The twin avalanches filled the gorge and Ivory growled as she galloped past the other ponies. “This plan is horse apples. Run if you want to live!”
Not one of them hesitated. Already the crushing surge of snow and rock was bringing down some of the shrikes, burying them alive. Their path took them straight towards the angry flock. One swooped at Ivory and she dodged aside, but even being close to it was so cold that it bit frost deep into her flanks. She hissed a breath.
“There's no way we're getting through there,” said Bruce. But he didn't stop running.
Ivory held her horn high. “I'll figure something out.”
The stallion laughed. “Like maybe a reverse flight-spell, or some sort of thermal shielding...”
Ivory charged ahead, her horn sparkling with white energy. She didn't have any such plan, no brilliant technique. She just forced every bit of magic she had through herself and held it at a single point until the birds were about to strike.
The unicorn howled and discharged the spell. The shock waves pushed back the avalanche a bit and the frost shrikes cried out in pain as the twisted magic flowed over them. Ivory found herself smirking just a little. The more magic, the less well it reacted to her spell. And the discomfort was enough to send them plummeting from the sky.
“Good job.” Bruce pushed by her. “But I hope you've got some more tricks up your sleeve.”
Ivory looked up. Another tide of snow was flooding in front of them, blocking the way out. She stamped her hoof and her foot sunk in.
“Not yet,” she huffed. “Not like this!”
Once the avalanche was upon them, there was nothing more they could do. It trapped their legs and quickly rushed towards their torsos, necks, leaving them scrambling for footing. For just a moment it blotted their vision.
Then Ivory and the others were free, airborne, caught tight between the hooves of white pegasi. Galebright dragged them up onto the edge of the bluffs, now empty of the fallen snow, and set her down. The others soon joined.
Ivory nearly knocked Galebright over with the side of her face. “What were you thinking? What kind of plan was that?! We almost died.”
Galebright did not retaliate. She met Ivory's gaze, and then turned it at the sound of flapping wings. The gryphon. Char looked quite pleased with himself as they settled on the new mound of snow.
“Well, they won't be coming back,” he said. “Away from their sustenance they will simply dissipate into the earth. I've only seen it once before... but I'm sure that our problems, at least with this particular flock, are over.”
Galebright was far less kind than Ivory in her retaliation. She turned held herself airborne, putting all of her weight into bucking both hind legs into his shoulder. There was a crack and he fell to a heap on his side.
“What is wrong with you?” she hissed. “That was not the plan. Where were the nets? The traps? I should bury you with them.”
Char made an avian cry and pulled himself to his feet, wings flared. “Nets? Cages? Those things cannot hold a shrike. And even if they did, what then? Hope they make good prisoners? This was the only way. Our problem is solved.”
Galebright stood her ground. “It isn't your problem anymore.”
The gryphon's eyes narrowed to slits. “You couldn't possibly be that dull.”
“You almost got good ponies killed. Friends and strangers. It isn't our way. It was a mistake to let you decide our operations here.”
“There was no other way! There will always be more ponies. The lot of you breed so recklessly.”
The pegasus bared her teeth. “You'd be better suited to finding some gryphons who find you just as disposable. Because you aren't welcome here, and if you give me a chance to reconsider, I might just see fit to bury you as well.”
Char opened his beak and then closed it again. His fury overwhelmed his need for the last word and he took off with such force that it nearly knocked the ponies over. Then he was just a body in the sky. And then a speck.
And then he was gone.
Galebright and her company dug down to get away from the cutting wind and she stood to buffer Ivory and Bruce against it.
“I'm sorry,” she said, hanging her head. “That wasn't supposed to happen. Nothing like this at all.”
The two ponies leaned in and raised her head with their own. “It's never what you expect it to be,” said Ivory, closing her eyes. “And it wasn't your fault.”
“We shouldn't have been listening to him for a long time.” Galebright ruffled her wings out. “His experience in these lands was invaluable but he was always making one reckless decision after another. It was no secret that his methods would eventually come back to haunt us. And yet I allowed him to...”
“You had your whole people to think of,” said Bruce. “I think you made the right decision. Even if it led here. Decisions I couldn't make. That's why...”
