Black Sun

Ten minutes earlier...

As Rainbow Dash slid her helmet on and fitted the mouthplate into position, she paused for a moment and looked around the empty armoury. Her orders had changed upon arriving at the Equestria Defence Force HQ in Canterlot, being told to suit up immediately and that she would be receiving orders on site. Even if the situation had escalated in the time it had taken her to reach the city, it may have helped if she had been told where 'on site' was. None of the other members of Task Force Harmony had been present and everypony else in the headquarters seemed to be lost as to what was going on. Still, if whatever situation had arisen required the use of both special forces and the Elements of Harmony then she couldn't go in at less than 150% focus. Her armour was still as good as the last time, small magic resistant plates with layers of enchanted rubber and cotton underneath. It was still a perfect fit too, maybe slightly more comfortable than when she had last worn it at Mount Silvat. Presumably a plus of the upgrade to mark one-point-seven spec armour, courtesy of the Institute of Development.

As soon as all three layers were on and the latches were firmly secured Rainbow turned and went to make her way out. Before she could take two steps she was met with the sound of someone snapping their fingers and the world around her disappeared in a poof of smoke. When it cleared she standing on a gravel pathway, Canterlot just about visible in the distance. At her body adjusted to the sudden change, she guessed that she was roughly five thousand feet up in the mountain range east of the capital, somewhere close to where the peaks met due to the close proximity of another mountain to the left. Such a sudden shift in location would have freaked out most ponies, but in Rainbow's case it only made the situation clearer. Princess Celestia must have called in a favour with Discord to get the squad where they were needed in a hurry.

"Crash, behind you." A familiar mare's voice said through the weave of communication magic imbued in the armour over her ears.

Rainbow turned to see another figure clad in the same rocky, black coated armour motioning for her to join them behind an outcrop of boulders that had come to rest there after a rockslide. The fact it was a unicorn mare properly established that it was her squadmate, Healing Wave. She quickly covered the gap and fluttered over the rocks, landing and relaxing as she realised there were four ponies in the same armour there. Two earth stallions and a pegasus stallion alongside Wave. Even though not one of them had any identifying feature visible she knew them well enough to know it was Cipher, Bulwark and Flash Sentry.

"You got here even quicker than I expected." Cipher said as he leaned forward at Rainbow's arrival. Although his voice still carried the tone of a commander there was an underlying tension to it, a sense of regret he was trying to hide.

"Naturally," Rainbow replied, offering a hoofbump to the rest of the squad that Bulwark and Flash returned. "Is Soul here yet?"

"I am. Just on some last minute recon." Aurora's voice came from over the comms, his calm demeanour suggesting he was using his sensory magic.

"Since you can all hear me, I'll handle the briefing now," Cipher told the others, waiting for them to lift their silver visors so he could see they were giving their undivided attention. "Twenty minutes ago the Canterlot throne room was attacked by a lone individual. The extent of damage to the castle is unknown, but I can confirm Princess Celestia was unharmed. Recon Corps units were scrambled as the assailant teleported out and they were located again here, on the old roads through the Foal Mountains, likely headed for the abandoned mine just east of here. We've been tasked to shadow their retreat and locate their hideout, though if an opportunity presents itself we're free to move and detain them."

"Do we know the identity of the attacker?" Flash asked as he adjusted the armour over his wings, watching as Cipher tilted his head slightly but gave no other reaction behind his helmet.

"Yes...Sunset Shimmer."

The rest of the ponies present exchanged worried glances at the news and Rainbow momentarily wondered if it was a good idea for Cipher to be leading this mission. The EDF had fairly loose rules about families in action together, but sending a father to track down his own daughter could easily be too much. That said, they weren't actually being sent to fight this time and Cipher had shown his fortitude was enough to keep going through the worst situations. She trusted he would be able to maintain control.

"Alright, we'll handle the heavy lifting if trouble does break out." Bulwark commented. Cipher nodded and placed a hoof to the larger stallion's shoulder in thanks.

