Chapter 15
Rarity stood in a great circle. She was a little foal again, a blank-flanked child, the grownups towering over her. But something wasn't right. Even big ponies weren't this dark. Shadows filled the air. Big ponies didn't have legs this thin, either, and the eyes on the heads at the ends of their long, graceful necks did not gleam in the shadows, shining with power-
The white unicorn's eyes fluttered open. That dream had made sense. At least, she thought it had. She had no idea what the creatures she had seen were. They hadn't been ponies. But there had been a clarity to this dream that the others had lacked. She had dreamt almost every night she had been on this long and arduous journey. A few days ago, she had wondered if it was not without cause. She still wondered that- as much as Twilight Sparkle might deride her, Rarity could not shake the feeling that her dreams were trying to tell her something, especially this dream just now. But what? She tried to recall exactly what had happened. She recalled being a foal...
Her gaze drifted around the campsite at the base of the oak tree. Applejack was snoring gently, her dark red armor piled off to one side. Far to her right, Rainbow Dash was curled up, looking extremely peaceful, with so much- “Oh my goodness!” Rarity cried, the shrillness of her voice breaking Applejack's slumber.
“Huh? Wha? What's goin' on?” the orange earth pony said, rapidly rising to her hooves and blinking the sleep from her eyes.
Rainbow Dash yawned. “Morning, everypony,” she mumbled, using a front hoof to rub her own eyes.
“Dash, dear, what's that on you? What's all over your coat?”
“Huh?” Applejack said, blinking a few more times. She glanced over at Dash. “Golly, Rainbow, what is that?”
The sky-blue pegasus stood up. Thick lines of dark blue- midnight blue- were curling all over her lighter blue coat, bending into curls and spirals along her flanks, around her wings, into her feathers, down her legs, up her neck and on her face. It made her look wild, like some tribal artifact. She swept her rose eyes briefly over her body, seeing if anything was amiss. “Oh, these?” she lifted up a front leg. “The pronghorns drew these on me. They're to help me control the lightning.”
“So you did it?” Rarity asked, sudden curiosity overwhelming her. “I didn't hear you come back last night. You did it?”
“Oh...” Dash's mouth curled into a smile. “I guess.” She stuck out her tongue, and sparks suddenly danced across it. She retracted her tongue, spread her wings, fanned them out, and crackles of buzzing white electricity surged through every feather. She swished her rainbow-striped tail, and a flash of light made Applejack and Rarity blink. Dash was grinning flat-out now. “But yeah, I did it!”
“Oh, congratulations, Dash!” Rarity exclaimed, stomping her front hooves on the ground in applause. “I'm positively giddy for you! I know how much this must mean to you.”
“Nice job, Rainbow,” Applejack said with a nod. “I knew you could do it.”
“Thank you,” Dash said happily. “Thank you, both of you. It feels... good. It feels more than good, really. I want to tell you all about what happened, but I'm not sure I can describe it.”
Applejack reached down with her mouth and flipped her hat onto her head. “Tell it to us over breakfast, sugarcube,” she said, trotting out from the oak tree's shade into the golden grass. She began to bite mouthfuls from the grass as she moved, chewing daintily.
“Well... to learn lightning, I had to get my soul right, if that makes any sense,” Rainbow Dash said, flapping her wings and following behind Applejack very low off the ground. “I went into the Dreaming, which is sort of this... it's... um...” she landed on her hooves, her eyes squinting and her head tilting as she thought. She thought with all her might, trying to find something to say that was appropriate. Twilight would know how to describe it, she thought. Should she try and be like Twilight? But Twilight wouldn't know anything about the Dreaming. Maybe she should talk like the pronghorns. “The Dreaming is kind of... it's... it's being.”
“Bein'?” Applejack repeated. “Bein' what?”
“No, not being anything in particular, it's just...” she scrambled to find proper words. “The Dreaming is...” Suddenly, she was filled with calm. Talk about it your own way. Dash blinked and took a breath. “The Dreaming is what's always there in everything. It's what everything has in common. Everything comes from it, and it's where everything goes.” She gave a toothy smile. “Does that make sense?”
Applejack scratched her chin with a hoof. “I don't rightly know...” she murmured. “It makes sense to a point... but beyond that it don't make sense.”
“I'm not sure it's supposed to make sense,” Dash admitted. “But it's at the heart of all things, and it's connected to lightning. Lightning comes from the Dreaming. So the pronghorns taught me to reach into the Dreaming with my soul. I learned how, and now I can make lightning.”
“Can anypony access this Dreaming?” Rarity asked.
“I think they could if they knew the right way to do it,” Rainbow Dash said. “But it takes some time in quiet and thinking.”
The white unicorn nodded. “So now you can use lightning? Just like Firefly?”
A warmth spread through Dash's chest. “Yep!” she said brightly. “Just like Firefly.”
“Does that mean you can ride lightnin' too?” Applejack asked her. “That's what you said them pronghorns could do.”
Dash didn't answer. She turned to the right and bounded a few steps away. She settled back on her haunches, pointed her nose at the sky. A look of tranquility passed over her face. Racing lines of blinding white began to swirl around her. She looked back to her friends and smiled. “Oh yeah!” There was a burst of sizzling sound, and a crackling line of white lightning rose into the air where the sky-blue pegasus had presently sat. “THIS IS SO COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo....” her voice was lost to the wind as she rose higher and higher, blazing beyond the range of her friends' necks.
A few seconds later, the lightning bolt fizzled out. Rarity kept her gaze skyward. “I do hope she's all right.”
Applejack was looking up as well. “I got a feelin' she knows what she's doin',” the orange earth pony said. “It's not a feelin' I always get with Rainbow, but I got it now.”
A crackling noise began to rise on the air. A point of white light blazed straight above them, growing brighter and brighter; the hairs in their manes and tails and coats began to stand on end. In the blink of an eye the whole sky over their heads was white, then there was clap through the air and a ring of lightning spread out less than a dozen feet over their heads, sparking and snapping as it expanded more than a hundred feet before fading into nothing. Where the commotion had emerged, there was only Rainbow Dash, painted in dark blue swirls, flapping excitedly. She spiraled through the air over their heads. “Ohmigoshohmigoshohmigoshohmigoshohmigosh didyouseethat?! Did you see that?! I can do it! Oh wow that was amazing! Did you know the sky turns black when you go really high up? You can see some stars and everything, just like at night! I would have gone higher but I started to run out of air! And it was so fast, I counted! It was less than forty seconds to get that high up! Less than forty seconds to come back down! This is amazing!” She whooped and cheered, landing in front of her friends and high-stepping excitedly. “I still have trouble believing it! I did it! Now I really am the fastest flier in all of Equestria!”
The last point made Applejack's eyebrows rise. “You sure are, Rainbow,” she said, “and that means you may be the answer to our prayers!”
“Huh?”
“Well, I notice you ain't mentioned your buddy Niles helpin' us with the Beneviolet...”
“Oh!” Dash's giddy expression changed to one of regret. “He had to go deliver a message for Princess Celestia in a land of camels, far away. He said he had to obey her first before he could help us. He did say I could get the Beneviolet-”
“And you can, Rainbow, don't you see?” Applejack grinned. “You can ride lightnin', so you can go as fast as those pronghorns! You can just blast up to the Archback Mountains, find the Beneviolet, and get it back to Twilight!”
“B-but...” Dash stammered. “Hold on a minute! Wasn't the whole reason you wanted to come on this trip so that you could help me look for the flower? You said I wouldn't know a Beneviolet when I saw one!”
“I said that at the start, sure,” the orange earth pony said. “But Rainbow, I judged you wrong. If you can go into some higher level of bein' and make your soul proper to use lightnin', you're observant enough to find a purple five-pointed flower. You don't even need to take it back to Twilight on the lightnin'- you got saddlebags now, too! We'll give you Spike's fire and you can send the Beneviolet back to him!”
“I suppose it would be better to get it done right now,” Rarity agreed, but her heart wasn't in it. There was something holding back what should have been her excitement at seeing Twilight's cure close at hand. A whisper in her heart, telling her this wasn't right course of action.
