“This is totally embarrassing,” muttered Rainbow Dash.

“Indeed,” said Brown. “But these are my orders.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. She knew that Brown was right, and by extension, that Five was right. It was probably possible for her to extricate herself from Brown’s fluff, but if she did, she would just get cold. In the Wonderbolts, she had always been warned about the dangers of low-temperatures, and what effect they could have on flight. There were even specialized garments designed for flights in winter climates. Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash had none of those. She was naked.

“And, what, you’re not cold?” she asked.

“No,” said Brown, as though it were obvious. “Of course not. These temperatures are actually quite comfortable for me.”

“The Exmoori are derived from a cold locale,” said Five, waking beside them. Even though she claimed not to be cold, her motions were starting to slow. Even with Philomena flying over her, casting a glow of flaming warmth, it was clear that Five was starting to enter a hypothermic state. The countless hours they had spent wandering through the empty, bleak landscape were taking their toll on her. Her hooves had started to grow pale, and Rainbow Dash knew the signs of frostbite well enough to know that Five’s legs and wings were both severely afflicted. “Exmoor was founded on a glacier in the farthest north parts of Hyperborea. Even farther than YakYakistan.”

“‘Was’?” asked Brown.
` Five did not respond. She had gone back to adjusting the wheel-shaped device that she used to open the Pocket. For some reason, it seemed, she was unable to open it. Rainbow Dash did not fully understand why, but it apparently had something to do with a failure to find a connection.

“I don’t feel cold at all either,” said Pinkie_Proctor, whose tungsten body had sunk deep into the snow, leaving only his head protruding. “Of course, I’m a walking nuke. That said, I’d love to warm you all up…but it runs on cold fusion, so that won’t help much. But then I guess that doesn’t explain why I’m so warm.”

“I’m not cold,” said Five. “By the Soth…I hate freezing to death. Especially now. One of my least favorite ways to go.”

“I thought immolation was your least favorite,” said Gell.

“At least it’s over quick,” muttered Five. “And still no signal!”

Rainbow Dash turned toward Gell. “And you’re not cold?”

“Aww, thanks for your concern, Dashie. But no. I’m a demon. Temperature resistance comes with the territory. Actually, this isn’t even that bad. Half of Tartarus is colder as…well, Tartarus.”

“I do not even know how we arrived here- -the freighter’s itinerary does not mention any passage over cold zones,” said Five. “I don’t even know why I agreed to this.”

“Because you wanted to find Fluttershy,” said Pinkie_Proctor.

Rainbow Dash turned so sharply that she momentarily unbalanced Brown. “Wait- -what did you just say?”

“Stop talking,” groaned Five. “I have the worst headache.” She dropped down into the snow.

“Going to sleep, An?” chuckled Gell.

“Not yet,” said Five, although she sounded incredibly tired. It frightened Rainbow Dash. She was aware, at least to some extent, that for some reason Five could not die, at least not easily, but watching her slowly start to fail was heartbreaking. Even if she would eventually heal, Rainbow Dash got the impression that dying was still painful.

Five removed her gun from under her wing and pointed it into the distance. A small scope appeared over it, and she looked through.

“As I….suspected. There’s something ahead. A structure.”

“A structure?” said Proctor_Rarity. “Who would build anything out here? I mean, the climate is simply dreadful.”

“Don’t care,” said Five. “But I will not freeze solid. Not now.”

“Commander,” said Brown as Five struggled to stand. “There is more room here for you. I can keep you warm.”

“I don’t need your help, Brown. I need the cold. It slows the decay.”

Rainbow Dash did not know what she meant by that, but she could see the structure in the distance as well. She hoped for Five’s sake that it was warm inside.

They continued to trudge through the snow, and the wind- -or at least four of them did. Rainbow Dash felt terrible relying on Brown to carry her, as though she were too weak to support herself, especially while the others had to be cold. Eventually, she could not take it anymore.

“That’s it,” she said, spreading her wings and pulling herself out of Brown’s fluff. The air immediately felt cold around her, and it was unpleasant, but not nearly as unpleasant as seeming like a weakling in front of the others.

“Dashie, get back in there,” said Gell. “You’ll freeze to death out here.”

“I’m just going to scout ahead,” replied Rainbow Dash. “Maybe there’s somepony inside.”

“I’m going with you,” said Proctor_Dash, spreading his wings and pulling himself out of the snow.

“Fine,” said Rainbow Dash. “Brown, tail them.”

“Subtle,” said Proctor_Dash.

“Yes, my Commander,” said Brown.

Rainbow Dash sprung forward, driving herself through the air with all her might. The motion of her wings was powerful, not just for motion but for providing her body with precious heat. Outside of Brown’s fur, the only way for her to survive was to keep moving.

Proctor followed beside her. Although he had “wings”, they seemed oddly immobile. He just held them out at his sides, and moved forward with a strange humming sound. If Gell was right, though, it was amazing any kind of wings could hold him at all considering his weight.

Beneath them, Brown executed his orders and followed them. Rainbow Dash had initially tried to outpace him, but he was surprisingly fast through the snow, moving with rabbit-like bounds that kept the snow from dragging on his legs. To Rainbow Dash’s chagrin, he managed to keep up.

The shape ahead of them began to resolve more clearly into view. It was tall, like a building, but the shape seemed strange. When Rainbow Dash finally got close enough, she realized why.

