//------------------------------//
// Chapter 05: Dreams of Glory 
// Story: Forged Anew 
// by Friend_Computer 
//------------------------------//

Quicksilver galloped along the deserted street as fast as she could without leaving her two comrades behind. She knew that they could not allow themselves to slow down, but keeping up this rapid pace was still a constant struggle to ignore what her own body was incessantly screaming at her. All of her muscles were aching and sore, every breath of air she sucked into her lungs made her feel as if liquid fire was being poured down her throat, and she felt the constant, painful throbbing of the innumerable scrapes, cuts and bruises she had sustained.

But there was no time to rest. They were needed at the gates.

Since Sombra's army had appeared before the city two days ago, the fighting had never truly stopped for the crystal ponies that were now trapped inside its walls. The sorcerer’s soldiers did not suffer from fear or exhaustion, so Sombra just threw them against the city's defenses in a ceaseless, brutal onslaught.

The Empire's troops were spread thin, trying to fight back invaders that just kept coming from every direction, and the Knights of the Lance had spent the last two days frantically hurrying from one end of the city to the other to bolster their troops wherever they were in danger of being overwhelmed. Quicksilver couldn't even say for certain how many of the Order were still alive. Amber Spark and Crystal Dance were with her, but she hadn’t seen any of the other members of the Lance for almost an entire day, and there was much that could have happened in that time. Crystal Dance was holding up admirably, but Quicksilver could tell that the worry for her sister was weighing on her even heavier than the exhaustion.

Quicksilver’s solemn thoughts were interrupted when her ears picked up the sound of hurried hoof beats that seemed to be heading in their direction. A quick look at her companions confirmed that they had heard it as well, and the three knights stopped to cautiously wait and see what was closing in on them.

They didn’t have to wait long. The frantic hoof beats grew louder for a few more seconds, before one of the narrow alleys branching off from the street they were on spat out a panting, panicked looking stallion. He wore the light armor of a levied citizen, and he was constantly looking over his shoulder while he ran. So when he turned to the left after leaving the alley, and headed towards Quicksilver and her comrades, he only noticed the other ponies when his flailing legs had already reduced the distance between them to a meager five or so paces.

As soon as the stallion saw them, he let out a high-pitched yelp and slammed down his hooves in an attempt to stop, but his armored boots found little purchase on the worn crystal pavement, and he barely managed to skitter to a halt right in front of Quicksilver.

She did not waste any time and walked around him, carefully listening for the sounds of additional hoof beats and sweeping her eyes over the opening of every alley. "Are they after you? How many? Are they close?" 

Tense silence was the only answer she received, until Amber Spark grumbled, "Blast it lad, say something! We have no time to stand around here. Were you running from those fiends?"

"No milord," the stallion finally managed to say. "I’m not… I wasn’t running from anything!"

Turning away from the empty street in front of her, Quicksilver took another, closer look at the stallion. "Then what are you doing here?"

His eyes were darting in all directions as if he was looking for a way to escape, and his mouth opened and closed wordlessly several times. "Message!" he finally manage to blurt out. "I'm supposed to deliver a message. To the palace. Forgive me milady, but I have to go. It is really urgent."

Quicksilver saw a frown form on Amber Sparks face, and the stallion’s behavior was beginning to arouse suspicion in her as well, so she decided to keep prying, "What kind of message? If it is truly that important, maybe one of us should accompany you to make sure you reach your destination safely."

She watched very closely for the stallion’s reaction, and it was very much like what she had expected.

"That’s not necessary," he said hastily. He still didn’t meet her eyes, instead he stared at the ground as if he was contemplating to dig a hole for himself to hide. "I’m sure you must have better things to do. I won’t... I can take care of myself, and I would just slow you down." His voice had gotten increasingly pleading and desperate as he spoke, until he finally murmured, "Please milady. Just let me leave."

Quicksilver exchanged a quick look with her companions. "What is your name?" she asked.

The stallion’s ears dropped, and he hung his head in defeat. "Brass Bell," he said quietly.

"And why are you deserting, Brass Bell?" Quicksilver asked gently.

He let out a shrill laugh that was utterly devoid of mirth. "Why? Why!? Because I don’t want to die! I can’t…" He shuddered, and a dry sob escaped his throat. "I can’t fight those things. I’m just a tinker. The few hours of training we did in the militia didn’t prepare me for… for this!" His head snapped up, and Quicksilver saw bitter accusation in his eyes. "Why do we have to face those things anyway? Why can’t you stop them? You are supposed to protect us, that’s your duty!" He threw the next sentence into Quicksilver’s face with enough force to make the words echo between the surrounding buildings for several seconds, "Why can’t you just make all of this go away!"

The words hurt Quicksilver far more than the miserable state her body was in at the moment. She saw Amber Spark’s face contort with fury, but made a placating gesture to keep him from venting his frustration. Brass Bell’s words were childish, hurtful and unfair, but when Quicksilver saw the stallion’s look of terror and despair, she couldn’t find it in herself to feel any real anger towards him.

Every child in the Empire grows up with stories of the Crystal Lance. Can I really blame them for having childish notions of what we can and cannot do in a situation such as this?

Still, something had to be done, and Quicksilver could not let Brass Bell’s outburst stand like this. The despair he obviously felt was just as much their enemy as Sombra and his army.

"Look at us Brass Bell," Quicksilver said. "What do you think we have been trying to do since all of this started?"