“But I... okay, look,” Dash said, leveling a gaze at her friends. “Before we even started on this trip, I told myself that if we hadn't reached the Archback Mountains in ten days, I would go the rest of the way alone! And today is the tenth day! And now I can ride lightning! So I should go on alone! But...” her mouth scrunched up, “I don't want to leave you two! I can't! Not after all this! Rarity, Applejack! You've done so much with me! I don't want you two to be alone!”
Applejack gave her a tender glance. “Shucks, Rainbow, I...” her green eyes glanced at the ground. “I know you you feel. I've grown real fond o' you- and you too, Rarity,” she looked at the white unicorn, “both of y'all! I mean, I was fond o' y'all before, y'all really were my friends, but now...”
“I feel as though the two of you are more than friends, now,” Rarity chimed in.
Applejack smiled at her. “That's just it. We been through too much to just be friends, now.” She squared up her withers and put on a hard face. “But the whole point o' this trip, however much else we've gotten out of it, was to save Twilight Sparkle! And if we can do that right now, we gotta!”
“I...” Rarity began softly.
“And it's either Rainbow rides her lightnin' straight to the Archbacks,” the orange earth pony said, “or we take our chances in there.” She pointed to her right with her front hoof.
Rainbow Dash and Rarity turned their heads that direction. They were very close now. This close, so very close, the Shimmerwood stood poised at the feet of the Archback Mountains. A tapering arm of it swept out onto the fields to their left, and tall, broad-branched oaks and ash formed an inscrutable curtain straight ahead. Its depths could not be penetrated, not even by Dash's pegasus eyes. But all three ponies could see something. No- see was the wrong word. It was like they were feeling, touching with their eyes, a sensation that did not come from sight creeping across their pupils. The forest seemed to emit a haze, a rippling waver- but not to their eyes. It was a haze across the mind.
“That place...” Applejack's voice faltered. “I don't know if it's right or not. It ain't my place to say. But it sure as shootin' ain't normal. It's like the Everfree.”
“I want to see it,” Rarity said abruptly.
Applejack glanced at her. “Rarity, I just said we can't waste time there!”
“I...” the white unicorn reluctantly looked away from the forest. “I know that, Applejack. But we've come all this way. We should at least give it a look, right?”
“We came all this way for Twilight,” the orange earth pony reminded her. “If we got a way o' avoidin' goin' through a big confusin' forest to help her, we gotta take it.”
“When you put it that way, I guess you're right,” Rainbow Dash said. “I mean, I can always bolt back to you girls and go back with you all the slow way.”
“Sure can,” Applejack said, “and we'll be mighty glad o' the company.”
Rarity narrowed her deep blue eyes. “You lot can make whatever plans you choose. But I'm going in there. I have to.”
“What in-” Applejack paused, then raised an eyebrow at her. “Is this some sort o' magic thing?”
“I...” Rarity paused in turn. She concentrated on her feelings, setting her mind on the pulsing, breathing power that filtered in and out through the horn on her head. “I think it may be. I feel it more than I can rationalize it.”
“Hold on,” Dash said. The sky-blue pegasus unfurled her wings purely on a whim. She fluttered her eyelids closed. Rarity and Applejack watched her in curiosity for a minute. Her eyes slowly came open. “I can feel it, too. I can feel it in the Dreaming. There's some kind of weird lightning around the forest.”
“Y'all ain't makin' me wanna go in there any much more,” Applejack said.
“Well, you don't have to go in there,” Rarity said firmly. “I shall go. I'll go alone if I must.” She turned and headed back for the campsite.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash shared a confused glance. Rarity could be quite stubborn, this they were used to, but over something as unusual as a visit to a forest? “Rarity, wait!” Dash cried, fluttering back to the burnt-out fire. The white unicorn was using her magic to suck the air from her pillow and blanket. “Rarity, hold on! I really think you should stay with Applejack!”
“And I really think we should stick together, but apparently that's not happening, is it?” Rarity snapped, annoyance plain in her voice. “I recognize Twilight's dire need- I do- but I don't see why we can't spare even a few hours to go see the forest.”
“Twilight's on a tickin' clock, that's why!” Applejack answered. “You wanted to help her the most! And now you want us to waste time goin' to some forest! Just cause you feel like we oughta?”
This made Rarity stop and think. Her guilt was more than ten days old now, so it did not sting as badly as it had at first. It was still there, however, and she dwelt on it now. She still wanted to help Twilight Sparkle. She cared very deeply for the younger unicorn, so full of joy and innocent enthusiasm. Twilight didn't deserve to die the painful death that Horn Rot caused- she least deserved it. She found such happiness in magic that for her to be killed by mangled magic would be a vicious cruelty. Rarity was prepared to sacrifice much to save her. But something in her heart told her that the best way forward was into the shadows of the Shimmerwood. “I feel as though we must for Twilight's sake,” the white unicorn finally said. “You think that sending Dash straight to the Archbacks will save Twilight faster, but...” her thoughts swirled, “I think that may not be the case. I know it's not.” Unseen by any of them, her triple gemstone cutie mark briefly glowed.
Applejack tilted her head back, narrowing her eyes. Rarity stared boldly at her, graceful brows lowered in seriousness. The orange earth pony gritted her teeth. “All right,” she said, “how about this. We're only about two hours from the Shimmerwood, by my mark. We can go there, and go just a ways in- see what it's like inside. Maybe it's real easy to get through, maybe it's open on the inside. If it is, maybe we'll think about goin' through it. But if it's thick and hard to see through, or even if it just looks too big, we're turnin' around and leavin', and Rainbow can ride her lightnin' to the mountains. That sound good?”
Rarity nodded. “Thank you, darling.”
“Yeah, I know,” the orange earth pony remarked. “Just let's pack up, and we can grab some breakfast on the way.” She trotted over to her armor and began to slip on the first of the greaves.
“Rares, what's going on?” Dash said softly when Applejack had left them. “Is something wrong?”
Rarity shook her head. “Dash, I must at least see this forest. Chalk it up to unicorn's intuition.”
“I just...” the sky-blue pegasus gave her a gentle look. “I want you to be okay.”
“I am, Dash,” Rarity smiled. “But thank you for worrying.”
“You and Applejack can't do all the worrying yourselves,” Dash said, then fluttered back to the fireside and wrapped her leather saddlebags around her flanks. Rarity nodded, and resumed packing her own white velvet saddlebags.
In short order, Applejack was armored up and all three of them were packed, so they set out, nipping off the tips of grass blades along the way. Rarity once again brought up the rear, and she noted that now both Applejack and Rainbow Dash bore tokens of their journey: Applejack wore the dark red armor of Gildedale, Dash was covered in the dark blue sigils of the Pronghorn Network. Perhaps I'll be accessorized as well before the journey is done, she thought to herself. Yet a glance ahead drove all thoughts of fashion out of her mind. The Shimmerwood loomed closer and closer. She sped up, galloping faster, wanting to see it all the more quickly. The trees ahead were now blocking out the mountains, rising with dark trunks to a canopy of wild, radiant green. It was the same green Rarity recalled seeing in the leaves of Ponyville eleven days ago, the bright green of early spring. They passed another lone oak tree, a harbinger of what was coming. Her horn began to tingle.
“Hey,” Rainbow Dash said suddenly, “did the Daleponies really not know about Princess Luna coming back?”
“They genuinely didn't seem to,” Rarity said absently.
“It's just that Niles and his friends were going to deliver messages from Princess Celestia telling about Princess Luna,” the sky-blue pegasus said. “They were going all over the world, to all different countries. But you'd think she'd have sent them to Gildedale first, right?”
“Maybe she forgot?” Applejack said.
“Or perhaps she wants to tell Lord Hammer Hoof herself,” Rarity said. “Gildedale is a country of fellow ponies, after all. I can certainly see the Princess wanting to deliver such important news to her own kind in the flesh.” Neither of the others disputed this. They fell into silence again shortly after.
