Lacuna

by Drakmire


15 - All Things, in the End

“My name is Ember.”

Silence hung heavy in the air as the orange-yellow unicorn looked from Applejack to Rarity and back, as if expecting a reaction.  Applejack met Rarity’s gaze for a moment, lifting her eyebrows in the tiniest hint of a question.  Rarity shrugged, and they both turned back to look at Ember.  He snorted and gave them a wry grin.

“Of course.  No matter.  What’s important is that you’re both here.”

“And where is here, exactly?” Rarity asked, her voice imperious as she sat up straight on her pile of cushions.

“A few miles out from your destination.  Our destination, I should say.  You’ll have to forgive the sparse accommodations--this is just a way station, and I’m afraid it’s not exactly set up to entertain guests, let alone those of your fame.”  He floated a pillow over and planted his rump upon it.  “We’ve a little time yet before your friends find their way to the end of the breadcrumb trail my associates left behind.”  He waved a hoof in the vague direction of the two well-dressed dogs standing against the far wall.  Rarity had initially mistaken them for diamond dogs, but their casual brutality in the face of her whining had quickly disabused her of that notion.  

“Time enough for some answers,” Ember said.

“You bet your flank it’s time for answers!” Applejack rocked forward and hopped onto her hooves.  If she’d had her hat, she’d have tipped it back as she advanced on Ember.  “For starters, why?  Why did ya ponynap us and feel the need to rough up my friend?” From the corner of her eye, she saw Rarity give her an appreciative smile.

“Quid pro quo, but know that I count that as two questions,” Ember said.  Applejack was a pony’s length from him now, easily within bucking range, but his voice remained calm as he continued.  “Why don’t we start with the second.”  He twisted around and looked back at the dogs.  “Fex? Mirrin?  Care to explain yourselves?”

“She named me brute,” the tall one said, nodding to Rarity.  He gave her a humorless smile.  “I did not wish to make a liar of her.”

“Well, there you have it,” Ember said, turning back to face the ponies and coming nose-to-nose with Applejack.  “Ah, how forward.  And we’ve only just met.”

Applejack spoke through clenched teeth as she narrowed her eyes, pushing Ember back on his cushion.  “We are going to walk back out that doorway and meet up with our friends.  If you try to stop us, I will buck you so hard--” A growl like living thunder rumbled around the stone chamber, making Applejack look up and take notice.  The taller dog had detached himself from the wall and hunched over, staring at her with cold, dark eyes.  Even from a distance, Applejack could see the muscles in his legs tense as he stood ready to pounce.  

Without breaking eye contact with Applejack, Ember held up a hoof to arrest the dog’s actions.  “It’s all right, Fex.”  He gently pushed her back to a more comfortable speaking distance.  “There’s no need to go rushing off to find your friends.  The whole point of doing this was to get them here, after all.”

“What do you want with them?  With us?” Rarity asked as she leaned forward.

“Now those are another two questions, and I’ve had none of my own.”

“Ya ain’t answered our first one, in case ya forgot,” Applejack said.  Her gaze flicked to the guard behind Ember, but Fex had pulled back against the wall again.  His eyes never left her, however.  

“Wrong.  I told you: to get your friends here.  Now, two of my own: is Sand Shaper with them?”  

Applejack drew back a fraction of an inch, blinking as though that could drive away her surprise.  “Yes?” she ventured.  

Ember looked grim.  “I see.  And second: does she carry her book with her still?”

“What business it is of yours?” Rarity asked, finally deigning to leave her pile of cushions.  

“Another question, and you’ve not answered mine.  Yes or no?”

“I don’t know, to be honest,” Applejack said.  “It ain’t like we all went through each others’ things before we set out.”

“And I certainly do not know, either,” Rarity said with a sniff.  “It is quite rude to rifle through another pony’s belongings, to say nothing of absconding with the ponies themselves.”  She directed a pointed glare at the two dogs.

“Fair enough.”  Ember stood.  “Time to go, however.  Your friends have entered the last stretch of the trail.”

“We ain’t going nowhere, especially not with our friends looking for us,” Applejack said, once more taking a step towards Ember.  “I think we’ll be staying right here and waiting.”

“Think again,” he said.  His horn flashed, and the world disappeared in a burst of orange light.

***

Rainbow Dash scratched an itch beneath the crude sapphire pendant hung round her neck. “You sure we’re going the right way, Twilight?” she asked.  With her muted disguise no longer necessary, she had happily reclaimed both her true coloration and the rest of her name.  She hovered facing backwards, visibly twitching in response to the slow pace set by the others.

“As sure as I can be,” Twilight said, wearing an amethyst in the same manner.  Each of her companions wore a jewel around their necks.  Though it had been of no consequence magically, she had taken a small pleasure in matching the color of each gem with the one who would be wearing it, imagining that Rarity would approve.  “I’m glad we managed to find Applejack’s hat so quickly, but I don’t want to rush forward and risk losing track of things.”

In a way, she could almost smell the faint magical trail that they had picked up on the surface where, presumably, Applejack and Rarity had disappeared.  She glanced back, double and triple checking that the rest of her friends had not mysteriously vanished.  From the very back, too far to converse without shouting, Luna made eye contact and mouthed the words, “We’re fine.  Focus.”  In the cold light of Luna’s darkvision spell, the shadows contorted into strange shapes around the princess’ lips, making Twilight shiver as she turned around and did as she was told.

Hours of traveling and hesitation at a dozen intersections had done nothing to add to their haste, but as the trail grew steadily warmer, fresher, a mounting sense of nearness to her missing friends pushed Twilight on.  Her unspoken urgency radiated out to the rest of the party, and they stepped more lively, almost breaking into a trot in spite of the narrow confines of the subterranean tunnels.  

A light appeared in the distance, and as they turned the final bend, they entered a large, circular stone room devoid of any other occupants. Two large piles of dark cushions lay scattered and flattened, as though they had borne weight recently and were suddenly displaced.  No other archways marked a means for entrance or egress, but Twilight felt certain that the trail led here.  

 She closed her eyes, focusing on the faint smell of the magic that they had followed.  A magenta sphere flew from the tip of her horn, shooting to the center of the room before erupting in an ever-exploding shower of sparks that illuminated the room and the magics that had been used within.

“What the hay?” Rainbow asked, spinning around in midair as she surveyed the walls.

Runes shone upon every inch of the stone walls and floor.  They burned with a golden-orange light, seeming to flicker and dance as if a still-living fire had been distilled into ink and pressed into writing.  Sigils and designs spiraled and snaked away in long coils and dizzying patterns, looping back in on themselves in a maddening display of arcane text that seemed to change if stared at for too long a time.  Twilight immediately began walking around the room, muttering to herself as she bent low to examine this or that on the floor, or peering at some particular marking with an intensity that brooked little in the way of interruption, save for the world ending.  Maybe not even that.

“They were teleported out, it would seem,” Luna said, drawing everyone’s attention to a lingering cloud of orange sparkles now visible in the center of the room.  “And recently, too.”

Twilight nodded as she finished another segment of her inspection, looking around as she spied four other such clouds.  “I could barely smell the trail of magic out in the corridor, but the taste of it here is almost overpowering.”  She made a wide gesture with one hoof.  “The runes here are like the air in an old library.  Hallowed, refined somehow, dusty with age, but not bad for all that.”  She nodded towards one of the orange clouds.  “But those, they’re like... like...”  She narrowed her eyes, fishing around for the right words.

“What?” Pinkie bounced up and down in front of her.  “What’s it taste like?  It’s all orange, so does it taste like one?  Or, no, wait,” Pinkie said, drawing up onto her hind legs as she gave the matter some consideration.  “Applejack’s orange too.  Wait, I’ve got it!  Does it taste like Applejack?!”

