“All I’m saying is, if Luna’s going to save us, what’s there to worry about?” Chipper glanced at me for reassurance.

All he got was a glare.

“Right, Slight?” he pressed me for an answer, then snorted and smiled. “Heh. ‘Right, Slight’... that rhymes.”

I let out a deep breath tinged with dark smoke , and fought the urge to hit him. Not because I was trying to spare his feeling, or be more patient with others like Chase would have wanted, but because I was walking on three legs right then. Leaning heavily against Chipper, I had no choice but to grit my teeth and listen to his overly optimistic rambling as we limped back to the west hall.

“So uh... did it hurt?”

The sheer stupidity of that question was like a slap to the face. All I could do was glare at him angrily for striking me so.

He averted his gaze. “Right, dumb question. Sorry.”

Rolling my eyes, I looked back ahead and we continued for a few moments in blessed silence. Then he felt the need to speak again.

“So... uh... what was it like?” He looked back across at me. “Being stabbed I mean.”

I stared at him for a few moments, careful to make it as clear as I could that I wasn’t interested in his pathetic attempts at conversation. Then, after a long, tense, and painfully awkward silence, I said in the least friendly tone I could, “It was like having a sharp piece of steel forced though my skin and into my tendons, severing them and preventing me from fighting effectively.”

He swallowed and looked away. “Well, uh... I mean... uh...”

“I can make it the rest of the way by myself,” I interrupted him. “Go join the others in the defence.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Utterly,” I answered with a growl.

He swallowed and delicately lifted my wounded hoof so it was no longer draped across him. “Alright then, I’ll just... uh...” He glanced over his shoulder then back at me. “I’ll just... bye.” Then he turned and quickly trotted back the way we’d come.

Rolling my eyes, I looked ahead and started to limp along. I made it a few paces before I found myself almost regretting sending him away. Almost. The pain got bad enough that I ended up walking on three hooves rather than two. I would have flown, but the broken bones in my right wing prevented that as well.

I found myself hating the Celestian who did this. Or rather, the three of them. And the nightkin next to me who’d failed to protect my flank when we were charged. And Chipper, for being so annoying that walking in pain on three hooves was preferable to his presence.

I didn’t encounter any others until I got closer to the east hall, and then I was rushed through to the unicorn healers by the first servant that found me. Breathing out a sigh of relief, I sat down and watched as a pale blue unicorn with a pink mane began to charge magic into the wound. I don’t know if she wasn’t a very good spell caster, or had simply forgot, but she didn’t cast the numbing spell, and my wound burned as it slowly restitched itself.

Trying to distract myself from the sensation, I focussed on the room’s other occupants and their activities. Mostly it was filled with unicorn servants, running left and right as they carried medicine and bandages to wounded nightkin, as well as food and water to the floors below where the children and future nightkin were being kept safe. My lip twitched into a frown at the sight of them.

One of those servants was a traitor, responsible for leaking our location to the Celestians.

My gaze turned to the servant healing me, and I grit my jaw as I glared at her. Was she the spy? Possibly, that could be why she didn’t use the numbing spell.

She noticed me glaring at her, and swallowed nervously. Suddenly the pain I was feeling drained away, and the numbing magic took effect. “I-I’m sorry, I forgot.”

Grunting, I looked at the other wounded nightkin, feeling slightly ashamed to be here. I was supposed to be the Second, a better warrior than my peers, yet I was the one here while they were out there fighting. When I returned to the West Hall, there would be a reckoning for the Celestians.

“Four hours since this started, and I bet lead to gold that the sun hasn’t budged an inch,” a nightkin muttered across from me. He was clutching a roll of bandages to his eye while another servant was working on healing a wound in his shoulder.

“Where’s Luna?” another nightkin asked. “How is this happening?”

Ignoring them, and the growing fear in my stomach, I tested my leg once the servant was done with it, and shifted so she could start to heal my broken wing. This time she remembered to apply the numbing spell straight away.

“It’s just a matter of time,” one of them said from behind me. “We have healing and strong defensive positions for now, but what happens when the servants get tired? We can’t recover from our wounds, they pile in, and we-”

“Slight?” My head snapped towards Chase and her relieved smile as she moved towards me. “I heard you were wounded and came to make sure you’re okay.”

I couldn’t help but smile at her concern, though I rolled my eyes at her anyway. “You’re a lieutenant. You have more important business to attend do.”

Chase didn’t reply, and glanced at the unicorn servant just as her magic on my left wing stopped. “Is it better?”

I tested the limb out, pleased at the lack of pain, and nodded at Chase.

“Good,” she glanced at the servant. “Go heal somepony else.” Then she wrapped her wing over my shoulder and pulled me towards the door. “Come on, I need to talk to you.”

I followed her into the corridor, and she led me down an out-of-the-way side passage. When she arrived there, she glanced around to make sure no one was near and leaned in close to me.

“You’re right. I’m a lieutenant, and as much as I care about you, I should have more important things to be doing than taking care of you.” She reached into her saddlebags and withdrew a sheet of paper. “Take these.” She handed the paper to me, along with some saddlebags.

“What are they?” I frowned and looked over the sheet while I strapped the bags over my armour.

“Orders from Captain Stygus that he doesn’t know exist. I used his signature and seal, so as long as he doesn’t find out about it, these are as good as the real thing.”

“You can copy Stygus’ signature?” I glanced up at her.

“That doesn’t matter right now,” she replied. “The important thing is those will get you past the northern barricade.”

I nodded and looked back at the papers.

“I need you to try and get to Luna’s tower. We were cut off from it when we lost the northern parts of Blackrock. I’d ask someone else to do it, but I don’t want Stygus finding out and I know I can trust you of all ponies to stay quiet.”

I nodded. “Why?”

“Because the nightkin are... because... we need to...” She growled and shook her head. “Look, Stygus’ plan is just to hold out and hope for Luna to save us, but... there’s the chance that might not happen.”

I swallowed and looked up at her. “Luna will save us.”

“Y-yeah, of course, but... Look, let’s just be ready in case the worst happens, alright? Hope is no plan , Slight.”

After a moment I nodded. It was true, Luna herself counselled caution over optimism. “Hope is no plan,” I repeated.

“Exactly,” Chase confirmed.

“So then what’s the plan?”

“It’s... uh...” Chase rubbed the back of her leg with a hoof. “Look, leave that to me, alright?” She glanced over her shoulder. “For now, I just need you to get to Luna’s tower.”

“Alright,” I agreed. Whatever her plan was, she’d tell me later.

“Inside her office, the top drawer of her desk has a false bottom. Under that, there should be a key. Don’t touch the key or your heart will stop. Pick the key up with a bit of cloth or something like that between it and you, then go into Luna chambers. Under her bed you should find a box. Open it with the key, take everything inside it out, and put them in your saddlebags. Leave the key in the box, close it, and then see if you can find something of Luna’s on her bed. A feather, some of her mane, some hair, anything. Just something that came from her, put it in your saddlebags and come back. Got that?”

I nodded. “Simple enough.”

“If you can’t find something from Luna, then don’t worry about it. We can get that elsewhere. The important part is everything in the box under the bed.”

Everything in the box under the bed, don’t touch the key, leave the key in the box. If I can, feathers or hair. “What if I can’t make it to the tower?”

Chase bit her lip and looked away. “If you can’t make it to the tower then come back, but we might really need the stuff in that box.”

Nodding, I folded up the false orders from Stygus and put them in the bags. “I’ll make it to the tower.”

“Alright,” she glanced over her shoulder again. “I need to get back to command. Stay safe, Slight.”

