//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - Something Wicked // Story: Second Sunrise // by MagnetBolt //------------------------------// Sunlight blared down from a pale sky, and practically no one in the small group of students could see properly through the glare. For her part, the guest lecturer was doing her part to make sure they were deaf as well as blind. “This is a standard Mark-2 Triple-D Compressed Air Cannon!” Lightning Dust shouted, slapping the side of the garishly painted artillery while glaring at the six students with her one good eye, the other covered with a black eyepatch. “It is the fastest, most exciting way to get any pony into the air regardless of how many wings they have, and it is perfectly safe!” Professor Sunburst leaned in to whisper into her ear. She didn’t visibly react. “I have been informed I am not legally allowed to tell you it is perfectly safe!” she shouted, in the same drill instructor voice as before. “However, it is still exciting and fast! It’s equipment like this that shows the difference between the Wonderbolts and the Washouts -- none of you are Wonderbolts material! Mostly because none of you are pegasus ponies! But all of you could be Washouts, if you have the guts!” Sunburst leaned in again to whisper. “I’ve been informed the Wonderbolts are non-exclusionary and they do have positions for all creatures who show the appropriate amount of talent! But they’re still big jerks about it! I’m not a jerk! I’m the pony that’s going to stuff you into a cannon and fire you through the air to land safely in that net!” Lightning Dust pointed to the other end of the buckball pitch. A wide net was set up at an angle. Two other Washouts waved from downfield. Sunburst cleared his throat, but before he could whisper a third time, Dust held up a hoof. “And if you do not land safely, remember you signed liability forms and can’t sue the Washouts or the School of Friendship! Any questions?” Luster Dawn raised her hoof. To her shock, Lightning Dust pointed behind her. “The green pony was a little faster on the draw. They go first.” Dawn looked back and saw everypony staring at Larrikin. The kelpie smiled happily with their hoof raised. “How did you lose your eye?” Larrikin asked. “Was it a stunt?” “That is an excellent question!” Lightning Dust said. “It’s also rude to ask, but that’s okay because you should never be afraid to be rude when it gets you what you want!” Sunburst didn’t even have to whisper. He just looked at her. “By which I mean don’t be a pushover!” Dust corrected. “Not that you should be rude for no reason! The important thing is, my injury happened because there are always risks you can’t anticipate in any stunt, no matter how much you prepare and how careful you are.” Dust started to lose some of the harsh instructor edge as she spoke, pacing back and forth in front of the small class. “Rockets can misfire, even when they’re carefully designed. You can calculate the angle of a ramp or jump perfectly, but building it in the real world means it can end up just a little off. A flight routine you do a hundred times in practice can turn into a crash because you get distracted or lose focus or just catch a breeze wrong.” She took a deep breath and sighed. “Wonderbolts routines are designed so there’s a safety margin. Somepony is a little out of position and it’s not a big deal. There aren’t flaming hoops you need to thread, everything is done a hundred times to make sure it’s safe, they don’t rely on equipment that might break, and there are always two ponies on the ground watching every pony in the air.” Dust slapped the side of the cannon again. “That’s where we come in. We don’t need that margin. Unlike the Wonderbolts, crashing and burning is half of what the crowds come to see! They want to see us succeed, but every time we do a stunt they know we actually could fail, there’s real risk and drama and excitement! We’ve got earth ponies jumping over canyons on bobsleds, unicorns showing off the latest and greatest inventions and spells, and pegasus ponies like me flying the most death-defying routines in all of Equestria! Who needs a bunch of military brats flying approved formations by the book?!” “...But how did you lose your eye?” Larrikin asked again. Dust coughed and looked away, mumbling something. “What?” Larrikin asked. “She said she flew inta’ a bloody hornet without her goggles on,” Arteria said. She adjusted her sunglasses just to make sure they were still there, in case of hornets. “I didn’t lose my eye,” Dust said, her cheeks pink. “But I have to wear this stupid thing for a week and I can’t fly until I have depth perception again.” “I think the eyepatch looks cool,” Larrikin said. “Right!” Lightning Dust agreed. “It is cool! So who wants to get shot out of the cannon first?” She pointed to Luster Dawn. “Great! A volunteer!” “Huh? No, I still had a few--” Dust pulled her to her hooves and started walking her over to the cannon. “I had some questions!” Dawn yelled. “Make them quick,” Dust said. “Why do you use compressed air?” “Oh, well, the Mark-0 used gunpowder and didn’t