Chapters Chapter 1: Operation everfree
Chapter 1: Operation Everfree.
Morning had come, and Zecora awoke and gathered her things, then headed out of the tunnel and to the streets of ponyville. She was stopped by a loud yell.
"Zecora!?!" a pink pony yelled and came running.
Zecora, not wanting to be seen, quickly started to run. But she was no match for a pony such as pinkie, who caught up to her.
"Zecora, where have you been? Everyone thought you were gone, and not even Luna knew where you were at."
"I...I have to... "
"Have to what?
"I have to go to Fluttershy's cottage to deliver...um... this! " she pulls one of her potion bottles out of her bag.
"An empty bottle, huh? Why did you stop rhyming! I know you only stop rhyming when you get nervous!... or, I guess if you can't think of rhyme. Rhyming all the time sounds hard, how do you do it?"
"She sure is persistent." Zecora thought. "Maybe while she is caught up with this rhyming business, i can run for it."
Zecora begins to slip away while Pinkie is distracted, and makes it a fair distance untill Pinkie pops out of a window in a nearby quill and sofa shop.
"But...how did... "
"Nopony escapes Pinkie Pie! Now tell me what you're really doing!"
"I cannot tell you what you wish to hear. This must remain a secret I fear. "
Zecora then walked off, untill pinkie appeared once more, standing nearby a pink and yellow tree in the everfree forest.
"Excuse me, Zecora?" said Fluttershy. "Where are you going?'
"I cannot say, what i am doing on this day."
"Oh, okay then." said Fluttershy.
"I'd tell you to be more assertive Fluttershy, but after what happened with Iron Will and you going all crazy, I think I'll handle this. Zecora, we really, really, reeeeally want to know, because we've been worried about you."
Defeated, Zecora decided there wasn't much harm they could do and told them "I am on a mission in the woods, somepony went missing, and I expect no good."
"Fluttershy, go get the others, we're helping Zecora."
"Okay Pinkie."
Fluttershy flew off towards ponyville, and Zecora sighed, both in defeat, and in relief. The two of them waited for the remaining five to show up. First to show up were Rainbow and Fluttershy, followed by the rest of the mane 6.
"There you are Zecora." said Twilight
"We were worried sick bout ya" said Applejack.
"If you are coming along, we must hurry before they can do anymore wrong. "
"Who are they, exactly?" said Rarity
"An evil group of cultists looking to bring a dark shadow over us all. I am the one tasked with their fall. "
At this Fluttershy shrieks and begins to hide behind a bush, but Pinkie pulls her back out quickly.
Zecora continued. "Their leader is a very powerful Alicorn, who has mastered every single spell in existence. He threatens to use his magic to destroy all of Equestria! Now come on, we must hurry! "
Everypony was shocked to hear this.
"Zecora," said Pinkie. "You didn't rhyme again."
"I can only make rhymes so many times. "
The mane 6 followed Zecora up to a small cave on the edge of the Dragon mountains where they border the Everfree forest. After once again getting Fluttershy after she ran when she heard "Dragon Mountains," the mane 6 procceded into the cave.
Chapter 2: The descent
The main 6 followed Zecora into the cave where she stopped at a hoofblade rack.
"Take one of these, if you would please. "
"I suppose we might need them for this" said Twilight, and strapped it on to her hoof.
The rest of the mane 6 followed suit, and Twilight created a light on her horn to light the way. The cave was covered with all sorts of strange symbols and icons, along with an unnerving ritualistic altar with an image of a large Alicorn with a long black and purple mane, dressed in a black cloak. They continued further in, untill a large red earth pony stallion stallion crashed into Twilight, causing her to fall over. Next, a silver haired earth pony stallion dressed in very expensive clothing and a mysterious unicorn mare with a long purple mare in a cloak appeared from the shadows.
"Very good, Force." spoke the silver haired stallion. "But don't you think attacking a majestic mare such as herself without so much as a warning a bit low?"
"Sorry boss." said the red stallion
"My name is Silver Tongue, and my friend here is Brute Force, along with our ally here who, perfers not to reveal her name."
"You'd better start to explain, or i shall put you in a world of pain . said Zecora
"Ah yes, we knew you were coming, Zecora, your little friends are locked up in the back. Uncouth, i know, but it gets the job done. But enough conversation, let us get this over with."
Silver lunges at Zecora with a small hidden blade, but is quickly parried and Zecora delivers a quick jab and cuts him on his left front hoof.
"My Tuxedo! This cost more bits than you are worth! I'll destroy you!!!"
He delivered a hard hit, and sent zecora sprawling on the ground.
"Nobody...hurts...MY FRIENDS!!!" yelled Fluttershy, who then took Silver down and nearly cut him until Brute Force knocked her off of him, which just made her angrier, and she proceeded to deliver a hard kick to Brute Force's head,making him dizzy. Rainbow flew up at the mysterious unicorn, who was up on top of a small rising in the cave floor. Rainbow hit her in her side, and just then the unicorn released a dark bolt of energy, knocking rainbow to the ground, themporarily making her wings useless. The unicorn the blasted again at Fluttershy, who was knocked down, but quickly got back up and delivered another kick to Brute Force. Rarity lifted several rocks from the cave floor and flung them up at the unicorn, who deflected most but got hit right in the head with one, knocking her back, and she then fled deeper into the cave. Silver Tongue had gotten back up, and was now locked in a heated blade duel with Zecora. Brute Force was knocked down from the repeated kicks, then he got back up and, terrified and in pain, ran off. and Fluttershy then started off to chase him. Applejack bucked Silver, who was knocked dizzy by the attack. Silver Tongue, quickly realizing he was outnumbered and out of options, ran deeper in the cave and delivered a sharp kick to a cave wall, causing rocks to fall.
Before running out of sight, he yelled to the ponies. "You only won because we were outnumbered! I'll be back, and with more ponies to fight you."
The rocks then fell and blocked the path to go any further.
Chapter 3: An old friend
Fluttershy was stopped in her path by the rocks, and started to calm down. Rarity helped Twilight to her hooves, and then the two of them started floating rocks out of the way.
"Zecora," Twilight asked, "How did that silver guy know you?"
"He has been a thorn in my side before. I wish to speak of it no more. "
"Well, whoever he was, he seemed rather charming." said Rarity.
"But he's evil!" said Rainbow.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEVIL!' yelled Pinkie, purely for emphasis.
"I know he is, but there's just something about him, something I find... enthralling."
The rocks were now cleared out of the way, and the seven of them proceeded to move ahead. The deeper they went in more dark decor decorated this damp, dank, dismal den of despair and disorder. This was the first time they really looked around. the walls were a shade of dark taupe, with purple banners hanging from them. As they continue their walk, they reach a spiraling staircase with a large pool of water at the bottom. The ponies begin to head down, as a large chunk crumbles away!
"These stairs are horribly unstable!" said Twilight.
"And mighty old." remarked Applejack
"And very out of style." said Rarity
The ponies were very hesitant to continue, except for Pinkie, who was happily hopping her way down the stairs. Rainbow caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure down below. She had a strange feeling about this, as if she knew this particular person.
"I'm going to fly ahead and scout out below, make sure nopony is waiting to trap us." she said. She wasn't completely sure why she didn't tell her friends, but she felt as though this was her battle, and hers alone. She sped swiftly down the spiraling staircase and confronted the figure.
"Who...who are you?" she asked, but felt as if she already knew the answer. The figure did not say a word, and could not be revealed by appearance as she was fully cloaked in a flowing black hooded robe. The figure did not say a word, and simply hovered with her large white wings above the water. The figure then quickly bolted across the lake down a tunnel. Rainbow followed, and the two were keeping an even speed.
"How can she possibly match my speed?" thought Rainbow.
She followed the figure to a opening in the tunnel, and once she was in a large portcullis slammed downhard and trapped the two of them inside. The figure pulled back her hood to reveal an all too familiar face.
"Gilda!?!" exclaimed Rainbow in disbelief and shock.
"That's right, dweeb." Gilda said. Something didn't seem right about her voice. It seemed very bleak and close to monotone.
"What...what are you doing here?" asked Rainbow
"After you humiliated and degraded me, I left Ponyville for the clouds. I had lost my last friend, and the only pony I even remotely cared about. I just flew and flew, until I couldn't any more. I then landed on a cloud and just stared at the ground. It was then that a pegasus flew up and told me she understood how I felt. She knew how it felt to be hated, to be... different. She told me about a place I could come where i would be accepted. The Followers of Shadow let me in, and here i am. "
"Gilda, this cult is just using you for their own goals. Even I can see that, so I know you can."
"Maybe, but I don't care anymore. This is where I belong, and I have to stop you, Dash."
Chapter 5: Spirits
Rainbow looked down at her old friend once more. She did not seem a villain, just a tragic story.
"I'm sorry she put you through that Dash, but it had to be done." said Applejack
"I...I know. I didn't want to hurt her, but there was no other choice."
Applejack helps Dash to her feet.
"Now come on, everypony else is setting up near the water for the night, and you look like you could use some sleep."
Dash nods, too tired to talk. On her way out she shuts the portcullis once more so Gilda could not escape.
"I'll figure what to do with her later. She could use some time locked up, anyway." said Dash.
Dash walked across the narrow ledge on the side of the water, too tired to fly back. She was soaked from head to hoof, and freezing down in the damp cave. Up ahead everypony else had reached to bottom of the stairway. They were shocked to see Dash in the state she was, and ran to her.
"Rainbow, what happened?" asked a concerned Twilight.
"Leave her alone, she's been through a lot today." said Applejack
"I'm okay, Applejack," said Rainbow. "It was Gilda," she said, pointing to a cut on her right side.
"Dearie, let me see what I can do." said Rarity.
She always carried a needle and thread with her, and used it to stitch up the wound. Applejack grabbed Rainbow a towel and Rainbow dried herself off.
"Why did Gilda attack ya?" said Applejack "I figured she had just left that day she flew off somewhere."
"She joined up with those... cultists."
At this everypony was taken aback.
"She doesn't seem to understand that she got her self in this position, but I guess she won't ever learn."
"She does not understand why she is hated, and let herself be manipulated. said Zecora.
Pinkie was done starting a fire, (and she only destroyed a few things!) and the ponies set went to sleep, except Zecora, who had first watch. The night was quiet, and guard was boring, Twilight later took over for Zecora. Day had come, and with it, further journeying into the caves. The others woke up and Rainbow, was doing fairly well after her injury, and did not seem hampered by it in any way. The ponies continued down a tunnel to the right and were met by familiar faces.
"Once more we meet." spoke Silver Tongue. "This time I won't be taken down so easily."
He let out a sharp whistle, and more ponies came into the room. First came Silver's crony Brute Force and the mysterious cloaked mare, followed by several others dressed in the same black and purple robes. There was a male pegasus, and a female earth pony.
"Unless any of you wish to surrender now, I'm afraid you don't stand a chance." said Silver Tongue. He waited a few seconds. "I suppose not."
Brute force spoke up next. "Good, the more they fight the more fun they will be to kill."
He flashed an evil grin, matched only by the shine of his blade, which he flicked out of its holster on his right front hoof. He then pointed the blade towards Fluttershy.
"I'll be sure to pay you back for what you did earlier."
He charged at her, and Fluttershy once more prepared a kick. He quickly ducked beneath it and slammed her down.
"I'm on to your tricks, you're gonna have to do better than that."
Rainbow flew towards him at top speed, but her wings were still injured, no matter how much she tried to hide that from everypony to seem strong. She decided to push through the pain, no matter how much she wanted to stop. She had to, she's Rainbow Dash, she can't give up!
"Trying to play the hero again?" said Silver. He flicked his blade, but couldn't connect in time to stop Rainbow from taking both him and herself down in a hard crash. Rainbow gave out, having fought through the pain as much as she could, and had collapsed onto Silver like a cannonball. The unicorn mare in the back gave silent gestures, and the pegasus shot through the air like a bullet. His blade dug deep into Rarity, who was knocked back, but not down. Next, the earth pony charged in and delivered a kick to the side of Applejack's head, yet she seemed almost unfazed. Her eyes shone with anger, and she shook from her fury. She returned the kick with a buck of her own, and a crack was heard throughout the entire cave. A look of fear shot over the face of Silver, Brute, and the cultist who's jaw was now shattered. She shook and trembled, and slowly fell to the ground. The other two cultists seemed unfazed, and continued like nothing had even happened. The unicorn was done preparing a powerful spell the likes of which even Twilight had not even heard. A dark blue wave shot from her horn and enveloped the cultist now on the ground, bleeding, but not dead. The wave began to suck the energy out of her, until she crumbled away. The unicorn the reshaped the energy into a strange, ethereal shape, and let it loose. This shade began to slowly creep towards Twilight and the others.It looked similar to a pony, but was misshapen and eerie. Its eyes were sunken in and emitted a bright white light, while its body was pure energy in a dark shade of blue. It had a lifeless look about it, and no free will to do anything but its master's command, yet it was alive, if only barely. She had a look of hopelessness and despair on her face, almost as if she could feel her body was lost. Brute Force was rather unnerved, but considering it seemed under control, decided he had more important things to do, like exact his revenge. He charged at Fluttershy, but was interrupted by Pinkie, who kicked him in the side and knocked him off balance. She and Twilight worked together to then levitate him in the air, and toss him towards the pegasus, and although he managed to dodge the large stallion headed towards him, Force was not so lucky, and slammed into a cave wall, knocked down and heavily wounded. The unicorn once more shot a wave, and created yet another shade, this one looking eviler than the last. He had a permanent evil grin on his face. and started to slowly creep forward, his blade still attached to his hoof, held in a menacing pose. Blood dripped down his face, and his eyes shown a dark red instead of the white of the last spirit. Silver was terrified, and, having seen his closest friend turned into a horrific monster, enraged. He rushed at the unicorn, but was intercepted by the pegasus, and having decided Silver was of no further use, the pegasus shoved his blade into the Silver's throat. He then removed his blade, and was content to watch Silver die right here.
"I want to watch you bleed." he said. "Only thing someone as pathetic as you is good for anyway."
Silver tried to scream, but found himself unable to do anything but watch in fear as his life slipped away.
"What's the matter? Afraid of your blood getting all over your fancy clothes?"
The unicorn carved a strange symbol into Silver's belly, then threw him to the ground. Even Zecora was shocked at this display of barbaric and vulgar violence. Zecora, deciding she had to act now, lest end up like one of these foul beasts, ran at the unicorn, who was preparing to make silver into another spirit. Applejack wanted to get Rainbow out of there, as she was knocked unconscious in the collision with Silver. She grabbed Rainbow the best she could and dragged her away. Fluttershy was horrified at these spirits, was hesitant to do much else but run from them, but once they closed in she saw she had no other choice but to fight them off, and slashed at the spirit of the young mare, only to find her blade passed right through. Twilight charged in to help Zecora fight the Unicorn. Rarity and Pinkie had their hands full with the pegasus. He weaved in and out between the two of them,delivering countless little cuts all across them. Pinkie thought this was no fun at all, and got her party cannon ready for action, and fired it right at him, This did little more than knock him back, although it did put a smile on Pinkie's face. Rarity had a plan. She used her magic to grab him and slow him down enough to where Pinkie could bring him down. He seemed to realize he was in a bad spot, and stopped circling, instead pulling deeper down the cave, signaling the unicorn along the way. The unicorn had finished her spell,and released another wave, which enraptured and decomposed Silver, and created another spirit. This spirit had its eyes wide open, with a bright silver light shining from them. He had a look of greed on his face, but not for simply material wealth. He wanted control. He ripped into Zecora, who was already close by.
