Under the Black Sky

by ChronicleStone

Epilogue

“Is he going to be alright?”

Fluttershy’s small voice broke the empty silence. Her question seemed to echo off the walls and hang in the air. It was the question that everypony was thinking, yet none wanted to consider.

Sky’s body lay in his bed, with the blankets pulled over all but his head and front legs. He was surrounded by his friends and members of the Council, who nervously awaited the verdict of Sky’s condition from Doctor Trotter, who had come at the request of Princess Celestia. He sighed as he removed his stethoscope from Sky’s chest and turned back to the group.

“As far as his physical health, he seems to be alright. Suffering from some exhaustion and muscle strains, but nothing that should cause him to be in a coma,” Doc Trotter said. “I believe Princess Luna may be right when she says that his spirit is not there. Though that is hardly a matter in which I would be an expert,” he added.

“Thank you, Doctor,” Celestia said, stepping away from the door to allow him to pass. “I may ask for you again soon. Can you please be available?”

“Of course, Princess,” he replied with a charming smile. “I’m always willing to do what I can.” With that, he nodded to the group and turned down the hallway. The door closed behind him.

“This is awful,” Twilight said, falling onto her haunches and staring at the floor. “What happened? Why did he go off by himself like this?”

“Perhaps the Chimera left him no choice,” Luna suggested. “We all felt those tremors last night. If the Chimera was using those to threaten Canterlot, Sky may have had no alternative but to go and face it.”

“Or maybe it finally took control of his mind like he said it might,” Shining Armor added. “He did say that he thought the Chimera was trying to control his thoughts and actions.”

“But then why was the Painted Forest destroyed like it was?” Rainbow Dash countered. “It looks like a battleground.”

“Maybe Sky was being controlled, and they both attacked the Forest,” Cadance answered.

“But why the Painted Forest? From what I understand, that area is not highly populated,” Rarity wondered aloud. “If the Chimera had wanted to make a statement, wouldn’t it have attacked a much more populous area, like Vanhoover?”

“I believe that Rarity is right. Attacking a scarcely populated woodland hardly makes any sense for one bent on destroying an entire kingdom. It would be much easier to believe that Sky fought the Chimera there,” Luna said, deep in thought.

“But how could the two of them create as much damage as you saw?” Twilight asked. “Doctor Trotter just told us that Sky is, for the most part, physically fine. And I’ve seen him fight before, and even as strong as he is, he couldn’t have caused anywhere close to that much destruction. Which would mean that the Chimera did it. But if that’s true, then how did Sky escape without injury, but in what is essentially a coma?”

“We do not have the answers,” Celestia interrupted, “and only Sky knows what they are. And unfortunately, he cannot give them to us at this time.” She gazed longingly at the unmoving pegasus in the bed. “But perhaps he knew something and left behind some trace of that knowledge.”

“Beggin’ yer’ pardon?” Applejack asked.

“I know for a fact that Sky kept a journal. He takes it with him on all his assignments, though I do not know what he writes in it. It has been his secret, and his alone,” Celestia explained.

“But if he took it with him, how does that help us now?” Rainbow asked. “There was no trace of that thing in what was left of the Painted Forest. And Sky didn’t have it. It’s probably an ash pile somewhere.”

Celestia shook her head. “If Sky Streak was in such a hurry last night that he did not ask for any help from anypony, I suspect that he was in too great a rush to grab his journal. Also, what good would it have done him? If he was under the Chimera’s control, he would have had no reason to take it. And if he left to face the Chimera in a fight, it would have served no purpose in that, either. So I suspect that it is still here…in this room.”

They needed no further prompting. Every head began to look around the room, inspecting every inch, looking for any sign of the mysterious journal. From the headrest of the bed, to the tops of furniture, to cabinet drawers, and even under the mattress. Every area was checked, until a tandem of voices called out in unison.

“Aha!” Shining Armor and Twilight cried out, lifting an embroidered black book out of a pair of saddlebags, resting quietly beside the balcony doors.

“Excellent,” Celestia said, pulling the journal to herself with her magic as everypony gathered around.

“How’d you know where to find it?” Twilight asked her older brother.

“It’s where I kept mine at when I was younger. How’d you know?” he countered.

“Because I knew where you kept yours, too.” A mischievous smile formed on her face.

“Hey!”

Princess Celestia cleared her throat authoritatively as she opened the journal. “Hmmm…it looks like this one only goes back as far as the beginning of the year, so his first encounter with the Chimera isn’t covered here.” She flipped through several more pages rapidly. “As a matter of fact, it appears that there is no mention of the Chimera in here at all until late March, when he was in Polarmino. Here’s one from March 21. Listen:
‘I know it’s the Chimera. It has to be. And to think that I just happened to come here on an ordinary assignment just to have to face it again is incredible. I don’t know what it’s up to this time, but I know that it won’t be happy to see me. Lily will be going with me, but…I hope I can do a better job of protecting her than I did for Twilight. She may think I was brave, but Twilight was the real hero that day.’”

