Chapters Night Cloud smiled down at the unconscious form of Raindrops, now cursed with her body's old frailties. She almost wanted to leap into the air and test those new and powerful wing muscles that were now her's. But with the scream that Raindrops had let loose during the spell, there was a good chance her friends would be quickly coming.
She glanced around, spying a large steamer trunk. She pulled it open, quickly grabbing Raindrops' body, throwing it inside and locking it again. And not a moment too soon as the form of Cheerilee, the element of laughter approached; a deep scowl was on her face.
Night Cloud kept her expression neutral, though internally, she was hoping that she hadn't seen any of what had transpired.
“Raindrops?” She asked, looking at Night Cloud's brother. “What happened? We heard you scream. Who's this pony?”
Night Cloud shook her head. “It's nothing. I just got a shock. I thought he was attacking me, but I think he thought I was somepony else.”
Cheerilee looked unconvinced, but Coal Black chose that moment to begin to wail.
“Sister gone! Where go?”
The teacher in Cheerilee took over, and she immediately trotted over to the distressed earth pony and did her best to comfort him.
“Oh, you poor thing.” She soothed, patting his cannon as she shot the smallest of questioning glances Night Cloud's way.
“I think he's suffered some kind of brain damage.” Night Cloud explained. “A grown stallion shouldn't be acting like that.”
Cheerilee frowned. “And his sister just left him here? How heartless.”
Night Cloud bit back the desire to punch the dark pink mare and blow her cover. Instead she just nodded in agreement. “Well, we can't just leave him here.”
Cheerilee bit her lip. “We can't help everyone in Neigh Orleans either. We're here to help Trixie.”
“Look at him though.” Night Cloud countered. “Does he look like he can handle himself like this?”
Night Cloud knew full well that he couldn't. He was mostly hopeless without herself or one of the other members of her group to lead him around. Probably one of the few things that remained in his damaged mind was...
“Do you know where your home is?” Cheerilee asked him.
Coal Black nodded rapidly, his previously distressed expression turning back into a goofy grin. Night Cloud sized upon the moment.
“Look. If he knows his way home, all he needs is an escort. We can do that and then meet back up with Trixie and the others. Do you know where we're staying yet?” Night Cloud probed with a question that she hoped was nice and neutral.
Cheerilee shook her head. “She's currently explaining Twilight Sparkle to the guard.”
“I'll stay here and keep him calm then. You tell her what we're doing and ask where to meet back up with the group.”
Cheerilee nodded, trotting back out of the train, completely missing the smile that crossed Night Cloud's face. While the element of laughter was gone, she quickly poked her mane, rousing one of Night Shade's shadow messengers that had stowed away in it. As it flowed out, coiling lazily around her hoof, she whispered a message.
“Replaced Raindrops. Luring Cheerilee to my house. Will have intel on where they're staying when you arrive. Trixie brought another pony. Name of Twilight Sparkle.” She paused for a moment before adding something else. “And you, shadow. Tell Rising Note that Raindrops is in this trunk and needs to be gotten rid of.”
She let the shadow uncoil from her hoof, before shooing it away.
“Go!”
The shadow zipped off, fading through the wall as it shot across the city at magically enhanced speeds. A few moments later, Cheerilee came back into the train car.
“All right. Trixie said that they'll be at the River Traveler Inn.”
She patted Coal Black's cannon again.
“Come on.” She said in her calmest teacher voice. “Let's get you home.”
Coal Black grinned. “Home!”
Trixie sighed as she, Twilight, Carrot Top, Lyra and Ditzy broke in the opposite direction from where Raindrops, Cheerileee and the strange mentally damaged pony that they had found were going. They hadn't even been in Neigh Orleans for ten minutes and they were already splitting up.
Straightening her hat, she pushed the annoyance from her mind. They hadn't ticked off any smugglers yet, so they'd be okay...probably. But, then again her grandpapa's and mothers remains should have been okay too, and here they were.
She glanced at the buildings that they were passing, a nostalgic smile crossing her muzzle. The distinctive ached doorways and iron balconies of the Quater's town houses loomed overhead, almost welcoming in a way.
The hotel she had in mind was near the edge of the Quarter that bordered the red light district. Despite her distaste for being that close to that den of vice, she had picked it for two primary reasons. It wouldn't be overly expensive, and it would actually have rooms available.
Even as they wove their way through the streets, the group could already see ponies all about, a few even already in costume, hitting the bars that lined most of the streets in the tourist quarter. Ditzy shook her head as she took in the sight.
“Hitting the bars already? Somehow I expected more from Neigh Orleans' Nightmare Night than costumes and drinking.”
“Just wait till tonight.” Trixie commented with a slight smirk. “The parade slash open air party that clogs Bourbon Street is what the city is really the most famous for. Music, big horror themed floats, and all the candy you can eat...with costumes and booze.”
The group shared a chuckle at that last bit, continuing to take in the sights as they slowly worked their way across the city.
Cheerilee couldn't help but feel sorry for the large gray stallion. Every few streets he would pause and look around, biting his lip, a look of panic on his features before some kind of random thing would key some kind of memory and he'd take off in another direction. Raindrops just trotted alongside him, pausing when he did and waiting for him to pick a direction.
They had been walking for what felt like nearly an hour and she was starting to doubt that the large earth pony actually knew where he was going. Especially since they had crossed into a part of the city that looked distinctly seedy. She was just about to suggest that they turn back, maybe find an officer to assist, when the earth pony perked up and pointed at a thin, battered looking building.
“Home!”
He rushed through the door, Raindrops trotting after him. Cheerilee frowned, following her. The inside of the house looked just as run down and battered as the outside, the floor needing repairs in a few places, the walls bare.
“Raindrops. He's home. We should probably be getting back to Trixie.”
“I just want to make sure that no one broke in here or that his sister isn't bleeding out somewhere in here. Can you check upstairs?”
Cheerilee shrugged. Raindrops had a point, and a quick check couldn't hurt.
She trotted upstairs, stepping into one of the bedrooms. It was sparsely furnished, mostly just a bed, a night stand and a mirror propped up in the corner. No sign of a sister, and no sign of anything wrong. The sound of hooves on the floor caught her attention. Turning, she saw Raindrops guiding the earth pony into the room before closing the door behind her.
“Raindrops?” Cheerilee frowned. “What's going on?”
A chill ran down Cheerilee's spine as her friend gave a wide grin that was very, very not Raindrops. A grin almost as wide as when she was under the effect of the “anger therapy” from last year.
“Coal Black.” She said calmly, the earth pony's head snapping her direction in sudden recognition. “The nice mare helped you get home. Doesn't she deserve a hug for her troubles?”
“Hug!” Coal Black grinned as he rushed at Cheerilee.
She back-pedalled, bumping into the bed. She glanced back at the window on the far wall, already formulating a plan to make a bolt for it. Ducking just as the earth pony reached her, she rolled under the bed.
The impact of Coal Black's body on the bed made it jump a good three inches, but Cheerilee didn't wait and quickly crawled for the window, straightening up as she reached it. Before she could throw it open, or even jump through it, Raindrops tackled her, dragging her to the floor.
Cheerilee was flipped over, and found herself pinned to the floor by Raindrops' formidable strength. Her eyes widened at the ornate dagger clutched in her mouth. Not hesitating, she head butted her friend in the snout, causing her to let go and stumble backwards for a moment.
She got to her hooves just in time to get grabbed by Coal Black in a massive bear hug. He was easily just as strong as Raindrops and had her in a pin, though she squirmed and struggled all the same.
“Raindrops?! What are you doing? Who's making you do this?”
Raindrops ignored her, stalking forward and stabbing the dagger deep into her right leg. Cheerilee winced in pain as she pulled the dagger back and carefully placed it on the floor, taking careful care to keep Cheerilee's blood in the dagger.
“Okay brother. Use the dagger, just like you were shown.”
Cheerilee felt herself let go, as Coal Black grabbed the dagger by the handle and tilted his head back, the blood flowing down his throat. She jumped back to her hooves, ready to bolt for the now unguarded door when she felt a horrible twisting pain that cut through her like a sharpened spear.
Patches of her fur color beginning to spread all over Coal Black's coat as his form began to shrink down, his black mane likewise springing into her own color as she watched herself emerge from the form of the stallion.
A sharp pain sprang into being in her head. Wincing and flicking her glance towards the mirror, she could see a jagged scar beginning to be drawn across her forehead, just above her eyes.
She winced again. She had to get out of here. She had to warn Trixie and the others about...about...
...What did she have to warn them about? She had to tell them something! She scrunched up her face, trying to focus, but it was like trying to hang onto sand.
Warn...why...she had to...do...something...tell the nice blue pony...a thing...
She looked around the room, frowning deeply. She had to do something. It was a big thing, but it wasn't here and her leg hurt for some reason. And that other pony looked like her, and she just didn't know what to do.
Falling back onto her haunches, Cheerilee began to softly cry to herself, completely lost.
Coal Black groaned as lucidity returned to his mind for the first time in quite a while. He glanced over at the jasmine colored pegasus that was grinning widely at him, memories beginning to surface through the morass he had been under. With his mind repaired from whatever spell had been used on him, years of memories and events were suddenly gifted with context.
“Night Cloud?” He frowned. “Would ya care to explain why in Tarturus you've gone and done all of this?” He waved a hoof at his sister's changed form and the weeping form of Cheerilee. And why ya decided that I should be a mare?”
Night Cloud winced. “Well, it's not my fault that the element bearers don't have a single stallion in the lot! I just wanted to fix your mind again.” She grinned wide, throwing her forelegs around him and nuzzling his neck in a sibling hug. “I'm just so glad that you can talk and think normal again!”
“Ah know.” He grumbled, patting his sister on the back all the same. “I rememba all the rather one sided conversations ya had with me over the years. Don't change the fact that ya inflicted my unfortunate fate on some other poor pony.”
Night Cloud glowered, flicking her wings in annoyance. “Sacrifices have to be made sometimes brother. I mean...look at me! I can fly now! No more looks of pity from those stuck up pegasai who weren't born with crippled wings.”
“Sis...ah always told ya to not let those ponies get under yer skin. Those who mind, don't matter...”
“And those who matter, don't mind.” Night Cloud sighed.
“I do love family reunions.” Came a dapper and cheerful voice from behind Coal Black. He glanced back at the door, recognizing the form of Night Shade.
More repaired memories floated the surface. Coal Black remembered, with clarity this time, the night when he and his sister had been found by the unicorn. It was after his accident, so he hadn't been able to do much more but grin at the time.
He and Night Cloud had been living under one of the bridges that crossed the Neigh Orleans river. Night Shade and an older female unicorn had noticed them and extended the offer to work and live at their manor house.
“Mister Shade. It's a pleasure ta finally be able to greet you properly. My condolences on the death of your mother.”
“Nothing that can't be fixed, mister Black. After all, we were able to fix you, weren't we?”
“Yeah, about that...” He frowned. “Look at the poor mare.”
Cheerilee was still sitting on her haunches, her body shaking as she cried.
“I know what kinda nightmare it is to be trapped in yer head with a lack of comprehension. Tradin one cruelty for another...ain't right.”
“It's all right. She won't suffer much longer.”
Coal Black frowned. “Yer gonna kill her? Mister Shade...what is all goin on here? Ya'll never talked much about the end result of all these shenanigans when I was in the room.”
“Well, now that you are cognizant again, I can properly fill you in. I aim to steal the power of an alicorn.”
Coal Black raised an eyebrow. “Yer serious?”
Night Shade motioned towards Night Cloud.
“Have you taken a good look at your sister? All of Raindrops' strength, her flying skill. A perfect physical duplicate.”
“What, yer gonna be a mare too?”
Night Shade frowned slightly. “Not my first choice admittedly, but that will be easy enough to fix with an alicorn's magical power.”
“And why do ya need to do that?”
“I need Luna's power to bring my mother back to life.”
“Did ya just try asking?”
Night Shade frowned, his expression growing almost murderous.
“I already did. Petitioned her years ago. She told me that I needed to move on, that death was a natural part of life. She doesn't understand, so I have since stopped bothering to try and make her understand.”
Coal Black decided to not bring up the fact that Luna had lost her own sister for a thousand years, and instead changed tact.
“...Okay. So, why does that poor mare over there need to die?”
“It's quite simple. Once our group has replaced all of them, Equestria will still need the Elements of Harmony, because I will be damned if I'll let that solar bitch Corona take over.” and as they will be too broken to continue in that role, they need to die so that the Elements can be re-assigned.”
“Look, Mister Night Shade. I am thoroughly grateful that your family decided ta help look after mine, but is this really the best plan? Even if ya can replace all of the element bearers, will ya even be able to get close enough to Luna?”
“Leave that to me. Now...let me take care of her.”
He took a few steps forward, leveling his staff at Cheerilee. Coal Black frowned, stepping in between the two ponies.
“Mister Shade, please. Let me take her to a quiet place and make it quick and painless. I'll break her neck, real quick like. Don't make her suffer with a spell.”
Night Shade paused, lowering his staff slowly.
“Very well Coal Black. You've never asked for anything in all the years you've been mentally challenged. I suppose I can provide you this small kindness. Just stay to the ally ways. Do you remember where the warehouse where we picked up the bodies of Trixie's relatives?”
Coal Black nodded.
“Meet us there when you're done.”
Coal Black nodded, prodding Cheerilee in her side with his head. Cheerilee stopped crying, her brow furrowed in confusion as she stared at Coal Black. With another prod, she stumbled to her hooves, letting herself be slowly lead outside and onto the streets.
Continuing to nudge his charge through the winding back alleys of the city, Coal Black picked up the pace, moving into a canter as he tried to put as much distance between the two of them and the house as he could.
He had no real intention to kill pony that had been cursed with his defect, but he also couldn't leave his sister in the hooves of that madpony. Breaking back out onto one of the wide avenues that directly flanked the river, Coal Black lead Cheerilee across the way, weaving through the traffic that filled the streets.
Reaching the far edge of the street, Coal Black looked around. It was early afternoon, the streets full of ponies. If Cheerilee stayed to the main streets, Night Shade would at least be reluctant to send out his shadow undead...until night fall at least.
“Okay, Cheerilee. Ya need to pay attention to me.” He spoke calmly as he put a forearm around her withers.
The pony whose body he stole stared at him. She still looked confused, but her eyes were focused at the very least.
Coal Black pointed a hoof towards the river. “See the river? Ya need to follow the river.”
Cheerilee looked towards the water, nodding slowly. “River.”
“Ya need ta follow the river out of town.” He said, pointing north. “You'll be safe there.”
“Follow, river.” Cheerilee nodded.
“Yes. Follow. River.”
Cheerilee nodded again. While not perfect, it was good enough for Coal Black. Turning, he looked back to Cheerilee one more time before rushing back across the city.
Cheerilee didn't move right away, instead staring at the river. The nice pony that looked like her had said to follow the river. But something was still bothering her. There was the important thing that she couldn't remember. She kept staring at the rushing water. Water.
A memory flashed through her mind, an aquamarine coated unicorn blocking her and some other ponies from walking into a river. She beamed, a massive grin spreading across her muzzle. Her friends would know what the important thing was!
Filled with fresh determination, Cheerilee turned and began to follow the river south.
Raindrops groaned as she felt herself returning to consciousness. Darkness was all around her, cold and wet water splashing against her back. Swearing, she reached out with her hooves, feeling around for where she was.
A wooden box? Am I in a coffin? Or maybe a trunk?
Frowning, she punched and kicked against the wooden box with all of her might. Blows that would normally be able to shatter and splinter wood bounced off the solid construction. Raindrops winced, remembering what she had seen when she was attacked. The feeling of her muscles wasting away. And to make matters worse, she could feel the cold water level slowly rising.
Raindops gulped. Her time was running out. Taking another deep breath she began to kick again, trying to find a way out of the the slowly sinking trunk as it was swept down river.
“Where are they?!” Trixie growled as she paced. “It's been over an hour.”
“Pacing isn't going to help.” Lyra pointed out. “They don't know the city like you do. It'll take them some time. If you're worried enough we could go looking for them.”
“It's a big city Lyra. I wouldn't know where to begin. I never should have let them go off on their own.”
Lyra sighed. “Look Trixie, staying here and just worrying isn't going to help. How about you and Twilight head over to your aunt's. The rest of us can wait here for Raindrops and Cheerilee.”
Trixie frowned. “Split up again?”
