> Chain of Dreams > by Hippocrene Artifex > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1: Metra Bass > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- What a lovely day this should’ve been... With a mental sigh that accompanied that thought, a mare boarded the express train scheduled to leave Canterlot, the city she had called ‘home’ since the early years of her life. It was quite a lovely day with a gentle breeze that swept through her mane and coat and wrapped them around her slender form every once and awhile; the kind of breeze that would lessen the heat of the rising noon sun. It was a day that should have promised joy and fun to every citizen of the city... but not for her. She had stood upon the platform for as long as she could afford to prolong the inevitable; checking, double checking, and even triple-checking to find any excuse that would keep her in the grand city of Canterlot. But the steam whistle, that signaled the train’s readiness to move, made up her mind and forced her, though still reluctantly, to find her cart and settle for the journey. She was leaving everything she ever knew behind, but she was venturing on to the unknown in hopes of finding a new home somewhere among the cobblestone streets of Manehatten, or maybe even in the village of Shade Hollows, a place that had found its way into her heart after visiting the charming little village a couple of times. Oh, how she would love to live in such a quiet, isolated place; away from the bureaucrats, but the allure of a bustling cosmopolitan had always had its appeal on her at the same time. It was what she knew and loved after all, and such impressions are never easily dispensed with. This mare was Metra Bass, a crème-pink earth mare with a two-tone, plum-maroon, jagged mane and tail, a bass clef for a cutie mark, and wide blue eyes. She was quite the elegant mare with meticulously brushed  fur and always-neat mane and tail. Although, caring for her figure was not her primary passion. Being a citizen of Canterlot, Metra Bass had the chance to practice with her passion for the bass clarinet through the Junior Canterlot Orchestra, and later on, at her favorite café in the heart of the grand city where she spent the last two years of her life doing what she loved most. But like all things good, it was not meant to last. It was a sad state that brought her to this point where she was so harshly bidding farewell to her place among the aristocrats and looking back over her shoulder, and past the train station, to the retreating towers of Canterlot as the train moved away from the city. She watched them being swept from view, as the train rounded a corner around the mountain, with the lack of wonder and appreciation she had had her entire life for Canterlot, at least up until just a few weeks ago. It was almost two years ago that Metra Bass walked into her soon-to-be favorite café in Canterlot, where the owner of which was also about to become one of her best friends. Cappi’s Coffee Shop was not always well-known among the major competition like Star Buck’s and Joe’s Donuts. In fact, Metra Bass had found it when the shop used to be just another java joint for the persnickety snobs of the lower tier aristocrats that had nothing better to do than to blow a couple Bits on a cup of coffee and rant about their economical disabilities. Eventually, Cappi came to the realization that her business was barely making ends meet and almost filed for bankruptcy. That is, of course, until a certain bass-clarinetist came into the humble little shop one day for an afternoon luncheon. At first, Metra Bass was like any other patron: just another pony looking to kill some time on Trottski Blvd. That, however, changed as soon as she received her mocha latte with a dash of cinnamon. Metra had never tasted a brew as fresh as the one that she held in her hooves at that moment. She praised the wonderful owner on such a fantastic brew, earning her an embarrassed blush from the overwhelmed Cappi and, in turn, earning the shop a new regular. Almost every day would Metra Bass come in to that little hole-in-the-wall shop that so many ponies rarely gave a second glance and always brought enough Bits for a gracious tip after being served one great cup after another. One day, Metra Bass had made her daily trip to Cappi’s when she noticed a distinct lack of other patrons in the quaint shop and decided to find out the reason. After getting her daily coffee fix, she asked the downcast looking Cappi what the matter was about the shop. Surely it was not the coffee; it still tasted just as heavenly as the first day she had tried it. The shop still looked the same from the outside-in, so it could not have anything to do with the décor. Cappi smiled at Metra’s stout observations, but the gesture was mild; nowhere near Cappi’s usual cheer that she had grown to love. After a bit of coercing, Cappi finally told Metra that her shop was on the verge of bankruptcy. Metra could not believe it: how could anypony not appreciate the time and effort that went into one of these wonderful brews of coffee. Again, Cappi smiled at Metra’s continued compliments but she said that this was just the way things were: the rich do not care for quality; they only care for quantity. Metra Bass was livid; this could not be allowed to happen. She would not allow such a magnificent shop like this fall into the city’s foundation of obscurity, never to truly be known as it was. That was when an idea struck her. Metra let Cappi in on her mental epiphany and was answered with an expression of disbelief and hope. Metra proposed that she play her bass clarinet one night as an extra attraction for the shop. Maybe a bit of entertainment to go along with a cup of java is what would rake in some attention from the populace. Cappi agreed wholeheartedly with the plan; she was more than willing to try it if it meant saving her life’s work. The very next day, Metra came to Cappi’s right after her orchestra rehearsal to see that a spot in the centre of the shop had been cleared of tables and replaced with a miniature platform. Cappi gave Metra Bass a few minutes to set up while she attended to the shop’s regular duties. Metra brought out her bass clarinet, inspecting it as she always did before playing to make sure nothing would be out of tune. Satisfied with her check, she held the instrument to her lips and began to play a mellow tune. The shop was soon filled of the musical styling of the mare while the rest of the world melted away under her melody. Not even two songs in, Metra Bass heard the tiny jingle of the shop’s entrance and paused to see who it was. It was nopony she knew but what made the colt stand out was that fact that the first thing he did was wave for Metra Bass to continue as he made his way to the front counter to order a drink. The earth pony thanked Cappi for his drink and sat down at the closest table in front of Metra Bass while she continued to play. Metra smiled and picked up the tempo into a more upbeat tune for the pony’s amusement. Before long, more and more ponies came trotting in; attracted to the shop like bees to honey. During the immeasurable time that she played, an earthquake might have taken place and she would not have noticed. Indeed, so absorbed she was in the harmonic tones she played that she opened her eyes once to find, with a slight shock, that the entire shop’s lights were dimmed except for one spotlight placed above the platform upon which she stood. Dust motes swirled around her as if entranced by the tones of her melody themselves. The shop was filling with new customers and a few that were already seated had such engrossed expressions upon their faces that almost made her laugh but the music she played, a favorite of hers, was not for her own leisure this time; it was meant for them and that was sacred enough for her to keep on playing her melody for as long as they wished. An hour had passed by and Metra Bass hung onto the last note of her song for a few seconds before letting it go and letting the crowd applaud her in storm of cheers. Cappi could hardly believe it; it was a full house. Every single one of the tables in her shop had been filled; something she had never seen before and it brought happy tears to her eyes that followed and replaced the tender tears that fell with every beautiful melody the pink mare played. During the time she watched Metra Bass play, she became certain that a pony does not need to be a unicorn to create magic; that the tones that captured her were indeed magic far beyond the reach of any unicorn. She watched as Metra Bass bowed elegantly to her audience and joined in the cavalcade, Cappi was simply overjoyed with the afternoon’s success. By closing time, as the last remaining customers made their leave, Cappi came up to Metra with a smile as grand as the success of the night’s business. “Metra, I can’t tell you how much I owe you for all of this,” Cappi said with renewed vigor. Metra giggled at Cappi’s cheeriness. “No please, it was the least I could do to help out my favorite hangout.” Cappi beamed at her for the praising words and went on, “Well, I still appreciate everything you’ve done, so I want you to have this.” Metra eyed the envelope in Cappi’s mouth before taking it with her hooves and folding it open. Her eyes widened as she nearly dropped the envelope’s contents all over the floor, for inside of it, there was what looked like nearly half the night’s profits. Metra instantly sealed the envelope back up and pushed it back to the cafe shop owner. “No, no, this is your money. I couldn’t possibly take this for myself!” “Please, I insist.” Cappi pushed on with such a tender smile that almost broke Metra’s resolve. “If it wasn’t for you, this night would never have happened.” “Yes, but the whole reason I did it was to help you earn the extra Bits you needed for the place!” Metra replied earnestly, “If I take this money, then this whole night will be for nothing!” Metra forced the envelope back into Cappi’s hooves until she finally accepted it with a defeated sigh. “Ok, you win. Though I still have to repay you somehow.” But when Metra looked on the verge replying, Cappi cut her off, “How about this: if you come and play for my shop regularly, you can have free meals and coffee here anytime you’d like. Do we have a deal?” With wide eyes and a greedy smile, Metra accepted the terms instantly and shook hooves with the café owner; it was simply a deal she could not refuse. From that day on, Metra came to the café regularly to woo the patrons with her musical talents and receive the best coffee she had ever tasted in all of Equestria. Soon after, Metra decided to bring some of her friends from the Junior Canterlot Orchestra down to the humble shop and they, too, made it their favorite hangout spot and offered their own talents at the stage. This became a regular thing to Metra Bass for the past couple of years, upon which she thoroughly enjoyed up until a few weeks before. She could not quite put her hoof on it, but it just appeared to her as if all of Canterlot was not the same any more. She thought it might have been her imagination at first, but as the weeks wore on, the feeling just kept on getting stronger. She tried to talk with her friends about it but they all said that she was just being paranoid and that she should not worry herself about it. Her attempts to let it go were feeble; the feeling persisted and Metra Bass began to notice that many of her friends weren’t acting like their usual selves. They became more irritable and didn’t seem to care as much for the orchestra as they used to. After confronting them after one rehearsal, her friends practically ran away from her; saying they did not want to hang out anymore. Her only friends disowned her like she had a plague and no matter what she tried, Metra’s approaches were met with hostility and contempt that broke her heart whenever she thought of it. Metra Bass wanted nothing more to believe that this was just some stress from having to go through extra rehearsals that week for an upcoming concert they were to perform at, so she decided a trip to her favorite café would cheer her up. She was sorely mistaken; upon her arrival that day, the café’s ‘closed’ sign hung ominously from the entry way like a cold and abandoned foal on a winter night. The café remained that way for the next two weeks with no word from Cappi whatsoever on the cause. Everything felt like it was just falling apart in Metra’s life. Even her own parents seemed distance to her on the days she decided to pay them an afternoon visit to catch up. Neither of them would say much to their daughter and, when they finally did, it was to tell her that she was the disappointment in their life. Metra just could not understand: what was wrong with everypony? Was the whole of Canterlot going mad or was there something wrong with her? It all became too much for her fragile heart, Metra Bass could not take it any longer and, with an accompanying heartache, made her decision: she was going to leave Canterlot. With more sadness in her heart than ever, she was finally here at the train platform with a single bag for all her luggage and her old, scuffed-up black case which held her prized bass clarinet. Clasped between her teeth, her train ticket glowered in the mid-morning light like her downcast heart. Metra Bass had tried everything she could to convince at least one pony she knew to come with her to get away from the city but they all called her mad and a coward and simply refused to acknowledge her. Maybe I am a coward, she thought. Maybe she had just shielded herself from reality for too long to see the world as it truly was. In any case, she was at the train station and on her way to Hollow Junction and, then, possibly to Manehatten itself. The faint whirring of steel wheels on train tracks came from the west and Metra Bass soon picked out the outline of the train on the horizon. She sighed again as the steam locomotive screeched to a halt at the platform and pushed up a gust of wind along with it. The engine hissed as it let off its excess steam and fogged up the platform in a miniature cloud of moisture. Ponies shuffled to and from the train cars to make their way to their destinations. Metra almost felt bad for the ones that had gotten off at this station to see the equestrian capital with the sense of wonderment she once found in it not too long ago. Though Metra Bass’ mind soon became preoccupied with the train’s conductor calling for his final passengers and hurried past the crowd to find a seat in the car nearest to her. “All aboard! Next stop: Hollow Junction!” the train conductor announced. Not too long afterwards, the train crew prepared their final checks for their stations. It was only about a fifteen-minute wait before the train’s whistle blew for the engineer’s signal that they were ready to go. A few last minute ponies rushed to beat the closing doors of the train cars that were sealed shut. Metra watched as one pony in particular banged his hoof on the door of a closed car to be let in after just missing the cut off. Luckily, the train conductor was willing enough to let in the chestnut earth stallion in just as the train lurched forward. Metra Bass was thankful that there was still a ray of good will in the world and observed as the embarrassed stallion took the seat just opposite of her in the car. He’s not too bad looking, Metra thought to herself and watched him fumble around to stow the suitcase he had with him under his seat. Maybe a bit too klutzy, though, she gave a mental giggle. His cutie mark was a bit odd: an hourglass. It must mean his talent has to do with keeping time which, when she thought about it, was pretty odd since he was late for the train. The idea amused Metra Bass and, with a grin, she turned away before the stallion could catch her staring. Her gaze fell on the window and the faint reflection of herself in it. She certainly looked pale and tired: tired of the abuse that she had been through in the past few weeks, tired of trying to convince herself that Canterlot was still her home somehow, and tired of the ways that everypony she once knew would betray through words and action. Her eyes narrowed and she looked past the reflection to focus on the scenery outside. Unfortunately, there was still the castle-like city on the side of the mountain in the backdrop that dominated the view. Somewhere deep down inside of her, Metra Bass felt something break; like a delicate, porcelain vase shattering against a cold, stone ground. She wished that this was all just some kind of dream and that she would wake up to find everypony she knew back to normal and life in Canterlot still intact, yet this was real life and Metra Bass was sure of it. Her only solace was that there were still many places in Equestria she could possibly call home one day. And maybe, she would return one day to see the city as it once was when she was growing up. “Mommy, what are those things over the city?” a young foal called out. Metra Bass blinked and snapped out of her trance at the foal’s comment. She looked at the little filly pressing her nose against the glass and then followed her gaze out and began to really register what she was looking at through the window. “They look like flying ants!” the child continued. Metra had to do a double take to make sure of what she was looking at, and true to the filly’s words, there were things buzzing and weaving throughout the colorful backdrop of the city’s landscape. She was just about to shrug it off as just a bunch of pegasi flying around the city until a faint glow of green exploded and splashed the building walls with ambient light. That was not normal and, soon, more and more of the lights lit up the city like a fireworks display. Whispers began to catch Metra Bass’s ears about a possible attack when one pony, with his nose pressed firmly against the glass window, squealed in fright “It’s the changelings! They’re back!” Panic began to spread and the whole train was shrouded in shouts and worried cries. Metra just sat where she was stark still, her eyes wide with disbelief, with the words of the pony fluttering in her mind. The changelings are back?! > Chapter 2: Purple Shade > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ‘Flowers: check. Card: check. Box of Trust’s favorite chocolate-covered daisies: check.' Purple Shade ran through her mental checklist of anniversary items sitting in her saddlebag for her marefriend, Trust, and beamed with a happy-go-lucky smile that shone across her face. She honestly could not believe that it had been a short two years since she met the mare of her life. Though, at the same time, she felt as if every moment they spent together was never long enough to fill that time thoroughly. To her, it felt as if the very day was celebrating her anniversary with the clear and lovely sky, barely being interrupted by a wisp of a cloud lingering in a sea of blue. It seemed a bit odd, Purple Shade had to admit; she thought she had remembered hearing the weather pegasi saying something about it being ‘partially cloudy’ today. To see such a lapse in the Ponyville weather team’s diligence was phenomenal. ‘Oh well,’ she thought, ‘this is probably what they meant anyways. Just so long as they don’t decide to throw in a random afternoon shower, then I am fine with it.’ Purple Shade had been a frequent visitor of Ponyville for quite some time now. She was a pegasus of a dark-grey coat and a neat purple mane that Trust never tired of arranging and having it coiffured to the latest fashion. Her wide green eyes that, despite all, portrayed the innocence of the soul within. Trust Fireheart, Purple Shade’s marefriend, was quite the cheerful mare and so full of life; giving Purple Shade every ounce of happiness that chased away any of her haunted dreams; dreams that made her aware of just how lucky she was to have earned Trust’s heart and love. Purple Shade knew love and was even able to give it back in return and that, perhaps, was the main catalyst that brought about her banishment from her old life: her love for Trust Fireheart that was portrayed in the cutie mark she earned when she embraced the carefree life of the Equestrians: a lavender heart of flames. By the time she was done, Purple Shade felt so animated she even began to hum a cheery little tune to trot along to. As she rounded the corner that would bring her another block closer to her marefriend, she bumped into something that gave a loud, “oof!” The other pony fell to the ground as Purple Shade staggered back to keep her footing against the unexpected collision. A moment of dizziness passed before Purple Shade gathered her wits and noticed the pony lying before her. The mare that she had knocked over had a pale tint of cream for her coat color and a blend of pink and red colored mane: Rose Luck, or at least that is what Purple Shade thought her name was. Her cutie mark was a perfectly pruned rose which reassured Purple Shade in her mind that her recollection of the pony’s name must have been correct. Purple Shade offered her hoof as she made her apology. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry. You’re not hurt, are you?” Rose Luck, on the other hoof, was rubbing her head where she was hit after colliding with Purple Shade. Once she had realized that the dark coated pegasus was talking to her, she looked up and gave a deplorable scowl that made Purple Shade instantly retract. “Why don’t you watch where you’re going!” And with that, Rose Luck brushed herself off and cantered along while mumbling darkly about ‘something being stupid’ or something that Purple Shade did not exactly catch. This occurrence appeared truly odd for Purple Shade, to say the least; last time she had been to Ponyville, she never met a pony that had an attitude like hers. Most ponies would be excited to see another friendly face; especially a certain pink, cotton-candy manned earth pony that hopped around the streets, bringing smiles and laughter to all that crossed her path but even if that face had been the cause of a near concussion, there was hardly a reply heard that was quite so snobby. Purple Shade, having been of a more considerate demeanor ever since she came to reside around Ponyville, concluded to herself, 'she must have been having a bad day, that’s all,' and pushed the whole ordeal behind her. Another shortcut through the park, on her way to Trust’s house, was all she needed to forget ill-tempered mare and pick up her humming tune once again. Something in the sleepy village, however, did not seem quite as it should be. Her light canter slowed to a calculated trot. Indeed, last time Purple Shade had come through the Ponyville Park, there were ponies everywhere enjoying everything they could on a day like this but, today, not a single soul could be found aside from the woodland critters that inhabited the area. Purple Shade knew that nopony would waste such a day like this, which was why she decided to ask Trust if she wanted to go sit by the park’s butterfly grove to enjoy their anniversary. “This doesn’t seem right; where is everypony?” Purple Shade whispered, beginning to get an uneasy shiver in her hooves. The more she thought about it, the more Purple Shade’s discomfort grew as she looked out over the empty park grounds. She decided it would be better to take the scenic route around the foreboding grounds and back peddled to the park entrance from whence she came. Once she was there, her entire body felt like it had been turned to stone; frozen in terror by something she thought she would never have to worry about again. She felt as if the very warmth of the day was being sucked away from around her into a bottomless pit. Her breath became shallow, coming out in short gasps as a certain scent in the air, that she knew all too well, hovered over her like a blanket of lead. Slowly, as if trying to postpone the conviction that settled upon her, Purple Shade glanced up to gaze upon her worst fear: changelings by the dozens and their numbers growing all around her in the streets, many more ordinary-looking residents of Ponyville transformed in a blaze of green, magical embers. Her fright was so tremendous that she screamed loudly and her hyperventilation breathing felt like it had been laced with broken glass. All Purple Shade’s thoughts of happiness disappeared like a ember going out in the night wind. “Changelings, they’re back!!!” shouted a panicking pony at the top of his lungs. She did not need any more warning and galloped as fast as her legs would carry her. Ponies all around her screamed and wailed as the changelings moved in from every which way, corralling groups of victims for only Celestia-knows-what. Purple Shade ducked and weaved through the panicking crowds knowing that if she took flight, she would only make herself an easier target to prey upon. There was a loud crash as one brave stallion of flame-red coat and orange mane tried to fight back against the feral creatures but earned himself a seat in a now crushed fruit cart courtesy of the changelings. The powerful stallion stood once again right in front of Purple Shade facing an entire horde of hissing changelings like a shield but she decided that she had to get out of the open, and quickly at that. Making another sweep of her surroundings, Purple Shade found a back alley and ran for it, finding it devoid of changelings. Taking refuge behind a couple trash cans, Purple Shade attempted to catch her breath away from the chaos that was just a mere alley away from her. ‘They shouldn’t be here! They were defeated seven years ago! How did this come to happen?!!! Purple Shade thought feverishly, Oh Celestia, I have to get out of here! I have to... oh no, Trust!’ Purple Shade felt as if the blood had drained from her. She could not believe she had forgotten about her marefriend; Trust was still in the town, if not already in the hollow hooves of the changelings. Purple Shade knew she had to go back; to go and find Trust and get to her before the worst happened. Watching for a break in the streets, Purple Shade prepared to sprint at the first chance. Another three changelings zoomed by, hot on the heels of another victim, when Purple Shade leapt from her cover and back into the streets. More and more ponies were already caught and being taken away by changelings to places unknown but Purple Shade was too preoccupied, which led her right into the waiting hooves of another changeling ambush. “Going sssomewhere?” The lead changeling hissed with a mad and hungry grin. Purple Shade’s heart skipped up into her throat, keeping the scream she had intended upon from even escaping. Another changeling circled around her giving an audible sniff to the air. “Say, you don’t smell quite like the other poniessss.” Purple Shade froze, unable to move as the other changelings closed in but the lead changeling cut in the other’s musings. “Forget that, just get her back for the processing.” Before Purple Shade could even blink, two of the changelings grabbed hold of her and hoisted her into the air. Her immobility was cured as soon as the first one touched her and she finally found the will she needed and found her voice as well. She thrashed and screamed as the changelings began to carry her off the ground. “Help me!” Purple Shade knew it was futile; the changelings against her were more than enough to subdue her and any other that might even consider coming to her aid and soon realized that there was no hope of escape. Suddenly, though, her world flipped upside-down as the two changelings that were carrying her away lost their grip and dropped her. Recovering from the fall, Purple Shade looked up to see something she did not expect: another pony bearing down upon the group of stunned and confused changelings. The mare had sharp eyes as she gazed upon the changelings. Her coat was pale-orange and her mane was green but what attracted Purple Shade’s attention was that her right foreleg appeared to have been encased in metal. “Are you okay?” The good-samaritan pegasus asked with a resonating voice as she glanced over Purple Shade. Purple Shade herself could not quite believe it but now realized that this pony had just saved her. All she wanted to do was cry out of relief but the mental trauma of it all locked up all thoughts outside of survival. “I-I have to get out of here. P-please help me.” Purple Shade barely managed to squeak past her quivering lips. She was so shaky that she was not even able to stand properly. She was as good as captured if she could not get back on her hooves but the pale-orange pegasus that had already saved her, offered her hoof in support and helped her up. In the time it took them, however long it was, to leave the town was a mere blur to Purple Shade as her mind began to shut down. Indeed, the last thing she remembered was the sight of Ponyville from atop a hill; looking down into a scarred and slowly dying settlement before darkness engulfed her thoughts and she knew no more. > Chapter 3: Azure > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the city of Cloudsdale, high in the sky, one pegasus sighed. The monotonous clinking sound all around him was nothing less than a proper sign that every pegasus was doing their job well in the snowflake facility of the weather factory. “Another day, and another Bit.” Azure, a light blue pegasus with a triad of color-coordinated snowflakes for a cutie mark, sighed lazily again as he planned what he would do for the rest of the night. As one of the pegasi of the snowflake facility, it was his job to make sure that every snowflake he crafted was unique and mystifying in its own way. No two snowflakes would ever be alike on his watch and, with the winter months just around the corner, a few months in fact, he was working twice as hard, just like everypony else, to make sure the demands by the weather teams all over Equestria were met . Of course, this never discouraged him from his job; quite the contrary, it merely spurred him on to work even harder. All things snow-related were his special talent after all. A few steps echoed behind the colt and a voice, one Azure would recognize anywhere, spoke, “Hey there, Azure!” It was his best friend, Frosty Mist that had called out to him just as he entered the main lobby of the Weather Factory. Frosty Mist was the first to befriend the azure-coated stallion since he left his home to work in Cloudsdale and Azure was always glad to catch up with Frosty after work to discuss their day. He was a pegasus stallion that worked in the R&D department of the Weather Factory, a fact that Azure felt quite a bit jealous of as it meant that Frosty had the chance and access to check out and examine all the latest weather innovations first hoof. However, best friends as they were, Frosty Mist always let Azure in on a sneak peek on whatever he was working on just for fun. “Hiya, Frosty.” Azure turned to welcome his friend but the stallion nickered and complained, “Dude, I keep tellin’ ya to call me ‘Mist’! ‘Frosty’ just sounds too... marely!” But, with a mischievous glint to his yellow eyes, Azure replied in an offhoof manner, “Oh, well, ok then... Misty.” He had to bite his lip to keep himself from falling to floor laughing when he saw the horror reflected on his friend’s twitching eye. The stallion, however, recovered and taunted back, “Fine, then. See who lets you get a glimpse at the new cloud-seeding harnesses the department will be issuing next spring.” “Okay-okay; fine. Ahem; Mist, how are you doing today?” Azure replied hastily and tried his hardest to keep a straight face, as much fun as it was to taunt his friend on his exuberant name. Still, he felt the corners of his mouth twitch uncontrollably as Mist eyed him with a scowl and, somehow, Azure knew that he was going have to do a little more apple-polishing to get that sneak peek Mist promised. “Doing good.” Mist replied with