Chapter 14:

Dark Tidings

Scorch was terrified.

She felt herself suspended in the air, an unwilling spectator to the scene that played out before her. All around her, the air seemed to ripple, distorting the area. To her eyes, it looked like she was in the middle of a blood red ocean, with the remains of broken buildings acting as small islands.

Below her, doing his best to run from island to island, was Omnius. Even from a distance, Scorch could tell he was tiring quickly, that his breaths were becoming labored. Blood matted down several patches of fur on his arms and legs, as he ran, swung, and leaped from island to island.

Right behind him, quickly closing the gap between itself and Omnius, was an enormous monster. There was no other word for it. Twice as large as the cruel dragon that had stolen her as a hatchling, her mind couldn’t find a way to properly comprehend what it was. All she could even discern was the hideous purple eye that burned with a sickening mixture of lust for power, and hatred.

Closer, and closer, it drew to the fleeing Werehog. Desperately, Omnius started tossing some of the islands back at it, with little effect. Nothing was slowing it down, as it opened its gaping maw to reveal several rows of jagged, black fangs. There was the telltale crackle of lightning, and a bolt of black energy, tinged with white specks, shot out at Omnius.

The beam slammed into the island he was standing on, completely annihilating it and leaving him to flounder about uselessly in midair.

The monster’s maw opened once more, this time to unleash a grating laugh that sent shivers down the dragon’s spine. Omnius winced, but his look of grim determination never once faltered. Not when the monster came closer to him. Not when its jaws slowly closed down. Not when his arms shot out in an all or nothing attempt at keeping the beast’s jaws from crushing him.

Not when the monster’s strength far outclassed even his own.

Not when Scorch screamed.

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“Hey, Scorch, calm down,” I half-shouted over the sound of her screaming. “It’s okay, you just had a nightmare.”

We were currently one day away from our destination of Canterlot, camped out in a little spot on the mountains that surrounded the pony capitol. Miraculously, we hadn’t encountered any trouble during our trip, something that I was truly grateful for. No bandits, monsters, or slavers…this was probably the closest we had come to peace on our journey.

Of course, Scorch screaming in mortal terror was an exception.

I finally managed to get her calmed down after a few minutes. The dragon’s eyes were now opened wide, still dilated from remembered terror. She moved herself into a sitting position and took several deep breaths in an effort to calm herself.

Concerned, I set about making a pot of tea, and asked her, “Are you alright?”

Shakily, she shook her head, saying, “I…I don’t think so. That dream was too real.”

While I waited for the tea to finish cooking, Scorch told me about everything she saw in her dream. By the time she had finished recounting what she had seen, the sun had started to peek over the horizon, and the tea had cooled off enough to be served.

“Hm…so, you saw me get attacked by some kinda…” I cast about for the right word, before settling with, “Beast?”

She nodded.

I thought about what she had said for another moment, absently sipping at my mint tea while I did so. “That wasn’t a dream,” I finally said. “If anything, I think you have a minor amount of clairvoyance.”

“What?” she asked me in confusion.

“You can see the future,” I elaborated. “The fact that you can remember all of that, and tell me about every detail you saw points towards that, at least.”

Actually, I’m a minor clairvoyant myself. When I sleep, I tend to get my own visions of stuff relating to what has, and what will, happen in the future. Unfortunately, that little power doesn’t do me any good now, since I CAN’T. FREAKING. SLEEP.

I miss my naps. I really, really do.

“But…what does my dream mean?” Scorch asked, staring at her tea.

I smiled, and gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder. “It means you should relax, and drink your tea. Once I’m done cleaning up the campsite, we’ll head into Canterlot.”

“What about-”

“Don’t worry about it,” I interrupted her. “We won’t do any good worrying about what we don’t know everything about. For now, we’ll concentrate on getting this glass to Celestia and Luna. We’ll figure out what to do after that.”

She sighed once more, but took a small sip from her drink. While she finished her tea, I scratched down another entry in my journal, taking note of the fact that one of my earlier pages was missing.

