(Lumix, Thirty Third , Nine Hundred and Ninety fifth Celestial Reckoning, Thorc Valley, Three day’s from Briddlebit)

She stared into the sky, meeting the sun’s gaze as it blessed the world with its life granting light. The lavender filly frowned slightly in thought, her contemplations grasping upon the words spoken by her friend the previous evening, especially how the portents spoken would affect her. Slowly she drew in a deep breath, holding it for but a second, before closing her eyes and releasing it in a single long gust through her nose, into the air around her. ‘Why does prophecy have to be so vague? It’s not like they don’t understand the importance of clarity, but it’s as if whatever gives them their revelations loves doing so in the most aggravating or undefinable manner possible,’ the youthful unicorn thought as she continued staring into the great golden orb in the heavens above, as if it contained the answers to her questions.

“Hay Glimmer, that’s the third time today, mind telling me what’s wrong?” Asked her companion, a chocolate brown stallion pulling a small wagon down the small incline, into a narrow valley.

Twilight glanced in the stallion’s direction. “I’m just worried, I don’t know what’s wrong but today just doesn’t... feel right. I’m sorry, Cherry, but that’s about all I know about it.” She responds dismissively, before returning her eyes to the verdant fields surrounding them on either side.

The stallion frowned as he looked at the lavender filly’s jitterish demeanor. “Now really, that can’t be all of it, you’ve got to do better than that to get a lie past me.” he states calmly, the expression remaining in place letting her know that he meant business this time.

Twilight’s shoulders sagged a bit as she sighed again, “Do you know of prophecy?”

“Zebra mumbojumbo about telling the future using voodoo?” He answers curiously.

Twilight winced at the slander to her teacher’s people. “No, that’s just folklore and hearsay, I’m talking about actual prophecy like the true visions seen by the cervine seers and priestesses.”

“Wait, those tribals actually have the ability to see the - no besides what does that have to do with why you’re sad?” He asked, his frown digging deeper into his face.

Twilight looked upon her companion with anger, as he further dug himself deeper with his racial slurs. Taking a calming breath, she answered with a calm tone. “I warn you now to watch your next words, before I bury you up to your neck... Again.” Cherry’s eyes widened considerably in fear, having suffered the punishment before when he ruined one of her potions as a prank. “Now stay silent, and I’ll tell you. A few weeks ago I met one of my friends in the forest during my usual midday excursion. He is one of the cervine seers and a very skilled one at that. He was able to predict that you would take a hit if you tried to sell your wares at the next town, and when you set up your stall in Hard Stone against my better judgement you nearly lost your purse of gold from off the cart itself.” Twilight paused for half a second, she then shook her head as if to remove some cobwebs before continuing. “I’m getting off topic, Anyway, cervine seers such as the one I met the other day have an unpredictable ability to see the future that they are more or less attuned to. The reason I’ve been upset the past week was because I was worried about the caution within the context of his prophecy. Now that I think about it I guess I’m worrying about something I can’t do anything about.” With a sigh she went silent, following the road for a few more minutes.

Glancing into the woods once, she turned to Cherry Spice once more. “I’m going to explore the forest, Fang will watch over you in case there’s any trouble.” Before the merchant had any time to respond, she’d already bolted through the underbrush and into the rich lumi pine forest.

Twilight allowed herself to calm down as she traversed deeper into the jungle, the smells and scents of the forest beginning to chip at her frustration as they brought back happy memories of her time with Zecora. Reaching one of the natural clearings, Twilight looked about and spotted a crimson flowered rose bush. Tilting her head curiously she stepped towards it, slowing as she noticed the thorny vines holding the flowers above ground, and the squirrel bones underneath the bush.

Furling her eyebrow she mused, ‘Strange, I thought these were only found in the everfree forest… I guess more alchemy materials for later at least.’ With that thought Twilight lit her horn and grasped several of the rose buds. With a swift jerk, she snapped the heads from the stems, suddenly several green thorny vines shot from the bush as if to grasp whatever creature had dared to eat from it before retracting empty as the plant reset for any creature that may fall into it’s ever hungering snair.

Placing the rose buds within her saddlebags, she pushed the feeling of the bush from her thoughts and stepped back into the woods, leaving the clearing. Picking up the pace once more, she finally began smiling, staring up into the canopy to catch glimpses of the sky as they occasionally filtered through the dense leaves of the forest oak trees.

