Into the Light

The storm was getting stronger. And angrier.

When Cadence and I had first arrived, it had seemed like little more than a particularly hateful blizzard, but now it definitely felt malicious. Did I mention I was being hunted?

Standing here, waiting to feel somepony, something, anything to give me a hint as to where the hell I was, I swore I could see ponies moving around me. Maybe not ponies, but things. That was impossible though, I had my senses extended completely. I would feel them.

Left. I whipped around to face it, but it was gone again. Like a shadow, no, not a shadow. Something that looked just like the snow around it, moving incredibly fast, uninhibited by the winds and snow. It left no track behind, no magic, no trace of its existence. I squinted against the raging snow, to no avail. Surely I was not succumbing to insanity this quickly?

It had first appeared a few hours ago, coming at increasingly frequent intervals. I noticed that when I teleported the winds were calmer, then they would pick up speed, and finally I would see it. So my theory was that they were connected.

I took a moment to gather power, glancing around me while I pulled my senses back. With a flash, I teleported. It didn't really matter where, I was still lost. Lo and behold, the winds were calm. Well, relatively calm. It was till a blizzard, sure, but at least I could see a few hooves in front of me. I didn't extend my senses, I needed to pay attention to the snow and wind. They were predictable, to a certain degree, but when it was nearby, they were much wilder.

A moment passed, but nothing changed. If it kept to its own pattern, it should be here any minute. After that, I wasn't sure. If it was a creature hunting me, it had made the mistake of its life. If it was Shomby, I would have to try and escape. Anything else, and I'd just have to come up with something on the fly.

The winds were picking up. My ears perked, swiveling to listen for something other than howling, eyes as wide as I could open them, darting to look for anything beyond the wall of snow. Perhaps I could capture it. I'd never done anything like that, I wasn't even sure if I could come up with a spell something to do that.

Behind me, to my right. A rush of air that didn't match, like a pegasus cutting through the air. Nothing should be able to fly in these conditions. I turn to look, just in time to see a pair of glowing blue eyes heading right for me. With no intentions of being beaten unnecessarily, I teleported behind it. When I looked behind me, I couldn't see it. Glowing blue eyes? It had to be magical. Maybe a construct? It was possible that Shombry had made this, but I couldn't believe he was already this powerful.

Left. I looked right, waiting until I was sure it was about to hit me, then ducked. It went right over me. It looked like a pony, an earth pony, bigger than normal. It was a blueish-white, and it's back half tapered off into wisps of nothing. I swore I recognized it from somewhere, but I couldn't remember.

But if I remembered it, that meant it hadn't originated from Shombry. So it was a natural, or perhaps supernatural, creature. But I still couldn't feel it. So was it a construct?

The winds picked up even more. I slowly stood, trying to see past my wildly flapping mane. I didn't think I would be able to hear or see it at this point. Well, nopony said I had to fight it.

I teleported. Then again. The scenery hadn't really changed, with the storm and all, but compared to what I'd just been in it was almost pleasant. I reached out, I had a few minutes before it reached me again. There was nothing...no. Something in front of me. Better, there was a spot of nothing, just at the edge of my senses. Could it be the shield?

I reeled back in, then teleported. I reached out again, and yes! I couldn't feel beyond it! I quickly prepared myself, then began my flurry of teleports.

The shield had been a vibrant blue when I first arrived, nearly opaque. Now though...it was dimmer, almost clear. Cadence had said it was powered by the Crystal Heart, by the Empire's inhabitants. Why would this happen? Surely Shining Armor's disappearance wouldn't cause them to suddenly hate their home. Not only that, but it would have been a gradual process, it wouldn't be this pronounced in such a short time.

I stepped through it into the calm air of the Empire. Goodness, that was amazing. The silence was deafening, but welcomed. I sighed, I just wanted to collapse, but I needed to find out what was wrong with the shield, then warn Cadence and the others of the thing I had seen.

I was getting sick of teleporting. I was pretty sure I had teleported more times in the last few hours than I had in the last century. Even so, I needed to reach the castle with all haste, so I cantered forward, I only needed to do it five more times.

One. As soon as I had the chance, I was climbing right back under my bed.

Two. Maybe I would grab some hot chocolate first. I may not need to eat, but that didn't mean I couldn't.

Three. I also needed to visit the hospitals and whatnot still.

Four. I could see the castle from here, there were a lot more guards than there had been when I left. What was going on?

Five. I landed right in front of the guards at the gate. I had decided to not try and teleport straight inside since there would probably be some sort of anti-teleportation shielding in place if they had raised security. That was just a headache waiting to happen.

