After everyone was well rested, they discussed the biggest issue at hoof: getting two unicorns into Cloudsdale. Sonar had tried the legendary spell performed by Princess Twilight Sparkle many moons prior that had given Rarity temporary wings, but too many failed attempts had only brought frustration. Eventually, everyone had come to the consensus that Sapphire Swirl and Fire Bolt would have to traverse the city alone, a conclusion that nobody was happy with.
“It should only be, I don’t know, two hours?” Sapphire paced, anxiety radiating around the four of them.
“You and Jelly should really stay here in the gorge. My mom’s house is on the land before Cloudsdale, and it’s not a good place to be,” Fire Bolt explained to Sonar.
“What if you need help? I want to be able to hear you!” He objected.
“How could you guys help? It’s not like you could come up there,” Sap rationalized as their pacing quickened, and Sonar didn’t seem to have a good response.
“You guys should get going, then,” Jelly Splash suddenly spoke up, breaking her near-silence of the past hour. “We’re still on a time crunch.”
“You’re right. If anything happens, we should all meet back here.” As if to solidify the statement, Fire Bolt forcefully shoved a stick into a softer part of the ground, acting as a waypoint. “Come on, Sap.”
“Wait!” Sonar Moonshadow ran to stop the two of them and pulling Bolt into a big hug. “Be safe, okay?” He murmured, not loud enough for the others to hear.
“I always am.”
Sapphire and Bolt took to the skies, both of them silently grateful to give their hooves a break and get some cool air running through their wings. The Galloping Gorge stretched out beneath them, a dark chasm veiled in shadows. As they reached higher and higher altitudes, the distant lights of Ponyville twinkled far below, a comforting reminder of civilization in the midst of the vast, starlit expanse.
Fire Bolt's senses were suddenly on high alert. The wind rushed past her mane, and it almost sounded like a whisper. Sapphire Swirl, normally a very strong and confident flier, appeared tense as well, their form rippling with a nervous energy that matched the unsettling ambiance in the sky. There was something dark in their stomachs that seemed to grow darker the higher they got. “Something’s really off up here,” Bolt shouted over the wind, her voice steady but edged with uncertainty.
Sapphire Swirl nodded in agreement, their usually cheery demeanor marred by a faint flicker of fear. “I feel it too.” Their wings moved rhythmically, beating against the air, carrying them further upward toward the city. The stars flickered like distant candles, casting an eerie glow upon their coats that almost made the two of them look sickly. The serenity of the night had given way to an overwhelming feeling of dread, a fear that crawled under their skin and nestled in the pit of their chests.
“It's like something is lurking just beyond our sight… like it’s waiting to pounce.” Bolt found that verbalizing the terror could slightly ease it, so she kept talking. “I think it’s just the anxiety.” The night seemed to close in around them, the darkness and the air thickening with each passing moment. Their minds played tricks on them, conjuring phantoms out of the corners of their eyes, causing Sapphire to whip their head around towards the fictitious figures.
In the distance, Cloudsdale loomed, its glowing spires casting long, eerie shadows under the moonlight. Bolt and Sapphire quickened their paces simultaneously, their hearts pounding in their chests. The feeling of being watched intensified, a suffocating presence that clawed at their minds. When they finally landed in Cloudsdale, their relief was palpable. But even within the feeling of a semblance of safety in the floating city, the sense of foreboding lingered, a haunting echo of their journey through the night and a reminder of who they’d left behind.
The once majestic cloud structures were now twisted remnants, shadows of their former glory, haunting reminders of the devastating war that had torn through the city in the prior years. The air crackled with an unsettling energy, and a sense of foreboding hung heavy over the ruins; some of the darker clouds even literally crackled with brief fits of lightning.
As they moved through the desolate streets on high alert, Bolt couldn't shake the feeling of déjà vu. Cloudsdale, once a place of beauty and pegasus joy, now felt like a distorted reflection of her memories. The wars had very visibly left their mark, turning the city into a twisted, nightmarish version of itself. The shattered remnants of buildings loomed like specters, casting elongated shadows that danced eerily on the angry clouds.