The canopy began to thin as she headed northwards, having noted a ruin in that direction as she was gazing upon the forest below her cliffside resting place before she turned in to sleep for the night. After a few more minutes of traipsing over roots and vaulting over brambled bushes Twilight began seeing the signs of an old road to her right. Moss covered stones lined together somewhat, creating a path wider than most game trails blazed by other forest grazing creatures. She also noted a free standing stone wall, held together by vines after the cement holding it together had crumbled away.

‘I’m getting close.’ She thought, her pace slowing a bit as the spots of light beaming through the canopy of the forest began to turn into a constant beam broken intermittently by leaves and branches. After several seconds the trees part revealing a massive moss covered wall not five feet before her. Lifting a hoof to her chin, she lit her horn and pressed against the structure softly with telekinetic energy. A slight tingling sensation traveled along her horn uncomfortably at the contact. Jerking her head back, she broke her connection with the wall.

The electric feeling upon her horn faded, allowing Twilight to sigh in relief. ‘Close… ’ her eyes narrowed in focus as she scowled at the aged wall. ‘Too close. I hope the spell defences only extend to the walls.’ Turning right she began trotting along the enchanted stone barrier. ‘If I remember correctly, the entrance should be about... here.’ She said to herself just as she came upon a circular portal of stone, containing a rusted metal gate barring the way with signs of a rough marble road extending beyond to the interior.

Twilight examined the entry even further, a few details stand out, on either side of the entrance, were rusted sconces with rotted wooden remnants of torches, Up above the gate was a brightly colored mark resembling a violet splotch with a white crescent moon that glowed slightly. The final item of note was a series of unnatural scratches on the wall all around the tunnel entrance.

Ignoring the other portions of the tunnel, she focused upon the rune glowing slightly above the metal gate. Twilight lifted a hoof to her chin, humming faintly. “Hmm...” ‘Strange, I’ve seen this symbol somewhere before… But where?’ Then it clicked, as the image of a mirror appeared within her thoughts, Lighting her horn, she turned her head and opened the flaps on her saddle bags telekinetically, before reaching in and grasping the midnight blue handle of the object within her thoughts. With a small tilt of her horn, Twilight smoothly pulled it out before her.

Looking upon the object floating before her, the mirror glowed slightly around the edges of its polished silver surface. Flipping the mirror around, she saw the image on the reverse side. A black splotch bearing a silvery white moon within. ‘Hmm… I wonder...’ Twilight’s horn flared a bit brighter, suddenly a bluish white mist fogged over her eyes, closing them. With a slight flash, Twilight opened her eyes, her vision tainted a vivid orange. However, to another being looking from outside, they would see a milky blue-white mist floating off of her eyes, which were glowing a bright sapphire blue.

Staring into the space between the two marks, she was finally able to see the energy flowing between them. A large tendril of energy connected them, flowing towards the ground below her. ‘What? But that doesn’t make any sense!’ Examining the aura of both objects she confirmed her previous observation of them both being connected magically. With little warning, a small spark of energy flashed up from the ground, into the mirror, the ancient artifact flashed brilliantly before once more returning to its previous state. ‘Huh, I wonder what that was.’ Only having caught a glance of the spell cast, Twilight was unable to decipher it. ‘Stupid mage sight, I can’t see any formula while I’m seeing the magic of the spell itself.’

Dropping the spell held in her mind’s eye, the mist around her eyes began to dissipate as fast as it had appeared. Closing her eyes, Twilight shook her head vigorously. Upon opening them once more, the lavender unicorn’s vision had returned to normal. Glancing around the stone portal, she noticed a difference. The metal gate that had previously been barred and closed tightly, was now resting ajar on its hinges, separated from its latch. Looking at the mirror, still floating before her, she noted another change. The mirror’s silver surface, which had seemed to be polished to a pure reflective silvery shine, now reflected a murky distorted image back instead. ‘Either this is a coincidence, or there are other forces at work here that I don’t know about…’

Looking past the partially opened gate once more, Twilight released a sigh, letting her tensed shoulders relax a little. ‘Might as well see where this is going.’ With that thought on her mind, Twilight passed through the metal gate, passing the black steel bars calmly. Upon reaching the other side, a flash of light bursts to life behind her. Twilight spins around with wide eyes and watches as the gate silently melts itself back into place with the rest of the structure.

