Newly curious about a mysterious threat he'd never heard before, Starry Night resorted to a drastic step. He gave his superior an innocent smile, and whistled.
"You know, I can ask my mother to do something nice for you if you tell me a bit more about this… Flow creature."
Faced with a completely unimpressed raised eyebrow of Bladedancer, Starry's smile withered. He knew it wouldn't work. Bladedancer was nothing if not dutiful, and she was enough of a friend not to push Starry's attempt at pulling out his mother's name too far. This place was secret, their mission was secret, and Bladedancer was the commander of this operation, so Starry had very little to bargain with. He had to try, though, just to see Bladedancer's face.
"Smart stallion," she reached out, patting his head. She was ten years older than Starry, and had far more experience with danger, so she considered him a colt, sometimes, and he didn't really mind, "Now, as I said, the attack really happened. No, I don't know why. I heard some rumors, but those are top secret, so nothing for you. I don't know where Flow came from, or really anything else. All I know is that anyone who got in his path is dead, everyone but me," she looked at the stone floor, suddenly silent.
"Bladedancer?"
"I..." she scowled, "You know I'm a specialist on mobility spells, right?"
Starry nodded. He knew. Teleportation, magical flight, speed boosts, all that was Bladedancer's scale of power, including the ability to use her telekinesis to wield up to five short swords at once, a completely unique talent. Along with her dedication to duty, it made sense she'd made it to the post of the leader of the Paladins.
"It was useless," Bladedancer continued, "I attacked, suddenly this hole appeared in my side armor, and then I felt… so cold. My magic stopped working, and… I've been the target of life draining magic several times in my life. That felt similar. I played dead, prayed to Celestia, and hoped somepony would answer our call for help. That's how I survived. Not really a feat worthy of a Paladin, Starry."
Starry Night grabbed Bladedancer's foreleg, and gave it a reassuring pat.
"Look, if what they said on the Good Fight was at least marginally right, that creature cut through Separated, as well as the entire security force. The fact that you survived to share what happened means more than a heroic death, I'd say."
A relieved smile grew on Bladedancer's muzzle.
"Thanks," she chuckled, "The princesses said the same. I guess I'm the only one who has trouble seeing it like that."
"Survivor's guilt, Bladedancer. That's all that is."
She smacked the back of his head.
"Luna's son, everypony. Shrink extraordinaire."
"Well, I do take after my mother a bit. No dreamwalking, though."
"Good. If I ever see you in a dream then, I'll know I'm going craz-"
Their bodies reacted faster than their minds as shrieking alarm started blasting out of the intercom built into each room of the complex. Years of training took over, and both of them had their armors on within thirty seconds, already galloping towards the main entrance.
The scene which greeted them would make Bladedancer pale if it was possible. Starry Night, though, definitely did, and had to force himself hard so that he wouldn't lose his lunch.
The several ponies thick gate had a triangle cleanly cut out of it, no smoke or anything, as if someone simply took a part of the gate and moved it into the base. Ponies were lying in a circle near the hole, missing limbs, heads or bearing the same clean wounds the gate had suffered. Out of the garrison of twenty elite guards from all branches of pony military, six were left, including Starry and Bladedancer.
In the middle of the carnage stood a solitary equine figure, roughly the size of princess Luna, but lacking both horn and wings. From the stories Starry had heard just moments before, he was clear on who the creature was. It still remained unclear what the creature was, though.
A grey mask covered its face, it wore a short white robe tightly wrapped around its barrel, the back of it barely reaching under its flank, and the hood of which covered its ears and forehead. It indeed didn't seem to possess horn or wings, although a long, tentacle-like tail swished in the air behind the creature. It had hooves, good to know in case of unsuspected weapons hidden under the robe somewhere. Its legs, the only clearly visible parts other than the tail, looked very similar to the legs of Corrupted - no coat, simply dark blue, almost black, skin with clearly defined muscles.
Undead maybe? It looks famished.
Starry didn't think about it further. Something like a lich wouldn't need a horn to focus magic, and would likely ignore normal weapons. They were usually completely skeletal, though. On the other hoof, undead had clear weaknesses, and Paladins specifically knew how to deal with them. Blades slid out of his horseshoes, and he took to the air.
Bladedancer, her five short swords flying around her, and her armor glowing with fresh protective spells, closed the distance quickly but with utmost care. The enemy had a reach of… about three pony lengths, if she remembered the last encounter properly. Something in the back of her head kept nagging her, though. The robe… it was clean, aside from faint stains of blood and some sand. It was new… and familiar. Simple, practical, covering, and allowing for mobility.
Her horn flashed as she let out a bolt of lightning towards this… Flow creature. It was mostly to buy herself time to think and analyze the situation. If it was this easy to harm Flow, he would be a smear on the ground by now.
