//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Coming Back // by bats //------------------------------// Twilight dragged herself onto tired hooves. She blinked her bleary eyes in the darkened tent while groaning miserably. Late nights with little sleep were no mystery to the frequently manic unicorn, but days of hiking and archeological exploration followed by a frenzied fight for her life had forced her to invent a new category of fatigue located somewhere between ‘bone tired,’ and ‘clinically deceased.’ Muscles she didn’t know she had complained in silent revolt and Twilight had written a dissertation on unicorn muscular anatomy. “Doesn’t help that it’s always dark in ancient, abandoned castles,” she grumbled petulantly at the morning, her sleeping bag whispering sweet nothings on the air. A tumbling crash from outside the tent added some nice punctuation to her blooming headache and she slowly plodded out. “Sorry!” Pinkie Pie chimed, standing on a single hindleg while balancing three mixing bowls in the crooks of her others. A heap of bake ware had been sent flying when the party pony nearly overbalanced, but she remained upright, dipping a wooden spoon gripped in her teeth in each bowl and vigorously beating them one by one. A fire was already going strongly in the makeshift pit, heating a large, black griddle. “Fluttershy is still so sad, so I thought I’d bake a cake, but then I remembered I don’t have an oven, so I’m making pancakes!” The mare deftly hopped on one leg closer to the griddle and poured out several perfectly round puddles of batter, the extra bowls balanced on the ends of a forehoof and hindhoof without spilling a drop. “That…sounds wonderful, Pinkie,” Twilight said, her stomach voicing its approval just as loudly. “I think everypony could use that this morning.” She glanced at the double-decker tent with a small smirk, muttering under her breath, “Even if it’s more of a celebratory thing for some.” “Ponies love to eat and I love to feed them.” Pinkie’s voice lowered in volume as she flipped the bubbling pancakes with a spatula, still balancing all three bowls. “Sometimes I think feeding ponies is better than throwing parties.” As the cakes finished, she loaded them up on the spatula and tossed them to the ground. “Wha—Pinkie, those looked perfect!” The earth pony giggled, pouring out another set of disks. “Silly filly! You always throw the first batch away!” Twilight sighed and shrugged hopelessly, her eyes drifting to the big-top cupcake. “I’m gonna go check on Fluttershy. I talked to Rainbow Dash last night and she had something she wanted me to relate.” “Okie dokie lokie! Pancakes’ll be ready in a few minutes!” The unicorn made her way inside the tent to the sound of Pinkie Pie’s contented humming. The interior was surprisingly utilitarian compared to the playful exterior, with two sleeping bags in the middle and two saddlebags close to the back. One of the sleeping bags was unzipped and empty, while the other contained the huddled mass of a quivering pegasus. Twilight approached the trembling mare slowly. “Fluttershy?” “Please leave me alone, Twilight.” The pegasus’ voice froze the purple mare in her tracks. It was small and quiet like it normally was, but there was so much hurt in its tone. Pain and resignation. Twilight suppressed a shudder; it was the look in Rainbow’s eyes before she died made vocal. “I will, but I have something I need to say, because I promised Rainbow Dash I’d say it.” The yellow mare straightened, sitting up in her bag and turning to face Twilight. Nearly all of her face was hidden by swooping pink mane save a single blood-shot teal eye. The unicorn closed the distance and sat next to her friend, sweeping her hooves around the mare’s neck. “Rainbow said ‘no matter what you’re going through, no matter how you feel, you can always count on us. Us four and Rainbow, too.’” She hugged Fluttershy tighter, sinking conviction into their departed friend’s words. “’Nopony has to go through something like this alone and we’re all here to help you carry the load. Even if one of us is not right there with you.’ Those were her exact words. Well, paraphrased so they made sense for me to say to you, anyway.” She sat back, brushing the large lock of pink mane from the mare’s face. “And she’s absolutely right. You can count on all of us to be there. What happened…” she bit her lip, looking into Fluttershy’s reddened eyes, “It must have been so terrible. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but don’t shut us out, please. Please.” She grasped two yellow shoulders with her hooves, brow furrowed and eyes pleading. “Don’t do what I did. Don’t shut yourself away from the ponies that love you.” Fresh tears sprung to Fluttershy’s eyes. She pulled the unicorn close and buried her face in purple chest. The sobbing hurt, but carried a strong catharsis. The haunting weight threatening to drag her to the bottom of the sea would not leave, but she was no longer drowning. “…That wolf, Twilight…” The soothing hoof on the back of her head began stroking gently. “He was just like the manticore…Just a poor, helpless animal. And I—And I—” her voice caught and she cringed, hugging the unicorn tighter. “I had to. I had to do it, or he would have killed us. It…It’s what Rainbow would have done.” Twilight nodded slowly, her eyes sliding closed. “She would have. And if she were here, she would have done anything she could to keep this from happening to you.” The mare’s shaking stilled. Her voice grew stronger, with a hard edge. “But she’s not. She’s not here. We don’t have our hero to protect us.” She sat up from the embrace, the hardness from her voice set in her eyes and mouth. “We have to protect us.” Twilight regarded her friend silently, a loss of words seizing her mind. Fluttershy wiped her cheeks with a hoof and sniffed to clear her snout. “…And that’s what I did. And as horrible as it was…I’ll do it again if I have to.” The pegasus stood and cantered to the tent’s flap. “Come on, Twilight. I smell pancakes.” The lavender unicorn numbly got to her hooves, following Fluttershy out of the tent. Five plates stacked high with flapjacks circled the dancing fire, Pinkie Pie sitting next to one and grinning proudly. Applejack and Rarity had taken their places next to each other in front of their own plates, two hooves casually entwined. The yellow mare took her own place while Twilight approached in a mental fog. She thought about Rainbow Dash and the transformation she had seen take root in the pegasus; the raw vulnerability, the fear, the new strength and center she had found. She thought about Fluttershy’s hard, determined gaze. ’This journey…’ she thought, taking her own seat. ’Is it going to do this to all of us?’ She glanced around at her friends. Pinkie’s toothy, carefree grin. Applejack’s confident, down-played smirk. Rarity’s playful, refined smile. Who was next? Who else would she have to watch change? “Well,” Twilight muttered, turning her attention to the stack of pancakes. The wheaty aroma forced a smile onto her face. “Let’s eat.” Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. The hoarseness was beginning to lessen and it was easier to talk again. “First off, I really am dead.” There was no response. Agmundr Vilmar was in a shaking heap against the wall opposite the mare’s cell. He had been gripped by a new mania that shuttered comprehension. “I have a heartbeat and stuff because I’m the bearer of the Element of Inaction.” She touched the leaf above her head and frowned. “…you can’t see it, I don’t think. Dunno if you’ve heard it called that either, but Sid said you knew about it, at least a little.” She huffed, her words falling on deaf ears. “C’mon, listen to me Aggie.” The stallion’s head swiveled to make eye-contact, his greyed eyes alert and bewildered. “A…Aggie?” Rainbow pinched the bridge of her muzzle with a hoof. “…I’m really bad with names, okay?” A heavy silence hung over the pair. Agmundr’s lips began quivering. A small smirk broke across his face, a youthful glow entering his gaze. “…Anyway, the Element of Inaction, it’s also called the Bodhi Leaf?” The pegasus sat up quickly, the smile leaving his lips. “Good, you know what I’m talkin’ about. That’s why I’ve got a heartbeat and whatever. It’s also how I did that thing with your pony guy over there. I’m its bearer.” Marred brow furrowed. “The last I crossed paths with the Leaf of the Bodhi tree was millennia ago. How did you come to receive it?” Lingering nervousness began to bleed away from Rainbow; Agmundr’s eyes were haunted and dull, but he seemed to be in control. “When I died, I was told there was a way for me to come back to life. The, uh, guy who told me said I needed to find the Elements of Strife and if I brought them together, I could return to my friends.” She paused, chewing her lip. “The first one I got to was the Leaf. I wasn’t expecting to be the bearer or anything, but that’s what I am I guess.” She frowned. “After that I came here to get the Element of War.” Her gaze lingered on the stone band around the stallion’s foreleg. His eyes drifted down and a flash of anger passed over his face. The mare stepped back, eyes wide, nearly tripping over both her words and hooves. “B-but I dunno that I need to take it from you! I just need it to get home! You’re already its bearer, you could just come with!” Agmundr shut his eyes tightly, teeth grit. He shook his head forcefully. After several moments he opened his eyes again, the anger having passed. “…Tyr’s Hoof has not been mine to command for a long time.” Rainbow’s eyes swam with confusion. “But you can do so much with it…” The pegasus sighed, the weight of the centuries sagging his muscled shoulders. “I have had a lot of practice forcing it to my will.” His eyes lingered on the floor. “But its true strength has been lost to me since before I died.” The sky blue mare re-approached the bars. “…Why are you telling me this?” Another sigh escaped his snout and he redirected his gaze to his captive. A clarity lit his eyes that had been absent. “A new bearer has been found. When I died, I