Ghosts from the Future

by Pix

Chapter 5 - Gathering Intel (Part II)

Chapter 5 – Gathering Intel (Part II)

The deserted room was a disconcerting sight. It clearly had not been abandoned long, as dust had not yet had time to settle. Stained outlines of bottles and strange artefacts were still visible stretching along the now empty shelves. The stands where candles had once been were also now bare, leaving the entire hut with an unnatural chill and a musty taste in the air. It was not a particularly welcoming atmosphere.

“Zecora’s gone?”

“It looks like it.”

“Ah wonder where she went?”

Spike stepped slowly around the bare hut, looking for any clue as to the reason for the disappearance of its past occupant. Zecora had taken absolutely everything with her. What would make the normally so steadfast zebra decide to abandon her home like this?

The cutie mark crusaders followed in his footsteps, seemingly more than a little disturbed at how barren the room was. Spike had been completely unable to shake the three of them off, his brief attempts at being authoritative failing due to his desire to not waste any time.

“We’ll go with you!” Apple Bloom had said, once they had heard what the note from Twilight was asking Spike to do. “Mah sister lets me go to Zecora’s all the time!”

“What? When was the last time you asked her permi-mmmp.”

“All. The. Time,” repeated Apple Bloom, slowly withdrawing her hoof from the young pegasus’ mouth and giving her friend a pointed look.

“Oh, right, of course!” Scootaloo buzzed in the air. “Me too!”

“Me three!” added Sweetie Belle, as they all turned to Spike and gave him the widest puppy-dog eyes they could muster.

Spike had relented pretty quickly. The road to Zecora’s hut was not particularly dangerous, and he had hoped that with any luck he would be able to persuade them to stay there while he, Owlowiscious, and Zecora hunted down the future-pony. Of course now that there was no Zecora…

“Maybe we should go back.”

“What!?” The three fillies rounded on him.

“You can’t just give up!” started Scootaloo.

“Yeah! You ain’t a coward are you?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be the Great and Honourable Spike the Brave and… something?” Sweetie added.

“I think it was Brave and Gluttonous,” Scootaloo said with complete sincerity, turning to the young unicorn.

“What? No it wasn’t!” the white filly retorted.

“Nah, it was the Brave and Gloryful,” Apple Bloom suggested.

“That’s not even a word!”

“Hooo!” added Owlowiscious from his perch on the windowsill above.

Spike could feel his patience wearing thin. The quicker he got this over with, the quicker he could get back to the library and see if the rather over-crisp pie he had made could be salvaged. He had only had time to turn the oven off before leaving, and he was not looking forwards to seeing exactly what the result of his neglect had been.

“Okay girls,” he said finally, breaking through the simmering argument. “We’ll just take a quick look.”

They broke apart instantly. “Awesome!” They turned to each other excitedly and Spike braced himself for what he knew to be coming next. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER… EVERFREE EXPLORERS!”

At least it shouldn’t be too far to go, thought Spike as he departed the eerily quiet hut and started plodding towards the nearby trees. Twilight had provided the baby dragon with a surprisingly detailed map of the Everfree Forest, and the location she had marked as the expected arrival-zone was only a short distance away. He estimated that at the pace they were currently walking, with Owlowiscious flying silently high above him and the fillies prancing around behind him, it would only take about fifteen minutes before they reached their destination.

Once they got there though, Spike had no idea what would happen. From the story Applejack had told it didn’t sound like it would be a pleasant encounter, and Spike had avoided telling the crusaders anything other than that he and Zecora were going to look for something in the forest. He wasn’t sure exactly how he would explain it to them if they did find anypony, but he would cross that bridge as and when he needed to.

Instead he decided to distract himself from the task in front of him, and the growing unease building in his stomach as the forest darkened around them.

“Hey Apple Bloom,” he called out. “What was that book you were looking at earlier?”

The yellow earth pony filly trotted up to him with a confused look on her face.

