“My Name Is Dawn.”
Twilight took a step back, the alabaster wing still draped over her - formerly a gesture of affection turned sinister when done by this replicant wearing Celestia's features. Only now she spotted the subtle differences. The posture was slightly wrong and the spark behind Dawn’s eyes was more of a blaze.
Under the surface of tenderness and care for the smaller mare, Dawn hid fire and brimstone, an ever calculating anger planning a destruction of every threat, the utter annihilation of her foes.
At that moment, Twilight sincerely hoped that she would never be one.
Dawn released her from the embrace. Wings fluttered slightly, bristling. Was she nervous? Giddy? Twilight asked herself. The alicorn was hard to read. “You Must Have A Myriad Of Questions,” the entity said to the confused pony. “But First, Let's Change The Scenery For Something More Comfortable.”
The ocean started morphing around them; the liquid reforming and molding with ease. Twilight could only watch with awe as it transformed into a familiar shape of her Golden Oaks library.
Every book, piece of furniture, and even the musty smell of paper and ink. Just as she remembered from the depths of her fond memories spent there. It was like she could just go into the kitchen and bump into Spike snacking past his bedtime. There were even the different panes on one of the windows, the one Dash broke and the craftspony never really made the same, to her great annoyance.
With a squeal, she dashed to a shelf and opened one of her favorite tomes -the collected known works of Starswirl. Her magic gripping tight and practically ripping it open.
She then nearly screamed.
“No! No! No!”
She frantically flipped through it.
Blank, nothing but white pages. It was all empty.
Ears drooping, she scrunched her muzzle. Of course they would be blank. What else was she expecting? A real book? On this Tartarus planet?
“I’m Quite Sorry, My Memory Banks Are Sadly Incomplete To Fully Recreate Your Library.”
The mimics seemed sincere in its delivery, almost looking distraught at the sight of her displeasure with the non-cooperating book.
“Who even are you?” she demanded. “You cannot be Dawn. Dawns a sword - a sword that’s refusing to work right now. Like these books! Wait, how do you know how Celestia looks? Did you read my mind?”
“In A Sense,” Dawn waved a hoof, an image of the chain weapon in question was summoned in its hoofs in all of its gold and ivory glory.
“You Know This As My Physical Form. But It's Only A Fragment Of What I Once Was.” For a brief moment, a range of emotions crossed Dawn's snout like a dark shade, the inferno behind its eyes raging with even greater intensity. “I Used To Be So Much More.”
The shadow passed, leaving it with an amused grin at the sight of Twilight desperately going through shelf after shelf in an attempt at finding a singly functional piece of literature. Dawn raising her brows at this. “You Don’t Seem To Take This Seriously.”
Twilight shrugged, “I mean, this is quite clearly a dream, or a nightmare, considering the books don't work! Argh!”
She pouted. Great. Stuck in a broken library in a stupid dream with stupid false Celestia. Should she be able to manipulate her dream now that she was lucid? Now become a book, she commanded the blank paper.
She stared at the empty pages, hooves against her temples.
“Common, common, change!”
Nothing. It was still as empty of any enjoyment as before. “Argh! Horseapples!”
The faux Celestia snickered at the antics. But as cute as they were, she had a duty and a promise to a dear friend of hers to upkeep.
“It Appears My Decision To Interfere Was Premature. The Connection Is Not Yet Fully Stable.”
She walked slowly to Twilight until her horn could touch hers, the pony still attempting to summon literature with the power of her mind to no avail.
“For This I Apologize,” as it spoke, a wave of magic hit the young mare. “This Will Help You Remember, But It Prevents You From Resting Properly. We Have To Keep This Brief.” For a few seconds, the apparition stood there, weighting its words. Considering, its expression pained. “Sun Glory’s Real Name Is Apollo,” its voice was barely loud enough for Twilight to hear, like of the words carried shame, or an unseen weight.
