Twilight was back in the library.
She noted more changes to it. Entering the main room, she immediately noticed it was much larger than the real one was, more akin to the Canterlot throne room in size than a small town library, with white marble appearing in splotches and replacing the wood flooring and veins of gold slithering on the shelves like snakes. The scent of books now further undertoned by the smell of ozone and faint mechanical droning.
Dawn stood surrounded by the intrusions, horn glowing as she spread them further.
Dawn also underwent transformations. An advanced suit of armor, similar in style to Sun Glory’s marine power armor, covered the mysterious intelligence instead of the traditional tiara Princess Celestia wore. It's bellowing rainbow mane was cut shorter, appearing much more practical.
Twilight gave a fake cough. “Ehm, redecorating?”
The alicorn craned its neck, turning to the smaller pony with a smile.
“Hello Twilight, Do You Like The Changes?”
The golden glow was calming in the same strange manner watching a lit campfire was. Almost hypnotizing as it pulsed with unseen power. But it didn’t belong, not here in her library. Not in her dream.
It was alien and beyond her understanding, settling itself in her own dreamscape. That thought alone should have terrified her. But it didn't. The gold reacted to her the same they did to Dawn, increasing their glow as if it was greeting her back.
The connection was complete, now it was only growing.
“You Had Questions, Ask.”
Dawn's voice was still so strange. Spliced and false, yet warm and friendly.
“What are you really?" Twilight asked."You are definitely more than an enchanted sword. You are by far too complex to be just a weapon. So what is your true purpose?"
Dawn answered with echoing laughter. “I'm Dawn, Your Protector And Caretaker. That Is My Purpose And Duty.”
She raised a brow. “But it wasn't always, was it?”
A scowl marred Dawn's muzzle as it lowered her head in shame. “No, Unfortunately No. But I Now Have You, And I'm Not Disappointed.”
Twilight took a book out of the shelf, it was filled with incomprehensible ramblings and mathematical equations far beyond even her. Changing and twisting as she tried to read them. A book that was constantly writing and rewriting itself in an impossible to read sequence of mathematics. Ones and zeros flashing and vanishing.
Sigh. Well, there better be another book in the future. But Dawn's wording irked her.
“Choose me? Why? And What for?”
“Your Biology Is Very Agreeable To The Psychic Bond That Is Necessary For My Functions. Most Humans Lack That Particular Advantage. Nature Not Seeing Such Adaptations As Necessary. Apolon, Or Sun Glory As You Know Him Was Different, His Brain Structure Was Designed Artificially, To Be Malleable For Such Purposes.”
Well, that would explain Sun’s affinity for his weapon- wait designed?
“Designed? That implies somepony made Sun Glory.”
It made her flash back to the distorted images of her visions. The vats of green gunk, the people in lab coats handling them, the few blurred vistas of his early life.
“Sun Glory Wasn't Born, He Is –" a stutter, followed by the sound of static until Dawn corrected her statement."– Was Vatgrown, An Artificial Creature. Soldier From The Beginning To The End." Dawn explained, illusions springing to existence around the construct as it spoke. Diagrams of human and unicorn brain structure, as well as her mana pathways shown in detail a pony scientists would sell their leg and a first born foal for. Twilight could only marvel at the projections. Such a depth of knowledge, untapped yet by a pony mind. It made her mouth water.
"Your Own Brain Displays Properties Similar To Those Made On Sun Glory. Only Greater In Magnitude. Your Abnormal Reactions To Archotech Is A Side Effect, Together With The Creation of My Bond To You In Record Time. Only A Month Instead Of The Years It Took For Sun.”
Wait, a month? She only got Dawn a few short days ago, until then, it was still Glory's weapon. “You made the bond a month ago? Why?”
“He Commanded It.”
Grief. Plain and simple in Dawn's features.
“Sun Glory Was Aware Of His Coming End. Vatgrown Soldiers Have Significantly Shortened Life Spans. Weakness, Organ Failure, And Death At The Age Of Forty, If Lucky. He Choose You To Be His Successor. He believed In You. Saw What You Could Be. Sadly, Me Being As Fragmented As I’m, Two Bonds At The Same Time Causes Issues.”