swagger, “Like I said, the department is working on a new harness system for the Appleloosa basin weather teams to seed the clouds in their area more efficiently. So far, the alpha trials are looking good so we’re banking on having them ready by the beginning of the spring. Of course, this will mean more time flying there, but the weather teams there won’t have to even break a sweat” “Wow!” Azure replied enthusiastically, “Sounds awesome. Does this mean they’ll finally be able to expand beyond the basin and make better negotiations with the Buffalos?” But Mist shook his head, then, a little downcast, “We’re not sure, the cloud seeding isn’t the only problem. They still need to find fertile ground in order for the apple orchards to grow, otherwise they might as well be planting the saplings in the middle of a big ol’ sandbox.” Mist, never the one to care much of politics, did not want to stay on the topic for much longer and so he decided to switch it up, “So anyways, what are ya doin’ tonight, Azure?” Azure took a moment to ponder his response, “Well…I’m not really sure, I’ve been too busy today to really decide.” Mist smiled cheerfully, then, and suggested, “Alright then, let’s go hit up the Echoing Feather! First round of drinks are on me! Who knows, you might meet a mare to spend some time with... somepony to twirl around,if ya’ know what I mean.” Though of a blue complexion, Azure’s face turned bright red at the words Mist so casually, and purposely, threw accompanied by a meaningful glance at a few mares not far from them. The subtlety of the comment hadn’t escaped Azure’s notice, since the first day he met Mist, that his friend had this overly-confident airs around him. It was not in any way arrogant, or else Azure would not have befriended him; quite the contrary, Azure greatly admired his friend’s character: how he talked big, how he moved with proud steps and his overly-charming antics, especially when there were pretty mares around... A fact Frosty Mist always admonished his introvert friend and never tired for a day to remind him that he, too, was quite the handsome gentlecolt and that any mare would sure welcome his advances if only he paid more attention to those who batted their eyelashes at him. Azure, on the other hoof, was quite the shy colt and such adventures, as he preferred to describe them, were what he always thought of as out of his league. Yet what really made him gulp now was the fact that Mist, after two years of persuasion, finally managed to extract a promise from Azure, the last time they met, to make all the effort there was to land himself in a date and so, with another gulp, Azure stuttered, “S-sure, why not. Let me just…Oh shoot.” “Something wrong?” Mist asked as he eyed his friend suspiciously. Azure was fumbling around with his weather factory uniform, turning out every pocket he had and becoming more distraught by the second with the many thoughts that battled within his mind. Ripping the coat away, Azure shook it with all his might and sunk back with a groan, “I think I left my wallet in the snowflake plant.” “Oh, really?” Asked mist with a twitching lip as he guessed at the direction Azure’s thoughts turned, “Again?! Jeez, that’s the second time this week.” Azure sincerely replied, “Ok look, I’ll just slip back to the snowflake plant and grab it before somepony picks it up on the night shift. You go ahead and I’ll meet you at the bar.” Mist rolled his eyes at his friend’s antics and sighed, “Alright, fine. See you at the Echoing Feather, then!” Azure nodded in return. Contrary to Frosty Mist’s belief, the wallet excuse was not a lie but Azure could still see the doubt in his eyes about the less-than-subtle escape attempt. Azure was more likely going to have to buy the first round of drinks now to get back on his friend’s good side. Still, he needed the time to think of his choices; both current and past, his life, and what might happen when he does accompany his friend to the club. With all that, and more, on his mind, Azure wasted no time getting back to snowflake plant and quickly searched every inch of the place in the time he had before the evening shift arrived but still he was careful not to disturb anyone’s hard work and possibly cause a winter drought. “Come on, where have you gone?” Azure groaned in frustration as every place he searched yielded no result in his hunt for his wallet. “Dang, I can’t lose that thing! I still have my flying license in there... and a good twenty Bits!” Still no sign of the object in question was found in the next ten minutes and Azure was just about lose hope and call the Lost and Found when he lifted his head out from under the desk he was currently searching. A quick red blush of annoyance crossed his features as he came face to face with a certain cyan-colored money holder but more annoyingly was the fact that the wallet was laying atop of his own workstation amidst a few unfinished snowflakes he had not had time to finish before the end of his shift. He ignored the snowflakes and picked up the stress-inducing wallet and stuffed it in his saddle bags while he mumbled to himself, “I’ve really got to stop leaving this thing out while I’m working. The chief wouldn’t be too happy to see this just lying about in the work center. In any case, better get going or else Frosty is going to start the first round without me.” That was his plan. Many others had plans for that night: some were for fun, some for romance, while a few others had plans for a leisurely passing of time. Yet all were ruined when an ear-piercing shriek caused Azure to jump almost completely out of his coat. The scream did not sound all that far away but, for a reason that was lost on Azure, somepony was in fright. Not a moment later, a crashing sound followed that brought Azure to his hooves and barely upsetting his work bench, “That didn’t sound good. What’s going on?” Azure asked himself and headed for the exit to see what was going on. More and more sounds broke out before he reached the exit and, soon, alarms broke out in his mind; something was not right. He carefully cracked the door before him, opening it to just a slit, and immediately regretted the curiosity that drove him to look in the first place: Co-workers he knew ran and flew in terror from what looked like insectoid-like creatures that chased them down like cats chasing mice. Occasionally one would be swept up and carried away by the creatures, screaming and hollering to be freed. Azure backed away, letting the door swing close and shutting away the horror from the other side. “What are those things?!”Azure thought, his panic rising fast, “Why are they ponynapping everyone?!? Will they... find me?’” With the only exit out of the factory blocked, it was only a matter of time before that question was answered and Azure needed to find a way to keep that from happening. Only a moment later, however, the swing doors opened with a loud bang for a group of terrified ponies to enter. Azure stood petrified but they did not stand idly by to notice the other occupant and started to flint anything and everything within reach at the door to make into a blockade. Azure was too stunned to move as he watched the ponies work; thinking that those demonic creatures had found him instead. Indeed, they have been too hard in their effort to stop the incomers that they must have not noticed, at first but it was not long before one of them finally turned and looked directly at him. The mare froze causing the other two to do the same and stare at the petrified pony across the room from them. The new-comers gazed sideways at each other and muttered between themselves. Unease was the most apparent feature etched on all of their faces as their eyes held the terrified colt across the room. It was for some time that silence prevailed until the stallion among them asked, “You there! You’re not one of them, are you?!” Azure had to take a moment to process what was said but eventually, he gained the power of speech once again, “What?! No, I don’t even know what those things are. I have been here ever since all the commotion started!” The three ponies, however, eyed him with cautious stares, waiting to see what Azure would do next. Admittedly, Azure was doing just the same hoping that they too were not those mysterious creatures that he had just seen scooping up ponies like candy on Nightmare Night. “Um, my name is Azure. I’m a snowflake maker for the Weather Factory.” None of the other ponies, however, spoke, making Azure even more uncomfortable and wishing that he could just run for the exit but his apparent discomfort did not go unnoticed, for one of them spoke out, “I’m Rainy Days.” “Rainy, don’t talk to him, he could be one of them!” the other mare spoke up and eyed Azure again with a look of unease. Azure felt a little offended by this but held his anger at bay so as not to upset the survivors of the ongoing attack. Still, the silence stretched and Azure had no desire to remain in this state for long so he volunteered his thoughts. “I’m not one of those things, whatever they are. I only ended up here because I came back for my wallet. This is where I work and that’s my station.” And then he produced the said wallet and held it up as proof. The stallion took a step forward as Azure opened his wallet to show his flying license, which had a picture of himself, and looked from the license to the colt that held it a couple of times before giving an approving nod but he then spoke in an unnecessarily gruff voice of warning, “Ok, so maybe you’re not one of them but don’t think I’m not gonna keep an eye on you.” Despite the odd comment the stallion made, now that it was proved that he was not one of those creatures, Azure was glad he was not being left alone to fend for himself for the moment. “Who are you? And what in the name of both the Princesses are those things that attack us?!” From outside the room, the terrified screams of helpless victims were dying down. The silence did not in any way provide Azure with any sense of ease but the answer he received made him even more terrified when the mare named Rainy Days squeaked, “They’re called Changelings... they’re creatures that feed on emotional energy. My sister...she studied them and-” The mare fell into silent sobs again, obviously too scared to continue her explanation. Azure, now armed with a general knowledge, was now fully aware of what she was saying. He could finally, despite his need to deny, put a name to the creatures: Changelings. “But how did they get inside the factory, or for that matter, Cloudsdale?” Azure asked. “Next to Canterlot, Cloudsdale is supposed to be one of the most secure places in Equestria.” Rainy Days, who appeared to be the most scared out of them all, looked like she was on the verge of tears as she once again answered, “That’s the thing. They’re called Changelings for a reason: they take on the form of another and replace that pony and feed off the emotional energy that surrounds it. They could hide in plain sight and nopony would suspect a thing. I...Oh, Raindrops, I’m so sorry.” She broken down completely into tears and openly sobbed. The other mare came over and offered her shoulder to cry on as comfort. It was the other mare’s turn to speak, “The Changelings had been most likely amassing in Cloudsdale for years. Slowly replacing one pony at a time. They must have planned this for a long time and are now beginning their full scale invasion. I just hope this is only happening in Cloudsdale.” ‘Oh, Sweet Celestia!’ Azure thought as he started to pace around, “What if this is happening all over Equestria?!” Azure realized, “Have they invaded Canterlot? I have to get out of here. If we warn the Princesses, maybe they can stop this.” “Hey, what are you doing?” the stallion asked him as Azure paced. Azure was too deep in thought to hear him and kept on pacing, occasionally looking around the room for anything useful. There was everypony’s workstations, stacked with hoof-made snowflakes, the main water dispenser for the snowflakes, the chief’s office next to the exit, and the industrial cooling system to keep the snowflakes from melting. Azure looked at everything at least twice and thought more... and then an idea hit. The other ponies noticed as Azure stopped mid-pace and smiled slightly. “What are you smiling about?” The stallion asked with increasing annoyance but Azure heard him this time. “I think I may have an idea of how to get out of here,” and he immediately set to work grabbing everything he would need for his plan. Rainy Days collected her composure enough to speak again, “Y-you do?” “Yes, but it might be a little dangerous,” Azure turned and answered her. The other mare, looking at him with discomfort and asked, “Wait, what do you mean by ‘dangerous’?” The last comment was lost as Azure was too deep in thought to answer her at the moment. Indeed, his idea took him to a time when he saved a season’s supply of snowflakes a couple of years back. Picking up one last basket of snowflakes, he trotted over to the industrial cooling system to set up his work. The industrial cooling system was a great innovation for the Winter Section of the Weather Factory for they no longer had to chill the section with wing power alone. Technology however, always had its drawbacks; just last year when the cooling system had malfunctioned, instead of keeping things to a chilly temperature, it was heating everything up. It turned out that the main water dispenser piping that ran just above the cooling system had cracked, causing a leak. Water from the cracked pipe started to seep into the cooling system and short circuited the venting subsystem within. Soon enough, the cooling system was heating up along with everything in the room and was soon found out that if the system was not fixed, it would have blown the entire snowflake plant sky high. What Azure had in mind now was to try recreating the same events that would, with hope, result in the same blast that was expected back then to create a distraction for the group to escape. Though he could not do that alone and so he ordered the other three ponies in the room, astonishing even himself, “Hey, you there! Help me move these workstations in front of the cooling system.” The workstations were not required for the effects that would bring around the blast but were quite heavy nonetheless; a fact that gave Azure another idea that they might work, once combined, as a barricade against the blast. The other ponies, taking sideway glances at themselves, knew that Azure meant business and so they got up to help him move the workstations in front of the chief’s office where they would make their impromptu bunker. With the makeshift bunker in place, Azure trotted back over to the cooling system and worked his other materials into what he would need. Thanks to the incident a couple years back, the piping had been shifted to run along the opposite wall as far away from the cooling system as possible and so, Azure had to come up with a different way to short circuit the entire construct in a matter of minutes. Indeed, that is what the other materials were meant for and so he set out to work. He crushed two baskets full of snowflakes into powder and dropped it into the vents up top where it would not take long to melt inside, where the heat escaped. Next was the weather uniform he still wore, that was placed carefully over the powdered snow to clog up the vents. After that, with a roll of duct tape, he sealed the top effectively turning the entire construct into a pressure cooker. The plan might have taken too long for its effect to start but Azure planned for this and popped open a panel on the side to reveal electrical cables galore. Having had to fix the machine up a few times, and contribute in its preventive maintenance, gave him the knowledge he needed to what and where the essential components were; which he now ripped and unplugged a few wires from them and replaced them in different sockets. The way the power was running now guaranteed that the system would run full blast and speed up the pressure build up within. He galloped back to the bunker and took his cover with the others and waited for what they expected to be a way to escape. “Hey, snowflakes pony!” the stallion said, getting Azure’s attention, “What exactly did you do to get us out of here? And why are we taking cover?” Even though it annoyed Azure that the Stallion had not remembered his name, he decided not to pursue that and move on, “You saw that big old machine that I was working on?” As the stallion nodded, Azure continued, “I rigged it up to explode.” “YOU WHAT?!” The one mare whose name he didn’t know shrieked. The stallion also joined in on the verbal lashing, “How do expect this to not end with us splattered up against the wall?!” “That’s why I had us make this bunker,” Azure replied with an uncertain tone to his voice, “You see, it’ll put a gaping hole in the wall which we can escape through, and it’ll cause such a big distraction that they probably won’t even notice us. We should be safe... I think.” The stallion looked like he had a few choice words for Azure to hear when, suddenly, a high pitched whine filled the room. If that was not enough of a warning for what was about to happen, Azure did not know what was. Steadily, the whine started to get higher in pitch to the point where he was starting to have second thoughts about the whole idea of using the cooling system explosion as a distraction. That thought, however, along with any other thought, was squashed as a massive decompression of air ripped his world apart. For many years to come, Azure could never for the life of him figure out nor imagine what must have possessed him to make such a rash decision as to blow up the weather factory. What he could guess at, though, was that the shock wave must have been more powerful than he had calculated because the next thing he remembered after that last hazy moment in the facility was seeing a charcoal pegasus with dirty red mane and nothing more than a stick between his jaws. > Chapter 4: Gold Star > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crisp fresh air, cool wind brushing past her mane and the feel of hard packed dirt beneath her hooves was all Gold Star needed to feel as alive as she did on her daily run through the forest. Seasonal song birds accompanied her with a choir of heartfelt tunes and the rhythmic churning of gears and compressed exhaust from her mechanical leg tapped in beat with her heart. Today was a good day, in Gold’s opinion, and knowing that there was still a couple more miles left for her run was all the motivation she needed to keep up her pace. The next mile was a favorite of hers; a path that ran along the edge of the Everfree forest and just outside the town of Ponyville. Gold always loved this part because there was a fork up ahead that she could take either through the heart of Ponyville where even after living in the small quiet town for the past couple of years, she always liked how there was something new to discover every day, or go beyond toward Whitetail Woods. Running through that forest always reminded her of her days back in her hometown of Brightwood. So many memories emblazoned in her mind that she would never forget and of her family and friends that she thought about each and every day. Furthermore, both paths offered a great route for tranquil scenery and ran for more or less the same distance; one thing she would always admit to herself was that she loved the thrill of a good run, no exceptions. Gold was at the fork in no time at all and was about to make the choice of taking the path through Whitetail Woods that day when the slightest breeze of wind carried the sounds of commotion coming from the direction of Ponyville caught her attention. She tried to remember if today was a holiday, but by the sound of it, these were not cries of laughter and enjoyment. Gold’s mind was made up without hesitation and at the fork she took the path leading down to Ponyville post haste. What greeted her was more devastating than anything than she could have imagined. It was not a scene of destruction but the devastation she felt at that moment was far more than she ever had thought to feel or handle. Now within the streets of the bustling village, terrified screams of ponies appeared to have increased tenfold but what made her truly gasp in horror were the black forms that flitted from one place to another over the terrified village in chase of ponies who ran as fast as they could, and took a shape she only saw in a newspaper before... a shape she’d never considered she might actually see with her own eyes. For a stretch of time that she could neither count nor measure, Gold stood at the edge of the town as if mesmerized by the horrors that took place before her but what brought her to reality were the shrieks of defenseless foals in the chaos that ensued in the attack; foals that were searching for the safety of their parents. Others were being rounded and grouped up by the insect-like creatures while those who tried to run away were caught and dragged elsewhere with no help to be had. It was at that moment when it hit her that she needed to fend for her own daughters that might as well be any of those who were screaming in fright. Gold’s memories of the path she ran were something like a hazy blur. One that was interrupted by a stallion whose screaming at the top of his lungs in a vain attempt to escape capture, “Everypony for themselves, the changelings are back!” But her memory of him did not go beyond his scream as her eyes were kept trained on the nearest group of ponies to help. It was just outside Crazy Dave’s Joke Shop and Emporium that she encountered her first changelings. They were a gang that was corralling and herding a small group of whimpering foals who were trembling in fear of the hissing and chattering changeling bullies. Indeed, Gold Star felt on the verge of being sick when she saw the innocent tears in the young ones’ eyes as they were made into a very tight circle. The changelings snapped their long, sharp fangs at them, chittering in pleasure over their easy successful capture. Each of them looked eager to pounce and claim the first prize but the first to jump and seize its prey suddenly found itself flying elsewhere. It was at that moment, when the Changeling leapt, that the yellow-orange pegasus gave her running hooves a greater burst of speed and barreled herself into the Changeling’s side, making it fly sideways and right into its siblings. There was a moment of confusion as it tried to put its hooves on the ground but, when it finally rose, the sight that met its twisted eyes was not anything it expected: standing not far from it, with all the foals that were meant to be captured behind her, was a pegasus mare that held her wings wide open in a territorial-protective stance. Her blue eyes were narrowed in defiance and her green mane and tail swayed behind her and sideways like a proud flag in a gust of wind. She appeared, then, much more formidable and frightening to the changelings, who sought their strength in numbers, than anything they have ever seen or encountered before. Without removing her eyes from the changelings before her, Gold Star spoke in a steady and resonating voice that otherwise held a motherly-reassuring tone to it, which somewhat calmed the frightened hearts of the foals that stood behind her and around her hooves, “Go! Run away, children!” From the corners of her eyes, she watched and made sure that they made a break for another piece of shelter in town and they did not go into another trap. The Changeling gang was stunned; they did not expect such strength from one mare that was not even of a significant muscular structure but what held them at bay, as the foals ran, was their apprehension of the dark grey metal that encased her right foreleg. They, of course, did not know what it really was and, mere bullies as they were, they all stood and surrounded the one pony that dared to interfere with their plans and fun. They made sure of their numbers and quickly aligned themselves to cover every escape beyond their tight-knit circle. They circled Gold and snapped and hissed at her but the intimidation did nothing as she then spoke at large, “How dare you attack defenseless foals! You’re nothing but a bunch of school yard bullies!” But if the changelings thought that they had seen the best this pegasus can do, they were greatly mistaken. A smile slowly spread across her lips, one that was meant to intimidate than a real smile and she scraped the ground with her left hoof. “So why don’t you pick on somepony your own size?!” The changelings hesitated then. Their number did not lessen but the mare who stood with nary a quiver before them suddenly started to appear, in their eyes, much bigger than she was. Their hissing increased in their attempt to invoke what small amount of courage they could muster and chittered back in response. Gold kept her eyes trained on one of them that still appeared to have some soreness near its chest from the hit it took, with a slight curve to her eyes; a challenge for it to attack her. Slowly, the circle they formed started to close around her until that one Changeling leapt at its would-be victim. Gold, however, was prepared for it. In the Changeling’s mid-jump, Gold ran directly in its direction, kicked it aside and bolted out of the circle from the gap that formed by the Changeling that fell. As she ran, she taunted those who were still stunned, “Catch me if you can!” Gold’s intention was not to defy or attack for she was much smarter than that but still she wanted to keep the attention of this gang of changelings fixed upon her so that they would not turn and chase the foals she managed to save. Some rose into the air while other made to chase after her but her powerful legs, the product of years and years of running around the forest, carried her faster than any Changeling in the air. Indeed, she led them on a merry chase around the village as she sought to look for her daughters when a terrible scream made her blood go cold in her veins. “Help me!” The sheer panic in the unknown voice was all that she needed to hear in order to reconsider her current position, even it meant abandoning her search for her own loved ones. Much to her own chagrin, Gold stopped her search to answer the distressed call for help and came upon another scene of helplessness. It was another group of changelings, with apparent joy at their success, with a mare they captured and were carrying away. Gold, with another burst of determination, ran and broke through the offending ranks, making the dark-grey coated mare land on the ground in a heap. But the mare that fell did not rise on her hooves but raised her head to look shakily at Gold. A quick once over of the now-freed pegasus mare revealed no major injuries but still she asked, “Are you okay?” The mare gave a shaky nod in reply and squeaked to her rescuer, “I-I have to get out of here.” She attempted to push her sporadic limbs back underneath her, but every time she tried force herself back up her legs shook in cold defiance “P-please, help me.” The pleading look the young mare gave her was one of pure helplessness and desperation; as if Gold was the only thing standing between the dark pegasus and a fate more terrifying than death itself. Gold Star wanted to stay and continue her search but one more look at the mare told her that she was too traumatized to move on her own. She just could not in good conscious just leave her to fend for herself and, as much as it truly pained her, Gold nodded in return and wasted no time in helping the mare to her hooves. She could only hope that her good deed wouldn't go to waste on her karma and grant her mental plea that Ruby managed to escape with the children. A group of hungry looking Changelings however, did not give them much time to recover and prepared to attack from overhead. With the other mare fast on her heels, after a bolster of quick encouragement, they made for the only escape route available that was past the deserted shop of Sugarcube Corner and, with a few close calls, the pair made it out the north side of town with barely a glance back the town now swarming with changelings. For some time, Gold stood beneath the cover of the Everfree Forest overlooking her ‘home’. The mare she had rescued had passed out nearly as soon as they made it to safety; obviously too overwhelmed by her ordeal to find any reserve in will-power left and was now laid, steadily draped, across Gold’s back. Tears flooded her eyes and more than once it was that she considered going back to Ponyville, charge past every Changeling there was until she found her daughters but she had to convince herself several times that she had to remain out of capture for them. That she must somehow find out a way to save them and that going in witlessly will not do them any good. As she stood there, though, with her head down and eyes barely allowing her to gaze upon anything, a small groan caught her attention and directed her to the now awakening mare that rested atop of her. The dark grey pegasus mare mumbled to herself and looked like she was trying to get a sense on her bearings. Gold took the initiative and lowered herself so the other pony would be able to reach her hooves to the ground. The purple-manned pegasus stammered to one side and almost fell over before Gold caught her in her wing. “Easy, easy. You’re safe now.” Gold offered in her most soothing tone that she could muster at such time. The other pony steadied herself against Gold’s side until she was able to look around without throwing herself off balance. Her eyes shot open as she must have realized that she had passed out and urged for her savior to give her a bit of room. Gold cautiously obliged and stepped out from her supportive side while keeping a keen eye on the pegasus for any sign of regression. Soon enough, the other mare was back on her own hooves, if not a little shaky. Gold watched her as she took in her surroundings and eased herself into a more composed state. It was not long, though, before the calming mare took note of the commotion that came from behind her and let her head sink in sorrow as she looked over Ponyville much in the same way that Gold had. Gold saw the expression in the mare’s eyes that she had recently been acquainted with not too long ago and carefully trotted by her side as the first few tears fell from the heartbroken pony’s eyes. The grey mare must have felt the comforting presence of her fellow companion for she soon buried her muzzle into Gold’s placid, green mane and cried harder than Gold had heard any other pony before. She gently put her wings around the dismayed pony and stroked the grey pegasus’s withers with a gentle hoof; letting her cry out. In truth, Gold wished she could have a shoulder to cry on herself but, seeing the other pony breaking down, it was apparent that she needed to appear strong for her. The pony’s gasping sobs withered into hiccuping whimpers as she tried to pull herself together enough to speak. Gold gave her a few more minutes so as not to rush her and, eventually, coaxed the mare into speaking. “T-tell me this is just a dream…please?” The poor mare’s desperation-filled eyes bore into Gold’s as she choked on her words. Admittedly, she also wanted to believe that this whole thing was nothing more than a dream as well. Just some delusional trick of her mind that just wanted nothing more than to watch her squirm under the force of her own imagination. Of course, dreams were supposed to be nothing more than illusions brought up by one’s memories, twisted into something else by one’s imagination and no matter what, could never hurt the one dreaming. But this was something beyond a dream, it was a nightmare; one that neither of them had a hope of waking from any time soon. “I’m sorry, I was only able to