Chapter 4 - Observer Effect and Darkness Within

The Moonlight shone upon a mountainside road that was in a state of disrepair, the sides of the road led down into a valley and was covered in a thick forest of pine, elm and oak tree's. The trail itself was an old dirt affaire, wide enough to run a carriage through, though many of the edges of the path had become dangerously unstable.

This particular road ran from New Mareland to Rust County. The road in question was a scene of horror and death that would've pleased the Queen if she knew about it. Blood pooled together in to what could only be described as a sea of crimson flowing over the edges of the mountain path. The metallic smell of blood drew the attention of predators and scavengers, in particular a pack of timber wolves which began to gorge on a few of the corpses littering the road.

A particularly dense pile of corpses stirred as a hoof broke through the mass of tangled, broken bodies and began to free itself. A second hoof emerged and an aged stallion broke free of the mass of bodies, their cold hoofs and dead eyes all seemed to stare at him with what he almost felt to be blame. He snorted; such thoughts were unbecoming of a commander of ponies, like himself. Judging by the body count he estimated that maybe half of his original force survived. All I have to do is get back to Rust County and I can rebu-

His thoughts were cut off abruptly by a high pitched clanging. His attention focused on a small pegasus wearing an unusual mask, smashing two bloody shields together creating the terrible clanging sound. The timber wolves growled angrily, the sound making them want to flee whilst the blood and pony meat made them want to stay. A fire spell struck one of the wolves, sent by an ash colored unicorn hidden by a frayed, grey cloak. The wolves retreated rather than risk the full wrath of the unicorn mage slinking back into the shadows.

"My, my. Quite a mess we've made." A stallion wearing a deep blue robe said as he stood away from the carnage.

"It seems the worm rotting Equestria has survived and dug it's way out." The gleeful tone of the hovering pegasus colt made Rust bristle with indignation.

"Me, a worm? You would do well to show respect to your betters, whelp." Rusts voice was full of scorn and his disdainful tone made Tick Tock shake his head.

"My apologies, Lord. I was not aware you were worth respect." Tick Tock trotted towards the old stallion glaring at him. "A title and some land gave you power, Rust. Power you abused." Tick Tock was two feet from Lord Rust, who had taken his blade from its sheathe. "That whelp, as you put it, has a personal grudge against you and he isn't the forgiving type." The stallion finished, bringing out a piece of rope from under his cloak.

Rust lunged forward and Tick Tock casually avoided the blade in an almost waltz like motion. Rust struck out again but Tick Tock had already side-stepped behind him. He turned and felt a hoof connect with his face. The old stallion groaned as teeth fell to the ground and he landed in the sea of blood, staining his coat and armor red. Rust rose again on slightly shaky legs and tried to gallop away. The sea of blood boiled around him as tendrils of the sticky liquid rose up and held him in place while Tick Tock calmly tied his arms and legs. Snowball released her magic and the sea of crimson became still once more.

"Sleeeep." Tick Tock said soothingly as he placed a small green capsule beneath Rusts nose and watched the old stallion pass into a dreamless slumber.

"Can I have him later? Can I?" Shade asked, obviously anxious he would miss his chance at revenge.

"Of course you can, Shade, but first we've got to clean up." Tick Tock patted Shade on the head before he turned back to the group.

"We routed and killed any reinforcements the Royal Guard could've hoped for but we can't leave any trace or simply make a group of soldiers vanish. Queen Nightmare would be wasting time searching for a non-existent platoon and commander." Tick Tock explained whilst he allowed Snowball to remove the blood staining his coat and clothes.

"Crow, you and Snowball will remain here and prepare these bodies for transportation, we'll need to spread them out amongst the battlefield after the rest of the Royal Guard army has been destroyed. I will be taking Dagger with me." Shade started hovering over to Rust. "Oh..., and Shade..., do be a good sport and gather together some rain clouds. We need to wash away all this blood." Grumbling, Shade flew off to gather enough clouds together.

