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The Steadfast Sky

by TheGreyPotter

Chapter 76: LXXIV : Luna

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The Steadfast Sky : Chapter 74
The Grey Potter
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/11495/The-Steadfast-Sky
http://cosmicponyfiction.tumblr.com

~Luna~

We didn’t even walk for an hour before stopping. When we finally gave up, Discord set immediately to work, campsite billowing around us before we had even taken off our cloaks.

It was the most elaborate setup I had seen him create in all the time we spent travelling. He had spread personalized patterns across our bedsheets, adding silver stars, gold tassels, embedded kaleidoscopic jewels. The pillows were varied, both in color and texture, all stuffed with, apparently, entirely different faux materials. Celestia had a potbelly stove to hold her fire magical, which she tended to atop a bedspread of golden suns and shimmering rainbows. The cold and the rain felt so distant. In fact, Celestia’s fire made the space feel stuffy, and overheated.

But it was a long, long time until anybody said a single word. We all just sat in that oppressive, overheated tent, all quietly stuck in our own thoughts.

I scooted closer to Discord, dragging along a pillow stuffed with down feather, and another full of what seemed to be water. Discord was fussing with the tent poles, quietly lying on his stomach and flicking a talon as the wood carved itself into elaborate shapes.

I stretched out my wings. Beat the last of the water from them, and felt a pleasingly cool gust as they flapped. Of course, it was only an excuse to lay one of my wings across Discord’s prickly back. I don’t think he noticed.

What should I do? Stop him? Thank him? Sit here quietly? Talk and pull him out of his own head? Nothing good happened when he’s left all alone in there…

I cleared my throat. Across from me, Celestia gave a little jump.

“Soooo…” I said, “The plan?”

Discord grunted, still focused on carving his tent poles.

“Well,” Celestia said quietly, “Canterbury is a week or so off…”

“Less than a week if we fly,” I offered.

“Oh. So it is.” Celestia nodded to herself, then continued, “It can’t be too hard to spark Magic along the way, you know? A few days together, united in our thoughts, we should ignite Magic easily.”

Finally, Discord’s hands stopped weaving their spell. He quietly folded his arms under his body and stared down at the potbelly stone.

He said, “And if we don’t ignite it?”

“I’m certain something in the city will,” Celestia replied.

“And… if not in the city?”

I huffed, and loudly declared, “Then the awesome power of our combined Harmony Blast will!”

Discord twitched violently at the noise. My sister’s fire briefly flared, shooting out a dozen bright orange sparks.

“Well!” Celestia said, “Really, Luna?”

“It worked for Starswirl, didn’t it?” I said, “Magic was created for the very first time because of AWESOME MAGIC EXPLOSIONS, right?”

“I… I suppose so…” Celestia said, suppressing a smile with her hoof.

“We know so little about the circumstances that summon Magic,” Discord said suddenly, “Really, what do we know? It’s all second hand accounts and stuff the Illuminators made up. Anything we try is basically a shot in the dark.”

“A shot in the dark is still a shot,” I asserted, “We’re so much stronger now… We’ve got loads more tricks and spells!” I waved a hoof to everything around me, trying to get Discord amazed about his own illusions.

“Even if we can't permanently bind the Stallion to stone,” Celestia said, “I know that now, there is certainly something more that we can do.”

“That’s what you said last time,” Discord shot, eyes still firmly rooted on the fire.

Celestia let out a low sigh. “Yes… I know I’ve said this before. But I was obligated last time. Trapped by it. I felt like we had to do something, even if we failed. Now?” She smiled, full of confidence. “We see what we can do. And if that doesn’t include regaining Magic and stopping the Stallion, then we will leave, and we will find another way. And I’m not doing it without total support from you two. Alright?”

She continued to smile, turning to me and to Discord. I nodded along with her, trying to find some of that confidence myself.

But Discord just sunk down into his arms, and nodded quietly into his hands.

~Θ~

We flew under a hodgepodge creation of Discord’s. A pile of crazy experiments intended to keep us dry as we flew. There was a huge cone of glass in front of us, like a big nose cutting through the rain. Above us was a large pair of glass wings. Celestia had the thing tethered to her back, but only to hold it in place before us. Like real wings, Discord had gone through a lot of effort to make the thing fly on its own. Like a big, waterproof glider.

And yet, we still found ourselves shouting and arguing over the rain.

“No!” Discord yelled, “Not until we have to!”

“But we’ll stay drier!” Celestia called over her shoulder, “We’ll be able to fly so much better without these wet clothes! And you won’t have to spend so much of your magic on this glider…!”

“We won’t know where we’re going!” Discord shouted back.

“We would just have to fly southeast!” Celestia yelled, “I’m sure we’ll be able to see the tower from days away!”

“I dunno…” I mumbled. Then, louder, I said, “We don’t know what’s in those clouds, or what’s above it! Griffins could see us. Stallion might spot us. Lots of stuff could go wrong!”

“This rain is going to slowly exhaust us the longer we stay down here,” Celestia moaned, “And we’ve barely even had a chance to talk…!”

“I still wouldn’t risk going up!” Discord barked, “Just a few more days, okay?!”

“And you know, down here, we might run into something that triggers Magic!” I offered, “You know. Some pony has problems and poof, we all learn something about ourselves and become better people!”

Discord chuckled weakly. Even Celestia cracked a little smile.

She turned back around, straightening out the glider. “Well, with how much time we spend in the air, I doubt it will happen… But
I understand! We’ll stay down here!”