save you from those Changelings… It was all I could do.” Gold replied, closing her eyes in her sadness. For the moment, Gold remained a silent sentinel as she continued to gaze upon the darkening town of Ponyville, carefully gauging her responses to keep her own fading will in check. The silent pair stood for the longest time as they watched their homes being consumed by the ravaging creatures of the past. > Chapter 5: Wind Scribe > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Preparing another set of records for the Cloudsdale Weather Archive on the second largest hail storm of Trottingham, Wind Scribe hummed a peaceful little tune he knew from when was just a foal. Why he did this, he really couldn't tell. He just felt in such good spirits that day that he just really did not care. “Hey, you mind keepin’ it down?!” A furrowing voice asked him politely from his side. It was Feather Sign, another pegasus that worked in the archives and a longtime friend for Wind Scribe; at least, a pony he used to call a friend. “Oh, sorry Feather Sign. Didn’t mean to bother you.” Wind Scribe replied in a whisper. Not to be taken the wrong way, He still thought of the pale yellow pegasus as a friend but, for some time now, he and Feather Sign had become…distant. At first, it just seemed like the pale yellow pegasus was just having a bad day and would get over it but the longer Wind Scribe tried to convince himself of that, the less convinced of it he became. Soon enough, all his friend would do was to come to work, do his job, and then leave without a word. Wind Scribe tried to cheer his friend up multiple times, each attempt only earning him more mortar to the wall of rejection that his friend built. Surprisingly enough today though, Feather Sign did not seem quite as rude as he usually was in that he has not cussed out the poor stallion that tried to help him. Though this was still far from what the two pegasi used to have in terms of their relationship. Wind Scribe looked up at the clock hanging from the archive room wall to see that his day was nearly complete; his friend, Feather Sign, who was just finishing his shift with him as well, stood up to leave when, all of a sudden, he stopped. It was odd: he just stood there in the middle of the room like a statue and was honestly starting to creep his fellow coworkers out. Some even started to whisper among themselves. Wind Scribe cautiously approached and asked him then what was wrong but the only reply he received was with a hungry and malicious grin and a few unfathomable words that were spoken in a hissing voice Wind Scribe never before heard, let alone coming from his one friend, “It issss time!” Further worry ensued along with a wispy chill that made Wind Scribe’s skin crawl with uncertainty.All of his confused questions were answered before he could even ask them as his so-called friend ignited in a haze of fiery green light. The scene nearly made him jump out of his own skin, many of his other coworkers having abandoned the scene altogether, before Feather Sign reemerged from the vapor as a creature he only knew from reading his books; a Changeling. His friend, or rather the thing that posed as his friend, hissed and grinned with an excited expression of pure ecstasy upon the transformation’s finish. As he gazed with much fear upon the lead-black Changeling, he guessed he was not the only pony that almost suffered a heart attack from such a horrifying sight; from other parts of the Cloudsdale Archives, Wind Scribe could hear the terrified screams of fellow coworkers he knew all his life echoing throughout the building in a choir of panic. He knew, at that moment, that this was more than just a coincidence but his reverie was not allowed to last as the changeling before him hissed, “You’re coming with me, pony!” Wind Scribe shuddered at the Changeling’s remark as it pounced upon its trembling prey. But a primal instinct, one that even a sheltered stallion such as he knew, managed the only thing his feverish thoughts could come up with at a moment like that: he turned his back on the insectoid creature just as it bared its teeth and shot a fear driven buck straight in to the incoming aggressor. His back hooves made contact and sent the Changeling back in a dizzying tumble across the ground and him on a slight somersault forward from a hasty reaction. He picked himself up shortly after and, without a second thought, bolted for the door. The archive was a vast collective building of all things weather-related in Equestria and, as such, it made the corridors of such a structure hard to navigate for the inexperienced visitor. Though having worked at said place has given the Charcoal pegasus the knowledge he needed to navigate the facility and pilot through a few shortcuts along the way to the archive’s lobby. Yet, outside in the archive lobby, things were in even more chaotic state. Fellow coworkers he knew for a long time flew for their lives as they were being chased down by even more Changelings. Some were already captured and were being hauled away to parts unknown. The sight alone turned Wind Scribe’s blood icy cold. One of the insect-like creatures halted in his flight as it noticed that none of its siblings had seen the petrified stallion that just burst into the lobby. It took less than a second to change its flight course and break away from its group to capture him. Wind Scribe saw the shadow of the Changeling dive bomb for him, the menacing creature hissed as he made a break for the archive exit. Fear-induced adrenaline surged through the fleeing stallion and kept him mere inches out of reach of the Changeling’s snapping jaws. Wind Scribe narrowly avoided colliding with other ponies in his mad dash and every face he caught a glimpse of held nothing but cold fear. Fortunately for him, the Changeling that gave chase was not quite as fast or as maneuverable, having to redirect its flight pattern just to keep up. Unfortunately for the pony the Changeling collided with, though, another was now at the mercy of his attacker and screamed in vain as more of the matte-black creatures around him. Wind Scribe did not dare chance a look over his shoulder to check if his pursuer was still there and kept up his pace regardless. Upon the final stretch of his speedy flight, he all but crashed through the archive exit only to be subjected to a scene far more heartbreaking than what he had already been through: the entire city of Cloudsdale under attack by nothing short of an entire legion of the dastardly, malicious Changelings. Everywhere he looked, ponies were being rounded up and hauled away for whatever plans the despicable insectoids had in store for them. One thought, however, took precedence over all other thoughts at that moment to Wind Scribe: his family. He had to find his wife and foals and flee the city before these creatures laid a single hollowed hoof upon them. Perishing any thoughts of concern for himself, Wind Scribe flared his wings and kicked hard off the ground to fly home as fast as he could. All throughout the city, other ponies and Changelings nearly collided with him mid-flight. Everywhere he looked, panic and fear was at everypony’s throats. His luck, as it seemed, proved to be holding out for he was able to fly just under the zone that most of the action was taking place. Fate must have been listening to his unspoken prayers as he was nearly halfway there when a terrible sound echoed around the entire city, which seemed to shake the very fabric of the air around him. Right at the moment, as he was passing Cloudsdale’s all-important Weather Factory, the entire facility exploded. Debris shot out in a cascade of concussive shock-waves and compacted cloud structure that rattled the Charcoal pegasus to the bone. He knew ponies that worked in that factory, all of them exceptional friends that he prayed were nowhere near the place at that very moment. With yet another light of resolve igniting in his heart, Wind Scribe sliced through the turbulent skies to reach his home. He will get to them before any changeling and take them to safety, anywhere away from Cloudsdale to protect his family. His brave thoughts however, were silenced as he was rendered unconscious by a piece of debris that spun out of control and flew directly in his path. --o0o-- “I’m always scared, April. Scared that I won’t do the right thing. That I would lose you one day.” He was gazing at his wife and foals. They were all, the three of them, looking at him with smiles upon their faces; smiles they reserved for him every day he came back from his job but his eyes were fixed upon the grey almonds of his wife. He had always thought of the grey color as one that is both cold and dull up until he met her in the silent weather archives of Cloudsdale where she was documenting research material for her university studies. This odd preference of color was an issue that accompanied him since his colt-hood when he used to be picked upon for the odd contrast between his vivid-red mane and dark-grey coat but that matter never again bothered him when April Showers smiled at him shyly, at first, and then boldly remarked at how strong his colors were in contrast to the dark forest-green of his eyes. At first, Wind Scribe could not believe that this lovely pegasus with a maya-green tail and mane, that much resembled raindrops at the ends, was speaking to him but her sparkling grey colored eyes gave him his first inkling that his life was about to take a huge turn in a different, and happier, direction. Their romance was one that brought a happy sigh to many as they watched them be swept in a whirlwind of courtship. In the end, two lovely foals was the proof of their devoted love. His life since the moment she set her golden eyes on him had been countless moments of blessing that followed each other with no end to their happiness in sight. He was a family stallion and the welfare of his family meant everything to him. In her gentle voice; a tone she always used whenever she saw the love reserved for her alone in her husband’s eyes, she crooned, “How could you lose us when we’d never leave you?” As she spoke those comforting words to him, she raised her hoof to touch his head. For a reason he could not fathom, the gentle touch of her hoof caused a throbbing headache but he did not care much for that; he was so lost in her loving eyes that nothing else mattered. Something was off, however, for when she went to place her hoof down to his chest, atop of where his heart lie, as she would always do to set his mind at ease, her touch became as cold as ice. He looked up in a start and felt his heart skip more than a few beats upon what stood before him: no longer the visage of his lovely, dedicated wife but the malevolent, cheshire grin of a blackened creature that bared its fangs; a Changeling. It hissed and chuckled in its slithering tongue and pounced on its traumatized prey. Tendrils of pure darkness exploded from the creature’s body to encase the surprised pegasus. He did everything he could to escape but to no avail; the attack was too quick and the world faded into an abyss. *** Wind Scribe awoke, sharply gasping for air that had eluded his lungs. A throbbing headache and a terrible ringing in his ears accompanied the recovering stallion and became worse with the regain of his senses. He tried to open his eyes but the pain increased with each attempt to gather his strength for such a simple task. In that confused moment, he pondered the ringing plaguing his ears, at first believing it to be the frightened scream of his lovely wife, April, but it was like a continued din that would not diminish. He was at least aware that he was still on a cloud due to the feel of fluffy white cotton under his hooves and belly but his entire body ached for reasons he could not begin to remember. But, like a tsunami, it all then came flooding back when he realized that the ringing in his ears was actually the screams of ponies that were still in the under-sieged city of Cloudsdale. He rose at once, swaying slightly from the pain, but willed himself to search the skies for the floating metropolis. The sight that met his eyes was more than he could handle and his heart sank immediately; the once great city was now aglow with billowing towers of smoke and terrorized screams. Tiny specks, he saw, zipped across the skies in vain escape attempts but were engulfed in a veil of black the moment they fled. Wind Scribe fell back on his haunches gaping at the scene of it all and in that moment of despair, he was almost certain he could hear the frightened voices of his wife and kids crying out for him as they were being taken away like the others. He had failed; not only his family but himself as well and now there was no way of getting back into the city without being spotted, let alone captured. He did the only thing he could think of and flew; flew as far and fast as his wings could carry him and away from the blockaded city, tears streaking down his anguished face as he felt with every beat of heart fracture his very soul till it shattered like delicate glass. Yet his will did not last long and his body surrendered after a mile or so of flight. Quite carelessly, for a pegasus, he glided down to the earth and curled into himself to wallow in self-pity and torment. Nothing mattered anymore for the poor stallion now that his family and home were gone. Dark thoughts swirled within his mind; he might as well hoof himself over to the Changelings right this moment. Maybe then he might have the chance to see his family’s smiling faces one more time before the end. Wind Scribe closed his eyes, surrendering to despair; a rustling sound in nearby bushes forced them wide open and paralyzed him in fright. His breath came in and out in shallow gasps as he turned his head in the direction of the noise to his port side and watched the leaves rustle again yet accompanied this time with a low groan. Feverishly, he searched the grounds for anything he could use to defend himself but all he found was a flimsy-looking branch, which found its way clenched between his teeth. The low groans continued as Wind Scribe inched his way towards the patch of shrubs, shaking like a leaf caught in speedy winds. Deciding to take some sort of action before he changed his mind, Wind Scribe flung the shrubs out of the way but what he found dumbfounded him; it was another pony, a little more beat-up than him but a pegasus nonetheless. He looked a little younger than a stallion and had a coat of icy blue fur and a short cropped, dark blue mane. His cutie mark was a triplet of overlapping snowflakes each in different shades of blue and white. The pony was still half asleep by the looks of it, or still recovering his senses because he did not notice Wind Scribe just yet. Wind Scribe, on the other hoof, was in the middle of a mental battle, trying to decide what to do next and ultimately came down to a decision. With the stick he still held in his mouth, he began poking at the semi-unconscious pony a few times to further rouse the colt. The pegasus finally began to take note of the rude awakening and pulled himself up to a sitting position. Wind Scribe suddenly realized what he was doing and began to rethink his decision. He backed away and tried his best to make himself look as intimidating as possible. The pony with snowflakes cutie mark massaged the sides of his head, “Ow, what happened?” With his heart pounding in his ears, Wind Scribe stuttered, “Y-you there! umm, don’t move or try anything funny… I-I have a weapon!” Still apparently dazed, the colt looked around until he found the pony that was talking to him. He looked at him first, then at the so-called weapon that he supposedly had with a more than curious stare, “A stick?” In the back of his mind, Wind Scribe reprimanded himself severely for not thinking of a better plan for this situation and now resorted to plough, “U-uh, yes… Don’t you think I don’t know how to use it!” But for everything, the snowflakes colt appeared more confused than scared and replied in an offhoofed manner, “Alright, then. I won’t try anything.” Wind Scribe sighed in relief. For that one sigh, he felt so light-hearted and at ease but took it back as another thought passed his disoriented mind, “You’re not a Changeling, are you?” He asked around the stick in his mouth. The colt looked at Wind Scribe as if he was gazing at a mad pony but decided to play along to avoid confrontation, “No. I’m not.” “Prove it.” Wind Scribe ordered as he watched the colt concentrating hard on finding an answer. After a few silent moments, the colt shrugged, “I don’t know how. But listen, I’m not a Changeling. I was attacked by them in Cloudsdale and…” But Wind Scribe cut across his words and asked, “Wait, you were in Cloudsdale too?” His attempts to be threatening all but forgotten. “Yeah.” The colt answered back hastily, “At least until those Changelings attacked me and the others at the Weather Factory. I barely escaped after I overloaded the snowflake production facility.” Wind Scribe’s jaw dropped, along with the stick that was in his mouth with a muffled clatter, and shouted, “You blew up the Weather Factory?!” At the oral assault, the colt blinked his eyes wide and stammered, “Y-yes. But I did it to create a distraction for my companions and I to escape. I didn’t expect the system to meltdown that fast…Did you see anypony escape the Weather Factory since the explosion?” Wind Scribe’s ears folded back as his expression shifted to downcast. He did not at all expect such revelation for he now guessed at what took him off his path and goal, “N-no. I was on my way to get my family when the Weather Factory blew and knocked me out.” Deep despair welled inside him at these words. He did not know how long he had been unconscious, he did not know where his family was and, worst of all, he feared that the explosion might have harmed them even before the changelings did. A spark lit up in Wind Scribe’s mind as these black thoughts swirled in his mind and suddenly eyed the other pony with fury. “You! Because of you, my family is in hooves of those Changelings… or worse!” The weight of his tirade coming down on thundering hooves. “I was nearly there, I could have saved them! But now…” The spark faded, cast off like a candle’s flame against the night wind, leaving him to be filled again with boundless remorse, “but now they’re gone...” Wind Scribe sank back to his haunches again as memories of his family assailed him once more. His family was still gone and taking out his anger on somepony else wasn’t going to bring them back. The snowflakes pony looked upon the grieving stallion before him and felt a pang of regret for what he had done. In an effort to assure him, the colt hesitantly spoke, “Look, I’m sorry for what I did but I was only trying to save my friends. If I didn’t blow up the factory, neither of us would be here right now and probably in the hooves of the Changelings as well!” Wind Scribe quelled his sniffling as he listened to the other pegasus, who still spoke with great spirit, “We both have a chance to right our wrongs now, so why don’t we team up to save our friends and family?” Wind Scribe took his time to contemplate the words he heard, as he gazed at the sincere eyes of the young colt before him, and found that he had nothing to lose by accepting the other pegasus’ offer and so spoke the mystifying question that had been nagging on him ever since he woke up, “Okay. But how do we save our loved ones? Where do we even begin?” “I have family in Canterlot that we can ask for help!” The colt answered with enthusiasm now that a plan started to form in his mind, “Maybe even get an audience with the Princesses. They need to know what has happened to Cloudsdale.” With a sigh, Wind Scribe conceded, “Sounds like a plan. I guess we should get flying if we are to get there.” The other pegasus nodded. “Right. Oh yea, my name’s Azure.” “Wind Scribe,” the stallion replied, finally putting a name to the face of the snowflakes pony. With that, two pegasi, a colt and a stallion, took to the skies. They were careful to fly just above the canopy of forest to avoid being too far out in the open. The flight to Canterlot, though always a cheerful route to journey, now felt like a horrendous path in which a pegasus can spread their wings into but, with silent flutters, both pushed on in their quest for the city on the mountain. > Chapter 6: Arbellason > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Far to the southeast, another attack was in action; one that swept over the mountain city of Canterlot and filled its lovely blue skies with swarms of black. It was nothing less than a state of full panic in the city as ponies were being picked off from every corner. When the attack commenced, as sudden as it was, alarm broke out all over the city that gave way to several defensive fronts to be held and organized by civilians and guard ponies alike. Yet, one by one, they all fell against the might and numbers of the Changeling legions that were bent upon havoc and destruction. The last of these defensive lines was where Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns was situated.   Comprising mainly of young students, the changelings had underestimated their magical prowess. The attacking units that were sent to that school, although not small in number, were quite useless against the quickly organized defense the young unicorns mustered. One of these students, a particularly hard-voiced colt, kept shouting, “Don’t you dare wane! Evacuate the younger foals and prepare for...”   But whatever the colt wanted to prepare for simply evaporated from his train of thought as a tenfold-greater swarm covered the rising noon sun. At that sight, his eyes grew wide for mere moments with shock but such a scene, though despairing to no limit, did not take hold upon his heart for long for it was then that he raised his head high and galloped forward while shouting to those he left behind, “Retreat! Let none be caught!”   As his horn started to glow, a soft evergreen hue, another horn started to glow right next to him, and the colt, refusing to take his eyes off the changelings not far ahead of him, snarled, “Go back, Lilac! This is no place for petty rivalries.”   But the grey-coated and lilac-maned mare that ran next to him shouted back, with a hard tearing gaze to her eyes, “No! I won’t let you go alone, Arbellason. We do this together or we go back with the other students!”   Arbellason picked up speed, and his horn glowed brighter. The fact that he did not bother to answer back did not much bother Lilac; he always had that dark look to his eyes, and this brooding silence was his defining characteristic. Though they both were hot-headed rivals in magic school, Lilac had more on her plate to be concerned for, and her first concern was the colt who was charging head-on with a shining horn into the swarm. She knew him well enough to realize that he was fool enough to decide to attack an entire legion of changelings on his own but she was not about to let that happen. Her horn started to glow warm purple and both mare and colt vanished right before the moment when the changelings were about to sweep them both away.   An instant later, they appeared away from the scene of confrontation and into hiding in a narrow alley. Arbellason was quite dizzy but, when he gained his bearings, he yelled at her, “What have you done? Don’t you ever get in my way again!”   Lilac, who had by now reached her breaking point, screamed at him, “Idiot! You can’t attack them on your own. We need to find the Princesses. They’re the only ones who can banish the changelings from all of Equestria.”   “Can they?” Arbellason snorted mockingly from his nostrils, “Open your eyes, Lilac! The changelings are all over the city and our school is in the far end; had they been defeated, they would not have reached us. No, we are on our own, and it’s most likely that the Princesses fled and left us to fend for ourselves!”   At his faithless words, tears gathered at the corners of her eyes; she could not begin to believe in any word he uttered but the fall of the city all around her gave her nothing to argue him with. Her pride in the royalty of her own country, however, gave her a small ounce of stubbornness to confront him with, “I can't believe that! You don’t know the princesses and how they care for their subjects; they would never leave us! I am going to the castle and see for myself how they will banish the changeling forces. You are welcome to join me when you stop acting pathetic.”   With these decisive words, she turned her flank to him and walked to the end of the alley, right behind a large, ornamental potted-shrub that was, amazingly, still intact. To her horror, she saw ponies chained and being led by wickedly-smiling changelings through the streets to places unknown. The presence of Arbellason, whom she knew was now standing behind her, gave her some comfort despite his silence. When the street cleared a bit, she turned her head to look at him and he nodded. Both mare and colt crossed hooves, her horn glowed, and both vanished to reappear not far from the Royal Castle, safe in the cover of shadows. There, signs of a great battle were strewn all over. All that was left of the guards that never before left their posts was crushed under changelings of huge muscular structure that now took their places.   At that moment, most of Lilac’s hope at any chance of reaching the Princesses, and seeing to the freedom of the city she had come to love, was shorn away. Then a greenish glow caught her attention.   Turning her head back in curiosity, she saw Arbellason, who had retreated deep within the shadows, gazing at his own hooves with something akin to deep sadness upon his usually hard eyes. That look, however, lasted only a mere moment more for he then closed them and turned his head in a wide circular motion. From his horn, dark and slimy shower erupted into the air to fall slowly back on him like a cloud of dust. As the dark matter touched his coat, his form slowly started to change: his eyes and pupils expanded and turned from hazel to poisonous blue, his sun-kissed bronze coat gained a darker hue that slowly changed into the lead changeling-black and his unkempt, raven-black mane and tail shortened and became untamed spikes of the same color of his coat. The last touches were when filmy layers sprouted from his back and arranged themselves into false wings, see-through holes appeared in his hooves and two fangs grew down and past his once firm chin. With all finished, Changeling-Arbellason fell to the ground. He was panting so hard as if he had been running a great distance and Lilac, approaching him, her eyes wide with increased wonder, asked, “Why’d you do that? We could’ve found another way...”   A wheezing voice, so unlike the steely tone of Arbellason’s, answered, “You want to see your princessesssss? The battlements are well watched and guarded, and thissss is the only way we can go in.” He then forced himself to his hooves and spoke with shaking knees, “You will go inside as my prisssssoner; thissss will give us enough time to find our path to the Royal Hall but I cannot hold the ssspell for long.”   At his words, Lilac nodded and spun her head once. From the glowing tip of her horn, a stretch of rope streamed that tied itself around her neck and then through one of the holes in Arbellason’s changeling-forehoof, just the way she saw them tied around the changelings’. Being an adventurer with a carefree nature, Lilac so hated to be restrained in any manner, and being tied to Arbellason, her absolute rival, made it all the worse. But, after taking one last look at him, she swallowed her pride and moved out of the alley. She could imagine what pains he must have taken, both physically and emotionally, to change his shape; he, after all, never cared much for that which did not concern him, but his act, though quite chilling, showed something not unlike the care of her brother, whom she never stopped worrying about since the start of the invasion. Indeed, her mind kept wandering back to the small note she quickly scribbled and entrusted to her childhood companion, who had furiously tried to remain with her, to take to her twin, but what she placed in it seemed now too brief and insignificant in comparison to the ache and worry she felt at this dreadful time.   Once in the street, though, Lilac chided herself and adopted the sad feelings and demeanor portrayed by the rest of the captives to hide the myriad of emotions that swirled within her. She walked slowly up to the main gates but the changelings there did not stop her movement. It seemed odd to both colt and mare that they were not inspected, but whether it was because of Arbellason’s new shape or that the changelings were too drunk on their victory of occupying the city, they could not guess, nor bothered to spend precious time pondering at.   Inside the castle, it was much different than it had been when they had last visited. All residents of Canterlot had the allowance to walk through the main halls of the royal castle when their needs required the personal attention of the Royal Princesses, but being granted admission into Princess Celestia’s personal school of magic meant that the gifted ponies had access to these halls at any time they liked. Now, as they walked through the corridors, it was different than it had been outside. There was a stillness that engulfed the very air; no signs of battle that must have raged were evident anywhere, and the place appeared as tidy and clean as ever, but what it lacked was the bustling life of messenger ponies and ministers at work as they ran the affairs of Equestria. Indeed, the silence seemed much more frightening than the yells and shouts of the small skirmishes that occurred around the city.   Confused and worried, Lilac turned to look at her false captor and whispered, “Let’s go to the Royal Chambers, we might find Princess Celestia there... I don’t like this at all.”   Lilac waited only a moment for confirmation from Arbellason and so took a direction that would lead her to the royal chambers of Princess Celestia. She had never been inside it before but she knew her path to it well enough, and, a few minutes later, found herself standing right before the arched doors.   As both stood uncertainly before the doors, muffled voices reached their ears and they strained to hear more. The voices were hard to discern but they seemed to carry the tones of an argument that subsided to one voice after a moment. At their mutual nod, Lilac and Arbellason pushed the double doors gently open to a crack and, to their shock, found none other than a tall, slender black figure with a twisted horn. It was only too easy to realize who the changeling, that had her back to them, was for her figure was more than detailed and described in their course in ‘Equestria; A Modern History’: Queen Chrysalis.   As the nausea that almost engulfed her subsided, the words of the Queen reached and registered in Lilac’s ears, “... and you will continue with your duties in raising the sun upon my new Changeling Empire or else your precious Equestria will slip into a dark and moonless wasteland!” There was a sneering laugh that made goosebumps creep all over Lilac’s coat as Queen Chrysalis continued, “Of course, you know your power would affect us Changelings... but not as strongly as it would your precious, little ponies, and I think you’d rather not risk that, Princess.”   Lilac followed the direction Queen Chrysalis was looking at and finally saw her; Princess Celestia. The Princess stood as proudly as she could against the tyrannical invader but her tears betrayed her hard and narrowed eyes... tears that portrayed everything that threatened Lilac’s being since the start of the invasion: defeat, despair and submission. Something snapped within her, then, and she fell on her hooves in despair, pushing the double doors open with her fall.   