“Curses.”
Luster lay on her back, crumpled into a corner, panting heavily. She felt sick. She was sweating but felt an unbearable chill.
Too incompatible! It was a desperate move, to begin with, but this child was not fit to bear the element of magic. This vessel – no, that thing! One half, both halves of her were the problem!
She hadn’t killed Rainbow Dash fast enough and now it was becoming ever harder to act. But no matter! The fragment of magic was wise enough to work through it and act upon both their desires at once. She had to kill Eclipse and Rainbow Dash at the same time. It could be arranged…
But that stupid fragment could only want one thing at a time! Anything else Luster Dawn wanted got strangled out! Even eating–
Why should it eat? It didn’t matter what happened to this body.
Because the more she starved the harder the mission would get! But the mission would be over in a day!
The thought process was something she understood and didn’t do at once. Too hard to bear, she turned to the one refuge. Their mutual plan.
Luster finally got onto her hooves to look her little ‘helper’ in the eyes. The head of a robot, ‘Saccharine’ sat before her motionless.
“You’re probably wondering why I saved you, right?” Luster asked.
No response.
“Sweetie Belle will die if she’s the conduit of the azoth spell,” Luster warned. “You have the power to sacrifice yourself to save her. I want to use you to ruin Eclipse’s spell. To make sure she dies upon casting it. Then I’ll have her spellbook and my own freedom.”
“You already lied to me once,” said Saccharine.
“Ooooh. You think you can say no to this.” Luster poked her repeatedly. “You’re just a machine. Do you even think or just imitate thought? I am like a god! Eclipse is not clever enough to figure out the conduit matrix in a day, but I am.”
Luster tapped her head. Centuries of knowledge, a link to the very essence of magic itself swirled about in the tiny, child-brain. She really could do it.
“All I need from you is raw materials.” Luster slumped back onto the ground.
In truth, Luster had only said this much so the robot would be less resistant when the time came, part of it would think at least some good would come of its death. That was also why she left out the part about killing Rainbow Dash as well.
For now, it didn’t respond.
“If I’m not mistaken,” said Luster. “Crater Cemetery will be attacking this place very soon. I wonder if there’s anything you can do to make sure Rarity is safe when that happens.”
It didn’t believe her in the moment but that didn’t matter. There was one answer, at least. Luster couldn’t suggest it herself, lest the robot reject the plan.
And yet there was nothing else she could do at the moment. Nothing but clutch her head and sweat once again.
Dash got closer to Sunset Shimmer than she would have liked. On the edge of Ponyville, as if she were returning from Twilight’s house. Dash kept one eye on the river and the lake that fed it. A strong wind had picked up, making the water choppy. You didn’t normally see waves here, however small.
That would be instrumental, and she was she managed to make one stop there before the interception. The increasing distance between her and it was cause for worry.
On the other hoof, Sunset wasn’t far off. Stationed just north of the town, Dash wouldn’t be surprised if one or two of her soldiers heard the information she hoped to feed them just by shouting it here.
If Dash slowed down it would be suspicious. But had Sonata even pulled it off?
She perched on top of a tree and swiveled her head in a full circle, scoping out the place. Ponyville stood empty and desolate. Not an unheard-of sight, it’d been evacuated plenty of times. Sunset must have at least done that much.
Owl sight came in handy just then. She spotted somepony on top of the apartment building where she used to live, and another in a tree adjacent to it. Dash wouldn’t have noticed either otherwise. Either they were with Sunset, or they were here to kill Dash.
Deciding to play dumb for now, Dash flew out of the tree and towards the two.
Turned out to be the latter. Both stood up and fired at her. She was ready at least, turning back and summoning her wind wall. It’d normally be enough to block a bullet, but these went through and hit her with only moderate force.
Things only got worse as they fired again, seemingly without reloading. A steady stream of bullets was soon assailing her.
She’d only seen repeating rifles once before. Ghost Adder mercenaries! Neither the best nor worst opponent to hope for. They had explosives so Dash could make this work.
Dash cast the murder spell and flew off in every direction. One of her crows escaped the slaughter into a nearby tree. She just barely noticed the rocket coming from the other direction and fled again before it impacted that same tree.
They had her surrounded and Dash really had no idea how many there were hiding in the buildings. But she only had to escape!