Damn. Why do I always keep losing those things?

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There it was. The city that all ponies know about.

Canterlot.

No description I can say will do it justice. The way its white marble buildings caught the sunlight from its perch on the mountains always is a true sight to behold.

Now if only the ponies living there were as nice as it looked.

After some brief heckling from the guards, Scorch and I had made it into the city, only to be glared at by disgusted rich snobs. The way they whispered amongst themselves, stealing glances at our appearance, like they thought we were too stupid to notice. Honestly, I hate it when people do that.

In an attempt to ignore all of them, I said, “Alright, first things first.”

“We go and see the princesses?”

“No,” I grinned. “They’re probably busy with all the nobles and princessly stuff. We’ll wait until tonight to bug them.”

“Oh…” Scorch frowned. “So what are we doing until then?”

My grin grew even larger, and I clapped my hands together in excitement. “Scorch, it’s been fifteen years since I’ve been able to have this delicacy. Pine Halls never sold it, and we’ve been living off of nuts, berries, and bitter as all get out tea.”

She grimaced a little at that, but nodded in agreement.

“Scorch…today, WE FEAST!”

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The server trembled fearfully next to the counter as he struggled to listen to what we were about to order. I rolled my eyes at him, and said, “Sir, relax. We’re not gonna eat you or anything. Really now, do you treat all outsiders like this?”

He chuckled nervously, and said, “Sorry about that. Things have just been a little strange lately.”

“Ah, it’s fine,” I said, waving it off. “Now, may we order?”

“Of course!” he said, warming up to me not that he knew I wasn’t gonna try and rip out his throat or anything like that.

“Alright, ah…I’d like a triple scoop chocolate chip cone, and…” I looked over to Scorch. “What did you want?”

“I’d like the strawberry swirl sundae, please,” she quietly said, avoiding eye contact with the waiter. She still has some issues with meeting new people, I guess. Understandable.

“Good choice,” the server commented. He ducked behind the counter for a moment, before coming back up with our order. “That’ll be ten bits.”

I handed him the coins, and said, “Thank’ee kindly.”

With that, Scorch and I sat down at a table by the door to enjoy the delicious gift of the gods that is ice cream.

Scorch sniffed a bit at her sundae, still a little cautious about the frozen delicacy. The instant she had told me she had never had ice cream, I knew that that had to be our top priority when we reached Canterlot. I dug into my own ice cream, savoring each and every bit of delicious ambrosia that slid down my throat.

Yes, I do have a bit of a sweet tooth. No, I’m not sharing my ice cream with you.

“Scorch, just stop worrying and EAT!” I mumbled after I came back up for air. “It’s ice cream. That stuff is good for the soul!”

She finally tasted a small spoonful…and then started devouring it alongside me. After a minute, she winced horribly, and clutched at her head. She moaned in pain, making me laugh a little.

“Brain freeze!” I laughed, popping the last of my cone into my mouth. "Waiter! Two more please!"

Oh, fifteen years is FAR too long to go without a single scoop of ice cream. Thank the Gods that Canterlot has this stuff.

And that I've got two hundred bits that I've saved just for this occasion.

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“Totally…” I burped slightly, and pat my stomach in content. “Worth it.”

We finished paying for all of the food we had eaten (earning a “favorite customer” card in the process), and set off to get to the castle. Well, I walked, while Scorch waddled.

Thankfully, her metabolism should tear through that by the time we reach the royalty.

Somewhat shakily, I reached into my backpack and pulled out Amber’s glass. I ran a hand over it, and let out a heavy sigh. Soon, I would be willingly giving up the last memento of my daughter. Maybe that was why I did the ice cream binge. Just to give myself a few more precious moments.

Still. There’s no point in putting it off.

With that, I strolled into the gardens just outside of the castle, mentally preparing myself-

-And got surrounded by guards in the blink of an eye.

Spears were thrust towards me, as I said, "Um...We come in peace?"

Why can't I ever catch a break?

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