The spell dissipated a short distance away from Flow. Bladedancer grinned, her memory hadn't failed her. There really was some… field around Flow which nullified her spells. That, in itself, wouldn't be a big deal. There were many spells strong enough to block her offensive magic, but the reach was important. She teleported backwards using a quick blink spell.
"FIRE!" she called out.
In response, the four remaining ponies sat behind launchers of varying degrees of death and destruction pulled their respective triggers.
Bullets disappeared just like her magic had, leaving only thin wisps of silver dust, and the same thing happened with the rockets. The solitary laser beam simply disappeared. Experimentally, Bladedancer, still backing off, swung one of her flying swords through the suspected invisible shield. It went cleanly through. No resistance at all.
That was… good and bad at the same time. Melee weapons seemed to work. Unfortunately, melee range was also extremely likely death.
However, she knew what the pile of now dead defenders hadn't - the method of attack. Flow's weapon had to be invisible, and the strange slashes and the freezing feeling when she'd gotten hit before hinted at some sort of a cursed sword.
"Surround him! Stay three pony lengths away! I'll tell you what to do next," she ordered.
Invisible and extremely sharp weapon maybe, likely a flying one. Still, hidden weapons lost a lot of their power when their secret was out.
They had a chance.
The soldiers entered the danger zone around Flow at once from all sides, Starry being the only remaining pony with wings from the top. He was quick to react when the first splatter of blood hit him, immediately spreading his wings and gliding away as fast as he could.
Whatever Bladedancer's plan was, it failed immediately when slash marks appeared on all entering ponies at once no matter from what angle. Three of Bladedancer's swords got cut in half by the invisible attack. She had used them to measure and slow down a swing, and when she saw the first one break she immediately teleported backwards, suffering only a shallow cut in her chest. The swords, the thick armor, the magical protection, nothing mattered.
Only one unicorn from the first line of defense survived, and he was holding his hooves against his slit throat, trying to stem the bleeding. Starry darted around the suspected area of death surrounding Flow in an attempt to help the gurgling unicorn. When he got close enough, he knew there would be no helping here unless he or Bladedancer knew top notch healing magic. The best thing he could do was to end it-
The unicorn's head split in half, mercifully ending the choking noises.
-quickly?
Starry screamed as he realized it meant that Flow must have moved, immediately lunging forward and flapping his wings to cover as much ground as possible in one jump. Thanking stars that he landed still in one piece, he heard the sound of metal groaning under massive strain.
The flare of Bladedancer's own horn was blinding her as she pulled with all her telekinetic might at the cut out piece of the gigantic gate. With a blow making the ground tremble, she slammed the triangular slab of metal into Flow from above.
Gasping for breath, she took her first step on shaking legs when after several heartbeats of complete silence nothing happened.
"Screw… you..." growled Bladedancer.
Starry Night gathered his own courage a little later, walking over to the piece of debris. Something was wrong. It was lying flat on the floor as if-
A gaping red cut in reality appeared in front of Starry.
-nothing was underneath it.
Starry only glanced into the hole where everything was wrong. It wasn't a window into somewhere else, it was as if there wasn't any existence there to see. It didn't simply devour light, it devoured Starry's attempt at looking. His head immediately ached as it tried to make sense from what had just happened.
Flow used the second Starry spent shaking the pain away to take a step towards him.
"Oh shi-" Starry's eyes went wide as he finally realized what was about to happen. Then he was behind Flow, safely out of the death zone. In the place where he'd been a fraction of a second ago, there was Bladedancer.
Starry's special talent reacted. Being princess Luna's son had its… specifics.
He was young Bladedancer sent to Manehattan from Canterlot castle in order to train with the Order of the Silver Sun in Manehattan, the only organization training teams even remotely capable of fighting Corrupted. She was a simple fresh recruit wearing nothing but a short white robe with a sheath on her belt, looking up to face a white griffon twice her height with a battleaxe which had to be as heavy as she was strapped on his back. The griffon didn't feel keen on military discipline, but he looked like someone who had seen everything the world had to offer despite keeping his youthful appearance.
The memory shifted. Starry was now Bladedancer nearing her thirties. Ponies in golden armors were looking at her, stern and proud. In front of her stood princess Celestia levitating a Paladin helmet. She put it on Bladedancer's head, and Starry felt her pride at finally being accepted into the reformed Paladin order. Princess Celestia was back, the Paladins were back, and the scourge of wild Corrupted was over. Equestria was far from being fine, but things were looking up.
Bladedancer closed her eyes as a headless corpse fell on her. Everything was cold, the cut in her side occupying all her attention. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to die. If by some miracle she didn't bleed out or the creature didn't finish her off, she had to survive and warn somepony that the secret Separated vault got compromised.
The final memory was a simple thought:
"If I let Starry die, Luna will tan my hide so hard."
Starry blinked. The trip through memory lane had lasted only a moment in real life.