I nodded, and she hesitated before giving me a hug. It took me a moment to get over my shock, but I wrapped my hooves around her too, glad to be held right then. I’m sure she was happy to be held as well, because we stood like that for a few seconds before she let go and stepped back, composing herself as she coughed into her hoof. She opened her mouth to say something, but shut it after a moment and walked back the way she came without a word.

My armour was scratched and bloodstained, but still in reasonable condition, so I saw no place I needed to stop before my trip to the northern tower. It was just a matter of finding my way there, while encountering as few other nightkin as possible. If a higher-up tried to stop me, I could just show them the orders from ‘Stygus’ and they would probably leave me alone, but I wanted to avoid that if possible.

The halls were mostly empty, with most of Blackrock’s occupants busy contributing to the defence in some way. The only ponies I saw were messengers relaying information to and from Stygus, coordinating our defence.

It was a sobering thought to realise how dire our situation was. The fighting was already door to door, one corridor to another. Undoubtedly we could last hours in defence, but we’d already lost the outer walls and large sections of Blackrock’s internal structure. There wasn’t much left we could afford to lose. There were at least a hundred nightkin outside Blackrock on rotation, but at the time of the attack the majority of us were inside these walls. More than two thirds of my species could die in one fell swoop if we didn’t survive.

When I arrived at the northern barricade, I found thirty nightkin led by Second Lieutenant Clear Sight. I felt an ill stirring in my gut as I realised fifty nightkin had originally been assigned to defend this position. Twenty nightkin dead here already, and that was significantly less than the losses in the western defence.

All the nightkin here looked grim, high strung. The corridor was littered with corpses and the walls were stained with blood. I couldn’t help but take special note of darker coated, black armoured corpses in the corridor.

“Sir,” I saluted Clear Sight.

He glanced at me before looking back up the corridor. “New orders from Stygus?” he asked, while peering grimly down the corridor.

“Yes, Sir.” I reached into my saddlebags and took out the fake orders. “You’re to let me past the barricade.”

He frowned at the papers then up at me. “Why’s Stygus sending you this way?”

I didn’t answer him.

Looking back at the papers, then up at me again, he grimaced and handed them back to me. “Go now while things are quiet.” He looked back up the corridor. “If you’re headed that way, on your way back tell me what those Celestians are up to. It’s been way too long since their last assault for my comfort.”

I nodded and began to push her through his soldiers to the front.

“Let her through!” he called out behind me.

A few strange looks were directed at me, but none of them questioned what I was doing, and shortly I was alone facing the corpse riddled corridor. Tense silence and soft hoofsteps were the only sound I heard as I moved up the corridor, careful not to step on any bodies. One Celestian I passed twitched and gurgled, but made no sound when I passed my ghost blade through his neck.

I arrived at the two-way intersection at the end of the corridor, and felt for any shadows in the area. There were no moving shadows in either direction, which meant there weren’t any ponies moving nearby, so I peeked around the corner.

With no one in sight, I glanced back at the nightkin barricade and found them all watching me with interest before I stepped around the corner and out of their view. The blood and corpses thinned out the further I moved from the barricade, until eventually they stopped entirely. I neither saw nor heard any sign of the living until I arrived at the stairs to take me up a floor, then I heard coughing and the nervous shuffling of hooves.

“-telling you, they’re not ponies,” a voice whispered, wavering as it did. “I heard that one of those things can stop a pony’s heart with just a look.”

“Shut up,” another voice growled back. “Nightkin, bat ponies, fades, whatever you want to call ‘em, they’ll die when you put something cold and sharp in ‘em.”

I frowned and reached out with my magic, sensing the shadows of dozens of ponies filling up the entranceway over my head. There was no way I would be able to sneak past them with the torches they were carrying, and I didn’t favour my chances against so many either.

However, there was a supply closet just ten meters down the hall from the stairwell. My senses told me that the door was closed and the shadows inside it were thick enough for me to use.

Slowly I sank into my own shadow, enjoying the cool tingle I felt as I did, before stepping out of it into the cramped confines of the supply closet. I almost bumped into a broom, which would have alerted the pegasi outside the door I was inside. Peeking under the door crack, I saw at least eight sets of hooves right outside, and I knew there was no way I could walk out of here.

It looked like I’d need to do another shadow walk, but where to?

“What are we even doing here?” someone whispered outside the door. “An indoor fight like this is a job for an earth pony.”

“We don’t have any earth ponies , idiot,” another hissed back. “Orders are to wait here for the moment.”

“I don’t like all this waiting,” someone else added, his voice quavering. “Not in here, not with those damn fades just down there.”

Perhaps I could move to the rafters overhead? They were high enough up that I wouldn’t be easy to see, and even with the torches these pegasi were carrying, I could feel that the thick shadows up there were more than enough to use.

Passing through the dark of the closet, I stepped out again four metres overhead. There wasn’t a lot of room to walk on the wooden supports, but from up here I could see pegasi filling the corridor completely, and that there really was no way forward but to stay above their heads and in the dark. But there was no way to move across the beams, so I was forced to shadow walk in four short hops from one end of the corridor to the other. All the while the Celestians below were shifting nervously and muttering to each other.

The heavy use of magic tinged my breath black with smoke, and after a few more hops around the corner and into another corridor, I had to fight the urge to cough on the thick, dark fumes coiling in my throat.

Eventually, the pegasi thinned out, and I hopped to the floor once I was out of sight of the mass. Pausing, I took in my surroundings again as I cleared my lungs and brought my magic back under control.

The officers’ rooms. To get to Luna’s tower, I just needed to take a left at the end of the corridor, and another right, before heading up the long flight of stairs. Cautiously, I made my way forward, listening for any signs of more pegasi, but the ones I’d passed seemed to be all there was in this part of the castle.

I noticed Chase’s old room as I passed it, ignoring a jab to my heart when I thought of my childhood and the month I’d spent sharing it with her. I know it was foalish of me, but I couldn’t help but want to be held by her right then.

Gritting my jaw at my own lack of mental discipline, I passed from the officers’ rooms to the base of the stairs leading up to the tower. Voices echoed down from above, and I slowly walked up the stairs, black wisps of smoke still thin on my breath.

“-room of a bloody goddess!” a mare said with a lilting accent I didn’t recognise. “Imagine, Nightmare Moon herself slept right here.”

“Get off the bed and help us search!” someone else barked at her.

A low growl filled my throat before I could stop it, but I forced myself to stay silent. That Celestian whore dared defile Lady Luna’s chambers, dared to lie on Her Grace’s bed? Whoever that mare was, I would make certain her death was painful.

Steadily, I crept up the stairs until I could see that the doors to both Luna’s office and chambers were open. There was a stallion set to watch the approach, but he was distracted, looking into the rooms, and I lunged forward, driving my ghost blade through his head. Wrapping my hooves around his neck, I pulled him back towards the stairs before anyone inside spotted the corpse . From the way the conversation inside the chambers didn’t stop, I guessed no one had noticed.

“Share, get off the damn bed and help us!” someone snapped.

“Why?” she replied. “There’s nothing in here. For a megalomaniac mad-mare, her room’s surprisingly boring.”

I grit my jaw. Her death would be agonizing indeed. My lady’s bed was far from boring !

I focused on my magic, reaching out and touching the shadows in the room. Eight. I could feel eight moving shadows.

“Faaaaaaade!” I heard someone scream from the office, and I flinched, dropping control of my magic.

Quietly waiting out of sight, I heard the sound of ponies trotting out to the landing overhead.

“Something just moved our shadows!” said the same voice that screamed before, sounding panicked.

“Where’s Mellow?” another gruffer voice asked, “He was supposed to be on watch. Bloody recruits, green as grass.”

I glanced down at ‘Mellow’ and nudged him with my hoof.

“Y-you’ve fought a fade before, right, Foundation?” There was no immediate answer, and I heard the sound of someone swallowing. “Foundation, you were in the Royal Guard, right?”