"Sir, our target is almost under your position," Aurora reported a few moments later. "Something is off though."

"What do you mean?" Cipher asked, motioning for the others to fit their visors back into position.

"It's like she's moving without any energy or purpose. She was mumbling something to herself the whole way too. When I tried to sense her, it's hard to describe what I felt. Pure turmoil."

Cipher immediately got up and moved to the edge of the pathway. Rainbow was the first to follow him there. The view before them was largely drab, mostly occupied by the slopes of the next mountain in the chain. Roughly eighty feet below them was an ancient roadway for wagons, scattered stone slabs the only indication of its former glory. Sunset Shimmer was visible against the dirt ground, taking a few steps before stopping and performing some action they couldn't make out from this angle. She repeated this performance twice before Cipher straightened up and looked back at the others.

"New plan," He told them firmly. "Crash, Zippy, fast drop me and Stable down before doing the same for Wall. Soul, come in from behind. We're going to try and bring her in while she's distracted."

"Buddy, with respect, is that wise?" Rainbow asked warily. "We don't have details on what happened, how powerful the target is, even if that's all that's waiting down there."

The rest of the squad waited as Cipher stared at Rainbow for several long seconds, their expressions unreadable behind their helmets.

"I know what's down there," He eventually stated. "My daughter, and she's in many kinds of trouble. If I'm wrong...Cover me."

He braced himself and hopped over the edge, Flash Sentry taking off at the same moment and following him down. Rainbow sighed to herself before launching into a hover and picking up Healing Wave, firmly gripping under the unicorn's forelegs before flapping over the edge and dropping into a quick fall. While it did make sense to try and nip any potential danger in the bud, she had a gut feeling that there was something seriously off about the situation. A quick glance down showed Flash flaring his wings out to slow his descent at the last second before dropping Cipher into a textbook landing.

"Sunset!" Cipher shouted even as he completed the landing, his right foreleg buckling slightly but staying upright and straightening out.

As Sunset turned to face him, Rainbow took the opportunity to bring her descent back under control and land Wave behind their target, keeping herself in the air. With Aurora running from his position on the road to join Cipher and Flash it was now five against one. Most ponies would consider that good odds but everypony present knew they could afford to take no chances in any risky situation.

"No. No no, no. Not another one..." Sunset said quietly. Her whole body was shaking slightly and as she slowly turned in a circle to see she was surrounded it was clear there was something seriously wrong with her. Her eyes were unfocused as though staring at something a hundred miles away and her movements were extremely twitchy, like she was swatting at something invisible on her. It was almost like she hadn't registered their presence at all.

"It's okay, it's me," Cipher continued, undoing the latch on his mouthplate and opening it just enough for her to recognise his muzzle and voice before closing it again. "I just want to talk to you, Sunny."

"I need calm, need to fight. I can't fight. Can't stop it. Mind is like ice, freezing me up. It's so dark." Sunset replied, taking some shaky steps toward the rock face and leaning against it, shaking her head quickly.

Rainbow could only watch in confusion, struggling to make any sense of what was being said. Sudden sounds of rockfall from behind drew her attention and she quickly looked backward while everypony else remained focused on their target. The tension bled away as she realised it was Bulwark making his own way down from above, utilising a more sloped section further up the road. She was silently thankful the whole team was ready to go again. The longer the situation dragged on, the more that gut feeling was telling her that something was about to go wrong.

"I was there, remember?" Cipher told Sunset gently as he approached her, Aurora and Wave levelling their horns in readiness. "I don't know what happened to you and Princess Luna, but we can help you."

Sunset froze at those words and shifted round to have her back to the rock, sitting down and suddenly clutching her head in her hooves. Cipher stopped and waited until she went still again before moving up to her, placing his hooves on her shoulders. Her only response was a near silent whimper. The other five ponies moved a little closer as well, Rainbow and Flash staying in the air, ready to support their leader if...When needed.

"I-I'm sorry..." She said quietly, her voice petering out as she lifted her head slightly.