“I doubt it,” Rainbow Dash muttered.  A sudden stillness prompted her to look up and blush when she saw everyone’s eyes turned her way.

“Huh.”  Twilight didn’t have any more than that.  Then, slowly: “No, Pinkie.  It’s hard to describe what the spell tastes like.  It’s just a sort of metaphor really.  But the whole point is that the magical residue from the teleport is really strong still, and if I can... just...”  

She lowered her head and focused on her missing friends: the way they smelled when riled up, the way their laughter sounded, the way they looked when standing in bright sunshine.  Her spell grew into a round, golden net of glowing ropes, pulsing as it expanded to encompass the entire room.  A half-dozen runes suddenly flashed along the walls, and Twilight found the spell accelerating beyond her control.  Before she could second guess herself, she let the spell-weave collapse with a monstrous thunderclap that sent everyone in the room reeling.  Fluttershy shrieked and dove beneath a pile of cushions.

“Ugh...” Sand struggled to stand.  “Some warning would have been nice, Twilight.”

“Sorry... sorry... “ Twilight shook her head, trying to force a coherent sentence out of her mouth.  “It must be all the runework here.  I didn’t expect the spell to behave like that, but look!”  

She pointed to the center of the room where a faint afterimage of Applejack stood frozen mid-advance, a look of stern disapproval painted across its face.  A phantasm of Rarity sat upon one of the piles of cushions, looking more surprised than serious; Twilight couldn’t help but wonder at the disparity between their expressions.

“So they were here!  What are we waiting for then?” Rainbow asked.  “Do some unicorn mojo and let’s go after them!”

“If it were only that easy, Rainbow Dash,” Luna said, stooping low to beckon Fluttershy out from her hiding place.  “We need to know a second anchor point if we are to teleport from one location to another.  We’ve only one right now.”

“So what? It’s a dead end?”  Rainbow gave them an incredulous look.  “It can’t end like this!”

“It doesn’t have to,” a new voice said.  Their eyes turned to the doorway, seeing the orange-yellow unicorn standing beneath the archway.  Ember gave Sand a quick look up and down as her mouth worked in a failed attempt to form words.  “Hello, sister.  Seems like you must have had quite the adventure in your brief time away.”

“Sister?” Fluttershy asked, almost too soft to hear in the sudden silence.

Pinkie bounced in place, an enormous grin plastered on her face.  “Ooh, you have a brother?  Why didn’t you tell us?  It’s a family reunion; we can throw a party!” Confetti and streamers burst out of nowhere from behind her.

Ember?”  Sand said in a hoarse whisper, patently ignoring Pinkie’s suggestion.  “This is your doing?  Is your loathing of me so great--”

“Of you?” Ember said, tilting his head.  “You seem to have gained a rather self-centered view of the world during your brief time in exile.”  His gaze fell on a walnut-sized diamond hanging around her neck.  His horn glowed for a moment before Twilight snapped him out of his concentration.

“You’re responsible?” Twilight asked, advancing on him with her horn held out before her like a lance.  “We want our friends back.”

“And I’d like a cherry pie, but...”  He blinked as a cherry pie materialized in front of his face, held aloft by an enormously happy Pinkie Pie.  He sighed.  “Bad example,” he said, gently pushing the food away with one hoof.  “You’re really ruining my dramatic entrance here,” he told her.  

“Then what?” Sand asked.  Luna walked up beside her, wings flared, eyes narrowed.

“Times are changing rapidly, and not for the better,” Ember said, pitching his voice a fraction lower than a moment before.  “My people have remained neutral since we first felt the touch of the eclipse upon our hides, but--”

“You’re really milking this drama thing for all it’s worth, huh?” Rainbow asked, crossing her forelegs, hovering in place as she gave him a speculative look.

Definitely Sand’s brother,” Twilight said.  She forced an apologetic smile when both Sand and Ember turned to glare at her.

Ember huffed, but visibly fought down his irritation. He regained his composure within moments.  “Fine, fine.  I wasn’t really built to be a showpony anyway.  Look, I needed to get you here, quickly, before you crossed the barrier zone around Fjieena din Tor.”

“What?” Sand asked.  “We were nowhere near the city walls yet.”

Ember shrugged.  “They’ve been expanding it since you left and...look, it’s a long story.  I can’t go out onto the surface, and you definitely wouldn’t have trusted my messengers, so I did what I thought would work.  And it did.”  His horn glowed as he flicked a telekinetic burst against Sand’s diamond necklace, making the gem ring.  He looked at Twilight.  “Empathic link, right?  Can you use it as a second anchor point?”

“I--what, yes?” Twilight said, blinking her eyes in confusion.

“Good, let’s talk about this someplace else,” Ember said.  “All the runework here makes my skin crawl, and I’m the one who scribed it.  It should help if you have any difficulties following us, however.”

“If you think we’re simply going to walk into your trap--” Luna began, taking a step forward.  Before she could say more, however, Ember and Sand vanished in a flash of orange light.

“Twilight?” Luna asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I have their location,” Twilight said, returning a satisfied grin.  “Hold on, everyone.  This is going to be a bit of a rough ride with so many of us.” Almost as an afterthought, she added, “Be ready for anything.”

Twilight focused on her companions, touching each with the faintest glimmer of her magic, just enough to feel their innate magical powers.  She inhaled, drawing on their strength to power her spell as they willingly gave in to her control.  Beneath her hooves, four loops of runic text changed from golden-orange to a brilliant white, and Twilight found her wits sharpening, her mind’s eye suddenly capable of seeing far afield.  Distantly, she saw the diamond around Sand’s neck and fed its location to her teleport spell.  With a final lurch, she jumped, pulling everyone else in her magical lattice along with her.

For those wrapped in the safety of Twilight’s spell, the journey through the space between spaces took only a moment, but the aftereffects left them feeling like they had never known what it was like to be healthy during their entire lives.  Those that managed to remain standing found the world spinning in a dizzying whirl of lights and colors as they waited for reality to reassert itself.  Those with less fortitude staggered and collapsed, retching their brief dinners onto the dark wooden floor.  

They stood in the center of what looked to be somepony’s living room.  A cheery fire danced in the hearth while magical lanterns hung suspended throughout the chamber.  Their soft, yellow-white light softened and dispelled any harsh shadows that might have taken refuge in the sharp corners of the room.  The chamber measured perhaps the length of a dozen ponies at its widest, yet it still felt cozy and enveloping.  

“That took you much longer than I hoped when I realized what this was,” Ember said, holding up the diamond necklace.  Sand looked up from her seat where she had been reading to a sky-blue filly with a powder blue mane.  Ember floated the necklace back to his sister.  She pulled it out of the air with her magic and placed it around the neck of the filly beside her.  A whisper shared between the two made them both giggle.  

“Clever bit of enchantment, that, if a bit sloppy,” Ember continued, looking back at Twilight and the new arrivals.  “In a hurry, were you?  No no, don’t answer, you’re still too busy vomiting on my floor, I see.”  He gave them an appraising look before shaking his head and going to fetch a mop.

“You’ll want to be careful in the future,” he called out from a broom closet.  “More so, at any rate.  Teleportation is largely forbidden within Fjieena din Tor, and the enforcers will be far less forgiving if they detect you jumping from point to point.”  He returned with mop in tow, eying the floor with a small frown before he began cleaning up.  “Still, they’re not beating down my door just yet, so I suppose that I masked your entry well enough.”

Twilight groaned, getting to her hooves as she fought back the pounding in her head.  While in the desert on Luna’s mission to the Erudite, the princess had taught Twilight more than just combat magics and how to defend herself in an arcane duel. Spell-linking had been a difficult topic to grasp, but Twilight had managed to pick it up well enough over time.  However, Luna had never quite mentioned the particular side effects of putting that knowledge to use.  Twilight made a mental note to have words with the princess later on.  

