//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: The First Sparks // Story: Darkness of Ages - Book 1: Greyhield // by YoungQuillMaster //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle walked down the nearly invisible path through the Everfree’s twisted, mangled trees and gnarled bushes. She wasn’t at all one of the few ponies who actually enjoyed walking through such a dangerous place, but it was necessary at this moment, but this didn’t make the walk any more pleasant. Twilight thought back to why she was even here. During one of her parties, Pinkie had been dared by Sweetie Belle to eat as much cake as she could, of course even Pinkie could gain a stomach ache after too much cake, even though it did take six three tier cakes to do the job. The problem at this pint wasn’t just that, it was the fact how hard it was to cure. They had immediately went to the Ponyville Clinic, but their strongest relief had no effect on Pinkie’s condition, so, with no other options, Twilight had to go to Zecora’s house and see if there might be an off chance that she had gathered how to cure such a trivial problem. Twilight sighed as she walked through a patch of less than dry ground, the mud clinging disgustingly to the bottom of her hooves. She continued to press on, hoping that it would be only a short while before she would arrive home again and turn in for the night. She looked up and saw through the thick foliage above that it had entered the twilight hours of the day; she probably wouldn’t finish up until a little into the night. As Twilight walked, she heard a rustling of bushes in the distance, causing her to stop and listen. She thought she could hear something like hooves slamming against the hard soil, but it was hard to tell, not to mention it seemed far away. Twilight lit her horn to get a better look at her surroundings, only to be met with high bushes and closely gathered trees, helping her in no way at all in seeing what was coming. These factors, when put together, didn’t paint a very inspiring picture. True, she could now tell that the sound she had heard was hooves, but it could still be a beast of massive proportions coming to attack her. Her imagination immediately took hold of the idea, and a scene unfolded before her. The beast would crash through the foliage and tackle her. She would fire a stream of magic at it with little effect as it tore at her pelt. She was too far from Zecora’s for the zebra to come to her aid, and by the time Ponyville searched for her see already would be… Twilight shook her head violently. No! She would be fine. She would arrive at Zecora’s, get the cure, head back to Ponyville, go to the clinic with the cure, watch as Pinkie got better suddenly, go home after such a long day and fall asleep with a smile as she thought how silly she had been. Yeah, she’d be fine. But as she gained enough confidence to begin walking, her imagination again reared its head. If the hooves did not belong to a monster, than to what, nopony enjoyed coming out into the Everfree forest, and all of Ponyville knew better. Nopony new had arrived in Ponyville in months, and by now, they all knew of the dangers of the Everfree. So the question came, what was galloping through the forest, and why was it coming towards her. Twilight shook her head again and dimmed her horn. Whatever it was, it was probably attracted to the light of her magic. It might be one of Fluttershy’s animal that got away and was now seeking the comfort of anypony’s presence. Seeing her magical aura’s glow, it probably came running towards her to find refugee and escape from the unending forest. Twilight shrugged while sighing. She lit her horn again providing light for the path before her, and so she started down the trail again. She could only hope that whatever was charging through the forest was not out for her as a snack, but then again if it wasn’t, she couldn’t leave it wander the forest. As she turned a corner, a shape bowled through the underbrush near her and charged straight across the path, only to cause a thud as it ran into a tree. Twilight looked over the bush slowly; hoping to see what it was before it saw her. It was a colt, probably in its teen years. Its mane was a pure white with golden bangs while its coat was a dark red. He rubbed his forehead as he began lifting himself. “Note to self: trees aren’t on our side.” Blaze set his hoof down finally and looked around him. The forest was definitely thinning out, being as trees were becoming sparser, even though it was still near impossible to navigate quickly through the forest without getting your skull bashed in when you can’t stop in time for an unexpected tree. Blaze felt something was off, as if something was watching him. Blaze quickly spied the nearest