Convexa Tempus

by Reeve

Rating: teen
Tags: Dark, Adventure
Length: 21861

An old enemy returns, more determined than ever

This is a sequel to Auroram Usque Opacare
Time marches on for Dawn and Dusk, but just as Equestria begins to heal after years of turmoil, and old enemy resurfaces to undo everything they've worked so hard for. forced to leave their new, peaceful lives behind them, Dawn and Dusk must join up with a cast of unlikely allies to save Equestria from an evil that's been locked away for longer than anypony can remember… however there may be more to this quest than meets the eye.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-04-11 13:10:01 UTC

Chapters 1-5

One

The stallion trotted the last few feet before throwing himself flat onto the snow. Propping himself on his front knees, he peered over the crest of the hill shaking the balaclava off his face. Blinking flakes of snow from his eyes he raised a pair of binoculars and began scanning the planes. At first there was nothing but sheets of snow falling across his vision, but then as it faded he began to make out the towering structure piercing the sky.

He’d been positioned here for little over a week; he hadn’t hesitated in setting off when the scouts informed him their target was seen here. His gaze swept from the base of the structure back and forth as he’d done every day since his arrival. He was about to give up, reluctantly as this had been their best lead in six months, but then something caught his attention. Squinting he tried to identify the dark figure making its slow way across the ice in the direction of the structure.

He flicked a switch on the side of the binoculars and instantly his view flashed yellow before settling black. Amidst all the dark cold an orange blob of body heat moved. Zooming in he could make out the figures limbs and mane, definitely a mare, but was it his target? Flicking off the infra-red he placed the binoculars in a heap of snow next to him, then raising his horn he sent a pillar of violet light into the sky. Instantly the snow ceased to fall and his view was made clear. Squinting at the figure he made out that it was wearing spectacles and a collar.

His ears pricked up as he heard the crunch of snow behind him, turning he saw one of his men rushing to his side. When the soldier reached him he crouched down and addressed him through his balaclava.

“You signalled sir,” he said in a muffled tone, “did you find something.”

“Yes, send word immediately to Canterlot,” he said seriously, “tell them we have identified the target.”

“Affirmative Captain Shining Armour,” said the soldier turning and charging back the way he came, and Shining Armour got to his hooves and gazed once more over the ice planes.

“She’s back.”

Two

“Miss? MISS!” Dawn snapped awake, trying to figure out who had said what and why.

“Sorry what?” she asked the room of fillies in front of her.

“That was the bell miss,” a pegasi filly announced, “can we leave miss?”

“Oh, of course,” Dawn said waving her hoof dismissively and then immediately the class began scrambling for the door. She rested her face on the desk wanting to get back to sleep when a voice spoke very close to her.

“Are you alright Miss Dawn?” she looked up and saw a yellow unicorn filly standing in front of her desk, all the other pupils had left the classroom.

“Yes, I’m fine Pumpkin, I just haven’t been sleeping well,” she gave her a reassuring smile, “I promise I'm fine, now run along, and give my regards to your parents.”

Pumpkin Cake waved her farewell and left the room, Dawn dragged herself onto her hooves and began packing her essentials and unfinished lunch into her saddle bag.

Stepping out into the sunlight she yawned before making her way down the street of Ponyville. All around her ponies bustled about their daily business, trading at the market and playing ball games, but this all phased through her. Her thoughts drifted back to her dreams of the night before and she shuddered. Princess Cadance warned her there was a risk of this occurring after she became bound to the elements of harmony, but still, nothing could have prepared her for the reality of it. She was only roused from thoughts when she heard somepony shouting her name.

She looked all around but saw nothing, then looked up in time to see an orange blur come hurtling out of the sky at her. She almost jumped out of her skin as she sidestepped to safety, but she hadn’t needed to. The Pegasus came inches to where she’d been standing before bouncing back into the air, where she did three backflips before soaring to the ground in front of Dawn.

“Wow Scootaloo, you’re almost as good at flying as you are at showing off,” Dawn said smiling as the Pegasus brushed her purple mane from her eyes.

“Well I had a pretty good mentor,” Scootaloo said beaming at her. She continued walking with Scootaloo matching her stride talking about her day at the Wonderbolt’s Academy. Dawn smiled politely and nodded in acknowledgement when Scootaloo looked at her expectantly. Its not that she wasn’t interested in what she was saying, she was just too tired to manage Scootaloo today.

“Anyway, Spitfire let us out early because a royal guard delivered some urgent information requiring her to go to Canterlot,” Said Scootaloo. Dawn raised her eyebrow at this, not sure why it sparked her interest.

“So yeah,” she finished, “I've got some weather jobs to take care of around here, ill catch you later.”

Without waiting for a response Scootaloo shot off and Dawn made the leg of her journey home alone. Dawn stepped up to the main gate stopping briefly to read the sign hung over the lane way, it read ‘Sweet Apple Acres’. She dawdled up the lane listening to the clang of metal coming from the barn, she wouldn’t disturb Dusk while he was working, instead she entered the farmhouse and collapsed onto the sofa passing out in seconds.

Dawn was standing on a crag; she looked out over the ocean surrounding her, the waves frozen solid. She then craned her neck staring at the familiar black clouds imposing over the entire sky. She then turned where she stood and saw the group of ponies assembled on the rock with her, she then looked back at the frozen ocean knowing what was coming next, and she wasn’t disappointed. The ice began shattering before her eyes and the structure began ascending into the sky piercing the clouds.

Three

Dusk entered the house shortly after nightfall, hanging his work jacket and the coat hoof next to the door and wiping the sweat from his brow with his fore hoof. While he couldn’t see anything in the darkness he heard familiar tossing and murmuring, and he knew Dawn was having her dream again. He approached the sofa and kneeled down in front of her resting his hoof on her shoulder. Her struggling eased slightly but he knew it wouldn’t last. He briefly considered waking her but he knew she needed to sleep whether she dreamed or not.

Getting up he walked into the kitchen where he filled up the kettle with tap water and set it to boil on the stove. He then placed two cups on the bench, placing a normal teabag in one, and in the other he emptied a small bag of green powder. That morning he’d decided to pay a visit to Zecora before starting work, and so shortly after Dawn left for school he set off to the Everfree forest.

He met Zecora early upon arriving to live in Ponyville, and like everypony else they bonded easily enough. While they rarely had need of each other’s company she knew she could always go to him for repairs and he knew he could always rely on her for remedies, and that’s what he needed today. He’d only been to her house on a couple of occasions but he still knew the way and it didn’t take him long to arrive where she greeted him warmly.

“Greetings to you this day Dusk, come in, forgive the musk,” she said leading him into hollowed tree she made her home. The smell of various toxins and herbs hit him as he approached the tree stump where Zecora was laying out small bowls of steaming liquid. As he sat down she gestured for him to take one, clearly it was some kind of beverage.

“So tell me Dusk what brings you here?” she asked, “For if you require a potion that is my career.”

Dusk explained Dawn’s recent night terrors, without telling her specifically what it was she was dreaming.

“So I was hoping you could give me something that might help,” he finished.

“Hmm, indeed these dreams are a problem,” she said uncrossing her legs and standing up, “to provide you with a solution would be my duty solemn.”

She walked over to a shelf and began sorting through jars of herbs; while he waited Dusk sipped more of the minty drink she gave him.

“First you must brew her tea, and by adding ground sand shade, gone shall her dreams be,” she said as she began grinding a brown stem in a pestle and mortar. As she explained instructions for allowing it to stew she emptied the now green powder into a draw string pouch, but just as she finished there was a knock on the door and before either of them could react the door swung open and a royal guard marched in.

“Lady Zecora, I bring a message to you from Princess Cadance,” said the guard and Zecora accepted it and he turned leaving the house. Zecora’s eyes scanned it, her expression becoming grave.

“I apologise Dusk but I must be on my way, an urgent summons from the princess, I mustn’t delay,” she said. Dusk was about to ask what the letter said but she was already dashing out the door. He picked up the pouch from the table and returned home.

That evening he was preparing the drink as Zecora had instructed, all the while sipping his own tea. He heard shifting from the other room and he turned to see Dawn walking unsteadily into the kitchen rubbing her eyes.

“Hey there, did you get your commission finished today?” she asked stifling a yawn.

“Yes, and I also paid Zecora a visit, she gave me something that should help you,” Dusk replied, Dawn looked surprised.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she said smiling, Dusk didn’t respond he just finished stirring the cup before handing it to her.

They sat on the sofa while Dawn drank Zecora’s remedy, she updated him on the school day and he talked a bit about the repair he’d been doing that day. He was just telling her about his visit to Zecora in more detail when she shot up in her seat.

“Did you say a royal guard brought her a summons from Canterlot?” she asked in a strange tone.

“Yes, why?” he replied curiously. She told him about her run in with Scootaloo and what he’d said about Spitfire receiving a similar summons.

“Do you think something’s happened?” Dusk said glancing out the window. Dawn just shrugged staring into space.

“Something’s always happening in Equestria,” Dawn said simply.

“You know what I mean,” Dusk said turning back to her. She cocked her head thoughtfully.

“I’ve been wondering for a while, ever since the dreams started, if she was back,” she replied. Six months and no one had seen head or tail of her. Could it possibly be that Fate was back?

Four

The Pegasus galloped across the bridge, the guards standing aside to allow him to pass. He quickly navigated the dark stone corridors, steadily descending deeper and deeper. When at last he emerged into a colossal cavern, he felt as if he was standing inside a planet. He stood on a platform amidst hundreds of ponies all lined neatly, all looking at him with baited breath.

The ponies were black and grey, some with stripes or patches of dark colour, some with horns and others with wings. While there was little variation in them the Pegasus knew each and every one of them as individuals, they were his family, the same blood coursed through each of their veins. He began marching forward standing tall and skeletally thin, his coat and wing feathers jet black.

“Welcome back Grim,” a cold voice echoed throughout the entire cavern, “What news do you bring your master?”

Grim reached the end of the crowd and spoke out into the abyss. “My lord, the tribes have crossed the boarder, and are each declaring themselves the rulers of your land.”

The cavern began to shake as something began to rise up from beneath the edge of the platform all the ponies stood. A dark shape broke the horizon and mounted the platform; it was the hoof of a massive horse leg. And behind it came the rest of the body.

The ponies looked on in terror and awe at the giant being that now stood before them. It was impossible to decide if the darkness shrouded it or if the horse’s body was woven from the darkness itself. Its mane and tail swept out behind it like waves of a pitch black ocean, its wings spread wide making the huge cavern seem so much smaller. A top its head was a black horn which alone was taller than Grim himself, but the most striking feature of this creature was its eyes, pools of inky blackness which seemed impossibly dark, and endlessly deep.

“Well that wont do now will it?” the being spoke, its voice still echoing causing Grim’s bones to tremble, “take as many soldiers as you need, show those fools the price of claiming land that belongs to me.”

Grim bowed and spoke, “your wish is my command, lord Sullivan.” He then turned and marched back the way he came, the other ponies still grovelling at Sullivan’s presence. When he reached the bridge again he spread his wings and soared into the darkness channelling his thoughts out to his brothers, calling them to his aid. These foreign invaders were about to discover how their actions had incurred the wrath of a god.

Five

Spitfire swooped into the palace courtyard, guards pointing and whispering excitedly. She knew there was a time for putting on a show, but now was not one of those times, these ponies would just have to make do without. She ascended the main stairs and entered the palace making the familiar journey to the throne room where the letter had told her to go when she arrived. As she reached the doors two guards stood to the side to allow her to pass.

“Keep up the good work Dave, Rodriguez, looking sharp” she said with a wink as she entered the hall.

As she approached the throne the three ponies gathered there stopped talking and looked at her, or rather two ponies and one zebra. Zecora stood with Princess Cadance and Marelin, who looked as flamboyant as ever.

“Don’t stop on my account,” Spitfire said grinning, “though if it’s not too much trouble you could rewind a little so I could catch the start.”

Cadance laughed and Marelin smirked; only Zecora was unamused.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice, both of you,” she said addressing Zecora as well as Spitfire. Then her voice turned serious, “obviously due to the nature of what I’m about to tell you I needed to be fairly vague in what I wrote to you both.”

Spitfire understood, she may be a performer by profession, but she was no stranger to matters of national security. It was especially in the past few months after Cadance retook the throne that she began to have a greater involvement in ‘political affairs’, though the truth was she, Zecora and the few others chosen had only a single duty in the kingdom, it seemed now it was time to carry out that duty.

It was roughly a month after she was reinstated that Cadance requested Spitfire come to Canterot castle. Once there she was surprised to find herself in a group of seemingly random ponies as well as Zecora. It was there Cadance informed them of events that had been set in motion by the one who called herself ‘Fate’. She knew that being called here today meant their fears had been confirmed and Fate really had resurfaced.

“Not long ago one of our scouts informed us that our target was seen, and so Shining Armour took a small team of soldiers to where she’d been sighted to confirm it.” Cadance stopped for a moment to breathe, “After a week I received a letter from him, Fate has indeed been found.”

