//------------------------------// // Chapter Eighteen: Three-Point-Ridge // Story: Light's Rising, Shadow's Fall // by jwizard //------------------------------// Equus, South of Three-Point-Ridge, 04-14-05 A.N.M., 7:25 AM (After Nightmare Moon) As Twilight watched, Rainbow Dash mumbled in her sleep. She’s been doing that for the whole time we’ve been traveling. It’s like she having a bad dream, but she never seems to lose any sleep over it. I wonder what she’s been dreaming about, Twilight mused to herself as she continued to watch her friend sleep. Is it the same thing that precipitated her mana flare all those weeks ago? If it is, then there’s more going on than just a recurring dream. Twilight continued to watch the pony that had grown closer to her than anypony else. As she did so, the unrequited feelings that she had kept inside came to the fore. A new, fresh set feeling began to join the first. A sense of protection, of belonging, fell over the purple alicorn. All of a sudden, she realized that she was willing to spend the rest of her very long life with Rainbow. Whether as a friend or something more, she just wanted to spend it with her. More than that though, she didn’t want to wait even though she knew that she should. Hiding what started out as a crush was hard, especially when spending eighty percent of your waking moments with said pony. Twilight’s thoughts faded as Rainbow yawned cutely before blinking her eyes open. The pegacorn blinked sleepily at the alicorn that was smiling at her. “Good morning Twi,” she said, yawning yet again. Twilight smiled. “Good morning Rainbow Dash. Sleep well?” The cyan pegacorn nodded. “Yeah, like a rock. That’s in spite of what’s been going on these last few weeks.” Twilight tilted her head. Rainbow smiled, wearing a slight blush at how cute she looked when she did that particular thinking pose. “Why Rainbow? Has there been something going on that you haven’t told me?” Rainbow nodded, shrugging. “All that’s really been happening is that I’ve been having a recurring dream for over a month now.” Rainbow saw that one of the mercenaries was making flapjacks with honey and nuts, and walked over to grab a stack. She then walked back over to where her and Twilight’s pallets were, and started to eat. Twilight frowned. “Rainbow Dash, ponies just don’t have recurring dreams for no reason.” She levitated herself over a stack of flapjacks as she continued. “In fact, it was a dream of some sort that triggered your mana flare.” She stopped speaking as Rainbow Dash showed no sign of slowing down. The pegacorn decided to follow Twilight’s example and levitated over another stack of flapjacks, and a jug of water. Setting the jug down, she heated it with a quick spell and placed a pack of Luna’s tea blend to brew. Twilight, still hungry, got herself another stack as well, along with a slice of melon that had also been served. For the next few minutes the two mares ate. Twilight sat down her cup once she saw that Rainbow was finished. “Well, are you going to explain what’s been happening?” she asked her friend in a slightly irritated tone. Rainbow sighed. “I was kinda hoping you’d just drop it Twi,” she said after taking a sip of tea. “I don’t really have anything to explain to myself about the dream, let alone anypony else. I’ve never been able to remember anything other than Light all around me and a sense of profound fear. I do know that the fear concerns you for some reason, but I haven’t a clue why.” She looked up suddenly. “Oh, and I remember seeing something similar to that sword we got out of that thing Clever Marigold had.” Twilight frowned for a bit before casting a privacy screen. She then pulled out the sword, the rolled scroll, the tome, and the cedar-wood stave out of her packs. She blinked in shock as she got a better look at the stave; the scrollwork around it was even more defined than it had been the last time she looked at it. When she went to examine it further however, it abruptly snapped up, striking her in the snout. Rainbow fell over laughing at that. Twilight rubbed her snout, glaring at the offending piece of wood. “It’s like that thing doesn’t like me or something,” she said. “I only wanted to see if the scrollwork is acting as a mana channel.” She glared at the laughing pony across from her. “Are you done? It wasn’t that funny,” she grumbled. Rainbow was finally able to sit back up; however, it took a couple more minutes before she was able to stop giggling. Reaching for the stave with