~Θ~

“Discord,” Celestia said, “Tell me something else about yourself.”

After insisting and insisting that we needed to talk all we could, Celestia finally convinced me to set up little pipelines of sound between us. I didn’t want to blot out all the sound from the rain, we needed to be totally aware of our surroundings, in case something crazy happened. But at least we could talk normally, as if we were standing right beside each other.

Of course, Celestia was abusing my power to bug the crap out of Discord. The causal question made Discord wince.

“What,” he said, “Again?”

“There must be something more between us. Something we’re missing…”

“If there was, the last dozen stories would’ve fixed that,” he replied, “I don’t think Magic likes that we’re cheating.”

“This is not cheating,” Celestia scoffed, “If anything, this is far more honest than the first god’s unity mantra. At least we’re trying to get to know each other.”

“I dunno,” I said, cracking a smile, “Maybe we should out that poem again. We haven't tried that yet.”

“It’s not going to work,” Discord mumbled.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because the more I think about it,” Discord said, “The more I completely forget every single word. Almost like my brain knows the poem is bullshit, and it trying to keep me from repeating it.”

Celestia chuckled, “Even if you did remember, those few lines of verse would just get between us, I’m sure.”

“Exactly!” Discord shouted, voice booming in my ears. “Let’s find something else to talk about please!”

~Θ~

My shoulders ached. The straps of my bag had dug into the joint, and the constant flapping had rubbed the skin raw. I couldn’t even stretch out my stiff legs without them accidentally catching a stray current and spinning me off course… Glider or no. It was just the third day of flying, and I already felt sick of it.

“We’re getting really close now,” Celestia called over, voice distant on the sound line.

Discord grunted, “Yeah, we are.”

“One day above the clouds,” Celestia offered. “That’s all I’m asking. One day of rest in the sun.”

“Fine. Sure. Whatever.”

I dropped about a foot from shock, and found it difficult to struggle back upwards. My body felt about twenty pounds too heavy, every joint stiff and aching numbly. And yet, I struggled over to where Discord flew, trying to get as close as I could without colliding.

“Uh… Discord?”

“My wings hurt and all this rain is sucking my strength,” he said plainly. “And by the looks of it, yuo seem about the same.”

“But,” I said, “The clouds…”

“We’re just passing through once,” he replied, “If he senses us, he won’t know where we’re going.”

“Even if it’s just once, we’re really close to the city, and really worn out from the flight. Are you sure…?”

“We need a break, Luna,” Discord said, “We need to get the hell out of this rain.”

I wanted to protest. I should have protested. But if I was feeling worn down, then Discord might be even worse than me… And when Discord felt bad…

I dove under him and kissed his cold, wet chin.

“Alright,” I strengthened the lines of sound, and spoke clearly to both Celestia and Discord, “Let’s try.”

~Θ~

“Huh?!”

The wind roared around us, rain splattering our wings. Discord’s glassy glider hovered above our heads, twisting strangely in the thick, black clouds.

“Uh, Discord?” My eyes flicked over to the black walls around us, thick, and chilled wet from all the rain. My cloak was practically a frozen sheet of ice pulling at my neck, and I couldn’t wait to bust through, into the sun.

“Not good.”

“What isn’t good?!”

I didn’t even need to ask. The illusion’s glassy wings flapped weakly, buried itself into the clouds, and vanished. Chips of the illusion bounced off our heads before also vanishing into thin air. A downpour of thick, greasy water splattered over our heads, soaking us through.

“Is it—“

“Gone!” Discord shouted, “The clouds stole the damn thing!”

“What?!” Celestia squealed, “How could it—?!”

I squealed. The tip of my wing had sunk through the clouds, and instantly shot an ice cold blast down the bones, deep into my body. The cloud wall was pushing in, trying to close the little space we had dug out. Below us, the ground vanished. Above us…

“The Elements!” Celestia screamed, “We’ll blast through!”

“But he’ll notice…!”

“We will not be trapped here!” Celestia shouted. Both of her Elements flared. “Together now!”

Discord nodded, Element glowing at his chest. I couldn’t hold back. There wasn’t an option to. My horn flared to life, and I pumped magic into Laughter and Honesty. Five lights glowed between us, Elements shining along with our auras—

Directionless, wild magic.

Well, it’ll get the job done.

Five beams of light shot forward, snapping together, and buried themselves into the cloud ceiling. The vapor tore like thin cloth, oily water flung high into the air. Roaring echoed around us as we beat our aching wings and blazed upwards towards the light.

Finally, finally we soared into the endless, dizzying expanse of the hot blue sky.

“Let’s get the hell away from this place!” Discord shrieked, “GO GO GO!”

~Θ~

It was a long time until we found a non-evil, actually-just-water cloud to sit on. Longer still until we found one that could fit all of us. We almost lost each other in the darkness of the new moon, and only found a cloud big enough when I noticed a portion of the stars vanish.

It was day again. I sat between my sister, and my coltfriend. Celestia had finally stopped mumbling about how bizarre sitting on a cloud felt. Discord was still sleeping, arms flung over his eyes and his breathing steady. And out there, looming on the horizon, was the hazy black column of Canterbury. A massive signpost. We all knew what it meant.

I turned to Celestia and whispered, “Discord still doesn’t have the Element of Magic.”

Her eyes never left the tower. She mumbled back, “Yes, I know.”

“Should I wake him up?” I asked, “Maybe we can all talk again. There’s got to be something we haven’t shared…”

She shook her head slowly. “We have tried that enough. I do not think that will work, my sister.”