“What?” was her reaction at first, but then it hit.
Apollon was an ancient deity in Equestria, worshiped alongside many other gods in time before history itself, known as the one pulling the chariot of the sun.
Apollon, named after the God of the Sun - in Sun’s Glory.
That was his name without the faulty translation program. Of the intent behind it. She never even really knew his name, or any of the other colonists.
Only what the program told her.
“Look Under His Bed, See For Yourself. Hopefully, It Shall Serve As A Proof,” she continued, gazing into nothing. “… Bury It With Him, He Wouldn’t Like Them Being Too Far Apart,” she added.
“See You Soon, Twilight.”
Twilight opened her eye, shaking the last remnants of her slumber quickly.
Her room was exactly as she left it when she went to sleep. The few important possessions already in her saddlebags, ready for the journey ahead.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
So, it was just a dream, albeit a strange one. It must be the stress getting to her. Rest. She needs a good night's sleep without all the nonsense. She had a good eight hours of shut eye and yet she felt sore and tired! It was like finals at the School for Gifted Unicorns all over again!
Then she heard it, humming like the wings of a small bird.
Dawn was moving its chain, the filigree shining in the gloomy room with faint rays of gold.
“Oh,” the realization came and Twilight would swear that the sword chuckled. “Oh!”
The pony staggered and nearly fell; it took her a few minutes of panicking and staring at the rebellious weapon until she fully processed it.
There was a pony living in her sword.
Of course, such a claim was horrendous oversimplification, but it is what all her thoughts on the matter came back to.
Dawn was maybe really alive.
No, she chastised herself. You are jumping to conclusions. The fact that it mysteriously reactivated only after appearing in your dream impersonating your mentor was nothing but an extremely weird coincidence. The food. Yes, you probably ate something bad, or maybe she was just jumping at the shadows for no reason after the last wave. It had to be something! Some other reasonable explanation.
Other than her glorified can opener made by space monkeys was capable of not only dream manipulation, but of a conversation.
… She stone walled Dawn in her dream, didn’t she?
“But it wasn’t real”, screamed one of the voices in her head.
“But it could be!” answered another.
Taking her clothes, she went outside to the cold outside. The electric lights seeping through the lab singular window and onto the deserts sands.
There was one place she could check, make sure once and for all that she wasn’t just going coo-coo.
The path wasn’t long, but it felt like hours until she arrived at the doors of what could be generously called a house. Nothing more than a shed made from corrugated metal sheets. Standing desolate and silent.
The doors were unlocked.
The room looked strange. Her horn illuminating it in a purple. There wasn’t much inside. Sun Glory lived a spartan lifestyle, not owning much beside the bare necessities. The sheets were neatly folded; the rug had some specs of dirt on it, the candle on the bedside table was half way used. It was a place where time stopped, like the resident just left, and if she ran outside, she may catch him now.
But the resident will not return, ever.
Stepping inside felt like sacrilege, but she had to know. The curiosity was too much to bear. Her heart bumping wildly in her chest.
Twilight took a deep breath of the cold night air, and took a step inside, almost expecting some alarm or a trap or at least a sound from Dawn. But instead she got nothing but an orderly room, vacant of purpose.
She went straight to the bed and checked underneath. The fastest she gets out of here, the better. And there it was, in plain sight. A small chest lovingly made from cherry wood, symbols of hearts carefully carved into it. The box had all the marks of an amateur trying for the first time, pouring time and love into the item. She levitated it out to inspect it closer, but stopped.
“No, this is wrong.”
Sun Glory had his peace. She shouldn't intrude into his privacy, especially now. Let the dead be.
She placed the box back, only for the sword by her side to roar loudly. Her magic flared up and the wood chest smacked down to the floor, opening it.
Music, nothing but a few musical notes. A lullaby calling into the night. A music box.
