With a thud, another guard fell to the ground. This was now the third that we had run into on our way, but it still seemed all too easy, almost as if only a tenth of the gang was here.

"We have two hours before he and the others wake up again," Twilight stated as she levitated the sleeping youth in a darker corner of the corridor. She took over the duty to knock out the guards, as I was not in the condition to do so and because she was better with magic. She had improvised and combined a sleep spell with a magical bullet to create a new kind of stun spell. She had explained to me that these would take out their targets through the force of the impact, which surely wouldn’t be pain-free when one woke up from it. I had received first-hand experience with a milder version of it during training.

“We shouldn’t need more. The management office should be around here somewhere.” I again threw a look at the dark silhouettes of the individual booths where there were small desks for employees. The only light came from the LED monitors that signalled that power had to be present. The darkness was to our advantage, and with no shades showing themselves, I wanted to keep it at that. As I had done with the other gang members, I melted the barrel of his gun to render it unusable. This would last longer than the sleeping spell and ensure that we would not be greeted by lead after their rough waking.

"It has to be one of the doors here." I pointed to the right wall of the room where three doors were just to be seen. There were some on the left as well, but I excluded them for now.

Twilight and I slowly felt our way forward through the room, but occasionally bounced into a trash can or other things that stood in the aisle. We had only gotten a brief look at the room when Sleepyhead’s flashlight had wandered, but since neither of us had photographic memories, it hadn’t been quite enough to get our bearings while near-blind. Over the years that I had lived in my apartment, this had been sometimes possible. Of course, those times had been at nine o'clock in the morning and not wanting to have the lights turned on because of a hangover. Getting from the trance called being half-asleep and finding some measure of peace had often proven difficult.

"Ahhh... Damn it," I muttered as I struck something plastic and ended up face first on the floor, spitting out some fluff from the carpet. "That’s enough. Let there be light." I created my little ball of light that immediately flew under the ceiling of the room and brought everything in a soft light. Now it was easy to recognize the overturned office chair on which I had just tripped over and also the shade that just came out of the ground in the middle of the room. I quickly sat up again and jumped aside, just like Twilight, so that it did not hit me. She now levitated her diamonds from her saddlebag and peppered the now glowing rock against the dark creature. When the first ray of light struck the shade, it began to unravel and was soon quiet again. Only the laboured breathing from the two of us could be heard.

"We should be more careful. That was too close for my taste." I agreed, nodding, and Twilight summarily changed the nature of my light. The runes formed around it, and the next moment it was slightly lighter and looked more natural.

“The room should now be safe.” I didn’t like that we had more luck than anything else, because if I hadn't stumbled over the chair and made the light, the shade would have attacked us from behind. "They’re almost like animals. It is as if they had no fear of the light, because I see no defence against this as with the other survivors so far." Even the soldiers had replaced the advertising lights with UV lamps, and the group at the hospital had secured the fence around the school.

“I’ve had the same thought. Are you sure those flashlights do not have sunlight in them?” She had a point, but I knew UV lamps. They always seemed bluer, or at least I had thought so.

"Not likely. People cannot reproduce sunlight, only the UV-radiation. This therefore resembles the colour of light somewhat." I hoped that I hadn't gotten anything wrong and left it at that.

"Okay, but we should hurry now. Someone could notice the light at any time.” I had no objections, and we were soon at the doors to check.

"Nothing," Rarity said as she checked another door. "Only a bucket, a mop, and other cleaning tools for anypony who got in a cleaning fit."

"There is nothing special here either." Trixie closed the door and sighed in disappointment. That generator had to be here somewhere. Fortunately, Rarity knew a bit of Germane, so they could save themselves some time by reading the signs on some of the doors. Still, it was a bit interesting as to how the methods of human sanitation looked. At the hospital, she had not gotten off the ship and had therefore not had the opportunity there. Now was not the right time for that though.

"Do you hear that?" At her words, Rarity raised her heads as her ears swivelled around. There was a slight noise as if a faucet dripped onto stone or the like. "Water? A leak?" Trixie reinforced the light of their diamonds and just managed to see a shade as it disappeared through the walls of one of the rooms.

"We’re not alone," Rarity also responded immediately, and the stone in her magic began to glow as if it were a sunrise. She waved it forward to make a part of the corridor come to light.

