Dusk Over Equestia

Chapter 1: Error on the side of Caution

Ponyville, Carousel Boutique

The air in Rarity's not so humble abode was filled with floating white feathers, a passing pony may at a glance mistake this phenomena as an effort to create a peaceful atmosphere. This illusion however, was rather literally shattered by the somewhat faster moving white objects whipping through the air.

"They're killing us out there!"

Twilight recoiled from the small peep-hole, that she had made in an effort to make sense of the madness outside her small haven, as another pillow struck the protective walls of her bookfort.

Re-sealing the breach with her magic, the lavender pony took measure of the situation; although the night at Rarity's had been fairly easy-going as their host treated her friends to some pampering and comforts the atmosphere had taken on a rather competitive (if not downright warlike) turn when the pillowfight was suggested.

Without any particular rhyme or reason to the process, sides were taken and teams formed:

Rarity and Spike had taken refuge in the former's grandiose four poster bed, draping spare bolts of cloth and fabric between the bed's pillared corners to shield them from incoming attacks.

Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had banded together, due in no small part to the fact that the latter two were simply swept up in the spell that Twilight used to construct her makeshift defences. Fighting in the rather enclosed space would have been... impractical at the very least.

In a surprise move the usually rivalry-oriented duo of Rainbow Dash and Applejack had called a truce. The formidable pair were currently the most aggressive attackers on the battlefield that Rarity usually called her bedroom, totally not because the two had packed extra ammunition for just such an occasion.

Applejack was situated behind a small wall of sleeping bags, bucking pillows with all the force of a pony artillery piece to bombard the other two camps.

Rainbow dash was zipping about the room on mad bombing runs as well as snatching up any fallen ammunition, making sure their side never ran dry.

After making a few more ineffective strikes at Twilight's book fort, the rainbow-maned pegasus shouted over to her earthbound ally.

"This is getting us nowhere, where did Twi even get enough books to make that thing?"

Before Applejack could answer Rarity chimed in, poking her head out from the protective drapes of her bed.

"Why darling, most of them are my magazines, some of those are only the most up to date and influential 'High Class' reading material on fashion known to Eques-"

Before she was dealt a sudden pillow to the face for her trouble.

"Nice shot AJ!"

The white pony gasped in mock-pain, touched a hoof to her forehead and fell dramatically backwards, effectively trapping Spike beneath her in the process.

With one faction out of the way Rainbow Dash and Applejack redoubled their efforts to bring down Twilight's bookfort.

Twilight herself was beginning to falter: holding up all the books and magazines was easy enough, forcing it to keep it's shape whilst under constant bombardment however, wasn't.

"We need a plan, and fast. I can't keep this up much longer."

Pinkie shifted about excitedly, in an effort to squirm closer to Twilight.

"I say we just lose the fort and rush them, they won't expect it!"

Almost unheard over the sound of pillows striking the fort, Fluttershy piped up.

"I think we can just let them tire themselves out. Then maybe we could ask them, if they didn't mind, to perhaps surrender?"

The lavender pony facehoofed, momentarily cursing the comrades she had been teamed with. Pinkie had no mind for strategy, just wanting to run around madly, Fluttershy didn't want to get hit and would advise caution regardless of the situation.

Sighing in frustration Twilight banged her head against the fort wall, eyes closed in thought. Without opening her eyes she spoke into the wall, half to herself.

"We could probably charge Applejack If she were on her own, It's Rainbow Dash that's the real problem, one opening and she'll be all over us. What we need is some way to remove her from the equation..."

After a few moments without inspiration or input from her allies, Twilight opened her eyes to a wall of text.

Which she read.

As word became sentence, and sentence became paragraph she recognised what book she'd hit her head against.

And it gave her an Idea.

Turning to her comrades, Twilight outlined her plan in hushed tones.

Outside the sturdy fortress Rainbow Dash stopped darting around and began to hover just shy of the high ceiling. The lack of activity from the bookfort had her suspicious.

"They're too quiet Applejack, I think they're up to something..."

Bucking another pillow toward the walls of literature the tan pony stopped to shout to her aerial ally.

