Lost Souls
I wonder if she’ll bring gifts from Canterlot?
Lyra Heartstrings played around with the thought of delicious chocolate as she trotted down the dark main street of Ponyville, happily chewing a sunflower seed sandwich she held with her magic. A sudden gust of cool wind made her shiver for a second, interrupting her train of thought. She really shouldn’t have stayed that long at Pokey’s, now the only light was that which emanated from the windows lining the street. Why was it so cold now, anyway? It was May, for Celestia’s sake! Must be the anticipated May storm brewing in the east. Maybe she should have a talk with Rainbow Dash the next time sh-
What was that?
She could have sworn… Ah, probably just the wind wailing in between the Everfree trees. She was just about to bite into the sandwich again when she once more heard the sound. This time it was no doubt it was made by a living creature.
A cry? A scream?
She looked around and tried to determine which building it was coming from. Her eyes fell on a familiar one. She slowly approached the building. She tried the door. Locked.
She made her way around to the back. Suddenly she became aware of some light coming out through a small cellar window close to the ground. The cries, for now she was certain that was what she was hearing, appeared to be stronger here near the window. She kneeled down to take a peek inside. A small black curtain obscured most of the view of the cellar, but if she tilted her head and craned her neck perhaps she could… She caught a glimpse of the scene on the other side.
DEAR SWEET CELESTIA!
She withdrew from the window, losing her sandwich in her panic, not sure whether to faint or roll into a ball, sobbing. She decided to scream.
“AA-*urk*”
Her scream was cut short before it had a chance to begin properly. After a confused couple of seconds filled with coughing and spattering she realized the tightness she felt in her throat was actually due to a piece of rope tightening around her neck.
“Eugh! *Cough* Heeel- *spatter*”
Her wheezing and waving of hooves appeared fruitless, so she instead tried to use her magic to free herself. To her horror she realized somepony was keeping it too tight around her neck. As her hooves scratched ineffectually against the fibers of the rope she desperately wished her magic had been stronger. As the world turned blurry and started to fade she could have sworn she heard a familiar voice next to her ear, whispering in an almost loving tone.
“How fun, another playmate”
Chapter 1: Calm
Second lieutenant Dusk Quartz gasped and panted heavily while attempting to orientate himself. Upon spotting the sweaty covers piled around his lower body, he realized he was in his sunrise-lighted bedroom, sitting upright in his bed.
“Gah! Another nightmare? Seriously, I’ve got to pull together…”
He dragged himself out of bed and went over to the bath. Splashing some water in his face felt good. He looked in the mirror above the sink, noting that his dark brown mane was now almost one and a half hoofwidths long, judging by the forelock dangling down next to his horn.
I really need to get it cut before it exceeds regulation…
As soon as he had freshened up he went over to his kitchen corner. He couldn’t help but feel thankful for the regulation that stipulated that commissioned officers had the right to rent their own apartments. It might be a tiny little ground-floor one-roomer, but it sure as hay beat the barracks.
He was just about to pour himself a glass of orange juice when he noticed the wall clock.
Oh, shoot. Looks like somepony has to skip breakfast today…
Minutes later he was fully uniformed, looking over the details of his armor in a large mirror he had hanging close by his door for exactly this reason. The shining gold finish of the armor of the Equestrian Royal Guard seemed to blend with, rather than contrast, his almond-brown coat. Making sure his entire mane was covered by his helmet, he took one step back to take a look at himself. The brown unicorn stallion looked several hoofwidths taller as he stood tall, chest puffed out. From the light blue eyes to the gold-colored shoes, he couldn’t help but think that he looked more like some poster colt than his usual self. If only his parents could… No, no time for that. He picked up the ceremonial spear he had parked next to his front door the evening before and went out onto the bustling Canterlot street.
As he crossed the main entrance hall of Canterlot Castle he spotted a wiry beige pegasus with a black mane hurrying towards him across the hall.
“Mornin’, Storm! Why in such a hurry?”
“G’ mornin’, Dusk. I’m lookin’ for ya, in fact. Got worr’d when y’ were late for th’ Sat’rday mornin’ briefin’, y’ kno’?”
Quartz smiled at the familiar sing-songy eastern accent. “Well, I’m here now, so let’s walk there together, eh?”
While they walked across one the many open balcony/walkway combinations near the top of the wall of the main building, Storm suddenly exclaimed “’ey, watch out, Dusk!”
Quartz stopped right in front of a menacing-looking crack in the floor extending from a missing piece of balustrade.
“Whoa! Thanks, Storm. They really should fix that before somepony falls to his death here…”
He sent an irked look in the direction of the large crack he had nearly gotten his hoof caught in. “And look at that! A large piece of the balustrade has fallen out, too! I tell you, Storm, if that isn’t fixed by Wednesday I swear to Celestia I’ll feed the pony responsible for masonry maintenance to the first manticore I can find.”
