//------------------------------//
// 9. Above the Flames 
// Story: Faultlines 
// by FawkesThePhoney 
//------------------------------//




You are standing in the doorway to a great broken castle. Above you, the rafters climb high to infinity, lost in the cobwebs and stardust of the sky. The castle is older than living memory; it looks false, about to crumble, as if a single sigh could bring it all to the ground. But there is something here; something that you need. It will complete you…..
…complete you like she wanted to complete the set all of them that’s what she said you know your friend when she killed her she said well that’s two down four to go and you looked at her and wondered what on earth could make a pony become so twisted so cruel so full of hate and she used to be a student too
You walk through the front doors, past frayed tapestries and broken statues, your hooves kicking up dust on the ground. You should not be here. This place, it is lost, and the ghosts that sleep here should remain lost….
….lost is what you are now you know you are her but not not yet that is you know all of this is just an easy way for you to hide her because really you are no different but she is not real anymore she knew the risks even back then its what the others cannot accept be wary of them be wary of all of them….
The castle’s ramparts look like your apartment room the tapestries look like your sheets. You know inside that you are asleep but you are also awake, maybe for the first time in a very long time….
…awake like she said she was when she struck celestia and made her bleed she said she understood her now understood her masks and her lies and how the sins of her past and present will never wash off and you just looked at the princess and watched the bright red blood pour out of her side and knew that nothing was ever going to be the same….
In your bed, you sit up, look around. The room is the same light it always is but some part of you knows it should be darker then lighter then darker again like a cycle but it’s something you’ve never seen before except long before when the sun was not too bright to look at instead it loved you and comforted you and made you whole. And you’re waking but know that even so you must return here at some point because you will never see it any other way again…..


The sound of the slamming door pulled Eden from her restless sleep and right into the worst hangover of her life. She tried to sit up and was struck at once by the spins, accentuated by a jackhammer beat in her head. It felt like her heart had taken up residence in her skull and was trying to remodel. Eden fell back down in her bed and shut her eyes, counting slowly down from sixty. When the count was done, she gritted her teeth and dragged her protesting body out of bed.
“Coffee,” she muttered, trudging out of her room. “Coffee. Now.” She walked through the living room, and her eyes feel on the scorch mark on the carpet from the night before. “Nope,” she said, looking away. “That right there, that’s a future-Eden problem.”
She didn’t say much else as she put on the pot to boil, keeping her eyes squinted as she did to keep as much light out as possible. She sat at the counter, eyes shut, waiting for the coffee to finish. When it did, she poured a mug, dropped a chunk of ice in it, and downed it without a wince. She burped. Industrial strength.
She poured herself another cup and stretched. Her eyes fell on the trash can, where the faint smell of vomit was wafting. “Nope,” she said, picking the can up and dropping it outside of the apartment. “That is also future-Eden problem. She’s going to have her work cut out for her, heh.”
Returning from the hall, she noticed for the first time that Sage’s door was open. “Sage,” she said, but there was no reply. She pushed the door open. Sage’s bed was untidy, her sheets crumpled at the foot of the bed. The water that Eden had left out was drunk. She wasn’t there.
Eden thought to the slamming door that woke her up. “Must be gone,” she said. “Hopefully she didn’t teleport away, ha. Ha ha.” Walking back into the kitchen, she poured another cup of coffee and sat by the window, looking out over the city. A trail of smoke wove its way up from downtown, and Eden felt her gut twist. “Nope,” she said, turning away from the window. Her eyes landed back on the scorch. “That,” she said, “is not possible.” And it was not possible. Clearly some mishap with the lamps last night, or the alcohol had addled her mind, which is why she would think she’d disappeared from one place and… appeared in another…. 
She blinked, hard. There was a slight pressure at the base of her horn, a sort of buzzing, like thousands of tiny needles pricking her. “That,” she said, raising a hoof to the nonexistent crowd, “does not feel good. Probably ought to get that checked out, ha ha! Haven’t been to the doctor’s in a while. Odds of developing metaequine powers? Well, you tell me!” The empty room looked back at her. Eden’s eye twitched.
“No response, huh? Well, that makes sense. After all, I am the only pony in this room! And rooms talking makes about as much sense as oh, teleportation, now doesn’t it! So the impossibly improbable has become possibly probable – a fact that was impossibly probable in a probably impossible way. But that’s just your life now Eden, got to embrace it. Nothing makes sense! And that’s the most logical way to put it—probably.” The hair at the base of her mane began to curl up in a way that most certainly did not look good, but Eden was too far gone to care. 
She waltzed out of the living room and back into the kitchen. “Too bad Sage isn’t here, I’m sure she’d love watching the laws of physics come tumbling down!” Another giggle erupted out of her but she smacked herself in the face with a hoof. “Alright, Eden, got to keep it together. Your friend is gone. The world is okay, for the most part. Got to figure the friend one out first. The impossibilities can wait.” She walked into her room and put on a halfway respectable outfit. Then she left the apartment.
It was cold outside, colder than she could remember it being in a long time, and the other students around her pulled their scarves tighter around themselves and hurried to class. Eden knew she ought to study, but….
She stopped at the newspaper stand and picked one up. Emblazoned on the front cover were the words: RED VIOLENCE DURING ROUTINE DRUG BUST, SEVERAL INJURIES, DEATH. Eden’s grin faded. “Red violence….?” she murmured. She opened the newspaper to the allocated page and began to read.

