Black Sun

The castle map room was cloaked in silence despite how many ponies were inside. Twilight sat rooted in place upon her throne, eyes fixed upon the map, hardly daring to blink as she stared at the Badlands. It wasn't that she didn't trust Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo to make it back, just that she was so used to things going wrong at the moment. They were going to get back just fine, right? She was going to drag them out of Tantabus' hooves herself if it came to that. Of course just doing that wouldn't be enough, not without some kind of plan. If only she could focus long enough to think of one. How long had it been since she'd slept properly? Since anypony had? Five and a half weeks was a solid guess, it'd been that long since all this began. Surely it wouldn't be much longer, she just needed to get her hooves on Tantabus and...

A set of gentle claws pressed into her shoulders and the tension started to bleed away. Twilight leaned back slightly and relaxed, sucking in air through her teeth as the claws started to gently massage her shoulders and upper back. For the first time in far too long, she felt at ease. She leaned her head back and smiled upward, knowing that Spike would be looking back down at her with a similar smile. He knew just the right spots to work when she was wound up, and when she needed them most. After all these years, he probably couldn't know her any better if he'd married her.

"How'd you know?" She asked quietly, shifting her rear against the back of the throne properly and letting herself indulge in the moment.

"You haven't lowered your shoulders in at least six days." He replied, keeping up his efforts. His claws worked at muscle and skin with practiced precision, ironing out what stress they could.

Twilight nodded and let him work for now, looking around the room. Now that she wasn't preoccupied with her own thoughts she could hear the mix of general chatter in the map room. Almost everypony was gathered here in preparation of hearing the results of Rainbow and Scootaloo's recon mission. Applejack, Apple Bloom and Deep Note were talking among themselves on the far side of the map. Fluttershy was just entering the room, likely returning from looking after her foals, and moving to join Sweetie Belle by the door. Trixie was sat leaned against Rarity's throne, a look of concern on her face as she talked to Peace Walker. Despite everything else that was on her mind, Twilight found herself oddly worried about that last part.

"So, I've not been paying attention," She admitted to Spike, sounding more like herself now that she was calm again. "Is Trixie okay?"

"She's been pretty shaken up all week," Spike told her, starting to work on her lower back. "Apparently Tantabus said something to her back at the amulet vault. Whatever it was, on top of everything that's happened, I think it's starting to get inside her head."

Twilight nodded slowly. It had been all too easy for her to forget everypony else was struggling through this with her, up until now. Now she knew what to look for she could see the fear and stress in Trixie's eyes, the sense that she wasn't going to be any further help. How many of the others were feeling something similar? It wasn't true of course. Every one of her current companions was a help in their own way, from keeping everypony's spirits up to proving that Tantabus could be stood against. They deserved better than to be living in fear. She had to talk to them while she had time.

Just as she stood up to do so, the main doors opened again and Aurora stepped inside. There was a look and aura of grim determination about him, enough that everypony quickly dropped what they were doing and turned to face him.

"Aurora? I thought you'd left already." Twilight asked in surprise. Aurora looked over at her for a moment and smiled slightly in response. If he was picking up on her changed attitude, it was all the better for both of them.

"I was about to, then..." He replied, moving up to the map and staring at the Badlands upon it. "I...Had a bad feeling about going back alone. Even if I'm not actually going in. So, I need to ask a major favour."

"Hey, remember who yer asking," Applejack told him reassuringly as she approached the map too. "I'm sure it ain't all that bad."

"That depends on what those I'm asking think. Fluttershy, Deep Note, would you two accompany me and keep an eye out from the air?"

"Oh my. It's a little short notice to ask that, isn't it?" Fluttershy asked quietly, looking down and fiddling with a few loose strands of her mane. "I-I mean, I could come if you really needed me to, but..."

"I think what Fluttershy means," Deep interjected, looking over at her for approval to continue talking. She gave a small thankful nod in return. "Is that she wants to help out, but she'd rather not risk herself."

"I know it sounds selfish," Fluttershy added, sounding more confident now that she'd been giving a starting point. "But I, I do have to think about my children when making these decisions."