“Lyra has a point.” Ditzy added. “If we aren't going to go looking for Raindrops and Cheerilee, then it's probably best that you do something.”
“But what if this is some kind of plot to split us up!”
Ditzy blinked. “From who? You said yourself that this was probably just some grave robbers looking for a quick bunch of bits. We haven't even had the chance to talk to anypony yet.”
Trixie frowned, but was forced to admit that Ditzy did have a point.
“All right. Twilight, shall we?”
Twilight nodded. “Of course.”
The house that Trixie had grown up in was just as small as she remembered it, and still just as well maintained. A lot of other ponies would call such a building cramped, but for Trixie it was cozy more than anything else.
Almost as if Twilight was reading her mind, she spoke up. “Wow...it's...small.”
Trixie smirked. “Maybe a little. But all the same, it was home growing up.”
Twilight nodded. “You said this was your aunts house?”
“Yes it was.”
Twilight shuffled a hoof on the ground. “I guess I got lucky having both my parents alive when I was growing up and a big brother to look out for me.”
Trixie smirked as she adjusted her hat.
“Let's not start a game of misery poker, all right? Come on, I'm sure my aunt would like to meet you.”
Walking up to the door, Trixie rapped a hoof on it. A moment later the door swung open and Trixie was greeted by her aunt Moonsinger.
The aging pegasus still carried herself with dignity, standing straight and proud, her mane and tail carrying a similar silvery look to Trixie's own. A smile breaking across her muzzle, she pulled Trixie into a hug.
“Trixie! I am so glad to see you.”
“I'm glad to see you too auntie. I was afraid that you'd get bored without eight rambunctious foals running around.”
Moonsinger laughed. “It is impossible to get bored in Neigh Orleans.” She nodded towards Twilight. “Who's your friend?”
“This is Twilight Sparkle auntie. She's here to help. My other friends came too, but they're back at the hotel right now.”
Twilight nodded, a slightly nervous smile playing across her muzzle.
Moonsinger nodded a genuine smile on her own muzzle as she motioned for Trixie and Twilight to follow her inside.
“Thank you miss Sparkle. I...well, I'm happy that so many ponies are helping out. This has been...difficult.”
“We'll get them back.” Trixie nodded as she and Twilight took seats in the cramped little living room. “I promise.”
Moonsinger nodded as she trotted into the kitchen, beginning to put a kettle on for tea.
“I know. I have trust in you and your friends. It's just...frustrating, the lack of help I've been getting from the guard. I mean, first it was the robbery at The Stacks and then the Nightmare Night preparations...”
“Wait,” Twilight perked up, suddenly very focused, “The Gallery Magica was robbed?”
Moonsinger paused, but nodded.
“I think it happened the day before the bodies were stolen.”
Trixie frowned. “Wait...did the guard not make the possible connection?”
“They insisted the two incidents were unrelated.” She shrugged helplessly.
“Trixie, we should go pay the Gallery a visit. That library...well, it was where I learned the spell I used on the Ursa Minor. There's some dangerous spells there and maybe...”
“Maybe this is more involved than just some thugs out for bits.” Trixie sighed.
Moonsinger frowned slightly. “I suppose that you have to get moving again, then?”
“I'm sorry auntie, but the faster we move, the better.”
Moonsinger nodded, coming over and pulling Trixie into another hug. “Just promise me you'll come back to the house for a proper visit before you head back to Ponyville.”
“Of course.”
Another cross town journey had led Trixie and Twilight to the library known as the Gallery Magica. Least that was it's official name. Everypony native to Neigh Orleans simply referred to it as The Stacks.
While not as impressive in terms of pure scope as the libraries of Canterlot, or some of the other well known libraries of Equestria it did have two things that set it apart from it's contemporaries. The first was the library's necromancy-focused collection. The other was the small research staff that devoted its time to the study of ways to counter-act necromantic spells.
Trixie assumed that the latter, combined with the recent theft, was why two bored members of the Neigh Orleans guard were posted outside the doors. Twilight frowned, tilting her head to the side.
“I don't think they'll let us in, Trixie.”
“Just follow my lead.”
Trixie strode forward with confidence, head held high. As she drew close to the guards, they crossed their spears to block her entrance. Not missing a beat, Trixie straightened her own hat and fixed them with a glare.
“I am Dame Trixie Lulamoon. Knight of Equestria and Night Court Representative. I demand entrance.”
Trixie could hear Twilight groan but kept her head held high. The guards exchanged glances, the unease clear on their faces.
“Sergeant Hooflock said that no one should be allowed in.”
“Yeah, but she sounds important. I don't wanna get my pay docked for upholding some kind of official muckity muck.”
He jerked his head towards the door.
“Whatever Dame. It's on your head if you're not supposed to be here.”
Trixie grinned as she swaggered past the pair, Twilight trotting closely behind.
The Stacks were aptly named. Like many buildings in older cities, the Gallery had been built out of existing buildings. As such, it was full of tall, cramped shelves that were, crammed full of books and thick tomes; all the associated trappings of knowledge and literature. Trixie couldn't help but notice the smile that played across Twilight's muzzle.
“Old memories Twilight?”
“Just glad to be here in a...less fugitive capacity.”
Both ponies paused as the sound of an argument began to float to their ears. Twilight frowned.
“That sounds like it's coming from one of the research offices.”
“Let's go pay them a visit then.”
Trotting upstairs, the pair came to one of the research labs where two ponies were currently locked in a heated debate.
The lab itself looked like a storm had torn through it. Books and papers were torn and scattered about the room, still laying where they had fallen. The ponies that stood in the room were a mare and a stallion, the latter seemingly angry at the former for trying to clean up; at least that's how it seemed to Trixie.
The stallion had a dark brown coat, and light brown mane and tail that were cut short. His cutie-mark a clear set of shackles; a medallion displaying the symbol of the rank of sergeant hung around his neck.
The mare he was arguing with had a light amber coat, a wavy crimson and yellow mane and tail and a disposition that reminded Twilight of some of Trixie's more boastful moments. They also couldn't help but notice the two toned sun cutie-mark that stood out on her flank. She also seemed to be the one on the offensive in the argument.
As Trixie and Twilight grew closer, they could make out the details of the argument.
“So, when are your jackbooted thugs going to get off of my back so that my team can get back to doing the jobs that Princess Luna gave us to do?”
“We still haven't worked out what was stolen! You're officially tampering with evidence! Besides, your research has been torn to pieces already.”
“Which is exactly why I need to get BACK TO WORK! We have a whole project to start over! And maybe if your guards weren't so obsessed with playing watch dog for a party, you would have worked it out by now!”
Twilight frowned. “Maybe we should let them have their argument.”
Trixie shook her head. “I want to know if there's a connection here, so I'm going to work it out.”
She strode into the office, the fight between the two ponies stopping as they took in the newcomer. Trixie nodded to each of them.
“Greetings! I am Night Court Representative Trixie. Might I inquire what has happened here?”
“No, you may not.” The mare snapped back. “This is sensitive research, and not something that I'll just give information on to any two bit Ponyville representative who manages to talk her way past the front door.”
Trixie gaped for a minute before finding her voice again.
“How exactly do you know I'm from Ponyville?”
“Because, unlike most of the plebeians that I am stuck dealing with,” She shot a glare at Hooflock, “I actually read the papers, and am quite aware of who and what you actually are. Especially when you drag the forbidden knowledge thief along with you.”
Twilight nervously laughed, taking a few steps backward from the pair.
“Ehh-heh-heh. Sunset Shimmer, I...”
“Save it.” She hissed. “This one shows up, offering to be a research assistant, copies a bunch of forbidden spells, steals some other books and then runs off!”
Hooflock frowned. “Wait...and you brought her here?”
“I know, I know.” Trixie dismissed. “She's already plead guilty, the sentence has been carried out, she's under house arrest...technically relegated to my custody outside of Ponyville, but...”
“HOUSE arrest?” Sunset Shimmer gaped. “Of course...this is just the perfect capstone to my day.”
She pointed a hoof at the door.
“You can leave now.”
Trixie growled. “I am not leaving until you answer my question. My family's graves have been robbed. It happened a day after all of this happened to you. So, was any of the research you were doing relevant or of interest to necromancers and grave robbers.”
Sunset Shimmer waved a hoof dismissively.
“We research ways to break necromancy here, not help it. I suspect that they destroyed my research to protect any foul creations they made.”
Trixie growled. “Are you absolutely sure?”
Shimmer frowned.
“Well, there are a great deal of books here in addition to the research notes. If Crystal Gazer was here, I'd have her look into it for you, but she took a few vacation days.”
“Umm.” Twilight offered. “I could always stay here and help. There is a police officer here, so I wouldn't be violating my house arrest.”
“What?” Sunset Shimmer blinked.
“Yes! That's a marvelous idea.” Trixie grinned. “Twilight can handle things here for a bit, and once my other friends and I do some more investigations, I'll swing back around and pick her up!”
Hooflock opened his mouth to argue, but then sighed and shrugged.
“Fine. Whatever. My Nightmare Night is already shot.”
“Great! I'll be back in four, five hours tops.”
“Got any threes?”
“Sorry Ditzy. Go fish.”
Lyra smirked from her seat neat the window as she idly plucked at her lyre, noodling out a little tune as she watched the streets from her perch. Ditzy and Carrot Top sat at the table in the room playing a game of cards while Lyra kept her eyes peeled for Raindrops and Cheerilee.
Of the two rooms the group of seven ponies had gotten, Lyra had made sure to call dibs on the one that faced the street. At the time, it was more because Lyra wanted a view, but now it let her keep an eye out for her friends.
Ditzy grabbed a card from the pile as she glanced towards Lyra.
“Any sign of them yet?”
“Not yet.” Lyra shook her head. “I'm starting to get kind of worried myself.”
Carrot Top nodded as she put her cards down. “Well, once Trixie gets back we should go and look for them.”
Lyra nodded but then perked up as she saw the jasmine colored form of her friend land in front of the inn and resolutely trot inside.
“Raindrops just got here...I don't see Cheerilee though.”
A moment later the door was pushed open and a battered looking Raindrops stepped into the room. Bruises marred her coat around her head and side, one eye thoroughly blackened and a nasty welt visible on the back of her head.
Ditzy gasped, rushing to her friend's side and inspecting the wounds on her friend's body. “What happened?!”
Raindrops winced. “It was a trap. We got lured to an old warehouse of all places. Thugs were everywhere. They...they got Cheerilee, and she told me to go get help, so I came back here as fast as I could.”
She stopped a hoof on the floor. “Come on! We gotta go! Who knows what they're going to do to her!”
Lyra nodded, already having gotten to her hooves, ready to rush to the aid of her friend. Ditzy was likewise ready to go, her wings beating rapidly, determination etched across her features. Carrot Top seemed to be the only pony with doubts.
“What about Trixie and Twilight? Shouldn't we leave a note or something?”
Raindrops growled. “Then leave it quick! We can't just leave Cheerilee there!”
Carrot Top, nodded, quickly scribbling out a quick note explaining where they were going and pinning it to the door. With Raindrops leading the way, the four ponies rushed out into the city again.
Having torn across the city as fast as they could, Lyra found herself growing thankful for the training regimen that Cheerilee had been putting the group through, otherwise she'd be a lot more exhausted.
The riverside warehouse looked pretty similar to every other warehouse that they had passed along the way, except a little more rundown.
The little rational voice in the back of her head that always sounded like Bon Bon piped up at this point. The chances of the attackers still being there was pretty slim, unless this was also a trap of some kind.
But if Cheerilee was in trouble, she had to take the chance.
“So...what's the plan?” She asked.
Raindrops shrugged. “Ditzy and I go through the windows, and you and Carrot Top go through the doors? Take them by surprise?”
“As good of a plan as any, really.” Lyra said.
Raindrops nodded, taking to the air. “On three then?”
Lyra nodded again, her muscles tensing.
“One...two...three!” She shouted, rushing forward. She let Carrot Top take the slight lead, the earth pony using her more sturdy frame to smash the door open. The pair rushed into the middle of the massive floor, Raindrops and Ditzy zipping overhead, taking advantage of the high vaulted ceilings to fully spread their wings.
Lyra and Carrot Top skidded to a halt, Ditzy landing next to them, while Raindrops landed behind them, scanning for anyone trying to sneak up on them.
“Damn it.” Carrot Top growled. “I don't see anypony. Are they gone already?”
“Au contraire my dear. I haven't gone anywhere.”
The patch of shadow between two sets of crates pulled away, revealing a white coated unicorn with an absurdly – in Lyra's opinon at least – poofy light purple mane, and Cheerilee, sitting on her haunches; the unicorn had a staff pressed into her back in a clearly threatening gesture.
“Now, if you'd be kind enough to not move, or your friend here will get it.”
Ditzy frowned. “Cheerilee? Are you okay? He hasn't hurt you, has he?”
Cheerilee shook her head. “Ah'm fine.”
Everypony froze, the distinctive Neigh Orleans drawl completely unmistakable. The unicorn slapped a hoof against his face, groaning.
“So much for the element of surprise. Get them!”
Lyra felt herself get grabbed from behind, the iron strong grip of Raindrops pinning her arms to her side as she was tackled into a group of crates. An explosion of pain shot through her head as it was cracked off the side of the wooden boxes.
Carrot Top yelled in shock, running to try and pull Raindrops off of her. Fall Fields sprung from where she had been slowly moving around to flank the group, blocking Carrot Top's path and swinging her dagger wildly to try and slice her dagger into her opponents flesh.
Ditzy found herself approached by two elderly mares, an earth pony with a dagger and a unicorn with a broken horn. She took to the air, darting around the warehouse as she tried to swoop towards Lyra.
“Raindrops! What are you doing?!” She shouted.
“Sorry, Raindrops isn't here anymore.” She grinned, as she kept Lyra pinned, a three legged pegasus stepping from her own hiding space and slashing into Lyra's foreleg. Tilting her head back and swallowing the blood she began to change, causing a fresh round of screams to erupt from Lyra.
For Lyra, the nature of the pain was familiar at least. It was a similar kind of agony to what Grogar had inflicted on her in Tambelon, but being ripped right out of her chest. Horrifyingly enough, she watched her right foreleg begin to retract. First hoof, then pastern, and then finally her cannon, leaving her half hobbled.
Another twist of pain lanced through her forehead, as her horn began to shrink away; that sensation was coupled with the feeling of pain ripping through her back as wings sprouted into view.
By contrast, the pegasus who had drunk Lyra's blood laughed as her own wings withered away and a horn grew into place. Her coat and mane shifted into Lyra's own color, before her violin cutie-mark changed into a Lyre.
“Raindrops” threw Lyra to the floor before lifting up into the air and rushing at Ditzy. Ditzy yelped, darting to the side as her friend's doppelganger shot past her. “Raindrops” slowly looped around and charged again. Ditzy was able to easily dodge again.
“Raindrops” growled. “Hold still you little...”
“Obviously, you didn't learn much about who you were going to be before you replaced my friend. Raindrops is a slow flyer. Now...where is she.”
“Dumped in the river, locked in a box.” “Lyra” crowed. “Did it myself. I bet she's either drowned or floated out to sea by now.”
“What?” Carrot Top gaped, as she stumbled.
Fall Fields took the advantage of the distraction, slicing her dagger across Carrot Top's side, and quickly tilting it back. Carrot Top shrieked in pain as the changes played across her attackers form.
A moment later, two Carrot Tops were standing in the warehouse. Lyra frowned as she limped back to her good hooves. It didn't look like anything had changed with her Carrot Top, but the spell obviously had worked in some manner. The new Carrot Top grinned like a loon as she began to swing her hooves at the original, the dance of attack and dodge continuing.
Lyra groaned as her own twin faced her down, summoning the lyre that had always been hers. It was uncanny, the way her copy looked just like her, even being able to call on her magic.
Lyra backed away as “Lyra” dismissed the lyre and picked up the dagger again.
“Now just to deal with you.”
Ditzy was still avoiding “Raindrops” with ease, which was beginning to aggravate the white unicorn. Swinging his jeweled cane up, a black bolt of energy jumped from the gem and lanced through one of Ditzy's wings.
The mail-mare cried out in pain and dropped like stone, the elderly earth pony mare pouncing on her, and cutting her leg, gulping the blood down.
Ditzy screamed, just like Lyra and Carrot Top did, but her expression became distinctly distant as her attacker changed. To Lyra and Carrot Top it almost seemed like she was suddenly remembering something.
As the older mare grew young again, taking on Ditzy's distinctive appearance, Ditzy suddenly let loose a scream that was half enraged, half morose.
