Umbral Souls

Sunset petrified as her blood felt like it froze inside her veins as the decayed aberration came for her and her friends, leaving swathes of darkness trailing behind it like smoke that exhumed from its three mouths and the many gaps in its makeshift body. By all accounts the timber wolves reassembling themselves in their sicklier state they had been it should have been possibly, but being able to combine themselves into their larger gestalt form they’d been known to take when facing odds they could not tackle with strength of numbers?

But what terrified Sunset the most was the smog-like mist that bled through any gap between the seams of each individual piece and poured from its mouth like vapory froth, as well as the three pairs of eyes its three heads exhibited. Completely white and bereft of anything resembling life or… anything. Those traits were just like those of the husks that attacked her in her nightmare.

-

From her peripheral vision Rainbow Dash saw Rarity covering her face with her arms akin to cowering, but at the same time used her Equestrian power to generate a large diamond as a barrier in front of her. Rainbow and the rest immediately huddled behind the makeshift shield, hoping its seemingly diamond-like durability would stop the incoming monstrosity. Unless it would tip it over and squash the seven of them underneath- Seven?

She heard Twilight calling out to Sunset who’d remained in place, looking at the creature with an expression of horror, paralyzed in fear. Rainbow could not believe Sunset Shimmer of all people to succumb to such a predicament: Given the red-head’s history with magic, both for good and ill, Rainbow had always known Sunset Shimmer as steadfast and brave.

With only seconds to act, she was just about to rush out to snag the catatonic Sunset out of the way of the timber monstrosity’s closing-in jaws when Pinkie suddenly wheeled around Rarity’s barrier spinning a… piece of taffy in her hand?

“Surprise, Twiggy!” the pink girl blurted and with one fluid motion and impeccable accuracy, threw the length of taffy that became ensnared around the monster’s left foreleg like a makeshift bola.

The explosion that followed took off “Twiggy’s” entire leg, its weight sending it careening to its side and collapsed, sliding right towards Rainbow and the rest behind Rarity’s shield with a rumble. The girls all took off running to the left, narrowly avoiding the abomination as it skidded several more feet into a halt.

As Twilight ran up to Sunset and began to gently shake her, Rainbow warily eyed the monster, seeing how the black smoke continued emanating from its otherwise inert body.

“Come on, Sunset, what’s gotten into ya?!” she heard Applejack, glancing towards everyone else as they huddled around Sunset, the farmer shaking the still tranced Sunset roughly at the shoulders.

Rainbow noticed how the maimed timber abomination’s body began to rumble, its right-most head peering over the side of its body, the hollow eyes making it difficult for her to pinpoint whether it was eyeing her, or everyone else. With a rattling roar, the creature got back on its remaining three legs, Rainbow tensing to run when the monster charged, albeit lopsidedly, towards her friends.

Rainbow saw as everyone scattered; Pinkie, Flutershy, and Applejack who was pulling Rarity along by her wrist running towards the left, while Spike and Twilight, whom pulled Sunset along, to the right, closer towards Rainbow’s position. The monster let loose a cacophonous trio of its rattling bellows as it veered to go after Twilight, Spike and Sunset, skidding on its legs along the ground, almost toppling on its side again before chasing after the two.

Rainbow clenched her fists as she ran towards the right, going around Sunset, Twilight and Spike and closing in on the lumbering timber beast. Gritting her teeth in less than the split second it took her, she leapt at the creature’s left head and struck it in rapid successions with a super-sped bicycle kick, having the strange urge to let out a most peculiar ululation.

With her sheer speed, combined with the force she placed into each strike, the monster’s left head was completely decimated into a series of splinters. The creature, or as she now preferred to refer to it; Twiggy, collapsed its weight on its good foreleg. Rainbow landed gracefully close to it, boastfully crossing her arms and, seeing as no-one was looking, gave it the finger.

Her moment of victory was short-lived when Twiggy raised its two remaining heads, the area where its third one was merely a gaping hole frothing with the same black smog permeating its body, and howled, sending bursts of the strange substance in gouts, including from the headless hole, blasting Rainbow Dash.

The gout sent Rainbow reeling away the moment it touched her. She stumbled uncontrollably and collapsed onto ground. Her body curled up into a fetal position, her lips quivering as an indescribable coldness overtook her body. Her mind grew hazy, feeling unable to think clearly as she shivered.

In what felt longer than it seemed, the haze began to lift, her senses restoring to their usual acuteness while feeling returned to her body one again. Her thoughts ran a mile in her mind as they resurfaced. She managed to sit up, still shivering from whatever had just struck her. Her mind snapped back into focus hearing the screams of Twilight and Sunset.

Twiggy continued its pursuit, the girls having the good sense to swerve in varying directions to keep the more cumbersome timber beast from catching up to them, leaving Spike looking uncertain what to do as he himself ran along, being virtually no match for something so large. Given Rainbow’s experience trying to work out with the two, she knew they would not last long, especially the more bookish Twilight. She could see Applejack, letting loose a battle cry as she carried a hefty stone over her head, rushing after the beast with Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy in tow, the farmer’s magically enhanced strength allowing her to bear the weight without slowing down.

Rainbow rose back to her feet, feeling the rush of her blood warming her chilled extremities once more. She dared not risk getting too close to Twiggy again, seeing as whatever the dark smog was that filled its body; it was dangerous. If she hadn’t backed away, she didn’t doubt the coldness could have killed her where she’d stood.

Applejack caught up to Twiggy and with a roar hurled the stone at the persistent beast. It broke through the monster’s rotted wooden hull, leaving another pitch-black hole and seemed to stun it just for a moment as it continued in its pursuit of Sunset and Twilight. Rarity in a brilliant bit of subtlety conjured a diamond disk underneath the beast’s hind leg, only to yank it out in order to trip it. The abomination did not relent or shift its focus.