"Not alone at all..." They both looked as the stone melted several shades that had been lurking in the distance. Trixie did as Rarity had done and directed her stone in the direction from which they had come. The same spectacle occurred, and something akin to panic was spreading in her. "We should stay away from the walls." They came together in the middle of the corridor and let their stones circle them slowly.

"Darling, we should agree that the other cellar is probably no longer an option." Trixie agreed with her, as she did not know how long the stones would hold at this point. This was not their first time in use, and only Light would be able to recharge it for them.

"The stairwell is down there. Let's hurry, dear." Even if the two were in a hurry, they could not be faster since the diamonds floated in circles around their heads, and losing their protection was not an option. The red eyes of the shade followed them out of the shadows, and Trixie was able to detect that it had come out of the wall as soon as the light had moved on. Now she could also assign the sound she had heard. It was the dripping saliva that ran out of the wretched creature’s mouth. Step by step and always paying attention to the walls, they tried to forge ahead even as the shade stayed out of reach of the light. Only the red eyes and the soft sounds it made ​​showed any attention to their presence.

"I do not think we'll make it until then," said Rarity, and Trixie saw what she meant. The diamond that circled around her in her magic was dark and would only hold a few minutes. She did not know how long it would affect them at that stage, but they did not feel like waiting to find it out.

"We have to hide somewhere..." Trixie looked around. She could no longer distinguish what doors they had opened in this tangle of corridors and those they had not, no matter how hard she tried. "We’ll take the door right there," she said, pointing in its direction. Rarity nodded quickly. "You release the rest of the crystal in a rush. They would have to either hide or be destroyed. By the time they regenerate, we’ll have disappeared. I'll see to it that the door is open." Apart from that, it seemed logical to give up the diamond that would exhaust in the near future anyway.

"All right, here goes nothing..." The designer squinted her eyes as she channelled enough magic to cause a discharge. For a moment, the light was a little weaker, and some shades took advantage to press forward, but the passage was lit up not a second later. Trixie use the time to unlock the door and open it with her ​​magic. She reached behind and pulled her companion into the room with her.

“I hope we’ve lost them…” Trixie’s groans echoed that of an exhausted Rarity.

"Who's there?" came a voice from the darkness, and the two jumped, startled.

I now searched for the fifth office, the penultimate on this floor. Looking at my new watch showed me that we still had about thirty minutes before the roof would open and we would start to take the stadium. With a sigh, I closed the drawer and looked again from the leather chair at the desk in front of me. An old newspaper, a few documents, and some notes on the screen was all out, apart from the image of the family.

There was a woman with long brown hair, in her arms a child, maybe about a year or two, and two others at her feet, a boy and a girl, twins, about ten years old. Those who had always worked here had been happy. The house in the background looked like a new building, probably built for the young as the old one was either too small or the apartment was no longer sufficient. This employee must have been on the payroll as a manager or above for the office here. I had often thought about if I would someday sit in an office like this and do my work every day, only to get home and take care of the concerns of my family and then go to bed. Every day would be the same thing. How could that make a person content? Why not experience adventure, see the world, shake things up a bit? Yes, I wanted a family, but that did not mean I wanted to do the same things every day, especially not in Equestria. This picture brought many things from the back of my mind that I did not want to think about, so I laid it flat on the table.

I loved AJ and I would also love our foal. I wanted to be there for both of them. AJ was indeed strong and independent, but even the strongest needed someone on whom they could lean on. It was something I had learned in my relationship with her. At first she was rather restrained when it came to showing feelings, just as the show had illustrated, and now it was almost the opposite. It hadn’t bothered me much, as I was never one to always want someone in my arms or even have them constantly around. Still, I was now more than happy to know that she needed me, because I needed her just as much. It was one of the reasons why I had probably agreed to her request. I had no idea if there would be a wedding in the traditional sense, or if it would be something that would be uniquely Equestrian. I had even missed the wedding of Shining Armor and Cadance and therefore no idea what to expect.

"Thank you, Mister Doe..." I said to the picture as I jumped from the chair and went about opening the drawers. These were probably closed, but those cheap metal locks were no problem for a powerful jolt magic. Other documents came to light, but these were wrapped in a band, so I had to free them from it. However, there were only contracts with companies such as Coca Cola or Pepsi for billboards in the stadium. Under one of the documents, I suddenly found a familiar package.

