Donker was running. As fast as she could, with fear in her heart. Contact with Control wouldn't be back for another three hours. By then, it would probably be too late.
She was following the purple thread, in the obscurity of the crater, dodging the dimly glowing crystals on her way. The filament had become silent. It couldn't talk without more of them present. So, she was almost on her own. But she needed answers. She wasn't allowed to screw things up. She would die.
"One pulse for yes, two for no, okay!?" she hastily asked to the filament, catching her breath. "Am I allowed to do damage to your body!?"
The magical piece briefly pulsated.
"Great!" Donker said to herself, a bit relieved. "If I break it too much, will those things come out?"
Another pulse. Donker winced. That wasn't a good plan then.
They arrived at the location of the black swarm. It had already dissipated quite a lot, and the blue unicorn saw the black worms surrounding the body of Twilight Sparkle. Tens, no, hundreds of them were trying to make their way into it. Just a few were circling around them, in an almost protective manner.
"Like bees protecting a queen..." Donker muttered, hiding behind a crystal to stay out of sight. "They need people to reproduce. Do they give birth to more of them if they take control of the magic?"
Another pulse.
"Shit... Are they enough to fully take over?"
Donker looked at the filament. It didn't reply. The unicorn took it as a "I don't know". So they could already be enough of them for that. And then, they would spread.
"If that's the case, there's no time to waste. Princess, give me your magic please."
The filament didn't hesitate and immediately coiled itself around her horn. Donker felt a sudden rush of energy in it, as she whispered to herself:
"Yep... That's definitely soul magic..."
She didn't wait any longer. With one swing of her horn, she cast a circular silver blade straight at the unsuspecting worms. The infested Twilight turned her head, only to see the magic pass right by her, straight up cutting three of the ink snakes in half. Yet, they kept on wiggling around, turning to Donker, as did all the others.
"Guess I need to damage every piece of them at once..." the unicorn thought. "And that thing can only help me so much. Probably one or two other attacks with soul magic like this before it runs out."
The monstrosity stepped towards her, while the cut worms pieced themselves back together.
"Do you think defeating us here and now will be enough?" it said, while the worms around gathered like a swarm pointing at the unicorn.
"Oh no, you won't be buying time with a speech!" Donker shouted, focusing her own magic on the ground.
The silvery surface cracked and a big chunk of it was lifted, before being thrown at the body of the princess.
The thing didn't even look at it with its uncaring eyes. Instead, tens of black tendrils erupted from her horn, ears and mouth, piercing the projectile and breaking it apart before it even got close to harming the thing. But the alicorn's eyes were still pointed straight at the unicorn, as it made another step forward.
"You are the one trying to buy time," it said, in a low whisper, echoing through all the crystals around, as if the worms trapped inside were also talking. "For your friend, for your kind. Your princess did it too."
"Well, might as well do it properly then!" Donker replied.
The debris from her previous attack were all surrounded by her magic. The unicorn sharpened them the best she could as quickly as possible and threw them all at the alicorn's legs.
It worked, to some extent. The compressed rocks were pretty solid and sank into it and through the ground, pinning her hooves in place. But that thing didn't react much. That body was only a vessel, after all. Although, black snakes leaked from the wounds.
"Sooner or later, you will die," the thing said, with an unbothered and monotone voice. "We won't. Whether it'll be us tearing your soul apart, or time doing it, either end is the same for you. Be with us, and you'll see the end of time. Let us feed, and you will cause it."
The worms floating in the air moved closer and Donker threw a magic shield right at them to push them back.
"You have a very weird way of trying to convince people!" the unicorn shouted.
She instantly froze when she heard something. A sound coming from that thing, guttural, brief and yet it reached her inner fears immediately. That was a laugh. A mocking laugh. Just one. She felt like ice had just formed around her heart, like death was whispering into her ear, saying it wouldn't save her from what that thing could do to her. The monstrosity lifted her legs one by one, removing by sheer force the sharpened rocks immobilizing it, as it slowly said:
"We do enjoy talking. We do contemplate the fear and pride of the livings, asking ourselves how they will react when they feel us inside of them. When they realize it was inevitable. When they understand that dying will be a deliverance they'll seek. All of their pretenses, their witty words, their begging, it all crumbles to fear and despair. And suffering."