"Tick-tock. Crow, if you would be so kind as to transport myself and Miss Dagger as close to New Mareland as you can." He strode over to Dagger and stood beside her as Crow charged his magic.

"Wait" Snowball cantered over and lit up her horn, quickly shrouding Dagger in her magic and stripping away the coat of blood that covered her. "Sorry, Darling. I couldn't bear the thought of you going to New Mareland like that. Speaking of which, maybe we can go shopping there after."

"I'd like that." Dagger said as she smiled sheepishly, looking away to hide her blush. She tactfully decided not to remind Snowball that New Mareland's construction had been halted in response to the Royal Guard and that what had been built was nowhere near complete.

"Tick-tock. If you lovely mares are through now, I'd like to get going. We can't keep treating Crow like a taxi service." Crow nodded and charged his spell again, sending the two ponies across several miles to their desired location.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

A great battle raged on as the Queen's forces held back the tide of relentless attackers. A great beast killed attacking pegasi guards, whilst below the Royal Guard had arrows raining down on them from behind the walls. Their dragon allies began breaking down the fairly recent walls, creating the breach needed by the guard to begin fighting the Queen's army.

The Queen herself used her exceptional magic to kill and maim any and all attackers she came across. The Queen perched herself upon the muzzle of a dragon and, with a scathing glare and a black aura sucking in all light embracing her horn, petrified a dragon up to the head and shattered it's body.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just beyond the edge of the battlefield, a red orb of light appeared, swirling and growing outward as the wind picked up around it before it flashed white and vanished, leaving Tick Tock and Dagger feeling slightly nauseous.

"Take a deep breath, Dagger. Traveling long distance can be quite a strain to the average pony." She took Tick Tock's advice and began breathing heavily. They felt tremors reach them and turned to see chunks of rock falling from the sky in clusters assaulting the exterior of the wall. "Impressive, isn't it?" She nodded dumbly struck by the sheer power of the falling meteorites. "I must admit, I thought Queen Moon had a bigger army. I suppose with more time she could've mustered a better defense force."  Tick Tock lamented. "Still, she seems to be doing fine, a bit of a pyrrhic victory on the Queens side."

They sat there and stared for a while before Tick Tock began to trot towards New Mareland when he felt Dagger bite his tail. Confused he spun around and saw her point upwards. The great spherical Moon burst through the clouds over the battlefield. It's presence crushing and flattening a vast area of land. They watched as enemy pegasi fell, the weight of their wings too great to bear the Moon's gravity and saw armor buckle and bodies snap as ally and enemy alike were wiped out.

Tick Tock whistled as he saw the Moon return to the sky. "I believe it's safe to say our Queen can handle herself." Dagger nodded again. "It seems we aren't needed then. We already took care of their reinforcements. I suppose we could look for survivors but it seems the Queen's might has crushed everything within a small radius of a few miles. Outside and probably inside the walls."

Dagger examined the area, unsure of where they should go. The imperial road, that would link New Mareland with other settlements was still under construction. Everything had to be brought in via sky carriage it seemed.

"Tick-tock. A window of opportunity has presented itself, my dear. Come along Dagger." Dagger complied following her master as they trotted alongside the damaged walls.

The bodies of ponies piled high. The sight would leave a weaker pony in shock but Dagger had already witnessed plenty of death being around Tick Tock and her new friends. I'm glad I wasn't fighting these dragons, she thought idly as Tick Tock stopped at one of the craters. He slid down and approached the broken bodies of two dragons. A small hard object blackened by fire sat at the center of the crater.

Tick Tock poked the blackened rock with a hidden blade, and when it didn't immediately shatter or crumble to dust he scooped it up and placed it in his saddlebag.

"It seems the Queen has rained down a bountiful gift for the daring." Tick Tock climbed out and dusted himself off before continuing his ramble. "Tick-tock, Dagger, gather as many of these blackened stones as you can."

They split off, examining each crater and extracting the small pieces of rock. They were surprisingly heavy, for being so small. Dagger reflected on what it was like falling from such a great height, digging into a dragon's back with a knife was probably number one on insane ways to survive falling from above the cloud line.