Storm chuckled. “Oh, th’t reminds me, Dusk. Me ‘nd Wooden ‘and som’ guys from Sec’nd Nite ar’ h’ded down t’ th’ movies ‘is evenin’, t’ see th’ new Rainbow Factory. Y’ wanna come?”
“From the Second Night Company? Who’ll be there?”
“Don’t kno’ for sure yet, but ‘t least Sunshine Smiles , th’t’s for sure. Possibl’ also Ruby.”
“Corporal Star? You know she always bugs me, Storm! Why’d you invite her in the first place?”
“Y’ kno’ she has a good eye for ya, Dusk. Why ev’n stay ‘n the Guard if not bec’se mares love stalli’ns in uniform?”
“This is different, and you know that! Mares are one thing, but a mare that is in uniform as well, of the same height and strength as you, who displays an unhealthy obsession with you and who also knows at least one martial art… Hay, several martial arts for all I know, is a mare I’d prefer to ignore, okay? Anyway, I- oh, here we are!”
The two guards stopped outside an unremarkable door, its purpose only revealed by a small bronze plaque encased in the white marble wall, reading “Briefing room 12: Royal Guard 1st Comp. (Day)”
As Quartz opened the door a steel grey earth pony guard standing just inside gave them an indifferent look. “State your rank, name and platoon, please.”
“Second lieutenant Dusk Quartz, Third Platoon.”
“Serg’nt Storm Cirrus, Th’rd Pl’toon.”
The guard nodded, located the right list and checked them off.
Quartz sighed. “Seriously, sergeant Wool, is that really necessary? We pass through here every Saturday and have done that for three years now…”
“Sorry, sir, but regulation is regulation, ya’know?”
“*Sigh* Yeah, I guess we do.”
Quartz and Storm left their spears in a rack and turned to the crowd in the room. It appeared all 170 members of the First Company (Day) had turned up and were now chatting quietly in the large briefing room.
“I’ll think about RF, okay, Storm?” Quartz said in a low voice as they split up to find their respective places in the audience.
Mere minutes after Quartz found his position with the two other second lieutenants on the front row the buzz of voices fell silent as the ponies in audience directed their attention towards the yellow earth pony checking in with sergeant Wool at the door.
“Room, ten-HUT! Lieutenant Grove!”
All the ponies in the room snapped to attention at Wool’s call, adopting the usual stone-faced expression of the Royal Guard.
Lieutenant Grove walked over to the rostrum, twitched his greying mustache a little and spoke up.
“’Morning, gentlecolts,” he stopped to smile at the hawking sound from one of the back rows, “…and -mares, naturally. We won’t have any terribly exciting things to go through today, and I suppose we should be thankful for that. The main point of discussion for today’s briefing will be the temporary rerouting of the patrol schedule to cover for the missing pegasi from the day after tomorrow through Thursday.” He stepped up to a map of Equestria hanging from a wall. “As your platoon leaders have informed you, all able-bodied pegasi are to report to the Weather Control Center in Los Pegasus,” He placed his hoof on the city on the map. “for support during the moving of the much-anticipated storm front from the West Coast to the East, providing rain for Equestria’s farms and forests along the way.” He moved his hoof in a sweeping movement from Los Pegasus to Manehattan. “The interested among you may have learned that this is their largest front in over ten years, requiring all helping hooves they can muster to move it. Now, any suggestions for the Palace Gardens routes?”
Fifteen minutes of monologue only occasionally interrupted by questions and suggestions later the meeting was drawing to a close. Quartz tightened his jaw muscle while slightly opening his mouth, a nearly invisible yawning technique new recruits quickly learned in order to be conditioned for maintaining the same facial expression in the four hours between guard changes. Even now as a commissioned officer Quartz winced at the thought of his old drill sergeant. He stood in line when somepony barking his own name caught his attention. It was Grove.
“Hmmm?”
“Second lieutenant Quartz, I asked for you to stay behind!”
“Why yes of course sir, pardon me, sir!”
Quartz turned to the crowd exiting through the door. He caught the eye of Storm Cirrus and mouthed “No can do” while shaking his head slightly. The nod he received in response was enough to tell him that Storm understood he would not see him tonight.
As the last dark brown Pegasus closed the door behind him, the only ponies left in the room were Quartz, with his helmet placed on a small table by the door, and a fully armored first lieutenant Grove restlessly pacing in front of him. The plume on the top made him seem far taller and more imposing than what his relatively compact stature would usually pose.
The silence lasted for about half a minute before Quartz, sick of standing at attention, tried a small hawk. When Grove did not seem to react, he decided to take the word.