what she assumed was her magic, Rainbow levitated it over to look at it closely. Twilight blinked; the stave wasn’t giving off a levitation glow. “Huh, it’s got mana channels going all through it, but I don’t get the sense that they were there originally.” Rainbow swung the stave in the air a few times, still not fully aware that she wasn’t levitating it normally. Twilight blinked as Rainbow continued to make passes with what was obviously a weapon. “I get that the stave was made to fight off Wraiths and things, but I think it was also designed to bond to a particular pony.” Rainbow set the stave down next to her own pack before turning her gaze to the sword. “Huh, it doesn’t look quite the same as I’ve been seeing. But there’s no doubt; I’ve been seeing that sword in that dream.” Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash in concern. “Dash, how long have you been having this dream exactly?” Rainbow put her right hoof to her chin in thought. “I don’t know the exact date, but it was at least a few days before we started on this journey.” Rainbow looked up. “Around the time I started to get those wing aches.” She started to pale. “At the time, I thought that that was just because I’d been training to hard.” Reaching into her saddlebags, she pulled out the small chest Bright Knowledge had given her in Mareago. Taking out the book she was currently reading again, she flipped to a point near the attached bookmark ribbon. She quickly read the passage, paling even further. With a low voice, she read the passage out loud. Among one of the more curious, yet rare abilities that both nascent pegacorns and fully awakened pegacorns acquire is what is referred to as Prophetic Dreaming. Pegacorns who have this ability seldom have control over it, and it manifests differently for each one that do. There are three confirmed types of this phenomenon. The first kind is where the pegacorn- or alicorn, as the ability has been known to carry over to ascended pegacorns -has a dream of something that has occurred in the recent past. The second is where said pegacorn has Dreams of other Realms tied to this one; this type is confusing since some of the events are vastly different than where they should be. The third one is the rarest, and often has a trigger; Dreams of a potential future. There are things to note about all three. The first and second one, while confusing, leave an indelible impression in the mind of the pegacorn. However, the last one tends to be different. Like all precognitive abilities, the third one is often blocked; however, this is not due to a psychological reason. The reason that the third one is often blocked is two-fold. First of all, it has to do with the triggers. In every confirmed case, the pegacorn in question has been Bound to a Legendary Artifact of some kind; the most common of these are the Seeds of Harmony. The second thing is that the source of such visions is often blocked by the Essences of our Realm. The reason for this is believed to be in order to preserve the sanity of the pegacorn in question, as such visions are often Sent out to nascent pegacorns by the Evil that hides in the Darkness of our world to erode their sanity. Often, ascending to the level of an alicorn breaks this last condition; however, there’s no way to confirm this postulation, as the only alicorn confirmed to have this form- one Princess Angela, Guardian of Sanctuary and Protector of the Eternal Library -has refused to comment. One can postulate that the Essences themselves are somehow involved in all three however, as it has been confirmed that only pegacorns and alicorns that have had ties to the Essences have had this ability. That is why it is rare. The color in Rainbow Dash’s face paled even further. “Twi, I’m really scared. If I was getting this Dream then, then that means that whatever we’re running towards knows that I’m a pegacorn.” She would have started to shake, had Twilight not decided to hug her at that moment. “I know Dash, I know. It is scary; I was afraid too when I first realized that this is what’s likely been happening.” She used a wing to lift Rainbow’s head up so she could gaze into her eyes. “But I know you, Rainbow Dash; you’ve never been a mare to let being afraid of something stop you.” Twilight smiled a small smile of pride. “You’ve shown me, time and again, that true courage is doing what needs to be done in spite of being afraid. Only a fool has no fear.” She gave a friendly kiss to Rainbow’s nose, giggling a