branch lying on the ground, and whipped around to see another pony. It was extremely obvious that wasn’t Flint being as this was a lavender mare, not to mention that it was… an alicorn? What was an alicorn doing in a forest like this? “Are you alright?” She said to Blaze. He blinked a few times, trying to wrap his head around the situation. “Err… uh, yeah, I’m good.” Blaze said with a nod. “And what about you? Yah lost or something?” He said while eyeing her up, still confused about why she was in the forest. “Me? No, I’m quite fine. As long as I stay on the path I’ll be fine. Um… well, my name is Twilight, Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?” She said while she also began to look him over. “I’m Blaze Eternal. So… what are you doing in the forest?” He said apprehensively. “I could very well ask you the same. It’s not safe in here, even for somepony your age. As for me, I’m going to visit a friend and…” At this Blaze cut her off. “Visit a friend in the Everfree? Who is your friend, a manticore?” He said scornfully. “She’s a zebra, thank you very much. So why are you here? I doubt you are very well prepared for a faceoff with and of the creatures around here.” Twilight said, her tone becoming slightly more serious. “E-excuse me? You have no idea what I’ve been through in the… you know what, it doesn’t matter.” He said with a huff. “Wait, you mean you’ve fought something in here?” She said with great shock at the implications of Blaze’s statement. “Yeah, I fought something in here, a pack of timber wolves.” He said, still slightly angry at her previous statement. “Bu-but, how come you’re not hurt? Timber wolves are so vicious, I doubt anypony has ever escaped without as much as a scratch.” She said apprehensively. Blaze looked at her with a hint of annoyance. “I did get scratched, quite a bit actually, but my coat’s color seems to hide it. Of course I can’t say myself since I haven’t seen myself in a mirror recently.” He said with a huff. “So, after seeing your friend I’d suppose you’d head out of the forest, correct?” “Uh… yeah, that’s right. I needed to get some medicine from her and then head back to Ponyville to deliver it to one of my friends who is sick.” Twilight said as she eyed the colt. “Alright then, I need to get out of this blasted place” Blaze said calmly, “Even if I can’t see Flint first.” he added in a mumble. “Huh, what was that?” “Eh? Oh… uh, nothing, it was nothing at all.” Blaze said shaking his head. “Now let’s head on out. The sooner the leave the better; I might have given the wolves a scare but it probably won’t last them long in all likelihood.” Blaze said becoming a tad more serious as he eyed the forest around them, straining his hearing to make sure no wolves were nearby. “Yeah I guess you’re r… wait what? You gave the wolves a scare? B-but how, you’re not even fully grown?” Twilight said, taking a few steps away from the colt who became more of an enigma each time he spoke to her. “Just come on, we need to get going. Now lead the way to the house of this friend of yours, I don’t like the thought of getting lost again.” Blaze said nodding to the trail, signaling for her to go on. Twilight looked at Blaze, and then headed down the trail towards Zecora’s. Twilight couldn’t help but feel something was off about this colt; he just rubbed her the wrong way, but not knowing what else to do, she continued down the path. They had been walking a few minutes, and the silence gnarled at her. She didn’t like something about, but it felt wrong not to talk when somepony else was walking with her. And so, she attempted to strike up a conversation. “So… um, anyway, what are you doing in the forest?” She said out of lack for any other thing she could say. “Huh, what was that?” Blaze said, shaken from his thoughts abruptly. “What are you doing in the forest? I mean… it’s not safe.” Twilight said, trying to find the right words. “Well, I do realize that the forest is dangerous. After being in here for a few minutes it becomes extremely obvious. As to why I am here… well, me and my family decided to take it as a short cut. We’ve done it before, and it beat paying train fair from Dodge City to Canterlot.” He said with a smirk. “Oh, you’re from Dodge City?” Twilight said, rather intrigued at his statement. “Well, no, I’m from the road really.” Blaze said with a chuckle. “The road? What do you mean by that?” Twilight said rather confused by this choice of words. “Me and my family…” “It’s ‘my family and I’.” Twilight corrected briskly. “Yeah, whatever. Anyway, my family and I are traveling performers. We put a small show on, get some bits, maybe sell something for a few more bits, pack up, head on out to the next town, and repeat. We pretty much do anything as long as some monetary profit comes