“Just one more shot?” I asked, “You never know.”

“Let Discord rest, Luna,” Celestia said, “This trip has taken its toll on him most of all.”

I nodded. Then I said, “You’re talking a lot more formally, Celestia.”

“Um,” she laughed weakly, “I’m nervous, I think. If we end things here… Then, I do not… don’t know. I’d immediately become Queen Celestia, would I not?”

“Practicing your queenly speech, then?”

“No?” She fell silent, staring blankly ahead. “Maybe?”

“I think this trip has made me talk too casually for a queen,” I cleared my throat, feeling my feathers ruffle in the clouds, “Yes. I do think that is so.”

Celestia smiled. “Talking formally does not mean overburdening your sentences with excess words.”

“I do not know, my sister,” I replied, “It verily seems entirely that way to mineself.”

“Oh, hush.”

Her soft wing gently shoved into mine. I couldn’t tell if it was a nervous twitch, or she was deliberately controlling her new limb. After all the practice we’ve gotten in the air… Could still go either way. She’d only had her wings for a little over a week, and I not for much longer…

I took a deep breath. “We’re going to be okay.”

Celestia nodded. “Yes, we will be.”

“Then why don’t I feel like it’s going to be okay?”

“It is just nerves, my sister,” Celestia replied quietly, “Our last journey here ended very poorly. This time, I doubt it will be nearly as bad. Yes. Even if we cannot win, we have so many more ways to defend ourselves. Right?”

“I guess so.”

I took another deep breath. Guess I was having trouble breathing now.

“We’re getting close now, aren’t we?” Discord said.

“Oh!” I looked down at my tired little coltfriend. He was the same as before, still laying flat on his stomach, mismatched arms over his eyes. “Sorry, did we wake you?”

“No,” he mumbled, “Maybe. It’s in sight, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Celestia quietly replied, “It might be a few hours off, might be a day. It’s so big, it’s difficult to tell how far we’ve yet to travel.”

I waved vaguely towards the black smudge on the sky. “Do you want to see, Discord?”

“No,” he grunted, “Never wanted to see this horrible place ever again.”

“That’s fair,” I said.

“Hey um.”

He stopped. He claws tightened into fists.

“Yes, Discord?”

“The Draconequus,” he said.

I asked, “What Draconequus?”

“All of them,” he snapped, “They’re still all down there, you know.”

“Are you worried that they’ll come and aid the Stallion?” Celestia asked.

“No,” he shot, “I’m worried they’ll go nuts if he’s not around. I’m… I’m terrified of what may happen, to, you know, the ponies still in the city.”

Celestia stared blankly ahead, composure holding her stiff, all but her wings were twitching into my sides.

“You did not mention anything sooner…”

“I thought something would come to me, if I kept thinking on my own,” Discord said rapidly, “I thought I’d know what to do about it. But I’ve got nothing. I don’t know what to do. Help. Help me think, okay?”

Celestia sighed, and strangely, I noticed her crack a small smile. She mumbled, only loud enough for me to hear, “So this is what came between us…”

“So um…” I said, “Should we turn them all to stone?”

“We can’t,” Discord instantly replied.

“Why not?” Celestia asked.

“How would we get to them all?” Discord demanded, “Those halls are sprawling. They could be anywhere under the city. Trying to get them all is crazy. And, and what if Ruin is still alive? What if we freeze him too…”

If Ruin is still alive?” Celestia asked.

“Th-think about it,” Discord stuttered, “If he was caught releasing ponies… They’d kill him. But if he wasn’t caught…”

Celestia sharply inhaled, “If he was caught, there would be a large amount of ponies still trapped in the city.”

I watched Discord as his arms tightened, as he sank deeper into the clouds, nodding into the wispy fluff.

He quietly said, “There’s that too…”

“Discord,” Celestia firmly snapped, “Thank you for bringing this up. I had no idea that the situation was so dire.”

“Yeah um,” he mumbled, “Sorry for not bringing it up sooner.”

“I still think turning them all to stone is our best option,” Celestia said, “Perhaps we can find a way to contain their movements. You know the paths throughout the city, don’t you Discord?”

“Yeah… hazy now, but sure. I remember them.”

Celestia’s gaze returned firmly forward, as if she considering the matter settled. She even looked reinvigorated. Like all it took was a plan, and that made our chances that much better.

But Discord looked much less assured. His arms were still braced over his head, face buried in the clouds.

“What’s the matter Discord?” I poked him in the side. “Scared?”

“Terrified,” Discord instantly replied, “I’d throw up if I had eaten anything today.”

I frowned, “You’ve got to eat something… You’ve still got some fish in your bag, don’t you?”

“Make me less nauseous, and sure, I’ll scarf a whole… whatever.”

I sighed, and squeezed closer to him. His stiff fur prickled against mine. I could feel him shaking, ever so slightly.

“We’ll be fine,” I said quietly.

“Is it right, Luna?” he mumbled back, “We’re just going to wipe out all of them?”

“The Draconequus…?” I asked, “I thought you hated them.”

“Oh yeah. Most of them can go die in a fire. Or die in a rock, I guess.” He took a stuttering breath, poking fur pushing into my side. “But there’s still kids down there. Terrified, tiny little Draconequus kids who don’t know any better…”

“We don’t have to trap them in stone, Discord,” I replied instantly. “We can spare them—“

“And then what?!” he shot back, “They still eat meat. They’ll still grow massive, if we let them. And who would even raise them, me? That’s not even remotely plausible. Even if I knew what I was doing, I’ll have enough on my hands with all this… government shit dumped on me.”