"It'll be okay, Sunny," Cipher said reassuringly. "Just come back to Canterlot with us and we can fix this whole-"

"No."

Sunset's voice was suddenly a lot firmer, smoother yet cold like a blade. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened in shock on hearing it. Even through a difference voice she recognised that tone. It had belonged to the first great threat she had ever faced.

"She's sorry about me."

Cipher barely had time to register the words before a concentrated beam of aqua magic, tinged with streaks of black and dark blue, shot from Sunset's horn and hit him in the head at point blank range. The force of the attack sent him flying back several feet and crashing back to the ground in full view of the others. The front half of his helmet had been completely destroyed, shards of it leaving a bleeding gash across his face, his mane burned short. His eyes were blank and staring though, devoid of the warmth and care they had shown mere moments before.

"Commander!" Healing Wave cried in shock, her composure breaking before she could stop herself. The rest of the squad remained silent, rooted in place as they tried to absorb what they were witnessing. The only one who acted any differently was Aurora, the tip of his horn armour glowing white for a few moments before fading again.

"Nothing." He said quietly. The others didn't have to ask what that meant.

From where she was standing, Rainbow Dash let out a breath she'd been holding as the situation sank in. Her leader, one of her friends. had just been killed right in front of her. And nopony had been able to react in time. Cipher may have drilled it into everypony that staying alive on the battlefield didn't make them invincible, but to see him die like that was still one of the most harrowing things she'd ever experienced. To make things worse, the kind of power Sunset Shimmer had just displayed was beyond even the heights indicated in her intel file. The amount of magic needed to break through a magic-resistant mineral like their armour was made of was more than any unicorn could focus in the quarter second it had taken. Could this have something to do with the threat Twilight had been telling her about?

A dark chuckle drew the attention of the five survivors, each of them regaining their composure and dropping into fighting postures. Sunset had stood back up in the seconds they had been distracted and was now staring them down. Her former broken demeanour had vanished, replaced by a more imposing stance. Her gaze was cold and filled with distain. Her pupils had constricted to roughly a quarter of their usual width and were radiating a sense of intense darkness. Most worrying of all though, her cutie mark was glowing brightly. When it faded a moment later, the white haze remained around its edges and a crescent moon had appeared at its center, right where the twin suns met.

"Ahh, the irony of being free in a body named after the sun," She mused, seemingly to herself rather than to the ponies in front of her as she looked over them with a smirk. "I'm sure everypony will recognise it once the eternal night returns though. All of you, however..."

"Orders, Major?" Bulwark asked warily, taking a step backward. His words brought a new point up in Rainbow's mind. As the next highest ranked member of the squad, she was in command now. Her eyes darted from the others to Sunset, analysing the situation as quickly as she could. Even the mental training provided by her time in the Wonderbolts wasn't enough for her to think up a plan for this though.

"Fall back!" She called. The odds weren't in their favour and getting her remaining squadmates out alive was now top priority. As Aurora and Flash rushed to join up with Bulwark and Wave she dove for their opponent, aiming to distract her for a few vital seconds.

Sunset glanced up at the incoming pegasus and smirked, her horn lighting up in response. Rainbow gritted her teeth and brought her hoof down, only to hit nothing but dirt as the unicorn teleported away. Sunset reappeared right next to where Aurora was running and fired another blast of her magic immediately. Aurora saw the movement next to him and managed to bring up a shield just in time to avoid taking the hit. The force of the blast was overwhelming however and he was blown sideways off the pathway at incredible speed, screaming in panic. The sheer speed of the launch meant his body kept going near horizontally until he smashed into the adjacent mountain slope and vanished in a haze of rock and dust.