out of it. I was born during one of our longer trips, and so, I am from the road, and I intend to stay on it for the rest of my life. There isn’t anything like being on the road. It gives a sense of adventure to a life; it also is great exercise for the legs. I’ll bet anypony who’s lived like us has never been fat for long.” Blaze ended with a laugh. “So, where’s your family, I thought you said you were traveling with them?” Twilight said while looking around them. They were getting close to Zecora’s. Only a few minutes, then back to Ponyville. “Well… that’s kind of the thing. You see, while we were walking, a manticore attacked our wagon. I had been sleeping in the back at the time, and when my father swerved to the side and sped off, I was thrown out. I had no choice but to run, unfortunately I didn’t take time to see where the wagon had gone off to, so I just ran. After running for a while and meeting a stallion…” “Wait, you met a stallion in here?” Twilight interjected abruptly. “Yes, I did. And I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t interrupt so often. You did want to hear what happened, didn’t you?” Twilight smiled sheepishly. Blaze sighed with a shake of his head. “Anyway, we fought off a pack of timber wolves, and after that, he disappeared.” “He disappeared?” Twilight said in wonderment. Blaze glared at her, causing her to shrink away. “Eh, sorry about that; carry on, please.” Blaze nodded tersely. “I saw a flash out in the woods, so I charged off towards it, and found you. I thought for sure the flash was him teleporting, but if it was, I missed him.” Blaze concluded with a sigh. “So, now I’m just trying to get out of this forest and meet up with my family.” “Do you know where to go to find them?” Twilight asked with a touch of concern. “Yeah, as I said, we were heading to Canterlot, so I’ll get there and meet up with them.” Blaze said confidently. “I think I might help you with that. Celestia was my mentor, so I might be able to get you some help in finding them.” Twilight said thoughtfully. “Hey, that’s great! I’d be very great for your assistance.” Blaze said with a smile. As he finished, a house came into view. In all honesty it was a tree with furnishing around it and a door, but the light coming from inside and a vague voice was enough to signal it was a house. “Well we are here. If you don’t mind…” Twilight began. “Don’t worry; I can stand outside in the forest for a few more moments.” Blaze said with a smile. Twilight nodded and knocked on the door four times before entering. Blaze looked around the forest around him, until suddenly something moved through a piece of foliage nearby. Blaze jerked around, only to see a familiar hooded figure. “Hello again, Blaze.” Flint said quietly. “Flint, where have you been? You left so suddenly that I didn’t even get to say goodbye to you.” Blaze said, his smile faltering as he continued. “Your future will be written with many unsaid goodbyes. But I’m not here to say fair well, but to warn you.” Flint said, his voice sounding rather strained. “Do not go to Canterlot, at least not yet.” Flint said adamantly. “W-why not? My family is heading there and I need to get them quickly.” Blaze said in utter surprise. “I cannot stress it enough. Do not go to Canterlot until I say it is wise.” Flint said sternly. “And what if I do go? Will the world come crashing down around me? Will everything YOU planned crumble? Or is this some joke to keep me from my family? I might have fought alongside you, you might have saved my life more than once, but that doesn’t give you the right to separate me from my family any longer than necessary!” Blaze said as rage coursed through his veins. “This is not for debate, Blaze. If you want more answers, then come back in two day’s time from now to this path and I’ll give you as much explanation as I can.” With that Flint lit his horn and teleported away. Blaze stood glaring and the space where Flint had been standing moments before. As he continued gazing at the open space, the sound of a door opening behind him vaguely registered. “Alright, Blaze, I’m ready to head… um, what are you doing? Did you see something over there?” Twilight asked, noticing Blaze gazing off into the distance. “No.” He said as he turned around and walked down the path. “Are you sure, because you looked like you had seen…” “Isaid I didn’t, so leave it at that. I was looking around, that’s all, now let’s go.” Blaze said, still fuming. “Alright, but if you want to talk…” Twilight began, eyeing the colt warily. “No, I do not want to talk.” Blaze interjected. Twilight hesitated then followed after him. “And he said I interrupted too frequently.” She said in a mumble to herself. Blaze took a deep breath as they stepped out of the forest. The sun was high in