“What book?”

“The one you were reading before. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so engrossed in anything!”

“Oh right, that one. Uh…” she shifted her hooves and looked down to the ground. “You promise not to tell anypony?”

“Um, sure,” Spike said, intrigued.

“Especially not mah sister!” She prodded him in the chest. “You have to promise!”

“Cross my heart, hope to fly,” Spike began, drawing his claw across his chest and going through the remaining motions.

“Okay. Here goes…”

Spike listened with interest, which quickly faded to disappointment. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, not having any idea what Apple Bloom would feel the need to be secretive about. Maybe she had found a novel she was ashamed to admit that she enjoyed, or had discovered an interest in a topic that she felt the others would say was uncool.

He certainly hadn’t expected to be subjected to a sudden rant on how boring apples were.

“… and everypony in mah family has apple cutie marks, or cutie marks related to apples, and Ah just know they all think Ah’ll get an apple cutie mark too, and it’s just not faaaiiir!”

“Whoa, hey, Apple Bloom, I had no idea you hated apples so much.”

The young earth pony kicked the ground impetuously, and then sighed. “Ah don’t hate apples. And Ah love mah sister. It’s just Ah sometimes want to do mah own thing, you know?”

“Oh.” Spike could certainly sympathise. Once or twice he had been struck by a similar desire, one time ending with his now infamous attempt to follow the dragon migration. “Well that’s not too bad, I’m sure Applejack would understand as long as you were happy. So why were you looking for books?”

“We were looking for descriptions of a bunch of different jobs Ah could maybe do. You know, in case any of ‘em jumped out at me. The book Ah found was about architecki… whatever. It looked real interestin’.”

“No need for that!” Scootaloo interjected, pulling up beside them on the scooter she had unsurprisingly brought along. “We already know we want to be adventurer ponies!”

“Ah did enjoy makin’ the pie delivery to that swamp,” Apple Bloom said thoughtfully, before her expression darkened. “Although Ah never want to see another chimera…” She shivered as the memories of her dramatic encounter resurfaced.

“You just need me with you Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo buzzed into the air and swung her hooves in what was surely supposed to be a threatening manner. “I’d protect you. I learned from the coolest pony ever!”

“Hooo!”

“Rainbow Dash,” the orange pegasus replied.

“HOOO!”

“I said Rainb-”

“AAAGHHH!”

Spike and the two fillies spun around at the sound of Sweetie Belle’s scream and saw the young unicorn charging towards them. Without any explanation she galloped straight past them and into the bushes on the other side of the clearing they were currently occupying.

Spike made eye contact with the others, who both looked just as confused as he was, before turning suspiciously back to the direction Sweetie Belle had run from. There didn’t seem to be anything chasing her. Or wait, what was that in the tree branches?

The rustling movement overhead stopped as a sudden howl echoed throughout the forest and a monstrous creature leapt out of the branches and onto the ground in front of them. Spike had never seen anything like it before. It looked to be mostly reptilian, with a long scaly body and four stubby legs, but it had the head of a wolf, which as he watched let out another howl. Spike made to turn away just as the creature swung its long tail around over its body like a scorpion would, revealing a bulb at the end somewhat like that of a plant, which bulged and then opened, letting loose a noxious purple spray towards the three of them.

“RUN!” he bellowed, turning and scampering away as fast as his legs could carry him. From the corner of his eye he could see Scootaloo jumping back onto her scooter, pulling Apple Bloom up behind her, and buzzing off in the direction Sweetie Belle had headed. Not wanting to get split up, Spike followed them, charging into the bush and then winding through the trees while the crashing noises of the beast lumbering along behind them echoed around the forest. The brush around him was very thick and Spike could barely see where he was going, almost causing him to fall flat on his face on more than one occasion as he tripped on stones and tree branches.

