The clouds were thick and the youngest of the three fillies was near exhaustion from the flight.
Pinkie struggled to stay awake, needing to make sure that the cart didn’t crash into anything since Lyra enchanted it to follow the diamond. The birds themselves changed with other birds several times while others rested, and she wished that was possible for them. Fluttershy was still recovering from her imprisonment and lay curled up on the ground, wings around her head and soft snores emitting from her mouth.
Lyra was lying on top of her, also out of it, and Pinkie felt that the least she could do was stay awake for the three of them.
It wasn’t like she could help much with the cart after all, and despite what Lyra said she still felt guilt boiling in her stomach.
She knew North was sensitive about her Blessing, that the filly refused to see it as her own, and the one time she used it to protect them, Pinkie’s instincts were to flinch away from her. North hadn’t even hurt them, and now one of her best friends was by herself with Wind Scar after her.
And who knows what that stallion was going to do to her?
So lost in her thoughts she almost missed the fact the diamond was going down, and that a tall structure was right in their flight path.
Almost.
Yelping, she lunged for the wheel and spun, knocking it out of automatic and sending them veering away from the structure towards the ground.
The very hard ground on the edge of a cliff.
----------------------------------------------
“Why?” North gritted out, body cold and wanting to move away, but she was trapped, “If you have the Blessing, why did you-” he tilted his head, clicking his tongue and tutting.
“I’m disappointed you didn’t think of it, I expected it with your smarts and that magazine of yours but,” ‘magazine?’ what he was talking about? Seeing that she still didn’t get it, his eyes glinted,
“Well, I suppose I should start with a story to explain it all, unfortunately, these rings take quite a while,” he rolled his eyes, “They hate doing this process and try to delay it as much as they can. Anyways,” to her shock he moved forward, and she flinched away from him when he reached towards her ear, he seemed to delight in that, “I had heard Corn Husker’s failed revenge left you with some trauma, but,” he shook his head, “A long time ago, a pony, bullied by their peers and harassed for their Pegasus weakness, find out that they had the Blessing of the Wind, and when they researched it, to their delight they found out that those who had it in the past had more power than anyone save for Alicorns. But when they tried training it, to their dismay it was as weak as if they were just a normal pegasus. They could create mini whirls in the air or send an object skating across the water, and they could hear someone talking about them from a block away, but that’s it. So they decided to go on a little training trip and found out about this Temple from their grandparents’ journals. They took them on their journey and found an entrance to this temple near the Dragon lands. For five years they searched for inspiration, for a way to increase their ability, to gain enough strength to get back at those who tormented them. Unfortunately for them it never worked, and the only thing they could do was come up with little tricks to hover in the air without using their wings and lift objects weighing less than three pounds. One morning they stumbled across this little miracle,” he gestured with his hoof, and North saw the rings had only moved one foot during that story, but they were still too close, “A platform for communing with the wind on a personal level, to connect to others with the same Blessing, and upon communing with the others, this pony came to a horrifying realization. The Blessing was too spread out, too many had it that did not know what to do with it. There were those who even had strong Blessings with the ability to cut with the wind but were too afraid to use it. In their anger, the pony demanded the temple to take away the Blessing of the other, give them to the ones who are more worthy. But the temple says they cannot take it away without permission, that each recipient of the Blessing had their equal share.
The pony did not like that, and an idea came to their mind, after all, why not give those who did not want their Blessings a way to give it up? There were over a hundred lines of pegasus Families, one or two of unicorn and earth pony each who also had the Blessing of the Wind. If the latest in one line gave it up, they gave it up for the rest of their future generations. Which means the Blessing wouldn’t be so spread thin. Of course, there were dragons and griffins and, if possible other races with the Blessing, but the pony knew they would want to get rid of their gift the most.
So they searched for those who were afraid, mostly other ponies, and brought them to the temple, telling them they can give up their ‘curse’ and no longer have to worry about it.
It took twenty giving them up to realize that despite being in the same area, the pony was not receiving the Blessings, and then they heard the news of foals in other lines receiving stronger Blessings. In their impatience and rage, they came up with a new way to deal with the ponies.
At the moment of their Blessing being ripped away from them, the pony killed them and threw their body away.
