Her mane and coat glittered and sparkled in the light of the sun, making her look like the secret lovechild of Celestia and a diamond quarry. Cadance huffed at the week-old specks of crystal still stuck in her hairs, proving themselves about as stubborn as a petrified mule. “If I end up having to shave myself bald to get all this glitter out, you better believe I’m suing the flanks off those twins and their Tartarean machine,” she swore through clenched teeth and pulled at the strap of her saddlebags. Had she always used the third hole on these bags? She pulled a little harder and sucked in her stomach, to no avail.
Had to be a new bag, she thought as she breathed out and turned her attention to Shining Armor. Her prince and captain of the guard was just finishing his orders to the pegasi in front of him. Cadance smiled brightly as she walked up beside him and looked at the five pegasi standing at attention in perfectly pressed uniforms and pristine, polished armor.
“Cadance, this is Wing Commander Jade Eye, whose wing of elite fliers is tasked with keeping you safe on this journey,” Shining Armor said as he turned to Cadance and gestured at the green-eyed mare at the head of the pegasi.
An entire wing? She had expected just the one flight standing before her. Cadance supposed she should be flattered by her husband’s concern, excessive as it was. She smiled at the commander and took a step forward. “I believe I am already familiar with the commander.”
“Your Majesty,” the mare said without barely moving.
Cadance looked at the younger mare beside the commander and drew a blank. It was always embarrassing when she couldn’t remember somepony’s name, but she was fairly certain she hadn’t met this mare before. Her eyes drifted to the markings on the mare’s uniform. “And this is the Flight Lieutenant, I see. I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure yet.”
“This is Flight Lieutenant Skyline,” Shining Armor provided. “She came here recently as a transfer from the Royal Equestrian Air Force, with high recommendations. Her family has a long history in the air force. Her grandfather served with distinction in the Wonderbolts.”
“Your Majesty,” the bright-eyed mare chirped up.
“She and her flight will stay close to you at all times, as will the Wing Commander,” Shining explained. “The rest of the wing are out watching your perimeter and scouting select areas for signs of danger. They will come at your call if anything should occur, however.”
Cadance gave a nod and looked behind the commander and lieutenant to the rest of the flight. Recognition tugged at the corners of her lips. “Will you present me to the rest of your flight, Lieutenant?”
Lieutenant Skyline saluted. “At once, Ma’am. These are Flying Officers Greyhound—”
“Instrumental in bringing home that expedition trapped in the mountains last year. I remember,” Cadance said, and the mare saluted. The fact that their princess remembered their names and deeds always raised their spirits, and if Greyhound could have been standing any more tall, she probably would have.
“—, Rimelick—”
“Who enjoys singing,” Cadance provided with a wink at the officer.
“Guilty as charged, Ma’am,” Rimelick saluted with a restrained grin.
“—and Flash Sentry,” Skyline finished, pointing at the lone stallion of the group.
“Who won’t be bumping into any princesses on this trip, I am sure,” Cadance teased.
Flash Sentry blushed brightly. “No, Ma’am,” he said and saluted.
“A pleasure to make your acquaintances,” Cadance said with a smile at them all before turning back to her husband and Jade Eye. “Anything else I must know, commander?”
“No, Your Highness,” Jade Eye saluted. “We stand ready to serve you on this journey, Ma’am.”
“Then we shall not stall any longer than needed,” Cadance said and turned to Shining Armor, leaning in for a last hug and a kiss goodbye. “Don’t worry, dear. I will only be gone ‘till morning.”
“I wish I could go with you myself,” Shining said and returned the hug, squeezing her tightly to show he didn’t want her to fly off. “I worry what you will find out there.”
“Yes, I see that. You worry too much and too soon, my love. You know I can take care of myself.” Cadance lifted a hoof to his chin and looked him in the eyes. “And our subjects need you here while I am away.” She leaned forward and touched her horn to his as she kissed him farewell. “I’ll be back before you know it,” she said and stepped back, smiling at him.
