BitS Chapter 12: Cry Thunder

Beacon in the Shadows

or

Cheerilee’s a Paladin

Chapter 12: Cry Thunder

By DigitDaemon

~~~~~

At the end of a journey
And the start of a war
Our hero’s lie weary
Of the ending before

The black knight has fallen
Yet one pawn remains
It has crossed over the board
And reached undetained

It’s conversions beginning
But rises not a queen
The black wings unfurl
To reveal the unseen

A terrible shadow
Now crosses the game
And smothers the light
And burns it in flame

But out on the field
A single tower stands
It’s light a beacon
It’s hope not unfound

And now we must watch
As the last match begins
And either Equestria prevails
Or falls before sin

This battle is not ending
But only starting to unfold

~~~~~

Luna, in the form of Nightmare Moon, stood above the lifeless corpse of her opponent. After a moment's contemplation she snaked her magic up into the sky and gently nudged the celestial objects back into their proper place. Not long after there was another burst of powerful magic as she was joined by her sister.

“Lulu, you know that form scares me.”

“I am aware of this sister, but intimidation is important in fighting, and I am not yet sure that the fighting is over.”

Celestia walked up to her sisters side to inspect the result of the duel. “He appears dead to me.”

“Indeed, he is, but I can’t help feeling that as I struck him down, there was a whisper, from the edge of reality.”

The two were interrupted by Shining Armor and Braeburn entering the sanctuary. Both of them immediately took defensive stances upon the sight of what appeared to be Nightmare Moon.

Luna turned absentmindedly towards the two and gave them an exasperated sigh. “Please my loyal subjects, be not afraid of my form, ‘tis simply a...kind of armor.”

The two looked at Celestia for reassurance.

“She’s fine.”

Braeburn and Shining Armor let out a collective sigh of relief. Though as they walked up to join the sisters overlooking the crater in the center of the floor, it was clear that they still weren’t too comfortable with being in such close proximity with a being, or at least the image of a being that was synonymous with nightmares and misfortune.

“As I was telling my sister,” Celestia continued, “This is finally over.”

“Celestia, dear friend, what has made somepony as wise as you, so bold to assume.”

The echoing voice bounced among the ruins. making the speaker hard to pinpoint. The loud clopping of hooves however gave away the speakers location.

The group of four ponies turned towards one of the many holes in the sanctuary walls and found a slate grey earth pony entering, followed by Cheerilee, who was carrying a wrapped package upon her back.

“Onyx, perhaps I should ask what makes you so bold as to steal from me a valuable fighter?” Celestia replied matching his mock surprise with her own disdain.

“She had training to do, very important train if we all wish to survive this next fight.”

“But the fight is over, my sister saw to that.”

“Yes, but did your sister not also hear a voice? one at ‘the edge of reality’?”

Celestia’s own confidence began to crumble under the persistence of the argument. Two ponies she trusted with not only her own life but everypony else’s were convinced that there was more going on, and she knew she would be a fool not to listen.

“So, what next.”

“This pony you both just fought, he said he had captured a demon within himself?”

Luna nodded excitedly, “Indeed, in the end twas no help though, his weakness was obvious.”

“Exactly. according to what your paladin tells me, he captured the demon of lies and deceit. The three of us are well aware that a Demon of the Greater Hells Court, is not nearly so weak. In fact the only thing that would be able to stop such a beast is an angel, and seeing as how Deceit killed Justice in the last Demon war, even that is hard.”

Luna and Celestia both pondered Onyx’s words, but Shining Armor got to speaking first.

“So he was just faking it.”

Onyx shook his head, “No, this fool really did bring Deceit over from the Abyssal Plains but he did not truly trap the demon within himself. He placed Deceit in a small dimension of his own creation and has been using the magic that slowly permeates into our realm. Unfortunately, the draw strings on this dimensional bag of sorts are the lay lines that cover his body and as many of you can see, they are weakening.

The group looked back down at the body, and sure enough, the lines were fading.

Luna and Celestia suddenly became spooked at this turn of events, the rest turned to Onyx for answers as to what frightened the two most powerful beings on the planet.

“When they break, the beast will be free. In his hunger, he could consume the entire population of canterlot before truly taking shape.”

Cheerilee took the initiative and suggested the next course of action. ”We need to throw the body off the side of the city. it’s empty on the plains below he will rise weak and easily stopped.”