East Wall – Violence rocked the streets around well-known Red nightclub Bolt last night, reports the Hub City Guard. Responding to an anonymous tip, a routine investigation of Bolt turned into a nightmare for the officers as the Red ponies within responded with violence.
“They torched their own nightclub,” reports Orion Notus, the head officer on the case. “Just sent it up in flames. I don’t know why anyone would burn their own building down, but that’s the sort of crowd we’re dealing with.”
The fire injured two officers, Privates Canis Acantha and Gemini Crux, and the Hub City Herald regrets to report that Private Crux has since passed away. In addition, two red ponies were treated with injuries on the scene and have also died. Investigations are ongoing as to the identity of the ponies responsible for these actions. Authorities are advising all civilians to stay away from the site, as unrest may still be ongoing. The facility was found with quantities of the drink Palinka, illegal in Hub City for its detrimental effects on the mind. 
Eden put the newspaper down and walked away from it. She knew where Sage would be.

The ride to the East Wall was one of the most surreal experiences of Eden’s life. The cable cars, normally loud and full of interesting conversations, were dead silent. At first, the ponies around her were mostly blue, but as she changed cars and got closer and closer to the site, their numbers dwindled until she was the only blue pony in the car. The others looked like they were dressed for war. They wore black outfits and scarves, and carried signs in their hooves, written in both Sagittarian and Camargue. Eden tried not to shrink in her seat.
The car stopped. “East Wall,” the conductor said. The doors opened and Eden got off with the rest of the ponies. They jostled her, and made no attempt to move out of her way. The street smelled like smoke. 
The cable car had let her off at the top of a hill that sloped down towards the ruined nightclub. She could see the damage from where she was standing; the building had burned to the ground.  The crowd was swarming in and around the wreckage, milling about the broken walls and poking at the remains of the dance floor. Some of them wore scarves or masks over their faces. Most, but not all, of them were Red. Their attention was focused on something at the front of the nightclub, and as Eden got closer, she realized it was a shrine of sorts, with flowers and notes arranged outside of the blown out door.
Eden could hear a chant rising from the red ponies, something in a language she couldn’t understand. She’d always thought the Camargue language was hard, but now it sounded downright guttural, something that pushed at the back of her brain and made her want to run. 
She forced herself to tune it out and turned instead to where the guards were standing. They had formed a line of sorts down the street from the ruined nightclub, standing hoof to hoof in a single wall that spanned the street. Behind that first wall, she could see a mess of ponies swarming around, more guards and plainclothes ponies that looked at the mass on the other side of the line with undisguised fear. The guards themselves did not move; armor plating covered their faces.
Eden blinked, a movement behind the police line catching her eye. She watched as a familiar mint-colored unicorn moved among the guards, talking to a few of them as she did so. Lyra? Eyes wide, Eden began to walk towards the police line, steering clear of the mob as best she could….
A shout rang out through the crowd. Something came flying out of the protestors, a glass bottle with a lit cloth in it. It crashed down in front of the guard line, exploding into a plume of fire. Eden covered her face. Several guards fell back, shouting.
The police began to push forward, around the shards of the still-burning bottle. The crowd moved back, hissing. There were still a few yards between the two groups, and as they approached, Eden could see the crowd back up, piling in on itself, compressing, like a spring pushed back almost to its snapping point. Eden caught a glimpse of Lyra once again, accompanied by an Andalusian pony she didn’t recognize. She tried to move towards them, looking if there was a way she could push through the guard without getting hurt—
A loud crack came from behind, and a great force picked her up and flung her foward, towards the guards. She landed on her side, skidding on the road, feeling her flank burn. She could hear screams, her ears were ringing. She tried to stand, stumbled, got to her hooves….
The world tilted. The guard line had broken. She could see Red ponies swarming up the road, fighting with the guards. Another building was on fire. Her side burned. She could feel her heartbeat in the pain.
Smoke coiled up from a spot on the road. A chunk of the cobblestones had been blown away. Several guards lay to the side, not moving. The Andalusian who was with Lyra appeared, sitting next to one of the ponies. She whispered something.
Eden tried to walk towards her, but the world kept tilting. She couldn’t hear. A pair of guards descended on a Red pony who had backed into a corner. He bared his teeth at them, tried to strike out, but one of the guards caught him and hit him with his nightstick. The pony struggled, and the guard hit him again. Their shadows wavered, changed. 
Another Red pony leapt from the crowd, barreling into the guard. She moved faster than Eden would have thought possible, dodging the stick and kicking him in the head. Something flicked around her horn. The guard spat blood on the ground, watching as the two ponies ran away. Eden’s lips said a name. 
Her head was dizzy, the smoke and ash clinging to her coat. She knew she was hurt, that she had to get to a medic but she couldn’t walk straight. Maybe if she sat for a moment, rested, she could get up and go….
The shadows gathered around her. She blinked; they were moving on the ground. Slowly, like the hands of a clock, they slunk across the cobblestones and the street and rose across the building. They pulsed and wavered, a mutating form taking shape within them. Then they coalesced into the silhouette of a pony, or a demon. It had a long, curved horn. A single green eye opened, blinked, and looked straight at her. A mouth opened, and words seemed to form out of the screams and the ash and the crackling of the fire.
…see…what….i…have…..be…..come…..
Then a pony was on top of her, saying something, turning her around.