Within an hour, they passed not a single tree, but a clump of them, a gaggle of ash sticking up from the grasses. Those grasses also were changing: in between the golden blades, pale green shoots were emerging, along with the occasional flower. A beautiful white rose bush appeared off to their right, rushing by in an instant. Then Applejack slowed to a walk. The great wall of the Shimmerwood rose high before them, less than half a mile away. Rarity drew level with the orange earth pony. “What's wrong?” Rarity asked.
“I just... I can feel it, now,” Applejack said. Her voice betrayed unusual fear. “I can feel it comin' up through my hooves. Is that...” she looked at Rarity, her green eyes wavering. “Is that magic I'm feelin'?”
“Yes,” Rarity said with a nod. “I've been feeling it for almost an hour now. It's a touch in my horn, the feeling I always get when I'm around strong magic.”
“Yeah, I can feel it,” Rainbow Dash said, coming up on Applejack's other side. “It's mostly in my wings.”
“I'm still not sure this is a good idea,” Applejack said. “We got no idea what's in there.”
“Lord Hammer Hoof said it wasn't dangerous,” Rarity reminded her.
“The Daleponies got a different sense o' what's dangerous than we do, if you'll recall,” Applejack said.
“But they're also more wary of magic than we are,” Rarity said. “If they don't fear it, we shouldn't, either.” Applejack's ears flattened against her head. “Applejack, please,” Rarity said. “All this trip, we've trusted in your judgment, and you haven't led us astray. Please, now, trust me. I promise I won't lead you astray.”
Applejack looked down at the ground, where green grass was quickly overtaking gold. Then she stopped walking entirely. Rarity and Rainbow Dash went a few steps further before they noticed, and stopped as well. They turned and looked back at her. Applejack nodded forward. “Lead on, Rarity.”
Dash gave Rarity a hopeful smile and walked backwards, filling the gap between the white unicorn and Applejack. Rarity looked ahead. For the first time, there was nopony leading her. “This way,” she said, looking back over her shoulder. She accelerated to a trot, her friends following behind.
It was barely midmorning. The last short distance passed quickly even at their easy pace, and Rarity scanned the forest for a suitable entrance. She found it in a gap between two great trees, oaks more massive than any she had ever seen before. Dry, dead leaves of dull brown and pale orange covered the ground, small plants and shrubs shooting up beneath the shadows of the forest canopy. There was a faint whisper of wind from deep amidst the trees. The white unicorn increased her pace gently. The three ponies passed beneath the canopy's shadow, the sun of the golden fields shaded for the first time in nearly a week. Her front hoof crunched on dead leaves and sunk into loamy soil. Another step, and she was in. Rainbow Dash followed her, then, with some hesitance, Applejack. They had left Gildedale behind at last.
Rarity peered ahead, looking for a path. Her sensitive skin could feel the air currents wrapping gently around the tall trees, the soft breezes that whispered around the branches of the dark oaks and the white ashes. Sunlight filtered in through gaps in the canopy, splashing the floor with green-gold light. Rarity's horn was almost itching now. The magic hanging in the air between the trees surpassed anything she had ever felt. She could almost see it, a ripple like heat through empty space. Her magic circuit was alive, power racing in and out of it, sending tremors down her spine. She could smell the magic, she could touch it, she could even taste it, a sticky-sweetness at the back of her throat.
“Anypony else taste somethin' funny?” Applejack asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.
“I can,” Rarity said, stopping and turning around. “It's magic- a great deal of magic. This is more magic than I've ever felt in one place.”
“Can you see a way for us to go through?” Rainbow Dash asked, glancing past Rarity.
Rarity turned around again. They had come about a hundred feet into the forest. Ahead of her, she could see perhaps a way further in, but it was narrow, shrouded in darkness. Every path that seemed initially to be straight was at some point blocked by a great tree, or else a shrub or hanging vines made the way uncertain. “I suppose there might be a way forward,” the white unicorn admitted, “but it could be a bit roundabout...”
“In other words, no straight path,” Applejack said, her voice regaining some confidence. “Sorry, Rarity, but we can't waste time. If there's no easy way through, we gotta turn around and send Rainbow on her way.” She easily assumed leadership again.
Rarity was deeply frustrated. She had felt certain that they needed to go through the forest. Yet if no easy path presented itself, Applejack's argument was sound. “I suppose you're right,” she admitted. “I'm terribly sorry about all this.”
“Think nothin' of it,” the orange earth pony said. “You were followin' a hunch, I respect that. But we gotta do what we gotta do.” She turned back toward the exit, where the golden fields of Gildedale shone in the sun between gaps in the trees. “You should probably go ahead and give Spike your...” she trailed off. A tingle was crawling up her backbone. “Okay, do y'all feel that?”
“I...” Rainbow Dash trailed off. “I can definitely feel something.”
“It's more magic,” Rarity said, turning around and around, trying to spot a source beyond the blazing sensation in her horn. “It's more concentrated...” She closed her eyes, focusing on her horn. She sent out a pulse of sensory magic- a low-strength, long-range telekinetic grab. It passed over and through everything for feet around her. She could feel more magic in its path, and more than that. She opened her eyes. “I don't believe we're alone.”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash began to turn in circles of their own, scanning the hazy half-shadows for some sign of movement. Turning straight ahead, Applejack found herself recalling Ashtail, and his proud insistence that an earth pony standing firm could not be moved. She dug her hooves into the soft earth, grinding them as far down as she could, while she gritted her teeth in determination. Nopony noticed the three apples of her cutie mark begin to glow on either side. Her eyes widened. “I see it!” she yelled, drawing back in a jump.
“What?! See what?!” Dash cried, leaping to her side.
“Just for a second- just now- I saw somethin'!” Applejack cried, her heart hammering from the shock. “It was somethin' hazy... I couldn't rightly tell... but it was walkin'! It was walkin' on four legs!”
Growling, Rainbow Dash fluttered forward in a burst of wings. Landing hard in front of Rarity and Applejack, she raised her wings high. Crackles of electricity rose through her feathers, while a thin line of lightning sparked between the leading edges of her wings. “All right, show yourselves!” she cried. “We know you're here! Come out!”
The forest was silent for a moment, save the buzzing of Dash's lightning. It was, come to think of it, entirely too quiet.
“Stay your thunderbolts, pegasus,” a gentle voice spoke from the shadows. “We mean you no harm.”
With barely a sound, they shimmered into sight, one after the other, like strings plucked on a harp. First one, then two, then four, then eight, standing in front of and around the three ponies. Long, graceful legs stepped daintily through the underbrush towards them, not disturbing it in the slightest. Lean torsos, golden brown, were angled slightly upwards. Long, slender necks craned in their direction. Long, tapering heads ended in white muzzles and dark noses, sniffing the air gently. The three ponies were circled slowly, affording them glimpses of short tails, golden brown on top, shockingly white on bottom, crawling under thighs to become white bellies. Atop the heads, long ears tapered elegantly into points. Large eyes with pupils of every vibrant hue stared at them keenly. And above those eyes, spreading like polished branches, pale gray antlers stretched out, curved up, forked into sharp tines.
It took Rainbow Dash a moment to remember to turn off her lightning. “Sorry,” she said gently as the sparks fizzled out. She smiled hugely. The deer, for a moment, said nothing.
One of them, with scarlet eyes, stepped forward. Her body was covered in writing, words made of letters from some strange, elegant alphabet. “Welcome, ponies of Equestria- welcome to the Shimmerwood,” she said; she was the one who had spoken before. “Mae govannen- well met.”
There was a faint shimmer around most of the deer, and where before their bodies had been bare, they were now wearing armor, swooping pieces of gleaming silver that seemed to be made of single plates of metal. Their champrons wrapped as helmets around their heads, gaps cut into them allowing room for both ears and antlers. Two forward-pointed crests made of clear crystal adorned the champrons; as Rarity looked, she could seen thin lines of crystal around the flanchards, the peytrals, and the greaves as well.
“I am Ines, of the Periphery,” the female deer said; her body remained unarmored. They noticed her antlers were particularly large and broad. “Your coming has been much anticipated.”
“It has?” Rarity asked, sounding very meek.
