//------------------------------// // Do you still dream? // Story: EverDream // by mm1145 //------------------------------// Starlight's hooves moved in the steps of the dance. He was dancing in blackness, surrounded by scattered pin pricks of light in the blackness. In the sky, I am dancing in the night sky. Starlight continued to dance, his hooves picking out the formal steps. Suddenly she was there, taking her position opposite him in the dance. Starlight was aware of her but he could not describe her. He could clearly see her but he could not remember what she looked like. But he knew her, he had always known her. She was The White Pony. For a time that could have been minutes and could have been a thousand years they danced, spinning and moving in the light specked blackness. Eventually the tone of the dance shifted, moving from formal to intimate. They danced on, their hooves and necks becoming entwined as the dance continued. “You must find them,” the White Pony whispered to him as their heads came close. “What must I find?” he asked desperately as the spin of the dance took them apart. “You know what you must find,” she replied calmly as they danced on. The dance brought their heads close again. “They are needed,” she whispered. “Why are they needed?” “You know why they are needed” The dance continued, Starlight and The White Pony twisting on through the night. “They must stop it,” The White Pony whispered, her voice more urgent. “What must they stop?” Starlight had his face next to hers now. She stared straight into his eyes. “The Darkness,” she whispered. Starlight felt a chill at the reply and at the pain he saw in The White Pony's eyes. He noticed that the points of light were going out. The light around them was fading. “You must find them,” The White Pony repeated more urgently. “What are they?” “You know what they are.” Most of the lights had gone now. Starlight felt a coldness pressing in; he noticed that The White Pony was glowing, he could feel her warmth and he danced closer to her. “Everypony knows what they are. They are the part of you in everypony else. They are needed and you must find them.” All the stars had gone out now. Starlight and The White Pony danced on through the darkness, lit only by her gentle glow. “Where should I look for them?” Starlight asked. “You know where to look,” The White Pony replied softly. “Seek the dusk. Seek the starlight, there you will find where they sleep.” Starlight noticed that The White Pony herself had started to fade. He danced ever closer, wanting to cling to her fading light and warmth. “Will you tell me something before I go?” she whispered in his ear, her voice going faint. “Anything!” Starlight responded eagerly, desperately. “Tell me,” The White Pony asked, her voice faint and her light almost totally gone. “Do you still dream of me?” ----- Starlight awoke with a start to a clanging noise coming from the deck above. His body’s automatic reactions had him up and half way across the cabin floor before his mind woke up and told him that the clanging was the ringing of the 'alert stations' bell. He grabbed his sword belt from the hook on the wall, rammed his hat on his head and headed for the door to the cabin. His hooves clattered off the wood as he galloped along the corridor, up the steps and out into the fresh, cold air of the main deck of the EverDream. The EverDream. A Soarin class airship constructed by Fancypants Industries at the Luna ship yard in Canterlot near the end of the pony/griffin war. 52 meters prow to stern, 8 meters broad at the widest point. Two hundred pony strong crew with a complement of one hundred fliers. Armament twenty 300 kilostar projection cannons in two broad batteries mounted port and starboard and five 100 kilostar swivel mounted lances on deck. Twin screw hurricane engines with blue glass sunlines. Maximum forward speed 24km/h. Maximum climb rate 1m/s. It had been the pride of the fleet in the Battle of the Broken Pass and had been responsible for the destruction of at least ten griffin war balloons. That had been thirty years ago. When Starlight had bought her she had been laid up for the last ten of those. But the EverDream was a well-constructed airship and it had been a relatively easy task to get her airworthy again. Starlight pushed past the crewponies who were scurrying to their alert stations and up the steps that led to the command deck. A junior officer was on duty at the wheel; he saluted Starlight as he went past Starlight waved back at him. The ship was no longer a warship of Equestria and Starlight had certainly never been a warpony, but it was his ship, and the crew he had hired saluted him all the same. Standing at the back of the command deck was a small knot of about half a dozen ponies. He recognised his old teacher Rapier Swift as well as his friend Rainstorm. One of the other ponies in the group turned and saw him. "Ah, Sir Starlight," said the grizzled earth pony, greeting him with a polite smile made slightly sinister by the scar that cut a groove through tan fur from chestnut mane to jaw, narrowly missing his eye. He turned and again Starlight hoped the Captains's name mark - the sail of an old fashioned ocean vessel - wasn't a literal expression of his special talent. The Captain waved a hoof at where a crew pony was banging on the alert station's gong. "Knock that off now, I think all our crew are awake." He turned back to Starlight. "We did not wake you with our emergency, did we?" Starlight forced a smile onto his face. “No, Captain Genoa, I believe that it was time I should have been awake anyway.” The Captain turned back to the group and a brown-coated earth pony trotted over to Starlight and put a hoof round the younger pony’s shoulders. “The dreams again?” he asked. Starlight nodded. “Yes. The White Pony,” he told his old teacher. Rapier Swift just nodded knowingly in response. Starlight had known Rapier Swift since he had been a foal. The earth pony had served with his farther during the wars. Then later his father had hired his old friend to teach his son how to fight. He was a master of most weapons, and his name mark - an old fashioned straight edged mouth sword - was a visible indication of this, but his personal favourite was the hoofblade, a weapon more common with pegasus than earth ponies. The hoofblade was strapped to the foreleg and when in use extended out of the front of its scabbard. It was hard to use as it was slimmer and shorter than a standard mouth sword and required that you fight on only three legs - but it did allow you more precision and kept your mouth free for orders. “Come on,” he said to Starlight, “let's see if we have got the whole story yet,” Guiding him into the group of ponies. Starlight saw that they were gathered around a young pegasus dressed in flying goggles and jacket. She was obviously a scout, and scout ponies usually flew higher and longer than regular fliers, up where the air was cold. “How many were there?” Captain Genoa was asking. “There seemed to be about a hundred or so trying to hide in high cloud.” “Armed?” another pegasus in the group asked. This was Rainstorm, she was the leader of the fliers aboard the EverDream. “Lightly. Seemed mainly to be just their claws, no war weapons.” “That means they have a balloon somewhere nearby,” Rapier Swift said from Starlight's side. “Griffin pirates would not travel without war weapons if they were intending to ambush an airship. And since they are obviously intending to ambush us they must have them somewhere.” The ponies in the group looked at Rapier Swift when they noticed that Starlight had joined them. Both of the pegasi saluted, Starlight giving them his usual resigned wave in return. Rainstorm at least should know better than that, he thought. Yes, she had joined the Equestrian Flying Corps and gotten quite high up before they parted company, but the two of them had been at school together, she should remember that. Maybe she was trying to be funny. He had always been slightly envious of Rainstorm; the grey pegasus had a clarity of purpose about her. Right from a young age she had known what she wanted to be, and had set to going about it. When they used to play together as foals she had always been the one to suggest they play ponies vs. griffins. When she had received her name mark, a ominously black cloud with rain and lighting coming out of it, she had been able to tell him instantly what it meant and how it would take her to where she wanted to be. His own name mark, a single star shining a cone of light down, had just appeared one morning and he still did not know what it meant. “What's happening?” he asked. “Our scouts have spotted griffin raiders setting an ambush up ahead,” Rainstorm told him. “Wind Rush has just brought word.” “Can we avoid it?” he asked. Rainstorm shook her head. “We are too close by now, if we were to change course they would notice and attack. The scouts say there is no reasonable way round these cloud banks. Also we just do not know what war weapons they may have or where they have them hidden.” Captain Genoa nodded, looking thoughtful. “What are you thinking, Genoa?” Rapier Swift asked. “I know that expression.” Genoa was another of Rapier Swift's friends from the wars; they had apparently served together several times, and when Starlight had been looking for a competent pony to Captain the EverDream, Rapier had recommended his old friend. Starlight did not get on that well with the grumpy old pony, who he suspected thought of him as a spoilt foal, but he had to admit he knew what he was doing when it came to commanding an airship. “Rapier,” the Captain said thoughtfully, “do you remember the time they set an ambush for us when we were passing over that mountain range near Trottingham?” Rapier Swift's face broke into a smile. “You think that would work?” he asked. “Probably. I doubt these raiders are any smarter that that commander was - if they were, they would not be pirates.” He turned to look at the pegasus scout. “Wind Rush, did they see you?” The young flier shook her head. “No sir, we were careful.” “Well then,” the Captain said, smiling, “this is what we do and we do it quickly and quietly.” ----- Starlight bent his head low over the map that he was pretending to study. “Where are they?” he whispered harshly out of the corner of his mouth, the effort of staring at this chart and trying to act normal was telling on him. “Right above us,” Rapier Swift replied casually. “You can see them?” Starlight hissed. “Oh yes. They are not as cleverly hidden behind those cloud banks as they think they are.” Starlight risked a causal glance round the deck. They had made an effort to make the deck as normal looking as possible. The bright, royal blue squares of the sunlines were gleaming along the edge of the EverDream, between the deck and the canopy. Most of them were stretched as if they were cruising normally. The