Summoning her strength, Dash scattered again and moved out in every direction. She needed to rapidly recast it just to survive. Already weak, her strength was running out. But if she just kept this up a little longer. This wasn’t nearly the worst she’d been through!
She managed to tumble into a building where no gunshots had come from just yet. The house would survive at least one rocket before she had to leave again. Though she felt bad for whoever lived here, Dash badly needed to catch her breath.
As a pony, she stumbled deeper into the house, sitting down next to a closet, intending to take a few breaths.
“Don’t come any closer!”
Somepony burst out of the closet, blowing their own cover. It was a black stallion with a standard military gun. Not Ghost Adder. Wasn’t smooth enough for that.
“Wait. Are you Rainbow Dash?” He lowered his gun slightly. Dash reminded herself that she was famous. Recognition didn’t mean they’d met.
“Uh.” Dash blinked, hoping this wasn’t one of her former classmates, though. “Do you live here?”
“I’m with Sunset Shimmer,” he said. “Are you trying to get to her? I don’t think I can…”
He nervously looked toward the window.
“Break through those guys. Though I guess you can do all sorts of crazy stuff, right?”
Dash did not want to actually get to Sunset Shimmer.
“We won’t be able to get through them,” Dash said firmly, hoping it was true. “Can you just take a message to her?”
A rocket blast shattered the outer wall, exposing them to the outside. Another hail of bullets followed but obscured by smoke they lacked accuracy. Dash’s helper retreated to the closet as the smoke suddenly separated and cleared.
A pony wearing the black and purple Ghost Adder uniform landed on the newly created, and slightly flaming ledge. Dash had seen this one before, the one who looked barely old enough to have her cutie mark. She carried a big enough gun that Dash was certain one of these walls wouldn’t be enough to block it.
Looked like her break was over. She got ready to scatter again, trying to think of some way to shout the intel out before leaving.
Neither Dash nor the mercenary made the first move. A war hammer came crashing down on the latter, forcing her to block it with her gun.
A small storm of weapons followed. A sword, dagger, spear… Dash recognized the sight!
Moonlight Raven came into view. All the mercenaries fired at her at once, but she expertly controlled her dozen magical weapons, all swirling about her. With five she kept the lead pony in check, blocked bullets with two more, and sent the remaining five hurtling at each enemy location.
“We’ve insufficient firepower,” the young mare declared without emotion. “Retreat.”
Jumping back from one final slash by Moonlight, she then made a hasty escape. One lingered to give cover fire a moment longer but then that too died down.
Moonlight Raven brought all her weapons back close and watched them leave carefully.
This wasn’t good, exactly! Nervously, Dash looked around, considering her options. She saw that other, conscript pony from before. But he didn’t look happy to see Moonlight.
He shook his head rapidly before retreating back into the closet. Dash decided to leave him for now. He could still be useful, and she didn’t know what that meant, exactly. Best to keep that close to her chest for now. Or rather, in the closet.
Dash turned back to Moonlight, thinking this might be an imposter. But she’d never heard of anypony else who could fight like this, wielding twelve weapons at once. Did Moonlight somehow decide to off Dash?
“You’re lucky I found you,” said Moonlight. It sounded exactly like her. “You aren’t far from where Sunset is. Follow me.”
It’d be bad even if nothing were wrong. She wanted to be forced to retreat. They had to have gotten the message or they wouldn’t have come here, but why send such a small force? Something seemed off.
“That’s not the sword you were using last time.” Dash looked over the magic blade Moonlight used to slice that Zebra’s tail off.
“I have many swords,” said Moonlight. A dozen more swords, each as bombastic as the last, appeared all around her. “In case you didn’t notice.”
That did check out. Maybe it was nothing. Either way, Dash wanted the information to leak.
“Hold up. There’s something I need to tell you,” said Dash, willing herself to not look at the closet, at the pony she wanted to overhear it. “The Element of Honesty is awake. You know what that means.”
That statement was partially a challenge. Dash knew Moonlight only had to destroy the Element of Harmony and Nailbat to bring back Golden Feather. Moonlight should also know it, and that half that equation was now possible.
Though normally an unemotional pony, Moonlight reacted too little to the statement, that the path to completing her mission was open. She merely watched Dash suspiciously.
