Fallout: Equestria - The Spark of Life

Chapter 6: The Looming Threat

Now, I'm gonna count to three, and if you don't tell me where they are, your ship is going down. One…

Darkness had fallen. Even the raiders needed their sleep, and the Storm Guards seemed content to watch from the perimeter. Quietly we made our way around the city’s outskirts, keeping out of sight and using what foliage there was to mask our presence as we moved towards the northern side of the city where the airship tower was. It loomed over us in the dark, an imposing monolith reminding us of what was at stake here.

As expected, there were no guards at that edge of the perimeter simply because there was a massive wall that butted up against the airship tower. No one would actually expect someone to come into the city from above it seemed. The problem would be if I could actually magically pull myself and four others up into the air. I quietly voiced my concerns to the others as to whether I could do it without being seen.

“Star,” Sunshine whispered next to me. “I have an idea that might make things a little easier.”

“Do tell,” I whispered back.

“Well… one of Twilight’s spells during her youth might be a big help,” she said, lifting her foreleg and opening one of her numerous tomes of knowledge stored on her PipBuck. “She knew a charm that would grant a pony the ability to walk on clouds for a short period of time.”

My eyes widened. “Sunshine, that’s… that’s brilliant,” I said quietly. “Can you do it?”

Sunshine perused the tomes for a few hushed seconds longer before finally nodding. “I think I can, yes. If I can cast the charm, you can wrangle up a cloud and we can just float across to the tower. No light and very little sound required. We can be in the city in moments.”

I looked up at the sky, glancing about for a cloud which thankfully there were quite a few in the air, cutting off the good amount of light from the moon. I motioned to the others to hide just in case I was seen and silently lifted into the sky. I reached out with my hooves and pulled two clouds together, making one large enough to bear everyone across.

I brought the cloud back to ground level, using whatever innate magic I had to keep it intact. I didn’t really understand how it worked. I just knew that as long as I held the cloud the magic would keep it together. I watched silently as Sunshine cast the cloud walking charm on the others. She stepped up to the cloud herself first and put a tentative hoof on it, smiling softly as it took hold.

She motioned to the others and they moved up onto the cloud themselves, snuggling comfortably into its folds. The charm seemed to be holding, so I tugged on the cloud and started pulling it upwards into the air. Despite all the weight on it, the cloud seemed almost weightless. I pushed slowly further into the air and began moving the cloud towards the airship tower. As we moved, Trick Shot peered out and kept an eye out for any movement.

“Take her down over on the airship itself, and then we can get down the tower from there after taking stock of things,” he whispered hoarsely.

I nodded, flapping slowly in the air and pushing the cloud just above the deck of the abandoned airship. Cautiously I set the cloud down and allowed the others to step off before letting the cloud float off and dissipate.

“It’s practically dead,” Violet said softly. “The entire airship isn’t even functional. It’s like it’s waiting to be powered on.”

“I wonder if they only could get one of them working,” Sunshine said. “If that’s the case why aren’t they working on it?”

“This feels too easy,” I said with a grimace. “Do you see anything, Trick?”

The ghoul peered over the edge of the ship with his scope, grimacing. “Nothing. It’s like they don’t even have guards posted here. I wonder why?”

I began to fear that we’d been anticipated and that any moment the guards were going to jump out and attack. Instinctively I pulled up E.F.S. and scanned the immediate area, but there were no red blips. It was just us. This felt too easy. There had to be a catch.

“Alright, let’s move then. The faster we’re in the quicker we get to Mount Aris,” I said, pointing toward the landing pad. A platform jutted out from the airship extending to the pad.

We made our way onto the pad and towards the tower’s massive stairwell down to the ground level. I stopped for a moment, feeling something tingling in the back of my head. Before the others could reach the door to the stairs I shouted.

“Stop!”

I was almost too late. Almost. A loud beeping noise echoed in the night air as the entire tower’s base exploded, rippling upwards in a blaze of fire. I thought as quickly as I could, wrapping my friends in a ball of shield energy that kept the flames back as the tower began to teeter and groan from the structural damage. My E.F.S. began lighting up red below as several Storm Guards appeared out of nearby buildings, all aiming their weapons at us. Everything was being whipped up into a frenzy even beyond the wall as the raiders amassed their forces outside of the city as well. We were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“Are you all alright?!” I shouted as I reached my friends, ducking and weaving between energy blasts.

“Not burnt to a crisp if that’s what you’re asking,” Trick said. “Good thinking. I didn’t think they’d trap the place.”

“I just had a bad feeling,” I said, lifting a shield to deflect the bolts of energy coming from below. “We need to move though. That blaze just cut off our route to the ground.”

“I have an even worse idea than you taking us flying,” Violet proposed. “It involves dropping an airship on the guards below.”

“That sounds fucking crazy,” Sunshine said. “I’m in. I can help try to get its systems online enough to route power to get it to fall.”