There was another howl and the noise of something rushing through the air, and Spike instinctively threw himself to the side as a blob of purple liquid splatted to the ground where he had just been running, sizzling before starting to burn its way into the ground. With wide eyes the baby dragon pulled himself to his feet and continued his panicked run, barely paying attention to where he was going anymore. He knew that dragon skin was tough, but he did not want to test what would happen if some of that toxic fluid got on him.

“Spike, over here!”

He looked up and saw Sweetie Belle standing between two large trees and immediately realised what her plan was. The gap between the trees was narrow, large enough for the two of them to pass through, but certainly too small for the… whatever it was… to follow. Spike changed course and followed as Sweetie Belle darted away through the trees, trying not to panic as the sounds of the relentlessly pursuing creature got louder and louder, before with a final kick he threw himself through the small gap and heard a loud crash behind him.

Spike pulled himself awkwardly to his feet from the prone position he had landed in, Sweetie Belle running back to him to make sure he was okay, before they both turned around to look at the result of their cunning plan. The two trees were holding fast, as between them the beast was straining against the enclosing trunks, growling as it mindlessly tried to pull itself through the impossible gap. Spike just had time to let out a sigh of relief before the creature’s tail swung over its head once more and it spat out another toxic blob towards the two of them.

Purely by instinct, Spike took a quick breath and then let out a gout of dragonfire, which enveloped the approaching liquid and transported it away, zipping up into the air. Blinking in surprise at what he had just done without any real thought, Spike turned and ran away with Sweetie Belle once again, wanting to put the creature as far behind them as possible. Hopefully Celestia wasn’t currently standing in front of anything important, as she was just about to get a particularly unwelcome gift…

Only after they had crashed through the greenery for another few minutes did the young dragon and unicorn slump to a halt against a tree.

“What… hah… was that… hah… thing?” wheezed Sweetie Belle, gulping for air.

“No… hah… idea…” Spike replied, taking equally large breaths. “But I think we’ve… hah… got away from it now…”

“Where are the others?” Sweetie asked suddenly, peering around them.

“Also no idea.”

“I hope they’re alright, I… Aaaghh! Monster!”

Spike looked up hurriedly to see a demon from the depths of Tartarus dragging itself towards them, which after a few blinks resolved itself into the image of a jagged crystalline unicorn stallion. Spike took note of the translucent body and swirling shadowy mist inside and realised that he had found the pony he was supposed to be looking for, albeit probably a little too late if the crystals spreading up the stallion’s neck were anything to go by.

Sweetie Belle screamed again, and Spike realised that she had no idea what the pony in front of her was and so likely still believed it to be some sort of demon. Before he could say anything however, there was a crash from the bush beside them and a scooter blasted out of it into the air, two ponies riding it, one of whom launched themselves towards the stallion.

“Take this!” Scootaloo yelled, and connected her forehoof with the face of the ‘demon’ at exactly the moment when his strangely glowing eyes glazed over and his body shattered into thousands of small fragments. Caught off guard, the fuchsia-maned pegasus landed roughly on the newly formed pile of shards with a grunt.

There were a few moments of silence, interrupted when a familiar owl flew down from the sky and hovered above them, hooting in pleasure when he realised they were all safe. That interruption was all Scootaloo needed to shake her out of her brief reverie and fire up her enthusiasm once again.

“Wow, did you see that!? I punched the monster so hard it exploded!” There were appreciative murmurs from the other crusaders as the excited filly continued. “I bet I’ll get a cutie mark in explosions!”

Spike had to admit that he wouldn’t be surprised if the chaotic pegasus did get a cutie mark in demolitions of some sort, even if she hadn’t quite understood the current situation. “Actually,” he began, but then stopped, the gears in his head slowly turning. It might not be a good idea to tell Scootaloo that the ‘monster’ she had just ‘defeated’ was actually a pony. “Actually… Yeah! You were amazing Scootaloo!”

“Haha! I can’t wait to tell Rainbow Dash!”

