Note: I've managed to piss off my editor so she's refusing to edit my chapters, so until further notice expect faster updates with more grammatical and spelling mistakes. In unrelated news, happy Mother's Day to everypony

Chapter 19: … Cast the Darkest Shadows

Everfree Forest
Local time
One month, twelve days since arrival

We spent over two hours searching the town for Steel but we couldn't find him. After finding no trace of him, we split up into four groups and started to search the Everfree Forest. Twilight and Rarity went to see if Zecora knew anything, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew over the forest in a search pattern, Tia and Pinkie went in one direction while Applejack and I went in a different direction, that was over three hours ago. By now Twilight and Rarity have talked to Zecora, they must not have found anything because nopony has come looking for us. The feelings of dread and fear I had increased every time I called his name and got no response. "Applejack it's been over five hours, do you thinks Steel…"
"No, don't even think about it. Ah'm sure he's just fine. He probably just pulled a muscle or somethin'… ah hope." We continued to look for Steel but every minute we spent looking for him our hope started to dwindle. "Applejack, what if we don't find him. I don't think I could stand to lose him not after everything he's done for me and everything we've done together, especially after what happened on our date."

"Steel said nothin' important happened and when Dash started to ask more questions he got really nervous. So what really happened?" If I wasn't so worried about Steel, and only partially paying attention to what she said, I probably would have blushed. "We had a nice meal, talked, did some star gazing, and um… kind of kissed." Once I realized what I said I stopped walking. At first I thought she was too surprised to say anything but when I looked behind me I didn't see her, "Applejack?" Just as I was about to go back and look for her the bushes next to me started to move. I assumed it was Applejack but Steel stumbled out of the bush instead. I gasped as he slowly stood back up, "Steel, are you alright?" He smiled as he limped over to me.

"I'm fine… well mostly. After I lost the manticore that was chasing me thru the forest I started to head back to Ponyville. Unfortunately I fell into a ditch and twisted my ankle. I don't know any healing spells so I could fix it. Do you think you can heal it?" I nodded and placed my horn against his ankle. I was about to begin healing it but something hit me in the back of the head and the world went black.

When I regained consciousness I saw that I was in some sort of cell. The walls were recently repaired, some of the metal bars that comprised one wall and the door were extremely rusty while others looked brand new, there was evidence that plants once grew in the cell, and the entire cell was illuminated by two torches on the other side of the door. The torches gave enough light for me to see the inside of the cell and part of the cell across from mine. As I looked around I saw Applejack chained to the wall across from me, her hooves were bound together by rope, making it impossible for her to stand, and there was a chain around her neck connecting her to the wall. As I stood up I felt some thing on my wings. When I looked back at them I saw that they were tied down by some rope and I also had a chain around my neck connecting me to the wall behind me. I tried to walk over to Applejack but the chain around my neck was too short and I couldn't get halfway across the cell. I tried to remove the chains around our necks, the rope around her hooves and the rope holding my wings in place but they were either enchanted to resist magic or something else was blocking my magic. As I looked around the cell for something I could use to free us I noticed that her hat and my crown were missing. I had to halt my search because Applejack started to move, "Applejack, Applejack." She slowly opened her eyes, tried to look around, and shook her head in an attempt to restore her vision. Once she noticed that her hooves were bound she struggled in an attempt to free them.

"What in tarnation is goin' on here?" By this time I had sat down and I just shrugged in response, "Last thing ah remember is us lookin' for Steel, then ah fell in a ditch. Ah musta hit mah head on somethin'." She tried to free herself while I tried to contact Tia but as I feared something was keeping me from using magic. We stopped what we were doing when we heard somepony laughing. We looked towards the door and saw Steel on the ground laughing. Overcome by happiness I tried to run over to him but the chain kept me a few lengths from the wall, "Steel, you're ok!" He continued to laugh a little longer before he calmed himself. "We need ya to get us outa here before who ever put us in here gets back." He started laughing again and we exchanged a glance, both of us wondering what was going on.