"Where is the treasure room?" asked Flow. His voice wasn't deep and growling like Starry would expect, more a matter-of-fact tone of a normal stallion
Bladedancer, frozen with a shallow cut as if something unseen was barely stabbed in her chest, spat at Flow's mask.
"Right between my cheeks," she grinned, pushing herself forward despite the hole in her chest deepening with every inch, and grabbed Flow's neck. Muscles of her forelegs and chest bulging, she didn't intend to let go under any circumstances, and poured all her energy into her horn. From this close, she didn't need combat magic technique or control, she just needed raw power, and she had more than enough of that.
She drew more and more despite the growing chill from the new wound, then she pressed her horn against the mask. All she needed was to released the stored magic…
...and nothing happened. Her horn burned, the gathering energy ignoring her mental orders, but simply cutting deeper into her reserves. A crunch from her forehead almost made her throw up. Cracks spread through her horn, bright light shining through. In horror, she saw a piece of bone drop on her muzzle, then another, and another. She couldn't stop the power drain, it was completely out of her control now.
Starry Night couldn't only watch. Bladedancer's reason for saving him was stupid, and he knew her survivor's guilt played a large role in her decision. Starry wasn't a "shrink", as Blade had called him. However, gaining an insight into a pony's memories and sometimes even future when they used their power on him had meant having to learn how to deal with a lot of mental problems which weren't his own from a young age.
With a deep breath, he charged at Flow from behind. He didn't feel any pain from the cut at first, only freezing cold. He wasn't slashed in half, likely because Flow had expected him to attack, not to simply fly by and smash into Bladedancer head on. He didn't manage to stand up anymore, as colors and time drained from his world.
Bladedancer clutched her horn, and immediately withdrew her forelegs when agony shot through her from its tip to her horseshoes. She would be lucky if her levitation still worked after this. When she saw Flow walk towards motionless Starry Night now shimmering with magic, she corrected herself immediately - it would be a miracle if there was any "after this".
"Contingency stasis spell," muttered Flow, observing frozen Starry for a moment before turning towards Bladedancer, "The only one here."
Thundering boom cracked through the area, echoing from the cavern's high walls. An oval gateway with a blue rim appeared mid-air, letting through a furious dark blue alicorn with mane looking like the vastness of space.
"STARRY!" yelled princess Luna when she spotted her son nearly cleaved in half by what had to be some unnaturally thin edge. The entire room grew cold and dark, tendrils of black smoke appearing from nowhere and lashing at Flow. When they dissipated as soon as they got close to him, Luna switched her offensive magic. Beams of moonlight neatly slicing through the stone and concrete floor focused on Flow, their intensity blinding Bladedancer.
Unfortunately, the shiver running down Blade's spine was colder than anything princess Luna could summon, because when the assault of possibly the most powerful localized magic aside from tactical spells subsided, Flow was still standing inside a ring of frozen rocks.
Luna landed between Starry, Bladedancer, and Flow, her halberd pointing at the untouched enemy.
"You're not taking what's the most precious to me," threatened Luna, eyes narrow and scanning the area with her magic for any threat. To her surprise, there was nothing other than the solitary masked equine looking her from eye to eye.
"Walk a mile in someone's horseshoes," Flow's voice turned into a growl. Behind Luna, Starry's world restarted as the stasis spell faded.
"What?!" she glanced backwards in shock as she heard the pained gasp. During that short moment, a cut appeared in plate armor, reaching deep enough for the princess to feel the chill running through her as if something was being ripped away. With a buffet of her wings, she landed behind Starry with his mouth open and eyes looking into nowhere, cradling him, "No… no no no..."
Her horn flashed, the portal through which she had arrived appeared behind her…
...and closed immediately.
She couldn't get out even through the dream realm. She was its sole ruler, and this… this monster denied her access.
"Where is the treasure room?" asked Flow again.
Luna gasped as she poured magic into Starry in an attempt to heal the wound. Something was preventing her magic from working. She weaved in a scan spell, and her eyes teared up. The blow cut Starry's heart. She needed a real, physical surgeon as well as the best healing magic. She needed to get Starry somewhere safe.
She couldn't do any of that.
"The back room..." groaned Bladedancer, her eyes rolled back from the pain of her ruined horn, "Number… twenty-six..."
If she got executed for high treason, it would still be better than to make Luna lose her son. Maybe they wouldn't be important enough to finish off. Maybe Flow would be satisfied with the information. She didn't dare lie. None of them would get out if she did, she knew that.
Of course, it was all academical if Flow wanted them dead, but she had a feeling that he would simply break into each room one after another if she stayed silent, and considering even the princess couldn't save them…
...it was worth a shot.
A short feeling of falling overtook Bladedancer before she saw bright light and heard multiple panicking voices.
