//------------------------------// // Chapter Two // Story: Onyx Skies // by SupaSqueegee //------------------------------// “Augh! For the love of Celestia…” Vertigo picked herself back up from the ground, running a hoof along her shoulders and legs in an effort to brush herself off. She cast her gaze around the rocky, mountainous terrain they were currently crossing and sighed. “Was there really no way into the dragon territories other than this?” For the hundredth time since they left she looked back to her disfigured stump-of-a-wing with a grimace. “We’re following Mammoth, remember? From my knowledge, he’s the only pony to ever go in and out of the dragon territories on a semi-regular basis. If anypony is going to know how to get us where we need to go, it’ll be him.” Starshine offered a hoof to help her over a particularly treacherous outcropping of stone, and she happily accepted. After pulling her up, he continued along the path currently being set by their guide, each step carefully planted to ensure proper footing. “Besides, if you had wanted to just go directly into dragon territory, we could have taken a ship right to their harbor along the southern rim of the peninsula. No documentation, questionable motives… things would have worked out fine.” Vertigo just snorted and followed after the snarky stallion, moving just as carefully as he was. She could understand his reasoning well enough. They carried on in silence from there, following their guide as best they could. It seemed that Mammoth wasn’t having any of the problems moving over the landscape that they were. The large stallion was navigating through it with practiced ease, seeming to know exactly where to step and how, but Vertigo and Starshine were not having such an easy time. Every other step one of them stumbled, and by the time they reached a more suitable setting, both of them had fallen another half dozen times. Mammoth stopped them and motioned around the small valley passage they were in. Tall walls of stone rose on either side and, while the ground was craggy and loose, it was still much easier to cross than what they had been walking on before. Starshine furrowed his brow and followed the motioning hoof with his eyes. With a nod to the larger stallion, he turned and looked back to Vertigo. “We’re starting to get into their territory now. There shouldn’t be any dragons this close to the border, but we can’t be too careful.” He set his jaw and took a step forward, “So, from here on, we should keep the chatter to a minimum.” Vertigo nodded and looked around the small valley. She could understand how the other two were nervous, even considering one was a hardened tracker and the other a royal guard. She’d heard stories of dragons before, gruesome ones. Stories told of battles; dragons raining fire from the sky, tearing their foes to shreds with their claws. The very thought of encountering one made her shiver. If they wanted to keep quiet, then she would oblige. The sun was almost midway across the sky when they resumed their long trek through the mountains, the craggy peaks casting angular shadows over them as they went. Vertigo had no idea how long it would be before they made it out of the mountains, she couldn’t even see the end of the trail they were currently on. She once again let her mind start to wander. Every few minutes she looked back at her ruined wing, and she couldn’t help but wonder just what she was going to do now that she was crippled like this. She could still perform most of her daily tasks since she lived in Manehatten, but no longer being able to fly? She found the idea hard to imagine. Growing up, she had never been very focused on her flying abilities. She had gone to standard pegasi schools, learned the basics of flying, and had even learned how to perform an aerial rescue. Other than those basics, though, she hadn’t pursued anything else along those lines. Her passion had never been flying, and she had garnered no interest in performing on a weather team or joining the guard. The most she did with her flying was traveling to and from work and the various stores she visited. It just wasn’t her passion. What drove Vertigo was her love for photography. It was her calling, and even her cutie mark represented such with a half-wound roll of film. While she often used her ability to fly to get better shots and angles for her photos, until that moment she’d never once thought that she was completely reliant on it. She quickly pushed those thoughts aside and tried to focus on what lay ahead for her. Traveling through the mountains was only going to be the first step of their journey. Once they passed through here, they would need to cross a rather dense forest before they could truly consider themselves in the dragon territories. From what Starshine had told her when they had reached the start of the mountain range, the forest would make the first portion of their trek look easy. He’d admitted to only hearing stories about it, but what he had heard made the place sound decidedly terrifying. It was often compared to the Everfree, but worse, and that thought alone made Vertigo cringe. Without being able to fly and escape, and