Sun and Shield

Day Thirty Two

Pain was a common refrain in the world as it existed at the moment. Anypony who was not a unicorn probably was in some modicum of pain, either emotional or physical. There was no way to get this far without the accumulation of heartache or bruises. It was a fact of life. Some ponies, however, had it far worse than others.

Rose Wreath’s entire body radiated pain. There was not just one spot anymore, no, every bone and nerve cried out from the sensation. When she took a breath, her chest yelled at her to stop the basic function. She could feel ribs shift as her lungs expanded, which caused her to stop inhaling and to hold her breath and slowly let it out. Then there were the standard points of pain: along her spine, her missing wing, and her front left leg. Those were old injuries in comparison though, they were aches and pains that she was used to.

Slowly something other than pain penetrated Rose’s consciousness. It was grass. Cold bristling grass was pressed up against her right side. She could feel the tips of the blades tickle her ear, which she tried to flick away a few times. Then there was the sound of birds, actual birds. She had not heard any of them in weeks now. It was something that you didn’t know you needed until you had it again.

Rose’s eyes cracked open and she immediately regretted it. As light flooded in, she had to squint and recoil a bit. Her head pounded and she could feel her brain pulse as overstimulation overtook it. After a short time of trying to adjust, she kept them open long enough to take in her surroundings.

They were now nestled at the base of the mountain. The long shadow of the peak provided an oasis in the sun soaked apocalypse that was Equestria. Grass was still green here and covered with dew. There were even sparse trees that still held chirping birds and little squirrels among their branches. It almost felt like a time before monsters ran the world.

Across from Rose, just a few feet away, was Tempest. The unicorn was out cold on the cool grass and snoozing peacefully. Scratches covered her coat and dried blood ran in streaks through her coat. Then there was the mare’s coat itself: it looked pale. It was not the discoloration from blood loss, no, Rose knew what that looked like. This was something else. It reminded Rose of the pallor that followed after Tirek had drained a pony of their magic.

“Tempest…?” Her voice was hoarse and her throat was as dry as the world beyond the shadow cast by the mountain. She tried to clear it, but that only made it worse. When the other mare did not respond, Rose resolved to get up and go over to her.

That was easier said than done. Beneath the pain of it all, the pins and needles were there. That sensation had been masked by the overwhelming aches and pains that came from her back and chest, but as soon as she attempted to move her hooves it came back in full force. It made her limbs heavy and difficult to maneuver. The only way to make it go away was to shake it off and she knew that.

It took several agonizing moments to regain feeling and full control of her extremities. There was no way she didn’t have broken ribs, she learned that from even moving and breathing. Just as she had been doing, she pushed through it all and got to her hooves. The light had blessed her with another chance to survive, and she could not squander it by remaining idle. It demanded action.

Rose painfully limped over to the sleeping unicorn and tapped her with a hoof. Even that hurt and she had to hold her ribs with her one good wing. She gave Tempest another tap and that finally got the pony to open her eyes and look up.

“Rose…? Rose!” Tempest sounded so tired, but her eyes lit up when she saw Rose. Slowly, the unicorn got to her hooves and smiled softly. “Thank whatever it is you pray to…I didn’t think you were going to wake up.” She found the unicorn’s head resting on her shoulder a few moments later in what Rose could only assume was a pseudo-hug.

That little barb about ‘whatever it is you pray to’ once again ignited a very familiar fire in the pegasus’ chest. That flame burned away most of her aches and pains and caused her to furrow her brow in anger. Tempest just could not help herself, she could not stop the blasphemy from falling from her lips.

“What happened?” Rose had to ignore that and push forward. They had to get to Tempest’s escape route. Rose just had to keep reminding herself of that little fact. She could not lose her temper now. Not this close to the end. Tempest’s reckoning would come and the light would make sure of it.

“The tunnel collapsed…” Tempest finally pulled her head away from Rose and then sat down. “I dug my way out. You were trapped beneath a big chunk of rock and I had to…I had to drag you out.” There was hesitation there. She was not telling the whole truth, but Rose could not say why. “It took a lot out of me, and you.” Rose could see the scratches along every inch of the mare’s body and her swollen hooves. “We just need to get to the grotto and we’re out…I was just resting for a bit.”