The guards jumped, as they always did, and one pointed a spear at me. He quickly recognized me, it seemed, and put it back down. The other spoke, "Silver Lining, Princess Cadence awaits your presence in the throne room."

Of course she did. That was fine, I would have had to hunt her down otherwise. Opting to walk, I did as instructed, taking note of the buzz of activity around me. Everypony looked like they were expecting to be jumped on, and strangely that fear didn't seem to originate from me. I really wanted to know what was going on.

Finally reaching the doors of the throne room, the two guards on either side opened them before me. I nodded to them, I may as well try not to be an ass. Cadance was sitting on her throne, speaking quietly with a crystal pegasus holding a clipboard. She glanced at me before quickly waving the pony away.

"Silver," she said evenly, "did you find him?"

"No." I replied. "But I did find something interesting."

Her ear flicked. "What?"

"While I was out lost, and yes," I added quickly, "I was lost, that's why I was gone so long, I encountered a creature I vaguely recognize but don't remember." She didn't interrupt, so I continued, "It seemed to be an earth pony made of snow. It flew despite its lack of wings, completely uninhibited by the winds, and it's eyes glowed blue. While it was near, the storm was significantly worse."

"Windigo." She said, malice dripping from the word. "Of course they would be drawn to the Empire now of all times."

Windigo? I'd never even heard that word. Maybe I had seen a picture of it somewhere? Oh well.

"Why would they be drawn to the Empire?" I asked. "No wait, I have a lot of questions, let me start from the beginning. Why is the shield dimmer than it was when we first arrived?"

She sighed. "That's something I was hoping you could help with." I cocked an eyebrow. I didn't know jack about permanent or semi-permanent enchantments like the Crystal Heart. "This morning, while you were gone, riots broke out, there were several attacks on the castle in an attempt to get to the Heart, and three of my advisors were poisoned, along with myself."

I blinked.

"What?"

"We believe that an underground organization is behind this." She continued, oblivious to my immense confusion. "They have apparently been discreetly directing the opinion of the public since Shining's disappearance in an attempt to convince them that I was behind it, and that I had brought you to the Empire to...I don't know, somehow take control the way Sombra had."

I blinked again.

"What...time is it?" I asked. That could tell me a lot, surprisingly. Her brows furrowed. I don't think that's the answer she was expecting.

"Around eleven." She answered slowly. "Why?"

I didn't respond. So it was eleven, which means that sometime in the last five or so hours, a group of ponies managed to organize several raids, poisonings, and riots. That meant they had money to throw around, ponies in the castle, and were capable of public cohesion under their own selfish ideals. A group of ponies that had to have been planning this for a very long time. If the idea of 'let's take over the Empire!' had popped up two weeks ago, they wouldn't have been able to get all of this done. However, one of their selling points was me being evil, so if I went around healing ponies, as I should have been doing since I got here, that would fall flat. Okay, we needed to move on, I still had some questions.

"Right," I said, "what are windigos?"

"W-uhh..." Cadance sputtered, then cleared her throat. "Windigos are a race of creatures derived from Winter who feed on fighting and hatred. The more there is, the more likely they are to appear."

Of course. I still didn't remember that, but it would make sense. If there was sudden fighting, they would sense the discord within the Empire.

"Are they held back by the shield?" I asked.

"Yes."

"But it's failing because of the fighting that attracted them."

"It would seem so."

"One more thing," I said, "you said 'derived from winter'. What does that mean? Are they snow elementals?"

"No. According to legend, windigos were created by Winter, the King of Windigos. The legends are older than Celestia and Luna themselves, so nopony is sure how much about them is true, but Winter was said to be as cold and unrelenting as the season named after him. Immortal and unstoppable, he sent his wendigos to attack ponies, breeding the hatred and fighting they fed off of. Then he himself would sweep through and destroy anything that was left. Though none have ever seen him, or at least lived to tell the tale, the sudden final assault that leaves towns and settlements destroyed after a windigo attack are enough evidence to support his existence."

Okay. Everything was falling apart. Calm down. Think rationally, from the beginning. Shombry was gone, but he would most likely take a while to regain his strength. I didn't like the idea of fighting him at full power, but it gave us time to deal with this. Windigos were a problem, but they could be held back by the shield. Which was failing. That was fine, it was supported by the majority, which I could hopefully sway the opinion of in short order. While I was doing that, Cadance needed to try and find the organization responsible, take care of the Crystal Heart, and not let everything spiral further out of control.