“Discord,” Celestia suddenly spoke up, and loud enough to make me jump, “We will save the kids. What happens from there, we can decide.”

Discord inhaled sharply. His arms slid off his face, and before I knew it, he flung himself over my back.

I squealed. His hot stomach fell over my wings, his back hoof banging into a new joint I barely knew about. His elbows dug into my other side as he flung himself forward, and threw his arms around Celestia’s neck.

Splayed out across my back, he pulled her into a hug. Her jaw bounced off my horn, and I could just imagine the look on her face right now.

Discord said, “I’m sorry.”

“You are forgiven?” Celestia loudly replied into my ear.

I’m sorry.”

“It will be okay, Discord!”

I am so freaking sorry!”

Celestia laughed, “There’s no need to apologize!”

“I’m apologizing anyway!”

“Alright, then, thank you for your apology?”

“You’re welcome!”

“I’m gonna fall through the clouds!” I squealed as I felt my middle sink further and further down. “Get offa me, you guys!”

“Uh. Whoops! Sorry!”

Discord laughed nervously as he finally slid off my back. Celestia scootched politely away from me, and Discord dropped back down, resting his head on my hooves. He smiled weakly up at me, and I rapped him on the snout with my other hoof.

About another minute passed in silence, watching the tower loom ahead of us.

“So…” Celestia said slowly. “No Element of Magic…?”

“Nope,” Discord replied flatly.

“Damn it all,” Celestia huffed in frustration. “Thought it would really work that time.”

~Θ~

The jokes had stopped. The mumbling between us had quieted. Celestia’s determination had never wavered, but she was no longer sitting up straight. I had pushed our cloaks and bags through a shadowy portal to the damp forest below, and we all sat bare, The Elements of Harmony our only adornments. We had all sunk deep into the clouds, quietly pushing it towards the massive, pitch black city.

The sun was setting to our left, hovering near the equilibrium. The Illuminators would be pushing it under soon. Canterbury’s tallest walls rose high above our heads, hundreds and hundreds of meters into the open sky. The only movement was of the Pegasus-drawn carts, still zipping up and down the tower, pulling up supplies from below. Again and again, they tore through the clouds, creating massive wispy black claws that crawled around the black stone. The air was full of griffin screeches. Of rattling carts, and snapping whips.

“Right after the Draconequus,” Celestia whispered, “We’re putting a stop to this casual enslavement.”

“We took so long,” I whispered back. “We couldn’t do a thing for those poor Pegasi…”

“What’s done is done,” Discord replied. “We may have been able to do more. We may not have. We’re here now, and we’ll do all we can.”

“Exactly,” Celestia said, “Now. We have to leave the cloud, before it starts looking suspicious.”

“I could probably pull the shadows from the wall,” I said, “We’d have to fly pretty close together, but I think we’ve gotten pretty good at flying in formation.”

“Good thinking,” Celestia said, “Let’s wait for a break in the carts, and shoot for the wall.”

So we waited. Drifting closer and closer to the massive structure as carts shot and spiraled before us. There were dozens of griffins in the sky, but they came and went at random. Sometimes three carts would nearly collide as they shot past each other. Sometimes a whole minute would pass, and we’d still sit and wait until the opportunity had come and passed.

“We can’t sit here all day,” Discord hissed, “These carts come and go all night long.”

Celestia mumbled, “Should we duck under the black clouds—?”

No!” Discord and I simultaneously snapped.

Celestia huffed into the puffy cloud, creating a small, swirling wisp. “Well… we could just deal with the Griffins. Blast them with the Elements, hope it dazzles them long enough to deal with The Shadow Stallion.”

Discord flinched beside me, paw squeezing my hoof. He said, “I prefer the sneaking.”

“Yes,” I said, “Same here.”

“It is preferable,” Celestia mumbled, “But if we must…”

She trailed off, looking up and down the wall.

“Now!” she snapped.

“Huh?”

Without warning, Celestia shot to her feet, wings flaring open automatically. Discord and I barely stumbled to our feet before one flap of her wings reduced the puffy cloud to scattered wisps.

“Celestia…!” I cried, automatically beating my own wings, hooves kicking under me.

“Hurry!” she called back, “To the wall!”

Without a word, Discord shot in front of me, trailing quickly after my sister. I soared after the two, cold wind washing over my face and body. Without my cloak and saddlebags weighing me down, I was elated how easily I could fly, and how free I felt without wet clothes bogging me down.

It was a moment of freedom cut dead short. We had a duty to do, and I had to focus.

We soared up to the wall. Horn aglow, I tugged at the wall with ease, expecting a blanket of darkness. We weren’t exactly in the tower’s massive shadow, but with the sun so low, the shadows should be thickly spread across such a dark and heavy material.

Instead, little strings sluggishly drug themselves out of the cracks. All I was holding was a thin, misshapen webbing of shadow.

I frowned, “It’s not enough. Discord, can you…”

I didn’t even need to ask. He already joined me at the wall, yanking and tugging at a different part of the wall. There was no point. No matter where he landed, he came up with the same stringy, patchy webbing.

He grunted. Clicked his claws. A jutting black ledge appeared above our heads. Angled down, it blocked the sun, instantly turning our webbing into a useable blanket.

