Children of the Sun

by Vanner

Truth and Fear

Chapter Eleven: Truth and Fear

What happened next was a bit of unbridled chaos.

Ridgeline leaped over the ponies and tackled the griffon off the side of the cliff. Without any regard for his own safety, he choked the griffon as they plummeted for the ground. Bard went to cast a spell but caught a paw to the teeth instead as two other griffons swooped in from the ridge. Knocked backward into the cliff side by the force of the blow, the unicorn went down in a heap of hooves and horn. The other griffon grabbed the pegasus filly from the ledge. Heart Chased bucked and smashed the griffon into the wall. The winged lion didn’t even see the hooves coming and dropped the fuzzy filly. Heart Chase caught Muffins in her hooves, and tossed her to Constance.

Constance grabbed up Muffins and sped toward the door. Before she could get back inside, a griffon larger than Ridgeline thundered up from below the outcropping, and grabbed both her wings. The griffon’s massive wings buffeted Heart Chase and nearly blew her off the cliff side. She skid across the smooth stone, and lost her footing. Barely able to grab the edge, Heart Chase could only watch helplessly as the griffons made off with the two pegasi. It wasn’t until she looked down that she really began to panic.

It may have only been a hundred feet, but it seemed like a mile drop through low hanging clouds. She forgot about her quest, about the ponies she was traveling with, about Muffins. All she knew in that moment was that she was going to die. She scrabbled along the edge of the outcropping, pawing for purchase along the smooth rock. Below her was nothing but open sky, and fear had taken over her every thought.

Star Heart galloped out of his apartment to witness the aftermath of the attack. He had seen Bard go down, and Ridgeline jump off the cliff. Heart Chase shrieked for help, barely hanging on. Star Hear levitated the mare off the edge, and put her back on the ledge. She bolted for the apartment. In a single moment, she was curled up in a ball in the corner with tears of terror streamed down her face.

In less than a minute, her party had been decimated. Bard lay in a quiet heap against the cliff face, Constance had been carried off holding Muffin in her hooves, and Ridgeline had plummeted off the edge while strangling a griffon. What the hell had just happened?

“What happened?” asked Star Chase, as he dragged Bard inside. “Where is everypony?”

“G-g-g-griffons,” she stammered. “Just at-t-t-tacked out of n-n-nowhere. Swooped in. T-t-t-took M-m-muffins.”

“They took Muffins?” asked Star Chase. “Damn it all! I should have known they’d have seen all five of you.” He started throwing aside boxes of gems and trinkets, searching through his apartment for something. “It’s my fault, I should have protected her. She was the only friend I had here; you have to get her back.”

Heart Chase was rocking in the corner. Her bravery had failed her as she dangled on the edge of the cliff. She was uneasy with the height when she had her eyes closed, but to get dangled from the edge of a cliff was just too much. She had no idea how she was going to get out of here now. She couldn’t go back on that cliff face. Nothing in Equestria could get her back out there; not even the chance to save that poor filly. Star Heart put his face against hers.

“I’m talking to you, Heart Chase,” he said. “You have to get Muffins back. You have to go after the griffons before they kill them both!”

“N-n-no. No. No.” Heart Chase shook her head in protest. She was never leaving that corner. It’d take a team of wild Hamites to drag her away, and even then she’d fight them tooth and hoof. The screeching of a griffon outside the front door sent her into back into tears of hysterics. Star Heart ran for the door to see what was going on.

The griffon that Ridgeline had tackled rose over the edge of the balcony as he struggled against the pony’s impossible strength. Ridgeline had wrapped an elbow around the griffons neck; the griffon fell to the platform as he choked for air. Talons clattered across the surface of Ridgeline’s armor like hail on a tin roof in a vain attempt to struggle free. His eyes rolled back into his head, and the griffon slumped in the pony’s arms. Ridgeline dropped the lion bird to smooth stone, and then looked inside the apartment.

Bard was lying in a heap just outside the door, while Heart Chase was crying in the corner. Star Heart stood at his door, dumbfounded by what he had just seen. The only ponies missing were Muffins and Lady Constance.

“Is every pony okay?” he asked.

“How did you do that?” asked Star Heart.

“What?” asked Ridgeline. “Oh, the griffon? If you choke anything long enough, they stop moving.”

“I meant how did you not die when you plummeted off the cliff?” asked Start Heart. Ridgeline looked at the unicorn as if the answer should be obvious.