Shaking her head, Twilight smacks a hoof to her face. “Really?!” ‘How did I not notice the other enchantment?’ Gazing towards a second marking above similar in design to the one outside the door, she expanded her vision, allowing her to view the magical connections within the sigil marking. After a few seconds she noted the enchantments woven tightly within the single protective sigil, including an array of defensive and lethal combative enchantments that would render any unprepared fool senseless or worse. ‘Oh...’ Twilight's ears pressed against the back of her head and her eyes shot wide open as she realized just how close she was to getting harmed unwittingly herself. Releasing a sigh, Twilight turned around, keeping her senses keen and focused for any more traps that could have been planted by the structure’s previous defenders.

---

By noon, Twilight had been able to search the main structure of the fort, and the walls, only to find that the building had been systematically stripped and abandoned, signs of battle were present in several rooms, however there were no bodies or broken weapons to be found. The only room left to search was the forts central chamber. Reaching the main doors, Twilight saw the same sigil that she saw on the main gate and on the back of the mirror. ‘Strange, maybe this was a fort under the command of moon obsessed cultists… but that doesn’t explain why the mirror I found in that ancient castle reacts like a key with the first sigil, or the fact that they are charged from the same source.’ Lifting out the mirror, Twilight held it before the ancient doors like a sacred offering, and watches as the clouded mirror reacted with the doors as it did with the sigil at the entrance, flashing once and causing the double doors to shift on their hinges and begin moving.

The two doors moved inwards but Twilight stumbled backwards as a putrid smell attacked her senses, flooding thickly out of the room almost like a liquid. The scent of decay and rot flooded Twilight’s keen sniffer, causing her to reel on her hooves, nearly collapsing onto the ground herself as she stepped away from the source of the horrible stench.

Pinching her nose telekinetically, Twilight finally mustered the strength to glance into the room. her coat paled swiftly as she layed her eyes upon the distinct and decayed bodies of its long deceased occupants. Still coughing slightly she entered the abandoned room, her eyes remained focused upon the bodies of the ponies within. ‘Cobalt toned mithril armor. Where could they have gotten that much to make sets of armor like this?’ The lavender filly wondered mentally, stopping for a second to lift a helmet from off of one of the dead pegasi.

Flipping the helmet around to look within, she notices another mark of the same design as the ones she had seen earlier imprinted upon the inside of the helmet. ‘Interesting.’ Casting the vision spell upon her eyes once more, she glanced once more at the helmet, instantly noticing the distinct lack of magic held within its form. ‘Hmm I wonder... Will this work?’ Pulling out the enchanted mirror Twilight held it next to the helmet while pulling the rest of the armor off the deceased pony’s body. A brilliant flash later, and the mirror had temporarily connected to the armor, reviving its enchantments while tethering it to the source of the mirror’s power. After a few seconds, the glow of the armor and mirror die down signalling that they have finished synchronizing with the source of the mirrors power. ‘Amazing, so the enchantment still works even after years of inactivity and lack of power to charge it.’

Putting away the polished hoof mirror, Twilight lifted a hoof to her chin in thought as she looked upon the armor a bit closer, examining the complex spellwork of its enchantment with her magic vision still active. “Hmm… This armor would be very dangerous in the wrong hooves, even unenchanted it could pose a distinct threat to other ponies on the roads.” Twilight muttered to herself before scavenging the mithril armor from the rest of the deceased warriors, numbering four consisting of a unicorn and three other pegasi.

Letting her magic sight spell fade, Twilight gathered the armor together, not noticing the slight flashes of energy as they came into contact with each other, before she placed the sets within her saddle bags of holding. The only object she kept outside was the clouded mirror she retrieved from the ruins of the citadel of light.

“Amazing...” Twilight stated quietly as she levitated the mirror before her. ‘I’ve never seen an enchantment that could revive itself even after being completely drained of all magical energy. Whoever enchanted these magical devices must have been a powerful mage, with plenty of time on their hooves.’ Lighting her horn a bit brighter, Twilight flashed several patterns before her eyes and focused her will upon the feelings generated within the runes, pressing the complex magic through her horn. Opening her eyes, Twilight watched as the spell she had used hundreds of times fizzled out before her very eyes. After a few seconds, the murky surface of the mirror began to clear. “Wha...” Within the frame of the mirror a pair of turquoise eyes stared back at Twilight.