Spitfire, Zecora and Marelin exchanged glances.

“Where exactly has she been located to?” Spitfire asked, afraid what the answer was going to be. Cadance didn’t answer for some time, but when she did the whole world seemed to fall silent.

“The gates of Tartarus.”

Chapters 6-10

Six

“Alright my little ponies,” Dawn addressed the class, “that’s the bell; I hope you each have a wonderful weekend.”

While the fillies began exiting, talking excitedly about how they were going to spend their days off, Dawn continued marking the class tests.

“Are you feeling better miss?” Pumpkin Cake asked, having stayed behind again.

“Much better, thank you for asking Pumpkin,” she said sincerely. She didn’t know what that brew Zecora gave them was but it had done the trick, she wished she’d seen her about it sooner.

She totally forgot what Dusk and her had discussed the night before about the summons being delivered to Spitfire and Zecora, and was quite contently working away until she was brought back to the real world by glass smashing. She looked up and saw Scootaloo had hurtled through one of the windows into the classroom, colliding with a row of tables and lying in a crumpled heap on the floor. Dawn rushed over to her, but quickly saw that she wasn’t hurt.

“What on earth Scootaloo?” she demanded, she wasn’t angry just concerned.

“Dawn I saw them,” she blurted out, “here in Ponyville.”

“Slow down,” Dawn said holding her shoulders with her hooves, “who did you see?”

“The guards, they’re asking for you, and Dusk!” Dawn’s heart sank, she didn’t know exactly what this was about, but she had a feeling it wasn’t going to be anything she wanted to be involved in.

They left the classroom in haste while Scootaloo asked a string of questions which she didn’t want to answer. They approached Sugarcube corner and came to a halt when they saw a unicorn guard asking directions from Mrs Cake who had her head out the door. They doubled back and walked the long way back to Sweet Apple Acres. When they reached the gate a voice bellowed out behind them.

“Stop Miss Dawn, I bring urgent news from Canterlot,” the voice called out from behind her. Dawn sighed and turned to see two guards walking up the path to meet her. Scootaloo took an aggressive stance but Dawn just shook her head and told her to go home, assuring her she would take care of it.

Dawn stood next to Dusk who was still filthy from working out in the barn, in the house as the two guards addressed them.

“We are sorry to bother you but Princess Cadance requests your immediate presence at Canterlot as a crisis has arisen and your assistance is required,” stated the guard. Dawn and Dusk looked at each other, while they didn’t need to be told they still asked.

“Is it Fate?” Dusk asked dryly.

“I can’t answer that,” the guard responded in a neutral tone, “all I can tell you is that while we can’t force you to come with us, the fate of Equestria may be in your hooves.”

Dawn lost patience, “Why us? We’ve played our part,” she demanded, “is it too much to ask that we be allowed to live our lives in peace?”

The guards looked apologetically, Dawn lowered her tone, there was no point taking her anger out on them, they were just following orders.

“Can we be given some privacy to talk about this?” Dusk asked politely, the guards nodded and left the house.

“They say it’s our choice, but why do I get the feeling that’s not exactly true?” Dawn said sarcastically.

“They do sort of need you,” Dusk replied hesitantly, “you are the wielder of the Elements of Harmony after all.”

Dawn groaned, what could she say to argue, she knew as soon as they bound to her she would never be left to her own devices again.

“But we stopped her; her grand plan depended on the civil war, which we stopped,” she said predicting Dusk’s response.

“She could have a plan B.”

The guards came back in after Dusk left to call them back.

“Have you made a decision?” they asked.

“We’ll see Princess Cadance and hear her out,” Dawn said coldly.

“But that doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll help her,” Dusk added. The guards nodded in acknowledgement.

“We have transport arranged, if you would like to follow us.”

Seven

Grim starred over the battle field caring little for the slaughter taking place before his eyes. The unicorns fell easily, regardless of their magical skills. Grim observed how disorganised they were, while they started in formation listening to their leaders tactics, they soon became chaotic and hectic, easy for Grim’s elite fighting force to pick off.

“I’m surprised you’re not down their helping,” Grim said turning to the pony standing next to him. He was a heavy set pony, almost all muscle. While his coat was black he was also covered in dark red patches, his mane and tail were tied back, even though they were cropped short already.

“Weak game,” he said in a booming voice, “hardly worth the little effort it takes to kill them.”

Grim shrugged, “fair enough Brutus,” he replied.

They stood in silence watching the carnage continue, but not for long as the unicorns quickly began to retreat. Their soldiers began pursuing them but Brutus stopped them, his voice easily carrying across the battlefield.

“Leave them; they are not worth wasting your time chasing,” Brutus shouted, and immediately they halted, turned and began marching back to the hilltop where Grim and Brutus stood waiting.

“its getting cold…” the voice came from behind them, Grim and Brutus turned to see a grey speckled pony walking slowly towards them, he wore thick obscuring spectacles and had a twisted horn.

“I’m surprised to see you outside your grotto, Davitt,” Grim mocked. Davitt just looked past him before continuing what he was saying.

“… unusually cold, those tribes, brought something with them,” Davitt said. Grim ignored this; he didn’t like Davitt, and as far as he knew nopony did.

“Come on,” Grim said turning to Brutus, “we still have the Pegasus to take down.” The two turned and walked away from their position over the battlefield and began walking west to where the Pegasus tribe was reported to have made their camp. To Grim’s surprise Davitt began following them, he was still talking about the cold. Grim did feel a little chillier now that he thought about it, not that cold was a problem for him or any of Sullivan’s followers, but still Davitt had a point, it was unusual for it to be this cold this time of year.

Eight

Dusk stepped off the chariot gazing across the familiar city of Canterlot. Dawn stepped off and stood next to him.

“Didn’t think we’d ever have to come back here,” he said, Dawn just nodded in response. The guards led the way to the palace and they followed reluctantly. Dusk had to admit the capital looked considerably more pleasant without the crowds of radicals swarming through every street.

The locals here were shockingly uptight, not like their neighbours in Ponyville. Dusk also figured he wouldn’t enjoy their company so he had to supress the urge to wave and say hello to every passer-by, habits he’d learned from living in Ponyville. When they arrived at the Castle gates his memory went back to the day he walked along this path under the full belief he was going to die. Then Dawn nudged him and he turned to see her smiling reassuringly at him.

They entered the courtyard and he was struck by how different and appealing it looked without the stage assembled in it. Princess Cadance was pacing back and forth, but when she heard them coming a look of relief washed over her face.

“You came, I’m so sorry to ask you to come back here; I know it can’t be easy for you both.” Dusk relaxed, Cadance had a way of making him feel that no matter what she was on his side.

“Its ok,” Dawn said, clearly she was also relaxed by Cadance’s greeting. “We understand you wouldn’t have asked if you had a choice.”

Cadance led them into the castle, as they walked she asked them about their lives in Ponyville, and she seemed genuinely interested in what they had to say. As they entered the throne room, the few ponies gathered there stopped talking and looked their way. Well ponies used loosely, there was actually only two ponies; Spitfire and Marelin, but the others were Zecora and two phoenixes perched. Marelin strode forward and curtsied in front of each of them, kissing Dawn’s hoof.

“It is a pleasure to see you once again.” He said leading them to join the group.

They quickly exchanged greetings, everypony seemed happy to have them their, even the phoenixes sung happily to them.

“Yes it’s wonderful to have you in our presences again, but unfortunately its not good tidings that bring us all here today.” Cadance said, the atmosphere instantly shifted to a more serious one.

“I take it she’s back?” Dusk asked simply.

“Indeed,” Marelin confirmed.

“Ever since peace was re-established in Equestria Shining Armour has been organising search parties all over the land to locate her,” Cadance explained, “recently we received word from our scouts that she had been spotted in the frozen north, little south of the mountains forming the natural border of Equestria.

“Shining Armour took a group of soldiers with him to investigate, and a couple days ago he informed us that the sightings were true,” she continued, “It was for this reason that I assembled a number of individuals who could be trusted to aid us when this time came. It was made up of several ponies Princess Celestia held high regard of, as well as Marelin who’s served as a faithful advisor to the kingdom since I was reinstated as Princess.”

“Unfortunately not all were reached,” Marelin chipped in, “one passed away in the last month, and the others are unreachable for various reasons. The only two who showed up were Zecora and Spitfire.”

“It was for this reason we called you, we are planning an operation that we just don’t have the numbers for,” Cadance said, Dusk understood now why their summons came later than Zecora’s. “It was because of your efforts Equestria was saved before, and while we have no right to ask you for help a second time, we have no choice.”

Dusk met Dawns eyes; it was going to be hard to refuse now they were here face to face with all of them.

“What exactly is it you need us to do?” Dawn asked, Cadance took a breath.

“Fate was seen in the north, this raised our suspicions which were only confirmed when Shining Armour saw her. She plans to open the Gates of Tartarus,” Cadance announced. Dusk wasn’t sure what any of that meant, but Dawn seemed shocked upon hearing it. “You said it yourself, Fate’s plan, whatever it was, hinged on the civil war, but you stopped it and in doing so ruined her plan.”

“Exactly, how will opening Tartarus help her?” Dawn asked panicked, Dusk still wasn’t sure why. He wasn’t as educated as Dawn and therefor hadn’t a notion what Tartarus was.

“Excuse me,” he spoke up, “but what exactly is Tartarus?”

“Tartarus is a prison of sorts,” Marelin informed him, “it’s existed since before the beginning of Equestria. Within it is locked an abundance of creatures, that if they were released they could tear all of Equestria, perhaps the whole world apart.”

Could that be what Fate was planning? Then Cadance addressed Dawn, “the only way Fate could fulfil her goal, would be to turn back time.”

“Is that possible?” Dusk asked, it was a bit much to take in.

“There used to be a wing in the Canterlot library that contained time spells,” Cadance explained, “but during the campaign to have Princess Celestia abdicate, that wing was burned down.”

“And that would be the end of it,” Marelin added, “except there’s a loophole, which we believe Fate is aware of.”

“The time spells were created by Starswirl the Bearded, but he created them based on something he found, deep within Tartarus,” Cadance told them.

“Hang on,” Dusk cut in, “are you saying this ‘wizard’ saw this ancient prison full of monsters, and thought it was a good idea to take a look inside.”

“Looking back now it is a bit confusing, but so much of modern magic is based on the discoveries Starswirl made inside Tartarus,” Cadance justified. “It was in the deepest cavern, a place known as the Vault of Time; he discovered a divine power source, which he used to create the time spells.”

“So if Fate got to this Vault of time, she could use this power to go back and stop us from ruining her plan?” Dusk asked, knowing full well what the answer would be.

“Yes, and that’s why she must be stopped,” Cadance said.

Dawn sighed, “So what’s the plan?”

“Shining Armour is already waiting there for you,” Cadance told them, “if you choose to go, you’ll be travelling with several battalions of soldiers to the Gates of Tartarus, they will be the last line of defence should the gates open.

“Your job will be to stop Fate doing that, should that fail,” she hesitated, “we’ll need you to follow her into Tartarus and beat her to the Vault of time.”

The room fell completely silent. A suicide mission, she was asking them to take part in a suicide mission.

“The team will comprise of yourselves, Zecora, Shining Armour, and Spitfire. Philomena and Peewee will be left in charge of the soldiers on the front line holding back the creatures,” she said gesturing at the two phoenixes. “Marelin and myself will be holding the fort, the last thing we need is the kingdom breaking out into chaos, they need to be ready should the line of defence break and we have to protect ourselves.”

Dusk didn’t know what to say, she was speaking like they’d already agreed to join the mission. Then Dawn spoke up.

“Ill do it, but Dusk will have nothing to do with it.” Dusk’s heart missed a beat.

“Dawn! Are you insane?” he exclaimed.

“There’s no point in you going, but I have the elements, that gives me a fighting chance,” she responded.

“No, either we both go home or I’m going with you, I’m not letting you take part in a suicide mission alone,” he said flatly.

“She won’t be alone,” Spitfire said speaking up for the first time in a while, “but you’d both be valuable members to the group.”

Dawn hesitated, dusk knew she wasn’t happy about it, but she also knew he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She sighed in acceptance.

“Alright, we’re both in,” she said turning back to Cadance.

“Wait!” a voice called out from the door way and they all turned to see something speeding towards them.

“If you’re going to Tartarus, I’m coming with you,” Scootaloo said coming to a few feet from them.

“Scootaloo? Did you follow us?” Dawn asked accusingly.

“I had to, I’m not losing anymore friends,” she said.

“Scootaloo you can’t come, it’s too dangerous,” Dawn said firmly, but she turned to Cadance.

“Please your highness, I want to help,” said Scootaloo gesturing to Spitfire, “tell them coach, I’m the best flyer in Equestria, I can help.”