without any true fighting capabilities, she would be left essentially helpless. The further she went along with this journey, the more she was coming to realize just how much she depended on the two stallions guiding her. If she was going to make it out of this alive with her husband, it would only be thanks to them. She was so lost in thought that she almost didn’t realize that Mammoth and Starshine had come to a stop, and nearly bumped into them because of it. As they both cast a wary eye over the ridges of the stone walls above Vertigo moved around them, opening her mouth as if to ask why only to be silenced by a raised hoof from Starshine, who then gestured at something well above them. She didn’t notice anything at first, but the longer she looked, the more she started to see why they’d stopped. There were claw markings all along the walls, and the smooth stone was pock-marked with small caves. Starshine looked to her with a worried furrow to his brow. “This isn’t good” he hissed in a shallow, whispered tone before he went back to scanning the area. “Cave lizards. Hardy little bastards. Carnivorous, too. We should probably get out of here.” Vertigo gulped and nodded, then followed after them as the two stallions started moving again. Mammoth kept a lookout as they walked, and she was growing more and more anxious with every step. She had never heard of cave lizards before but, from the way that Starshine spoke, they weren’t something she wanted to stick around for. The minutes ticked by as they walked, a heavy tension hanging in the air as the three of them kept their eyes locked on the surrounding walls, the quiet clack of their hooves against the stone and the sounds of their breathing the only things to be heard. Vertigo was becoming more and more nervous as the three of them carried on, even though she was starting to wonder if they were really in any kind of danger or not. Mammoth stopped them a moment later with a raised hoof, his ears perking and his eyes casting about once more. Vertigo heard a low rumbling, and then everything around them changed. From the holes in the stone walls poured what looked to be thousands of tiny creatures, all mottled green and black. They swarmed the walls and ledges around them, and the mare’s eyes grew wide in both shock and terror. Starshine looked back to her, screamed “Run!” and then took off at a full gallop. Vertigo followed as fast as she could, heart racing and hooves pounding against the stone ground as hard and fast as she could push herself. The sound of thousands of tiny claws scrabbling along rock filled her ears, and she found herself experiencing a terror she could never have imagined before. Faster and faster she urged herself, her eyes glued to the galloping figures of the two stallions in front of her. Her mind was a haze of fear, brief thoughts of what it might feel like to be eaten alive flashing with each stamp of her hooves on the ground under her. It wasn’t enough. The small creatures started to flood in around them, clawing and scratching at their legs as they ran, trying to clamber up their bodies. Vertigo did her best to shake them off, leaping and shaking her limbs as hard as she could. She even extended her wings in a subconscious effort to take flight. Sharp, brilliant arcs of pain shot through her body, and she nearly stumbled and fell as she screamed out in agony. But she didn’t stop, she , lest those creatures tear her apart. Up ahead, the two stallions vanished over the rise of a crest. Vertigo pounded ahead all the more fiercely, trying in pure desperation to catch up. Streaks of blood adorned the fur of her legs as more and more the small lizards swiped and bit at her. She finally made it, reaching the top of that incline, galloping up and over it as fast as she could push herself. And then, just like that, she found herself falling, the ground having given away under her hooves. She let out another shrill cry as she tumbled end over end through the air, her limbs flailing and her wings once again spreading in some vain effort to at least right herself. Brief flashes of trees and a darkening sky flashed across her vision as she tumbled through the air. Tears began to stream and her vision blurred as she plummeted, her mind racing with the sudden knowledge that she was about to die. She fell, tears cascading down her cheeks as she plunged, helpless, to the earth. Fear gripped her chest and her wing flailed wildly, her mind racing as she watched the ground rising to meet her. She let out a wild cry for help and clenched her eyes shut, only to find herself encapsulated in magic moments before the expected impact. Opening her eyes, Vertigo found herself wrapped in a hazy blue aura, floating a foot or so off the ground in Starshine’s magical field. He lowered her to the ground, his breath ragged and shallow, before falling to the side. Vertigo immediately rushed over to him, knelt down beside him and began running a hoof over the barrel of his chest. From what she could see, none of his injuries seemed to be that bad. Just a few scrapes and bruises, probably from a combination of the lizards above and from falling through the trees. Her own breathing