Chapter 3
It didn’t take long for them to leave. They gathered provisions from the vault, put them in saddlebags and boarded their chariot. From what they’ve gathered, it was a small town bordering the desert to the south of the nation. A sandstorm hit and a search party was sent to find a foal that wandered into the storm. Two days later it was found that the search party was decimated, and the foal wasn’t found.
“And they didn’t know anything else?” Luna asked, raising an eyebrow. She leaned against the side of the carriage as it flew a few thousand feet from the ground. Too close for comfort.
“Not from what I’ve heard, no,” Celestia said, scooting slightly closer to her sister in case if she tumbled out the side… again. “They did describe the corpses as having deep chemical burns, though. It literally ate through them.”
“Ach…” Luna gagged. “That does not paint a pretty picture.”
“It doesn’t.” Celestia frowned. “But does this attack need to be caused by a magical creature?”
Her sister leaned forward. “What do you mean?”
Celestia put a hoof to her chin. “Well, I’m just keeping our options open. It could’ve been a pony with a corrosive chemical. Or a freak accident. Anyway, there isn’t strong evidence besides the startling number of casualties.”
Luna knit her eyebrows, planting her forelegs between her knees. “We suppose we see your point,” she said slowly. “But honestly, we wouldn’t doubt that a creature would have done this.”
Celestia waved her hooves in front of her defensively. “Oh, don’t get me wrong, I don’t doubt it either. But I’m not aware of any creatures that could cause such devastation, especially with poison that potent.”
“The Everfree Spitting Spider.”
“That lives in Saddle Arabia?”
“It may have a relative.”
Celestia gave Luna a half-lidded, unimpressed expression. “And if it has a relative, you won’t cower in fear?”
“We won’t guarantee anything,” Luna said with a sly smile.
Celestia rolled her eyes, the wind blowing past them as the ground panned below them. She was especially impressed how fast they were moving; they only passed Las Pegasus a couple minutes before, and they hadn’t been riding for any more than an hour. The sun soared high in the spring sky, nary a cloud in sight. She smiled. Beautiful weather to be flying, she thought.
But it was only an hour later that they landed in the baking deserts of Saddle Arabia. As they approached, the town blended into the rocky landscape, making it near invisible. But as they got closer, the colors of the town began to bloom out of the dryness, with various reds and golds streaming from each building. However, the town was eerily silent. Many of the citizens walked past each other without as much as a reassuring glance.
“They must still be reeling,” Luna figured, her voice as low and as reverent as she could muster.
Celestia nodded silently, walking amongst the crowd, her sister following suit. She felt each of the ponies’ glances pierce through her like a needle through yarn, threading her with silent fear and apprehension. Such a beautiful village and ponies shouldn’t have to live like this, Celestia thought, her sympathy pouring open to them. But as much as she wanted to reach out to everyone, she feared that it would be too soon, that she might say the wrong thing.
And so she remained silent, and tried her best to grieve with the little village. She kept her head low, giving an acknowledging nod to each pony that caught her eye. And it was through the trickle of the crowd that she finally broke to the bay of the desert. The golden sands waved outwards like the sea, crests of dunes spraying to the east as a gentle wind flowed across Celestia’s mane.
“They were found directly south of here?” Celestia asked, furrowing her brow at a large, shark-fin-shaped dune in the distance.
Luna nodded. “Yes. It should only be a little ways off.”
The princess of the sun grunted in acknowledgement, stretching out her wings behind her. The breeze caught them as she flapped against the earth and caught air, sand and dust clouding beneath her. She took off, fighting against the stronger wind as she gained altitude, her sister following suit behind her. The rising heat from the sands baked her underbelly as she soared, squinting as the sun crested overhead.
Within only seconds, a circular clearing caught her eye. She looked down, discovering what looked like a crater within the sand, dunes coming to an abrupt halt, especially on the northern side, wrapping around a jagged edge before tapering off slightly to the south. Frowning, Celestia descended. This is the place, she thought.
As she got closer, she was able to make out impressions in the sand. Hoofprints and scuffs still lay there, followed by dark red splotches that were baked into the sand. Blood. They landed at the scene, and Celestia bent down, looking at the tracks. They were fainter than they would’ve been fresh, but remarkably intact. It was only then that she noticed that the wind stopped.
“Sister…?” Luna said apprehensively. “You don’t think this could’ve been…?”
