As soon as the trio of guards had left the confines of the dungeon, Tempest was already in the smuggler tunnels. They could go and be stupid all they wanted, but that meant she had to be the smart one out of the bunch. If they were dead set on putting their lives in danger, then she would have to do her best to help prevent their deaths.

The ponies were just as dumb as she remembered. Just as stubborn too. Just as she had suspected, nothing had changed. They still preached a back-hoofed friendship that was used more as a cudgel than an olive branch. It was never ‘we’ll be your friend no matter what.’ It was always ‘we’ll be your friend unless.’ That ‘unless’ was different for different ponies, but it was pretty clear it usually covered ‘unless you’re not like us.’ That covered all of pony history, all the way back to the era of the three tribes and still continued in the present, just in more personal ways instead of completely generalized.

Tempest grumbled and shook off the thoughts as she continued to worm her way through the tunnels at a quickened pace. It was much faster this time around without Rose or another pony in front of her, and it helped that she knew her way around the place. Needing to pretend like she didn’t know Al or that he was the reason she had been in the castle had been more than a little difficult. It helped that the other unicorn remained a consummate professional even in these times. All of the bits she had to pay him also helped.

The map that he had given her of these tunnels had shown her of an exit on the other side of the throne room. They were going to be clinging to the back end of the castle to get to the stairs that would take them up, so she needed to create a distraction on the first level away from them in order to draw attention away from the group of guards. It would make their lives and jobs a little bit easier for the time being.

They needed to get the message out and hope that whatever princess was still alive and unturned could figure something out. This needed to be cured and the princesses needed to go back to normal and still have that magic. Tempest needed that magic, and she wasn’t going to let something as small as a world-altering plague get in the way of that.

For now the guards were useful, even though the whole lot of them were bickering morons. As long as they were working towards her goal, then she would keep going along with them. If they did die, though…well, she wouldn’t complain. She could use them to take some heat off of herself for now, when they dwindled enough or their usefulness ran out, she would finally do away with the rest of them.

It took her about fifteen minutes to get to the exit that let out into the mailroom. When she wasn’t being constrained by a claustrophobic pegasus, the tunnels were easy and quick to get through.

The exit was covered by a false wall that dumped the unicorn right out into a pony sized cubby meant for large packages. She crawled out and stood up, now left by herself in an empty mailroom. Idly she glanced over the envelopes and boxes left behind. Nothing of any note to anypony important. Letters to Celestia or the captain of the guard wouldn’t go here, they would have a different avenue.

With no useful intelligence to gather, at least not quickly, Tempest moved to the opened door and poked her head out. The hallway beyond was thankfully clear. Well, clear in the sense that none of the turned unicorns were around. There were bodies, but those were everywhere in the castle at this point. They were easy to ignore.

She had been spit out right at the front of the castle and while her side of the hall featured doors every couple of dozen feet, the opposite wall was almost entirely made out of windows. Briefly she looked up at the sky and felt like something was off, but dismissed it. Time had been moving weird since all of this started and this was just another case of that.

Now where could she cause a scene?

Tempest needed somewhere with a lot of loud things. Somewhere that could produce a racket. She also needed unicorns though, at least one. It needed to howl to draw its friends out and towards it. Then she needed to put up enough of a fight that it would draw others out and towards her. Only then could she make her exit.

A gold-plated plaque on the wall had a few different words stenciled on it and with little arrows pointing around for quick directions. A look at them showed nothing but duds save for one room in particular: the orchestra room. That was an idea. What could be better than banging on a bunch of instruments? It would help her relieve some stress and be beneficial to the cause.

That was the plan before everything changed.

The throne room, which was to Tempest’s left and which jutted out from the main structure of the castle so the stained glass windows could have some purpose, erupted. Twin howls boomed through the whole castle and caused the decorative windows of the throne room and the windows right in front of Tempest to shatter violently inward.

The unicorn had to shield her face and shards of glass passed over her and clattered against the ground. When she looked up again she saw a red pegasus adorned in golden armor take off into the sky with a hulking monstrosity right behind her.

Tempest immediately rushed to a now vacant window in front of her with eyes glued to the guard. The pony flew for a bit but then took a sharp turn upwards, while the great beast below had to swing in a wide arc in an attempt to follow.

“Come on, Rose…” Tempest muttered to herself as she watched the devout little pony flee from her god. The higher that Rose flew, the slower she became though and the closer Celestia got. Rose was about to stall. If only Golden had not insisted they wear that stupid gaudy armor. It was slowing the pegasus down, without it the juice would’ve been there to put some more distance between her and the monster.