I nodded. A crazy plan was still a plan, and we needed something. We couldn’t go either way, pinned down as we were. We needed a third option. We pulled back, our shields up as both the raiders and the Storm Guards opened fire again. The airship was taking some of the fire, but that would only serve its purpose of crashing it and then hoping to get off and into the city amidst the chaos.

“Star, keep them busy while Sunshine and I figure out the control system!” Violet shouted, using her rifles to return cover fire while she and the pink mare ran into the control booth.

“Got it,” I said. “Trick, find a good position and take care of business. Bright Ember, stick with me.”

Trick nodded, jaunting off to locate a profitable position for which he could perform his specialty brand of sniping. Ember stuck close to me, lifting his pistol he’d borrowed from Trick in the air next to him.

*CRACK*

Trick’s rifle echoed across the plaza, hitting several Storm Guards and dropping them to the ground. I used my magic where I could, sending my blade down and erecting a shield to protect us. It was more magic than I’d used in a while, at the very least since Klugetown. Keeping it all going at once was a bit much. I was straining to fight. From beside me, Bright Ember took several shots, but none were as blindingly effective as Trick Shot’s rifle.

The airship began to shudder as Violet and Sunshine struggled to get the thing going. It didn’t seem like they were having much luck. Either this thing genuinely didn’t work or it had been sabotaged intentionally to keep us stranded here. I had to think of something. My eyes darted back and forth, seeing the thick cabling securing the airship’s deck to the system that kept it aloft and I had an even crazier plan than just forcing the machine down with its control system.

“Ember, Trick… get in the cabin with the others,” I said, hearing them scramble off amidst the fire fight.

Summoning another set of shards from my blade, I held the shield and started sending shards across the breadth of the airship, slicing into and severing cable after cable. The airship began to shudder more with every cable I sliced into.

“Star, what the fuck are you…!? Oh…” Violet said as she poked her head out of the cabin. “Oh shit!”

“Find someplace to secure yourself!” I shouted, focusing all at once on the remaining cabling. I pushed my magic to its limits, angrily roaring as my horn burned from the sensation of channeling so many spells at once.

The remaining cabling snapped and the airship began to free fall, ripping away from the supports on the airship tower as it came down towards the wall and the ground below. I magically grounded my hooves, hoping it would be enough as I rode the wave of air rushing up around me. The Storm Guards and raiders both simply stopped as the airship hit the ground below and cracked in multiple places, sending debris flying everywhere. Smoke filled the air, the smell of death on the wind as much of the forces sent against us had been crushed under the weight of the ship.

I felt wobbly, still stuck to the deck of the airship with my spell. I quickly dismissed it and glanced through the smoke to find the cabin. I breathed a sigh of relief as I noticed it was intact. The others were still inside as I rushed over, having managed to secure themselves to a side wall.

“Fucking warn us the next time you decide to do something like that!” Violet shouted as she extricated herself from the others. “That was crazy!”

“It worked, right?” I asked with a slight grin. “We got the airship down.”

“Can we do that again?” Bright Ember said, laughing out loud. “That was kind of fun.”

“Fun?! Fun?! Are you fucking kidding me?! THAT WAS AWESOME!” Sunshine shouted, giggling loudly as well.

The both of them pulled themselves out of their harnesses and helped Trick out of his. Realizing it wasn’t going to take too long for the raiders and Storm Guards to regroup, we made to move out of the cabin and escape into the city through the smoke.

It was a reasonable plan. Well, reasonable until well… it wasn’t anymore.

As soon as we stepped out, more fire erupted all around us. We moved as one through the smoke, but we couldn’t pinpoint where the fire was coming from. We had effectively blinded ourselves.

A stray bolt of energy soared through the air. I tried to raise a shield but found my magical reserves lacking in strength from all the overuse of power I had exhibited up above. The shield manifested for a brief moment before faltering, coming right through our defenses and right into the side of Bright Ember. The Kirin went slack, falling to the ground next to us, a deep searing burn along his side.

“Ember!” Sunshine shouted, dropping down to try to help the Kirin. “Ember, can you hear me?!”

*CRACK*

Trick Shot’s rifle came out and started firing in any direction he could see a bolt of energy coming from as Violet struggled to do the same. Their barding would protect them from most fire, but I knew that we were surrounded. We’d just simply exchanged battlefields for one where apparently they had the upper hoof.

“Star! He’s not breathing!” Sunshine cried out, her eyes filled with tears as she tried to bandage up the Kirin’s side. “I can’t… I can’t…”

My eyes drifted down to Ember’s face, his eyes ashen. He couldn’t be dead! He just couldn’t! Then my eyes widened as I realized what was happening. A subtle green glow started pulsing throughout his body.

“Sunshine… everypony, away. Back away!” I roared, grabbing onto the pink mare with my hoof.

“What are you…?” Sunshine started to say before realizing what was happening.

Bright Ember started to stand, his body pulsing with radioactive energies. The burn along his side began to heal almost instantly as his body changed. His lion-like mane burst into green flames, his tail as well. His hooves sharpened into claws. His teeth bared. He roared loudly and angrily. My PipBuck began clicking almost immediately. All around us there was quiet as the smoke began to dissipate, revealing multiple raiders and Storm Guards surrounding us.

