Part Five: Sonselo

        “Blank flank!  Blank flank!  Blank flank!”

The unrelenting jeers weighed down upon him, pushing him lower and lower to the dirt ground until his face was hidden beneath his hooves.  The air wavered with the heat of the midday sun; beyond the field, the schoolhouse, which now seemed to be furlongs away and still retreating, could have been no more than a mirage.

        One of the more vocal bullies stepped closer to the shrinking black unicorn.  “The new foal still doesn’t have his cutie mark!  Blank flank, no mark, flank’s as blank as he is dark!”  The rest of the circle took up the chant.

“Blank flank, no mark, flank’s as blank as he is dark!”

        Lying there on the floor of the schoolyard, surrounded by his new schoolmates, something broke within Thade.  How could he lay there, cowering beneath his hooves, and allow himself to become the mockery of these awful fillies and colts?  He would not let this become his first impression in this new town!  Not after what happened in the last one!

        The neck, he thought, singling out the large earth pony who was clearly the ringleader.  If I go for the neck, he’ll be down for good.  That’ll show them.  Just like that book you read.  Don’t just hit back; hit back hard.  Hit back so hard they’ll never cause you trouble again.  Deep down, though, he knew he could never do it.  Thoughts; meaningless thoughts, that’s all they were.  Maybe if I just stay down like this they’ll get bored and—

        “Hey!  Leave him alone!”  The filly’s shout came from the same direction as the ringleader’s chant.  Thade peered up from beneath his hooves.  The jeering slowed to a grumbling stop, becoming excited whispers.  He saw the circle of his tormentors split apart to allow room for the newcomer.

        “Oh, look who’s here!  We were wrong, new-colt, you’re NOT the only blank flank!  We forgot about Crashka!  Just like her parents did!”

        “Oh, please, you think that still bothers me?  I’d rather have no parents at all than have to go home to yours!  Everypony knows about your father, Bucksaw.  About what he did.”

        Thade’s vision of his rescuer was blocked by Bucksaw’s large figure, which was now shuffling agitatedly from hoof to hoof.

        “I... don’t know what you’re talking about!”  Bucksaw grumbled, glancing around nervously.

        “Oh, you don’t?  Should I remind you?  Maybe there are still some ponies in your crowd here that haven’t heard the story.  Or you could apologize and maybe I won’t have to say anything.”

        For a tense moment, there was silence.  Then:

        “... Sorry...”  The word was filled with such monstrous anger that Thade’s head once more found itself beneath his hooves.

        He listened as the crowd dispersed.  After he was sure it was gone, he glanced up tentatively, curious to see his savior for the first time.

        The grey pegasus was smiling slightly and looking directly at him.  For a moment there was silence, though in no way was it awkward—within it, volumes seemed to be shared between them.

        “I’m Laska,” the pegasus finally said.

        Thade drew himself to his hooves, standing upright.  There was another stretch of silence as he stared at her.  He had been told about pegasi, about the cloud ponies, but had never actually seen one up close.  She was a filly, probably the same age as he, and was watching him with concerned bemusement.  As he stared, a slight breeze picked up.  One of her wing feathers floated to the ground; he wasn’t sure why, but as he watched it fall, he was sure it was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.

        And her flank was indeed blank.

        The quiet continued for another few moments.  Finally: “Thade.  I’m Thade.”

Silence reigned once more, but if silence was this wonderful, Thade never wanted to hear another sound again.

The schoolbell rang.  They both jumped, turning to watch as the rest of the young ponies filed into the building.  Laska turned back to Thade.  The smile between them felt like a secret.

She began trotting towards the schoolhouse.  He followed... but stopped long enough to pick up the feather she had dropped.  With nowhere to put it, he reluctantly teleported it off to his bedroom so he could cherish it later.

If anypony ever took the time to ask him how he could perform such complicated magic at such a young age, he would have stared back in confusion.  He knew he was talented, of course he was talented.  He had nothing better to do than practice when he got home from school.  But he never suspected that he was more than talented, that imbued within him was a natural skill great enough to rival that of some of the most fantastic unicorns in history.  No, in Thade’s own mind, he simply had a lot of time on his hooves.  And the power within him, though abnormally immense, was still mostly dormant, untapped, immature.  Time would cure that, but for now, Thade was an extremely talented foal who didn’t realize his own ability.

