//------------------------------// // Winter Dreams of Summer // Story: Mortality // by Aceofgods //------------------------------// Chapter 9: Winter Dreams of Summer Sanctis ran through the forest as quick as her hooves would carry her, dodging trees, ducking under low-hanging branches and bounding over drifts of snow. The faster she ran, the more the white blanket crunched and groaned with each step, kicking it up as she carelessly ran for her life. She came to a clearing, but still she never slowed. Behind her, almost invisible against the snowy background were it not for the trees that it obscured, was a large, solid white wolf with eyes as red as blood. With a bone-chilling snarl, the wolf leapt at her, Sanctis only narrowly dodging the attack as she bounded out of the way. With an angry growl, the wolf rose out of the snow like the sun over the horizon: slow, and steady. Unstoppable. Sanctis wasted no time to watch the wolf regain its footing as she ran for the forest again, hoping to lose the wolf in the trees as she ran. An ear shattering howl came from behind her before she could hear the wolf closing in on her. This is it, I’m so done for! Despite her thoughts, she continued to run and run, as fast as her hooves could carry her, she ran, dodged, ducked and bounded through the forest. Until she ran into a dead end, a cliff that went straight up into the air, far higher than her eyes could see. Her back to the wall, Sanctis could only watch helplessly as the wolf approached her with a snarl, its every movement slow and deliberate. Pressed against the rocks as flat as she could, she shook violently with her fear. She tried to scream, but her voice wouldn’t come. She tried to run, but her hooves were frozen in place as they trembled. Please, somepony… save me! The wolf closed the distance, a clawed paw biting into her chest as it pinned her against the rocks. The wolf’s head bolted to her neck and everything went black. “Sanctis?” In the darkness, somepony, a stallion, was calling her name. “Sanctis, wake up. It’s time for me to leave.” Sanctis’ eyes slowly opened to reveal the source of the voice; a red-maned broken-horned stallion with glasses, his near-black hoof pressing against her chest, gently shaking her. “Wha-? Where am I?” she said blearily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she sat up, the memories of the previous day coming to mind as the wispy tendrils of her nightmare faded away. “About sixteen or seventeen miles East of Frost Valley, if I were to venture a guess,” he said as he bundled up the blanket Sanctis had slept with. “It’ll be another fourteen or fifteen until we get to the town of Summervale.” Sanctis adjusted the winter jacket she had slept in, nearly forgetting about it until a chill wind passed through the trees. “So you’re heading to Summervale, then?” she asked as Ace was packing the blanket away in a saddlebag next to the blanket he had used. “On the short term, yes,” he said before turning to face her as he closed the bag. “Have you ever been there?” Sanctis only shook her head. “I’ve heard rumors about it. They say it’s always warm there, even when the ground is covered in snow… It sounds like a bunch of phooey to me.” “We’ll see about that,” he said with a chuckle. “Oh, and I brought back something to eat. I figured you would be hungry when you woke up, and I won’t be stopping to eat.” Sanctis’ gaze followed his hoof, pointing to the rock he had slept on. Resting on said rock was a small pile of red berries, along with a canteen of water. Sanctis’ gaze flitted between Ace and the berries, wondering if they really were safe to eat when Ace threw a few in his mouth, chewing them happily. “I already had my fill before coming back to the camp, so help yourself. I warn you though, the first few will taste quite bitter.” Fine by me… Bitter is still better than salty; bleh! Sanctis tossed one of the beady morsels into her mouth, immediately biting down on it. She had expected it to gush with juices, but it was nearly solid instead. The taste was a bit bitter, but not nearly as bad as some of the food she’d ate from the dumpsters in Frost Valley. She happily ate nearly half the pile at once, eliciting another chuckle from the stallion. “My, I’ve never seen anypony take quite the liking to them before. They’re called Winter Berries; they’re one of the few natural foods you can find while there’s snow all around.” Swallowing the berries with a small gulp of water, she listened intently to the brief explanation. “Is that why there’s not much juice? They adapted to the colder climate so that they wouldn’t freeze, right?” Ace nodded happily as he threw the saddlebags over his back. “That’s exactly right. Any other berry, as full of juice as they are, would