Brass Bell took a few moments to really study the sorry shape Quicksilver and her companions were in, and some of the anger disappeared from his eyes. But Quicksilver found the hopelessness that replaced it even harder to watch.

"Why is this happening?" Brass Bell asked seemingly nopony in particular. "This isn’t fair."

"No," said Quicksilver, forcing some harshness into her voice. "It is not fair that this war was brought to us. It is not fair that we have to fight for our home. And it is not fair that we have to ask this of you Brass Bell." She reached out, put her hoof under the stallion’s chin and lifted his head to make him look her in the eyes. "But it is happening Brass Bell. It is horrible, and it is unjust, but it is happening. We will do everything in our power to stop it, but this is a fight the Lance cannot win alone."

Quicksilver turned to her comrades. "We should leave. Time is short, and we have to get to the gates."

Brass Bell’s look of fear gave way to confusion. "What about me?"

"That," said Quicksilver, "is for you to decide. There are others out there Brass Bell, others who have no more experience in war than you, and yet they fight on regardless. Without those ponies, our home would have fallen already." She gave him one more searching look. "And if you would abandon them and everypony in this city to buy yourself a few more hours of safety, if that is the pony you choose to be, they are better off without you."

Then she simply walked away. Amber Spark and Crystal Dance followed. After a few steps they broke into a canter, then a full gallop. Quicksilver’s heart was beating rapidly, but it had nothing to do with her exhaustion right now. Within the next few seconds, she would find out whether her words had inspired Brass Bell to be more than he thought he was, or if they destroyed him. When she heard the sound of hoof beats heading towards them, she had her answer.

They only had to slow down slightly to allow Brass Bell to catch up with them. He was running silently beside Quicksilver for a while before he murmured, "Forgive me milady. I didn’t think about…"

"Don’t be sorry Brass Bell. Be better," Quicksilver interrupted him, but there was little of her former harshness left in her voice now. "Be all that you can be, and nothing less. We all depend on it."

Brass Bell closed his mouth and nodded, and nopony else spoke until they reached the gates. Hundreds of soldiers and knights had already gathered there, and the signs of recent battle could be seen everywhere. The great plaza before the gates was littered with holes and craters, many of the surrounding buildings were missing walls or had collapsed entirely, and the great fountain that had adorned the plaza’s center was now little more than a pile of rubble. And everywhere Quicksilver looked, she saw chunks of dark, jagged crystal lying around, some as small as pebbles, others the size of large boulders. The sight of it made her shudder.

When they entered the ruined plaza, Quicksilver could almost feel the gaze of every pony present shift towards them. She wondered how they would feel if they knew that the glimmers of hope and determination she saw rekindled in their eyes were giving her just as much strength to continue this fight as the mere presence of the Lance gave them.

They were approached by a middle aged stallion who wore the insignias of an Imperial knight commander on his battered armor. "My lord and ladies, I can’t express how glad I am to see you. It seems they are throwing everything they have at the gates, and we have been under almost constant attack for over an hour."

As the eldest, Amber Spark was the one to do the talking here. "Well met. You are Sir Star Bright, are you not?"

The commander nodded eagerly. "Yes, my lord. I don’t know if you recall, but we met in a tourney about a year ago." For a moment, he seemed lost in thought, and a proud smile appeared on his lips. "I broke four lances against you in the joust. It was… a grand day for me." The smile disappeared as quickly as it had come. "But this is hardly the time to talk about such things. Apologies, my lord."

"It’s all right," said Amber Spark. "I remember you. During our second bout, my lance tore your shoulder out of its socket. I was certain you were done for the day after that, but you just had your squire pull it back into place and came back for more." The old knight let his eyes wander over the battlefield that surrounded them. "I see that you are still not one to give up easily, Star Bright. You have done well."

Star Bright opened his mouth to answer, but whatever he said was swallowed up by a sudden, deafening noise that swept over the plaza. It was as if a great bell or gong had been struck by a massive hammer, and Quicksilver’s eyes immediately darted towards the city gates.

The northern gates of the Crystal City were forged from solid steel that had been polished to a mirror shine, and adorned with golden inlays and mosaics made from precious stones. They were over twenty paces high, and their hinges were anchored so deeply within the surrounding wall that the gate might as well have been a part of it. To Quicksilver, those gates had always appeared as sturdy and unmovable as a mountain. But now, they were trembling violently under the force of terrible blows from the outside. Dozens of gemstones were already breaking free from the gate’s metal surface, pattering on the pavement of the plaza like hail, and Quicksilver could see small dents starting to form.

"We have to get ready! They are making another push!" Star Bright shouted over the infernal noise.

"We will push right back then," Amber Spark yelled. Then he pointed at Brass Bell. "We brought another soldier. Brass Bell, the knight commander will tell you where you’re needed."

Brass Bell nodded hesitantly, but instead of following Star Bright immediately, he turned his head to Quicksilver. "I am trying to be brave milady," he said, his meek voice barely audible over the ongoing noise. "But I’m so very frightened."

Following an impulse, Quicksilver reached out with her front leg, gently pulled Brass Bell close, and pressed her forehead against his. "I am scared too Brass Bell," she whispered. "But fear does not make you a coward, as long as you don’t let it rule over you. Being brave is all about taking action despite your fear." She pulled her head back a little. Brass Bell was giving her a wide-eyed stare. "Be brave, Brass Bell." For a moment, it looked as if he was going to respond, but then he simply nodded, turned around and ran after Star Bright.

