A Wish Before Midnight

A Wish Before Midnight

Chapter 3 – Fissures

“The Princess flung open the dining hall doors, alarming every knight inside. She commanded they follow her outside, and without a second of thought, the knights hopped out of their seats. They galloped with the Princess out of the room as their armor shuddered loudly, and their minds ran crazily with questions. For they too had felt the ground shift beneath them.”

“Your majesty, what is going on?” Vince asks.

“I’m not too sure myself, Knight Vince,” says Princess Celestia. “However, I just have this horrible feeling. . .” The Princess discards her thought, and instead focuses on the route before her. Within moments, she and her knights enter the main hall, dashing down the long, red rung towards the doors leading to the outside. However, their race to the big, double doors is halted as the doors are pushed open by a group of ponies other than the Princess’ Royal Guards.

“No way . . . are they. . ?” Steadfast gawks.

“My . . . it truly is them,” says Bronze.

“The Knights of Harmony, to think we could be so lucky as to stand in their presence,” says Arina. Through the double doors, six mares dressed in silver, armored chest plates and shoes emerge. Two pegasi, two unicorns, and two ponies of the earth. The sunlight from behind them refracts over their armor, giving them a rather angelic glow. As they approach, it’s clear that each of them has a uniquely shaped and colored jewel embedded into the center of their chest plates.

“And look!” Steadfast begins. “Their armor is adorned with each of the sacred gems! Each one blessed to contain the very fragments of harmony itself.”

“You sure do know a lot about them,” says Bronze.

“Well, that’s just scratching the surface in understanding the purpose of being a Knight of Harmony. You see—”

“Could this, by chance, wait until later? I’m sure there are more important matters to be attended,” another Knight of the Sun interrupts.

“Oh, y-yes, of course.”

“Your majesty!” the leading Knight of Harmony shouts. The unicorn kneels before the Princess, sweat trickling down from her neatly trimmed, violet mane down her lilac coat of fur.

“Twilight, what news have you and the others brought?” the Princess asks.

“Princess Celestia. . .” the knight continues whilst regaining her breath. “During our exploration of the Everfree, we stumbled across something.”

“What did you find?”

“A series of tunnels running down under the ground. Upon our previous scouts of that particular area, we had never come across this entrance before. A pitch black pit that fell straight down into the ground. I-It would’ve been impossible to miss. After Rainbow Dash went down to explore, the ground began to shake. We shouted for her to come back, and as soon as she flew out from the pit, we hurried back here as fast as we could. It felt like the further we went the more intense the shaking became.” The ground beneath them erupts with violent trembling once again, alarming everypony in the room.

“Everyone! This way!” one of the Royal Guards shouts from the giant doorway. “You all must see this!” Immediately, the Princess, along with all of her knights, gallop outside the castle and stand near the rest of the guards who are gazing into the distance. From where they’re standing, they each have a clear view of the endless miles of forest below. “Just-Just watch. It happened again a moment ago. . .” The Princess and the rest continue to watch, anxiously waiting to see what has shook this guard to his core.

Out in the distance, from beneath the thick clusters of trees, an enormous, pure black, snake-like object flies up into the sky. “Th-There! There it is!” the guard panics. The Princess watches calmly, yet distraught. As for the rest of her knights, they begin to fill with horror while watching the snake-like object twist and twirl in the sky. Then, within moments, the object vanishes.

“. . . What was that?” Bronze asks.

“I-I have no idea. This is the third time I’ve seen on of those things, and they’ve each done the same thing,” says the guard.

“Whatever it is, I have a feeling it isn’t here to make peace,” says Princess Celestia. “Knight Vince, I am going to need you to gather search parties together to scout out that area of the forest. Find the source and what might be causing such an anomaly. I have a feeling it may be the same spot the Knights of Harmony—”

“Heads down! It’s approaching!” They all turn their attention away from the Princess to see another black, snake-like object flying at incredible speed towards the castle. It smashes into the higher level of the tower just behind them, sending masses of rubble to come hurdling downward. Many of the knights leap and trot out of the way of the falling rubble, however, some are struck by the debris and fall to the ground.

“Guard!” Princess Celestia shouts.

“Yes, your majesty?!”

“Go check on the wounded and bring them to safety!”

“Yes, your majesty!” The guard salutes as he leaves to tend to the fallen stallions. “Vince, bring the other knights to arm the crossbows and fire at any more of those creatures.”

“Will do!” Vince salutes.

“Knights of Harmony, follow me to retrieve your arms. We must make haste, if another one of those creatures hits the main tower, the roof may collapse.”

“Right!” Knight Twilight agrees. “Come on girls!” She and the rest of the Knights of Harmony follow Princess Celestia into the main hall, as Vince turns to the rest of his fellow knights.

“Alright, I need you four to arm the crossbows on the west side of the castle,” Vince begins.

“Yes, sir.” One of the knights salutes as he and three others leave for the west side.

“And as for you three, follow me to arm the crossbows on the east side. Now’s your chance to show us how good your aim is!”