“…Twilight, can you hear me? Oh, Celestia, this is bad.”
“I… I saw something,” Eden whispered. “Something in the smoke….”
“Don’t talk right now,” the pony said. It was the Andalusian from before. “We need to get you out of here. Great Celestia, Twilight, what were you thinking, coming here?”
“Tried…to…find….”
“Sorry, I shouldn’t keep asking questions. You’ve lost a lot of blood. Just be quiet, okay?”
That was easy enough, so Eden let her head fall the pavement and watched the pony from the corner of her eye. She seemed to be doing something, rubbing her hooves together like she was sanding them or something. An aerial distortion formed around her hooves, making the light within waver. The pony pressed her hooves down on either side of Eden, and something cold flowed from the hooves under Eden’s skin. Her side began to itch, but the feeling was gone in moments as a wave of blackness crept up her spine and began to cloud out her vision.
“Your body needs to shut down for a little while,” the pony’s voice said. “We’ll take care of you, Twilight, don’t worry….” And then Eden lost all sensation.


The first thing that she felt was the cushions beneath her. They were not soft, but better than the street she’d been lying in before. Then she realized that she should still be in that street and sat up so fast that her head began throbbing for the second time that day.
“You’re awake!” a familiar voice said, and Eden turned to see Lyra sitting by the bed, relief in her features.
“Lyra…?”
“Shh,” Lyra said, jumping to her bedside. “It’s okay, just rest for a few more minutes. Got to make sure that you’re totally healed.” Eden shifted and the bed beneath her squeaked. She realized it was just a cot.
“What’s going on?” she said, trying to take stock of her surroundings. She appeared to be in a rundown room of some sort.  “Where are we?”
“Somewhere safe,” Lyra said. “We moved you here after the riot. We were—“
“Lyra,” Eden said, “you’re going to have to do better than that.”
Lyra looked surprised, but the expression soon faded into one of agreement. “You’re right,” she said. “If you’re going to be with us, you need to know more.”
Eden privately thought “with us” was a bit of a misnomer, but she held her tongue.
“We’re in a house not far from the nightclub,” Lyra said. “My house, actually.”
“You live here?”
“Well,” Lyra said, coughing, “sometimes. It’s complicated.”
Eden decided it was time she got a handle on the situation. “Alright,” she said, swinging her back legs out over the bed, “time for Eden to get up and figure out what the hell is going on. I’ll just— oof!” She put her hooves down and swooned as her head suddenly began spinning.
“Easy,” Lyra said, jumping up and steadying her. “Earth pony magic can get you if you’re not careful. Come on, I’ll help you up.” With Lyra’s help, Eden was able to get all four hooves on the ground. She wobbled for a second, but steadied.
“That’s right,” Lyra said, “take it easy. Come on, let’s go to the kitchen. Healing like that, you’re probably starving.”
“Healing?” Eden said, but the mention of food drove all other thoughts out of her mind. She was famished. “You have food?”
“Well,” Lyra said, “not much, but it’ll be good for a start. Come on.” She led Eden out of the room and into a small hallway that opened into a kitchen. The house was small but not in as bad of shape as she’d originally thought. Lyra walked over to a pantry and removed a package of nuts. “Here,” she said, “these probably haven’t gone bad. I’ll make some tea, too.”
Eden took the bag and began to eat, trying not to look too crazed as she did so. The pecans were salty and filling, leaving a buttery aftertaste in her mouth. She ate for a while in silence as Lyra filled a pot with water and set it on the boiler.
“You want any?” Eden said around a mouthful.
“No thanks,” Lyra said, “I’m not hungry.” She was staring at Eden in a way that made the latter uncomfortable, like she was drinking in the sight.
“Can you, ah, not stare like that?” Eden said. “It’s kind of unnerving.”
“What? Oh, sorry!” Lyra looked away. “Didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. It’s just… a lot of us didn’t think we’d ever see you again.” She pulled the pot off of the boiler and brought it to the table, filling Eden’s cup. The smell of brewing tea filled the room.
“After the museum?” Eden thought back to her furious exit. “Yeah, well you guys didn’t exactly leave a great impression. That Lightning Dust needs to take a breather or something. I mean just attacking my friend like that—“
The front door opened and Lightning Dust walked in, followed by Tweed. “It had to have been her, Tweed; there’s no way the Reds have any other firepower capable of—“ she broke off as she saw Eden. A myriad of emotions crossed her face, not all of them pleasant. Eden tried to keep a calm face as the two of them approached her. “Twilight,” Lightning said, “I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am—“
“My name is not Twilight Sparkle,” Eden said. “It’s Evenstar Boral. Evenstar. Got that? And before you say anything else, I’m not interested in any moral judgements of my best friend, either. One word of either of those things, and I’m out that door faster than you can say ‘reincarnation.’ Got that?”
Lightning nodded. Lyra licked her lips. “Eden,” she said, “I know this is difficult for you, but I promise we’re on your side.”
“Yeah, well,” Eden said. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
“As you may have noticed,” Lyra said, “Lightning Dust is very… quick-tempered. She doesn’t always think things through.” She finished the sentence with a hiss and a pointed glare. Cowed, Lightning sank back in her seat.
“Miss Boral,” Tweed said, fiddling with his bowtie. “Charmed to see you again. Apologies for the difficult circumstances.”
“Yeah, actually,” Lyra said. “If you don’t mind us asking, why were you there?”
