There was nothing I could do. As soon as I crumpled to the ground, I slammed my hooves over my ears, but it didn’t help. The sound penetrated my flimsy defense like it wasn’t even there. I could feel it tearing at my eardrums, and it hurt. The fear I had felt for an instant before skyrocketed, filling my mind with the instinctual thought that I was going to die, that I had to run. But I couldn’t. I was stuck on the ground, writhing in agony. In the back of my mind, I registered a thud that seemed to signal Tranquility had collapsed as well. Tears began to leak from my tightly shut eyes.

And then the sound doubled in intensity.

And tripled.

And multiplied even further.

Searing agony ripped through my entire body, and I let out a scream, tearing at my vocal chords. Somehow, I managed to pry my eyes open through the pain.

The Songs that were flying around our building had frozen and changed back to their original forms. As I watched, the ones who hadn’t opened the seams on their mouths did, and the note increased even more. What’s more, once the other songs heard it, they did the same. It spread across the city like a wave, and soon, there wasn’t a song in sight that wasn’t emitting that torturous wail.

My eardrums burst with a pop, and I screamed again. Blood began to leak out of my ears and the sound became distorted, but it didn’t stop the waves of pain racing through me. Panic set in, and my breath became short and muted. I thought that, since the pain didn’t stop, something else was going to burst, something more vital to my survival. My panic built and built as the pain increased, and I braced myself for the inevitable-

And it never came. The noise faded to a tolerable level, or at least I assumed it did. My hooves fell away from my ears, and I started to gasp. A second later, I felt something worm into my ear. Another flash of panic ran through my mind before it registered a familiar sensation- the sensation of my flesh crawling. Healing balm, I thought with relief. A few seconds later, my eardrum was repaired, and I could hear the sound of someone shouting my name.

“...all! Fall, are you okay?!”

“Ish,” I grumbled, opening my eyes. Tranquility was right in front of me, close enough that her sigh of relief tousled my mane. I gently blew on her face in return.

“Oh, thank goodness,” she mumbled softly. “That affected you so much more than it did me… I was afraid that…”

“I’m fine,” I mumbled softly. Tranquility stood up and grabbed my hoof, pulling me to my hooves. I immediately started to sway, so she pressed against my side.

“Lean on me,” she whispered. I nodded, doing just that.

Glancing around, I noticed several things. We were inside one of Cam’s shields, she was standing on her box, and her body was once more covered in the glowing vine-like pathways that spread across her body when she was using a lot of magic. But for the first time, she appeared to actually be strained, with her eyes screwed shut and sweat beading on her brow. The realization shocked me. So far, whenever we had been in danger, she had been able to fight off whatever was threatening us, with the exception of the first time we had encountered the Mages. But if she was actually having trouble… we might not make it out alive. And that was terrifying to think about.

Reed seemed slightly scared, too, but he didn’t show it. Instead, he let out a nervous laugh. “Weaponized D sharp,” he said softly. “What did you do?”

“I-I don’t know!” I said. “Moonlight was o-on the floor, and I ran over t-to help, an-”

“Help is not what you would have done to me,” a voice hissed, sounding like twenty foals overlapped over each other. The wailing ceased, and I turned to the side and saw Moonlight. “I never expected I would be the Discordant’s first target.”

“Discordant?” I asked. “Wha…” I trailed off as I realized what she meant. “N-no…”

“You decieved me…” she said. It wasn’t with anger, or as a taunt, or with any emotion at all. It was a statement with conviction.

“No… I c-can’t be…”

“You deceived us all,” the People of Song whispered. “No wonder you were on the run.”

“I’m not w-what you think I am…” I mumbled. “I-I’m just tone-deaf.”

But the People of Song didn’t listen. They parted to allow a hoard of different songs through. These ones, however, were different. They had glowing nimbuses of gray energy surrounding their hands. “Creature of lies, deceived us all,” they sang.

“Twisted our magic, tried to cause our fall,

But the Music is stronger, and we all are wise

The Discordant, the Discordant now dies!”