Seeing another of her friends fall like they were nothing was more than Rainbow Dash was willing to handle. She roared in anger and charged Sunset again, throwing punches, leg bucks and headbutts, each measured to keep her target off balance and wear them down. Sunset was managing to evade every attack sent her way but it was clear that she was at a disadvantage in close combat, steadily being driven backwards. If they could just keep this duel up until the rest of the squad could reach a safe distance, or even reach Canterlot, then she could pull back as well, find Aurora and get out of the area. It wasn't the best plan under any circumstance, but it was the only one she was willing to use. She couldn't let the others down any further.

Sunset snarled as she dodged a moment too late and was staggered by a blow taking a foreleg out from under her. Before any follow up attacks could land she teleported again, reappearing ten feet above Rainbow. She gripped her body in her magic to keep herself suspended before firing a rapid barrage of magic at the pegasus below. Although the majority of shots went wide, a number struck against Rainbow's back and between her wings. The weaker magic failed to penetrate the armour this time but it was still enough to break the dozens of plates protecting that section, many falling off her body and clattering against the ground.

"Not bad." Rainbow grunted as she took off before any follow up attacks could land. Sunset seemed to have a handle on her self levitation as she responded by backing away, avoiding a repeat of their previous clash.

"Do you genuinely believe that dying here, alone, will actually achieve anything?" Sunset replied in that dangerous tone she was now using.

"It takes more than you to kill me. We both know that." Rainbow countered. The more she heard that voice, the easier it was to imagine she was simply facing Nightmare Moon again and boost her confidence. It may have been in the loosest possible sense, but she had beaten her before after all.

"Hah, spoken with the confidence of a lekli. Shame it comes with the strength of a defect."

Before Rainbow could respond to that remark, a sudden beam of yellow magic shot out from somewhere underneath her and struck Sunset in the right shoulder. Even as the unicorn recoiled in pain from the hit, a streak of black crashed into her from behind and knocked her out of the air. Rainbow looked round in shock as she realised that Healing Wave and Flash Sentry had come back for her with Bulwark following close behind. The loyalty she inspired had backfired on her in this instance.

"Captain, we all need to escape!" Wave called up to her. The momentary distraction cost her as Sunset fired mid-fall, catching her in the side of the neck and destroying her armour there.

"Then go! I'm with you!" Rainbow shouted back, moving to try and flee if it meant they would too. A quick glance around showed Flash was above her and sticking close while Bulwark had spun round and was leading the run on the ground, dropping behind slightly but still giving his all.

"You...You DARE!" Sunset snapped as she landed, barely keeping on her hooves.

Without missing a beat she teleported again and reappeared in front of Wave, horn sparking as she gripped her target's neck. Normally the carbonado armour would prevent magic from gaining any purchase but the damage from before was all the opening that was needed. Wave jerked to a halt and fruitlessly started clutching at her neck, trying to angle her horn to fire back. Sunset stared back at her with a satisfied glint in her eyes before her magic twisted, a sickening crack confirming the deed was done. Her magic faded and Wave's body collapsed to the ground, a weak death rattle the only sign of life, one that faded almost instantly.

Rainbow bit back a curse at the sight as she moved skyward to get a better angle. This was why she had wanted the others to keep running. This foe was beyond them and as a result they had lost half their squad in the space of a minute. Even as she managed to overcome the shock of another loss, she could only watch as Sunset lifted her head and fired a sizeable beam of magic at Flash's position. The beam hit the rock face next to him, blasting out chunks of stone that rained down onto the roadway and forcing Rainbow to stop to avoid being caught up in them. A smaller piece hit Flash straight in the head and sent him spiralling toward the ground, seemingly knocked out cold before he crashed hard amongst the rockfall. His armour made it impossible to tell what damage he had suffered but he wasn't moving, and neither of the remaining two ponies could reach him now.

Sunset laughed coldly at the situation before teleporting again, putting herself into Bulwark's path this time. The bulky stallion was better prepared though and broke into a charge the instant he saw her. A volley of hastily fired beams failed to penetrate his chest plates before he was upon her, bringing his left side forward for a shoulder charge. It was the same move he had used to break a changeling line during the battle at Silvat and it was working again. The counter-attack hit hard and knocked Sunset clean off her hooves, throwing her off to the side and landing in an uncontrolled roll against the wall. Bulwark kept moving regardless, deciding that maintaining his momentum was more important in this situation.

