The Bond

by GhostWriter

Chapter Four - Waking to Sunrise

- Chapter Three -

Waking to Sunrise

Far off elsewhere, in a location unknown to anypony not part of the Alliance of Shadows, three ponies wearing similar blackened armor walk down the base’s torch-lit tunnels. Two of them, pegasi, have similar grey coats and yellowish eyes; brothers, perhaps. The third walking in front of the two pegasi, however, is a unicorn with a pinkish coat and two green eyes, one of which is adorned by a scar. Their faces hold serious expressions, for they have been called by the leader himself for a ‘special meeting’. There are only two kinds of meetings that are called special: those the members come back from, and those from which the members are never seen again.

They reach the leader’s room, blocked by two large wooden doors with ornate carvings of vines all across the surface. The unicorn’s face remains stoic as his horn glows a dull, murky green, at which the two massive doors open outward to reveal a rather impressive room. The ponies do not focus on this, however, but instead the silver unicorn who stands at a small cherrywood desk, looking over some papers. He turns his head up to face the trio, his icy blue eyes registering their presence.

“Ah, there you are, and right on time,” he finally says, a small, sinister grin on his face. “It’s nice to have ponies who obey orders quickly...which is exactly why I have asked you three here.”

The pink unicorn, who had remained silent, now spoke. “What are your orders, sir?” he asked, his voice was devoid of all emotion, like he possessed no soul of any kind. The silver unicorn chuckles, but the sound is more menacing than happy.

“My friends,” he replies. “The time has come to reveal our intentions to the princesses. I want you three to hop on a train from Ponyville, any train at all...but it will not reach its destination. Is this understood?” After receiving a simultaneous salute from the three ponies, the leader nods, and the trio exits. He chuckles again, closing his eyes with a sigh. “And so it begins...”

Two ponies slowly trotted along the dirt road towards Ponyville, a young mare with golden mane and bright white coat, and a small colt with golden coat and shining, white mane. The two carried saddlebags, both of which were filled to their maximum capacity, which would lead many to think these two were traveling from afar. This assumption would be incorrect; in fact, the two ponies had only traveled two miles. Despite this very short distance, though, there was weariness in the eyes of the young mare. Weariness not of a physical kind, but more along the lines of emotional. Her eyes glanced to her left side where her younger brother walked behind her a little, his eyes looking up at his sister. In her mind, the mare knew he was going to ask the question. She began praying to Celestia, Luna, and whatever other gods might exist that he wouldn’t ask her it. Like always, though, her prayers fell upon deaf ears.

“Sunny, why are we leaving our house?” the colt finally asked, his voice small and soft. Sunrise Flare slowed to a stop, her eyes still directed ahead. Little did her brother know that his question made every part of his sister just break down and cry. Their ‘house’ had been a little beaten-up shack she had managed to purchase cheaply with the bits they had stolen when they ran away. Despite being only fifteen, she had worked three part-time jobs just to pay the bills for that shack. It was small, disproportioned, and overall badly made, but it had been their home. Had been, Sunrise reminded herself.

Despite all her work, they had lost their home due to the landlord increasing the payments unfairly. When she had confronted him, he threatened to tell everypony that there were living without parents. Without any desire for that to happen, Sunrise gave in, and now they were without a home. It was her fault. This mere thought was what now made her feel the urge to break down, but instead the mare stood tall, eyes locked forward. She was not going to cry in front of Dawn Chaser. She had to be strong. Turning her head to finally answer her brother, Sunrise only shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, Dawn. You’ll understand when you’re a little older.”

Dawn Chaser nodded silently, at which the mare began to walk forward again, and he began to follow. He never questioned his sister’s answers once in his entire life, and if she said he’d know when he was older, then he would just have to wait. Ever since they had run away, the ten-year-old colt had come to consider his sister the smartest pony he knew. She had been in school longer than he, after all. If they were leaving their old home, then it probably meant Sunrise had found a better home. This thought brought a small smile to Dawn’s face, and his curiosity as to why they were leaving vanished instantly, replaced by thoughts of what their new home may be like. He wondered if they might have more lights, and maybe a bigger kitchen. Their old house was pretty small, even to him, and had always been fairly dark. Dawn, being the young pony he was, did not like the dark, and consequently the dark house was sometimes a bit scary. He had his big sister, though, so things were never really that bad. As long as he had her, he would never truly be afraid.