We didn’t even have time to utter another protest before they shot the energy at us.

Before it could reach us, Cam blasted the floor with her magic, causing it to cave in. When we didn’t get hit by any more bolts, I thought they had stopped. But then, something started to feel off. Almost as if we were… tilting.

Reed was the first to realize what was going on. “Cam,” he said, a deathly serious tone in his voice. “Blow out the wall.”

“Why?” she asked. “We’re safe in here.”

“No, we’re not!” he shouted. “They’re blasting out the foundation of the building! If we’re trapped inside, we’ll die when it falls-” at that moment, an unearthly groan echoed through the building. I felt the floor slide beneath my hooves, and then tilt even more. The skyscraper toppled, with us still inside.

Since we were near the top, it took a while to fall. Everything took on a weightless quality as the four of us started to float in the middle of the room. It seemed like something out of a dream. Then, Cam screamed, I and I remembered it wasn’t. I extended a wing, snagged Cam’s tail, and brought her into a tight embrace. The plan was to use my body as a cushion for her fall. It worked… but not without a price.

When the building did hit the ground, I had about a second’s warning before I did. It was enough for Cam to extend a sheet of magic along the floor to try to soften our fall. But it wasn’t enough.

When I hit the floor, I landed on my wings. I felt the bones crumple and snap, and a wave of agony wracked my whole body. I think I actually blacked out for a second, but I couldn’t be sure. What I remember is that Cam crawled out of my arms and lit up the room with her magic.

“Is everyone alive?!” she yelled.

“Ish,” I grunted, trying to stay as still as possible. Still, pain lanced through my body at every move I made.

“I’m fine,” Tranquility said.

“Same here,” Reed said. “It is just not a good day for you, is it, Fall.”

“Oh, you think?” I growled. “How are you alive?”

“Rolled,” he explained. “This isn’t my first time falling off a high place. Comes with the territory, as they say. I was more concerned about the building collapsing on top of us.”

“What happened to Fall?” Tranquility asked, trotting over. When she saw me, her face paled, and she turned away from me. “Cam, can you mend bones?” she inquired shakily.

“Yeah, why- oh no,” she gasped, catching a glimpse of my state. She rushed over to her box and began to rummage through it. “I can’t do much right now, so I’ll give him the best painkiller I have.”

“How bad does it look?” I whispered.

“It bears a striking resemblance to a crushed tin can,” Tranquility shakily responded.

“That good, huh?”

“Eat this,” Cam said, sprinting to my side and shoving something in my mouth. It had a similar texture to rubber and tasted like it, too. I managed to swallow it. A few seconds later, I could feel the pain in my wings start to fade. “It should take effect immediately,” Cam said. “And if it doesn’t-”

“Shut up,” Reed said, a sternness in his voice I hadn’t heard before. We all did. A second later, I heard a soft, thumping noise coming from our left.

“What’s that?” Tranquility asked. Cam’s ears folded back against her head, and she started to shake. The glowing lines on her body made themselves visible again. Her eyes became slightly glassy, and she glanced in the direction the thumping was coming for. A second later, her jaw dropped.

“They’re blowing apart the building!” she shouted. Her magic surrounded me and lifted me to my hooves. She blasted a hole in the wall on our right. “RUN!”

And that’s exactly what we did.

We sprinted as fast as we could away from the thumping, but it just kept getting louder and louder. It didn’t help that my wings were protesting my every move, which slowed me down. After about thirty seconds, the thumping started to take on a crunching quality, and my rump and legs began to get peppered with shrapnel.

“TURN!” Cam screamed, blasting a hole in a wall on our side. We swerved through it and into the open air. Cam immediately blasted lightning directly above us, and I heard several unearthly howls as the bolts presumably made contact with Songs.

Unfortunately, this had the side effect of alerting all of our enemies to exactly where we were. They turned around and started blasting the grey energy at us.