No matter how persistent they were in their courageous attempts at trying to get Twiggy to go after them, it would go on pursuing only Twilight and Sunset. The two suddenly split apart in different directions, Twilight managing to get some eight more feet before tripping and collapsing, whilst Twiggy slid and swerved to chase after Sunset. It was then when Rainbow remembered the shard of light that Sunset had been carrying, the glow managing to breach through the gaps in her fist even from this distance.

It’s going after the light! Rainbow realized, mentally patting herself on the back. A cunning plan formulating in her mind, she bolted in the direction of Sunset and Twiggy.

Rainbow sped up next to Sunset and in one brisk motion managed to unfurl Sunset’s hand and take the shard into her own. “Mind if I borrow this?” she blurted before darting away from Sunset, holding the fragment between her index finger and thumb to let Twiggy know she had it.

Indeed, Twiggy once again skidded against the ground before rushing, almost futilely, after her, what with her having already covered some hundred feet or so and it trying to lumber (she snorted) on only three legs. Rainbow held out her hand, taunting the monster with the shard in her hand, before speeding away backwards, able to catch a look at the rainbow streak she emitted before correcting her direction and running at the far end of the fields over a mile away.

Not even winded, Rainbow leaned against a tree, looking at the fragment with renewed intrigue, seeing as she had some time before Twiggy would catch up to her. After the downright horrifying experience with the dark smoke, it felt like the light of the fragment, which felt pleasantly warm against her hand, describing the feeling akin to relaxing in a warm, soothing bath, had completely chased away any residual cold and haziness that had persisted in her body.

Rainbow looked up to see the clumsy, snarling outline of Twiggy approaching. She shuddered just, and just, slightly at the haunting white orbs that were its eyes. She shrugged casually, placing the fragment in her pocket, which glowed through the fabric, before leisurely stretching her legs. Left; once, twice. Right, once, twice. She then stretched her arms out in front, fingers threaded, palms outward, before calmly raising them above and over her head, getting up on her toes. She went further to bend her outstretched arms behind her back, straightening all the kinks in her body before limply kicking her legs.

As the timber beast came increasingly nearer, Rainbow grinned, her side facing the beast as she briskly jogged in place. “Heya, Twiggy!” she called in a condescending tone. “Ready for another go?”

Twiggy roared, pouncing towards her, its blackness frothing maws agape. With a resonant “zoom”, the creature only managed to chomp down on rainbow patterned colors.

Rainbow smirked as she ran along the edge of the tree line. Though Applejack would scold her for it; she couldn’t help but enjoy this. Glancing back at the ever persistent Twiggy, Rainbow ran just deep enough into the forest to begin zigzagging between the trees. She could hear Twiggy’s wooden frame crashing and snapping against the trees, undoubtedly causing some structural damage.

With a surprised yelp, she skidded to a halt, almost having a repeat of before when she narrowly avoided slamming into an erratic boulder in a small pocket of open space in the woods. Twiggy, now missing its right head and a few good chunks of its overall body, came crashing through behind Rainbow. She leapt out of the way, followed by a shattering burst as Twiggy slammed all its weight against the massive rock, and fell to hundreds of smoldering pieces.

Looking at the results of her rather on-the-go plan, Rainbow shrugged, and promptly took off running down the cleared path courtesy of Twiggy. Fun as it was living out a scene one would see in a modern superhero blockbuster, she needed to get back to her friends.

-

Sunset leaned her head against her knees, sitting huddled against the cold stone wall. The pain of guilt from when she’d been unable to act when the timber aberration attacked them racked at her mind. Twilight, Fluttershy and Spike huddled close beside her for warmth and comfort, but it did only little to ease the fears plaguing her mind regarding the very nature of the monster. A monster that was probably still chasing after Rainbow Dash after she took off with the shard.

She looked up forlornly. Still no sign of the rainbow blur anywhere. Applejack was back to pacing while Rarity leaned uneasily against the same wall, rubbing her bare arms from the cold night air. Pinkie tried to rectify this by huddling up to Rarity, the fashionista managing a slight giggle.

“How do you think she’s doing out there?” asked Sunset, holding onto her knees tightly out of concern and from the cold like Rarity, wishing she had adorned her jacket instead of her studded vest.

“If Rainbow has any sense; she’d toss that dang pebble and skedaddle back here pronto,” said Applejack.

“No!” Sunset blurted, responding almost without thinking, eliciting looks from the other girls.

“Why the heck not?” Applejack asked, brows furrowed. “You don’t wear a bullseye unless yer’ looking to get shot.”

Sunset looked up incredulously at the farm girl, “S-she can’t! That shard is tied to whatever is going on, we can’t get rid of it!”

“You saw it yourself, Sunset,” Applejack retorted. “That timber thing was on you like hornets until Rainbow took it from ya!”

Sunset felt strangely angry. Holding onto the shard did make her a target, she did not deny, but at the same time simply having the shard with her gave her a sense of peace and comfort. She could have sworn since parting ways with it that the world felt colder than it did when she had it. And the fact that she’d found the shard under a statue of her mentor back in Equestria might have also formed some inexplicable desire for it.

“That same shard was in my dream, before I was swallowed by the darkness. But when I saw the timber… thing, I saw that very same darkness as the things in my dreams…”

“Sunset, ya can’t keep usin’ a dream to make your decisions,” said Applejack, headstrong as ever. “You made no mention of timber wolves, for one.”

“Applejack does have a point,” said Twilight, rubbing her shins from the goosebumps lining her body, when she suddenly reeled away slightly from Sunset looking at her in discontent. “Not that I’m saying your own observation don’t have merit.” Sunset couldn’t stay mad at Twilight.