crew on the deck were also doing their best to look casual and unconcerned; there were groups of crew ponies tending lines and stowing supplies - he even saw a group that had climbed up above the lifting envelope and were cleaning the crystal canopy. The crystal canopy was the most obvious thing that singled the EverDream out as a warship rather than a merchant or a pleasure craft. Any normal airship had a lifting envelope large in proportion to its hull; he had seen racing craft where the lifting envelope was nearly three times the size of the ship hanging beneath it. This was fine for a merchant who needed to get where he was going fast, or for a pleasure craft that wanted the most manoeuvrability, but for a warship, having that large fragile fabric bag hanging exposed was just too big a risk. The designers had come up with a clever solution to solve two problems at once. First of all, the lifting envelope had been made smaller. The ones lifting the EverDream - there were three separate bags in a line for added flexibility and safety - were together not much bigger than the hull itself. This did of course sacrifice some speed and manoeuvrability; the EverDream did not so much cut through the sky as wallow in it. But this had made the problem of the exposed lifting envelope manageable. Second they had placed several solid poles round the edge of the deck, all angled upwards and slightly outwards so they cleared the edge of the lifting envelope. On top of these poles they had placed the crystal canopy. It was rounded so as to contain all of the lifting envelope under it and sloped so as to cover about half of its side as well. Its shape made it impossible to get a good shot at the envelope without being almost directly underneath the EverDream. The canopy itself was made up of hexagonal panels of a variant of the same crystal that made up the sunlines, each panel about the size of a pony. This gave the canopy its second function. It was designed to be a large collector for the same magical energy the sunlines drew, supplementing them and providing a constant flow of energy. The crystal it was made up of was designed to be clear, unlike sunlines, so that it could be easily seen through, as well as being much tougher. So it sacrificed a lot of the efficiency of sunlines and it was fixed; it could not be furled or stretched to adjust output. Despite all these limitations it provided one third of the power the engines of the EverDream needed when she was cruising. “Come on, come on,” he muttered savagely at the map table. “We are obviously a sitting duck here - what are you waiting for!” “You know I heard an old soldier's saying: 'it is not the being attacked I mind, so much as the fact that they make me wait for it to happen,' ” Papyrus quoted. Papyrus was Starlight's oldest friend - in fact he was his father's oldest friend; the old, light-blue coated unicorn had been the family's librarian and general household manager for as long as Starlight could remember and his mother had said he had been the librarian when she had met his father. Together with Rapier Swift, the old unicorn had been responsible for looking after him after his parents had died. Most ponies just saw the white beard and scholarly expression and assumed that he was a absent-minded scholar. It was true that he was a very learned pony, but he was not just an intellectual. Over the years he had learnt as much about fighting from Rapier Swift as Starlight had. Rapier Swift looked thoughtful. “I still think I will take waiting over having someone try to stick something sharp into my-” he broke off when a shadow fell over the map table the ponies were pretending to study. Starlight's eyes shot heavenward to where the sun was blotted out by griffin wings. “NOW!” Captain Genoa yelled. “Up and at 'em!” Ponies leapt into action. Crew ponies who seemed to be just casually working or resting near the deck guns jumped at them and started to fire them. Tarpaulins were hauled off what looked to be just stacks of barrels to reveal other ponies and swivel canons under them. Crew ponies leapt out from where they had been concealed, and others pulled weapons out of hiding places near them. The deck guns spat fire at the oncoming griffins. Starlight drew his sword. He heard the metallic rasp of Rapier Swift's hoofblade. “Here they come,” Rapier muttered to him as he set himself in the three-legged stance of a hoofblade fighter. “Remember what I taught you.” Starlight nodded and set his hooves in the fighting stance. Two griffins landed in front of the ponies. The griffins where at least half as big again as the ponies on the deck and they had sharp claws and beaks instead of the ponies' flat hooves and mouths. These two roared and charged. The first griffin swiped at Starlight with a two clawed grasp. Starlight nimbly ducked under its claws, twisted and planted both back hooves in the centre of its chest. He completed the turn and slashed at it with his sword; the griffin deflected it with its claws but Starlight had it on the back claw. He followed up, stepping in and delivering a series of fast slashes at it. The creature blocked his strikes and reared up to slash at Starlight again. A bolt of green light shot past Starlight and struck the griffin in its chest, throwing it back to land in a heap on the deck. He turned to see Papyrus standing there, his glowing horn pointing at the griffin. “I had him,” Starlight complained to the old unicorn, dropping his sword on the deck. “I am heartily sorry my young pony,” Papyrus replied. There was a flapping of wings as more griffins landed on the command deck. “I shall leave you to handle these ones on your own.” Starlight quickly scooped up his sword and turned to face the new attackers. ----- Rainstorm peeked over the thin cloud the fliers were using for cover, her light grey coat and mane making her blend in well with the clouds. She had seen the griffin ambushers launch themselves at the EverDream a few minutes ago and the sound of hoof to claw fighting was clearly audible. “What are they waiting for?” a pony to her left asked irritably as he mouthed the hoof cannons strapped to his forelegs. “Exactly the right moment,” she told her colleague, “pass the word again - nopony moves a wing feather till we get the signal.” She heard the whisper go along the line of pegasi. The fliers from the EverDream had taken wing and, using the bulk of the ship to hide them from the griffin’s ambush positions, had flown as silently as possible up and around behind where the griffins had set their ambush. They had then watched as the griffins had sprung their trap on what they had thought to be the unaware EverDream. From what she could see the ambushers themselves had been taken by surprise. She hoped that the preparations that the crew had made would enable them to stand against the griffin assault until the Captain gave them the signal. “Come on, come on," she muttered irritably. She might be able to give the order to wait but it did not mean she liked it any more than the pony to her left did; her wings itched to take flight. There was a flash of light from the clouds in front of the EverDream, quickly followed by two more. Rainstorm twisted her head and saw what the Captain had been waiting for. Rising out of the clouds was a griffin war balloon. Griffin war balloons were less well built and designed than pony airships. As all griffins could fly they were naturally less concerned with the construction of their air vehicles, whereas the unicorns that mostly designed the pony airships and the earth ponies that mostly crewed them had more of an interest in keeping them flying. This balloon had a circular deck shape about half as wide as the EverDream was long with a shallow curving hull under it. Rainstorm thought it looked a bit like a soup bowl. She saw that it had hanging lines all round the edge of its circular deck. So it was not even self powered, it had to be pulled by its crew - and its large lifting envelope did not even have a canopy over it. Very sloppy and vulnerable. She braced herself against the cloud. Any second now... The warballoon fired its cannons again. As soon as it did so a green flare shot up from the EverDream. That was the signal. Rainstorm dived over the cloud and down in a power dive. The rest of the flier ponies followed suit and as she fell her quick mind and eyes ran over the situation. How many attackers were there on the EverDream? How were they arrayed? How many crew did that war balloon have? She made her decision. “Wings one to ten help the ship,” she screamed over the slipstream, “everypony else break with me.” She knew that the wing leaders would relay her words. She had decided to take on the crew of the balloon personally. She did not know what sort of weapons it had and did not really like the idea of leaving it free to fire at their ship; she was going to lead her wings in an attack on the warballoon’s crew and use the shock and surprise to push as deep into it as possible, giving their gunners something else to think about rather than shooting at the EverDream. The fliers reformed their formation as they pulled closer. Steady, steady, Rainstorm thought to herself as the bulk of the airship got close. Now. She pulled her body round in a sharp turn, the g-forces straining her wings. Just like in flight school. She saw the ponies following her also break and pull round, the rest hitting the attackers on the EverDream hard from behind. Her hooves skimmed mere inches off the crystal canopy as she sped along. Up ahead she saw a small knot of ponies on the crest of the dome hard pressed by griffins. “If I can help as I pass by,” she muttered to herself and rolled sideways. As she passed she grabbed a griffin's wings and wrenched him off the canopy, her momentum carrying him far out and away from the ship. She swooped low over the bow of the EverDream and dug her wings hard into the air, heading for the war balloon, the rest of the fliers in her group following tight around her. It seemed to be a silly attack pattern, but it was the right one to use against this foe. Griffin war balloons had one advantage over pony airships: their more rounded shape meant that they did not have the blind spots on their fire lines that the more elongated airships had. But the gunners at this angle were focused on the EverDream and it would take them a little time to refocus on the attacking pegasi, time Rainstorm and her fliers did not intend to give them. ----- Genoa saw the warballoon belch fire at the EverDream. “That's it,” he shouted at the junior officer, “signal the fliers.” The young unicorn nodded and sent a green firework screeching into the sky. Genoa then hoofed up the speaking tube. “Engines to combat speed.” A roar from behind announced a griffin. Genoa tuned to face it, drawing his sword from its scabbard as the griffin charged forward, its claws up and