"Oh Applejack, what makes you think I want to help you?" We looked at each other and then back at him. "I know you two aren't the smartest ponies but even you should have figured it out by now. Hasn't it occurred to either of you that I was the one who put you in there?" They gasped, "After I 'disappeared' all I had to do was wait for you to split up. Now that I have you two I just have to wait until the others come looking for you and when they do they'll fall right into my trap. Soon I shall rule all of Equestria." He started to laugh again.

"Steel, what's going on? You're one of the nicest ponies I've ever known, you'd never act like this. What happened?" He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a gryphon similar to the ones that tried to kill me and Tia. The gryphon whispered something to Steel and his eyes slightly widened in surprise. "Well it seems the others got here sooner than I expected." He opened the door and two gryphons entered and detached me from the wall. "Take her to the room. I'll join you in a minute I just need to see if our other guest has any useful information. As the gryphons lead me away I saw a third gryphon close and lock the cell door behind me. I also saw Steel enter the other cell and put up some sort of barrier that kept me from seeing what was happening inside and it also muffled Steel and whoever was in there with him. As I was led away I could hear muffled screams coming from the cell.

POV change: Celestia

Twenty minutes ago…

After three and a half hours of searching I decided it was time to head back to the library and see if the others found anything. When we entered the library I saw Rarity talking to Spike while Twilight and a zebra, who I can only assume is Zecora, were looking over a map. "If this is the direction you heard the screams coming from than we should focus our efforts here." Twilight said while pointing to the area of the map where my old castle's ruins are. "So you didn't find him either?"

She shook her head sadly, "No… but we think we've found out what part of the forest he's in." She gestured to the map again. "Oh where are my manners princess this is Zecora, Zecora this is Princess Celestia" Zecora bowed and I lowered my head slightly. "Well at least we have something. What about the others?" She shook her head and we began to plan where we would search next. As we were looking at the map Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy came in, both of them had worried expressions on their faces.

"Guys we have a serious problem!" Rainbow said, "While we were flying over the forest Fluttershy saw a gryphon and it looked like the ones that Steel said attacked you princess. We followed it to the ruins where we found the Elements of Harmony and when I went inside I found these." She reached into her saddle bag and took out a piece of fabric that looked like it was from Steel's poncho, Applejack's Stetson, and Luna's crown. We could only gasp and stare at them. "I think they were captured and taken to the ruins."

"Girls we have to go now!" They jumped at the tone of my voice but followed me towards the ruins. As we walked Twilight tried to stop me. "Princess, we should get the guards, we can't do this alone." I stopped and looked at her. "I will not allow any harm to come to my sister… or the others. Every second we wait they could be torturing her… them, or worse." At this point I could feel tears starting to form in my eyes. "I don't want them to get hurt because we waited. I lost my sister for a thousand years, I don't want to lose her again, I don't want to lose any of them." We continued on towards the ruins but when we arrived there was no pony around. As we walked thru the ruins there was an eerie silence, we checked some of the intact room and found nothing. We decided that if they were captured and brought here they would most likely be in the dungeon so I lead the way towards it. As we neared where the dungeon was we found a door guarded by two gryphons, the first sign of life since we entered the ruins. "They must be in there, are you ready my little ponies?" They all looked nervous but nodded. I used my magic to knock the guard's heads together causing them to burst into black mist. We quietly opened the door and saw Luna chained to the wall on the far side of the room. "Luna!"

She looked up, "Tia get out of here it's a trap!" Suddenly a magical barrier was put up between me and the girls and another blocking the door we just came thru. The door next to Luna opened and about fifty gryphons rushed into the room followed by Steel. Steel looked at us and smiled, "Too easy. You should try and be less predictable Celestia. Get her!" The gryphons rant towards me and I prepared to defend myself, I hated fighting but knew that sometimes it was necessary. I blasted them with spells and kicked them causing them to burst into black mist, giving me the impression that they weren't living creatures, while the girls pounded on the barrier in a futile attempt to get to me. Eventually I defeated them all only receiving a few scratches. I tried to hit Steel with a concussive blast but he hid behind Luna and levitated a knife to her throat. The door to my left opened and I turned towards it expecting to see more gryphons but I saw Applejack standing in the door way instead. She saw me and stood next to me. I noticed Luna trying to talk to Steel but he only moved the knife closer to her throat. He looked around the room most likely trying to find a way out. Then he got a look in his eyes. "Any final words of comfort for your sister Celestia?" That's when I realized he was going to kill her, "No, too bad." I could only watch in horror as the knife began to move.