"Condoms? Guess there’s nothing like a perfect world..." I threw it aside and turned to the wooden cabinet on the wall. "The best for last..." This was not locked, and the doors gave almost immediately when I started to open it. A second later I realized why. Empty folders were stacked in this cabinet and were now aiming towards me. I just managed to lift a hoof to my face when I was buried under them. For a few seconds, the light from the hallway that filtered into the room disappeared, and pain spread through my head. These things had metal reinforced corners that were drilled through my coat and into my skin. I remained in that position and gritted my teeth, more in anger over the mishap itself than because of the pain. I had always had the art of knocking my knees and elbows on various edges, only I used to be always the one who went to the edges and not them to me. That had happened so often to me that my old square wooden coffee table had became round. I had never so happily operated a chain saw. Barely a month later I got a new one, this time made of solid wood covered with tiles. I had found a new nemesis that day.

“Light, I think I have something here," Twilight said from out of the room while I freed myself from the avalanche of folders. "There is a list of names, like in the hospital, and also in different languages." I was hardly on my feet before I rushed through the half-open door and quickly found Twilight sitting by a desk in the next office. She had her eye on a document and seemed to search for something.

“Have you found my mother or brother?” She held out a hoof to stop me from further speaking.

“To whomever may find this…” she began to read. "The American soldiers are planning to bring us to Munich to take us from there to safety overseas. I have noticed how they have begun to talk about how the shades have appeared there as well. In addition, we have not heard from the survivors that they have flown over the last few months. I am writing this now after we have come with the convoy from the airport back to the stadium. The pilots were caught by the shades, as the soldiers call them, and we are now sitting more or less stuck here. We will try here to endure to see if help comes. Anyway, when you’re reading this, we will probably no longer be here. We hope you will have better luck, and may God be with you." She laid the paper aside.

"You said there's a list." I went to the table and reared up to see on top of it.

"Light... If they are no longer here..."

"Where is the list?" She did not respond, but I put two and two together and pulled the remaining piece of paper between her hooves, and it began to fly over to me. The list was much longer than that in the hospital, so that meant more groups here had sought shelter. Some names were familiar to me; some I was sure to have it read to me at the hospital. The rest was absolutely foreign to me. "I’m going to look for one of those assholes and beat out some answers from him..." I let the paper fall to the ground and stormed out of the office, because it was time they told me where my brother and my mother were. Both names were on the list.

"What kind of a sick shit?" Fish could not believe what he saw in the square below. The grass had long faded and was, in the light of the torches, no more than a brown mush. It still was enough to reflect the blood that was smeared everywhere. Several large tents had been set up on the square, at the top of an altar. This was obviously intended as a stage for concerts but now served a different purpose. Several large wooden crosses stood on the stage where tattered corpses hung. They had probably been picked apart by ravens or other scavengers and worn down by the weather, which meant that they had hung there for a long time. In the middle of the stage was a kind of wooden platform on which a man was strapped. From the various tents came more people and rallied in front of the spectacle. Other humans were driven forward with crosses on their backs. "What are they doing there? A... human sacrifice?"

"What do you..." He looked at Shining Armor, who probably had to fight with his stomach at the sight. His mind didn’t piece it together at first, but slowly it made ​​sense. That was why there were no other survivors in the area, why they had wanted them to surrender. They needed more victims for this sick ritual or whatever they were doing down there. A deafening scream could be heard from the other end of the arena.. Their heads shot up again to the window, and they saw someone on stage had ignited the wooden altar, together with the people who had been strapped to it.

"Holy crap, what's going on down there..." he muttered as dark smoke rose from the stage, and the crowds broke out into jubilation. The person on the podium began to move, which probably meant that he had begun to speak to the masses. The cheers died away, and they all listened well now to the words of their leader. "Can we follow what's going on?" He turned to his companion, who nodded numbly. He looked back down where hundreds of people celebrated the execution of another.

"Okay, here's a picture..." A beam escaped Armor’s horn and struck the window, allowing them to see the stage as though they were viewing it from a pair of binoculars. Although everything was still quite small and they had no idea what exactly was said, but it was still better than nothing. The character on stage was an older man, about the forty to fifty. He had probably lost his hair for a while now, a few wisps the only reminder of what he once had. He was dressed in a black priest's attire that concealed a round belly. In his hand he held a book. Fish thought it was a Bible, but then he saw that it was another. It was a book he did not know, but from the inscription on it, it was no doubt religious. The man shouted something to the mass while gesturing wildly, occasionally pointing at the book. Finally, there was another great rejoicing, after which one of the cross carrier was led by force to the stage.