“We can’t do that!” I cried, “The griffins, they’ll see—!“

“No they won’t. Not at the speed they’re going,” Discord shot back, “It’ll blend in. Trust me!”

“Alright!” Celestia said, wings still flapping as her hooves tapped against the black cobblestone. “Stay close, let’s go!”

We flew in tight formation. More than once, I felt the tip of my wing brushing against Discord’s snout, or Celestia catching my tail in a flap of her wings. The stones raced under our feet, more like a cobblestone street than a wall cutting upwards towards the sky.

But worst of all, the shadows around us felt as thin as soap bubbles. They didn’t stick to the wall. Holes snapped and wavered in the bottom of our cover. The shadows already didn’t like being stretched far from the ground. Just one false move, one gust to push us away from the cobble, and the cover would pop apart, exposing us all.

What was making my spell so weak? The speed of our ascent? The direct sunlight? Both?

More?

Pull, you rutting featherheads!

My wings locked. Breath halted. A cart rattled by, griffin screeching over the snap of a whip. Discord’s snout bumped into my forehoof. I heard him inhale sharply.

“Stay focused, Luna!” he hissed, “Almost there!”

I nodded. Even though it was just a momentary distraction, I was still dangerously close to falling into my sister. I beat my wings furiously, heaving upwards. I fell back into place. Tugged at the shadows. Just tried to reinforce the delicate bubble, and failing.

The wall rushed beneath us, and we fell back into open sky. We had reached the top without even noticing.

Discord’s shield spun off, falling back down to the clouds.The delicate cover snapped apart. Shadows flattened instantly back to solid ground.

DOWN!

Celestia's aura yanked at my leg. My hooves dropped heavily to the walltop path. Discord collapsed beside me, wings snapping to his sides—

I didn’t wait a second more. My horn reignited. I tore for the shadows, tried to gather them back. But if there was so little on the side of the wall, there was nothing up here. Barely a string followed my magical pull, lasting just long enough to snap apart and retreat back between the stones.

“Here…!”

Discord’s hand shot above our heads. With a snap of his fingers, another illusion fell over us. A box. Solid, opaque. On the dark underside, I could still see the pattern of the black cobble.

“Is that enough…?” I asked.

He nodded, head jerking, “If they didn’t spot us in the two seconds out of cover, then this should be good enough.”

“Really?” Celestia demanded, “You’re certain of that?”

“No,” Discord flatly replied, “But it’s better than nothing.”

Celestia frowned severely, but I nodded to Discord, put a hoof on his hand. He knew I trusted his instincts.

“It’s working or it isn’t. But it won’t matter in a minute.” To Discord, I said, “Can you make the edges translucent? We kind’ve need to see.”

He thought for a moment. “Yeah. But let’s crouch. If we can see through, they can. I want to make the window as small as I can…”

I complied without a word, settling onto my stomach. I was a little worried. If we had to run in a flash, could I get to my feet quick enough? Should I fly? The cold stones were a little refreshing, but…

Wait. They were cold? The sunlight was directly smacking it for twelve or so hours a day, but despite that, the rock up here was still cold?

“I think that’s good,” Discord said suddenly.

I looked up from my feet, and saw the illusion had become murky. It was just barely thin enough to see through.

“So then.” Careful not to poke a hole in the illusion, I lifted a pointing hoof. “We’re heading for the Canterlot marble, right?”

In the distance, far, but not quite on the other side of the city, there was a single break from the black towers and randomly sprawling pathways. A slim structure of white marble seemed like it was randomly dropped among the taller shafts of dark cobble.

The construction of the white towers seemed, somehow, rougher than actual Canterlot masonry. For a moment, I couldn’t see why. The towers peaked the same way as a Canterlot tower. The white stones rose in the same odd, curved angles that only magic could construct.

Maybe it was the lack of color? There was some gold inlay, yes. The balcony railings had some gold in them, as did the absolute peak of the tower. But unlike in Canterlot, the tower had no accents of purple, no decorative stars, no patterns to speak of.

It was just a white, jagged flower among the thick black stalks.

Celestia craned her neck over mine, trying to mind her horn didn’t break through the illusion. “Doesn’t look like a path leads that way.”

“No,” Discord mumbled, “That would be too easy, wouldn’t it?”

“We’ll have to fly again,” I said, “In open air this time…”

Discord inhaled sharply, but gave me a small nod.

“I wouldn’t worry. I mean, we’re so close,” Celestia asserted, “Even if the griffins spotted us, we’d be in. And, if we’re lucky, in just a minute we’d we’d be, well, done with it. You both understand, I’m sure.”

“And if we’re not lucky,” Discord said, “We’ve got griffins trying to stab us while that nightmare does its best to kill us.”

I clapped my hooves, exclaiming softly. “With how late in the day it is, there’s bound to be plenty of shadows in there!”

“Yeah, so?” Discord grunted, “Think it’ll be that easy to hide? You know how well that worked last time we tried to—”

“No, I’m saying we could try to teleport away!” I said. Trying not to rush, I continued, “I mean… he is the Shadow Stallion, and he might be able to follow. But we’d at least lose the griffins. Fair?”

“None of this is fair,” Discord grumbled, “We are so dead. Life...”

“We are not dead,” Celestia asserted, “Have some confidence in us Discord.”

I tapped my horn against his, “Have some confidence in yourself too, dummy.”

Discord took a deep breath, and released it. He said, “It’s never that easy.”

“I don’t think it will be, no,” Celestia said, “But as the Elements of Harmony, we will do our very best.”