“There’s no arguing princess,” Spitfire said causing everyone in the group to raise their eyebrows in surprise, “as much as I disagree with bringing her along, I can’t deny she would be a useful asset.”

Cadance approached Scootaloo.

“I remember you when you were just a filly,” she said smiling sadly, “you attended my wedding all those years ago; you’ve grown so much since.”

“Please your highness,” she pleaded, “I’m not a filly anymore, I can handle myself.”

Cadance nodded, the others accepted her decision and allowed Scootaloo to join the circle.

“So we’re all agreed, we know what’s required of us?” Cadance asked, they all nodded in acknowledgement, Dusk only doing so reluctantly. “Good, you leave in less than an hour; I wish you the best of luck.”

Nine

Shining Armour approached the huge corpse, his hooves crunching in the blood red snow as he walked. The body was that of a giant dog, with three heads. She’d already made her first move, Cerberus the long-time defender of Tartarus lay dead. He looked up at the gate, the colossal flat rock piercing the sky, clouds swirling around the peak. Strange that although the land for miles around was all snow and ice, the rock itself was dry as a desert. The dark stone looked so natural, like it had been formed by some random act of nature, the only obvious detail about it, was the line running from the base to the very tip. The crack where the door would open and the monsters would leave through.

He returned to the camp where his soldiers sat quietly, afraid of what was coming. While he sat eating stew, he heard a low hum coming steadily closer and he looked up to see a Canterlot blimp flying towards them, the rest of the soldiers had arrived, and so had the rest of his team. He ran to the landing plane in time to see the blimp touch ground. It took almost an hour for all the passengers to dismount, all the while Shining Armour examined each pony, they were in better condition than the men who’d been here with him for a whole week, the cold had made them weak.

Finally at the end his team walked down the steps, first Spitfire, Zecora, Dawn, Dusk, and finally Scootaloo? He walked up to them and greeted them each.

“It’s good to see you all again, but I wish it could have been under better circumstances,” he said before quietly asking Zecora to the side why Scootaloo was there, and she explained. He wasn’t pleased about it, but he knew he didn’t have the luxury of choice.

Philomena and Peewee flew over their heads dropping two letters at Shining Armours hooves. The first he placed in his saddle bag, he knew what it said and had no need to open it, it wasn’t his to read. The second was from Cadance, there was a brief paragraph confirming his instructions, but it was the second half he was more interested in.

“I know if this all works out, everything will be better, but I can’t help but fear something will go wrong. I may never see you again, I wish I could say this to your face but I’ve loved every second spent with you. Ever since we were wed I’ve known there was nopony else for me but you, I will always love you. Please succeed, or come home safe.”

He closed the letter and bowed his head.

“I love you Cadance,” he whispered to himself. Then he turned back to the group who were discussing the situation and shivering to keep warm. “Alright, I know we first planned to stop Fate from entering Tartarus, but we knew that it was a lost cause, and I’m afraid Cerberus is dead, and we are indeed going to have to follow her in.” the group didn’t say anything, just silently accepted it. Shining Armour continued, “I’m going to start assembling the troops now so were ready to move in as soon as the gate opens, I suggest you prepare yourselves.”

Shining Armour went about his routine of instructing the lieutenants how to position their troops when Zecora approached him.

“Are you afraid Shining Armour?” Zecora asked, he took a second to reply.

“No, or at least,” he hesitated, “it doesn’t matter, we have a job to do, fear will only hinder us.”

Zecora nodded, “this mission we have been assigned, do you truly believe for the righteous path it was designed.”

“How many have died Zecora, and how many will die. Is it so wrong to ask for a second chance?” replied Shining Armour, but Zecora just turned and began to walk away; he called after her, “remember Zecora, Dawn and Dusk can’t know the true nature of this mission.”

She stopped and turned slightly to address him, “you have my word, but to earn their trust, the truth must be offered.”

Shining Armour stood on the hill, the same hill he stood when he saw Fate. All the soldiers were assembled in their formations, creating an arc around the gate. The phoenixes soared over their heads, and at the very front stood Dusk, Spitfire, Zecora and Scootaloo. There was still some distance between them and the foot of the gate, it wouldn’t do any good for the gate to smash open and for them to instantly be beset upon by hordes of monsters. He walked down the hill to join them, Dusk didn’t notice him, he was lost in his own world. Zecora nodded at him before returning to staring intently at the gate.

“So once we get in there, what are we expected to face?” Scootaloo asked him breaking off her conversation with Spitfire.

“All our Intel is based on the writings of Starswirl, which having been written thousands of years ago use pretty obscure language,” he said. Scootaloo seemed disappointed at this, she was clearly hoping for something more substantial. “We know the vault is in the deepest section, so the plan is go down.”

But he was cut off by an excited muttering spreading through the crowd of soldiers. The whole group turned to see the line of soldiers spreading to allow the figure to pass through and join them.

It took Shining Armour a second to recognise Dawn, and realise what was different about her. She was wearing four golden gauntlets on each leg; a golden necklace and crown, each embroidered with a differently coloured gemstone, each a familiar shape.

“The Elements of Harmony,” Spitfire said in awe, “now there’s a morale booster for you.”

Shining Armour smiled as Dawn joined the group, this would give them a great advantage over Fate.

But the good mood was cut short by a loud crack, causing everypony to turn to the gate, all tensing up. A tiny spark of light broke through the crack in the gate, but the light had no colour, it was defying all logic but it seemed to be a dark light. The light steadily began breaking along the whole crack until the entire rock face was divided in two by the light, then the gates began opening.

Shining Armour Galloped along the front line calling out to the soldiers.

“Prepare yourselves, the time has come,” he shouted over the heads of the soldiers, “When that gate opens, all hell will break loose. You are the last line of defence between them and Equestria, your homes, your families, and your friends.”

The soldiers all braced themselves, raising their arms and tightening their formations.

“Once we go in there, nothing comes back out of that gate,” he shouted, and there was a cheer in response to his announcement. He charged back to where the others stood waiting.

“Ready everypony?” he asked them, they all nodded. “Alright, when I give the signal, we charge through that gate. Do what ever you can to break through whatever comes out of there.”

He had nothing else to say so he stood next to Dusk giving him a nod of encouragement. The gate was almost entirely open; the dark light was flooding out. Shining Armour tensed himself, there were only seconds left. Then the light flared and was extinguished.

“Charge now!”

Ten

Grim walked over the bridge again. He had just returned from destroying the Pegasi camp, like the unicorns it didn’t provide much of a show. He was here now to report the success to Sullivan, but when he arrives in the cavern, it was totally empty. Of course it had only been full the other day because they were there to pay their respects to their lord, but today it was totally deserted. He approached the edge of the platform and kneeled.

“My lord, the tribes have fallen,” but there was no response, then a voice came behind him.

“You’re wasting your breath.” He turned and saw a black unicorn with purple stripes walking towards him; she was draped in a black cloak.

“Nova,” he said bowing, “I seek an audience with our lord.”

“I could tell,” she said impatiently, “he’s in the sanctum and does not wish to be disturbed.”

Grim looked up at the beehive shaped rock in the centre of the cavern, while it seemed small from this distance and in comparison to the rest of the cavern, he knew it was still massive in its own right, big enough for even Sullivan to fit in.

“I have come to report that the three tribes have been crushed,” he said addressing Nova.

“I see,” she replied un-phased, “I see no reason to bother Lord Sullivan with something tedious like that.”

“Of course, I’ll take my leave,” Grim bowed once more and began to leave the cavern. He couldn’t help but dislike Nova, but as he walked she called out to him.

“Grim.”

“Yes my lady?” he said turning to her.

“It’s getting unusually cold,” she announced causing Grim to raise an eyebrow.

“You’re not the first to tell me that,” he said smiling to himself.

“You should track down the remainders of those tribes,” she said flatly, “we can’t leave loose ends.”

Chapters 11-15

Eleven

Dawn ran faster than she ever had in her life, the elements lent her new strength. From within the gates creatures began surging out, things she’d never seen before, things she could never have imagined. They were all teeth, scales, claws, tentacles, they charged and tore at the air. Spitfire and Scootaloo sped ahead in the air dodging those that leapt up scratching at their feet. They easily broke the line of monsters and disappeared through the gate.

Next was Shining Armour who charged forward using a combination of physical strength and magic to send creature after creature flying off his path, he too disappeared. She looked around wildly looking for Dusk but he’d already broken the line and was forcing his way through relying on his strength. Then the first creature jumped at her, its jaw stretching wide. She lowered her head and focused her power through the crown and sent a beam of light through the creature disintegrating it.

The beam continued ripping a hole in the crowd of monsters, seeing the opening she sped forward dodging the stragglers that leapt out at her. She barely registered the noise of all that was raging around her, she guessed the first creatures would have reached the line of soldiers and the battle had started. It seemed to take a life time but she finally reached gate, and she leapt the last several metres, her gauntlets allowing her to spring over the heads of the creatures just emerging from the passage. And she fell through the gate, into Tartarus.

It was the most peculiar sensation she’d ever experienced in her life. It was like she was being pulled and pushed, twisted and stretched, spun and flying in a straight line faster than she’d ever moved or hoped to move in her whole existence. It felt as if time stood still and was flying by her at the same time, until all at once all the feelings were cut off and she was falling through the darkness, and came crashing down onto a rock surface.

She felt somepony picking her up and she saw it was Dusk. She stood up in time to move for Zecora who came flying down behind her. The others were already standing and looking around, examining their surroundings. Dawn looked about, it was difficult to describe, they seemed to be standing in a city of bizarre rock formations on floating platforms. The air was distorted, made up of a variety of dark swirling colours. Looking up she saw a rectangular light impossibly high above their heads.

“We shouldn’t delay,” Shining Armour said, “we can probably make our way down here.”

They all approached where he stood and Dawn saw there was a staircase twisting through the city connecting the platforms.

“Ill scout ahead,” Scootaloo said, Shining Armour nodded approvingly.

“Alright, Spitfire you watch the rear,” he said, Spitfire nodded in acknowledgement. “We’ll take shifts, but we have to get moving if we are to catch up with Fate.”

They started descending the stairs, occasionally they were assaulted by a stray monster which delayed them briefly while they took it out. Dawn hoped Scootaloo would be alright on her own. They didn’t talk much; they were too occupied keeping an eye out for threats. The city seemed to go on endlessly, did the creatures live in here, surely not, but if they didn’t, who had?

“Are we getting anywhere?” Dusk asked in a hushed tone.

“I know what you mean,” Shining Armour said, “we’ve been wondering through this city for far too long.”

Then Scootaloo swooped in, panting.

“We’re going around in circles,” Scootaloo said exhausted. They all snapped around.

“How do you know?” Dawn asked.

“Because I flew straight, and came around behind you,” she responded.

They stood arguing about how to proceed, Shining Armour and Zecora tried every spell they knew but they could find a solution. Dusk took Dawn to the side for a minute.

“Did your dream give you any indication how to get through this?” he asked. She thought about it, first they were standing on the rock, the other five and herself, and then the gate to Tartarus broke through the frozen ocean. The next events were considerably more confusing. Though Tartarus was also confusing so that was one explanation.

“I’m not sure, once we entered the gate the dream became less clear,” she said still struggling to think of a solution.

“Perhaps the answer we desire, within these buildings we shall acquire.” Zecora said gesturing at the nearest cluster of stone houses.

“Alright Zecora, you, Spitfire and Dawn take a look, we’ll stay guard out here,” Shining Armour said. Dawn followed the other two up the stairs onto the floating platform where she went about searching the houses.

Most houses were empty but occasionally she found something that indicated it had once been used for living in, a bed stripped of covers, a long forgotten toy. Then she came across an old desk, carved from heavily eroded stone. She slid a drawer open with difficulty and found a decayed bridle lying inside. Ponies had lived here! She left the house and went to find the other two, following the sound of their voices, but as she got nearer she quickly heard they were arguing.

“I haven’t said a word about your filthy forest habits, so don’t you complain about my showmanship,” Spitfire spat at Zecora.

“Filthy forest habits! If allowed your mind to wonder open, maybe you could see…” but she was cut off.

“And that’s another thing, why can’t you talk like a normal pony?” Spitfire demanded, “It’s always rhymes and riddles with you.”

Dawn cut in before things escalated.

“That’s enough, there’s no point getting at each other’s throats over trivial matters,” she said, they didn’t relax any, “we’re here for a purpose that goes further than any of us, and we have to work together.”

“Very well,” Zecora said bitterly, “for you Dawn, I will set my own feelings aside.”

“As shall I,” said spitfire storming out of the house.

“What was all that about?” Dawn asked, Zecora was about to answer but was cut off by Dusk shouting for them.

Twelve

Grim flew through the air, flanked by his personal guard. His eyes swept over the land, he was searching for a cave, not much to go on, but the search party he sent out after the remainders of the tribes had only told him so much. Then he saw Brutus galloping over the planes, and he swooped down to fly beside him.

“Any news?” he asked.