“DIIINNNKKKYYY!”
Carrot Top dodged another strike from her clone.
“What are you talking about?”
“SHE'S DEAD! And I just remembered now! How did Corona make me forget? HOW?!”
Lyra blinked as she dodged another strike from her attacker.
“Ditzy, we dropped her off with Raindrops family before we left!”
The mare that had attacked Ditzy, now her perfect copy, stepped forward with the dagger again, clearly intending to stab her in the back. Ditzy sprung to her hooves, spinning around and bucking her right in the stomach. The wind thoroughly knocked out of her, “Ditzy” fell to the ground.
“I will not die here! I need to break Corona for KILLING MY LITTLE GIRL!”
“Oh, for Luna's sake.” The white coated unicorn growled. “Just kill them already!”
Ditzy growled jumping into the air, ignoring the pain that lanced through her clipped wing. Slamming her whole body into one of the stacks of crates that the unicorn was standing in between, a few precariously stacked crates at the top wobbled and then toppled off. The unicorn and “Cheerilee” had to make an undignified scramble to avoid being crushed completely, though the former did yelp in pain as he was partially pinned by the crate.
“Night Shade!” “Raindrops” shouted as she and the others rushed to his side.
Lyra winced. “Come on! We gotta go, now!”
Ditzy looked back towards Lyra, rage still etched on her features, but she nodded all the same flying back towards Lyra and Carrot Top. The three rushed back out of the warehouse, Lyra with a slight limp, disappearing back into the city streets.
Night Cloud sat up, rubbing at his side as the crate was shoved off his body. “Well...berserker mother's love was a somewhat unexpected reaction.”
Fall Fields frowned. “What are we going to do?”
Night Shade didn't respond, instead picked his cane back up and channeling magic through it again. Three shadows crawled from cracks and corners of the warehouse, flitting and twirling around Night Shade.
“The three that just left. Track them, find them and wait for a moment where they are alone to drain them dry.”
The shadows gibbered, flowing across the floor, up the walls and out the windows. Satisfied with that, Night Shade turned to his crew.
“All right. Considering how this transpired, I don't think that we should grab Trixie in the city. We'll lure her back to the manor house and take her there.”
Night Cloud nodded. “And how are we going to do that? Carrot Top left a note for her saying that we were off to rescue Cheerilee.”
“Then exploit that again. Say that you didn't find anything at the warehouse, and that you poked around for leads.” He paused for a moment, thinking. “Take Crystal Gazer with you. Play her off as a disgruntled employee of an abusive noble that's coming clean about what he's been doing.”
He fixed his eyes on Crystal Gazer.
“You will need to sell it my dear, understand?”
She nodded. “Of course.”
“Give me a few hours to get back home and ready then.” He beamed at the assembled ponies. “We are almost there. We shall finish purging your weaknesses and then we take Luna's power and improve all of Equestria!”
Lyra slowed down to a steady trot as she glanced back at the rows of warehouses that they had left behind. None of the ponies that had attacked them seemed to be following them. She sighed as the immediate danger passed.
Ditzy was still trembling with anger, her gazes at Lyra and Carrot Top almost accusatory, like they were somehow involved in keeping the truth about Dinky from her. It was obvious to Lyra that whatever spell had taken her horn away had, in Ditzy's case, implanted false memories into her friend's head.
She looked at Carrot Top, who didn't seem to be different at all, physically or mentally. Lyra wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing, all things considered. Carrot Top returned Lyra's glance a calming smile crossing her muzzle.
“It'll be all right Lyra. We just have to stick together.”
Lyra nodded as they continued to walk, heading back towards the more populated sections of the city.
“We'll go get Trixie, and then take what happened to the guard. Party or not they'll have to listen. And then we'll break these spells.”
“And then we'll go and deal with Corona.” Ditzy growled.
Carrot Top and Lyra exchanged glances as the three came back into one of the main drags of the city. It was late afternoon by this point, beginning to roll into evening, the streets even more packed than they were in the morning.
Lyra looked around to get her bearings only to be interrupted by a gruff male shout. “HALT!”
A pair of guard were marching their direction, their expressions dour and angry, their eyes locked onto Carrot Top.
“What's going on?” Lyra asked.
“Mam, I'm not sure who you think you're with, but that mare is wanted for murder.”
“Murder?” Carrot Top gaped. “Who do you think I am?”
“Don't play stupid Fall Fields, you should have skipped town.”
The guards were already moving to subdue her, ignoring her protests. Ditzy growled stepping between them and Carrot Top.
“I don't know what's going on here, but I'm not going to let you just run my friend up the river!”
“You'll step aside, or you'll get dragged in with her.”
Ditzy, already on edge from her altered memories, threw herself at the guard.
“I'm not losing any other pony I care about!”
The first guard began to grapple with Ditzy, while the other began to blow on a whistle, summoning other guard members from down the street to assist. Soon the three ponies were mobbed by the city guard.
Lyra was forced to the ground, along side Ditzy while Carrot Top was grabbed by two officers and forced to the ground with a bit more force.
“Hey! Don't be so rough with her! She's not who you think she is!” Lyra shouted.
“Well, she looks like Fall Fields to us. So we're going to hall you all down to the station and sort this out there.”
Lyra could only glare as she and her friends were hauled off.
Trixie couldn't stop glaring at the the note as she paced in her room.
“Why doesn't anypony listen to me?”
That was an unfair accusation, she had to admit. If Cheerilee really was in trouble, she wouldn't have been able to just sit around either. But now she had no idea where anypony was and she couldn't banish the knot of panic that was twisting in her gut.
She crossed the hallway into the room Lyra had called dibs on, glancing out the window. It was getting dark, she'd have to go and do something. She turned and strode from the room, only to bump right into Lyra coming in.
Trixie's eyes went wide as she pulled Lyra into a hug, looking over at her other friends standing in the hallway, noticing the lack of Cheerilee and the presence of an older unicorn mare.
“What's going on? Where's Cheerilee? And who is this?”
“This is Crystal Gazer.” Lyra explained. “She works for one of the nobles in the city. We found her after the warehouse chase turned up empty.”
Crystal Gazer bowed slightly. “Greetings Lady Trixie. I do have some knowledge as to your friends state that...is not good.”
Trixie frowned. “Tell me.”
“My employer has taken her back to his manner house for necromantic experiments of some kind.” She frowned, biting her lip. “I'm afraid that I don't know the details, divination is much more my field and that was before...this,” She motioned to her own broken horn, “But I saw her locked in the basement and tried to find you as quickly as possible.”
Trixie frowned. “If you're working for him, why come to us?”
“Because what he's doing is wrong! He'll kill somepony who doesn't deserve it, and I will not be dragged down with him!”
Trixie nodded. “All right. Lead on then.”
With that, they headed across the city, Trixie missing the smile that her “friends” exchanged.
Author's Note
I gotta admit, this chapter was rough as hell for me. I struggled dancing around with all the characters involved, but in the end I decided to go with what I had, rather than try to re-work it for the tenth time.
I enjoyed using Sunset Shimmer in this regard. Just as arrogant as her Equestria Girl's incarnation, but focused in a completely different direction.
Random fact time! Night Cloud is named after noctilucent clouds, or "night clouds" the highest clouds in the earth's atmosphere. Rather ironic for a pegasus that was born with crippled wings, which was completely intentional on my part.
Anyway, hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, and that you'll enjoy the next.
Princess Luna looked up from the report she had been reading as a rolled up scroll popped into being, landing neatly on her desk. Raising an eyebrow, she picked up the scroll and quickly read the message contained within.
Princess Luna,
It is with a great deal of dread that I write you about what I have discovered in Neigh Orleans. I set out two days ago upon receiving the message that the bodies of Quartermoon and Crescent Starshine, my relatives, had been stolen. Upon further investigation with the other element bearers, I have tracked them and their thieves to the Quarter graveyard.
I am begging you for assistance. There's far to many of them for us to handle and I fear that their plans are even darker than I first thought.
-Trixie
Luna frowned as she dropped the note back into her desk. Something about it felt very wrong to her. Why had she referred to her family be their proper names first? And calling her friends “the element bearers”? Either this was some kind of trap...or her student was in serious trouble and she was writing not like herself as some kind of signal.
Plus there was the fact that if what the letter said about Quartermoon's body being stolen were true...She scribbled out a quick response, sending it back with a flick of her magic as she got to her hooves.
Luna strode out of the office and out to one of the many balconies of Canterlot castle. It was two days to Neigh Orleans by train. Significantly less for her, if she went all out. Spreading her wings wide, she threw herself from the castle and made for the city as fast as she could.
A combination of teleports and fast flying had made a trip that would take days normally, take little more than an hour.
Swooping over the city, Luna could see that the streets of the Quarter were packed, now that night had fallen; the darkness of the central graveyard actually make it stand out all the more as she dropped lower, landing neatly by the entrance.
Her student was waiting for her, the relief on her face appearing genuine to Luna as she approached.
“Trixie. What is going on? Where are your friends?”
“They're deeper in,” She explained, waving a hoof towards the rows, “Once we got your response we decided to hold position and wait.”
“What is going on Trixie?” Luna asked as she followed her student deeper into the graveyard, her eyes scanning the rows and dark shadows for possible ambush locations or hidden attackers. “I see no other creatures in the area. It is a foolish group of miscreants that does something such as this and then posts no guards.”
“From what we can see, they're all up in the big mausoleum in the center.”
Keeping her expression neutral Luna carefully observed the body language of her student as she followed her towards the large marble mausoleum; she had to admit, the pony before her certainly had Trixie's swagger. The other element bearers were hiding behind some of the smaller crypts, waiting like Trixie had said.
The door had been crudely broken in the broken pieces scattered across the ground, the glowing light of active magic spilling from the doorway. A quick activation of her alicorn sight revealed that the magic was necromantic in nature. Perhaps what Trixie had told her was true after all.
“All right. Let me go first.”
Approaching the mausoleum, Luna prepared to summon her magic to deal with whoever might be inside.
“Princess! Look out!” Came Cheerilee's cry with a very uncharacteristic Neigh Orleans accent.
With a flick of her wings, Luna called a shield into being as she turned. The ornate dagger skidded off the edge of the magical shield, trailing an edge of magical sparks. Luna's horn lit up, almost casually ripping the blade out of the magical aura of her attacker.
“Cheerilee” was pinned to the ground by “Raindrops”, who was looking incensed at the shouted warning. A white coated unicorn had joined the ponies who were wearing the appearances of the element bearers and a frown crossed Luna's face as she recognized the pony in question. The black diamond tipped cane was new, however.
“Night Shade...you're involved in all of this?” She hissed.
Night Shade's horn lit up as he reached out for the dagger, once again clashing with Luna's own magic as he tried to pull it back.
“They're dead, Luna! And now it's time for you to join them!”
Luna grit her teeth keeping the dagger firmly in her grip.
“If you hurt, or killed Trixie and her friends over some personal vendetta...”
“Don't you DARE to speak down to me, like at the Gala! You tell me that you can't bring my mother back to life, and then you dare to undermine the whole ideal of a meritocracy by berating us for being clever and brave enough to play the game as it's meant to be?”
“Only a fool would call what that nest of vipers was up to as 'clever and brave'!” Luna snapped back as she snapped compressed her magic tighter around the dagger, her aura snuffing out Night Shade's.
“You disgust me Luna! Your legendary wisdom is nothing more than a hollow sham, and you are just as pathetic of a monarch as your insane sister!”
His horn lighting up again the diamond on his cane followed suit. A sphere of flame coiled into being before he whipped it at Luna. The night princess responded by lashing out with her own power, smashing it into sparks. Quickly calling upon more power, she lashed out wrapping her aura around all of the ponies, and holding them in place.
With a snort of disgust she snapped the dagger in half, throwing the broken shards at Night Shade's hooves.
“I grow tired of your inane prattling Night Shade, so I shall ask you this once. Where. Are. They.”
Night Shade didn't answer, instead just staring at the broken dagger.
“My only chance. It's gone. My mother...”
“Can not be brought back!” Luna snapped.
Night Shade rolled his eyes back up to stare at Luna, his eyes locked into a dark glare.
“I hate you. I LOATHE you! I would give anything for the power to CRUSH THE LIFE FROM YOU!”
Luna was about to yell at him again, when a dark voice seemed to drift from the diamond. Her fur stood on end. Just what kind of powers had Night Shade been tarrying with?
Are you sure? The price of power is not cheap.
Night Shade grinned, his glare turning to a manic smile. “Yes. YES! Whatever creature you are, give me the power to kill this mare!”
The response from the voice was almost...jovial.
As you wish, shade of the night.
Night Shade buckled, his skin and flesh beginning to bubble and roil like water over an open fire. His firm then began to break apart, the pony form falling away into a black cloud or anger and hatred, easily twice Luna's size. The handle of the cane crumbled away, as the black diamond moved into the center of the cloud two glowing red eyes appearing in the mass.
“Oh yes!” Night Shade laughed, his voice now more of a roaring storm than anything that should have come from the mouth of a pony. “It is all clear now, Luna.”
Two vaguely arm shaped protrusions grew from the sides of the cloud, shattering Luna's magical grip on him and the other ponies.
“I will break you. And I will break this city.”
Luna threw up her shield as one of the arms came swinging in, the impact forcing her backwards as she strained against the monstrous amount of force.
“Rise up shades of the dead!” Night Shade screamed. “Rise up and heed my call!”
Shadows and shades began to rise from the ground in a torrent of angry howls. Luna frowning as she flared her wings and prepared to fight, Night Shade and his undead throwing themselves at her.
Trixie and her assorted group skidded to a halt as they reached the edge of the graveyard, the army of incorporeal undead and the angry shadow monster visible over the wide walls.
“We're too late.” Ditzy groaned. “How are we going to stop this?!”
“The same way we've stopped everything else.” Trixie nodded as her mind turned the options over. “Working together and using a plan.”
“Please tell me you have one.” Lyra muttered.
“Of a sort, at least.” She said as she looked to Sunset Shimmer. “Shimmer, I need you, my mother and grandpapa to make sure none of those shadows make it into the city proper. If they make for this wall, turn them around, or take them out.”
Sunset nodded rushing for the wall. “Hooflock! Give me a boost!”
The guard pony nodded, rushing over to the base of the wall. Sunset nimbly jumped onto his back and then up onto the wide wall, her horn glowing as she began to trace a glowing line along the wall top with her tail.
Quartermoon and Crescent soared high into the air, moving into a position to where they could oversee the whole of the graveyard as Trixie addressed Hooflock next.
“I need you on crowd control Hooflock. We're right in the middle of the Quarter and I know you know what that means.”
The guard pony nodded. “I'll get my fellows and make sure nopony comes within two blocks of this place.”
As he rushed off, Trixie turned her attention back to her friends and Twilight.
“All right. That leaves us to undo the spells that were done to us and to help Princess Luna!”
“And you have a plan for that too?” Twilight asked.
“An old stage magician's plan at least. Making it up as you go along.”
“This whole situation has gone sideways!” Fall Fields shouted. “Night Shade has gone all Corona on us, forget him!”
“No!” Night Clouds shouted back. “He did all of this for us, we can't just leave him!”
“I didn't sign up for this!” Rising Note moaned as she slumped in place. “I just wanted to be able to play music again!”
“I can cast again.” Crystal Gazer commented as she began to take some shuffling steps away from the battle. “I got what I want, so right now I'm thinking that just leaving is the best choice for me.”
Groaning in frustration, Night Cloud looked to her brother. He just shook his head as he began to take a few steps towards Princess Luna.
“Brother? What are you doing?”
“Ah'm gonna help the Princess. One of us has ta help make this right.”
“I was just trying to help you!”
“And I don't want help that ends like this.”
He ran towards Luna and Night Shade, as Crystal Gazer and Tender Care turned to run away. They did not get far, however.
“And just where do you all think you're going?” Trixie smirked, flanked by her friends. “I think we all owe you a round two.”
Her frustration hitting a breaking point, Night Cloud screamed in anger and threw herself towards the group. Trapped between the former master on one side, and Trixie's group on the other the rest of Night Shade's former crew threw themselves into battle as well.
Trixie was barely able to throw herself to the side in time to avoid Night Cloud's first strike, her hoof smashing a small crater into the ground. Raindrops moved in, despite her still crippled frame and kicked her hooves into Night Cloud's side, not doing much more than grabbing her attention.