"Evils from a era I wish to never see, you all shall be destroyed by me! " said Zecora. She delivered a swift kick to the Unicorn, and pulled a potion from her bag and smashed it on the ground. The spirits seemed to flee but not very far away. The unicorn then teleported away, being outnumbered and alone.
Chapter 6: An unexpected arrival
Chapter 6:An unexpected arrival
Everypony was rightly terrified about what had just happened. Even Pinkie seemed concerned, and she was near impossible to spook. Zecora seemed to know something the others didn't, as Twilight start to catch on to.
"These ghosties are too scary to giggle at." Pinkie said nervously.
"So Zecora." Twilight said. "How did you already have a potion prepared for this? How did you even know this was going on?"
Zecora was defeated, and unable to forge any sort of tangible excuse.
"The tunnels you once used to escape Ponyville contain another secret long hidden, an organization which speaking of has been forbidden. I am one of its members, who is sworn from protecting Equestria from burning to embers. I was sent to deal with the evil before it could cause an upheaval.
"Them tunnels did seem mighty suspicious." said Applejack.
"But we have more important issues right now, the question is, how? said Zecora.
"I'm worried bout Rainbow, she's been hurt twice now." said Applejack
"I'm... fine." said Rainbow, who was barely awake.
"No, ya aint." said Applejack. "You can barely even stand. I'm gettin' you outta' here."
Applejack helped Rainbow up, and helped her out towards the entrance of the caves. Fluttershy went with them, leaving the other 4 to wait until they got back.
"How are supposed to stop these grotesque monsters?" said Rarity.
"I know how." spoke a young girl who walked in from the shadows. Her long dark blue mane stood out on her light grey body. She was rather tall for her age, but still shorter than an adult by quite a lot. Despite being so young, she looked very serious and not even slightly frightened by all this."
"Why are you here? Were you afraid I would disappear? said Zecora
"We wondering why someone as talented as yourself was taking so long, so they sent me as backup. Who are these ponies?"
"I'm-" said Twilight
"My name is Pinkie Pie!" interrupted Pinkie. "and these are my friends Twilight Sparkle and Rarity! The others should be here soon too!"
"Nice to meet you all. Have you found the missing operatives?"
"Not yet, but soon, and having you here shall be quite a boon. "
The five of them waited for Applejack and Fluttershy to get back, and continued on once they arrived.
"We took her to Fluttershy's cottage, she'll be alright if she can get some rest."
"Well," said Twilight, " I guess there's only one way left to go."
The remaining ponies, along with the young filly, continued down the tunnels. The spirits followed their every step, but couldn't get very close because of the barrier.
"So how do we get rid of these dang things?" said Applejack
"Whoever cast the spell needs to focus on it the whole time, not much, but enough. If we can defeat the caster, these will dissipate. That will be a problem though, because I'm betting they have more in stock for us up ahead."
On each side of them there are caged cells, but they are all empty. The prisoners must be held deeper in.
"We should start searching through the cages to check for any prisoners." said the Filly. "We should split up to search faster. If you run into trouble, yell and we will all help out."
Everypony agreed, and they all split up to search.
Twilight was searching through the cells and saw a hallway spread further down. She thought she heard somepony down there, and went to check it out. The corridor continued for a while, until it widened into a large room. A large bubble formed around her, and she let out a yell to the others, but there was no response.
"Don't bother, it's soundproof." said a voice coming in from further down the tunnel.
"Who are you?" asked Twilight.
"Foolish little filly, prepare yourself for-"
Chapter 7: The great and powerful Trixie
Chapter 7:The great and powerful Trixie
"-The great and powerful Trixie!!!" Her voice boomed, but did not escape the bubble.
"Didn't I already deal with you?"
"You only Vanquished an Ursa Minor. Trixie can vanquish the pony who vanquished the Ursa minor! The great and powerful Trixie will show you once and for all who is the best at magic!"
Trixie's horn shone blue, and a beam of energy shot at Twilight, knocking her on her feet. Twilight got up, a look of determination on her face.
"That's it?"Twilight said.
"Not even close, the great and powerful Trixie has gotten much more powerful than before, if you can believe it!"
Trixie's horn once again glowed blue, but this time a darker hue. The room started to shake, and yet Trixie didn't even seem to be trying. Twilight started up a spell, but was soon hit full on by Trixie's spell. Twilight began to levitate, and couldn't move on her own. Trixie slammed her against a wall hard, then dropped her to the ground. Twilight was down, and could barely move.
"You're all done then?" said Trixie arrogantly. "I figured you'd at least put up a fight, but i understand how pathetic you are in comparison to Trixie. After Trixie finishes you, your friends will be next. Twilight reacted to that.
"I can't let her win, I have to protect my friends." she thought.
Twilight stood back up, as Trixie was too busy gloating to notice. Twilight focused once more on her spell, and it reached completion.
"You may think you're amazing," Twilight said. "But all I see is a show off!"
Trixie quickly whipped around at this, and was blasted with purple energy.She was knocked back, but still relatively unharmed.
"So, looks like you can fight after all." Trixie said.
The two of them continued to fire quick, but weak, spells at each other back and forth. Neither was making much headway, until Twilight got an idea. She spent time charging up one of her more powerful spells instead of firing lots of weak ones. Once it was finished, a massive beam was unleashed and sent Trixie sprawling.
"You're good." said Trixie. "But still no match for Trixie! Trixie was hoping she could win without the spells the Followers gave her, but she supposes there isn't any harm in using them, if just to prove Trixie is the greatest!"
Her horn shone a dark purple, much darker than that of Twilight, and the energy welled up into a massive ball. Trixie flung the ball at Twilight, and a massive explosion occurred. Twilight was wrapped in it, and anything she could see was foggy, anything she could hear was muffled. She started to feel worthless, like she couldn't do anything to stop it. She was pulled to the ground slowly, her head touched the floor, her knees folded in, and darkness surrounded her.
"Bend to the will of Trixie!" Trixie said.
But all Twilight heard was sound, it sounded vaguely like speech, but she couldn't tell. She closed her eyes, and her thoughts were overrun with feelings of self-doubt.
"I lost." Twilight thought "I wasn't good enough to help my friends. Not that somepony as worthless as my self could be much help anyway."
She remained like this for a good while as Trixie continued to gloat, until a single memory popped back into her head. Her friends, and how much they need her. How much she needs them.
"I can still win this, for them." she thought. "No, i have to!"
Twilight's horn shone brightly, bright enough to even escape the darkness surrounding her. A small speck of light returned through the darkness. Then more spread through, like cracks. The light spread further until it engulfed the darkness, and shot out as an aura throughout the room. Twilight was glowing with energy, and the aura slammed Trixie into a wall. A loud smacking noise was heard from the hit, and Trixie was down. The aura then faded.
"This...This is impossible!" exclaimed Trixie. "Nopony can defeat Trixie!"
"It seems you will never learn." said Twilight.
Twilight prepared a spell once more, and aimed at Trixie.
"Please! Spare poor Trixie!" Trixie begged, realizing finally that she was at Twilight's will.
"I can't just let you get away with what you've done." said Twilight.
"All right, Trixie admits it! You are more powerful than her!" Exclaimed Trixie.
"It isn't about proving that I'm better, I don't care about that. It's the fact that you would go to such means to prove your power, going so far as trying to kill me." said Twilight. "I'm turning you in to Celestia and Luna, they will decide what to do with you. You'd better hope they are as merciful as I am."
Trixie is too exhausted and pained to speak any more, and Twilight locks her in one of the empty cells, and sealed it against teleportation.
Chapter 8:Failure
Gilda awoke to find herself alone in darkness. This wasn't where she was earlier, how did she get here? Trixie appeared next to her, and the two of them looked around to find anything but darkness, but to no avail. A voice filled the room.
"You have failed." The voice said.
"But-" Trixie was interrupted.
"No. Excuses." said the voice.
A mass of very dark purple and black energy rose around them in a large sphere. It felt sticky and thick, and started to close in.
"Wait!" said Trixie.
The energy stopped.
"What?" asked the voice.
"Can't we have another chance? Maybe if we work together we can defeat them." said Trixie.
"I suppose you might make some good cannon fodder. Alright, one last shot, but only because I'm so generous."
The darkness lifted and they both found themselves in the back of the caves once more. Gilda immediately flew off towards the direction of the others, Trixie left behind to plan another attack. Gilda flew through the caverns at amazing speed, and headed towards the "dweebs."
Chapter 10: Redemption
"So Gilda." said Rarity. "Why would you help us?"
"Weren't you on their side?" asked Twilight.
"I was, but not anymore." said Gilda. "I couldn't stand what this made me into. I tried to kill my only friend."
"I still don't trust ya, after what ya did to Rainbow." said Applejack
"I don't expect you to." said Gilda "But give me a chance."
"I guess you deserve a chance to prove yourself." said Applejack
While everypony was gathered near Gilda in this large elevator, Fluttershy looked at the machinery with worry.
"This shaft seems to go on forever." Fluttershy thought.
Pinkie could feel that her friend was worried, and tried to comfort her a little.
"I'm sure everything will be fine." said Pinkie. "I bet the worst of this is behind us."
She of course had no actual way of knowing, but Fluttershy appreciated her friend trying to cheer her up.
The elevator reached the bottom, which was the only floor it went to. The door shot open, and the machinery continued on like before down the hall.
"Gilda, do you know anything about what's up ahead?" asked Twilight
"Not much, I wasn't usually allowed this far back, but Trixie was. She's still around here somewhere."
"I'm sure she won't be a problem, I can out magic her again if i have to." said Twilight.
"And you have us to help now, too." said Rarity.
The machinery didn't continue, leaving the walls just made of metal down here. No sounds were heard anymore. There was an eerie feeling down here. A large chamber opened up ahead, with a deep purple glowing crystal in the center. Twilight had seen one of these in a book, but never a real one.
"This crystal is what lets that mare keep her spells up!" she exclaimed. The spirits following them gave an empty stare, either not knowing or not caring that she found the way to destroy them.
"Now we must find the way to stop its power. This shall be the spirit's final hour."
"But the question is, how?" said the young girl. She removed her hood to get a better look, at which point Fluttershy noticed something familiar. She was the girl who helped her in the occupation of ponyville! She walked closer to the girl.
"Thank you for your help in Ponyville." she said. "Without you, me and Rainbow might never have found everypony, or could have gotten caught."
"It was no problem, really." the girl said. "And with the way Macintosh kept worrying, I had to help, at least for his sake. But you seem like a great pony like him, and I'm glad I did."
Twilight thought back to the book she read on these crystals. She remembered there being two ways to destroy them, but one involved the caster of the spell. That left the other option.
"We have to enhance the spell enough to overload the crystal." Twilight said, unsure if she could do such a thing.
Everypony let the danger of that sink in for a few seconds. Overloading the spell would make the spirits much stronger than they are now, and very hard to defeat.
"You should have brought Spike." said Pinkie "He could just eat the crystal!" she said jokingly.
"I'm not going to be afraid. Not anymore." said Fluttershy with determination.
"I can help you with the spell, Twilight" said Rarity. "The faster we overload it, the less time we will have to deal with these creatures."
Twilight nodded to Rarity, who got on the opposite side of the crystal.
"Well, what are you waitin' for?" said Applejack. "Let's just get it over with."
Twilight and Rarity shone magic on the crystal, causing it to glow brighter and begin to spin slowly. It sped faster and shone brighter and brighter. A chill flooded the room, and a dark red figure creeped towards them, followed by a blue and a silver figure.
Chapter 11: Prelude to destruction
Chapter 11: Prelude to destruction
The spells being cast on the crystal made the creatures stronger, and much faster. This power also made them tangible however, so they could be held off. Brute force made a dash for Fluttershy, who would normally cower from such a thing. But not anymore. She delivered a hard kick, and gave him her best stare. He was unmoved, considering he no longer felt fear. The blue spirit was next, with despair frozen on her face. She flashed a blade from underneath her robes, and made a jab at Zecora, who parried it and swung back, getting a small jab in. The mare was unfazed, and swung once more, making a large cut across Zecora's face. Last came Silver Tongue. Applejack bucked him down to the ground, but he levitated back up. He put his hoof above her head and slammed her down to the ground. He jabbed his blade into her side, before being thrown back by Gilda. Gilda dug her claws into him, and ripped multiple cuts into him.The crystal started spinning faster and faster. Brute force slashed across the chest, then slammed her down. Pinkie kicked him, but he barely flinched. The crystal was overloaded, and was shattered into pieces. The spirits faded as if they were being pulled by some unseen force. Their back legs faded first, and it they slowly dissipated up their bodies. The blue spirit simply gave itself to death, hung its head low and died with no fight. Silver was next, and seeing what little control he had left leave him, died violently, screams of agony filled the room, and he thrashed about until he faded. Brute force shoved the blades strapped to his hooves into the ground, and held tight to the ground. He was shaking from the effort, but actually managed to slow his death quite a bit. But he still started to fade, and let out one last pained roar before death. The spirits now gone, shard littered the floor, but no one was too hurt, so they moved on. This hallway seemed different. A dread feeling flowed through them. A voice echoed through their minds.
"Enough of this nonsense, let us settle this right here. "
A room opened up ahead of them, and the ground shook ever so slightly as they got near.
"Everypony," said Twilight. "I have a feeling what we're looking for is in here."
"Correct. said the voice.
"We need to be prepared for whatever may happen." said Twilight. "Is everypony ready?"
"We can't let um' get away with what they've done." said Applejack
"No more fear!" said Fluttershy
"I have to do this, for my friends." said Pinkie
"Topaz, I'll be there soon." said the young girl
"We must shine light through the shadow. It is time to defeat our foe." said Zecora
"Rainbow, I'll find a way to make it up to you." said Gilda
"This world is beautiful, and it's up to us to protect it." said Rarity.
With that, the ponies entered the room to fin a truly frightening sight.
Chapter 12: Magnificum perago
Chapter 12: Magnificum perago
Several cloaked figures gathered around a large pit full of a strange black and purple energy, with a thick consistency, a bit like tar. Chanting in a strange language, if it was a language at all, echoed from them. When they spotted the ponies entering, they slowly rose their heads to reveal their faces. There were seven total ponies gathered. On the left end was a light blue unicorn stallion. In clockwise order from there, next was a green unicorn stallion pony. Then there was the pegasus stallion they saw earlier. In the center was the unicorn mare they have seen multiple times. To her right was a light grey pegasus mare, with a long dark purple mane. Lastly, two earth pony mares, one white and one a very light tan. The pool in the center bubbled, and something began to rise. Out came a gigantic alicorn, about the size of Celestia, if not a little smaller. He had a long, straight mane, which was bright red. His body rose out, and he was a very pale white. His horn was very sharp, and it was straight, with no turns or curves. His wings were quite large, like that of a bird of prey. He had now completely risen, and walked slowly out of the pool.
"I must admit, I was surprised to see you had gotten this far. But this is the end of the line for you. While I don't share the love of murder that my subjects do, I'm sure your pain shall be quite... delicious. But where are my manners? I am called Sin. I am one of the gods of your world. I assure you, this shall not be like the defeat of Discord. I will destroy you. Sin said.
*After this, the seven cultists bowed their heads down, and magical chains wrapped around them. Their life force was being drained to feed sin! The chains wrapped tighter and tighter, literally squeezing the life out of them. Their bodies were left as husks, and sin radiated with power.
*"
*A wave of power rushed over the ponies, pushing down on them like lead saddlebags. Sin flew to the ceiling and unleashed a barrage of darkness on the ponies. Numerous small orbs shot from his horn, and rained down on the ponies. Twilight prepared retaliation spells, and fired beams back at him. Some hit, and the ones that did singed him a bit. Under the cover of Twilight's fire, Zecora charged Sin and jammed a blade into his torso, causing a large bleeding wound. The young filly saw cages towards the back of the room, with one pony inside. The stallion in the cage saw her, and began to yell and bang on the bars. She ran to him, and picked the lock open.