“A magic seal,” Celestia concluded, nodding. “Where no one was supposed to find it.”
“Only miles from the city?” Luna gestured back to where they came. “What did they expect?”
Celestia pointed at a crimson splotch. “Not this.”
But something shone out of the corner of her eye. She turned toward it, and cautiously approached it, one hoof after the other. It was a faint, greyish glow, surrounded by a curved stone. “Luna.”
As if sensing the same, her sister trotted toward her and the stone. She frowned, kicking away the dust to discover that it was cracked to pieces, a swirling pattern gathering to the center of the curved stone.
“Good heavens,” she muttered under her breath, “It’s one of Starswirl’s!”
Suddenly, a hoof shot out of a dune beside them. They jumped, widening their stance as they lit their horns. However, as the sand collapsed away, it revealed a golden bridle and armor around the pony’s face, head and neck. He coughed, sputtering for breath. Almost immediately, the two rushed toward the dune, keeping their horns lit as they dug the stallion out of the sand, laying him out in front of him.
“W… water…” he rasped, a hoof over his throat. “W-water, please…”
Celestia’s heart jumped, immediately lighting her horn and draping the stallion across her back. “We’ll get you back to the village,” she reassured, spreading her wings. “Let’s go, Luna!” she called as she flapped off the ground, her sister following behind her.
The journey back was shorter than before, Celestia and Luna beating their wings as fast as they could muster. As soon as the village came in sight, Luna lit her horn, appearing in at the entrance in a flash of light. Celestia trotted up to the nearest villager, about as tall as her with a grey coat. “This pony needs help,” she blurted. “Where’s a doctor?”
Eyes wide, the grey pony gestured to her left. “Just down this way,” she said in a nasally voice. “Follow me!”
They followed behind the mare, keeping close distance as their trot turned into a gallop. They dodged oncoming traffic as they booked it around a few corners, nearly knocking into a few stands before coming to a complete halt. The grey mare tore open a door to the right and they filtered inside. A receptionist at a long, mahogany-topped desk stood straight up as they came in. “What’s going on?” she said in a low alto, rounding the corner of the desk to inspect the stallion on Celestia’s back.
“We found him in the desert,” Luna chimed. “He was at the scene of the attack.”
If the receptionist’s amber eyes could widen further, they did. “Then what are we waiting for? Bring him to the back, I’ll let the emergency personnel know.” She gestured to a heavy door in front of the company.
“Thank you,” Celestia breathed, trotting through the door into a subtly-lit hub. Their hooves clacked on marble tile as two creatures—a pony and a dragon—rounded an opposite corner to meet them. A stretcher was strapped to the pony’s back. A sterile mask covered his face, only his eyes poking out between white cloth.
“Lie him down,” the dragon commanded, opalesque scales lining her body. Celestia acquiesced, lighting her horn and gently setting him on the stretcher. The dragon nodded, uttering a small thank you before carting him off toward the back of the facility, where curtains separated patients’ rooms from the hub.
Celestia puffed out a breath of air, leaning on her right side as she tried to control her breathing. She shook the dizziness from her eyes. “That was an adventure,” she gasped.
“Indeed,” Luna agreed, snickering to herself. “Do I need to remind you to stop eating so much cake?”
“Oh, hush you,” Celestia hissed, much to Luna’s apparent enjoyment. “I also lack proper rest.”
“Of course you do,” Luna teased. She turned to the door. “There were seats out there. We would best wait until he’s recovered.”
“For what?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow.
Luna crinkled her eyebrows in a way that screamed, Are you stupid? “He may know what happened there. And if we find out who our perpetrator is…”
Celestia slapped her hoof to her noggin with a thick clunk, feeling as if there were an empty space in front of her cranium. “... it’d be much easier to track them down.” She glanced at her sister sideways. “See, no rest.”
Luna chuckled. “Well, no worries about that. You’ll have plenty of time to sleep before we are able to talk to him.”
And so, she did. Immediately upon closing her eyes, she was swept into a dream where she was on a sailboat out in a storm in the sea. She didn’t know why she was there or where she was going, but she did know a rushing anxiety as she saw a jagged rock out in the distance. I must get there or else… she thought, but she couldn’t figure out what. Was she trying to save someone? Herself? What drew her to this jagged rock?