Ines nodded. “Our Lady wishes to speak with you. We have been told to bring you to her.”
“Uh, we're actually in a bit of a hurry,” Applejack began. “We gotta get goin'.”
Ines raised an eyebrow. “The Shimmerwood is not difficult to traverse, if one knows the way,” she said slowly. “However, outsiders can frequently get lost in its depths- it is a very large forest. The magic that moves through its roots makes it unpredictable, as well.”
“Which is actually why we're not gonna go through it,” Applejack responded, grinning mightily. “So if y'all don't mind, thank ye kindly for the welcomin' party, but we really gotta-”
She turned around, and Ines stood right in front of her, flanked by three armored deer on either side. “Our Lady wishes to speak with you,” she repeated. “We hope you will accommodate her.”
“Applejack just said we were in a hurry,” Dash said, regaining some courage.
“Our Lady knows of your quest,” Ines said. “She has perceived your troubles from far off, and knows you have the time to spare. What she wishes to say to you is of great importance for the success of your mission.”
Applejack narrowed her eyes. “She knows what we're doin'? How?”
“Our Lady has great powers of Sight.”
“Then she has to know we can't afford any delays,” Rarity said.
“This is no delay,” Ines assured her. “I believe you will find it a necessity to speak with Our Lady.”
“How can she know that?” Applejack asked.
“It is her gift to know. Come,” the scarlet-eyed doe said, “you do waste time the more you deliberate.”
The three ponies looked at each other for a moment, uncertainty in each one's eyes. What were they getting into here? Yet Ines said speaking with her Lady would prove vital- and that Lady clearly had knowledge of their journey. “I suppose we could...” Rarity began.
“Wonderful,” Ines said with a nod. “Adao, please relieve our guests of their burdens.”
One of the armored deer beside her, a buck with golden eyes, stepped forward. A light orange shimmer enveloped both of his antlers. Instantly, every buckle on all three ponies' saddlebags, and every strap on Applejack's armor, came undone. The mass of leather and canvas and velvet floated into the air, where it all vanished. “Hey!” Applejack cried. “Our stuff!”
“It has been sent ahead of you,” Ines informed her.
The orange earth pony grimaced in annoyance. Her head was now bare. “Can I at least have my hat back?”
Ines' antlers shimmered. Applejack's hat reappeared on her head. “Er, thanks,” she said.
Ines took a step forward and vanished. “Come,” her voice came from behind them; they turned and saw her standing deeper into the forest. Three of the deer surrounding them also vanished and appeared beside Ines. Looking back, Rainbow Dash saw the other four take positions behind them. The deer in front began walking, as did the deer behind them. Caught up in the impromptu procession, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash had no other option but to move as well, walking side-by-side between the two groups of deer. Their pace was steady, a gentle trot. The sunlight on the golden fields drifted away behind them, and soon all traces of Gildedale had vanished amidst the trees of the Shimmerwood.
“Great,” Rainbow Dash hissed under her breath. They had been walking for a little while now. “Just great. Now we're stuck with deer.”
“What's wrong with that, Dash? Besides their rather rude insistence, of course,” Rarity asked her.
The sky-blue pegasus grimaced. “Deer are weird. They spend all their time in the forests, and nopony ever sees them, except when they do show up, and then they're always talking in riddles and giving out advice and using magic. They're never straight-up; they always try to confuse you.”
“Have you ever met a deer before?” Rarity asked. “I confess I haven't.”
“Well... no...” Dash admitted.
“Fluttershy's had dealin's with deer before, and she says they're perfectly nice folk,” Applejack said. Her face contorted in thought. “Er... that is, she says they're nice folk until you mess with their forest, in which case they'll wreak terrible vengeance on you with their crazy-powerful magic.”
“We also have excellent hearing,” Ines said, walking suddenly beside them. The three ponies drew back with a shout; Dash fluttered panicked into the air. The deer swiveled her long, pointed ears towards them, blinked her scarlet eyes, and smiled. “You have nothing to fear from us, as I have said. Please relax. You are safe here, safer than you have been at any point in your journey.” She vanished, then reappeared at the front of the deer leading them.
It occurred to Rarity that this abrupt vanishing was their teleportation. It was not accompanied by the burst of sparkling magic that characterized unicorn teleportation- the deer were simply in one place one moment, and in another place another. How elegant, she thought. It made her reflect on her own inability to teleport, the thing that had started this whole great journey.
Dash scowled. “Deer,” she said firmly, “are weird.” Her friends, while not inclined to use such language, could not help but agree with the main thrust of her assessment.
The deer were a truly ancient folk. Thousands of years before ponies could write or speak, the various deer species had filled much of the world with civilization, forging great kingdoms and building magnificent cities of crystal and precious gems, their shared culture fueled by their strange and powerful magics. Unlike ponydom, where complex magical skill was restricted to unicorns, every deer could use magic; moreover, the average deer was far more powerful than the average unicorn, their pair of many-tined antlers able to channel and conduct much more magical energy than a unicorn's single horn. Because of this, they had not left many technological achievements behind, save their unparalleled ability to shape crystal and gemstone. Their cultural achievements were great, however: the deerfolk's languages had formed the foundations of many modern languages, not just in Equestria but across the world. Much of common law and accepted interspecies customs had been laid down first by the deerfolk. Their artistic achievements were magnificent, ancient deer art and sculpture renowned for its elegance. Deer had also invented the performing arts, with a particular love for the theater. Just last month, Rarity had attended an opera based on the ancient deer tragedy Cervidaeus Rex.
Yet taken together, these were but echoes of the past, and faint ones at that. There was much about the ancient deer that most ponies did not know, due largely to the one thing everypony did know about them. One day, for reasons nopony fully understood, the deer had gone to war with each other. It had been a terrible conflict, spreading across the Earth, lasting decade after decade, unleashing ever more powerful destructive magic. When it was over, the whole world had lain in ruins, and most of the deer had wiped themselves out. Those who had survived had withdrawn deep into the world's forests, and in this age they were rarely seen.
Dwelling on this, Rarity supposed she should consider herself lucky. There were rumored to be deer in the Everfree Forest, but nothing like the organized armor-wearing white-tails now escorting them. Twilight Sparkle would probably be very jealous when she found out; as a student of magic, she was naturally interested in the deer and their peculiar spells. She would give much to question a substantial deer population, to plumb their practical magical knowledge. All Rarity wanted from them was to hear what this Lady of theirs had to say. She knew that was the reason she had insisted on going into the Shimmerwood, though she could not say how she knew.
“I do reckon we shouldn't have come in here,” Applejack whispered.
“Yeah, and whose idea was that?” Rainbow Dash muttered.
“I am sorry, everypony,” Rarity said. “But I think this may work out for the best. You heard what that doe said: their Lady has some information for us. Maybe she wants to help us.”
“She coulda helped us just fine by lettin' us leave, and lettin' Rainbow go over her forest!”
“Well, there's no going back now,” the white unicorn reminded them. “We ought at least to see what she has to say.”
They moved deeper and deeper into the forest. The light from the sun through the trees began to grow fainter, the surrounding space darker and quieter. It grew harder to see for a while, Ines and her armored companions fading into the gloom just a few feet ahead. The light from above grew dimmer. Glancing off to the side, Dash swore she saw eyes gleaming in the darkness, moving easily through the gloom of the trees. Then the seeing began to get easier. She could begin to see Rarity's tail ahead of her again, and the faint outlines of the deer beyond the white unicorn. She looked up and her eyes widened. The sunlight hadn't come back through the canopy- in fact, the sunlight was completely gone, the canopy a solid black ceiling hundreds of feet overhead. The light which lit and tinged her vision came from thousands of tiny points of light, glowing pinpricks hanging in the air between the highest branches of the trees. They bathed the forest's empty space in a warm golden glow. “Whoa...” she whispered. Applejack and Rarity looked up as she spoke, just as amazed as she.
