One of these Days

by Wrabbit

First published 1st of February, 2014

Far in Equestria's past, an old threat once more rears it's head, seeking revenge on the princess who thwarted it; a princess that is no more, her life claimed in the effort to destroy it. But this time is different. This time.. it can&

Far in Equestria's past, an old threat once more rears it's head, seeking revenge on the princess who thwarted it; a princess that is no more, her life claimed in the effort to destroy it. But this time is different. This time, it's come prepared. This time, it won't underestimate its enemies. This time... it can't lose.

Just an FYI, even though it says this is a sequel to TSW, it is in fact, a prequel to it. Sorry for any confusion.

Chapter 1: Behind Blue Eyes

ONE OF THESE DAYS

Chapter 1: Behind Blue Eyes

~12 Aevum Illuminationis~

In a secluded garden known to only a few, Celestia wended her way through the unkempt, overgrown foliage. The dense canopy overhead blocked out almost all of her sun's life-giving light, but was unable to completely separate her from it. What few beams of direct light made it through, dappled her pristine white coat as if to spotlight her. The hot, summer air was pregnant with moisture, almost suffocating in its humidity, with nary a breeze to alleviate the oppressive feeling that niggled at the alicorn.

Verily, I wish she would cease these nonsensical visitations. We sealed him away here so that we might finally get on with the business of our lives. With a sigh, Celestia rounded the corner of the path to find what she had expected to find; had found at least once a week since the garden had been magically induced into growing in order to hide the first and only immortal criminal.

Twilight laid on her stomach before the dome-like half of the exposed boulder, a look of pained remembrance upon her face. Her lilac wings lazily flapped in an desultory effort to move the air around her, but she was still covered in sweat. Without turning around, she said, “Still thy tongue, 'Tia. I am quite aware of my mania, but I cannot deny it. I want, nay, need to know what transpired with Draco and Ursa. They wert our friends, and they vanished trying to bring this monster down like the morning fog before thy sun.”

Celestia settled down in the dirt beside her sister and gave her a quick nuzzle. “As do I, Twilight, but we shan’t find the answer by staring into Discord's prison.”

Just mentioning his name sent a chill down both alicorns' spines. Twilight looked down at her hooves, which were pushing around dead leaves, uncovering the soil beneath. “Sooth, I wish I could have attended them when they went forth to put his madness to the sword.” She looked up at her sister, tears formed, but unshed. “Prithee, what dost thou thinkest? Art they safe, but humbl’d in some fashion, 'Tia? Ursa's chosen have dwindled to a mere shadow of their original numbers, and Draco's have become so... withdrawn. Verily, I remember a time when rarely a day went by without seeing at least one of them in one of the pony villages, but now...”

Nuzzling her again, Celestia replied, “I am certs they are safe, Twily. Harken and attend, dear sister. Remember that we are exceedingly difficult to kill; nigh on impossible to do so. I doubt Discord did more than seal them away, much like we did to him in kind. Ere long, his hold on them will weaken, and we'll see them again.” Seeing that her words were failing to have the desired effect, she decided to play her ace. “Come. Nyx awaits you in her library. Did you not ask for her help on your mysterious research project?”

As expected, a crooked smile briefly played across lilac lips before disappearing behind a mock serious facade. “I did, did I not?” With a sigh, she took to her hooves and gave an all-over shake to dislodge the leafy debris that had accumulated on her coat. “Indeed, t’would be passing rudeness to keep her waiting and risk rebuke.”

Celestia smiled at the returned spring in her sister's step, and gave her a good-natured shove as she walked past; a shove that quite naturally turned into a friendly race to the end of the maze-like garden. In the center of the garden behind them, a snail slowly made its way up the gentle curve of the rune-covered stone, a tiny trail of slime marking its passage. Traversing the side of the dolomite sphere, the snail had the misfortune to touch a particularly dangerous rune, and was vaporized instantly, leaving behind a tiny scorch mark. The char crumbled and flaked off, revealing a tiny patch of clean stone. The runes all glowed once before returning to quiescence. An almost imperceptible chuckle broke the still, dead air of the garden.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

~2015 Aevum Illuminationis~

With a critical eye, the sky blue earth pony watched her latest distillation of the dark purple liquid bubble and boil in its glass retort, an occasional puff of pink vapor escaping past the bend in the glass. She scratched down a few notes on the parchment laid out on the table next to her, then turned back around to the small, magical bead under the propped up magnifying glass. With this magnification, she was able to clearly read the runes, and she gave a small, very brief smile of satisfaction.

As I thought. A poison immunity with a minor preservation enchantments. Looks like Open Book will have to be the one to clean out the basement this time. Her smile became more devious as she imagined the smug unicorn covered in dust and cobwebs, something he vehemently detested as being beneath him.

A yellow hoof suddenly clapping her on the back almost made the earth pony drop the bead, and given the size of some of the gaps in the wood flooring, lost for all time. “How's it going, Silly?” Open Book smiled at her, somehow managing to look disingenuous, smug, and lustful all at once.

“The name,” the mare replied with a barely arched eyebrow, “is Silver Script. One would think that a pony studying to become a mage could manage to at least learn the names of the apprentices studying with him.” Silver Script's voice barely conveyed an emotion beyond a monotone, and Open Book seemed to not even notice what she had said.

“So, Silly, what did you find? Is it a spell that creates poison like I said it would be? It is, isn't it?” Open Book asked in a way that bespoke of supreme confidence in his assessment.

Silver Script shook her head, the silvery bangs almost uncovering her left eye. “Poison immunity with a minor sigil to preserve the bead itself.” She hopped off her stool and walked towards the door. “I hope you've finally learned that spell to prevent sneezing fits. It's awfully dusty down there in the basement.”

Open Book looked at the bead under the glass, and an incomprehensible rage overtook his features. He whirled back to the earth pony just as she reached the door. “Just where do you think you're going? Master wanted you to monitor this potion on the burner.”

Without turning around, she replied, “Out. Master Hokum wanted me to deliver a message when you returned from your herb hunt.” She paused, halfway out of the room and looked at her rival over her shoulder. “He also said that you're in charge of the lab until I return.”

“You're just going out to see that so-called friend of yours, aren't you?”

Silver Script's gaze turned forward again, and without a single drop of emotion, said, “Try not to let the potion burn. Hen's teeth are difficult to come by.” The mare left, gently closing the door behind her. She made her way down the rickety tower stairs and into the main floor library, where a middle aged stallion sat at a lectern, poring over a book. Silver Script tapped her hoof twice on the wood floor and cleared her throat. “Master? Open Book has returned and I'm ready to deliver your message.”

The pudgy unicorn jumped in his seat, and turned to face her with a fake smile, a hoof quickly shutting the book in which he was writing. “Ah. Silver. Good. Yes. Ah, here is the ah, message for you,” he said, using his telekinesis to float a rolled up scroll over to her saddlebag laying next to the front door. “Now, then. I ah, want you to, ah, deliver this directly to the hooves of Arcane Codex. No one but her is to, ah, read this; not even, ah, you. Is that, ah, clear?”

Silver Script bowed slightly, and was about to go over to her bag, when he stopped her by grabbing her forehoof. “Clear?” he asked, looking into her one visible eye.

“Crystal, Master,” Silver Script replied.

Hokum held onto her hoof a moment longer, lightly rubbing it as if petting a cat. “I knew I could rely on you, Silver. You're my best apprentice.” His smile grew more genuine, but also took on a lustful taint.

It took a great effort for Silver Script to suppress the shudder that threatened to overtake her from the way her master was caressing her hoof, but she managed the barest hint of a smile just as fake as the one he initially wore. “Thank you, Master. I better go now if I am to return before suppertime.”

With that, Silver Script was able to slip away and was out the door with her saddlebag before Hokum even registered that she was gone.

Free of the cloying scents of the tower whose windows were rarely opened, the mare trotted with a light spring in her step, and a smile that was almost perceptible to the ponies around her. She made her way through the streets, ignoring the snickers and glares tossed her way from the unicorns which made up the vast majority of the city of Spellgrade. Not many earth ponies made their home in the city which was the seat of unicorn magic and majesty, and the few who did, were mainly servants who looked upon Silver Script as somepony in an envious position.

The mare made sure that she never came close to one of the unicorns so as to not give them any reason to harangue her, thereby making her late; even going so far as to wait in alleyways until one particularly large group of them pass by. Even with the necessarily circuitous route, she made it to her first destination, a large, square building known as the largest library in Equestria. With a nod towards the large, armored pegasi guarding the entrance, Silver Script walked in, her eye sparkling at the wealth of knowledge neatly shelved and ordered according to the strict dictates of the head librarian.

Silver Script sedately walked over to the front desk, which was staffed by a unicorn mare affording her the same look of disgust that she might give to a garden slug that had somehow found its way into the building. “I have a message for Magus Arcane Codex from Master Hokum,” she announced in her monotone voice.

“Just leave it here on the desk. I'll see that she gets it,” came the mare's sneering reply.

With a shake of her head, Silver Script replied, “I was instructed to hoof it over directly to her and no one else.”

The desk librarian's upper lip actually curled in disgust. “Just... just go stand over there,” she said, waving a hoof over at the wall near the doors. “And don't drip anything on the carpet. Luna knows what filth you've already tracked in. I'll let you know when the Magus is free.”

Silver Script walked over to stand in the indicated spot, ignoring the “Filthy mud pony” comment the librarian didn't even bother to say under her breath. For over an hour, she stood there patiently while the librarian did her best to continue on as if she didn't exist. Other ponies approached the desk and were immediately given the assistance sought after, but still, Silver Script stood and watched the mare. Several other ponies glanced her way, but most treated her as they would a potted plant, mere decoration.

Finally, the librarian couldn't stand the feeling of the mare's eye on her and walked into the room partitioned off specifically for the head librarian in a huff. It was only a moment before she reappeared again and called the earth pony over with a wave of her hoof. “You have five minutes of the Magus' valuable time. Any longer, and I send in the guards to escort you off the premises.”

With a silent nod, Silver Script walked into the dimly lit, spacious office and bowed before the ornately carved wooden desk and the mare sitting behind it. “Magus, I bring you a message from my master, Hokum.”

The stern unicorn looked down her nose at the prostrate earth pony for a moment as if searching for weaknesses before saying, “Rise, apprentice. Deliver your master's message.”

Silver Script rose and as if handling the most precious of treasures, placed the scroll on her desk with a hoof. She then took two steps back, waiting as the Magus read the message. She surreptitiously examined the office, noting with quiet jealousy the opulence, the great number of books (this one room held more books than Hokum's entire tower), and the small peryton perched on the back of the Magus' chair. The stag-headed bird glared at her, and pulled its lips back in a snarl that revealed fangs designed to rip and tear flesh before letting loose a quick honking screech at her.

The sound of the older mare shifting around in her chair brought Silver Script's attention back to her. “Tell your master,” she said with the slightest of sneers, “that he may use one of my laboratories on the requested day, but you will not be allowed to assist him here. Your presence causes too great a disturbance, and that is not something I will tolerate in my library. Also, you would do your due diligence to inform him that he is not to send you here again, for any reason. This is a place of study, not a whorehouse.” With an absent-minded wave of her hoof, she added, “You are dismissed.”

With a bow, Silver Script silently left the study and made her way to the library's entrance. She stopped at the doors, and turned to take one last look at the enormous collection of books, scrolls, and other means of learning, breathing a longing sigh. She caught sight of the desk librarian glaring at her and making shooing motions, and with a sigh, left the library. Stepping out into the street, she noted the sun setting and gave another sad sigh. She'll have gone home, by now. Oh, well. It was a bit much to expect enough free time to see her. As she made her way down the steps of the library, a voice intruded on her thoughts.

“There you are! I was getting worried that you had forgotten all about our meeting today.”

Silver Script didn't need to look up to recognize the owner of that voice. “Awesomeshine!” she exclaimed, her tone rising a half octave above her normal monotone.

A bespectacled white unicorn mare walked up and nuzzled her, bringing a slight reddish tinge to Silver Script's blue cheeks; a tinge that disappeared by the time Awesomeshine pulled back. “What are you- How did- how did you even find me?”

Awesomeshine tucked a stray lock of blonde mane behind her long ear with a smirk and gave her a bemused look. “Like it's difficult for me to ever find my best friend in the whole world?”

This time, Silver Script's blush was more pronounced, as was the confusion upon her face. “W-w-what happened? I figured you would have gone back to Foalton when I didn't show. Aren't your masters going to miss you?”

“Not as much as I'd miss you if I didn't get to see you once more before returning,” Awesomeshine replied. Silver Script smiled wistfully before a stabbing pain in her face caused her to wince. Immediately, the unicorn lifted the earth pony's bangs, revealing a milky-white eye and a scar running perpendicular to it. “Is it still hurting? Sil, you should have told me.”

Silver Script pulled back and rubbed her eye with a hoof, allowing her mane to fall back into its covering position. “It's fine. It just does this now and then. It doesn't bother me anymore like it used to, really.” She saw the concern etched onto her only friend's face, and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “You need to stop blaming yourself for this, Awesomeshine. You did the best you could at the time.”

“But it's your eye, Sil,” the white unicorn replied. “That's... not something that can just be brushed aside.”

“It is, if you're hurt by it.”

A trembling smile formed on Awesomeshine's lips. A yellow glow appeared on the tip of her horn, and the pain was erased, leaving only a soothing warmth behind. She kissed the crown of the earth pony's head and said, “You are a good pony. Don't let anypony say different.”

Silver Script looked away in embarrassment, casting about for a change of subject. “I… I can’t believe you still wear those old glasses.”

Awesomeshine recognized the tactic for what it was and smiled. “Of course I still wear them. Not only are they useful, you made them, and that’s reason enough to keep them.”

Still unable to meet her gaze, Silver Script scuffed at the ground with a hoof and asked, “How’s the enchantment holding up? I… I can strengthen the runes if they’re weakening.”

“They work perfectly, which is only to be expected of your work, Sil,” the unicorn replied.

They stood in silence for almost a full minute before Silver Script finally said, “H- how’s… your family?”

Awesomeshine rolled her eyes with a smile, doubting that her friend would ever change. “Doing well. Mom keeps wondering when I’m going to bring you back home to visit. Maybe she wants to fatten you up. She’s always going on about how thin you are; thinks they didn’t feed you enough at the orphanage. I guess she just doesn’t understand how busy we apprentices are. Dad’s business is doing well, and of course, the Smudge is being a brat like always.” The affection in her voice was apparent when she talked about her baby brother, despite her less than affectionate nickname for him.

As was always the case when the subject of Awesomeshine’s family came up in conversation, Silver Script felt a stab of jealousy at her luck in having such a family, followed quickly by guilt at feeling that about the only pony in the world she considered a friend, let alone… No. That part is dead. Just let it remain that way. “Th- that’s good to hear. Give them my regards when you see them next time.”

The unicorn surprised her by dropping an arm over her shoulders, pulling her in for a hug. “There’s no need to stand on such ceremony with them. My family is your family, You should know that by now; we say it often enough. You’re lucky enough to live in the same city as them, but you never go see them. The Smudge is going to forget what you look like, you stay away much longer.”

Silver Script looked chagrinned and gave Awesomeshine a tiny, sheepish smile. “Sorry. It’s hard sometimes to find a free moment to myself, let alone an hour or two to visit.” Silence reigned between them, during which time, the earth pony noted the creeping darkness of Luna’s night. “I suppose I better head back. Master Hokum likes his meals at a very specific time, and I have yet to start on dinner.”

Both mares looked reluctant to part ways, so Silver Script took the initiative and turned toward the street leading to her new home and school. “I guess this is goodbye for now. Until we meet again.”

She didn’t wait around to hear Awesomeshine’s reply. At a quick trot, she walked back to her Master’s tower.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

With a sense of satisfaction, Silver Script poured out the latest batch of her newest idea into a shallow, square pan to let it cool. The viscous, brown paste slowly oozed out of the glass beaker with agonizing slowness, piling up in the center before spreading out to fill the pan. The mare gave a satisfied grunt when the last of it pulled free of the beaker, and walked over to the window, gazing out at the hustle and bustle of the city below her.

She noted a group of unicorn foals playing a game of tag in the abandoned lot next to Hokum’s tower, taking special care to avoid talking to, or even looking at the earth pony colt that silently stood on the other side of the rickety picket fence, watching their games with longing. After a few minutes of this, exclusion suddenly became insufficient for some of the unicorns, and they began levitating dirt clods and launched them at the earth pony colt, chasing him off.

Silver Script pulled out a scroll from a shelf near the window and began reading aloud from it. At first, there was no effect, the foals in the yard laughing at the colt they had just chased off. The laughter was halted, however, when the ground beneath them heaved and buckled, sending several of them sprawling in the dirt. Then, as if the ground had become as fluid as water, the foals were tossed out into the street on top of a wave and unceremoniously dumped in the gutter. A few of the foals were quick to regain their hooves, and turned to see that the yard had a new occupant, a rather large earth elemental which looked down at them dourly, its arms akimbo.

With another satisfied grunt, Silver Script walked away from the window, and looked at the water clock. “They’re probably wrapping up the experiment by now. I hope Open Book doesn’t mess it up this time, though I shan’t hold my breath. Honestly, I’ve never seen a unicorn quite so inept at magic. Makes one wonder what his parents were teaching him, really.” She heaved a sigh and shook her head. “I wish I could return to that library. Seems such a waste to restrict it to unicorns; especially when I know that I am more adept than at least one unicorn I could name.”

She walked over to her notes spread out on the table next to her cooling experiment, and began gathering them up, forming a neat stack and took them back to her room in order to return them to their hiding place. “I guess that’s what happens when you get to write the rules. You get to exclude who you want.” Her task done, she returned to the laboratory and poked the substance in the pan with a hooftip, noting that it left an indentation.

“Excellent.” She pulled out a bit of the clay, and hoof molded it into a ball, then used a dry quill to sketch a few quick, yet precise runes on its curved surface. Silver Script held her hoof out and smiled as the ball floated up and began circling her head. She ducked and weaved, trying to avoid letting the ball circle her, even trying to bump it with her head, but the ball stayed in its orbit, always at a set distance of just under a hoof from her head. After a few minutes, the ball began to falter, then fell to the floor and crumbled to dust.

“Hmm… I’m going to have to work on mana retention.” She made a few mental notes as she packed the clay into a lead box to keep it free from interference from outside magical influences, and put the box under the bed in her room. Returning to the lab once more, she began cleaning up the mess her experiment wreaked, finishing just as she heard the door downstairs opened. Silver Script walked downstairs, eager to know the outcome of the experiment. “Welcome back, Master. How did it go?”

The sour look on his face, as well as the fresh scorch marks on Open Book’s hooves and face were really all she needed to know, but still she asked for the sake of letting Hokum vent, and perhaps rub a little metaphorical salt on Open Book’s wounds. “Awful,” came the elder stallion’s disgusted reply. He nodded towards his other apprentice adding, “Butterhooves here apparently forgot how to evenly fold cloud cotton into liquid lightning and blew up the lab. Naturally, Arcane Codex didn’t take kindly to the mess, less so since it caused all the feathers and fur on her peryton to fall out.”

“She was watching, Master?”

Hokum’s eyes darted to the side and he started to stutter. “Ah, er, yes. She, along with a few ah, others were watching, it ah, being an accreditation evaluation.”

This was news to Silver Script. Accreditation evaluations were only undertaken when a magic-user sought out a higher level of accreditation. This would go a long way to explaining why Master was so nervous about the experiment when he left this morning. Though, now that I think of it, aren’t you supposed to have some new spell, magic item, or theory to be advanced? Try as she might, the mare could not remember anything Hokum had been working on lately that would fulfill the requirement for advancement. “Er, Master-”

“Well, enough of that bit of unpleasantness,” Hokum said quickly. “Why don’t the two of you take the rest of the day off? I think we could all do with a bit of rest, don’t you?” He clapped a hoof on the mare’s shoulder, sending an involuntary shiver down her spine. “Why not go visit your friends or family? I’m sure you’d like to reconnect with them, right? And don’t worry about dinner. I’m going to eat out since I’ll be out anyway. Seems I have to find an alchemist that can brew a potion that regrows feathers and fur.”

Before she could protest, he was out the door again, leaving her alone with a still smoldering Open Book. The stallion smirked at her, giving her a vague feeling of unease. “What?” she asked.

Open Book chuckled and walked past her to the bedrooms upstairs. “Nothing. I just think that it’s... cute.”

“What’s cute?” Silver Script asked as she followed him up.

“Your naïveté. You really don’t get it.” He stopped on the landing to the second floor and looked down at her from his higher vantage point. “The Great Silver Script, the mud pony who would cast magic, whose brilliance eclipses that of her unicorn betters, is too stupid to notice what’s really going on! The irony is so delicious, it must be fattening!” He turned to walk to his room, but was stopped by her calling out.

“What are you talking about? Why don’t you spell it out for the ‘mud pony’?”

Open Book paused with a hoof on the door handle, halfway inside his own room already. “You want answers? How about a clue? I’ll let you figure it out on your own; I would so enjoy seeing the look on your face as you finally work it out for yourself. Why do you think Master only invites me along and not you when he makes his presentations? Why is it that you’ve never seen him working on his own projects anymore, only helping you?”

Silver Script began thinking back, trying to remember the last time she had seen Hokum work on one of his projects, let alone ask for her assistance instead of offering his own. Dawning realization took over her face, and her eye widened, her mouth gaping open slightly. She didn’t even hear the stallion’s vicious laughter as she ran into her room to gather her personal notes from their hiding place. Racing downstairs to the tower’s library, she ignored Hokum’s admonition to never enter the library without him, and galloped over to his desk.

She hesitated there, one hoof holding her notes, the other poised to open his private spellbook. She noticed her hoof shaking as it hovered over the silver-inlaid tome, and took a calming breath. She eased open the heavy wooden lid, coming to the page where the red ribbon marked his place and compared it with her own notations.

The writing she found there froze her blood. It was as if the words from her notes were magically lifted from the pages, and placed neatly into the book’s own. Even her diagrams and side notations were there in her own hoofwriting. Everything down to the small blotches of ink that had dripped from her quill as she paused in her writing were present. The only difference was in the signatures at the bottom. The copied pages still had her name signed in the same spot all mages sign their notes, but had “mysterious” ink blots, and Hokum’s name signed above them.

Slowly, the shock wore off and she closed the book once again. With eerie calmness, she walked over to her saddlebags and placed the book along with her notes into them. Silver Script was well aware of Open Book’s smirk as he watched her do this. The mare calmly walked out the door, never hearing him say to himself, “Heh, heh, heh. I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me, Silly. Mud ponies are so predictable.”

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

The knock on her door wasn’t unexpected, but the one knocking was. “Enter,” Arcane Codex said, laying aside the most recent reports from the capital, and raised an eyebrow as one her pegasus stallions which guarded the library walked in followed by the blue earth pony she had given very specific instructions to never return. “What is the meaning of this? Did you not understand that I had forbidden you to return, filly?”

The hulking stallion replied first. “I beg your forgiveness, Magus, but she invoked the Right of Grievance. Being the closest council member, I was compelled to bring her before you.”

This time, both of Arcane Codex’s eyebrows rose. “Right of Grievance? I hope you don’t think to use that against me. This is my library, and so I make the rules governing it.”

Silver Script bowed low, her nose touching the rich, red, Purrsian rug that took up most of the center of the room. “Of course not, Magus. I would never think to defy your rules within your own demesne. No, my grievance is with my master, Hokum.”

Surprised at this turn of events, Arcane Codex rose and walked over to the young earth pony and looked into her one good eye, gauging her resolve. After a moment with no sign of wavering or doubt, she said, “The Right of Grievance is not something to be taken up lightly; especially for an earth pony against a unicorn. I presume you have proof of wrongdoing?”

“Physical proof, Magus,” she replied. With that, she pulled out the book along with her notes and presented them to her. “The book is my master’s. You’ll note that the hornwriting at the beginning is vastly different from what follows. The loose leaf pages are my own notes on my independent studies.”

The older mare flipped between the first few pages and where the bookmark lay, comparing the two. She then looked at the notes, and cast a spell on her eyes, making them glow unnaturally. Looking at the copied pages and the notes once more, she nodded. She was about to say something, when another knock at the door preempted her. The door opened on its own, and the desk librarian looked in. “Begging your pardon, Mistress, but as you predicted, Mage Hokum is here with a potion for you as an apology for the accident earlier today.”

Arcane Codex smiled down at Silver Script. “It seems he’s saved us the trouble of looking for him. Let us return the favor by not making him wait, shall we?” A wordless nod was all she got back from the earth pony, so she turned to her apprentice. “Send him in, Page Turner. There’s something here, he simply must see.”

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Vindication was an uncommon emotion for Silver Script. Being an earth pony growing up in a unicorn city that prized magical ability over all else, she had learned early on that no matter what she did, what she learned, how far she excelled, she would always, always be on the losing end. She could well remember the first time she had gotten anything other than grief from unicorns.

The small, blue filly sat apart from the others everyday in an attempt to stay below the other’s notice. Most days, this worked out well for her, and the most she would have to suffer were the normal privations that came with being an earth pony living in an orphanage in a unicorn city. Sleeping on the floor while the rest slept on beds or clouds (“They’re tough, right? They can handle it.”), getting the smallest portion at meals (“They get nourishment from the dirt just like the plants they love, right?”), getting the hardest chores (“They’re brutes, well suited for such tasks.”), and the weakest education (“They’re too stupid to learn anything more difficult.”) were all things that she was well used to by now, punctuated by explanations of why she was so inferior and beatings from the matron, who seemed to consider the strong connection to the soil and toughness of an earth pony not good enough to consider as magic, and therefore making them less than true ponies in her eyes. Even the pegasi’s ability to manipulate weather and walk on clouds was deemed more magical. No, the earth pony foals definitely had the thin end of the stick. They were all great lessons on just how the world worked to all the foals, not just the earth ponies.

Unfortunately for Silver Script, it seems that today was not one of those days where the other foals were content to simply ignore her. “What do you think you’re doing, mud pony?” Snickers met this expected opening salvo of what would likely to be a barrage of insults, if past experience was at all accurate.

Silver Script looked up, try her best to keep her face expressionless as she met the gaze of the orphanage’s top bully and her gang. She never bothered to learn her name, as to her, one unicorn was much like another. “Nothing.” This was a fair approximation of her activities, as she was simply resting in the shade one of the juniper bushes that lined the low picket fence of the orphanage’s playard.

“Wrong, mud pony,” the bully replied, wielding the insult like one might wield a cart as a weapon. “You’re breathing our air. So either stop right now, or we make you stop.”

This was a new tack for Silver Script. She had never been told to “stop breathing other pony’s air” before, so she was necessarily off balance. Unsure how to proceed, she said, “I’ll get right on that,” then went back to staring at the clouds.

“Hey, I don’t think she’s doing it,” said one of the pegasus colts. “I think she might need a hoof to learn how.”

That’s when the first mudball landed on her rump. Silver Script leaped to her hooves, but the first was far from the last. She looked towards the orphanage itself only to see the matron put her knitting in a basket and carry it inside, clearly ignoring her. Covered in mud, the filly tried to huddle down until it was over, but was forced into action when a rock sailed into her side, drawing forth an “oof” from her mouth.

Now under threat of serious harm, Silver Script ran into the streets, but the rocks and mud followed her unerringly. The filly had no idea where she was going, and didn’t care, as long as it was away from the pain. Rocks flew with the kind of uncanny accuracy that only telekinesis could offer a foal. One struck an ankle, sending her sprawling to the curb in a dirty heap. She tried to crawl through the offal and night soil in an effort to get away, but one especially well-aimed rock struck the left side of her face, breaking bone and nearly gouging out her eye.

Pain like no other before caused Silver Script’s world to turn white, while a ringing filled her ears, allowing no other sound to reach her until the vision in her one good eye cleared, and she saw… a wall of white fur? Shaking her head, she saw a white unicorn filly standing over her, angrily facing down the foals that had chased her to this pitiable condition. For every rock that came her way, she would telekinetically scoop up a hoofful of offal from the curb and fling it back at the offender with harsh precision. Finally, the other foals had enough, and fled into the streets, braying insults at both of them.