ready to attack. Suddenly with a blur of motion Starlight rolled in front of the griffin, his sword up, deflecting the attack. Rapier Swift was with him, calmly fencing with his hoof blade at the beast's savage attacks. Between them the two ponies pushed the griffin back. Genoa sheathed his sword; he may not really like the young noble but he had courage, you had to give him that - and Rapier had trained him how to use that fancy sword of his. He turned back to the job of commanding the ship. The EverDream was moving quite fast now; he made a decision and again hoofed up the speaking tube. “Starboard guns fire once as she bears then gun crews join the defence.” He gave the wheel a twist. This would bring the ship off a direct course with the balloon but it would skew the ship enough to give the starboard batteries one shot at the enemy warballoon. After that the EverDream's fliers would be too close to risk another shot without risking hitting them, and Genoa knew it was considered very bad manners to shoot at your friends. From what he could see, Rainstorm had taken half the fliers and was leading them on a direct attack on the warballon, most likely in an attempt to stop its fire at the EverDream. Not really necessary as a ship of the Everedeam’s class would happily trade fire with a single warballon of that size and armaments. He did not know how many crew that balloon had, but griffins were fierce and he doubted that the remaining fliers Rainstorm had with her would be enough to overwhelm its crew. He was going to need to bring the EverDream in so the crew ponies could help out. He briefly considered signalling her back to the ship but he decided to let her go on ahead. She was right; while the EverDream would easily win in a firefight with that warballoon there was no point in risking being hit by a lucky shot if you did not need to be. As the ship twisted around, the batteries of magical war machine cannons fired. The ship rocked with the recoil and teardrops of magical fire shot out towards the griffin war balloon. They arched lazily through the sky and struck the warballoon. Some of the fire missed but most of it hit the hull, impacting on the armoured surface but doing little damage. A few shots hit the deck and the lifting envelope, sending the griffin crew running across the deck. Genoa twisted the wheel again putting the EverDream back on course with its opponent. The rest of the crew ponies whoi had been crewing the guns rushed out of the hatches and joined in with the fight, as did the pegasi who had not gone straight for the attack on the balloon. The ponies of the EverDream now had the weight of numbers and had also managed to out-manoeuvre their opponents, forcing the remaining griffin ambushers off the ship. But the Captain did not want to leave that warballoon able to attack them. Anyway, they needed to help their fellow ponies. The EverDream quickly closed on the stationary warballoon. “Prepare to board!” Genoa shouted. He could see some of the fliers on the deck of the warballoon. Those flyponies, he thought, always needing the help of us more stable, grounded types. At the last second he gave the wheel a twist; the EverDream slewed round and with a grinding crunch it scraped along the side of the griffin warballoon. ----- Starlight braced himself as the hulls of the two air vessels scraped across each other; on the other side he could see the griffin crew locked in combat with some of the EverDream’s fliers. He took a few steps backwards, judged his moment, then took a running jump. He leaped over the railings, across the gap and landed awkwardly on the deck of the warballoon. The warballoon’s deck was lower than the EverDream’s had been and that threw him off his stride. He turned the fall into a roll and came back to his hooves, hearing the shouts as other crewponies did the same. He drew his sword and dashed forward. His plan was to find the commander of the warballoon - he would probably be at the command station, which Starlight could see was in the centre of the deck. He jumped over a prone griffin and ducked between a pair of pegasi as he galloped across the planks of the deck. He spotted his quarry just as the griffin Captain spotted him. The griffin Captain was almost half as tall again as his crew - nearly twice the height of a pony. He was surrounded by a small knot of other griffins that where engaged with some of the pegasus fliers from the EverDream. He was also carrying a fearsomely large magical cannon in his fore-claws, one big enough to be a mounted gun on a pony airship. Starlight had the presence of mind to duck as the magical fire from the Captain’s weapon screeched over his head and tore a chunk out of the deck. He bunched his haunches and leapt at the Captain before he could get a chance to fire again. The Captain was large even for a griffin and Starlight was not a large pony. The griffin Captain dropped his gun and caught Starlight's headlong leap on his wing, flipping the pony over his head. Starlight landed on his back and quickly rolled over in time to avoid being skewered by the Captain's sabre. He fumbled for his own sword and brought it up just in time to deflect another savage blow. The griffin roared and rained a torrent of ferocious blows at Starlight, forcing him to back away from the fearsome attacks. ----- Rainstorm kicked out at the head of one of the griffin guncrew, knocking him down. She followed the momentum round, flipping herself over in a back flip. The leading edges of her out-spread wings caught the gunner’s mate and the sharp edges of her wing blades cut at him. He fell. Rainstorm finished the flip and landed back on all four hooves. “Press forward!” she shouted, although it was unnecessary. The lower decks of the warballoon were wide and open and appeared to be sparsely populated. This balloon seems to have very few crew, she thought as the fliers from the EverDream swarmed forwards. They had taken the few guncrew that were here completely by surprise with their initial assault and were now pressing forward towards the middle, where she could see the familiar mass of a crystal spinner engine. More griffins pressed in from either side in a more organised-counter assault. Ah, there is the rest of the crew, Rainstorm thought as magic fire from hoof cannons and the larger cannons the griffins carried shot back and forth across the open deck. She crouched low and leapt at one of the new griffins, front hooves out. She hit him high up, bowling him over. They went down in a heap and Rainstorm pulled the roll forwards and then bucked out with her rear hooves, throwing the unfortunate griffin off her and slamming him into one of the solid wooden pillars. She bounced back to her hooves and turned to follow up but there was no need; her opponent was definitely out of the fight. As she turned she saw the warballoon’s crystal spinner, and something nagged at her mind. She took a second look. Yes, she had not been imagining it. Stacked in piles around the engine were the unmistakable shapes of charge crystals, most of them glowing with stored energy. How stupid were these pirates? she thought. Everypony knew that you did not keep charged crystals near the spinner - it would only take a stray shot to cause... As if she had summoned it with her thoughts, a blast of magical energy whistled past her shoulder and slammed into a pile of unstable crystals. Crystals flew out of the pile, briefly shining bright with overcharge, then exploding in sharp cracks to send out ripples of magical energy. Other crystals were hit by these ripples and they also briefly glowed with overcharge before exploding. Rainstorm turned back to where the hatch was. “Out!” she screamed, “get out, it is going to...” She did not finish her warning cry. There was a loud crack as the shielding on the crystal spinner engine gave up and a high pitched whine as the core let go. ----- Starlight felt his rear hooves hit the railings around the edge of the deck as the griffin Captain fiercely pressed his attack, when suddenly the whole ship shuddered. The deck rocked and the Captain staggered back; Starlight was just about to launch a counter-attack when the deck in front of him heaved. The planks split and a belch of green fire shot up between them. Through the flames the Captain gave Starlight an evil look, then unfurled his wings and leapt to the sky. Starlight saw other griffins and ponies on the deck take flight, hatches springing open and more griffins and ponies pouring out, most taking to the sky as soon as they did so. One of them was Rainstorm. “Abandon baaalloooon,” she sang out as she came on deck. The deck shook again. “Rainstorm, you didn't-” Starlight shouted at the pegasus as he sheathed his sword. As she took wing he glanced over the side and saw a pillar of green flame explode out the side of the ship. “Rainstorm!!!” he shouted, but the flier had shown the ship a clean pair of flight feathers and was well away. He picked up his hooves and galloped back across the deck. Underneath him the deck rocked, planks exploding outwards. He realised now that in his fight with the griffin Captain he had been forced clean across the width of the warballoon, far away from the EverDream and everyponyelse. Part of the lifting envelope burst and the whole deck started to slew. As he galloped he saw that the EverDream was starting to pull away, the last of the boarding party scrambling aboard. Don't leave me behind, he screamed in his mind as he bunched his legs and leapt. As he pushed off, the deck collapsed underneath him; he felt his hooves slip and lost his momentum. Desperately he grabbed out with his mouth and managed to grab on to a trailing line from the Eveream. He felt rather than saw the warballoon fall away under him, leaving him hanging on the end of the rope. For a few minutes he just hung there recovering. Then he tried to grasp the rope with his forehooves to climb up. But his hooves had never been that dextrous and he could not get a grip. He tried to brace himself off the side and climb up that way, but again he could not manage it. He was just wondering how long it would be before one of the fliers noticed him hanging there when he heard a voice calling to him from above. “And what have we learnt from this?” the voice called out. He looked up to see Rapier Swift looking over the edge at him. He tried to say something back but with the rope in his mouth his words were incomprehensible. “I think what you are probably trying to say is that you have learnt that you should not go rushing in and getting yourself in to a fight over your head without waiting for support. Do you agree, Papyrus?” Papyrus' head joined Rapier Swift's at the edge. “I do believe that is what he was saying my young pony,” Papyrus added. “I also believe that he was saying that he would be much obliged if we would lift him back on deck.” Starlight tried to nod at