The two continued to travel along the road in silence, the morning sun just beginning to peek out from the horizon, casting an orange-ish glow over the land. And it was in the new light that Sunrise noticed something alongside the road, something that made her both curious and cautious. She slowed again to a stop, Dawn doing the same.

“What is it, Sunny?” he asked only seconds before his eyes caught on the same thing his sister saw. It was a pony...or, it looked like one. It was very dark, maybe even sort of blackish, and appeared to be curled up in the grass alongside the road. After a minute, Sunrise turned to her brother, slipping off her saddlebags.

“Stay here, Dawn,” she whispered, turning back around to slowly make her way towards the figure. As she got closer, she began to notice more pony-like features, such as legs, hooves, a head, and a tail. But what kept her cautious was the surface of its fur; the surface seemed to be blowing around slightly, not like hair but like smoke. It was like the black was surrounding the pony, not part of it. Sunrise had never seen anything like it, and like any young, curious pony, slowly reached out a hoof to touch it.

Night Wisp was having a nightmare. In it she was standing in the carpentry shop’s workshop, the room dark. She heard the sound of the front door open, at which she went over to the workshop door to peek out at who had come in. There, slowly walking towards the counter, was Elmwood, but not the version she had wanted to see again. He walked with a slight limp, dirty sawdust falling from his coat onto the floor with every step. His front was covered with blood that trailed down from his head and eyes, the protruding nails moving as if they were now some kind of ungodly way for him to see. He began to make his way around the counter, at which the grey mare moved back from the door, quietly dashing beneath one of the nearby tables. She heard the doors open, at which she closed her eyes, hoping to Celestia he didn’t find her. She heard his hoofsteps pause, then start again. They grew closer. Closer. Closer.

Finally, they stopped, and Night peered an eye open. Right next to her were four hooves, blood, sawdust, and dirt clinging to them. She looked up slightly, at which she saw Elmwood bending down and staring at her, the nails twitching. Suddenly, he opened his mouth and screamed, his head convulsing as black arms reach out from his empty eye sockets, the sound of his undead voice worse than metal on a chalkboard. The pony, if it could even be called as such, suddenly dived forward, as if moving to attack, and a pair of fiery green eyes flashed across Night’s vision. A hoof touched her shoulder, and the mare screamed.

Sunrise tried to jump back as the strange blackness surrounding the figure shifted quickly, forming a black arm that lashed out at the surprised mare, gripping tightly to her hoof. No matter how hard she pulled, she couldn’t pull away. The figure on the ground began to make fearful groans, moving around as the black arm gripped tighter to Sunrise’s hoof. Meanwhile, Dawn stood just five hoofsteps away, watching in terror as the odd black thing grabbed at his sister. “H-Hey! Leave her alone!” he shouted as loud as he could with his tiny voice. “L-Leave my sister alone!”

“Dawn, stay there!” Sunrise shouted, her voice filled with frustration and fear. She didn’t know what was going on or what the thing on the ground was, but it obviously didn’t like her touching it. She struggled to free her hoof from the tightening grasp, or at least trying to gain some distance from the thing. She paused, took a quick breath, then gave one last, hard tug. It seemed as though the effort was futile...then suddenly, it let go.

Sunrise stumbled with a yelp of surprise, no longer having anything to hold her back, and fell back onto the dirt road. Dawn ran to his sister’s aid, though made sure to stay behind her as he helped her stand, certainly not wanting to get anywhere near the attacker. As she stood, Sunrise watched as the other figure stood as well, its pony-like body completely black with three arms reaching out from appendages that looked like wings. The figure suddenly turned, moving swiftly towards Sunrise and Dawn, arms reaching forward. The young mare turned and embraced her brother tight, hoping to hide him from what was to come, expecting to feel the creature’s wrath at any second.