Once she was sure the others were gone, the unicorn turned to her, beaming a smile- a genuine smile at her. This too was new to Silver Script, because it implied that the unicorn was pleased to see her. “Here, let me try to fix your eye; that looks pretty bad,” the angel of mercy said, ignoring her own wounds garnered during the rescue.

Her horn glowed a light, golden aura, and some of the pain in Silver Script’s face eased, though it was still unbearable. “Oh, dear,” she said. She was trying to not sound worried, but being no older than the earth pony, she wasn’t very good at it. “Um, maybe we should get you to a healer.” She offered her hoof, but Silver Script ignored it and shakily rose on her own. Seemingly unaffected by this rudeness, she gestured further down the road. “There’s one down this way. My name’s Awesomeshine, by the way.”

It seemed that the filly’s happiness was infectious, as the normally taciturn Silver Script smiled a little as she replied, “Silver Script.”

Unfortunately for the filly, the healer was either unable or unwilling to fix her eye, so the unicorn did the only thing she could think of doing; she brought her home.

Being treated like a real pony was a unique experience to Silver Script. Not only had the filly stood up for her, but also introduced her to her parents, who treated the earth pony like one of their own. They eased her aches and pains, but unfortunately were unable to help with her eye. Regrowing an organ like that just cost too much money, far more than they were able to earn, they explained. Sadly, that they were unable to adopt her as well, given that their second child was on the way, and due within the next few months. Still, they welcomed her into their home whenever she was dragged over by Awesomeshine, giving her as much food as she wanted, even teaching her things that the lackluster teacher that came to the orphanage once a week missed, like math, history, and basic magical theory, which she lapped up like a cat at a puddle of spilled milk.

Being accepted as a mage’s apprentice, was one of those rare days that she felt that oh, so fleeting feeling of vindication; that, despite all the odds against her, she was accepted into a field that was unheard of for an earth pony. Today was another of those times.

Silver Script stood before the Mage Council which governed Spellgrade, and in precise, clipped words, explained when her notes were made, as well as the exact circumstances of each instance, impressing them with her memory. Above her, a magical sensor designed to detect falsehoods continued its quiet vigil over her testimony, never once giving the slightest indication that she uttered anything less than the whole, and unvarnished truth. She went on to tell the story of her discovery, even giving credit to Open Book where it was due. Throughout it all, she only took her eyes off of the council to look at her old master, noting how he could not seem to find the courage to even meet her gaze.

In all, it turned out that he had claimed credit for four of her projects, and had been advanced in the ranks twice thanks to them. However, he had all but her most recent notes copied into his book, and was beginning the process of transferring the notes into another ledger in an attempt to erase her contribution to his ascendency entirely. Her testimony given, she was dismissed to the witness gallery, and Open Book was called forth. He was admonished several times when the sensor above the witness stand warned the council that he was trying to embellish his part in the story, attempting to make himself seem more sympathetic towards the earth pony. Nevertheless, Silver Script couldn’t help but note how he was treated with more respect than she, despite Hokum never actually stealing any of his work. However, that was immaterial, as the magical artifacts expert told the story of how Silver Script’s signatures were uncovered from the deliberate ink blots that nearly wiped away all indications that they ever existed.

Truly, this was a great day for justice, as Hokum was stripped of all titles and rank, and sentenced to be imprisoned for thirty years. Mages took intellectual property theft very seriously. All of his property was seized to be sold once his former apprentices had cleared their belongings, leaving both of them on the streets. At least, it would have been the case for Silver Script (Open Book was quickly snapped up by another mage after it was heavily intimated by him that he was the one doing the lion’s share of the lab work), had it not been for Awesomeshine’s parents.

“Don’t be absurd, child. You’re welcome to stay as long as you like. You know how little Sprocket cleaves to you so,” her best friend’s mother said. It was true. He would often bring her little presents like flowers he picked from someone’s garden, or some little widget he made “just for her”. Silver Script always returned the affection, hugging him heedless of the grease that seemed to always cling to his coat. They often joked about how he was going to marry her someday, but he always blushed and ran off to hide until the gentle teasing was over.

Silver Script ended up staying with them for only a week. Despite the love she felt from the family, she knew that her destiny could not be found within Spellgrade’s city limits. Too many bad memories combined with too little opportunity forced her to seek to further her education outside the stifling confines of the magic capital of Equestria. Unfortunately, being an earth pony apprentice of a convicted fraudulent mage like Hokum seemed to be the final nail in the coffin of her formal magical education. No mage would touch her. She was persona non grata.

Eager to get on with her life, she accepted the first prospect that came along that would at least appeal to her love of learning, which turned out to be as an assistant archivist in a small research library in the rural village of Yoke, whose only true saving grace was it’s somewhat close proximity to Foalton, and therefore, her only friend. So, with a promise to write often, Silver Script departed for greener pastures, full of bruised and battered hope.

Author's Notes:

Well, here it is, the promised new story. I hope you like it and the artwork. Please give it a chance, even though it's an all OC story. The princesses will show up, but like in the show, play a minor role at best. The artwork is what will be delaying each update in case you're wondering (yes, that does mean there will be 2-4 pictures per chapter), and is the surprise I was alluding to in my blog. I got the idea for it from the light novels I buy now and then (mostly Haruhi Suzumiya, and Tenchi Muyo). Anywho, I hope you'll like my new attempt at world-building, and my own personal headcanon. Um, comment away? Something I forgot to mention, but really should have. This all takes place well before the TSW series, and in fact, before the show's beginning. We're talking ten millennia here, so way, way, way before anything in the show or my previous stories.

Chapter 2: You Are My Sunshine

ONE OF THESE DAYS

Chapter 2: You Are My Sunshine

~13 Aevum Illuminationis~

Twilight gracefully alighted down onto the rocky outcropping and looked around. “This doth appear to be the place. All landmarks are in agreement.” The mountain top on which she stood overlooked a vast plain that could only be called “badlands”. Arid and devoid of plant life, save the occasional lichen or oversized mushroom, the land rarely saw any rain despite the thick cloud cover that let only the barest hint of sun through, and any rain that did fall never stayed long enough to do more than dampen the ground for a moment or so. Despite that, there was still plenty of light, the vast majority of which emanated from the ever present lava flows that formed a tracery of light that crisscrossed the land like rivers of deadly hot liquid. The smoke which made up the clouds came not just from the many volcanoes that dotted the land, but also the many caves where hundreds, if not thousands of dragons slept away their shedding cycle. The particular cave she stood before had no such smoke, and had obviously been worked by magic to resemble a stylized sun, with carved rays emanating from the perfectly circular entrance.

A strong flapping sound drew her attention skyward, and Twilight saw the familiar form of Nyx finally catching up to her. The exhausted sphinx landed next to her and wheezed out a few breaths. “That was... dirty pool... cheater,” she gasped out.

Twilight graced her with a playful smile. “T'is no fault of mine thou doth not avail thyself of the wonders of the world outside of thy library... or thy downy bed.”

Hiding a blush, Nyx steadied her breathing with a few deep draws. “Are you ready?”

“Art thou sure this is the place?” Twilight asked. “Surely, the domicile of a being as pure of heart as thou intimates wouldst not be found in such an abominable land.”

Nyx grinned at her companion. “Tell me, Twi, what better place for a force for good to live than in the place where trouble is most likely to rear its ugly head?” She placed a paw on her shoulder, but quickly removed it when she realized what she was doing. She padded ahead, hoping to hide her returning blush. “C'mon. You really worry too much. You need to take a chill pill before you give yourself an aneurysm.”

As she trotted to catch up, the alicorn asked, “Prithee, what is this 'chill pill' of which thou speakest? Be it some manner of potion to prevent maladies of the mind?”

Nyx chuckled as they walked through the massive cave entrance lined with Everburning Torches, and carved bas-reliefs depicting a series of beings never seen in Equestria performing acts of greatness decorating the walls. “It means to relax, silly filly. I swear, you're more high-strung than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”

Twilight returned with a chuckle of her own. “Zounds, but thou hast the oddest manner of speaking that I hath e'er found!”

Looking back at her companion, she gave a casual shrug. “Comes from being omnitemporal. When one can perceive every single point of one's existence simultaneously, one tends to pick up the odd speech pattern without even noticing.”

“Verily, we say that be a load of codswallop. No t'other being exists so, not e'en mine own sire,” Twilight replied with a playful nudge against the sphinx's side.

“Not that Time has ever admitted to it, anyway,” Nyx said with a wink.

Further discussion was halted by the sudden appearance of a small, golden dragon from one of the many side passages. With a snarl, he growled, “Who dares- oh! Lady Nyx!” Immediately, his demeanor changed to a much friendlier one, and his hackles disappeared. “I'm fear that Her Grace hath left, and may not return for some time.”

“Sal's gone? Where to?” she asked in genuine surprise.

“She departed for the firmament weeks ago. She gave no date for her return, and from her mannerisms, it appeared she may ne'er return.” He gestured to the alcoves, formerly filled with various objects of art or weapons and armor now lay empty. “Her Grace ordered the trove she hath guarded to be divvied amongst us to protect like the meanest loot. Verily, many amongst us pine for her return and fully intend to return her trophies on that day. For now, only I remain to steward her home 'till her return.”

Nyx nodded sadly. “Thank you, Aurith. We'll see if we can catch up to her in the firmament.” with a nod, she turned from the dragon and walked out at a fast clip. As she and Twilight left the cave, they took to the wing, heading straight up. They cleared the black clouds in silence, emerging into the blue sky, both breathing easier. Still they flew on, the light blue slowly giving way to a deeper hue until they left the atmosphere behind completely and were surrounded by a sea of stars.

”What do you suppose made her leave like that?” Twilight finally asked through their telepathic bond.

Nyx shook her head. ”Dunno. Must have been important to make final arrangements like that, though.”

Twilight looked at her with a quirky smile. ”'Tis answers belike those that give me cause to doubt thy claims of omnitemporalism, my friend.”

“I try not to use it to my advantage too much, Twi. Can you think of anything worse than knowing exactly what's going to happen all the time? Now, that's a curse. Besides, with the mutability of the time stream, it's not always accurate,” she replied.

Their transition to the firmament was so smooth, that at first, they didn't even notice the change. Looking around at the gray mists, they found the two most loyal amongst the starbeasts already nipping at their massive heels like tiny pups. Twilight looked down at them fondly with a smile and bent down low enough for them to lick her great muzzle. “Sirius, Procyon! It warms my heart to see thee again. Pray, hast thee seen a great golden dragon with feathered wings of late?”

Sirius nodded and stopped licking long enough to say, “Aye, Milady. We hath seen such a creature. She passed into and through the firmament, fast as a thought. Verily, we caught but the barest of glances of her ere she was gone, the swirling mist the only thing to mark her passing.”

Nyx put a paw to her chin in worried thought. “I don't like this. Sal skedaddles like her tail's on fire just when we need to talk to her about dragon artifacts? She's the only one in the world either of us would consider a peer in this field; the only one who even comes close to us. Something's rotten in the state of Denmark.”

“Verily. I pray that whate'er befalls us, we can persevere,” Twilight replied nervously.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)
~2015 Aevum Illuminationis~

Stepping down from the stagecoach, Awesomeshine took a deep breath of the fresh country air of Foalton, then adjusted her saddlebags so they rested evenly. “Ah, good to be away from the terrible smells of the city,” she said to herself. A robin alighted on her back and chirped at her. “Why, thank you. It's good to be back. I just wish I could convince mom and dad to move out here. It's so peaceful.”

As if to make a liar of her, she passed by a poster warning ponies to stay clear of the streets at night, and to not go off wandering into the woods. She sighed as she read the warning, put up no doubt by the town crier, seeing as it bore the royal seal of the twin alicorns. “Oh, dear. Another caravan raided? At least no pony was hurt this time. Why have the dragons started doing this, I wonder?” She shook her head in dismay as she walked on. Everypony on the street waved to her and called her by name, welcoming her back from her trip, and with a cheerful wave, the unicorn greeted them back.

So busy was she greeting her fellow townsponies, that she failed to notice an armored unicorn in royal livery walking backwards out of the smithy, dragging an overfull bag stuffed with rolled up papers, and walked right into him, sending them both sprawling. Awesomeshine fell on to her rump, and rubbed her head. “Oh, my! Excuse me, sir.”

“You clumsy idiot. I told you to watch where you're going,” an authoritative voice from further in the shop called out. A sandy-colored, female unicorn in golden armor stepped out, glaring at the young stallion. She glanced over at Awesomeshine and gave her an apologetic smile. “My apologies, Miss Awesomeshine. Young Mister Far Cry here is still learning the ropes, as it were.” She gave a gentle kick to the stallion's side, inciting him to rise.

Awesomeshine sketched a slight bow to the other unicorn. “Good afternoon, Dame Paladin. What brings you to our humble village today?” She gave her a sly smile and asked, “You wouldn't happen to be here to fetch more of Goodwife Brick Oven's famous honey cakes for the princess, would you?”

Paladin brushed aside a stray lock of her snow-white mane with a hoof. “Among other reasons. I take it you've heard about the most recent attack on the caravan?”

“Distressing news has a way of traveling fast,” Awesomeshine replied. “Any word on why it happened this time?”

With a snort of disgust, Paladin said, “Just the same old excuse of, quote, 'spirited hijinks by youthful hatchlings testing their boundaries,' unquote. I'd doubt they'd take it half as well if the horseshoe were on the other hoof.” She looked around at the villagers going about their normal routines, and her gaze fell upon a group of foals playing tag. Her demeanor took on a grimness that worried Awesomeshine. “It's only a matter of time before somepony is seriously hurt or killed and a line is crossed from which there is no return.”

Awesomeshine laid a hoof on the guard's shoulder. “That's why we trust in you and your fellow guards as well as the army to keep us safe. I know you won't fail us. We believe in you.”

Paladin smiled at her. “If I didn't already have my eye on a mare, I'd snatch you up in a heartbeat, Awesomeshine.”

Before she could reply, they were interrupted by the herald who had finally gathered up all the spilled scrolls from the ground. “Ma'am? We still have the rest of the town to post with these notices. And then we still have to-”

Paladin waved him off with a careless hoof. “Yes, yes, I know. I guess we'll have to cut our visit short. Sorry, but duty calls.”

Awesomeshine smiled brightly and waved as they walked off. “Don't forget those honey cakes,” she called out gaily. Humming a little tune to herself, she continued her trip back to her masters. She walked into the apothecary, and was immediately assaulted by the smells of dozens of herbs, and ointments, and other various accoutrements of her chosen profession.

She had barely shrugged off her saddlebags, when a pair of hooves slid around her neck, and a breathy voice purred into her ear, “Mmm... welcome home, dear.”

Awesomeshine turned around, but was unable to escape the grip of the mare invading her personal space. “Mrs. Rose Hips, please! You're married!”

The earth pony mare kissed the tip of her horn and giggled like a filly half her age as she pulled away. “Only just, Sweetie. Besides, it's not like he's going to object. By the way, it's Mistress Rose Hips.”

“Mrs- Mistress Rose Hips, you're my mother's age!”

The elder mare cradled Awesomeshine's head to her chest and cooed at her. “If you wanted to pretend to be my daughter, all you had to do was ask, Sweetie. I'd be happy to fulfill any fantasy you wish.”

The sound of a door opening drew their attention to further in the house, where Rose Hips' husband, the inappropriately named Healthy Glow walked in, and began going through Awesomeshine's abandoned saddlebags. He set several jars on the floor and calmly said, “Welcome back. I see you were able to find the required hundred hooves of flight line and elbow grease. Were they out of- never mind. I see the chipmunk cheeks.”

More than a little disturbed that he hadn't even seemed to notice that his wife was all but molesting her, Awesomeshine asked, “Er, is everything alright, Mist- er, Master Healthy Glow?”

The gray unicorn looked her in the eyes and nodded. “Yes, everything looks to be in order here. Was there a question?” She shook her head, so he added, “Good. When you're through there, Put everything you've brought in its proper place, and check on our patient. She should be waking up soon,” he added as he returned to the basement to check on whatever potion his wife had on the burner.

Awesomeshine looked up at Rose Hips as best she could, waiting to see what she would do. She could feel her relax her grip, though it didn't totally release. “I swear, that stallion could suck the fun out of anything, even an affair a princess.”

“Ummm...”

Rose Hips looked down and smiled at her captive. “I know you're not a princess, Sweetie. It's just hyperbole.” She sighed and released the younger mare and rubbed the top of her head playfully. “Go on, and finish your work. We can play another time.”

The unicorn took a few steps, then turned back to look at her alchemy teacher. “Mistress?” The elder mare looked at her, and she said, “If you weren't married, I might take you up on your offer.”

Rose Hips smiled at her gently. “Thank you, Sweetie. You know I only flirt with you because you're safe, don't you? I know that you'd never take me up on my suggestions.” Awesomeshine nodded, and the earth pony walked up to her and smacked her on the rump as she headed towards the basement. “Cheeky thing.”

Awesomeshine quickly put the new jars of ingredients away on the shelves, then without stopping to take a break, she made her way towards the largest room in the house-cum-apothecary/hospital. Technically speaking, no hospitalers claimed residence, but it served that purpose for the small thorpe of eleven hundred or so ponies of all types. She peeked into the room filled with beds first to see if their patient had awoken to find the small, bandaged pegasus filly staring at the ceiling. Stepping into the room, she said, “Knock, knock. How are you feeling?” Placing the frog of her hoof against the side of the small filly's hoof for a few seconds, she counted the beat of her pulse.

Turning her bandaged, little head towards the unicorn, she croaked out, “Head still hurts, Miss.”

With a careworn smile, Awesomeshine stroked her cheek softly and leaned in close. “Let's see what we can do about that, hmm?” A soft, golden glow surrounded her horn, and the filly immediately felt better, giving her a wan smile. “Better, little one?” With a confirming nod, she asked, “Do you feel up to talking about what happened, yet?”

Tears formed in the filly's eyes and she shook her head. Awesomeshine sympathized, but needed to find out exactly what happened. “We can help you better if you'll tell us, Windwalker. As it is, we can't even begin to look for your family.” Getting no response, she sat on the edge of the bed next to her and rested a hoof on hers. “You were found among the broken branches of a tree on the ground, so obviously, you were flying.” Still no reply. “You were near a trail rather close to our border with Draconia. Were you chased by dragons?” Silence filled the room except for a sniffle from Windwalker.

She was about to get up to let the filly rest when a tiny voice said, “Griffons.”

Looking down at her, Awesomeshine said, “Excuse me?”

Windwalker looked up at her tears in her eyes. “Griffons chased us. Mommy hid me in a tree, and her and daddy let them chase them away, so they wouldn't find me. I tried to climb up to a higher branch to see what happened to them, but I slipped and fell out of the tree.” Now that she was talking, it was like a dam had burst, releasing both words and tears. It wasn't long before the sniffles turned to outright bawling, and the filly leaned forward to hug the unicorn around the waist. “I want my mommy and daddy!”

Awesomeshine gently rubbed her head and hummed a lullaby until the poor thing cried herself to sleep.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Healthy Glow was waiting to greet Awesomeshine as she quietly left the sleeping filly to rest. “What's her condition?”

Awesomeshine smiled grimly. “She seems to be healing physically just fine. She had fairly minor injuries when she was brought in, especially considering what happened to her. I'm guessing you were listening outside the door, Master?”

“Yes. I've already sent Rose to fetch the sheriff so we can tell him what she said,” he whispered. He chewed on his lower lip for a moment before saying, “It sounds as if things are getting worse, doesn't it?”

“I have every confidence that everything will turn out fine, Master,” Awesomeshine said with a smile.

Healthy Glow quirked an eyebrow at her questioningly. “And what leads you to that incredible conclusion, if I may ask?”

Awesomeshine's smile grew into a full grin. “Simple. All intelligent beings want to be treated with respect, and know that the best way to do that is to treat others with respect. There's always going to be the odd creature out that wants to rebel or take more than what's due them, but society is self-correcting. Creatures like that run afoul of the Golden Rule, and either see the error of their ways, or are punished by their peers.”

“I wish I was as confident as you are in that,” he replied with a shake of his head.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Awesomeshine walked up to the smithy and waited at the doorway for the ringing sounds of work to cease before knocking on the frame of the open doorway. The burly earth pony at the anvil paused, hammer still in the air before he could bring it down one the ingot of red-hot steel held in his tongs, and looked her way. Setting the hammer aside, he stuck the raw ingot back into the glowing forge to keep it hot. “Awesomeshine! To what do we owe the pleasure?”

The mare walked in to the shop, and greeted him with a hug, causing the gruff stallion to blush. “Good morning, Hot Iron. My master needs a few things. A bag of nails, a new spoon, and a special cauldron.”

“How special?

She looked at him sheepishly and said, “Orichalcum?”

Hot Iron emptied out his lungs, breath puffing out his cheeks. “That's a tall order, even assuming I can get orichalcum in the first place. I would need to get the forge hot; I'm talking forever more hot, here. Is he sure that he can't make do with just mythril?”

“He was quite adamant about the orichalcum; or rather, she was adamant. This is for Mistress Rose, actually,” Awesomeshine corrected herself. “They were going to have me commission one when I'm next in Spellgrade, but wanted to see if you could do it first. They're even going to supply the orichalcum.” Her horn glowed, and a large bar of pinkish-silver metal about half as long as her foreleg levitated out of it.

Hot Iron whistled appreciatively as he took the bar from her magical field. “That's the purest ingot I've ever seen.”

“Ninety-nine point nine, nine percent pure,” the mare replied. “Notice the Mage Council stamp. It took me a long time to find a pony selling one that size. Paid a pretty bit for that, too, but Mistress says that she'll be able to imbue even stronger effects in her potions and such with a cauldron made of that.”

Looking back at the forge, the stallion shouted, “Kit! Come over here a second!” When there was no response, she shouted even louder, “Kitten Kaboodle! Get your flank over here!”

A small, pink pegasus mare stopped working the bellows on the forge, and flipped up the goggles she was wearing as she walked over. “What is it, Boss- whoa! Is that orichalcum?”

“What do you think, Kit? Can we get the forge hot enough to work this into a cauldron?” he asked her.

The small pegasus took the bar from him, and almost dropped it, surprised at the weight. “Wow, a Mage Council stamp and everything! This is worth a fortune! I bet I could create a vorpal sword from this!”

Hot Iron gently bopped her upside the head. “Easy, there. It's not ours. And answer the blasted question. Can we do it?”

Returning the ingot, she started scratching out calculations in the dirt floor with a hoof and muttering to herself. After a few minutes, she looked up at her boss and said, “I- that is, we'll have to make a special engine to run the bellows, build a windmill to run the engine, hire a couple of strong pegasi to work the mill, and get our hooves an about two tons of coal, but we can do it. But I'm telling you now, that this shop is going to be hot. That is, of course, unless you happen to be friends with a dragon. You aren't, are you?”

He shook his head. “Nope. How about you, Awesomeshine”

“Afraid not,” she answered. “The closest would be my father, who is a silversmith, though he has, on occasion, worked with mythril.”

“Not even close,” Hot Iron replied sadly. “Mythril's melting point is just over a third of orichalcum's. I doubt he had to do anything special to his shop in order to work it.” He passed the bar back to Awesomeshine, who put it back in her saddlebag. “I'm afraid we'll have to pass on this one. I would have to charge Healthy a small fortune just to cover the cost of building all the things needed to make that bar malleable enough to work, and then there's the working itself. No, he'd be better off just having it made in Spellgrade after all.” He scuffed at the ground in disgust. “A shame, too. I could really do with the bits.”

Kitten Kaboodle, who up to now, was scratching new calculations in the dirt said, “Hold on, Boss. We may have a way to do this without having to go through all that after all, but it'll be a one-time deal.”

“What's your idea, Kit?” Hot Iron asked, looking down at her scratchings in confusion.

She looked up at him, excitement gleaming in her eyes. “If we can find a unicorn who's good with fire magic, we can do this, but we'll have to build a special forge, and we can keep the cost down on that if we use the right materials. It'll last long enough to cast the pot, but I doubt it will be any good after that.”

The earth pony stallion looked doubtful. “I dunno, Kit. I don't know any bricklayers willing to make things so cheaply that it'll last only long enough to work once. Too much pride in their job, you know?

“That's the thing. If we explain to them that this is just a test, a... a proof of concept, if you will, I'm sure that we can have our own forge rebuilt with this design- payed for by the money earned from this job- increasing our efficiency by...” The pegasus' eyes rolled up in her head as she did some quick mental math. “... at least twenty-two percent for steel and iron, and even better for other metals. More importantly, we'll be able to handle an order like this should it ever crop up again.”

Hot Iron rubbed his stubbly chin for a moment. “Hmm... Tell you what, Awesomeshine. Tell Healthy I'll think it over a bit, and give him an answer in the next day or two, okay?”

The unicorn smiled widely and nodded. “Thank you, sir! They'll be so pleased to hear the good news!” Hot Iron was so surprised at her exuberance, that he couldn't find it in himself to remind her that he hadn't taken the job yet.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Awesomeshine set the bowl aside on the nightstand next to the bed and dabbed at Windwalker's lips with a napkin. “With the description of the griffons you gave him, I'm sure the sheriff and the Frontier Guard will be able to find them and your parents.”

Windwalker didn't seem to share her confidence, opting to turn her attention to the open window next to her bed. With a sigh, the mare laid a hoof against her cheek, stroking it gently. “It'll be okay, little one. You'll see.”

Author's Notes:

Sorry if the ponies look weird (especially Twilight), I'm still finding my place with them. Kind of a slow chapter after the last one, but lots of world-building!

Chapter 3: Make a Little Birdhouse in your Soul

ONE OF THESE DAYS

Chapter 3: Make a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul

~13 Aevum Illuminationis~

A faint sheen of sweat coated the entire mare as she concentrated intently on the work before her. Her tongue stuck out of the side if her mouth, her teeth gently biting down on it with every tap of the mythril hammer against the orichalcum chisel. A bead of sweat meandered a trail down her face in an oddly prosaic counterpoint to the rune she carved with the tools held in her telekinetic grip. Finally satisfied with her work, she stepped back and wiped her brow with the back of a hoof.

The click of hooves in a quick cadence on stone drew her attention down the stone pillar on which the mare stood to the floor some fifty hooves below. A midnight alicorn filly, just blossoming into marehood, trotted into the tall chamber, calling out, “Twilight? Where art thou, sister?”

A glow surrounded Twilight's horn, and the pillar supporting her so far from the ground slowly receded into the floor. A dozen hooves from the ground, she lightly jumped down and spread her wings to slow her decent. She walked up to the filly and asked, “Finished with thy task so soon, Lulu? Pray, bring forth thy earnest labors, that I may be struck dumb by thy brilliance.”

Luna opened the scroll in her magical grasp and held it up for her sister to examine. “What dost thou thinkest? Is it meet?”

Twilight examined the diagram with a practiced eye, taking in the simplicity of the design, making the most of the minimal number of lines and points allowed her. Rolling up the scroll again, she said, “Meet it is.”

“Come, come. Thou answer with an idle tongue,” Luna huffed in annoyance, rolling her eyes for emphasis.

“Go, go. Thou question with an insincere tongue,” Twilight shot back with a smirk. She walked around the filly regally, waving the scroll about as she pontificated. “Of the Norns, it is oft remarked that thou art the true artisan. I know word of this praise hath reached thine shell-like ears on occasion in the past, yet, thou presenteth thy latest masterpiece for mine approval, as if anything crafted by thy hooves would lack merit.” She stopped her circling in front of her sister and smiled down at her. “Thy question strikes me as disingenuous, little sister,” she said, lightly smacking her on the tip of her nose with the scroll, causing her to sneeze.

Rubbing her nose with a hoof, Luna looked up at Twilight accusingly. “Thy incredulity wounds me to the quick.” Finally unable to hold it in any longer, they both burst into gales of laughter and nuzzled each other. “Prithee, canst we set it free this eve?”

“Aye, Lulu, we shall.” Twilight could not contain her mirth as Luna pranced in a circle around her. “Come, tiny dancer. Let us hie for the firmament. Ere we depart hither, let us make our goodbyes to our host.”

