Night on the island. No stars, no moon, just an empty blackness over a tropical canopy. Fine jerked to his hooves, surprised to find himself standing on a sandy beach next to a small stream. How had he come to be there? He tried to remember, but the only thing he could see in his mind’s eye was massive fangs and yellow eyes.
The beast.
He dropped to his knees, breathing heavily and heart pounding. He was doomed. The thing was on land now. There was no escaping it! It would eat him, just as it had eaten his mother. For a moment his mind latched onto this terrible thought, and it was all he could do not to run.
Running was stupid. Where was he going to run to?! Forget the fact that he was on an island; the beast could move on land!
He was dead. It had waited twenty-five years to make its move, always teasing him in his nightmares, never giving him any rest, only to finally come for him. Why hadn’t it eaten him yet? Was it biding its time, enjoying his terror?
He didn’t want to do anything, nothing save find a deep dark hole and cower.
“Verity…”
He raised a hoof from his eyes to peer into the darkness. The voice had been soft… almost dream-like. He could have sworn somepony had called him like that before, and recently.
“Verity Fine…?”
Though his heart continued to pound in his chest, he slowly stood to look around. That voice… he knew he’d heard it before. In fact he couldn’t shake the strange feeling that somepony had been trying to call him for days. Maybe it was only his imagination.
“Verity, I’m waiting for you.”
That time the voice had a much more definite quality to it. He glanced around, trying to determine direction. “Who are you? Where?”
“Over here.”
At last he could determine direction. He turned around to find himself facing the tall hill at the center of the island. He felt drawn to that voice even as he felt a deep suspicion towards it. Still, he was going to die soon anyway thanks to that monster. Surely this couldn’t be any more dangerous? So he followed, pushing his way through thick palm leaves.
He raised his head to call out. “Let me hear from you!”
“It’s about time,” the voice answered, and this time the very sound of it changed. It wasn’t the familiar voice he’d thought of… now it was something very different, a voice he could easily recognize.
“Upper Crust?” He pushed past some particularly thick bushes and, to his amazement, found the unicorn sitting at the foot of the hill. She smiled pleasantly at him and gestured to him in welcome. His eye was immediately drawn to the necklace she wore, which was decorated with a beautiful amber maple leaf. He knew that necklace… but from where?
“I was starting to think you’d never notice me,” Upper Crust told him as he stepped up to her.
He stared at her beaming face for several seconds in complete confusion. “Upper Crust… what are you doing here? How’d we get on this island?”
“You’re the one who did that,” she replied as if the answer were obvious. “Come on, we’ve got a hill to climb.”
He sagged in disbelief as she turned and began to walk up the steep incline. “What?”
“You, me, hill.” She gestured to the hill’s crest. “Come on, do you want to get out of here or not?”
“There’s no getting out of here,” he told her, but followed behind anyway.
“So,” she began as they climbed side by side, their pace slow, “this is the island, huh? And you lived here for three months?”
“How’d you know that?” he asked, eyes going sharp. He’d meant to look at her face, but instead he found himself eyeing her necklace, which swayed almost hypnotically to her steps. “Only Twilight and Fluttershy know that! And Luna, come to think of it.”
“Did you feel safe here?”
He glowered at her. So she wasn’t going to give away her source? No matter, he’d figure it out eventually. “I did, once.”
“But you don’t now.”
“The monster can move on land,” he pointed out fearfully. “What protection is there against it?”
“Yet you always saw the island as a haven,” she reminded him. “As a colt it was a place of solace. In your dreams it was where you could retreat to safety.”
Now he was getting upset. “How do you know that?”
“Patience,” she instructed, her voice kind. “It always begins with a single step.”
He was getting tired of her riddles; they didn’t suit her at all. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Would you please start talking like Upper Crust and not some pony run wacky on poison joke extract?”
“Alright,” she answered, casting a grin his way, “how about this: what did you see in me?”
“Pardon?”
“When you recruited me,” she pressed. “What did you see that said I would make a good member of this team?”
For a while they trudged up the hill in silence, the trees gradually thinning as their elevation increased. He wasn’t sure why she was asking such a question, and it took him several seconds to collect his thoughts on the matter. Even so, he'd known the topic would come up eventually.
“I saw a mare blinded by her own ignorance, wanting to be satisfied with her meaningless existence but desperate to see past the fog of her upbringing. I saw in you a pony with incredible potential, potential that had been stifled. I knew that if I could wipe the clouds from your eyes you might make for an excellent member of the team.”
He glanced at her, nervous of her reaction. He’d always wondered how she felt about having been selected for this group in the first place. She appeared to be giving his words deep thought, but after a time she glanced at him, expressionless, and asked, “What do you think of me now? Have I met your expectations?”
Why was she talking about this? “Well… you’ve become largely independent, and I think you have a good grasp of the real world now. You handled yourself in Nildea, too. I think you’re an excellent member of the team, but your potential hasn’t been fully realized. Yet.”
She gained a warm smile. “Thank you for being so honest. You helped me get this far, so thank you for that, too.”
“I didn’t do a thing,” he replied. He glanced back the way they’d come to find they were high enough to see the endless ocean that surrounded the island. They’d almost reached the top.
“You did,” she told him. “You opened my eyes to the world. You introduced me to ponies like Jimmy and Octavia. I almost feel like I’m part of a new family. Maybe you didn’t do much, but it was more than enough to get me started on the path. That’s why I’m here now.”
He paused, staring as she climbed onto the crest of the hill and smiled down on him. That necklace seemed to shimmer, and just in that moment he noted a star twinkling into existence over her shoulder. “Umm… you’ve lost me. Why are you here?”
“You helped me,” she reminded him. “Now I’m helping you.” She looked out to the sea behind him and nodded, indicating he should look. He studied her for a few seconds, fairly confused, but turned as she suggested.
The wave was massive, and it was coming right for the island.
Fine let out a startled cry and scrambled the rest of the way up the hill. “When did that get there?!”
“It’s always there,” Upper Crust answered, observing the wave's approach as if it were an everyday occurrence.
“What do you mean, always there?” He watched it, trying to determine its height and speed. Would it reach over the island and get to them?
“It’ll be about a mile high when it hits shore,” she pointed out without concern. “It’ll crush us like a pair of apples in a wine press.”
His breath shot out of his chest as he saw yellow eyes gleam from within the wave. “Upper Crust… w-we have to get out of here…” The head began to emerge from the wave, a massive fanged mouth opening wide in preparation. “Oh shit… we’re g-gonna die…”
“Oh calm yourself, Verity,” she instructed, standing tall and ready for the monster. “Riptide isn’t going to harm you, that’s why I’m here.”
Fine turned to grab her by the shoulders and shake her violently. “What do you propose to do against that?!”
She brushed his legs away with surprising ease and stood between him and the approaching monster. “Just stand behind me, ya big baby.”
