//------------------------------// // Chapter 18: Escape // Story: Unmarked // by Croswynd //------------------------------// Chapter 18: Escape “Mom!” Quills dashed forward before anyone could react to the stunning sight in front of them. “Wait!” Professor Search called out, his voice cracking like a whip. The filly halted just before the field of crystals surrounding the pillar. One of her hooves dangled precariously over the nearest pulsing stone. Novell could see her entire body tense with dueling desires.         Quills turned, face filled with tears running down her muzzle, anger and grief warring in her eyes. The sight took the pegasus’ breath away—from the moment he’d met the young earth pony, she’d been under unimaginable pain, trapped away within a mountain and even almost killed. Not once had she let her tears fall.         “Why should I wait?” she cried. “She’s right there. Close enough to touch! She’s right there! My mom is right there!”         The Professor moved slowly forward, his own face filled with sorrow. “Because we don’t know what will happen if we touch those crystals. We don’t know that’s what caused her to become trapped in this... prison. Think, my dear. I know it’s difficult, but think.”         “She’s right there!” Quills repeated furiously before becoming hesitant. “I don’t want to... think about—”         “You can’t help the one you love if you’re helpless yourself,” Whisper interrupted her. The pegasus strode up and extended a wing around the young mare’s body, steering her away from the edge.         The filly looked startled for a moment before dropping her gaze to the floor and nodding. It seemed to take her a second to gather herself, drawing in a ragged breath and closing her eyes. When she opened them again, her tears were gone, though her gaze still held the tint of sorrow. She opened her mouth to speak but stiffened before uttering a word.         “Where’s Rez?” Quills asked, twisting around and ducking under Whisper’s wing. “What is he...”         Novell followed her gaze back into the crystallized room, his eyes suddenly widening as he spotted the chick. How didn’t I see him move? Rez was steadily climbing through the forest of glowing stone, seemingly untroubled by anything except the minor inconvenience of an especially large obstacle. The chick let out a sharp whistle and leaned into a crouch, eyes boring intently into the central pillar as if focused on nothing but arriving there. The hippogryph’s wings snapped open, an impressively large wingspan lifting Rez to the top of the crystal. With a skitter of unsteady claws and hooves, the chick jumped again, gliding down until he was next to his goal. The youngling cocked his head at the shape solidified inside the crystal, the glowing green tempo increasing just the tiniest amount.         It actually is a heartbeat, Novell thought with even greater surprise than before. He could just distinguish the softer thud beneath the much louder one that pulsed in time with the light’s sudden brightening. Does she know somepony is near her?         Novell recoiled from the idea. The thought of being stuck inside of the pillar for the last ten years was bad enough, but being aware of all that time passing by and not being able to even move...         “This pony we save?” Rez rattled out from beside the pillar, his head turned toward the group.         “Ye—yes.” Quills nodded, her voice thick with emotion. “Rez, do you... can you get her out of there?”         The youngling whistled through his beak in a sigh. “Save pony, go home?”         Professor Search moved forward now, a few inches away from the edge of the mineral field. “Yes! You can go home!”         Rez seemed to think that over for a second before nodding and pointing a claw at the pillar. “Okay. Need pony, save pony.”         “What do you mean?” the Professor asked quizzically, his brows drawn down into a vee.         “Need pony, save pony,” Rez repeated with a minor annoyance audible in his tone. “Pony here, pony there. Need pony here, so pony there.”         Novell knew, then, exactly what the hippogryph meant. A cold fear roiled through his stomach, his eyes automatically tracking to the other three ponies beside him. Whisper glanced back at him in confusion, as if she were barely following along with what was happening, but she picked up on his face before he could conceal his fear.         “You know what he means, don’t you?” The pegasus mare sighed. “Do we have to go back and collect some kind of treasure or defeat some kind of monster to get her out? Because I’ve really had enough of doing that for one week.”         Quills gasped, understanding dawning on her features before swiftly descending into shock. “No. No, that’s not—.” She looked back to Rez, panicked. “You can’t mean somepony has to switch places with her, do you?”                  “Switch! Yes!” Rez squawked jubilantly. “Switch pony for pony! Get pony out. Go home.”         “No way,” Whisper’s jaw dropped.         “I’ll do it,” Professor Search stood forward, his face a steeled mask. “I’ll switch with her, Rez.”         Quills put a hoof to the unicorn’s chest. “Wait, no. No, this isn’t how—there’s got to be another way. Something I memorized, something I read! He’s a hatchling! What does he know about magic and prisons and—and—.”         “Quills,” the Professor chided gently, “there is no other way. I have studied every piece of information and evidence I could find about your mother. I knew she was imprisoned and I have researched countless traps and pitfalls to find a way out of each.” The unicorn nodded to Novell with a small, sad smile on his face. “That’s what I was doing when Novell found me. A yeti’s trap was one of the last pieces of the puzzle. All magic is intertwined, my dear, similarities springing up in them because of that. I recognize what lies here as something more powerful than any of the others—yet it still retains a similarity to a place we’ve all visited before.” He chuckled. “It is the same trap that bound Havoc to his icy lair.”         “You mean this is Discord’s magic?” Novell asked, his mouth moving of its own accord. It felt like he was in the back of his own mind, watching someone else speak, numb to any emotion. He needed another piece to his own puzzle; grief could come later.         