the sky, the birds sang their lovely song, and everything, everywhere was peaceful. A quite refreshing change of scenery from the oppressive forest they had just left. Blaze looked to Twilight who had just appeared beside him. He nodded with a smile, signaling for her to take the lead. Blaze watched the pegasi pushing the clouds from the mighty cloud city in the distance. Everything was indeed very peaceful. “If only it would stay that way.” He mumbled to himself darkly. His eyes widened, surprised at his own proclamation. He looked back to the forest with concern. “I wander if the forest has anything to do with…” Blaze trailed off as the images he had seen in the castle filtered back. What enemy had he felt so pleased to defeat, much less how could he be pleased as blood of a creature had splattered across him? Was it a wolf? No, it couldn’t have been, he had heard steel hit steel, like the clash of blades. Blaze realized something that frightened him all the more. At some time he had killed or would kill an intelligent creature in defense of other ponies. What if it had been another pony? Blaze shook his head violently in an attempt to clear his head. If he had killed, the horror would have not left him to sleep at night. If he would kill, then it wasn’t his concern at the moment. It was his future self’s problem to deal with. Blaze dashed off to catch up to Twilight, who had continued without him during his spout of thought. “It was probably just Flint using a spell to mess with my head to make me believe him so I stay away from my family.” He said reassuring himself a little while simultaneously making his anger flare up again, but he couldn’t exactly stay angry for long. He was going to get help and find his family, whether or not Flint approved. Blaze stood quietly beside the Ponyville Clinic’s doors, waiting impatiently for Twilight to return from her errand. Blaze surveyed the surroundings, only to get veritably tackled by something rather heavy. “HA! Got yah this time! Whose laughing n… eh, err, sorry there. I thought you were somepony else.” The pony said as he helped Blaze up from the ground. The pony was an off white, his mane was black, and his cutie mark was a small milk carton. “You’re forgiven, I guess you didn’t mean to do anything wrong, and I’m not hurt at all, so everything is alright.” Blaze said with a smile. The colt smiled, and without another word dashed off. “H-hey! You never introduced yourself.” But by the time he finished his say the colt was already out of hearing range. “Come to think of it, I didn’t either.” Blaze said with a smirk and a shake of his head. “Sorry about him.” Blaze looked around, but found nopony. Then and pony landed from the roof of the clinic, startling him slightly. He was pegasus of pure white, while his mane was only barely visible since it was a very light gray. “He and my sister have been trying to decide who is a better ‘hide-and-seek’ player ever since elementary. And after all these years they’re still at it. My name’s Blizzard, the one who tackled you is Half Pint, and the one he is trying to find is Shimmering Amber.” “A pleasure to meet you, my name is Blaze Eternal.” Blizzard nodded. Slowly Blizzard began looking around the area, stopping; he looked away into the distance. Blaze followed his line of sight and saw an earth pony climbing a tree. “Your sister I presume?” Blizzard nodded slowly, watching his sister’s precarious assent. As Blaze watched, he noticed she was beginning to have some trouble finding hoof holds, and Blaze could already see Half Pint closing in on the tree, though he knew Half Pint hadn’t seen her yet being as his approach was slow and he was still looking this way and that. His eyes snapped back to Amber as he noticed something off. She had just attempted to put her hoof on one of the knots of the tree, but her hoof had slipped, and now he hung from her two front hooves. Blaze watched Blizzard shot off, but instead of going straight for her, he swerved to the left and raised his altitude, until he had reached a rather descent height. Blaze watched as Amber lost her hold on the tree and began to fall. Blaze lit his horn and teleported towards the tree, although he only gained a yard or two because of how rushed he was. Blaze galloped with all the speed he could muster. As he grew closer and closer, he noticed that Amber had disappeared from her dangerous descent. Blaze skidded to a halt in front of the tree and looked around from the missing filly, but she was nowhere to be seen. He turned his head as his eyes caught a flicker of motion in the corner of his vision. Over on the roof of a building off to the side was Blizzard setting his sister down before flying off. Blaze looked over to Half Pint, who had stopped by a cart, checking