“I didn’t make it through selection,” was the answer after a moment. “Still better than the rest of you recruits,” he added defensively.

“S-sweet Celestia no!” someone stammered. “I don’t want to die, not here, not-” He cut off with a cry when someone slapped him.

“Get a hold of yourself!” the mare hissed. “Now’s not the time to panic.”

“Why? It already got Mellow... Oh sweet Celestia save us, save us, please. We should have stuck with the group!”

“Orders were to secure Luna’s office!” the mare hissed back. “Shut up, and stop panicking. Mellow might have just gotten distracted.”

My lips curled into a sneer, and I stepped through my shadow to quietly crawl out from under the desk in Luna’s office. Peering carefully around the corner of the furniture, I saw two ponies with their backs to me, as they faced the door, and four ponies on the landing at the top of the stairs.

Could I fight eight ponies? Could I do it quietly?

I only knew of one way to know for certain .

“I didn’t think we’d run into one of those things!” the timid fool hissed. “They’re supposed to be trapped in the floors below!”

“Maybe Mellow just went to take a piss?” someone said after a moment.

“There’s blood on the stairs,” Foundation replied. “Don’t be stupid, something got him.”

“W-w-we should get out of here, right?”

I crept forward until I was just behind the two stallions watching the door nervously. Pointing the hilt of my ghost blade at the back of his head, I shifted my stance and let out a deep breath. Then I channelled a tiny amount of my magic into my weapon, making it ignite. The first stallion died instantly, my sword jutting out from his forehead. I twisted, slashing across and bringing the crimson red through the neck of the stallion across from him before he even got the chance to scream .

I drew their shadows out from under them, and used the energy to disappear into the wall and reemerge in Luna’s chambers. Luckily I found the two ponies in there staring out the door as well, so they hadn’t noticed me enter the room.

“Ahhhhhh!” I heard the cowardly one scream. “It got behind us! It’s behind us!”

“Ho, burn me!” Foundation roared. “We need to get out of here right now!”

Quietly, I backed up until I was at the door to Luna’s balcony and I pulled it shut. Then I went and closed her window, silently latching it. I looked back and one of the stallions in my room turned and spotted me, his eyes widened and he screamed. “It’s in here! It’s in-”

My ghost blade travelled from his chin to the top of his head, and the mare that had been in the room turned to face me. Her eyes widened, and her wings spread instinctually to flee, but my sword cut through her feathers and bone, and she screamed as she clutched the limb while it detached.

I stepped back through my shadows into Luna’s office just as the three unwounded Celestians came into her chambers. Through the doorway, I saw the cowardly Celestian’s eyes widen as I emerged from the shadows.

“Celestiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” he screamed as I lunged for him. He brought a hoof up to protect his face, but that only spared him from having to witness his own death.

The coward collapsed and fell down the stairs in three parts, as I was tackled from the side by another pegasus. I rolled with the attack, shifting so I gripped his bladed hoof and we came to a halt with me dislocating his shoulder. He screamed until my ghost blade plunged into the back of his head, and I turned to face the last two pegasi.

The larger orange one, who I assumed was Foundation, glanced between me and the corpse, before turning and bolting into Luna’s chamber. The other hesitated to run, and managed to block my lunging strike with his hoof blade. My forehead smashed into his nose, making him stumble back before I buried my sword in his chest.

I looked inside the room to see Foundation pounding on the windows, cursing and swearing to himself. When he struck the glass, it sent spider webs of cracks across the pane, but they immediately repaired themselves. He yanked at the latch with his mouth, but it wouldn’t budge. Then he turned to face me in the doorway, droplets of sweat rolling down his face. He glanced for somewhere to run, but saw that the only way out was through me.

He dropped into a combat stance, wings lowered and ready to fly past me. “You know that saying about cornered rats?” he growled.

A grin spread across my face.

With a flap of his wings, he crossed the distance between us with surprising speed, and effectively countered my upwards stroke with his own hoofblade. Setting my hooves against the stone and flapping my wings, I pushed against his momentum, forcing him to awkwardly stumble back.

I went to strike again, but he stepped inside my swing and pinned my hoof to his side, the blade sticking out uselessly behind him. He went to stab me, but I knocked his hoof upwards, sending his blade over my shoulder. Using my heavier weight, I twisted around and forced him towards the ground, hoping to land on him and regain the advantage. His wings flapped, pushing with my momentum and instead he fell on top of me. With his free hoof, he stabbed down towards me, and I barely managed to catch his hoof before the blade dug into my neck.

Gritting his jaw, he shifted so his shoulder was angling with the attack, applying more of his body to stabbing me than I could set to stopping him. I snatched up the shadows I could, and fell through the floor and out of the ceiling with him still on top of me. The pegasus yelped from the cold and flared his wings, while I twisted with the fall and landed awkwardly on my hooves. My left foreleg gave out, and I fell to the floor but was otherwise fine. It was slightly painful to stand again, but I’d live.

Then a weight hit me from the side, and I felt a sharp pain as something pierced through my armour and into my flank. Hissing in pain, I turned with his blade still wedged in my armour and wrapped my foreleg around his face, acting only on desperation. He shouted out something muffled and I pulled back, exposing his neck.

It was a terrible hold. He had all the room to maneuver and reach, and I was stretched to my limits just holding him like that. In a moment he’d have his hoof blade free, and then he would stab it into somewhere vital.

I leaned in towards him and bit into his exposed throat with my sharp canine teeth . He screamed and thrashed, yanking his blade free, but it was too little too late. I tore through his flesh and his cry of pain was reduced to a gurgle as he fell away from me, clutching his throat.

New lesson for the day: The flesh of pony tastes utterly foul.

I coughed and spat out his vile taste, wiping my mouth as I watched his struggling stop.

Spitting the last of his blood from my mouth and onto his face, I turned to the doorway and noticed a red trail leading out of it. Of course. I almost forgot, the mare who’d defiled Luna’s chambers.

I heard sobbing as I emerged from the room, and saw a pale trembling form stagger down the stairs. Her entire right side was coated in blood, and she collapsed on her way down the steps, smashing face first into a wall. Limping after her, I paused just before her and stared down at her pale, trembling, pitiable form.

Her deep blue eyes turned up to me, and she whispered, “Celestia spare me.”

Then my blade plunged into her chest, and the light faded from her eyes as the voids in their centre grew .

I stopped to take stock of my wounds, and winced as I put weight on my front left hock. I suspected I’d sprained it in the fall. The stab to my flank burned, and I grit my jaw as I touched it. All I could do was bandage it up and hope that it didn’t go too deep.

Once I’d taken care of myself, I had to stop to remember why I came here in the first place. Right. The key in Luna’s office.

I found the place ransacked. Her desk flipped over, and papers scattered everywhere by the greedy Celestians in their search for valuables to steal. It sickened me to see such a sacred ground desecrated so, but what else could be expected from a worshipper of the heathen sun?

The desk was on its side, and all the drawers had been opened. I pulled the top draw the rest of the way out and flipped it over so the false bottom fell out, a small bronze key falling with it. I put some bandages in my mouth, and carefully picked up the key without letting it touch my lips. Then I limped to Luna’s chambers and crawled under her bed.

The box was there, just as Chase said, and I pulled it and sat with it in my lap. It looked almost like a jewellery box, and I couldn’t but wonder what jewellry Luna would wear. Her perfect black coat needed no decoration, and any adornment somepony attempted to make would seem plain and worldly compared to her divine form.

Cautiously, I unlocked the box and opened it with my good hoof. Inside was a golden hoof band with Old Equestrian written around it, a leather-bound book with glowing runes on the front, and a folded-up parchment. I placed the parchment and ring inside the book, before moving those to my saddlebags. I was about to spit the key in and shut it, when I noticed a lock of purple mane, tied together with a silver chain in the box. I moved that to my saddlebags before I closed the box with the key in it, and pushed it back under Luna’s bed.