As the two pegasi squared off against each other, Trixie turned her attention towards Crystal Gazer, who had been trying to slip through the battle in the chaos. She charged her double, throwing the whole of her body into the strike. The two crashed to the ground, Trixie quickly moving to pin Gazer to the ground.
“Not so high and mighty now that you don't have me on my own, are you?”
“I just wanted to be useful again!” Gazer snarled back, squirming under Trixie's pin.
“Twilight! A little help here!”
The unicorn quickly trotted over, her horn already glowing with the dispelling charm. The sight made Crystal Gazer squirm all the more, Trixie barely able to hang on. Twilight didn't give her the opportunity to capitalize, however and quickly touched her horn to Crystal Gazer's head.
Trixie felt the twisting sensation from before return, but this time in reverse. It felt more like something was being returned to her, than being taken away. She felt her horn repair itself, knitting back together as Crystal Gazer changed back to her old self. Trixie pulled back her hoof and delivered a sharp strike to the old unicorn's head, who passed out with a groan.
“That's for trying to kill my friends.” Trixie growled as she pulled her hat and cape back on. “And there's only one Great and Powerful Trixie.”
She looked to Twilight.
“Come on. Let's deal with the rest of this rabble.
Sunset Shimmer finished her circuit of the graveyard, a glowing golden line of magic now running along the top of the wall. She glanced up, seeing a large group of incorporeal undead break away from the middle of the graveyard and rush towards the city. Channeling some more magic into the line, she activated the second half of her spell and tied it off.
Sunlight sprang into being, forming a second wall on top of the stone one. The shades in front crashed into the sunlight shrieking and wailing as they sputtered out. The others fell back before wheeling around and flowing towards the open gate, the one gap in Sunset Shimmer's spell.
Jumping down she resolutely placed herself between the oncoming wave, tapping into her magic again as she wrapped an aura of sunlight around herself.
“All right you undead bastards,” She growled, ignoring the throbbing ache that was beginning to develop at the base of her horn, “Burn for me!”
As the screaming horde of undead reached her, fire and sunlight roared back.
“The sun flanked one won't be able to last for long at that rate.” Crescent Starshine muttered as she bucked her hooves into a straggler shadow that had peeled off from the rest of the pack.
“We also won't be able to do much if most of that horde comes our way.” Quartermoon nodded, following up with his own strike that sent it snuffing out. “We're only two ghostly ponies.”
Quartermoon turned his gaze towards where Night Shade and Luna were still clashing, the pair having now moved into a series of aerial clashes; crashing into each other, breaking apart and exchanging spells in ferocious volleys.
His granddaughter and her friends were clashing with what was left of Night Shade's allies. The ones that were left were fighting for all they we're worth, Cheerilee's duplicate returning to the disorganized melee, now that Luna and Night Shade were out of reach. Quartermoon wasn't expecting that battle to last much longer.
No, the problem was that Night Shade was just generating more and more undead, drawing on the almost endless pool of power that the gem in his body seemed to provide. The thought of that gem sent a shiver down his non existent spine.
While they had been trapped inside the gem, it had almost felt like the eyes of some implacable monster or dread presence had been boring into his back. Shaking his head again, he focused on another shade that had broken off from the group. Still plenty more to fight.
Fall Fields charged in again, dagger glinting as she aimed for Carrot Top's throat. The earth pony rolled to the side, the blade barely missing her. She forced herself to her hooves again, only to be forced to jump backwards as her doubles hooves impacted into the dirt where she just had been.
She spared a quick glance at how her friends were fairing. Trixie, Twilight and Lyra were all closing in on Lyra's double. Raindrops and Ditzy, like herself, were locked in single combat at the moment.
Another swing from the dagger barely grazed her cheek. Just her luck that her double was a wanted murderer with experience in killing. As Fall Fields pressed the advantage, Carrot Top took another step backwards. She felt herself buckle, as her hoof found a divot in the ground. Fall Fields just smiled, as she raised her blade for the killing blow.
“Hold on, ah'm coming!”
Coal Black jumped into the fray, slamming a buck right into Fall Fields' side. The pony fell over, Carrot Top getting back to her hooves and following up with a strike of her own. The murder's eyes rolled into her head as she passed out.
Carrot Top blinked as the actual Cheerilee emerged from her hiding place, grinning goofily at her twin.
“Nice pony!”
“Heh. Glad ta see ya found your friends, but we need ta help them stop the bad ponies, okay?”
Cheerilee nodded, pawing the ground as Coal Black pointed at the fake Raindrops. “Let's get her!”
Twilight quickly ran to Carrot Top's side, dispelling the curse on Fall Fields as the twin Cheerilee's tackled Night Cloud from behind. Carrot Top could see that Lyra was back to normal and had summoned her lyre to her side again.
Not stopping with her role, Twilight rushed over to Night Cloud as she was pinned. Pressing her horn against the pegasus, Night Cloud screamed in anguish as she shrunk and faded back to her sickly form; as Raindrops grew back to her normal self, she knocked Night Cloud unconscious with a punch.
Seeing her last friend fall, Tender Care tried to fly away. Ditzy swooped in, grabbing her hind legs. Throwing her body into a spin, Ditzy flung Tender Care towards the ground, Raindrops taking to the air and grabbing her.
Landing, she held Tender Care tight, allowing Twilight to run over and dispel her. Another strike from Raindrops and there was now a pile of unconscious ponies on the ground.
Trixie faced Coal Black a frown crossing her muzzle.
“So...do you want to surrender?”
“Ah want to help. I'll gladly let ya do whatever ya want to me, after Night Shade is dealt with. But since I'll become a simpleton again when this is over, I want ta make sure the last thing I do is somethin to make up for what my sister did.”
Trixie looked ready to object, but Cheerilee just grinned and nodded.
“Nice pony helped.”
“Okay, okay.” Trixie muttered as she looked towards the battle above their heads. “You good with kicking rocks at all?”
“Fair to middlin.”
“Then here's the plan...”
Luna beat her wings hard as she fired another magical blast towards Night Shade. The pony turned magical cloud blocked the blast with his own magical shield and pulled even more undead from the ground.
Night Shade pulled back another ghostly fist to swing at Luna only to pause as a few rocks sailed through the air and him, barely missing the gem inside. Snarling, he turned to face where Coal Black and Cheerilee were bucking shards from some of the damaged crypts his way.
“Princess! Cover your eyes.”
She pulled a shadow across her field of vision, protecting her eyes as Trixie and Twilight unleashed twin blasts of bright light. Night Shade, now more shadow than pony, roared in pain.
Twilight pulled together another spell, aiming for right for the diamond. A ball of flame jumped from her horn, slamming into the cloudy form of Night Shade. The concussive force of the strike actually blasted some of the smokey body away.
Seeing what they were going for, Luna quickly followed up with her own magical strike. A beam of moonlight shot from her horn, searing straight through Night Shade's body and leaving a gap. The black diamond floated in the hole seemingly still held in place under it's own power.
Ditzy flew in, folding her wings back as she swooped through the open gap. Grabbing the gem in her mouth she banked sharply, Night Shade's body already repairing itself as he twisted to grab her. With a quick snap of her head, she threw the gem towards Raindrops.
Catching it in her fore-hooves Raindrops folded her own wings back, diving for one of the crypts. Night Shade roared, chasing after her and quickly closing the gap.
Luna moved quickly, throwing up her own shield again as she dove between Raindrops and Night Shade. The shadow monstrosity impacted into her shield, Luna pouring more power into it as she tried to shove him back.
Raindrops continued her dive, the wind whipping through her mane and wings as the crypt rapidly approached. A moment later, she slammed the diamond against the stone of the crypt, putting the full weight of her body and her strength into the strike.
The diamond cracked, then shattered, sending pieces flying across the graveyard. Night Shade moaned as his cloud like body began to collapse back down, imploding back into a pony, who quickly fell back to the ground with an undignified thud.
Silence reigned in the graveyard for a moment, as even the shades had stopped howling their indistinct heads all staring at Night Shade. With a horrific shriek they all rushed for him at once, swooping and washing over him like a black tidal wave.
They began to drag him towards one of the crypts. It's face began to warp and twist forming into an inky black curtain.
“No! NO! It can't end like this! NOT LIKE THIS!” Night Shade screamed, desperately reaching out with his hooves trying to latch onto something and instead just tearing furrows into the grass. The deep voice from the diamond echoed from the curtain.
I told you that the price of power was not cheap.
With a final horrific cry Night Shade was swept through the portal by the tide of undead, the portal snapping shut behind him with a flash of light.
It was quiet as everypony walked towards the crypt, it once again looking just as normal as any other one in the graveyard. Luna shook her head.
“The poor stallion. Undermined by his own madness.”
Trixie frowned nervously as she adjusted her hat.
“Sorry that my family business dragged you into this, princess.”
“No need to apologize Trixie. Night Shade apparently held a bit of a personal grudge over some hard truths I had to give him.”
Luna sighed as she looked at the approaching forms of Sunset Shimmer, Cheerilee and Coal Black, the latter looking very nervous as she approached the princess.
“So, Princess. What happens now? My sister and her friends are unconscious still. Ah suppose that I'm at your tender mercies.”
He looked to Cheerilee and licked his lips. “Ah'm ready to be displled and ta give Cheerilee her mind back. I just ask that you put me in a good hospital or...somethin.”
Luna regarded him carefully, before engulfing both ponies in her magic. Coal Black began to shift back towards his normal form, but without the scar that had been so clearly displayed on his forehead for years. Her face scrunched up in concentration, Luna continued to channel the magic between the two until Cheerille and Coal Black were scar free.
Carefully placing the two ponies down, Luna regarded her handwork. Cheerilee blinked, a wide and genuine smile crossing her face.
“Oh, thank the stars, I can think again! That was horrific.”
“Yer telling me.” Coal Black blinked as he looked back at Luna. “How?”
“I was able to maintain part of the spell at least. I hope that my trust in you is not misplaced?”
Coal Black shook his head before bowing. “Of course not, princess. Ah never would have gone along with any of this if I had been in my right mind.”
“And you are aware that your sister will still have to go to jail along with her associates for what she's done.”
“Ah know. But could you put her in some kind of prison hospital? She's sick and weak.” He frowned and poked at the ground. “Regular prison will kill her.”
Luna sighed sadly. “I think that is possible.”
She paused as the ghostly forms of Quartermoon and Crescent Starshine landed in the group.
“Quartermoon...,” She smiled, “It is good to see you again, though I do wish it had been under better circumstances.”
Quartermoon smiled back, bowing his head to the monarch.
“Alas, it is what it is. I can trust that our bones will be found and returned to our crypt?”
“Of course.”
“Good.” He waved a hoof at the group. “If you would excuse us please. We would like to speak with my granddaughter one last time before the spell that summoned us here fades away completely.”
The group obliged, heading for the graveyard gate and leaving Trixie alone with her family.
“I know that we said this before,” Crescent began, “But we really are so very, very proud of you. You've grown up amazingly well.”
“Mom...,” Trixie smiled, “Come on. I've screwed up plenty of times.”
“We never said that it wasn't a rough trip at times.” Quartermoon chuckled. “But such is life. You have good friends and you've fought hard for what you believe in.”
The two were becoming more insubstantial as they talked, the spell that was keeping them bound to the living world fading away. Trixie felt warm tears escaping her eyes, as a knot welled up in her chest that she couldn't entirely banish away.
“Mom...grandpapa...I...”
“Don't cry my daughter.” Crescent smiled, her own ghostly tears streaming down her face. “We'll always be watching over you. And we'll see you again someday.”
“Never stop performing my little one.”
With that, the two ghosts faded away, leaving Trixie alone in the graveyard. She sat there for a few minutes, before getting to her hooves and heading for the gate. She tilted her hat back slightly, a confident smile crossing her muzzle.
“I won't, grandpapa.”
The next evening, Trixie and her friends were back on the train to Ponyville. Luna had used her royal authority to get her mother and grandpapa's bodies found and reburied in record time. In her own words it had been “the least she could do”. Her aunt had been overjoyed, but had also insisted that she return at some point for an actual visit.
All of her friends were still alive and laughing again as they enjoyed a dinner from the diner car.
“Well, I am hoping that next time I drag you all to Neigh Orleans, we can have some actual fun and not get involved in an insane stallion's plans to take the place of Princess Luna or something else insane.”
“Hopefully Sunset Shimmer will be able to keep those forbidden spells more well defended this time.” Ditzy shuddered. “I wouldn't want any other pony to experience that. I can't believe I thought that Dinky was dead.”
Raindrops snorted. “Hey, least you weren't partially crippled like Lyra or I.”
“What about me?” Carrot Top interjected. “They thought I was a murderer!”
“Hooflock is going to take forever sorting that mess out.” Trixie shook her head. “But let's not start a whole 'who got cursed worse' contest.”
She glanced over at Twilight.
“So, what did you think of the whole experience, Twilight?”
The unicorn smiled as she took another bite of her salad.
“It was fun to be on the side of fixing everything again. In fact this whole 'replace the element bearers' thing has gotten me thinking.”
“Oh?” Trixie frowned.
“Yeah! I mean, between this and what we saw in that other world, I've formed a great idea! I need to go and make friends with our versions of the ponies who were the element bearers there. That way, if you all get replaced again, we'll have a backup set of bearers!”
Trixie rolled her eyes as her friends chuckled.
“Not funny Twilight.”
“Really?” She grinned. “You don't want to have element bearers and element bearers reserve? I'll write Princess Luna about it once we get back to Ponyville!”
Another chuckle ran through the cabin, this time Trixie joining in as the train slowly worked it's way back to Ponyville and home.
Author's Note
And the story is finished by Halloween, which was my goal at the start of this whole writing exercise.
This was an interesting experience for me, being the first time I've ever really written for a shared universe and the first time I've written towards a hard deadline, self imposed or otherwise. I've certainly learned that juggling my own story universe and writing towards a deadline at the same time is not an easy task.
In the end, I hope that this story is entertaining to you, warts and all. It was quite fun to write for the universe that got me into writing MLP fan fiction in the first place, and I'll certainly polish this one up as time goes on.
Thanks again for reading!
The cool fall wind cut through the streets of Ponyville ruffling the fur and mane of Night Court Representative Trixie, causing her to pull her cape a little tighter as she pushed open the gate to her house's yard. She paused before the front door, glancing back at the town around her. All around, ponies were preparing for the Nightmare Night celebration. In two days, Ponyville would be full of tricks, treats and horror.
Decorations were going up all about, with a dark and creepy theme suitable for the holiday, though in Trixie's opinion there were far to many spider webs in the mix; made the decorations far to one note. In Ponyville, the holiday was a time for apple bobbing, pumpkin launching, and trick or treating for candy. Trixie couldn’t help but smirk at that, being from Neigh Orleans. There was a certain art to the holiday down there, but the city had it's own strange rhythm to it in general.
“Hey Trixie!” Came a call from above her head.
Looking up, Trixie spied her friend Ditzy going about her mail rounds.
“Afternoon Ditzy. Any mail for me today?”
Trixie wasn't expecting there to be. Most of her correspondence was with Princess Luna and that was all done through the enchantment on her signature hat. And with her friends living in the same town as her that only left...
“Actually, there is a letter here for you.” Ditzy said as she pulled it from her mailbag with a wing. “Return address says that it's from Moonsinger...”
Trixie didn't wait for her friend to finish the sentence, quickly grabbing the letter and pulling it down to her with a quick telekentic yank. Another application of magic broke the seal and Trixie quickly began to read.
Trixie felt her heart sink lower and lower as her eyes scanned down the page. At her best, she had expected greetings from her family, maybe good news or an invitation to come back for the holiday. At worse, she had expected news that Greengrass was trying to slip Luna's proclamation from the Gala and was striking at her family. But this...
“Trixie?” Ditzy asked, her question cutting through Trixie's shocked haze, the concern evident in her voice. “What's wrong?”
“I-it...I...” Trixie babbled, unable to properly form a sentence. She looked up at Ditzy, the pain and shock of whatever revelation had just been dropped in her lap overlaying a call for help that she couldn't verbalize. Without another word, the blue unicorn turned and disappeared into her house, the door snapping shut behind her.
Ditzy was even more concerned now. The contents of the letter had to be really bad for Trixie to literally be made speechless. Her immediate instinct was to drop down and rush into the house after her; to offer comfort as a friend and the bearer of the element of kindness. However, something held her back.