Further and further they traveled, the constant golden light and deep shadows distorting their sense of the passage of time. When Applejack looked up, she could see walkways strung between thick branches of the canopy. Glancing to her right, she was compelled to crane her neck further: deep in the trees, a great twisting shape of dagger-point crystal hung down from two strong branches, its sheer surfaces dull gold in the twinkling light. Deer, tiny against the great structure, stepped in and out of it, the occasional line of bright light racing up its exterior. What looked like vines of crystal began to hang down from the branches of the canopy, transparent lines twinkling in the golden light. The three ponies walked underneath them, and Applejack felt the hairs on her back rise up. She looked to the left and saw another crystal dagger hanging down from the trees. There seemed to be one behind it as well, deeper in the forest. At this point, the procession turned a corner, and the tree branches grew lower, forming a sort of tunnel; the lights drew close overhead. The world was brighter at the tunnel's exit, a radiant bath of gold that so contrasted the dimness of their present surroundings that it made them squint. They drew closer and closer; the light got brighter and brighter.
They exited the tunnel, and the three ponies were further amazed. A great white oak of incomprehensible size sat in the middle of a small lake. The air gleamed gold, and rippled, eddies and currents of wild magic dancing in space. The lake was a sheet of gold, completely undisturbed. Around the oak's branches twined clear tendrils of crystal. Rising around the trunk was a four-spired crystal tower, glistening gold and flashing with bursts of light. Occasionally, a pulse of light would travel down the spires, down the tower's crystal surfaces, through crystal roots splayed out from the tower's base, and into the lake, where it would spread out over the surface of the water until it reached the shores with a silent tingle. Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash could once again taste and feel immense magic.
Ines drew to a halt before a crystal landing. She and the three deer with her stepped to the sides, parting and allowing the three ponies a clear view. At first they were at a loss, but silently a crystal bridge grew out from a landing on the island in the lake's center. It knitted itself to the landing on the shore. On the island, in between two spreading wings of the great tree's massive trunk, a meshing of crystal came apart. The whole forest, for a moment, held its breath.
From the depths of the crystal and the trunk emerged an enormous deer, ducking its head slightly to fit through the opening in the tower. It stepped across the small island and onto the crystal bridge, where it slowly moved towards them. It was massive, far larger than any of the white-tails they had seen, nearly as big as Princess Celestia. Its long, powerful legs and graceful torso seemed to be colored pure gold, with an underbelly of white; its neck was not as long, comparatively, as the smaller deer's. By the smoothness of its features, and the length of its ears, it seemed to be female. She had an enormous pair of antlers on her head, each one of them stretching broader than the average pony was long, filled with more than a dozen points altogether. A streamer of white silk was woven between the antlers, the long ends of which draped down from either antler almost to her hooves. A crystal circlet adorned the top of her head. As she drew up to them, Ines and the other deer bowed low. Rarity did the same, followed by Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The deer rose, and so did the ponies, by which time the great female stood quietly before them. Her eyes were dark. She smiled. “Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity of Ponyville- welcome,” she said, with a voice like the ringing of crystal. “I am Falalauria. Thank you for coming so far to indulge me bariarae- in the home of the deer.”
Ines stepped forward, and she and Falalauria began to speak in the swelling, flowing language of which the three ponies had so far heard snippets; Rarity, however, could occasionally hear words in another language, this one sharper and less graceful. Finally, Falalauria nodded, and the white-tails turned around and left their midst.
“They go to prepare your places for the night,” Falalauria explained. “You will sleep in our midst, where your safety is assured. Tomorrow, you will be escorted through the Shimmerwood to the feet of the Archback Mountains.”
“Um, beggin' your pardon, m'lady,” Applejack said, remembering a moment later to take off her hat, “but... well, we're real grateful for your offerin' to put us up for the night, but we gotta get to the Archback Mountains as soon as possible. Our friend's life depends on it.”
“Twilight Sparkle, you mean?” Falalauria said. The three ponies' eyes bulged. “I know well your quest, Applejack. I have been Watching you from afar for some time now, and I know what you seek. I also know that you will be able to spend the night here free from worry, including from worry over your friend.”
“How?” Rainbow Dash asked. “How can you know?”
“Because it is within my power to know,” she said, stepping closer to them.
“Do you mean your magic?” Rarity asked. Her horn was tingling fiercely with all the power in the air.
“It is a magic gifted to me- perhaps to me alone,” Falalauria said. “As you may have surmised from my stature, I am not a full white-tail deer. Half my blood is red deer, and it was of old the special talent of that race to See things far off, both in space and in time. When I fix my gaze I can See anything I choose across the world. Further, I can Look into the past, as well as into the future. But I am also one-half white-tail, and it is their special gift to always detect the truth of things, no matter how hidden it may be.” She took another step, until she was right before them. “Just as these two deer species combined to make me, so too do their magical talents combine in my spirit. The red deer's long gaze and the white-tail deer's detection of truth unite to grant me near-perfect Sight of the future.”
Rarity had the composure to keep her jaw from dropping. The claim Falalauria had made was outlandish, particularly to a friend of Twilight Sparkle's. The lavender unicorn's meticulous and empirical approach to magic ruled out the existence of many of the more superstitious traditions in Equestria, fortune-telling perhaps most of all. It seemed that every two or three weeks, Twilight would read or hear about something that would cause her to repeat her insistent lecture that prophecy and foresight were impossible, that anypony who claimed to practice them was either a liar or a lunatic. Yet the golden hind standing before them seemed to be neither.
Falalauria lowered her head. As she drew closer, the three ponies noticed that her eyes were not so dark as they had thought. Hundreds of tiny stars twinkled in the black orbs, making each one a small slice of the night sky. She smiled at them. “I see inside your minds. You think my claim impossible- or perhaps you think it unsettling? That is often how it goes, when I inform other creatures of my gift. They think the existence of highly accurate prophecy means the future is fixed, that all events to come are already preordained. That may be, but I have no conception of the plan.” She turned around. “Walk with me, please; I would speak with all of you in private.” She began to stride down the crystal bridge. With some hesitance, Rarity followed her, then Rainbow Dash, then finally Applejack.
They crossed the bridge in silence, their hoofsteps barely ringing on the crystal surface. Falalauria's silk tresses wavered in the air behind her. Reaching the small island, they strode between two enormous tree roots to the crystal mesh, opening into a gleaming stairway. The three ponies followed the golden hind into the tower, crystal knitting itself shut behind them. Up the broad steps they went, until they arrived in a large crystal chamber, with clear walls cut into bookshelves and a central crystal chimney, in which brilliant green flames burned long and tall with no visible fuel. Falalauria's antlers shimmered white, and three small crystal daises rose from the floor. There was a much larger one nearby, on which a simple platform of wood was raised. Here Falalauria stopped and settled, turning to face them. The three ponies took their proffered places; the crystal was not hard, but soft, and soothingly cool to the skin. Falalauria looked serenely at them, her starscape eyes half-lidded. The ponies were struck by her presence: she radiated warmth and power. It was a little like being near Princess Celestia. Rarity at last spoke. “My Lady Falalauria, please tell us more about your gift of prophecy. If you know anything about our friend Twilight Sparkle, you will know she's told us that such things are impossible.”
“Prophecy as such, which involves hearing of the future from the voice of a god, is very rare- though not impossible,” the golden hind said. “The sight I possess is even rarer, but it is not prophecy. It is, as I said, the result of the combination of gifts from two deer species. All events, through the whole of time, come about through choice and circumstance. One of you is faced with a choice, so you make one of several available choices. From this choice, other choices rise, and you make your choices there as well, and so on into an endless sequence of choices. These networks of choices are what I See. However, I can also innately detect truth. This is what makes my Sight near-perfect. When I bend my gaze upon a creature or an event, I can instantly discern the true nature of everything I see. This makes me able to know with a high degree of accuracy which of any available choices are going to be made. It extends even to the natural world: I can see the true nature of storms and trees and mountains, and know how they will react when they confront the events that will befall them.”
“So... you can look at us...” Rainbow Dash said uncomfortably, “and you can see our future? Our real future? Not just what could happen, but what will happen?”