She exited the last crater and found Tick Tock had done the same. Their pouches heavy, a brief but bright burst of magical light drew their attention. The front door glowed purple casting vague and confusing shadows. Tick Tock was already galloping towards the gate, Dagger close behind.

They arrived to see a lavender mare standing over the body of a lime green mare who could almost be mistaken for an older filly. They both watched and realized they were out in the open, moving quietly they edged up to the wall of the castle beneath some scaffolding. Tick Tock ran up the wall, turned and leapt, landing softly on a higher platform of the scaffold. He walked up a small board being used as stairs to the higher level and felt Dagger land softly on the scaffolding behind him. They watched and listened, hidden above the ponies.

The green mare up at the lavender, the knife still sticking out of her stomach, and pleaded. "Please... I don't want to die... I'm sorry. I-I'm s-sorry..."

"No. You toyed with my feelings... I won't save you." The lavender mare's voice was cold and uncaring, not too dissimilar to Nightmare Moon's.

"B-but... you'll be... just like... her...!" Desperation filled the lime green mare's voice as she felt the warmth continue to drain from her body with each once of blood that poured from her gut.

The lavender mare's countenance broke for a moment as if only now realizing the implications of what she was doing, but her features hardened once more. She stared into the dying pony's eyes and smiled. "If it means that Nightmare Moon won't hate me..." Her voice softened. "Then so be it."

The green mare coughed, blood splattering to add to the puddle beneath her. "I always knew... that you'd side with that... monster...." She hissed at the unicorn. "If Celestia were here..., she would..." her final words were lost as the life faded from her.

"But she isn't," the lavender mare said sadly, "nor will she likely ever be anymore...." she turned away and left the body cold and alone on the cobbled ground and trotted up to the sleeping form of a black filly. She smiled warmly and levitated the foal onto her back, kissing her below her horn. "At least I have you two...."

Tick Tock watched the Queen walk over and converse with the unicorn and saw the lavender mare incinerate the corpse of the green one with barely any hesitation.

My, my. It seems the queen has a lover... or perhaps a devoted follower? I'll need to place that mare under my watch. Tick Tock's thoughts were interrupted by the Queen slamming the castle door.

"That was a close one Dagger, we failed our duty tonight. The Queen was almost killed whilst I had us looting the battlefield." Tick Tock shuddered a little, angry at his failure.

"It was nopony's fault." Daggers voice was full of conviction as she looked at Tick Tock. "Mistakes happen. Learn from your mistake... as you're so fond of telling me."

The stallion nodded, grinning at a sea of new ideas brimming in his head. "Come along Dagger, I've got a lot to think about, and this night has been... exhausting."

They prepared to make their way off of the scaffolding when a bright flash caught their attention. It burned like a magic flare, but stuttered out fairly quickly.

"It seems somepony is alive down there." Dagger observed as they began making their way down the scaffolding.

"Tick-tock. Indeed my apprentice, we should investigate. The chances of them lasting long are slim." The two assassins cantered down to where they had seen the flash.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shade was soaring through the empty sky, a lot of the cloud cover was hovering over New Mareland and it was very far away. Fortunately for Shade he'd found some in the direction Rusts army had come from. He could see them scurrying back to their homesteads and villages. They were never soldiers, never really a threat to them at all.

As he flew, he saw the hated edifice of Lord Rusts estate. It was a beautiful villa, built in the same fashion as the many buildings of Canterlot. Posh and impractical. To him it was almost a blight upon the land, the memories he had of that place. Shade remembered that he had a play date with Lord Rust. He smiled at the idea, pushing back his bad memories as he realized their was a loose end. Lady Rust.

Kill her! Kill the stupid mule! She's as responsible as that old Lord Rust.

I agree. I've clearly got plans for Rust so she is merely a liability. One problem in the grand scheme of things.

Shade scouted out the estate. None of the guards Rust had taken with him had returned, he likely expected to be back the day after the battle.

