Silence.
The silence was everywhere all at once. It felt like an oppressive force.
For almost an hour, nopony had said a word. Sunny Saddle had given up her position in the driver’s seat to help Pathfinder pull the flatbed wagon now that Tracker was a statuette. Stonecutter's right leg was hurt and was in no shape to pull the heavy load, so she sat with Cloudburst. Cloudburst, having received the blow to the head, was deemed unable to fly for now by Sunny and Stonecutter.
That left Sparkler.
Sparkler sat alone in the back of Stonecutter’s red wagon. She wanted to be alone. Nopony spoke at all, least of all to her. Sparkler was sat amid the supplies they had bought, sealed containers of fresh water, food and rope, gazing forlornly out at the passing desert. Though it had only been an hour since ‘it’ had happened, it felt like days it seemed. She looked at the backs of Cloudburst and Stonecutter, each holding the other comfortingly while she sat alone.
Sparkler didn't care.
After what she had done, she didn’t deserve anypony’s arm around her. She didn’t deserve anypony telling her it would be alright. She was a mess. Her bright yellow fur was matted from the tears she had cried, her cheeks streaked with the results of her crying. Her mane, usually tied up in a neat ponytail was a mess, her hair unkempt. The studious pony had been crying so much that she didn't have any tears left, she just sat there heaving her shoulders, crying tears that wouldn't come.
Sparkler didn't care.
Since 'it' had happened, Sparkler had relished the solace her self imposed confinement brought her. Not that it helped much. Forcing her marefriend and her friend away from her had just made her feel worse, if that was at all possible. Now, when they shot furtive looks at her when they thought she wasn’t looking made her feel more and more wretched than ever. Still, she couldn't bear them near her. What if she lost control again? What if she hurt them?
Sparkler couldn’t bear the thought of that.
Better to sit alone than hurt those she loved. Especially Stonecutter. Sitting this far back, she couldn’t hear the scared whispers that Sunny Saddle and Pathfinder were no doubt directing her way. Not that she could blame them. Not after what she had done.
Killers didn’t deserve hugs.
Every time she closed her eyes she could see them, the three diamond dog bandits. Every time she inhaled she could smell them. Sparkler blinked and she was right back in that moment once more. The bandits were right there, stood not that far from where she was now sat, weapons drawn, they were right there!
Stonecutter dropped to one knee.
“Bandits not take one. We take you too.” The one behind the leader had his stinking paws on Cloudburst’s body. Dragging her up, the pale blue pegasus started to come to. “Slaves worth more than pony valuables!”
“No!” Stonecutter surged up to her hooves only to be knocked back down by a sharp punch to her gut.
The bandit leader grabbed Stonecutter’s mane and yanked her head up. “You have spirit, pony. I will chain you to my bed and break that spirit.”
“Leave. Her. Alone.” Sparkler stood up, her mane flowing in a crackling nimbus of magical energy. “Get your paws off my friend.”
The third bandit scoffed, “Pony too frail to take. We kill you. Make excellent food.” The three bandits advanced upon Sparkler, sharp pointed teeth exposed in nasty, evil feral grins. They kicked Stonecutter aside, curved blades raised and glinting in the sun.
“No!” Sparkler screamed as they came at her. Her mind raced, adrenalin surged through her system. There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. The leader got a foot from her and she could smell him, and her fear skyrocketed. Instinct took over. Her magic surged, lifting her arms, her green eyes shone brilliant, pure white. “NO!” her muzzle pulled back in a snarl of her own. She threw her arms up to protect herself as those blades came down.
They never made contact.
Sparkler cast her telekinesis. Her magic, fuelled by adrenalin, anger and fear, made it the most powerful spell she had ever cast. The three bandits, unprepared and unprotected, were flung from the wagon at impossible speed. Propelled by the magical blast, their bodies became nothing but a large crimson red smear on the canyon walls.
“Hey!” Stonecutter called out, suddenly drawing Sparkler out of her reverie, “What’s that, over there?” That, as it happened, was a camp site sheltered under a large rocky outcrop by the side of the road they were travelling on, at the base of the mountains. As they drew nearer to it, the unicorn could see the six small tents were clearly abandoned.
“Sunny!” Cloudburst yelled, getting the older mare’s attention, “Sunny Saddle! We should stop, have a look see around!”
Sunny Saddle shared a look with Pathfinder and shook her head. “Sorry kid,” she huffed, unused as she was to actually pulling the flatbed wagon, “I don’t wanna stop here, not after what happened in the canyon. It’s not safe!”
As they got closer and closer to the camp site though, Cloudburst’s sharp eyes made out the six tents in more detail. Purple, blue, orange, yellow, white and pink, each decorated with a very familiar cutie mark. “Those are our teachers’ tents!” Cloudburst shot back, her wings fluttering with excitement. “If we rest up here, we might find an answer to why or where they were taken!”