It was not a building at all, at least in the traditional sense. Instead, it was a large pinkish shard of crystal. Rainbow Dash circled around it, and saw the window and door cut into it. It was a dwelling, it seemed.
Rainbow Dash circled around the structure several more times, noting the facets and the color. Something about it seemed oddly familiar. Then, as she rejoined Proctor and Brown, she remembered.

“I know where I am!” she said, smiling as she landed in the snow.

“No,” whispered a Five. Rainbow Dash turned to see Five emerging from the snow, only to step back. She sounded strange, and there was a look of pure panic on her face. “No no no no NO NO NO!” She jumped back behind Gell and projected several holograms. “We can’t be- -we can’t be there! How did we not get shot down?! Not here, anywhere but here!”

Rainbow Dash did not understand why Five was so frightened. She walked over to Five, who was shaking with more than cold, her eyes fliting rapidly between the holograms.

“Five, what’s wrong?”

“Residual Order fallout,” she said. “Why didn’t I sense it? Why didn’t I check?! Not good, not good, not good…by all that is unholy, why here?!”

“Um, An,” said Gell, who had been walking with her. “You’re kind of freaking out.”

“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. “I know where we are. This is the Crystal Empire- -”

“Do you think I don’t know that?!” screamed Five, putting her hooves on Rainbow Dash’s shoulders. For a moment, Rainbow Dash looked into her eyes, and saw that, for the first time since she had known her, Five truly was afraid.

“So we’re not lost,” said Rainbow Dash, annoyed. “I mean, we just need find somepony in there…hey, Cadence was an alicorn. Maybe she’s still alive in there.”

Five blinked. “Either you have the worst sense of humor or you are thicker than even I predicted. Cadence has been dead for centuries! Nopony has lived in the Crystal Empire for centuries! No pony can! It’s a Level L quarantine zone!”

“Buck me,” said Gell, her expression dropping. At first, she seemed to be amused by Five’s antics. Now, she actually seemed to be joining in on Five’s fear.”

“Commander, what is the problem?” asked Brown.

“A Level L quarantine,” said Twilight_Proctor, cheerfully, as though reading from a book, “is an area of land that has been designated by the Thebean High Government as off-limits to all ponies, non-ponies, and machines indefinably. Trespass is punishable by immediate execution.” He paused. “Oh. That is kind of scary.”

“Wait,” said Rainbow Dash. “So you’re afraid Thebe is going to, what, exactly?”

“Thebe?” spat Five. “Thebe? I don’t care about her! I care about whatever is here!” She tried to calm herself. “About three hundred seventy five years ago, there was a war, or a battle. Nobody knows what happened, because there were no survivors, save for Blackened Shield, and he took it to his grave. Everypony died. Princess Cadence was killed. The Empire was lost. Celestia herself instituted the first quarantine!”

“That’s it,” said Gell, looking up at the crystal building. “I’m uncomfortable. I’m getting my gun.” She extended one of her cloven hooves in front of her.

“No, you idiot!” screamed Five.

It was too late to stop her. Gell engaged the spell, and a pentagram of yellow light appeared over her hoof. Instead of a gun appearing, though, the pentagram exploded violently, causing Gell to shout in surprise. As she did, the fragments of the pentagram linked to something else, to a system that seemed to have been touching it through a number of formerly invisible root-like tendrils.

The lines to the pentagram erupted in violet light, carrying the signal deep into the snow as they vanished. Beneath the group of ponies, wide violet lines in the snow glowed, the light sparking through the ground around them, forming a tiny part of a vast symbol. The energy passed into the violet inscription and traveled swiftly toward the city. As it did, the air and land seemed to vibrate in unison.

Rainbow Dash felt a sudden surge in the air, something that felt paradoxically like a silent explosion. The storm around them seemed to slow, and in the distance the remnants of the Crystal Empire became visible, if only as silhouettes in the heavily falling but now windless, silent snow. Rainbow Dash shivered, and not just because of the cold. She had visited the Crystal Empire a number of times, and every time, it had always been the same: a glowing, warm land in the center of a vast artic wasteland. Now, though, even though the city and the tall palace in the center were both visible, it was clear that most of it was buried under eternal frost.

“What the There was that?” said Gell. The slight fear in her voice caused Rainbow Dash to nearly shudder. Both her and Gell seemed to be sensing the same thing, the same electrical, magical charge in the air.

“That was a seal,” said Five, slowly. “A dimensional seal. With it active, we cannot reach the Pocket.”

“Is it standard procedure to seal an L quarantine?” asked Gell, apparently already knowing the answer.

“No,” said Five, shaking her head. “No, it is not. I think we just triggered something…”

“Something what?” said Rainbow Dash. “Come on, Five, you’re scaring me.”

“Something from before the war.”

“Like what?”

“Like that,” growled Brown, staring into the distance.

Rainbow Dash looked to where he was staring. At first she saw nothing, and heard nothing. The snow was silent, and all she could see were the flakes pouring downward. Then she saw the figures of ponies walking toward them.

At first, Rainbow Dash smiled, and was about to jump into the air to greet them. In her mind, she saw them as the survivors of the Crystal Empire, as ponies who might have a warm fire, or remember what had happened to her friend Cadence.

Something stopped her, though. Something felt wrong. She did not know why, exactly, but something deep within her told her to be afraid. Something about the way they moved, the way they were- -it seemed wrong.

As she watched, more appeared, resolving from the snowstorm. Others, it seemed, were pulling themselves from the snow that had already fallen. Most walked, but some did not. Instead, they dragged themselves across the frozen surface.

Then they got close enough to see, and Rainbow Dash suddenly felt far colder than the eternal winter could ever make her feel. The figures approaching them slowly through the snow were indeed ponies- -but they were not survivors.