Oh, how Lady Rust would weep.

Yesss. Make her weeeep.

Kill her neatly. You've got Rust to play with, remember that.

Shade hovered by the windows for a while, looking for a quiet way in. His chance came when a servant opened a window to cool down the kitchen. Slipping inside, Shade ducked behind a barrel of vinegar and pulled on his mask.

He would be Lady Rusts end.

He slipped quietly along the walls and made his way through the villa. He remembered his father coming here so long ago. How he pleaded and begged for help, only to be turned away, Lady Rust's impassive face as damning as her husband's.

He eventually stumbled onto the bedroom of the Rusts. He could see the expensive double bed she shared with her husband, with it's lilac coverings. Steam rose from under the only other door in the room. Shade floated over quietly and opened the door ever so slightly, noticing the tiled flooring of the bathroom. The sound of Lady Rust in the shower sent another painful memory lurching into his mind; having to bath in ponds and rivers, as he and his parents wandered in their search for work. He drew his blade, and let Lady Rust hear the door click shut.

"Is someone there? If it's the towel boy, leave it by the door." Lady Rusts voice was high pitched, filled with authority.

Shade grinned under the mask "Itsy-bitsy spider climbed up the water spout." Shade took a step forward, stamping his hoof letting the sound of his hoof-step reverberate off the tiled floor and walls. "Down came the rain and washed poor Itsy out,"

"Who's out there? I demand to know this instant." Her voice shrilled angrily as she reached to turn off the stream of water.

"Out came the sun, that dried poor Itsy out." Shade's hoof stamped again. Closing the distance. "Now poor Itsy's dead, bled dry in the drought." Lady Rust pulled back the shower curtain to see Shade, stained in blood. "This is for poor Itsssy!" Shade's voice was a growl as he lunged forward, bucking Lady Rust. She twisted back as Shade flew over her and spun his body to make a clean cut to the back of her hind legs. He steadied himself, hovering over the broken mare.

Lady Rust couldn't move, her hind legs were paralyzed. She tried to make them move, but nothing would happen. Instead, she tried to crawl to the door and shout for help.

"YOU DON'T GET TO CALL FOR HELP!" Shades voice came out as a shout but sounded like a growl as he clamped a hoof over Lady Rust's mouth. "Itsy didn't get that chance." Shade drew his blade across Lady Rusts fore-hooves, slashing them. "Oh, I know you won't have much time left." Shade cooed, "Your old and you're losing blood." Shade leapt off Lady Rust, watching the deep cuts he made leak arterial blood into the shower floor.

"So to sooth your passing, know that I have Lord Rust and he's going to suffer even worse." Shade paused a moment in consideration, tapping a hoof to his chin. "I'd ask you to thank me, but then you wouldn't be able to appreciate what I'm doing. Wait here." Shade hovered away as Lady Rust lay in the shower, unable to move. He returned a minute later with a small knife in his hooves.

"I never figured Rust, to be the sentimental type." Shade examined the knife he was holding. "Your lovely name etched into a fine blade hidden beneath the bed. I'd never have noticed if not for the wonderful moonlight. So sad you took your own life, hidden away in the shower as you slit your wrists. A peaceful way to go, if also painful." Shade glared into her eyes a moment and then floated down to her, placing the knife by her side, after slitting her fore hooves with it. "Sadly, you won't get to drift off peacefully. You'll be painfully aware of your approaching death."

Shade turned on the shower at it's hottest setting, letting a stream of steamy hot water, grow scolding hot.

Lady Rust whimpered weakly as Shade exited, careful to ensure he left no trace of himself. Wiping the floor of his hoof prints and making sure, none of his feathers fell out. Shade worked his way back to the kitchen fifteen minutes later, making sure Lady Rust was dead and took off into the night.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Notes: Changed this chapter. Added a reference to Rebelfire's character and added a segment involving Shade and a target of opportunity, Lady Rust.

Editor's Notes: Sorry, sorry. A bit late with this one. Just know that I'll be shifting my duties as editor higher up my list of priorities.