Celestia looked over the rim of the book at her student. The look of surprise on Twilight’s face was as obvious as the redness in her cheeks. “Here’s another one from March 26,” Celestia continued. “This was after he had returned to Canterlot:
‘Those two families have been robbed of their leaders, and to me, that is unacceptable. The Chimera will pay for that. And if I can't save Grandpa Grain and Grandfather Clock, I'll make sure that the Chimera hears their names as it takes its last breath.’
There’s more:
‘The Chimera. I can't help but believe that its fate and mine are connected. I've met it twice, it's got a grudge against me, and now, I've got a personal reason to hunt it. It seems that every time I meet it, I learn something new about it. And I also get a new reason to hate it even more. And if it believes that it's battled me at my best, it's got another thing coming.’”

“It sounds to me like Sky was becoming obsessed with defeating this thing,” Shining Armor observed. “He could hardly talk about anything else.”

“That can’t be healthy,” Rarity agreed.

“Wait!” Celestia said, peering at the pages. “Listen to this: First off, there's Lily. After our date…”

“DATE?!?!” everypony shouted in unison.

“Yes, it looks like our Sky found a nice young mare that he enjoyed spending time with,” Celestia nodded, a wry smile appearing in spite of the circumstances. “Good for him. He keeps writing about her.” Celestia read silently while the others waited. “Seems that not only did Lily join Sky on his journey to face the Chimera, but that she also saved his life while they were there, as well as the entire windigo colony.”

“Wow!” Pinkie exclaimed. “She sounds really powerful!”

“Perhaps she is,” Luna said, peering over Celestia’s shoulder, “but this says that she uses ‘calming magic.’ I wonder how she saved Sky’s life with magic of that sort?”

“I do not know, sister,” Celestia replied. “But here is something else he writes about her:
‘But she's just as important to me, too. I mean, sure, I like her. And I guess it's not unfair to say that we're a couple now. But she keeps me in check. When my temper gets out of hand and my aggression becomes overbearing, she's there to pull me back from the brink. I don't always appreciate it in the heat of the moment, but I see now that her level-headedness is her strength. And it's good that she has that, because I sure don't have much self-control. I guess it just goes to show that what everyone's been telling me is true: no one pony can do everything.’”

The room became eerily silent as Celestia finished. All eyes in the room turned again to Sky’s still form in his bed.

Twilight was the first to speak up. She stepped forward to the bedside. “Oh, Sky…why didn’t we understand? You tried to tell us.” She turned back to the group. “After he had that episode in our meeting yesterday, Spike and I went to go find him. When we did, he told us that he felt like he was losing control. He said that he…how did he put it, Spike?”

Spike scratched his head for a moment. “He said something about wanting something to hold on to, didn’t he?”

Twilight’s eyes lit up. “That’s right! He said he was trying to find something to hold on to, so that he didn’t lose everything! And he broke down and started crying. We tried to comfort him, but I don’t think we did as good a job as somepony else would have.

“Somepony like Lily.”

The others looked at her curiously. “What are you suggesting, Twilight?” Cadance asked.

“Sky said it in his journal. He said that Lily keeps him ‘in check.’ And I’m betting the Chimera knows that. If the Chimera was getting into Sky’s mind, it knew his thoughts. And Lily saved Sky’s life from the Chimera, in some way. So, what if the Chimera attacked Sky where he was weakest? What if it tried to affect him when Lily wasn’t around to help?”

“Are you sayin’ that one pony could be the solution to all o’ this?” Applejack asked, looking incredulous.

“The love between my brother and Cadance was enough to defeat Chrysalis and all her changelings!” Twilight reminded her. “What if bringing Lily to Sky could work some kind of magic, too?”

Celestia raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. “It may certainly be possible that your idea could work,” she said, “though we have no guarantee of that. I will send a message to Lily Pond requesting her immediate presence in Canterlot. But we will need to prepare ourselves in case this does not work. With that in mind, I would ask that all of you remain in Canterlot until further notice. We may need to utilize the Elements of Harmony before all is said and done here.”

The six ponies bowed before her. “But even if your plan does not work, perhaps Lily will have some more information that we may be able to put to use.” She looked out the window and sighed. “The members of the Council still have much to do, so we must take our leave. The rest of you are free to do as you will, so long as you stay within Canterlot.” With that, Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Shining Armor left the room. The remaining ponies (and one dragon) gathered around the bed of their friend.

“He looks so peaceful,” Rarity observed. “I sincerely hope he’s alright…wherever he is.”

“I’m sure he’ll come back,” Applejack said.

“I just wish we had known how to help him. Did we let him down?” Fluttershy asked with a whimper.

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t think we let him down. I just think the Chimera knew what it was doing better than we did. And we need to be ready for it if we need to be.”

“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” Rarity replied.

“Me neither,” Pinkie echoed.

Twilight rose up on her hind hooves, placing her front legs across the bed. She stared at the slumbering pegasus for a moment. “In all our adventures, we’ve never lost a pony,” she said softly. “We’ve all come back, every time. And I don’t want that to change now.”

Her friends gathered around her while she spoke. A lump formed in her throat. The possibility that Sky was gone forever was very real. But her mind refused to entertain the thought.

“Come back to us, Sky. We need you.”