“There ahead,” he said simply. Grim looked up at where Brutus had indicated, it was a group of mountains.

“They’re up there?” he asked just to confirm.

“Yes, they seem to be tolerating one another,” Brutus said. So the last of all three tribes, the unicorns, the pegasi, and the earth ponies were all gathered in the one area. A foolish mistake, now they could eliminate them all at once.

Grim slowed down to wipe the snow from his face. It had been snowing heavily for a week now, since Nova had ordered him to hunt down and destroy the last of the tribes. It couldn’t be explained, but Grim wasn’t concerned, weather wasn’t his problem, he had his own job to take care of. As he and Brutus travelled the snow got deeper, the temperature was dropping even further the closer they got to where the tribes were supposedly at.

They didn’t speak to one another, there was nothing to say. Though Grim did not dislike Brutus like he disliked Davitt and Nova, he was too professional to make idle conversation during a mission. They reached the foot of the mountain range and were about to start navigating when all of a sudden there was an explosion of light from amidst the mountains. A beam shot into the sky then spread out swallowing the entire land.

When it faded Grim and Brutus stood completely unharmed. He was confused at first but then looking around he saw the snow melting and felt the temperature rise. He and Brutus looked at each other.

“Shall we proceed?” Brutus asked, Grim wasn’t sure. He hadn’t cared about the cold situation up until that point, but now he found himself worried he might be walking into something he didn’t entirely understand, but he shook the thought off.

“Yes, nothing has changed,” he said confidently, “we find the tribes, and we crush them.

Thirteen

Zecora walked with Dawn back out to where the others were assembled, it took only a few seconds to realise what they were supposed to be looking at. Craning her neck Zecora saw from high above her the floating city crumbling into dust, the wave of destruction steadily descending down wards erasing each platform and the buildings they held.

“We should get moving,” Shining Armour said, it would take some time for the destruction to reach them, but the more distance they put between themselves and it the more comfortable they’d be. Once again they began to descend the stairs, still unsure how they were to escape this city. Spitfire and Scootaloo flew ahead occasionally flitting back to confirm there was no end in sight. After several minutes of getting nowhere Zecora stopped and looked back up, the crumbling buildings were just as far above them as they were when they first saw them.

“To escape this place, up is where we must race,” she said, the others all halted and turned to face her.

“Are you insane?” Spitfire demanded, Zecora remained calm.

“Running gets us nowhere,” Zecora said still looking up, “our only hope, lies up there.”

The others glanced at each other, not sure what to do. They knew they’d wasted a lot of time here and if they continued the way they were, they’d waste even more, but nor could they be sure Zecora’s plan would be any better.

“I agree with Zecora,” Dawn spoke up, the others turned to her instead, “Fate could reach the vault and we’d still be running around here, we have to take the chance.”

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” Spitfire said unbelievably, “those buildings are turning to dust and you want to go to them?”

The others hesitated, then at once dusk and Shining Armour nodded. Scootaloo looked at Spitfire.

“It might work,” she said unsure. Spitfire glared at her, but she didn’t argue anymore.

Briefly they stood still hoping somepony would suggest another plan of action, but when nopony did they turned and began walking up the stairs the way they came. Zecora watched as the destruction crept closer and closer, she hoped this was right, if she was wrong they’d lose everything. Soon there were only a couple islands between them and the force causing them to crumble. They all braced themselves preparing for the worst, as it washed over them. The steps beneath their hooves exploded into dust and the world all around them disintegrated, soon they were left standing in a vast nothingness, suspended in the positions they’d assumed before the destruction reached them.

None of them could speak; Zecora began to wonder what was going on. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Spitfire who looked furious. Then all of a sudden the air began to warp and reform into a completely new structure. After a few seconds they were released from their stasis and found themselves standing in a long corridor with a high vaulted ceiling.

“I don’t believe it,” Spitfire said her mouth hanging open in shock, and the others smiled.

“Good call Zecora,” said Dusk giving her a congratulatory pat on the back, but Zecora didn’t respond, just let out a sigh of relief.

They continued on their way, running now as they’d fallen back a lot after that last escapade. The corridor was ornately decorated and they knew it wouldn’t go on forever as the walls were plastered in carvings showing some kind of history unfolding. Zecora would have liked to take her time and examine them in depth but they were in a hurry so she was forced to settle for occasional glances. She noticed a recurring theme in the images were hordes of ponies who looked as if they were worshiping a giant horse with wings and a horn.

Suddenly shining Armour came to a halt, they all followed suit turning to see what the problem was.

“Something’s coming,” he said turning to look back the way they came. Zecora followed his gaze and very quickly she felt it too, a gentle tremor in the ground. Straining her eyes she could make out something far in the distance. While it was too far away to make out she could tell from the way it was moving that it was charging in their direction.

“Run!” Shining Armour shouted, they didn’t need to be told twice. Zecora turned on her hooves and began running with the others as fast as she could. They only ran for a minute before a roar ripped through the air. Looking over her shoulder she saw what looked like a massive beetle stomping down the corridor, terrifyingly closer to them than it had been last time she looked. With ever step it took the corridor trembled and small bits of debris fell from the ceiling which they were forced to dodge.

“Exit just ahead!” Scootaloo called back as she was flying several metres in the lead. Zecora looked up and saw a narrow tunnel breaking away from the main corridor; the creature would never be able to follow them through. Calling all her strength she ran as fast as she could, the others did the same. They were easily going to make it, but then a large slab fell from the ceiling striking Spitfire who hadn’t seen it in time to avoid it.

She was thrown out of the air and came crashing to the ground, knocked instantly unconscious. Scootaloo was already too far ahead to have noticed but the others halted in their tracks. Zecora who was furthest back made a snap decision.

“Go, I will go to her,” Zecora said. Rather than coming to a complete stop and losing momentum she spun around and began dashing back the way she came.

When she reached Spitfire the slab had fallen off her, Zecora put her head underneath spitfire’s limp body and tossed her onto her back. The creature was now only leaps away, without digressing Zecora ran as fast as she could towards the others who were gathered at the entrance to the tunnel. Seeing they were on their way they darted inside. Zecora felt all time slow down, the tunnel was mere feet away, and yet she could feel the monsters presence as if it were only inches behind her.

Then everything accelerated as she came crashing through the gap in the wall. They both fell on the floor and she lay gasping, the creature smashed against the wall and screeched, but it wasn’t getting in. She felt herself being picked up by Dawn, but she assured her she was fine and instead made straight for Spitfire who lay unconscious where she dropped her. Shining Armour and Scootaloo were examining her, but Zecora made them leave.

“Help I can provide, but first you must move aside,” they obeyed her and she crouched down opening her saddle bag as she did.

Spitfire wasn’t badly injured, the trauma to the head she could recover from, but during the ordeal she sustained a deep cut to her midriff. Zecora immediately set about cleaning and disinfecting the wound using a variety of herbs and tonics she packed. Dawn stayed close and offered assistance, Zecora preferred to work alone but conceded to let her cradle Spitfire’s head and check her vitals. Once she was satisfied the wound was clean, she began stitching it closed, this wasn’t difficult as the bleeding stopped quickly enough after she applied pressure, luckily none of her major blood vessels had been severed. Lastly she bandaged her up, then instructed Dawn to help her drink some water and alert her if she came around.

She then went and sat with Dusk and Shining Armour, Scootaloo having gone to stay with Spitfire.

“She will recover,” Zecora said simply, they both relaxed.

“Thanks Zecora”, Dusk said, “I don’t know how we could get by without you.”

Several minutes passed, Zecora saw the others shift uncomfortably and knew they were worried Spitfire wouldn’t recover as shed said, but Zecora wasn’t worried. Then when Scootaloo looked on the verge of a panic attack Dawn called over excitedly announcing she was awake.

“What happened?” Spitfire asked weakly.

“You were injured trying to escape, but Zecora saved you,” Scootaloo informed her. There was an awkward silence as Spitfire looked up at Zecora, then down at her bandaged injury, and finally back up at Zecora looking thoroughly chastised.

“Thank you Zecora,” she said sincerely, “could you ever forgive me for the way I acted before.”

Zecora smiled, she never had anything against Spitfire to begin with, “apology accepted Spitfire.”

The mood rose significantly in the group, they made their way slowly, shining Armour using his magic to help Spitfire who was already taking it in her stride being a professional athlete. The tunnel continued for only a short distance opening out into a larger network of caverns. Not knowing which path to choose they reverted back to their old policy of going down. Zecora turned to check up on Dawn who was currently watching the rear, and was surprised to see an odd look on her face, almost like she knew something was about to happen, and it terrified her.

Fourteen

Grim stood unsteadily on his shaking legs, blood dripping from his open wounds. Next to him Brutus stood tall, completely un-phased by his own share of cuts and bruises. Finally he looked up at Sullivan standing over him, fury emanating from him.

“You dare return to me,” Sullivan said his voice shaking with anger, “to tell me that you failed in your duty.”

“My eternal apologies my lord, but there were unforeseen variables,” he began, but he was cut off by Nova who stood at Sullivan’s right side.

“You dare give our lord excuses,” she exclaimed, but Sullivan silenced her with a look.

“Explain your failure, otherwise I shall have you flayed alive,” he said, his voice chilling Grim to the bone.

“We tracked down the last of the tribes to a cave in the mountains,” he began, “however something strange happened as we arrived, there was a brilliant light and the snow melted.”

Nova looked appalled that Grim was using weather as a reason for losing a battle but Davitt, who was standing to the side cut in.

“Interesting, my lord I may have a theory as to what happened, but go on with your story,” he said, bowing in apology for his interruption.

“When we found the tribes we began the battle just as we had the previous times, but this time it was different,” Grim said, he was angry with himself for having to report any of this, “they were organised, they worked tactically with each other, exploiting our every weakness and counter every attempt we made to get the upper hoof. It was like we were fighting an entirely different army.”

Sullivan looked to Davitt, permitting him to propose his theory.

“My lord, recently I observed the peculiar drop in temperature,” he said, “it correlated perfectly with when the tribes first crossed our borders. After some research I discovered the tribes had brought something with them to this land.”

Nova, Grim and Brutus all looked curiously at Davitt, Sullivan just waited for him to finish.

“it appears a number of Windigos were feeding off the tribes hatred of one another, so that when they arrived in our land, the Windigos followed them causing this land to freeze over just as their previous one had,” he adjusted his spectacles before continuing, “it appears that in their desperation the tribes joined forces, which would explain the sudden change in weather as well as their new found fighting skills.”

Sullivan pondered this, and then turned his attention back to Grim and Brutus.

“You return to me to tell me of this failure,” Sullivan said, Grim’s heart sank, he knew what was coming, so he kneeled down, bowing his head respectfully.

“I accept any punishment you bestow upon me,” he said resigned to his fate.

“But up until this day you have served me well,” he continued, Grim’s heart leapt and he looked up and saw Nova’s eyes widening in shock. “I grant you a second chance to wipe out these parasites, you know now the source of there strength, this time you will annihilate them once and for all.”

Grim stood bowing

“I swear to you my lord, I will not fail you again,” Grim assured him, confident now.

“No, you wont,” Sullivan said darkly, “otherwise you will wish I had granted you a quick death this day.”

Grim nodded understanding, Sullivan turned and began descending from the platform into the dark depths of the cavern, but as he did his voice echoed one last time.

“Nova, Davitt, you will also undertake this task, use whatever resources are necessary.”

Fifteen

Spitfire was recovering well, she was used to getting injured and needing to bounce back, this was nothing new. Still, she apologised to Zecora but still felt bad, after being so arrogant she still risked her life to save her. Tartarus was easily the strangest place she’d ever been to, ever step they took it seemed to change so that it was never one thing for too long. The caverns and tunnels they navigated easily enough and soon they found themselves in an area similar to the stone city.

It consisted of ornately carved bridges criss-crossing in mid air, held up by nothing it seemed. And all around were rivers, not always flowing beneath the bridges but sometimes defying all logic by flowing upwards over them and twisting around so the entire area was filled with streams of shadowy water flowing all around them, it was really quite beautiful.

“I think I can walk on my own for a bit,” Spitfire said to Shining Armour, who agreed. She didn’t want to drain him of magic and she felt strong enough that she could take care of herself and give him a break. As they walked the bridges seemed to converge into a single pathway, which divided into sections each descending to a different height so they were now walking down a long stair case, the rivers twisting around them so they walked through a tunnel of water.

Then Spitfire heard something snap, she turned and saw the tunnel of water shatter, cascading down upon them. They were all picked up and churned into the waves; even Scootaloo couldn’t out fly them and was dragged in. Spitfire tried to swim but the current was too powerful, it was almost like it was consciously trying to grasp them, refusing to let them go.

Then just as spitfire opened her mouth unable to hold her breath any longer, the tide was forced away, a bright bubble forming around them. She stood soaked to the skin and turned to see Dawn with her eyes shut tight, the elements shining brightly.