“At the very least, it seemed to keep us from freezing…” muttered Fluttershy, shivering slightly as she held the hem of her teal dress tightly against her chilling legs.

“That would also be a fine argument on not tossing it!” Twilight concurred.

The sound of a distinct “zoom” closing in on them elicited everyone to stand with anticipation, which they’d managed only after Rainbow Dash came speeding in from the distance, her rainbow streak accented with a hint of gold as she came to a skidding halt before them. She looked uninjured, unperturbed and her mere presence seemed to carry with it an aura of warmth.

“I took care of Twiggy!” she proclaimed, puffing her chest with her hands pressed to her waist in triumph.

Indeed, as soon as the rainbow-haired athlete returned, the air around them began to feel warmer. They could still feel the nip in the night air, but otherwise it felt tolerable again. Rainbow produced the shard from her pocket and presented it to Sunset. She responded by hugging Rainbow Dash, tightly, as thanks for her quick thinking on distracting the timber aberration, but for also not doing what Applejack had suggested just then.

“Rainbow, you magnificent pain in the… tuckus,” said Sunset in praise.

Rainbow’s eyes darted from side to side from Sunset’s jovialness, “…You’re not gonna kiss me, are you?”

Sunset chuckled, “In your dreams,” as she released Rainbow and took the shard from her hand.

Applejack, though undoubtedly relieved, gave Rainbow a questioning look. “So, what did ya do that makes ya think “Twiggy” isn’t goin’ to be after us again?”

Rainbow smiled smugly at Applejack with crossed arms, “Well let’s just say he’ll be having problems picking up the pieces.”

Pinkie let out a vociferous “Ohhhhh” as Applejack raised a brow in confusion, “Say what now?”

Sunset held the shard in a closed hand, “Rainbow, I’m not kidding about how grateful I am that you didn’t throw the shard away. I get it, AJ, that you think this thing is dangerous, but I just know it that it’s going to help us in the long run.”

“Wait, what?” Rainbow asked, cocking a brow at Applejack. “You were wishing I’d toss it?”

Applejack held up her hands, “Now-now, it was only a suggestion, Ah-”

“I get it, I’m not the most…” Rainbow cut in, only to falter when she furrowed her brow. “I’m not the most…?”

“Patient?” suggested Rarity.

“Considerate?” asked Fluttershy.

“Agreeable?” Spike chimed it.

“Prudent,” said Twilight, raising a finger.

Rainbow shrugged, “Eh, that. Point is, I think I get what’s been eating at Sunset. This darkness she’s been on about.”

Sunset’s eyes widened in realization. When Rainbow performed her physics-defying bicycle kick on… guess they were now calling it Twiggy now, she remembered when it expelled the thick, smog-like gouts of darkness and how Rainbow had seemingly been engulfed. She grabbed Rainbow by the shoulders, staring at her intently.

“Rainbow, when that smoke touched you; what happened to you?”

Rainbow gently brushed Sunset’s hands off her, pursing her lips in contemplation. “Well, it was cold for one,” Rainbow began, but soon seemed to have difficulty.

Sunset noticed the unease creep into the athlete’s face; she did not need that many new details, she instantly realized what Rainbow was talking about, but she, they needed the others to listen, to understand what it was that Sunset felt was lurking somewhere in this world. She held up her palm with the fragment. The radiant glow seemed to have an effect as Rainbow’s features began to relax. The sense of dread could still be seen in her cerise eyes, but the focus was returning. Rainbow took a deep breath, her shoulders relaxing, with closed eyes she brought her hand to her geode.

“It was cold, and draining, like something just sucked the life out of me,” Rainbow reiterated, Sunset looking at her with encouragement, giving the athlete an empathetic nod. “And I began to forget… Like, I forgot who I was, who you were, stuff I have in my head twenty-four seven.”

Sunset and Rainbow looked among their friends, the newfound rapport between the two about this world seemed to do its job convincing the rest. Fluttershy looked down uneasily, a slight whimper escaping her lips, to which an uneased Twilight put a hand on the shy girl’s shoulder, her free hand grasping at her own geode for strength.

“Like what Sunset said back before the quakes hit: I couldn’t breathe, I lost feeling all over, and…” Rainbow grimaced, “If I hadn’t backed away, I’m sure I would have been dead right then and there.”

Applejack walked up to the two, looking apologetic. “Alright, you convinced me. Ah’m sorry about what Ah said just then. Ah was only lookin’ out for everyone else. You know that,” the farmer said, looking at Rainbow in particular from her recounting of her experience.

“There’s one more thing;” said Rainbow, putting a hand under Sunset’s in emphasis, “while I was able to recover, when I was holding onto this thing; I felt back to a hundred percent. No matter what it is, Twiggy seemed dead set on getting it.”

“Until he fell to pieces!” Pinkie chimed in.

“Until he fell to pieces,” Rainbow concurred.

“Well, in that case,” said Applejack, who promptly began huddling everyone through the ajar gates of the village. She then pulled them shut, slid their bar in between and began to pile various heavy objects against them, consisting of some barrels and a few crates she found strewn about. “In case ol’ Twiggy decides he’s not quite in pieces just yet,” she finished, dusting off her hands.

“Good thinking, Applejack,” Sunset nodded in approval. “If it’s still able to reassemble, this might cause it to break apart all over again.”

“Still kind of iffy, given that the last things he crashed into were a few dozen trees and a big rock,” Rainbow added. “It was a really big rock.”

“An erratic?” asked Twilight in strangely eager curiosity.

“It still begs the question though,” Sunset intervened, looking around quizzically. “How did those timber wolves pull themselves together in the first place? They were pretty much drained at the time they attacked us in numbers; they should have stayed in pieces at that point or at reassembled to their normal forms.”