“No! W-we have to… we have t-to…” But where was he going to go? It was an island. He gazed with tears in his eyes and legs shaking as the creature surged over the island’s beaches. It’s head, as wide as a building, rose tall over them as it rushed for the hill. Fine felt his legs go weak and collapsed behind Upper Crust, a shivering wreck of terror. He wanted to scream, but no sound would come out of his mouth. He could only stare up at those hungry eyes and meet his end.
“Remember, Verity: your strength comes from us.”
He didn’t know what she was talking about. His mind couldn’t process anything but the cold, heart-stopping fear of his inevitable death.
And then there was light. Bright, powerful white light that almost blinded him in its intensity. The great serpent shivered, massive eyes wincing in pain. Its aim shifted, and the huge head smashed deep into the solid earth just below the crest of the hill.
Fine screamed as his world erupted into bits of sand and rock. He went flying through the air, and then he was falling. He prayed for some kind of salvation, anything that might keep him from dying right at this moment!
He hit the hard wood floor on his belly, chin bouncing painfully. For several seconds his eyes swam, his heart hammering in his chest. He lay there for a few seconds, groaning at the pain of the hit. After some time he pushed himself to his knees and rubbed his sore chin. Then he saw something… purple.
“Well, look who dropped in to visit.” He glanced up to find himself staring eye-to-eye with Spike the Dragon, who was standing on the bottom step of some wooden stairs. He didn’t look at all glad to see Fine. “You’re not here to steal any books, are ya?”
“Books?” Fine looked around and was shocked to realize he was in Ponyville’s Golden Oaks Library. How had he come to be there?
“What the hell?” He sat up and rubbed his head, trying to make sense of things. What just happened? He closed his eyes and tried to think of the last day, or the last hour. He had nothing. He opened them to find Spike staring at him with an eyebrow raised expectantly. “Umm… no, I’m not here to steal anything. I think?”
“Leave him alone, Spike.”
“Indeed, the poor stallion’s got enough on his hooves without your pestering.”
Fine blinked and turned in the direction of the two voices. On one side of the library, sitting at a big desk covered in books, was Twilight Sparkle, who was reading something very intently. Opposite her was Rarity, who was at a table working on something with a noisy sewing machine.
Spike turned and went upstairs without a word, leaving Fine to walk between the two Element Bearers. “Rarity? Twilight? What am I doing here?”
“Running scared from a big brute of a beast,” Rarity told him without looking up.
“That’s about it,” Twilight agreed with similar interest.
“Oh.” He glanced about the room, at a complete loss. There were no doors, so how was he supposed to leave? How were they? “How do I leave?”
“Do you actually want to leave?” Twilight asked, still not looking at him.
“Don’t you think it’s safer in here?” Rarity added.
“There’s no safe place!” he snapped. “That thing could crush this library like… l-like…” His eyes had fallen upon the window just behind Twilight, through which a single gargantuan eye was staring right at him. “Aw hell!” He took a few tentative steps back, tripped and fell on his haunches. “It’s here! We… we have to hide or… or…”
“Or what?” Twilight asked, turning the page in her book.
“What other option is there?” Rarity threw in.
“I-I don’t know!” he shouted, turning to look to Rarity. His heart stopped at the sight of massive scaled thing out the window behind her. “Oh Luna, w-we’re surrounded…”
“You can’t hide from Riptide,” Rarity noted.
“And there’s no place that’s safe,” Twilight reminded him. “So why hide? Or run?”
There was a loud creaking sound, and the walls began to surge inwards. Books fell off the shelves, lights flickered, the windows cracked. “What else can I do?!”
“Wouldn’t you rather fight?” Rarity suggested, blissfully ignorant of the danger.
“You can’t fight this!” Panic ran through him as the walls deformed even more. The damn snake was trying to squeeze the entire library!
“Are you really sure about that?” Twilight asked, not batting an eye as some books dropped onto her desk haphazardly.
He screamed in frustration. “I can’t fight! There’s no fighting this!” He dropped to his belly and covered his head in his hooves, tears coming to his eyes.
“But if you could… would you?”
“Yes!” He raised his head to glare at her. “If it were possible to defeat the beast I’d do it, but it’s not!”
At last Twilight looked at him, a proud smile on her lips. “It’s only impossible if you don’t try.” She stood, her chair scratching against the wood, and about her neck was a necklace he recognized; it had a solid amber mapleleaf. Another scratching sound made him turn to face Rarity, who had also stood to reveal that she wore the same necklace.
The two Element Bearers nodded to one another firmly and turned about to face the broken windows. Fine could only stare in amazement as they became engulfed in a bright light.
The light faded. He glanced around at sturdy stone houses, tall pine trees and rocky mountains. Foal Mountains. Why the heck was he in Foal Mountains?
Come to think of it, where had he just been?
He wobbled to his hooves, a fear he couldn’t explain filling his subconscious. He looked around anxiously, but he was all alone. Where was everypony? “Hello?”
“We have a visitor.”
He turned around to find himself staring at the old orphanage. Wait… the orphanage? He studied it for several seconds, trying to make sense of things in his head. Why did it seem so wrong for him for there to be an orphanage here?
“Hey, up here!” He looked up to find Lightning Dust grinning down at him from the roof. She was wearing a strangely familiar necklace. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
He glanced back at the orphanage’s front door, then up to Lightning. “What’s going on here?”
She sat on the roof’s edge, hooves dangling on the side, and shrugged. “Beats me. In the end it’s all up to you.”
“What are you talking about?” He watched her for several seconds, but she only kicked her legs playfully and grinned. Finally he gestured to the building. “The orphanage shouldn’t be here.”
“Neither should I,” Lightning pointed out. She gestured to something below her. “She shouldn’t be here, too.”
“She?” Fine observed the building for a few seconds, then noticed something white in one of the windows. He quickly realized it was Keen Arrow, staring down at him with big, curious eyes. “I thought you two left Foal Mountains.”
Just as he finished speaking, there came a cacophonous crashing noise. He jerked about to see, in the far distance, something rolling over the hills. It was huge, thick and scaly, but most notable of all was how it was literally crushing the trees like toothpicks.
“Dang, that thing’s persistent,” Lightning said with a pleasant smile.
Fine took a few terrified steps back. “Oh no, not again! Lightning… fly me out of here!”
“Sorry, Verity, no can do.”
“What?!” He turned to her, wanting to glare but too scared of the thing thundering towards them to pull it off. “You have to! It’s the only way we’ll escape!”
She shot him a critical look. “Escape? You actually wanna escape this thing?”
“Yes!”
“What about Keen?”
He blinked and glanced down. The orphanage was on fire! Not just a little fire, no, the entire place was blazing! He jerked back from the sudden heat. “W-where did that come from?!”
“Uncle Fine?” He looked up in terror to see Keen still in the window, unconcerned even as smoke billowed around her small frame.
“Hold still,” he shouted to her, then glanced back in terror to see that the monster was getting closer, annihilating everything in its path. He turned to Lightning in desperation. “Lightning, you have to save her!”