“He’s putting off a ton of rads, we need to back off from him!” Trick Shot said. “Or else Sunshine and Violet are going to have a new limb or something even worse!”

“Keep them safe,” I said to him. “I’m the only one besides you who can stay with him.”

Trick Shot nodded, yanking back on the other two before they disappeared into the dark. I turned my attention back to Bright Ember, who had taken notice of the Storm Guards in front of him. Their eyes widened as he closed the distance between them, roaring hot flaming magical radiation right into their faces. Two of the creatures crumpled, dead on impact as their faces burned and melted away. More turned and tried to run from the Nirik, but faced its fiery justice anyways. Bright Ember growled, spewing fire from every part of his body as more fell before his fire. None were left to oppose him after mere minutes. None except for me.

“Ember! You gotta cool it off!” I shouted, daring to come closer to the Nirik. “You have to control it!”

Bright Ember roared at me, rushing at me with anger in his glowing eyes. He moved to attack with his clawed hooves, missing as I ducked to one side. My horn ignited, grabbing onto the Nirik with my telekinesis.

“Ember! Think of Sunshine! You need to protect her!” I said. “Remember your feelings for her!”

Bright Ember thrashed in the air, expelling flame to try and burn me. I raised a shield that deflected it to the side as the Nirik struggled to maintain control. After several long moments of thrashing, the fiery green eyes began to clear up and I could see through to Bright Ember. He howled with pain, unleashing one final burst of fire that cleared away from him as he reverted to his Kirin form.

I lowered him to the ground as he groaned loudly. The radiation had healed his injuries, something that I noted had persisted through the transformation back to his old self. A handy thing if you were seriously injured, just at the risk of nearly murdering everyone and everything around you. I could see why ponies feared Nirik’s. Their lack of control was… disturbing.

“Ember? Are you alright?” I cautiously asked, fearing the worst.

“I… What did I do…? Did I hurt…?” the confused Kirin started to say.

I shook my head. “Other than a bunch of Storm Guards, nopony else was injured. You tried to slash and burn me, obviously.”

“Goddess… Star. I’m so…” Ember struggled to say.

“Don’t think anything of it. I know it’s hard to control it. I’m the only one who can hold their own against you,” I said with a slight grin.

“Is it safe to come out yet?!” I heard Violet shout from the ruins of the airship.

I turned to notice that they had been holed up in the remains of the pilot box of the airship. I waved a hoof indicating it was safe. “You all might want to take some RadAway though. There still might be some residual radiation.”

A pink blur shot out of the pilot box and landed right next to Bright Ember, wrapping him in a fierce hug. “Oh my Goddess, are you alright? I thought… I thought we…” Sunshine Sky started to say, tears streaming from her eyes.

Ember looked up at me, wide-eyed. I nodded slightly as Trick and Violet stepped up next to me, my marefriend sucking on a RadAway pouch. Ember looked down at Sunshine and put a hoof on her back carefully.

“I’m okay,” he said softly. “It’s okay. We’re alright. I’m here.”

“Don’t you ever do that again to me!” Sunshine Sky said angrily, pushing herself back from his embrace. “You… you scared me.”

Ember’s ears drooped. “I… I know. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He too began to cry softly into Sunshine’s arms. “I don’t… I don’t ever want to do that again to you ever.”

“She’s going to need a lot of RadAway,” Violet said from beside me.

“Yup,” I said softly. “But let’s give them a moment to compose themselves before we worry about that.”

* * *

The streets of the capital city of Panthera were barren. The attack at the airship tower had flattened a huge chunk of the wall. Any Storm Guards that were left seemed to have retreated to the Palace in the center of the city.

We carefully crept along the dark streets, moving from shadow to shadow as we inched ever closer to the outer wall of the Palace. As expected, we could see several Storm Guards watching the gate. I looked up at the Palace itself. A pall was cast over the air around it. Clouds swirled and howled as the wind moved back and forth.

Without much of an option we hunkered down in one of the nearby Hippocampus Energy plant offices directly across from the Palace. It was unguarded, which was strange. The only thing I had to consider was that whatever controlled this army wasn’t totally in control of the overall city yet. Still, it felt like we were walking into a trap.

Sunshine and Bright Ember had been inseparable since we left the ruins of the airship tower. It had taken a bit to get them to move, but knowing that time was of the essence and still being inside enemy territory had convinced them to get up. They huddled closely together as I shut the door to the Hippocampus plant’s office. I looked out the window at the Palace with a scowl.

“Guards everywhere around the perimeter. I don’t know how we’re going to get in there… and even if we do…” I said.

“A full on assault would be rather suicidal, yes,” Violet replied. “But… I’m sure that word has already gotten back here about what happened at the airship tower. Perhaps they’re more afraid of us now?”