“Yes, sir!” Bronze, Steadfast, and Arina salute in unison. Together, they all trot in the opposite direction as the other four along a bridge to a neighboring tower. Passing by several other guards, whom of which are heading to their own stations. There, two large, mounted crossbows along with crates of spare ammo await.

“Bronze, you and Arina arm one. Arina will feed you ammo, and you’ll fire at anything flying this way. Steadfast, you arm the other while I feed ammo to you.” On command, each knight takes their positions. Both Bronze and Steadfast’s hearts beating the fastest as they grip the firing mechanism of the bow with their forelegs, and heaving it backward to be primed for fire. “Look alive! I can see another one of those things!” Steadfast and Bronze watch as the snake-like object comes flying towards the castle, and Steadfast is the first to launch his arrow. It pierces right through the creature, causing it to disperse into a cloud of black dust that gently rains to the ground below the castle. “Hah! A fine shot!” Vince cheers as he loads in another arrow.

“I can see another on the way!” Arina shouts. “Be ready to fire, Bronze.” Bronze takes aim, observing the incoming object. As soon as he feels his shot is lined up, he releases the handle sending the arrow into the air. It destroys the creature, turning it into another cloud of dust.

“Well, I can see one thing’s for sure! You do have your Father’s aim!” Vince cheers. “And would you look at that? Yet another one of those over-sized, flying eels is headed this way! Let’s see who can hit this one first, eh?!” Both Steadfast and Bronze take their aim, both of them locked onto the creature. Simultaneously, they launch their arrows. Just before the sharp, metal tips of their arrows can touch the creature, it splits apart in two. The arrows fly right between them, allowing them to continue their course right towards them. Everyone’s eyes widen with shock, and their bodies freeze with terror.

“Quick! Reload!” Steadfast screams.

“There’s no time! Take cover!” Vince orders. With barely any time to react, the four knights attempt to abandon the tower. However, the snake-like creatures crash themselves into the body of the tower, causing the entire structure to shake and shift. As the bricks connecting the bridge with the tower crack and separate, Vince is the first the reach the end with Steadfast close behind. “Hurry you two! The tower is about to collapse!” Vince shouts to Bronze and Arina who have fallen behind. As the both of them gallop towards Vince and Steadfast, the roof suddenly gives way, sending both knights plummeting down inside. Their bodies tumble down a set of destroyed, brick steps and all the way down to the lower level of the tower. A large section of the wall and floor has been decimated by the creatures. Bronze nearly falls down the opening, but grips the very edge of the broken floor with his hooves. While Arina lands on a stable portion of the floor that still remains intact.

Unable to lift himself up due to the sheer weight of his armor, and the very aching of his body from the fall, Bronze turns his head to gaze out at the forest from the gaping hole in the wall. The ground quakes once again, sending trees in the distance to fall in rows. Bronze watches as the earth cracks open like an egg, creating a series of deep, dark fissures for the trees to plummet into. Bronze is then startled by a sudden, deep, groaning sound within the earth. In the distance, a thick cloud of blackness grows from the newly formed cracks in the ground. Turning his head away with fear, he notices Arina getting back to her hooves. “Arina!” he calls. “Help me up! Please!” Arina notices Bronze, and limps towards him. “Quick! I-I can’t keep holding on like this!” Arina stands over Bronze, and leans her head down closer to his as he struggles to hold on.

“Knight Bronze, do you believe in justice?” she asks while still in pain.

“W-What?!”

“I asked you, do you believe in justice?”

“Y-Yes! Of course I do!”

“Good. I’m glad you see it my way then.” Without even a second to work out the confusion in his mind from her question, Arina stomps onto his head, sending him plummeting down the tower. He lands on his back onto the floor of the lower level of the tower as Arina watches from above.

“Arina! Are you alright?!” Vince’s voice calls from above her.

“Yes! Yes, I’m alright!” she shouts.

“Where’s Bronze?!”

“He fell down this pit! I-It’s so far down! I don’t think he made it!”

“What?! J-Just . . . try not to think about it too much! We need to get you out of there, there’ll be time for mourning later! Here! Grab hold of the rope!” Arina leaves as Bronze urges his voice to cry out for help, but cannot manage a single sound. The tower begins to tilt, and Bronze’s body slides across the floor towards an opening in the wall. Unable to grab anything, gravity pulls him out from the tower and hurdling downward. He watches the tower fall before landing and tumbling down the mountainside.

His body slams into the thick trunks of trees, and crashes through clusters of bushes. His armor dents and scuffs from the rocky ground, and is dirtied from clouds of soil kicked up from his body. As his momentum slows, he tumbles into a long recess in the ground. In too much pain to move, he looks up to the sky as he lays in a shallow stream of running water. The earth continues to vibrate, and the groaning noise grows louder. Instantly, a rush of black particles fly across the opening of the recess like a sandstorm. Bronze watches as his vision darkens, and his consciousness dwindles.

“Bronze laid safe from black cloud that swept across the forest, but nothing could stop its course to Canterlot Castle. Every knight and guard watched, bodies frozen with fear, and minds unsure of what to do next. All they could do was watch . . . watch as their doom approached like a shoe to a helpless insect.”