//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Journeys // Story: Dragoning her Hooves // by Richardson //------------------------------// 08: Journeys Twilight looked past the tip of her nose, observing the course before her. It was actually rather odd view, given the way that her field of view had been spread out and altered by her transformation. It had given her no end of balance and navigation problems for several weeks as she had gotten used to it. A week of non-stop training had brought her to this point, a final capstone course to examine how far she had come. Challenge after challenge to rescue her friends from'peril' had been laid out before her, waiting for her move. Her claws dug themselves into the soft loam of the earth, letting her magic leak downwards to make the ground ripple around her toes under the stream of energy. She looked up to where Mustari stood upon a judges stand with a starting pistol gripped in his mouth. The sandwalker's robes still billowed around him, scattering sand from Saddle Arabia everywhere. He was waiting for her to relax. Her mother's warnings stuck in her mind, reminding her not to lose herself in memory, to stay loose and unclenched yet ready to spring at a moment's- BANG! -------------------------------------------------- Celestia struggled down the hall, cursing the reminder that no matter how ageless she was, she was still biological. Her sprained ankle flared with pain under the slightest pressure as she hobbled into the darkness. The mighty noises of battle deeper in urged her on, especially ones like the awe-inspiring rumble of thunder that had rolled through a few seconds before. She wasn't catching up, and the teleport interdiction wards within the complex kept her from cheating to jump ahead or snapping Trixie to herself to end the farce. She had to hurry, as they had passed the outer maze and had come to the most dangerous and ancient parts of the vaults. Signs of a running battle littered the narrow and constrained blackstone passage. Chunks had been blown out of the walls by both parties in great and ragged chunks, nearly tripping Celestia up time and time again. The pavers underhoof were in many cases transmuted or melted into glowing puddles of dangerous ooze by stray shots from both combatants. Worryingly, the echoes of distant snarls and magic blasts dimly boiled up into Celestia's ears. She hobbled around the corner, taking the right branch that showed signs of recent battle. Curses escaped the confines of her throat as she had to duck down. The scarred ceiling was lower in one spot, scraping at her back, slightly scourging the fur in places. She was still slowly growing even after three millenia. Stone nearly met the top of her head as she jerked from her student's scream of pain. "Twilight!" The vaults shook as a whole as a titanic magical blast roared somewhere in the tunnels ahead. An alien squeal of air being ripped asunder by a beam of magic cut through the dust-clogged air and overpowered the clattering of a thousand falling pebbles. Celestia hobbled even faster as she mentally boxed up her pain, blinking and coughing as dust irritated her. A mental plee rang through her mind as she begged the higher powers for Twilight's safety, fearing that the sounds she had heard were not those of her protegee bringing the roof down upon her and Trixie's heads. All grew silent, save for the clip-clop of Celestia hobbling down the dangerously tight corridor and the ominous rumbling creaks of settling rock above. Her mind ran in circles as she feared the worst, with a passing refrain trapped within. Let her be alright, let her be alright! And then, she came to a crossroads once more. But no more had the battle raged. Trixie must have started running for whatever she sought and ignored her student's challenges. which way was a mystery to her. Within the tight and difficult passage to her right, the Locket of the Rainbow of Light still sang hauntingly into the dark. Down the wide and black passage to her left, past a thousand traps laid the Bag of Tirek; the passage mouth looming before her with ominous intent. Celestia looked both ways for the slightest signs as she caught her breath with deep, gasping breaths. She swiveled back and forth, back and- wait! Light glimmered in the dark to her right, gleaming with her student's magenta glow! "No!" She screamed as the horrors came upon her mind and cast images of Twilight's smoldering bones. Celestia rammed herself down the rightward tunnel. Of course, it had to have been the Locket! It was far less heavily shielded than the Bag, as it only beckoned ponies in times of great evil. Magenta light sparked fitfully before the alicorn once more, calling to her. Twilight was begging for help! Spurred on, Celestia surged down the corridor, scourging her sides against the tightening rough walls of the passage, tearing chunks from them. She only had a moment to experience confusion as rotten steel-clad wood suddenly barred the corridor before her. Celestia plowed through it with the force of a train, plunging to the floor before tumbling to a halt by crashing into the marble pilnth at the heart of the room. Light flickered uncertainly around the room, casting shadows from the aura of her horn. Metal rocked upon stone, a ringing laugh at her expense as she realized that she had fallen precisely for what she had once warned Twilight of. Creaking stone gave her little warning before the supposedly magically isolated and warded glass case tipped over and shattered upon her form. Celestia picked the glass from her bloodied and scourged sides with care; picking the Locket of Light up in her trembling aura a moment later. The rainbow light within it swirled and pulsated, calling to her once more. She could stop it all, she just had to open it and let the cleansing light consume Trixie and burn away whatever sh-NO! "No!" A concussive thud rumbled through the complex as Twilight unleashed magical hell. The scream of defiance by her student turned solar blood to ice. Fear allowed cold sweat to escape her and trickle painfully over the cuts and scrapes on Celestia's sides and wings. "Twilight!" Celestia screamed her student's name as the horror of feeling the terrible pulse of dark magic sank in. It had already begun! Trixie was after the bag, and drawing on its power unaware of the consequences! Celestia snatched the Locket, flipping it up so that its magic chain would secure tightly around her neck. She rose to her trembling hooves, dreading to hear what might come next. Thunder crackled through the halls, a shriek of pain slashing through the inky blackness caused by the close proximity of so many of the evilest artifacts in the world. Solar light flared around Celestia as some of the mental effects of the Locket took hold in her mind. It made its user fearless, a crusader against the dark, and careless towards their own safety. Careless enough to use the Locket, which at anywhere near full power would incinerate evil