“I doubt it,” I said. “This feels too easy to me. I hate to say it, but we’re walking into a trap. We have to be. And there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“I agree with Star,” Trick said. “A trap makes the most sense, but did you also notice just how out of it the Storm Guards appear to be the closer they are to the Palace?”

I peered out of the window, my eyes widening. “You’re right,” I said. “They look almost… robotic in nature.”

The Storm Guards watching the gate definitely seemed very off indeed. They shuffled about slowly and haphazardly, not really paying attention to what was in their way. Almost as if they were being interfered with by something more powerful. Probably by whatever was inside the Palace.

“If we make a break for the gate, we might be able to just bowl past them,” Trick said.

“We may not have to,” Violet said, grinning widely as she punched out a few ticks on the only terminal in the room. “There’s a tunnel.”

“A what?” Trick and I both said at the same time.

“I’ve been reviewing these schematics, and each office contains a different piece of the puzzle,” Violet said. “This network is massive, but it all feeds in somewhere, which means there is a tunnel that goes up underneath the city and right into the throne room. These schematics on this terminal prove it.”

“So we sneak into the tunnel and up into the throne room? What if there's a trap there as well?” I asked.

“It’s the best option we have available,” Violet said. “At least it’s one that doesn’t put us charging through Storm Guards.”

I grimaced. Violet had a point. The possibilities of a trap were high, but the weird behavior of the Storm Guards outside was very interesting, but I didn’t want to chance being wrong. The tunnels were indeed the best option.

“Where’s the entrance to the tunnel?” I said finally after several long moments of silence.

“That’s the good news. It’s right below these plants. The whole network feeds down there,” Violet replied. She tapped a few buttons on the terminal.

A loud scraping sound echoed throughout the room as a panel shifted away from the floor, revealing a set of stairs going down into the darkness. Violet stepped away from the terminal and smiled.

“Voila,” she said. “With the schematics downloaded to my PipBuck I should be able to get us through the tunnel network with ease.”

“Do you think there’s anything dangerous down there?” I said, glancing back at Sunshine and Ember. “We really need the time to rest if so.”

“There was nothing on the documentation of any security features. I guess they probably expected the only ponies down there to be maintenance or something. Who knows, prewar ponies were kind of fucking stupid,” Violet said.

“Alright. Here’s how we’re going to do this then. Violet, you’re with me on point. We need the schematics to find our way through and you’re our map pony. Trick, I want you to take up the rear and watch our backs. Sunshine, Ember, in the middle. Look out for what you can, and keep each other safe. Trick and I will keep our horns lit in case it’s too dark,” I explained to the others.

I received firm nods in affirmation. I couldn’t help but wonder if I was going to lead everypony here to their deaths. I wondered if I was going to come out of this alive as well. But I had to, if not for my friends but for the ponies back in Equestria.

We took a few moments to compose ourselves before setting down the stairs into the tunnel. The primary entrance into the tunnel system was a little cramped, but we managed to make it through into the darkness. Both Trick and I lit our horns, seeing nothing but massive power cabling lining the ceilings and going off this way or that way as the tunnels intersected with each other.

We walked quietly, each of us on edge as we kept a lookout for anything dangerous. There was no sound outside of the slow hum of the power equipment. Transformer boxes jutted out from the walls at random intervals. This entire power grid was powering something truly absurd. I couldn’t figure out yet why Hippocampus agreed to this. I guess it made sense from a money standpoint. If they were the only power providers in this country, they could make a fortune off the billing. But who were they billing? The Ministries? Luna? I still hadn’t pieced together whose hooves were in this, but I had a pretty good feeling I already knew deep down. Twilight Sparkle. Only she could come up with something this complex and insane.

We made another turn down into another tunnel on the schematics. I kept my E.F.S. up and active, but the equipment down here must have been interfering with it because everything was fuzzy. I shut it off and peered ahead through the darkness. I couldn’t see much beyond the light radius of my magic, so I pushed a globe of light out ahead of us. My eyes widened as several red eyes appeared in the aftermath of the flash, and I caught sight of leathery cracked skin.

Something in the darkness roared, gutturally. Whatever it was, it wasn’t friendly.

“Everypony, around me!” I shouted, bringing up my shield as something slithered out of the dark, slamming into it with a set of thick looking claws. A toothy maw opened up, revealing numerous rows of sharpened teeth below a set of six glowing red eyes. Its body sat on several skittering legs on each side like a giant bug. It was like something out of a nightmare.

“What the fuck is that thing?!” Sunshine cried out as the creature slithered about, trying to break through my shield.

I had to give this thing some credit. It was persistent, but didn’t seem all that actually intelligent. More like an animal. I heard another cry behind us as another one of the things crashed into my shield from the back. I growled. I wasn’t going to be able to hold the shield for very long and these things were fast. I had to do something.

A very silly idea popped into my head. Using the shield as force, I began to expand it outwards, pushing the two creatures away into the concrete walls, the raw magical output forcing me to strain to do what I wanted with it. I pushed harder and harder until the things crunched into a bloody pulp from the raw force. With a groan, I dropped the shield, letting the bloody corpses of two big ass fucking bugs land on the ground.