“I was trying to find my friend,” Eden said. “I figured she’d be there.” 
Lightning shot a pointed look at Tweed, who said nothing.
“Sunset?” Lyra said, a surprised look on her face. “What did she have to do with anything?”
“We were there last night,” Eden said. “When the guards came.”
Profound silence greeted her words.
“Eden,” Lyra said. “I’m going to have to ask you to explain what happened to you, very carefully. Please.”
Eden swallowed. “Sage and I went to that nightclub, Bolt, I think, last night because she wanted to see some old friends. We had a lot of fun until the guard showed up, started attacking ponies. I don’t know all that happened… I was kind of drunk.” She chuckled uneasily.
“Understandable,” Lyra said. “Go on.”
“Well, the head guard, Orion, he broke the owner’s wing. You might remember her… Spitfire?”
“Spitfire?!” Lightning Dust sputtered. “She’s awake? She’s here? What—“
“Let Eden finish,” Lyra said.
“Yeah, Orion just snapped her wing and Sage, well… she went berserk. She fired some kind of bolt of fire from her horn, ignited the wall, eventually brought the whole place down. She was about to fight Orion, but I sort of… intervened. I jumped at her and I don’t know what happened, but suddenly we were back at our apartment.”
“You live with Sage?” Lyra said.
“Yeah,” Eden said. “We’re roommates. Last year of college. But when we got there, I mean, I wasn’t sober before but suddenly I couldn’t even stand up straight. We both went to bed but she must have left sometime before I woke up. I came back here because I thought she might be here and, well, here I am.”
“Here you are,” Lyra said.
“Okay,” Eden said. “I told you my part of the story. Now you need to start talking.”
“What do you want to know?” Lyra said.
“How did Sage shoot fire out of her horn?”
“Magic.”
“No,” Eden said, “I want a real answer.”
“And I’m giving you one,” Lyra said, a slight grin on her face.
“I’m a scientist,” Eden said. “I only believe in things I can measure. Granted there are forces in the world that we don’t understand but none of them can be harnessed by a single pony like that.” Lyra’s grin was becoming wider. “What’s so funny?”
“That you of all ponies would doubt magic,” Lightning said. “I’m sorry, I mean no disrespect, but….” She broke off, chuckling.
“Your predecessor was one of the most gifted mages to ever live,” Lyra said. “Still is, I guess—there hasn’t been much progress on that front since, but that’s by the by. She was single-hoofedly responsible for over a dozen advances in magic over the last years of Equestria and even created an entirely new branch of magic based on her studies of friendship.”
“Friendship.” Eden didn’t even try to hide her skepticism.
“Yup,” Lyra said, a pleasant smile on her face. “Frankly, her work is over my head, but all unicorns are gifted in the arcane in some manner.” Her horn lit up and a gold aura surrounded the coffee spoon and lifted it up. Lyra casually stirred her tea in front of a gaping Eden. “But friendship isn’t the only kind of magic,” she said.
Eden stared.
“What’s that you said about not provoking her?” Lightning Dust muttered.
"You just levitated something."
"Well," Lyra said lifting the spoon to her mouth and sipping the tea, "This is different.”
"Are we not going to talk about your levitation abilities?"
“You ask me,” Lightning said, “this is worse than what I did.”
"How are you doing that?"
"Magic." Lyra winked at her.
"Oh no," Eden said, slamming her hoof down on the table with more force than was necessary. "That's not going to cut it anymore. That's full scale gravity manipulation. How are you doing that?"
"Like this," Lyra said. She picked up Eden’s spoon and floated it around her head. "It's easy, see?"
Eden batted one of the forks out of the air. It stopped glowing almost as soon as she touched it, and she caught it awkwardly in her hoof. "Kinetic disruption can break the hold," she muttered. "Hmm. I wonder..."
She dropped the fork. It fell almost to the ground before it began glowing again. Lyra brought it up to eye level. "What are you doing?" she said. "That could have gotten dirty."
"Subject can reintroduce telekinesis while objects are in motion. Hmm. Lyra, think fast."
"Huh?"
The bag of pecans were suddenly launched at her face. Lyra blanched and ducked out of the way, sending them sailing over her shoulder to explode on the floor. Pecans flew every which way.
"Constant concentration evidentially required. 'Passive' effect not seen, as of now. Perhaps all 'magic' is shaped by concentration?"
"Eden," Lyra said, "what are you doing?"
"Science," Eden said. "You won't tell me things so I'm figuring them out on my own. Let's see... here we go." She bent down and picked up a spoon and then her tea saucer. She held the plate in between Lyra and herself, and placed the fork behind the plate so that Lyra couldn't see it. "Levitate the fork."
"What? I can't."
"Why not?"
"The plate's in the way."
"Is 'in the way' a function of visual line of sight or material?"
"I can't see it."
"Hmm." Eden pushed the fork up so that only the top prongs could be seen. "Can you do it now?"
"Um, probably." Lyra scrunched up her face and lit her horn. The familiar magical aura surrounded the prongs of the fork, only up to where it was visible to Lyra. The fork wobbled out of Eden's grasp and floated above the plate, where the rest of it was soon covered in magic as well.
"Fascinating," Eden said, wishing she had a notebook. "Partial telekinetic control utilized to bring the rest of the object into view. What would happen if I tried to hold onto it, I wonder?"