wherever it could find it. Even, unfortunately, the negative emotions of its user to tragic results. Magic pulsed out from Celestia once more and blew the remains of the rotted door away as she cleared a path before herself. The walls were crushed back and smooth by a great pulse of solar magic as she ran. Bruised, battered, and fairly horrifyingly scourged, the solar mare skidded to a halt within the Y-intersection. Pulsing softly, the power of the Locket summoned itself upwards, sending a wall of scorching light down the tunnel towards the chamber of the bag, revealing the carnage of her student's rampage from beneath the veil of darkest darkness. All of Celestia's will clamped down on the locket, smothering its power before it could reach the chamber at the end of the corridor. It wouldn't have cared if Twilight was a good mare or not. It never played favorites, just burned away all that wasn't perfectly pure. Association would work just as well as actually touching Tirek's power. But that power had to go somewhere, and her feathers smoked and smoldered as the power crashed back against her and roiled within. Celestia's heart pounded as the sounds of struggling came to her once more. She leapt down the wide corridor, galloping against the warnings of her pain to save her student before it was too late. "Not here; not now, Trixie!" Twilight's hoarse yell of defiance was cut short by another squeal of pain as the pair fought ahead. The sound of wretched retching splashed about before a crackle of lightning arced across the stones in a rumble of bursting air. Trixie's voice was haggard, hoarse and scratchy as if she had cried out over and over again recently. "It calls me, Twilight! It calls to me, not you! I must answer it, it tells me to!" Celestia's heart began to beat in time with her hooves as the rumbling of dark magic grew stronger. She could see the door dimly in the glowing light of the smoldering remains of the battle; she could almost hear how the mouth of the bag groaned as it surely was opening at that very second. There was no way to save Trixie, she was too close to it. But she could- She should have paid attention to where she was going. Her hoof plunged deep into a pool of electric blue goo that bubbled its way ever deeper into the pavers with a caustic hissing. As her foreleg plunged in almost to her hip she pivoted over it involuntarily from her momentum; falling into a heap as her leg screamed its pain in more than one way. Acrid fumes burned at her nosd as the acid began to eat away at the keritin of her hoof and fur whilst the prickling pain made removing her leg from the sticky deep hole difficult. Golden magic flowed forth as she awkwardly pulled her leg free of the sticky mass, burning the slime away from her denuded fur coat. The ground quaked all around her as the bag began to open in earnest within the chamber. Celestia put on one last burst of energy as her legs began to feel strangely weak. A side effect of the poisonous caustic slime, she imagined as she crawled the last of the way to the door, pulling it open to look within. Black magic rose up as a cloud, holding Trixie over the bag amidst the darkening miniature storm as the entertainer began to scream in pain. Twilight spotted her mentor and started running for her. The unicorn's body was criss-crossed with wounds from her running battle, each uniquely horrifying and disfiguring, slowing her down. A great swirl of inky blackness broke away from the main mass as Trixie was swallowed up entirely; roaring down to floor level of the cavern to chase after Twilight in the form of a miniature tornado. Celestia reached out with her hoof, trying to grab Twilight as the unicorn desperately tried to hobble over to her, begging her to take it over the roar of the foul winds. Twilight jumped towards safety, pulling Celestia's magic to her to try and save herself. But the golden glow slipped off, repulsed by the blackness that struck like a coiled snake. Twilight was driven into the ground, flailing with her legs as the ink of death curled monstrous tendrils over her. They tried one last time to reach each other, purple just barely tapping against white before the tendrils tightened their grip, pulling back. A tear trickled from the alicorn's eyes as Twilight was slowly dragged away from her. Twilight rolled over, grunting in fear and defiance as she battled the darkness consuming her inch by inch. Magenta magic flowed alongside golden yellow beams as they both fired bolt after bolt into the cloud to try and stop it from sucking Twilight in. The young mare looked back again as her horn was swallowed and put out, and as her face was slowly enveloped, her eyes glistened with tears of terror and anguish. Lips parted, and Twilight's voice was just barely able to get out the first syllable of Celestia's name before another tendril of the cloud poured itself into her mouth and muffled anything she might have said. But even that couldn't hide her look of terror, or the desperately pointing hoof warning the alicorn as she muffledly screamed at her. The solar diarch slammed the warded door shut, sealing it against the tendril of corruptive magic that rattled against the inside. A second later, and the door would have slammed shut behind her as she would have been dragged in. She had... oh no. She had slammed shut the door on any hope of her student's survival. Slammed it shut on her sanity, her soul... No. Celestia tremblingly rose to her hooves once more, gathering all of her strength together. She called willingly upon the Locket, weaving a ward of protection all about herself. Trixie could have been purged with few regrets. But DAMN her if she was just going to leave Twilight to die a horrible twisted death as her soul was made into fodder. She would rather die trying to save her. A shimmering white light spread out from the locket, coating her as she prepared for battle. Her golden aura shone bright behind her, lifting her up as she pulled the last of her strength together. The door slammed open before her once more, and a surge of rainbow lightning cleared her way as Celestia joined the battle for Twilight's fate once more. And the door slammed shut behind her with a terrible thud. -------------------------------------------------- While a thud was never something that Luna jumped at anymore thanks to her sister, she did have to admit that more than 200 tons of dragon mare slamming into the ground ranked high in her list of impressive thuds. The diarch of the moon watched impassively from within her rope bonds that she had been waiting in all day. Uncomfortable braided strands of plant fiber cut into her fur and circulation as she slowly swayed in the breeze upside down over a vast pit of mud. The Pink One would pay dearly for her part in the grand humiliation. Before her, Twilight ploughed through the course like a mare possessed. She dove into a complicated twirling maelstrom of massive hammers as her first barrier, looking to rescue