  He picked up his pace, catching up with his new friend.  They entered the schoolhouse side by side.        

***

        “What do you think, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, anxiously watching as the yellow pegasi did her work.  The cave echoed with the sounds of her every delicate motion.  “Will she be ok?”

        Fluttershy was hunched over the sleeping orange earth pony, applying a salve she had created from nearby plants and bandaging several minor cuts.  “She’s scratched up and probably very sore, but with some rest she should be walking in no time.”

        Twilight breathed a sigh of relief.  “Thank goodness... do you think she’ll wake up soon?  We’ve got to get moving... but more importantly, we need to find out what happened to her.”

        Fluttershy stood up, still glancing protectively at Applejack.  “I’m not sure when she’ll wake up... whatever happened to her, she ran a long way.  She just needs sleep.”

        “Is there anything I can do to help?” Twilight begged.

        Fluttershy returned to her kneeling position.  “She just needs peace and quiet.  Why don’t you go outside and let the others know she’s ok?  I still have some work to do.”

        Twilight nodded.  She began heading for the cave’s exit, but stopped.  She turned back.  “Fluttershy?”

        Fluttershy glanced up quesioningly.

        “Thanks for helping us with her,” Twilight said.  “We wouldn’t know the first thing to do if you weren’t here.”

        Fluttershy beamed.  “Of course!  I could never ignore somepony in need!  Especially a friend.”

        Twilight returned the smile, then headed for the clearing outside the cave, where her friends awaited news.

***

        Rainbow Dash was in Twilight’s face even before the unicorn’s eyes could adjust to the bright sunlight.  “Will Fluttershy let us go in and see her now?  Is she ok?  Is she awake yet?”  Rarity was right beside her, eagerly awaiting Twilight’s response.

        “She’s going to be fine.  She just needs sleep and peace.”

“I knew she’d be ok!  Applejack can overcome anything!”  Rainbow Dash, her worry now melted away, laughed with relief.

        Rarity wrapped a hoof around Dash’s neck.  “This is such a relief!  But I can’t say I’m surprised.  Applejack is as tough as they come!” She bucked at an invisible tree behind her to express her friend’s strength.  The odd spectacle tickled Dash into another burst of laughter.  Rarity turned away haughtily, but then began chuckling herself, until both the pegasus and the unicorn were rolling around on the ground giggling.

        Twilight smiled to herself.  They may be surrounded by peril, their journey far from over, but being here with her friends, it was impossible to stay troubled for too long.  Then she realized she was forgetting somepony.  She glanced curiously around the clearing.  “Where’s Pinkie?”

        Rarity, back on her hooves and finally overcoming the giggles,  leaned in to Twilight, whipsering secretively.  “She’s... having one of her moods.  She said she just wants to be alone.”

        Twilight gasped.  “Oh, no!  Rarity, Dash, you two should know that when she says she wants to be alone, she needs us more than ever!  We have to find her now!”

        Dash and Rarity looked at each other guiltily.  “Twilight’s right,” Dash said.  “You two didn’t see her back at her house before her surprise party... it wasn’t pretty.”

        The split up, each walking along the perimeter of the clearing, searching for the path their friend had taken.  After only a few moments, Rarity called out softly.  “Psst!  Here!”

        Dash and Twilight arrived next to her.  Before them began a fresh, hastily-beaten trail.  The sound of sobbing could be heard in the distance.  There was a silence as the three looked at each other with worry; Twilight bit her lip in distress.  She began down the path, her two friends at her rear.  As they walked, the sobbing grew louder.  They were almost within sight of the source, when it suddenly stopped.

        For a moment, the forest was quiet, save for a distant birdsong.

        “What are you all doing here?”  The bitter resentment in Pinkie’s voice cut through the brush of the forest like knives.  Instead of responding, Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash took the final few steps.  Suddenly she came into view.

        She was sitting with her back to them, her head hung low.  To their horror, her hair was indeed completely deflated, hanging over her like a shroud.