That gave Sunny and Pathfinder pause for thought. While neither of them wanted to stop, they did want a solution to the curse of the statuettes. Not in the least because Pathfinder’s husband was currently a statuette in Sunny’s bag. The older mare shared an unspoken look with Pathfinder and she nodded over her shoulder, not looking at Sparkler. “Alright kid, we’ll stop.”
Sparkler didn’t say anything, not that her opinion had been sought after in any case. Sunny Saddle and Pathfinder pulled off the dusty rocky desert road and stopped the flatbed wagon near the camp site. The six tents had been set up in a semi circle against the large outcrop and, in the centre, a small battered looking cooking pot that screamed Sweet Apple Acres stood on a tripod over a pile of firewood in a circle of stones.
Hopping gently down from the flatbed, Cloudburst and Stonecutter saw there were bedrolls, backpacks and the odd item of clothing scattered across the hard ground and inside the tents. “Look at these, CB,” Stonecutter limped around, the fat earth pony mare pointing a finger to the faded black scorch marks that dotted the ground around the camp site.
“They aren’t fire damage,” Cloudburst muttered to herself as Sunny Saddle helped Pathfinder from the wagon’s harness and over to the pink tent decorated with three balloons. “Do you suppose magic made them?” she asked, the pegasus remembering what Spike had said back at Fluttershy’s cottage, that the Professors had been caught by surprise in a magical battle.
“I don’t rightly know, CB.” Stonecutter placed her hand on the ground a few inches away from one of the scorch marks and the earth pony could feel the magic in the ground. However, it didn’t feel that much different to how the ground usually felt to her, given that earth ponies usually felt magic through their hooves and hands anyway. “Sparks!” she called out without thinking, “Can you come take a look at these marks?”
“Sure,” came the very noncommittal reply from the back of the red wagon. Smoothing her dress and pulling her wide brimmed hat down so that she wouldn’t have to look at either of them, Sparkler walked over and gently placed her hand on one of the scorch marks. Almost immediately she pulled her hand away like it had been burnt. Whatever – or whoever - had made these marks was strong and powerful, for she felt the traces of magic lingering in the ground. “Strong magic made these.”
Cloudburst blinked disbelievingly from Sparkler to Stonecutter. “I could have told you that,” she muttered not quite under her breath.
Stonecutter quietly shushed her best friend with her hands, mouthing ‘not now’ to her just to make sure she got the message. She’d just gotten Sparkler talking after an hour of complete silence. The last thing she wanted was for her marefriend to retreat into her shell again. “Well…let’s have a look around, see what we can see, how about that?”
Still muttering under her breath, Cloudburst agreed. Quietly, still withdrawn, Sparkler nodded and stood up. “Score!” Cloudburst exclaimed after a few moments when, her investigation of the sealed pots by the fire revealed that one of them still had some tasty looking vegetable stew inside and another had some apple crumble and custard. “Double score!”
“We have plenty of food, CB.” Sparkler’s voice was dull and monotone.
“Yeah, I know we do, but this is Sweet Apple Acres apple crumble!” Cloudburst was doing a happy victory dance. “That’s a total win!”
Stonecutter was about to roll her eyes at her best friend when she noticed, caught on a thorny coarse looking bush, a familiar brown Stetson hat fluttering in the breeze. Walking over, she picked it carefully from the bush, making sure not to prick herself. She was hurt enough. Sure enough, it was Professor Applejack’s hat. As she took it, she was reminded of something her teacher had said to her once. “Southern gals dress from the top down and undress from the bottom up.”
If her hat was here and she was not, it surely meant Applejack was in trouble.
The slate grey earth pony was about to turn back to the camp site when something else caught her eye. Close to the ground, a tattered piece of cinnamon brown fabric was stuck to the thorny bush. Reaching down, she pulled it from the bush with a tug of her hand. “Look at this!” she exclaimed, showing the piece to Sparkler and Cloudburst.
“Looks plain,” Cloudburst commented as she took the tattered piece of cloth from her friend and turned it over in her pale blue hands. “Plain, mass produced travelling cloak.”
“How do you know that?” asked Sparkler who, despite her maudlin mood, was not accustomed to Cloudburst knowing more than her, even about fashion, something she admittedly knew very little about.
Cloudburst turned a deadpan stare to Sparkler. “I pay attention in Professor Rarity’s classes, you know.
“Do you suppose it belongs to one of our teachers?” asked Stonecutter, her question earning her a withering stare too.
