Hunted
A mix of blood and water flooded out of Twilight’s mouth as the flickers of awareness came back to her. She heaved, coughing, as she cracked her eyes open. Red dragonscale pressed against her cheek. A matted blonde mane turned a rusty red by her vomit flowed down the sheet of armor. Applejack lurched beneath her, her hooves clattering on cobblestone.
Twilight managed to suck in a rasping breath in between coughs. Her eyes widened as the cobblestones passing beneath them rippled. Applejack dodged sharply to the side, and Twilight spilled from her back. As she fell, she watched a giant stone talon shoot up from the street and grasp where they had been moments before. She knew the spell; High Star's Grasping Claw. If they had been caught, it would have closed like a vice around them, crushing them until it finally crumbled away into dust.
Twilight’s back hit the street. The blow forced what little air she had gained out. More irony liquid surged past her tongue. Streaks of orange flared across her blurred vision. She blinked, trying to clear it. A Firestorm roiled above her, casting down balls of flame that burst on impact with the ground. She sucked in another sharp, painful breath. The window they jumped out of was nearby, and she was only a mere ten paces away from the cistern they’d jumped into. Three unicorns stood in the castle above them, looking down from the broken window.
A meteoric fireball plummeted from the Firestorm above, straight toward her. She rolled to the side, ducking behind her cloak. Heat blasted past her, but she felt nothing through the Cloak of Protection. Is this it? she wondered. Are they just going to stand up there and let their spell finish us off?
Twilight gathered her hooves beneath her. Her limbs trembled, but she managed to rise, sucking short, raspy breaths all the while. She looked around wildly, searching for her swords, and her friends. She spotted Celestial Fury speared into the cobblestone only a few paces away. It must have fallen with her. As she picked it up, a dripping wet Rarity stepped backwards past her, launching crystalline arrows at the unicorns in the window. The shafts shattered uselessly on a transparent grey barrier.
Above, Rainbow Dash dodged the flames that rained from the sky. She struggled with each beat of her wings; her seared feathers couldn’t catch the air the way they were meant to. Fluttershy stood with a bark-skinned Angel at her side, her cloak formed into a dome of fire-blackened brambles around her. Her eyes flared with a soft green glow as she completed a spell.
The nullifying wave of Fluttershy’s Dispel burst in the air, purging away the firestorm, but Twilight glimpsed a glowing horn in the window. The Grey Wizards weren’t done yet. With a rumble, the ground lurched beneath her hooves. Cracks blossomed from a point, as if a giant invisible wedge had been driven into the street. Twilight stumbled as the ground shifted and gave way beneath her. She nearly fell into one of the cracks, but she threw her weight, choosing to fall on solid ground.
She scrambled for purchase, two of her hooves dangling into empty space. Her vision throbbed like a candle as she struggled to breath. She knew she needed a spell; she needed magic and power, but she couldn’t get enough air to form the thoughts. She cursed herself. Life and death lay in the next few seconds, and she could barely hold onto consciousness.
The ground lurched again, the crack growing wider as if the wedge were being driven deeper. She slipped on the brink. Teeth grasped her mane, pulling painfully, but hauling her clear of the fissure. “Not today, Sugarcube,” Applejack said.
As her head shifted, Twilight glimpsed one of the cracks from the Grey Wizard’s spell spider-webbing up the foundation of Canterlot Castle. Not today, Twilight thought. She focused all that she had left on that crack and flared her horn. She didn’t form a spell; all she did was release wild magical power. Troves of power jumped up at her bidding, flowing freely from her horn. A moment later, a flaring violet detonation burst from the castle’s weakened foundation.
The side of the castle crumbled in a cascade of grey dust, and the wizards plummeted with it. A wave of stone buried them with a thunderous roar. Yes! Twilight thought, but her excitement was short-lived.
Twilight’s vision flared white as pain shot through her with a sudden ferocity. Dazed, she flopped onto her back, her body limp. Pegasi dove down from above, four of them in a wedge, each leaving a line of thunderclouds as they flew. Lightning lanced from rods attached harnesses they wore. One hit Rainbow Dash, and her wings collapsed, sending her tumbling.
