Autumn

by canonkiller

Eons

"Everyone stay close to me!" Spike roared, the small group he had been dropped with instantly squirming for shelter between his claws. The dragon glared menacingly at one of the tunnels, as if daring whatever was causing such a scuffle inside to come out.

It did, on trembling, muddy, pink-orange claws.

Spike quickly swallowed the flame in his throat, ignoring the scalding burns in his throat. "Sunrise?"

"Dad!" The dragonness ran to her father, wrapping her arms around one of his legs. She looked up, judging the distance between his hunched back and the ceiling. "Cramped?"

"Kinda."

Silently and subtly, Scootaloo crawled out of the tunnel, glancing back into the darkness with a shiver before lying down to clean the mud from her feathers.

"Why are you here?" Spike growled, a reprimanding tone overruling fatherly caution. "It's not safe in the tunnels."

"I had to come find you." Sunrise whispered. "I didn't know what happened to you."

A collective d'aww rose from the creatures that were beginning to spread around the cavern again.

One stood out, a dark green snake, marked with vibrant orange spots along his back feathers and plume. He looked to be adolescent, with a short muzzle and small crest.

Sunrise broke away from Spike. "Excuse me!"

He turned, lifting the front half of his body off the ground by pushing the knuckles of his wings down. Sunrise winced at how unnatural the position looked. "Are you talking to me?"

The deep hiss, paired with a egotistical swagger, took Sunrise by surprise. "Uh, yes... do you have a sister?"

"Used to." The creature's voice wavered, curiosity breaking through. "But she ran away a long time ago. Haven't seen scale or feather of her since."

"What happened? When she ran away?"

The growl deepened again. "She was taking care of mother. I was barely beyond blindness. When she left, it wasn't long before mother died... starvation or infection, I couldn't tell. And I couldn't go anywhere, feather's hadn't grown in and wasn't strong enough to slither... so I hid. And I could see her when she was eaten by a pack of Lindwyrms, I. Assure. You."

"I'm so sorry..."

"You asked about it. Not your fault."

"And... I... your sister... it wasn't her fault she had to leave."

"I won't believe that until you breathe feathers, chickie."

Spike snorted, offended by the snake's crude language.

Sunrise flicked him with her tail to keep him from doing anything he would regret, and nodded gently. "I met her. Somewhere," an eye twitched as she remembered one not-very-pleasant description of what the hostages had gone through, courtesy of a raging blizzard and a round of truth or dare, "not many things would have been pleased to be in. When she figured out what was going on... she almost went insane. The first things she mourned over were her mother and you. She was positive you had died... there's a grave-less tombstone in Ponyville for you. Well, there used to be."

The creature's expression had remained surprisingly neutral through Sunrise's speech, and the only emotion broke through the odd tremble in his voice. "Did she tell you her name?"

"Yeah, it was... Tene."

"Her whole name?"

"Flaytenemon."

He snorted, still in that odd, upright position. "Quetzalcoatl have a very strict code of honor. A name ranks very high on that list."

Sunrise narrowed her eyes. "Some things are more important than honor." She stuck out a claw towards the pessimistic snake. "I'm Sunrise."

He eyed her warily, dark pupils flicking between her cautious smile and her spread claws. Dropping from his stand, he stretched out a wing, placing the knuckle of the folded limb in her claw. "Invielabra. Call me Viel, if it's easier."

"There is not much left for us here."

<We cannot go anywhere else.>

In some odd, invisible way, the two sets of eyes met.

Nothing turned away, looking back down at the ravaged planet. <This place is like the others now, you know.>

"It has hope, though." Something replied.

<What good will hope do? How could hope turn back time? How could mere hope give a planet rebirth, of land, moon and sun? Hope is nothing more than a small... thing.>

Something sighed, insubstantially leaning into her brother. "Small things become big." She looked down at the planet, it's burned and scarred surface, and for once couldn't see the future of the sorrowful place. "And big things change the world."

Nothing was doubtfully silent, before resting a materialless chin on his sister's head. <Whatever you say.>

Invisible to all of them, the balance in the universe shifted as the two reigning beings found harmony. A small sliver of Shard hissed in fury, fizzling away into the air, unable to think, or connect to fellow Shards. The fragments around watched in an odd kind of bemused horror before slithering over the place it had left exposed.

In some subconscious plain, Obsidian sat peacefully, looking out over a gently rolling landscape. The air was soft and gentle on his fur, and his claws twitched slightly at it's cooler nip. He closed his eyes, jolted away from his paradise for a few short moments and seeing the dark twisted world his body existed in, and opened them again.

"I miss you, Sunrise." He muttered, not wanting to relent back to the pull of reality. "I miss you a lot. How're you doing? How about Discord? Spike? Any trouble?"

His words echoed around his empty meadow, a metallic quality ringing through them the longer they repeated.

He sighed, rejuvenated slightly, and closed his eyes, returning to the battle for his soul.

Comments

[Samusbot]

HOLY GUACAMOLE! THAT'S A LOT OF WORDS!

[canonkiller]

211272

I'm the kind of person who writes ten words for one. It makes... lots of words. Yes.