The filament suddenly snapped away from Donker's horn. The mare thought it was running away, but quickly thought better of that when she saw it. The worm on her left, that had sneaked up to her. The purple strand was fighting it, coiling and twisting around, attempting to choke it. But it was losing the fight. Donker saw the faint purple pulse emanate from it. It took her a second to realize what was happening, but when she did, she immediately teleported herself and the filament away.
Yet, the worm stayed around it. It didn't care for her magic. It continued on strangling the princess' soul fragment, suddenly opening its tip like a mouth with four lips, biting on the magical strand's head.
"Get off of her!" Donker shouted, grabbing the thing by magic and pulling on it.
But it wasn't letting go. It held onto her head, reinforcing its grip. It was going to behead her! And Donker's magic couldn't do anything against it. It was barely getting moved. She couldn't grab it's lips, no force seemed to be applied.
The filament's pulse weakened. Its tail wiggled around, helplessly, trying to whip its opponent, but it couldn't reach it.
Suddenly, a blade went through the worm. Blue and translucent. The creature froze, before coiling on itself, releasing the filament. It yelled, twisting in all directions, like a snake burning, mouth wide open. Its cry was the most horrendous thing Donker had heard, a mix of a baby and some kind of deep sea monster. But it was dying. Or whatever the end was for that thing. It faded around the blade, before bursting and vanishing in thin air.
"You're okay?" Donker asked the filament, levitating her sword next to herself.
The fragment of soul seemed confused, pointed in her direction, not moving. The unicorn cut her radio and muttered:
"I know a bit of soul magic. Don't tell anyone."
From the moment the princess had told them only harmony and soul could hurt the worms, Donker had known she would be forced to use it. This one was fine, it only costed her the memory of her first love and first kiss. Nothing too important. Probably. She couldn't really tell anymore.
"I can probably kill two or three more of them but that's it," she thought out loud, looking at her blade.
She looked around at the crystals, thinking a bit, before saying to the filament:
"I'm going to free some of your parts. I know it drains your magic, but I need your help to fight them off and buy Schim more time."
The filament slowly nodded. Donker turned to a small crystal containing just one worm and touched it. They could outnumber it. But she'd rather keep her sword for the next big fight.
You don't offer a fair fight to some otherworldly monstrosity trying to erase life. Neither Schim nor Twilight had any shame in attacking the worms right after freeing them, surrounding them with ten filaments, all choking them.
While they were slowly recovering more and more parts of the princess' soul, Schim looked at the green crystal she had been brought to. This one was in the shape of a lightning bolt. Inside, another pony with black eyes and mouths. A unicorn. Head low, as if sick.
The filaments went back to the pegasus' side once they dealt with the worm.
"I'll sync you up with them," Twilight said.
"The elements, right...?" Schim asked.
She had seen them in the princess' memories. They all seemed important, to her, to her country, to her story. But she had never heard of them. Harmony itself was an old magic concept.
"Yes," the fragments replied, gathering around the crystal. "Their magic was preserved in this state, despite the worms taking over. They were already dead, I didn't have any other choices!"
She yelled the last sentence, like trying to defend herself. Even though Schim hadn't accused her of anything. But the soul fragments didn't even notice it. Was that some sort of echo from the now gone original Twilight?
The gray pegasus stepped closer, while the filaments grabbed onto one another, in a circle around the green crystal. They began to spin, entering into some sort of resonance with the structure.
"Schim, would you abandon your friends, your family, your kind, if it meant saving your life?"
"I would not!" she replied with confidence. "I couldn't live with it! What good is a life without those you care about!?"
"Are you sure?"