little at her blush. “Just remember, you don’t have anything to fear from others so long as we’re together.” Rainbow Dash lowered her head as she continued to enjoy the hug that she and Twilight were sharing. Actually, I’m not afraid for myself Twi; whatever is in that Dream I’ve been having has involved you, and I’ve been too scared to See it clearly. Though Rainbow Dash wouldn’t remember this until much later, this was the first time she truly heard the voice of Serenity in her heart and mind. The two mares held each other for a few minutes more before breaking the hug. Twilight placed the sword, the scroll, and the tome back into her saddlebag as she saw Silent Wing approach. She blushed a bit as she realized that the privacy bubble was still up; she dropped it as the Nocturne mare joined them. The mare raised her eyebrow, but didn’t comment. “I was hoping you’d be awake; we’ll be breaking camp her in about another hour.” She pointed north. “We’ll reach Three-Point-Ridge three hours after that. Were not likely to pass the ridge; Stampede and his crew have set up an ambush, just as we expected.” “So then this means that you and your boys are going to be fighting, right?” Twilight asked. The Nocturne nodded, frowning. “Is there any way at all to avoid this fight?” Silent Wing shook her head. “Princess Twilight, somepony- probably more than one -has paid Stampede to kill you. Yes I know; alicorn and Element of Magic and all that.” She sighed in frustration. “The thing is, you’re without your Element, and you’re pretty much an Unbound alicorn. Those, despite what you’ve been told, can be killed. Oh, not easily, mind; keep in mind however, that things that are rare in Equestria are far more common out here. I know for a fact that Stampede’s Second- I don’t know the mare’s name -is in possession of a Bell of Grogar.” Twilight paled at that. “Ah, I get that you know what that is. Well, don’t worry; I have four unicorns in the Fire Brigade that have Smite Undead memorized. All of them will be held back right until she uses the bell, and will strike her down.” Rainbow Dash scowled fiercely. “I hope that they succeed; if I get my hooves on that bitch, she’ll wish she had never signed up with that goat,” the pegacorn growled. Silent Wings grinned. “There it is; the famed pegacorn protective instinct. Don’t let go of that Miss Dash; these assassins might not be able to strike her down with one strike, but there’s more than one way to kill an alicorn.” Silent Wing pulled a sheathed knife out of her pack. Twilight and Rainbow Dash both hissed, mantling their wings at the obsidian-hilted knife. “Well well, I see that you both know what this is.” She pulled the knife out of its sheath. The black blade of the knife glinted in the early morning light as Silent Wing continued. “I know that knives like this are forbidden in Equestria, and with good reason. You’d be shocked to learn then that this one was found by one of our spies in Mareago. It was one of a case of these same knives that had been sent to one of the Polomare clan in preparation for another attempt. The mare- a cousin of Suri I believe -is now dead of course.” She sheathed the knife and placed it back into her pack. “I’m also sure that you don’t realize that those knives are fairly easy to make; obsidian is only rare because anypony that is stupid enough to write down the formula doesn’t stay in business long.” Twilight nodded in grim satisfaction at that. “Spells that both Princesses cast a long time ago ensure that. And it’s only if the stone is going to be used to make weapons; obsidian occurs naturally.” Twilight frowned. “What I don’t get is why that was given to you.” Silent Wing smirked. “Oh, that’s simple really; the same ones that paid Stampede also paid the Fire Brigade. Their agent didn’t survive the meeting of course; I have no use for traitors.” The Nocturne’s smirk grew. “I really love that ponies like that think my boys and I are just a mercenary group. They really shit themselves when they find out that we’ve been loyal to both the Princess of Dreams and the Guardian of Sanctuary since before Princess Luna was sealed away.” The mare looked at the now risen sun. “I suggest you both get ready; we’re about to break camp. We’ve got a date with a minotaur, and I don’t wanna be late for it.” Silent Wing then walked away, leaving a pair of slightly disturbed mares behind. “That mare has such a macabré sense of humor,” Rainbow Dash remarked. Twilight just sighed, facehoofing. The two