Then, as suddenly as they had appeared, the airborne attackers wheeled to avoid a new threat. A hail of icy shards raked through their midst, scattering them. Brief confusion surfaced amid the pain in Twilight’s mind. She could have sworn one of the shards passed clean through one of the pegasi.
“Down!” Applejack shouted from close by. “We can lose them in the sewers.”
“Nice of them to dig us a path,” Rarity added.
Twilight’s head lulled to the side, her field of view shifting with it. As Twilight fought to hold onto consciousness, Angel caught Rainbow Dash with a mesh of vines that burst from his back. Gasping, Twilight tried to breath, but no matter how much air she sucked into her burning lungs, she wanted more. She smelled rot wafting up from beneath her.
As Twilight’s vision faded, she spotted a unicorn with a glowing horn tucked beneath the eaves of a nearby building. The unicorn had a baby blue coat, and she wore a purple cloak and a pointed magicians hat. At her throat, something glowed with a blood red light. I know her, Twilight thought. Before she could remember the name, she lost all awareness.
A wave of snow and ice blinded Twilight. Chill bit into her bones. Ice froze around her hooves. In the distance, she thought she could see a faint pink glow. She squinted. It was there. Pinkie was there, somewhere, to the north, across ancient peaks and a frozen sea. She’d seen it before the Grey Wizards stole her portal away from her.
She pulled free of the ice and galloped toward the pink light in the distance. Her hooves bit into the ice. She made great strides, and the light glowed brighter, but just when she felt she was about to reach it, the ice shattered beneath her hooves.
Grasping tendrils of deathly cold water snatched her and pulled her under. She screamed, and ice water flooded her lungs. She stared upward, weakly paddling, as the tendrils pulled her deeper. Above, she saw the pink light, so close, but so far. A pink foreleg plunged into the icy water. Twilight reached for it, linking her own foreleg with Pinkie’s. Warmth filled her, and she was yanked from the icy deep.
Twilight’s head broke the surface. She pulled herself onto a sandy beach, gasping. Shakily, she climbed to her feet. She looked around. Pinkie was nowhere to be found. She stood on the edge of one of Ponyville’s ponds. For a moment, she thought she was alone, but then she saw the Spectre.
The Specter hunched beneath the five glowing chains. Its wings of shadow ebbed and spilled past the chains, spreading and reaching. It looked up at her with its glowing red eyes set into its bleach white, unicorn skull.
“You lost your laughter,” the Specter said. “You nearly had her back, but you lost her.” It laughed a hacking, black laugh. “How are you going to find her now?”
Twilight took a step back, away from the reaching shadows. “I’ll find her!”
“Maybe,” the Specter said. “But will you find her in time?”
Twilight took another step back, doubt gripping at her heart.
“Will she still be laughter when you find her?” The Specter asked, its voice smooth and insidious. “What will you do without her?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight murmured. She looked at the sand, unable to meet the glowing red eyes.
“I didn’t understand you at first. I didn’t understand these chains,” the Specter said. “But I’m starting to. I’m starting to remember why I waited so long for your soul. You’re the sixth. The sixth needs five parts to be whole, and the sixth is the reason I am here. The question is: Can you keep me from being you when the sixth only has four?”
Twilight sucked in a breath. Fetid stench assaulted her nostrils. The all-too familiar sensation of Fluttershy’s healing magic warmed her chest. Coughing weakly, she cracked her eyes open.
The world around her was dim. A soft blue glow, from Rarity's horn, threw shadows on stone walls too smooth to have been formed by anything but magic. Water trickled somewhere nearby. Twilight swallowed, realizing how dry her mouth was.
“She’s awake!” Rainbow Dash cried, her face thrown half into shadow;
Twilight tried to ask for water, but the only sound she made was a broken croak.
A moment later, somepony tilted her head to her side and pressed a waterskin to her lips. She snatched it in her levitation, tearing it out of the hooves of the pony holding it, and drank greedily. The cool trickle spilled past her lips and down her throat.
“Not so fast, Twilight,” Fluttershy said softly. She gently pulled on the waterskin, trying to coax it away from Twilight.
With one more gulp, out of a need for air more than anything, Twilight let her pull it away. She coughed, sputtering, and caught her breath. Salty tears stung her eyes, and she wiped them away with the back of her foreleg. Grunting, she pushed herself into a sitting position. She peered at the ponies around her, squinting into the dark.
