Trixie and Cheerilee and Raindrops, Lyra had looked into Trixie’s Whisper, its origins. There were only so many dark periods in Equestria’s history, after all, only so many evil creatures it had faced that could have left an impact like that. Eventually, Lyra had learned of the darkest period of Equestria’s history – more tumultuous, more chaotic, more horrifying, then even the brief reign of Corona and the twelve years of Luna’s abandonment that followed, and nearly as bad as the brief, almost prehistorical reign of Discord. She’d learned the true name of the Whisper.

Grogar looked to Lyra, and he said a name. And Lyra felt her heart stop.

“Tirek.”

7. The Geometry of Shadows

It took more than a little effort, but Lyra was able to force herself onto her barrel and into a sitting position after Grogar left and the dungeon cell plunged back into nearly total darkness. Her ears twitched a few times, but she tried to ignore it as she thought.

Tirek. Of course Grogar was trying to do something involving Tirek. Why wouldn’t he? It wasn’t enough for Tambelon and Grogar to crawl out of the mists of history, they had to bring friends. No doubt that Grogar’s plan would involve the Smooze or Lavan or some other ancient monster at some point as well.

Lyra shook her head, trying to clear it after whatever Grogar had done to her. Her hooves went up to the ring on her horn, but it was magically clasped in place, and after a few minutes of pain and grunting, she gave up on trying to take it off. It was bound to her magic like some kind of magnet, and would be impossible for her to remove herself.

The Element of Loyalty was missing as well, she noticed. Getting that back from wherever Grogar or Bray had thrown it would have to be her first priority. Well, after she managed to get out of this cell, anyway.

Her ears twitched again, and once again she ignored them as she forced herself to stand, trying to peer into the darkness of her cell. It was small, she could tell that much, and lacked any kind of window, instead simply being solid stone. There was a pile of straw in one corner, though the straw stank enough that she didn’t want to go near it; it was clearly decomposing. Her ears twitched again as she went over to the bars of her cell, looking them over. They were solid, rooted firmly into the ground and the ceiling; she bucked at one a few times, but didn’t feel them vibrate in the slightest. Whatever the state of the cell’s interior, the bars were well-made and weren’t going to budge. She got little additional hope from the door – it was a solid piece of metal and looked heavy, and Lyra had no idea how to pick locks.

Lyra sat down next to her cell’s bars, slipping a hoof through the gap. She was surprised at how far apart the cell’s bars seemed to be; but then, this cell would have been built by and for donkeys, who were larger than ponies. Lyra considered a moment as she leaned forward, placing her head against the bars. They might have been just wide enough apart to…

Her ears twitched again. She stopped what she was doing, listening. Her ears weren’t twitching out of some kind of nervous tick; they were hearing something faint, she realized. She listened, turning her head and ears to try and zero in on the sound…

“Nants ingonyama bagithi baba…sithi uhhmm ingonyama…nants ingonyama bagithi baba…sithi uhhmm ingonyama…”

They were words, coming from somewhere further down the dungeon, said in a voice so quiet it could barely be called a whisper. One of Lyra’s eyes narrowed as she listened. She’d never heard the words before, but…

“That’s Zebra,” she said softly. She didn’t speak a word of Zebra, but she’d had an uncomfortable amount of time to hear it being spoken not long after meeting Trixie for the first time, and whatever was being said, or chanted really, several cells down, sounded a lot like the chants and invocations that she’d been exposed to.

Both of Lyra’s eyes narrowed then. If she was hearing Zebra, there was only one reason. “Zecora!” she exclaimed.

The chanting paused for a moment, but then resumed. Lyra stomped a hoof on the floor. “I know you can hear me!” she exclaimed, pressing herself against the bars and squinting against the darkness, trying to make out the zebra. She didn’t have a good view of any of the other cells, however she was pretty sure she knew which cell the chanting was coming from – two cells down from hers, on the same side of the hall.

Lyra sat down, glaring down the hall. “How’s Spike?” she asked. The chanting stopped a moment again, but then resumed. Lyra noticed a slight change to its timbre, though. The unicorn pressed herself up against the bars again. “He left Corona,” she nettled. “Called her insane. Twilight told us she’d met him, told us about what happened. Don’t know where he is now, though. How’s it feel to know that a baby dragon would rather take is chances out there in the wilderness then be with you? That he thinks it’s safer?”

Zecora didn’t pause this time. Lyra stomped a hoof again. “Why are you following her?” she demanded. “Corona’s completely insane! Can’t you tell that? Or are you insane as well?”

Lyra thought she heard a slight chuckle almost interrupt the chanting, but wasn’t sure. She narrowed her eyes again, listening closely to it for a few seconds, before beginning to hum along with it. Zecora’s voice was very low, so it was difficult to match, but after a few minutes she had matched Zecora perfectly. And after a few minutes of that – just as Zecora was no doubt getting comfortable with the addition of her humming, even if she didn’t know the reason for it – Lyra began to introduce very, very slight irregularities and mistakes to the tune she was humming. They were so small that she doubted Zecora could even actively perceive them without knowing what she was listening for, but she couldn’t help but follow along with the tune, including the mistakes. After a few minutes of that, Lyra began introducing larger ones, and larger ones still, until at length…

Zecora was off on her meter by a full two beats. She noticed that, stopped chanting at the same time that Lyra stopped humming. After several moments, Zecora tried to begin again…and Lyra messed up her chanting again after several more. There was no true magic to what Lyra was doing, just the efforts of somepony incredibly skilled at music – if Lyra said so herself – intentionally trying to ruin a tune.

After the third time, Lyra finally got more of a reaction from Zecora. She heard a snort and a hoof-stomp. Lyra grit her teeth at that. “Why?” she demanded. “Why did you betray us in the Everfree Forest? The sirens, the poison joke…why?”

There was no immediate response, and Lyra was worried that she was about to receive the silent treatment. At length, however, Zecora’s voice echoed out of the darkness. “There are matters larger than you or I, that dictate with whom Zecora allies.”

Lyra’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded.

Zecora was silent for several more long moments – Lyra wondered if she was trying to think up how best to rhyme – before finally speaking again. “When prophecy calls to you by name, it is unwise to ignore its claim.”

Lyra bit back a laugh. “Prophecy? You think you’re carrying out some kind of prophecy?”

“Do not treat the matter so crass, when my role has already come to pass. On the longest night of the thousandth year, I was to release the Queen, it was made clear. Now that my role has been fulfilled, her new kingdom I will help her build.”

Lyra had heard some pretty tall claims in her day – it came with being friends with Trixie – but this one just about took the cake. “You released Corona,” Lyra deadpanned. “You broke through the magic of the Elements of Harmony.”

Zecora was silent, which Lyra took as a confirmation that Zecora certainly at least believed what she was saying, no matter how ridiculous it was. “I bear no ill will towards pony folk,” Zecora said at length, “but I listened when prophecy spoke. You would be wise to do so as well. It is unpleasant when prophecy must impel.”

“Uh-huh. I note that in spite of that fancy prophecy, you’re still stuck in here. Was that part of its plan?”

“You think my gifts far to grand. I cannot tell the future on demand.”

“Doesn’t seem all that useful, then,” Lyra said. “Especially if it’s impelling you to ally with Corona. She’s insane – completely, totally insane. You seem smart. You have to realize that.”

Zecora actually laughed aloud then. “A thousand years within the Sun,” she said, “I wonder to your sanity what that would have done. But she has a role to play in what is to come before the next year is over and done.”

Lyra’s eyes narrowed at that statement. “This another prophecy?” she asked.

“No, unicorn, it is when my visions end. I cannot see beyond the coming bend. The future has always had a shifting form, but past the coming summer, I see naught but a storm. There is only one thing my visions impart: that the alicorn Celestia will play a part.”

“She probably is the storm.”

“Perhaps, unicorn, though I do not believe so. I admit it is something I do not know. But until the storm has gone by, I shall remain the Queen’s ally.”

Lyra pressed her hooves to the bars of her cell. She really wished she could be looking Zecora in the eye right now. “And our enemy,” she said.

“I follow my visions as best I can. I do not expect you to understand. That we must be enemies is a regrettable event, but it is not something I could prevent. You would never ally with the Queen. The result of our battle, then, remains to be seen.”

Lyra grunted, looking back to her prison bars. She ran a hoof along them. They really were of excellent construction…but they were, equally, not designed for an equine being quite as small or as thin as her, regardless of what Grogar said about her and sugar. “Shut up for a moment,” Lyra said. She ignored Zecora’s retort as she pressed her head between the bar’s spaces, pushing forward. It was a tight fit, but she was able to slip her head through relatively easily. She pulled it back in, then turned around. Getting her head through wasn’t the issue, it was getting her hindquarters through. That might have been a significant problem – she bit back a scathing remark about herself and her flank – if not for a talent that she rarely had a chance to make much use of – the fact that she was double-jointed across practically her entire body.

Good thing, too. She had no idea how she managed to fit – inhaling a lot, for one thing, shimmying back and forth, and attempting to ignore no small amount of pain. She worked up more than a little sweat, but that actually helped. After several long, painful minutes, she managed to get her hindquarters through the bars, though only by balancing on her right front and rear hooves, her left hooves up in the air as she took a few moments to breathe. Then, it was back to work. She was surprised she didn’t break any ribs slipping on through the bars, but she managed to get her barrel through, her shoulders, and lastly, after several long moments, her head.

Lyra took a few moments to breathe, looking at the door to the prison. That was probably locked, too, and Lyra had no idea how many golems would be waiting for her beyond it, where to go, what to do…it would be a long, harrowing trip, she knew, especially alone and without her spells to aid her. Heaving a long sigh, she trotted down dungeon hall to Zecora’s cell and looked in. Zecora was sitting there, waiting for her, one eyebrow raised. The zebra was larger than Lyra, and would never have been able to duplicate what Lyra had done to escape her cell.

“We’re enemies, but I’m going to assume that neither of us are on good terms with Grogar, either,” she said, then tapped the magic suppression ring wrapped around her horn. “Get this ring off of my horn, and I’ll let you out. We can help each other escape this castle, and get back to hating each other later.”

Zecora considered for several moments, before looking at Lyra’s hooves and spitting. The pony backed up, then growled low. “Fine, be that way – ” Zecora, however, ignored her, going over to where she’d spat and using a hoof to pick something up – a tooth, Lyra realized. She winced at the sight. “Um,” she said, “what are you doing?”

Zecora trotted over to the door’s lock, tooth in one hoof. She placed it in the key hole, then broke it with a quick blow. A tiny globule of thick, green liquid poured out, but after a moment it began to smoke and sizzle, eating away at the lock. Within moments, the lock had entirely melted away, and Zecora opened her cell’s door with no issue.

Lyra blinked a few times. “You kept that in your mouth? And if you could break out any time, why didn’t you?”

“The time was not right to bring an end to my plight. Alone in Tambelon I stand no more chance than you. Together, we shall see what we can do.” She tilted her head towards Lyra. “But my loyalty remains with the sovereign Sun. We shall not be friends when all is done.”

Lyra rolled her eyes and waved a hoof. “Fine. Just get this off of me,” she jabbed a hoof at the ring wrapped around her horn. Zecora hesitated a moment, before reaching out with her hooves and pulling at the ring around Lyra’s horn. Unlike with Lyra, the ring slid off easily, the magic binding it to Lyra’s own giving way when it was interrupted by the determined effort of a third party. Lyra immediately ran some magic through her horn, and smiled when it glowed gold.

Zecora tossed the ring down the hall. “Let us go, while Grogar’s attention is low,” she said, taking the lead as she trotted towards the door.

Lyra followed, raising an eyebrow at the trust inherent in Zecora’s taking point – she wasn’t certain she would have accepted an ally of convenience to follow behind her so easily. Despite herself, though, she couldn’t resist the chance to nettle Zecora just a little more. “Is it hard, thinking up rhymes all the time?”

Zecora glanced at Lyra archly. “No, it is not so.”

“What if you need to rhyme ‘orange?’”

Zecora rolled her eyes, but didn’t answer. Lyra bit back a snort at that, as she turned her attention to the prison door. As with their cells, it was locked. Lyra closed her eyes and set her horn glowing, working her magic into the door’s keyhole. She couldn’t pick a lock, but with the proper application of force…after a few minutes of effort, there was a satisfying pop from the door, and it swung inwards…

And revealed a trio of Grogar’s golems, staring at Zecora and Lyra. The two equines let out cries of surprise and fell back, but the golems didn’t move – they just continued to stand there, slightly hunched over and with mouths hanging open, but otherwise not moving. If not for their glowing eyes, Lyra would have thought them inert.

Lyra’s mouth opened and closed a few times before she was able to get sound out, getting over her fright. “Why aren’t they attacking?” she asked.

“Why this is I cannot guess, but that they are not does not depress,” Zecora provided. She started towards the door.

“Prisoners – must not – escape,” the three golems said as one just as Zecora reached the door’s threshold, reaching for her. Zecora backed away at their sudden words, and once she had returned to the prison hall, the golems stopped, then backed up and resumed their previous positions.

Lyra trotted up next to her, considering them. “Grogar or Bray must have ordered them to prevent us escaping,” Lyra said. “Right now, as long as we’re in here, we haven’t escaped.”

Zecora considered, head tilting to the side. “For all his skill, it would seem, Grogar cannot make his toys – ”

One golem stepped forward then. “Unicorn – horn ring – has been – removed,” it said. Then, as one, the trio spoke again. “Prisoners – are attempting – escape.”

“Oh come on,” Lyra moaned as she and Zecora backed away while the golems marched towards them.

“Return – to your cells.”

“Wait wait wait,” Lyra tried, though she continued to back away, but she placed herself in front of Zecora. “You can’t hurt me! Grogar wants me alive, remember?” She glanced behind her, at Zeocra. “Stay behind me, it might help.”

The golems stopped at that, and Lyra smiled. Her smile dropped when they spoke again and resumed their march. “Execution – is preferable – to escape.”

“Oh, come on!” Lyra groaned again, as the golems lunged. Lyra’s horn glowed bright, conjuring a telekinetic shield in front of her, nearly as wide as the hallyway. The golems smacked into it, but recovered immediately, one going left, one going right, and the final one trying to scrabble over the shield. Zecora acted then, getting out from behind Lyra and dashing up to the one on the left as it tried to get around Lyra’s shield. She turned and bucked at it with her hind hooves, crushing its body and one arm against the wall. It kept coming, however, slashing at her with its one good claw.

Lyra directed her shield upwards, pinning the one that had been trying to climb over it against the ceiling. It started pounding its claws, feet, and head against the shield, trying to break it and sending jolts of pain straight down Lyra’s horn, but she had to ignore them as she dealt with the third golem swiping at her throat with its claws. She avoided getting nicked, and reached back, lashing out with her front hooves. She managed to catch the golem’s eye, and it went flying from its socket and hit the ground somewhere out of sight.

This didn’t slow it down in the slightest, of course, as it lunged again. Lyra leaped backwards, releasing her telekinetic hold on the golem over her head. It fell down atop its comrade, forcing both to the ground. The two golems tried to untangle themselves from each other, but Lyra was on them quickly, leaping atop them and stomping down as hard as she could on anything that felt more solid than mere hay. She managed to get one golem to stop moving, but the other managed to tear itself free from the tangle – literally tear, the bottom half of its body rippling loose as the top half dragged itself away, then turned around, holding itself up on its clawed hands even as straw and some kind of black fluid leaked from its insides. Lyra froze at the sight, and the golem lunged at her – but it was knocked away by the body of another golem. Lyra glanced, and saw Zecora, holding one leg of the golem she had attacked and apparently defeated in her teeth, using the body as a club. She brought it down on the torn golem, pinning it again, then leaped and stomped it until it stopped moving.

Lyra and Zecora were both panting, each looking at each other, then back to the dungeon’s exit. It now sat unguarded.

“Let’s go before…before more of these things…show up,” Lyra panted, starting to trot. Zecora said nothing as she joined the unicorn.

There were several things that Raindrops hadn’t ever thought she would see in her lifetime or, for that matter, even thought of the possibility of seeing. Somewhere towards the top of that list was the sight of Corona, the Tyrant Sun, the Undimmed Daystar, hunkering down and hiding behind brush and foliage.

Raindrops was hiding behind the same foliage, of course, along with all her friends, ducked down just beyond Tambelon’s wall. It didn’t make the scene any less…weird. Stealth just didn’t seem to be like it should have been Corona’s forte.

The six of them had made it to the walls of Tambelon about an hour before sundown, and found them to be literally crawling with Grogar’s golems, in that there were golems pacing along the wall’s top, moving back and forth before the main gate, and more than a few crawling along the wall’s surface itself, using the thick foliage that had grown along its outside to move like spiders across a web. Raindrops had managed to count at least thirty before she gave up out of frustration and due to the waning light, and decided to just take Corona’s advice: always assume that Grogar had more.

They had decided not to approach from the main gate, but instead were hidden amongst the brush near the southern wall of the city, which had a small clearing in front of it, about a hundred feet from the forest’s edge to the wall.

Raindrops looked to Corona again, and noted that the five regular ponies had instinctively made sure to stand apart from her, several paces away. Corona didn’t seem to notice, however. Her eyes were narrow as she looked over the walls, eyes darting from one area to the next. Raindrops noticed after a few moments, that Corona seemed to be the only one focused on the walls – the rest were all keeping an eye on her. She grit her teeth a little. She knew why they all were, but…

“Okay,” Raindrops said after a moment, in a low voice. “What’s the plan? Do we have one?”

That brought her friends back around to focusing on their current needs, and not the worry that Corona might turn on them at any moment like a rabid beast. Nevertheless, it was Corona who spoke first. “The walls will be our greatest challenge,” she intoned, not looking to them. “They appear undamaged by the battle of two millennia ago.”

“Too many golems to just sneak by,” Trixie added. She paid particular attention to the ones crawling along the wall, pointing. “Don’t know how we’d sneak by them, anyway.”

“We require a distraction,” Corona said.

Cheerilee eyed her. “What, you mean one of us getting them to chase after her?” she asked. “That’d be suicide.”

Corona snorted, rolling her eyes. “And, therefore, pointless, since I require you to use the Elements against Grogar. No, my little pony, I was not concocting some scheme to separate you all and eliminate you.”

“Good,” Cheerilee said, looking back to the wall. “Maybe the throw-the-rock trick…but how fast could we climb?”

“Throwing a rock is unlikely to work,” Corona noted. “A much larger distraction would be necessary – an explosion of some kind. I could create such some distance away.”

“That still means we have to climb, though,” Carrot Top said. “I can’t climb very well. Frankly I don’t know how Cheerilee can, and we’d have to do it fast enough to avoid being seen – ”

“No we wouldn’t,” Raindrops interjected, nodding her head at Trixie. “Trixie can turn us invisible.”

“And three of us have wings,” Ditzy noted, looking back to the wall as she fluttered her own wings. “We can carry you over.”

There was a pause then, as Cheerilee, Carrot Top, and Trixie looked between each other, then over at Corona. Corona grit her teeth. “As I told my sister,” she said slowly, “as I have made clear to you, I will not be the one to betray this alliance. It gains me nothing while Grogar is yet free.”

The ponies nevertheless looked between each other again, the three non-pegasi trying to decide between them who would have the honor of being carried through the air by the Tyrant Sun without having to actually spend time in debate, even as the five ponies took off their saddlebags – they would be unnecessary weight. All they carried with them were the Elements of Harmony, and Lyra’s lyre.

At length, Carrot Top let out a sigh and stepped closer to Corona. “Okay, let’s make this quick,” she said.

Trixie nodded, stepping closer to Ditzy as Cheerilee moved up to Raindrops – Cheerilee was the heavier of the two and so it made more sense for Raindrops to carry her. Then Trixie’s horn glowed blue, and she winked out of sight, and each of her friends followed, Raindrops last. Before Trixie could cast the same spell on Corona, however, the alicorn held up a hoof. “I am no stranger to illusioncraft,” she said, horn glowing gold as she turned herself invisible.

Raindrops reached out blindly, quickly finding Cheerilee and hooking her legs around her barrel as she beat her wings, taking to the air. “Trixie, you can see us, right?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Trixie’s voice provided as they gained altitude, getting a view into the city. After a moment, Trixie spoke up again. “See that building with the big rock through its roof? Yellow walls, red tiles? Fly towards that. We’ll get there, then plan our next move.”

Raindrops obliged, diving, and trying not to think about how she was essentially diving towards a lot of creepy-looking, deadly giant stitched dolls. She focused instead on Lyra and how her life was on the line as she flew closer and closer to the wall. Even with her being a slow flier, she managed to reach the wall in just a few seconds, and passed within just a few feet of one of the golems patrolling overhead. It didn’t react to her, though she held her breath as she glided past, just in case.

They reached the building that Trixie had indicated quickly, and managed to get inside without too much noise, nor bumping into each other despite their invisibility. Once they were all in, Trixie cancelled her invisibility spell, and she and Corona risked a little light from their horns to get a look around the darkened building.

They were in a home, or what was left of one after a giant boulder had crashed through its roof. The top floor appeared to have only been a single room; one bed was pressed against a wall, while another hung partially over the edge of the hole that the boulder had carved, sheets having fallen off. There were scattered clothes, papers, and most disturbingly, simple foal’s toys scattered about. The sight of the last set the ponies’ fur on edge as they glanced around, Ditzy in particular wincing like she was expecting to see the corpses of innocent donkeys somewhere nearby. Corona noticed. “Luna and I removed every victim’s body from the city before banishing it, burying them at sea,” she said in a low voice. “We had little desire to give a necromancer corpses to work with during his exile. Be at ease.”

Raindrops wasn’t sure she could be at ease with Corona so close by, but the knowledge that they wouldn’t stumble over any of Grogar’s victims was at least a little comforting. She moved over to a window in the home, glancing out. Below, the cobble-stone street had golems moving through it in groups of three. They were much sparser than on the wall, at least.

“So what’s next?” Raindrops asked, looking to Corona. “You said something about knowing your way through the city?”

Corona nodded as she walked over to another window, looking out and getting her bearings. “We are not far from the palace’s main gates,” she noted, “but they will be guarded. We should instead head north, to a guard barracks. There was a secret passage in them that lead under the palace’s moat and to the guard barracks within the palace’s walls.

“Does Grogar know about it?” Cheerilee asked.

“I do not know. However, it would be unwise to attempt to approach the palace itself in any other way.” She glanced out another window, at the wall. “We may have invisibly snuck into the city, but Grogar must have surrounded the palace with some manner of magical defense or sensor that would notice our passing. I would.”

“We can’t turn invisible this time,” Cheerilee noted. “We’d have no way to see where you were going.”

Corona thought a moment, then glanced to Trixie. “A glamor field wrapped around us,” she said. “A hemisphere.”

Trixie blanched. “Big enough to include all six of us?” she asked. “Constantly changing what it’s showing? I could maybe make it last five minutes. I doubt that’s long enough.”

Corona considered. “With my powers so weakened, I doubt I could achieve any more. Perhaps instead…” he horn glowed gold, and Raindrops felt her skin crawl and fur stand on end. Biting back a yelp of surprise, she looked at herself, and found that her fur, hair, and the Element she wore had changed color, becoming jet-black. The same change had happened to each of her friends, and even Corona; only their eyes were unaffected. Corona had a small smile on her face. “More traditional forms of stealth, then.”

“Warn us next time,” Raindrops demanded, pointing a hoof at Corona. The alicorn glanced at her, but didn’t acknowledge her request as she turned and made her way over to the hole in the floor, leaping down to the building’s ground level. Sighing almost as one, the ponies followed – save Trixie, who stopped Raindrops with an outstretched hoof. Glancing down the hole, she stepped back a few spaces, then her horn glowed blue, creating illusory words in the air.

Once we have Lyra back, should we use the Elements on Corona right away?

Raindrops blinked a few times as she read over what Trixie had written. Corona kept saying that as long as Grogar was around, she wasn’t going to betray them, and for some reason Raindrops actually believed her – but she also had a sense that, as soon as the ram was taken care of, Corona wouldn’t think twice about trying to remove them as a potential obstacle towards her goal of taking Equestria back over.

On the other hoof…Raindrops thought about what Corona had said, about the day of her banishment. Corona lived in a delusional world where everypony was either a dupe or a traitor. She seemed to have sorted the Element bearers into the former category at the moment, convinced that Luna had lied to them to get them to act against her. Betraying her wasn’t going to help with that delusion, and would probably send her deeper into it.

Besides, using the Elements took a lot out of them. The last thing they needed to do was turn on Corona, and then be out of commission when Grogar, Bray, or a bunch of golems showed up.

Raindrops, therefore, found herself shaking her head. “Grogar first,” she mouthed. Trixie didn’t seem startled by her decision, and much to Raindrops’ surprise, didn’t try to argue it, either. She instead just nodded grimly, and followed Raindrops’ lead down the hole and after Corona.

Had she been in any other situation, Cheerilee might have actually found it enjoyably nostalgic to be creeping through a city at night trying to avoid being seen. However, the lack of equine beings in the city, the fact that one of her friend’s life was on the line, and the knowledge that she would die if discovered somehow made the endeavor seem less than pleasant.

She had ended up taking the lead, knowing as she did how to move quietly over cobbled stone and through an urban environment, and just as importantly, how to help ponies (and, it turned out, one alicorn) who didn’t know nevertheless do a passable job at it.

It helped that the golem patrols – always in groups of three, moving with one at point and two trailing in their loping, gorilla-like fashion – seemed relatively sparse. Evidently, whoever had organized the city’s defense had not anticipated anypony making it past the walls. Cheerilee had a sneaking suspicion that had been Bray’s fault, not Grogar’s, but in any event it at least made her job easier as she followed Corona’s directions leading them to the guard barracks.

Naturally, that was where they finally encountered a serious problem: the barracks, a tall, rectangular stone building with crenellations on its roof, had a half-dozen golems posted outside of it, standing slightly hunched and completely still apart from heads that twitched to look around, like birds’. The six crouched down in the shadows of an alley.

“This isn’t good,” Cheerilee said. “They’re golems. They’re not going to get tired, or change shifts.” She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, before looking to Corona. “You’re up, I think.”

Corona considered the golems a moment, then smirked. “Hold here,” she said, backing into the alley and out of sight around a corner. The five ponies glanced at each other nervously, tensing. What was she doing…?

They had their answer five minutes later, when a building half a block away exploded. The ponies all yelped in fright and ducked low to the ground, though the sound of their cries was swallowed up by the sound of the explosion. Fire reached high into the sky and debris were scattered everywhere.

The six golems all dropped low as well at the sound, each instantly focusing in the direction of the explosion. After a moment, three detached from the group and lopped off towards the conflagration, while three remained behind. They were too focused on the burning building, however, and did not notice the golden glow from behind them, as Corona teleported to right behind them, until it was too late. Even as the golems began to turn, Corona lashed out with three beads of fire that buried themselves in the golem’s heads, and then ignited, consuming them. The golems’ headless forms dropped limply to the ground, beginning to burn.

Corona looked to where the ponies were hiding. Her mane and tail had once again momentarily ignited while she cast her spells, but the fires had already snuffed out, and her wings and neck both sagged slightly as she breathed. She nevertheless had the energy to shoot them a look – what are you waiting for?

The ponies steeled themselves, galloping over. Cheerilee noted that the illusions hiding their bodies had dropped, Corona probably lacking the energy to maintain them after the fireball, teleporting, and slaying the golems. Cheerilee tried to avoid the latter as she opened the door to the barracks, ushering her friends inside. “That explosion was still pretty near here,” she warned Corona. “The golems might put two and two together and come looking here.”

Corona smirked again despite her tiredness, her head twitching to the right and a slight pulse going up her horn. From somewhere else in the city, further away from the initial explosion, a second boom went off, this one larger and louder. She and Cheerilee both glanced in its direction.

“I anticipated the possibility,” Corona said, heading inside the barracks. “That should throw them off.”

Cheerilee rolled her eyes, following. “That was basically the ‘throw the rock’ trick, you know,” she pointed out.

“It was better,” Corona contended, looking around as her and Trixie’s horns glowed for light. The barracks was, if anything, in worse condition than the home they had taken shelter in. Though the building itself hadn’t been damaged by the fight of two millennia past, it had nevertheless been ransacked at some point, with furniture and sundries scattered across the floor, banners having been torn from walls, empty scabbards strewn everywhere, spears with their tips missing…Cheerilee thought of the teeth of the golems, how they were made of jagged pieces of broken metal, and with claws capped with blades, and nodded to herself. “This is where Grogar got the sharp parts of his golems,” she reasoned, then glanced at Corona. “You didn’t leave him with any corpses…but you did leave him with an entire city to build an army with anyway.”

Corona scowled as she moved away from Cheerilee, towards a door that, once opened, revealed a staircase that went down below street level, to a basement. “I did not anticipate my sister’s betrayal,” she intoned as she started down it, the ponies following. Away from the streets of Tambelon, Corona was letting her voice rise to more normal speaking levels as they descended. “And I wanted to kill him outright! It was Luna who demanded he be made to suffer.”

There was silence at that, and Corona glanced back, eyes narrow as they reached the bottom of the stairs. “No retort?” She asked. “No objections? No claiming Luna’s innocence?”

Ditzy met Corona’s gaze. “Luna was honest with us,” she said. “She told us that it was her idea. She also told us that times change and that she changes with them. That’s why we were here: to banish the city, but take Grogar back to Equestria so that he could be sentenced to a real jail, so he wouldn’t have to suffer anymore.”

Corona lead them through the basement, which was loaded with ransacked supplies, burst-open wine casks and piles of rotting flour that had presumably once been kept in burlap sacks, though the sacks had gone towards the construction of the golems that patrolled the streets above. Corona glanced at Ditzy. “Imprisonment?” she asked, then scoffed. “No. My sister would not simply put Grogar in some dungeon where he would rot. She values knowledge too highly. She would have words with him, convinced him to aid her in solidifying her hold on Equestria.”

Cheerilee rolled her eyes at that, but didn’t rise to Corona’s bait as they reached a wall, which Corona stopped in front of. “Whatever,” she said. “Just say open sesame already.”

Corona opened her mouth to say something back as she ran a hoof along the wall, probably looking for a hidden switch. Whatever she had wanted to say was probably scathing, but she paused in confusion, looking to Cheerilee as she found the hidden switch and flipped it. “Open…sesame?” she echoed as the wall immediately groaned, then a section of it began to move aside, revealing a long, narrow, and above all else dark passage.