Both Princess and Queen turned to look down at her where she had fallen and started to cry silently but the solar princess and changeling queen, looked up when a voice spoke; a voice that no longer wheezed, “I almost embraced the faith that there is hope for us still, Princess Celestia! I was ready to see Lilac’s conviction to the end!”   Arbellason’s form slowly started to change, starting from his hooves and slowly up, as he continued, “A leader cannot choose to submit; only resist to the bitter end.” The hissing stutter he had adopted in his disguise ebbed away, his words carried on his own voice. “A leader cannot suffer the shame of defeat and you, my Princess, are not one!”   With the last of his words, his true form was revealed; it was not that he could not hold the spell any more but that he no longer saw a need for it. Indeed, his eyes appeared in their true shape with the three last words he spoke: hazel, cold, and cruel but with a fierce gaze shining within them that made Princess Celestia turn her head aside in shame.   It was Queen Chrysalis, however, that broke the silence when she addressed the colt before her with a dark sneer, “Hmm. If your shape remained unchanged, colt, I wouldn’t have recognized you as one of my changelings; cold-hearted as you are. What’s your name?”   “I have been called by many names and the knowledge of my true name is hardly of any importance to you, Changeling!”   At his words, Queen Chrysalis nearly broke out in maniacal laughter and spoke softly, a tone of voice much more frightening than any yell or scream, “Well well well. Such a fine specimen, you are, and a loyal subject to your own kind, no doubt. Such a shame that you could not be one of my own.”   For a few moments, she gazed at Arbellason, who stood proud, then to Lilac, who silently wept on the floor, and spoke to her first, “It seems your companion here does not share your sympathies,” and raising her head back to look Arbellason in the eyes, “Still, you two will make excellent sources of food for my children. Guards!”   At her call, Princess Celestia whipped her rainbow-maned head around and started forward but a venomous glare from Queen Chrysalis stopped her mid-step. Her lavender eyes reflected a horror only she knew of and plea came from her, “Please. No!” The Queen, however, shook her head with a chuckle and, at once, three bulky changeling guards landed between Queen Chrysalis and the two ponies. Lilac was simply lifted into the air by the glowing, and twisted, horn of the Queen and was thrown sideways to clear the path between the three menacing changeling guards and the colt whose look of pure defiance mixed with apprehension shone clearly in his eyes.   The magic tutorage of advanced curriculums touched upon the most complex of magic and spell matrices. It could not be denied, however, that the school environment of practical application was perhaps much too monitored and sheltered to maintain the safety of its students. This, of course, meant that Arbellason stood no chance at all as the three formidable-looking elite guards combined the glow of their twisted horns and sent a malignant, spear-like shot at the standing colt. Both Lilac and Princess Celestia surrendered to despair when the magic burst exploded upon impact. As the smoke rose at the door, Chrysalis snickered, “Oh well, it seems that he was worthless, after all...”   But the Queen hesitated.   A glimpse of something she did not expect glowed faintly before her and it were only moments later that the smoke cleared to reveal a sweaty-browed Arbellason with a sphere of dark evergreen matter surrounding him in a lattice of crisscrossing rays of opaque glow. It was for the first time, since the start of her well-planned invasion, that Chrysalis was intrigued. Impressive displays of magic were not new to her; after all, she had experienced the full and humiliating impact of one when the combined love of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence banished her and her troops from Equestria seven years ago. With a silent nod from her to the leader of her elite guard, the attack was renewed. Burst after burst of terrible poisonous green that was the evil magic of the changelings, were sent at Arbellason. Had the protective shield he cast been a mere protective charm, it might not have withstood such blasts had he not attached its source to his own strength and stamina.   That strength and stamina, however, was not that of an Earth Pony and even that has its limit as every blast that met the barrier took its toll on him. It was a sight to behold, at first, when the colt stood his ground against the blows, almost inspiring hope within Lilac but that did not last many moments as his knees started to shake again and his hind legs buckled to the ground. At that moment the shield flickered and an end was a certainty, a neighing screech issued, then, from within him.   Arbellason was enraged beyond any logical thought at the prospect of defeat. The tip of his horn glowed brightly at first, then started to cast bright green rays. A step forward was all that he took when a warm-purple, and thin, layer stopped his path and replaced the protective shield that had all but crumpled. His mad eyes searched all around for its source but, when his mind finally caught up with him, he looked down into the tear-ruined eyes of Lilac. It was she that ran before him when he screamed his mindless rage and conjured the deflective shield to prevent him from mindlessly attacking a queen of unparalleled magic. Both mare and colt looked at each other through the purple shield but while he stood there, stunned at what he suspected was her intention, her lips formed the word her tongue could not utter, “Go!”   Arbellason stood rooted to the floor there for a few moments more as he gazed at her numbly but that made her scream at him, “Go! Run, Arbellason! Leave this place, save yourself before all is lost!”   With her yells resonating through his ears, he turned his back to her and galloped out. A short scream and a following gallop told him that Lilac could not hold off the guards and that he was being closely pursued by them. Surrounded by the changelings in their own territory, he was greatly at a disadvantage and so he ran fast and hard through the corridors, out to the castle’s courtyard, and into the streets. The guards that stood at the entrance gaped when a bronze blur passed them by. The shout of their leader, who was still on Arbellason’s tail, moved them into pursuit of the runaway. Ruined houses and shops sped by and several blockades came across his path to the city’s gates. Several times, he tried to use his magic to teleport himself elsewhere but a dizzying sensation ruined his senses whenever his horn started to glow, engulfing his mind and telling him that he had not the energy nor the stamina to do so. In the end, he found himself at the edge of the city; a balcony overlooking the forest at the base of the mountain.   It was a lovely place he knew so well from his solitary walks around the city, where many a romantic relationship bloomed but the balustrade on the edge was broken in several places and barely standing. The white marble had blackened marks at the broken edges and floor tiles; evidence of evil blasts of magic. Arbellason was panting hard when he reached the balcony but the tell-tale buzzing sound told him that he was no longer alone. Dread crept inside the jumble of his thoughts and hopelessness, for the first time, threatened him.   A flash went through Arbellason’s mind; a flash of defiance and blazing anger that cleared his mind enough for him to remember to breathe. On that balcony, Arbellason closed his eyes and took a deep breath. An untamed gust of wind played at his unruly mane and felt to him as if to clear away the fogginess that engulfed his mind but his reverie was not allowed to last when the changeling leader yelled at the assembled changelings, five including himself, to attack.   At once, Arbellason’s eyes opened and his glowing horn carried him a mere inch above the ground and instantly moved him sideways. Five shots of the wicked changeling magic crisscrossed just where he was standing but the changeling bullies, who were so engrossed in their own mean aura, gulped and took a step back when Arbellason turned his head to them to reveal blazing eyes. It was in that one moment, when they gaped at him in their fear, that his horn quickly glowed then brightly shone and a turbulent gust of wind swept the five of them and swatted them hard against a wall and, one by one, they fell to the floor unconscious.   Arbellason, never pushed beyond his limits before, allowed himself to close his eyes and rest his senses. He felt on the verge of losing himself when a buzzing sound invaded his ears once again and, opening his eyes slowly, he saw none other than the Changeling Queen with an entire regiment behind her landing on the floor not far from where her elite guard and their leader lay out-cold. They all had the same menacing looks on their eyes as they cornered the exhausted Arbellason. Queen Chrysalis, after gazing with slight wonder at her unconscious guards, adopted what she thought was a motherly tone to her rather callous voice and spoke, “My, my, my. You’re quite the specimen of latent magic... Arbellason, was it? Why don’t I make you an offer that’s simply too good to resist.” The silky tone felt as enticing as a glass water in the middle of a scorching desert. “Surrender of your own free will, join my elite guard and I will personally make sure that you are made amiably comfortable.” There was a small pause and, as they gazed at each other, Queen Chrysalis’s cat-like eyes curved themselves into lustrous and bewitching bright jewels as she continued, her horn faintly starting to glow, “Though if you choose to refuse... well, I’d be rather heartbroken to say the least...”   At the innuendo, something shifted within Arbellason as he gazed at the entrancing green eyes. A certain feeling started to invade him; one he thought that he buried long ago. His breath became shallow and horror invaded him as he gazed into the glowing green slits of Queen Chrysalis. He was certain that she was trying to entrance him with her alluring words as her offer to him all of a sudden started to appeal to him. Truth be told, was it really such a bad thing to become a Queen’s personal guard? Was it really so horrible to... become one with her?   “Set yourself free...”   These words crossed his mind and lingered for a sliver of a moment. He could not begin to understand what they meant nor remember who said them to him in the first place.   “Set yourself free. Vanquish your own demons, brother.”   The same words whispered through his thoughts again but, this time, they were accompanied by the mental image of a gently-smiling face with milky, white eyes... those of a blind sister he said goodbye to before he left for Equestria. A tear escaped his eye when he tried so hard to hold that memory yet it was not meant to last as, with a tremendous shock, he returned to his own mind to realize that he had taken a step towards the Queen in acceptance.   His breathing quickened then eased a bit whilst his heart, which almost numbed at her bewitching words, twitched painfully within his chest. Cold numbness, that was nothing less than bliss to him, invaded his being once again yet, as he raised his eyes to those of Chrysalis’, hers were fuming with rage. She knew, as she looked at the deep hazels, that her subtle spell was broken by a fiercer love that protected this colt from her charm but, as a the Queen who brought forth the end of Equestria, the rejection was far more than she can handle and so she reared on her hind legs and struck the ground hard where she came down on her front hooves.   At once, green fires erupted from her hooves in two directions that encircled the balcony upon which he stood. Arbellason was only allowed a moment of confusion when the green fires started to move across the edges of the white marble tiles of the floor and in his direction. His fears were ascertained when Queen Chrysalis spoke in a harsh and thunderous voice, “It was foalish of you to reject my offer, you little whelp! I would have made sure you did not suffer but now, it seems that your folly will be your own demise! Though don’t worry; the one who has their faith in you will only suffer a small portion of your humiliation once we are through here!”   But what the mercilessly-laughing queen did not realize that she had touched upon the one sensitive issue that would enrage his heart. The fear she saw reflected in his eyes was so instantly forgotten and replaced by a fiercer one for the idea of Andromeda, his young sister, falling into the evil schemes of Queen Chrysalis enraged him beyond rational thought. At once, Chrysalis’s laugh ended abruptly as the balcony started to shake with the glowing horn of Arbellason but his inflamed eyes opened wide in horror when he remembered the standard Form-Keeping Charm placed upon the city.   It was not long ago that he studied this particular matter in the class ‘Modern History’ when Princess Celestia placed one powerful spell above the city to keep its elegance and form intact and protected against the decay that befall cities with the passage of years. Of course, evil magic can be twisted to defy this spell and leave a nasty and blackened trace of destruction, which was what Arbellason so carelessly neglected to structure, in his burst of rage, when he intended to make the floor explode below the Queen’s hooves and send her back where she came from.   The spell, so innocently cast by Princess Celestia many years ago, served to work as a protective shield for the city when the very floor below him violently shook and then exploded. Arbellason felt as if his very breath was knocked out of him as he was forcefully thrown backwards with chunks of marble flying all around him, into him and over the balustrade. With his heart beating fast and his thoughts in a race, it felt to him nothing less than a slow-moving dream when he lost the feel of the ground below his hooves and his body started to fall from the high mountain of Canterlot. It dawned upon him, then, that he truly was defeated; that there was no longer the hope for defiance against those who defiled the one home he had had since he left the sand mounds of Saddle Arabia to the green fields of Equestria. As the forest sped in his direction, a simple thought passed through his fading mind that he still must survive; a thought that made a life’s difference to him, perhaps, when a small sphere formed around his falling body, which was all the strength he had left, before he was claimed by the oblivion. > Chapter 7: Shade's Home > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- For the first time in her life, Gold knew the life of a homeless mare. She knew it because she was forced to turn tail from her home in the village she had the loveliest times of her life in. Forced to abandon her home, friends, and family with the only pony she managed to save walking almost drunkenly beside her in the haze of sadness that engulfed both of their hearts. They had spent a long time watching their homes being consumed by the ravaging creatures that were the changelings, it all almost felt surreal. Alas their departure was inevitable and with the sunset soaking the skies in a deep, loathsome crimson, their terrible daydreams had to be set aside and their way into the darkness of the Everfree Forest began. So it was with heavy hearts that the two mares left their home town behind. Neither the pale orange nor the dark grey mare spoke to each other after their quick introduction as they staggered onward with neither having a clue of their a heading for them to follow. Neither one of them could bring themselves to look the other in the eye without being reminded of what they have lost back home. So, in unspoken agreement, they had decided on heading north without having a true destination in mind. Although this was not entirely true; in both their minds, they had played with the idea of going to Canterlot. With the nation’s capital only a full two days’ trot away from Ponyville, their minds gleaned what little hope they could muster for a refuge that they would find. Regardless, they feared to hang on to any slight chance that might so easily pop up, so the notion only remained an idle reflection behind the agonizing darkness that surrounded them. All in all, the whole world looked like a bleak wasteland beyond the surrounding woodland. At least, the forest that surrounded them helped mask a portion of their despair in a facade of peace at quiet. Somewhere in the forest, however, Purple Shade halted mid-step. A caressing breeze kicked up a few dead leaves and brushed past the wandering duo out of the blue, and Shade, seemingly awaken from a trance, letting her keen senses take over. She appeared to be waiting for a sign. Her ears twitched back and forth in an effort to catch anything beyond the slightest whisper of the wind-swept evening. Even her sense of smell seemed to be picking up something wafting in the air as a ghost of a smile snuck its way onto her muzzle. Gold, looking at her companion who had stopped abruptly and was now several feet behind her, asked with a tilted head, “Hey! Are you ok?” Dreamily, Shade turned her head forward again to look upon the mare that accompanied her. She appeared to have tuned the rest of the world out and her gaze had such a purely-relieved intensity in it that took Gold aback, considering all that they have been through already. She replied simply, “I know these woods. I walked right back home without even noticing!” That was all Shade managed to say before her hooves began to guide her on the path that she had trotted more times than she could count. “Wait! Where are you going?” Gold called after, fearful to disturb what might roam the forest that she was now being led deeper into. Purple Shade, however, did not answer. She just kept moving faster in an odd eagerness that seemed to possess her being. Gold Star simply had no other choice; having no idea where the pegasus was going, she allowed herself to be led by the mare and fell complacently into line behind her. She had to admit, she did not expect such a petite looking mare such as Purple Shade to possess the speed at which she navigated the woods unabated. Something surprisingly caught her attention. She was not sure, but it almost sounded as if Purple Shade was whispering to herself, occasionally stopping and looking around her, seeming to make sure that she was following the right path to someplace only she knew. Gold watched with a sense of curiosity as to where the mare before her was leading them, letting her new found friend lead without complaint. Gold’s patience was rewarded, ten minutes of silent trotting later. Purple Shade paused at a line of underbrush that obscured the view beyond. Gold tried to see past it, but the overwhelming darkness of the moonless night offered her little to no favors. It did not bother her much, for it was then that Shade turned back to Gold with a serene smile. Gold finally asked, a bit hesitantly, “Shade, where are we? Why are we here?” Shade, with a radiating smile still upon her cheeks, answered, “Because just beyond this fern line is my home!” “Your home?” Gold Star asked, blinking in confusion at the fern line that was not big enough in any manner to conceal a house, let alone a small cottage. Purple Shade pulled her attention back, answering brightly, “Yeah, my mother raised me out here by herself. I’m sure she’s still here, and if I know her, she’ll have some supplies we can collect to continue on to Canterlot. Come on.” Gold would have liked to have asked more questions about Shade’s ‘old home’, but the enthusiasm of the mare before her at the prospect of meeting with her mother robbed her out of any will she had to ask. Shade, seeing the acceptance on Gold’s tired features, threw the underbrush aside to offer a better view of the place in which she felt and experienced her first taste of happiness. But, in that one instant, that happiness crumbled faster than a castle made of sand against the ocean. Gold Star went pale, her eyes widening in shock. As much as she wanted to run away, she couldn’t. She was simply paralyzed in a fear that gripped her heart like the cold hoof of death itself. Her fear-locked eyes were fixed on the cave before here, but to her, the cave was like the giant, gaping maw of a creature made entirely of stone. The few stalactites and stalagmites at the front of the cave resembled gnashing, razor sharp teeth with shadows that danced along the top of the formation to form dark, hollow eyes of nothingness; enhancing the frightening hold this creation of nature imprinted upon Gold’s quivering heart. Purple Shade was still on and about to enter the cave when a glance sideways made her double back. She could not quite understand what made the pony beside her seem so frightened, so she asked, “Um, are you alright? You don’t look so good.” But the mare simply did not seem to hear the question, so Purple Shade asked once again in a raised voice, “Gold! What’s the matter? Is something wrong?” For certain measure, she followed Gold’s gaze deep into the cave to see if she had missed something that might have frightened her companion. It took her several moments to show any response, and when she answered, it was with a shaky voice that she spoke without taking her eyes off the cave and it’s formidable-looking entrance, “Y-yeah, I’m just- your home isn’t that d-deep, dark cave... is it?” “Huh?” Shade intoned as she looked from the cave and back to Gold. Seeming to not quite get the cause of Gold’s distress, so she supplied uncertainly, “I know it really doesn’t look like much... Mom never liked cities or even small communities for that matter. So she lives out here and collects herbs.” Purple Shade had such a reassuring smile as she turned her head one way and the other in her search for her mother, “She used to live in a village somewhere, but she left it... I’m not sure why, but I think it has to do with her...manners.” Distracted from the formidable view of the cave’s entrance, Gold asked, “Because of her manners? How do you mean?” Raising her head and looking back, Shade spoke with a bright glint to her eyes and a slightly-raised voice, “Oh don’t worry, what I meant was her manners aren't the problem... she is the most elegant and refined pony I ever met.” “Then what is it exactly? No, wait.” Gold shook her head at her insensitive question and supplied, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be so direct. If you say your mother prefers her privacy, then I won’t pry.” But Purple Shade chuckled in return and shook her head, “No no; it’s okay. Mom doesn’t have the same view on personal space as others. When I first met her here in this forest, she just walked up to me and rubbed her head against mine. It was her way of saying ‘hi’ because she can’t speak correctly. I guess some ponies don’t like being intruded upon the way she does... Which is only a shame, because they only get to miss what a lovely pony she is!” It was the longest speech Gold had heard from Shade, and she could not interrupt the silence that followed. The depth of the emotions she could feel coming from Shade towards the inhabitant of the cave made it seem less scary to her and she even amazed herself when she caught herself thinking of getting inside and paying the motherly pony a visit. Indeed, encouraged by the upward curve of Shade’s lips, Gold was smiling at the devotion she heard in the mare’s voice for her mother-figure. But her smile faded when she realized that the glint in Shade’s eyes was not one of bright memories passing through her mind, but of unshed tears that accompanied the tender smile as she continued, “When I first met her, she wouldn’t let me sleep by myself. I was... Cold; cold at heart when I first came here. I was shunned from my home, and she just took me in. At night, I would lay on the ground and she would be there right next to me when it was time to sleep with a comforting nuzzle. Everything I am today is because of her generosity to the outcast that I was.” Gold Star simply had more questions to ask. The few words that slipped Shade’s tongue hinted at a past that was... painful, and Gold simply could not stand anything that caused ponies pain and heartache, but she was thankful that there, somewhere deep within the forest, was a mare with a heart to take a pony, not even her child and chase away the pain that haunted this mare’s life. Shade seemed incapable of holding her sad emotions for long, for she exposed her white, sparkly teeth in another masking smile. “So, don’t worry. Knowing her, I’m sure she’ll be more than happy to welcome a new guest. I’ll bet she even has something to help you out, you really look awfully pale.” Gold could only wistfully nod in response. She was still not entirely listening to the other mare but knew she had at least give some form of response. Hesitantly, she took a hoofstep forward, encouraging herself. Come on, Gold, it’s just a cave… A cave that could have another one of those things. Gold Star tried to coax herself into braving her fear, but that was a greater chore than she first estimated, and harder still was the effort she spent to not outright scream out in fright and suffer under fits of uncontrollable shaking. Purple Shade, on the other hoof, was quite oblivious to all of Gold’s hardships; already she was at the mouth of the less-than-homey looking refuge. Still wearing a pleasant smile, she gazed upon every little crack and crevice that made the cave unique in its own way. As with all caves, of course it was a little dank and sometimes carried in a bit of a draft during the winter months, but she could have cared less about how it looked; she would still call it home no matter what because her mother made it so to her. The happy days she lived in this cave flashed across her eyes like a film and even the gentle fragrances and herbal scents that she had come to associate with her mother seemed to linger in her nostrils no matter where she went. With an expectant grin upon her face, Purple Shade tapped her hoof against one side of the cave’s entrance as if it were the front door; a little habit she picked up for when she would return home from her strolls and visits. “Mother, I’m home!” Shade called out pleasantly and listened to the echo reverberating off the interior of the hollow. Though the echoes ended deep within and no answer came back. She waited, more time passing in silence, and Purple Shade started to feel unease. A bit odd, Purple Shade thought. Her mother must either be outside collecting rare herbs and flowers that blossom under the pale light of the stars or asleep inside from a long day’s work. What gnawed on her thoughts the most though was the absence of the torch that always lit the cave’s entrance to guide those who might find themselves lost within these woods, but Purple Shade pushed these paranoid thoughts to the back of her head with a mental shrug that her mom might have been too tired to relight it tonight. She was worried, yes, but she decided to disperse her worries by crossing the threshold and going deeper into the cavern to seek her answers. Gold Star on the other hoof, lagged behind. Very far behind. Despite her earlier resolve to act neighborly and meet the mare’s mother, she could not set one hoof closer to the place that was, to her trembling thoughts, nothing less than a deathtrap. Her silent horror increased almost tenfold as she watched the midnight black mare disappearing into the bowels of the omnipotent darkness of the cave. She wanted to cry out to her, shout for her not to go in, but otherwise held her silence. A terrible wave of nausea washed over her and made her sway on her hooves; she just could not stand to look at the place any longer and averted her eyes to the ground. The cave was still there; she couldn’t fool herself by thinking otherwise, but the aversion helped to fight the more potent effects of the fear that gripped her. Taking one deep breath after another, Gold managed to hold herself steady and not spill her stomach before her. She decided to try focusing on something else. Surely there was something around for her to study to keep her mind occupied. She examined the ground, picking out every little piece that lay in the dirt; a pebble, a few dried out leaves, a hoofprint… “A hoofprint?” wondered Gold in a loud whisper. It was not strange at all to see a fresh hoofprint but it seemed a bit odd for the mark on the grass to be leading outward instead of in at such a late hour. Again, not a strange occurrence but there were even more not far from it going in the same direction; more than what would suggest a place being as isolated as Shade suggested. Cautiously, she continued to follow the trail that led into the woods and felt a twinge of apprehension. With the new-found sense of anxiety taking hold of her mind, Gold reluctantly trotted forward to get a better view of the scene. There were well over a dozen sets of prints, some even a bit dug in or scuffed up, as if there was skirmish. “What happened here?” Gold whispered, speaking more to the hoofprints than to herself, wondering if they would somehow answer back and yield the answer. She moved around in search for anything that might guide her thoughts to the truth. On closer inspection, she found a small number of broken twigs and even what looked like an extinguished torch a couple yards away near the tree line. Daring to get just a tiny step closer, something that gave off a faint glint caught her eye in the dirt. Brushing away the debris, she found something she thought she’d hope to not see for a very long time. It may have been only a piece, but the fairly translucent wing tip of a changeling lay before her like a poisonous snake baring its fangs, ready to strike and sweep everything away into darkness. > Chapter 8: Home's Gone > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deep within the cave, Shade trotted until she reached the end and took a sharp turn to the right. The candles were lit to illuminate the interior; it was basically a giant burrow in the rock formation, but Shade never saw it that way. Off to her left was the ‘bedroom’; a fresh pile of grasses used as bedding marked the area where she would sleep with her mother. Just to the right of that was the ‘living room’; marked by the picture frames, ones that her mother had made herself, sitting atop of a couple boulders carved into stands. Directly in front of them were makeshift cushions of grasses to mark the entirety of the living space. Set squarely in the center of it all was what she knew as the ‘dining room’; the hoof-carved, lacquered oak table sat just as pristine as the day her mother carved the thing herself. She always wondered where she had learnt such a wide repertoire of skills to craft such things to make their humble, little hovel into a cozier household. Now that she thought about it, Shade had never really thought to ask, a small pang of regret catching her by surprise. At the moment, she came back from her little stupor to check the rest of the lodgings, feeling quite disconcerted that her mother had yet to show herself since she arrived, Purple Shade digressed as her attention was brought to the far right wall of the cave where the ‘kitchen’ was. In that one moment, the cave felt a lot colder than it should have; Shade had to double-take just to make sure she was not dreaming. There, lying just above the water basin was her mother’s favorite lime-green headband. The mere sight of that headband laying there all by itself caused greater alarms to sound in her head than the ones she had earlier that day. A mere gaudy trinket to anypony