Onyx gave the paladin an impressed nod, “Indeed, but time is of the essence, we must move quickly.”

Shining Armor nodded, and before anypony could react, he grabbed the corpse in his magic and teleported away. Luna and Celestia both turned to Cheerilee.

“Thou doth have the means to fight it, correct?” Luna asked.

“Yes, I can...fight it.”

“You hesitate, art though unsure of yourself.”

Cheerilee shook her head vigorously, “No, it’s nothing.”

“Very well, I shall bring you to the walls of the castle, brace thyself.”

In a flash, both Luna and Cheerilee vanished from the room.

Celestia turned to the gunfighter and with a small, dismissive gesture, he left the room.

“Onyx, it has been a long time, I assume my sister summoned you.”

“That she did, I am a little surprised she still sings to me,” Onyx gave the princess a sad smile.

“I am not, you know that you did what you had to, and she understands that, and more over she loves you.” Celestia walked up to the grey stallion, and gave him a hug.

“You two will be together soon enough, I think we both know that.”

Onyx simply nodded in confirmation.

~~~~~

From up on the castle walls, Luna and Cheerilee watched as Shining Armor had an animated conversation with one of the ponies that had not surrendered during the fight. After a minute, the guard captain turned around and with a pop of magic joined the two on the wall.

“Pray thee, tell us what hath transpired.”

Shining Armor shook his head in anger, “The fools, they say that he deserves a proper burial. I tried to warn them, but they said I was just trying to deface his body by dropping it from the city.”

“We see.”

Luna looked around nervously for a moment unsure of what to do.

“Captain, I believe that this would be a good time for the use of thy shield, if you would please, cover the castle.”

He nodded and after a few second of charging magic on his horn, a translucent purple bubble rose up around the defending forces, leaving the edge of the city where the ponies still loyal to the Children of the Night were located, unprotected.

The three on the wall, and the many other soldiers still at their posts watched in morbid fascination for something to happen. It was deathly quiet, in fact it took many of the guards a moment to realise that their own voices were being suppressed, as if they were talking underwater. A few panicked, but many were reassured by the lunar princesses presence up on the wall with them.

The sight down in the city below quickly went from muted fear to panic as the wind began to blow around them, it pushed the rebel ponies towards a central location, the place were Silvered Tongue’s body had been set. The vacuum force steadily grew in strength, becoming so strong that the shield around the castle was bending towards the source and Shining Armor had to strain to hold it together.

As the group of ponies closest to the center point lost the strength to fight to every growing anomaly they were dragged one by one into something that looked like a small black sports ball. The sphere grew as more and more ponies were dragged in and along with the increase in size came an increase in pull. The gravity well grew and grew until it had consumed the entirety of the remaining rebel forces and then, the inward pressure collapsed, letting out a huge burst of wind, so strong that it tore apart the shield surrounding the castle. The ponies up on the wall were saved only by the quick reflex to duck behind the parapet.

The guards slowly recovered from the physical onslaught of what had just occurred, but many of them would never fully recover from the massacre that they had just witnessed.

Shining Armor stood mouth agape, “They’re all...dead?”

Luna gave the walls a quick sweep of her gaze, insuring that the defences still held. “Indeed Captain, thou hast witnessed just now a great tragedy. The events unfolding now hath not only slain many defenseless, but hath also consumed their souls and eternally damned them.”

When Princess Luna finished, the first real implication of the current situation began to sink in with those in earshot. This was no longer a conventional war. Death did not just mean the end of life anymore, it meant the end of everything. No chance of reaching the realm of angels, instead, there souls consumed to fuel an demonic rampage.

The settling dust gave away the first sighting of what became of the murderous black hole. In the center of the city stood an impossibly large ape like figure. It’s head appeared to be a skull only thinly covered in a layer of dark grey, diseased flesh. It stood on two legs, feet covered in mangled scales. The creatures chest was made up of bones, held together and molded by old cobwebs. Its arms appeared to be exposed muscle, just as rotten as its face. At the end of each of it’s grotesque arms were two huge hands, ending in sharp, ragged claws.

“Ponies of Equestria...” the demons booming voice was accompanied by the stench of bloodshed and rot, “It is a dark night for you, and I am so happy to be here to see it. I always assumed that it would be my brothers who broke the seal into your world, but instead, one of your own kind so foolishly brought armageddon here. I would describe his ego as contemptible, thinking he could command my strength, but he has provided such a great first meal that I must thank him for his sacrifice.”

The guards up on the wall were only a pin drop away from crumbling in fear. They had fought everything from manticores to their own dark princess of the night, but never had they been given the possibility of total and absolute destruction and never from a creature so powerful and gruesome as the one that stood before them now.

“It is quite the buffet laid out before me, but I would hate to indulge and leave my soldiers hungry...Rise, beasts of the nether!” With an upraised motion of Deceits palms, spectral forms began to climb through the fabric of space. Several guards took the initiative and began to try and fight them, but they’re sword strokes did nothing to the ghostly forms. “Feast upon the weak!”

Upon the demon’s command, the spectral warrior suddenly took form and without hesitation, set about tearing the pony army to pieces. Within the few moments of surprise, the guard stationed on the wall had been reduced to less than half its number. Seeing no chance for holding off the new attackers, Luna rose up and called out, “Everypony, fall back to the castle.”

Shining Armor, Cheerilee and Luna did there best to fight off the lesser demons pursuing the retreating forces, but their combined efforts only managed to save a small number of ponies, and soon it was necessary for Luna to teleport the three of them to the castle themselves.