fair Applejack from her place floating within a dragon-sized tub of floating apples. A giant magical construct created by the diarch to give Twilight a challenge, as was almost all of the course. Twilight's scythe-like talons shredded wooden beams much in the same way a sawmill would as she sliced her was into the thicket of pain. Her tail flicked as the pattern mutated to prevent her from memorizing it, revealing the razor sharp fins embedded in the tip there as she cracked her tail like a whip against the largest of the spinning axels. The bladed edge of her tail cracked magic-created hardwood in half, splintering it apart and sending chunks of swing arms in all directions to crash into more. Applejack spluttered in an attempt to say something as Twilight dipped her head down into the barrel of apples, only to fall silent as Twilight grabbed her. Granted, the silence may have had to do with the way that she pocketed Applejack inside her cheek between her lips and gumline, sliming down the farmer. Moments passed before Applejack found herself spat out into the protectively padded basket on Twilight's back, shivering from where she had been and what she was covered in. "Sorry, Applejack!" Twilight didn't waste a further moment on pleasantries as she crouched and lept over a whirling bar that barreled through at shin height. Leather surfaces snapped open with a thundercrack as Twilight swept open her wings and flapped several times to launch herself high into the air. As gravity began to grip her once more, she folded her massive appendages once more as she floated on a sea of pegasus magic over a violent pygmy thunderstorm to land on all fours atop the massive sheet of clouds that blanketed the area. Without even paying attention, a paw swept out in a backhand, punching apart a tornado that had been threatening to swallow her as she rose to a two-legged stance. Talons snapped forward, grabbing writhing lightning from the barrage of traps before her. Deft digits twisted and folded the arcing discharges until they were folded into neatly knotted bows wrapped around chunks of cloud, held together with pegasi magic and prayers. Her left paw snapped out, kicking the bundles off the cloud with the boom of escaping thunder, clearing the way to descend into the black abyss of the cloud. Within those black depths, wind shears of unimaginable strength tore at her, trying to rip her apart as she all but swam through the charged cloud to the miniature eye at the heart of the storm. The next sign anyone had of her was her escape from the cloud, clutching the cage of ice and rainbow wrapped around her chromatic friend as she broke the eye with an airburst of magic. Her wings snapped open once more as she glided through the abruptly dissipating cloud while angling for the ground. Fused sand cracked and shattered beneath her bulk as she touched down on all fours; a spiderweb of cracks radiating out from her landing place. Dash found her prison partially melting as she was placed into Twilight's carrying basket. Silence reigned upon the spacially warped plane, a dull wind moaning against the shards of glass underpaw. Dash and Applejack climbed to the protective meshing of the sack, wondering where the next threat would come from. "Anything Twilight?" The dragoness snorted in response, stalking up out of their small crater. She knew that Pinkie was supposed to be up next, but the plain was so unlike anything she was expecting. There wasn't even a candy jungle or a giant edible monster out to smother her in sugar. Giggling snorts amplified to a roaring extent put her concerns to rest, and raised more as a massive figure that towered over her emerged from thin air. Oh. A 50 yard tall replica of the Mega Magic Marshmellow Mare. Pinkie cheered Twilight on from her cockpit between the eyes of the sugary death, waving down to her before unleashing a stomp from her construct. Twilight yelped and dove aside, rattling her rescuees in their basket. Claws lashed out, sinking into marshmellow to messily try and rip a leg off. Gooey molten marshmellow congealed around her claws, gumming them up as Twilight roared and ripped free with a wet slurp of goo. Pinkie's construct roared and reared back, only to be slammed over entirely as Twilight took the severed limb and smacked it across the face. Unused to her two-legged stance, Twilight yelped and wobbled in place as her hammer blow left her reeling and flailing to stay upright. A vicious punch connected with her chest, tipping her back to crash into the ground, supporting herself with her out-thrown forelegs back against the glassed sand. Alarm wracked her as the mashmellow beast flopped through the air towards her, giving her only a split second to roll out of the way. Plans raced through the dragoness's mind, evaluated by difficulty and benefits in a mere handful of moments. Gripping paws grabbed at the mooshy monster as it rose back up; Twilight clinging on for dear life as she was lifted into the air with her legs buried deep into the marshmellow stuffing. She wriggled into the nape of it's neck, biting into the monster all the way. Teeth ground against rock candy bone, severing the cartoonish vertebra with rumbling crunches. Mmm. It actually tasted pretty go- Focus! Twilight ripped her head back, letting her ride fall limply to the ground as she decapitated it. Telekinetic auras dipped into the golem's head in search of Pinkie as quickly as Twilight could spare the power. Pinkie's normally pink coat was completely slimed with white deliciousness as she was pulled free, still whining and reaching for her former ride as she was uncerimoniously dropped into the basket with her friends. Twilight kept herself from barking out a laugh of frustration and confusion at her friend's antics with a self-distracting snort as she let a sixth sense guide her towards the next phase of the course. Illusionary wastelands stretched out forever before her as the course-mistress tried to discourage her from continuing. Shaking her head, Twilight's eyes glowed with her magic as she pierced the veils of illusion with raw magical power. Wasteland suddenly gave way to a verdant flash-grown jungle that towered up high into the skies in a way that would be impenetrable to flight. Twilight stomped with a paw as she straightened up back into her two-legged stance, punching a wave of earth magic into the ground in order to force an opening in the jungle with a ripple of dirt. A jungle wasn't bad. Not compared to everything else they had been through. It didn't even project a subtle sensation of chaos of the kind that the Everfree did. Silence filled the air as Twilight slowly stalked deeper into the jungle, broken only by the sounds of branches breaking against Twilight as her massive body ploughed through the lower canopy. Even standing as high as she could, Twilight couldn't quite see over the tops of the trees. Unseen, but quietly heard, faint rustles in the umderbrush alarmingly circled the dragoness on all