//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 
// Story: Age of the New Sun 
// by Foreshadow 
//------------------------------//

	Harmonia was bigger than Comet had anticipated. She was worried that Umbra was taking them outside when she guided them through a small archway, but she was surprised to see, instead, more livable tents with more soldiers, but even more refugees. There were also open market stalls covered in tattered cloth sheets, selling extra food and equipment right near a small river that passed through the fortress. Just across and up a hill, there was a strange paddock with small animals inside and a tired stallion watching over. 

None of these were their stop, though, and Umbra guided the group solemnly passed everything without even a second glance. Dark was creeping in and despite the barrier, Comet was starting to get a bit nervous because of it. She sucked it up and tried to remain confident, even though Runestone had edged a little closer to her on his own, ears twitching back and forth anxiously. 

The small group came to a ramp that, as they walked up it, revealed a secluded balcony upon which stood a wide column a little shorter than Comet was tall, crowned with what almost looked like the top of a birdbath, save for the fact that instead of water within, it contained six disks, each one supporting a stone sphere. Umbra was first up onto the rise, her horn setting aglow with deep purple. Light sprung forth and the magic bounced between wooden poles, setting each alight with a purple flame. Comet’s eyes darted across the scene and, after just a few moments, the group was joined by another few ponies and a couple griffons-- youngish, and nervous looking as well-- and Umbra spoke.

“You will now be split into groups of three. Remember who you’re with.” 

She prowled through the group, pulling a few ponies together. 

“Group 1!” she announced, loudly and sharply. 

Comet watched with worry and pressed closer to Runestone, hoping not to be separated from him: Umbra wasn’t going by who was standing close to who, though. It seemed like she had had the groups planned out ahead of time. 

They saw Flowerdrop get pulled away into Group 4 with a griffon and a large, grey unicorn and then Umbra came to her. Her hoof went to Runestone and then to Comet-- much to her relief-- and then, finally, to Cloudrush.

“Group 5,” she announced.

The blue pegasus scooted closer to them and Comet beckoned him into their nervous huddle, an invitation he accepted readily. 

Umbra continued on to make a final, Group 6, before ordering them all back down the ramp. The groups stayed clustered together, and as such, Cloudrush followed Runestone and Comet Strike when they moved to lie down near the side of the base of the ramp. 

“She sure is... stern,” Runestone said a bit nervously. “Isn’t she new, too? Why’s she in charge?”

“I guess Graham trusts her a lot,” Comet said as she tiredly rested her chin on her outstretched front hooves.

“Good point,” the stallion said, and then looked at Cloudrush. “So, we’re probably going to be a group for a while after this, I think. You okay with that?”

“Yeah. You both seem pretty cool,” he replied with a grin, but the flop of his ears hinted at his nerves. “What did you do to get Graham to pick you, Runestone?”

“Oh, I... Oh! I think it was when I found out Nightspawn had set a trap for the Sunwalker group I was with and I had to run through the Everfree alone to get him.”

“And then he lead a group of injured ponies back to Canterlot on his own, through more Nightspawn,” Comet added.

Runestone blushed a little and Cloudrush looked rather pleased and nodded.

“How about you?” Runestone asked.

“Oh, me? There was an aerial Nightspawn attack near New Cloudsdale that I was the first one to spot, and I convinced a bunch of my friends to help me build a cloud wall to keep them out. Got into a few scraps, too. Those things are scary.”

“They are. But that’s awesome,” Comet said, and the pegasus’s wings fluffed, please.

“How about you?” he asked.  “And... I’d also like to ask, do you have any family in New Cloudsdale, by any chance?”

“Uh... No, why?” the unicorn asked with confusion.

“Oh! Sorry, it’s just, you have such a pegasus-y name,” Cloudrush said with an embarrassed smile.

“I do?” she asked.

“She does?” Runestone echoed.

“And you sort of have a unicorn-y name,” the pegasus laughed, and then turned back to Comet. “Yeah, your name has a sky element and an attack, that’s a lot like a pegasus name.”	

“Oh. Well... I was named by a pegasus,” she said. “My brother. Er, surrogate brother.”

“And you suddenly make sense!” Cloudrush said a bit proudly. “And your story?”

“Just blew up a bunch of Nightspawn with magic, that’s all,” she said with a shrug. “And-- like you, actually-- I found them outside Canterlot first.”

“Blew them up?” Cloudrush repeated, and he laughed. “Sounds useful. Cool. I’m surprised that you two have both run into them, though, most ponies here were chosen just for straight-up skill, as far as I could tell.”

“We come from the same place. A lot of our encounters actually happened together,” Comet pointed out.

“Ah, right. Right, I think you mentioned,” Cloudrush said with a nod.

All three ponies’ ears perked to the sound of Umbra calling for Group 1. After a moment, a small group moved through the dark and up the ramp.

“I wonder what they’ll make us do?” Runestone asked a bit worriedly.

“It’s pretty quiet up there,” Comet observed, running a hoof along the ground a bit anxiously.

Cloudrush bit his lip and glanced up the ramp cautiously, squinting, but only able to see the faint, purple lights above. He pouted. 

“See anything?” Comet asked.

He shook his head. 

They waited together as the groups before them were called one by one; they seemed to disappear in the dark as they returned to the place with the purple flames. Comet felt her heart beating a little faster than she would have liked. The feeling reminded her of nothing more than waiting to take a magic exam in Canterlot. She hated it. She turned her eyes on her companions, especially on Runestone. He didn’t look nervous, but he was drumming one of his rear legs periodically. Stretching her back, Comet sat up and patted his shoulder reassuringly.

“I’m sure if it’s a test, if we just work together, we’ll be fine,” she said.

“Unless they make us fight each other, that wouldn’t be very good,” Cloudrush said nervously.

“Well, then I’d be kicked out right away. I wouldn’t fight either of you,” Runestone announced. 

“Same,” Comet agreed, and the pegasus nodded vigorously. 

Comet felt another rush of panic, though-- she hadn’t even considered that. She hoped it wasn’t the case.

After just a little while longer, Umbra called out for Group 5, and the three ponies got to their hooves a bit worriedly. 

“Keep close,” Comet said quietly, and taking a look at her worried companions and trying to poof herself up to look confident. 

She certainly didn’t feel it though. Cloudrush’s confidence seemed painted on as well. Most honest was Runestone, whose ears were flat back against his head. Together, nervously, they headed up the ramp. The purple flames above were swaying back and forth hypnotically, but otherwise, it suddenly seemed unnaturally dark. 

What should have taken just a few seconds seemed to stretch on and on, and they hadn’t even reached the middle of the ramp yet. Comet paused and turned around to look back down at where they had started. The stone path was clear, but beyond, she saw only darkness. Her heart dropped for a moment and she whipped around to look at the others. Runestone had stopped and looked back at her, confused, his expression a little glazed. Cloudrush was also still, a little farther up than the other stallion, but not by much.

“Does this feel weird to you guys?” she called to them.

“What do you mean?” Runestone asked.

Comet tilted her head. They didn’t feel it? She trotted back to them and, with a suspicious glance behind her, she beckoned them in close and said, “There’s magic working on us, can’t you feel it?”

“Uh...” Runestone blinked and suddenly his eyes looked a little brighter. “Oh! Yeah, I think so! This is taking too long!”

“Oh. Now that you mention it, yeah,” Cloudrush agreed. “What do we do?”

“Dunno,” Comet said, frowning. “Um...”

She didn’t have much of an idea, but she set her horn alight. The darkness didn’t subside, but her head felt a little clearer. Cloudrush pushed in closer to her, his fur bristling, and he spread his wings.

“I’m going to check around from the air,” he said.

“Be careful,” Runestone said.

The pegasus nodded and took off swiftly. The two other ponies watched him as he went up, but he looked almost as if he was dragging through water. 

When he returned, he stumbled to the ground, panting, his wings limp. Comet held him up quickly. 

“You okay?” she asked.

“It’s like... thick,” he said. “Heavy. Yuck. All I could see was those purple lights.”

Runestone bit his lip and looked at Comet. She gulped. 

“Must be a test,” she said, trying to stay calm. “It’s okay. Everypony just stay together. Wanna get going again?”

“Y-Yeah,” the tan stallion agreed. 

Cloudrush nodded and the started again. It still felt like they weren’t getting anywhere. Walking felt like pulling their legs through mountains of dirt. Comet’s shoulder was starting to throb, but she grit her teeth and kept quiet about it. She let her light bounce away from her in a luminous, floating orb, even as she felt herself dropping behind.

Of course I would, though, she scolded herself. 

She had always been weak like that. 

She was getting too hot and the task was infuriating. She could see the top, she just couldn’t get there. It was like the slope was vertical. She saw Runestone finally rest his hoof on the end of the ramp and felt a great amount of relief and little bit of envy. He let out a tired giggle and then turned, only to have his face fall upon seeing them. Frowning to himself, he bolted back down the ramp to meet Comet, and before she could even ask him what he was doing, he had her on his back and was powering up towards Cloudrush. 

“I got you guys, don’t you worry,” he grunted.

He was shoving the pegasus, who yelped in surprise, forward with his head, walking with strength and confidence up the slope, even though there still seemed to be some magical strain on his body. Comet watched him with shock. She had read that earth ponies were inherently the strongest of all three of the known pony groups, but it hadn’t really sunken in until this evening. 

Even with them weighing him down, Runestone had brought them to the top within a minute or so, helping Cloudrush to clamber over the edge and letting a wobbly-legged Comet down from his back. 

“There!” he said proudly, his voice a little taught with strain, even though he was grinning. 

The pegasus was breathing heavily and Comet had to take a few deep breaths herself to steady her legs. 

“That was... That was amazing, thank you,” she said.

“No worries,” he assured her, ruffling her mane before he turned to Cloudrush and asked, “You okay? Need a minute?”

“I’m fine,” he replied, taking another deep breath and straightening himself out. “Thanks.” 

Runestone grinned as he wiped his brow.

“That was tough.”

“Dunno if we could have even done it without you,” the pegasus said.

Comet nodded vigorously and her friend blushed just a little.

All three ponies jumped in surprise when the world around them let out a woosh and a flash of purple. Suddenly, the darkness was whisked away, the normalcy of the old platform and the pedestal of stones revealed themselves before their eyes, and Comet felt a strange tingling of magic permeating the area. It looked much larger than before, and was rimmed with almost two dozen curious creatures, some that Comet recognized from the other groups, and some that she had never seen before. Before them stood Umbra, a purple glow radiating from her horn, a levitating, small clipboard by her side; a slight smile on her face. The three ponies looked at each other in confusion, and Comet looked up at the sky to try to track the moon. Her heart dropped.

“That took us an hour?!” she asked shrilly.

“An hour and fourteen minutes, actually,” Umbra said. “Not bad. Not the best, but not bad. And all three of you made it together, that’s better than expected.”

“What?” Runestone asked, eyes wide. “I thought we were supposed to be a team, why wouldn’t all three of us make it together?”

“Some aren’t quite so cooperative, it seems,” the tall unicorn replied. 

She beckoned the three tired ponies towards her and gestured towards the stones placed on the pedestals. Cloudrush seemed to get it: he gulped and headed towards them and began looking them over. Runestone and Comet shared a confused glance with each other and then looked at Umbra. 

“So...” Runestone said a bit nervously, his ears drooping, “um... What now?”

