Twilight was back at the cave, and this time she was the medic. Raven's Wind and her sons had helped carry Darklight back as well, but afterward they returned to their own village leaving herself and Derpy to handle things on their own. Derpy focused on cooking and building their inventory of muffins while Twilight kept watch over Darklight.
Towards evening on the day following the battle, Twilight answered the knock at the door and found a large group of Barbaroi ponies waiting outside. Raven's Wind and Eagle's Talon were there, along with their two elder sons, but there were also two unicorn ponies as well. The older of the two was a hard looking pony with a scar on his face, who was armed with an enormous broadsword on his back. Twilight knew instinctively that this must be Prism Heart, and he was accompanied by his son as well. Clearly this was a very important visit.
The anteroom soon was filled with ponies. Derpy emerged from the kitchen looking a little perplexed as to what was going on. Everyone looked in the direction of Darklight, who was sleeping on his own bed in the main bedroom. Raven's Wind motioned for Derpy and Twilight to stand over by the fireplace and watch, which they obeyed. Prism Heart said a few words that they couldn't understand. Each of the sons, with great ceremony, pulled back their parent’s cloaks. The room suddenly became illuminated from the glow from the clothing they wore. Their costumes were unlike anything Twilight had ever seen in Equestria, but they were magnificent: not showy, but perfectly captured their dignity. She was especially taken with the clothing Raven's Wind wore, which shone with a rainbow of colors that accented her natural beauty. Though Twilight knew that Raven's Wind would reject that title, she thought she looked like a princess.
The three Barbaroi Elders stepped forward and stood next to Darklight's bed. Raven's Wind placed a beaded necklace on the bed next to Darklight before stepping back. Twilight could see that there were two halves of what looked like a broken mask strung with the beads.
The Elders stepped back a bit, and each made a low bow down on one hoof. The other ponies did the same. It was not a two-hoofed bow, the bow of submission to a conqueror, for the Barbaroi would never bow to any pony in that way. It was a bow of deep respect and appreciation.
The ceremony now complete, the ponies arose. Prism Heart and Eagle's Talon, with their sons, walked back into the anteroom followed by Derpy. The mood in the other room became more light hearted and relaxed as the ponies started to chat with one another.
Raven's Wind stood still for a moment, then she walked up to Darklight. Her expression changed dramatically, her usual thoughtful but inexpressive look transformed into terrifying anger. She looked straight at the amulet around Darklight's neck, at the red stone itself, like she was defying something that existed beyond the stone.
She turned to Twilight, the expression now gone, and motioned for her to follow her outside. They passed through the anteroom and out the large wooden door. It was another clear night, brightly lit by stars. Twilight closed the door behind her and watched her walk a few steps before stopping.
Raven's Wind suddenly flung her dagger at Twilight, which flew past her face and stuck fast to the door behind her. Twilight did not flinch, nor did she take her eyes off of her. She suddenly realized the truth about the test: it was not to measure her courage, but her trust.
"Good," said Raven's Wind with a warm smile. "Now... ready... listen."
It was a few seconds before Twilight realized in surprise that she was talking in her own language, the language of Equestria. Her accent was very thick, and she was having great difficulty forming the words and phrases, but she had some very important things to say.
She walked very close to Twilight and spoke again. "Save... Darklight."
"I'm doing my best," Twilight said, a little puzzled. "He seems to be doing well... "
Raven's Wind interrupted her with an impatient shake of her head and continued. "Stop... false... darkness. Stop false... stone. Show... Darklight... true... self. Fight... true... darkness."
"I don't understand... what do you mean?"
"Save... Solus. Save... ", Raven's Wind spoke another name that Twilight didn't understand at first, but sounded familiar, like a different pronunciation of a name that she had known all her life."
Twilight repeated what she thought she had said. "Save... Celestia? Do you know Princess Celestia?!"
Raven's Wind nodded yes.
"When you told Darklight that I was almost ready to face the darkness ahead, was this what you were talking about?"
Again, she nodded yes.
"And when you said that I was the mare that he needed... "
Raven's Wind only smiled. There was something about that smile that made Twilight blush deeply and look away.