Shining Armor nodded and watched her as she spread her wings and took off, blowing a kiss back at him mid-air before turning towards the sky. The five guards took up position around her in flight as they left the castle behind.
“I hope you’re right,” Shining Armor said and watched her for several minutes, until she was only a sparkling dot against the bright azure sky.
* * *
Huge flocks of birds sailed through the sky as the princess and her guards journeyed westward on a straight course for the gorge. Cadance looked down at the swarms of thousands moving like waves of black dots in the air below them, following the same westward direction. The sight lifted her spirits and brought her mind away from whatever lay ahead for her.
“We will be leaving the empire’s weather zone in half an hour at a steady pace,” Flash Sentry reported at the front of the group.
Cadance paid the guards’ conversation only a passing attention, as she watched the birds and hummed a quiet tune to herself. Often she would travel in the royal chariot, letting others do the flying for her. Perhaps this was why her saddlebag had become too tight of late. It felt good to make the journey on her own wings for once.
She was momentarily tempted to dive down and fly among the birds, but she knew they would likely see her as a predator and scatter. “Too bad,” she thought out loud in a quiet voice.
“The zone is scheduled for clear weather all day,” Skyline added as she turned her gaze from the message tower she had been watching in the distance. “The perimeter reports clear sky west of the zone as well.”
“Good,” their commander said next to Cadance. “We should be able to make it there in four hours with a few breaks along the way.”
“Or we could make it in one stretch. As long as you are up for that, Your Highness,” Greyhound turned her head to look back at them.
Cadance looked up from her dreams of flying with the birds. “Hmm? Oh, don’t worry about me keeping up,” she said with a keen smile. “I bet we could make it in two hours.” She would have to eat those words if it came to an actual race, she knew.
“As entertaining as a race to the finish would be,” Jade Eye cut in to stop any bright ideas from taking root, “let’s just keep a steady course and take whatever breaks we need. The princess is scheduled for a slumber party, so we have all the time we need to get there.”
“Aye aye, commander,” they all chimed together.
“Well, how about a song?” Cadance suggested with a sugary smile.
Rimelick perked up at the suggestion and turned to look at the commander and lieutenant. Jade Eye rolled her eyes and let slip a smile. “As long as you all keep your eyes on the job, you may sing as you please. But please stick with the ‘safe’ songs while on duty.”
“I don’t know what you’re implying, commander. All my songs are—” Rimelick stopped as everypony turned to look at her. “What? They surely never hurt anypony.”
“Lying does not befit a royal guard, officer.” Jade Eye turned back to look ahead with a stone-faced expression. “Now get with the singing. That’s an order.”
“It’s not my fault if some ponies can’t drink their cider without choking on it, or fall off their chairs and hit their heads on the floor at the strangest of times,” Rimelick said quietly. “You don’t see the bartender or the carpenter getting blamed for that.”
Skyline snorted as she held back a giggle. “Maybe you should write a song about it.”
“You know what?” Rimelick straightened up in flight. “I will write a song about it. Even better, I will sing a song about it. Why, I shall be doing so right now, in fact!”
Cadance chuckled as the mare launched into her improvised song about the unfairness of life as a minstrel, as compared to carpenters and bartenders. It wasn’t long before they were all joining in as best they could. Cadance mused that only in the air force was this sort of thing possible. Something about pegasi and birds sharing more than just the wings, she supposed.
* * *
“Please don’t call me crazy now, but there’s a massive fog bank up ahead!” Skyline called over the rushing of the wind.
Everypony squinted at where she was pointing. It had been four hours since they set out, and the gorge should not be far away. Jade Eye looked to Flash Sentry. “What’s our course?”
The stallion briefly consulted the compass and map strapped to his foreleg. “Off by no more than a degree, Ma’am,” he declared and looked up at the horizon in front of them, pointing a hoof slightly to the right, straight at the center of the fog. “The gorge is within the fog.”