“You wanted to see me, sir?”
“Huh?” Grove stopped in his track and looked like he had been woken from a worried dream. “Oh, second lieutenant Quartz, of course, a thousand pardons…”
Grove stood in front of Quartz and looked him in the eye in a way that seemed almost irate.
“Second lieutenant, I assume you know why I have called you here?”
“Sir, no sir! No idea, sir!”
“Ah, don’t play the slightly oblivious subordinate with me, Dusk! You know perfectly well why you are here!”
Quartz did indeed have a sneaking suspicion what this might be about, but as the lieutenant had started to walk towards the map of Equestria, so he decided to keep his mouth shut.
Grove looked at the map, or rather through it, judging by the absent-minded look on his face.
“Strange, this with rank, eh? Had I gone to the Army instead of the Guard I’d be a major by now. Still, here the highest rank is captain, and I, a lieutenant, am in charge of an entire company… Well then, let’s get on to business, shall we?”
Quartz assumed it was a rhetorical question, so he decided not to answer.
“As you know unless you are deaf, blind and dumb, I’ll retire in three months,”
This reminder of the lieutenant’s age made Quartz wonder why Grove had refused promotion to the rank of captain two years ago, a position that had gone to the far younger Shining Armor.
“and, let’s cut to the chase, you are the most likely candidate for the newly opened rank of first lieutenant.”
“Me, sir?”
“Don’t look so surprised, you knew this was coming. Ever since your guardian angel Shining Armor hit the CO ranks you have been fast-tracked up through the ranks faster than a greased Wonderbolt. You went from private to officer school to second lieutenant in three years, while it took me nearly eight years to do the same… But,” he sighed, “I’ve got to admit, you do have talent, especially at the theoretical things like bookkeeping. You are an intelligent stallion, and that is also apparent from your school records. Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns? That’s not an easy to place to get in for a plebeian such as yourself, let alone getting a grant for the fee… But I do wonder about one thing, Quartz. Why did you come to the Guard instead of going to a fancy university or college?”
“It was only temporary to begin with, sir, an old dream of mine. And then I discovered I really like the job. Like a cross between police officer, soldier and mare-magnet.”
Grove looked at him again and gave him a grin and a hearty laugh.
“Indeed it is, second lieutenant, indeed it is. Met the missus that way, y’know.”
“Well, in any case I am honored that you would consider me as your potential suggested successor, sir. Was there anything else?”
“Actually, yes, it is. Do you have any plans for the evening, Quartz?”
“Just cancelled them, sir.”
“Excellent. I just got a request from Captain Armor. Two days ago we sent a couple pegasi down to a nearby town to help the townsponies search for a missing filly. They telegraphed up yesterday asking for two more guards to help them. Me and lieutenant Ayre both agreed to send one of our second lieutenants down there. Due to the Los Pegasus storm front we can’t send any more pegasi unless it is absolutely necessary, leaving you as the obvious choice for our company. Also, I thought you could do with a trip out of Canterlot now before you are transferred to a desk job.”
“Of course I accept, sir. But, what about Third Platoon, sir?”
“Ah, one of the NCO’s can step up as temporary platoon leader. I’m sure they’ll do just fine. It’ll be a quiet week due to the storm. Anyway, then you can meet up with second lieutenant Dawn at the trainstation at noon. Take the Friendship Express 3 westwards.”
“Sir, yes sir!”
“Excellent. Dismissed.”
Quartz went over to the table and put on his helmet and grabbed his now-lonely spear from the rack. As he opened the door he suddenly remembered he had forgotten to ask something.
“Excuse me, sir?”
“Yes?” answered Grove, his attention already focused on a stack of papers.
“What was the name of the town again?”
“Some little place on the edge of our precinct. Ponyville.”
Chapter 2: Light Air
“Lieutenant Dawn. Does that sound familiar to you?”
Staff sergeant Wooden Clearing scratched his chin with a hoof in the bright light of the train station platform.
“Sorry, Dusk, doesn’t ring a… Wait, did ya say Dawn? As in second lieutenant Winter Dawn?”
“Umm… Yeah?”
“Dude, it’s the pegasus stallion with no wings from Second Company!”
“Seriously? The guy who has been stuck at the same rank like forever?”
“Positive, Dusk.”
“Great… Just what I needed. A deadbeat almost double my age to babysit me…”
“Ah, you’ll get through. It’ll be fun!”
“Yeah, sure. Anyway, are you sure you can handle Third Plat for the next two days?”
“Don’t ya worry, Dusk. It’ll be fine. And Storm promised to look after the pegasi going to Los Pegasus, too.”
“Well, okay, then. See you on Tuesday!”