        “Let me guess,” she sniffled, her back still to them, her voice dripping with self-resentment, “you’re all here to yell at me for getting Applejack hurt, and to tell me that we’re not friends anymore after what I did.  Because it’s all my fault.  Because stupid dumb Pinkie Pie had to eat all the apple sandwiches, and so Applejack had to go get food, and then something terrible happened to her and it’s all my fault.  Go ahead and yell at me.  I deserve it.  Stupid Pinkie.  Stupid Pinkie had to—”  She was interrupted as Dash enveloped her in a hug.

        “Pinkie, if you’re being stupid, it’s only for thinking we don’t like you anymore.  Come on, snap out of it.  You know we’ll always be friends no matter what.”  Pinkie just sniffed, her head still hung low.  She didn’t return the hug.

        Rarity joined in, adding herself to the embrace.  “Darling, it’s not your fault.  It was all just an accident, whatever happened.  Nopony blames you.”

        Twilight’s turn.  With her, the embrace became a group hug; however, Pinkie, though squished by her three friends, showed no reaction.  “Pinkie,” Twilight said, “whatever happened to Applejack is over.  It wasn’t your fault.  And besides, she’s going to be fine.  Fluttershy says she only needs some rest, and—”  The three friends surrounding Pinkie were flung away as she leaped into the air.

        “Twilight,” she said, her hair beginning to return to its familiar disheveled state, “did you just say she’s going to be ok?  Is she really?”

        Twilight picked herself up off the ground and turned to her pink friend, smiling.  “That’s what Fluttershy said.  And if anypony knows, it’s Fluttershy.”

        Some of Pinkie’s joy seemed to drain away again as she looked down at her hooves.  “And... you guys really don’t hate me?”

        “Of course not, darling, you know we could never—”

        “Oh, are you kidding, Pinkie?  Rainbow Dash is loyal to the end!”

        “Pinkie, we’d never ever hate you; don’t ever think that.”

        This time it was Pinkie who grabbed her friends into a tight hug.  “Well... thanks, guys.”

        Dash grinned.  “That’s the Pinkie Pie I know and love.”

        “Wait,” Twilight said, “did any of you hear that?”

        “Hear what?”  Dash said.  “I didn’t hear—”

        “Shhh!” Rarity put her hoof to her mouth urgently.

        They sat frozen in their hug, listening.

        “Twilight,” Dash began, “I still don’t—”

        “Twiliiiiiight!  Rainbow Daaaaash!  Pinkie Pieeeee!  Rarityyyyyyy!”  The distant yell was coming from up the path.

        “Fluttershy?”  said Twilight.  “C’mon, girls, this must have to do with Applejack!”

        Without another word, the four friends set off back down the trail.

        ***

        “Twiliiiiight!  Rainbow Daaaaash!  Pinkie Pieeeee!  Rarit—”  Fluttershy broke off as the four ponies burst out of the woods and into the clearing.  “Oh thank goodness!  Applejack’s awake and she wants to talk to all of us!  Where were you?”

        Pinkie Pie turned away, embarassed.

        “Uh,” said Dash, “we were just going to pick Applejack some flowers.  We didn’t find any, though.  Now come on, let’s hear what she has to say!”

        Fluttershy, confused, guided her friends into the cave.

        Though Twilight’s eyes took a few minutes to adjust to the darkness, she found her way to Applejack with ease; the cavern’s layout had etched itself into her mind.

        She was sitting up against the cold stone wall, covered by one of Rarity’s blankets.  Her orange coat appeared to glow from the warm candlelight of the same color.  Remarkably, her scrapes and bruises were already fading; it appeared as though whatever struggle she had overcome happened weeks ago.  Twilight took a moment to reflect once more upon how lucky they were to have Fluttershy.

        The moment Applejack saw her purple unicorn friend, she sat up urgently.  “Twi!  Ah was there!  Ah saw her!  And him!”  She was nearly hysterical.  “The Rose took me there and it was hot and the ground was a-shakin’ and that red beam of light meant somethin’ bad happened Ah just know it but Twilight I saw her and she told—”

        “Applejack, slow down!  We’re here for you.  Just relax and tell us what happened.”