Professor Search stared up at the pegasus with a grim set to his jaw. “No. It is Discord’s spell, yes, but not his magic. Havoc was sealed away with his own power after having it taken away from him. From what you told me and from my own research, I’ve come to a conclusion after seeing this place: Havoc’s power was split into five pieces, which were in turn, aside from the first, given to four races.” The Professor tapped the ground with each number. “One, the prison we let Havoc out of. Two, the Staff of Will that the griffons carry. Three, this stone that Amber is trapped in, which was given to care for by the hippogryphs before my student found it.” “And the other two?” Quills asked with distressed curiosity.  The unicorn glanced back to the young earth pony. “Four and five are safeguarded by two other species, the dragons and the camels. I’ve seen only the one that the camels carry—an earring that supposedly grants the wearer extreme longevity. As for the one the dragons keep, I am unaware of what it is or does.”         “We need you, Professor,” Novell said, staring into the elder pony’s eyes.         Professor Renaldo Eduardo Search’s eyes sparkled along with a small grin. “You don’t need me, my boy. You’ve already done far more than I have in all my years. At least this way, Amber will be reunited with her mother and I will finally have time to rest. After all, it might be interesting to live as a stone for a bit, wouldn’t you say?”         Novell was about to respond when the sound of an echoing crack came from behind him. The pegasus’ heartbeat fluttered in his throat as he whipped around ears flicking this way and that. His mind spun with possibilities.         “What was that?” Whisper voiced what they were all thinking. “Is it Tomb—.”         A shape appeared in front of Novell, intangible for a split second before materializing into Pensive. The unicorn hissed, drawing in deep breaths and trembling as if he could barely stand. His eyes snapped open, staring past the white pegasus, pupils narrowed almost to slits. There was a strange longing in those eyes, with a deep anger that bubbled into Novell’s mind.         Rez, I am the rightful heir to the stone, Pensive’s telepathic voice rattled through the crystals that filled the room. Dust shook itself from the ceiling along with a clear change in the tone of the pulsing beat coming from the central column. I will free her from the bonds and take the burden on myself, free from Havoc’s will. The hippogryph hatchling’s feathers ruffled in clear agitation at the unicorn’s words. “Piece of stone given safe. Why give away?”         This piece of my originator’s power is no longer safe beneath the mountain tomb. The keeper has been corrupted and your race is soon to fall under Havoc’s sway. Pensive turned to the Professor and Quills. These two ponies risked all to save the one inside—both are friends to me. I wish no harm to come to them. Rez stared at the teal pony, beak slowly opening and closing. “Save pony, then go home. Take stone, we go home?”         “Yes,” Pensive spoke aloud, walking without hesitation toward the crystals.         Professor Search blocked the younger pony’s way. “You can’t do this. You don’t deserve to be locked away again, lad! I cannot allow you to throw your life away on my behalf—.”         “You don’t understand, Elder,” Pensive replied in a whisper, sounding as if he were bothered by the fact. “I am Havoc’s thought. These crystals will no more affect me than they would him.”         “But you’re more than a thought,” Quills argued fiercely, laying a hoof on the pony’s shoulder. “You’re you. What if you’re wrong? What if you’re so different that it changes you into something you’re not?”         The filly’s hoof fell away as Pensive disappeared in a teal mist, the unicorn rematerializing near Rez at the central pillar and staring back at them. “We all change, Quills. That’s what makes a pony who they are, as I have observed. It is my choice, my thought. Would you take that away from me as Havoc did?”                  “I—,” the young earth pony bit back her words, an inner conflict visible in her expression. “No. I won’t.”         Pensive nodded once. “The first step of friendship—”         “—is trust,” Novell finished quietly, his eyes meeting Whisper’s. The mare nodded her support, Swirley sliding up between them with his shell flickering through colors.         “Save her, Pensive.” The Professor’s voice was thick. “Please.”         Rez squawked impatiently, tapping his talons against his crystalline perch. “Very well, young hippogryph.” The teal unicorn turned and placed his hoof in front of the hatchling as if offering help. Clicking his beak in assent, the hippogryph hatchling pressed the nubs of his growing antlers against Amber’s prison. A clear, clarion note rang out, vibrating through the room and all but drowning out the strange heartbeat. The crystals around them took up the call, glowing with a fierce radiance. Through squinted eyes, Novell watched a faint blue aura suffuse the central pillar from the point Rez was touching. The beat increased in cadence, light and sound whisking through the room, bouncing off of the walls and floors and ceilings, filling every inch of crystallized stone. The pegasus winced against it all, holding up a hoof against a brilliance even his slitted eyes couldn’t handle, his mind taken entirely up by the crystal clear knell. Both light and sound ceased at once, an empty darkness sliding into place in its stead. Novell blinked, his retinas seared and his ears numb to the world. Vague shapes stood at uneven intervals around him, the pegasus marking them at the last known location of his friends. An ache formed between his temples, matching and exceeding the ones he experienced whenever the Professor used his telepathy to monologue. Eventually his eyes adjusted to the sudden absence of blinding light, a cool blue radiance coating the center of the room. Two shapes lay there, one struggling to its feet while the other remained still. The pegasus’ wings ruffled when he realized Rez was no longer as he had been. Where only moments before had stood a hatchling was a fully grown hippogryph, a massive pair of antlers towering over its head. Amulets of jade, ivory, and sapphire hung intermittently from the branches, gleaming in the tranquil illumination that emanated from a massive necklace hanging around its throat. The crystal inlaid in the jewelry was impossible to mistake—a moonstone, larger than even the one Novell had found on Havoc’s mountain. By now, the Professor and Quills were recovering, having been closer to the magical transformation than he. While Novell’s eyes had been immediately attracted to the new shape, the two others’ were focused on the one that lay at its side. They raced to Amber, the mare’s coat slick with moisture. The Professor reached her first, his longer legs eating up the short distance. “Amber!” “Mom!” Quills skidded to a stop beside the old unicorn just as the mare’s eyes fluttered open. “Qui—Quills?” Amber’s voice croaked, followed by a fluid filled cough. Her daughter winced and laid a hoof against her mom’s cheek. “Don’t talk, Mom. You’ve been... away.”         