“There’s no way in all of Equestria, under the sea or in the sky that Professor Rarity would allow one of her friends to wear something as cheap, nasty and mass produced as this,” Cloudburst turned it over in her hands to try and show them what she meant, “I mean look. Here, the stitching is all machined, and poorly I might add. The hem is all over the place, the quality of the fabric is just crap. I bet Professor Rarity has better dishcloths in her boutique than this!”
“Alright, alright, I believe you,” Sparkler muttered, turning and walking around the camp site. “Check this out!” she exclaimed a few moments later. Stonecutter and Cloudburst rushed over, alerted by how alive the unicorn’s voice sounded. In truth, Sparkler had surprised herself.
“What is it, Sparks?”
Crouched between two large logs that had been used as benches around the camp fire, Sparkler had picked up the thing she had seen glinting in the dry grass in hot afternoon desert sun. “It’s a bangle, look!” the antique looking bangle she held in her glowing green aura was circular, made from beaten gold, and it was inscribed with words on the outside and the inside. “I think it’s old ponish, but I’m not sure…”
“Can you read it?”
“Yes, CB,” Sparkler answered in a sarcastic deadpan tone. “A thousand year old dead language. I read it every day, didn’t you know?”
“Okay, so you can’t read it, I get it,” Cloudburst grumbled, “It’s pretty though, isn’t it?”
“Have it then,” Sparkler handed the pegasus the bangle, who immediately slid it on past her wrist and onto her forearm. “Oh hey…” Something on the large log caught the unicorn’s eye. It was a few strands of navy blue hair. She held it up for them all to have a look at and the three mares shared a look between them that didn’t need words. None of their teachers had navy blue hair. The articles they had found, the tattered piece of cloak, the bangle and the hair, must have come from whoever had taken them!
“Thanks Sparks!” Cloudburst admired the shiny golden bangle on her wrist. She didn’t need to be able to read it what the words said to know it was pretty. “C’mon, I’m hungry. What say we break open that pot off stew and have us a camp meal?”
“Tenting?” Sparkler looked amazed as they all walked back to the main camp area, “Out here, in the Badlands, you want to camp?”
“Well, yeah,” Cloudburst shook her head. “We bought tents with us, what did you think we were gonna do, miss Priss, book ourselves into a five star hotel?”
“Oh, shut up, featherbrain…”
“Besides, if anything happens, you can sort them out, right?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sparkler angrily turned on the pegasus, who took a step backwards.
“What…um…I didn’t mean anything, I um…I meant those bandits won’t be raiding anypony again, will they, thanks to you…hey!” the pegasus knew she had said the wrong thing though when Sparkler roughly shoved past her, barging her shoulder hard on the way by her. Stonecutter, about to say something, noticed something moving off to the side, at the extreme edge of the camp.
Stonecutter stopped dead in her tracks and stared off into the near distance. She had been sure, when they got to the abandoned camp site, that something or somepony was watching them, now, seeing a shadow dart from rock to boulder, she was sure. “Hey, Stone,” Cloudburst nudged her friend, “You coming?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Stonecutter waved her off, “In a minute, I just wanna check something out, okay?”
“Well, don’t be long, and don’t get turned into a statue, alright?” Cloudburst then walked back to the camp, where Sunny Saddle was getting the fire lit.
Stonecutter turned her back to the tents and took a few hesitant steps towards the boulders that lined the edge of the camp site along the rocky outcrop. The slate grey earth pony hadn’t taken more than five or six steps when she saw the shadowy shape she had thought she had seen before suddenly move and duck down behind a large rock. “Hey!” she called out, seeing the shape freeze, “Do you need help?”
Unsure if the mysterious figure was the one who had taken the Professors, or another bandit scouting them out, or some poor pony lost in the wilderness, Stonecutter ran over to the large rock. However, when she was a few feet away, there was a flash of violet and a crack of magical energy, followed by an intense smell of ozone. “Damn…” Stonecutter breathed, breathless, “They teleported!”
When Stonecutter reached the rock though, she was not to leave empty handed. Where she was sure the figure had been, she discovered another scrap of the plain brown fabric. Clearly, the teleport spell he – or she – had cast had been rushed. That though left her with more questions than answers. If that figure had been at the camp before, who were they? Were they responsible? If so, why run from her? Were they scared?
Shaking her head, Stonecutter turned and went back to the camp where she saw that Sunny Saddle had the fire lit, and the stew bubbling away nicely in the battered old cooking pot. The welcome smell of hot food immediately warmed her tired hungry body, having much the same effect as a cool wet towel on a fevered brow. While that lifted her spirits, what disheartened her was seeing Sparkler sitting on a wooden log all on her own.
“Did you find anything?” asked Cloudburst, who was sat on the other side of the fire to Sparkler on a wooden log next to Sunny Saddle.