sides beneath the multiple layers of jungle canopy. Twilight lunged downwards, grabbing at whatever had been slithering about around her. She brought her paws to her face, finding them only wrapped around and intertwined with twisted clumps of vines. It wasn't any help at all in figuring out what had been stalking her. Twilight threw the vines away, sniffing to see if she could smell something that smelled like Fluttershy over the riot of the jungle. A pause entered her thoughts. Her paws were still heavy with something in them. She looked down once more and cried out in alarm as the vines she had grabbed earlier began to writhe and wrap around her paws. Thousands more whipped out of the forest, rapidly wrapping around her like the curse of a mummy within an Arabian tomb. The iron-like vines slowly began to pull her down, forcing her hindlegs down into the dirt as those wrapped around her torso and forelegs slowly bent her over, trying to lay her flat upon the ground. Buck that. Twilight's fur became alive with flame, and the dragoness willed it forth into the jungle trying to consume her. Vines withered and died at her touch as she pulled herself free. Ashes rained around her as she whipped her tail and wings at the air. She could feel her friends sweltering as the temperatures soared around them. Heat was condensed, and trapped into terrible white-hot balls that dissipated all around as it was pulled away from the quartet upon her back. Twilight panted, running through the mental exercises that Cadance had taught her to calm herself for Fluttershy's sake. Trying once more, the great dragon plotted a more delicate course, gingerly stepping in caution through the jungle as she sought out a yellow and pink flower of a feathery variety. She could feel her, she could almost taste Fluttershy's scent on the breeze. And there zhe was, sitting uncomfortably upon a plinth in a clearing. Ginger steps carried Twilight to her; each carefully chosen to avoid the many nooses of vines waiting for her to make a wrong move. Fluttershy squeaked as Twilight came to loom above her, but barely flinched as the massive paw of her friend scooped up beneath her and put her away with the others. Twilight's wings were unfurled once more so she could fly above the canopy and free herself of the oppressive jungle. In moments, she was above it all just in time to witness the jungle flatten like a popup in a children's book. The indistinct patterns of the jungle top shaped up into the walkway of a fashion show. A dizzying array of lights swept out from all around her, blinding her with distractions on all sides. Shielding her eyes only went so far towards stopping it. Rarity. Of course it had to be her. Everything began to shine brighter as she protected herself, as if searching for a way past her defenses. UP! She had to go up! Twilight rose into the air to try to escape the cacophony. Above it all, the magic barrier held fast, bouncing her back down into the sound and sight maelstrom below. Pain blossomed in her head, a most terrible migraine that burned at her mind growing between her horns. She could still do it, she needed to focus, focus and cast out the layers of sight and sound she couldn't handle. When she opened her eyes once more they glittered with a protective layer of magic that let her look upon the sheets of magic that powered the latest blockade. Ducking beneath one, she was immediately assaulted by numbing beams of light that stung her limbs and threatened to send her tumbling to the earth. Her horns glowed, conjuring up a sheet of fog that she teleported down to, avoiding a crash landing. Bouncing off, she cast again, spewing forth a dozen streams of blasting magic at precise points within the dazzle maze. Twilight rolled to a stop as the magic of the lightshow began to crystallize and break apart, clearing away a path like a madmare who had grown tired of the tricks of a house of mirrors. Rarity and Spike looked up to their friend as she stepped through the spell wreckage, having been drinking tea and enjoying one another's presence at the heart of a nested multi-layered ball of magic forcefields. Rarity pretended to not roll her eyes at the brutish approach that Twilight had taken, hiding the gesture within a flip of her mane that caused it to droop before her vision. Spike's dreamy sigh escaped as soon as she finished as he all but melted on the spot in a haze of admiring bliss. One by one did deep rumbles escape from Twilight's chest; each a chuckle of an all too knowing mother. Her paw reached down once more, extending into an open invitation for the pair below. Prancing hooves delicately danced beneath Rarity as she climbed on carrying Spike within her telekinetic aura with demure giggles of her own. Luna's frown deepened as she watched Rarity climb aboard her friend and join the others through the aid of her own magically enhanced vision. It wasn't supposed to be so easy for Twilight. She was supposed to have struggled more with the course, felt more than a moment's fear, suffered more than the poofing of a magically charged mane! She most certainly was not a sore loser annoyed by her utter failure. Certainly not! The diarch of the moon was above such petty pouting now! But perhaps... yes, that could work. Luna's specialization had always been illusions and secrets. Her magic's full potential fell upon the dragoness and trapped her within a terrible web of secrets and trickery, refracting and mirroring the images Twilight received as she attacked. Gravity spells disrupted the delicate balance of Twilight's inner ear to throw off her sense of direction and false sounds and smells betrayed her remaining senses. Luna smirked to herself, knowing that something would stop- "Nay! Foul! Foul we say! A pox upon thee, a curse upon thine senses! Our labors ruined by thy methods! How? How doth thee escape our treachery!?" Luna cursed and swore as Twilight's eyes lit with the mysterious sorcery-sight she had been using for some time and walked through the diarch's tricks and traps without ever noticing them. Dragon paws avoided treacherous footing with ease, wings and foreclaws cut away traps before her like the careful scissors of a seamstress. But the worst was the smile on her face, the smile of a mare thinking herself to be far too clever for her own good. "Oh, I don't know, Luna. I guess you're out of practice. I could see right through you." Nay, the worst was the way that the mare of laughter upon Twilight's back giggled so hard that she began to snort. Composing herself, Luna frowned and plotted as Twilight began to cut her down. Very well, if she wanted to be such a winner, then Luna could play the part of the sore loser quite well. "Tell me, o'Sparkle, how is thy footing?" Luna's horn charged as she prepared to cancel a certain spell. Twilight bounced on her paws several times, wobbling as she did. "Pretty good, actually. I think I finally have that spell down." "Odd." Luna smirked. She looked down to the ground