Cheerilee chuckled, as did the other ponies as they proceeded into the passage. Corona, for once, brought up the rear, brow furrowed in confusion. “I don’t understand,” she said, as the wall closed behind them. Trixie’s and Corona’s horns flared up brighter to provide more illumination. “What do seeds have to do with anything?”

Cheerilee chuckled again at that, as the six proceeded through the passage and towards the palace of Tambelon. It wasn't much of a joke, but it made them laugh, and that's what they needed right now.

The bard in Lyra wanted to describe the palace of Tambelon as being silent as the grave, in spite of every other part of Lyra really not wanting to use that phrasing. Nevertheless, she and Zecora heard no sounds as they wandered through the castle’s halls. Even their own hoof-steps were muffled, as the floors of the palace were covered with thick rugs.

“Why aren’t we seeing any guards?” Lyra whispered as they trotted, sticking close to the walls and the shadows.

“I do not know why this could be so,” Zecora said as she glanced out a window, where they could see the city burning in two places in the twilit light. “Perhaps my Queen’s attack plays some role in the guards’ lack.”

“Might be my friends,” Lyra posited, though internally she had to admit that fire was something that most of her friends avoided. Lyra wasn’t sure what she would do if the two managed to escape, and then ran into Corona. Run, certainly. Die, probably. She’d cross that bridge when she had to, however, as she instead chose to focus on the palace itself. Its ceilings were high and vaulted, its walls made of stone with perfectly-carved bricks. Unlike the city outside, the palace seemed to be well-maintained, to the point where Lyra wondered if Grogar had, knowing that his exile was ending soon, had actually cleaned the place up for the occasion.

“Do you have any idea where we’re going?” Lyra asked. Zecora only shook her head. That was fair, Lyra supposed; it wasn’t like she would have any more of an idea even if she was leading. Zecora had managed to navigate them from the dungeon cells and out into the palace proper, though now, every hallway looked nearly identical.

At length, the two equines came to a large set of double doors. The window behind them confirmed that they didn’t go out into the city, but it was still more than they had previously encountered. Lyra risked a little horn-light to look the door over, and found it to be intricately carved wood, depicting a pastoral scene of donkeys farming and gathering their harvests, carting them off towards a sun-illuminated city; Tambelon itself, most likely. She reached up a hoof to open the door, but Zecora stopped her, and nodded towards the walls the door was set into. On either side were a smaller set of doors. “Servant’s entrances, I should think,” she said. “Through these we should slink.”

Lyra nodded, following Zecora over to one and carefully opening it. The door’s hinges must have been well-oiled, as it barely made a sound as the two proceeded in to a narrow hallway with stairs leading up and around a corner; from that corner, there was a flickering glow, like torch light. Lyra and Zecora glanced at each other for a moment, before heading up the stairs and towards it. The stairwell lead them to a long, narrow balcony looking down at a wide-open room, probably the former throne room or ball room. Lyra bit back a gasp at the sight of it.

It was huge, undoubtedy the largest room on the ground floor, at least a hundred feet wide and three times that long. Pillars around its edges supported a vaulted roof that was obscured by shadows and smoke from the torches set at regular intervals through the room’s ground floor. The room was otherwise empty, save for three things. The first was a magic circle that had been drawn with white chalk into the floor, the circle containing an inverted pentagram and, between the points of the pentagram, five equine skulls, all gazing inwards. The circle was easily thirty or forty feet across, yet it was perfect, as were the lines of the pentagram.

The second thing, immediately before the circle, was a large, bronze bell, ten feet tall and probably weighing at least half a ton, if not more. The bell was held up by an intricately carved wooden structure, and lain beneath it was a thick, wooden mallet, probably meant to ring the bell. It was also somehow glowing with its own dim, off-green light.

And the third thing, kneeling before the bell with closed eyes, horns glowing white with power, was Grogar. Lyra and Zecora both stifled gasps at the sight of the ram, even dozens of feet away and below them. The ram didn’t seem to notice them, however. His mouth was moving, but they were too far away to hear whatever he was saying. Somehow, Lyra figured that was probably for the best. After a moment, Grogar’s magic flared slightly as he stood, the mallet before the bell lifted, and struck it. A long, low note reverberated from the bell, filling the hall and feeling like it was vibrating Lyra’s very being. Grogar looked to the magic circle when the bell’s ring disappeared, and said that name that Lyra really didn’t want to hear again not once, not twice, but three times: “Tirek, Tirek, Tirek.” Then Grogar was down again, on his knees and hocks, once again speaking in too low a voice to be heard.

Lyra glanced at Zecora, who looked as frightened as Lyra felt, and cocked her head towards the way they had entered. The zebra needed no encouragement as she and Lyra began moving backwards. Grogar remained focused on whatever he was doing, and didn’t notice them as they made good their escape back the way they had come, and to the great double-doors that were the main entrance into the profane hall they had just left.

“I say we find another way,” Zecora whispered.

“No argument,” Lyra agreed.

Author's Note

Things should get very, very interesting next chapter. Yes.

8. A Race Through Dark Places

“Master,” a golem said.

Grogar glanced to the side, and saw a trio of golems standing before him. He was at a point in the ritual where all it required now was power, rather than precise concentration. His golems had nevertheless been ordered to not interrupt him unless something important came up, so for them to be here meant that Bray had probably failed him again. “What?” He asked.

“Ponies – and alicorn – have entered – the city – Master. There – have been – explosions – Master.”

“Where?” Grogar asked, as he stole a moment from the ritual to create an illusion of the city. The golem pointed at two locations – the outer guard barracks first, then another location several blocks away.

Grogar wasn’t fooled. “They know about the passage. Where is Bray?”

“Prince Bray – is taking – golems to – the courtyard – to guard – the passage’s – exit – Master.”

It was little surprise to Grogar that Bray had been able to deduce the ponies’ plan of attack; he was an underhooved creature and so was familiar with underhooved tactics. He was also, however, prone to failure. “Go and gather thirty more golems, then return here and guard me until the ritual is complete.”

“We – obey – Master.”

Celestia stared at the ponies trotting in front of her, and tried to understand them. But as hard as she tried, she couldn’t.

The blue one, Trixie, was her sister’s apprentice, her hoof-chosen student in, as Celestia was given to understand, the art of politics and rhetoric. She all but oozed vanity and arrogance. Yet, at the same time, she seemed to defer to her compatriots as often as take charge. She bore the Element of Magic, yet her magic seemed limited to mere illusionary glamors and ghost sounds – tricks of light and sound that could be duplicated by any fool. Even stranger, despite her bearing the most powerful of the Elements, she seemed as much a follower as a leader.

The one she followed was, more often than not, Cheerilee. Celestia’s eyes narrowed as they closed on the earth pony mare, the one carrying the Element of Laughter for reasons that Celestia could not comprehend, given that all her attempts at levity had been low forms of humor. And her continuous insinuations…did she not realize who Celestia was? Was this how commoners addressed the nobility and royalty these days? In Celestia’s time it would have earned her a week in the stocks to make such base suggestions of the Princess.

Then there was Raindrops, the pegasus who had dared lift a hoof against her. She was barely containing her emotions, Celestia could tell, trying to keep a calm veneer despite the very real anger she felt just beneath the surface, anger at more than just Celestia, though she was currently its target. Raindrops had not taken her eyes off of Celestia for very long since their impromptu alliance had begun, and her wings had not settled by her side, instead remaining slightly raised, fluttering in agitation on occasion. She was ready for action, for betrayal by Celestia. Well, she would be disappointed. Celestia truly did not intend to break their alliance as long as she had no other means of combating Grogar.

Ditzy Doo’s eyes – one of them, in any event – had also not left Celestia, though for different reasons, she suspected, than concern over potential betrayal. The disabled pegasus was clearly still thinking back to her daughter. On some level, Celestia could both understand and admire the very obvious dedication that Ditzy felt for her foal, but on the other hoof, Celestia was reasonably certain that the pegasus was no fit mother. Even beyond her disability, the fact was that even with Celestia’s threat and the foal firmly in her possession, Ditzy had come after Celestia all those months ago. Celestia had not truly been bluffing when she had threatened the foals’ lives, but only because she had never even considered that any parent would be so foolish as to try and call it. Had things been a little different, and had Celestia been forced to carry out her threat…

Of the five mares, only Carrot Top had been anything approaching agreeable – this made at least a little sense, given that she depended upon Celestia’s Sun for her livelihood. Somehow, even more so than Ditzy, Carrot Top appeared to be in well over her head with both the current situation, and in opposing Celestia. She looked and carried herself as no more than a simple farmer, and whatever her herbal knowledge, the farm was clearly where she belonged. Only misplaced loyalty to Luna had dragged her to this island.

One of the mares was an arrogant, abrasive showoff who nevertheless commanded her sister’s respect, and those of her comrades. One was an irreverent pony who would prefer to make light of every situation than treat them with the seriousness they required. One was an untrusting mare who wore a mask of lies over the anger she felt beneath her surface. One was a disabled mother who couldn’t see the danger she put her own foal in. And one was a simple farmer thrust into a situation far beyond her abilities.

How did these ponies ever earn the Elements of Harmony, even in whatever corrupted form that her sister had caused them to adopt?

Celestia whickered in annoyance, trying to dispel those thoughts. They weren’t going to help her with her current task. “The golems I destroyed were guarding the barracks,” she said, “but there is little of interest in there for any attacker, beyond the secret passage. It is likely that Grogar knows of the passage, then, and the other end of this passage will be guarded as well.”

Trixie and Cheerilee both glanced back at her, joining Raindrops and Ditzy who wouldn’t let her out of their sight. “And the chances are probably pretty good that Grogar knows we’re coming, after your little pyrotechnics show,” Cheerilee noted. She looked Celestia over. “And I don’t think you’re up to fighting a whole army of those things.”

Celestia bristled. “I will rise to any challenge.”

“We’ll try and help if we can. Not any good for us if you collapse from exhaustion, after all. Besides, if we know what’s coming I think we can deal with – ” Cheerilee was forced to stop when, when, due to not watching where she was going, she walked right into a solid slab of stone. She stifled a cry of surprise as she stumbled backwards from it, and her attempts to remain upright only resulted in her grabbing at Trixie’s cape by her mouth and toppling over anyway. Raindrops, who equally had been paying more attention to Celestia, tripped over the two of them and ended with her dock high in the air, while Ditzy stumbled and fell on top of Cheerilee.

Celestia stared at the pile of ponies as they untangled themselves, then glanced to Carrot Top, who had managed to stop her trot in time to avoid falling over. The earth pony mare looked back ad she shifted from one hoof to another, looking like she was trying to think up some way to convince Celestia that her comrades were not a troupe of clumsy oafs. She didn’t think up anything by the time the ponies had picked themselves up, Cheerilee chuckling a little even as she did. “You did say as long as we know what’s coming…” Trixie observed as she turned around and looked at the slab that had brought them all down. “I’m guessing we’re here?”

Celestia grunted, trying to remember that these five ponies did, in fact, wield the Elements of Harmony and so were, at least on some level, a threat to her. “There should be a lever,” she provided.

Trixie’s horn glowed a little brighter as she examined the wall near the slap, finding the lever after a few moments and pulling it. The slab groaned a moment, before beginning to slide to the side. Trixie’s and Celestia’s horn-light revealed a large storeroom beyond, much like the one they had entered the secret passage from, and this one in no better condition. The six of them moved out cautiously, ears perked and alert and horn-light sweeping across the room, looking for any sign of ambush. They found none, however, only a set of stairs that would take them up to the barracks.

Once on the barracks’ ground floor, Celestia used its door and the fact that she knew it faced west. She pointed a hoof south. “The palace is that way,” she said. “Directly in front of us is the royal library, while north is the Necropolis, the burial tomb for the royal family of Tambelon.” She made a cutting motion with one hoof when Cheerilee made to ask a question. “Luna and I also emptied the tomb before exiling Grogar.”

“Good. I hate zombies.”

Cheerilee trotted cautiously over to the barracks’ main door, her hoof-steps light as an owl’s feather, and placed one hoof on the door, glancing to Trixie as she did. The unicorn needed no prompting as her horn let out a subdued flash, and Cheerilee was cloaked in an invisibility spell. Afterwards, the door to the barracks creaked open slowly, as Cheerilee looked around. After a few moments, the door closed again, and Trixie made her visible again.

“I don’t see anything,” she said worriedly. “No guards – no golems at all.”

The six looked between each other. “Trap,” Raindrops guessed.

“Can the golems lay traps?” Carrot Top wondered.

“Bray can,” Cheerilee provided as she glanced first at the door, then back down to the barracks’ basement. “We should go back and try this from a different angle – ”

“No,” Celestia said, cutting the air with a hoof. “If they have trapped this end of the secret passage, then they have by now trapped the other as well. If we must walk into a trap, it must be one that nevertheless moves us closer to our goal.”

“So what do we do, then?” Trixie asked.

Celestia allowed herself a small grin. “Spring the trap.”

It was a good thing for Bray that Grogar was currently occupied with the ritual to summon Tirek, or else he might have had to tell the ram that the ponies and alicorn had made it inside not just the city walls, but the palace walls as well.

Fortunately, the ponies were not nearly as clever with their plan as they thought they were. Bray knew all the secret ways into and out of the palace – he had grown up in it, after all – and the moment one of the golems had reported to him the attack near the barracks, he knew the insurgents’ plans.

Bray stood atop one of the lower balconies of his palace, flanked by two golems and looking down into the broad courtyard that contained the former royal guard barracks. There was only one entrance into or out of the building. Bray had gathered three dozen golems to hide and wait to strike the moment the ponies exposed themselves, and he had another two dozen guarding the city barracks, while the remainder of the golems continued to sweep the city, just in case the ponies and alicorn somehow managed to evade capture.

The donkey prince – king – was growing more than a little impatient, however, as he put his hooves upon the railing of the balcony and leaned down, glaring at the barracks. He had thought that he’d seen the door creek open…did the ponies see a lack of guards, and were they suspicious? That was technically fine, they could stay pinned in the barracks and rot for all he cared, but it was certainly going to try his patience.

Just as he was about to order the golems to attack, however, the door was thrown open with a line of fire that continued forward until it splashed off against the palace’s walls. Bray didn’t take his eyes from the door, however, as Celestia and the five ponies suddenly came charging out, Celestia in front, as the six galloped towards the palace’s main doors.

The golems gave a roar and leaped from their hiding places moments later, charging forward in their loping, claws-over-feet way and closing in on the ponies and alicorn from all sides. The alicorn skidded to a halt when a wall of golems appeared in front of her, and stomped her hooves on the ground, creating a wall of fire around herself and her charges. Celestia’s eyes were glowing white with fury, her mane and tail animate flames as she snarled at the golems that skidded to a halt outside of the ring of fire…

…and something seemed wrong. The prince had a good idea of what, however, based on his previous encounter with the ponies. Bray gathered the magical power of the gem in his turban, and hurled it forward and down at the alicorn. The magic collided with the ground and spread out in a white wave, washing over the fire and the ponies…and causing them all to burst apart into blue smoke.

Illusions. Bray had thought as much. The golems looked around in confusion, but Bray smiled haughtily as he gathered more magic and launched it in two straight beams, starting at the door to the barracks and moving away in a wide field. Within moments, one of the beams caused a puff of blue smoke, and five ponies and an alicorn glanced up in surprise and shock at their invisibility having been dispelled when they were halfway towards one of the palace’s side-entrances.

The golems turned to the revealed ponies and alicorn, letting out hollow wails and charging. “Get them!” Bray shouted. “Tear them to pieces! Kill the alicorn first!”

The ponies and alicorn turned and ran as the golems set after them, and Bray laughed at the sight. Running! Ponies who bore the Elements of Harmony, and the alicorn of the sun, running from mere golems!

Bray’s laughter died after a moment, however, as another bad feeling crept up on him and wouldn’t go away. Ponies who bore the Elements of Harmony, and the alicorn of the sun, running from mere golems?

With more than a little dread, he fired off another burst of dispelling magic at their fleeing forms…and, as he had feared, they, too, burst apart into blue smoke. The golems once again halted in confusion.

The illusionist had waited for her first illusion to be dispelled, and had quickly created a second, making it seem like he had dispelled invisibility. But then where were the real ponies? Bray began firing off bursts of dispelling magic across the courtyard at random, groaning in frustration as the golems stood with their heads swiveling like idiot birds…

…and then Bray remembered that alicorns had wings. He remembered this because he saw a flash from scarcely a few feet away from him, and managed to throw himself to the floor of the balcony just as a thin ray of fire would have gone through his left eye. Glancing up, he saw Celestia, her invisibility dispelled and a look of pure hate on her face as she readied another spell…

The golems on either side of Bray reacted faster, however, charging from the balcony and leaping at Celestia with enough force to send her sprawling backwards, claws and teeth ripping and tearing at her body. She cried out in surprise as she fell from the sky and to the courtyard below, hitting the ground before she could channel a fire spell around her body and burn away the golems attacking her. By the time she was on four hooves again, however, the more than thirty golems in the courtyard were closing in on her.

Celestia would burn them away, Bray knew, if he didn’t act. Safe as he was for the moment, he got up and trotted to the balcony’s edge, drawing upon his magic once more and placing a magical field in front of Celestia’s horn just as she was about to fire off a small, pulsing yellow bead. The spell travelled mere inches before impacting Bray’s shield and detonating far earlier than Celestia had anticipated, only a hoofspan from her face. It was impossible to burn the alicorn of the sun, but she still reacted to pressure and force like any other being, and was hurled by her own explosion, crying out in surprise as she rolled along the ground. She once again began to pick herself up, but the golems were on her first.

Somepony reacted faster. Celestia was suddenly encased in a sphere of blue energy that the golems impacted against but didn’t break. They attacked the sphere furiously and tore it apart in mere seconds, but it was time enough for Celestia to stand and once more wreathe herself in flames. The golems leaped away from her as they considered how to attack her, and until then focused more on dodging her than actual attack.

Bray was more concerned with the sphere – the ponies were still in the courtyard somewhere, but he could see no sign of them. He let out a cry of frustration as he began once more trying to dispel any invisibility fields that no doubt cloaked them.

The five ponies stood just inside the side door of the palace, glancing out at Corona. “Do we help?” Carrot Top asked worriedly. “This wasn’t part of the plan…”

“We’d…we’d get…in the way…” Trixie panted, leaning heavily against her as her magic use finally began to catch up to her. Performing the two large illusions that had fooled Bray – the second with little warning, as Cheerilee hadn’t seen Bray initially – plus masking the six of them in an illusory hemisphere for their brief run had been a significant drain on her already-drained-by-Corona-and-just-casting-a-lot-today-anyway magical reserves. Casting a shield-spell over Corona and maintaining it against the golems’ attacks long enough for Corona to pick herself up had just about done her in as far as spellcasting, or potentially even remaining conscious, was concerned for the near future. “She just…had to…go on a killing spree…”

“No, attacking Bray was a good idea,” Cheerilee said, glancing up. The door that they had entered through was actually directly beneath the balcony that Bray stood upon, or nearly so. “One less problem if it’d worked…it didn’t, though.” From the sound of things, Cheerilee wasn’t certain whether she was glad or not – the thought of allowing Corona to kill someone, even Bray, was not a comfortable one for her. It didn’t sit any better with Trixie, nor the other three ponies, if the looks on their faces were anything to go by.

Corona was lashing out at the golems as best she could with fire, but they were nimble things, seeming to have decided that dodging a lot and allowing her to wear herself down was a better plan then charging in and risking her flames. She did manage to catch a few golems, but not nearly enough at a time – and when she tried centering a burst of fire on herself, they noticed her build up the magic and scattered out of range.

“We can’t leave without her,” Cheerilee noted. “If we run into more golems…”

“She told us to run,” Raindrops noted anxiously, hooves and wings twitching, eager to propel her into a fight. “If something like this happened, she said to leave her. Plus, there’s probably more golems on the way right now…”

There was a moment of silence as the five looked between each other. “If I told you all to run and leave me, would you?” Carrot Top asked.

“No, but I like you,” Trixie said dryly. “You’re my friend. Corona’s not. She’s the other thing.”

“Not right this second,” Raindrops said. “Enemy of my enemy…”

“Is still our enemy too,” Ditzy objected, eyes focusing on Raindrops. “She was going to kill Dinky – ”

“Yeah, she was,” Cheerilee interrupted. “But…but Dinky’s not here right now. Lyra is. We need Corona to save Lyra.”

Ditzy’s wings flared, looking like she was about to object very strenuously, but paused as she glanced back out at the golems. About a third of the golems that had been attacking Corona had fallen, but Corona wasn’t looking good either, favoring one leg over her others slightly. Her ears drooped, and she seemed to shrink in on herself. “Th…then I have an idea,” Ditzy said after a moment, looking to Trixie. “Do you have another invisibility spell in you?”

Trixie looked at Ditzy incredulously, but after a moment leaned away from Carrot Top. “I…I won’t be able to help Corona,” she noted. She was running nearly on fumes already, and wasn’t sure what she could conjure up without sending herself into a coma.

“Right, but we’ll need wings for this, and Raindrops is better at dealing with golems than I am.” One of her eyes had drifted up, but after a moment the other joined it as she poked a hoof at the ceiling – or rather, the balcony above, and who was in it.

Trixie, and everypony else, understood her plan instantly from that, and Trixie nodded, closing her eyes and breathing carefully. “Th-this is gonna be my sloppiest spell ever,” she noted, as a blue field wrapped around Ditzy and she faded from sight – almost. A notable blob remained behind, as Trixie let out a gasp at the spell’s conclusion and stumbled, though she was caught by Raindrops. She took a few moments to center herself, then looked to Ditzy. “It’s d-dark, so that’ll help. Move slow, th-that’ll help too,” she stuttered. Raindrops helped her into a corner, where the unicorn collapsed to her barrel and focused on staying conscious.

“This is going to be fast,” Raindrops noted.

“Well, let’s just hope that it’s ‘cause we do well,” Cheerilee said with a slight grin, as the two readied themselves near the front, took in deep breaths, and then charged out shouting at the top of their lungs, Carrot Top following and Trixie looking out, watching. The golems reacted to the noise, giving Corona a chance to burn two more to cinders, but more than a score of golems still remained. Half of them let out wails of their own and charged at the ponies.

The two earth ponies and one pegasus managed to barrel straight through the golems that came at them, Raindrops plowing into one and dragging it to the ground long enough to crush its head between her hooves. In moments, they were as close to Corona as they could be considering that she was still on fire. Corona herself alternated between keeping an eye on the golems, and looking at the ponies disbelievingly.

“What are you doing, you stupid foals?” Corona demanded. “I told you to run!”

“You’re not my queen,” Cheerilee noted. “Also technically you only told us to run if we ran into Grogar.”

“This is no time for jest – ”

“Shut up and help us stay alive!” Carrot Top exclaimed as a golem charged at her. She let out a small cry of fright as she narrowly dodged it, then bucked its face in. Another golem leaped on her, but it was seized in golden telekinesis and torn from her, flung away and over the castle’s walls with a flick of Corona’s head. A golem leaped teeth-first at her throat in her moment of exposure, but Cheerilee got under it and head-butted it away, where Raindrops fell on its back with all four of her hooves and pounded away at it. She nearly fell prey to a golem, but it burst into flames before reaching her.

“Where are the other two?” Trixie heard Corona demand, as the golems settled back into their routine of feints to try and goad Corona into exposing herself, even as the ponies stepped closer to Corona for protection. “Trixie, Ditzy?”

“Trixie’s a little out of it right now,” Raindrops responded, glancing up at the balcony that Bray was on. He was readying some kind of magic spell, getting ready to sling it at them. “As for Ditzy…”

Above her, Trixie heard Bray let out a whicker of surprise. There was a flash – probably him losing a spell he was trying to cast – but then, a moment later, he soared into sigh in the air, being carried by the invisible Ditzy. The gemstone on his turban glowed and flashed across him, revealing the pegasus holding him about his barrel, wings beating furiously to keep herself aloft with the larger and heavier donkey in her grasp, who by now was screaming in fright.

The golems reacted as one, turning to look up into the sky, though they didn’t stop moving around to avoid a potential attack by Corona. Bray, meanwhile, bucked his legs against being held. “L-let me go!” he cried.

“I don’t think you really want that right now,” Ditzy said as her wings continued to beat as hard as they could. She was already feeling burn in her muscles; most pegasi could lift their own body weight and fly, but Bray was easily half again that, maybe more. “Call off the – ”

“Golems! Get away from the ponies and alicorn! Now!” Bray shrieked, apparently figuring out pretty easily what Ditzy wanted. The golems obeyed, retreating backwards and away by a dozen feet. Corona didn’t let the flames around her drop, but she didn’t lash out with fire immediately, either, taking a few moments to get her breath and center back. The ponies with her did likewise.

“There!” Bray said, twisting his head to look at Ditzy. “N-now put me back on the – gah! Your eyes! Should you even be flying?!”

Trixie’s muzzle scrunched at that, as indeed only one of Ditzy’s eyes was on Bray, while the other was looking out at the palace’s walls. Trixie was pretty sure that, had she been up there, she wouldn’t make fun of the eyes of somepony who literally held her life in her hooves. Ditzy, though, seemed like she planned to ignore the slight, and instead looked to her friends and Corona. “Get inside,” she called down.

The four did as quickly as they could. The golems moved with them, keeping the distance between themselves and their foes constant. “And,” Ditzy said, reaching forward and grabbing Bray’s turban in her teeth. “Ah’ll jsht tak thish…” Bray whickered in surprise and anger at Ditzy, and the gem in his turban lit up, readying a spell as Ditzy tried to tug it off of his head. Trixie let out a gasp of surprise – Ditzy probably wasn’t going to get the gemstone off in time to stop whatever spell Bray was trying. Whickering in a mixture of frustration and hope that her magic was up to this, she lit up her horn and cast forward a fireworks glamor – nothing fancy, just a burst of light right in front of Bray’s eyes. He cried out in surprise and lost his concentration, and didn’t get it back before Ditzy tore the turban from his head, revealing a dark brown mane. Ditzy quickly glided down to the palace’s side door, pausing only long enough to drop Bray when he was just a few feet from the ground. Her friends quickly closed the door once she was inside, though it didn’t take very long thereafter for them to hear Bray on the other side, shouting for the golems to break down the door and get them. A golden field of Corona’s make covered the door immediately before it shook from having a golem slam against it.

Corona, breathing heavily, looked to the ponies. “You…you should have left me,” she panted. “The traitor prince didn’t know where you were.”

Trixie waved a hoof at her. “Carrot Top’s…idea…” she breathed, trying to stand. She managed to get her hooves under her for just a few seconds before they gave out like a newborn foal’s, and she slipped back down to the ground. Cheerilee and Raindrops, at least, caught her before she could injure herself too badly. While this happened, golems slammed against the door two more times, but Corona’s shield held.

“Trixie, you didn’t overchannel, did you?” Carrot Top asked worriedly.

Trixie shook her head. “No, just…just tired…see, this is why it’s nice…nice for earth ponies, or pegasi. You can’t do this to yourselves…”

Corona grimaced as the golems again slammed against the door. She glanced to Ditzy, or more specifically the turban she still held. “I can use the magic of the gem to restore more of my power,” she noted, holding out a hoof. “Not enough to challenge Grogar – but enough to destroy any number of golems.”

Ditzy had one eye on Corona, but the other one was pointed more-or-less at Trixie. “Could you give it to Trixie instead?” she asked.

Corona blanched. “Why?” she demanded.

“Because look at her,” Raindrops said, as she and Cheerilee continued to help Trixie stand up. “After whatever you did to her and all the spells she’s been using, she’s practically dead on her hooves.”

“Non,” Trixie objected, making a cutting motion with one hoof and standing away from Raindrops and redoubling her efforts to stand on her own. “I’m – I’m good. Fire’s better than smoke and mirrors right now.”

The other ponies blinked. “You sure?” Cheerilee asked.

“Pos – ” Trixie began, making to step forward, when the golems again crashed into the door from the other side. The sudden noise made them all jump in fright, but in Trixie’s case she ended up stumbling over her own hooves and falling to her haunches. “Might…” she said after a moment, “might need somepony to carry me…”

“Yeah, no,” Raindrops said, looking at Corona. “Trixie needs the help more than you.”

Corona eyed Trixie for a long moment – she was picking herself back up and straightening out her cape and hat – before letting out a beleaguered sigh. When the golems next impacted the door – splintering it and the golden shield that maintained it, though it held – Corona quickly dropped the shield, then wrapped the gemstone in Bray’s turban up in her aura. The turban itself was burned away, while the gem shivered and shattered.

White-golden light flowed from it and into Trixie, and she gasped, eyes widening at the feeling. It was at once like feeling fire burn through her veins, and at the same time a cold blast of air on an already cold day. But unlike those, it didn’t hurt, or feel uncomfortable – far from it, it was invigorating, as she felt her magic return to her in a burning wave. “Wow,” she managed to say after a moment, standing. “Just…wow. Never had magic just fill up like that…” she looked to her hooves. “Tingly…”

Corona rolled her eyes as she reinforced her shield over the door. “Let’s go, now,” she said. “Sooner or later Bray will remember that the palace has other doors.”

“Why doesn’t this place have any doors?” Lyra demanded as she and Zecora entered another section of the palace, this one distinguished from the previous maze of hallways that lead nowhere by the fact that all the windows were on the right side of the hall instead of the left. Lyra was actually seriously considering putting those windows to use at this point as an alternate means of escape.

Zecora trotted over next to one of the windows now, getting up on a wide bench set before it and glancing out. Somehow, the two of them had managed to climb only up, not down, and were now on the palace’s fifth level – out of how many, Lyra had no idea. From the way she was eyeing the drapes that flanked the windows, she was equally considering just tying a rope together and trying to climb. “Learned scholars the Tamberlaan may have been, but this palace’s layout is the worst I have ever seen,” she remarked.

“Been in many?” Lyra asked.

“I have travelled far and near, across all this world’s frontiers.”

Lyra nodded absently, as she joined Zecora at the window, looking it over and finding a latch easily enough. She opened it with her horn’s magic easily enough, and a cool night air began to blow into the palace. She then backed away, and began tearing down the drapes from all the windows in reach. “Think these can hold a few hundred pounds?”

Zecora eyed them. “No, I do not believe so.”

“Got any better ideas?”