Getting dragged out from under a rock would explain why Rose’s back felt like a timberwolf had been using her as a scratching post. That still didn’t explain why Tempest looked like that. There was a truth being hidden here, and Rose was going to learn what it was.

“But why are you…dull…?” That felt like the right word. It was a fitting descriptor of her colors at the moment.

“I…” Tempest seemed to chew on the next words before spitting them out. “It was over a day ago now, okay? I need you to not freak out.” Whenever somepony said that, to not freak out or overreact, it usually meant there was something worth freaking out about. “I couldn’t move the rock you were under even if I tried and you were almost right in the middle of it. I-I had to use my magic so I’m a little drained right now.”

“You what?” Rose’s blood turned to ice and her heart momentarily stopped beating. She stumbled back from Tempest but her eyes never left the unicorn’s body. Did her legs look a little longer than before? Was there a flash of forming canines? Did her muzzle seem longer than normal? Rose’s breathing picked up in pace against the wishes of her tender ribs.

“Hey hey!” Tempest stood up again and reached a hoof out towards Rose. The pegasus instinctually backed away from the attempt to touch her and she stared at the other mare with wide eyes full of fear. “I know what you’re thinking, and I’m not going to turn. Okay? It-it’s been more than a day…I think. I’m still here. I just…I can’t recharge. I used a lot of my…” Tempest was trying to search for the right words. “...my internal magic and usually it takes a bit to come back, but it’s just not now. There’s a potion in my boat, it’ll help me, we just really need to get there.”

“It might be delayed!” Rose protested her companion’s logic. “W-we don’t know how this works and you still used magic?” There was no telling how this actually infected and turned unicorns.

“It was either that or leave you behind!” Tempest got a little of her previous energy back as she yelled at Rose. She stood a bit straighter and puffed out her chest. “I wasn’t going to leave you behind or let you die!” Her stance and voice softened as the next words came out. “I did what I had to so I didn’t lose a friend…”

No, Tempest was wrong. She would have survived without the dangerous and foolish intervention. She had gotten this far by the grace of the sun overhead and the cave collapsing around them would not have been the end of her. It had been another test for Rose to overcome, and it had been circumvented. The opportunity to overcome a challenge set by the vast and unknowable forces of the universe had been robbed from her.

Rose recalled the feeling of the magic that saturated the world, how wrong it felt. That was inside every unicorn now, they had willingly accepted its corruption when they used the tainted substance. Now it was even inside of Tempest. Whether she would admit it or not, she had accepted the dark gift and was just as guilty as Celestia or Luna or any other unicorn in the world. They had both come so far, only for one of them to falter in the homestretch.

“Fine.” Rose felt sick. That might be because of dehydration or hunger, but she was sure it was because of Tempest’s actions. What could she do about it now, though? She still knew nothing about the location of the grotto or where to rendezvous with the Storm King. Sadly, she still had need for Tempest for now.

“I know it was a risk, okay?” Tempest pleaded with Rose, who would not even meet her gaze now. “It worked out, though. I’m not…one of those things. I’m still me.” The words were filled with absolute certainty in that fact, but Rose knew that was not the truth.

“When are we going to get moving?” That’s what Rose cared about now. Tempest just became background noise, another problem to deal with when the opportunity presented itself. Another heretic. Another blasphemer. Another traitor.

Unlike Parade and Bulwark, Tempest had been on her side for so long. The once-captured spy had been the one to encourage Rose to stand up for herself, her beliefs. To parse out whether other ponies were worth betraying what she knew to be true. Now Rose knew that even Tempest herself was not worth it. She was just another Parade, another Bulwark. The evidence had been mounting for some time now with the little quips and barbs and the argument they had back in the bunker, but this was the final straw.

“Soon…” Tempest answered with a sigh. “I just need to rest a bit more, okay?” She lifted a hoof and pointed towards the mountain. “There’s a stream over there if you need a drink. It’s the same one we’re going to follow to get to the grotto. We…we don’t have any food. So I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s fine.” Rose answered curtly.

She had nothing else to say to Tempest, so she trotted off towards the stream. Every step hurt and now she had a pretty severe limp when it came to her front left leg. Walking even the short distance to the base of the mountain and the little stream that ran along it took much longer than anticipated.