“We should go there now,” said Moonlight, starting off in the correct direction at least. “Before Sunset hears of this.”
“Why wouldn’t you want to get Sunset first?” Dash tried heading north, but Moonlight refused to follow.
“Sunset’s goal is becoming increasingly impossible,” said Moonlight. “She’s begun to act irrationally.”
This was too much deflection. Dash did not doubt in her mind this wasn’t Moonlight Raven, but the real threat sent against her. Still, she could use this. The closer they got to the lake, the better a chance Dash would have of getting away.
Dash’s only question now was why the mystery pony didn’t attack here. Maybe Dash had already gotten too close to Sunset, a fight here would certainly draw her in.
“I understand,” said Dash. “We may have to do this without her if she’s going to see reason. I’ll show you the way.”
Moonlight nodded and began trotting forward. The mood was more than a little awkward as they trotted deeper into the forest in dead silence. Though not entirely, silent. The wind had only gotten stronger and louder. From the south-east it came. Dash had to keep that in mind. It’d be partially at her back.
Perhaps it was Dash projecting, but she got the sense both were expecting the other to spring a trap at any moment.
Eventually, the lake came into sight. Perhaps her opponent wanted to go even deeper, but Dash needed the fight to be right at this spot. No way she could do anything against this pony otherwise.
“Hold on.” Dash sat down, legitimately exhausted from all this walking. “I’m too injured to keep walking. If I use the murder spell, you can carry me as a crow.”
Moonlight nodded but there was murderous intent behind it. She wasn’t going to let Dash separate safely. Dash reminded herself that she didn’t need to beat this pony, just dodge her attacks long enough to cause a disturbance. That would be enough.
A downward slash of the sword from behind. Dash separated. With deadly precision, four more weapons came out and systematically slaughtered the emerging crows. Dash couldn’t tell, but she had a hunch the one that dove under the water of the lack was the only survivor. That was the one she returned from.
And she had to turn back to avoid more incoming weapons, floundering about in the water. Who the heck was this? It certainly felt like Dash was fighting against Moonlight, at least somepony who learned to fight exactly like her.
“Is that really all you can do?” The false Moonlight asked. “Hope to stall long enough for somepony to save you? I’ll swat all of your flies at once!”
Green flames enveloped the pony’s body. Her form changed once more… into that of Twilight Sparkle. ‘Twilight’ smirked, enjoying the irony of destroying Dash with this form.
Then her body began to glow. Dash recognized that… she was going to use Twilight’s plasma spell! Dash didn’t even think any other witches could do that.
This was bad! It’d give her a second to react but that attack would vaporize this entire lake. Dash hadn’t expected one of them to be able to use an attack on this scale!
No way to dodge it, but Dash had to try. She burst into crows. Any pain she felt was just a memory for the fleeting moment it took the plasma to charge up. She had to scatter, get as far away as possible. A chance gust aided her, but it wouldn’t be enough!
The blinding Flash came but failed to vaporize Dash. Scorch her yes, as she fell down to the opposite side of the lake with a terrible burn across her back to add to the list.
Apparently, this pony couldn’t imitate that attack properly after all. The attack faltered before it could even take off, as though Twilight had changed her mind just before launching the punch. Dash sat up to take a look at the frustrated pony and finally figured out who it was.
Embermoon. The half-pegasus half-but pony stood before her!
Though then again, maybe they were just imitating Embermoon now. Dash knew what that pony looked like but little else about her. Best to just assume it was that pony for now.
Embermoon stomped her hoof in terrible frustration that she failed the move. But the lake was more important. The edge had ruptured and much of it boiled away. That would be enough to disturb it…
Yeah, Embermoon had not yet realized how badly that move failed. Dash couldn’t help but laugh as she stood back up.
At that, Embermoon paused only briefly, eye twitching as she scanned the horizon with her eyes.
“I know something you don’t know,” Dash called out to her. Then she closed her eyes tight, giving it a chance.
Deciding this was one final bluff, Embermoon flapped her wings twice. Dash couldn’t see but could feel the flames welling up. But then another sound overtook the flapping.
The sound of a chainsaw started up, then colliding hard against something. Embermoon let out a yelp.
Dash opened her eyes.