I stood up and limped towards the stairs, when I remembered Chase’s other instruction to find something that came from Luna . I spent a few minutes searching, but ultimately failed to find anything and decided to leave before more Celestians arrived. About to head down the stairs, I paused when I saw a ghost blade lying on the floor in Luna’s office.

I checked my leg, and saw that mine was still attached, so I walked over with a frown and picked up the device. It gleamed in the dark as I stared at it, and after a moment I channeled a little energy into it. A long green blade emerged from it, with the word ‘Slight’ adorning the blade.

I blinked in surprise, before I grinned and immediately began unstrapping the red I already had. The Green! It was the Green of my year and it had my name on it! The strap fit perfectly over my hoof, and when I ignited the blade again, I was pleased to note it was slightly longer than the average hoof blade. I gave it an experimental swing, grinning to myself that I was one of Luna’s favourites.

Even if she’d never given it to me, I’d earned this. She wouldn’t have constructed the weapon without intending to gift it to me.

“Thank you, Luna, for this gift,” I prayed as I unpowered the blade and headed down the stairs. “I give thanks that you should find me to be worthy of your favour, and it is an honor that I only know I deserve because you granted it to me. I pray for your guidance and protection, and that I will continue to prove myself fit for your attentions.” With the shadows, I paused to make Luna’s cutie mark silhouette against the wall before I continue down the stairs.

By the time I arrived back at the northern barricade, I had tears of pain in my eyes and thick dark of black smoke coming from my throat. I’d had to use a lot of shadow magic to make it back past all the waiting Celestians, and the constant pressure on my sprained hock only made walking hurt worse than it already did.

The nightkin at the barricade saw me as I approached, and at the Lieutenant’s orders, one of them came forward to help me walk the rest of the way to safety.

“Did you complete your mission?” Clear Sight asked.

I nodded, wincing as the nightkin I was leaning on bumped my leg by accident. I shot him a glare, and he mumbled an apology.

“Any word on the Celestians?”

Again I nodded. “They’re waiting, down the corridor, at least fifty, maybe a hundred.”

Clear Sight glanced at the barricade and sighed. “What are they waiting for?”

I shook my head. “I didn’t find out.”

He frowned and looked to the soldier that was helping me walk. “Alright, get her to the healers, and then come back here straight away. I suspect there will be another attack soon.”

The nightkin gave him a salute, before helping me down the corridor. Thankfully he didn’t say a word until we arrived at the medical centre, though he did bump my leg a few times, making me hiss in pain. Still, I’d take physical punishment over the torture of having to deal with other ponies any day.

He set me down near a healer, and without a word headed back towards the northern barricade. I liked him already. A unicorn approached and examined my hoof. I winced as she twisted the joint, testing where it would and wouldn’t hurt.

After a moment she timidly spoke. “I-I’m sorry. We’re limiting magic usage at the moment. I’m not sure this wound is serious enough for me to heal it.”

A low growl escaped my throat and I reached forward to tilt her head up, making her stare into my eyes.

“I-I’m s-s-sorry,” she whimpered, “It’s not my decision.”

I leaned in closer, baring my teeth. “Heal. It.”

Lower lip trembling, she nodded mutely and pressed her horn against my hoof. A moment later I let out a sigh of relief as the swelling went down, and the painful sensations disappeared. Even without a numbing spell, my leg felt much better just seconds after she started. Then she turned her horn towards the stab in my flank, and I breathed a sigh of relief as the numbing spell took effect.

When she was done I tenderly stood on my front leg, glad that there was nothing wrong with it. I gave her a nod, and she scrambled away, practically hiding behind another nightkin as she furtively glanced towards me.

Regardless. Now I had to find Chase and tell her I’d succeeded. Sure, all I’d found was a book, some papers, a ring, and a lock of mane, but that was what Chase had asked for and I was sure it was important somehow. Perhaps it was a spell book and an enchanted ring?

Plus, even if we were surrounded and trapped, it was hard not to feel happy about receiving the Green.

Or finding it.

Whichever.

Would Luna be angry that I took the blade from her desk? I swallowed at the idea of Her Grace’s wrath, and the memories of the various nightkin that had displeased her over the years. Would... would she punish me in such a way?

I know Chase had made Luna truly angry once, and I know that once had been enough for her to have never made a similar mistake again.

The command room was frantic with activity when I entered. Stygus sat at a table in the centre, staring grimly at a map with heavy bags around his eyes. Around him, unicorn servants and nightkin waited for orders. From the look of the maps, I’d say things weren’t going well for us.

As I watched, a runner approached Stygus and whispered something in his ear.

He closed his eyes and looked to the floor. Loud and clear, his voice rang out, “Eighty one... there are eighty one surviving nightkin in Blackrock.”

All the noise in the room stopped, and everypony stared at him. A nightkin who’d been unfurling a map halted and just simply gazed at Stygus.

“What are you all looking at?!” I heard someone bark from behind me, and I glanced around to see Chase standing there. “We have work to do, do it!”

It took a moment, but all the ponies went back to their business like nothing had changed.

“Damn Stygus,” Chase muttered as she walked up beside me. “Did you succeed?” she asked me.

I nodded and reached for my saddlebag, but she stopped me.

“Not here,” she whispered. “Not where everyone can see.” Glancing around, she trotted off and indicated I should follow her with her head. “Come on.”

No one paid any attention to either of us as we quickly left the room. She took us up a flight of stairs, and made sure the hallways were clear before turning back to me. “What did you find?”

I opened my bags and took out the book. “There’s a ring, some parchment, and a lock of mane in there. Those, and the book, were what I found.”

She opened the book, and grinned with relief when she saw what was inside. “Great job, Slight. Did you find some of Luna’s mane or feathers?”

I shook my head and looked down.

“Damn.” Chase bit her lip. “We can get that elsewhere anyway. Did you find anything else?”

I nodded, smiled, and ignited my hoof blade, angling it so she could see the name in its glassy surface.

At first she grinned, then after a moment her face dropped. “It’s really cool that you got the Green, but you can’t use that blade just yet.” When she saw my expression drop, she continued, “Not that you won’t be able to use it later, but at the moment, no other nightkin are allowed to know you went to Luna’s tower.”

I blinked. “Why not?”

She chewed her lower lip, glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one was listening before sighing and grabbing me. She dragged me further from the door before leaning in close and saying, “It’s... complicated, alright? I... I’m working on a plan to get us out of here.”

Frowning, I said, “Why hide it from the nightkin that you’re planning to save us all?”

She sighed and ran a hoof through her mane. “Not all of us. Just you, me, Starlit and Astral.”

Incredulously, I said, “Only four of-”

“Shush!” she hissed and glanced over her shoulder. “Be quiet. That’s right, only us...”

“But why? What about-”

“Slight!” she snapped and poked me in the chest. “Think about it! There’s no way all of us can survive, there isn’t a way most of us can survive. Heck, I’m not even sure there’s a way you and I can.” She pressed me up against the wall, a desperate glint in her eye. “There’s five thousand of those damn pegasi out there, Slight. We’ve barely held them off for three hours, and we’ve already lost almost half our numbers. If we stay here we’re going to die.”

“But... the others...”

She took a step back and looked away from me. “I know, I know. I... Look, there’s nothing I can do for them, but I there’s something I can do for me, you, and two of my friends, so that’s what I’m doing.” Scuffing her hoof on the floor, she looked up into my eyes. “It’s not like you ever liked them anyway.”

“But... they’re Luna’s chosen...” I mumbled. “They might not mean much to me... but to Luna...?”