"You might break the fork," Lyra said. "It weakens objects to be partially held by magic. I don't fully understand why, but my teacher used to say it was because of the conflicting forces on the object. That's why we don't normally use it."
"Hmm," Eden said. She looked at the fork, still hovering above the table. "How about this?" She brought the plate up and held it in front of the fork again. This time, the fork didn't fall. The moment she blocked Lyra's vision the fork stayed where it was. Eden noted a fading of the aura, though. She counted to five before the magic had faded enough for the fork to fall. "Slow decline of control once object is out of sight."
"That's right," Lyra said. "Others are more skilled at this than me, they could probably keep it up longer. You, for instance."
"Me?"
"Twilight Sparkle is among the all-time greatest magic users," Lightning Dust said. "You have that talent. Just don't know it."
"Redheart said that your mana pool was stupid big," Lyra said. "Why don't you try to access it? Who knows, it might even help with your memories."
"This is ridiculous," Eden said, but stopped. Was it ridiculous?
"It's not ridiculous," Lyra said. "You just need to try. We all were there at some point."
"...okay," Eden said. "How should I do this?"
"Close your eyes and focus on your horn."
"There aren't any nerve endings in the horn--"
"No, but there are magic sensors."
"Magic sensors?'"
"I don't know the proper term--"
"Thaumaturgical neurons," Tweed said, cutting into the conversation. "That was the old term, roughly translated into Sagittarian. Think of them as specialized neurons that allow you to feel the ebb and flow of your magic. A properly attuned unicorn could feel the flow of their magic like they could feel temperature on their body. All concentrated in the horn."
"So what am I looking for?"
"Just close your eyes and focus on your horn," Lyra said. "Try to imagine it as a sort of well, or an appendage that you've never used before."
"Like ear wiggling?"
"What?"
"When I was a filly, I couldn't move my ears. Late development. When they came around it was like having a whole new limb to use."
"Something like that, then. That's a sound comparison," Lyra said. "Your horn as an ear."
"Not as different as one might think," Tweed muttered. "Horn attuned to magical flux around world. Sensory organ. Fascinating."
"Right." Eden closed her eyes. She felt silly, but focused her concentration on her horn. Eden's horn was of a normal length, as far as unicorns went. There wasn't much particularly interesting about it. She had it filed and polished twice a month and went on with her life. A memory of Sage chastising her for not doing more to beautify it crossed her mind. A faint smile crossed her features.
Right then, she felt something, a vague tingling in the region above her forehead. Something dim, like trying to hear someone with ears plugged up. It felt muffled.
"I... I think I have something," she murmured.
"Really?"
"I'm not sure, but yeah. Like a sort of wave effect, maybe? I don't know. But it's really muffled."
"You aren't used to using it," Lyra said. "That will come in time."
Eden opened her eyes and the feeling lessened. "Still doesn't mean I believe everything you've said," she said.
"You'll get there, in time," Lyra said. Eden narrowed her eyes at Lyra, who continued to smile back benignly. In a way, that was more bothersome to Eden than if Lyra tried to convince her right then. She knew from experience that most ponies who believed something outlandish worked very hard to prove it to others. But Lyra and her friends seemed... stable. She shook her head, a sudden wave of fatigue washing through her.
"Wow, my head," she muttered.
"Probably from the magic use," Lyra said. "You should rest. It's not something that will come back in a moment. Young unicorns often require powerful emotions to activate their magic. Without training, you might never be able to do anything except in extreme circumstances.”
“Training?” Eden said, looking up from her table.
“Well, yeah,” Lyra said. “That’s kind of what we do, at least so far. When ponies wake up, we train them, help them relearn their magical abilities, and then they join the search for more.”
“How many of you are there?” Eden said.
“About a dozen, more or less,” Tweed said. “Tabs exist on five more ponies, but we have yet to make contact. Believe Blueblood was waiting for you.”
“Blueblood?”
“He’ll be along shortly,” Tweed said. Just then, there was a knock on the door. Eden jumped. “Speak of the devil,” Tweed said, getting out of his chair and walking over to the door.
“Bastard,” Lightning Dust muttered, “always with the impeccable timing.”
“Bet you he was listening, waiting for the perfect moment,” Lyra hissed back. The two grinned at each other.
Tweed opened the door, ushering the guest inside. “Welcome, Prince. Charmed to see you. Our guest is right in here.”
Eden stared at the pony in the door. He was an Andalusian, tall and broad-shouldered, his white coat gleaming even in the dim light of the café. His golden mane was braided along the neck in the Andalusian style, adorned with many of the rings and ties that so confounded older Sagittarians about Andalusian culture. Everything about him, from the dark jacket and pants combo to the way he surveyed the room, radiated an easy, confident power. This was a pony used to being listened to.
“Evenstar Boral,” Lyra said, standing from the table, “meet our leader, Azur Sanguine, first in the house of Sanguine. You might know him by his former name, Prince Blueblood.”
Eden stood up, trying not to trip over her chair. Sanguine’s eyes fell on her, and something within them seemed to ignite. Breaking into a huge smile, he bounded over the room and picked Eden up into a huge bear hug, lifting the startled mare off of the ground. She was briefly pressed into his shoulder, the thick smell of jasmine cologne filling her nostrils. He set her back down again and she staggered backward, trying not to be obviously cowed.
“Yeesh, Blueblood,” said Lightning, “looks like you bowled her over.”