Luna's eyes shone with mischief “Such is a duty I am fain to mete.”

Twilight quirked an eyebrow at her as they walked up the stairs to find Nyx walking towards the children's section with a storybook tucked under her wing. With a flourish, Twilight playfully bowed to her, spreading her wings wide as she dipped. “Fair Nyx, it saddens me to depart from thy warm company. Alas, mine sister is fair champing at the bit to set free her newest creation. Perchance we will meet anon when the stars align again.”

Nyx hid a blush by bowing just as low as Twilight. “My heart yearns for such an alignment already, Milady.” By the time they straightened again, her color had returned to it's normal olive complexion. “So, how did the carving go? Making good headway?”

“Indeed,” the alicorn replied with a nod. “T'will be but a scant few moons ere the room is ready to receive the first enchantments.”

Nyx ran in place with glee. “Ooo! I can't wait! We're gonna show those old codgers a thing or two about arcaneficarae. Hee hee! She's gonna be splendiforous!”

Twilight nodded with a smirk. “Verily. Starswirl in particular hath miss'd his due serving of humility for far too long. Call me a callow, unsift'd youth, will he?”

“Down, girl,” Nyx said, placing a calming paw on the alicorn's shoulder. “We'll show him that females can cast magic just as well as males.”

“Od's bodkins, Nyx, much better,” Twilight replied with a feral smile. “Show that stallion a mare his equal in the Art, and she'll garner scant praise. We needs serve his humble pie by way of trebuchet, if we wish to make certs the swelling recedes. Contrariwise, we shall soon have to remodel the castle with wider portals.”

All three chuckled as they separated, Nyx to the gathered group of children, Twilight and Luna to the exit and out into the tiny city itself. They nodded to the passing creatures which inhabited the city- hamlet really, though its fantastical architecture suggested differently- that had sprouted up around her library. It always amazed them to find so many disparate creatures, some of whom preyed upon others, living peacefully together. A griffon haggled with an earth pony over the price of an exquisite rug paw-woven in Purrsia. Just a few dozen generations ago, that same griffon would have been chasing down that pony to invite him to a dinner he would rather avoid becoming. Across the way, a minotaur stood on a pedestal, reciting a treatise expounding the virtues of treating others as you would have them treat you (something she called a “Golden Rule”). Not long ago, a minotaur like her would have been chasing down anyone not of her race as she attempted to conquer these lands. Even the five-tailed kitsune from far-away Neighpon, with whom Twilight shared a nod, would never have dared to set paw in these lands without first enthralling all here out of fear for her own safety.

The two alicorns spread their wings and took to the air, Twilight giving the city one last look as they left. She noted one section conspicuously absent of life, the section with the largest dwellings, those built to accommodate dragons. Ever since they had withdrawn into their own borders, no creature had dared to linger near the abandoned buildings for fear of their legendary prowess at lair wards. Nobody wanted to be mistaken for common thieves, not to a dragon.

With a few flaps of their wings, the two alicorns crossed the border into the firmament and settled down into the gray mists. Luna looked around at the stars watching them and nodded to herself. “Methinks he wouldst be happiest hither.” She pulled the scroll out of Twilight's starry mane with her magic and unrolled it.

Looking around, Twilight nodded in agreement. “Sooth.” Glancing down at the midnight filly, she asked, “Hast thou chosen a name for it- er, him?”

Luna nodded, and her horn began glowing. The ten dots marking the main structure of the soon-to-be constellation began glowing; some yellow, some blue, but only one glowed red. The ten motes of light lifted from the parchment, leaving behind a few scattered and now unconnected lines. They flew up and took their place among the other stars, find their new home. “I bid thou welcome to thy new home, Aquila.”

The ghostly blue form of an eagle formed around the constellation and alighted down on the smaller alicorn's back to perch. No bigger than a finch to an adult pony, the tiny eagle nuzzled the midnight alicorn.

Twilight smiled down at the giggling filly. “Happy Birthday, Lulu.”

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( . .)
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~2015 Aevum Illuminationis~

With a final tap of the trowel, Kitten Kaboodle hovered back and admired her hoofwork after flipping up her goggles. It was most assuredly, the strangest chimney design even she had seen, but her calculations left no room for doubt. At least, that was true for her. The local mason was of another mind.

“I tell you filly, that chimney won't work. It's far too narrow! And all those baffles you had us build into it will just become gathering spots for soot!” The graying stallion shook his head in amazement. “I don't know why I let you talk me into this.” He ran the tip of a cracked and worn hoof through the still setting mortar, noting how it crumbled. With a sound of disgust, he flicked the hoof, ridding it of the pasty substance with practiced ease.

Kitten landed next to the earth pony and draped her forelegs around his neck in a tight hug. “You did it because you couldn't pay me for the portable workshop I built for you, and said you'd do me a favor someday. That, and you're a lot nicer than you let on, Master Stone Facade” she chirped at him happily as she gestured to the wooden cart that had been unfolded to reveal all his tools of the trade hanging neatly from their assigned places. A cream-colored tabby cat lazed on top of it, and regarded all this hard work going on as more pony foolishness.

“When I said a favor, I meant something you could use, something with lasting value,” Stone Facade groused. “I doubt this thing will even last through one casting without either falling apart or exploding. And I told you to stop calling me Master. I'm not your teacher anymore, just like you aren't Cartwright's, or Brick Oven's, or any of the dozen or so other craftsponies you've been apprenticed to.”

Kitten smiled and bupped him on the nose, though she had to reach up to do so, barely coming up to his shoulder like she did. “Silly Master. I always learn something from you when we meet. Besides, Lemongrab seems to like it,” she added, gesturing towards the cat that regarded them with as much respect as one would a vending machine.

Stone Facade rolled his eyes, but let the gesture go. “Your cat's opinion on the finer points of masonry aside, there's something I have to tell you. Your master insisted on paying me, but I took a lot less than I would have for a project like this, so your favor is still good- but!” he happily interrupted her when it looked like she was about to object. “You can only call in this favor when you're ready for me to build you something only for you. A house, a shop, whatever it is, it's yours for the asking. Got that, Kit? Only. For. You.” He punctuated each sentence with a poke at the small mare's nose.

With a roll of her own eyes, Kitten playfully batted aside his strong foreleg. “Fine, when I finally decide what my shop is going to be, I'll let you and Mistress Cartwright know so that you can build it for me. I swear, you two are alike in the weirdest ways.”

“Well, she may just be a carpenter, but at least she knows when to put her hoof down with you,” Stone Facade said.

“I heard that, you old codger,” a gruff, but definitely feminine voice said.

An older, sea foam green pegasus mare dropped down into the clearing, pulling her own wagon of lumber and supplies. Kitten joyfully hopped over to her, giving her a hug as well, this time leaving behind a smear of mortar on her coat. “Mistress Cartwright! Are you hear to build the coal shed?”

Cartwright smiled and pushed the enthusiastic mare away to give herself a little breathing room. “Alright, Kit. Where do you need this shed? Not too close to the forge, I presume?”

“Right this way, Mistress,” Kitten said and zipped off to the other side of the clearing.

Alone with the cantankerous mason while she disentangled herself from her wagon, Cartwright said, “Not taking advantage of her are you?”

“Taking advantage of me more like. That filly can wrap anypony around her little hoof,” Stone Facade replied.

Free of the harness, the mare walked up to the taller stallion and looked him in the eye. “I worry about her whenever she's around a brute like you.”

Returning her stony glare, he said nothing. After a moment of silence, they wrapped their forelegs around each other, kissing passionately. It was several moments before they came up for air, and he said, “I've missed you.”

Smiling at him slyly, she replied, “I know.” Giving him a little nip on the nose, she turned and walked towards the end of the clearing where Kitten waited patiently, making sure to put a little extra wriggle in her rump just for the audience she knew was watching her.

Lemongrab yawned hugely, and went back to sleep on the cart.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Kitten smiled as she approached the temple of Luna, knowing what was about to happen, and eagerly waiting for it. Slipping out of the cart's harness, she couldn't contain the grin as she walked just hooves away from the low stone wall that separated the churchyard from the street, leaving Lemongrab to watch the cart. Hearing the low whispers and giggles, she braced herself for the impact and wasn't disappointed in the least.

Like a small wave of rainbow, she was brought to the ground in a pile of fillies and colts, all giggling like mad. Using the only weapon at her disposal for such an attack, she went on the offensive, tickling whatever foal happened to be on hoof, moving quickly from one to another. The pile soon came to a heaving and laughing stop, fetching up against the stone wall, Kitten gasped, trying to catch her breath amid the pile of smiling foals. “What did you bring us, this time, Miss Kit?” one of the fillies asked.

Kitten pretended to struggle and fail to extricate herself from the pile before giving up. “Seems I can't move. I guess you'll all have to go without a surprise this week.”

At this proclamation, all the fillies and colts were up and suddenly helping her regain her hooves, some even brushing the dirt from her coat. A few flaps of her wings brought her back to the cart, and she pulled out a small box, less than a hoof on each side. The apprentice tinker set the box down in front of the crowd of children with a smile.

They all eagerly watched as she turned a crank on one side of the box, making a clicking noise as some spring inside was wound. After just a few turns, she stepped back, the box unfolding itself. With a complex series of movements, walls were folded, exposing the inner workings of gears and springs, and rearranged themselves until what was once a box, had taken on the shape of a dog and began walking forward, stopping every few steps to let out a tinny bark. After doing this three times, the dog sat on it's haunches and surprised all the foals by performing a back flip, landing on it's paws once more. It then neatly folded itself back into a box with a crank once more. Unimpressed, Lemongrab watched it disdainfully until it returned to its original box form.

The crowd of fillies and colts applauded like mad, and cheered the little pink mare. “Alright, alright, everyone. I've got to get going.”

A chorus of disappointed “aww”s met her declaration. “But you haven't been able to play with us all week, Miss Kit,” a small colt said, trying to sway her with his big, dewy eyes.

“I'm sorry, New Wave, but it's a long way to ol' Blacklight's, and I want to be back sometime tonight; preferably before dinner. Now all of you go on and play with your new toy. We can play again later.”

The foals ran off with their new toy while Kitten strapped herself into the cart's harness. She had a spring in her step as she left town towards the old coal mine where the last dregs were still being cut from the earth to be sold by a lone cantankerous stallion. The trip was long, but pulling an empty cart, she made good time, arriving at Blacklight's Coal just an hour after the sun passed its zenith.

As she walked up to the shack situated in front of the mine shaft entrance, she was greeted by an old brown earth pony stallion wielding a halberd rather expertly. Kitten waved at him happily, seemingly unperturbed by the less than cordial welcome. “Hi, Mister Blacklight! I'm here to pick up the last of the coal!”

The stallion relaxed a little, but didn't put his weapon down, merely pointing it away from her. “Good thing you made it when you did. I was about to close up early.”

“Ooo... got hot date?” Kitten asked with a smile.

“Consarnit girl, is that all you think about? I ain't about to go settle down with a filly just so's she can steal my fortune from me,” Blacklight replied with only a hint of anger in his voice. The anger disappeared entirely to be replaced by concern as he added, “No, there's an ill wind blowing today. Can't you feel it?”

There was indeed a breeze blowing, and coming off the mountain like it was, brought a nice chill to the early spring air. There was an uneasiness, but Kitten wasn't sure if it was because she felt it on her own, or that Blacklight put the idea in her head. “There is something; nothing I can put my hoof on, though.” She turned to her cat and asked, “What do you think, Lemongrab?” The yellow tabby let out a low, but discernible growl.

Blacklight nodded and led her to the loading dock so he could start shoveling her coal into the wagon. “Ayuh. Something's wrong in the forest today. Just hope it's nothing to do with that trouble the griffons started up last week.” He threw in a shovelful of coal and looked at her, deadly serious. “You be careful out on the road today. I'd escort you home, but I got too much to do here. Tunnel thirteen needs timber to shore it up if I want to keep it open, and Bucksaw said he'd be by later with it, but hasn't shown. That's when I started getting worried.”

“Not like him to be late...” Kitten said in a worried voice as the stallion returned to his labors.

“Nah. Especially since we were gonna open up a new jug of cider.” They worked in silence, Kitten moving the coal to the front so Blacklight would have plenty of room to pile on more. When the pile reached near the edge of the small cart, the stallion leaned on the shovel and wiped his brow of sweat. “Now you mark my words, Missy. Steer clear of the woods, I don't care if it is faster, it's become too dangerous these days, especially for a lone filly like yourself.”

Kitten nodded sagely. “No worries there. I've no intention of even going near the woods. I heard about what happened to that poor little filly. I'm just glad her parents were found alive.”

“Near death they were too, when I found them. Wouldn't have made it, if I hadn't had Rose's potions with me,” Blacklight agreed.

Kitten gave him a hug then strapped herself to the harness. “Well, I for one, don't care what they say about you in town. I think you're a nice pony.”

Blacklight smiled and watched her leave until she was out of sight. “Wait, what do they say about me in town?” he asked aloud.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Kitten hummed a happy little ditty quietly to herself to help pass the time as she returned back to Foalton. Making good time now, she remarked to herself. She looked towards the sun concealed behind a tree at the moment, noting the time. At this rate, I should be home well before din-

A distant cry followed by a slightly louder one caught her attention, causing her to slow to a stop. That was definitely no wild animal. The pegasus fretted for a moment, wondering what to do, but only for a moment. Pulling off to the side of the road, she parked the cart under the shade of a tree and moved some bushes in front of it. She then strapped her saddlebag on, and quietly crept towards the sound, hunkered close to the ground. “Stay here, Lemongrab. It might be dangerous in there,” she tossed back over her shoulder in a whisper, noting that the cat settled down on the small ledge she had crafted for him.

Kitten had only gone a few steps into the woods when she heard the sound again. Definitely not a wild animal. I distinctly heard an “ow” in there. It took an agonizingly long twenty minutes to creep up on a clearing, punctuated several time by hushed voices and the occasional muffled cry of pain. What she saw almost caused her to gasp out in shock. Two ponies- both pegasi, a stallion that she recognized as Bucksaw, and a mare judging by the binding on their midsections, were tied up and gagged on the ground. Sitting near them, were three griffons, one of whom was going through a pony-sized saddlebag.

“Well, what did she have? Anything valuable?” the smallest griffon asked.

The largest one, which was going through the bag cuffed him none too gently with a wing. “Shaddup. You'll know when I let you know, and not before.” A few more seconds of rummaging resumed before he cried out, “Ah! Here we go!” He pulled out a small, stone, rectangular cube.

“What's that? A rock?” asked the smallest griffon. He turned to the third and asked, “What good is a rock to us?”

The mare on the ground began to wriggle around like mad, hurling what would have been scathing curses at them had she not been gagged.

The largest griffon walked over the the struggling pegasus and held the stone on two talons before her tauntingly. “Oh, but it's not just a rock, now is it, my little morsel?” Rage and impotent tears filled the mare's eyes. If looks could kill, much of the countryside around the griffon would have been devastated. “No, it isn't,” he said with a smarmy tone. He held the stone up to the light and examined it. “No, my young fledgeling, this is a clan chop.”

Gasps of understanding followed by devious smiles appeared on the griffons faces. The boss will give us a big reward for that!” the smallest crowed. “He'll be able to make all kinds of forgeries!”

“You bet he will,” he said, tucking the chop into a pocket of his harness. “Now see what else she had in those bags. I think it's time to start carving up our catch to take back to camp, and I need to sharpen my knife.”

Kitten had seen enough, and crept backwards, away from the clearing. Knowing that she had no time, she pulled out a small, brass sphere with a key sticking out of it. Using her wingtips, she wound the key to its fullest and pulled it out, then concealed it in her pink feathers. She could feel the slight hum as the spring inside did its job, and hoped that this plan worked. Finding a small twig, she deliberately stepped on it, making a loud SNAP.

Instantly, the largest griffon was on her and pushing her to the ground. Cowering beneath him, she brought her wing up to shield her face in feigned fright, angling it so that it passed the pocket with the chop, quickly switching the brass orb for the small stone. With a deft maneuver, she dropped the chop into her mouth and worked it under her tongue.

“What have we here? Another tasty little morsel for dinner? How kind of you to drop in,” the griffon sneered.

“Pleashe don't hurt me,” Kitten replied, groaning internally at the lisp the chop gave her speech.

The griffon ran the blade of a rather large knife across his tongue. “Oh, you won't feel a thing... after you bleed out.”

The other two griffon peeked over the bush just then. “Everything okay? You just leaped over and- oh!” The smallest griffon stopped when he spotted the pink pegasus under his leader.

“Keep an eye on the other two. I'm going to-” The large griffon cut himself off suddenly and cocked his head to the side. “Do either of you hear a buzzing?” The other griffons looked to each other, then back at their leader and gasped. “What? What is it?” he asked, trying to wave off an annoying bug that had come near his ear.

“P-p-p-p-p-p-parasprite!” the youngest griffon shouted.

Pulling his head back, the large griffon tried to zero in on the buzzing, and saw a yellow ball with blue eyes happily buzzing around him. The parasprite was openly drooling and gave him a huge lick that went across one of his eyes. “Eeugh! Get away, stupid thing!” With a swipe of a foreclaw, he swatted the tiny ball to the ground, smooshing it, and covering his talon with it's guts. He shook his talon, trying to dislodge the mess, but succeeding only in spreading it on himself.

“You shouldn't'a done that,” Kitten said. “The shmell of dead parashprite makesh them shwarm.” Indeed, the buzzing sound became a loud droning that filled the forest with vibrations. A cloud of pastel colors appeared over the forest, turning the late afternoon sky into an ominously overcast one.

Looking nervous, the griffon said, “S- so what? They don't eat living creatures. Everyone knows that.” He tried to bluster, but he voice paid lie to the false bravado.

Kitten looked up at him slyly. “They don't? Then you have nothing to worry about... or do you?”

Before he could reply, the cloud swooped down and covered the griffons in a dense swarm. Kitten was spared the indignity of having her body enveloped in parasprites due to her proximity to the ground. In a panic, the griffons tried swatting at the parasprites, bringing down many, but their numbers were seemingly endless. When the first feather was plucked from the youngest griffon, his yelp of pain began to give them real concern. The first feather was quickly followed by another, then another until finally they had enough and their leader shrieked out, “Run away!” and quickly followed his own advice. His subordinates gave chase, with most of the swarm following all three of them.

Kitten rolled to her hooves and carefully stepped around the parasprites that remained, all of whom were on the ground eating the grass. She picked up the wickedly curved knife the griffon had dropped in a wingtip and trotted over to the bound and captive ponies. She found them just as she had last seen them, and walked over to Bucksaw first. She cut him loose, and he grabbed her into a fierce hug. “Thank you so much. I thought we were done for,” he sobbed.

Nodding to him, she walked over to the pale, crimson-maned mare and spat out the chop in front of her before cutting her loose. “I think this is yours?”

“My clan chop!” she said in a lilting voice. “How?”

“Picked his pocket and left a little surprise of my own,” Kitten replied. “Gave him a little wind-up toy that I've been working on. Never got it quite figured out, because the buzzing it makes attracts parasprites, and you try working on something that does that in town.” She shrugged it off as unimportant. “But never mind that now, let's- whoa!”

Pale, leathery wings sprouted free of the bindings on her midsection as the mare stood. She folded them neatly at her sides as she quirked an eyebrow at the smaller pegasus. She picked up the chop with a hoof and rubbed the saliva off on her coat. “What, never seen an aganippe before?” Her melodic voice and unconscious grace lent the mare a certain kind of elegance.

Kitten smiled wide, and her eyes sparkled. She held out a hoof in greeting and said, “Nope, never! My name's Kitten Kaboodle, but my friends call me Kitten or just Kit.”

Clearly surprised by the gesture, the aganippe was slow to take her hoof. “Er, Knightengale, at your service.”

Walking up to the two mares, Bucksaw said, “We'd better get going in case they come back.”

“Indeed,” Knightengale replied. “Let me just gather my things those marauders dumped like so much trash.” Looking at the torn saddlebags, she sighed sadly. “Alas, that was twenty bits well spent.”

Kitten sidled up to her and gave her a hug that was reluctantly welcomed. “Cheer up! Something tells me your luck's turning around!”

Author's Notes:

Before you all ask, yes, aganippe is a mythological creature, but like pegasus, it refers to one creature. The mythology seems a little confused, but most seem to agree that Aganippe, "the Mare who destroys mercifully," was an aspect of Demeter. In this form she was a black winged horse worshiped by certain cults. In this aspect, her idols (such as one found in Mavrospelya, the Black Cave, in Phigalia), she was portrayed as mare-headed with a mane entwined with Gorgon Snakes. This aspect was also associated with Anion (or Arion) whom Heracles rode, who later inspired tales of Pegasus. Basically, I got tired of calling them bat ponies, and thestrals are strictly a Harry Potter thing. I saw the tale and thought to myself that this would make an acceptable name for them and comes closest to bat-winged ponies that I could find. In case you're wondering, it's pronounced AG-uh-nip-ee.

Chapter 4: Against the Wind

ONE OF THESE DAYS

Chapter 4: Against the Wind

~13 Aevum Illuminationis~

The Elemental Plane of Minerals was often described as one of the most inhospitable in all the universe. Nothing grew here, save for crystals, some of which seemed to appear overnight (when night was available). Water was sparse as well, the only real source being the undrinkable stuff to be found in the river Styx which wound a meandering path through the plane before moving on to the Elemental Plane of Ooze.

That's not to say that the plane itself was bereft of life. Elementals called this place home, as did many, more exotic creatures. Woe betide the careless traveler who failed to recognize the signs that they were entering the territory of one of the many kilotrot long worms which tunneled here. Travelers themselves were seldom seen on the plane, it being one of the universe's better kept secrets.

This was especially true in this part of the plane, where it bordered the Elemental Plane of Positive Energy. The sky in this part never saw night, and glowed with a golden hue. A bright, round object shone in the sky, and was often mistaken for a sun, but the truth was much stranger than something so innocuous.

Two figures slowly emerged over the horizon. Quadrupeds they were, though both also sported a pair of feathery wings. It felt to them as if they had been walking for an eternity, but thanks to the near limitless energy reserves provided by their close proximity to the Positive Energy Plane, they felt like they could go on for another eternity. Even so, they both were exhausted mentally from the terrain and lack of variation or others to whom they could talk. Sure, they had each other, but they had run out of things to talk about eons ago, so now they just kept quiet to avoid getting on each other's nerves... mostly.

“What about here?”

Twilight suppressed a sigh and kept sweeping the ground with the magical, eye-shaped sensor that floated before her face. “Nay, dear friend. As I hath said to thee, I shall be sure to inform thee of any-” She stopped as her sensor caught sight of the edge of that for which they had been searching for so long. To make sure it wasn't another false positive reading.

Nyx, however, wasn't quite so patient. “Did you find one?”

Twilight turned to her with a smile. “Aye, it is so. A shard of euclase the likes of which I hath ne'er seen!” She stood on her hind legs and grabbed Nyx's forepaws with her own forehooves, pulling her into a capering dance. “Oh frabjous day! La, la, la! La, la, la! La, la, la, la, la, la!”

Nyx happily joined in her dance and silly song until both collapsed to the ground in a fit of laughter. When both had regained their composure, she said, “I suppose we'd better get digging. I dunno about you, but I can't wait to get home again and take a bath.”

Twilight turned to her with a weary smile. “Verily. Yon sun doth work o'er much, methinks.”

“Silly filly!” Nyx replied with a laugh. “That's no sun! T'is the Positive Energy Plane!” From a pouch on her side, she produced two shovels which could not have fit in such a small container. “Now let's get cracking. Let's yoink this crystal before the locals are on us like white on rice.”

Grabbing a shovel in her magic, Twilight shook her head as she stuck it in the dirt and pulled out a ten cubic hoof block of dirt. “I know not of what thou speakest, but I shall work like ne'er afore if it allows us to return with all due haste.”

They worked quickly thanks to the enchanted shovels Nyx had brought, but in silence. It didn't take long before a large enough spur of the light blue crystal was uncovered. The spur was easily a hundred hooves long, but appeared to be a small part of a much more titanic crystal that went well beyond the sight of Twilight's sensor. A faint glow could be seen emanating from it, bathing them both in a pale blue light. Digging complete, they rested a moment and admired the crystal. “She's a right beauty, eh?”

“A shame you'll never get to use it, then.”

Both of them whirled around and looked up out of the pit they had dug to see a bipedal skeleton looking down on them. His once rich robes were now a flowing tatters, and the bone staff he held in one rotted, skeletal hand appeared to be made of the spine of a rather large creature and topped with a unicorn's skull. Beside him stood a dragon in a similar state as he, with barely any flesh left hanging from gnarled bones. Both had red glowing eyes. The biped motioned with his staff for them to step aside. “Now move aside like good little living things, and I'll be sure to turn you both into something pleasant. Perhaps ghasts? Or would you prefer something insubstantial?”

Nyx and Twilight looked to each other and smirked. “Would you care to field this one, Twi? I'm afraid I left my Holy Avenger at home.”

“T'would be my pleasure, Nyx.” Twilight replied with a small bow. With barely a thought, Twilight's horn lit up and shot a purple beam at both undead, but to no seeming effect.

The lich laughed at her. “Is that the best you can do? I'll admit, splitting up your dispelling effect like that was a neat trick, but one I learned eons ago. In any case, it didn't-” A roar of pain from his draconic companions silenced him, and he turned to see it writhing on the ground, thrashing as the positive energy from the golden ball above rained down on him. Foul-smelling, black smoke began to rise from the undead dragon and evaporated into the air. Two more beams, this time green struck both undead, and this time, the lich looked worried. “What did you do, you stupid horse?” he shouted at her.

Twilight smirked at him and flew out of the hole to land a few paces away from him. “Hark ye well, foul wretch. I hath dispell'd thy abjurations protecting thee and thy companion from the purifying light of the realm above us.” The lich looked down to find that his own rotting flesh was smoldering, slowly being eaten away by the healing energy of the plane above them. “My second spell sever'd thy connection to the astral. Thou shalt not be leaving this plane with such ease.”

The lich roared and pointed at her, shooting a beam of black energy at her. Unafraid, she let the beam strike her fully in the chest, where it dissipated harmlessly. “Hast thou forgotten where thou standeth? Such enervations will avail thee not. Thy weaknesses however, hath been laid bare.” A beam of white energy shot from her horn, striking the lich squarely in the back who had turned to flee.

With a scream of pain, he flew a dozen hooves, landing in a heap. Muttering a quick spell, he lifted off the ground and flew away with all due speed. The bone dragon he left behind had ceased all struggles, becoming so weak, that it could only look at Twilight as she stood over it's fleshless skull. She gazed down at the pitiful creature before her with sadness. “Alas, I am certs that thou hadst ne'er intend'd to end thy existence so. We shalt make thy end swift.”

Twilight readied a spell to end the creature's suffering, when Nyx landed next to her and laid a paw on her shoulder. “Whoa there, missy! Forgot where we are already?” Twilight just looked at her in confusion. With a paw, the sphinx pointed towards the sky. “Not only is positive energy bad for undead like liches, but it's also good for the living. That's why we had to walk here instead of just fly over. Go too high, and boom! Every atom in our body achieves its highest potential instantaneously, and while that's an inconvenience for immortals like us, it would make this trip that much longer.”

With a smile, Twilight shook her head. “Verily, thou art my rock, dear Nyx. Is't possible for the plane to heal such a state?”

Nyx suppressed a shudder of delight at the compliment. “'Course it is! As long as the soul is still attached to the body, it will begin healing once all the negative energy is driven out. In fact, the closer we get him to the source, the faster it will happen.” They looked at each other uncertainly.

“Dare we?” Twilight asked tremulously.

“Nyx leaned forward and looked her in the eye with a deadly serious expression. “My dear, how can we not?” Twilight nodded, and they grew in size until they were both equal to the bone dragon. They carefully picked up the creature, grunting not from its weight, but from the unnatural cold that seemed to suck up all the warmth of any living being who touched it. Together, they flew straight up into the sky. Immediately, all the aches and little pains that they had suffered over the years vanished, healed by the power of the plane. Both of them felt stronger and more powerful than ever. They could feel their bodies filling with the life-giving energy. It felt like they could fly to the ends of the universe and back again in the blink of an eye. The burden they carried in their forelimbs felt negligible in comparison to the weights they could lift, the barriers they could shatter, the magics they could cast. Nothing was impossible for them.