“I hit the clouds on the way down,” he said. “The griffon tried to take off again, which is how I got back up here. Any pony would have done the same. Just like the heroes of the stories grandma used to read me. You fight evil; you win.” He looked around for a moment. “Where’s Muffins and Constance?”

“They got carried off,” said Star Heart. “You have to go after them. I’m far too old to make the journey myself, but I can help you and your friends. Please; she’s the only friend I have.”

“They took Muffins?” demanded Ridgeline. He spit the mouth guard from his teeth. “They took my fair Lady Constance? How DARE they?” The copper coated stallion snorted as the flames of fury burned behind his eyes. “I watched my sister get murdered by those goddess damned griffons, and I will not let it happen again. No pegasus dies today. I swear by the light of Celestia that I will bring them back.” Star Heart backed away from the enraged stallion.

“I’ll give you some tools you’ll need to get to the rookery, but you may need your friend’s help,” he said. He turned to look at Heart Chase; she was busy draining her flask. Bard was just standing up with an unsteady wobble. He leaned against the wall for support.

“Grabbl, umma bleh…” he mumbled.

“Good, you’re awake,” said Ridgeline. “We’ve got no time to lose. Constance and Muffins got carried off, and it’s up to us to rescue them.”

“S’okay, mom, I’m not goin’ to school today,” muttered Bard. “I’m gonna be an aggable…” The unicorn propped his head against the wall and tried to focus his rolling yellow eyes. Ridgeline picked up a bucket of rain in his teeth, and splashed the unicorn in the face. What he responded with sounded like a combination of a strangled scream and a drowning gurgle. The unicorn shook out his mane and blinked a few times. “What happened?”

“You took a paw to the head,” said Star Chase. “I saw that much at least. Muffins and Constance have been abducted.” Bard snapped to his feet at that.

“Shit,” he said. “Do we know where they went?”

“No,” said Ridgeline, as he dragged in the griffon. “But I’m betting he does. Read his mind and find out where they took them.” Bard looked uneasily at his copper coated friend.

“I can’t,” said Bard. “I can’t read minds that don’t belong to ponies. All I get are pictures, fuzzy noises, and primal instincts.” He paused a moment. “Not entirely unlike what I get when I read your mind actually.”

“We don’t have time for your jokes,” said Ridgeline. ‘We need answers, and quick.”

“I’m not being funny,” said Bard. “I’m serious, and that kind of concerns me. But we don’t have time for that. Wake him up; I’ll get answers from him the old fashioned way.” Ridgeline doused the griffon with the remainder of the bucket.

With a bellowing screech; the griffon came too. He was inside a cramped cave, with a massive stallion standing on his wings, and two unicorns standing in front of him. He struggled under the weight of the copper coated stallion for a minute before he realized just how trapped he was. He snapped at the hooves of the unicorn for a moment before giving up.

“Are you going to torture me?” asked the griffon.

“No, I’m not going to torture you,” said Bard. “I’m going to ask you a few questions, and you’re going to answer them.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then I’ll take control of your body and have you kill yourself,” said Bard. The griffon’s face was lined with doubt. He knew that unicorns had magic, but that kind of magic? He shook his head.

“No one can do that,” spat the griffon.

“Oh really?” asked Bard. He looked at Star Chase a moment and his horn glowed with an eerie purple light. Star Heart felt himself losing control of his body as danced a jig about his apartment. He spun in lazy circles around the griffon as Bard made him dance. He stopped in front of the griffon and drew a hoof across his throat. “And Star Heart is my friend. Imagine what I could do to someone who was pissing me off.” Bard’s grin was that of a madman, and the peals of insidious laughter he followed with did more to frighten the griffon than any display of magic could have.

For the next ten minutes, the griffon related the location of the rookery, its defenses, and everything else the ponies needed to know about finding exactly where they took the two pegasi. When they were finally done with the question, they bound the griffon in chains, and locked him in an empty room. When they had returned, they’d let him go, but there was too much at stake to just let him run back to the rookery. Star Heart provided the ponies with boots that renewed his cloud walking spell, as well as the charged fog stone they could use as a bridge.

In the mean time, Heart Chase had gone near catatonic. Bard and Ridgeline only shook their heads in disappointment at the mare; apparently the near death experience had been too much for her. It was odd; she seemed like such a determined pony otherwise. Still, the two stallions had a job to do, and they weren’t going to let a frightened mare slow them down. Bard used the fog stone, and created a bridge to the top of the cliff face.