"Of course. Sorry to just put that out there without consideration." Aurora replied, looking somewhat ashamed of himself for not thinking it through.

"Don't worry about it," Deep told him, smiling reassuringly. "If it was even half as bad as you described it out there, I don't blame you for not wanting to go alone. I'll come along."

"I will too," Fluttershy added after a moment, walking over to Aurora's side. "I'll still be keeping myself further back, but I'll be there if it makes you feel better."

"It does. Really, thank you both," Aurora said, relaxing slightly as Deep did the same. "We wouldn't be actually going into a dangerous zone. It'd just be looking to see if you could see Rainbow and Scootaloo coming."

"Alright. Stay safe, all of you." Twilight told them, everypony else voicing their support as well.

Aurora nodded and checked the other two were up against him before priming his magic. A few moments later the three of them teleported out of the castle. Twilight stared at the spot they had been for a few moments before looking back toward the map. As much of a handle as she had on her concerns at this moment, that discussion had brought them simmering up again. She didn't know what was going on out in the Badlands, but after everything that had happened...She just couldn't convince herself that things had gone as smoothly as everypony wanted. She knew what her friends were capable of though, and she still had faith that together, they would be able to stay safe until they were back home.

Scootaloo gritted her teeth slightly as she began to regain consciousness. She could already feel a great pressure against each of her hooves, her front legs held slightly behind and to her sides. A number of large, rough objects were at her back, though she was still too groggy to hazard a guess what they were. The situation was even more confusing since she was being held completely upright with only her back hooves on the ground. As the rest of her senses started to come back to her, she became aware of more confusing and worrying facts. She could faintly taste blood in her mouth. The air she was breathing was stale, as if it had been sitting without so much as a breeze for years. There was also a shrill noise in her ears, high and repeating. It took a few seconds for her to recover enough to realise what it was, the actual sound enough to chill her deepest core.

Screaming. Agonised, tortured screaming. Coming from less than twenty feet to her right. Then it trailed off, briefly replaced by a loud, echoing clang of metal on rock.

Everything was quiet after that, a brief window to get her head in order. Scootaloo took a few deep breaths, steadying herself as best she could despite an increasing ache in her shoulders and back. After a few seconds she opened her eyes and lifted her head slightly. Everything was still dark, but she could make out a number of sizeable rocks surrounding her hooves, pinning them in place. Was she up against a rockslide of some kind? That would explain the feeling at her back and why her front hooves were wedged too. She looked up further to see she was in some kind of cave. The opposite wall was about fifteen feet away and her saddlebags had been placed against it. She couldn't see how long the cavern was from where she was.

She slowly shook her head to get some feeling back in her neck and glanced to her right. It took a moment to notice in the dark, but she saw it on the ground. For the second time in the space of a minute, the sight froze her blood. A metal wing, painted sky blue, was lying on the ground there. Dried blood was smeared across the end feather and three others were missing entirely. Fresh blood coated the bonds where it attached to the organic joint and a few small streaks were on the ground where it had been thrown down. A few drops trailed off to the right, toward...

"Scoots..." Rainbow Dash's voice came from next to her, weak and pained. "Don't look."

"Oh, so she's awake is she?" Tantabus' voice came just after. Scootaloo had enough time for the memory of what happened earlier to come back to her before a hoof was placed under her chin and the unicorn in question came into view.

Tantabus looked like she'd been through a rough time. A pair of freshly healed cuts were visible, one down the side of her muzzle and a much deeper one on her chest. She also had roughly half a dozen scrapes and bruises across her body. Scootaloo wasn't sure which she should be more of: Pleased that Rainbow put up such a good fight, or terrified to know that Tantabus had taken all those injuries and still come out in better shape than her opponents. The more her senses came back to her, the more she realised she wasn't feeling either of those choices particularly strongly. Instead, she was feeling a burning anger at what had been done to her sister flooding through her body.

"Don't!" She snapped, yanking her head away from the hoof and glaring coldly at the unicorn, protective fury in her eyes. Even though she knew it was useless, she still made an effort to yank her hooves out from the rocks. "I..!"