Zecora smiled weakly and shook her head as she took up two of the drapes in her hooves and, with considerably more skill than Lyra had ever seen a non-unicorn pony manage – or even many unicorns – tied the ends together into a secure knot. Between the two of them, they managed to get a long rope tied together in just a few minutes, anchoring one end by using a bench in front of the window – it was wider than the window – and taking a moment to look out again. The drop was at least sixty feet, probably more – and they were asking a lot of the bench and drapes both in expecting carry several hundred pounds of equine as they descended. Zecora looked to Lyra. “We must take this climb one at a time,” she said.

“You first,” Lyra said, pointing at her horn. “You’re heavier, but I can catch you if I have to.”

Zecora nodded, wrapping her forehooves around the makeshift rope and climbing up onto the windowsill. Taking in a deep breath and saying something in Zebra – a wish for luck, most likely – she began to lower herself over the side, rear hooves scrabbling against the stone walls of the palace as she tried to descend as slowly as possible – which was not very slowly at all, the zebra sliding down her first twenty feet far faster than she probably intended, only her teeth biting onto the rope stopping her descent. After taking a few moments to collect herself, and probably curse like a sailor in Zebra, Zecora began descending again, Lyra keeping a close eye on her, horn glowing and ready to grab if need be. Unfortunately, the two hit a snag – Zecora ran out of rope, near a second-story window.

Lyra cursed herself for merely eyeballing the length of ropes they’d need. “Climb back up, try again?” Lyra called down. The zebra was still a good ten or fifteen feet from the ground – too far to safely jump without risking a broken leg.

Zecora steadied herself against a wall, and glanced up. There was no small amount of sweat on her features as she shook her head at Lyra’s suggestion. “If I were to attempt to do that, I am certain that I would fall flat,” she answered, then looked back down, at the window. “But this is nevertheless progress…I believe I can gain access.”

Not sure if you can rhyme ‘progress’ and ‘access,’ Lyra thought, though she didn’t say that aloud as the zebra fumbled with a rear hoof against the window’s base. She wasn’t entirely certain what the zebra did, but whatever it was, she managed to get the window to open, and swing her way inside. A few seconds later, she leaned back out, and waved Lyra to follow.

Lyra sucked in a breath at that, as she looked down at the makeshift rope. Wrapping it carefully around the fetlocks of her forehooves, she slowly began to lower herself over the side, bracing herself with her hind hooves and grabbing the rope with teeth and telekinesis. The stone under her hooves, however, was nearly smooth and far too expertly grafted – there were few nooks or crannies to catch, and Lyra found that she was mostly using her forward body strength rather than her rear to climb, or rather, controlled-fall. She let out several gasps of fright as her descent became basically a matter of letting herself fall a few feet, and then grabbing the rope and trying to stop, only to repeat the process. She was certain she bruised her fetlocks and strained some foreleg muscles, and it was a miracle she didn’t lose a tooth – but, at length, she reached the window Zecora had opened, and the zebra helped to pull her inside.

“Let’s not do that again,” Lyra insisted, panting and trying to will her heart to stop trying to explode from her chest. Ponies were not meant to climb. “Never, ever, ever again.”

Zecora only grunted, looking around. Apart from the second floor being dominated by red-hued carpets and drapes rather than blue, there was little to distinguish it from the hallway they had just exited. Lyra, meanwhile, looked at their makeshift rope. “I can probably grab that and – ” she began, when a crashing sound interrupted her.

Jumping, Zecora and Lyra turned just as a door in the hallway was thrown up, and a donkey – Bray, but missing his turban – came running in, followed by a dozen golems. “Hurry, you rag-dolls! If Grogar find out – ” he began, when he and the golems following him skidded to a halt at the sight of Zecora and Lyra.

The two escaped prisoners stared at the donkey prince and his entourage, as Bray stared back, eyes wide. At length, one of the golems spoke up. “Prisoners – have escaped – Prince Bray.”

“I can see that!” Bray exclaimed, thrusting a hoof forward as Lyra and Zecora turned tail and started running. “Capture the pony! Kill the zebra!”

The two had already reached a bend in the hallway and taken it. Lyra glanced over her shoulder as she ran, and saw the golems giving chase claw-over-foot, taking the turn by sliding, some of them colliding with the far wall but barely slowing down, instead pushing off and immediately resuming their run. Lyra and Zecora seemed faster, but they didn’t know the castle’s layout, and unlike the golems, they’d get tired eventually.

“Any ideas?!” Lyra asked of Zecora as her horn glowed, grabbed a nearby golem, and shoved it against another. The golems all stumbled as they fell, but they’d be up in just a few moments, Lyra was sure. Zecora, meanwhile, only grunted a negative as the two kept running through the halls, hooves scrabbling on the carpeting as they took another turn – and Lyra nearly plowed muzzle-first into Corona the Tyrant Sun.

Only a quick snap of Corona’s wings, moving her to the side, prevented Lyra from bowling straight into her, an action that probably would have injured the mere unicorn. Instead, Lyra went careening into the ponies that followed the Tyrant Sun – Cheerilee, Trixie, and the other Elements. They stumbled but didn’t fall as Lyra glanced at them, then Corona. “Uh – ”

“You’re okay!” Cheerilee exclaimed, grabbing Lyra tightly in a hug. “But – wait, why aren’t you in a dungeon somewhere?”

“Uh – ” Lyra repeated, still staring at Corona.

The alicorn rolled her eyes in annoyance. “We are in alliance until Grogar is dealt with,” she said, then glanced to the zebra. A look of vague surprise passed over Corona’s features – Lyra imagined that whatever had happened between her friends and Corona to make them ally, it probably hadn’t involved the alicorn’s concern for the well-being of her servant.

“Wait,” Raindrops said, glancing between Zecora and Lyra. “What were you two running from?”

Lyra opened her mouth to explain, but the golems arrived before she could, taking the turn and not pausing a moment on seeing themselves confronted with more ponies then they had previously needed to deal with. The six ponies let out shouts of surprise, and Trixie instinctively let loose a fireworks spell from her horn as the golems closed in – a fireworks spell that produced a real explosion and real cinders. None of the golems went up in flames, but they all stumbled and fell, several of them with small flames dancing on their bodies.

Lyra’s head whipped to look at Trixie, who’s horn was glowing blue but with little sparks of gold that had never been there before. The other unicorn’s mouth was hanging open. “Since when did you know how to make real booms?” she demanded, as she was passed the Element of Loyalty by Ditzy, and her lyre by Carrot Top.

“There must be some…side-effects,” Corona explained as she stepped forward, horn glowing gold and conjuring up a solid wall of fire that stretched from one end of the hallway to another. Lyra noted that her wings were sagging a little, and her head somewhat as well – she looked tired.

“You could have warned me!” Trixie exclaimed, looking up at her horn warily.

“Trixie was running on empty but Corona used Bray’s magic gem to restore her,” Cheerilee explained quickly to Lyra.

“Celestia!”

Lyra ignored Corona’s correction as she glanced again at the Tyrant Sun, even as she put her Element on and held onto her lyre telekinetically and tightly. “We’re allies now?” she asked.

Zecora bowed her head. “Glad am I to see that the thought occurred to more than Lyra and me.”

The five ponies besides Lyra eyed her warily; they remembered all too keenly, as Lyra still did, Zecora’s betrayal of them when they had first met. Nevertheless Lyra held up a hoof. “She’s been nothing but helpful, and we both know that our working together won’t last longer than it has to anyway.” Lyra said, then glanced to Corona, eyes narrow. She couldn’t forget that Corona had kidnapped Bon Bon, threatened her the way she had Ponyville’s foals, but… “And I guess,” she said at length, “I guess I can get behind working with her…for now.”

Corona looked behind her, at Lyra. “Then hopefully you can be of some use,” she said. “Where is the demon ram?”

Lyra’s eyes widened, remembering where he had been not too long ago, what she and Zecora had seen – and what Grogar had told her. “Tirek,” she said, prompting Corona’s eyes to grow even wider than her own. “Tirek! Grogar’s trying to summon Tirek! That’s why he wanted one of us alive!”

Corona’s mouth opened and closed a few times, before she grit her teeth and turned back to her wall of flame. She dispersed it, then shot a bead of fire forward, into the group of golems waiting beyond it. The beat exploded in a flash of heat and light; when the explosion cleared, several of the golems had fallen – having nowhere to run or dodge in the hallway – and the remainder were quickly picked off by Corona, with Trixie giving her apparently new pyrokinetic powers a try by releasing her own explosion amongst them a few moments later. It had more sound and light that real heat or force, but it was enough.

The next thing Lyra knew, however, was that Corona was all but on top of her, glaring down at her. “Where?” She demanded.

“Uh – I – I dunno, this place is like a maze, but…big room. Really big room. Had balconies looking down on it.”

“The throne room,” Corona reasoned, pulling away from Lyra and glancing around, then setting off, not waiting for the ponies or Zecora. Taking a moment to glance at one another, they followed as quickly as they could.

“Tirek?” Cheerilee asked as they galloped after Corona. “The Tirek? The one with the legates and the Cabal and the just generally not fun times for anypony when Equestria was first founded?”

“No, some other Tirek,” Lyra responded with a snort.

Cheerilee chuckled. “If only,” she mourned, then glanced down at her Element. “We can take him. And Grogar too. We’re not going to run into anything else, are we? Lavan? Squirk? The Red Cloud?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to say ‘no’ just in case I’m wrong.” Her eyes narrowed, however, as she glanced back at where they had come from. “Hey…I didn’t see Bray. Did any of you?”

“No,” the five answered. Ditzy continued, “we got his magic gem, so he can’t cast anymore spells. Maybe he’s gone off to hide.”

“Or get reinforcements,” Raindrops grunted.

“Or that,” Ditzy admitted.

Corona lead them unerringly through the palace’s twists and turns. Lyra was right, the palace was like a maze, with little apparent sense to its arrangement; the six ponies couldn’t help but wonder if that was original to the palace, or if Grogar had done some redecorating since taking the place over. Regardless, it was only a few minutes before they found themselves standing before a broad double-door, one that Lyra confirmed as being the one through which Grogar had been conducting his ritual. Corona didn’t pause a moment before running into it shoulder-first, throwing it open –

And there was a flash, and suddenly the alicorn, the zebra, and the six ponies found themselves standing in a throne room full of donkeys, a regal-looking king sitting at a throne. Sitting beside him was a queen, and all around in smaller but no less regal chairs were other donkeys, a half-dozen in all, who all bore a resemblance to him – the royal family, no doubt, given that Bray sat amongst them, the second-youngest out of four jacks and two jennies total.

Standing in front of the king was a ram, as tall and as powerfully built as Grogar, but with natural green eyes, normal teeth, and fur that was more white than gray – it was Grogar as he had appeared before the city of Tambelon, when Bray had first brought him in.

“No!” Corona exclaimed. “Not – not now!”

It was another of the imprinted memories. Corona fell back to amongst the ponies and zebra and quickly surrounded them in fire and magic, glancing around nervously. Even her magical sight couldn’t penetrate the image – and the golems were invisible to it, probably because they lacked a mind of their own.

“What do we do?” Trixie demanded.

“Help me maintain this shield,” Corona responded, “and be ready to act!”

Trixie and Lyra both did as Corona asked, using their magic to supplement Corona’s own. Meanwhile, the white Grogar had just risen from a bow before the king of Tambelon.

“Grogar,” the king said, his voice both regal and paternal, “I understand that you have a demonstration for us?”

“Yes, your majesty,” Grogar responded, his voice lacking any hint of malice as he trotted smoothly to the center of the room. “But first, a story.”

“Ooh, I love stories!” One of the princesses exclaimed.

Grogar smiled, a completely innocent and honest smile. “Once, when I was travelling along the coast of the southern ocean,” he said, “I came across a small pony town that made its living on seaweed-harvesting. Next to this village was a beach, naturally enough – and on that beach was a great whale, that had stranded itself on the shore, trapped. The villagers were struggling mightily to keep the whale wet, and alive. The pegasi had gathered rainclouds for the purpose. The unicorns and the earth ponies, meanwhile, were trying to drag the whale back into the water, so that it could swim away.

“I helped, of course, lending my magic where I could. And after six or seven hours, we finally got the whale into the water.”

“Good show!” The king exclaimed.

Grogar, however, held up a hoof. “Your majesty, I am sad to say that the story isn’t over. You see, less than an hour later, the whale beached itself again. This time, being more experienced with the matter, we were able to get it into the water much faster – but it promptly beached itself a third time. We couldn’t understand it. Finally, we examined the whale in detail, and here is where I found its problem. Its flippers and tail were all paralyzed. How, I do not know, but the whale could barely swim or stay afloat. If left in water too deep, it would sink beneath the waves and drown. The whale beached itself, therefore, to keep breathing – even though its great weight meant that, on land, it would suffocate. It would merely take longer to die. But faced with the choice of drowning in minutes or suffocating for hours, the whale chose to suffocate. Because it would live longer.”

The royal family, and the other donkeys in the room, looked more than a little morose. Grogar bowed his head. “The lesson I learned that day was this – that it is only natural for a living creature to do everything in its power to stay alive for as long as possible. The will to live is the strongest of all instincts.”

Grogar turned to a magic circle he had etched into the floor. “As you know, your majesty – I am a necromancer. And while on the mainland, such magics are considered base and horrifying, here, you have granted me a place to learn, to study, to perfect my magic. Because in your wisdom, your majesty, you know that all knowledge must be pursued.”

The king nodded. “Indeed,” he said gravely. “And the magic of death, perhaps most of all. For without understanding death, can we ever truly understand life?”

“Most philosophical,” Grogar said in agreement, as his horns glowed. “Life is strength. This is not to be contested, it seems logical enough – you live, you affect your world. To grow old and sickly, to wither, and to die…death is a weakness. One that I have long sought to transcend. And your majesty, I am proud to announce that I have found a way.”

The king leaned forward in his throne, eyes widening. “Immortality?” he asked.

“Immortality.” Grogar agreed, placing a hoof inside the magic circle. “Your majesty, I have found a way. I am going to live forever.”

“Wonderful!” The king exclaimed. “With your knowledge…Tambelon can last forever, too!” He looked to his family. Bray had pulled some kind of charm from his robes, and was holding it tightly in his hooves. “Us…and every citizen of Tambelon. The richest and most learned city in the world for all eternity! This is a great gift you have granted us!”

Grogar paused a moment at that, before his eyes narrowed. “No.”

As the king stared in confusion, Grogar looked to the magic circle. “Optatio.”

The world went white…

…and when it faded back in, the ponies and zebra found their shield surrounded on all sides by golems, dozens of them, the throne room dark and lit only by torches, and thirty feet from them, standing before the magic circle and beside a magic bell, Grogar, the demon ram, no longer in disguise. He turned to look at the ponies, zebra, and alicorn, eyes narrow as his horn glowed white, channeling power into the pentagram.

Corona let out a shout of defiance, exploding her fiery shield from around her. But the golems had learned that trick – and how to counter it. Half the golems leaped in front of the others, becoming shields that blocked the flames from destroying their brethren, though at the cost of their own existence. The golems that burned didn’t seem to care, nor did the ones that remained, as the moment the flames were gone they leaped forward, claws reaching out not to cut the ponies, but to knock the Elements from them.

Raindrops and Ditzy stayed out of reach, leaping high into the air, wings beating. Carrot Top and Cheerilee also managed to keep their Elements safe, Cheerilee with aid from Zecora, while Carrot Top’s thick mane meant that the golem that attacked her only ended up with a clawful of hair before the earth pony was able to buck it away. Lyra used telekinesis to throw away the golem that attacked her.

But Trixie’s Element was different – it was a tiara, not a necklace, and very little other than balance kept it on her head. Two golems came at her, and while she stopped one with gold-flecked telekinesis that cause small flames across its body, the other was on her, grabbed her Element, and threw it away and towards Grogar before Trixie could react. Trixie, Lyra, and Corona all cried out and tried to grab it with telekinesis, but Grogar reacted faster, grasping it in his own and pulling it to his hooves.

The ponies were about as used to fighting golems as the golems were to battling them now, though. Corona burned away several, Ditzy and Raindrops fell upon any that tried to come up behind their friends, Trixie and Lyra used telekinesis to hurl them away for Carrot Top and Cheerilee to trample, and Zecora herself was too lithe and quick for the golems attacking her to catch easily, leaving them vulnerable to attacks from the ponies. The golems gave as good as they got, biting and tearing at them when they could, and they all earned more than a few bruises and cuts, but at length, the last golem fell, leaving the ponies, zebra, and alicorn breathing heavily, but alive.

Grogar seemed completely unconcerned, however, as he raised a hoof, and struck it against the bell next to him. A loud, low clang reverberated through the chamber as Grogar’s horn stopped glowing. “Plana conligatio – Tirek,” Grogar said.

“No,” Corona breathed.

The air over the pentagram suddenly grew pitch black, as one by one the torches that lit the room sputtered and died. The unicorns and alicorns lit up their horns to try and provide light, but though they succeeded the effort needed to perform such a simple cantrip far exceeded what it should have. They could barely see Grogar’s silhouette.

Then there was a roar. Great orange flames that seemed to provide nearly no light burst from the pentagram, stretching up to the ceiling. After several long moments, the flames died down to nearly nothing, leaving behind a plane of glowing hot coals within the pentagram. And atop the coals was a black-and-red form. It had a lower body much like that of black-coated pony, albeit one that was larger than even Grogar. Its upper body, meanwhile, was like that of some kind of red-skinned, black-furred ape – broad-shouldered, with arms that ended in long-clawed hands. Its face was flat and beastial, crowned with long horns, and a tusked mouth. Wild, black hair sprouted from its back like a mane.

But something seemed…wrong. Even Grogar’s silhouette seemed to notice it, as he turned to look at the thing in the circle. It was on its knees on hocks, while its arms were bound to the floor by thick, black chains. A similar restraint was fastened to its horns, keeping it from looking up more than a little. And despite its size, it looked unhealthy in the extreme – emaciated, with flesh clinging tightly to bone, yellow eyes sunk into its skull. Its body was covered with scars and barely-healed lacerations. Far from being an imposing, terrifying force, it seemed almost pathetic.

Corona had started to charge forward, but halted at the sight of the thing in the circle. “What?” she asked.

Grogar seemed equally confused. “Tirek?” he asked.

Tirek looked at Grogar, then to Corona. He flinched at the sight, but then he cast his gaze upwards, and seemed to shrink into himself. “Luna – no!” he exclaimed. Despite his apparent terror and weak form his voice still reverberated insidiously through the former throne room. Tirek strained against his bonds as he leaned towards Grogar. “Why did you take me from Tartaros? I was safe there!

“SEND ME BACK!”

9. Soul Hunter

In the night sky over Tambelon, Luna’s eyes shot open as she sensed a black presence she had not felt for nearly a thousand years – not since…

“Tirek,” she breathed, looking down. Until this moment, she had supposed herself to be making excellent progress against the shield that blockaded Tambelon – with aid from the cannons of Wingsong, she estimated that she only had a few more hours of work ahead of her to bring it down. It was far longer than she would have personally liked, but objectively, she knew that she was doing quite well.

But now, Tirek had been summoned. That changed – well, depending on what Grogar wanted from Tirek, that may very well have changed everything. Tirek could not be allowed to get loose from his prison, as no matter the state he was now in Luna had little doubt that, given free rein, he could recover his full power worryingly quickly.

Luna closed her eyes and teleported, appearing in a shimmering, midnight-hued flash on the deck of Wingsong. The crew were all dead tired – in addition to unloading virtually their entire supply of cannonballs at the shield as per Luna’s instructions, they had been keeping an eye open for a grudge-holding ancient wyrm that, while it probably couldn’t kill Luna, was certainly capable of bringing down a ship, even one as advanced as Wingsong. Nevertheless, Luna’s arrival was noticed, called out, and acknowledged with a bow from any who weren’t engaged in pressing tasks. Luna returned the acknowledgement with curt nods, but made her way straight across the deck and to the captain of the ship.

“Your majesty,” the captain said as he rose from his own bow. “What has happened?” It didn’t take much to read in Luna’s expression that the situation had changed.

“Captain, you need to get underway now,” Luna said. “Set course for Lariat at your best speed.”

The captain blanched. “Your majesty – we still have some shots left in our cannons. We can’t just abandon the Elements yet.”

Luna couldn’t hide her grimace as she shook her head, even as her horn glowed. From elsewhere on the ship, she heard a few of the crewmembers call out in surprise – overhead, the Stars were re-arranging themselves in the night sky, one in particular seeming to flare up and triple in luminosity. “Captain, I do not have time to fully explain everything. Suffice to say that your contribution, while meaningful, is over. I can take the shield down myself…but there is a strong possibility that I may now need the shield to remain up.”

The captain scowled in confusion. “What? Why?”

Luna looked back to Tambelon, and glanced up to the Star she had selected in the night sky. She readied several more. “Because if the worst happens, then it will contain the entity that has just been summoned onto the island long enough for me to destroy it.”

The captain’s eyes widened. “The entity?” he asked.

If that had been an option, Luna would have taken it thousands of years ago. She shook her head again. “The island.”

Celestia was more than a little confused.

Tirek was struggling against the chains that held him down. With great effort, he managed to free one arm, ripping the chain loose from the ground. The chain – which Celestia knew had been forged of orichalcum and in fires as hot as the heart of the Sun, seeing as she had in fact been the one to acquire the orichalcum and forge the chain – seemed almost a living thing, wriggling and twisting about and still pulling at his arm, trying to implant itself in the ground once more. Tirek managed to keep his arm free, however, and took a moment to collect himself. He pointed one finger at Grogar.

“I am the Lord of the Midnight Castle, the Shadow in the Soul, the Tyrant in the Pit, The Liar and the Thief, the Bringer of the Night That Never Ends – and I demand you send me back to Tartaros, necromancer!”

That demand was the part that confused Celestia – that, and the state Tirek was in, the haggard, emaciated look of what had once been possibly the most evil being in all the world, a being who’s sheer malice, if not power, may very well have surpassed that of Discord himself. Ever had he been a dire threat to ponies and the alicorn sisters both, and even when trapped in Tartaros the immortal demon had always seemed to find some way to spread his malevolence. Yet his thoughts when trapped in his native realm were always about escape – Celestia had never heard Tirek demand to be sent back to Tartaros before.

Celestia eyed the focus for the Element of Magic. Without it, in her current state, neither she nor her erstwhile allies she stood a chance against Grogar, let alone Tirek, who had always been Celestia’s equal in power. She tried to edge closer, out of Grogar’s sight and horn glowing very lightly as she tentatively reached out her telekinesis. Grogar noticed, however, and snorted, picking up the Element in his own telekinesis and repositioning himself, stepping closer to the calling circle within which Tirek was trapped. “Will you break this circle, Celestia?” he asked. “You cannot even face me. How would you fair against Tirek, once more free upon the world?”

Celestia grimaced. There was no small chance that attacking Grogar now, even if only as a diversion to try and get the Element, would break the circle. Tirek would be free, and there was a good chance that the demon was trying some kind of trick.

There was a small advantage as well, at least. Powerful as Grogar may have been, he couldn’t slay six ponies, one zebra, and certainly not the one alicorn instantly – if he got into a fight with Celestia or her allies, then there was a good chance that they might break the calling circle. Grogar would not want that any more than Celestia, as a free Tirek would have no reason to follow or aid Grogar. She stopped her advance, then, and looked up to Tirek, eyes narrowing. “You have seen better days,” she hissed.

Tirek lost his struggle with the living chain, as it lanced down into the ground and bound him once more. He struggled against it as he leaned forward, to the edge of the calling circle, glaring at Celestia with bile and hate that could have blasted the crust from the Earth had it been given physical form. “You should know, Daystar!” Tirek roared. “It was for use against you! Luna took my power – tore at my very soul!”

“You have no soul,” Celestia countered.

“I HAD THOUSANDS!”

Some aspect of Tirek’s former self returned to him as he stood fully, tearing the chains that bound his arms and horns loose. Celestia backed away, honestly not sure if Tirek was about to break free, but the demon only staggered forward, slamming a fist against the invisible barrier that the calling circle created. It probably would have been more intimidating had it not seemed to exhaust him so.

“The souls of countless creatures of the world, so many of them from your precious ponies, freely given for their own small gain!” He stamped his front hooves as he struggled against the chains, grabbing at them to try and keep standing. “Thousands…tens of thousands! Mine, all mine! And your sister STOLE THEM!”

Grogar’s blank, red eyes grew wide at that, as he glanced at Tirek. “What?” he asked.

Tirek lost his struggle against the chains again, and he was dragged back to where he had been previously, and the chains lanced into the ground and held him firm. He stopped struggling, and the look of pure hate passed from his face, replaced by one of exhaustion as the demon gasped for breath. “Luna stole them…took them from me. My property – my power – my souls! Took them and used them to fuel her battle with you, Celestia…” Tirek looked up at Celestia once more. “I saw, even after what Luna had done. I saw it all. It was beautiful.”

Celestia whickered and stomped a hoof at Tirek’s definition of ‘beauty.’ Whatever else her battle with Luna had been, it had broken Celestia’s heart to see her little sister corrupted and debased by the black magic of Tirek, and only her sense of duty had kept the pain from overwhelming her. It had not been beautiful.

“But then…the Elements,” Tirek said, lips curling. “I had so few souls remaining…so little strength…I could not recall what was taken from me, and when the Elements struck the nightmare that Luna had become to battle you…they were lost. Lost forever. Wasted, all of them, save a blasted piece of her own soul that used what little of my power she still had to become…love,” Tirek spat the last word like it was a vile curse.

One of Celestia’s eyes narrowed a moment, before she realized what Tirek was saying, and rocked backwards on her hooves, wings flaring high in surprise. “My niece!” she exclaimed. “She…she was born from you?”

“If only…” Tirek mourned. “I could have been free by now if I had such an ally on the Earth. No, alicorn. I provided nothing for the Alicorn of Love save a template that her nascent soul was forged by the Elements of Harmony to be as unlike as possible. As Discord is to the Elements, so am I to Cadenza.”

Grogar growled low as Celestia processed this information, trying to decide how she felt about it. The ram stepped even closer to the calling circle, but did not take his eyes off of Celestia for more than a few seconds as he did. “But what of my soul, Tirek?” he asked. “What of our bargain?”

Tirek tore his eyes from Celestia, looking down at Grogar. “The life-force of all of the donkeys in the city of Tambelon, and of one hundred ponies,” Tirek said. “I required one hundred ponies, not ninety-nine. I cannot be held at fault for your own inability to count.”

Grogar shook his head. “One had died the very morning of my spell. I had no way to account for that. And it does not matter – I bring you six ponies, a zebra, and an alicorn. My end of the bargain is now more than fulfilled. Give me my soul back. Or was it amongst those that were seized by Luna?”

Celestia glanced between the two, eyes narrowing. So – Grogar had sold his soul to Tirek, though what for remained a mystery. It at least said much about the demon ram – without his soul, Grogar’s emotions were largely deadened, explaining how he could be so calm when talking about the possibility of his very soul having been lost. His unusual size and build for a ram, as well, would come from his infusing himself via necromantic rituals to keep himself alive without his soul. Even with those rituals, however, Grogar should have had a much shortened lifespan without a soul; strange for a being that, if the imprinted memories that kept disturbing the isle of Tambelon were any indication, was making every effort to achieve immortality. Unless…

Celestia let out a derisive laugh as she realized. Grogar and Tirek looked at her, and she grinned humorlessly. “I understand now,” she said. “Grogar, thousands of years ago you summoned Tirek from Tartaros. You demanded the secret of power and immortality from him, and he offered it in exchange for your soul, the one transaction that has any worth to him, since one’s own soul can only be given, never taken. You agreed…and he told you how to become one of the living dead, didn’t he?” She leaned forward. “But not just any undead creature. A lich. Because of all the undead, it is the most powerful…and of all the undead, one who would become a lich needs the one thing you no longer had!”

“A soul,” Tirek said, smirking maliciously himself, for the first time since he had been called up from Tartaros – probably for the first time in centuries. “Grogar asked he be told the secret to unending life and unlimited power. I granted his wish.”

“You mislead me,” Grogar observed, eyes narrowing – his emotions were only suppressed, after all, not absent entirely. He looked to Celestia. “Though I should have expected no less from the Liar and the Thief. It did not matter. My necromancy was enough to keep me alive. All I needed was to make a new transaction – establish the price for the return of my soul.” Grogar looked again to Tirek. “Now, Tirek – do you still have it?”

Tirek’s grin dropped. “I will not bargain with you,” he said in no uncertain terms. “The souls in my possession are mine and mine alone. I will not surrender the few I have left!”

“But my soul is amongst them,” Grogar reasoned.

Tirek was silent. Grogar nodded, turning from the calling circle and horns glowing bone white as he faced Celestia and her allies, leaving the Element of Magic behind, just outside the calling circle. “I suppose I will just have to find out,” he decided.

Corona glanced to the ponies, spreading her wings wide, as Grogar approached, horns glowing bone-white. “Stay behind me – ”

“Forget that,” Lyra said, stepping forward and unslinging her lyre from her back, holding it before her telekinetically. “I owe this guy some payback.”

Corona’s eyes widened. “You – you stupid foal, Grogar is beyond any of you – ”

“And you’re not doing too good yourself, remember?” Trixie asked as she stepped up alongside Lyra, horn glowing azure with the gold flecks still dancing amongst it. “Maybe all of us together can at least put up a fight.”

“N – ” Corona began, but Grogar’s horn flashed then, as he said eradico, and a jet-black beam of magic lanced from the air in front of him and towards Lyra. She whinnied in fright, throwing up a shield of golden magic in front of her that was quickly reinforced by both Trixie and Corona. The lance of magic collided with the shield and shattered it, sending pain down the three’s horns, but it didn’t reach Lyra.

Corona whickered in annoyance. “Fine! Aid me if you can, unicorns.” She summoned up a golden orb and launched it at Grogar. He caught it contemptuously in his telekinesis, and seemed unsurprised when the orb detonated in a flash of light and heat. He threw up a shield of his own, protecting himself, but it bought Corona a few moments to look at the other four ponies. “This will be a spell battle. If – if – we three can batter our way past Grogar’s defenses, then you must act to keep Grogar off-balance.”

“How?” Carrot Top asked worriedly.

“Bucking him a lot, is my guess,” Raindrops answered, stretching her wings a little.

Grogar inhaled deeply, then exhaled, saying nebula ferio as he did. A black miasma appeared in front of him and rushed forward. Trixie reacted first, putting her apparent new fire-powers to use by launching a series of fireworks into the cloud. The fireworks, partially real fire thanks to Corona’s magic lingering within Trixie’s own, igniting parts of the cloud. Corona added her own fire magic a moment later, and the entire cloud burned away before it could reach them. Grogar grunted in annoyance.