Then Rose fell. From her position Tempest could see the mare tuck her wings and dive towards the monster. It was a gambit, a hope that she could surprise the princess and speed right by her.

It failed.

Tempest’s heart seized in her chest as she saw the alicorn grab a hold of the pony by the wing. The dazzling sunlight overhead contrasted with the dark scene that followed. Celestia tried to quickly change direction and she whipped her head to the side and Rose was flung away from the monstrous princess at mach speed. The unicorn tried to follow the guard’s trajectory, but all she heard was the sound of glass breaking from a higher level of the castle. Her eyes fell back towards Celestia, who still had Rose’s wing in her jaws and whose face was now painted with fresh blood.

Rose still had the card. The card they needed to use the radio.

They had to get to her, or what was left of her at this point. Surely if the immediate trauma didn’t kill the poor pegasus, then the impact would’ve. If that somehow hadn’t, then it would have to be the blood loss. There was no surviving that at any rate.

The thing that was using Celestia’s body looked right at her. Its blood red eyes focused on her and for that brief moment Tempest could feel the entire heat of the sun. The mare and the monster stared at each other, both full of equal hate and disdain. Tempest furrowed her brow and opened her mouth to yell something but was intercepted.

A deafening howl went up, but this time not from the princesses. It came from everywhere all at once. It seemed like every single unicorn in the entire city belted out the victory cry all at once, then the ground started shaking. The mass of unicorns that blanketed the city streets all moved as one, and all towards the castle.

Tempest tried to be a confident mare, she even bordered on cocky on occasion. At her peak she could take on the world but this was not a peak. Normal creatures of any shape and size could be reasoned with. They could be tricked and intimidated. These monsters were not like that. They were savage and brutal and single minded and now it looked like their one train of thought was on clearing out the castle permanently.

The mare booked it right back to the mailroom as fast as she could possibly move. She quickly threw herself into the tunnel and crawled as fast as she could in the cramped space towards the dungeon. Behind her, the roars of the monsters echoed throughout the entire castle and filled the space around the mare. She could hear them getting closer. She heard a blast of magic hit rock and felt the heat behind her. She heard the gnashing of teeth and a vicious howl let out right at the mouth of the tunnel she had entered.

It took a lot for Tempest to feel scared. For the first time in years, for the first time since she was a filly, she felt terrified.

The sound of magic blasts chipping away at stone kept coming from behind her and the interior of the tunnel grew hotter and hotter from the discharges. What had to be less than five minutes in close proximity to the unicorns seemed like an eternity in the darkness. The light from the blasts faded and the howls and growls became a dull roar that still followed her through the tunnel. Eventually those were replaced with screams of panic and pain from the area in front of her. They became louder and louder until she was in the dungeon once again.

Al and Golden were there, but Bulwark was not. Both of the stallions had their hooves on the heavy metal door and were trying to keep it closed with all of their might. On the other side the tidal wave of horrors was trying to break it down.

Al looked just as she had left him, but Golden looked much different.The stallion was, in a word, a mess. His helmet was now gone, a large chunk of his armor was missing down one side of his barrel and a vicious burn mark trailed down his side in the same place. His blue eyes were wide and wild as he looked at the door and his chest heaved in panicked effort. He looked like he was on his last legs, both metaphorically and literally as his knees were beginning to visibly buckle.

Their strength faltered against the horde beyond and the door opened just enough. The jaws of one of the monsters grabbed one of Al’s legs. The old stallion let out a cry of pain and his grip loosened. Then, in a split second, he disappeared. His hooves tried to grab onto something on the door or smooth stone floor but there was nothing to hold onto. The old smuggler vanished, his last words were screams and pleas as the things tore into him.

“I need it closed for just a second!” Tempest joined Golden's side and she looped one of her front legs around the handle and pulled as hard as she could. The Lieutenant seemed shocked to see her but gave a nod. Both of the ponies dug their hooves into the floor and with all of their might they pulled.

The head guard had now officially outlived his usefulness. With no more lackeys, his dumb plans would have nopony else to carry them out and Tempest was not about to start listening to him. If she had to do this herself, then she would. She did not need anypony before this, and she didn’t need them now.

It was time to put an end to the Royal Guard presence in Canterlot

With her free hoof, Tempest retrieved the last of her little glass orbs from her belt and got it ready. They were never going to get this door entirely closed though, and she knew it. There were scrabbling hooves still clawing at the opening that they would need a whole squad to push away. This was going to save her life, but more importantly it was going to serve a different and equally important goal

The orb was slammed against the very edge of the door and the obsidian crystals erupted from it instantly. They snaked across the surface and snared the hooves of the unicorns that were still desperately trying to claw their way in and they all were slowly turned to crystal. When the spreading crystals began to creep towards the handle, Tempest jerked her leg away and backed away from the solidifying door. She also yanked the stallion away.