To her surprise, however, nothing came. More seconds passed, and still nothing. Daring a peek, Sunrise lifted her head a little, dreading what she might see looming over them. She was further surprised to see no terrible, black demon-like creature over them now, but instead a somewhat smaller grey mare, a pegasus, with midnight blue mane. Sunrise lifted her head more, looking up wide-eyed at the pony, who appeared to be just as surprised about the situation. The grey pony stared for a few seconds, then looked down at the black arms, which had now sunk low to the ground. She then looked back at Sunrise, at which she appeared to understand everything.

Without even a twitch from the mare the arms vanished, as if they had never existed, and the grey pegasus sunk down to the ground, her silvery eyes wide. There was silence between the three on the road, the only sound being a gentle breeze that blew past. Silence...until a sob was heard. Then another. It took a second for Sunrise to realize that the mare had begun to cry, watching as tears began to drip down from her eyes and off her muzzle, creating spots on the dusty road. The scene almost made Sunrise want to cry, something deep inside feeling an extreme sense of pity for whoever this stranger was.

For a full minute, all the two younger ponies did was listen to the strange mare’s crying, unsure what to make of anything they had witnessed or were witnessing. Moving slowly so as not to startle the pegasus, Sunrise began to unwrap herself from around Dawn, who now peeked his head over his sister’s body, watching the grey pony cry. What Sunrise saw next was possibly the bravest act Dawn had ever performed; slowly trotting around his sister, the small colt went up to the stranger, watching for a second before giving the mare a hug. Sunrise started to move, ready to tell her younger brother to stay back from the mysterious pony. For all she knew, this could be a ploy to make them think they were safe. But only when the grey mare’s crying grew, her hooves embracing the small colt much like a foal does to its own mother, did Sunrise hold her tongue. This mare, whoever or whatever she was, certainly was not anything evil, or at least no longer appeared to be.

The white-coated mare stood up, hesitantly moving next to her brother. Dawn looked up silently, his expression the same one he gave his sister whenever he truly wanted something. Sunrise sighed, looking down at the pegasi, watching her body tremble with each sob. "This could still be a trap..." she thought. "But I think if she really wanted us, she would have had us by now." And so, without a word, Sunrise Flare bent down, placing a hoof around the grey mare’s back, helping her brother comfort the distraught pony as much as she could, but secretly wondering what they were getting themselves into.

“...after I escaped the castle, I flew as far as I could manage towards Ponyville...when that became too much work, I landed and ran along the roads..” Night paused, taking a few steady breaths. Sunrise sat next to the mare, listening with interest to her story, while Dawn had gone off a little ways (at his sister’s request) to play with his plush doll. It was now close to midday, and the sun was almost directly overhead. The three ponies had traveled off the road to a set of trees, where Sunrise had spent three or four hours trying to comfort Night Wisp enough into getting her to speak. At first, the pegasus wouldn’t even let Sunrise get close to her, but the earth pony’s reassuring words had been calming enough to get her right up next to the grey mare. The next hour had been spent trying to get Night to talk, which had been a little easier. The pegasus had soon begun explaining the events leading up to her being where she was when Sunrise and Dawn had found her, even going as far as telling Sunrise about what Celestia had told her regarding her abilities. Though the concept of Shadowmancing seemed very confusing to Sunrise, she had not said a word; she simply sat there, doing her best to understand as much as the pegasus told her. She found it strange that she could be so calm around a pony who had, more or less, tried to hurt her and her younger brother. Then again, she had played ‘parent’ for Dawn for at least two years, so her maturity was exceptionally high for a mare her age.

After a minute of silence, Night began to speak again, though her head was lowered slightly, as though she were still having trouble recounting the story.. “I eventually reached Ponyville, but after being told everything, I just...didn’t feel safe anymore. Elmwood was gone...I-I didn’t have anypony to go to..” Her body shuddered a little, but she kept a grip on herself, if only just long enough to finish. “Anyways...I ran out of Ponyville, just staying on the same road. I didn’t know where I was going, honestly, I just wanted to be away. After a little while, I fell asleep on the side of the road...next thing I know, I’m standing over you and your brother.”