Lyra’s hooves glided across her instrument, a staccato series of notes that manifested as sharp points of magic that surged towards the ram. Grogar grunted and stopped them with a shield, then stepped forward and stomped a hoof to the ground. Magic from his horns travelled down his hooves and into the floor, and the stone began to buckle and break as black tendrils burst out of the ground and reached for the ponies.

Lyra and Trixie scattered, running away the tendrils, but Corona held her ground. She sent out a solid plane of magic at her hooves that lanced through the tendrils, slicing them from their roots and causing them to collapse into black dust. The bases of the tendrils still writhed, however, and after a few moments the tendrils began to grow again as Grogar channeled more magic into them.

Trixie stopped running for a moment, setting her horn glowing and risking one of her most familiar spells. Thankfully, the fire-magic that seemed to have ingrained itself didn’t manifest as her eyes took on a blue glow. She glanced first to Corona, who was trying to strike at Grogar beyond the tendrils, but they served as a shield as much as a weapon, blocking incoming bursts of fire. The unicorn could, further, see Corona’s magical aura – it was white and gold, a blazing fire that almost hurt to look at – and had Corona been at her full strength, Trixie knew she would have been blinded by seeing the alicorn work magic.

Then again, had Corona been at her full strength, they wouldn’t have been in this situation in the first place.

Trixie looked to Grogar next. The glow of his horns may have been bone-white, but looking at Grogar casting spells, she saw that the true color of his aura was a malignant ebon hue, more a miasma than an aura that oozed forth from his being whenever he cast a spell. Her eyes narrowed a little as she tried to see past the blackness, look at how he was manipulating magic…

Grogar was not idle while she was studying him, however. Glancing at her, the necromancer raised a leg to his mouth and bit down with his fangs. Trixie started, then let out a yelp of surprise when he spat out a few drops of blood that seemed to grow to enormous proportions, washing towards her in a scarlet tide. She leaped out of the way, and the tide surged past her and splashed against a wall. She heard the stone sizzle and boil where it struck.

Lyra acted as Grogar looked to Trixie, stopping her own dash away from the tendrils, on the other side of Grogar from Trixie, and strumming a short riff as she channeled her own golden magic through her lyre. The notes came to life as a lance of pure sound, which she took into one hoof and threw at Grogar. Without looking at her, however, Grogar caught the lance in his own magic. Lyra smiled, however, drawing her hoof across every string on her lyre. The sonic lance detonated in a burst that was felt more than heard. Trixie winced at the sound, glancing away. Grogar should have been rendered all but deaf.

He wasn’t. A thin field of magic encased his body as Trixie looked back – the sonic bomb hadn’t even reached him. Grogar looked to Lyra and extended one hoof, muttering nullus facultas as he did. Lyra ducked and rolled away from the wave of black magic that came at her, but then had to swiftly get on her hooves again as Grogar’s eyes narrowed and the black tendrils redoubled their efforts at growth, surging up and launching themselves at Corona, Lyra, and Trixie.

The effort was what Trixie needed, however. Focusing power into her horn, she pulled and shaped her magic and cast it out at the tendrils closing in on her, overlaying Grogar’s spell with as precise a replica as she could manage under the circumstances, mixing it in with Grogar’s own. Trixie couldn’t duplicate Grogar’s spells – she didn’t have the power – but she could make her magic a part of them, and then pull at them as hard as she could. Like a sewn-in thread being yanked from a piece of clothing, her pulling her magic away from the spell dragged a good portion of the original spell with it. Unlike with a cape, however, the tendrils were rendered unstable by the missing magic, and the spell collapsed. By the time the tendrils had reached her, they had turned into nothing more than black dust.

Grogar seemed somewhat less concerned than Trixie would have liked at that. Corona, meanwhile, tried to seize an immediate advantage, charging forward with glowing horn at Grogar. The ram turned to meet her charge without concern, once more creating a miasma of death that swept towards the alicorn. Rather than burn it away, however, Corona’s horn flashed, and she disappeared in a burst of golden light, reappearing behind Grogar. Grogar’s own horns flashed as well, however, and before Corona could strike at him, a black shield rose around him. The alicorn gasped and retreated back several steps as the black shield suddenly grew spikes that would have skewered her if she had stayed in place.

The ram held up a hoof – the one he had bitten earlier – and muttered something under his breath as a few more drops of blood dripped from his self-inflicted wound. They fell to the ground beneath him, then split apart and expanded into a red mist that burned everything before it. He sent it swirling after Corona. The mist swirled around her first – putting itself firmly between the alicorn and the Element of Magic – before surging after her, driving her away from the Element and not dissipating until she was well away from it.

He turned to Lyra as the mint unicorn readied another spell, this one a long, held note that sent a twisting line of magic straight towards the demon ram, arching through the air like a crack in shattering glass. It struck yet another shield of Grogar’s, however, and Grogar launched a field of his own magic at Lyra. This one struck home, the first spell to do so, sending Lyra tumbling away. She tried to stand, but her right side seemed to have frozen up, locking in place so that she couldn’t move either right leg, and even her face seemed half-frozen. Her one good eye went wide, and Trixie cried out.

Grogar readied another spell to finish off the unicorn, but paused a moment, and instead conjured a shield over his head. A bare moment later, a torch landed on the shield and rolled off. Glancing, Grogar saw Ditzy and Zecora. The former had grabbed torches from their sconces and brought them over to Zecora, who threw another one. Grogar stopped it with ease, and Trixie wondered what the two were trying to do – and then realized that neither Cheerilee nor Raindrops were with them, a fact she realized only when Raindrops came at Grogar from the side, wings beating furiously to get as much speed behind her as she could. Grogar snorted in derision, horns glowing and firing a bolt of black magic. But somehow, Corona was there first, taking the blast of magic. The alicorn cried out in pain as she fell to the ground and black mist started seeping from her – but she was out of the way as Raindrops surged forward, Grogar’s eyes widening in surprise as the pegasus crash hoof-first into his face, then shot past. Grogar stumbled, but didn’t fall, surrounding himself in a complete shield to prevent further attack as he steadied himself again, teeth grit and glaring at Raindrops as she surged away. He lashed out with more black magic, but Trixie grabbed Raindrops in her telekinesis and pulled her out of the way, towards her.

Corona hoisted herself to her hooves, black miasma still surrounding her and looking like she was in a considerable amount of pain. Trixie looked to Raindrops as the pegasus landed next to her, though her wings stayed flared. They had managed to land a blow on Grogar, but he didn’t looked hurt at all, and after Trixie’s dispelling of his black tendrils spell, he kept switching the precise kind of shield spell he would summon up to protect himself, preventing Trixie from studying it too closely. Lyra had managed to struggle into a standing position, whatever spell that had paralyzed her right side gradually wearing off, but if Grogar focused on her, Trixie wasn’t sure what they could do to help her. Sheer numbers alone had been keeping them alive, and Grogar showed no signs of slowing or tiring. If they fought him for much longer, he would slaughter them.

Grogar eyed each of them for a moment, then grunted, looking towards the Element of Magic. He didn’t seem surprised – and nor, really, was Trixie – that he saw Cheerilee slinking towards it, though the earth pony teacher froze in place, eyes widening, when Grogar saw her, still a dozen feet from the Element. The ram snorted, horns glowing white.

“H-hold it!” Carrot Top exclaimed.

Trixie’s eyes widened, looking for the source of the exclamation, and finding Carrot Top quickly enough – standing at one edge of the magic circle that contained Tirek. Cheerilee had probably helped her sneak into place before going after the Element. She was, in fact, right next to the magic circle – and had one hoof raised, ready to bring it down on the circle.

Grogar’s eyes widened considerably at that, but so did Corona’s. “What are you doing?” the alicorn demanded as she struggled through the pain of whatever spell Grogar had placed on her. “If you break that – ”

“Tirek w-w-will be free,” Carrot Top stuttered, glancing at the demon, who was eyeing her himself. Carrot Top jumped a little in fright at the sight of the demon staring back at her, but then steeled herself. “B-but Luna’s right outside, isn’t she?” she asked Tirek. “Th…this shield Grogar made, it can’t last forever, can it? Luna will be here.” She narrowed her eyes and glared at Tirek, probably trying to intimidate him.

It worked. The demon flinched. Carrot Top seemed more than a little emboldened at that sight, standing up straighter. “So if I break this, you’ll just leave, right?”

“Yes,” Triek said without hesitation. “I will return to Tartaros. I swear it!”

“You can’t trust him!” Corona exclaimed desperately. “He is called the Liar for a reason!”

Grogar’s eyes narrowed as he glared at Carrot Top. “She is right,” he hissed. “He may return to Tartaros. But he will not hesitate to first slaughter all of us.”

Carrot Top withered under Grogar’s gaze, but didn’t move. “Maybe he will,” she said. “But it’s not much different from what y-you’re trying to do, save that this way, you don’t get what you want either, d-do you? S-so you’ve got two choices. Either…either surrender, Grogar…or I b-break this circle.”

Trixie paused a moment at that, looking between Triek and Grogar, then back to Raindrops, nodding towards Corona. The pegasus considered the alicorn – barely standing, surrounded by an ebon miasma, physically and magically exhausted – and grimaced, considering hard for several long seconds. At length, she nodded.

Trixie glanced to each of her other friends then, even as she conjured the illusion of a faint blue ball over Corona’s head to draw their attention and looked to Tirek. They each nodded in turn, Ditzy quickly putting distance between herself and Zecora as she did.

Trixie stepped forward once she had, steeling herself. “You too, Corona,” she said.

Corona’s eyes widened, wings flaring in shock. “Wh-what?” she demanded. “Treachery!”

“Yeah,” Trixie confirmed. “This little alliance of ours wasn’t going to last any longer than it had to. Well…” she looked to Carrot Top, then back to Corona. “We don’t need it anymore.”

Tirek chuckled from within the magic circle, grinning widely. Corona, meanwhile, sputtered helplessly. “You foals!” the alicorn cried out, stomping a hoof, though the action nearly made her fall over. “If you break that circle, Tirek will kill you all without a second thought!”

“And how’s that different from what you’d do once we’d dealt with Grogar?” Raindrops demanded. “Can you honestly tell us you were planning on doing anything different?”

“But – ”

“You threatened my daughter,” Ditzy spat, jabbing a hoof at Corona. “What did you expect us to do when this was all over? Just roll over and let you immolate us?”

Corona looked between the ponies with wide eyes, turning in place, wings flared. By now, the black miasma that had engulfed her was gone, and her mane and tail ignited into fire in rage. “Y…you cannot do this!” she exclaimed, turning and glaring at Trixie. “I helped you!” she looked at Raindrops. “I have taken blows for you!” She looked over to Carrot Top. “I saved you! I – I am your Queen! You must – you WILL obey me!”

For a few moments, there was only silence. Then Tirek chuckled again. Within moments, the chuckle had transformed into full laughter, the demon all but doubling over within the calling circle as he stared at Corona.

“What?” Corona demanded, stomping a hoof as she glared at the demon. “Why do you laugh?!”

Tirek’s chuckle died down, but his smile remained as he bowed low before Celestia, even getting on his knees to do so, and after another moment said, “All glory to the Tyrant Sun.”

Corona rocked back on her hooves as though struck, wings beating a few times in shock, though she lacked the strength to take to the air. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but no intelligible sound came out. On seeing this, Tirek laughed again, throwing his head back as best he could with the chains around his horns.

Trixie eyed Corona, but the alicorn seemed frozen in shock, unsure of how to act or what to do in the face of Tirek, one of her most ancient foes, praising her – for reminding him of himself. Trixie instead focused back on Grogar, who had himself remained focused on Carrot Top and Cheerilee. The ram noticed Trixie’s scrutiny, however, and growled low at her.

Trixie matched his glare, somehow. “You want to live?” she asked. “That’s your thing, right? You want to survive for as long as possible. That’s not going to happen if Tirek gets free, is it?”

Grogar eyed Tirek, still laughing at Corona’s misery. But he looked past the demon’s mirth, and seemed to focus once more on Tirek’s emaciated limbs, his stooped posture – his weakness. He looked back to Trixie. “I do not think the demon is a threat to anyone anymore,” he hissed.

“He doesn’t have to be,” Lyra said. She seemed to have mostly recovered from Tirek’s rigor spell. “It took you hours to summon Tirek, right? How quickly can he go back to Tartaros – especially if you have to deal with us at the same time?” Lyra smiled. “He doesn’t have to fight you. He just has to run away. Then you’re left with nothing, save an alicorn outside who’ll be very angry if you hurt us or kill us.”

“Face it, Grogar,” Cheerilee said, speaking up for the first time since the stalemate began. She stood up straighter, eyed the Element of Magic and Grogar both, then began trotting towards it, eyes locked on Grogar the entire time. Very quickly, however, she had reached it, and picked it up with one hoof – Grogar doing nothing to stop her, instead keeping his eyes locked on Carrot Top. “Face it,” Cheerilee repeated. “You’ve lost – ”

The throne room doors were thrown open. Without thought, out of instinct, the ponies, Zecora, Tirek, and even Grogar turned to look at them – and saw, standing in the entryway, a donkey, wearing a turban with a blue gem – Bray. Flanking him were a dozen golems, though each one paused as they looking into the throne room, taking stock of the situation.

“Ma – ” Bray began.

Corona reacted first, surprising everypony as she let out a scream of fury, and charged towards Cheerilee, mane and tail once more igniting. The earth pony let out a yelp of fright, dropping the Element of Magic as she cantered away from the Tyrant Sun’s charge. She realized her mistake almost immediately and tried to dive for the Element.

Grogar acted next, making no exclamation but throwing his front hooves forward, at Carrot Top. A tidal wave of black magic launched towards the earth pony as her eyes widened in shock, and only Lyra desperately reaching out telekinetically and pulling Carrot Top away saved her from whatever spell Grogar had unleashed.

Zecora had acted at almost the same time, charging as fast as she could down the throne room and towards her queen, shooting past Grogar without a glance. Ditzy and Raindrops both tried to stop her, but the zebra was too fast on her hooves.

Grogar’s head whipped towards Trixie as he conjured a lance of black magic and sent it her way; she avoided it and fired off a series of fireworks, but Grogar caught them without effort in his magic and dispelled them.

Corona had reached the falling Element of Magic, skidding to a halt mere inches from Tirek’s calling circle. The demon had himself, at Corona’s charge, stopped laughing and let out a shout of terror, trying to back away from the charging alicorn, probably worried that the alicorn intended to slay him. She didn’t, however, instead grasping the Element of Magic in her telekinesis. She looked up at Trixie, a look of pure rage and hate, before a golden glow enveloped her and Zecora, and the two vanished – taking the Element with them, though it seemed like it had tried to linger for a moment.

Trixie’s eyes widened, as she looked back to Grogar, who was spreading his hooves wide, readying another spell. Trixie did the first thing she could think of – reached out with telekinesis and grabbed as many torches as she could, and threw them at the calling circle before shouting to her friends one word: “Run!”

Grogar’s eyes widened, and he aborted whatever necromancy he was about to attempt, instead reaching out with his own telekinesis to stop the torches from breaking the circle, charging forward as he did. By the time he had caught all of them and turned back, however, the ponies had all disappeared – turned invisible by Trixie, running past Bray and bowling over golems in their small stampede. Bray, himself, was also thrown to the ground

Grogar watched as Bray and the golems he had brought with him picked themselves up. Bray was groaning and sputtering as he did, while the golems dashed out in the hall, looking for any sign of the fleeing ponies. They must have spotted some sign of them, as they took off, leaving Bray, Grogar, and Tirek alone in the throne room.

Grogar growled low as he glared at Bray. “You idiot,” he hissed. “Celestia and Luna’s lackeys have escaped due to your uselessness.”

Bray’s mouth opened and closed a few times, before he threw himself to his knees and hocks. “F-forgive me, Master! I’ll go, I’ll go and get them and bring them back – ”

“Don’t bother,” Grogar intoned, turning back around to face Tirek, moving slowly up to the calling circle. “You will only fail me again.”

Bray bristled, but Grogar didn’t care as he reached the edge of the circle, looking up at once-proud, once-mighty Triek. The demon straightened, glaring down at the ram – at least until Grogar took a break, placed a hoof at the circle’s edge, and pushed it forward, smudging the paint that it had been drawn in.

The magic of the circle dissipated instantly, and Tirek roared – but not in triumph, but rather, fear. Beneath him, the stone floor of the throne room disappeared, becoming a jet-black portal to Tartaros, and the demon began to sink. His retreat, however, was arrested by a white telekinetic glow, wrapping around the chains that bound the demon and pulling.

“NO!” Tirek shouted, pointing a finger at Grogar and unleashing a lance of dark making. The magic, however, splashed harmlessly against a shield Grogar created. Tirek reached with his other arm into the portal, drawing forth from it a black, pulsing bag and trying to open it, but Grogar twitched his head and sent forth a magical burst of his own that struck Triek’s arm. The demon cried out in pain, dropping the bag and whatever it contained back into Tartaros.

Slowly, inch by inch, Tirek fighting every step of the way, Grogar pulled Tirek from the portal to Tartaros he had created. He created a lance of black magic, and jabbed it forward, into one of the demon’s arms, digging it in slowly. Tirek howled in pain.

Grogar advanced further, as he telekinetically pulled Tirek’s face down to level with his own, even as he created a second necromantic lance and slowly pushed it down and into the demon’s back. “I cannot kill you, Tirek,” Grogar hissed as he created another lance, and leveled this one with Tirek’s eye, “but I can make you suffer for as long as I have to. Until Luna gets here if I must.”

Tirek shivered in pain, eyes locked on the lance aimed at his eye. The demon clenched his teeth. “If I had the full breadth of my power – ”

“But you don’t,” Grogar hissed. “Give. Me. My. Soul.”

Tirek looked to Grogar, glaring at him for several seconds, before glancing back up, outside – at Luna, Grogar didn’t doubt. He reached out one fist, placing it over his chest, then pulling it away and opening the fist. Hovering just over it was a white orb, which almost immediately drifted forward and into Grogar. Even as this happened, Tirek seemed to grow a little worse for wear – his hair graying somewhat, his eyes sinking into his skull even more, his muscles atrophying further.

With Grogar, meanwhile, the change was much less profound – all that changed were his eyes, which gradually faded from blood-red and featureless, to turning into the normal, green eyes of a ram.

Grogar snorted, dispelling the lances he had driven into Tirek as he glared down contemptuously at the demon. “You have fallen so far, Lord Tirek,” he growled. “You have becoming nothing more than a wretched, pathetic coward.”

Tirek looked up at Grogar, then past him, at Bray. “The cowards survive,” he said, before looking back to the demon ram. “One day I will be free, Grogar, and on that day – ”

“You will do nothing,” Grogar interrupted, “for I shall have long been immortal. Now go and rot in your prison, demon.”

Tirek stared a moment, then smiled as he let the portal to Tartaros drag him back down. “Hubris,” he warned as he disappeared. The portal disappeared with him, falling in on itself like black ooze seeping down a drain, gone in moments.

Grogar took in a deep breath, then let it out, turning to face Bray and eying him. The donkey, for his part, backed away several steps in fear. Grogar growled, turning. “Follow,” he ordered. “There is only one final step before my…apotheosis.”

Celestia and Zecora reappeared in a forest clearing. Zecora turned to face her queen – and found the alicorn falling over, the flames of her mane and tail having gone out, the Element of Magic tumbling from her telekinetic grasp.

“Your majesty!” Zecora exclaimed, dashing forward and throwing herself beneath the alicorn, catching her before she could fall all the way to the ground, lowering her as gently as possible. When she got out from underneath her, she found that the alicorn was staring straight ahead with wide eyes, and…glowing slightly. Not with fire or heat, but rather from some internal source. She almost didn’t feel real to the touch, and her mane and tail both seemed to be pulled in a wind that wasn’t there – pulled east, the direction of the rising sun.

Zecora’s eyes darted over Celestia, unsure of what to do. After a moment, Celestia’s eyes came into focus, locking onto Zecora. “E-Element…” she breathed, one hoof feeling along the grass. Zecora instantly grasped the Element of Magic, and pressed it into Celestia’s hooves. The alicorn held onto tightly, as though for dear life, even as the pull at her mane and tail seemed to increase, and the glow of her body seemed like it was trying to follow it.

The zebra realized she knew what was happening – the teleport had taken almost everything out of her queen. Had she been a mortal pony, it would have killed her; even with her immortality to protect her, however, Celestia was being pulled back towards the Sun, her Sun, the power and glory of which Celestia could use to rest and recuperate.

Of course, that would lock Celestia way for some time – weeks, certainly, months, possibly, years…it was not out of the question.

“No, your majesty!” Zecora exclaimed, reaching out a hoof in supplications. “You have a part to play in what is yet to be! If you retreat to the heart of the Sun, then – then when the storm arrives, there is nothing that can be done!”

Celestia didn’t seem to hear Zecora, instead closing her eyes and holding the Element even tighter. “H…he lauded me…applauded me…” she breathed. “Tirek…”

“Surely you invest no belief in the proclaimed Liar and Thief?” Zecora asked desperately.

“They betrayed me, could see no difference…”

“What matter the ponies, your majesty? Their lack of faith in you is a travesty!” Zecora stepped forward. “You are the true queen of the Day! And I remain loyal, come what may!”

Celestia opened her eyes, but only to look down at the Element. Gritting her teeth and groaning, she forced herself to her hooves, accepting help from Zecora as she did. Her legs trembled like a new foal’s, her wings sagged, her head drooped, but she managed to remain standing as she glared down at the Element of Magic.

“It…it hasn’t been…been corrupted,” she said. “The…the bearers have been…but not as I had thought…” Celestia winced, closing her eyes and taking a few moments to breathe before continuing. “Th…they are not evil…they are not…not blackened by dark magic…” she looked upwards without raising her head, at the shield that encased the island, and at her sister beyond. “A…and nor has my sister been…”

“Your majesty…” Zecora began, reaching out a hoof.

A raised wing stopped her attempt, however. Celestia looked to Zecora, but seemed to be looking past her as well as she continued. “I…I have been going about this all wrong,” she said. “Th…they are misguided…like f-foals…raised by parents who know no better themselves…”

The glow and the pull on Celestia was stronger than ever. She seemed less real by the moment – almost transparent. Zecora opened her mouth to warn her queen at the danger, but Celestia seemed to realize it as she looked down at the Element, eyes narrowing.

“The…the throne is mine,” Celestia said, placing an unsteady hoof on the Element of Magic. “Mine by right…mine by responsibility. I am the rightful queen – and I shall prove it.”

Celestia’s horn glowed weakly as she wrapped the Element of Magic in her aura. “I am the eldest alicorn,” she said. “I am the rightful Queen…I am Celestia…I am the Sun!”

As Zecora watched, Celestia poured what had to be all of the scant traces of magic yet remaining to her into her spell, pressing it down and into the Element of Magic and somehow opening it. The Element glowed lavender as a beam of light shot straight up and into the sky, but the lavender beam was flecked with gold in increasing amounts – until, after only a few moments, the golden glow was all that remained.

Zecora retreated backwards several steps as heat began to rise from Celestia. The alicorn spread her wings wide as she stepped, or more stumbled really, into the light as it began to curl around her form. The grass beneath her blackened to a crisp, the air taking on an acrid smell of smoke. Celestia made no sound, however, not even when the light grew too bright to look at, the heat strong enough that Zecora had to retreat several more paces, then more, then more again.

And then, all at once, the heat and light disappeared – and, standing over the Element of Magic was Celestia. Her weakness had disappeared, her mane and tail ignited in bright orange and red flames once more, the regalia she wore shining with new light. The bruises and cuts that had adorned her body had disappeared.

Zecora stared in awe for a moment, before dropping to her knees and hocks, prostrating herself before her queen. Celestia, herself, inclined her head to the zebra.

“I did not seek thee out immediately, Zecora,” she said, slipping back into older Equestrian in the moment’s gravity. “I thought only of Grogar and his demise. This…was a mistake. Thou art my loyalist of servants. I shall not make the mistake again.”

“Never did my faith waver,” Zecora responded truthfully. “All I seek is your favor.”

“Thou shalt have it, now and forever.” Celestia turned away, and back to her sister in the sky. Zecora had little doubt that Luna was staring down as well, no doubt in fear at her sister’s restored power. “I have been acting in the wrong way, Zecora – if the throne is to be returned to me. I see that now. I was blinded by my own pride.” She looked back to the zebra, slipping back into modern Equestrian. “I should not have been gathering allies for a war. My retaking of the throne must be accomplished in one fell swoop. I must overwhelm my sister in Canterlot and Canterlot alone. I must take back the throne not in a burning crusade, but with as little damage as possible.”

She turned back to Zecora, stepping up to the zebra, magically keeping the flames on her body cool enough so as to not burn the smaller being. “The ponies don’t know any better. The bearers of the Elements don’t know any better. They are not at fault, not to blame. I should never have threatened their kith and kin, it will get me no closer to my goal.”

Zecora considered. “What then must be done, O queen of the glorious Sun?”

Celestia considered a moment, before looking through the forest, across the island, and to the city of Tambelon. “First, before anything else,” she said, taking the Element of Magic into her telekinetic grasp, “Grogar’s threat must be ended. Step closer, Zecora – and follow.”

The zebra did as her queen commanded, and couldn’t help but smile. “As you command, your majesty – so shall it always be.”

Author's Note

Precedent for the Element responding to a non-bearer trying to utilize it: Sunset Shimmer.

10. Acts of Sacrifice

“There – has been – entirely – too much – running – in our lives – recently!” Lyra gasped out as the six of them galloped at full speed from the former throne room. Behind them, the horde of golems chased them through the castle. As before, the ponies’ four legs gave them something of an advantage over golems in terms of speed, but the golems knew the castle’s layout and took turns much better.

Trixie grimaced as she looked over her shoulder. The golems were gaining, slowly but surely, largely because they didn’t tire but Trixie and her friends did. She set her horn aglow and launched a fireworks spell back at the golems to try and buy time. Corona’s lingering magic within her leant it real heat and force, but she managed to strike only one golem, and that one only stumbled a little, and picked itself back up almost immediately. The small flames that lingered on its body didn’t even slow it down.

“We need to get out of here!” Trixie cried. They had maybe a ten second lead on the golems. Trixie was almost tempted to give the Elements a shot, see if maybe they did anything to the necromantically-animated constructs, but then she remembered she didn’t have the Element of Magic on her. Corona had taken it…and without it, they had no way of dealing with her, never mind the golems or Grogar.

“I’m not seeing any doors! Just windows!” Carrot Top exclaimed. “Who designed this place – ”

“Oh – forget it!” Raindrops shouted, charging ahead of them and slamming hooves-first into a window. Its glass shattered outwards, covering her in small nicks and cuts, but she ignored them as she turned around and her friends gathered near. “Trixie, get Cheerilee and Carrot Top out.”

“I’ll catch you if you fall,” Ditzy provided, carefully flying out the window and avoiding the glass. Cheerilee was already at the sill as well, looking down. “It’s maybe ten feet.”

“Me and Raindrops will cover,” Lyra provided, grasping her lyre tightly as the golems rounded a corner. They didn’t slow their charge at them at all. Lyra’s horn glowed bright gold and she threw a shield spell up, large enough to block most of the hallway. Golems tried to slither past, but Raindrops leapt at them as they did, using front and hind hooves both as Lyra struggled to maintain her shield against their attacks.

Trixie was already working on getting the two earth ponies out via her telekinesis. She grasped and hoisted out Cheerilee first, the magenta mare being the more capable of the two in case anything happened on the ground. Cheerilee gave a little salute as she was lowered down, Ditzy flying alongside her until she was safely on the ground.

Trixie shook her head a little as she withdrew her aura from Cheerilee, putting one hoof to her forehead. She was not used to picking up something pony-sized. Quills and books and the occasional card, that was her normal limit. She made a mental note to work on that as she grasped Carrot Top in her aura and began lowering her down, Carrot Top fidgeting the entire time. “I’m sorry I’m not more useful…” she said as she was lowered.

“Carrot Top? You just played chicken with a necromancer, a demon, and an alicorn.” Cheerilee reminded her as Carrot Top joined her on the ground. “Try to remember that.”

“Huh…guess I did…”

Meanwhile, up in the palace, Lyra let out a sharp breath as her shield spell cracked. “This isn’t gonna last…”

“Ditzy, grab Lyra!” Trixie exclaimed. Ditzy was back inside in an instant, grabbing the unicorn about her barrel and flying her backwards and out. Like Trixie, she wasn’t used to carrying hundreds of pounds of pony at once, but fortunately all she needed to do was slow her descent to the ground, not stop it.

There was a problem, of course – Lyra’s shield failed the instant she could no longer see it. Raindrops and Trixie were both already galloping towards the window. She yelped when she felt a golem’s claw swipe at her tail, and didn’t wait for Raindrops to grab her as she leaped blind out the window. Her trust was rewarded, thankfully, as Lyra’s aura was wrapped around her and carried her to the ground safely.

Raindrops leaped backwards out of the window herself. The golems surged after her, but now that Raindrops was outside, with room to spread her wings and fly and with the golems not having enough room to swarm, she was more in her element. A solid buck knocked the first one to leap out of the window back into the castle, and the next one to charge out received a hoof-punch to its snapping jaw. Two more stumbled over themselves trying to get out; Raindrops was on them in and instant, shoving her hooves into the sides of their heads and crushing them against the wall before finally turning and fleeing, joining her friends on the ground.

Then, they were running again. The golems at least needed a little time to get out the window and run. They came in a straight line, each already moving at their best speed and none of them thinking to slow down to catch up to their fellows. Raindrops had managed to destroy two at the window, but that still left them with ten golems to deal with.

Tambelon’s palace gate loomed before the ponies; it was closed, of course. Trixie was running next to Cheerilee, and glanced at her hopefully. She was disheartened to see Cheerilee similarly glance to her, each of them having hoped that the other would come up with a clever plan to get all six of them over the wall without problem. There was none.

They weren’t going to make it. Not all six of them, anyway.

Trixie skidded to a halt, horn blazing bright blue with the golden sparks leaping from it from Corona’s influence. She grit her teeth as she stared at the onrushing golems, having a precious few seconds to rifle through the spells she knew and decide on the best ones for the situation.