“Star! Are you alright?” Violet said.

“I’m okay. That was a lot of exertion,” I said. “We need to move. There could be more of those…”

I was cut off by the screeching terror that was more red eyes behind us. Two more of the creatures darted out of the darkness into our light circle. One of them caught a blaze of energy rifle beams right in the face as it disintegrated into a pile of glowing goop. These things might have been fast, but they seemed to be fragile. I summoned my blade as best as I could, sending two strands out at the remaining creature. Cold magical blade sliced through chitin and flesh, cutting the thing into two halves that fell on the ground, wailing a final death cry.

“Violet, how much farther?” I asked. I could hear the cries of more of those things. I didn’t know how much more we could handle if we were overwhelmed.

“Uhh… There’s a substation just up ahead that leads up,” Violet replied.

“Good. Get us there,” I said. “Everypony else, stay close. Trick, I want you to cover me in case I can’t keep them off of us.”

“Got it,” Trick said, floating his rifle out.

As we started to move forward, two more creatures lunged out of the darkness. Trick’s rifle took one of them and a bit of fancy telekinesis grabbed the remaining one and slammed its head into mash on the concrete wall.

I couldn’t spend the time thinking about it, I just had to react as we started forward. All I could do was react on instinct, my magic burning deeply every time I used it to take out one of those things. One of them appeared in front of Violet at one point, her energy rifles blowing it into goopy bits. We moved slowly but surely, unsure how many of those things were down here. We finally made it to the substation door and my horn burned. I was panting loudly as I checked my E.F.S. for any more of those things. No more appeared. However, behind us was a cloud of red.

“There might be more inside on the way up. Have to be careful,” I said, pushing open the door to the substation.

My eyes widened as we stepped through. The substation itself was a large open room with several power converting units stretched across one half of it. What drew my attention however was the large thing attached to the power converters. It was practically growing on it. A smaller body that looked like the upper half of one of those things was attached to the overall thing, but it had a bulbous mass that clung to everything on the other half. It screeched and squealed loudly as it dropped what looked like an egg to the ground below it.

There were a lot of eggs below it, glowing in the soft light of the power converters.

“Oh. Oh fuck,” I said to myself.

It was a fucking Queen. And it was laying eggs. Eggs that were beginning to hatch. From behind us, the door to the substation was attacked, more of those things pounding on the door. Across the room I could see the stairs that led up and out of the tunnel system. We’d have to cross the room to get to it.

“I think we should run,” Violet said. “Yeah… running sounds like a really good idea right about now.”

“Running sounds good here too,” Trick Shot said as well. “You all good with running?”

“Running is probably the best idea you’ve all had in a long while,” Bright Ember said.

“I could do with some running,” Sunshine replied.

“Good, because we’re going to have to! Hurry!” I shouted as we poured into the room.

The walls became abuzz with activity as those things skittered down it. We didn’t have far to go but it felt like it took ages as we made our mad dash through the room. Eggs all around us began to hatch, spilling out baby versions of little nightmares. My horn seared with pain as I used my telekinesis to send eggs flying in every direction, hoping to cause enough chaos to get us through this. I roared, picking up the others with as much magic as I could muster, sending us flying through the air and onto the stairs. Problematically though, even if we did get up the stairs and out of here, those things would follow. I had to give them a reason not to.

“Everypony keep going,” I said. “I’m going to have a word with this Queen.”

“Star, no! They’ll be on you before…” Violet started to shout before I raised my shield to fend off an attack.

“No time, just go!” I called back.

I turned back as the others ran up the stairs, keeping a safe distance. I growled loudly, flaring my horn.

“Yo Queenie!” I shouted. “How do you like these apples?!”

With a grunt of effort, I ripped several long power cables from the power converters. They sparked with a massive amount of electricity as I redirected them into the bulbous sac that belonged to the Queen. Jolts of energy and power surged out of them and into the sac, making the Queen scream and shriek loudly. For a moment, the creatures advancing on us stopped as they turned to assist their ailing Queen.

My horn burned fiercely as I pulled the walls apart, dropping as much rubble as I could in front of me to block the path. I growled and thrashed as much as I could before finally passing out.

* * *

For once in a long time I dreamt but did not dream of darkness or death. Not even a bit of violence. Just a peaceful moonlit night and the stars on a hill overlooking a small valley. My friends sat with me, enjoying the silence and the calm.

I wondered for a moment if I had died and this was some sort of pony afterlife. It felt all too real as the wind blew across my coat. It was beautiful and mysterious. I wondered if this is how Princess Luna saw the world, full of wonder and majesty, before the war had turned her heart to stone. The sky above us was alive with color and magic.

“It is beautiful, is it not?” a voice said softly to my side.

I glanced over and my jaw dropped. The most beautiful of blue alicorns sat staring up at the sky next to me. A small black crown adorned her brow.