and cast her spell, letting the surface part upon the sea of mud she had been working on all week. "I could have sworn that I had left a mudpit here somewhere." Twilight had a moment to look down upon her doom. "I hate you so much right whoooaaaah!" Sinking like a stone, the dragoness was up to her waist in moments before losing her balance altogether to fall face- first into the mud. Luna couldn't help herself as she was dangled above her trap much like the way a desperate baker would hold up a cake to save it from falling. Her cackles were loud and boisterous for several moments more. And then, Twilight let go. "Oh moonshine." SPLUT! ---------------------------------------- "That was a dirty trick, Luna." Twilight was coated from chin to tail in the thick, sticky mud of the last trap. Shivers danced across her form like jiggles in jello as she clearly struggled to not shake out and tried to avoid splattering everypony for a mile. "Tis war. All tricks are fair. Though yes, quite filthy." Luna herself laid upon the ground after struggling through her own trap, with only the sticky outlines of her wings and horn alongside her cerulean eyes to give away her identity beneath the demeaning earthy coat she wore. Her once glorious wings weakly flapped once, splattering the ground for thirty yards in either direction from Luna's sides. "I shall describe that as a pass, though." "Agreed." Mustari walked to the group across the liquefied surface, somehow staying above it. His robes never touched the ground, always staying curled away from it by several inches. "The Generals concur as well. Twilight Sparkle, you are as ready as we can make you in the time we have available. A blessing and an omen, I would say." Twilight trembled once more and extended her wings carefully to slough the cloying mud from them. "I don't feel ready. For most of that I just used brute force to batter it down. And it just came to me to do it that way, I never even thought of doing things carefully." "Sometimes, that's just what it takes, Twiley." Shining Armor came up around the pit with Velvet, Cadance, Sentry, and Spike. He had an odd look upon his face, like he had become so full of pride over his sister overcoming all that opposed her that his pride was condensing into a liquid form and was busily leaking out. Velvet rolled her eyes at the sniffles of her son. Rather hypocritical of her, given the way that she was rubbing 'dust' out of her own eyes. "There won't always be a neat solution, Twilight. Oftentimes, you will only find one that makes the least number unhappy." Velvet tried one last time to maintain her decorum before throwing neatness to the wind to gallop over to.her daughter's side. The mud that coated Twilight didn't bother her in the least as she grabbed a hold of her daughter's leg and hugged tightly. "I'm so proud of.you, Twilight. You're getting so good at this." "She is." Luna intoned as she tapped the side of her head to dislodge a great chunk of slime from her ears. "She is also going to miss her train if we do not clean ourselves soon." "Got it covered." Sentry clopped his hooves against the ground and ran for it. Everypony watched as his tail bobbed behind him as he ran, wondering what had gotten into him. Twilight started suggesting things as she shook her head and neck loose of her earthen overcoat. "Well, I could use the Hex of Ultimate Cleanli-" "No, no! Quite fine, darling. It would be a very poor idea to do that. Opal hasn't forgiven you for that." "Okay, well I could go jump in the lake and-" Applejack shook her head. "Nah, bad idea. The water table would get polluted, and yer too tall to actually fit in the lakebed." "Well, it's not like it is going to rain or something!" Twilight gestured up to the blue skies wildly, flinging splatters everywhere from her foreleg as she did. Thunder crackled above in response and the skies blacked with roiling clouds. Twilight slowly set her paw down shakily as everypony gaped at the storm being pushed in. Dozens of pegasi were pushing the cloud overhead, possibly many more judging from the miles-wide width of the monster. Pinkie glanced over and up to her friend unhappily. "Gee, Twilight, didchya have to tempt fate?" Luna shifted back from the group, edging towards the line of sunshine several hundred yards away. She idly calculated the sheer quantity of water, and wondered where it might have all come from. Her best guess pointed to the old castle lake of Castle Everfree as the source. A most... disquieting and unfortunate choice. She had visited the old lake once. Once. "We- um- I'm sure it is just a summer storm being pushed back into the Everfree. No concern of ours. Well, I shall see you all at the station! Fare thee well!" Luna broke and ran as she cleared the group, galloping like Pinkie was chasing her. Twilight sighed. "Girls, I think that's our cue. Run." Twilight shook herself out and leapt over the group in a single bound before breaking out into a hearty gallop herself. "Run!" Water roared down upon them from on high, racing out of the clouds with the force of a thousand pony stampede. The line of rain that rushed up upon them blackened the horizon as it chased them through town and over the hills. A pity it was just a little faster than any of them. ---------------------------------------- Flash watched the oncoming downpour from beneath the safety of the tall cargo terminal awning that had been put up by the Ponyville station. He could see the group coming his way through the murk of the rain, all huddled beneath Twilight's wings. He figured they were probably soaked given the force of the rain; and probably pretty chilly since Princess Celestia's standing orders said that any rain shower for Princess Luna needed to come from the coldest source possible. Mt. Canter's meltwater lakes seemed cold enough. Flash chuckled to himself, turning back to where Night Light had hit it off with the Crusaders. The impressionable fillies had fallen hook, line, and suckers over the tales of lost cities and ancient mysteries. The little saps had never known what was coming for them. "Girls? Ah really want to know how in the hay we went from Cutie Mark Crusaders Ancient Explorers to Cutie Mark Crusader Subwho-whatsing Book Sorters." Applebloom sighed with frustration as she sorted out yet another book for Scootaloo to wheel over to the correct box inside the boxcar. "Subdued. Means something about being quiet and calm." "Ya know what Ah mean, Spike." "I have no idea. All I know is that it's made riding my scooter... boring!" "Do you think it runs in Twilight's family?" Sweetie despondently asked as she slid one of the last books down the chute from the shipment from the Vanhoofer Museum of Pre-Discordian History. Spike pushed the last empty box out into the rain to fall into a pile with the rest of the crates they had been repacking for the expedition. "I warned you. I warned you, but nooo- Nopony ever listens to Spike..." "Ah get it, Ah get it. Yer whole family is Boring