“See ya, Dusk!”
Quartz watched the earth pony walk away towards the exit. As he sighed and turned towards the filling train he suddenly heard some words that made him twist his ear in the direction they had come from.
Missing… Ponyville…
Although he could not pick up anything more, he determined the source of the conversation to be a couple of earth ponies nuzzling by the door to one of the wagons. As he observed them, the crème-colored mare with a pink and violet mane said goodbye to the blue stallion and jumped on the train. He made a quick decision and followed her. He stayed a few steps behind her until he saw her find a seat in an empty compartment. He went to stand in the door opening and knocked gently on the doorframe as the train started moving.
The mare looked up from a book she had opened.
“Can I help you, sir?”
“I just wanted to ask you something, miss… or is it missus?
“Still miss, I’m afraid,” she remarked and smiled at the blue stallion waving to her from the platform with a nervous smile, “but I am working on that. Sweetie Drops here, Bon Bon among friends, pleased to meet you. Now, how did you say I could help you?”
“Err… I couldn’t help but overhear that you mentioned Ponyville to that stallion back there. Is that were you are going?”
“Yes, born and raised there. I’ve been in Canterlot some time for… personal reasons.”
“Excellent, excellent. You shouldn’t happen to know about a certain missing filly, should you?”
Sweetie Drops looked surprised. “No, I can’t say I have, but then again I’ve been here almost two weeks. The only “missing” Ponyville resident I know of is my friend Lyra. She said she would send me a letter, but she hasn’t, and she does not respond to the telegrams I have sent her.”
Quartz thought about this for a few seconds. “Hmm… Well, I’m sure she’ll turn out alright. Probably just got a bad case of the flu. It’s been a lot of that aro-“ TOC!
“Ouch! What the-“ Quartz looked behind him into the corridor to see which pony had hit him over the helmet. Upon seeing the back of a Royal Guard armor piece disappearing into a compartment he suddenly remembered what he was supposed to be doing.
“Oh, shoot. Well, sorry Ms. Drops, but I have to leave now. Thank you very much for your assistance.”
“Always happy to help the Guard, Mr..?”
“Quartz. Dusk Quartz. Oh, and if you need help with anything or remember something else, I and a few other guards will be in Ponyville the next few days. Come see us if you need us.”
Sweetie Drops nodded and gave her attention to the book again. As Quartz went out into the corridor he couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the thought of the cover. Stereotypical mare-targeting romance novel, he guessed, judging by the marriage ceremony at the cover and the ornately fonted title spelling out Second Chance. He shrugged and went into the compartment he had seen the other guard enter earlier.
“So, finally finished flirting?”
“Pardon?” Quartz looked confused at the light brown but decidedly older guard.
“I had to stop you, you know. Couldn’t let you compromise the line of duty for a dame.”
The big grin of the stallion was enough to light Quartz’ fuse. He gritted his teeth.
“Excuse me, sir, but I was not flirting with that mare. I was asking her questions.”
“Sure you were, sonny, sure you were…” The stallion looked out the window with a disinterested expression.
“Well pardon me for trying to do something useful with my time instead of sitting on my rump and looking out the window!”
The other stallion finally raised his voice. “You? YOU aren’t here to do anything. You are just some pipsqueak turd they dug up to babysit me!”
“Well, I didn’t ask to be babysat by some grumpy old fart, neither!”
Silence ensued after Quartz finished the sentence. He sat down on the seat.
“*Sigh* Let’s try again, shall we? Second lieutenant Dusk Quartz, First Company, pleased to meet you.”
The stallion remained silent for a few more seconds before he spoke.
“Second lieutenant Winter Dawn, Second Company.”
The journey continued in silence for a few hours as the train did a complicated pattern down the mountainside and past all the outlying towns in Canterlot Municipality. Finally Quartz spoke again, trying to avoid looking at the stumps where the pegasus’ wings had been.
“Do you have any more details on what exactly we are to do down there?”
Winter Dawn sighed. “A few days ago some local filly managed to get lost on the way home from buying flour. The mayor telegraphed to Canterlot and asked for a couple guards to help coordinate the search. The town is within the precinct that Guard polices, so she got her request granted. The search was concluded without result yesterday. However, somepony in that town must have bigwig friends, because instead of sending back the privates from our company that they had “borrowed”, they actually got them to send two more. And here we are. We are going to take a look around and see if anypony has any clue of her whereabouts. If we suspect something criminal is involved, we are to call for the Manehattan PD to send some ponies up.”
As the mechanical-sounding recitation drew to a close, Quartz spotted an approaching train station platform out of the window.
“Looks like we are here, Dawn…”
The sunlight beamed off the golden finish of their armor as they stepped out onto the small station platform. Quartz couldn’t help but notice that their arrival raised a few eyebrows.