freeze and die off if they tried to grow in the winter. Winter Berries take advantage of this, and in doing so they get all the sunlight and soil to themselves during the cold seasons.” Ace threw the sword with the ribbon tied around its scabbard onto his back, adjusting the cinch to account for the saddlebags as Sanctis finished her berries. “Frost Valley is due West from here,” he said as he pointed a hoof into the forest. “You’ll get there just before noon if you travel with the sun to your back. Summervale is closer, to the East, if you’d rather take the shorter trip. “I’m not sure what affiliations or connections you have to Frost Valley, but it’s not easy to live on the streets of such a town. Either way, I’m not the boss of you and you’re responsible enough to make your own decisions, I’m sure. Take care!” Before Sanctis could even offer a reply, Ace shrugged his bags into a more comfortable position and started down the hill to the East. “Wait a minute, what about your canteen!” she called before running after him, nearly tripping when the grassy hill turned to snow. “You can keep it,” he said as he waved a hoof at her without looking. “I’ve got more, don’t worry about it!” Sanctis ran alongside the stallion, matching his pace as they came into the forest. “Ah, Summervale it is, then,” he said with a muted smile. “A wise decision, I hear it’s quite nice this time of year.” “Yeah, well, if the rumors are true then it ought to be nice all year-round,” she muttered under her breath, the stallion chuckling lightly again as they walked along opposite sides of a tree. “Well, rumors or not, the town is positively beautiful. I’m surprised you’ve been this close to it all this time without going to see it, really.” Sanctis looked away for a moment. “Yeah, well, Frost Valley was just sort of the first place I stumbled upon… I guess I just stayed there out of habit.” “Well lucky for you, habits break if you push them hard enough. You’ll like Summervale much more, trust me,” he said with a warmhearted smile as the pair made their way through the forest, Sanctis carrying the canteen around her neck by the strap. Twilight Sparkle sat at the center table in her library, rereading some of the magical texts Ace had loaned her during their lessons before he… With a heavy sigh and a shake of her head, she redoubled her focus as she worked fervently in an attempt to find something, anything that might help her find him, or bring him home, or… or even bring him back to life, if that was what it would take! She had reread six of the eight books she still had, but none of them had anything of much use. The third had featured a short-range locator spell, roughly 120 meters from the individual casting it, but it couldn’t be performed while moving and despite altering it, she couldn’t make it reach beyond 200 meters. The seventh book in the order of books most likely to contain location spells, which she was currently rereading on her third pass, focused on the effects of prolonged exposure to magic in living, non-magical entities. The eighth was an incomplete travel journal that featured numerous magical creatures discovered by an explorer in his travels, thus earning its position as least likely to contain a solution. Twilight fell over backwards in frustration, her teeth grinding as her hooves scraped back and forth through her mane in an attempt to ease the migraine, when there was a knocking at the door. She opened the door with her magic, not trusting herself to call out to the individual calmly in her frustration – which evaporated almost instantly as she rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. “As comfortable as the floor may seem, my Starlight, wouldn’t the bed upstairs be a better place to sleep?” The teasing voice of the stallion before her, as well as the special nickname known to so very few and used only by one other pony, confirmed what her sleep-deprived, reddened eyes revealed to her. Her mouth hanging open, stuttering as she tried desperately to form words, Twilight rolled to her hooves as she started to approach him. “Ace? Is that… Is that really you?” she said as she brought a hoof to his cheek, her eyes starting to flood with tears of joy and relief. Until her hoof finally touched his cheek, and it turned to mush that dripped and adhered to her coat. Twilight could only stare in disbelief as she pulled her hoof away to examine it, and when she looked back, Ace was on his knees, coughing and spluttering. “Ace! Ace, what’s wrong?!” she cried out in fearful panic at the sight. Twilight tried to wrap her hooves around his neck, but the muck clung to her, even pushed against her as holes begun to develop over his body, splotches of the gunk coming up with each cough as they