“We should check her cottage first. Follow me,” Bolt murmured, her voice barely audible over the mournful whistling of the wind. She found herself slightly disoriented, as her last memory of the city wasn’t even the real city at all – everything that felt backwards to her was in fact correct, and her loss of the familiarity of Clousdale made her heart sink more by the minute. The old playground where she met Marshmallow was just a plot of clouds now, not a single trace of joy left behind. Memories of their past adventures flooded her mind, a bittersweet reminder of the bond they once shared.
A sudden movement caught Bolt's attention, snapping her out of her sadness, and she quickly tensed. Through the twisted metal framework of a shattered building, she saw a figure, hunched and cloaked in shadows. It was a blue pegasus poking through the rubble, and Sapphire was the first to notice a large dagger strapped to their flank. “Go around, we’ll find our way,” Sapphire whispered, nodding towards a smaller path that avoided the scrap yard.
As they approached the narrow pathway that wound through a dense cluster of twisted clouds, a chilling voice sliced through the silence. "Well, well, what do we have here?" The figure stepped out from the shadows, his yellow eyes glinting maliciously in the dim light. It was still a pony, but one who had clearly embraced the darkness of the war-torn world. His coat was covered with grime, and his green mane hung in tangles around his face. In his eyes lived a predatory gleam, a hunger for power and control.
“Get back!” Sapphire Swirl took several steps forward as Bolt quivered with anxiety. “Leave us alone and go back to scrapping. Trust me, it’s best for all of us.” Bolt could see right through Sapphire’s façade, and while real courage did indeed lie under the surface, she could see right through their bluff – she just hoped that this stallion wouldn’t be able to.
The azure pony chuckled darkly. "Oh, I think you're mistaken, little filly. This territory belongs to those who can take it. And I intend to take everything. You don’t belong here," He proudly flaunted the dagger, and it was making the two of them nervous.
Fire Bolt's eyes narrowed, her determination suddenly eclipsing her fear. “They’re not a filly, and neither am I.” She opened her saddle bag, ready to retrieve the weapon if needed. “Just go back to digging for bits like a freaky hag, why don’t you? And stay away from anypony else while you’re at it, you smell like shit.”
The menacing pony hesitated, clearly taken aback by the determination in her eyes combined with the sudden insult as his blue face flushed a deep purple. For a moment, it seemed as if he might retreat entirely, but then a twisted grin spread across his face. "You’re lucky my partner isn’t here… for now. We'll meet again!" He sneered, vanishing back into the shadows he came from.
With the immediate threat gone, the two continued on their way with much more vigor, their hearts still pounding with adrenaline. “That was crazy. You crack me up,” Sapphire murmured, a smile creeping onto their face, but Bolt was still too worked up to respond.
Finally, they arrived on the nostalgic street that Marshmallow Creme's cottage was on, a small, weathered neighborhood nestled amidst the remnants of Cloudsdale. It looked to be in surprisingly good condition in comparison to the rest of the city, but ‘good condition’ was still an overstatement. Taking a deep breath, Fire Bolt started towards the familiar cottage that looked to harbor candlelight, and she raised her hoof to apprehensively knock at the door. The curtains rustled momentarily, and a muffled shriek came from inside. The door was whipped open in a millisecond, and a pink pegasus yanked Bolt into her second bear hug of the hour. “Fire Bolt!” As they embraced, a mix of relief and sorrow washed over both of them as the familiarity of their hug faded. The war had changed them all, leaving scars that ran deeper than any physical wound. Marshmallow pulled back with tears in her eyes, which then flickered to Sapphire. “Who’s your friend? In, come in!”
The two of them rushed inside, anxious to close the door behind them, and Bolt was suddenly overcome with emotion. The scent of old coffee and lavender filled her senses, almost making her feel like a filly playing with her best friend again. She finally choked out, “This is Sapphire Swirl. My half-sibling.”
“Half-sibling? Oh, how wonderful!” Marshmallow replied before pulling the green pegasus into a rib-crushing hug as well, who squeaked at the suffocation. “I only ever heard about you through Bolt’s letters! Before the Nightfall, that is! I wish you two would’ve come up here sooner, but I understand why your sister here didn’t want to revisit Cloudsdale. You know, old memories and all of that– oop!” The energetic pegasus suddenly released Sapphire as she realized that they were losing air, and she flushed a deep pink. “Sorry. Really good to meet you. What brings you here? I would’ve escorted you to the cottage if I knew you were coming. Lots of scrappers out there.”