Dawn seemed to notice as well. “Well, if nothing else we’ll hopefully give the search a morale boost. I suggest we go-“
“Lieutenants Dawn and Quartz?”
The two stallions looked around to find the pony who had spoken. They spotted the two almost-identical white pegasi guards coming towards them around the side of the building. Quartz would have had problems telling them apart hadn’t it been for the fact that one them was wearing a pair of sunglasses that really contrasted the formality of the armor.
“Yes?” Dawn asked in a cautious tone.
The sunglass-wearing pony beamed towards them and pulled a quick salute. “Welcome to Ponyville! I’m Pfc. Sailing, and this here is private Raff. We’ve been in charge of this circus the last couple of days. Pleasure to meet you!”
The effusive greeting left the two lieutenants at a loss of words for a couple of seconds, until Dawn responded with a halfhearted salute and a “Hello to you, too…”
Quartz did the same. “Hi. Nice to meet somepony friendly already.”
“Always an honor, sir. Riff! Take ‘eir saddlebags, eh?”
Private Raff mumbled something and signaled to Quartz that he’d take his bags. Quartz shook his head lightly, and was delighted to see that Dawn had the decency to do the same.
Private Sailing didn’t seem to notice, and instead started trotting towards the end of the platform. “Follow me, sirs! I’ll give you a sitrep as we go along!”
The main street of Ponyville managed to give both a sleepy and bustling impression simultaneously. Quartz elegantly sidestepped an orange pegasus filly who appeared to have thrown herself off a roof in an effort to fly. He stopped and gave the filly a puzzled look. “Er… Atta girl?”
The filly burst into a grin and ran around the house, presumably to try again. As Quartz turned his attention back to the situation report of private Sailing he couldn’t help but wonder if he had just caused a sprained ankle in the future.
Sailing continued uninterrupted. “… from a local apple orchard, Sweet Apple Acres. Applebloom’s the name of the filly. Went out to buy some flour one evenin’ and never returned.” He whinnied exasperatedly. “We’ve been looking for two days now. Not a trace. Poof! Gone… Well, at least we are not alone now. Y’know, we were really surprised when we heard you were coming.”
Quartz and Dawn exchanged a worried glance.
“Beg pardon?” Quartz tried.
“Well, we had only telegraphed for permission to interview the locals, we had not expected ‘em to send two officers down here.”
Private Raff, who had remained mostly silent, nodded concurringly.
Dawn raised an eyebrow. “Peculiar, we were told we had been sent for.”
Sailing looked surprised for a moment, then shrugged. “Probably one of the townsponies, then. The mayor, perhaps? You’ll get a chance to talk to her yourself in the mornin’”
The mere mention of breakfast time made Quartz’ stomach murmur a protest towards the non-existent amount of food it had received today. He decided to drop a hint. “And what are the plans for this evening, private?”
“First of all dinner. We’ve found a lovely little restaurant. Then…” He stopped and appeared to be trying to look sad, an effect the sunglasses mostly blocked. “Then you two have to find housing on your own. We rented the last two rooms at the town inn, I’m afraid.”
A few hours later Quartz’ stomach had received a healthy omelet was a lot happier. As the sun set over the hills to the west the four guards discussed the final details of how they’d split the bill. Quartz was trying to catch the eye of young mare selling oranges, more to see if he could rather than planning any romantic advances, when he suddenly realized another pony was staring right at them.
“Can we help you, miss?” he called out to the young white mare.
“Oh, how can I be so rude?! Pardon my intolerable behavior, sirs” she answered to the group that was now all aware of her presence.
She came up to them.
“I am so sorry, gentlecolts, but the pattern of that collar piece on your armor sets have gave me the most miraculous bout of inspiration for a new piece of haute couture! I simply cannot wait to get back to my boutique to put it to paper and cloth!”
Her next two minutes of descriptions of whatever fashion accessory she was planning left the four stallions with little other than blank looks. Suddenly Dawn interrupted her in the middle of the description of a vivant hat ribbon. “Excuse me, miss, but are you a local?”
The purple-maned white mare looked befuddled at him. “Why yes, yes I am indeed. Why do you ask?”
Do you know where my colleague here and myself might find lodging for the night? We are in quite the pickle here.”
The mare scratched her muzzle with her hoof. “I guess… I suppose you could try at the library. My friend who takes care of it lives there, and she has a couple of extra mattresses. Just walk straight down that street there until you see a big tree. Can’t miss it. Tell her Rarity sent you.”
“Thank you very much, Ms. Rarity. We are here to aid the two blockheads over there in their search for the missing filly… Applebloom, was it?”