"GET MY SISTER AND TWILIGHT HERE IMMEDIATELY!" a royal Canterlot voice cut through Blade's daze.
Then all the commotion merged into a confusing hum before everything faded away.
Luna stayed with the two, trying to slow down Bladedancer's internal bleeding and Starry's failing heart until the best of the best surgeons assisted by Celestia arrived and took them away. Then she promptly collapsed, overtaken by the feeling of some empty hole inside her devouring all her energy.
Back at the secret vault, Flow stepped over the pool of Bladedancer's and Starry's blood, slowly walking through the complex. Soon, he reached a metal door with numbers two and six painted in it. It shimmered with protective spells, was made of reinforced steel-
Well, you know the security detail of this totally nonexistent place by now.
Three lines appeared in the door before Flow simply pushed a triangle of it out and walked through the hole. The room behind it indeed looked like a vault, namely the one in Canterlot castle, clearly something built from the same blueprint. It held only three items, though, all lying on a cart-sized slab or granite covered in runes, none with any plaque or anything explaining what they were. A sword with a black handle looking like a twisting serpent, an amulet depicting an alicorn head with wings, and an orb filled with red smoke. In fact, to any eyes sensitive to magic all three items would emit a faint red hue signalling they were infused with dark magic.
Flow tossed them all on the ground, and looked at the rectangular stone they had been lying upon.
"A bit… bigger than the first one," he sighed.
Knocking on the door resonated through an office on the top floor of a mansion overlooking the Manehattan sea coast.
"Come in," said the office's inhabitant, still looking out of the window at the harbor. His voice was strange, rather raspy with an unusual buzzing quality to it. Of course, the other huge clue about the equine not being a normal pony was that he was made of metal plates cleanly sliding over what looked like muscles made of cables underneath. As the door opened, he looked at his visitor, faint smile glowing on his mechanical muzzle, "Twilight Sparkle. I suppose you're here to talk about the massacre at the Delta base."
The purple alicorn chuckled to herself despite the gravity of the situation.
"You've got hooves in everything, Bucket."
"That's sort of my job these days," the robot pony's smile grew, and the pupils of his black eyes made of blue segmented circles blinked out for moment, "We're all living on borrowed time, and this time I'd like to know in advance when the world is about to end."
"So, what do you know about the attacker?"
"I know that my information, no matter what it is, will cost you, Twilight."
"This is important, Bucket!"
"So is keeping Silver Sun running, Twilight."
"Can I call in a favor?"
"We don't owe you anything, Twilight," Bucket's voice grew just a tiny bit colder, although it still was on the friendly side, "If there's someone who might call in some favors then it's me."
"Fine," Twilight frowned. She wasn't really disappointed, though. She knew how Bucket ran things, and the contacts Order of the Silver Sun had these days were worth far more than it would cost her treasury, "How much?"
"The usual rate."
Maybe it wouldn't be that much then. Twilight was expecting more out of sheer danger to Silver Sun agents in gathering information this time.
"Deal. So?"
Bucket didn't need to wait for any official contract. Twilight would keep her word.
"An entity we call Flow. We encountered it twice before it attacked the Separated vault. The only thing lost after the attack was an orb covered in ancient alicorn runes. Delta base held a similar thing - an altar with the same writing."
"Wait, you encountered Flow BEFORE?" Twilight blinked.
"Yes. Several observers were taking usual readings near the Badlands, and discovered an entity which ruined their measurements completely."
"And they RETURNED with their findings?"
"Yes, they did. The being wasn't hostile as long as they didn't try to hinder it, we found that the hard way. One of them even asked it who it was, that's where the name Flow comes from."
"You said you found about not trying to stop it the hard way, any combat data?"
"Some, nothing that would make sense to you. My best advice is - don't get in its way."
"We gathered that much..." Twilight scowled.
"Alright, I'll summarize then. I can give you the exact readings for decoding, but I've mined as much data from it as I could, and I doubt you'll do better. Magic doesn't work. Projectiles turns to silver ash when they reach a short distance away from Flow-"
"Short distance isn't an exact measurement, Bucket."
"The danger zone around the entity can expand or shrink. The maximum observed area of effect is five ponies in radius. Defense method against projectiles resembles the effects of true death, the natural divine power of Void, the alicorn of Death. Offensive method causing certain 'slashing' effects is different and entirely unknown to me. As far as we know, it cannot be blocked by any means, physical, magical, or divine."
"Is it… vulnerable?"
Bucket thought for a moment.
"Considering it isn't Nightmare itself, my best guess is a 'yes'."
"That's all?"
"After it cut two observers in half, we stopped trying to find out by force."
"So, you've got nothing that could help us fight it?"
"Analyze what the old alicorn runes on the stolen artefacts mean, Twilight. Find if there are more. The entity is clearly interested in them, and I doubt something of this kind of power means to use their secret for good.'"