get past the testing phase. Turns out it was really amazing for stunts but had longevity issues.” “Longevity issues?” “All the test dummies came out of the cannon in small chunks.” “...That’s been fixed, right?” Dawn asked, digging her hooves into the ground. “Sure! And unlike the Mark-1, it uses cool compressed air instead of hot steam, so you won’t even need burn cream!” Dust patted her back. “You’ll be fine. Do you think they’d let me teach a class here while I recover if they weren’t sure it was safe?” “Didn’t they also send Sunburst to make sure--” “Don’t sweat the small stuff!” Dust said, picking Dawn up and dropping her into the cannon. “Remember, tuck and roll to stick the landing!” Dawn shrieked as the cannon went off with a humongous poof, not quite an explosion but more like somebody shook up a huge soda bottle and popped the cap. She soared through the air in a way unicorns weren’t supposed to soar, spinning end-over-end. Ground. Sky. Ground. Sky. Net! She hit the rope like a moth hitting a spider’s web. “Did you die?” Larrikin shouted. “No,” Dawn groaned. “What did I tell you?” Dust said. “Totally safe! Who’s next?” Lightning Dust coughed, fighting her way through strangely back smoke and fog. “Kid? Are you alive?” “I’m okay,” Phantasma whispered, stepping out of the gloom. “I’m so sorry. I got scared and went all incorporeal and then the compressed air hit and--” “Usually that only happens after I eat food from Mexicolt. You go sit down and I hope your stomach feels better.” “That’s not what I meant--” “Next!” “Ground hooks,” Lightning Dust said slowly. It was the only time she’d slowed down all day, and that was because she felt like the whole world had gone mad. “Right,” Arteria said, nodding. She tugged on the secure harness around her barrel. “Clever, ain’t it? Don’t chafe my wings at all since Berlioz helped me with the straps, an’ the hooks keep me anchored to the ground so I don’t go fallin’ into the sky!” “You can’t fall into the sky,” Dust said. “You can fall out of the sky but… you’ve got wings. What are you scared of?” Arteria pulled her sunglasses down an inch to look at Dust directly. “Mate, you ever had a shockin’ look at the wild blue yonder? Oath, the thing goes on forever with no ceilin’! One wrong move and you won’t be able to hear the ground or anythin’ else at all! Could get lost and end up goin’ straight up forever!” Dust stared for a few more moments at the two hooks the batpony was using to stay firmly attached to the ground. “Next!” Dust shouted. “I don’t think this is going to work,” Ibis said. “No, no, if we just… if you can suck in your gut--” Lightning Dust mumbled, thinking. “Even if I suck in my gut, I won’t fit,” Ibis noted. The sphinx started drawing in the dirt with a claw. “Of course there’s a bigger issue, if you’ll forgive the size pun. I calculated the force of your cannon from Luster Dawn’s approximate weight and size, and even if I was somehow able to get into the cannon, the impulse and total energy of the launch apparatus just isn’t enough.” She scribbled down numbers and curves. Dust watched for a few moments and totally lost track of what meant what when Ibis started using letters and then hieroglyphics in the math. “You know what, I’ll just take your word for it,” Dust said. “Next!” “Berlioz does not understand the appeal,” the diamond dog grumbled, from where he was lying well short of the net. “He’s heavier than he looks,” Lightning Dust noted. “Hey! You want another go? I’m sure we can hit the net this time!” “Berlioz is just going to lie here for a while.” “Your loss. Next!” “You’re the right size,” Dust said. “You won’t turn into smoke. Not afraid of heights. You aren’t secretly explosive or something, right?” She was getting frustrated with the class. Shooting ponies out of a cannon should have been easy. This class full of weirdos was making it difficult. “Nope!” Larrikin said, happily. “I don’t even think I’m flammable.” Dust nodded with approval. It would have made things easier if all the ponies she had to deal with on a daily basis were inflammable. Unflammable? Flame resistant! Words were difficult at the end of the day and the wasp sting to her eye was sore. “Perfect,” Dust said. “At least we’re ending on a high note.” She helped Larrikin get loaded into the cannon, pulled the firing cord, and watched the strange green pony get flung through the air, hit the net, and splatter like a rotten tomato. “Oh buck, I’m going to end up in prison again!” Dust screamed. “I liked it when she tried to give me CPR,” Larrikin said, as they walked back to their dorm rooms. “I was okay already but I really appreciated the effort.” “She thought you were dead!” Luster Dawn groaned. “And I can’t blame her. What happened?” “Turns out I don’t handle high-speed impacts well,” Larrikin shrugged. “It felt like my whole body sneezed, and then I was just all over the place!” Berlioz shook his head. “Why do ponies like being shot out of cannon?” “If they used a trebuchet they’d be able to accommodate creatures of much more varying size,” Ibis said. “You can fly any time you want,” Dawn said. “You