Quicksilver put on her helmet. The constant noise coming from the gates was already starting to give her a headache, but then she heard something even worse. A high-pitched shrieking was swelling up from somewhere beyond the walls, getting louder and closer, until it drowned out almost everything else. Every pony on the plaza immediately started to run for cover, and Quicksilver herself barely managed to get to the relative safety of an overhanging roof when the first projectile hit the ground.

It was no different from all the others Quicksilver had seen over the last two days. A featureless, black sphere, roughly the size of a pony's head, that seemed to be made from polished obsidian. Quicksilver just stared at it, while dozens more rained down all over the square.
Something like black smoke seemed to rise from the spheres' perfectly blank surface, but they were a lot lighter than they looked, and actually caused surprisingly little damage. But that was not what they were meant to do anyway, as the city's defenders had learned soon after Sombra first used these magic siege weapons against them.

Suddenly, every sphere lying on the plaza began to sprout several thin, dark tendrils. Quicksilver still did not move. So far, nopony had found a reliable way to counter or destroy those spheres, so all she could do was watch while the black tendrils began to wildly lash around. Wherever they touched the pavement, a wall, or even just a pile of rubble, the crystal the tendril had come into contact with immediately began to crack and darken. Even large pieces of solid crystal quickly broke down into jagged chunks, which then began to slide along the ground and attach themselves to other fragments, quickly clumping together until they formed a grotesque, misshapen mockery of a pony's body. After that, one of the black tendrils latched on to the thing's skull, squirmed inside one of its empty eye sockets like some breed of eldritch worm, and the entire nightmarish construct began to move. All of that happened almost literally within the blink of an eye, so it took mere moments before a small army of the creatures was assembled in the city square. 

The things did not wait for any command or signal Quicksilver could hear or see. They simply started to rush towards them, in total silence apart from the rumbling of their crystal hooves. Quicksilver saw the soldiers around them hesitate, saw the fear in their eyes that threatened to overtake them. 

But then Amber Spark stepped forward, his head held high, facing down the advancing wall of abominations. "For the Empire!" he shouted, his deep voice somehow managing to make itself be heard over both the ongoing noise coming from the gates and the trampling of Sombra's monsters.

"We lead the charge!" Quicksilver and Crystal Dance picked up the battle cry, and the three of them dashed towards the enemy like thunderbolts. A great cheer went up around them, which was soon accompanied by the sound of hundreds of steel-clad hooves joining in their charge.

The first monster reached Quicksilver and lashed out at her, but she nimbly dodged a swing of its club-like front limbs, and then quickly twirled around and smashed into it with her hind legs, reducing it to rubble. Another creature was charging at her from the side, but she easily sidestepped the clumsy beast and swept its legs out from under it as it rushed past her. It fell and smashed headfirst into the ground, the momentum of its own charge breaking it apart. While the pieces were still scattering, Quicksilver saw yet another beast advance towards an unaware Crystal Dance, but she broke off one of its legs with a swift kick, then stomped the fallen monster's head to dust.

But whenever she dispatched an enemy, another one just took its place. Fortunately, her two companions were covering her back, just as she covered theirs, so none of them had to worry about attacks from behind, despite Sombra's soldiers constantly swarming around them like ants. Still, being outnumbered as they were, the slightest mistake or even just an instant of misfortune could prove disastrous, and exhaustion was their most persistent and patient enemy right now.

It struck at Quicksilver at the worst possible moment. She was beset by two beast at once, avoiding their attacks and looking for an opening, when her vision began to blur, and the leaden heaviness of her limbs suddenly seemed unbearable. Quicksilver blinked once, twice, and shook her head slightly. The feeling passed as quickly as it had come over her, and her vision quickly cleared up as well.

Just in time for her to catch a glimpse of the blade-like crystal spike that was about to hit her helmet.

The blow struck Quicksilver from above, and almost made her front legs buckle. She heard a metallic screech, and the entire left side of her face suddenly exploded in white-hot agony. Half of her field of vision was instantly gone, while the other half was overtaken by black swirls and pulsating red dots. Quicksilver screamed and stumbled blindly to the right in a futile attempt to get away from the pain, and a second blow hit her in the side while she was disoriented. Her armor stopped the worst of it, but Quicksilver still felt at least one of her ribs crack, and got the wind knocked out of her. Her scream turned into a quiet, wheezing whimper, and she sank to the ground.

After a few moments, her vision cleared up enough to tell what was going on around her, although she still could not see out of her left eye. She slowly lifted a hoof up to her face, even the slight movement costing her tremendous effort. After some fumbling, she felt a long, jagged gash in the metal of her helmet that ran all the way down to her gorget. Just thinking about what the blow might have done to her head made Quicksilver feel nauseous. Then she noticed one of Sombra's creatures advancing towards her.

Whether or not it was one of the two monsters she had fought earlier, Quicksilver couldn’t tell. Its right front leg had been broken off just below the shoulder, so it was limping slowly, but steadily closer. Quicksilver tried to stand up, but every movement almost made her black out with pain. Her head felt as if something was using a stone mallet to crack it open from the inside, and every muscle in her body seemed to be violently cramping up at the same time.