this but his neck was already sore. “Well I suppose we should humour the young,” Rapier Swift said, seeming to be enjoying the joke far too much for Starlight's tastes, “would you do the honours?” “Of course my young pony.” Papyrus said. Starlight felt himself gripped in the comforting embrace of Papyrus' magic and lifted back up onto the deck. When he had his hooves firmly back on the deck he cleared his throat and worked the cramp out of his jaw. “I think what I have learnt,” he said bitterly, “is that a certain pegasus of my acquaintance should be more thoughtful of what she is blowing up.” “Ah and you were doing sooo well,” a voice said from behind, accompanied by a flutter of wings. He spun round to see Rainstorm alighting on the deck behind him. “You blew that balloon up with me on it,” he said accusingly, “I could have fallen to my death!” “Starlight, we are several hundred meters up. I could have caught you several times over in that distance.” “That is beside the point!” Starlight replied. “So what exactly is the point?” Starlight spluttered for a few moments, unable to find an appropriately scathing response. “Well that is not it, whatever it is,” he finished lamely. “Well when you find the point, do come and tell me,” Rainstorm said, flexing her wings. “I am going to see what happened to the rest of my fliers.” And with that she disappeared down the deck. Starlight deflated and decided he should follow Rainstorm’s lead. He set off up the deck to see what the outcome of the little skirmish was. ----- Starlight lay on the deck of the ship, his eyelids drooping in the afternoon sun. All around him he could hear the bustle of the crew ponies as they tided up the ship. He seemed strangely tired - yes it had been a hard fight this morning but he should not have been this tired from it. His head drooped on his forelimbs. Maybe he had not slept properly. Still, he thought, there is nothing to do. Maybe if he just sat here and looked out over the view. The EverDream was flying high above a large cloud layer that covered all the ground beneath them; from up here it looked like a sea of white, the afternoon sun reflecting brightly off it. Starlight's eyelids drooped again. Something flashed in front of Starlight's eyes; sitting up he stared in front of him. He jumped to his hooves and stared blankly out over the expanse of cloud. He turned and galloped up the steps to where Papyrus and Rapier Swift were looking over the map. “It is there!” he shouted at them. They looked at him blankly. “What's where?” Papyrus asked the excited pony. “It's there,” Starlight replied, virtually pushing the old pony over to the railings. “Where?” Papyrus stared out over the sea of white cloud. “There!” Starlight gestured with his hoof. Rapier Swift came up and using a pair of looking glasses scanned the horizon. “There is a mountain sticking out of the cloud base,” he said, passing the glasses over to his old friend. “Yes,” Starlight said excitedly, “it is there.” By now the excited scene had attracted the attention of other ponies. Rainstorm and Captain Genoa trotted over to the railing. “What's got you so excited?” Rainstorm asked. Papyrus looked around. “Apparently there is something on the top of that mountain over there,” he said, lowering the glasses and pointing to the speck on the horizon that was the mountain top, “and it seems to have our excitable friend here wound up.” She stared out over the cloud base. “So what is there?” she asked. Starlight's head drooped. “I do not know,” he admitted, the rest of the ponies looking at him in shock and amusement, “but it is important,” he told them. “We must go there and we must find it.” Papyrus patted him on the back with a forehoof. “Well then, let's not hang around here. Rainstorm my young pony could you and some of our fine fliers go and scout the place, and Captain Genoa if we could set a course please?” Rainstorm nodded, gave a whistle and took wing. She was joined in the air by a trio of other ponies and after a few words they set off for the distant mountain. Captain Genoa gave a salute and walked back to the wheel shouting orders at the crew as he went. “It is there you know,” Starlight said quietly. “Whatever she needs to me find, it is over there.” He looked at the old unicorn. “You understand that?” he asked. Papyrus was one of the few ponies who knew how bad the dreams had got back when he was in his family's estates near Canterlot. How he had been unable to concentrate. How often he had woken up to find himself standing on his balcony staring out over the countryside below. How he would find that he had dozed off at a desk and woken up to find sheets of paper covered in the sentences ‘you must find them’ and ‘they are needed.’ How eventually he had bought the Everdeam and resolved to solve the riddles of his dreams and how The White Pony had been driving him onwards ever since. “Of course I do my young pony,” the old unicorn said comfortingly, again putting his hoof on Starlight's shoulder, “of course I do.” “Good,” Starlight said staring back over at where Rainstorm and her fliers were now vanishing dots. “I am glad somepony does.” ----- The mountain stuck out of the low cloud base like an island in the sea of white. A short distance after it exited the clouds, the mountain abruptly stopped, forming a large plateau covered almost entirely in a lush forest; at the far side of the plateau the mountain continued up in an unclimbable spire until it reached a sharp peak. Rainstorm alighted back on the deck. “The forest grows right up to the edge of this plateau everywhere except for that clearing.” She pointed a hoof at the edge closest to where the EverDream was approaching. “I suggest that we tie up next to the edge and then you can set off on hoof to find whatever it is you are looking for,” Captain Genoa said as they approached the edge. Starlight nodded. “That is fine by me, Captain.” He turned to his friends. “Papyrus, Rapier Swift and Rainstorm, do you want to come with me? I do not think that we will need to take too many ponies with us.” The other three ponies nodded. Genoa brought the EverDream up alongside the cliff edge; pegasi flew over with ropes, followed by some of the crew ponies as soon as the ship got close enough to the edge for them to jump. The ropes were made fast round some of the trees and the EverDream was hauled in until it was sitting snugly up against the cliff. Planks were run out and other crew ponies walked over to the cliff to get a better look at the damage done during their fight with the griffin pirates. Starlight pulled the cinch tight on his saddle bags. “Right,” he said in his best leader voice. “So me, Papyrus, Rapier Swift and Rainstorm will head through the trees to where she spotted that cave. Captain Genoa will make sure the EverDream is here to pick us up when we are done.” Rainstorm fluttered next to him as he walked over the plank. She had donned a short-barrelled hoof cannon and so was more reluctant than usual to walk instead of flying. “Are you sure that it is in the cave?” she asked. “It has to be,” he told her, “it is here, I know it is and there is really not anywhere else it could be.” She looked at him. “Maybe it would be easier if you told us what it is we are looking for?” He stopped and turned his head back to her. “If I knew I would,” he told her flatly. ----- Starlight pushed through the bushes at the edge of the clearing and saw the cave entrance. “Holy Luna,” he breathed as he pushed himself through into the clearing proper. The trees butted up against the edge of a sheer cliff going up the rest of the mountain. In the side of the cliff was a cave mouth. The cave was enormous; it looked to Starlight to be about ten times taller than himself. The rest of the shore party pushed past him out into the clearing. “In there?” Rainstorm asked as she emerged. Starlight nodded. “Nice cave,” Rapier Swift said. “What horrors do you suppose are awaiting us inside it?” “Griffins, hydras, shock hawks,” Starlight replied, “why should it be different than the rest of the journey so far?” “Well this is interesting,” Papyrus said, walking up to the entrance and seeming to be unconcerned with the possibility that something with ravenous intent was waiting inside. “What is interesting?” Rainstorm asked, flying close to the old pony. He looked up at her. “Be a dear and see if you can clear away some of that hanging growth from the top of the wall there?” he said in response. Rainstorm shrugged and flew up to the top of the cave mouth. Taking a mouthful of the hanging creepers she gave them a great tug. A large quantity of the overgrown vegetation came away and fell to the floor. “Yes, very interesting. The Twilight Sparkle.” “The what?” Starlight asked, coming to his old teacher's side. Papyrus gestured with a hoof at the top of the cave. Rainstorm’s impromptu gardening had revealed a stone slab embedded in the wall. It had some ancient writing on it, which had been worn away with the long passage of years, but still clearly visible was a large symbol. It was two six-pointed stars laid over each other with five smaller stars around them. “The Twilight Sparkle is a symbol in some of the old magical texts,” he continued. “It is said to be the name mark of a very powerful mage who lived a long time ago. Some of the old stories say that she was sent to Equestria by the sun herself, or maybe she was banished from heaven by the moon.” He sighed. “So much knowledge lost to time.” He looked at where Starlight was standing eyes wide jaw open. “You looked shocked my young pony.” Starlight shook himself. “Seek dusk, seek starlight,” he muttered to himself, then shook his head and chuckled. “Twilight, Sparkle.” He looked round at his friends. “Come on,” he waved a hoof at the cave, “it is in there for sure,” and he set off at a canter into the cave. “You know,” Rapier Swift said as he trotted up to Papyrus's shoulder, “I think our fearless leader may be losing his marbles.” Papyrus sighed. “He is not losing his marbles, he just never had much of a full set to begin with.” ------ After about fifty meters the cave opened out into a large cavern. Papyrus gave a grunt and a magic ball of light floated up and hovered in the centre spreading light over the whole of the enormous space. “Oh wow,” Rainstorm breathed. Oh wow indeed, Starlight thought. In the books he had read as a foal he had seen drawings of a dragon's cave, and this looked like a typical one - right down to the dragon curled up on its horde sleeping in the centre. But as with all foalhood things, they proved to be very different in real life. First, this dragon seemed to be made of stone, and second, a dragon's hordes in stories were always made up of gems and gold and other valuable things, but this was the first one Starlight had seen made up of... “Books,” Papyrus breathed softly. Indeed, the dragon’s horde seemed to be composed of