Diablo III: Fall of Equestria

When the crashing stopped, Sunset carefully peeked out of her hiding place. The library was destroyed. There was no other way to put it. Books and scrolls littered the floor. Pieces of wood and glass crunched underhoof. Fortunately, the Cutie Map was still in one piece, and the mirror portal also survived. Sunset carefully picked her way through the wreckage to find Starlight sitting in the middle of a shallow crater, sobbing quietly. Sunset sat next to her and put her leg around Sunset’s shoulder. “What have I done?” Starlight sniffed. “No matter how hard I try, I keep messing up.”

“It’s okay to be mad,” Sunset said. “Keeping all that emotion bottled up isn’t good for you.”

“I know,” Starlight said and wiped her eyes. Her breath shuddered as she looked around the damage. “Twilight is going to lose her mind.”

“Probably,” Sunset agreed. “Do you feel better now?”

“No,” Starlight admitted and summoned a handkerchief to blow her nose. “If anything, I feel worse for breaking everything.”

Sunset looked back to the Cutie Map. Their cutie marks were still emblazoned over the Crystal Empire. “I finished decoding the letter from Princess Cadence,” she said.

“What does it say?” Starlight asked, blowing her nose.

Sunset frowned. “That’s what I don’t quite understand. The message says that Cadence wants Twilight to visit for a ‘personal matter,’ but doesn’t say what that is. To make matters worse, the letter is dated four weeks ago.”

“That’s right before Twilight went missing,” Starlight said.

“But Nyx said the letter just arrived,” Sunset argued.

Starlight shrugged. “A blizzard moved in, cutting off all contact with the Crystal Empire. I’m sure it just took that long for the letter to arrive.”

“It’s the middle of summer,” Sunset deadpanned. Both ponies turned to the Cutie Map. “I think it’s trying to tell us something,” she added.

“And it wants us to take Nyx with us,” Starlight muttered angrily.

Sunset sighed. “I can’t say I know what you’re feeling, but can you at least put aside your anger long enough to figure this out? I’m not saying you have to be all buddy-buddy, but it will make things easier if you aren’t trying to kill Nyx every ten seconds.”

Starlight let out a big sigh. “I’ll do my best, for Twilight’s sake.”

That was good enough for Sunset. Just then, there was a knock at the door. Startled, the two shared a look, then ran for the door. “Are you expecting guests?” Sunset asked quietly.

“Not that I know of,” Starlight whispered back.

Sunset activated her horn, but a wave of dizziness passed over her. Starlight nodded and stood to the side of the door, horn ready and waiting.

Sunset took a deep breath to calm her nerves and opened the door.

Nyx stood there, waiting patiently. “Oh. Nyx,” Sunset said. Starlight slowly peeked around the doorway and glared at Nyx. “So. Have you decided what to do?” Nyx asked and Sunset nodded her head. “We need to get to the Crystal Empire.” She stole a glance at Starlight and added, “And we need you to come with us.”

Nyx stepped inside, taking care not to step on the ponies and Sunset closed the door behind her. “How do you plan on getting there?” she asked.

“Normally we’d take the train, but the routes have been cut off due to snow,” Starlight said.

“And since it would take forever to walk there, do you have a ship?” Sunset asked. Starlight gave her a confused look.

“I do,” Nyx replied.

“Can you take us in your ship?” Sunset asked hopefully.

“I can,” Nyx said.

“Hold on,” Starlight spoke up. “The Crystal Empire is nowhere near the ocean and none of the rivers are big enough to take a boat. Why would we go out of our way to take a boat all the way north?”

Sunset’s grin spread from ear to ear. “You’ll see!”

“But first, you need to prepare for the journey,” Nyx said, putting a slight damper on Sunset’s enthusiasm. “If what you say is true, it will be very cold up north.”

Starlight glared at Nyx. “I hate to say it, but I agree with Nyx. A blizzard this time of year has to be magical in nature, and we have to prepare for the worst.”

Sunset grudgingly agreed and they spent the next hour getting ready while Nyx waited patiently at the castle. When they were done, Sunset and Starlight led Nyx a little ways out of town so they wouldn’t be bothered. Sunset could barely contain her excitement and it was starting to get on Starlight’s nerves. “Will you either calm down or tell me what’s about to happen?” Starlight exasperated.

“I’m sorry, but you’re going to love this,” Sunset gushed.

Starlight rolled her eyes in annoyance. When they were far enough from town, Sunset stopped. “This should be good enough.”

