The flight was remarkably short but felt distressingly long in Scarlet’s mind. Maybe she had some as-of-yet-undiscovered fear of heights. Maybe it was the fact that she was on the back of a dragon that she had witnessed incinerate the largest changeling swarm she had ever seen. Maybe she was just tired of traveling, or maybe she just wanted to lay down, close her eyes, and take a nice, long nap.
Whatever the reason was, she let out a heavy sigh of relief when she realized their journey was approaching its end. Hraesvalgr descended steadily towards a mountain valley a few miles northeast of where they had been. Scarlet swept her gaze over the valley, picking out the details.
It was large, easily two miles from one end to the other in any given direction. It was remarkably lush and verdant for its altitude, surrounded on all sides by jagged mountain peaks that would deter even the most stalwart of mountaineers from scaling their slopes. A large lake sat at the heart of the valley, fed into by a series of gracefully winding streams that flowed down from the snowcaps higher up in the mountains. Several patches of forestation were scattered throughout, growing increasingly dense and hectic the nearer they drew to the base of the peaks.
It was only as Hraesvalgr flared out his wings to slow their descent and come in for his landing that Scarlet realized the reason for this. Her eyes widened when she saw that the innermost forests were, in fact, orchards. The trees were evenly arranged in masterfully assembled grids, and she could plainly make out signs of civilization.
“I was not aware of any settlements in these mountains,” she thought, her muzzle scrunching up. When had anypony had the time to make something like this here? It was an incredibly out-of-the-way location. There weren’t even any roads coming or going from the valley; it appeared to be entirely enclosed.
Scarlet was jarred from her thoughts when Hraesvalgr landed, his impact with the earth causing his passengers to jostle and squirm. A collection of grunts and uncomfortable exclamations rang out from various places along the dragon’s back. He craned his long neck to offer them an apologetic look. “Sorry, I’m not used to having ponies on my back for landings. I didn’t hurt any of you, did I?” he asked carefully.
“I don’t think so,” Scarlet replied, slowly easing herself down from the dragon’s back along his outstretched wing. Lens, Sclera, and Primrose were close behind her, the former appearing more than a little impressed with what he was seeing.
“Woah… what is this place?” he asked, adjusting his glasses.
Hraesvalgr gave off a quiet hum before starting for the settlement at a slow, lumbering pace. “It’s my home,” he said simply.
Scarlet glanced back at the others, seeking confirmation that they were ready for this. Lens seemed to be growing increasingly excited, no doubt at the prospect of discovering some hidden village and getting to learn more about the lamp. Sclera and Primrose, on the other hoof, carried a more subdued atmosphere. Hardly surprising, given the injuries Sclera still bore.
“Come on!” Hraesvalgr called back at them. “She’ll probably be in her lake house.”
“She?” Scarlet echoed under her breath before setting off after the wyrm at a brisk canter. Even at that pace, she was hard-pressed to keep up with the behemothian lizard she walked beside.
They stepped out of the grass and onto a faintly visible trail where hoof-traffic was apparently abundant. Scarlet cast her eyes from left to right, hoping for a glimpse of the locals. However, to her surprise, she did not see a single soul. Not one pony looked back at her and her companions. The fields and orchards, for all of the care they clearly received, were utterly devoid of activity.
But somehow, Scarlet knew she was being watched. She had felt the sensation countless times before, and it set her heart beating just a little faster in her chest.
Their route took them between various loosely-defined plots of land before, at last, they came out of the orchards and back into open plains. The lake loomed just ahead, the ground sloping gently down to a serene beach. Countless wildflowers grew here, each one gently swaying with a gentle mountain breeze and filling the air with a soft fragrance that set Scarlet’s anxious mind at ease. A humble cabin made of wooden logs sat by the beach, flower arrangements neatly decorating the windows and walls.
Hraesvalgr suddenly stopped and turned to Scarlet, his eyes narrowing. He lowered his head so that he was face-to-face with her; or rather, face-to-nostril with her would probably be more accurate, given his sheer size.
“Before we meet her, let me make one thing perfectly clear, pony,” he began in a low, warning voice. “The mare you are about to meet is everything to me, and I will not allow anything to endanger either her or what we have built here. Before I take you any farther, I need your word, here and now, that you will never utter a word of what you see in this valley to anypony outside of it. This place is to remain secret, no matter what, and should it become compromised by you or any of your companions…”
He snarled ominously. His lips slowly peeled back to reveal his sharp teeth. Scarlet’s stomach churned as the stench of long-decayed meat from past meals washed over her like a gust of wind from a Swanrun storm.
