//------------------------------// // The Legend of the Dream Scope // Story: The Legend of Alicorn // by DreamWings //------------------------------// The sun set over the dark mountains at the edge of the great city of Canterlot. A small figure cantered on the long winding paths, enjoying every moment of the great views surrounding her. Marelin was very pleased that the time had come when she would complete the journey to decide her destiny. She had been told as a foal that this day was going to come eventually and she was glad that she needn’t have to wait any longer. She was as much impatient about some things as she was patient about others. It would have been much more long and arduous to her had she been older and more prone to complaining when having to walk anywhere hard. At the moment Marelin couldn’t be stopped. She had always been such a happy, free-spirited young mare; even when she had been trapped living and working under the hoof of the tyrant Evergreen. To her, being upset was an unnecessary task. It was better to be optimistic than to walk around with tears in her eyes all of the time, and considering what she’d been through recently it was good to have this point of view. There was nothing more harmonious than being happy and caring to all ponies and creatures-- even if she didn’t understand anything about them most of the time. She was hoping to rectify that. This young mare was much happier learning new things than every other narcissistic pony might be, and although ponies might try to hide it from the view of others, they all had narcissistic tendencies. Even King Alicorn found affection for himself when he consoled his feelings about losing somepony he wanted for his own. Marelin sighed. She felt somewhat responsible for the King’s dissolution about Grain, the young earth pony both he and Lotto had given their heart unto. She had known something was different about her; she had sensed the lies she had been telling but hadn’t even told Helios what she suspected. Perhaps she had been a little bit too foalish in her actions by merely glaring at her whenever she spoke. Maybe she should have told the colts that she had doubts about young Grain’s intentions. Actually, it was probably good that she hadn’t said anything. It wasn’t as if she’d had proof beyond a feeling. These feelings weren’t enough to say that her innocence was definitely false. Marelin stopped. What was it that Clover had always told her? ‘Trust your feelings Marelin. As a Royal Unicorn you have to believe in your instincts.’ Well, she’d believed her instincts when she made friends with Helios and chose to follow him; she'd made the right choice then, hadn’t she? Perhaps her feelings were important to her. Clover had never been wrong before. Right now, Marelin needed to heed to Clover’s words more than ever; her feelings were the map to the destination she was heading. And where she was going she hadn’t a clue. She merely knew that it was time and that her magic would guide her to wherever it was she needed to be. Why did magic have to be so complicated? If only it came without all of the complications and misunderstandings, then magic could be a tool used perfectly by the good-- and used for evil by the bad. Marelin shuddered. She’d suffered through enough bad ponies to last her a lifetime now. Hopefully she wouldn’t run into any more on this journey. The sky above looked clear and bright. A good day to climb and walk, that was certainly true. The unicorn couldn’t help but feel sorry for her two friends who had to suffer hours travelling in a carriage before they could even think of getting out. And even when they got to Zebrica nothing exciting was bound to happen; all they were doing was signing a piece of paper. She was lucky. She got to go on an adventure whilst her friends had to suffer through the boredom of mundane leadership duties. Unfortunate for them, but great for her. A whistle came from her throat; a cheerful ditty to match her pleasant feelings on her walk. Trees appeared at her side, blocking her view slightly. A path in front split into two directions. The unicorn stopped, wondering where to go next. What had Clover said about this? What could she remember? -------------------------------------------------------------- ”Marelin, would you please stand still for one second?” Clover stood over a crowd of young foals and spoke to the smallest one sternly. The filly stopped bouncing and smiled happily. Clover nodded to her and walked up and down the line of foals with their proud parents watching from the sidelines. Marelin’s Father waved at her from where the other parents stood, a nervous countenance covering his whole expression. Marelin merely grinned and waved back; no sign of fear at all. Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane and Chancellor Pudding-Head watched with their second-in-commands, waiting to see which one fate would decide was ‘the one’: the next unicorn with the ability to help guide the kingdom. Clover could feel the memories of when she was chosen by her own teacher, Starswhirl, coming back to her. All of the eagerness, all of the nervousness flooded back into her mind. In front of her stood the six candidates. They had sat through all tests but one, and now was the time to complete the process. She told the first young foal to step forward; an extremely serious colt by the name of Firefly. He puffed out his chest and cantered over to the table in the middle of the room. His parents looked on earnestly as his horn lighted up, a red stream of magic swarming around it. He focused hard on the rocks in front of him and they shuffled slightly. Screwing his eyes closed he kept his