Raven’s Wind removed a talisman from her pouch, identical to the one she gave Darklight, and placed it around Twilight's neck. "Show Celestia. Show... Uncle, fight... disgrace."
A thousand questions were flying through Twilight's brain at once, "Is there anything else you can tell me, anything that can help me fight this darkness?"
"You... not believe me."
"I will believe you! Please, what do my friends and I need to know to fight... "
Raven's Wind again shook her head, and replied with a sad look in her eyes. "Fight friends... to save friends."
Twilight was beyond astonished. Fight my friends? Never! Why would I ever have to do that? Were they Discorded? What was going on in Equestria?
She was about to ask more questions, but she knew it would do little good to ask. Raven's Wind clearly knew a lot more than what she was telling her, but Twilight would only be confused by her answers. There were things that Twilight would have to see for herself.
"I’ll do my best," said Twilight. "Thank you for all of the help you gave us, and I'm sorry I was so difficult with you, It took me awhile to understand."
Raven's Wind gave her one final hug. Twilight felt like a burden was being placed on her shoulders, one that she didn't feel strong enough to bear.
The two of them went back inside. Derpy was serving freshly baked muffins to the Barbaroi ponies, who were loudly proclaiming their approval. She was also being careful not to say the forbidden word.
Raven's Wind went to some saddlebags near the door and removed an object wrapped in cloth. She unwrapped the several layers on a nearby table to reveal a basket, and held it up for everyone to see. Remarkably, it's contents were still steaming hot, and gave off a delicious aroma.
"Muffins," she said with an ironic smile, and winked at Twilight. All of the Barbaroi ponies laughed at the ridiculous word choice. Twilight remembered Derpy's first encounter with Raven's Wind, and realized that it had been a test as well.
Derpy was at first surprised to hear her own language from her, then she beamed with delight as Raven's Wind offered the much anticipated muffins to her. Twilight noticed that all of the Barbaroi ponies, especially Eagle's Talon, were grinning like they knew what was coming next.
Derpy picked up one of the muffins, took a bite, and stood motionless. Her mouth dropped open, her eyes lost all focus, and she froze in a catatonic state, still holding in her hoof the world's most perfect muffin.
The Barbaroi ponies cheered. Raven's Wind, in anticipation of a question Derpy would ask when she recovered her senses, simply said "secret." Then she place another talisman necklace around Derpy's neck.
Derpy remained in that state long after the Barbaroi left. Twilight eventually got tired of waving a hoof in front of her face and went to check on Darklight.
Finally, the spell on Derpy was broken, "I must get that recipe!"
* * * *
Twilight was procrastinating. She was afraid to think of what Princess Celestia would say if she found this out. It really was unlike her to put off anything important, but something about the path ahead made her afraid. The words of Raven's Wind kept coming back to her, and although much of it didn't make any sense, it worried her greatly.
Derpy had recovered herself enough to resume baking, although she would often look at her own finished creations and say, with a disappointed sigh: "I have so much to learn, Muffin Goddess."
So Twilight found herself helping with the baking. There wasn't much for her to do, as Derpy was a much more skilled baker, but it gave Twilight the opportunity to get to know her better.
"You might think me strange for asking this," said Twilight, "But I was curious about your costume at Nightmare Night."
Derpy was excited that she had asked, and quickly answered. "Oh, you mean my muffin bag costume! Well, it's a little hard to explain; You see, my grandma used to make the most delicious muffins for me when I came to visit her at her home. She would always give me some brown paper bags to decorate and color on while she was baking her muffins. Then she would put the muffins in the bags I decorated and let me take them home with me. So now, whenever I see paper bags I think about Grandma and the wonderful times I had visiting her. It's my own special way of remembering her."
"Wow, that's a wonderful story." Twilight remarked, smiling.
"Thanks, and it really means a lot to me that you want to know. I know I do a lot of things that ponies think is really weird and all, but I always have reasons for doing what I do and I'd be more than happy to explain if somepony would just ask. But few ponies ever do, mostly I get looks like this:" she made a perplexed face with an eyebrow raise, "or this:" and followed with a mildly fearful face and made a 'gotta get away' shuffle.