Pinkie, Dash, and Rarity finally made their way through the dark cave to where Applejack lay, with Fluttershy and Twilight at her side.  The five waited anxiously while she took deep breaths and collected herself.

        “Well,” she began, “yesterday mornin’ Ah woke up early to go get us some food.  Ah went down the path to the apple trees we saw.  Ah bucked some down and tried to make my way back to this cave.  But Ah got lost...”

        Her five friends stood around her, listening incredulously as she told her tale, beginning to end, never skipping a single detail.

***

        Thade shuffled nervously from hoof to hoof as he waited for somepony to open the door.  He had very little experience with this sort of thing... and something about her always made it difficult for him to think.  In a nice way.

        With a wooden creak, the door opened, and suddenly before Thade stood a red pegasus stallion.  He glared down at Thade through square spectacles.

        “Yes?  What is it?”  His voice was gruff and impatient, as if Thade was interrupting something very important.

        “Is... is Laska home, sir?”  It was just as awkward to make eye contact as it was to avoid it, so Thade compromised and met the stallion’s eyes only briefly and occasionally.

        Instead of responding, the pegasus let out a burly yell.  “LASKA.  SOMEPONY’S HERE.”  Then he shut the door.

        Thade stood alone on the porch, uncertain how to proceed.  The thud-thud-thud of the intimidating stallion’s hoofsteps died away behind the door.

        Well, I guess... I guess I could just come back again later... or talk to her tomorrow during school... he thought, but I’ve been planning this for days, and I haven’t had a real conversation with her since that day in the yard... I can’t put off saying thanks for that long.

        After another moment of thinking and waiting, he sighed resignedly, turning to leave, when once more the sound of hoofsteps floated towards him from behind the door.  This new pattern was delicate and soft, not the thud-thud-thud of the stallion, but a hmm-hmm-hmm, as if the floorboards were sighing contentedly.  The door opened.

        “Oh, hi, Thade!  Good to see you!  How’d you find out where I live?”

        Thade fought the urge to simply stare at her.  “It was in the student directory.  And... I was thinking... are you busy right now?”

        She crossed through the doorway, closing it behind her and joining Thade on the porch.  “Not at all.”

        “Well,” Thade said, smiling at her, “follow me.”

        She smiled back inquiringly, and followed as he led her down the road.  “So I see you met my Uncle Bale.  He’s very forward, but nice once you get to know him.”

        Thade laughed.  He found himself laughing a lot more frequently since meeting her a few days ago.  “Maybe I will get to know him.”

        “Maybe,” Laska smiled.  “So, you’re new in town?  Where’d you move from?”

        “Um,” Thade began nervously, “I moved here from a town called Martingale.”

        Laska waited for him to continue, but Thade remained silent.  “Well, why’d-ya move?”

        Thade turned to look at her.  This was it; this was a fresh town, a fresh start, and he was speaking with the most amazing pony he had ever met.  This was no time for lying or hiding his past.  “I had some trouble in Martingale... I’ve never been very good at making friends.  Other fillies and colts avoided me.  And then I got into a fight.  In the schoolyard.”

        “You got into a fight?”

        “Well... no.  I didn’t do any fighting.  There was just this bully and he...”

        “He beat you up?  And so your parents moved you here?”

        Thade looked up to the sky, as if the answer to her question was in the wispy cirrus clouds.  “Sort of... my parents... they don’t really care about me.  We moved because the school said I couldn’t go there anymore.  Because of the fight.  But my parents still have to send me to school, so... we moved here.”

        “Oh.”

        They walked on in silence for several moments.   The road became a path into woods of increasing thickness.  The cool, damp air was refreshing after traversing the town’s hot streets.

        “You really should learn to stick up for yourself,” Laska finally said.

        Thade turned to her.  “What do you mean?”

        “Well,” she said, “you have to learn to fight back.  When somepony comes at you, you go at them twice as hard.”  She swung her hooves at the air in front of her, as if sparring with an invisible foe.

        Thade watched in amazement.

        “Fight your battles, Thade.  I used to get picked on a lot because I don’t have my cutie mark and because my parents... aren’t around.  But the bullies don’t bother me anymore cause I learned to hit back.”