There was Fluttershy, hovering over her. Rarity stood a few paces back, her horn lighting the sewer passage. Rainbow Dash looked over Fluttershy’s shoulder, favoring one of her forelegs. Behind them all, Applejack faced away from her, stoically watching the passage.
“Are we safe?” Twilight asked, massaging her throat. She noticed Celestial Fury and Solstice leaning against the wall beside her. Fortunately, both blades were accounted for.
“For the moment,” Rarity said. “The Wonderbolts can’t follow us down here, and I think the Grey Wizards have lost too many of their number already.”
“Those were Wonderbolts?” Twilight said, blinking. She’d read about Canterlot’s aerobatic pegasi team, but she didn’t know they carried lightning rods.
“Definitely,” Rainbow Dash said. “We used to hear about them all the time in Cloudsdale. My teacher said if you took one on in the air, you were as good as dead. I always wanted to meet one and see how I stacked up.” She sniffed, glancing down at her foreleg. “I didn’t know they used magic tricks to win.”
“Probably why you don’t hear about them losing,” Rarity said, smirking.
“So where do we stand?” Applejack asked, turning toward Twilight.
“Yeah, what’s the plan?” Rainbow Dash said.
Twilight blinked. “Plan?”
“How’re we going to find Pinkie now?” Fluttershy said.
Pinkie. Twilight felt like she’d been kicked in the gut. She had no plans. She knew where Spellhold was, roughly. She’d managed to get that information from the Grey Wizard’s network of gateways before they’d cut her off, but it was far away, somewhere in the Frozen North. An island, most likely, bound by ice. Nopony could live up there, especially not in winter, no matter how much magical warmth they cloaked themselves with. The Frozen North was as cold as the Badlands were dry and the Everfree was wild. Pinkie was beyond her reach.
Her eyes burned. She avoided meeting her friends gazes. They looked to her for answers. She’d always had an answer, a plan, a spell, but today, she had nothing. She’d let herself be suckered into the Thieves Guild’s trap. Any risk was worth finding Pinkie, she told herself, but it didn’t help. She’d ended up slaughtering the Grey Wizards with a death spell, and she had so little to show for all the death she’d caused.
She glanced up at her friends. She was taking too long to answer. They could tell something was wrong; she saw it in their faces, but it was nothing but concern. No accusation, no narrow eyes blazing with anger, despite her mistakes. I failed, Twilight thought. I lost Pinkie because I wasn’t strong enough, and I can’t find her again because I’m too stupid and gullible.
“I’m sorry,” Twilight said, swallowing. “I... we never should have walked into the Grey Wizard’s Castle. We don’t have any friends here anymore. I don’t know who to turn to. I don’t know how—” she stopped herself abruptly. She had a bargaining chip; Fleur had called it a fragment. Whatever the rock Fancy Pants had given her was, the Grey Wizards wanted it back. What are they willing to do for it? she wondered. Do they want it enough to forgive me for what I did to them and give me back my friend?
“Twilight?” Applejack said, prompting.
“We can give them the fragment for Pinkie,” Twilight said, looking up at her friends. “It’s the only option we have left.”
“That’s not your only option,” a voice said from further down the passage, deep within a shadow. Twilight recognized the voice, a memory from months ago.
Twilight shined light down the tunnel with her horn and wrapped her swords in her levitation. The lavender glow illuminated a lone unicorn. She wore a purple cloak and a pointed magician’s hat. Her baby-blue coat and silver hair glimmered in the light. A black amulet encircled her neck. It bore the visage of a stylized alicorn with a red gem set into its chest. Twilight reached for her swords.
“It’s alright, Twilight,” Rarity said. “She helped us escape from the Wonderbolts and get you down here where we could heal you.”
“Don’t you remember me, Twilight?” the unicorn said with a smirk. “I remember you.”
Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Trixie?” She let her levitation fade from around her swords.
“The one and only,” Trixie said.
“That’s my line,” Rainbow Dash muttered.
Twilight quirked a brow. “Not the Great and Powerful?”