*"Topaz! We need your help!" she said.
*"I'll do the best I can." said Topaz.
*Topaz was a white stallion. He had a short cut blue mane, had glasses, and was a unicorn.. He ran towards sin and fired a large ball of yellow energy at Sin, which shocked him for a second, leaving him open. Rarity and Applejack both charged in and delivered a buck, Applejack bucked him in the jaw and Rarity in the side. Sin was getting angry. A pulse of magic shot from him, knocking everypony against the walls. Strange runic symbols floated in the air around Sin.
*" " Sin exclaimed
*The runes dissipated one by one, and explosions fired out of each. They were as loud and powerful as cannon fire, and the runes flung ponies across the room, hurting them immensely. This drained quite a lot of both Sin's energy and that of the ponies. Gilda saw this as her chance and scratched at him, raking his flesh. Fluttershy charged him, and kicked him repeatedly. Sin was hurt, and couldn't keep up with this too much longer.
*" "
*Sin's horn was covered in dark energy like that of the pit he came from. The blast grew bigger and bigger, until it grew even bigger than him. Yet it kept going. Everypony tried to stop him with physical attacks and magic, but he didn't even flinch.
*" " said Sin.
*The blast was released, and the whole cave began to shake. He flung it down, but it was caught on the way by Gilda.
*"You guys go!" Gilda yelled. "I'll hold him off!."
*"We can't leave you behind!" said Pinkie
*"GO!" She yelled, as the cave started to cave-in.
*The mane 5, Zecora, the young girl, and Topaz all ran back through the hallway, which was sealed off by rocks when they left.
*"Gilda..." said Twilight.
*She took one last look back, then left. The ponies got in the elevator, and went up.The wave of darkness began to flood in below them. The continued to backtrack. Gilda was still holding it back as much as she could, which was the only thing stopping this energy from destroying them all. They reached the water where they had camped the previous night, when a blue mare jumped out.
*"It is I, the great and po-"
*The ponies ran right by her, and Trixie soon saw the wave, and she ran as well. Rocks continued to fall from the ceiling of the cave. They ran to the top of the caves, and out the door. as soon as the last pony was out, the cave-in slammed the entrance shut with heavy boulders, condemning Trixie and Gilda to their fates. The wave had reached outside, where it spread much faster and the spell reached maximum size, which was enveloping quite a large area, and exploded. The massive explosion flung parts of the world flying. Houses and bits of land were flying through the sky. Continents were moved across the world, and Equestria itself sounded as if it were groaning in pain. The ponies were flung their seperate ways, and had been knocked unconscious from the explosion.
Chapter 13: Sin's awakening
Chapter 13: Sin's awakening
Several months after the explosion the world was trying it's hardest to survive. The ground was unfit for plants, making them grow sickly and weak. As a result, food was hard to come by. This hit big cities such as Canterlot the hardest, as what little food the farms grow are unwilling to give it to cities, which don't have much farmland. Ponyville was doing surprisingly well, or at least as good as it gets in this new world. Sweet apple acres still bore fruit, which was enough for the surviving citizens to eat meager meals. Rainbow, who had now recovered from her wounds, was flying through the sky, looking both for raiders and her friends,who she hadn't seen since she was taken to Fluttershy's cottage. She still had no idea what happened, but had a good idea of who caused it.. She knew the cult did this, there was just no other explanation. That bucking Gilda must have helped them, too. Rainbow was haunted by that day, if anything because she was too wounded to try to help her friends.
"Maybe," she thought. "Maybe...if I would have been there, maybe i could have stopped it."
She had these thoughts everyday. Her loyalty to her friends still shone in this dark world, and she searched the skies everyday. She gave up her search for today, and decided to land in at sugar cube corner. The cakes were at the front, serving a few customers. Pastries had stopped production, they were deemed an inefficient use of food. Now they mostly just served cider, which was still produced, as it would keep for a long time. Rainbow walked up to the counter.
"Cider." was all she said.
She put a couple of bits on the counter, and Mrs.cake poured her some. She downed it quickly, and hung around for a bit.
"Did you find anything?" Mrs. cake asked.
Rainbow let out a sigh and shook her head. Mrs. cake looked as if she expected as much. Rainbow was about to head back, when some heavily armored ponies came marching down the street. Expecting a raid. Everypony either hid or grabbed a nearby object to hit with. Rainbow was about to do the same, until she saw one of them carrying a standard. With the royal symbol on it. She went out to investigate. The armored ponies stopped when she came out, but didn't seem to be threatening her. Rainbow got a closer look, and saw that they were wearing Canterlot guard armor.
"Hello civilian." said the stallion in front. We are soldiers of the Equestrian Alliance."
Rainbow heard of that name once before, from a colt who came wandering here from Cantelot. He was wounded, and didn't live much longer after he got here, but Rainbow remembered him talking all about how the Equestrian Allaince was "The last hope for Equestria."
"What do you guys want with a backwater town like ponyville?" said Rainbow.
"We've come looking for survivors. And recruits." the stallion said. "Any willing to join the fight to reclaim Equestria under the rule of Luna and Celestia is welcome to join."
Rainbow didn't even need to think about it.
"Sign me up!" she said.
She had been feeling that she was getting nothing done around ponyville, anyway. This could give her a chance to do something meaningful.
"All right, we'll need to test you first, see if you really are alliance material." said the stallion.
The stallion made a gesture, and one of the bigger soldiers walked up to him.
"Show me what you got." he said.
Rainbow dashed into him, and then delivered a kick on the way out. Her sparring partner was knocked back.
"Not bad." he said. "But let;s see if you can dodge!"
He swung at her, narrowly missing as she jumped out of the way.
"You're good." he said, then got back in line.
"Well done." said the stallion. "You're in. My name is Silver shield. I'll be your superior officer."
Rainbow got her first good look at the officer. He had a full beard, and his hair was a dark cobalt blue. He had a look of seriousness to his face, but it was a kind one. His armor was a golden color, unlike the plain grey of lesser soldiers. His skin was a light grey, and he looked to be middle-aged. His eyes shone a deep blue, like that of an evening sky, and he was an earth pony. He was very muscular, but in an stout sort of way, not like a bodybuilder. He reminded Rainbow of her own father, in a strange way.
"We should probably head back to camp to get you geared up." said Shield. "Anything else you had to do here?"
"Let me just say goodbye to someone." said Rainbow
Shield nodded, and Rainbow went back into sugar cube corner.
"Mrs. Cake?" said Rainbow.
"What is it dear?" said Mrs. Cake.
"I...I'm leaving." Rainbow said. "I don't know if i'll ever be back. I feel like i could be helping so much more if I join the alliance. I'll keep looking for Pinkie, and everypony else too."
"I understand." said Mrs. Cake. "You're welcome back here anytime. I hope you find what you're looking for out there."
Rainbow walked back out of sugar cube corner, and the soldiers left Ponyville towards Canterlot. They reached an alliance camp on a hill near the road. The plant life has been dead all around, but it was especially evident here. The ground was completely barren, no trees or even grass.
"Come with me." said Shield. "I'll get you registered."
Rainbow followed him into a large tent. Inside was some suits of armor, some blades, and a stack of registration forms.
He gave her a sheet, which she signed her name, age, height, and weight on. Shield took the paper, filed it in a cabinet in the corner of the room, and got her a suit of grey armor and basic hoofblade.
"I know it isn't much." said Shield. "But its damn better than anything else you'll find out there. Its starting to get late, let me show you to your tent. Seeing as you're new, you won't have guard duty for a while yet. Dunno' if we can trust your reflexes and vision to protect us yet."
He showed her to a small tent on the edge of the camp, which she got all to herself, seeing as the soldier count isn't exactly high. Inside was a bedroll and a place to put her blades when sleeping. She put them down, and laid on the bedroll. She soon drifted off to sleep. She was abruptly awoken by a guard, who told her some pegasi from New Cloudsdale have shown up, and they need all soldiers up, seeing as they have no idea what they might try to pull. She grabbed her blades, and walked out to see many pegasi at the foot of the hill. One pegasus walked up to them slowly, and showed his hooves so they knew he wasn't armed. Shield kept a blade pointed at him as he approached.
"Whoah buck!, chill man!" said the pegasus. "I ain't here to cause no trouble."
"Well, Cloudsdale has raided us before." said Shield. "I'm just taking precautions."
"We just wanted to do some trade." he said.
"For what?"" asked Shield.
"We know you got some military stuff, and we got some extra food." said the pegasus. "Cloudsdale is still pretty good for growin', cuz' we control the weather."
"Sorry, but no." said Shield. "We aren't giving you any weapons."
"Damn." said the Pegasus. "Well, thanks for nothin'"
The pegasi flew off to the clouds once more.
"Who were they?" said Rainbow
They're from New Cloudsdale." said Shield "They're a bunch of trouble makers. They act like they're helping, but they just take what they want. If I would have given him weapons i give him a few minutes at most before he tried to use them on me to take the rest. They're a bunch of arrogant buckheads. Anyway, i'd get back to sleep if I were you, you're gonna need it."
Chapter 14 Return to Canterlot.
Chapter 14: Return to Canterlot
Rainbow awoke early in the morning, and grabbed her blades, then headed outside. A fire was started, considering it was late autumn and quite chilly in the mornings. Dead plants were being burned, considering any wood or living plants were too rare and valued to burn. No one talked much in the mornings, so rainbow quietly sat down and waited for orders. Shield came out from his tent a few minutes later, and prepared to give orders.
"We're heading back to Canterlot." said Shield. "I need to speak with Celestia personally, and we need some of you to stand guard there, we're need to be prepared for raids from Cloudsdale."
Everypony gave a salute after his orders, something Rainbow wasn't used to, and missed the timing by quite a bit. They began the journey back to Canterlot, but the camp was already close by, so it wasn't very far. Some soldiers stayed behind to protect camp, although they didn't expect a battle. It was mostly to scare off any raiders or thieves. Rainbow took her chance to speak with Shield some more.
"So, what did you need to speak with Celestia about?" she asked.
"New orders," said Shield. "What we plan to do with Cloudsdale, those sorts of things."
"Can I come? I've wanted to see Celestia since this started."
"If she'll let you, she rarely speaks to anyone who isn't high in rank, as she's very busy."
They had reached the gates, and a stallion in golden armor opened the gates, even though they looked like they would fall apart if you kicked them. Bars were broken off, and the hinges were loose. The parts that were left were rusted. This set the tune for how the rest of the city looked. Homes and businesses were burned and broken.Rainbow had expected the city to be crawling with soldiers, but there were very few for it being Canterlot. They continued through the wreckage towards the palace. Citizens were starting to rebuild, but the food shortages were a bigger concern. Not that rebuilding would serve much purpose with Sin around. The sun shone brightly down on them. They reached the castle, and Shield went inside. Rainbow, curious to see what was going on, followed him. Celestia was inside, running back and forth, constantly giving orders to commanders or asking the few remaining researchers if they found a better crop to grow in these conditions. The answer was always no. As she went towards Shield's direction, he asked for orders with just the word "Orders!" and she threw a piece of parchment his way that had them scribbled on it in barely readable rushed words. Celestia looked hurt, and had a large scar across her side. But this was no ordinary scar. It said in very clear letters "SIN" and occasionally glowed a dark purple. It looked as if it was done not by a blade, but by fire. Her mane was cut very oddly and she seemed to not put any pressure on her front right leg.
Shield quickly left, and Rainbow followed, speechless.
"What the buck happned to her!" said Rainbow, after making sure Celestia was too far away to hear.
"Sin happened." said Shield "She tried to fight him personally. It went about as well as you would expect, based on her scars. She hurt him pretty bad too, and I think that's the only reason he hasn't fried anymore towns yet."
"Is that what happened to Canterlot?" she asked.
"This is nothing compared to what happened to Manehattan. I'd be surprised if anyone could still live in that city."
"Where's Luna? Why isn't she helping?" asked Rainbow
"We have no idea, she was on a diplomatic mission to the land of the Zebras the last time anyone saw her." said Shield "We've lost all contact with any other nations." he added.
Shield opened the orders, seemed a bit shocked, but tried his best to not show it his emotions to the soldiers. After all, he's supposed to be a pillar of strength, prepared for the worst.
"We've been ordered to lead an assault on Cloudsdale." he said.
"With these small numbers?" said a blue earth pony towards the back of the crowd.
"Not just our unit." said Shield. "we're merging with Armor's soldiers."
"But that would leave Canterlot near defenseless!" said a white pegasus.
"She's leaving Blueblood to lead the remaining guards." Shield tried hide a look of disgust at saying his name.
"How are us non-pegasi getting to Cloudsdale?" said a green unicorn.
"Our unicorns will cast spells allowing us to walk on clouds." said Shield.
Without anymore questions or interruptions, the ponies headed back to camp, where they would be close to the clouds.
Chapter 15: Dead on impact.
Chapter 15: Dead on impact.
The soldiers got back to the camp, where Shining Armor and his soldiers were waiting. He was wearing his purple captain's armor, When he saw Rainbow, he lightened up a bit, and went to go speak with her.
"You're one of my sister's friends, right?" he asked.
Rainbow nodded
"Have you seen her? She's been missing for months." he said.
"No, I've been looking for her and the rest of my friends, but haven't found anything."
Shining Armor looked dissapointed, but almost as if he expected it.
So she was missing too. Rainbow had thought maybe she was in Canterlot with her family, but now she had no idea.
"Is Cadance okay?" asked Rainbow.
"She's helping her Aunt Celestia the best she can with her royal duties." said Armor
Shield had to discuss plans with Armor, so this was as far as she got talking to him. It was still good to see a familiar face, even if it wasn't one she was looking for. They seemed to be like old friends, Shield and Armor. They talked very informally, like two young colts. This was very different compared to Shield's usual toughness and serious look. Then came business. The two of them instantly became serious, and talked about the upcoming battle as formally as if they had never met. They both gave a salute, then walked towards their respective armies. Shield spoke to the his forces about what was going to go down. Armor did something similar, but Rainbow couldn't hear it.
"We're going to be storming the city from the industrial area. We'll do little damage to non-military residents, while being able to crush the soldiers. We have superior equipment, so we should be able to take them down. Armor and his soldiers are entering through the agricultural district. They think they reach the palace before us, and I want to prove him wrong." A grin appeared on Shield's face when he said that. "So let's get moving!" he exclaimed.
The unicorns all cast spell which allowed them to walk on clouds. Next, the pegasi lifted the unicorns, while the unicorns used levitation spells to make themselves lighter. The pegasi dropped the unicorns on the edge of the clouds. Next the pegasi had to lift the earth ponies, but the unicorns could cast spells on them from up on the clouds that made them lighter. The team of pegasi and unicorns lifted the earth ponies quite quickly, and the pegasi dropped the earth ponies next to the unicorns. Shield was being carried by a large yellow pegasus, and he was dropped at the front of the group. Rainbow and the other pegasi then landed wherever they could fit in in the crowd.
"We aren't close enough to the city to be noticed yet," said Shield "but i'm sure some scouts will find us. There's no use in trying to be stealthy while they have fliers surrounding the city, so we're going to have to charge the industries straight on."
They readied blades, and charged into the first factory. The few weather workers inside ran, and Shield gave a signal not to attack. They were innocent workers, the soldiers were who they were after.
"Cowards!" yelled a Cloudsdale guard. "You will stand and fight for Cloudsdale, or die a pitiful death!"
The workers tried to run, but more guards poured in, and began to slaughter their own workers. They were quickly killed, as there were very few, with no fighting experience.