“Of course.” Spike pulled himself to his feet. Perhaps now he could finally be responsible and get the fillies in front of him to do what he wanted. “But we should get out of here. Wouldn’t want to meet too many more monsters!”

“Mmhmm,” agreed Sweetie Belle.

“But what about your mission?” Scootaloo asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” he stated firmly, in a voice that brokered no disagreement. And with that settled, the four of them took off once more through the trees, Owlowiscious flying along above them, heading back to the safe haven of Ponyville.

---

Far below the gently floating sky-city of Cloudsdale, Fluttershy was resting on the grass and listening as intently as she could to the words of the stallion curled up in front of her. He seemed to be in a lot of pain, and it was torturing Fluttershy to know that there was nothing she could do to help him. It had taken her a while to get the fading pegasus to start speaking, but now he didn’t seem to want to stop, as though his thoughts had been building up inside him for a long time and he just had to let them all out.

“I’m just saying it would have been nice to get some advance warning. I’d accepted that I was going to die a long time ago, but I was hoping to do it at home with my wife, and now what? She could be on the other side of Equestria for all I know!”

“Oh, that does seem sad, but-”

“I’m telling you, those royal sisters up in Canterlot don’t really care about us. They only acted because they’d have nopony to rule over otherwise.”

“Um, well I’ve met both of them and I don’t think tha-”

“And did Princess Twilight even think about where she was sending us? Fat chance! I could have died if your friend hadn’t been there to catch me. I mean, died sooner anyway. In a worse way. But of course the Princess wouldn’t care about that.”

“Oh I’m sure she did her best. I’m a good friend of Twilight and I know she would neve-”

“And what exactly are we expected to do? It’s not like I’m in any fit state for anything now. Just look at me! I look like one of those blasted Crystal Ponies! Those ungrateful little… stealing our homes and jobs like that, I’m telling you… Hmmph.”

“Um, well actually you could help. I’m supposed to ask you abou-”

“Have you ever been to Fillydelphia? I bet it’s still beautiful now. That’s where I met Willow, and we’ve lived there ever since.”

“Yes it is a nice place. But really we should-”

“I’ll never see it again now, all thanks to those four rotten alicorns. I’m telling you, if I had a chance to talk to one of them I would… I would… I would have some stern words with them!”

“Oh, I’m sure they had the best of intentions. There must have been nothing else they cou-”

“Well good riddance to them I say! I’m never going to have to go to one of their silly celebrations or sit through one of their stupid public service announcements ever again.”

“Um, well, I’m happy for you, but do you think I could ask you some que-”

---

“…and before he had a chance to react I was on top of him! One quick punch to the side of the face and he was gone! Ha, they never have a chance when I get them one-on-one, believe me. The Viper can take anypony on if it’s one-on-one. Why, I reckon I could even take on your mountain of a brother if it came to it!”

“You reckon.”

“I do! Did I tell you he’s the captain of the Ponyville EDF regiment? I was almost the captain of the Vanhoover regiment myself of course. I mean sure, they never told me directly, but I’m certain I was next in line for the position. I hardly couldn’t have been, what with my amazing battle record and leadership skills. My unit of the regiment was always the most efficient whenever we made raids into Shard territory, and it was mostly down to me, I’m pretty sure I heard the captain say so.”

“Did you really.”

“Yeah, I did! And why wouldn’t he? Credit where credit’s due, he knows how to spot them. I was the quickest to ever be signed up, did I tell you? My dad was so proud of me that day, you know what he said to me? He said, ‘Son, go out there and give those Shards Tartarus for me’, and you know what? I did! I doubt there was another pony in the infantry who could match me for my tenacity! There was no going back after that, I was right into the fray. In all honesty, it’s a shame to be here where it’s all quiet. Not that I’m saying it’s boring here, don’t go shouting your head off again, just I would have loved to give the Shards one last parting gift!”

“Is that so.”