“...Is that clear?” Hraesvalgr finished quietly.
Scarlet took a step back and offered a stiff, anxious nod. “Of course… not a word,” she babbled out automatically. In the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but wonder what it was about this place that demanded such secrecy. More and more questions were piling up with every passing second…
Hraesvalgr looked past her to her companions. “The rest of you, as well.”
A chorus of acknowledgments came back without hesitation.
“Oh, of course! Your secrets are safe with me!”
“Not a word.”
“I won’t tell anypony, now can you please tell us about the lamp?!”
Hraesvalgr eyed all of them with a critical gaze. Whatever he was looking for, he must have found it. With a slow nod and a deep breath, he turned and approached the cabin. It could have been her imagination, but Scarlet thought she spotted a hint of anxiety break through his stone-faced expression, albeit for only an instant.
“Hey,” Hraesvalgr said, tapping on the roof with a claw. Each tap made a loud thunking noise that echoed faintly in the orchards behind them. “Get out here!”
A few seconds passed in silence before the front door to the cabin swung open with a loud creak. An oddly-familiar mare draped in a dark green cloak stepped out. She was a unicorn with a coat of bright pink, almost white fur. Her long, curly mane and tail were divided between blue and pink stripes, and her large, cyan eyes bored up into Hraesvalgr with a mixture of confusion and happiness at seeing him.
“Spikey! You’re back early! What’s going on?” she asked in a chirpy tone.
Scarlet’s heart just about stopped in her chest. Her eyes went wide as saucers and glued themselves onto the dragon. “Did that mare just say… Spikey? As in, Spike? The First Dragon Sentinel? The revered defender of the long lost Crystal Empire, and one of the oldest friends to Princess Twilight Sparkle?!”
How had she not noticed it sooner? Aside from his sheer scale and battle-hardened appearance, the dragon before her matched the description of the ancient hero down to the finest details. The purple scales, the green spikes, spines, eyes, and underbelly. The wings, the speartip shaped tip on his tail. All of it…
“I am standing in the presence of Spike… he’s alive…” Scarlet thought, her legs going weak under her.
Hraesvalgr—or Spike, rather—quickly leaned down, his spines folding back as if in embarrassment. “Wha- HEY! What did we talk about?!” he demanded in a low whisper. “It’s Hraesvalgr in front of strangers!”
The mare’s enthusiasm came to a stop at the word ‘strangers.’ At once, she turned her eyes to stare at Scarlet and the others. A reserved, borderline suspicious frown spread on her muzzle. “...Who are you all?” she asked carefully while taking a few steps forward. “And why are you here?”
Scarlet did not answer. In truth, she had barely even heard the question. She was still reeling from the casual revelation that she was standing in front of Spike. How was she supposed to act? What was she supposed to say? Her mind was so jumbled with confusion and shock that all she could do was gawp at him like a baby bird awaiting food from its parent.
Spike frowned at her. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“She called you Spikey,” Lens answered in Scarlet’s stead, stepping forward with a similarly shocked expression. “Are you… are you truly him? Spike? The first Dragon Sentinel?”
Spike let out a quiet grumble, though it sounded more like an earthquake. He ran his claws over his face and fell heavily to his haunches. “Ugh. Welp, there goes the big scary dragon routine,” he sighed in resignation. He lowered his claws and nodded his head. “Yes, I am Spike. That’s another thing I expect you to keep quiet about when you leave this place.”
“But why?” Primrose asked, coming forward beside Sclera with wide eyes. “I’ve heard about you. Ponies really respect and look up to you… why not let them know you’re alive?”
Spike grimaced uncomfortably. “That is a question for later…”
“Speaking of questions,” The mare at his side cut in with an increasingly confused look on her face. She stepped forward to stand directly before Scarlet, sizing her up. “...Mine still hasn’t been answered. I don’t get the impression that you’re our enemy, but I still would like to know who you ponies are and why you’re here. And…” her eyes fell on Primrose. “...And why you’re traveling with changelings. That’s not something you see every day.”
Scarlet swallowed heavily. Something about the way this unicorn was looking at her made her feel terribly small and insignificant. It was like she was staring at an ancient temple that had survived countless battles with nary even a scratch; while she was little more than a broken-down shack.
“My name is Scarlet Frost,” she eventually introduced before gesturing to the others. “This is Sharp Lens, Primrose, and Sclera.”