“Um…no, no I didn’t…” Stonecutter lied. Usually she hated lying in any form, especially now she was wearing Sparkler’s yellow collar, but she didn’t want them to worry. She was more concerned about why her marefriend and Mistress was sat so far away from her friend and the expedition pony. Her silent question, communicated with a point of her chin towards Sparkler and a raised eyebrow was answered by a shake of the head and shrugged shoulders from the pegasus. “Hey, miss Saddle, isn’t Pathfinder joining us?”
“No, kid, he isn’t.” she answered as she checked on the stew. Thankfully it just needed reheating not cooking from fresh, because she was hungry like the others. “He wanted some time on his own, after what happened to Tracker. I’m sure you understand.” When she saw the earth pony mare limp to a log and sit down, she said, “Here, let me check your leg and your arm.”
“Oh um, ma’am, there’s no need…”
Sunny Saddle shushed her with a frown and the most disapproving look she could muster. “There’s every need. Those wounds don’t look too deep, but trust me, you don’t want them infected, not out here. In case you hadn’t noticed, there aren’t any hospitals, and the doc in Dodge City isn’t very skilled at amputations.”
“Am-Am…Amputations?” Stonecutter squeaked.
“Uh huh,” Sunny Saddle rather enjoyed the young mare’s squirming, “He uses a meat saw, a bone saw and the anaesthetic is a figment of his imagination…” She left that hanging in the air for the briefest of moments. Then, with a whimper, Stonecutter nodded and extended her leg as the sand coloured mare levitated over her medical kit. “Wise choice, kid.” She rolled up the hemline of Stonecutter’s shorts and got a good look at the long cuts that adorned her upper right leg from her thigh to her knee.
After some ums and ahs, Sunny Saddle seemed satisfied. “Tell me doc,” Cloudburst chuckled, “When do you start sawing?”
“Shut it featherbrain!”
Sunny Saddle couldn’t help but laugh at Stonecutter’s nervousness. “I’m sorry to say, not today, kiddo.” When Cloudburst aww’d, she laughed even harder. In truth, the young earth pony didn’t need much in the way of first aid, this was to give her something to do while the stew cooked so she didn’t have to think about the Sparkler sized elephant in the room. “Now,” she said when she had some high strength disinfectant in her magical aura, “I’m afraid this is going to sting. A lot.”
Stonecutter nodded. She thought she was ready for it. She was wrong. So very wrong. Her mother had used iodine on her when she had gotten into scrapes as a filly. She remembered that hurt like Tartarus. This though was a whole other level. The very second that the sickly blue whatever it was touched the wounds on her leg and arm, she screamed like her arm skin had been set on fire. “GAAaaaAAAAH DAAaaaAAAAMN OOOOOOW!”
Then, just as suddenly, the intense pain was gone like it was never there at all.
Through it all, Sparkler just sat on her log staring into the camp fire like she was the only pony in her universe. She didn’t react or do anything when Stonecutter screamed in pain.
“Wh-What w-was th-that?” Stonecutter gasped, staring at her wounds in wonderment as the glowing blue liquid took all her pain away.
“Lily the Pink’s patented Medicinal Compound,” Sunny Saddle showed Stonecutter the bottle, which boasted its contents were most efficacious in every way. “Three hundred bits per bottle, only available in Canterlot from Lily’s store. It’s excellent for cleaning out wounds, killing bacteria and stopping infections. Sorry about the pain, that means it’s working.”
“N-No sweat, it’s fine…” Stonecutter replied, though she was still looking fixated at the potion applied to her leg and arm. Gradually, over the space of roughly ten minutes or so, the blue glow faded, leaving her wounds clean and sterilised.
Sunny Saddle then levitated over a couple of large bandages, a smile on her face. “I think you’re gonna be fine. No sawing needed today, kid. Still, I think you’ll have some sexy scars to take away with you as a memento of your trip to the Badlands.” She proceeded to wrap the two bandages, one around her leg and the other around her arm.
“Hey guys,” Cloudburst spoke up, just as the sun started to get lower in the sky, “The stew’s done!”
It was indeed done, and done to perfection, too, in Stonecutter’s opinion. She took the bowl that was offered to her and sat down next to Sparkler in an attempt to get any kind of reaction from her. The only movement she made at all was when Sunny Saddle levitated over to her a bowl of the stew and a spoon. “Sparks…” she started, but saw that her marefriend was still staring blankly into the fire.
Sparkler heard, but she didn’t really hear. In her head she was reliving what had happened in the canyon for the hundredth time.
“Leave. Her. Alone.” Sparkler stood up, her mane flowing in a crackling nimbus of magical energy. “Get your paws off my friend.”
The third bandit scoffed, “Pony too frail to take. We kill you. Make excellent food.” The three bandits advanced upon Sparkler, sharp pointed teeth exposed in nasty, evil feral grins. They kicked Stonecutter aside, curved blades raised and glinting in the sun.