Trixie cocked a foreleg in annoyance. “Really? All this time and that’s all you can think to ask? What happened to my stage-name? If you must know, I’m in a new line of work, due to a certain naive young wizard and her noble whims. How long do you think it took from the day you set those slaves free until everypony up and down the Coast Road knew the story of how the Great and Powerful Trixie was nothing but a fraud? Illusions don’t work if ponies don’t believe they’re real, no matter how beautiful and intricate I make them.”
Trixie glared at Twilight. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is dead, and you killed her.”
Rainbow Dash stalked forward. “Is somepony bitter?” she said. “Because I remember you didn’t have any problems sticking Fluttershy in a cage. You don’t deserve any pity.”
“It’s your own fault, really,” Rarity added. “You’re the one who had the slaves.”
Trixie closed her eyes and pointed her nose at the ceiling. “I was merely their keeper. And they had a better lot with me than they would have had with somepony else.”
“That doesn’t make it right,” Rarity muttered.
“Right now, it doesn’t matter what Trixie did in the past,” Twilight said, fixing her gaze on Trixie. “Why are you here? Why did you help us?”
“Simple,” Trixie said. “I’m here because I’m the pony who stole the Fragment from the Grey Wizards. I helped you because you have it, and I need it to get to Spellhold.”
How? Twilight wondered. How could a rock get me to Spellhold? What is it? She bit back her questions and narrowed her eyes instead. She didn’t need to look any more desperate. The Grey Fox had manipulated her because she was desperate. “That’s not simple. Explain,” she said.
Trixie smirked. “You have one of the pieces of the Crystal Heart. It can hold the cold of the Frozen North at bay, if you know how to use it.”
The Crystal Heart, Twilight thought, her eyes widening. It was an artifact with the power of Harmony. Celestia had mentioned it.
“You know what it is?” Trixie said, blinking.
Twilight frowned, controlling her expression. “How did you get something so valuable away from the Grey Wizards? One Truesight Spell and you’re finished.”
Trixie grinned. “I sent thieves in black armor at them, not spellcasters. Why would you cast Truesight, if you don’t see a single unicorn?” She glanced down at the amulet around her throat. “And I have a few more tricks than I did when we last met.”
Twilight pictured it in her mind. A black cloaked pegasus rushing for her with a gleaming wingblade. Her first response wouldn’t be to wonder if it was an illusion.“If you had it, and you need it, why give it to the Thieves Guild?” she asked.
“Give?” Trixie frowned. “No, they took it from my room. I must have been staying at one of their inns.”
“Alright, let’s pretend I believe you,” Twilight said, furrowing her brows. “How do we get to Spellhold?”
“You show me the way, and I use the Fragment to keep us warm,” Trixie said.
“And if it doesn’t work?”
“Then we’ll freeze together.”
Twilight allowed herself a trickle of hope. “We’re going to need a ship to take us to the edge of the ice.” She grinned. “A fast one.”
Raw sewage spilled out through a rusted grate and splattered down into an open gutter between a distillery and a weathered tenement with missing shingles and rotten siding. With her levitation, Twilight ripped the grate out by its roots. Clumps of mortar clung to the metal bars. She dropped it, letting it clatter to the street.
A few blocks downhill, the urban sprawl gave way to Canterlot Harbor. In the distance, further away along the banks of the bay, The Grey Fox’s mansion rose above the smaller structures with the light of the crescent moon reflecting off of its roof.
Twilight stepped out of the sewer and took a lungful of open air. Her eyes lingered on the Grey Fox’s mansion. I could tear it down, she thought. I could rip it open and kill everyone in it. All I need is a little sleep. The fight with the Grey Wizards had left her drained.
Her friends followed after her, Trixie with them. “We could give those thieves some justice for what they did,” Applejack said as she stepped up beside Twilight.
Twilight frowned. “It’s not as important as finding Pinkie.” She tore her eyes away from the building and turned to face down the street. “We’ll deal with the Thieves Guild later. We need to get out of here before the Grey Wizards catch up with us.”
Applejack nodded. “Can’t say I disagree.”
They set off down the narrow street. It wasn’t long before Twilight found herself falling behind. Though her thoughts were still sharp, exhaustion dogged her steps. Soon, she was a few paces back, alongside Fluttershy.
“I almost didn’t have enough magic to save you,” Fluttershy said, quiet but abrupt.