A beam of magic lanced from her horn and struck the lead golem first, encasing it in an airtight bubble and halting its movement. The golem behind it didn’t react fast enough and slammed into the bubble. It was unharmed, but momentarily stunned. The remaining golems adjusted their run, each of them turning around the bubble from the left.

They were adaptable, Trixie realized, but only over time. For the first few times they encountered a problem, they would all react the same way, following whatever programming Grogar had instilled them with. They learned, but not even half as fast as a pony would. Could she use that? Trixie’s horn glowed – but before she could do anything, a burst of gold-tinted magic shot past her and into the new lead golem, sending it flying back against its fellows.

Trixie recognized that aura; glancing over her shoulder, she saw Lyra, standing on her hind legs and hooves working at her lyre. “The hay do you think you’re doing?” her fellow unicorn asked.

“Sacrificing myself so you five can get away!” Trixie cried, even as she turned her attention back to the golems, who were up and moving again. “Where’s everypony else – ”

Lyra struck with her magic again, a wide burst of sound that, while it didn’t knock over any golems, did make them slow down and lean against it like a heavy wind. The golems started to charge again, but a jasmine-and-magenta shape appeared over them and dropped down amongst them. The golems were slow to react to this unexpected angle of attack as Cheerilee and Raindrops lay into the nearest golems they could get their hooves on. The golems may have learned how to fight them before, requiring Corona to save them, but Raindrops and Cheerilee had had some thoughts of their own as well. They didn’t lash out with hooves, but rather lunged full-body at the golems, dragging them to the ground where they could them trample them underhoof and hoping that the golems couldn’t react quite fast enough to maul or eviscerate them with their claws.

The golems that the two couldn’t reach – six of them, as Raindrops had managed to tackle two – turned to deal with the threat, and that was when Carrot Top and Ditzy appeared in the air overhead, looking to repeat what the other mares had accomplished. The golems hadn’t learned and were caught by surprise, or whatever their programming called it, as Ditzy and Carrot Top both leaped at their own golems. That still left four standing, however, which bore down on the ponies beneath them. Trixie grasped one in telekinesis and threw it as far as she could while maintaining her shield over the former lead golem, even as she ran forward and hurled herself at another golem, colliding with it and pushing it against another that was about to slice its claws through Cheerilee’s neck. Lyra had joined in Trixie’s charge, and took down a golem of her own.

By the time they hit the ground, Raindrops and Cheerilee were up again and charged the last golem. It utterly lacked survival instinct and did likewise, claw forward. Cheerilee ducked the claw, but Raindrops only dove in, heedless of her own safety as her hooves connected to the rag-doll like body of the golem and forced it down to the ground. The golem tried to tear at her, but Raindrops only let out a whinny of anger as she raised and brought down her front hooves again and again, until at last the golem stopped moving.

The remaining golems were taken out as quickly as possible; once on the ground beneath the ponies hooves, they were at a marked disadvantage. The last one to be destroyed was the one that Trixie had trapped in a bubble; it had scratched and clawed at the bubble the entire time, trying to escape, but once it did Ditzy, Carrot Top, and Lyra fell upon it without hesitation, bringing it down.

Trixie was breathing heavily as she took stock of their situation. None of the other five looked any better than she did, all of them covered in cuts. Some of them were relatively small, some of them larger – and Trixie’s heart skipped a beat when she saw Raindrops with a hoof to one eye and an uncomfortable amount of red surrounding that hoof. “R-Raindrops!” she exclaimed, dashing forward, as did the other five when they saw.

“I’m fi-fine,” Raindrops stuttered out between gasps for breath, hooves and wings twitching from the adrenaline rush she was still going through. She rubbed a fetlock against her eye, and the other five saw that her eye itself was uninjured, but there was a gash in her brow above it. She had another long, though shallow, cut across one flank. She had already been the most physically injured of them, and this latest encounter hadn’t helped at all.

Carrot Top took Raindrops’ head in her front hooves, looking at the cut. “Doesn’t look too bad,” she said, then looked Raindrops over more fully, “but we need to avoid fighting – ”

There was a hollow wail. The six ponies turned to look for its source, and saw, standing atop the palace’s walls, a golem, pointing at them and its maw hanging open as its shriek split the sky. To their horror, the wail was soon taken up by other golems. A second one appeared in another section of the wall, then a third – and then more, and more, crawling over the side from the city that lay beyond. There were easily a hundred golems, probably more. It didn’t much matter – in their condition, they probably couldn’t have handled even four or five.

“Plan?” Trixie asked, as yet more golems began to appear. She looked to Cheerilee, who was staring at the golems with wide eyes. “Plan? Anypony?”

“Run!” Cheerilee responded, turning around to make good on that. The rest followed, but they were exhausted, barely managing a quick canter. The golems, as one, leaped down from the wall and began to charge them.

Trixie looked to Ditzy and Raindrops. “Fly, you idiots! Get away!”

Ditzy shook her head, though there were tears streaming from her eyes. “I’m not leaving you!”

“There’s no reason we all have to – gah!” Trixie began, but then she glanced behind her. How had the golems come up on them so fast? They were nearly on top of them, trailing only a few feet. Some part of Trixie’s mind wondered if Grogar’s command to take one of them alive was still standing, which of them would be unlucky enough to be that pony.

Bray was having a difficult time getting a read on his master’s mood. He followed as Grogar lead him through the various hidden doors of the castle – a former queen had developed an irrational hatred of them for reasons no one had ever understood, and so had ordered that they be made to blend in with the rest of the castle, creating in effect a network of secret passages. It had always been something that Bray had intended to fix once he had become king of Tambelon.

They were heading up, through the tall central tower of the castle, which had housed the king’s chambers – Bray’s – and the observatory. Bray soon found himself standing out on the balcony of the latter, looking out across the isle’s night. The fire that the alicorn had started still blazed in part of the city, though its largely stone construction prevented it from spreading too far. Beyond that, the city was dark, and the forest beyond it darker still. Once, one had been able to see the lights of the various satellite villages of Tambelon from up here, the lights of taverns and farmhouses. Now there was nothing.

A loud crack that reverberated through the night reminded Bray – once he’d recovered his wits – that this was not really true. There was still the gray shield that enveloped Tambelon, and beyond it was Princess Luna. Unlike Celestia for the past few hours, she was at the height of her power. The shield above was visibly cracked and broken in many places; he doubted that it would survive another blow from the alicorn.

Grogar seemed unconcerned, however. He was looking out across the island with…Bray wasn’t sure what. Grogar hadn’t been one to ever display much in the way of emotion, due to his lack of a soul. That didn’t seem to have changed too much. Bray supposed that, having lacked the emotions of a fully living being for so long, Grogar would take some time before he could display them again. Even still, the ram had a slight grin on his face.

“Two thousand years, Bray,” the ram said as he gazed out across Tambelon. “Two thousand years of seeking and searching. Finally over…tonight.”

Bray put on a small smile. As much as he hated Grogar, as much as he wanted him gone for robbing him of his kingdom, the simple fact was that Grogar was much stronger than him. He had remained alive as long as he had by knowing that Grogar was the master, and he the servant. Nevertheless, there were some pressing concerns at the moment. “Not to, uh, rain on your glory, master…” Bray said, glancing up, “but Luna is coming.”

Grogar nodded. “She will be of no consequence once I have undergone my apotheosis.”

“Right. O-of course, master.” Bray seriously hoped this was the case, as he doubted he would live long if the alicorn of the night emerged victorious in the battle that would come as soon as the shield was destroyed. “Um…master, as much as you want to revel in having your soul back…”

“I should get on with it?” Grogar asked. He closed his eyes, and his grin widened slightly. “Indeed. Hold still, Bray.”

Years of service to Grogar almost made him actually remain still, but years more of survival instinct instead saved his life. He leaped backwards with a yelp as a solid plane of black magic sliced through the air, right where his throat had been. “M-master?!” he exclaimed in fright as he picked himself up.

Grogar’s grin was gone, and his now-green eyes, somehow even more terrible than the red they had been only a few minutes previously, narrowed as he looked at the donkey prince. “Why do you think I kept you alive all these years, Bray?” he asked as he stalked forward, the magic he had conjured solidifying into a long, jet-black knife. Bray retreated as Grogar advanced. “As a servant? Surely even you were not so stupid as to believe it was out of any kind of camaraderie.”

Bray retreated under Grogar’s advance, eyes wide. When Grogar flicked the knife at him, he managed to duck it, though it did score a cut across his cheek. He cried out at the feeling. “B-but I’ve always been loyal – ” he began.

“And incompetent,” Grogar said, telekinetically retrieving the knife. “But I have kept you around because I need a final, specific sacrifice. You have been prepared, Bray, over these long years. Your death is the final step.”

Bray turned, running as fast as he could for the stairs down. Grogar conjured a shield over it, however. The donkey prince brayed in fright, picking a direction and running. Predictably, this landed him only at the edge of the balcony, where escape meant a lethal hundred-foot drop to the roof below. He remembered that he knew how to teleport, and tried, but Grogar spoke a word, and a burst of black magic cancelled the spell. “M-master…!”

“Time to die, Bray,” Grogar said, as he descended upon the donkey.

Bray felt fear like he never had before gripping his heart. But fear had never paralyzed him before, as it did some others. It had usually lead him to the flight side of the fight-or-flight instinct, but there was nowhere left to flee to – and so he had only one option.

The gem in Bray’s turban – a replacement for the one stolen by the ponies, though unfortunately the only such replacement he had – glowed, and Bray lashed out with magic. For now, it was only simple telekinesis, slamming against Grogar and sending the ram sliding back several feet. Grogar looked hardly affected, growling and eyes narrowing further.

Bray grit his teeth, however, stepping one hoof forward, then beginning to pace in a circle, getting his back away from the balcony. “N-no, Grogar!” he exclaimed, gathering some small amount of courage from the fact that he had managed to hold back the mighty necromancer. “I will n-not be so easy to s-slay as my father was!”

Grogar chuckled slightly. “The father you helped me kill. Along with your entire family.”

“They were useless foals!” Bray countered as he felt rage gripping his heart, a welcome change from the fear that had been there moments ago. Images of his family, his stupid, feckless father and mother and older siblings, flashed in his mind. “Tambelon held more magical might, more wealth and power than in the whole of the rest of the world combined! We should have sat at the center of a mighty empire. We would have under my rule! You stole my kingdom! You lied to me and betrayed me, and now you expect me to die for you?”

Bray lashed out with magic – a bream of pure energy. Grogar stopped it contemptuously with a shield spell as Bray continued to move, conjuring lances of energy and driving them as Grogar’s shield, then conjured whips of magic that tried to move behind the ram, past his shield. Grogar noticed the whips, and snorted in derision. He scuffed one hoof on the ground as he created magic of his own that destroyed the whips, then shoved forward with telekinesis. Bray cried out as he went flying backwards, and Grogar charged him, knife forward and aimed for his throat.

Bray reacted instantly, however – once again, his fight-or-flight instinct driving him to instant action, long before any conscious thought could have made him act. He rolled away from Grogar’s charge, then conjured a thick web, like that from some monstrous spider, in front of him. Grogar pulled up just short of touching the web and becoming stuck, but Bray let out a shout and sent more magic forward. The web wrapped around itself and rose, becoming an eight-legged golem that skittered after Grogar. The ram retreated a step in surprise as he conjured a shield to keep the web golem at bay.

Bray rose to his hooves, grinning at the sight of Grogar, Demon Ram Grogar, Grogar the Necromancer, retreating from a spell conjured by his poor, ‘stupid’ servant. He threw a hoof forward and launched magic at the golem, and it caught on fire. Unlike the useless rag-dolls created by Grogar, however, this golem would not be destroyed, not as long as Bray’s magic powered it. Its flaming legs clawed as Grogar’s shield, and the ram was forced back another step.

Bray let out a laugh at the sight. He had Grogar on the ropes! Why had he not done this years ago? “I was an heir to the throne of Tambelon,” he hissed. “My magic is second to none!” He held forward a hoof. His golem moved out of the way, but only so that Bray to strike at Grogar with a dispelling effect. The ram’s eyes widened as his shield dissipated into nothing. Bray raised his other hoof as Grogar tried to conjure a new shield, and lighting arced from his hooves and into the ram. He cried out as he stumbled backwards, towards the balcony.

Bray’s assault ended, but the flaming web golem charged at Grogar again. Grogar let out a howl of anger as he once again conjured black magic. It washed over the golem, dissipating it back into motes of harmless magic that took the form of grayish-red smoke – through which Bray lunged, a conjured knife of his own with a blade nearly as long as his cannon plunging forward and into Grogar, just at the base of his neck and down into his chest. The strap for the bell the ram wore snapped, and it fell from his neck as his eyes widened in surprise and pain. The knife had not quite hit his heart, but it was close enough that the difference was one of only a few seconds at most.

Bray glared hate up into the demon ram. “Now die,” he said, gem glowing. Before Grogar could do anything more, he was thrown from the balcony telekinetically, and fell towards the ground below. Bray watched him fall with no small amount of satisfaction, which only grew when the necromancer landed with a very definite and final thud on the roof below.

“The Necromancer is dead,” Bray declared. “Long live King Bray!”

It didn’t matter to him that there was no one around to exult him at his impromptu coronation; he would have subjects soon enough. A hollow wail went up from the castle grounds to his left – Grogar’s golems. He looked down from the balcony, and saw that the six ponies that had come to his island were running away from a hundred-plus horde of golems, charging across the eastern courtyard and closing in on them fast.

Bray grinned, as his gem glowed and he readied himself to teleport. Grogar was dead, and soon, so too would those meddlesome, short-eared nags. Now…now he had some planning to do.

It had hurt, rather more than he had suspected it would. But even as the darkness tried to claim him, the fact that it didn’t – that it couldn’t – told him that it had worked. There had been some unexpected twists along the way, but by and large everything had gone according to his designs. Now all he had to do was wait, until the changes to his body, his psyche, his soul, were complete.

For once – and now, forever – he had the time.

The golems were almost on top of the six ponies, and each was surely certain that they were going to die.

And then, fire. A wall of flames roared to life in the bare foot of space between the six ponies and the golems. Trixie’s tail was singed. The lead golems didn’t stop in time and plowed on through, but instantly ignited and made it only a few extra steps before collapsing. The remaining golems – most of the hundred-plus that had been chasing the six – stopped short, glancing around as they tried to find the source of the fire. The six ponies, too, took the chance to stop and stare, though after a moment they looked to each other. None of them questioned where the fire was from – it was obvious.

The wall of flames dissipated, and Celestia arrived in a white-hued flash. Her body was free of any injury, and she stood tall again, wings raised regally, eyes white with power, mane and tail alight, her back to the six ponies. Beside her was Zecora, a faint white sphere around her protecting her from the heat of Celestia’s flames, heat that would have been enough to send the six ponies back several more paces had the terror, however misplaced, of the sight of Celestia once again at the height of her power not been enough to do that by itself. They didn’t make it more than six or seven steps, however, before running into an invisible telekinetic wall.

Celestia glanced back at them, before looking back out to the golems. Each of the golems let out their hollow wails and charged forward. Celestia stepped forward herself, stomping one hoof on the ground. Blue-hot flames leapt to life in front of her and washed forward in a great conflagration; before any of the golems could react it washed over them. When the flames cleared only a few moments later, there was nothing left of the golems save ash, and even that was scattered to the winds with a contemptuous flick of one of Celestia’s wings.

The white alicorn turned next to the ponies, and held up a hoof. Lying on top of it was the diadem that was the Element of Magic. The ponies stared at it in terror. Before, the Elements had protected them from Celestia’s power unleashed upon them – but would the same hold true when she held one of the Elements in her hoof?

Celestia noticed the fear, however, and she remembered well the realizations she had just undergone. She tucked her wings away, and used one alula to hold onto the Element of Magic as she regarded the ponies. “You betrayed me,” she intoned, taking one step forward, “but I realize now why. You do not understand me – what I am trying to accomplish. Why I am doing what I am doing.” She closed her eyes and shook her head sadly. “I have been foolish. I shall grant you that. And in my foolishness I have more than earned your terror.” She glanced upwards, at the dome that Luna was even now preparing herself to destroy. One more blow would likely be enough, but Luna still needed some time to prepare that blow – ten minutes, maybe more. She looked back to the ponies. “But there is more to me than fire and hate, my little ponies.”

Celestia’s horn glowed white, and magic that moved and licked at them like flame washed over the six ponies. They recoiled in fear at first, until they realized that the magic was not burning them. Instead, as the magic poured over them, their cuts were closed, their bruises soothed, even the singed manes and tails that Celestia’s own fire had caused was repaired. They were still exhausted – Celestia could not heal that – but they were otherwise whole once more.

The gray pegasus with the uneven eyes – Ditzy Doo, Celestia reminded herself – reacted first. Her wings had steadily risen and muzzle scrunched as anger built within her, and after a moment she came forward, wings beating to take her into the air as she rose to eye level with Corona and jabbed a hoof at her. “Do you really think that this makes up for anything?” she demanded. “We understand you perfectly, Corona!”

“You are working off of a thousand years of my sister’s lies,” Celestia continued, forcing herself to remain calm. She looked once more to Luna. “But I was in error concerning the reason my sister created those lies. She does not understand, any more than you do, my little ponies.” Celestia looked back to the six. “In some ways, perhaps it is my fault. I isolated her from governance, a thousand years ago. For her own good, to protect her. But when she overthrew me, Equestria was left with a monarch who had no idea what she was doing.” Celestia shook her head sadly. “No wonder Equestria fell into corruption as it had. No wonder her Night Court was allowed to run roughshod over the populace.”

“Never mind the thousand years of basically peace and stability we’ve had since you left, right?” Trixie demanded, stepping forward herself, her gaze locked on the Element of Magic. “Give that back, Corona.”

Celestia smiled at the unicorn’s naivety. “So that you can banish me once more into the Sun? I think not.” She spread her wings again, taking the Element into her magical grasp. “See how the Element of Magic has restored me to my full power, my little ponies! What more proof do you need of my righteousness?” She looked back to the ponies. “I shall dispel the millennium of untruths spread by my sister, lies spoken for so long that even she has come to believe them. I have only ever sought to protect you from the horrors this world contains, and that is a task I shall once more take up.” Celestia chuckled, shaking her head as she looked to Zecora. “For the past months I have been hiding like a foal in my lair. No more! As it always must, the Sun has risen, and its light has directed me towards my path!

“Grogar shall fall first. I shall burn away the demon ram as I burned away his toys. Then I shall gather my strength and power, acquire what I need to overcome my sister, and my niece, and any other weapon she could direct against me. With a single blow I shall topple my sister in Canterlot. There shall be no need for a campaign, no need for armies marching city by city as I once envisioned.” Corona looked to each of the ponies, one by one, before continuing. “Then when I am once more on the throne, I shall expunge the lies and deceit my sister has spread. Not with fire and sword, but with actions and deed, transforming Equestria into the greatest nation in the world, that none dare challenge. You shall see – you shall all see! I shall provide, and none of my little ponies shall want for anything, ever again.”

Celestia nodded to herself, turning and trotting towards Castle Tambelon, intent on seeking out Grogar. Ditzy surged forward, however, stepping in front of her. “We’ll fight you, Corona!”

Celestia stopped in her trot, regarding the pegasus. Mere hours ago, she would have considered this a sign of weakness, but…she looked back up. “I was in error, Ditzy Doo, eight months ago. I should never have taken hostages. Though I never intended them harm, it was wrong of me to even imply otherwise. I sought to control you all through fear.” Celestia shook her head. “Never again. I shall lead through glorious example. Until then…” Her horn glowed white, and she pushed Ditzy aside as gently as possible, as a mother might a wayward foal. Ditzy tried to stop her, but couldn’t.

Celestia looked to the ponies, and held up the Element of Magic once again. “While I possess this, none of you are the slightest threat to me. I have no need to harm any of you.”

The six all looked like they wanted to say something to that, but each stopped short, their eyes locked on the Element of Magic. Celestia was right, after all. All things had a weakness, and this was the weakness of the Elements of Harmony – they had to be together, work as a single set, or else they wouldn’t work at all. Celestia smiled as she turned once more to castle Tambelon and trotted towards it, intent on seeking out and burning away the necromancer within. “In time, you will understand your error, my little ponies, as I understood my own,” she said as she left.

He stood. He paid no mind to the red stain he left behind on the cobble stone as he did; it didn’t matter anymore. He knew where Bray would go, and he started walking there. He had a loose end to finish off before he dealt with Celestia.

The wealth of Tambelon had taken many forms. Its most obvious had been in the form of being a center for trade across the Sea of Tranquility – the camels to the west, the buffalo to the south, the elks and griffins to the north, and the ponies to the east had all sent ships across the generally placid waters of the Sea since time immemorial – the trade routes were ancient even in Bray’s time, never mind now, two thousand years later. The donkeys of Tambelon had sat near the center of the those trade routes. At first they had been pirates, but as wealth accumulated on their island they had transformed into protectors of the Sea, guarding ships from others who would plunder them – for a modest fee, of course, but the Tamberlaan had been consumers of trade in their own right at well. Tambelon’s land at its height had consisted of only the isle itself and a few small colonies in the southeast, but its material wealth had rivalled that of the ancient Unicorn Kingdom itself.

But the far greater wealth had always been its magical knowledge. Collecting the texts and learning the lessons of all their neighbors, the donkeys of Tambelon had amassed a library of magical writings second to none in all the world in Bray’s day. The library had been called Spellhold, and it was into that library that Bray now arrived in a blue-hued flash of magic.

Spellhold lay within the walls of the Castle Tambelon, though it was not directly connected to it. The building was circular, with scrolls and books covering its walls, requiring ladders with a dozen rungs and more to reach the tallest shelves. The library had been used by Grogar, of course, both after he had killed the royal family and before. It was within the pages of the books here that he had learned how to summon dread Tirek, how to slay thousands of beings in an instant, and countless other spells. He had already been well-learned, but his magical knowledge had more than doubled on entering Spellhold. Yet not all the spells were made for doom and destruction – indeed, that comprised only a tiny portion of them. There was magic here for every purpose and any purpose – Celestia and Luna themselves would have learned a trick or two from perusing the texts.

“And it’s mine,” King Bray said to himself as he looked around. “All mine.”

Bray had to move quickly, he knew. He allowed himself only a moment more of excitement before he got to work, the gem in his turban glowing bright. As prince of Tambelon, his most important area of study growing up had been magic. All of Tambelon’s royal family had been mages of no small power. With four brothers and three sisters sitting between him and the throne, he had further had little else to do but study magic. And the key to donkey magic had always been an implicit understanding of it that the other races could seldom emulate. The buffalo had their rituals, the elks and griffins their runes, the ponies their inborn magical gifts and the camels their contracts and wishes, but none of them could understand magic on so instinctive a level. With that understanding came power.

He began creating magical beacons, one by one, placing them around the edges of Spellhold. Each one projected an aura around itself, a five-foot cube that was little more than a marker, a notation that took in the details of everything about the space and objects it contained. Each was, once created, completely independent from the magical power of Bray’s gemstone, and would linger for several hours before collapsing. After several minutes of work, he was finished: Every space in Spellhold was lit by beacons, one every five feet in any direction, each one feeding off of each other and working together to create a perfect, three-dimensional map of Spellhold and all its contents in Bray’s mind. The beacons would further provide power when Bray required them to. While his gemstone could only channel so much magic at any one given time, there was no limit to the actual magic it contained.

Bray smiled as he sat down, looking over his work, ignoring the slight chill in the air. Using the beacons, he could teleport Spellhold – the entire library – and every single scrap of parchment contained therein to wherever he wanted to go as soon as the shield that lingered over Tambelon was destroyed by Luna. Fifty miles, a hundred, a thousand, it wouldn’t matter as long as he remained somewhere within this hemisphere. Someplace out in the middle of the Great Desert, most likely, in its eastern wastes where even the buffalo rarely travelled. He would never be found there unless he willed it, and his mastery of teleportation magic would give him ample ability to acquire food and water for himself.

And then? Bray’s smile widened. Then, it would at last be his time to reign. He had only ever scratched the surface of Spellhold’s magical knowledge, but at last, with no Grogar, no insipid family, nothing to worry about but the acquisition of magic, of power…

“I will become a King in the Wastes,” Bray said aloud, holding his front hooves out wide. “Yes…yes! It will take me a few years, but I can be patient. I was patient under Grogar, I can be patient now, too!” He grinned, bringing his hooves together. “That was always your weakness, ‘master,’ you old goat. No patience. Always hurrying. No wonder you wanted to live forever!”

Bray laughed again as he stood, pacing around as he waited for Luna to break the shield. He could be patient waiting for that, too. “I will gather my magical might, and then strike. I can act slowly. A few buffalo tribes here and there…a great enough display of power will cow them into submission. With those tribes I will move…south, I think. Yes – no need to offend any alicorns. The alpacas and the tapirs, they shall fall before me, city by city, tribe by tribe, nation by nation! I will carve a mighty southern empire and rule it for the remainder of my days. All will bend knee to me! Bray the Conqueror! Bray, King of Tambelon! Bray – Emperor of the South!”

“And that, more than anything, is proof of your stupidity,” an impossible voice said. “Even now, when you think you have nothing left to fear…your aspirations are so small.”

Bray froze, mouth hanging open, eyes wide. “Th…wh…” he stuttered, turning around slowly, looking at the entrance to Spellhold, its front doors, which Bray had not used but which nevertheless now hung open. Bray was far more concerned with the figure that stood in that door, however, illuminated by the beacons that Bray had placed. Bray couldn’t see the figure clearly, but… “Grogar…?” he asked in a small voice. “Is that you…?”

“Here’s a hint,” the figure said, and there was a burst of magic. Bray felt himself flying a second later, shoved back by telekinesis against one of Spellhold’s bookcases. The impact was just shy of bone-shattering, and Bray couldn’t stop himself from collapsing in a heap at the bookcase’s base. Before he could rise, Grogar was somehow there, standing over him and with one hoof on his barrel, holding him down even as Grogar’s telekinesis took Bray’s turban from his head. The cloth of the turban ignited, and the gem was ground into dust.

Bray stared up at Grogar in horror. How could he – how was he – not even a scratch? “How?” Bray demanded.

Grogar smiled grimly as his eyes flashed with some inner light. “One cannot become one of the undead without first dying, Bray,” he explained. “But nor can one take one’s own life to do so. Suicide means the lack of a will to continue living – how could I become immortal if I was willing to take my own life?”

Grogar chuckled as he stepped back from Bray, but the donkey prince remained where he lay. His fight-or-flight instinct had at last failed him as the inner light of Grogar’s eyes seemed to shine again. “You were retained for a purpose, Bray, but that purpose was not to die for me. It was to slay me. To murder me – or to attempt to. That was the final act of this plan – the last step on my road of apotheosis.

“And now I…”

Grogar’s entire form burst into green light, matching that of his eyes. After several moments, the light seemed to become too much for his body to contain. His fur curled and smoked before bursting into flame.

“…shall live…”

The flames raced across and consumed Grogar’s form, but let out no heat. His flesh was obliterated, the muscles and sinews and organs beneath as well. Within moments nothing remained of Grogar save a pitch-black skeleton that burned in emerald flames, save in the skull’s eye sockets and within its rib cage, where the cold fire instead burned a deep, malevolent purple.

“…forever.”

The burning skeleton that Grogar had become – that Grogar would be forevermore – stared down at Bray. Despite the fact that Grogar could no longer show any emotion at all, possessing nothing more than a skull’s grin, somehow he managed to convey a sense of unmitigated contempt as he put one hoof forward and opened his mouth.

“Your soul is mine.”

Bray tried to move, tried to scream, tried to react in some way – any way. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t do anything more than stare in horror as the former demon ram, now lich, reached out magically, the green and purple flames flaring and shooting forward and around Bray, over Bray – into Bray.

There was pain. And then, quite suddenly, there was nothing at all.

Author's Note

For the record, this chapter probably represents the absolute darkest I ever intend to write in the Lunaverse.

11. Darkness Ascending

Ditzy Doo stared at Corona as the alicorn trotted through Castle Tambelon, trying to understand the would-be Queen of Equestria. And much to her own surprise, she almost could. One moment, Corona would promise fire and destruction. In the next she would promise mercy and glory. In an instant she could go from enraged and raving to calmly rational and composed. She had kidnapped Ditzy’s daughter eight months ago, and had in every way acted like the sort of monster more than willing to harm an innocent filly, yet when push had come to shove she had avoided her threat with the flimsiest of excuses and focused her ire instead on Ditzy herself. Had she been lying when she had told Ditzy, just now, that she had never actually intended to harm Dinky? Why? Did she honestly expect Ditzy to believe that lie? Corona was not stupid by any means. She had to know that Ditzy would never forgive her, that kindness had its limits and Corona had reached Ditzy’s limit on the first night she had met her. And yet…

Trotting alongside Ditzy, her wings twitching with nervous agitation, her feathers ruffled and her fur standing on end, Raindrops stared at Corona, and also tried to puzzle out the alicorn. Corona hadn’t ever lied. Never. Not once. She only ever spoke the truth – or what she understood to be the truth, in any event, through perceptions that were twisted by madness. And she had risked her life (presuming that she could die; Raindrops wasn’t sure, but certainly she could be injured and feel pain) for the six of them – interposed herself between golems, took a magical blast that would surely have killed Raindrops. She had promised that their alliance would not be broken by treachery from her, and she was right – it had been Raindrops, and Trixie, and all the rest of the ponies who had tried to end this long ordeal on Tambelon in one fell swoop, to capture Corona and Grogar both at the same time and remove the concern about what would happen once their alliance was over. Yet despite their duplicity, Corona, now back at her full power, hadn’t immolated them – had actually, in her own way, apologized to them.

Trixie didn’t understand Corona either, as they followed the alicorn through the halls of the palace of Tambelon, Corona’s horn glowing bright white to provide light and to magically search for Grogar. Trixie’s brow was furrowed. Corona wasn’t supposed to be this complex – she should have been single-minded, dangerous, insane. That’s why ponies went inside at noon lest the baleful glare of the midday sun that had been her prison for a thousand years fall on them. And she was supposed to be treacherous – a thousand years ago, Celestia, the Undimmed Daystar, the Princess of the Sun, who had everything and was beloved by everypony, had betrayed them all – her ponies, her Court, her own sister – and tried to make herself Queen out of greed. That was what all the stories made her out to be, stories that every foal knew. Corona was supposed to be driven by greed and rage and anger. She was numbered amongst Tirek and the Smooze and Discord. She was supposed to be a monster. Instead, though Trixie could hardly believe she was beginning to realize this, she found that Corona wasn’t driven by mere greed or rage. Those informed and colored her actions, they were certainly there, but they weren’t her driving force. That force?