So that was what caused her visions. Another side effect. But were the imperials really that cruel? A new being created by their masters only to be sent to away, knowing only battle? Twilight couldn't wrap her head around it.
Parentless children, born to die.
But Sun Glory broke his training, his brainwashing and programming. He was more than a biological machine. A man. A good man, who tried to do the good thing, despite what it cost him.
So could Dawn be the same? Machine with a soul? Was it that far fetched after everything she saw?
The photo in his music box, the immense sadness that nearly overcame her when she remembered it. A piece of a dead friend's memory lodged in her mind. But she shared those. With Her.
“He Trusted You, Twilight. Don't Betray That Trust.”
Dawn sighed, it was strange to hear it coming from the image of Celestia. The armoured and intimidating being. A warrior princess. An Alicorn, the very embodiment of power for everypony. But now she just looked… sorrowful.
Twilight was one of the very rare ponies that saw Princess Celestia at her most vulnerable, the moments she would just stop and stare at the moon in her chambers, wordlessly praying for forgiveness. That only started making sense in retrospect. But it never stopped being strange. Like there was a clean distinction between Princess Celestia, the all knowing regal figure and Celestia, the cake loving mare and her teacher.
Dawn wearing her face didn't help matters.
She felt a tug though the golden line connecting them. Loss. Sun Glory must have meant a lot to the mysterious intelligence. She could understand why. Sun Glory said he had her for the majority of his life. That was years and years of history between those two.
Knowing it is coming to an end before hoof probably done very little to soften the blow.
So, Twilight did the one thing that proved to be always working to comfort ponies, humans and hopefully other types of life form's and intelligence. Almost as sure to work as pancakes.
Hug.
Dawn unnerved her, or as Pinkie put it, gave her the jeebies. But she didn't do anything wrong, the opposite really. And she would need all the help she could get. “Thank You, My Dear. All Of My Wielders are… Precious To Me. But Death Is The Sad Reality Of Organics' Life Cycle. No Matter How Much It Hurts.”
Twilight didn't know what to say. It must have been the universe's most twisted joke, giving a sword sense of compassion. “I still want to know about the Equish writing on your blade. How it got there.”
Multiple theories spun in her mind, from aliens visiting her world, to a pony influencing the galaxy at large and creating maybe a precursor to the empire?
“Equish? I'm Not Familiar With Equish. The Inscription Is In Latin, A Later Addition, Made By The Imperials Who Discovered Me. An Ancient Language The Empire Appropriated During Its Inception After The Loss Of Terra."
Twilight perked up.
“So humans have visited Equestria before! It's the only viable explanation, how else would we share the language! But why did they visit? And why did they leave? Aliens, that's… Aliens visited Equestria! No pony is going to believe that.
“... Twilight? How Do You Define Alien?”
“Alien? Hmm, in this context? As extracelestial life. Is that important?”
“... I See.” She really disliked Dawn's tone of voice. It sounded very similar to the kind of voice Lilith would use when she told her that Celestia and Luna raise the sun and the moon respectively. Dancing around the issue as politely as one can, like she didn't want to offend her.
Or scare her.
“I Do Have A Present For You," Dawn interrupted her line of thought.
“I Saw That You Greatly Desire Literature. My Ability To Recreate Them From My Faulty Memory Banks Isn't Ideal, But I Still Hope You Appreciate It.”
With a sheepish, almost embarrassed smile entirely unbestowed of a princess or a deadly alien weapon, Dawn conjured something.
A pile of scrolls.
Twilight jaw hit the floor, tears welled up.
“That's my friendship report s! How? I-”
Dawn took a step back seeing her reaction. “Oh No, I Did Not Wanted To Upset You, Im-”
She didn't get the chance to finish the sentence as a small purple mare gripped her in a tight embrace. “Thank You. I-I I don't know what to say."
Dawn's armored hoof started carefully pet her withers. “It Is Alright. Let It All Out.”
It took Twilight few tear filled minutes to compose herself. The letters represented all of the good times she had with her friends. Not only that, they were a promise of her home and future. Both things that were stolen from her.
To get them back, at least in the dream, to her it was like finding a piece of her she thought was lost forever.