Evil." Flash smiled for a moment more and clopped his hooves against the concrete of the cargo platform, sending a signal to the pegasi in the skies who shut off the storm. The sheets of pouring rain ceased and parted like the sun cleaved the night skies each morning. Laughter bubbled up within him as he beheld the soaked form of his largest charge, who trembled within her flattened and soaked fur like a kitten given its first bath ever. "Whoever-" Her teeth clattered as she shivered. "-commissioned-" Clatter-clatter. "-that storm-" Clatter-clatter-clatter. "-is a dead pony trotting." Flash blinked for a moment as he processed what she had said. Right, good thing that it was his boss's boss who had ordered the deed. "Standing order from Princess Celestia, Twilight. She said that her sister liked her rain baths cold and that any time she needed one it was to come from the coldest source possible." "T-t-t-tis a LIE! That dirty, rotten prankster of mine k-k-k-kin! We prefer them hot, she likes it cold enough to form ice!" Luna's voice vibrated as she shivered from the cold. Her crown found itself dropping to the ground as the soaked alicorn began shaking out like a dog to rid herself of the freezing water. Everypony scrambled to get clear of the spray, and everypony watched with horror as Twilight got ready to do the same. "Twilight! Don't do it! Use your crazy dragon fire magic on yourself!" Dash shouted as she pulled Fluttershy with her down behind the station platform. Twilight stopped halfway through her first shake as she heard Dash, and tried to think things through. Pearly white teeth gleamed as she smiled and licked them before holding her nose shut. "Stand back everypony." She breathed deep, and blew with all her might as she shut her lips tight. Fire erupted from every hair, boiling the water off of her instantly into a cloud of gently warming steam. Sighs escaped in a mass exodus as Twilight extinguished her flames and fluffed herself out, followed by everypony congregating about her legs. "Girls? Shiney? Ugh. I can't move my legs when you're- oh forget it." "Twilight! Miss Twilight!" Sweetie clambered onto a stack of books carefully. "Ya gotta help us!" "Your Dad is making us sort books to pay for the stories he told us!" Twilight smiled. "Oh! Well, great!" "Mah eyes are turning into letters!" "Please, Miss Twilight, save us!" "Hmmm... nah. Why would I save you from learning?" Twilight had a grin that seemed a mile wide as she tried to escape the clutches of her cold friends. "Nooooooooooooo!" ---------------------------------------- "Oh dear, can anypony tell me where my supplies might have gone? I did leave them to be picked up." Rarity looked around with Pinkie near the back of the train in the box cars as she searched for the numerous bags of her sewing supplies. Pinkie shrugged, looking for her mobile party wagon in the shadows. "Dunno, Rarity. Maybe they ran away? Here wagon, wagon, wagon!" Flash poked his head in from the front passageway towards the passenger cars after having heard their commotion. "Oh, sorry about that. There was a limit to how much we could bring with us initially, so we had to leave most of it at your homes." Rarity started to gasp, her eyes shrinking to pinpricks as she thought of being without supplies. "But we can pick up things from the dragon capital and Raptoria when we visit them." Flash hastily added as he saw Rarity's state. A sigh of relief escaped her as she slumped to the deck of the car. "We should probably get moving before-" "What the heck is THIS?! A cage? You're wanting to put me in a cage just to go to Canterlot!?" Twilight's outraged bellow rattled the metal walls of the car as the entire train shimmied under her weight. Dashing like a certain pegasus, they all rushed out towards the front of the train, where Twilight angrily was shaking a trio of modified flatbed cars which were set up with a series of steel hoops for holding something up. Luna concernedly glided over to the dragoness alongside her father's quick trot. "Be at peace, Twilight. Tis not a cage, but concealment for yourself. Canterlot is still sore at thy battle with-" "Don't remind me." Twilight's head dipped down to rest on the paneled deck of the flatbeds. Her wings perked up first as she thought up a rather nice way to beat the nobles. "Can't I just-" Her mighty wings flapped once, clapping at the air. "It IS a secret shipyard, Twiley. Sorry. Gotta make sure that Tirac can't possibly find it by reading somepony's brain or something." Shining Armor apologized as he hoped onto the train near Twilight. Night Light hopped onto the flatbed as well, turning around to face his daughter. "Oh, don't pout so much, my little Twilicious. It ruins the flavor. I know you want to use your wings, but we'll have time later. I'll be right here with you for the whole journey." The elder Sparkle trotted up to the front of the front flatcar, patting the deck for his daughter to join him. Twilight nodded, sighing as she felt the state of her wings. "Alright. I just- I just wish you could know how they felt." "I'm sure I'll find out eventually." Night Light responded as he led his daughter aboard. He just barely stood still as she rubbed his muzzle with her snout, still unnerved by the strangeness of it. The great dragoness sniffled as she laid down carefully upon the trio of cars like a snake. "I'm going to miss you, Daddy." "No you won't." "But-" Night Light trotted up to her ear membrane and whispered four words that would have made her jaw drop had she not already laid her head down. Her eyes almost lit up from within as she nuzzled her father more forcefully. "Twi?" "C'mon, girls! Let's go do what we do best!" "Eat cupcakes?" "Nope! Save the world!" ---------------------------------------- "Crusaders! The whole world is waiting on us, are we gonna let it down!?" Applebloom cried, unsteadily balancing herself on her new leg before her friends. "Nooo!" Like hay were the CMC just gonna stay put without a fight. Twilight shook her head as the infectious cheer warmed her heart as she listened to it from her dedicated flatbed cars. After they had installed the rather confining steel hoops over her, they had pulled taut a thick canvas cover over the whole assembly that left her comfortable in the warm darkness. She could see the other two bouncing up and down like miniature perpetual motion machines on one of the benches. All of the families that had made it had all gathered together into small groups inside, saying their goodbyes and making fun of each other in the process. Even Luna had joined in, sitting by Velvet as she whispered something into the smaller mare's ears. Velvet smiled cryptically before breaking away and slinging Spike up onto her back as Night Light followed her back. "Miss us yet?" "Not yet." "Well she might not, but I do, oh delicious smochy-poo!" Blushes of embarrassment turned the dragons in the car bright crimson with blushing. "Daaaaaaaddy! Stop it!" "But the smooching must