But even worse than that was the fact that she could barely breath. It was as if iron bands had been tightly fastened around her chest, and whenever Quicksilver tried to fill her lungs with air, she felt white-hot needles stab into them. She looked around, hoping to find one of her companions, but they were nowhere to be seen. Only more fighting, and more of Sombra's creatures wherever she looked.

There are still so many.

Quicksilver had lost count of how many enemies she had dispatched in this fight, but looking around now, she could hardly tell whether she had defeated any at all. There simply seemed to be no end to them. Even if they won this fight, Sombra would just send more. If he had to, he would simply bury them underneath the rubble of his own soldiers.

The crystal fiend was only a few steps away at this point. Quicksilver didn't really care anymore. She just lowered her head to rest it on her forelegs, and watched with a strange feeling of detachment as the limping beast moved closer.

I'm so tired.

That was when somepony jumped at the creature from the left and struck it with a few quick kicks, throwing it off balance for a moment and stopping its advance. Quicksilver, still unable to see things too far to the side, slowly turned her head to find out who had just come to her aid. She expected Amber Spark or Crystal Dance at first, and for a second, she even entertained the thought that it might be Brass Bell. But none of her guesses turned out to be true. She didn't know the pony standing next to her. She had never even seen her before.

The soldier had her back turned to Quicksilver at the moment, but despite that and the fact that her lilac colored coat and blue mane were covered in dust and grime, Quicksilver could tell that the mare looked fairly young. She was wearing the light armor of a common militia mare, but several pieces were askew or not fastened tight enough. Either she had been in a hurry when she put it on, or nopony had shown her how to do it properly. She was still facing the three-legged creature and pawing at the ground aggressively, but the monster didn't even pay attention to her. Instead, it just continued to move towards Quicksilver, but the other pony refused to be ignored, and with two swift steps, she brought herself between the monster and its injured prey, shielding Quicksilver from the advancing beast. 

Still dazed, but impressed, Quicksilver raised her head to get a closer look at the young soldier. What she saw was a round, freckled face that might have been pretty under different circumstances, but right now, it was a bruised, dirt covered mask of terror. Her bright blue eyes were wide with fear, and she was so terribly frightened that she was crying openly, tears streaming down her cheeks in small rivulets, and repressed sobs constantly shaking her entire body. With its original foe now unreachable, Sombra's servant shifted its attention to the young soldier that kept it from its prize. It took a shambling step towards her, and the mare almost jumped out of her armor, a gargling whimper escaping her throat.

And yet, there she stood.
And did not move an inch.

It was hard to put into words what Quicksilver felt at that moment. Seeing that young mare stand there was at once the most wonderful and the most horrible thing she had ever seen in her life. That mare who was obviously not a fighter had to stand there, facing monsters that she had probably not even encountered in her darkest nightmares before now. It was obvious that she wanted nothing more than to run and hide. But she didn’t.

Bravery cannot exist without fear. It sounded logical enough. Amber Spark had been the one who taught that lesson to Quicksilver, and she had always thought that it was a lesson she had learned well. Over the years, she had told many others the same thing to raise their spirits, like she told Brass Bell just a little while ago, and she had never been anything but genuine when she passed on those words. But she realized that until now, she had never truly understood them.

Get up.

It wasn't a command she was giving herself. It wasn't even really a decision she had made. At that moment, it was simply what had to happen. It didn't matter how badly she was hurting, or how tired and exhausted she was, Quicksilver could not let that mare face those horrors by herself. She could not lay down and let herself die while ponies like that soldier still needed her help.

Quicksilver grit her teeth and began to slowly push herself up. It felt as if she was trying to lift a mountain that someone had hefted on her back, and every slight movement of her head made waves of pain crash through her body. She whimpered, cursed and sobbed, but after a little while, she managed to get one of her front hooves back on the ground, quickly followed by the second, and before she knew it, she stood on her four legs again.

All around her, the fight was still raging on, but right now, Quicksilver was focusing her attention on a single enemy. Before the soldier in front of her even noticed that she was back on her hooves, Quicksilver had ran past her and rammed her shoulder into the advancing monster's chest. It was a terribly clumsy and desperate attack, and without the protection and weight of her armor, Quicksilver would have been hard pressed to overcome her foe, despite the injuries the creature had already sustained. But with one of its front legs missing, Quicksilver actually managed to tackle the creature to the ground. An instant later, the young soldier was standing at Quicksilver's side, and they both began to stomp on the fallen monster's head before it could try to rise again. After a few kicks, Quicksilver was certain that the beast would stay down. She felt woozy, and her entire body hurt as if it had been clumsily sewn together with a blunt needle and was now threatening to burst at the seems.

But it didn't matter. Quicksilver raised her front leg and, before she could lose her precariously held balance, swiftly placed it on the shoulder of the mare next to her. The soldier had shut her eyes tight and was still frantically stomping on the fragments that remained of the fallen creature’s head. Quicksilver's touch made the other mare jump, but then she seemed to calm down a little. Her legs stopped their wild flailing, and she opened her eyes to look at Quicksilver. Around them, the fight still raged on, but Quicksilver thought that they might still be able to turn this battle in their favor. She looked into the soldier's bloodshot, puffy eyes, and she wanted to believe that she saw a glimmer of hope in them that had not been there before.

Time was short, but there were so many things Quicksilver wished to say. She wanted to know the mare's name. She wanted to thank her, and offer some words that would lift her spirits. She wanted to tell her that everything would be all right, maybe because she herself needed to hear somepony say it. But she never got the chance.

