Sleep was blissfully uneventful for Skies that night. There were no voices in the dark, no soulless eyes of ponies staring at her, no cold feeling of guilt with every quiet breath. She felt warmth and comfort, even traces of peace as she drifted off. Her breathing deepened into that of a pony truly resting and a satisfied Moonflower shared a small smile with Candy Pop. “I didn't think that was going to work.”
“Did you put a spell on her?” Candy asked.
“Not really.” Moonflower's pale cheeks colored slightly in the light of the fire. “I've always had this kind of gift...I can heal damaged plants, injured animals, sometimes even heal a pony if the injury isn't too great. I just used the same magic on her mind that I did when she was in the hospital and it seems to be keeping away anything damaging.”
“Like the nightmares.” Candy Pop nodded, impressed. “That's really a special talent, Moonflower.”
“I discovered I could do it a few years after I got my cutie mark. A small shipment of delicate flowers I had delivered were not handled with the best care and when I got them I was so determined to save them I just kind of...discovered what I could do.”
“You really love your flowers, don't you?”
Nodding, Moonflower looked down. “They've always been the only constant in my life, you know? They don't judge me or criticize and make fun of me. They depend on me and they live and flourish because I take care of them. When I was younger, before I moved here to Ponyville, they were the only friends I had.” She smirked and laughed quietly. “Even after I moved to Ponyville.”
Candy Pop's brow wrinkled. “You didn't have any friends at your old home?”
“No...”
The darker unicorn bit her bottom lip. “But...why not?”
Moonflower shifted on her bedroll uncomfortably. “Somepony needed to be the butt of everypony's jokes.”
“Oh, Moonflower...”
She shrugged her withers as though it didn't matter. “I was overweight as a filly and that provided a lot of entertainment for my schoolmates, the colt I had a crush on included.”
“I am so sorry.” Candy Pop reached down from her bed to touch a hoof to Moonflower's withers. “There is no excuse for something like that.”
“It doesn't matter. Their constant tormenting was what drove me to hide myself away in my garden. It helped me discover my cutie mark and my passion for plants and later find my healing abilities. And it made me change myself for the better.”
“And,” Candy added gently, “it brought you here. I'm so sorry for anything I said or did in the past that was unkind.”
Moonflower shook her head. “You didn't know, and it wasn't as though your reactions were unjustified. I...tend to be a bit abrasive in an effort to keep ponies away.”
“Whether I knew or not doesn't matter. I didn't know you and I judged you based on things I came up with in my own thoughts. Had I ever taken the time to actually get to know you-”
“You would have seen your judgments were correct.” Moonflower laughed at herself but there was sadness in her eyes.
“No,” Candy Pop countered gently. “I would have seen that you were a pony in need of true friends.”
Slowly, Moonflower looked first at Skies and then up at Candy Pop. “I think I have them now.”
“You do. And Clap will come around. She's the protective one of the group so she acts all hard and tough. It's really because she doesn't want to see her friends get hurt.”
“Which makes her one of the best kinds of friends to have.” Moonflower turned her gaze to Skies as the pegasus let go of a deep, peaceful sigh. “We have to protect her,” the unicorn stated quietly. “She's going to try and protect us but I just feel it. She's the one who will need the most protection.”
Candy Pop nodded but said nothing on the subject. Instead she told Moonflower, “You should get some sleep now. Tomorrow's going to be a long day.”
~*~*~*~*~
In the morning Skies awoke to find herself alone in Candy Pop's bedroom. The bed was made, the blanket rolls used by Thunder Clap and Moonflower rolled up and set to the side of the room, nothing looked out of the ordinary. Beneath her covers she stretched, laying on her side like a cat, and let her mind slowly shake off the grogginess of sleep. She could hear voices through the floorboards and figured everyone else was already awake and waiting downstairs for her. Yet there was hesitance in getting up. Leaving the comfort of where she was now meant having to face the very thing she did not want to.
The door opened and a voice asked, “You awake yet?”
Skies lifted her head to see Thunder Clap's nose poking in through the open door. She smiled at her friend and stretched again, her wings extending themselves fully before tucking back against her body. “I'm awake.” Tossing her blanket aside, she got to her hooves and shook out her blonde mane. “You could have nudged me or something. I didn't mean to keep everypony waiting.”
“It's okay. We all just got up ourselves.” Clap went farther into the room and sat on her haunches. “You sure you're ready for all of this?”
“Do I really have a choice?”
Clap tilted her head. “No, not really.”
“But you do.” Skies fixed the dark pegasus with a serious gaze. “Tell me I can still talk the three of you out of coming with me.”
“Not a chance.”
She sighed. “All right, then. Let's get going.”
Down in the book shop she was surprised to see that Princess Celestia had once again joined them. Skies was quick to bow and, when given permission to rise, joined her friends. “Are you coming with us, Princess?”