A monstrous wave climbed out of the surface of the ocean, opening its great maw before her. She tried steering the boat out of the way, pulling on the cords, but the teeth of the wave clamped down on her.
She woke up, sharply inhaling as she lay diagonally across the tin fabric chairs of the waiting room. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes to notice that Luna was at the desk, one hoof atop it talking to the receptionist.
“... stable. What business do you have with him?”
“My sister and I need to talk to him. He may know something about the attack.”
“Couldn’t there be a better time? We only discovered there was an attack a few hours ago.”
“There is not. The attacker is at large, and it was able to take down eleven ponies. We need to know as soon as possible so we can prevent any other casualties from happening.”
The receptionist huffed out a puff of air, knitting her eyebrows. “Very well,” she said begrudgingly. “You may talk to him.”
Celestia stood, a dreamlike haze coming over her. She had fallen asleep so quickly, and the dream she had had was fading from memory. She walked up to the reception desk to the right of her sister. “I hope you aren’t leaving without me,” she yawned, bringing her golden-clad hoof to her mouth to cover her gaping maw.
“We would not dream of it,” Luna said bluntly, glancing over at her. She gave the receptionist a smile. “Thank you for your service.”
They went through the heavy doors, their hooves tapping once again on the marble tile. Luna led the way uttering a small, “Follow us,” as she walked.
“And you know where you’re going?” Celestia questioned, glancing around her sister’s flank as they rounded a corner.
“Yes,” Luna confirmed, sighing in irritation. She lifted her chin, scanning the numbers above the curtains before finally landing at number eighteen. A name was written on a taped-on paper sign below it: ‘Quintus’. She faced the curtain head-on. “The servant was kind enough to tell us where the room was before attempting to reprimand us.”
Celestia suppressed a flinch as her sister said the word ‘servant’. “That was nice of her. But you’d better not let her catch you saying that.”
“We don’t know what you mean,” Luna said absently as she opened the white curtain in front of her. The room inside was dim, a little bit of candlelight casting a dancing shadow of the soldier’s body. His armor had been removed, a bandage wrapping around his barrel, speckles of red bubbling to the surface.
“A shard of stone,” the guard’s baritone voice rasped, noticing the princess’ gaze. She found his eyes, glistening in the candlelight. She could see some redness and swelling around them, and her next words caught in her throat. Fortunately, the guard continued, “Like a knife. Managed to…” He shifted with a grunt, plopping back down to the bed. “... wedge itself between a couple of ribs. Goes to show that anything fast enough can pierce through skin.”
“We can relate,” Luna chimed, raising a hoof. “We nearly lost a leg when battling an enraged troll. Never underestimate the cutting power of debris.”
Raising an eyebrow, Quintus nodded slowly. “Wait… both of you? Or just…?”
“Oh, that was only Luna,” Celestia blurted, wrapping a hoof around her. “Forgive her speech patterns; she’s still got a long way to go before she adopts common vernacular.”
Luna kneed her sister in the chest, pushing her away. “I know our—er, my way around language, sister,” she bickered. She turned back to the guard, only to see his body shaking in laughter.
“I-I see.” He cleared his throat. “I see. It just seems so weird that our ascended princesses are about as at-each-other’s-throats as my siblings and I are.”
Celestia managed a small smile, chortling a little as well. “You wouldn’t be the first to say that.”
“I’m counting on it,” he replied, returning the look. But it quickly disappeared as he said tactly, “But I assume that you’re not just visiting the sick and the needy this time around.”
The princess of the sun shifted uncomfortably, a pang of surprise striking her chest at how quick the Quintus was, especially connected to an IV and likely some type of painkiller. She nodded unevenly, as if her neck was made from a rusty hinge. “You are correct,” she confirmed.
Immediately after she said this, the guard’s eyes fell. He started picking at his hooves as a frown deepened on his face. “If it concerns the attack, I have little to say on the matter,” he said bitterly. “I was buried in the sand for half of it.”
Celestia cursed under her breath. Of course the guy wouldn’t spill the beans immediately. What was she thinking? He was mourning the loss of his comrades still, and judging by the look in his eyes, it hadn’t gotten better.
That was when to her surprise Luna stepped forward. She sat at the side of the hospital bed, brushing her mane behind her ear as to not get it in the way. She leaned forward, intently looking at the patient with what were undoubtedly soft eyes. “I understand,” she soothed, her body still. A moment passed in silence, the guard not meeting her gaze, but his picking motion stopped, both hands hovering in cups in front of his chin.