“I couldn’t,” she told him, her voice uncharacteristically patient. “I tried, remember? I tried to save the whole orphanage, and it burned down with all my friends inside.”
“But you rescued Keen!” he screamed, “you can do it again!”
“This isn’t about Keen, and you know it.”
“Lightning!” He looked at Keen and was startled to find that in each and every window there were changelings. Tiny, black, foal-sized changelings, all staring at him with malicious grins. The flames that were consuming the building were of no concern to them. Amongst them all was Keen, staring down at him solemnly.
He kept glancing back at the monster, the roar of its mere movement battling with the flames for dominance over his hearing. “Lightning, what do you want me to say?! Help her!”
Lightning at last showed some anger. “I want you to tell me why my children had to die! I want to know that you didn’t sacrifice them just to get me to go to Ponyville!”
“I didn’t!” He dropped to his knees, fear-induced tears welling in his eyes. “Lightning, I would never! I had no way of knowing for certain!”
“But you had a hunch, didn’t you?” she accused. “You had a feeling something was wrong, and you could have acted on it! Four dozen foals died because you wanted to find solid evidence! And what’s worse? They were already dead when the fire took them!”
“Yes, I could have acted,” he cried. “I could have, I should have!” He gazed up at Keen, her precious form silhouetted by black faces and smoke. “Please, just get her out of there!”
“So that you can get away from the monster?” Lightning asked. “I don’t think so. It’s up to you, Verity; run and save yourself, or try to rescue Keen.”
“But it’s pointless,” he shouted, not daring to glance back at the beast he knew would crush him at any second. “I can’t save Keen and get away at the same time. If I go we’ll both die!”
But Lightning would not budge. “Is that why all my kids had to die? Just like that engineer on the train, you chose to let death have a victim to further your goals.”
“It wasn’t like that!”
“You better make a decision soon,” she reminded him, pointing to the monster behind him. He could hear the sound of buildings being crushed; it had to be right behind him!
“Lightning, please. She’s your child, now!”
“No!” Lightning stood, flames licking at her hooves and smoke flowing around her. The necklace she wore shimmered in the light of the blaze. “This isn’t about me. Keen is your responsibility, because what you decide right now will affect her just as much as it affects you. Decide, Verity!”
He stood for precious seconds, hyperventilating as he tried to think of some argument. He didn’t want to die, but Keen…
At last he let out a roar of frustration and charged, smashing his shoulder against the wooden door. It gave with a single hit.
He stumbled forward, lost track of his hooves and fell to the floor on his face. He slid forward on slick, polished crystal, his motion making a squeaky sound. Slowly, painfully, he picked himself off the floor.
“The Crystal Palace?” He looked around, completely amazed. His face reflected back at him from countless mirror-like surfaces that made up the walls. He couldn’t remember coming here, not since his disastrous trip to visit the Door of Fears. So how…?
“Well look who it is,” a familiar voice called. He turned about to find himself before the Crystal Heart, which floated innocuously a few feet above a plinth. It shined black as death. Sitting to its left was Rainbow Dash, and opposite her was Applejack. They were both encased up to their necks in red crystals, but even so he could make out the familiar necklaces they wore.
“Oh not again,” he grumbled, giving the two Element Bearers critical looks. “The Crystal Heart’s been compromised?”
“Who said anything about the Crystal Heart, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah, that’s just fine,” Rainbow told him with a grin.
He stared at her in disbelief; how could she smile when she was almost completely encased in crystal? “Are we seeing the same thing?” he asked, gesturing to the Heart between them. “Look at it!”
“That ain’t the Crystal Heart,” Rainbow said.
“What do you mean it’s not the Crystal Heart?!”
“She means it ain’t the Crystal Heart,” Applejack replied, gesturing to it with her head. “Take a closer look.”
He tilted his head at her in perplexity, but finally decided to do as he was told. He came forward a few steps and peered into the Heart’s reflective surface…
He let out a horrified cry as a pair of big yellow eyes glared back at him. He fell to his back in alarm and crawled away as the entire room began to darken, and seconds later massive purple scales were reflected in the smooth surfaces all around him. He tried to scramble away, but there were no exits; soon he was completely surrounded by the beast’s massive scales!
“Riptide’s been in here for a while,” Rainbow noted. There was no fear in her voice, only curiosity.
“Yeah, I’d say he’s completely taken over,” Applejack added in a similar tone.
“What am I supposed to do?!” Fine crawled back from the walls, but didn’t dare approach the Crystal Heart. “We… We’re surrounded! Girls, I can’t…”
“Man, you’re such a wimp,” Rainbow told him in disdain. “It’s not even in the room.”
“How can you act so calm?!” He turned on her furiously, but he spotted those yellow eyes in the Heart and lost all his anger in favor of terror. He dropped to his knees and covered his head in his hooves, weeping.
“Geez, Verity,” Applejack said, “is it really that bad?”
“Don’t ask me,” he screamed, “can’t you tell just by looking?!”
“Ya know, ya could always ask fer help,” she reminded him.
“Help?” He jumped to his hooves to glare at her. “Help how? What can you do?! You’re trapped in crystal, and even if you weren’t you couldn’t beat that thing!”
“How do you know we can’t help?” Rainbow demanded. “You don’t even bother to ask.”
“Because you can’t help me,” he shouted, cowering at the sight of those massive scales that kept slithering about the room. Their very presence was threatening in his mind! “You can’t even help yourselves, and you want to help me?!”
“We’re not tryin ta help ourselves,” Applejack told him, “we’re tryin ta help you.”
“But… but…”
“All you have to do is ask,” Rainbow pointed out.
“But what can you do?!”
“We don’t know,” Applejack confessed.
“We won’t know until you let us try,” Rainbow added.
He peered through his hooves at them, but mostly he just saw purple, writhing and twisting and pushing purple. He covered his eyes once more and trembled in terror on the smooth floor.
“Do you want our help or not?!”
“Yes!” Fine clasped his hooves together and shook them at the two Element Bearers, tears spilling down his cheeks. “Yes, please! If you can help me, do it!”
“’bout damn time,” Rainbow declared.
“Yeah, ah thought ya’d never do it.” Applejack added.
And, as he watched, the two raised their heads and closed their eyes, as if concentrating on something. A second later a beam of light emerged from their two necklaces, converging on the Crystal Heart. The beast’s eyes winced in pain on contact, and the massive scales began to shiver and twist in agony.
Fine gazed in amazement, not understanding what he was seeing. “W… w-what are you doing?”
“Helpin,” Applejack said with a soft smile.
“Just needed you to ask,” Rainbow added with a smile of her own.
The scales faded into the background, until they were completely gone, and with them went Fine’s fear. He let out a long, relieved breath. It felt so good… as if he’d been unable to breathe for an eternity. He gazed at the walls, which were now black with so many star-like shimmers. He set a hoof to his chest and took a few more breaths, relishing the freshness of the air.