In a knee jerk reaction, Twilight shoved the active artifact within her saddle bags, hiding it and the eyes from her sight. With a sigh, Twilight’s shoulders sagged as she contemplated what she had just seen. ‘I wonder what that was, should I see if it’s still there?’ As she argued over the merits and fallacies of attempting to tamper with a magical device that somehow had resisted her magical deconstruction spell, a few images appeared within her thoughts.

‘Twilight, I think Cherry’s in trouble. I’m showing you what I see.’ An image appeared within Twilight’s thoughts of the chocolate brown stallion next to Wild Wind, the wagon being pulled behind the stallion. Surrounding them were a crowd of ponies each equipped with a weapon of some sort. A unicorn and three earth ponies blocked the road, standing in the way of Cherry Spice and Wild Wind. with many more earth ponies on either side of the road, and several pegasi fluttering in the air with hoof held crossbows.

With only a second’s thought, Twilight put aside her dilemma about investigating the mirror and instead called to Fang with her own thoughts while rushing towards the walls. ‘I’m on my way, please keep an eye on them, I want to know what they are up to before letting them see you.’ Reaching the eastern wall, Twilight climbed the stairs to the top of the seven foot barrier, and continued running to the edge. With a skip and a hop, Twilight leapt over the crenellated battlements, and reached out, barely catching the branch of a nearby tree, which broke her fall before landing silently on the ground.

‘Fang, can you show me the location of the ruin and the direction of which it is from Cherry Spice’s current location?’ Twilight asks, she barely finishes the thought when several images linking into a scene flowed through her thoughts. Within seconds Twilight had the general direction she needed to head. ‘I’m on my way.’

With the speed of a natural born hunter, Twilight melted through the forest, ghosting from clearing to clearing, leaving only the faintest of sounds of her passing. Plants pass by in a blur, streams of light revealing spots of color as they pass through the tree born canopy above, flowering bushes and the occasional vine observed in passing as she makes her way through the forest at a swift clip.

After leaping over a small creak Twilight finally saw the road past the woods, and the beginnings of a ravine, similar to the one Fang had shown her that Cherry Spice had been spotted in. Slowing her sprint to a silent gallop, Twilight maneuvered her way into the ravine, instantly seeing the gathered ponies below. ‘Thank you Fang. I’ve got this from here, go and rest Fang, I’ll call for you when If needed.’ As she stalked closer, Twilight took note of the armed crossbows and drawn blades being wielded by the other ponies. Upon realizing the other ponies as a potential threat, she halted her progress, and hid behind a nearby boulder.

‘Maybe I can use the armor I found earlier, though I wish I gathered the spears as well, they would have been useful right about now.’ Her unleashed magic lit her horn as she gathered it before her and used it to telekinetically grasp the unicorn designed mythril armor from her pack, while commanding her staff to reform from its current cloak form into a double bladed staff. Having finished its transformation, it assumed position next to her, floating level with her shoulder.

With a simple adjustment, the lavender filly began buckling the deceptively light armor onto herself. As the final piece, the helmet finally fell into place, fitting snugly around her horn, Twilight felt a slight shiver of magic move through her body. Twilight blinked in reaction to the strange feeling, however as she opened her eyes she balked backward as an intense light burned her eyes, almost forcing her to yelp in surprise. Cautiously she cracked her eyes open slightly, barely allowing a painful yet infinitesimal amount through her eyelids. Suddenly, a small shiver flowed through Twilight's eyes as magic passes through the sensitive organs, after half a second she was able to fully open her eyes and see without difficulty from the sun’s burning rays.

With her sight returned to normal, Twilight returned to her position behind the rock, just as one of the pegasi decided to glance in the direction of her previous location. After a bit of watching Twilight notices the frustration emanating from the bandit leader. Nodding to herself, she waits till the other ponies are distracted before leaving her concealment behind the rock and sneaking towards the argument.

As she closed in silently, she began to pick up words of their conversation even at a somewhat great distance. “Now see here, I don’t have much in the way of profits, as this year has been quite dry in the need for herbs and spices. As a result I’ve had to spend the last of my bits on renting rooms at the previous town.” Argued the brown earth pony, with a leaf green pegasus with sky blue eyes trying to hide behind him.