“What...” Twilight began, but her lips felt thick, the wrong size and shape, like they belonged to somepony else.  A horrifying thought crossed her mind, but she looked around the room as she fought down her anxieties, hoping she’d see something that would take her mind off of her fears.  Her eyes fell upon the filly at Sand’s side, and the star and moon cutie mark upon her flank.  Twilight wondered at that for a moment before Ember’s voice distracted her.

“Welcome to my home, welcome to my home,” Ember said, putting away the mop and bringing everyone’s attention back to him.  He trotted around the room tidying up a pillow here, a blanket there.  “Feel free to take a seat wherever you’d like, once you get your bearings.  You’ll have to forgive my hospitality while you’re here, however.  We’ve only had a day to prepare since our little introduction, after all.”

“A... day?”  Twilight asked.  She shook her head, as if that could clear away her confusion.  “Time dilation.”  She grimaced.  “I guess I need some practice with those runes.”

Ember hummed.  “Don’t we all?  But yes, a day and some change, really--it’s morning now, and that gives us that much less time to get acquainted with one another before we need to set off.”

“Set.. off?”  Twilight shook her head again, unsure of what she was missing.

Sand stepped close, followed by the inquisitive blue filly who looked up at her and asked, “Who’re they, Auntie?”

“My friends, little one,” Sand responded, ruffling the filly’s powder-blue mane.   Sand grinned like an idiot, for all the world feeling like she was lighter than air.  She leaned in close to Twilight, and in an exaggerated stage whisper asked,  “How would you like to help me save my people?”

***

An hour later, three ponies trotted down a well-worn path towards the undeveloped edge of the city.

“Are you sure we ain’t gonna be recognized?” Applejack asked, giving Sand and Twilight a look of mild concern.  “Ya both look the same as ya ever have to me.”

“We will to each other, yes,” Twilight said.  “But to others, we’ll just look like some random ponies with nondescript cutie marks.  Just don’t say anything too identifying and we should be fine.”

“The only one I worry about doing that is Pinkie Pie, to be honest,” Sand said.  “She is... unique.”

“Just gotta have a little faith in our friends,” Applejack said.  Her eyes narrowed.  “Like you’ve got in your brother.”

Sand grimaced.  “I’m sorry again, on his behalf, for the treatment you and Rarity received.”

“Ain’t got nothing to do with how I was treated, but he had those hired thugs rough up Rarity, and I’m gonna be mighty sore about that for a long time.”  Applejack gave Sand a hard look.  “You sure we can trust him?  Just ain’t sitting right with me, all this cloak and dagger stuff.  Something feels... off, but I can’t place my hoof on it.”

“You met his wife and child, do you think he’d endanger them?” Sand asked, a hint of begging in her voice.  “Please, Applejack.  Believe me, I was as skeptical as any of you, but we had a day to do nothing but mend fences and I think... things will be all right, once this is all settled.”  She gave Applejack a tremulous smile.  “They’re the only family I have left now.”  Applejack stared in return, but let the matter drop.

They walked to the end of the leaf-littered trail, pausing a moment as they peered at a narrow crack in the otherwise solid rock face before them.  It would be just wide enough to admit a pony, assuming that that pony’s talent wasn’t food-related.

“This it?” Twilight asked.  Sand nodded in response.  Twilight ducked her head as she entered the fissure.  “So you only touched on it before we left: the dreams just stopped one day?”

Sand followed suit, speaking mostly to Twilight’s rump as Applejack entered last.  “A couple months after I left, apparently.  Nopony’s sure why, of course, but it’s pretty obvious it had to do with the departure of what eventually became Selene.”  

She took a deep breath once on the other side, standing beside Twilight as she waited for her eyes to adjust to the dim light.  When they had, she said, “The city’s founders had an appreciation for natural beauty, you have to give them that.”

Rocks scraped underhoof as Applejack came up alongside, looking around in open wonder.  Had the disguise allowed her her hat, she’d have tipped it back in admiration.  Instead, she gave a soft, appreciative whistle.  “Ya can say that again.”

An enormous domed cavern yawned before them, huge and ancient and magnificent.  They stood at the top of a long, sloping ramp carved from the rocky walls.  It spiralled downwards, hugging the sides of the cavern for as far as they could see.  Darkness shrouded the farthest parts of it, but patches of luminescent mushrooms dotted the stone here and there, providing more than enough light to travel by.  At the chamber’s center, a massive stone formation reached from the ceiling to the floor far below.

“The Pillar of the Earth,” Sand said, gesturing to it.  “Symbol of the earth ponies amongst my people, and the foundation of the barrier’s strength.  Ages ago, before the founders, before the eclipse, before Discord, most likely, simple sediment fell from above, drop by drop, leaving behind minerals as the moisture evaporated.  Eventually, stalactite met stalagmite and fused together. How long would it take to form that, do you think?”

Twilight shook her head as she tried to work out the potential flow, deposit, and accumulation rates in her head.  “Time beyond measure.  I wonder if the princesses were even around that long ago?  The center there is as thick around as the Ponyville Library and it has to be hundreds of feet high.”  She shook her head.  “C’mon, we’d better get moving.  I’d love to stop and figure out the numbers, but we’re already going to be the last group in place, I think, and I don’t want to take longer than necessary.”  Twilight turned to go, but stopped when she felt a soft hoof on her shoulder.

“A moment,” Sand said. “There’s something I didn’t mention before, as it didn’t seem necessary at the time, but just in case.  The ponies who come to this cave come to study and relax, and sometimes that involves relaxing together.”  She gave Twilight and Applejack a meaningful look, waiting until the implication had sunk in before continuing.  “There’s little privacy down below, but it’s still considered impolite to stare.”  They nodded in understanding, and Twilight gestured for Sand to lead the way.

They descended downwards, nodding in polite greetings to ponies traveling in twos, and sometimes threes, that they passed heading back up and out.  Every one of them had the ubiquitous pair of saddlebags laden down with books.

They came to the base of the chamber: a large, flat area free of debris, but littered with glow lamps and ponies lying beside one another in little knots and clusters.  Some had books open in study.  Some... didn’t.  Twilight kept her mind focused on their task.

Sand cleared her throat, bending her head down and prompting Applejack and Twilight to do the same.  “Let’s find a space for ourselves, then we can let Ember and the others know that we’re in position.”

They nodded, and she led the way.

***

Fluttershy beat her wings one last time, panting as she alighted on the treetop platform next to Luna and Rainbow Dash.  “It’s so... high and... open.”  She stopped to look at the city spread out beneath them.  The residents of the city went about their business far below, barely visible through the interwoven branches of the forest cover.  She teetered on the edge for a moment before drawing back in fright; a fall from their height would prove fatal to even the most resilient of ponies.  

The platform itself was formed from a single smooth piece of the redwood it grew out of, as if a branch had decided to suddenly break rank and grow into the shape for pony purposes.  Flat and round with irregular edges, it spread out wide enough that it would have comfortably seated half of Ponyville’s residents, had they the wings to ascend to it; no stairs marked a means to reach the platform’s height.  At its center, a single massive loop of gnarled wood rose seamlessly from the heartwood floor, towering over everypony there by at least thirty feet.  Piles of leaves had been netted and staked down, molded into shapes for anypony that desired a more comfortable place to sit while they read or enjoyed the scenery.