“Princess… Luna?” I asked, feeling very confused. “Aren’t you…?”

“Dead? Yes. Yes I am. You were thinking about me, and so here I am. A figment of your imagination as it were,” the alicorn replied with a smile. “I am Luna, but I am Not-Luna.”

“You mean I’m dreaming this?”

“Yes. I’m only as real as you make me out to be. You have captured the night perfectly,” Not-Luna said. “Your imagination is quite vivid.”

“I don’t understand. What is going on here? Why am I imagining you?” I asked.

“You went through a very traumatic magical burnout,” Not-Luna said. “You’re currently unconscious on a stairwell leading up into the Royal Palace of Abyssinia.”

“So I’m alive? Why this then? Why am I not waking up?”

“Magic works in very mysterious ways. You have stressed yours to its very limits. I’m sure you’ve noticed that increasingly your magic is beginning to become harder to use,” Not-Luna said.

“I guess I have noticed that, yeah,” I said. “It’s certainly taken a lot of effort to access magical reserves. So what are you, some sort of imaginary friend I cooked up to cope?”

“I am not sure. You called me here after all. I suspect I’m sort of a coping mechanism, but I’m not sure what you need to cope with. Honestly, I have no clue why I’m here,” Not-Luna said. “All I know is that you need to wake up.”

“What happens if I don’t wake up?”

“You and your friends will die. Wake up, Star! Wake up!”

…

“... dammit, wake up!”

A voice from above me stirred me awake as the dreamscape floated off into darkness, Not-Luna included. My eyes fluttered open to Violet above me.

“Star! Celestia’s plot, you’re awake! We thought…” she started to say, tears forming in her eyes.

“I’m okay, I think. I had a blackout due to all that magic I used,” I managed to get out. “I’ll be fine.”

“Star… it’s not fine. Your horn… it’s blackened,” Violet said.

I looked down immediately at my PipBuck, trying to use its reflective screen as a mirror. Sure enough, my horn appeared to be blackened and dark. It wasn’t broken, but it was damaged. I scowled, trying to access my magic. It was there, but it was very weak. I struggled for a moment simply trying to light my horn, only achieving a small light before I gave up.

“My magic. It’s weaker than before,” I said. “Something has happened to me. I don’t know what, but it’s been building for a while now.”

“We’ll figure it out, but for now we need to move. We’re sitting ducks down here if somepony comes to investigate all that noise,” Violet said. “Trick went up to keep an eye out with Sunshine and Ember, but he says things are pretty quiet up there.”

I nodded, pushing myself to my hooves shakily. I wobbled a bit but finally managed to remain stable. I looked back down the stairwell. Rubble blocked the stairs for good, bits and pieces of mangled bug-things and greenish blood poking out from the rocks. I did all of this? I thought, unable to remember just how much power I had poured into that spell.

I glanced at Violet and smiled softly, following her up the stairwell to where the others were waiting. I was met with a hug by both Ember and Sunshine and a nod by Trick.

“Good to see you up and about,” Trick said. “We were concerned. Your horn…”

“I’m not giving up now,” I said. “We’re too close. I’ll worry about my horn once we get to Mount Aris. Where are we?”

“One of the Palace hallways is where this station opens up into. They might have used it at some point for maintenance as well,” Trick said. “There’s nobody up here though. It’s eerie as shit if you ask me.”

“Nothing on any of our E.F.S. either,” Violet said. “It’s like it’s a ghost town up here.”

“Any idea on where the throne room is or the portal?” I asked.

“Based on the schematics from the Hippocampus station, we’re on the Western side of the Palace. The throne room is in the center,” Violet said, pulling up the diagram on her PipBuck. “We should be able to move towards there directly. I hope.”

“And what if we can’t get through the portal?” I said.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Sunshine said. “Together, like we have been. We’re here with you.”

I nodded, taking the first step up out of the stairwell and into the ancient Palace hallway. A cool breeze fluttered across us as we took stock of the situation. The Palace seemed to be completely barren, devoid of any guards or any life whatsoever. But there was a presence here. I could feel it in the wind. It was palpable and real. I knew deep down that whatever it was, it was behind those eyes I had seen at the battle of Hope Hollow.

“Alright. Violet, lead the way,” I said.

Violet moved ahead of me, her PipBuck up with the schematics as we walked carefully down the hallway and left into the next one. The Palace walls had not aged well, their golden sheen now dull and cracked. Gold flaked off parts of the walls, revealing rotted wood and stone. There was an occasional statue or broken vase, all feline in nature. The Abyssinians were pragmatic and not overly opulent it seemed, focusing more on raw design and reverence of whatever Gods or Goddesses they prayed to. It all felt very religious in nature with every new piece we walked by. Pale lights dotted the hallways, giving some semblance of light that still persisted even two hundred years after the end of the world. I had to give some credit to Hippocampus. What they built seemed to last.