Suddenly, the resounding thunder coming from the gates stopped. Confused and alarmed, Quicksilver turned her head to try and determine what might be the cause of that. The metal was dented and torn in several places, but the gaps were nowhere near large enough to let any enemies through, and as a whole, the gates still stood firm. Quicksilver's musings why Sombra would call off his servants' onslaught were interrupted when she was suddenly overcome by an inexplicable feeling of dread. She did not see or hear anything that could have caused it, she didn't even know what she was afraid of, but she knew with absolute certainty that it was dark, and powerful, and terrifyingly close. Then something happened to the gates.

It was barely visible at first, but Quicksilver noticed slim, jagged lines spreading over the metal surface in a pattern that looked remotely like a spider web. At first she thought they were cracks, but they appeared to just be black lines, as if someone was drawing on the gates with an ink quill. Looking at them longer than a second made Quicksilver's eye hurt. Her legs began to shake, this time not from exhaustion, but from fear. She knew that whatever was happening to the gates had to be stopped at all costs. But she didn't know how, and it was over so quickly.

It only took a couple of seconds until the lines had spread all over the gates' surface. For a seemingly endless instant, nothing happened. Then Quicksilver was hit by a sudden wave of nausea. Every shadow on the plaza began to spastically twist and shiver, and the gates simply fell apart. There was just no other way to describe it. As if a giant knife had cleanly cut through the metal along a path dictated by the spread of the black lines, the gate collapsed into a pile of massive metal fragments. The clangor and screeching of the chunks of steel colliding with each other and smashing into the pavement must have been audible throughout the entire city. To Quicksilver, it sounded as if someone had decided to ring the cities death bell.

The web of black lines was hovering in the air for a few more moments, before it seemingly dissolved into smoke. Then, before the rubble of the gates had even fully settled, Sombra's creature’s began to crawl over it like termites, and immediately threw themselves against the defenders of the Crystal City. Quicksilver's ears were still ringing from the noise, and she was swaying back and forth like a drunkard. Try as she might, she was just too exhausted to stand still.

When she looked at the young soldier next to her, the mare's mouth stood open, and she stared wide-eyed at the seemingly endless horde of enemies that was pouring into the city. Quicksilver sighed quietly. She removed her hoof from the mare's shoulder, but allowed herself a moment to gently brush against the other mare's cheek while doing so. Whether or not the soldier even noticed the small gesture, Quicksilver could not say.

I wish I could have known you. You are everything we are fighting for.

Then Quicksilver turned towards the fallen gates, and prepared herself to face the next enemy.

But suddenly, she hesitated, despite the fact that there were more things left she had to show. Something wasn't right, and not in the way things were supposed to be not right.

Quicksilver looked around, and the entire battle seemed to have simply stopped, with crystal monstrosities and pony defenders alike frozen in the middle of their struggle. Everything was eerily quiet, and her surroundings seemed hazy and colorless all of a sudden, as if she was watching them through a dirty sheet of glass. Quicksilver felt an entirely new kind of unease rise up inside her chest.

This isn't supposed to happen.

“None of this is.”

Quicksilver's eyes were almost forcefully drawn towards the pile of jagged metal at the gates, even though the echoing female voice she heard seemed to simultaneously come from everywhere and nowhere in particular. Standing on the rubble was a tall and slender shape that might have been a pony, but the figure was shrouded in some kind of mist that made her form ripple and blur, making it impossible to discern any details.

“And you are not supposed to be here.”

At the sight of the dark shape, the pain and exhaustion Quicksilver had to endure until this point simply evaporated, and she was gripped by a fear that had nothing to do with the dangers she had faced just moments earlier.

Why is she here? We are not causing any harm, we have done nothing wrong!

Immediately, Quicksilver could feel the disapproval these sentiments caused, like a physical weight settling on her shoulders, and the very air around her seemed to grow more heavy and oppressive in reflection of the figure's mood. “Nothing wrong? Who are you to judge these things?” the voice boomed. “A single strand, pulled into the wrong direction, can unravel the delicate fabric of a dreaming mind, and you have trampled around this place in utter ignorance of its fragile nature. You might already have done more harm to this poor soul than she will ever be able to recover from!” The air became a bit less stifling, and the figure's ghostly voice assumed a slightly more forgiving tone. “We believe that you had noble intentions, specter. Your devotion to your people, misguided as it may be in this case, is admirable. But your duty to them is fulfilled. You have seen the chains of your tribe be sundered. There is no more cause for you to linger in this world. For the pain and hardship you endured, in life and beyond, you have our sympathy, but we will not stand idly by and see you inflict your own pain on others. You are not helping her by doing so. For her sake as well as yours, trust in those that follow after you, and grant them the freedom to learn their own lessons.”

Quicksilver stared awestruck at the nebulous presence, her legs trembling like twigs. “No! This could be our last chance to atone for our failure. She needs our guidance! There are so many things she doesn't understand,” she heard herself say.

She knew that she had made a grave mistake before she had even finished speaking. The figure never moved from her spot, but Quicksilver could feel her mood shift, and her anger was like the threatening pressure of a looming thunderstorm. “Your utter disregard for her well-being more than proves that you are unfit to teach her!” With the force of a tidal wave, the words crashed into Quicksilver from all directions at once. “And we were not asking you to cease your meddling!”