Cam stuck out a paw, and the air contorted enough to warp what was behind it. The bolts reversed directions, screaming towards their creators. They scattered and dropped down to the crystal floor, standing opposite of us.

“This has been an experience for us,” one song said, stalking towards us. “It’s showed us how… lax we’ve been with our battle training. You’re exceptionally good at surviving.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Cam grumbled, raising her shield. “Y’know, is it an option that we can just warp out of here peacefully?”

“You will come back again if we let you go,” another said. “The Discordant and his allies must perish.” I squeaked at that and scrambled to get behind Cam, who sighed.

“Oh sure, put the kid on the front line!” she yelled.

“I can’t f-fight! You can!” I shouted back.

“YES YOU CAN!” Cam screamed. “Your voice is their bane! Use it!”

“But it’ll kill them!” I yelled. “I don’t want to-” I yelped and ducked as a bolt of magic flew over my head.

“YOU MAY NOT HAVE A CHOICE!” Cam screamed, firing a bolt of lighting at the Songs. It spread through their ranks like a virus, branching out from each Song it made contact with, but I barely registered that.

Will I have to use my voice? I thought, mildly shocked. Will I have to… kill something? It was unthinkable to me. Ponies, in general, were peace-loving creatures, to the point where we would see creatures who had tried to overthrow Equestria walking free and among friends. It was part of the reason that our relationships with dragons and diamond dogs were so strained. We simply couldn’t reconcile killing something to survive.

But I didn’t have much time to think about that. The Songs recovered from the lightning blast very quickly, and as soon as they did, they began launching rapid-fire blasts of energy at us.

The air twisted and warped as Cam worked to deflect the wall of blasts moving towards us. Rivulets of sweat began to run down her face, and she let out a strained yell. I looked at the enemy, but something else caught my eye.

There were four cloaked figures standing atop the lip of the pit we were in. As I watched, they stuck out their paws and fired thin, weaving spells at us.

“CAM! SHIELD, NOW!” I screamed. She heard me and raised a wall of golden energy in front of us. Luckily, the bolts fired by the Songs were blocked as well.

“WHY?” she yelled.

“MAGES!” I shouted back. She tensed up momentarily before letting out a sigh.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” she grunted.

“We have to get out of here,” Tranquility said.

“I’ll warp us. Get in close,” Cam said, tension evident in her voice. “I can’t hold this for much longer.” Even as she spoke, the Songs increased their assault.

“You won’t have to,” Reed said. “Drop it in three, two, o-”

Suddenly, the Songs stopped their assault. A single Song launched himself at the shield. I had time to let out a startled gasp before he punched through it. Before I could react, he grabbed my leg, squeezing it tight enough to hurt.

“Got you now,” he said. Energy started to gather on his free hand.

I didn’t have time to think. So I didn’t. I did the one thing that my instincts told me to.

I let out a loud, powerful note.

It was short, and it was bad, with my voice cracking halfway through it. It was powerful, though, and I belted it with all my heart. And it was enough.

The Song holding my leg let out a scream of agony and disintegrated before my eyes.

I had just enough time to feel a cold feeling sink into my gut before Cam slashed at the air, created a rift, and dragged me through.

We landed in what appeared to be a sunny, grassy meadow, with tons of wildflowers everywhere. The temperature was perfectly comfortable, and it smelled of nature.

I didn’t care. What I had seen before was burned into my mind. All I could think about was that scream, that I had caused it…

That I had actually ended a life.

A hollow feeling sunk into my mind, and I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I kept telling myself that it wasn’t true, that it couldn’t have happened… but it did. I could still feel where he gripped me.

None of the others noticed. “This looks nice,” Cam commented.

It was then that the foliage attacked us.

Author's Note

I felt bad that the last chapter was so late. Have another chapter... IN THE SAME DAY!

And now we're gonna move on to the next mini-arc, and I honestly don't know how well I'm going to do with it. I'm just gonna say it will be difficult to pull off correctly. Wish me luck, eh?

~Pyrepinna