~~~~~

Cheerilee and Onyx came to a halt as they reached the end of the tunnel. The passage opened up into a massive chasm that had at some point filled with water. in the center of the underground lake was a small island. at the islands center was an object that was actually generating enough light to give the two a dim awareness of their surroundings.

Onyx sat up against the side of the tunnel and once again began whispering to himself, Cheerilee didn’t know why but it seemed like the air current that ran through the cave would answer him with a haunting, windswept melody. She disregarded her guide, he had warned her earlier that he could only take her so far anyways. She walked up to the edge of the crystal clear pool and saw in little bits of debris beneath the surface, that despite the placid look, there was a strikingly fast current underneath, definitely too fast to swim through.

As she drew her hoof back she noticed that there was something cut into edge of the rock, she recognized it as an ancient form of Abyssal, regardless, she couldn’t read it.

“Onyx? can you translate this for me?”

Onyx looked up at her, “Translate what?”

“It’s something written in Ancient Abyssal.”

“I can’t read Abyssal, are you sure you're not mistaken?”

Cheerilee looked back to the writing while mentally preparing a response along the line of “of course, I’m not stupid,” but the words died on her lips, the writing was in clear, modern Equish.  

“Nevermind”

The text was only a short sentence, “The depths belong to those weighed with sin.”

Cheerilee pondered this for a moment, if the paladin code was any measure of sin, she should be fine, but she certainly couldn’t just walk across, could she? The purple mare tentatively placed a hoof out in front of her and found that the waters surface did not part or yield to it. She more confidently placed her other front hoof on the glassy surface and was soon walking carefully across to the island at the center.

When Cheerilee got to the shore of the underground island, to her surprise, she found it covered in green grass and white lilies. At the very center of the small patch of earth was the object that had been lighting the cave, an old rusted blade, covered in corrosion and barely holding its simplistic form. The paladin walked up and touched it, but to her dismay, the rusted blade shattered at the touch of her hoof.

“What is going on here? That can’t be the sword, it must be a trick.”

Cheerilee turned away from the spot where the blade had rested and nearly jumped out of her skin. Before her stood a ghostly ethereal figure. It had the wings and head of an eagle but slender, pale arms coming off of a sort of barrel like upper body that ended not in legs but in the serpentine body of a snake. It was clear by the graceful curves of the creatures upper body that it was female and there was an almost palpable aura of calm emanating from her.

The creature spoke in soft, musical tone, “Cheerilee, do not be afraid, for it is I that you have come here seeking.”

Cheerilee took a moment to catch her breath before speaking, “You mean...You’re Justice?”

The figure smiled, “That is, or rather, was my title, yes. You may call me by my name, Vesper.”

“Nice to meet you...uh Vesper,” Though she was no longer scared, being in the presence of an angel, even a dead one, was still very imposing, “I don’t want you to think I am rude, but I am in a bit of a rush, is there any chance I could borrow your sword.”

“It is true, you are running out of time,” Vesper raised her hand up to her beak and scratched it in thought, “I am afraid however that as you just saw, my sword has not aged well.”