A voice like the creaking of old trees in the wind asked, “Ah, more acolytes to contemplate the mysteries then?”  An aged green pegasus nodded to them as he walked over.  His coat was the color of new-grown pine needles in the spring, his mane had either been white originally or had simply become that in time.  “I am Grove Keeper, tender of the Archway of the Heavens.  Mind you don’t cause any trouble, and you’re free to stay here for as long as you’d like.  So few ponies get to enjoy the view, it’s really a shame.”  He gestured to the broad expanse below them and out to the far horizon.  “All the more room for us pegasi though, eh?”

Luna knew that he saw them in their illusionary disguises, but she still felt discomforted that he spoke, essentially, to her neck and not her face.  Her mind tried to wrap itself around where she should look and how she should act when conversing with another pony, but she gave a mental shrug and trusted in Ember’s magic.

“Indeed, good sir,” Luna said, giving a little bow and receiving a pleased smile in return.  “We’ve come to study, of course, but would you perhaps be willing to give us a little history of this place?” She hesitated a fraction of a second before adding, “All knowledge has value, but this place has more than most others.”

The praise worked wonders.  Grove Keeper preened and practically fluttered his wings as he bobbed his head.  “Of course, youngling, of course!  So rare to find ponies who appreciate the history of our fair city, and not just some distant dream or spellbook.”  He turned and led them across the platform, his steps sounding muted and heavy on the dense wood.  While he had his back turned, Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, but had the decency to appear contrite when Luna frowned at her.  

“Our founders planted this redwood here amongst the others, but they worked ancient enchantments into its roots such that it would be able to one day support this platform.”  He gestured to the massive loop of wood standing behind him.  “The Archway itself is a symbol of the pegasi amongst our people, alive and flourishing so long as we remain to tend to it.  Its magic provides the Elders with a clear view of the sky and the surrounding wilderness, keeping us safe from outsiders, and keeping outsiders safe from our secrets.  From down here, we can look up at the sky, unimpeded, but from up above the barrier magic, our entire city appears to be no more than a dense cluster of trees.  Should anything stray too close, the magic simply deters them while letting the Elders know so that they can keep an eye on things until it’s safe again.”

“Deters them how?” Luna asked.  He turned his wizened face towards her.  “Sir?”

He nodded.  “I believe that outsiders end up finding their own reason to take a different path around our fair city, but they never know why they avoid this area.  It’s for the best that way.”  He grew sad for a moment, looking out through the branches.  He shook his head and gave them a broad smile. “Now, I’ve kept you younglings long enough.  Go on and find a seat wherever you’d like--there’s so much to learn, but only so many hours in the day, after all.”

They gave their thanks, then looked for the side occupied by the fewest number of pegasi.  Although a fair amount of room separated them from any others, the platform itself left little in the way of privacy.  They managed to decide on one and settled into position.

When Ember had offered one of his books at random to help give their alibi credibility, Rainbow had waved him off with a smile.  “It’s cool, but I have my own,” she’d said.  Now, flopping down on a bed of leaves, she cracked open her copy of Daring Do and the Secret of the Crimson Eye and began reading.  

Luna bent down and whispered, “Just remember, Rainbow Dash:  we need to be ready to act on a moment’s notice should anything go wrong.  Do try to not get too caught up in your story.”  The princess received a grunt in response, and she supposed that that would have to do.

Fluttershy had not been as prepared.  Twilight had picked a book off the shelf at random, glancing briefly at the title before hastily tucking it into Fluttershy’s saddlebags. She’d said, “Sorry Fluttershy, I know astronomy isn’t your thing, but there’s no time.”

Naked Singularity?” Fluttershy whispered to herself, puzzled at the odd title.  She lay down on a soft pallet next to Rainbow’s own and began reading.  Before long, her eyes grew huge, and a furious blush came across her cheeks as she realized that what she had been given was as far from astronomy as the the stars were from Equesetria.  Her wings slowly unfurled, but she didn’t notice.  Her eyes never left the page, and Luna hoped that she wouldn’t have to snap both of them out of their... enthusiastic endeavors when the signal arrived.

Luna sat down and opened her own book: a treatise on void magics that she had actually written, in part, ages ago.  Dry, but it would have to do.  She magically tapped her necklace to let Ember know they were in position, then began reading.

***

Rarity and Pinkie Pie strolled down the wide cobblestone street.  Although disguised as the others were, Rarity’s noble--nay, regal!--bearing made passersby look up and take notice.  She felt pleased to note more than one pair of eyes watching her with faint awe and open desire.  She’d have found to a patch of sunlight to stop and preen, had they not been on a mission.

Beside her, Pinkie Pie managed to walk with a somber grace that belied her effervescent personality.  Rarity suspected that had their disguises been visible to one another, she might have lost track of the pink pony, so well did she blend in with the populace.

They made as much haste as they could towards their target: a monolithic pillared structure that stood like a monument to forgotten gods. Sleek, white marble covered every surface: from the wide, even steps, to the fluted columns rising high overhead, to the immense roof covering the single-chambered building.  Rarity ducked as they entered, feeling the weight of ages bearing down upon her in a way that only Celestia’s presence ever had before.

Outside, the sun shone, but the inside remained dark except for pools of lamp- and torchlight illuminating ponies bent together in silent study or quiet discussion.  They laid upon simple rush mats, books open before them on the ground.  Clean and ascetic, if not particularly glamorous.  

Rarity looked from side to side, envisioning plush cushions and rich tapestries, imagining the walls blooming with life to add contrast to the stark reminder that ponies aged, but stone did not.  She shook her head and glanced around, seeking their target: the artifact Ember had called “The Heart of Creation.”

As Ember had explained it, the Heart acted as more than just the symbol of the unicorns.  It functioned as a sort of loom, perpetually weaving basic magical threads into the complex enchantments within the barrier itself. By neutralizing the heart, the barrier would no longer be able to disorient and displace ponies wandering into it, allowing a freedom of movement that hadn’t existed in nearly a thousand years.

Pinkie stood beside her and whispered, “Something seems fishy about this whole deal.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow and whispered back, “Pinkie sense?”

Pink hair flopped back and forth as Pinkie shook her head.  “Not yet.  It’s almost like I can feel a doozy coming on, but we’re not quite there.”

“Well, do let me know if something comes up,” Rarity said, taking the matter with all seriousness.  “I’m loathe to consider what something of that magnitude would mean here, of all places.  But come, I think I see what Ember wanted us to be near when the time comes.”

They walked forward and their eyes adjusted to the infrequent darkness.  Something at the end of the chamber glimmered with a white luminescence--not enough to light the alcove that housed it, but enough to draw the eye.

When they had traveled close enough to see the object attached to the name, Rarity’s steps faltered, then came to a halt entirely.  She stared at the flawlessly cut diamond as it silently revolved in the air.  Her eyes grew huge and misty, and when next she spoke, it was in a husky whisper.

“Tom?”

***

Water gurgled overhead as Ember and Viridian followed the aqueduct into town, heading for the city center.  Ember wanted theirs to be the first group to arrive so that they had everything in place when they decided to act, but a faint hum from his makeshift amulet told him that Rarity and Pinkie had found their target first.  He sped up, and Viridian did the same.

“Think of it, Viridian,” Ember said as they walked, keeping his voice low and an eye out for ponies eavesdropping.  “Within a day--hours perhaps--we’ll have shattered the barrier keeping my people chained to a vanished destiny, and we will finally be able to lead our own lives out in the world.”

“A noble endeavor, however convoluted,” Viridian said, “but your request for assistance might have been more diplomatic.”

Ember dipped his head.  “I would apologize again--”

“You’ve done that enough.”

“--but you’ve made it clear that I’ve done that enough, so I hope that you’ll convey my apologies to Princess Celestia when you return to her court.  I am thankful that my two apprentices were subdued before they could harm either of you, but I would dearly love to know how the magic I used to smuggle them out went so catastrophically wrong.”
 