The expression on Trixie's face was devastated and in Ditzy's opinion that spoke to some kind of personal loss or tragedy and she knew how deeply those wounds could run at times. No, this would take a little more than just her to help pull the unicorn out of her funk.
Giving her wings a powerful flap, she shot off through town, putting on an extra burst of speed so that she could finish her rounds early and round up the proper posse of ponies.
Trixie had been staring at the letter for a while now. It sat on her desk, resting atop of the other paperwork that she sometimes had to deal with as the Official Night Court Representative to Ponyville; it's presence was almost mocking in a way, a brick thrown through the window of her life. She sat in her usual spot behind the desk, trying to mentally make sense of it all.
The letter had been curt and to the point. Trixie suspected that it had taken a lot out of Moonsinger to even write it. But the message had been simple enough.
The graves of your mother and grandfather have been robbed...
Trixie stared at the letter again, her eyes reading the same sentence for what felt like the fiftieth time.
The graves of your mother and grandfather have been robbed....
Trixie's right eye began to twitch as her gaze locked on four specific words.
Mother...grandfather...been robbed...
“Fils de salope! ” Trixie screamed as she sent the offending letter and the stack of paperwork flying with a quick sweep of her fore-arms; the whole mess hitting the floor with a loud thwack. She could feel red hot tears of anger trying to well up in her eyes even as she tried to fight them back.
Somepony had desecrated the final resting place of her mother and grandpa. And she was livid. In the back of her mind, she wondered if this was what Raindrops felt like during one of her rages. She certainly wanted to get her hooves on the miscreants that had done this and do...something. Something punchy and kicky. Whatever Raindrops would do to somepony who made her angry.
She stood stock still in the center of her office for a moment taking multiple deep breaths before she shook her head and began to formulate a plan. She began to sort through the mess of paperwork, grabbing both the letter and a few different forms, slapping them down on the desk.
Grabbing a pen, she began to fill them out. One was an official request for a temporary leave of absence, more a formality than anything else. The other one was for the Royal Police Bureau, a request to have Twilight Sparkle accompany her out of Ponyville.
The letter hadn't spelled it out, but Trixie was well aware of Neigh Orleans more shameful unspoken secret, the trade of necromancy: The trade of bodies and the summoning of undead creatures. Princess Luna had been working hard to break it, but some traditions in the city ran very, very deep.
And if there was a chance that the bodies of her family had been taken by a necromancer...well, a unicorn that had studied almost every spell she ever got her hooves on could only be an asset.
She had just finished filling out the form when a knock on the door caught her attention. Sighing, she stomped on over to the door and shoved it open, only to take a step back as the forms of her five friends pushed their way into her house.
“Wha?” She blinked. “What are you all doing here?”
“Ditzy told us that you received a letter that left you rather shook up.” Cheerilee explained. “So we all came over to give you our support.”
“You looked so upset.” Ditzy said, smiling sadly. “Can we help?”
Trixie opened her mouth to protest, but caught the very even glare that was Raindrop's stare. Her resistance crumbled as she sighed and motioned for her friends to follow her into the living room. They all filed in, each taking their own seats, eyes still focused on Trixie as she walked over to the large couch.
“It concerns my family.” She said as she took a seat on the couch next to Lyra. “I just got word from my aunt, Moonsinger, that my mom and grandpapa's graves have been...robbed.” She finished, her face scrunched up in disgust.
The stares that followed just made Trixie feel even more uncomfortable, the shock at that revelation taking time to settle in on her friends. The silence seemed to last forever in Trixie's mind, before Carrot Top broke it with a question.
“So...Corona?”
Trixie frowned, kicking that possibility around in her head.
“No. At least, I don't think so. There's plenty of home grown sources for this kind of trouble without Corona getting involved. Not to say that it couldn't be Corona, but I'd like to think that she isn't involved...yet.”
“Well, who would it be then?” Lyra asked from her spot next to Trixie.
Trixie sighed. “Truthfully, I don't think that it's anyone we've crossed before. There is an unfortunate shadow market in Neigh Orleans involving the dead, mostly for necromantic purposes...” She trailed off.
The element bearers all shuddered slightly, thinking back to their recent adventure in Tambelon.
“Anyway,” Trixie continued, rushing out the explanation as quickly as she could. “What most likely happened is that you had some ponies desperate for bits that just smashed into the first graves they could really get their hooves on, with the intent to sell the bodies to necromancers. Normally the city guard would handle this, but they're currently slammed with extra security concerns over the tourist influx Neigh Orleans always gets leading up to and over Nightmare Night. So Aunt Moonsinger has asked if I could come in and maybe...find my family's remains.”
Lyra nodded, mulling the situation over.
“Right.” She said finally. “When do we leave?”
Trixie looked over at her friend, somewhat surprised by the reaction.
“What?”
“Oh, don't act so surprised.” Lyra chuckled. “Did you really think we'd let our friend run off to Neigh Orleans to track down stolen family bodies without us?”
“I can't ask all of you to run off to another city with me.” Trixie objected, only to be interrupted by a hoof from Lyra.
“How is this any different from so many of our other wild adventures? This looks almost easy in comparison, I'm sure that we'll be able to handle it. Besides, we can see the famous Orleanian Nightmare Night celebration while we're there!”
“Ooo!” Carrot Top grinned. “I've always wanted to see that! I've heard that the city does Nightmare Night “right”...whatever that means.”
Trixie grinned, unable to resist the urge to show off a little bit. “Well, according to the legends Neigh Orleans is supposedly the most haunted city in all of Equestria! So the art of doing a big scary presentation is deep in the city's blood!”
She looked a little unsure again.
“Are you all sure about this? I mean, I would like all of you to come along but you'd have to walk away from your jobs for a few days...” She looked to Raindrops. “I mean, Raindrops I know how hard it is for you to get time off, and Rainbow Dash screwed up your vacation time last year.”
Raindrops shook her head. “This is important. I think that even Rainbow would be able to work with me on this one.”
Ditzy nodded. “I have some vacation time saved up.” She looked at Raindrops. “Would your parents be okay with watching Dinky while we were gone?”
Raindrops nodded. “Of course. I think that my family would be happy to help.” She looked over at Carrot Top. “What about you Carrot Top? What about getting away from the farm?”
“I think that the Farmer's Union can help support me on this one.”
Trixie bit her lip, weighing the offer. There was a time she would have immediately jumped at having a little entourage for a trip like this. But she had worked hard to gain these friends and she didn't want to risk loosing them. Besides, tracking down some simple thugs would be easy for Trixie, and trivial for Trixie and Twilight.
But on the other hoof, if this did end up being more trouble than just some thugs looking for fast bits it would be nice to have her friends backing her up. And if she was honestly considering bringing Twilight Sparkle, then it would be a poor excuse to leave the other element bearers behind.
Finally, she nodded to her friends.
“Alright. But only if you can arrange everything without causing problems. I don't want all of you to throw your own lives out of kilter for me.”
Raindrops snorted. “Okay, something has gotten into her head. There's no way the real Trixie would be this nice.”
Trixie rolled her eyes. “Well, if we're going to do this, we should get moving. The trail is probably growing cold already, so I want to get down there as soon as possible.”
Nodding in agreement, the other element bearers got to their hooves and headed out the door to make arrangements and pack for a few day trip.
Trixie got to her own hooves after she heard the door close behind them, walking back into the office to grab the documents she had filled out. When she saw the letter again, another stab of anger flooded through her body, but this time it was tempered by the knowledge she had a plan.
Tucking the form for the Royal Police Bureau into her saddlebags and tossing them onto her back, she headed across town.
Having dropped the form off at Ponyville's bureau office (and having gotten into at least a thirty minute argument on whether or not her plan was smart.), Trixie headed over to Golden Oaks Library. Stepping inside, Trixie could see that Twilight was busy re-shelving some of the books, humming to herself as she did.
Trixie coughed to get Twilight's attention, the unicorn turning to look at her, smiling softly as she did.
“Oh, hello Trixie. What can I help you with?”
“Well, Twilight...how would you like to go to Neigh Orleans?”
Twlight blinked, as she finished shelving the book she was on. “It's been a little while since I've been to that city. Am I...allowed?”
Trixie nodded. “I cleared it with the RPB. And honestly, I could use another magical talent on this one, just in case.”
Twilight nodded slowly. “Some kind of problem, I'm guessing?
Trixie nodded back. “Twilight...how much necromancy have you studied in your travels?”
“Not much, admittedly.” Twilight said as she walked over to Trixie. “It's a very dark art. A lot of what it can do makes my coat crawl. I mean, even compared to that spell I used with the Ursa Minor...” She trailed off for a moment, taking a deep breath. “I did make sure to learn some necromantic protection spells, however. ...I am assuming that you asked me this for a reason?”
Trixie sighed. “The graves of some of my family members have been robbed. I'm afraid that they might wind up in the hands of necromancers. So, that's why I wanted to know.”
Twilight nodded slowly, a slight smile crossing her face. “Well, if you think that I can help...okay.”
A genuine smile crossed Trixie's face. “Thanks Twilight. With the Elements of Harmony, yourself and the Great and Powerful Trixie on the case, these thieves won't stand a chance!”
Twilight just raised an eyebrow. “If you say so, Trixie.”
Raindrops gently dove, swooping through the entrance to the Weather Patrol Station before coming to a soft landing on one of the few platforms that were actually built inside the structure.
She hadn't been able to find Rainbow Dash in any of her usual sleeping perches, which meant that she must have actually gotten off her tail to come in and do some work today. Sure enough, she could spy the rainbow-maned pony coming out of her office.
“Rainbow Dash.” She called out as she walked over to her. “I need to talk to you about something important.”
Raindrops motioned her head towards Dash's office. Rainbow picked up on what she was hinting at and nodded, turning and stepping back into her office. Raindrops followed, kicking the door closed behind her.
Rainbow Dash gave the closed door a slightly nervous glance before looking at Raindrops, their somewhat tumultuous relationship still on her mind.
“So...what did you want to talk about?” Rainbow Dash asked. “...This isn't about vacation days, is it? You know that I can't give you anymore, right?”
Raindrops shook her head slightly. “It's...a little more complicated than that. It's not for me, it's to help Trixie.”
Rainbow frowned. “Look, my hooves are kind of tied. Unless this involves official Element business I can't really give you time off...”
“It's not, no.” She sighed. “Rainbow, if I'm going to fill you in here, I need you to keep it under your hat. I don't like spreading other pony's business behind their back.”
The confusion was quite evident on Rainbow's face, but she nodded anyway. “All right Raindrops. I promise.”
“Trixie got a letter from her relatives in Neigh Orleans. The bodies of some of her family were stolen. She's going down there to find them, and I'm going to help her.”
It was a simple statement. Straight forward and to the point, just like Raindrops herself. Rainbow Dash frowned, running that statement over in her head. Raindrops stared right back, her expression her usual stoic one. After a few minutes of thinking, however, Rainbow Dash nodded.
“All right Raindrops. Go. We'll cover you here.”
Raindrops blinked. “Just like that?”
“Look, if somepony stole my parent's bodies, I'd want to have friends backing me up to go get them back.” She sighed, shuddering. “We'll be able to handle things here. Even if does mean...a little extra work.”
She then made a face like she had just licked a toad. Raindrops shook her head, smiling ever so slightly. Rainbow Dash really was something else at times.
Carrot Top trotted along, quickly cutting across town and back towards the farms. She just needed to pack some things up and then she could see about getting somepony to help watch her farm while she was gone.
“Howdy Carrot Top.”
Carrot Top glanced over at the voice, seeing the familiar form of the local leader of the Apple Trust.
“Hello Applejack.” She nodded, noticing that the farmer's saddlebags looked rather full. “Been shopping?”
“Ah, just pickin some things up for Nightmare Night. A ready for it yourself?”
“Actually, it looks like I'll be going out of town for it. Trixie asked me for some help on...something...down in Neigh Orleans. I need to pack and get someone to watch the farm for the weekend.”
Applejack nodded, biting her lip as she mulled something over in her head. After a moment, she seemed able to spit it out, however.
“Well, Apple Bloom and I could watch it for ya if ya want.”
Carrot Top blinked, looking over at the orange earth pony. “Are you sure?”
Applejack nodded. “Yup. Ya helped save my kin at the Great Equestria Farm Competition. So I owe ya one.” She grinned nervously. “Sides. Granny's been pushin me to be more neighborly as of late.”
Carrot Top smiled back. “All right. Thank you Applejack.”
The riverside nature of Neigh Orleans made it an ideal shipping and trade hub, which in turn had lead to a veritable army of warehouses lining the city's riverbanks. While most of them were owned by legitimate shipping concerns, the sheer number lead to more than a few of them having been abandoned and used by smugglers.
In one of those abandoned warehouses, two smugglers were currently stuck playing the waiting game. They were a pair of earth ponies. The first had a muddy brown coat, short mossy green mane and tail and was wearing a light tan gatsby hat; his cutie-mark a series of swamp reeds.
The other was thinner, light gray with a dark blue mane and tail. His cutie-mark a collection a small pile of stones, his disposition was quite nervous.
Bayou Runner sighed, adjusting his hat as he watched his partner pace back and forth in the warehouse. Scrabbler had been pacing for the last twenty minutes, his unease of waiting in the riverside warehouse clear.
“Boy,” He drawled, using the term despite no family relation between the two, “if you don't sit down and calm down, I'm gonna come over there and smack you upside your head.”
Scrabbler stopped his pacing and glared right back at him before sitting on his haunches.
“There. I'm not pacing anymore. Happy?”
“Quite. Now just sit there and wait for our client.”
Scrabbler managed to sit still for all of two minutes before he jumped back to his hooves and began to pace again. Runner rubbed a hoof across his brow, an exasperated sigh escaping his lips.
“Luna's sake son. I've seen toads being chased by alligators less jumpy than you.”
“Oh, my apologies. We've only just engaged in grave robbing for hire and we're sitting in a big old warehouse, waiting for the buyer to get off his sorry flank and get here...”
“We're fine, son. None of the guard saw us.”
“Cept that Luna has been cracking down on the trade since the last Gala.” Scrabbler shot back. “I heard that they got Viscountess Moon Beam last week.”
Runner opened his mouth to respond, but paused as he heard one of the doors to the warehouse open. “Hush son, I believe our client has arrived.”
Scrabbler frowned as he took a seat besides the cart with the bodies, while Bayou Runner stood in front, a wide smile on his face. A moment later, four ponies came walking into view.
The first, and the leader by Runner's knowledge, was a white coated unicorn stallion with an almost ridiculously poofy and wavy light purple mane and tail; a cutie-mark that resembled not much more than a blot of ink stood out in contrast to his coat. We wore a nicely tailored gray jacket, a white cravat, and a well made top hat.
Runner had done some digging on his client, back when the unicorn had first approached him to steal the bodies. He was a minor noble by the name of Night Shade, a name that did not fit the pony in his mind.
And elderly unicorn mare wrapped in multiple shawls stood on his right, a crystal ball cutie-mark standing out on her pink coat. Her mane and tail were gray, but not naturally, so much as having lost their color with age. Most shockingly, her horn looked like it was snapped in half, as instead of coming to a point, it ended in a jagged and broken section. Her deep blue eyes were still sharp, however. And those eyes never stopped moving around the room as they took in every detail.
To his left, was a pegasus mare and earth pony stallion pair. The pegasus was a very, very pale yellow color, with a light green mane and tail and a sickly frame. Her cutie-mark was a trio of gray and puffy clouds. Runner couldn't help but think that said cutie-mark was a particularly cruel joke. Her wings looked so stunted that he doubted that she had ever flown. She stood close to the earth pony, almost as if she was trying to protect him, insanely enough.
The earth pony was a massive work horse, his slate gray coat color, and black mane and tail making him look all the more intimidating. His cutie-mark was a lump of coal, hinting at some skill in industry. His red eyes seemed unfocused, however and they would randomly focus on the more innocuous objects in the room. It took Runner a moment to determine why. His naturally gray coat color helped hide the jagged scar that ran across the full of his forehead. A pair of simple brown saddlebags rested across his back, stuffed full from the looks of it.
The white coated unicorn coughed as he took a step forward, smiling graciously.
“Mister Runner! Punctual as always! Shall we conclude this transaction?”
Bayou Runner nodded slowly, motioning to the covered cart. “Do you want to inspect the merchandise, Mister Night Shade?”
Night Shade nodded, moving around to the other side of the cart as Scrabbler yanked the cover back with his mouth.
The two skeletons were laid out next to each other, with as much dignity one could provide to stolen bodies.