have wings.” “It’s the principle of the thing,” Ibis said. “It isn’t inclusive. I would have enjoyed experiencing uncontrolled ballistic flight just as much as the next creature if I was allowed to.” “Aw, don’t look so up about things!” Arteria bumped into Ibis in what was probably supposed to be a gesture of support. “You got do to all that funny maths with spirals and them funny drinking birds and waves!” “I did enjoy the math,” Ibis admitted. "I don't think she was used to hieroglyphic calculus, though. She didn't seem to grasp the notation." “Exactly! If I can put up with havin’ to be outside with no bloody ceilin’ and only me ground hooks t’ keep me from flyin’ off to the moon, you can put with with anythin’!” “I can’t believe I turned into smoke,” Phantasma squeaked. “It was so embarrassing!” “It’s natural to have a reaction when you’re surprised like that,” Dawn assured her. “Yours was just… to become a terrifying incorporeal mist and immediately get blown apart by compressed air.” “Oy, that mare’s face when th’ whole cannon exploded with smoke was priceless!” Arteria cackled. “I’d pay twenty bits to see it again!” “It was a little funny,” Dawn admitted. “Hey, since we have to write a report on what we learned, do you all want to go to the library together tomorrow so we can do it as a group?” “Is Larrikin allowed in the library?” Phantasma asked. “They were only banned for a month after the incident,” Ibis said. “The ban expired last Tuesday.” “Perfect!” Dawn said, trailing off to a yawn. “Figures that I finally get used to being a night owl and then Principal Starlight brings a guest speaker in for a special class in the middle of the day.” “I think we could all use some sleep,” Phantasma said. Dawn agreed, fighting back another yawn. The school library was huge. No library funded by Princess Twilight Sparkle would ever be small, of course. A small library was incomplete. How could students be expected to do proper research without resources to cross-reference facts, find opposing opinions, and absorb the latest texts? Luster Dawn didn’t exactly love the library -- her teacher did, naturally (to the point a lot of ponies called her The Princess of Books behind her back), but Dawn liked being out in the field. There was something about finding things out for yourself that just couldn’t be matched. Subtle clues that only she could find, not having to rely on the interpretation of somepony else. What didn’t help was that the library kept changing. She was trying to find a specific book, but every time she walked through the shelves they’d change when she wasn’t looking and whole new subjects and categories would appear. Last time she’d taken this corner she’d found books on high-energy geology, and now that she was thinking of grabbing the textbook she’d spotted on explosionquakes, the whole section had been replaced by books filled with pictures of fish in dresses that discussed seapony fashion. A shadow loomed over her, and she glanced back at Princess Luna. “Do you need a book on hats for dolphins?” Luster asked. “If they’re not made correctly the hat blocks their blowholes and they suffocate.” “No, thank you,” Luna said. “I apologize for this. I’m looking for something in particular.” “So am I,” Dawn sighed, putting the book back. “Have you seen a card catalog anywhere?” Luna ignored her and reared up, her horn shining. When she came down in a powerful stomp, the shelves fell away, collapsing into the ground and leaving them in a clearing in the middle of the woods, stone monoliths surrounding them. Luster was starting to realize something odd was going on. The dark princess trotted over to the monoliths, muttering to herself and taking careful note of the symbols. “You have an amazing memory,” Luna muttered, more to herself than Luster Dawn. “These are quite accurate, but I need to see what they said before they were defaced.” She looked up, and the sun and moon streaked across the sky, so fast it became like a strobe light. Dawn caught the indistinct images of ponies, blurred across time and space. The moon suddenly slammed into place, and the world came to a halt. Red and gold cloth was draped around the clearing like a festival had come to the middle of the Everfree. And a pony in a robe was glaring at her from inches away. Dawn shrieked in alarm and stumbled back from the snarling face of Azure Fire, the school bully who had made Canterlot more like Tartarus and who had ended up being a cultist who wanted to doom all of Equestria and replace Princess Twilight on the throne with some kind of magical horror. Azure Fire didn’t react, standing as still as a statue. Nothing, in fact, was moving. It was all perfectly still, even the flames in the braziers caught as unmoving as a photograph. Luna looked over the nearest standing stone. “Hm. Yes…” “Uh,” Dawn said. “So the magi did reconstruct most of this correctly. I don’t see any serious mistakes, but…” Luna mumbled, ignoring her. “Princess? Is this a dream?” Dawn tugged on Luna’s tail, which was probably unwise, but she seemed too absorbed in what she was doing to notice much