Nyx held out her hand and a little metal ball with a floating ring around it appeared. Sunset’s eyes were sparkling. “Is this your Ghost?” she asked excitedly.

“Ghost? Like a dead pony?” Starlight asked, recoiling slightly.

“No,” Nyx chuckled. “But yes, this is my Ghost John Carter.”

“Like that one guy in those stories who lived on Mars?” Sunset asked in awe.

“Finally! Someone gets it,” Nyx whispered. Not hearing Nyx, Sunset carefully got up next to John Carter. “Hey there little guy. I’m Sunset Shimmer.”

John Carter looked around nervously. “Why are we here? What’s going on? Are we in trouble? Never mind, we’re always in trouble.”

Sunset frowned. “Is he always like this?”

“Yes,” Nyx replied. “Don’t worry, you’ll learn to ignore it.”

“Like you do?” John Carter asked. “You always ignore me.”

Starlight finally found her voice. “I’m confused. What’s going on?”

“John Carter, my Ghost, is my partner and helps me out with stuff. Mostly he acts as my conscience,” Nyx said.

“I see,” Starlight said, not really getting it.

“Anyway! Let’s get going!” Sunset spoke up. Nyx nodded to John Carter and his ring split into four and started spinning. White lines appeared in front of them, and Nyx’s ship materialized. Sunset ran around excitedly, while Starlight could only stare. “Were you the one to give Twilight that book?” she finally asked.

“No, that was someone else, but I did leave a little present for Twilight,” Nyx said, looking over her ship. She did a quick walk around, making sure everything was still one piece.

“This is amazing!” Sunset shouted. “It’s so much different than Hildr’s ship. Yours is so much…newer I guess.” Nyx’s ship was also much larger than the one Hildr had. It was shaped like a letter “E” with rounded corners. The cockpit was in the middle. Engines poked out from behind the outer arms. The whole thing was painted blue with orange and yellow stripes on the sides.

Nyx sat back and rubbed her chin. “Will this one be big enough?” she thought.

“I think so, but it will be very cramped,” John Carter spoke up. The landing ramp lowered and Sunset ran up. Nyx looked down to Starlight, who still wasn’t sure how she felt about all this. “I’d like to tell you to take all the time you need, but the sooner we leave, the better,” Nyx said. Starlight was still uncertain how she felt about all of this, but walked up the ramp to join Sunset onboard. Nyx followed and went to the cockpit.

To avoid unwanted attention, Nyx pointed the nose of her ship straight up and rocketed out of the atmosphere. The two ponies were stuffed behind Nyx’s seat in a small cargo hold. Since there were no seats, they had to strap themselves in as best they could with straps. Sunset was vibrating with excitement, but her mood was dampened by Starlight’s melancholy. She reached out and gave her friend a light rub on the shoulder. “Hey. Everything will be okay.”

“Somehow I doubt that very much,” Starlight said with a sigh.

To Sunset, it seemed they had just taken off when Nyx tipped the nose over and headed back down to the planet. Ponyville and Canterlot were left far behind as Nyx steered for the Crystal Empire. The weather quickly became overcast and stormy. Soon the ship was buffeted by heavy winds and snow. The turbulence grew worse and Sunset wondered if the ship would shake itself apart. If Nyx was worried, she didn’t show it, so Sunset took some comfort in that. The shaking and bouncing caused the straps to dig painfully into their skin. Starlight’s horn glowed as she cast a small shield around herself and Sunset.

Nyx finally broke through the cloud layer and the rest of the flight smoothed out considerably. Sunset worked her jaw around and briefly wondered if any of her teeth had come loose. She unbuckled herself and nudged Starlight to do the same. The two ponies slowly crept up to the cockpit. Without taking her eyes off the indications, Nyx said, “I wouldn’t be up and about if I were you.”

“Instead you rattle us around like dice in a can,” Starlight replied grumpily.

“You knew what you were getting into,” Nyx said.

Sunset looked over the control panel and out of the forward window. “Too bad you can’t see anything through the storm. This area is supposed to be pretty this time of year.”

“How would you know?” Starlight interjected. “The Crystal Empire didn’t come back until well after you ran away.”

“That’s true, but when I came back to steal Twilight’s crown, the mirror was in the Crystal Palace,” Sunset growled.

The two unicorns glared at each other until Nyx knocked them both on the head. “Calm yourselves.”