Another hallway jutted off, leading deeper into the complex. It was like a maze of sorts, but every intersecting hallway seemed to lead directly to the center where the throne room was. I wondered briefly if this was deliberate of the Abyssinians, whether they knew this or not. The closer we got down the hallway, the more I could see a large set of doors leading into the massive throne room. They sat ajar, but the dim light would not let me see much farther beyond them. The pressure in my mind continued to build. We were getting closer to it. I could feel it.

“The throne room is just ahead. According to the schematics, the power sources all feed into that room,” Violet whispered. “This feels too easy with all the guards outside. Why aren’t they here? Something isn’t right.”

“I agree with Violet,” Bright Ember said. “Something feels off.”

“Just keep your eyes peeled,” I said with a grimace. “If we’re lucky, we can get to the portal and get through before nopony is the wiser.”

I poked my head just inside the throne room, scanning the room for any potential dangers. The throne room itself was large and stately, with a dais in the middle of the room leading up a set of stairs to where two golden thrones sat. Behind the thrones was a massive device that could only be the portal device. It appeared to be inactive.

Furthermore, the throne room appeared to be empty. Completely and utterly deserted. Perhaps we’d lucked out after all. I pushed the door open further quietly, motioning for the others to join me as we made our way inside. I pointed up at the thrones themselves and beyond them.

As I walked across towards the dais, I felt the pressure building inside my mind. It was unbearable. When I reached the dais, I stopped. I could feel it all around me. It was there somewhere, watching us.

“Star, are you alright?” I heard Violet ask.

“This was a mistake,” I uttered. “We have to… have to…”

“You’re right about one thing,” a voice rumbled out of the darkness of the room. “This was a mistake… for you.”

A storm cloud built in the center of the room above us, my eyes widening as it began to form into a more solid mass. Two piercing blue eyes appeared in the mass, complete with a gleaming set of razor sharp teeth. Two massive horns jutted out from each side of the thing’s head as it arose out of the cloud. Its body was malformed, broken. In fact the cloud stopped forming at the base of the thing’s torso, and only one of its arms had fully formed, ending in sharp claws. The same blue lines that adorned the Storm Guards were embedded in the thing’s chest plate. The cloud it emanated from spread all over the ceiling, spewing miniature bolts of lightning and thunder every so often.

“What… what are you?” I said. “You’ve been in my head this whole time, haven’t you?”

“Yes… Radiant Star. My magic infected you, slowly building in strength the closer you came to my prison,” the thing said, its voice hungry and low. “You have noticed, haven't you? The strength at which your magic comes to you? It is weak.”

“What do you want with Star?” Violet interjected angrily. “How did we even make it here alive? You have your army. You could have killed us at any time. So why?”

My mind raced with possibilities, coming to the only conclusion that made sense as to why we had gotten here as easily as we had. Well, as easy as we could have with all the obstacles to getting here. Whatever this creature was. It wanted one thing. It had specifically said the word “prison” which meant it couldn’t leave this place. I looked up and grimaced.

“You want us to go into the portal. Because you can’t,” I said suddenly.

“Perceptive… I knew I was right to leave you alive after that unfortunate business in Hope Hollow,” the creature said, rumbling. “My powers return… slowly. But I am bound to this place, and I cannot leave except for extensions of my will. The creatures you call Storm Guards.”

“What’s to stop us from leaving right now?” Sunshine said. “You’re stuck here.”

“Because, my little pony, you can’t leave. My army waits on the other side of the gates. You will never escape, and I will find someone else,” the creature rumbled.

“You’re bluffing,” I said. “I know why you need me. There’s a genetic bypass on the portal controls.”

“Intelligent, too! I dare say, pony. You surprise me. Yes… there is something preventing me from accessing the gateway,” the creature replied. “You are going to open it.”

“Whatever’s on the other side of that portal must be pretty powerful if this thing wants it,” Trick Shot said. “What are we going to do?”

I scowled deeply. I had to come up with a plan and fast. Getting out of here was only ever going to happen through the portal. This creature had planned for everything. It was intelligent for sure, and devious. Cunning. It had maneuvered us here from the get go. I looked down at the others. I brought them here. They joined me of their own accord, of course, but I was the reason. There was really only one option here.

“What do you want me to do?” I said finally.

“What, Star, you can’t do that!” Violet said. The others protested too.

I lifted a hoof for a moment, winking at her and her alone. “There’s nothing we can do. He’s got us caught. So… what do you want me to do?”

“You are smarter than your friends are,” the creature rumbled. “You will open the portal and go through and discover what has become of the pearl. You will bring it back to me. In return, I shall let you live. I shall remove the enchantment weakening your magic.”

My mind raced. The pearl?! The object in the journal. It had to exist then. It was the only reason that the creature wanted to get the portal active.

“It’s a trap, Star,” Violet urged quietly.

“I know,” I whispered out of the side of my mouth. “But it’s the only way out of this that I know of. We can’t escape guns blazing.”

Violet nodded, grimacing. I looked back at the others and somehow I felt that they understood what I was doing. I turned to the creature.

“Okay,” I said, taking a step up the stairs. “I’ll do it.”