Umbra rolled her eyes and tilted her head towards the stones.

“You’re supposed to pick one,”  Umbra said. “If you’re drawn to one, that is. If not, you’re probably not cut out to be a Warden.”

Comet gulped and looked at the stones cautiously. They all seemed to be the similar at first: grey orbs of stone with a sort of gemstone pattern cut into each one. They felt a little different, though. She inclined her head and then looked to Umbra curiously. She seemed rather unconcerned and then pointed to Runestone.

“You,” she said. “Go make your pick.”

“Who, me?” he asked, startled.

“No, the Queen,” Umbra replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

Runestone gulped and hesitantly approached the pillar, circling it once quite cautiously. Cloudrush was just finishing up; he poked one of the stones with his wing, giving Umbra a nervous look. She nodded and marked something down in her notes.

Comet watched hopefully while the other unicorn seemed half disinterested, like she didn’t think Runestone could actually do it. The stallion circled a second time and then paused, doubled back, and poked one of the stones with his hoof. His ears twitched and then perked up, and his seemed pleased. 

“This one,” he decided.

“You’re positive?” Umbra said, narrowing her eyes.

Runestone nodded readily and couldn’t seem to help from touching it again.

“Yeah, this one,” he said. “It feels... It feels right.”

The unicorn stared him down cooly though he didn’t back down. She sighed and made a quick note on her clipboard; Runestone smiled brightly, and then Umbra beckoned to Comet.

“Your turn,” she said.

Comet perked up and she looked around at the orbs. One on the far right drew her attention for some reason; it gave off a sort of ebbing, warm energy. She didn’t even really have to consider it and made a beeline for that one. The others didn’t seem to hold anything for her, but this one... This one was somehow wonderful. Confidently, Comet put her hoof on it, and opened her mouth to say she had made her choice, but a blink of her eyes and she was suddenly elsewhere. 

It was dark, late at night, and in the center of a crumbling, stone room, floated six ponies-- Comet recognized them as Twilight Sparkle and her friends from the stained glass windows. Her mouth dried and coloured light spattered her vision. A monstrous, black alicorn stood before them, mane aglitter like the deepest of night. The light blinded the blue unicorn, though, and suddenly, pictures were racing through her mind-- a group of pony friends and a small dragon, a strange creature like a serpentine dragon with parts made up of all different creatures; a monstrous unicorn seemingly made from shadows. The images came so rapidly that Comet could barely tell what they were at all until, with a flash of white, her vision cleared.

There were the ponies again, shining colours through the dark of a deep place, surrounded by specters. There were a few others, too. Younger-- Comet didn’t recognize them-- and a griffon, and young dragon. Words were shouted, something about a spell, something else about Celestia. The yellow pegasus of the group screaming the name Discord. Suddenly, there was magic, a lot of it, and they were gone. So was everything for just a moment, vanished in blackness.


---


It felt like it had been forever when she managed to open her eyes again, her head all a-tizzy. 

Stars...?

She could see stars. So many stars all around her that they formed drifting clouds, glowing blue and purple. Her breath caught in her throat, and, hurriedly, she spun around, trying to see where she was. Her hooves didn’t hit anything, but she moved like she was on solid ground. She squeaked out some alarmed sound,  and spun again, pausing in shock as she saw a spec of solid, light purple heading towards her slowly. Comet gulped and squinted through the distance. It took her a moment, but once she made out a shape, her heart dropped. It looked like a pony. 

With questions on the tip of her tongue, she took off at a gallop towards the purple point. Coming upon her quickly, she saw a mare, light mulberry purple, with a neat, straight mane of dark blue with a single streak of purple and one of pink. Her dark purple eyes were alight with curiosity and, to Comet’s surprise, it was quite clear that she had both a horn on her brow and wings folded at her sides.

“Hello there!” she called pleasantly, her wings spreading out, feathers brushing through the glow. “Wow, it’s been a while since anypony has been here!”

Comet skidded to a halt, eyes wide, ears back. She recognized this pony.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle! And welcome to my... um...” She tilted her head and smiled, embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I’m not exactly sure where I am. My sense of space and time has been just a teeny bit out of whack since that spell. Oh well. Who are you?”

“C-Comet. I’m... Comet,” the unicorn replied.

Her knees started to shake. She felt like she could collapse and float off into space.

“You... You have wings?!”

The mare looked at her with surprise and cast a glance back and then asked, “Why wouldn’t I have wings?”

Comet didn’t know what to say, but Twilight Sparkle approached her without a sound, her dark eyes roaming her curiously.

“So, since you’re here, you must need to borrow them, then?”

“Borrow what?”

Comet was baffled-- Her wings? What?!-- Twilight tilted her head.

“The Elements. That is why you came here, right? I mean, their magic is all around you. Isn’t that how you got here?”

“Got... here?” Comet repeated, baffled. “I-- What?”

“You don’t know? Well, never mind, that’s fine. You’ll do, anyway,” she assured her.

Comet’s mind pinged to the words and she was about to ask more.

“A few other ponies have come before,” Twilight said, “but I don’t think they actually managed to fix anything.”

She shot her a smile and raised Comet’s hoof up against hers, her ears perking up.

“I have a good feeling about you, though. Hope you can do it! Good luck!”

The word, “Wait!” was stuck on Comet’s tongue; before she could even make a sound, she was wrapped in energy and her vision went white. She felt herself fall-- fall a long, long way.


---


When Comet came to rest on cool stone, she felt as if she had just run a marathon. Hoofbeats drew her attention and she heard a frantic, “Oh no, oh no, oh no!” before she felt hooves on her shoulders.

“Comet, Comet, Comet, get up, pleeeeeeeeaassee please please?”

The blue unicorn waved a hoof, tired and dismissive, only to have the air abruptly squeezed out of her. Her eyes shot open and she peered squintingly into a small crowd of startled looking ponies and griffons she didn’t recognize as her body bobbed up and down. She sucked in a deep breath of air and strained her eyes to the side to see a familiar tan pelt and she knew where she was immediately. She blinked hard to properly clear her eyes, just in time to see Graham shoulder his way through the onlookers and tower over the two ponies, tenting his wings over them protectively as he leaned forward and asked, “What happened?” His words were short, but concerned nonetheless. 

“Comet touched the stone and... annd...” 

Comet was held back by her shoulders quickly and hers eyes met with Runestone’s. His expression was utterly worried and he couldn’t seem to help himself from brushing a bit of her mane out of her rather dazed face. 

“What happened, Comet, do you know?” he asked gently.

“I... um...” she replied, and she tilted her head and had to lift her forelimbs to steady herself against her friend. “Aw, feathers, I fainted again? ...Twice in one day? Seriously?”

She rubbed her eyelids tiredly, frustrated, but when she opened her eyes she saw her friend looking at her as if still waiting for an answer. She sighed.

“There was a lot of magic. Um... I think I was hallucinating. ”

“What?” Graham pushed. “Comet Strike, what did you see?”

Comet was a bit hesitant to repeat it, but the griffon looked genuinely concerned. She took a deep breath, finding the inside of her mouth surprisingly cold. She sucked her tongue.

“It... looked like the defeat of Nightmare Moon,” she tried to explain. “Then a lot of stuff: a blur, and then... Twilight and her friends fighting something, then vanishing, and... Twilight Sparkle. She was in this strange place made of stars or something, and she had wings! It was... It felt really real, but...”

She shook her head and then made to raise a hoof to rub her forehead, but almost instantly, Runestone grabbed it and stared at the underside intently. Comet’s eyes went wide and before she could ask, the stallion spun her to face Graham and held up her hoof to him.

“What do you make of that?” he asked.

“What? Make of what?” Comet asked quickly.

Without an answer, Graham gently took her forelimb and looked at her with one eye and the other. 

“Goodness,” he breathed, and then drew back. “This is not the first, but... Curious. Very curious. Comet, may we discuss this more later?”

Baffled, the young mare nodded and Graham gave her a tired smile before folding his wings in and drawing back to return through the crowd.

“Everything is all right now,” she announced.

The other ponies looked past at Comet, seeming a little concerned. Umbra, in particular, wore a deep, puzzled frown on her face. She looked as if she were about to say something to Comet, but quickly decided against it, turning to the group and announcing, “Nothing to see here. Get going,” quite sharply, her tail flicking back and forth. Cloudrush lingered a little longer behind her until she pushed him back with the rest of the crowd.

“Feel better soon, Comet!” Cloudrush called before scurrying off with the others.

Comet drew a blank as to what just happened and then, curiously, looked at the bottom of her hoof. Her stomach dropped as she saw what they had all been staring at. A six pointed star in grey was stained into the white of her hoof, so smooth and natural, as if she had been born with it. Comet didn’t notice she was making a rather alarmed squealing sound until Runestone scooted in front and grabbed her hoof in both of his.

“Hey, it’s okay, Comet. You’re fine. Right?”  he assured her. 

She took a in deep breath and blew it out slowly, and then nodded and smiled at him tiredly.

“Yeah. Yeah. Thanks,” she said. “Thanks for picking me up, too.”

He nodded and smiled a bit shyly, and then awkwardly released her hoof and rubbed the back of his head. She, on the other hand, rubbed her forehead tiredly and grumbled, “I wish I didn’t keep getting zapped in the brain.”

“Did it hurt?” the stallion asked, his eyes wide and curious, but his expression otherwise sympathetic.

Comet shook her head.

“No, it didn’t hurt, it was just... weird,” she said.

“It’s happened more than once, has it?” 

Comet turned to see Umbra peering over her curiously. 

“Not this,” Comet said a bit shyly. “But I... Old magic artifacts seem to affect me in weird ways, I guess.”

The striped unicorn started as her, frowning slightly.

“Well, you must have an affinity for that sort of thing,” she said.

“Affinity?” Runestone repeated, looking between the two, and Umbra rolled her eyes.

“Yes. Affinity. I assume you know what that word means?” 

“Um... yes,” the stallion said a bit awkwardly, the the unicorn simply scoffed.

“I suspect you may have felt the power of somepony who used the same stone before you,” Umbra said.

Comet nodded and muttered, “Makes sense.”

“It’s happened before,” Umbra continued. “Let me see your hoof.”

Comet nodded and lifted it so that the other unicorn could see the marking on the bottom. 

“Ah,” she said simply. “Yes. About five of the ones before you have experienced something similar picking that particular stone; come away with a marking like that somewhere on their body, too. Usually a shoulder or a hoof, something like that.”

“So... So I’m not totally weird, then?” the unicorn asked with relief.

Umbra laughed and shook her head.

“No. Not at all, really.”

“Good,” Comet sighed.

The other unicorn nodded and then jerked her head at the lingering crowd at the edge of the platform. Comet got to her hooves shakily, while Runestone stood beside her and propped her up carefully. They rushed to join the rest, and Cloudrush hurried towards them as they settled into the group.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

A few other ponies were leaning in a bit curiously, and the blue unicorn tried not to seem outwardly uncomfortable.

“Yeah, just a bit of a magic overload. It’s fine,” Comet assured him.

“Do you know what happens now?” Runestone asked.

“Just wait a little longer for the others to finish,” a brown mare said quietly from behind them.

Runestone nodded and he squished closer to Comet, who in turn went in closer to Cloudrush. 