“If things were different, perhaps I would.” Celestia smiled ruefully and shook her head. “But no, my dear. This is a journey the four of you must make on your own. I have simply come to make sure you have the best head start possible.”
“Princess Celestia is going to teleport us to Tartarus,” said Clap excitedly. But the princess chuckled quickly and gave another delicate shake of her head.
“Not exactly. I will teleport you close to Tartarus but you must make the end of your journey on hoof. I cannot tell precisely where this shadow kingdom is but with the information you provided last night, Sugarmint Skies, I will be able to get you fairly close.”
Skies nodded. “It beats having to walk there. No matter what, he'll know we're coming.”
“I will watch over you as best as I can.” The princess swept her serious gaze over the faces of the mares before her. “Are you ready?”
“So ready!” growled Thunder Clap.
“Be safe, my little ponies.” A translucent blue light gathered around Celestia's horn as she lowered her head toward the group of friends. Each one of them felt a warmth envelop them, a feeling like stepping from a shadow and into the heat of a ray of sunlight. It was hopeful, and then it was gone.
Everything was gone. The princess, the shelves of books, the musty smell in the air, absolutely everything.
“Where in the hay are we?” asked Candy Pop. There were no trees, no buildings, absolutely nothing but sand in every single direction she looked, nothing to break up the uniformity of their surroundings but each other.
“I don't really know.” Skies looked left to right, her brow furrowed. How were they supposed to know which way was the right way to go, let alone know where to find Wicked Winds? Would they really have to wait for him to find them. “Stay close,” she instructed quietly. The three other ponies obeyed, each with their eyes trained in a different direction than the rest and Skies directly in the middle of their protective triangle. “It's been too long since I've seen Wicked. His powers were growing every single day. There's no telling what he's capable of now.”
Clap bristled and whipped her head around, peering menacingly at the horizon. “Let him come!”
Ignoring Thunder Clap, Candy glanced at Moonflower and asked, “That spell you put on Skies last night, the one to keep her mind safe? Can you do that with all of us?”
The pale unicorn shook her head uncertainly. “I don't know. I didn't even know I could use my magic on another pony until that day in the hospital. I didn't even know it worked the way I wanted it to until last night.”
“And you won't know if you can protect all of us until you try right now!' Clap declared impatiently.
“Don't yell at me!” the unicorn barked.
“Everypony, just calm down.” Skies wasn't looking at any of them, her blue eyes staring straight ahead, concentrated. “The second we start fighting is the second Wicked will exploit to defeat us. We have to stay close and I don't mean just physically.” Finally she looked at Moonflower. “Please...try.”
With pursed lips, Moonflower gave a slight nod and closed her eyes. As the rest of them watched a pale orange aura gathered around her horn. Moonflower's eyes squeezed shut in effort and within moments she let go of a breath she'd been holding in. Her eyes opened and she looked suddenly very weary. “I can't. I'm not strong enough.”
“Okay. It's all right.” Skies tried to give her an encouraging smile but she was too tense for it to feel genuine. “What about just protecting Thunder Clap?”
“Huh?” The dark red pegasus perked her ears and looked at Skies in confusion. “Why me? You're the one he's after, remember?”
“That may be so, but I don't think he can get to me anymore. Not the way he used to at any rate.” Taking notice of the ways the others were looking at her, she shook her head. “If Wicked could just persuade me to come back the way he's persuaded every other pegasus to be here then he would have done it by now. I think when I woke up from his spell the day I ran away I somehow broke that part of his hold over me. That's why he's been coming to me in my dreams and trying to guilt me into coming back. He knows his magic doesn't work on me anymore.”
“Okay,” Clap conceded slowly, “but why protect me? Moonflower should protect herself if she protects anypony. She may be the only one who'll be able to get us out of this mess if we all get sucked in.”
Skies shook her head once more. “He won't even bother with Moonflower or Candy Pop. They're unicorns, therefore beneath him. They're nothing more than annoyances.”
Huffing, Moonflower bared her teeth. “I'll show him just how much of an annoyance I can be.”
“I don't think we should stand around here for too much longer.” Candy Pop shuffled on her hooves. “Whoever we decide should be protected, can we figure it out as we walk? I don't like it here.”
Thunder Clap opened her mouth, doubtless to ask where she thought they should walk to, but Skies silenced her with a look. “Candy's right,” said the minty pegasus. “Let's keep moving.”
Seemingly as one body all four mares began a slow trek forward. Though they were making sure to stay together both unicorns moved slightly away from Skies and in front of her. Clap fell into step direction behind Skies, keeping the blonde pegasus in the middle the protective triangle of her friends. Every now and then Clap would turn to walk backward for a few paces, then would turn around once more to keep her eyes forward.
Skies kept her ears open to any sound that might be out of the ordinary. She was expecting to hear the familiar beat of wings in the air at any given moment and when that happened she did not want to be caught off guard. As much as her friends thought she needed to be protected she feared they didn't understand just how much danger they had put themselves in by coming with her. She'd never seen Wicked Winds kill another pony but after what he'd almost done to her, what he'd threatened to do to her? It was hard enough to imagine Pinwheel in Wicked's grasp. If anything else should happen to any of her new friends she would never forgive herself.