"Such is the fate of a coward." said the guard who killed the last one.
On the outside, New Cloudsdale looked like a ragtag bunch of raiders, but now that they had seen the inside of the city, it was actually a large police state. Guards instilled fear by murdering any who opposed their will. The alliance unicorns blasted the guards with stun spells, which stunned them long enough for the pegasi and earth ponies the get the first attack, taking down quite a few guards. One of the hit a button on the wall, which sounded an alarm through the city. A cannon fired, and the windows of the factory were shattered by a cannonball, which hit a few alliance soldiers. This also allowed more pegasi to come flying in through the windows, surrounding the soldiers.
"We just need to break through one side." thought Rainbow. She looked around, and saw the south door was the least defended. She began to fly to the north, and the guards prepared to attack. She then quickly whipped around and flew south, and knocked back the guards. Shield saw what she was doing, and ordered his ponies to charge that door. As the guards on that side were getting up, they were taken down by soldiers. Now the alliance could force their enemies to all come from one direction. The guards charged, and their blades clashed against those of the front line. Shield took out one of the chargers, then managed to break the charge, getting inside and taking out guards. Alliance soldiers flooded in the gap in the line, and slashed down the lesser trained and poorly equipped cloudsdale soldiers. A pegasus in white armor came flying in through the windows. This armor was quite different, and covered him entirely. The only parts that were exposed were his wings and his eyes, and even the eyes had goggles to protect them. He flew slowly over the line, with no readable expression under his helmet. The unicorns fired spells at him, some stun, some knockback. neither seemed to harm him that much, but he was taken back. Rainbow charged at him, and he parried the blow, followed by a jab of his own, which sunk into Rainbow's flank. He was moving with incredible speed, and knocked her back down to the floor with his hooves. The Cloudsdale guards were being routed by the alliance, but were also dealing casualties to the alliance, if much less. The white-armored pegasus swopped down, and with two blades stabbed two different alliance ponies, and flew them to the ceiling, where he let them drop. They fell to the floor with a thud, dead on impact. Rainbow figured some fancy flying would be needed to take him out. There wasn't enough space in the factory, so she gestured him outside. He followed her, if only to humor her. She then bolted into the sky. He could actually fly quite quickly in his armor, and flew upward to catch her, but was slightly slower. She flew downwards, and spiraled around him, slashing his wings on the way down. This slowed him quite a bit. Rainbow then flew back up,but was caught as she flew by the white armored stallion's blade.She continued upwards, but the blade left a large cut across her chest. She prepared both of her blades, flew upwards at max speed, then quickly descended, breaking the sound barrier and creating a sonic rainboom. At such high speeds her blades tore through his armor, sparking the whole way down, revealing his grey skin. This skins was quickly torn by her blades, however. He cried out in pain, and fell down to the ground. Rainbow caught up to him, and slashed both of his wings, which were severed. He crashed to the ground, and Rainbow began to slow down, hovering to the ground. The alliance soldiers had finished off the guards, and shield cam rushing out towards Rainbow.
"Are you alright?" asked Shield.
"I'm fine." she replied. "You should see the other guy." she said jokingly.
Shield hadn't even bothered to look until now. The pegasus was alive and awake, but bleeding out.
"Just kill me and get it over with!" yelled the pegasus. "I'm not useful for anything anymore."
He was talking in between loud breaths, as he found it hard to breathe. Rainbow looked to Shield, who simply nodded. Rainbow removed his helmet, making it easier for him to breathe. His white mane spilled out of the helmet. Shield drove his blade into the pegasus's heart, quickly killing him. The alliance soldiers gave a moment of silence for the fallen. Then the ponies moved into the heart of Cloudsdale.
Chapter 16: The heart of Cloudsdale
Chapter 16: The heart of Cloudsdale
Unlike most cities, Cloudsdale had very little wreckage strewn about, and only moderate building destruction. There was the occasional propaganda poster, with a picture of some pegasi enlisting. The alliance continued to march in to the city, with a strange lack of resistance. Sure, the occasional citizen would attack them, and there were a few guards left, but most were quickly subdued. Shield's soldiers reached the Palace, where Armor soon arrived.
"I would have thought they had more military than this." said Shield.
"They can't fund it, it would just be a bunch of undertrained civilians with no weapons." said Armor.
"We should check the dungeons, they might have some prisoners locked up." said Shield.
The two groups united, and headed towards the dungeons. Inside were various mares and stallions, most of whom were innocent. Rainbow heard the jailer coming by, and quickly ambushed him before he could react. She jabbed her blades into him, and took the keys. She then went throught the cell blocks, unlocking various cells. She reahed the final cell, where inside she saw a face she had been waiting for a long time.
"A...Applejack?" she managed to get out, still in a state of disbelief.
Applejack was indeed inside the cell, and her eyes lit up when she heard her friend's voice.
"Rainbow...is that you?" she said.
Rainbow nodded, and unlocked the cell. Applejack slowly walked out. She looked very bruised and beaten. Her mane hung down, no longer in the ponytail she usually kept it in. Every step she took looked pained, but she nonetheless made it out.
"They're going to pay for this!" said Rainbow, with a look of angry determination on her face. "You should stay back here until the fighting is over."
Applejack nodded, much to tired to put up a fight. She grabbed her hat from a chest of belongings taken from prisoners. She put on the hat and then sat back down.
"I'll be back once this is done." said Rainbow. She rejoined with the rest of the group, and headed back out of the dungeon. The palace had very large double doors, made of an incredibly strong, yet ultralight material of which Rainbow knew little about. She once heard that buildings in Cloudsdale were made light enough to float by using some strange material found deep underground in the Everfree. But whatever it was, it was very easy to open even though it was larger than a one story house. The door flung open, and inside pegasi were packed in, and charged out in a wall of blades. The alliance unicorns blasted them out of the sky, and earth ponies finished them off once they landed. Shield was at the front of the group, and in the suprise attack a pegasus jabbed his blade deep into his chest. Shield doubled over in pain, and was bleeding quite a bit. A rather thin bright red pegasus, with long white hair and deep blue eyes walked slowly toward Shield. He wore a cloak which covered much of his body. The cloak was a deep carmine, and seemed to be covering something.
"Well, this is quite a surprise." said the pegasus. "How pleasant of you to drop in for a visit."
Shining Armor charged the red pegasus, but was reposted and sent sprawling.
"That's the best you can do?" he said, in a condescending manner. "I thought this fight would be fun."
A smirk apeared on the pegasus's face, and a black and purple aura surrounded him.
"I guess we all make mistakes" he said. "Yours was coming here."
He flicked out a blade, and approached Shield. His slow hoofsteps seemed to echo throughout the room. Clip, clop,clip,clop. He had nearly reached Shield, when a rainbow shot towards him. The blue pegasus at the front of the rainbow tackling him and knocking him over.
"Seems one of you can actually put up a fight" said the red pegasus. "How about we settle this one on one?" he asked.
Rainbow nodded, confident in her abilities.
"Follow me." he said, and flew off towards a secluded cloud off in the distance. Rainbow followed him to the cloud.
Chapter 17: Hope
Chapter 17: Hope
The two pegasi touched down on the cloud.
"I suppose I should introduce myself." he said. "I am known as Suffering. You may know me as one of Sin's generals. You'd better be strong, I want this to be worth my time."
He had multiple blades attached to his hooves, along with large amounts of chain attached to each one. He shot three of them at Rainbow, who quickly shot up into the air to dodge them. The chain attached to the blades was revealed to be connected to machinery he wore under his cloak. The machinery was full of all sorts of gears and chains and some devices Rainbow couldn't recognize. The chain's were pulled right back without any delay. He continued to fire more, and Rainbow was having a very hard time dodging. One flew in between her hooves. The next her tail, which was cut. Two more flew in front of her face. He fired one more, and grazed her cheek, leaving a small cut. He quickly reeled all the blades back in. Rainbow took this chance to charge him. She flew in close at top speed. Suffering simply waited for her. When she got fairly close to him, he raised his hoof. She got almost close enough to hit him, when three more blades flew out, causing her to quickly turn and get hit once in the leg.
"You didn't think i'd fire them all, did you?" he said.
"Looks like I'm going to have to dodge while I charge." thought Rainbow
So she tried again, and Suffering fired once more. Rainbow managed to slip through the shots, but noticed Suffering did not pull them back. He pressed a button on the machinery he had under his cloak, and then waited. Once she got close, he made a small movement with his hoof. The chains on the blades he had already fired began whipping around through the air. The blades cut Rainbow twice before she could get away, once on the flank, and once to her shoulder. As she flew away, Suffering fired more blades at her. She flew upwards into the sky. It was here she saw his critical weakness. The blades cannot fire up! To test this, she flew directly above him. He did not fire, even though he could clearly see her. He tried to fly up towards her, but was weighed down too much. Rainbow flew up higher and higher, past the clouds. She then descended at top speed, right on to him. He spun his blades once more, but Rainbow hit him, the blades only coming close enough to graze. She jabbed her blade into the machinery, jamming it and causing it to break. The chains snapped, and any fired blades simply fell to the ground, useless. He removed the machinery, and soared into the air.
"Very good." he said. "But I'm afraid this is the end for you."
He grabbed two blades from the ground and charged at Rainbow. She blocked with her own blades, and a loud clang shot across the sky. Without the machinery and chain on his back, he could fly much faster. His long white mane shot behind him as he soared up into the sky. Rainbow chased after him. As she got close, Suffering flew in and delivered a kick to her face. He then slammed her down on to the cloud below. Both of his blades at her neck, Rainbow was powerless to stop him.
"One of the best fights I have had in a long time." he said. "You should-."
Before he could finish, however, he suddenly stopped. He shook, and slowly turned around. Behind him stood an orange mare, with a large stetson.
"That's enough outta you." said Applejack." she slowly pulled the blade out of Suffering's back.
Suffering slowly fell to the ground, Applejack's blade proving to be his death blow.
"But...I...I broke you." he said. "You were...barely even alive."
"Never underestimate the will of an Apple." she said.
"It doesn't matter anyway... I'm sure the rest of the generals have killed off your friends." he said. "Master Sin has almost recovered from the wounds that that Celestia gave him."
"Everypony else is still alive?" said Rainbow.
"Not for much longer." said Suffering.
The two of them walked away, leaving him to die. Suffering had a large grin on his face.
"So...this is what death feels like." he thought. "I have to admit, she's a good fighter. Maybe together they stand a chance. This world might have a few redeeming qualities after all."
That was the last thought to cross him mind. He let himself simply relax, and fell dead.
"How did you get over to this cloud anyway?" asked Rainbow.
"I found a little something left back at Ponyville. When i was captured they left it there, and I used to to get to you."
"So, what is "It"?" asked Rainbow
"Applejack pointed off in front of her. The two of them headed that way for a bit, and then Rainbow saw "it".
"You found the balloon?" she asked excitedly.
"Yep, it was a little torn up, but I fixed it up and now it flies real nice."
The hot air balloon that the six of them used to fly together was in front of them once more.
"I should go see how the battle went." said Rainbow.
"C'mon," she said, and got in the balloon. Rainbow followed, and they flew it down to the Cloudsdale palace. The battle was over, the alliance had captured the palace. Shield would survive, just a bit wounded. He approached the two of them.
"Hello." he said. "my name is Sivler Shield, and yours?"
"Ahm Applejack." said Applejack
"Applejack... are you one of the element bearers?"
"Yeah, what about it?" she said
"Celestia wanted us to find you, she said you would be important to defeating Sin. What luck we happened to find you here. So that's two element bearers down, four to go."
"Any idea where the others are?" asked Rainbow.
"No." said Shield "But i have a mission for you. I want you to go find them."
"That's what we were hoping for" said Rainbow.
"I'm afraid the troops have a different mission, so you two will have to go alone." he said.
The two of them nodded, and got inside the hot air balloon.
Chapter 18: Memories
"Star! You have to wake up!"
Topaz and the mysterious filly had been hiding out in the ruins of Fillydelphia, which had been hit the hardest by Sin. The filly slowly awoke, as Topaz shook her.
"Raiders!" screamed Topaz
"Alright, i'm getting up." she said. "These Raiders better have a damn good reason for waking me this early."
She threw on her cloak, and headed out the half of a door that was closing their shelter. It sort of locked, so that was the only reason they kept it. It was easy enough to pop open though. Outside were three large stallions. Topaz headed out behind her.
"Alright, what the buck is your excuse for being here so early?" she yelled.
"You'd better keep your mouth shut and hand over all you've got." said one of the stallions. "'else i'll bash your face in."
"Wrong answer." said Star.
She jammed her blade into the throat of the one who was talking, and swung around on her blade to kick another in the face, taking him down. She then slit his throat as she landed. The third one was terrified and shocked, and started to run.
"Can't we just let him go?" said Topaz
"I would, but it's five in the bucking morning." she said.
She quickly closed in on him, and threw her left blade, wounding his leg. She then stabbed him in the heart, and quickly fell dead. She took her blade back and headed back inside, as though nothing had even happened.
"Goddamn Sin." muttered Star as she headed back to sleep.
Topaz headed back in, not even needed. He was never needed, at least as far as he saw it. His sister always was better than him, but he didn't mind. He knew that better than anyone. He wished he could go back to traveling the world, a scholar observing places both new and ancient. He made maps, charts, and observations. It truly made him feel free, as if nothing held him back. But tough times came, and he and his sister had to move to Ponyville. They needed to take whatever jobs they could find. Once the war hit, him and his sister both joined the resistance movement to support Luna. Now that Sin has been revived, he's given up on that dream. He headed out to check to see if the plants had grown at all. They were all withered and dying. So better than yesterday. The soil seemed as if the very essence of sin seeped inside of it.
"This world is dying." he thought
All around him buildings were torn to shreds, burnt to the ground, or just plain gone. The area looked as if nature was trying to reclaim it, but couldn't muster the effort. He took a walk through the ruins, to see if he could scavenge anything good. After a few streets of bleak destruction and emptiness, he was ready to give up. Ahead of him was a familiar house. It wasn't intact, but he remembered some of the parts and how they would fit together. This was where he lived as a colt. He checked out the inside. Most everything was burnt to the ground, but one picture remained. An old family photo, with him still a young colt.
"I should show this to big sis'" he said.
He headed back, taking the picture with him. Star was awake, and sharpening her blades.
"I found this picture of us back in the old house!" he said. "Its from back when you were still "Big sis""
"I'm still older than you, even if I don't age," she replied
"I didn't expect that caster to be capable of such powerful magic," he said.
"That's in the past now, we should just move on," she said.
"I checked the crops, and they don't look well," he said.
"Have they ever?" she asked.
"We have to stop Sin now, this world can't take much more," he said grimly.
"We can't do it alone," she said.
"We don't even know if anyone else is around who will help," he said.
"I'm sure Zecora and her friends survived this, we need to find them," she said.
"If they have, they could help us attack Sin, if we could find him," he said.
"We should check nearby towns, they might be there," she said.
"Manehattan would be a good start," he said.
"Alright, let's go," she said.
They packed their things, took what little food they had, and left this forsaken city behind them.
Chapter 19: Sin's chasm
Luna was on a diplomatic mission to Zebrica when Sin was summoned. But she could tell it was him, she recognized his particular power. She had to get home to Equestria, but she had no idea where it even was. Zebrica was separated from it's continent in the explosion, as Sin rearranged the world as he saw fit. The zebras were very supportive of their allies in Equestria, and wished to help Luna in anyway they could. Several zebras along with Luna were exploring to the west, hoping to find other lands, and that they weren't on an island. Zebrica had very thick jungles, which if not for the aid of the Zebras, Luna would quickly get lost in. The jungles were actually not doing too badly, Zebrica was not hit by the direct force of Sin. At least, not yet. They came upon a clearing, and what they saw at the end of it was truly a horrifying sight. A gigantic chasm had opened up before them, a dark purple light emanating from the crevasse. This light seemed a sort of semi-solid, like a very thick gas. As they stood in awe at the sight before them, a voice rang throughout the air.