“...I know, Slight... I know... these are my friends...” She swallowed and her gaze fell to the floor. “I... don’t want to leave them behind... I... I just wish Luna was here...”

Rather than comfort her, I just stood there, trying to think of a world where everypony I knew was dead. Even if I never liked any of them, I couldn’t even think of what life would be like if they weren’t here...

“Slight... I think the worst thing that could have happened has happened...” Chase’s lower lip trembled. “I think... I think Luna lost to Celestia...”

“She didn’t,” I frowned at her.

“... I hope you’re right. I really do, but... hope isn’t a plan, Slight. If things are as bad as I think they are... then just one of us surviving this might be a miracle...” She put her hoof on my shoulder. “I’ll explain my plan to you later, but for now just stay close to me, and use a red ghost blade rather than your Green.”

I looked at my Green, then back at Chase. Luna defeated? Utter madness. Completely impossible. There was no way that, that could have happened.

But even so...

I trusted Chase, and her judgement. If Luna would punish us for our lack of faith, then I would stand by Chase and take the punishment alongside her.

With my teeth, I unstrapped the Green and put it away, before switching back to the red.

“Thanks, Slight,” a sad smile appeared but vanished just as quickly. “Now come on. Listen carefully to what I say and follow all of my orders. I promise I’ll get us out of...” She paused and shook her head. “Let me rephrase that. If there’s a way to get out of here, I promise I’ll find it.”

I didn’t answer her.

A hurt expression came over her face, but she turned around and headed back down the hall. After a moment I followed her, and we walked back down to the west hall basement together. Chase led the way to Stygus’ table, and he paused to glare at her.

“Finished plotting?”

“What are you talking about?” she replied with an annoyed look.

“Nothing,” he answered bitterly. “But it’s just humorous the way you’ve used that foal.”

Used me? I glanced at Chase, and saw her seething at Stygus. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it?” he sneered at her.

“It. Is.” she growled.

With a snort of laughter, Stygus looked back to the map. “Not like it matters. We’ll all be dead in an hour anyway.”

Chase hissed in frustration and looked around. I followed her gaze and saw numerous nightkin listening in on our conversation.

She jabbed a hoof into his chest and growled into his face. “Stygus, you’re the Captain, act like it. Now’s not the time to wallow in despair.”

“Despair?” He snorted and stepped back. “What’s there to despair about?! Our goddess is dead, or she’s abandoned us, we’re alone and surrounded, and our entire species faces extinction!” A chuckle escaped, and he looked around the room. “It’s a good thing I hate all of them!”

“Stygus!” Chase barked and stepped forward. “Get a grip on-” A loud smack filled the room, and she took a step back, holding her cheek in shock.

Stygus simply stood there and glowered back, his hoof still raised from the slap. “Damn you, whore...” Stygus growled and lowered his leg. “You and your self-serving manipulations, the games you played with me, creating that-” He pointed a hoof at me, “-that filthy brute over there, just so you could crawl into Luna’s bed like the pathetic wench you are.”

Chase grit her jaw and stepped forward, her green blade igniting. “You’re unfit to lead us.”

“Do you think I care?” he snapped. “Do you think that divine whore, Nightmare, cares?! Haven’t you realised yet?! That’s all we are! That’s all any of us are! Her harem! A pathetic collection of cocks and cunts that she raised just so she could fuck, and use, and send out to kill every now and then! And for what?! For Eternal Night?!” His wings flared and he glared at everyone in the room. “Does anypony else realise how stupid that is! How worthless a thing that is to fight and die for?!” His eyes were wide, and he was panting heavily.

The entire room was silent for a moment, everyone staring at him in disbelief.

“Do any of you have any idea who I was?” he continued. “Any?! Because I certainly don’t! Do you think I was always a nightkin?! Do you think I ever wanted this for myself?! If I did, then why did she steal my memories from me?! Why does my love for her just come from a filthy spell she cast on my mind?! ”

Everyone gasped and took a step back.

He laughed until that laugh turned to a sob, and he fell backwards against a wall. “That’s right. Mind magic. Your precious goddess earned my love by sending her claws into my mind and taking it from me.” A tear rolled down his cheek, and he collapsed to the floor. After a moment he looked up, glaring at everyone in the room. “And the funniest part is I don’t think I’ve been brainwashed half as much as any of you, and I know her magic never once touched your minds.”

Not a sound was made. I could hear the sound of breathing and the creaking of leather as nightkin shifted uncomfortably.

After a moment, Chase spoke, “Captain Stygus is no longer fit for duty.” She turned to face the other nightkin. “I suggest I be made commander of the nightkin until such a time that Luna relieves me of my position.”

“Oh, is that so?!” Stygus laughed. I looked across to see him unstrapping his hoof blade. “Fine then! Take it!” He tossed the Blue across the floor, and began undoing the straps on his plate armour. “You can have it all!” Stripping off his armour, he left it in a pile on the floor. “Every last one of you can-”

I flinched at the sound of a door slamming open, and turned to see a grey and blue form burst through it. Chipper looked around the room, his eyes wide with panic. “The western barricade is under assault! It’s the Celestian Royal Guard! Valued Teachings doesn’t think we can hold out long!”

All eyes turned to Stygus for orders, than we realised we couldn’t look to him for leadership anymore and glanced to Chase.

“All nightkin in here to the Western Barricade!” She shouted. “Reinforce Teachings!” Everypony nodded and went to leave, but when I stepped to follow them Chase stepped in front of me and shook her head.

Stygus laughing made me glance towards him, and the sneer he was giving Chase. “That’s it? That’s your brilliant strategy? Everypony rush in and get killed?”

“Shut up, Stygus,” she muttered and flipped open a map. Browsing it, she didn’t watch as all the other nightkin apart from us and Stygus cleared the room. After a moment Chase stood up and looked to the unicorn servants. “All of you, get to the dungeons. Make sure all the under-sixteens are safe and locked up. Do whatever you can to stop them panicking.”

The unicorns nodded and left, leaving just the three of us.

Stygus was glowering at Chase. “What are you up to?” He growled, standing up and trotting towards her. “You’re smarter than leaving the command room unattended...”

The look he was giving her concerned me, so I stepped in front of him.

He ignored me, looking over my shoulder towards her. “What are you planning?”

“What do you care?” she snapped at him and looked up from her maps. “You just abandoned command anyway.”

He snorted and turned away. “I should have known you would weasel your way out of here somehow. What’s your plan? Is there some secret passage I don’t know about?”

“Slight, grab the Blue and pass it to me.” She pointed at Stygus’ discarded hoof blade.

I glanced at it, then back at her. “Are you sure? Luna-”

“Will want it back,” Chase cut across me. “And she will be angrier if we leave it there.”

Stygus stared at Chase as I picked the Blue up, while he tapped a hoof against his chin in thought. “It’s the Royal Guard, isn’t it? That’s how you plan on getting out of here. The enchantments they have built into their armour... You’re going to impersonate one of them, aren’t you?”

Chase didn’t answer him, just started rolling up maps and stuffing them in her saddlebag.

Stygus started laughing. “It won’t work. Your cowardly hide will be dead before you can leave here, just like the rest of us.”

“Come on, Slight.” Chase turned away from the table, heading for the door to the eastern hall.

I glanced at Stygus before trotting after her. “Where are we going?”

“To get Starlit and Astral,” she replied over her shoulder. “Now’s the time to get out of here.”

I nodded and sped up to walk alongside her. “How?”

“Basically, kill some royal guards, steal their armour, and walk out of here.”

Another thought crossed my mind, and I frowned as I looked across at her. “Stygus said Luna was controlling him with mind magic...”

Chase breathed out through her nose, but didn’t answer me.

“Is that true?”