Compassion.

Cheerilee glanced at her friends, and then back to the alicorn. Cheerilee stared at Corona, and was beginning – just barely – to understand her. Somewhere deep inside Corona, past the greed and the fire, was a mare who’s heart broke every single time she saw a pony suffer, even when she was the one to do it. Seeing that suffering too many times had caused her to retreat into insanity and delusion, to use madness as a shield against the cruelty that had been inflicted on ‘her’ little ponies over her immortal lifetime. Cheerilee knew of others who had acted in a similar way. Her old friend, Count Shiny Copper Coin, had risked everything – his reputation, his fortune, his own life and the lives of others, an entire town called Oaton – to try and save his sister. Or Ditzy – Ditzy’s daughter had once been kidnapped by some very bad ponies, looking to extort favors from the Elements of Harmony. Cheerilee realized that the latter comparison, to Ditzy, was actually the most apt. Ditzy had all but lost her mind. She had nearly killed one of the kidnappers herself to find out where they were, grabbing him and dragging him into the air and then letting him fall to scare information out of him, catching him near the ground – even though, with her strabismus, such a save had been no sure thing.

Lyra stared at Corona, as Corona looked back for a moment – checking on the six of them, who were following behind Corona now looking for a chance to get the Element of Magic back and, because, she honestly was their best shot at staying safe from any other golems that may have been lurking somewhere in the castle or the city beyond. Corona didn’t look at them like enemies, in spite of their treachery. With her eyes a blank and featureless white due to the glow of power that came from them, it was difficult to read her sometimes, but not now. After spending hours with the alicorn, Lyra finally was starting to recognize the patterns, the common threads, to everything she did. Corona didn’t want to hurt anypony, not really. But she would do anything – anything – to protect them. If she had to hurt her little ponies along the way, she would do so, but she would weep molten tears while she did it, and use every tool at her disposal to avoid finding herself in a position where she had to – including kidnapping ponies to ensure the compliance of other ponies.

Carrot Top watched as Corona finished checking on them, and then got back to her search, her wing tightening its grip on the Element of Magic held by one of her wings, but otherwise unconcerned by the ponies following her. She really didn’t see them as a threat anymore, and somehow Carrot Top knew that this would extend even if they did manage to get their hooves on the Element of Magic once more – even if they managed to use it on her. As much as Carrot Top was finally beginning to understand Corona, Corona was finally beginning to understand them. And Corona wasn’t driven by single-minded cruelty and malice as Carrot Top had been raised to believe when she was growing up. Only monsters were so base, and Corona wasn’t a monster.

They were all following the same line of thought, and without realizing it, the six friends reached their conclusions almost at the same time – that Corona wasn’t what she was supposed to be. She wasn’t the monster they had been raised, that all of Equestria had been raised, to believe she was, a belief that had been reinforced by eight months of worry and concern over the fact that she had escaped her supposedly eternal prison within the heart of the Sun. It should have been obvious – after eight months of almost no activity, she had finally emerged not to wreak havoc and destruction, not to turn the land into a burning ruin, no – instead, her first major act had been to come here, to Tambelon, to finally slay the demon ram Grogar in order to protect her little ponies.

Corona wasn’t a monster. She was a mother, or viewed herself as such: the surrogate mother to the entire pony race. And that was an altogether more dangerous, more terrifying, and more heartbreaking thing.

Tirek was gone from the island below, but that had not assuaged Luna’s fears in any way, shape, or form. She had seen, perched as she was upon the shield that still covered Tambelon, the spell-battle between Bray and Grogar that had occurred on Tambelon’s tallest tower. She had hoped that Bray truly had been successful in slaying the demon ram – but she was not surprised when she had seen Grogar get up a few minutes later, despite the fall and the knife that had been embedded within his heart.

Grogar had succeeded. After two thousand years, Grogar’s plans had come to fruition – and Luna and Celestia had failed. She had seen Grogar enter Spellhold; why, she didn’t know. He hadn’t come out yet, though the entire building now glowed slightly with a bluish light.

The worst part was, Luna couldn’t even create an avatar and send it down to warn her little ponies and her sister. Somewhere out there, Solrathicharnon was still hiding and waiting for her to become distracted. Her consciousness had to leave her body in order to create an avatar through the shield – which would leave her vulnerable to the ancient dragon’s predations. Solrathicharnon almost certainly couldn’t kill her, no matter how hard he tried – but he could certainly injure her, deal a blow so great that she would have to retreat within the Moon to heal.

And then, there was her sister. Luna had seen Corona with the Element of Magic, seen her recover her power through it. Why? What game were the Elements playing? Or were they playing a game at all? In thousands of years of knowing and using the Elements of Harmony, Luna had never been able to answer to her satisfaction whether or not the mystical artifacts were somehow sentient and aware, or if they were just magical rocks. This journey to Tambelon was supposed to help answer that question.

Regardless, her sister had saved her little ponies from golems, and though they had been frightened of her returned to her full strength, Corona had done nothing to them – keeping her word to not break their alliance. Her ponies now followed Corona, probably waiting for a chance to steal the Element of Magic back.

Luna’s horn glowed brighter as she tried to force more power into her hoof. One more blow – one solid strike against the shield, and it would be gone. Then…

Grogar and Corona. She would have to deal with them both. She would fight Grogar with her sister’s aid – she was certain that she could count on her for that while Grogar yet lived, no matter their own lingering enmity – but Luna would then have to deal with her, while getting the Element of Magic back to her ponies, and also protecting them.

But first she would have to deal with the new lich, who stood upon ground where he himself had slain ten thousand beings. The lingering pressure of those deaths would make him…strong. How strong, Luna didn’t know – but he had already been so strong before, for a mortal being. Now…

Luna raised her hoof, readying herself. Not long now...

A mile away, Solrathicharnon’s head was floating just above the water, the rest of his body beneath the waves as he treaded. He was blind, yes, but alicorns, especially those in the middle of casting spells, positively glowed with magic. Dragons were sensitive to such things, and Solrathicharnon was more sensitive than most. He ‘watched’ Luna carefully.

Water was a useful thing. Magic tended to be impeded by the change from water to air – the most powerful spell, on striking a body of water or trying to emerge from it, could be weakened or even negated trying to transition itself between the two mediums. Ice probably functioned in a similar manner, though Solrathicharnon had never tried to find out if that were the case. He had used the water of the Sea of Tranquility to hide himself from Luna, her magical senses unable to penetrate very deep beneath the surface. Solrathicharnon had been similarly blinded, of course, but the difference was that, when he did raise himself above the surface, she was much easier to ‘see’ than the reverse.

Even as soon as three centuries ago, Solrathicharnon’s hate for Luna had burned within him like the fires of an erupting volcano. But not now. The hate remained and was no less strong, but it had hardened, calcified around his still-mighty heart as he aged like cooling yet still smoldering lava. He had allied himself with Celestia – Corona – whatever she was called, for one reason and one reason only: Luna’s destruction. He had been unable to resist attacking her a few hours ago when she had lain so helpless in the sky, projecting an avatar into the world below. He had hoped that his fire, the flames of a thousand-year-old dragon, would have been enough to kill the Alicorn of the Moon. But it was little surprise to him that Luna had recovered, and the ancient dragon had otherwise managed to hold himself in check.

It wasn’t easy. One could not hate for a thousand years and not lash out at the object of one’s hate when the opportunity presented itself, not without a very, very good reason. Fortunately, Solrathicharnon had one. He had a plan.

He had lied to Corona when he had told her that he knew nothing about Tambelon. He was more than a thousand years old, and a dragon besides. He was only two generations removed from when Tambelon had first been banished. Besides which, a thousand years was a long time to gather information, to learn, and to direct all that learning towards a single purpose.

A thousand years ago, Tambelon had re-appeared, and then been banished again by Luna. Five hundred years ago, it had appeared once more, and then once more been banished through the actions of the Moon Princess. It did not take a dragon’s intellect to recognize a pattern. The return of Tambelon was a predictable thing, as was Luna’s sojourn to Tambelon to banish it once more. It let Solrathicharnon know exactly when and where Luna was going to be.

And more importantly, it let Solrathicharnon know where Luna was not going to be.

The plan had to be adapted, of course, no thanks to Corona dragging Solrathicharnon to Tambelon with her. Still, the hallmark of a good plan was flexibility. Solrathicharnon had adjusted his plan as necessary, bringing the salamanders that Corona now reigned over into the fold, knowing the snakes were too cowardly to betray him. In a way, it was actually an improvement: the salamanders were consummate thieves and very good at sneaking about unseen. Solrathicharnon couldn’t go where he had needed to go without being noticed, even if it would have been too late for Luna to do anything. The salamanders? They could.

The dragon’s maw curled back into a grin as he sank once more beneath the waves. Then again, perhaps this Grogar would be able to kill Luna before Solrathicharnon even had a chance to. That would be disappointing – but Solrathicharnon could learn to live with disappointments such as that.

Celestia had, on entering the castle Tambelon, used her magical senses to search it. It had taken a little time, going from one floor to the next, supplementing her magical ability with a more mundane but no less useful physical search as well with her ears and eyes and sense of smell. She found the throne room abandoned, Tirek nowhere to be found save a lingering scent of brimstone. Had Grogar gotten his soul back, or had he failed? Corona was almost tempted to summon Tirek herself and interrogate the demon, but that would take too long if the demon ram had indeed retrieved his soul.

In any event, it took only a few minutes to clear the palace. The ponies, the bearers of the Elements, followed behind her the entire time, while Zecora was beside her. Though there was the smallest of risks that, with the bearers so near, they could contrive some way to retrieve the Element of Magic from her, Celestia could not help but consider the risk worth it. After all, it meant that they were close by, where she could keep an eye on them. Grogar had had four hundred days in Shadow to construct a golem army, and Corona didn’t doubt that some would still be lurking somewhere. They would continue to function as long as the demon ram was around.

Her searching, at length, took her from the castle, and out into the northern courtyard. Directly ahead of her lay the Necropolis. To the northeast was the barracks through which she and the bearers of the Elements had entered Castle Tambelon in secret, while to the northwest was Spellhold, the repository of Tambelon’s arcane knowledge. Its doors had been locked when she and Luna had banished Grogar centuries ago, and the magic that had locked them was so strong that even the two of them together could not break down the doors, nor destroy nor move the building – the result of hundreds of years of layered enchantments over its frame that protected it from all save members of the Tamberlaan royal family. Still, only such a member should have been able to open the doors, and in Tambelon’s happier days she and her sister had often wiled away the hours inside, disguised as mortal petitioners. They knew more about the library than the royal family had ever suspected, and so knew that there was nothing in Spellhold that could have freed Grogar from his prison. They had felt safe banishing Grogar with it into Shadow.

Luna and Celestia hadn’t known about Bray. Celestia’s eyes widened slightly when she saw that the door to the building was hanging open, and the entire building was bathed in a slight blue glow. She started forward at a somewhat more hurried pace. A mere few hundred days trapped in Shadow would not have been enough to plumb all of Spellhold’s secrets, but nevertheless –

She stopped when she felt a magical presence, seconds before it made its actual appearance. Walking out from Spellhold at an even, leisurely pace came a monster, a black ram’s skeleton wreathed in green and purple flame. Its pace didn’t slow in the slightest when it spotted Celestia, but somehow, though its skull was incapable of changing appearance, it seemed to grin.

“Impossible,” Celestia breathed. She was aware of the ponies behind her stopping short and gasping at the sight of Grogar, as did Zecora. She used a wing to motion them all to back away, even as her other wing tightened its grip on the Element of Magic. “How – without your soul – ”

A low rumble came from the lich, and Celestia realized that it was chuckling, though the sound was like the pounding on the doors of a tomb. “I took from Tirek what was mine,” Grogar responded, his – its – voice as hollow-sounding as that of his former golems.

“But the final step – you could not have killed yourself – ”

“Bray,” Grogar answered. “Though it may please you to know that he is now dead. I took the traitor prince’s soul. It shall be the first fuel to feed the fire of my…immortality.” It said the last with no small amount of satisfaction, the grin on its skull seeming to grow larger.

Celestia rocked back on her hooves at those words. She jabbed a hoof forward. “Souls cannot be taken, only given – ”

Grogar laughed aloud, a hollow, hacking sound that nevertheless reverberated through the courtyard as it at last stopped its advance, a scarce twenty feet from Celestia. “Such rules may apply to demons and alicorns, Celestia. But not to what I have become.” Grogar held forward a skeletal hoof, and the flames there danced higher, revealing a small, white glowing mote of light. “Bray’s soul shall sustain me for a time. But I shall need more.” It looked at Celestia hungrily.

Celestia bristled, flaring her wings as the fires at her mane and tail lit up higher. The ponies and Zecora retreated back several steps. “You will not find me so easy prey,” she said in a low voice.

“But prey you are,” Grogar responded. The grin that wasn’t there seemed to widen, and the baleful flames across its form doubled in size, the ones on its back taking on the appearance of great, batlike wings. “Everything in this world is now my living prey – ”

The attack that Celestia launched was nearly subconscious, a fireball from her horn that impacted against Grogar’s form in a split second. The lich was sent flying backwards, stopping only when he impacted against the distant wall of Tambelon’s Necropolis. Then the fireball that Celestia had created exploded, a great conflagration a hundred feet across that let loose an airburst that would have bowled over the ponies and zebra behind Celestia had she not used yet more magic to protect them. Even after the explosion cleared, the fire yet lingered in many places, tall pillars of flame that formed a small wall between Celestia and the Necropolis.

Grogar lay in a heap, the fire that had surrounded its bones extinguished and the bones in a scattered pile. Celestia was not much surprised, however, when the green-and-purple flames started up once more, the skeleton reassembling itself as Grogar stood once more, looking no worse for wear.

“Die.”

Grogar’s fires flared up, and black magic lanced from the lich’s horns. Celestia’s own horn glowed as she conjured a shield sphere around her. The magic struck the sphere and seemed to ooze around it, crawling over and around the sphere – and then lancing after the ponies and zebra behind Celestia. The alicorn’s eyes widened in shock as she turned around, quickly conjuring another magical shield around her charges before Grogar’s spell could slay them.

Celestia turned to bring her attention back to Grogar, and found that somehow the lich was there, right in front of her, having crossed the distance between them with no sound. She gasped in surprise, rearing back to lash out with a hoof, but Grogar moved yet again, head lowered and ducking beneath her blow and ramming her full-on in her exposed barrel. She had not expected a physical attack, and was sent soaring into the air. Even as she did, however, her horn glowed white, and the ponies and zebra disappeared in flashes of light, teleporting them safely to elsewhere on the island.

Celestia arrested her ascent into the air with magic, glaring down at the necromancer-turned-lich as she stood on the air, one wing spread out in instinct even as the other continued to hold onto the Element of Magic. Grogar looked back up, the skeletal grin on its face once more seeming to widen even though it remained frozen in place. As Celestia watched, Grogar’s ribs one by one broke apart and re-assembling onto the lich’s back, connected by strands of black magic as they formed a rough shape of wings that were wreathed in the same purple flame that had burned in its chest and still burned in its eyes. The lich leapt into the air, and didn’t fall back down, quickly ascending to Celestia’s height.

The flames around Celestia’s own form doubled as well, and she threw herself forward, horn down, fire burning at its tip. Grogar maneuvered out of the way, lashing out with a necromantically-enchanted hoof as it did. Celestia avoided the blow as she spun to match Grogar’s movement, bucking with a hind leg and striking Grogar’s spine. Rather than being hurled backwards, however, the spine simply shattered as her hoof struck it, while the green fire of Grogar’s form tried to climb up and over her body, towards her heart. Celestia beat her wings furiously to escape, grabbing the Element of Magic telekinetically now. Once she was a hundred feet back, the fires receded from her form, but Celestia saw that Grogar’s spine had already repaired itself.

Celestia reacted before Grogar could, surrounding it in a magical shield. She laced a second one around it, then a third, before readying a fireball at the tip of her horn. The small bead of compacted fire magic shot from her horn towards the trapped lich. The shields would open only large enough to accept the compacted fireball, there would be no escape –

Grogar placed its hooves against the innermost shield containing it, and black magic oozed out from its hooves, covering the inside of the shield and obscuring all light from leaving it. Just as the fireball might have reached it, the necromantic sphere suddenly grew spines that lanced out in every direction, destroying the shields that Grogar had been trapped in and sending a jolt of pain straight down Celestia’s horn.

The necromantic shield disappeared just as the beat of fire would have reached it, and Grogar’s hoof was already outstretched and waiting for it. With a single fluid motion, the ram changed its course, pushing it aside and sending it flying to the ground below. The force of its detonation, hundreds of feet below, was still enough to send Grogar soaring into the air, but it did so in a controlled way, necromantic wings spread wide as it soared upwards. Its wings then curled around it – and it vanished.

Celestia’s eyes widened, and she turned around just in time to see Grogar appear behind her in a flash of green and purple fire, hoof once more outstretched. Its spine, hip, and hind legs broke apart this time, moving with lightning speed down its outstretched hoof like an extending, flaming lance. Celestia tried to move out of the way, but she had been caught by surprise – she hadn’t known that Grogar knew how to teleport – and the lance cut a deep gash in her barrel’s side, not deep enough to be lethal, but enough to hurt and make her cry out, first in pain, then in horror when the baleful flames of the lich remained behind on the wound, cooling into a black tar that tried to seep its way into Celestia.

Celestia teleported herself back a thousand feet first, then turned her attention to the wound that hurt far, far more than it should of, and the crawling, creeping feeling of the necromantic tar burrowing into her. Her horn flashed, and fire scorched the tar from her body, then burned into her.

It hurt. Celestia was essentially fireproof, but that didn’t apply when she was intentionally trying to burn herself to stop some kind of invasion of her own body. The necromantic tar was destroyed, but Celestia found herself gasping for breath, glaring at Grogar. “You…” she hissed, the pure flames of her own mane and tail flaring bright, the fire now burning down along her wings and at her hooves as well, “you should not be this strong! I have fought liches before – they were not nearly so dangerous so soon after their creation!”

Grogar’s hollow chuckle echoed through the air. “You fought none like me,” it responded, pointing down. “All of this, Celestia…all of this was one great plan. Ten thousand beings died on this island – died by my hoof, a single act causing so much death that now fuels my power, that would have let me escape the chains I knew Tirek would plan to trap me in. The land remembers. Here…on this island…I am no mere undead thing.”

Grogar disappeared in a flash, teleporting one more. Celestia anticipated it, however, turning around to where it appeared and trapping it once more in a shield. Grogar didn’t hesitate in the slightest, however, as it struck the shield with a necromantically-powered hoof, and shattered it. Celestia’s eyes widened.

“I cannot be caged.” Grogar stated as it soared forwards, ramming Celestia square in her face before she could react. She went flying away, crying out in pain. Grogar had teleported again, however, appearing behind her and catching her in a thick web of necromantic magic. She struggled against it, but it dragged her down towards the ground below, in the eastern courtyard of Tambelon’s palace. “I cannot be controlled.”

Celestia collided with the ground before her fires could burn away the necromancy. Grogar landed a few feet away, its fires still burning bright. “Understand this even as you die, ever pathetic, ever foolish Celestia. Nothing can stand against me here, on this island. No demon. No dragon. Certainly no alicorn.”

Necromantic whips lashed out from Grogar’s form once again, and the green-and-purple fire danced along them as they struck and wrapped around Celestia. The alicorn cried out in pain as the fires surrounded her and engulfed her, burning away her own flames. The necromancy oozed towards her mouth, her nostils, her eyes, the baleful fire burned down them as the lich’s grin seemed once more to widen. Celestia realized that his magic was reaching towards, was trying to take, her very soul.

“You soul will be mine. After that, those ponies and zebra you protected. Then Luna. And then – ”

Grogar got no further with whatever it was trying to say. Celestia roared, reaching deep within herself, pouring magic across her form. She ignited in a white blaze, the fire burning away Grogar’s necromancy, overwhelming its own green flames, and then extending outwards in a massive holocaust. She heard Grogar cry out in pain and surprise as it was thrown away from her.

When the fire cleared, Celestia stood tall and bathed in pure fire, while the stones beneath her were split apart from the heat and glowed red, and the air itself shimmered. Grogar’s skeletal form was standing as well, its flames having gone out for a moment, but re-igniting as soon as Celestia could be seen again.

CRACK.

Celestia and Grogar both looked up at the noise, though neither were entirely surprised to see where it originated from – the shield-spell at last failing. It shattered much as glass dome might have, spider-web cracks forming along its surface before the pieces they outlined fell away, though they fell no more than a few dozen feet before dissolving into black dust that itself disappeared long before reaching the ground. The night sky was once again clearly visible over the island of Tambelon.

And in a flash of midnight blue, Luna arrived, standing a few dozen feet away from Grogar and Celestia both. The younger alicorn looked to Celestia, and Celestia looked back. Entire volumes could have been written about what the looks contained. Celestia noted that Luna’s gaze flickered momentarily to the Element of Magic, then back to Celestia, eyes narrowed slightly. But then, she turned to face Grogar, spreading her wings wide.

No words were needed. Celestia turned to Grogar as well, knowing that, for at least a little while, she could once more depend upon her sister – she could forget a millennium of distrust and betrayal, a millennium of lies, forget all of that for long enough to deal with this threat to their little ponies.

The lich looked between the two sisters, then spread boney its wings wide as the green-and-purple fires flared up as they charged, the rictus grin frozen on its face once again seeming to grow wide. “Let us begin, then.”

“…don’t believe this,” Trixie continued as she stomped around, pacing back and forth. “We’re…what is going on here? Why is he a lich now? I thought he needed his soul for that. I have a very distinct memory of somepony saying that. Or was he a lich? I don’t even know what a lich looks like. Was that Grogar? I don’t imagine there’s a whole lot of goat skeletons floating around on this island. Certainly probably not too many of them on fire. Green fire – ”

“Trixie? Calm down,” Cheerilee insisted, stepping in front of the ranting unicorn and stopping her with two outstretched hooves.

Trixie did stop, though she looked no less annoyed, as she turned and looked over to Zecora and pointed. “You’re our prisoner,” she insisted.

Zecora smiled. She was sitting in a position that surely even Lyra would have considered uncomfortable – straight-backed, her hind legs crossed beneath her and her forelegs spread wide, head bowed and eyes closed. “You will do as you feel you must,” she said. “My queen will come for me, I trust.”

They had been teleported by Corona, that much was clear, appearing somewhere in the forest that lay beyond the city of Tambelon. They could see the occasional flash of magic from somewhere to their north, and so assumed that the city was in that direction, but they had no way of knowing exactly how far that was.

“Your record of attempts to secure a prize, however, leave much to be desired to my eyes,” Zecora added.

Trixie bristled at that. “Je vais vous montrer ce que je pense de vos rimes…” she threatened in Prench as she started forward, horn glowing, though the zebra only seemed to grow more amused and didn’t look concerned at all. Before Trixie could act on her threat, however, and before her friends could stop her, there was a crack as lout as thunder from the sky. The six ponies, and Zecora, all leaped in surprise, Zecora falling onto her back at first thanks to the way she had been sitting. She righted herself in a moment.

Above them, the shield-spell collapsed. The ponies looked on in surprise. Far above them, they saw a midnight-hued flash of light – and suddenly, beside them all, was Princess Luna.

Trixie’s body moved of its own accord; the unicorn galloped full-speed up to her mentor, quickly finding herself beside the alicorn and nuzzling her like a foal would her mother. Luna returned the nuzzle without hesitation. “You’re alright…” Luna breathed, relief obvious in her voice as she looked to the other six mares. “You’re all alright, thank goodness…”

“Um…” Lyra said, stepping forward and holding up a hoof. “I…I mean, not that I’m not thankful, Princess, but…shouldn’t you be dealing with Grogar?”

The Princess stiffened, and she nodded as she withdrew from Trixie. “I am dealing with Grogar,” she said, looking between the six ponies. “I spared a little of my myself to check on you – split my consciousness across two bodies. I will need to return shortly, however…I suspect I will need all of my strength soon enough.”

The ponies nodded, looking between each other. Trixie grimaced as she stepped forward. “He’s a lich,” she said. “I mean…I’m assuming he’s a lich. We saw a goat skeleton that was on fire – green fire.”

“Liches may take many forms depending on the precise magic used, but that is one of them. You are correct: Grogar has succeeded.” She shook her head as Carrot Top and Ditzy opened their mouths to apologize. “This is far, far outside what I prepared you six for, and earlier I sensed Tirek’s presence. You have encountered two of the most evil beings to have ever lived, Grogar multiple times, and lived to tell the tale each time. That is no mean feat.”

The ponies nodded. Ditzy came forward, a determined look on her face. “What do we need to do?” she asked.

“And what about Bray?” Carrot Top added.

“Bray…is not an issue right now.” Luna turned and looked to Zecora, studying her for a few moments. “You follow my sister?”

The zebra nodded, standing firm. “I stand beside the Alicorn of the Sun,” she said, “to aid her in what has yet to come.”

Luna nodded. “Very well. I cannot spare the time or effort it would take to detain you and teleport you back to Equestria. Head to the nearest beach and stay out of the way. I will collect you later.”

Zecora turned around, nodding. “Assuming my queen does not emerge the victor. She is, after all, your elder sister.” She paused, looking back to Luna, her gaze surprisingly soft. “But truthfully, O Princess, against Grogar I hope you win, else dark times for the world will surely begin.”

The alicorn and ponies watched Zecora leave, making her way deftly through the foliage of the forest. “Not sure if you can rhyme victor and sister,” Cheerilee noted. Luna looked at her, and the magenta earth pony wilted slightly. “Sorry. Humor. It’s my defense mechanism.”

Luna winced slightly. “Better than any of mine,” she noted, turning to face the ponies. “I will be brief as possible. I have studied dark magic, as you know – it was, for a time, my defense mechanism. Thus I know much about liches. I know that they are very difficult to harm under the best of circumstances. I know that they alone, out of every other force and being in creation, can take a soul against its owner’s will, and feed upon that soul to fuel their power and immortality.” She grimaced. “And I know that a lich grows more powerful the more death has occurred wherever it is. The more murder that has left an impression upon the land, especially deaths that they themselves have caused. As the brief insights into Tambelon should show…”

The ponies looked between each other, each of them bearing pained looks on their faces as well. “Grogar…he killed an awful lot of donkeys here,” Raindrops noted.

“Exactly,” Luna said, looking in the direction of the city, where her other self and Corona were even now dueling with the lich. “Anywhere else in the world, and Grogar would be mighty enough to give even my sister and I pause. Here…” she shook her head. “I do not believe Grogar can take an alicorn’s soul…but it is possible. And even if he cannot, he could very well be strong enough to injure myself or my sister enough that we would have to retreat within the Sun or Moon to heal. Even if he is not strong enough magically under normal circumstances…he can outlast myself or Corona. He cannot be truly injured anymore, he cannot tire, and his magical power shall not fade from use, for he draws upon the necromantic pressure of ten thousand slain Tamberlaan.

“Grogar, at this point, can only be surely defeated by the Elements of Harmony.”

The other ponies looked to Trixie at that. She flinched, glancing up at her head, where the Element of Magic should have been. “Um,” she said. “Corona has it…I made a – ”

“We made a – ” Carrot Top began to interrupt.

“It doesn’t matter right now,” Luna said, cutting them both off. She shook her head. “I don’t know what happened. You don’t have time to explain. I assume that there was a falling out in your alliance. But all that matters is getting the Element of Magic from Corona and returning it to you. You must then focus solely on Grogar. Understood?”

The six ponies nodded. Luna looked back to Tambelon. “Run to the city’s main gate,” she instructed. “I will attempt to convince Corona to return the Element of Magic to you. If that does not work, I will attempt to steal it back.” She glanced to Cheerilee, and then offered a weak smile. “I stole all six Elements from under her once before, after all. I’m sure I can manage it again if I must.”

Cheerilee grinned herself at that. Luna looked to the six ponies again, a pained look in her face. “I…am not comfortable placing you six in such jeopardy. Grogar is a foe unlike any I have fought for a long, long time. In the past I have taken every action to protect everypony I could…but this time, I must ask you to risk your lives.” She bowed her head. “And I suspect this will not be the last time.”

“We’ll be ready every time from now on,” Cheerilee insisted.

Trixie nodded in confirmation, then pointed off, towards the city. “Get going, Princess. We’ll do our part.”

Luna nodded once, then closed her eyes, horn glowing. She instantly broke apart into starry mist that quickly soared away, returning to her other half so that she could engage Grogar with her full power. Trixie turned back to her friends, making a cutting motion with one hoof. “Okay. Step one: get Element of Magic. Step two: beat evil necromancer. I think we can do that.”

Author's Note

One more chapter left, "By Any Means Necessary," and then an epilogue, which I haven't picked out a title for yet.

12. By Any Means Necessary

Tambelon burned green and orange in the night.

A former shop’s front exploded inwards as something was thrown into it. A moment later, it ignited in orange flames, and Corona surged out from it, horn glowing bright white as she lunged after Grogar who hovered in the air, necromantic wings beating steadily. The lich stopped her advance by conjuring a black and purple ooze that stretched out into a broad wall hundreds of feet across; Corona checked her ascent just in time to avoid hitting the ooze, but had to retreat as the ooze grew spines that lanced towards her. She yet held the Element of Magic in her telekinetic grasp, and pulled it close to herself as she lashed out at the spines with flame.

The distraction proved critical to Grogar, however, as Luna appeared almost beside the lich, making a cutting motion with one wing that sent out a plane of air travelling at supersonic speeds. The air hit Grogar and sent it flying away in two pieces, its spine severed. The two halves of Grogar crashed down into the city several blocks apart, and the site of each of its impacts burst into green flame. The flames, however, raced together quickly, as Grogar’s bones were carried along and reunited into a single whole once again. The flames rose higher once it was whole, lancing towards Luna even as Grogar’s skeletal form broke apart of its own accord, travelling along the flaming bridge that it had created. Luna didn’t react in time as the ram’s skull connected with Luna’s barrel, sending her flying away, though not before the remainder of Grogar’s bones had cut ahead of its skull and sliced at Luna as she passed.