When she finally did get to the stream, she found that bending down to get a drink was now a laborious task. When her trouble leg tried to bend, her shoulder blade shifted and caught and refused to budge at all. No matter how hard she tried, she could not force her leg to bend enough to let her get a drink. So instead she had to straighten the leg out and angle it beneath her so it didn’t have to bend at all. Then, as she balanced on only one front leg, she felt a sharp stabbing pain in her chest. That caused her to lose focus and fall over, her head splashing into the little stream.

Everything was difficult. Nothing was simple anymore. Even drinking was now something she needed to work for. Yet another challenge laid down before her, another way to test her resolve. She would not falter, she could not. After a few seconds of letting the chilled mountain water wash over her head, she managed to get back up. Her second attempt to hydrate herself was much more successful than the first and she felt marginally more refreshed than before.

After a drink, Rose looked up to the sky. The sun was not visible from where they were, it was obscured by the towering peak overhead. A sense of loneliness filled her heart. After the many weeks of being hounded by its constant presence she thought the first time it wasn’t visible would be a blessing. It was not. It was even more of a curse now that she knew it was there and could not see it in the sky.

“Give me the strength to do what needs to be done…” That was the one request Rose had of her god. She just needed the resolve to hang on a little more, to get out of Equestria so she could return and purge it of the evil that had gripped its heart. There needed to be something else to keep her upright, as her own fire was not enough to stay her hooves from what she wanted to do right now.

“Okay, I’m ready.” Tempest came up beside her and gave a little smile. Rose did not return it. “Let’s get out of here, huh?” There was nothing but a small nod in agreement.

The two mares trudged alongside the stream that hugged the base of the mountain. Rose’s limp and Tempest’s metaphysical exhaustion contributed to their glacial pace. Every once in a while Rose would have to stop to stretch or get her shoulder to unlock and Tempest would wait for her. When Tempest needed a moment to rest, Rose did not wait for her.

Rose was too busy thinking about everything that was about to happen. They would get out of here, away from Canterlot, but then what? The unicorns from the city had all poured out across the countryside. Would they be accosted all the way to the sea? Did Tempest have weapons aboard her boat? How many days would they have to spend out at sea?

“Hey.” Tempest interrupted the stream of questions and nudged Rose with a knee. “I…I need to tell you something.” When Rose’s remaining wing visibly bristled, Tempest shook her head. “Nothing bad, just…y’know. Just in case we don’t make it.” They were bitter words filled with sorrow and laced with defeat. “I think it’s important somepony knows the real me and I think it should be you.” Tempest took a deep breath before she spoke next. “My name, my real name…you have to promise you won’t laugh.”

“I promise.” Rose had no doubt that she would not laugh at it. What was funny about the poisoned unicorn before her? A name couldn’t change what she thought of the mare.

“It’s…” Tempest closed her eyes and shook her head. “My real name is Fizzlepop Berrytwist. My parents used to call me Fizz or Fizzle as a filly, though.” The mare, Tempest or Fizzle, became momentarily lost in a memory before she shook her head and came back to the present. “If you want to call me that…well, I wouldn’t get onto you for it.”

“That’s…good to know.” Rose gave the most polite smile she could. None of this mattered, not really. There were more important things to worry about than birth names. She needed more pertinent information out of the mare. “Do you know how long we’ll be out at sea? We don’t have to go across the whole ocean, right?”

“Oh…” Tempest’s ears drooped and her head lowered a little. “Uh…no. We shouldn’t.” Tempest mumbled and looked away from Rose and towards the horizon for a few seconds before turning back. “There’s an airship anchored at an island off of the coast. When we get to the grotto I can contact them…hopefully.” Tempest at least shrugged off Rose’s dismissal easily and returned to the strong solid mare she needed to be. Or at least Rose thought that initially. “Are you okay?”

The question caught Rose off guard more than any other possibly could. She stopped in place and blinked. As she did so all of the pain settled on her bones and seeped down deeper and deeper as she remained immobile. It was as if her brain refused to process the question and that was causing the rest of her body to lock up.