became increasing worse. “My magic… my magic is destroying me… Save… save yourself…” The look of pain intensified in his eyes as he tried weakly to push her away as the goop started to flash brightly in places. “Run! Don’t worry… about me… Save yourself!” “No! No, I won’t lose you again!” Twilight yelled, tears streaming down her cheeks. “There has to be something we can do! Anything!” Twilight turned to run back into the library, as if believing a book would hold the key to saving her special somepony, but what she saw only brought her to her knees as the tears came faster. Her library, her home, was ablaze. She turned back to Ace, his entire body blindingly bright with the mass of energy flooding through him, devouring him. And behind him, the entire town was burning to the ground as well. Twilight couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak, couldn’t act. All she could do was stare in frantic disbelief as everything she knew and loved burned before her very eyes. Then the world lit up in a blinding flash of light that emanated from the pile of muck that flooded at her hooves. Reflexively, she shielded her eyes as silence fell around her. Is that it? Am I… dead? Twilight was afraid to look, but after several long moments, she finally started to lower her hoof slowly, opening only just one eye at first, before her mouth fell in awe. All around her, the town was back to normal. The buildings were whole and undamaged, ponies were walking about, holding conversations she couldn’t hear, and just… living. Like nothing had happened. She turned to check on her library, which was entirely whole and healthy, but she found little solace in that fact. Her eyes shut tight, she wept as she entered the library, closing the door with a forceful slam of her back hoof. “That’s just the kind of stallion he is, young Twilight,” came a familiar voice behind her where the door had slammed. “He would give his life for what he believes in, and he believes that nopony’s life holds any more, nor any less, value than any other.” Her eyes red and puffy, still flowing like a river, she turned to see Princess Luna standing before her, the stars in her mane twinkling like the night sky as it waved without so much as a breeze behind her. Twilight wiped her eyes with a hoof, now fully aware that what she had seen – and was seeing – was only a dream. Still, the pain in her heart felt real, having seen her beloved dying at her hooves, helpless to stop it from happening… She shook her head to clear the thoughts from her mind. “Is that really you, Luna?” Luna only nodded as the world around them faded away, the pair now sitting on a pathway of stars, surrounded by the night sky, as though the hurtful world of Equestria was but a dream entirely. A sudden realization came to her, Twilight’s eyes shooting wide open. “You said… You said ‘the kind of stallion he is… Then, he must be!...” “Calm yourself, dearest Twilight,” she said before her gaze wandered to a nebula in the distance. “I do not know if Ace is still physically alive, but I know that he still dreams. And, most fearsome of all, my magic cannot reach him,” she said as her expression remained solemn. “I can feel that he dreams, and I can tell he’s afraid… very afraid. Wherever he is, whatever has happened, I cannot be certain if he is alive… When one such as we dies, their soul is returned from the ether until the next Time of Cleansing – the next New Year’s when the souls of this realm are purged of their worldly belonging and returned to the ether. “There are other possibilities, as well. In his time of weakness, perhaps Ace was captured and imprisoned in a place where magic cannot reach. Perhaps he lived through the ritual, but his magic has not yet returned. Perhaps he is on a journey and does not wish to be disturbed – so skilled is he that he could block out my magic…” Luna looked back to Twilight, the fear and concern visible in her gaze. “Anything is possible, but still I fear for my brother’s safety – clearly, so do you.” Twilight could only nod that it was true. “There must be something we can do to help him... Sitting around here, doing nothing, it’s… It’s really bothering me.” Luna nodded that she agreed before returning her gaze to the far-off nebula. “As I said, Twilight, even my magic cannot reach him. I do not know what this could mean, but Ace’s dreams are clouded by fear… In my vision, they are as black as Chaos itself… So black are they that even those around him suffer in their sleep.” Twilight could have gone her entire life without hearing somepony suffering as he was. If Ace knew his fears were invading others dreams, he may go so far as to avoid sleeping altogether… “What about Celestia? Is she getting any better?” A soft smile came