“I don’t know for certain, but... it explains a couple of things about Stygus, like why he was always such a... mixed bag, and why he hated sharing Luna with the rest of us .”

How did mind magic explain that?

Chase saw my confused look. “Mind magic never works without side effect s. Our minds are insanely complicated things that barely make sense normally, and when you go and mess around with them it’s... Imagine trying to cut a piece of wood out of a table, and then try to replace the wood you just cut out with wood from another tree. That table will never be the way it was again, and that new wood will always be the weakest point on the table. The only way to hide it is to paint over it, but every now and then you need to touch up the paint.”

Frowning in thought, I considered her metaphor and tried to reason out how it applied to Stygus. So his mind was like a table, and then a piece was cut out of that table, and a different piece was used to replace it, and then it was painted... Wait, what was the paint?

Chase must have caught my expression, because she rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry about it too much.”

We walked along in silence until we heard the sound of clashing steel. We both immediately broke into a gallop and rounded a corridor to see-

Something wet and fleshy smacked into my face, and I stumbled as I rubbed blood from my eyes. When I opened them, I looked down to see half of Strong Faith’s head staring back up at me. I blanched and took a step back. Looking up I saw an orange pegasus with her back turned, shoving a hoof blade into Astral Victory’s face. Beyond that, Starlit Path was lying in half and the corpse of every nightkin at the eastern barricade littered the corridor.

I could only stare in horror as the pegasus pulled the blade from Astral, and looked up to see Stern Conviction charging her with a scream of anger. Then she moved... somehow . One second she was standing still, the next she was beside Stern’s headless body as it collapsed to the ground.

Something slammed into me, and the cold of shadow magic came over me as I was pushed into the wall. I stumbled out of a shadow and to the floor with Chase on top of me.

“Get up,” she hissed quietly and pulled me to my hooves. “Come on! And stay quiet!”

Nodding dumbly, I did as she said and followed after her with only a few stumbles. Strong Faith, Starlit Path, Stern Conviction... they were dead? And Astral was dead? But... he was... Astral... How could he be dead?

“Chase?”

“Not now!” she hissed back.

“But Astral’s-”

“-Dead, and unless you want to be too, we have to keep moving.”

“... I liked Astral,” I realised aloud. He was never my friend, but... he always encouraged us to develop, and all the exercises and tortures he put us through I never took personally. I actually enjoyed them in some small way... He’d always been there. With his roaring voice and biting insults... How could he be dead? Astral couldn’t die, Astral was Astral... I mean, he had to have survived somehow? He was invincible wasn’t he?

The sword buried in his face would disagree.

If Luna could fail, he could too.

Chase looked over her shoulder, making sure it was safe before breaking into a gallop. “Come on, keep up!”

We burst back into the West Hall, just in time to see Stygus coming up from the basement. He gave us a slightly surprised look, and Chase looked him up and down before turning around and snapping at me, “Put out the torches!”

I nodded, and moved around the room as fast as I could, dousing all the flames, and Chase did so too in the other direction.

“What are you doing?” Stygus asked, but we both ignored him.

Soon the room was covered in darkness so complete only a nightkin could see through it, and Chase started unstrapping her armour.

“Take all your armour off, but keep the saddlebags and your blade.”

It took me slightly longer than she did to strip down completely, and she helped me finish. Stygus just watched all the while, his lips curled into the making of a sneer.

Chase glanced at him, then said, “Stygus, if you want to come with us, I won’t stop you.”

“Go with you where?” He frowned. “A slightly later grave?”

Chase just rolled her eyes, and then looked back at me. “We need to hide up in the rafters.”

“Why? ”

“Just do it!” she snapped at me as she spread her wings .

Nodding rapidly, I flapped my wings and flew up to the roof with her. We both took up positions in the roof. Chase looked across at me, and held a hoof up to her lip. “Shh...”

I nodded, and when she looked back down to the floor I followed her gaze.

Stygus watched us warily, until the sound of footsteps coming from the east entrance caught his attention, and torchlight came down the passageway. He spread his wings and raised his hoof as if to fly away, but after a moment stopped himself. Then he breathed out a sigh, and calmly sat on his haunches.

A moment later, pegasi entered the room with torches burning in their saddles. The torches had shaped basins beneath the fire, catching any hot ashes that fell off or hot pitch that leaked down. From the way they moved slowly and cautiously into the room, it was obvious that they were fire blinded and still hadn’t seen Stygus . The lights from their torches didn’t reach up to where we were, but even so both Chase and I cautiously drew in shadows, making it even harder to spot us.

One of the pegasi caught sight of Stygus and shrieked, “Fade!”

The rest of the pegasi that were coming through the door moved towards him, and in moments Stygus was faced with the cold steel of pegasi hoof blades .

“Why isn’t it armoured?” one of them asked nervously.

“Who cares, just kill it!” another hissed back.

“You kill it!”

“Shut up, both of you! This is clearly an ambush .”

Stygus coughed into his hoof, and all of them dropped into a fighting stance. “I don’t suppose you accept surrender?” he asked.

They all flinched at the sound of his voice. One of them opened his mouth to speak, when a pegasus mare pushed herself to the front of the crowd.

“You’re the first nightkin I’ve ever met who even considered surrendering.”

Across from me, I heard Chase’s breath catch in her throat.

It was the same orange pegasus who killed Astral. I grit my jaw as I watched the fire bounce off her three tone mane, white, yellow, and red, tied back into a short ponytail. Internally, I vowed to kill her somehow. She had a necklace on, and embedded in the front of it was a red gem carved in the shape of a candle flame. She was short, even for a pegasus, and through the leather armour she had on, an athletic frame was visible. The strangest thing was that she was out of uniform. Her armour bore no heraldry, and its make and craft was clearly different from all the other pegasi.

“And how many nightkin have you met?” Stygus replied calmly.

“Not counting your friends up the hall?” She shrugged. “Eight.”

He nodded glumly. “You’re Pyra, then?”

She nodded and cautiously stepped closer to him. “And why does a nightkin want to surrender?”

Stygus shrugged. “Because he wants to survive?”

“What about failing Nightmare? She wouldn’t take too kindly to you giving up.”

“We both know that Lun- That Nightmare’s gone.”

There was a pause before the pegasus replied, “Yeah.”

“So... would you accept an unconditional surrender?”

She slowly shook her head, not taking her eyes off him. “No... Celestia’s orders are to kill all nightkin on sight.”

Stygus glanced himself up and down. “You see me, but I’m not dead.”

“I figured if you’re willing to talk, you might be willing to tell me a few things in exchange for killing you quickly.”

A tiny smile tugged at the corner of Stygus’ mouth. “And what does the Bearer of Loyalty want to know?”

“... You know about the Elements?”

Stygus gave a mock salute. “Captain Stary Guise of the nightkin, better known as Stygus. I’m Luna’s closest confidant.”

“Captain? So you were the one that ordered those Fades after us last year?” She grunted and shifted. “I still have scars from that.”

“We didn’t want legendary artifacts of untold power falling into Celestian hooves.” He shrugged. “We were trying to win a war.”

Pyra just glowered at him, before lowering her hoof blade. “Well, you lost. No one hurts me and mine.”

Stygus snorted. “Ironic that you’re the Element of Loyalty, when I can hear your Hoofens accent. You’re fighting a war against your rightful goddess, yet destiny still sees fit to grant you that.” He pointed at the gem around her neck.

She growled and stepped towards him, her blades pressed right up against his neck. “It was your goddess that had my little brother taken from his home, to be carted off to become one of you freaks.”

Stygus glanced at the blade, then back at her. “That sounds like something she would do.”

“Tell me where he is, and I’ll make your death quick.”

After a moment, Stygus asked, “Who was your brother?”

“Candle Light.”