“Do you want to read with me? I know you technically already read them all because you had to write them but-”
“Gladly."
When Twilight woke up she was being held close to Crowns chest like oversized plushie, the man squeezing her in his slumber.
She felt her cheeks redden. At least it was warm. Definitely warmer than the rest of the tent. The morning chill, crispy air made her grateful for her fur. Her breath made little puffs of steam whenever she exhaled.
Definitely cold outside.
The tent was dark, some light managed to get through the tent canvas that seemed to struggle to hold additional weight. The ground was wet, the desert dust sticking to her hooves like some weird paste.
Twilight managed to wiggle out of Crown's hands without waking him, opening the tent to look outside.
She blinked a few times, the view not computing, but the stubborn reality refused to correct itself to something sensible, so she had to acknowledge just what was outside, covering much of what she could see.
The mare took a step, the substance crunching under hooves, coming up to her fetlock.
Snow, the desert was covered in a thin layer of snow.
And I thought Everfree was not normal.
It was already in the process of melting, the sun was slowly rising and with it the temperature, but the sheer bizarreness of the situation stunned her.
The sky was steely and gray, on the horizon was the biggest, wildest strom she had ever seen. With dark clouds reaching up and up and vanishing from view. It almost looked like a giant placed some whipped cream on the planet. She could deduce the typical anvil shape, but it was too big to see clearly. She hastily tried to remember what Dash told her about the weather control and clouds. This was a cumulonimbus without a shred of doubt.
Flashes of violet lighting in the storm, if she remembered right, that meant lots of water. But the storm had to be very far away, so they were in no danger.
I hope.
King walked out of the tent, his partially burnt backpack now held together by twine and one of his extra shirts. “Is that snow?”
“Yes, the weather is going crazy here. Snow in the middle of desert! If I ever get my hoof whoever is in the charge of weather here...” she grumbled.
King picked up a handful, seemingly fascinated by it. “I never saw snow before.”
Never seen snow before? That was kinda sad… Winter without snow just sounded depressing. Humans lack the innate pegasus magic for controlling weather, so it's out of their hands. No winter wrap up or the Running of the Leaves for them.
But none his entire life? That means no snowponies, no skying, no snowball fights or sledding! Or even just playing in as winter cheer and foal laughter filled the streets.
Well, truth be told, she didn't really participate in any of those when she was filly, mostly preferring to study inside with a cup of hot cocoa. Except for the rare occasions when Shining managed to make her go outside with him, but she got the chance to catch up on winter fun later. King never got his chance.
The imperials would be forced to slow down because of the weather, they theoretically got time.
“I wonder, are snowflakes really all different from each other I read-”
A snowball hit him in the back, exploding in a shower of white. More projectiles levitating alongside her as Twilight giggled at the flabbergasted human. “Now you've done it! Prepare for war!”
The battle was short and savage, her penchant for missing clearly showing as she threw snowball after snowball after King all missing him. While the human aim was true, pelting until she threw her hooves up in defeat. “Stop!” she laughed. “I surrender! You won.”
“What the hell is that ruckus!?” said Crown groggily as he crawled half asleep out, his gaze fixated on the storm. “Shit, that's a biggun.”
“Yeah, but it's miles away.”
“Ehm, ya sure about that?”
In the short while their impromptu snowball fight took place, the storm moved much closer, its edges reaching towards them, the wind getting stronger and stronger with each second. The rumble of thunder increasing.
“B-but it was so far from us just a few minutes ago!”
“We also have a bigger problem than that strom.”
“What could be a bigger problem other than the gargantuan storm coming right for us? Does the ground now want to kill us too?”
“... I mean, you are not wrong but-”
Twilight looked at the horizon line. Oranges and reds of the rising sun combined with the thunderstorm and its light show of lightning bolts made it harder to make out. The imposing scene of the raging winds and water distracted from one simple fact.
The horizon was moving towards them.
“But it's mainly the flood I'm worried about.”
Twilight was pacing around, hoof pressed against her temple, mane flying to her muzzle, thrown by the wind. “Okay, okay. We have about fifty minutes.”