to Luna’s face as she thought of her sister. “She is improving greatly now. A few nights past, she was even able to recognize me in her dream. Fates permitting, perhaps she may recover someday soon, and perhaps she will be able to help Ace… Her magic has always been so much stronger than ours.” Twilight finally managed to breathe a sigh of relief at the good news when she felt a hoof stroking her mane. “Be strong, Twilight. Magic or not, Ace’s emotions are tied more closely to yours than you may think.” And just like that, Luna was gone, leaving Twilight in the beautiful expanse of space. All around her, stars twinkled, nebulae swirled silently, and far off planets and solar systems drifted forever onward. It was as if all that was laid before her; all the lights and colors, all the designs and constellations, were made only for her. Her sense of sight dulled in the dim lights, the sounds of her body was all that graced her ears, and there was nothing she could reach out and touch. It was as if the world had never existed, and she was all alone. It’s all so… lonely… “You would dare to challenge I, Daylight Zenith, valiant knight of Day’s End, loyal servant to the Gooey-Gumdrop Empire and Queen Everlasting Flavor herself?! Be ye a fool, a drunkard, or both, knave?” Daylight Zenith, fully adorned in her brilliantly polished, solid white plate armor that bore the crest of her rank in the army of Day’s End, the military force that served the Gooey-Gumdrop Empire. “That’s right, Daylight Zenith the Radiant. Should I win, I shall take your position of vice-captain from under your wing, and then it will be I who will lead our troops to trample our foes in the coming battle!” Daylight Zenith couldn’t help but laugh at such an idea, covering her muzzle with an armored hoof before tossing her pastel-rainbow colored mane back over her shoulder. “The Queen, in her wisdom, has chosen me to lead our forces while the Captain is away on her royal assignment. The Queen, in her glory, has elected that you remain in the city and off the battlefield, lest you lead yourself and our forces to certain death!” Her foe, garbed in a mix-up of patchwork cloth, leather and a few out-of-place collections of metal, was neither the first nor last opponent who would challenge her in an attempt to claim her position. As per the Queen’s laws, any legal resident of the militant Gooey-Gumdrop Empire could challenge any position below Captain in an effort to claim their rank, title and quarters for themselves. There were of course restrictions, such as a challenge may only be issued during daylight hours, and cannot be issued on a military base or a royal facility. The challenge must be fair, with no greater than one versus one or two versus two combat. The challenge is only valid should the knight verbally accept the challenge on their own terms. “Very well then,” Daylight Zenith proclaimed as she drew the lance from her back, pointing it at her, rather enraged, foe. “If it is a fight that you wish, then it is a fight you shall have. Mind you, this will be my eighty-first successful defense of my rank.” The other ponies around the pair backed away a fair distance, but watched the confrontation all the same. “Oh please,” he voiced as he drew a kitchen knife from a makeshift sling, “one may think you had already won, the way you talk!” he yelled as he lunged knife first at her. With a subtle movement of her lance, Daylight Zenith knocked the weapon from his hoof, the stallion’s momentum driving the lance into his own shoulder as he recoiled from the pain. “Anger on the battlefield is no benefit to you, nor this empire. Were you to lead our forces, you would condemn our military to defeat.” The knife still disarmed, the foe could only clutch a hoof to his bleeding shoulder as he glared at the knight who had bested him. “Return to your home, citizen. This war does not concern you.” Daylight Zenith replaced her lance on her back, leaving the beaten foe to wallow in their shame when she heard somepony in the crowd muttering to themselves in a voice so low, she wasn’t certain she heard it. ”Please sister, get well soon… We’re all counting on you…” Daylight Zenith chanced a glance to the murmuring pony, her features obscured by a long, hooded cloak, though a pair of silver shoes and heavy-looking chainmail, painted black, could still be seen. Zenith had thought she had seen the pony somewhere before, but only shrugged off the idea before returning to her patrol. Sanctis followed Ace through the forest, and not long past, the floor of the forest came alive with lush greens and blooming flowers, as if the snow had never touched the earth in this half of the forest. Sanctis observed each new plant, bug and tree the pair passed, but neither