Atop the cliff, a world of mountains spread before them like a surface of another world. From where they stood, the cliff top spread out like a desert until it became the foothills, and finally mountains that spiraled into the sky. Maybe twenty miles away in the distance, a spire jutted into the heavens like a spear. There was the Rookery in all of its malevolent glory, and that was where the ponies were headed next. The stallions turned to each other, and with a nod, they galloped off to save their friends.

…

With the events of the last few days, there had been no time to mourn the loss of a sibling. Now in the chill September evening, there was time to remember the fallen. There was time at last for tears for those lost.

Sound Cloud had arranged a memorial for those lost in the attacks. Instead of his usual bluster and bravado about the love of Celestia, and the importance of charity, he only read a list of names of those killed. Family, friends, dignitaries, foals; all those lives cut down by the work of a single mad-pony. Glaive had taken away their innocence, and replaced it with terror. Iron Pick didn’t attend. To be presented with the face of that which they hated would be too much.

Quill Pick opened the door to his late brother’s room with a sad sigh. It was a tragedy that such a promising life would be cut short by a cruel twist of fate. He didn’t expect to find answers within his brother’s effects, just comfort in the artifacts of a life gone by. There were hats adorning the walls, some with feathers as long as his mane. Quill had to smile; his brother did enjoy good headwear.

In his dressers, he found only the few clothes that Silk had taken a liking too. They would be given to those less fortunate, as was Silk’s way of generosity. In a night stand, there was a tattered copy of the Book of Celestia: annotated, and dog eared at every turn. His brother really did have faith. Quill came at last to his brother’s desk. It was locked. Quill blinked in amazement. Silk was always the most open of ponies; why would he have locked his desk?

After a minute of searching for the key hidden among the hats, Quill opened the desk to discover a hooffull of scrolls that had been sealed at one time with a red wax. Some of the seals were that of the Chase family: rakes set across the background of the sun. But the one that set Quill on edge was the midnight purple wax that had been sealed with a crescent moon. It was the seal of the Lunar Rebellion. Quill picked up the scroll with dread, and read the contents.

I am glad you have chosen the path of the victorious, Silk Pick. Keep up your appearances, and keep to the plan. Do not forget that Barondom of Bridleburg lies at the end of the road ahead, and that only together can we succeed.

When the attack begins, corral Iron Pick toward the river. I need him alive to take his place. Make sure that my Apple Chase is unharmed. I will try to dispose of your brother, but you may have to do that on your own. I wish you well, Silk Pick, and I will see you after the wedding.

Burn this scroll after reading. Praise to Nightmare Moon.

Quill dropped the letter in horror. This couldn’t possibly have been the brother he loved. Silk Pick would never have conspired with the embodiment of evil that was Glaive. The scroll knocked over a brass seal as it clattered to the desk. The seal rolled across the desk, and dropped to the floor. Quill looked at the design work, and the truth of it all became terrifyingly real. The stamp was that of a pick across the background of a crescent moon.

It suddenly made sense to him. The attack wasn’t a raiding party, nor was the wedding something that Glaive had just heard about. Silk Pick had a hoof in the slaughter of his own family. It wasn’t enough that he would benefit indirectly from an independent Bridleburg; he apparently wanted a bigger slice of the pie. So many dead, and for what? Quill read the letter again, searching for answers to his brother’s treachery. He saw an important piece he missed on the first read through.

My Apple Chase.

“Oh my goddess.”

Iron Pick sat in his office, spinning the globe on his desk. He hadn’t slept at all last night, and he was going on his fourth straight day of worry. Here he was, trapped in a body that wasn’t his own, simply waiting for others. This wasn’t the Iron Pick that had led the Pick family to greatness; this was the Iron Pick who had been defeated by a monster. The clatter of hoofs from the stone hall perked his ears. Quill came skidding into office, and threw a scroll onto his desk.

Iron Hoof levitated the scroll, and began to read over the letter. He stopped halfway through and started re reading it. He turned the scroll over, then checked the wax seal. He stared in disbelief at his son.

“Where did you find this?” asked Iron Pick.

“In Silk’s desk,” said Quill. “I don’t want to believe this. I don’t want think that my brother….” Iron Pick held up a hoof, stopping Quill mid sentence. He put the scroll down, and put his hooves on the desk.