“Wouldn’t we all.  But we’re here, I believe.”

From the shadows, they stopped and looked.  

The Sanctum rose from the city center like a tree stump jutting out of the forest floor.  Ancient and unyielding, it felt as though when the world had turned to dust around it, it would still endure.  

No matter how much it had rotted on the inside.  

Cyclopean masonry overflowed with bright green moss.  Slatted wooden eaves slumped at the edges, giving the entire structure a sullen, pouting look.  Armored guards, the only ones to be had throughout the city, stood watch at the building’s only doorway, armed with spears whose plainness belied the latent enchantments worked into their shafts and broad heads. 

“You are resolved to this path then?” Viridian asked as they ducked back out of sight for a moment.

Ember nodded.  “I believe that this is the only recourse left to us.  When the dreaming vanished, there was confusion, then a stirring amongst my people: clamor for change, time and again.  The Elders flatly refused to listen to anyone, choosing to clamp down in some misguided hope of preserving the status quo.  If we can destroy the barrier zone that lets them prevent my people from leaving the city, the Elders will have no choice but to adapt.”  He looked to Viridian, meeting his eyes.  “I think of this as a jailbreak.  Nothing more.  No one gets hurt, we all go free.  Are you with me?  We can work something else out if you’re having second thoughts.”

“I admit that I am, but no plan is entirely water-tight.” Viridian pawed the ground and nodded.  “I am with you.”

“Good!” Ember smiled and his voice regained a measure of its former whimsy.  “Well now, let’s go ahead and get inside.  I can get us past the guards, but we’ll need your magic to get farther than that.”

“Sleep and more sleep,” Viridian said.  “No one harmed.”

“No one harmed,” Ember agreed.

The guards snapped to attention in unison as they stepped inside. “Head Librarian.”

Ember nodded to them in passing.

“Head Librarian?” Viridian asked as they walked down a musty-smelling hallway.

“It’s not like I’ve been sneaking all this information from some headmaster’s study,” Ember said, shooting Viridian an amused look.  “The plan’s a byproduct of my station, but one that I needed to act on when the facts became apparent.”

They came to an unoccupied desk.  Scrolls and letters lay scattered about, as if they had been abandoned in a great hurry.  An old cup of coffee sat ringed by faded stains that hadn’t been wiped off in ages.

“Maybe they’re on break?” Ember asked.  He ran a hoof along the desktop, tracing the dried coffee rings.  “A long, long break.  I don’t like this.”

“Do we go back then?”

A faint chime rang from the topaz around Ember’s neck.  He looked down briefly, then shook his head.  “Luna’s in position now.  If all it takes to spook us is a missing receptionist, I think we were doomed to fail from the start.”

“You don’t mean that, I trust?”

“No.  But be alert.  I dislike things going off-plan so soon.”

They walked around the desk and through an unbarred entryway, stepping into a spacious antechamber that housed a sizable pair of double doors and comfortable benches where supplicants could wait their turn.  As with the reception hall, this too was empty.  It had a smell of old dust, disused and forgotten.  Viridian walked around, sniffing at this or that.  

“Faint and worn.  Nothing fresh.  No one’s been here in some time.”

Ember turned a slow circle, eyeing the corners of the room as if something might be lurking just out of sight.  He looked to the double doors and drew his lips into a thin line.

“We press on.”

The doors swung open with nary a whisper of protest, though the buoyancy of Ember’s magic may have had something to do with that.  They stepped through and paused, standing at the top of a grand staircase that led down to the center of a large, circular auditorium.  Stepped seating ringed the edges, enough to house the majority of Fjieena din Tor’s population at once, should they need addressing.  

Down below, three ponies stood facing one another with eyes closed in silent concentration.  The pegasus, wings flared, knelt with nose touching the ground.  The unicorn, head bowed, stood with horn thrust outward.  The earth pony, head held aloft, stood regal and magnificent.  For all their movement, they could have been statues.

At the center of their focus, an opaque blue sphere the size of a foal’s head floated in midair, shimmering with faint lines of force.  

“What is that?” Viridian whispered.  

“I know not, but I suspect that it is what we’re after,” Ember replied.  The gem at his throat hummed a third time in as many minutes.  “Twilight’s group is in position.  If we’re to do this, it must be now.”

“Then so shall it be,” Viridian said, bowing his head.  He stared at the three ponies down below, trusting that his magic would overcome them before they woke from whatever reverie transfixed them.  He drew on his magic, and the chamber filled with the songs of a dozen kinds of songbirds.  He watched his spell-weave settle over the heads and shoulders of the Elders below them.

Ember wasted no time.  As soon as he began hearing the birdsong, he closed his eyes and drank in power, weaving a complex spell that he channeled through the amulet around his neck.  The gem sent it outwards, radiating the magic to its sibling stones.  The spell gained speed and force as it traveled, building like a tidal wave speeding across the ocean.  The magic reached out through Rarity, through Luna, through Twilight, tapping into their unicorn powers to duplicate and magnify the spell at the exact same instant.  

From three points around town, distant rumblings could be heard.  A violent tremor in the ground nearly shook Ember and Viridian from their hooves, prompting the buck to look up and take notice.

“What was that?” Viridian asked.

“The barrier devices failing, I think,” Ember said through clenched teeth.  “But look!”

Ember had dug his hooves in against the weight of ancient spellcraft beating back at his paltry magics, but he managed to direct Viridian’s attention to the center of the chamber.

The opaque sphere had dimmed and gone translucent.  A single book, plain and unadorned, floated within.  It turned almost lazily along two axes, as if displaying every angle of itself for inspection.

“That must be it!  The source of the barrier’s strength!”  Ember said.  He grunted.  “I can’t hold its magic back for much longer.”  He tried to gesture with a hoof, but a surge of power forced him to redouble his efforts on maintaining his spell.

Viridian took the hint.  Sprinting down the steps, he had to rear up to his full height to reach the book, but it was a simple matter of batting it out of the air with a quick flick of his hoof.  

As he touched the book, he understood.  As it remained bound fast to his hoof, he understood.  As he fell to the ground screaming, he understood.  

Ember dropped control of his spell, and the gem around his neck went dark.  With an impassive expression, he watched the buck thrash and moan down on the floor below.  Viridian writhed on the ground, mouth open in a silent scream, unable to remove his hoof from the grimoire.  

“Knowledge,” Ember said, pitching his voice to be heard as he walked down the steps. “My people need it like water, like air.  Myself more than others, perhaps.  I’ve learned enough to know, truly and thoroughly, how little I really understand, and how my teachers here knew nothing at all.”  He reached the bottom and tapped the unicorn Elder with one hoof.  It crumbled to dust before him, and as if in sympathy, the other two Elders collapsed to nothing as well.

He stepped close and knelt down, angling his head to look into Viridian’s coal-black eyes, ones that had gone wild with terror and pain.  “But with your help,” he said, nodding to the grimoire, “And a little bit of magic, I’m finally going to have a master that can teach me so, so much.  Together, we’ll build a world that will never fall prey to ignorance and misunderstanding.  We’ll help ponies learn about the universe and about each other, to bridge the divide between peoples of all nations.  No more will we fall victim to strife and chaos because we lacked a little cautious guidance, a little more knowledge.  Really and truly, you are making the most noble of sacrifices for us.  For everyone.  Thank you.”

Viridian managed to suck in a huge, gasping breath, enough to give one last scream as his eyes rolled back in his head.  Ember walked around him in a slow circle, observing with a cool disinterest.  The red-brown color of the buck’s coat began to blacken and char as tendrils of smoke rose from it, only to disappear on some unfelt breeze within the chamber.  The smell of roast venison wafted through the air, and Ember gave an appreciative sniff.