set a trap that could only be broken by a pony worthy of the Hoof.” He stood on all fours, carefully approaching the mare. “A true wielder holds no love of conquest and understands the true pain that battle can bring. My guardian could only be defeated by a warrior that understood the act of violence they were committing.” Rainbow Dash sat heavily, the crushing weight of realization driving the strength from her legs. “F-Fluttershy…” His Majesty Agmundr Vilmar stepped back in surprise. “You know of what happened? You are a spy, you do have help!” His eyes widened, glittering rage entering the faded orbs. “N-no!” she croaked, “Listen! The Leaf lets me talk to one of my friends when she’s asleep and they’ve been looking for what’s left of the Elements of Strife in the living world. That’s why I know.” The stallion grimaced again, shaking his head. He huffed; the anger once more contained and he began pacing. “This Fluttershy then, she killed my guardian with the full knowledge of her actions. She has earned the might of Tyr.” Rainbow sat quietly, watching the stallion pace. “…You tell me that you wish to use its power to return to life?” The mare nodded, her thoughts still lingering over the yellow pegasus. “The Elements of Strife are all dead. If I get them together, I can do something that will bring them back to life and me at the same time.” The conqueror stopped his pacing. He approached the bars, a silent, reflective expression gripping his features. He sat on his haunches in front of the bars. “…Why are you seeking a second life?” Rainbow Dash met his gaze, determination shining through her scarred face. “Because my friends need my help. There’s a war coming.” His eyes did not waver. “…The Hoof will never work for you, Rainbow Dash. The love of battle bleeds into everything you do. Perhaps it is true that you were not a soldier in life, but you have inherited the spirit of the pegasi.” The mare stared blankly. “…Truly Equestria has changed much since my time. We pegasi have always been a race of warriors; true ponies of battle.” “Equestria’s been at peace for a thousand years.” After a moment the stallion nodded. “That answers much about you, Rainbow Dash.” He frowned in thought. “You have been a mystery that has plagued me and ignited my paranoia, but I believe I understand now. You are a warrior of exceptional skill, but a surprising absence of training. You performed a sonic rainboom and wielded it in the least effective manner.” Rainbow Dash’s wings sprung open in surprise, but she held her tongue. “In times of peace, the warriors become athletes. You are a mare of remarkable skill, enough to get by as a soldier without formal training. This…duality has brought out the worst in me, but I believe that has passed.” He stood again, the stone bars separating the winged ponies sliding into the smooth walls. “You have no reason to fear me.” Hesitantly, Rainbow exited her cell. Agmundr stood a full head taller than her, but she held his gaze. “…What’d you mean about the sonic rainboom?” He turned, slowly cantering towards the stairway. The mare followed behind as he spoke. “The sonic rainboom is the most powerful offensive maneuver a pegasus can perform without magical assistance. It is useful for defense, as you used it, but as an attack it can devastate.” “I know,” she said over the clacking echoes, following him down the spiraling stairs, “I blew up a barn with one once; ya gotta turn on a corner just right. Never done that in a fight; though it’d probably be somethin’ to try. What I meant was…how’d you know about it at all? It…it was a myth before I did it as a filly.” The glance he threw over his shoulder was shocking; a youthful and playful orb of striking blue rising to the surface for the briefest flash. “Myths have to come from somewhere, Rainbow Dash.” He led them out through a door into a throne room. The opulence was a jarring dissonance compared to the rest of the castle. The smooth stone throne on a raised platform, round table, walls, and floors were draped with rich tapestries, cushions, and carpets of vibrant silk. A warm energy hung in the air. “We may be the only two pegasi to ever live that have performed it.” He cantered to the far side of round table and took a seat on a floor cushion, a sweeping hoof beckoning the pegasus mare to join him. Rainbow sat, a contemplative frown on her face. “So, uhh…I get it that the Hoof won’t work for me. I don’t really like fighting, not like flying, but…it’s exciting. It’s a rush, and I kinda kept getting lost in it.” Her frown deepened. “But I wasn’t really here for it, anyway. I just need it to get home. Would you come with me?” She watched his face. The lines of centuries deepened with heavy shadows as he leaned forward, shoulders sagging wearily. “…No.” He sighed, brushing a lock of grizzled mane from his face. The spare magical light in the room cast his expression in shadow. “…My time with the Hoof has come to an end.” He raised his head to meet the mare’s gaze. Rainbow nearly jumped. The haunted pain was alive with