The door became consumed with the black crystal and she could hear the tightly packed monsters on the other side quiet as they were also overtaken by the quick transformation. Once it had subsided and growls were held back by the solid wall of crystal that separated the living from the damned, both ponies let out the breath they’d been holding in.

“What in Celestia’s name was that?” Golden asked between heavy breaths as he looked at the mare beside him. “What did you do?” He looked at the crystal now before him. “Did you just…did you just trap us in here…?”

“It’s temporary.” She lied through her teeth to the stallion. The only way to get rid of this stuff was with her boss’ staff. Lieutenant Golden Star didn’t need to know that, though. He just needed to think it was the truth. “It’ll wear off in a few days.”

“A few days. Great.” The stallion sighed and fell to the floor, the weight of his injuries now taking their toll. “Where…where were you?” He sucked in a deep breath but an unseen internal injury overtook him and he collapsed into a fit of short quick breaths and little pitiful whimpers.

“I was trying to do what I said.” Tempest stated flatly. “What you refused to do: split up. I was going to cause a distraction so you could get to the tower. What happened with you? Where’s Bulwark and Rose?” She knew what happened with the pegasus, but why show the cards she had?

“Celestia…Luna…throne room…woke up…” Golden spoke through heavy breaths and he began to shake. “Got…separated.” Slowly he began to regain control of his breathing and spoke coherently. “Rose flew away, out of a window. Bulwark tried to keep going…I don’t know what happened to them.”

“The princesses were in the throne room and you decided to go through it?” Tempest nailed the point home. “Are you stupid?”

“They were sleeping!” Golden got to his hooves but winced in pain and fell to his haunches once more. “We…we were almost out, then…something fell. Glass, I think. Everything went to Tartarus. Luna got me…” He pointed to the burn that now ran the length of his body, just scorched skin without any sign of hair. “Sweet Celestia…what do we do now…?”

“Rose had that keycard, right?” Tempest interrupted Golden who had been saying something, but it didn’t matter what. It was most likely pointless prattle about defending his dumb decisions. She needed to confirm what she had thought to be true. He looked at her with a glare and gave a solemn nod.

“Well we have to find her and get it.” The lone mare received a baffled look from the solitary stallion. She remained stoic and raised her chin a little in defiance of the look she had received.

“Princess Celestia was chasing her.” Golden reiterated that point. “She’s either dust or mulch right now, pick one. That keycard is long gone. We’d be better off finding another one. Somepony else had to have had one in the castle…”

No. He didn’t know it, and now it would never matter to him again, but Rose was not destroyed. She was probably dead, but her body was still intact. She had to get up there and retrieve the card so she could get the message out and hopefully get this thing fixed. After all, she needed the magic of the world to be fixed. When she had her horn again, she wanted to make use of it without turning.

The most important thing of all though was to make sure no witnesses remained in Canterlot. Parade was gone, now Al. She would leave the good Lieutenant here to rot in the dungeon his peons used to jail her. Bulwark was no worry, that big oaf was no doubt dead now at the hooves of that stampede of monsters or one of the princesses.

All that was left was to get Rose.

“You stay here.” She told the stallion calmly. “Get some rest.” She forced a small smile and reached down to pat him on the head. “I’m going to go get one of those cards and send out the message myself.”

“You’ll die…” Golden croaked out.

Tempest didn’t even address the stallion, she just turned and left him to his fate.

Day Ten

Tempest had now taken up residence in Al’s old smuggler headquarters. The door inside was still barred and undisturbed, but to make sure she would not be disturbed, she had piled multiple boxes in front of it. It wasn’t completely monster proof, but it was the closest thing she had to it. She just had to stay quiet and not draw attention to herself.

It was supposed to be sometime at night, she knew it. The sun hadn’t set yet. When she was sure it was ‘night’ she had gone back to the dungeon and dragged away the two sacks of food that still remained while Golden Star slept.

Now there was just enough time to get some sleep before she got to work on her plan. The map on the table in front of her had the locations of all of the smugglers’ stashes throughout the city.

To get back into the castle safely she was going to need a very big distraction, and she had just the idea. Her eyes fell to a big barrel of fireworks that sat in one of the corners of the room. It was a good start but she needed more. A lot more.

Author's Note

Get Cask of Amontillado'd nerd.

Tomorrow's chapter is one of my favorite things I've ever written. I can't wait.