Just like that, the city, the two fighting armies, even Quicksilver's own body were simply gone. She was still aware of her own presence, apart from that however, she was trapped in utter darkness. Even that was an insufficient way to describe it, since darkness would have implied the mere absence of light, rather than an absence of anything except her own consciousness. After what could have been seconds just as easily as months, Quicksilver's entire mind was filled with the image of two glowing, cyan colored eyes, whose unrelenting stare seemed to pierce the very essence of her being.

We cannot help you if you are unwilling to leave this world behind.

It was not really a voice. Quicksilver would have had no ears to pick it up. The words just started to echo between her own thoughts.

But if you plague the mind of another living creature as long as you are here, you will answer to us. And if you think that there is nothing left for you to fear, you will have a very rude awakening if you should presume to test our patience.


* * *


Quicksilver awoke with a start. She was breathing heavily, and her bedding was soaked with cold sweat.

What am I doing here?!

It took her a moment to realize that someone was shaking her, and a few more to focus on the face of the pony standing at her bedside. A candle she held in the crook of her left fetlock threw a flickering light on the mare’s worried features. She looked familiar, but Quicksilver couldn't quite place her.

"The walls!" Quicksilver gasped. "Have to get to the walls. They’re through the gates!"

"Wait what? Walls? Gates?! Those have been gone for years, Ru..." The other mare stated to say, but Quicksilver just shoved her aside. She tried to get out of bed, but she must have still been half asleep. Her body felt clumsy, and so much heavier than she was used to. Her hind legs got tangled up in her thick woolen blanket, and she tumbled to the ground.

"Ruby! What is going on? What are you doing?"

Quicksilver froze, halting her desperate attempts to get her legs free.

Ruby?

She felt disoriented all of a sudden. Everything around her was spinning, while memories of names, faces and events crashed into each other in her head, forming a chaotic mess that had no rhyme or reason to it.

Who am I?

She knew the question was important, but there were so many conflicting memories being tossed around in her mind, she couldn’t settle on an answer. Everything went by so fast, there was nothing she could focus on, nothing to give her any sense of identity. Her breath became ragged, and it felt as if her mind was being crushed under an avalanche of sensations and images.

She could barely acknowledge what was going on around her at this point, but she was dimly aware of it when two legs gently wrapped around her and pulled her up from the ground. An instant later, she could make out a soft voice over the shrill cacophony of memories that assaulted her mind, "Shhh. Ruby, it's all right. You were just having a nightmare. I’m here now. Just hold on to me. Breathe slowly. Everything is all right."

The mare couldn't make any clear sense of the words. But she knew the voice. Hearing it made some of the memories flying around in her head stand out a little more defined and focused. Individually, they still rushed by too fast for her to make out any details, but there were many of them, and they all had something in common.

Emerald Breeze.

The mare let out a sob and threw her legs around the other pony, clinging to her friend like a drowning mare might hang on to a piece of wood.

"Emerald!"

She repeated her friends name, over and over, while the memories of her became clearer and more detailed. Most of them were joyful, some of them were sad, or frustrating. But all of them were precious. All of them belonged to her. All of them were an essential and irreplaceable part of who she was.

"I'm Ruby Chip. Not Quicksilver. I'm Ruby!" she said, her head nestled against Emerald's neck, her voice trembling, but certain.

Hearing herself say it helped. Her memories were becoming clearer now, every little piece connecting to something else, spreading and finally forming recognizable patterns.

"You are Ruby," Emerald whispered back, giving her friend a little squeeze as she said so. "My sister. My partner in crime. My best friend. So please, talk to me Ruby. You really scared me there. Let me help."

Ruby felt tears biting in her eyes, and she desperately pressed herself against Emerald.

"I think I'm losing my mind."


* * *


It took Ruby almost an hour to get her thoughts in order enough for her to tell Emerald about the dreams. After she finished, the two ponies sat in silence for a while. Ruby had her eyes half closed, and leaned heavily against Emerald, who in turn pushed back against her. Even the simple contact was incredible reassuring right now.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Emerald finally asked.

"I didn't think much of it after the first one," said Ruby. "It was strangely vivid, and I remembered everything about it after it was over, but it was still just a dream. I just blamed it on all the excitement of our initiation, and since nothing else happened for such a long time, I wasn't even thinking about it all that much anymore. But then this happened..." Ruby shuddered when her mind drifted back to what she had experienced that night, and Emerald gave her a slight nudge with her shoulder when she felt Ruby's distress."It was terrifying Emerald. This wasn't just a dream. Dreams aren't supposed to feel this real, and I felt everything. The wind, the ground beneath my hooves, the fear –" she cringed "– the pain. And just like with the first one, I still remember everything.” She thought about that for a few moments, and then corrected, “Almost everything. At the very end, there was… I don’t know. It all gets muddled. Someone or something showed up. I think they were furious because of something that I did, or someone else did? I can’t recall. Then you woke me up, and... I really don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been there."

"Well, with all the ruckus you made, it's remarkable that I was the only one who showed up to check on you," said Emerald. Then she shifted her body so she could look at Ruby, and gave her a reassuring smile. "Now, let's see what we can do to fix this."

The cheerfulness and certainty in her friend's voice caught Ruby off guard. "Fix it?" she asked perplexed. "Emerald, I don't even know what's causing it. Or maybe even who is causing it. And maybe nothing is causing it at all." She bit her lip and struggled with the next words for several heartbeats, before she said in a very quiet voice, "What if it's all just in my head?"