Then the two lights that were hitting the Crystal bounced off of it to strike him in the chest. The force of the hit sent him flying backwards. He let out a shout as he smashed into the wall, which erupted in a shattering of crystal.
He landed on top of something hard, which broke with the familiar sound of cracking wood. He collapsed to the floor and let out a groan at the pain in his back.
“Hey, watch it! Ya break it, ya bought it.”
He turned onto his belly and stood, shaking his head to clear it. When he opened his eyes he was startled to find himself in a café illuminated in a dark shade of blue. Nye’s Nights?
Nye was at the bar, juggling drinks in his usual show-off manner. Before him, sitting as a customer, was his twin Jimmy. Both were wearing an amber necklace that he knew he’d seen from somewhere before. Jimmy waved to Fine, a stick of blue extract between his lips, and gestured to the seat next to him.
Fine glanced to the floor and saw that he’d crushed one of Nye’s dining tables. How had he done that? Why had he even been falling? He walked up to the bar, feeling not just a little anxious as he sat down next to Jimmy. “Hey guys… sorry about the table.”
“No you’re not,” Jimmy declared with a grin and a puff of smoke.
“No, I am,” he insisted, turning to Nye. The younger Stone had just finished a Lunar Metropolis, which he set before his brother. “I’ll pay for it.”
“You’ve got a lot to pay for, don’t ya?” Nye asked as he grabbed a few bottles and began to juggle them once more.
Fine blinked and glanced around the restaurant, but aside from the table everything was in place. “Do I?”
“Yeah, ya do,” Nye went on, his voice patient. “All that time ya spent hiding from us. We don’t appreciate it, y’know.”
He shifted in his seat uncomfortably, glancing away from them. “It’s not my fault I’m so introverted.”
“That’s not an excuse,” Jimmy told him.
“And what about my job,” Fine demanded, giving him a scowl. “It keeps me pretty busy.”
“You mean the Archon thing?” Nye asked.
Fine was on his hooves in a second, cast vicious glares at them both. “How do you know about that?!”
“You told us, Verity,” Jimmy said, not at all bothered by Fine’s anger. He took a puff of extract and blew smoke in Fine's face.
Fine waved the smoke away angrily. “I did not!”
“Maybe not out loud,” Nye confirmed, “but in here we know. We also know that your job doesn’t keep you near busy enough to keep you from dropping by to say ‘hi’ every now and again. Catch.” He tossed a bottle Fine’s way. Fine was just barely able to catch it in his hooves.
“What am I supposed to do with this, drink it?” Fine tried to offer it back, but Nye only tossed another at him. He used his magic to catch it.
“Hey, that’s cheating,” Jimmy said.
“Your job and your team,” Nye said. “Or do you even want to be our friend?”
Fine glanced from one bottle to the other, not sure where the twins were going with this. “Sure I do.”
“I think you’re lying,” Jimmy announced.
“It’s not a lie!” Fine shot him an annoyed look. “I’m just busy. I’ve got to meet with Luna regularly-” Another bottle was sent his way. “-and manage our team-“ And another. “-would you stop that?!”
“Come on, man,” Nye teased, bottles flying over his head as he spun around. He grinned, half a dozen bottles bouncing from hoof to hoof.
“Give it a try, Verity,” Jimmy suggested from around his extract stick.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Fine grumbled, but did as they suggested. To his surprise the bottles flew about in a nice neat circle between his hooves, but maintaining the motion was pretty hard.
Jimmy leaned forward to frown at Fine. “Why are you always avoiding us?”
“I… I’m not…” he answered, trying to keep focused on the bottles.
“I think he’s scared,” Nye suggested.
“Scared?” Fine would have laughed if he weren’t trying to keep his concentration. “Scared of what?”
“Of making friends,” Nye answered.
“Of becoming attached,” Jimmy added.
“You don’t know what I’ve been through,” Fine snapped. “This team could shatter! Anypony in it could die with any mission. Equestria isn’t roses and honey, that’s what Celestia has painted it out to be! I work for Luna, who doesn’t try to hide behind the sunshine and rainbows.”
“So why haven’t you told any of us that before?” Jimmy pressed, tapping off the burnt end of his extract stick in an ash tray. “Don’t we deserve to know?”
“If we work for Luna, we’re bound to meet that shadowy side of the coin,” Nye reminded him.
“Lightning already has,” Jimmy pointed out.
Fine could feel himself sweating under the pressure of their interrogation. “I didn’t think you wanted to know!” Another bottle flew his way, and it was all he could do not to drop it. “I was trying to protect you!”
“Now that’s a lie if I ever heard one,” Nye declared.
“We became friends,” Fine reminded them, a strange sense of desperation filling him. “We became friends after you all saved me from being a Bloodmane.”
“Did we really?” Jimmy snapped. “We still don’t see you around much.”
“You’re never there, Verity,” Nye reminded him with displeasure. “For a friend you sure don’t do much with anypony.”
“Because I don’t know what to do!” Another bottle was sent his way, and this time he couldn’t keep going; they collapsed to the floor with a resounding crash. He stared at the shattered remains, a terrible sense of misery filling him.
“I’ve never had friends…” he went on in a whisper. “I don’t know how to keep them, or what to do with them. I like you guys, all of you… but I’m lost. What am I supposed to do?”
Nye set a bottle down on the table and pushed it to Fine. “You could come by and talk to us about it. Just ask, Verity. Any of us. Get out of your comfort zone and try, instead of hiding from it in that mansion of yours.”
Fine took the bottle in unsteady hooves, staring at Nye. The younger Stone gestured to the bottle. “Try it, it’s new.”
There was a tight feeling in his chest. Fine wasn’t sure he wanted to take a drink. He glanced at Jimmy, who grinned and nodded his encouragement. He took another look at Nye, then looked down at the bottle. Well… if it would help him get out of his rut…
He leaned his head back and took a swig of the drink.
Water splashed onto his face, making him cough and sputter in surprise. He tried to rub his face, but found that his hooves would not move. He tried to look at them but could barely maneuver his head. The entire world was dark, dark beyond recognition. He almost felt as if he were floating in space… but no, he wasn’t floating. He was on his back, strapped down tight. Where was he?
“It’s about time you got here,” somepony spoke from the shadows. He recognized that voice. How could he forget it?
“Pinkie?”
“No.” She appeared from the darkness, strangely bright despite the absence of light. She stared down at him with a hard face, her mane straight and her eyes cold. “Pinkamina. I told you to call me Pinkamina.”
“Sorry,” he whispered. “It’s just that everypony calls you Pinkie.”
“If I looked like Pinkie, I’d be Pinkie,” she told him, brushing a hoof through her straight, loose hair. “I don’t, so I’m not.”
“How does that even work?”
She leaned over, setting an elbow atop his stomach and resting her cheek on her hoof. Only then did he see the amber necklace she was wearing. “You’ve got bigger things to worry about. Once you’re out of here you’ll have to deal with the real thing.”
“Out of here?” he asked. “Where is here?”
“Your dream,” she answered as if this were obvious.