"You worry too much, ah think they just can't do very much of anything right now 's all. I think-"

She was cut off by a rather smug sounding voice from the bookfort.

"~Oh Raaiiiiiinbowww~"

Said cyan pony narrowed her eyes at the voice, wary of tricks 'Pinkie Pie's in there after all, who knows what they'll do?' She decided to play along though.

"...What is it Twilight?"

"~I happen to have a first edition of the new Daring Do book~"

"REALLY! Um.. I mean... I don't believe you, It's not even been released yet."

"I'm a librarian Dashie, as well as one of the reviewers for the series. I get a premier copy whenever a new one comes out."

There was a brief shuffling of paper when a piece of the fort detached itself and began floating free of the rest, true to her word the floating hardback was indeed the upcoming 'Daring Do and the Silver Sphinx'

Rainbow dash could hardly contain her sudden desire for the book floating tantalisingly out of reach, all thoughts of pillow warfare forgotten.

"But I've already read it, so I guess I don't need it anymore."

With that, the young librarian forcefully tossed the book in the opposite direction of where she guessed Rainbow Dash was.

"Mine!"

From her sightless vantage point, Twilight smiled smugly as a satisfying crash resounded from somewhere behind her. She let her bookfort drop and quickly located a rather dismayed looking Applejack, flashing the poor earth pony an evil grin, quickly mirrored by her comrades.

Well, mirrored by Pinkie. Fluttershy actually looked slightly abashed, despite snatching up a fluffy projectile anyway.

Twilight broke the silence.

"Chaaarge!"

Applejack, not one to give up without a fight, abandoned bucking the pillows in favour of hoof-throwing them at her sudden assailants.

Lucking out Applejack scored the first hit, striking Pinkie full in the chest and causing Fluttershy to stop and crouch over her fallen friend.

"Oh no, are you okay Pinkie?"

Her quiet voice was at odds to the pink pony's mock-pained speech.

"Fluttershy... They got me-*gasp*...they got me good... everything... turning white."

Applejack and Twilight were having quite the face-off whilst this exchange took place, a flurry of close quarters flinging and dodging was involved.

Pinkie Pie had enough in her to impart a final request to her yellow friend.

"Get'em... Get'em good for me Fluttershy."

With that, Pinkie coughed up multicoloured streamers and confetti to the sound of a party-horn, then went still.

Something in the shy pony snapped.

"How Dare You!"

Everypony left standing was surprised at the outburst, even Fluttershy herself looked slightly taken aback for a moment, before remembering she was meant to be upset. Snatching up a pillow in each hoof Fluttershy leapt into the fray between Twilight and Applejack, to reactions of smug delight and horrified dismay respectively.

Stuck fighting alone against the sudden mage and berserker combo, the poor farm pony was quickly overwhelmed.

Twilight, breathing heavily, turned to congratulate her remaining ally.

"Wow Fluttershy, that was pretty awesome."

Fluttershy was staring at her intently, eyes wide... Disturbingly so.

"Um... Fluttershy?"

The yellow pegasus wordlessly slumped forward, fluffy whiteness resting on her back.

Only then did Twilight realise what had happened.

"Forget about me?"

Twilight raised her eyes to lock gazes with Rainbow Dash, who was hovering a fair distance away and sporting a rather large bump on her heard. A pang of guilt ran through her as she saw the painful-looking lump, but her rainbow-maned friend dispelled the negative emotion by grinning determinedly.

"Keep focussed egghead, It'll take more than head-butting a mannequin to keep me down."

Twilight mirrored Rainbow's grin, her horn began glowing brightly with the effort of levitating the pillows nearest to her into the air. Already she was doing a quick mental assessment of the situation.

'I have three pillows, Rainbow only has one, and she'll probably keep it till she gets close to make sure she doesn't miss.'

Twilight smiled smugly, she could take Rainbow out before then, she was certain of it.

"Lets do this!" (leeeeerooooooooyyyy)

As expected, the cyan pegasus exploded straight towards her opponent.