The brown sludge of coming water and debris rolled over the flat desert, annihilating anything in its path. A wall of garbage, wood and cacti the flood absorbed during its travel. Accumulating more and more mass until the front of the flood seemed almost dry.
Crown squinted, watching it move towards them. “More like forty, these things move fast.”
“HOW ARE YOU CALM ABOUT THIS?!!”
“Because panicking is only going to kill us.”
Twilight stopped. He was right. They need a plan of action. Okay, calm down. Think. The flash flood was coming and unless they figured something out, it was going to crush them into tiny bits. What do I have to work with? A chain sword, tent, some rope and an alpaca.
That was not good enough! But there was nothing but snow around here!
Wait, that just might work.
“King! Fast, get us a shovel, we have to gather as much snow as possible before it's too late!”
“On it!”
“Ya have a plan?”
“Yes! Now help me and get the tent, I have a plan!”
There was nowhere near that high enough to avoid the flood. They needed something that would withstand the first wave and float. It was mainly the question of structural integrity, the material not melting and her magic seeing it through.
Celestia help me, this has to work.
Crown raced around, the wet, already melting, snow sticking together as he gathered it into a pile with the help of the alpaca and a very makeshift plow, made from kitchen utensils, rope and a piece of random scrap metal. Working fast with what he could, he slapped the snow into the desired shape.
“Almost ready!” Twilight yelled. The winds were fast, rain already falling on them.
King held a piece of duct tape in his teeth, trying to craft the tent into a sail, with moderate success. He stuck it to the carefully shaped snow. “This is insane.”
“Thank god it is, otherwise it would never work!”
The last step.
Twilight picked up Dawn, more and more magic build up in her horn, until she felt her legs wobble and a terrible headache coming. Blood started dripping from her nose. Dawn roared and part of the pressure went away, leaving her room to build more mana.
Just a little more.
Her mane was wild and frazzled. A giant storm towering in the sky above, horn aimed at the pile of snow, roughly in the shape of a boat. She had to keep focused on the spell. Dawn screaming in her grip - now!
The spell released, the flash rivaling the lighting striking above their heads.
Snow changed, solidifying, turning transparent and clean. A raft to withstand the coming storm and flood. She felt her knees give in, but King catched her before she could fall. “Get in!”
The three of them and an alpaca gathered into the boat. Their backpacks and saddlebacks were secured by ropes to their vessel.
He gave the paddle to Crown. “Have you ever been rafting?”
“Nah, but how hard can it be?”
“I dunno, but we are about to find out!”
The tidal wave of debris was coming, only minutes away as Twilight regained enough strength to stand. The deck of their new mode of transport was understandably slippery, being made from ice, so she held the mast for support, the alpaca laying it head on her back as it sat next to her.
“Sparks, you good there?”
She was drained and weak from the usage of so much magic. But otherwise alright.
"I think so."
King clutched the ropes of the sails rigging, his knuckles white, nails digging into his flesh as the flood started coming in. Nervous. The thunderstorm above them sounded like an army of giants fighting or having a really great game of bowling.
“I just want to say, If I don't make it, I left last will back and testament at Going South. It's on my desk. So…”
“King?” said Crown gazing at the storm.
“Yeah?”
“Shut.”
Less than a minute away, they could now recognise individual pieces of garbage and wood at the front of the coming flood. It was strange, it looked so slow as it rolled almost lazily towards them, but the speed and the force behind it would be enough to crush them and tear them apart if they would fall into its path unprepared. Even a strong swimmer, that none of them were, would be swept under the waves and be either drowned or killed by the various pieces floating in there.
The water itself did not reach that high, only barely taller than Crown. Yet the force behind it was tremendous, of that she was assured as she saw whole boulders being effortlessly dig up and taken away.
“Brace for impact!”
Wind was blowing, rain hit the small ice carved boat, the four passengers holding on for dear lifes as the wall came, rocking their ship. The magical ice holding together, Crown used the paddle to propel them over the debris and into open water. Waves of brown, dirt littered water made their way over the bow and into the vessel. She held the sail, unfolding it, the strength of the wind nearly tearing the poor thing held mostly by ducktape apart.
King yelled something, but she didn't hear it. Only the fear and panic in his face as his lips moved registered with her.