Behind them, a few of the other ponies began to move out, leaving, for the most part, those few that had been placed into groups just a little while before. It wasn’t much longer until two more ponies arrived, seemingly from nowhere, up the ramp and approaching the group of six stones. Comet’s head was still swimming, she didn’t really notice the rest of the picking process, and only managed to pay attention again when Runestone nudged her. Blinking quickly, she looked up, noticing that around her, the other ponies and the few griffons were moving off across the the platform. Umbra lead the herd, the six stones circling her in the glow of her magic. Comet cast a worried glance at Runestone, though he shrugged and edged her on.

They had fallen behind the rest of the group, and by the time they had joined them, they had all crowded around another, short, broken pillar, layered with large goblets, most of them old metal, marked with wings and stars, but a few were a little newer looking, golden, and seemingly cast from the one of the others judging by the degradation of the patterns. Umbra seemed to be halfway through some ritual with the stones and the contents of the goblets, magic in different colours emanating and sparking, lighting up the faces of the onlookers. The shock of energy in the air woke Comet’s brain up a little, and she took a deep breath. After just a moment, Umbra began passing the goblets around, presenting one to each pony. Comet took hers in her magic a bit hesitantly and looked in her old, worn cup. The liquid within was thick and a strange, bright magenta in colour. The unicorn cast her gaze around at the others and saw many of the contents were different. Beside her, Runestone’s was a sharp red, while on her other side, she noticed Cloudrush’s was rich purple. He shrugged and she responded in kind. 

“Now,” Umbra announced loudly, “you will probably have heard that the Wardens of Harmony have some ‘special powers’ that allow them to take the power from Nightspawn. If you want that power, you must drink.”

An alarmed murmur passed through the group and Comet stared at the strange liquid in her cup. She looked at it skeptically, and then looked at Runestone. She was shocked to see him chugging down whatever was in his goblet without much of a care. When he was finished, he lowered the goblet and looked a bit confused, stuck his tongue out.

“Well... Not as bad as I thought it would be,” he whispere. 

Comet had to stop a laugh and, all around her, others were tentatively starting to drink. A shriek from the front made Comet jump and peer around the crowd her eyes widening as she saw a yellow mare on the ground, blue liquid spilled from her goblet. Comet felt a shock of panic and more ponies began to whinny with fear as a few more dropped. Comet turned her eyes on Umbra immediately, but the tall, striped mare seemed rather unfazed by it.

At Comet’s side, Cloudrush coughed on his drink and the unicorn whirled on him hurriedly.

“You okay?” she demanded.

He looked dazed for a moment and then nodded, and Comet called, “Hey, Umbra, what’s going on, are they okay?!”

“Stay where you are. Drink,” Umbra insisted coolly. “I’ll answer everything once everyone is done.”

Comet frowned deeply and, trying to quell her panic, chugged down the liquid quickly. It didn’t taste like much but carbonation and it made her ears ring and her vision swim for a second. She winced but she didn’t feel very different and, around her, some of the worried creatures downed theirs as well. A couple more fell and Comet’s fur bristled uncomfortably.  Runestone’s ears were back and he looked at her with worry and clenched his teeth. A pony in front of them swooned and Comet yelped; Runestone caught her hurriedly and, cautiously, bent an ear to her neck. Comet looked at them worriedly and the stallion said, quietly, “Definitely a heartbeat.” Comet let out a relieved breath and her friend smiled at her tiredly. 

After just a few moments, a few more ponies joined them gently taking the collapsed ones away. Runestone held the mare he had caught a little tighter, though, looking at the white unicorn that approached him intently.

“She’s going to be okay?” he asked.

The unicorn nodded and, though hesitating a little, Runestone finally gave in and passed her off to the other mare. By the time all of the fallen had been taken away, there was only six ponies and three griffons left standing, all on edge, some looking a little sick.

“If you’re wondering,” Umbra said loudly, “what you’ve just taken into your bodies is magic that will let you absorb the energy from fallen Nightspawn and will make you immune to their poisons. Those that were taken away will be fine, their bodies simply weren’t compatible with the magic. You are all now, effectively, Wardens of Harmony. From now on, you will join us in our fight to keep the kingdom safe from the Nighspawn. Forget any oaths you may have taken before. The Wardens are your family now, and that is a bond that can’t be broken, by words or otherwise. Welcome.”

Comet was taken aback and her mind jumped to, That’s it?! before she looked around her. Flowerdrop, who had made it through as well, snorted and frowned. The others left were the brown mare with the boyish, cream-coloured mane, that had stood just little behind them, a short, pale red unicorn mostly hidden under his warm, brown robes, and the three griffons: a dark brown, long-eared one with the stripes of a tiger on her flanks, a tawny one with a white head and lion’s tail, and finally, a grey and white one splattered with black leopard spots. 

“You couldn’t have told us what was going to happen?” Flowerdrop asked sharply. “I thought you were poisoning us!”

Umbra chuckled and shook her head. 

“I said no such thing.” 

Flowerdrop frowned and pouted, and the tall, striped unicorn strode back down the ramp, the magic along her horn finally fizzling out.

“I’d suggest you all get some sleep,” the unicorn said.

Umbra strode away gracefully, leaving the tired, shaky group to themselves. Comet took a deep breath and she patted Runestone’s back tiredly. He laughed and rubbed his forehead.

“Should we head back?” 

Comet nodded and shot a look towards Cloudrush.

“I’d love to get some rest,” he agreed, fluffing his feathers.

They started towards the ramp, only to hear a scampering of hooves and a timid call for them to wait. The ponies paused and looked back to see the robed unicorn hurrying to catch up. Beneath his hood, his eyes were very light and his mane was a pale pink. He looked a bit unsure of himself, but when Runestone said, “Hi!” brightly, the pony perked up. 

Flowerdrop seemed to reluctantly plod after them and the brown mare, a tall and rather powerful-looking earth pony, also moved to join them. The griffons, lagging behind, looked a little unsure; Comet sighed and gave them a wave and turned to move on, reassured by the sound of flapping wings joining them.

“That was scary, huh?” the red unicorn asked.

“Especially when the others started droppin’,” the brown mare added. “I’m not one to get rattled easy, but by Celestia’s tail, that was unnervin’.”

“Yeah,” Comet agreed, shooting the brown griffon a smile and a nod as she landed close by to trot along with the group. “Yeah. That was scary.”

“So, who’re you guys?” the brown griffon asked. “No one else from my group made it. I’m Gwen.”

“Call me ‘Flash’,” the tawny griffon said as he flapped up to land as well, grinning. “Good to meet you guys.”

“Amber Moon,” the brown mare said, putting a hoof to her chest briefly.

“And I’m Pointer,” the small, red unicorn said.

“Gale,” the final griffon announced.

“Comet, Cloudrush and Runestone.”

The tan stallion pointed them all out and Flowerdrop finally poked her head into the group, saying, “Flowerdrop, if anyone cares.”

“Great to meet you,” Gwen assured her.

Returning to camp was somewhat eerie in the darkness, and almost everyone, save for the guards on the walls, seemed to be asleep and all was silent. The dark was really starting to make Comet nervous, but she didn’t say a word to the rest of the group: they seemed on edge enough on their own. The group split up at the Warden tents to sleep. Inside the large tent, the one Comet and Runestone had been in before, some of the ponies from the group who hadn’t quite made it were passed out on their beds. Comet found her bed quickly in the dark and, after bidding Runestone, Gwen, Pointer and Flowerdrop goodnight, she flopped down onto the mattress and forced her eyes closed.

Despite her mind begging for sleep, the unicorn couldn’t get comfortable. She rolled around through the covers, though she was unable to settle down. With a sigh, Comet rolled off the bed and looked around. Runestone was already asleep, but he looked a little sad. She didn’t want to bother him, and so she headed back out into the darkness past the tent. She found herself wanting to pace and she wandered quietly and aimlessly around camp. 

The place was huge, more like a small town the more she explored. Away from the tents of the soldiers, generals and Wardens, Comet found, downhill, a river that cut through the fort and a series of vendor’s tents. There was also a paddock containing a plethora of sleeping animals. Comet tracked the running water all the way down to the wall, finding that the surface was flush with a gap in the stone. She frowned to herself and tilted her head, leaning over the water close to the wall.

“I was worried about that, too.”

Comet jumped at the sound of the voice and whirled, eyes wide. Behind her, Pointer stood with an embarrassed smile on his face, unrobed, his short, pink mane a bit tussled with bed-head.

“Sorry,” he said, “I couldn’t sleep either.”

He nodded at the gap in the wall.

“That goes down pretty far and there’s a few sections of tight grating, according to the soldiers. Nothing can get through but a fish. I asked.”

“Oh. Well, that’s good,” Comet said. “I’m just a bit paranoid about them getting under the walls. The Nightspawn, I mean.”

Pointer nodded and he gave her a smile and offered her his hoof.

“Comet, right? I’m Berry Pointer. I just go by ‘Pointer’, though.”

Comet nodded and clopped her hoof against his.

“I remember. Good to meet you.”

Pointer seemed pleased but stood by as Comet paced the river bank for a moment longer and then watched as she dipped her hoof in the water curiously. Tiredly, the blue unicorn took a seat on the grass and tried to quell a yawn. The other unicorn cautiously lowered himself and rested nearby. Comet wasn’t sure what he wanted, but she didn’t mind the company. After a little white, the smaller unicorn asked, “So you’re from the Tower?” 

Comet nodded.

“Not you, though, right?”

“Right. I’m a rogue unicorn,” he said with a laugh, “From a farm in Ponyville, actually.”

“Sunwalkers didn’t find you there?” Comet asked, surprised.

Pointer shook his head.

“Nope, Sunwalker patrols usually can’t get into Ponyville. Unicorns from there only go to the Tower if they want to study.”

“Lucky,” Comet joked. “But... how is that possible? Does the barrier do that?”

“As far as I know,” Pointer said. “You’ve been, I take it?”

“Yeah, Graham took me and my friend through on our way here,” Comet said. “Just... well, just yesterday, I guess.”

Pointer nodded and smiled a little to himself, leaning back to look through the shimmering barrier above and into the night sky. Comet was still a little more preoccupied with the water. She ran her hoof through it absently and then, frowning, looked at the bottom. The star mark was still there. She pouted and rubbed her forehead before turning to the other unicorn, who looked like he was starting to nod off.

“Feeling any different?” she asked.

He shook his head.

“I wonder what that weird potion does, anyway,” he said quietly.

“No idea,” the blue unicorn said.

She stretched and looked around, even as Pointer began to fall asleep in the grass. She still didn’t feel quite right. She sighed and stood to readjust herself, spinning in place for a moment before a fleck of silver caught her eye. She paused to take a look, and felt a tingle of fear pass through her when she noticed a unicorn she recognized as Icicle Star staring down from the hill above, eyes locked on them. Comet bit her lip. She prayed to Celestia that he wouldn’t approach, and then hurried back to Pointer. The red unicorn was asleep in the grass, and quickly, Comet lifted him in her magic.

“I’ll take you back to the tent, okay?” she said softly.

He didn’t answer-- Obviously, she thought, trying to quell her racing heart-- and she began to make the trip back along the river and up the hill. She tried not to rush. She didn’t want to draw his attention any more. 

It was all she could do to keep from cursing very loudly when the tall, lithe unicorn strode into her path from on the hilltop, looking her up and down with cool eyes.