“Oh, yes, horrible. I know her sister, Applejack. Poor thing is wrecked, although she doesn’t show it. A terrible tragedy, this. I hope she turns up alright. Ah, that has to be enough sadness for tonight. I am headed home to look after my little sister, Sweetie Belle, so unless you gentlecolts have anything else you want to ask me, I’ll be on my way.”
Dawn looked in the direction of Quartz before he spoke. “Only one thing, miss. Is it okay that one of us four drops by tomorrow and ask you a few more questions?”
She smiled as she started trotting away from them. “Of course, receiving any of you gentlecolts would be my pleasure. Farewell!”
As she trotted merrily down the street away from them, Dawn kneed a slack-jawed private Sailing in the ribs with his front leg. “What are you doing, private?”
This seemed to restore Sailing’s ability of speech. “Whoa… Whoa… Did you guys see that mare? Sweet Celestia! Dibs on that interview, totally! I mean, look a DAT RU-“ TOC!
The hit over the back of the helmet stopped his wordflow quickly. Dawn looked irate as he turned to the others. “Private Raff, tomorrow you will interview her. Private Sailing will go to the outlying farms to ask if anypony has seen the little filly. Lieutenant Quartz and I will deal with the town center. Have I made myself clear? Good. Now, Quartz, should we go find that library?”
As the two trotted along alone, Quartz was deep in thoughts about apple fritters when an exclamation from Dawn got his attention. He stopped and noticed Dawn had done the same. “You say something, Dawn?”
“Look up, you fool!”
He did. It took a few seconds for his mind to process the jaw-dropping tableau above him. A gigantic cumulus cloud, several miles high, towered in the sky while drifting slowly westwards. The sunset colored it in such a strong pinkish-red that it took almost half a minute for Quartz to spot the thousands of pastel-colored dots skipping around the cloud, apparently herding it along. Some of them seemed to shimmer, as if they were metal-clad. But what kind of sky creature would wear some kind of armo-
“Celestia! Those are pegasi?! There are so many…”
Dawn laughed. “Right you are, Mini! That’s the Cloudsdale cloud, headed for the rainstorm in the west. Took’em weeks to make just this one, and soon it will join together with more than two dozen others…”
The way Dawn’s tone changed from amused to melancholy made Quartz painfully aware of the two stumps where the pegasus’ wings had been. He decided now might be as good a time as any to ask about it.
“Uhm… Excuse me, Dawn, but whatever happened to your wings?”
The older stallion froze for a few seconds before speaking so low that Quartz could barely make out the words. “I’d rather not talk about that. There are certain things we would not like to revisit, eh, Quartz?”
“Uh, okay…?”
“That’s a nice surname, Quartz. You know that? Having a miner in the family?”
Quartz was taken aback at this sudden change of tone. “Uh, probably far back somewhere…”
Dawn rolled his eyes. “Listen, “Quartz”, don’t ask about my incident, and I might not report you for being in violation of the recruitment regulation.”
Quartz’ eyes widened. “H-how… I mean, what are you talking about?”
“Don’t try to play fool with me. You were well informed at the recruitment office that you could not enter the Royal Guard without being a citizen from birth. Everyone gets that pretty little speech.”
Quartz tried to come up with an effective reply, but decided to resign. “*Sigh* Okay, you win, Dawn. How did you know?”
Dawn sighed and started to walk again, with Quartz following close behind“I used to be a melee training advisor for the Manehattan Police Department. Also got to assist ‘em in the occasional case, too. I got extremely good at picking up quirks. Your telling quirk was that your “r”s were a millisecond too long. I couldn’t tell if it was a speech defect when I first heard you, talking to that mare on the train. So I decided to make you angry in the hopes of finding out the truth. And jackpot! You yelled at me with a clear accent that does not resemble anything I’ve heard in Equestria.”
Quartz blushed, half out of anger, half out of shame. Luckily Dawn spared him a response. “Listen, Quartz, I won’t ask too many questions. I can see you are no traitor. Just tell me one thing. Does anypony else know about this?”
“Shining. I mean, captain Armor. He was just a corporal back then, but he did a day at the recruitment office to earn some overtime. He was the one who signed me up. Ever since he has acted as some sort of friend for me. I’m pretty sure he had a hoof in my acceptance into the officer school, as well.”
Dawn nodded sternly. They continued in silence until they reached the tree that housed the Ponyville library.
Quartz knocked. A few seconds later the two stallions could hear ruffling and shuffling from the inside, before a purple mare opened the door.
Quartz took on the stone-face of the Guard as his colleague had already done. “Good evening, miss. Lieutenants Quartz and Dawn from the Equestrian Royal Guard. We would like to…” He trailed off when he looked the mare in the eyes and realized he was seeing a familiar face.