Behind Embermoon stood a hulking stallion in a blue coat, covered with festering wounds to the point parts of his ribs showed. He held two chainsaws, both looked ancient, and their blades were made more of rust than metal. Each chainsaw was at the end of a long, rusted chain that he could swing it from.
Sawmill had returned!
Again.
Not even Twilight managed to kill this guy. Now he was under the influence of a rising super blood moon and this witch was the one to disturb his slumber. He would go at her with even more aggression and strength than before.
His chainsaw had come from behind, tearing a gash into Embermoon’s carapace.
“What the?!” Embermoon gapped briefly then let out a howl. She effortlessly destroyed the super zombie with a single fiery blast.
She turned livid toward Dash, becoming only more vexed at what she saw. From the sound of the chainsaw, Dash knew Sawmill was right behind. And even though he was closer to Dash, he zeroed in on the one who woke him up instead.
Ignoring Dash a moment, he sunk into the water. Embermoon backed up. Flying over it was dangerous but Embermoon had no choice as Dash waved and started flying away.
Sawmill jumped out as she attempted to cross, grabbing her. The witch easily overpowered and crushed the super zombie again. But that hardly mattered. He came again out of the water whole once more, all but immediately.
During a blood moon, let alone a super blood moon… well this thing would respawn as soon as you killed it. Not even one second. And Dash could tell it was way stronger and faster on top of all that.
Sure, Embermoon could seal it away back into this very lake. But that would take time and concentration. So Dash put as much distance between the two while the chance remained.
“Don’t you dare!” Embermoon called after Dash. She shattered Sawmill’s body in every direction in turn, unable to get it off her for even a fraction of a second.
Dash flew away as fast as she could. The wind was really strong, now. Heading west it did half the work for her.
Amazingly, that seemed to work. She kept cruising just underneath the treetops, adrenaline slowly fading as the chainsaw became more distant.
No, no. It couldn’t possibly be that easy to get away from a witch. Dash tried flying faster. Something was flying up behind her. She felt the wind.
Crows! A dozen zoomed past her.
She knew exactly what that meant. One of them was with Sawmill, watching him, slowly backing up. A super zombie could only teleport when you weren’t looking at it. Of course, that meant if any of these changed back…
Two of the crows came at her from either size or tried digging their talons in. Dash might not be S-class, but she could punch a bird! The big weakness of the murder spell was being unable to use magic in this form. That and losing all 90% of your strength. It was mostly only overpowered when Dash did it.
Scattering would mean getting overrun. But staying a pony–
One crow flew right in front of Dash’s face. Then it turned back into Embermoon and prepared to attack. Dash took her only option, closing her eyes and hoping for the best.
She heard a crash but felt nothing. Sawmill really was at the top of his game tonight. Opening her eyes again, Dash saw the witch crashing into the nearby trees and Sawmill hanging in the air, foreleg to the side like he’d just thrown an over at Embermoon. He turned an eye to her, and she quickly darted out of the way. Embermoon was the one who woke him up.
Flying off again, she got another opportunity to get some distance between them. A huge explosion behind her erupted but the shockwave only managed to carry Dash slightly forward. She had to be getting close…
A lightning bolt streaked across the treetops just up ahead. That was Lightning Dust, signaling to Dash! They were supposed to fall back at the first sign of danger.
Dash pushed herself forward just a little bit, tumbling across the ground as she approached her reinforcements. Moondancer, in her disguise, and Dust up on the treetops greeted her. The hard part was over. Dash could rely on them for the physical portion of the rest.
“Did they send one of the witches?” Dust asked. “Those explosions are huge.”
Dash nodded just as Embermoon came into view, making the answer unnecessary.
A new strategy from Embermoon. Her head had contorted and twisted into something far more gruesome, eyes popping out from every corner of her skull so that it became little more than a blob of eyeballs with a dripping mouth beneath. She dragged Sawmill along the ground with her, battered and frozen in ice but not destroyed.
Two of the eyes shifted to look at Moondancer and Dust at the same time.
“Not enough,” her voice came gargled through the twisted form of her maw.
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” said Moondancer, though she was doing what Dash assumed to be a Sorrow Swamp impression. “I’m just about the worst opponent for you to run into here.”
