//------------------------------// // Uncommon Valour // Story: Price // by Havoc //------------------------------// Celestia woke to the sounds of someone humming merrily. A crack of light poured into her room. She furrowed her brow in confusion before having all doubts removed when Luna stepped into her field of vision and opened the curtains to let a steam of daylight come pouring into her eyes. "AH!" She sprung to her feet and stared at her sister then out the window, then back to her sister. "You raised the sun?" she said shakily. "Yup! It took a few minutes to figure out then another few to actually do it. You never mentioned how easy it was! It has so much energy that you just harness what it gives off naturally and use that to move it! I'm starting to see why you're so much more powerful, Tia. So, breakfast?" Celestia had lived for nearly three thousand years. She had seen and done more than almost any other being alive in the world yet she was flabbergasted at the ball of energy and joy her sister had become. "Yes, Luna. Breakfast sounds nice." Luna smiled and skipped out the door, singing a song older then the palace they lived in. Celestia blinked a few times before calmly waking over to a basin full of ice water and dunking her head in it. She spent a few minutes combing her hair and trying to wake up, both because she was tired and because she was convinced she was still asleep. She entered the hall where they normally ate their meals alone. It wasn't that they had anything against each other but their differing schedules often made spending time with one another difficult, especially since Luna would be eating dinner when she ate breakfast. She saw her sister carry in a few plates and set the long table for two. "Are you going to stand there, Tia, and catch flies or come and have the first breakfast we've had together in years?" Celestia picked up her jaw where it had fallen on the floor and sat down across from her sister who had dug into a plate of pancakes without her usually display of manners, or gag reflex. "Whut? Itch gud!" Celestia pinched herself, just to make sure, and daintily picked up her knife and fork and began to cut her pancake slowly and deliberately. I must tell Luna about this dream when I wake up. Yes, she'll titter quietly and say how ridiculous it was and I'll laugh and say how I thought it was absurd as well and she'll go back to her books. Then I'll raise the sun and tuck in my... little sister? Celestia dropped her knife and fork and looked across the table to see her little sister as a filly. She looked around and they were sitting in their old cottage. Sun poured in through the windows and her mother walked in with another plate of pancakes. She looked back at her smiling sister's face and listened to her tell their mother how she wanted to be just like her big sister and raise the sun one day. Celestia blinked and looked at her sister finish eating and look back at her. The twinkle in her eye was back, her smile, her demeanour. Celestia stood up and leapt across the table sending plates and food flying to tackle her sister to the floor in a bone crushing hug. "Oof! Celestia! Not just after I ate!" Her plea went unheard or ignored as Celestia squeezed harder and hugged someone she hadn't seen in thousands of years. Hundreds of miles away The forest was getting thick and green again. The tree roots made it impossible to find even footing and their progress slowed to a walk. *crunch* Pinkie Pie wouldn't shut up. They had all been relieved when Rarity and her had come away unscathed but the lack of movement and laughter she was now catching up on was getting on more than a few nerves. Nerves that were already fraying from the hardships that had stressed them to the limit. "Pinkie Pie, please." Twilight spoke, consciously trying to make Pinkie Pie aware of the gravity of the situation with the tone of her voice and not the stream of words that were flooding her head at the moment. Rarity had put on a thousand yard stare. She remembered Pinkie Pie being like this on their way home from Dodge. It had kept her awake during the nights afterwards. "Yes, Twilight?" "Can you, please, be a little quieter... please, so that we don't attract any unwanted attention or you run out breath and pass out or something else terrible happens! Please?" Pinkie Pie smiled at the unicorn who was twitching and trying to win an internal battle with herself not to summon a thousand rolls of duct tape. "Okie dokie lokie!" They all let out a sigh of relief and continued down the ever narrowing and more rugged path that was now little more than a strip of the forest where the undergrowth wasn't as dense. "Twilight, just how far away are we now?" They all shared the feeling that made Rarity ask. They could sense the end of this mad journey was near and now they just wanted to get it over with. Twilight lit her horn and fumbled about in her bags for the maps. Her magic was getting weaker and she felt numb and blind. She gave up and ripped the map out