Twilight loosed her first projectile, Rainbow dodged to the side easily, but the lavender unicorn had been expecting this and sent the second pillow to intercept her new trajectory.

The young librarian had everything figured out: the first pillow would change Rainbow's flight path, the second would force her to slow down drastically in order to also dodge that one, making the final pillow an easy hit.

At least that was the plan.

The speeding pegasus surprised twilight by throwing her own pillow to deflect the second projectile.

Without slowing down.

Her clever strategy foiled, Twilight tossed her final pillow at Rainbow Dash in desperation. Although perturbed at her plan being ruined Twilight still believed she had won, her flying foe's reckless tactic meant she was now weaponless and moving so fast she couldn't dodge Twilight's final attack.

Not that she planned to, in a display of aerial finesse Rainbow Dash simply twisted and caught the airborne weapon mid-air.

"Oh you clever-"

Twilight was silenced by a pillow-wielding Rainbow striking her at attack speed.

Skidding to a halt, the triumphant Rainbow Dash threw her hooves in the air and cried out victoriously, as the last pony standing.

"Aww Yeah! That was AWESOME!"

Everypony rising from their faux-deaths, the seven friends in the room burst out laughing at the rather epic showdown that had just transpired.

Their night was filled with fun and joy, ignorant of the trials that dawn would bring.

Canterlot, Royal Palace

As midnight passed, the night air was still and cool, almost as if the great castle was wrapped in a shroud of tranquillity. All the hustle and bustle of the day was set down to rest, ready to continue with the morn.

Despite the quiet stillness, Princess Celestia was pacing restlessly back and forth, as if trying to wear a groove into the balcony overlooking the Canterlot Gardens.

The white alicorn was roused from her reverie by the sound of hoofsteps approaching her. A quick look through the open door to the palace interior identified the approaching form of her sister.

"Greetings sister, how art tho- I mean... uh, how are you?"

Celestia couldn't help but smile at Luna's still awkward speech. She had actually been quite pleased to converse with her sister in the now-archaic style of old canterlot, it was rather nostalgic. But Luna had been practising the modern informal way of speaking so intently that she just talked to her normally now. Still, she had to wonder just how badly her younger sister desired to become accepted again. Pushing the thoughts aside she tried to dismiss the smaller alicorn's concerns.

"Hello Luna... I'm fine, really. Just pondering a few things."

Evidently the star-maned alicorn wasn't buying it.

"Celestia... You've been looking at the floor like it's insulted you for the past half hour now."

Had it really been that long already? She'd been so lost in her own little world she hadn't noticed that she was being observed. Was she so worried that everypony could see her troubled thoughts on her face?

But of course, Luna wasn't just anypony. Even after her thousand year absence she still knew Celestia better than anypony else, except maybe Twilight. Looking at her sister properly for the first time that night Celestia could see that beneath the concern for herself something was bothering Luna too.

Sighing, the elder sister relented.

"I've been having a bad feeling of late. I feel... I feel as if something is happening just out of the corner of my eye, something at the edge of my perception. Always there, but gone whenever I try to look directly at it."

As she had relayed her feelings Luna's expression had went progressively from worried to grim.

"So it's as I had feared..."

Celestia was taken aback at the response.

"What do you mean?"

"Dear sister, the sensation you have describe mirrors the one that I have been experiencing. For how long has this sensation plagued you?"

This news was worrying, the feeling of some force working outside of her influence usually meant that they were operating in the dark, which was Luna's domain. But if something was happening, something neither of them could focus on... the implications were unsettling.

"For a few days now. It started around three days ago I think."

The princess of the night closed her eyes in contemplation.

"...That is also true of me."

When Luna opened her eyes again her voice took on a new tone.

"Do you have any idea what could be causing it?"

Celestia sighed once again, more deeply this time. She had not wanted to worry her younger sister with this, but she had been asked now and Luna was stubborn when she wanted to know something.

"The village of Redgate has been silent for over four days."

"Redgate has...And you didn't think We would like to know that we are unaware of events in Tartarus of all places! What were you thinking? You of all ponies should know what's held there!... what We... what you asked Us to..."