Night Shade looked to them, and then back to Bayou Runner.
“And you are sure that these are them?”
“Perfectly. I had my man in the records office triple check the burial order, and my contact in the city guard informed me that Moonsinger filed a report on the theft two days ago.”
Night Shade smiled even broader. “Very good. Very good indeed.”
Pulling the tarp back over the cart with his magic, Night Shade turned and faced Bayou Runner. Pulling a pouch out of his coat pocket, he casually threw it to the earth pony. “Four hundred silver bits, as promised.”
Runner picked up the bag, feeling the weight in his hoof. “Much obli-”
“That's not enough!” Scrabbler interjected. “You had us rob bodies related to an element bearer, and then haul it around town for four days instead of just delivering it right away. We want triple that.”
Runner caught the slight twitch in Night Shade's right eye, but the unicorn just smiled wider.
“Hmm. Yes. You did take no end of undue risk on this particular project. That seems quite fair to me.”
Reaching into the saddlebags of the gray pony, he pulled out two more bags of silver bits, dropping them before Bayou Runner. “Now, if there's nothing else, my companions and I would like to take our leave.”
Runner shrugged. “Stiffs are all yours, boss. If'n you need anything else, you know where to find me.”
“Yes...I certainly do.” He smiled.
The pegasus gently nudged the gray earth pony in the side, pointing towards the waiting cart.
“Come on brother. Like we talked about before. Cart.”
The earth pony smiled, a big goofy grin. “Cart!”
Quickly running over to the cart, he slid into the pulling harness, that same goofy grin still plastered across his muzzle. “Cart!”
Runner kept his expression neutral, but internally he couldn't help but feel a stab of sadness. The poor pony had obviously suffered some kind of brain damage, judging by that scar across his forehead.
Scrabbler, however...
“What in Luna's name is wrong with you?”
The pegasus spun to face him, her expression livid.
“Don't speak to him like that!” She shrieked. “Don't you ever dare speak to my brother that way!”
She looked ready to throw herself at Scrabbler, but Night Shade placed a hoof across her withers.
“Night Cloud. Take a deep breath. He doesn't know.”
Night Cloud still shot a venomous glare at Scrabbler as she stalked over to her brother's side nuzzling him. Night Shade glared at the pair of smugglers and thieves.
“While I commend your associate on his acidic tongue, you might wish to be careful on his deployment in the future.”
He motioned for his group to follow, the gray earth pony bringing up the rear with the cart of spoils.
Bayou Runner shook his head as he glared at Scrabbler.
“One of these days, your mouth is going to get you killed.”
Trixie looked over her assembled group of ponies in their private car. It would be a two night train ride to the city, which gave them plenty of time to work out a course of action. While her friends were all looking directly at her, Twilight was reading one of the books she had packed for the trip, Necromancy by the Numbers .
“All right,” Trixie began, “We'll be getting into Neigh Orleans around eleven in the morning. We'll check into a hotel, and then I'll go talk to my aunt to figure out what she knows. Then it'll be a matter of knocking on doors and kicking over rocks.”
Cheerilee frowned. “Seems like we'll be kind of poking into the criminal underground, Trixie. This could be dangerous.”
“Which is why no one goes around the city alone. Groups of two at the bare minimum, more when we can.” Trixie explained as she nervously looked out the train window. “Now, both to our benefit and detriment, Princess Luna has really been increasing the pressure on the smuggling rings in the city, since the Gala.”
“Well, isn't that a good thing?” Ditzy asked. “Fewer possibilities to chase down.”
Trixie nodded to her friend. “You'd be correct. But on the other hoof, those groups that are left are going to be a lot more suspicious. Unlikely to just trust anypony that comes along.”
“Which is where I can come in.” Twilight mentioned, not looking up from her book. “I was a wanted criminal not to long ago.”
Raindrops frowned. “That's a dangerous ploy, Trixie. She will be in violation of her house arrest for sure then.”
Trixie winced as she squirmed slightly in her seat. “I know...and I hope that it won't come to that. But it's a backup plan, at least.”
“What about the city guard?” Carrot Top asked. “Can't they help at all?”
“Well, if we can give them a direct location to raid, sure...” Trixie sighed. “But Nightmare Night is big business for Neigh Orleans. We get creatures from all across Equestria and beyond coming in. The guard will be making sure that they're all safe and that they're not causing any problems themselves.”
“Is it really that much of a problem?” Lyra asked.
“You ever seen a group of griffins drunk?”
“...No, I haven't.” Lyra was forced to admit.
“Sounds like a good time to me.” Raindrops smirked.
Trixie rolled her eyes as she looked out the window again. “Anyway...thanks again for the assistance. I appreciate it...really.”
Cheeriliee chuckled. “Trixie. We're your friends. You're not pushing us away. Stop being so paranoid.”
“We're about to engage in a hunt for the bodies of my family. This is hardly normal friend circumstances.”
“Our friendship didn't start off under normal circumstances either. We are here, and we will help back you up.”
Trixie couldn't help but smile as they the rest of her friends, and Twilight nodded in agreement.
Night Shade watched as Coal Black pulled the cart with the bodies around the back of his manor house, Night Cloud leading the way. It had been surprisingly easy to get across the city with Coal Black pulling the cart. The guards seemed unwilling to stop and bother the mentally stunted stallion and his “family”. The two-mile walk from there had been quiet, aside from the sounds of the cart's wheels on the ground.
Crystal Gazer frowned as she watched the pair disappear around the back of the house, as she pulled her shawls tighter around her ancient body.
“I still hope this plan of yours will work.” She croaked. “There is very little room for error.”
Night Shade waved a hoof her way. “You will be casting magic again soon my dear. Just help them unload the bodies, then gather the others in the drawing room. I have preparations to make.”
Crystal Gazer nodded, heading around the back of the building as Night Shade strode in via the front doors, heading up the main stairs and to his grand bedroom. Striding across the room to a large oak desk, he looked up at the painting that hung on the wall.
It depicted an elegant looking white-coated unicorn with a wavy black mane. She had a slightly sad smile on her face but still reflected a refined elegance. Nodding to himself, he picked up a well worn cane that was resting next to the desk. It was carved from dark mahogany, topped with a black diamond that almost seemed to actively eat the light around it. Picking it up, he channelled his magic through it, dark tendrils of power rippling from the diamond and flowing into the room.
With a gesture the magic tendrils swept across his face, leaving behind a black painted mask of a pony skull over his features. Reaching out with his power, he called upon the the hidden places scattered about his manor, brushing against the pools of necromantic energy contained within. Pulling the magical power with him he calmly walked over to where a separate table had been set up.
The table had a magical circle carved into it, in which seven specially forged daggers rested. The blades had a blood channel running down their center, that continued onward into the handles themselves. A few pages, neatly cut from a spellbook lay next to the ritual circle.
Night Shade checked the instructions for the magical circle again, making sure that everything was properly constructed before nodding and beginning to channel again. Tendrils of necromantic power began to flow around the room, circling and flowing into the magic circle and into the daggers. As he continued to channel, tendrils of magic from the other schools flowed out of diamond and into the daggers which almost began to thrum with power. Only when they were so stuffed with magic that they were in danger of exploding, did he tie off the spell.
The glow around them faded at that point, leaving them looking normal, if not for their strange construction. Sweeping them into a velvet lined box, Night Shade trotted downstairs to the drawing room.
Night Cloud, Crystal Gazer and Coal Black had come back in from pulling the cart around the back of the manner house. They were joined by the three other members of Night Shade's little conspiracy.
A young earth pony mare- Fall Fields was her name- was pacing back and forth near one of the windows. Her very pale tan coat was contrasted strongly by her deep red mane and tail, her cutie-mark a bundle of wheat. Her whole body was tense and on edge, like she might explode and start swinging at someone.
Sitting across from her was an older earth pony mare, her light yellow coat pockmarked with patches of gray, her once vibrant light blue mane now more of a wispy silver; her cutie-mark three medical crosses situated in a loose triangle. In contrast to Fall Fields, Tender Care was calm and collected.
The last member of the his band sat at the old antique piano that was tucked into the corner of the room. The caramel colored pegasus idly hammered at the keys, her white mane and tail frayed and unkempt. Her violin cutie-mark stood out, if for no other reason than the fact her right foreleg below the knee was gone. Rising Note just continued to occasionally poke at the keys, with her one good hoof.
Night Shade rapped his cane against the hardwood floor, bringing the room to attention as he calmly strode towards the center of the room.
“Well, my friends, everything is in place. The bait is ready and the element bearers should be on their way.”
“Ya sure about that?” Fall Fields growled as she paced. “It's a heck of a chance we're taking.”
“I'm quite sure. Moonsinger made her report to the police, they will have given her the standard response considering the Nightmare Night preparations. She will have reached out to the only other connection she really has left, her family.”
Pausing for a moment, he raised his cane a little higher, letting the light catch off it's diamond head. A slow smile crossed his muzzle, made all the more sinister by the skull pattern currently adorning his face.
“After all. There are necromancers all over this good city that would just love to defile her poor family's remains.”
The lamps in the room flickered at his deep laugh, the shadows almost seeming to smother the flames for a moment.
“Anyway. Assuming that she left today, I would expect her crew to get in the morning after tomorrow. Night Cloud, you, Coal Black and Rising Note will stake out the train station with a few of my pets. When you see them come in, send one back to let me know then follow them to find out where they're staying. We'll need to know where they are to isolate them.”
Night Cloud twitched her wings.
“Can't I just take the my target when I'm there? You enchanted the blades already. If I take Raindrops place, then I'll be able to help direct and twist them from the inside.”
Night Shade frowned as he considered Night Cloud's statement. There was merit in her position. Nodding slowly, he levitated one of the blades over to Night Cloud and one to Rising Note.
“Very well. But only take your chances if you can guarantee you won't be caught. This can't go wrong. Am I perfectly clear you two?”
Rising Note nodded, carefully taking the dagger by the handle with her mouth and placing it into her violin case.
“I hear you Night Shade. I've waited for a year already, I can wait a little bit longer.”
Night Cloud growled as she dropped her own dagger into her saddlebags. “Yeah. I understand. I won't screw anything up.”
“See that you don't.” Night Shade glared as he looked to the rest of his crew. “As far as the rest of us are concerned, we have to go plug a potential leak. I don't want Trixie and her friends to find our body movers. He knows who I am, and if Trixie finds him, she can find us.”
He channelled power through his staff, two small amorphous shadows coiling into view. With a simple gesture the two flitted over to Night Cloud and disappeared into her mane, hiding themselves from view.
“You lot get moving. The rest of you wait outside. I'm going to summon us some backup.”
As his crew walked out the front door he headed for the back, and to the family crypt that was at the back of his property. The bodies of Quartermoon and Crescent Starshine had been laid on the floor, ready to be worked on.
“About to defile a few more poor souls? Who is unlucky enough to suffer my son's tender care?”
The voice was angry and acidic, an ethereal glow filling the crypt as a ghostly unicorn rose right through the ground, to glare down at Night Shade. She looked just as elegant and refined as she did in the paintings in the manner house, though significantly more cross.
Night Shade continued to work, beginning to conjure necromantic energy as he responded to the ghosts' comments.
“They're relatives of the bearer of the Element of Magic, mother.”
The ghost frowned deeper.
“So, you insist on continuing with this insane plan? How many lives are you willing to destroy to get to Princess Luna?”
“It's not insane, mother. With the power of an alicorn at my hooves, I'll finally be able to bring you fully back to life, instead of just as a ghost. Aren't you happy about that?”
“Oh, I am dearly overjoyed that you've continued to ignore my wishes to just let me go, son. Especially now that you're about to extend my cursed existence onto two other innocent ponies! I'll just swagger on down to the Nightmare Night celebration and strut my stuff, I'm so damned happy!”
“Oh, mother!” Night Shade chuckled, his mother's acidic sarcasm completely lost on him. “You know that you can't travel into the city! I had to limit your movement because you were being so unreasonable.”
Moon Shade threw her fore-legs up in exasperation. “You are a fool my son. And this path will destroy you in the end.”
Night Shade ignored her as he threaded necromantic power around and through the skeletons at his hooves. They twitched slightly, the necromancy causing a slight stirring of the bones. This is where most necromancers would be satisfied with just animating the skeletons, but Night Shade had surpassed that level years ago.
Forcing the magic to go further, he exploited the natural connection between the bones and the spirits that once occupied them. He could feel the spirits in question struggling against his magical grasp, but with a strong yank he pulled them forward.
The ghosts of Quartermoon and Crescent Starshine were dragged forward into the physical world with a horrendous shriek. The earth pony and unicorn looked around, blinking in confusion at being summoned back to the living world.
“What's going on?” Quartermoon asked as he glared at Night Shade. “Who are you to disturb our rest?”
“I, am your master.” Night Shade responded.
Before they had a chance to react further, Night Shade lashed out with his magic. Ghostly chains erupted from the gem of the staff, wrapping around the legs of the pair. Their eyes glazed over and their expressions went slack as Night Shade exerted his control.
“Congratulations, son.” Moon Shade drawled. “You've achieved another fine violation of the laws of nature and taste.”
Night Shade held his cane forward to the two ghosts. “Into the gem while I head through town you two. We're going to go pay somepony a visit.”
The ghosts slowly floated into the gem, Night Shade turning and trotting out of the crypt. “I'll be back later mother. Don't worry. This will all be worth it in the end.”
Moon Shade shook her head. “Where did I go so wrong...”
Bayou Runner sighed as he headed trotted through the streets of Neigh Orleans red light district, taking a circuitous route back towards his and Scrabbler's house. Another pile of debts paid off, and with quite a bit of money left over, thanks to Scrabbler's hard negotiations with Night Shade.
Still, he felt uneasy. The sun was beginning to go down and he couldn't shake the feeling that somepony or some thing was watching him. Pulling his gatsby cap forward he glanced behind him to make sure that he wasn't being followed. An empty alley greeted his eyes.
“I need to get out of this line of work.” He growled to himself as he stepped out of the alley and over to his house.
He froze in place. The door to his house was open, swinging ever so slightly on it's hinges. Frowning, he quickly ran inside and grabbed the heavy wooden club he kept stowed just inside the door.
Taking a firm grip of the handle with his mouth, his ears perked up at the sound of a loud crash upstairs. He ran up the stairs, taking two at a time. Hitting the upstairs landing, he could now hear the muffled shouts coming from Scrabble's bedroom at the end of the hall.
He bolted into the room thoroughly prepared to give the beating of a lifetime to anypony that was trying to cross him and his partner. Or at least that was his original plan. He actually dropped his club in shock at the sight of Scrabble being lifted into the air by a pair of ghostly figures.
An elderly earth pony stallion had him in a death grip, holding Scrabble a full foot off the ground, while a unicorn mare had her hoof shoved deep into his body. Bayou Runner could only gape as Scrabble's coat grew faded and patchy, his mane and tail turning white, age lines appearing across his face; the ghosts draining the life right out him.
“How nice of you to join us. I was afraid that I'd have to search the whole city for you, Mister Runner.”
Bayou Runner snatched the club back up as he faced the figure that stepped from the shadows in the corner, which seemed to melt and pull away from his form. Runner recognized him as Night Shade, but he looked infinitely more intimidating.
The jovial smile was gone, replaced with a remorseless glare of smug superiority, the pony skull mask painted onto his fur making it look all the more deranged. Runner threw himself at his former client, aiming to bring the club down on his smugly smiling head.
The shadows in the room moved in response, darting between Runner and Night Shade as they blocked the strike. He could hear the sound of Scrabbler's body hitting the floor behind him, as Night Shade's laugh cut through the room.
“Sorry Mister Runner. It's nothing personal, mind. Just can't have you possibly blabbing about who I am to Miss Trixie once she starts looking for who stole the bodies of her family. Just business.”
“You sick...”
“Monster? Freak? Murderer? All of the above? My dear sir! You are a grave robber and a smuggler. I don't think that you are in any sort of position to throw stones. Now please face your death with some manner of dignity at least.”
The shadows and the ghosts surged forward, their mournful wails filling Runner's ears. Dropping his club, he bolted from the room in a blind panic, rushing back down the stairs. If he could make it to one of the city guard stations...
So focused on escaping the ghosts he was that as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he didn't notice the cloaked figure that stepped out of the living room blocking his path to the doorway, holding a scythe. He tried to skid to a halt, even as the figure swung the blade.