“There were no reports from the towers of any fog this size in the area,” Skyline said. “I can’t tell where this fog even comes from, but it must have been sitting here for a while. The towers must have made some kind of mistake in their report. We are fortunate the temperature is not lower, or we could have been dealing with ice fog.”
Everypony was silent for a moment as they contemplated the news. “Whatever the reason or mistake, we’re just going to have to deal with it,” Jade Eye said finally. “Stay close together and proceed with caution. You know the drill, everypony.”
“Yes, Ma’am!”
“Your Highness should stick close to me,” Jade Eye continued. “Fog is not what we expected to find out here, and the last thing we want is to lose sight of you, Ma’am.”
Cadance gave a nod. “I defer to your expertise, commander. Will this fog be a problem?”
“Shouldn’t be, as long as we don’t get separated,” Jade Eye said with confidence. “It may get cold and wet in there, but Greyhound and Flash could find the way while blindfolded and drunk.”
“That we could, Ma’am,” Greyhound said. Flash waved his hoof with the compass.
“The rest of us will follow Skyline’s lead and clear as much of the fog as we can around us,” the commander continued. “That should make the whole thing only mildly inconvenient. If anypony should lose sight of the others, you know what to do; you’ve been practicing it for the past three hours at the top of your lungs, after all.”
Cadance smiled. “Very well, then.”
“Good. Get ready, everypony.” Jade Eye looked around at Cadance and the four other guards with her, then began the descent. “We’re going in.”
They all nodded and dove towards the bank of fog looming below, hiding the land from view. A cold, clingy feeling of wetness surrounded them as they soared through the first thin wisps of mist and into the denser fog. Skyline and Flash led the way, directing their course and the effort to clear a path through the fog.
Their wings whipped the air into torrents, breaking up the low-hanging cloud and dispersing it outwards from where they were flying. Cadance stayed close to the commander as the fog thinned around them, revealing the desolate mountains and rocky plains below. Drops of cold water condensed and gathered on her wings and back, making her shiver as she looked around at the landscape. It was hard to imagine anypony choosing to live in such an inhospitable place.
“Fog’s getting denser, and fast!” Skyline called after about a minute.
“Just keep course and flap harder!” Jade Eye commanded.
Despite their efforts, the passage they had cleared around them was growing narrower by the minute. Cadance looked around as the fog crept in tightly around them, too dense for them to keep away for long. The world they were flying through had turned to a near-solid gray.
A growing sense of unease made Cadance slow down and look around, her ears turning to listen for some fading sound she thought for just one moment she heard. The fog seemed to fade the world to a dull and empty tone. Cadance shivered, but not from the cold this time.
“Your Highness?” Jade Eye moved closer by her side and followed her gaze. “Is everything alright?”
“I just …” Cadance looked around at the featureless gray walls around them and shivered again. “I just have this strange feeling all of a sudden. Like there’s something we’re missing.”
“I get that feeling sometimes too, like you forgot something, right?” Rimelick said as she came up beside them. “It usually turns out my mind’s just making stuff up, and it’s really nothing.”
“Everypony here?” Jade Eye called and looked around at the three ponies joining her and Cadance in the fog. “Skyline, Rimelick, Flash?”
“Aye, sir!” they each called back.
“Good.” The commander paused to consider the situation.
“Is there anything I can do to help with this fog?” Cadance asked, feeling her unease grow as the grayness gathered closely around them.
“It won’t be much use, Your Highness,” Skyline said and held out a hoof to feel the cold wetness of the clouds around them. “Even if you did have weather training, we simply don’t have the combined wing power to break this cloud up. Not even close.”
“Should we call in assistance?” Rimelick suggested.
“We’re outside the weather zone,” Skyline said. “We’d need to bring most of the weather team here to break up a bank this size, which would leave the weather zone unsupervised. If anything happened back home, we’d be in big trouble for dragging the team away.”
“We could signal the rest of the wing, but that would leave our perimeter unwatched. Outside of an emergency, I want them to hold to their own positions,” Jade Eye said, contemplating. “Flash, how far are we from the gorge?” She turned to the stallion with the compass.