of them uttered a word since camp. If I didn’t know better, I would say he wasn’t even paying attention! Despite his distant state, he still stepped quietly through the forest, even with the uneven footing of the roots and the dried branches. When there was an obstacle, he bounded over it easily, and he avoided stepping on any plants if he could help it. Still, it seemed like he wasn’t paying any attention. Hmm… Maybe if I… Sanctis hopped ahead a few yards, and stood in his path, facing him. When he got close, he merely stepped around her without mention of the odd behavior. Okay… Second test! Sanctis hopped around into the trees and, again, waited several yards in front of Ace’s path, this time out of sight. When Ace came by, Sanctis ‘accidentally’ walked into his path, nearly falling over as he collided with her. “Ah, sorry, pardon me,” he said with a nod of his head to her as he continued walking down the path, as if it was an automatic response. Okay… Third test! With a sizeable log in the path ahead, Sanctis ran ahead again, this time resting on the log until Ace leapt over it. When he had, she leapt onto his back as delicately as she could, nearly losing her footing. Again, he didn’t seem to acknowledge her whatsoever. With a small giggle to herself, she stood on his back, bracing her hooves atop his head like he were some sort of mountain she had claimed. Shielding her eyes from the sun, she looked about this way and that before shooting her hoof straight forward. “Full speed ahead! We set sail for Summervale, lads!” Still, Ace didn’t seem to get the message, as the sorry layabout just shuffled along at his lazy pace, making no attempt to fulfill the captain’s order. Sanctis hung over the top of his head to get a good look at his eyes, but just couldn’t lean over far enough, and she didn’t want to touch his horn… Broken as it was, it looked sharp. “Wake up, First Mate Ace!” she fake-yelled as she padded his cheek gently, not really wanting to hurt him or make him angry. Finally, this seemed to do the trick, causing him to look around before looking up at her. Not quite sure how he would react – or how she should act in such a situation, she only managed to smile dumbly. “Sanctis?” he finally replied, his voice soft and lined with curiosity. In fact, he sounded bewildered, almost confused even. “What are you doing on my head?” In truth, Sanctis expected him to be angry. Wondering how far his kind attitude would stretch, she thought the truth would be a fun answer. “I’m playing pirate ship – I’m the Pirate, you’re the ship! Now, full sails, yah rickety old tub! This tailwind don’t get no more favorable!” Ace paused for only a moment to salute her. “Aye aye, captain! Loose the sails, and brace for rough waters ahead!” Rough waters? What’s he- Before Sanctis could finish her thought, Ace took off like a streak of lightning, Sanctis wrapping her hooves around him for fear of falling off. Despite the uneven composition of the ground in the forest, Ace ran as easily as anypony would on a paved sidewalk. He leapt over fallen trees and logs, and bounced from root to root when they were large enough to support him. Once she was certain she wasn’t going to fall off, Sanctis rose her head over top of him to watch where they were heading, the trees passing by in a blur of greens, yellows and browns. “WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!” she yelled in her excitement, bringing a hearty laugh from her faithful ship beneath her. “Nothing like open water, aye captain?!” Ace shouted back at her as he ran. “Nothing in the whole wide world of Equestria!” she called back excitedly as she ducked under a branch. After several minutes of racing through the forest, the favorable tailwind finally faded, and the ship had slowed to a stop near a large rock beside the path. Wanting to give Ace a chance to catch his breath, Sanctis climbed onto the rock as Ace removed the bags and the sword from his back, leaning against the rock. Once he was settled, Sanctis offered the canteen. Ace took it gratefully with a nod of his head before downing the contents. “Where did you learn to run like that through the forest, anyways?” she asked once his breathing started to level out. Replacing the canteen in the saddlebags and offering her a new one to carry, he laughed softly. “What an odd captain, asking her ship how to sail!” “I’m serious! I’ve never heard of anypony running through a forest like that, that was amazing!” Ace could only manage another chuckle while he rubbed a hoof behind his head, fluffing out his mane where she had been pressed against him. “Just practice, mainly. I’ve travelled through my fair share of forests, so I would be in a bad situation if I didn’t know how to walk or run in them.” Sanctis