Twilight's voice got distant. The crystal emitted a light, an image, that presented itself to Schim. It was a green pasture, with a town in the distance. Quite like her grandfather's place. As the pegasus looked into the image, it became ever so more tangible. Real. She could smell the air, feel the wind, hear the quietness of the plains. A voice called, from within:
"This is the place where we ran away from them. If you step inside, you'll be safe. Forever."
"What... are you... saying...?" Schim said, unable to look away.
"They attacked us," the voice said in a hypnotizing tone. "The worms destroyed our home. Our families. Everything we had. But we found a place where they won't get us. There is still time for you. Jump and join us."
"But... My friends..."
"It is too late for them... The princess couldn't defeat the worms. What good are two lone mares, against their hunger?"
"I-I..."
Schim looked at the landscape. It seemed so peaceful. Sunny. Happy. Cozy. It was there. Within reach. One step and she would be far away from danger forever.
Her radio suddenly cut. Schim slowly went back to the present and asked:
"Donker?"
No response. The pegasus looked away from the image, hitting her radio.
"Donker!?"
She turned to the center of the crater, seeking any sign of her friend, even though it was so far away. She glanced back at the landscape, hesitantly, only to look away again.
"I can't abandon her and everyone..."
"Good luck..." the voice said, before the image vanished, in an instant.
Schim was ready to throw herself towards the center, but the filaments stopped her by blocking her path.
"She's fine," Twilight said with her uncaring tone.
"How do you know that!?"
The fragments didn't answer. Schim clenched her teeth, angrily saying:
"You don't... You're just saying it because you need me to do what you can't do."
"You passed the Loyalty test. You are now linked with the element, but you still need the five others. You don't have a choice, if you want to save your friend and your home."
"Is that what you told yourself when you brought your friends to this planet, knowing they would die because of the lack of air...?"
The filaments became silent. She had seen her memory, only glimpses of it. But it was enough for her to piece the rest together. The fragments drifted a bit in the air, looking lost in their thoughts, only to answer with a less detached, more regretful tone:
"They were already dead. There was no other option. The worms were here. The world wasn't prepared. I gave up everything to save it. Including them."
Schim glanced at the pony trapped in the crystal. Again, she could see the darkness in him, that unnatural pose. Infested by the worms. Maybe Twilight was right. Maybe he was already dead anyway. She muttered:
"Fine..."
"Touch the crystal."
"What!?"
"It won't free him," Twilight reassured.
Schim knew she couldn't trust her words. But she could trust the fact that she was trying her damn hardest to destroy the worms. So, the young mare turned back to the lightning bolt shaped crystal and put her hoof on it. At first, she thought that the princess had lied again. The crystal began to glow, but this time the magic in it focused itself on the contours.
Then, a shock wave burst out from it, passing through Schim without affecting her. But it did resonate with all the crystals around. They all vibrated, before shattering to pieces at once, in a fifty meters radius. Tens of worms were freed, but the filaments were all ready to take them on, joined by their new peers now free.
Quick work was done, as most fights were two against one. Some worms attempted to run, but were quickly caught and dealt with. There was definitely something satisfying in seeing them all get shredded, at least for Schim. Even if the rage she could feel coming out of the filaments was a bit unnerving.
"Onto the next elements," the princess said, while she cleaned the remaining worms.
Out near the center, the monster in the alicorn's body suddenly turned to the east, hearing the noises of its kind getting attacked.
"That princess needs to give up."
A tendril suddenly sprouted out of her ear, catching an incoming blue spear that was headed for her flank. She slowly turned her eyes to where it came from, adding:
"You're going to run away again after this one?"
Donker was standing a couple of meters away, four filaments coiled around her horn, ready to fight.
"Don't think I'll tell you my plan!" the unicorn responded.
Making it talk was good. She was only there to buy time. Those things were trying to provoke her, she knew it.
The tendril snapped the magical spear in two, making it vanish. The worms all around the body extended themselves in the air, forming an aura around it. The air went dark. Donker saw the view getting obstructed by a shadow, a void. Soon enough, the alicorn was standing in front of a semi-circle of emptiness, and she hammered:
"If you're ready to fight, let's see you sink into despair."