"You're kidding. Held helpless like that and you still want to give me the bravado? It might make sense if all I had to hold with you with was a rope around your chest," Tatanbus replied with a mocking chuckle, glancing over at where Rainbow was restrained. "As it is, you really should be more thankful. I'm the reason you're still alive."

"By capturing us instead of brutally killing us. Gee, thanks." Scootallo replied flatly, never taking her eyes off her captor.

"Exactly. Neither of you would have survived your injuries outside. But lucky for you, that voice you know as Sunset kept yelling at me until I did something about it. It's quietened down now though, since it made me put the effort into suppressing it. So, that leaves me free to a change of plans. If you two were able to find me, others will too. Vaeac, Nezzari, those foolish pretenders you call Cadance and Twilight. I'm still not ready to deal with them, but I will leave them a gift after I head out."

"I'm guessing, that-" Scootaloo started, only to be silenced as Tantabus fired into the rock an inch from her head, grazing her left cheek hard enough to burn it. Despite herself, she flinched away from the strike.

"What's left of you, yes. Speaking of which..."

Scootaloo followed Tantabus as she moved back to the right, steeling herself for what she knew she would see. Even though she knew, the sight was still one that would haunt her for many years to come. Rainbow Dash was about twenty-five feet down the rock collapse that made up the wall behind them, restrained in the same way she was. While she was lacking any of the bruises, cuts or burns the other two sported, blood was visible across her back. Her breathing was strained and while she was fighting any signs of it, it was clear she was in a lot of pain. It was a small mercy that her left wing was still attached. She slowly looked over at Scootaloo and her eyes betrayed her true feelings for the briefest of moments. Enough for her to tell what they were though.

Excruciating agony. Fear of being unable to escape. A silent plea not to give up. Seeing those feelings coming from her idol was enough to cool the anger inside Scootaloo, replacing it with chilling fear.

Then she saw Tantabus grip the remaining wing with her magic.

"Don't look!" Rainbow cried, desperation creeping into her voice. Scootaloo had enough time to see the sadistic smile forming on Tantabus' face before she squeezed her eyes shut and pulled her head away.

The sound of metal being crushed filled the cave, followed by sparking magic bright enough to be visible even through her eyelids. Then the screaming started again, even louder than before. Scootaloo pressed her ears back against her skull and tried to block it out. The sound was all she could hear though, echoing throughout her mind like she was trapped in the pits of Tartarus itself. She couldn't move, couldn't think, her world was currently nothing but the sound of the most important pony in her world being tortured to death...A small part of her wished that her earth pony side had manifested itself more. Made her strong enough to pull herself from these rocks, bring that still simmering emotion to bear and show Tantabus what a mistake this was.

Then, as suddenly as it began, the screaming ended and the magic faded. The only thing she could hear over her own tense breathing was Rainbow gasping for air before it too quietened down.

"Such a brittle 'hero'," Tantabus commented, sounding like she was moving in front of Scootaloo again. A moment later, an unseen force gripped her head and lifted it up again. "You see this? How strong a pony you put your hopes in really is?"

"She's stronger than you. Not having to...To steal the strength of others." Scootaloo grunted, still refusing to open her eyes.

Tantabus' snarl was the only warning she got before something smashed against her head with significant speed. A sharp edge barely missed her left eye, reopening the scar above it and cutting even deeper. By the time she'd opened her mouth to cry out it had crashed against her left hoof, the force dislodging some of the rocks holding it back. She hardly noticed as white hot pain engulfed her body, a worrying warmth spreading down her face. Her head felt like it was being torn apart while her body locked up in sensory overload. She couldn't even work her jaw enough to scream, only managing to get a throttled cry from her throat.

"You still want to test me?"

She could hear the words, but only just. It gave her a tiny point to focus on that wasn't the pain though. Scootaloo quickly held onto that island of calm in the maelstrom of panic that had flooded her mind. First her breathing came back under control, then her muscles. Then her emotions.

"You...You better hope the next one kills me." She growled. It wasn't until the words were out of her mouth that she realised she meant it. Nopony hurt her sister like that.