The ponies that approached them- -if they could even be called that- -were dressed in heavy armor, much of it rusted and corroded. At least, Rainbow Dash initially took it for armor. When several more of them got closer, however, she realized that it was really something different. It was clear that they were more machine than pony, animated by the same cybernetics that kept her left limbs functional.

Parts of their bodies were exposed, though, and that was what terrified Rainbow Dash. Most of them had little if any skin; instead, they stared forward from empty eye sockets in grinning skulls. Those that did have remnants of faces or legs or bodies had sunken, shriveled, gray skin- -but almost all of it was wrong, on arms and appendages that had been grafted to the sides of their bodies or long-broken wings that.

Many of them bore weapons. Some carried long, pitted swords in their extraneous arms, while others toted rifles of a bizarre design. Some of the larger ponies- -ponies with far too many joints to be properly given that title- -bore cannons on their backs.

“I’m not getting a mental reading on any of them,” said Five. “We need to get out of here- -now.”

She turned around, as did the rest of them, prepared for a “tactical retreat” at the fastest possible speed- -only to find more of the damaged, alien ponies approaching from behind them.

Rainbow Dash heard a sound behind her. It was quiet, almost like a puff of air whispered into her ear. It was followed by a sudden groan, and a sound of something hitting the snow. Rainbow Dash turned quickly toward the second set of sounds, and saw Brown on his side, clutching one of his forelegs. The snow beneith him had been stained crimson.

“Into the building, now!” he ordered, pointing.

Five, with Philomena standing on her back, immediately obeyed the suggestion. Gell followed as more shots erupted, shielding Five with her body as more shots erupted from the crowd. Rainbow Dash, however, flew the opposite direction, toward Brown.

“No!” he yelled, trying to wave her away. As he did, Rainbow Dash felt her stomach turn. His right front leg was lying severed in the snow beside him. “Leave me!”

“Not a chance!” said Rainbow Dash, picking him up and dragging him as quickly as she could toward the open door of the crystal house. “You may be a jerk, but you’re not gonna die like this!”
Brown was surprisingly heavy, but Rainbow Dash was strong, and she managed to get him into the building. Gell slammed the rotted wooden door closed behind them, as though it would do anything to help them.

Rainbow Dash and Brown fell against a wall near a window, where Five was already waiting, her shaking hooves trying to operate her gun. Gell was behind a nearby wall, and Proctor, who apparently had the idea to get into the building long before the rest of them, was cowering under some moldy blankets.

“Satin bless it,” said Gell, looking down at her armor. She winced, and Rainbow Dash was surprised to see several large holes melted into it. They were all smoking, and from Gell’s pained expression it was clear that the shots had gone clean through and entered her body. “What the There are they shooting us with?!”

“Am…am dummeh fwuffeh now,” muttered Brown. He was shaking, and Rainbow Dash realized that she was still holding onto him.

“Let me see it,” she said. “Five, do you have first aid?”

Five said nothing, but started slamming her hoof into her gun.

“Five!”

“Why in the name of the eternal Darkness would I have a first aid kit?!” she shouted.

“Let me see it,” said Rainbow Dash, turning her attention back to Brown.

Brown hesitated, but then exposed the stump of his leg, covered in red-stained snow. Rainbow Dash nearly threw up.

“Oh Celestia…we need to stop the bleeding. Don’t- -don’t worry. We can get you a robot one. Just like mine. It’ll be okay, Brown, just hold on.”

“I’m fine,” said Brown after a deep breath. “I still have three.”

Almost as soon as he said it, the stump sparked with blue energy. He winced slightly, but his eyes widened in awe as he watched his bone shift and extend from the wound. Muscle and tendons rapidly formed around it as a new hoof grew into place. Skin covered the new muscle, and the skin was rapidly covered in a layer of fluff. As Brown was healing, Rainbow Dash also realized that equivalent blue energy was filling the holes that had been shot into Gell. They were both healing.

Brown flexed his new arm. “Leg, you have returned to me!” he said, smiling.

“By all that is Ordered,” said Five, throwing her rifle against the ground. “My gun’s Stalliongradded! Everything’s frozen!”

“Five, what are those things?” asked Rainbow Dash. She peaked her head over the window sill and looked out at them. They were standing there, surrounding the house, their swords and hammers and rifles in hand. They seemed to be waiting.

“Get down!” said Brown, pulling her back down. “Are you trying to weather a decapitation?!”

“I’m not getting a reading off any of them,” said Five. “Not one has a mind.”

“Come on,” said Gell, her expression hardened. “Just say it. Surely you smell it too.”

“Smell what?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“The undead,” said Five. “They are the undead.”

“Wait, what?” said Rainbow Dash. She could not help but laugh, even as the others- -save for Proctor, who was still shaking beneath the blanket- -stared at her angrily. “You mean like zombies? Really?”

“Necromancic constructs, actually,” snapped Five. “And this isn’t a joke. I believe that those constructs are the reason why this area is quarantined.”

“You mean- -you mean those things are what did this to the Crystal Empire?”

Five nodded. Rainbow Dash suddenly felt much less like laughing.

“Subcommander Gelding,” said Brown, reaching into his fluff. He drew out a what for him would have been a carbine and tossed it to Gell. She caught it; for her, it was barely a small pistol.

“Why am I the ‘Subcommander’?” she said, annoyed.

“Do you have any more in there?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Just that one,” said Brown. “And the grenade launcher.”