else. “Hm?” Luna looked back. “Oh. Yes. I apologize for the intrusion. I was merely doing some double-checking.” “On the cult?” Dawn asked. “But they’ve been dealt with already, haven’t they?” “Yes, indeed, they have been,” Luna said, her voice flat. “There is nothing to be concerned about. And while I know from speaking with Twilight Sparkle that telling you nothing is wrong only drives you to do your own research, I assure you that I speak the truth. Much like you in the library, I have been doing… academic research.” “Research about what?” “It is of no matter. I have been rude and treated you like a tome on a library shelf instead of a pony.” Luna’s horn glittered, and something fell onto Dawn’s head. Dawn grabbed it, and found herself holding a slightly iridescent silver coin, glimmering with a rainbow when she turned it to look at the two sides, one emblazoned with Luna’s profile and the other with a map of the moon. “It is a token for a dream of your choice, to be redeemed at a future time,” Luna said. “Uh… thanks?” Dawn said, confused. “I have centuries of experience in crafting dreams,” Luna explained. “Consider it an invitation to have one professionally made. Thank you for your time.” “Wait, you didn’t answer me about why--” “--you needed to see the clearing!” Dawn gasped, sitting up in bed. She looked around her room, eyes bleary. “Did she do that on purpose?” The image of the shining coin came to her, and she looked around her bed, half-expecting to find it under her pillow. “Why would it be here?” Dawn sighed “It was just a dream.” She sat there for a few long moments. It had just been a dream. It might not have even been the real Luna. Princess Luna was retired. She didn’t get involved in things anymore except the one or two times a year she got trotted out for a ceremonial round of waving at the crowd. The best thing for Dawn to do was ignore it, trust that even if it had been Luna that the alicorn was more than capable of dealing with whatever was going on, and go back to bed. That would definitely have been the wise thing to do. “...So anyway, I decided to come here instead of going back to sleep,” Dawn said. Principal Starlight smiled weakly. “I got that, thanks.” “So I’ve been thinking about what we can do,” Dawn continued. “I could write to Princess Luna, but maybe it would be better coming from you so it would be more official and she might like that more.” “Dawn, calm down,” Starlight said. “I am calm,” Dawn said. “I know she’ll be fine. I just want to make sure. And I can offer to help, if she needs help. I mean, she had to go through my memories, so she must need at least a little help. And they were my memories, so I should be the one to help, right?” “I just talked to Princess Twilight and Princess Luna a few hours ago,” Starlight said. She held up a hoof before Dawn could ask questions. “It was just a normal meet-up. If something was wrong, they would have told me.” Dawn hesitated. “And did they tell you anything?” “Mostly they gave me advice on a few problem students,” Starlight admitted. “It can be nice getting a second opinion. Speaking of a second opinion, my second opinion about all this is that you shouldn’t be worried about your dream. Luna was probably just curious about what happened that night, but it’s ancient history and you’ve got something more important to look forward to.” “Something more important?” “The trip to the Crystal Empire next week,” Starlight said. “Remember you’ll need to write a report on the history and culture of the Empire after your trip. Do you have a subject picked out yet?” Luster hesitated just long enough for it to be a negative. “I didn’t think so.” Starlight moved some papers on her desk to the side and gave Luster a scroll. “Take this. It’s the itinerary for the visit. Maybe you’ll get some ideas before we leave and you can start planning things.” She smiled. “Just promise me you won’t go trying to investigate Princess Cadance’s private quarters.” “So I thought to myself, what would Princess Twilight do?” Luster Dawn huffed, rhetorically. “She wouldn’t sit around doing research when the world might be in danger!” “...Isn’t that actually exactly what she would do?” Phantasma asked. “She’s famous for solving problems by finding the solution to problems in obscure texts.” “Okay yes, she’d probably be in the library,” Dawn admitted. “I like the woods better,” Larrikin assured Dawn. “‘Course you like the drippin’ woods,” Arteria said. “Better’n the shockin’ wide open but not by more’n two bounces of a mare’s squeak. I’m gonna get ears on up ahead an’ make sure we aren’t trottin’ into a mimic’s treasure hole.” She flew off ahead, leaving everyone trying not to think too hard about what she’d said. Almost everyone, anyway. “That’s a new one,” Ibis said, making a note in a scroll. “Berlioz, can you translate?” “Why is Berlioz asked to translate?” the dog asked. “Berlioz is not mind reader.” “I suppose it was too much to hope,” Ibis sighed. “You two just seem to get along so well, I assumed you had some kind of special understanding.” “...Get along so well?” Berlioz asked. “Oy! Doggo! Help