“Sparkle?” he said dumbfounded. “What are you doing out here in the boondocks?”
“D-Dusk?” was all the violet unicorn could say. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds before she threw her front hooves around his neck and started crying into his coat.
Quartz was the only one more surprised than Dawn. “Okaaaay… That was… unexpected. What happened to the oh-so-serious Sparkle I knew?”
Dawn looked at them. “You two know each other?”
Quartz cast a worried glance down at the still sobbing unicorn. “Well, yes, sort of. I went to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns three years above Sparkle here, but we never really talked until I joined the guard and were posted right inside the Royal Library. One day she was there studying for an exam in… err… What was it?”
“*Sniff* Spell improvisation. Dispositio, logos, faciéndam, memoria, actio and repetitio.” Twilight said as she finally let him go. Quartz noticed she had stopped crying, although her eyes were still red.
“Yeah. That. She was really surprised that the guard at the door knew the answer to the questions she asked herself, but then again I did go to the same school, after all. We had several interesting conversations the two months I was posted there. Then she went away somewhere. I thought it was Manehattan or Los Pegasus, but I suppose it was here, then…”
He was pleased to see that Twilight had regained her composure enough to give them a small smile. He decided to try again to speak directly to her.
“Uh, we… were sorta looking for a place to sleep for the night, and a mare called… Rarity, was it, Dawn? Well, she told us you had some extra mattresses, so we kinda… uhm…”
Dawn raised an eyebrow at the sudden change in the speech of the usually eloquent stallion, but Twilight luckily understood. “Why, of course! Come in, you must be freezing with this cold gale coming through! I’ll light the fireplace and make some hot chocolate, just come right in.”
Quartz nodded and stepped inside, but Dawn grimaced and massaged his left wing stump with a hoof. “Could you two excuse me for a while? I need some painkillers.”
Twilight nodded. “Sure. There is a pharmacy just down that alley and ‘round the corner to the right.”
“Thanks a million, Ms… what did you say it was, Quartz?”
Twilight shot in before he could answer. “Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle.”
A few seconds later Twilight was lighting the fire in the fireplace with a whiff of magic while at the same time moving various kitchen objects around to make hot chocolate, still with magic. The two ponies themselves were sitting next to fireplace and watching the glow spread. Quartz was impressed. “Wow, Sparkle, you have really improved! I have barely learned any new spells the last couple years, but you must have practiced to be doing that without even looking!”
Twilight smiled. “Thank you, but please, Qua- Dusk, call me Twilight. I’ve already used your first name two times, and it would be awkward if we went on like this.”
“Well, okay then, Twilight. I must say, you see to have become quite sociable compared to how you used to be, all locked up in the Ivory Tower when you weren’t at school.”
“Why thank you, Dusk! My stay here has been a great learning experience, if somewhat lacking in ponies interested in the same things as I. You know, just here a few months ago I performed for delegates from Saddle Arabia to the Princess! “
“Really? A shame I didn’t get to meet them or at least some of their travelling companions. I have so many questions…”
Twilight looked dreamy for a moment. “You know, Dusk, I had a magical duel beforehand.”
“Seriously? With who?”
“Trixie Lulamoon, a travelling showpony. I… had… sort of embarrassed her a couple of years ago, shortly after my arrival here. She had now procured no less than the Ancient Alicorn Amulet to defeat me…” Twilight went on to recount the story of how she had beat Trixie through trickery.
As the story ended, Quartz was intrigued. “This amulet you speak of… do you have it? Can I see it?”
Twilight looked worried for a moment, but nodded and went over to a shelf to retrieve a small wooden case. Quartz removed his helmet with magic to see better as she placed the case in front of him. She opened it to reveal the metallic amulet. Quartz for some reason felt a shiver go down his spine, but he carefully lifted it out with magic to examine it more closely.
“Fascinating,” he exclaimed as he flipped and turned the amulet slowly in the soft glow of the fireplace, “it does not resemble any design I’m familiar with, and you know I always was interested in magical objects. The lines are too straight for it to be Equestrian, but the metal is of too high quality to be Zebrican or Griffonian… Prance, maybe? Or somewhere outside our knowledge altogether?”
The academic tone caused Twilight to merrily join in in the observation of the amulet. “Hmm… I had a look at it earlier. Appears to be a rather simple, reusable design, though, Dusk. This is no magical battery. I think… I think it draws excess magical energy into the metal from the skin of the wearer, and then the energy is channeled into the focusing crystal there in the middle. It then sends the energy in pulses through the nervous system into the brain and horn, judging by the way Trixie reacted. That might also explain why she became more aggressive, the increased neural activity would trigger growth of the amount of neural connections in the areas of the brain where the energy travelled through, most likely the areas controlling aggression and dominant behavior…”
They went on discussing the properties of the amulet for a minute or so longer until something suddenly struck Quartz. “Wait, Twilight? If the amulet is a simple amplifier, why is it humming as if it contained a magical charge?”