Twilight grimaced. “They had a lot of wizards.”
“I’m glad you killed that pony.”
Twilight winced. What am I making my friends become? she wondered. “I had to do it,” Twilight said. “We couldn’t waste—”
“I know,” Fluttershy said softly.
Twilight looked down at the street passing by beneath her as she walked. Saving a life shouldn’t be a waste, she thought, but she still felt like she’d made the right decision. “Don’t let me change you, Fluttershy,” she said.
Fluttershy smiled. “I think it’s a bit too late for that. We all have to grow. I’m glad its you making the hard choices though, because I don’t think I could.”
Twilight nodded, looking up. A long walk remained between her and the waterfront. Through the gap made in the buildings by the street, she glimpsed ships moored to the piers. She squinted at one of them. It’s small, distinct catamaran hull occupied a narrow space wedged between two hulking carracks. A grin broke across her face. It was just the boat she was looking for.
Twilight stepped onto the familiar deck of the Solitaire. There were a lot of reasons why the ship was precisely where she needed it to be. Quick Fix and Florent would be wintering in one of two places while the season’s icy winds lashed Serpent’s Bay and the Sea of Swords: Canterlot, or Manehatten. Fifty-fifty odds weren’t bad.
“I don’t think anypony’s home,” Rainbow Dash said, landing lightly on the deck in front of Twilight.
Twilight climbed the steps up to the raised deck at the stern. She dropped onto her haunches in front of the ship’s wheel. “Then we wait.”
Applejack stepped off the boarding ramp and looked up at her. “I doubt anypony will be here ‘till morning.”
“Or at all,” Rarity said, a few steps behind Applejack. “They could leave the ship pretty much alone when they’re moored for winter.”
“There are plenty of captains out at night that we could hire,” Trixie called, still on the shore. “Why do you insist on this boat?”
Twilight ran her hoof along one of the wooden spokes of the wheel. “Because it’s fast.” She smiled. “Really, really fast.”
“And if nopony shows up?” Applejack asked.
Twilight shrugged. “Then we learn how to sail.”
Twilight woke to the squawking of seagulls assaulting her ears and a terrible throbbing in the back of her neck. She groaned and blinked rapidly against the glare of the morning light. She lifted her chin off the rim of the ship’s wheel and twisted her head to the side until she felt the satisfying crack of popped vertebrae. Yawning, she extracted her foreleg from between the spokes and wiped some drool off her chin.
“Glad to see you’ve made yourself at home,” a voice called from the deck below.
Twilight snapped her eyes open, alert. She focused on the speaker. Quick Fix looked up at her from the center of the catamaran’s main deck. Applejack stood beside her.
“Why didn’t anypony wake me up when she got here?” Twilight said, glaring at Applejack.
Applejack shrugged. “You seemed tired.”
“Get off my boat!” Quick Fix shouted.
Twilight shook off the last cobwebs of sleep and drew herself up. “No,” she said. “I need it, and I’m taking it to the edge of the ice whether you’re on it or not.”
Quick Fix cocked her foreleg and squinted at Twilight. “The edge of the ice? Did you get even crazier between now and last time?”
Applejack smiled. “Yup.”
“She did,” Rarity said.
Rainbow Dash nodded. “Definitely.”
“Um, yes,” Fluttershy said.
“Hey!” Twilight shouted. “You’re supposed to be on my side!”
“I don’t think she’s crazy,” Trixie said, off on her own at the bow.
Applejack chuckled. “You will when you get to know her.”
Trixie smirked. “I’m sure.”
Quick Fix stamped her hoof firmly on the deck. “I am not taking an unstable magical freak anywhere on my boat!”
Twilight’s ears fell. She dipped her head, unsure. “Unstable?” Freak.
“You heard me,” Quick Fix said. “You vaporized a sea serpent, then we drop you off at Candlekeep and the whole place up and disappears. Anypony in their right mind would stay well clear of you.”
Twilight tensed, shifting. “I’m getting to the edge of the ice. You can help me, or—”
“Or what? You’ll turn me to ash?” Quick Fix shook her head sadly. “I can’t fight you, I’ve seen what you can do, but I won’t just stand aside let you send my boat to the bottom. Even if you aren’t a problem, we’d be dodging ‘bergs the whole way there, and the serpents don’t stop hunting just because it’s getting into winter. If a storm kicks up, we’d all freeze right here on the deck.”