“What do you think happened?” asked Fluttershy, a tone of sadness in her voice, given her natural rapport with animals. Timber wolves may have been mostly plant matter, but Sunset figured they had some animal in them given their predatory behavior.

“Well, I have theories. Foremost that whatever that smog was coming from its body, it might have something to do with the darkness I felt in my dream.” She looked over at Rainbow, “And what struck Dash.”

“So now the better question is: Where did it come from?” Twilight added, a hint of unease in her voice.

“We should probably discuss this further when we’ve got shelter,” said Applejack. “Get a fire goin’, maybe lay low a bit. Has Princess Twilight responded yet?” Sunset shook her head, her diary not having chimed and shook since their trek down from the church. “Right,” said Applejack glumly. “Well, we better find a place that’s easy to defend to hunker down in.”

“Hold on, hush!” Spike interjected, perking an ear, eyes narrowing as he focused on something the rest couldn’t hear.

Sunset hunched down beside him and as softly as possible asked, “What is it, Spike?”

Spike ignored everything for but a moment, seeming to switch between perked ears, before nodding forward, “Over there, I hear something.”

He indicated a building a short way down from the gates. It was a simple square design with battlements running along the top, each corner embossed with a guard tower. Possibly a barracks, what with its vicinity to the gates, which themselves were framed by an abandoned inn, based on the sign hanging over the door and its very rustic design with a thatch roof, opposite of which looked to be an abandoned stable. The latter only added to the questions in Sunset’s mind, seeing as she was still confused about the presence of the equine Celestia statue in the church, added with the timber wolves, a species she knew for a fact was endemic to Equestria.

“Any idea what it is, Spike?” asked Twilight, kneeling beside her companion whom continued to listen further.

“It sounds like… banging,” said Spike.

“Banging?” asked Rarity. “By any chance if couldn’t elaborate a bit on that?”

“Like someone’s hitting something, repeatedly, regular pattern. Metal on metal definitely.”

“We should check it out,” said Rainbow. “Maybe there’s someone here who could help us.”

“Either that or a headbanging zombie,” added Pinkie with a giggle, which went mostly ignored.

“In either case,” said Applejack, looking around before finding a plank of wood strewn on the road. “Might need something a little somethin’ extra, just in case,” she emphasized, tapping her makeshift weapon against her hand. “Lead the way little fella.”

Spike led the group towards the barracks with Applejack closest behind, a pair of banners hanging above its doors. Applejack grunted when the doors only barely budged. She looked back at everyone, Sunset glancing at Rainbow holding a palm out and punching down on it. Applejack nodded, to which she bust the doors open with a single thrust kick, the snapping of wood indicating that she just split the bar holding them shut.

The doors creaked on their hinges as the party made their way inside, bringing them to a hallway perpendicular to the door, the white stone wall in front of them adorned with a scone bearing a lit torch that bore a golden flame on it. Sunset eyed the torch in wonder, the light feeling the same as that from the shard. Spike was correct; the sound of rhythmic, metallic clanging emanating from somewhere within the barracks.

Going by their experience so far, the group wordlessly agreed to stick together, making their way to the right, Spike warily leading the way, skulking beside the wall with Applejack close behind, plank in hand. They rounded a corner, ignoring an adjacent door that likely led to the guard tower on that specific corner. Spike raised a paw towards the end of the hall, another torch scone, this also holding a torch of golden fire attached to the wall, and there was yet another further down. Past that came a flight of stairs down to another door. As they descended, the clanging came increasingly louder, barring the occasional pause before it would begin again.

The door to the underground level was not locked like the entry to the barracks. Here the clanging reverberated clearly off the stuffy walls, another torch sconce lighting their way to a door along the left wall of the hallway.

Spike nodded towards the door, head held low. Applejack pressed an ear to the door, further confirming with a nod that whoever, or whatever was making that noise was just behind it. She grabbed the handle, everyone tensing as the farmer girl nodded in rhythm to the clangs: Once, twice, three!

Applejack threw the door open and rushed in, Spike and Rainbow Dash following immediately after with a battle cry. As Sunset hurried to follow them, she pulled herself to a halt against the door frame when she saw Applejack skid to a stop, Rainbow colliding with her, the two almost collapsing, whilst Spike just looked very uncertain about the intended charge, one paw off the ground.

“Well, now this is a surprise,” came a low, slightly gravelly voice, carrying with it a distinct accent Sunset could not quite identify.

Entering the room more courteously than their more abrasive friends, Sunset beheld a rather capacious room with all the walls being adorned with possibly the biggest assortment of weapons she’d ever seen, putting even Canterlot museum to shame. She could spot swords and axes of varying designs, polearms and spears, both elegant and robust, a few shields of differing shapes, and even what looked to be a katana, still housed in its hilt and strange daggers with the grip parallel to the width of the blades. Overall, the selection was impressive, both in variety, but also the clear anachronisms between a standard cruciform sword and one particular rapier that she took a strange fascination to.

“I was not expecting company…” came the gravelly voice. “And y’ certainly don’t look to be with the Hunters.”

Beyond a sturdy wooden table, in front of a flaming hearth, standing slightly hunched over an anvil was a human man. He was tall, well over six feet with a robust build to match that Sunset found close to matching that of Bulk Biceps at Canterlot High. His skin had a muted grey tone, had a thick brow with bushy eyebrows and a disheveled mane of silvery-white hair, with a full beard. He was wearing a pair of thick leather gloves, with one holding onto a hefty hammer, while the other brandished a pair of tongs grasping a piece of glowing hot metal against the anvil. A thick leather apron adorned his chest, with the image of an anvil embroidered on it, with what looked to be depictions of sparks flying off it. He also wore grey, weathered trousers and a pair of hefty leather boots.