“Shouldn’t be far, Ma’am.” Flash Sentry consulted his map and did some quick mental calculation. “Five minutes at most, taking poor visibility into account.”
Jade Eye gave a nod and turned back around. “Alright, everypony, let’s find that gorge. Flash, show the way. Skyline, you stay on the princess’ right. Rimelick, you take up the rear. We’ll just have to fly this thing blind.”
They all got in formation, with Cadance safe in the center as they cut through the wall of gray ahead. Cadance kept her eyes on the ground, which she could only barely make out through the fog. The unease was staying with her as they scouted for the gorge. The feeling that something was missing just wouldn’t leave her, but she couldn’t think of anything they might have forgotten.
* * *
As visibility continued to worsen, they had to fly slow and just above the ground to avoid flying into anything. Cadance could only barely see a pony’s length in front of Flash, who flew in front of them. No amount of light from her horn seemed to help the matter, the glow merely scattered and faded in the fog.
“I have my doubts about anypony living in this area,” Rimelick said behind them. “If you don’t mind me saying so, Your Highness.”
Cadance looked back over her shoulder at the pegasus and the endless gray tunnel in their wake. “I don’t,” she said and restrained herself from sighing. “But there has to be,” she added quietly as she looked back at the grayness in front of them. “My heart tells me this is so.”
She gazed into the gray emptiness in front of her. Once again, her heart also told her something else: that they had forgotten something. Whether it was merely the fog soaking her coat, or something more, a cold sense of loneliness gripped her heart just then.
“Princess?”
Cadance looked at the concerned face of Skyline. “I’m okay,” she said and tried to smile, though she doubted it was a very convincing gesture. “It’s just that I keep having this feeling. I think this fog is getting to me.”
“I know how you feel,” Rimelick said behind her. “Never was a big fan of fog. Would a song perhaps cheer you up? It always does for me.”
“I’m more worried about where we are,” Jade Eye broke in before any more singing could start. “Anypony know if we’re even on the right course? I can barely see my own muzzle here.”
Cadance looked at the three guards, and they at each other.
“Uh, commander? Lieutenant?” Rimelick said uncertainly. “No disrespect to either of you, of course, but didn’t we bring a navigator? Seems like a big thing to forget out here.”
Jade Eye opened her mouth to respond but soon closed it again, frowning as uncertainty was painted across her face. There was a long silence before she looked to her right. “Lieutenant?”
“No compass here,” the lieutenant responded with a shake of her head. “I thought you had it, commander.”
“I …” Jade Eye stared at the fog in concentration. “I can’t believe we didn’t bring a navigator, and how did we not even realize it until now? That is a serious oversight on my part.” She turned to look at Cadance. “I am terribly sorry, Your Majesty. I will take full responsibility for this mistake, and I must insist that we pull up and—”
“I think I see something, commander!” Skyline spoke up and pointed.
They all strained to see through the gray. As they approached, the outline of steep cliffs descending into a gray abyss in the earth appeared out of the fog before them. Cadance slowed down and hovered at the edge of the gorge, staring into its depths.
“Looks like we found it,” Rimelick said.
Cadance looked at Jade Eye and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “I’m sure it was an honest mistake, commander. You got us here regardless, and it’s only fog. I say we continue,” she said and smiled. “We can always just head upwards until we’re out of the fog. It’s no worse than that.”
Jade Eye looked into the gorge and nodded. “As you will it, Your Highness. And you’re right, it’s just fog. Alright,” she said and looked around at the three ponies with her, confidence returned. “You know the deal. Let’s stay close together. The fog looks even worse down there.”
* * *
It was almost like flying through slush ice, Cadance decided, as the fog very nearly melted on her coat and ran in slow, cold streams down her flanks and legs. She was, at this point, thoroughly soaked to the skin. If not for the heat spell she had wrapped herself in, she would be freezing. The three guards with her seemed to fare well enough, thanks to their training.