The creature laughed, a mad cackle that echoed throughout the chamber. “Excellent…” it said. “You may proceed.”

I started up the stairs towards the thrones, alone at first, but soon joined by the others. If the creature cared at all, it did not protest. I suspect it considered the others to not be a threat, or possibly to not even be able to access the portal in the first place. I wasn’t sure. All I know is I had one shot at this and if it didn’t work…

The portal device was a large archway with a pylon next to it containing a terminal. If I was right, the genetic marker preventing the terminal from activating the portal had to have been keyed to a Ministry Mare. And not just any Ministry Mare, but Twilight Sparkle. I stepped up to it as the creature watched silently. Could he attempt to come through the portal once it was active? My suspicions led me to believe no. He could not. He was stuck here, at least until… what? I realized that his malformed body had given me some sort of clue. He was stuck here because he was not powerful enough to break the bonds of his prison. He was stuck here because he needed the power of the pearl to set him free.

I didn’t intend to keep up my end of the deal. I hadn’t really thought about what would happen once we got to Mount Aris, but I knew that we weren’t coming back this way. The question was whether I could shut down the portal from the other side. With my magic weakened, I wasn’t sure if it was possible or not. The creature had claimed proximity to his magic had caused my weakness. I wasn’t sure if I could break through it or not if I was far away. My eyes settled on the terminal and the pylon it was connected to. If it was broken somehow… would it shut down the portal? It was possibly my only option.

I touched the terminal, reaching out with what magic I had to activate it. The screen illuminated after a short moment and a message appeared. I was surprised at how simple it was. The genetic bypass must have been specifically keyed to the magic inside of me, in essence Twilight’s magical ability.

Welcome… Twilight Sparkle. Ministry Mare of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences.

MINERVA Transport System to Mount Aris is online.

Would you like to commence? (Y/N)

I pressed the Y key, not really knowing what to expect next. The archway began to crackle and glow. The portal began to hum to life, and whatever lay beyond the arches in the throne room simply disappeared, replaced with a rainy and slick road in the darkness. I could feel the spray of rain coming through the portal. It was hard to see through the rain.

“Mount Aris…” the creature rumbled. “It’s there. I can feel it. Do as I ask, Radiant Star… and I will restore your magic. I will let you live…”

The others stepped through quickly, drenched in the downpour on the other side. I turned back to the creature and flashed a grin. I couldn’t believe it had been this easy to fool the creature. Still, something in the back of my mind told me that we were still playing into his game somehow. I couldn’t shake the feeling, but I had to do what I had to do.

“Yeah… about that. You want what’s on Mount Aris? Come and get it yourself, you piece of shit,” I said angrily as I bucked the terminal off the pylon entirely, causing the power pylon to completely fall apart, sparking and crackling with electrical energy. As I had hoped, the portal began to shimmer and crackle as the power control system began to fail. The portal was failing, and even if this thing could repair it, we would be long gone before they could use it again. At least… I hoped so.

“What?!” the creature roared, lunging towards me. The storm clouds surrounding it hummed and crackled with anger. The doors to the throne room flung open, filling with Storm Guards as they awaited their master’s bidding. “You have doomed Equestria, Radiant Star! There is no escaping Mount Aris! My full strength will return on its own and I will rule this pathetic excuse for a world!”

“Sorry, can’t hear you, I think I hear my plane arriving,” I said, pushing myself through the fading portal before it could dissipate entirely. I had to hope my plan would work and I would be able to make it through to the others.

The magic wracked my body painfully as I made my way through the unstable connection, but it was working! I was getting through! I landed on the other side in the rain, groaning loudly as I slumped to the ground.

The portal behind me winked out of existence as the creature lunged towards me, growling angrily. I groaned again. My body felt like a million pins and needles had been pushed into it simultaneously. My eyes drifted up to the others and beyond to a massive spire jutting out of the rock in the rain.

Mount Aris. It was the last thing I saw before I passed out again.

* * *

The creature watched carefully as the portal device sparked lifelessly, a sharp grin on his face. He turned to the throne room where the Storm Guards were setting up the communications device that had been used to contact Commander Breeze. The Commander’s face appeared on the screen.

“Commander,” the creature said. “Thank you for your intelligence and service.”

“The mare is out of the way?” Breeze replied.

“Yes. Begin your operations at once. We shall cauterize Equestria… and Radiant Star will be unable to save her precious ponies. She will be trapped in Mount Aris forever,” the creature replied, a cruel laughter escaping his lips.

“Understood, my King.”

The screen winked out, and the creature floated into the air over his subjects. His beloved Storm Guards, extensions of his pure will. They robotically kneeled as he bade them to, the cruelest of grins forming on his face.

“Let all of Equestria tremble! There is nothing that can face me now! Soon, all of existence shall bear the wrath of the one, the only… Storm King!”

Author's Note

Oh ho! The Storm King's triumphant entrance! What wonders lay in store for Star and company in Mount Aris? FIND OUT NEXT CHAPTER!

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