“Oh, put that stick away, lass,” he said, sounding unamused. “I’ve got my wits, and y’ don’t seem like bandits to me. If y’ were, y’d found this here hammer in your noggin,” he added, letting out a hearty laugh.

Applejack idly put the plank down, herself looking equally surprised at their discovery. Sunset beckoned Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rarity in, Fluttershy meekly closing the door behind them.

The burly blacksmith left the glowing piece of metal atop his anvil, “Hunh, certainly not with the Hunters. They usually send only three my way.” He cleared his throat slightly, “Well met. My name is Anvil Sparks, but my friends just call me Andre. I was in charge of the armory here under Commander Firebrand.”

Sunset looked amongst her friends. Rarity shrugged her shoulders unsurely, Rainbow seemed more focused on the various weapons, no doubt maintained or crafted by this Andre. “Uh, greetings,” Sunset spoke up, trying to sound the part, but undoubtedly failed with trying to match whatever strange time period this world was in. “My name is Sunset Shimmer, and these are my friends; Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and this is Spike.”

Andre’s bushy brows rose, standing in silence as he scrutinized his new guests, “Y’r parents must think the highest of y’ t’ name y’ all after the Scions.”

“Ah beg yer pardon?” asked Applejack, casting an utter look of confusion at everyone else. “The Scions?”

Andre walked up from his work. Approaching the table, he took a closer look at everyone. Sunset Shimmer instantly wondered what would happen if she were to use her empathic telepathy on the burly blacksmith, but she couldn’t be sure if they could trust him, and not wishing to antagonize him. She simply eyed the giant of a man as he pulled up a chair and seated himself.

Under his bushy eyebrows, Andre was looking most intently at Applejack and Rainbow Dash, taking a cursory glance in the direction of what could have been either Rarity or Fluttershy. The blacksmith leaned forward, supporting his head against his upheld hands, going over the group in deep thought.

“Hmm, the two of y’ are very much the spitting image of Duchess Applejack and Lord Rainbow Dash, no doubt,” he said, eliciting further confusion from the two. “But this shouldn’t be possible. As far as everyone knows, those two fell to the darkness, just as the other four.”

“Duchess?” asked Applejack, looking at Rainbow who seemed equally flummoxed.

“I’m a lord in this world?!” Rainbow Dash blurted out.

Thinking that the confusion reverberating throughout the room would get them nowhere, Sunset Shimmer slid back the only other chair present at the table and seated herself directly across from Andre. Putting her hands together atop the table, Sunset took a deep breath, clearing her thoughts, compiling the best form of query in her mind.

“Listen, Andre,” she began, looking at their new acquaintance, “I can imagine you might be very confused about what might be going on right now.”

“And how we definitely did not mean to break your door down!” Pinkie chimed, only for Rarity to slap a hand over her mouth, letting out with a nervous chuckle with an equally uneasy grin to match.

Darting her eyes with pursed lips, Sunset inhaled through her nose and sighed. “As I was saying: It might be hard to believe, but given your mention of our names, and the insight about my two friends behind me,” she emphasized pointing a thumb behind her, “we are from another world where most people have a counterpart, or another them, living a different life.” She squeezed her hands together, “I hope that I don’t sound mad just saying this.”

Andre sat up, arms crossed, still looking among the group. He scratched his chin in thought, some soot from his work at the forge becoming dislodged. The silence, broken only by the crackling of the fire within the hearth-turned-forge, lasted for a good long while. Sunset felt uneasy; wondering how well versed such a world that was existing in an earlier time period from their own would perceive concepts like parallel universes.

Andre lowered his head, a thoughtful hum emanating from his throat. As the silence began to feel like it would begin pulling at her sanity, the blacksmith looked up from his contemplation, “I am but a simple blacksmith, but I am not ignorant about the forces of magic. I will not deny; the two of y’ look exactly like the Duchess and Lord, as well as her looking very much like Duchess Rarity of Geodis.”

Amidst Rarity gasping in dramatic awe at the mention of her being a duchess in this reality, Sunset could breathe a sigh of relief at the blacksmith’s words.

“If you were to pardon my curiosity, but how did y’ lot find yourselves in Equis?” Andre asked.

“That’s what this realm is called?” asked Sunset in her impromptu role as interdimensional ambassador.

“Aye, the Holy Land of Equis, ruled by the Divine Equines of the Sun and Moon. Or at least it used to be…” Andre explained, closing his eyes with a hint of sorrow in his voice.

Sunset’s eyes widened, “As in Celestia and Luna? Like the statue in the church up on the hill?”

“Um, aye. That was the local church for the Sect of the Sun. There is also a church for the Sect of the Moon here in the village.” Andre stood up and walked over to a draw adjacent to the table. He produced a rolled-up parchment that he unfurled over the table.

Sunset looked over the slightly faded map, Twilight and the rest leaning over her to see it themselves. The land on the map seemed almost entirely enclosed within a ring of mountains, the western half of it colored in a creamy yellow and the eastern half in a light blue, the colors separated by a jagged line running from north to south. At the north-east end the mountains unveiled into a region marked as “Dragon Lands” that expanded off the borders of the map, possibly a dimensional counterpart to the one from Equestria. The south-west area had the mountains open to a coast leading to a “Poseic Ocean”. At the very center of the land was a city, titled in bold calligraphy as “Anor Equis”, no doubt the capital, while two other cities stood out prominently; one directly east from Anor Equis marked “Moonlink”, and one quite a way south-west marked “Sunlink”.

This land seemed to take a very stringent dualism to its naming conventions and how the land was divided based on the motifs of the celestial bodies mirroring the princesses of Equestria, or the Divine Equines as Andre had referred to them. Basing it on what Andre mentioned about the church to Celestia and the one for Luna being within the village walls, Sunset assumed they were in the blue half, or Lunar Province, as opposed to the Solar Province. The province was divided into three holdings, most of it being taken up from the south by the Twilight Mire, north of which was Geodis, the land of which Rarity’s counterpart was allegedly a duchess. Curiously the Dragon Lands were also colored blue.