So shocked was Luna that she'd slipped and began referring to herself using 'the royal We' again. The subject had brought up memories that obviously pained her, the night-maned alicorn's voice cracking toward the end.

Celestia wanted to defend herself, but she knew that Luna was right, and that Luna knew better than herself what the great prison contained. After millennia of Tartarus being secure it was both natural and extremely foalish to assume that she was dealing with another false alarm.

She also owed it to her younger sister to be vigilant of Tartarus. She knew she could never repay that particular debt.

"You are right, of course. Yesterday I sent some of my guard to investigate the missed reports, the pegasus leading the group is known for taking his time, but he gets the job done. Thoroughly. Even so, they should have been back by now."

Luna's brows furrowed in thought, her darkened mood set aside for now.

"Should I send some of the Lunar Guard perhaps? A full squad prepared for danger may do better than the small scout team you sent."

"No. Even if you assembled a proper team it'd take them three days journey for anypony that isn't a pegasus. Unless they knew decent shortcu-"

Suddenly the Princess of the Day's face lit up.

"Luna, oh that's brilliant! I have an idea."

Without another word Celestia strode into the castle, there was a resident she planned on making use of. Somewhat stunned at the sudden change in mood, Luna followed her sister in curiosity.

She didn't need to wait long before getting the gist of Celestia's plan. The white alicorn had stopped at the gilded cage that housed the sleeping form of her beloved pet phoenix Philomeena.

"Philomeena, wake up please. I have a task for you."

At Celestia's voice the resplendent bird opened it's eyes, awake and fully alert in a matter of moments. Opening the cage, Celestia wasted no time in fabricating the phoenix's orders out of magic, creating a spellwoven roll of parchment that contained both the many messages for it's intended readers as well as a guiding spell to direct Philomeena to them. Not that the bird would really need it, but time, Celestia was beginning to fear, was of the essence. Finishing her spell, the white alicorn secured the parchment to Pilomeena's leg.

"You know who it is you seek. Go with all speed."

Luna halted the bird in her take-off for a moment though, her horn glowing a midnight blue.

"Wait Philomeena, I want to help too. Go with the blessings of the night, may the winds be in your favour and the moon light your way."

The spell would speed the phoenix on her way, the younger alicorn could assist this much at the very least.

Flapping at the air impatiently Philomeena tilted her head in askance as if to say: 'can I go now?'. Content that she had no further reason to stay the majestic bird took to the air, soaring easily out of the open door and into the waiting night sky.

The road to Tartarus

Sgt. Stonewing bolted awake, leaping to his hooves as every fibre in his body recoiling from some now-unseen terror. The gray pegasus immediately regretted the quick motion though, it made his broken wing shift painfully within it's bindings, and his unsteady legs gave out immediately after.

'But wait... that's not right is it?'

Thinking was painful, he felt as if he had woken from an intense and unpleasent fever-dream. Stonewing shook his head, trying to clear it of the ringing that had taken up residence in his thoughts. He remembered the mission to Redgate, the timberwolf attack in the strange fog, the deserted town, breaking his wing and the battle with the weird tentacled pony.

'What was his name?...Highbred?'

His body gave another involuntary spasm as he recalled the one that had spoken the pony's name. Not wanting to even try and remember what happened after that, the guard sergeant distracted himself by examining his surroundings.

He was a few feet away from the road, having apparently collapsed in a heap. There was a lit lantern just to his left, mercifully unbroken and, he noted with weak happiness, a magically powered model. Nearly fully charged too.

Turning his attention to himself he noted that his armour was missing and that his right wing was tightly bound by a very thick bandage. He had no idea who had treated him, whether or not this pony had taken his armour, or how he'd managed to escape Redgate and get here.

Or where 'here' was for that matter. Glancing around he fixed his gaze on a rather distinctly twisted oaktree near the road in front of himself. The veteran guard remembered seeing that same tree when they'd left the city a day prior. He figured it was roughly over a quarter of the way between Canterlot and Tartarus.

"How in the name a' Discord did I get this far!?"