“Dream?” He glanced around at the shadows all around them. “Can’t be. I dream of only two things: homicide and the monster.”
“This one’s gonna be a little different, thanks to a friend of yours,” she told him, patting him on the chest. “You’d best remember what you’ve learned so far.”
“Learned? What are you talking about?”
“You don’t know?” She sat up straight and clapped her hooves together. Above him something came into view. It was Upper Crust, wearing that same necklace. She seemed to be standing on the wall above him, but as far as he could tell there was no wall. How was she not falling through the air?
Upper Crust gave him a pleasant, happy smile. “You brought us together, one big happy family.”
Then he remembered; the island, the monster, her words.
Pinkie clapped her hooves again, and Upper Crust was gone. A second later she was replaced by Twilight and Rarity, again wearing the necklaces. And when they spoke in unison his memories came flooding back. “You can’t fight your fear unless you are willing to.”
Another clap of hooves, another change. This time it was Lightning Dust, Keen beaming from her back. “Don’t bury your guilt. Face it.”
Clap; there was Rainbow Dash and Applejack. “We’re willin ta help ya, sugarcube,” Applejack told him.
“Yeah,” Rainbow added, “but you have to let us know you need it.”
They spoke in unison. “Even if you don’t think we can help, you can still ask.”
One more clap, and there was Jimmy and Nye. They spoke as one. “If you want us to be your friends, you have to make an effort. We’ll help you along.”
They faded, and soon Fine was in total darkness again. And, to his surprise, he had tears in his eyes. “W… why am I crying?”
Pinkamina appeared over him, leaning uncomfortably against his stomach once again. “Maybe because you already knew all of that, but just couldn’t bring yourself to accept it.”
He stared at her in quiet amazement. “This really is a dream, isn’t it?”
She nodded, her mane shifting to cover one eye as she gazed on him sadly. “Yes, it is. And this is the seventh time you’ve landed on the rack.”
He blinked. “You mean I’ve had this same dream six times already?”
She nodded again. “You do a little better each time. I think this time you’re ready for the next step.”
“Next step?” He pulled against his bindings, but to no avail. “What’s the next step?”
She smiled and turned away from him. He could hear her handling a number of things in the dark. “You’ll just have to go there and find out.”
“How many steps are there?” he asked, anxiousness suddenly filling him. “What happens if I complete all the steps?”
“Then you’ll wake up.”
That sent a shiver down his spine. “Y-you mean I won’t wake up? Not until I’ve completed all the steps?! How long have I been out?”
“Who knows?” she answered. “Hours? Days? Weeks? Forever, if you don’t figure it out.”
She turned around, and he was alarmed to see her carrying a big, scary-looking axe in her hooves. “W-what are you doing with that?”
She felt at the blade, a small smile on her lips. “Verity, we’re trying to help you get over your fear, but you have to accept a few things about yourself, too. Call it the icing on the cupcake.” She leveled the axe at his throat.
“P-Pinkamina…?” He eyed the weapon fearfully. “You… you’re not gonna use that on me, are you?”
“One of the things you have to accept is your guilt,” she said, raising the axe over her shoulder.
“But I’ve already accepted that!”
She shook her head slowly. “That was the guilt you feel for command decisions as an Archon. I’m talking about the guilt you accumulated as a Bloodmane.”
He swallowed, mind suddenly clear. “You mean all the ponies I killed personally.”
“That’s it,” she answered with a weak smile. “I know exactly what that’s like. Maybe if you get killed yourself then it’ll help.”
He stared at her, and realized that he had no fear of her. “You say I’ve been here six times already?” She didn’t answer. “And this is where I always fail, isn’t it?”
She shifted her hooves to have a better hold on the axe, eyes locked on his throat. She kept her mouth tightly closed, not willing to answer his question. It was all the answer he needed; he looked straight up at the darkness above, which slowly began to twinkle with stars. It was like a night sky, shimmering and beautiful.
“Dying,” he said at last. He saw faces, dozens upon dozens of faces flashing across his eyes. “167 ponies,” he whispered. “I kept count. If dying now would appease them, then let it happen.”
Pinkamina blinked and shifted her head to stare at him. Her lips slowly turned up to form a pleased smile, to which he only smiled back.
Then she swung.
He sucked in a deep breath, eyes wide as he clutched at his throat. The axe… it had cut his head off! But no… he was still alive. His neck was still attached? But he’d been about to die.
He lay there for a minute, breathing heavy and trying to come to grips with the fact that he was not dead. Then he became aware that he was loose, and the world was bright again. The soft fragrance of flowers filled his nostrils, a familiar smell that helped him to relax. There was more than just flowers in the scent; there was the smell of animals of all kinds, and the aroma of fresh vegetables. And something else… something rosy and delightful and…
Fluttershy.
He sat up and looked around. He was sitting atop the dining table in Fluttershy’s kitchen. Somehow he knew he was still in the dream… but this time he remembered everything. All his meetings with the others, all the lessons they were trying to impart to him. It was such a complex dream he was having. So Fluttershy was next? Where was she?
As if his thoughts were a summons, her soft, wonderful voice came to him through the window. She was singing a gentle, pleasant tune. No words, just her delightful voice carrying through the air into his ears. He followed the sound out the front door and around the back of the house, where he found her sitting amongst some flowers at the edge of a field.
“Oh, you’re finally here,” she said, turning to him with her beautiful smile. He immediately noticed the necklace she was wearing, just like all the others. “I was starting to think I’d be waiting forever.”
“I’m sorry to keep you,” he said with complete honesty. He couldn’t resist smiling; he was so happy to see her right now. “I take it you’ve got something to tell me, too?”
She nodded. “It’s not so important to your fear, I suppose. But maybe it will give you something to fight for?”
He blinked in quiet confusion and glanced around at their pleasant surroundings. “I’m not sure I follow.”
“I didn’t think so,” she confessed, picking a flower and sniffing it. She smiled at the smell and tucked it into her hair. She began to pick more and setting them into her mane one at a time. “I’d like to let you stick around and spend time with me, Verity. I know you want to. But Pinkamina’s right; there are things going on outside that need your attention, and if you fail to move on you may never awaken.”
He considered this for a moment, and despite himself there was a lot of hesitancy in him. “You mean… moving on involves leaving you?”
“Not quite,” she answered, still setting flowers in her mane. “You just have to accept certain things, then be willing to leave.”
“Certain things?” he repeated. “Like what?”
“Like why do you spend so much time with me?”
He shifted anxiously and dropped to his haunches. He turned his eyes away as he answered. “Because… because you helped me. Because I owe you, and appreciate you.”
“Is that all I am?” she asked. “You stand by me because I’m useful?”
“N-no… it’s not just that. I’d like to think-“
“Is it because I look like her?”
He froze, his jaw dropping in quiet alarm. “L-like… her…?”
She turned to him, a particularly large flower covering the lower half of her face as she eyed him over the petals. The look was strangely… alluring. “Yes, her. Your mother.”