it over carefully. Blaze smiled to himself. Blizzard had executed a rescue in such a way that it seemed like he was just performing an aerial stunt. He had done so effectively, not only did it seen like a stunt to anypony who had seen it, but Blizzard had done quick enough that by the time Blaze had noticed that Amber wasn’t falling anymore they were long gone. Blaze smirked as he headed back towards the clinic. Blaze arrived just in time to see Twilight coming out. She no longer had the bag she had been carrying from Zecora’s, but she seemed to have lifted a burden from her shoulders that had been heavier than just that bag with a vile of some odd herbal remedy. “How’s your friend now? Any better?” Blaze asked as he fell in beside Twilight. “Now that she’s had the medicine she should be getting better. Zecora said that the medicine should take about an hour or two to take its effect. In the mean time, I’ll send that letter to Celestia and see if we can’t get you some help in finding your family.” Blaze nodded with a smile as he continued to follow Twilight. Blaze stepped through the doorway to the library, closing it behind him. He was amused by the library being a hollowed out tree, not to mention that Twilight’s assistant was a real life dragon. Even with his past of traveling all over Equestria he couldn’t remember one instance of meeting a real dragon face to face. Blaze watched as the dragon, Spike if he heard and remembered correctly, sent it away in a magical flame. “Well, it shouldn’t be too long now. I bet she’ll respond within the hour. Until then, if you want a book to read to pass the time I could provide you with something that should allow you to get by rather nicely.” Twilight said with a smile plastered across her snout. Blaze could only guess she was almost as happy as he was that he was so close to returning to his family. “Thank you very much for everything. And I will take that book. I’ve never been good at passing long amounts of time doing absolutely nothing.” Blaze smiled from ear to ear, veritably bursting with joy. He began to scan the shelves for something that stuck out to him. Twilight was quick to offer him a ‘Daring Do’ book. Blaze sat down in a corner and began his reading, quickly immersing himself in the story. Blaze set down the book onto the coffee table near him. He lifted the glass of ice tea Twilight had brought him to his lips with a lazy mass of glistening, silver magic. The sweet liquid passed over his tongue, making him shiver in delight. He would have to ask her about the type of tea before he left; he’d definitely make sure his family got some of it before they left for their next stop. Suddenly, a loud belch resounded throughout the library. Blaze glanced up from his glass of tea towards the young dragon that was picking up a scroll. “Excuse you.” Blaze said with a smile and a tip of his tea glass. Spike glared at him for a few seconds before finally delivering the scroll to Twilight. After a gentle nudge from Spike, Twilight looked up from her book. “Ah, finally, I was beginning to wonder if she had received my letter.” Twilight said in relief. Blaze glanced over at the books beside him; he had finished three of the ‘Daring Do’ books in the time it had taken for the reply. Not good considering they were dealing with the ruler of the land. But then again it could have always been a busy day at Canterlot, and helping a colt that could wait a few more minutes, if not hours, tended to fall to a low standing on her list. “Let’s see here…” Twilight said as she began to read the letter silently. Her brow furrowed in confusion as she read on, until her expression finally took the form of concern. She lowered the scroll, still rather deep in thought. “Um, Twilight, is everything alright? What did the Princess say?” Spike asked looking rather perplexed at Twilight. “That’s just the thing… it sounds so weird.” She said looking of in the distance. “Well how about we just hear what she said and get down to it.” Blaze said, swishing the glass of tea around. “She said that they were preparing a carriage to bring you over, but when they were beginning to take off, the axle broke out of nowhere.” She said looking quite confused at the situation. “Well that isn’t all that bad is it? I mean, they got dozens of carriages, right?” Spike said looking confusedly at Twilight’s own confusion. “That’s just the thing. When they went to get another carriage, they found all of them had a critical flaw in one way or another, rendering every single one of them rather unsafe to be in, or completely useless. But the damage didn’t even stop there. They went to get some of the spare parts to fix at least one wagon, but found the parts to have so damage of one type or another, and the next shipment