They felt the Blessing go into them, but to their dismay could not wield it, the Wind refusing to bend under their control. So they did it again and again, and their anger increased as the Wind became even more uncooperative.
On one of their outings, they met a pony and ended up with foal, a colt-” wait, North eyes widened, “And the moment that colt was born the pony saw his blue coat and realized what happened. She waited,” blue eyes stared back at hers, “and when he turned five, he sliced his wooden blocks in half in a fit of rage. She now knew that her years of toil were for naught, and that is when her sanity snapped. For the next five years, she acted as the perfect mother, worrying about her little colt’s abilities and fretting over him, saying how his Blessing was hurting him and of how much it reminded her of his father who was destroyed by his Blessing. That colt became afraid, afraid of his abilities, to the point he begged his mother to help him with it, that he didn’t want to die.
So she agreed to ‘help’ him,” North was feeling sick, and Wind Scar was enjoying it, she could see that.
“During the summer months she made a production of helping search for a ‘cure’, and they went all over, even coming to a Dragon who tried training the colt to control the gift, and to urge him not to give it up. But she took the young colt away, accusing the dragon (out of hearing of course) of trying to get him killed. When they came into the temple, they ‘stumbled’ upon this room and were ready to give up his ‘curse’, her son gave up one of his kidneys and stood, ready to be free in society without fear of death. His mother appeared on the platform, having given up the ability to feel guilt, probably to stop her from hesitating, and tried to kill the colt while he couldn’t move.
She didn’t take into account his Blessing would save him, cutting her head off and stopping the ritual in its place. The terrified and betrayed colt felt his Blessing becoming stronger, and he found himself hovering off the ground without the use of his wings, a trick he’d only seen his mother do. It took him quite some time to gather himself, and he ended up pushing his mother’s body, and head, into the same dark space she sent all the others throughout the years.
He found her journals, anger, and hatred taking hold as he read through all of them and figured out where his mother went wrong.
For ten years he bided his time, accepting the sympathy of those who heard his mother was in an ‘accident’ and being in a group with those who were afraid of their Blessing. He talked of his own ‘fears’, and that his mother was in the search of a cure before her death. In their own desperation, they asked to help him search for it and he agreed.
He didn’t kill them, just stood on the platform after ‘testing’ it out and encouraging them as they did so. The Blessing went into him and he figured it was because his mother didn’t stand in the table with the others that she didn’t realize killing wasn’t needed.
He didn’t grow stronger, but he could feel the strength of the Blessing and did not care.
Some of the members of the group became his devoted friends, and when they married they named him honorary uncle to their firstborn. I don’t have to tell you who they are right?” he mocked, North glared at him, she wasn’t like where this was going, “Well this colt, now stallion, had a dilemma, he succeeded in ending most of the lines without drawing attention, but realized his plan would be a bit difficult. He tried dating in the Royal Guard Academy and came across a delightful Earth Pony who wanted to prove herself. Unfortunately, she wasn’t all that receptive, and left before the poor stallion could ‘settle’ things,” oh Celestia she wanted to throw up, “So the stallion found himself a bit alone, which was rather unfortunate because like his mother he realized he needed to have a blood relative, a close one to do a proper ritual. So he went to his old friends, and asked for a favor, a tiny one,” he grinned, eyes glinting, and North paled, “And they were all too happy to accept, after all, I helped cure them of their Blessing and prevented their first daughter from being cursed. It was fortunate that Windy found me attractive,” he chuckled, “And I do not believe I need to elaborate any further, right?” he leaned down towards her, “Daughter?” the word struck like a bullet and North wanted to throw up now.
The rings were a yard away as he stood over her, sneering.
Then a shining diamond slammed into him and North found her hooves freed, backpedaling away and nearly slamming into one arch as he struggled to his hooves.
“Pinkie? Pinkie!” the Earth filly felt herself being shaken and she jerked up, wincing at the light in her face before it dimmed, a worried Lyra and Fluttershy standing over her.
“Did I avoid the building?” she slurred, feeling dizzy as Fluttershy helped her up, taking her away from the ship which was teetering near the cliff.