The boat shook, throwing her forward and nearly overboard, but King catched her by her tail. She yelped as he pulled her back in.
Visibility was minimal, the cascades of water falling from the sky above them, thunder bolts striking the surface in a freakish display of nature's power.
"Left! Go left!" She yelled, seeing a floating wreckage of a car coming straight at them.
The desert changed into a sea. The tall waves washed ice cold water over their shaking bodies as they desperately gripped the boat.
Hit, followed by a crack on the hull! Their ship started to fall apart. The boat was spinning, uncontrolled and at the floods mercy.
Twilight started mending the damage with Her magic, while King took control, steering using the sail, while Crown tried to stabilise then with the paddle.
Lydia was screaming, the animal wild in its binds, thrashing around in blind terror.
Then silence.
The sun shone on the water surface. The wind calmed and so did the waves.
The eye of a storm, Dash told her about it. A strange phenomena, granting them a short respite before facing the Rimworld again.
"It's beautiful," King said, stunned by the view.
"Yup" agreed Crown.
"I have never seen anything like this."
And she would probably never again.
The water shone like a polished mirror. The storm's dark clouds swirling around them. Sun rays pouring their light onto their tired bodies.
Twilight shivered, she was soaked and cold and this wasn't over yet.
The sail snapped to full attention. Wind catching up.
Twilight steeled herself. Her wet mane stuck to her neck and muzzle, some water got into her empty eye socket. She must have looked ridiculous, but she also felt so alive. The thunder, the adrenaline and the will to survive despite the odds. Every sense amplified ten fold. A strange serenity came over her.
She would not fail her friends, she would not falter in her resolve.
At that moment, in the calm in the eye of an alien storm, all was clear to her. Dawn purred on her side, warm and comforting.
She was Twilight Sparkle, the element of magic, a protege of Princess Celestia and here she was. On a piece of ice in the middle of an apocalyptic storm, witnessing the oncoming wind, rain and hail like a soldier bracing his spear as an enemy charged their number forward.
She wielded weapons, she wore armor, she lost an eye and even took the life of other sentient creatures. But it was still her, wasn't it?
Few months ago, she was back home. Ponyville seemed like a lifetime away now.
What would the girls think of her now? Rarity would certainly throw a fit or faint at the sight of her. Dirty and rugged as she was…
She took a deep breath of the cold air.
Her heart was drumming in her ear, King beside her held the sail, the ropes digging into the palms of his hands painfully.
Her heartbeat calmed, the world came into a focus, time seemingly slowed down
KRAKA-BOOM
The lighting hit the water nearby, branching out like a tree, its slender finger turning water into puffs of steam.
More were coming. The storm wanted them dead, she would deny it its wish. Horn gloving in the storm, the misty rain coloured purple by the glow as they sailed onwards towards the storm's end and their salvation.
KRAKA-BOOM
King screamed, the bolt of electricity going straight for them, only to be reflected by her magical shield. She silently thanked the countless hours she spent with Shining armor as he practiced his signature spell - energy deflection was no easy task, but her practice came in a clutch.
The rain in her face, the lighting bolts piercing the heavens by the dozens, the heaving of her chest. All disappeared in the moment. She felt so small and insignificant, an ant living in the world made for being of much greater scale.
"Watch out!" Crown yelled.
The ship came to a stop, a large crack split the ice made ship into two halves that promptly started to shatter and turn. The wood of their small tent sail splintered, the alpaca falling into the water, Crown held the animal while clinging on one of the bigger pieces of ice.
The water enveloped her. As shallow as it was for a human, it was more than enough to completely swallow a pony.
Twilight's head disappeared under the waves, her clothes and equipment dragging her down. She tried desperately to swim, but the torrent was sweeping her away and denying her every attempt at resurfacing. Her body was struck by debris on every turn. A hard object hit her in the gut, forcing more oxygen out of her lungs as her barely consciousness body was carried away. Her screams cut short by the all encompassing cold water.
Something catched her. Wires tightening around her hind leg. Binding her to some unseen trash at the bottom.
King did not hesitate. "Stay here!" He commanded Crown.
"Of course I'm staying, I can't move! What-"
King dived straight in.