“Is tha’ soo?” the golden yellow coated unicorn leader asked mockingly, before continuing viciously. “Then I guess your time as a trader is o’er, give us the wagon and we may let you live.”

Having heard enough, Twilight decides to stop playing and stepped from the shadows of her hiding place. “I think that is enough, you seriously aren't thinking about attacking my companions, are you?” The bandits almost as a whole, turn to face the new pony that had mysteriously came from out of no where in their midst. while the others notice the armor and immediately go on defensive, the leader balks for half a second before bellowing out in laughter.

---

“Aaahahaha, oh ohohoh ohhh, and wot, do we ‘ave here? A filly trying to play hero with some scrap metal she pulled from the local smithy, now why don’t you go run along back home to mommy, the grown ups be talkin here?” However, when he turned back around, he noticed the distracted look of concern that had come over the merchant he had been arguing with over the past twenty minutes. “And wot has you crabbin up all o’ sudden?” He asks the shaking merchant.

“I think it’s time, kill’em. The first one to catch the filly gets first go tonight.” Crossbows twanged as their bolts were released, whistling through the air. However, as the bolts converged on Cherry Spice and his companion they stop mid air, caught in a magenta field. Only glancing once behind him, he smirked before summoning and releasing a magical fireball without much effort.

Twilight watched desperately as the magical incendiary streaked towards her companions then exploded in a fiery conflagration as she tried to catch it, the force and heat of the explosion hitting both Cherry Spice and Wild Wind, blasting them into the cart.

‘No...’

After a second, several of the pegasi above had already reloaded their crossbows and were zeroing their aim on the armored filly below.

Twilight’s brows furrow, small flickers of energy spark from her fur as her rage rises. Her fury growing until it finally escapes in a rage.“No!”

With little warning Twilight lashed out, sending a single bolt of energy skyward, however, before any of the pegasi can react, the spell bolt split into five separate bolts, one for each pegasus in the air, and striking with lethal accuracy before any of them can react.

Not even blinking, at the ponies’ fate, Twilight’s conscious mind fades as she falls into an instinctive rush, several trolls overlaying into view over the bandits. Twilight’s vision begins to grey as blood starts thundering in her ears. “I will not let you hurt them any more.” The armor surrounding her began to glow blue without her notice, however the bandits began to step away from the glowing filly, having seen their best shots all go down in one spell.

“Hmm not as weak as ah thought. No matta, a few tricks and some shiny armor won’t save ya from the wrath of Golden Blaze! Now die!” Shouted Golden as he released twin fireballs from his horn, both of them curving outward and converging upon Twilight’s position.

Twilight watched the balls of fire converge on her position as if time had broken a leg and was forced to crawl, her senses heightening beyond their normal capabilities. With barely a thought, and a flash of her horn Twilight dissipated the fireballs, ripping away the formulae that had held them together and copying their design instantaneously before her eyes. Deciding not to stop there, she summoned a pyroclastic orb of her own and fired it towards Golden Blaize along with a bolt of lightening for the fireball to ride upon, all within the space of a second. Within the next second, Twilight felt her body sluggishly move through the motions as she shifted her weight to her back legs, and prepares to leap. Only taking half of the second to prepare, Twilight shot forward, releasing the pent up energy within her rear muscles, flinging herself backwards into the air and behind one of her earth pony opponents? Landing upon the ground with an ease speaking of experience, Twilight tapped into the energies of the ground beneath her and taps her hoof once, forcing the energies to release in the form of several earthen spikes jutting out of the ground and skewering a few of her opponents while most just barely graze the others.

A green coated earth pony mare covered in mottled entwood barding, took a step back, her eyes wide in fear. “Shit! This whorse ain’t no simple amateur magician, she’s a bucking combat mage.” Turning around, she tried to sprint to safety along with a few of the other more cowardly bandits. Without even batting an eye, Twilight continued fighting the earth ponies still brave enough to face her in close quarters, the images of trolls fading as her perception of reality returned to normal.