hundreds of books. The stone dragon was not sleeping on them but they were piled up in stacks round him. The ponies slowly wandered into the cavern, still struck with the majesty of the scene. Rainstorm flew up and tapped a hoof against the dragon. “Stone,” she said pointing out the obvious. “Why would anypony build a stone statue of a dragon in a cave on the top of a mountain?” Papyrus cleared his throat. “Rainstorm my young pony, I do not think it is a statue.” Rainstorm flinched back. “You mean it is a real dragon?” she exclaimed. “I believe so.” “Alive!?” “No. No, almost certainly not.” Rainstorm relaxed and went back to looking round. “Do dragons always turn to stone when they die?” Starlight asked his old teacher. “No, not usually.” Papyrus looked curiously at the stone dragon. “I did read somewhere that dragons can turn themselves to stone, but it is very rare. It is a sort of inbuilt spell; when a dragon gets old or thinks he is dying he can become stone. But it almost never happens.” “Why?” “Well my young pony. You see for that to happen a dragon has to not really want to live anymore, to believe that he has nothing in the world worth keeping going for, and dragons are usually such self-centred creatures that they just do not feel that way. I wonder what happened to this one.” “I wonder why books,” Rainstorm called from where she was looking at the top of one of the towering book piles. “Well quite. Dragons are hoarders by nature and I have known dragons to horde many things, but only that which they believe has value. I do not know of a dragon that would think there is any value in reading. Rainstorm, what are those books? Maybe they will shed some light on this.” Rainstorm picked up a book from the top of the pile and blew the dust off it. “Supernaturals.” She looked at a few others. “’Basics of anamorphic spells', 'How to run a race', 'Daring Do and the quartz queen' ” Rainstorm put the books back on the piles. Papyrus shook his head. “The mystery deepens.” “Papyrus.” It was Rapier Swift's voice. Starlight heard it coming from the back of the cave where several piles of books blocked their view of the dragon’s head. “Papyrus, you need to see this.” Rapier's voice had a detached quality to it. The rest of the ponies came round the towering piles of books. The dragon had been lying with its forelimbs and head on the ground, curled around to create a cosy space between its vast body and the piles of books. Starlight saw that the dragon was looking down, a sad expression on its huge face. Between the dragon's fore-claws there was a second statue. “Oh a pony,” Papyrus exclaimed as he saw it, “well I suppose that that explains the books.” It was a pony. A mare, by what Starlight could see. She seemed to be curled up in the space between the claws, as though she had just settled down to sleep. From what he could, see Starlight thought she looked as though she was old but not decrepit. There were wrinkles on the stone face but she looked like she would still be able to stand her ground. In front of the pony, in the space created by the dragon, there was a writing pedestal turned to face the sleeping statue, and next to it a small table with a book and a small stone sphere on it. “I suppose the books are hers then - but that does not explain why she is here.” Rapier made a strangled sound. “Look at the pony, Papyrus. Look at her!” “Well yes,” Papyrus replied confused, “as I have said it is a bit strange that she is here. Dragons are usually very territorial, even when it comes to ponies and I do wonder why her books are part of his horde but...” “Her flank you old fool,” Rapier almost screamed, “for Luna's sake look at her name mark!” The old unicorn walked closer and peered at the stone pony’s flank. “Oh my,” he whispered, legs starting to shake. “Oh my indeed.” He sat down on his hind quarters. Starlight pushed past him and looked at the pony’s flank for himself. “Twilight Sparkle,” the old unicorn whispered. Still clearly visible, despite the lack of contrast the stone form gave her, was the mare’s name mark. It was the same design as had been on the stone on the entrance. “You think this could be...” Rapier Swift started, and stopped, “Twilight Sparkle,” Papyrus finished. “Yes my young pony, I rather think she might.” He stood up and examined the stone pony in more detail. “Twilight Sparkle,” he muttered under his breath. There was silence for a few seconds as Papyrus just stood there staring at the legendary pony. “So not a story after all,” Starlight said breaking the spell. “Well, it would seem not my, young pony.” Papyrus replied, shaking his head and looking round the huge cave, “and this must be her library. Some of the stories said she cared for books, but I always took that to mean she craved knowledge. Maybe it had a more literal meaning.” “...and what is this?” Rainstorm asked, picking the stone sphere up off the table and rolling it round in her hooves. It seemed to be a about the size and shape of a large orange or a small grapefruit and it had strange symbol on it. Starlight could not see anything special about it and he ignored it; instead he examined the book, but apart from its name he could not make anything out. “What do you make of this?” he asked Papyrus. The unicorn levitated the book out of Starlight's hooves and held it up to his face. “‘The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide,’ ” he said, reading the cover before opening it. “How interesting; it seems to be a very old guide to some sort of magical artefacts, but there are notes and comments written in a newer script all through it.” He leafed over a few pages. “Yes, it seems that somepony was making notes to some sort of spell or tests she was doing.” “And what about this? It seems to be some sort of writing but I cannot read it,” Rapier Swift asked from the writing lectern. Papyrus put the old book back on the table and looked at the sheet of parchment on the lectern. “It's in formal pony,” he explained. Rapier gave him a quizzical look. “You see in the time Twilight Sparkle is supposed to have lived,” he looked at the small pony statue between the arms of the larger dragon, “did live... pony writing came in two languages. Common pony was pictographic and simple and was used for everyday things like signs and lists, whereas formal pony was phonic and used for more formal writings like letters and books. You see most ponies could not read very well so...” “We do not need the lecture,” Rapier said, “can you read it?” “Oh yes. Formal pony is not that complex a language. Now let me see...” He peered at the parchment muttering under his breath for a bit and then Starlight saw his legs wobble again and he sat down. “Oh Celestia,” he breathed. Starlight was a bit shocked-his old teacher was not one to use such language. “What is it?” he asked. “It's a copy of a letter from Twilight Sparkle,” Papyrus replied, shock clear on his voice. “Oh Celestia,” he repeated. “Well that makes sense,” Rapier said. “This is where she lived and you said formal pony was used for letters - what is so surprising?” Papyrus cleared his throat “What it says my young pony, and who it is to.” He shook his head. “It might be easer if I just read it to you.” He looked at the letter again and started to read: "Dear Princess Celestia, Spike says that nopony knows where you have gone but I know that the message spell will find you wherever you are. The light is fading now but we managed it. Your last task to me is complete. They are safe and the Dark servants will not find them. I am so cold. When you get old you feel the cold - have other ponies in the past told you that I wonder? I am with Spike in his home on the mountain, I think I will sleep soon and join my friends, but first I had to send you my last report. We gathered up the Elements of Harmony- Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, Loyalty and Magic- and put them to sleep. In their stone state the Dark Seekers will not hear them. Then Spike took me and we took them and scattered them around Equestria. I placed protective wards on the places where they sleep so even if the Dark servants find them they will not be able to take them. I placed them in places that were important to their bearers, my friends- Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkiepie and Rainbow Dash. I miss them so much; I think I have told you that before. I never had friends like them before or since. I have kept the sixth Element with me; the Darkness will not take it while Spike and I watch over it. I am so tired and the effort is draining me. I will get Spike to send this letter now and then I will finally join my friends. Goodbye Celestia. Your forever-faithful student, Twilight Sparkle" Papyrus finished reading the letter. The assembled ponies stared at it and the stone statue in silence. Suddenly the quiet was broken by a flutter of wings. Looking back at the entrance, Starlight saw a young pegasus come flitting into the cave. He recognised her from earlier in the day Wind Rush, the scout who had spotted the griffin ambush. She darted up and hovered in front of them. “Sir Starlight,” she gasped out. “Urgent message from Captain Genoa: He says ‘Time to haul flank. There is a Dark Cloud on the horizon.’ ” ----- “Shore crew. Cast off bow lines. Cast off stern lines,” Captain Genoa bellowed over the sound of the alert station's gong. “Port sunlines to full stretch, starboard sunlines half furl,” he continued as he climbed up the steps to the command deck. He hoofed up a pair of looking glasses and stared out at the Dark Cloud. The mass of Darkness writhed and boiled through the sky, lightning flickering round its edges. Even at this distance he could clearly see the Dark Creatures swarming around the edge of the cloud. Wordlessly he passed the glasses over to the junior officer on the command deck and turned to the helm. “Celestia help us,” the junior office breathed as he saw the approaching enemy. “She better,” Captain Genoa said flatly, waving the crew member to stop banging the alert. On the edge of the cliff he saw the shore crew frantically untying the lines that held the EverDream to the mountain and flinging them to other crew members on board. “Fliers a loft,” he shouted. Almost instantly the air was filled with the flapping of wings as the pegasi leapt to the sky. “Gun batteries prime cannons and prepare to fire. Deck mounts independent operation.” Ponies clattered and hurried over the deck as they rushed to obey the orders. A team of ponies hurried past the Captain and crewed the swivel mount lance at the rear of the command deck. Genoa picked up a speaking tube again. “Engines manoeuvring speed,” he ordered as the last of the shore crew leapt back aboard. He gave the wheel a twist to port and the EverDream gave a lurch as her twin screws bit the air and she moved away from the cliff. “Recovery crew - retrieve Sir Starlight and the