It pierced his side, slicing into his organs and dropping him with a loud thud. Fall Fields grinned as she flipped her hood back.
“And loose ends tied. Looks like we're good to go boss!”
Night Shade came downstairs, the ghosts following him as he looked over the dead pony. “Excellent. Now it's just a matter of cleaning up.”
Calling upon his necromantic power again, the body of Bayou Runner shakily rose to it's hooves. Night Shade motioned to the pool of blood on the floor.
“Clean your own blood up, then immolate yourself and your partner.” He paused for a moment. “In the fireplace, please. Show a little bit of class in death.”
Bayou Runner's body shuffled into the kitchen for a towel, Night Shade motioning for Fall Fields to follow.
“Now it's time to wait.”
Trixie stretched as she stepped off the train, her friends following behind her. The Neigh Orleans train station was a little busier than normal for this time of night, a small crowd of ponies likewise leaving the train and breaking off to gather their luggage or go about their own business.
Despite the circumstances, Trixie couldn't help but feel a bit of warmth in her core at returning to the city of her birth. Old connections, could stir the heart she supposed.
Glancing around, she noticed a beggar sitting by the benches a harmonica in her one good forehoof, a cup by her side. A pair of workers, a large earth pony and a sickly looking pegasus stepped onto the train to clean it. But what most stood out to her was the pair of city guard who were watching by the entrance, stopping each pony leaving the train station with a few questions.
“Everypony have their stuff?” She asked, motioning to the guard ponies. “I have a feeling we'll need to declare.”
Twilight and Trixie's friends nodded, their saddlebags neatly secured on their bodies, with the exception of Raindrops. She looked slightly embarrassed at her saddlebag-less form, which for Raindrops meant a slight frown.
“You go ahead.” She said. “Start talking to them and I'll catch up.”
Raindrops turned and walked back into the train. Trixie nodded to the others.
“Come on then. Let's get this over with.”
Raindrops frowned as she walked back towards the the private compartment where she had presumably left her stuff. Peering into the compartment, her frown deepened. No saddlebags.
“Play!” Came a muffled male voice to her right.
Looking that way, Raindrops blinked at the sight of a very large earth pony holding her saddlebags in his mouth. His goofy grin a stark contrast to his dark coloring.
“Hey! Give those back!”
He shook his head, turning and running further down the train.
Raindrops growled, running after him, the cramped nature of the train keeping her from using her wings. She chased him all the way back into the baggage car, where he spun around and faced her goofy grin still plastered on his face.
The sound of the door closing behind her caught her attention and she turned to see a frail and sickly looking light yellow pegasus blocking the door. Her smile was manic, the kind of joyous grin that a foal would display upon getting a particularly expensive toy.
Raindrops frowned. “All right. I don't know what you're trying to do. But I suggest you let me out, before I make you let me out.”
The pegasus shook her head as she giggled, her eerily airy voice making it sound all the more creepy. “Nah. That won't be happening. Bro?” She pointed to Raindrops. “Hug!”
Raindrops felt herself seized from behind, the large earth pony wrapping his forelegs around her like an iron vice. Raindrops struggled, flexing her muscles as she tried to break his grip. The giant of an earth pony just hugged harder matching her strength.
The pegasus darted forward with an ornate dagger in her mouth, slashing it across Raindrops' leg. Raindrops winced at the cut. She had experienced worse in fights, but this was proving their ill intents even further and she didn't want to see what other plans she had for that dagger.
Much to Raindrops shock the pegasus didn't continue stabbing or slashing at her. She just tilted her head back, letting the blood on the blade flow down its channel, through a similar one on the handle, and into her mouth. And as the pegasus swallowed Raindrops blood, the dagger began to glow and Raindrops screamed as she felt a pain unlike anything she had felt in her life before.
It was a stabbing pain that drilled straight to her core, almost like something was being ripped right out of her spirit. She glared at her attacker, panting through the pain, only to be shocked as she began to transform before her eyes.
The pale yellow of her coat began to darken to Raindrops' own jasmine color, even as her mane and tail likewise shifted blue. She laughed, her voice deepening as her sickly form began to swell with muscle, her crippled wings snapping into full and healthy ones.
At the same time, Raindrops felt her own wings snap and crunch, her strength draining away as her own body became smaller, thin and sickly. She managed a glance downward, noticing that her own coat color remained the same, despite her now withered form. It was like her attacker was passing off her own flaws while she stole Raindrops' appearance. Glancing back up Raindrops watched in horror as her attacker's cutie-mark changed, the gray clouds turning into her own three raindrops.
Raindrops gaped at her double, her brain locking up at the sight.
“What...are you?”
She took a step closer to Raindrops, grinning wide. “I'm you.”
The last thing Raindrops saw as her own hoof connecting with her head, the impact knocking her into unconsciousness.
Author's Note
So, here's my first bit of fiction that I've ever written for the Lunaverse, and this is somewhat a big deal to me.
Mostly because the fact that it was the Lunaverse that really made me want to begin writing again. I've always liked "What if?" scenarios, and having other ponies become the Element Bearers or other princesses being in charge certainly scratch that itch.
But in my opinion, what really makes the Lunaverse pull together is the continuity and world building. It helps make it really pop and come alive, in my opinion and has been my inspiration to do the same in my own fics.
So, this has been a real blast to write and I hope you'll all enjoy it, and the next chapters as well.
Raindrops almost wanted to cry in frustration. She had been completely unable to budge the steamer trunk that she was locked in. She had no idea how long she had been floating down the river, but the trunk was still taking on water.
She knew that if she didn't somehow find a way to beach it, then it would just continue to take on water until it sunk beneath the surface and she drowned. She began to shift her weight back and forth, rocking the trunk slowly to the right.
It was an agonizingly slow process, with only the sound of her own breath and the lapping of water keeping her company. Doubts played through her mind as she worked. What if a boat in the river hit her? What if she flipped it over by accident?
No! I'm not going to give up!
She continued to slowly and carefully rock the trunk to the side. A sudden bump and the feeling of a lack of forward movement signaled to Raindrops that she had hit up against something.
It's a start, at least...
She took a calming breath, carefully resting her hoof on the lid of the trunk. She studied Iron Hoof martial arts, and there was one trick from those studies that might help her here. The one inch hoof strike, supposedly capable of putting the full force of a hoof punch without needing the full room to strike.
She pulled back required inch and struck. The wood splintered slightly from the blow, Raindrops smiling at the sound. She hit again, a small hole appearing in the lid. One more punch made the hole large enough to fit her whole hoof through.
Feeling around for the lock, she swore under her breath when she couldn't find it within reaching distance. Pulling her leg back into the trunk, she stuck her muzzle close to the hole.
“Help! Can anypony hear me! HELP!”
She fell into a hacking cough as her stunted body betrayed her again. She'd have to rest and then try some more strikes. At least the trunk wasn't moving anymore. A sad sigh escaped her lips, the thought of her her family loosing her, or never being able to be a part of the weather patrol playing through her head.
No. Not gonna give up.
“HELP!” She yelled, even as she lined up another hoof strike. “IS ANYPONY OUT THERE!”
The trunk suddenly shifted as it was dragged out of the river, the water leaking out of its seams as it was pulled completely clear. A moment later the lid flew back as it was kicked open and Raindops was greeted by the smiling face of Cheerilee.
“Friend!” She beamed, scooping Raindrops up in a hug.
Raindrops blinked, confused at her simple speech and childlike actions, until she saw the wicked looking scar that crossed her forehead.
“Oh, Cheerilee. They got you too?”
Cheerilee frowned, apparently confused by the question.
“Find friends?” She asked, gently putting Raindrops down.
Raindrops nodded. “Yeah. Let's go back to the inn and see if they're there.”
The two friends began to walk back north, happy that they were back together again at least.
Twilight frowned slightly as she levitated another collection of shredded paper in front of her beginning to spread the pieces out, rotating them this way and that as she began to reassemble the destroyed document.
After Trixie left, she, Sunset Shimmer and Hooflock had decided that the best way to solve all of their needs was just to put the destroyed documents back together. Hooflock could then take a proper accounting of what might have been stolen, Shimmer would have her research and Twilight would be able to find out if anything here would be relevant to Trixie's situation.
A few half assembled pages were spread out in front of her, like particularly difficult puzzles. But Twilight knew arcane formulae and bit-by-bit the pages came back together. Sliding the last piece into one of the documents, Twlight gave it a quick scan.
“Okay Hooflock. Item number twenty-two. Formula for a divination based spell. Entitled “Find the Pony”.
Hooflock grunted as he scribbled the name down on his list. He glanced at Sunset Shimmer, who checked her own master list. The idea was that comparing the two lists would allow then show what was stolen by process of elimination.
“That's one of Crystal Gazer's creations. Check.” She said. “So far, it's all where it should be.”
Twilight frowned as she glanced at the shrinking piles of destroyed parchment. She was starting to have her doubts that what they had taken from here was kept in Sunset Shimmer's research.
She returned to assembling pieces, while Hooflock and Shimmer began to chat.
“So, Hooflock, why didn't you just let me do this in the first place?”
“Maybe because you had been bossing me around from the minute I got here? You got a chip on your flank a mile wide, lady.”
“Well, your department certainly dragged their hooves coming here.”
He rolled his eyes. “What are you going to accuse me of next, being a tribalist?”
“Well, don't think that I haven't noticed how you've been glaring at my cutie-mark. Afraid that I'm going to go all Corona on you?”
“Don't start that with me. I don't care what your cutie-mark is!”
“A likely story.”
“Luna's night, how did an egotist like you get in charge of a place like this!”
“Because I'm the only evoker with my level of specialized knowledge in this half of Equestria!”
Twilight sighed, focusing on her assembly some more. Maybe she should have stayed with Trixie.
Trixie glowered at the old and elegant looking manor house, it's distinctive white columned appearance so common among the nobility of the city. The well manicured grounds were quiet, but Trixie could see light barely peeking around the edge of the building.
“Your employer like to work outside?” She asked Crystal Gazer.
She nodded.
“Oh, yes. We're far from the city and surrounded by the swamp. It allows him to work uninterrupted.”
Trixie frowned, straightening her hat. “Then let's go interrupt.”
Quickly trotting around the side of the building, Trixie skidded to a halt at the sight that greeted her. The bones of her mother and grandpappa were laid out on the ground, next to a coffin lid, before an open grave. Cheerilee sat in the grave, fear writ on her features as a white coated unicorn stallion with a pony skull painted over his features stood behind the grave, channeling.
Trixie charged forward, her anger overwhelming her better judgment. Besides she had her friends backing her up.
“Leave my family's bodies alone!”
The unicorn stopped channeling, looking at her with a twisted smirk.
“Ahh. Miss Lulamoon. How nice of you to join us.”
“I said, leave my family's bodies alone!” Trixie growled. “Or we're going to make you stop! And don't call me Lulamoon!”
“Ahh. Miss Lulamoon. I knew that your emotions would undermine you in the end.”
Trixie felt a sudden stab of pain on her back. Spinning around she saw Crystal Gazer tilting her head back, magically charged dagger in her mouth. Trixie's friends were all standing by, impassive and unconcerned that she had just been attacked.
The realization of what was happening hit Trixie a moment before the horrendous sensation of pain did. Her legs buckled as she tried to stay upright. Trixie's skill of being able to recognize spells on the fly told her that whatever this was, it was pulling at her very spirit.
Trixie could only bite back the tears and pain as she watched herself appear out of Crystal Gazer's features. Her broken horn mended, her advanced age faded away all while a wide smile played across her muzzle.
Trixie felt another stab of agony dance right down the middle of her horn as it split and then broke in half, leaving her writhing in agony, the nerves in her head throbbing like somepony had taken a hammer and chisel to her.
She felt her cape and hat get yanked away, the imposter securing them on her body, as Trixie glared up at her, wincing through the pain.
“W-where are my friends. What d-did you do with them?” She gasped.
The white coated unicorn shrugged, walking over to the group of her friends replacements as “Cheerilee” clambered out of the grave. “Dead or scattered and on their way to being dead.”
Trixie's heart dropped in her chest. She didn't want to believe him, but all of her friends were standing behind him, each one apparently replaced, just like she had been. And she hadn't even noticed.
“My friends are not dead!”
“Oh, but I think they are. After all, if they were still alive, you wouldn't be here alone.”
Trixie winced at the words, the pain and fear at the thought of her friends all being gone squirming in her stomach all the more. But she wasn't just going to take these ponies word on that...or roll over and die.
The unicorn that had stolen her appearance was still somewhat preoccupied with her once again youthful body. She had taken Trixie's cloak and cape, but Trixie was pretty sure she didn't have a clue about all the tricks she kept hidden in it.
Moving as fast as she could, she rushed past her twin, and then lashed out with a buck, her hooves slamming into the hidden pocket she kept sewn into the inner lining. With a loud snap-bag, her collection of trick smoke bombs went off at once from the impact, obscuring the whole group in a billowing cloud of pink and gray smoke.
Trixie didn't wait to see how effective her strike had been, plowing onwards and towards the edge of the property. She headed right into the swamp, the mud squelching under her hooves as she rushed into the darkness.
She ran onwards, the darkness making the trees look all the more oppressive and intimidating. She paused for a moment to get her bearings, trying to ignore the pain in what was left of her horn and from the cut on her back. Her ears were slicked back in anger.
Stupid, stupid! My friends were getting replaced around me and I didn't even notice. I failed them and now they might be dead.
She shook her head.
My friends aren't dead! They're stronger than that. They're better than that! I'm going to find them and we will deal with that necromancy using bastard.
Those thoughts were keeping her moving, as she mentally worked out which direction was north and began to trot that way. As she walked, she tried channeling magic a few times. Simple light spells snapped and arced off her horn, all power and no control. Casting anything more powerful could be very dangerous.
“Took my form, passed on her disability. Has to be some kind of curse in nature. I wonder if Twilight found anything...”
As she continued along, a soft glow began to fill the part of the swamp she was in. Blinking, she glanced around only for a chill to run down her spine when she saw a pair of ghostly forms floating her direction. Her grandpapa and mother were swiftly gliding across the swamp, forelegs stretched towards her.
Gasping, Trixie began to run at top speed again. But the mud pulled at her hooves, the water slowing her stride as the ghosts of her family closed in on her. She glanced back again, yelping as she saw that they were almost right on top of her. One of her hooves caught a tree root and she tumbled forward. Scrambling in the mud, she flipped over and backpedaled, as she pressed up against one of the large swamp trees.
They were a foot away from her now, their ethereal hooves outstretched eyes still vacant and unfocused even as they moved to kill her. Trixie could feel tears leaking from her eyes, fueled by a mix of sadness and fear.
“Please...just remember me.” She croaked, channeling one last spell in a desperation move.
An out of control surge of magic sprung from the tip of her broken horn, wrapping around Trixie and her ghostly relatives; a flood of images flowing from the living to the dead in a torrent of magic.
Trixie was performing for her grandpapa, when a trip caused a bedpan to land on her head...
She was stepping off the train in Ponyville, Lyra by her side. “So, where to first? The Apples? The weather team? Introducing yourself to the mayor?”
She and her friends were staring down Corona, the magic of the Elements of Harmony arcing towards the tyrant...
The magic continued to howl through the swamp, lifting Trixie into the air slightly; light pooring from the eyes of both her and the ghosts. A lifetime of memories was transferred in a moment before the spell ended with a mighty thunder crack and Trixie dropped back into the swamp. She looked up at the ghosts of her family members just as they swooped down and wrapped their arms around her.
Trixie froze.
This is it! I'm going to wither away to nothing before I finally die. I've let everypony down. I'm a failure...
But instead of death came the soft and comforting voice of her mother.
“My brave, brave little girl.”
“Momma?” Trixie asked, a smile crossing her muzzle as hope welled up in her again.
Crescent Starshine smiled as she held her daughter close.
“Yes, Trixie. Let me get a good look at you.”
The ghosts floated back, Starshine's face full of pride, while Quartermoon's expression was more appraising, but still full of approval. Then a wide smile crossed his muzzle.
“My little girl. Element of Magic, savior of the world and a fantastic magician.”
“We are so proud of you!” Crescent beamed, before frowning slightly. “I was so afraid of what was going to happen after your father and then my sudden death...”
“Mom...it's okay. I'm just glad that you're not under the control of that necromancer anymore.” She paused for a moment. “Well, and being able to talk with you...”
“I didn't mean to leave you alone Trixie.”
“It's okay! Aunt Moonsinger was a great caregiver. And grandpapa helped me learn all my slight of hoof. I turned out fine, really.”