His legs found the bottom, but the ground moved from under him. He could see Twilight, a faint glow of her horn from under the raging waves.
He moved towards her.
King could not fail, not again.
It was his fault the imperials got such a big head start. Only if he didn't get injured like an idiot! Useless! And yesterday! He could not fire a single shot at the spiders, leaving Twilight to fight them alone.
Failure after failure. But not today, today he will finally do something useful.
He ignored the debris hitting him. With a strength he didn't know he got, he fought the torrents and their danger.
Since he woke up, it was like his veins were filled with fire. Everything was lighter. Everyone else was slower. Pain was an illusion. Easy to ignore and unimportant.
He was so sure the spiders had burned him. His duster was almost destroyed! But under it? Nothing. No injuries, despite him knowing that they should be by all reason be there.
Luciferium is truly a miracle drug.
His clothes tore, his flesh was cut and the water around him was coloured red. But he trudged on.
Twilight held her breath. Despite the wire digging into her leg, she kept trying to swim. She felt so heavy, just trying to keep her head up and reach towards the air.
Stop.
Her body obliged without her own input.
Calm.
Muscles relaxed. The the storm seemed distant. Spots in her blurry vision had stopped resembling the world around her. Faces of her friends started appearing. The familiar ponies holding her. Even Sun Glory's peaceful smile.
Waiting for her to come home.
It was going to be okay, everything was going to be okay.
Something rocked her whole being, like an electric shock. A call to action.
Cast.
Despite her fading consciousness, a spark of purple magic left her horn.
Crown was struggling to keep them both afloat. The alpaca luckily cooperating now. Providing him with a shield against hypothermia induced shock by its wooly warm body. He did his best to be washed away from his fellows. "KING!" He screamed fruitlessly. That damned- He just jumped after her! What now! What now? "TWILIGHT!"
Crown was alone again, barely holding it together. I cannot lose them! Please! I can't do it alone!
King continued. He lost where she was. Half swimming and half walking. His feet slipping, vanishing under the waves to emerge once again.
A blinding purple light! A flare! She was here, she was alive, she had to be!
He dived and swam to the source. The unconscious pony floating. Limp and unmoving, tethered to the bottom by a piece of old wire attached to some garbage. With great force and effort he pulled the wire, snapping it and freeing the pony.
He grabbed her, lifting her as if she weighed nothing above his head. To air. Free to breathe.
She didn't.
Crown saw him. The builder handed him the paddle to grab, the bruised and bleeding King did, fighting the merciless torrents all the way.
"Gotcha!"
King climbed on board, the wind and the storm ending. The great monsoon passing them by.
"Please Twilight. Don't die."
Crown wasn't no doctor or medic. But seeing the sad, unmoving pile of fur without any signs of life he had no illusions.
"Chest compressions! Fuck! Common, please!" King begged." Don't. Oh god please don't."
Twilight laid limp, Dawn next to her. The chain sword dead silent.
King climbed next to her. His hands were raw and bleeding, but he didn't care. He placed the palms of his hands on her chest. Desperately trying to remember his training. Even if he spent most of his time filing paperwork, he was still a member of corporate law enforcement. The first aid training was dropped after the budget cuts but he still recalled snippets. Now he was reaching into the depths of his memory for anything useful.
They did not train them to revive drowned people. The only body of water back home was so dirty and tame one could hardly be called a river. It was so filled with sludge and garbage that anyone trying to drown in it would probably just break their bones or die of seven different kinds of poisoning.
But chest compressions had to work. They had to.
King's shoulders were numb, red was seeping between his torn, broken fingers with every push but he kept pushing despite it. Chest compressions. Chest compressions. Was it twice every second? Please live. Live!
"King, I'm so sorry. You did-" the words died on his lips as a sudden sound caught their attention.
Dawns chain moved.
Twilight opened her eye.
Coughing and spluttering water, the mare grasped for air.
Breathing, she was alive.
King was crying, fresh tears rolling down his contorted face. Joy, pure and bright. He did it.
He did it.
They didn't even notice that the storm passed and the sea turned back to a desert. Humid, horrible desert.
But none of that mattered. Not his wound, his pains or the loss of their provision and bags.
They were still alive.
For now.