‘I’m sorry Cherry Spice, they still don’t deserve any forgiveness.’ Lighting her horn once more, Twilight released a controlled mana burst, sending a wave of compressed air and energy outward, all the while her armor started glowing brighter from its cobalt blue to a brilliant sky blue as she called upon her mana once more, this time casting a hastening spell upon herself before holding the tip of her staff towards the nearest earth pony who still stood even if he was off balance. In one swift motion, she charged the earth pony and sliced cleanly through his stomach. Before he could even react to the pain, she passed her sword once more through his body, this time taking his head with it. more of the earth ponies converged on her position while the unicorn leader began to recover from getting electrocuted.

In her fury Twilight called upon her long time companion, ’Fang, can you fly over the outside of the canyon and burn any armed ponies you see. I saw a few run from the fight.’ With that command given, Twilight called her staff to her and commanded it to morph back into the cloak she had been wearing that morning, only with the modification of blades on several tapered ends of the fabric, the entire piece flowing behind her as if it were alive. With little warning the cloak lashed out against two earth ponies that thought they had the jump on her. They literally leaped with their weapons drawn and ready to strike when inner tapered ends of the cloak flew up, spearing into their chests, deflecting their attacks. As they fell to either side of the filly, their throats were cut by the outer blades of the cloak.

Only three bandits remained standing in the road, the rest having either fled or died to Twilight’s surprises. Golden Blaze stood, having finally recovered from the electrical shock he had received from Twilight’s counter attack.

“That was an impressive spell, ya cast back there. However I’m done play’in around. So ya think you can fight against an experienced mage yes?” He questioned idly. Twilight didn’t respond as a pony screamed off in the distance briefly before the sound of dragon flames overpowers them. Twilight then nodded as the image of a charred corpse appears briefly in her mind. “Then I’ll show ya wot a real mage is capable of!” He yelled his horn sparking slightly before a swath of flame blasts across the intervening distance between Twilight and the bandit leader. Without any warning or time to dodge out of the way, the two remaining earth ponies were engulfed in the inferno that had sprung between the two mages, while Twilight constructed the shield spell she learned from the artifact she had disassembled within the ancient throne room so many years before. A great golden barrier shot up from the ground surrounding her in a protective bubble within the blink of an eye.

After a few seconds the flames died down, revealing a pissed off unicorn and a triangular-shaped destruction zone filled with ashes and burnt bodies surrounding a single unicorn mare, having dropped her barrier just as the flames let up. Twilight returned the favor and condensed several icicles midair, before launching them at her opponent, while summoning the earth to surround Golden’s legs. Golden responded swiftly, summoning a barrier of flame to melt the icicles into water as they pass through before launching the flame wall straight at Twilight. The lavender unicorn summoned an earthen spike in front of her breaking the wall and letting it pass her harmlessly as she broke the impromptu pillar into spikes and launches them at the ground bound unicorn with several spell bolts following right behind them.

Golden screamed in rage and pain as he melted the earth binding his hooves to the ground before leaping to the side, barely dodging the barrage of projectiles that Twilight had launched his way. Another scream rose from out in the distance in response to the unicorn’s before being silenced in the flash and bang of a thunder strike. Recovering off the ground, the unicorn noticed ripples in the ground moving towards his position. With a smile, his horn sparked once more, launching a spear of flame towards the lavender filly, Twilight dodged the superheated projectile, breaking her concentration on the earthen spell. Golden struggled to stay standing, his hooves burnt to a crisp by the molten stone he had escaped from. Twilight stood effortlessly, having suffered no injuries during the fight. The survival instincts she had developed during her time in the Everfree forest were serving her well.

Golden’s rage intensified as he noted the lack of injury on the armor wearing unicorn before him, Twilight barely noticed the minor burns on her side from the fire spear and the twisted ankle she acquired when she landed wrongly from her hastily executed dodge. With his rage boiling and clouding his judgement, the pyromancer summoned the full power of his abilities and casts a storm of fire, launching fireballs arcing into the air towards the lavender filly and summoning pillars of flame from below to surround Twilight’s position in flame, keeping her from dodging out of the way. Twilight focused on the spells summoned and decided the best option is to kill the unicorn as fast as possible. To that end, Twilight stomped a hoof into the ground, and focused all of her attention into the casting. Suddenly a spike of earth impaled Golden Blaze from below, while he was otherwise distracted.

