Chronicles of Utopia: The Six

by CarnivalImpmon

Kindling the Spark

Golden Leaf sat frozen in fear on her branch as the sounds of the royal guard came steadily closer. The monsters were barbaric, and though they were probably here on a mission, they might take her as a witness and seriously harm her. The Empress was the only one who was known to be able to control them, and many a pony had been hurt by the creatures on the few holidays the Empress left the Royal City.

The pegasus covered her mouth with a hoof as one of the guard came into view. The great, brown beast was hunched over as it padded across the forest floor, sniffing and and panting. Drool dripped from its gaping maw, and it was draped in golden armor that glinted in the specks of sunlight that filtered through the leaves. Soon, it was followed by droves more, sniffing and growling as they moved in a pack formation, their thick canine bodies moving in unnaturally bipedal stances. Golden Leaf shuddered in fear when one stopped near the tree she was in and sniffed the air. It thankfully didn't look up, and instead barked to its comrades. They all stopped, looking at the one who had barked in quizzical manners. It pointed to the ground. Golden Leaf followed its strange paw to where it pointed, and saw it was showing the others the body of the thief who had fallen.

The royal guard all began to howl enthusiastically. The pack surrounded the passed pegasus, and the sound of tearing flesh filled Golden Leaf's ears. She shuddered in horror, covering her eyes with her wings and sinking back against the trunk of the tree. The ripping sounds quickly stopped, and the sound of slurping replaced it. After a moment, those sounds stopped too and the pack moved on, assumedly to wherever they'd be ordered to go. Golden Leaf tentatively removed her wings from her face, making a point not to look down at where the thief's body had been. She instead directed her gaze in the direction the royal guard had gone. They weren't usually seen far from the Empress. If they were all the way out here, something must have been seriously wrong. Golden Leaf cast a look upwards, Copper Charm coming to mind. She bit her lip as she considered her options. She really needed to go back to him, he was probably worried about her, and the sun was just a little while from slipping over the horizon. She wanted to get him home before night fell.

Then again...somepony could be in trouble. The royal guard had an aura of danger, and a glint of anticipation in their breath. Copper Charm would be fine, he was a strong foal, and she'd left him in the market before. He'd gone home alone many times, he wouldn't be too worried, and he knew his way. Golden Leaf cast one more contemplating look up at New Cloudsdale, then jumped off the branch and began to fly after the guard.

Golden Leaf followed them for what felt like hours, and her wings ached terribly by the time they finally stopped. She dropped, exhausted, on a tree branch, and lifted only her head to watch the guard as the sniffed around. They'd stopped near a ravine that had a rickety bridge hanging across it, and a strange white glow emanating from its bottom. The beasts didn't seem interested in that though, and just continued to sniff the air and paw around. Golden Leaf watched curiously as they clawed at the ground, then sniffed empty air and took a few steps towards an empty patch of grassless ground a little bit away from the edge of the cliff. They eventually stopped in their apparent investigation and gathered in a group, snarling and barking at each other for a while.

The group suddenly turned collectively towards the grassless patch of ground, their dog-like ears raised and their fangs bared. They moved together towards it, claws making deep gouges in the ground, and drool dripping from their enormous jaws. Golden Leaf watched with bated breath as they approached the patch of ground, nervous for a reason she couldn't explain. There wasn't anypony there, was there?

One of the guard suddenly leapt forward, howling and scraping at the air above the bare ground. Though, instead of hitting empty air like Golden Leaf had thought it would, it hit something hard, something that sounded like stone as the creature's claws scraped against the invisible surface.

Magic.

Golden Leaf bit back a gasp as she remembered where she was. She'd been so caught up in sneaking after the guard she hadn't even noticed the transition. The air was thicker, brought on by the massive amount of condensed magical energy that coursed through air because of the ponies that lived here. Unicorn territory. She'd wandered right into Unicornia. Golden Leaf's wings flared in a sudden burst of fright, and she hurriedly settled the feathers back down, pleading to the celestial bodies to keep her from being heard by the guards. Luckily, they were too engrossed in their task of attacking the decidedly not empty air to hear the sound of wings and hooves as Golden Leaf panicked.

The pegasus looked around, suddenly feeling in more danger than she had while following the royal guard, more scared than when the thief had dropped out of the air. It seemed harder to breathe, which she knew wasn't possible. The high concentration of unicorn magic made the air denser, true, but it was as easy to breathe as it was in New Cloudsdale, thus was the nature of magic. She just had to calm down. This deep into the forest there wasn't likely to be any unicorns, not any that would make themselves known in the presence of the royal guard at least. She was safe, she just had to remember that...

All illusions of safety vanished when she spotted a dark gray unicorn suddenly appear out of nowhere, walking right out of the side of the grassless patch of ground. Golden Leaf felt and heard a scream breach her lips, and though she quickly covered her mouth with her hooves, it was too late. The royal guard abandoned their task and turned. They noticed the unicorn first, then the pegasus in the trees. With a bark and a swift movement of paws, the beasts had split into two teams and gone scrambling after the two ponies.

Golden Leaf found herself frozen as the canines pounded towards her, and her eyes glued to the unicorn.