”I hath secured him! Return to the ground at once! Quickly, before ye art o'ercome by the energies!”

The voice in their heads snapped them back to themselves, and without hesitation, they flew back down. They could feel the build up of excess energy begging for release. The need to use the energy was so powerful it hurt like trying to push a mountain through the eye of a needle. By the time both of them reached the ground, the pain was physically overwhelming. They collapsed, white light shining from their eyes and mouths, and sparks hot enough to melt stone on contact spurted from Twilight's horn. Lacking any such easy, natural form of release, Nyx simply writhed on the ground, claws gouging deep furrows in the rocky soil.

A golden dragon almost two kilotrots in length landed near them and folded her massive feathered wings, creating a minor windstorm as she did. With great care, she placed the purple dragon in her claws on the ground and walked over to the immortals, shrinking as she went. When she was about their size, she stood next to them, careful not to get close to Twilight's sparking horn. She placed a foreclaw on each of their heads and took a deep breath before channeling the excess energies into herself. She felt them collect in her gullet to the point of overflowing, and released them in a gout of flame straight up that seemed to stretch on forever.

It was almost a full minute before the fire died out and the dragon gratefully sucked in a lungful of air. She looked down to see Twilight and Nyx looking up at her. “What hast ye learned?”

“We acted as was meet. We wouldst do so again if called upon so,” Twilight replied.

Nyx rolled onto her stomach, then to her paws, before shaking the dust from her pelt and shirt. “More importantly, where've you been, Sal? We went looking for you, but your acolytes said you left and may never return.”

Salanshandaraen looked away, a hard gleam in her eyes. “Aye, thy question bites shrewdly, though not without merit. Ye knowest of the Dragonking?” They nodded at her question. “He... he hath been slain. I hath been sent in pursuit of the dissembling, ill-bred, sheep biting cur. Sadly, I fear I shall be so for some time. The sow bellied mongrel is quite adept at obfuscation.

Twilight nuzzled the dragon in sympathy, while Nyx said, “Well, that certainly clears up a few things about what's going on back home. If the Dragonking is dead, that's sure to throw the clans into chaos. But why send you after the killer? Weren't you his favored councilor?”

“Aye. Methinks t'is the reason of the quest,” Sal replied. “Pray, what art ye doing hence? Some arcane study?”

Twilight shook her head. “Nay, we come a-excavating. We sought for and found a crystal necessary for our works, hoe'er, we ran afoul of a lich. He had ensorcel'd yon drake into servitude. After seeing him to his heels, we thought to resurrect the poor creature.”

Sal's head jerked up with a start. “A lich? Here? Pray, whence didst the cur flee?”

Nyx pointed towards the horizon. “Thataway. Twilight wounded, and dimensionally locked him, but there's no telling-” The sphinx had to stop speaking as the great golden dragon took to the air. “How can she fly so high here? The positive energy should have made her explode by now.”

“Hast thou forgot'n?” Twilight asked as she led her back to the prone dragon they had rescued. “She is a priestess, righteous of heart. Channeling such energies is her trade.”

Nyx shook her head. “But still. We're talking about... never mind. Let's see to our new friend and get our crystal back home. An arcaneficarum won't make herself, you know.”

“Sooth,” Twilight replied with a nod.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)
~2015 Aevum Illuminationis~

Leaning back in his chair, the earth pony chewed on a stalk of grass and looked over Knightengale once more, as if examining something distasteful. The light gray mare was used to such scrutiny, especially from figures of authority like the sheriff across the desk from her. Aganippe weren't very well understood, which translated to not very trusted, unlike their pegasi cousins, but at least were still considered ponies... barely. Were it not for the grace and open acceptance from Princess Luna, they likely wouldn't even have that much.

The sheriff moved the stalk of grass to one side and lobbed a gobbet of saliva at the spittoon next to his desk without even looking at it. “So why aren't you in the Night Guard? I thought you all went in for that 'service to the Lady' and all that,” he asked, obviously prepared to not believe the answer.

Knightengale took a deep breath and sighed. She'd heard plenty of that sort of question as well. She couldn't blame them for asking, not really. Few ponies ever see an aganippe outside of the Night Guard, and fewer still ever see their townships built in the caverns scattered across Equestria. She felt they could be excused for their ignorance, so long as it didn't become prejudice. However, she could see already that this would be one such authority figure who would become problematic, and while she didn't want to give him any reason to suspect her of wrongdoing, she had a rough few days, and was at the end of her tether. “Personal reasons,” she replied in a terse, yet lilting voice.

The sheriff's narrow gaze narrowed even further and he slowly nodded. “I'm sure,” he muttered loud enough for both of them to hear. Knightengale flicked an ear at him, but her face remained impassive. The sheriff actually smiled, but it contained no mirth. “So why'd you leave your roost? I thought your kind mostly stuck together.”

The door to the sheriff's office slammed open just then, and a large earth pony mare walked in. She easily stood a head taller than either of the building's other two occupants, as if the shock of orange hair on her head was not eye catching enough. She hung a muddy green poncho on a peg near the door and shook out the water from her mane. “Och! It's coming doon in buckets oot thar! Soom stallion y'are, sending a wee, delicate lass like m'self oot in that doopour.” She walked over to them, and sat on the corner of his desk, making it creak ominously with her weight. “Well, na'. D'ye want my report na', Tin Star, or do I have time to wet me whistle?”

Tin Star poked her in the side with a hoof, which caused the large mare to yelp and hop off his desk. “You're on the job, Deputy Ricochet. No drinking.” He could see her winding up for a good whine, but headed her off. “I want you to get Miss Knightengale here set up with a room at the Way Inn. Young Miss Kitten Kaboodle was kind enough to set her up there for a week until she can get back on her hooves and out of town.”

“Who said I was going anywhere?” Knightengale asked calmly.

The sheriff stared at her hard. “Until she can get back on her hooves and out of town,” he said through clenched teeth.

Ricochet grabbed Knightengale by a foreleg and led her over to the door. “Come on, ya barmy mare. Let's goo afore ya talk yourself int'a cell.” They paused at the door long enough to pull on a couple of ponchos, then walked out into the rain. As they trudged through the downpour, Ricochet said, “Dinna mind that prat. Soom ponies get elected sheriff, an' they go a little toys in th' attic, y'ken?”

“Seen it too many times, myself,” Knightengale replied with a nod. “Give the wrong pony a little power, and suddenly they're next in line to the throne.”

“Aye, jus' lie that!” Ricochet laughed. “I like you, cuttie. You're nae can o'piss like th'other aganippe I met.”

The aganippe in question looked up at her in surprise. “You've met others like me?”

“Aye,” Ricochet replied. “I'll tell ya all aboot it over a pint.”

Knightengale arched an eyebrow at her and smirked. “”I thought you were on the job?” she asked.

“Aye, wall, I won't tell if ye won't,” the tall deputy replied with a wink. Both mares laughed as they walked in to the local dive.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Knightengale contemplated the whiskey in her tumbler as she slowly spun it on the table with her hooves. The inn's saloon had long since cleared of all other but herself, the bartender, and one lone, passed out stallion at another table. She watched as the liquid threatened to slosh out of the glass to join the other stains on the wood, but never quite made it. With a sigh, she asked herself, How did it come to this? Stranded in some no name town, no money, no prospects. No friends... She drained the last of her drink, and brought the glass to the bar. She nodded goodnight to the light green unicorn behind it, and was about to go upstairs to her room, when she noticed a “Help Wanted” sign placed against the mirror behind the barkeep.

She walked back to the bar and pointing towards the sign, asked, “What sort of help are you looking for?”

The bartender looked her over, noting the muscle tone under her coat despite her delicate-looking build. “Security, mostly. Why, you interested?”

Knightengale shrugged. “Well, I do need a job. Maybe temporary, maybe not. Depends on how long the sheriff can stand me being here.”

With a roll of her eyes, the bartender spat on the sawdust covered floor, and used her magic to start cleaning some glasses with a dirty rag. “Tin Star's a teetotaler. I could care less what he thinks. The only reason any of the fights in here get stopped is because Rico practically lives here. 'Course, half those fights she starts, but at least they end faster. You got any experience?”

“I spent most of my foalhood training for the Night Guard,” she replied, flexing one bat-like wing and folding it back.

“Yeah, I noticed you were one of them bat ponies,” the barkeep said casually.

Knightengale moved like lightning, and was behind the bar before the unicorn could blink. She picked her up and slammed her once against the wall, causing all the glassware to rattle musically. “You better watch your mouth, hornhead. That's aganippe to you, not “bat pony.”

The unicorn smiled. “Speed, strength, and restrained violence. You're hired.” Knightengale let her down slowly in confusion. “Sorry about the slur, but I needed to see if you really had what it took to bounce. I got nothing against aganippe. Even had a few who used to come in all the time when they were with the Frontier Guard. Name's Wormwood,” she said, holding out a hoof.

Taking the hoof, she shook it. “Knightengale. With a 'K',” she added when she saw the unicorn about to say something. That was something else she had gotten used to saying over the years. She mentally thanked her parents once more for giving her a name so easily misconstrued.

Wormwood had to think a moment before catching her meaning. “Parents too clever for your own good, eh? Welcome to my world. Spent the first ten years of my life thinking I was going to be some kind of worm farmer, or something.” She shook her head ruefully with a smile. “The things I used to do to earn my cutie mark.”

With a matching smile, Knightengale nodded. “I can relate. So, when do I start?”

Wormwood nodded her head towards the passed out stallion at the bar. “How about now? I'll give you half pay for today if you help me deal with him, then you can officially start tomorrow afternoon. Pay's twenty bits a day, less food, drink and rent.”

Knightengale nodded and twisted her head, causing her neck to crack loudly. “Sounds good to me. So, where do I leave him? Front stoop? Back alley?”

“Nah, this one's special,” Wormwood replied. “When he passes out here- which is almost every night these days- we let him sleep in the pantry.”

“Relative?”

“Uncle,” the green mare replied sadly. “He helped me get this bar, laid out a lot of bits for me too.” She grunted as she carefully tipped the stallion onto Knightengale's back. “I try to look out for him, make sure he has someplace safe to sleep it off.” Leading them through the kitchens, she opened a door, and Knightengale saw a nest made of sacks of potatoes already set up with a blanket and pillow nearby. With surprising ease, the light gray aganippe eased him onto the sacks before Wormwood covered him with the blanket. “Thanks for your help. He's not that heavy, but trying to do that all by myself is a real pain.”

Knightengale shrugged it off. “Hey, it's family, right?”

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

The sound of a bird singing at her window was just too loud to ignore any longer. It's cheerfulness would be enough to make her cringe, even were it not so early in the day. Knightengale rolled over to face the open window, removing the pillow from around her ears, and let loose a burst of ultrasonic noise, sending the bird flying off for more friendly skies. The mare took a little more pleasure in that than she really intended, but that same bird had been serenading her every late morning for the past week straight, and turnabout was fair play as far as she was concerned.

With a great yawn that threatened to pop her jaw out of joint, she rose from her bed and stretched. Spotting the clock on the wall, she noted the time. Eleven? Well, it's better than yesterday, at least. Got seven whole hours of sleep this time. She walked over to the metal mirror hanging next to the window and did her best to tame her bed mane without a brush. Ugh. Guess I'll send one of the squirts shopping for me. Can't go on like this for much longer. I have an image to maintain, after all.

More or less presentable, she walked down the stairs to her job, stopping along the way to send one of the foals that hung around the inn/saloon in hopes of earning some bits for running errands out to buy her a brush. Taking a seat at a table, she greeted the regulars, most of whom just nodded to her. Ricochet came over from her seat at the bar and took the chair across from her. “Wall, g'morning to you, sunshine. I was beginning to think I'd have to send oot a sarch party for ya.”

“You mean you were worried you'd have to abandon your cider before it was finished, don't you?” Knightengale shot back.

Ricochet brought a hoof up to her heart in mock pain, but was careful enough to not spill her drink. “Och! Ya wound me to th' quick!” She turned towards the bar and loudly said, “Ya hear these roadapples, Wormwood? Ya gonna let her speak soo to your best coostomer?”

“Second best,” Wormwood replied, taking time from cleaning a glass to point at her uncle, who raised a mug towards the mares. The rest of the saloon gave a chuckle, and a barmaid set down a bowl of fried potatoes and fruit along with a mug of (non-alcoholic) cider in front of the aganippe.

Knightengale nodded towards her, saying, “Thank you, Short Order.”

Ricochet noted the gray mare's eyes watching the barmaid walk back to the bar and lightly kicked her under the table. “Not cheating on me with th' help, are ye?” she asked playfully.

Swallowing the mouthful she had already spooned in, Knightengale replied, “Nothing wrong with looking. Besides, cheating implies we have something deeper than friendship, Rico.”

“Ya mean that night o'carousing meant naught to ya? Och, Knighty, ya sure know how to wound a gal.” Just to emphasize her point, the earth pony clasped both hooves to her heart and made a kissyface at her.

Not one to miss an opportunity, Knightengale lobbed a spoonful of blueberries at the larger mare, scoring a direct hit on the lips, and causing her to sputter in surprise. In a near perfect imitation of the earth pony's Cowadonian accent, she said, “Thar's plenty mar where that came from ya blatherskite. Na' get ye gone afar the sheriff drags your daft rump away.”

Licking the blueberry juice off her face and popping one into her mouth, Ricochet stood with a smile. “Och, ya smooth talker.” As she walked to the door, she looked over her shoulder and said, “Mark me words, that rump will be mine, Knighty.” Before leaving, she gave a daring flick of her tail, allowing Knightengale a peek at something pink underneath, nearly causing her to choke on her potatoes.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Later that night, Knightengale sat at her post, a stool next to the bar, but out of the customers' way. From this position, she was able to keep an eye on the room itself as well as the door. The day had been benign enough, with only Kitten Kaboodle coming in just after noon to see how she was doing. She tried to refuse it, but Knightengale finally persuaded the smaller pegasus to take back the money she had given to house the aganippe. It wasn't until she had said, “I always repay my debts.” that Kitten finally relented.

Wormwood had commented as she cleaned down the bar for the fourth time about the desolation. “A little unusual for this time of day. Usually we get in at least a few travelers,” she said with affected nonchalance. Her uncle had said nothing, but looked at the clock above the bar and grunted with a frown.

Business seemed to pick up as the day wore on, and the shops closed for the day, and farmers came in from the fields. Wormwood was soon too busy to remark upon the sudden slowdown earlier, but the event stuck with Knightengale, especially the stallion's reaction. It was this in mind that she watched the crowd for troublemakers, but so far, the only disturbance was a card game that got out of hoof when one of the gamblers tried to proposition Short Order. A stern glare from Knightengale and a quick flash of her fangs calmed the situation down rather quickly, however.

Everypony for the most part behaved themselves, but for the past few days, there had been an undercurrent of tension. More stories from travelers about attacks from griffons, minotaurs, and even diamond dogs had been circulating more and more of late, causing people to flock towards the churches to pray for safety, and then to the saloons to drink away their worries. Even Ricochet seemed subdued and fretful.

It was into this sort of tension came the trouble. As soon as the grim pegasus stepped into the saloon, everypony went dead silent. He was dressed in the light armor of a royal messenger, and carried with him a satchel stuffed with papers, and without preamble walked up to a post near the door, nailing a sheet to it. He turned to face the room, and from the red eyes and dried tracks on his cheeks, everypony could see that he had been crying recently. He swallowed hard, cleared his throat and said, “At dawn today, the airship Solaris was attacked. A combined force of griffons and dragons brought her down. Only a hoofful of ponies were able to make good their escape. As of this time, we are unaware of the condition of any other survivors, but we must assume the worst. The Princesses are asking for any able-bodied ponies to volunteer for military service. A recruiter will be here by tomorrow afternoon to accept any who wish to join. That is all.”

With that, he turned and left. The silence was so complete that they could hear his wing flaps as he took off. Ricochet walked up and read the posting, but found nothing the messenger hadn't already said. Ponies started to murmur amongst themselves, but now, instead of just an undercurrent of fear, it was more pronounced, even palpable.

Seeing that this kind of emotion would do the nopony any good, Knightengale did the only thing she could think of. With a flap of her wings, she alighted onto the bar, instantly gathering everypony's attention, and causing the room to go silent once more. With a clear, unwavering voice, she began to sing.

I thought I heard the old mare say,
“Leave her Bonny, leave her.”
Tomorrow ye will get your pay,
and it's time for us to leave her.

Leave her Bonny, leave her!
Oh, leave her Bonny, leave her!
For the voyage is long, and the winds don't blow,
and it's time for us to leave her.

Oh the wind was foul, and the sea ran high,

A few of the patrons began singing the refrain along with Knightengale now, lead by Wormwood's uncle.

”Leave her Bonny, leave her!”
She shipped it green and none went by,
and it's time for us to leave her.

Leave her Bonny, leave her!
Oh, leave her Bonny, leave her!
For the voyage is long, and the winds don't blow,
and it's time for us to leave her.

By the second line, all the patrons were joining in the sad song.

I hate to sail on this rotten tub,
“Leave her Bonny, leave her!”
No grog allowed and rotten grub,
and it's time for us to leave her.

Leave her Bonny, leave her!
Oh, leave her Bonny, leave her!
For the voyage is long, and the winds don't blow,
and it's time for us to leave her.

We swear by rote for want of more,
“Leave her Bonny, leave her!”
But now we're through, so we'll go ashore,
and it's time for us to leave her.

Leave her Bonny, leave her!
Oh, leave her Bonny, leave her!
For the voyage is long, and the winds don't blow,
and it's time for us to leave her.

By the end of the final line, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Author's Notes:

Sorry this one took so long. I had to redraw the first pic several times to get it right. This actually brings up a good question. Do you think the pictures are worth delaying the chapters? I'll probably make a blog post about it, but just wanted to put that question out there.

Chapter 5: Lager for Life

ONE OF THESE DAYS

Chapter 5: Lager for Life

~15 Aevum Illuminationis~

Marching up and down the meager ranks of her soldiers, Twilight nodded outwardly, but inwardly, she was cringing. Our ranks are far too thin to be of any use against anything more than a minor incursion. Sure, the earth ponies are sturdy, the pegasi fierce, and the unicorns powerful individually, but they cannot compare- Her dark, unflattering introspection were interrupted by the sedate clopping of hooves of an approaching pony. She turned, her light armor clanking, to find the only pony she knew of that sounded quite like her. “Celestia. We art thrice bless'd by thy presence. To what do we owe the honor?”

Celestia halted before her younger sister, and acknowledged the bows from the soldiers. “Season thy admiration, Sister. I come to thee to merely bend thy ear on a small, yet important matter of state. Hast thou a moment?”

Twilight favored her a smile that quickly vanished as she turned back to the troops, all stern commander once more. “Company dismissed! Return once more on the morrow for drill.” She returned their bows with a salute before turning back to Celestia, her expression still grim, but tinged with sadness this time. “Good soldiers to a one, but I fear for their future.”

“Thy vision again?”

Leading them both to a wooden rack, Twilight doffed her armor, setting each in its place until the dummy looked like an alicorn in purple chain and plate, minus the helm that she still held in one hoof. “Aye, but t'is more than that. I presume thou knowest of the latest disturbances amongst the drakes?”

With a nod, Celestia said, “T'would be the height of folly to ignore warnings so dire as these. That they didst not hold us in even the most mean of esteem as to shoulder us with their burden bespeaks ill of the plight of Equestria. Ere soon, we must take stock of our allegiances. We wouldst not want fair weather friends to become our downfall.”

Turning to her big sister, Twilight pleaded, “Then let me press more into service. Our forces hath dwindled like ne'er before, and what few we have are insufficiently trained to handle all but the meanest of forces. Not e'en the strongest unicorn couldst make one whit of difference on the outcome of such a battle. I am still confounded by this parliament! They seek to stymie us at every turn. Methinks they believe us to their enemy!” She threw her helm to the cobblestones in a fit of pique shattering the stone, but leaving the helm undamaged, save for a few scratches.

A golden aura of magic surrounded the helm, and flew it up to its proper resting place on the wooden dummy. “Calm thyself, dear Sister. Seeing thee vexed is their purpose and joy. To give them this satisfaction wouldst only encourage them to greater heights.” She nuzzled the lavender alicorn affectionately, reigning in her temper. “Thou knowest that they hold the purse strings, and are most miserly when a proposal holds no direct advantage for them. Their shortsightedness is their prison.”

“A prison that will cause all of Equestria to fall!” Twilight shouted. “This fledgeling nation, this grand experiment will fail ere two decades hath passed! Confound these ponies, they art enough to drive one to drink!” She gave a snort of disgust, and ruffled the feathers of her wings, flexing them for a moment as if she meant to take off, but changed her mind and folded them back.

Celestia kissed Twilight on her forehead, just below her horn, and let the younger mare rest her head against her broad chest. “I too, see the storm on the horizon, howe'er I fear it too late already to prepare. We shall do what we can with what few in parliament hath allied with us, but I fear it will be a mere sop to our consciences.” She appeared hesitant for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip, then added, “How goeth thy, er, Project with Nyx?”

Twilight's mood actually seemed to lift at the question. “Well enow. With the arcanificarum to assist, research hath proceeded with appreciable alacrity. I predict we wilt be able to test our theory soon, mayhap e'en afore trouble strikes.”

Celestia nuzzled the younger alicorn again. “Pray, have a care with this experiment, Twilight. Artifacts of this nature are no mere baubles, less so living artifacts.”

Twilight turned to her sister and replied, “Dear Celestia, I am always full of the utmost care and respect when dealing with primal energies. I am an arcanist, after all.”

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)
~2015 Aevum Illuminationis~

With a rough casualness that bespoke of her inebriated state, Ricochet threw her few, meager belongings into the only saddlebag she owned since leaving the Royal Guard. She was sure that she had heard something inside break, but didn't care. When the last bit of her life was packed into the half-full bags, she scanned the room and sighed. Am I actually sad to be leaving this dump of a town?

“And just where do you think you're going, Missy?”

Turning to one of the absolute last voices she wanted to hear at this moment, she faced sheriff Tin Star, and by her expression, she obviously would be brooking no argument today. “Dinna try an stop me, ye daft poony. I know me duty, an I aim to see it through.”

Tin Star leaned against the door frame, casually blocking the way out. “Do you? Know your duty, that is?” He put a hoof to his chin and feigned thoughtfulness. “I seem to recall a deputy of mine being dishonorably discharged from the guards. Now what was her name?”

Ricochet grabbed the nearest object to her, which turned out to be an empty glass bottle and threw it at him in a rage. “Feck off, ye gobdaw,! Ye promised to never bring that oop!”

The bottle never even came close, shattering on the wall, well away from Tin Star. With a shrug, he brushed aside the accusation. “I reserve the right to use it if it will prevent you from doing something monumentally stupid... like you're about to do.” He looked to the shattered remains of the bottle and shook his head. “Can you even hit anything besides the bottle anymore? When was the last time you even picked up your bow? You're a sad, pathetic wreck, Ricochet, and the sad part is, you're less than half my age.” He walked over to her and held out a foreleg next to her, which she bumped into several times. “Look at this! You can't even stand up straight without swaying. If you had come to me like this looking for work, I would have thrown you in a cell and then chased you out of town the next day!”

Angrily, She shoved his foreleg away, staggering a few steps as she did. “I can handle it. I dinna need your pity, and I certainly dinna need your guff.” She pulled her massive longbow over to her from its resting spot against the wall, and used it to steady herself.

Tin Star poked her chest, sending the taller mare back onto her rump, bow clattering to the floor. Looking down his snout at her, he said, “You're right about one thing. You certainly don't need my pity; you get quite enough of it from yourself. But you do need a good, swift kick in the kiester so you can get your head unstuck from in there. Pity? No, you're in no danger of running out of that anytime soon.”

He looked around the room, taking in the many empty bottles that littered the space, the ever present aroma of alcohol and stale puke, the one-bedroom apartment that likely hadn't been properly cleaned since the mare had taken up residence, and gave a disgusted snort. “I wonder, does that filly you fancy know you live like this? Have you shown her any side of you beyond the party mare? Has she woken up next to you in this filthy bed, or-”

“Ye dinna talk aboot her like tha'!” Ricochet shouted, getting to her hooves unsteadily, but ready to give him the beating of his life, sheriff or no. “Ye leave Knighty oot o' this! Tha' filly has more good in her than a thousand o' ye! She doesn't do things like tha'! She deserves better than tha'!” She sat down heavily on her rump again, not caring about the ominous shattering sound coming from her saddlebags, nor the wetness fast spreading from them. “She deserves better than me,” she finished in a weak whisper.

Tin Star gave a lopsided smile. “Well, well, well. It seems even you have recognized how far you've fallen, if you realize that even a bat pony, of all of Luna's misbegotten creatures has more worth than you right now. The question then becomes, what are you going to do about it?” He turned and walked towards the door to her apartment above the jail. He paused at the door long enough to say, “I'll let you think that question over for a bit.”

Ricochet sat there, silent tears running down her cheeks. “Damn ye, ye bastard.” Unable to support herself any longer, she leaned against the hoofboard of her bed, banging her head against it repeatedly. The sound of the door creaking open further drew her attention to the only pony she dreaded seeing more than the sheriff.

“Were you honestly thinking of leaving without even saying goodbye?” Knightengale asked. Her face was an unreadable mask, but the slight crack in her melodious voice betrayed her emotions.

Unable to hold her gaze any longer, Ricochet's bloodshot eyes darted away in shame. “Aye. I thought-”

“No, I don't believe you were thinking; at least, not about me or anypony else who might be hurt by your leaving without so much as a 'see you later',” the aganippe answered for her.

Ricochet flinched from the raw hurt apparent in her voice. “Aye. Tha'.” She looked around for something to say, anything to cover the awful silence that pervaded the room like a living thing, seeking to suffocate the earth pony with sheer oppressiveness. “I- I couldn'a stand the thought o' leaving ye, but I couldn'a stand the thought o' saying goodbye even more.” She thumped her head against the bed again, this time hard enough to split the skin, letting a dribble of blood fun down her face to mix with the tracks of her tears. “Bloody coward,” she said quietly.

Suddenly, her head was being cradled against the smaller mare's chest, and a soft kiss planted on top of her head. “Don't you dare even think of ever doing that again, you hear me? Ever! You're not alone in this world, and there are ponies who care about you. Ponies who would miss you. Understand?”

Ricochet could only manage a quick nod, as she breathed in the comforting scent of the mare holding her.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Ricochet sat on her freshly made bed, nursing a mug of hot coffee, her gaze never leaving the bustling form of Knightengale, as the aganippe cleaned the room. She almost choked on her drink when the mare opened the widows wide to air out the room, leaning far out, and breathing in a breath of fresh air, unknowingly showing off her lean curves. “Why are ye doing all this, Knighty?” she asked quietly, not trusting her voice to rise in volume for fear of breaking again.

Pausing in her whirlwind of activity, Knightengale turned to her friend, and shook her head in amusement. “Nopony should have to live in filth like this. It's a wonder you haven't caught something from all this.”

The earth pony pulled a half full bottle of whiskey from under her mattress and waved it at her. “I'm thinking I was just well-preserved.” She pulled the cork out with her teeth and was about to pour a measure into her mug, but saw Knightengale standing there with a disapproving look on her face and a wastebasket held out. “Och, come on, Knighty! Just a wee farewell draught, please.”

“Rico, I know it can be hard to face the world without some sort of liquid courage, but I know too, that you're a braver pony than that,” Knightengale replied, waving the wastebasket insistently. “Besides,” she added as the recorked bottle was gently laid in the basket to clink against the other bottles already filling it, “You won't be facing the world all alone. I'll help you through this, even if it kills you.”

With a spreading blush, Ricochet replied, “Aye, wall, I dinna know aboot tha'. Personally, I'd like to survive it an all.”

Bundling up the last of the trash, Knightengale sat down next to Ricochet with a sigh, and surprised her by guiding the earth pony's hooves holding the mug to her own lips for a quick drink. “Thanks, I needed that.”