“No!” Sparkler screamed as they came at her. Her mind raced, adrenalin surged through her system. There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. The leader got a foot from her and she could smell him, and her fear skyrocketed. Instinct took over. Her magic surged, lifting her arms, her green eyes shone brilliant, pure white. “NO!” her muzzle pulled back in a snarl of her own. She threw her arms up to protect herself as those blades came down.
They never made contact.
Sparkler cast her telekinesis. Her magic, fuelled by adrenalin, anger and fear, made it the most powerful spell she had ever cast. The three bandits, unprepared and unprotected, were flung from the wagon at impossible speed. Propelled by the magical blast, their bodies became nothing but a large crimson red smear on the canyon walls.
It went round and round in the bright yellow unicorn’s head like a video on a television set on a constant loop. It hurt. It hurt like she couldn’t believe it was possible to hurt. Her very soul hurt. It just wouldn’t go away. Not that she wanted it to go away. She wanted it to hurt. She deserved to hurt. She needed it to hurt.
“Sparkler!”
“Leave. Her. Alone.” Sparkler stood up, her mane flowing in a crackling nimbus of magical energy. “Get your paws off my friend.”
The third bandit scoffed, “Pony too frail to take. We kill you. Make excellent food.” The three bandits advanced upon Sparkler, sharp pointed teeth exposed in nasty, evil feral grins. They kicked Stonecutter aside, curved blades raised and glinting in the sun.
“Sparkler!” Stonecutter tried again to get through to her marefriend, to no success. All the time that she, Cloudburst and Sunny Saddle had been eating and chatting around the fire, the unicorn had eaten like an automaton.
“Kid!” Sunny Saddle yelled, the older unicorn also getting no reaction at all. It was getting properly dark by now, and they had all agreed it was time to at least try and get some shut eye. Site B would still be there in the morning.
“Hey! Sparks!” Cloudburst grew tired of trying to get through to Sparkler and, hovering in the air with a few flaps of her wings, she clapped her hands together and aimed a low level lightning bolt at the log the unicorn was sat on. That did it.
“Uh!” Sparkler, literally shocked from her morbid reverie, jumped to her hooves, her eyes wide looking for her ‘attacker’. “What the hay!?”
“Sparks,” Stonecutter laid a reassuring hand on her smaller marefriend’s shoulder, “We’re going to go get some sleep. I’ve unpacked your suitcase and my bag into Professor Applejack’s tent. I pushed our sleeping pads together, like last time. It’s real cosy in there. You coming?” she held her hand out and, thankfully, Sparkler took it.
~ ~ ~
Moonbeam stood unmoving on a rocky incline overlooking the camp site below. She had not moved in almost an hour, the unicorn lost in her thoughts. The breeze, which had been present all day, picked up a little, blowing stronger now it was almost dark, it whipped the tattered edges of her plain travelling cloak around her legs.
Still, she did not move. She was watching the camp below like a hawk. The charcoal grey mare smiled when she saw the five newcomers retire into the tents. She had already made six very special new friends from the ponies who had been there before! Now, she had the chance to make some more! This was perfect.
Of course, Moonbeam knew who they were.
As a filly in Canterlot, she had idolised Twilight Sparkle. Who didn’t? Not only did she come from a wealthy family, born into priviledge, she had been the personal protégé of the Princess herself! Moonbeam had tried, more than once, to speak to Twilight Sparkle at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, but each time she had been ignored.
‘And why not?’ Moonbeam thought bitterly as she watched the ponies in the camp settle down for the night, ‘Why wouldn’t she ignore me? What did I have to offer the great Twilight Sparkle? Why would she ever even notice a nopony like me?’ Moonbeam’s smile widened, a slightly crazed look entered her violet eyes.
‘I showed her. I showed them all. I made her notice me!’ Moonbeam’s smile grew to manic proportions, looking unhinged on her muzzle. She knew magical power and ability would get the youngest Princess’s attention. She had been right, hadn’t she? She had shown her what she could do. Just like she had promised she would all those years ago back at Celestia’s school.
They had laughed at her.
Her peers had laughed at her.
Her teachers had laughed at her.
Twilight Sparkle hadn’t laughed at her. ‘No…’ Moonbeam simmered in her isolated bitterness, ‘She didn’t laugh. Adequate. That was how she described my magic. Adequate…she may have well slapped me across my face!’ Then, she had just taken her books and walked away, doing nothing at all while the whole of Celestia’s school mocked her.
They didn’t mock her anymore.
She wasn’t alone anymore.
Now, she was strong. She was powerful. Moonbeam had the magic she needed. Now, she had a lair full of friends to play with in the Badlands. Just like when she was a filly playing with her figurines and dollies in their dollhouses, she had a whole collection of statuettes to play with. And, in pride of place in her collection of friends, was the Princess of Friendship herself, all hers to play with whenever she wanted!