“Nonsense, my dear Lightning Dust,” Sanguine said, his thick Andalusian accent adding an extra syllable to every word he said. “Twilight Sparkle is deserving of the finest introduction I can give, be it Andalusian or Equestrian. In fact….” He broke off and sank into a low bow, dipping his horn all the way to the ground. Eden blushed. “Might as well give her both of them, for posterity’s sake. Got to keep the old traditions alive, now don’t we?”
Eden decided it was time that she said something, but when she opened her mouth all that came out was a squeak. Sanguine’s eyes fixed on her.
“Ah, but where are my manners?” he said. “You can call me Blueblood, or Azur, but Blueblood is preferred among my family, and you are part of that now.”
“Your… family?”
“Indeed. My mother and father, they were… harsh… with me. I spent most of my youth in wild abandon, learning the ways of my adopted home, nearly getting myself killed more than once. Then, in a near death experience with a zeppelin, I saw, clear as day, another life! One in which I was prince in a noble land, and a pompous ass to boot. Well, I cannot tell if I am going crazy, because for ten years it’s just me with these memories, and the world is so different now than it used to be. Then I find Lightning Dust and Lyra and the others, and now they are my new family. We Equestrians have got to stick together, you know!”  
“…right,” Eden said, taking a step back. She glanced at Lyra, who had suddenly become the most familiar thing in the room. Lyra smiled at her and gave a little shrug. “So, Mr… Blueblood, you’re in charge of this operation?”
“In charge? No. But I have the money, and what secret organization can run without the money? None of them. So I provide front, cover, that sort of thing, while we search for more of our own. What you see in this room, most of us. Twelve in total. A few more still on the way. You want brains? Look for Tweed. Muscle? Lightning Dust. Morale? Lyra. I am just for the money.” His face turned into an exaggerated pout. “It is sad, yes? They use me.”
“Well, I’m sure you have value other than the money…”
“Ah, of course! My memories, very complete, you know! Much more than most of us. And I was close, quite close, to the princesses, being their nephew and all. So I have my memories, and together with the others we try to discover what happened to the old world.”
“You mean you don’t know?” Eden said.
“We know enough,” Lightning Dust said. “It’s true that we’ve come back with incomplete memories, but they’re all incomplete in different places. It’s enough to know what happened to the world. And who destroyed it.”
“There you go again,” Eden muttered. “Leave my friend out of it, why don’t you?”
“You friend is Sunset Shimmer,” Blueblood said, tutting to himself. “That’s very bad. I’m afraid we cannot ‘leave her out of it,’ as you say.”
“Then how about telling me why?” Eden said, trying to keep the snarl out of her voice. “How about, instead of ominously implying all these terrible things about my friend, you buck up and start talking? What on earth did she do in this past life of yours that so warrants this sort of behavior?”
“She killed a princess,” Lightning said.
Eden raised her eyebrows.
“Look,” Lyra said, “this isn’t exactly the best time to talk about it—“
“No it is,” Eden said. “Because we’re not getting any further until I get some real answers.”
The gathered ponies all looked to Blueblood. He sighed. “This is not a conversation I am wanting to have now,” he said. “Or ever, for that matter. But it is important. You ask me, what of your friend? What did she do? Yes, she killed ponies, but many do that. A simpler answer is that she found him.”
“Sunset Shimmer was the personal student of Princess Celestia, an honor only bestowed to a hooffull of ponies throughout all of Equestria’s history,” Lyra said. “She was brilliant, and she had everything she ever would need to work on her studies: books, unlimited budget, and the love and affection of the greatest pony the world had ever seen.”
“Personal student,” Tweed said, “an honor one can only dream of.”
“And she threw it away,” Lyra said. “All of it. She cursed the Princess’ name and fled the castle, and despite her efforts, Celestia could never find any trace of her.”
“Coward,” Lightning said.
“Perhaps, perhaps,” Blueblood said. “We may never know, eh? But in any case, why she left does not matter to us. Because when she came back, she was not alone.” 
A chill began to seep into the air of the room. Eden resisted the urge to pull her coat tighter around herself.
“She’d found someone, or something, up in the frozen wastes to the north,” Lyra said. “Whether it had ever been a pony, I don’t know. But it wasn’t then. It moved through land and memory in a formless shadow, and where it went, plants died, animals tore each other up, and ponies learned to do far worse things to each other. It was called Sombra, the Shadow.”
Eden’s mind flashed to the image she’d seen on the wall, composed of thousands of writhing shadows. She shuddered.
“Sunset claimed that Sombra had taught her things, terrible things, secrets about ponies and the princesses that had been kept from us. When challenged, she… did something to Princess Luna.”
“That was a terrible day,” Blueblood said. “My sweet auntie, once again in the clutches of the Nightmare. It didn’t last long, but the damage was done. Ponies were killed.”
“And Luna, who had promised the world that she would never fall again…”
“She abdicated the throne immediately and surrendered herself into custody,” Lyra said. “But Celestia would not let her leave.”
“My Auntie, she was very stubborn.”
“She was protecting her sister!” Lightning said, agitation in her voice. “Sunset did something to her, tricked her into falling, and ponies died! Celestia knew that if Luna left, if she left, many more would also die. And she was right! If Sunset—“
“This is not the time,” Blueblood said. “My Auntie’s actions are commendable but perhaps unwise considering the circumstances. But I don’t think that any of us knew what we were dealing with at that point.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, the cheer was back.