Twilight laughed at her pantomime. "I felt much the same way that night. Nobody but Princess Luna seemed to understand my Starswirl The Bearded costume either. I wanted to explain what it meant and why I admired his work, but I couldn't get anypony to be interested in it for long."
"Exactly! I get that a lot. It seems like a lot of ponies don't have time to really try and get to know someone. Maybe they think that all it takes is to watch for a minute and put a few labels on them so that they can get on with more important things. With me, I want other ponies to understand me too, but I don't want them to think it's as easy as a couple of labels."
Derpy continued, "You probably know I like to take pictures. My friends think that I just like taking pictures of muffins or something, and sure, sometimes when I make a really good batch I like to take a photo to help me remember, but what I really like to take pictures of other ponies, especially when they are doing something that other ponies wouldn't expect them to do. Like when Fluttershy is giving one of her really scary bear massages... "
"That’s what that was?! I thought she was trying to kill that bear!" Twilight exclaimed in sudden realization.
"Oh no, that bear was her friend, she told me all about it later. Still, it showed a side of her that other ponies may not expect, that words like 'shy' and 'helpless' were not enough to capture who she really was. I got other pictures of ponies I know doing things that go against their own labels, I have a couple of you too that I would love to show you sometime. I want to show others that ponies are really complicated, that behind each of them is a really amazing story that anypony would love to hear if they just gave them the time. And I hope that someday, maybe, they would realize that about me too."
Twilight was amazed at her insight. "I'm sorry Derpy. I think that I'm like those other ponies too. I've known about you for awhile, but I never really tried to get to know the real you."
"It's okay," replied Derpy, "Though I get a lot of weird looks, I know that I help bring a smile to a lot of pony's faces too. It's a way I can make the world a little better while I am here. That's one thing I love about Darklight, I think he treats other ponies so nice and tries to help them because he knows he won't be around forever, and he wants to help other ponies be happy with whatever time he has left."
"How did you feel when you first met Darklight? Did he seem strange?" Twilight asked, trying to keep the conversation going.
She paused from baking to think about Twilight's question. "You know, I didn't really think much about it at the time, I was just so happy that you guys came to rescue me and he seemed really nice. Sure, I haven't seen any ponies that look like Mister Darklight, but who am I to judge others on what they look like. I'm not beautiful like you, or Rarity, or Fluttershy, or... well, any of your friends. I'm just, you know, lil' old me... hee hee."
"So you didn't feel strange when you were around him?" Twilight inquired.
"Nope, I knew that any pony who would risk his life to save me and you and all of the Barbaroi ponies from that rock monster can't be bad, no matter what he looked like. In fact, if I wasn't already dating The Doctor... " she paused, and gave Twilight a knowing nudge before saying in a sing-song voice, "I'll bet he's not TA-ken! Hehehehehehehehehehe... "
Twilight fell over in surprise and embarrassment, her face flushing beet-red. "WHAT!! What are you implying?!"
"Well there's no need to get embarrassed about it, it's all perfectly natural for it to happen when two ponies that are perfect for each other get together... "
"We are not dating!" protested Twilight, "I barely met him! We're just friends!"
"I don't know about that, I saw you looking at each other during the sunset."
"You SAW THAT?!” Twilight shrieked, equally embarrassed and angry. “DERPY!! I... I better go check on Darklight." She picked herself up and started to leave the room.
Derpy realized that she had pushed her a bit too far with the teasing. "Wait Twilight, before you go, I want to say how happy I am to get the chance to spend time with you. I don't have a very exciting job to do, and when I go on adventures with the Doctor he usually keeps me in the back so I don't get hurt, so for a long time I've been wanting to learn how to be a real hero like you are." She said quickly.