“Good evening, Miss Comet Strike,” he said pleasantly. “Out for a stroll?”

“Ah, I just... We just couldn’t sleep,” she said, nodding her head at her floating charge.

Icicle tilted his head. 

“Good technique,” he commented casually. “Nice form. Very solid. Your Archmage told me as such last time we spoke.”

“Did she?” Comet said, trying to bite her tongue and smile. “That’s very kind of her to say so.”

“Kind? No. True, yes,” Icicle said. “Did she ever tell you her plans for you?”

Comet’s heart sunk.

“P-Plans?” she repeated.

“She wanted you as her personal apprentice,” the stallion replied simply, “but I suppose your induction to the Wardens has stopped that?”

“Well, I... I didn’t have much of a choice,” Comet said, and quickly added, “And I had a friend I couldn’t leave.”

“I see.” He smiled at her. “You will be a grand Warden, from what I’ve heard. Good luck, my dear, try to sleep well.”

He turned and began away, and Comet squeaked out, “Thank you, sir,” before hurrying back into the tent, heart racing.

Comet took a moment to find Pointer’s bed, marked with the same strawberry on a spiral that was on his flank, and placed him down gently before she returned to her own. Trying to quell the unease, she settled down and squished into her pillow. 


---


Comet woke up with the sound of a deep, rhythmic beat in her head, faint and far in the distance. She opened her eyes lethargically and sucked her dry tongue, sitting up in bed to look around for the cause of the sound. The tent was fairly vacant, with beds only still occupied by the new recruits or the ones who couldn’t complete the test. She stretched and got to her hooves. She felt a little awkward, noticing she had fallen asleep in her shoulder plate, but she shook her fur, readjusted it, and when she noticed Runestone was gone, she headed outside.

The sun stained the sky orange as it crept a little higher in the sky, making the clouds around it seem strangely dark. Despite the earliness, the camp was all abustle. The sounds of swords clashing and magic sparking were clear in the air, and so Comet assumed drills were all ready taking place. Trying to stay out of the way, Comet headed back to the place Shatter had taken her to train. She was pleased to see Runestone there and she smiled and began towards him, but before long, his behaviour gave her pause. He was attacking the training dummies viciously, lashing out and slamming the one he was targeting to the ground before ramming himself into the next. Comet gulped: something about it scared her.

A little hesitant now as her friend obliterated a third training dummy, Comet edged closer and awkwardly called out to him as he crushed the head of the dummy under an iron shod hoof. His ears perked and he turned on her and though his expression was uncharacteristically hard and a bit of his face was bruised. She was taken aback, but when his eyes locked on hers, his usual grin was on his face and he trotted up to her quickly.

“Good morning!” he said brightly. “How did you sleep? I went down like a log!”

“Um... I slept... okay,” she said, tilting her head. “Look, are...? Are you okay?”

“What?” He looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s just... You didn’t look... happy,” she said uncertainly, “and your face is bruised.”

“Is it?” he said, letting out a laugh and touching a hoof to his cheek. “Ah! I was training with Graham this morning. I’m fine.”

“Oh. Well... Okay,” Comet replied. “Umm... Did you happen to hear drumming or something this morning?”

“Hmm...” 

The stallion scratched his head and looked around.

“Um... A while ago, actually, but I haven’t seen anyone playing anything,” he said, “Oh! But there was something weird going on near the animal paddock. There was a stallion called Bluespruce looking for some help over there, if you’re interested.”

“Oh, okay,” she said. 

She shuffled on her hooves for a moment and Runestone looked at her with puzzlement before he gently took one of her hooves up in his and peered at it intently. Comet’s ears drooped and she leaned in to note that he was looking at the strange mark that had appeared.

“Graham told me this happened before,” he said, “just like Umbra said. I hope you haven’t been too worried about it.”

“Nah,” she said, though his words only reminded her of the lingering confusion about what had happened to her. “So... What are you up to?”

“Just training,” he assured her. “I’ve been hearing rumours about... Well... Actually, that’s fine, don’t worry about it. I’ll tell you more when I know for sure.”

“Oh.”

Comet’s ears drooped low despite herself and Runestone immediately looked apologetic.

“Graham’s going to gather all of us new Wardens for a meeting later today anyway, he’ll give all the news. I don’t want you to worry about something that might not be true,” he said quickly.

“Can’t you just tell me?” Comet asked worriedly.

Runestone bit his lip and shuffled on his hooves for a moment before he let out a sigh, his ears perked high, and he leaned in quite close to her.

“I’ve heard that the Nightspawn are only a day away. Graham’s been making plans to fight them with the General and the King and Queen,” he said at a hurried whisper.

Comet’s eyes widened.

“Seriously?!” 

He nodded and shushed her quickly, looking around in a sort of paranoid way before he said, “It’s not for sure. We’ll know a bit later. Anyway, try not to panic.”

“Try not to panic,” she repeated, letting out an exhausted laugh. “Yeah. Okay.”

Runestone looked at her sympathetically and, hesitating for just a moment, he put a forelimb around her neck and pulled her into a gentle hug, touching his snout to her brow below her horn. She couldn’t help but relax a little bit, and he assured her, “We’re going to be okay.”

“Right,” she agreed.

He pulled back and gave her a smile; she nodded and sighed, casting her eyes around.

“Is Shatter Spear around?”

“I haven’t seen him,” he replied.

Comet rubbed her forehead and nodded, trying to figure out what to do with herself, and then decided, “Guess I’ll go see what this Bluespruce pony wants.”

“Okay,” Runestone said.

She said a quick, “See you later!” as she turned to head off. Only a few horselengths away and she paused as she heard Runestone call her name. She paused and peered back over her shoulder.

“We... We should train together sometime!” he said.

Comet smiled and nodded, and her friend looked incredibly relieved. He grinned and waved and she snickered in response before going on her way.

She remembered the animal paddock from the previous night and so headed there. On her way, she noticed Flowerdrop strutting about quite proudly with a falcon sitting on her back. She saw another soldier with a dog playfully jumping at his ankles as she approached the paddock. Leaning across the fence was a dark, cornflower blue stallion, wearing light leather armour, with tired green eyes and an unkept, deep azure-coloured mane and tail. Comet stood on the tips of her hooves to peer over his shoulder at some of the creatures in the paddock and the small, barn-like structure with a pile of barrels against its walls, and then cleared her throat. The stallion jumped and then whirled on her.

“You here for a pet?” he asked.

“A... What? No!” Comet fumbled. “I was told to come here, somepony called Bluespruce needed some help? That’s you, right?”

“Yes! Yes, uh... I need some help with these animals,” he said.

He pointed to the paddock and looked rather urgent. Comet leaned over to look and only saw a few birds and a snake in there, all of them looking relatively calm. She was confused.

“What do you need help with?” Comet asked.

“Oh! Sorry, I thought you knew,” the stallion said. “I need you, or anypony really, to take one of these animals.”

“Wh... What?” Comet asked blankly. “Take one? Like--”

“A pet! Yes!” Bluespruce said, eyes wide and bright.

“Oh. No. No, no, no, I can’t take care of a pet,” Comet said quickly. “I mean... I’m a new Warden, and I barely know what I’m doing with that, so--”

“Please, just take a look?” the stallion begged. “These animals are all gathered from the wrecked towns nearby. They don’t have anyone to look after them. They’re refugees, too!”

Comet grimaced and looked back into the paddock and Bluespruce pouted and looked at her pleadingly.  She frowned to herself.

Do I even know anything about animals?

She bit her lip for a moment and then took a deep breath.

“Well, I guess I could take a look,” she replied a little hesitantly.

The stallion let out a loud phew and pulled the door to the paddock open and gestured for her to enter.

She did so slowly, looking cautiously at the animals around her. None of them seemed to really pay her much mind, even as she stepped through their space. She felt rather unwelcome, and began to wonder if she should have bothered. Nonetheless, she took another look around, and soon her ears were twitching towards the sound of splashing. Confused, Comet trotted towards the sound, which she quickly noticed was coming from an old rain barrel. Peering over, she could only see a thrashing shape within, and with jolt of alarm, she lifted the creature clear of the water inside a bolt of magic and held it aloft. What she revealed made her jaw drop: she now held a small, spine-covered, mottled teal and grey-blue crocodile with short horns on the back of his head, his tail swishing as he dangled. He stared back at her with bright red eyes that blinked one at a time and seemed to grin at her, but then again, that might have just been his long teeth.

“Um...” 

Comet didn’t know what to do with the creature. The teeth made her quite afraid to place him on the ground. Nonetheless, she leaned forward just a smidgen. 

“Are you... um... Are you okay?” she asked.

The crocodile simply wagged his tail. Comet wasn’t really sure what to do, but she finally elected to place him on the ground at a reasonable distance from herself.  

“Okay, be more careful next time, all right?” she said a little awkwardly. 

Again, the reptile wagged his tail. Comet hesitantly backed away and then turned, but as she headed away, she heard the slapping of feet behind her. She cringed and checked from the corner of her eye to see the crocodile following close behind. She bit her lip and wondered in what capacity the sharp-toothed creature was interested in her. 

“Is he following you?” 

Comet turned to see Bluespruce leaning over the fence curiously. The unicorn cast a glance back but barely even had time to register that the crocodile wasn’t there before she felt his rigid scales brushing up between her forelimbs. The fur on her neck bristled and she looked down at the reptile, who seemed rather oblivious. The stallion across from her smiled, partly amused and partly relieved.

“That’s great, most ponies were too scared of him to do anything with him, and he wasn’t exactly being social,” he explained. 

“Oh,” Comet said blankly, and she stared until it occurred to her that this little beast was her new pet.“Oh! Um...”

She looked down at the crocodile again and this time, he looked up, blinking and opening his toothy jaws. Despite that, he wiggled, rubbing against her quite happily. Bluespruce inclined his head at her and leaned farther forward, asking, “You are taking him, aren’t you?”

“Um... Y-Yeah, I guess I am,” she decided, hoping desperately that she wouldn’t regret it. “Does he have a name?”

“Not that I know of,” he replied.

“Okay... What about how big he’ll get? Do you know what species?”

The stallion shrugged and looked apologetic.

“Not sure. The biggest of all crocodiles get about six-and-a-half....  seven meters long?”

Comet’s eyes went wide and all she could do was utter a startled, “Oh!” as the stallion smiled at her. She sighed and looked at the crocodile. He looked back at her with wide eyes and flapped his feet around in the dirt before brushing his snout gently against the fur of her foreleg. She bit her lip and then nodded, resigned.

“Okay, I guess we should go,” she said. “I’ll think of a name for you, I guess.”

Bluespruce opened the pen and Comet left, the crocodile close behind. 

It made Comet a little on edge to have such a creature tailing her, but she sucked it up and continued. Despite the strange looks, she headed to the venders and bought some fish from a griffon before settling down for a little rest near the river. The crocodile ate what she gave him quickly, but was in the water fishing for himself within minutes. 

That’s good, at least he can get food for himself, she thought. 

Sighing tiredly, she rested her head on her front hooves and held back a yawn. She listened to her new pet splashing in the river and let her eyelids droop closed, just until she heard the creature clambering out of the water. She turned to look at him as he proudly gulped down a mouthful of freshly caught fish. Comet thought it was kind of gross, but she understood. She gave him a tired smile.

“Guess you’re quite the hunter,” she said. “You still need a name, right?”