mind firmly on what he was doing. Sweat began to drip down his brow as the rocks jiggled on the table. After a few seconds Clover noticed the look of exhaustion wiping through the auburn face of the young colt. She lifted up her hoof and a guard in the corner blew his whistle. Firefly heard this and collapsed backwards onto the floor. Quickly, two healer ponies rushed up to pull him away and see to any injuries and exhaustion. His parents groaned and followed their son to the room where he was to be laid. Each of the next four also tried the same method as Firefly, but all four, Teal, Manticore, Checkers, and the aptly named Wizard, failed just as the previous. Each of the four were carried off by the healer’s to rest, with their parents in close pursuit-- all apart from Wizard’s Father who, annoyed at his son’s failure, stalked off by himself into the gardens to grumble to the rose bushes growing there. A presence showed up behind Clover and she turned to see her five friends stood behind appearing anxious. The same thought going through their mind was also going through hers. Unless this next candidate did well then there would be no future royal unicorn advisor for the Princess and her descendants. “Okay then, Marelin, it’s your turn now,” she told the last foal, who appeared to have become very interested in the light bouncing from a guard’s helmet and onto the floor. The foal stopped and smiled, giving her Dad a cheery wave as she walked over to the table. Her Father smiled and waved back, trying to give her every encouragement though he didn’t feel positive about what the results of this would be. Clover could hear Commander Hurricane grumbling behind her but chose to ignore him. She knew he was simply moaning for the sake of moaning; anything to hide what he was really scared of at that moment. Marelin stood next to the pile of rocks on the low table and appeared to put on her concentration face-- which looked very much as if she had just eaten a sour lemon straight from the tree. A purple aura covered the lavender unicorn’s horn and she cleared her mind of all thoughts. A bright light appeared around her and she fell into a dream like state. There she stood for five minutes, the aura not leaving her side, and her apparently being oblivious to all that was going on around her. In her mind she pictured the way this was supposed to be done, her magic guiding her through all of the path she was meant to take. Platinum sighed and turned to her friend and helper. It was quite clear to the older ponies that this was not the pony they were looking for. She opened her mouth to give her friend her condolences for how upset she must be feeling, but soon realised that Clover’s eyes were still transfixed on the small filly standing as still as a statue. Clover, by far the most clever of all the ponies there, had noticed something that intrigued her. This filly, despite not getting anywhere with the rocks, had not fainted as the others had. The fact she had been able to garner this much magic around her and had not become in any way overwhelmed with exhaustion was impressive, especially for one so small. Unlike her friends Clover could easily see what was happening in the young filly’s mind-- her imagination was running wild, and it was working. Despite knowing nothing of the magical forms, she was able to do so much more than those who had trained their whole lives to be this powerful. So when, much to the other’s surprise, the rocks began to lift up through the air Clover remained steady, not at all shocked that this had happened. The rocks waltzed in the air as magic wrapped around them and whittled them away until all number of different objects appeared in their place. They danced around in front of the ponies faces, whilst their mistress remained a statue in the midst. Her father watched with an open mouth. Clover could barely smother her laughter when she saw him. Carefully she walked up to the filly and placed her hoof on her back, shaking her awake. The rocks fell back to the floor with a crash, startling the lavender foal who hadn’t witnessed their flying manoeuvres. Clover smiled to her. Marelin beamed back happily, not sure why her elder was so joyous at this moment. Still she took any excuse to smile; she liked the way it felt. “Marelin, how do you feel?” the smart unicorn asked of the foal. “Bouncy,” came the reply. Clover nodded. “Follow your feelings, Marelin. That shall be your first lesson.” And with that the six powerful ponies took the young filly and her father through the door and down the hallway. The healer ponies let out a sigh of relief and rushed away to see if the five failures had awoken. --------------------------------- Faced with the two alternate paths Marelin tried to remember what she’d been told. Following her feelings had been one of Clover’s main teachings throughout her training, and her imagination had been a great help throughout all of this. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, the same smile spreading over her face that used to as a foal. A picture of the area came through her mind and drew a visual map inside her head. It twisted and turned, showing at the end a cavern with glittering jewels hanging on the outside. It came backwards towards her and turned down the left path to meet up with her own hooves. Her hooves moved of their own accord and turned down the left path. Her cheerful whistling started up again. After a while she saw the sun coming down under the mountain she was climbing. Helios had managed to turn the sky to night wherever he was. She sighed with relief. That meant that he must have made it to Zebrica unharmed. Good. Now she only had herself to worry about. She looked about at the surroundings and sauntered on through the trees again. Eventually she reached a clearing she considered perfect for resting. A stream could be heard trickling down the cliffside not far off and heather covered the ground. Bracken grew not too far away. Marelin considered this a blessing. There was nothing better than dry bracken to make an outside bed feel comfortable; heather was nice, but it did have a tendency to lose its softness by morning. Her horn glowed purple and the bracken in a small area crumbled beneath its force; all of the water rushing from it and into the atmosphere surrounding. She picked it up in her hooves and put it on top of a patch of heather just big enough for her to sleep on. Her bag slid off her back and dropped to the floor. She stretched her muscles and looked around at the empty darkness of the woodland. It seemed strange to think that there were no ponies here. Even when she’d gone inside the Neverfree she had met many different friends, but out here there was nopony. Quite upsetting really; Marelin liked to have ample opportunities to make friends. She pulled a small sack of oats out of the purple pack and ate it hungrily. She only just managed to stop herself eating it all, remembering that this one bag of oats had to last her at least a quarter of the journey. How long the journey was going to last was still under debate. She yawned and looked downwards at her comfortable dry bedding. Tomorrow would be a new day, but for now Marelin really felt she must sleep or she wouldn’t be able to go on. Although she had more energy than any other pony in Equestria she still felt like she must be sensible enough to realise that sleep was one of those ‘necessary’ boring jobs she had to do to be considered a sensible adult by the kingdom. Everypony always used to criticize her as a foal for not being sensible enough-- she'd started to begin to prove them wrong now as she went about her daily routine. Another yawn came out of her mouth and she laid back on the flooring. Her eyes closed and she drifted into the land of her dreams. Shadows stalked around her campsite but Marelin didn’t notice. Then again, she was never much good at noticing anything around her. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clover tutted as she watched her student running around in circles on the training floor. Her friends sat up at the top window looking down on the two unicorns with doubt in their minds. So far in one year of training Marelin hadn’t quite taken to getting work done or being serious about any of her important activities. This Clover didn’t mind as she knew her potential, but the others couldn’t see any hope for the little filly. She was a nobody, and they’d already started to consider that there had been some sort of cheating that had occurred on the test. It wasn’t too late to get in contact with one of the failures to try again. Perhaps Firefly or Wizard were meant to be the true chosen one. Platinum was impressed that her advisor had stayed loyal to her young student. She knew how much it meant to her and for it all to seem to go wrong must have hurt considerably. But Clover remained firm and determined about her choice. It wasn’t even that she was trying to delude herself because she wanted it so much to be right, she had a firm belief in the little foal that she had come to love. Marelin had become a part of her just as she had with Starswhirl. In some ways she owed it not just to herself and Marelin, but her own teacher, to persevere when times looked hopeless. “Marelin, could you focus please!” she snapped. Marelin stopped still and looked towards her teacher. She smiled and nodded her small head. “I can try.” “Good.” Clover let out a sharp breath and moved towards the centre of the room. “Now let’s try this again. What is this?” she questioned pointing to the object floating above them. Marelin looked at its curves and points, trying to put all of her energy into answering the question. “Something... er... something... shiny.” Hurricane buried his face in his hoof, grumbling like normal. “Something... er... something... new.” Pudding-Head let out a round of applause before subsiding when seeing his advisors facial expression. “A dragon!” The six older ponies stared at the rock and sighed. How anypony could mistake the stone for a dragon nopony knew. Clover ruffled her mane in annoyance; Marelin had grown bored and had begun to run in circles once more. Perhaps, she thought, it was time to rest for the day. She walked over to Marelin. “You can go now, little one. Study begins in two moves of the sun.” Marelin laughed and ran through the large doors. Clover followed further behind, ignoring her friends anxious chatter about her position in the palace. The doors closed shut. A large light shone out of the object in the middle of the floor and dispersed just before an attendant came to collect it. What he saw startled him. A young ruby dragon slept peacefully on the floor, sucking its tail in between its empty mouthed smile. It grizzled sleepily as it lay there. The attendant crept out slowly, shutting the door quietly behind him, and ran to find the Princess and Clover as fast as possible. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A noise woke Marelin up in the middle of the night. The darkness surrounding her seemed to envelope everything so that nothing new or different to the area could be seen. She let out a deep breath and smiled through the black. She was much too awake to fall back to sleep now, so she may as well carry on with her journey. But still she wondered, as she grabbed her bags and placed them on her back, what had managed to wake her so easily. There didn’t seem to be anything around so she passed it off as the wind playing its nasty tricks again. The wind had always been her main competitor as a foal, and things still hadn’t changed. Not once did she consider that there may be more out in these lonely woods than she could ever imagine. And neither did she notice the host of shadows protruding from the trees with its master in the ranks. That tree’s shadow-- if indeed it was a tree-- would have been speculated by all of the knights, had they been with her, for its shape and size. It was certainly the most pony shaped tree you could have ever seen... and that Marelin never saw. The shadow moved as she moved and followed closely behind, their eyes peeping through the hollows and the splinters, watching the wandering mare as a hunter watched its prey. The eyes never faltered from what it was watching and by the silence of its hoofbeats you would assume they were nothing more than a ghost or spirit. This, and the fact Marelin’s perceptiveness had never been great, added to her unusual cheerful countenance as she was hastily followed up the dark lunar hill. Once in awhile she stopped to pause and they stopped as well, keeping distance behind her. Until that is a noise, so mellow and sorrowful that it would make even the hardest of souls repel in horror, came upon the mountain side. The shadow flickered their eyelids and ran up through the trees, forgetting about the young mare altogether. Marelin, after hearing the noise, could draw no conclusions on what it could be. Her imagination ran wild, but she knew it wasn’t going to give her the right answer this time. Still she didn’t fear the call; why should she need to fear? Even the scariest of monsters wouldn’t want to do her any harm-- at least, being locked in a palace most of her life, that’s what she assumed. She had no idea of the real dangers out in Equestria and beyond; something Clover had always been very sorry of during her training sessions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ”It’s not healthy for a young filly like her to not know of the real world. One day she’ll be the one serving and protecting it. How can she do that if she doesn’t know what it’s like?” Clover beseeched her oldest friend. “Maybe she can imagine it,” her friend sniggered. Clover raised an eyebrow and Platinum sighed. “Oh do please cheer up, Clover. After all,” she said, looking down at the fruit in the bowl by the side of her, “Marelin shall only be an advisor, not a royal.” Clover shook her head and stared defiantly at the regal unicorn. “And what about all of that? Have you decided yet whether--” A look from the white pony broke her into a whisper, “-- whether the half-breed shall be next on the throne?” She raised her voice again. “Technically he is the next true heir by birth right, as Marelin is the next advisor.” “I know--” came Platinum’s weary voice. Clover looked to her and sighed. She could see the sadness in the unicorn’s eyes as she thought of the problem that had arisen a few years back-- that same problem she knew she loved more than anypony else, but couldn’t say it. Even Commander Hurricane had great care in his heart for the ‘problem’; some could say they both had more care for him than their own true families-- if you could call them that. The Commander barely ever saw his family, and even when he did see his wife and child he never really saw anything but disdain and duty. Secretly he had always wanted to marry Platinum, Clover knew, as did the rest of her friends, but duty detailed he marry a pegasus and so that was what he’d done. And through this his own daughter, a pegasus, could carry on his lineage. If all worked out well that is. Platinum, however, had a past with many fiances and courters, but she had loved and rejected them all. And once her colt came around she gave up altogether on finding a special somepony of her own. She had-- as Clover put it-- given up on hope to accept the reality of her mistake. Clover as royal advisor should have told her to move on and find somepony more unicorn to provide an heir, but she had done no such thing. Platinum was her friend first and the Princess second; it was the way they worked best and both agreed to it. Even if they hadn't been friends, it wasn’t in Clover to tell her to find somepony to provide a true heir. To her, half-breed or not, the colt deserved a chance. He was not only Hurricane and Platinum’s son but also the Kingdom’s Prince, and it was their responsibility to prepare him for his duties no matter the reality of his outer appearance. “Unless of course you wish for Evergreen to take over,” she suggested. The look of repulsion on the other pony’s face answered the question. Clover smirked. She could already sense what was going to be said next. “Are you kidding?” Platinum sneered. “Who in their right mind would give all that power to that stuck-up, tyrant of a cousin of mine? There’s no telling what horrible things she would do with it.” “Yes, but you didn’t exactly help the situation, did you, Princess?” Her friend appeared to reflect for a moment and then gave a sigh. “I suppose not. But still even if I may have provoked her transformation from shy to nasty-- the fact remains that she’s still nasty and doesn’t deserve my throne.” She paused. “Also, I’m not the only one who said things back then, remember.” “I remember.” Clover shuddered. “Anyway, we were talking about your student, not my problems.” “Yes, your highness.” She bowed. “Well, it just seems that Marelin could do with a bit of time outside, with real citizens of Equestria. It would have helped me a lot had Starswhirl let me out when I was a