        Thade was saved the trouble of thinking up a response, for they had finally reached their destination.

        “We’re here,” he smiled.

        “This is what you wanted to show me?” Laska asked dubiously.

        Before them stood a half-collapsed wooden shed.  It stood just off the trail, almost invisible behind trees and bushes.  Laska wouldn’t have seen it if Thade hadn’t mentioned it.  It was about ten hooves tall, with enough room to hold perhaps two fully grown ponies.  Laska could tell even from the outside that the roof was in the process of caving in.

        Thade disappeared into the forest next to the hidden shack.  “C’mon!”

        Laska nervously struggled through a gap in the bush branches, making room with her wings.  Once through, she discovered that the shack was on the border of a tiny clearing.

        Thade was tugging with both hooves on the door handle.  Laska watched, amused, as he lifted his hind hooves off the ground and began pushing them against the shack for assistance.  An audible “creek” startled them both, but the door didn’t appear to move.

        Thade sighed.  A look of concentration swam across his face, and his horn began glowing with a red aura.  The same aura appeared around the door, which burst open with a thud.  “There,” he smiled.  “Go on in!  Don’t worry, it’s perfectly safe.  I promise.”

        She looked at him for a moment, unsure.  Then she smiled nervously, stepping through the doorway.  Thade went in after her, magically closing the door with “crack” that sent nearby animals scattering.

        Inside.  “Thade, I can’t see anything.”  A moment later, his horn glowed with a warm red light.

        “Better?” he asked.  Laska smiled and nodded.

        “You’re very good with magic,” she said, clearly impressed.

        Thade blushed, glad the red light would mask his heated face.  “I got started at a young age,” he smiled.

        “Why’d you take me here?  What is this place?”  She looked around the cramped space.  To her surprise, the dirt floor wasn’t uncomfortable, and the place had a familiar, cozy feeling.

        “This is just... a special place of mine.  I found it the day I moved in to town.  I like to come here to be alone and to practice magic.  It’s... quiet.”

        Laska nodded knowingly.  She had a special place of her own.

        “But this isn’t all I wanted to show you,” he said.

        She turned to him in surprise.  “What do you mean?”

        He was silent for a moment, gathering his words.  “Laska, we’ve only been friends for a short time, but you trust me, right?”

“Of course.”

Thade smiled.  “Put your wing around me.”  Laska stared at him for a moment in bewilderment, then wrapped a small wing gently across his back.

His horn began to glow.  His face contorted with absolute concentration.  To Laska’s astonishment, the shack around them began to fade to blackness, ever so slightly.  It returned, then began fading again, more so this time, until the world around them was a horrifying empty nothingness.  Then they were in the shack once more, and then suddenly, with a burst of stars and smokey red sparks, the shack was gone.

A field.  They were in a field... the most fantastic sight Laska had ever seen.

It was a field of roses.

They grew endlessly in every direction, upon rolling hill and sprawling flat plane.  Each slight breeze caused flowing waves of red and green in every direction; petals danced through the air like vibrant snow.  

The sound of the roses brushing against each other in the breeze was like the calm inhale and exhale of the ocean.

“Oh, Thade!”  It was all she could say.  He didn’t respond.  “Thade?  Thade!”  He was struggling to get off the ground to his hooves.  She grabbed him gently and helped him up.  “Are you ok?”

Thade groaned, finally standing on all fours.  “I’m fine,” he said, rubbing his horn.  “I’ve never teleported myself and another pony before.”  He looked around, smiling.  “What do you think?”

“It’s... incredible...”  They both marveled at the colorful sea.

“Sonselo,” Thade said.  “The Field of Roses.  I read of this place in a book.  I was just a tiny colt, but when I saw the picture... I knew I had to come here.  So I began practicing magic.  Teleportation.  I got better at it... room to room in my house, one side of town to the other... farther and farther... just like any good unicorn, really.  But to teleport somewhere, you must know where it is. The book couldn’t say.  So I read others.  I searched for this place in every library I could find.  I finally found its location in an old book of legends.”  He chuckled at the memory.  “Just above Spurdnok.  I come here sometimes.  When I feel like being alone.”