“Twilight won’t be a problem,” Fluttershy said, her voice unwavering. “She wouldn’t hurt anypony unless she had to. She’s not unstable, and she’s not a freak.”
“And she had enough control over magic to save everypony in Candlekeep,” Applejack said.
“Twilight can deal with any sea serpents we run into,” Rarity said.
Rainbow Dash grinned. “That, and I have a trick for dealing with storms.”
Trixie flicked her muzzle toward Twilight. “I can’t speak for her, but the cold won’t be a problem.”
Quick Fix shook her head. “The Solitaire isn’t built for cold weather.”
Wings rustled in the wind. “Oh, but she can do it,” a voice said from above.
Twilight looked up, craning her neck. Atop the Solitaire's small sailing mast, a griffon, Florent, balanced on one paw and a talon. “She can, and she will,” he said.
Quick Fix rubbed her forehead beside her horn with a hoof. “By the wings of the Alicorns, you too?”
Florent gripped the mast with one talon and whirled down it until he landed lightly on the deck. “Where’s your sense of adventure?” He wrapped one feathered arm around Quick Fix’s shoulders. “The Solitaire against the Frozen North.” He gestured out toward the bay with his free talon. “Zero visibility. Just us, our wits, and our ship in the whiteness.”
Quick Fix smiled. “You’re right, that does sound great.” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, Quick Fix pulled away from Florent and whirled on him. “If you want to sink!” she shouted. “You’re all crazy!”
Florent reached out and touched Quick Fix’s shoulder. “You’re right, but what’s life without some crazy? This ship has no right to exist, but you made it work.” He smiled. “Let’s do the impossible. It’s what you're good at.”
“Why?!” Quick Fix raised a hoof and pointed at Twilight. “Why should we risk everything for her?”
“Because I need your help to save my friend,” Twilight said. “The Grey Wizards sent Pinkie Pie to Spellhold, and I’m going to get her back.”
Quick Fix looked up at Twilight for a moment, eyeing her. “You really need to learn to open with the important part.” She smiled. “Fine, we’ll take you where you need to go, but if we all live through this, I expect a lot of gold, Baroness.”
“Done,” Twilight said.
They were about two hours out of port when a hailstone the size of Twilight’s head smashed into the deck in front of her, then rolled off as the Solitaire listed on rough seas.. Countless smaller frozen projectiles riddled an arcane shield projected above her head, protecting both her and Florent as he steered the ship. She, Florent, Fluttershy, and Applejack were the only ones out on the deck at the moment. The rest of the ship’s passengers were huddled below in the cargo space in the twin hulls.
Fluttershy stood on the bow, protected by a dome of brambles, her eyes aglow. She stared up at the sky. Applejack sat behind her, covering her head with a foreleg as hailstones plinked harmlessly off her armor. “If this don’t work, Fluttershy, we’re gonna have to get Rainbow out here to go up there and blow it out!” Applejack shouted over the rippling boom-crack of thunder.
Lightning coursing through rolling black clouds above lit up the silhouette of towering mountains far off to port. They sailed beneath the shadow of the Hilt, hoping it would help them avoid the icy wind blowing down from the north. Unfortunately, the mountains had caught a storm. Countless hailstones impacting the ocean threw up a fine mist, making it difficult to see far over the rolling seas.
“It’s moving!” Fluttershy called, barely audible over the sound of the storm.. “It takes time!”
Twilight looked up through the transparent lavender sheet of her shield, wondering how much time they had.
“‘Berg!” Florent yelled.
Twilight snapped her gaze forward. An icy mound loomed out of the mist. They flew toward it, driven by the Solitaire's arcane jets. The deck shifted as Florent threw his weight against the wheel, and she nearly lost her balance. The bow began to swing, but it only took Twilight a moment to realize they weren’t turning fast enough. We’re too close, she thought.
Almost instinctually, she planted her hooves and lit her horn, glad she’d been able to get some sleep and prepare new spells since the fight with the Grey Wizards. She formed Dimension Door, and with a thought, she tapped into four ley-lines that coursed with power around her. It was like flexing a muscle she never knew she had. A rainbow pulse of color filled her mind.