“Can you hold it Dawn?” Spitfire asked tentatively. Dawn nodded but looked to be in pain. Dusk picked her up and set her on his back.

“We’ll move as fast as we can,” he assured her.

They ran faster now, Spitfire noticed that every minute that passed Dawn’s protective bubble got smaller and smaller. It wouldn’t hold for much longer, but then at last the path levelled again and they arrived on a flat stretch of rock. Dawn’s bubble shattered and the water fell all around them, but this time it flowed off the island they stood on. As it washed away it took the stairs with it, they were now stuck on the rock surrounded by water.

“Will you be alright?” Shining Armour asked Dawn concerned, she nodded.

“I just need a minute,” Dawn said weakly.

“Of course, Dusk you stay with her, we’ll figure out how to proceed,” Shining Armour said approaching the rest of them. Spitfire walked around the edge of the island, the water level looked to be getting lower ever so slightly.

“I think it’s draining somewhere,” she informed Scootaloo who was standing next to her, “maybe I can swim down and take a look around for a plug or something.”

“No, not with your injury,” she replied, “I’ll do it, give me two minutes just to take a quick look.”

Spitfire agreed and crouched at the waters edge patiently counting the second for Scootaloo to resurface. Two minutes passed quickly and she was beginning to get worried, she called the others over to ask one of them to check on her, but as soon as they reached her, the surface broke and Scootaloo appeared swallowing large mouth fulls of air.

Spitfire pulled her out, and shivering, she told her what she seen.

“We’re standing on a tower, pretty tall,” she said, her teeth chattering, “There’s a spiral staircase surrounding it which can take us all the way to the floor bellow.”

“Is there any way to drain the water?” Shining Armour asked.

“Yes, its already seeping away through grills in the wall,” she confirmed, “but I saw a mechanism that could allow us to open them further, thus draining the water faster.”

Spitfire sat again at the edge rapping her hoof on the stone floor to measure how long they’d been down there. Shining Armour had swum down with Scootaloo this time, leaving Spitfire alone with Zecora. Neither of them spoke, she figured it was still awkward between them. She desperately wanted to break the silence and to tell Zecora how sorry she was, but the words got stuck in her throat, so she just sat in silence staring at the lapping water.

After a few minutes, Spitfire could hear the sound of gears shifting and then the rushing of water as all around the tower the water began draining away. Within seconds it was all gone and she looked over the edge and saw Scootaloo and Shining Armour standing far below them drenched. The four started walking down, Dawn now walking unaided by Dusk but still a little shaky.  They were nearing the floor when Spitfire stumbled. Dusk reached out and caught her, she was a little embarrassed and was about to apologise when the top of the tower explode.

Spitfire was thrown off her feet and fell the distance to the ground. All around chunks of rock rained down, as she neared the ground she spread her wings desperately, ignoring the pain, and slowed her descent so that when she hit the ground she only had the wind knocked out of her. She looked around to see what had happened to the others, but she struggled to see through the dust cloud that formed over her head. As it cleared she could make out Dawn and Zecora suspended in a purple aura being lowered to the ground by Shining armour, and Scootaloo carrying Dusk. Once they were all safely on the ground, they looked around wildly to find the cause of the explosion.

Spitfire was still looking up at the top of the tower where it had occurred, but it was completely obscured in smoke. But as it thinned and cleared away, she saw the tower was spouting some black liquid which was slowly dripping down its sides. Then her stomach turned over when she realised that like a giant ant hill, it was ejecting millions of black insects which were now crawling down towards them. Without explaining to the others who hadn’t yet seen it she just screamed a single word.

“Run!” and as she galloped ahead the others followed suit, either realising what she was running from or not wanting to stay and find out. She made for another corridor which looked stone and ornate like the area they’d just been in, but as she passed through the threshold, the air shimmered and it transformed into something different entirely. The walls became organic and began pulsating; it was like they were standing in a giant set of intestines.

Trying not to let this phase her she continued running, the others at her side. She couldn’t go at full speed as it was impossible to get a secure footing on this surface. More than once she almost fell over, which would have been the end of her considering how fast the swarm was catching up to them. They emerged from the tight corridor into a much wider room, still made of the same putrid material, but here there was a chasm slicing through the room, and like the walls it was pulsating so it stretched from being impossible to jump to being nothing more than a leap away.

“Quickly get over!” Dusk shouted over the deafening sound of billions of tiny legs clattering across the fleshy surface. Spitfire was first at the edge and without hesitating leapt forward, spreading her wings again trying to ignore the pain. She landed easily on the other side, running a few metres before turning to see if the others had made it. Dusk jumped after her and cleared it easily thanks to his workers horse legs.

Then came Scootaloo and Dawn who made it across easily enough, Scootaloo flying, and Dawn shifting through the air using the elements. Finally Shining Armour and Zecora jumped, the swarm only feet behind them. They were going to make it, but then the chasm expanded. Shining Armour flailed his hooves desperately and only just caught the edge, digging his hooves in so as not to slide off, but Zecora hadn’t a hope.

She wasn’t even close to the edge when she fell, it happened so quickly none of them were able to react. One second she was suspended over nothing, and then she was gone, vanishing into darkness. The swarm poured in after her, and the last thing any of them heard was a far away scream quickly cut off. Spitfire stood frozen, she couldn’t move a muscle, could form a thought. She barely even acknowledged the others rushing to the edge to pull Shining Armour up and scream into the abyss.

Chapters 16-20

Sixteen

Philomena swooped over the battlefield. While some might question the logic of putting a phoenix in charge of a battle, anypony who owned one could not doubt their title as one of the most intelligent creatures in existence. She cawed over individual battalions, relaying instructions directly into their minds. After the six had disappeared through the gate, absolute chaos had broken out. The front lines held against the first onslaught, and thankfully they hadn’t lost any.

But the creatures were ceaseless, and there was no way to predict their movements, their numbers, or even what might walk out of the gate. Philomena had seen giant insects, ogres and wyverns. Things that had never been recorded of before. She did her best to instruct each unit in the best tactics for particular enemies, but this was only successful to a degree, as the shear number of beasts made it impossible for her to command everypony at once.

So steadily their forces began to get whittled down, Peewee had been doing well but was shot down early and Philomena was forced to take sole control of the army. Occasionally there was a great drop in the number of creatures coming from the gate. While they never stopped completely there were few enough that she could reorganise and re-establish formations, but she couldn’t hold out forever, if they didn’t make some progress soon, it would be a lost cause.

Seventeen

Nopony spoke; Dusk didn’t try to push for a conversation. They were all in shock, and while they kept moving out of realisation that this mission was bigger than any of them, they still felt hollow. They knew when they walked into Tartarus they wouldn’t all walk back out, but still, it was another thing entirely experiencing it.

After leaving the organic area behind they found themselves in another series of cavern, this one filled with living shadows, clinging to the walls, stalking them.

“Shoo,” Scootaloo said flicking at one of the shadows getting inappropriately close. They silently sat down, Spitfire walked off on her own, sitting in a corner, not even trying to swat the shadows away.

“Are you alright?” Dusk asked Dawn leaning close, she nodded, but her eyes were still red from crying. Then Shining Armour approached Dusk.

“Dusk, can I talk to you in private for a minute?”

They walked to the side, out of earshot of Dawn and Scootaloo.

“What is it?” Dusk asked suspiciously, but Shining Armour hesitated.

“I didn’t want to tell you this, but Zecora thought I should be honest,” Dusk tilted his head questioningly; “we haven’t been entirely honest with you about this mission.”

“What are you talking about it?” Dusk asked.

Shining Armour sighed.

“How many people do you think have died in the last few years?” he asked.

“Too many to count,” he answered simply, not sure where this was going.

“If you had the chance to save all those lives, would you take it?” he asked slowly. Dusk didn’t answer; something made him think this wasn’t simple trivia.

“Why are you asking?” Dusk enquired, his suspicions growing.

“When we get to the vault, if we stop Fate, could you just walk away, go home and live your life?” Shining Armour looked as if he was regretting his decision to confide in Dusk. Dusk turned and looked over at Dawn.

“Yes, I could,” he replied honestly, Shining Armour rubbed his head.

“Well we cant, that is, Cadance, Spitfire and I cant.” There was a chilly silence.

“We’ve lost everything, the ponies we cared about are all dead, if we could change all that, we would,” he finished.

“So you want to stop Fate using the power in the vault, just so you can,” then he understood why Dawn and he hadn’t been told, “and in doing so, you’d save those lives, but Dawn and I would never meet.”

Shining Armour nodded sadly.

“Well then it’s a no!” Dusk shouted, causing Dawn and Scootaloo to glance up. Shining Armour led him further away.

“What is one love, weighed against hundreds of lives, perhaps even thousands?” he begged.

“But it’s our love, it’s not yours to decide,” Dusk began to walk back to the others but turned back briefly, “we’ll help you stop Fate, but I will not let you do this.”

As he walked back Shining Armour went to check on Spitfire. Dusk was furious, they’d lied to them, and they were prepared to use them. He got back to beside Dawn who turned to him.

“What was that about?” she asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said giving nothing away.  She clearly didn’t want to drop it but she had something on her mind.

“Can we talk?” she asked, Dusk nodded and they walked over to where he and Shining Armour had spoken.

“What is it?” he asked.

“It’s Zecora…” she hesitated, “I knew she was going to die.”

Dusk took a breath before continuing, “your dream?” she nodded, “how did it play out?”

“It made no sense, but I saw them fall in order, starting with Zecora,” she said quietly.

“Who was next?” Dawn looked over at the others and he followed her gaze.

“The thing is, in my dreams… we stop Fate, some of us die, but we win,” she said breathing heavily, “Is it better to let a few die so many more may live?” she asked. Dusk thought about this, his mind wondered back to what Shining Armour had said to him. Perhaps it wasn’t wrong to let a few more die, especially if in doing so they could save them and many more.

Eighteen

Grim dashed through the battlefield, the enemies fell easily before him, and they were no match for his speed and dexterity. Unfortunately his soldiers weren’t faring so well, he dived in to pull a few of them out of the deep end just as Nova had the same idea.

“We’re going to get killed because you couldn’t do your job right,” she spat at him.

“I know you’re new to battle but normally we wait until after to have conversations,” he replied sarcastically.

“Are you joking?” she demanded, “we’re losing, Sullivan’s going to kill us all if we go back there and tell him we failed again.”

“Of course we’re losing,” he said confidently, Nova looked at him stunned.

“Is this part of your plan, because it’s a poor one,” she shouted, he just smiled in response.

“Like I said, in the middle of battle, we save the talking for later,” with that he charged off breaking the line of the approaching earth ponies.

Nineteen

Scootaloo was worried about Spitfire; she hadn’t uttered a word since Zecora died. She knew her well enough to know she wasn’t the kind of pony who would let things get to her, but she guessed everypony had a breaking point. As they continued walking Scootaloo tried talking to Spitfire, getting her to contribute in group conversations, but she remained silent. Dawn put her hoof out to indicate that Scootaloo should fall behind, and once they were out of earshot of the others Dawn turned to her.

“I know you’re trying to help,” she said in a low but reassuring voice, “but you have to realise she needs time to come to terms with everything herself.”

Scootaloo sighed, she knew she was right, but she also had a sickening feeling it was about to get a lot worse. They emerged from the cavern system in a room that was reminiscent of an ancient temple; there were pillars, statues, and platforms connected by an intricate series of staircases and bridges.

Without needing to be told Scootaloo flew up getting a view of the whole room, so as to decide where they should go next. As she sat in the air she caught a glimpse of her own flank, and wing emblazoned on it. She thought back fondly to the days in Ponyville when she, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom tried an incredible number of things to get their cutie marks. But it was never a problem that they never did, so long as they were together.

Scootaloo shook herself out of her memories and continued scanning the room. They’d come through a tall door at floor level, and there was a similar door on the other side much higher up. She spread her wings again and swooped down to relay the information to Shining Armour.

“Good work Scootaloo,” he said, then he turned to the rest of the group, his horn glowing, “come on everypony, we’re almost at the end.”

They began navigating the temple using a combination of Shining Armour’s magic and Scootaloo flying to get a bird’s eye view. Finally they reached the top floor and were now standing on a bridge lined with statues of armoured ponies. Dawn approached them and began studying one, while Dusk examined the door at the other end of the bridge. Scootaloo heard a thump and turned to see Dusk had tried kicking it, but it hadn’t budged.

“This thing's sealed tight,” he said turning back to them, “do you think you can crack it open?”

Shining Armour stepped up prospecting it, “if you give me some time I can open it.”

He immediately touched the tip of his horn to the crack, ad the whole door shone with a faint reflective light. Scootaloo joined Dawn at the statues.

“Is there something wrong?” she asked, Dawn didn’t answer.

“No,” she said at last, shaking her head.