“Primrose? Sclera?” The unicorn questioned, turning to them with interest. “Those are unusual names for changelings.”
“Our changeling names are Iris and Protea,” Sclera clarified before falling down to her haunches to catch her breath. One of her hooves flew up to clutch at her charred and mangled chest. “W-we use them interchangeably. B-both names are correct- ack!”
“Mom,” Primrose whispered anxiously, placing her hoof on Sclera’s shoulder. “Just try and relax, okay? You’re still hurt…”
The unicorn’s eyes fell on Sclera’s burn marks. She grimaced. “That looks pretty bad… one moment,” she said before closing her eyes. Her horn lit up with a golden aura. Sclera softly gasped when her injury was surrounded in a similar aura. All eyes widened in surprise as her mangled chitin slowly began to right itself, the burn marks clearing away. In a matter of seconds, save for a slight discoloration to mark where she had been injured, Sclera’s wound was completely healed.
She felt at her chest as soon as the magic faded. She took in a long, deep breath before letting it out in a deeply relieved sigh. She turned to the unicorn with a grateful smile. “Thank you…”
Scarlet leaned over to study the injury before turning back to the now-smiling unicorn. “How did you do that…? Healing magic of that caliber hasn’t been seen in centuries. How did…” her words trailed off, her eyes narrowing with scrutiny. She knew there was something familiar about this mare, but she just could not put her hoof on it. “...Who are you?”
The mare hesitated for a second before glancing up at Spike. He shrugged. “Hey, you already spilled my real name to them.”
The unicorn blew him a quick raspberry before stepping back a little and facing Scarlet directly. She reached up and placed her hoof on the clasp holding her cloak to her person. “Well, I suppose I do have you at a disadvantage, don’t I?” she admitted before undoing the clasp and letting the cloak fall off of her body.
Two feathery wings, larger than those of most pegasi, stretched out from her back once the cloak was gone, while her cutie mark was revealed to be a heart made entirely out of crystal. The alicorn shook her head to let her now-unobstructed mane fall gracefully over her shoulders before offering Scarlet a gentle smile. “My name is Flurry Heart. It’s nice to meet you all.”
Scarlet’s heart just about stopped in her chest, and without even thinking about it, she dropped into a low, low bow. She opened her mouth to say something, to stammer out an apology for her inappropriate conduct so far, but the words caught in her throat. Her mind was thrown into too much chaos for her to form any.
“Flurry Heart? Princess Flurry Heart? One of the Five?! She’s alive, too?!” was just one of the countless thoughts raging in her mind. “I am in front of a goddess! How did I not notice?! Why am I so stupid today?!”
Flurry Heart giggled at the display, ruffling her wings while a tiny red blush appeared on her cheeks. “Oh, my. Been a while since anypony did that,” she said awkwardly before waving her hoof dismissively. “Okay, come on, cut it out. I’m not a princess anymore, you know. I’m just another mare.”
“B-but, you’re one of the Five!” Lens pointed out, seemingly just as at a loss as Scarlet. “You’re a goddess!”
“HA!” Flurry belted out an amused laugh before shaking her head. “Oh, I wish! If I were a goddess, I probably would have done a lot more these last four hundred years. No, I’m just an alicorn with a pretty house by the water and an adorably big dragon for an uncle. Now stop bowing, would ya? It’s getting weird.”
Scarlet slowly rose up to a standing position, though she carried herself with a far more respectful and submissive stance this time. She eyed Flurry and then Spike, one at a time, her mind racing. If these two were still alive, then… had any of the other alicorns survived the Fall? Were they here?
Flurry waited for her guests to all be upright before clearing her throat. “M’kay, now that we’ve got that awkwardness out of the way…” she turned to look up at Spike. “Uncle Spike, mind telling me why you brought them here? I’m still kinda in the dark about that.”
If Spike was at all annoyed by the use of the term ‘uncle,’ he did not show it. He lifted a claw and pointed at the group. “They have the lamp,” Spike suddenly said with a slightly impatient note in his voice.
The smile on Flurry Heart’s face vanished. A heavy silence fell over the gathered creatures before she slowly turned her attention back to Scarlet. “W-what? They… they have the…” she choked out. Scarlet felt her heart twist in confusion and concern as Flurry shrank down, suddenly looking like she was on the verge of an emotional breakdown.
She suddenly flared out her wings and leaped into the air, getting right in Spike’s face. “Are you sure?” she asked in a shaking voice. “Absolutely sure? I can’t take a false alarm, Spike! Not after all this time!”