nodded, accepting his response as a plausible possibility. “Well I guess that it’s normal to zone out doing something you’re used to… What were you thinking about, anyways?” For the first time, Ace seemed to hesitate before answering right away. “Hmmm, I’m not quite sure. Whatever it was, it seems a good run was just what I needed to clear my head!” Yeah, not buying it… “You just… forgot? You were thinking about it for a pretty long time.” Ace hesitated for a moment again, this time deciding to fill the pause by replacing the saddlebags and sword on his back. “I couldn’t tell you, I’m afraid. Perhaps I was just sleepy… I didn’t sleep too well last night, I’m afraid.” Well, he WAS up before me… Long enough to have picked all those berries and eat his own breakfast while packing away the blankets… “How come you couldn’t sleep? You’re used to the forests, so it wasn’t that…” Ace started to walk down the path again, Sanctis leaping from the rock to follow after him. “Oh, um… just nightmares. I’ve been having them a lot lately, actually.” Come to think of it… “You know, I had a nightmare last night, too! What was it… something about a wolf… chasing me through the forest, I think…” Ace had to pause for a moment to cover his muzzle with a hoof, but Sanctis could still tell he was trying to hide a laugh. “Hey, what’s so funny?! Wolves are scary!” Ace waved it off, but the laugh still marred his muzzle as a large, toothy smile. “It’s nothing, it’s nothing; just considering the irony, is all.” “Irony of what? Did your nightmare have wolves in it too?” Ace’s head tilted up for a moment, as if considering something. “Sort of, I suppose. My nightmares were more related to losing my horn… and soon after, my magic.” Yeah, something like that would probably give me nightmares, too… “Did you use your magic much? Your cutie mark doesn’t look very… magical,” Sanctis noted, taking the opportunity to get a closer look at his mark, which resembled a full moon casting light over a pair of clasped hooves, one near-black and one white. Ace leapt over a log before nodding solemnly. “My special talent is helping others, and I use to sell spells at my shop in Hoofsdale. I’ll make due without my magic until I can do something about it… But that won’t happen anytime before I make it home.” “Home? Aren’t you going the wrong way then? Hoofsdale is to the southwest, not the east… You’re not, uh, lost, are you?” A hearty laugh filled the air. “No, no, not at all! I’m actually heading to Ponyville, which is south of Summervale if you follow the river the whole way. However, I planned on swinging through Summervale, restocking my supplies at the tourist town near Neighagra Falls, then following the train tracks to Hollow Shades and taking the train from there, through Canterlot Station, and on to Ponyville.” Sanctis didn’t know exactly where all those places were; she only knew Hoofsdale because her mother had taken her there once before, following a rumor about an Al Bhed pony living there… They never found any proof. “Wow, you really weren’t kidding when you said you had a long trip ahead of you…” Ace nodded before turning back to her, stopping in the middle of the path, a low-hanging branch blocking the way. “Which is why I’m going to take you to Summervale, and then I’m going to go ahead on my own tomorrow. Got it?” “But what if I don’t even like Summervale! I’ve never been there before, and I don’t know anypony there, and I won’t even know which alleys I can use to get away from bad ponies or which dumpsters have the best food like I did in Frost Valley!” Sanctis’ pink complexion turned pinker as she realized what she had just said out loud. Ace only laughed before turning and moving the branch. If a filly could die of embarrassment… “We’ll just see about that then, won’t we?” Sanctis’ jaw dropped at the view as she walked to the cusp of the forest. The pair stood at the top of a small hill that overlooked the city of Summervale, which was enclosed in a tall wall of white winter-pine wood. All around the town, flowers were blooming, butterflies were flying, a couple was having a picnic and even the animals seemed happy as they danced about in the fields. The buildings rose just over the wall, each painted a different color from the last and twice as beautiful. Largest of all, was a giant, floating green crystal in the middle of town, which glistened and glowed in the golden rays of the sun, with large, plaster-looking pillars at each intersecting cardinal direction. “I’ll race you there!” Ace shouted as he took off for the road that lead to the large, open wooden gates. Sanctis could only stare for several seconds, stunned by the beauty of the town before she realized how far she was falling behind. “HEY! Wait for me!”