of her bag more vehemently then she intended. Flustered, she managed to at least float it up in front of her face. Her hoof traced across the map. "We are... here... and the mountain is... here. Wow, we'll get there tonight if we push." *crunch* Twilight tensed. "What was that?" Applejack picked herself up. "Sorry 'bout that. Darn roots and all, I jus' wasn't watching." Twilight nodded but the worried look didn't leave her face until she scanned the surrounding forest and didn't see the murderous death beast straight from her nightmares lurking in the bushes. "Let's hurry up shall we? Maybe we can be home and in our safe and comfortable beds in a few days if we just galloped the rest of the way? Or maybe Lucien can teleport us straight home and we won't have to go back through here ever again!" Rainbow Dash, contrary to popular belief, was well acquainted with fear. She nudged Twilight and put her wing around her. They both relaxed. The group walked on at a snail's pace for an hour before the light started to play havoc with their minds. The sun was very low in the sky and the lengthening shadows played tricks on their vision. Rainbow Dash was now hugging Twilight for protection as much as Twilight was hugging her. Fluttershy was practically being carried by Pinkie Pie and Rarity as Applejack forged ahead. Applejack's eyes and ears were straining to see and hear everything. Every footfall, every dart of movement. Her shifted her eyes over a scary looking bush to a scary looking tree. Whatever magic the Darkness possessed was clearly at work here, she was sure of it. "Applejack, is everything alright?" "Yeah, just this dark playing tricks on mah eyes and ears is all. You know when you look at something in the dark, it looks almost like it's moving and alive but when you focus on it, it stops?" *crunch* They all stopped. Twilight turned her ears behind her and listened for all she was worth. "Okay. Did anypony here step on something that crunched under their hoof?" None of them answered. Somewhere behind them, Applejack's scary looking bush growled at them. It was over in a second. The alpha timber wolf pounced on the group and scattered them. Twilight felt her left side say hello to her right as she impacted on a tree. Rainbow Dash was pinned under a leg that ended in a stump. Pinkie Pie had got the other foot and rolled away with a gash running down her flank, cutting a balloon in half. Fluttershy was right underneath the beast, trying to scream but finding no air to do it. Applejack had been knocked away by the snapping jaws and was now trying to focus on the thrashing tangle of limbs and leaves in front of her. Rarity was dangling from its jaws, her saddle bags the only thing preventing her from being bitten in half. The wolf kicked Rainbow Dash aside and used Rarity as a weapon to fend off the others. She frantically hacked at the buckles to get free but the constant movement and the fact that its teeth were already biting through one side complicated the task. "HOLD ON, RARITY!" The wolf's jaw nearly broke off from the flying kick Fluttershy delivered. She backed it up with swift kick to its chin. She bent almost completely over as a clawed foot slashed through the air. Rarity finally managed to undo her pack. She was thrown into the air and through a thick briar into a clearing where she rolled to a halt and lay still. The wolf still had the bags lodged in its mouth. Fluttershy stared right into its eyes but couldn't convince it to leave, it was a plant after all. The two circled, sizing the other up. Fluttershy seethed with rage and she tried to keep in control of her body. YOU DO NOT HURT MY FRIENDS! The wolf saw her hesitate for a moment and struck. She tried to spin out of the way of a swipe but it was a feint and the wolf head butted her into Applejack who had been stunned by the spectacle. "Ow, help! Help! Somepony, heeeelp!" The alpha wolf frowned, he had heard of clichés before but never expected to actually hear one let alone eat it as well. He felt it was rude to decline the offer and dove through the briar to see his prey weakly crawling away. The saddlebags still dangled from his jaws. One side had opened and begun spilling its contents. Rarity saw its massive form and gulped. A perfect actress. Come on, closer. That's it you ruffian. It stood over her, jaws agape. Rarity saw a length of rope fall out of the bag, and she shut her eyes and prepared. I was always the one to give generously. *BO--* Rainbow Dash got to her hooves and covered her ears. They rang so loud she couldn't hear anything else and she stumbled and fell beside Twilight who had rolled over on to her good side. Her left fore leg bent awkwardly and she had her eyes closed in pain. Applejack got out from under Fluttershy and looked around. She heard a pained breath below her and looked down at Fluttershy's injuries. She bit her lip. Pinkie Pie crawled out of the bush she had been hiding in. She winced and felt as though her leg had split open. She looked around at her