“That was yours?”

“Indeed it was, and I doubt it will do you much good as it was nothing but iron and leather, but let me lend you my wings instead, so that they may carry you in the name of justice and salvation.”

The chamber lit up in a much brighter glow then had previously hung in the air. Air spun around the cave in a strong, but not unbearable vortex around the two on the island. The light pouring from Vesper was actually so bright that Cheerilee was unable to see the angels form, but unlike the harsh light of the Sun that would cause her to squint, her eyes were instead pulled towards it. When the commotion finally ended and the light faded as well, Vesper’s ghost was gone and instead a new sword rested were the angel had previously floated.

The blade was inscribed with intricate symbols that radiated a soft blue energy and the guard was a pair of wings with a serpent's tail that coiled and twisted around the handle. As Cheerilee walked up to it, she found the the blade extended out past the length of a normal broadsword but as she lifted it up, it was no heavier than the much shorter longsword she normally wielded. The purple mare placed the sword on her back, sliding it into the scabbard on her armor that had adjusted to fit the swords size.  As she sheathed it, a voice whispered in her ear, Vespers voice.

“This blade will grant you the strength you need to fight the darkness that is soon to arrive, but should you truly need my powers in your battle, they will come at a cost.”

Cheerilee grunted and tried pulling the non-existent covers back over her, not quite conscious enough to register the white mare prodding her in an attempt to wake her up. Another gentle shake however and the blanket of sleep finally slipped away from the paladin’s mind.

“Ugh...Flurry? What's going on?”

Lieutenant Flurry Wing playfully rolled her eyes and sighed “Well, after you refused to rest after the third insistence from Princess Celestia, Luna placed a sleeping spell on you to ensure that you would be ready and rested when they needed you. Now they need you, things have gotten...” the pegasus’s smile faltered, “Bad.”

Cheerilee nodded solemnly, “Where are they?”

“They are holding conference in the front atrium, they figure that way if the demons break through, the strongest warriors will already be there to fight them.”

“But what about the princesses? They are in danger there.”

“I’m not sure you understood what I was saying, as far as we can tell, The princesses magic is the only thing that can fight those demons, they are our strongest warriors.”

“But how can that be, while we were retreating, I was able kill them with only my sword.”

“And you sword is made of?”

Cheerilee thought for a moment, “Steel? Well, magic steel I guess.”

“And whose magic?”

Cheerilee’s face fell, “...Celestia’s”

Flurry Wing nodded grimly, “See?”

“Yeah, we better get going.”

The pair made their way down a flight of stairs and entered into the main atrium. The overall atmosphere was grim, in one corner was a makeshift triage center for those that were wounded but not so much as they could not fight at all. The entire remaining standing force was grouped up in the atrium as well, except for the archers and sharpshooters who were stationed in the upper story windows and towers. The entire group in the room didn’t number more than three hundred.

The two approached the command group in the center of the room; Luna was issuing orders to the head of the ranged squads while Celestia was having a hushed conversation with Onyx.

“Uhm, princesses,” Flurry Wing said quietly, nervous about interrupting them, “I brought her.”

Celestia looked over her shoulder and gave a soft smile, “Thank you. You look exhausted, I would ask you to get some rest,” her smile faltered, “But I’m afraid we need every pony here.”

“It’s alright princess, I know what must be done.”

Luna finished her own conversation and turned to meet the newcomers. “Ah, thank you for joining us paladin, we must discuss strategy.”

Cheerilee nodded and Onyx and Celestia moved around to form a circle with them.

“The situation of present is most dire,” the lunar princess continued, “We have only one chance to still claim victory, and we all agree that defense will only kill us in the long term.”

Cheerilee nodded again in consent.

“Thus, a counter attack is all that is left. You hath successfully retrieved the means of this demon’s end, correct?”

“Yes Princess.”

“Good...If thou wouldn’t mind, may we see it?” Luna asked in an almost embarrassed manner.

Cheerilee pulled the wrapped object off of her back and with a sort of half flourish, unwrapped it. The blade glowed noticeable, despite that it was almost midday, in fact, it almost glowed brighter because of the bright sunlight. Cheerilee held the sword above her head, and the glow wrapped around the confines of the large room. As it reached the soldier, each and every one of them seemed to stand a bit straighter, the wounded, who were limping before, now stood sturdy on the floor, and walked with seamless gait. The thoughts of fear and lost hope were washed away with a desire for justice, peace and strongest, a feeling of hope. Pain and tiredness were forgotten as all of the ponies seemed to take a collective breath of fresh air.