Starlight rubbed her head and blinked her eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“You said this blizzard could be magical in nature. I’m sure that might have something to do with it,” Nyx said.

Starlight watched the thick snowflakes streak past the window. “Something’s been bothering me,” she finally said.

“What’s that?” Sunset asked.

Starlight blushed slightly and looked down at her hooves. “Back in the castle, why didn’t my magic have any effect on you?”

“But you threw Nyx out the window with your telekinesis, right?” Sunset pointed out.

“Well, yeah,” Starlight replied, “But that was the only thing that seemed to work.” Both unicorns looked to Nyx, who remained silent. When it was clear she wouldn’t comment, Sunset and Starlight retreated back to the cargo area, whispering between themselves. “Is she always like this?” Starlight asked.

“How should I know?” Sunset whispered back. “I’ve known her five minutes longer than you.”

“Didn’t you say you met somepony like her before?” Starlight asked.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Sunset exclaimed in a harsh whisper. “And besides, Nyx and Hildr have nothing in common!”

Starlight frowned. “But they’re both Guardians right?”

“And we’re both Unicorns!” Sunset nearly shouted. They quickly glanced up at Nyx, who either didn’t hear, or was ignoring them. “My point being, even though we’re both Ponies and Unicorns, we’re very different,” Sunset added.

Starlight rolled her eyes. “I get that you dummy. I thought that since you’ve had experience with Guardians, you would know if they always act that way, or just Nyx.”

“Well, Nyx IS kind of distant and aloof,” Sunset admitted.

Starlight stole another glance in Nyx’s direction and leaned into Sunset. “Don’t you find her whole circumstance odd? She shows up here in Equestria, Celestia loses her freaking mind and cuts off her head, and Equestria starts to fall apart.”

“Okay. Now you’re just making up wild accusations,” Sunset pointed out.

“Am I?” Starlight shot back. “Not to mention, she ‘magically’ shows up in the right place at the right time to rescue both of us. AND, she’s been sneaking around the castle since who knows when!”

Sunset quickly stuffed her hoof in Sunset’s face. “Shh! Do you want to make Nyx mad at you?”

“And that’s another thing!” Starlight continued, unfazed by Sunset’s interruption. “Why is she so secretive and mysterious? What is she trying to hide?”

“Well, gee, don’t you think you’d be a little wary after getting killed by ponies in a strange new world?” Sunset asked.

“Speaking of which,” Starlight added, causing Sunset to groan in despair. “How DID she do that anyway? I know there is Dark Magic that can bring back the dead, but nothing like this. Nyx acts like nothing even happened! She could be immortal for all we know!”

“Probably because death and dying is just another Tuesday afternoon for Guardians,” Sunset deadpanned.

Before Starlight’s brain could explode, Nyx spoke up. “We’re here.”

Both ponies looked toward the cockpit as the ship landed with a bump. John Carter appeared and scanned a section of the floor, causing a large bag to appear. “Oh. I wondered what happened to that,” Sunset said.

“Y-you should get dressed,” John Carter stuttered. “The wind is blowing and it’s very cold. Frostbite would be bad and painful. Can ponies even get frostbite? I wish I knew more about ponies, then I could be more help.” He continued to mumble to himself as he floated back to the cockpit. The two ponies shared a worried look, then opened the bag and got dressed. Both wore heavy snowsuits with fur lined hoods, and boots on all four feet.

As they were finishing up, Nyx came out of the cockpit. “Listen to me very carefully,” she said. From the seriousness of her voice, Starlight and Sunset made sure to pay close attention. “Be wary and on guard. We do not know what to expect, so plan for the worst.” Nyx indicated to herself. “I will assuredly attract a lot of attention, so do not be alarmed if I disappear for some time.” Both ponies swallowed nervously and nodded. “Remember why we are here and don’t let yourselves get distracted.”

“What exactly IS our plan?” Starlight spoke up.

“Huh. I guess we never did actually agree on a plan of action,” Sunset admitted.

Nyx thought for a moment. “For now, finding Princess Cadance should be a top priority.”

Starlight nodded in agreement. “Then we can figure out what’s causing the storm and put a stop to it.”

Nyx lowered the ramp and the wind and snow blasted the interior. Sunset and Starlight quickly pulled up their masks and put goggles on. John Carter scanned the bag back into his inventory, and Nyx led the way out into the storm. Starlight watched over her shoulder as the ship was quickly swallowed up by the blizzard.