His chest tightened, and his breath was gone. He lowered his head and tried to find the right words, licking his dry lips to buy time. “I… well… y-yes, you do. You have her… her c-coat. And your mane’s all long and… and fine like hers.”
“But hers was red,” she pointed out, “like yours. You should stop dying it, by the way.”
He turned his head away. “But you do remind me of her. I-in so many ways…”
She tilted her head. “Is that why you’re so attracted to me?”
“No,” he whispered. “No, that’s not the only reason.”
“What else?” She set the flower in her tail as she waited for his answer. When he couldn’t offer her one she asked, “Is it because of what I represent? All that which you never had?”
He set a hoof to his lips and fought to keep his emotions at bay. “Y-yes… yes, something like that.”
“Something like it?”
He didn’t want to say it, but he had no idea why. He kept his mouth firmly closed, his eyes turned away.
“Verity, please,” she insisted in her soft, quiet tone. “Talk to me.”
Damn it; he had to, didn’t he? “My life has always been blood and pain and schemes,” he said at last.
“The dark side of the coin.”
“The side Luna deals with,” he continued with a nod. “You represent the happier side of Equestria, of life. You’re happy. You’re free. You’re ignorant of all the terrible things that are out there.”
She stared at him with sad, understanding eyes. “And you wish that you could have had a life like that.”
“Yes…”
A long silence passed between them, interrupted only by the playful songs of birds in the trees nearby. After a time she leaned forward, face serious but sorrowful. “Verity, you know that being with me won’t make you forget.”
He sniffed dejectedly. “I know. But… but maybe, if I can be with you, and help you avoid the things I’ve seen, if I could protect you from that darker side… then maybe it would be worth it.”
Then he began to feel that he was understanding something truly important. “I’ve lived all my life keeping the bad elements at bay,” he said, giving her a look of gentle recognition. “All this time I was trying to find some sort of justification for why I had to be one of the unlucky one. But now that I really think on it… maybe the reason I got stuck with this hellish life was to let ponies like you live a happy one.
“And you know what?” He gave her a weak smile. “I think that might just justify everything.”
Fluttershy flashed her pretty smile and, leaning forward, gave him a peck on the cheek.
The contact made him blink, and when his eyes opened Fluttershy was gone. He sat there for several seconds, an intense feeling of lose coming over him. He slowly reached a hoof up to feel at his cheek, which was still moist from her lips. How strange, that he should feel so satisfied with himself over such a simple thing.
A deep sound hit his ears. It was music… a cello. That could only mean one thing.
He observed his surroundings and easily established that he was in the Canterlot Gardens. This place he was very familiar with, and so he made his way along the green paths between shrubs and trees and flowerbeds in pursuit of the music.
He found Octavia standing in a gazebo overlooking the city of Canterlot. She was playing a slow, gentle tune, her eyes closed and a faint smile on her lips and that ever-present necklace swaying from her small motions. He sat beside her to watch and listen, the sound making him feel deeply content. He always liked her playing; even a pony with no musical aptitude could recognize excellence when he heard it.
“I was wondering when I’d finally have an audience,” she said without opening her eyes, voice just loud enough to be clear over the instrument. There was a certain serenity to her manner that really appealed to him.
“I had to go through a lot to get here,” he told her.
Her smile broadened just a fraction. “I’m sure it wasn’t all unpleasant.”
“No,” he agreed, softly touching his cheek, “it wasn’t. So… what great wisdom do you intend to give me?”
For several seconds she didn’t answer, instead focusing her attention on the music. “We’re friends, we’re allies. We can work together, we can come up with plans.”
He waited for her to continue. When she didn’t, he asked, “So?”
“Tenor, Bass, Baritone, Soprano,” she answered. “Strings, drums, flutes, piano. Harmony, melody, flow. Put them all together to create your song. And then?”
He stared at her, not sure where she was going with this. He wanted her to look at him, to give him some sort of clue, but she kept her eyes closed and continued playing, a tranquil expression on her face. He rubbed the back of his head as he thought on her words. “And then… and then you have an orchestra, right?”
“Not yet,” she answered. “Something’s missing.”
Missing? He tilted his head and considered all the ingredients. “Umm…”
“The conductor,” she said at last. “It’s all for nothing if there’s nopony to hold the baton.”
“Oh.” He lowered his head guiltily, understanding where she was going with this. “I never wanted to lead our team, Octavia.”
“But you agreed to do it, did you not?”
“Well, yeah…”
“Why would you agree to be our leader if you had no intention of doing the job?”
“I was going to,” he insisted, sensing a need to justify himself. “I lead you during the Crystal Empire crisis, didn’t I?”
“And after that?” she asked.
He frowned and turned away. “I… I guess I lost steam.”
“You didn’t feel that you were right for the job,” she corrected. “You thought it was a mistake.”
“Because it was a mistake,” he said, voice so quiet he almost couldn’t hear himself over her music. “Somepony like me, leading a team of ponies? I’m too much of a loner.”
“Have you already forgotten Jimmy and Nye?”
“No,” he acknowledged, “no I haven’t forgotten. It’s just an excuse, I suppose.” He turned to her, voice strained. “But I… I never saw myself as leadership material.”
“You lead the Dark Archons.”
“That’s different,” he claimed. “For the most part I don’t have to deal with ponies directly. Most of my decisions are made by relaying messages. The Dark Archons don’t have a central meeting place for command center, we stay spread out across Equestria. This team for Luna is more like… like a club. I feel like I should know all of you on a more personal level to really lead you.”
“Have you not decided to give that a try?” she asked. “You want to be friends with us, don’t you? You’ve made a conscious decision to go out of your way to get to know us, haven’t you?”
“Well… yes…”
“Then it’s enough. You don’t have to know us to lead, Verity, as long as you’re willing to start learning. Start leading, and the friendship will happen on its own.”
He stared at her for several seconds, the words playing over and over again in his mind. Her soft, deep music played on, keeping his emotions calm. “So… all I have to do is… be there?”
At last her eyes opened, shining mulberry pink as she smiled at him. “That’s one the most important thing about friendship, Verity. As long as you are there for the team, we’ll be there for you.”
He smiled in understanding. “I already knew it, didn’t I?”
She nodded. “I couldn’t have told you otherwise. The trick is to believe it.”
He wondered at this. There was a certain strange sense of happiness in him. He was eager to see the others, though he couldn’t understand why. “Does this mean I’m ready to wake up?”
“Oh, not yet,” she replied, tilting her head away from him in a coy manner.
The ground abruptly shook, making them both stumble. The music came to a halt as a familiar crashing sound erupted through the night. A second later and a massive head appeared from beneath the castle, rearing up high into the sky to glare down at them with huge yellow eyes.
“Oh come on!” Fine cried, crawling back from the beast. “I thought we took care of that thing!”
“No,” Octavia shouted, standing and setting her cello back into place. “We cannot kill it, Verity. We can delay it, but not kill it. Only you can do that.”