I quickly pulled them together into a short embrace. Discord’s fuzzy chin bounced off my shoulder as he nodded. Celestia wasn’t smiling, but her eyes were confident. Not desperate for confidence, but truly sure of herself.

We broke apart. With a few more shared words, we sped our way down the path. Of course, we would eventually have to fly. But if we could get as close as we could without doing that…

We raced down the uneven walkways, trying to stay under the illusion box the best we could. I plucked at shadows, trying to pull up more than strings as the sun slowly began its final descent into night. The Illuminators must finally be doing the ritual. Was it later than normal, or did my sense of time get thrown off by the stress of this situation? I suppose I would never know… not that it mattered much now.

Finally, after night finally fell and the waxing moon rose somewhere out of sight, Discord whispered, “I think this is as close as we’re going to get.”

The bottom balcony of the marble palace was nearly a hundred meters above our heads, across a gap three ponies wide. Impossible for any ground-bound race, but a short hop for anything with wings.

We didn’t stay long. The carts were so distant, offloading on a distant tower. We barely glanced their way twice before we went airborn, soaring. Out from Discord’s cover, and with no shadows to hide us. In the open air of a newly risen moon.

It wasn’t even half a minute until our hooves touched the hot white stone. We hesitated briefly, exchanging glances with the flung-open glass balcony doors. But even at night, we didn’t dare stay out in the open and out of cover for long.

Celestia took a deep breath, and strode forward, head high and hooves clicking obscenely loud. Without even thinking, I automatically muted her hooves. Discord and I rushed after her, silent as the breeze.

“This is not like last time,” I whispered, “We’re not going to stomp around unprepared. We’re going to catch him off guard.”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” Discord mumbled.

“Why not? He’s just a—”

“An immortal god tyrant made of pure nightmares, who can kill us in a glance and nearly did, several times.” Discord shot. Then, after a pause, he said, “I still can’t handle this.”

“I guess…” I replied, frowning, “But he’s also—”

“Ssssshhhhh,” Celestia hushed us, hoof gently tapping her mouth.

We both fell quiet. Celestia nodded towards the far door. Mutely, we passed by dusty old furniture. An old an abandoned room. We didn’t have time to be looking. We passed it by without a glance.

When we exited, we were in a different wing than before. The hallway lined with suits of armor were nowhere to be seen. Instead, open archways led to a number of different rooms. The pace Celestia set was quick, but it still afforded me a quick glance or two.

The rooms were all roughly the same size. Furnished, but, almost sporadically. One room might have a bed and a desk. The next might have an entire collapsed bookcase, with notes and crumpled papers spilling everywhere. There was a room with dozens of half-filled bottles just sitting on the floor. Another that just seemed to be torn up by tightly woven stony vines, for no apparent reason.

None of the rooms looked lived in. Hardly any looked used. Aside from the rooms with furniture, next to nothing had dust on it. But I doubted it was because anyone came to clean. There must not be enough activity to even warrant dust in the first place.

And the Shadow Stallion was nowhere to be seen.

None of us dared to speak. We only passed by a dozen or so doors when I noticed. I knew where we were. A hall opened up on our right, and I knew where that was. It was lined with suits of armor, and led to a set of stairs down.

That was where we had come up, the last time we had tried to attack the stallion. And where we had fled to when we realized we could not stop him. The spears that he had torn from the suit’s sides were still scattered around the floor. Some were even embedded in stonework, untouched in the year since they were thrown.

Claws dug into my ankle. Discord had grabbed my hoof. I didn’t make a sound, just looked down at him. He waved forward, shaking his head violently.

Celestia had stopped. Discord and I did the same. I looked straight ahead, where discord waved. For a moment, I thought the hallway just ended. The light didn’t reach that far, and the shadows blotted out the end of the corridor.

But the hall couldn’t have just ended there. It seemed like two large, golden double doors were pushed open, resting on either side of the hallway. And, there was a wispy black smoke drifting from the space. And a little sliver of a neon blue against the black...

We all stood, stock still, as we stared into a room of black cloth so thick and twisted they seemed like pure shadows themselves. We all stared at the unmoving, corpselike frame of the Shadow Stallion’s back.

He didn’t hear us coming.

It was a crazy thought. He didn’t hear us coming? But he should’ve sensed, should’ve known where the Elements were. He could hear us! He could sense us use them! We knew this! Right? How could he not know when we were right behind him?

And why weren’t we doing anything about this?

I stepped forward. Discord’s claws dug into my hoof, urging me to stay. I turned back, and he shook his head violently.

I whispered, in a way that only he could hear.

“Don’t be afraid.”

It’s strange, but I wasn’t. Discord certainly looked like he was. But I wasn’t. Somehow, even with the Shadow Stallion standing right in front of us. Even though I remember vividly his attempt to stomp my head in. The sick mental attack where I had thought a spear pierced my skull. I wasn’t afraid.

And I think I knew why.

I stepped forward. Discord let me go, walking with me.

I came even with my sister. Celestia was just as confident, just as strong. Not for the same reasons, I don’t think. She believed in us, in the Elements. She believed we’d succeed this time.

She noticed me coming astride, and she lowered her horn. I saw her mouth, ‘Elements. Now.’

But I shook my head. I whispered back to her,

“In a moment. I’ve got something I need to say.”

She mouthed something else. But I just stepped forward again, a nose ahead of my sister. I stared at the back of the Nightmare. The source of this country’s horrors. The immortal god king tyrant.

But he was also,

“Butterfly Bright.”