“It's over now,” Ivory cut in, shaking her head. “If it bothers you that much, you can help us out. Dusty is still out there. We can have the mushy pow-wow later.”
Galebright glared at her, and then laughed. “Fine,” she said. “But how do you plan on getting into the clouds? You've made it pretty obvious that enchantment isn't the answer.”
Ivory tapped her horn. What would Dusty do?
Ah, yes. The solution was far more simple than she'd thought. “We don't need any magic,” she said. “Follow me.”
#
Dusty wiggled his hooves. The spell trapping him allowed him a generous amount of room for squirming but his jaw was more or less wired shut. The unicorn paced around him.
“Right now you're probably wondering what I want with you,” he drolled. “'oh, Ruby Horn, how could you possibly be here? Didn't you die a long time ago?'” then brushed the pegasus' cheek aside. “Pegasi. So irritatingly simple. It irks me to think that you were the secret that the Princess was hiding so long ago. One stupid, meager pegasus...”
Dusty made a mental sigh. A bonafide villain. That was just his luck. And with that irritating love for his own voice.
“Don't give me that look. You came here because I wanted you to come here. Because your coming here was all a part of the grander scheme of the world. And now that it is ready for me, it no longer has any use for you.” He canted his head up. “Still... it would be a shame if no one were here to witness my first steps to glory.”
The pegasus continued to squirm as this stranger walked to the chest and pressed his hooves against the grooves. He yanked and pulled and sparks flew from his horn. He battered it relentlessly but it shunted him back.
“How odd. It seems to think that only you can open it.” Ruby horn waved his magic aside and let Dusty fall to the floor. “Well? Don't keep me waiting.”
He seemed thoroughly unimpressed when Dusty rolled to his feet and tried to tackle him, only to be deflected with a sudden flash of a magic shield. Then twice more, until they were facing one another from across the room.
“Your kingdom is gone,” said Dusty.
“Of course. I think I like yours much better, anyway.”
“The princesses will--”
“Make the right decision once they realize the power that I gained from Luna.”
“So what makes you think I'm going to open--”
“Because if I kill you, it only sets me back a few seasons. And if I let you live, it gives you the chance to stop me.”
Dusty sighed. “You know you're really--”
“Annoying?”
“Amateur.”
Ruby smiled and nodded. A tight ring of red magic aura braced around Dusty's neck and constricted. He tried desperately to pull it off but it only cinched tighter, and soon he was writhing on the floor trying to scream but only whimpering while the unicorn reclined and watched.
“Don't try to call my bluff, boy. You're going to find me quite accommodating.”
#
Ivory stood at the helm of the airship as it pushed through wind and snow, twisting the wheel wildly. Galebright and Bruce stood behind her clinging to the railings.
“Are you sure you know what you're doing?” Galebright called. “All pegasus guards get basic pilot training. Maybe I should...”
The craft reefed to the right, then the left as it plowed towards the city. Ivory pointed with a hoof to a flicker of churning red magic.
“There! I doubt they taught you how to do this in the academy, anyway...”
#
Dusty twitched and some of his feathers, still crackling with electricity, singed off in smoke. He leered at the unicorn, who seemed to be having a most delightful time. “Are you done finding fun and interesting ways to torment me? Because if you want to do that, you could just keep talking.”
Ruby Horn's ear twitched. He smiled but his eyes lit up and he tugged the pegasus upright by the neck. “I know that you're stalling,” he said. “And it will not help you. I also know that you value your life more than you're letting on and that you are not going to push me any further.”
Dusty tried to meet his stare, but looked away. He could keep up the facade forever, but he was trembling. And how would his friends have found them there? The unicorn was right. He did not want to die alone, for no reason. Almost as much as he did not want him to be right.
“Fine,” he said, using the clouds to pull himself towards the drawer. “Just shut up. And stop smiling.”
He didn't look back, but could tell that Ruby was not smiling. Just staring with those fire-lit eyes as he set his hooves upon the box and pulled. The drawer tugged forward and for one quiet moment he could observe the insides.
Collections of portraits of ponies, most he didn't recognize. Some of the younger Princess Luna and Celestia. Had they aged at all? And a carefully wrapped button-eyed pony doll that, judging from the frayed ears,was supposed to resemble a bat pony.