“Me?!” He tried to stand, but the castle rocked wildly once more as a thunderous crashing noise filled the air. “W-what am I supposed to do?!”
“Not my place to say,” she answered, turning to him with solemn eyes. “You need to move on.”
“Not your place? What do you mean it’s not your place?!” He managed to stand despite the shivering soil beneath him. “Aren’t you here to help?”
“I have helped,” she declared. “I did my part. Now you must move on.”
“But…” He looked up to see the colossal monster rearing back, it jaws opening wide to strike. But for once its eyes weren’t locked on him. “Octavia, look out!”
“Do your part, Verity.”
He cursed and charged, catching her in his legs just as she beast lunged. But it was so vast there was no chance either of them could dodge in time. It had been a stupid idea, driven by his urge to protect her.
He stumbled, screaming in terror, and almost fell to his knees. But he caught himself, realizing that he’d missed. No, not missed…
He’d moved on.
He sucked in a long, calming breath and closed his eyes. How many times had this happened so far? He should be used to it by now. He counted to ten, waiting for his heart rate to slow and his breathing to return to normal before opening his eyes.
He recognized his surroundings instantly. It was home. Not his home, at least not anymore. It was a suite, clean and neat and lavishly decorated. He knew every room and corner and piece of furniture. How could he not?
He sensed the presence and turned around, not at all surprised to find a unicorn standing a few feet away. It was a stallion, with a long, bright yellow mane and a mottled brown coat to match Fine’s. He wore that same necklace, the one constant of all these strange dreams. He was smiling, pride filling his expression. “Hello, son.”
“Dad.” Fine smiled and nodded. “I… wasn’t expecting you.”
His father stepped forward and embraced him in a tight hug. “Well I’ve been expecting you,” he said after a moment, pulling away to flash a beaming smile. “You’re doing great, son. You’re almost there.”
“I’ll be so glad to wake up,” he confessed, “but at the moment I’m pretty happy to see you.”
Fleurboard nodded his agreement. “You don’t come by to visit often enough.”
“Guilty as charged.”
“Do you know why?” his father asked. He was still smiling, but something about the way Fleurboard’s eyebrows raised expectantly, and the look in his eyes, told Fine that his answer was important.
So he considered it carefully.
“Because… I don’t know.”
His father frowned and took a step back. “Are you sure, son? Think hard, now, ‘cause there isn’t much time.”
Fine tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
An instant later the entire suite rocked, and both ponies found themselves on the floor. Fine sat up, but the continuous swaying kept him from getting to his hooves. “W-what the heck is that?”
His father, still on his belly, gave Fine a worried look and tapped the floor with a hoof. “That would be Riptide. Check the window.”
Fine turned and moved for the window as instructed, slipping and sliding on the floor as she entire building rocked. At last he reached it and, propping his hooves on the sill, picked himself up to gaze outside. The entire city of Las Pegasus was swaying back and forth! No… the city was perfectly still. It was he who was swaying.
“Look down, Verity!”
He did, and let out a horrified shout; the massive beast was below, literally eating the building whole! Its mouth worked the steel structure, gradually pulling it all down a few feet at a time. It’s vicious yellow eyes glared daggers at him, making in clear who it was really trying to eat.
“There’s no getting out,” Fleuboard called, having read Fine’s thoughts. “Answer my question.”
“I think we have bigger things to worry about,” Fine snapped, falling back into the room as the monster gave the building a good shake.
“Haven’t you been paying attention?” his father shouted.
Fine glared at him, fear and frustration mixing in his mind. “Of course I have!” He struggled to stand, but couldn’t do any more than sit precariously. “This is another test, isn’t it? I’m tired of tests. I just want to wake up!”
“You’re not going to wake up until you handle this,” Fleurboard fired back. “If you don’t answer my question, and answer it correctly, then you’ll have to start all over from scratch! Answer, Verity!”
“Fine!” Fine fell back against the wall at another shaking of the building. He could hear glass shatter and steel snap somewhere below. “You wanna know why I never come home? It’s because I’m scared of you, too!”
“Scared of me?” Fleurboard shouted, his teeth flaring and his eyes furious. “I’m your father! Why are you scared of me?”
“Because of your principals!” Fine braced himself against the wall, watching his father slide across the room. A tall statue fell and just barely missed Fleurboard, shattering into pieces that scattered wildly across the shaking floor. “You’re one of Celestia’s loyal advocates! You believe in the world she’s pulled over your eyes!”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m a murderer, Dad! When I’m not killing ponies myself I’m giving the order to somepony else!” The room rotated and got stuck at an angle, so that Fine was facing upwards and Fleurboard had to stare down at him from behind a decorative plinth on the wall. “I work for the Archons, I live in the other half of reality! I make bad things happen to bad ponies so that they won’t happen to the good ones like you.”
Fleurboard stared at him, eyes wide with disbelief. When he saw those eyes Fine’s anger faded, and all he could feel was a terrible, pained emptiness. The shaking slowed, and for a moment everything went quiet; just them and their labored breathing.
“That’s what I’m scared of,” Fine whispered, pointing to his father. “That look, right there. Every time I come to see you, I wonder if I can conjure up the guts to tell you the truth. In Celestia’s Equestria, everything is perfect. How can I tell you that I’m not part of your pristine, sweet little world? What if you end up hating me, your only son?”
He let his hoof fall to his side and leaned his head back. Fear gripped him, but for once it wasn’t the fear of the monster outside. Suddenly, for some strange reason, that thing wasn’t so scary right now. So he stared at his father, waiting for the verdict, waiting for hatred.
“Verity,” his father said, words coming slowly, “you know you’ll have to face me eventually.”
Fine closed his eyes and sighed, wishing he could just let go of his fear. “I know…”
“Now that you’ve finally acknowledged it,” Fleurboard said, “it’s time you faced it.”
Fine raised his head to give his father a questioning frown. “Faced what?”
“Everything. Your fear of me, your feelings of guilt, your doubts about your role in the team. That thing out there?” He nodded with his head to the window. “That’s nothing. It’s simply a manifestation of all those worries and fears and doubts that you’ve been holding in all your life.”
“No.” Fine shook his head, glancing towards the window with fear. “It really exists, Dad. In the real world. I saw it.”
“Yes,” Fleaurboard acknowledged, “but is it what you’re really scared of?”
Fleurboard stood against the tilted floor and plinth, raising himself so that the amber necklace he wore was clearly visible to Fine. He smiled and tapped the maple leaf that hung from the chain, and it began to glow. The glow became a bright light, and the light intensified until it was blinding Fine.
“It’s time to deal with it. Do your part, son.”
“Verity.”
He shifted. Moaned. Covered his eyes.
“Verity Fine.”
“No more…”
“Wake up, Verity.”
His eyes opened. Wake up? Was he...?
He sat up, hope filling him for just a moment. But it went away in a flash at the sight of water. Endless, rolling crests of water as far as the eye could see. His world rocked, and he fell onto his back. He gazed up to see a sky full of twinkling stars that swayed back and forth with the motion of the sea.