“I always wondered what would have happened had we not pulled Curio away.  Good to know, good to know.”  He watched and waited.  Within moments, Viridian’s corpse fell on its side, cracking and breaking as the brittle remains crumbled to ash.  Ember gave the book a speculative look, then waved a hoof as his horn glowed.  A golden sigil twisted into existence, rotating slowly in midair before pressing itself upon the thick leather cover.  He levitated the grimoire before him, noted the creak from its bindings as he opened it, and began to read.

***

The jewel around Twilight’s neck had shone with an inner light, and she had felt Ember’s magic being channeled through her body, drawing upon her abilities to cast itself into the Pillar.  She had analyzed it in passing, noting that it was nothing more than a simple disruption spell laced with a little mystery that she’d wondered at.  Nothing that seemed sinister or complicated or destructive.  Nothing that could explain what happened next.

The chamber shook.  Massive blocks of stone crashed to the earth in ear-splitting dins that made her want to cower and hide, to wait things out until the cacophony subsided.  The braver part of her brain seized control, however.  She reached out to everypony that she could, friend and stranger alike, wove them into her lattice, and teleported up to the surface.

The entire experience spanned three heartbeats.

Another tremor knocked Twilight and everypony off their hooves.  Ponies she had rescued littered the grassy slope leading up to the cave entrance, but shouts and abbreviated cries for help told her that she hadn’t saved them all.  Couldn’t have saved them all.  She closed her eyes.

Sand shook her.  First gently, then with vigor.  Twilight and looked at her friend, then at the ponies around her.  Her eyes grew haunted, and her face haggard.  

“Twilight!  We need to get back, we need to find my brother!”  Sand looked around in a panic, barely registering Applejack’s next words.

“Yeah,” Applejack said, dusting herself off.  “We sure do.”

***

Lightning split the sky as Ember’s spell ended.  Luna felt the link sever and grow dark, as if the enchantment had been completely broken and not just gone inactive.  Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, but she had more important matters to contend with first.

Most of the pegasi studying beneath the Archway had managed to fly off at the first sign of trouble.  Other than her companions, only Grove Keeper remained, staring at the Archway in confusion as it crackled and spat electricity in every direction.  The gnarled wood fissured and began to burn, charring into red-hot coals that singed the fur from the elder pegasus’s body and burnt away the edges of his feathers.

Luna understood his confusion, knew that his paralytic disbelief would cost him more than just a few hairs and feathers before long.  She gathered Rainbow Dash and Flutteshy to her side, then levitated Grove Keeper in as well.  His eyes grew wide as he turned to her, seeing her in truth for the first time.  Luna’s horn flashed a moment before a massive explosion ripped the platform apart and sent shards of wood flying in every direction.  Of the princess and her party, there was no sign.

***

Ember rushed out of the Sanctum’s front doors, ignoring the two guards who looked askance at him in passing.  He spied his sister across the town square, Twilight and Applejack beside her, as she looked around in confusion.  Ponies everywhere were milling about, some in panic, most in reserved curiosity.

“What went wrong?” Ember asked as he got within speaking distance.

“What happened?” Sand asked at the same time.

“I don’t know!” Ember yelled, trotting around in a tight circle as his words came out in a rush.  “One moment everything was going fine--Viridian cast his sleep spell, I sent out the signal and then the ward dropped right as planned, but then...” He shuddered.  “Curio’s book, sister.  They were using Curio’s book to ward the city and...” He swallowed, eyes wide with barely-contained panic.  “It ate him, sister.  It ate through his body like he was being roasted from the inside out!”

Sand blanched, barely registering the presence of Applejack beside her.  

“You’re lying,” the cowpony said.

“What?!”  Both Sand and Ember gave her matching incredulous looks.  Both managed to look mildly offended in spite of their shock.  

“You’re lying,” Applejack said again, squaring her shoulders as she stared Ember down.  “Ya may think we’re a bit slow, coming from a little old town like Ponyville, living our honest little lives, but there’s a reason we embody the virtues that we do.  And you’re lying, I can smell it rolling off ya.”

Twilight and Sand turned to confront their friend.

“How can you say that?” Sand asked.

“Are you certain?” Twilight asked.  She noted the reproachful glare from Sand, but waited for Applejack to respond.

“As sure as anything I’ve ever been sure of,” Applejack said, not breaking eye contact with Ember.

A telekinetic burst hurled all three of them across the town square, flying in different directions as they struck pavement, wall, or tree.

“I suppose I could have dragged this out a bit longer,” Ember said, “but it’s not as though I care anymore.”  He floated his grimoire out of a saddlebag, opened it, and placed a hoof upon its pages

A swirling black portal appeared a dozen feet up, hanging over their heads as if a window between worlds had been opened to spy on events.  A wide column of dark light shone down from its center, focusing on Twilight, drawing to the width of a lamp post, then a pencil. A thin whine filled the air, culminating in a riot of fire and shadow and smoke as Ember unleashed his spell.  An instant before the impact, a cerulean flash of light blanketed the area as three ponies teleported in.

Dust settled in the square.  A shimmering shield of light-blue force covered Twilight, covered Sand and Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.  As the wind drove the magical fires out and the smoke cleared, Luna strode forward, tall and proud, every inch the regal alicorn that had fought back the elemental force of Chaos in its primacy.

“Why, child?” Her voice was made of tempered iron. “Why would you do this?”

Ember shrugged.  “Why else?  To gain an understanding of things beyond knowing.”  He ripped a chunk of pavement from the ground and flicked it at Fluttershy.  She squeaked and collapsed; Rainbow Dash dove in front of her, wing spread.  The slab of granite crashed against Luna’s barrier, shattering into a dozen pony-sized pieces.

“Your madness did more than just give us dreams, Your Highness.  It siphoned them, filtered them into something our terribly small minds could comprehend.  And what did we do?”  He looked around in disgust.  “Instead of putting it to incalculable use, we walled ourselves off from the world, squirreling away the knowledge as if saving up for a hard winter to come.”

Twilight ran out from Luna’s shield, teleporting the instant she crossed its threshold.  Ember whipped a frenzy of wind around himself just before Twilight’s fireball would have impacted.  Instead, it arced and flew off at an oblique angle, exploding harmlessly against the side of a nearby building.  He shot her an amused expression and continued speaking as if she hadn’t interrupted.

“But the ultimate source of the dreams was a mind, Your Highness.  A mind as old and as ancient as the stars themselves.  As the stars themselves.  You understand, don’t you? Your sister certainly did when she struck a bargain with it.”  He narrowed his eyes.  “And she understood exactly what she was doing when she broke that bargain by allowing my sister to take her book beyond Canterlot.  Beyond the reach of the servant we created to reclaim the lost fragments.”

“Selene, brother?”  Sand got to her hooves, her mouth trailing blood as she spat out a tooth.  “We met her and freed her from her bondage.  You have no power over her now.”

“Indeed,” he agreed, giving her a bright smile.  “You turned our servant from our control.  Naughty bit of business, stealing from one another.”  A lash of flame spun lazily through the air, whipping the tip in a sharp crack as it impacted against a magenta barrier.  Twilight stood atop a nearby building, gazing down with a mix of warring emotions painted across her face.  

“But every plan has its fallback.  Or it should.  Wouldn’t you agree, Twilight?”  He looked in her direction, and the building crumbled beneath her hooves.  She gave a startled yelp and teleported away before she could hit the ground.  “Fjieena din Tor is old, sister.  Not as old as some, I’ll admit.”  Here he gave Luna a short bow that would have been polite, had circumstances been different.  “But old enough.  My master has watched and waited for this moment, yearning for the point when he would finally be able to reach through the gap in this world and enter it in his majesty.  I’ve waited for years for this opportunity, and to think that when it finally arrived, my own sister would be the one to bring it about, along with the world’s greatest heroes.”  He smirked at them, fighting back the urge to laugh maniacally at the irony of the situation.