continue until a certain mare's morale is restored!" Night crowed as he swept Velvet off of her forehooves and into a low hug, followed by kissing a wet trail of lip-prints into her coat and down her neck. "Bleagh!" Velvet sighed melodramatically as she let her helmet fall off and her mane spill out onto the deck. "Foals. Hopefully they'll learn soon." "I'll see what I can do. Even if it ends up being Sentry." Night Light rubbed noses with his wife romantically, adoring the way her muzzle scrunched in response. "I suppose I can live with him being around her 24/7." "Just come home, Nightie. I don't care what that shaman said, you come home. It'll hurt enough being away for so long, don't you dare let that prophecy happen." Velvet curled her hooves around her darkly coated husband's neck and whispered her worries into his ear as she nuzzled into the corner of his shoulders. "It's me, smoochy. I'm a professional." "Didn't you get turned to stone once?" Spike asked. Night Light winced. "Only a little." "And there was the time you contracted hay-mane fever in Zebrica, Daddy." Twilight pointed out as she wriggled her chin on the deck next to her father. "Yes. I have bad luck. Please stop pointing out all of my embarrassing failures." Night Light brushed his mane, checking to see if it had turned to saw-grass again. Velvet pushed him over, and against Twilight's bulk. Thick fur rubbed across both of them as Twilight shifted so that they laid against the crook of her neck, and they rested in quiet. "You do have a plan to get aboard, right?" "I have some ideas. Provided you can distract the princesses." Night Light looked to Spike and measured him up. Twilight's Spikey-Wikey hat gave his best goofy grin at the thought of getting to go on one of the crazy family adventures. The drakeling was starting to get a little big, but he should still fit properly. Night Light ran some thoughts through his mind on the flexibility of steel cable and the likely designs of the berth of the expeditionary ship. "Yeah, I can get on." "Well, I can distract Princess Luna if Twilight can keep Princess Celestia busy." Velvet mused as she considered the alicorn of the night. An intimidating and formidible mind, but one that could easily be distracted provided that the correct buttons could be pressed. Praise of her night, or her ship, perhaps. She fell into interesting routines just like their not-so-little Twilight. "You can keep her busy, right?" "Oh, I still need a few hugs from her." Twilight gave her mother a little smirk as she thought of finally getting to tell Prin- Celestia that she forgave her. They both needed it. "Good. Twilight, make sure you bring your father and son home." Velvet sternly booped Twilight on the snout to get her point across. Her husband might have been an old adventurer, but it was getting close to a decade and a half since he had last ventured into the wild, and all of his skills were likely rustier than the doors of the Ancient Castle of the Sisters. "Velvet, stop nagging your daughter. I'll be fine. After all, who taught and inspired our little Twiliscous's favorite author and adventurer through his own early journeys?' "Loosely inspired her. Can't they get Do to come instead?" Velvet corrected her husband as they nuzzled and cuddled together. "She Works Alone. I hate the ones that do that and survive, they make it harder for the rest of us." Night Light grumbled as he laid against his wife. Twilight's foreleg slowly slid behind the pair and her paw curled inwards to drag them into a loose hug with her. "Not nice, daddy." The train lurched as the breaks released, and the whistle at the front blared merrily as the engineer stomped on its pedal. Eeking its way forward, their ride slowly squealed its wheels against the tracks as it finally broke free and began to move. The chugs of the engine puffing its way up to speed rhythmically soothed them as curls of steam slipped through the cracks in the canopy. Night Light began humming to himself in semi-time with the engine; humming a song he had often sang to himself in his youth on his journeys forth into the wilds of the world. Velvet joined in quickly with a hint of desperation in the pitch of her hum as she tried to remember the good old days once more. Spike and Twilight joined in hesitantly last,!each uncertainly trying to find a match for Night Light's notes. "The road goes ever on and on; over the meadows and into song..." ---------------------------------------- "Aww, now ain't that the sweetest thing ya'll- hey!" Applejack jerked back and rubbed her nose as it stung from being smacked with the bottom rod of the window shade. Turning around brought her gaze to rest balefully upon Rarity. The fashionable unicorn let her aura fade away as she harrumphed. "Manners, darling! Manners! Let them have their moment in peace! Goodness knows when any of us shall see our families again." Rarity tenderly nuzzled her little sister's head, enjoying the moment. She chose to ignore the simply horridly tacky burn-worthy sombrero her parents were busily placing upon her own coiffured mane at that moment. "Ya sure Ah can't come with ya', Applejack?" Applebloom pleadingly whined as she sicced her sadest, pleading-est eyes upon her sister mercilessly. Luna tapped Applebloom upon the head, stroking down to the filly's shoulder once she had her attention. "Nay, little one. Where we go, there is a good chance that we shall not return." Luna leaned over into the cool window wearily, continuing to stroke Applebloom's shoulder to calm them both. "Your sister will need you to be strong in her place while she is absent." Applebloom tried to slyly nod to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, who returned the gesture. "Well, if you sure say so..." She sighed, perhaps a tad more dramatically than she needed to. Flash scooted over, trapping Applebloom between his side and Luna's cutie marks. "Say, did we ever find out how Zecora got out of the country so fast? One day she was there, the next: pift! It looked like her hut had been abandoned for months!" A stern cough made the pegasus flinch as he realized that one of his wild gestures had smacked Luna in the side. "Nah, she's done that before. She's probably already back home through some kooky zebra ritual to kick flank and get everypony ready. Or is that everyzebra?" Dash waived her hoof dismissively over Sentry's worried before tapping at her chin as she pondered racial pronouns. Eh, screw it. Her forelegs snapped out and dragged Scootaloo back for the dreaded Rainbow Death Noogie. "I believe that Rainbow Dash's conclusion is the correct one given the state of the shamaness's dreams the last that I walked amongst them." Luna bowed her head towards Dash. Her mouth twitched, dancing upwards in a smirk for a moment as her wing darted out and clipped Flash's ear lightly in retaliation for her earlier soaking. "Oh, hay no!" Flash pushed Luna, trying to push the alicorn over to let Applebloom tickle her mercilessly, but the