Corona struck then as Grogar turned to focus its attention onto the other alicorn, a giant fireball that exploded almost on top of Grogar. When the flames cleared from the sky, Grogar remained, protected inside a green-and-purple shield, but that was when Corona appeared directly overhead and brought her hind hooves down on the shield, shattering it. Corona followed up with another airburst of fire that sent Grogar soaring down into the ground below, and sent a third fireball down after the lich. It exploded, taking out all of Tambelon’s nearby buildings.

The black smoke that had resulted quickly took on a green glow, however, as Grogar once more reconstituted itself. With a green flash, Grogar appeared behind Corona and lashed out with a lance of black magic. Corona avoided it, but nevertheless suffered a gash along her flank. Luna was atop Grogar in an instant, the air around the lich freezing into a solid block of ice and quenching the lich’s flames even as it became trapped. Luna drove her horn into the block of ice, shattering it and the black bones contained therein into a million pieces that fell to the ground below – and all that happened was each piece burst into green-and-purple fire, and the lich reformed itself in moments, its bones repairing without difficulty. Grogar was in the air again in moments, held aloft simply by the force of its flames even as its ribs and spine broke apart into a pair of sharp-pointed whips that lashed out at the two alicorns, landing several blows that left behind black, necromantic ooze before the alicorns retreated beyond their range. Corona once more burned the necromantic ooze off of her with orange flames, while Luna opted instead to simply dissolve into mist and then reform, the necromantic ooze falling to the ground below harmlessly. Corona burned it anyway, just in case.

Both alicorns were breathing heavily – not panting, not yet, but the two were certainly worked up. “The lich can heal from any wound!” Celestia exclaimed. “They barely even slow it – ”

Grogar appeared between them in a flash of green fire that quickly expanded outwards, engulfing both alicorns. The baleful flames tried to reach into their very beings, the purple flames of Grogar’s chest and eyes reaching out as well and down their throats, reaching hungrily for their souls.

It hurt, far beyond any physical blow. But it was not a pain that was unfamiliar to either alicorn – not when both had fought Tirek in the past, who may not have been able to steal souls but could certainly cause them harm. It was not so painful as to debilitate them. The two lashed out as one, turning and striking with their front hooves at the lich that had been foolish enough to appear between them. Its skull crumpled, the baleful fire died, and it fell away towards the ground. The lich didn’t even reach it before reigniting and landing smoothly on the street below, glaring up at the sisters.

Corona swallowed, looking to Luna, then up to the sky overhead, studded with stars. “I fear we have no choice, little sister,” she said, her voice grave. “Your stars or the flames of my sun. We must scour the island from the Earth.”

Luna shook her head, even as both alicorns kept a wary eye on the lich below lest it try to teleport between them and attack again. “The island is only a thing that happens to occupy the same space where the Tamberlaan were murdered. It will not rob Grogar of the pressure that is making it so strong. And I do not think the damage of a falling star or solar flare will be great enough to overcome its regeneration.” She doubted that any damage would be enough, in fact. She glanced to Corona, and to the Element of Magic that she yet held, knowing that she couldn’t simply suggest what she wanted to quite yet, as Corona would reject it out of hoof. “Teleport it somewhere else? Over the Southern Sea, into space?”

Corona shook her own head. “It will simply teleport back. We do not have time to set up a lock. And that, of course, presumes that it cannot simply be empowered by the pressure regardless of its location. Perhaps if – ”

Grogar struck again, sweeping its hooves before it and conjuring up a crimson whirlwind – blood, most likely, though neither alicorn could even begin to guess its source – that reached for the alicorns. They flew off in opposite directions, but the whirlwind only gathered itself into the sky and then shot off as two lances. Corona turned and burned hers away, while Luna once again dissolved into mist and let the blood-lance pass through her and splatter against a nearby building’s wall.

That proved a mistake, however. Motes of the blood had remained behind, and when Luna reconstituted herself into an alicorn again, she found herself screaming in pain as the rogue blood coursed at her very being, hardening and blocking her own blood flow or turning into thin needles that pierced her flesh from the inside out. She fell to the ground below, forgetting to fly and ignoring the pain of the impact into one of Tambelon’s streets as she turned her magic inwards, destroying the foreign blood within her.

Corona was beside her in an instant, eyes wide as her own magic reached out to help her sister in her dispelling of the necromantic attack. No sooner had she tried, however, that Grogar was there before the two alicorns. No complex spell came this time, simply telekinesis that send the two alicorns flying down the street.

Luna had finished her dispelling, and picked herself up, panting heavily. Corona looked to be in slightly better condition, but she was already somewhat weakened from her earlier battle with Grogar before Luna had intervened.

“You cannot win, alicorns,” Grogar intoned as it started trotting down the street. Each hoof-step caused green flames to spring to life and then die within seconds. “Everything in this world dies, and I have become death itself. My power is limitless.”

Corona whickered. “You feed off of stolen souls. We can last until you burn through the traitor prince’s – ”

“How little you think of the power of a soul, Celestia. It shall sustain me for months.” Grogar laughed. “My immortality would be a poor thing indeed if I required souls at any more rapid a pace! No, alicorn. You cannot outlast me. Very soon, you shall tire. You shall stumble. You shall fall. And then I shall feast.”

Corona’s wings spread wide, ready and willing to test Grogar’s assertion, but Luna stopped her with one outstretched wing of her own. The white alicorn glanced at her little sister, while Luna looked to the Element of Magic, still in Corona’s telekinetic grasp. “The Elements of Harmony, sister,” she said.

Corona bristled. “We do not need them to overcome this foe!” she retorted, turning back to Grogar, horn glowing. The lich’s flames grew in anticipation as Corona fired a burst of fire magic straight at him, then teleported. Grogar stopped the fireball with a shield spell, then turned around, expecting Corona to appear behind him. It was correct, in that Corona waited until Grogar had turned around before appearing once more in a flash behind the lich, right where her fireball had gone off. Grogar didn’t realize its mistake until Corona set a fireball off right beneath its hooves, blasting the lich apart.

It was a short-lived impediment, as the bones of Grogar immediately began reassembling dozens of feet away. Corona charged, but before Grogar had even fully reformed, its spine and ribs once more formed a lance that shot towards Corona. She might have been skewered had Luna not teleported beside the land and pushed it aside telekinetically, then once more beat her wings and sent Grogar flying away through the walls of several buildings that collapsed from the force of him passing through them.

Luna looked to Corona again, about to try and suggest the Elements once more. She was interrupted, however, when Grogar appeared, charging straight at Corona and ramming into her with all his might. She went soaring away, and before Luna could respond, Grogar sent a green-tinted fireball at her that sent the alicorn of the moon flying backwards to avoid it. The green fireball chased her every motion, however, splitting apart after a moment into multiple smaller orbs that kept Luna occupied.

Grogar hissed to itself, looking at where it has sent Corona. She was already rising once more, hurt but still very much willing and able to fight – this battle would not be over soon.

But that was fine. Grogar had the time.

The sounds of the battle could be heard across the island, and only grew as the six ponies galloped yet again across Tambelon and towards certain doom. Trixie felt that there were certain patterns beginning to take shape in her life. She didn’t like them.

Trixie glanced up at her horn, glowing bright blue to provide illumination alongside Lyra’s own golden glow. At least the golden flecks that still coursed through her aura were beginning to fade, as the trace amounts of Corona’s power that she had absorbed were gradually dissipating from her being. This was probably for the best – Trixie wasn’t certain she wanted her fireworks illusions to provide any actual heat, not with how often she used the glamors for effect.

It wasn’t long before they could see the light of the battle being waged in Tambelon through the trees – flashes of green, orange, and blue to go along with the noises, the sounds of explosions, screams of powerful gales, and the shifting resonance of raw magic itself. The six ponies slowed as they neared the city, glancing between each other regularly as though they were silently asking each other over and over again if they were really ready and willing to put their lives on their line again. Apparently, the answer was yes, as they kept pushing forward, only slowing when they reached the southern wall of the city and began cantering alongside it, making their way east towards the main gate.

The six panted as they moved, all of them just about ready to go home and sleep for a week. “What now?” Ditzy asked, looking down as best she could at the Element of Kindness’ focus that wrapped around her neck. “Once we reach the gate, what then? Do we just sit there in the open, hide…?”

“Hide and wait for Luna,” Trixie responded, jumping at the sound of an explosion from somewhere in the city. Somewhere inside, near the palace if Trixie guessed right, a conflagration of green and orange flame rose into the sky, the two colored fires seeming to battle with each other even as their creators soared upwards, joined swiftly by Luna. The ponies were too far away to see the lich and two alicorns as anything other than glowing points of light, but the colors of their magic helped to identify them – Luna in blue, Grogar in green, and Corona in white.

Luna came at Grogar from the side, but green fire lashed out and kept her at bay, then Grogar followed up with a wave of red magic. Corona intercepted it, however, with a line of fire that cut through the night sky like an aurora. She turned the line towards Grogar, and his green glow ceased for a moment. Trixie thought she saw something falling towards the city below, and for a moment thought that Grogar had been destroyed. But then both halves lit up with green flame and came together, then launched themselves at Corona, appearing below her and doing something that caused Corona to soar down towards the ground, impacting nearly atop the palace of Tambelon. The impact was strong enough to send slight vibrations even out to the ponies, and there was a flash of orange fire where she landed.

“That would be the ‘can’t be hurt anymore’ thing that Princess Luna said,” Lyra noted, squinting a little. “He was cut in half there. Didn’t help.”

“He doesn’t have to be a good fighter, then,” Cheerilee noted. “He doesn’t have to be as strong as Luna or Corona. He just has to be strong enough to put up a fight. Princess Luna was right, he can just outlast them.”

Corona shot into the sky as an angry white glow yet again, joined swiftly by Luna’s own blue effervescence. They didn’t move, however. Trixie winced. “That’s Luna trying to convince Corona to give her the Element of Magic,” she guessed, glancing up at the hat on her head, a hat that should have had the Element of Magic lying over it. “Darn it…why couldn’t it be a necklace like yours?”

“That would make things too easy,” Raindrops guessed with a grunt, glancing around. “Hey, didn’t we come into the city somewhere near here? With Corona?”

Trixie thought a moment. “Yeah, you’re right,” she said, looking around and directing her horn’s glow, making it more like a hooded lantern than a torch as she scanned the nearby forest. “Which means that…a-ha.”

The six ponies broke away from hugging the wall, trotting over to the forest as quickly as they could. Burried behind a brush, they came across a set of six saddlebags – the ones they had carried with them to the city, but had left behind when they had needed to fly in in order to cut down on the amount of weight that Ditzy and Raindrops would have to carry.

“Thank goodness!” Carrot Top exclaimed. She didn’t go for her own saddlebag, but rather, a cream-colored set with clasps in the shape of wrapped-up candy. Lyra let out a slight yelp of protest, but before she could do anything more Carrot Top had opened the saddlebags and produced a brown paper bag from within, which she immediately began searching through.

“That’s sort of my candy,” Lyra objected while Carrot Top picked out a few choice flavors and popped them into her mouth, while everypony else put on their own saddlebags.

Carrot Top took several moments to chew and swallow the candy she had stolen. “Sorry,” she said, “but like Cheerilee said, I sort of played chicken with a demon, an alicorn, and a demon ram today. That’s not even getting into those golems or the dragon, and Bray…I needed something, and it would take too long to ferment those.” She pointed idly at a nearby bush, which Trixie could only assume Carrot Top knew could be turned into some kind of alcoholic beverage given time and a distillery.

Though, on that note, Trixie reached into her own saddlebags and produced a flask, unscrewing it carefully. “Ahh…” she sighed at the sight of her sixth best friend in the whole world. “Monsieur Bourbon, vous m'avez manqué…”

Trixie was aware of eyes on her as she took a swig from the flask, and saw it was Carrot Top. Or, more precisely, Carrot Top’s eyes were on the flask of bourbon, even as she finished another one of Lyra’s candies. Trixie took the flask from her lips and held it out to Carrot Top. “Don’t worry, there’s still plenty to go around,” she said.

“When was the last time we all ate?” Lyra asked as she got her bag of candy back from Carrot Top in exchange for Trixie’s bourbon. Lyra took a few pieces for herself, then passed the bag over to Cheerilee. “On the ship?”

“Except for the candy after we escaped Tambelon the first time, yeah,” Raindrops noted, though she looked to Carrot Top. “’cept her. She ate half the forest on the way to the city.”

Carrot Top had just finished her own swig of bourbon, but nearly spat it out at Raindrop’s assertion. She glared at the pegasus. “I hadn’t been able to keep anything down on Wingsong!” She objected, passing the flask to her.

Raindrops considered the flask for a moment before sighing and taking a mouthful of the bourbon herself – Trixie knew that Raindrops generally avoided drinking, for fear of not being able to control herself and the potential consequences should she lose her temper while drunk. She wasn’t much surprised, then, when Raindrops started coughing almost as soon as she had finished, not used to the burn on her throat. She managed to keep everything down as she passed the flask to Lyra next. “Funny how being near death makes you forget how hungry you are,” she said.

“Dinner first, then sleep for a week when this is all over,” Cheerilee noted as the candy began being passed around, the same as Trixie’s flask of bourbon.

Lyra finished her own gulp and had passed the flask to Ditzy, who held it in her hooves, staring at it for a long while before taking a swallow. “Corona’s going to get away,” she said softly.

Trixie stared at her. “No she isn’t,” she insisted.

“Yes she is,” Ditzy countered, as she passed the flask along. “Every time we use the Elements, they take a lot out of us. Grogar has to go first – I’m not going to argue that. But afterwards we’ll all be knocked out. Princess Luna can’t fight Corona and protect us at the same time.”

“She doesn’t have to,” Lyra tried. “Corona said she doesn’t want to hurt us anymore – ”

“And maybe she meant that,” Ditzy responded. “But she’s insane, Lyra. She might change her mind. Or, heck, she doesn’t have to. She can just teleport us somewhere else – somewhere on the island, to Ponyville, to wherever she’s been hiding. She could even teleport us to different places, break us up.” Ditzy shook her head, her voice hitching a little and her eyes wandering further apart than normal, a sign of distress for her. “Luna can’t fight Corona and protect us. She’ll have to take us away. Or…or she’ll have to let Corona go. O-or she can try to stop Corona and protect us, but then when we’re waking up, Corona can teleport away. S-so…so Corona’s gonna g-get away.” She looked down at her hooves, wings clenched tightly to her body. “A-after everything she’s done…everything she wants to do…she’s gonna get away again. We’ll have failed…again.”

The other five ponies were silent as they considered that. After a few moments, however, Trixie shook her head. “There’s nothing we could have done,” she said. “When Corona first showed up, we could use the Elements on either her or Grogar. We made the right choice, weakening her. If we had saved them for Grogar, then Corona would have had us before she had her little personal revelation.” She shook her head. “Even if she wouldn’t have killed us, we would have been useless.”

“And later on, we made the right choice trying to take Corona and Grogar both,” Carrot Top insisted. “Grogar was too strong. We would have had to use the Elements on him at some point before Luna got through his shield. Then…then that would have left us with us unconscious in front of Corona again.” She stomped a hoof. “We didn’t do anything wrong.”

Ditzy looked to the carrot farmer. “Do you really believe that?” she asked, then looked around at the rest of her friends. “Do any of us?”

Raindrops opened her mouth to respond, but closed it after a moment, looking down at her own hooves. “Somewhere in the past twelve hours is what we should have done,” she said. “But I think that we did the best we could with the options we knew we had.”

“All we can do, is make sure that we do better next time,” Lyra said. A small, but warm, smile spread on her lips. “Onwards and upwards. Old Cloudsdale saying, right?”

Ditzy was still a moment, but then shrugged. “I grew up in Fillydelphia. But you’re right. Next time…we’ll do better.” She closed her eyes tightly, rubbing away the few small tears that had been there. When she opened them again, they weren’t quite as misaligned as before, one of them even focusing straight forward like it was supposed to. “Onwards and upwards.”

“Our new motto,” Trixie said, as she finally got her flask back when Cheerilee finished it off. She tucked it away in her saddlebags. Everypony else began packing up as well, and within a few moments they were off again, back to the wall of Tambelon and cantering as quickly as they dared. Beyond the wall, the fight with Grogar hadn’t seem to have progressed at all, Luna and Corona still battling hard to overcome the lich, but unable to get past its ability to heal. The six ponies felt somewhat guilty for having taken the few minutes to themselves that they just had, but on the other hoof, after hours of constant danger and threat, they’d needed the respite.

“We’re knights now,” Lyra noted. “Knights need mottos. That’s as good a one as any.”

“It would look good on a business card,” Cheerilee noted with a small laugh.

“Tia, please!” Luna begged as she avoided another gout of green fire and responded with a razor-thin gust of wind that once more bisected the lich. It might not have killed Grogar, but it was enough to give him pause for a few moments. “We need to use the Elements!”

Corona snorted as she followed up her sister’s attack with a fireball just as Grogar would have reformed. “There was a time before the Elements for us, little sister,” she noted, a humorless smile on her face. “Have you forgotten? We have overcome far greater foes than this without them! Squirk, Tirek, the Red Cloud, Lavan – ”

“And there have been foes beyond our power, too. The Smooze, Discord – ”

“Me?” Corona hissed dangerously, eyes narrowing as she looked to Luna.

Luna started, drifting backwards a few feet and readying herself. “I had no choice,” she insisted. “I had to protect my little ponies. I swore I would protect them from anything, any threat. Just because – ” her breath caught in her throat, but she pressed on after a moment, though quieter. “Just because I never thought that would mean you…it doesn’t exclude you.”

Corona’s glare lingered for a moment, the flames of her mane and tail rising dangerously high as she glared at Luna…but then, against all odds, her gaze softened. The glow to her eyes disappeared for the moment as she looked at Luna for the first time in a thousand years not as an enemy, not as an obstacle to overcome, but as her sister. “I swore the same thing, Luna,” she said. “I haven’t forgotten, no matter what you think of me.”

Luna drifted forward, slowly, cautiously, like one approaching an animal that one wasn’t sure if it was hostile or not. She had been this close to her sister recently, but always as she readied to strike her with hoof or wing. Celestia, to Luna’s great surprise and even greater relief, didn’t flinch, move away, or otherwise try to keep her little sister back. “Please, Tia,” she begged. “Come back to Canterlot.”

Celestia closed her eyes tightly, even as she looked away from Luna. “Give me the throne,” she said. “Acknowledge my right. I am Queen of Equestria.”

“I can’t do that,” Luna responded, even as she desperately wished that she could.

Celestia looked back to Luna. The younger alicorn got the sense that Celestia felt much the same thing – that somewhere, she wished she could set aside everything, and return to Canterlot with her sister. But her convictions were just as strong as Luna’s, and they were reinforced by madness. “I will return, Luna,” she said. “The throne will be mine. And…and then you will see. You will see that I am right. Though it may take centuries, you will ask my forgiveness…” she shook her head. “And I will give it. And then everything will be as it supposed to be, the world will start making sense again – ”

Celestia was wrapped in baleful green flames. She cried out in pain, her horn glowing and creating a shield directly below her just as Grogar appeared there, ribs and spine once more having become a solid lance that would have otherwise skewered the Alicorn of the Sun from below. Grogar reacted quickly, however, teleporting around to the other side of Celestia and driving its lance downwards. It pierced her back and drove into her flesh near one wing. Celestia cried out as she teleported away herself.

“If you are quite finished,” Grogar droned, turning its necromantic lance towards Luna.

She wasn’t there. Luna had followed Celestia’s teleport with one of her own, and found herself beside Celestia on a rooftop. One of the elder alicorn’s wings was hanging limply even as fire danced across her body and into her wound to purge the necromantic influence. She cried out in pain at the burns she caused herself – she was forced to forgo her normal virtual immunity to heat in order to burn away the necromancy. Luna’s own horn glowed as soon as she was done, healing magic coursing along Celestia’s wound and closing it. The glow to Corona’s eyes was back, as was a rage-filled visage, but it was directed at Grogar still – not Luna. “I will burn him from the skies!” She exclaimed with a stamp of her hoof, taking to the air.

Luna watched her for a moment, mouth hanging slightly as she felt tears at her eyes. She had nearly reached Celestia. She was sure of it. They were talking, they had hit a wall, but they had still been talking, reasoning with each other, even if Corona’s reasoning had been laced still with her madness, but she had nearly – but then Grogar…

Luna launched herself upwards. Corona was in front of Grogar, horn glowing as she readied fire. Luna reached Corona, shoved her out of the way, and drove her horn through the lich’s skull before charging it full of magic, the most powerful magic she could muster and detonating it within the lich. Grogar screamed as it shattered apart, its pieces falling away. They reformed a moment later, wrapped once again in green fire, but Luna was already upon him, landing on him with both hind hooves and forcing him into the ground below. They sank several feet, cobblestone shattering. Grogar’s flames flared up, but Luna had already stepped backwards and off of it, then reached out with telekinesis and hurling up into a nearby building. The walls of the building shattered apart as Grogar was hurled through it.

Luna followed the lich, horn glowing a deep blue that could only have been described as malevolent. There was a support beam of some kind in her way, but she didn’t notice it other than to use one wing to flick it aside as she advanced on the lich, heedless of the fact that it caused the building to collapse around the two of them. Grogar was on its hooves again as Luna charged, horn down. It sidestepped, but Luna caught it with one wing and shoved it forward as her horn’s glow tripled.

“DIE,” she ordered, a beam of pure white magic cutting from her horn and enveloping the lich. It was blown to pieces. What remained of the building was similarly destroyed, as was the next, and the one that followed, all the way through the wall surrounding Castle Tambelon. The lance struck a building therein – Spellhold, still glowing with blue light from whatevever magic Bray had placed upon it. Luna’s magical energy interacted with the stored spell there, and Spellhold disappeared in a blue-tinged flash, leaving behind nothing save its foundations and the corpse of a former donkey prince.

Luna was panting heavily, she realized, as she heard movement to her right. Glancing, she saw Corona having landed on a nearby piece of rubble, wings spread wide and horn glowing white. She still held the Element of Magic in her telekinetic grip. She opened her mouth to speak, but then green and purple fire erupted from the ground several paces away from the two of them, and Grogar once again reformed.

“Never,” Grogar responded to Luna’s order.

Luna looked to Corona. “Tia, Elements,” she stated.

Corona bristled. “We do not need them!” she exclaimed, horn’s glow brightening once more as she lashed out at Grogar. The lich burst into green flames, however, teleporting away and into the sky. Corona turned to Luna. “This battle has only barely begun. We can fight for days if need be! Grogar is not so mighty as to oppose us for that long!” She stomped her hoof. “I will not return to you the means to seal me once more within the Sun!”

Grogar laughed. Luna and Corona both turned to it, and Grogar’s skeletal grin once more seemed to widen. “This is magnificent,” it said. “Your own pride will let me triumph, Celestia, let me turn the world into a feast to fuel my eternity. There is only one weapon you could use to destroy me, and you refuse because you cannot take me seriously!”

“Who could?” Luna demanded. Gorgar bristled, and the alicorn turned to face it, wings spreading wide. “Grogar the Necromancer. So afraid of his own death that he would make deals with Tirek and slay innocent beings just to stave it off. And that is all there is to you.”

“What?” Grogar demanded.

“Fear,” Luna snarled, lips curling. “Tirek had grand designs of his own on the world. Sombra wanted an empire and a legacy. Even she,” Luna pointed a hoof at Corona, “is acting towards some greater goal. You? You have nothing but selfish, self-centered fear driving your existence.” Luna shook her head. “You are not the first monster desiring immortality that I have fought. You are not even the first one to achieve it. You are simply the only one who wanted nothing beyond that. Even now, all you can think of is how to keep your stolen immortality. So of course my sister and I are already looking past your defeat to what will come next. Your own aspirations are just so small.”

The purple flames that made up Grogar’s eyes widened, while the green flames that illuminated the rest of its body seemed to shrink. It lasted only a moment, however, and after that moment the flames leaped in size, and Grogar roared. “Small? Small?!” It demanded, lunging forward, head down – no magic, no spell, he simply tried to ram into them. Luna and Corona both leaped away.

Grogar turned to Luna, mouth open wide. “I have transcended death itself, alicorn! I have defied your will! I bent the will of Tirek to my own! Two thousand years of careful preparation came to fruition today!”

Corona lashed at Grogar with a whip made of fire, but the necromancer stopped it with a shield and sent out a lance of dark magic. Luna beat her wings and sent a razor gale at it, but Grogar only let it slice it apart, reforming nearly instantly and closing in on the alicorn, ramming its skull into her and sending her flying away. Grogar stomped a hoof, re-creating its necromantic wings, and took to the sky once again, lashing out with baleful flame and dark magic. Corona tried to close in on it, but it simply turned its attentions onto her as well.

“I am IMMORTAL! I have NO RIVAL, NO EQUAL! What do I need beyond that? You will die, your ponies will die, EVERYTHING WILL DIE BUT ME! THAT IS ALL I NEED!”

A fireball finally struck home against Luna, sending her flying away an down into the ground. She landed near the city gates themselves, in the main street that lead up to it. Grogar plummeted, landing nearly atop the alicorn and sending its ribs forward as a series of lances. Luna was up and parrying them away with telekinesis and wing, but Grogar kept advancing, its destroyed ribs reforming in its flames and being launched forward anew as it forced her back towards the gates. An angry orange fireball landed atop Grogar then, blasting it to pieces as Corona landed and followed up with another fireball. Grogar reformed within the flames, however, as they seemed to be drawn into its own green conflagration.

Luna panted heavily in the brief moment of respite from Grogar. The mask of impassivity, it seemed was finally dropped. Grogar was angry, purple flames billowing every now and then from its nasal cavity as though it still had a nose or drew breath and was snorting in rage.

It was around then that the six ponies arrived, Trixie leading the way as they reached the main gates of Tambelon. Trixie had been expecting to see a few things on rounding the corner and looking in, but among those things had not been Luna, Corona, and Grogar, none of them more than twenty feet away.

“Gah!” She exclaimed, stopping her canter and trying to get back into hiding. Luna and Corona’s heads both whipped around to look at them, while Grogar’s own purple eye-flames narrowed.

Luna acted first. Even as Grogar began to charge, she turned to Corona, grimacing as she raised a hind hoof and bucked as hard as she could at Corona’s face. The Alicorn of the Sun noticed and reacted, wide-eyed as she beat her wings and sailed backwards, such that Luna only clipped her chin slightly. It was, however, only intended as a distraction, as Luna’s magic reached out and seized the Element of Magic. Before Corona could do anything, the Element was enveloped in a midnight blue glow, disappeared in a pop, and re-appeared on Trixie’s head.

Grogar noticed, its charge stopping as its own flames glowed bright. It teleported past Corona and Luna both, and appeared in the midst of the ponies, its rictus grin widening as it did.

“No!” Luna exclaimed.

“Die,” Grogar said at the same time, green and purple flames both reaching out for the six of them…

…and washing over them harmlessly, as each of the Elements began to glow brightly, not in preparation to attack, but rather merely to defend those that bore them. Said bearers nevertheless cried out in shock and fell away from Grogar, but the increased distance of a few feet didn’t seem to have any effect on their protection.

Grogar realized its mistake, and the purple flames that occupied its eye sockets once again seemed to widen. It lashed out with its bones, but they, too, shattered within inches of the Element-bearers, unable to harm them. Grogar then tried to fly straight up and away, but the Elements reacted yet again, imprisoning the lich between the six ponies.

“No! NO!” It exclaimed, spinning in place, charging forward, trying to ram its way out of the shield. It didn’t work: Grogar had become trapped in place.

Trixie looked to her friends. Their eyes were all wide, but they were each beginning to realize that they weren’t going to die, that the Elements were protecting them from Grogar’s magic as they had protected them from Corona’s, all those months ago. In fact, they were doing one better: they were holding the lich in place, making him that much more vulnerable. He could get close to them, mere inches from them – but no closer. It was like he was trapped in a glass box, and he took it about as well as could be expected.

“Dames?” Trixie asked, a smile spreading on her face. She closed her eyes, focusing her thoughts up, into the Element of Magic that now sat on her head, even as her friends began focusing on their own respective Elements. Once again, Trixie felt the power building within her friends, as the links between them, the bonds that united them, formed a magical conduit like no other.

Trixie opened her eyes. The six of them were in a circle around Grogar, rising into the air around him. A rainbow of magic curled between each of the six as they rose above his head and looked down on him. They collected into Trixie’s Element, the Element of Magic.

Grogar was still trying to escape his invisible prison, but to no avail. Magic, green fire, even bucking it and ramming it wasn’t helping. “This is impossible!” It screamed. “I AM A GOD!”

Trixie didn’t have anything to say to that; she decided to let the Elements of Harmony speak for her. The power had finished gathering, and it lanced between the six friends, manifesting as a rainbow-colored point of light that hovered directly over Grogar before lancing down.

It was quick. Grogar fell silent and froze the moment the Elements’ magic touched it. The green fires went out, and the purple fire followed soon thereafter. When the Elements’ power at last receded, Grogar was nothing more than a black ram’s skeleton that stood still like some kind of museum preserve. As the six ponies were deposited once more on the ground, the skeleton collapsed in a heap of smoldering, brittle bones – and nothing more.

As always, the Elements took a lot out of Trixie – she found herself staggering on her hooves when the rush of their power ebbed, and she fell back into a sitting position, breathing heavily. But she wasn’t unconscious, she realized – not like the last two times she had used the Elements on Corona. Her friends, too, were all still awake – panting like they had run a marathon, eyes glazed and somewhat unfocused, though that focus returned quickly.

Having a mad Alicorn of the Sun standing only a few feet behind you tended to have that effect on a pony.

Trixie turned quickly, though in her state it meant that she nearly collapsed. Taking a few moments to steady herself, she looked back, towards the city of Tambelon. Luna was standing just outside the gate, wings raised high, having planted herself firmly between herself and Corona. The white alicorn was just inside the gate, her own wings spread wide as she alternated between looking between Luna and the six ponies. There was silence, a silence that might have stretched for seconds or minutes as none of the ponies, nor even the alicorns, dared to move, blink, or even breathe. Even the night was utterly still.

Luna acted first, inching forward. Corona reacted by spreading her wings wider, while the six ponies bunched together, readying themselves. But Luna wasn’t attacking, only stepping forward. “Tia,” she said softly. “Please…come home.”

Corona stared at her carefully. “I will,” she said. “When I am ready to take my rightful place.”

Luna blinked once. “I’ll fight you,” she said, her voice cracking.