She tapped her chin and her mind wooshed around any name that might suit him, until she settled on a common constellation.

“How about Orion?” she asked. “Orion is the name of a hunter, so...”

She looked questioningly at the crocodile, and though his face didn’t change much, his tail and haunches wiggled and he settled down beside her lazily. Comet snorted a quiet laugh and said, sleepily, “Well... I guess I’ll be taking care of you from now on. Just promise you won’t try to eat me when you’re seven meters long, okay?” 

He didn’t answer, of course, but let out a quiet, pleased sound. Comet hoped it was some sort of affirmation, but then again, he was a crocodile; she couldn’t really be sure.

She had only closed her eyes for a moment when she heard the faint drums again. She tried to ignore it, but found herself rather quickly refocussed on the sound of talons through the grass and the faint shifting of feathers. She eyes opened a sliver to see mostly dark and she sat up upon hearing her name in Graham’s familiar, deep voice. 

“Graham. Hi,” she said quickly. “Or, um... Commander. Hi...”

She paused awkwardly, not knowing exactly how to address the griffon now that she was officially a Warden. He smiled at her gently and let out a quiet chuckle.

“Don’t worry, my dear,” he assured her. 

She nodded and his eyes wandered to the crocodile beside her, whom she noticed had begun to mimic her posture.

“Ah,” he said, “Bluespruce needed more help, I see.”

“So he’s done this before?” Comet asked.

“He’s been giving animals out to anyone who will take one ever since he was put in charge of them, I’m afraid,” Graham said. “But of course, one can’t really blame him. He is most naturally a carpenter, not a caretaker. Will it be a problem for you?”

Comet’s ears went back and she looked at Orion, who in turn looked at her and snapped his jaws once. He seemed happy.

“I think we’ll be okay,” she assured him. “Is there... Is there something you need?”

“I was hoping to take another look at that mark on your hoof, if I’m honest,” the griffon said.

Comet nodded and lifted her hoof, and Graham took it in his talon and inspected it curiously. It took him just a moment, but before long, he nodded and then spread a wing, beckoning her to follow him. She did and the small crocodile bounded to keep up.


Graham took Comet to a smaller tent behind the large one she had slept in: like the others, it was grey and emblazoned with the mythical hippogriff, wings spreadeagled. Inside was not much more than a bed fit for the huge creature that Graham was and a small table with a single book placed carefully in its center. Comet lifted Orion with her magic as she saw him snapping at the hems of the tent and placed him over her back as she followed Graham to the table. He nodded at the book; it looked rather plain, with a tattered, blue-grey cover, worn in the corners from use and age.

“Have you ever seen this book before?”

“Uh...” Comet looked at it in puzzlement and then back to Graham with a frown of confusion. “It, uh... Well, it looks like a lot of books from the library, except it has no title on it.”

Graham tilted his head and then gingerly opened the book and flipped through a few pages, guiding Comet forward with a wing. The unicorn was surprised to see the book contained an old history, discussing mostly the Wardens of Harmony from what she could tell; in this book, Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s most faithful student and protege, had wings. 

“So, she... she did--?” she began, and Graham nodded.

“Even Twilight Sparkle was not immune to the censorship imposed by the early Sunwalkers,” he said.

“Why, though?” Comet asked. “Twilight is revered by everyone else, right? I know at the Tower she was left out, but... I don’t get it.”

“As you, of all ponies, will be well aware of,” Graham said. “With the blame for Celestia’s disappearance placed on unicorns, the stigma was overwhelming. They would not allow the idea that a unicorn could become an alicorn and ascend to the same level as Celestia.”

Comet’s ears drooped and she looked at Graham, gulping deeply.

“But what does this have to do with me?”

“You’ve become one amongst a growing group to have seen a vision of Twilight Sparkle with wings before ever being aware it was possible,” he said. “I simply wished to confirm.”

“Uh... Oh.”

Comet didn’t really know what to say. She felt the little clawed feet grab her back and Orion clambered up to poke his head over hers. Graham eyed her and the horned crocodile up and down and then smiled, patting her on the shoulder gently. 

“I’m sorry to single you out,” he said. “I was speaking with Runestone earlier this morning. He and I were both concerned for you.”

“He was? You were?” she asked; her ears drooped.

The griffon nodded.

“There will be a meeting of the Wardens this afternoon. I trust you’ll be there?”

Comet nodded in a hurry and Graham assured her, “You may go. Also, you may take your book back whenever you wish.”

“Oh. Okay. Thanks,” Comet said quickly. 

She trotted out, checking the sun for the time, and then took a look around. She had nowhere to go, and nothing to do without Shatter Spear around to give her fighting lessons, so she headed back towards where she had found Runestone before.

Upon arriving at the training dummies, however, she was surprised to see that he wasn’t there, instead replaced by some soldiers she didn’t recognize. Her ears drooped, but she felt the crocodile on her back nuzzle her neck gently. She cast a glance at him in surprise and he merely grinned back at her. Comet sighed and smiled despite herself, saying, “Thanks,” before she continued on and back to their tent. 

Her friend wasn’t there either, but some of the others were starting to wake up. She noted Pointer in particular was starting to stretch as he got up. He noticed her.

“Good morning,” he said through a yawn.

The mare gave him a nod and quietly trotted to his bedside, asking, “How did you sleep?”

“Hmm? Oh. Fine, thanks,” he replied quietly, rubbing one of his eyes with a hoof. “I could have slept longer, but this weird drumming sound woke me up?”

“Drumming?” Comet repeated a bit nervously.

Pointer nodded and then blinked, finally focusing properly on the unicorn; his eyes widened.

“What’s that on your back?!” he asked shrilly.

“Oh,” Comet said, pointing over her shoulder, “that’s Orion. I think he’s my new pet. There’s a stallion near the animal paddock sort of pawning them off on anyone who’ll take one to look after, so...”

“Ooh,” Pointer said with a grin. “That actually sounds interesting, I think I’ll check it out. Wanna come?”

“I actually have a few things I have to take care of in here,” she said apologetically.

The red unicorn shrugged and smiled; he hopped out of bed and stretched.

“Guess I’ll see you later then! Good luck with your stuff,” he said.

“Same to you,” Comet said; the other unicorn left quietly, seeming rather excited and Comet hurried on to the planning table at the back of the room. 

Sure enough, her book was still there. She didn’t really have anything to carry it with anymore, but she picked it up nonetheless and ferried it back to her bed and chest of belongings. She was about to put it away, but curiosity got the best of her and she quickly flipped through it, looking for any sign that Twilight Sparkle might have had wings. There wasn’t anything, not even a hint; however, there were several places where pages had been torn, or text marked over with black ink, so she supposed it could have been in there at some point. She still had no evidence, though. It put her on edge, as did the separate notion that it seemed like all of the new recruits were being woken up to the sound of drums they couldn’t find. She wasn’t sure what to make of it, but she quietly stashed her book in the chest at the foot of her bed.

Back outside, she could see more of the Warden recruits, having just woken up, scattered outside some of their other tents. She saw Cloudrush and he noticed her at almost the same moment, beckoning her to join him. She trotted over to him.

“Good morning!” he said.

Comet was about to ask how he had slept, but before she could, Orion poked his head around her neck and gave the pegasus a grin.

“Oh! Hi to you too!” Cloudrush said. “Comet, how are you feeling? After last night...”

He frowned worriedly and the unicorn quickly assured him, “I’m fine.” He nodded and cast a glance around.

“Who’s that drumming?” he wondered. “I couldn’t sleep through it anymore, but I’m still tired.”

“There’s no one drumming,” Comet said.

“What? No way, I’m sure I heard it,” the pegasus said a bit shrilly.

“I know. I heard it too. It woke me up a while ago. But there’s no one drumming,” she said, and then edged a bit closer, whispering, “Between us? I talked to Runestone and Pointer and they both said the same thing.”

“No way!” Cloudrush exclaimed. “Amber Moon said she heard it too! How is that possible?”

Comet tilted her head and mused about it for a moment.

“Must have something to do with becoming a Warden, I guess,” she decided.

“That’s what I was thinking. I just can’t believe it,” the pegasus said with a sigh; he rubbed his mane and then looked embarrassed, trying to change the subject. “S-So, what’s going on today? Training?”

“Warden meeting at noon. That’s all I know,” Comet admitted.

Cloudrush frowned to himself and nodded.

“I should go tell the others. Meet up with you later?”

“Of course,” Comet said.

The pegasus smiled and nodded, and then took off quickly in a blur of sky-coloured feathers.  Comet did her best to quell a sigh: she couldn’t help but feel like she was running into everyone except the stallion she wanted to see. 

Unsure of what to do with herself, Comet meandered down to the river again and rested along its banks whilst Orion played; swimming back and forth quite contentedly. Noon couldn’t come quickly enough for her.

When the sun was high enough, Comet scooped up her crocodile and headed back up the hill towards the Warden tents. When she arrived, she found many of the others gathered in a clearing between the tents-- she saw Cloudrush and, to her relief, Runestone, standing together and made a note that the others that were there were standing in their groups as well. Comet hurried to join the two stallions; Cloudrush nodded at her and Runestone gave her a grin.

“Hi Comet! Have a good morning? What have you got on you?”

“Orion, pet crocodile,” Comet explained for what she felt was the umpteenth time, but she smiled nonetheless, especially as Runestone cooed and patted the reptile on the head affectionately.“Strange morning. You?”

“Rough,” he admitted. “Got into a bit of a scuffle with that group I was supposed to be training with yesterday.”

“What?!” Comet yelped. “Are you okay?!”

His ears drooped, but he nodded nonetheless.

“Maybe you should be asking how those other ponies are doing instead,” Cloudrush muttered as he gave Runestone a nudge in the ribs.

The tan stallion shushed him quickly, but Comet frowned in puzzlement.

“What does he mean?” she asked.

Runestone looked like he wasn’t sure what to say for a moment, but then relief passed over his face when he was able to quickly point to Graham as the griffon entered the camp, followed rather swiftly by General River Rush and King Tornado.

Comet held her tongue but disapprovingly smacked her friend’s leg before she formed into line beside him. He cut his eyes at her and whispered, “Sorry,” as Graham moved to stand before the group quietly. 

It wasn’t much longer before another group-- not recruits, but both Shatter Spear and Umbra were among them, so still Wardens, most likely-- moved in to join them.

“Greetings, my friends,” Graham said, drawing the attention of everyone present. “Welcome. I trust you all slept well.”

He spread his wings, his chest feathers puffing out a little as he did.

“I am pleased to welcome our new recruits as official Wardens,” he said, “The timing could not be more critical. Though unfortunate to mar this important occasion, I must make an urgent announcement. Our scouts are reporting back that a Nightspawn attack is imminent. They will likely strike tomorrow evening.”

Comet cringed with fear; Runestone pushed a little closer to her nervously, and though a worried murmur broke out quietly, Graham didn’t seem bothered or stalled by it.

“The King, General River Rush, and I will be meeting today to confer on plans, which you will be informed of your initial part in this evening,” he said. “For now, I will let the General detail what will be happening with the bulk of the army so you all can get a basic idea of what will be going on.”

He beckoned to River Rush, though the General seemed almost to be staring into space for a moment before he cleared his throat and took a position before the group before he began to speak.