She tapped the ground and Sawmill’s body decayed rapidly into dirt. Crumbling his body to dust wouldn’t be difficult for a necromancer, but even something like that would only help Sawmill in this situation, as it was just giving him another chance to teleport away.
Next, Moondancer summoned up pillars of mud and several regular zombies. The cover gave Sawmill the chance to regenerate behind one of them. She came charring out at Embermoon with his chainsaw roaring forcing a response.
Moondancer focused yet another spell on Sawmill, covering him with a black aura. Empowered like that, he managed to smash into Embermoon, repeatedly pummeling her with a ferocity that even she had trouble matching.
At last, Embermoon managed to throw Sawmill into the air with a burst of wind that almost threw Moondancer’s mask off, one Dash needed Dust’s support to stay on her feet after. With him high up in the air, Moondancer couldn’t destroy him and he would be in the line of sight.
Embermoon turned, trying to blow Moondancer’s cover off with another burst of wind. The necromancer managed to stand her ground, yet Embermoon scowled and transformed again… this time into Moondancer herself.
Everypony paused. Had she figured it out?
“I can become just as good as you whenever I want,” said Embermoon.
She took control of the other zombies, keeping them fixed on Sawmill. Dash never remembered that working in the past, but noticed the zombie’s eyes glowing. Maybe she was seeing through their eyes as well?
Sawmill landed somewhere behind them but was currently in walk mode being led along by those zombies. Moondancer tried crumbling the regular zombies but Embermoon’s own necromantic powers blocked it.
Embermoon summoned a few fireballs, forcing Moondancer on the defensive, making more walls of mud.
It didn’t make any sense. Embermoon had turned into Moondancer but wasn’t using her spell to try and take control of Sawmill or the mud, not even trying to get rid of that black aura. Nor was she reacting to the revelation that Moondancer was here.
More zombies appeared behind Moondancer, clawing mostly ineffectually at her face.
And why keep trying to unmask Moondancer?
Unless…
Dash put it all together!
“Don’t let her see your face!” Dash called out to Moondancer. “She can’t copy you if she doesn’t know what you look like.”
Embermoon had seen Moondancer at some point in the past, Moondancer was just the first necromancer who came to mind. She couldn’t turn into Sorrow Swamp because she’d never seen that pony. And she couldn’t copy abilities unless she knew you had them! Moondancer had said she secretly learned the other necromancer’s spell.
And Dash called out not a moment too soon. Moondancer had been ignoring those zombies, perhaps thinking Embermoon had already seen through the disguise. Now she made sure to throw them off, forward at Embermoon, making them burst into mud.
“I’m going to have to go in,” said Dust.
And she took off, that move left Moondancer too open. Dust swarmed Embermoon in a melee that quickly favored Embermoon. But just one hit was enough. As Embermoon began to overwhelm Dust, forcing her back, Moondancer finally managed to get the other zombies, bursting them into mud, and letting Sawmill back out.
The super-zombie teleported behind Embermoon. Her attention split between the two attackers. Dust slammed her forward and Moondancer poured all her energy into Sawmill, giving him the strength for an enormously strong swing of his chainsaw.
It tore into Embermoon and left a huge gash on Embermoon’s side! It also forced the witch back into her original form. Reems of green blood and goo oozed out of the opening.
“Hey! We’re actually doing it!” Dust smirked. “I think we might be able to take this witch down.”
For a second there, Dash actually believed her impromptu bluff. With Sawmill here, they might almost have a chance. Their main camp wasn’t far away. Should Dash call everypony over and swarm Embermoon? It worked against Flash Bang.
But it wasn’t part of the plan.
“You don’t seriously think I’d still be alive this long if something like this were all it took to defeat me, do you?” Her body pulsed unevenly, all over, as she gritted her teeth. “I’ll admit, you caught me off guard, but…”
On the right side of Embermoon’s head, the bug half slowly began to fall to the side, her head practically opening up. Strings of eyeball stalks flooded out of it.
Her pony half remained normal, but the right side of her body quickly swelled into half of something truly monstrous. She ballooned two ten times her normal size with mouths and eyes covering most of her carapace. Many of the eyes rose from long tentacle appendages, snaking around the trees to watch every corner at once.
Sawmill tore through it repeatedly, but Embermoon shrugged the cuts he made.