"They’re calling someone there? What is it, James?" The pony was just as shocked as him.

"I do not know, but whatever it is, it's terrible." There was a young woman who was led onto the stage and stood next to the priest, who presented her to the crowd. He grabbed her jaw and turned her gaze upward, away from the people. There were cheers again, and he pulled a knife out from his robe. He slowly drove it into her torso, eventually her waist, and his hand disappeared in the end with the knife in her pants. Her face was enveloped in pain, and the blue jeans she wore was instantly dyed in red. Quickly, the man withdrew his hand and presented the knife of the crowd. Meanwhile, two helpers stormed to the woman who had dropped the cross, both hands held between her legs. They pulled apart her arms and began to tie it on the cross.

"We must do something! This is torture and public execution. We have to—" Armor roared at him, but he realized that they were too far away to do anything.

"We have to wait until they are no longer all there. Even if we open the roof now and begin the operation prematurely, there are too many. It would be too much for you, even with your magic, right? "The nod of the stallion confirmed his suspicions, and he again threw a look at the glass. The cross was erected and placed behind the priest as he went on with his speech. Tears streamed down the woman’s cheeks in pain and fear, along with her blood. No one seemed to be bothered as her end slowly came.

Trixie lifted her diamonds and they, with a little spark from her horn, began to glow again, but much weaker than at the beginning of the mission.

"Who's there?" she asked anxiously as she slowly began to illuminate the room. The walls were covered with white tiles, and strange chains hung here and there from the ceiling. She had once seen something similar on her travels, in the griffon kingdom. This had been done to keep their food for later, and since humans were carnivores, it had to be something like that here. But why was there speaking prey? Didn’t Light tell her that humans were the only creatures capable of speech in this world?

"We're over here," called the voice again. Trixie went further into the room, with Rarity behind her. Their hooves echoed when they met on the tiled floor, where traces of blood were still visible. The diamonds moved slowly forward, Trixie not being too keen at moving them too far away from her. She did not know was how many shades Rarity had caught and whether they had noticed when they had left. Moreover, she knew not whether they were able to locate any.

First it was just a dark shape, then became more visible. It was a strange being to her, but not unknown. A man who was sitting on the floor, legs stretched out in front of him. She levitated the diamond a little further in his direction and realized that he was not alone. Other people sat on both sides of the room on the wall, turning their faces away from them. They shone the light on the back of the one who they thought had spoken and looked at him closely. He was tall, probably taller if he was standing. His hair was shoulder length, and she noticed that one of his front legs was missing. He was wearing a pullover, but out of its left sleeve no arm was visible like with other humans. With his other hand, he protect his eyes, apparently from the dim light.

"What is this place?" asked Rarity as she moved her ​​magic on something that Trixie did not immediately recognize in the dark. She looked a second time and saw that it was a chain, at the end of which was fastened to someone's neck. She turned the light to focus on the human and the chain, and saw that he was attached to his remaining arm.

"You're one of them, aren't you?" he questioned weakly. "Cannot remember the women they took." He still kept his hand before his eyes.

"Are you afraid of the light?" Rarity asked softly and took a step away from him. Trixie looked over at the others. At least thirty other people were still in the room, or at least that was the number that she could see here in the dark. But none of them said a word or moved. They slept, or were they dead?

"No… After a week without daylight, it appears bright." That took Trixie to the human who spoke the language. He tried again to look in her direction but turned because of the light. "If you aren’t here to stretch, you should disappear... If they find you, they will kill you."

"Do not worry about us, humans. We are here to help," she assured him. "And we know to help ourselves." He again tried to look at her, and she made it easier by lowering the diamond instead of having it at eye level.

"Ponies… I’ve seen something like you a long time ago." He looked Rarity and Trixie closely. "I've seen you somewhere before,” he directed at Rarity. "And you look kind of like the pony that I met," he now said to Trixie, and she briefly considered whom he could mean. Had he perhaps seen Changer when he came into this world, or later Light when he was in his body? One thing was certain, however. This man knew something.

"You do not happen to know Blue Light dear?" asked Rarity as she surveyed the chain.