“No.” Rose finally answered. “No, I’m not.” She had so much she wanted to say. There were so many words on the tip of her tongue that were begging to be poured out into the air between the two. Could she? “I’m just in a lot of pain…” No, she couldn’t. She could not bring herself to open up to Tempest, not even when every fiber of her body screamed at her to let it out. The statement wasn’t a lie at least. She was in pain, more than Tempest would ever know.

“Right, yeah.” Tempest nodded and let out a long drawn out sigh. “I think we both are…” She let that hang in the air and did not follow up. Instead the unicorn simply started walking yet again.

Day Thirty Three

They walked for a few hours more until they could hear the roaring of a waterfall from up ahead. They could even see it pour from the heavens above down into a basin that became a wide river that then stretched into the sun soaked distance. They could also see the end of their shade and the stark divide between life in the shadows and the desolation under the sun.

They had spoken a little in the intervening time, but it always started with Rose asking Tempest for more information. In the past weeks the Storm King’s disciple had been reluctant to share any, but in her current malaise it seemed those barriers were broken down enough to share freely.

“How does he plan to take their magic?” That was the last question Rose had on the matter. It was the most important one. Was he a creature who could naturally do it?

“An artifact called the ‘Staff of Sacanas’.” Tempest mumbled out the answer as she wavered on her hooves. The other mare had become much more unstable as they walked, a clear sign of the corruption taking deep root Rose was sure. “It’s…uh…I don’t know exactly, but it can take magic. Stores it inside of itself and acts like a horn would.”

“Do you think it still works?” Rose was reminded of the guard armor whose charms had failed them. “If whatever this is got into it, then…” Then that plan would be toast. Rose would just have to hope that it was still viable. She did not want this entire venture to be for naught.

“It couldn’t have spread everywhere, right…? The world is a big place.” Tempest countered. Slowly the drained unicorn began to lean against Rose, who just pushed her back away with a wing. “Sorry…”

Their progress was still slow. They had to stop a few times just to rest. Multiple times Rose had to stop to get feeling back into her hooves. Then there was one instance where her wing had become unresponsive and she had not noticed until Tempest accidentally stepped on the tip. Now was yet another time when she had to stop just because she needed to do some pain management. The continuous assault on her nerves from her various injuries was piling up and when it became nigh unbearable, she needed a pause.

“Deep breaths…” She reminded herself. The air came in slowly through her nose and she exhaled it just as slowly from her mouth. Each breath caused a sharp stabbing pain to shoot throughout her chest. It still hurt to breathe and to move, but that was the price she had to pay. It was another section of the crucible that was this part of her life. It was another test she needed to pass, one that she could not let somepony else do for her this time.

“We need to hurry up…” Tempest nudged the pegasus. “I don’t think I have much left in me…” Every word sounded like it was a chore to speak for the unicorn. Then there was the fact that her colors were becoming more faded by the minute. It seemed like she might be on death’s door.

Not that Rose cared. As soon as they got to the grotto Rose could withhold whatever potion it was that Tempest needed and leave the other mare to her fate here. Tempest could choke on the poison she so gladly let into her body. That was the price of sin. Everypony must face the consequences of their own actions.

The two mares plodded on. Tempest’s hooves dragged as they went and the unicorn began to lag behind her companion. It only got worse when the shadow of the mountain ran out and they were in the sun again. The strength sapping heat had them coated in sweat after just a few minutes in the light.

The heat was part of the sickness that saturated the world. It was another symptom. It infected the dirt, the air, the innocent and holy sun itself and every single unicorn who dared tried to use the magic that spread it. Then it exerted its pressure on everything around it. The grass died, the air became hard to breathe, the sun beat down mercilessly, and the unicorns wanted nothing more to kill. If you were infected, then you joined in their oppressive chorus that only knew how to kill.

Rose looked at Tempest.

The pressure she now exerted was directly on Rose. It was a ball and chain hooked firmly around her leg that was now slowing her down and jeopardizing the mission she had before her. It made her grit her teeth and glare daggers at the other mare.

Rose was still incredulous that Tempest had done something so stupid! That she had allowed that taint into herself was simply inexcusable! Rose’s life was not worth that kind of damage to oneself. Even if by some metric it was, there was no way Rose needed that help. Eventually she would have woken up and through the blessings that seemed to follow her everywhere and her own grit and determination, she would have made it out. Maybe she would have accepted Tempest’s assistance if she truly needed it. Maybe.