“And now we have returned!” he said. “And we must watch this world carefully. After all, if Sunset is back, then perhaps Sombra is as well, and the ponies of this world are not equipped to deal with him. We certainly were not.”
“And what, you think he’s going to contact Sage?”
“I don’t pretend to know the way his mind works, if it works at all,” Blueblood said. “He never behaved the way we thought he would. But there were patterns….”
“You’ve got to understand, Eden,” Lyra said, “this sort of thing, these tensions, they’re exactly what he would play into. His magic operated on the fear and chaos that disrupted Equestrian society, and today’s magic, while weak, is certainly still around.”
“Is that why you were at the protest today?” Eden said. Lyra shared a look with Blueblood.
“More or less,” she said. “We’ve been working with the guard, providing support, making sure they aren’t injured. Modern medicine isn’t really a match for earth pony healing, after all. And in return, they help us out.”
“They’ve got resources to help us find other reincarnated ponies,” Lightning said, “resources that we just wouldn’t have otherwise. It’s a win-win. We help stabilize the situation, monitor it for signs of Sombra, and in return we get intel on possible ponies to add to our group.”
Blueblood shook his head. “I will be frank, my friends. I do not like the guard. They can be very cruel. But Sombra is beyond any of us. If we do not work together, we will surely perish.”
The room lapsed into silence. Eden’s thoughts again flashed to the thing at the protest. “So,” she said, “What are you going to do about my friend?”
“At the moment?” Blueblood said, “Nothing. We are not monsters, Evenstar. I of all ponies should know, new lives mean new opportunities! And perhaps Sombra is not involved in this mess at all." Lightning rolled her eyes, and Eden felt her distaste of the pony rise.
"But if you were to find any evidence…” she said, knowing the answer but not wanting to hear it.
“All bets are off, I’m afraid,” Blueblood said. “As I said, if there is even a hint that Sombra has truly returned, we must act before he has a chance to set his plans, whatever they may be, in motion.”
“But you wouldn’t hurt her, would you?”
The ponies’ silence was answer enough for her.
“Anyway,” Blueblood said, shaking himself out of his reverie. “That was not my intention for you today! I have instead brought you something. Here:” he rustled around in his jacket for a moment before removing a manila envelope. “This is one of the files on a possible reincarnation. I thought perhaps you might be wanting to take a look at it, yes?”
Eden stared at the envelope. “Why me?”
“Because she’s a good friend of yours,” Lyra said. “Or she was, once.”
Eden took the envelope from him and read the name on the side. “Thank you,” she said, tucking it into her jacket.
“It is not a problem. Now, you must be going!” Blueblood said. “We still have much to do, and the ponies outside have not yet finished their rioting. Go home, and when you are ready to learn more, come to the coffee shop. I am told that is where you and Lyra and Tweed first met, yes? It is as such. Then, we can continue your training.”
“Come on,” Lyra said, standing from her chair. “This is a lot to process, I know. I’ll help you get home.”
“No need!” Blueblood said. “I have a carriage outside. Come with me.” He led Eden to the door and pushed it open. The cobblestone street outside was dimly lit, and the faint smell of smoke tinged Eden’s nostrils. An ornate carriage was waiting on the step, a bored looking coach regarding them flatly.
“Definitely not looking to make a scene here,” Lyra muttered, following them out the door.
“What can I say?” Blueblood said, pressing a hoof to his chest. “I am rich. I enjoy traveling in style.”
“Where to, ma’am?” the coach said.
“Um, the Celestial University,” Eden said, “if you don’t mind.” She stepped into the coach and turned around. The four ponies were standing outside the door, smiles on their faces. “Thank you all, I guess,” she said.
“Be seeing you soon,” Lyra said, giving a wave. “And don’t worry too much about Sombra; we’ll take care of him. Just read the file!”
The carriage began pulling away, and the last thing Eden saw was the four of them waving goodbye down the street. Then it was quiet. The carriage bumped over the cobblestones. She thought about Sage. They needed to talk, and she was only going to have one chance to get this right. 

Sage returned hours later, her coat singed, a dark scarf wrapped around her neck. She walked into the kitchen without looking at Eden. The faint smell of smoke filled the room.
“Hey,” Eden said, but Sage still didn’t acknowledge her. Eden put her book down and followed her friend into the kitchen, where she found Sage downing a glass of water as fast as she could. Eden didn’t say anything as Sage finished the glass and went to fill another. The silence in the room began to grow like a living thing.
Sage finished the water and put the glass in the sink. She walked around the kitchen table and disappeared into her room. Eden stood for a moment, frozen, before she followed her in.
Sage had her closet open and was laying clothes out on the bed. Eden looked at them. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Taking a leave of absence,” Sage said, her voice hoarse. “Got to take care of some health issues.”
“Health issues? Anything I know about?”
“It’s a bit removed from you,” Sage said “I did my best not to trouble you with it, but I guess it can’t be helped now.” She moved further into the closet and removed a briefcase.
Eden bit her lip. “So, you’re going? For what, the rest of the semester?”
“Something like that,” Sage said. The two of them lapsed into silence again as she filled the suitcase with clothes. Eden could feel something in her chest, something she wasn’t sure about, something that was pushing to get out.
“Listen,” she said. “We, ah, we need to talk.”
“That so?” Sage said.
“Yeah,” Eden said, chewing on her lip. “I don’t know how to put this exactly… how are your nightmares?”
“Horrible, thanks for asking.”