“Better than fine!” Quartermoon commented, nodding. “And she's going to stop this madman!”
Trixie's eyes went wide. “My friends! I-I got to find them!
Quartermoon held up a ghostly hoof. “Panicking won't help. Keep your stage cool.”
Trixie took a deep breath and nodded. “Right. Never let them see you sweat. I still need to get to them though.”
Quartermoon and Crescent looked at each other and nodded.
“Crescent will lead you out of the swamp, I'll fly ahead to where you left Twilight Sparkle and let her know what's happening, since I don't think she's been compromised yet. Where should I tell them to meet?”
Trixie thought for a moment. “The Stacks themselves seem like a good idea. We can regroup there and try to work out what this pony is trying to accomplish.”
Quartermoon nodded. “I shall meet you there then.”
Without another word, he turned and flew off into the night, leaving Trixie with the ghost of her mother. She smiled at Trixie and began to float slowly ahead of her, illuminating the way for her daughter.
“Now Trixie, we should really talk about this whole aversion to sex you seem to have.”
“...Couldn't you have just killed me instead?”
Twilight was beginning to get a headache.
“Just because I have a sun cutie-mark doesn't mean that I'm a minion of Corona!”
“And for the tenth time, you are the only one who's hung up on this!”
“ENOUGH!” Twilight snapped, rolling her eyes. “How did you get your cutie-mark anyway Sunset?” Anything to change the focus away from the argument.
Sunset sighed. “The long and the short of it is that I got lost in some of the drainage pipes that run under parts of the city. They're mostly there to help protect the city from flooding, but sometimes want to be necromancers practice down there and loose control of their undead.”
“And you got chased by some of those?” Twilight asked.
Sunset nodded. “Found a crack in the ceiling and it was right at noon. So there was a perfect stream of sunlight right in the corner of the path. And since shadows- they were shadows by the way- don't deal with sunlight well, I was safe there. And then I was able to climb up by bracing myself against the wall. Got my cutie-mark as I clambered out.”
Sunset Shimmer grinned. “See, that's the thing I like about the sun. It can be a little harsh at times, but it drives away shadows and lies and burns the undead.”
Twilight couldn't really argue with that as she looked down at the last document on both the lists, a half completed spell. She shook her head, getting to her hooves.
“Sunset, where did you put the forbidden collection?”
Sunset's expression immediately turned dour as she glared back at Twilight.
“Are you serious?”
“I'm not trying to steal them! Let's make sure they're all there. Because whatever was stolen, it wasn't in these notes. And if it wasn't in these notes, then your research was destroyed as a distraction.”
Sunset Shimmer sighed, trotting out of her lab and towards her office.
“After you broke in, I ended up locking up the tomes in my office. Only myself and Crystal Gazer have access to it.”
“And she's trustworthy?” Hooflock asked.
“She was in charge of The Stacks before she lost her ability to reliably cast and I took over. I kept her on as an assistant.”
“Wow, she does have a heart.” Hooflock smirked.
Sunset Shimmer just glared back at him before lighting up her horn and moving a painting, revealing a sturdy looking wall safe. She spun the dial a few times, before yanking it open, revealing two thick tomes.
“See? Right where they should be.”
Twlight frowned, picking one up and beginning to rapidly flick through the pages.
“H-hey! She's doing it again!” Sunset growled.
Twilight's response was to flip the book around. Three blank pages had been pasted back into it, obviously intended to hide the fact that anything had been removed when one looked at it from the side. Sunset Shimmer's jaw dropped open, Twilight unable to resist a triumphant smirk.
“What...how?”
Twilight flipped the book back over, running through the book again and comparing each page to her own memories, to work out which spell had been stolen while Hooflock turned his attention to Sunset Shimmer again.
“So, you said that you and Crystal Gazer are the only ones who have access?"
"Well...we're the only two who know the combination.”
Hooflock frowned. “And she's the one not here.”
Sunset shook her head.
“It can't have been her. She was dedicated to this place for decades! I even kept her on when other ponies suggest that I let her go to save bits. She...she wouldn't betray me like that.”
“Oh no...” Twilight gasped, dropping the book to the floor. “Oh no, no, no.”
“What?”
“I..I got to go! Trixie's in horrible danger!”
“Twilight?” Sunset asked, her own expression growing ashen. “Which spell did they take?”
“The Curse of Skins.”
Sunset Shimmer fell back on her haunches.
“My career is over. I've been in charge for two thefts, and this time it's a forbidden curse? They'll run my sun-sporting flank out of the city for this!”
“Sunset! They could be in trouble!”
“What, because of that curse?” Sunset Shimmer scoffed. “Come on Twilight. That spell is uncastable. The ramblings of a mad pony who was convinced he could steal a pony's cutie-mark.”
Hooflock frowned. “What do you mean? Spell-casters do all sorts of crazy stuff.”
“Look. I'm not going to go into a full explanation of magical theory to you. The long and the short of it is that you would need to be a master of necromancy, and who can also cast spells from up to all the other schools depending on how you wanted to layer the curse.”
Hooflock's expression was completely lost, eliciting another groan from Sunset Shimmer and an explanation from Twilight.
“Well, according to the legends the curse was created by a pony who was stuck with a blank flank deep into his adulthood. The drive to find his special talent drove him insane and he began to search for means to get it.”
“He supposedly found a diamond, black as the deepest night. And that diamond supposedly let him craft the curse.” Sunset Shimmer added before Twilight continued.
“The nature of that curse is that you take what you want from the target, and pass off what you hate about yourself to them. So, depending on what it is about yourself and your life that you hate, you could need anything from transmutation to illusion to do it.”
“Plus there's the question of controlling the magical power.” Sunset added. “You'd need a truly vast reservoir of magical power to avoid over channeling. Hence the supposed diamond that appears in the legends. But no one has ever found the thing. I don't think it exists.”
“Oh, I assure you. It certainly does.” Came a calm, male voice that none of the ponies in the room recognized.
Exchanging glances, they all turned their heads towards the voice at once, seeing the ghostly form of Quartermoon floating in the middle of the upper floor. Sunset Shimmer jumped to her hooves, crouching down into a defensive stance horn already glowing as she prepared a spell.
Quartermoon held up his hooves.
“Hold! I owe you no ill will and only seek to aid my granddaughter, Trixie.”
Sunset Shimmer glowered, but the glow around her horn faded away. Straightening up, she glared at the ghost.
“What is Trixie doing summoning ghosts?”
Quartermoon snorted. “My grand daughter did not summon me. The pony behind your theft is the one who dragged my daughter and I back to the waking world.”
“Is Trixie okay?” Twilight asked.
“Considering the circumstances, she is doing much better than she could have been. I came ahead to elicit your assistance in finding the rest of her friends, while my daughter leads her back here. Trixie believes that it is wise to regroup here.”
“Are they...” Twilight trailed off.
“I do not know their end fate right now, but I do know that they were attacked.”
Twilight thought for a moment before grinning. “The Find the Pony spell! That must have been why they destroyed the notes!”
She ran back over to the re-assembled spell, her eyes running over the spell a few times as she committed it to memory, Quartermoon gliding across the room, ignoring the continued glare of Sunset Shimmer.
“Can you cast it?”
“I think so.”
Closing her eyes, Twilight reached out with her magic picturing Carrot Top in her mind. In her mind's eye it was like a sea of fog was slowly parting, a location becoming more and more clear to her. A building became visible. Short and squat, the symbol of the Neigh Orleans guard was emblazoned on it's facade, station house number twelve clearly carved underneath it.
The view point swooped into the station, banking around corners and swooping into a cell, where Carrot Top, Lyra and Ditzy were all currently locked away. Twilight blinked as she snapped back to reality.
“Lyra, Carrot Top and Ditzy are all in a jail cell in station house number twelve.”
She began to gallop for the stairs for the first floor, Sunset Shimmer running right behind her. Hooflock shook his head as he ran to catch up.
“Wait for me! You won't be able to get anypony out of there without someone vouching for this insane story!”
Quartermoon shook his head slightly, but was unable to keep the smile off his muzzle as he floated through the wall to see if any of his other granddaughter's friends had made their way back to the inn he had seen in his daughter's memories.
Carrot Top groaned as she sunk back onto the cell bench, her head pounding from the hours of interrogation that she had been dragged through. Whatever the pony had done to her, none of the guard saw her for anything but Fall Fields; though she was glad that the effect didn't seem to be spilling over to her friends.
She glanced at Ditzy, who was still trembling in the corner of the cell, her eyes darting about as she looked for a way to escape, presumably so that she could go and find a way to “kill Corona with her bare hooves”.
Lyra was by the bars likewise looking for a way out of the cell, but kept getting distracted by the way her wings refused to stay under control, randomly flaring out at inopportune moments. Tucking them away again, she shot a questioning glance at Ditzy.
“How do you deal with them?”
Ditzy swung her good eye Lyra's direction, giving a sad smile.
“Sorry Lyra. We just kind of learn to control our wings while growing up. It's part of being a pegasus.”
Her good eye drifted to the missing foreleg.
“Does it hurt?”
Lyra shook her head.
“Not anymore. Though it still feels like it's there sometimes. Phantom sensations I suppose...” She glanced over at Carrot Top. “I'm more worried about you though.”
Carrot Top gulped as she shifted in her seat, casting her gaze towards a mote of dust. The pony who's face she now wore, at least to guard members, was wanted for multiple murders. And during the interrogations, they hadn't been afraid to use the fact that she was facing down a possible death penalty to try and force a confession.
“It...it'll be okay. We've faced worse than this. We'll think of something.”
A startled gasp from Lyra and Ditzy brought her attention away from the floor, as their hooves yanked her off the bed and away from the the little window that sat in the wall above it. Twisting her head around, she gasped as well.
Three shadowy figures were flowing into the room through the window, creeping down the walls and across the floor towards them; they shifted into more pony shaped forms. Carrot Top joined Lyra and Ditzy as they pressed up against the bars, the shadow creatures creeping closer.
Lyra rapidly banged her other forehoof against the bars.
“GUARD! GUARD!”
The shadows pulled back themselves flat and coiled under the bench as a member of the guard came running in.
“What? What is it?”
Lyra pointed at the bench. “S-shadow monsters!”
“Really? That's what you come up with?” He sighed, shaking her head as he turned to leave.
“Wait!” Lyra said. “We want to confess!”
“To?”
“All of the murders.” Carrot Top followed up. “I've been a very bad pony, and I need to confess to get it off my back...plus to take that deal.”
The guard gave her a sideways glance.
“All right...how did you kill your family, Fall Fields?”
Carrot Top blinked before smiling.
“I stabbed them.”
“...Going to narrow that down at all?”
“I stabbed them in the...flank.”
“The flank?” The guard asked, the disbelief evident in his voice.
“Yeah! The flank!”
“And we totally helped!” Lyra nodded.
“Look, when you're ready to be serious, we can try this again.” He growled, turning and trotting back down the hallway.
Carrot Top gulped again as the shadows emerged from their hiding place and began to creep towards them again. Lyra shoved her way to the front, wings spread wide in an attempt to defend her friends. Ditzy pounded on the bars, shouting.
“HELP! There are real shadow monsters in here!”
The shadows drew even closer, tendrils of darkness outstretched as the sound of hooves in the hallway grew louder. Twilight and a light amber coated unicorn ran into view the latter already charging a spell.
“DOWN!” She shouted.
Carrot Top, Lyra and Ditzy threw themselves to the ground as a beam of sunlight jumped from her horn and lanced into the shadows. The light sliced through their forms, dispelling them in a puff of smokey black energy.
The three imprisoned ponies looked up into the wide smile of Twilight Sparkle.
“Oh, thank Luna you three are all right! The ghost of Trixie's grandfather told us that you were in trouble and I used a spell to find you...”
“Twilight!” Lyra interrupted. “Where's Trixie?”
“Being lead back to the library by the ghost of her mother. We're supposed to get everypony back there.”
Hooflock came down the hallway with a ring of keys, quickly unlocking the door for the three ponies contained inside. They all filed out, Hooflock eying Carrot Top suspiciously.
“You really do look like her...it's surreal. If these two hadn't explained the curse to me...”
“Let's just get back to The Stacks.” Sunset growled. “We can fill everypony in there.”
An hour later they had all come back together in The Stacks. Trixie looked around at her assembled friends. They were a sorry bunch at the moment, a dejected collection of hung heads and slicked back ears, all sitting in one of the large reading rooms of the library.
The scene was heart breaking to Trixie. Raindrops looked liked a stiff breeze might break her in half. Ditzy's expression devoid of her usual kindness. And she couldn't help but visibly wince at Cheerilee's fate.
I'll fix this. I have to. They're all here because of me.
The ghosts Crescent Starshine and Quartermoon were floating near some of book stacks, while Twilight and Sunset shimmer were sitting with the Trixie and her friends. Hooflock was still with them. In his own words, he fully intended to help track down the pony behind all of this.
Trixie banged her hoof on the table to gather everypony's attention.
“All right. Let's review what we know...which isn't much, admittedly. But the pony behind this seemed to be a white coated unicorn with a fluffy purple mane and tail. Most likely a noble based on how impressive his manor house looked.”
“Night Shade.” Quartermoon interrupted. “While he was having Crescent and I attack one of the smugglers that stole our bodies, the pony addressed him by name.”
“Okay.” Trixie nodded. “But the question is what he's trying to accomplish.”
“Luna!” Cheerilee shouted suddenly, a wide grin on her muzzle.
Raindrops blinked as she turned her gaze towards her friend.
“What about Luna?”
Cheerilee scrunched up her muzzle in concentration, sitting in silence for a few moments before another burst of realization crossed her mind.
“Hurt! Bad ponies want to hurt Luna.”
Trixie frowned. “They're going to be in for a rude awakening if they think that having our bodies would somehow make them enough of a match to kill Princess Luna.”
“Not kill,” Twilight said, her face contemplative, “She said “hurt” and the trigger for the spell is the enchanted daggers. He could be trying to take her place.”
Carrot Top blinked. “It's a coup?”
Sunset Shimmer shook her head.
“It has to be more than that. This is such a round about way to try and pull off a coup. Even The Stairs Coup was simpler than this one.”
Quartermoon stroked his ghostly beard with a hoof.
“When Starshine and I were summoned, there was another ghost there. Unicorn mare. There was a family resemblance. Night Shade also didn't bother to seize full control of her.”
“Oh!” Ditzy blinked. “He's a necromancer and if he's lost somepony...could a boost of power from being an alicorn bring somepony back?”
Trixie shook her head.
“I asked Luna that a long time ago. The answer is no, she can't.”
Her eyes flicked to her ghostly family members for the briefest of moments as she continued to speak.
“But if he's delusional to do this stuff all ready, he might try anyway.” She licked her lips. “And the last necromancer we've tangled with killed a whole city with his spells.”
She frowned deeply tapping a hoof on the table.
“If there's a place in the city where doing a big necromancy ritual would be the most effective, it would have to be in the big central graveyard of the Quarter.”
Lyra blinked.
“Graveyards in the city?”
“We're in the middle of the swamp. Burying your dead really isn't an option. So that's why the above ground crypts were started. And the one in the quarter is the oldest and largest in the city. It's a good enough place to start as any.”
“What are we going to do once we get there?” Raindrops asked. “How do we fix this?”
“I can dispel it.” Twilight said. “But since the spell exists on both you and them at the same time, you'll need to be close to each other when I do it.”
Trixie nodded as she looked at, Sunset Shimmer and Hooflock.
“This is going to be dangerous. So if any of you want to sit this one out...”
“The hay I will!” Snapped Sunset. “These ponies stole from me, and got into the head of someone I looked up to. I'm in.”
“It's my city and I swore an oath to protect it. Do you really need to ask that question?”
A confident smirk crossed Trixie's face as she slammed a hoof down on the table.
“Then let's show that smug pain in the flank just what we can do!”
Author's Note
This chapter and the next one are going kind of be the fan fiction equivalent of "doing it live" with me editing it directly from the document as stuff is pointed out at me, mostly because I do want to have this story up before the end of Halloween, since it is a Hallowe- I mean, Nightmare Night fic after all.
The scene with Trixie and her parents was partially inspired by a scene that I read in a Zatanna comic book. I really wanted to have a scene where Trixie was able to make that connection to her dead family members, after they were summoned by the bad guys.
Anyway, with any luck, the last chapter, complete with climatic battle will be up tomorrow night!