On the yellow side a quarter of the northern half was dominated by forest, unsurprisingly dubbed Everfree Forest, much like in both Equestria and the human world. South of that was the Sunrise Highlands where the city of Sunlink was located, and south from that to the coast bordering the Twilight Mire was Celestial Coast.

“Mind you, this map is no longer accurate, following the upheaval two years ago,” said Andre informingly. “Well over half the Celestial Coast is now sunk to the Poseic Ocean when the moon was pulled as close as it now is,” he emphasized trailing a finger along an estimated area, “And if rumors hold true; a chunk of Everfree Forest withered away.”

Twilight looked up from the map, “The Great Upheaval?”

Andre closed his eyes somberly, “Aye. The night when the Divines themselves perished…”

Sunset’s head bolted upright at the blacksmith’s words, “P-perished?! Celestia and Luna?!”

“Aye. And ever since then the only light we’ve had is the moon staring down on us in this unending night, without the Celestial Sisters to raise and lower the sun and moon no more.”

Celestia and Luna in this world… Were dead? So this Equis had been shrouded in night for several years, which brought only one crucial question to Sunset’s mind. “Andre, we implore you; tell us everything you know about what’s happened,”

The blacksmith sighed solemnly as he rose to go back to the draw to fetch a leather-bound book. Setting the somewhat large tome before her, Andre visibly pondered for a moment as Twilight reached out to open the book. The pages were written in an archaic calligraphy, some letters seeming different, but otherwise seemed to match that of the language of Equestria and their own, albeit with slightly different grammatical styles. On some pages were extravagantly portrayed pictures, the first coming across as a dark void with a single pale blue flower, twisted and frail, alone in the darkness.

“I’ve never been a man of books and tomes,” said Andre in confession, “But there is no-one alive in this land who doesn’t know the tale of the Divines and how they chased away the Umbra.”

-

Long ago the land was shrouded in the primordial darkness. Within was no warmth, no harmony, no hope, only its monstrous children of terror and domination.

From within the darkness, though weak and frail, life blossomed, only for the children of the darkness to stomp it down, devour it, leave it cowering in fear.

Born from its very abyss, but shunning its nature, humanity rose to oppose the darkness that bore them, but the children of darkness tore them down.

From the heavens descended the first light. The darkness hated it. Its children cowered from its touch. Humanity embraced the light, and welcomed it in their hearts.

The darkness sought to devour humanity for their insolence. While humanity’s hearts were strong, the darkness consumed their strength and their hope. They prayed for salvation from their suffering.

From the light above, its daughters heard humanity’s plight and answered their prayers. The Divines descended upon the dark, with their heavenly host.

The darkness lashed out, ferocious, unrelenting. The Divine Sisters and their host fought back, humanity at their side.

Within the darkness, its father stirred, the cruel Umbra, with a hunger to devour all. Umbra reviled the light, and would swallow it.

With humanity’s hope and love, the Divines prevailed, and the darkness cowered. Light chased the darkness away, to the deep places of the land.

So long as humanity had hope, gifted with the spark of their host, the Divines would shield them from the dark. With seven Scions at their side, the world overcame darkness, and fear and domination crumbled to harmony.

-

Sunset could see how Andre’s reciting of the lore of the land, coupled with the tome he provided had Twilight ecstatic as she sped through page after page. While Sunset could admit that knowing the somewhat similar, though different origins of this new world. The tale seemed to have roused strong emotions in Andre the blacksmith, for Sunset could spot a thin line cutting through the soot on his cheek. Sunset permitted Andre a moment to compose himself, for she still had many crucial questions to ask of him.

“Then…” she paused, collecting her own thoughts, “what caused the destruction of the Divines?”

Andre looked down upon the map, clenching his hand tightly around a closed fist atop the table, “It was when our fair Lady Luna fell to the darkness of the Umbra. Y’ see, while the Divines banished the dark into the depths of the land, some of its children remained. Those monsters can’t stand the light of Celestia’s sun, but could just about tolerate the light of Luna’s moon, but still cowered from it in their pits. I don’t know the exact details, but I understand that Lady Luna thought she could make peace with the creatures of the darkness, to perhaps make them eventually be able to live in the light of the moon in harmony with the rest of us.”

Sunset felt the uneasy anticipation of where this story was going, knowing the parallel history of Equestria and its Luna.

“Lady Luna disappeared. But then she came back, but not as Luna no more. She was now but a creature of Umbra, calling herself Nightmare Moon.”

And there it was. So, Nightmare Moon was responsible for the unending night, and why the moon appeared so much larger in the night sky. That still raised the question of what happened to Celestia and how she and Luna… How the Divine sisters perished.

“What happened to Celestia?” Sunset inquired, though felt about as unready to hear the fate of her old mentor’s dimensional counterpart. The horror as she’d felt when her friends had their memories of her erased.

“Lady Celestia tried to save her sister from the darkness, but in her grief she too succumbed to her own. I don’t know the details, but they say she became for the light what Nightmare Moon was to the darkness: A wild, unruly flame that would burn all before her. In their shared madness, our Fair Ladies destroyed each other.” Andre reached for something under his apron, held out an enclosed fist, unfurling it to reveal a radiant golden light emanating from it, “All we have left of the Celestials are their scattered pieces, the last lights of Equis.”

Sunset gasped, able to hear the rest of the girls’ reactions as Andre unveiled to them another glowing shard. In response, Sunset dug into the pocket inside her vest and revealed their own to the blacksmith, who looked over it in surprise.