shore party,” he added almost as an afterthought as the ship heeled as it pulled round. Looking over his shoulder he could clearly see the Dark Creatures now without the aid of the looking glasses- strange and terrifying things that floated around the edge of the cloud; some of them almost looked like things he could recognise. There was a dragon shape there, others looked like a nightmare come to life, flickering dark spiky masses of tendrils. “Starboard guns fire as she bears,” he shouted as the ship continued its leisurely turn. For a moment there was silence; looking over the deck he could see every crewpony standing at their station staring at the cloud and ready to leap into action. The crew waited breathlessly as the EverDream slowly came round. Then there was a rippling thunder from the gun deck as the starboard battery spat gouts of magical fire into the sky. ----- Starlight and the rest of the group emerged from the far edge of the forest. As soon as the young pegasus had delivered her message they had thrown the book, letter and the odd stone sphere into their saddlebags and galloped back to where the Everdeam was tied up. Starlight did not know why he had stopped to pick up the stone and the book; he justified it by the fact that these had evidently been important to Twilight Sparkle - but in reality he had felt he just could not leave without them. “All that knowledge,” Papyrus had bemoaned as they were galloping through the tree covered plateau, “the Library of the most studious unicorn of her age. A pony who was the personal student of the princess of the sun no less. I could have spent the rest of my life studying that.” “Very likely if you had stayed there,” Rapier Swift had said flatly. “And never made it past a title page.” As soon as they had cleared the cave, Rainstorm had stretched her wings and disappeared into the sky. Starlight assumed that she had gone on ahead to find the rest of her fliers. The remaining three ponies quickly galloped back though the woods. As soon as they emerged, Starlight could see why Captain Genoa had sent the flier. Boiling in from the horizon was a Dark Cloud. Starlight swallowed and felt a chill. He had not seen a Dark Cloud before, but he had heard of them. Everypony had heard of them, they were the new stuff of nightmares. About fifteen years ago the Darkness had first come to Equestria, since then Dark Clouds had become more and more common; now they roamed Equestria's skies. Virtually nothing could stop them, not unicorn magic, not powerful weapons of war, not even brute earth pony strength. They would appear, strange horrifying creatures spilling forth from them to cover an area. Eventually the Dark Cloud would move on leaving behind nothing. No life, no magic, nothing. Sometimes ponies could hold them back to allow time for escape - there had even been rumours of places where they had been defeated, but not without heavy cost. The Darkness terrified ponies, and slowly it was devouring their world. “They are abandoning us.” Papyrus screamed, pointing his hoof at edge of the cliff. Starlight saw that the EverDream had loosed its mornings and was even now pulling away from the edge. “They are not,” Rapier told the old pony. “If they stayed tied up the EverDream would be a sitting target. Genoa is taking her out to where she has a fighting chance.” As if to underline his point there was a rippling explosion and the ship lurched as its gun battery opened fire. Teardrops of magical fire arched through the sky to rain down on the mass of creatures milling round the edge of the cloud. “They will send a recovery party for us,” he finished. “Come on, let's head to the edge.” Starlight could see a small group of pegasi winging their way towards them as they again set off. He felt something strange, a twitching in his hooves and a tingling on the back of his mane. Without knowing why he stopped and spun, tucked his head down and bucked out. His back hooves connected with something. Something flew through the air its presence only revealed by the movement of leaves as it was thrown back and it crashed into the trunk of a tree with a tinkling crashing sound. Starlight stared at the source of the noise wondering what had happened. “Crystal moth,” Rapier Swift shouted. “Papyrus...” but the old unicorn was as fast on the uptake and there was an explosion of light that radiated out from the old pony. As the light passed, the air shimmered in several places, revealing about a dozen strange creatures surrounding the small band. They were about the size of a foal with a segmented body and moth-like wings made of a strange dark crystal that seemed to flex and bend as they floated on the air. Starlight had heard of these before. Crystal moths were the infiltrators of the Darkness, they used their crystal body to somehow bend the light round them; they would sneak in and then as soon as a Dark Cloud appeared they would leap out and attack the helpless ponies in the ensuing chaos. They could be revealed by a flash of magic light like Papyrus had demonstrated, but only if you knew that they were there. He had known somehow, he had felt them - how? Starlight heard the metallic rasp of Rapier Swift's hoof blade and quickly drew his own sword just in time to fend off one of the creatures as it dived at him. Strange black crystal talons rasped against the blade as he threw the creature back; he sensed as much as felt another of the creatures diving on him from behind and he let his training take over. He kicked out as he spun, catching the creature on one of its wings. He slashed at it with his sword as it spun wildly, but he could not judge the rapid spin and missed it. Several more of the creatures dived at him and he threw himself into a roll coming up beside Rapier Swift. His old instructor was wielding his hoof-blade in defence of the old unicorn. Starlight slashed at a moth but again his blade clattered off the creature's crystal wings. “Get your blade past their wings,” Rapier shouted at him, fitting action to words and deftly guiding his blade past the wings and skewering one of the creatures through its vulnerable middle. Starlight as always was amazed at his old teacher's ability to remain calm in the face of mortal danger; he seemed not to care that they were outnumbered and surrounded by creatures of the Darkness. Starlight slashed at another diving pair and then an idea struck him. He slashed at a moth, driving back and then pivoting on his front right hoof and spinning solidly planting his rear hooves on the enemy. The moth flew backwards and hit a stone outcrop, its wings shattering with a satisfactory ringing crash. Starlight completed the spin in time to see a beam of yellow magical energy pick a moth out of the air. “Persistent are they not?” Papyrus said as he plucked another of the creatures out of the air with his magic. Starlight could only nod in reply as he spun and kicked at more of them. The three ponies backed into a fighting circle as the moths again pressed their advantage of numbers. Suddenly the air above Starlight was filled with the fluttering of wings as the recovery party's pegasi arrived. The extra ponies tipped the balance, and in a flurry of hooves and blades the remaining moths were quickly dealt with. “Sir Starlight.” The lead pegasus saluted. “With your permission we have a ship to catch.” Starlight sheathed his sword so he could be safely lifted, and nodded back at the pegasus. ----- As soon as she was clear of the cave Rainstorm spread her wings and sought the sky. When she cleared the tops of the trees she saw what Windrush had reported. Off in the distance she could see the Dark Cloud, and surrounding it the mass of large Dark creatures. She looked towards the EverDream and saw that the fliers had already taken to the sky. The flight had split; half of the fliers were staying in close to provide short range support, the other half were already formed into arrowhead formations and were heading off to engage the larger Dark creatures. She folded herself into the fast flight posture; front and rear hooves out-stretched, wings back and sped off to catch up with her fliers. Rainstorm caught up with the lead wing in the formation and slid into the flightleader's position, Cirrus her second shifting over to make room for her. “I thought you were going to miss this dance,” he said, hiding his relief behind the light humour all fliers used at times of tension. “Of course not. I would not leave you partnerless!” she quipped back, “did Captain Genoa give us any instructions?” “Nothing more detailed than 'for Luna's sake keep them off my ship'. ” Rainstorm nodded and used the excuse of priming her hoof cannon to give herself time to think. She mouthed the catch and the small charge crystal slid into the assembly. The hoof cannon she was wearing was smaller than the ones the rest of the cannon-armed members of her wing wore. All of the weapons were much smaller versions of the large cannons that were on the EverDream. Like most war engines they used a charged magical crystal to provide the spell energy for the conduction chamber and then a long brass barrel to focus the spell charge. Hoof canons were strapped to the fore-leg with the crystal assembly and conduction chamber about at knee level; their barrel was about the thickness of a pony's leg and usually extended out beyond the hoof. Hers were smaller; she had been going exploring, not into a fight and she had wanted to be able to walk properly if she needed to. The casing around the conduction chamber started to warm up telling her that the weapon was ready to fire and she made up her mind on the plan. “Cirrus, pass the word to the wing leaders. Tell them to go in hard and try to get some of the faster of those monsters to follow them. Leave the slower ones to the EverDream's guns.” Cirrus nodded and arced away to pass the word. Rainstorm looked at the mass of large, twisted Dark creatures boiling out of the cloud. It was not really a good plan but there was no good plan here. She looked round at her wing- she trusted all these ponies; they were good fliers even if not all of them were ex-Equestria Flying Corps, but only some of them had fought the Darkness before like she had. Her mind went back to that day over the yellow grass country. She had been only a wing leader, not a flight leader, and she had led her wing against a Dark creature, a hideous cross between a huge jellyfish and a ladybird, that had been harrying a herd of earth ponies fleeing from the town. She had lost many good ponies that day, ripped to shadows by the thing's tendrils, but they had saved most of the refugees. She felt more than heard Cirrus slot back into formation beside her as she picked the target for her wing. A large black dragon that seemed to be moving far too fast for her liking. Well I guess it is time for the speech, she thought to herself. She turned so she could