me move this chuck a’ timber!” Arteria shouted. “Somepony left it in the shockin’ road!” Berlioz sighed. Luster just barely managed to hold back most of a giggle. The group followed along behind him. “Look at this bleedin’ thing,” Arteria said, kicking the barrier she’d found. “Ain’t no problem for me, but it’s a shockin’ hazard t’ have in the middle of th’ trail when there might be any sort of stroppy thing lopin’ out of the woods to get a taste of what it hears.” The barrier in question was striped red and white, designed to be seen from a long way off in all lighting conditions. It was essentially an extra-long cart with a wall built across the bed, staked into place across the road. “That’s a royal guard barricade,” Luster Dawn said, approaching it. “Weird. They must have installed it after that whole… cult thing.” “Paperwork,” Berlioz pointed to some papers stapled to the wood. “They’ll just basically say ‘no trespassing’,” Luster said. “Apparently it’s not legal unless there’s actually a notarized document telling you not to do something.” “I guess we should go back and take a nap,” Larrikin sighed, trying to sound disappointed. “Or maybe food and then a nap.” “If you’re tired you could have stayed at school,” Ibis said. “And leave you hanging?” Larrikin shook their head. “Nah. If it wasn’t for you guys I wouldn’t even have a reason to get out of bed. I just know Luster is going to get into trouble.” “Thanks for the show of support,” Dawn sighed. “But that’s why I like you,” Larrikin said, nuzzling her and leaving a damp patch from her slimy surface. Calling it fur wasn’t entirely accurate, given she was mostly made out of weeds. “We can’t go any further, though,” Phantasma reminded them, motioning at the barricade. “That sounds like somethin’ a quitter would say!” Arteria laughed. “You think a bit of painted wood is gonna keep us from goin’ up there? Long as nopony notices us, ain’t really a shockin’ crime is it?” She hopped up on top of the barricade and looked down at the rest of the group though her cool shades, drawing upon all her commanding presence. “As somethin’ of a minor noble, I give you all permission t’ ignore this here bit of paper. Ain’t like we’re gonna get caught in th’ middle of nowhere anyhow. And if we are, we’ll just apologize an’ be on our way in two echoes of a landslide.” “You should probably start with those apologies now, then,” said a voice from behind her. Arteria squeaked in what might sound like undignified alarm but was in fact a combination of war cry and emergency echolocation and would be considered very cool and fierce if one was a fruit bat. Two guards stepped out of the woods. “Princess Twilight got the time right to almost the exact minute,” the armored griffin said, checking a pocketwatch before putting it away. “She’s pretty amazing like that,” his pegasus superior officer agreed. “Gallus! Captain Sentry!” Luster Dawn smiled. “It’s so great to see you! This is perfect!” “Perfect?” Gallus asked. “Yeah! I need to get up to the old ritual site,” Dawn explained. “It’s not far.” “I know, it’s just up the hill,” Flash Sentry said. “But you’re not allowed in. I’m sorry.” “Come on, Captain,” Dawn said. “You know me! I’ll vouch for all my friends. We’re not going to disturb anything or do anything dangerous, we just need to check a couple things out. You won’t even know we were there!” “Normally, I’d be happy to let you in,” Flash said. “But I’ve got orders.” “But--” “Specific orders,” Flash continued. “Princess Twilight told us you’d probably be showing up and we needed to turn you away.” “What?” Dawn sputtered. “But I’m her personal student! I… I outrank you!” “No, you don’t,” Flash said, amused. “Look, like I said, I don’t have a personal problem with you going up there, but Princess Twilight thinks it might be dangerous for some reason. Before you ask, no, I don’t know why. She didn’t tell me, so I’m not even trying to keep a secret from you.” “That can’t be right,” Dawn muttered. “Let me see your orders!” “I thought you might want that,” Flash said. He nodded to Gallus, who produced several sheets of closely-typed forms. Dawn looked at them, trying to read over the military legalese. “May I?” Ibis asked. She’d been examining the paper stapled to the barricade, and offered a pay for the orders. Dawn passed them over. Ibis put on a pair of reading glasses and narrowed her eyes, flipping through the forms. “Well?” Dawn asked, after a minute. “Everything seems to be in order,” Ibis said. “They’re legal orders, signed by the right ponies, and given to the correct recipients.” She gave them back to Gallus. “If you want, we’ll be happy to escort you out of the Everfree,” Gallus offered, shoving them back into his armor. “The last thing you need is to run into timber wolves.” “What about a hydra?” Larrikin asked. “A hydra would be bad too,” Gallus said, before the roar shook the air around them. His expression dropped. “It wasn’t a hypothetical question, was it?” “It never is around ponies like this,” Flash Sentry said, as a hydra tore out of the woods, throwing trees aside like toothpicks. “Everyone