The last part was, of course, a lie; she recalled every disturbing detail about her nightmare, and had long since connected it to her actions. But as much as she wanted to be honest with Sunrise, especially after how kind the younger mare was treating her, she didn’t want to make the two afraid to be near her more than already. It was a miracle they hadn’t run from her already, and the pegasus wanted to keep it that way. Just then, Night was aware that a hoof was wrapping around her back, and a hug from from Sunrise was soon to follow. The pegasus was still for a moment, confused by the sudden hug, but tentatively accepted it, leaning slightly against the snowy-coated mare.

“It sounds like you’ve been through alot,” Sunrise finally said, pulling away from the embrace. “I’m...I’m really sorry about your friend. He sounded like a nice pony..” Silence followed, the grey mare only nodding in response, her eyes turned down slightly. The two sat in silence for a moment, neither saying anything until Sunrise, who decided a new topic was needed, perked up slightly. “So, um, Night...you said you’re running away, right?” The pegasus looked up and silently nodded, curious as to why Sunrise was asking such a thing after being told just that.

"Okay,” the earth pony continued. “But you said you didn’t know where you’re going. So, I was thinking...maybe you’d like to travel with my brother and I?” The only response Sunrise received from Night Wisp was a blank stare, at which she began feeling a little awkward, but kept trying. “You see, Dawn and I don’t have a place to live...that is, not yet. I know we have an uncle and aunt who live down south in Fillydelphia, but to get there, we need to take a train. That’s why we’re on our way to Ponyville...you can come with us, if you want.”

The grey pegasus maintained her silence, trying to understand the logic of the earth pony. After all that had just happened, after being terrified by what she was, Sunrise was inviting her to go with them. Night opened her mouth to decline, but stopped before a sound could escape. "Sunrise is right," she thought to herself. "I don’t know where I’m going. And after leaving from the castle, Princess Celestia will have sent guards out to find me. Maybe she won’t expect me to go as far south as Fillydelphia..."

Night slowly looked up at Sunrise, waiting for just a minute more before shrugging. “Well...” she spoke softly. “I guess I could go with you...at least until we reach Fillydelphia.” This response seemed to make Sunrise content, for a smile had suddenly appeared on her face only a second before Night Wisp was hugged by the mare again. This time, though, Night felt something small warm up a little inside of herself. Soon, she realized she was smiling, too.

Although Ponyville was not a big town, Night Wisp still felt as though it was taking forever and a day to reach the train station. As much as she would have wanted to go around the town until reaching the station, the line they had to wait in was within the town, and going through Ponyville would be a lot faster than going around. Sunrise, taking notice to the pegasi’s apparent discomfort, made sure to trot close at her side so as to provide some kind of reassurance as they made their way along the streets, with her younger brother doing the same on Night’s other side. The grey mare took some comfort in this, but bowed her head a little anyways so as not to catch a lot of attention. The last thing she wanted was harassment from somepony with a wild rumor regarding her; then again, the rumors were probably very accurate to what had actually happened, which was all the more reason she didn’t want to be accused of anything.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour of walking (though it was really only ten minutes), Night found herself looking up at the train station’s clock tower. The station didn’t appear too busy at the moment, only a few ponies here and there, which was perfectly fine for the grey pegasus. The less ponies who may bother her, the better. A gentle nudge from Night’s left side brought her attention to Sunrise, who had taken off her saddlebag and laid it down on the ground next to them.

“Hay, I know you feel uncomfortable and all,” the white mare spoke softly. “But can you stay here with my things and watch dawn while I get our tickets? It shouldn’t take very long, so I don’t think anypony will have time to bother you.” Night nodded, giving Sunrise a little smile.

“It’s okay, I’ll be fine. But even so, try and hurry...” she replied, watching as the white mare trotted up the station steps. With nothing else to do, Night glanced around the station’s front again and again, double checking for anypony she recognized. After all, it never hurt to be sure.

It was hard to say whether even one minute passed by before Night heard Dawn give a yelp, along with the sound of something large hitting the ground. She turned with surprise, realizing she hadn’t been watching the colt. He had moved not too far from where she was, seeming to have been playing with his doll, but a large, cloaked figure standing by him.