He began to talk about numbers and formations, citing the unpredictability of the Nightspawn for his choices, but Comet couldn’t really follow it. She didn’t entirely understand, but she was also a bit distracted by how the General looked this afternoon. His pupils were strangely dilated and he seemed like the light was hurting his eyes. She watched him even as he finished and the King took his place to thank everyone for joining the fight-- River Rush’s right eye had started to twitch a bit as he moved off, rubbing his head as if he had a headache. She couldn’t help but wonder what was wrong with him. 

After a little while, Runestone nudged her gently and Comet snapped back into reality, her ears training on Graham, who was repeating the warnings about Nightspawn she had all ready heard.

“-- Now, for our new members, so you are aware: the concoction you ingested last night will have changed you somewhat. You will find yourself a little more able to focus in combat, and you will now be able to siphon energy away from fallen Nightspawn to prevent their resurrections. Sensing them will come with time. There are more effects, though we can discuss at a later date.  For now, we will wrap this up; I will be assigning all of our new members a new group and a mentor.”

A few of the older Wardens looked at him questioningly but he paid them no mind and spread into the group.

“Flowerdrop, Flash, and Gwen, you three are designated group Wind.” He nodded into the older Wardens. “Toby, you will be their mentor.”

A diamond dog, one of the few in camp, edged into the open. He was a lanky creature with light brown fur, flopping ears and a pointy snout, and was wearing a green, tribal patterned robe and carrying a staff with a green gem imbedded in it over his back.

“Yes, sir!” Toby said, and darted to join the three that had been pointed out.

Graham nodded approvingly.

“Next is group Night: Runestone, Cloudrush, and Comet Strike. Umbra, you will join them.” 

Umbra let out a sharp, “What?!” drawing surprised looks from almost everyone, but the tall, striped unicorn blushed, her ears drooping and hurriedly, sticking her head up, joined them a bit reluctantly. 

Runestone hesitantly edged out of her way; she didn’t seem pleased at all.

“And lastly for this section, group Stone will be Amber Moon, Berry Pointer and Gale, lead by Shatter Spear.”

“Stone group rocks, ya’ll!” Amber voiced cheerfully and loudly. 

There was a few scattered snickers, and though the General looked at Graham with eyebrows raised, the griffon merely smiled as Shatter trotted over to the small group and readily accepted Amber’s hoofbump. 

“Now,” Graham said, “the rest of you should have all ready been assigned. Moving on. Those in previously assigned groups will be participating in the battle at large. You will stay to hear more strategy after this. Those in new groups, your jobs will be primarily reconnaissance, defense and backup.”

Though Toby seemed all right, Umbra frowned and Shatter looked confused. Graham smiled, his wings flaring a little.

“To those more experienced who have been put into new teams, let me emphasize that this is not a punishment. You have my utmost trust in showing our new members the ropes.”

Shatter perked up a bit, but Umbra still seemed unhappy; she shuffled on her hooves uncomfortably. Graham continued to smile nonetheless and ruffled his wings a bit.

“So, Wind, Night and Stone: dismissed. We will all reconvene tonight.”

Comet noticed that, again, the General seemed distracted, even as he seemed to be put in charge of the discussion; wondered what was wrong with him. Comet shook herself free of her musings when Runestone gently nudged her with his head and they moved off with the rest of their group. 

As soon as they were down the hill and out of earshot, she turned on Runestone and stood up on the tips of her hooves, whispering, “Did the General seem weird to you today?” in his ear. He looked down at her with surprise as she settled back down and cocked his head slightly.

“Well... Now that you mention it, something seemed a little off,” he admitted. 

Cloudrush leaned over to them.

“Like what?” he asked cautiously. “I thought he just looked a bit tired.”

“Well... could be,” Comet admitted a bit quietly.

Ahead of them, Umbra let out a snort and then turned on them, looking them up and down with a harsh stare. 

“I hope you don’t plan on snooping around,” she said coldly. “The General and Commander Graham are working very hard to plan our battle against the Nightspawn; without them, we don’t have a chance. And don’t forget, I’m in charge here.”

Comet was a little taken aback and Runestone looked almost offended, but the blue unicorn quickly assured her, “Of course.” 

Umbra looked a bit surprised and her ears went back.

“You... You don’t have a problem with that?”

“Why would we? They gave us a more experienced Warden for a reason, right?” Cloudrush said.

“Yeah,” Comet agreed.

Runestone nodded and Umbra seemed genuinely taken aback. Her ears perked after a moment and she tilted her head.

“Seriously?” she asked-- she almost seemed uncertain.

“Of course, you don’t need to be so insecure,” Runestone said with a sympathetic smile.

Umbra’s eyes widened and she snorted again, tossing her mane a little and whirling on a back hoof.

“Fine. Great,” she said a bit sharply. “Cloudrush, come with me. I have a job for you. You other two, do what you want. Just keep your snouts clean.”

“Will do,” Comet assured her.

Cloudrush gave them a wave as he headed off with the tall unicorn, and immediately Runestone leaned in.

“So what do you want to do about it?” 

Comet couldn’t help a laugh and tilted her head.

“I’m not sure,” she said. “Keep an eye out, I guess. But I guess he could just be very tired.”

The stallion shrugged though didn’t look entirely convinced. Before he could say another word about it, however, he felt a hoof patting him on the shoulder and Shatter Spear darted around them, greeting them with a jubilant, “Hey!”

“Hi, Shatter,” Comet said. “Didn’t seem like you were expecting to get reassigned.”

“Wasn’t really, but that’s all right,” he said, prancing on his front hooves. “I’m excited. How would your group like to join us for training right now? ...Where’d Umbra go?”

“Doing something with Cloudrush,” Runestone said. “I’m game for training. Comet?”

Comet couldn’t help but think about the inevitable bruising and her fur bristled just a little.

“Yeah, sure. Let’s go,” she said nonetheless.

Shatter grinned and whirled, taking off at a gallop.

“Follow me!" he called over his shoulder. "Oh, and your alligator can come, too!” 

Comet whispered, “Crocodile,” and made to follow, but Runestone took her shoulder gently, stalling her in her tracks. She looked at him curiously and Orion copied her posture and expression.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “You aren’t still too sore?”

“Sure, but I’ll never get any better at fighting if I don’t practice.”

She shot him a bashful smile and Runestone seemed a little reassured. 


---


They found Shatter’s Stone group at the training dummies, along with Gwen from the Wind group, and they took to training with their allies quickly. Comet was still a miserable wreck, but her hoofwork was getting a little better despite consistently getting bowled over when she did get hit. Runestone was confident and strong, but most impressive in Comet’s opinion, was the large mare, Amber Moon. A kick from a single one of her hooves could shatter a dummy into pieces, which Pointer would quickly reassemble. 

Comet sat tiredly on her rump, watching Amber a bit enviously. Her crocodile cuddled up against her legs and she took a deep breath before forcing herself up. 

“Comet! How’re you holding up, kiddo?” Shatter called from down the row.

“Bruised but fine!” she replied.

“Ah, you just need to get hit less,” Gwen told her in a completely sincere tone, flapping over to her side. “Sorry, don’t mean to be rude, but you’re clumsy. Even though you’re pretty fast, which is good. What did you do before this, again?”

“Student at the Tower,” Comet said with a tired laugh as Orion clambered onto her back. “Not a fighter.”

“Hmm...” Gwen tapped the base of her beak and then looked at Shatter. “Hey, can I take Comet off for a bit? I want to show her something.”

Comet was a bit confused, but she followed the griffon a little ways away from the dummies after Shatter agreed.

“Okay,” Gwen said; she placed Comet sturdily in one spot before backing up away from her and facing her. “You need to start looking a little better. Your main problem is just getting hit. I guess your magic is probably pretty good, but you’re gonna have a bad time using it if you’re just getting knocked on your butt! Soooo--”

Gwen hunched her shoulders and the unicorn looked back at her a bit blankly, completely confused up until the moment the griffon’s body collided with hers and they tumbled to the ground together. Comet yelped and Gwen began to laugh, untangling herself from the unicorn.

“See, I was expecting you to dodge that,” she snickered. “Sorry.”

“No, no, I’m sorry, I... Sorry, I’m a bit clueless,” Comet replied.

Gwen ruffled her feathers and backed up, spreading her wings a little and starting to prowl in a circle. Comet quickly backstepped, placing Orion gently on the ground as she went. 

Gwen tackled her again before she was even close to being ready. The unicorn hurriedly righted herself and backed away, keeping her eyes on Gwen, her mind rushing to try to come up with a way to do something. Before she could, again, Gwen was on top of her. Comet squished against the ground with a yelp and the griffon snickered and helped her up before retaking a place across from her with a simple wingbeat and crouching into a prowl. Comet’s heart was starting to pound, watching the large griffon stalk around her. 

“Gwen, I-I can’t, I-!”

“Comet, I’ve got you down like, three times. Just watch how I move. You’re thinking too much, just watch me instead.”

Comet gulped and did her best, trying to stop her thoughts from intruding to show her the worst possible situations, trying to stop calculating how much time she had before-- 

It was subtle, but Comet saw it a little this time. A little bracing of Gwen’s back paws. Comet skittered on her back hooves and tried to move; she was almost successful, too, but was clipped by the griffon’s wing and stumbled down again before rushing upright, taking a deep breath.

“Hey! Almost!” Gwen said cheerfully. “You’re watching now?”

“Y-Yeah, trying to,” Comet said.

Gwen grinned widely.

When the griffon lunged this time, Comet was almost prepared: she narrowly ducked around Gwen and, even though a wing still hit her, she managed to keep her hooves under her and whirled a bit awkwardly to face her. When she realized, she felt a quick surge of pride and her ears perked up high. Gwen laughed and straightened up, clapping her talons together quickly. 

“Nice one! Let’s go again!”

“What? Oh... Feathers,” Comet said.

Gwen pushed Comet until she was exhausted, plopping down on her rump and raising her hooves in surrender. 

“Done?” Gwen asked.

“So done.”

The griffon laughed and took off to glide to Comet’s side. She sat down beside her and patted her shoulder.

“You did okay," she assured her. "Good job. We should practice again soon.”

The notion of it made Comet’s heart drop, but she knew it was a good idea. She nodded, panting. 

“Yeah. Thanks.” 

Gwen ruffled her wings, pleased, and got up to head back towards the others, some still working on the training dummies while others sparred with each other. Comet took a deep breath and jumped a little as she felt Orion slither across her lap; he curled up against her and she held him up, close and gently. She heard steps behind her and turned, expecting it to be Gwen, but was surprised to see Runestone coming up behind her. 

“Hi,” he said brightly. “I was watching a bit. Not too bad.”

“Thanks,” Comet laughed. “Could have been better.

Runestone shrugged and sat beside her. Orion looked at him curiously and the stallion grinned and scratched the reptile under the chin affectionately. 

“Who’s a little sweetie pie, huh? What a cute toothy, spiky little monster, aren’t you?” he cooed.

Comet laughed as the crocodile’s back leg and tail began to thump against her.

“Glad you like him,” she said. “I think he’s sticking around.”

“Fine with me. What did you say his name was again?”

“Orion.”

“Like the constellation?”

Comet nodded and Runestone smiled and nudged her shoulder.

“Just like you, eh?” he said.