a freshness she hadn’t seen in him; a shuttered piece of his being laid bare, for the first time in centuries by her guess. She shook her head slowly. “I don’t get you. I spend weeks fighting for my life because you think I’m gonna take that thing from you and now you’re, what, giving it to me?” She tried to keep the frustration from her voice. The large stallion sighed. “It was your mention of the Leaf and my memories of the old guru who wielded it.” He paused, his gaze vague and frowning in thought. “Let me tell you a story, Rainbow Dash. My story.” He stood, stepping carefully to the side of his throne. The stone wall slid silently apart at his approach, revealing an inset shelf of dusty bottles and glasses. He lifted a tray onto his back and brought it back to the table, pouring two short glasses of golden liquid and sliding one over to Rainbow. After a brief moment of wrestling with her scarred eye, she raised a skeptical left eyebrow. “Don’t tell me booze went out of style the way war did.” “No, I just haven’t been able to drink anything since I died, and…” She glanced at the bottle. “Where’d you even get alcohol here anyway?” He chuckled, tipping the glass back and refilling with mechanical precision. “I was buried with many goods that followed me into this world.” He drained his second shot and sucked in sharply, slamming the glass back down. “And drinking alcohol is not the same as water; give it a try.” With some reluctance, Rainbow Dash brought the glass to her muzzle. The powerful smell made her eyes water. She held her breath and slammed the liquor down. It felt like the bull’s liquid fire flesh was running down her insides again. She gagged and started coughing. “Augh.” “Good, right?” The grin bunching his scars didn’t reach his eyes, still bright and pained. A painful, wet, burning belch fought its way up the mare’s throat. She wiped her eyes, the last traces of scab coming away from her healed scar. “It’s not cider.” She pushed the glass away and shook her warm, fuzzy head. His smile faded as he sat back. “I am not sure how much you know of my history. Can I assume a general outline of my empire and death?” Rainbow Dash nodded in confirmation. “My empire brought me nothing but pain. I took control as little more than a colt from my father.” “Your father?” Agmundr nodded gravely. “A cruel man who came to control Tyr’s Hoof before me. Perhaps in his youth he approached its power with the proper level of fear and understanding, I don’t know. When I was old enough to pay attention, he was a tyrant. When I led the resistance movement to victory, I swore that I’d never turn into him.” He drank his third glass, running a hoof over his face. His clear, hurt eyes stared into the empty drink ware. “I failed.” Rainbow Dash’s brow knit in sympathy. “What happened?” Surprised from his reverie, he glanced up. “I lost myself. I took control with the best of intentions and led my soul to corruption.” He looked at the Element of War, a distasteful glare on his face. “This wretched thing will not accept an unworthy pony, but it will destroy its wielder. I fear I was more cruel than my old man ever was and in my paranoia I did worse by my own boy than my father did by me.” “I heard it was your son who poisoned you.” “Yes. A cowardly action by a colt I cloistered for fear of the past repeating itself.” He shook his head slowly. “My coup was borne out of compassion for my subjects, his was out of greed. He was one of many failures in my life.” He took another drink, a dusky redness settling over his eyes and muzzle. “But he is not my most profound failure. That honor belongs to Annaliese and that old stallion guru.” Agmundr’s eyes trailed over the empty glass and bottle. He hefted the bottle and took a long swig, exhaling forcefully and smacking his lips. “That guru knew I was falling…he was one of my only friends, and I shunned him. And Anna…” Rainbow Dash smiled sadly, watching the directionless hurt sharpen with focus in the stallion’s recollection. “I’ve seen that look. She must have been important to you.” He nodded gently, his eyes trained on the rapidly-emptying bottle. “My wife. When the Hoof started to grip me…they both saw it happening. They both tried to stop me…I…” The otherworldly bewitchment of dull pain settled over his features, dimming his countenance. He took another long draught. “I was too far gone. I lost them both. I had…forgotten about them.” His gaze settled on the sky blue mare, a rueful smirk on his lips that only made him look more wretched. “It’s hard to believe I had forgotten. But, perhaps it makes sense…” He lifted his right foreleg, examining the simple stone band with red-rimmed eyes. “As soon as my guardian died, I felt it pull away from me. It’s been in my mind, clouding my thoughts since I first took it up those centuries ago. It never left even after I lost its graces the day I killed my dear Annaliese.” Rainbow Dash’s wings opened in surprise. “You…you killed her?” He continued to stare at the Element of War. A heavy silence gripped the throne room