They came to the edge of the basin that the waterfall crashed into. Despite being in direct sunlight, it was still cool here. The water that was constantly thrown into the air and the rushing air provided enough interference to make something livable out of it. That this was their destination was a blessing and yet another thing to be thankful for. If need be they could definitely wait here for a bit to recuperate.

Or at least Rose could.

“We have to go through the waterfall…” Tempest raised a limp hoof and pointed at the torrential downpour that came from the peak. “Try to stick to the edge, sneak through without taking much of the force.”

That was the plan, then. From the angle they were at they could see between the waterfall and the edge of the mountain and there was definitely a cave back there. They couldn’t avoid all of the water that was coming down, but it would be better than trying to walk straight under it. Rose wasn’t sure that her back could take a straight onslaught from above.

The two mares hugged the stone wall of the mountain and kept as close to it as they could. Their hooves hit the cool water of the pool and moving through it drew even more effort from their taxed bodies. Rose managed as best as she could, even with her problem leg. She did not look back to see how Tempest was fairing.

As they got to where the water flow from above increased in volume, Rose used her wing to partially shelter her back. She pushed through and felt the pressure of the falls on her immediately. It sent shockwaves of pain that reverberated through her messed up ribs, wounded wing, and bad leg. It caused her to cry out and for tears to form across her already damp face, but she pushed through. The fire inside of her chest burned bright enough to keep her upright.

Past the waterfall was a massive cavern that was three-hundred feet or more across and more or less circular. It was dominated by a pool of water that held several small boats and that had a ramshackle wooden dock built around it. Thankfully there was a ramp just ahead that would take them up to the structure.

“My boat is…the black one…” Tempest came up beside Rose and leaned heavily on the cave wall. Her faded pink mane was plastered down her neck and around her head from the waterfall and she looked ready to fall over.

Sitting on this side of the cave and still moored to the docks was a small black speedboat with what seemed to be two blue lightning bolts painted on the front. If that was indeed their way out then Rose was far less thrilled than before. It had no roof so it offered no reprieve from the sunlight they would face. She could only hope it had supplies for the trip out to sea.

Rose limped up the ramp and over to the boat while Tempest had to practically drag herself to it. Once there, she hauled herself over the side and went over to a little black chest sitting against one side. It was opened and revealed a variety of bulbous glass vials, one of which was filled with blue liquid and was vibrating rapidly.

“Yeah yeah, give me a minute Grubber…” Tempest mumbled and grabbed the flask next to the vibrating one, this one full of pink and sparkling liquid. She uncorked the concoction and drank the whole thing in one go then tossed the bottle over the side when she was done. “I needed that…so bad…” Slowly it seemed like the pigment was coming back, just little by little. “Now, onto Grubber.” Tempest picked up a little metal bowl and put it on the dock, then poured the vibrating blue potion into it.

The liquid burbled and popped and then erupted into a little fire that filled the entirety of the bowl. In it Rose could see a figure. It was a stout little thing with gray fur and white spiky hair between its mangled ears. Rose could see it from the back only and saw it was wearing a sort of bib/shirt hybrid.

“Tempest!” The little goblin hollered and jumped. “I didn’t think we were going to hear from you again!” It had a lisp and a gravelly voice that was louder than it needed to be. “W-we waited thought! Just like you said! The others wanted to leave but I told them ‘no way! Tempest is fine!’ even if the sun doesn’t seem to be…” He then seemed to study Tempest for a moment. “You look awful, you know that?”

“It’s been a rough month.” Tempest deadpanned. “Is the ship okay?”

“Yeah it’s fine! Why wouldn’t it be? Did something happen?” Both of the ponies rolled their eyes. Ignorance truly was bliss and this little creature seemed to be the most blissful thing in the entire world.

“It’s a long story. I’ll…” Whatever second wind the potion had provided the unicorn had now slowed down and the fatigue caught up with her again. “...ugh. Okay. We’ll be there in a few days, okay? Just get everyone ready to leave.”

“We?” Grubber asked.