Moonbeam saw her chance. The earth pony stallion, the partner of the one she had turned into a statuette back in the canyon, had emerged from a tent alone, from the looks of it to relieve himself behind a bush. ‘Shame to separate them…’ she thought, making up her mind, she pulled up her hood over her navy blue mane and lit her horn.
With a flash of bright violet magic and a loud crack, she appeared in the middle of the camp site, right where she wanted to be. Her horn ignited again and, one fwoosh later, the earth pony stallion was reduced down to a figurine version of himself. ‘Excellent, all to plan…’ she congratulated herself as she looked around for the other one.
Sadly, she congratulated herself too soon.
“What the hay was that!?” came a startled, angry cry from the orange tent. Caught off guard, Moonbeam froze. She recognised the voice as belonging to the large earth pony mare from earlier, the one who had caught her sneaking around at the edge of the camp.
“Hey, you!” Moonbeam whirled around at the sound of a new voice, this one was the pale blue pegasus who had just flown from the blue tent. Her moment of inaction had allowed them to corner her! In a blind panic, Moonbeam turned and ran, carrying the statuette that was Pathfinder in her magical aura.
“We just want to talk to you!” Moonbeam heard the earth pony shout after her as she ran away with her prize. She cast a hurried glance over her shoulder and she saw that the unicorn was with them now, all three mares were giving chase in their nightclothes. Of course they didn’t want to talk to her! Nopony wanted to talk to her! They just wanted to take her newest friend away from her.
“I’ll stop her!” she heard the pegasus shout, and the very next moment she felt the lightning bolt streak just a few inches above her head, hitting the rocky outcrop and sending rocks bouncing at her. On reflex alone, Moonbeam cast her shield spell, just in time too, and she shower of rocks bounced harmlessly away.
Why couldn’t they see? The stallion was her friend now! Hers! Whirling around angrily, the hood fell from Moonbeam’s head as she lit her horn. She fired a stun ray at the pegasus, which just missed her body and instead singed a few feathers.
“CB, back off!” Stonecutter yelled at her best friend, the pegasus reeling as Sparkler hid behind a rock, she turned to address the cloaked assailant. “I don’t know who you are, but we just want to talk to you, straighten this whole thing out, okay?”
‘Of course you don’t know who I am…’ Moonbeam didn’t hear the rest of what the earth pony said. ‘You will do. All of Equestria will know me soon!’ Out of the corner of her eye though she saw the pegasus hover and clap her hands. This time she was ready. Her shield flared, deflecting the lightning bolt back at its source, though again the flyer dodged.
“Damnit CB I said back off!” Stonecutter stood and yelled at the pegasus. It was then though, when she was exposed, that the mysterious stranger fired off a powerful stun ray that hit the chubby mare in her chest with such force that it knocked her off her hooves and onto the hard desert floor.
“Stone!” the pegasus screamed, wheeling in the air, “Sparkler! Do something! Do your telekinesis! Anything!” Sparkler, Moonbeam assumed, was the younger unicorn currently cowering behind the large rock. The charcoal coloured mare was about to attack again when she heard another mare shout from the camp. Possible four on one was not odds she liked, so, with the newest statuette in her possession, Moonbeam teleported away to her lair in a flash of violet magic.
~ ~ ~
It was two hours after the surprise attack by the mysterious unicorn. Sunny Saddle had again treated Stonecutter’s thankfully superficial wounds she had received from the stranger’s stun ray. The camp had been understandably subdued following what had happened. Nopony spoke, though there were plenty of dark looks cast Sparkler’s way from Cloudburst for her inaction during the brief fight.
That just served to add to her guilt.
After Stonecutter had been checked over, they had all gone back in their tents, though this time Sunny Saddle and Cloudburst doubled up in Rainbow Dash’s tent. Nopony wanted to sleep alone after the attack. No matter how hard she tried though, Sparkler just could not rest. When she thought Stonecutter was asleep, the bright yellow unicorn carefully got up and she slipped out of the tent.
Stonecutter though was not asleep. Quietly the chubby mare got up and she watched Sparkler from just inside the tent door. The unicorn had magically stoked the dying camp fire so that she could feel the heat even from where she was in the tent. Then, Stonecutter watched her levitate over one of the sealed tubs of fresh water they had bought along with them.
Unaware that she was being watched, Sparkler stripped off her pink pyjamas and folded them on the log she had been sat on earlier. When she was naked, she got a cloth, wet it in the tub of water and scrubbed at her hands and forearms with a real vigour. After a couple of minutes watching that, Stonecutter left the tent and walked over to Sparkler. Wordlessly, the earth pony stripped off her nightclothes as well. “I could use a bath too, Sparks.”