Rimelick was singing softly behind them, while Skyline was humming along somewhere in the fog to Cadance’s right. If not for the soothing sound of their voices, Cadance imagined the dreary and endless gray would have gotten to her by now and made her turn around.
They were at the bottom of the gorge now, but still slowly descending through crags and cliffs rising out of the earth. Cadance wasn’t sure how long her eyes had been watching the barren rocks and jagged stones drifting by beneath them when Skyline stopped her singing and spoke up.
“Is it just me, or is the air getting warmer?” She looked at Cadance, who blinked in confusion. “Princess? Are you—”
“Sorry,” Cadance said and rubbed her eyes with a hoof. “I must have spaced out for a moment there.” She slowed down and looked around at the two ponies around her. “What were you … singing?” she said, a feeling of uncertainty in her voice. Had there been singing? Or had she been sleeping in flight and simply dreamt it?
“Singing?” Skyline furrowed her brow. “I was asking if the air was getting warmer.”
Jade Eye looked at Cadance with increasing concern. “Are you certain you are well, Your Highness? You have been unsteady since we reached this place.”
“I think so,” Cadance said. “Perhaps this heat spell was more of a strain than I thought. I am not used to flying this long as it is.” She looked around and dropped the spell. Skyline had been right, the drop in temperature wasn’t nearly as bad as she had expected. “Or perhaps I am simply overheating myself.”
Jade Eye nodded and led her down to the ground, landing with a soft clip-clop on the uneven rocks. “Let’s walk from here, Your Majesty. We are in no hurry.”
Skyline landed next to her and folded her wings against her sides. “I say we follow the heat to its source. It may well be the source of this fog too, and the most likely place for ponies to live.”
Cadance nodded and began walking. “I say that sounds like a good idea.”
* * *
They walked for several minutes through the gorge, carefully watching each step on the cold and wet rocks. The fog didn’t seem to get any denser than it already was, but it couldn’t have gotten much denser before becoming solid anyway. Perhaps they should have brought the whole weather team with them on this journey after all, Cadance mused with a sigh.
She looked down and stopped. “There’s water here,” she announced and looked up again. “I think it’s a lake,” she added as she looked at the two guards.
Jade Eye and Skyline stepped forward and looked across the misty water, clouds of steam rising from the crystal clear surface. “And I believe we’ve found the source of the fog,” Skyline said and dipped a hoof into the water. “It’s really warm. Must be a hot spring. How the hay did no pony notice this?”
“I think I see something out in the middle of the water,” Jade Eye said and narrowed her eyes. “Should we investigate or move on, princess?”
“Let’s see what it is,” Cadance said and spread her wings. Jade Eye followed the lead and took off across the surface of the small lake. Skyline followed close behind.
“It’s a stone,” Jade Eye announced. “Some kind of big rock sticking out of the lake.”
Cadance circled the pillar of stone rising out of the water. It looked extremely old and weathered, and the water had worn away at the base for so long that it was standing on the verge of tipping over if one was to give it a good push. She stopped and moved closer. “There are some glyphs or writing here,” she announced as the two guards came up beside her.
“What does it say, princess?” Skyline looked at her, eyes bright with curiosity and excitement.
“I’m not sure,” Cadance said and ran a hoof across the faded runes and symbols, trying to make out something that might hint at its origin or message. “It looks like early pre-classical writing. I can not make out much, but it appears …” She narrowed her eyes and followed the glyphs further down. “It appears to be an inscription by Clover the Clever.”
“Clover the Clever?” Jade Eye looked at the stone more closely and scratched her muzzle in puzzled thought.
“As in, the Clover the Clever? Student of Starswirl the Bearded?” Skyline added.
“Yes,” Cadance confirmed. “At least, it was signed with her personal runes,” she said and pointed to an intricate set of runes near the bottom. “I don’t think there are any records of Clover or Starswirl traveling in this region. This could be an important archaeological find.”