POV change: Steel

Five minutes ago…

After I regained consciousness from Shadow Steels latest attempt to get information from me the first thing that registered in my mind was pain, lots and lots of pain. I slowly looked around and saw blood everywhere, it was on the walls, the ceiling, the floor, and there were bloody hoofprints going into the hallway. I couldn't remember if I said anything or what happened, so I looked at my body… big mistake. My condition brought tears to my eyes which only made things worse since the salt from my tears was getting in the cuts on my face. Both my wings were broken, there were large stakes pinning me to the wall, one for each of my legs and smaller stakes for my wings, and my right foreleg was destroyed, it was so bad a butter knife could cut it off. I also saw that I had multiple knives protruding from different points on my body, I couldn't see out of my left eye, and I was having trouble breathing. But the worst part was my ribs, I could feel that many of them were broken and I could see parts of bone thru what was once my chest. Once I regained my composer I looked thru the bars of my cell for anything useful and saw Applejack in the cell across from me struggling against her bonds. I noticed that her bonds were rope, looking around my cell I saw a table with some unused knives and I levitated one over to her. I was barely able to move the knife, the magical aura surrounding it kept flickering and the knife constantly shook, all indicators of the trauma my body sustained. I saw her eyes following the knife until I dropped it next to her. She immediately grabbed it and started cutting the rope.

As soon as she was free she ran up to the door and started to buck it, hopping to knock it off its hinges or break it down completely. After many failed attempts I focused on turning the lock with my magic. However instead of turning the lock I shot a concussive blast at it. The blast hit one of the newer bars in my cell so I tried to create another one, this one went thru my cell's bars and hit the lock causing it to shatter and the door to open. She ran over to my cell, most likely to try and figure out who I was. "Don't worry, ah'll get ya out of there. But first ah gotta save Princess Luna." She then took off down the corridor. When she said Luna was in trouble something clicked in my mind. "Luna, no… I won't let her suffer because of my mistake." I used what strength I still had and teleported myself off the wall and to the other side of the cell bars. I looked back into the cell and saw the stakes holding me on the wall were still in the wall. As I shuffled my way down the hallway it became easier to walk, "Thank god for adrenalin." At first I went the same way Applejack went then at the first intersction I just followed my gut. After a couple of minutes of limping/ shuffling I came to an open door and saw Celestia and Applejack staring down Shadow Steel who was behind Luna, had a knife to her throat, and still looked like me.

"Any last words of comfort for your sister Celestia? No, too bad." I saw him start to move the knife. I don't know what it was maybe it was the adrenalin, maybe it was the love I had for Luna but using my magic I ripped out one of the knives from my body ignoring the pain, as it came out I could feel muscles being ripped. Once the knife was out of my body I threw it at Shadow Steel. The knife imbedded itself in his shoulder causing him to drop the knife he was magically holding. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Celestia, Applejack, Twilight and the others, who were behind some sort of barrier, look at me and gasp. I didn't pay much attention to them because I was too busy trying to create another concussive blast. I noticed Shadow Steel pull the knife out of his shoulder and through at me. I jumped out of the way and fired a concussive blast at him, at the same time I saw the knife he dropped coming at me. I had no time to dodge this sceond knife and it landed in my chest between two ribs. My blast knocked Shadow Steel into the wall giving Luna time to move as far away from him as possible and Celestia time to pin him to the wall. At the same time he hit the wall the barriers in the room disappeared allowing the Twilight and the others to help. Knowing Shadow Steel was contained I staggered over to the nearest wall and leaned on it. "Two Steels, how is this possible?" They all looked at me and Shadow Steel while I slowly slid down the wall. You know when actors slide down the wall and leave a blood smear where they started, I did one of those, if I wasn't in so much pain I probably would have thought it was pretty cool how that actually works.