Twilight was still embarrassed, but now it was because Derpy was giving her more credit than she deserved. She sighed before speaking. "Derpy, the truth is, I'm not all that different from any other pony. Some ponies tell me I'm so much smarter than them, but it's only because I've done a lot of reading throughout my life, I'm not doing anything that any other pony couldn't do themselves. I can be pretty clumsy, and I get scared and make mistakes like anyone else. I just try to do the best I can with what I have, and I ask a lot of questions. Sometimes, the first step to becoming a hero is asking the questions that nobody else is asking. And don't worry about being like me (one of me is more than enough), you will have so much more success if you be the best you that you can be."
They gave each other a hug. "Thanks, Twilight. And before I forget again, sorry about dropping the flowerpot on your head. And the anvil. And the cartload of hay bales. And the piano."
"It's okay, I've totally forgotten about that (maybe it was the head injuries). Anyway, you better get some sleep, I'm going to stay up a bit to keep an eye on Darklight."
* * * *
Twilight could hardly regard herself as a proper caregiver. There was very little she could do for him, the dark flames still obscured his body making it impossible to properly direct a healing spell. Fortunately, his pulse and breathing were fine and he seemed to be in no immediate danger.
Twilight sat, watching him, and tried to make sense of everything she had learned so far about Darklight. She remembered with a shudder what she saw, or thought she saw, when she cast the life spell. Was that his true self? If so, why did the hair Derpy accidentally cut off with the screwdriver beam turn red, instead of into a shapeless black blob?
Then there was the amulet. Darklight had said that it was keeping him from turning back into his old self. His father had warned him about this, and he believed this himself, but was it really true? Did the amulet serve a different purpose entirely? The anger that Raven's Wind directed towards it was very puzzling, and she had admonished Twilight to stop the "false stone."
Twilight was reluctant to tamper with the amulet directly, but it wouldn't hurt to take a closer look. Examining magical relics was difficult even for the most advanced unicorn mages, and her own experience was limited, so she wasn't sure what she would be able to find. She charged her horn and activated her mage-sight. She started to scan the amulet itself, but at first it seemed to be an incomprehensible jumble of many different spells that Twilight was not familiar with. The darkness consuming Darklight's body blocked her scans and told her nothing, as he was almost invisible to mage-sight and cast no magical glow.
She then moved to the chain around his neck. At first she could see anything unusual, it seemed to be nothing more than ordinary gold. Then one link caught her attention. She noticed that the link was cut in three places, each cut equidistant from the other two, and the link was held together by magic. The spell that held them together was a simple switch spell, designed to wear off when a predetermined event occurred, but what event?
Twilight moved her horn back towards the amulet and noticed something at the edge. The dark flames seemed to be moving slightly faster around the amulet itself, and that they were moving outwards from it. Maybe the amulet is the real source of the flames? She became aware again of the feeling of foreboding that she had ignored and almost forgotten, and she noticed that the feeling was strongest at the amulet. Was it an elaborate disguise, one that Darklight's father intended to be removed at a specific time?
She stepped back and looked at the amulet with a building curiosity and determination. If something happened, she told herself, she could just put it back on. The warning was for Darklight to never take it off, but he never said anything about some other pony doing it for him. Twilight cast a levitation spell and gently lifted Darklight's head. Then she lifted the chain off his neck and placed it on the bed beside him. The flames began to die away, forming progressively smaller patches of darkness that flickered out of existence and revealed the truth concealed within.
Twilight gasped in astonishment and stared. Darklight wasn't a monster at all. He was an alicorn stallion not because his father had willed it, but because it was his true self. His long and somewhat unkempt mane looked like it was on fire, not with darkness but with a mixture of bright red, orange, and bronze. His coat was a brilliant white color, marred in several places with scars. A long scar, probably from a knife, ran across his hindquarters and cut through his cutie mark: which was a picture of a fiery, red sun. The mark was almost identical, except in color, to one she had seen many times before. His glowing, opalescent coat, the style of his cutie mark, were almost the same as...
IMPOSSIBLE!! she screamed in her mind, I don’t believe it! She thought back to the research she did after her embarrassing debacle with Cadence, when she didn't know that her old foal-sitter was Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, to prove her point in her own mind. I know the names, ages, and relations of every member in the royal family, and I even have copies of their pictures. There were no gaps, everyone was accounted for. Still, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t deny the connection.