"Princess of the night, " it spoke. "Let us see if you truly are worthy of that title. "
"Who art thou to doubt our power?" she responded.
"If you're truly so comfortable with the night, my darkness should not be a problem for you, spoke the voice.
"If you are issuing a challenge, I certainly will not back down." she said.
"Then enter, ruler of Equestria, spoke the voice. "Your friends must stay behind, lest they be destroyed. "
Luna walked forward to the edge of the cliff.
"Very well, I accept." she said.
Luna could feel Sin's power reeking from this scar on the planet.
"Princess!" said one of the zebras. "This could easily be a trap!"
"It does not matter, I have to face this foul beast." said Luna, as she jumped in to the pit.
As she floated down, hovering with her wings, she got a good glance at the bottom. There was nothing. The pit was bottomless. She started to have regrets about this, and flew back upwards. A large clawed hand reached out of the pit, and pulled her in below.
"You wouldn't back out on your promise now, would you? " said the voice.
Sin himself was in front of her. He sat on a magnificent throne of silver and gold, which contrasted the darkness around them. Cages contained several ponies, who were nearly broken by his will. Many more were, and served as mindless slaves to his every whim. Even if they wanted to rebel, they had to control over their actions. They were effectively dead, but forced to watch as they did whatever he wanted. One of the slaves look very familiar to Luna. She was that mare who used to do magical tricks in shows across Equestria. Trixie was her name. Not that it mattered much now, considering she was just a husk charged with getting Sin whatever he desired, but she used to be someone. The chasm looked very strange to Luna. The sky was not visible, the world seemd to abruptly cut off right above her head, like a painting that went unfinished. Elements from destroyed buildings and cities lined the walls and floors. As Luna took in the room, Sin patiently waited for his chance to experience such exquisite prey. He drank from a wine glass, which contained a some strange deep red liquid. It was very thick, and had an otherworldly feel to it. It smelled of roses, and Luna imagined it tasted about the same. Sin had a large scar on his forehead, which looked as if it were done by a flame, but was very clean and straight, like that of a blade. His long red mane hung down straight to his shoulders while he sat, contrasting his pale white skin.
"Your sister did quite a number to me, " he said. "Let's see how you fare. "
"What have you done with our sister!" she exclaimed.
"She's fine. " he said. "She managed to get away, after quite a fight. "
He looked her over quickly.
"I must admit, you are a very beautiful mare, he said. "You'd be a fine addition to my collection. "
Luna had listened to enough of this. She lunged at him, and simply waited. He winked out of existence, and reappeared behind her, still in his throne.
"You're certainly eager to die, " he said. "I like that. I'll try not to hurt you too much, I wouldn't want to damage my newest toy. "
A smug grin shot across his face, and he slowly rose from his throne, which then disappeared. A young colt dressed in a suit took his glass, this one seeming to be a butler slave of his. A mare grabbed him his blade, and he let out a yawn, stretched, and seemed as if a fight with the princess of the night herself was a trivial waste of time. Luna released a charged blast of magic from her horn, which seemed to disintegrate when it touched Sin. He grabbed her, his horn shone briefly, and a amazing blast of power. She tried to kick him off, but she seemed unable to do anything. A pit opened up before her, and he dropped her below. She tried to fly back up, but some sort of magic made her feel as if she had 100-pound weights attached to her wings. She plummeted into the infinite pit, her body slowly fading. It started with her hooves, and proceeded up her body, and she was powerless to do anything but scream. The pit seemed to go on for miles, never ending or changing. When her body was disappearing, it started to re-materialize at the top of the pit, as a mindless slave like the rest.
"There's no way he is this powerful," she thought. "This can't be real."
As soon as that thought crossed her mind she found herself laying on the ground of the cavern once more.
"You and your sister are the first to ever break that spell. " said Sin. "This is going to be interesting."
Chapter 20: Safe Haven
Pinkie seemed rather distraught by all this. She hadn't seen her friends, and didn't know what to do without them. She found herself in a crater in a strange area.. The plant life here was vivid and lush, the sunlight shining down on her. She had no idea the rest of the world was dying. There were apple trees all around, nopony would ever go hungry here. She kicked down an apple, and sunk her teeth into it. It was amazing, the best she had ever tasted. This seemed perfect to her, but only if she had friends to share it with. She tried her best to put it out of mind, and began to frolic off, both for fun and to find somepony, anypony else. It could even be the meanest pony around, so long as there was someone. It was so lonely out here. She hummed a tune, and went on her merry way. Birds chirped overhead, the first sign of life Pinkie had seen. She followed the birds, not having anywhere else to go. They flew off towards a forest. Now this Pinkie remembered.
"Th..that's the Everfree!" she said, in both fear and excitement. "I guess I don't have anywhere else to look."
She hesitantly trotted into the Everfree, expecting some monster of beast. Something she would normally giggle off, but not when she was alone. When she looked around, something was off.The forest was no longer dark, but very bright. Flowers bloomed, and cute little rabbits scurried around. This made Pinkie even more worried.
"H...hello?" she said.
Apparently someone heard, as a mass of vines rose from the ground. They wrapped tightly into a ball, which slowly opened. A yellow mare, with a long pink flowing mane, was wrapped up in the center. Pinkie heard a voice come from the forest.
"Speak." said the voice
"Fluttershy!" yelled Pinkie with glee. "It's so good to see a friend again!"
But Fluttershy dd not speak. She stayed silent, vines wrapped around her hooves. They were holding her in the air, her eyes closed, as if she were asleep.
"Fluttershy?" said Pinkie.
"Fluttershy?" said the voice.
"Fluttershy! Are you okay?" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Fluttershy. What a strange name." said the voice.
"What did you do to Fluttershy!" yelled Pinkie.
"Fluttershy, as you call her, is the guardian of the Everfree. She has kept this place free of the corruption of Sin."
"i know him!" Pinkie exclaimed. "That guy is really evil." said Pinkie.
"I suppose that's one way of describing him," said the voice.
"That's why I need Fluttershy to help me get rid of him!" said Pinkie
"She cannot leave this place. I must keep he safe, she is the very lifeblood of this forest," said the voice.
"But if we don't stop Sin, he might start causing trouble." said Pinkie.
"It seems you do not know the things he has done," said the voice. "He has caused much pain already, this forest is the last safe haven for this world.
"But why Fluttershy?" asked Pinkie.
"I was looking for a kindred spirit. Someone who loved the forest as much as I. Someone who did not want to see it destroyed. Fluttershy is the only other pony who loves the forest enough to be a worthy candidate of such honor." explained the voice.
"Just let me talk to her!" exclaimed Pinkie.
"Unacceptable," said the voice.
"Why not!" Pinkie yelled.
Pinkie was starting to get infuriated.The voice stayed silent. Pinkie began trying to untangle the vines from Fluttershy, when a branch reached out and hit her.
"How dare you touch the guardian!" said the voice.
Vines wrapped around Pinkie, as she writhed around trying to get free.
"Fluttershy can still protect the forest even if she helps me!" said Pinkie
"I can' risk her getting hurt." said the voice.
Pinkie was slipping out of vines, biting some of them into pieces. She fell to the ground, but was still not safe. The very ground beneath her feet began to pull her below.
"Enough!"
A loud yell came from Fluttershy. Her eyes shot open, the vines entangling her sinking back below. She slowly hovered to the ground. Pinkie was released, and stood back on her feet. Pinkie ran to Fluttershy and gave her a hug.
"I am the guardian of this forest!" said Fluttershy. "I should be able to decide what is best for it! It will be fine if I leave. I cannot just let Sin destroy whatever he wishes!"
Fluttershy was abnormally assertive, and the voice listened. A brown filly with a green mane hanging down nearly to the ground slowly walked out from behind a tree.
"Is this truly what you think is best?" said the filly.
"Yes." said Fluttershy.
"Then there is nothing else I can do." said the filly. She walked back behind the tree, and was gone.
Chapter 21: Ancient evils
Chapter 21: Ancient evils
Twilight found herself in Hoofington, along with some other survivors of the blast, thrown across the world. She was unfamiliar with the city before the explosion, and even more lost now. Some buldings remained intact, one of which was the library. Twilight was living there, if anything just to feel at home. The Hoofington library was quite large, almost as big as the one in Canterlot. She had to find out a way to stop Sin. She scanned the bookshelves for quite a while trying to find anything remotely useful. She found many books, most of which either seemed promising but told nothing, or simply made brief refrences. But one book, The Discord era, proved to be quite helpful. It covered history during the Discord era, and even a bit of the history before Discord.
"This book must be ancient!" said Twilight.
She checked for a publishing date, to find this was simply a re-publish of the original. That makes sense, considering how rare books from that long ago are, they are probably well protected if intact at all. Twilight began flipping through the pages,and managed to find some very interesting information. She found the first page mentioning Sin, and began to read.
"Discord ruled Equestria for many years, up until our magnificent Princess Celestia overthrew him. Most were purely chaotic and random, as he liked it. But one day, a young Alicorn challenged his rule. Discord thought of this as a mere joke, this Alicorn stood no chance. At least, not alone. This Alicorn, now known as Sin, raised an army to fight Discord. He was the leader of the oppressed ponies, and fought for good and righteousness. Few were willing to help Discord, so he forced his will upon them with chaotic magic. The war raged on, pony against pony, until the Alicorn and his armies captured Canterlot, or as it was called at the time, Pandemonium. He liberated Canterlot, and banished Discord for a time. The Alicorn was declared king, and ruled benevolently. But it was not to last. In this complete control, the Alicorn started to go mad with power. He began to command his subjects to conquer smaller, peaceful countries, and enforced heavy laws and taxes on his people. Where Discord was chaotic, Sin was evil. He was relentless in his fighting, and even sent in young children to fight. Never satiated, he began attacking Zebrica, which was a longtime ally of Equestria. This was the breaking point for the Equestrians. They began to riot, and assaulted Canterlot castle. Sin was not amused by this. He began slaughtering citizens, which only further intensified the riots. Discord saw his chance, and while Equestria was in chaos, he sealed away Sin in a strange dimension of his creation, and retook the throne. He would rule on for another 500 years before the birth of Celestia and Luna, and the two of them defeated Discord years later, and took the throne."
This told her a lot about Sin, but not how to defeat him.
"Discord is the only one to have ever defeated Sin, and-"
That was it! Discord was the answer! If the two of them fight it out, they may weaken each other enough to defeat them both! This could also horribly backfire, but Twilight was willing to take that risk. She knew her way back to Canterlot from here, where the statue should still be. She wasn't about to release Discord without her friends, however, as she needed them to stop him if need be. She began her long trek to Canterlot. She followed the train tracks, as they were an easy to see guideline between the cities. A while down the tracks, a train was stopped, but still looked in working condition. She went to check it out. She couldn't believe what she saw inside, it was too good to be true.
"Spike!" she yelled joyously at the purple dragon hiding out in the train car.
Spike lit up at hearing her voice, and ran to her.
"I was so worried!" said Twilight.
"I thought i'd never see you again!" said Spike. "So now that makes three of us."
"Three?" said Twilight.
"Twilight! Is that you?" said a voice coming from the back of the train.
"Rarity?" said Twilight.
Twilight followed Spike to the back of the train, where Rarity awaited, her mane still as fabulous as ever.
"We're on our way to Canterlot." said Rarity. "We're looking for everypony else, you just happened to find us first."
"I think I know how to defeat Sin, but i'm going to need your help Rarity," said Twilight
"What about me?" said Spike.
"I don't want you being in anything so dangerous." said Twilight.
Spike was disappointed and a little bit angry, being once more left behind. But he understood, and agreed.
"So what's this plan?" asked Rarity.
"I read in a book in Hoofington that Discord and Sin hated each other, and fought over Equestria in the past." said Twilight. "I figure we try to convince Discord to help us fight Sin!"
"Release Discord!" shrieked Rarity. "But we barely managed to seal him away last time!"
"That's why we need to find everypony else first." said Twilight
"You do know this is insane, right?" asked Rarity.
"Maybe, but it's our only shot. said Twilight.
"I guess we really don't have a choice." said Rarity. "We're going to check Canterlot tomorrow, so we should all get some rest."
They each picked a room of the train, locked the doors, and went to sleep for the night.
Chapter 22: Control
"It's been quite a while since we left Cloudsdale." said Applejack. "And I'm startin' to get hungry."
"Me too, let's land and see if we can find anything, there's a forest below." said Rainbow Dash.
"Wait, a forest?" asked Applejack.
"Yeah, what about it?" asked Rainbow Dash
Applejack looked down below. to see a very strange sight. The land below looked...normal. Maybe even pleasant. She saw apple trees, and started to freak the buck out with excitement.
"Apples!" she yelled. "They look so good! I haven't seen something so good in, well, ever!"
"Applejack, are you alright?" Rainbow looked down where she was looking, but saw no apples. But that didn't matter now, she saw something much better.
"Is that...the Wonderbolts?" she said with disbelief.
Applejack didn't even respond, she was to enthralled by the ground below. She couldn't take it anymore, this balloon was landing too slowly. She jumped out, mouth open wide, staring right at the apples. Rainbow chased after her, but not to save her. Rainbow whizzed by Applejack, touching down on the ground. Applejack came close to the ground, when a vine shot out and caught her, slowly lowering her to the ground.
"I can't let me pretty little ponies get damaged, now can I?" said a voice.
The voice came from within the forest. Rainbow didn't care, and tried her best to shut it out of her mind. She approached the Wonderbolts, who were standing still, silent. It was an eerie sight, but all that mattered to Rainbow was to meet them. Applejack ran towards the trees, and saw the most beautiful sight of her life. A gigantic apple, the size of her head, hung from one of the trees. It hung low enough she could grab it with her mouth. The apple shone brightly, and as she approached, more appeared around her. At this point the balloon had landed, still intact enough to fly, but a little beat up. Applejack saw sweet apple acres, and the apple trees. She saw this apple on one of her trees. This was hers, and hers alone. She planted the seeds of it, and all of it's apples grew this magnificently. She got a ribbon for these apples. Not just any ribbon, a blue one! She was recognized throughout Equestria for owning the world's best apple farm. All she had to do was pick the apple. Rainbow Dash had visions of joining the Wonderbolts. Not just joining them, but she was elected their leader. She was known throughout the world as the best flier. She was 20% cooler than any other pony, and posters and action figures of her were sold everywhere. And all she had to do was greet them now.
"Do you want this?" said the voice.
Both ponies nodded.
"Then take it." said the voice.
They both reached forward to grab their respective visions, and vines began to wrap around their hooves. But they didn't care, they had their dreams in front of them. They had to reach them.
"Rainbow! Applejack!" yelled two voices in near unison.
This snapped them out of the trance for long enough to see Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie being grabbed by vines, fighting them off the best they could. They both reached their hooves back, and ran to their friends. This made the voice mad. RD and Applejack ran to their friends, and helped them out of the vines.
"You cannot leave! You are my property!" yelled the voice.
Following said voice came a brown unicorn mare with a green mane, charging at them. She stopped, and her horn shone. She rose a large chunk of rock out of the earth, and sent it spiraling towards the four ponies. The rock narrowly missed, but exploded into fire behind them.
"What is this, a Micheal Hay film?" said Pinkie.
"She's a druid, she can control nature." said Fluttershy.