She embraced him, pulling him close under a wing.  “Thade... you’re amazing.”

This time, there was no light to cover his blush.

***

Hours passed.  Or minutes.  Laska wasn’t sure how long they had been laying there, talking, watching the red waves roll in, watching the green waves roll out.  Hearing the calm rustle of the roses.

Thade was saying something, but her mind had become occupied by a thought.  “Thade, you can get us back, right?”

“Of course,” he smiled.  “It’s not easy to teleport twice in such a short amount of time, but I’ve had lots of practice.”

She grinned, relieved, nuzzling closer to him.  Somehow, the sky was just as magnificent as the roses beneath it.  The red snow of petals never ceased.  The fragrance was that of the finest boutique.  “What were you saying?”  she asked.

Thade shifted nervously.  “Well... you haven’t yet told me about your parents.  About what happened to them.”

“Oh.”  Lying in this field, there was no secret she was willing to keep, nothing between them she would dare remain hidden.  “They passed away.  On a train.  In an accident.  I was at Uncle Bale’s.  I was very young.  I don’t remember it.”  She looked away so he wouldn’t see the pain on her face.

        “I’m so sorry to hear that.”  The sincerity in his voice brought tears to her eyes.  She wiped them away, smiling weakly at the sky.

        “Laska.”  

“Hmm?”  She rolled on her side to face where he lay next to her.

In his hooves he held a rose, picked from one of the billions in the field.  

        She stared at him, her mouth agape, and then slowly and delicately took it from his hooves.  She stared at it, transfixed by its perfection, its purity, its fragility.

        She embraced him for the second time.  No words passed as they lay together on the ocean floor, her hooves and wings around him, his hooves around her, the waves whispering indecipherable chants from every direction.  After a moment, Thade gasped.

        “Laska... look!”  She followed his eyes to her flank, which was no longer bare.  Where there was once only grey, there now was an image of a rose, as immaculate and beautiful as the one still held in her hoof.

        She turned to him in wonder... and then gasped herself.  Thade followed her eyes, and saw that his flank was also no longer bare.  An identical mark, the everlasting rose, had appeared on his as well.

        He pulled her close, squeezing her tightly; she returned the favor.  She pecked his cheek with a kiss, and they lay there, two foals in love, young love, the purest love of all, while the fabled roses of Sonselo washed around them, sighing contentedly.

***

        Rainbow Dash was the first to break the stunned silence. “You were actually there?  You were actually at the Spring of Magic?”

        Applejack nodded vigorously.  “Ah know it sounds crazy, but it’s true!  Ah saw Celestia... and Ah saw him... that twisted pony.”  She spit the last words out with fiery anger.

        Fluttershy spoke up softly but surely.  “Don’t worry, Applejack!  We believe you!”

        “Aw, thanks, Fluttershy.  And thanks for fixin’ me up so good.  Ah actually haven’t felt better in ages.”  She winked at the yellow pegasus.

        Twilight’s voice was sharp and serious.  “Applejack, you said something after you fell over.  Something about numbers.  ‘There once were six, but now there are four,’ if I remember correctly.  What did you mean?”

        Applejack rubbed her chin in thought.  “Well... Ah don’t recollect sayin’ that... ‘once were six...’ hmmmmm...”  She thought a moment longer, and then gasped with realization.  “The pillars!  That’s what Ah must have meant.  I didn’t get a very good look at ‘em, but Ah saw the cavern was lined with six pillars.  Except two of them were nothin’ more than piles of rubble.”

        “Pillars...” Twilight mused.  “I’m not really sure what—”

        “‘First the pillars must fall,’” Fluttershy mumbled.  Twilight turned to her.

        “What was that, Fluttershy?”

        “Oh, um, it’s... nothing.”  Everypony stared at her expectantly; she sighed and went on.  “It’s... my mother used to sing it when I was a small filly.  I think she heard it from my father.  That’s why she liked it so much.  I never did.  I always thought it was such a horribly sad song.  I think it went like this:”  She began singing, her voice sweet and angelic.  The melody was beautiful yet eerily haunting, like an old and worn music-box.