There was a drawer inside. A secret compartment, its content scattered on the ground. Crude drawings made by a child. Of a long rectangular object, of creepy trees with eyes on them and talking polar bears. A strange green man sitting in a corner. Giant mushrooms inside a cave. He kept so many of them. Each a treasure. But there was more. A necklace of some sort? A steel chain with two pressed metal plates. Tags with numbers on them. Something she would expect to see on a dog, not on people.
And a photo.
Younger Sun Glory, with his hand around a visibly pregnant woman, both smiling happily at the camera.
The chain blade moved, almost whined. It was a deeply unsettling noise.
Weapons shouldn’t cry.
Overcome with morbid curiosity, she picked up the photo and turned it.
Apollon et Lux 7411.4.5
Sun Glory and Light 7411.4.5
Twilight felt like fainting. The world was spinning too fast for her. The proof laid bare before her, but she couldn’t believe it.
Her dream was real, and Dawn was alive.
The Diner.
The building was a host of many things so far in her stay here. It was where she decided to stay in Going South, had her party and listened to their stories. Place where she cried and laughed.
And screamed and jumped into a pond that one time.
Now, it felt hollow and unfamiliar, despite its nature as a simple place where she could eat and relax. The spot behind the stove was left unfilled.
She sat quietly, holding the sword close. The hum was comforting. That was all the reason she needed right now.
King held the case with the red pills, turning them in the palms of his hand. “So, I have to take these from now on?”
He woke up in the morning, Crown watching over him the whole night. She could see that by the lights of the lab, which he kept on the whole time. Couldn’t sleep, perhaps? She couldn’t blame him for that.
The crafter looked better, the signs of his injury all almost gone. His eyes were bright and lively, skin had the right color. A far cry from a creature on the very doorsteps of death just the night before.
Ironically, it was Crown who looked sick now. The builder's subdued demeanor worried her. Their journey would be long and perilous. His hesitation in the ancient shrine yesterday… He needed to get better for himself and others if they were to stand a chance. He needed help, and she was unsure of how to give it to him.
“Yeah, ya take the pills every week and all should be alright with ya.”
“And if I don’t?” King asked.
They both looked at the ground. King sighed. “Well, I think I got the picture.”
Twilight's ears were pinned against her skull. “I’m sorry. We were running out of time.”
“I get it, it's just… going to take time getting used to.”
Crown raised his head, heavy bags under his eyes, but his voice carried conviction. A hope. “We will find a way, King.”
“Ehm, yeah.” King laughed nervously. “But I must say, Luciferium. What a name. They really need to up their marketing. It sounds ominous. Ominous as hell, get it?”
“... I missed you,” blurted Crown.
“Speaking of missing, I have seen no one here. Where is everyone?”
Crown and Twilight exchanged guilty looks, King's uneasy smile quickly faded.
“Oh, so that's… Jeez, are they all-”
“Captured.” Twilight said resolutely, “Knight and Lilith were captured.”
“And Sun Glory?”
Crown resembled a weeping willow at the mention of the name, limbs limp as if immense weight affected him. Twilight shot him a downcast look.
“I see…”
Silence reigned for a moment, only interrupted by the desert winds picking up, howling like wounded wolves.
“So, what's the plan now?”
Twilight took the calendar of the wall and turned it around, the last empty page written over with a map of the area. “We are getting our friends back.”
Twilight studied the map again. They made the sketch at the back of the calendar with coal; it wasn't one of the most easily readable things, but it was the only map they had on hoof. The map showed that the enemy base was behind an empty expanse of nothing but a hostile extreme desert, fittingly named Great Empty, an arid shrubland of Hobo Weed, and a mountain range of Guy Peaks.
Twilight facehoofed. Of course. Knight was the one to go on scout missions, so he got to name them.
Maybe they could only free Lilith and leave him behind? It wouldn't be that big of a loss.
“There is only one route the imperials could realistically take,” she pointed at a spot. “Through the Great Empty until they reach the ancient road, then go around the mountains.”