"You know her?" asked Applejack.
"She's the last protector of the Everfree, we should try not to harm her too badly." said Fluttershy.
"Just try." said a voice coming from the forest, not the mare.
The mare had a look of fear and regret on her face as her horn lit up once more. The flames behind the ponies began to chase them down.
"Get in the forest!" yelled Fluttershy.
This seemed counter-intuitive, but the ponies listened and went deeper in to the forest. The flames stopped, the druid seemed to be having a fight with her self, writhing in pain. The fire disappeared, and the druid got back up. She changed tactics, and a vine pulled her into the trees. A torrential rain started above them, and thunder began to strike.
"I'll just kick those clouds away!" said Rainbow, as she flew into the skies.
Lighting struck all around her, for this was no natural storm. Heavy winds blew her back and forth, but she stayed determined. She began kicking clouds left and right, but was getting bettered down by the storm. Fluttershy was on her way to help, but being a weaker flier, it took her some time. They managed to clear most of the clouds away, when a loud smack echoed through the sky. Fluttershy was hit by a chunk of rock thrown into the sky, and was unable to keep herself up. Her left wing was hurt, and she spiraled trying to stay up, and was falling pretty fast. Pinkie ran to catch her, and managed to grab her. She set Fluttershy down, as she was still pretty hurt, and began barreling towards the druid. Applejack followed her lead, and charged in as well. Rainbow finished clearing the skies, and began charging down. The druid began flinging balls of fire up into the sky at rainbow, where they would not damage the forest. Rainbow began flying in erratic patterns to confuse the druid, which gave Applejack and Pinkie enough time to buck her out of the tree. She fell to the ground, in pain.
"No!" said a voice from the forest.
The druid seemed to give up the fight, and stopped attacking the four ponies. She was hurt, and scared. She ran off into the forest. Another unicorn mare came out from behind the bushes. She looked incredibly frail and sickly, like you could blow on her and break her bones. Her skin was a dark blue, and she had a withered out, damaged looking grey mane hanging from her head. Her eyes were a very strange shade of grey, unusually pale. She had a hard time walking, but she nonetheless made it towards them. Her horn began to glow, and she cast a spell on the four ponies. She once more tried to lure them in with their greatest desires, but it was of no use. They already had everything they needed, and that was their friends. Applejack bucked her, and she toppled over, powerless. She tried to cast a spell once more, but her casting was interrupted by Rainbow's blade to her gut.
"I am... a general... of Sin!" she coughed out. "I will not be defeated by such...pawns! I am the very essence of control!"
"So you're a general, eh?" said Rainbow. "So that means two down."
"What!" yelled Control.
"Suffering's been taken down already." said Applejack.
But Control could not respond. She began convulsing violently, fighting her death as much as she could. She put up quite a fight for a mare in her condition. You'd almost think death was having a hard time besting her, but she eventually gave in to his demands, and went silent.
Chapter 23: Savior.
Luna and Sin were engaged in combat deep in the chasms. His power unnerved her, though she tried her best to hide it. Her sister had wounded him, he shouldn't be a problem. Even so, he was putting up quite a fight. She vaguely remembered him, as she was a very young child when he was banished, around 1000 years ago. He had a different look now, which is to be expected, all the time in Discord's strange realms must have driven him mad. The two had very similar fighting styles, as they both practiced the royal fencing arts of Canterlot, both being royalty. Because of their styles, they both could somewhat tell what the other would do, and it was hard to gain an edge. Magic was the only semi-unpredictable attack either had. Luna jabbed, Sin countered. Sin slashed, Luna dodged.
"As much fun as this is," said Sin. "I'm starting to tire of you."
His horn shone brightly with a strange dark purple glow, unusual for his coloration. Luna recognized this as dark magic, something she studied briefly. She never planned on using it, but rather wanted to know her enemy better. She began to focus on a spell as well. Sin unleashed a blast of magic into the ground, causing it to shake. Cracks formed, and dark magic began to flow upwards from the cracks. His eyes shone pure black, and the grin that he had before quickly faded.
"Now die! " he exclaimed, his voice echoing throughout the cavern.
The magic swirled around her, and she began blasting magic back at it. This chasm was too attuned to his darkness, his magic overpowered hers. The darkness encircled her, and she tried in vain to writhe her way out of it. He slowly walked towards her, his blade in hoof.
"Admit it, you're powerless, he said. "You and your sister both are pathetic. Equestria is my kingdom, and I'll be taking it back. But first, I think I'll have some fun with my new Princess toy.
The grin returned to his face, as he slammed her into a wall. He pressed his hoof against her neck, holding he against the wall. She tried to kick him off, but he restrained her legs with a spell. He pressed the blade to her throat, and his horn shone.
"I don't want to have to break such a beautiful toy, but if you keep misbehaving I might just have to cut your pretty little head off, " he said.
One of the slaves walked closer, seeming to simply be watching. This one was strange looking, and covered in a dark cloak, obscuring its face. Sin moved closer to Luna, and the slave seemed to take this as some sort of cue. It pulled out a blade and approached. The pony delivered a quick kick to Sin, something Luna was not expecting. The kick was unexpected to Sin, and sent him back. The slave then jabbed its blade into Sin, shedding his in crimson lifeblood. He toppled over, a look of anger shot across his face.
"But...but...I broke you!" he said. "You shouldn't have been able to... how did you?"
The slave didn't answer, instead grabbing Luna and quickly making a run for the exit. Sin was harmed, but still incredibly powerful. Luna didn't say anything, to focused with running for conversation. She began to fly away, the slave running up a small path winding around the side, as it was wingless. The two of them reached the top, where the zebras Luna traveled with were waiting. They had set up a camp a bit further in the jungle to wait, but it was too close to the chasm for them to feel safe. Once they made it a safe distance away, they felt safe enough to stop and talk about what had just happened. The slave removed her hood, and Luna recognized her instantly. Zecora, one of her closest friends, stood in front of her, alive and well.
"Zecora!" Luna exclaimed happily. "We are so happy to see you again! You saved our life back there."
"I had hoped to see you soon, Princess of the moon. said Zecora. "But not like this, deep inside the abyss. "
"Why were you waiting down there posing as a slave?" said Luna.
"I was waiting for the right time to use my blade, hidden deep within the shade, said Zecora.
Their conversation was interrupted when a shadow moved above them. A hot air balloon had flown above, with several familiar faces on board.
Chapter 24: Manehattan
Star and Topaz continued down the road, looking for some sort of friendly faces. They were in the wrong spot for that. The growth around them completely stopped. The dirt was barren,and it almost looked as if the dirt couldn't even survive here, as it took on a very strange texture that crushed plant roots. This has to be part of Sin's corruption. They reached Manehattan, and, to their surprise, ponies were all around them. The city was in ruins, effectively just stacked up rubble shaped vaguely like houses, but no one left. Not to mention the gigantic crack in the earth running through the town, leading into a deep pit below. Except for the pegasi, they all had to be extremely careful just to walk through town, lest they be devoured by the caves. Considering neither of them were pegasi, they made their way very slowly across the sides of the road. The ponies looked very happy,as if nothing had happened. This was somehow more disturbing, it seemed as if this was how they had always lived. Topaz had been to Manehattan a few years back, and it wasn't ruins, but the people act like its their home. Topaz decided to talk to them to see what was going on. He saw a yellow mare walk by, and walked up to her.
"Excuse me, but did you know your town is a hunk of rubble?" he said. "All the plants are dead, where are you getting food from?"
The mare looked at him nervously, and just continued on like she hadn't heard a thing. A large red stallion was heading down the road, so Star decided to talk to him. As she approached, she realized he had started to look very familiar.
"Macintosh!" she yelled, chasing him down.
The stallion heard her, and bolted away. She gave chase, and Topaz followed after seeing her run off. The stallion ran into a dark alleyway, and star followed. A large pile of bricks blocked his path, and he nervously waited.
"Macintosh! Don't you remember me?" Star asked. "I was one of the fillies that hid out with you during the occupation. You saved our lives back there, I won't forget it. Now why are you running from me!"
The stallion let out a loud whistle, and flashed green. He was a changeling! Star and Topaz were right where he wanted them. More ponies started to pour in, each of them a changing as well. They were heavily outnumbered, and didn't stand much of a chance. They might be able to hold them off if they fought defensively, but Star was in no mood for that. She charged right into the sea of changelings. She took out one,and charged at another, but it was no use, they swarmed her and grabbed her. They began to carry her away, kicking and screaming. Topaz wasn't much of a fighter, but he was quite good at magic. He blasted spells at them, but was quickly overwhelmed as well. There were just too many. They were carried down into the caves beneath the city, chained up and taken to a dungeon. A young filly was chained nearby, not yet cutie marked. She eyed Topaz's scroll cutie mark enviously. She was yellow, with red hair and a bow. Star remembered her from back when they hid out with Macintosh. But not well enough she felt like talking to her, she didn't need some little filly sobbing all over the place to make her stay any more pleasant. she had bigger plans. She gestured to Topaz, who remembered what to do. They had been in dungeons before, and this one didn't look too hard to escape from. He magically levitated one of the bobby pins she hid in her hood out, and started to pick the door. He made sure to make it quiet enough so no changelings outside would hear it, yet loud enough the jailer would notice. He got the door open, and the jailer went to investigate. Star slipped behind him, and Topaz simply waited. The jailer grabbed him and slammed him against the wall, and then fell over, releasing his grip. Star flashed a grin, holding his keys in her teeth. She had knocked him out with a kick to the back of the head. She started unlocking cages, and gathered all the prisoners together. She unbound the filly, but gestured to her to stay in her cage, as she's much to young to fight changelings.
They all grouped together, and prepared for the upcoming battle.
Chapter 25: Prison Break
The prisoners rallied around Star, and they charged out from the dungeon. They plowed through changelings, and began to fight. Star took point, and began slashing at them. Topaz was fighting as well, but could not contain his curiosity. As far as he knew, he had never seen a changeling before. Star always thought that their old neighbors were changelings, but that was different tale for a different time. The changelings began to morph, and everypony made sure to keep careful track of where every pony was, as to not harm a friend. This interested Topaz further. Did they know which ones were changelings, or were the changelings blind to their own illusion? If they do know which ones are changelings, how do they tell? Is it by scent, or some secret code? Can a changeling pretend to be another changeling? Can they feed off of each other's love? Do changelings feel love? He tried to contain his natural curiosity and continued firing spells. The battle was going well, changelings weren't that strong. They bega to fall quickly, only a couple were able to take a few shots from Star. They flew back, battered and broken. Some prisoner had fallen, but their morale was not broken. Some had ben down hee for years, families and lovers were quite often captured by changelings to feed off of their love. Topaz managed to hit a few, but his aim wasn't that great, he was a novice at spells. He knew magic of all sorts, but had very little practce, always spending his time learning more. The battle started to die down, most changelings had fallen back. Star went to free the filly. They all started to run towards the exit, but were confronted by a very large changeling, with a long green mane.
"Who said anything about running!" she yelled angrily. "I've got more than changelings to stop you!"
Cultists, much like those at the dragon mountains, started to flow into the room. They had taken over Fillydelphia, allied with changelings. One cultist stood out from the rest, as he was dressed in dark green and black robes, unlike the purple and black of the rest.
"I don't like the looks of this." said Star.
"We can win this, we've been through worse," said Topaz
"Little Brother," said Star. "I want you to run. You too, filly."
"I'm not leaving you here!" exclaimed Topaz
Star let out a sigh.
"Somehow I knew you wouldn't." said Star
"Me neither!" yelled the Filly.
"No," said Star. "You're getting out of here, that's and order."
The filly was reluctant, but understood. She ran for the exit while the rest of the prisoners started to fight the cultists. The queen left, having no interest in fighting. The prisoners tried their best, but didn't make much progress. They were tired and battered down, as being imprisoned and having your love drained isn't exactly pleasant. Star kicked the green robed unicorn, but found him to be as hard as metal.This was very odd, as he looked rather scrawny and underweight. She bucket him in the jaw, but he didn't even flinch. A smirk appeared on his face, and his horn shone bright. His blue body emanated a powerful aura.His mane flew up as if it was blown by powerful wind, along with his robes. Arcane runes formed around him and Star both. They followed her wherever she went, no matter how she tried to escape. The runes started to flash with energy, faster and faster they went. They spun around her quickly, until they became a blur. Topaz tried his best to fight the magic surrounding her, but his spells were no match. He had never heard of this particular type of magic before, and was unsure how to fight it. The runes shot out beams of white energy, very thin,but spinning so fast they looked like a solid wall. Star was barely visible through the beams, but what Topaz saw was horrifying. It looked as if she was being pulled into some strange void, all of her strength needed just to keep her on this plane of existence. This Topaz could recognize. This was a transportation spell, usually used to travel to other planes, such as those of incredibly powerful magic users. He was banishing her to Sin's domain! Topaz was very protective of his sister, and was not about to let that happen. He began to emit a sapphire blue aura, and his horn shone blindingly bright. His eyes whited out, and he looked to be in a trance. The room was covered in a white flash, and the cultists had been slammed into the walls, except the one in green. He was fighting back, but barely. The runes around Star broke like links in chains, and flew away like shards. A magic barrier surrounding the last standing cultist was peeled away, and he flew into the walls as well. Topaz then fell to the ground, exhausted. Star helped him up, and the prisoners ran from Fillydelphia.
Chapter 26: Topaz Trinket
Chapter 26: Topaz Trinket
"Buck this town!" Star exclaimed, once outside the city.
They left the blighted area, and moved on.
"So Topaz." said Star. "Just what was that thing you did back there?"
They entered a nearby forest, on the road to Canterlot, thier next target.
"I have no idea." said Topaz.
"But how? I would have figured you knew just about everything involving magic." Star said.
"I don't think anyone really does, but your friend Twilight might be the closest." Topaz said.
"Maybe if we ever see her again, I'll ask if she knows about anything lke that." Star said.
"I'd like to look through her library someday, see if she has any books I haven't read yet." Topaz said
"We'll be back in Ponyville soon enough if this goes well." Star replied. "And if not, we'll be too dead to care about it!"
"I wish you wouldn't joke about things like that." Topaz said seriously.
"Ah c'mon, you take things so seriously, it was just a joke." said Star.
"I don't get how you manage to stay so upbeat in times like this." said Topaz
They walked further down the path, and saw Canterlot off in the distance.
"I'm stuck as a filly, I have an excuse for not being all mature and boring like you." said Star jokingly.
"Someday i'll find a way to break that curse, I swear it." said Topaz
"Being a filly ain't all bad, I'll never grow all old and withered." said Star.
"You act like you like being stuck like this." said Topaz.
"I've gotten used to it, I suppose." said Star.
They didn't talk about it any further, as Topaz was too exhausted to carry on, after that magical blast drained him. They decided to sleep outside Canterlot, waiting until morning to enter the city. They slept in shifts, and the night was uneventful. When Topaz awoke, as Star had second shift, they began back down the trail.
"Do you suppose Canterlot is still intact? I can't see it from here." asked Star.
"I doubt it, from what we've seen, I doubt anything did." replied Topaz
They reached the gates, and the guards let them in, one of them recognizing Star from her service under Luna. As they walked through the gates, a guard stopped her.
"Have you two seen Luna?" he said.
"I'm afraid not," said Topaz.
"I thought she would be in Canterlot." said Star. "Where is she?"
"No idea." said the guard.
The two moved on, and weren't particualarly shocked at the condition of the city, considering it was in the best shape they had seen out of any cities so far. What they were shocked by, however was the young filly that had been following them. Star detected it a while ago, but was waiting to confront her.
"Come on out, girl." said Star.
"Ah'm sorry for followin' y'all, but I aint got anywhere else to go." said the filly.