get to cover!” Gallus and Flash took off at the same time, wordlessly and instantly coordinated, weaving towards the hydra from opposite sides. “We need to help them!” Luster yelled. “We can… uh… we can…” she hesitated. “Maybe we should just stay out of the way,” Phantasma said. “We’re not fighters, and they’ll have an easier time fighting if they don’t have to protect us at the same--” she was cut off by a massive oak slamming into the spot she was standing. “Phantasma!” Dawn screamed. Black smoked trickled out of the branches and reformed into the lanky umbra pony, who looked annoyed instead of hurt. “Like I was saying, we should just stay out of the way.” “I’ve fought bigger dire tadpoles in me bathtub!” Arteria declared. “If you want t’ stay back and coward it out, that’s mulch in your own bowl.” “There are several classical methods of defeating a hydra,” Ibis noted. “I don’t suppose anyone brought several dozen meters of rope?” “Rope, huh?” Larrikin asked. “I think I can do that.” “Really?” Luster asked. “Sure. Just be careful with me, okay? It’d probably hurt a lot if I snapped.” The kelpie took a deep breath for dramatic effect and collapsed into weeds, their body slithering like a pile of snakes and weaving itself together. “Aw, that’s crackin’!” Arteria exclaimed. “Berlioz, you grab one end, I’ll nap th’ other! I think I catch the bounce on Ibis’ plan!” “Someone needs to distract it,” Ibis said. “The guards are doing an excellent job, but it has quite a few heads and there are only two of them.” “I’ve got just the thing,” Dawn said. Her horn lit up, and she threw blasts into the sky that exploded into sparks and dazzling light. “I learned this one from Professor Trixie herself!” One of the hydra’s heads, not quite as impressed with the display, looked down at her and lunged like a cobra. Phantasma erupted into a smokescreen, blinding it. The Hydra got a mouth full of wood as it missed Dawn entirely and bit into the barricade, pulling back in pain and alarm, its tongue covered in splinters. Arteria darted across its path, pulling one end of the vine rope Larrikin had become and ducking around a tree, getting leverage. Berlioz saw the Hydra taking a step towards the flashes of light and smoke and yanked hard. The line went taut and caught the hydra’s ankle. The huge beast stumbled and fell, crying out in mostly-blind alarm as it collapsed into the trees. “Watch out,” Dawn warned. “I don’t think that did very much except annoy it.” The hydra cried out in pain and turned onto its side, straining for a moment before simply giving up. “...Or it could be done fighting?” Dawn asked, confused. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall,” Arteria said. “I got that one right, yeah? I don’t know all the slang you topsiders use.” “It shouldn’t have been that easy.” Ibis flew up a bit, frowning. “It wasn’t that easy. We weren’t the first thing this Hydra came across today.” “Huh?” “Take a look,” Ibis offered, pointing. They hadn’t been able to see it before, but from this angle it was obvious. Huge burns crisscrossed the Hydra’s body, the scales left blackened and peeling in their wake. “It must have happened just today,” Fluttershy said, once she’d finished rubbing salve into the hydra’s back. The beast had calmed down quite a bit since she’d come out to talk to it. “With how quickly a hydra heals, it can’t have happened more than a few hours ago.” “Now I feel bad about fighting it,” Dawn mumbled. “You only gave it a few bumps and bruises,” Fluttershy assured her. “He was scared and hurt and not thinking clearly. A lot of animals around here know if they’re injured, they can find a pony and try to get help.” “What even happened?” Dawn asked. “A dragon?” Fluttershy frowned and looked up at the wounds. “No. There aren’t any dragons around here that are mean enough to go after a poor, defenseless hydra.” Dawn considered saying something about the use of the phrase ‘defenseless’ as it related to a huge, deadly monster, but the monster was groaning and in obvious pain after whatever it had tussled with. Maybe it was harmless, relatively speaking, compared to something else. “Besides, it said it was…” Fluttershy stopped herself, looking pensive. “What did it say?” Fluttershy smiled at Luster Dawn. “It’s nothing to worry about. You should all go back to school. I need to finish taking care of Mister Hydra, and there might be other animals that got hurt while he was running around.” “Maybe we should stick around to help,” Dawn offered. “We can go back along its path--” “It’s more dangerous for you to help,” Fluttershy said, very firmly. “If you approach them incorrectly they might get scared or upset. What have I told you in class?” Dawn sighed. “That the most dangerous thing we can do is upset an animal after it’s already hurt, because it might hurt us or make its own injuries worse.” “Exactly. I know you want to help, but right now the best way you can help is by going back to school so nopony is worried about you, okay?” “Even Fluttershy just wanted to get rid of me…” Dawn muttered. “What’s going on around here?” She huffed and sat down in the middle of the trail, glaring back towards the ritual site. “Maybe pony should just listen,” Berlioz suggested, with a shrug. “Maybe nothing going on. Maybe pony just wants things to be connected.