Several of the eyes turned to the ponies and from each came attack spells, blasting at them with too much power to counter.
Turned out it was too good to be true.
Embermoon scrapped along the ground, dragging her belly as she moved forward with surprising speed.
“We can fight this!” Dash declared. “Fall back!”
Wasting no time, Dust grabbed Dash and took off, Moondancer followed not too far behind. A barrage of spells tore up the area around them as they charged forward. They could outpace it for now, at least. But they were also running out of room to run.
Dash’s base camp was only just up ahead. She really couldn’t imagine what to do if Embermoon got there like this.
They did manage to outpace her just a little bit, but from the sound of things up ahead the camp was already under attack. From up above, Dash could see them positioned against some enemy to the south, walls of ice created by Fluttershy provided some protection but were quickly coming down. All the more reason to retreat as soon as possible.
Fluttershy was the first to come out to greet them. Dash couldn’t afford the second to let her speak.
“Fluttershy! Make a huge ice wall that way!” Dash called out as soon as she could. “As big as you can.”
Fluttershy did so without question, though it would only buy them precious seconds. Next, Dash came skidding into the camp itself and found Spitfire as quickly as she could. Several other ponies gathered around to listen to their commander’s orders.
“Everypony, fallback!” Dash shouted as she entered the base. “We need to retreat!”
Spitfire looked only briefly into the woods before seeing the wisdom in Dash’s words. Eruptions of fire and lighting were already firing at the base. Though Embermoon’s spreading body could yet to be seen Dash knew it wasn’t far off.
The alarm sounded and ponies gathered only what they could at a moment’s notice, forced to leave their tents and most of their supplies behind. They hadn’t been fully informed that this retreat had been planned from the start, so their defeat would look convincing. Dash wished she could tell them it was all according to plan… but not yet.
Once again, Batton came to report the situation to Eclipse.
“There were some complications, as expected,” said Batton. “But Dash’s forces have been forced to hastily retreat. We destroyed most of their supplies. Though Embermoon is tied down trying to deal with a super-zombie at the moment. Normally, I’d think this was enough to knock Rainbow Dash off, but given it's her…”
Eclipse listened to the report with closed eyes. Sonata hadn’t given her anything overwhelmingly useful and Rainbow Dash was forced out of the Everfree. It seemed like it really wasn’t a trap. Batton and Sonata would live for now.
She was more curious about Embermoon than anything else now. It was good to know she could do such a horrible transformation. Apparently, this ability had its drawbacks, if she hadn’t used it in the fight against Twilight. Slowing yourself down wouldn’t do any good against the likes of her.
And all of this made her more certain Luster Dawn was plotting against her. She idly stroked the alicorn feather inside its pouch as the wind blew hard. The only question was what she wanted Eclipse to do with this thing.
Though Eclipse didn’t like how strong the wind was getting…
Another pony ran up the stairs hastily to deliver a message to Batton Pass.
“Batton Pass! Crater Cemetery is moving.” He saluted her. “And a hurricane is quickly forming just off the coast.”
“A hurricane? At this part of the year? It must be the echo of a specter. And if the hurricane was big enough to create a specter then it’s going to get a lot worse,” Batton concluded the obvious.
“Yes, but if I manage to kill the specter or force them to retreat before then it won’t reach full effect,” said Eclipse. “I’ve seen a specter use this power before. It still takes almost a day to reach its full strength.”
They were giving her two options. Retreat or charge. The question was which would be better. She was more likely to survive the former in the short run. But that would mean a large victory for Rainbow Dash also, who could soon become a powerful enemy. And who knew what the ghosts might do next?
It would also mean giving up her shot at using the Azoth spell. Yes, it was better to take the shot now. Crater Cemetery would not send anything light against her. If nothing else, such a powerful attack would be needed to cover her tracks.
“Curses! I was hoping they’d see Starlight as the bigger threat.” Batton looked up at Eclipse, longing for any hope. “Though this must mean Crater Cemetery is genuinely worried that this spell will work!”
Eclipse nodded, knowing that was likely inaccurate but wishing to waste no time discussing things.
“Then what are we supposed to do now?”
“We may not have any other choice,” Eclipse concluded. “Though it’s not ideal, I’ll have to try using the azoth spell against Nightmare Moon now, if I fail to make these ghosts retreat.”