Ricochet took another pull from the mug, draining it of the last dregs and laid it on the table next to her bed. “There... there's something ye should know before ye decide to get too tangled oop in me mess, Knighty. It's how I came to be oot here and why I was booted from the guard.”

“I thought you said you left on your own,” Knightengale said.

“Aye, wall, I may have done a wee bit o' truth stretching there,” she replied. “I did leave the capital on me own, but I was booted from the guard for something terrible. I guess ye could say it really started the day I officially joined the guard...”

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Casually tossing her duffel bag onto the lower bunk closest to the showers, Ricochet planted a hoof on it, claiming it for all to see. She looked over at the rest of the still-green recruits filing in, fresh from the training grounds and smiled at them. “Too slow by half, ladies! This one's all mine.”

“You just want that bunk so you can watch us shower from the convenience of your bed,” a blue pegasus said as she sashayed up to her and threw her own kit on the top bunk.

Ricochet closed the distance until their noses touched. “Aye, what of it, Cornflower?”

A yellow unicorn mare rolled her eyes. “Oh, get a room, you two.”

Cornflower put a foreleg over Ricochet's shoulders, though reaching up to do so. “We do have a room; this one!” she said proudly.

“Meine Güte ! Vat ist all dis kaffeeklatsch?”

All heads turned to the doorway to find the sergeant, a short, but muscular earth pony mare whose body and face was so covered in scars, it was difficult to tell that her original coat color was actually a drab olive. She ran a hoof through a close-cropped brown mane and looked at the assembled mares with the same disdain one might bestow on a smudge on their favorite tablecloth. She walked in, followed closely by a tan unicorn mare with a scroll and quill floating next to her in the air.

With a stomp, she pointed to the rank insignia on the sleeve of her tunic. “Vat are zey teachingk recruits zese days? You come to attention when a superior enters the room! Schnell!” she shouted.

The unicorn behind her shouted, “Fall in!” in a voice that would do any drill instructor proud.

Immediately, the new mares stood at attention in front of their bunks, trying intently to stare at nothing so as to not draw attention to themselves. The sergeant walked down the line of ponies, disgust clear on her features. “I ask for soldat, and zey send me half-trained foals!” She turned to the mare behind her and asked, “I did ask for soldat, didn't I, Korporal Paladin?”

“I distinctly remember writing down 'soldier' on the requisition form, Sar'major,” Paladin replied.

“Zen zere must have been some mix-up. I see no soldat here, only vet-behind-ze-ears recruits so new zey sqveak like a mouse vhen zey valk!” the sergeant said. “Vat am I supposed to do viz zese?” she asked exasperatedly.

Paladin gave a small shrug. “The same thing you do every time the Quartermaster sends the wrong thing; make it work, Sar'major.”

The tiny sergeant facehoofed, dragging the hoof down her face. “Celestia, gib mir kraft.” She pointed at Cornflower. “You! Over here!” She pointed at the empty bunk nearest the door. “Korporal, you shall take ze schlafkoje above ze ozer vun. Maybe your presence vill keep zese barracks from turning into ein orgy.”

“Yes, Sar'major!” Paladin said with a smart salute.

Cornflower moved with alacrity, albeit reluctantly. When her gear was laying on her new bunk, the sergeant resumed her inspection. “Mein name ist Oberstabsfeldwebel Eisen Stück, but you may call me Sergeant Major Iron Piece, or as Korporal Paladin says, Sar'major; I shall reply to any of zose. I also reply to 'zat vitch' or 'die hexe', but you better be ready to back zat up mit die gewalt.”

Iron Piece stopped in front of one of the bunks and wiped a hoof along it and nodded in approval before moving on. “You vill note zat zis room ist clean enough to eat off of. You vill see zat it stays zat vay, or you vill be eating off of it.” She stopped again as she came to Ricochet, and despite the vast size difference, somehow made the larger mare feel small. “Zere vill also be no hanky-panky in mein barracks. Kein! Ist zat clear?”

“Aye, Sar'major,” Ricochet replied, gulping loudly.

Turning to the rest of the barracks, Iron Piece shouted, “I asked you all a qvestion! Ist! Zat! CLEAR?”

”YES, SAR'MAJOR!” the mares replied in unison.

Iron Piece facehoofed and shook her head. “Meine Güte , did zey teach you nozingk in basic?” She walked to the door. “I need ein bitter. Korporal, get acqvainted viz ze truppen.”

With the largest, small pony any of the mares had ever seen gone, their attention turned to the sandy brown unicorn with a white mane and tail, who rolled up her scroll, but kept it and the quill floating next to her. She smiled at them widely. “She's a peach, isn't she? For those of you wondering, my name is Corporal Paladin, your squad leader. You have all been lucky enough to be taken under the Sar'major's wing because you happened to show the most potential in basic. Unfortunately, you all also showed the most discipline problems, and she just loves discipline problems. I'm going to give you all a piece of free advice right now. Do not try her patience. She may not be allowed to beat you to death, but you'd be surprised what a pony can survive, and she comes from a very old school of thought on discipline. Positively archaic.” She walked up to Ricochet and smiled up at her and winked. “Mind you, I'm not much better.”

She walked back to the door, saying, “I'm going to collect my things now; give you fillies a few moments to kibbitz about what horrible ponies the Sar'major and I are. Try not to tear the room apart while I'm gone.”

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

“You knew Dame Paladin when she was just a corporal?” Knightengale asked.

Ricochet smiled wistfully. “Aye, I knew the cuttie when she was just a wee bairn. Her family used to summer in Cowadonia. We would play hide'n'seek among the barrows all the time.”

Knightengale bumped shoulders with her. “Sounds like there may have been a crush somewhere in there.”

“Nae, though we did play postmare once or twice,” she replied. “Pally was- is a top shelf mare; deserves all the good in her life. She tried to help me, ye ken, but I was always a wee bit stubborn, ye may've noted.”

Putting a hoof to her chin in false thought, the aganippe replied, “Now that you mention it...”

“Aye, wall...”

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

“Och, come oon, Pally. Give us a break. We need a respite before the horror is upoon us.” Ricochet gestured to the gathered mares of their squad, all of whom tried to pretend to be giving the two a bit of privacy. Ricochet had told them that she and Paladin were old acquaintances, and they wasted no time in trying to get her to wheedle a pass for the night. She didn't like being used this way, and she liked using her friendship this way even less, but they promised to buy her drinks all night if she did, and she was aching to try ale for the first time.

Paladin looked at her sternly, but the earth pony knew her well enough to see the resolve wavering in her eyes. The unicorn always went along with her ideas, even if she was reluctant. “We have an early day tomorrow, Rico. The Sar'major wants to start drilling right away, and she was singularly unimpressed by the looks of the girls earlier. The only reason we aren't out on the field right now is because the first day is traditionally one of rest, and she is big on traditions.”

Ricochet smiled at the opening provided. “There, ye see? A day oof rest! What better way to rest, than in the pub? Come oon, Pally. I'll even buy you a drink or two.”

Paladin chewed on her lip, clearly torn.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

“She eventually gave in; she always had a soft spot for me, ye ken,” Ricochet said with a smile. “Mind ye, she really had nae use for drinking, and opted to stay in the barracks. Looking back on it, tha' may have been a mistake on her part. Being out oon the town for first time since joining the guard, we went a wee bit barmy; lost track o' time. We didn'a get back until well after soonrise.”

Knightengale winced and hissed in sympathy. “I'm sure what kind of impression that made on the Sar'major.”

Ricochet nodded sadly. “Aye. Being that it was Pally what gave us the passes, she took the brunt of the Sar'major's anger; though I think she was hurt more by the disappointment in her eyes than the physical punishment or revocation o' privileges. I know I was when Pally looked me way.” She was silent for a moment before adding, “Cut right through me like a knife made o' ice. I felt aboot as tall as a snake in a wagon rut. Mind ye, it didn'a stop it from happening again.”

“Love at first taste?” Knightengale asked,

“Nae,” she replied, surprising her friend. “Could nae stand the stooff. Mind ye, my first taste was tha' weak Spellgrade swill. I would sooner use tha' to clean the latrines, than drink it. Weak, heavy oon the berries, and nae bite to it. Nae, it was'na until I discovered a pub what served proper ale from Cowadonia.” The earth pony sighed blissfully. “Now there's an ale to start the marning! Rich, bitter, thick enough to slice; t'is truly a drink of the alicarns!”

Knightengale playfully bumped shoulders with her. “I'm starting to feel like 'the other mare' here.”

“Och, Knighty. Before ye ask for tha' position, you should hear the rest o' the story.”

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Paladin walked beside Ricochet, Cornflower, and three other guards, wondering how she got wrangled into this. “Now, we are going to be back in time for reveille, right?”

Ricochet slapped the unicorn's shoulders boisterously. “Dinna fash yourself so, Pally. We take care o' our own.”

“That's what worries me,” Paladin replied in a sotto voice.

Cornflower draped herself halfway over Ricochet's back, allowing the larger mare to carry her in what would normally considered a shocking public display of affection, but meant little to either of them. “Oh, calm down, and pull the stick out. It's okay to let your mane down now and then, you know.”

“Aye, we're here to celebrate your grand promotion, Pally! Ye deserve it after all the hard work ye put in,” Ricochet added. “It's not everypony who's invited to join Princess Celestia's personal guard by the Princess herself, ye know. If there were ever a better reason for a celebration, I never heard o' one!”

“Let's just keep the drinking to a minimum. I have to get up before the sun tomorrow,” Paladin pleaded.

Ricochet looked at her like she had grown a second head. “Now where's the fun in tha'?”

It turned out that Paladin's fear weren't unfounded. While they could only get her to drink a total of three pints that whole night, the rest of their group were on their fifth, and Ricochet her eighth when the trouble started.

While nicely buzzed, Paladin was still in full grasp of her faculties, and was looking for a way to end the night, but every time she tried to bring it up, one of the mares would order another round. I need some time to think and clear my mind. “If you ladies will excuse me, I need to visit the little fillies' room,” she said, scooting back her chair to stand.

“Better hurry up before Rico drinks your ale again!” Cornflower shouted after her.

With a good-natured smile and a wave, she wandered off (if a bit unsteadily) to find respite. While she was gone, an equally drunk stallion wandered up to the table, and put one hoof on it, leaning over Ricochet. “How's about a kiss, Darlin'?” he asked, breath smelling strongly of whiskey.

“How's about a punch in the nose?” Cornflower asked, pulling Ricochet a little closer to her.

A lecherous grin spread across the stallion's face. “You two together?” he asked.

“An' what if we are, ya great pillock?” Ricochet replied.

The stallion looked back and shouted, “Hey guys! We got us a bunch a fillies that need to learn what being with a stallion is like!”

Ricochet tilted her head to either side, eliciting loud cracking sounds, as a grin spread across her own face. “An' ye think ye can do tha' with tha' wee bairn's dork ye got flopping around, do ye? I seen more impressive wedding tackle on a bunny rabbit.”

Naturally, no stallion would take that from anyone, especially not as inebriated as this one was. The swing he took at her was not unexpected, indeed, was even welcomed, but not when Cornflower jumped in the way of it, laying her out flat. That was all it took for Ricochet to lose all restraint. She picked up her chair and smashed it over his head, breaking it into splinters. That seemed to be the signal the whole bar was waiting for, because an instant later, there was not a pony in the taproom not involved in the melee.

Ponies fought each other, regardless of allegiances, fighting just to fight. The only exceptions were the five soldiers, who fought like a unit as they had been taught, and the barmaids, all of whom had taken cover behind the bar as if defending a rampart. During the brawl, one pony was sent flying towards the jakes where Paladin was just finishing up, and was wondering what was going on to make such a ruckus. As she was reaching for the door, the pony sent flying slammed into a table, which landed against the door, both blocking it quite effectively.

It didn't take long for the Night Guard to come in, clubs swinging, taking out all comers indiscriminately. When the last pony went down, they rounded up all of them, barkeep and serving wenches and all, taking them to jail. Paladin was found several minutes later, and freed from her prison, but given her circumstances, was released on her own recognizance.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

“The rest o' us were nae so lucky,” Ricochet said. “Cornflower had to see the healers to clear oop her dooble vision. Had to pay a pretty bit for it, too. She blamed me for tha', too. She was a right feisty mare in the sack, but quick to lay blame, especially if she could land it oon soomepony other than herself. I took the chimera's share oof the blame for the fight. Sorta built oop a reputation for it, ye ken. The others just got a reprimand and some KP. I... I was droomed oot for good. Dishonorable discharge. Actions unbecoming a Royal Guard.”

“For a bar fight?” Knightengale asked, incredulous.

“Nae. For crippling tha' stallion what hit Cornflower.” Ricochet winced at her friend's gasp of surprise. “Bloke couldn'a pay the healers to fix it, so all me savings, meager as they were, were taken to pay for compensation. When it didn'a measure oop for the expenses, they figured they'd be better oof withoot a can o' piss like me. All rank and privileges revoked. Only reason I could hang on to me bow was because it was mine, not issued.”

Knightengale pulled her in for a hug. “Oh, Rico...”

Tears flowed freely once more down the earth pony's face. “Tha's why ye should stay away from me. I'm a walking disaster area. Everything I touch turns to roadapples in me hooves.”

Knightengale responded by cradling the mare in her forelegs, and whispered soothing words to her, as their tears came forth. After a few moment, the tears slowed, and both ponies regained control of their breathing. “What are you going to do now, Join up under a new name?” the aganippe asked.

“They'll nae have me, and too many in the Guard know me face to try tha' blarney,” Ricochet replied sadly. She sighed and reached over to pick up her bow, which was leaning against the wall. “I dinna know what to do, Knighty. I canna go back, and I canna move forward withoot knowing where I'm going.”

Knightengale laid a hoof on top of the earth pony's, which was holding the bow on her lap, giving it a gentle, yet firm squeeze. “Wherever you go, Ricochet, it won't be alone.”

Author's Notes:

Well, after taking all comments into consideration, I think I'm going to leave out the pictures altogether, unless I feel especially inspired, if only so that I can get back on a weekly update progress. It was a difficult decision to make, but after considering how the story is being written, I think it's for the best so that the readers don't have time to forget just which pony is which, and to be perfectly honest, I'd rather write the story than draw it. Ponies just aren't my forte when it comes to artwork. Now, if this story were about anthro ponies, it would be a different story.

Chapter 6: Run Like Hell

ONE OF THESE DAYS

Chapter 5: Run Like Hell

~19 Aevum Illuminationis~

Walking amongst the smoking ruins, Twilight picked through them carefully, searching for any signs of life. Scattered everywhere were the littered remains of slain ponies and the remnants of their implements of war. The fort itself had once been a marvel of construction, made from huge slabs of rock, some of which weighed over a hundred tons, but now portions of the walls were all that remained, reaching towards the sky like the skeletal remains of a great beast long since slain. For a structure of its type, it had been completed in record time, only taking eighteen months from the clearing of the land to the final placement of the last stone. It had been filled with an entire brigade, a third of all Equestria's official armed forces. Almost five thousand ponies lived, worked, trained, and protected Equestria from here, and only four ponies survived to tell the tale of the fall of Fort Ironspear.

Four ponies. Only one was expected to live through the night.

With a snort of disgust, Twilight continued her inspection. Many of these ponies here she herself had helped to train. Unicorns whom she had personally taught their spells, pegasi whom had learn a trick or two from their Princess of Magic, earth ponies whom had learned the finer points of dueling alongside the Twilight Alicorn. Of course, Celestia had also trained the troops when she could, but she had elected to take on the chimera's share of the duties of ruling in order to free Twilight for her magical research, and see to the defense of Equestria. While they agreed that Celestia was the strongest of the three sisters, she was also the best suited in terms of temperament when it came to dealing with the aristocracy and politicians.

Luna was still far too young to be embroiled in all this war nonsense, and so she had remained on the sidelines, watching with worry every time one of her elder sisters received a piece of bad news. She fretted with every chewed lip, every hissing intake of breath, every worried glance towards the small alicorn, who was still too young to have come fully into her celestial power, and the billowing mane and tail that denoted her blossoming into full apotheosis.

Twilight shook her head, trying to banish the track to which her train of thought continuously returned. Luna was one thing both Celestia and Luna agreed upon, and that was that she must be protected, even at the cost of their own lives. Luna, the final legacy of their parents, whom had been entrusted to them. A casual leap and flap of her wings saw Twilight up the the tallest point of the ruins, a wall ten hooves thick which was once the outer wall of the fort, and protected the second floor, which would house most of the barracks of the ponies who lived here. Surveying from her perch, she could see the devastation visited upon the land clearly. She could see the vast fields of grasslands first burned by dragonfire, then the ashes pounded into the dirt by marching soldiers.

My poor, poor ponies. Thou deserv'd better than this. A tear welled up and ran a trail down her cheek, creating a clean path of fur, washing away the ashes that stained her coat. She heard the flapping of feathered wings, but didn't bother to turn to face the pony she knew she would find there.

“Zounds. The reports didst not properly convey the calamity that befell here,” Celestia said quietly.

“What excuse didst the nobles give this time?” Twilight asked quietly.

Celestia pawed at the edge of the wall on which she stood, watching the stone crumble to ash beneath her hooves. “They allocated a purse for the formation of a new company of scouts that they might venture into Draconia and see what they may.”

Twilight cackled, her laughter sounding a bit too unhinged for Celestia's liking. She stomped onto the peak of the wall, breaking off a huge chunk, sending it crashing to the ground. “Scouts?” she shouted out shrilly, “We hath just lost a third of our organized forces, and they deign to allow us to form a company of scouts? Sooth, the generosity of the foals ne'er ceases to amaze me!” She whirled around, allowing Celestia to see the grief and anger in the younger sister's eyes, both tinged with fear; not for herself, but for the innocent ponies they had taken upon themselves to protect. A macabre rictus grin of near madness formed and sent a chill of fear into the Dawnbringer's heart. “Tell me true; what must we do to earn their trust? We hath done everything but submit our bodies to them to be used as chattel, yet they persist in this irrational anxiety that we will seize control over their fortunes as Discord of past. What sea of troubles against which must we take arms in order to secure their faith?” she shouted, a dribble of foamy saliva dripping from the corner of her mouth.

Celestia stepped forward, resting her head over Twilight's shoulder, enveloping her younger sister in the comforting embrace of her wings. Warmth spread throughout the alicorn's body, returning her to her senses. The dam she had built to hold back the grief she had been feeling since the first report of ponies going missing a decade ago finally broke, allowing her to cry fully for the first time in years. An image of every pony to have died due to this cold war flashed through her mind, many of which she knew personally. Her wail became an incoherent scream of sorrow deeper than anything she had felt before. As the sun set, and the first few stars were due to come out, but remained unforthcoming.

Looking to the sky nervously, Celestia bit her lower lip. Twilight sniffled and pulled away, more self-controlled than just a moment before. “Worry not, Dear Sister. The stars hath felt mine sorrow and mourn with me. They shalt return on the morrow.”

Celestia was halted from replying by the sudden appearance of a unicorn guard teleporting into the area. “Your Highnesses,” he said with a low bow. “I fear I am the bearer of more bad news. Private Rosewood hast shuffled off her mortal coil.”

“Hast Lady Nyx any fortune in contacting Salanshandaraen?” Twilight asked, her face a careful, but fragile mask.

“Nay, Your Highness. She hath not yet awaken'd from her trance.”

Twilight looked away to hide her emotions from the guard, who had yet to rise from his bow anyway. “I see. Thank you, and return to your duties, Lieutenant.”

Without rising, the guard teleported away in a flash of light. Celestia put a wing back over her little sister, and smiled a little when it wasn't shrugged away. Twilight looked over to her, her mask still in place, but it seemed that some of the cracks had been filled in. “Come, Sister. It is far past time we made these nobles realize that we art not their enemy, nor art we Discord.” The both of the disappeared in a bright flash of light, leaving the burned-out husk of a fortress to the curious whims of the local flora and fauna.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)
~2015 Aevum Illuminationis~

Trotting down the hallway, her armor-clad hooves clopping loudly on the flagstones, a sandy brown unicorn made her way to her duty station. She turned a corner, entering another hallway with a long row of tall windows open, admitting the predawn breeze, which ruffled her shock of white mane. She eyed the windows as one might a dangerous foe that just did something unexpected.

Two aganippe, resplendent in their Royal Night Guard armor, marched into the hallway from another branch, and the unicorn waved them over. “Good morning, Lieutenant Paladin. Is there something we can help you with, this morning?” the elder pony asked.

Paladin nodded and gestured towards the open windows. “Can you tell me why these windows are unsecured, Sergeant Sounder? We lock them for a reason.”

Sounder nodded and gave a weak smile. “Princess Luna requested they be opened to allow in the breeze. She said the palace was too stifling.”

“Then why was no guard posted here while they were open, per procedure? She asked.

“Because she ordered all windows on this level to be opened, and we don't have horsepower to post two guards in every hallway,” the sergeant answered, his voice full of sympathy for his superior.

Paladin sighed and shook her head. “Very well. Close up these windows, and pass the word to do the same for all other windows. I'll take responsibility if she asks. I'll have to have a talk with Princess Celestia. Maybe she can convince her that security protocols are for everypony's benefit, and not to make her life uncomfortable.”

The two aganippe saluted, and Paladin was on her way again, this time at a slightly faster clip to make up for lost time. She came to the large, bronze-covered double doors, flanked by a pair of unicorns. She returned their salutes and knocked on the door before letting herself in. “Princess Celestia? Are you up yet?”

The sound of movement near the bed drew her attention there, and she saw a familiar (and most welcome) pony standing next to it, fresh sheets still in hoof. “Oh! Good morning, Lieutenant,” a slender, silver-coated unicorn mare with a mane and tail the color of bronze said demurely.

“Well, it's certainly a good morning now, Miss Silver Bell,” Paladin replied, causing the older chambermaid to blush prettily. She approached the mare close enough for her to lay a hoof on top of hers and gently grasp it in her gauntleted hoof. “I take it the Princess is already up?”

“Up and bathed, Lieutenant,” Celestia said, walking from the bathroom, a relatively small pegasus hovering around her head, trying to brush her rainbow mane, but having little luck with the moving mare. “Art thou not full of pep and vinegar this morn. May I inquire as to the cause of such gaiety?” she asked with a smirk.

Paladin quickly dropped the hoof, blushing and stammering a moment. “Come, come, Lieutenant,” Celestia said as she walked towards the door. “We hath an infinite number of duties set out for us, and only a finite amount of time set aside for us. Let us not dally.”

As Paladin turned to follow, Silver Bell whispered into her ear, “Serves you right for fraternizing with the help.” She winked one red eye at her, then gently pushed her towards the door.

Falling into step slightly behind her Diarch, Paladin began going over her schedule for the day. “After raising the sun and breakfast with Princess Luna, the first supplicant for Dawn Court is the Duchess of Spellgrade. Apparently, she wants to renegotiate the contract for the Royal Guard's magical armor. She said something about-”

“Thou shouldst talk to her,” Celestia said, throwing Paladin completely off track.

“Pardon, Your Highness?” Paladin asked. “It's not really my place to negotiate with the Duchess about-”

“Nay, not her. Silver Bell. She is quite enamored with thee,” Celestia corrected. She looked down and noted the unicorn's blush, and smiled to herself.

“I- I- I-” she stammered.

Celestia halted and turned to face the smaller pony. “Mark my words well, young one. T'is better to get on with it soonest, else thou shalt regret all the time lost better spent with the pony thou adore most.”

Paladin looked to the floor, unable to meet her Diarch's gaze when such a serious mood was upon her. It didn't happen often that she saw, but that look seemed to be directed towards her more than most. It was almost as if she were mourning and searching for something precious she had lost. “I- I'll try, Your Highness.”

The Solar Diarch looked unconvinced, but resumed their trek. “Art thou prepared for the coming trial today? I shalt not make a mockery of thy capability by being lenient.”

“I believe so, Princess,” Paladin replied nervously. “I've studied the texts you assigned to me, but some of those concepts are extremely difficult. I mean, while necromancy is rather repulsive, I at least have a firm grasp on the concepts, but some of them like nucleomancy is just too much to wrap my head around. I don't mind telling you that just thinking about it give me a headache.”

Celestia bestowed upon her bodyguard an understanding smile. “Fear not, My Little Pony. Mine own reaction was much the same when my sister first...” The alicorn's words drifted off as she became lost in thought, that same searching look coming over her.

“Princess Luna discovered nucleomancy, Princess? No offense to her capabilities, but one would think that you being the Princess of the Sun, you would be the progenitor of that particular school of magic,” Paladin said, pulling the alicorn back to the present.

“Oh, it was not...” Celestia shook her head as if to clear it of errant thoughts. “Pay no mind to this old mare, my good Lieutenant. I say a great many things that often make little sense. I believe I shall make the test about certain special artifacts instead; especially pony-made artifacts. Pray, tell me whom is on the agenda after the good Duchess of Spellgrade?”

Paladin smiled, suddenly reminded of another bit of business that needed to be taken care of first. “Actually, Your Highness, I was wondering if you'd talk to Princess Luna about the security procedures...”

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Paladin watched the supplicant before the throne carefully, never letting her eagle-eyed gaze waver from the unicorn stallion standing before the raised dais. Noble he may have been, but it was her duty and privilege to guard the royal personage seated upon the throne, and she took the job with all due seriousness. She had never had to use the deadlier skills she had acquired in the manner for which they had been intended, and she intended to make sure that it remained that way. Oh sure, she had to bend a few legs the wrong way, or throw a pony to the hard flagstone floor, but lethal force had never become necessary.

While she had never had cause to use those deadly skills, she was always tempted by certain ponies to do so anyway, if only so that Equestria would not have to be made to suffer their presence any longer. Case in point: the lord before her now. “Your Highness, I must protest this gross miscarriage of justice! Those funds were allocated for the betterment of the region of Mastedonia. Your appropriation of those monies will mean the delay of a new aqueduct-”

“Baron Elder Scroll, those funds wert merely gathering dust in thy treasury,” Celestia interrupted. Though her facial expression never changed from bored interest, Paladin could hear the glee in her voice and had to hold back a smile of her own. “We art sure thou hast heard the news of the most recent attack on Equestria. The frontier town of Trace razed, burnt to the ground leaving naught but ashes, and the ponies gone with no trace.”

Elder Scroll shook his head in disgust. “As distressing as that news is, Your Highness, The fact remains that my city is in desperate need of that aqueduct, and the ponies that lived in Trace were all just ear-”

A loud, attention-getting cough from the baron's nervous guard halted all conversation in the room. The baron looked over to him as if he had suggested something terribly rude about his parentage, but the guard just pointedly looked over to Paladin, whom had raised a hoof in preparation of releasing one of her wands, and was glaring at the baron with murder in her eyes. The baron took one look at her, then up at Celestia, who glared down at him with one eyebrow arched, and blanched.

“You were saying, Baron?” Celestia asked icily.

Elder Scroll used hid magic to pull a white lace hoofkerchief from his sleeve, and tamped at the beads of sweat that had appeared there. His eyes returned to Paladin's hoof, which had yet to return to it's neutral position, and was twitching, obviously itching to send the specially crafted wand out into her hoof. Without removing his eyes from that hoof, he stammered, “I- I seem to have lost my train of thought, Your Highness. Perhaps I might be allowed to arrange for another day in court?”

“Mayhap it is best, Baron. Thy pallor seemeth to be a distressing hue,” Celestia agreed.

With a bow, the Baron turned and left, letting Paladin slowly drop her hoof to the ground once more. Her eyes followed them out, and she caught sight of Silver Bell, who happened to be leaving with the princess' tea service. The elder mare smiled at her, and Paladin threw her a wink, barely discernible under the heavy, crested helm she wore.

The final supplicant of the day was announced, and Paladin was all business once more. The final pony was a spry, young pegasus mare, dressed only in her light blue coat, and a pink kerchief tied around her neck. Right away, Paladin's senses were piqued by this mare. It was nothing on which she could place a hoof, but something seemed... off about her. The way she moved reminded her of something else, and the expression on her face bespoke of supreme confidence.