“Hazzah! Thou hast not only retrieved thy weapon, but hath returned with justice as well. With this we can now fight.”

Celestia gentle cleared her throat, “Luna dear, perhaps we should inform Cheerilee of the plan before we jump out of the gate.”

“Ah, forgive me. Our plan is quite simple, The fourth cavalry will charge out followed by thyself and the remaining guard. They will clear a path to Deceit and the guard will hold it for as long as they can, thou must slay the beast as soon as possible as the demon army is still too great to hold off for long. Thy will have the archers covering thyself as well as my sister and I. Do not hesitate.”

“Okay,” Cheerilee took a deep breath, “I’m ready when you are.”

Luna turned and addressed the rest of the room, “Form up, get into position. We charge in one minute.”

There was a quiet scramble as the different ranks formed and Cheerilee took her place behind the cavalry. She had faced death before in the name of righteousness, but never had she felt that her own abilities had so much weight in a situation. If she failed now, nopony would step up and take her place. She knew she had a chance to win, but she was also Equestrias only chance to win.

As the seconds counted down towards zero, both princesses teleported away, getting into position above the castle and Shining Armor took over the count down. At zero, the unicorns manning the doors shot them open and the entire column raced out into the ruined city. The initial shock for the demon soldiers near the doors was not great, as they had probably been expecting a counter attack, but as they casually lined up to head off the assault they were quickly struck down under the coupled forces of the desperate charge and Justice’s resurgent magic. Swords and lances of steel, that had previously not even touched their shadowy flesh, now tore through them with unhindered savagery and arrows and bolts of magic forced them to run or hide beneath the scant cover.

The charge continued farther from the castle and as it did, the concentration of shadowy creatures grew. The regular guard was forced to break off to prevent the column from being attacked from behind while the archers and gun ponies continued to focus fire ahead of the column to weaken the demon’s ranks.

Soon after the regular guard broke off, the fourth cavalry began to run out of momentum and finally were forced to hold their ground as they burst from the wreckage of the outer wall. On the open ground before them all the way to the edge of the city’s balcony was a sea of demons. Deceit stood at the edge of the city, looking on at the spectacle with mild amusement.

Cheerilee drew her blade and ran to the front of the column and began to fight her way forward on her own. The demon soldiers were now weary of her and attacked not with the ferocity she had seen before but with more tact. Unfortunately for them, they were still out of Cheerilee’s league and they fell by the dozens to her blade. One would leap at her while another one dashed at her legs, only to find a blade which had just finished cleaving its brother in half, with the same swing, was there to meet it as well.

The one advantage they did have however, was numbers, and though the sword had boosted her own strength, Cheerilee was running out of energy fast. With one final push she came to the feet of the demon lord. The push came at a cost however, she was panting hard and no longer had the energy to hold her two hoofed fighting stance,. She gripped the blade in her mouth and stared at the ground as she tried to catch her breath.

“Look at you little pony,” Deceits booming voice rang out, shaking the edge of the city platform, “You are faced with certain death and yet you still fight with such courage and selflessness, quite admirable. Unfortunately for you, you are spent and now, like the rest of your people, will die like the annoying little insect you are. Any last words?”

”The lesson you must learn is not by speech, I want you to find your inner strength. Only with it, will you be able to protect the kingdom in this coming war.”

Cheerilee took a few more ragged breaths and then spat her sword out, “You have come into our world,” her words were almost a whisper, but with each syllable her voice grew a little stronger, “Destroy our homes, take from us the things we need to survive,” her voice was now a quiet yell, “and kill the ponies we love! And you expect me to just die?!” Motes of light began to form around the paladins body, she looked straight into the demon lords eyes, her glare focused and filled with righteous fury. She finished with a roar loud enough to to be heard back at the castle.

A blinding wall of light exploded out from Cheerilee and swept away the lesser demons leaving most of them in pieces while the guards ponies still fighting were left unharmed. The force was so powerful in fact that even deceit had been knocked off of the balcony, and was now supported by his grotesk leathery wings.