She chose a point beyond the iceberg. Indistinct, somewhere in the mist, and jumped into interplanar space. She pulled the entire Solitaire through with her. With a crack, she rippled back into existence, still on the deck. For an instant, the stomach-twisting sensation of free-fall gripped her, then the boat beneath her hooves slammed into the water.
She lost her balance and collapsed onto the deck shoulder-first as the surface beneath her lurched forward. With her cheek on the wood, she glimpsed the Iceberg receding behind them. “What just ‘appened?!” Florent shouted. “Where did it go?!”
Twilight climbed back to her feet. The hail had eased off, replaced by huge, spattering raindrops. “I moved us,” she said, dully uneasy with what she’d just done. I modified a spell as I cast it. All that should have happened was spell failure. She should be curled into a ball of pain from the feedback coursing through her horn.
One of the hatches leading below decks burst open. Rainbow Dash crawled out, her mane instantly soaked the moment the rain hit her. She lurched toward the side of the boat and hooked a foreleg around the railing before heaving over the side. Wiping her mouth, she shouted, “Screw this!” and launched into the air. “I’m Rainbooming this thing!”
“Dash, wait!” Twilight shouted as Rainbow Dash disappeared into the mist. She’d been avoiding using Rainbow Dash to clear the storm because a Sonic Rainboom would be like a beacon. If the Grey Wizards were still looking for them, and even if they weren’t, they would be sure to investigate. What about the spell I just cast? Dimension Door was a fourth-level spell, strong enough to concern the Grey Wizards, but nothing terribly significant. After she’d modified it, though, she had no idea how to classify it.
Twilight frowned. There was no sign of Rainbow Dash. She must have been out of earshot already, or she hadn’t been listening. Might as well make the best of it, she thought. “It’ll take her a few minutes to get altitude,” Twilight called. “We just need to sit tight until then.”
The glow faded from Fluttershy’s eyes. Twilight thought she saw the yellow pegasus slump a little, but it could have been the rolling of the deck. “I got it to stop hailing, at least!” Fluttershy shouted. “I’m sorry, it was the best I could do. It wasn’t listening like the storm from the Everfree did!”
Twilight sighed and pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders. Her shield didn’t stop the rain, and her coat was thoroughly soaked. She shivered. We have a long way to go, she thought, and already, the trip was taxing. She hoped whatever Trixie intended to do with the Fragment would work if a proper winter storm hit them.
After about five more minutes of misery, a rainbow nova exploded above them. Light pushed back the cloud layer in a rippling wave, revealing the hidden blue sky. The rain stopped as warm sunlight sparkled off the soaking deck. With the weather cleared, the ponies below stepped out onto deck.
Rainbow Dash shot over the ship, trailing a rainbow ribbon of light and whooping with joy. The blast of air that followed her whipped Twilight’s wet mane into her eyes. Chuckling, she pushed the stray strands of hair behind her ear. Rainbow Dash angled up into a series of loops and corkscrews, riding the speed of her rainboom.
Together, they gazed up at the ring of open sky and smiled at the Sun on their faces. For a moment, Twilight wondered what Celestia was doing up there. Celestia had been a static point after she’d lost Star Swirl. It was impossible to forget the wing of the Goddess around her shoulders, warm and soft. Why is she so far away? Twilight wondered. Am I not worth comforting, after all I’ve been through? Just as quickly, her thoughts turned to Spike. She hadn’t seen her familiar for a few days.
She always had questions. Celestia might be able to explain what had just happened with her spell. But even if she had the opportunity to write a letter, she had no way of delivering it. She thought about calling out to Spike with her mind, asking him to return to her.
Then, something else caught her attention. Four lines of black clouds streaked out from the edge of the ring Rainbow Dash had opened in the sky. She squinted. “Are those...?”
“Wonderbolts!” Rarity shouted.
Twilight reached for her swords. The Wonderbolts shot across the sky with a terrible swiftness. Two peeled off, pursuing Rainbow Dash. The other two dove for the Solitaire.
