An Audience with the Queen

[Nightbow]

"Because you watched the Queen hurt my friend and you didn't even protest."

Knight Shade was left with his mouth hanging open. It was true. But he couldn't let them do this!
He felt Kaliani land her suckerpunch right over his left eye and plummeted down where his head hit the floor. Hoofbeats trailed away - they were leaving! But the stallion remained where he was, struck down.

Knight Shade groaned. Queen Eclipse only ever wanted to help them. She was the victim, not to mares. Had they only done her bidding, she wouldn't have had to used her powers to control them.
What ever time would they have come from to be so untrusting and insensitive?

He sat up on the floor, massaging fiercely his forhead.
It struck Knight had, like Kailani's hoof had, that they were dangerous. They knew where the Queen's power could be found, and if they didn't help here retrieve it they would all be stuck in this world forever.

"HELP! THEY'RE ESCAPING!"

And so he sounded the alarm, echoing through the dwindling corridors. Whisper Wind ran, throat sore and tasting of metal. They needed out. They needed out. They needed out.

Amongst the terror the little unicorn couldn't help but feel a sting of hatred sent Knight Shade's way. What was his problem? He must be barking mad, just like his beloved queen. Whisp had to question the sanity of a pony who let his rulers kill innocent teenagers.

She had only made it halfway down the flight of stairs when something cold seemed to push past. The darkness suddenly seemed denser in the entrance hall, and Whisp panicked. What now?

[Becka]

Kail tossed the pendant to Whisp as soon as they started running down the hall. Her hit seemed to work at first, for Knight Shade was silent and dazed, but as they ran she heard his voice ring down the hallway after them.

"HELP! THEY'RE ESCAPING!"

If only she was stronger, she could have knocked him out completely. But now wasn't the time for regrets, they had to run.

"Hurry, Whisp!" Kail yelled as they descended the stairs. They were almost out of the castle, but Kail's stomach clenched in pain and she tripped as something cold passed them. She rolled down the stairs and sprawled at the bottom as he stomach pulsed with fire.

"Go!" she gasped at the unicorn. "Wink!"

[Nightbow]

Whisper Wind was about to skid to a stop, slip on the stairs and fall on her butt, landing her conveniently in front of Eclipse's hooves. But then Kail's voice rang out: "Go! Wink!" And she kept on running.

Wink? The little unicorn felt herself trapped in a nightmare for a second. Her legs where hurting but she could hardly tell. Every sound around her was distant, distorted, buzzing in the back of her brain.

Wink. She bit down on the cold metal chain. Her hooves seemed to move as if underwater as she raced her own fatigue and fear - but the darkness was looming. and she was coming closer to it with every breath.
In its midst was two fixed, pitch black points that where the Queen's eyes, and now her face and body became visible around them.

Wink! Queen Eclipse sprang up on her hind legs, and Whisp was going to fly right into her. She closed her eyes and felt herself breath with desperation, focusing all of her attention on the tiny gap between Eclipse's legs that she wouldn't let her through. She told herself hat beyond that point she would be safe. She had to get there or she would die.

Queen Eclipse smiled maliciously as the unicorn rushed right into her. She slammed her hooves down with all of her force, pushing down on the little body, crushing it against the floor. When her whole weight had been shifted onto that spot while manically laughing in triumph, she realized that there was nothing there.

The tickling sensation was soon over. So soon Whisp felt a little dizzy. It was as if she's been transformed into a flock of fluttering wings, and then the butterflies had settled on the same pistil to once again form a little pony.
When Eclipse turned her head around over her shoulder Whispering Wind had already pushed the big doors open and slipped out into the night.

"KNIGHT SHADE. THE FRONT DOOR." It was useless. The stallion had, unbeknownst to Eclipse, just made it out of his room.
The queen's attention now turned to Kailani. "Leaving so soon? I would very much have liked it if you stayed a little longer." As she spoke she advanced on the pegasus. Slowly. Savouring every moment, watching as the darkness took effect.
"Tell me, what is your affiliation with the Light?" She couldn't let this pony run off and become one of her sisters' agents. This one was special.

[Becka]

Kail thought for a moment that Whisp would stop to help her, but the young unicorn was smart, and she left the peg behind. Thank the Rainbow. Kail wasn't going to make it out with her, but the healer could survive a lot more than Whisp could. She'd find a way to get out, and she'd find Whisper Wind again.

Whisp winked between the Queen's legs and was gone from sight, but the power that rattled through the floor stung the peg. She gasped and curled up on herself, wrapping into a ball and humming the dolphin's song as waves of pain rippled through her with each step the Queen took.