happens two months from now, even with the request being an urgent one.” Twilight ended her explanation, looking less confused now, and more concerned. “I guess those ‘Royal Exclusive Aerial Carriages’ finally came back to bite them, huh?” Spike said in wonderment. “Yes, but at least we have one more option. Celestia recommends we take the train since it will take so long for any possible repairs to occur.” Twilight finished with a sigh. “And even then we’ll have to wait at least two hours for the next train to come in.” “Wait, how do you know that for sure?” Blaze asked, rather puzzled at her rather precise prediction of time they would have to wait. “I memorized the train schedule. It is rather easy when there is only two different times a train leaves for one place in a day. The first train for Canterlot leaves at nine A.M. while the second leaves at ten P.M.” Twilight ended while lifting her glass towards her mouth for a drink. “Um, Twilight, you do realize that it is a quarter until ten right?” Spike said questioningly. Twilight literally sprayed the dragon in a mist of ice tea. “W-what! How did it get so late?” She said glancing at her wall clock quickly. She quickly dashed over to the door, with Blaze only a short distance behind. After darting through several streets, they arrived at the train station. Twilight quickly hopped up the stairs and got to the front desk. “I need… two tickets… to Canterlot… please.” She said, quite out of breath. “I’m sorry, but the train bound for Canterlot has been canceled.” The pony behind the counter said in a slightly remorseful tone. “W-what, but why was it canceled?” Twilight said in great surprise. “Well it seems a few of the wheels were damaged during transit. We can’t use the train until those wheels are replaced, but that might take a while.” The desk pony said with a rather flat expression. “Do you have any time estimate?” Twilight said, only hoping that it would be quick. “No, not really, but I can assure you that it will be more than a few days.” The pony said. “Alright, is there any way I can receive a notice when the train is ready to leave?” Twilight asked, still holding onto any hope she could. The desk pony pushed a paper over to her along with a pencil. Twilight nodded and filled out the small paper as quickly as possible. Twilight pushed the paper back towards the desk pony with a sheepish smile. The pony took the paper between gentle teeth until it finally was placed in a folder along with more than a dozen other small papers. Twilight sighed, and then walked off into the streets with Blaze following her. But even though he saw only a few inches from her, his mind was somewhere else. The only ways he could reach the princess without walking there were removed from possibility in a succession of nearly impossible events that had taken only that afternoon, without even prior indication of such problems being around. It didn’t sit right with Blaze that they had just happened because of the entropy of objects in the world, more of an intentional effort to cut off all safe access routes to the capital. Two answers could come from this rather easily to anypony’s mind. One, a group of insurgents were planning on a takeover, and were cutting all escape and entry routes that had any speed, which was obviously not the reality of the situation. Two, somepony really didn’t want somepony else going to Canterlot, and there was a large possibility for that. Flint had made it clear that he didn’t want Blaze going to Canterlot, so it would stand to reason he would sabotage the only means of arriving to the place he didn’t want Blaze going to. Blaze entered the library with an angry huff, disgusted at the thought of why Flint was so opposed to him going to his family. It didn’t make any sense to stop anypony from getting to their family. But those thoughts were for another time; right now they needed to plan. While Twilight had Spike taking a letter, Blaze simply slipped back into his chair, downing the rest of his tea in a few swift gulps, slightly amazed that Spike had even left it out; then again he had only been gone for a minute or two, and the stack of books was already neatly shelved. He watched, still seething, as Spike sent the letter to the princess, only to belch out the reply in a minute or two. Twilight glanced quickly over the letter, probably still hoping to find something good out of this precarious situation. Finally, Twilight sent the scroll down, shaking her head in disappointment. “Celestia thinks it would be wise for you to stay here in Ponyville until a safe mode of transport has been arranged. She says that some small detachments of the Equestrian Guard will be sent out in search of your family.” Twilight said as she sat down at the table where she had