The mare came before the throne and bowed, not quite low enough for a commoner, but not enough to draw attention to the act. “Good morn, O, Princess of the Sun,” the mare said, rising from her bow a little too fast to be respectful.

Celestia too, seemed put off by something about this mare, enough so that the throne room guards came to attention a little more than they were just a moment ago. “Good morn, My Little Pony. How might Equestria serve thee today?”

The mare grinned, and Paladin had to restrain herself from drawing her weapons right then. “I require but one thing from you, Your Highness; and that is your death!” The light blue pegasus leapt at the alicorn, her mouth gaping open unnaturally wide, displaying multiple rows of fangs.

Paladin teleported into her path and knocked the mare away with a flying kick that sent the smaller pony sprawling. It was an action that she should not have even felt, but her rear leg was numb, and she winced a little at the landing. Light, that hurt! It was like kicking a stone wall! Her wands were instantly in her hooves and pointed at the mare heaped on the floor. “Seize her!”

Rising slowly from the flagstones, the mare grinned and spit out a dislodged tooth in a bloody gobbet of spit. She cackled and just as the guards reached her, she kicked out with both rear legs, sending them flying into the wall twenty hooves away, cracking the thick granite. Paladin fired her wands, the bolts unerringly finding their target. The magic bolts sent the small pony flying backwards several hooves, but the mare's laughter never stopped.

“It appears I owe Talon a diamond. I honestly did not expect to need to assume my true form to face down the Sun Tyrant's minions.” The mare began to grow, light gray scales flecked with black replacing the light blue coat, her tail growing in length, likewise losing its hair in favor of more scales. The feathers receded into her wings, which grew large and leathery. The not-mare rose to her feet, stretching out to her full size, some twenty hooves long. The dragon looked down at the small unicorn, puffed up her chest and opened her mouth to release a gout of supernaturally hot flame.

Paladin leaped backwards to land in front of Celestia and erected a bubble of force around themselves, still upright, and her forehooves thrown forward. The dragonfire parted around them, not touching them directly, but still heating up the air inside the bubble to uncomfortable levels. The fire seemed to last forever, and put a considerable strain on Paladin, who could feel the fire threatening to crumble her field.

Suddenly, the fire was gone, but they were unable to see out due to a layer of char that had accumulated on the shield. Dropping the bubble, they saw the devastation wrought by the flames. Several fires had sprouted up and were burning merrily, and the floor around them that hadn't been protected by Paladin's shield was melted into slag that still glowed cherry-red in places. The dragon herself had a spear lodged under her scales harmlessly and was holding one feebly struggling guard in a paw by the throat. Tossing the pony away like a broken toy, she turned to face the alicorn/unicorn duo. “Finally come out of hiding, have we? Well, let's get on with it. I do have better things to do today than to end your miserable, worthless lives.”

Celestia stepped forward to be joined by Paladin, who slowly started prowling to the right in order to flank their opponent. The dragoness hissed in amusement. “Do you honestly think you can take me in this form? Mere ponies?”

Electing to answer with action instead of words, Paladin charged forward, her wands popping out of their holster in her gauntlets as she leapt into the air with a telekinetic boost that sent her flying over the surprised dragon's back. She unleashed a barrage of magic bolts, most of which pierced the sensitive membrane of her wings, tearing large, gaping holes through them. Some of the bolts struck the dragoness' back however, causing her to howl out in pain.

Paladin's trajectory took her to a column, where she pushed off again just as a serpentine tail smashed into the rock off of which she had just touched. Still she fired her wands at the intruder, never quite making it through the tough, iron-colored scales, but causing enough pain to keep the wyrm's attention on her. Bouncing off a wall a split second before a lamed wing slapped into it, leaving cracks, she was about to land on another column, but the dragoness by this time had caught on to the game, and smashed it before she could lay a hoof on it.

Suddenly denied her landing pad, Paladin kept flying past the broken support, but managed to gain purchase on it with her telekinesis, allowing her to swing around, and use her momentum to literally throw herself at the dragon, armored hooves first. The unicorn's aim proved true, and her hooves connected quite solidly with a scaly snout, sending the dragoness reeling back, shrieking in pain. Paladin kicked off the wounded serpent's face to land nearby on the rubble-strewn floor.

“You will pay for that, meat! I'll eat your still-beating heart!” the dragoness screeched. “You think you accomplished something? You did nothing but earn my wrath!”

Paladin smiled at her. “I did do one other thing. I distracted you long enough for her to get ready, wyrm.”

With a nod, the unicorn directed the dragons' attention towards Celestia, who had spent the time gathering her energies. An aura of golden light surrounded her, and when she opened her eyes, it was like opening the stoking doors to a furnace of the gods. Paladin erected another bubble around herself, pulling up flagstones to reinforce it on the outside, but the dragoness just laughed. “Fools! I am immune to your puny flames! My breath can make hardened steel run like water!”

Celestia took one step forward. When she spoke, it was like the sound of a thousand roaring blast furnaces. “HOW QUAINT. MINE OWN FLAMES SUBLIMATE STEEL IN AN INSTANT.”

The dragoness raised an eyebrow at the diarch, then glanced back at the unicorn whom had completely covered her force bubble with stone, and felt a chill of doubt creep past her wall of confidence.

Twin beams of blindingly white hot energy were loosed from her eyes, both of which struck the serpent low in the chest and exited from her hips behind her. The room became unbearably hot, shattering the glass windows, and fusing all the stone in the room into one solid piece. Every bit of organic material save the dragon and Celestia burst into flames and were consumed in seconds until every last molecule of oxygen was consumed. The bronze doors were welded shut, and the shiny exterior bounced the beams up and out through the walls to the outside until they were cut off from the source. The dragoness looked down at the two neat holes, prodding them with a claw, before falling over dead.

Celestia's eyes returned to their normal rose hue as she walked over to the bump in the floor and pawed at it with a hoof, knocking free some of the now crumbly rock. A window appeared, and she tried to speak, but found that all the air in the room had been burned up, and it would take a bit of time for the pressure to equalize once more. A simple spell on her part helped speed matters along, and she gestured for the unicorn to come out.

Paladin let her bubble of force down and was immediately struck by the incredible heat within the glowing room. “Let's get you to the war room, Your Highness. An attack like this will be just a precursor to a much larger-”

Celestia held up a hoof, silencing the bodyguard, allowing them to hear the sounds of massed combat coming through the shattered remains of the windows. “That attack has already begun Lieutenant. I-” She stopped mid-sentence as if noticing something for the first time. Her eyes went wide as saucers and her face took on a decidedly sick pallor. “Nay... NAY! Not her! T'is impossible!”

An outer wall of the throne room suddenly exploded, sending deadly shrapnel flying into the room. Paladin jumped in front of Celestia and erected another wall of force shielding them both. A choking cloud of dust swirled into the room, obscuring their vision, so it was with great surprise that a massive, black tree swung out of the cloud, shatter the wall as if it were made of glass, sweeping both ponies across the length of the fifty hoof wide room, to slam into the wall, leaving massive cracks in the granite. Celestia was able to cushion the impact for Paladin, but she knew that the both of them would have at least cracked ribs from the mighty blow.

As they slid to the floor, thunderous footsteps echoed throughout the room. With a great WHOOSH of rushing wind, the dust cleared, allowing them to finally see their attacker. A dragon so massive, only half of her could fit into the room, and even that was done uncomfortably. Her midnight blue scales sparkled with sliver flecks, making her appear as if a dragon-shaped hole was cut into the fabric of reality, allowing the night sky to peek through. The only thing that made her appear alive were her cerulean eyes which glowed malevolently. Her mouth spread into a grin, exposing rows of razor-sharp teeth, which did nothing to ease any fears. “My dear, dear Celestia. How pleasant to eat you again.”

Celestia glared at her as she rose to her hooves, careful to not jostle Paladin too much. “Nightmare,” she answered, her voice dripping with venom. “How didst thou survive? I saw with mine own eyes my sister didst render thee unto thy final judgment.”

Nightmare's grin doubled. “It seems that rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated. What a shame; thy sister's sacrifice wert all for naught.”

“Thou shall pay for that, blackguard,” Celestia said. Stepping over Paladin, she bent down to whisper in her ear, “Make haste. I needst thee to seek out the Elements of Harmony; powerful artifacts to be sure. Bring them together with the bearers to lay low this cur.”

Paladin looked up at the alicorn, her duty to follow orders clearly clashing with her duty to protect Celestia. “Your Highness, I can't leave you, not when you need me the most.”

“I shall brook no argument from you Lieutenant,” Celestia hissed. “These artifacts may very well turn the tide of this war. Thou shalt need to travel far and wide, for they art scattered for their protection; but find them thou must.”

“But what about you, Your Highness? What will you do?” Paladin asked.

Celestia graced her with a strained smile. “I shall persevere, My Little Pony, until thy return.”

“Thou shalt not do it alone, Sister!” All three looked up to see Luna fly in through a window to land next to the ponies. “I shalt be by thy side!” she proudly proclaimed.

Nightmare chuckle filled the room, loud and low enough to be felt. “Thou shouldst take their advice little one. When I beat these two, I shall be feeling the pull of gluttony, and will be looking for something to fill that ache in my belly.”

Paladin leaped at the dragon, but a blue aura surrounded her, and flung her through the shattered opening of a window to land in a prickly rose bush. The unicorn jumped free of the bush, leaving long, bloody gashes in her sandy coat with the intent of rushing back into the throne room, but was tackled from the side by a pony. Looking down, she gasped in surprise. “Silver Bell! What are you doing out here?”

Looking around, she saw that she had ended up in the courtyard with several other ponies, most either servants or wounded guards. All around them, the capital city of Equus was under attack. Minotaurs and diamond dogs prowled the streets fighting with earth ponies and unicorns, while griffons and dragons fought pegasi and aganippe for dominance of the sky overhead. It was clear that the pony defenders were outmatched, both in terms of numbers of warriors, and in quality. While they had come a long way since the Dragon War, they were still far from the fiercest fighters around. It was clear that the city was being overrun, and the ponies were not going to win this day.

Paladin's gaze returned to the dozen or so ponies looking to her for help, and she made the mistake of looking directly at Silver Bell, hope alive in her eyes, but worried that she would abandon them to their likely ugly fates. The unicorn looked once more to the throne room, which was being rocked by the titanic clash no doubt occurring within. Already, she could tell that the palace would not survive for much longer, and if that was the case, it did not say much for the rest of Equus.

Fighting back the feeling of tearing her heart in two, she turned away from the palace and said, “Follow me. The Princess gave me orders, but I'd be remiss if I didn't help needy ponies along the way. Now stay close, and stay low. If trouble pops up, let us guards handle it.” She pointed towards the stallion being held up by another uninjured guard and said, “Pass him off to one of the healthy ponies here. I need you to bring up the rear and watch for surprises from that direction. Can you manage that private?”

After carefully draping the injured pony over the strong back of the Royal Chef, he saluted and went to the back of the group, picking up a dropped spear and shield as he did. Paladin nodded and gestured for the ponies to duck down, and they quietly left the remains of the courtyard amidst the fury of the battle surrounding them. They stuck to alleyways, crossing main thoroughfares only when absolutely necessary, picking up ponies both healthy and wounded along the way, swelling their numbers to over thirty.

Peeking out of an alleyway, Paladin breathed a sigh of relief, spotting the cover of the nearby forest. Thank Celestia, there's the preserve. She turned back and whispered, “Okay, everypony; we're almost out of here. It's just a quick dash to the cover of the forest about forty hooves away. When I give you the signal, I want you to use up all the energy I've had you saving. From there, we'll head to one of the smaller towns that hopefully has been spared the carnage so far; probably Foalton. I know some good ponies there. If it's still standing, that's where we'll get help for you all. Now, you ready?” Nods came down the line and she looked once more out in the street to make sure it was clear. Seeing nothing, she hissed, “Let's go! Move!”

Paladin was first out of the alley, and so was first to see the dark purple dragon easily fifteen hooves long not including tail descend from the sky, opening its mouth to breath on them as it passed. Thinking quickly, she erected a long wall of force over the ponies, effectively creating a covered walkway from the alley to the forest. “Come on! Move , move, move! Don't wait up for me!” she shouted at them. Instead of the expected flames, a chill breeze preceded a wave of cold that covered everything it touched with a rime of frost. Plants died, and ponies moved a little more stiffly, but with the roof to soak up the majority of the breath weapon, they did not break stride. By the time the last straggler made it to the forest, the dragon had finished wheeling around, and landed, blocking Paladin's avenue of retreat. She dropped the wall in favor of a much stronger bubble around her and stood to release her wands from storage and into her forehooves.

“Well, well, well. What have we here? A hero; yesss...” The dragon's sinuous tongue poked out from between her lips at her sibilant hiss. “Think you can hurt me with thossse puny sssticksss, hero? Ssshall we danccce?”

Paladin glared at her, and slowly started walking sideways, trying to get around her, but the dragon kept pace, cutting her off from the rest. “I'm not really in the mood for games today, wyrm. So if you'd kindly step aside, I won't have to hurt you.”

The dragon hissed a sibilant laugh. “You? Hurt the great Brimfrossst? I think not, little sssnack; yesss...”

“I'm not eaten yet, Brimmy,” Paladin retorted with a smile. Letting her wands return to their holsters, the unicorn whirled around, using her telekinesis to whip up an impromptu sandstorm that quickly grew in size, engulfing both pony and dragon. The dragon cried out as dirt and shards of ice flew into her dinner plate-sized eyes, blinding her.

“Augh! You nasssty little pony! I'll swallow you in one bite!”

“Not today, you won't!” Paladin replied before teleporting away towards the forest, almost falling on top of Silver Bell, who was hiding behind a bush, watching from afar. They ran further into the forest, rejoining the column of refugees. “I thought I told you not to wait?”

Silver Bell nuzzled the unicorn, causing her to blush. “Oh, no you don't. I'm not letting you out of my sight again.”

As the sun set on the most interesting day of her life, Paladin tried to think of a way to get her to stay behind while she completed Celestia's final order to her.

Author's Notes:

Finally getting to the real meat of the story, now. I'm sure most of you saw this "twist" (obvious as it was) coming. Sorry if it was too obvious (or trite) for you guys.

Chapter 7: Sunday, Bloody Sunday

ONE OF THESE DAYS

Chapter 7: Sunday, Bloody Sunday

~19 Aevum Illuminationis~

As she walked into the Parliamentary Chamber, the grayish-brown unicorn mare looked around at the gathering nobles and sniffed as she came to her assigned seat next to the Prime Minister's seat. She watched the chamber continue to fill up, noting that even though they had already convened for the day, an alarming number of ponies were being assembled here. She nodded to a fellow noblepony who assumed his seat next to hers. “Dost thou knowest why the Princess recalled us today in favor of just seeing us in session on the morrow, Hard Cheese?” she asked the aging baron.

The lemon yellow unicorn shook his head, looking just as worried as she felt. “Nay, Countess Dirty Laundry. I fear for the future of Equestria if not even a score of years have passed ere the Sisters show their true colors.”

Dirty Laundry laid a hoof on his, patting it reassuringly. She knew as well as he did that his “fears for Equestria” were less for his fellow ponies, and more for his own concerns, but polite ponies didn't point out such things. “Let us give them some benefit of doubt, Milord. After all, the more rope given, the more likely a gallows will be needed in the future.”

With a devious smile, Hard Cheese patted her hoof in return. “Indeed. I- ah! Good eve, Prime Minister Clean Slate.” He nodded to a white unicorn mare who sat in the largest chair in the chamber aside from the three throne that normally sat unoccupied.

“Good eve, Baron. I am glad to see the messenger was able to intercept thee ere thee left,” The severe-looking mare replied. She wiggled around in her chair, trying to adjust herself to a more comfortable position. “I know thou art inundated with many sad duties these days. Pray, which farm was it thou wert closing this eve?” Though her words were dangerously accusatory, her tone was carefully measured to offer no insult.

Hard Cheese drew back for an instant, before resuming his carefully polite facade. “Thou art quite well-informed, Prime Minister. I pray that one day, thou wilt tell me how thou comes by such information.”

Clean Slate looked down at him from her higher vantage point, and he could almost swear he saw an infuriating twinkle of amusement in her eyes. “Careful what thou wish for, my good baron. Thou just might get it.”

By now, the chamber was packed full of murmuring ponies, trying to figure out not only why the session had been reconvened, but how all of them had known or even gotten here. Some of these ponies hadn't attended a session in weeks while they tended to business back home, and the room hadn't been this packed full in some time. Some ponies also noted the curious lack of bailiffs, but all fell silent when the Prime Minister stood and cleared her throat. She stomped three times, a magically enhanced gauntlet on her right hoof creating a resounding BOOM throughout the room. Hear ye, hear ye. All rise and bow for Their Highnesses Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight, and Princess Luna.”

Though all did as commanded, all but Clean Slate shot surprised looks at each other and at the three alicorns the strode into the room with all due grace, to assume their thrones behind the Prime Minister's box. All three princesses hadn't been in attendance since the formation of the Parliament. Sure, Celestia was almost always here while in session, and Twilight attended when military or magical matters were being debated, and occasionally, Luna was allowed to attend, even though the filly was often lost within the enormous throne in which she sat, but all three? A low, muffled susurration of surprise grew in the room, until the Prime Minister stomped once with her gauntlet, restoring order. Turning around to face her Triarchs, Clean Slate bowed low. “Your Highnesses.”

Instead of Celestia responding as everypony expected, Twilight nodded. “My thanks, Prime Minister.” She looked across at the assembled ponies, both noble born and gentry, her stern countenance causing more than a few to swallow and wonder of their Commander-in-Chief was about to bring the axe down to end their antics and power-grabs, and whether or not they'd survive whatever pogrom she had in mind. “My Little Ponies,” she said, leaving no doubt in their minds that she was upset. “Thou hast thy princesses much offended. We wert honored when thou placed thy lives and fortunes in our hooves for safekeeping. Howe'er, we have of late, felt the effects of thy plotting, thy search for rewards unearn'd. Thou preyeth on the fears of others, insinuating that our countenance to the tyrant we o'erthrew be more then mere coincidence.”

She rose from her throne causing more than a few ponies to shrink back in their chairs. Stepping forward, her steely gaze and slight frown passed over the crowd. She looked like she wanted to lash out, indeed, was on the verge of doing so, but the expected blow never came. “Thou clutch the nation's purse strings like misers, doling out pittances for endeavors which would not only improve the nation, but also protect it from enemies both foreign and domestic. Thou close thy eyes to the truth in hopes of eking out one more drop of blood from the rock by placing us in a position of submission.” She stomped the floor, shattering the stone and sending chips flying far enough away that several ponies had to duck. “WE SAY THEE, NO MORE!”

With that, her horn glowed a blindingly bright white, causing several ponies to run, thinking that their lives were about to come to an end. When their vision cleared, the entire assembly found themselves among the ruins of Fort Ironspear. Though the bodies had been cleared away, the rubble remained, still scorched and covered with bloodstains. Ruined weapons and armor lay scattered about, but they were not alone. A ring of Royal Guards stood in a circle around the crowd of ponies facing outwards, alert to danger, while a flight of pegasi and aganippe patrolled overhead. Twilight walked among the ponies, her harsh gaze wilting more than a few of them. “Look ye now, upon what thy parsimony hath wrought. Are thee so churlish as to deny thy part in this tragedy? We stand now upon the remains of Fort Ironspear, where only two ponies survived.” She whirled upon Hard Cheese, bringing the full bore of her ire upon the poor stallion and shouted, “TWO! TWO PONIES OUT OF FOUR THOUSAND, EIGHT HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-TWO!” Twilight's eyes turned into inky black pits and began radiating a black smoke as her self control began to slip in her rage.

Fully cowed, Hard Cheese dropped to the dirt, weeping tears of fright. Twilight made no move to cover her disgust, but calmed herself when Celestia laid a hoof on her shoulder, eyes conspicuously drawing her attention to their little sister, Luna. The filly was clearly shocked not just by her surroundings, but also her big sister's anger. Taking a deep breath, the Princess of Dusk and Dawn let it out slowly, and her eyes returned to normal. She offered a hoof to Hard Cheese, who tentatively took it and rose to his own hooves. She waved a hoof at all of them, indicating the ruined fortress. “Look upon this ruin and know that thy dithering and maneuvering hath brought us to this low state. How art we to defend this nation when thou give us naught but the meanest of tools with which to win?”

Twilight pointed a hoof out to the horizon the the west, where a line of jagged mountains loomed ominously, and the sky turned dark and smokey. “Dost thou thinkest the dragons will allow us time to assemble and train an army to fight them? Dost thou thinkest they will not descend upon us as a plague of locusts in a field of wheat, ripe for harvest? Whilst thou tilt at the windmills of profit, the wyrms pluck at their strength and courage in prelude to war, a war that hath been declared when they cast down this fortress as easily as thou might cast off a horseshoe.” She looked upon the assembled ponies, eyes bright with tears unshed. “Wilt thou allow thy hubris and rapacious avarice to be the downfall of our nation, or wilt thou set aside thy petty desires and perform as the brave selfless, strong ponies we know thou to be?”

With another flash of light, they all reappeared back in the parliamentary chamber, and Twilight disappeared in yet another flash of light with Luna, leaving Celestia alone with the assembly. The lone alicorn cleared her throat and said, “We believe a motion has been put forth on the floor, my good ponies. What say ye?”

Clean Slate looked upon the gathered ponies in disappointment, and saw plenty of shame and anger, but not a trace of it directed at the princesses. “All in favor of making preparations for war?” Every single pony raised their hoof in agreement. The Prime Minister nodded. “Motion carried unanimously.”

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)
~2015 Aevum Illuminationis~

Celestia and Luna glared at the dragoness whom held their gaze much amusement. “How didst thou return, cur?” Celestia growled. “I saw with mine own eyes my sister destroyed thee.”

Nightmare grinned at her. “How indeed? Let us make a wager. Shouldst thee and thy sister win against me, I shall tell thee. If not... I shall consume thy powers entire... and thy flesh.”

“Monster!” Luna shouted and leaped at him, firing a beam of white energy from her horn. The beam struck the dragon square in the chest, but the only effect it seemed to have was to annoy her.

Nightmare swatted Luna from the air, sending her crashing through a broken pillar “Luna!” Celestia cried out. In a flash, a halberd made of a silver metal, trimmed in gold, and its edges glowing cherry-red with heat appeared floating next to her, held in her telekinetic grip. A single flap brought her within striking range, and she swung the weapon, expertly allowing the scales to guide her stroke upwards and under the scales. She felt the axe head bite into flesh, cleaving muscle as easily as butter.

As the blade exited the wound, Nightmare drew back her foreleg and roared in pain. “Thou sow-bellied flax-wench! I wilt eat every one of thy subjects before thee!” A shadow moved across the ground, merging with hers. The dragoness' rear legs sank into the ground up to the knees, and the shadow detached from hers and reformed into Luna to the side of her. “What sorcery is this?”

“Mine, villain!” Luna crowed. “Let us see how well thee fights when thy legs hath been joined with the ground.” A silver rapier appeared floating next to her in a flash, it's ghostly blade wavering in and out of existence. “Thou didst not face me when thou took our sister from us, but I hath been awaiting this day for almost two millennia!”

With frightening ease, Nightmare cast a spell under her breath and pulled her legs free of the earthy grasp. “Fool. Thou dost not tell thy foe thy advantages ere the foe hast been slain.” Her head snaked towards the blue alicorn with incredible speed, her jaws open to snap her in half. Luna leaped backwards, allowing the maw to close on rubble, which was cleanly sheared off. As she retreated, she stabbed with her rapier, scoring a hit on the snout. The blade passed through the scales as if they did not exist, wreaking havoc with the tender flesh beneath. A gout of blood spurted from a nostril, and she reared back with a howl.

Nightmare pulled her head back, drawing in a deep breath, then exhaled, sending a billowing black cloud out to fill the room. “Luna! Shields!” Celestia shouted as she erected her own protections.

Luna did as instructed, forgetting to include her weapon within the bubble. She gasped as she saw the magical rapier rust and crumble to dust in the span of a second. Not wanting to wait for the next attack to come out of the cloud, the younger alicorn dashed towards the dragoness, intent on getting behind her while the darkness lasted, but was batted away by her massive tail to crash into the welded shut bronze doors leaving a ball-shaped dent near the top, and filling the room with a loud GONG.

“Thou thinkest I couldst not see through mine own darkness, foal? Thy foolhardiness will be thy downfall,” Nightmare said smugly.

Celestia's horn lit with a golden aura as she shouted, “Then let us see if we might bring some light upon the situation!” Her eyes glowed with a fiery aura, and the glow from her horn pushed back the darkness like they were physical beings, fighting for dominance. The light continued pushing the darkness until it was gone entirely, and the room was as well lit as a grassy field on a sunny day.

Nightmare shied away from the light, murmuring the words to a spell. She pointed at Celestia and a green beam of energy shot out, only to be stopped by her shield, but bringing the field down with it. A second green beam from the dragon likewise brought down Luna's shield. Celestia's horn glowed again, and a shiny, silvery liquid poured out from the tip, coating the alicorn, until her entire body resembled a mirror, before turning the dull gray of iron. The living iron statue pawed at the ground a few times, striking sparks with every percussive hit, and her halberd swiped at the air next to her, seemingly eager to be about its business.

Celestia leaped into the air, intent of landing on the dragoness, but she was too slow. Nightmare rolled to the side, taking out more of the outer wall of the palace in the process. The alicorn landed heavily where the wyrm stood an instant before with a resounding BOOM, producing a crater fifteen hooves across, and wedging the axe head of the halberd into the broken floor nearly up to the haft.

Luna's own horn glowed with her blue aura, which surrounded her whole body before dissipating. She crouched with her wings spread, and with a speed faster than the eye could follow, she zipped off towards the dragoness, silvery bolts of energy firing from her horn in a continuous barrage that almost looked like an unending stream. She flew around Nightmare, never letting up her fusillade of destruction, though its effects were minimal. Celestia wrenched her weapon free of its stony prison and charged again, her every step leaving a cracked divot in the stone, clanging loudly like a team of blacksmiths hard at work.

While the younger sister flew about, keeping the dragoness' attention focused on her, Celestia rammed their foe and swung her weapon simultaneously. While she felt the weapon bite deeply once more, her tackle was less than effective. Even with the added inertia of turning her body to solid iron, she felt like she had just tried to tackle a mountain.

Ignoring the weapon still lodged in her side, Nightmare scooped up Celestia with both foreclaws, and with all her might, swung her around and threw the Solar Diarch into her sister. Luna was so intent on hurting the dragoness, she failed to see her sister come flying at her like a solid iron meteorite. The two intertwined alicorns flew into the palace wall and straight through it into the courtyard. Celestia shifted her weight and wrapped her legs around her little sister, shielding her from the vicious impact of the courtyard flagstones. They bounced and struck the outer curtain wall, cracking it, but leaving it standing.

As they slid to the ground, Celestia's Ironbody spell faded, returning her to her normal alabaster coat, though nowhere near as pristine. Luna coughed and spit out a gobbet of bloody mucous. “What do we do, 'Tia? Her abjurations and draconic might art too strong for our magics to pierce, and we dare not attempt to face her physically.”

Celestia touched a hoof to her golden peytral, steeling her resolve. “If we cannot end her reign of terror with magic, then we must bring our full celestial might against her, though it may cost us our mortal forms.”

Luna laid a hoof on her own peytral, clutching it like one would a treasure. “Nay, sister, we cannot! Twilight crafted these so that we wouldst not lay waste to the land in a fit of pique! Our powers be too potent by far to risk such a thing, e'en for this!”

The taller alicorn laid a hoof on Luna's and said, “I shall not force thy hoof, sweet Luna, but if we do not, Equestria faces annihilation regardless. We sent Paladin to fetch the Elements, but any number of things could negate that effort. We may even be wrong and she is not the Element of Magic, though I've yet to meet a more talented unicorn.” Celestia stood and calmly used her telekinesis to carefully unlock the jewelry's catch that only a few even knew about.