"Never heard of... But I also do not think that you know the pony. After all, he reverted shortly after and died." Trixie and Rarity exchanged only a brief glimpse.

"What is your name?" asked Trixie as Rarity continued trying to destroy the chain.

"Nils."

Fish had spent the last five minutes praying that the woman would soon lose consciousness, and now it was finally time. Her face was slack, and she was either dead or at least close to it. At least her suffering was over, and she would no longer be aware of this disgusting ceremony. The fat priest had kept on talking and received applause from the crowd for his words. Shining Armor had long turned away from the scene and stood in the far corner of the room.

"How can they? Why would humans do something like that in their hour of need?” Fish leaned against the desk behind him and sighed, keeping an eye on what happened down there.

"Religion is a power that must not be underestimated. Have you no religion where you came from?" The stallion shook slightly, but Fish saw that he was clearly trying to pull himself together.

"Of course. We believe in Princesses Celestia and Luna. They are the immortal rulers of Equestria and move the sun and the moon." The soldier had to hold back a laugh. A world full of magic and colourful horses, but they believed their rulers were immortal and controlled the day and the night?

"I do not want to interfere, but there have also been many claims like that in this world, but they have all fallen flat and still the sun rose the next day." He tried to suggest to him that his worldview was perhaps a tiny bit wrong.

"I have learned from Light that it is a little different in this world with the day and night, but I can assure you that everything I said is true. Princess Celestia and Luna are several thousand years old and there are pictures to prove that. In addition, Princess Celestia once a year raises the sun in front the eyes of our ponies, our Summer Sun Festival." If that really was the case, the two princesses were either really powerful mages or came closest to what Fish imagined what gods would be like.

"I have seen Princess Luna herself briefly. I don’t want to offend your people, but they don’t really look that divine. But as the saying goes, don’t judge a book by its cover." The blue princess was more like a cocky teenager, at least in the two sentences that he had heard from her. Shining Armor nodded and Fish looked back down to the stage, where the priest was apparently making room for something. He watched as he went towards the edge of the stage, and the helpers who had tied down the woman earlier extinguished two of the torches. He was just able to make out the cross in the murkiness. The masses below began to mumble something.

"Shining Armor, I think that you should see this…" He waved this to the pony, who hesitated but then followed. A dark creature came out from behind the stage and began to circle the cross, and he made out the red glowing eyes that were so familiar.

"That’s a shade,” Armor said as he looked down through his own magic. It looked from the stage to the mass of people murmuring their mantra and shrieked at them briefly before turning back. It raised one of his claws and ran through the body of the unconscious woman. Immediately, there was another cheer from the audience.

"This bum pray to the shades? A lunatic..." He gritted his teeth and punched the desk behind him. He felt the pain of his hand radiate through his whole body and pressed his lips together, making a hissing noise.

"Look!" Armor barked against his painful noises and pointed again to down below. The priest went again to the stage where the shade remained, which now seemed to chew on something. He bowed before the dark being, then spoke again to the crowd. However, what happened next was just as shocking as anything that had happened before. The Nightmare spat a slightly bluish ball that landed on the ground and disappeared through the back wall of the stage. The fat preacher picked up the object and presented it to the crowd in front of him before he put it, now visible to everyone, back down to earth. It stirred, then it wobbled briefly and lit up. First it was just a black blur, but then came arms and legs, and slowly a new shade lifted up its legs. It was small and did not have stars in its body, but the red eyes were unmistakable. "That explains why there are so many..."

"What do you mean?" Fish still could not quite believe what he had seen there.

"They eat the souls of their victims and then lay an egg... or something. If they do this after every victims... They are practically endless. Your world isn’t the first that was attacked, according to Princess Celestia." He did not want to imagine how many there had to be of those things. It really did not matter how many they would gather and destroy here. There would always be more out there.

"You are Light’s brother!" said Trixie excitedly and threw her hooves around his neck. He did not resist, and she could feel how skinny he was. That could not be healthy.

"Light?" he asked, still in her embrace

"She means Timo. That was his name as a human being," stated Rarity when she finally let go of him.

"He'll be so happy to see you. We are practically only here because of you!" she told him with a big grin on her face.

"You must be confused... Timo was, about a year ago... died shortly after he had turned himself back," he said in a sad voice.

"No, he’s alive. He exchanged bodies with a pony named Changer, who died in his place." It was the second time that he looked in her direction, this time in amazement.