While Celestia held Shadow Steel against the wall the girls helped free Luna from her bonds. Once she was free she looked between the two of us. "Tia, I have an idea!" she exclaimed. "One of them has to be using a spell or some sort of potion. We could use a spell to cancel the effects and find out who the real Steel is." While they were talking I felt, then saw, a puddle of blood forming around me. Looking down at my chest I saw the knife still in my chest and the wound leaking blood, seeing how large the puddle of blood was I was afraid the blade hit an artery. I slowly pulled the knife out, once it was out the amount of blood coming out of the wound tripled. I tried to stop the bleeding but it was futile, as I tried to stop it I saw a pair of lavender hooves stop in front of me. Looking up I saw Twilight's horn glowing, she touched her horn to mine and I felt a wave of power wash over me. After the spell was over I channeled the left over energy into healing the knife wound in my chest and managed to cut the bleeding in half. I looked around and saw that Shadow Steel reverted to this original form. He growled and four gryphons dropped from the rafters surprising Celestia. In her surprise she lost focus and Shadow Steel was freed, he quickly flew out the skylight. Celestia and Luna swiftly dealt with the gryphons and Luna rushed to my side followed by the others. I barely noticed their presence because I was focusing all my efforts into stopping the bleeding. I felt somepony caress my cheek and felt tears on my back causing me to wince in pain, salty tears in open wounds kind of stings. "Tia we… we have to do something. Steel needs help." Celestia teleported all of us to the castles medical wing and they put me in one of the beds. Luna stayed by my side while everypony else went to get some doctors.

Luna held my hoof in hers while she cried. "Steel, you're… you're going to be fine. Tia and the others are… are going to get the doctors, you'll be fine." By this time I knew it was pointless to try and stop the bleeding, all I could do is keep as much blood inside my body as possible. With out a doctor there was no chance I would make it, even with one there was almost no chance I would make it. I looked at her with tears in my eyes. "No, I'm not. There's nothing anypony can do. I'm sorry but its… its too… too late." By now we were both crying and I decided to do something stupid but at least I would see her smile one last time.

(Sing Together by Train)

If I go before I say, to everyone in my ballet,
Let me take this chance, to thank for the dance.
If I run out of songs to sing, to take your mind of everything.
Just smile, and sit a while with the
Sun on your face and remember the place we met.
Take a breath and soon I'll bet you see,
Without you I would never be me.
You are the leaves of my family tree.

The pain left and my body felt numb.

Sing together,
If you knew me from the very start,
Or we met last week at the grocery mart.
Just, sing together,
It's the least that I could do,
My final gift to you.

I couldn't hear Luna crying any more, all I could hear was a ringing sound.

When I'm past the pearly gates, I will find some real estate,
Where we can settle down and watch the world go round.
We'll send down all the love we got,
And let them know we have a spot,
For them to be, and it's all free.
The sun on your face and remember the place we met.
Take a breath and soon I'll bet you see,
Without you I would never be me.
You are the leaves of my family tree.

My vision faded and the last thing I saw was Luna smiling at me with unshed tears in her eyes

Sing together,
If you knew me from the very start,
Or not at all you're still a part.
Just, sing together,
It's the least that I can do,
My final gift to you.

POV change: Luna

"I lo-love you-u… Luna…" As his eyes closed his hoof went limp and I started to cry again. "Steel… Steel!" I attempted to get him breathing by using EPR (Emergency Pony Resuscitation). Most ponies would have passed out by the amount of blood that was coming out of his body but I didn't care. I tried every thing I could but it was no use. I buried my head in his bloody chest and cried just as Tia returned with the doctors. Tia led me out to the waiting room where I buried my head in her chest while I continued to cry. I was only minimally aware that I was turnning her white coat red. Soon I heard somepony running, I looked up and saw Cadence.

"What happened, where's…" One look at my face and she knew what happened. "I'm sorry… this shouldn't have happened. After everything that has happened to you, to both of you, everything you've been thru, you two deserved to be happy." I nodded and stared at the ground. "Don't worry Luna, Steel will pull thru." Tia tired her best to comfort me but it wasn't working. "Steel's going to be fine." They both did their best to cheer me up, it was useless. The first pony I've ever loved was dying I couldn't do anything to help him, it seemed hopeless.