Immediately, her mane and tail turned from a pastel rainbow, to a riot of fiery, orange-yellow plasma. Prominences leaked off of them, dissipating into the cool early evening air, while sunspots drifted lazily throughout the solar mass. Her coat became blindingly bright, burning off the dust and dirt it had accumulated in a sublime act of destruction, and her eyes blazed with a blue-white flame. She looked down at Luna and said, “Do what thou wilt, Lulu. I shan't hold thy decision against thee.”

With that, she leapt into the air, but was unsurprised to see Luna next to her, her own peytral left on the ground. Her coat had turned inky black, absorbing all light, giving nothing back. Her mane and tail however, had turned from its normal starry field, to bone white miasmas with bluish gray patches and craters. Her eyes were like two, deep set stars, twinkling from the Stygian depths of the Far Realm. An aura of airless cold surrounded her, making conversation impossible, but with beings like this, that was no real impediment. “Thank ye, Lulu. E'en thus, I wouldst not care to face this threat alone,” Celestia thought at her telepathically.

Luna simply nodded in return, and they flew back to the palace. They saw the dragoness below worrying at the halberd still embedded in her side with her teeth. The haft had already been snapped off, but she could not reach the weapon's head, which had been buried deep. With a glare, Nightmare looked up to find the alicorns staring down at her, and her grimace turned into a grin.

“SURRENDER, NIGHTMARE. THOU CANNOT HOPE TO STAND AGAINST US THUS,” Celestia shouted.

A sinister laugh bubbled up from Nightmare's belly, escaping her great, toothy maw. “Fools! Thou hast already lost! Like a moth to flame, thou hast sealed thy doom thyselves! Look ye upon thy destruction and despair, simpletons!” She held out a claw where two large gemstones, an opal and a fire ruby floated. A dozen dragons just entering adulthood appeared in a flash around them in the air, each holding a quartz crystal the size of Celestia, and glowing with a pale blue light.

A beam of that same pale blue energy shot out of the gems, striking the ponies. A scream was torn from Celestia that pierced the ears of every creature for miles around, and a psychic scream was likewise pitched from Luna as the two ponies felt their physical forms being pulled in twelve directions. Never before had they felt pain like this. Not even when they had fought Discord had they been subjected to such agony.

Though just seconds passed, it felt to them like an eternity had gone by unaccounted for, except for the excruciating torment. Bit by bit, their corporeal bodies were torn apart by the insistent, pulling magic. Unable to withstand the torture any longer, their souls fled from their bodies, only to be sucked up by the gems held in Nightmare's paw.

When the last of the alicorns' physical manifestations were disintegrated, the dragons, gems crumbled to dust, landed around Nightmare, who towered over all of them. She peered at the gems, grinning maliciously. “Behold. In my paw I hold not only the moon, but the sun! Is it not meet that it should be thus? How I hath yearned for this moment; the millennia spent plotting and toiling, all leading to this!” She held aloft the gems, which still hung suspended midair, slowly rotating and glinting in the light. “Let the Age of Enlightenment end, for this is the dawn of the Nightmare!” The dragons all looked to the sky and exhaled, releasing their breath weapons in a salute to their mistress and her victory.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Paladin watched the scouting group of minotaurs walk past calmly. While these creatures were more dangerous in combat than the diamond dog patrols, they were also easier to avoid, thanks to their being “noseblind” as the dogs were wont to say. The group of pony refugees had been dodging patrols all night on the move, and while they had been holding up remarkably well, the children and wounded were tiring, some of them practically sleepwalking. Naturally, they had all been thankful when the sandy unicorn had called a halt to the forced march, most simply collapsing where they stood. The guards had stoically remained awake, and covered the exhausted civilians as best they could and stood watch while Paladin herself went ahead to scout the path a bit.

The minotaurs paused mere hooves away from her, and one of them pointed towards the sky, prompting her to look up as well. The sight of the now familiar deep purple dragon landing on the road caused her to hold her breath and draw back into the bushes a little more. Brimfrost settled into a quadruped stance as she folded her wings. “What do you have to report?” she asked them.

The minotaurs lounged about casually, one leaning on a massive two-bitted axe as heavy as a pony. He picked at his teeth with a stubby finger and nonchalantly spit on the ground missing the dragoness by inches. “Nothing, same as we've told you the last three times. No sign of any escapees from Equus, and certainly no guards.”

Brimfrost kept a lid on her boiling temper. “Then keep sssearching. I want thossse poniesss found and brought to me. I have plansss for them, yesss...”

“Nah. I don't think so,” the minotaur said with a shrug. The three other minotaurs snickered behind him, not bothering to hide their amusement.

The dragoness' purple scales bristled at their temerity. “Perhapsss I misssheard you, yessss...”

“And perhapsss you ssshould get ssstuffed,” the minotaur replied, causing his cohorts to burst into fresh gales of laughter. “We're going looting before all the good stuff is gone. We've done what we were hired to do, and now we aim to collect our pay, with or without your approval.”

Brimfrost's claws dug deep furrows into the dirt road, but she smiled evilly. “Then maybe it'sss time to cut back on the overhead, yesss...” In the blink of an eye, she exhaled, covering the minotaurs in a thick rime of frost, freezing them in place. Her exhalation seemed to go on forever, and when it was over, she drew in a deep breath. Walking up to the lead minotaur, she tapped on his head, shattering it. “Insssolent fool. You ssshould have learned to recognizzze your bettersss, yesss...” She whipped around, slamming into the ice sculptures with her tail, shattering them all.

Taking to the wing, the dragoness flew off muttering about underlings. Paladin counted off five full minutes before crawling out of her concealment behind the bushes and quickly collected the minotaurs' daggers and smaller weapons before running back to the hidden camp. One of the privates ran up and saluted as she approached. “What was all the commotion, Ma'am? We heard something, but couldn't see anything.”

“Just our favorite dragon still hot our tails,” she said casually. She gave him the weapons she had collected and added, “Distribute these among the civilians. The way things are going the time may come where they'll have to fight for their lives, and they'll need to be prepared.”

As he walked next to her back to the camp, the stallion said, “By the way, we picked up another pony. She just wandered into the camp. She looked to be in bad shape, but insisted on healing our wounded first.”

Paladin arched an eyebrow at this, but smiled widely as she entered the camp, spotting a familiar face. “Miss Awesomeshine! Am I glad to see you!”

The white unicorn trotted over and nuzzled her neck. “Dame Paladin! I didn't know you were the lieutenant they spoke of, though it should not have surprised me. There are few mares as brave and capable as you!”

Paladin blushed, pulling back, but not so fast as to offend, and looked over to Silver Bell, who was watching at them both with a guarded look. “What were you doing out here alone, Miss Awesomeshine?”

“I was in Equus, shopping for some herbal ingredients. Not twenty minutes after leaving town, the dragons came out of nowhere and attacked. I've been dodging roving patrols ever since,” she replied. She looked hesitant, but asked, “A-are you headed towards Foalton, by any chance?”

“We are,” Paladin answered with a nod. “I figured it was small enough to avoid direct attention for the moment, especially since there was no garrison there. We could regroup, and hopefully seek shelter in the swamp nearby.”

Awesomeshine bit her lip and whispered, “How are the princesses? I know you're Celestia's personal bodyguard, but if you're here and she's not...”

Leading her further into the camp, she replied, “I'll tell you about it later. We still need to get to Foalton first.” They came up to Silver Bell, and the Royal Bodyguard nuzzled the mare affectionately. “How are you holding up, Bell?” she asked.

Silver Bell smiled gently at the taller guard. “Still in one piece. The wounded need to rest, but I suppose we better get going again?”

Paladin nodded. “We have a very small window of opportunity to get to Foalton and evacuate it before the dragons take notice of it, if they haven't already. Could you and Miss Awesomeshine here handle getting them on their hooves again while I talk to the troops?”

“You two know each other, then?” Silver Bell asked, hesitant to upset Paladin at this critical time, but unable to contain her curiosity.

Paladin indicated the white unicorn with a hoof, saying, “This is the healer's apprentice I was telling you about. The one that healed my broken leg in about a week?”

Silver Bell looked quite surprised. “So I have you to thank for her quick return?” She bowed low to the unicorn. “You've no idea how much that meant to me. Thank you for helping this clumsy filly mend so quickly.”

Awesomeshine straightened up the mare and hugged her gently, but with great affection. Silver Bell couldn't help but melt into the embrace. “It was the least I could do,” the healer said. “After all she's done for us and Equestria, I could do no less.”

“All right, all right, break it up before I get jealous,” Paladin said with amusement. “Awesomeshine, this is the mare I was hinting about.”

Holding Silver Bell out at arm's length, she looked from one mare to the the other. A joyous smile spread across her face, and she pulled them both in for a hug. “Oh, I'm so happy for you two! You make such a lovely couple! Paladin is so strong and brave, and you're so beautiful, Silver Bell! I can't wait to see your foals!”

Paladin pushed the exuberant mare back a little. “Whoa, there! I haven't even asked her out on a date yet; don't go planning out our futures for us already!”

Silver Bell smirked at Paladin. “Well, what are you waiting for, an engraved invitation?” She shook her head and held up a hoof, neither pony noticing Awesomeshine making a discreet exit to give them a semblance of privacy. “Never mind. I'll take that as an invitation, and just skip ahead to the acceptance.” Looking into Paladin's eyes again, she said, “Yes. I'd love to go on a date with you.”

Leaning forward, the two unicorns met in a kiss. It was a moment the two of them had been wanting for a long time. When they pulled apart, they rested their foreheads against each other, letting their horns cross. They stared into one another's eyes as their hearts swelled with love.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Cresting a small hill in the forest, Paladin called a halt to their march and carefully surveyed the small town below her. They had been marching most of the day, and the sun was starting its descent to the west. She caught sight of the occasional pony rushing from one building to another, but the total lack of standing defenses didn't bode well.

“At least it's still standing,” Silver Bell remarked.

Paladin grunted in agreement, but pointed out several houses. “Note that there are no fires burning, so no smoke to draw attention to them. No ponies out wandering the streets, and the market looks closed down as well.” She looked back, noting the bedraggled appearance of her motley crew and shook her head. “I'm going ahead to see what's what. When I give the all clear, bring the rest in quick as you can, all right?”

Silver Bell glared at her. “You're not going without me. There may be some hidden danger in there.”

“Which is precisely why I need you here in case something goes wrong,” Paladin retorted. “Somepony needs to get these ponies into the swamp to the south in case I don't make it back, and right now, you're the one pony I can trust to do that. Private Blue Note may be a decent soldier, but he just doesn't have the guts to order ponies around, and the other guards are too wounded to take over. You're the only pony here with the guts to take charge in my absence.”

Rolling her eyes, Silver Bell replied, “Then take a pony with you. Isn't Awesomeshine from here? She should be able to tell if there's a trap if anyone.”

Awesomeshine walked up quietly. “She's right. It's too risky to go alone, and I know this town better than anypony here. Besides. I'm anxious to see if everyone is all right. I'm going.”

“Fine, but let's get going. The sun will be going down soon, and I'd like to rest in a real house for a bit,” Paladin said. Awesomeshine started walking down the path to the town, and Paladin moved to follow, but hesitated. After a moment's internal debate, she turned around and kissed Silver Bell again. “For luck,” she said, and trotted off to catch up to Awesomeshine.

Author's Notes:

This chappie is dedicated to those who felt cheated out of an awesome Celestia fight scene in my story, I Would Do Anything for Love. Also, kudos to anyone who can spot the transformers reference.

Chapter 8: Run to the Hills

ONE OF THESE DAYS

Chapter 8: Run to the Hills

~19 Aevum Illuminationis~

Darkness pervaded the library, swallowing all in its voluminous embrace. A shaft of dim, bluish light pierced the dark through the occasional window, but only succeeded in preventing the shadows from being all-consuming. Here, the books sat on shelves, waiting to be read by eager minds thirsty for knowledge. Some of them had been waiting for decades, if not centuries, hoping for the touch of a seeker of the unknown, or even just someone revisiting a favorite book or passage, but never gave up hope of the return of their usefulness. Books are patient that way.

The rhythmic clatter of hooves upon stone broke the silence, only to be muffled once more by a plush area rug running along the ends of the rows of shelves. A glowing, floating apparition hove into view silently. The curves and slender build suggested female, but the only really distinguishing feature was her face, which bore an uncanny resemblance to the sphinx which owned the library, and a pair of leonine ears atop her head that perked and swiveled constantly. Her whole being glowed with a pale, unearthly white light, and she bent over to examine the spines of the books, one finger tracing a path along them.

The clatter returned as Twilight walked around the corner and off the runner, a lit candelabra held in her magical grasp shedding a pool of golden light. “Hast thou found it, Kat?” she asked in a whisper.

The arcanificarum turned towards the alicorn with a smile and nodded. She pointed at a particularly large book bound in hinged, polished bronze plates. Pulling it out with her telekinesis, Twilight looked at the cover. “'Properties of Elements and Their Interactions with Magical Artifacts',” she read aloud. Looking to the floating assistant whom beamed at her, she smiled, and tousled her incorporeal hair affectionately. “Thou art a credit to Nyx and the library, Kat.”

“Did she find it, Twilight?”

The alicorn turned around to find Nyx padding over to her on silent paws. “Sooth, she hath become quite adept at seeking out the correct requested tome. Mayhap t'is time to introduce her to her other duties,” Twilight replied.

Nyx ran a finger of her paw along a shelf and frowned at the trace of dust left behind. “As much as I would love to give her more time to familiarize herself with the catalog system, I'm afraid I'll have to. I can hardly afford to keep hiring out a cleaning service given the size of my library. I mean, it only took me what, two, three days to find the last cleaning crew that got lost? It wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't been about to resort to cannibalism when I found them.”

“Is it not why thou ask'd of me to include the binding of air elementals in her creation? She hath the wit and wherewithal direct scores of them at a whim, so I do not understand the source of thy distemper,” Twilight replied.

Heaving a great sigh, Nyx turned and started walking back to the table at which they had left their research materials. “I dunno. It's just... I know we made her for this very purpose, but it's hard to put my library in someone else's paws, you know? Don't get me wrong, Kat. I know you'll do a superlative job, but it's just not easy to let control go,” she explained to the floating figure, who only looked at her with child-like awe and affection. Nyx turned away in embarrassment, trying to change the subject. “I heard about the tour you gave the Equestrian Parliament a couple of weeks ago. Did they finally tick you off enough to put your hoof down?”

“Ne'er afore, hath we encounter'd such contradictory creatures as these ponies,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes. “One the one hoof, they proffer their loyalty undying and their every resource at their disposal, and on t'other, they plot and scheme, and greedily hoard what they have while asking for more. T'is enow to make one question one's ability to tell a hawk from a hoofsaw.”

Nyx chuckled, causing Kat to titter quietly as well. “Well, I did warn you that politics would be like this. I've read enough treatises on the subject to know that politics is simply a way of legally stabbing someone in the back. I believe I have a book by a Fleecian named Baachiavelli; in it, he said 'Politics have no relation to morals'. If that's not a resounding warning not to dabble in it, I don't know what is.”

Twilight rolled her eyes again, but still smiled. “If thou wilt not help in my reign, then I beg thee to tend to thy own garden.”

“Mind my own beeswax. Got it,” Nyx replied with a chuckle. She sobered more ans she asked, “What about the dragons? Has there been any communications with them since the attack?”

With a shake of her head, Twilight answered, “Nay. Their sudden bellicosity is almost as troubling as their sudden return to reticence. Our envoy was turned away at the border under threat of consumption.” She shook her head as if to chase away gloomy thoughts and smiled at her companions as she resumed her seat at the table. “Let us not tarry on such dark thoughts. Research shouldst be enjoyable.”

Nyx nodded and joined her. “You said it, study buddy. I feel like making a breakthrough tonight! Go, Team Book!” she cried out, holding up a paw.

It took Twilight a moment to realize what she wanted, then quickly slapped her hoof against the paw “Sooth! Team Book!” she cried out in return, not caring about the echo that seemed to go on forever in the massive library.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)
~2015 Aevum Illuminationis~

The two ponies crossed the open field, making no attempt to hide their approach. The waning sun cast long shadows on the green grass, but they made special effort to walk around them, making themselves as noticeable as possible. As they walked, Awesomeshine asked, “How bad do you think it is?”

Paladin examined the town with an experienced eye, now able to pick out new details as they got closer. “I don't know. I don't see any sign of the enemy, and no sign of a battle. My guess would be that we lucked out and got here ahead of the invaders.”

“I meant the war itself,” Awesomeshine clarified. “Do you think we have a chance of surviving?”

The royal guard hesitated for a step, but quickly resumed her advance. “That's... more difficult to say. Princess Celestia seemed to think that victory would be assured if I could find a special set of artifacts, and I'm inclined to believe her on a great many things...”

“But?” Awesomeshine prompted after a moment's silence.

Paladin heaved a great sigh. “I don't like doubting the Princess' words, but the creature we faced before she sent me away was more powerful than anything I had ever seen before. I never knew a dragon could even become that powerful. Just being in her presence made me want to run and hide like a scared little filly. And those eyes... I've never seen anything so chilling and heartless. It was like looking into the eyes of a blizzard; relentless and unforgiving, killing all with it's uncaring cold...”

“Hey now,” the healer said, drawing Paladin's attention to her. “Just remember that you have friends who are happy to help. You don't have to face anything alone if you don't want to.” She adjusted her glasses up her nose a bit and added slyly, “Not to mention a beautiful mare who's obviously head over hooves for you. You're not nearly as alone as you seem to think you are.”

They were both surprised to see a small, yellow cat run out of the village and jump onto Awesomeshine's back and begin to purr. “Lemongrab? What are you doing away from Kit?” The cat simply responded with a purring “Mmm” and laid on the mare's back perfectly motionless.

A small, pink pegasus mare sporting a pair of goggles on her forehead flew out of the town, followed closely by a gruff-looking earth pony stallion. “Lemongrab, you rascal, get back here!” the mare shouted.

“Kit, get your caboodle back over here! This town is under lock down for a reason, consarnit!” the sheriff hissed in a half whisper, half shout. They both reached the unicorns, and Kit picked up the sour looking cat. The sheriff smacked her on the back of her head and said, “When I say to stay put, you stay put, you hear me, filly? Where is Ricochet, anyway? She was supposed to be foalsitting you, so you didn't do precisely this!”

Paladin smiled, but lost all her mirth as she remembered the events of the past two days. “Sheriff, is Foalton safe for the moment? I have a bunch of refugees that need rest and medical attention.”

Tin Star nodded to the guard, looking relieved to see her. “At the moment it is, Lieutenant.” He looked hesitant, but finally asked, “How bad is it?”

“Very,” she replied. “I'll tell everypony all at once so I won't have to keep repeating it. Can you assemble the adults somewhere indoors? I've got a lot to say, and I think that most are going to react poorly to it.”

“I suppose I better use the saloon at the Way Inn,” he answered. “May as well, since I think most are going to want a drink. Hay, I may want one.”

Paladin grimly clapped him on the shoulder and turned to Kit. “Miss Caboodle, could I trouble you to help bring in the refugees? A lot of foals came with us, and some of them have been walking for almost twenty-four hours straight.”

The pegasus looked horrified. “Goodness! Let me go fetch my wagon from the smithy. I can help more that way.” Before the unicorn could reply, she had already zipped off, cat tucked neatly under one foreleg.

Paladin rolled her eyes. “I forgot she was so highly excitable.” She turned to the woods and waved at Silver Bell to bring out the rest of their group.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Setting down her mug, Paladin motioned for Wormwood to refill it. Instead, another mug filled with chilled water was placed before her. “Are you sure I can't get you something stronger? You look like five kilotrots of bad road.”

Paladin shook her head and smiled at the analogy. “An apt description, but no. We lost too much water walking all the way here, and alcohol is the last thing I need right now, intoxication notwithstanding.”

Wormwood shrugged and they watched the saloon quickly fill up with ponies. Ricochet came over with Knightengale and sat down next to her. “So, Pally, me gal; how've ye been? Heard ye were promoted to the princess' retinue. How's tha' working for ye?” she asked, only stealing quick glances at her from the corner of her eye as she buried her muzzle in a mug of apple juice.

“Good to see you doing so well, Ricochet,” Paladin replied stiffly. “I was worried after I heard you... er, left.”

“So worried that you never called on her despite being less than a day's carriage ride away and visiting here often?” Knightengale remarked snidely, looking at the unicorn over her friend's hunched over back.

Paladin studiously looked ahead in the bar's mirror and took another swallow of water. “I had my reasons for staying away from her,” she said in a carefully even tone.

Ricochet laid a hoof on Knightengale's foreleg, forestalling the brewing storm. “Easy, cuttie. Pally's nae the type t' pile on the blatherskite. If she says she had a reason, I'm sure t'was a good one.”

The aganippe relaxed in her seat, but her expression never softened towards the unicorn. The sheriff walked in at that moment, and trotted over to the group of mares gathered at the bar. “Ladies,” He nodded at his deputy and Knightengale, then looked to Paladin. “Dame, we're all assembled, or at least as many as can be spared from tending to the wounded.”

Looking out over the saloon at the somber faces that all turned to her with despair tinged with hope in their eyes, Paladin climbed up on the bar with a hoof-up from Tin Star. “My name is Lieutenant Paladin, of Her Highness' personal guard. I'm sure you've all heard by now what's happened up in Equus,” she announced in her best parade ground voice.

Immediately, the room went silent except the the faint CLINK of mugs wetting parched lips. The sandy unicorn marched up and own the bar, making eye contact with much of her audience in a general way, but made them think that she was looking at them and sizing them up personally. “It has become my sad duty to report that the capital has fallen.” Gasps and worried murmurs met this announcement, and she gestured for calm's return. “The dragons have finally made their move, but they are not alone. Minotaurs, griffons, and diamond dogs have all been seen working with them, both fighting and pillaging.”

She heaved a heavy sigh before continuing. “I'm not going to sugarcoat this. It's looking bad out there. The Princesses themselves have taken a hoof in the fighting, and they were grim and uncertain about the outcome. We must assume the worst and prepare for it. I am making a suggestion right now to all of you to take what you can and head into the swamp to avoid detection. From there we can set up a more fortified position without worrying too much about ground forces.”

“You want us to just up and leave our homes on your say so? You couldn't even protect our capital from attack, why should we listen to anything you have to say?” a burly pegasus stallion stood and said.

Paladin looked at the muscled pony and nodded. “The best I can do at the moment is to offer up a sound strategy. Look, I was just there, I've seen what they're after, and what they can do. They'll roll over this town like it was just a bump in the road, and those of you not killed, will likely be taken as slaves or even food. I can't speak for all of us, but I'd rather not end up mining for some diamond dogs, or on some dragon's menu, or worse. Believe me, there are worse fates than those, and I think that our ratio of mares to stallions won't enhance our situation in that regard.” More than a few of the mares swallowed hard at this, clinging to whoever would offer a bit of comfort.

“On our way down here from the capital, we had to evade more than one patrol, and from the sound of their talk, I sincerely doubt that they will stop at Equus, and it doesn't sound like there's much out there right now to stop them” she added. “With the the fall of Equus, the floodgates have been opened, and there is nothing left to hold them back from an orgy of destruction.” She stopped her pacing and got down on her knees and bowed to the assembled ponies. “I'm begging you; at least send the foals and elderly into the swamp with the wounded to hide until you hear differently. What will you lose by doing so? What will you lose if I am right and they come here next?”

A murmur of quiet discussion rose as the ponies debated the situation while Paladin climbed down again and resumed her seat. She looked to Ricochet and asked, “What do you think? Will they go for it?”

“Is it as bad as all tha'?” she asked solemnly.

The guard nodded. “The hay of it is, I can't even stay and help protect them, whatever they decide.”

Knightengale tilted her head in confusion. “Why not?”

Leaning close, Paladin whispered to them, “I've actually been given a mission by Princess Celestia to retrieve a special set of magical artifacts. I'm not sure how effective they could be if they weren't stored at Equus, but she seemed certain that they could not win the war without them- owowowow!”

A silvery aura had surrounded her ear and pulled her out of the huddle and forced her to turn around in her seat to face Silver Bell. “And just when were you planning on telling me this?” she whispered viciously. “You better not be planning on leaving without me again, Missy.”

“Be reasonable, Bell,” Paladin whispered. “I'm trained for this sort of thing. I'm going to be out there dodging patrols, fighting minotaurs, griffons, diamond dogs, maybe even dragons, and doing Celestia knows what to get these artifacts out of whatever protections they have on them. I'm going to be at a bad enough disadvantage worrying about you here without putting you through all of that yourself.”

Silver Bell glared at her, causing the trained guard to gulp loudly. “And you think I won't be just as worried sick, wondering if you'll ever come back alive? At least together, we'll know where each other is and be able to offer assistance as needed.”

Paladin was at a loss for words and could only make inarticulate sounds. A hoof clapped onto her shoulder and she saw Ricochet smirking at her. “Give it oop, Pally,” Ricochet said. “You're nae gonna change the lass' mind. T'is just as well, since I'm going with ye.”

A hoof smacking the back of the earth pony's head greeted this statement. “Oh, really?” Knightengale growled. “You think I'm going to let you of all ponies out there unsupervised? You only just got to the point where you can hold a bow steady; you're a long way from top form again.”

Rubbing her sore spot, Ricochet replied, “I dinna want to speak for ye, Knighty. T'is nae gonna be a picnic. In fact, t'is a sure bet that it will be naught but a load of bollocks.”

“Well, maybe I want to be with you when the roadapples hit the fan, ever think of that, cuttie?” the aganippe asked.

Ricochet smiled and mussed her mane affectionately. “Aye, but I did nae want to drag ye back into something ye tried so hard t' leave behind.”

“What do you mean,” Paladin asked.

Shaking her head, Ricochet replied, “T'is nae my place to say, but trust me; Knighty is a pony ye want at your back in a dust up.”

Tin Star approached them, looking grim. “I'm afraid it's not looking too good for your plan, Lieutenant. They're okay with sending away the foals, wounded, and some of the adults want to go with them, but the rest want to stay. Think they deal with the dragons, with weapons, or talk, it don't matter. Worse, the elders are being even more stubborn than the younger adults. Say that they'll never abandon their homes. I did-”

The door to the saloon burst open and Rose Hips shouted out, “There's an army coming! Minotaurs and diamond dogs are headed right this way! Whatever we're going to do, it better be soon! I don't think it will take them long to get here; an hour or two at most.”

The saloon quickly emptied, and ponies gathered outside to see the spectacle. It was hard to make out, but what appeared to be the horizon marching towards them could be seen kicking up quite the dust cloud. Smaller trees and bushes were no impediment to the troops, moving aside only for larger trees or boulders. Paladin teleported to a roof and peeked over the edge at the oncoming death. She quickly and silently counted out about one hundred minotaurs. The diamond dogs were tougher, since they didn't follow any formation, and kept running from one group to another, but she estimated a like number of them. The howling of the diamond dogs played a terrifying counterpoint to the grim whistling of the minotaur's pipes and slow-beating drums. Turning around, she slid down the thatch roof onto a rain barrel, then to the ground.

“How many, do you think?” Knightengale asked.

Paladin shook her head. “Enough to lay waste to this town, defended or not.” She looked out at the gathered ponies and said, “In just a few hours, that army will be here. Do you really think they're going to just subjugate you all? I've seen what they did to the Equus, this tiny hamlet will be nothing, even to a group as small as that. This is your last chance; follow me into the swamp, or be left behind to the not-so tender mercies of your new masters. Rest assured that what you will suffer on the run, will be nothing compared to what they will put you through.”

The ponies looked out at the coming army, and listened to the chanting of the war drums and pipes occasionally joined by a bone-chilling howl. They looked to each other, then the mayor stepped forward. “Can we outrun them all the way to the swamp? It's over a dozen kilotrots away.”

Paladin bit her lip. This is where we see if I can lie as well as I hope. “If we leave now, and I mean right now and take only the barest essentials, then we might make it.” Right away, some tried to leave, but were stopped by her commanding voice. “Take only food, weapons, and medicine with you. Leave everything else behind. Ricochet, I want you and your friend to make some stretchers for the critically wounded.” The earth pony and aganippe saluted and ran off to the healer's house.