Emerald beamed at her. "I think that’s the best thing we could hope for."

Ruby's expression darkened. "This isn't funny Emerald."

Her friend's smile became more restrained, but it didn't disappear. "No, it isn't. I'm sorry Ruby, that didn't come out the way I meant it. But just hear me out. What I wanted to say is, if this is some sort of curse, or a haunting, or some other magical mumbo-jumbo, I wouldn't know how to deal with it. But if it's just you stressing out and running yourself ragged, I think I can help you with that."

Ruby's gloomy frown stayed firmly in place. "I doubt that's the problem. It's not like there is anything for me to stress out over. I am still stuck in the city doing nothing but pointless guard duty."

"Exactly!" Emerald said emphatically, and quickly poked Ruby in the side a few times. "See, that's exactly what I mean. Just talking about it made you tense up like someone was approaching you with a branding iron. I'm not saying you are stressed out because you have too much to do, I'm saying you're stressed out because you absolutely hate the fact that you have to serve as a sentry under the command of a foreign officer."

Ruby pushed Emerald's prodding hoof aside. She didn't understand what her friend was getting at. What reason did she have to not resent her current situation? The confinement to her quarters had ended almost a month ago, but Ruby found her new duties to be even more frustrating. Guard duty within the Crystal City amounted to little more than walking the streets doing nothing, which was bad enough under normal circumstances. But now, she had to do it as a common soldier, and not even a soldier of her own military. Ever since Ruby first donned the armor of an Imperial knight, the Empire's citizens had treated her with adoration and respect wherever she went, and the knowledge that her efforts were held in such high regard by the ponies she protected had always been incredibly reassuring to her. But when she walked the streets in that plain standard-issue armor the Equestrians wore, nopony ever gave her a second look, and the Equestrian officer Ruby was serving under just treated her like she treated every other soldier under her command. It was humiliating, and Ruby knew that she deserved better than that.

"Of course I hate it!" Ruby snapped. "But who wouldn't? It's a pointless ordeal Emerald. I could be out there doing something worthwhile, but instead I am stuck here for weeks, getting ordered around by some Equestrian military pedant just because the prince is under the impression it would teach me something."

Emerald sighed. "Ruby, I suppose I understand why that is frustrating to you. And I'm definitely not happy about how you ended up in this situation. Knocking Stalwart out was stupid, but from what I've seen and heard of the guy, I honestly don't know if I wouldn't have done the same. But you need to find another way to deal with this. It has barely been three weeks since you started going on patrol with the Equestrians, and it looks like you are already on your last legs, because you spend so much energy feeling sorry for yourself."

Ruby's mouth dropped open. "What the hay are you talking about? I'm angry, and for good reason, I'm not feeling sorry for myself!"

"Yes you are Ruby," Emerald replied. "I'm sorry that I have to be so blunt about it, but I do it because I'm worried about you. I know that injured pride is something you tend to take pretty hard, but the way you are dealing with it this time just isn't healthy. You've been isolating yourself for the last couple weeks. You hardly practice with the rest of us anymore, and you never leave the palace unless you are on duty. You just sit around stewing in your own discontent. It's no wonder you are going stir-crazy." Her friend was trying hard to sound as cheerful and nonchalant as ever, but Ruby thought that she sensed a deep concern behind Emerald's words. "So I thought, maybe you could promise me something. At least once a week, let's go visit the city together. Go to a pub, a café, go shopping, doesn't matter, but you really need to get out of the palace every now and then. I'm sure Malachite will come too whenever he has the time. Go to practice again. Regularly, like you used to. The others already told me they miss you as a sparring partner, and if we spend every other evening knocking each other on the head until we can barely stand, I'm sure you'll sleep a lot better as well. And most importantly, you should visit Snow more often. The last time I saw her and she asked me about you, I didn't even know what to tell her. I'm not trying to make you feel guilty here Ruby, but you shouldn't make her worry more than she already does."

The mention of her mother hit Ruby hard, and the sudden realization that she really hadn't seen her for almost a month made it much worse. Looking back, Ruby could not deny that during the past few weeks, she had become progressively more reclusive, and started to act more and more dismissive towards her friends and comrades.

Ruby got ready to say something, but couldn't think of a response at first. She just stood there and pressed her lips together, until she finally blurted out, "I'm just frustrated Emerald! I didn't mean to take it out on you and the others like this, but it's not about my hurt pride, or me wallowing in self pity. It's about me not being allowed to do my duty as a member of the Lance. It isn't fair, and I think I have every right to be upset about it."

Emerald sighed, and Ruby thought she sounded almost desperate. "Ruby, please. I don't want that be the only thing you take away from this conversation. Look, I'm sorry I mentioned it. I get that you did not need to hear that at the moment, and it doesn't really matter anyway. If it bothers you that much, I promise that we can discuss it at some point, but I want you to feel better right now." She made a dismissive gesture with her front hoof, as if to clear the offending topic from the air. "Forget it for the moment. Tell me how wrong I am later, and just tell me what you think of my suggestion."

Ruby scowled and clenched her teeth. Letting something like this go wasn't exactly easy for her, but she had other things to concern herself with at the moment. And if Emerald said that they would talk about it later, Ruby knew that her friend would not try to wriggle out of it. So she pushed all thoughts of dispute to the back of her mind for the time being, and instead focused on the solution to her night terrors Emerald had presented her with. It seemed simple. A little too simple, considering the problem it was meant to solve.