“But then Starlight?”
“Can be dealt with later. If we retreat now we will have no opportunity to cast this spell at all.”
Batton bit her lip, realizing victory was no longer as guaranteed as it had been moments before. Eclipse remained calm, she’d been through many such situations. Perhaps none so intense, but she was far more experienced now.
“And bring Sonata to me,” said Eclipse.
“But that may still be a trap!”
The trap had already been sprung but Eclipse’s only guess was something about Sonata terrified Crater Cemetery and she wanted to use that. If nothing else, she could determine if killing the banshee would be enough to make them fall back for now.
But if Rainbow Dash was cunning, it most likely was the case that killing Sonata would no longer make sense once the battle with the ghosts began.
“I know what I’m doing. How long will it take to prepare the six artifacts?” Eclipse asked.
“We would need to hold out for four more hours,” said Batton. “To make everything exactly as you wanted.”
“I should be able to hold them off for that long,” Eclipse promised. “But be wary. Others are likely to take advantage of this.”
One last thing. Eclipse refused to trust this feather until she knew what was wrong with it. Certainly, she wouldn’t take it to battle. Out into the forest, she went, created a small pocket dimension, and stored the feather away. There it would be relatively safe and easy to find later, confident she could regain it even if the general area was destroyed.
The wind kept intensifying, to the point it needed an explanation.
A natural disaster that came out of nowhere… Dash hardly had the spies to confirm it but it had to be a specter. Dust frowned out at the wind alongside Dash.
“Well, there’s your ghost friends. This is pretty risky, isn’t it?” Dust asked. “There are several hostages at the castle. If it gets destroyed, so too do they.”
Dash shook her head and looked at the oncoming wind.
“I trust my friends,” said Dash. “I just need to give Rarity something to work with.”
Rarity sat in the jail, waiting for the right moment. She knew it was coming soon. There was a hustle all of a sudden and the number of guards dropped. Above ground, she could hear the wind blowing something fierce. That wouldn’t be too concerning if she weren’t in the basement. Rarity couldn’t remember that ever happening before.
“Is it a hurricane?” Coco asked. More for their own sake of not wanting to watch her puke again, the Cartel did give her a paper bag to breathe into. “Now of all times?!”
“Coco, there has never been a hurricane as long as I’ve been in this castle,” said Rarity. “They either go far north or far south.”
“But then what’s that noise?”
Rarity had one explanation. Rainbow Dash! She must have done something after all!
Or maybe it was somepony else and Rarity just got lucky. Either way, this looked like it might be her one opportunity to escape. The real question would be if it was enough to keep Eclipse occupied. Her last card certainly wouldn’t be enough for that.
Deciding this was unlikely a better opportunity would arise, Rarity turned to Fancy Pants and gave a slight nod. Silently, the message went through the dungeon. Any second now.
That super-radiation waste almost destroyed her castle the first time… Rarity really did go to properly dispose of it at first but then came up with a better plan. After all, reuse was better than recycling.
If it could destroy a huge portion of her castle once it could do it again. In the portion of sewers beneath her, long since caved in in preparation for the siege, she kept it stored along with a mechanism to release it. The collapsed tunnels would still have enough room for a few rats and insects. And they would be right underneath.
She moved over to the right brick in the wall and as nonchalantly as possible kicked it in the correct rhythm with her rear hoof. As she suspected, it wasn’t nearly nonchalant enough as the guard immediately noticed her actions.
“What are you doing?” The guard pointed his gun at Rarity.
It was already too late to stop it even if he killed her right now. The ground shook slightly and she once again looked around, unsure if that was Rarity or whoever was attacking the castle.
“Did you do something?!” He demanded. “Tell me now or I’ll start shooting one of you every two minutes until you do!”
Two minutes was plenty of time. Rarity stared him down, refusing to speak. The ground shook worse this time. It should be right underneath them…
As expected, the wall to the right began to crack. The guards turned to point their guns at that instead, just in time for a portion to break down. They fired before even seeing what was coming through.
One giant rat came at them, only to be gunned down. Another portion of the floor broke and a second came at them.