“That name means nothing here. How old is he?”

“He’d be thirteen this year.”

Stygus snorted. “You might not want him back, then.”

“Where is he?! ” she snarled.

He tilted his head at the stairs leading down to the basement. “All the foals and servants are down there. Only nightkin are participating in this battle.”

She glared at him, before taking a step back. “Thanks.” Her hoof rose up, and her blade was poised in front of his eye.

“Not like that,” he said. “If I have to die, I’d rather my head to remain intact.”

She stopped. “Where do you want it then?”

“Here.” He held a hoof over his chest, to the side of his heart, then he lowered his leg and stood still. “Please. I want to die whole.”

After a moment, she nodded and pressed her blade against the spot he pointed at. Then with a movement in her shoulder, the blade pushed through the skin and into Stygus. He grunted in pain, and put a hoof over hers. Staring into her eyes, Stygus clung to her hoof blade and leaned forward against her.

“Thank you,” he muttered.

She nodded and looked over her shoulder towards the other pegasi. “Alright, we need-”

Pyra cut off with a startled yelp, and blood was sent flying as Stygus’ fangs tore into the side of her neck . Shoving him off with a startled yelp, she glared at Stygus as he fell back and gave her a bloody grin.

“Buried in one piece!” she barked, and the gem around her neck started glowing. The hair on her head started to shift and move as if it was fire. “There won’t be anything left to bury!” She snarled and... shifted.

Her form blurred, and then chunks of Stygus were flying all over the room. Gibbets of flesh and chunks of bone rained down over the watching pegasi as they were coated in blood.

A droplet splashed into my eye, and I blinked as I rubbed it out. Honestly, this was getting ridiculous. How much blood was I going to get onto my face before the day was over?

By the time Pyra was done I couldn’t see anything left of Stygus. Well, actually I could see much of him sliding off the faces of the pegasi and dripping from their armour.

“Piece of shit!” she hissed and clutched at her neck, which was still bleeding.

“Ma’am? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine!” she snapped back at the soldier who asked. “Come on, let’s get to the basement.”

“Our orders are to-”

“We’re rescuing those damn foals, you hear me?” she hissed back at him.

“But we’re meant to meet up with Blot at-”

“We are rescuing.” She jabbed him in the chest. “Those foals. Blot can take care of himself.”

“Y-yes ma’am.”

Then Pyra headed towards the stairs, moving down into the basement. I looked up at Chase, who caught my gaze and jerked her head towards the western entrance. Nodding, I stepped through my shadow and into the corridor heading west. Chase stepped out across from me, then silently beckoned me towards her with a wing.

We moved up the corridor in complete silence, ears straining for any sound. We walked in silence for a few minutes, until up ahead we heard the sound of clashing steel. I peeked around the corridor just in time to see Chipper have a hoof blade shoved through his throat. To the fool’s credit, his hoof blade passed through the white coated pegasus in front of him. A moment later both corpses collapsed to the floor, and I pulled back around the corridor.

“Is that the last of them?” a breathless voice echoed up the corridor.

“I... I think so.”

“Oh, thank Celestia,” another voice replied. “Those things fight like demons!”

Chase tapped me on the shoulder, and pointed her hoof up at the rafters. Nodding, I stepped through my shadow just as she did, and we both stepped out onto the wooden slats. Quietly, we shadow walked down the corridor, making short jumps as we passed over white coated gold armoured pegasi. Chase held out her hoof, and we came to a halt over their heads.

One of the gold armoured pegasi with a red tuft of hair on his helmet counted the number of soldiers, so I assumed he was an officer. After a moment, he slumped against a wall.

“Hundred of us against thirty of them, and only twenty of us survived?” he muttered. “Celestia’s right to want all these things dead.” After a moment he looked up. “Where’s Blot?”

No one answered.

“Goddess damned...” He grit his jaw and stood up. “Alright, who’s wounded?”

“I am,” one mare said, and raised a bleeding hoof. “Almost lost my damn leg.”

“Really? No one else wounded?” The officer sounded startled, looking around the room.

“Sir, wounds from those things kill ,” one of the larger stallions said.

The officer snorted, then looked around. “Alright, you three,” he pointed at the wounded mare and two others. “You three head back , let them know that the western entrance is secure. The rest of us will hold here until reinforcements arrive.”

The three selected ponies saluted, then headed back the way they’d came. Chase caught my attention and pointed after the three of them.

I nodded, and together we started to follow them from rafter to rafter. When we were down the corridor, around the corner, down another corridor, and headed up some stairs, Chase drew a hoof across her throat and pointed at one of the stallions helping the mare limp. She held a hoof to her lips in a silent shush. With one last shadow walk, I was positioned right above one of the stallions. Chase was on the rafter ahead of me, standing above the other unwounded Royal Guard.

We both dropped down at the same time, and my ghost blade went through the back of my target’s neck. With my weight on his back, he dropped instantly, and I looked up to see that Chase had done the same thing to the other stallion. The two of them fell to the side, on top of the limping mare , and she fell to the ground with a shout of pain. She desperately slashed at Chase with her hoof blade, and caught Chase on her leg, but still failed to prevent Chase’s hoofblade being shoved through her eye.

“Good work, Slight,” Chase whispered at me. She shoved the stallion off from the top of the mare, and began taking off her armour. “Take that one’s armour off.” Her hoof was pointed at a stallion who was only a little larger than me, and I did as she instructed.

In a few moments we were dressed in the golden armour of Celestia’s royal guard. I shivered in disgust at the idea of wearing some of the sun whore’s raiments, but didn’t voice my complaint.

“This isn’t made of real gold, is it?” I growled and adjusted a shin plate. “Butter would be a better armour .”

“No, it’s just another illusion,” Chase replied, and pulled a helmet over her head.

As I watched, her mane changed colour to blonde, and in a rippling line moving from top to bottom, her coat shifted to a pristine white. Her eyes changed to blue, and the irises reshaped to match those of an unblessed pony. Her fangs changed to the teeth of a normal pony, and the only things about her that looked the same was the scars on her face. Even her wings changed, swapping from leathery bat wings to fluffy white pegasus down.

“See? It’s all an illusion. Their devotion is skin deep, but ours runs to the core. ”

I nodded and put on the helmet she passed to me. Holding my hoof out in front of myself, I watched as it changed from dark grey to white .

“Your cutie mark will look like Celestia’s sun until you take the helmet off,” Chase told me, as she strapped her saddlebags on top of her armour.

“How do you know about this?” I asked her.

“I met one of Luna’s agents while out on rotation. He told me about it, and how it made impersonating Royal Guards easier, as long as you can get the armour. He said the tricky part was getting it without anyone noticing.”

I looked up and down the corridor. Pegasus corpses were everywhere, propped up against the walls and curled against themselves in agony. A few of them were Celestian Royal Guard, and an even smaller number were nightkin.

Chase followed my gaze and sighed. “At least we put up a good fight.”

“Why didn’t we just take some armour from the dead?” I asked.

“Because these three would have reported to their commander and told them how many were left. If we walked out behind them and they didn’t recognise us from their unit, we’d be in trouble.” She started limping down the corridor. “Come on, we’ve got a chance to get out of here now.”

We walked down the corridor for a while until we passed all the bodies and into the hall we had defended from earlier. The hall was full of other pegasi in uniform, but none of them were the white of the Royal Guard.

I also noticed an interesting lack of medical beds, and as we approached, an older looking pegasus with a gruff face came closer to us.

“What’s the situation inside?”

“Western Entrance is secure, Sir,” Chase gave a salute with her wounded hoof. “Including the two of us, twenty three Royal Guard remain of the force sent. I was sent back to have my wound treated, and she was sent with me for safety.”