was short, but other than a few similar cuts and scrapes, she was mostly unharmed. Mammoth came trotting up to them from the trees, giving a curt nod of his head to signal that they were safe for the moment. Vertigo looked up and shook her head. That fall was well over a hundred feet, and it would have been more than enough to kill her had she landed wrong. Once again, she owed her life to the stallions with her. She looked down to Starshine and, once his breathing started to settle, helped him back to his hooves. He grunted and nodded to her in thanks. “Sorry. It’s been awhile since I’ve used my magic like that. Took a lot out of me.” Upon the questioning tilt of her head, he merely shook his own. “I caught Mammoth and myself before we hit the ground. Then I saw you falling, and it almost took everything out of me to catch you as well. I should be fine after I rest for a bit.” He turned and looked to Mammoth. “Think you can keep an eye out? We should probably camp here for the night. I don’t know if any of us are cut out to keep traveling right now.” The big, red stallion nodded and made his way back into the dense foliage, seeming to vanish right before their eyes. Vertigo watched Mammoth disappear into the trees then turned her attention back to Starshine. “You need to rest. Sit down, I’ll get you something to eat.” Once she had made sure he was comfortable, she hunted for their saddlebags, which had fallen from them during their fall. She found them easily enough, and was rather surprised to see that not many of their supplies had spilled when they had hit the ground. The three sets of saddlebags were gathered up and dragged back to the small clearing where they had decided to make camp. She busied herself with getting some food ready. It wasn’t much, but the slices of bread and cheese would be enough for now. Once ready, she brought Starshine’s over to him. “Here.” When he had taken his meager little meal, she settled into a sitting position next to him and idly nibbled at her own portion. The two of them both seemed to be distracted, neither one making any attempt at conversation, or even so much as looking at one another. Vertigo was once again thinking about the past, about how she and Swift Shield had built a life together in Manehatten. She let her mind wander into the details of their daily lives; the shopping trips, the outings to restaurants, and their occasional trips to the park. When Swift wasn’t away on one of his diplomatic missions, the two of them lived a fairly normal, happy life. She wasn’t given long to reminisce though, Mammoth trotting back into the clearing. After looking at the two of them for a moment, he settled down in front of them, taking up his own portion and eating it hastily. Vertigo watched him for a long while, her eyes traveling along his unkempt and scarred form. She couldn’t help but to wonder once more just how he had ended up as he was. As if sensing the question she was about to ask, Starshine let out a sigh. “He wasn’t always like this, from what I understand.” Mammoth looked up momentarily at this, then shrugged and looked away, appearing uninterested. “What happened?” Vertigo asked cautiously. Starshine merely shrugged. “From what I’ve heard, he used to be a member of the guard. One of the only earth ponies to ever make it through training. He was strong and agile enough to do it. He could even handle the stuff that was specifically meant for unicorns and pegasi, aside from the magical and flying tests, of course.” The stallion kept his eyes locked on Mammoth the whole time. “Anyway, rumor has it that he was out on a mission for Celestia herself one day. He was supposed to go into the deepest parts of the Everfree to hunt down something from her old days at the castle there. When he got there, though, the castle had been made into a den by more timberwolves than anypony had ever seen in one place. He didn’t realize it until it was too late. He made it out, but not before nearly being eaten alive.” Starshine visibly trembled at this, then sighed and continued, “He made it all the way back to Canterlot without help, bleeding and nearly falling apart. He left the guard after that and became a tracker. They say the reason he doesn’t speak is because his voice box was crushed when one of them bit his throat.” Vertigo cringed and looked from Starshine over to Mammoth. The large, red, earth pony was busying himself with preparing for camping for the night, and didn’t appear to be paying much attention to their conversation. Starshine spoke back up, “From what I understand, he worked as a mercenary for a while, hiring out his services to whoever had enough bits. But, recently, he’s come back to working for the guard exclusively. Not sure why.” The unicorn shrugged and finished off his meal. Vertigo didn’t take her eyes off of Mammoth for long time after that. What could have made him change his mind like that? What could have brought him back to working directly for the guard? She had so many questions that she wasn’t sure she would be able to get answers for. The rest of the evening passed pretty uneventfully. Starshine said that they would be heading back out at dawn, and that they would need to get some rest before they did so. A guard rotation was set up, and he volunteered for the first watch. Vertigo curled up on the ground by a tree and tried to get some sleep, but the events of the past few days just kept playing over and over again in her mind. She had already nearly lost her life two times, and they had only just made it into the dragon territories. Was she going to be more of a hinderance on this quest than she originally thought? Both times that her life had been in danger she had been saved by one of her companions. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the smoking, sizzling flesh of her wing right after she had been attacked. The memory sent a chill down her spine. She felt a hoof on her shoulder, gently shaking, and she blinked her eyes open. It was the middle of the night. Who…? “Vertigo, it’s time for your shift.” She blinked and then rubbed at her eyes. She must have fallen asleep eventually, and now it was time for her to take her spot guarding their camp. She swallowed a little, then stood and nodded. “If anything happens, just yell. We’ll come running.” Vertigo nodded and walked to the edge of the clearing and leaned against a tree, letting her eyes scan out into the dense forest in front of her. They were going to have to cut a path through there tomorrow. And if what Starshine had said before was true, this place was going to be more dangerous than the Everfree back in Equestria was. That thought alone made her shiver. She’d heard stories of the Chimeras and such that roamed that forest, and she could only imagine what kind of beasts lived in the dragon equivalent. The few hours that she spent watching over the camp went by peacefully enough. Every now and then she would hear some movement in the brush around her, but she quickly dismissed each one, figuring the scurrying belonged to a small animal of some kind and not anything that would threaten them. And by the time that Mammoth moved up to her silently, she was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn’t hear or see him approach. When he touched her shoulder with his hoof, she yelped and nearly fell over from the sudden surprise. Her head dropped when she saw it was him, “You scared the hooves off of me, Mammoth.” The larger pony shrugged and melted into the forest in front of her. “How does he even do that?” Vertigo returned to her previous sleeping spot, curled up once more, and let her eyes roam around their surroundings. The forest was dark and quiet, the only noises she could hear being those of insects or small, scurrying animals. There wasn’t much light from the moon above them, and what little there was was mostly filtered out by the canopy of the trees above. Only little slivers of the pale light hit the ground, and it gave the small clearing an almost ghostly feel. Even the breeze seemed to be subdued, barely causing the leaves to move and rustle. Vertigo couldn’t help but to feel that the atmosphere was eerie, almost ominous, like the calm before a storm. She gingerly shuffled her wing, yawned, and rested her chin on her forelegs. It wasn’t long before her eyes drifted back shut, and she was once again peacefully asleep. The morning came far too soon for her own comfort, and she was once again roused by a hoof softly shaking her shoulder. With dreary eyes, she nodded to Starshine and crawled to her hooves. It only took them a few minutes to get everything set up before they were once again headed out. The sun was just breaching the horizon as they made their way into the thick foliage of the forest in front of them. Once again Starshine reminded her that silence was key here, so Vertigo just followed along dutifully. What she hadn’t expected was just how beautiful the forest was. Starshine had told her before they left that this was the last natural border to the dragon territories, and was supposedly one of the richest environments around. Which, he then explained, would be why so many dangerous creatures called it home. But she just couldn’t see that. As the morning hours dragged on, she was met with countless bird songs, saw the vanishing forms of various small, rodent like creatures, and they even came across a deer at one point. The sun dappled the ground, obscured by the thick leaves of the trees above them, and it felt almost like walking through a healthy, well maintained park. Even the air smelled pleasant, soft scents of flowers, warm earth, and trees filled her senses. Nothing about this forest seemed dangerous at all. Even the path they were taking, rough though it was, was easy enough to traverse. The brush was thick and full of little pitfalls, but with Mammoth’s experience guiding them, they avoided all of it. Vertigo was having trouble discerning what they were doing from a casual walk through a forest back home. The only thing that kept her on track was the knowledge that they were, in fact, in a dangerous place, and that at any moment their lives could once again be placed on the line. She was so distracted by it all that she soon found herself walking side by side with Starshine. The stallion looked over to her and cocked a brow in curiosity. Vertigo sighed and