Without the feed of Golden’s magic, the fireballs and pillars lost form and extinguished within milliseconds, only puffs of heat reaching Twilight as the last of the energy dissipated from the flame spells. Another final cry sounded , as the last bandit is blown apart by an electrically charged fireball. Twilight turned away from the carnage caused by her and Golden’s fight and focused on the charred wagon remains. Without thinking about it, Twilight walked over to the burnt vehicle, her hooves crunching on the charred ground, small bits of glassed earth slicing into her hooves leaving small lacerations upon her legs. With a grunt, Twilight summoned a small amount of energy to her horn and blasted a small patch of the charred earth from herself, before sitting upon the grey stone below.

Closing her eyes, Twilight allowed images to flow up from the depths of her thoughts, scenes of bright days traversing green fields. Images of the brown earth pony smiling as he helped her improve on her conversational skills with other ponies, teaching her how to barter for better prices with other shopkeepers to get needed materials for her alchemical projects and solutions. A single tear dripped from her muzzle as she mourned the loss of her companions. The sound of leathery wings announced the arrival of the young Fang, as he landed on the ground next to her. ‘For what it’s worth Twilight, I’ll miss them as well.’ He spoke within her thoughts before laying a wing over her cloaked back.

With a shaky sigh, Twilight felt the energy swirl around her horn as she focused on lifting the two charred bodies from the fire darkened wagon. Pulling the two corpses towards herself, Twilight tried to remember what she knew about pony passing rights. ‘Nagash told me once that they honor the dead, I think he called the place where they were so honored was called a cemetery… He showed me once, I think. He explained it as burying the dead to lay their souls to rest, and sacrificing their bodies to revitalize the earth.’ Looking at the charred and nearly unrecognizable corpses as she laid them on the grass next to the road, she began to question the wisdom of that statement.

Twilight closed her eyes, she works on calming herself , cutting off the magic flow to her horn, ‘in out, in out.’ Twilight continued through the motions, “Alright, Fang. If you would, please wait in that tree. I must do something before we can move on.” The drake nodded and leaped off the ground from next to Twilight, flapping his wings and flying over to catch a nearby limb. Twilight looked up at her companion, a shadow slightly falling over her face for a second, before she turned to look at her newly deceased traveling companions. A breathy sigh escaped her lips before Twilight lifted her hoof and tapped it upon the ground twice. The earth split the same number of times swiftly next to the bodies, forming two oval shaped holes. Activating her magic once more, Twilight lifted the bodies and carefully lowered them into the freshly pressed graves. Releasing her magic from around Cherry Spice and Wild Wind’s bodies, she grasped a pair of rocks and placed them at the heads of their bodies.

With a flash, a slice of wind parted the face of the rocks, leaving smooth stone in place of the rough weather worn faces. After telekinetically shoving the rubble to the side, Twilight shoved the heavy stones slightly deeper into the ground, stabilizing their positions. After focusing a few seconds, Twilight released a self contained beam of energy into the rock faces, and burning into them the images of her former companions cutie marks. With two more stomps, earth flowed back into place covering the bodies. With a sad smile, Twilight stepped back onto the road, walking towards Cherry Spice’s wagon. Twilight walked behind the charred wooden structure, and looks into the back of the vehicle. With little surprise, Twilight finds mostly ash, and a large clump of melted gold in the corner of the wagon.

With a sigh, Twilight walked back around the vehicle and began her trek down the road once more. “Alright Fang, let’s- let’s go.”

Author's Notes:

The chapter is still undergoing minor edits from my editor's

Reviewed by janushyde without his guidance, this story would only be half as awesome.

Editor's are

Moonshade

and Aeondragon. links will appear when editing is finished

Anyway, these last two months have been kicking me around like an absolute (insert female dog expletive). i couldn't go one day without some random event taking away from my writing time, not to mention I got distracted the third week finishing Bioshock, which is easy to beat on all modes. asd finally pulling out that dusty old story Fallout Equestria to give a read, and I found it quite enjoyable to follow the innocent interactions of little pip as he tried to survive in a post apocalyptic Equestria. Honestly I wish he kept the black book, if only to save twilight before he destroyed the Great and Powerful Trixie, but that's because I'm a Twilight fanatic.

in other news. I will definately have my focus set on working up the next chapter for presentation within the next month, hopefully life won't give me a middle finger and kill my muse. also Expect fur, feathers, and blood in the next chapter.

Cheers.