friends. Hey, where's Rarity? Applejack rolled Fluttershy onto her side so she could breath. "Every... everypony okay? Hey, what was tha... where's Rarity?" Rarity walked out of the briar, her eyes wide and slightly unfocused. "Oh, thank Celestia! What happened?!" "It's gone." Rarity smiled and giggled. Applejack raised an eyebrow and laughed along with her, nervously. A single bead of red trickled down her white chest and she stopped. She looked down and her eyes focused on a sapphire spike protruding from the centre of her chest. "Oh." They watched as she fell face first into the dirt. Her back was riddled with gemstones. Rarity woke up and instantly regretted it. Her back felt like it had been flayed and she squirmed under the combined weight of Applejack and Rainbow Dash. "Hold her down!" "I'm trying!" Rarity found her voice and screamed until she ran out of breath, then she just panted and cried. To her left she looked into Fluttershy's eyes which were red from tears, from the pain of breathing with a broken rib and the sight she couldn't look away from. Pinkie Pie sat off to one side. Rocking back and forth, trying to think of something funny to say or do but finding she just couldn't. Twilight sucked in a breath of air and let it out slowly. She retrieved the map, this time just nodding grimly before casting it aside. "We're not that far off. We can get their if we try but we have to go now." Applejack fumbled with a set of bandages in her hooves. She bent down and looked at Rainbow Dash who nodded and held Rarity down. Applejack bit down on a gemstone and pulled it out. Rarity screamed one last time before fainting. A spurt of blood streaked across Applejack's face and she tried not to think about it as she applied the cloth. "We can't move her like this. She'll... she won't make it." Twilight risked a look at Rarity. It was an image that was carved into her mind and she quickly looked up into Applejack's eyes. "We have to try. If she stays here, she definitely won't make it. If we get to Lucien, she has a chance. Same with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie and even me. If he is half of what Celestia described then he can help us." Applejack wiped her face with the back of her already blood stained hoof. "Fine. Sounds like a plan. Let's save lives." They put her on Applejack's back and made sure she was immobile. Applejack heard her moan and looked back in sympathy. She quickly turned forward and started walking. The most disturbing thing about her injury was that Element of Generosity was lodged deep in her back along with the rest of the gemstones. It gleamed in the starlight. A mile away. Lucien paced back and forth in the chamber. They should have been here by now. I've seen them here on this night. What didn't I foresee? No matter, I have to go ahead as planned anyways. Time to send a letter. He produced a quill and parchment and hastily scratched out a note. Dear Celestia and Luna, First, wait an hour. Then, travel by the fastest means available to you to the Door. I'll be here with the Elements. Come the end of this night the Darkness will have been defeated once and for all. With love, Lucien He set the quill down and sighed. He rubbed his eyes and began taking stock of himself. He was tired. So tired it was a wonder he hadn't simply turned to dust. He burned the letter and the ashes blew away into an ethereal wind that whisked them to a palace he hadn't seen in years. He imagined the gardens and how they would be this time of year. How he missed just being outside. Among growing things. He missed his old forge. He missed his wife and his daughter and his friends. Memories flowed through his mind like a waterfall in slow motion. So much passed by but he could see and cherish it all. He brushed a tear away from his watering eyes. "Lucien, you sad sad old man." He went to the window and looked up at the stars. His ancient eyes had seen so many night's skies like it. But this was the one that finally broke him. He looked up and wept at all the stars in the sky, being able to name all his friends and family in them. Lillian. Lucille... He dried his eyes and went outside and stood on the hill leading down to the forest. A thought struck him. "Ah, what am I doing. I should be celebrating! Last night of this and then I'm free! Heh... hehehehehe!. A party? Naw, I'll do it after." He put on a brave face and waited. He had so much to tell them. He hoped they'd have so many questions. He laughed again. He hadn't hoped for something so mundane in so long. It felt good. To not know what happened next. He'd predicted what happened after but not in between now and then. Moments later, appear they did. He saw that something was wrong, though. One of them was carrying the other and some of them were limping. He squinted in the dark, as his night vision was terrible, and saw what was the matter. "Ah, good. At least they made it here in mostly one piece. Time to meet the next guardians." He sauntered down the hill to meet them, a spring in his step.