“Look, I don’t really want to bring it up, but—“
“Well, I’d hate for you to have to do something you don’t want to do,” Sage said, slamming the suitcase shut. Eden took a step back. Sage glared at her, and she thought she saw something green flicker deep in her eyes.
“Look I’ll just say it,” Eden said. “I think you’re being manipulated.”
Sage cocked an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yes,” she said, closing her eyes. If she said it fast enough, maybe Sage couldn’t stop her. “I met with some ponies today. They told me some stuff about the past, stuff I wouldn’t believe if everything else hadn’t been happening too. There’s… someone… colluding to aggravate the tensions between red ponies and the guard. I’ve seen him, I think. And he wants you. Those nightmares… I think it’s him trying to contact you, get to you.” Eden opened her eyes. Sage’s face was blank. Encouraged, she continued. “That’s why you could do that fire blast, he was helping you. Sage, I don’t understand everything that’s going on but I know this person was responsible for a lot of death and destruction. You have to be careful, Hub City could be in danger.”
Sage’s face was still blank.
“I wouldn’t have believed it myself, believe me,” Eden said, the words tumbling out of her mouth now. Sage’s silence was beginning to worry her. “But the evidence I’ve seen is—“
“What evidence?” Sage said, her voice hoarse again.
“…well, the abilities we used the other night, for one thing,” Eden said. “And, and a dream I might have had the other night….” The words seemed to die as soon as they left her mouth, falling to the ground and shriveling under the heat of Sage’s expression. “Just some… things I can’t explain.”
“That so?” Sage said, sucking on her teeth. “Things you can’t explain, eh? That’s a new one.”
“What are you talking about?”
“What are you talking about?” Sage shouted, and Eden shrank back. “What the hell are you saying? That I’m being manipulated? That forces are conspiring to destroy Hub City? Well I’ve got news for you: those forces aren’t unknown, they’re looking right at you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You already know the answer to that,” Sage snarled. “You just don’t want to admit you know. You can’t admit that your best friend, your good, Red friend would earnestly want to burn your beloved city to the ground. I’ve got news for you, Eden. If there is some magic force working to destroy Hub City, good! We need all the help we can get.”
“You don’t mean that,” Eden said.
“No, you don’t want to admit I mean it. That I want to burn it to the ground. All of it. I used to think otherwise, used to think that you Blue ponies could understand what we go through, but I was wrong. You can’t. You know, I think you actually, physically can’t. My grandfather used to say that Blue ponies were damaged, that the only way they could possibly be as callous and cruel as they are was because something inside of them was broken. I thought he was crazy, but you know he’s starting to make a lot of sense!”
“Sage—“
“You’re off investigating crazy conspiracy theories and ancient magic and whatever-the-hell else it is you can waste time on, while, back in the real world, my people are dying every day, and if they’re not dying they’re suffering, and I can’t go a single moment longer knowing I could have done something about it!”
“Sage you’re not—“
“Three years, Eden! We’ve lived together for three years, and in that time how many tests, how many parties, how many weekend study marathons did we go through? Every day I went to this school—did--did you know it was constructed, the original castle was constructed using forced Red labor? That the grant that started this place came from one of the largest Blue work foreman in Hub City history? This place was built on the blood of my people. This whole city was built on it.”
“I know that—“
“You do, and that’s why I can’t make excuses for you anymore! You’re too smart, and too educated, to not know the history of Hub City, how the guards terrorize us, how we’re underpaid and overworked, how they profit off of our blood and sweat and tears, and you never talk about it, never say anything to your other friends, or your family, or your professors. So long as you know what happened, so long as you had a friend you could vent your guilt to, it was fine. But it never did anything for me.”
Eden felt tears begin to form at her eyes, but Sage didn’t stop. She was sustained by something larger than herself. She loomed in the room, sparks playing along her horn. “I saw you today, you know, wandering towards the guard like they’d save you. I saw you last night. You were so worried, so caught up in the big picture. The equine struggle of it all. You think you can just stand there, watching, above the flames? We’re fighting for our lives! I hope that view helped you, Eden, I really do, because applying salve to your guilty blue soul is apparently all I was ever worth to you. And I’m finished with that. Welcome to the real world, friend.”
With that, she took the suitcase and marched right past Eden, who stood frozen in place. The seconds ticked down one after another, and suddenly Eden flew out of the room, running into the living room, where Sage was walking out the door. She reached out a hoof to say something, anything, to say that she’d failed or that Sage was being irrational or that maybe the city should burn down but Sage didn’t understand that she needed her—
There was a crackle, a spark, and Eden jerked back as if stung. Red sparks played across Sage’s coat, crackling from the tip of her horn. She glanced over her shoulder, and Eden saw that her eyes were red. “…Sage?”
Sage turned back around and walked out the door, slamming it behind her. Eden listened to her footsteps fade away. She stared at the door for a long time, tears running down her face.
Finally, the sound of the hour chime pulled her out of her reverie. Still sniffling, she walked into the kitchen and poured a glass of water, drinking it to stop her hiccups. She saw the cup that Sage had used a few minutes before, sitting in the bottom of the sink. She went to pick it up but stopped. Then she washed her face and returned to the living room.
She took a sip of the water and put it to the side, her hoof shaking as she did so. Something caught her eye. The folder was still in her jacket, the edge sticking out. She walked over and picked it up. She sat down and opened it, taking note of the name on the side. 
“Applejack”