Unfortunately his path was taking him straight into the rain of boulders dislodged by the attack on Flash Sentry and within moments he was being forced to slow down in order to dodge the deadly rockslide. The delay allowed Sunset to reorient herself and fire a more focused blast of her magic straight at him. With Bulwark's focus now taken up by avoiding the rocks, he failed to register the incoming attack in time and took a direct hit to the left side of his body, his armour being torn up by the hit. Even if he survived the intensity of the magic, the force of the blow threw his body into the air and flying over the edge of the cliff.

Rainbow Dash hesitated for only the briefest of moments before launching herself into a vertical dive. Although every survival instinct within her was screaming to get to safety while there was still time, she knew that she could never live with herself if she abandoned her friends in a crisis again. Not when she still had a chance to save somepony. Keeping as close to the rock as possible until she was over the cliff was less risky than flying in the open and she was still manoeuvrable enough to make the last second pull up without hitting the ground. As her body straightened up her wings came out for that last burst of speed, trusting that any attacks Sunset Shimmer directed at her in this moment could be outflown.

Right as she began to flap a whine of magic usage rang out from behind her, almost instantly followed by an agonising burning sensation in her left wing. Her body suddenly threw itself into a roll as her only her right wing actually followed through with the flap, flipping her over and spreading the burning along the secondary layers of her back armour and into her right wing. For a few moments, Rainbow realised that she hadn't been fast enough this time before the pain erupted across her entire body and the world went white. In the last moment before she passed out, she could only think of how she had failed her team, and her friends.

With a grunt of relief, Aurora managed to push aside the last of the rocks in his way and stepped into the light again, waving away some lingering dust in the air. Throwing up a maximum strength shield between himself and the mountain he had ended up embedded ten feet deep in had been enough to cushion the impact, reducing it from lethal to merely stunning. As soon as he had recovered his wits he had started to make his way out of the crater he had punched into the slope, his hopes halfway between the others being in the area so he could re-join the fight relatively fresh and them having escaped already.

The view across to the other mountain wasn't promising. From this distance not much could be made out, aside from a minor rockslide that was dropping into the steep valley between the two peaks. Aurora tried not to imagine what might have happened if his friends were caught in it. Seconds later his attention was taken up by a beam of Sunset's magic that shot his way and carved into the slope above him for a few moments, forcing him to duck back into his crash site to avoid any rocks knocked loose. When none came he moved back out, pausing at the sight of something else coming his way.

One of his squadmates, tumbling through the air at a rapid pace with no attempts to right themselves.

As his mind raced to figure out a way to slow them down through their armour he noticed that all three layers had been stripped away along their back, leaving sky blue fur exposed. Was that Rainbow Dash? Why wasn't she flying out of the situation? Aurora drove the questions from his mind and focused on what needed to be done right now. His horn lit up with a white aura that also covered Rainbow's back, using the opening in her broken armour to get underneath it and get a hold on her body. The move paid off and with some effort he was able to slow her landing down enough to come to rest next to him. He quickly checked her over, his heart sinking at what he saw.

Every inch of her armour was scorched badly. The exposed fur on her back had been withered by the heat, the skin underneath lightly burned as well. Her tail armour and the tail itself had been almost completely incinerated, only a few inches at the base surviving. The worst damage was to her wings though...What was left of them. They had both been outright destroyed by Sunset's magic, reduced to a pair of charred black stumps against her body that bled weakly. A quick check with his sensory magic confirmed that she was still alive, but her aura was weaker than usual. He didn't know just how bad it was, only that he needed to her away from the fighting.