“Luna!”

“Luna, what are you—?!”

The stiff nightmarish corpse moved, just a fraction. His head lifted slightly. In the darkness, his eye popped open. A corpselike eye, neon white in the pure, overwhelming darkness.

“Butterfly Bright,” I repeated, “I’m sorry you’ve become this creature.”

Celestia was hunched beside me. Her Elements were flaring, releasing a faint, low tone. Discord’s Element was humming as well, of of tune. But more than that. Magic was pooling under his hands, rolling around his fingers in a dozen bright colors. With a shallow breath, I let my own feelings, my courage, my compassion, joy and honesty, fill the ringing lights on my chest and head.

The Shadow Stallion continued to stare, unmoving. The black, sickly warm smoke began curling around our hooves.

“I’m sorry it took us so long,” I said, “But we’ve come to put you at rest.”

The Elements of Harmony suddenly hummed in tune. Their tones mixing into a beautiful, single note. I nodded, eyes locked with Bright’s.

He didn’t move. He continued standing, stiff as the stone he would soon become.

I smiled.

He must know that this was the end.

Now!

At Celestia’s cry, our Elements sang. A burst of light swelled around us. It shot forward, a bolt of a beautiful rainbow. All of our colors mixed. Celestia’s regal purple and sunshine yellow. Discord’s pure silver. My sky blue and night black. All formed the bands of something that was purely a creation of our friendship.

Straight as an arrow, the beautiful light soared forward. It pealed towards The Shadow Stallion, and he stood perfectly still.

Not a single blade of grass shifted in his dead-looking mane. He didn’t even blink.

Not even as black cloth heaved up in front of his body, blocking the light of the Elements.

Our rainbow of colors smacked into the black curtain. Gray stone immediately began seeping across the fabric, spreading like a spilt liquid. And yet the cloth just kept moving, tugging itself invisibly upward, soaking up more and more of our Element’s light. The entire door became blocked off by the twisting, shadowy cloth, and by the stone rapidly overtaking it.

“Stop, stop!”

Discord’s beam of silver vanished. The rainbow of our hearts quickly warped and dissipated without his light.

“We’ve got to get through there,” Discord snapped, “Quickly!”

“Can he teleport?!” Celestia cried.

“I don’t doubt it!” Discord squealed.

“Then we need to—!”

“I’ve got this!”

Discord reared up to his hind legs, magic crackling between his fingers. A small breath hissed out between his clenched teeth. His arms flung forward, and from his fingertips raw magic burst forth. Multicolored tree branches shot fast and forward, tearing through the air. They embedded in the crumbling, stone-coated cloth. Chips flew into the air, tinkling as they hit the ground and broke.

Discord gave a yank, and the delicate material crumbled, stone tearing away from cloth with a ripping sound, shattering like broken glass when it hit the ground. Black smoke billowed from the opening, washing around our hooves.

“Celestia!” Discord barked, “LIGHT!”

She didn’t need telling twice. Bright, golden light burst from her horn, a direct beam shooting into the darkness.

But there was nothing there. Nothing but a little black cloth podium holding a single sliver of chipped gray stone.

“Dammit, where?!”

Discord and Celestia charged forward, disturbing the smoke as they ran. I stood, frozen, biting my lip.

Did I mess this up?

Did I mess everything up?

I just wanted to give him a chance.

Acknowledge him as the pony he used to be.

Not as the monster he currently was…

Ca-clip. Ca-clop.

I blinked, looking up from the smoke gathering at my feet. Was Celestia coming back already? No, both she and Discord were shouting in the black cloth room.

But I clearly heard footsteps. I know I did.

“Hello?”

There was a burst of wind. I squealed, Expecting an attack. But nothing was there. Just empty space.

Something rushed over my head. The wind started billowing behind me, regular and rhythmic. Once. Twice. I spun around, and saw the smoke as it was brushed aside by a blast of air. Apparently from where, and by nothing. With each beat of those invisible wings...

“HE’S HIDING IN THE SHADOWS!” I screamed, finally finding my voice. “HE’S OUT HERE! QUICKLY!”

Without thinking, I ran down the hallway. I heard Discord and Celestia scramble after me, but I was in the lead. Not afraid. Not down on myself or disappointed. Determined to catch Butterfly Bright. Pony, alicorn, or nightmare, he needed to be put down.

Celestia shouted, “He must have snuck around us…!”

“He doesn’t have the sanity to sneak around us!” Discord screamed, “This has got to be some kind of distraction!”

“If he doesn’t have the sanity to sneak,” Celestia retorted, “Why would he have the sanity to distract?!”

“It doesn’t matter right now!” I cried, “Look!”

We had reached the final room in the miniature palace, the first room we had passed through. The balcony doors stood wide open as the wind kicked up dust and toppled furniture. The curtains billowed madly, the first time they had moved in years.

All of us charged forward, running for the balcony. But he wasn't there any longer than he needed to be. Night or not, there were no shadows in open sky. We all watched, midflight, the shadows peeled off his form.

His mane of dead grass whipped around his head, clawing at his face, whipping at his flank. His legs were curled upwards, like thick black branches jutting off his massive body. His wings could hardly be called wings at all, plucked and picked near empty of feathers. Clearly more than that was holding him aloft. The dark magic running rampant with his body maybe, tugging him along this dark path.

I don’t know if he saw us. His corpselike eyes never seemed to move. But he twisted in midair, attempting to turn with his broken wings. They splayed open into something that might have once been a wide wingspan. And silently, he tilted down into a dive. One that would take him over the walls.