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” Dawn frowned. “He might be right,” Phantasma said. “We came out here because you saw it in a dream.” “Wait,” Ibis said, holding up a paw. “This might be a good time to review what we know. Let’s begin with Luster Dawn’s dream.” “Okay…” Dawn rubbed her chin. “It was a pretty normal dream at first, then Princess Luna showed up. That’s not normal at all.” “No,” Ibis agreed. “What did she do, exactly?” “She changed my dream. It had been a dream about finding books in a library, and I guess it was sort of a bad dream? But in that weird, frustrating way a dream can be instead of a real nightmare. When Luna appeared, she just dismissed everything and turned it into a copy of the ritual site without even asking me. She didn’t even talk to me about it until I became lucid, and then she just sort of told me she was doing research and left.” “Not a copy of the ritual site,” Ibis corrected. “Your memory of how it looked.” “Right. And she specifically wanted to see it while the ritual was going on, not how it looks now.” “But what’s the difference?” Phantasma asked. “About five thousand bits o’ red velvet an’ gold leaf, if I remember correctly,” Arteria snorted. “Cults. Got cults back home an’ they’re all the same way -- totally knackered in the nog and with decor to match.” “She didn’t care much about the banners and decorations,” Luster said. “The ponies,” Berlioz suggested. “Maybe not all cult ponies have been caught.” “I don’t think my memories would be much help with that. Most of them were wearing masks,” Dawn pointed out. “But your memory is otherwise near-photographic, isn’t it?” Ibis asked. Dawn nodded. “Princess Twilight taught me a few tricks. Luna seemed more interested in the runes on the monoliths than anything else.” “Runes that, in the present, are largely damaged or defaced,” Ibis said. “We broke them while we were saving the world,” Larrikin said, clearly deep in thought and trying to keep up. “I remember we went around scratching new runes into them to mess up what they were doing.” “So she must have wanted to see what the original configuration was…” Phantasma muttered. “That’s her likely motivation for appearing in the dream,” Ibis agreed. “But we can’t know why she needed to see the original rune configuration. What we can know is the next piece of information. Principal Starlight. Dawn, you went to speak with her, yes?” “Yeah. She’d just gotten back from a meeting with Princess Twilight and Princess Luna, apparently. She said it was just a normal meeting but…” “The timing is suspicious,” Ibis agreed. “And nopony else saw them. They didn’t meet at the school or every creature around would have been talking about it.” “They could have met in Canterlot,” Phantasma offered. “We’d have to check the train schedule.” “Starlight seemed tired,” Dawn said. “She could have teleported there and back.” “The location of the meeting isn’t all that relevant,” Ibis cut in. “What’s important is the subject.” “And pony princesses had meeting about dream?” Berlioz rumbled. “Starlight told me she’d met them a few hours before I talked to her, and I went to Starlight right after I woke up because I was worried. They couldn’t have had a meeting after I had my dream.” “So they had a meeting before it,” Phantasma said. Arteria nodded. “A meetin’ where whatever they gabbed about, it meant Princess Luna had t’ go an’ rummage around in your junk drawer.” “And order guards to block the road,” Dawn added. “They had orders specifically about me. Princess Twilight must have known I’d want to go look at the ritual site after Luna appeared in my dreams, and sent them to make sure I couldn’t!” “Indeed, their orders were still fresh,” Ibis agreed. “And what are the chances you’d run into two Royal Guards who know you personally, or that a Guard Captain like Flash Sentry would decide to take on a low-level duty like watching a barricade in the middle of the Everfree?” “They wouldn’t keep a pony with high rank standing there for long,” Dawn agreed. “Their orders were stamped with today’s date,” Ibis said. “I saw it while I was going over their paperwork.” “Fluttershy said the hydra only got hurt a few hours ago too, didn’t she?” Larrikin asked. “Is that related too?” “Perhaps, but likely not in the way it appears,” Ibis said. “We can establish a rough timeline of events, now. The Princesses and Principal had a meeting. Soon afterwards, Princess Twilight ordered guards to block the main path to the ritual site. She did this before Princess Luna entered Luster Dawn’s dream.” “She knew Luna appearing would make me too curious to resist wanting a look,” Dawn agreed. “Everything was done quietly and in secret,” Ibis continued. “Then, something happened to the hydra. The guards weren’t ready for it, which means the Princesses didn’t know the hydra would be there.” “And even if Spike was with them, Fluttershy said