"Right." I said. "I have a plan. Kinda. Dealing with things in order of urgency, we don't need to worry about Shombry. You need to find that organization, try not to get yourself killed, and protect the Crystal Heart at all cost. I'll try to change the public opinion on myself and you by healing ponies. Since the shield is supported by the majority, that organization shouldn't be able to collapse it. Then, thinking of them, we need to protect the Elements of Harmony. They may make a move against them as well." I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. I could see a little puff of air. "As a precaution, I'll take each of their souls, and they can be stored somewhere safe. Not with the Heart. We don't need to lose everything at once if things go wrong." Which they probably will. "Given that the imminent collapse of the shield is a distinct possibility, have the guards on high alert, but don't let the public know. That will definitely cause it to fail."

I paused. Cadance looked surprised, her wings and ears twitching slightly. She didn't say anything though, so I continued, "First things first: where are the Bearers?"

"O-oh, uh, they're out trying keep ponies calm." She stuttered. Was she really this surprised about me coming up with a solution that fast? Or maybe she wasn't used to being told what to do. Either way, I'm good at both of those, so she better get a hold of herself.

"Call them back. I'm going to need six containers, as unbreakable and unsealable as possible. We don't need some clumsy fool dropping a vase and killing an Element, do we?"

"No, of course. Azura!" She called to her right. The same pegasus she had been talking to before came back in. "Get word to the Elements to came back to the castle. Also, tell Matrii that I require six vials, enchanted to be unbreakable and unsealable to any magic but my own as soon as possible."

She nodded, then bowed. "Right away, your majesty." I assumed that 'Matrii' was some sort of Royal Archmage or whatever bull they called themselves these days. Unicorns with a lot of power tended to be assholes.

Azura turned on a bit, then left at a respectfully urgent pace. Good, somepony understood the gravity of the situation.

"I'm going to begin immediately." I said. "If I'm attacked or opposed, I will use non-lethal force and return here as soon as proves convenient."

"Very well." She replied heavily. I turned and began walking, gathering power. It wasn't necessary, but it was less stressful than teleporting as fast as I could. "Silver," Cadance called. I turned, horn still glowing. "Please don't get yourself killed unnecessarily." I grinned, then released the spell. No promises in that regard.

Appearing on the street in front of the castle, ignoring the jumpy guards, I realized that could have ended very badly. If they had had an anti-teleportation ward around the place, that would have zapped me pretty hard. Actually, I should bring that up to Cadance.

Appearing right back where I had been, I landed right in front of Cadance. That was the second time today. I took a step back on instinct, but she jumped away from me, wings flared.

"Sil–wha–what are you doing?" She stammered once she had grounded herself.

"You really should have some sort of ward against teleportation in important areas like this, if not the whole castle. What would you do if I were an assassin?"

She raised a hoof to her chest. "I'll have you know I'm not completely helpless. I have trained with Shining and am capable of holding my own in a fight, with or without magic." I raised an eyebrow.

"The ability to fight makes no difference to a half decent assassin. Many heroes and generals that could take on an army have fallen by a single strike from a hidden blade."

"Did I mention that I was poisoned today? Alicorns are immortal, after all." I would have dropped it at that, but she looked very pleased with herself, clearly under the impression that she had won.

"And what of the other ponies that are not? What of the Elements, or the Crystal Heart?" I stared her down. Princess or not, logic would win out.

"The Crystal Heart does have protection around it. As for the Elements, I can't put a spell like that over the whole castle, and keeping them in a room with wards in order to protect them would be little different from a prison."

"Why can't you protect the whole castle? I mean," I gestured above me with a hoof, "there's a shield around the whole Empire for crying out loud!"

"The shield," she replied, "is kept in place and connected to the Crystal Heart in ways we haven't yet understood. We can't simply have any spell we want powered by it!"

"Uhh!" I conceded, "Whatever, just keep them from getting killed until their souls are safe." I teleported back where I had been. If she wouldn't even try, that wasn't my fault. In the end, I could say, 'I told you so' as we lower the casket. That...came out sounding more morbid than I thought it would. Anyway, I reached out until I hit the shield, trying to get my bearings and figue out where to start. I could feel three hospitals thanks to the concentration of sick and dying ponies, but I could also see the decay of the standard of living within the Empire. Further from the center there were more ponies in more critical conditions, particularly towards the west. Was that direction west? It might have been south. It didn't really matter. I had noticed a similar trend in a lot of cities throughout my life, but it seemed considerably more pronounced here than anywhere I had ever been. It might have been Sombra's doing, indirectly or not.

Well, considering my mission was to sway the public opinion, it would only make sense to hit them where they needed it most.

It seemed that opinions of some ponies regarding me had gone from mostly indifferent, when I had first arrived, to nearly as bad as the Equestria of several hundred years ago.

I'd taken off for the western side, walking, not teleporting, healing anypony I'd seen on the street; beggars, orphans, or just anypony down on their luck. The sick tore off bloody bandages, the weak and broken danced and sang, laughing all the way. They were thanking me, grabbing at my hooves, babbling incoherently, all that stuff. I'd been through it all before.