“Oh yeah, definitely. Them and that leader of theirs, did I tell you about her yet? A giant alicorn Shard, if you can believe it. The press had some fancy name for her, can’t remember what, but you know what I called her? Prey. Ahaha! Of course I never did meet her myself, lucky for her! I would’ve taken her head clean off her shoulders with one buck! Hey, did I ever tell you about that time I took out seven Shards with a single buck? I wish you could’ve seen it, you’d’ve loved it, a strong mare like yourself. It all started when…”

---

“Maybe you’re right though, maybe they didn’t have any other choice. But they shouldn’t have let things get so bad in the first place, it’s their lack of solid leadership that’s made Equestria into the place it’s become.”

“Um, what exactly happened to make it go bad, if you don’t mind me ask-”

“And I bet they had secret cures for the Infection that they were keeping to themselves. How else did they still look so perfectly healthy while everypony else started looking like this?”

“I don’t know, but can you tell me more about the infection plea-”

“In fact I’m starting to think that they had something to do with it! I reckon it was one of them that caused this all to happen. I bet it was Princess Twilight, she’s always seemed the most suspicious.”

“Oh, goodness, you can’t think-”

“Well whatever the reason I’m just glad it’ll all be over soon. Nothing worse for a pegasus than not being able to fly, and it’s been months since any but the best of us could. Can’t deny I’m well past it.”

“But, um, could you just-”

---

“…to be fair, the best thing that came out from all of this action was that a lot of ponies like me learned just how much they enjoy fighting! I even heard of a filly who got her cutie mark when she blasted a Shard to pieces with her magic. How awesome is that?! I bet you if I hadn’t already got my cutie mark I would have got it for fighting Shards too. I think of it as my second special talent anyway.”

“Do you really.”

“Of course! Not that it matters, the EDF takes all sorts. I heard of somepony who volunteered who had the special talent of competitive eating! How in Equestria does that relate to fighting? Urgh, I hope he didn’t eat the Shards he killed, I bet they taste horrible. Although actually, did I tell you about the time when I ripped the horn off of one of the unicorn Shards I was battling with my mouth? Definitely my finest moment, it made such a loud snap when it broke off, ha! It’s so much easier to fight them when you can stop them using their magic, I’m surprised more ponies didn’t try it.”

“Ah wonder why.”

“Yeah, no idea. Anyway, I don’t remember what its horn tasted like though, so it can’t have been too bad. Still, I wouldn’t want to eat one, I bet it would jab holes in the inside of your throat. Oh, and speaking of jabbing holes, I have to tell you about the time when…”

---

“I do really wish I could’ve seen Willow one more time. She really had the most beautiful of faces.”

“Oh, I’m sure she did, but could yo-”

“Damn those princesses, and damn those Shards. Damn this Infection and damn those Crystal Ponies. Damn everything.”

“Um, okay, but would you mind-”

---

“…shattered eight Shards in a single buck…”

---

Meanwhile, far away from either of the pair of one-sided conversations, a vibrant pink earth pony mare was running for her life.

It didn’t help that most of her body seemed to be disagreeing with her choice of action, instead wanting nothing more than to stop and retch at the memory of the mare she had seen blasted in half a short while prior. Pinkie had been in danger before. Pinkie had run for her life before. Pinkie had even witnessed death before. But she had never truly believed that she was going to die before.

She was currently winding her way through a thin canyon between two of the steeper cliffs in the area, ducking every now and then as jets of horrific red magic blasted overhead. As the beams crashed into the walls either side of her they broke away chunks of rock, almost crushing her on more than one occasion. She did not want to imagine the effect one of those blasts of magic would have if it connected with her. Pinkie had tried clambering up the vertical faces either side of her, but she hadn’t made it very far. Her body never seemed to fully co-operate when the situation was serious.