else; the headband was an exquisite possession that her mother cherished. That was what left a glaring fact that Shade repeated her mind: She’d never leave the cave without her headband. So why was it that she was nowhere to be found when the headband was still there? “Mother?” Shade called out, her voice almost hitching, “Mother!” But no reply came to either of her pleas. This wasn’t right, this wasn’t making any sense. She tried to fight back tears as she cried again, this time loud enough for her voice to reverberate off the cave’s interior. “Mom, where are you?!...MOM?!” --o0o-- In the meantime, outside in the woods, Gold had just found another piece of a changeling’s iridescent wing wedged in the dirt. She didn’t like the looks of this, she was absolutely sure that the pieces of the wings belonged to a changeling. She needed only look at the thing to hear the errant drone of the flying menaces and their ominous, chittering laughter. Gold looked toward the cave where her companion had so casually waltzed into. For all she knew, the changelings had already been here, or even worse, they were still there. Gold had to warn the other mare, but just glancing in the general direction of the cavern sent an icy chill down her spine that prevented such action. She would most likely have to shout from the mouth of the cave to draw Shade out to meet her, but just before she could build up the courage to move closer to the cave opening, a hollow echo came from the dark abyss. “Mom, where are you?!...MOM?!” With that terrified call, Purple Shade burst from the darkness looking as if she had just witnessed the invasion of Ponyville all over again. Gold tried to approach her and calm her, but the midnight mare merely sidestepped her and dashed about in a frenzied, somewhat vain search for what Gold suspected was lost as well. There was a lime green headband firmly clenched in her teeth, but that did not lessen the note of distress in Shades voice as she cried, “Mom! Mom, where are you?!” It was the most desperate, heart-wrenching plea that Gold had ever heard in her life. In many ways, she could relate more than well-enough to the anguish the mare before her felt. It was like watching Shade witness the events that unfolded herself once again... having no way to prevent it even now. With a heavy heart and the knowledge that it was only a matter of time before harsh reality asserted itself against the grieving mare, Gold did the only thing she could do. “Shade...” But Shade shunned the call to her and persisted in her forlorn search. Gold took a few steps closer to the mare until she blocked her path and looked deeply into her eyes, “Shade, I know this is difficult right now but y-” But  Purple Shade pushed past the pale yellow pegasus, cutting her off as she desperately tried to hold at bay the onslaught of sorrow, “No, don’t say that! S-she’s here! She’s just getting more water from the river.” But she only sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than anything. Gold, on the other hoof was not about to let this self-inducing anguish continue. “Listen to me, Shade,” Gold reasserted herself, “I know you don’t want to believe it, Shade, but I... think your mother might already be beyond our reach. Look!” Gold had already brought forth the pieces of iridescent wings and carapace-like armor that she had been carrying, “I found these scattered around, along with a bunch of hoofprints dug into the ground...” Shade’s eyes welled up, a shaky hoof reaching out to the evidence gathered against her hopes. Gold could already see her words sinking within the mare’s heart in the tears that she shed, so she amended, “I’m sorry, Shade.” The walls came down with these simple words. Every kindling of hope was extinguished and all that remained was a weeping mare burying her muzzle into the only welcoming hooves for miles. Gold could only offer soothing tones to calm her devastation as she wept like a foal. She could not judge her for falling apart at such a stressful time. Indeed how could she do anything apart from sympathize with the distressed mare’s plight; her mother, and possibly her only relative, was now in the hooves of creatures so vile that they made Nightmare Moon’s revival look mundane. But Purple Shade was not only crying over her loss; she seemed quite adamant on blaming herself for everything that took place in the course of this infamous day. She spoke between her gasps and sobs, “It-it’s all my f-fault. If-if I were here, I could have- I could have...” For the second time in this day, Gold was forced to be the strong one. It was not by any means uncommon for her as she was a mother, for a great part of a mother’s duty was to take the sad and quivering hearts of her children right into hers when she, herself, wanted to surrender to the despair like what had engulfed her since the loss of her village, home, and children on this fateful day and cry until her eyes dried. So it was Gold, with a steely tone to her voice that she adopted to hide the troubled myriad of emotions swirling within her, spoke firmly, “Shade, it’s not your fault.” “Yes it is! I could have saved her, if I was here-” persisted Purple Shade stubbornly, but her words were cut by Gold’s. “If you were here, you would probably be in the hooves of the changelings right now! You and your mother would be lost together in what horrible fate she suffers now!” “B-but what if that’s not true...What if I was here and saved her?” Shade persisted, though feebly this time, as if the events of this day finally caught up and took their toll upon her body. Yet, at her question, Gold held her breath. Similar words had passed through her mind as she left Ponyville to escape with a complete stranger: What if she had made the decision to remain in the town? Would she have been able to escape with her family and maybe even save others as well? Would she have been captured had she stayed? Or for that matter; where would this mare be had it not been for Gold Star? She would have been spirited away like all others, Gold thought to herself. Gold Star’s tearful eyes closed as these simple words passed through her mind. Saving Purple Shade was the hardest decision that she had ever faced in her life, and she knew she would never be able to live with it unless she was able to make it count for something. She had wondered ever since the attack, as she bolted from Ponyville with Purple Shade fast on her heels, if anypony would save her children just as she had saved somepony else’s child. In the time that Gold Star was having her mental debate, Purple Shade had been staring up into the other mare’s face, waiting for her answer. The great pause did not bode confidence, and Gold caught the deteriorating flicker of the final hope left in the young mare’s eyes, but she would not let that final glow of hope fade away into the darkness because of her. Walking to sit right next to Shade, Gold placed one wing around her shoulders and spoke in her gentlest voice, “Shade... I believe this is fate’s way of telling us that this is our second chance at setting things right. Our survival might only seem like a stroke of luck, but we did survive. We need to make this count for something. Had we stayed in Ponyville, or had you stayed here with your mother, we might not be here right now. I promise that we will save our families, we have to. Do you know why?” “Why, Miss Gold?” Asked Shade with a sniff. And, with her most winning smile, one that defeated the stubbornness of any foal that ever came before her, Gold answered, “Simply because we have nothing else to lose.” With a light hearted chuckle, Gold got up, and chided, “Oh, and in the future, just call me ‘Gold’ like all my friends do. There is no need for formalities between us now.” Shade sniffed, but she also gave Gold a watery smile in return; accepting the terms of the new friendship that solidified between them. It had been a hard and exhausting evening for both of them. Old wounds still so fresh had been reopened, and now they would have to face a new challenge: coming up with their next move. In all honesty, they wanted nothing more than to just quit and find a relatively peaceful shelter, but they could not risk remaining quite so near to a place that had just been attacked and robbed of its one inhabitant. What was more is that there was no telling if the changelings were still around, searching the area for more victims, so both mares agreed to leave the place that was Shade’s home. Just as they started to move and re-enter the forest, Shade yelled, “Wait!” At the shout, Gold nearly jumped into the air in fright. When she realized that it was not something dangerous, she gave Shade such a withering stare that made Shade smile sheepishly and flash white teeth in apology. “Sorry. Let me just go get something quick.” And before Gold had time to argue against the other pegasus’ decision, she disappeared into the cave. Once again, Gold cringed slightly at having to watch the young mare delve back into the less-than-homely looking home. Gold waited, her heart starting to reach a faster tempo with each passing second. As much as she wanted to go in to make sure her companion was faring well, her deadlocking-fear would not allow it. In the end, she was forced to wait in solitude for the time being, however excruciatingly painful it was. She shuffled back and forth on her hooves, hoping that every shadow that flickered beyond the cave’s entrance was Shade and not some inexplicable evil waiting to ambush her just as it had many years ago. Gold Star shook her head; she was edgy as it is without the added memories to magnify her plight, yet one minute passed and then another. Two went by, then five, and still no sign of Shade from deep within the bowels of dark cavern. Gold bit down hard on her lower lip; she did not like how long it was taking, but just before she could start screaming at the top of her lungs, as if on cue, there was the dark coated pegasus mare emerging from the cave with no discernible injuries, not even a scratch. Gold let a breath she had not realized she had been holding and trotted over to the other mare with only a trace of annoyance in her tone. “Thank goodness you’re alright. What took you so long?” Gold Star demanded. Shade flushed with embarrassment and mumbled apologetically, “I was getting a few supplies.” She showed off a somewhat-worn saddle bag she had securely draped over her back before speaking on, “Mother always keeps a few saddlebags packed with essentials after the last few ponies that ended up here got lost in the woods.” Carefully unclasping the front buckle on the bag, Shade sifted through its contents until she retrieved what she was looking for and took it out to show Gold. There was a hoof-drawn map of the area, a compass, a set of fire-starting tools, a hefty length of rope, and a dozen pieces of fresh fruit. “She always used to tell me, in her silent way, that the woods were like a maze to the wingless.” Shade mirthlessly chuckled at her own joke as she gazed fondly at the trace of her mother’s hoof, “Mom always marked out Ponyville and a few well known landmarks so travelers to find easily on the map." Turning her head at Shade’s, Gold spoke gently, "She sounds like a wonderful and caring pony." "She was the first pony who cared about me for who I am.” Shade nodded, nearly crying again as she started to stuff the supplies back into the saddlebag with precision. Gold stood amazed at how the small satchel-like bag could fit so much, but while Shade was hard in her work, Gold caught the faint glimmer of something lime-green before disappearing behind the rope and food. She now knew exactly why the saddlebag was so important, and not so much for the supplies themselves. She held herself against objecting to the extra load; she could only guess how valuable it was for Shade to keep a token of farewell from the one home she had with the mother whom she might never see for a long time... If ever. As Shade rose and swung the saddle bag across her back, she avoided Gold’s gentle gaze so as not to show the troubled thoughts that still haunted her, but Gold proved such a perceptive companion as she walked in front and gently instructed as she entered the darkness of the forest’s canopy. “Come on, Shade. We need to get to a safer place” “But where to?” Purple Shade asked. She had her head slightly lowered and stretched forward while her star-reflecting eyes looked up to Gold Star. Gold suggested, “To Canterlot. I have been mulling over this for a while. It’s a few hours run to the East and I just want to make sure…” At the silence, Shade saw a troubled look within Gold’s star, so she voiced the suspicion that was growing within her as well, “Do you think that the changelings... reached Canterlot?” Much too quickly, Gold responded with a shaken chuckle, “No, they couldn’t manage to take control of it several years ago. Besides, it would be safer there with the princesses and all. Come, We have a long way ahead of us.” Shade saw the doubt written clearly upon Gold’s features, but she decided to drop the discussion. She only had hope, after all; that, and the company of the mare who now led her away from her beloved home into the wilderness of the forest. > Chapter 9: Family's Missing > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Azure and Wind Scribe streaked over the treetops making a beeline for the tallest peak of the mountain range ahead of them. They had been flying for the past few hours, constantly on alert and heading for the northern border of Canterlot. "Can we... stop for a moment? I need to... catch my breath..." Wind Scribe managed to pant out. "Sure... I need to... as well," Azure responded in a similar state. Simultaneously, their gazes turned downward as they scanned the wood below for an easy place to land. Their effort paid off as they came across a clearing, a few large boulders dotting the open space. With the ease of well-accustomed fliers, they flittered to the ground and sank to their haunches, breathing hard. “Oh man, my wings are aching,” Azure tentatively gave his wings a flap, feeling the tired muscles protest to the abuse, and panted, “How long... have we been... flying?” Among his various studies, Wind Scribe studied up the reading of celestial bodies for an accurate read on time and location during flights. With a sigh, he managed to deduce the current time and came up with an answer. “A couple hours... Three, to be more accurate. I believe we’re just upon the northern border of Canterlot so I think we can take a moment to rest.” “Way ahead of you.” The light blue pegasus flopped to the ground. He relished in the relief of his wings lying limply by his side, letting them have the rest they deserved. Opening one eye, he watched Wind Scribe do the same, though in a little more dignified fashion. From his position on the ground, Wind Scribe observed a line of ants scurrying back and forth along a path they had predetermined, however long ago that was. For a moment, he was content to just watch the blissful ignorance of the simple creatures carry out their life jobs, but this trail of thoughts led him back to his; to the job and life that were stolen from him so swiftly that it had jarred his very soul. How he wished for this blissful ignorance himself, to never know this tearing feeling tugging at his heart... it was all he wanted at that moment. Azure glanced sideways at the gray-coated pegasus to his right, an empty, solemn stare into space dulling his green eyes. He could feel the despair emanating from the stallion and simply had to pull the older stallion out of what pool of misery he was sinking into. So he spoke, albeit a wee bit louder than intended, “Hey, Wind Scribe. You okay?” It was a flimsy question, but it was talk all the same, and it did seem to bring Wind Scribe back to Earth. He shook his head a bit and turned towards Azure, “Huh, did you say something?” Wind Scribe forced his lips to smile at Azure while the latter tilted his head slightly. He could tell that the young pony saw through the calm facade he tried to implant upon his face, and the question that was asked confirmed this. “You look worried... are you okay?” Again, Azure felt that his words and entire tone were feeble and out-of-place, but he voiced them anyway. “I’m fine,” he said, trying to smile harder, but the stutter that interrupted his word betrayed him, “I just- I just wish this was all just a dream. The Changelings, Cloudsdale; I feel like I’ll wake up any second now in my bed with just another pleasant day ahead of me.” Azure’s ears folded back in resignation; a gleam of understanding on his young face, “I hear ya, I was just about to ask this one filly out tonight—” Azure cut through his words quickly, realization dawning upon him as the words left his muzzle, and a harsh blush soon followed. Wind Scribe chuckled at the Azure’s reaction to his own words, Wind spoke gently to soothe the shy airs of the colt, “Trust me, there’s nothing shameful about thinking about mares. Tell me, who’s the lucky lady?” Azure wanted nothing more than to bury his head in the ground rather than talk about his love life, even with what little there was of it at least. After all, this small detail was a deeply-hidden secret that not even his best buddy, Frosty Mist, knew of, let alone to a complete stranger. Feeling cornered and with no hope to escape the explanation, he ventured on hesitantly, “Her name’s Daisy Chain. She’s a pegasus that worked in the Rainbow Division back in Cloudsdale. She’s unbelievably cute and a lot smarter than most ponies give her credit for. She was the one to cut down the scheduled work time it takes for rainbow fermentation by nearly an hour.” Wind Scribe was honestly impressed by this. Like many colts of this young age, Wind Scribe expected some form of blind crush on some scatter-brain pretty pony, but what was just confessed before him gave Wind Scribe a glimpse at what it was it that Azure saw in this mare. “How about you, you have a special somepony?” Asked Azure, a bit too innocently. Wind Scribe winced at the question that was meant to reflect back on him. He decided to give the colt enough mental space to breathe easily and regain his usual blue color back by answering, but the mere thought of the answer almost made him cringe again, “Yes, I have a wife. Her name is April Showers, and the two most wonderful foals in my life are Rosewing and Greendaze. They are the most important ponies in my life...” But the remainder of his words were only audible to Wind Scribe in the confines of his thoughts, “...I hope they are ok...” Azure could see that the conversation was drifting toward a touchy subject; the lines of heartache creasing the older stallion’s face, so Azure backtracked to a safer topic, “Uh, so you mentioned on the flight that you worked in the archives, right?” The change of topic was apparently much appreciated by the older stallion as he dropped back into the exchange, “Yes, the ‘Cloudsdale Weather Archives’, grand weather anomalies division.” “Wow, that must pretty interesting,” Azure replied enthusiastically; doing his best to keep them from straying down darker matters. “Not like most ponies would think.” Wind Scribe replied casually, “A lot of documentation and revisionary tasks and such. Though I love to read up on flight charts and Equestria’s weather history; I once was hoofed a scroll that needed a revision on the 4th century hail storm of Trottingham that nearly wiped the city off the face of the map. Back then, practical weather manipulation had not been perfected to the degree it is today, so pegasi were only able to guide small fronts of storms at a time while larger storms were left to their own accord.” Not wanting to elaborate more on that particular part of history nor the documents that detailed it as it brought acutely back the memories of when he first met his wife while searching for those files, Wind Scribe asked, “Tell me, you said you have a family in Canterlot?” “Yeah.” Answered Azure. “My twin sister’s a unicorn. She got a scholarship to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. My mom and dad were thrilled when she got it...” “But you weren’t?” Wind Scribe prodded, lowering his head slightly to gaze up at the troubled eyes of Azure as he went on. “I know it’s selfish, but I... I didn’t want her to leave. Of course, I wasn’t going to keep her from her dreams so, after she left, I tried to keep living life as if everything was normal at home but... It was anything but normal. Finally, after almost two months, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I packed up and left home too.” “At first, I left for Canterlot.” Azure continued after taking a deep breath, “Of course, I was able to see my sister up at the school, but it was really hitting my wallet hard. Most of the weather teams in the capitol are made up of unicorns, which was a surprise, so I had to leave with what little work there was for me. Not much later, I managed to pick up a job at the Cloudsdale Weather Factory and found an apartment nearby. It wasn’t too bad and I could go visit my sister every now and then when I saved up enough Bits. I finally felt like I could settle down, at least for the moment.” Wind Scribe could understand the young stallion’s words better than he knew, so as the silence stretched on, he volunteered to continue the conversation, “I was a lonely child once too...” Not wanting to fall back into the dark silence of his thoughts of the fall of Cloudsdale, so he went on, “And my family is all that I had… have, I mean.” “Oh, don’t worry.” Answered Azure, a bit too cheerfully to be entirely convincing, “It’s gonna be alright. Once we reach Canterlot, the Princesses will take action and restore Cloudsdale. I’m sure of it.” Wind Scribe smiled in return. He appreciated the young colt’s efforts to cheer him up, but he had to remind himself that he, as the older pony, should be the one to do the cheering-up business. So, to take the dark thoughts off his mind, he suggested, “I know we only just landed, but we best not stay here much longer. Those things might be looking for any stragglers they missed.” Azure nodded eagerly in return; quite happy that the older stallion took the lead as they oriented themselves towards the east and took off. Talking was better than sitting down in silence, but flying was even better for their morale, but they were not back in the air for long before they were taken unaware and attacked. “What the hay?!” It was Wind Scribe that caught first sight and felt a surge of adrenaline hit his system as he took a sharp bank to the left to avoid a direct collision with Azure. On the other hoof, Azure slowed down and turned to watch the incoming fireball. "Wait! I think that's... It is! Oh shoot, look out!" Azure yelled as the fireball blazed forth and started a tight arc just overhead. The fireball followed Wind Scribe adamantly as if determined to set him on fire, the scene putting Azure into a trance.  Wind Scribe flew in tight turns, short banks, steep dives and everything Azure knew of flight in his young life. Indeed, had the older pegasus not been quick and perceptive enough, he was sure that more than a few feathers would have been singed until the odd fire ball came to hover right before Azure. Wind Scribe felt a moment of fear for Azure as the fireball flapped before him and...wondered at that moment, flapping? He thought, Is that a bird? Wind Scribe slowly flew closer, and, as he did so, he noticed that the fireball was not round at all, nor did it resemble anything comet-like, but had wings and a beak. Further, closer inspection proved it to be a large, brightly colored bird, so he asked, "What is it?" and watched in awe of the light streaked avian. "It's Frederick," Azure replied simply, his eyes wondering at the bird that chirped before him. "Frederick?" Wind Scribe asked, “What’s a ‘Frederick’? I never heard it!” Azure was pulled out of his reverie and chuckled while he answered, “It’s his name. He’s a phoenix… my sister's phoenix.” The species of the creature finally clicked in his head. "Your sister has a pet phoenix?" asked Wind Scribe with increasing awe, “Your sister has a phoenix?!” The phoenix in question hovered gracefully between the two, cawing in a voice that was somewhat between a melody and a natural flow of the air itself while Azure answered with a small smile, "Yea, well... technically, he has her.” The light play at humor was lost on the older stallion as it was an inside joke that few knew, so he went on, “What I meant is that she found him when we were camping one time. He was only a chick when we found him and looked almost too sickly to do anything about. Though we stayed there a couple days after my sister pestered my father into taking care of the little guy, at least, ‘until his parents came back’. Of course my sister knew how to twist a hoof to get what she wanted, and after taking care of lil’ Freddy here, he followed us all the way back home. She's taken care of him and they’ve been inseparable ever since." “That’s... actually pretty amazing, I thought phoenixes were nearly solitary creatures,” Wind Scribe noted as he watched the fiery bird preen aimlessly through the golden feathers of his plumage. But what was first mistaken as a random feather care, proved to be something else entirely, for only moments later Frederick held out a folded, and somewhat slightly charred, piece of paper for Azure in his beak. The gesture appeared thoughtful, at first, and Wind Scribe couldn’t quite tell what the bird was doing with a scrap of paper in its talons, but the falling rays of sun silhouetting the faint crease lines showed him the dark outline of a letter. To Wind Scribe, it appeared that this day was not going to end its list of surprises any time soon, so he asked incredulously, "What? Your sister trained it to carry letters?" "Oh, no,” Azure laughed slightly, taking the folded piece of paper in his hoof, “She never trained him. He sorta' just... volunteered to do it." “So let me get this straight,” Wind Scribe counted on his hoof, “This phoenix, which belongs to your sister who acquired the said phoenix after giving it some care on a camping trip, just happened to decide to be your sister’s pet? Decides to deliver letters just because it wants to?” “Eeyup,” Azure said in a mock farmer like imitation for no apparent reason; feeling a bit frustrated with all the questions that carried the hint of incredulity and started to unfold the folded paper. As soon as his eyes had absorbed its contents, his expression plummeted faster than a pegasus robbed of its wings. A single weary breath escaped him. It felt like an icy breath of a hopeless winter that froze the blood through Wind Scribe’s veins when he felt the change that just descended upon the colt. He barked, "What? What is it? What does it say?" "I don't think...” Azure choked out, his eyes moving up from the page, “I don't think we're going to be able to get help from Canterlot," Azure finished. He appeared to be very near to a fainting spell as if the world had just ended in a blaze of cleansing fire. Wind Scribe took the paper into his hooves, smelling the faint traces of burnt parchment wafting off the edges of blackened paper. He would have reprimanded the phoenix for such a shoddy delivery, but he held the snide remark as he saw a single word written across the center of the page. It was obviously rushed, yet somehow still a neat calligraphy for all intensive purposes. A single word that encompassed all his fears since he had left Cloudsdale:            Changelings > Chapter 10: Snare > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Where did the moon go?” Night time was always the loveliest time for foals. It was at night that they built glowing castles and great ships sailing the dark seas of the star-studded sky with the stars that lined the dark blanket above. For the lone filly who raised her head to discern those stars she loved so much through an open patch in the canopy of the forest, they were no more fascinating without the great white orb that lit the dark-blue carpet that was the night sky. Tired and hungry from a long day’s trek, the lone unicorn filly slumped down on her belly at the foot of the river shore, the gravel shoreline crunching underneath her as she let a tiny saddle bag, bulgy on one side and flat on the other, slide from her back. Her name was Snare, a unicorn filly of six that might have blended well into the darkness had her coat been a bit more darker than the sky-blue one she had. Her eyes were heavy yellow that otherwise made her appear older than her true age. Her thoughts, as they have throughout the day, ran in circles; constantly switching from her time in the forest, to the incised yells that clawed at her ears then the ultimate decision that led her to the very spot she sat at now and back again. She no longer wanted to cry, nor could she cry had she had the urge to, for all her tears were long gone, leaving her eyes feeling as if they had sand in them, and she no longer cared if she wanted to be truthful to herself. Looking up at a starry sky might have offered her a little peace to ease her mind and settle her down for a moment before she had to find some shelter for the night, but no comfort came to her as she raised sad eyes to the sky to wonder, for the thousandth time, “Where did the moon go?!” Snare always found the night canvas to be a beautiful sight no matter how many times she looked up at it from the small window of her bedroom. All the stories her parents used to read to her, about the princess of night and how the said princess would carefully craft and weave the twinkling jewels into sky for everypony to see, flooded her mind with bliss despite her sickened heart. Snare remembered all the times she would stay up past bedtime just to gaze upon the blanket of stars, tracing shapes and inventing stories with the sparkling ponies her eyes and imaginative mind created; how she would eagerly await the setting of Princess Celestia’s sun to make way for the soft glow of the moon; announcing the start of another magical night to dream of and sleep peacefully under. Among the countless stories she knew by heart, one story in particular had always caught her attention; the tale of Nightmare Moon. Snare would scoff at the idea of a boogeymare that wanted nothing more than to plunge the world into an eternal darkness. Just as much as that it was Princess Luna herself that had vowed such a claim. ‘Not her!’ Snare would shout every time she heard this particular story, ‘Not the princess of the night!’