As light faded and the paladins form became more clear, it was apparent that more had changed. The figure that stood at the edge of the city was not a deep purple but instead radiated a warm white light and her eyes were a solid glowing green. The armor on the figure was not the hefty steel that had once adorned her, but instead a flowing white cloak with gold and silver and bronze stitched into the seams and in an elaborate pattern of symbols in the shape of an eagle. In the apparitions hooves was not a sword, but instead a long pole ending with an elegant blade.

Deceits mouth curled into a frown and his brow scrunched up, “How?! I killed you once, and yet you stand before me.”

“As long as there is injustice in this world, there will be those who seek to correct it,” Cheerilee's voice came forth in calm and steadfast manner, but each word was accompanied by an echo, as if someone else was speaking with her, “Now I will be able to finally correct the damage you did so many aeons ago.”

Deceit hovered, reactionless for a moment before speaking again, “You may have returned as I have, but I killed you once, and I will do so again. Your arrival changes nothing, this world will still fall!”

Without warning, Deceit swung his massive hand down onto the city’s platform, shaking the entire city in massive tremors. When he lifted his first however, there was no remnant of the holy warrior that had been standing there moments ago. Before  he could recover and find his target, he screamed out in pain as the paladins halberd sliced down his back. He spun around and found his opponent flying in front of him, carried by great feathered wings that were not quite real, but not just illusion either.

~~~~~

The two royal sisters hovered above the castle walls and watched as the battle between Justice and Deceit raged on before them.

Luna looked nervously back and forth between her sister and the fight, “Sis, will she succeed?”

“I don’t know, she is much stronger than him right now, but-”

“She is burning out fast, yes I doth see it as well. Does she know what she is paying?”

Celestia nodded her head slowly, “We both know that justice does not hide nor lie. If she is sacrificing her own life force in exchange for the power to fight him, she does it by choice.”

“Will she survive it though?”

“I don’t know.”

“But her daughter, what will happen to her?”

“If the worst happens, she will not have to suffer for long, but will suffer forever,” Celestia let out a long sigh, “If Cheerilee succeeds but doesn’t survive, she will have to be told, but I will do so myself and be sure that Symphony knows that her mom didn’t just die a hero, but she died saving every other creature on this planet.”

Celestia wrapped her wing around her younger sister to comfort her. Luna accepted the gesture and pressed herself up against her sister.

~~~~~

Cheerilee collided head on with Deceit’s curled fist and was thrown back shedding feathers in a trail behind her. She recovered quickly though, no signs of the hit on her body. She felt the damage however; someponies describe a feeling before they finally pass away, a kind of calm tiredness that eventually creeped up on them and let them know that it was their time. Cheerilee was beginning to feel the way she imagined they had felt, except the feeling wasn’t creeping up on her, it was barreling towards her faster than she had ever seen any pegasus fly.

She dodged another punch and the sudden blast of energy that followed behind it and dashed in for another hit, this time slicing through his upper eye lid, his reflexes saving him his eye by only a hair. He flew backwards and threw another wild punch and this time a jet of fire from his mouth.

In the trading of blows, Cheerilee was beginning to see a pattern, when she would dash in for an attack he would move back because she was inside his defense and hard to physically attack, on top of this, his wings were powerful but slow.

After dodging another attack, the paladin dove back in for a hit, this time though, instead of taking a mighty swing, she made short slashes that took virtually no time to recover from and was able to do a lot more damage before his clawed hand finally forced her to jump away. Continuing with this strategy, she was able to wear him down to the point that he was noticeably more sluggish and his response time to her attacks was too long to be of any danger to her. Despite this however, Cheerilee knew that the beast was far from dead and if she waited to much longer he would just slip back into the nether from which he came.

She summoned up the last of her strength and the last of her life and manifested it into a towering blade of light. Deceit watched in horror as the blinding white sword grew higher and higher, he tried to run but the spiritual pressure given off by the paladin was far too great and it held him in place like the very bug he had once mentioned, caught in a fine silken web. The remaining ponies in Canterlot were frozen in awe at the sight of the blade, which shone like a beacon to all of Equestria. And as any good beacon it was not just admired in Canterlot, but all of the nation on that side of the mountain range as well as some of the lands farther out.

With one final look over all the land she had saved, Cheerilee let the blade fall...and with it she fell too.