As Pinkie exited the twisty canyon she sprung up onto a boulder and started scrabbling up the side of a nearby crag. Despite the peril she was in, she had been thinking clearly enough, particularly about what her best course of action was. Running. That was a good start. The creature she was fleeing from, a ‘Shard’ if she remembered Twilight’s name for them correctly, was like the one she and her friends had faced with Zecora, but being in an open space and with the ability to use magic, this one seemed far more threatening. For that reason she had also decided that she should not run anywhere where there was a chance it might come across anypony else. This was why Pinkie Pie was now even deeper into the Crystal Mountains than she had been before.

As some of the boulders started to shift beneath her, Pinkie leapt up onto the peak of the rock face she was haphazardly ascending and stopped to catch her breath. She wasn’t able to wait long however, because no sooner had she stopped moving than she felt her Pinkie Sense warning her that she had to get away, and fast. Without a moment to spare the mare leapt into the air and a blast of magic bore a deep hole into the ground below her. She chanced a look over her shoulder and saw the shadowy Shard making its way up the rocky slope behind her, albeit more slowly than she had, still relentlessly pursuing her.

She did not stop to wonder why the pony-shaped beast was so intent on chasing her, although if she had then she might have concluded that there was no good reason. The Shard seemed completely mindless in its pursuit, which at least kept Pinkie’s options to a minimum. There would be no singing her way out of this mess.

Realising that her best chance of survival was to avoid there being a clear line of sight (and hence a potential route of magic) between herself and her pursuer, Pinkie scampered onwards. She took advantage of the fact that she would have a few moments respite while the Shard finished clambering up the side of the crag, and threw herself down the opposite side, legs thundering beneath her almost uncontrollably. Perhaps inevitably she wasn’t able to remain upright for long, and as her hoof fell on a particularly loose stone she started tumbling down the slope like a ragdoll, eventually landing in a heap in a small clump of bushes.

After slowly poking her head out of the tangled branches to try and see where she was, Pinkie couldn’t help but laugh. Somehow in her wild chase she had come a full circle and was now merely feet from the tunnel entrance where everything had begun. Although she didn’t really want to look, her eyes seemed compelled and she glanced down at the half-pony corpse lying in the grass, surrounded by a small collection of black crystal fragments. A part of her briefly wondered at the lack of blood, but then perhaps crystal ponies didn’t have normal blood?

Pinkie was just about to pull herself out of the bushes when she heard footsteps from an unexpected direction and immediately shrunk back inside, trying to keep herself entirely concealed behind the branches. A pony was slowly walking out of the tunnel, and as he exited a few rays of the setting sun glinted off his shadowy, spiky, crystalline body. Just her luck, it was another one of them.

This one was different though, he was clearly male, and was an earth pony. Or maybe… Pinkie squinted closer and as the stallion trotted towards the dismembered mare he caught the light once more and Pinkie had to hold in a gasp. It wasn’t an earth pony, it was a crystal pony, and one she knew! Or at least, it looked exactly like a Shard-ified version of crystal pony she had once known. What had Twilight said? Shards could take the shape of ponies that had been infected? So did that mean it was or wasn’t the stallion she remembered?

Pinkie had been called many things in the past. Happy, excitable, bubbly… sure, she was those. Tactless, silly, impetuous… sure she could sometimes be those too. She was rarely called cautious though, and she now demonstrated why not, as she leapt out of the bush and started walking towards the unnatural stallion.

“Azure Prism, is that you?”

The Shard turned his head and Pinkie looked for any sign of recognition in his eyes, but instead his gaze didn’t seem to be focussed on anything at all, his eyes glowing an eerie green shade and staring unblinking through the air. The pink mare gulped and took an uncertain step backwards, but the stallion made no move towards her, instead turning to face the corpse once more. He then opened his mouth and a shadowy mist rushed out and immediately enveloped the lifeless mare, until she was completely invisible in the fog.