it the hydra’s burns weren’t from dragonfire,” Dawn said. “It’s unlikely to be unconnected,” Ibis said. “In fact, since the Princesses were investigating something, it’s likely whatever attacked the hydra is exactly what they were trying to find. It may or may not be related to the ritual -- Luna did want to see it intact, and needed your memories to do it, but it’s equally likely they’re simply eliminating possibilities.” “Why wouldn’t they want my help?” Dawn asked. “I’m Princess Twilight’s personal student. Even if they don’t want me involved, something dangerous enough to do that to a big monster is dangerous enough that ponies should be warned about it.” “They might be trying to avoid a panic,” Phantasma said. “Ponies… sometimes don’t handle things well.” “But keeping it from me?” Dawn asked. “I don’t panic.” “Pony digs,” Berlioz said. “Pony doesn’t let things go. Almost as bad when danger is around.” “So she’s trying to keep me safe?” Dawn frowned. “Starlight was saying she got advice on dealing with problem students. Maybe she meant me.” “Our next step should be filling in at least one of the obvious blanks,” Ibis said. “We can’t get to the ritual site. No doubt every approach is guarded, and the guards are professional and new enough to their station to be on alert.” “Starlight had a lot of paperwork on her desk,” Dawn recalled. “I didn’t think much about it at the time, but I bet there’s a clue there somewhere…” “Good thing you’re a problem student already or else it’d be weird you want to break into her office,” Larrikin said. “Pony should get plan that doesn’t make pony get kicked out of school.” “You’re right. Maybe I shouldn’t even be the one to come up with a plan,” Dawn said. “Twilight had those guards just for me. She might be able to predict anything I’d normally do. If someone else came up with the plan, she might not be able to--” “Shhh!” Arteria hissed, her ears perking up. She was staring into the woods. “What is it?” Dawn whispered. “I just got ears on somethin,” Arteria whispered back. “Look that way real careful-like. She’s hidin’, an I can’t get a clear see or hear at her with the way she is.” Dawn followed Arteria’s gaze. Off to the side of the trail, deep enough into the woods to just barely be visible, was a black shape, a few shades too dark to blend into the grey and green of the shadows. “It’s a pony,” Phantasma said quietly. “I can’t see their face. They’re wearing some kind of black cloak.” “That’s no Royal Guard,” Dawn muttered. “Your book princess got any secret police?” Arteria asked. “If she does, they’re too secret for me to know about them.” “Pony want to go with usual plan?” Berlioz asked. “Run at them screaming and hope things work?” “I only see one of them,” Phantasma said. “Do you think it’s one of the cultists that got away?” “As much as I’d love to see Azure Fire try to rough it in the woods, there’s no way any of those nobles could survive in the Everfree alone for that long,” Dawn whispered. “She’s bolting!” Ibis warned. The black-cloaked pony turned and ran. “Circle around!” Luster shouted, before going straight ahead, crashing through the brush. Chasing after anything in the Everfree was a bad idea, but bad ideas never stopped Luster Dawn. The pony ahead of her half-turned, and there was a flare of crimson light. A bolt of red-hot energy flashed past dawn, the near-miss enough to make her fur crinkle and brown like she’d gotten too close to a furnace. A second blast came at her, that same kind of half-formed spark as the first, but when Dawn tried to block it with a shield, the force behind it simply shattered her defense like it wasn’t there. If it had been aimed squarely at her… “At least that explains what happened to the hydra,” Dawn said, ducking behind a tree while she tried to cast another shield spell. She couldn’t take a blast like that head-on, but the right spell would deflect it to the side. A third shot bounced off to the side, the force redirected slightly away like a stone skipping off a lake. “Right! I’ve got you now!” Dawn yelled, charging ahead and bouncing a fourth away. Despite the sheer power backing up the blasts, she had the distinct sense the pony throwing spells at her was trying hard not to hurt her. They weren’t poorly-aimed, they were warning shots just meant to slow her down and scare her away. The pony skidded to a halt. Dawn felt the power behind the spell and her instincts grabbed hold of her. She threw herself to the ground, and a massive explosion of light and sound erupted from the cloaked pony. Smoke and debris filled the air like a solid wall. Dawn coughed, picking herself up and looking around, her ears ringing. The other pony was gone. She stepped into the center of the devastation. Broken branches and scorched earth, but no real damage. It hadn’t been an attack meant to kill. Just all light and sound, like the fireworks she’d thrown at the hydra but a thousand times stronger. “Where did she go? A teleport spell?” Dawn muttered. Something moved in Dawn’s peripheral vision. She glanced up. A white feather as long as her fetlock drifted down from above.