As they both turned away they heard something crack, slowly they looked around. The statue had come to life and stood shaking its limbs like it were cracking joints. They stood stalk still staring as clouds of dust fell through the air. Then all around them the statues began breaking themselves free, they were armed with stone spears and in unison they leapt into attack mode. Scootaloo was taken by surprise and got knocked down, but Dawn fired a blast of light at her assailant then rushed to help her up.

Looking around she saw that Shining Armour was still probing the door, Dusk stood behind him aiming kicks at the statues, the places his hooves made contact exploded into dust. Dawn ran to his side and began using the elements to destroy the enemies encroaching upon him. Scootaloo was too busy watching everypony else, that she didn’t notice the statue approaching her from behind. She turned in time to see a stone spear driving towards her face, and knew it was all over, when out of nowhere Spitfire sped in smashing the statue off the bridge.

“Don’t lose your focus,” Spitfire said before speeding off to fight the others. Scootaloo grinned, then spreading her wings she soared into the air and began dive bombing the statues. They stood no chance against their combined efforts, and very quickly they were reduced to piles of dust.

“Is everypony alright?” Dusk asked, they all nodded, and then Shining Armour stepped back from the door.

“That’s done it, let’s keep moving,” but his words were drowned out by an earth shattering roar.

They all stood frozen, looking around wildly for the next threat. The wall at the opposite end of the room burst open, reduced to rubble and clouds of dust in seconds, and from inside a giant creature began to uncoil itself. First its bulbous head appeared, with pincers like scythes snapping at the air. It was quickly followed by a procession of scuttling legs, which like the pincers were razor sharp. As it descended from its nest, rather than standing on the bridges themselves, it rose up and began gliding through the air.

The centipede noticed them instantly and after gaining some height it came pummelling done. They would have all died, but for a bubble of light enclosing them, the bubble shrank disappearing before reappearing beyond the threshold of the door. Scootaloo quickly realised Dawn had protected them, and lucky she had, the centipede smashed through the bridge they’d been standing on.

“We have to get out of here,” Shining Armour shouted as the beast readied itself for a second attack, but as they turned to run Scootaloo noticed Spitfire hadn’t moved.

“Come on,” she said trying to drag her away, but she just shook her head.

“That thing can easily chase us, and we might not be so lucky next time,” Spitfire began walking forward.

“Don’t be crazy, you can’t take that thing on your own,” but she understood, Spitfire knew she couldn’t beat it, she planned to hold it off while they escaped.

“Just go Scootaloo,” she commanded, “fly until the very end.”

Scootaloo nodded, the words sticking in her throat. Then taking one last look at Spitfire, her friend, her mentor, she turned tail and ran after the others.

Twenty

Grim had sustained an injury during the battle, but he didn’t let it affect him. Nova was at his side panting, Davitt and Brutus close behind. Apart from them there were eight soldiers left, all injured. Glancing over his shoulder he could see the enemy advancing, they were catching up, and if they had to run much further they’d never escape, but they didn’t have to run any further, because they’d arrived home, Sullivan’s kingdom, the gates of Tartarus.

They ceased running and collapsed at the foot of the gate panting and puffing. Nova turned furiously to Grim.

“You betrayed us all!” she screeched, “you planned for us to lose, then you led them right back home.”

The other soldiers all stared at him, fury blazing in their eyes. Grim felt their hatred chilling the air, and sneered.

The enemies were only minutes away, as the gates would not open for them while they were close by, Grim knew as soon as the enemy reached them they’d all be slaughtered.

“Indeed,” he said, feeling their hatred wash over him, “and now you’re all going to die.”

Nova screamed bringing all her energy into the tip of her horn which began shining with a brilliant purple light. She then pointed her head down, and fired at Grim.

The effect was instantaneous, from where they stood it was as if an ice age had just been beckoned, a sheet of ice spread for miles around, imprisoning every enemy soldier in a prison of ice. Grim dodged the attack, which bounced off the gate, not leaving a scratch. The cold didn’t affect him, it wouldn’t affect any of them, they were beings of darkness, and they were already ice cold on the inside.

Nova stared in disbelief, her mouth gaping wide from shock.

“How? How?” she stammered, Grim began laughing.

“I told you it was all part of the plan,” he said, turning to Davitt he continued, “while it was my idea, Davitt was instrumental, you all were to be honest.”

Nova still looked surprised, unable to speak.

“Perhaps I owe you an explanation,” he said walking across to the frozen enemies, the ice creaking beneath his hooves, “after I was tasked with eliminating the enemy forces, Davitt and I took a little trip.”

“We went to a cave high in the mountains, and there we found three deceased Windigos,” Davitt croaked, “after a number of experiments I successfully managed to revive one.”

“The truth is, we never had a hope of beating them,” Grim said picking up where Davitt left off, “of course Windigos feed on hate, so in order to use its power to our advantage, I needed to grow hate inside you all, which I did by sending you on a suicide mission. Those of you that survived fed the Windigo with your anger, allowing it to freeze the battlefield, which of course, would never affect us.”

When Grim finished explaining himself he turned to see the few remaining soldiers staring in awe at him. Davitt had lost interest in the conversation and was now waiting to be let through the gate, Brutus showed no expression, but Nova wore a wide grin.

“It seems I truly underestimated you,” she said. Grim didn’t care; he did it for Lord Sullivan, not her.

The gates finally began to open, and infirmary ponies came out to attend to them. Grim looked up and saw snow was falling, looking around once more at the biome that had been created; this section of the land may be like this forever now. But as he turned to walk through the gate, he noticed it remained just as it had before.

Chapters 21-25

Twenty-one

They kept running, never looking back. Shining Armour knew they were close, he could sense Fate’s presence. After losing Spitfire their journey became fairly linear, just corridors of one type or another. They were giving it everything they had, Shining Armour using ever ounce of strength he’d gained in his training, Dusk on his powerful work horse legs, Scootaloo flying ceaselessly, and Dawn gauntlets keeping her up with the rest of them.

As they ran Shining Armour came close to Dusk so they could talk without being overheard.

“Have you thought any more about what I said?” he asked in a low voice.

“A bit yes,” he said hesitantly, “but how would you even ensure the future was changed?”

“Cadance wrote a letter, which if it’s presented to Celestia, she will do everything in her power to stop it,” he said confidently, trying not to give away the fact he was still nervous himself about the mission.

Dusk didn’t answer, and Shining Armour didn’t put anymore pressure on him. After Zecora and Spitfire he knew Dusk was beginning to be swayed. Then he felt something shoot through his head and he came to a sudden halt. The others stopped and turned to see what was wrong. As he stood massaging his head he tried to figure out what had caused it, then it hit him.

“Come on,” he ordered galloping as fast as he could, the others immediately started running again trying to keep up with him.

Shining Armour could see the door at the end of the corridor, he was inches from it. He reared and kicked it open and they dashed in. they arrived inside a cave, the walls covered in fungus, and there at the other side, still wearing her spectacles and collar, was Fate. But she wasn’t alone; as they arrived she was attempting to fight off creatures Shining Armour had never seen before. They were billowing black cloaks flying through the air, red eyes peered through their hoods and claws clutched scythes.

Fate just realised they were there, she swore trying to get away from these ‘reapers’ but she didn’t get far when one rose up to the cave ceiling spreading its claws. The entire cave was swallowed by darkness, Shining Armour felt himself sinking into it, he tried to call out for help but the others were already obscured. The last thing he saw was the reapers red eyes, before he was swallowed up by the shadows.

He opened his eyes, blinking in the light. He was lying in a heap on a floor that seemed vaguely familiar. Dragging himself up he took in his surroundings, he was in a large hall, there was a red carpet stretching through the middle of the room to a raised platform. He realised where he was, he just didn’t know how he could be there. It was the Canterlot Castle, on the day of his wedding.

It was completely deserted except for one figure standing alone on the altar. Shining Armour recognised Cadance, forgetting everything he ran towards her, but as he got close she turned around and her eyes flashed green. He came to a stop, trying to understand what was going on.

“Impossible, we defeated you,” he said, the figure laughed as Cadance’s skin ripped away to reveal Queen Chrysalis.

“Defeated perhaps, but so long as I live, I will always return to take what’s mine,” she laughed, “you should have killed me when you had the chance.”

Shining Armour was sent flying, she’d moved so fast he didn’t have time to react. He fell in a heap back at the door, while Chrysalis fluttered down beside him.

“Poor Shining Armour,” she kicked him in the face, he tasted blood and could only see blotches of light, “first you lost your dear little sister, and soon you’ll lose the one you love.”

She kicked again sending him rocketing into a pillar, reducing it to fragments.

Shining Armour saw her flying in for another attack, so he tried to focus his magic, but it wouldn’t come, he was powerless. He rolled as she came down, narrowly avoiding her hooves. Shakily he stood up and turned to face her, she laughed at his injured state.

“Its like I told you, love is a pathetic notion,” she said walking closer, “it’s not going to save you this time.”

Shining Armour was shaking on his legs, he didn’t have it in him to protect himself, if she attacked again, he’d be done for.

“This is for ruining my plans,” she raised her head, ready to bring her horn down. Shining Armour closed his eyes waiting for the end. But it didn’t come; he opened his eyes and looked up. Cadance was standing in front of him, holding off Chrysalis with her own horn.

“Our love will always see us through,” Cadance said pushing Chrysalis stumbling back. She looked shocked.

“How is this possible?” she hissed, but Cadance just glanced at Shining Armour and smiled.

At that moment he felt all his power returning. He walked next to Cadance and together they lowered their horns and focused their energy. Chrysalis’ eyes opened wide with fear, before they unleashed their power which, combined together, destroyed Queen Chrysalis utterly. Shining Armour tried to get his breath back while Cadance turned to him again.

“I knew you could do it,” she said, “lucky I got here in time.”

“How are you here?” he asked, wondering if this was another trick.

“I’ve been watching you the entire time,” she said reassuring him, “I just wasn’t able to help while you in the real world.”

“So where am I?” he asked confused.

“You’re dreaming Shining Armour,” she replied, “the reaper trapped you here.”

“How do I escape?” he asked more confidently now.

“It’s like I said, love will always see us through.” She then stepped forward and kissed him.

Twenty-two

Dusk couldn’t see Dawn anywhere, after the darkness swallowed him he woke up in a familiar environment. The brick houses, the paved streets, the sky filled with smoke, he was back in Manehattan. How it was possible, he had no idea, but he was getting used to things that didn’t make any sense since entering Tartarus. It didn’t stop him worrying about Dawn though, but he reassured himself that she’d be safe with the Elements of Harmony.

Only then did it occur to him that not only were his friends not there, there was nopony here. He wandered the streets trying to figure out where exactly he was in Manehattan, before it dawned on him all the streets were identical, right down to the litter.

“Feeling a little lost?” Dusk turned around to see who had spoken, and saw a grey colt with a blazer, hat and moustache.

“Claxon?” Dusk said unbelievably. What in Equestria was he doing here?

“Please, call me Davitt.” Dusk was confused about that, but as he watched Claxon morphed into a speckled grey colt with a wispy beard, twisted horn and spectacles that totally hid his eyes.

“What’s going on?” Dusk asked.

“Good question, one which I’d answer if I knew the answer.” Dusk was starting to get a bit freaked out.

“Okay, do you know how I get out of here?” Dusk asked, starting to get bored.

“Have you tried waking up?” Davitt asked smiling.

Dusk tried to wrap his head around that, dreaming seemed like a plausible explanation, the last thing he remembered was that thing flooding the cave in darkness.

“I've heard, if you die in a dream you’ll wake up,” Davitt said. Dusk only realised what he was implying when he took off his spectacles. Instead of eyes, which is what Dusk was expecting, instead there were just black pits where his eye should be.

“I can help with that,” Davitt added. Then from his sockets streams of darkness began shooting out, wrapping around Dusk’s limbs and holding him in place.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Dusk demanded, but Davitt just laughed. Then with little effort he fired Dusk into a building, he hit at such speed that the whole building collapsed. Coughing and trying to ignore what felt like broken bones, he pulled himself out of the rubble.

“I wonder why Cadance thought you could be of any help,” he mocked, “from what I understand, it was Dawn who saved Equestria from civil war, you would have died if not for her.”

“You’re right,” Dusk said quietly, stepping off the ruins, “I would have died, and we would have lost, which is why no matter what happens, I will not let Dawn’s efforts be in vain.”

Davitt smirked, “you seem to be forgetting, all you have is physical strength, and my powers trump your strength.”

At that the tendrils of darkness stretched out from his eyes once more, but Dusk was ready. When they wrapped around his front legs he bit down on them, tugging as hard as he could. Davitt screamed as he was dragged down the street to where Dusk stood, and once he was in range Dusk spun around kicking Davitt with all his strength using his hind legs. The result was absolute, Davitt’s jaw was snapped back, his skull was most likely fractured, and he slumped to the ground, limp and lifeless.

Dusk limped away from the corpse so as not to get blood on his hooves which was pooling around Davitt’s head. The pain in his limbs was coming back and he was finding it difficult to continue moving. Eventually he collapsed, unable to stay standing.