shook her head, turning her attention back to Mammoth’s figure ahead of them. “Do you think we’ll actually find him, Starshine?” she whispered carefully. She knew she had to heed his advice about being quiet, but there was only so much time she could spend doing so, considering the circumstances. Starshine shrugged some, but he kept his eyes on her all the while. “To be honest? I don’t know. This isn’t exactly something I’m used to doing.” He turned his pale blue eyes away from her after catching sight of her battered wing. “But I have faith. And sometimes that’s all you need to move forward, isn’t it?” Vertigo’s good wing extended a little because of his words, and she smiled some. “Yeah. I guess so.” She pulled away from him then, and made her way back into the center of their little group. During the rest of their walk for the day, she tried to keep herself occupied by thinking of happier days, like the times she spent with her husband, or with her family and friends. Anything to help keep her from focusing too much on what she was doing. And by the time the sun was starting to sink behind the line of trees, she was more determined than ever to bring him home. Darkness seemed to encapsulate everything about the small room Swift Shield woke to find himself in. He could barely make out the walls around him, and the door was only barely outlined by a small glow of flickering light from the other side. He was injured, a long, throbbing gash stretched across the left side of his barrel, and he could feel it pulsating with infection. He couldn’t even remember what had happened to him, or how he had gotten to where he was now. All he knew was that he was starving, and the thin pallet of hay he was laying on was scratchy and uncomfortable. He tried to bring an arm up to rub his forehead, but found that his hooves were chained together and locked to a hook in the floor of, what he was quickly realizing to be, his cell. With a low moan he closed his eyes and tried to bring some of his magic to life in an effort to free himself. And when nothing happened, he could only assume they had placed some kind of magic inhibitor on his horn. This wasn’t good. If he didn’t make it to the council with the elder dragons to go over and re-sign the peace treaty, then war could break out between them and Equestria. His absence would be seen as a major offense. Standing proved to be impossible. Even if his wounds had allowed him the freedom of movement, the chains binding his limbs to the floor would have kept him securely in place. His vision spun and he shut his eyes against the sudden wave of pain that throbbed at his temples. A headache like that was only caused by using too much magic too quickly. Visions of what had happened began to swim in front of him. His troop had been attacked. A large group of ponies flanked them and overpowered them not long after they left the border of Equestria. Surprised, they had lost rather easily, and all he could remember were his guards being killed one by one in front of him before everything went black. His attackers must have abducted him and brought him here. He didn’t know who they were or what faction they worked for, but they were well organized. His vision swirled again and another low groan left his lips. That was when the door to his cell opened, and a lean figure entered, a candle held aloft in a soft, white glow of magic. The unicorn was covered in a solid black cloak, the shadows from the hood obscuring their facial features. Swift Shield cowed from the sudden light, shielding his eyes as best he could. “It seems you’ve finally woken up. Good.” The mysterious figure took another step forward and a flare of magic pulled back their hood. Swift looked up and furrowed his brow. It was a mare, tall and solid white from mane to fur. And she had a rather smug grin spread across her lips. “I suppose you’re wondering who we are and why we took you captive?” Upon his nod, the mare threw back her head and let out a condescending snort. “You’ll learn in due time.” She moved closer still, and bent low enough for him to clearly make out her features. A long scar ran from the center of her bottom lip down her chin and under her cloak. “Perhaps I’ll tell you after we finish taking care of your wife.” When his eyes grew large, she smirked and pulled back, turning from him and walking towards the door. “She’s coming for you, you know. I believe she employed the help of a friend of yours as well. Some guard by the name of Starshine.” She stopped right in front of the door and turned to look at him once more, “But don’t worry. They shall be dealt with soon enough. If the dragons don’t get to them first, of course.” A soft chuckle rang in his ears as she exited the cell and locked the door behind her. Swift’s heart was racing in his chest. Vertigo was coming for him? “No…” He shook his head and cried out in desperation. She wouldn’t be able to survive, even with Starshine’s help. The territory itself was dangerous enough, but with these ponies hunting her down as well? “Vertigo, please…” A glow of white magic fell over him, and he passed out once more, his wife’s name on his lips as his head fell to the floor.