The mare’s eyes closed, a small smile working its way across her face. “My daughter at a loss for words? I must...” she coughed again, “be dreaming. Am I dreaming? Where’s Scrolls?”         “No, Amber, we’re here.” The Professor choked out with difficulty. “This is real. Scrolls is fine, perfectly fine.”         “Search? Hmm,” the mare hummed contentedly. “I knew you’d come after me. I’ve been thinking... for so long. I knew it would be you...”         Quills sucked in a sharp breath as Amber fell silent. “Mom?”         “Be easy, Quills,” the large hippogryph rumbled, his voice unmarred by accent or beak. “She needs only rest to once more become well.”         “Who are you? Rez? Where’s Pensive?” Novell asked, a feeling of familiar peace flowing through his mind.         The hippogryph turned, eyes filled with amusement and glowing a subtle blue. “In a manner of speaking. As for your second question—”         Whisper flapped up beside them, she and her pet both squinting at the hippogryph. “Swirley says ‘He’s Pensive’.”         “In another manner of speaking, yes,” Pensive/Rez replied with a shake of his head. The trinkets hanging from his antlers chimed in clarion notes. “We are a combination of the two, a side effect of the power we shared, as far as we can tell.”         “But how?” Professor Search chimed in, curiosity lacing his tone. “I was sure this piece of Havoc’s power was transforma—oh.”         The hippogryph chuckled. “Indeed, elder, the power to shapeshift is what was contained here. However, Pensive is not Havoc; as such, the full extent of its ability is beyond his ken. So a combination ‘ingredient’, as it were, was required to forge a new identity.”         “So, wait, you’re two... things in one?” Whisper asked, holding a hoof to her temple. “This is giving me a headache.”         “Time enough for questions at a later date, friends,” Pensive/Rez chided, just as the cavern shook. “We must return home, which will unfortunately put us at a cross purpose with the former caretaker of these tombs. Come, we will carry the unconscious mare.”         The hippogryph’s antlers glowed once more, the flicker of magic in his eyes flaring at the same time. An aquamarine field of energy surrounded Amber, gently pulling the earth pony into the air and onto Pensive/Rez’ back. Thus burdened, the hippogryph began to move at a surprisingly swift pace.         “Wait, Pens—Rez—.” Novell grunted with frustration as the rest of them caught up. The pegasus took to the air to relieve his strained legs. “What am I supposed to call you?”         “Call us as you know us the most. For you, Pensive. For Mother, Rez. It is simple.” Pensive/Rez lowered his head as they turned a corner, a massive boulder in the center of the pathway. Before Novell could even utter a breath of dismay, the hippogryph’s antlers came to life, sending the boulder up into the ceiling where a holding device slipped into place after another deft flick of magic. It happened in less than a second, a gasp from the Professor sending even more shock through the pegasus’ mind. The sheer effortlessness of the action was... impressive. “How did you—,” Novell began, only to be cut off. “As I said, the questions can wait until we are safe. For now, we must go home,” Pensive/Rez said with a single minded intensity. They continued down the halls of what Novell was now beginning to think of as the inner sanctum of the whole complex. With the pace the newly formed hippogryph set, they reached the large central room in short order. “They are not here. We have no time to wait,” Pensive/Rez intoned, fidgeting anxiously. “What do you mean, we don’t have time?” Novell asked. A sharp, cracking impact against the heavy stone door guarding this part of the tomb answered his question. Roaring, scratching and snapping echoed around the room even through the door. The pegasus jumped back, biting off a panicked scream. The others beside him reacted similarly, all their heads turning toward the door. “Tombfeather’s back,” Whisper said unnecessarily, looking around at all of them. “I can handle the Nightvines with Novell, but we still don’t have a plan to get past him.” The hippogryph’s magnificent pair of antlers turned toward her, trinkets clinking together softly as he levitated Amber to the ground. “We will handle the ghoul, one way or another.” “Well that’s convenient,” Quills snapped, falling back into her usual sarcasm. “How are you going to manage that?” “We will—” Stone groaned and shrieked explosively before the hippogryph could continue. A massive sheet of rock fell from the door, slamming to the ground and tipping over with a tremendous boom. Novell gulped and hoped Pensive knew what he was doing, at the same time psyching himself up to help Whisper with the tornado. It was going to be difficult enough doing it without the Nightvines and undead hippogryph to distract him. A flicker of motion in the corner of his eye brought Novell facing toward the tunnel the two griffons had gone down earlier. Kalyn and Rell burst into the room, first confusion and then aggression showing in their gazes. Before they could pounce or otherwise attack, Pensive/Rez moved forward. “Mother!” the hippogryph cried, a plaintive note in his voice. Rell almost fell forward. “What?” “Kalyn! Don’t hurt him! It’s Pensive... and Rez!” Novell said, taking flight and pitting himself between the griffons and their new target. Another explosion went off outside the doorway, a piece of rune-scribed masonry falling from the threshold now. The roof of the cavern shook with the blow, dust falling in hissing columns. Novell grimaced, his mind strangely clear in the middle of all the chaos. There were only a handful of options at the moment and he knew which ones to take in order to survive this; the first was convincing the griffons not to attack. The tinker’s face contorted in puzzlement. “What do you mean? What’s happening?” “Don’t listen to him, Kal’, he’s obviously under the hippogryph’s spell,” Rell barked, rage as focused as a laser dancing in her eyes. “I don’t know what you did with my son, but I’m going to shred you to pieces if you’ve laid one hoof or talon on him.”         