Falalauria looked gently at her. “Yes- almost,” she said. “Recall that the future I see is built on choices. My sense of truth allows me to know which choices you are most likely to make. However, it is still you who must make the choices, and though you are highly likely to make choices that most correspond with your true nature, your actions are not forced. You could still surprise me. But it is likely you will not.”
“How often have you ever been surprised?” Rarity asked.
“Rarely,” Falalauria said.
Applejack's green eyes stared intently into Falalauria's, trying not to waver at the sight of the stars there. “You do a real good job of seein' the future, then?”
“Yes,” Falalauria said.
“If that's the case,” Applejack said, “then tell us: will Twilight Sparkle die?”
Falalauria did not immediately respond. Her eyelids closed lower, and she bowed her head. Only the crackle of the green flames faintly filled the air. Rarity gave Applejack a nervous glance; the orange earth pony stared hard at the golden hind. She finally raised her head. “No,” she said, “ she will not.”
“That's great!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
“She came very close, however,” Falalauria said, startling the three ponies. “She would have died if you had not chosen to venture into the Shimmerwood, because you would have sent Rainbow Dash to the Archback Mountains bereft of the knowledge I wish to share.”
“Knowledge?” Dash said.
“I was sweeping my Gaze across the fields of Gildedale a week ago, and I beheld you three making your way west. Curious, I bent my Sight upon you, and so discerned your own histories and the history of your quest. I then looked upon Twilight Sparkle in Ponyville. Lastly, I looked into your futures, and I saw her doom there. I knew her only hope was for you to meet me- for who else could tell you all her present state, and the extent of the cure she needs?”
“Present state?” Rarity repeated.
“What's wrong with Twilight?!” Applejack cried, rising from her dais.
“Her Horn Rot is advancing very quickly,” Falalauria said. “It feeds greedily off her enormous magical power. It will soon reach her brain and her magic circuit, and there it will kill her. It is very intense, moreso than your friend Zecora recognized at first. But she was correct when she said that only the Beneviolet can cure Twilight Sparkle in time.”
“So it can cure her?” Applejack asked, heart pounding.
“Yes- provided you select the right one,” the golden hind said. The three ponies stared at her. “When Beneviolets first flower, their petals are are a sharp and violent purple. This is also when their magic is most potent- so it is when their healing abilities are the strongest. Over a few weeks, they fade to a duller, darker purple, and in the process they lose the full extent of their curative powers. Twilight Sparkle's Horn Rot is now in such a state of advance that only a young Beneviolet, with a flower of sharp and shocking purple, will have the strength to cure her. An older, duller flower will not have enough magic to fully tame the Rot.”
The ponies exchanged glances filled with terror. The book had said nothing about varying intensities of magic! “Are you sure of this?” Rarity asked.
“We have much experience with the Beneviolet here,” Falalauria said. “We use it often in our healing salves. We are well aware of its fading potency. Also, Twilight must eat the flower quickly. A Beneviolet begins to lose its healing abilities within hours of being uprooted. In four days' time, its powers are completely gone. But I know you carry the magical transmitting fire of your friend Spike the dragon, and that is well- you can send the flower to Twilight Sparkle instantly. If you select a young Beneviolet, and the flame sends it to her in a moment, and she eats it as soon as it arrives, she will be fully cured of her Horn Rot.” She smiled. “And all this you three will do- I can See it.”
“Thank you so much!” Dash exclaimed.
“We didn't know nothin' about needin' a special color!” Applejack said. It nearly made her shake with fright. If they had sent Dash up the mountains and she had picked the wrong color flower...
“I knew you didn't,” Falalauria said, “which is why I contrived to lure you here. I could not guarantee any scout of mine would reach you, so instead I sought to draw you in- specifically you, Rarity.”
“Me?” Rarity said.
“The Shimmerwood's ambient magic is normally constrained, confined to the strict limits of the forest, at the request of Gildedale,” said the golden hind. “However, when I Saw you drawing close, I stretched it out into western Gildedale, where I knew Rarity, at least, would be able to sense it. I know unicorns are drawn to sources of magic. I foresaw that when she felt the magical field with her horn, she would insist on venturing into the wood. From there I only had to set Ines and her Watchdeer to wait for you- cloaked, of course, so as not to alert you immediately. I wanted you to enter the wood of your own accord, and only then to be reassured of your safety.”
“But I-” Applejack began. She wasn't sure how she felt about the golden hind reading their intentions so accurately. That was not what caused her to speak, however.
“Yes?” Falalauria said, turning her head to the orange earth pony.
“I... I saw your deer,” Applejack said. “It was when I was puttin' my hooves deep in the dirt, standin' firm like the Daleponies. Just for a second, I saw one of 'em walkin', or at least I thought I did.”
“Did you?” Falalauria asked, curiosity filling her sweet voice.
“She did!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “I remember her saying so.”
“Our cloaking spells are normally impenetrable, even to other deer. I wonder why...” Falalauria trailed off. Her eyes half-closed, then opened again. “Ah, it slipped my mind. You bear the Element of Honesty, Applejack. It is no surprise that you could see them.”
“How did you know-”
“I have Seen your history, remember?” Falalauria said. “I know all about your accomplishments in defeating Nightmare Moon.” She smiled. “Thank you. Thank you so much for healing dear Luna's soul. I know how much it means to Celestia, though she would never tell any of her subjects. You did no small thing by saving the world from eternal night, of course, but giving Tia her sister back was a great good in itself.”
“You know Princess Celestia?” Dash asked.
“Oh, yes,” the golden hind said, smiling more sweetly, “Celestia is a very old friend of mine. We met when we were both young, both learning magic from the same convocation of Deer Elders. She was a few years older than I, so she was well along in her studies when I first arrived. Nevertheless, we hit it off splendidly- Luna had not been born yet, so she was feeling very lonely. Being the only hybrid deer in the Citadel, I felt quite lonely myself.”
“Princess Celestia learned her magic from deer?” Dash asked in surprise.
“Yes,” Falalauria said, “as did Luna. You must realize that when Celestia and Luna were young, unicorn magic was not systematized; it was still wild and chaotic. The deer had the most complex and structured magical system in the world at the time, so the Elders took it upon themselves to train the two new goddesses in the use of their power. Except for raising the sun and moon, of course- they've always done that instinctively.” Her starscape eyes looked down. “When you return to Equestria, could you please pass on my best wishes to Celestia? It's been so long since I've seen her, and I do miss her terribly.”
“Sure will, m'lady,” Applejack said. “However, I'm still mighty keen to hear about the Elements of Harmony.”
“Of course,” Falalauria replied. “The Elements of Harmony are older than ponydom- the deerfolk... knew of them, long ago. Those creatures closely aligned with the Element of Honesty have in the past been... gifted, I suppose, by the Element, and blessed with special magic. Since you are the living representative of the Element of Honesty, it's expected that you would inherit its gift. Applejack, you have the same skill the white-tail deer have: you can detect truth no matter how thoroughly it is hidden. This also means you can see through any illusion.”
“Me?” Applejack said, feeling shocked. She glanced at the floor, feeling simple and small. “But... I'm nopony special. I'm just a hard-workin' farmer. I ain't never fiddled with magic.”
“Oh no?” Falalauria asked. “Have you not noticed your skill at identifying falsehood? How easy it is for you to tell when some creature tells a lie?”
“Well...” Applejack thought. She could always tell when Apple Bloom was lying... and Big Macintosh... and Rainbow Dash... and Caramel, who was supposed to be a very good liar... “But that's just me havin' a nose for fibbin'. It ain't the same thing as havin' truth-detectin' magic. And if I could always see through illusions, how come I never done it before now?”
“You have been the embodiment of Honesty since you were young, so the magic has always existed within you,” the golden hind explained. “Uniting with the other five Elements of Harmony has amplified it, so you have begun to experience its effects more strongly. However, even now, you still have only the smallest use of it. You would have to train the magic and practice it regularly to wield its full power. The reason it activated at the entrance to the Shimmerwood, I think, is two-fold: first, because you were soaking up the magic in the air of the forest, and that was granting your Honesty magic a boost in power. Second, you chose at that moment to stand firm, as you were taught in Gildedale. Standing firm is the most concentrated form of earth pony magic; that is when the magic in you flows most strongly. Those two factors combined to grant you more use than normal of your magic of Honesty, allowing you to see through my deer's cloaking spell.”