“Ahh, y’ found one yourself too? That is fortunate; these little shards of the light are now the most valuable things in the land. They are what keeps the darkness at bay,” Andre explained.

“Ah beg yer pardon there, Andre,” Applejack interjected, “but we met this timber… wolf thing.”

“We called him Twiggy!” Pinkie Pie popped up behind her.

“Uh, yea; “Twiggy” seemed more intent on actually gettin’ at this here thing rather than stayin’ away,” Applejack elaborated.

Andre nodded, “Aye, it’s a tad tricky that way. Y’ see, with the light fading, the Umbra has begun to seep in, turning both man and beast alike into its children. Most of these creatures will cower away from the Celestials’ light, but those steeped deeper in Umbra’s touch will become strong enough that they no longer fear it, but will instead be like moths to flame and seek to snuff it out.”

“Thus, ‘swallowing the light’,” Twilight emphasized.

“That’s about it. If y’ wish t’ survive long out there, you’re going to need to make use of these shards. I’m sure y’ saw the torches I set up along the way to my workshop? Well, there’s a trick t’ it. I’ll show y’.”

Andre stood up, murmured something under his breath as he looked around. Rummaging through a bin of firewood, he returned with a handful of dried hay. He rolled up the map and set that aside on the far end of the table and put the hay on the table. He placed his shard beside it, producing his smithing hammer. Before Sunset could protest, Andre knocked the hammer against the shard, which sparked intently. The hay was struck by one of these sparks, and with a crackle it lit ablaze with a golden flame. Andre put the hammer away, revealing the shard undamaged. He promptly patted the flame out and swept the ash and cinder to the floor.

“Quite handy, eh?” said Andre with a chuckle. “These shards are pieces of the Celestials themselves; no force in this world is breaking them. When you need protection from the darkness, just use your shard to start a fire. It will keep probably most of the Umbra-Touched at bay, but be wary about the stronger ones. If y’ find more of these shards out there, y’ must keep them from being swallowed by the darkness.”

At least now Sunset was affirmed that the shard they found was important. And knowing that it was an actual piece of Celestia, it only made it feel more precious to her, like a fragment of her mentor’s essence was with her, watching over her and her friends in this alien world. Now all that remained was deciding what to do, and what they could do.

“By any chance, Andre, do you know anyone who might be able to help us?” Sunset inquired further, her hand grasping at the shard she held with renewed vigor. “We were kind of aimless coming down here from the church. You mentioned magic; is there anyone who might be able to help point us in the right direction if we were to help this world?”

Andre looked at her with an expression of surprise, his gruff features feeling softened. “Well, your best bet, if looking for those with more knowhow than me,” he chuckled, “y’ should head for Moonlink.” He rolled out the map again, indicating a spot in the northern area of the Twilight Mire.

“Now, we are here, the village of Quarter. You must go ‘round Moonshine Lake, to the west,” he ignored the snicker from Rainbow Dash. “You will find it easily, largest hold in the Lunar Province… Well, barring maybe Lapis in Geodis. You would be wise t’ go north first, where the Hunters dwell.”

“You mentioned these Hunters before,” said Sunset. “Who are they?”

“The Hunters are just that; they hunt the monsters of the Umbra. They come to me regularly when they need repairs or new arms. Y’ should seek them out first, for there’s ill tidings that Moonlink has gone foul…” said Andre forebodingly.

“Foul in what sense?” asked Applejack, perhaps her inherent sense of unbreakable honesty rubbing her the wrong way at the thought of whatever happened at Moonlink.

Andre furrowed his brow, “Scootaloo and the Hunters bring news that since the fall of the Celestials, the high priestess who watched over Moonlink went missing. Now it’s being governed by someone who cast out all those faithful to Lady Luna, leaving them to fall prey to the dangers outside the city. I reckon were you to seek aid within Moonlink, this new governance would sooner lead y’ astray rather than help y’. But Scootaloo, an upstanding lass if ever there was none: Just tell them I sent y’, and she’ll surely help.”

Sunset turned on her chair to address the others. Rainbow Dash looked startled at the mention of the name of her sister-in-spirit back home, the rest exchanging further looks of unease and confusion. And could she blame them? They’d gone their entire lives living in stability, barring her arrival and her bringing of Equestrian magic into their world. Sunset could argue to know how they felt, herself being alien to this new world, but she also had the privilege of being knowledgeable about forces shared between this world and her own. Right now, all she cared about was uncovering whatever sent them to Equis, to unravel why the darkness, this Umbra, was plaguing her dreams across the dimensional walls.

She almost missed when Pinkie Pie slid next to Andre, the blacksmith equally flummoxed as anyone else when it came to Pinkie’s sporadic presence, and produced a cupcake from out of nowhere, setting it on the table, smiling sweetly like molasses as she slid back to the group. Sunset and the rest watched as the blacksmith eyed the light-blue frosted piece of confectionery in what could best be described as barely restrained awe.

“Where’d you get that?” asked Rarity.

“Oh, I never leave home without the obligatory ‘thank-you-for-being-super-helpful’ cupcakes!” said Pinkie, smiling ever sweetly.

The blacksmith picked up the cupcake, looking it around, his eyes alight with what could best be described as wonderment. He slowly brought the confectionery to his mouth and took a bite, his mustache getting stained in the frosting. Sunset and the girls could only watch, small smiles of endearment forming on their faces seeing a tear trickle down the burly blacksmith’s cheek. A wave of happiness permeated the workshop, Andre looking like he hadn’t felt such joy in years, all from Pinkie’s small gesture of thanks.

Andre slowly consumed the cake, taking his time to savor what everyone no-doubt knew was possibly one of the tastiest things imaginable, it coming from the wizardry that was Pinkie Pie and her talent with deserts. After what felt like an eternity, Andre consumed the last morsel. The blacksmith sat in place, eyes closed in reverie, taking a deep breath and sighing in pure happiness.