“Yeah, you did, I’m sorry, I should’ve prevented it from- ow,” Lyra rubbed her head, grimacing, “My tracking spell just shattered, weird,” then she realized what she said and groaned, “Oh horseapples,” the other two stared at her with worried eyes.
“Can’t you do another one?” Lyra tried and winced, shaking her head, Pinkie swallowed, glancing at Fluttershy.
“Any animals near for tracking?” she asked. Hopefully, Fluttershy gasped and ran to the ship, pulling out a cage where a dizzy Runespoor fell out,
“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you three were still asleep,” three heads flicked their tongues at her and Fluttershy gave a tired smile, holding out North’s glasses and making Pinkie start as she realized something.
“Um, doesn’t North need those to see?” she asked, somewhat hesitantly, as the serpent sniffed the spectacles.
“She can see alright, just difficult for long-distance,” their unicorn friend muttered about learning a music spell for tracking before the Runespoor started was slithering across the ground towards the Lighthouse.
Fluttershy picked them up and ran ahead, telling them to relay directions, and the other two ran behind her.
‘Please North’ Pinkie begged in her head, ‘Please be okay.’
To her dismay, the arch wouldn’t let her go through, and when she tried jumping off the platform, she gently rebounded.
“You paid the price little filly, only one of us will be allowed to leave with a Blessing,” she faced him, eyes narrowing as he just regarded her with amusement, not at all bothered about her being able to move.
“Why do this? They did not bully you, you got revenge on your mom,” ‘grandmother’ a traitorous voice in her head said, she snuffed it, “Why continue her work?” he scoffed,
“To be strong of course, ever since I was a colt my dream was to reach the top, be the best there was,” “Then you can just be a Guard Captain or Wonderbolt-” “Do you think I would settle for those?” he asked in disgust, shaking his head, “When the best in the land is an Alicorn?” North blinked.
“You, you want to be an Alicorn?” her disbelief made him angry.
“Is it a rule that only mares can ascend?” his shout echoed through the platform, “Is it only females that are allowed to have all the power?! What insult is it that after a thousand years, the first alicorn to ascend is a pegasus filly, on Love of all things? Do you know how embarrassing that is to our Warrior tribe? Well,” he chuckled, “It won’t be an embarrassment any further when I become the Alicorn of the Sky once I receive your Blessing,” he was starting to look deranged and North wanted to get off of the platform.
“The Alicorn of the Sky can’t exist, Master Po of the drago-” “Will stand no chance against the stronger me!” the stallion roared, North felt annoyance warring with fear, the urge to face hoof almost overwhelming her urge to flee.
Did he seriously think he would be strong enough to beat a dragon-like Po?
“Pony?! Are you okay?” North heard Garble running up the steps and saw her da- no, uncle, turn in his direction, and before she could stop herself she was in front of the arch, blocking it with her body as the manic stallion took a step towards it.
“Stay away Garble,” she ordered, ears flattening as she heard him stopping just before the arch, a gasp escaping his lips when he saw the dead body across the platform and the stallion standing there, dark blue wind around his wings.
“W-” then the sound of scratching came and he cried out, the sound of rocks clinking hitting her ears as a smirk appeared on Wind Scar’s face.
“Oh, you know, I always wondered what would happen if a dragon in the midst of gaining his wings was pushed from a great height-” she tried to summon her wings but he smacked her away, heading towards the small dragon with a sick expression on his face.
“No!” she shot towards him but had to avoid a cut heading towards her neck, crashing into the invisible barrier and falling to the platform.
A wind blade formed in his right-wing extended, curving and looking like it was about to shoot out at the dragon.
“Leave him alone,” she ordered, he paused and stared at her,
“Why should I?” he challenged her, and she knew what she needed to do.
The secret passage they were in smelled like the ocean.
And not the good part of it.
Fluttershy wished that her enhanced senses didn’t include her sense of smell and that she could just shut it off as they ran down dusty, stone stairs, running through abandoned cobwebs as they tried not to run into one another down the spiraling descent.
“I’m getting dizzy,” Lyra groaned, and Fluttershy wanted to voice her agreement, but at that moment Pinkie lit up, her main poofing even more,
“I have something,” before they could ask her what that was, her mane lashed out and grabbed one of the torches on the wall, pulling it and causing a clicking sound from behind them that seemed to be getting closer.