As Aurora got up to move the two of them out the sound of teleportation behind him made him spin round and bring up his magic once again. He'd barely finished the turn before a concentrated beam crashed against his shield, forcing him to dig his hooves into the dirt for grip. Sunset had clearly decided to be thorough about this. Even now she was pouring more of her magic into the attack, forcing him to ramp up the strength he was committing to the shield in turn. Even through the headache that was starting to form from using so much magic so quickly, Aurora knew from the files he'd read that he was at the disadvantage in this situation. Even without the power amplifier Sunset seemed to have, she was more magically adept than he was, and putting less pressure on her mind by expending magic rather than maintaining it.

Right now however, his first priority was getting the unconscious Rainbow Dash away from the line of fire. His hooves dug into the crater harder and he managed to take a step toward Sunset before moving to the side. As he'd hoped, she turned to follow his movements. The duelling unicorns slowly circled each other, trying to drag out their deadly game of attrition for as long as possible. Aurora knew that he was going to lose soon though. At this point he was having to put so much energy and focus into keeping his shield up that it was a challenge to do anything else. Not to mention he was burning through his magic reserves at an alarming rate and couldn't see how his opponent was doing through the magic dissipating against his defences. His vision was starting to go hazy and his head felt like it was about to split in two from all the energy coursing through it. Changing tactics now would hurt, but anything was preferable to this.

As soon as he was facing away from where he'd started, Aurora ended his magic and threw a hoof up to cover his eyes. Sunset's assault overwhelmed his shield within moments and engulfed him, the intense energy chewing into his armour. He grunted and staggered but managed to stay upright, praying that the attack didn't last much longer. Despite all his expectations, after several seconds the magic suddenly halted and he was able to drop his hoof and take a breath. His armour had been even more scorched than Rainbow's and was smouldering in places, but he knew that it would have been a lot worse if his visor had been damaged. Even his tail was only singed after he'd tucked it against his leg without thinking at some point.

"How? How could somepony like you survive that?!" Sunset snapped. Her body was shaking slightly from the exertion of such heavy magic use but worryingly, she still looked like she could go for another round.

"My father," Aurora panted. In contrast he was almost completely drained mentally, the strain affecting him physically too. Standing, breathing and talking all at once was a challenge and his vision was a haze. "Shield magic, is his specialty."

Sunset stared him down for several moments before a grin spread across her face. Then she laughed. A cold, mocking laugh of victory that rang in Aurora's ears. He understood the reaction: It was because that had been his secret to survival, a magic specialty passed down his family. With the current situation, that secret would be useless if she decided to kill him...When she decided to kill him. As he tried to steady himself for the inevitable final stand, his ears twitched at a new sound. The communication magic in his ear armour, damaged and full of static, but audible.

"-sh! Kid! Inc...g!"

It took a moment to register in his exhausted mind but then he realised; That was Flash Sentry's voice!

Aurora looked back toward the other mountain in time to see Flash rocketing toward his his position, still fully armoured, seemingly no worse for wear despite whatever had been happening. Sunset noticed his look and turned herself, just in time to be tackled with the force and intensity of a torpedo. The momentum sent the two of them flying into the crater Aurora had made, the fight moving out of sight.

"Flash!" Aurora called weakly, pushing himself into stepping forward with energy he didn't realise he had left.

"I saw your magic when I woke up," Flash called, clearly fighting for his life in the tight confines. "Listen, don't worry about me. If Rainbow dies then we lose our best line of defence. Get her out of here! NOW!!"

As much as he was torn between the two ponies he needed to help, Aurora knew that he had a point. Rainbow might be dying even now and the Elements of Harmony would need her help. He kept going on shaky hooves and reached her body. It took all his strength to get her on his back and the fact they were nearly the same size didn't help. He could hear the sound of magic fire erupting from the battle behind him but couldn't bring himself to look back. With every last ounce of his remaining magic he put his destination to the forefront of his mind and teleported the two of them out.

It was hard to tell if they'd even arrived with how unfocused his eyes were but after a few moments they cleared enough to show three figures ahead and above. One white, one purple, one dark blue. Without anything left in him he could only just force himself to address the princesses before exhaustion overtook him.

"Your highness...Mission failed..."