//------------------------------//
// Chapter 32 
// Story: Beyond the Veil of Sleep 
// by Starscribe 
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Mira woke to a world of shifting voices and frightened whispers. She groaned, rubbing one hoof against her forehead. Part of that just came from a long dreaming—muscles aching from lack of movement, and a body deprived of the necessary nutrition. Even with loyal ponies all around her, there was only so much they could do for her.
But this time felt different. Fighting the princess of Equestria exacted a strain beyond simple tiredness—it left her wrung dry, like a fruit left too long in the sun.
Yi is dead, she thought, glum. She didn't even know how many of his other bats had fallen with him. They might be among the very last of their kind, ancient travelers from a world long gone. Celestia destroyed them as a tactic to get to her.
Not just that—the sun princess admitted everything the bats already thought about her intentions. She wanted to kill off all the bats in Equestria. Slowly, without violence—but was that better?
Mira spent her childhood without enough to eat because of the princess's interference. She would probably have grown up a little bigger if she hadn’t spent those young years struggling to survive on scraps and begging. Other young bats weren't as clever or resourceful as she was, and they hadn't made it.
The princess of Equestria wanted all of them dead, all because they represented some unknown, immeasurable threat. Demons from beyond the far edge of the Dreaming, or something. She didn't even understand the threat.
"That seemed intense," said a voice from nearby. She blinked, finally taking in the details of her surroundings. This was the abandoned upper section of a tower, where nopony dangerous would be able to discover her sleeping form. Only Nacht was here with her, and one very disapproving feline.
"You started glowing there at the end, brighter than a torch. Never seen a pony glow in their sleep before."
She sat up slowly, slow enough to keep her balance. But compared to her first revival, when her body had been squeezed dry and could barely even move, this was far easier.
"Hopefully you don't see that again." She dropped low, spreading her wings to either side in a deep, satisfying stretch. As she did, strength flowed back into stiff limbs, returning her to life.
"Never seen that, either. How are you doing it?"
She straightened, folding her wings stiffly to either side. "Doing... what?"
"With your mane. It's... it stopped." He strode over to her, reaching down to her shoulder with one hoof. Mira stiffened at his touch, prepared for a very different kind of contact.
Or more accurately, prepared to push him away. Another time, she might welcome it. She had the weight of a whole tribe to carry on her own, maybe having a stallion to help would keep her strong.
But not right then, not with the memory of Princess Celestia's attack and her vengeful curse against thestrals still fresh in her mind. She needed time to let those awful memories settle before she could think of something so... positive.
She didn't need to worry. Nacht made no gesture of overt affection, he just extended his hoof, stretching her mane out to its full length. "It was moving on its own. Like there were... little glowing things visible from the other side."
Mira rolled her eyes, retreating from him. "You mean like Princess Luna? The whole stars look? Only our princess could do that. Do you see a horn on me?"
He glanced her up and down, then shrugged. "Must've imagined it. Here, Mira. You look like you need it." He offered her a canteen, which she accepted. She held it balanced in both wings, draining every drop of the warm water down her throat.
"Food?"
He led her to a low, half-broken table nearby, with a basket of dried fruit in the center. Basic rations, probably meant for him and not the “Wakeless Mare” whose words now directed Understory. That was fine by her—just because the ponies of her village decided she was worth revering.
She scarfed it down without particular dignity, pausing only to offer bits and pieces of interest to her familiar.
Pixie hopped up onto the table beside her, occasionally nipping at its contents. The cat soon gave up. Mira had seen her eat bugs before, and fish, and milk. But fruits clearly did not interest her.
"When you're feeling better, there's something you should probably know. I thought about waking you sooner, but then that whole glowing thing started..."
She stiffened, dropping a few dried strawberries into the basket beside the sliced mushroom. "Tell me. Whatever it is—I'm no use to Understory if I don't know it."
There's plenty of things I wish I could forget. Nopony needs to know the princess is actively trying to exterminate their tribe.
"Movement in Hollow Shades." He flicked his tail towards the ceiling, vaguely out towards the jungle above. "Probably nothing. We hope it's nothing..."
That might as well be his way of saying "We're positive this is extremely bad."
She nudged him with her wing. "You can't even imagine what I just did, Nacht. Whatever news you have, it can't be worse."
"The city is... evacuating," he said. "Not sure what else to call it. Been doing it all day, probably longer. Unicorns and earth ponies and pegasi all packing up what they can into carts, and joining a caravan away from here. A handful of bats tried to join, and they all got turned away. At this rate, those beggars and urchins will be the only ones left."
She stared down at the berries, nudging them along the table surface. They slid to one side and the other, scattering at her touch. There was no single good interpretation for why an entire town of ponies might be evacuating—just some explanations that were bad, and others much worse.
"Any sign of guards around the entrance to Understory? Does Equestria know where we are?"