“Well, that’s the thing. I don’t really know why exactly we’re here, but… we need you,” Bolt replied sheepishly.
“Come on, then, let’s figure it out together!” Marshmallow Creme suddenly ushered them into the kitchen.
Inside, the atmosphere was warmer and more inviting than the entryway, a stark contrast to the absolute desolation outside. A crackling candle illuminated the room, casting flickering shadows on the walls as Marshmallow brewed a pot of coffee, her hooves moving with practiced ease.
The aroma of freshly brewing coffee and the comforting crackle of the candle filled the kitchen, wrapping Fire Bolt and Sapphire Swirl in a cocoon of warmth that they desperately needed. They settled around a small, weathered wooden table, its surface worn smooth by years of use. Marshmallow Creme, her mane a smooth blend of purplish hues, bustled about with a hum as she waited for the pot to finish spewing, and then pouring steaming cups of coffee with grace. "So, tell me more about your journey here," Marshmallow Creme said, her eyes curious as she handed them each a steaming mug. "It must have been rough out there, especially with the state of Cloudsdale these days. Always makes me sad to see, but I can’t leave."
Fire Bolt tilted her head. “You can’t?”
Marshmallow sighed. “I can. But I just… It doesn’t matter. I want to hear about you guys.”
“It was scary out there,” Sapphire piped up. “We almost got stabbed out there!”
Marshmallow didn’t seem surprised. “I’m glad you made it here in one piece. How did you decide to come to me?”
Fire Bolt took a breath. “Well, uhh… I woke up on a Saturday morning…”
Sapphire Swirl and Marshmallow Creme were both staring at her with dropped jaws. “The mare told us to find you, and that she would give us more information once we did. That’s all I got.”
“Hold on, back up. You never told me any of this!” Sapphire’s eyes were wide.
“To be fair, it was just a few hours ago. We didn’t really have the time to debrief an entire day’s worth of hallucinating.” They nodded at that, still overcome by surprise at the events retold.
“I can’t believe I was in your weird nightmare world… thing. Did I look cool?” Marshmallow grinned, and the three of them laughed.
“You looked like you when we were kids. So, yeah, pretty cool,” Fire Bolt smiled back. “I still don’t understand any of it, though. I wish I had more to go on.”
“I understand. I think. You know how amazing I am at listening!” Marshmallow Creme smirked sarcastically, and the two of them shouted over each other in an attempt to tell the stories of their time in school together to Sapphire Swirl.
Stories flowed freely, memories of their shared past bubbling to the surface. Together they loudly reminisced about the days when Cloudsdale was a haven of laughter and friendship, when the worries of the world felt so far away that they could go home to their parents when things got too tough.
Amidst the laughter and shared memories, Fire Bolt's eyes suddenly caught sight of an old photograph on the wall behind her sibling, a snapshot frozen in time. It captured a moment of pure joy alone, Fire Bolt and Marshmallow Creme side by side, their smiles radiant and unburdened. Fire Bolt felt a lump forming in her throat – it was a beaming reminder of the friendship that had endured despite the passage of time and the struggles they had faced while apart. “You still have that?” She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Oh, this? Of course I do!” Marshmallow followed her gaze to the picture on the wall. “It was such a fun day at the fair!”
It was indeed a fun day, it was before the two of them even had their cutie marks. Their parents had to come with them for safety reasons, but they had snuck off — the photograph was snapped mere moments before Hyacinth had found the fillies at the photo booth and dragged them out by the scruffs of their necks, all the while murmuring about the dangers of wandering alone.
“Mom was so mad. I didn’t even care, though, because I knew she wouldn’t shout with company,” Bolt said, the atmosphere now settling into one of bittersweet reminiscence. After several moments of silence, an image of Sonar and Jelly pacing anxiously flashed into her mind, and she was suddenly overcome with the purpose of the journey. “Sorry to cut this short, but if you’re willing to come with us, we really should get going.”
Sapphire was almost vibrating with energy, the two cups of coffee not aiding their already boisterous personality. “Agreed. Let’s hit the road!” They lept to their hooves, taking the liberty to blow out the candle and bounce to the front door. Marshmallow and Bolt shared a fond look before joining them and preparing to enter the chilly darkness, and Bolt didn’t even notice her friend slipping the old photograph into her saddle bag.