be heard by all her wing. “Ponies,” she started, “wing mates. I am not going to lie to you, this is going to be a hard fight but I have confidence in you. We are pegasi, we are descended from a long line of brave pegasi, and when there is hard fighting, pegasi have always been there to do it.” There was a cheer from her wing. “So let's embrace this challenge and show them how pegasi fly.” There was a bigger cheer, even from ponies who had obviously been too far away to hear her. It was not the best speech in the world, Rainstorm thought as she twisted back around, but it's the only one I've got. The black dragon had spotted them now and turned to face them. Here we go, she thought as the dragon breathed a jet of back fire at the approaching wing. The wing split, ponies diving around the jet of fire and Rainstorm pointed her cannon at the dragon and fired. ---- “Down!” Genoa shouted and he threw himself flat on the deck. As the black fire washed over head he felt his mane frizzle. He picked his head up in time to see the black dragon wheel off to starboard and turn for another run at them. Lances of magical energy from the deck weapons stabbed at it and it broke off its run, a wing of the fliers swooping after it. He pushed himself to his hooves and took the wheel again. The outlying creatures form the Dark Cloud were harassing the Everdeam, attempting to limit their ability to manoeuvre. “Trying to slow us up for the knockout blow,” he muttered; it was working as well. Harassed by these creatures, they could not get off good barrages at the approaching Dark Cloud or turn and disengage. He gave the wheel a savage twist to port as a large Dark creature reared up in front of the bow. It looked like an enormous black armoured whale with sharp wings and a mouth full of teeth. The EverDream lurched as the creature scraped along the bow, ripping chunks out of the hull armour, and then again as the gun battery fired at almost point blank range. The creature was ripped to shreds by the intense fire, its body cracking and evaporating. “Furl those sun lines,” he bellowed at the crew, “and try to keep those things away from the envelopes.” The last thing he needed now was damaged sunlines. The sunlines were the primary source of the magical energy that the airship ran on. They were magically conductive sheets of crystal - about a pony’s length square – that were flexible and could be rolled up. The actual term 'sunline' came from when they were first used; they looked less like the sheets of modern designs and more like a thin line or rope. Most sunlines were a vivid primary colour, the colour reflecting the different flavours of magical energy they were designed to absorb. The sunlines on the EverDream were a deep navy blue, the most common colour for ships of its size and draw. They hung between the deck and the lifting envelope or canopy, looking not unlike small sails or large flags, where they could absorb the most energy. This was then fed through crystal straws in the frame of the ship to the spinner engine where it could be used. The crystal the sunlines were made of could absorb a lot of magical energy, but was quite fragile and prone to wear and tear and, given their exposed position, battle damage. In order to offer them some more protection, sunlines were designed to be furled - rolled up - to minimise their exposure and prolong their lifespan. Unfortunately when furled they only provided a fraction of the power so a captain would adjust his sunlines depending on his energy usage; typically in combat they would keep the lines of the exposed side of the ship furled and stretch the ones of the sheltered side. But it was one of the biggest skills of a captain to know how to set his sunlines and Genoa could not risk his with these creatures all over his ship. They had to be furled and he accepted that the EverDream would be slower as a result. Smaller dark shapes scuttled all over the ship as the Dark Cloud got closer. Large spider things about the size of a large cat or small dog with strange spindly legs and oversized fangs. As with all the Dark creatures Genoa had seen - he had seen too many already - they seemed to drink the light, creating a misty shadow around them. The crew ponies were having to spend a lot of effort fending them off and it was only getting worse. There was a small explosion of dark light and one of the black spider creatures appeared on the wheel. Genoa swore and jumped back reaching for his sword. The creature gave an insectile hiss and leapt for his face. A magical nimbus enveloped the thing and it was flung over the side. Genoa grabbed the wheel again. “Thank you,” he said to the junior officer as he took the wheel again. “Captain! Fine off the starboard bow.” The looking glasses levitated themselves in front of Genoa. Looking through them he swore again. What might have just been an outlier of the Dark Cloud itself was revealed under magnification to be a swarm of creatures. These did not look like the spiders that were plaguing the ship, instead they were larger and could almost have been... They looked like the shadows of pegasus ponies, and they were approaching fast. He hoofed up the speaking tube. “Gun crew. Load starboard scatter fire and hold for my signal,” he shouted as he gave the wheel another savage twist. “Ensign, signal the fliers, see if they can distract some of that swarm.” He doubted it; the pegasi were already hard-pressed, and the swarm of shadow ponies was closing fast. The junior officer nodded and sent up a series of coloured fireworks signalling the order to any of the ship’s fliers that could see them. “All crew,” he bellowed over the deck, “prepare to defend the ship!” The swarm grew closer as the EverDream made its turn. “C'mon, c'mon,” he muttered under his breath; never had a turn seemed so lazy. Lances of fire from the deck guns stabbed at the swarm. Genoa could see individuals in the attacking swarm shrivel under the firepower. They were almost on them now. “FIRE!!!” he yelled into the speaking tube. The cannons spoke. A hail of magic scythed into the shadow ponies cutting them down in waves but still the swarm came. “For Equestria!!” he bellowed, the cry echoing back from the deck. He grabbed his sword from out of its scabbard as the shadow ponies hit the EverDream. ----- The strong limbs of the pegasus held Starlight tight as the flier raced through the sky. His stomach lurched as the pegasus dived down under the wing of a black dragon that roared past them and then weaved through the wing of fliers that were chasing it. Starlight had been flown by pegasus before, but this was terrifying; the helplessness he felt as the rescue party dodged round the combat between them and the EverDream was almost too much to bear. As the flier jerked around another Dark creature Starlight got another good look at the airship. EverDream was in trouble. Two large creatures that looked like enormous black jellyfish, big blobs of smoky darkness with long smoke-like tendrils, were approaching it. As he watched they started to wrap their tendrils around the ship, clutching at it. Why were they not firing at the new attackers? he wondered. As they flew closer he saw why; there was nopony left to crew the guns. All the crew ponies were fighting hoof to hoof with what looked like shadows of themselves. “Take us down to the command deck,” he told the pegasus holding him. The pegasus nodded and swooped round towards the stern of the airship. Starlight saw the smoke-like tendrils had wrapped themselves around the deck and he saw a small knot of ponies by the wheel, surrounded by the Dark intruders. He drew his sword and braced himself. The recovery flight swooped low over the deck; there was a pull as the pegasus backstroked his wings and then his legs let Starlight go and he dropped to the deck. As soon as Starlight's hooves hit the deck he slashed out at the Dark tendrils that were trying to wrap themselves around the ship. Rapier Swift did the same, and together the two ponies fought their way through the forest of smoke-like limbs to where Captain Genoa and the rest of his ponies were fighting. As they approached, one of the creatures they were fighting twisted round to face them. Starlight reared back in shock and horror. The creature was a twisted reflection of a pony. Its coat and mane were a deep midnight black and its eyes were holes into blackness. It seemed to distort the air around it, drawing in the light and warmth to create an area of floating shadow. As it slashed its front legs at him Starlight saw that they ended not in normal hooves but in savage talons. Instinctively he blocked its slash, but the force of the blow knocked him to the deck. The monstrosity reared up over him, its taloned hooves pawing the air. Suddenly a steel point protruded from its chest. The creature screamed in despair and imploded in a flash of black smoke revealing Captain Genoa standing behind it. The Captain sheathed his sword as Starlight got back up to his hooves. “Sir Starlight,” he said as he saluted. “Nice of you to join us for our last stand. Should I go down with the ship or do you want that honour?” Starlight's equally sarcastic reply was cut off by a shout from Papyrus. He ran over to where the old unicorn was standing at the rail and pointing back out at the mountain top. In its pursuit of the fleeing EverDream, the Dark Cloud had wrapped itself almost all the way round where the mountain emerged from the cloud base. Looking back, Starlight could see what his old teacher had seen. There was a cloud of glowing purple smoke billowing out of where Starlight estimated the cave was. The smoke expanded until it almost covered the little forest and then suddenly it snapped together into the figure of the dragon that they had seen in the cave. “Holy Celestia,” Starlight breathed. He could see that the dragon still seemed to be made of the purple smoke and it still seemed to glow, but other than that it looked as real as anything he had seen. It reared up and roared; the noise deafening even from this distance. Then it lowered its head and let out a stream of bright green fire. The fire billowed over the Dark Cloud, melting it where it touched. The Cloud seemed to flinch and contract from the attack. The dragon roared and breathed flame again; this time when its fire struck the cloud it did not melt, instead it seemed to bunch together, deflecting the fire around it. Dark creatures dove at the purple dragon and he slashed at them with glittering claws. “By Luna's mane what is that?” Rapier Swift asked. “It seems to be the dragon from the cave,” Papyrus responded without taking his eyes off the epic fight going on over the plateau. “Maybe it will distract the Darkness,” Starlight wondered. As if in response to his thoughts, more of the smoke-like Dark tendrils reached up and tried to grab at the ship and the ponies. “No such luck,” Rapier