“I’m bringing somepony else. She’s good. I can vouch for her.” Tempest then dumped the little metal bowl on its side and the fire extinguished as the contents of the bowl trickled onto the dock and ultimately into the water. “I really hate him…”

“Grubber?” Rose had to ask about the little creature.

“He’s a…I don’t even know. He looks like a hedgehog. He’s my second in command.” Tempest waved a hoof at Rose and relaxed against the side of her boat. “He’s a little whelp, all he does is listen to orders as long as you’re forceful with him.” Ah, Rose knew the type well. She was a little like that before this all started.

Rose was about to say something out but a trio of howls shot through the space, loud enough to overpower the roaring falls and shake the cavern around them. Both mares stood alert and looked around as they waited for one of the alicorns to suddenly appear. After that did not materialize after a few minutes, they looked at each other.

“Should we go see what’s going on?” Tempest was the one to ask, and Rose gave a hesitant nod. Those monsters did not have an outburst unless something provoked them, so what was going on at the peak?

The mares made their way back outside into the harsh sunlight and both of them got enough distance between themselves and the mountain to get a good view of the top of the mountain. They could see three massive alicorns circling the dead city from on high like vultures. This behavior was far different from anything they had seen before. They had seen the beasts hunt before, but never circled like that.

“More survivors?” Rose asked. Had they missed ponies? It was possible as Canterlot was a big city, but it seemed like they would’ve known with how much of a racket they created. Other survivors surely would have been just as noisy, especially this far into this event.

“Either that or they’re about to leave. All of the unicorns have to be out of there by now.” Tempest mused. “If that’s the case, then you might want to send up a prayer to whatever’s up there for the two of us because I really don’t want them to come down here.”

That broke Rose. She had been holding all of this in for so long, but that was the last drop that the dam needed to burst. The fire in her chest erupted into an inferno and burned away every sensation in her body that wasn’t righteous fury.

“Can you stop belittling me?!” Rose rounded on the other mare and glared right through the sickly unicorn. “Every day it’s another little jab about me! A little joke or a little quip!” There had been so many she had lost count at this point. “Just stop! It’s enough! I don’t need to hear it from you! I’ve heard it from every other pony for my entire life!” Rose could not stop herself now if she tried, so she just kept going even as Tempest stared at her passively. “I especially don’t need to hear it from somepony like you!”

“Rose, it wasn’t a joke.” Tempest countered and stood at her full height, her chest puffed out slightly. “It wasn’t some joke at the expense of whatever you believe or believed. Maybe I was being honest? Did you think of that?”

“No, because you’re just like everypony else!” Rose screamed as hot and angry tears fell from her eyes. “You’re just like every other lowlife heathen in this whole country!” Not even her filter was working anymore and everything that needed to be said was coming out now.

“Hey I know you’re stressed, but so am I!” Tempest raised her voice right back and huffed. “So don’t go throwing around stuff you don’t mean because you might end up saying something you regret!”

“I won’t regret a word!” Rose roared right back. “Not when it's said to a sinner like you!” She jabbed a hoof into Tempest’s chest. “The spy! The thief! The liar! The blasphemer! The pony who opened themself up to this…this…taint! You aren’t clean anymore! You may not have turned but it’s inside you now, waiting! It’s already poisoned you and that potion you drank won’t stop it!”

Tempest stood genuinely shocked for a moment before her features hardened and the pony from the dungeons returned and looked upon the pegasus with a hint of loathing. Rose could see the tears well up in Tempest’s eyes and a snarl developed across her face. She could see anger in those electric eyes, a primal thing that didn’t belong to ponies.

Rose was right, there was that darkness from the taint. Right there. She had seen the exact look in the beady little eyes of every single unicorn she had stared down in Canterlot. It had developed right in front of her eyes when Picket had turned and here it was again.

“Rose…” Tempest spoke slowly and carefully. “...stop. You’re…you’re talking crazy.” Tempest wanted to say and do so much more but she was restraining herself. That was obvious to anypony. “Let’s just get back inside and forget this ever happened, okay? I-I’ll forgive you for it.” The walls were coming back down as quickly as they were being erected and Tempest’s voice cracked and faltered.