Pinkie found herself unable to move as she watched in horror, particularly when there was an awful splintering sound and the mist drifted away from the half-corpse to reveal that it had completely disintegrated into small fragments. The mist itself started forming into the shape of the mare, her hind legs and back part of her body still missing, before solidifying into jagged black crystal. Her torso crashed to the earth as she kept herself supported with her forelegs, clearly ready to drag herself along the ground. Pinkie realised she had just witnessed the birth of a Shard, albeit only the front half of one.

Then, in complete synchronicity, the two Shards turned to stare at the immobile earth pony and let out horrific shrill wails.

If Pinkie had been scared before, it was nothing compared to how she felt now. If Pinkie’s body had been uncooperative before, it was nothing compared to how unresponsive it was now. She was rooted to the spot as the two Shards started towards her, the jagged crystals that made up their bodies lengthening into menacing spikes, as if they intended to spear her.

Just before they could gore her however, there was a sudden hum and Pinkie found herself cut off from the two beasts by a magical pink barrier. Confused, Pinkie glanced down at her hooves, as if wondering if she herself had somehow cast it, but when she heard a supplementary blast of magic she looked up in time to witness the two shards in front of her disintegrating into dust. With a sigh of relief she looked over at the direction from which the magic had originated.

In the distance, up the slope behind her that she had so recently crashed down, Pinkie could see two royal guards working together to destroy the unicorn Shard that had been the cause of most of her troubles during the evening. Closer by stood her saviour, glancing around warily to guarantee that there were no more enemies to be found.

All the tension rushed out of Pinkie Pie as she realised her ordeal was finally over, and she looked her rescuer up and down appraisingly.

“Hmm, they were right. You are attractive.”

---

Rarity was panicking.

Of course she would never admit to it. A lady does not panic after all, but she was certainly… concerned. She hadn’t had the chance to appreciate what she had imagined would be her triumphant return to Manehattan because she had needed to immediately start her search, and she was now scouring the nearby coast. The vista of the Manehattan skyline behind her was framed wonderfully by the setting sun, but she wasn’t having the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of the view either.

The reason for her distressed state was not simply that she had been unable to locate the pony she was supposed to find. She had dealt with failure many times in the past, and she knew her friends would be forgiving. That was part of the reason why they had all split up after all, so that if one of them failed to learn anything useful then the others would be able to pick up the slack.

No, that wasn’t the sole reason for her agitation. Most of it was because she had already seen the tell-tale flash of light that should have heralded the arrival of the time-traveller when she was still a long distance away, and now that she was closer she was completely unable to see where they could have gone. So close and yet so far, it was agonising!

It didn’t help that the shoreline near Manehattan was in parts built up and in parts left to the whims of nature. She had already eliminated any of the cafes and other buildings from her search, the few customers within claiming ignorance of any strange looking ponies that may have appeared nearby. Now that she thought harder about it, it seemed more likely that the blare of light had come from amongst the rolling sand dunes nearby, which certainly would not make her hunt easier, never mind how the sand would cling irritatingly to her boots.

But Rarity was nothing if not persistent, and so she trotted off up the tallest dune she could see, hoping that from the peak she would be able to identify any weary pony that may be around. There was no noise other than the whipping of the wind and the crashing of waves in the distance, and there didn’t seem to be any regular ponies around, neither tourists nor Manehattanites out for an evening stroll, and so if she saw or heard anything then it could only be because she had finally found the pony she was looking for.

She would never have admitted it to her friends, but Rarity was looking forward to the chance to question a pony about the future. Hopefully the pony she met would be a pony with good taste so that they could give Rarity all the inside details of any upcoming fashions. If they could also let Rarity know a little about what the future held in store for herself in particular then, well, it would be a tragedy to let that opportunity pass her by.

Not that she wouldn’t ask all the important questions too of course. Let it never be said that Rarity would prioritise her own needs over those of others, but she would aim to satisfy them both if it were at all possible.