“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, rising to her hooves. “Hey, I have the Element of Loyalty! Does that give me any special magic?”
“Hmm... I believe so,” Falalauria said. “Indeed, I think all the Elements of Harmony grant gifts to those closely aligned with them. As I recall, the Element of Loyalty gave a gift related to inspiring others.”
“And Rarity has the Element of Generosity!” Dash cried.
Falalauria turned her head to Rarity, and the white unicorn felt the hind's starscape eyes staring intently at her. “Yes,” she said softly, “yes she does. What that Element's gift was escapes me at the moment.”
Applejack hid her surprise well. That had been a lie. But she couldn't think why Falalauria would tell it.
“I shall answer your further questions as you like,” Falalauria said. She half-closed her eyes. “However, I believe our dinner is ready for the evening. I have said all I wished to say in private, so if you will follow me, we can talk on the way.” She rose, and the three ponies rose with her, following her down her crystal steps and out through the entrance to the small island. The crystal bridge grew across the golden lake once more, and Falalauria walked across it, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash following in her wake.
“So hey,” Dash asked, fluttering up to Falalauria's side, “what was Princess Celestia like when she was younger?”
“Oh, Tia was a great troublemaker,” the golden hind said with a smile. “Once she learned even the most basic magic, she would use it to get into all sorts of mischief, breaking into forbidden sections of the Enclave, listening in on private conversations, playing pranks on our instructors and even some of the Elders. She always dragged me along because, to use her words, 'you look more honest than me.' And in fairness, I did. That may be why I never got caught and she did.”
“Pretty sneaky!” the sky-blue pegasus said with glee. “The Princess was a prankster! And she even got in trouble?”
“Yes!” Falalauria stifled a laugh. “It seemed half the times I met up with her she was coming from some punishment or quiet time. But she didn't get punished nearly as much as she should have, not for all the trouble she caused. More than half the time, she could talk her way out of the consequences. She had a silver tongue even then. Of course, it helped her that nothing she ever did was mean-spirited or cruel. She was a troublemaker, but never a bully.” This time Falalauria actually laughed. “I was an assistant to one of the old elk when Luna first showed up, and I recall the Elders were on pins and needles waiting to see if she was anything like her sister. Fortunately for their weary hearts, Luna shared Celestia's kindness and curiosity, but not much else. Luna was much quieter, and far more dedicated to her studies.”
They reached the end of the bridge and turned right, headed around the lake. The three ponies had to move at a brisk walk to keep up with the great deer's long strides. They headed down a tunnel of low branches, different than before. At the end of it, they appeared in a clearing, in which a large platform of dark wood sat, and on it was a long crystal table on short legs. Cushions were arranged all around it. Deer, some armored, some wearing crystal circlets, some completely bare, were emerging from the trees into the clearing. The ones that were garbed had their garments vanish as they approached the table. “I thought there would be more deer than this,” Dash said.
“There are many more that live in the Shimmerwood. However, they live and work and study in shifts, so not all of them are awake or free at the same time,” Falalauria explained. “Moreover, I dine personally with only some of them every day. I see a different group every day of the week.” A large cushion lay at one end of the table. “That is my space,” Falalauria said with a nod of her head, “and you three will sit with me.” The white-tails around the table, so much smaller than their great Lady, rose to their hooves as Falalauria approached. She walked slowly down the length of the table to the end, where she stepped onto the platform and stopped, towering over the low crystal tabletop on her long legs. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack saw two open places on either side of her, and one further free place second from the left. Rarity took her place at Falalauria's right, Dash was on her left, while Applejack stood next to Dash. When all the places were filled, Falalauria spoke in the flowing language. All the deer bowed their heads, as did the ponies, while Applejack removed her hat. When Falalauria finished speaking, she reclined on her cushion, and the rest of the table followed.
“Lady Falalauria,” Rarity said, “have you ever visited Equestria?”
“Many times, yes,” Falalauria said. “Celestia often invites me to stay with her. I cannot always accept her offers, busy as I am administering the Shimmerwood and seeing to my own folk's needs. But I try to visit when I can.” Her eyes fell. “It has been more than fifty years since I was last able to visit. As I said, I do long to visit her, not to mention seeing Luna again! That will be a treat. I like Equestria very much, not the least because of its comfort with magic. The Daleponies are very good neighbors, and the Lords of the Dale have always been courteous, but I recognize their discomfort with us. However kind they know us to be, their kingdom has shunned magic- and we are a very magical race.”
“Couldn't you move?” Dash asked. “There's tons of big forests in Equestria. If you and the Princess know each other so well, she'd probably love to have you living in Equestria!”
“I know Celestia would like that very much indeed,” Falalauria asked. “But my deer are well-settled here. We have been here for more than seven hundred years, and they are comfortable here. I couldn't just ask them to uproot their lives and their families for the sake of my personal desires. And even if I were willing to do that, it is more than familiarity that keeps us where we are.”
“What more?” Applejack asked.
The golden hind paused for a moment. “There are... elements... beyond the Archbacks, which our magic keeps at bay. The Shimmerwood serves as a bulwark against such things. I would prefer not to speak of them,” she said gently, seeing Dash ready to talk.
At that moment, their places shimmered. Crystal plates appeared, filled with noodles covered in a light green sauce; the plates were garnished with, of all things, pansies. The deer gathered around the table quickly began to eat, using their magic to twirl the noodles into manageable bites. Rarity was about to join them, but she saw her friends staring helplessly at their plates. “Ah, My Lady,” she said to Falalauria, “my friends have no magic with which to eat.”
“Forgive me,” Falalauria said, “I should not have forgotten.” Her antlers shimmered white, and a pair of forks with white silk straps looped around them appeared at each non-magical pony's place. Applejack and Rainbow Dash stuck their hooves through the white straps, allowing them to lift their forks and swirl the noodles. Rarity, satisfied, took a bite of her own pasta: it had a fresh and slightly tangy taste, but not disagreeable. Warm naan floated in crystal baskets down the table, and Dash happily availed herself of the delicious flatbread.
“M'lady,” Applejack said, “there was one other time it seemed like I was seein' through an illusion, it was also on our journey, right at the start.”
“Oh?” the golden hind said. “I started following you just in Gildedale, but I did look back on your earlier escapades...” her eyelids half-closed for a moment, then opened. “It would be at the cave in the mountains, yes?”
“Oh yeah!” Dash said, thumping her hoof on the table. “When we heard that singing! I couldn't stop listening to it... it was so beautiful. Rarity couldn't stop either. Applejack had to drag us out!”
“Not to mention she collapsed the cave,” the white unicorn added. “It was so very beautiful when I first heard it, but after the cave had collapsed... it was horrible.”
“Yes, that was another use of your magic from the Element of Honesty,” Falalauria said. “The extreme stress of the moment helped trigger it- and you also stood firm without meaning to. Your hooves were dug into the earth and you were firm in your purpose. That helped channel the magic. As to what was singing...” she thought for a moment. “Perhaps it was a siren, but they don't typically dwell in caves. I know that of old balrogs could enchant their voices to bewitch listeners, but only the originals, the ones created by Lord Carcharod himself.”
“Have you remembered any more about the Element of Loyalty?” Dash asked. “Or what about some of the other Elements of Harmony?”
“I would need to consult my texts on the matter,” said Falalauria. “It has been some time since I studied them. I can prepare something by morning when you set out, if you would like.”
“Don't take too much trouble on our account,” Applejack said. “You've done real good just tellin' us everything you have, not to mention puttin' us up for the night.”
“After all your hard journeying across Gildedale, I knew you would enjoy the hospitality,” Falalauria said. “I wanted you sleep safely for one more night before you reached the Archback Mountains.”
“My Lady,” Ines said, pausing between bites of noodles, “now that our guests have arrived, perhaps you could regale us of their journey which you have seen?”