Comet wasn’t entirely sure what he meant, but when his eyes darted to her Soul Mark, she understood. She suddenly felt a shock of guilt and her ears drooped a bit-- her friend was about to say something to her, but she quickly interjected with, “Runestone, I’m sorry. I lied about my Soul Mark when we first met.”

“What?”

He stared at her blankly.

“I didn’t know you,” she squeaked bashfully. “If I had known you were so nice right off the bat I would have trusted you, but I was just using forbidden magic all over the place and I was scared of getting my horn cut off, and--”

“Whoa, whoa,” the stallion said, raising a hoof to stall her. “Relax! It’s okay, I understand. But then, what is it for if not for... star mapping, you said?”

“Star mapping is part of it indirectly, but mostly it’s about my magic,” she said. “It shows its colours, and that ice and light are sort of what I use most, and also what I was looking for and what I blew up when I first used it.”

She gave him a bashful smile and he tilted his head. 

“Oooh. That actually makes much more sense. I was starting to wonder how a pony who mapped stars had such powerful offensive magic.”

“Yeeeah, I guess I’m not a very good liar,” Comet laughed. “Sorry.”

“It okay. I understand,” he repeated, “considering what I was.”

Comet nodded but she had to reflexively stop herself from asking him what his meant. Her ears drooped just a little for a moment but then nudged him in the side.

“Hey, Runestone, once this all relaxes a bit, we should work on helping you get your Soul Mark.”

The stallion’s eyes widened and his ears perked high. 

“You think we can do that?” he asked.

“Not sure, but I bet we could try to find something that you really like and are great at,” she said. “I mean, since you’re out of the Sunwalkers now, I’m sure things are bound to look up for you.”

She scratched her chin and Orion mimicked her.

“Hmm... I wonder what it could be? Maybe something to do with fighting, huh? You seem really good at that. Or maybe even something just for being really enthusiastic and a good friend! Or, you never know, it could be something really weird that you’ve never even done yet.”

She gave him a smile and his entire face brightened. He laughed and nodded.

“You never know!” he agreed. “Thanks, Comet. I... I appreciate it.”

He held out a hoof to her and she clopped hers soundly against it. He grinned and then got up, stretching his back, and then looked back at the others. Most were sparring with each other now, and they saw that Gwen was now engaging Pointer much in the same way she had been with Comet. Comet couldn’t help but feel a little sting of jealousy -- Pointer was much more agile that she was.

“I think I’ll get back to it, then,” Runestone said. “How about you?”

“I think I’m done,” she confessed. “Or I’m just going to be one giant bruise.”

The stallion laughed a little and patted her good shoulder reassuringly. 

“I’m sure you’ll get into the swing of it soon,” he said.

“Not before the battle,” Comet said a bit reluctantly, but she was surprised to see her friend flash her a smile.

“Don’t worry about it. That’s why we’re in a group.”

The unicorn felt a little reassured and nodded. 

“See you later?” he said.

“Yeah, see you.”

Orion watched over her shoulder intently as Runestone trotted off, and she turned to leave; the crocodile spun on her back to keep his eyes on the stallion.

“What is it?” she asked with a chuckle. “C’mon, want to go down to the river a bit?”

Orion spun on her back and clambered to set his front half on the top of her head. 

Comet and Orion made their way through camp, dodging around imposing, armoured troops moving in herds, some moving weapons and equipment, others on their way with the steps of creatures with a dire purpose. Nerves were starting to get the better of Comet again as her imagination began to run away with her, taking her straight for the dark beasts with the white eyes. 

Trying to keep her mind on the moment, she made her way to the river; Orion jumped from her back and dove in smoothly. Comet leaned over, watching the gentle distortion under the water that was her new friend. His mottled colours camouflaged him well, but the red of his eyes stood out a bit more for her to follow. She trailed him down to a spot where the water was a bit more shallow and the smooth, worn stones of the river bottom were clear. Through flecks of sunlight, Orion swam up, his body flowing back and forth, so natural in the water that it was mesmerizing to watch. He stuck his eyes and nostrils up, floating in place with just a few movements of his tail to keep him steady. Comet laughed and the crocodile swam in a quick circle before he went for the shore, pulling himself out but, to the unicorn’s surprise, he put his forehead against the back of her leg and tried to shove her forward.

“What? You want me to go in there?” she asked. 

When Orion bounded back into the water and stared at her expectantly, Comet rolled her eyes, took a quick, suspicious look around her. Noting that there were actually a few ponies washing themselves off a bit upstream, she couldn’t see the harm in it. Her magic pulled her shoulder plate away and she placed it down gently in the grass. She tentatively dipped a hoof down-- the water was cool through her fur, but not unpleasant. Slowly, she edge in until the water reached just below her shoulders. Orion rolled onto his back and then dove down, circling her. She tried to spin to watch him, but he was a bit too quick. She lost sight for a second, but soon felt his little claws pricking her as he climbed up onto her back and lay across her, tail swishing in the water. She smiled a little and then sunk down in the water just a little. She felt a sting on her shoulder and raised up a bit and took a look. She surprised herself with the slightly uneven stitches closing the wound -- Oh right! I completely forgot! -- she bit her lip and stood up a little taller just to keep the water away from it. Nonetheless, she dunked her head to give her mane a rinse and then climbed out the other side of the river, giving her fur a quick shake. Her magic shot across the bank to grab her shoulder plate and she repositioned and refastened it carefully.

“That was better than I thought,” she confessed to the crocodile, turning her head to give him a smile.

He seemed to smile back, but his attention was drawn to something in front of her. A bit puzzled she turned to look in time to see the tail-end of a landing pegasus as a few of the passing soldiers began to gather around him

“Mail call!” he was shouting. “Mail call! Anyone expecting mail, over here!”

He trotted around, shouting names, and a few ponies gladly took letters and parcels, and within moments, a unicorn’s magically projected voice shot out across the ruins, “Mail call! Anyone due to receive mail, please meet up at the end of the vendor tents across the river. Thank you!” 

Comet wasn’t expecting anything, but as more ponies arrived, muttering to their friends about the possibility of receiving a letter from family afar, she began to carry the hope that a friend from the tower might have sent a little something. She tried not anticipate too much, but she joined the gathering crowd and was given a small berth due to her dripping fur.

She managed to catch a glance of the pegasus, a tall, broad-winged grey stallion with a white blaze and stockings, carrying a hefty leather mailbag and wearing a padded cap with sideflaps and square goggles on the top of his head. He listed plenty of names, handing out notes and packages all around from his bag until he came to something in there that seemed to confuse him. He all but stuck his head in his bag and when he pulled out, he said, “Is there a Comet Strike here?” 

Comet looked a bit puzzled, but she stepped forward, raising her hoof. The pegasus nodded and passed her a brown bag from within his, with two notes stuck to the outside before he continued around to call more names and pass more letters. Comet drew back to give the rest of the hopefuls more space and inspected the bag carefully, twirling it her magic, and was surprised to find a rune carved into the bottom. She quickly turned to the first note, a small, folded square of parchment, and was immediately elated to see that it was in Pinklily’s writing.

Dear Comet, it read, I hope your journey hasn’t been too rough on you! We all miss you back home, but we’re all really proud of you, too. Especially me. Don’t tell the others I wrote that.

Comet couldn’t help a smile and hoped her eyes weren’t welling up visibly.

Anyway, here’s something I like to call the Bottomless Bag! Maybe not the most elegant name, but rather accurate, I think. Basically, I’ve enchanted it for you so that you can stuff anything you want in there and it will neither become nor feel full. It’s pretty ingenious, if I do say so myself!  Not so ingenious of me to think of it the day AFTER you left, though! Say a friendly hello to Runestone for us, if you don’t mind, and please, please, PLEASE stay safe. I know I’m not there to hover over you anymore, so please be extra careful!
Love, Pinklily, Twirlwind, Glimmer, Jinx, Arrowburst, and Warmspark

Comet was a little surprised to see Warmspark’s name on there, signed in quickly at the end, but she was pleased nonetheless. She folded the letter lovingly and made it the first deposit into the Bottomless Bag, as her friend had called it. Orion hopped down beside her, looked at her new belongings and then looked at her curiously.

“It was from my friends back home. It hasn’t even been that long, but I miss them a lot,” she told him. 

Orion make a high growling sounds and rubbed himself against her foreleg. She grinned and patted his head, and then turned to the second note as she put the bag on over her back. Its seal had come a bit undone. When she read the first line, however, Dearest Icicle Star, she knew the note wasn’t for her. She was about to fold the letter up once more when her eyes pinged on her own name. She cursed inside her head and couldn’t help but start to read, hoping beyond hope that she was just an innocent conversational point. 

It was worse than she could ever have imagined.

	I trust this letter finds you well. Knowing you, I’m sure your plans are following through. Unfortunately, mine have not. I’m sure you remember my mentioning of a young mare named Comet, don’t you? My impressions of her at first were that she would be perfect: she is very powerful, and had quite a bitter streak towards Sunwalkers, as she should. However, my initial attempts to draw her into my circle were relatively unsuccessful. She did not respond to the notes I left for her. To make matters worse, she befriended a few of the tower guards, and left for Harmonia with one of them and that blasted Warden commander. She must have arrived by now. I regret to place such burden on you, but I must ask you a favour. I need you to permanently remove a blankflank stallion named Runestone from the picture. I need it to seem like he abandoned her. With him gone, and with a little guidance from you, I predict Comet will return to the tower in total disillusionment, which will make her much more pliable. I’m sure it will be no trouble for you, but best of luck anyhow!

Comet knew it would be signed from Springbreeze before she had even reached the end. She felt sick. She was shaking as she folded the letter again, but before she could do a thing, the mailpony had taken the letter back from her.

“Woops! Sorry, miss, that must’ve gotten stuck. Both letters from the tower, yeah?”

“...Y-Yeah,” Comet stammered.

The stallion smiled and nodded before trotting off quickly. Comet dropped onto her haunches, trying so hard not to cry that she felt like she was choking. Orion looked up at her worriedly and curled up against her forelegs. The unicorn lifted him up and held him to her chest, her eyes starting to leak as she wrestled with her tumbling mind. 

	They... They want to kill him. They want to KILL him. 

Her heart dropped and she jumped to her hooves, starting the crocodile. She scooped him onto her back with magic and quickly said, “I need to get that letter back.”

She was moving fast, ducking around other ponies, trying to catch that mailpony in her sights. She spotted him once; twice, but he vanished into a tent marked with a crystalline, cold starburst before she could say a word. She felt like she had been punched in the gut. She stopped, frozen in place with terror for just a moment before she scampered around the tent, ducking low and pressing her ear against the side. She heard the passoff; heard the mailpony leave and the gentle movement of paper. Before long, she heard the pacing of deft hooves, and a voice she knew saying something quietly. She recoiled a bit and looked around quickly, trying to be sure nopony was watching her, but after just a moment, she had to press herself flush to the tent as Icicle Star stuck his head out and ordered somepony she couldn’t see to join him. She heard at least three sets of hooves, but by the time she had worked up the courage to peek around to see who they were, she was left to only see the pale gold tail-end of a mare entering the tent. Comet gulped and shuffled on her hooves nervously, and then doubled back to her listening spot. She couldn’t retake it though, and was left only to scoot around a marching set of ornately armoured soldiers, trotting in a long line of twos inwards towards the King and Queen’s tents. Comet’s ears flopped and she looked, wide eyed and nervous at Orion. The crocodile seemed to register her urgency and clung to her a little more tightly. 