“I saw it with my own eyes,” Spike answered in a subdued, gentle voice. “And it cannot be mistaken. Besides…” he nodded past Flurry at the others. “...I thought I recognized their faces when I first saw them. It has been diluted with each generation, but the family resemblance is still there.”
Flurry hovered in front of him, her hooves resting on his snout. She took a deep breath before turning and drifting back down to land in front of the group. Her eyes danced between them with a new light. “...May I… May I see it?” she asked in a hesitant whisper. “Please? I’ve waited for four hundred years. I… I need to know it’s really here.”
Primrose shrank back, hiding behind one of Sclera’s legs for a moment. She looked up at her mother, then to Scarlet. They made eye contact, and Scarlet saw the uncertainty and fear in the foal’s eyes. She couldn’t help but feel a twinge of regret at the sight, her mind wandering back to the inn room…
She was quick to shove down the memory and offer Primrose a small, encouraging nod. “Go on,” she whispered. “This is what you’ve been waiting for.”
Primrose stared into her eyes for a second before smiling. She slowly inched out from behind Sclera’s foreleg, and together they approached Flurry Heart.
The alicorn lowered herself onto her haunches. She waited patiently as Primrose reached into her saddlebags and gingerly withdrew the lamp. It caught the light of the sun as it came out, shining brilliantly in the light of the day. It almost seemed to be glowing brighter than before.
Flurry inhaled sharply on seeing it, her eyes glistening. She lifted up her hooves and gently took the lamp out of Prim’s. She cradled it as if it were made of fragile glass, as if the tiniest movement could send it crumbling into dust. She studied it for a second, her face continuing to twitch and contort with a wide range of emotions. Finally, she let out a sobbing laugh and looked up at Spike.
“It’s true,” she choked out, tears running down her cheeks. “It’s really it… I-it’s here, S-spike… It’s f-finally here…”
Spike nodded, lowering himself onto his belly so that Flurry was nestled protectively between his front legs. “It is…”
“...What is it for?” Sclera asked quietly, careful not to disturb what was clearly a very tender scene too much.
Spike and Flurry looked to her, the latter looking surprised. ‘You mean… y-you mean you d-don’t know?” she asked in surprise, swallowing hard to prevent herself from sobbing anymore.
Sclera shook her head. “No, we don’t… what it is and why we have it was lost a few generations ago. All we know is that we are to protect it with our lives, no matter what.”
Primrose nodded, her ears lowering. “...What is it for, miss Flurry?” she asked politely, her voice low with long-buried grief. “I’ve lost so much trying to protect it… My brothers, my father, and every family I’ve ever stayed with… all of them were either murdered, or I had to leave them behind… because of that stupid lamp...”
Flurry’s ears drooped. “W-what? You… oh my goodness, I am so sorry to hear that,” she whispered out before looking down at the lamp again. She ran her hoof over it, almost reverently, before passing it back to Primrose with her magic. “Alright. Uncle Spike and I can answer any questions you all have…”
She stood up and pointed towards the nearest edge of the valley. “But not here. Come with us inside, and we can tell you everything.”
“Heh. Ya know, aside from you, these ponies are going to be the first ones we’ve let inside since we made this old place,” Spike pointed out, standing up as well.
Scarlet opened her mouth to speak, but the words caught in her throat yet again. Spike and Flurry were already making their way for the nearby slopes. She stared after them, her mind taking a second to just process everything that had just happened. She swallowed heavily before turning back to the others.
Lens adjusted his glasses in a display of nervous energy. He met her gaze and put on a giant, crooked grin. “Well, uh… sh-shall we?” he asked.
Sclera allowed Primrose to hop up on her back. “Yes, we shall,” she said simply. “We’ve waited long enough for these answers… let’s go.”
Scarlet didn’t need to hear anything else. They set off, trailing behind Spike and Flurry. All the way, the feeling of eyes staring at them from afar persisted. Although, at this point, that was far from the first thing on Scarlet’s mind…
A few short minutes later, Scarlet caught sight of a large cave mouth burrowed into the side of the mountain. It was tall; easily tall enough for Spike to march in with his head held high, and for fifteen ponies to walk abreast with respect for personal space. It was hard to make out any details, but Scarlet was sure she could see a few ponies standing in front of it. Guards?