"Do you really think it will be that easy? Just get out, have some fun and keep busy?" Ruby asked after a short while of contemplation.

"The simplest solutions are the best sometimes," Emerald said with a shrug. "I really think it will help you Ruby. Even if it doesn't get rid of the dreams, and I honestly think it will, you can't go on like this in any case. But we are going to talk to Malachite about those nightmares anyway, so maybe he knows something more specific that can be done about them."

"No!" Emerald jumped with fright, and Ruby was almost as startled as her friend, despite the fact that shout had come from her. The mere thought of somepony else learning of her strange night terrors was deeply unsettling, and Ruby had to force some calm into her voice before she could continue, and even then, her speech was shaky and hurried, "Please Emerald, don't tell anyone. I don't want anypony else to know about this. Please."

Emerald gave her a puzzled look and shook her head. "Ruby, do you realize what you are asking of me here? If this is some strange sorcery or whatever, Malachite is our best bet to learn anything about it. Keeping this to ourselves might put you in danger, and that's a risk I am not willing to take."

"Just for a little while," Ruby urged her. "Only long enough to tell if your way works. As soon as anything happens, or if I don't feel better after a while, I'll tell Malachite myself. But not right now. You know Malachite. He will worry about me, and he might think telling the prince is the best thing to do. After what happened with Stalwart Heart, he might declare me unfit for duty. Please Emerald, I don't want that to happen."

Emerald stared at her for what felt like an eternity. When she finally spoke, her stern expression and tone of voice made it clear that the terms she put forth were not up for debate. "Anything, Ruby. Not just more dreams, anything out of the ordinary happens, we go straight to Malachite with this. If somepony calls your name and you're not sure who they are talking to, if some memory pops up in your head that has no business being there, we seek help. You won't keep it a secret, and you won't argue. Promise me."

Emerald's agreement, though given with reluctance, did much to ease the nervous tension that had overcome Ruby. She breathed in deep and nodded. "I promise. Thanks."

Emerald still didn’t seem entirely convinced that this was the right way to deal with the situation. "Just don't make me regret this." Then she quickly added, "And another thing. Don't go around looking for information about Dame Quicksilver or the tyrant's conquest. I don't think it would be a good idea right now."

That request surprised Ruby. "Why not? I think it could clear some things up."

"I just think you are not in a good position to do research about this at the moment," said Emerald. "You just had this dream, and you are still pretty shaken. If you look for information about it now, you might start to twist facts and memories around until they fit with each other, and start to see connections that aren't there. It could make the whole thing seem more real than it is, and I think you can imagine why that would be bad."

Ruby didn't like the thought of being left in the dark about the nature of her dreams, but she had to admit that Emerald might be right. Right now, she would have had a hard time judging facts objectively. She could still try to assess the verisimilitude of her visions after her emotions had calmed down a little.

"Alright Emerald. I won't look into this, at least not until I'm sure that I can do it properly."

"Good. I think that's for the best," Emerald said.

Her right foreleg was still resting on Ruby's shoulders, and now she turned around to pull Ruby into a hug, gently nuzzling her cheek into the crook of the larger pony's neck. Ruby closed her eyes and rested her chin on the top of Emeralds head, drinking in the reassurance and warmth the closeness of her friend provided.

They remained like this for several seconds, before Emerald pulled away. "You'll feel better in no time Ruby. Don't worry."

Ruby gave her a very heartfelt smile. "I feel a little better already. Thanks Emerald."

Her friend smiled back. "It's all right. We'll talk tomorrow, make some plans for the rest of the week. Maybe some of the others want to come as well. And I expect to see you at the training hall in the evening."

She winked at Ruby and walked out of the room, quietly closing the door behind her. The candle she had brought with her remained on Ruby's nightstand, illuminating the small chamber with a soft, orange glow. Ruby looked at her bed, but the thought of going back to sleep was not very appealing at the moment. Now that she was alone, the flickering shadows thrown by the candle’s flame appeared alien and menacing, but despite that, Ruby found that it was preferable to the darkness that extinguishing the light would bring.

This is ridiculous. Am I really afraid of the dark and too scared to go to sleep?

But as much as she hated to admit it, right now she was. Fear was something she was more than familiar with, but here, the cause of said fear was unknown and intangible. It was not a threat steel could protect her from, or a foe her strength and skill could do away with. It was something she had been absolutely helpless against, and she didn't know how to deal with that.

While she was thinking of ways to pass the time until the sunrise, she heard the quiet creak of her chamber door behind her. When she turned around, Emerald Breeze was standing in her room again, clasping a woolen blanket and a pillow between her teeth. She walked past Ruby and dropped the bundle next to the bed, before laying down on the ground and wrapping herself in the blanked. The casual demeanor she displayed all the while suggested that she saw absolutely no need for an explanation.

"I'd say you have about five minutes to go to sleep. Good luck after that, you know I snore," she said after resting her head on the pillow and closing her eyes.

Ruby just sat there and stared at her friend for a few seconds, with what had to be the most mawkish grin imaginable plastered on her face.

"Thank you Emerald," was all she could think to say.

"You said that already. Several times in fact," came Emerald's mumbled answer. "But you're welcome."