“Your plan will not succeed, child,” Luna said.  Darkness gathered as she seemed to drink in the very light from the air.  “You are strong, but I am ancient, and we will stop your attempt to tear the barrier between worlds asunder.”

“Stop me?”  He gave them a puzzled, amused look.  “Did you honestly think I would be monologuing here if there was even the faintest glimmer of hope that you could stop me?  Do you think I’d have needed your assistance if I’d had this power to begin with?”  His horn glowed, and the Sanctum behind him exploded.  Rocks cascaded around them, dozens of them shattering to dust as they impacted Luna’s and Twilight’s shields.  At its center, mists swirled and coalesced around a gathering of lights.  From an infinite distance away, the ponies could feel something approaching through the shrouded gate.

“All this for knowledge, brother?”  Sand strode forward.  “For power?  Did you learn nothing from our sister’s death?”

Rage flickered across Ember’s face.  He held the grimoire up before him, placing a hoof upon its cover as he drew out another spell.  

“Did I?  Did you?!” His voice was feral, wrought with anger.  Sand’s eyes grew wide as the shadows of his spell congealed into a mass of writing tendrils, questing and seeking prey.  He held it in check, menacing her with his creation.  “Do you know what your ignorance cost us?” he hissed.

Sand backed away from the creation, unsure whether Twilight’s spellshield would be able to hold that back.  “It cost us our sister, Ember.  I’ve long since--”

“Idiot!”  He roared and hurled the mass at her.  Magenta light enveloped her a moment before she disappeared, reappearing next to Twilight.  The mass of tentacles struck the ground, twisting and snarling as it pulled everything within reach--stone, plant, foundation, anything--into its tooth-filled craw.  

He seethed at her.  “Our parents left us alone to let us contemplate our mistakes, not to make another.  There was a remedy for her condition, dear, sweet sister.  They went to look it up, to give us time to reflect.  And you murdered her, as if she were no more than a candle to be snuffed out.”  

Sand stared blankly.

“You lie.”

“You know I don’t!”  He sneered and gestured to the ponies beside her.  “Ask Applejack, the embodiment of honesty.  Or your dear friend Twilight.  She understands the workings of magic in a way that you never did.”

“You LIE!” Sand screamed.  She whirled, turning to Applejack, but the cowpony refused to meet her gaze.  She turned to Twilight instead, but her friend only gave her a sad, steady look, and a small nod of her head.  Sand took a step back, shaking her head.  “I...”

Sand collapsed, not noticing that Luna and Twilight stood between Ember and herself, as if they could shield her from the truth of his words.  

Her entire life, she’d believed that no matter the cost, she could find the strength to do the right thing, in the end.  Now... now...

Fire and lightning, ice and wind, stone and shadow.  Around her, a battle between the three arcane powerhouses tore the city apart, but she took no notice.  Fluttershy was at her side, offering soft words and gentle ministrations, but she took no notice.  The moon itself came to Luna’s aid, filling the square with lucent power and torrents of energy, but she took no notice.  

A buzzing filled Sand’s head.  It grew in intensity, drowning out all thought, all reason, all dreams and emotions.  She rose to her hooves, seeing the world and not seeing it at the same time.  She looked to her brother, saw him turned away, busy with the others.  She took one faltering step, then another, rushing at him as a coarse scream ripped itself from her throat.

Ember stopped her charge with an effortless flick of magic, holding her suspended in midair as her legs fought vainly for purchase.  “No, sister, there will be no heroics from you today, nor any other day.” His voice had taken on a bored drawl.  “You will die a meaningless death, watched over by your friends before being ultimately forgotten in time.”

He drew in a whisper of power and used it to drive a melon-sized chunk of foundation into Sand’s side.  Before the impact hurled her away, everyone present heard the rapid cracks of her bones breaking and the whoosh of the wind being knocked from her lungs.  She flew through the air for several moments before crashing against the remains of the Sanctum.  Twilight watched Sand’s body fall to the earth with wide eyes, watched for a sign, any sign, of life, willing her friend to get up, to groan, to do anything.  Sand remained in a crumpled heap and lay very, very still.  

“Monster!” Twilight screamed. Her horn blazed to life as she planted her hooves in a wide stance, bracing against the force of her magic.  Beside her, Luna spread her wings and drank in even more raw power.  Her eyes shone pure white as the two friends stared Ember down.

Luna teleported to Ember’s far side, forcing him to draw back in order to keep them both in view.  She hurled sound and fury his way, forcing him to spend most of his concentration deflecting her attacks. He sent an occasional lash of power screaming at the other Bearers, but Twilight intercepted each volley, turning them aside deftly or unmaking them in midair.  

She drew upon the well of power deep inside of herself, thinking of the friends she needed to protect, the lives at stake should she fail.  She breathed in the smell of the sea, tasted the salty tang of the of the ocean air, heard the crash of waves, and envisioned an azure shoreline stretching out and away into the far horizons.  Motes of magenta light gathered at her horn tip, building to the size of a a dragon’s egg before she drove it forward through sheer force of will.

Ember turned and saw the sphere, batted at it with a dismissive wave of his hoof and a surge of energy.  His magic unraveled into tatters, splitting apart without so much as slowing Twilight’s spell.  The orb crashed against against his chest, washing over him in a torrent of corrosive power that crawled over his coat and ate into his hide.

Twilight brought her hoof down in a sharp crack that ended the spell.

Ember managed to get to his hooves.  His remaining hooves.  Twilight’s spell had dissolved and cauterized a quarter of his body, but her knowledge of pony anatomy had been precise.

“Not a mortal wound,” Ember said with a sneer.  “Even after all this, you cannot kill me.  Yet while I live, the portal will remain open and ultimately, you will be overwhelmed.”  He lowered his head, eyes radiating power and fury.  “Your morality compels you to give me another chance, and then another, to hope for the possibility of my redemption.”  He spat on the ground.  “Your morality is only one of many flavors, and none of them right or wrong.  But yours is weak.”  Lightning shot from his horn, arcing out across the square as its prongs forked, striking two hastily-erected barriers around Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, yet hitting Luna squarely in the chest.  She grunted and staggered, but remained standing.

“You are wrong, Ember,” Luna said.  Her eyes bored into his.  “A thousand years is time enough to think on matters such as morality, and know this: you are wrong.  But you will have a great deal of time to consider the wisdom of my words.”  A low whine pervaded the air, growing in pitch until it screamed from every surface.  Luna spoke a word that sounded like ice breaking.  Reality shattered around Ember, reasserting itself within a moment.  He found himself bound in glowing chains whose ends disappeared into the ground and air, as if they anchored in another realm of existence.  He felt the power being leeched from his body as the chains drank both his magic and the power of a distant god.  Too distant to offer aid.

 “Without the Elements here, the worst that you could do is lecture me, really, and I think we’re far beyond the point of that meeting with any success.”  He gave them a mocking grin.  “With the knowledge of this entire city, the power and purpose invested in me, my master will bring a new dawn to this world, and in time, I shall be its herald.  You cannot hope to stop--”

His voice cut off, replaced by a grunt and wet, gurgling noise.  In the sudden stillness, a gentle breeze swept across the assembled ponies, bringing with it the sound of a delicate bell ringing clarion and true, as if a dozen silver chimes had been held aloft in the wind.