obstinate alicorn stood fast. Cadance took a moment amidst the most ferocious battle of wills going on on the other side of the carriage to shake her head. Fascinating new bonds were popping up everywhere in her vision, much like the one within her that had made her smile cryptically more often than not lately. She whispered something into her husbands ear, her words turning him pinker than her coat as they sank in until he could no longer keep from blurting out in his surprise. "I'm going to be a WHAT!?" Rolling her eyes, Cadance tapped him on his other shoulder, pointing him to the next bench over where Pinkie held a candleless sheet cake topped with frosting in their colors mixed and swirled around. Holding her hoof up with a flourish, Pinkie waved it over the surface like a magician revealing her trick, revealing the slogan iced onto the surface. "You're gonna be a daddy! Congrats!" A few low whistles and a heavy set of applause rumbled through the carriage as Cadance cuffed him with a wing then nibbled his ear before twining her head to rest beneath his chin. She whispered once more, just loud enough for everypony to hear. "You had better come home, Shining Armor Sparkle. Twilight showed me the Gates of Tartarus. If you die, I will march into the afterlife, find you wherever you hide and drag you back out kicking and screaming by the ear." Ulp. "Yes, ma'am." Mustari bowed his head and whispered a blessing for the couple. "Fear not, angel of love. If Faust is with this expedition, then he of all of us is guaranteed to live. Though some may think so, I cannot see her being so cruel as to take a father from his child without seeing them at least once." "Well, um... a toast for the happy parents, then!" Rarity rose up, tossing her mane a little as she drew attention to the pair. "Here, here!" A chorus of like-minded praise rose up in the train car as everyone joined Rarity in her toast, save for one forlorn sigh in the corner from Big Macintosh. Applejack slid up beside him, following his solemn gaze back towards Ponyville. On the horizon, the bulk of the main buildings of Sweet Apple Acres was slowly dipping under the horizon in the reddening skies of evening. "What's wrong, Big Mac?" "Funny feeling. Like Ah'm never gonna see it again." Big Macintosh shuffled in his seat. His hoof absentmindedly patted his bag, and his old guard armor within it. He'd probably have to get it loosened. Darn apple pies were too delicious for their own good. Everypony native to the town rushed over, crowding around the windows on that side of the train as the lonely wistful feeling passed over them as well. Their homes looked so little way over there in the dale Ponyville was built in. So fragile... "Oooh, I hope my little friends will be alright without me. I can't even imagine what Angel Bunny is going through right now." Fluttershy shivered in thought as her timid mind came up with horrible scenario after horrible scenario in her mind. Dash muttered under her breath, trying to avoid being heard by Fluttershy. "Probably hogging out on the town's food supply." Thankfully, Fluttershy didn't hear as she snuggled into an offered wing. "Oh, we're going away! We're really going away! Oh, I'm so nervous that I might- squeak!" Everypony save for Luna shied away from 'Shy, afraid to find out exactly what she meant. Luna rose up behind her, standing tall to look over the top of Fluttershy's head. "Knowing not where the journey leads, only that the way is just. Lost in our wanderings, but yet always found. Folly to try, moreso to not. Such is the way of all things in life, this more than others." Luna finished reciting the bit of wisdom that her mother had once taught her, falling silent in the once more solemn atmosphere. Twitching still from the Crusaders still trying to get a reaction out of her. Alas, Celestia had performed far more savage attacks of tickling, and their efforts were in vain. Mostly. She at last sighed, and continued. "No matter what the outcome, we shall all meet again. Whether it be in this life or the next, though... I know not." "Really?" "Aye, young Belle. And I suppose we shall all have a tale or two to tell." Scootaloo looked hopeful and squished herself a little deeper between Dash's legs. "So everything is gonna be alright and I'll see Rainbow Dash again?" "Tis only a temporary farewell, aye. Though we may meet on another shore, I intend to not be so easily taken as Trixie, and any who wish harm upon them must first best me." The sun seemed to glow a little brighter for a moment as the last sight of Twilight's tree dipped below ths horizon. The group quieted as the last signs of Ponyville vanished behind the rolling hills. Home was behind them; the world lay ahead. ---------------------------------------- High above, on the highest peak of the tallest mountain in the Canterhorn range stood a white figure. With wings outspread to balance her upon the hoof-wide outcropping of rock precariously, she looked out upon her domain and despaired. She had brought this all down upon them through complacency and being so out of practice at doing anything other than paperwork that she was tripping over her own two forehooves. Did she deserve her post, her lofty crown and universal adoration? Certainly not if she was tripping over her own bucking horseshoes! Life continued below her, mostly unaware of the doom that was upon them all. She eyed the land with a practiced gaze, mentally mapping the places that Velvet would most likely wish to fortify in order to make their last stand. Surveying was probably the only thing she was good for. A chance glimpse to one side brought the special train from Ponyville to her attention. It was so far away that it looked like a millipede crawling across the land down there. She wondered if Twilight could feel her gaze upon her back and look back up at her. Her tail flicked with agitation as she considered Twilight's probable reactions to her now. Disgust with her, maybe? Perhaps doubt and anger, or sadness. Could Twilight even stand to look at her for more than a few minutes? Worse still was the opportunity she had cost Twilight. She had had the potential to become so much more, and- and it was unlikely that Starswirl's spell would work on dragons. Which meant that... That one day, she'd loose wonderful, brilliant Twilight, and the world would be a darker place for it. It just wasn't possible for Twilight to loose more than a dozen tons of mass, somehow regenerate lost and scrambled life code, and survive her hideously painful transformation again. She was going to loose one of the few friends she had left in the world, and it was all her fault. She could have saved her! She could have saved her. Saved her from mortality. She could have saved Twilight if she hadn't been so damned slow. A crown, heavy with gold and jewels found itself flung from that peak with all the force an alicorn could muster. It disappeared into the deepening dusk as Celestia wept. A lousy, and unworthy princess.