Nacht sighed. "No guards, but—Mira, I'm sure they've figured out we have a city near Hollow Shades by now. Pilgrims flowing in all the time, but never living in the city—what could that mean? It was nice to have enough to eat, to see the city growing instead of shrinking. But I wonder—I can't imagine Equestria not realizing eventually."
"Night," Mira whispered, furious. "All she had to do was not take over the monastery while I slept, and nopony would be coming here to pay homage to the 'Wakeless Mare.'"
He rose, lifting his spear from where it leaned against the wall, and settling it into the sling across his back. "Nopony has decided what to do. Town council thought... if anything serious was happening, you would wake to warn them. You're awake now, though. Whatever instructions you want to give, I suggest you think of them quickly."
The princess wanted their bloodless deaths. But she also knew about a city where Mira tried to teach the old magic. That was always when the Solar Army arrived to target a town. "Go and gather them," she ordered, without a second's hesitation.
Less than an hour together, they were in the town square. Well, “square” wasn't quite right, since it was constructed of huge logs woven together on the city's highest levels, forming a wicker platform near the middle of Understory. It stood close enough to reach the stone ceiling in places, without ramps or other ways for the flightless to access it.
A dozen lanterns lit the edge in a rough circle, shining down over the nervous crowd of ponies underneath. A raised platform against the wall had little labeled sections for each trade, each entitled to a seat. Carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, hunters, farmers, fishers, guards, and apothecaries. The seat at the center, of course, was reserved for the princess herself, or one of her priests.
That was where Mira sat, while the tradesponies whispered to each other in hushed, urgent voices. She knew what they were saying, even if she didn't hear each individual word. These were the whispers of fear, terror barely restrained. They knew just as Nacht did, what this development probably meant for Understory's future.
Some of that manifested in anger—aimed at her, and elsewhere. Most of that came not from the ponies gathered at the raised platform but from the crowd lingering around them.
By custom, there was very limited space in the town square. Only enough for a handful of visitors and the addition of other crafts. If other creatures wished to attend this meeting, they would have to hover nearby or find a perch on the many nearby ledges and little platforms.
In ancient times of prosperity, that meant richly appointed audience boxes, arranged close enough that the ponies inside could speak their minds and be heard by the city's leaders. None of those existed in Understory—if its ponies wanted to make their opinions known, they would have to have the endurance to remain hovering until their time to speak came.
They weren't pegasus ponies, and no clouds existed down here. Needless to say, it kept all but the most stubbornly determined from wasting time at important town meetings.
It was also the last place Mira wanted to be. Just because she had triumphed over Celestia didn't mean her voyage in the Astral Sea was over—if anything, those ponies needed her even more than the villagers did. She had to hurry and get them working in a useful direction as quickly as possible. Otherwise, she might forfeit the mission they actually needed to survive while working hard to preserve the existence of a single town.
"We could have months before anything changes," somepony was saying—the apothecary leader, judging by the little crown of leaves around his forehead. "There's no reason to jump to conclusions. For all we know, they were conscripted into her service in another province. Maybe the local unicorns decided to sell the land again."
"No," somepony else answered, just as determined. The guard leader, Bullwark. "Not like this. There's no occupying force. No one watches the duke's palace. They brought much of what was inside, but only locks and chains seal the gates. We could ransack the building with little effort. The homes of the other ponies there are protected with even less care."
"Either they're returning quickly, or they don't think they ever will." The master mason tapped one hoof against the platform, as though he were working with one of his fine statues. "It could mean the population fled from other threats. Or it could mean what nopony here dares to say—the sun princess intends to bring down the wrath of the solar army. Nopony would want to be anywhere near them when that happened."
"What does the Wakeless Mare think?" asked another of the council members. "Every bat here knows that we couldn't possibly hold out against an invasion. Only the Lunar Temple offers guidance now. What would our princess have us do, Mira?"
She stood up, spinning in a slow circle so she could look into every face. Not just the many council ponies, but dozens of others. She'd never seen so many ponies at a civic meeting before. Granted, Understory had only recently had enough food that everypony had the strength to fly this long.
"First, scouts—we should keep a few of our fastest fliers in the space above. I will give each an artifact of Dreamcraft to send a message back to us the instant they see danger. This way they can flee elsewhere and not lead any threat back to us." Her attention fell on the master of the guard's guild. "Can you name enough guardsponies to fill the necessary shifts, brave enough not to lead an invasion back here?"
He nodded, lifting one hoof to his chest. "Not all are so brave. But I can get you the names."
"As for the rest of us..." Mira continued. "This is not the first time Princess Celestia has done this. We all know how she responds once she discovers we are building a new home for ourselves. We can't stand against the Solar Army. Without Nightmare Moon to protect us, there is only one choice. We have to evacuate, without leaving her a trail to follow. Order everypony in Understory to pack as quickly as they can. Get a full day's sleep—when the moon next rises, we will leave our home behind."
The meeting exploded into chaos.