“Now that they have arrived,” Falalauria said, “I think it would be best if they told it themselves.”
The three ponies needed little persuading. With Applejack taking the lead, they launched into the story of their journey, Rarity and Rainbow Dash adding their own observations. Dash took over the bulk of the narrative when the subject of the pronghorns raised its head, and even Rarity and Applejack listened with wonder at the sky-blue pegasus' account of the Dreaming.
“I have wandered the Dreaming before,” Falalauria said, “as have most of my deer. For you to navigate it so skillfully without complex magic is quite a feat, however.”
“I had a lot of help,” Dash admitted. This surprised her friends- Dash would not before have missed a chance to boast. “I learned to listen to the guidance of the ones with me.”
“I should think that is as important a lesson as mastering control of lightning,” Falalauria said. Their plates were empty, and with a shimmer of magic they vanished. Falalauria stood, and the other deer stood as well. “The hour grows late, though perhaps you ponies cannot tell. I must return to my tower to check the Shimmerwood's boundaries, and I would see you get a good night's sleep before your journey tomorrow. Ines, if you will show them to their prepared places?”
“Very well, My Lady,” Ines said with a nod.
The golden hind turned back to the three ponies. “I take my leave of you now, but if you are troubled by anything in the night, do not hesitate to call on me. All my deer have such liberty. I shall be easy to find.” Moving backwards, she stepped down from the platform and turned to go. “Good night, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. Pleasant dreams.” She began to stride slowly towards the trees at the edge of the clearing, though with her long stride it was little time before she passed between two dark trunks and out of sight.
Ines turned to them. “Come,” she said, just as she had so much earlier in the day. They followed her away from the table, into a gap between massive trees, the golden pinpoints of light still glowing gently high overhead. They wound through the forest, passing another dagger of crystal hanging low from two branches.
“Miss Ines, do you know what those crystal structures are?” Rarity asked.
“They are magical amplifiers,” the scarlet-eyed doe explained. “Crystal is a powerful conductor of magical energy, particularly when it is shaped as we craft it. They allow us to project our control through the whole of the Shimmerwood, regulating it and keeping it free of danger. Otherwise the wild magic here could attract untamed and dangerous creatures.”
“Heh, we got a forest like that back home near Ponyville,” Applejack said. “The Everfree Forest it's called. It's got all manner o' critters.”
They were led to a section of the forest where the lights seemed dimmer. Great hanging bowers of crystal descended from the trees, huge gourd-shaped structures two stories tall, hanging low to the ground. One of particular size emerged before them; Ines' antlers shimmered orange, and it descended until they could step into it. Inside were three futons covered in simple white sheets with gray blankets. The crystal was vaguely transparent, and in the upper level the ponies could see their equipment and armor neatly stacked. “We shall have baths ready for you in the morning,” Ines said as they stepped inside. “In the meantime, as Our Lady said, do not hesitate to call on her if you are distressed in the night.”
“Whyever would we be distressed?” Rarity asked.
“Our Lady's own protection, and the protection of the whole of the deer, is great, but it does not always protect the mind from wild magic during slumber,” the doe said. “Dark dreams and portents can sometimes result. Very rarely, an attack happens- but Our Lady knows such things instantly, and she will be with you in your dreams to protect you if it occurs. So, until the morning, good night.” Her antlers shimmered again, and a long, dark curtain was drawn across the bower's entrance.
“Whew!” Dash breathed, flopping back on the central futon. “What a day!”
“I gotta say, it was worth it comin' here after all,” Applejack said, taking off her hat and pulling back the covers on her thin mattress. “We coulda been in real trouble if we hadn't know about the colors on the Beneviolet.”
“I'll say,” Rarity added, snuggling under the covers. “And Lady Falalauria has been so forthcoming in all other respects. She told us all that information about the Elements of Harmony, even!”
Applejack hesitated at this. Should she tell Rarity that Falalauria had lied about not knowing the Element of Generosity's gift? But what could she say after that? She would just make Rarity suspicious to no effect. Applejack had not detected any malice behind the lie. If it meant no harm for them, and it was nonessential information, the orange earth pony was content to let the golden hind keep her secrets, for whatever reasons she had. “I wonder how I would go about doin' that magical exercisin' she was talkin' about,” she murmured.
“You wanna learn to be a truth-detecting machine?” Dash asked.
“Could be mighty useful,” Applejack answered. “Heck, it's been useful already, twice now. And I do like not bein' fooled by nothin'.”
Rarity yawned. “One more thing to ask her in the morning, I suppose,” and she pulled the covers close around her. “Good night, everypony.”
“Night,” Dash murmured, throwing the covers over her body.
Applejack, now out of habit, tipped her hat over her head. “G'night, y'all,” she said. The gentle silence of the surrounding wood was the best sort of lullaby, and the bower was dim. The three quickly fell asleep, where Rarity dreamed anew.
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Yeah this one is pretty blatent, especially next chapter.
There's the balrogs again. But who is this Lord Carcharod? Once more, I didn't think much of it the first time around, but now there's a sequel. I wonder if we find out more about that.
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Probably the parallel to Melkor
Yes, she needs her special powers too. How dare you try to deny her?
Something's amiss. That doesn't seem right at all...
Whoa... That made me suck in a breath. I think my heart might have skipped a beat, but I cannot be sure.
Getting them old Mirkwood feels again.
Falalauria, the original dreamwalker.
I love deer. I really love deer. I cannot stress how much I love deer.
Did I mention that I love deer? Because I really love deer.
Total occurrences of "sky-blue/cyan/rainbow-maned pegasus" so far: 92
Total occurrences of "the lavender unicorn" so far: 24
Total occurrences of "the white unicorn" so far: 66
Total occurrences of "the butter-yellow pegasus" so far: 11
Total occurrences of "the orange (earth) pony" so far: 89
Total occurrences of "the pink (earth) pony" so far: 10
Total other occurrences of descriptions of characters by ways other than their name: 162
I've been enjoying this story a lot, but one thing bugs me here. Female deer don't have antlers...
Yep, that is a pretty blatant rip-off. I know next to nothing about what actually happens in the Lord of the Rings, but I caught on as soon as they said "our lady wishes to speak with you." Also, she's totally OP.
"Rainbow Dash! What do your pegasus eyes see!?"
5701068 For some reason this post reminded me of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J9V-pV5BSE
Half the fun of rereading old stories like this is nostalgia and because they were just good stories.
The other half is how funny the hindsight can get.
All this story you talk about how Twilight doesn't believe in any form of fortune-telling. Yet this happens after the episode with the 'Pinkie Sense'. Isn't that a rather glaring plot hole? Twilight has already, canonically, accepted that there are just some things that cannot be explained. She learned that lesson from observing someone predicting the future.
Also, the very first episode of the show is based entirely around a prophecy that only Twilight admits believing to be true. The portrayal of Twilight being made here just isn't accurate, even restraining it to Season 1 episodes.
It's still good, though!
I like the deer.
Also... you’ve had many references to Lord of the Rings... so the similarities to Lothlorien didn’t bother me.
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Reindeer do.
Intriguing. I like Falalauria. I wonder what she's lying about?
And the deer here are better than the comics. That is all
Alright, I realize that Tolkien is all over this fic, but I forgot! So I just want to say I am happy to have pegged the deer for elves pretty quickly.
So ancient and cool in fact, that our narrator will break from the usual limited third person to summon exposition from the void.
We have official hit the, "I wish a character was recording everything in universe" point of the fic.
I dunno, the ridiculous amount of magic just hovering around in this forest?
It's probably on a leyline or something. Itisa leyline.Or not! Heh. Ahhh...
Well, I finally gave this fic a like. I have a soft spot for elves, and this oozed right in. Laura (sorry, I'm not doing "Falalauria") was really cool! I give her 10/10, quality deer goddess. I love and will be thinking of Laura and TIa's backstory now. The bit with Luna was intriguing and i must admit I could really use something to dig into to that high-fantasy ancient backstory goodness! Please oh please, if anyone has anything like that, let me know.
As Voice said up there (or down there if you have tampered with things), I love deer.
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