The tree didn't answer him. Resigning himself to the persisting mysteries occurring tonight Stonewing decided to try his hoof at standing again, once he was up and mobile he would have to make his way toward Canterlot and alert Celestia to the situation. Grunting in exertion, the grey pegasus raised himself up on shaky legs, tottering till he found his balance. As if compulsed he immediately went over to pick up the lantern, grabbing the slim handle with his mouth. In doing so he inadvertently looked back down the road. The sight made him drop the lantern again.

The bank of fog blotted out the horizon.

It was still distant, a kilometre or so away from him, but there was no way it should be anywhere near this close to the city. By Luna, there hadn't been a breath of wind the whole time he was conscious, same for the outward trip. Definitely nothing natural had propelled the pale shroud the amount of distance it had travelled. This also uncomfortably reminded him that his own progress should have been impossible. Unless he'd missed a day and it was now the following night (which something in his gut severely doubted) there was no way he'd gotten distance between Redgate and here on hoof, he couldn't have flown on his busted wing either.

Despite being exhausted, deeply unsettled, and painful all over the Solar Guard veteran snatched up the lantern again and set off at a brisk trot, favouring the wisdom of letting his muscles stretch and get re-used to movement, allowing him to work up to a faster pace. Celestia needed to hear of this ASAP.

He had not long set off when something caught his eye, a flash of movement at the corner of his vision. Stonewing craned his neck to identify whatever he'd seen, the lamp swinging on it's handle.

There was nothing around, the road and it's surroundings were quiet and still.

The grey pegasus set off again, slightly quicker than he had before. He tried to focus on the task at hand, how long it would take to reach the city and what exactly he'd say to the princess. It would probably be morning by the time he got there, so at least he'd be talking with Princess Celestia, who he was more familiar with.

He'd not really spoken with Luna further than her short introduction to the guard officers upon her return from her imprisonment. There had been one other occasion when he'd had to stop a few of the jumpier guardsponies from trying to arrest Princess Luna after she resumed her role as Custodian of the Night, though they could have handled it better he'd be damned if she didn't look more like Nightmare Moon with her taller stature, darkened coat and starry, floating hair. She'd actually seemed rather gratefu-

He was once again pulled from his thoughts by something at the corner of his vision, a brief flash of deep purple and bright green.

Again he spun around, looking for something that could have caused the disturbance. Again nothing there was nothing there.

Becoming more worried by the second, Stonewing sped up again, moving at a quick canter. The pegasus became acutely aware of a presence behind him, there was no sound, no change in air pressure that alerted him. He simply knew something was there.

More and more the presence seemed about to overtake him, about to catch up and grab him. Unbidden, the memories of the creature that had taken up the whole sky above Redate returned to him. The searing agony of it's touch lingered at the back of his skull, the maddening resonance of it's voice echoed in his mind.

Faster he ran, turning a deaf ear to his cramping muscles as they begged him to slow and the screaming of his wing to stop.

No matter how much he accelerated, the presence kept pace with him. Stonewing knew that if he stopped the thing behind him would catch him. It would win.

His panicked dash inevitably led him to fall, making him drop the lantern and nearly causing the grizzled veteran to have a heart attack. As he desperately scrambled to pick the lantern up again he couldn't help but look behind himself.

There was nothing following him, nothing physical at least. His eyes fell on the pony-shaped patch of darkness that was his shadow.

Before his eyes the shadow distorted, moving in ways he himself wasn't, Stretching and warping in agonising ways he couldn't. The darkness itself was a deep purple, it's movements highlighted by a bright green trail.

IT WAS IN HIS SHADOW!

Recoiling as if burned, Stonewing turned away, suppressing a cry of horror and grabbing up the lantern.

He sprinted away, galloping faster than he'd ever done so before, biting down hard on the lantern's handle to deal with the agony shooting through his body.

No matter how fast he moved the hostile presence followed, even when he emptied his mind of everything but fleeing pushing his body past pain and exhaustion, he could always sense the nightmare at his back, always accelerating to match him.

So he ran on, fleeing his own shadow.

His shadow gave chase, never leaving him for a second.