“And love-gas will perform poorly against mechanized corpses,” said Five. She was breathing heavily. “Proctor! Get up!”

“Can’t!” cried Proctor_Shy, who was literally crying. “Undead…zombies…stuck in Fluttershy mode…so afraid! I can’t help you! If I had a bladder, I’d pee myself right now!”

“Great,” said Five, “In a sarcastic sense, of course. Army of the undead, and I have a gun with frozen circuits, a coward equidroid, a Rainbow Dash, a demon with a .553, and a fluffy pony.” She sighed. “And my body is on the edge of functioning. Stupid necromancic drones, don’t even realize that the war is over. They won. But…necromancers. Gell?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m done. I can’t win this fight. I’m bringing her out.”

Gell’s eyes widened. “Like There you are! Don’t you dare, Anhelios!”

“Too late,” said Five, smiling. She suddenly writhed in pain and fell on her side. Rainbow Dash watched as Five started screaming, and, even more terrifyingly, as her cutie mark began to change. The black stain that continually surrounded it started to move, to spread across Five’s body.

“Cold cold cold cold!” cried Five, tears running down her eyes. “Soth- -I forgot how much she hurts!”

“Five!” cried Rainbow Dash. She reached out to grab her, but the black shadow that was consuming her body reacted violently, stinging Rainbow Dash painfully. Before Rainbow Dash could even recoil properly, Five opened her eyes- -and they were now turquoise, with vertical slit-pupils.

Blackest Night opened her eyes, and looked around the room. She sat up quickly, not sure entirely where she was. Then the memories of her other self began to return to her.

She blinked and looked down at her hooves. This was the first time in a long time that she had been materialized into full flesh. It felt strange being so small; over five thousand years, she had grown accustomed to being a tall alicorn. Having hair felt strange as well

Still, the situation was unprecedented. In over one million years of inhabiting pony hosts, she had never once encountered one that could force her into dominance. Even Luna had only been able to accomplish it through centuries of hatred and jealousy to produce Nightmare Moon. Anhelios V, however, had somehow managed to simply shut off her mind. Blackest Night could not get it to re-open; it was Ordered shut.

“B…Blackest?” said a voice beside her. Blackest Night’s eyes flicked to the side, and she found herself looking at a familiar face with an equally familiar golden eye set into it.

“Rainbow Dash,” she said. “Greetings.”
A beam of light passed through the window and cut a large hole in one of the walls behind them. Outside, the semi-robotic corpses had grown tired of waiting. They had begun to fire, chipping away at the crystal. The sound of the building itself being torn apart was oddly beautiful, even if it meant that fragments of razor-sharp shrapnel were filling the room.

“And of course she wakes me up in a war zone,” said Blackest Night, annoyed. She turned and looked around the room. She knew from Anhelios’s memories who each of the ponies around her were, at least somewhat distantly, as though she had seen them in a dream. She also knew the situation. “Yes,” she said, lying on her back as crystal and beams shot over her head. Her fleshy, non-feathered wings felt strange. They were badly frost-bitten, but she hardly noticed. Pain was something she had grown accustomed to long ago.

“If we stay here, we will perish,” said Brown. Gell leaned forward, firing several shots out the window, but also absorbing several in the process.

“That will not help,” said Blackest Night. Her mind was beginning to move once again. The situation she found herself in was annoying, but also somewhat amusing. “We need better cover. We need to get to the palace.”

“The palace?” shouted Rainbow Dash over the tinkling of crystal and sound of Proctor’s occasional screams. “That’s the last place we need to go!”

“No,” said Blackest Night. “It is most defensible.” She pointed to the Exmoori beside Rainbow Dash. In a way, she was surprised to see one. She had witnessed the birth and extinction of their race; she had never expected to lay eyes on a living specimen again. “You, Exmoori! Get out there!”

The Exmoori frowned. “You are not my Commander,” he said. “I take no orders from you.” Still, he stood. “I do this, however, in the name of the mission that Commander Five has given me.” He turned his attention toward Rainbow Dash. “Miss Dash, I am going to need you to buck me.”

Rainbow Dash immediately blushed severely. “What- -you mean right here? Now?”

“Yes, now,” said Brown, approaching the door. As he did, he pulled his front hooves toward his rear ones, curling himself into a ball.

“Oh,” said Rainbow Dash. “I see what you mean.” She crossed the room, avoiding the shots that had now mostly cut through the crystal of the building. “Is this going to hurt you?”

“Unlikely,” said Brown. “I am not as weak as you Pegasi.”

“Oh yeah?” said Rainbow Dash. She turned so that her rear legs were facing the ball of brown fluff. “How’s this for weak?!”

With that, she bucked him backward with enough force to shatter the wooden door, sending him flying into combat on the other side.

Brown felt the impact of a cybernetic hoof against his body. His wind was momentarily knocked out, but the blow landed primarily on his back. It was indeed painful, and far stronger than he had expected. He felt himself fly forward through the door. He had actually rather hoped that Rainbow Dash would be smart enough to open it first, but the wood was weak and it did not detract from much of his inertia.

He felt himself flying over the snow, moving quickly. The creatures that were attacking the crystal structure did not initially respond. He expected to take at least one impact from their weapons, but they hardly seemed to notice. They were apparently not highly intelligent.

Brown slammed his body into the one nearest to his course. Its body was made of metal and frost-burned flesh, so it had little give, but Brown responded quickly. He unfolded and plunged his hoof into a fractured part of his opponent’s chest. There was a sickening sound as ribs inside cracked, but Brown felt himself getting an adequate grip.