been reading earlier that day. “We were so close. If only we had gotten onto the 9 o’clock train, we would have made it.” “No, I doubt even then we would’ve made it. It seems the fates have conspired for me to stay here for a little time.” Blaze said, though in his head ‘the fates’ was replaced with ‘Flint’, but since he didn’t feel like explaining why exactly he knew it was a pony stopping him, he kept the name to himself. “Yeah, I guess you weren’t supposed to go quite yet. But at least you can stay here in the mean time. You can have my bed, I’ll take the couch.” Twilight said, already heading up the stairs to the closet were she stored her extra bed materials. “No, I’m taking the couch.” Blaze said sternly. “But you’re the guest; you are supposed to get the comfy…” Twilight began, only to be cut off as Blaze lifted his hoof. “As a guest there are certain rules I need to obey and sacrifices I need to make since I left what was mine. Plus, I’m more used to uncomfortable patches of grass with a hard rock than plush mattresses with a cushy pillow. Remember, I’m a traveling pony, I don’t use queen sized anything how I live.” Blaze said, not wavering “And I don’t even think I could sleep well on that thing if I knew you were on that couch the whole night.” Blaze added with a faint smile painted across his snout. “Alright, if you think it would be better, but I’m still going to get you a cover, it can get rather cold at night.” Twilight said, still uncertain as she grasped the blanket in her magic, quickly passing it into Blaze’s aura. “I think we should hit the hay. Tomorrow will probably be rather hectic, and we’ll need all the energy we can get.” Twilight said after a quick glance towards her clock. Blaze nodded and lay down on the couch as he lifted the blanket over his tiered body. The lights were slowly turned off one by one; leaving the library in darkness and silence, save for the cricket’s song that emanated from the outside. Fighting a pack of timber wolves had been exhausting, especially after using all his magical energy to the breaking point. The few minutes of ‘rest’ provided from the complete exhaustion had only been giving him enough energy for what was necessary, not to mention that the ‘Rage Shift’ hadn’t helped in using as small amount of energy as possible. All of the running hadn’t been a great help either, and all of those factors only added up to running on adrenaline and the fumes of energy already spent for the larger portion of the day. Blaze closed him eyes, finding sleep an easy thing to come by as the darkness of true sleep replaced the dark of the room. Blaze opened his eyes, expecting to see the inside of his family wagon, only to find a much different scene. His eyes shot open wide as he shot to his hooves. The sky was red as blood as the sun hung in a perpetual state of twilight. He looked around, and soon found himself on a mountain that overlooked a large field that ended in a dense hog that only let up to reveal the crimson sky. A gentle breeze blew past his ear; his mane rippling slowly in the coolness of the air. The feeling of cloth against his coat, the weight of metal set on his back, the gentle pressing of his helmet against his head, and the flutter of his cape in the gentle breeze, it was all too real. Blaze turned and saw a dark mass on the other side of the mountain’s rather flat top. Blaze grasped a sword and shield, lifting them in preparation for a fight. The mass stirred and shifted, eyes opening in its cold, shapeless features. Cold piercing eyes focusing on the small pony as its invisible lips parted, showing its pointed teeth in all their glory. Blaze let out a cry of defiance as he charged the monster on instinct. A tendril of the mass extended and swiped at the charging colt, but Blaze rolled masterfully out of its way. Blaze watched as the mass opened its unseen jaws, revealing an orange, fiery glow within. With a single breath, a typhoon of fire swarmed forth to meet the pony with a deadly embrace, but Blaze way able to lift his shield, blocking the flames from further advancing. The mass finished its fiery attack, and swiped at Blaze with another tendril, but this time anticipated Blaze dodging its first attack, and swung another dark tendril to intercept Blaze, meeting the pony in midair with a satisfying smack. Blaze felt the wind rush by him as he flew through the air, a pain throbbing in his side, only amplified as he meet the ground with great haste. He looked up, seeing the mountain looming over him. As he got to his hooves, the figures of featureless pony’s in armor rushed by him, advancing on the treacherous mountain with courage unrelenting. Shadowy figures stood from the ground, towering over the soldier. The ponies met the shadowy figures, steel on