“We’ll fight you,” Trixie said, forcing herself to her hooves and coming forward despite her exhaustion. The other five ponies followed suit, coming up alongside their princess. “We’ll stop you.”

Corona regarded them. “You will try,” she said, as her horn glowed. “I…will be merciful, when you fail.” She disappeared in a white-tinted flash.

Trixie looked to her mentor. Luna’s eyes were glued to the spot where Corona had been for several long moments. Trixie pressed closer to Luna, reaching up a hoof and patting the princess’ shoulder. The alicorn gasped at the touch, taking in a deep breath and holding it – it was obvious that she was fighting back tears.

“Princess?” Trixie asked. “Let’s…let’s go.”

Luna was still for a few moments, before closing her eyes tightly, bowing her head and taking a few steadying breaths. When she opened her eyes again, Trixie saw that the few moments hadn’t helped. Luna’s tears flowed freely, though she nevertheless smiled down at the ponies. “Let’s,” she said. “Gather ‘round, my little ponies. Let’s – let’s leave this island behind.”

“Onwards and upwards,” Cheerilee ventured carefully.

“Yes,” Luna said, as her horn glowed blue, readying herself to teleport them all. “Onwards, and upwards…and forwards.”

Author's Note

Two epilogues incoming as soon as I get them written.

Born to the Purple

Death is usually not a singular event. Rather, it is a process, as the individual systems of a living creature fail and it slips away into whatever comes after death. This was equally true for creatures of pure magic – including liches.

Almost everything Grogar had been was gone, purged by the Elements of Harmony. The lich was dead, and it would never come back to life. Yet, some of its power yet lingered in the blackened bones that made up its skeleton. Not much, and it was fading fast, but there was enough to jealously hold onto something that did not belong to it for just a little while longer.

But only a little while. As the sun rose across the isle of Tambelon, the last of Grogar’s power finally gave out. In physical terms, this was shown by a crack in the demon ram’s black skull, in its forehead, that split the skull in twain. In magical terms, it meant that the stolen soul that had been the lich’s first and only victim after its apotheosis was released.

The stolen soul raced from its former prison like it was being chased. It was fading fast, being pulled to beyond the pale, but its former home was intact, and was just close enough that…

There was a white, hot flash of light in his eyes as they came back into focus and he blinked rapidly. There was air, and he sucked it in, breathing deeply in and out in great gasping breaths. There was pain, a lot of it, but it was over in an instant, before he even had a chance to cry out.

“I’m alive?” Bray asked. The rational part of Bray’s mind found that to be impossible. The greater majority of Bray’s mind, however, simply accepted it.

The donkey prince looked around. He was lying on a smooth tiled floor that looked quite familiar – remarkably like the floor of Spellhold, to be precise. The lighting was odd, though – perhaps because the place had never been lit by natural light before. The lack of walls explained that: the floor of Spellhold was exposed to the open air, as its walls, its ceiling, and everything that was supposed to be in it, were missing. He could only guess that something had set off the teleportation matrix that he had been setting up before...

Bray stood, looking around confusedly. Spellhold was gone…and the city beyond, Tambelon, was in ruins. Fires burned in several of the city’s blocks, and the devastation that had been caused by the battle of two thousand years previous seemed to have been doubled – there were freshly destroyed buildings, broken streets, burned parks. The castle of Tambelon itself, however, seemed intact, and given the moat that surrounded it and the several hundred feet of cobble stone between the moat and the castle, the city’s fires were unlikely to spread there.

Bray began to trot, looking around, trying to figure out what had happened. He followed Tambelon’s main road – carefully avoiding the fires, though most of them seemed to have burned themselves out. It wasn’t long before he was at the city’s main gates, and therefore, looking down at the black skeleton of a gigantic ram, its skull split in two.

Bray stood still a moment. Grogar…was dead. He was dead. For real, this time. The alicorns must have killed him. He was gone…gone!

“Ha!” Bray exclaimed, leaping forward and bringing a hoof down on the black skull. The bone proved brittle, and it shattered easily beneath the donkey’s stomp. He laughed aloud as he brought his hooves down again and again on the former demon ram, utterly destroying the skeleton. By the time he was done, he was panting, sweating, and wearing a massive grin, while the lich’s skeleton was nothing more than shards and dust.

“I’m alive!” Bray exclaimed happily, running around Grogar’s skeleton happily. “I’m alive! Grogar is dead, and Bray lives! Long live King Bray! Long live King Bray!”

The donkey stopped, chuckling to himself. “Now, to get to work!” he exclaimed, trotting proudly back towards his castle. “First order of business, get these fires out! Easy! Conjuring water is simple enough – ”

Bray stopped after a moment, glancing up. His head was still unadorned, his mane uncovered, as he remembered that Grogar had taken his turban and, more importantly, destroyed the gemstone that Bray needed to cast any spells. Even worse, it had already been his backup gemstone, the former one having been destroyed by Celestia and those short-eared simpleton ponies. For the time being, Bray had no ability to cast any spells whatsoever.

The donkey prince considered. “No matter!” he declared, resuming his canter back into the city. “I can create a new gemstone easily. I can create them by the dozens! I have the resources, in the castle, and the books are right there in Spell…oh.”

Bray stopped again. He realized, quite suddenly, that he had never really learned how to create the magical gemstones that donkeys needed to cast their spells. He hadn’t needed to. That was what servants were for – and, after Grogar had killed all the servants and, in fact, everyone on the island, Bray still hadn’t learned. The information on how had all been contained in Spellhold, right next to the castle. There hadn’t been a reason to.

“Oh…oh no,” the donkey breathed.

He was King Bray of Tambelon, a city that lay in ruins, a kingdom dead two thousand years thanks to his own actions.

He was King Bray of Tambelon, a mighty sorcerer who knew dozens if not hundreds of spells, but had no ability to cast them now.

He was King Bray of Tambelon, alone on an island in the middle of a wide sea, with his only hope of rescue being that one of two alicorns, both of whom hated him immensely, would decide to check in on him.

He was King Bray of Tambelon, murderer of his entire people. And he wasn't going anywhere, anytime soon.

Author's Note

Epilogue 1 of 2, and the substantially shorter one. Epilogue 2 will be up some time tomorrow, or Thursday at the latest.

As established by Carrot Top, there's a lot on Tambelon to eat. With as much vegetation as there is, as well, there must be plenty of water to drink as well. So, Bray isn't going to starve or dehydrate anytime soon. He's just marooned, utterly alone on an abandoned island that no one goes to 'cause they think it's haunted.

If any Lunaverse authors really, really, really want to use him in some way, then they can, but insofar as I'm concerned I think it'd be best if we never heard from him again.

Grogar, meanwhile, is dead. Stone dead.

As for Spellhold, i.e., one of the largest collections of magical writings to have ever existed...well, as established a few chapters ago, Bray was going to teleport it somewhere, though he hadn't figured out where yet. Luna, in the last chapter, accidentally set off that teleportation matrix as a side-effect of one of her attacks on Grogar. So basically, Spellhold could have ended up anywhere, be in anyone's possession right now. That, Lunaverse authors may feel free to do anything they want with.

Last, but not least, for those wondering about the other donkey souls...Grogar, prior to becoming a lich, couldn't steal souls, only life-force, and that's what he used to power his spells. Think of the difference between the two like this: your soul is like a computer's hard drive, while your life-force is like a computer's battery. Grogar stole a lot of batteries, but all those hard drives made it to whatever afterlife may or may not exist in MLP.

Ceremonies of Light and Dark

The conflicting need to either eat or sleep occupied the thoughts of the six ponies as Luna teleported them back to Ponyville, after making a brief stop on Wingsong to ensure that the ship hadn’t been attacked by Solrath at any point. In the end, sleep had won out, and so Luna had brought each of them home, Carrot Top a little greener from the teleporting experience but not exactly minding it as an alternative to Wingsong. When she’d asked Luna why she hadn’t just teleported them straight to Tambelon in the first place, the alicorn had gone on about the interacting of teleportation magic with the then-phasing in city and the odd effects it could have had. Carrot Top didn’t understand most of the explanation, but she did know that it gave Luna a chance to talk about and focus upon something other than Corona, which the farmer suspected the princess desperately needed.

Carrot Top found that her farm was now home to several pitched tents, the colt scouts having apparently turned their trip to Ponyville into an impromptu camping trip in addition to a farming expedition. She also saw, though, that her fields seemed to have been well-tended over her absence. Luna had said she would have them move off tomorrow, and asked Carrot Top to join her at Trixie’s home the following afternoon. The earth pony mostly wanted to sleep through the following afternoon, and quite possibly the one following it as well, but had agreed.

And so, after around ten hours of a dreamless sleep and a long, hot bath, Carrot Top found herself once again in Trixie’s living room, alongside her friends – but not Princess Luna. The earth pony raised an eyebrow as she joined them, apparently the last to arrive. “Where’s the Princess?” she asked. She noted that, like her, everypony had their Element foci with them, though not everypony was wearing them.

Raindrops made to answer, but Cheerilee reached out and placed a hoof over her mouth. “No, let this one be a surprise,” she insisted.

Carrot Top looked strangely at Cheerilee, but the teacher only grinned playfully. Deciding to let her friend have her fun, she trotted over to one of Trixie’s couches and sat down on it, next to the Representative herself. “So…” she said.

“Yeah,” Lyra said. She was holding onto her lyre, strumming it gently. “That happened.”

Carrot Top pressed her lips tightly together, looking around at her friends. With hours of time and leagues of distance now between them and Tambelon, the six of them had at last begun to come down from their adrenaline highs, their focus on solely what was ahead rather than remembering what had already passed – and just how close to disaster they had been since setting hoof on Tambelon.

Lyra’s hooves on her lyre moved slowly and deliberately – hiding, Carrot Top noted, a slight tremble to them. Raindrops was sitting with her eyes closed, breathing in and out steadily and focusing entirely on that. Trixie and Cheerilee both looked jittery, fidgeting as they sat, while Ditzy kept glancing at the clock in Trixie’s room, no doubt thinking about Dinky Doo and wondering when she could get back to her foal. Carrot Top knew this because she, herself, kept looking at the same clock, wondering when she could get back to her fields. Plowing and planting and tending was simple, and rote, and generally there was nothing around that tried to kill you – no golems, no evil princes, no crazy zebras, no insane alicorns, no dragons, no demons, no liches…

Carrot Top noticed Trixie looking at her, and the farmer put on a small smile. “I think…” she said, “I think that things are going to be different, from now on,” she said.

Trixie tapped her front hooves together, looking down at them. “I think things have been different since the Longest Night, and it’s only just now hitting us,” she said. “Every other time…every other time, everything happened to, to everypony.”

Carrot Top blinked, unsure what Trixie was getting at. Raindrops explained without opening her eyes. “The Longest Night was Corona striking at everypony. Same with what happened to Ponyville when all our alcohol was poisoned. And those salamanders weren’t after us, we just happened to be there. And…and nopony in the Night Court wanted to kill us.”

“But this was different,” Carrot Top agreed, understanding now what Trixie had been driving at. “We were at Tambelon because we’re the Elements.” She looked down at her hooves, tracing a circle in the cushion beneath her with the point of one. “This is how our lives are going to go from now on.”

“Until we stop Corona,” Cheerilee said. She was wearing a smile, but had put a surprising amount of force behind her words. She held up the Element of Laughter. “That’s going to happen. We have these for a reason, I’m sure of it.”

Carrot Top looked to her own Element, worn around her neck. In hindsight, she wasn’t even sure why she had brought it along. Luna hadn’t asked them, after all. Maybe it was because of how much she had been running around with…Stars Above, Carrot Top thought, eyes widening. Was that all only yesterday? She looked around to her friends. But today, I’m here at my friend’s home. Like…like it never happened…

“Uh…e-excuse me,” Carrot Top said, getting down from the couch and heading for the two-way door that connected Trixie’s living room to her dining room and, more importantly, her kitchen. “I think I just need to do something to get my mind off of everything, I think I’ll start making – ”

Carrot Top reached out a hoof and pushed the door inwards – and found herself rewarded with the door thunking into something on the other side. “Ow!” said Princess Luna Equestris, Shepard of the Moon, Caretaker of the Sun, Mistress of the Star Beasts, Sovereign of the Three Tribes, et cetera.

Carrot Top froze as the door glowed blue with telekinesis, opening inwards and away from her – and revealing the Princess, one hoof to her snout, rubbing where Carrot Top had hit it with the door. Part of Carrot Top noted that she didn’t look particularly hurt. In fact, that same part of Carrot Top noted, given who this was, she probably wasn’t hurt at all. This was the same being, after all, that had spent most of yesterday dueling with Corona or Grogar. The exclamation had almost certainly been born from surprise, not pain.

The rest of Carrot Top had simply begun a count of how long it would take for her to be banished to the Griffin Kingdoms – most likely with a complimentary apple shoved in her mouth, spit shoved into another part of her anatomy, and a nice salad on the side.

Her horror was interrupted by Cheerilee a moment later, as the school teacher couldn’t keep herself under control any longer than that. Her laughs were, in fact, hard enough to send her tumbling from the couch and onto the floor below. “That – that – ” she gasped out. “That is so much better than what I thought would happen!”

Carrot Top wasn’t even really aware of Cheerilee. “I – I am so sorry!” she exclaimed, dashing forward. “I can – there’s a first aid kit somewhere here, I’m sure…”

Luna took her hoof away from her muzzle. “It’s fine, really – ”

“…accident, didn’t mean – didn’t expect – so very sorry…”

“Carrot Top,” Ditzy tried, having come over to the farmer, draping a wing over her. “It’s okay, the princess is fine – ”

“…shouted at you and slammed a door in your face and now I just slammed a door in your face…”

Luna closed her eyes and shook her head, a bemused smile on her face as she decided to wait out Carrot Top’s little panic attack, which had progressed to Trixie coming up to her and offering her hat to breath in and out of, lacking as they did a paper bag. Cheerilee got over her laughter and trotted over to her friend, alongside Raindrops and Lyra. Working together, the five other ponies got Carrot Top under control after a few minutes

“I am so, so sorry,” Carrot Top repeated when at last she’d calmed down.

Luna shook her head again. “Accidents happen, Dame Carrot Top, don’t worry,” she said, then looked to the ponies as a whole. “Brunch is ready.”

Carrot Top froze. “B…brunch?” she asked. For the first time, she realized that the table in Trixie’s dining room was fully appointed, and more importantly, full of food. Loaves of bread, bowls of fruit and vegetables and nuts, a full cheese wheel, jugs of milk and juice, eggs scrambled boiled and in every other form, omelets and pancakes and pastries galore adorned the table – enough food to feed a large party, it seemed. Carrot Top’s stomach all but roared at the sight of it all, though, and she knew that the food wouldn’t last long against the six ponies and one alicorn.

Luna trotted over to the right of the table’s head. She smiled at Carrot Top’s staring at her. “As busy as affairs of state keep me, I have still had a lot of spare time over the past few thousand years to pick up hobbies,” she explained. “I’m quite the cook when I want to be.”

Carrot Top strongly suspected that Luna could have been an awful cook and the meal would have nevertheless looked just as enticing right now. Everypony piled around the table, Luna insisting Trixie take the table’s head since it was essentially her house, regardless of who technically owned it. The Princess took to the meal just as fervently as the six ponies, the portions she helped herself to rivalled in size only by Carrot Top’s and Raindrops’.

“This is what I thought you’d freak out about, incidentally,” Cheerilee said to Carrot Top as they ate. “The Princess cooking us food.”

Carrot Top’s eyes narrowed as she buttered a bread roll that had been lightly seasoned with cinnamon. “I think I could have handled that,” she objected, though she admitted to herself that the odds were probably only fifty-fifty.

Cheerilee grinned. “I needed the laugh,” she said, then looked to Princess Luna. “No offense, Princess.”

The princess offered a warm smile of her own, nodding in understanding as she carefully salted the scrambled eggs in front of her with the kind of precision one expected from handling dangerous chemicals. Carrot Top remembered Trixie mentioning once that Luna was a picky eater, and indeed, while her portions were large, Carrot Top noted that the princess’ plate was nevertheless fairly plain fare.

“I have been in more life-and-death struggles than I care to remember,” Luna said after a moment. “The first priority, on surviving them, is to find something afterwards to restore a sense of normalcy.”

“Normalcy?” Trixie asked after finishing drinking from a glass of orange juice, one eyebrow raised as she smirked. “So you cooking for us is going to be a normal thing from now on? I can get behind that.”

“Relative normalcy,” Luna appended. She looked around at the six ponies. “Although…equally important is confronting what happened. We…need to talk, I think.” The mood around the table became somewhat more somber after that. Luna straightened herself, collecting her thoughts. “Put simply,” she said, “things…did not go as planned.”

The six ponies took a moment to consider that. “Depends on how you look at it,” Raindrops said after a moment. “We went there to stop Grogar. Grogar was stopped.”

“That wasn’t just why we were there, though,” Lyra pointed out. “We wanted to figure out why the Elements worked differently for us than they did for Princess Luna. We didn’t.”

“But that’s not our fault,” Ditzy objected. “If Corona hadn’t shown up – ” She stopped then, wincing as she looked to the princess. Luna had grimaced herself, but nodded. “It’s Corona’s fault,” Ditzy began again. “But…but maybe it’s good that she showed up.” She looked back to each of her friends. “Things would have gone so much smoother if she hadn’t been there. But I think her being there, being forced to work with us…changed her.”

Luna looked between them. “I noticed that too,” she said, though she shook her head. “Though not enough. Whatever revelation she has had, she seems as determined as before to overthrow me and take control of the land.” She looked to the six ponies. “And with her power restored…we must be more vigilant than ever. As I said last night, I fear I will be putting you in harm’s way much more often from now on.” She looked to each of the ponies, or more precisely, to the Element foci that they still had near them. “If…if there was some way to take the Elements back, to keep you safe, I would take it. I’m sorry.”

There was silence for a few moments. “Our lives are different now,” Carrot Top said, shuffling a grape between her hooves. “We’re…just going to have to learn how to deal with that.”

Luna nodded. She looked back down to her meal, picking at it for a few moments. “You spent so much time with her. I know you never knew her before she…” Luna shook her head. “Tell me, did you see…see anything in her? Any sign of the mare she used to be?”

The six friends looked between each other. Their first reaction had been to say no, instantly. It was a reaction born of growing up with stories of Corona, the Tyrant Sun, for their whole lives. But they had checked themselves, thinking back to their time on Tambelon, their time with Corona. What they had realized about her when she had had them at her total mercy, after they had betrayed her – how she hadn’t harmed them. She had healed them.

“Somewhere,” Ditzy Doo said after a moment. “I think…I think she’s in there somewhere.” She looked to Luna. “But she still has a long, long way to go.”

Luna considered a moment, again focusing on her food rather than the ponies. After several long minutes, Carrot Top thought she saw a small smile on her face, though she wasn’t sure. “I see,” she said, taking in a deep breath, then letting it out. She looked back up to everypony. “Let’s finish brunch,” she said. “And then…we’ll see what comes next.”

The crust of the Earth was riddled with natural caves and caverns, air pockets and voids caused by dried underground rivers, imperfections in stone, crystal growth, or even magical interference. They created a twisted maze like no other, full of dead-ends, deadfalls, and loops. The deepest stretches even transcended solid stone and instead became a morass of magma flows that, as far as any being that had ventured into them could tell, just went down and down forever, until its sheer crushing pressure created a deadly tomb from which there was little escape.

These lower domains could be traversed by few mortal creatures, for obvious reasons related to the heat and pressure of flowing magma, not to mention the lack of breathable air. But two creatures that could traverse such depths were salamanders and, if they could find an ingress large enough to accommodate them, dragons.

This particular cavern was near the boundary that separated solid rock from liquid magma, two miles beneath the surface of the world. It was mostly empty space that was hundreds of feet across, its walls composed of rock and crystal, but a deep crevice that stretched down thousands of feet played host to an open wound in the cavern through which magma flowed freely. Through some quirk of its formation, the cavern was full of breathable air, though its current occupants – a quintet of salamanders – did not need to breathe to live. They did need air in order to speak, however, as did their new master.

The salamanders had been waiting for the better part of a week here in this void pocket, their prize contained within a case of solid crystal that would not melt when transported through magma, and magically enchanted to keep its contents cool. Although the five had gone through unspeakable lengths in order to obtain their prize, none of them were near it. None of them particularly wanted to be. They were afraid of it, and rightly so – but for all their fear, they feared the one that had sent them to obtain it, their master, even more.

“How much longer doess he expect uss to wait?” Behir, who lead the salamanders, demanded. “He'ss doing thiss on purposse. Making uss ssuffer.”

One of the salamanders with him, Cerastes, slithered up to his leader. “We sshould leave,” he insisted. “The whole tribe. The dragon can’t hunt uss down – ”

“No, but the alicorn can,” Behir countered, shuddering as he remembered what Celestia had done to Queen Medusa. “The dragon wantss alicornss dead.”

“He wantss uss dead!” Cerastes exclaimed. “We sstole from him for yearss! Dragonss do not forget ssuch thingss!”

Behir was all to aware of that. But he really didn’t see any alternative at the moment. His tribe was totally at the mercy of the alicorn Celestia and the dragon Solrathicharnon. Celesita was not immediately hostile to their continued existence, Solrathicharnon was. But Solrathicharnon could not wipe them out, not while Celestia could easily kill him. Survival for the tribe of salamanders, then, depended on carefully playing the two against each other until an escape option presented itself, or at least until they could make one.

There was a noise from far below. The salamanders started at it, though Behir recovered fairly quickly, going over to the lip of the crevice that lead down to the magma and peering. Climbing from the lava was a massive, red-scaled form: Solrathicharnon the Red, possibly the eldest dragon in all the world. There wasn’t enough room to fly, but that wasn’t an impediment for the dragon as he climbed up the crevice with little effort. It wasn’t long before he managed to lift himself out of the crevice. His gold, blank eyes didn’t look directly at any of the salamanders, who were not so magical as to be perceived by the dragon, but his flaring nostrils told Behir that the dragon was more than aware of their presence.

“Well?” Solrathicharnon asked after a moment, lips curling back. He had not forgotten that the salamanders had stolen from his horde over the years – he simply had chosen not to act upon that fact. Yet.

Behir slithered forward, indicating the other four salamanders behind him to follow with the crystal box. “We found the Charon Gatess,” he said. “We bypasssed the guardian hound. It wassn’t easy, even for uss.”

“I do not care if it was easy, little thieves,” Solrathicharnon responded with a snort. “Did you succeed?”

Behir paused a moment, remembering the trek. Tartaros. Alternatively a kingdom or a prison, it housed some of the greatest evils to have ever tormented the mortal world. Sealed deep beneath the earth, guarded by an immortal monster Ceberus, it was almost impossible for a mortal creature to gain entry. Of course, whoever had designed its defenses had, like so many others throughout history, forgotten the abilities of salamanders. Entering Tartaros was possible only through the Charon Gates, but there was no reason why the Charon Gates had to be approached head-on. The salamanders had melted the stone nearby and slipped past Cerberus without the dog noticing. They had entered the fabled and feared Midnight Castle through its dungeons. Through dusty halls and forgotten passageways, the salamanders had made their way to the throne, and the cell, of the dread Lord Tirek.

And there, they had taken, without Tirek even noticing, for the demon had seemed drained and broken for some reason…

Cerastes opened the crystal box, and Behir withdrew the item contained therein. It was at once slick and yet clinging to the touch, like some kind of tar or oil. It pulsed, like the beat of a heart. Its very sight seemed malignant and evil, and looking at it, all Behir wanted to do was throw it into the magma that lay below, and damn the conseqences to him.

But Behir had to think of more than just himself. He had an entire tribe of salamanders to protect. And so, when the dragon stretched out one claw, palm up and waiting, Behir did the only thing he could.

He gave the Rainbow of Darkness to Solrathicharnon the Red.

The dragon drew his claw up to his face, breathing in deeply. It seemed so simple a thing…a bag, nothing more, to the touch, to the scent. But to his eyes, it glowed – not with light, but with absolute blackness.

Solrathicharnon smiled. “Excellent.”

A week has passed since Celestia had ventured to Tambelon, and Celestia had returned to her volcano lair after picking up Zecora and Solrath. The salamanders were still here – she was fairly certain it was a different set than who had been there when she had left, but as long as they were in the palace and ready to convey her commands to their tribe, she had little care for which individual ones were in her palace. Solrathicharnon, too, had made himself scarce not long after Celestia had returned, which was just as well. Celestia was in no mood for his false loyalty.

Zecora had lingered, however, waiting on her as a loyal servant should, though Corona’s orders had been few. She had defeated Grogar, yes, but she had had some rather eventful revelations about the nature of ponies in this day and age, and needed time to contemplate those revelations and the effects they would have on her plans to retake the Throne.

“No armies,” she said as she paced amongst her stolen treasure. “No mercenaries. Unreliable anyway – and we cannot march to war.”

“Of course, O Queen,” Zecora said. She sat at the base of the throne, observing Celestia. Flitting about the roof of the chamber, meanwhile, were a number of phoenixes. The firebirds seemed drawn to Celestia, and the Alicorn of the Sun found their presence…comforting, enough so that she had decided not to risk repulsing them despite their presence being a potential lead for finding her hidden palace. “But then, how to defeat the Princess Selene?”

To herself, Celestia admitted that she was rather impressed that Zecora knew that title for Luna; it was archaic even before Celestia had been trapped in the Sun. Aloud, however, she stopped next to one pile of treasure, which had a small sculpture of a throne. “There are great and powerful artifacts scattered across the land,” she said, reaching out a hoof and touching the throne. “Powerful magic that can be bent to my will. I seem to recall a story of a…mirror, or a pool of water, that could create copies of whomsoever entered it. Or perhaps I can find what Luna did with my throne. It could not have been destroyed…”

Zecora bowed her head in acknowledgment. “I will see what I can learn, your…majesty.”

Celestia looked to see what had led to the pause in Zecora’s speech that had thrown off her meter, and saw the zebra stifling a second yawn. It was late, the alicorn knew – or early, rather. It was nearly dawn. The alicorn made a sweeping motion with one wing. “Go, Zecora. Sleep. All my previous plans have been thrown into chaos. I will call for you when I have created new ones.”

The zebra bowed gratefully, then trotted off. Celestia watched her go a moment, then grunted, resuming her pacing.

She was restless. Grogar had been defeated, yes – but not by her hoof. The Element-bearers, the ponies, had destroyed the lich. Part of Celestia didn’t much care how Grogar had been destroyed, only that he had been – but another part of her could only shake her head in disappointment, not at the ponies, but at herself.

The simple fact was that the ponies who currently bore the Elements were mortal. Even if they could defeat any being that rose to challenge them, they had only…what? Fifty, sixty years left to them? Less if one of them took ill? And then what would happen to the Elements? Who would protect Equestria then? Scattered amongst six ponies, they were so vulnerable…

She needed the throne. She needed the power, to protect everypony, to keep them safe…why couldn’t they see that? Why couldn’t Luna realize that?

Celestia grunted again, looking to the doors to her palace. After a moment’s consideration, her horn glowed, and she teleported outside, into the night air above. Stretching her wings, the alicorn soared around the dormant volcano she currently called home, at length finding a cloud large enough to accommodate her and settling down on it, though making sure to quell the flames of her mane and tail before doing so. The cloud was cool, and so too was the night’s air. It was a…welcome respite, she supposed, from the heat of her caldera. Fire didn’t burn her, no matter how hot, but it could become tiresome.

Celestia’s eyes looked up, at the stars overhead, and the Moon on the distant western horizon. Her sister really did have an artist’s eye. For uncounted millennia the constellations, the positions of the stars, hadn’t really changed, and yet somehow Luna managed to make every night more brilliant than the last, each one a unique gift to her ponies below.

She felt something in her heart – pain. She looked back to the Moon. “Why can’t you understand?” she asked aloud, though her voice was nevertheless low. “You say you want to help me. That is all I want to do for ponies! I want to help! Why can’t you see that?”

The Moon didn’t respond, of course. Luna couldn’t hear her. Right now, the lunar princess would be in Canterlot, guiding the Moon down beyond the horizon, making way for the Sun. Celestia closed her eyes, remembering back when the two of them would stand side-by-side, perform the sacred duty together. Somewhere it had all gone wrong…when Luna had stopped showing up to the balcony room, more than a thousand years ago. She had still lowered the Moon, but had kept herself isolated. That should have been Celestia’s hint, that something was wrong with her sister…

The Moon and the Stars settled beyond the western horizon. Celestia sighed, turning east, waiting for her sister to raise the Sun – her Sun. She could battle for control of it, but doing so would be violent – it would case the Sun to swing wildly through the sky, oscillating between horizons, drawing closer to the world below and being pushed away. Celestia had no doubt that she would triumph in the end – it was her Sun – but she equally had no doubt that it would be a contest measured in days rather than minutes or hours. She didn’t want to frighten her little ponies that much, cause so much unnecessary disruption to their lives…

The alicorn of the Sun paused, frowning. She realized she had been contemplating for several minutes – several entire minutes where the Moon remained beyond the western horizon, but with no sign of the Sun in the east save for a faint glow.

Celestia stood upon her cloud, gazing east. What was…was Luna…?

Cautiously, Celestia set her horn alight, and reached out towards the Sun. She found it easily enough – how could she not? – and, just as easily, felt Luna’s power touching it as well. But only the barest amount, enough to hold onto it but not move it. As Celestia spread her magic through the Sun, Luna’s receded. It wasn’t a retreat; rather, it was more like Luna was passing it to her.

Celestia was still for several long moments, unsure if this was a trick, a trap of some kind. But after waiting for three full minutes without Luna appearing beside her in a flash with the Elements, ready to battle her, Celestia realized what it really was: a gesture of faith.

Was Celestia beginning to get through to Luna? Convince her that what she was doing was right? Was her sister finally beginning to accept that she couldn’t rule Equestria alone, that only Celestia had the strength to be Queen – but that she would be eternally happy to have Luna rule beneath her as Princess?

Celestia closed her eyes, and spread her wings wide, horn glowing brighter. “Thank-you, little sister,” she said, beating her wings and rising into the sky. The Sun followed her ascent.

The Alicorn of the Sun didn’t know Luna’s motivation. But she did know that if she and Luna were ever going to resolve their differences, if Celestia was ever going to show Luna that she was right, then sooner or later they were going to have to trust each other more than just whenever there was a monster that needed battling.

They might as well start here, with the dawn of a new day.

Author's Note

Done! It's about two hours later than I promised. Sorry about that. But it is done!