“Pinkie, wha-” the stairs underneath them slid into the floor and they all fell, “t diiidd yyyoouuu dddooo?!” Fluttershy just wanted to know why the architects thought turning stairs into slides was a good idea.
But at least it made the descent faster, if a bit more dizzying.
Her scaled friend hissed in various states of excitement and panic,
‘Wheee’ ‘I want off this ride!’ ‘Get over here pink one so I can bite you!’ were a few of the choice phrases.
She wished they would come up with a name already, but they were still ‘debating’ over it.
Lyra lit up her horn just as the slide ended and they were rolling across cold hard ground, Fluttershy flinching as her new wings scraped against the rough ground, and bit back the whimper that wanted to escape.
‘Bacon pony is down that way’ ‘I smell Molting dragon, yum!’ ‘There’s an unknown scent of a stallion and a dead pony corpse, lots of them actually’ the blunt statement had her breaking into a run, surprising her friends.
“There’s a stallion up there, and they said there are corpses over where North is, along with a molting dragon,” the two quickened their pace.
“The corpse isn’t North right?” Pinkie asked fearfully, mane deflating, and Fluttershy glanced at the Runespoor peering over her mane ahead of them.
The blunt one glanced down,
‘It's the sandy pony’ there was only one pony they referred to that way and the sob escaped her lips before she could stop it, and it was only the fact she continued running that the others did too.
“No, it, it's Miss Amethyst,” Pinkie and Lyra blanched.
“Oh no, North,” Fluttershy blinked the tears out of her eyes, knowing she couldn’t break down.
She didn’t want her friend to be dead as well.
Please.
The strange substance wrapped around her hooves, and she refused to look up as the stallion chuckled, returning to his spot.
“Good girl,” he praised, and she wanted to glare at him, wanted to spit in his face, but she didn’t want him taking that as permission to hurt Garble.
The rings closed around them and she gasped as her wings opened and it extracted the magic that had been inside of her since she activated it into the air, turning into a funnel around them that grew taller and taller.
“Yes,” she heard him say through the agonizing feeling, “Come on!” blue filled her vision and suddenly it was like she wasn’t there anymore.
Images filled her mind, of so many ponies coming to this place, filled with the hope of being released from their curse, of those who left with relief but an empty feeling.
And those who felt despair as their would-be savior cut them down.
Then the visions changed to what this temple used to be like, residents laughing and using their Blessings to play with one another, to help those having trouble with their Blessing gain control of it.
Before fear from beyond took control of the ponies and had them looking at their Blessings with fear, causing the winds to go out of control and lash out.
“ind!”
Fear led them to give up their gift, fear led to a young filly almost mare coming down, looking for the power to take on the bullies that consumed her to the point of murder.
Fear led a colt to hatred and the hunger for power that caused the ruin of so many lives.
“Oth W-d!”
Fear led her to want to give up a Blessing and fall into her progenitor’s trap, leading to the death of a mare who did not deserve it.
She could only hope that Master Po takes care of him.
Because she had failed.
“North Wind!” the vision disappeared and she saw through the funnel, at the sight of her three friends running towards the stairs leading to the platform.
What, how did they? Pain lanced through her and she collapsed, the wind almost crying as it was pulled away from her.
Begging her not to let it go, begging her to keep the connection.
It didn’t want to go to Wind Scar.
“Oh, it’s those three,” his disinterested tone reached her ears through the weeping and their calls, “And here I thought I would only have to deal with the dragon as a witness,” the disinterest turned malicious, “At least with your Blessing it would be quick,” the wind stilled, and North got up to her hooves, feeling cold, seeping, anger taking over.
“You. WIll. NOT!”
And she ripped the wind back into herself.
The funnel at the top of the platform was terrifying and as they got closer she could see energy being torn out of North and sucked into the funnel, making it grow higher and higher.
“North Wind!” she could feel the protest in her vocals as she shouted up at the platform, watching in horror as Wind Scar raised one wing towards her, a familiar wind blade (that jerk had the Blessing?!) in North’s direction, an anticipatory look on his face.
Then he looked in their direction and the look turned into a grin as he said something to North, but what it was they couldn’t hear.