She continued, “I have visited the dreams of many ponies since I came back from our—my banishment.” She put a hoof on the side of the hospital bed, tracing circles on the sheets. “I have seen vivid dreams from those who have experienced such a loss. Squadrons, commanders… their grief is still there. Most of the time, the thing that caused the death of their friends has been put to a stop.”
At this point, Quintus’ hooves rested on his belly, his eyes dark. He breathed deeply, his throat visibly tensing as he gulped down his emotions.
Luna removed her hoof from the side of the bed, sitting straight up. “But the ones that killed your rescue team, they are still out there. More creatures, more families can get hurt.” She shifted, her gaze still dead on him. “That is the reason why we are here. We want to prevent this from happening again.”
Quintus turned his head toward Luna, tears cresting in his eyes. They flicked over to Celestia, who stood reverently behind. But that reverence was also mixed with a dash of awe. How Luna was able to connect with ponies so easily was breathtaking. Instead of saying anything, though, she silently nodded in assurance.
His eyes fell again as he took a deep breath. “T-they were like snakes,” he recalled, his voice shaking. “Their bottom half was anyway. Their top half... looked like a minotaur’s, but feminine.” He traced an hourglass shape in front of him. “Their arms were long and spindly, with… sharp, claw-like things at the end of their fingers. When we saw them arrive, they embraced one another… but when they saw us…”
His body trembled. “They dug their claws deep into their skin, and flung their blood at us. Everyone it touched fell to the ground with gaping wounds.” He squeezed his eyes shut, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Heavens… we were only a rescue team, searching for a little girl that ran off into the sandstorm! Now she’s gone, probably dead, and I’m the only one left in my team…”
Celestia’s stomach churned as a flood of both sympathy and fear filled her. A snake-like creature that used its own blood as a weapon? None of it rang a bell. And they? How many were there? No matter how much she poured over these questions, none of it topped the sympathetic sadness she felt for Quintus. Not only did his friends die, but they did so in what she’d imagine would be the worst way possible; boroughed through with what sounded like chemical burns. Just imagining it sent acid to her throat.
As Luna consoled the mourning guard, she checked behind her. One of the doctors had stopped in her tracks, joining the chorus of patients that were now peering out the curtains to their rooms. All eyes bored into her and everyone in the room. However, as she looked at them, the curtains snapped closed, and the doctor shook her head and went back to work as usual.
Within a couple moments, Quintus’ sobs had quieted. Luna retracted a hoof that she’d wrapped gently around his shoulders, shifting back onto her haunches. “You are a strong stallion, Quintus,” she said gently. “You do your team proud.”
The guard nodded, sucking in a hiccup of air. “Those two need to pay for what they did,” he managed, sniffing.
“And they will, I assure you,” Celestia affirmed. She walked up to Luna’s side, who gathered herself to her hooves. “Your team will be avenged.”
Slowly, Quintus gave a heartbroken smile. “Thank you, princesses. I am truly in your debt.”
“Think nothing of it,” Luna said, bowing her head. “Rest now, and focus on recovering.”
“Will do,” the guard replied, shifting once again in his hospital bed. He wiped the remaining tears from his eyes, then waved farewell to them. “Good luck!”
“Thank you,” Celestia said as they backed out of the room, pulling the curtain closed. They turned to the hallway, walking side by side. Luna thanked the receptionist as the two walked out of the hospital.
The sun hung low in the sky, bathing the village in a golden light. Celestia watched in awe as the color bounced off the buildings around her, stone walls of buildings glistening. The princess sighed, the spectacular but foreign beauty of Saddle Arabia subdued by the heavy air.
“Do you know what we’re up against?” Celestia asked Luna, shooting a lifted eyebrow at her.
Her heart sank as her sister shook her head. “No,” she admitted, kicking at the dust on the pavement. That was when her eye caught a magenta-maned pony walking by, her saddlebags full to the brim with the spines of books.
“Excuse me!” Luna called and the pony came to a halt. She turned around, thin-brimmed spectacles resting on her snout reflecting the sunlight.
“P-princess?” she stammered, her nightlike eyes widened at her. “What—er, what can I help you with?”
Luna’s eyes flicked to the bag, and she knitted her eyebrows. She gestured to it. “Where did you get those books?”