“How do I get out of here? How do I wake up?” then he looked up at the sky and shouted, “Dawn, please help me!”

Twenty-three

Scootaloo opened her eyes, but shut them again quickly when bright sunlight shone into them. Rolling over she opened her eyes again and looked around her, the colourful cottages, the stands packed with apple products, this was Ponyville, but how could she possibly be in Ponyville? She rubbed her eyes with her hooves, she felt tired.

“Welcome home,” spoke a voice behind her, she turned slowly around and her eyes widened in shock when she saw who was standing behind her.

The blue coat, the magnificent wings, the multicolour mane, and the rainbow coloured lightning bolt emblazoned on her flank.

“What’s up pip-squeak?” she asked. Scootaloo didn’t answer, her eyes just filled up with tears and she dashed over embracing Rainbow Dash.

“I’ve missed you so much,” she sobbed.

“I know sis, I’ve missed you too,” but her voice changed.

Scootaloo opened her eyes and looked up at Rainbow Dash as she began to transform, growing tall and thin, jet black, with withered wings. She pulled back in fear and horror.

“What’s wrong Scootaloo?” he asked grinning widely, “you already lost Rainbow Dash once, surely a second time should be easy to adjust to.”

“Who are you?” she demanded backing away.

“Well I have a name, but lately ponies have taken to calling me Wither Wings,” he said walking lazily forward, not letting Scootaloo get away.

“That’s a nice cutie mark there,” he said pointing at the wing on her flank, “isn’t it funny how it wasn’t until after the ones you cared about left you, you finally found yourself? Perhaps you’re meant to be alone forever.”

Scootaloo was angry but she didn’t want to take any risks.

“Perhaps it would interest you to know you’re so called friends are living happy lives without you,” Wither Wings said, trying to get under her skin.

“I’m glad to hear that, I just want the best for them,” she answered back.

“And what I if told you, you read that line wrong,” he said get dangerously close, “that Sweetie Belle and Applebloom remained friends after moving away, and they decided together to let you go.”

“No,” Scootaloo said shaking her head, she felt a wall behind her and knew she couldn’t back away any further, “you’re lying, they wouldn’t do that.”

Wither Wings laughed, then without warning he dashed forward kicking Scootaloo through the wall she was standing against.

Picking herself up she looked around wildly for Wither Wings, but didn’t realise he was standing right behind her. The next kick broke her leg and sent her even further crashing into the earth.

“They won’t even know you died trying to save all of Equestria,” he said moving in for the kill, “they won’t even know you died trying to save them.”

“You’re wrong,” Scootaloo whispered, stopping Wither Wings advance, causing him to stop and stare in confusion

“How so?” he asked sounding uninterested.

Scootaloo fluttered slowly to the ground, and never took off again… until one day.

“You’re talented,” Spitfire had told her, “we could use your skills at the Wonderbolt Academy.”

“Sorry,” she said moodily, “I don’t do that anymore.”

“Since Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo nodded, and then she continued in a comforting tone, “you know our friends, the people we care about may leave us, it’s a simple fact of life we have to deal with. But as long as we remember them, remember the way they made us feel, then they’ll always be in our hearts. Even death will not keep us a part.”

Scootaloo stood up slowly not breaking eye contact with Wither Wings.

“Maybe Applebloom and Sweetie Belle stuck together, maybe they didn’t,” she said softly, “but it doesn’t matter. As long I have a place in their hearts, and they’re still in mine, we’ll always be together.”

Scootaloo spread her wings blasting into the sky, piercing the clouds and still flying faster and higher. She saw a black speck standing in the middle of Ponyville she knew was Wither Wings, and finally at her optimum height, she dived.

She was falling but remaining in control, she was flying faster than she’d ever done her life, and she was going to succeed at this. She continued picking up speed, the air slicing in front of her. Wither Wings was staring in disbelief at her as she came speeding down. Now was the moment of truth, could she pull it off? She was only metres away, only feet away, and then she was only inches away, her eyes met Wither Wings, before she bounced right back up.

There was an awesome explosion; light shone everywhere reducing everything to nothing. The only pony to succeed at the sonic rainboom was Rainbow Dash herself, and now Scootaloo had truly proved herself to be Rainbow Dash’s sister. As she flew back up the rainbow arced over where Ponyville used to be. Reaching the clouds she stopped flapping her wings and let herself fall through the air, she looked down at her torso and saw a cut running diagonally, practically slicing her in two. She hadn’t noticed at the time, but as she bounced away from Wither Wings he got one final attack in. She sighed.

“Sorry everypony,” she said to herself, “but it looks like… its all down to you now.”

Twenty-four

Dawn was falling through an endless space, after the darkness had swallowed her; the Elements took her somewhere else entirely. But why would they take her here?

“Hello Dawn,” a voice said, materialising as a purple unicorn, “we’ve been waiting for you for a long time,”

As she said that five others appeared around Dawn, an orange earth pony with a cowgirl hat, a blue Pegasus with a rainbow coloured mane, a white unicorn with a crystal clean coat, a pink earth pony with a puffy mane, and a yellow Pegasus whose mane covered most of her face.

Dawn immediately noticed their cutie marks, a star, a lightning bolt, an apple, a diamond, a butterfly and a balloon, the same symbols on the elements of harmony

“Who are you?” Dawn asked confused, the unicorn smiled at her.

“We’re your predecessors,” she said kindly.

“Why am I here?” Dawn asked, her smile faded and was replaced by a sad look.

“I think you know,” she replied, and Dawn remembered her dream, “Are prepared to make the sacrifice?”

Dawn sighed, and nodded. The white unicorn approached her.

“You may call me Rarity,” she said, Dawn smiled and nodded.

“Rarity,” she responded, then the gauntlet around one of her hooves shined bright before disappearing. This repeated itself for two of the other gauntlets and the necklace; Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash.

Then the pink pony stepped forward, and recognition hit Dawn.

“We’ve met before,” Dawn said, the pony nodded happily, “you hosted the Harmony fundraiser, the place Dusk and I got together.”

“That’s right,” she said beaming, “I’m Pinkie Pie.”

The last gauntlet disappeared, and Dawn turned to the purple unicorn.

“Are you ready?” she asked Dawn, who nodded in response.

“Alright, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and we thank you.” The crown disappeared and all around Dawn there was blinding light, the six faded away and Dawn felt herself rising further into the light. She shut her eyes tightly and when she opened them again she was standing in Manehattan.

Twenty-five

The armies had fallen, Equestria’s last line of defence was broken. Philomena sped through the air, she had to get to Canterlot, she had to warn Cadance. As she flew into the castle she swooped through an open window, causing the guards to jump out of shock. Not stopping she flew into the throne room where Cadance and Marelin were holding council. She perched on Cadance’s shoulder, transferring her thoughts to Cadance.

Cadance sighed and walked across the room to stare out the north-west window. Marelin joined her.

“Has the defence failed?” he asked, she nodded, “so now our only hope is that Shining Armour fulfils his mission fully.”

“He will,” Cadance said confidently, “I was able to help him earlier, but he’s beyond my reach again.”

“What if Dusk refuses to change the past?” he asked seriously.

“Then all is lost.”

Chapters 25-Epilogue

Twenty-six

Dusk shielded his eyes against the light, it flared and faded in seconds. Peering out he saw somepony standing a few feet in front of him, but his vision was still blurry. As it cleared he made out the yellow mare with her red mane.

“Dawn!” he exclaimed, they rushed to each other and embraced, “you heard me calling you.”

“Pardon?” she responded, “I didn’t hear anything.”

Dusk shrugged it off, he was just happy to see her, and he leaned in and kissed her.

They remained locked together for minutes, but as they parted and opened their eyes, they found themselves standing in a cavern covered in fungus. There were empty cloaks lying everywhere, and standing close by was Shining Armour mourning over Scootaloo’s body. Dawn rushed over and collapsed next to her, tears welling in her eyes. Dusk put a hoof around her shoulder.

After a moment of silence they continued forward.

“What happened to the Elements?” Shining Armour asked, Dusk had only noticed they were missing.

“I lost them, it couldn’t be helped.” Neither of them pushed for details, just continued running down the cavern tunnel.

“Where did Fate escape to?” Dusk asked breathlessly.

“She must have escaped shortly before I woke up,” he shouted back, “she killed those reapers, she must have been affected by them the same way we were.”

“Good thing too,” Dusk panted, “If she had kept moving while we were stuck in those dreams, she’d be at the vault by now.”

They emerged into a chamber so high, the ceiling was cast in shadows. The floor was mostly carved out of rock, but half way through the room there was a chasm, the only crossing of which was a long bridge leading straight to the next door. Slowing down to catch their breath, they walked to the bridge, crossing it hesitantly, they’d been surprised enough here, they wanted to avoid any more. They got half way before they were inevitably set upon.

The first thing they heard was a rumbling, and for a scary second Dusk thought it was the centipede back, but it was much worse. The cave wall at the back of the room fell apart, and through it swarmed the monsters and creatures that crawled out of Tartarus when the gates were first opened.

“I guess the battle on the surface was lost,” Shining Armour said, “You have to run now.”

“You can’t beat them, you can’t even hold them off for longer than five minutes,” Dawn exclaimed.

“Five minutes is all you need,” he said unleashing a magical wall dividing the room in two, them on one side, and the creatures on the other, “that door back there, there’s only two rooms between you and the vault. You have to go now or we lose everything.

“Thank you Shining Armour,” Dawn said, they turned to run on but he called out once more.

“Dusk, take this.” Dusk turned and caught the scroll in his mouth, “it’s your choice now, only you can decide, and you only you can live with your decision.”

Dusk nodded, then he turned and pulling Dawn with him he ran for the door.

Twenty-seven

How did this happen? How could it all go so wrong? Grim sliced the air with his wings cutting the pegasi into sections. He destroyed them, he won, but it was all a trick. The alliance of unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies had pulled the wool over his eyes. They sent an army of illusions to activate Grim’s ice trap and show them the way to the gate of Tartarus.

And here they were, the very last of the dark ponies fighting to the death outside the gate, on the ice, against the impossibly huge alliance army. Grim saw soldiers fall all around him, his family fading into the sands of time. To his left Brutus smashed through the toughest defences, taking volleys of arrows and not twitching. To his right Nova fired off every spell she knew as fast as she knew how. In front of him Davitt’s spectacles lay discarded on the ice, streams of darkness pouring out of his sockets, chocking and crushing.

And behind him, almost as tall as the gates of Tartarus themselves, Sullivan stood, his wings spread wide, showering the battlefield in lightning and meteors. This would be the final battle, if the alliance won, they would take Sullivan’s land under their own banner of Equestria, and they would fade, the forgotten history of this world.

Grim didn’t let up the struggle, no matter how hopeless it seemed. He galloped through enemies slicing them in half with his wings, breaking their bones with his hooves. What were the unicorns planning, they seemed to be positioning themselves in a wide circle surrounding the gate. Grim saw this too late, their ritual begun. The entire battlefield became surrounded by a circular wall of violet light, travelling into the sky.

Were they trying to trap them in? But then the circle began shrinking, closing in around Sullivan from all directions. Grim and the last of Sullivan’s followers watched in horror as Sullivan was compressed by the tube of light, shrinking. When the light faded everypony saw Sullivan reduced to an old, shrivelled horse, with shredded wings and a broken horn. He was even shivering in the cold.

Then the unicorn king stepped forward, approaching the broken lord. He was going to finish him off and end it all. Grim couldn’t allow this, he wasn’t going to fail Sullivan again. He spread his wings and shot into the air, rushing forward. The unicorn king targeted his horn and focused all his magical energies, a shot from him in this state would destroy Sullivan utterly. Finished charging he unleashed the spell which travelled straight at Sullivan, but it didn’t hit him.

At the last second Grim landed right in front of Sullivan creating a shield with his own wings. The pain was devastating, Grim screamed in agony as the feathers were incinerated and his wings were destroyed. He collapsed onto the ice, his wings withered and useless. The unicorn king looked surprised, but just shrugged and began charging a second spell. But he was too late, from all sides Brutus, Davitt and Nova ran to Sullivan’s side. Simultaneously Davitt and Nova raised their horns creating a vortex in the ground which swallowed them up.

They remerged in deep snow, Grim looked all around to see where they had been teleported. They seemed to be on a mountain, close to the mouth of a cave. He looked over at the others, Brutus was carrying Sullivan who was even weaker now than he had been when the ritual was used on him.

“What’s going on?” he asked, “why did you bring us here?”

The others looked at Sullivan who croaked, “it wouldn’t do… to go into battle without a back up strategy.”

“What do we need to do?” Grim asked stumbling over to Brutus and Sullivan and collapsing onto his knees. Sullivan looked at Davitt.

“This is ancient temple, it is the birth place of our lord,” Davitt announced, “here is where he shall be restored.”