“I knew there had to be a traitor in the family,” said Iron Hoof. “I knew that this wasn’t just some plan that Glaive had cooked up at the last minute. He had help.” Iron Pick levitated the scroll, and looked at it again. Tears had formed at the corners of his eyes. “I thought I raised you boys with loyalty to family above all others. This just proves I’m a failure as a father.” He held the end of the scroll to a candle, and dropped it in a stone bin. “Your brother is dead now; let us speak ill of him no more. What’s done is done, and nothing can change that. What matters now is that we stop Glaive. Apple Chase has been in on it the whole time, and if she has designs to be queen, nothing will stop her.” He looked at the globe to where Hoofswell lay. “My biggest fear is that Heart Chase won’t be able to figure it out in time.” He snapped his head away from the globe. “I’m going to Canterlot.”

“What?” asked Quill. “You can’t, there’s two armies out there in your path. You’ll never make it!”

“What good am I here?” demanded Iron Pick. “I can sit here and do nothing, or I can warn my wife of her sister’s betrayal. What do you think I’m going to do, son?” Quill thought for a minute, and nodded.

“I will take care of the family in your absence,” said Quill. “What else do you need from me?” Iron Pick thought for a moment.

“Fetch me my will, son.”

…

Heart Chase shivered awake. She looked around the apartment to see that Star Heart was still tinkering with his ball of light, and that all the other ponies had gone on without her. Had she fallen asleep? The apartment was warm and inviting, and she could easily have taken a nap there, but that didn’t seem likely given how tired she felt. Where was everypony? Had they left her when they found out she was a traitor? She couldn’t blame them. Heart Chase stood, and started toward the exit.

“Where do you think you’re going?” asked Star Heart.

“Back to Hoofswell,” said Heart Chase. “I assume that’s where every pony else went. Bard still needs to teleport us to Canterlot, even if he does hate me.”

“Bard and Ridgeline went after Constance,” said Star Heart. “They couldn’t wait for you to get over being insane, so they left.’

“What do you mean?” asked Heart Chase. “Wasn’t I just taking a nap?” Star Heart turned around, and looked at Heart Chase with a cocked eyebrow.

“You were catatonic for an hour,” said Star Heart. “That spill off the cliff turned you into a whimpering foal. I can’t blame them for taking off without you; they didn’t seem like they were your friends at all.” He leaned against a wall. “I always thought the Chases were so quick to make friends.”

“I just didn’t know if I could trust them,” said Heart Chase. Star Heart only chuckled.

“Funny thing about trust, dearie,” said Star Heart. “They seemed to trust you enough to follow you into a warzone, and you couldn’t trust them with the truth behind this whole mess?” He tsked at the mare. “It’s a two way street, and you’ve completely failed to hold up your end of the deal. You might want to talk to Muffins, if she still alive. She knows all about friends.” Heart Chase shook her head. What had happened to Muffins? It all came back to her in a paralyzing flash. The cliff face, the griffons, Constance. Muffins.

“If you want to go after them, then you’ll need a few things,” said Star Heart. “You four are friends who haven’t met yet, I think. But the fires of trial forge friendships that not even nightmares can break. You have to face your fears, Heart Chase, and you have to help your friends.” He dug another pair of boots from the boxes that littered his apartments, and then overturned a crate that contained his old Knight’s armor. He looked at the plates for a moment, then back at Heart Chase.

“Two ponies versus an army of griffons aren’t going to cut it. They need you.” He levitated the armor around Heart Chase. “There are two wars on,” said Star Heart. “The Griffon’s War, and the war you helped start. Right now, you have the chance to end one of those wars, and without Bard, you won’t be able to make it to Canterlot in time to stop the second. There are nightmares out there that can’t be conquered by flashy tricks, brute force, and seductive wiles. Some pony needs to lead those three.”

Heart Chase was the spitting image of her father in that armor. She remembered how proud Soul Chase was of being part of Celestia’s guard, and how much it meant to him when she promised to take care of everything in his stead. She looked into a mirror, and saw the legacy of duty reflected back at her. In that moment, she forgot her fears. She had been wrong so many times in the past few months about everything. Now it was time to set things right.

“I’m ready,” she said. “It’s up to me now. I can’t let them down. I can’t fail father. I can’t fail Celestia. I will lead them, and I will save Equestria from my mistakes.” Star Heart nodded.

“If you’re half the pony your father was, you’ll be able to lead them into the mouth of hell and back,” said Star Heart. “Good luck Heart Chase; you’re going to need it.”



Comments

[MD Webster]

I kept seeing "Star Chase" in which I think you meant "Star Heart" and "Iron Hoof" is actually "Iron Pick". Will you revise it, smooth the rough surface and some spelling errors?
However, you made quite a gripping story. You had some potential to be a great author.