The creature responded by convulsing, trying to throw Brown off, but Brown was stronger, even if it was a machine. He grabbed its foreleg, the one that was holding its rifle, and then turned it around, using it to shield himself from the fire of its comrades who had now turned their rifles on him. He raised its hand and took aim with its gun, aiming for the legs of his targets, forcing them to drop into the snow.

His blood was racing, and his heart pounding as he slew the creatures one after the other, watching as the one he held writhed as its body was torn apart. Despite this, he felt nothing. There was no anger, no rage, no fear- -just a single-minded coldness. He knew that this was what he was born to do, what his kind existed for.

With his primary target reduced to a twitching wreck, Brown released it and rolled to the side, dashing rapidly through the snow. He rose from below and struck one of the constructs with his hoofs, shattering what was left of its skull and then stabbing it with the rifle he had stolen. Its body ignited as he fired, destroying it from within.

This was what he was made for. These were the orders of his Commander. This was her will: for him to protect Rainbow Dash. The Commander was all he had, the only thing that gave his life meaning. Her will was his law, the source of his honor and pride. Without it, he was nothing, not even alive.

As he thought about this, his mood began to change. In his mind, he saw fragments of things, of wars and of pain, of songs sung of great heroes that he could not remember. His failure to remember was maddening, and he felt his bloodlust rising.

He turned suddenly, and as he did, a sword was plunged through his chest. He coughed and spilled blood onto his fluff, and looked up into the eyeless sockets of a half-skulled pony, the wrinkled and long-dead flesh on its face grinning.

Brown raised his gun and fired. The construct was knocked back, and for just a moment it seemed stupidly surprised. Brown did not hesitate. He put his hoof through hoof-ring on the sword’s hilt and pulled it form his body. He swung it around, and then plunged it through the undead creature’s heart.

Rainbow Dash gasped as she saw Brown’s body pierced with a rusty, metal blade.

“Brown!” she yelled from the window.

Before she could jump through and attempt to save him, though, he pulled the sword out of his chest and used it to slay the beast before him. Even after having been run through, he continued to fight. Watching him was almost mesmerizing, the way he swirled amongst them, never stopping and never tiring, how every action he performed was done with a kind of absolute confidence that normally only came from either great talent or great training. It was a form of confidence that she knew well.

“Impressive, isn’t he?” said Blackest Night, who had also taken the opportunity to look out the window. Rainbow Dash could not help but feel strange standing next to her. She was literally Nightmare Moon, but that alone was not nearly as strange as seeing her in Five’s body. Blackest Night was smaller than she had been as Nightmare Moon, and had bat wings- -which was actually rather appropriate. The strangest part, though, was actually that she had hair.

“He is,” said Rainbow Dash. She felt her wings ruffle slightly. “This is actually pretty epic.”

The situation was decaying, though. The undead had started to ignore the crystal building, attracted to the nearest moving thing they could sense. They were rapidly swarming Brown.

As Rainbow Dash watched, one of them between her and him raised its rifle, targeting Brown’s back.

“No you don’t!” she shouted. Without even a moment to consider the possible dangers of her reaction, she jumped through the window and spread her wings, extending her golden feathers and feeling them cut through metal and long-deceased flesh and bone.

She turned in the air, and crossed her wings in front of her. It was the one motion that she had always been taught since foalhood never to do. To a Pegasus- -and to her especially- -her wings were her most sacred possession, the things she prized the most in her life. To use them as a shield, and to potentially sacrifice them, was unthinkable- -but she knew that she had to save Brown.

Several bolts of energy ricocheted off the long golden feathers in her wings. Rainbow Dash was not entirely sure what those feathers were made of, but it was incredibly durable. She realized that if she just made sure every shot hit the gold parts, she could use her wings as shields.

She landed in the snow, leaning against Brown’s back, deflecting several more impacts as he fired bolts of energy into several of the approaching ponies.

“Sword,” said Brown, passing the weapon to Rainbow Dash. She took it in her hoof. It was longer than she was, but surprisingly light. She placed her hoof in the ring and held it out in front of her.

“Aren’t you going to tell me to go hide so you can ‘protect me’?”

“I cannot do this alone,” he said, panting but still managing to smile. “You protect me, I shall protect you. You claim to have been a soldier- -if we are to survive, show me what a Wonderbolt can do!”

Rainbow Dash smiled. “If we make it out of this alive, I might just buck you properly next time!”

She spread her wings and rushed forward into the skeletal soldiers, and she and Brown moved in concert to slay the oncoming horde.

“Lady Gell,” said Blackest Night. “I’m going to need you to clear a path.”

“Don’t call me that,” sniffed Gell. “You, I do not like.”

“Gell, how long have we been together? Close to four hundred years now, isn’t it?”

“I was never with you. You are a filthy lich who has infested my friends for four generations. I’m not taking orders from you.”

“Blunty,” said Blackest Night, feigning emotional wounding. “How could you say such things about me?”

“Shut your filthy undead hole! How can you be taking this so lightly?”

“Simply put,” said Blackest Night, her unblinking eyes staring at the demon before her- -a demon, she knew, who was perpetually trapped in her juvenile body, one that refused to mate and bear children as was her purpose. “Anhelios can’t die. So this…though interesting, is not really my concern.”

“She can too die,” spat Gell. “That body you’re in is precious to me. It can only take so much punishment!”

Blackest Night smiled widely. “You really don’t know us that well, do you?”