“Maybe we should see what we can spot from above,” she suggested after several minutes of silent walking. The horizon had not changed in any direction and there had not been any sign of movement except for a slight wind that had picked up. “Clap and I might be able to-”
“Where is Clap?” Candy Pop was looking in the direction from which they'd come, the other two turning quickly to look as well. Nothing but endless sand. Gazes raised skyward to see if the pegasus had taken things into her own hooves but she was nowhere to be found. “Thunder Clap?”
The wind that had been a quiet breeze whistled as it gained intensity, picking up lighter grains of sand and throwing them in the faces of the mares. “He's coming,” Skies said evenly. “Wicked. He's coming.” Now flanked by the unicorns, Skies bore down and narrowed her eyes. The wind whipped past her as though laughing at her, then blew so sharply against her she could have sworn she'd been struck. Then the sand opened up beside her and Moonflower was sucked under before anyone, herself included, had time to react.
“Moonflower!”
The other two scrambled in panic, Candy Pop instantly digging where the other unicorn had been pulled under. Then the sand gave way beneath her and sucked her under as well. With a cry of fear, Skies jumped into the air and flapped her wings.
The wind rushed past her in violent currents that left her unsteady and bobbing like a filly on her first flight. There was so much sand swirling around her that it was nearly impossible to see. “Candy!” she called fruitlessly, covering her face with a foreleg. The wind was too strong and unpredictable. Her wings were already shaking with overexertion and Skies knew it would only be a matter of moments before her fight was lost. This was worse than any tornado or hurricane. These winds were unnaturally strong and maliciously unkind. Soon enough there was a pinch of cramping up in her withers and one of her wings seized in pain. The pegasus was tossed through the air like a rag doll, blown this way and than before being thrown recklessly down on sand that felt less forgivng than it should gave been.
All at once the wind slowed. It wasn't enough to be considered normal but the gusts no longer felt as though they were ripping at her pelt. She lay sprawled out on her side trying to catch her breath. Was this it, then? Was he just going to kill her with his magic and be done with it?
“Coward!' she cried, her voice lost in the howling whistles surrounding her. “You are a coward, Wicked! You can't even face me before you kill me?” Stubborn, she struggled to her hooves and bore down against the wind once more. “Come on then! Show me what you've got!” He could try his worst and just may best her, but Skies knew there was no way she was going down without a fight.
A shadow grew in the distance before her, something approaching through the sandy gale. It started out small then grew and spread until it had her surrounded on three sides. Distinct shapes took form, bodies, heads, wings. They crossed the lines of the worst of the sandstorm and pressed forward until Skies could see faces and blank, emotionless eyes. The pegasus whipped her head around to look for Wicked but he was not there. She saw many faces that were familiar to her from Ponyville, some she remembered from the time before she'd left the company of Wicked Winds. Yet none were so familiar as the one who came to stand directly before her.
“Pinwheel!” Skies rushed forward and took Pinwheel's face in her hooves. Her eyes were still fairly normal; it hadn't been long enough that she'd been under the spell to really look any different and for that Skies was thankful. But there was a blankness in Pinwheel's gaze that frightened her. “Pinwheel, it's me! It's Sugarmint Skies! Can you hear me? Do you remember me?” Pinwheel didn't even blink. “Pinwheel, please. You have to fight this!”
Pinwheel's lips curved into a smile that made her look psychotic and Skies let go of her. All around her the other pegasai broke out into similar grins and yet they all stood unblinking and unmoving. “Sugarmint Skies,” said the white pegasus, mocking laughter in her usually sweet voice. All around Skies her name was repeated, dozens of different ponies peering at her, sightless, and threatening. “Sugarmint Skies, Sugarmint Skies, Sugarmint Skies!” It started quietly in the sweet lilting voice of Pinwheel but as the others began joining in the sweetness turned to malevolence.
“Stop it!” Skies cried, covering her ears with her hooves.
“What's the matter?” asked an expressionless Pinwheel. “You wanted to know if she knew you, this one meaningless pegasus. I wanted to show you that she knows you. They all know you!”
“Wicked.” Skies glared at Pinwheel, knowing the stallion was using her to speak through somehow. “Let her go.”
“I don't think so. She's come in rather handy already. Just seeing that wildness in your eyes, my pet, makes me really believe all of this has been worth it. All the late nights of hunting, all the manipulation, all the mornings filled with painful injections.”
Skies furrowed her brow. “Injections?”
“This is a conversation better had face to face. I have been waiting for this reunion. Are you ready?”
There was no time for her to answer. A hoof struck hard against the back of her head. The last thing Skies saw before she lost consciousness was Pinwheel, Scribes, and Medley grinning sightlessly down at her from where she lay sprawled on the sand.