then quickly gathered their belongings before joining the rest of the escorts in breaking camp. Equus, Three-Point-Ridge, 04-14-05 A.N.M., 11:34 AM (After Nightmare Moon) As the escort of both House Dash retainers and the three brigades of the Fire Brigade approached the entrance to Three-Point-Ridge, Rainbow Dash stared in disbelief. It was one thing to say intellectually that one hundred and fifty bandits had set up an ambush; quite another to actually see it. “Are you kidding me?! They haven’t even made any attempt to hide! Are they that overconfident?!” Twilight said in a tone of disbelief. Her own muzzle wore a look of consternation. Sergeant Piercing Blade shrugged. “Stampede is like this. Even though most of these bandits are ponies themselves, he has a very poor opinion of our race. Most minotaur do.” He gazed at the ridge with a frown on his muzzle. “Actually, that’s less than half,” he muttered. The stallion whistled shrilly; within a short time, a pair of gryphons descended from the formation above the group. “Send word to the brigades following behind us; he’s likely going to try a bracketing maneuver.” The pair of tiercels nodded, flying off to the south. Piercing Blade then turned to the mare on his right. “Any luck Lettie?” he asked. The mare shook her head. “Not a bit sarge; they got the whole ridge on lock-down,” Lettuce Leaf said. Twilight frowned at that. Before they could stop her, she tried to cast a scrying spell; with a yelp, her magic was cancelled out after only a couple of seconds. “What the hay was that?! It’s like somepony shoved a needle into the center of my horn!” The alicorn shook her head. More carefully, she tried a second, more specific spell. Grimacing in pain, she soon dropped it. “A targeted blanket spell. They don’t get that I can break it; I’ll just need a few minutes inside a shield bubble to do so.” Lettuce Leaf shook her head. “Won’t work ma’am; Stampede’s favored attack when dealing with magic users is to blanket the target area with an anti-shielding aura. They’re not affected; they all have charms that neutralize the effect.” Rainbow Dash frowned as she cast her own scrying spell. “Ugh, that thing is ugly; it just locks down anything it doesn’t recognize.” She shook her own head to dislodge the buzzing sensation that scrying caused. “It could easily be overpowered, but I don’t think they’ll give us the chance.” Silent Wings flew down from point, having overheard the conversation. “We’re gonna have a fight, but I know Stampede. He’ll try to negotiate a surrender, in order for the others we got behind us to bracket.” The mare flipped her wings forward; with a snap, a pair of mithril wing-blades slid out. She then flipped her wings to the sides, using the wing muscles to pull the blades back inward. “Alright boys! Fan out! Brigade One, take point! Brigades Two and Three, form pattern Chevron at 2 and 10!” The stallions and mares of the Fire Brigade all fanned out into their designated spots. Twilight turned at the distant sounds of fighting from the south. She looked behind them to see where a pair of large groups of bandits were being utterly decimated by the other two brigades. She then turned her head forward, unwilling to take her eyes off the group they were approaching for too long. Before they were able to get more than one hundred yards from the entrance to the ridge, a force wall sprang up from behind the group, cutting off their rear. A large red skinned minotaur bull came forward haughtily.  “Twilight Sparkle, you’re outnumbered 3 to 1! If you surrender, I’ll make your death quick!” “Not a chance!” Twilight yelled back. “I don’t negotiate with thugs or bandits! So unless you all want to die, I suggest you turn back!” Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight saw two things. She saw Rainbow Dash pull out the cedar-wood stave, which now glowed with a menacing red hue. The other thing was that she saw shadows blur around Silent Wings as she tapped into the unique shadow skills that all Nocturne possessed. That was a signal. The brigades to the sides suddenly launched themselves forward, while the one that took point charged the line in front of the ridge. The sounds of pony bodies hitting other pony bodies rang across the ridge. Twilight shivered at the sound. Attempting to channel mana, Twilight once again winced in pain as the dampening field sapped her ability to use her mana. Things were about to get worse, however. As soon as there was only a token of guards-ponies around