But she wouldn’t get the chance to address either if she couldn’t even find the pony in question. Rarity’s gait had progressed from a smart trot to an annoyed stomp as she dropped and rose between another pair of sand dunes, the area around her seeming just as deserted as the entire beach so far had been. She hadn’t even been able to spot the telling trail of crystalline dust that would indicate that the pony had been through this way, and for all she knew they had disintegrated already without even being polite enough to wait for her.

She was just wondering at what point it would be reasonable to give up, when she heard a faint voice drifting on the wind. She wheeled around rapidly, but the voice hadn’t been loud enough for her to be able to identify the direction it came from, and so the unicorn mare stopped and perked up her ears, hoping the voice would return.

“Ra… Rarity…?”

Something inside her broke as she recognised the voice she had just heard. Up until now she had barely given a thought to the fate of the pony she would be meeting, or what they must have lived through if the future truly was as awful as she had heard, but now she felt incredibly guilty for not having considered it and was almost unable to turn herself around to face the pony she knew would be standing there.

But Rarity couldn’t ignore her forever, and her heart sunk as she turned and her fears were confirmed.

“Sweetie Belle?”

She was older, of course. The young unicorn mare was now almost as tall as Rarity herself, although she had not changed her mane-style and still looked like a filly in Rarity’s eyes, as she doubtlessly always would. Rarity instinctively leant to the side to try and see her sister’s cutie mark, but it was covered, along with most of the rest of Sweetie Belle’s body, by a snug white cape marked with the logo of a shield adorned with a crescent moon, and fastened together around her neck by a brooch in the shape of a diamond, exactly like one of the ones in Rarity’s own cutie mark. She absent-mindedly wondered whether she had been the one to give it to her.

But then she noticed the corruption spreading across her darling sister’s body and she couldn’t help but let out a muffled sob. It truly was as bad as her imagination had led her to believe it would be. Most of Sweetie Belle’s limbs were encrusted with shadowy black crystals, and the parts of her chest that were unconcealed by her cape were almost entirely translucent, with a horrific dark tempest swirling within.

“Not you too, oh Celestia…”

“Rarity!” There were tears in the young mare’s eyes, and she let out a pained cough.

As Sweetie Belle stumbled to her knees, Rarity found herself galloping forwards, and before she was even aware of what she was doing she had her sister wrapped in her forelegs, rocking her as though she were a foal again.

“Oh Sweetie Belle, you must have been through so much! Don’t worry, Rarity’s got you.”

All of the plans Rarity had made when making the journey here from Canterlot had completely vanished from her mind as she hugged her sister tightly. She didn’t think she would even remember the questions she had been supposed to ask if she had tried, and so she ignored them. Her friends would ask all the questions that were needed, there was no doubt of that. Rarity could focus on the shuddering unicorn in her embrace, as the wind whistled past them and the sun slipped past the horizon.

“Oh, I’m hurting you,” Sweetie Belle suddenly said, pulling away from her sister and looking down at her forelegs, both of which had become almost serrated as the crystals covering them lengthened ominously. Rarity looked down to see that the jagged spikes had indeed been sticking into her skin, but she had not noticed and she certainly did not care.

“Nonsense Sweetie, come back here.”

Sweetie Belle did not need to be told twice and she nestled back into her sister’s embrace. The two siblings then sat there in silence as the last of the sunlight disappeared behind the ocean’s waves, and the stars began to slowly make their presence known above them. Rarity wasn’t certain just how much time passed with the two of them like that, but it couldn’t have mattered any less to her. She wouldn’t have traded this position for the world.

Sweetie turned her head to look up into the eyes of her sister, quite an effort for her now as the infection worked its way up her neck. “I’m so happy that I got to see you one more time Rarity.”

Rarity sniffed and blinked rapidly to clear her vision. “I love you Sweetie Belle.”

And fresh moonlight shone across the dunes as Rarity’s eyes filled with tears and her sister’s filled with crystals.