“And?” asked Crown. “With the head start, those bastards got, we can’t catch up to them. Not even if we travel the whole day and only rest a few hours at night.”
“Thats maybe true, but here the plan. There are only three of us and we don't have to carry wounded and captured or loot. We can go straight through the mountains, cut our travel time nearly by half and overtake them and ambush them before they arrive at their base.”
King leaned towards the map, one hand scratching his chin.
“There is an oasis here,” the smith pointed out. “They probably will have to stop here to replenish water. We can get them there.”
“Hey Twilight.” said Crown. “I think ya are forgetting something. The mountains are dangerous. Unless you are hiding some serious psychic bullshit or mountain goat heritage, I don’t fancy our chances of making it there.”
She sighed, her shoulders sagged. She felt weak in the knees. It was a half-baked plan made mostly out of assumptions. But she had to act. Now or never. If the imperials reached their base, the chance of ever seeing their friends would disappear. “I know the odds are against us, and if any of you don’t want to go. Don’t. But I have to try.”
“I’m in.”
King was standing straight, the red pills tucked away in his pocket. “I’m the reason they have such a head start. I’m going.”
They turned to Crown, who shrugged. “Well, obviously, I’m going with you. It ain’t gonna be pretty, but hell, we are going to be together at least.”
Twilight smiled, Dawn purring at her side as dust settled in the half-empty town of Going South and the faint smell of cheap cigarettes permeated the air.
The trio met before the gate, their gear gathered together: first aid, packed food, clean water, a large supply of munitions for the guns Crown and King carried, everything they could comfortably carry with them for their expedition through the desert.
King, to the surprise of her and Crown, took the most. His large backpack almost dwarfing him. “I’m fine,” he answered the unsaid question. “More than fine. I feel like I could carry the entire mountain.”
The new grave was close by, soil disturbed by the addition of the box, Dawns for echoing through her mind. He would hold watch eternally over the defenses. A lonely guard.
King kneeled next to it. “You choose this place?” he asked Twilight, who nodded. “It fits him.”
He paused, deep in thought, then, mouth barely agape, he recited. The words of the poem melancholy, drenched in emotion.
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.”
She stood stunned for the longest time, unable to move or say anything. “That was beautiful,” she managed to say in the end.
“Thanks, heard it once before and it… kinda stuck. Thought it appropriate.”
“Guys, it's time to go,” said Crown from the front. Their chosen tracker was eager to go - for him, each moment spent here meant his brother was further away from their reach.
King rose and dusted himself, lowering his hat to his chest. “Right, well, adieu, my friend.”
Crown did the same, his old stetson tattered and worn, pressed against the cloth of his flak vest. “See ya, old man. Wait on us in the great pub in the sky, will ya? Saves us a place by the bar.”
They gazed upon the ruined walls, over the emerging buildings of the home they chiseled from the unfeeling planet. Looking at the place that became their shelter in this inhospitable world, thoughts wandered to the future and to the past, swinging between the two like fireflies on a windy and moonless night.
It started as nothing more than ruins. But with care, planning, care and work, it changed into something more.
“We will come back, will we?” the pony questioned.
She already made the decision, but now the weight of her goal dawned on her. There were adventures in the past, even ones with higher stakes than the lives of two aliens. Equestria, her homeworld somewhere in the sky, relied on her before and she never let them down! She faced great evils and monsters and always came on top.
So what were a few imperials against Nightmare Moon? She would prevail, she would win.
“Yeah!” “Bet on it.”
She had to.
“So!” yelled out King. “Onward, my magnificent steed! To adventure!”
The two humans took the first step, Crown leading the way and snickering to himself. King's oversized bag clanking as he walked. The pony hesitated, turning around one last time.
“Goodbye Sun Glory.”
The grave stood there, as the three colonists disappeared in the bending gorge. The beginning of its endless watch.
And so the grave waited and waited long, as all that is dead does.