the two mares, a point of concussive force spread outward, blasting them both off and away from the loose turtle formation they had been employing. Simultaneously, a translucent barrier surrounded both Twilight and Rainbow Dash. The sharp report of a series of teleports sounded as a sextet of ponies Blinked around the two mares. One of the assassins fired a concussive force designed to knock back pegasi; this had the effect of separating the two. Twilight snarled. Using both her wings and her hooves, she was able to stop four of the other five from landing a hit. However, the last one was able to score her right wing with the obsidian knife she wielded. That was a mistake. Rainbow Dash saw this, and went berserk. Snarling in rage, she launched her now spinning staff right at the mare, who was unable to duck before her head was severed at the shoulders. Before the other five could do anything else, three of them were bisected into two pieces by blades of pure pegacorn magic. The fourth and fifth crossed horns in order to conjure a Hel Serpent. Rainbow Dash responded by channeling a blast of Pyreflame at the pair, burning them into crisps. Rainbow Dash wasn’t done. Before any more assassins could teleport in, she fired off a scintillating bolt of mana directly over Stampede’s head. This created an oscillating effect that was designed to counter the cadré of battle-mages that were channeling the anti-shield and anti-alicorn mana spells. The mages surrounding the ridge all collapsed as the capillaries under their horns burst from the strain. Rainbow then surrounded herself and Twilight with a White Barrier spell. Stampede snarled in impotent rage. The bull pointed at the two mares. His Second nodded, trotting forward. The mare’s eyes and horn glowed black as she channeled her mana into the Bell hanging around her neck. Four simultaneous cries of ‘Smite Undead!’ rang out. Four bright beams of white light slammed into the mare from above her; within moments, all that remained was a burned-out husk. Stampede lost it. Snarling, he used his trump card. Sickly green-and-purple mana surrounded him as he charged towards where Twilight and Rainbow Dash were standing. Rainbow Dash didn’t bother to look up, as she was channeling her mana to neutralize the wound on Twilight’s wing. Before he got halfway to them, a dark blur flew past. The bull screeched in pain as he fell down, his legs having been cut off at the knee. He threw something similar to a kunai in the air just before the blur came back, severing his head from his shoulders. The kunai-like object burst in the air. Within moments, a shrieking wing of gryphons flew from behind the barrier they had been generating with their magic. Rainbow Dash looked up, snarling in rage. Her eyes glowed red as she launched herself into the center of the wing. Channeling Pyreflame again-- this time in her wings, the pegacorn turned herself into a whirlwind of flame and wind. Within a few moments, the burned and blackened husks of seventy-five gryphons hit the ground. The air reeked with burned flesh. The rest of the bandits broke ranks and fled. They didn’t get far before concentrated blasts of kinetic force slammed them into the ground. The carnage was intense. Twilight gagged at the sight of the burned bodies slumped just in front of her. She swallowed as she did her best to hold onto her rebellious stomach. Rainbow finally landed, still snarling a bit. As Twilight looked at her, the cyan mare lost the red glow in her eyes. She trotted over to examine Twilight’s wound. Rainbow snorted before going to her packs. She pulled out three packets of Luna’s tea blend. Opening them, she poured them into a bottle of antiseptic from Twilight’s emergency kit. She then spread the poultice over the wound. Twilight hissed as the poultice burned the shards of twisted obsidian in the wound. Rainbow Dash, worked quickly, using a pair of tweezers to pluck each one out. She then flushed the wound with fresh water before applying more of the poultice. Rainbow took out a roll of gauze. Levitating her stave over, she touched the silk gauze to it, channeling the Blessing of Gaia that the stave carried into the bandage. She then wrapped Twilight’s wing in the bandage. The alicorn sighed in relief as the residue was soothed away. Rainbow Dash looked her handiwork over before nodding to herself. She then looked at the battlefield. Her eyes rolled up into her head as she passed out; the last thing she heard was Twilight’s gasp of shock.