"Is that... um?" Rarity looked away from the iron chain as she spoke with him.

"Rarity. Yes, it is the truth. He is currently with Twilight Sparkle in this stadium and looking for a clue where you and his mother could be." With a small pop, the chain from the bracket on the wall broke, and Nils was freed. He looked over to his fellow prisoners.

"Shall we also set them free?" Trixie asked as she began to walk over to the next closest human, but was stopped by a hand over her chest.

"We should not disturb their peace... And we should get out of here well. Somebody just has to help me." The boy tried to rise to his feet and placed some pressure on her back, which Trixie did not mind. Light would jump in the air with joy when he saw his brother.

"Have they given you anything to eat?" asked Trixie when she again saw how weak he was.

"No... not for months." He finally stood upright, but almost immediately crumpled again.

"How did you… for so long..." Rarity’s eyes widened when she put two and two together. There were tears in her eyes and she turned slightly green.

"Do you know where your mother is?" Trixie asked worriedly, afraid she would have to continue into the room.

"They took them a week ago. I don’t know whether they have been sacrificed..." They took a few steps toward the door, but after every third step, Nils broke down again. Rarity now also offered him to support with her back, and so it went on, slowly but surely towards the door.

"Sacrificed? What's going on?" Trixie asked as Rarity still had not recovered.

"The Father, as he calls himself, made them believe that these shades are gods and since then, they sacrifice everyone who opposes them. Below is where they keep the sacrifices… Many don’t even live long enough to be sacrificed." Trixie exchanged a worried look with Rarity but said nothing. "How did you ever come down here? Weren’t there any shades?"

"We have this diamond. They are enchanted and emit sunshine to drive them away." Trixie brought it closer to her.

"So Timo was right when he said that ponies could do magic..." Had he not seen Rarity just use magic? she wondered as they came to the door.

"It was even your brother who made it," Rarity said, having recovered from the shock. Of course Trixie had been so as well, but she had seen many ponies do worse things because of dark magic. To eat the flesh of their own kind was, in the darker days of magic, proof of a sacrifice. Twilight Sparkle was definitely also well-informed of this field, for one only bypassed the history rarely as a student of magic. Many of the magic today had been developed on the basis of these ancient rituals.

"Really? Glad he had it a little better than me." Rarity opened the door and glanced into the dark hallway.

"The way seems to be clear..." she said as she opened the door all the way and took a first step back into the hallway. Trixie looked around and made her diamonds fly up and down the aisle. No shades were to be seen.

"Then we should go back to the others." They went on their way again, this time slower in order to support the ailing human.

"They’re leading the next sacrifice on stage," Fish said dryly. He had now gone on the floor and checked his weapon again and again. "I hope the others come soon... I want to deal with that bastard soon." This was now the third woman to be executed. Had he not seen some men at the back of the line, he would have believed that it was something intentional. The only reason could have been because the fat bag on stage seemed to paw at them before he drove the knife into their bodies. The last one he had groped a good ten minutes at her chest, whereupon Armor asked why that was particularly unseemly. He didn’t take the question wrong, because it was just a cultural difference, but he quickly understood why Fish was outraged. Some things were just the same everywhere and this included where and why a woman was not to be touched. When he had finished, he had rammed the knife between her breasts down to her stomach, before she was suspended on the cross. The rest they had to look at saving, and as cheers went up again, he took another look.

"Not only you..." The stallion grimaced. "The irony is incredible. We come here to save people, and what do they do? They kill each other and throw them in the claws of the enemy." He shook his head and looked again into the hallway, looking for a sign from the others.

"As I said, humans have a different attitude to religion. For many, it is everything, and they blindly obey preachers to do everything for their God." A bit of dirt fell out of the clip as he probed it with the wire from his backpack. A scream was heard, probably because the next victim had made acquaintances with the knife. “At least they’ll be finished with the women soon.” From the corner of his eye, he saw how this one had also been tied to a cross

"What do you think you’re doing, you crazy priest pig?" barked a voice through the stadium. At least that was the way it sounded from up here. Immediately Fish got up and looked at the image, but this showed only the stage and not the field further behind. Armor came trotting beside him and now also looked for the source. "Have you lost your fucking minds?" echoed again in a dark, angry tone.