"Well then come with us!" said Topaz
"She's already done that, Topaz." said Star matter-of-factly. "But yeah, go ahead and come with us. We're looking for the element bearers, maybe we can find your family along the way."
"Actually," said the filly. "Mah sister is an element bearer!"
"Well, it's settled then, come along...um...what's your name?" said Topaz.
"Ah'm Apple Bloom!" said Apple Bloom
"I'm Topaz, Topaz Trinket." said Topaz.
"And I'm Shooting Star, but you can call me Star." said Star.
The three continued towards the castle, but saw something quite stunning on the way there. A train pulled into the station, which would have been no special feat, except for the fact that this was time at which a house was considered a miracle. Out stepped two of the element bearers, and a dragon, albiet a baby.
"Twilight! Rarity!" yelled out Star, bolting towards them with glee.
Topaz and Apple Bloom met up with them as well, and after greetings and introductions to Spike, they carried on towards the castle.
Chapter 28: Guilt
Morning had come, and the time to unleash Discord was upon them. Everypony walked out to where his statue was, barely intact. They could probably break the seal just by hitting it hard enough, all the damage it took in the explosion.
"Everypony ready?" said Applejack.
"Ready as I'll ever be," said Twilight.
Celestia blasted the statue with a beam of light, and it cracked open, revealing the draconequus within. He let out a loud, cackling laugh, but stopped abruptly. Something seemed wrong to him.
"Celestia, you just couldn't wait to see me again, eh?" said Discord. "I'll be more than happy to take the throne from you, if thats what you came here for."
"Discord, Sin is back." said Celestia.
This caught his attention. He was sealed away centuries ago, how could he have escaped!?
"Looks like my fun is going to have to wait." Discord said dissapointedly.
An angry look shot across his face, and he flew off in the direction of Sin's chasm, able to sense him. Celestia's magic was still weakened from her battle with Sin, and she was able to do no such thing. The mane 6, Celestia and Luna, Zecora, Star, and Topaz got inside the balloon, prepared for the final battle. They followed Discord, figuring he must know where Sin is at. He lead them to the southwest, where a horrifing sight awaited them. A large chunk of the Griffin Empire was gone. It hd simply dissapeared. In it's place was a gigantic void, with no end in sight. In the very center of the nothingness was a gigantic tower, made from destroyed pieces of the world. This had to be where Sin was at. The tower eminated power, and they felt an evil prescence even being near it They approached towards the tower, but found no entrances, except one, deep within the void. Seeing no other options, Discord and the group headed inside the nothingness, not sure what to excpect. They passed through the nothing, and reached a barren, cold, rocky landscape. They exited the balloon, and anchored it down.
"Sis'" said Topaz.
"What?" Star replied.
"I want you to wait out here." said Topaz.
"I'm not letting you go in there without me." said Star.
"And I won't let Sin hurt you." said Topaz.
"I can't let this world die, I need to be there to end this!" said Star.
"I'm not losing you! Not again!" Exclaimed Topaz, tears welling up in his eyes.
"Again?" said Star, Confusedly.
"I...I haven't been truthful with you." said Topaz.
"What are you talking about?" said Star.
"I lied to you about your curse. There was never one." said Topaz guiltily.
"But I don't understand, how else do you explain my stopped aging?" asked Star.
"Because I failed you. I took you exploring those ruins, without knowing what was inside. Your memory is probably foggy here, but I remember much too well. A trap was sprung, the ground collapsed, and you fell. I couldn't do anything to stop it. I've failed you once, I will not fail again!" Exclaimed Topaz
"Dead? But I'm right here, just fine." said Star. "The only injury from that trip was the scar you got."
"That scar is a spirit mark." said Topaz, revealing a deep red scar, on his hoof. "A constant reminder of the spell I performed. I owe a debt to death, one he will collect on soon enough."
"Brother...no...you didn't..." Star said in awe.
"My magic power has been getting weaker and weaker every day, once it runs out, then I'll die. But it was worth it, to get you back." said Topaz.
Star began to softly weep, but tried to stay strong.
"Brother, I love you so much, why would you do this? I don't want my life if it means you have to die!" Star said.
"Because I knew you would do the same. I know you won't wait out here while I'm in there, no matter how much I try. I suppose guilt over your death made me over-protective." said Topaz.
"I'm not leaving your side." Star said, following him into the tower.
Everypony but Discord followed them into the tower, leaving the barren stone behind them. Discord flew directly to the top, where sin awaited, behind a barrier, which Discord was just barely able to get through. The walls of the tower were cold stone, taken from the ground around them. There were also parts of ruined houses, villages, and some parts made of nothing at all. This nothingness was pure black, not as a natural color, but because no other color would show. These spots appeared to be portals to other areas, such as the chasm in Zebrica. They had no need of one, however, as Sin was here. They found a staircase nearby, and began the long journey to the top. On this first floor, there was a single doorway. It had a picture of Pinkie's cutie mark on it, and was colored the same shade as Pinkie.
"Pinkamena Diane Pie... " said Sin's voice, echoing through the tower. "Enter here alone if you wish to move on. "
The next staircase was across the room, but it was quickly engulfed in a purple aura.
"It looks like we don't have much of a choice Pinkie..." said Twilight. "But please be careful."
Pinkie giggled, and snorted during her laugh.
"You think you're scary?" asked Pinkie rhetorically.
She bounced across the room, and entered the doorway, which disappeared behind her.
Chapter 29: Pinkamena Diane Pie
Chapter 29: Pinkamena Diane Pie
Pinkie entered the door, only to find it dissapear behind her. The walls of this room were of some strange magical substance, and very thick. Whatever it was, her hooves were very loud going across it.
"So what do you want me to do?" asked Pinkie confusedly.
No response. A clock appeared on the wall, but did not move. She began to pace back and forth, more and more rapidly. Her loud steps echoing through the room, she continued on like this for several minutes. All sorts of thoughts crossed her mind. Where was she? What are her friends doing? Why was she here? How much longer would she have to wait? Minutes became hours, but noting changed, not even the clock. Her pacing stopped, and now she simply sat, waiting for something, anything to happen. She thought it might be getting late, so she figured she might as well sleep. Unless that was what Sin was planning on! She decided against it, and tried her best to stay awake. She had to stay vigilant. She didn't feel tired anyway. Was there some sort of teleprtation error? There's no way this is where she was supposed to be. She felt as though she should be hungry, as she hadn't eaten in a while. But yet she didn't feel anything. She must have been in here for at least a day by now. But nothing changed. Did her friends fail? Will she ever get out of here? She started feeling the walls, maybe there was some sort of hidden exit. She found nothing. She tried to do the same with the ceiling, but it was too high. She started to pace again, much quicker this time. She couldn't take much more of this. She let out a loud scream. Once again, no response. She began to lose hope. This must have been some sort of trap, and now she's stuck here forever. Her friends must have been defeated, this is taking too long. She couldn't take it any longer. She started to bang on the walls, flailing wildy untill she couldn't take it anymore. Tears began to fall from her eyes. But no one cared. She stopped her crying soon enough, and once more began to try to escape. Although she didn't know it. a stallion's laugh came from behind the walls. A unicorn of a very deep golden hue was watching her every move. Another general of Sin, having his fun from her suffering. His mane hung down in brown locks, he took great pride in it.
"Desire," said another unicorn standing behind him. "You sure seem to be having your fun with this."
The other stallion was a dark green, with a short cut mane of black.
"Oh yes, Despair." said Desire. "Her suffering is quite...divine."
"This is my spell, and even I don't take quite this much pleasure from it." said Despair.
"When do we let her go?" asked Desire.
"My spell won't last too much longer, and she hasn't failed the test yet." said Despair "She's come close though."
"And if she fails?" asked Desire.
"Then she can never leave." said Despair.
Desire had a large grin on his face, watching Pinkie unravel.
Pinkie had now stopped, and simply stared at the clock. It had to move sometime, right? She stared at it unwaveringly for a few minutes, ad it didn't even move a second. She heard a loud bang, and the door re-appeared, kicked open. Applejack gestured her to come out! Pinkie ran towards the door with great haste, only to crash into the the open doorway, which quickly faded. She heard screams coming from Fluttershy as the door faded. So her friends were still alive! Another stallion's laugh, this one deeper.
"She must have gone mad, running into walls like that." said Despair.
"So how does she fail, exactly?" said Desire.
"She has to completely give up hope." said Despair.
"This Applejack seems to be helping her, whoever that is." said Desire.
"Probably one of her pathetic little friends." said Despair condescendingly. "If thats all she hold hope in, she's even weaker than I thought.
Despair's horn started to flash, and the door re-appeared.
"Tch," said Despair,"Looks like your friendship has won this round..."
Despair and Desire teleported further up the tower.
Pinkie once more tried exiting the door, and found her friends exactly as she left.
"Well, that was fast." said Twilight.
Pinkie was confused at this, as she had been in there for days.
"Quick? I've been in there two days!" said Pinkie.
"But you just went in there a second ago." said Rainbow.
Pinkie then figured it out.
"The clock!" she yelled, confusing everyone else further.
"What the buck ae you talkin' about?" asked Applejack.
"There was a clock in there, that never moved!" replied Pinkie.
"Pinkie, you're making even less sense than usual!" said Twilight.
"But...I saw you earlier!" she exclaimed. "Applejack bucked the door open, but some sort of magic kept me in!"
"Pinkie darling, we haven't done anything." said Rarity. "You went in that door, and popped right back out."
"It's over either way now, Pinkie." said Twilight.
"But...the clock!" Pinkie tried to explain.
Pinkie started to think maybe she had lost her sanity, still trapped in that room. Fluttershy didn't say a word, but quietly walked over to Pinkie, and embraced her.
"Pinkie, I believe you." Fluttershy said softly.
Pinkie started to calm down.
"Thanks, Fluttershy." Pinkie said.
"We must make great haste, for Sin must yet be faced. " said Zecora, who had previously remained silent.
Zecora had a very serious look on her face. This was all business, she couldn't allow herself to be distracted.
Everypony agreed, and they walked towards where the staircase was. The first layer of the barrier faded, and they moved on.
Chapter 30: Harmony unleashed
Chapter 30: Harmony unleashed
On the next floor, a lone earth pony stood. She was a young girl, afraid and alone. She was softly sobbing in the center of the room. Fluttershy approached her.
"What are you doing in here?" asked Twilight.
"Why are you crying?" asked Fluttershy.
"I don't know how I got here... or how to get out." the girl said eerily.
She stopped her crying.
"But now that you are here..." said the girl. "Everthing will be just fine!"
The girl was covered in green flames. Her body blackened, with large holes in her legs and arms. Her eyes greened, and she sprouted insect-lke wings. She let out a loud, joyous laugh, which slowly deepened.
"You fools!" Chrysalis exlaimed.
Five more changelings came pouring down the stairs, and the barrier re-appeared behind them.
"I should have killed you two when I had the chance!" Chrysalis said to Topaz and Star. "I'm a little weak from the lack of love left in Equestria, but killing you all shouldn't be hard."
She fired a large green beam from her horn, which hit the ground, almost as if she aimed at it. Energy was coursing through the floor, empowering any of the changelings who touched it. Each one was of approximately equal to one of the mane 6, and as such, they were locked in combat, one on one. Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie each fought one, leaving Twilight as magical backup, Topaz and Star took on the changeling queen, along with Zecora and the princesses.
"This hardly fair, eleven of you against six of us." said the queen.
As if on cue, a group of 6 cultists teleported into the room. Sin's barrier did not seem to block his cultists from teleporting. Topaz, Star, Twilight, and Zecora had to deal with the cultists, leaving the princesses to fight the queen. The changelings did not morph, seeing as it wouldn't help them in such small numbers. The queen seemed different from the last time. She was weakened, but managed to hold her own. Her magic had a different feel to it. The color of it was much darker.
"Luna, are you ready?" said Celestia.
"Yes sister, we are ready." said Luna
The two of them began charging a spell. Chrysalis did likewise. Chrysalis created a large orb of dark green energy. It was like that of the cultists, but had a bit of her personal energy in it as well. Electric sparks covered the orb, and she released it, where it slowly floated to the center of the room. It collided with the ground, where it made contact with her previous spell. The orb covered the room in a dark aura, The cultists teleported away soon after they appeared, Sin had called for them. The magic of Chrysalis wrapped around thier hooves, pulling them to the ground. The magic slowly creeped up their bodies, nopony wanted to imagine what would happen when it coated them. The five changelings had done their purpose, and were disposed of by the magic. Chrysalis absorbed thier energy in order to keep the spell going. All dark magic required a power source, and Chrysalis wasn't going to use herself. That would hardly be fitting for a queen. The magic held them in place, and struggle as they may, it had crawled up to their shoulders. Chrysalis sat back and laughed, her victory finally secure. Nopony gave up, but there was very little they could do. It was up to their mouths, and they clould barely talk. Luna and Celestia touched thier horns together, shining bright. A beam of yellow and blue swirled towards Chrysalis, but it wasn't enough. She pulled up a magical shield, and the beam did not penetrate. Everypony but the princesses was encased, the princess only lasted longer because they were larger, and it took more time to creep up. The beam began to fade, and despair set in. Everypony was now encased, not dead, but motionless. Twilight simply looked around at her friends, unable to do anything. That is, until she noticed Rarity. She had started to glow, Applejack soon following. Pinkie was next, then Fluttershy and Rainbow. She caught on to what was happening, and started as well. The magic shattered like glass! Chrysalis was taken aback, but quickly engulfed in the power of the elements of harmony. She fell to the ground, defeated. A dark magic began to cover her, and sucked her into a black abyss. Such is the price of using forbidden magic.
Finale: Regicide
The top of the tower was open to the sky, and a fall from here would be quite fatal. It was quite late at night, and void surrounded the ground around the tower for miles. At the top of the tower, the plan seemed to be going great. Discord was losing the battle, but weakening Sin. The two clashed back and forth in the skies. Sin looked down to the ground, and saw the ponies. a look of rage filled his face, and he grabbed Discord. a void opened up, Discord barely able to even keep him self in flight, was easily thrown into it.
" It's about time you received payback for what you've done." Sin said.
The void enveloped Discord, leaving him trapped inside. Sin turned his view to the ponies.
" So...you actually came here..." Sin said to nopony in particular.
"I'm taking back my kingdom" said Celestia.
" You mean the one you stole from me?" said Sin. "You've had your fun, living off of the glory I won Equestria."
"You drove the kingdom to rebellion! You murdered innocents in cold blood!" exclaimed Celestia.
"But I got what I wanted... power, wealth, fame... anything I could want. Who cares how many others get stepped on on the path to greatness? This world deserves to die, too weak to stand up for itself. Just like you." He seemed less hurt than they had hoped. Six cultists surrounded him, weak and drained. He drew power from them once more, and their bodies wasted away. His wings created loud, heavy flaps he slowly floated down to the floor. As he touched down, black flame-like void covered his hooves. It spread up his body quickly, and enveloped him. His eyes shone a bright white, the rest of him engulfed. Star lunged towards him, but to little effect. Zecora tried a buck, which did little but singe her hooves. The element bearers began to charge the Elements of Harmony, the one thing they could fall back on. Luna and Celestia fired spells, but he remained unharmed. He grabbed Celestia, forming claws from the void surrounding him. They clenched around her neck, leaving her trying in vain to fight him off. Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack had started to glow. Luna tried her best to help her sister, and managed to free her of Sin's grasp, after wrestling with his claws for a bit.
"Sister." said Luna. "We think now would be a good time to show him why we are called the Celestials."