With her back to her marefriend, Sparkler muttered, “I can't get the blood off! I can’t!” she scrubbed the cloth hard over her arms until she trembled with effort, “See, it won’t come off!”
Looking her over, Stonecutter of course saw that there was no blood there and, from behind, she wrapped the shaking unicorn up in a tight hug. It was shakes that had nothing to do with the chill desert night, thanks to the roaring fire beside them. “Let me do that for you then, my love.”
“Don't!” Sparkler squealed and, though she tried to pull herself away, she was no match for Stonecutter’s earth pony strength. “I'll get it all over you too!”
Taking the wet cloth from Sparkler, Stonecutter continued to hold her tightly in her arms. “If I do, I can wash it off too. But I don't think I will.” She spoke as softly as she wiped the wet cloth over the back of the unicorn's trembling hand.
No matter how hard she tried, Sparkler couldn’t stop her hands from shaking. She wished she could blame it on the chill desert night, but that would be an utter lie. “I'm sorry…” she muttered, her mind bringing up the fact that she had frozen up during the brief tussle with the mystery mare. Hiding behind a rock indeed… “Um, does it hurt, where she hit you?”
Smiling gently, Stonecutter continues to softly wash Sparkler’s body. She was pleased that her marefriend didn’t try to resist when she washed up her arms to her chest. “It did when it happened, but Sunny Saddle's healing cream took care of that.” She placed a tender kiss on the smaller mare’s cheek. “Protecting you is worth any small amount of pain.”
“I froze.” Sparkler’s voice was full of guilt. “Whoever she was turned Pathfinder into a statuette and took him to Celestia knows where because I froze. You got hurt because I froze…”
“Is that what this is about?” Stonecutter asked, her soft voice taking on a hard edge, “I do think that unicorn got the jump on all of us, as I recall. I’ll admit I don't know much about magic, but she seemed mighty powerful.”
Sparkler though was beyond simple platitudes and reassurances. “CB yelled at me to do something, anything, and I just...I just couldn't! Stone...I couldn't do it.”
Having gently washed her marefriend’s chest, an area she would have liked to dwell on a while longer, where they both in the mood, Stonecutter moved upwards so she could softly wash her Mistress’s beautiful face. “I think we are closer to the truth now. If you did do something, what would it have been?”
Like she was a statue herself, Sparkler just stood there, her naked body illuminated by the camp fire as her marefriend washed her. “I...I don't know...I heard CB yell "Do your telekinesis!" and I tried. I tried, and I thought...I thought to the bandits in the wagon and my magic just fizzled out…”
When she was happy the unicorn’s face was clean, Stonecutter gently tugged on her hand, gesturing for her to sit down on the nearest of the logs that ringed the fire. “You saved my life, Sparkler.”
Like a poseable doll being positioned, Sparkler sat, though her eyes remained glued to the campsite floor. “I did do that.”
“You did, I was in real danger, so was CB.” Stonecutter pulled Sparkler into a tight hug. She dreaded to think where she and Cloudburst would both be right then had her marefriend not done what she had done. “CB wasn't in danger earlier, and I wasn't in a life threating situation either.”
“I was scared, Stone.”
“Scared of what?”
“I was scared that I'd lose control again, like I did on the wagon.”
Now they were getting somewhere. “Seems like you need some lessons or practice to keep control of your magic. You are a lot stronger than I remember at the start of the school year.”
“I...I don't need practise!” Sparkler exclaimed, suddenly the bright yellow mare started to sob, the last thing she wanted to do was practise. She didn’t want to use her magic at all!
“I've trapped rats and stepped on spiders, but it isn't the same thing, is it?”
“I killed them, Stone.” Sparkler’s voice was barely audible over the crackle of the fire.
Stonecutter’s hug never lessened for a moment. If anything, she pulled her closer to her. “That you did,” she agreed gently, for there was no getting around it. If she was honest, a morbid part of the earth pony wondered if the three bandits had felt anything when they died. “So, what scares you more? Killing again, or losing a loved one due to inaction?”
“I didn't want to do it!” Sparkler cried, her hot salty tears leaving tracks on her yellow fur, “I warned them, but they wouldn't listen! They were pawing CB...he hit you...they were going to take you both...I couldn't let them!”
Had it been possible to tighten her hug without crushing her partner, Stonecutter would have. “I'm very happy you didn't, but you're not happy with what you did. You could have just shoved them off the wagon, but you didn't. Why?”
“I was scared, I was angry. It was like...the most adrenalin ever! I cast my telekinesis and it was stronger than I intended. I just wanted to throw them off.”