There was still too much pain to think straight, but what she had was enough to remember where she'd been before that moment. Something wet was covering her left eye, her right opened slowly to see Tantabus was almost nose to nose with her. A look of cold fury was etched onto her features and one of her front hooves was out, centimetres from pressing against the pegasus' throat. A few stray sparks leapt from the tip of her horn into Scootaloo's face, hitting like pin needles and worsening the pain.

"You've seen what I can do. What I WILL do," Tantabus continued, her voice laced with venom as she leaned in closer. She quickly glanced down at the hoof that had been freed by her attack and gave a dangerous smile. "I saw that fire in your eyes before. But it's snuffed so easily in the face of real danger. You could take a swing, sure, but-"

Scootaloo didn't even think. All her pain, anger, frustration, grief, all of those things were gone for the briefest of moments. She'd been attempting to get through without leaning on anypony for support, but right now, an outlet being offered to her...In that same split second, all those emotions weren't in her head. They were now in her free hoof.

Without any hesitation, she put as much of her strength as she could into it. Then she swung.

Her punch landed square on Tantabus' right cheek. As if in slow motion, she could see the look on her foe's face as it connected. One of shock, never believing until that moment that she'd actually do it. Then the full force of the blow came in and the unicorn was knocked off her hooves, sprawled on her front several feet away. The rush of adrenaline that came with the hit, the satisfaction, was enough to briefly numb the pain coursing through Scootaloo's head. Then the realisation set in: She had struck out in anger. If Tantabus hadn't been knocked out, the next strike really would kill her. She could already see movement too. She'd given up everything for a moment of satisfaction.

Tantabus' eye opened and looked back at her. It was different to before, more normal. She slowly put her hooves back against the ground and lifted herself up slightly. After a few moments she spat blood onto the ground, followed by one or two teeth. Once she'd finished clearing her mouth out she stood up again, slowly looking back. She was still drooling blood and her cheek was already showing bruising through her fur. The look in her eyes was what made Scootaloo realise just how much damage she'd done. Tantabus didn't look like she wanted to kill her anymore. Had the blow allowed Sunset to regain some control?

Without another word, the unicorn slowly got up fully and staggered out of the cave, not even looking back as she headed into a tunnel to the left of the area. Scootaloo stared for a moment before the reality of the situation hit her. She had been given an opening to escape, with Rainbow and...How badly hurt was she? Even if she hadn't been looking, it was almost certain that both her wings had been removed. She needed help more right now. Why was she even thinking about this when she needed to be taking action?!

Scootaloo looked down at her free hoof and then over at her other front hoof. Sunset was right, she probably could reach. She quickly brought it up and started prying away the rocks holding that hoof down. Heavy as they were, roughly the size of her head, they had clearly been placed to pin without much thought for keeping it in place. As soon as her free hoof found purchase, she pulled at one until she managed to get in behind it for leverage. With that done, it wasn't long before she yanked the rocks out of place, pulling her hoof free as they clattered to the ground. Now working with two hooves, she was able to get her back hooves free in no time and drop back to the ground.

"Finally..." She groaned, feeling how numb they were after being trapped like that for who knew how long. She could see the saddlebags just ahead and rushed over to them. She couldn't be much help when half blind and still in incredible pain. Some first aid would have to suffice before helping Rainbow. As she checked through them, she realised that any food she'd packed had been taken, yet all the medical supplies remained. An odd choice, but one she wasn't going to argue with right now.

There wasn't time for any dedicated treatment, just a painkiller pill and a bandage wrapped over the gash on her forehead. Scootaloo wiped the blood from her eyes once she was done and put the saddlebags on before rushing over to Rainbow Dash, quickly working on removing the rocks trapping her. Rainbow seemed to have fallen unconscious, her breathing slow and heavy. There wasn't a mark on the front of her, but the fact both her metallic wings were gone meant her back was probably a mess. Doing something about that would have to wait until they were somewhere though.

"Don't worry, sis," Scootaloo said quietly as she removed the last rock holding Rainbow and lifted her onto her back. "Just keep holding on. I'll get you out."