"Light…" muttered Armor as his horn lit up. The view was lined up from anew, and now a small blue shape was to see bellowing over by the entranceway to the people gathered at the far end of the field. Armor added another spot on the glass and showed the people in front of the stage. These humans turned to the source of the loud voice and looked in amazement at the intruder. The priest seemed to reply but was not as loud as Light, and his response could therefore not be heard.

"Damn! What is he doing?" Fish stuffed his cartridge back into the magazine in a hurry. "We are not yet ready."

"Are you kidding me! They're not gods! These are soulless monsters that destroy everything what comes in your way! Now let the prisoners free and fuck off, or you will regret it!" Fish looked as the priest only heartily laughed, and the first people from the crowd broke apart and drew their weapons against the intruder. The spotlight followed these humans, and when it was a bit closer, Fish and Armor could see the AKs in their hands begin to deliver the first salvos. The flashes of gunfire could be seen even without the benefit of the glass at night, and Fish already thought that had been it for Light, but he just stood there and then even took a few steps forward. "I will not repeat myself!" he yelled again in his incredibly loud voice.

"What we do, Armor?" Fish took his weapon and tried to get a few targets into his crosshairs, even though it would not make sense to fire because it wouldn’t hit anything over this distance.

"We’ll get the others and get him out of there,” he replied and went to the levers for the window and roof control. "This lever, right?" Fish nodded quickly.

"Yeah, I don’t see any other way." His horn lit up as began to work some magic. The soldier used this to throw one last look at the scene. The men with the guns had obviously not listened to him and fired again. That same second, Light basically dissolved. The view whirled wildly across the lawn and finally came to a halt behind the men. After a few seconds, it appeared on Light at his new point. He tried so make sense of what had happened down there, but all he could see was the men lying on the grass and had stopped moving. "Shining Armor, I think you should take a look again..." He was still busy with spells.

"I come here to save you from these beings, and what are you doing? You worship them? I’ll say it for the last time. Out of my way!" Again, some people ran towards him, this time with machetes, pitchforks, and axes, but they did not get very far. The last of them was just still in range of the spotlight, and Fish saw what had happened. From the floor came a kind of spear that shot out, stabbed through his chest, and went back into the ground and pulled the lifeless body with it. That was Light’s magic? "I used to be a human." Anger was written on his face, along with splashes of blood. "But I did not become a pony to be a murderer! No more!" Armor was beside him again, and they both watched as Light’s entire body began to glow and twist.

"That looks like his transformation magic, but he’s so far only applied it to his horn, wings, or to gain strength. What's he doing?" Armor yelled, though his companion could not give him an answer. The light around him grew brighter and the spotlight and the room were soon enveloped. Fish had to use his hands to avoid being blinded.

"So you’ll gladly kill each other? Let me help you!" I yelled to the crowd as my transformation was complete. I knew that this had to be possible. It had since Albia told me and Twilight confirmed it. My body still had human DNA in it, something I used now. It was strange to be back on two legs, and I was only briefly confused at the amount. Then I looked at my feet, where I wore two white sneakers, followed by blue jeans, and a black old hoodie that covered my upper body. All in all, it was not my old body, for it felt larger and lacked the scar on the back of my hand. No, this was not my old human body but my pony body in human form. My white hair blocked my field of vision somewhat as I turned my attention back onto the stage.

"Grab that guy!" roared the fat fuck on the stage, gesturing at me. If he brought out more clichés, I would certainly throw up even more than I already had at the sight of him. I gathered my magic, not around my non-existent horn but to my hands. Well, fingernails were also a kind of horn, right? I did not even wait until the first reached me and released a wave of magic in his direction. Like the last time, when I had done rather accidentally, it hurt every second as though I had crashed through a wooden wall, but I didn’t care. Even before that last attack had finished, I reached into the ground and pulled out my now-materialized sword. With the momentum of a half teleportation, I ran through the first opponent like hot butter and did not hesitate to do so to the second. These bastards had no problem victimizing helpless people at their mercy, so why should I have any for them? The third went to the ground as I rammed the sword into his chest and at the same time built a shield around me to ward off the blows from the hand-wielded tools.