If Twilight could see herself, she would have seen that she was blushing. She was so taken by Darklight's true self that she didn't notice that the amulet was glowing, just like it had with the life spell.
Suddenly, Darklight began to choke and gasp for breath. He was suffocating! Twilight fumbled clumsily with the amulet and put it back around his neck. The darkness spread out from it like a mist and again engulfed his body in dark flames. His breathing became normal again, and the angry red light died away. Twilight felt guilty, she had risked his life for her own selfish curiosity.
Darklight stirred, gave a big yawn, and opened his eyes. “Now there’s a face I wouldn’t mind waking up to.” He said in a rather uncharacteristically cheeky tone.
Twilight was still embarrassed, “Oh..hey, Darklight, did you sleep well?"
"Fantastic, best sleep I've ever had. How long was I out?"
"Just a day and a half."
"Really?! Hope I wasn't any trouble. It must have been a pain carrying me all the way back here."
"No, no trouble at all. We had plenty of help from Raven's Wind and her sons. I took care of you when we got back."
"I wish I was awake to enjoy that. How bad was I?"
Twilight wasn't ready to talk about the Life spell or about what she had learned about him, so she began to lie. "You weren't too bad, I only had to use a couple of healing spells."
"You must be pretty amazing with healing spells," he remarked, but there was an odd look in his eye. He tested his wings, which seemed to be in perfect working order "I wasn't expecting to be alive after what happened."
He suddenly changed the subject. "You know, I had a really strange dream. It was a good dream; I've never had a good dream before. I was leaving to go visit a library somewhere. There was a mare that looked a lot like Raven's Wind, except that she had a timid voice. She was asking me to get a book for her on caring for sick animals. There was also a blonde mare with a country accent. She brought a basket of apples for my trip. I tried one of them, I’ve never tasted apples that good before. A pink pony wanted to have a party with me when I got back. There was a baby dragon, a white pony started talking about dresses (that was kind of weird), and a rainbow colored pony met me at the train station before I left. They were all my friends, they were all happy. The town was beautiful, the air smelled fresh, and all of the other ponies were happy too. It was all so strange, it wasn't what I expected at all."
Twilight knew what he was talking about. It was the day that she left to go to Canterlot to pick up books, before she found the spellbook that brought her there.
"Then everything got dark, and it became very quiet. Usually when I dream I hear sounds, frightening sounds, that Father says are from my distant past, but this time I didn't hear them. There was a light, I went towards it. And for a few moments, for some reason, I thought that I... remembered... my... " He didn't finish his sentence out loud, but Twilight knew what the final word was.
Then Twilight made her big mistake. "Sounds like an amazing dream."
Darklight laughed, relieved that the building tension had been broken. "I know! I feel ridiculous even bringing it up! I hope you don't think I'm weird talking to you about it."
"No, not at all, I'm really glad you are being so open with me." she replied. Why couldn't she be open with him?
"Yeah, just a dream." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Though it seems strange. I don't see why I would have a dream like that, it felt more like a memory. Are you sure nothing happened?"
"No, nothing." she lied.
"Well, thank you for taking care of me. I'm really glad that everything worked out as well as it did."
"You don't need to thank me for anything," said Twilight. "You’ve been so nice to Derpy and I, saving us from the golem, letting us say at your home, putting up with me all those times I was in a bad mood. I never got the chance to say how grateful I was that I got to meet you. I want you to know that I didn't mean it when I called you a coward, I think you are one of the bravest ponies I know."
"Well, it was the least I could do, and what stallion would pass up the chance to have a beautiful house guest such as yourself."
"My, aren't we getting flirtatious." Twilight laughed. "Maybe beating the golem has over inflated you ego, time to take you down a notch."
"Not at all, I'm just stating the obvious."
"Well, as your nurse, I get to order you to get some sleep."
"Yes, ma'am," he yawned again and laid back down on the bed. "Goodnight, Twilight."
She waited for him to fall asleep. The questions, the conflicts, and the lies, had all been swept away by the beauty of the moment. Then, without thinking about it, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.