“That’s it!” said Gell, pointing the rifle at Blackest Night’s forehead.

“Careful,” said Blackest Night. “You wouldn’t want to hurt the foal.”

Before Gell could react to Blackest Night’s misdirection, the ground started to shake. Gell and Blackest Night looked at each other, and then out the window. Just beyond the growing pile of corpses, something was emerging from the snow storm- -something large.

Blackest Night inhaled sharply. It had been many millennia since she had seen something so beautiful. The necromancic constructs themselves were already brilliantly constructed, even if they were old, a perfect amalgam between revenant and machine- -but what she saw approaching made her nether regions tingle.

Approaching them was an example of pure craftsmanship, a machine knitted together from machines and the bodies of so many ponies. It was an immense, multi-legged soldier, with so many skulls and partial bodies of ponies grafted elegantly onto its metal hull, their hooves reconfigured into long tendrils surrounding extensive weapons powered by the combined severed horns of unicorns. It was a marvel of engineering, a tribute to the art that Blackest Night had dedicated her life to so long ago. The necromancer responsible for its construction, for building this truly glorious army, was more than a wizard. These were not simply hacked apart bodies and reconfigured them into half-functional zombies, but had made them new and better. He was, indeed, an artist, a tribute to the art of necromancy itself. If only he had been born one million years earlier, he might actually have made a worthy student for Blackest Night to mentor.

It stomped forward, passing over its lesser comrades, its many robotic eyes scanning the battlefield. As Blackest Night watched in awe and Gell watched in horror, Proctor poked his head out from under the blanket. He was shaking, as though he were actually Fluttershy and actually afraid.

“I think I really did pee,” he said. Then, looking out the window, his body stiffened.

Blackest Night turned toward him in time to see his digital cutie mark shift from a trio of butterflies to a trio of blue gemstones. Then, in an instant, the entire crystal building around her shattered, blown apart by a deafening force from within.

“GIANT CRAB!!!” screamed Proctor_Rarity. He planted his hoofs into the crystalline floor with enough force to crack the crystal beneath him, and his body separated in half. For a moment, his personality core was visible, but it rapidly shifted out of the way of something much larger and dripping with white energy.

Blackest Night moved quickly, jumping out of the way as the ion burst poured out of Proctor. It hit the construct with enough force to knock it backward, causing it to stumble. As it did, the ions began to implode, and the beam that Proctor had produced expanded into a thick beam of crystalline ice, spreading violently into crystalline spears that impaled the constructs around it. Brown was nearly hit with one of them, but Rainbow Dash swooped down in time to pull him away just as a pair of crystals converged on him.

The large construct was torn apart by the sudden internal explosion, and its body split in half. Both halves, no longer mentally connected, took steps in different directions and then fell. Blackest Night nearly wept for the destruction of such a beautiful creation, but understood that if it could be defeated so easily, its existence was not worth being continued. If only, she wished, she had been able to see it before time had eroded its body to such pitiful weakness.

“What the THERE!” cried Gell, jumping back as Proctor re-sealed his body. “How did you- -how long have you been able to- -what even was- -what?!”

“A lady simply must know how to protect herself. Especially from…crabs…” he shivered. “And really, do you think with all that fiddling with electronics I was just upgrading my cutie mark? Surely I have the right to modify my own cold-fusion reactor.”

“That’s not how cold fusion even works!”

“Quiet, you,” said Pinkie_Proctor. He raised one of his front hooves, and it split, revealing a two-pronged ion projector that sparked and hissed with energy. “And this is my pun gun! See! I build a cannon- -into my cannon! Horse pun! He he!” He continued laughing in Pinkie Pie’s voice, to the point where it grew to be dangerously maniacal. “Death to organics!” he screamed as he charged out into the battlefield on copies of Rainbow Dash’s wings, firing down at the constructs below while repeatedly shouting “Pew! Pew! Pew!”.

“She’s not even alive,” said Blackest Night. “Are you going to let her outdo you, demon?”

Gell snorted angrily and then pushed past Blackest Night. “Just watch me, lich. You want me to clear a path? Just try to keep up.”

The constructs outside were now reacting defensively, but the army of them seemed almost limitless. That, again, was a tribute to the necromancer who had created them. Even if some were defeated, there were thousands more.

They seemed to realize, at least, that Gell was a large target. They started shooting her, which she seemed to dislike. Every wound she received was comparatively serious, tearing deep burns into her body or cutting at angles.

“Bless it, that smarts,” she said as she lowered her head, pointing her immense ibex-like horns toward her enemy. “Reeking abominations…I’ll send you back home where you belong!”

She lurched forward, charging them. Blackest Night stood and spread Five’s wings. They were still badly frost bitten, but she had at least managed to make some repairs in the time she had waited. Unfortunately, the best she could do was the minor repairs that her unique flesh could accomplish. She could not figure out how to activate Five’s regeneration spell, however.

As Gell accelerated, ramming her way through the confused looking constructs, Blackest Night followed her.

“This way!” she called to Brown and Rainbow Dash. The two immediately turned toward her course on command like the trained soldiers that they both were, Brown clearing the sides of the path as he bounded through the snow and Rainbow Dash covering him from above and behind.

The tower of the Crystal Palace loomed in the distance, but seemed so very far away. Five’s nearly limitless stamina, it seemed, was largely an illusion, a product of her own self-destructive nature and the Order that saturated her body. Blackest Night was already out of breath, and the tower was so far. This was indeed going to be more difficult than she expected.