The pegasi nodded, then turned around to face the others. “Next wave, move in! Meet up with the Guard, and advance into the Castle!” Then he turned back to face the two of us. “You two, get some food and healing. You guards have earned it.”

Chase and I both saluted, then headed out the large gates. It was disquieting for me to see our training yards hosting so many non-nightkin. The filthy Celestians had erected tents, and there were still swarms of pegasi patrolling around and overhead. A few of them gave us interested looks, but we ignored them and made a beeline for the exit.

When we left the courtyard and passed outside the walls of Blackrock, we saw row upon row of tents and flying chariots. There were thousands of them. The sun was still at its highest, and the bright midday light shining down over everything made me have to fight the urge to shield my eyes.

“Where did they all come from?” Chase hissed. “Celestia must have been planning this for a long time.”

We passed through the rows without anypony stopping until we were halfway through the army. Then a brown earth pony set his eyes on us and started to move closer. What was an earth pony doing here? He must have ridden on a flying chariot.

“Are you alright, milady?” he asked with a smile and a look at Chase. “Should you really be walking on that?”

At first I was ready to dismiss him entirely, then I noticed the blue gemstone carved in the shape of an open book around his neck. My eyes widened as I remembered the speed that that pegasus Pyra had moved at, and the way she killed so many nightkin with ease. I couldn’t stop myself from touching the side of my face and flicking a dried up piece of Stygus off.

“You try fighting those damn Fades, and then tell me if you have the energy to fly,” Chase replied.

He stepped closer, adjusting the wide-brimmed hat on his head. The black coat he was wearing hid his cutie mark, and his blue eyes sparkled mischievously. “Well then let me help you.” Without waiting for an answer, he moved right up alongside Chase and lifted her hoof over his back. “The fighting in there was just nasty.”

Was he... was he planning on making an advance on us?

“I didn’t see you in there,” Chase replied, but didn’t try to fight him off.

He shrugged and grinned. “I had to help a friend. Come on, the medical tent is this way.”

“We’ll be fine by ourselves.”

“Well your friend wasn’t helping you, so I thought I better.” He smiled, and shifted her weight so her cheek rested against his.

Chase jerked her face away from his, but didn’t reply. I followed behind them at a distance, watching him carefully for any movement that might be hostile. If Pyra could do that, I didn’t want to see what this one could do.

“Blot, right?” Chase said after a moment, giving him a flat look.

“That’s right, milady.” He grinned. “I’m Blot, the King of Games, Lord of Drinks, and the best damn stallion under the sheets anyone’s ever met!”

“And the Bearer of Laughter?” Chase glanced at him.

Blot grinned and touched his gem. “That too, but who likes to be defined by their jewellery?”

Chase grunted, but didn’t answer him. We arrived at a large tent, and I held the flap open for the two of them as we stepped inside. When I followed through, I froze in shock when I saw Pyra sitting on one of the beds, bandages around the place Stygus had bitten her.

“Come on!” Chase barked, breaking me out of my reverie. Blot helped her rest against one of the cots and she sighed in relief as the weight was taken off her wound.

Other than Pyra, all the beds were empty. There was room for at least twenty wounded in here, but all I could see was the four of us.

“The fades don’t leave wounded,” Pyra remarked, following my gaze. “Your friend is lucky.”

I glanced at her, and she met my illusionary blue eyes with her magenta ones. It was all I could do to nod, break away from her gaze and move closer to Chase.

A unicorn with a pink mane and a snake curled around a stick for a cutie mark stepped up to Chase. “Let me see the wound please.”

Chase nodded and held up her leg. Her head turned to Blot. “Thank you for your help, but aren’t there more important things for you to attend to?”

“Than saving a damsel in distress?” He grinned.

“Like saving one that needs saving?” she suggested.

He just chuckled and looked to Pyra. “I’ll be back later to make sure you’re okay. Keep an eye on my future Mrs please?” He tilted his head at Chase.

Pyra just rolled her eyes. “It was one bite. I’m fine.”

“Ironshod wants you to stay here to be safe,” Blot replied.

“Ironshod isn’t my master,” she snapped. “He needs to get used to the idea that I won’t take orders from him.”

Blot shrugged and turned to the door.

“Blot?” Pyra said just as he was about to step out. “Tell... tell Ironshod I said thanks.”

He grinned over his shoulder. “Of course. Who am I to stand in the way of true love?”

She just rolled her eyes, and Blot laughed as he stepped outside.

It was a few moments before the unicorn was done with Chase, and then trotted out of the tent saying something about finding something to drink.

Pyra wiped sweat from her forehead and glanced across at us. “Damn hot day, isn’t it?”

I opened my mouth to answer her, but realised I didn’t really have anything to say to that and closed it instead. She raised an eyebrow at that, and watched me with a bemused smirk.

Chase just ignored her as she stood up from her bed. “Come on, lets go.”

I nodded, and we moved for the entrance when Pyra stood up and stepped in front of Chase. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t catch your name.”

“Swift Wind,” she replied.

“I’m Pyra.” She held a hoof out and Chase gave it a shake.

“I know, you have a reputation.”

She shrugged. “Eh, save a city from complete annihilation and that happens.”

“Is that so?” Chase looked past her. “If you’ll pardon me, we have somewhere to go.”

“Where?”

“Food. We’re starving,” Chase said.

“We?” Pyra glanced at me. “You speak for both of you?”

“Yes. My sister and I-”

“Not a lot of family resemblance.” Pyra glanced between the two of us. “Heck, your sister could pass for an earth pony.” She stepped closer to me, and held a hoof out for a shake. “And your name is?”

I glanced at the hoof, then up at her. “Quiet. Quiet Wind.”

“...You gonna shake my hoof or stare at it?” Pyra said, looking at me curiously.

I met her gaze, and realised I was looking into the gaze of the pony that killed Astral. And Starlit Path, Stygus, Stern Conviction, Strong Faith, and a large number of the ponies I’d known my entire life. And she could kill me with the same ease it took her to kill Stygus. There was no way I was better warrior than Astral Victory had been.

I was proud of the fact that I kept my face completely neutral as I held my hoof out to shake hers. She grabbed it hesitantly, and glanced over at Chase. “Your sister’s an odd-”

I ignited my hoof blade.

With the way my hoof was being held, the crimson red blade passed straight into her heart. It didn’t matter what kind of warrior I was, or how powerful she was. It didn’t matter what she could do to me.

Because she never had the chance to do any of it.

The blade to her heart killed her instantly, and she froze where she was. The lights in her eyes faded and the voids grew. Then the delayed wounds from the ghost blade took effect, and my hoof was sprayed with blood. Then she collapsed, my blade passing out the side of her chest.

Chase stood there, staring at me in shock as I lowered my hoof and the blade sunk back into the handle. After a moment she said, “Nicely done.”

“What’s an Element Bearer?” I asked Chase with a frown.

“I’ll explain later,” she replied and bent down. The necklace was undone and thrown into her saddlebag. “Come on, we need to get out of here, now. Wipe off some of that blood, and we’re flying out.”

I nodded and cleaned the blood from me with some bed sheets, before I followed Chase out the front of the tent. None of the pegasi looked at us twice as we spread our wings and flew away from the army.

I couldn’t help but glance over my shoulder.

Castle Blackrock, my home for the past fourteen years. Now it was a tomb. All the nightkin who I’d known and grown up with were dead and strewn over the floors and slumped against the walls and dripping from the ceilings... I swallowed and looked back ahead, blinking tears from my eye.

And Luna was still nowhere in sight.

The sun burned against my skin, making me sweat as it shined in my eyes and made me squint. In silence, I followed Chase towards... I didn’t even know. Where were we going? Why? If Luna was gone, what was there left for us?

Please Luna, if you’re out there, find us.

Save us.

I need you.