“I’M NOT CRAZY!” Rose roared and put both of her front hooves right into the unicorn’s chest. The action caught Tempest off guard and sent her to the ground and she tumbled a foot or two. “You wanted to kill me! Back when I was at my lowest, when I lost my wing, you were prepared to let me die! The only thing that saved me was the light! It was the only thing I had and the only thing that made you act!” Rose was fully crying at this point. Her throat was raw and begged her to stop screaming, but she persisted. “Now you let that…that rot in and it can’t even reach you anymore! Just like Celestia and Luna and every other unicorn! All you’ll do now is infect and ruin everything around you!”

Tempest got to her hooves and stared down Rose before tackling Rose to the ground. Two hooves hit Rose right in her sore ribs and caused her entire body to seize from the pain and her vision to swim. Then her back hit the rocky shore of the river behind them and her vision flashed with light as the pain overwhelmed her already overactive brain.

“I’m going to hold you here until you act normal again!” Tempest kept herself from screaming, but she did yell. It was not anger that coated her words but something akin to parental disappointment. Like she had just caught a foal with its hoof in the cookie jar. “Just think, Rose! I just saved your life! I-I could’ve died or turned into a monster and I did it to save you!” Tempest was pleading with Rose at this point, begging and bargaining with a side of the mare that no longer existed. “You are the first pony who has ever understood me! You’re the first pony I’ve ever felt any kind of…kinship with so please! Please! Snap out of it!” Tempest’s chest was heaving with effort and her hooves stayed on both of Rose’s shoulders to keep them pinned while she straddled the mare’s barrel. “We’re both broken! We’re both outcasts! We both get it!”

Rose could see it every time the other pony yelled. She could see the monster that was waiting just below the surface. The fangs were ready to jump out at a moment’s notice and her limbs were begging to crack and deform. The unicorn’s hot breath washed over her and it smelled of death, just like the wolf from when she was a filly. This was not a pony yelling at her anymore, this was a beast barking and snapping its jaws in her face. The light had left it and only darkness filled the shell.

CRACK-BOOOOOM

Rose saw it first. The three alicorns that circled above the city all unleashed a blinding barrage of magic upon the alabaster buildings. The light from the trio’s assault was so bright that it seemed to darken the world around it, even dimming the light from the sun. Chunks of white stone were sent into the air from the blasts and could be seen hanging in the air before they made an accelerated return back down to earth. Tempest had her head turned and was staring at the spectacle as well, and that was when Rose acted.

This creature, this wolf in sheep’s clothing, would meet the same fate as the one in her youth had. Rose’s right hoof found a sizable rock, then she called upon every spark from the fire in her heart to do what needed to be done. The beast needed to be slain, the sickness purged.

Rose overpowered the distracted Tempest and brought the rock up with all of the righteous and holy intent it deserved. The unicorn noticed too late and the flat side of the rock connected with her temple. Rose did not skimp on the follow through and made sure to carry the swing through.

The mare on top crumpled and fell to the side and onto the wet rocks of the riverbank. Blood seeped from the wound on the side of her head and those long legs twitched helplessly. Tempest’s eyes flicked over to Rose, tears still falling from them. Her lips moved, but Rose did not care what they were trying to say. Then the unicorn stopped moving and her eyes closed. The beast was gone, the threat receded for now.

One more nonbeliever dealt with.

Bits of flaming rubble and molten rock began to rain down around the area surrounding the mountain as Rose got to her hooves. The grass that had been baking in the eternal sunshine began to catch on fire from the rubble landing in it and it spread across the prairie surrounding the castle like the wildfire it was. Soon it would become impossible to remain in the area with the smoke and the fire.

Rose huffed and puffed as she caught her breath and the world came into sharp focus around her again. The adrenaline began to fade and the pain set in again. Her barrel was positively aching at every point and it protested every little movement and action she needed to take. She began to hobble off towards the waterfall so she could leave this place.

This would not be the last time Equestria saw Rose Wreath, though. No. She would leave this place a survivor and return a crusader to purge the land of the darkness that she knew plagued it. If that meant doing what she did to Tempest, Bulwark, Parade, and every monstrous unicorn that threatened her, then so be it. This would not be a half-measure.

An hour later, even as the trio of alicorns continued their total destruction of the nation’s capital city, the black boat sped down the river. Little ripples and waves lapped at the stony shores and washed over the fuschia body of Tempest as it passed.