"In harmony with the elements: fire, water, earth, air, light, and shadow. Justice does not know any name, therefore bring down judgement upon my enemies, and me." I started my magic without bothering about the sounds around me. "Enforce your judgement, light arrows." The ground under me glowed in the light of the circle above my head, and with one hand I began to draw arrows. The first one bored through three humans as they tried to flee when they saw that their weapons had done no damage. The second and third roamed through the crowd, striking random people before taking to the heavens. With a twist of my hand, numbers four, five, and six sprang up and threw the gunner, who had been reloading, into the air before they also broke up. I was not able to control the others in this form, as I was not accustomed to doing so with hands, but they had done enough damage for my taste.

"Oh God! Protect your servant before this monster tries to harm me!" cried the bastard on stage as he descended from it and sought shelter behind his men. I had already prepared my next spell and teleported myself from the shield onto the stage, where it dissolved as he made his escape

"Star tail!" I cried, pointing to the crowd in front of me, who had not yet realized where I had gone. The light beam hit the roof of the stadium, then burst and rained down upon the field. The small explosion was enough to clear away some people and debris. To my displeasure, I saw the priest as he made his way to one of the exits. I ignored him for the moment and turned to the woman on the cross… my mother. She had lost consciousness and was bleeding from her stomach where he had rammed the knife clean through. I broke her free from her bindings and floated her down. How I wished Cadance or Fluttershy was here now.

"What's going on?" I heard Luna's Royal Canterlot voice and looked up. The Princess of the Night came in, followed by Rainbow Dash, Julian, and Hawk through the hole I had made ​​and flew towards the stage. She batted not an eyelid as she landed on the stage. "What's going on, Blue Light?" She recognized me from my magic no doubt.

"These bastards sacrificed people to the shades." I fired another Star’s Tail at the fleeing mob. Luna looked horrified, as did Julian, who had landed right behind her. Rainbow and Hawk hovered a little above us and pointed to something. I followed their hooves and saw the light from one of the large glass booths come over the grandstands.

"You all take care of it. We’ll take over here," Luna said to them, and I turned back to my mother.

"Can you do something for her, Luna?" I asked quickly.

"We will try," she said, and I made room for her.

"Here!" I threw my diamonds that I pulled out of my pocket to the Julian. The entire contents of my saddlebags had apparently somehow wandered into it. "There were some shades here, so give some to Luna." With two stones, it should make it easier for him.

"What are you doing?" he asked, but still I did not answer him and teleported again, heading towards the exit taken by the fatso. Once there, I sprinted down the stairs that had to lead to the basement. I jumped down several at the same time, and once even a half floor, until I came to the only door. I yanked on this and found myself in the basement corridors of the stadium again where we arrived. I created my three tiny light sources, looking at the surroundings. Some Nightmares disappeared in my corner of my eye when I checked the corridor in both directions.

"Come out, you piece of shit! I’ll find you anyways!" I screamed but only heard my echo. "I promise you it will be even more painful!" This time, I heard the sound of footsteps that could not be far away. With half-teleportations, I came very quickly to the intersection at the direction I thought I had heard the steps and listened again. "Right!" I cried and then shot down the aisle and saw my goal. At full speed, I grabbed him by his robe, pulled it, and pushed into the back of both his legs. He immediately landed with his face on the stone floor and skidded with me on his back over a few meters. I was breathing as hard as the fat untrained bag on the ground, because this form cost more magic than I thought. It was probably due to it being the least natural form I had taken so far.

"P-P-Please spare me! I’ll give you power! I’ll give you women... I’ll even present you to the Master Nightmare," he stammered as he sat on his ass and tried to crawl backward. The name Nightmare struck my mind as if he had used his knife. Everything here had to do with that. It had seen in his mind his perverse pleasure for making people suffer and even his desire to stand as a god. "Once it has control of the moon, it will control the world! We just have to swear allegiance to it." This scum was giving more information than I had hoped for in his last moments on this world. "We are living under the masters of the night!" I walked slowly towards him.

"How will Nightmare control the moon?" I asked as calmly as possibly. In front of me, a mass murderer whimpered for his miserable life. At some point love and tolerance ended, and today that was at my feet.

"Our God did not tell me how... only that it is traveling to an island in the north." I heard confidence return in his voice. Did he really think I would let him live or even to join this madness?

"Greet Nightmare for me and tell it I'll fight it until either it or I have turned to dust." I put a hand on the wall next to me and pulled out another sword. "Actually... just tell him that I wish him a lot of fun in eternity." I swung the blade and heard as his body crashed onto the ground, followed the dull impact of his head.

Author's Notes:

Old, but I still love this track.

Translated and edited by JBL