Whisper flapped up beside Novell, her face cross and splashed with the dust raining from the ceiling. “We don’t have time for your dumb hostility! Tombfeather’s about to break in here and we need Pensive and Rez to hold him off while we take care of the Nightvines!”         “Rell, stand down.” The griffon’s tone was uncharacteristically commanding, enough to give his feisty companion pause. “Explain.”         “We don’t have time, my boy. Suffice to say, the Hippogryph is here to help us. Your questions can come later,” the Professor replied, slightly out of breath and wincing against another impact.         At that moment, the weakening door failed, the ferocity of the pummeling ripping it from the stone wall it was inlaid to. Clouds of dust and green mist slid across the floor from the new hole, Tombfeather wasting no time in his entrance. The undead hippogryph roared in challenge, Nightvines hissing black malice at everything that lived.         Before even Rell or Kalyn could react to the intrusion, Pensive/Rez turned to the new arrival with a warcry of his own. The screech echoed through the chamber, a blast of rippling magic following it and scorching the air toward the sinister ghoul.         The spear of energy slammed into something a hoof’s length from Tombfeather’s body, fracturing and scattering like shrapnel into the surrounding Nightvines with devastating effect. Each shard that pierced the living cords electrified, sending bursts of blue fire through the vines that spread to another whenever two touched. A screech like talons being drawn across a chalkboard issued from the massive space beyond the rubble of the rune-scribed door.         “Whisper! Novell! Enact your plan!” the living hippogryph roared over the cacophony as he charged toward Tombfeather.         Novell shook himself from the shock of his friend’s power and shouldered Whisper out of her own. “C’mon! We gotta hurry before the vines come back!”         “Wait, where’s Swirley?” the mare shouted in response, glancing around the room for her companion.         “He’ll be fine, but only if we follow your plan.” Novell grabbed her and turned her to face him. “Let’s go.”         Whisper spared one last look before nodding her head in determination. “Alright. Follow me!”         The orange mare pushed off into the sky with a beat of her powerful wings. Novell followed suit, trailing his childhood friend as they darted their way through columns of dust falling from above. A burst of sickening green caught his attention as they passed Pensive’s battle with Tombfeather.         The two hippogryphs were locked together, talons and mystical energy flashing with ferocious abandon. A cloud of acidic smoke poured forth from the ghoul’s mouth only to be blasted into nothingness by a brilliant light that beamed from one of the trinkets on Pensive’s antlers. The undead hippogryph responded with a slash of talons, driving Pensive’s head to the side as the blow connected with his beak. Before Tombfeather could press his advantage, though, Kalyn and Rell entered the fray, barreling into the ghoul long enough for their ally to recover.                  Novell couldn’t stay to see how the battle played out, because he was forced to give flying his full attention. Whisper dove ahead of him toward the opening into the next chamber, wings pulled in tight to her sides. Just before her hooves hit the ground, those extremely powerful wings flared out and send a shockwave of air rippling in a semicircle in front of her. Using the lift given by the move, Whisper slammed into the ground and bounced back into the air in the blink of an eye. A couple of Nightvines that hadn’t been blown away were left crushed in her wake, Novell’s awe almost causing him to slam into the lip of rock above the opening.         Gritting his teeth in determination, the white pegasus locked his wings in and dove through the opening in an imitation of Whisper’s move. Not at all confident that he’d be able to get enough lift by if he tried what the mare had just done, Novell’s wings flared open several seconds before he hit the ground. He bounced back into the air with as much grace as he could muster, wondering when exactly Whisper had learned how to fly without turning into an out of control cannon ball.                  “Novell!” the orange pegasus called from higher above, peeking out from behind a huge stalactite that jutted from the cavern’s roof. He soared upward in sudden panic as he realized why she had decided to station herself above him. The crevasse they had passed over earlier was completely covered in Nightvines, the black cords roiling over one another to fill up the massive gap in the rock. Tendrils the size of griffons waved back and forth over the rest, thankfully few in number but more than enough to worry him. As he watched, one of the large vines coiled itself around a large boulder just on the edge of its reach and squeezed. A crack so loud he could feel it in his chest echoed in the cavern, the boulder ripped from the ground and flung into the air.         Novell twisted in mid-air, performing a half barrel roll, and pitched himself into a yaw. The air vibrated as the rock whisked by him, almost tugging him after it with the speed of its passing. He let out a yelp and flapped harder, his muscles burning with the effort, leveling out and once more moving up toward Whisper.         “They can throw rocks? When the haystack could they do that?” the mare yelled incredulously at him as he reached her position.         The white pegasus shook his head with eyes wide. “I don’t know!”         “We are so going to die,” Whisper replied after examining the situation from behind the massive stalactite. “But maybe we can finish my plan before we do. You ready?”         Novell stared at the mare and realized that she was probably right. A feeling of peace came over him, his anxiety strangely vanishing. It didn’t matter if they died, as long as they got the rest of them out okay. Somepony had to warn the ambassadors about Havoc being in disguise among the hippogryphs. For the first time, the pegasus realized that his actions here in this cavern could avert an entire war. He should be frightened of messing up, but he wasn’t. He just had to fly.                  “No, but we don’t have a choice. You?”         Instead of replying, she grabbed him and pulled him into a kiss. Novell’s eyes widened, Whisper’s own closed as they hovered there for what felt simultaneously like seconds and hours. When she pulled away, the white pegasus almost forgot how to flap.         “Now I am.” Whisper’s grin felt like a punch to his chest, bitter and sweet at the same time. “I know we’re about to die and stuff, but... how about we go fly together one more time?”         His eyes teared up, but he laughed anyway. “Alright. Don’t crash.”         She stuck her tongue out at him. “Don’t fall behind!”         With that, the daring, crazy, brave and beautiful mare dove, tail streaming behind her and a build-up of visible air curling at her wings. Novell tucked his wings close to his sides and fell with her, hooves out in front of him as he mustered up his speed and concentrated on the exact moment they would need to turn. He could see that point almost as if it were palpable in front of him, his wings straining to stay open against the speed as he worked to gather what wind he could for the tornado.         Before they could reach their goal, a Nightvine whipped across their path with a suddenness that surprised even him. Whisper was knocked off course with a sharp crack as it struck her side, just below her wing. The vine whipped back with lightning speed to build up for another strike on Novell, but as the white pegasus sped past Whisper, the mare slashed both wings down as hard as she could.         The cavern went silent and time seemed to stop. The hiss of the Nightvines fell away completely. The sounds of magic cracking against magic and the roars of battle died. Novell couldn’t even hear his own heartbeat—but he felt something. Air pressed against him like a band of rubber, resisting his progress with enough force that it felt like his wings were about to be torn off. It felt like his face was being crushed against a wall, but the opposing force coming from the opposite direction wouldn’t let him turn. The only way to go was forward.         Time returned without warning and everything exploded.         CRACK-BOOM!         Novell broke through that wall and streaked forward with more velocity than he had ever experienced. Not even the dive he’d take to break open thunderclouds could compare, nor the speed with which he’d flown to the mountain he’d first met the Professor. He could feel his cheeks being pulled behind him, tears streaming from his eyes as he ripped through the sound barrier and kept going.         Before he would have been able to even blink, if he had the power, his goal whipped past him. He banked anyway, wings alarmingly responsive as he soared over the trench of Nightvines. Panic gripped him as he sliced through dozens of vines, the air in front of his wings acting like a blade, but it wasn’t the black cords that concerned him— it was the wall of the cave he was heading toward.         A rumbling reverberation cut through the hiss of Nightvines and roaring wind below, the entire mountain beginning to shake around him. Before he could swerve out of the way, a jet of steam blasted through the nest in front of him in a cloud of scalding water. Only the shield of wind in front of him saved the pegasus from immolation, but even so, his entire body flushed with almost unbearable heat despite his inborn resistance to temperature.         More steam jets broiled the Nightvines alive all around the pegasus, pained screeches coming from the center of the nest. Novell couldn’t spare a glance, because despite his best efforts, he wasn’t going to slow down nearly enough to avoid smashing into the other end of the cavern. The pegasus waited for that slow peace to come over him again, but all he could feel was concern for his friends. No, no, I need to save them! Stop, stop, stop! Novell!         The voice resounded in the pegasus’ mind with more force than usual, his link with Pensive flaring to life with almost painful intensity. Novell felt himself slow dramatically, as if some large creature had reached out and caught hold of him. He recognized the slightly itchy feeling of magic on his coat, but he didn’t know if his friend’s efforts would be enough. Just before he hit, he managed to finally close his eyes and brace himself. This is going to hurt really bad.         It did. Pain shot through the pegasus’ right side as he rebounded off of the rough cavern wall and fell toward the ground. Stunned, Novell couldn’t manage to operate his wings, even if his right one didn’t feel like it was on fire. Nerves wailed at him as he fell, instinct taking over enough to curl into a ball.         His impact with the ground was marginally softer than the wall thanks to another use of somepony’s magic to slow his descent. His eyes opened just before the field of telekinesis disappeared and he noticed it wasn’t teal, but silver. Despite the darkness gnawing at the edges of his vision, Novell struggled to his hooves. The amount of pain I’ve gone through in the past few hours was worse than this, after all, he thought as he attempted to draw air into his stunned lungs. As soon as he regained his balance and tucked his injured wing away, a groaning rumble shook the cavern again. He stumbled and looked up with sudden alarm, remembering the jet of steam he’d blasted through.         The Nightvines were almost entirely gone, a few straining tendrils clutching boulders and the trench wall. The sinister plant screeched again, a sound filled with loss and fear, before cutting off in an abrupt end. Novell limped to the edge of the crevasse and glanced down to investigate. Far below, a smudge of orange and red lit the bottom of the trench. As he watched, it began rising toward him, a wave of heat and steam forcing him back. He lifted a leg to his face, feeling the fur on it heat up even though he felt no pain.         “Novell!” The pegasus wearily turned to his right to see Whisper land roughly nearby. She grunted when she hit the ground, nearly falling on her face. A thin bruise was beginning to show through her coat where the Nightvine had struck her. He winced in sympathy and then for himself when she came up to hug him. “Where did you learn how to do a sonic rainboom? You were never that fast a flier.” “You helped me. That wind you sent pushed me through the sound barrier. I’ve never gone so fast in my life!” Novell replied with a weary shake of his head. Another blast rocked the cavern, reminding the pegaus of the urgency their situation presented. “We need to get out of here. If I’m right, that rainboom might have broken some kind of thermal vent or crust. There’s magma rising down there.” “Alright. Let’s find the others and leave. Can you fly?” Novell flexed his wings, a shooting pain lancing his right. He gritted his teeth. “If I have to.” Whisper grinned with grim intensity, a light of concern danced in her eyes. “You have to.” The white pegasus grunted in reply, launching himself unsteadily into the air after the mare. The mountain grumbled again, steam beginning to fog their vision. Novell squinted, seeing shapes running toward the bridge leading across the crevasse. He nodded to Whisper when she looked at him questioningly and they banked toward the sliver of rock bridging the gap. “Professor!” Novell yelled when they got close enough to see the others. Quills and Kalyn were running together with Amber draped across the griffon’s back. Swirley, now somewhat smaller than previous, rode on the young earth pony’s back, his shell flashing colors at his owner. The Professor looked up at him as they ran, nodding frantically toward the other end of the room. Novell followed the unicorn’s gaze to see nothing but steam and made a guess to what his companion was asking him. “Whisper, can you clear the other side of the bridge? They can’t see anything!” Novell had to yell over the steadily increasing volume of crumbling stone and pressurized steam. The mare nodded and darted ahead, her wings forcing a gap in the near-opaque whiteness. Novell banked and dove closer to the others, trying to ignore the protestations of his wing. “Where’s Pensive?” he shouted when he got close enough. Quills glanced up at him, gulping in large mouthfuls of air. “He’s still... fighting Tombfeather... with Rell.” “Alright, keep going. Tell the Professor to get a shield up and ready. It’s going to get hot in here really fast.” With that, Novell performed a half flip and turn to return the way he’d come. He heard Quills call after him, but her words were eaten by the mountain’s complaint. His wings carried him swiftly over the trench, the magma already bubbling closer than he thought to guess. The pegasus gritted his teeth and flew faster, knowing time was against him. At least we got rid of the Nightvines... He saw the flashes of magic before he could see the combatants. Lights stained the steam green and blue, the crackles and booms just audible over everything else. He raced to the opening and dropped to his hooves, giving his wings a rest. They’d be racing more than time soon enough. Novell galloped into the sanctum and spotted Rell first. The griffon was thrown back by a blast of magic, but with a scrabbling scrape of her claws, the warrior was back in the fray. Pensive’s intimidating form was next, followed by the now battle-scarred body of Tombfeather. The ghoul’s paper-thin skin was torn and shredded now, the large, straight beak chipped in the middle from a glancing blow. Still the undead hippogryph came on, unrelenting in his fury. Another cloud of acid flew from his mouth directly for Rell, but Pensive slapped it away with a burst of magically aided wind. The griffon dove in with a sharp warcry, beak and talons tearing into the side of the ghoul’s body. Pensive rushed forward at the same moment, spearing Tombfeather through the middle with his rack of antlers. Together, the two living allies pushed their enemy back into the wall, Pensive’s horns glowing an angry blue. When the ghoul touched the rock, his body melted into it like quicksand until only the eyes and beak were visible. Pensive’s horns pulsed and he withdrew his antlers, Rell disengaging before she could be caught in the spell herself. The two stepped back, the griffon’s tail lashing furiously as she brought a claw up to finish the job. Before the blow could land, Pensive intervened with a swift-forming shield. “What are you doing?” Rell snarled, turning on the hippogryph. Pensive looked calmly down at her. “The guardian is sick. We must save it, Mother.” Rell recoiled at those words. “Why do you keep calling me that?” “Because I am Rez as I am Pensive. We have merged, for a short while,” the living hippogryph replied, his antlers glowing blue. The magic spread to Tombfeather’s head, the ghostly green eyes falling away to match the teal hue. “Novell. Come close and ask your questions.” The pegasus rushed forward between Rell and Pensive, his mind already working in overdrive. He hadn’t expected this chance, but there were still a few pieces to Havoc’s plan he didn’t get. Tombfeather’s eyes blinked and the ghoul sighed in audible relief. “I... am free. Thank you... young hippogryph.” “We only wish we were able to perform the spell earlier, old one,” Pensive said regretfully before nodding to Novell. “Please answer this one’s questions and you will atone. Make haste, for we have little time.” “As you... wish. Ask me, pegasus.” The undead hippogryph’s eyes flashed. “What is Havoc doing? Why is he trying to bring the hippogryphs to war with the griffons?” Tombfeather’s beak opened in a snarl. “Because that is his... nature. He seeks... seeks to bring chaos to the land... to fuel his weakened powers. As well, he needed... a living hippogryph to transfer... transfer the Shaping Stone to his... claws.” “The crystal Rez gave to Pensive,” Novell guessed, wincing as the cavern shook and one of the tunnels nearby collapsed in on itself. “Yes...” the ghoul hissed. “With the Stone lost to him... he will rage and wrath. Our lands... will be broken. You must avert this. My race has... suffered too long.” Rell grabbed the pegasus shoulder. “There is magma bubbling over the ledge, foolish pony. We must fly.” “Pensive, go with her and help the others out. I have one more question to ask and it would be better for at least one of us to survive this,” Novell said quickly, the gears turning in his mind. “We will wait just outside this room and no further, Novell. We will pull you out ourselves if we must, should you take too long.” The hippogryph complied, large black wings unfolding from his body. Rell’s own snapped open and they launched themselves into the air and out of the sanctum. Novell turned back to the ghoul to see one eye staring straight through him. “Ask your question and... flee, pegasus. I will not have... you cause the death of... my lineage.” “Rez is the egg that was ‘broken’, wasn’t he?” Novell asked, sure now that he had guessed correctly the reason the hippogryph