"Dammit!" she heard him yell, and she squeaked as his horn suddenly lit up. The aura was a nice violet shade, but she had no time to admire it. She suddenly found the ability to move again and leaped off the branch, bursting through the leaves into the sky. There was a loud snarling as the royal guard clambered up the tree but she paid them no mind. Instinct reigned over her mind and she dove back down towards the unicorn. He was quickly being surrounded by the guard, and though his magic had taken out several of them, they kept coming. He was backed up against a tree, horn sparking with that purple glow. Golden Leaf took a deep breath, then slammed into his side. He yelped, and she hooked her front hooves under his forelegs. With a grunt, she lifted up into the air again, pausing a few feet above the tree cover and panting with her new load.

The unicorn seemed to be in shock, staring down at the trees below with wide eyes. He then craned his head up to see the pegasus who now held him, and a scowl crossed onto his face.

"Pegasus," he said smoothly. She looked down, and smiled weakly.

"Sorry," she mumbled, "I couldn't leave you though." The unicorn just glared at her, then directed his gaze back down to the trees. In a moment, shock seemed to regain him again.

"The saddlebags," he gasped, squirming a bit in Golden Leaf's grip. She grunted, shifting to keep her hold on him.

"What?"

"You left them!" the unicorn screamed, kicking out at the air with a hind leg.

"Saddlebags? What...You had saddlebags?"

"They were concealed with a spell, moron," he growled. "We're far away enough though so the spell is cut off from me. Bring me back down!"

"What?!" Golden Leaf snapped, "No! That's insane! The royal guard is still down there!"

"Does it look like I give a buck?" the unicorn snarled, kicking out again. "I need what's in those bags. The Empress wants them, obviously, but she can't have them! They're..." He paused, snout scrunching up in thought. "...Important. Somehow."

"What do you mean?"

"There's no time! Bring me back down! Now!" The unicorn kicked out again, not ceasing in his squirming now. Golden Leaf bit her lip in frustration.

"It's too dangerous!"

"I can destroy them, it'll be easy!" he yelled, "Besides, if we don't kill all of them now, they'll go back to the Empress and she'll send something worse than a bunch of brain-washed dogs after us." Golden Leaf shuddered at the thought. The unicorn was right. If they didn't stop the guard before they left for the Royal City then they'd be in even more danger, and more ponies might get caught in the crossfire. Copper Charm might be...

"Alright," she agreed. The unicorn stopped struggling, sighing in relief. Golden Leaf shifted a bit so she had a better grip on him, then dove back down towards the forest. She alighted on a tree branch and dropped the unicorn next to her. The royal guard were still there, tearing away at black saddlebags that lay on the ground. One was completely destroyed, a book laying on the ground a few feet away. It was dirty and a bit torn, but otherwise appeared alright. The beasts were moving towards the second one, but before they could get to it, Golden Leaf heard a loud ringing noise next to her. She turned her head and saw the unicorn with his horn emitting what looked like bubbles of black, green, and violet. Violet flames extending from the edges of his eyes, but instead of heat they seemed to emanate cold. His eyes suddenly snapped open, glowing a bright green. He leapt down from the tree, walking slowly up to the royal guard. They barked and snarled at him, but the unicorn wasn't fazed.

"Don't touch my things," the unicorn said coldly, a beam of black and green shooting from his darkened horn and washing over the pack. They yelped and cried as the sound and smell of sizzling flesh rose into the air. Golden Leaf gasped, ducking down and covering her ears with her hooves. She closed her eyes, waiting for the horrid sounds to stop. Eventually, they did, and the pegasus opened her eyes to see nothing but ash where the royal guard had been. She took a shuddering gulp of air, then jumped down from the tree and trotted over to the unicorn, who was levitating the book over to himself. The purple flames and strange magic bubbles were gone, and the violet aura was back.

"What kind of magic was that?" Golden Leaf asked quietly. The unicorn shot her a glare.

"It doesn't matter," he said, setting the book down next to the untouched saddle bag.

"Alright...then what's in those bags that's so important?" Golden Leaf looked at the torn black fabric on the ground. "Um...bag."

"I don't know what they are exactly," the unicorn said sliding the book into the bag with his hoof then levitating it onto his back. "They're important though."

"Vague, aren't you?" Golden Leaf said, her eyes narrowing slightly. "What's your name?"

"Doesn't matter to you," the unicorn said, turning to her. "A better question is, what's a pegasus doing in Unicornia?"

"What's a unicorn doing in the middle of the forest?" Golden Leaf retorted, "Appearing out of nowhere with 'important things' in his saddlebags?"

"I didn't appear out of nowhere," the unicorn scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Another cloaking spell, though this one's more powerful and is connected to an object, not me."

"What are you hiding here?"

"Why do you care? It doesn't matter anyway, I'm leaving now." The sinister bubbles appeared around the unicorn's horn again, along with the violet fire. There was a popping noise, and a black scarf fluttered to the ground between Golden Leaf and the unicorn. An old ruin was suddenly visible on the grassless space. Golden Leaf gasped at the surprise structure, and her feathers ruffled.

"I've never seen anything like it," she mumbled.

"You've never seen any magic besides Empress Enigma's," the unicorn scoffed, levitating the scarf up and around his neck. Golden Leaf sighed, then held out a hoof to the unicorn.

"My name is Golden Leaf," she said. The unicorn gave her an odd look, eyed her hoof, then turned away, adjusting the scarf.

"Soul Flash," he finally said. Golden Leaf smiled.

"It's nice to meet you."

Author's Note:

I feel like the first part of this story should have stayed in chapter three, ending where she starts to go after the royal guard.
Oh well...