Once her cargo was settled in place, she looked round for a way out. There was the way Sunset had left and another closer to her, both leading to dark rock tunnels. Neither had any indicators of leading to a way out, but heading away from Tantabus was always a good idea. She headed out as quickly as she could, doing her best to push through the blunted pain. She was still struggling for vision in her left eye, it hurt to keep it focused and the concern that it had suffered real damage was starting to form in her mind. Like everything else, that would have to wait until she had escaped. She kept pushing through the tunnels, heading down different paths as best as she could judge. There was a faint breeze now, standing out like a flare in the stale air, pointing the way out.

Just as she started following it. Scootaloo's ears twitched as a furious roar echoed throughout the tunnels, followed by hoofsteps. Rapid, steadily closing in hoofsteps. Despite already pushing herself hard, she broke into a semi-run, praying she was closer to the exit than wherever they had been before. Her wings spread out slightly to help keep Rainbow balanced on her back, reminding her at the same time that she couldn't fly out. Trying to earlier had resulted in her crash, though if she kept it level then a limited glide might be possible. Any actual escape plan would have to be improvised once she could see where she'd be running.

Scootaloo gritted her teeth as she rounded another corner and pushed herself into a full gallop. Her eyes stung slightly as she saw light coming from the end of the current tunnel, her darkness-adjusted pupils struggling to adapt. Her body was already starting to complain at the stress she was putting it under, but to stop would be a death sentence for them both. She could hear Tantabus closing in on her, charging unencumbered and driven by fury. Beams of black tinged aqua started to streak past her, scoring the walls with burn marks. Sunset was probably still trying to do something, considering how few of them even came close to hitting. She didn't even look back, putting everything she had into her desperation to get the two of them out.

She reached the opening and her hooves suddenly found nothing underneath them. With her eyes partially adapted to the light she could see that she was several hundred feet up in the air, having just ran clean off the side of the small mountain they'd been approaching before. A network of smaller canyons spread out from its base and beyond her sight. Despite them, there seemed to be clear paths out of there at ground level too. So many options, so many ways this could go wrong, and no time to decide. Scootaloo steeled herself as an idea took root in her mind. There was a chance to get some distance from Tantabus, all she had to do was reach it.

Swallowing her fears and wrapping her front hooves around Rainbow's, her wings shot open.

Far to the north, under the edge of a cloud blanket, Aurora silently watched the sky. He'd remained rooted in place for at least twenty minutes, switching between looking into the Badlands and checking the pegasi overhead at regular intervals. Even here, at the border where the dead rock gave way to luscious plains, he could feel the strength of the dark magic before him. Thankfully it was weakened enough to not affect him at this distance, letting him focus on the task at hoof. Even as he focused again, the two flyers came in and landed in front of him.

"Still nothing..." Fluttershy told him, looking back toward the Badlands with concern. "Not even on the horizon."

"Maybe they just went further than planned, taking further to get back?" Deep Note suggested hopefully. Fluttershy looked over at him and shook her head.

"No. Rainbow Dash would never linger if she thought it might put Scootaloo in danger."

"You're right. Something's wrong out there," Aurora commented, brow furrowing as he looked over the area again. After a few moments he sighed to himself and turned fully to the others. "I hate to ask more of you but, I don't think I can just stand and wait."

"I understand, and I'm coming too," Fluttershy told him with surprising conviction. "I'm not leaving my friends in there."

"Our friends." Deep said, spreading his wings.

As they took off to begin the search again, Aurora nodded and turned toward the Badlands. Despite remembering everything he had gone through the last time he had stepped into that wasteland, there was no hesitation in his mind. Merely the knowledge that even precautions would only let him go so far before the dark magic became too much to withstand. He could only hope that they found Rainbow and Scootaloo before that point. His horn lit up and he cast a shield around himself, a thin tendril extending from its peak to his horn tip. It would be enough to keep it moving with him. Now it was down to Fluttershy and Deep to find their missing friends and for him to bring them home.

He set off at a run to keep up, barely feeling the subtle pulsing his shield made as it shrugged off the dark magic surrounding him. Right now, all that mattered to him were the two ponies lost out there.