had not been reclaimed by his race. “In those visions, I saw a claw. I thought it was Havoc’s... but it wasn’t, was it?” Tombfeather’s beak clacked in amusement. “You guess correctly, yet do not... do not know the whole... story. His is the blood... of the trade... guarded and spelled... by the Warden of the... Stream until he would be needed. A stillborn egg... was broken... in replacement. Such was its fate... to be crushed by Havoc’s grip. Such was... my own.” Another explosion rocked the mountain’s bones, the heat in the room rising dramatically. “Leave now, pegasus. I have no more... answers for you. Let me... rest.” “Thank you,” Novell said. “I’ll stop Havoc and the war with these answers you’ve given me. I promise.” “Such a word... is binding, pegasus! I will hold... you to it!” Tombfeather cried out as the pegasus jumped into the air and headed toward the door. Lava began to bubble forth over the rubble of the doorway, hissing and crackling as it flowed over the dormant runes. Outside the sanctum, columns of fire jutted up out of the molten rock, the pressure in the room enough to cause the pegasus a headache. He dashed forward, skirting the largest stream of fountaining magma and spotting two flying forms near the other end of the cavern. The tunnel they hovered over was set on higher ground than the rest of the large room, but even so, lava was already entering its corridors. Novell wasted no time in darting through, the beating of his companion’s wings right behind him as they flew in single file through the narrow tunnel. The pegasus’ feathers shifted, gliding as much as he could on the thermals to relieve his wing. A shield of brilliant blue enveloped him as he sped forward, traps activating left and right as the lava ran over the old devices. The darts and blades sparked off the shield, melting in the heat and dribbling to the ground.         A doorway lay ahead on the left side of the corridor, glowing with silver light. Novell slowed and dropped to the ground just ahead of the molten rock, continuing in a gallop as he came up on the turn. Rell and Pensive landed behind him the same way, their talons scraping across the stone floor. The trio caught up to the rest of the group as they rounded the corner, a glowing shield around the others as well.         “Keep going! The mountain’s about to explode!” Novell shouted.         They ran, both shields casting enough light to see by. Traps began to spring at uneven intervals, more rocks, sharpened logs and other deadly devices kept at bay by the barriers. Novell’s heart skipped a beat when the Professor’s shield fell away after a particularly nasty trap comprised of a ball of sharpened stakes slammed into it.         Before anything else could happen, the field surrounding Novell extended itself forward to encompass the other group. Behind him, he heard the hippogryph breathing heavily, no doubt nearing the end of his strength. With that thought in mind, the pegasus raced ahead faster, the others in front of him responding to the sudden urgency with a renewed charge.         By the time they reached the exit, even the griffons were breathing hard, Pensive’s shield was beginning to fail and Novell could feel his wing stiffening up. He wouldn’t be flying anytime soon. Putting aside his discomfort, the pegasus strode past Quills, Kalyn, Whisper and Amber to check on the Professor.         “Can you... cast the spell?” Novell gasped out around drawing in lungfuls of air.         The unicorn shook his head, eyes closed and foam flecking his mouth. “No magic left.”         Novell grimaced and looked back at Pensive. “You have to... open the door, Pensive. Drop... the shield.”         “The air... will be fiercely heated,” the hippogryph warned.         “Just... just do it,” Quills gasped. “But hurry.”         When the shield fell away, even Novell winced at the heat. Professor Search, Quills, Amber and the two griffons all stiffened in pain. Pensive quickly strode forward and touched his antlers against the runed door, muttering the spell under his breath. Thirty seconds passed in what felt like minutes as he watched his friends suffer the rising temperature.         Finally the door opened, a rush of steam flying past them through the newly opened vent. Meanwhile, cool air began to filter in as they wearily continued their trek. The tunnel passed by in a blur, the large open space of the hollowed out mountain no longer holding wonder for the party of injured explorers. They climbed the large stone steps leading up the terraces, helping each other with steadily weakening strength. The scaffolding that lead to the exit creaked worryingly under them as they moved up its ramps.         Novell turned back when they reached the way out to see magma just beginning to fill the bottom tier of the Aerie’s chamber. Suddenly, a loud explosion rent the mountain’s interior, the ground shaking more violently than before. They all tumbled to the ground and the white pegasus shifted his gaze to the other side of the Aerie’s wall. It collapsed in on itself, revealing a serene, moonlit sky. Raging red and yellow lava shot through that tranquility, ripping up the tomb exit and the rest of the ground around it. The party got back to its collective hooves and claws, walking as fast as their flagging legs could carry them. They made it outside shortly after, the humid night air feeling like cool spring water to their fevered skin. Novell fell to his uninjured side in the grass, luxuriating in the sensation of being back out in the open, even if they were still technically in a dangerous area. As he thought that, a huge, flaming boulder shot across the sky and landed in the forest nearby. “We can’t rest,” Rell said, already stumbling toward the transport they’d left as ash began to fall like grey snow. “Get the balloon.” Pensive strode forward to help, but collapsed before he moved any further than two steps. A blue energy swirled around the hippogryph’s body like mist, turning opaque for a few seconds before dissipating into two distinct forms. “Rez!” Rell cried, moving to scoop up her adopted son. She stopped when she noticed the nubs on his head had grown into double, two pronged antlers. In fact, the hatchling was no longer even a hatchling, but instead a young stag just on the border of adulthood. Rez weakly looked up. “Mother?” A conflict visibly warred in Rell’s expression as she beheld her newly grown child. Love won, though, because the griffon raced forward and draped