 “To the paramount Spring

         A relic you must bring

         Of one loved but now lost—

         Payer of ultimate cost.

         To break through the wall,

         First the Pillars must fall,

         Retying the tether

         That binds worlds together.

         To finish the deed,

         To reveal the portal,

         You will finally need

 Blood of an Immortal.”

        Rarity gasped.  “Don’t you see!  We already know that pony is trying to raise the dead.  This makes perfect sense.  These Pillars of ours... they must be what stand between him and his goal.  And he’s already destroyed two of them.  And he needs the Princess for...” She couldn’t finish the thought.  Pinkie Pie grabbed her in a comforting hug.

        “I don’t know how I didn’t see it before,” Fluttershy said.  “I guess it seems so obvious now... I never imagined the Spring in the song was actually the Spring.”

        Twilight began pacing around her friends.  “So... he’s trying to raise the dead.  He needs Celestia... that’s why he took her.  He probably already has the ‘relic’.  And the Pillars have already begun to fall.  And you, Applejack... you were there.”

        Applejack nodded glumly, shuddering at the memory.

        Twilight, asserting her role as leader, looked at each of her friends, one by one.  “We should look on the bright side—Applejack managed to find the Spring, so we can, too.  Also, it seems the Rose will help guide us.  We know that Celestia is ok, and that there are still four Pillars left.”  She smiled at the five friends before her.  Though the sun was setting, its low position in the sky lit the cave more brightly than at any other hour of the day.  “So what do you say?  Tomorrow we’ll head out again.  This time we’ll try a little harder to get lost.”

        They shared a laugh, and Twilight instantly felt better... though something about Applejack’s recount caused her a flicker of unease.  It was more than Celestia’s sorry state, more than the fall of the Pillars.  She pushed the matter to the back of her mind.  We’ll be able to do it.  I know it.

        Outside, the sky was painted a fantastic mixture of orange and red, and the forest became as silent as the twinkling stars that began appearing one by one.

***

        “We can come back sometime, can’t we?”  Laska was staring longingly about the endless field.

        Thade smiled reassuringly.  “Of course.  Here, put your wing around me.”

        She did so, brushing up closely against him.  “I didn’t know we needed to be touching for you to teleport me.”

        He grinned.  “We don’t.”

        She laughed.  I think I love him, she thought, repeating the words in her head over and over, reveling in them.  I really do; I love him.

        Thade’s face contorted with concentration; his horn glowed red once more, and the world began fading to dark nothingness.

        I love him.

        The field returned, and then dissolved once more, receding as the blackness took over.

        I love him.

        She turned to him, his features still absorbed in concentration.

She pecked his lips with a kiss.

        His eyes burst open in surprise, and he looked at her, wanting to stare into her eyes, to stare into those eyes so brave, so independent, so free, everything he wasn’t and everything he loved.  To show her he loved her too.

        And then everything began slipping.

        He fought to regain control of the spell; he’d only had a momentary lapse of concentration, but already he could feel himself losing his grip.  The black void lasted for eternity in every direction.  He struggled to pull them back to Sonselo, struggled to get their hooves on the ground.

        Laska glanced around nervously.  “Thade?”

        His horn wasn’t just glowing with magic, it was eveloped in it.  He grunted with effort, and the field began to return.

        Come on, come on, come on! Oh dear Celestia, help me through this!

        For a moment, the ground reappeared beneath his hooves, and the delicate scent of the roses surrounded them once more.  But the void was stronger, its vacuum of nothing grabbed at everything it could.  He felt Laska’s wing begin to slide off from around him.

        “THADE!” she screamed, though her voice was muffled, as if heard under water.

        He couldn’t waste energy returning her call.  He pulled harder than ever, pulled with his entire being, pulled until he felt like he was being torn in two, until he could feel blood trickling slowly down his nose.

        But she continued slipping.

        “THADE!”  Distant, getting farther.

        Her wing slipped completely from his back.

        His vision blurred, her yells fading, the ground grew eagerly to meet him.  And then he knew nothing.

        In the fabled field of Sonselo, the roses continued their ocean dance, the tide going in, the tide going out. Next Chapter: Part Six: Home Is Where Your Friends Are Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 35 Minutes