“Sheriff, I need you to keep an eye on the enemy's advancement. Let me know when they hit Woodcutter's Creek if we're not already out by then.” The sheriff jumped to the same rooftop the unicorn had just vacated with only two bounding leaps. She turned back to the rest of the gathered ponies and said, “The rest of you, gather your supplies, then meet back here in the town square. Move!”

Walking over to Wormwood, she quietly asked, “Might I trouble you for a few bottles of your strongest alcohol? It's for a, um, fire trench.”

Wormwood nodded and laid an understanding hoof on her shoulder. “I understand.”

After the mare had left, Silver Bell asked, “What do you need that for? This is hardly the time for a quick party.”

Paladin gave her a peck on the cheek and smiled. “It's just for a distraction plan. Anything that gives us more time will add that much more to our escape.” The bartender returned with four bottles in her telekinetic grip and hoofed them over to the guard. “Thanks,” she said with a nod as the mare ran off. She turned back to Silver Bell and said, “Could you check up on Awesomeshine? I want those wounded ready to move when everypony else is.”

She watched the mare trot off with a weak smile, which disappeared as she rounded a corner. The unicorn looked at the bottles of innocuous intoxicant, then looked at the roofs of the houses around her. With a sigh, she uncorked the first one, and levitated the bottle up to the roof of the inn, where she began pouring a generous amount of the liquor. She continued throughout the town, doing her best to not be seen by the townsponies. When she was done, she arrived back at the town center and solemnly looked over the ponies. “All right, Sheriff. Let's move them out, but quietly. I'll catch up to you all soon. I just want to lay some quick traps to slow them down and hopefully thin their numbers some.”

“I can help with that!” Kitten Caboodle said excitedly, jumping around in place.

“It's going to be dangerous, Miss Caboodle. We may only be steps ahead of them,” Paladin said, trying to warn her off.

Kitten waved it off as no matter of account. “Pshaw. If I help, we can do it twice as fast. Besides, building stuff is what I do best!”

Paladin rolled her eyes and looked to the sheriff. “Fine. Sheriff, move them out before anypony else volunteers for this.”

“All right, ponies! Move out! We have a long way to go and a short time to get there,” Tin Star said.

The herd started leaving, some taking one last look at their homes. As it thinned out, it became apparent that several ponies weren't leaving. Silver Bell stepped forward and said, “Well, let's get this over with. What sort of traps are you making here?”

Paladin's look of amazement turned into a grin and she shook her head in wry amusement. “Okay, here's what we're doing. We're going to set up a tripwire that will set fire to the village when the army gets close. I'll take care of the wire itself with magic so they won't see it. Miss Caboo-”

“Just call me Kit,” the small pegasus interrupted. “It'll take too long otherwise. Besides, all my friends call me that. I'll take care of the incendiary device,” she added, running off to the smithy to gather the needed materials.

“If you're going to do that, let us go get some things from the apothecary we left behind. I'll set up that shop to burn myself,” Awesomeshine said before dashing off with her master, Healthy Glow.

“I dinna cleave t' abusing perfectly sarviceable spirits so, but t'is better than letting those poxy bogards have it,” Ricochet said as she and Knightengale went off to the saloon.

Silver Bell followed her to one of the houses where they could hide while they worked. “Are you sure about this? Those townsponies aren't going to be too happy about us burning down their homes when they find out.”

Paladin's tongue stuck out of the side of her mouth as she carefully levitated some fishing line out to the middle of the field that separated the village from the forest. It took extra effort, but she was able to suppress the normal silver glow of her magical aura which might have alerted the enemy that something was up. “Some if not most of them know what I'm planning. Like Ricochet said, while they're not too happy about it, I think most of them will rather this happen than let these barbarians have their belongings and live in their homes, doing Celestia know what in here.”

They finished the remainder of their work in silence, meeting up in the town square again. Kitten tied their tripwire up to the device which turned out to be a simple box with a flint and steel striker, and several oil-soaked lines of twine running to the roofs of all the houses. Awesomeshine was the last to join them, running out her spool of twine which Kitten attached to the trap.

The task done, the seven of them carefully, but swiftly left town. Paladin used her telekinesis to sweep away the hoofprints denoting the trail into the swamp from not just themselves, but also the townsponies. They all breathed a sigh of relief as they entered the swamp, the ground becoming noticeable softer and wetter. “So what now? Do we meet up with the others and tell them we aren't coming, or what?” Silver Bell wondered.

“You're not coming back with us?” Awesomeshine asked.

Paladin shook her head. “The Princess gave me a mission that I have to complete. Leading these ponies to safety was just a necessary detour. Corp- er, Ricochet and Miss Knightengale volunteered to accompany me, and Silver Bell all but threatened my life if I didn't let her come. So, I guess this is where we part ways for now, Miss Awesomeshine.”

“Well, I'm coming too, then. You're definitely going to need my help out there,” Kitten said

Paladin shook her head and said, “Kit, while I appreciate the offer, this is not a fairy tale adventure. This is a dangerous mission. We may not come back from this alive.”

“All the more reason to have me along,” Kitten reasoned.

The white unicorn looked down for a moment before slipping off the extra saddlebags she had brought from the apothecary and giving them to Healthy Glow. “Oh, not you too,” Knightengale groaned.

“I know where I'm needed, and if this journey is as dangerous as you say, you're likely going to need the services of a healer,” she replied.

Paladin sighed loudly. “Miss Awesomeshine, we don't even know where we're going, first of all. The Princess never even gave me a starting point for my search. I haven't the first clue where to look for these magical artifacts.”

With a huge grin, Awesomeshine said, “Then it's a good thing I happen to know the most brilliant magical genius in Equestria, isn't it?”

Paladin pulled back in surprise. “You know where to find the Duchess of Spellgrade?”

Awesomeshine blew a raspberry in reply. “Please. The pony I'm talking about has more magical talent in her hoof than the Duchess has in her whole body.” Pointing to her glasses, she added, “She made me these glasses. They allow me to see magical auras, identify curses, poisons, and diseases both mundane and magical, among other things. If you want to know something about magical artifacts, she is the pony to see.”

“It would be foolish to turn you down, just based on your healing talents alone,” Paladin remarked, rubbing her chin with a hoof. “All right. Master Healthy Glow, would you take those supplies and our apologies to the townsponies? Oh, and tell them it was my idea to burn the village down, and you didn't know about it until we had left. No sense in alienating you too.”

He nodded solemnly. “I will. Do not worry about them. I will convince them it was the right thing to do.”

Paladin turned to the rest of her group and said, “Well, we best be on our way. We have some artifacts to collect.”

Healthy glow watched them leave until the swamp swallowed them up before plodding on, following the trail the ponies earlier had left.

Author's Notes:

Not too much happening this time around, but some much needed small stuff to get the story really moving. Next chapter will see more action. Also, that was a long scene!

Chapter 9: Burning Down the House

ONE OF THESE DAYS

Chapter 9: Burning Down the House

~21 Aevum Illuminationis~

Alone in his dimly lit office, an earth pony sat at a ridiculously tiny desk, hunched over a sheaf of parchment, charcoal shard held gently in his mouth as he scratched away at the paper. The candle which acted as his only source of light flickered as it nearly reached the end of its life.

With a sigh of relief, he signed his name and gratefully spat out the charcoal. He rolled up the parchment and sealed it with some precious wax from the candle and affixed his seal of office to the rapidly cooling blob. Setting it on the edge of his desk, he rose and stretched, enjoying the popping sensation as his muscles released the tension that had building for far longer than he would have liked. He left the scroll sitting on his desk and slipped on his breastplate, showing his captain's rank prominently and took hold of a massive spear twice his length, with practiced ease and walked out the door, his ears brushing the frame as he did and went up the stairs.

As he walked outside and on to the ramparts of the small watchtower, he took a deep breath of the crisp night air. Soldiers almost half his size saluted, but he just nodded in return, allowing them to return to their duties of watching for trouble. A grizzled unicorn walked up to the ramparts and joined the earth pony which towered over him by more than a head. Looking out over the horizon to the north, he said, “Storm's a-comin', Cap'n Highwind.”

Looking down at the stallion, the larger pony replied, “Thy bones tell thee that, Sergeant Butterbear?”

“Ayuh,” he answered with a nod.

“Mayhap we shouldst lay in more firewood,” the captain mused aloud.

Another nod and a, “Ayuh.”

“Sergeant, if thou doth continue to wax loquacious, I shall be forced to order thy silence.”

Butterbear looked up at his captain and without a hint of remorse, said, “Beggin' the Cap'n's pardon Sir, but I'm just apprehensive as to the dragon's next move. Almost two years with no follow-up after Ironspear? E'en for dragons, that be slow.”

“Granted, Sergeant,” Highwind said. “The dragons have us all apprehensive, though if they wish to allow us time enow to gather our strength, I shan't be the one to hurry them along.”

Butterbear merely grunted and looked out again to the north. Highwind smiled and turned to leave. “Tarry not o'ermuch. The morn is upon us much sooner than thou might prefer.” When no reply was forthcoming, he stopped, halfway to the hatch back into the watchtower and looked back over his shoulder. “Sergeant?”

Still as a statue, Butterbear continued to look intently at the horizon. Highwind looked to the other guards, who were watching the both of them now, and just shrugged. The earth pony walked back to the unicorn and looked into his old, rheumy eyes, which were fixed steadfastly, his brow furrowed in intent concentration. All of a sudden, he burst into action, running over to the long, hollow brass bar kept next to the hatch and used the hilt of his sword to bang on it with all his might. A series of mighty peals of metallic thunder rang out loudly into the silent night. “Alarm! Alarm! Dragons!” he shouted.

Highwind was already looking to the north, and finally saw what his subordinate had seen. Three winged forms flew between a gap in the clouds, but disappeared quickly into the cover. With a great roar that actually covered the sound of the alarm, he shouted, “Battle stations! Ready the ballista and load for dragon!”

Ponies began scrambling out of the tower from the bottom and top. Pegasi and aganippe took to the air, some flying above the massing clouds which looked ready to unleash their thundery might at any time, but most took up station near the tower, flying in formation. Unicorns and earth ponies took up position on the ramparts, and behind strategically placed rock wall barriers on the ground. In the middle of the tower, wood paneling was taken apart to reveal a ballista, which was quickly pulled into the locked position with a windlass. A wicked-looking metal disk with glowing purple runes about a hoof and a half across and jagged blades radiating out in the four cardinal directions was carefully placed in a specially design shuttle, as a pegasus took the controls. She swiveled it towards the north where the captain was looking, ready to let fly at the order.

A soldier ran up to Highwind with his helm and he donned it silently. Taking his spear in hoof, he kept an eye on the sky, but an ear out for any report. The distant crack of thunder made an ear twitch, but he kept scanning the sky. “Captain, look!” a soldier cried out and pointed towards the northwest.

His head swiveled in that direction, and he caught sight of an orange-red light within the clouds, and just barely visible, a small, pony-shaped shadow falling to the ground. “Steady, ballista. Fire not until they presenteth themselves. We hath only so many of those shot.”

An aganippe suddenly dropped from the clouds and landed in a steaming heap at the earth pony's hooves. Half her face was seared to uselessness, and half her rear was purple from a fast forming bruise. Blood poured from wounds, with white bones poking through in several spots. “Th... th... three of them, Sir. One massive... black...”

Highwind shouted, “Unicorns! Acid protection!”

“No!” the aganippe gasped out. “Black... night...” was all she could say before closing her one good eye forever.

A frightful shriek from the sky split the night and seemed to echo all around the ponies, causing them all to look up in terror. Lightning struck a tree near the tower, setting it ablaze, but the flames were soon quenched by the deluge that began falling.

Without taking his eyes from the sky, Highwind said, “Sergeant, didst thou dispatch the messenger yet?”

Instantly, Butterbear was next to his commander. “Ayuh.”

“Let us hop she makes it, then.”

“Ayuh.”

A faint whistling sound, barely heard over the rain, perked the ears of several of the ponies. The three dragons, one much larger than the rest, suddenly dived out of the clouds, heading right for the tower. Immediately, the ballista fired, aiming the first enchanted disk at one of the smaller dragons, bringing him down to crash onto one of the stone parapets built on the ground. Firmly taking his spear in hoof, Highwind didn't wait for the fight to come to him, and instead leapt to meet the largest dragon head on, and spear first.

Seeing this stallion daring to face her personally, Nightmare smiled evilly.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)
~2015 Aevum Illuminationis~

Paladin walked next to Awesomeshine, interrogating the mare for more information about the pony they were trekking to find. “So what's she like? Has she been studying long? What's her name and special talent?”

Awesomeshine chuckled and bumped shoulders with the excited guard. “I'm glad to see you've regained your good spirits, but one question at a time, please!” A dreamy smile formed on the unicorn's lips as she thought of her best and oldest friend. “Her name is Silver Script, and research is her special talent, actually. She took a little ribbing from that, but she never let it bother her. Sil's very good at it, especially when it concerns magic and magical artifacts.”

“Is that the friend you kept talking about back in Foalton?” Kitten Caboodle asked as she flapped up to them. Landing on the ground on the other side of Awesomeshine, she trotted along with them. “She sounds like a fascinating pony from the way you described her.”

“Oh, but she is!” the healer replied. “She first made me these glasses before she even was apprenticed, but has improved them several times since then. She also has several other projects that she's been working on, but wouldn't tell me about them. I think she wants them to be a surprise.” Bringing her head down to Kitten's level, she winked and said, “Don't tell her I said this, but my little brother has had a bit of a crush on her since he was just a little colt. She's very sweet about it, and tries not to lead him on or crush his dreams. We think he'll outgrow it eventually.”

Kitten tilted her head in confusion. “You think she's into mares and not stallions?”

With a shrug, Awesomeshine replied, “Dunno. She's never really showed an interest in anypony. I'm not sure she wants that sort of relationship at all, which would be a shame. Nopony deserves to be alone.”

Behind those three ponies, Silver Bell bit her lip in confusion. On the one hoof, she knew that Paladin was very interested in her, but on the other, she didn't like the way she was buddying up with the lovely Awesomeshine. Sure, she lacks my elegant curves and refined manners, but there's just something about her that's undeniably... attractive about her. She's almost... magnetic.

“Bit for your thoughts.”

Silver Bell shook her head and looked to her side to see Knightengale and Ricochet walking next to her. “I beg your pardon?” she asked, blinking her wide, golden eyes at them.

Knightengale smiled and said, “I said, 'Bit for your thoughts.' You looked like a mare on the verge of committing murder... or suicide”

“Or booth,” Ricochet added.

Silver Bell shook her head. “No. I just... I'm just not sure what to make of her,” she answered, nodding towards the white unicorn ahead of them who was laughing at something Paladin had said. “I want to like her, but...”

“Yer worried she might try to steal yer bird,” Ricochet finished for her.

“Don't get me wrong. She seems to be a very sweet filly, but...” Silver Bell hastily explained before trailing off. “Paladin... she has a lot of admirers, both stallions and mares. Ponies vie for her attention, though not all for the same reasons. Some want to be with her for who she is, most want to be with her for what she represents, and some just want to use her to be privy to the princess' secrets.” She looked again at the sandy unicorn with a sad smile, and lowered her voice. “There's even a rumor going around Equus that the princess chose her more to be a body, rather than a bodyguard; a scurrilous lie if ever there was one.”

Ricochet looked at Paladin with an appraising eye. “Aye, I ken why they might say tha'.” Knightengale smacked the back of her head with a loud CRACK, causing her to look at her apologetically. “Wha'? I'm only sayin'.”

“And if you're smart, you won't say it again,” the aganippe replied.

A small titter from Silver Bell drew their attention, but she just waved them off. “It's nothing. You two are just so cute together.”

Rubbing the sore spot on her head, Ricochet said, “Aye, if ye think cooncussions are cute an' all.” Returning her gaze to the maid beside her, she added, “Look, I dinna think ye have any need to worry about Shiny. Sure'n she's a gorgeous mare, an' a delight to know, an' joost aboot the friendliest thing this side oof a magical friend-making machine, she also would nae take another mare's bird. She does nae think tha' way.” Using her body to shove the smaller unicorn forward, she said, “Talk to her an' see. She'll nae bite, e'en if ye ask.”

Silver Bell looked back at her with a smirk and trotted forward to catch up to the others.

Ricochet shook her head and smiled. A prickling feeling on the nape of her neck made her turn to Knightengale who was glaring at her. “Gorgeous, huh? A delight, eh? Friendliest thing this side of a magical friend-making machine?” the aganippe queried. The larger earth pony gulped, looking for an avenue of escape.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Before they even could get close to the town of Yoke, Kitten's sharp eyes spotted the column of smoke on the horizon. She flew up to take a better look, but was called back down by Paladin. “What? I was just trying to see if that was Yoke or not.”

“In case you've forgotten, a pink pegasus against a blue sky is rather noticeable,” the unicorn admonished. “Not only do they have their own fliers, but you'd be like a beacon flying up there, right now, drawing ground forces down on all of us.”

The small pegasus looked downcast. “Oh. I'm sorry.”

Immediately, Paladin felt like the monster, and sighed. “No, it's alright. I keep forgetting that you all aren't trained for this. Just... just be more careful from now on, okay?”

“Okay,” Kitten agreed. She appeared lost in thought for a moment before her face lit up with an idea. She dug through her saddlebags for a moment before pulling out a bamboo tube and affixed a round piece of glass to each end. She looked through one end and jumped into the air, holding the device up for all to see. “Yes! With this, I can see all the way to that smoke and find out what's making it without revealing myself! I call it, the Tell-O-Scope because it tells your eye what's far away!” The others looked at her like she was crazy, but the little inventor was too elated to notice.

With a flap of her wings, she alighted onto a low tree branch, and by hopping from one branch to the next highest, to the next highest, and so on, she made it to the top of the tree, where she clung to the trunk with three legs, and held the tell-o-scope to her eye with the other. Though the magnification wasn't the best, combined with her natural pegasus keen eyesight, she was able to just make out several burning buildings, among many others. The town itself appeared to actually be smaller than Foalton, but the biggest structure was not a temple as was normal, but a strange, stone building. She could see several torches being thrown on the roof, but the slate tiles shrugged them off and let them roll off to the ground.

Kitten hopped back down the way she came, but slipped halfway down, crashing into several branches until she was caught in a grayish telekinetic field. It brought her down, and Paladin dismissed her magical energies back into dormancy. The pegasus ran up to her, and gave sloppy salute with a wide grin. “New intelligence, Sir!” she barked.

The unicorn was unable to keep a grin off of her face as she saluted back smartly and said, “Report, scout!”

“I do believe that's the town of Yoke burning up there. Only a few houses have been caught, and most of the enemy seems intent on burning a strange, stone building,” Kitten said.

“Strange how?”

“It was made of stone with a stone roof, but I don't think it was a temple or a fort,” the pegasus replied. “There were no religious symbols that I could see, and the windows were big, but plain glass. What do you think it is?”

“The archive!” Awesomeshine gasped. “That sounds like the archive where Silver Script works!” Turning to Paladin, she grabbed the edges of her breastplate and shook her. “We've got to help her! Sil would never leave the books to be burned, she'd stay and fight!”

The unicorn galloped off towards the town, forcing the others to do the same. Paladin came up alongside her, and without any sign of shortness of breath, said, “Hold on! We can't just go running into the teeth of an army! We have to scout ahead and see what we're up against! We can't help your friend if we just get killed as soon as we set hoof into town!”

“She right, Awesomeshine,” Knightengale added. “We all want to help your friend, but us getting killed because we rushed into this won't get her rescued.”

Awesomeshine started galloping faster, sending clods of dirt flying as she went full tilt, which was still considerably slower than the trained soldiers. “You don't understand! The most valuable thing in the world to Sil is knowledge. Those books and scrolls are as precious to her as children! She'd do everything in her might to protect them!”

“But that's just silly,” Silver Bell replied, lagging behind the group. “It's not like that archive will have any unique texts; it's too small. Any other library will likely have more copies of anything you might find there.”

“And what if all the other libraries burned down?” the healer asked. “You and I know that it's unlikely to happen, but she won't think so!”

Ricochet rolled her eyes as she ran. “Oh, for Celestia's sake! Ye mean she's one o' those 'preserve at all costs' ponies? Tha' was one o' the things I didn't miss aboot leaving the guard.” With an unconscious gesture, she checked with her head that her bow was unencumbered and ready to pull free at a moment's notice.

Awesomeshine glanced at her from the corner of her eye. “Trust me. I can make her go. You just leave her to me.” She looked ahead again, and grumbled, “She'll leave if I have to knock her out and escape with her over my back myself.”

They arrived to find most of the buildings merrily burning, possessions scattered on the road where careless owners or looters dropped them. There were surprisingly few bodies of any kind, but the majority of those were ponies. Silver Bell and Kitten Caboodle gasped in horror at the carnage, but the rest tried grimly to ignore them, though not without Awesomeshine stopping to check each and every one that wasn't mutilated beyond hope.

But Ponies weren't the only ones lying dead in the streets which had run red with blood. A few diamond dogs had joined the defenders in eternal rest, but it was the living of which they were most fearful. Their yipping, and barking, and howling could be heard as the ponies dashed from cover to cover and once, they had to stop and hide as a large group of them loped past, prowling for more victims.

The group stealthily made their way to the archive to find that twenty or so diamond dogs has gathered at the front and had pushed a wagon in front of the doors, which they had then set on fire. Though the doors were sheathed in bronze, the wood cores would eventually catch, and then nothing but a lone pony or two would be left to stand in their way.

They circled around to the back, noting that all the windows had been smashed, but empty shelves had been shoved against them, blocking the invaders' entry. Looking up, Paladin whispered to them,”I'm going to 'port up to one of the high windows and check it out. If it's clear, I want you to follow me in, carrying Awesomeshine.” This last she said to Knightengale, who simply nodded. “The rest of you, stay hidden. We'll be right back with our expert and out of town, hopefully before they notice we're gone.”

Without waiting for a reply, she disappeared in a flash, only to reappear in the frame of a destroyed window high off the ground. She looked in quietly, and saw a light blue mare trying to cram books into a hidden compartment set in the floor. Though her actions were hasty, she didn't look panicked. Something was off about her, but the guard didn't have time to figure out just what it was. Looking back, she beckoned with one gauntleted hoof, and quietly dropped into the room, using her telekinesis to cushion her landing.

Her entrance was far from unnoticed, as the mare looked her way with a slight crease in her brow that might indicate anger. “What are you doing here? Why didn't you leave with the rest of the ponies?” she asked in a dead level voice.

Paladin finally noticed what was missing from the picture and looked at her in confusion. “You're not a unicorn.”

“Congratulations. You can tell the difference between a mud pony and an unicorn. You must be very proud,” she said coolly, flicking a stray hair from her visible eye. “Now are you going to leave me to my fiery death like a good unicorn, or not?”

Unused to be spoken to thus, Paladin's face colored, and her brows furrowed in anger. “Now see here-”

“Sil!”

Both ponies turned to see Awesomeshine gallop up to the earth pony and embrace her tightly. Silver Script's demeanor changed ever so slightly as she hesitantly returned the affection, though nothing even close to what could be called a smile ever touched her lips. She pushed the unicorn back at arm's length and said, “Shine, what are you doing here? This building is about to be overrun.”

“Rescuing you, silly filly,” she replied simply. She grabbed a forehoof and started dragging her to the back of the library. “Come on, there isn't much time.”

Knightengale walked up to Paladin and whispered, “We better hurry. It won't be long before those mutts make it in here, and I don't plan on being in here when they do.” She noted the annoyed look on the guard's face and where- or rather, who- she was looking at, and asked, “Something wrong?”

Paladin continued to glare at the earth pony for a moment, then grunted. “Nothing.” Speaking loudly so all the ponies could hear her, she said, “We have to get moving. That door won't hold out much longer, and I don't know how long it will be before it occurs to them that they can just set fire to your wooden barricades on the windows.”

Indeed, the room itself was already sweltering, and the smell of burning wood filled the air, no doubt coming in through the broken windows. Silver Script looked at her defiantly, though. “Not until all the books are safely stowed in the fireproof chamber below.”

Paladin facehoofed and had to restrain her impulse to bark orders at her, knowing it would do no good. It was Awesomeshine who came to the rescue, however. She immediately used her magic to start moving small piles of books into the basement. Looking at Paladin, she said, “It'll be faster to just do it than to argue and have to do it later anyway.”

With a frustrated yell, the sandy unicorn stomped a hoof, cracking the thin, marble tile beneath. Her horn glowed with a gray aura and all the books still waiting to be put into safety, were lifted off the ground at the same time, and swiftly flew into the basement. The trap door shut with a dull thud, and a stone bench easily weighing several hundred pounds moved over it. “There. Can we go now, Your Highness?” she growled out.

The archivist shrugged on her saddlebags and nodded. “There is nothing more to be done here. Let us get Awesomeshine to safety away from those beasts.”

Rolling her eyes, Paladin grabbed the earth pony and teleported to the other side of the back wall. Knightengale flew through the window carrying Awesomeshine and set her down once they were outside. All four ran as quietly as they could to the alley where the rest were awaiting them. Silver Bell looked at the newcomer in confusion and said, “You're not a unicorn.”

Silver Script looked to Awesomeshine and asked, “Is this some new greeting among unicorns of which I was unaware?”

She shrugged helplessly. “If it is, it's new to me, too. Seems kind of silly to point out something that obvious.”

Paladin gestured for them to start moving. “Can we talk about this on the road? We still have to get out of this deathtrap of a town.”

As they left, Silver Bell walked up to the new earth pony and said, “My apologies, I did not mean to be so rude. It's just that from Miss Awesomeshine's description, I thought you would be a unicorn.”

Looking to her friend, Silver Script asked, “Just what have you been telling them?”

“Only the truth,” she protested. “I didn't think that you're not being a unicorn would make any difference, so I never really thought to mention it. You're the most knowledgeable pony in the world when it comes to magic and artifacts, see-”

“Princess Celestia sent me on a mission to find a set of magical artifacts,” Paladin interrupted. She came up alongside Silver Bell, looking over the archivist with a critical eye. “She believes that they are essential for winning the war against the dragons, and Miss Awesomeshine highly recommended your expertise in finding them.”

Ignoring her, Silver Script turned back to Awesomeshine and asked, “Is that the only reason? You needed help finding some artifacts?”

The healer nuzzled her affectionately, bringing a very slight red tinge to her cheeks. “Of course not. I was ready to pitch a full fit if they refused to help me find and rescue you, but luckily, they turned out to be nice ponies and came along without my needing to do something that embarrassing.”

Swallowing her anger at being ignored, Paladin said, “So how about it? Can you help me- er, us?”

Still looking at her friend, Silver Script asked, “What set of artifacts is it? Depending on what it is, we may need to go to another archive.”

Awesomeshine looked around her over to Paladin, who was nearly apoplectic. “What were they called, Dame?”

Paladin took a deep breath before replying. “The Elements of Harmony. Have you ever heard of them? If not, I can tell you what Princess Celestia has already taught me about them.”

Looking upwards thoughtfully, Silver Script replied, “Elements of Harmony. A mysterious set of five artifacts thought to embody and allow one total control over an aspect of harmony. Nopony who has ever laid hoof on them has ever been able to make them work, though they radiate omega level magical energies. It is speculated that the three alicorn princesses have some connection to them, especially the lost one, though they have never confirmed nor denied anything of the sort. It is also speculated that the five Elements represented are Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty, though again, this is purely conjecture based on observations of their reactions to certain traits exhibited by the pony holding them.”

Glancing at Paladin from the corner of her eye, she said, “There's more of course, but much of it is technical studies made of the artifacts, as well as experiments performed upon them before the princesses spirited them away for 'safekeeping'; not exactly light bedtime reading for guards.”

Paladin glared at her until Silver Bell bumped into her, breaking her from her train of thoughts. “Oh, you're good,” she whispered. Then, something the earth pony said piqued her interest. “Wait, there's only two alicorn princesses; always has been.”

The corner of Silver Script's mouth ticked upward for an instant, and was gone so fast, it left Paladin wondering if she had imagined it. “Is that so?” she asked levelly.

Author's Notes:

Hmm... it's a fine line to walk, writing a character like Silver Script. Too much and people hate her, too little and she turns bland. Also, I had to facepalm when I realized that I had written a story with two characters with the same beginning name. Ugh.