as he slowly rotated his foreleg. He slowly set his hoof down on the stone table. “My time under its power is over. Perhaps your friend will not succumb as I did. You say you come from a world of peace, Rainbow Dash. Perhaps that will be enough.” With grim resolution set into the large pegasus’ features, he placed his left foreleg at the top of the Element and slid the stone band down his hoof. As the band hit the surface, a resonant crash shook the table. The mare jumped back in shock, catching herself in a low hover. Agmundr staggered back from the table, smacking the wall and leaning heavily against its smooth surface. The celeste pegasus shot over to him, pressing her side against his for support. He sat on his haunches, gently pushing her away. “T-take it.” His whole body was shaking. Rainbow’s attention turned to the table. With heavy reluctance, she approached Tyr’s Hoof. Rose eyes regarded its contours with unease and revulsion. She took a deep breath and set her right foreleg into the ringlet. The hoofband shrunk to fit the mare’s slim limb and slid up to her fetlock. A dim vibration filled her hoof as she watched scraps of stone gouge themselves out of the table’s surface, skittering their way to her blue coat. She lifted her leg from the table, the small pieces of rock following the motion and slowly coating her entire hoof. The tiny pebbles felt like a swarm of ants as they moved into place. The gravel spread and became smooth, encasing the entire hoof in stone. From its surface, granite spikes elongated from five points along the front and side of her hoof, growing long and sharp in front of her face into a bladed claw. The new digits waggled through the air of their own accord. It reminded Rainbow of some form of blind rodent sniffing the air. The mare was struck by a sense of vertigo. She felt a foreign presence on her mind, a hungry force tasting her thoughts. As fast as the presence had come it withdrew, a lingering sense of something she thought felt like disgust coloring its wake. The claws folded up to nubs along the sides of her new gauntlet. The gauntlet settled into a strange combination of a bear paw and an elephant foot in appearance. She gingerly stepped on her right foreleg and took some practice steps. The stone was imperceptibly thin at the base; each step felt completely natural. “It, uh, doesn’t seem to like me very much,” she murmured, still feeling the distaste the Element of War left in her head. She turned her attention back to Agmundr. He was sitting placidly, bathed in golden mist. She cantered closer. “It probably won’t ever like you.” The rough, sharp timbre had left his voice. A playful mirth of youth touched his words. He sounded cocky and carefree, a vibrant voice that could have belonged to any number of colts Rainbow knew in Flight School. She watched the haze of energy. The stallion’s coat was leaking motes from its surface to dissolve in the air around his body. The glow left him too bright to behold with any clarity. “What’s happening to you, Vilmar?” She raised a hoof but couldn’t bring herself to penetrate the cloud. “I don’t know, but it feels…good. Peaceful.” The mist grew in brightness to a blinding peak and in a flash it was gone. The young colt Rainbow Dash had seen in glimpses stood before her. His coat a rich chestnut brown, his mane a sandy blonde of devil-may-care fly-away locks. His bright, cobalt eyes vibrating with energy and intensity over a smug but kind grin. Free of scars, pain, and granite, his delicate features exuded strength and confidence is gentle abundance. If Rainbow Dash had an older brother, this colt might very well be him. “You’re…you’re young again.” Agmundr inspected himself idly. “This…is who I was before the nightmare started.” He flared his immaculate wings and ran a hoof along the primaries. “No, this is who I really am.” He glanced at the mare. “I can see the leaf now…” his gaze was above her head, his mouth open in awe. He smiled at the smaller pegasus, no cockiness just pure contentment. “It’s beautiful. Thank you, Rainbow Dash.” “For what?” He chuckled at her bewildered face. “For giving me back myself. It’s been too long since I’ve felt like this and it would never have happened without you. Thank you.” The colt swept Rainbow Dash into an embrace. As she patted his back awkwardly, she thought, ’Maybe hugs with Twilight are cool.’ “Don’t, uh, don’t mention it.” After several uncomfortable minutes, the former conqueror released her. She took a step back and rubbed her neck with a hoof. “So, before I go…I don’t suppose you know anything about the other Elements of Strife?” His brow furrowed. “Not by that name, no…but the Leaf of the Bodhi was not the only magic I crossed paths with.” He stood and trotted to the table with a bounce in his step that had been missing. He eyed the empty glasses and bottle before placing them back on the tray and taking them over to the liquor cabinet. “My father was in a stalemate for most of my foalhood with a kingdom far to the south. The city-state of Bridleon was a lush and prosperous place that could not be attacked directly. All attempts to lay siege were fruitless; they seemed to have no need for outside trade to survive. There was much talk of bewitchment.” He moved about the room, straightening and fluffing pillows, re-centering carpets, and knocking the dust from tapestries. “Shortly before I seized control all contact was lost with the military forces surrounding Bridleon. At the start of my rule I sought peace with the neighbors my father wished to conquer, so after the dust settled I sent emissaries to parlay an accord with them.” He paused in his work to address Rainbow Dash directly. The vibrancy had not left, but seriousness gripped his features. “The city was gone. In its place was a vast desert. My emissaries found one survivor; an old crone who would not speak of what happened. She only repeated a single phrase.” He re-approached, sitting on his haunches in front of the tiffany blue mare. “’The Breath of Fames.’” Rainbow Dash screwed her eyes up. “Bridle-bon. Breath of Famish.” “Wow, you are bad at names,” Agmundr Vilmar said with a chuckle. “Bridleon. Fames.” She repeated a few times until the words were firmly in her head. Glaring at his amused chortles, Rainbow changed the subject. “Do you know where I can find the Breath of Fames?” The colt shook his head. “I don’t even know if it’s a real thing, or just the ravings of an old mare. But whatever transformed that garden into a dune is a force to be reckoned with.” The mare chewed her lip, slowly nodding. “Well…The Leaf led me here, so it should lead me on to the next place…Thank you, Agmundr,” the colt smiled fondly, “For listening to me.” She turned to leave, eyes sliding shut and mind opening, when a hoof caught her shoulder. “Wait.” She turned back, the fresh face of the colt serious and pleading. “Before you go, I need to ask you to do something.” He drew in on himself, the true youth he now inhabited underlined by his timidity. Rainbow Dash thought he might have actually been younger than her. His wings and ears drooped. “…I’m still tethered to this castle. Until that’s broken, I cannot be free. It’s time for me to move on.” He made eye contact, his cobalt eyes bright. “Please, Rainbow Dash. Free me.” She regarded the young colt quietly. “…Do you know what’s gonna happen if I do that? Your spirit might die. That’s what happened to Sid…he just became one with the Bodhi Tree. You might lose everything about yourself. Is that what you want?” “…I don’t know. Maybe that will happen, maybe it won’t. The guru—Sid was it? I’d forgotten his name—was a Bodhist. I followed the warrior gods…” He grew distant and reflective. “When I first died, I shunned my warrior’s reward. I had the Hoof, even after death, and it drew me to recreate my empire here and populate it with my fallen enemies and greatest generals. Perhaps now I can find peace again. It has been so long since I flew through the skies.” His wings twitched with excitement, a smile on his lips as lost in reminiscence as his eyes. “To feel the wind in my mane and feathers again…and perhaps…” his vision re-sharpened, a contagious grin of warmth and joy spreading across his face, “Perhaps Anna is waiting for me.” The two pegasi shared a smile for several moments, the throne room never feeling more welcoming. Agmundr’s eyes darted away, a shyness overtaking him. “Do you have a special somepony waiting for you, Rainbow Dash?” The mare blinked. “No, I don’t.” For some reason it felt like she was lying. “Well,” he said, a bit of age re-entering his face making him look more like an older brother once again, “As one warrior pegasus to another, don’t let that pass you by. When you find somepony for you, grab ahold of them and never let go. I lived a long life full of a great many mistakes, Rainbow Dash…” his gaze sharpened, “Annaliese was not one of them.” Rainbow Dash smiled and nodded. “I’ll remember that, Agmundr. So…are you ready?” He nodded slowly, a contented smile playing on his lips. She closed her eyes and opened her mind. The torrential force of his power had not dimmed and she was forced to look away. The corrupting red no longer snaked through his tremendous aura, but its obliterating white presence staggered her. Attempting to focus on something else, she caught sight of the Element of War on her hoof. The red tendrils danced away from her own energy. They would touch the outlying force of her hooves and jump back as if stung. She smiled grimly. It definitely didn’t like her. Good thing she didn’t like it. She circumnavigated the undulating white, spotting thousands of strands flowing off into the surrounding castle. “There are a lot of connections here…” Agmundr nodded and closed his eyes. She watched as the wavering bands coalesced, growing thicker into a large cable of swirling magic. Rainbow gripped the thick band in her hooves. The sharp claws of the Element of War extended at her motion, perilously twitching over the woven connections. She pulled back her magical sight to see the stallion’s face. “I’m ready. Thanks