She edged herself around the tent, but the sound of hooves were too loud for her to attempt to eavesdrop any longer. She cursed softly to herself before pulling away, but her ears immediately perked to the sound of cloth flapping. She gulped and, quick as she could, went around the tent again to the front, but there were so many ponies walking out and about close by that she couldn’t tell whom had just emerged. Comet bit her lip and her mind rushed through her options. 

I have to find Runestone, she decided. But I have to report this! But can I? Graham might believe me, but I definitely don’t have any evidence now. 

Her ears pressed back. She made Runestone her priority and hurried from the camp area.

She did her best not to seem in a complete panic, and she hoped to Celestia that Runestone was still somewhere near where she had seen him last.

When Comet found her friend, he was near a water trough, inturupted from cleaning himself up a bit with a bucket and towel, against one of the fortress walls, close to the training dummies they had been working on earlier. There were three ponies talking with him, all unicorns, pale in coat and in eyes; two mares and a stallion. They all wore light armour plating across their bodies that was a pale, ice-blue. Their voices were smooth and sure, and they instantly made Comet completely uncomfortable. She gritted her teeth, took a deep breath and trotted in towards them, unable to keep the frown off her face.

“Hey. Who are you?” Comet asked sharply.

When the ponies turned their attention towards her, only one of the three looked taken aback, but Runestone looked thoroughly startled. 

“These are Icicle Star’s personal guard,” Runestone said a bit awkwardly.

The unicorn bristled immediately.

“What are you doing?” she snapped. 

Runestone looked a bit confused and the tall, silver stallion smiled smoothly.

“You are his friend, yes? Never fear. We were just talking to Runestone here about the possibility of joining Sir Icicle Star’s guard force,” he said, and though Comet’s eyes narrowed, the stallion turned his gaze on Runestone. “Our Master has been keeping an eye out, and has noticed your potential. He wants you to be aware that, though it is a starting position, advancing in rank through the royal guards would be a breeze for a pony like you.”

He smiled charmingly and, though Runestone’s eyebrows bent apologetically, Comet shoved her way in between them and Orion mimicked her, jumping to the ground and letting out a low hiss. 

“He’s not interested,” she said bluntly. 

“I think the stallion can speak for himself,” one of the mares laughed.

Her mane and tail were a familiar, pale gold. Comet couldn’t keep the glare off her face. Runestone opened his mouth, but again, Comet talked over him.

“If your Master is so observant, obviously he must know that Runestone is a member of the Wardens of Harmony. He has prior engagements that can’t be broken, so move along.”

The stallion before her’s eyes turned cold and he let out a dry chuckle, though her frown didn’t falter for a second.

“And what if I don’t? Are you going to make me?”

Comet’s magic was blades above him in an instant and she tilted her head as the small group of guards recoiled a bit.

“Yeah. I’m going to make you.”

They scrambled backwards and took off, trying to keep an even pace, while one of the mares called, “You h-haven’t heard the end of this!”

“Yes, we have!” Comet shouted after them.

She snorted and scraped a hoof through the dirt, her magic flickering out. She didn’t realize she was crying until Runestone took her shoulder and turned her.

“Comet! What was that about?” he asked. 

His face was concerned and, after just a second, Comet’s knees started trembling and she had to wipe her eyes.

“Don’t ever go with them,” she said quickly.

“I wasn’t going to. Comet, what’s wrong? I’ve never seen you so angry,” he said.

She couldn’t articulate for a while and, worriedly, the stallion put his brow to hers.

“You’re going to be all right. Here.” He pointed her towards the trough. “It’s washing water.” 

The unicorn took a deep breath and, with her magic, raised a small glob of water and splashed herself in the face with it, as her friend looked on at her with wide, worried eyes. Before he could say anything more, she turned back to him, her ears pressed back as she quickly dried her face on the back of her forelimb. 

“Runestone,” she said, unable to hide the urgency in her voice, “don’t... If Icicle asks you to go anywhere with him, alone or not, don’t go. At all. At all, okay?”

“Um... okay,” he said, confused. “Why?”

Comet looked around cautiously, only seeing Orion mimicking her movements at her hooves, and then leaned in close to her friend.

“I think he’s trying to kill you,” she whispered.

“What?!”

The stallion’s neck sprung back and his eyes were large as full moons, and Comet immediately grabbed him around the neck and pulled him close again, hissing, “Shhhh!” hurriedly.

“S-Sorry, but how-?”

“I got a letter from Pinklily, but there was one to Icicle Star was stuck to it, and I sort of read it by accident and it was... it...” She shifted, insecure in her thoughts, but Runestone seemed eager to hear her out. “Okay, the letter... It was from the Archmage and it told him to get rid of you in a pretty obviously sinister way and make it look like you just up and left... and it... um, it’s because of me. Something about getting me back to the Tower.”

“Wh... What? Oh... Dear Celestia,” the stallion said. “I... Okay. I’ll stay away from him.”

He nodded, still looking shaken, and Comet’s ears drooped low and she sighed deeply.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m not sure what this really has to do with me, but they’re going after you and-”

“Hey,” Runestone said-- he tried to sound reassuring but he still looked startled and a bit afraid, “whatever it is, it’ll be fine. We’ll stick together and I won’t let Icicle get me alone, and it’ll be fine.”

Comet nodded.

“Okay,” she muttered, trying to convince herself that he was right. 

She sniffed despite herself and then, laughing a bit weakly,

“Pinklily says hi, by the way.”

Runestone perked up just a little and he smiled a bit.

“You gonna write them back?”

She nodded and wiped her eyes again. 

“Thanks for not thinking I’m nuts,” she said, and then grumbled out, “I couldn’t even bring the letter as evidence.”

“Hey, you’re my friend! Of course, I trust you,” he said, and then laughed. “With my life, it turns out.”

He nudged her affectionately.

“Want to get some food?” he asked. 

She didn’t really-- her stomach was in knots-- but she nodded nonetheless and followed him as he began to head away towards the fort. 

Inside, Comet made herself eat a little, though both her friends were much more ravenous. Orion seemed set on tasting everything he could find, which surprised the unicorn quite a bit. When he and Runestone were done and the three set out again, Comet suggested they take a look around the perimeter of the fort. Neither of them had done so yet, and she was certainly curious, and nervous, too. Runestone agreed.

“Do you think they’ll put us up on the wall?” he said. “I mean, as look-outs. Since we probably won’t actually be in the battle too much.”

“No idea,” Comet said. “I don’t really know too much about battle. That’s one thing I didn’t really read up on in my studies. That and animal care.”

She cut her eyes at Orion and Runestone laughed and and elbowed her playfully.

“And look where you ended up.”

“I’m aware,” she said. 

They came upon a small tower in one of the corners of the ruin. It was capped with a conical roof, recently repaired by the looks of it, with the wall closest to them draped in a large, long banner, half dark red with the King’s pelican mark emblazoned upon it whilst the other half was dark blue and marked with the Queen’s songbird. The doors below were guarded by two tired looking, armoured unicorns. It was sort of strange to see them there and instantly made Comet curious about what was inside, but Runestone had already begun to move off, so she followed him closely -- a bit too closely, perhaps, for when he came to a sudden stop, she rammed right into him, knocking herself down in the process.

“Umbra,” he said in surprise; quickly, Comet jumped to her feet and looked around her friend.

Her heart sunk when she saw the tall, striped unicorn trotting towards them with purpose, followed closely by the pale, unicorn stallion of the group Comet had recently chased off. Her fur bristled and her ears went back, but she recoiled involuntarily when Umbra angrily called, “Comet Strike!”

Runestone quickly put his body between the two unicorns, but it wasn’t much help when Umbra swiftly shoved him aside, glowering down at Comet as she couldn’t help but shrink down into her hooves, Orion tumbling unceremoniously off her back.

“You’ve got some explaining to do,” she said. “This stallion reported that you threatened him. What were you thinking?!”

Comet opened her mouth but nothing came out, her heart thumping uncomfortably, and her eyes darted to the two stallions. Runestone seemed aghast, but the other stallion merely tilted his head.

“Yes, as I said, I was speaking with this stallion here and she seemed to just lose it,” he said.

“Hey, wait a second,” Runestone began, but Umbra gave him a hiss and looked at Comet with shining, yellow eyes.

“Well?” she said a bit impatiently.

Behind her, the pale silver unicorn looked at Comet smugly and the anxiety turned to anger.

“You have some nerve.” She straightened up and shouldered past Umbra, stomping forward and lowering her horn a little.“You’re full of it.”

She whirled on Umbra, locking eyes with her as the silver unicorn unwittingly took a step away.

“He works for Icicle Star. He’s trying to get Runestone to leave the Wardens and work for him instead. Bet he didn’t tell you that.”

Umbra turned with a harsh frown on her face towards the pale unicorn, who couldn’t help but recoil, ears folding back as he grinned nervously.

“You what?” Umbra snapped.

“It was Lord Icicle Star’s orders, I’m sure you understand-”

“Trying to poach Wardens, huh?” she said. “No wonder. I don’t blame her for running you off. Get out of my sight.”

The unicorn opened his mouth as if to protest, but when Umbra’s horn lit up with deep purple, he frowned, gulping despite himself.

“You’ll be hearing from my superiors,” he said.

“And you’ll be hearing from mine,” Umbra replied, tossing her mane, “you lying worm.”

The other unicorn, without much of a choice, headed off in a hurry and Umbra sighed and relaxed a little, her magic flickering out before she turned to the other ponies.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t be getting into trouble,” she said a bit tiredly.

“It wasn’t on purpose, I promise,” Comet said, a bit exasperated as she lifted Orion up to hug him nervously. 

The taller unicorn frowned for just a moment, and then tilted her head, her bright yellow eyes focusing squarely on Runestone.

“Now what would a force of unicorn battlemages want with you, of all ponies?” she wondered.

Comet had to hold her tongue; she desperately wanted to tell her, but Runestone shrugged a bit nervously and Comet couldn’t hold Umbra’s gaze. The tall unicorn snorted a bit.

“You know exactly what they want, don’t you?” She stepped in a bit closer to Comet and nudged her with a hoof. “You can trust me.” 

Runestone looked at Comet worriedly and the blue unicorn rubbed the back of her head awkwardly and bit her lip before forcing herself to meet Umbra’s eyes. It was strange; she barely knew her, but something about Umbra felt very honest. Comet gulped.

“I do,” she said.

“You do?” Runestone asked blankly.

Umbra cut her eyes at him and Comet quickly glanced around to check who was within earshot.

“It has to do with some political garbage from the tower in Canterlot. Can I explain it to you more in private?”

“You two are very strange,” she said. “Meet me back at the Warden tents, and explain to me and Graham, if it really is so important that you had to threaten another pony to send him away.”

“It was actually three ponies,” Runestone said quietly.

Umbra’s eyes widened a little and she rubbed her brow. She spun, flicking her long tail in irritation, and then trotted off. 

“You have half an hour,” she said.

Comet took a deep breath and looked at Runestone worriedly. His eyes were wide and when he met her gaze, his ears drooped. 

“I’ve got your back, if that helps,” he said.

Comet nodded.

“Right,” she said. “We’ll be truthful, one-hundred percent.”

“We will? Oh. Good. I hope that works.”

Comet grimaced and squeezed Orion a bit closer.

“Me too.”