They began walking into the cave and Grim found himself looking at a chamber lined with ornately carved stone pillars, each topped with a ball of pure light. The room itself was a kind of amphitheatre, stones steps all around descending to form a pit in the centre of the room. There was a centrepiece, what looked like a shallow pool.

Brutus carried Sullivan down the steps, placing him in the pool. Grim followed the other two down the steps and stood at intervals around the pools.

“My body will not last,” Sullivan managed, “I task you… my most loyal subjects… to carry my heart, until one day… another comes who can… sustain me.”

“I will give my life to restoring you my lord,” Nova said bowing.

“I am at your service, now and forever,” said Brutus as well.

“We shall not fail,” Davitt said copying the other two.

“I swear,” Grim began assuming the same position as the others, “this land will be yours again.”

“Good…” Sullivan whispered, his eyes closing. There was a burst of black light as Sullivan’s body disintegrated leaving behind a single object. A black orb… pulsating with dark light. Davitt picked it up, cradling it in his hooves. Grim turned to him.

“Tartarus,” he said “they can’t be allowed to reach the sanctum.”

“They won’t,” he muttered staring into the orb, “this land may have fallen, but Tartarus will never be taken.”

Twenty-eight

Dawn and Dusk navigated the corridors. They’d just left Shining Armour behind, and then there were two. As they ran Dawn glanced at the scroll Shining Armour gave Dusk, before coming to a sudden stop.

“We have to keep moving Dawn,” he said urgently.

“Not until you tell me what Shining Armour meant,” Dusk knew the time had come, he’d wanted to tell her since he found out, but he never found the words.

“If we stop Fate,” he began, “Cadance and Shining Armour planned for us to use the vault anyway, and go back and stop the Ponyville Massacre to save the future.”

Dawn didn’t say anything she just nodded, she didn’t need to be told that doing so would result in them never meeting. They just ran on, trying not to think about it. Then at last they turned a corner, and at the end of the pathway final door opened. They charged through.

They took in the sight, their mouths gaping open. Ever since they arrived in Tartarus they’d seen incredible, unbelievable things. Rooms that were like private worlds, but nothing they’d seen was like this. The cavern they now stood in was immense, colossal, and in the very centre, held by a stalagmite and stalactite, was a stone structure shaped like a beehive. The Vault of Time.

“We made it,” Dawn whispered.

“Yes you did,” a voice echoed through the cavern. They looked up and saw Fate standing halfway along the path leading from the platform they now stood on to the vault. “And this is as far as you get.”

Fate raised a hoof into the air and a spike smashed down breaking right through the bridge. Fate ran as the whole cavern shook, there was only a short jump in the bridge but as it crumbled away it became larger.

“Move now!” Dusk shouted, and immediately they galloped forward, the whole cavern collapsing around them. They reached the edge of the platform and leapt through the air. They seemed to hang there as if they were frozen in time and space. Then they sped the last few feet landing on the other side, but as they tried to regain their balance the rock beneath Dawn’s hooves fell away. Dawn screamed and Dusk fell flat on his stomach catching her, but her hoof slipped out of his and quick as a flash he removed his blue workers jacket and swung it down, Dawn catching the other end.

“You have to let go,” she said sadly staring up at Dusk.

“Never, we’re doing this together or not at all,” he said struggling to pull her up. If he’d been at his full strength it would have been easy, but everything they’d been through had exhausted him.

“Do you really believe this relationship is worth letting so many die over?” she asked.

“Of course I do, do you not?” he exclaimed shocked.

“Dusk I love you, but our whole relationship was built on death,” she said staring up, “who are we to let so many die? Why do we deserve more?”

Dusk clenched his eyes trying to fight back tears, “I won’t let you go.”

She smiled at him, “I know you wont.” And she let go of the jacket.

Dusk marched up the path, the door into the vault standing stoically, but ajar. Reaching it we reached out his hooves and pushed the doors open. The vault was spherical, Dusk stood on a stone ring going around the edge of the room, and inside the ring, a pulsating pillar of light shimmering from ceiling to floor. Fate stood slightly ahead of him, and hearing him enter looked back over her shoulder.

“I win.”

An orb manifested in the centre of the pillar, causing it to twitch rapidly. It released an explosion of force that brought Fate and Dusk to their knees. Dusk watched as Fate struggled to stand up, forcing one hoof in front of the other. He did the same, his advantage was his strength, her advantage was her head start. His heart thumped in his chest, front left forward, front right forward, every step was an impossible feat of strength. Fate was getting close, but he was catching up.

They were neck and neck, mere steps away from the edge of the ring. It was getting even harder to move, Dusk felt like his body was giving up, but he wouldn’t quit, he’d lost too much, had too much to save. And then after what felt like an eternity Fate and Dusk stepped up to the edge, and summoning every ounce of strength he still had left, he sprung off leaping for the pillar. Fate had done the same and now they were both falling through the air. Dusk reached out, pulling his muscles, scratching at the air. And then a warm sensation swept over him… as he touched the pillar.

~

Fate watched as the pillar was sucked away into nothing taking Dusk with it. And as she fell into the abyss, the last thing she knew, was that she’d lost.

Twenty-nine

The sun rose, casting a warm glow over the rooftops of Ponyville. Birds chirped, hooves clattered, and all around ponies exchanged friendly greetings, wishing a good day upon each other. The atmosphere could accurately be described as perfect. It was amidst this contented scene that Dusk found himself, the scroll clutched in his hoof. He had to get this to Princess Celestia, everything depended on it.

He trotted down the street, he knew where the train station was from his time in Ponyville, but as he neared it, something caught his eye. He came to a halt, and stared across the crowded square and saw a vaguely familiar pink pony, conversing with a grey unicorn. He couldn’t explain it, but at that moment he knew what he had to do, he knew how was going to save the future.

He walked forward, taking every step like it was his last, because one way or another, they would be. The unicorn held a black orb up to the pink pony, who was staring intently into it. Then as she reached out to take hold of it, Dusk broke into a canter. The two looked up in surprise, a flash of fear crossing Davitt’s face. Dusk reared and kicked the orb out of Davitt’s grip, and it soared high into the air, drawing everypony’s eyes.

“No!” Davitt screamed, his spectacles shattered and tendrils of darkness burst from his eye sockets, flailing into the air, trying to wrap around the orb. Dusk spun on his front legs bringing his hind legs close to his body before thrusting them back, snapping Davitt’s head 180 degrees. The darkness faded and everypony watched as the orb ceased to rise any higher, and began its descent to the ground.

Dusk watched as it fell, down, down, and smashing across the fountain in the square. There was an explosion of force, not unlike the Vault of time, which threw Dusk, the pink pony, and everypony else straight to the ground. Dusk opened his eyes.

“We did it, it’s over,” then he gave a weak laugh, “or maybe… it never began.”

~

Pinkie Pie got unsteadily to her feet, what had just happened? Then everything came flooding back, Davitt, the orb, that colt, the dark streams and the explosion. She looked around wildly her eyes sweeping across Davitt’s body and resting on the red colt, with his orange cropped mane. She dashed over falling to her knees beside him.

“Who are you?” she asked bewildered, he looked up at her weakly and she saw his body was slowly disintegrating into a shower of sparkles. “You’re fading away?”

“I know, I’ve accepted it,” he said weakly, “I made my choice, now… it’s up to you, to finish what we started.”

He reached up handing a scroll to her, “what’s this?” she asked taking it from him.

“The future…” his torso was already half gone and the rest was disappearing fast, “see that the princess gets it.”

Pinkie opened it and quickly scanned over it, her eyes widening in confusion.

“What is this?” but as she looked down at the colt she saw that only his head remained, so instead she just said, “I promise I’ll get it to the Princess.”

He smiled, “I know you will… Pinkie.” And with that, the last of the colt disappeared and Pinkie was left alone, the air filled with sparkling lights.

Epilogue

The Fateweaver sat in her office, her head in her hooves. Of course ponies still thought of her as Mayor Mare of Ponyville, they couldn’t begin to imagine the truth. But something had gone wrong, something she hadn’t predicted. A colt stepping out of nowhere, destroying an orb before fading away. It could only mean one thing, somepony in the future set out to put a spanner in the works. He used the Vault of Time, Fate’s own back up plan used to stop her.

She smiled, what a fool, actually believing that destroying Sullivan would stop her for long. All she had to do was use the Vault herself and all their efforts would be for naught. After all she’d come too far, given too much, to lose now. She stood up and walked around her desk making for the door. Her ultimate goal was not lost, she would have her prize yet.

But then as she approached the door, it burst open and in marched a dozen armed soldiers, Shining Armour was bringing up the rear.

“Mayor Mare,” he said, “or would you prefer we called you Fate?”

Impossible! How could this have happened?

“You are here by under arrest for plotting high treason against her majesty, Princess Celestia of Equestria,” the soldiers immediately moved in shackling her before she could react. She tried to use her powers, nothing. These chains were somehow blocking her. “Take her away.”

As they dragged Fate out of the town hall and onto the prison carriage, the last thing she thought, was that she had lost.

~

Princess Celestia stood alone in the courtyard of the Canterlot Castle. She was still reading the letter Pinkie Pie sent her. It was… unbelievable, but after the incident in Ponyville, she knew it must be looked into. Multiple witnesses reported seeing a red pony appear out of nowhere, kill a unicorn who upon examination contained ancient dark powers, and destroyed an orb, all before fading into nothing. Upon interrogation, ‘Fate’ admitted to the crimes she would supposedly commit in the next few years, she also said not to worry about details of the Ponyville Massacre, as it would never come to pass.

Celestia heard somepony approaching from behind and turned to see her sister, Luna.

“Sister, are you still obsessing over that letter?” Luna asked exasperated.

“Forgive me sister, but it’s not a matter I can just ignore,” she replied still deep in thought.

“It seems a great disaster has been avoided,” Luna continued.

“And nopony will ever know the name of the pony who saved thousands of lives,” Celestia chipped in.

“They know,” Luna said mysteriously, “it was the batmane.”

They both laughed, staring up at the stars.

~

Grim stood on the ice, looking up at the gate that once led to his home. Now he had nothing. Nova was the first to fall, then Brutus, they were both lost in service to the memory of Lord Sullivan. But now even he was gone, Davitt had let his heart be destroyed. They had all failed, and now Grim had nothing, now he had nopony, no home to call his own. He rested a hoof against the rock of the door, feeling the Tartarus beating within.

Then he looked up determined. The sanctum, to use its power was forbidden, but if he could reach it, he could change everything. He could save his master, he could save his family. Was that so wrong? He would save them, and together they would take back this land, and destroy Equestria! Shaking out his withered wings he slammed his hoof against the gate. He kept it up, using every ounce of strength he possessed. Nothing could stop him…

As only then did he feel the warm breath flowing down upon him. He turned slowly around and looked into six, hungry, red eyes. Cerberus growled, all three heads dripping saliva down onto Grim.

“Oh great…” he began as the massive jaws opened, and the rows of teeth bore down upon him.

~

Pinkie Pie lay on the grass staring up. She never felt quite the same since the incident with Davitt, of course she realised in retrospect he was completely evil and thus she was glad that pony saved her, but she couldn’t save him. She glanced up as Applejack came rushing around a nearby copse of trees, closely followed by Rainbow Dash.

“Forget this,” Rainbow Dash shouted spreading her wings and flying past Applejack.

“I said no wings ya’ cheater,” Applejack exclaimed biting down on Rainbow Dash’s tail, as they both went tumbling into a heap.

Looking the other way she saw Rarity perched delicately on a red love seat, while fluttershy poured fresh cups of tea for all her woodland friends. Then finally she looked straight in front of her at Twilight Sparkle who had her nose in an old book from her library and Spike snoozing next to her. Then Twilight suddenly looked up.

“What’s so funny Pinkie?” she asked, and it was only then Pinkie realised she was smiling. She just shook her head.

“I’m just really happy to be here with all my friends,” she beamed. Twilight laughed and smiled too.

“Pinkie we see each other every day,” she replied. Pinkie just tapped her nose and fell back on the grass, and for the rest of the day she lay there and kept on smiling.

~

Four years later, in a street of Manehattan, a red colt with an orange mane and tail was bustling through the crowd on his way to the repair shop his father owned, and he worked as his assistant. He simply wore a modest, blue workers jacket and was looking forward to another day of labour.

At the same time, on the same street, a yellow mare with her red mane tied in a plat with a bow was taking her time, travelling to her first day of work at the local school. She’d just moved here from Filly Delphia after receiving the job offer and was now living in Manehattan with her aunt.

These two ponies walked along the street, weaving in and out of passing ponies on their way to work, completely unaware of each others existence until a brief, seemingly random collision.

“Sorry about that,” the colt said.

“No it’s my fault,” the mare replied. They smiled and walked, stopping a few paces either way of where they walked into each other. They both felt something, something they couldn’t explain. Almost as if they’d met before, as if in a dream. After a few seconds of pondering this, they both shrugged it off and continued walking their separate ways, and Dawn and Dusk never saw each other again.