. For it was an impossibility as far as she was concerned that such a benevolent ruler, much like her sister, would be so mean. Indeed, whenever she would hear any foal slandering Princess Luna with that ‘deceitful story’, she would go in on a quarrel with them to defend the princess she so much wished she would meet one day. How could she be so evil, after all, her nights were so gentle and her moon cast its silvery glow upon all of Equestria as it journeyed upon the trail of stars in the heavens, unlike the horrid stories of Nightmare Moon. Snare raised her head to the sky above and searched, for the hundredth time this night, for the moon. But all of that was irrelevant now as far as Snare thought at the moment, none of that truly mattered. All that she could think about was where she was going to find shelter for the night. The forest she had emerged from offered little in the ways of true shelter, and the constant echoes of wild animals deep within the forest shifted the little filly’s mind into unease. The river bank was a nice spot, and the trickling sounds the river made gave her a sense of security, but she was still smart enough to know that she should never leave herself completely exposed to the elements at night. Looking downstream in hopeful search, she saw nothing that even remotely looked like shelter and let out a heavy sigh of defeat. “At this rate I’d probably go around in circles...” She looked up to the sky again, calling upon another memory of her past. The memory was of one of her most favourite stories. A story she once read that said that Princess Luna would sometimes glide in a fierce glow like a star cast across the sky. These were known as ‘shooting stars’, or ‘wishing stars’. Once she found out about them, Snare would look to the sky in hope of seeing one that nopony had made a wish on already. Of course, these stars were few and far between, or so the book said, but this never deterred her from trying to find one and make a wish, so she looked up at the night sky once again in hope that tonight would be the one that she would catch a star shooting across the sky. One... two... ten minutes passed in silence as the young filly gazed at the starlit sky. She so much hoped she could see a star gliding across the sky so that she could whisper her dreams to it, but none came to view no matter how hard she gazed. “Luna must be busy tonight,” thought Snare, her will surrendering and her resolve fading. Indeed, Snare was about to rise to her hooves and pick up her single possession when it suddenly happened. Her eyes grew wide with wonder and her heart skipped a beat to a faster tempo. Just above the constellation Oriana, the Dragon Huntress, a streak of pure light zipped above, reflecting across the large orbs of her eyes. It was there and gone in less than a moment, but to the wishful Snare, it danced against the black canvas like a well versed recitalist. It was bright but with subtle shades of yellow and blue around the edges of a white, flaring center; truly one of the most beautiful scenes she ever saw in her young life. Snare was mesmerized by the view that flashed by that it took her a moment to remind herself that she needed to breathe after witnessing such wonder. With her senses finally catching up, Snare recited in her mind what she had read on how to wish upon a shooting star. Immediately, she closed her eyes, the trail of the shooting star still imprinted upon her eyelids. She had to be quick about it or else she would miss her chance as it would otherwise be claimed by somepony else, and now that she had it, she almost could not think of what to wish for. There was simply so much she had always wanted, and though they were not all toys and baubles, they all felt so petty now. But, quite as sudden as the shooting star itself, Snare knew; she knew exactly what she wanted, and a warm smile, a first this day, found it’s way to her face and pulled at her mouth. Exactly as she read in her beloved book, Snare focused solely upon her wish and recited three times in her mind, careful that the actual wish would not reach her lips. --o0o-- Snare waited. Her eyes were closed, yet her ears flickered in every direction, taking in everything in her surrounding. A soft breeze passed over her withers behind her mane, making her shiver slightly at it’s cold touch, but nothing beyond that stirred around her. Her eyes popped open and surveyed her surroundings: there was the river in front of her, the foreboding brush line of the forest behind her and another, equally foreboding brush line to the forest across the river from her, but aside from the sum of that, there was nothing else. Snare’s heart sank as did she to her haunches; did she do something wrong when making her wish? Maybe she only thought she saw the shooting star in the first place. After all, she was exhausted and her eyes were still sore from a day’s worth of tears. Another heavy sigh left the troubled filly as she made to pick her saddle bag back up for a fresh search to find refuge somewhere upstream that could house somepony as small as her. Or at least she would have, were it not for something that caught her eye as soon as she turned her gaze toward upstream. Even though it was dark up there and she could hardly see anything, the starry sky provided more than enough light for the filly to spot something laying a dozen meters up the shoreline from her, yet what caught her eyes was a faint glow that came from the mound-like shape. Snare was frightened; she did not know what could glow faintly like that, so she took one little step after another but only until she was halfway across that she realized that the shape was actually a pony slumped upon the river bank. Despite her increasing fear, Snare was not about to pass by the pony out of good conscious, and trotted over to them. She could see that it was a colt and that his coat is dark brown, but the darkness around her was nothing compared to the black he had for the mane that was splattered across his face. He was a unicorn, she could tell, but he appeared to have a somewhat exotic appearance to his features that she was sure that he could not be a pony that came from Equestria. Her eyes, however, simply passed over all that to the glimmering form upon the colt’s flank. It was then that she spotted the weak glow coming from his cutie mark, and her eyes lit up; it was a golden, four point star set in a luminescent, silver crescent moon. The faintly-glowing cutie mark had Snare transfixed for well more than a minute as she regarded each individual contour of the depiction. She felt like she was on top of the world and even let a small squeal of excitement and hopped to the river’s edge. Perching there on a small rock, Snare slowly sent one shaking hoof to the cutie mark that entranced her eyes, but a mere inch away from it, the faint glow simply flickered and was swept away as if the river took it away from her and left nothing but the now-dimmed colt. With her her unparalleled exhilaration turned to frustration, as if a real treat had been taken away from her, she realized something in her mind that made her poke at the unicorn’s cheek with her tiny hoof. “Hey!” the filly unicorn said, trying to rouse the unconscious colt, “Mr. Star, wake up!” And even threw in a few extra prods and pokes for good measure until she elicited a small groan from the sleeping form. “Come on, why haven’t you granted my wish?” Her attempts were successful and she was almost fascinated by the mere flickering of the eyelids that half-opened his eyes, so she asked again, huffing her cheeks to look even more annoyed, “Mister Star, why haven’t you granted my wish yet?” But the colt’s pupils slowly traveled up his eyes until they settled on her. With their eyes locked together for countless moments, a vacant smile touched upon his exhausted features and he spoke in a hoarse whisper, “I will, Meda... I will bring you the star itself...” At his words, Snare smiled widely; he had promised her that he will make her wish come true and she could see that he did not lie to her in the gentle eyes that were reserved just for her... half-lidded eyes that slowly started to droop until they shut her access to them. “No, wake up!” yelled the little filly and pokes at his head again, but he did not wake up, nor did he even groan. “Great! Now what am I supposed to do?” Snare spoke under her breath and kicked a nearby pebble into the water. She could not stray away from him now, or else somepony else might steal her wish and make him disappear, but she could not pull him away from the river by herself either. While in the middle of her musings as to how she could take him with her, an idea came to her so brilliant that she actually smacked herself in the face and muttered, “Silly, Snare. You can use magic the same way mom used to do. Let's see, if I just concentrate, I can do this!” So, with her tongue once again between her teeth, Snare concentrated very hard on the stallion before her, but it was no use for nothing happened. With much more determination at her second attempt, Snare gave her best effort and concentration. To her delight, a bright teal glow shone from her little horn and she opened her eyes with a bright smile to admire her effort, but as her eyes slid to the colt, she huffed in her frustration, “Oh, come on!” It was only the large fringe of mane that hung over the colt’s eye that was even slightly raised in the glow of her horn. With her heart sinking yet again into despair and her sigh of defeat coming from the depth of her heart, Snare sat again on her haunches and closed her eyes in surrender. However, she was left in that state for only a moment, for it was then that her ears perked up when a rustling of some undergrowth near the forest edge caught her attention. She looked around again only to see what she’s already seen before, but this time she was much more frightened; what if it was a cockatrice, a timberwolf, or even a hydra! The mere thought terrified her in every way possible, but she couldn’t even know where to look to face her inevitable doom. She wished that she could have used her wish to dispel whatever evil was now approaching her, but the very thought made her get up to her hooves and walk to stand before the colt, her thoughts taking a rather possessive and protective stance towards the colt who promised her wish come true. Despite her show of courage, Snare almost screamed when the two figures finally broke through the natural barriers to reveal themselves. They were two ponies, both pegasi, also looking like they were a bit stunned to see another pony before them as well. The three stood there for a while: two mares facing one little filly in a silence that was broken when one of them stepped forward and spoke in a gentle voice, “Hello there…” > Chapter 11: "Mr. Star" > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold Star and Purple Shade were running through the forest when a muffled sound caught their attention. They had been running, trotting and walking through the forest they ventured into in their quest for Canterlot when the sound twitched their ears and made them both stop and look at one another with apprehensive eyes. It was just a couple of hours ago that they stumbled across Shade’s old home only to find her mother no longer there with evidence strewn around suggesting that she too was captured by the changelings. Though the sound they heard was not the buzzing noise they had come to associate with the changelings, it did not make them feel less fearful than they already were and yet they still had to go on. With a mutual nod, both mares lowered themselves to the ground and crawled in the direction of the sound to ascertain its source. They crawled as silent as they could until they came to lay behind a line of hedge brush, that was formed by wild bushes, but the sound, which seemed more like a loud and frustrated whisper than any other sound, was still indiscernible with its source standing next to the river with its gentle murmur. Before them, there was river bank. The starry night sky peeked through the dark ceiling of the forest and lit the river in the middle like a large and irregular skylight that was nonetheless a relief from the black canvass that was the trees above and it’s winding branches and over-flowing canopy. Both sets of eyes looked around wildly for any form of movement but nothing was seen. Gold was on the verge of rising up and walking out when a hoof poked her in the ribs. Looking sideways at Shade, who had squeezed her head through the bushes, she saw her companion point the same hoof directly towards the river bank. Following her gaze, Gold looked upon the river until she finally saw it: there, near a boulder, a filly was standing with her flank to them. Before they could start to wonder what a filly as small as the one before them was doing in this forest at such a time, a small glow illuminated her head. The glow was of teal color that came from the front of her head, telling them that she was a unicorn of bluish coat and dark red hair but her form was not alone that was illuminated. Just in front of the filly, the mares could see a colt who seemed to be sleeping with half his body in the river and fringe of black mane levitated from over his face. Once again, Gold and Shade were scared: were those changelings in disguise? But the trace of magic upon her horn suddenly extinguished, bringing the darkness once again, and then a huff of frustration reached their ears from a tiny voice. “Oh, come on!” Shade looked upon Gold with questioning eyes but the latter merely shook her head and rose to her hooves. The hedge before her rustled as she crossed it while Shade followed her with unbelieving eyes until it came to her that she ought to rise to her hooves as well to join Gold. With the rustling sound Gold made, the filly sprung up and stood before the colt with her hooves slightly parted as if she thought to defend him from unseen dangers. They were obscured by the shadows of the forest but, when they emerged under the sky, the filly turned her head in their direction and gasped audibly. The little filly appeared much more frightened, but her features fell into mild trepidation when she looked at them both. For many moments, Gold and Shade gazed upon the filly. She was shaking slightly and appeared on the verge of bolting away from the scene, but Gold, with her heart softened at the state of the desolate filly, put on again her winning smile and took just a step forward. “Hello, there...” It took her a stretch of time to do so, but the filly before them answered, “Hello...?” with such uncertainty that it made Shade chuckle lightly. Gold pushed on slightly, “Are you alone out here?” “Um...” Snare tried to answer, though with apprehension twisting her face in worry, “I ain’t supposed to talk to strangers...” “And you’re right,” Gold Star replied with innocence, “So why don’t we remedy that. Ahem, my name is Gold Star, and this,” gold Star gestured in Purple Shade’s direction, “is my friend Purple Shade.” Shade just waved nervously at the mention of her name as Gold continued. “What’s your name if I may ask?” The little filly looked very apprehensive of continuing her conversation with the older mares, but the disarming smile that Gold Star wore made it impossible for her to consider either of them a threat. “My name, is Snare.” Gold Star perked up even more at having won a bit of the filly’s trust, “Oh, that’s a pretty name. Is it short for anything?” The filly named Snare shook her head, “No, it’s just Snare.” “It’s still a wonderful name all the same.” Gold let out a light-hearted chuckle. “Well, Snare, I know we may look like strangers, but we only wanted to ask you a question. You see, we’re from a little town called Ponyville from the west and we actually ended up getting lost on our journey out here. We were wondering if you knew the way to Canterlot. If you do, would you mind helping us out by giving us some directions?” Purple Shade frowned; they were heading north-east already in a direction that will take them directly to the mountain of Canterlot and the wide river before them told them that they were on the right path. Just as Shade was about to step forward to remind Gold that they found the right way and that they do not need help at that particular matter, the latter turned her head her way and winked to her companion. Shade stopped and kept her silence; the mare next to her seemed like an entirely new creature now and it intrigued Shade. Purple Shade knew how mothers can be caring and loving to children but she never before thought that there might be several ways a mare can actually ‘mother’ somepony and so she sat on her flank to watch a master at work. On the other side, the filly sat on her haunches and bowed her head as she replied, “I can’t help. I’m lost too. I’ve been searching for somewhere to sleep for hours.” Gold clicked her tongue and took a step forward. Snare, who raised her head to look at the mare that was edging in her direction, did not run away from her was a good sign, or so Shade thought. Gold Star spoke then in a different voice—one that was warm, yes, but it also held a firm accent to it—“Now we can’t allow that to happen, can we? I think I have a fair idea where we might find Canterlot and that is by following this river. Would you like to join us as we go to see the Princesses?” Snare’s eyes lit with excitement. The mere mention of the word ‘Princess’ meant the world to her but the fire that sprung within her soul died out just as quickly as it was inflamed and so Gold asked, “What is it? Aren’t you excited to see Canterlot?” “I am!” answered Snare back, “But I can’t go there without Mr. Star.” Looking sideways at the colt who lay unconscious behind Snare, it was Shade who stepped forward. “Is he Mr. Star? Is he your brother?” “No, silly!” chuckled Snare, displaying a childish smile that won the hearts of both mares in an instant, “He ain’t my brother. He came from the stars to grant me my wish. I think he’s is still tired from his journey though, and won’t wake up. But when he does, he will make my wish come true. He promised me!” “He...did?” Asked Gold Star who had by now reached the filly and was looking over the filly to the colt. She did not know what to believe of Snare’s story but one thing was true: wherever they went, they were surely to bring this colt with them. All these troubled thoughts Gold Star hid behind her smile as she looked over to Shade, “Shade? Will you help me get this colt...” “Mr. Star,” Snare corrected. “Yes, ‘Mr. Star’,” Gold corrected herself and went on, “Can you help me get him out of the river?” Still a bit cautious, Purple Shade approached her companion and joined her next to the colt and expectant filly. When they came head to head, Gold Star whispered, “We need to look him over, he may have hypothermia.” “Okay,” whispered Purple Shade back, wondering while she studied the half of the colt’s face that was not obscured by his black mane, “What’s this story about him coming from the stars? He’s a unicorn, not a pegasus so he can’t even fly!” “I don’t know,” answered Gold Star, “But I’m getting a bad feeling about this.” “Why?” asked Purple Shade, but Gold Star merely shook her head and answered as she started pulling the colt from the river and up to the dry shore. “I’m not sure.” But deep within, Gold Star knew. She knew that this colt who was barely hanging onto life felt like a bad omen for them but she could not in good conscious leave a pony to die. She had to reach Canterlot to see for herself what will become of the changelings that swept over her home and, with this new charge, must also see that this colt, who lay on the shore of the river, is taken care of. Once out of the river, Gold lowered herself to her belly and looked up to Shade. “Help me get him across my back, we still have to walk up river.” “Across your back?” gasped Shade and, looking over him, she turned to look upon Gold’s slender form. “But, Gold... he looks about my age but much bulkier than me! H-how will you carry him, let alone walk with him across your back?” But Gold’s reply was most bewildering for she smiled confidently in answer and kicked a pebble with her metal-encased hoof, that Shade forgot about the entire journey since the events of Ponyville until now, as she answered, “Don’t worry. I got this. Now hoist him up and get to Canterlot!” Purple Shade did as she was told, albeit with great difficulty, and pulled him to be draped across Gold’s back and exclaimed when finished, “Hmm. Look at his cutie mark! Is this why you call him ‘Mr. Star’?” Shade looked around, unable to spot the filly “Snare? Snare? Where are you?” Shade was looking around for the filly but almost jumped in fright when she turned her head once more to the cutie mark to see the filly standing atop of the colt herself, brandishing her wide smile at the mare as she continued, “Ooooh, yes,” replied Snare dreamily, “I was wishing at a shooting star and it fell right here and then you two showed up. I just know my wish will come true in no time when Mr. Star wakes up!” “Oh, I’m certain it will,” Gold chuckled as she turned her head back to the filly to smile at her, and she pulled herself up to her hooves as Snare hopped to the forest floor. Together, the two mares: Gold Star and Purple Shade, the filly known as Snare, and the unconscious ‘Mr. Star’ walked on, upriver this time, heading to where there might as well be their last hope. > Chapter 12: Abandoned Shack > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Even from some distance away, they could catch glimpses of the billowing towers of smoke rising from the majestic city. A taut grimace set upon Azure face as he held the fallen city in his eyes as Wind Scribe surrendered to the hopelessness of the scene. Never in their lives had they expected the fall of their great capitol and at the hooves of a foe everyone thought long defeated. How long until the rest of their nation was overrun, they did not know... or had it been already? Since the attack in Cloudsdale, and the letter they had received Azure’s sister, Wind Scribe had been hoping against all odds that the city would hold against the changeling attack, and that their regents of the celestial bodies were at the forefront of the lines, but that seemed like a pipe dream as more of the devastated mountainside city came into view. Only hints of the top most spires beyond the mountain line were visible, but what both pegasi could see of the ruin that glanced those points placed further details of the devastation the city has suffered in their minds’ eyes. How they wished that this was nothing more than a dream and that they will wake up to the loving arms of each of their respective families again. They flew at a steady pace, but more than once, they were forced to dive for cover as specks of black on the horizon dotted the sky; obvious patrols that were on the hunt for more prey that roamed the surrounding region of the capitol. It was frightening. Uncertainty ensnared the two pegasi as they waited breathlessly for the hovering insectoids to pass them by from overhead whilst they hid among the ample foliage of the forests. Giving a wide berth to the capitol’s mountain range had hindered their progress, but as they agreed, it was much better than trying to risk a flight straight through the outlying foothills where more Changelings were bound to be. The flight was arduous, but after much perseverance, they were able to put the capitol’s mountain ranges to their backs and turn weary eyes to the expansive east beyond. Time slipped away, much of the day had given way to the rising darkness of nightfall. Both pegasi were tired and hungry from an entire day’s worth of flight. The only bit of luck they could acknowledge after the horrifying events of this day was to have thermal drafts that were like fluffy pillows under their wings; allowing them to glide on the air currents for much of the journey and preserving their strength. Thankfully, most of the Changeling patrols had only skimmed over their area of hiding and witlessly moved on; probably drunk off of their victory over the capitol to give much thought to any stragglers. Although they were past the most dangerous part of territory, that didn’t mean either of them could relax properly. Settling down in the wilderness provided them with ambient cover, but it also meant that they were in the middle of nowhere with no real supplies to come by. Indeed, an audible rumble, courtesy of Wind Scribe’s stomach, acknowledged what they already knew. “This is hopeless.” Azure whispered as he looked back to see the glazed expression of the older stallion, absentmindedly scraping at the ground. He had all but collapsed on the hard packed dirt with a heavy sigh of resignation, too tired to move any longer. Wind Scribe’s expression and drooping wings spoke volumes of what they both felt and he would lie to himself if he said that he didn’t feel the same. Cloudsdale was gone and so were his family and friends, and even the city of Canterlot, supposedly the most secure place in all of Equestria, had fallen. If anypony said that the situation was bleak, they would’ve been brow-beaten and scorned the same way if they were to say that the sun was swelteringly bright. Where could they possibly go from here: to the middle of the woods and on the run from an all-powerful force? They would not last for long on their own. Many alternatives played on their minds, but all seemed much too fragile to consider. “I’m so sorry,” Azure whispered while these thoughts swirled within his mind that they almost made him faint. It was a lame apology and even a lamer way to attempt to cheer the poor stallion up but he was not sure he was apologizing to Wind Scribe, himself, or the faces that are now destined to be unseen. Faces he had hoped to see once more when this ordeal ended. Wind Scribe, on the other hoof, didn’t even turn his head to recognize the other pegasus and went about picking at a few blades of grass. “Wind Scribe!” Azure tried again to get the stallion’s attention, “Hey man, look we can’t just mope about like this. We need to find some shelter or even better, some food.” Azure’s stomach yawned in agreement to the last statement, but all thoughts of hunger were driven away and his ears drooped when Wind Scribe spoke dejectedly, “What’s the point? What good is it that we are on the run like this? What are we going to do now that Canterlot is under their control?” “We can’t just give up…we just can’t!” Azure insisted on the sentiment despite the tone of fear that crept into his voice. A tone that only served to anger Wind Scribe that he expressed in a heated speech, “Oh yeah, and why not? Where can we possibly go now?! If you haven’t noticed, both Canterlot and Cloudsdale were attacked and possibly at the same time! Who’s to say that anywhere else is safe? Manehatten, Fillydephia, Hoofington; all most likely gone or being overrun as we speak! For all we know, the entire nation is already under the control of the Changelings!” The heated tirade was punctuated by the resounding thuds of front hooves striking the ground after. Azure retreated a few steps away on instinct from the aggressive movement and watched as Wind Scribe breathed heavily. Frederick, the phoenix, who decided to accompany the two pegasi rather than return to his master, found his perch atop of Azure’s shoulder; offering light coos of reassurance and he nuzzled the side of Azure’s head on the other side whilst glaring at Wind Scribe threateningly. The gesture was welcoming and Azure offered a half smile in return. With a bit of confidence restored, Azure moved to Wind Scribe’s side and planted himself gingerly beside the distressed stallion. Wind Scribe turned his head to other side, blatantly refusing to hear anything more from Azure had. Though not all was lost to Azure, and made him more determined to speak out. Using a tone voice he thought was the best a younger colt can adopt to reassure an older stallion, “We’re in the same boat here, Wind Scribe. My sister had no other choice but to send Fredrick here to deliver that message to us. She and the rest of my family could be in the hooves of the Changelings right now...” Despite his determination to hold his ground and be strong enough for the other stallion, Azure could not help it. His eyes, at the mention of his family, started to tear freely, but still he went on as if nothing was more important than this moment and these words he had to say, “But I’m not just going to give up on holding onto that hope that they all made it out themselves! My sister...my sister held out hope that her warning would reach us before it was too late. So I’m going to continue to hold out til’ I see her, my family, and my friends again!” Azure paused. He was starting to feel quite dizzy what with the turbulent emotions swirling in his mind. Taking long, deep breathes to re-organize his thoughts, Azure went on, “Think about it; we made it out of the sky city, so why couldn’t they? It’s just that we all got separated and are in hiding. We just have to believe that they’re out there somewhere doing everything they can to find us, so I’m going to do the same, for them.” Wind Scribe wanted to believe in the blue-toned pegasus. He wanted to believe in his much too  cheerful words, but there was also that undeniable feeling of doubt that had wedged itself firmly in the back of his thoughts; whispering its hushed verses of self-destruction. Little words that he had already thought to himself: that his family has already been captured, or worse. Wind Scribe didn’t have to reply to Azure nor did he choose to do so and allowed his body slump even further into a state of dishevel. How could he understand the plight of a father and a spouse? Wind Scribe thought heatedly, He’s far too young to understand this type of sentiment. So naive and carefree; once he knew what it was to love somepony with all his heart, then he would know how I now feel. All these thoughts, Wind Scribe didn’t voice, but the one question he asked was what he thought would be help ease the younger stallion into rationality, “…And if they’re not out there?” Alas, the connection was lost, the younger stallion left speechless. Wind Scribe fell to despair and there was nothing else Azure knew to propel his argument, and so he too fell to his rump as he gazed at the stallion that lost his edge; thinking hard of any way that would keep his spirits high. Against the disparity that fell on the stallion before him, Azure bit the inside of his lip and yet, as much as he hated to admit it, that thought had crossed his mind more than once. A chilling shiver ran down his spine at the mere thought but his resolve did not waver for long and his answer, of a few simple words, was voiced in a rush in his haste to prove that he is not  intimidated by the idea, “Then we go to them. We find them and... and we rescue them!” As simple an answer as it was, Wind Scribe could not tell if the young stallion was truly serious or if he was pulling his leg, but one look at the young amber eyes revealed no deception or trace of doubt. The young colt was absolutely serious and that made it even more mad. ‘How could he show such confidence in such a foalish plan?’ Azure wondered silently. It was absolutely ridiculous that it made him want to laugh. It was a light chuckle, yes, but nonetheless a laugh with shallow sincerity. Azure blinked at the half chortle. He could not tell if the stallion was laughing at him or at his words but that notion was shot down before he could get any other words out, “Alright, kid, but you can’t be serious about doing it alone! You’ve got some hidden army there somewhere behind you?” With that understanding between them, Azure felt more hopeful than he ever dared to be since the start of that invasion a mere day ago and he, too, joined in the soft laughter and even Fredrick was chirping alongside them. Indeed, the boost in their morale was everything they needed to get them on their winding path again, but it was not before long that they found themselves in front of an oddity that neither of them would have suspected to be possible: a house! It appeared more to be a shack in its disheveled state and in the middle of the forest they skimmed along in. Quite a few alarms raised in each of their minds as to what an apparently abandoned shack was doing out in the middle of nowhere like this. Their suspicions were instantly aroused: was it a secret Changeling hideout they set up even before the attacks started? That theory, however, was quickly dismissed when their surveillance indicated no presence of any of the insect-like creatures around. Still, they were careful as they approached the front door of the simple dwelling so as not to prove their theory to be true and even Frederick was quiet and nervously kneaded his claws into Azure’s mane. The haunted-looking doorway was more than enough to deter both pegasi away from considering this a possible haven for the night, but the stars were bright and shining in the sky and they needed a place to rest and, perhaps, find something to eat. There were no lights coming from the windows to show any signs of residency nor any noise besides the ambient background of the forest and the loud beat of their hearts. Wind Scribe and Azure looked at each other, their eyes mirroring the nervousness and fear they both felt, pleading for anything they could use for shelter but the latter swallowed down the hard lump in his throat that he only just realized had been there in the first place and raised his hoof up to hover just a mere inch away from the front door. Three times his hoof struck, a silent echo reverberating from the hardwood portal. Another three more strikes and still no answer. Whether or not somepony lived in the shack, he or she were obviously not there. Both ponies took notice of the fact the door had no real lock to hold it in place; just a simple piece of rope latched around a hook on the outside and, just as easily as figuring out the lock, the door swung outward with ease, carrying a long squeal of rust with it. It was completely pitch black inside; the only light coming from the radiant stars outside jutting inside to illuminate just a few feet past their hooves. Both ponies stood there at the edge of darkness, wanting to go in, but unable to gather up enough courage to venture inside. So, with a mild shake of disdain, it was Frederick the phoenix, who was brave enough to careen past the ponies and into the shack. A small halo of light followed in the phoenix's wake to silhouette what appeared to be simple wooden furniture strung about the interior. It was nothing fancy, just bare essentials, but it was more than adequate for the use of those two travellers. As they took their first step inside, the room was suddenly washed in a warm glow that very nearly made both ponies faint had it not been laid to rest when they discovered its source to be none other than Frederick finding himself a cozy perch in the hearth. Azure snickered and shook his head at the phoenix as he went inside while Wind Scribe tried to make his heart beat normally. He would have gasped in terror again at seeing the bird sitting so peacefully while it burned alive had his mind not been quick enough to remind him of what he read in the tomes about phoenixes and their immunity to fire. He watched with a hint of a smile on his face while Frederick lazily preened his feathers, letting the hearth burn a little brighter as more wood caught flame even though it stank of decay and looked somewhat wet. The entire room was filled with the gentle glow of the yellow and orange tongues of flame,  sufficient to illuminate the interior for Azure to make out the room in better detail while Wind Scribe moved to close the window shutters to conceal this beacon of light from any prying eye. As they assumed before, there was only a bare minimum of furniture that one would supposedly need in order to call a house a ‘home’. It looked old indeed and made of hoof-carved oak wood that otherwise gave it a homey comfort. A couch dominated the center of the ‘living room’ and bore loose, red cushions along its length that looked easily big enough to fit two ponies or maybe even three if they huddled up together. There were also a few stools and a bookshelf with only a scarce amount of dusty books to honestly line the shelves. The two pegasi did not linger at the edge of the room for long in their apprehension; feeling that it was quite safe to enter seeing how Fredrick was calmly resting in the hearth. Their hoofsteps prominently announced their entrance against the creaking hardwood floors and they decided to take a better look around for any signs of a homeowner but all they found was a couple tables with a multitude of mementoes beyond the couch and just left of the blazing hearth: all from a brass pocket watch to a ticket to a show in Las Pegasus and yet none of them gave the two any idea as to who the homeowner might be. Foregoing the investigative route, Azure decided to take a much more direct approach in finding out the homeowner’s identity so he called at the top of his lungs, “Hello! Anypony in here?” Wind Scribe immediately tensed up and hissed at the colt,  “What are you doing, are you crazy?” “What are you whispering for?” Azure cocked an eyebrow, “and what do you mean ‘what am I doing’? “What if there were Changelings hiding in here waiting for ponies to come along and find this place?” Wind Scribe glared back but Azure merely looked around the room in confusion, trying to spot any signs of danger to their situation, and turned his head to answer back calmly “Looks safe enough to me.” “Well, we didn’t know that for sure and I would rather not test our luck at the moment.” Wind Scribe sighed, rolling his eyes in the process, “In any case, since your little ‘cry for attention’ hasn’t brought us any unwanted doom, it doesn’t seem like anypony is here.” Azure snickered at the indirect insult and went back to looking around the house for any more clues while the other grumbled to himself at the colt’s antics and wandered through a doorway to another room. It was much darker in there, since the light from the fireplace only peeked in slightly, but his luck persisted for he found an oil lamp was sitting just atop of a counter to his right; filled and ready for use. It only took him a moment to take it back to the living and have Frederick light the wick for him and. Now with a mobile light source at hoof, Wind Scribe reentered the room to explore. Once inside, the room was bathed in the shallow light of the oil lamp. A few artifacts stood out very quickly and, judging by the countertop of cookware and utensils, not to mention the pony size ice box in the corner, Wind Scribe came to the conclusion that this room was the homeowner’s ‘kitchen’. Though while he walked around the kitchen, examining what was in it, a strange gurgling sound nearly made him jump in fright before he realized that it came from within him. Indeed, the mere mention of kitchen set off a low grumble deep in the old stallion’s gut and, seeing how both pegasi had been flying for almost an entire half day and only found a few bushes of wild berries to use as a snack, it was no wonder that he was completely famished, but the discovery of this shack completely drove hunger off his mind until now. However, and before he could let the string of drool hanging off the corner of his mouth hit the floor, he brought his focus back on trying to find anything that could lead him to finding the homeowner or any clue that might lead to finding his whereabouts. Alas, there were none to be had in the kitchen. Still, there was one other room on the other side of the kitchen that he had left unchecked and, swiftly trotting across the kitchen and avoiding the stale smell of old food in the air, he made it into the the other entrance to see where it led. By the light of the oil lamp, he could make out certain pieces of furniture that defined the room’s purpose, “It’s a bedroom, no doubt”  Wind Scribe thought as he gazed at the four-poster bed, set in the center against the back wall, with curtains surrounding it. It was a bit lighter in here considering there was an open window letting soft pale blue starlight into the room to his right. Wind Scribe set his rusty oil lamp down on another carved wooden stool, that sat just beyond the threshold, and trotted in for a closer inspection. There was a simple six drawer-dresser, a nightstand, a water basin set atop of a vanity, and a wardrobe in addition to the large bed. “This certainly feels like the work of a pony that pride their self on efficiency” Wind Scribe thought for indeed there wasn’t anything extra for showmanship; just the essentials. This simply led to a bit of frustration on Wind Scribe’s part since there wasn’t even a picture frame of a single pony here nor through the entire house and it did seem as if whoever lived way out here in the wilderness preferred their privacy and they certainly didn’t think to accommodate guests. Resolved now that there are no inhabitants in this house, Wind Scribe moved on to the dresser and opened the top two drawers in hope of finding something there, but he immediately shut it again and blushed deeply; trying not to think about the mare’s lingerie that lay within. “At least I found one clue as to the homeowner’s identity”, Wind Scribe thought as decided he had had enough snooping around for one night. Backpedaling to the kitchen, he was surprised to see Azure already scavenging through cupboards for anything to eat and remarked with slight humour, “You know you could be arrested for theft right about now.” But the sudden remark made Azure jump a little from behind the open pantry and back away only to be thwarted in his comeback by a loaf of bread in his muzzle. Upon recomposing himself, he was free to make all the witty remarks he wanted, “Yeah, and you’re officially trespassing on private property so that makes two of us... If we’re lucky, they’ll let us  share a cell.” The two ponies shared an even gaze for a few seemingly-tense moments before cracks of humorous smiles crossed their muzzles. “It’s good to hear him laugh...” Azure thought while his chuckles accompanied those of Wind Scribe while the latter let out a mirthful laugh before he asked, letting his inhibitions on eating someone else’s food go after another fit of gnawing rumble claimed his gut, “Is there at least some packages of tea leaves anywhere in there?” “Yeah!” Azure called back, sticking his muzzle back in the pantry, “Though I bet Fredrick wouldn’t be too keen on sharing his ‘bed’ with a kettle full of water.” Wind Scribe answered with a long sigh and huffed, “Nevermind then, what else is in there?” “Well... there’s some cheese, bread, peanut butter, jam, dry pasta, alfalfa cubes, and canned beans.” Azure answered, turning his head, with guilt shining through his eyes, at the stallion framing the door. Admittedly, they each felt bad for having inviting themselves on somepony else’s home and currently in the process of raiding their fridge but, after debating on whether the homeowner was actually around, they resolved to explain to them of their situation upon their return and payback for what they scavenged and, in the meantime, leave a note when they leave in the morning as planned. Despite the noises of the outside forest, the night settled in quietly on the three travelers as they filled themselves up on whatever they could scrounge from the kitchen. The meal they shared was not at all what can be called ‘fancy’ and it certainly made each pony think back to how Azure’s mother and Wind Scribe’s wife made the most succulent meals for each of them, but they could not dwell much on these memories when sleep started to invade their senses now that their tummies were filled. The two pegasi traded their goodnights and even Fredrick hooted softly from the heart of the fireplace as if bidding the ponies a goodnight himself. They were quite tired, yes, but nether Azure nor Wind Scribe found sleep easy. They merely ignored each other, though more for lack of anything to say, and chose to toss around and turn on each of the respective piece of furniture they chose for bedding, leaving the large four-poster bed in the bedroom at the other end of the house unoccupied out of respect to the absent owner of said house. Only one of them seemed to find sleep quite an easy task and both ponies envied the blissfully snoozing phoenix curled up the flames of the fireplace. Azure didn’t know for how long he was awake but a small crack in the window shutters afforded him the luxury of gazing into the starry heavens and when he whispered gently, “Good night...” it was for neither Frederick nor for Wind Scribe; it was for his sister, for which he made this habit to wish the stars ‘good night’ before he went to bed each night exactly as she told him to do before she left to Canterlot. He could remember that awfully sad moment as if it happened yesterday when he could barely see anything through his eyes, swimming with tears, while she hugged him to whisper in his ear, “Look at the stars each summer night and I’ll wish you good night, brother.”  On that first night of the attack on Equestria, a young colt spoke his wishes for a good night to a sister he knew not of which he will ever hear from again or if she will ever get to hear them whispered through the stars. His eyes, exhausted from the silent tears they shed, did not remain open for long and swept him deep into troubled sleep. > Chapter 13 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Not there...” Those two words stopped two mares and a filly dead on their tracks. At first, Purple Shade looked around in great fear for the source from whence those two hoarse words came but it was Gold Star that knew immediately and turned her head backwards. She did not need to hear them spoken for she felt them in the expansion of the colt’s lungs laid across her back. It was the unnamed unicorn they found at the river with the filly, Snare. He seemed to have gained a measure of consciousness enough for him to open his eyes. That measure, however, was more than enough for the filly hop on her little hooves just before his head and speak joyously, “Yay, you’re awake! We’re going to Canterlot to see the Princesses.” And, with a rather too confident tone, she added, “And you are coming with us!” Gold Star smiled fondly at the little pony that seemed to have a natural gift at finding what makes her feel happy. Upon the one hair-veiled eye visible to her, however, Gold saw a flash pass through and, again, he spoke with a whisper that was strained this once, “Not there...” Shade approached the colt from Snare’s back and then lowered her head to gaze at his face. She could see his pupils shaking and his eyebrows sweating and offered a series of gentle coo’s to calm him down a bit, “ There, there. It’s alright. Yes, we’re going to Canterlot now to see Princess Celestia. Did you... did you come from there?” At her gentle voice, the hitched breath of the colt calmed a bit and his eyes drooped. Both Gold and Shade nodded in agreement that this unicorn was far too exhausted than to be allowed to talk but it was at that moments that the voice spoke once more, “Canterlot... taken. I must escape... Queen Chrys... Chrysalis.” With the last word he managed to utter, his eyes closed and his breath came out in a sigh and the silence that followed moments later was only interrupted by a muttered “Not again!” that came from Purple Shade. If Gold Star was worried that this colt might be beyond her reach to heal him back to his hooves, she was now fearful that he might be beyond the reach of any medical help if a few simple words were taxing enough for him to faint afterwards. Shade’s fearful eyes sought out Gold’s but the latter’s eyes were downcast and gazing at the face of the colt while lost in deep thought. She did suspect, after all, that the colt they found on the river’s bank was bad news to them and their quest. The last word he uttered was the one she feared to no limit and yet it didn’t even cross their minds with everything they went through already: Chrysalis, the formidable Queen of the changelings that had mysteriously obtained magic powerful enough to defeat Princess Celestia herself once before, but could that be true, they both wondered? Gold shook her head to clear it. She did not know what to do or where to go from there. She turned her head to her other companion but only to find Shade in a state of agitation and fright. Purple Shade’s fear expressed within the words she spoke out, “Queen Chrysalis? She is in Canterlot? We can’t go there now! We mustn’t even be within eyeshot of the castle! We have to go somewhere else!” Gold was slightly taken aback by these exclamations that she had to shush her companion, “Calm down, Shade! We can’t lose focus. We need to think!” But thinking simply eluded the frighten, purple-maned mare. She had just escaped capture in her very home and now, it seems, she was about to fall in another. Indeed, Purple Shade felt as if the very trees were closing in on her and the very shadows felt as if about to turn into changelings with snapping jaws. Gold Star continued to reach out to her friend, but felt shaken as well and her hooves felt as if they hardly could hold her weight, let alone the added weight of the colt laid across her back and so she laid him on a soft spot of grass and walked unsteadily. The idea of heading to her home in Brightwood did cross her mind but the idea of carrying the colt across a four-day trip was not appealing to her not to mention that the direct route passed through Ponyville, the very place they knew would be swarming with changelings by now. Shade was simply helpless.Too frightened to move or feel while the older mare before her appeared on the verge of breaking inside herself. She wanted to do something to dispel the fear-saturated air, but she couldn’t, she just wanted to put as miles as she between her and the changelings. Oh, yes, a little thought whispered in her head, You were hopelessly helpless before, but still you found a way. You just ran away… ‘I-I didn’t run away.’ You just ran away! The last words kept ringing silently within her mind and across her glazed eyes. She blinked back to reality when Gold shook her hoof before her eyes, “Shade? Shade?! Are you okay?” Gold had pulled her away from the colt and filly and came to sit near a tree trunk and she asked again, “What did you say? You were muttering incoherently.” “We have to run away...” Shade repeated the same words as the memories of another, and rather horrid, life seeped out of her mind. “Run away?” Gold asked, looking at the mare before her as if she had lost her wits, “Away where, Shade?” Her eyes, then, sought the face of the unicorn before she continued, “Look! Ponyville fell to their hooves right in front of us so who knows what other cities and towns had fallen... maybe even Canterlot! Look at how badly hurt he is!” Hesitantly, Shade asked, “You... believe what he said? About Canterlot?” “I-I’m not sure, but,” Replied Gold with some hesitation, “I don’t think he would lie about this or be delusional. Look at him! He’s badly wounded and I don’t think he just fell, not to mention...” But Gold was silenced by Shade, already knowing what she was thinking. “We don’t know that for sure. Something tells me that you’re not as convinced yourself. I think we need to get to Canterlot and see for ourselves. Canterot is not too far ahead and our home... w-we have no place else to go other than forward. Just like me not too long ago.” There was a strange light within the young mare’s eyes as she spoke those words. ‘Hope’, Gold Star recognised the feeling to be. A calming light that silenced Gold’s fluttering heart and made room for her thoughts to breath a bit. She did not know for certain what Purple Shade meant and indeed it was a dangerous quest they would embark upon. Gold Star only knew how dangerous it can become, especially with the added company of an unconscious, nameless colt and an over excited filly. Purple Shade patted her wing across Gold’s back and saw the features of the face before her relax a bit. Gold nodded and smiled gratefully; she never thought of herself as the leading type and to have the responsibility dumped upon her unceremoniously made it even more worse. She felt a bit flustered by the idea, but knew that she could count Purple Shade if she needed a helping hoof just as she did now. And so, it was with a renewed heart that Gold took to her hooves once more, gathering the unicorn colt up across her back and the filly Snare hopping right after them. Purple Shade had pleaded, persisted, and insisted on taking taking turns in carrying the colt but Gold simply refused all her advances by explaining that she had the strength to do it and that they will need every ounce of strength Shade possesses for the trek that lay ahead. They had decided to move on and not sleep through the night to gain distance while using the cover of the moonless night but, as Canterlot came into view, they clearly saw that the words the unicorn uttered before he fainted once more were not the work of anypony’s imagination. --o0o-- Indeed, as they reached the foot of the outskirting mountains, they saw large rubble of something, that was perhaps neatly carved before. Jutting out of the river  the jagged debris only made them wonder if the unconscious colt hadn’t only escaped the changelings, but was even lucky enough to survive the falling rubble. Their good fortune held on as they moved around the mountain; no changeling troops came between their path and so they figured that these forces, now finished with Canterlot, were busy herding ponies elsewhere. Despite their determined hearts, the sight of the once glorious city falling into such decay made their prospects appear grim and it even made it worse that they had to turn their backs to the city in hope of finding a sanctuary somewhere else eastward. The start of dawn the next day, brought the sun which hadn’t yet risen above the line of the horizon just yet, and they decided to take a rest near a small stream. Its voice was bubbling and served to calm their exhausted bodies while they drank their fill and tried to pour some water into the colt’s muzzle without choking him. Shade was gazing towards the visible glow in the east, telling of how soon the sun would rise while her thoughts wandered, “How come the sun rises? Where is the moon? Where are Princess Celestia and Princess Luna? What does it all mean?” These questions and many more Gold saw in Shade’s eyes as the latter turned toward her. Tearful eyes that quickly changed into shock while she yelled, “Look!” Gold turned her head in the direction of Shade’s pointing hoof to see it there: it was a train standing underneath a water tower. Under the dark night, they must not have seen it but now, they saw it clear enough and it was starting to move. With a lurch, Gold was swiftly on her hooves and directed a command towards Shade, “Go! We have to stop it! Flag it down. Snare?” Snare was instantly before Gold with one hoof raised over her forehead in a salute, “Yes, ma’am.” It was a scene that would have made Gold laugh fondly under different circumstances and so Gold instructed her none too kindly, “Hop onto Shade’s back while she tries to stop the train and stay there. I will be right at your heels.” Snare jumped. The moment she was on Shade’s back, Shade took of in a speedy gallop. Realizing that Shade left her saddlebags behind, Gold placed them on her back and then nudged and rolled the colt above. The added weight of both items was taxing, she had never hefted so much before, but it would never cross her mind to leave the colt and run for herself, “I was saved once before” Gold thought to herself as she threw the colt across her back, “And, now, it is my time to repay a debt. Please, wings... help me this once”  Such were the thoughts of Gold as she made to run in Shade’s wake. She was beyond exhausted and her muscles screamed in protest after the events of a full day of toil and run. Flight was out of question, what with the added weight of the colt across her back, but still she opened her wings wide and flapped them with each galloping jump she made to propel herself forward. Far ahead, and still going on, Shade was shouting at the top of her lungs. She could feel Snare trying hard to remain on her back by clinging to her mane but she could not slow down; the train seemed to be gaining speed as it moved from under the water tower. She couldn’t risk flying for fear that she might not knock the filly off her back and even though she was sure that she could catch it if she flew, the other mare, a long way behind her, was on her mind; she simply couldn’t leave her. However, no matter how she jumped, flailed her hooves or yelled her loudest, no one on the train noticed her to stop. Shade’s hooves started to falter... she felt as if she were beyond the hope of being saved that she very nearly choked on her own tears. Shade’s head bowed just when she decided that it was no use to chase after the train but that was when she felt two tiny hooves being firmly placed on her temple. In a passing thought, one that she was just about to mouth in words, Shade wondered what Snare was doing when she could hardly hold on to her but a flickering light silenced that thought any any other words she might have uttered. Raising her head slightly up, she saw the little filly. Her head was bowed down and her eyes were tightly shut in concentration. Her lips were moving and, when Shade flipped her ears, she heard the tiny voice muttering, “Please ‘horn’, just this once. Do it for Miss Shade, not for me... please, give us some light just like my mom used to do.” Still doing her best to catch up, Gold was about to shout at Shade to stop and follow her back into the woods when a tiny star shone ahead. It was not a star in the sky and, even though the sun was just minutes away from rising over the horizon, the light of dawn obscured most stars but not this one because the light came from no star... it came from Snare. Gold was so mesmerized that she very nearly tripped but, still, she could not take her eyes of the little filly that had climbed barely above Shade’s head as the latter ran ahead. It was magic, she knew that easily. Though not at all like the glowing light any unicorn trained to use magic could invoke for it seemed so weak and fragile that any gust of wind might have blown it away like a candle’s light. Yet, in the semi-darkness of the dawn, it shone like a beacon across the distance from the tip of Snare’s horn to Gold, urging her to pick up her pace, and all the way to the train, pleading with it to halt on its tracks. “What do I know of Magic? I’m just a Pegasus,” Gold thought in wonder while her speed increased despite the strain as if her very soul answered the call of the day-star but it was not she alone that did it: way ahead of them, they heard a long screech betelling of a train coming to a sudden stop... a high-pitched noise that was sweeter than any music they could have chosen to hear. Gold rejoiced at the sight of the train’s halt, her legs feeling like lead blocks after so much exertion. She would have collapsed altogether but her perseverance told her that she would have to reach the train itself before she could slow down. Snare and Shade were already in the midst of speaking with one of the train engineers by the time Gold arrived completely out of breath. As she boarded the train, the engineer only spared her half a glance before returning to his verbal chastising on the pegasus, “Flying out alongside of a train, what were you thinking?!” “Please, sir,” Purple Shade tried to make herself more assertive, “We were just trying to flag down your train to hopefully travel with the rest of you.” “Yes.” Gold panted heavily, “And we have... have somepony who is injured,” Gold stepped in to offer to their plea. The engineer looked apologetic now that he saw the situation the ponies were in. That is, until the conductor appeared beside him with a dark rimmed frown. “What’s the problem Coal Duster?” the Conductor asked and eyed each of the ponies before him. “Um, these ponies say they are refugees from Ponyville and wish to travel with us to safety and get some medical attention for their friend here.” replied the engineer with a questioning look directed at the conductor. Snare smiled and waved innocently to the conductor, who ignored her as he surveyed rest of the ponies again, “I’m sorry, but I can’t allow this.” Snare’s smile dropped almost instantly to be replaced by a dejected frown. “Wait a minute! What?” Gold jaw dropped at the statement, “Why can’t we travel with you? I know we don’t have any bits for tickets but, please, this stallion needs to see a doctor!” The conductor took another look over Gold’s back to see the unconscious stallion and a few of the minor wounds he had across his body. He looked like he was contemplating something before he spoke again. “I’m sorry miss, but I can’t allow you to board this train.” Gold nearly snapped at the reply, “Why not?!” She had a few choice words to use in this conversation, but Gold would sooner chastise herself before swearing, and especially in front of a filly. The conductor went back to contemplating his next words when the engineer went to whisper in his ear. Gold couldn’t hear much of what the engineer was saying though there was something in there that she recognized; ‘maybe changelings’. Gold almost stomped her hooves, ready to battle against the accusation when something stopped her from doing just that. “Excuse me, Mr. Aboard,” the group was interrupted by a new arrival from within the train. A dusty brown earth stallion, with an hourglass for a cutie mark, appeared from behind the conductor and the engineer and remarked, “I hate to be a bother, but I noticed that the train had stopped, well, a second time. Not including the the stop for water tower, but I guess that couldn’t be helped what with steam locomotives needing steam to operate. Which in turns needs water and such, but I was wondering if something was the matter. Well beyond the need to restock the reservoir.” The stallion seemed to be ignoring the ponies just outside the train and procured an old fob watch from underneath his tie lapel; however he managed to hide it underneath the seemingly small place was beyond anypony, “We seem to be currently three minutes and twenty-seven seconds behind schedule now, oh well three minutes and thirty-two seconds actually. Darn it all and this thing, always a few seconds behind... hmm, oh hello there. Sorry for being so rude. I didn’t see you lot there.” The stallion seemed to have finally recognize the distinctive cough of interruption coming from Gold Star outside the train. Snare snickered at the stallion’s lack of observation while Gold Star and Purple Shade felt like it had all been intentional. “Excuse me, sir,” the conductor asserted himself into the conversation, “But I must ask you to return to your cabin. We will be departing shortly, but we have a small situation to take care of first.” Gold Star flared her wings, “Small situation?! You were just about to accuse us of being changelings and don’t you dare say otherwise! All we want is to get our friend here to a doctor!” The conductor backed off a bit from the now aggressive pegasus and tried to think of a way to defuse the situation but, before he could, the brown stallion from before jumped in, “Now now, Miss...” “Gold Star.” The Pegasus supplied. “Miss Gold Star. You have to understand that due to the recent events that had befallen Equestria, it is perfectly reasonable for someone like ‘All Aboard’ here to be a bit wary of those around him. Especially if four wandering ponies that just show up and just happen to be out at the break of dawn looking for some help.” The strange stallion’s words carried an air of certainty and trust which helped Gold calm down and think straight. He was right in that regard; she would probably be just as worried if she was in the conductor’s horseshoes. “Though if I were to be so blunt, these ponies are most definitely not changelings.” The conductor, as well as everypony else that was present, just gawked at the stallion’s sudden declaration. Nopony could honestly come up with a rebuttal over the bluntness of the earth pony’s words and just continued to stare at him as if waiting to see if he was joking or had anything more to say. Alas, he just opted to smile dumbly and read each pony’s expression with an inward chuckle. “Well, if this was all the fuss was about, I think that it’s about time that we be off, wouldn’t you say?” The earth pony turned away and trotted off with a merry tune humming on his lips. “I guess we better be off. Coal Duster? Man the engine, I’ll escort these ponies aboard.” It wasn’t until the conductor spoke up that everpony regained their own senses. “Wait, what?” Asked Purple Shade in pure astonishment. The conductor smiled lightheartedly toward Purple Shade’s questioning gaze, no