“Hay, watch where you’re going!” Night exclaimed, not even thinking about the attention it brought to herself as she went over to pull Dawn Chaser away from in front of the mystery pony. The pony turned to her, the sun hitting enough of its face to reveal a stallion with a pink coat, a horn, and green eyes with a scar over the left one. He looked down at the colt, then back up at Night, giving her a menacing gaze.

“Oh, I’ll watch where I’m going,” he said, his voice calm but very cold. “Next time your brat gets in my way, I’ll make sure I step on him.” With that, he turned and trotted up the station steps, catching up to two other cloaked ponies. Night Wisp, meanwhile, was both speechless and furious.

“Just who does he think he is...” she growled to herself, though trailed it off before she said anything inappropriate in front of Dawn, who had taken refuge behind one of her legs from the unicorn.

“H-He...wasn’t very n-nice...” the colt stammered, peeking out from his hiding spot. “Thank you, Night...”

Night, however, barely heard Dawn. Her anger towards the unicorn felt as though it was beginning to spread through her body, warming every inch of her skin. Thoughts began to pop into her mind, images of what she could do to the rude pony passing before her eyes as if they were already happening, then vanishing to make room for the next image. As she felt her anger continue to burn, the images began to change, the ideas becoming more hateful and violent, her mind going places she didn’t even know existed. It was here that Night decided she should stop, seeing as she was probably acting foalish, but the images continued to flow, each one worse than before. The mare tried to block out her anger, but it pushed forward, making her hooves feel as though they were on fire, burning with the unnatural hatred that was possessing her mind.

Suddenly, the images changed again, no longer watching the unicorn scream but Elmwood instead. He sat in the corner of the workshop, body tensed and twitching, his hooves scraping across the wood as he desperately pushed himself back against the wall. His face was covered in sweat, his mouth saying things she couldn’t understand, his horn glowing as the hammer and nail lifted, lining up with his eye. The hammer slowly pulled back, as if controlled by another. Suddenly, it flew forward, the sound of metal on metal, the sound of screaming ringing all throughout the horrible dream, a nightmare that the pegasus couldn’t control.

“Night?” came a voice, almost immediately jolting the mare out of the mental entrapment. Night looked around, slightly dazed, finding herself back at the station with Sunrise standing at her side with a worried look. “Night?” she asked again, tapping the mare on the shoulder now. “Um...we may have a problem.” The grey pegasus whirled around almost immediately at the word ‘problem’, her nerves still jumpy from whatever she had been experiencing. Now was not the time for them to have any more problems. They needed to get on that train. They needed to leave. She needed to leave.

“What do you mean, problem?” Night asked, her voice toned just slightly with the growing desperation in her heart. Sunrise’s ears folded down as she rubbed one hoof on the other.

“Well...I didn’t really think about it when I invited you to come with us, but I don’t think I have enough bits for three tickets,” she replied softly, her eyes downcast so as to avoid the other mare’s gaze. “I’m really sorry, but unless you have any bits, I can’t pay for all of us.”

Night Wisp remained still for a moment before slowly sitting down, not sure how she was to take this kind of new issue. Well, this is just great. I have no home, I think I’m losing my mind, and now my only ride away from here is gone, she thought to herself. How am I supposed to get enough bits for a ticket? Rob somepony? The thought was highly sarcastic, but as it echoed within her thoughts, the idea started to sound tempting. The only issue was her conscience; she had grown up being told not to steal, after all. How else would she get a ticket, though? It wasn’t like anypony would just give her their bits. Just then, out of the corner of her eye, Night spotted the unicorn that had insulted Dawn only a moment earlier. The two ends of copper wire touched and sparked, at which the grey mare gained a slightly devilish grin.

“Sunrise,” she finally spoke, turning to the earth pony. “Go ahead and get tickets for yourself and Dawn. I’ll meet you on the train.” Without even waiting for a reply, Night turned and dashed up the steps towards the cloaked unicorn and his companions, though slowed down to let a couple of ponies get in line ahead of her. Peering around these ponies, Night caught sight of the unicorn, more importantly, his purse. Since she stood at his rear, she could just barely see the little red pouch sagging with what could be guessed was a hefty amount of bits.