She squinted, trying to pick out their apparel. They were brightly colored, that was for sure, but they did not appear to be wearing uniforms. They both had some sort of armor on their backs, but the colors did not match. One was blue, another was orange. And then there was their fur. One was an insultingly bright shade of green, while the other was a more reasonable shade of blue. But… where were their manes? And what were those things flaring out from their backs?
Scarlet’s heart began to beat against her ribs when she realized that those were not ponies she was looking at. As she drew nearer, they came into focus. The armor she had seen on their backs were actually exoskeletal shells, the expanses from their backs were gossamer wings, and their fur was, in fact, hard chitin. Glowing spheres of light stared back at her from their eyes sockets.
“Are those… changelings?” Lens asked in shock, his eyes going wide.
“Yes,” Spike said.
The two changelings stood at attention upon seeing Spike approaching, and Scarlet began to notice differences in their appearance compared to Sclera and Primrose. They had no fangs hanging from their upper lips, and there were no holes in their wings or legs. Their colors were also exceptionally brighter.
A moment later, Scarlet noticed how their eyes bored into her and Lens with caution and suspicion. She shuddered, a sickening feeling crawling up and down her spine. She averted her gaze, taking a series of deep breaths to calm herself down. “They are not ferals, they are not ferals, they are not ferals,” she told herself over and over again.
“Hraesvalgr? Who are these?” one of the drones said once they were in speaking distance, his two-toned voice making Scarlet cringe involuntarily with reflexive disgust. She had gotten used to Primrose and Sclera, but this one was new…
“They are guests here, and to be afforded every courtesy,” Spike responded simply. His voice carried an edge to it that made it clear this matter was not currently open for discussion. “I am escorting them back to the Thrones. We may be there for quite some time, and I do not want us to be disturbed unless there is an emergency. Is that clear?”
The drone immediately bowed his head into a respectful bow. “Of course. I’ll spread the word,” he said before turning and flying deeper into the caves, the buzzing of his wings fading into silence.
That done, the group pressed inside. Scarlet’s eyes wandered around as they went. The cave had obviously been here for a very long time, but the way the walls were sloped… they almost looked like they had been smeared by claws in a liquid state. Had Spike personally melted these caves into the mountains? And for what purpose?
The light of the sun began to fade behind them and, for a minute, Scarlet was worried they would be left in darkness. They didn’t get too far, however, before coming to a dead-end. Scarlet frowned, looking back. There hadn’t been any other way they could have gone. The tunnel only led one way…
“It’s a dead-end,” Primrose pointed out in confusion. “There’s nothing here.”
“Not quite,” Flurry replied with a cheerful grin. She marched up to the wall, her horn lighting up with magic. She fired off a series of small, precise streams of energy, leaving glowing spots along the wall arranged in a loose circle. Scarlet watched with curiosity, wondering just what the ancient alicorn was doing.
Flurry stepped back and sent forward one more beam of magic, this one as thin as a needle. It struck the wall in the center of the circle she had made, and a high pitched ping resonated throughout the cavern. There was a moment of silence…
And then there was the scraping of stone. Scarlet’s eyes widened as a circular hole suddenly began to open up in the wall, revealing an enormous chamber on the other side. Structures that she recognized as buildings were arranged near the cave walls and many were even jutting out of them, while still more hung from the ceiling. Each one was made of the same stone as the cavern, looking to have once been melted down and then carefully shaped while it was cooling. Artificial spikes of stone coming from the floor and roof of the cave were capped with bundles of glowing green resin that provided illumination.
But more eye-catching than all of that were the changelings. Hundreds of free changelings were buzzing around the chamber, flitting from one building to another, chatting in front of others that had seating arrangements outside, or even flying in and out of countless holes in the walls that appeared and disappeared seemingly at will.
“What… what is this place?” Scarlet breathed, taking it all in with a mixture of wonder. She did her best to ignore and discard the churning mound of disgust that was wriggling deep in her guts.
“It’s beautiful…” Primrose added from her mother’s back, eyes wide. “There’re so many changelings… and look at them. They’re whole…”
“So many changelings,” Sclera agreed quietly before focusing on Spike and Flurry, who had stopped to wait for them a short distance ahead. “...And the two guardians who keep them safe.”
Primrose gasped, sitting up and planting her hooves on Sclera’s head. ‘Wait! You mean this is…”
Flurry Heart beamed, even as the hole in the wall sealed up shut behind them, leaving them all inside the secret city. She lifted a hoof and gestured wide at all of it with a proud glimmer in her eyes.
“Welcome to Sanctuary!”