How he could have missed the spike of crystal glimmering just in front of him? The moment he set his eyes upon it, golden rimmed and brimming with magic, it flung past him, slicing through the fur of his cheek and hovering in front of Ruby.
“Thank you kindly,” said the unicorn, clearly appreciating his own manners as he hefted the pegasus high into the air. “And since you know so much about me, I think you know what's coming next...”
#
Ivory threw back a lever and the balloon of the airship swelled. They raced upwards towards the dilapidated cloud tower and scooped right beneath it. The prow sheared clean through the cloud material and the ship shook violently.
“Hold on” Ivory roared, and spun away. Vaporous fog filled the deck and magic sparkled about. A few moments later it cleared up, leaving a mess of furniture on the deck, along with Dusty, who lay with his wings over himself, and Garnet, her cape back, pushing at his snout insistently.
“What did you do?” Ivory leaped to the lower deck. Galebright seized the wheel before they spun out of control and locked it into place.
Garnet looked up and frowned. “I didn't do anything,” she said. “Really, truly, believe me. He was just gibbering like this when I found him.”
Bruce and Ivory leaned down close to their friend, and Garnet leaned back. The two ponies nudged him and tried to make out words, but it sounded like two conversations buckling in on themselves.
“You think she's telling the truth?” Bruce muttered.
Ivory looked up. “I think so,” she said. “This is not her brand of trickery.”
“But she left us to die!”
“I was pretty sure you could get out on your own,” Garnet muttered. Ivory silenced her with a glare, and then shook her head.
“She's never attacked anyone. Especially not Dusty.”
“I don't get it...” Garnet rubbed at her horn. “I figured you dolts would have some idea what was wrong with him.”
Ivory leaned in closer. “What is that? On your horn.”
“This?” Garnet tapped at the bronze ring around the base of it. “Something I found back in the retreat when you three were too busy to notice that I was scraping the place clean. It sort of augments my magic.”
“And the crystal?” Ivory said, eyebrow raised.
“What crystal?” she put both hooves up and rubbed at her horn, and when they ran over the glassy surface, she startled. “What is going on!?”
Dusty groaned and stirred. “Telepathy...”
Ivory knew what to do in an instant. She jammed her horn at the base of Garnet's and let a spark of magic surge through it. The unicorn cried out in surprise, and then the ring, the crystal casing, fell off of her horn and clattered onto the deck.
Both unicorns stared at the strange objects. “What does it mean?” wondered Garnet.
Dusty pushed himself up and laughed. “It means you have no idea when you're being used. Any of you.”
Garnet sighed a little, but Ivory held her back. “Hold on, something isn't right here.”
“Aren't you quick?” Dusty stretched his wings wide. “Oh, this is far better. I can see why wings are a part of the package. It would be a shame to just go back to plan unicorn royalty, all things considered.”
Ivory lowered her horn and fired a stream of magic at Dusty. It bounced harmlessly off of him. Not even a flinch as he lowered his head onto the ring and crystal. They settled into place as if over the shape of a natural horn.
“I have gotten everything I need from you,” he said, “and I am alive again.”
This time both Garnet and Ivory lashed out together with magic. Bruce and Galebright made to pin him down and with a single swipe of magic, a single red flash from the crystal, the magic fizzled and the ponies blew back against the deck.
“I'm especially disappointed in you,” said Dusty, stepping over and putting his front hoof against Garnet's chest. “A unicorn this dumb. To think I had to live inside of you for so many years, festering...”
Garnet coughed and pushed at his hoof. “What...?”
“I don't know what amuses me more.” He dug his hoof in and sneered. “That you loved the bits more than you loved him, or just how much you hated yourself for it.”
Garnet shoved him aside with a sudden telekinetic push. The ponies were gathering for a second assault while he prepared another spell.
“Go to sleep,” he uttered, “for the last time.”
Their eyelids were beginning to droop against their own volition. The ship floated. And in one last burst of strength, Ivory charged forward and jammed her horn beneath the ring on Dusty's forehead. She locked eyes with him, diving into the fires that burned into his irises as she reefed and tugged her way into his mind.
“Get out of there,” she growled, “or I will rip you apart!”
Dusty laughed. Their magics twined, briefly, and then everypony passed out where they stood.