"Surely there’ll be enough to buy one ticket..." Night thought, though it was more of a hope. She wasn’t going to try stealing from anypony else, since her conscience was barely allowing her to steal from this unicorn.

“Hey, you going to move up?” asked somepony from behind. Night blinked, realizing the line had moved up some. With a short apology to the other pony the pegasus took a few steps forward, trying to keep her sight locked on the small bag. The unicorn appeared to be the next one up to the ticket booth, so she had to act quickly. Keeping her eyes on her target, Night concentrated her mind on creating a single arm. Though this would normally be a simple task, Night was trying something different. The usual method simply made a physical, black arm, but that would be highly noticeable; instead, the mare focused on creating the arm as a moving shadow. After all, that’s all it really was in the first place. But, being something she hadn’t done before, the pegasus struggled for a few seconds before she opened her eyes to see the arm flat upon the ground. Not done yet, Night turned her eyes back to the unicorn’s pouch....right as he moved up to the ticket booth.

No, no, no! she heard herself shout from in her own mind, her desire to have the bag now being at the forefront of things. Her eyes remained locked on the little purse as she saw the unicorn pull his cloak back with his hoof, feeling ashamed that she wasn’t fast enough. Night felt her eyes becoming dry from keeping them open for so long, and she blinked. Upon opening them, she saw the bag was gone. With a sigh of defeat, Night began to turn to leave the line when she suddenly heard a small, metallic thump. Taking one look behind herself, the pegasus nearly fell over; there, sitting only a few hoofsteps away, was the little red bag, the golden metal of the bits within glinting in the sunlight as a black, snake-like shadow crawled back to its host. that's when the sharp pain hit her head, much like she'd just hit it on something. The mare cringed, remembering that juggling trick she'd once tried with some annoyance.

The ponies behind her had stepped on ahead when she had left the line, so Night quickly dashed over to the pouch and snatched it up with her teeth, ignoring the headache as much as possible and running down over to the next ticket booth. As luck would have it, she spotted Sunrise and Dawn stepping up to the window, and with a small flutter of her ashen wings, the mare leaped to their side, dropping the bag on the counter and nearly shouting “Three to Fillydelphia, please!”

Dawn Chaser’s little face beamed as he quickly hugged Night Wisp’s leg, obviously happy to see her again; meanwhile, Sunrise was changing between staring at the pegasus and staring at the large amount of bits she had acquired. She could barely form a question as the pony behind the glass of the booth transferred some of the bits out of the bag, then gave back the bag, now half-empty, along with three train tickets. Suddenly there was a commotion at the other booth, at which Night, Sunrise, Dawn, and everypony else in the line looked over to see three cloaked ponies arguing, one of them clearly stating the word ‘thief’ over everything else.

Sunrise turned, looking back at Night’s bag of bits as the pegasus grabbed it with her teeth along with the tickets. “Night, you wouldn’t have anything to do with that thief they were mentioning, would you?” she asked, following the mare past the booth with Dawn at her side. The scream of a train whistle interrupted before Night could answer, and the multi-colored train, dubbed “the Friendship Express”, pulled into the station with a roar of steam and pistons.

“What was that, Sunrise? I can’t hear you over the train!” the pegasus yelled back between her teeth, not turning to face the earth pony lest she give away the wide smile on her face.

Comments

[Mazamis]

THIS IS YOUR FIRST FAN FIC... DAFUQ ARE YOU SMOKING TO GET THEM AWESOME JUICES FLOWING INTO YOUR BRAIN?!?

[Chromatic Reverb]

This writer is just awesome. No other reasons exist

[GhostWriter]

Mazamis, I planned this story for five months prior to starting on chapter one. This whole story is already complete in my mind. ;)

[Night Fire]

I am confused. very confused... Wasn't this chapter three or did I have some freaky dream again?

[GhostWriter]

1729483
Yes, but I've had a ton of people who said the second chapter was too long. Since the story is on hiatus, I went ahead and split it. Its not exactly proper, but this early on I doubt it will do much.

[Night Fire]

1736618
Oh, and you complain I was never on skype, I get on like every night and you're always offline, or do not disturb, and I'm not Chrome...