“No!” I shouted, “Stop!”

“That’s right!” Celestia cried, “You cannot run from us, Shadow Stallion!”

Celestia’s wings snapped open. At my side she took off, soaring after the Stallion. Her elements flaring brightly once more.

“Where is he going?!” I shouted to Discord. But he just shook his head. He too took off, soaring after my sister. Refusing to be left behind, I ran for the edge of the balcony. I felt the stone pound under my hooves, and vanish as I leapt into the air.

I raced after my sister and my love, meeting them just as we crossed over the wall.

I screamed, “Where—?”

“There!”

Down, far, far below us, the Shadow Stallion stood serenely on the thick black layer of clouds. The clouds seemed as if they had turned to pitch. So dark, so cold, they almost seemed to suck the light from the star-filled open air. I doubted we would have spotted him in pure night. But with the moon steadily climbing, and his cutie mark so clear in the dark…

Dive!” Celestia cried, “We can’t lose him now!”

I did as they said, both of us on either side of Discord’s mismatched wings. My eyes were locked on the small form of the Stallion, slowly getting closer and closer...

“Butterfly Bright!” I screamed, “Stop! Please stop! You don’t have to fight any more!”

His frayed wings jutted outward like two black branches. As if yanked upward by puppet strings, he reared eerily into the air.

There was a sound. A high-pitched whine, electric, like static gathering in the air before a thunderbolt. There was a charge, and a heavy pressure. I could feel it in the back of my jaws, behind my eyeballs, down the arc of my neck. Sharp as a knife and invasive as black and oily fingers.

We barely closed half the distance before, stiff as a statue, his hooves began to fall.

The Shadow Stallion’s hooves struck the dark clouds with a cacophonous boom. A blast of thunder rattled the entire cloud. Shockwaves rolled across it, flattening every wisp as far as the eye could see. There was a crack of stone behind us, and I twisted around just quick enough to see a dark spray drift from every crack between every twisted piece of black cobble. A black mist matching the rotten color of the clouds beneath our feet.

“He’ll collapse the city!” Celestia squealed, “Stop him!”

The Shadow Stallion didn’t even look up. There was a fat ripple beneath us. I cried out as a stumpy arm of black cloud rolled up before me. I barely flapped away before the limb, thick as a modest house across, lurched upward. Its end was not a hoof, but five stumpy fingers, each a tree trunk thick.

A bolt of light shot from behind me. Discord’s Element flared silver, a beam of energy shooting forward like a spear of light. It struck the cloud at the wrist. There was a deep rumbling, like distant, rolling thunder. Black rain spilled like thick, worm-infested blood from the point of impact. A little crater formed in the cloudy limb, and the light vanished. Did the beam even get through…?

One more, stronger than ever, I felt that sick, electric charge gather in the air around me.

Luna! Discord!” Celestia screeched, “Together!

I heaved up to my sister’s side, all of our Elements searing together, in unison. Beneath me, there was another boom of that same thunder. The Shadow Stallion’s hooves had struck the clouds once more. Even the summoned arm seemed to waver. There was another crack of stone behind us.

And the black hand that had formed was turning upward, collecting back together. Its fingers flexed experimentally.

“Now or never!” Discord shouted, “Magic… you better make an appearance!”

Without thinking. Without pushing magic through our Elements. With just one will united, all together, we three hummed in unison.

We didn’t need a poem, or a chant. We didn’t need to confer about the goal uniting us. Every little problem we had was dwarfed by the monumental size of the task ahead of us. We knew, and the Elements responded.

Little lights weaved among us, like ropes made of rainbow beams. From me to Celestia, Celestia to me. Me to Discord, Discord to me. And, just as smoothly and easily, from Discord to Celestia. From Celestia to Discord.

“Together!” Discord shouted, jubilant. “We can do this!”

Our Elements flared in unison. The ropes winding around us united, and it swirled upward like flowing water. Twisting and turning, every branch united with the other, light changing, shifting away from the off colors. Forming something so much more cohesive.

Our Elements, united, sang. And in a burst of white light, a true rainbow blossomed. Spinning higher and higher it flowed upward. Singing, tinkling like a wind chime made of stars…

Discord screamed, “DOWN!

The black hand of clouds surged under us. Beneath it, fat wisps collected and spun together, making the limb larger, longer. Extending its reach and size, making itself big enough to hide us all in its massive palm.

But to us, as we were now, it was nothing.

Our attention focused, the high and winding rainbow shot down. I could hear it fizzing as it cut the air, leaving a clear trail, as if the rainbow was painted in place, never to fade.

It sliced through the thick clouds like they weren’t even there. The hand was cut neatly in half, disembodied ends swirling, curling into thick, wormlike tendrils. A blast radiated around the rainbow, pure white, and in the shape of a six-pointed star. Its radiance blasted away the remains of the hand, neutralizing the threat. Black sludge fell to the clouds below, and we could finally see past it.

The rainbow had sailed forward without us. It buried itself in the clouds, tearing a hole into the surface near ten meters behind the Shadow Stallion himself.

And his hooves were descending once more, cutting the air with that sick electric current.

“QUICK!” Discord shouted, “Turn it towards…!”

The Shadow Stallion’s hooves struck the clouds for a third time. The mass boiled, rolling thickly underneath his miniscule body.

And without warning, the darkness engulfed us all.

Next Chapter: LXXV : The Fallen Sky Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 2 Minutes
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