As Eclipse spoke Kail tried to drown her out with the song, but the pain was blinding and soon she could do no more than whimper on the floor.

"Tell me, what is your affiliation with the Light?"

"I already told you," Kail whispered, breathing heavy against the agony pulsing from her stomach to her head and limbs. "It chose me as it's Champion. I'm tied to the Rainbow of Light, and not even you nor the Dark Rainbow can undo it."

[Nightbow]

"I already told you. It chose me as it's Champion."

Queen Eclipse was noticeably taken aback. Something occurred to her. Those Champions of Light - what had become of them? As she looked down at the pegasus, closing in, she sensed something within supposed wielder of the stripe, but not the Rainbow of Light as it had been wielded by Queen Gaia. Did it still reside within her, even as a tiny morsel of its former self?

Queen Eclipse had just assumed that the Rainbow of Light would have been left with her sisters, but this pony spoke of history from thousands of years ago. Was the Light lost in time, just as she herself had been? In that case, did she have the opportunity to grasp them both?

"I'm tied to the Rainbow of Light, and not even you nor the Dark Rainbow can undo it."

There was just no reasoning with this mare. Kailani the Champion would never help her conquer Darkness and Light, or be able to provide any further clues of their whereabouts.
"We'll see about that," she proclaimed softly, bending her neck down over the sea green pony. "As you said, balance will be restored."

Her mane started to wave like a banner in the wind as she drew power from within, tiny sparks of white jumping around her pristine horn to form not a glow, but rather a cluster of light at it's tip.
"I have no further use for you. Good bye, Champion of the Light Rainbow."

It was a bold move, but Knight Shade did not have time to think. He came skidding on the carpet-covered floors from the hallways, confronted with what was obviously his Queen in an attempt to execute the hot-headed pegasus.

Knight Shade could most accurately be described as cowardly, and even if he was most loyal to Eclipse after today he had learned something a year (well, plus a thousand-or-so years) ago that could not be revoked - a sense of right and wrong. And Kailani had just reminded him of that lesson.

"NO!" He tossed himself at Queen Eclipse, hoping to redirect her fearsome lightning. Instead when he made contact with her horn it circuited through the white stallion's body and went back into the Queen's head.
The result became a small boom and a shockwave that pushed both Eclipse and Knight Shade off of Kail.

Queen Eclipse collapsed about ten feet away from her intended victim. Knight Shade fell down the stairs.

[Becka]

"Good bye, Champion of the Light Rainbow."

There was a lot that Kail could survive, but she was positive she wouldn't survive this. As the Queen's horn glowed and pain paralyzed the pegasus she only had one thought.

Razzaroo. I love you.

She squeezed her eyes shut as she waited for the bright, searing pain that would end it all.

But the pain never came. The stallion yelled, and the pulsing fire in Kail stomach melted away to something more manageable. When Kail opened her eyes the Queen was on her side and the stallion was sprawled on the stairs. What had he done? He'd saved her life.

Kail pushed herself onto weak, wobbling legs. She had to get out before the Queen awoke, but she couldn't leave Knight Shade here with her. Kail looked from the door to the two ponies on the floor. She wouldn't be able to heal him, not in her condition, with tendrils of darkness still seeping through her body. And she wouldn't be able to carry him - she could barely stand herself.

Kail plucked a sea-green feather from her wing and tucked it into his mane. "Thank you," she whispered, although he couldn't hear her. "I'll be back."

Then she walked on wobbly legs out the front door. The farther away she got, the more the pain ebbed and the stronger she became, until finally she was able to spread her wings and take to the air.

She had to find Whisp.

[Continued in Ponyville? I can bring Roo from the library, since nothing's happening there and time was bubbled in that thread anyway. Or I can finally bring in Hy.]

[Nightbow]

[Well, Queen Eclipse will definitely awake first, and when she does it will be too late, so yeah we should end it here.
Since it is the middle of the night, I'd like for Whisper to find someplace to go, be it an empty plaza or street corner. Preferably jumping to next morning. Whis and Kail don't necessarily need to start off in the same thread?
If you want to mix it up a little, Hy could find Whisper and Flash (and/or Roo) could talk to Kail.]

[Becka]

[Sounds good. If you want to post with Whisp I'll dust Hy off ]

[Kiernan]

[This was so much fun. I love it. Every time I saw an update, I read it without a moment's hesitation. I'm a little sad that it's over, but, all good things must end, and this was a truly good thing. Just, I love it. I'm looking forward to more threads like this.]

[Becka]

[Don't you worry, Kail and Eclipse have some unresolved issues to deal with now I think you'll see lots of posts like this in the future. <3]