"What the hell is that...?" Donker thought to herself, looking at the black void. "I can hear something coming out of it..."
She prepared her shields. Both of them. She didn't want to get caught off guard by the first one suddenly breaking, so she had two of them, one right behind the other, hidden in its aura.
"Hear the sounds of your people," the creature whispered.
Something suddenly came out of the void. A brown and dark purple sludge, pouring onto the ground, going around the alicorn and heading straight for Donker. The unicorn raised her shields all around her and braved the oncoming wave. It came crashing against her first shield, like waves on a dyke on a stormy day. But she also heard some blunt sounds. There was something in that sludge. Something that was hitting the shield.
Hooves. Heads. Legs from other kinds of animals, some she had never seen before. Claws screeching at the magical barrier, foreheads slamming against it. Donker took a step back, disgusted by this. Those things weren't fully formed, more like random parts poking out of the sludge. Some had flesh, others only bone. The heads were missing some features, but the few that had eyes looked straight at her with madness. And, even through her shields, through the suit and the lack of atmosphere, she smelled it. That disgusting smell of rot. But the worst part she only noticed after a few seconds of withstanding this assault. They were talking.
Crying would have been more precise. Yelling, in fear, in despair, in pain. Tormented souls, trapped in an endless cycle of being consumed, left to rot, unable to die. Some sounded like animals, others weren't even sentient beings. And among them, the blue unicorn could understand some. Shouting for help, begging for all of this to end. Male voices, female voices, child voices. All of them.
Donker felt sick, her heart wavered, as the wave only grew stronger, overflowing above her shield and passing on top of her. The filaments on her horn tightened their grip to bring her back to reality.
It worked. Donker focused and suddenly extended her first shield, violently pushing all around her to disperse the wave. The front of her shield suddenly hit a wall. Or that's what she first thought. But, as the sludge was still spilling out of the void and around her protection, the alicorn had laid a hoof on it.
They both stared at each other in the eyes. Donker was afraid. The creature was mildly satisfied. It pressed on the shield, and cracks immediately began to appear. The unicorn tried to reduce her protection, to move it away, but it stayed glued under the alicorn's hoof, as she pressed more and more.
"You'll join them," the creature whispered again.
The barrier broke and the brownish-purple wave came charging back at the unicorn. But this time, tens of tendrils attacked with it, sprouting out from the alicorn's horn.
Donker hesitated for one second, before teleporting away. Her second shield wouldn't last against that. But she didn't reappear where she had planned. To her own surprise, she had only made half the distance she had intended. And something was firmly gripped onto her right hind leg. Had that thing just... caught her through a teleportation!?
The black tendril suddenly raised her into the air. Donker didn't wait for it to smack her down. Despite her surprise, she immediately used her sword to cut through the tendril and teleported again.
This time, she landed where she had wanted. On a nearby crystal, way above ground. She had seen right. That thing could only catch her if the path of teleportation was going near one of its tentacles.
The crystal shattered a second after, and Donker teleported again, down on the ground this time.
"Thank you," the creature said.
All of its tendrils swoop down on the barely freed filament, surrounding it and tearing it to pieces in an instant. Donker realized with horror what she had done, but the alicorn still put it into words:
"One less piece of that pesky princess. And another one of us back."
"Will I have to pass a test for every one of them?"
Schim looked at the filaments, waiting for an answer. She was running towards the next element. Twilight responded:
"You connected with one of them. It'll probably be enough, but some might still oppose a resistance. I can't guarantee you."
"You're talking about them like they are sentient..."
A doubt came to Schim's mind. Was that vision from before real? Like, actually?
"They are," the princess answered. "The elements are on another plane of being, but are still beings of their own. Made of harmony magic. Like I am a being of soul magic. Their will is very different from ours. We're here."
Schim looked in front of her and stopped. That green crystal was shaped like a giant apple. But what made her stop was inside. A colt. A young one. Adolescent. Overwhelmed by the worms as well.
"How... How old was he?" the pegasus asked.