Rainbow Dash blocked another blast from below, and swooped down and across Brown’s position, slashing at a construct in his blind spot. She landed to shift the position of her sword, and as she did, she heard hoofteps behind her. As she turned and looked up, she found herself looking directly at a fully functional undead pony with no head.

“Oh Celestia!” she cried. “It is real!” She promptly reacted, slashing off one of its legs and forcing it to fall over and try to claw its way through the snow, staining it black with flecks of something that was either rust or long, long dried blood.

“This way, Dash!” cried Brown, motioning for her to follow them. Rainbow Dash looked back at the trail behind them, and saw the crab-creature starting to stand again, its body attempting to re-knit itself back together.

“You don’t have to tell me twice!” she said, taking flight and soaring after the others. Through the snow, she could see their goal: the Crystal Palace. As she flew closer, its shape began to resolve- -the odd mixture of symmetry and crystal that had always looked to her so threatening, and the spires pointing up toward the sky, with the characteristic ring in the center, making it appear that the fortress had been pierced from the heavens by a great pony sword.

It had always looked terrifying and ominous to her. The original had looked so beautiful, with its arches and minarets and white, glowing surface- -but that one had been destroyed, reduced to shards with a single strike of Choggoth Nil’s tremendous fist so long ago. That tower, which had been constructed by King Sombra, had been replaced by one designed by Princess Cadence and Shining Armor- -one that looked more like an ominous, dark-colored fortification designed mostly for transmission of the Crystal Heart’s energy instead of as a place of residence.

Rainbow Dash had been there the day that the origin had been destroyed, when she and her friends stood against Nil, as did all of Equestria. These zombies- -or “constructs”- -were nothing compared to that miles-tall creature of crystal and alien flesh.

It had hardly changed since then, since she gone with her friends to the celebration when the new tower had opened. Even then, she had hated the design, but now it looked different. Worse, even, as it sat alone and long-forgotten in a snowy, dead wasteland.

Rainbow Dash stopped reminiscing just in time to look downward to see a construct approaching Blackest Night.

“Blackest! Ten!”

Blackest Night landed- -poorly, stumbling on her frostbitten legs- -and turned toward the large chimeric hybrid that was approaching her. It was larger than a normal pony, and had been given an extra pair of arms stitched just above its wings.

It was moving rapidly, lurching forward to Blackest Night. She lowered her head, and the numerous small horns beneath her silky black hair ignited with blue energy. She projected it forward as a swarm of sparks, and they impacted the construct in the chest.

As Rainbow Dash watched, the creature’s rusted and broken armor shifted. The cracks sealed themselves and the rust and dents vanished. The pieces it was missing were restored, as if growing form within its body, covering its arms and legs. Its skull, formerly a dirty skull, jutted forward as gray flesh returned to it. As the sparks dissipated, it stared forward with a pair of sunken eyes and stepped forward, now fully repaired and far stronger looking than it had before.

Brown immediately rolled in the snow, rising and taking aim with his stolen gun. He pointed it at the construct and fired. The construct’s new eyes flited toward him, and it raised a hoof and one of its arms, projecting a violet shield from them drawn from the ground below, deflecting the beam handily.

“Come on!” cried Rainbow Dash. “You’re not supposed to make them stronger!”

“I’m trying!” snapped Blackest Night. “By the Madgod- -I have no idea how D27 used this accursed magic so easily!”

The construct drew a side arm from somewhere within its mostly mechanical torso. Before it could point it at anypony, let alone fire, it was swarmed by a horde of translucent, laughing Pinkie Pies.

“I’m a party of one!” screamed Pinkie_Proctor manically. Rainbow Dash turned to see him behind them, standing on his hind legs, surrounded by an army of Pinkies of his own creation. They were, as near as Rainbow Dash could figure, made out of the same material that his “magic” was.

Proctor moved toward them, and although the signs were subtle, Rainbow Dash could clearly see that he was slowing. His motions were not as quick and jaunty as they had been, and he seemed almost tired. All the things he was doing were depleting his energy, and doing so rapidly.

“Keep moving!” cried Gell, looking over her shoulder. “Don’t stop, you idiots! Use the pink ones as cover!”

Rainbow Dash tried to, but in the distance, new figures swarmed forward. Her eyes focused on them through the snow just in time to see several of them spread ice-encrusted wings and take to the air.

“Sweet Celestia,” said Rainbow Dash, mostly to herself. Through the snow, she could see the glint of their narrow wing-mounted weapons, and in an instant the air was filled with energy beams. She banked hard to the left, ducking below them as they passed by. As she turned over in the air, she saw Philomena drop from a high flight, screeching as she clawed at one of the griffon construct’s headless throats. The construct almost immediately burst into flames and wobbled, crashing into a nearby building. Another set of beams burst through the air, but this time from the ground- -and not target at Rainbow Dash but at her pursuers. She looked down to see Brown riding on Gell’s back, his gun at his shoulder, knocking the air forces out of the sky.

They were so close. The monolithic crystalline tower was now clearly visible through the still silent storm- -and yet they were so far away. The undead were still swarming, and Gell rapidly becoming severely injured by using herself as a shield. Brown and Blackest Night were on her back, and Philomena and Rainbow Dash continued to follow through the sky. Proctor trailed behind, his army of projection-Pinkies now mostly depleted.

“We’re not going to make it!” cried Brown.

“Yes we are!” screamed Gell. “Be positive or I will throw you off!”

“Proctor, come on!” cried Rainbow Dash. She dropped from the sky to help him. His speed was continuing to slow.