Critically, enough of that wall had been destroyed! Blueblood and three other ponies managed to squeeze out. They tackled the guards, still distracted, and took their guns before setting out to open the rest of the cells.
The ground broke up some more but didn’t fall away. Rarity could see it moving now. One of the rats had gotten far, far bigger than the others and it was still growing. They had to get out of the room. Rarity didn’t even give the order, they all just ran out into the hall.
There they met more resistance but quickly overpowered the next few ponies and took their guns as well. It wouldn’t be long before there was a response.
“This way!” Rarity led the group down a long hall. Parts of the floor and walls kept breaking up as angry rats and insects came through.
“Okay, but now there’s killer rats!” Coco clung to Rarity and pointed desperately at them. “I almost feel like that’s worse.”
“Have you never needed to deal with giant rats before?” Blueblood asked. “It isn’t exactly a bad thing to have them.”
“Am I the only one who properly disposes of that stuff?” Coco asked.
More ponies were coming down the stairs but in the confusion, were unable to tell which way to go.
Finally, the room came into sit but one rat came charging down the hall at them. They managed to get through and slam the door shut only for the rat to smash through it headlong. A second was already in the room. The ponies opened fire on both.
The one in the door didn’t go down immediately but soon found itself stuck in the door frame. The rat was still getting bigger! The doorway cracked slightly as it expanded more before they managed to put it down as well.
“Well that’s one way to barricade the door,” said Blueblood, before walking over to the rat already in the room.
Only that door and a small window lead out of the room. Everypony gathered around the window to look out. Everything outside was quickly being swept away by the wind.
“Okay, we’re out of the cell but now what?” Kerfuffle asked. asked. “Even if we run away, the wind outside is getting dangerous! We’re liable to get skewered by falling trees if this gets any worse.”
She was right. Rarity could hardly march them through this storm.
“Our best option is to secure this portion of the castle for now,” said Rarity. “Try to figure out exactly what the situation is.”
“And how are we going to do that?” asked Coco. “We’re outnumbered! And we only have a few guns. And giant rats are attacking us now!”
“How many times do I have to tell you that the last part is a good thing?” Blueblood reminded her.
“How exactly?” Coco grimaced.
“Are you forgetting that you have the Mad Science League on your side? We specialize in flesh golems.” Blueblood flicked his hair. “Why a foal with my talent could reanimate a tiny-brained creature like a giant rat.”
“Do giant rats not have giant brains?” Coco paused to consider. “Wait. Why don’t giant animals get smarter then?”
“It’s just the neurons that get bigger.” Blueblood heaved the dead rat down the hallway. “Not more.”
“Wait.” Coco’s eyes shifted about, trained on the floor. “I don’t know if that makes sense.”
“If anything, it makes too much sense.” Blueblood tossed the rat onto the table and began inserting metal rods into it.
“Is that enough?” Coco asked. “We’re just going to sit here and wait…?”
“I have one more secret here.” Rarity opened up another false wall.
A metal device with a ring just big enough to fit a head through on the top. A dive machine.
Rarity had already done this eight times. Doing another dive would risk immense mental damage. A risk she might consider but even now, if she did it again, it’d be more likely to harm than good. Most of the others here were at or near their limits as well.
“Do we have any volunteers?” Rarity asked them.
There was one answer both obvious and terrible at once. Coco had done a single dive before, giving her the best chance of being able to focus on getting them out of there. But given her nerves… well there was never any way of knowing exactly what a pony would do under the influence. Coco was just as likely to become completely unconcerned with trivial things like survival and obsessively start painting life-like portraits all over the walls.
Rarity looked in her direction but didn’t dare conscript her. It’d make a difference if she went into it willingly and with determination to save them.
Coco’s hoof trembled slightly off the ground. She truly did look like she was struggling to raise it, tears in her eyes.
“I’ll do it!” Kerfuffle stepped forward. “I’m on the seventh. So it might not work but…”
“I’ve never done this before,” some mercenary Rarity didn’t recognize and also raised his hoof, “but I’m willing to try.”
Both were doable but not perfect. Rarity nodded to both of them. Coco put her hoof down and winced with a mixture of shame and relief.
“You realize this can do permanent damage to your mind,” Rarity did feel the need to warn the second pony.
He gave a determined nod and Rarity went to fire up the machine as quickly as possible.