foal.” “Fine.” Clover prepared herself to argue more but stopped mid-flow. “Fine?” “You may take her on one small trip. But nowhere expensive-- and nowhere dangerous.” The advisor nodded her head and began to walk out of the room. As she left she heard Platinum’s voice raised so she could be heard through the door. “And don’t take her near Stormy Peak either!” Clover gave a last sigh of pity before heading left down the corridor to Marelin’s chambers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The walking Marelin had to do now seemed endless in her boredom. Nothing exciting or different had happened since the morning when she had started off, and she was finding the journey tedious and dull. By now she was seriously regretting her decision to come, and was thinking that she may have been wrong about her dream being a sign of the future. Maybe the dream was just what it was-- a dream, that her imagination had conjured up. Still, she carried on walking. If there was anything she had been taught by Clover it was to be persistent and not give up. She couldn’t forget that teaching. A mountain came into view in the distance and Marelin gave a smile. She remembered that peak from when she was very young. Stormy Peak, as it was then named, was the only place she’d ever properly gone as a foal. Clover had taken her on a daytrip outside and they had stopped there for a short while whilst the stallions mended a wheel on their carriage. Clover had told her to stay where she was, but Marelin, being Marelin, wandered off on her own to follow a swarm of honey-bees on the way to their hive. It was then that she saw it. A small house built into the side of the mountain; a path cut through the undergrowth, with daisies marking its way. Nopony had been around, so Marelin, full of excitement, had crept closer to the windows to take a peek inside. Her excitement had grown even more upon realising the door had been left open. She couldn't resist going inside. She could never remember much of what she saw that day. A few belongings were strewn over the floor, but not much else. She remembered playing with toys; there had been a crate full of them in the corner. There was one particular doll she had taken a fancy too; a teddy of a grey foal in blue trousers, white spots adorning the clothing. In its hoof it held a quill and pad, a stupid accessory to an otherwise perfect toy. Sadly she didn’t have long to play with it before she heard somepony shouting for her. In fear of Clover chastising her for leaving, and going inside a strangers house, she had run out of the building and back to the carriage. Now she was older, she thought about that house again, and she wished she could've know who’d lived there. The foal in the house could have made a good friend had she met him. But still, that couldn’t be, now. Her hooves rubbed against the rocky cliff-face, but she didn’t feel much pain. Though her life had been sheltered, she was not afraid of doing hard work, as long as that hard work didn’t involve her doing something she considered unfun. This was shaping out to be that way, but she couldn’t give up now. A stream could be heard trickling nearby, and Marelin stopped. A small murmuring voice came through the noise of the water. “Don’t worry,” it said, “I can help you.” It was a colt, there was no doubt about that. He sounded young, even younger than she was, and his voice appeared soft and kind. The roar she had heard previously in another part of the forest joined in his talk; it was much closer than it had been before. Marelin followed the noises and came upon the small stream. There she saw the scene. A pale yellow colt, a green mane highlighting his emerald eyes, stood next to a brown bear and washed its pelt. Blood oozed out of a fresh wound on the bear’s side, but the colt didn’t flinch. He gently rubbed the cut and muttered to the bear as he did. Marelin stepped closer to him and he looked up. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you,” she said, smiling. “I heard your voice and wanted to know who it was. I didn’t think anypony was up on this mountain.” The colt remained quiet, and the bear gave a tiny whimper. He hastily set up his work again, and continued to rub the pelt. Marelin stared at him for a while and coughed. “I could help you with that, you know? I think I know a spell that would work.” She lighted her horn and lavender sparkles began to dance through the air. The bear gave a loud, and fearful roar. “Don’t,” the colt said, lifting a hoof. Marelin stopped and stared at him. “I was only trying to help.” He gave her a smile. “It’s not necessary. Bearbert’s already better.” He picked up a leaf next to his side and wrapped it around the bears waist. “This should help with the pain. You can go now.” Bearbert snuggled his nose into the colt’s chest and then stumbled back into the trees. The colt washed his hooves in the stream, wiping away all of the blood that had gathered on them. “I’m Marelin,” the mare said. The colt appeared not to listen. “Who’re you?” “Leafy Pines,” he said, standing up and grabbing a handful of leaves from the forest edge. “You’ve been walking up the mountain for a while,” he continued, focusing on the leaves. “I’m not used to seeing too many ponies on this mountain.” He looked at her and walked closer to where she stood. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have followed you for all that time. It’s just-- ponies who come here usually aren’t after anything good.” It was when he got closer Marelin could really see how short this colt really was. By the looks of things he was barely more than a foal, yet he had an air of adulthood about him-- a complete contrast to Marelin’s foalish demeanour. “It’s okay, I don’t mind,” she told him. He appeared to relax slightly. “You live up here then?” she asked. He nodded his head. “Me and my mother, yes.” “You have a house up here?” Again he nodded. “Me and my mother, yes.” “Is it nice?” “My Mother likes it, yes.” “Do you like it?” He shrugged, and remained silent. Marelin shuffled on the spot, nervously, not quite sure how to handle such a quiet pony as he was. She was far too bouncy and lively for a young colt of his nature, and for once in her life she actually stopped to consider her own actions before carrying on with her long stream of conversation. She took in the wayward, tired eyes of the colt, the way in which he slouched when he remained silent but became rigid when anypony was talking. She considered and considered, before stepping back slightly to account for his weariness as she had tried to step closer. “Do you know this hill well, then?” she asked. He nodded. “I’ve lived here for most of my life.” “Is there anything special about this place? Something a unicorn may have been told to go and find?” It took all of her energy to make her voice more serious, and less silly. He didn’t appear to notice a difference, and looked at her quizzically for a moment. She tried to expand on what she meant but couldn’t think of anything else to say. Marelin had never been speechless before; not even for a second. “The cave’s are different,” he said, after a while had passed. Marelin looked at him in eager anticipation, trying to get him to explain further without speech. “They’re just at the top of the hill. Filled to the brim with gems, they are. That’s what most of the bad ponies come looking for.” Leafy shrugged. “Kind of stupid really. Those who go in, know they’ll never come out again.” “Why?” Marelin asked. “Nature’s payback for trying to mess with it. I’ve never actually been in myself.” He shuddered at the thought. “Nature has a way of rewarding and punishing whoever needs it.” She nodded, and gave him a slight smile. It was getting even harder to hold in her excitement, but as an adult mare, well technically an adult, she had to be responsible and know what was best to do... at least when in the company of Leafy Pines. She patted him on the back, and he flinched, but her smile comforted him a bit. “Thanks for telling me. That sounds the perfect place for me to go.” She smiled again, and then turned and began walking away. Inside her heart she knew she’d rather stay with Leafy and find something more entertaining to do, rather than just going to sit in a dank, dark smelly cave for a while. It might not even be where her dreams had told her to be. Unfortunately, she couldn’t escape the feeling that, if she did avoid doing her work, Clover would be really disappointed in her. Although when somepony died, they were gone, unicorns sometimes had a weird way of leaving some magic behind to spy on ponies. For all Marelin knew, every shadow in Equestria could’ve been Clover in disguise. She whistled as she walked, and as she was almost up to the path she just about heard the sound of hoofsteps following her. Leafy came to her side at a fast pace. “Wait,” he said, looking down to the floor, and then flinching his head up to hers. “Let me go with you. It’s too dangerous if you don’t know the way.” Marelin gave a huge grin and Leafy managed to give one back. They got onto the path, and trotted down it, Leafy leading the way. What could be waiting at the caves, Marelin didn’t know, but she couldn’t wait to find out. Especially since now she could play some games with her new friend along the way. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clover looked down onto the young foals and attempted a smile. Their parents were nowhere to be seen, and Clover couldn’t understand where they could have come from. As far as she knew the palace was well guarded. How had these two managed to sneak in undetected? “You’ve got to teach us though, miss,” Wizard begged, his eyes widening to enhance his cuteness. Clover wasn’t going to fall for that; it was the oldest trick in the book, but it was worth a try. “I’m sorry, colts. You weren’t chosen, so I can’t teach you,” she told them both. Firefly stared at her obstinately, and pushed Wizard on the side roughly. “But you’ve got to. We’ve got to learn more powerful magic. It’s our destiny. My cutie mark is magic.” She looked down at his flank and recognised the wizards hat and magic wand. It was more of a cutie mark she’d associate with a show-pony’s magic, rather than a real unicorn, but she didn’t say anything to him. After all, some show-ponies were almost as good at fake magic as she was at real magic, so she couldn’t judge. Wizard didn’t seem very happy with this talk of cutie marks; most likely to do with the fact he didn’t have one yet. It was an obvious embarrassment to the young foal, and Clover couldn’t help but think that his parents insistence on living up to his name had something to do with that. “My dad really wants me to do this,” Wizard begged. Clover noticed him placing a hoof to the cut on his lip. He took it away when he saw her staring. She felt she really must enquire into the colt’s family and possible cruelty to their foal-- it was a serious issue. Firefly didn’t seem the same as his friend. He appeared more concerned about his own future, than what his parents wanted him to do. Clover shook her head to them again. “I’m sorry, colts. Marelin’s the chosen one. I can’t change destiny.” “Please,” Wizard begged. “I’m sorry.” She tapped her hoof and two guards came over. Firefly pouted as one took hold of his shoulder and attempted to pull him away from the advisor. “Look, we need this. The least you could do is help,” he yelled. Clover, by this time, had begun to walk away. The guards dragged the two colts towards the gates. Wizard gave one last call before he left, “Tell Marelin about us. Tell her we need her help.” Clover took one last pitiful look backwards before closing the doors of the palace and disappearing inside. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marelin and Leafy stared into the mouth of the cave. All that could really be seen was an overhanging cloud of darkness. Leafy shook slightly, but Marelin didn’t even notice. She’d never seen a cave before, and it was fairly thrilling to not have to read about it in a book. Instead she actually got to witness it for herself. Finally, she could see so much of what she’d never been allowed to. “Are you sure you want to go in there?” Leafy asked, hoping her answer would be no. “It could be dangerous.” “It’ll be fine,” she answered. “Come on.” In her determination to go inside she didn’t even seem to care that Leafy looked less than willing to go with her. His eyes shifted left and right as they walked through the darkness. Marelin’s horn lit up and they used it as a torch to see where they were going. Unfortunately it also meant they could see things Leafy didn’t want to see. Shadows loomed on the walls. Smoke and smog came down one corridor. Marelin stopped. “That’s strange. Where’s the smoke coming from?” Leafy didn’t answer, but built up his courage and carried on following her down the path. He’d only been with the mare for a short amount of time, but he was already impressed at how brave she seemed in a crisis. Until today he thought he was fairly brave, dealing with bad ponies whilst laying in the shadows, and helping nature carry on, but Marelin was on a whole other level. It was like she didn’t even know that fear even existed. They came to a clearing, brightly lit up by magic of some kind. In the middle, a large pile of jewels laid, seemingly owned by nopony. Marelin moved forward and tugged on some of them. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a voice said inside the darkness. Leafy jumped, flapped his wings, and crashed into the roof. He shook his head fiercely. His head really hurt because of that scare. Marelin, however, wasn’t disturbed by the creepy voice, and merely turned around to look. A very familiar looking stallion appeared from the side of the cave. He wore a red cape around his shoulders, and stared innocently at the young mare. Bruises and cuts covered his whole body-- including a very deep one on his top lip. From behind him, came another stallion with angry, dominating eyes. “They belong to the dragon that lives here,” the angry one said. Marelin placed the jewel back on the ground. “What’re you doing here?” she asked. “Waiting for somepony to come help us,” the first one answered. “Waiting for you to help us, like I’d asked all those years ago.” Marelin was none the wiser. She didn’t know either of them. Nor did she remember ever offering to help anypony in the past-- Clover would never have let her do that. “Don’t you remember us?” the angry one asked. Marelin shook her head. Leafy, by this point, had shuffled behind her, ready to fight if anything happened, but not ready to start a riot if it wasn’t needed. “Bit rude not to, don’t you think? We went against you in the chosen one competition. We could have been you,” the angry one continued, annoyed by her refusal to answer properly. “That’d be fun,” Marelin said, with a smile. “Sorry, I don’t remember you. Clover always said my memory was terrible.” “It’s us. Wizard and Firefly. We asked you for your help,” Wizard told her. Marelin shrugged. “We told Clover to tell you.” Marelin shook her head. “She never did.” “Figures,” Firefly said, his angry eyes deepening. Wizard placed a hoof on his shoulder and he calmed down slightly. “You live in this cave?” Marelin asked them. They both nodded. Firefly looked down at the floor. “We couldn’t get our destinies. Nopony would help us. Leaving was our only option,” Wizard told her. Marelin opened her mouth to ask another question, but was quickly stopped by the noticeable presence of hot steam blowing in her direction. They all turned their heads and noticed, with almost disbelief, that a giant ruby dragon was staring at them from one of the tunnels leading off. And he didn’t appear happy with having so many visitors either. He shuffled his claws closer into the cave. Firefly and Wizard quickly retreated backwards into the darkness from where they’d arrived. For once, it was only Leafy that seemed undisturbed by the creature. He walked towards the dragon and, to Marelin’s surprise, the dragon very hastily retreated backwards. “How’d you do that?” she said, mostly to herself. Leafy shrugged off her question. “It doesn’t hold long. We have to go, now.” He wasn’t wrong. Not long after he and Marelin followed Firefly and Wizard out, the dragon could be heard bellowing and smashing his body against the sides of the cave. Rocks and dust fell down off the ceiling, almost crushing Marelin a few times. Thankfully she just managed to to dodge them, and those that she didn’t she managed to catch with her magic. Leafy ran beside her, fast on his small legs. Eventually they stopped for a breath. The dragon couldn’t be heard anymore, and the rumbling had stopped. It was also noticeable that the two colts they’d met inside the cave had completely disappeared from sight. Neither Leafy nor Marelin knew in which direction they should be heading, or what they could do about finding out. It seemed as if they were stuck. A glimmer of a rainbow came to Marelin’s eye, and she saw a small cave leading off from the tunnel she was in. Without even stopping to tell Leafy where she was going, she wandered inside, something seeming to pull her in the direction. Jewels and precious stones of all shapes, sizes and colours sat in the walls and floor, capturing the imagination of the small filly. Everything was so bright and dazzling. She wasn’t scared of it. It was a good feeling. A sense of serenity and calm washed through her mind. She outstretched her hooves and the familiar feeling of magic crept from her horn, down through the rest of her body. Her eyes glowed with white light, and she vanished from the cave. Down, down, down she went, crashing on the floor with a thud. Nearby to her stood two young foals, downcast and sad. The past was replaying all over again. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Firefly stood next to Wizard, deeply disturbed by what was going on. His friend was crying, and it was taking all of his strength to try and stop him. “It’s not fair. I don’t want to,” Wizard cried. “I don’t want to.” “Well, it’s either that or your dad. What do you want?” Firefly yelled. This only made Wizard cry harder. Firefly, realising his mistake, reached out his hoof and placed it on the colt’s shoulder. “The caves will be safe for us. Ponies say that there’s magic there, beyond anything ever seen. We just take the magic, and Clover will be too awestruck to deny us entering the program.” Wizard sobbed, and rubbed his eyes clear of his tears. “But... it’s... it’s dangerous. Nopony’s ever come out from them.” “Well,” Firefly said, releasing his hoof from the other colt. “We’re not noponies, we’re someponies.” Wizard stared at him confusedly. Firefly backtracked his sentence. “We go in, we come out. That’s the end of that. We have to.” Wizard shook his head, and didn’t even attempt to stop the tears flooding down his cheeks anymore. He carefully touched his cut lip and shuddered at the memory. “We can’t rely on Marelin to save us. She barely knows us,” Firefly told him. “But, she’s nice. She’d try,” Wizard argued. “So can we. This cave-- it’s a way of trying. A way of gaining the ultimate power.” Firefly continued to stare at his friend until Wizard gave way. Wizard genuinely thought that Marelin would come through for him. That she, the future advisor to the royals, could help them out of their problem. But could he wait that long for some help? Who knows how quickly Marelin could actually come to their rescue; especially considering Clover wouldn’t. Wizard needed help now, not later. He was beyond desperation at this point. He didn’t want to have to suffer at home anymore. He had to make his mom and dad proud-- if not for their sake, but for his own well being. Reluctantly he nodded, and they began to walk in the direction of the mountains. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marelin followed these younger versions of the ponies she’d only just met. She’d already tried speaking to them, but they couldn’t seem to hear or see her. It reminded her of the sense of feeling she’d had once when Clover had made her drink a really horrible potion, in order to experience something Starswhirl and her had once done. She felt like a ghost, not exactly alive. Her ability to make friends had gone; it was like everything had gone back to the days when she wasn’t allowed outside of the castle. She hated those days. The vision swiftly changed, and now, instead of two colts stood before her, there was the stallions she’d seen earlier. The older versions of Firefly and Wizard were back, cuts and bruises and all. They seemed stable and motionless. Then again, so did the land around them. Other ponies were with them, each one with the same bruises and cuts as each other. Each pony was identical with painful scars, but seemed to feel no sense of pain at all. In fact, Marelin could almost believe that they were at peace-- more so than they had been in the previous vision. They didn’t need saving or helping, that was for sure. They were happy, and Marelin was happy about that. Almost happy enough to bounce up and down with glee, but she didn’t. Not because she didn’t want to, but because the vision swiftly changed onto something new. She’d entered the palace again. Helios and Lotto were stood in front of her. Lotto looked concerned, and not sure what to do with himself. There were chains on the front of his hooves, locking them in place. Helios didn’t seem concerned about this at all. The only pony he had eyes for was a dark, black mare stood beside him. Her wings were sticky and green, her eyes perfectly matched her wings. She was terrifying. A deep laugh came from her throat. Helios fell down onto his knees, choking and gasping, but Marelin couldn’t move from the spot she was stood. Her hooves were stuck onto the ground. Lotto didn’t make an attempt to help, and neither did his fellow guards. It was like a dream-- a nightmare-- But it wasn’t. Marelin didn’t feel like she was dreaming. She felt as if this made her journey whole. That this was the end of what she’d been dreaming the night before. But it was real. Leafy tapped on her shoulder and her eyes gradually adapted to the poor lighting of the cave. She shook her head, fiercely, trying to rid herself of the thought. “Are you okay?” Leafy asked. Marelin didn’t answer. Just behind Leafy’s head, she noticed an engraving sketched onto the wall. The words written were: All mighty Alicorn, that you were high on your pedestal. Your love and lust shall be your end, and with that kingdom fall. Marelin’s smile faded. Her happiness grew dim. And all that way back home, after escaping the cave, she hurried as fast as she could possibly go. The laugh still ingrained in her memory.