Then came the terror.
He jumped to his hooves and pressed himself against the cabin, staring in wide eyed horror at the endless ocean that surrounded him. A boat… of all the places he might find himself, he was back on his father’s yacht!
“Verity…”
“Who is that?!” He looked around for somepony, anypony, but he was alone. That voice… he recognized it. “Who… who’s there…?”
“I’m right here, Verity.”
Water erupted beside the boat, soaking him and nearly sending him sprawling. He sputtered and looked up, gasping at the sight of a gargantuan length of purple, scaled tentacle. It rose hundreds of feet into the night sky, swung over the boat and went crashing into the ocean on the other side. The entire vessel rose with the resulting wave, and Fine had to scramble to grab the cabin’s rail to keep from sliding into the depths.
“Oh Luna…” he whispered, terror gripping his mind. “Oh sweet Luna, not again…”
“Verity, you have to face it.”
“I can’t!” he screamed, clutching at the railing for dear life. “Whoever you are, I can’t!”
The serpent’s body arose from the water in several places at once, surrounding the boat in a forest of scales. They wreathed and squirmed, waves crashing wildly against one another and making the boat rock dangerously. Fine wept and held on with all the strength he could muster.
“Verity, think on what you’ve learned.”
“It doesn’t help!”
“Do you have friends?”
“W… what?” Water splashed into his face, and when his mane came over his eyes it was red. Bright, vibrant red.
“Do you have friends?”
“What does…? Y-yes…”
The boat shook, but he held on.
“Can they help you?”
“If… If I ask…”
A length of body crashed down, threatening to tip the boat over.
“But they can’t defeat it.”
“O-only… I… can do that…”
The frenzied motions of the monster intensified. The waves grew higher.
“You are responsible for your actions.”
He raised his head, eyes going to the nearest squirming form. “And my decisions.”
“And those which were beyond your control?”
The giant body surged forward and crashed against the boat, sending it spiraling through the waves. But Fine didn’t fall, or scream. “Those weren’t my fault, but I will make amends nonetheless.”
“You must try.”
“I must be there.”
The tentacles crashed through the waters, their motions furious at this unexpected resistance.
“They need a leader.”
Fine released the rail and stood facing the waves, a feeling of confidence coming over him. “I will do what I promised.”
“What did you give them?”
He glared at the water, all his frustration and anger fixed upon the beast below. “I gave them hope. I did the things I had to do, and I brought them into my world. We will see the dark so the rest can see the light!”
Yellow eyes peered at him through the waves, angry, menacing. He saw fangs open wide and knew that this time it had just one goal: to end him. But this time Fine wasn’t scared; he was determined.
“And if they don’t want to see the darkness?”
“Then that is their decision,” he cried, not hesitating against the unexpected question. “The dark isn’t for everypony, but it is my home!”
The beast broke through the water, head rising high into the dark skies with a deafening, violent roar. It’s mouth closed with a tremendous clash as it peered at him, threatening and bloodthirsty.
Fine didn’t flinch. He stood ready, lips turned up in a sneer and eyes locked with the monster’s. “You took my mother, you ugly thing. Now come and take me!”
The beast roared, rearing back slowly in preparation for the strike.
“Face it, Verity!”
It lunged, and Fine screamed his retaliation.
He was standing in the darkness, in a field that stretched on to infinity. Above him, the stars were twinkling brightly, peacefully. A full moon shone down on him, its rays filling him with a sense of serenity. The beast was gone, and all he could feel was… elation.
“I’m so very proud.” Fine turned to the voice, and what he saw made him gasp in newfound disbelief.
She was beautiful. A yellow unicorn, her red mane matching his perfectly. He’d not seen that pony in twenty-five years, but even so he could never forget her. Or her voice.
Or her necklace.
“Momma…?”
“Yes, Verity,” Mapleleaf answered with the sweet, gentle tone he recalled so vividly, “it’s me.”
He dropped to his haunches and stared for several long, tender seconds. “But… b-but you died. It ate you.”
She smiled softly. “In some cultures, it is believed that when a pony dies, and led a good life, he will see his mother.”
His heart almost stopped. “Are you saying I’m dead?”
She laughed, a high, musical sound. “I’m making a point, honey.”
He let out a relieved breath, bowing his head and smiling. “Thank goodness. For a moment there I thought it really was over.”
“Not yet,” Mapleleaf assured him, walking closer so that she was standing over him. She was a lot taller than him; even as a colt he’d recognized her size.
She petted his mane, like she used to do when he was little. “You told that little story to many ponies. Lightning, Jimmy, Keen.”
“Well, it always made me feel better,” he confessed.
She tilted her head with a kind but questioning expression. “What culture is it from?”
He looked up into her smiling eyes and grinned. “My own special culture, of course.”
She embraced him, a slow and meaningful motion, and he returned it with tears in his eyes. “I miss you so much, Momma.”
“I know you do,” she whispered, “but I never left you, Verity. I’ve been watching, and I am so proud of all that you’ve done.”
He leaned back to look her in the eyes, surprised mixed in with fear. “E-everything? Really?”
She gazed back at him, her long horn touching his gently. There was a warmth within him, ignited by that touch, and when she spoke he found himself truly believing. “Everything.”
He let out a weak breath and leaned against her shoulder, cheeks moist with fresh tears. “You have no idea how good it feels to hear that.”
“Yes, honey,” she assured him, “I do. I am so sorry you had to lose me so early.”
“That wasn’t your fault.”
“But you never let it go, did you?” Mapleleaf held him tightly once more. “All these years of pain and loneliness, it all stems from that harrowing moment. I know, Verity, because I’m always watching.”
“I don’t blame you, though,” he reminded her. “If you’re always watching, then you know that, too.”
“Yes,” she agreed, her hoof tenderly petting his mane. “I’m glad for it. Your life could have been so different, otherwise. So much worse.”
He chuckled and leaned back from her again, brushing the wetness from his cheeks. “It’s not exactly been rosy, either.”
She reached up and held his cheeks, her smile proud. “And yet you triumphed over the one thing that held you back all these years. You faced it, Verity. You faced me. And now it’s time to move on.”
His lips curled up into a weak smile of his own. “I understand.”
She nodded, as if confirming to herself that he would be alright, and took a few steps away. “You will sleep for a while, and then you will awaken. Really awaken. Promise your mother that you will live your life looking forward from now on.”
“I promise.”
She smiled. “Good. That means being there for them, and doing what you promised. And honey…? Act on your feelings.”
He tilted his head, frowning. “My feelings?”
She turned away, but cast one final, pleased glance over her shoulder. “She really does look a lot like me, doesn’t she? I suppose I should be flattered.”
His face went red as she walked off, her form gradually fading in the darkness. He sat in the soft grass and stared, his heart filled with loss. But that feeling slowly faded… and was gradually replaced with a relentless, deep happiness.
He couldn’t wait to wake up.