herself across the hippogryph in an uncharacteristic show of affection. “Oh, Rez...” Novell rushed to Pensive’s side, but was beat to the punch by Quills. The filly hugged the bewildered unicorn and helped him up just as the pegasus reached him. Pensive nodded his thanks to the earth pony and turned his attention to the pegasus. “This hippogryph is more than just an ordinary hippogryph, Novell.” He nodded, his attention on the sky—there were dark clouds on the mountainous horizon and a wind beginning to sweep through the valleys. “Tombfeather told me. We need to get him somewhere safe before Havoc comes investigating. Can you cast any magic?” The unicorn shook his head, but before he could speak, Quills piped up. “I highly recommend not trying to use any magic. You and the Professor are nearly dried up. Try anything more and you might faint.” “Alright,” Novell closed his eyes and tried not to choke on the ash as he drew in a breath. “Let’s get the balloon. Staying here is too dangerous.  We—” A screeching battlecry echoed through the clearing, one swept up by dozens of other voices. Dark shapes fell from the sky, landing with military precision in a circle around the ragtag party. Armor gleamed in the moon and firelight, sharp claws and spiked weapons visible on the new arrivals. Pikes held by a few of the shapes sprang up to herd the party into a smaller area around Rez and Rell. A massive shape fell from the sky then, behind the line of pikes and wicked armor, towering over the other soldiers. A gap appeared in the line and an extremely large griffon strode forward toward them. It stopped a few paces from Novell, its beak turned down in black fury. “What are you doing here?” The words were slow and measured, each falling like a hammer on anvil. “The mountain is dangerous. We need to—,” Novell cut himself off at a maliciously raised talon. “I was not speaking to you, pony,” the griffon’s tone was filled with disgust. “You, griffon. Speak why you deliberately desecrate the Matriarch’s explicit commands. Speak why this Aerie is belching fire. Speak, and you may yet live to see the dawn.” Kalyn bowed his head and spoke. “We were here to examine the ruins of the Aerie, to better help these ponies understand our architecture. When we were inside, the mountain exploded from within. We ran, but some of us were injured by falling rocks and singed by fire.” The armor-clad warrior eyed them all speculatively before growling. “I do not appreciate lies, especially one from my own kind. These ponies do not have the look of researchers! And what is the other griffon hiding? You, female, what is that you—” “It’s a hippogryph! Kill it!” one of the surrounding soldiers screeched, leveling his pike. Rell snapped into motion, one set of claws reaching out to grab the pike and the other smashing with devastating effect against the other griffon’s helm. With a smooth action, the female turned the pike around and swung it in an arc. The steel head slammed into the attacking griffon’s leg with the blunt side, tripping the armored griffon and sending it to the ground, hard. “You will never lay a talon on my son,” the female hissed. “HOLD!” the leader called, his voice on par with the rumbling volcano. “I know you, Rell. There are few who have been taught to disarm a fellow griffon.” Rell kept her eyes on the other soldiers. “Then you know I will not die alone.” “What you say is true; however—” Another shape dropped from the sky, this time slender and armored only in cloth. Even so, as soon as the soldiers saw this new griffon, they nearly dropped their weapons in their haste to move. The large griffon flinched when he turned to see what the commotion was about. “Matriarch, what are you—” “Silence,” the griffon hissed, a staff clicking against the grass as if it were hitting stone. Novell’s eyes widened as the warrior’s words registered, a sharp gasp coming from the rest of the group, save for Rell. The Matriarch, ruler of the Griffon Kingdoms, clicked forward with her staff until she was inches from Novell’s face. Her yellow, raptor-like eyes were flecked with green, the gaze enough to send a fluttering, instinctual wish to flee through him. She was richly dressed in several different cloth layers of varying hues; reds, yellows and orange rippling in the wind as if her body was aflame. What drew Novell’s attention more than anything, though, were the three black dots right under the Matriarch’s left eye, at odds with the pure white feathers of her eagle half. She caught him staring at them and her beak clicked in amusement. “You know. Out of all those I have met, you know. Few others do, young pegasus. Keep that in mind. My guards here are those others. That is a secret that must be—” “What do you want, Mother?” Rell growled at the Matriarch, her eyes on the cloth-clad griffon even as her weapon remained steadily pointed to the soldiers. The Matriarch’s eyes turned to slits. “That you dare interrupt me is no surprise, but that you so blatantly give out our secret is.” “I have no time for games,” Rell replied. “Let us go. I alone was given the burden of warding this hatchling. Your command, need I remind you.” “Yet a hatchling this is not and at war are we with the hippogryphs,” the Matriarch responded lightly. “I’m afraid his care must fall to me. You can no longer protect him in a kingdom of war.” Now Rell did turn, throwing her weapon to the ground. “You—” “Still your tongue, lest I have it cut out, impudent daughter,” the leader of the Griffon Kingdoms threatened darkly. “His care is transferred to me by my word while you and your friends will be taken to the Invention Aerie to be held as my prisoners. I will deal with you once the war is over. It shall not take long, especially against such tribal brutes that pretend to play at battle.” Rell flew at her mother with a wild screech but the enraged griffon could reach her, she was intercepted by the commander. The younger griffon was restrained with little difficulty, the soldier using his size and experience to great effect. The Matriarch looked on and nodded to the soldiers near Rez, who sheathed their weapons and roughly seized the hippogryph. To his credit, Rez didn’t resist—Novell could see that the hippogryph understood full well what would happen if he did, both to him and his adopted mother. “Goodbye, Rell,” the Matriarch said simply, shifting her gaze to Kalyn. “I do wish you had better taste in potential mates, young Pinfeather. This one will only bring you trouble.”