The blacksmith stood up, a hint of frosting still in his mustache as he looked over his guests with a renewed strength reflected from his eyes. “Right! If you’re going to be seeking out the Hunters, you’ll be needing a means of protecting yourselves. Something better than a piece of wood!”

Sunset pursed her lips in surprise from Andre’s newfound enthusiasm, but knowing that this man had been living in a world of unending night for five years and their god-equivalents gone, Pinkie’s show of good will undoubtedly had a strong impact of hope. With Andre’s offer, the girls went to looking around the selection of armaments lining the walls.

Rainbow Dash, to Sunset’s surprise, found something to her liking quickly; a pair of cudgels. About two or so feet long, comprised of shafts made of ash wood, with about a quarter of their lengths from the tips encased in sheaths of studded metal. The rainbow-haired athlete revved them around in her hands, looking like a child during the holidays. Rainbow looked at Sunset with raised brows.

“Eh, swords are cool and all, but these things just feel closer to heart,” she said, twirling one of the cudgels. “You know, kind of like baseball bats.”

Sunset rolled her eyes with a wry smile as she went about looking for her own pick. She saw Andre busy sharpening a simple battle axe whilst Applejack stood nearby, testing the feel of a circular wooden shield on her left arm. Assuming the axe was Applejack’s choice; Sunset couldn’t help but think it suited the farm girl, given its application as a tool in addition to its more… unsavory purposes.

Sunset noticed that Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were not perusing around the selection of weapons. In the case of Fluttershy, it was understandable; conflict was the furthest thing from the animal caretaker’s nature, at least in the current context where the group might be called to… Sunset felt suddenly rather uneasy in her stomach at the thought that she would be forced to turn a weapon against someone or something.

The closest she’d ever come to actively harming someone with lethal force was during her darkest moment when she was overcome by the thirst for power. But now the act of violence could mean the difference between life and death in this new world. The thought of taking a life disgusted her, but when it came to the probability of needing to save the lives of those people most dear to her in all the multiverse, she urged herself to accept that she needed to do whatever it took to protect them.

Sunset approached the rapier she’d noticed earlier. She lifted it from its spot on the wall, feeling a tad heavier than the foils she wielded in the Canterlot High fencing club, but perfectly manageable. She inspected the hilt, which in an aesthetic sense immediately caught her fancy: Unlike the simple domed guards of the foils, this one was a true work of art. She vaguely recalled seeing pictures of old swords in books when she first took up fencing, and this sword guard was very similar to those she’d seen. The grip and guard were a gilded gold. A domed disk would curve over the knuckles, the back of the hand and fingers, like enclosing them behind little miniature shields, little holes being punctured in a pattern to reduce their weight. The most striking feature were the additional strands of curving steel that enclose around the hand, reminiscent to the likeness of a still flame, which still left plenty of room for the flexing of her wrist. It was this particular shape that Sunset thought had her enamored. The grip itself was wrapped in silvery cord, ending in a weighted pommel.

Sunset drew the sword from its hilt, the slight scraping of metal making her feel like a swashbuckling hero. Assuming a sideward stance, away from anyone else, she flicked the sword in a circular motion. It felt slightly more cumbersome, and the more rigid construction made it feel slightly less maneuverable than she’d thought, but overall, she felt that she could handle the slight weight increase. She darted forward on her feet, thrusting towards an imaginary adversary, then let forth a short flurry with just her wrist alone. In what almost felt like second nature, she slid her legs together, the rapier held straight up in front of her face, and she indulged herself in a courteous bow towards her imaginary, perforated, foe. The sudden sound of Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie clapping softly, or loudly in the case of the pink one, made her blush slightly, but bowed again, before sheathing the sword. Indeed, this would suit her well.

With that, their party was ready, with Rainbow having adorned a pair of thick leather bracers as additional protection, and Applejack stood ready, looking like the most anachronistic warrior in existence in her Stetson as she brandished her wooden shield and the freshly sharpened battle axe hanging from her belt. Andre was slightly uncertain about the four in their group who refrained from carrying weapons, but Sunset’s mention of magic, plus her confidence in Rainbow Dash and Applejack, what with their Equestrian powers, seemed to convince the blacksmith.

Sunset graciously accepted Andre’s offering of the map of Equis, and he was happy to oblige Twilight in keeping the theological tome. The blacksmith saw them on the way out into the eternal night air, the flames of the golden torches and the light of the shard in Sunset’s pocket bathing them in warmth.

“Just travel directly north-west from here and you’ll come upon Duskwood Thicket. The Hunters have made themselves home in the iron mine just a way’s inward. As long as they know you carry a piece of the light they’ll know to approach. Tell them my regards and they will trust you,” said Andre, a renewed hope emanating from his eyes. “If you find yourselves back here, know that you are always welcome. Though, uh, next time, use the back entrance.” He laughed jovially at the last remark.

Sunset heard Applejack chuckle awkwardly. Before they were to leave, Sunset approached Andre, “If you don’t mind me asking, Andre. What made you so readily trust us?”

Andre crossed his arms, a smile visible underneath his still frosting-stained mustache, “Y’ said that y’ came down here from the church to Celestia. While it may have been very hopeless these five long years, I always though myself as one of the faithful to our Fair Ladies. Perhaps the Celestials themselves brought you here to aid us in our time of need, like they did at the dawn of history.”

Sunset felt genuinely honored at how highly the blacksmith thought of them; seven strangers and their dog companion who broke into his holdings. Without thinking, Sunset put a hand to her chest and bowed to the blacksmith, bringing a hand to her newly acquired rapier, smiling in confidence. Andre bowed in return, and with that waved goodbye, wishing them luck as they set off down the cobblestone road, off on their next adventure.