If they’re already here, they must have been out over the water already, Twilight thought. Did somepony see us get onto the Solitaire? There were enough eyes at the harbor, maybe some belonged to the Thieves Guild. All they needed was a bit of magical communication when the Grey Wizards pinpointed my spell.
It doesn’t matter, she decided, reaching for a Death spell. The Wonderbolts swept low over the water, the wind from their passing cutting twin wakes into the waves as they closed on the stern of the ship. She could make out the ponies at the head of the storm cloud trails. Wait, she thought, hesitating. She had other options, better options. I don’t have to kill them. She closed her eyes for a moment, searching her mind for a different spell.
“Twilight, down!” Applejack shouted. Armored plates crashed into her side, and she fell to the deck. Lightning crackled overhead, dual static pulses that set her mane on end. A split-second later, two pegasi thundered past, a blur against the blue sky. Twilight thought she glimpsed something grasped in their hooves.
Crystalline shafts from Rarity’s bow followed the Wonderbolts, but almost as soon as they passed, they were out of range. Rarity’s arrows hit the water silently. Twilight struggled to her feet beside Applejack.
Florent stood wide-eyed in front of her, gripping the shattered remains of the ship’s wheel. The entire steering column had been splintered by the lightning. Blood dripped from a wooden fragment lodged near his hip. “This is bad,” he said.
“Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted. She scanned for the Wonderbolts. The two that had buzzed the ship continued low over the water, their black storm-trails roughly in line with the white shape of another iceberg a few hundred hoofspans away and safely off to starboard. Far above, a trail of rainbow light twined with two stormclouds. Lightning crackled against the clear sky.
Fluttershy landed on the stern and quickly moved to Florent’s side. Twilight frowned. For the moment, Rainbow was on her own. She turned her focus back to the pair that had hit the Solitaire. They circled around the peak of the iceberg in the distance. What are they doing? she wondered, forming a spell with her mind.
She would not be caught off guard again. First, she cast Spell-Turning. It would reflect their lighting bolts back to the source. Next, she cast Stoneskin and Improved Haste. The world around her slowed.
“They’re up to something,” Applejack said, her voice deep and slow in Twilight’s ears.
Twilight nodded. “I’ve protected myself against their lightning rods. I’m going to try and draw their fire and hit them with a Web spell to bring them down.” She looked around the deck. “Where’s Trixie?”
“Right here,” Trixie said, topping the steps to the raised stern.
“See if you can make them think the Solitaire is a bit displaced, so that they’ll miss when they come back on their next pass,” Twilight said.
Trixie shook her head. “They came in too fast last time. I can’t affect their minds from so far away.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. Useless Sorcerer. “Then find something worth doing,” she said. She ran down the steps to the main deck and headed for the bow, watching the pegasi circling the iceberg. Between them, a falling metallic object caught the light before it hit the ice. Both Wonderbolts peeled off and zipped away from the iceberg in opposite directions.
Twilight squinted. What are they doing? she wondered. They’d taken out the Solitaire's steering for a reason. On their current path, the iceberg would pass about a hundred hoofspans to starboard. It has to be a trap.
Before her eyes, a pillar a fire lanced up from the iceberg. Billowing smoke surged out from it in a ring, blackening the sky with a low-lying cloud faster than the Sonic Rainboom had cleared the storm. A shape rose from the peak of the iceberg.
The figure resembled a gigantic pony, three or four times too big. Two horns curved up from the sides of its skull, a crown of fire blazing between them. A pair of spindly, bony wings spread from its back, each ending in three scythe-like talons. Obsidian armor covered it from nose to tail. A monolithic sword of fire flared to life and floated beside it. Four glowing red eyes shined through the flat faceplate of its helm and focused on Twilight.
“Pit fiend,” Twilight breathed, the memory of a page from a half-forgotten book flitting through her mind. Burning pitch fell into the ocean around her, plummeting from the sky like raindrops. The demon leveled its burning sword at the ship.
“Destruction,” a voice sounded, both in her mind and in her ears. It was a deep, trembling roar that made icy talons grip at her heart. “Burn!” She knew the Solitaire could not survive passing anywhere near the monster. She had to stop it.
For a moment, Twilight wished she had Pinkie beside her, fueling her courage with cheerful confidence. Feeling small, and very alone, Twilight drew her swords and teleported.