"Seventeen..."
Once again, the filaments circled the structure, while Schim stepped closer. Will there be another trial for this one? What lie would it present to her?
"Hello?"
Schim almost jumped when she heard the voice. Coming from the crystal, it sounded young, filled with terror.
"I-Is anyone there?" the voice hesitantly continued.
"Yes!" Schim quickly responded. "I am here!"
"Oh thank Twilight! A-Are we safe?"
The pegasus looked at the earth colt inside, frozen in some kind of galloping stance. That was him, talking. But that body was overtaken by the worms beyond repair. No lights in his eyes, a leg torn in an unnatural way. If he was still in there, there wasn't much left of him.
"We aren't," Schim replied, suddenly feeling sorry for him. "The worms are still around."
"O-Oh."
Schim heard him shiver.
"T-Those things..." he continued. "Is it true? C-Can we defeat them?"
"I... I think so, but I'm not sure."
"Who are you?"
"I'm Schim. Who are you?"
"I'm... I..."
The colt seemed lost for a moment. A silence followed.
"W-Where am I?" he suddenly asked, distressed. "I-I can't really see anything. I can't move."
That tone was heartbreaking. Schim looked at the filaments, but they didn't intervene. She looked back at the young stallion trapped inside.
"You..." she hesitated. "You're inside a crystal."
"Inside a...? But that... That means..."
"Your body has been taken by them. Princess Twilight used you in her spell."
"O-Oh dear... They...? Me...? How long?"
"Eons..." Schim said in a short breath.
This was painful for her. He was so young. But already gone. He could only think, didn't even recall who he was. And she was the bringer of that horrible news.
"What..." he stuttered, lost. "Why am I here then?"
"We need your help. Your element."
"My... But we already used it?"
"My friends and I made a mistake and freed some of them," Schim explained. "But we have a plan."
"I... What do you want from me?"
"I need you to link me to your element."
The voice felt silent for a moment. Schim waited with a weight on her heart.
"I... Yeah, I think I can do that," he finally said, still troubled.
"Thank you!"
"But, Schim..."
She froze. There was something so eerie in hearing someone from ages ago, someone already dead, calling her name like that. The voice resonated with her.
"Y-Yes?" she answered.
"Will I... be able to be free once this is done?"
She heard it. The hope in his voice. The dreams of a young colt. His desire for his life to not be over already. But it was.
Schim swallowed, refraining a tear.
"No... You're too far gone already... I can see it in your eyes..."
"I see..."
He wasn't disappointed, simply... thoughtful?
"Thank you, Schim," he finally said. "And good luck."
"Goodbye..."
The voice didn't reply. The filaments stopped their dance and gathered near the pegasus. She was shaking, sniffing loudly.
"You passed the test of Honesty," Twilight said, without a care in the world.
Schim dried her eyes through her suit.
"I hope this is the last one..." she muttered.
"If my guess is correct, there should be just one more test. We will do this one last."
Schim didn't reply. She simply laid her hoof on the crystal, looking at the stallion in it. The purple prisons around shattered again and while the filaments took care of the freed worms, she could only stare with compassion at the colt, frozen, forever trapped here.
"Why didn't you tell me the name of the element beforehand?" she slowly asked once the princess went back to her.
"Because the trials wouldn't be genuine otherwise. Your ignorance ensures your heart is speaking. Honesty and Loyalty can't be achieved if you know you're looking for them. Same goes for the rest of the elements."
"I see..."
They went to the next element. Generosity, which Schim and Donker had passed by earlier on. Nothing happened there, Schim only had to touch it to link herself. But the filaments were now enough to draw the outline of a mare, rather than a random circle-like shape.
Things worked the same for Laughter and Kindness. Schim was relieved to not have any trial there. It would have taken too much time, and she's certain she couldn't have laughed in this situation, no matter what.
And then, they came to the last one. A star-shaped green crystal. Just like the crater itself, actually. Schim ran towards it, but then came to a full stop once the pony inside was in view.
Or rather, the filly.