said, slashing his hoof blade at one of the things. Starlight again drew his sword and set himself to a fighting stance. He sensed rather than saw the flash of purple light from behind him. The light streamed past him almost like water; where it touched the tendril the Dark thing smoked and evaporated. He spun around towards the middle of the deck and saw her- it was the pony from the cave. Starlight was sure it was her; her name mark, the ‘twilight sparkle’, was clear and vivid on her flank. She stood there in the middle of the deck. She was younger than the stone version of her had been. She seemed to be a young strong pony in her prime rather than the old figure he has seen in the cavern. Starlight also noticed that not only was she glowing but he could see through her. A projection? he thought, A spirit? Her violet eyes stared straight into his, straight into his soul, and she spoke a single word. “GO” The word echoed around the ship and then there was a flash of light and she vanished. Starlight looked around the ship; all the shadow ponies and the Black tendrils seemed to have disappeared. The EverDream was floating in a clear patch of air. “Captain!” he shouted “you heard the err... ghost. Haul flank!” “Ay sir,” Genoa replied, then turning to the deck he bellowed to the stunned crew. “Full stretch all sunlines,” he hoofed up the speaking tube. “Engines full power.” He leaned his head down and plucked up one of the junior officers who had been knocked senseless on the deck “Stop lying down on the job and recall the fliers,” he yelled, the junior officer saluted woozily but he screwed up his eyes and sent a whistling fireball into the sky where it exploded in a red glow that hung over the ship. The ship lurched as it picked up speed, seeking clear skies. Starlight joined Papyrus back at the rail. Looking back at the battle on the mountain top, the dragon had now been joined by the enormous figure of the mare, as big as the dragon. She was slashing at the Dark creatures, her magic and hooves joining the fire and claws of her companion. But the Dark Cloud was pressing in, as they watched it wrapped itself around the fighting pair, closing over them completely. “That is it then,” Rapier Swift said woefully. “I do not think so,” Papyrus replied. “Captain, get us out of here now.” “We are going as fast as we can,” Genoa responded. Starlight could see flashes of green and purple in the Dark Cloud now. They were getting more and more urgent. White streaks of lighting arched, earthing themselves on the mountain. The whole Cloud seemed to rock and bulge. “Captain!” he called, backing away from the stern railing. The mountain top exploded. Jets of green and purple fire tore through the Dark Cloud, ripping it to shreds. Lighting reached out, flashing and grounding and then the entire spire detonated, throwing out molten rock and house sized-boulders “Brace!!” Starlight screamed as he threw himself for a hoof-hold. The shockwave picked the EverDream up and flung it through the sky. ----- Rainstorm led her wing in a sharp dive angled through the swarm of shadow ponies. She pointed her hoof cannon at the one that she had picked out as her target and triggered it. But instead of a ball of magical fire, the device just gave a pathetic whine. The Discord cursed thing was out of charge. Instead of blowing the shadow creature apart, as she passed she settled for hitting it with her forehoves. The shadow pony spun widely, bowled over by her sheer speed but it did not shatter. Rather, it wheeled out of the swarm and came after her. Rainstorm flipped herself over and jammed her wings out to their full stretch. The sudden impact of the air nearly wrenched them out of their sockets but it brought her nearly to a standstill and the shadow pegasus almost ran into her. As she stopped she brought her rear hooves up and delivered a powerful buck to the creature’s head. There was a brief scream abruptly cut off as the Dark creature shattered into fragmented shadows which disappeared like burning gas. All creatures of the Darkness did that when they were defeated; nopony knew why. More of the dark pegasi had followed the wing out of the swarm, and Rainstorm saw Cirrus turn and blow one of them away with his much larger hoof cannon. But not all of them were so lucky. Another of her wing missed with her hoof cannon and before she could get off another shot her target was on her, slashing at her with its fearsome claws. The young pegasus screamed once before she exploded into shadows. Ponies that were killed by the Darkness also disappeared into shadows - nopony knew the reason for that either, but everypony was sure they were just as dead as by other methods. The remaining Dark creature turned to face her but another of Rainstorm’s wingmates flashed past it, the sharp blades mounted on the leading edge of his wings slicing deep into it. It also shattered. She brought her wing back round ready for another run. They were trying to keep another swarm of these dark copies of pegasi from the EverDream but they were not having much success at it - already the ship had been enveloped by the first one. As she turned she caught sight of the top of the mountain and the Dark Cloud. It had wrapped itself round the mountain top and she watched the strange purple dragon appear and start to fight it. This is getting weird, she thought. As she watched there was a flash of purple light and a giant figure of a mare joined the dragon. She looked similar to the dragon, purple and slightly transparent. Her hooves came down in a crack of magic driving the Dark Cloud back but more of the creatures swept round at them. She tossed her head and streamers of white hot magic lashed out at them. Rainstorm shook her head. This is no time to stare like an awe-struck filly, you are in the middle of a battle, she thought to herself. Concentrate or you will regret it. As she was gathering her thoughts there was a high-pitched whistle that years of training drove right to the centre of her awareness. She snapped round to face the EverDream. The sound was the noise that a ship used to issue an urgent order to its fliers - and sure enough she saw the bright red glow of a signal flare hanging above the EverDream - but that was not what caused her to stop and stare again. The EverDream was floating in clear space. There was no sign of either the large creatures that had latched onto it or the swarms of dark pegasi that were attacking it. “Recall! Back to the ship!” she yelled out pointlessly; the rest of her fliers had seen the message as clear as she had. She flattened herself, dug her wings into the air and sped back. The EverDream must be making a run for it. Even at this range she could see all the sunlines being stretched, their reflective, dark blue panels flashes of new colour along the side of the ship’s deck. Even the slowest pegasus could overtake an airship of the EverDream’s class easily, but it was not a good idea to get left behind by your ship. She felt a tingle go along her spine, as if all the hairs on her coat were trying to stand on end. It was just like she’d flown into a thunder cloud or as if a crystal spinner engine was about to let go. She twisted her head back just in time to see the Dark Cloud pulse and then explode, taking the top of the mountain with it. Her instincts took over and she folded her wings in as tight as she could. The shock wave hit her and tossed her around the sky as pony sized chunks of rock rained down around her. ----- Dazedly, Starlight picked himself up off the deck and looked around. All over the ship, ponies where doing the same thing. The ship was a mess. Sunlines hung snapped and loose and wreckage was strewn around. Looking up he saw that there was a large rock embedded in one of the panels of the crystal canopy. Rainstorm landed next to him, her mane was wild and she did not fold her left wing up when she landed. “Well that was fun,” she said. She flexed her left wing and winced in pain. “I think I may have sprained that a bit,” she said flatly, “that is what comes of trying to ride out a wave like that. But I reckon I am probably luckily to have made it through that considering what it did.” Slowly Starlight walked over to the aft railing and looked out. The cave, the spire, the forested plateau, the entire top of the mountain no longer existed. Along with the Dark Cloud. He sensed a presence at his side and turned to see Papyrus standing there. “It seems a pity,” he said, gesturing to where the mountain had been. “Twilight Sparkle’s last act. Destroyed her library.” “Was that really her?” Starlight asked. Papyrus nodded. “Almost certainly. A part of her at least. And part of her friend - that dragon, he must have been the ‘Spike’ referred to in the letter. She kept a part of them. Call it a spark of their sprit. There, watching, guarding, waiting for us.” The old unicorn turned and looked at Starlight. “For you, my young pony. But why? What was she guarding with all that power?” Starlight remembered the feeling he'd had when he was leaving the cave, the feeling that he could not leave without the stone. He reached back into his saddle bag and picked out the stone orb. “This maybe?” He turned the stone orb over in his hooves. It glinted strangely in the light of the setting sun. “Whatever this is.” ----- Starlight danced through the night. The stars were again shining brightly as he moved his hooves in the steps of the formal dance. Again she was there, her hooves moving with his in the dance steps. The White Pony. For time uncountable they danced together through the stars. As before, the dance changed, becoming less formal and more intimate as she moved her head next to his. “You must find them,” she whispered in his ear. “I have found them,” Starlight replied. She smiled at him. “You have found part of them,” she said, “you have found the first or the last. The part that is everything and yet on its own it is nothing.” She looked into his eyes again. “They are needed.” “The Darkness,” he whispered into her ear and again he felt the chill press in. They danced on for a bit, necks and hooves entwining. Starlight noticed that the stars were fading again. The air was growing cold. “You must find them,” she repeated urgently. “Where are they?” “You know where they are.” She smiled at him. “The magic told you they sleep with their sprits, with the stars, with the others. You must find them.” The light had gone dim. Again he noticed The White Pony glowing with a light of her own, and again he clung to her warmth. As her light started to fade, she looked into his eyes. “Tell me,” she whispered, “do you still dream of me?” He looked back into the light of her eyes. “Yes,” he whispered back as her light faded, “always.” End of chapter 1 ===== A giving spirit rests with the gifts returned. But not all of its treasures bestowed on the world are yet dulled. Next chapter: Rough Diamond.