Even so, it was still nice.

All good things must come to an end though. A pony pushed through the crowd, shouting and shoving. When they got to me, I got a good look at them. It was a unicorn, looked like a stallion. He had a cerulean coat and a subdued amber mane. Even from here I could see it was beginning to turn gray though.

"YOU!" He pointed a hoof at me. "You want to turn these ponies into mindless slaves, necromancer!"

The crowd around us quickly quieted down, watching us. Watching me.

I was slightly taken aback, but replied calmly, "Do you know what 'necromancy' means?"

"Of course I do!" He shouted right in my face. He was either too stupid or too brave for his own good.

"Then you would know that it implies power over the dead, not the living. If I wanted slaves, I would be killing these ponies." I motioned at the crowd around us. "But as far as I can tell , and feel free to call my bluff, but I think I know what I'm talking about, I'm doing quite the opposite. These ponies are more alive than they've been in years."

He was silent for a moment, but I wasn't going to let him come up with some other crazy thing to start shouting about. I turned on the spot and marched through the ponies. They parted silently, apparently not sure whether to be frightened or not. Well, I'd fix that.

"Come on!" I cried out to them. "There are more ponies to heal."

The ponies who I could see broke into smiles again, moving out of my way. The impromptu parade continued on as we had been, and ponies began to bring out others from homes, perhaps because they were too weak to leave on their own. Either way, the crow only got bigger, louder, and happier. A sea of color and noise all around me, I ended up blocking it out completely to focus on the shrouds of the ones I wanted to heal. Walking slowly, the crowds were forming ahead of me, in areas I hadn't even gotten to yet. That was good, word was getting around.

I noticed at some point that there more ponies like the one that had yelled at me earlier, but the newly healed had formed a barrier against them, along with some of the guards, surprisingly. They were defending me. That's new. Watching them, I realized that they were doing more than standing in the way. Several of the unicorn's horn were lit, pegasi's wings were flared, and the earth ponies looked ready to charge. There was about to be a fight. I wasn't going to like that happen.

I weaved a simple spell to amplify my voice so I wouldn't have to shout.

"Stop."

Indeed, they did stop. The whole crowd around me ground to a halt, many looked surprised I had spoken, including the ones that were trying to get to me. I hadn't said a word since that unicorn, after all. I cancelled the spell before continuing.

"Do not fight them for me. If they believe I am a monster, let them come and see it for themselves." I turned to those around me, raising my voice some, "As for the rest of you, I don't want you hurt, so you might want to give us space."

They did as I asked, shuffling backwards until they had left a good distance in all around me. The ponies that were holding the protesters at bay hadn't moved though. "Let them through." I said. The guards glanced at each other, then did as requested, grabbing some of the more foolhardy of the civil defenders as they went.

Finally, I could see them clearly. Two earth ponies, two pegasi, three unicorns. The one from before was not among their numbers. For an instant, we stood staring at each other, and I almost thought they would back off. Then one of the pegasi launched into the air, both earth ponies began moving and one of the unicorn's horn lit up.

Oh well.

The unicorn let off a spell that looked like a lance of light, directed right at my head. I created a shield the size of a dinner plate, angled so the light would glance off it at an angle. It missed my face by a hair, but an inch was a good as a mile. The other unicorns had moved forward, their horns glowing, and both earth ponies had made it half the distance to me. The pegasus that had launched itself was still above me, though I couldn't see it, and the other was still where it had been.

I telekinetically grabbed the front left hooves of the charging ponies, causing them to flip over themselves and tumble to a stop. The pegasus above me dived, I could hear it slicing through the air, and the second unicorn let out a blinding light from its horn. What was with them and light? Did they think it hurt me? Either way, I shut my eyes from the visual assault. That didn't change the fact that I could hear though, so I pinpointed the location of the pegasus, then teleported them. Almost immediately after, I created a bubble shield around me. I heard a splash as the teleported pony landed in the fountain nearby, then winced as a spell slammed into the shield. Just like I'd thought, the light was to disorient for a second spell, probably from the third unicorn. I opened my eyes again, just in time to watch all three prepare a more powerful spell. Were they in league then, if they were working together so well?

Something hit my shield, but it felt like it hit my horn. I gasped in pain and dropped the shield, just as they released their spell. It was significantly brighter than the one the second unicorn had used, but it was more than just a light. It was a projectile of some sort, and I didn't want to find out what it did. I tried to teleport, but between the pain and recent magical backlash, I didn't manage it in time.

The spell burned like the fire Celestia had tried to kill me with.