Though the result was obvious when the funnel stilled before turning in on itself and flying back into North who had a cold look on her face and a snarl on her lips.
“What?” the stallion was shocked, “How-” wind swirled around their friend, turning into glowing dragon wings that Pinkie told them about.
Though she didn’t say North could summon an entire Dragon.
Yellow and turquoise swirled around her wind-covered figure, not touching but whirling around one another before settling into two horns floating above her head that curved outward.
With an unspoken shriek, North dashed towards Wind Scar, horns aimed at his midsection but he dodged it, taking to the air and looking angry.
“How could you have ended the ritual? That power is mine by right! You will give it to me here and now. I created you for this moment and you will give it up,” that caused North to become even angrier, and while Lyra was digesting that information, her friend attacked the stallion once again, her translucent spiky tail shooting out and smacking the stallion into some sort of an invisible barrier and causing the platform to shudder.
Then Pinkie gasped,
“There’s a baby dragon up there,” she pointed up at a stone-like figure, and Lyra gulped, seeing the platform continue to shudder as the two Wind users fought one another.
“How are we going to get them down? Whatever that barrier is looks like it won’t hold forever,” as if what she said was prophetic, North reared back one hoof, the dragon claw around it lengthening before she slashed forward, Wind Scar managing to dodge it with the tip of one of his wings falling off.
The attack continued forward and once it reached the barrier, it didn’t stop, slicing through it like butter before dissipating.
A hissing sound appeared and Lyra saw the horrified look on Wind Scar’s face before North struck him with her tail, sending him crashing into the remaining barrier and breaking it, causing him to crash into the floor.
The platform gave another shudder and Pinkie cried out,
“The baby dragon’s falling,” she started running before they could stop her, and Lyra saw Wind Scar getting to his hooves, shaking his head and spotting the running filly.
Dread hit her at the look on his face and she tried summoning her magic, nearly stumbling as her reserves reminded her of just how much magic she’s been using.
Fluttershy took to the air to break the petrified dragon’s fall just as Wind Scar was a few feet away from them.
A tornado swept past them and sucked Wind Scar in it, sending him spinning and screaming far away into another wall.
Fluttershy grunted as she caught the statue, Pinkie reaching up to catch the falling pegasus and nearly getting crushed underneath the weight.
The crash made the stallion even angrier, if it was possible and he started yelling at North again about how the power was his, he was the one that earned it.
“You didn’t earn anything,” North’s voice sounded odd, slightly distorted and Lyra realized that the yellow energy was almost glowing from the filly’s eyes, “Do you want to know why you or your mother could not use the Blessings you stole? It was because the Wind found you abhorrent, it doesn’t like being connected to you. The only reason you survived and gained your mother’s power when she failed to kill you was that the Wind felt sorry and wanted to protect you. But you made it regret its protection, and now,” her ‘dragon’ wings flexed and she shot towards him at the same time as he did her, “You will no longer have its blessing,” what happened next made Lyra wish she hadn’t been looking.
But at the same time, the vindictive part of her enjoyed it.
Wind Scar was sent spiraling to a wall he hadn’t crashed into and he was suddenly falling into an empty pit none of them had noticed before.
But Lyra was more concerned at the wind around her friend dissipating and the filly falling towards the ground.
“No-” her voice cracked and a red blur in the corner of her vision shot out as clawed hands caught the falling filly, their owner flapping his wings and falling to the ground with an oomph.
“Ow,” the dragon muttered, “You're heavy,” a laugh escaped her friend’s lips before she was unconscious, and the trio ran towards them, dark pupils regarding them with wariness, widening a bit at Fluttershy’s appearance along with the Runespoor.
“Well this is not the scene I was expecting,” the unexpected voice had them all, sans North, whirling on a green dragon flying down, landing with his wings folded behind his back just as a bright glow appeared, revealing Princess Celestia.
An awkward silence appeared as the two regarded one another, tension brewing between them.
“Po,” the Alicorn frowned, “I do hope you have an explanation for this,” the dragon laughed coldly.
“Me? It was one of your citizens that was involved in this whole mess, shouldn’t you be the one giving me an explanation?” sparks appeared and Lyra swallowed.
Oh great, out of a tornado into an inferno.