steel, hooves on bleak shadows, and all the while, no screams of pain were heard; only the unrelenting sounds of steel meeting steel and steel meeting flesh. Blaze felt a presence behind him, and saw a shadowy figure stand up on two legs with a tendril ending in a blade on its right side. Blaze stood there, petrified in fear. The darkness raised its bladed tendril to the sky, and then brought it down towards Blaze, only for another blade to stop it. Blaze looked and saw an undistinguished figure holding the blade in what seemed to be a magical aura. “You will not have him, beast.” The mass said, its voice a mixture of what seemed over a hundred different ponies saying the same exact thing at one time. Blaze watched as the dark mass reshaped itself into a more distinguishable shape. It seemed to be a bipedal dragon, eyes blazing in fury. Its arm’s muscles rippled in effort as it pushed harder and harder. Its scales slowly morphed from black to a deep purple, and its spines became a dark green. “Leave now, for as long as I can lift a blade you will not harm a hair on his head!” The pony emphasized his point by a firm push with his blade. “He fears us now. We have already won the battle before it has even begun, why not give him up? He has already been lost to his fearful trembling. His loss is sealed, and it cannot be broken.” The dragon said in a voice resembling that of the other thing, only much more sinister. With a shout, the mass became a pony clad in armor. “Be gone, you evil creatures!” It said in a mighty voice as she landed beside Blaze, but the dragon did not relent. Producing a second sword, he slammed it into the thing’s sword. The creature drew closer with a snarl. “We do not leave on order, save from our royal majesty. You, warrior pony, have no hold here.” With that the beast attacked the pony, slashing him sword across its side. Out of reflex, it blasted the creature with a bolt of magic, causing its head and upper chest to disappear in a puff of darkness, and with no further resistance, the creature fell to its knees, then flat on its chest. “T-this, this must be a dream. All of this, it can’t be real.” Blaze said in disbelief as he gazed towards the corpse in dismay. That creature had been alive and quite intelligent, and even though it had tried to kill him, it didn’t seem right to have slain it so brutally. “T-there’s no way this is real.” “Be ye not fooled, this is no dream.” A voice echoed throughout the plain. Suddenly the creature rose, his head reforming. Blaze looked across the landscape, and all around them creatures were rising with all different types of weapons. “You are our prey, and a beast separated from its feast is more dangerous than most anything else.” As it finished talking, the army began to advance slowly on the two ponies. “We do not lie, yet you do not believe us whilst breath still is in your lungs. Perhaps you shall find us more honest… in death!” Then with a roar, the army of beast charged. The one that had color leaped over the pony, brandishing its sword up high, poise to pierce Blaze with a simple swing of the blade. Blaze shot up from the couch, sweat dripping down his forehead. Looking around the room crazily, expecting to see a giant bipedal dragon to emerge from the shadows. It had only been a dream… or had it? Blaze still wasn’t sure quite yet, but then again, there were many things he still wasn’t sure of. Blaze stood up from the couch, continually looking around him, expecting a creature to leap from the darkness to kill him. Usually dreams had been little concern to him after waking up, but that dream had been far too real. Blaze crept up the stairs, using magic to soften his hooves landing on the wood. He soon reached the top and found Twilight and Spike still asleep. Blaze continued to approach the two sleeping forms, and finding them completely unharmed, he released a sigh. Blaze looked out the window, gazing out to stars that twinkled happily. Blaze headed back down to the couch, and after a few deep breathes, lay down. As the soft embrace of sleep came to him, he came to a resolution. Why should he worry about a silly, if not frightening, dream? It was just a dream and nothing more. There were a few more important things to worry about, including Flint and why he had not only said not to go, but took direct action to ensure he didn’t go and find him family. But all those things could wait for the morning. At the moment what he needed to do was to go to sleep and get the energy to face the next day and all it held, and the way things had gone up until that point, he would definitely need every ounce of energy he could get. And so, Blaze drifted off into an uneasy sleep, with only the promise of morning to bring any kind of comfort to his tossing and turning.