Stonecutter nodded at that. It certainly was a display of raw power. It was power she hadn’t thought her lover capable of, but here they were and the bandits were a memory smeared over the canyon walls. She wondered if anyone would miss them. “Yet you don't want to practice to gain control over your telekinesis.” She kissed her lips, “You panicked, I know I panicked. You did what you could and I'm alive for it.” Another kiss found its way onto Sparkler’s lips, “Now you fear your own power and that made you panic again.”
The bright yellow unicorn smiled tentatively, “I always said you were as smart as you were beautiful. Yes, I panicked. I knew what they were going to do to you. You...you can say they deserved it...but I still killed them.”
“You did. It's the truth of it.” Stonecutter took Sparkler’s delicate hand in her shovel like one. “Yet I don't see any blood. Then I can't see the emotional blood that you see. I'm holding your hand and I don't fear what you could do, or what you've already done.”
“You aren't scared of me?” Sparkler’s green eyes were wide, reflecting the fire, “You still want to be with me? But...should I give myself up to Headmare Twilight, when we find them?” sat on the log, she started to fret, “What if I get arrested?” her green eyes, already wide, seemed to double in size, “I'll get sent to the dungeons! Or Tartarus!”
Stonecutter chuckled. She didn’t mean to laugh, she just couldn’t help it. “Now you sound like Headmare Twilight.” Yet another kiss found its way onto Sparkler’s lips. “I'm not scared of you, not even a tiny bit. I am worried about you though. You should do what you do best. Write a full report on what happened at the wagon, and what happened here. From what I know about law, deadly force has to be justified. Then I think that the fact that Cloudburst isn’t a diamond dog’s slave and I'm still breathing is justification enough.”
“I could do a report, with bullet points, and chapters, with appendices...and reference laws too!”
“I know you can. Um, I can pretend to edit it, but...” Stonecutter shook her head, for the sheer enormity of what they had undertaken had just hit her. “I'm better with my hands than with my words. You have talent and power. You need to put that in your report, and how you're going to harness that talent and power.”
Tentatively, Sparkler made a little giggle, though she was giving serious thought to that report. “Thank you, Stone, for believing in me. I want you to know...I'd do it again, to keep you and CB safe.”
“What I need is for you to not be afraid of your own power.” Stonecutter said gently but firmly, “What I'd like is for you to know how to control that power.” She hugged her lover before she gave voice to what had been bothering her. “That was one powerful unicorn that popped into camp. I don't know if you could have done anything against her, and worse you could have been seriously hurt if you did attract her attention. Now you can be prepared should she return.”
Sparkler nodded her head in agreement. Now she had been given something to focus her mind on, she felt a lot more assured. “She was way powerful. Like Headmare Twilight or Counsellor Starlight, powerful. She had to be, to be the one behind the whole curse of the statuettes thing.”
“That is scary, Sparks.” In truth, that scared her a lot more than anything Sparkler had done or might ever do. “Everypony has returned to normal that I know of, but...what if she can keep them as statuettes? I...I don't want to be gathering dust on her trophy shelf.”
“Isn't it though?” Sparkler agreed on the fact that the mystery mare was certainly scary. “If she cast the base spell, there’s no reason why she just can’t keep renewing it indefinitely…” she trailed off when she saw the look on Stonecutter’s face, “I mean...there's been reports of ponies all across the country turning into statues. That's some range. Like, really impressive. And skilful. That’s the really scary part.”
“Maybe, maybe she has some artefact, like the ones at school, or like the one Counsellor Starlight used in that village of hers.”
“Hmmm...it could be something like the Staff of Sameness, or the Staff of Sacanas, or maybe even similar to the Pearl of Transformation…” Sparkler paused for breath and blushed at Stonecutter’s amused look, “Um…either way we need to be wary of her. She's strong, and smart. At least she's planning...something? I don't know what, but she has the professors.”
Stonecutter couldn’t help but be amused and impressed in equal measure by her marefriend’s longing to learn. “I'm afraid that she might, and that is hard to believe, that she could hold the Headmare as a statuette. What can we possibly do against her?” She was beginning to think Seafoam might just have been right.
“Our best,” Sparkler replied simply, now kissing Stonecutter’s lips to reassure her. “I suppose we'll know more when we get to Site B tomorrow and talk to this Caballeron guy that Sunny Saddle works for.”
Content to look up at the moon and stars hanging bright in the night sky, Stonecutter laid her head on Sparkler's shoulder. “It is nice out here, isn’t it? Not so much in the day, but it’s real pretty at night. Thanks, Sparky. I feel a lot safer with your here.”
“And I thought you were my bodyguard,” Sparkler held Stonecutter as tightly as she could, while at the same time she levitated her portable telescope from the back of the red wagon over to them. The stars were there to be looked at, and they were awake. “I won't let anything hurt you, I promise.”