“We’ll make a mention of it when we get back. The archaeologists should have a field day with this.” Jade Eye looked around at the steam rising from the lake, surrounding them like a wall. “For now, perhaps we should explore around the lake. If anypony does live in this gorge, I think it would be here, where it’s at least warm.”
Cadance ran her hoof over the faded runes and rough stone. With a reluctant nod she turned around and settled next to Jade Eye as she looked around from where they were hanging over the water. “Which direction?”
They watched the fog for several minutes of silence. The silence unnerved Cadance even more than the clouds of steam surrounding them like a cage. She turned and circled around the stone, gazing into the distance in the hope that something would appear. She stopped suddenly and felt Jade Eye nearly collide with her. “I think I see …” Cadance narrowed her eyes and began moving forwards. “Houses. I think I see houses ahead.”
“I think I see them too,” Jade Eye said and came up on her left, flying along with her.
Cadance picked up her pace, crossing the lake towards the hazy shapes of houses in the distance. She turned to her right to say something but stopped when she found herself facing nothing but air. Cadance closed her mouth and looked to her left where the commander was following along. “That was odd …” she said to Jade Eye. “I could have sworn …” Cadance trailed off, uncertain what had given her pause.
“What was it?” The commander looked at her.
Cadance looked back at the mist behind them, already hiding the lake from view. “I don’t know. I have the strangest feelings today.” She shook her head and turned back to the distant houses. “Nevermind. Let’s move on. I’m anxious to be somewhere with other ponies again.”
* * *
“How did we lose sight of the houses?” Cadance said and looked around. “They were right here in front of our eyes.”
“I don’t know, Your Majesty,” Jade Eye admitted, constantly looking around at their surroundings. “It worries me, but it worries me even more that I was sent here alone with you. There should have been at least a full flight of guards at your side at all times, as per the protocols. I am concerned that we are not safe here, princess.”
Cadance stopped and gazed into the mist. “I think we’re simply lost, commander, and the fog is getting on our nerves.” She turned around and looked in another direction, though it made no difference. It was all gray and dreary. “We haven’t seen any signs of actual danger.”
After a minute of silently turning, she returned to the direction she had come from and began walking. “Maybe if I can get back to the lake, I can spot the village again,” she mused.
Her ear twitched at a faint sound in the distance behind her. Cadance stopped and held her breath. She turned around slowly and listened, but there was nothing but silence now. She shivered, no longer sure that she had heard anything in the first place.
She looked back the way she was going, hesitating at the emptiness ahead of her. She looked around her, the sense of loneliness and being lost growing to nearly overwhelm her. Slowly beginning to walk again, she kept glancing behind her.
“Why did I come here alone? Shining must have insisted on guards. He would never let me go alone, there are protocols and everything for this … too many protocols,” she whispered and felt a little more at ease hearing her own voice. “It makes no sense.” As she walked through the mist, she tried to sing quietly, the tones echoing strangely among the rocks and cliffs hidden behind the gray blanket.
Her hoof struck water. Cadance looked down at where the warm, clear water covered her golden shoe. “The lake,” she said with a flicker of relief as she looked up at the lake and the stone, rising out of it. She furrowed her brow. The stone hadn’t been this clearly visible from the shore earlier. She could even see houses on the far side now.
Cadance lifted her hoof out of the water and stepped back from the lake, looking around. “How did—” she stopped and stared at the houses all around her, revealing a small village with the lake in its center. Everything was gray and brown, like the color had drained from the world. Cadance looked up at the sky through the mist and clouds. Even the sun seemed faded and dull from here. It even looked much smaller, somehow.
She didn’t remember seeing the sun through the mist all day until now.
Shivering despite the heat from the lake, she lifted a hoof and looked at the gold and pink to assure herself that there still were some colors here. Convinced of that, and a little relieved, she looked around again.
“Hello?” she called to the village around her. Her voice echoed back at her, a hollow sound. “Anypony here?” she called again and turned around, trotting towards one of the homes. Smoke drifted upwards from the chimney, and a dull white light flickered in the window.
“Hello?”