more suspicion hanging on his expression, “That gentlecolt has helped us out in more ways than one when we first departed from Canterlot and I’ve come to trust his judgement.” They all looked over toward the stallion in question just as he picked up a piece of stray coal that fell from coal cart upfront and licked it while mumbling something under his breath. All the ponies simply gave him a strange look. “Even if he tends to have some…strange habits.” Not wanting to really question the stallion themselves, the group of refugees left him to his own devices while they were escorted aboard the train as promised. The weight of such a strenuous day was finally settling in and left the group fighting against a blanket of fatigue bearing on them. Maybe once they had reached their destination they would be in a better condition to venture out on their own against the army of changelings that had decimated their homes. Quite the task ahead, Gold thought just as they entered an unoccupied compartment. As they boarded the train, and despite everything they suffered since the day before, they somehow felt that this was the happiest day of their lives. > Chapter 14 > --------------------------------------------------------------------------  A rhythmic motion flowed through her. A rocking movement that was cushioned by the soft stuffing of the seat in her train compartment that made sleep, despite the fears that gripped her and every other pony on the train, swallow her whole. Sleep was a blessing for her that sent away all her troubled thoughts into a sea of unconsciousness Metra hadn’t realized that she fell into until she was jolted awake by the tell-tale screech of the train’s brakes and the accompanying inertia of the sudden halt itself. Metra Bass, the pink-coated mare that unwittingly escaped the fall of Canterlot upon the last train that left the mountain city, blinked her eyes open with a slight surprise. She was tired, yes, but she was so worried that she thought she might never fall asleep in the first place. Ever since the news of the Changeling attack of Canterlot, she, like many other passengers, had found rest hard to come by. Lingering thoughts, from before she fell asleep, assailed her yet fuzzy brain while she gazed out of the train’s compartment’s window, “What would come next?” she thought sleepily, “What will happen to us? What is the outcome of the attack?” These questions, and many more, jumbled over each other within her tired soul that she very nearly was on the verge of bursting. Stepping down the seat, she made her way slowly through the compartment’s door, wanting to get herself slightly busy and drive away these thoughts by checking on what the supposedly unscheduled stop was about. “First things first.” Metra thought to herself; taking a moment to recompose herself and arrange her features into their usual manner after catching a glimpse of her tear-streaked face reflected from the window. She knew that she was acting quite frivolous but it was a habit of hers since her first day in the Academy as a musician and she could very nearly feel the presence of her mother whispering into her ear, “Always look your best, dear.” Metra was quite relieved that she managed to find and have an entire car to herself in such a small train; the idea of having to bear all the wailing and frightened shouts was simply beyond what she could bear and the company of her thought was all that she desired for the duration of her travel. These thoughts were not contemplatory, though. They did not try to solve the manner through which the changelings sweeping over the city so swiftly. Quite the contrary, her thoughts were rather merciless as Metra reflected back on the past couple of weeks when all of this began... for her, at least. She could not believe that she had been mentally berating herself on not seeing the signs sooner. Why, her very friend, Cappi the cafe owner, had been the most obvious clue and she had just passed it off as a stress induced episode. Cappi, who so much loved her little neat shop and took care of it like a little child of hers was no doubt in the clutches of the Changelings from the very beginning and, as her best friend, Metra had done nothing to investigate the reasons why the shop was closed that day. Metra loved every moment she spent in that cafe and the loveliest times she spent with her friends, both old and new, there but those moments belonged to another mare in another life and, returning to the present, Metra finished combing the last few strands of her mane back in place and moved to the compartment’s door. Once out of the compartment, Metra realized that her curiosity was shared by a few who popped their heads through the doors of their compartments to wonder aloud as to why the train had stopped on it’s tracks. By the time she was halfway through the hallway, many other passengers had moved to see what the matter was, already plodding their way to the nearest adjacent train car and an exit though a few still opted to poke their heads out of their compartments and wait out the delay. The air was laced with hushed voices of the chattering ponies and the one common phrase that floated in the air the most revolved around the train’s untimely stop. Metra tried to tune out these hushed voices but she couldn’t; it was an exact replica of her wondering thoughts: “Are we there yet? Where are we? Does anypony see Shade Hollow? I don’t think we’re there, it’s only been a few hours. Maybe it’s just a malfunction, we’ll be on our way in a bit.” Engaging in such idle chatter with the rest of the passengers was out of the question for Metra, seeing as she didn’t know who any of them were and, instead, she decided to follow those that wanted to see what the issue was about for themselves. Closing her compartment’s door behind her, she quickly fell in step behind a brown earth stallion, the very one she saw earlier that day that nearly missed the train, on his way up the hallway. She could faintly hear the stallion muttering under his breath about something but it was in such a whisper that even straining her ears didn’t allow her to eavesdrop on his monologue, inaudible as it was, and so she sighed and followed the other pony out the train car’s exit. Once there, she scanned the forming crowd, that either came out the stretch their hooves or check what the problem was, but more idle chatter filled the air, most of which moved to lesser concerns that did not involve the train’s status. It was simply outrageous, or so, Metra thought heatedly, that such ponies would idly chat after everything they witnessed when the train moved out of Canterlot and she couldn’t stand there uninformed so, moving toward the crowd, she picked out a random pony to garner some answers from, “Excuse me, what’s going on? Why has the train stopped?” The random pony shook his head and drawled in the manner of the Canterlot’s elite, “I’m afraid I don’t know. I have been asking the same question myself for the past five minutes.” “Well, that was helpful,” Metra huffed to herself and moved on deeper into the crowd to find better answers and yet everypony she asked said the same thing: that they did not know what had the train stopped for nor why. It was becoming more and more frustrating with every lacking answer she received. Fatigue was slowly starting to settle in and grind on her nerves since she had been trying inadvertently to get some sleep until the train stopped. After scouring the crowd closer to the front of the train and producing even fewer results, Metra was starting to think that she might as well head back to her compartment and wait out the problem like any sensible pony would do. Turning on her hoof, she pushed her way back to the nearest train door to avoid the ever growing crowd outside. Her hoof had barely met the door handle when a ear-piercing scream shattered the drone of the babbling crowd. The pause was almost palpable until the wave of shouts flowed through the crowd toward her. The ones that weren’t screaming soon found their voice one they saw what their fellow ponies had. Metra’s heart leapt into her throat with such force that she thought she might choke on it. A cold wedge of ice found its way into her spine and raked her body with terror and fear-riddled trembling. Changelings, as clear as day even against the dark canvas of the night sky, were everywhere, circling the crowd and picking off victims one by one. Ponies scrambled to and fro; looking for any means of escape only to be snatched up in the blink of an eye by the black insectoid like creatures. Chaos broke all around her and all she could think was, “Run! Run and Hide” before her instincts spurred her into motion. There was no time to think afterwards and she sought the only form of shelter closest to her at the moment; the train. Her hoof latched around the door handle and ripped it open with a slam but the sight that met her made her gasp, unable to truly scream as she fell backward onto the ground. The Changelings were already on the train; one had apparently just been behind the door waiting for its own victim. It trotted slowly down the steps from the locomotive like a lion that has cornered its prey, relishing in its catch. Metra had seen before but it was only in a book she read many years ago and only bits and pieces of what she read and saw then she remembered now and, yet, that would never compare to the sheer detail of the real thing standing before her: Its sleek black carapace-like body with legs that looked like they were swiss cheese and yet more powerful than any hoof she had seen. Its iridescent wings vibrating in anticipation with the owner’s excitement. A curved horn that may have been filed to a point to give it its menacing form. The razor-sharp, white fangs that looked capable of tearing through her flesh in a single bite. Most importantly, though, were its eyes: eyes that were void of pupils but lacked nothing short of a piercing and hungry gaze. With a swift leap, the Changeling was now completely on top of her, staring directly into her with a crooked smile. Metra was frozen in fear; having lost her entire will to fight her way from under the imposing figure. A sly hiss escaped the Changeling that stood above her, ready to make its final blow with such a force that Metra could almost see the tension in it’s muscles as it poised to strike. Indeed, the last thing she saw before closing her eyes and letting out the most primal scream of fear in her life was the maw of the Changeling stretch further than she thought was capable to, revealing its rows of rendering fangs bearing down upon her... Metra hadn’t realized that she had fallen asleep until she heard the tell-tale screech of train brakes and the accompanying pull of inertia of the stop itself. She was more than surprised that she had fallen asleep in the first place. Ever since the news of the Changeling attack of Canterlot, she, like many other passengers, had found rest hard to come by. She wondered why she felt nauseated and sickly and why there were glistening droplets of sweat on her forehead reflecting the artificial light of her compartment. She placed both hooves on her temples and it all came flooding back to her: the train’s ‘unexpected stop’, the ensuing Changeling attack, and her inevitable capture under the pale night sky of screams. She was still right where she was before all of it happened. “A dream?” Metra thought, “No, not a dream... a nightmare.” As soon as she came to this conclusion, Metra released the breath she had been holding for nearly a minute in a relieved sigh that she wasn't eaten nor captured. Still, she felt a small shiver run through her from the thin layer of cold sweat that had broken out over her coat while she had slept. She was still far from being at ease: her breathing was still coming in short choppy gasps while her brain tried to tell her heart to stop running its fear induced marathon. Even though she was now was calming down, she had to wonder what if what she experienced was not a dream at all. Thus bringing on a renewed score of hyperventilation. “Breath Metra, breath”, she silently commanded herself over and over in her mind. If what she had witnessed was only a dream, she then had to calm down and think this through, calmly. She knew that she wasn’t in the clutches of the Changelings, and by the sound of it, there weren’t any terrified screams of ponies piercing the night air in fright. Those screams sounded so real in her dream that she could have sworn that they were, screams of those stallions, mares, and foals that stood no chance against the onslaught, just like she had. “Stop it!” Metra shouted silently again at the horrifying thoughts, shaking her head vigorously as if to shake them off her mind when she realized that she was working herself up once more while getting nothing done. After a few more breaths to steady herself, Metra was left with a single thought that refocused her mind: The train had come to a stop, why? There had to be a reason and she was determined to find out what it was. a voice dared seep again in her thoughts, “The Changelings are here, and they came for you” but another forceful shake of her head made that thought scurry away from her mind. She had to think rationally and her first choice of decision was to get herself busy making herself appear more presentable to her fellow passengers before leaving the confines of her compartment. The little episode of deja vu was not lost on the diminutive Earth pony  With her mane and tail thoroughly brushed and a few spurts of perfume to cover her sweat, Metra emerged out into the hallway of the train car, but unlike her dream, nopony was out in the hallway like her to investigate the stop nor were there anypony outside judging from what she could see through the train car’s windows. There was no soul to be seen and that added less to Metra’s peace of mind. The sound of another compartment door sliding open brought her musings to an abrupt end. She was startled, but it was only another pony, a lime green Earth pony mare with a bleach blonde mane and tail, that emerged from her compartment and jumped in fright at the same time as her counterpart. Both mares stood there gasping for breath, until the the lime-green mare offered her apology, “ Oh my, I’m terribly sorry I scared you. I was just on my way to the Little Fillies room.” Metra smiled in return, having recovered her wits to realize how she over-reacted by jumping in the air like a pegasus even though she had no wings, and replied as calmly as her decelerated breath could allow, “No, no. That was my fault. Please excuse me.” With her thoughts still in a jumble, Metra had almost reached the adjacent train car when it hit her that she ought have asked so, turning around, she called at the other mare who had almost entered the ladies room, “Excuse me! Sorry to bother you at this moment but why has the train stopped?” The mare poked her head from around the door and called in return, “They had to stop to replenish their water supply! I’ve taken this train before and it always stops to resupply here at the Firelock water tower.” “A water tower?” Metra thought, finally understanding, “It was just a water tower, and here you were working yourself up over nothing but a dream” Metra chastised herself before calling back  to the mare, “Thank you miss, I should be going.” “Alright then, have a good evening.” the mare said before going back into the ladies’ room and Metra blinked. It was such a normal and civil answer but she realized that the last few weeks she lived in Canterlot with the uncordial beings she thought were her best friends and even her parents made her forget how natural it was that ponies would be polite to each other even if they haven’t met before. Metra carried on about her way, thinking to herself that now she was up, she might as well take the opportunity to stretch her hooves and exercise her muscles. Having been cooped up in her compartment for half the day had made her limbs uncomfortably stiff. She contemplated playing some music to get her thoughts in proper order but she shrugged that idea off, fearing to disturb the passengers on the train; early as it was. As she went into the next car, she found there were several ponies walking around,clearly having the same idea as Metra too and yet had permitted themselves to a bit of idle chat and so she just wandered around and caught small snippets of what they were really talking about. Most of it was about Canterlot and wonderings of fellow relatives and if they had escaped. Hearing of these muttered words and experiencing the weight of those memories was breaking Metra’s heart. Not only were her friends and family in danger, hundreds if not thousands of other ponies were now in the hooves of the Changelings. Metra couldn’t help feeling a bit selfish: here she was, thinking only of her own family and friends when there were ponies all around her in the exact same position as she was. Everyone was surely on the verge of breaking down, but now was not the time to show her fears. She would remain strong if not for herself, but for the others around her. “Yes.” Metra thought to herself, “I’ll give them nothing to see but a proud mare of Canterlot.” Thus, lost in her own thoughts of self-glory, she inadvertently bumped into yet another pony and had to apologize, “Oof, excuse me. I didn’t see you there. I didn’t mean to bump into you.” The other pony, a pale orange pegasus mare with a greenish mane and tail, smiled with exhausted eyes, “Oh, don’t worry. No need to apologize. I was distracted as well.” Both mares nodded after this polite exchange and made room for each other on either side to pass. Metra watched as the mare and two other ponies, a charcoal pegasus and filly unicorn with a bright teal coat and sloppy looking mane, move on after each giving her a slight nod in greeting, the filly unicorn actually waving a hoof back at her in farewell. It was not such an odd event but what caught Metra’s attention about the group was that the mare that she had bumped into had been carrying another pony draped across her back. Metra had to squint to look and make sure but it was certainly a colt, by the looks of him, though his features did give off a bit of femininity. He looked unconscious and carried various scratches and dark bruises along his body and forehead and Metra could only wonder how that mare managed to carry him across her back and yet walk with such an even step to her hooves. “Are they refugees?” Metra whispered to herself as she watched them being obscured from her sight by the closing of the train’s compartment door. On the far end of the car she was currently in, whoever they were, Metra considered the moment to count her blessings that she had gotten off fairly easy from the attack and not had ended up possibly scarred like the poor colt. Seeing as there wasn’t much else to do, Metra ultimately ended up returning to her compartment just as the train began to move again. Judging by what she had picked up, the train was about three quarters of the way to Shade Hollows and so she planned to keep herself occupied by tending to her prized possession: her one-of-a-kind chestnut wood lacquered Bass. > Chapter 15 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Azure finally awoke with a start. His mind racing to keep up with the pounding in his ears. He turned his head this way and that, making absolutely sure that what he just experienced was just a dream and nothing more. The shear realism of the whole thing just felt too vivid to be just an ordinary night terror. Alas, nothing was out of place from the night before aside from the small campfire that he and Wind Scribe had set up the night before had now died out without so much as an ember left. Wind Scribe, his companion for the moment, was just arousing from his sleep as well and Azure hurried to compose himself before the older stallion saw him. With a wide yawn, Wind Scribe stretched his joints with a few audible pops, “Good morning, Azure.” “Good morning,” Azure replied plainly. “Hmm, I miss my old bed. Sleeping on the ground is not doing my body any favors.” “…Oh, yeah. Me neither.” Wind Scribe could tell that there was something a little off about his companion this morning. Though thought better of it than directly asking when the answer was seemingly clear. Over the past two days since they had left the cabin, they had been making a steady pace in heading east. Seeing the capitol in such disarray and knowing that their home was lost to them, they found it easier in continuing in the direction that had been heading, getting as far away for the devastation as possible. As much as they wanted to keep their promises in saving their family, they were only two ponies, and deep down they were scared for their lives. Wind Scribe shook the depressing thoughts away in order to focus on more pressing matters; namely, breakfast. “Azure, do we still have any cans of beans left?” “Uh, I dunno,” Azure snapped out of his own stupor, “Let me check.” The blue pegasus dug around in the saddlebag they claimed to have ‘borrowed’ from the cabin with the food they intended to pay back to the owner in full. He was rummaging around in the bag for quite some time before procuring his prize. He tossed the tin can of provisions in Wind Scribe’s direction before going back to look for something himself. “Sorry, that’s the last one. We really don’t have much left, I think we need to really start looking for more supplies.” Wind Scribe looked down upon the tin of sustenance in his hooves with a sigh. He too knew that they were going to run out of food eventually. Even with Azure rudimentary knowledge of wildlife and edible plants, to which Wind Scribe was surprised to find out about, they wouldn’t last very long without a more solid supply. Breakfast was mostly silent, save for the natural wildlife that surround them in their campsite. After a quick round up of their meager supplies, the two pegasi set off in the same eastern direction they have been headed for the past two days. Albeit, without flying due to sore wings from considerable flight time they’ve both put in. Not much else was said between the two on the mid-morning canter, not much else was needed to be said. They already pretty much knew everything about each other after spending so much time together. They were content in just knowing that the other was there beside him. By lunchtime, they sat down for a short break and have an apple each, thinking to ration their dwindling supplies. *snap* They were just getting up to keep going when Azure snapped his head to his left, a look of apprehension clear on his muzzle. Wind Scribe became silent as well, he too heard the sound that set Azure off. Usually it was just a fox or a small bunny, but something about this just seemed off. Wind Scribe took Azure’s lead, tensing up as he slowly rose to his hooves. His wings fluttered to a ready stance, preparing to take off. He glanced off to the side where Azure was, noting he was in the same stance. His attention flew back to the woods in front of him where he could now hear faint sounds. Hoofsteps, there was no mistaking the sound of hooves on hard packed dirt. He may have been from Cloudsdale, but Wind Scribe had Earth pony relatives that got him used to the sound. “Halt, who goes there?” A gruff sounding voice commanded from the other side of a tree that Azure was staring at. The sudden outburst nearly sent both pegasi flying, but something in the tone demanded a response above all else. “I ask again, who goes there?” despite the origin of the voice’s location, neither of the pegasi were able to see who had asked the question even while squinting into the shadows. It was Wind Scribe that took the lead on this one and stepped forward to answer back. “Uh, I am Wind Scribe and this is Azure of Cloudsdale. Who is asking?” A moment passed and no reply came and the two pegasi almost started to think that they were just hearing voices. That theory was soon dispelled with the mirage like image of a pony walking calmly from behind where the voice had come from. It was like watching a veil of heat rolling over a cloud to show its outline to the viewer on a hot summer day. The illusion dropped and both pegasi were in awe to find that it was actually a unicorn that stood before them. Though not just any unicorn, but a unicorn of the royal guard clad in the all important golden armour. Then again, with another glance over the haggarded looking stallion revealed that he was not wearing the entire uniform of the royal equestrian guard. His hoof guards were nowhere to be seen and he lacked his oriental saddle that should have been resting across his back. Odd as this was, it did not hinder his striking appearance and authoritative stance that came with years of training in the guard. “I must ask you to lay down your saddle bag and step five paces back,” The unicorn commanded. “Wait, why?” Azure instantly retorted. The guard threw his dagger like glare at Azure with full intensity. The poor young pegasus crumbled under the gaze and retreated back. “You may not ask questions until I am done inspecting your possessions.” ‘A security check?’ Wind Scribe thought. ‘Why would he need to do that? And for that matter, what is a member of the royal guard doing all the way out in the middle of the woods?’ Though rather than argue with the unicorn, Wind Scribe set the saddle bag down thinking that he would be able to get some answers once the guard was done. “Azure, do as he says. It’s just a security check.” “But what if he’s a Changeling?” Azure whispered under his breath. Wind Scribe suddenly realized his mistake. Even in his wiser years, he had made a naive decision. He mentally berated himself for such a stupid oversight and thought quickly. “Ok, if he tries anything, we take off and head north. I saw a large cumulonimbus that we can hide in if this is a trap.” Azure nodded softly to acknowledge Wind Scribe’s plan and followed him in his back step away from the saddle bag on the ground. “That’s far enough,” the unicorn said, the two pegasi stopped having been able to take a few more steps away in their retreat. The unicorn reached out with his magic and plucked the saddle bag up from between them all. His magic extended further in, extracting each of the individual contents of the bag and setting it on the ground after inspecting it. “Wind Scribe,” Azure whispered, gaining the the older stallion’s attention, “If we take off now, he may not have enough time to react.” Wind Scribe almost called his companion crazy until he remembered what he had said earlier and reconsidered. His wings ruffled unconsciously against his sides at the idea of taking to the skies. Judging by the soft breeze, they would have a far enough lead to out fly a single opponent. Right, all he had to do was let Azure know that he was ready to go. That is, until a large shadow passed overhead. Distracted by the disturbance, Wind Scribe looked up and felt his ears fold back, ‘Shoot’. Up in the air, another pony, a pegasus was circling the trio in the woods. This one only wore pieces of armour as well, a chestpiece and hoof guards, but indistinguishably a royal guard. Looks like the ‘royal guards’ had thought clearly ahead in the event that they encountered another pegasus. With the aerial guard above and the unicorn on the ground, there was no guarantee that the runaways would get away. They could try to fight, but Wind Scribe was only kidding himself. Him, a scholar and Azure, a Snowflake producer, take on two members of the royal guard? Though the downcasting thought was soon dismissed as the unicorn coughed and began to replace the saddlebag’s possessions. He gave a glance to the sky, or specifically, to the pegasus circling the woods above and waited for his companion to meet him on the ground. “Now,” the unicorn addressed the two pegasi, “I see you are not in possession of anything suspicious, but I must ask you two to wait just a few more minutes while verify one last thing.” “One last thing?” Azure repeated. The unicorn lowered his horn, pointing it directly at the two pegasi. Wind Scribe felt a cold grip on his spine, urging him to flee but stood firm. Azure looked about the same, trying desperately to not show his limbs were shaking. Then the spell was cast. A haze of dark yellow, almost gold aura encircled the group of ponies. Azure and Wind Scribe had expected the spell to be some direct-projection like enchantment, but what they came to realize that the unicorn was merely bowing his head in concentration. A sort of warmth invaded the pegasi’s beings, pleasant and encompassing, like a freshly washed blanket. It was over as quickly as it had started and the spell dissipated along with the alluring warmth. The Unicorn look back up, relieved, “Alright, you may come with us.” He turned on his hoof along with his pegasus counterpart and began trotting away. “Wait,” Azure caught up first to ask, “Where are we going?” The unicorn craned his neck over his shoulders, a genuine smile on his face, “To safety.” --o0o-- Wind Scribe could almost cry. Before him was what anypony could have considered a haven even though it was just simply a refugee camp. Sure it was situated in the midst of the town they had come to know as Shade Hollows, but it was well more than refreshing to see a community of ponies living together again. Azure’s jaw dropped in awe. A sense of security and familiarity filling both the stallions hearts with overwhelming comfort at seeing such a bastion of hope. “Come along you two,” the unicorn guard said, “We’ll see to your accommodations.” Azure and Wind Scribe fell back in behind the guards to follow them through the camp. Wind Scribe observed the town with a curious eye, taking in everything he could. Most of the ponies definitely looked like the locals that you expect from a rural area. Though there were those that gave off the air of aristocrats and other such blue bloods. Canterlotians, perhaps? Azure on the other hoof was too enthralled in the community to watch where he was going and ended up bumping into somepony else. “Oomph!” “Aah!” “Oh jeez, I’m sor- sorry?” Azure attempted at an apology, though his thoughts became distracted at the mare he had unwittingly knock into. His cheeks burned slightly as he peered at the dusky gray mare with straight purple mane and tail. She seemed a bit dazed from the impact, but was recovering quickly “I, uh, excuse me miss. Um here, let me help you with your things.” Azure immediately went to work on gather up the groceries the mare had dropped after the encounter. “Urgh, that’s ok. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” The mare picked herself up and helped Azure to pick up the last of the groceries. “Thank you though for helping me pick up my things.” The cute looking mare gave Azure a warm smile and graciously accepted the bags of groceries he offered, “Heh, no problem. It was my pleasure.” The vibrant glow of his cheeks growing a little brighter. “If you’d like, I can help you carry those to where you need them.” The purpled maned pegasus, which Azure happened to noticed upon her wings, finished rearranging her saddle bag on her back and shook her head, “No thanks, I’ve got this taken care of.” “Auntie Shade, come on,” a young, scrappy unicorn filly ran by the two pegasi, “We’re gonna be late if we don’t hurry up.” “Ok Snare, just slow down a bit. Thank you so much again with these groceries.” The purple maned pegasus smiled toward Azure. “Maybe I’ll see you around, bye.” The mare turned away and cantered off after the filly leaving Azure to wave his own goodbye, “Um yeah, goodbye.” “Azure,” Azure jumped at the sound of his name being called by Wind Scribe, “Come on, the guards said they have some room for us over this way.” “Yeah, sure. On my way.” Azure galloped after his companion to follow the guards once more to their temporary quarters.