Celestia simply nodded. Luna shot off into the sky, toward the moon. The Elements were ready and fired, the rainbow forming above Sin, and washing down on him. He let out a roar, harmed, but still in fighting. Celestia flew off as well, beckoning Sin to follow her. Sin followed, seeing as how Celestia was the one he really wanted. The two began to clash back and forth. Celestia swung with such ferocity that she could cut the air itself. Sin was not amused. The void reshaped itself once more, into many sharp tendrils on his back. Two of them shot towards Celestia, one making contact, through her leg. Luna flew ever higher to the point where she was well out of view. Celestia grabbed on to him, and held him position. He shot out another tendril, which narrowly missed her throat. Celestia released a light flash from her horn, and flew away quickly. Sin was stunned momentarily, but that was all Celestia needed. Luna had finished flying, and performed a truly spectuaular feat. She began to move the moon itself, and sent it flying toward the void Sin was above. Celestia flew up high in front of the sun, her horn gleaming.
"Your magic is useless against me. Surrender yourselves now." said Sin.
Celestia simply ignored him, concentrating on the spell. Sin bolted at her, the moon getting ever closer. Luna stopped it mere miles above him, at which point he simply looked up, appalled at the futility of this. Celestia released her energy at Sin in a narrow beam, which he easily dodged. It flew above him, toward the moon, which reflected the energy down onto him in a shower of sunlight. Being bathed under such light, the flames surrounding Sin dissipated, leaving him vulnerable and barely standing. Celestia and Luna both collapsed from the effort of such feats of strength. Sin next came for the ponies still on the tower. Their situation seemed near hopeless, the element bearers and princesses all down. Zecora swung at him once more, leaving a deep red scar down his chest. He grabbed Zecora with magic, and flung her into the ground.
"Zebrica will be next, pathetic creature." he said with a grin, and stamped on her chest. Star ran at him, tears of anger rolling down her face, swinging her hooves left and right. He levitated Star into the air, and began to drain the artificial life out of her. Topaz shook with anger. His horn shone bright once more. A bright blue aura filled the air, and Topaz's eyes shone white. His spirit mark glowed, and he levitated into the air. His body started to deteriorate, falling apart. A orb of energy shot out from his horn, and he fell to the ground. The orb flew at Sin like an arrow, making contact with him. Star dropped to the ground, landing on the tower. A pained expression shot across his face. He let out a deep roar, and his body began to crack. Pure light shone through the cracks, and Sin was destroyed, in a grand explosion of pure energy, This energy was released in light, which began to cleanse the void from the world below. Sin's now lifeless hull of a body quickly deteriorated in the light. Star ran to Topaz, holding on to his body tightly.
"Brother! Get up!" Star yelled.
Topaz's horn cracked, and with it came the last bit of magic inside. He lay on the ground, dead. Star began to cry, still holding on to him tightly. Zecora held her close, trying her best to comfort her. Everypony left the tower in near silence, this was no time for celebration.
Epilogue
A year had passed since Sin reshaped Equestria. Towns were being rebuilt, and the world was slowly healing. Fillydelphia was one such town, being reshaped from the wreckage. Star was walking down the streets, and reached the family's old home. three graves were now outside it, one much newer than the others. She couldn't stay here much longer, she needed to get out of here. She decided to contact her old trade caravan. As it turned out, they were traveling again! This was an opportunity she couldn't miss. She grabbed her things, and started to head out the door, when she saw topaz's bag. He carried all his scholarly type things in here, from his parchment and quills to the maps and documents he made. She took it with he
"Topaz, I'll finish this for you, someday." she thought, as she left town once more...
Chapter 31: Discord
Topaz stood in awe at the element bearers. They didn't even need the elements, having reached such attunement to each element and each other. But what interested him the most was Twilight. Such raw magical power! She might be the next Star-Swirl the Bearded, or even surpass him! He felt humbled, considering even his strongest magic stood no chance against hers.
"Good thing she's on my side." thought Topaz.
The barriers were moved up another level, and the ponies moved up. The next floor seemed quite empty, and strange. The void surrounded them, but there was nothing in the room. They heard a loud crash, coming from above them. Discord and Sin must be fighting! Discord had pushed through the barriers, directly to the top. The room shook, and they had nothing but what they could imagine to tell what was happening above. At the top of the tower, the personifications of chaos and evil themselves were dueling for the fate of Equestria. Power began to coarse throughout the tower. The barriers began to flash, and dissipated. Two unicorns, one golden, the other green, came running down the stairs, terrified. A magical aura,, constantly changing colors, pulled on their legs, and absorbed them. The room went silent for a second, and everypony thought they were done for. That is, until a pair of golden hooves came back through it, pulling themselves out as hard as they could. The golden unicorn managed to pull himself out. He seemed to stare vacantly. "He was completely silent. He didn't look at anything in particular, almost like he was looking at something beyond the walls. he stayed like this for several seconds, until he snapped. He lunged at the wall, laughing maniacally, beating himself into it. He proceeded to smash into it until he broke his bones, and then smashed his head into the wall, let out a loud scream of pain before dying. Discord's influence had overwhelmed him, in just a second. The barriers were opened, leaving nothing to block their path to the top.
Zecora slipped away after the war was over, and no one had seen her scince. She slipped into a dark alleyway in Ponyville, knocked three times on a wall, and a doorway slid open. She walked inside to find a young girl in a cloak.
"We've been waiting, Zecora." the girl said said. "Did you get the elements from Blueblood?"
"I have done the deed. No longer will you have to worry about that steed ." Replied Zecora
" I really wish you would quit the rhyming, but job well done. I find it strange the fabled elements were left with someone as incompetent as blueblood, however."
The two of them begin the walk down the hallway until they reach a room with several other stallions and mares, along with one drake inside. They are all wearing similar looking cloaks, and some carry concealed blades in their sleeves.
"Welcome back, Zecora" A tall mare speaks. He looks to the girl "Have you told her?"
"She does not yet know" the young girl says.
"We lost contact with our operatives in the everfree, and seeing as how you know it the best out of anyone here, I am assigning you to figure out what happened, and if necessary carry out the mission. You'll need to leave tommorow morning, so i suggest you get some sleep now."
Zecora simply nods, and walks to her room and slips into bed.
Chapter 4: The duel
Gilda sank her talons in to Dash and raked across her side. Reluctantly, Dash struck back with a kick, but Gilda did not even seem fazed.
"I've gotten a lot stronger since last time. The followers have helped me realize my true potential."
A wave of pure energy, something you couldn't really see of hear, only feel, rushed out of her. This was one of the few times Dash has ever felt pure terror. Dash steeled herself and charged at Gilda, slamming hard into her. Dash then readied her hoofblade she took from the rack earlier. Gilda was sent spiraling to the ground, but quickly recovered. Gilda flew in once more with her talons and Dash blocked the attack with her blade, but was sent back into the wall. Gilda pinned her with one talon and ripped down her chest with the other. Rainbow let out a scream of pain, and managed to throw Gilda off of her.
"Scream all you want, Dash. Your friends can't hear you down here."
Rainbow and Gilda both were panting heavily from exhaustion.
"It doesn't have to be this way, Gilda."
"Enough lame talk out of you."
Gilda once more lunged at Dash. This time she sank her talons in deep, and then threw Dash underneath the water. Gilda floated above the water, watching her former friend slip away. Dash found herself unable to move very much, and things started to darken as she slid deeper and deeper into the water. The last air bubbles in her began to float out, and she hit the bottom of the pool of water. She shut her eyes, and felt very tired. She felt as though there was nothing else she could do. Just before slipping away, a loud yell pierced the air and to some extent, the water.
"Rainbow!" yelled Applejack, who had come running after Rainbow when she left. "You have to get up! I know you can do it!" She then proceeded to bash on the portcullis out of anger at Gilda and frustration that she couldn't do anything to help. Rainbow realized Applejack was right. She can do this, she has to. Her eyes shot open, and she shot like a bullet out of the water and high into the air.
"But... you were..." said Gilda, stunned at this.
Rainbow continued higher and higher, and was nearing the top of the cave. Just before the ceiling, she shot back down, and hit terminal velocity. A vivid blast of light in every color shot out in every direction. Gilda and Applejack both looked up in awe at this wondrous sight. Rainbow slammed hard into Gilda, and she plummeted straight down to the bottom of the pool. Gilda lay motionless at the bottom of the water, alive, but unconscious. Dash couldn't stand to see this for another moment, and flew down to the bottom with her. She grabbed on to Gilda and pulled her up, and then set her on the ground nearby the portcullis. She found a lever on the wall that opened the portcullis and pulled it. Then floated down slowly to the ground to Applejack and collapsed on the ground, exhausted.
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Chapter 9: The Super-Speedy-Pony-Squeezy-6000
Chapter 9: The Super-Speedy-Pony-Squeezy-6000
The 7 ponies continued to search, but found nothing. Continuing in deeper, loud banging noises began to fill the caves. They seemed to go off at regular intervals, almost as if they were mechanical. Up ahead there were lights, which, while comforting compared to the darkness, seemed out of place. The light was actually more unnerving than the darkness. A deep, but quiet voice filled the ponies minds, but didn't seem to be coming from anywhere.
"Children of the light, you shall soon see the consequences of opposing us."
Before anyone even had time to question what they just heard, the floor beneath them opened up. Fluttershy simply flew back up, but a green blast of magic shocked her wings. Twilight tried to teleport, but a similarly green aura surrounded the ponies. Beneath them seemed like an endless fall, with no stop in sight. The green magic continued to cover them, and Twilight tried to observe the spell, to see how to break it.
"This type of aura spell seems to based on concentration. If we can just break the caster's focus, we can escape!" she said.
"Way ahead of you." said a familiar voice.
A loud caw was heard from the other side of the machinery, followed by a crash, and the aura sparking and fading. Twilight teleported everyone to the side of the machinery where the noise came from, where they saw more familiar faces.
"You two again?" said Applejack. "I thought we took care of you once and fer all."
The Flim Flam brothers were back again, this time causing trouble in a much more sinister way.
"Why are you here, anyway?" said Applejack. You ain't got no reason to be workin' with them cultists."
"Really?" said Flam. "I see about 1000 right here." He held up a large sack of bits.
"They payed us quite well for some machinery." said Flim
"Why would they want a cider machine?" asked Twilight.
"Well, there isn't a big difference between apples, and apple ponies." said Flim with a sinister grin.
He flicked a lever, and a large piston came smashing down, near Applejack, causing her to jump back, narrowly avoiding getting her leg crushed
"Allow me to introduce you to the Super-Speedy-Pony-Squeezy-6000." said Flim
The brothers proceeded to flip switches to make pistons shoot out of the walls and floor, while casting magic stopping teleportation.
"
Well you've got piston smashed po-nies,
Inside of this machinery,
He's Flim
He's Flam
We're the world famous FlimFlam Brothers,
Traveling murderers nonpareil.
"Your song bucks!" yelled Applejack.
"That song only worked the first time, dweebs."
A flash shot across the room, slashing its deep hooks into Flim and Flam Their concentration was interrupted, and the spell faded, letting twilight teleport the ponies out of the deathtrap.
"She interrupted our song!" said Flim
"Well that was just rude." said Flam
"Lets see how you do without all them fancy machines." said Applejack, who was now standing right behind the brothers.
Before they could stutter out their response, Applejack bucked them both in one kick, and lacking much physical strength, were knocked to the ground. Gilda grabbed the oth of them in her talons, and held them over the pit the ponies nearly fell in earlier, and released her grip. The brothers quickly dissapeared down the chute.
"Well Flam," said Flim
"Yes Flim?" Said Flam
"I think now is as good a time as any for the grand finale, what do you say?"
"Sounds like a splendid idea."
Flim pressed a button on a control hidden inside his blue and white clothing, and then drifted too far away to be heard.
"Why did you help us?" asked Twilight.
"I-"
Gilda was cut off by a loud rumble of the machinery. The gears stared spinning much to fast, pipes of steam burst everywhere, and pistons began smashing up and down at speeds much too fast for the machine. The ponies tried to make to the exit elevator, but a metal gate slammed down in front of it. The anti-teleportation shield shot back up, much brighter than before, and coursing with electricity. Gilda saw there was an over-ride on the other side of the machine. But the pistons just kept coming closer and closer, until the ponies were trapped in a corner, The last one came slamming down, but everypony was surprised to find it didn't come all the way. Gilda had grabbed it and pushed back, now holding it in place.
"Somepony needs to go hit that over-ride, it will open the door!" said Gilda,as the machine slowly pushed down on her. Pinkie quickly ran to go hit it, and the door creeped open.
Everypony got inside, Gilda last, as she had to hold the piston for everypony. When they all got in, the pistons slammed down shut, as did the elevator door. Twilight pressed a button, and the elevator went down.
Chapter 27: Finally Reunited.
Chapter 27:Finally reunited
As Twilight and friends headed to the castle, Twilight saw something quite nostalgic. It seemed like forever since she had been in that hot air balloon, and yet here it was! It was empty, which made her wonder how it got here. Outside the castle stood a golden armored stallion, grey skinned, with a dark cobalt beard. His eyes were that of an evening sky. He seemed like he held some power in the military, maybe even as much as Shining Armor. He saw Twilight, and a smile cracked through his tough demeanor.
"Is it really you, after all these years?" said Shield.
"Do I know you? Sorry if I've forgotten." sadi Twilight.
"You wouldn't remember me anyway, I only saw you a few times, and that was when you were still a filly. My name's Silver Shield, I'm a friend of your brother's."
She somewhat remembered Armor talking about him, but that wasn't what piqued her interest.
"Is my brother here?" she asked.
"Unfortunately, no." said Shield. "He's out on duty in ponyville, but I'm sure Celestia would like to have a word with you, she's finally gathered all the element bearers."
"Our friends are here?" said Rarity.
"Mah sister?" said Applebloom.
"They're meeting with Celestia right now, you should go inside." said Shield.
They rushed inside, and just as he said, everyony was in the throne room. After greetings general reunion, Celestia had an announcement to make to them. The mane six, Topaz and Star, and Zecora all gathered round, Luna taking her seat on her throne.
"Sin needs to be stopped, and now we've got everything we need." said Celestia. "It's about time we attacked."
"Your Majesty,do we even know where Sin is at?" said Shield, currently walking into the throne room.
Luna spoke up this time.
"We saw him last in a chasm eep in Zebrica, but we have doubts he is still there."
Celestia seemed to know about what she was talking about.
"Those chasms connect, as sorts of portals all across the world." said Celestia. "It's a safe bet he's moved from that one."
"So how do we know which one to find him in?" asked Twilight.
"Ah say we just search each and every one untill we find him." suggested Applejack.
"What if we throw a huge party for him?" said Pinkie unhelpfully. "He'd have to come!"
"Actually," said Twilight. "I've got a plan."
"Let's hear it!" said Rainbow.
"We release Discord." said Twilight.
Everyone was shocked.
"We barely sealed him away last time!" said Rarity.
"But this time, he won't be our enemy." said Celestia knowingly
Twilight had forgotten Celestia was around during the original battle between the two, even if she was very young. She then began to think of a cute little filly Celestia, but quickly snapped back into the conversation. Everypony but Twilight looked at Celestia, expecting some sort of rationalization for this madness.
"Sin and Discord have long had hate for eachother, even greater than their hatred of us." said Celestia.
"Discord will be more than willing to fight Sin, even if it is the predictable thing to do, which he usually hates. Sin's rulership is much to orderly, Discord wouldn't be able to last under it." said Celestia
"We could then defeat both of them once they are weakened." said Twilight. "It's our only shot."
"we can began preparations tommarow." said Celestia. "But for tonight, we should all get some rest."
"That was one thing they could all agree on, and Celestia showed them to some rooms where they could stay the night.