again, Agmundr.” “Thank you, Rainbow Dash. May the gods bless your journey.” He nodded gravely. Rainbow Dash turned her attention to the magic, extending her senses up and out, and swept Tyr’s hoof through the air. The glittering bands of white sundered in its wake. Thousands of skeletons all over the mountain paused in their vigilant watch. Keening shrieks echoed across the peak from stone rings and magic dampeners as they exploded, a low hum reverberating into the throne room. The dead army toppled, red smoke spraying from sockets, moving no more. Stillness gripped the mountaintop. As she dropped her enhanced sight, a low rumble overtook the throne room. She turned to Agmundr. Golden motes of light began to bleed from his being, his wings and limbs growing transparent and fading away entirely. The last thing to vanish in the swirling yellow mist were his blue eyes and smiling mouth. A flash of recognition passed through the cobalt orbs, focused on something the mare could not see. A faded gasp escaped his dissolving lips. The spiraling lights floated up and out of the vibrating walls, a spinning dance away from the cold mountain. A distant echo of an unanswered question followed in their wake, the reedy voice on the wind barely touching Rainbow’s ears. “…Anna?” The rumbling grew in intensity. The walls surrounding the mare began to fade, growing translucent and effervescent. Rainbow opened her mind. The specks of white making up the surface were coming unstuck from the stone, floating free and aimless through the air. The violet strand of her connection to Twilight stood stark in space, stretching away from the floating Leaf. For a moment, she was torn. Now was not the time to talk to the unicorn, but she had important information to convey. Making a quick decision, Rainbow concentrated and sent a psychic message down the strand. ’I’ll see if that worked later.’ Refocusing, she lowered down and braced herself. The tremors reached a fevered pitch, nearly tossing the mare from her hooves. The walls, cloths, and ceiling grew hazy and smoky, the floor under her became soupy and soft. She leapt into the air on her wings, spinning in place, taking in as much of the sights around her as she could. As the rumbling subsided, the running stone completely vaporized. The heavy black smoke caught a current in the rumbling storm and was whisked away from around Rainbow Dash. She followed its path turning around to regard the state of the peak. The mountain was irrevocably scarred. An enormous chunk had been uprooted from its face, a slim, narrow outcropping of granite supporting the peak. The overhang was precariously large, the whole top of the mountain threatening to tumble. The black smoke of the dissolved keep dissipated into the storm, a haze of red tinting the lightning storm a threatening orange. She let out a shaky laugh. Weeks of stress melted from her mind, the chuckles growing in volume. All at once it became hysterical, tears streaming down her cheeks. The mania left her slowly, her body quaking as she flew in lopsided circles. “It’s over,” she whispered. “Oh thank Celestia, it’s over.” She took in a shuddering gasp, finding calm in the endless turmoil of her mind with ease. “Okay…Time to find the Breath of Fames. Whatever that is.” Hovering in mid-air, Rainbow Dash opened her senses. A pull on her mind drew her attention, much like the Element of War did from the Bodhi Tree. A tunnel at the base of the former keep, burrowing deep into the mountain stood in sharp relief to the lazy motes of magic making up the rest of the landscape. She groaned. “Underground? Figures.” A slow, grinding rumble filled the air. The peak was collapsing, threatening to bury her path under countless tons of rock. She groaned again. Rainbow Dash inhaled sharply and beat her powerful wings. Five beats she was faster than the speed of sound. Ten beats and the cone of air and magic pressure surrounding her began to narrow. Twenty more and she hit mach five, her flight path angled up at the scoured roof of the crevice that housed Agmundr Vilmar’s second kingdom. Her sonic rainboom shook the sparse granite holding the peak in place. In the multicolored shockwave the mountain gave way, a slow fall to fill in the excised castle. Rainbow reached the roof directly in the center and turned on a point, her hooves clacking against its surface angled up and away from the cave entrance. A concussive blast ruptured the air as the gathered force of her rainboom collected at the single point and exploded up and back. The magic barreled through the rock, the terrible vibrations shaking the mountaintop apart in an eruption of boulders. From the dust-spraying fissures, a rainbow of smoke churned from the ruined peak. The shattered hunks fled from the blast, showering down the back of the mountain in a tumbling avalanche, disappearing in the orange storm. A mushroom cloud of colors hung over the new, shorter summit. The sky blue pegasus alighted gently next to the mouth of the tunnel. Her extrasensory vision followed the narrow passageway far into the heart of the mountain. A set of gentle switchbacks raced down the rocky interior, growing steadily longer and wider as the bore of the peak expanded. At the point where her ability to see distinctly gave way to uncertainty, the paths forked and wandered. She gently traced a hoof over the smooth, pink skin above and below her eye. “Not gonna happen this time.” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and galloped into the darkness. “So what’s the plan, Twilight?” Pinkie Pie had finished a stack of flapjacks and was pouring out another batch of batter on the griddle. The mares had eaten in silence for a while, the food dispelling a lingering unease from the atmosphere. “Well…we don’t know what the next Element of Strife is yet. Rainbow hasn’t found out, so we’re at loose ends until she does. I think we should head to the Crystal Empire. Shining and Cadance should be there, and we can relax until Rainbow gets back to us.” “That sounds mighty fine, Sugarcube…How is RD doing, by the by?” The orange mare scraped her plate clean, a piercing eye leveled at the lavender mare. “Well…she’s fine.” The unicorn’s eyes darted around the room. “Twilight.” She shrunk from Applejack’s gaze, feeling like a caught animal. “You’ve been keepin’ us in the dark on what Dash’s been up to for a while now, don’t think I haven’t noticed.” She sighed heavily, looking down. “I’m sorry, girls. I didn’t want you to worry. Rainbow Dash has been…” She set her plate down and caught each of her friend’s eyes in turn, her expression set and serious. “She’s being held prisoner by Agmundr Vilmar.” The four gasped in unison. “She’s been forced to fight in gladiatorial matches. So far she’s made it through, a little worse for wear…” she shuddered involuntarily, the image of a darkened, empty rose-colored eye passing through her mind, “…but she’s okay. We talked last night and she has a plan. We’ll hopefully hear from her soon.” The circle nodded solemnly, any lingering morsels forgotten, the new batch abandoned to darken past edibility. They slowly dragged themselves to their hooves and cleaned up the remnants of their breakfast. Twilight snuffed the fire in a purple flash of magic and the others began to pack up the rest of their belongings. The grim determination that had stolen over Fluttershy did not leave; her usual silence taking on a new meaning and casting a pall over the party. Once everything was packed, they gave one last look around the darkened hall and headed out of the castle. Halfway down the switchbacks, Rainbow Dash’s voice invaded Twilight’s mind. Her tones echoed hollowly, as if shouted a great distance down a narrow pipe. “Breath of Fames. Bridleon. Take a break in the Crystal Empire. It’s over, I’m okay. Busy now, talk soon. Letters tonight. Miss you.” The unicorn felt dizzy and shook her head. “You alright, Twi’?” She turned and smiled at Applejack. “Yeah, Rainbow Dash just learned a new trick, I guess.” She shook her head again. “She said she’s okay.” “Splendid news!” Rarity gripped the orange mare’s shoulders, a wide grin on her face. A genuine smile broke out on Fluttershy’s face and she hugged Pinkie Pie, despite the party pony’s frantic leaps threatening to send them both plummeting down the side of the cliff. A sense of weightlessness entered their steps as they continued down the mountainside. “Did she say where we’re off to next?” “Yes,” Twilight beamed, “To the Crystal Empire to take a break.” A rush of gratitude propelled them down the path and back towards Mount Everestria. An idle chatter gripped the group, all five mares prepared for the mental reprieve of some relaxation. The largest transformation was in the yellow pegasus. She melted back into an idle contentment seamlessly. Twilight kept her worries to herself; she reasoned the mare was probably still troubled over what happened but was striving to move past it. The excited buzzing surrounding her and the internalized quiet worry kept the librarian distracted on the surface, her subconscious left to puzzle over why Rainbow Dash bothered to say she missed her if she was in such a hurry. Celestia’s sun moved inexorably across the sky. Clear weather, high spirits, and a few short range group teleports brought the mares to the outskirts of the Crystal Empire by nightfall. A large wooden sign had been hastily erected along the path between the train station and the glittering city, just as snow broke way for perpetual spring. Twilight trotted ahead and read the sloppy letters aloud by the glow of her horn. “’Equestria’s Army wants you to join the military,’” she recited, the large block print taking up most of the post. She frowned in thought and nodded. Rumors of a push for recruitment had been drifting through Ponyville before they had set out the previous week. She scanned lower on the sign. Newer, smaller letters were squeezed in below the main text. Twilight squinted and her voice grew quiet as she read on, “’Mandatory draft now in place...Compliance is required…under penalty of…Prison?!’”