Twilighted hoisted an eyebrow, but put her horn close enough to the amulet that she could too feel the weak vibrations in the magical field of the object.
“It is probably nothing Dusk, just the anti-removal spell.”’
He turned it and looked at it from behind. “No, that sits in the chain. It looks more like it comes from… the eye…”
He dropped the amulet into his hoof and held it close to his eye to examine the tiny red gemstone. “I wonder…” He put his horn to the the tiny stone.
Nothing happened. Well, it had been worth a t-
aegisaegisaegisAegisAEGISgottofindsomwheretohideafraidnomustgivemessage SIGMA EPSILON BETA EPSILON RHO THETA EPSILON CHI OMIKRON RHO DELTA KAPPA IOTA LAMDA LAMDA THETA EPSILON BETA EPSILON SIGMA SIGMA EPSILON LAMDA does this work now testing. Testing. Ah, there we go.
Loyal member of the Herd;
If you give this amulet to Lord Skuggfaxi, he will see to it that you are rewarded thousandfold. Please refrain from receiving the rest of the message; it is not meant for your mind, and the Lord will decide whether or when you will hear it legally. Thank you for your cooperation.
Lord Skuggfaxi;
This is Scorpio. Our operation to capture Councillor Ty has backfired horribly. Aquarius and Libra are both dead, and so is the Councillor. The old stallion did reveal details about the Prophecy before his passing, though. I am afraid I must be the harbinger of news most dreadful. Not only were our fears indeed founded, but the truth far exceeds our worst expectations. They will indeed allow Its return, dooming our race, but this apocalyptic scenario will also destroy the way of life for the puny sub-equines who live in blissful ignorance of our existence. You must move to stop it by dealing with the Vessel in the manner I told you in the beginning of this message before it is too late. You might wish to try to enlist the help of Skinfaxi, or Celestia as the sub-equines call her. She knows the land and has not been in contact with the poisonous influence of the Council since the Day the Sky Burned.
I am afraid I’ll have to cut this thought recording short. The Emperor’s stallions are on my back. I have arranged for this amulet to be brought to the land of Equestria by a merchant I have instructed to never sell it to anypony who does not bear a similar token. Shortly I will leave it with him, so I can turn and face my enemies. I know my sacrifice will not be in vain, even though my powers will be weaker without the amulet. These fools will learn what it means to take on a pure-bred alicorn!
I will now give you the identity of the Vessel, as described by the Councillor. Just in case, it will be in code:
6-9-11-90-100-9-57-38-9-37
Key:
When I felt compelled to seek to consider the short spark of my life, swallowed up in the eternity before and after, -memoria hospitis unius diei praetereuntis - , the little space I fill on this day, and even can see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of space of which I am ignorant, living in the night, and which knows me not, I were frightened, and were astonished at being here rather than there, why now rather than then? Who placed me here? By the order and leadership of who was this place and this time granted me? What unites me with other creatures? Now I know the answer, and it sickens me.
Servant of the Herd in life and death;
Scorpio
Vivat Armento
…
Whoa! What was that? Never mind, with this amulet, I, Trixie, will reclaim my title as great and powerfu-
“Dusk? Are you alright? You have been staring into space for about two minutes now!” The violent shaking of Twilight Sparkle rattled Quartz out of his trance.
“Ugh. I’m okay, Twilight.” he groaned. “Just some dusty old recorded message. Seems your friend Trixie got it, too. The message was quite disturbing, though, something about codes Do me a favor and keep that thing safe. It feels… evil.”
“Hmm… maybe I should ask and show the Princess. I’ll send her a letter telling her I’m coming in a few days. SPIKE! Get down here and take a letter for me, would you?!”
Quartz smiled as the baby dragon showed up and gave him a surprised, almost scared look. He decided to say something to the air to calm him down while he wrote the message that Twilight just had given him. “Spike’s doing fine, I see?”
Twilight whinnied. “Yes. He is a good friend and assistant…”
From the word friend her mood seemed to drop again.
“Listen, Dusk, I am sorry about the whole crying thing back at the porch. I have just felt so lonely with all these disappearances that any familiar face is like a rock…
“Of course it is okay, I under- wait, did you say disappearance-s?”
Just at that moment the front door slammed open. A distressed-looking Dawn appeared to be the guilty while a crème colored mare Quartz recalled as Sweetie Drops from the train tripped nervously around at his side. Dawn looked him in the eye before he spoke. “There is a problem, Quartz. There have been more disappearances …”