“No,” said Proctor_Jack. “Go on. Get yourself to the castle.” Then, as Twiligh_Proctor. “This next action has a thirty seven percent chance of terminal reactor failure. However…” The light over his right eye shifted to blue. “I’m gonna do it anyway!”

His wings appeared, and all of his projectors activated with a roar. His body started to vibrate as he took flight. “Hey Rainbow Dash!” he said in her voice, sounding as though she was about to start laughing- -but from pure terror. “Have you ever raced with yourself?”

Proctor suddenly accelerated at a speed that was almost terrifying considering his weight. Rainbow Dash blinked, and then spread her own wings, leaping out of the way as a sword dropped down on her position. Her competitive instincts overcame the fear within her- -she was not about to be beaten by a machine.

The distance between Proctor and Gell was rapidly negated, but instead of passing them, Proctor spread his hooves and pressed them against Gell’s rear.

“Hey! Bad touch!” she cried as she was pushed forward. “No! Stop! Too fast!”

“No such thing!” cried Proctor_Dash, and Rainbow Dash had to agree.

Gell dropped to her knees, as if in protest, but Proctor continued to push her through the crowd of necromancic constructs, knocking them out of the way. Rainbow Dash grabbed Philomena above and accelerated through the sky, keeping pace with the machine below. Even with the combined weight of all the other ponies, Proctor was moving with astounding speed- -and Rainbow Dash knew that it was literally killing him to do so.

It only took them seconds to cross the remaining distance to the open door of the castle. As they approached, Brown took aim at the mechanism and fired, causing the door to begin to drop. Proctor was failing, though, and beginning to slow.

Rainbow Dash descended next to him and started to push. Gell was heavy, and in the cold her armor was slippery. The fact that she was no longer running was also problematic, but Rainbow Dash kept pushing.

For a moment she wondered if they would make it, but then the sky above seemed to vanish, replaced with darkness. Almost as soon Rainbow Dash noticed, there was a metallic sound behind her, and she felt a few threads of her tail pulled out. The door had closed on the very tip of it.

Proctor stopped pushing, and Blackest Night jumped off of Gell’s back. Although out of breath, she pointed her head at the door and projected a storm of Order magic. The metal and crystal fused into a single entity, and the rust vanished from the door as it expanded outward, merging with the wall and repairing itself from centuries of wear.

The constructs on the outside immediately began pounding on it, trying to force it open.

“Won’t work,” said Blackest Night, smiling. “This time I did it correctly- -ten times stronger than steel.”

“That was epic!” said Proctor_Dash, his voice sounding both extremely tired and mildly distorted, as though it were filled with static. “However, my reactor has depleated all energy reserves. Got to recharge. You know what that means…time for a nap…”

His projectors closed, and his wings faded. His backlit digital cutie mark faded into darkness. With a tremendously loud thud that cracked the snow-covered tiles on the floor, he fell on his side.

“Proctor!” cried Rainbow Dash.

“He’s fine,” said Gell. “And a robot, so why do I even care?”

Rainbow Dash looked up at Gell and gasped. Gell’s armor was filled with wide melt-holes, many of which were steaming in the cold air. The pink skin on the front of her body was covered in similar marks, and she was leaking a putrid black fluid from the wounds that hissed as it dripped onto the floor. The worst part, though, was her face: half of it seemed to have been reduced to a shredded mess. One of her eyes was no longer visible, and one of her horns had been snapped off.

“G- -Gell! Are you alright?”

“Um, no,” said Gell. “I just got shot, like, eighty something times.”

“Brown, Blackest, we need to do something!”

Blackest Night stared at her, as if insulted. Brown also stared, but not in the same way. His gaze was blank, and his eyes seemed sunken and dull.

“Don’t bother,” said Gell. “I’m fine. They missed at least a quarter of my vital organs. Besides. Pain and pleasure are basically the same thing for a demon. Or supposed to be. Still hurts, though.” Philomena landed on Gell’s remaining horn and ruffled her feathers. The room was filled with the light she began to produce.

“Thank you, Mena,” said Gell. “At least you’re always there for me.”

“Need to…need to clear the perimeter,” said Brown, making his way through the vast empty room.

“Don’t bother,” said Blackest Night. “There are no constructs here.”

“How do you know that?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Because this is the epicenter.” Blackest Night said it as though it were obvious. “Why do you think we came here?”

“To hide,” suggested Rainbow Dash.

“No. There is no hiding from the dead. To do so is as to hide form death itself. We came here because this is where the signal is being broadcast from.”

“Signal?”

“Yes,” said Blackest Night. “Necromancic constructs cannot exist for long without a source of power. Usually that would be a necromancer, but the army our there had little coordination. I can only assume that they are being kept active by a powerful spell, or perhaps a kind of machine.”

“That glowing thing in the ground…”

Blackest Night nodded. “That is a seal. It is the spell in question, or the output end of it specifically. It is also how they are commanded, even if their ‘command’ is more animalistic than anything else. That spell, likewise, does not extend in here. The constructs cannot approach the source of their power. I do not know why.”

“How do you know all this?”

Blackest Night smiled. “Before Choggoth D27 murdered my people, I was a necromancer that has still yet to be matched by ponykind. I suppose that is why Anhelios brought me out. For my expertise in this type of…situation.”

“Don’t call her that,” snapped Gell. “She doesn’t like it.”

“And I don’t like being awake when I don’t want to,” retorted Blackest Night. She continued to search the walls. “Now…we need to find a way up.”

“Why up?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Because the source of the signal origin is above us.”