Ember looked down, looked at the head of the spear, surrounded by a golden glow, that had burst outwards from his chest.  Time seemed to slow, and he watched a single drop of his blood hang suspended upon its tip for an eternity before falling to the dust at his hooves.  The strength went out of his legs, but the chains kept him suspended in place. With an enormous effort, he turned his head and looked.

Sand Shaper had managed to get one hoof beneath her, propping herself up as she observed her brother with hollow, emotionless eyes.  Still under the effects of her dispassion spell, she spoke in a voice as cold and distant as the stars.

“No, brother.  But I can.”  Her horn flared, and she twisted the spear once before ripping it from his body.

Ember opened his mouth to speak, to scream, to mock or plead or threaten, but before he could do any of these things, Sand drove the spear through his neck, pinning his body to the ground.  Her eyes followed his slow descent as Luna’s chains disappeared.  His body slid down the shaft before coming to rest in a tangled heap of legs and hooves and orange-yellow fur.  Blood pooled on the ground.  Nopony spoke.  Nopony moved.

Sand turned her gaze upon them then, upon her friends, they who had seen her through so much. The glow from her horn faded as she let her magic unravel.  She gave a choking sob as the upsurge of emotions crashed over her; she tried to fight them down, but it was like holding back a river with a toothpick.  Her eyes fell on her brother’s corpse.

Mindlessly, she tried to rise, but agony ripped through her body as her broken ribs screamed in protest.  She doubled over in pain and vomited onto the ground, an act that itself made her shattered bones grate against one another.  She gave another sob before gritting her teeth, pulling herself forward.  Towards Ember.

Rainbow Dash was the first at her side, but the others were only a heartbeat behind.  As the pegasus leaned in to help prop her up, Sand flinched away.

“Don’t touch me!” She breathed heavily, pushed herself away.  “Don’t... Please...”

“We’re with you,” Rainbow said in a soft voice, sounding hurt.  She glanced back at Ember’s body.

“You...” Sand shook her head, fighting down a dizziness as her vision threatened to white out.  “You still need to close the portal.”  She gasped as a misplaced step sent pain raking up her side.  “With...  the avatar dead, the force beyond will be weakened enough to seal it away.  Forever.”

She wanted Pinkie to be there, to match her word with a dire growl and a dramatic warning, but her hopes went unfulfilled.

“Dawn...” Twilight began, biting her lip with worry.  “I can... help you over there, if you’ll let me.”  

Sand gave the tiniest of nods and soon found herself floating in Twilight’s wake as they moved towards Ember’s body.  Twilight’s magic placed her down softly next to her brother.  Sand closed her eyes and laid her cheek on Ember’s side.  It still felt warm, a bit.

Twilight wanted to hold her, nuzzle her, speak soothing words or share her pain somehow.  Instead, she laid down and offered what she could: the closeness of her presence and a willing ear to listen.

“Go on,” she said, opening her grey-green eye.  Sand’s voice had dropped to a whisper, forcing Twilight to lean in to hear, but the change seemed to help Sand’s pain. “You and Luna need to close the rift.  Use the grimoire.”  She grunted with the effort it took to nod in the book’s direction.  “I don’t know how he used it to open the portal, but you should be able to use it to reverse the process.  Please.  Go.”  Tears cascaded down her face, spilling onto the orange-yellow hair of her brother’s body and leaving a trail of wetness as they slid down his hide.

“I’ll leave the others here with you, Dawn,” Twilight said.  She gave a heartbroken smile and tried to crack a joke.  “Don’t... don’t die on me now.”  

Sand’s lips twitched in appreciation for the effort.  “I’ll do my best.  Go on.”  She didn’t have the strength to make the order more emphatic, but Twilight obeyed regardless.  One last look, and then she was gone, leaving Sand with her brother.

***

Something tickled.  Rarity reached a hoof up to scratch at her nose, but her foreleg refused to move.  Her heart raced as she came fully awake.  She struggled to free herself, but it was as if every limb had been immobilized.  She opened her eyes.

Darkness.  It smelled dusty, but warm and familiar somehow.

“You okay, Rarity?”

Pinkie’s voice.  Faint.  Weak.  Close.  Right next to Rarity’s ear.

“Pinkie? What happened.”

Something moved against Rarity’s cheek.  The tug and pull; Pinkie smiling from her position on top, pinning her down.  Shielding her.

“I told you it was going to be a doozy,” she said. “I don’t think we can get out though, not after what happened.”

Pinkie’s weight rolled off of her, and Rarity drew in a deep breath, finding the strength to light her horn and look around.  

Rubble and ruin.  The temple housing the Heart of Creation had collapsed around them with the conclusion of Ember’s spell.  Debris lay everywhere, stacked in great mounds of marble and rock that walled them in on every side.  Only Pinkie’s quick reaction had afforded them the small living space they now occupied.  Of the Heart itself, only fragments remained, glimmering in her faint hornlight.  

“So just you and me then?” Rarity said, looking around at their small, stony prison.  “And such lovely decor to keep us company too.  Did you see what happened to the others in here?”

Pinkie paused, then shook her head.  “Not really.  There was a lot of running around when the shaking started, but I....”

Rarity dipped her head.   “Thank you, Pinkie.  For saving me.”  She looked around again.  “I suppose we’d best wait for help, then,” Rarity said.  “No telling how stable it is here, and I don’t have the knack of teleporting us out to safety.”

Pinkie sat up.  She tried to smile, but more than a hint of fear and uncertainty shone through.

“We might be here a while.  Want to take turns telling stories?” Pinkie looked hopeful.  Eager, even.

A distant rumble sounded throughout the ruins of the temple, prompting a trickle of dust to cascade down over the two friends.  

Rarity leaned forward and brushed some of the grit from Pinkie’s mane when it was clear her friend hadn’t noticed.  She gave Pinkie a soft smile and scooted closer.

“Yes, Pinkie.  I think I’d like that very much.”

***

Smoke and ashes drifted over the ruined Sanctum, and a deep rumbling could be heard within.  Lights flashed, magenta and light-blue and brilliant, then went dark.  Silence fell on the city, as if the world held its breath in anticipation.  Two ponies emerged, looking haggard and worn, but triumphant.  Twilight leaned on Luna as they shared a quiet moment together.

“It is done.”  The princess gave a great sigh.  “At last, it is done.”

***

“Dawn?” A voice called out from far away.  “Dawn!”

A rushing of hooves.  A faint touch at her side.  A drift of air,  smelling of somepony familiar and dear.

“She’s still alive, Twilight,” Fluttershy said, holding Sand’s head in her hooves. “She’s been having some trouble breathing, though.”

“Keep her head propped up!” Luna commanded.  “Rainbow Dash, you go that way, Fluttershy and Applejack, head that way then split up.  See if you can find a clinic or a doctor pony or anything.  Go!”  She turned as Rainbow vanished around a corner.  “I’ll see to Rarity and Pinkie Pie, but stay with her, Twilight.”  She spread her enormous wings and flew off.

“All sorts of rushing about,” Sand whispered.  “I did what you told me to, Twilight.”

“Yeah,” Twilight said, her voice cracking.  “Keep doing that, all right?  No dying.”

“Is it... over?”  Sand asked.  Her gaze floated up to Twilight, staring into her eyes as if seeing them for the very first time.

“We closed it.  No more threat, no more prophecies.”  Twilight shifted, pulled Sand’s head up a fraction as she held it in her hooves.  “There’s just the now and the promise of tomorrow waiting for us.”

“That sounds... nice,” Sand said, smiling faintly.  

“It’s going to be okay, Dawn,” Twilight said, closing her eyes against rising tears as she gave her friend a gentle hug.  “Just hang on.  Help is on its way.  Everything’s going to be okay.”

Sand breathed deep, shut her eyes, and exhaled a single, smooth breath.

“Of course, Twilight.”

***